System Change

“We’re almost there,” Alanah’s voice sounded out from beside Derek.

Derek noticed when she had stood from her meditation long ago, but he remained seated and continued his own meditation. He knew that she would let him know if something came up, and now she was. Derek instantly broke out of his meditation when he heard her voice. He opened his eyes and stood before looking around. The dragonkin were all flying relatively close to one another, and he could see that some of the people on Blitz and Volt seemed to be much more nervous than they were when he visited them.

He also saw that both Alanah’s contracted wyvern and Lyra had fallen to the back of the formation they were flying in. This left the two dragonkin—Blitz and Volt—that were holding the ‘representatives’ of the two kingdoms to fly in front.

After that, he looked down at his surroundings—seeing if he could find a difference in Astrus, Cydaria, and Indria. There really wasn’t much of a difference in the land of Astrus and Cydaria. Indria was the only one that stood out from what little he had seen. The cities they flew over or by were more nature-based than what he had seen in Cydaria.

As for Astrus, it was just regular villages that he’d seen everywhere he went—nothing special. Then again, he wasn’t expecting anything different to begin with.

“Did anything happen while I was meditating?” he asked, wondering if she’d seen anything in the time that she’d been aware. He could sense his immediate surroundings and a bit more when deeply meditating, but that was it. Of course, he could just regularly meditate like he did in battle or while moving, but the sense of time passing quickly didn’t happen when he did that, so it was pointless considering that was exactly what he was using it for.

“It’s quiet,” Alanah replied.

“Quiet?” Derek asked.

“Yes. The cities we’ve flown over or close to all seem to be too quiet—especially for the current time. There’s just no activity,” she explained. “The villages all seem to be normal—albeit quite scared when they see us, but, the two cities we came close to, there was nothing.”

Derek looked around and realized that it was close to noon—of the next day. No wonder everyone on the other dragonkin is looking anxious. They’ve been thinking about the battle to come for over an entire day. And the more you dwell on something, the more anxious you get.

“So they’ve most definitely prepared.”

“Looks like it,” Alanah replied. “Whether it was from leaks in Cydaria or they were just really quick to notice us and prepare when we crossed the border, who knows?”

Derek nodded. “How long until we get there?” he asked.

“We should be able to see the city within the next hour or two,” she answered.

“Good.” Derek cracked his neck in anticipation.

A little over an hour later, Derek saw the massive Capital of Astrus coming into view. He’d yet to see the Capital of Cydaria from such an angle, but he doubted it was as big as the one he was seeing. The Indrian Capital that he saw from the same vantage point hadn’t been, but Indria had a smaller population overall, so that made sense.

“Damn,” he said.

“That’s Icecrest, the second largest city on the continent,” Alanah answered.

“Really?” Derek asked with confusion. “If that’s the second biggest, then what is the first?”

“Stonehelm,” Alanah answered. “The Capital City of Vallum. It spans throughout an entire mountain range. I’ve been there and I still don’t even know how big it is.”

“Sounds easy to get lost in,” Derek said.

“You don’t know the half of it. The whole thing is like a maze and very dimly lit, yet dwarves have no trouble navigating it.”

“Well, it makes sense, since that’s where they grew up,” Derek said.

“No.” Alanah shook her head. “Even dwarves from other cities have no problem in the capital.”

“Then it’s either some innate ability they have, or all the underground cities they have are laid out the same, which makes it easier to go from one city to the other,” Derek said.

“Exactly,” Alanah agreed.

“By the way, are there any above ground cities in Vallum? Just curious,” he asked.

“Of course,” Alanah answered. “They do a lot of trading, and most merchants prefer to stay above ground. So, there are plenty of full-sized cities scattered throughout Vallum. The city designs are a bit like Savannah—separating living and business districts, and putting all the most important buildings in the middle.”

“I see,” Derek said. “I’ll have to visit there some day after the war is over. Sounds like an interesting place, and so far, I haven’t met a dwarf that I didn’t like. Though I’ve only met a couple.”

“They are a very terse race. It almost comes off as condescending. Just know that they don’t mean disrespect by it. The ones who run the cities above seem better because they’ve adjusted themselves to make foreign merchants more comfortable, but if you go to the capital or one of the other underground cities, you’ll be lucky to get more than a few words… unless you’re drinking with them.” Alanah explained.

“So… I need to bring some of Roman’s Brew with me when I go,” Derek laughed. “Got it.”

“That should help you out immensely,” Alanah agreed. “Though make sure whatever you bring won’t kill them. Or, at least, warn them of the effects first. I’ve heard stories about Roman’s Brew…”

“Will do,” Derek said, and mentally made a note to visit Vallum when he got a chance. Maybe I can take Tyron there, too. I’m sure he’d do much better underground than he does in the air.

“Look,” Alanah said, breaking him out of his thoughts. She was pointing in front of them at the city that was growing bigger and bigger as they drew closer.

“What is it?” Derek looked where her finger was pointed, and eventually, he saw what she had.

“They are no doubt prepared for us,” she said.

What he had taken as part of the city before—when it was much further away—actually turned out to be quite the massive standing army. Of course, Indria and Astrus wouldn’t leave themselves defenseless by sending their kingdoms’ entire armies against Cydaria—especially when they thought what they had sent would be more than enough.

It looked like whoever had taken charge had gathered guards and soldiers from around the entire kingdom. They weren’t close enough to see the quality of the gathered army, but Derek would bet that a good portion of it was as strong or stronger than those from the army he and Silvi had routed days ago. Of course, he also believed that there were definitely guards and soldiers that were there just to make it look more intimidating. Unfortunately for them, numbers weren’t something that would work on the invading group.

In front of the army was another group of people. They weren’t close enough for Derek to count the number, but it was vastly smaller than the army. Probably those in charge, Derek thought. Damn… I really don’t want to have to deal with another army again. That’s way too much death that could be avoided.

As the formation of dragonkin drew closer and closer, they began to slow. Eventually, they were all close enough where Derek, and everyone else for that matter, could see exactly what they were facing off against. Instantly, he could pick out the lower level guards and soldiers mixed within the army. They were the ones who were visibly shaking at the sight of four massive dragons heading their way.

The other soldiers—the veteran soldiers—were much more calm. Though Derek could still see uncertainty plaguing many of their faces.

Finally, Edward directed the dragonkin to stop and land. The sight of the four beasts all landing at once—stirring up dust and destroying parts of the grassy lands in the process—must have been something. Once the dust settled, Derek could see that much of the opposing army had gone much more pale than they had been before.

With the dragonkin landed, the army and those in front of it showed no sign of attacking. They all just stood at the ready. Derek looked over and saw that Edward, Osian, and everyone else on Blitz and Volt began to dismount. He and Alanah exchanged looks. Then Derek shrugged and hopped off the back of Alanah’s contracted beast. Alanah followed suit.

Eventually, Derek and Alanah fell in beside Avery and Tara, who were both trailing the group of royals and their retinue by a short distance. It was enough to say that Derek, Alanah, and Avery—with Silvi on Derek’s shoulder—were there with Cydaria and Indria, but weren’t to be commanded by them. Tara stayed with them because she was only a support class with no real attacks, and obviously she knew she was safer with those three than the others.

After some discussion on the opposite side, the group of a few dozen people began to slowly walk forward, too. Derek scanned the crowd containing the Astrus leadership, and his eyes soon fell on the person he would assume was Tevarian’s father. He actually wasn’t the oldest person in the group, as there were a few people who actually looked to be as old as if not older than Edwin. Though nobody looked as much like a walking corpse as the elven elder, Marrick, did.

Derek was able to recognize the person by the deep black hair that held a blue gloss to it. It was the same color hair that both the duke and the king had. There were others with the same hair color and shimmer, but they seemed to be much younger. Probably the current princes… The man also happened to be walking at the very front of the group heading their way.

He was actually walking in stride with a sullen middle-aged woman dressed in a black robe with blue trim and active runes sewn into the fabric. It was easy to tell that she was Tevarian’s widow. The two seemed to be combining their efforts to lead the others.

Everyone else fell in behind the duo. Derek didn’t fail to notice that many of the around 35 people had uncertain looks on their faces. Those must be some of the stronger noble houses that are loyal to the crown. Though, I bet their loyalty only goes so far.

From there, Derek looked at Cydaria’s own group—specifically, he looked to see if he could find Marrick, the old elven elder. He was actually quite easy to spot; he was wearing a green robe and was hunched over walking with a cane. However, Derek had to hold himself back from laughing, as it seemed to be all the old man could do not to pass Edward and Osian—who were leading the group—and run ahead. The elven elder’s cane wasn’t even touching the ground when he walked.

Finally, the group came within range of one another and everyone from both sides stopped.

“Osian! You traitorous bastard!” The man leading the other group began by yelling at the Indrian King. “How dare you show your face here after betraying Astrus? Have you no shame?”

“Traven,” Osian said, just loud enough for everyone to hear him. “You know as well as I that when King Tevarian rushed off and recklessly died, our contracts and agreements died with him. So no, I am not traitorous, nor did I betray you. If you want to blame anyone, blame your own son. You did not see me rush off to the battlefield when I received news of my own son’s death, did you? No, I had a country to run and people to keep safe.”

“Bah!” a withered voice sounded out from behind Osian. “The entire Sinclair line is all the same. Acting without thinking, not caring who they offend.”

“You!” Traven called out when he saw the person who was speaking. “You old man! How dare you step foot…”

“Is that all you can say, lad? How dare you this… how dare you that… you’re getting too old for all that. Of course we dare. We wouldn’t have come if we didn’t,” Marrick took a step forward to stand beside Osian and Edward, then cut the former king off before he could speak again. “What are you? Teenage noble who just unlocked his first class? Grow up and act your age. You’re making us old folk look bad.”

I kind of like this old man, Derek thought. He took the words right out of my mouth. Derek laughed inwardly as he stood back and watched the show. It would probably be rude to pull a chair out, wouldn’t it?