Defiant Necromancer (Book 2 stubbed)

Dero’s return to the High Elf Kingdom of Lutnia was supposed to be a quick affair. She and Tybalt both understood what they wanted. She had clear instructions from her fiance, and she even intended to follow them.

It should be a simple negotiation with King Colin. He wanted to offload a daughter onto them and contribute troops to their cause. Tybalt had agreed that Dero could make his assent to the agreement conditional on the King releasing all of the dark elves in his domain.

The necromancer had been very interested in remaining behind in Whadesgart to protect the others, so he didn’t even chew Dero out over how she had prioritized the dark elf refugees before he had agreed to it.

But now that she was here, she could barely get a word with King Colin.

She slept in the palace the first night, ate breakfast at the Royal Family’s table - where Colin and Kamila were not present - and then tried in vain to resume the conversation she, Tybalt, and Colin had begun before she and Tybalt left.

The King just wasn’t available, or so his household staff insisted.

“Affairs of state have him desperately preoccupied, Your Highness,” a butler informed her gravely on that day.

“Very well, please let him know that Queen Dero would like a word whenever he has a moment to spare between his more important matters,” she said, trying to speak in such a frosty way that it would come across even after the message was forwarded on to His Majesty.

This became a pattern.

Each day would pass, and Dero would feel lucky - or like she was getting closer - if she at least got a glimpse of Colin in the hallway before he slipped into another room and closed and locked the door behind him.

Dero was civil enough that she didn’t start cutting through walls when he was obviously avoiding her.

Colin was clearly stalling for some reason, but Liora made herself available to Dero freely, even eagerly. She could be a tour guide, a partner for games, she could recite poetry - she could recite poetry for hours, so Dero made sure not to get her started - but she had no authority to negotiate on behalf of her father.

Tybalt and Dero had both already noted that while Liora was under her father’s roof, she was also very much under her father’s thumb.

So although Dero did not entirely ignore the Princess, she chose to spend most of the unexpected extra time that Colin’s delaying tactics afforded her in the dark elf section of the city. It was largely an industrial sector.

People there were always happy to see her, and they were especially honored that she lowered herself to help them pack their belongings and sell off items they didn’t use every day as they prepared for the inevitable migration. They would be leaving Nialf for the Salt Waste whenever Dero left.

And perhaps, if King Colin delayed too long, they would all leave without the troops he promised to provide… and without agreeing to an engagement for his daughter.

“Thank you, Princess,” said Ches, a candlemaker. She had just finished helping him carry out some furniture from his shop that a high elf artisan wanted, a fancy table that Ches wasn’t confident would see any use in his new homeland.

“Oh, it was a small thing for me,” Dero replied in her best regal voice.

But as the candlemaker bowed and walked back inside, her thoughts were troubled.

Should I really be getting these people to uproot themselves? Yeah, they want to do it for me, but… they’re safer here. With Colin’s cowardice, they’ll never see war all their lives unless someone invades these islands. They’d have to be riding birds or something to get up here. Whereas Tybalt might lead them all into battle and spend their lives in one charge.

“What’s wrong, Your Highness?” It was Beren’s voice. The old smith had a knack for suddenly appearing, most memorably when Dero was a child trying to play with his equipment. She had smashed her thumb once when he popped in as she was trying to wield his hammer.

She looked around and confirmed that the gruff smith had waited until Ches had gone back into his shop before speaking. They were alone.

“Wrong, Beren?” she asked.

He raised an eyebrow and waited.

She stepped closer to him, lowered her voice confidentially, and finally cast Sound Void. She really didn’t want to be overheard.

“Your glorious leader begins to wonder if she has acted a bit rashly in seeking to sweep all her natural subjects out from under King Colin’s protection and beneath her own… frankly less expansive protection. I’m not sure if this is wise.”

“Surely not,” Beren said with a chortle.

Dero stared at him. Her heart fell a little bit. If Beren thought that…

Am I just leading them on some stupid quixotic adventure? The last thing I want is to ruin these people’s lives. They’ve suffered the same fall as me.

“It’s surely not wise,” Beren continued, “but my Queen, I speak for everyone when I say it is the honor of our lifetimes to live and die in your service. To no longer lead half-lives skulking in King Colin’s shadow. To struggle with pride and honor to reestablish some semblance of our nation under the banner of you and your new husband-to-be.” He smiled and looked down. Dero could tell his eyes had dropped to her now glowing womb tattoo. “To support you continuing your family line into the millennia to come. Loyalty is not something that can be bought with a favor or two, even if those favors saved our lives at one time. It is earned over generations.”

Well, that settles it. I shouldn’t insult their resolve even if I am starting to think, maybe I bit off more than I could chew. These people want to follow me, for good reasons. Reasons that seem good to them, at least. In fairness, my family was pretty great. I’ll try… to be a good Queen.

***

After that, Dero managed to figure out why Colin had delayed.

She happened to be standing in a doorway listening to a conversation between two merchants who had been let into the palace.

Or, more accurately, she found it suspicious that merchants were let into the High Elf King’s palace, and she decided to listen in.

“The King will be most interested in the news about the Hero and the dragon, Brian, so we save that for near the end of the conversation, when we want to address our trading charter…”

At that point, a door closed, and Dero was unable to hear them, but she understood enough.

Colin’s merchants - all the traders allowed to go to and from the City of Ancients - were also his spies.

He was probably waiting for news about Tybalt and the Kingdom, or seeking information about the state of her and Tybalt’s forces. Something that would allow him to be more certain he was making the right call with his relatively impulsive decision to join their houses together.

Fucking fence sitting piece of shit.

She caught him that evening, coming out of his library.

“Can we finally negotiate today, Your Majesty?”

He seemed slightly alarmed until she allowed her Anti-Light Screen to drop. She had been hiding there invisibly.

“Dero, of course it was you.”

“You’ll forgive my impertinent way of making an entrance, Colin. I need to be going soon. Unfortunately, you seem to be operating on a different timetable than me and my fiance. We’re in the middle of a small war, you see.”

“I… suppose the pressing affairs of state have delayed me a bit too much,” he allowed. “And I know from experience how impatient the young can be. Come.”

The words felt almost like a warning. I outlasted your entire bloodline, whipper snapper, you can be a little patient. Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two. Something like that.

Nevertheless she followed him down long, winding corridors to a meeting room.

He rang a bell, a servant appeared, and Colin ordered a contract mage to be fetched.

“Now, I think we have both had plenty of time to determine our priorities, Your Highness,” he said. “Do you believe a betrothal coupled with a military alliance would be agreeable to your fiance?”

“If that military alliance also comes with a contingent of your forces sent to join Tybalt immediately, and you are willing to release the dark elves from their oaths to you, then we should be able to agree quickly.”

“Immediately? Are you moving into battle with the Kingdom so soon?”

“We have been at war with the Kingdom for months, Colin. Battle can come at any moment, which is why it’s urgent for me to return to Tybalt’s side.”

“I’m sure I could spare some soldiers and mages in the near future.”

“Tybalt and I will also choose your daughter’s personal guards from among the forces you supply us.”

Colin gave her a hard look, but Dero didn’t shift her gaze from his.

“Very well, Dero. I was already going to choose from among my best.” He smiled thinly. “Those who gain experience from your wars will return to my side as greater warriors and mages, after all. There are so few adequate challenges available for a centuries-old fighter who lives on a peaceful island away from the troubles of the world.”

“What about my dark elves?”

“I think you mean my dark elves that you wish to steal.”

“No. I don’t.” She sighed and made herself say something nice. “Colin, I appreciate that you sheltered them when they were refugees and no one else would. They appreciate that too. But imagine if the shoe was on the other foot. If you were dead, your child was displaced, and your Kingdom lay in ruins. What would you want me to do in that situation, if your heir reappeared?”

Colin looked long into her eyes. “Dero, as a part of any agreement we make, I want you to agree that you, your heirs, and all your agents will treat any future heir of mine, and his or her subjects, with the same consideration that I am extending to you and yours. If you are willing to agree to that, to bind yourself and your descendants to that, under the seal of the contract mage, then I am happy to let the dark elves go peacefully with you. I still claim a right of suzerainty over all elf kind, as the only ruler of an intact elven kingdom, but if you and Tybalt reestablish your kingdom as a part of his empire, then I will even relinquish those claims.”

“And, of course, if Tybalt conquers, you will eventually recognize him as your sovereign.” Dero felt that she had more or less won - though the terms were strict - but she couldn’t help but get a dig in.

The High Elf King grimaced. “As long as he allows me to rule my Kingdom, my islands, my people, and the wood elves, too, who are no kin of yours, then I will pay homage to him. If the two of you win your war with the Kingdom and manage to survive everything that comes after.”

“Everything that comes after?”

“You know that it’s a wider world you’re stepping into now, surely. We tread on dangerous ground, only protected because we have our one true god—” He looked up, then bowed his head and closed his eyes reverently—“Lord Mudo.” Then he locked eyes with Dero again. “We have already made enemies of the two dominant gods of our era, Dero, and that is why I am willing to conclude an alliance with you and your fiance and even sell my daughter to him in the bargain. We are already damned if we fail. Your family learned that once, to their sorrow. As a man who literally lives on an island suspended thousands of feet in the air, I am well aware of the delicacy of my position. I hope you understand the precariousness of your own.”

Dero wanted to say something spiteful to that, but the look on Colin’s face held her back. He wasn’t trying to be vaguely threatening or even cruel by mentioning her family. He wanted to be helpful.