The Axe Falls 2 -ch25-

“It would seem my life has gone and become interesting.”

Looking to the speaker, Nick found Harlowe directly on his right. Nathaniel was stomping along at Nick’s left, wielding a large double bladed two handed axe.

The man seemed entirely invested in what was happening around them. Not to mention the helmet he was wearing did a wonderful job of covering his ears.

“I’m suddenly regretful I didn’t try to den up,” Nick remarked dryly and looked forward again. He was more or less at the center of the troupe with the Duke’s at the front along with their high-leveled protectors.

“You say that as if you would’ve been allowed to,” remarked Harlowe, her head turning his way fractionally and her eyes moving toward his face.

“Ptfff, alone or with another, I would’ve rather have denned up at this point,” Nick asserted, then snickered. “Besides, weren’t you fat, confused, and happy? You made it sound like you were going to ask me to den rather than the other way around if only to keep getting presents.”

Harlowe sniffed at that, the edges of her mouth curling in a smile. Only for it to slowly grow into a grin. One that displayed her very non-human teeth.

As if realizing it, she quickly pressed her lips back together, though she did continue to smile at him.

“Maybe. Maybe not. We should spar again soon. It was fun to wrestle you to the ground and bite your neck,” Harlowe said in a way that made Nick feel like she would’ve growled if they were in private.

He couldn’t deny that Harlowe had managed to knock him flat, pin him to the ground, and actually bent her head down and put her mouth on his throat. As if she were about to tear it out.

In his sparring with Harlowe, he’d been learning that power and stamina didn’t count for everything. That leverage and experience could carry a fighter a considerable distance.

“You keep leaning on that because I beat you down in the fist fight,” Nick said accusingly. “You didn’t give me that wolfish grin when you were struggling on the ground and wondering if it was Monday or Tuesday.

“Should I have pushed your head back and set my teeth to your throat?”

“If you had done that, you would indeed be denning right now. My fat, confused, happy self, would’ve been less confused,” Harlowe offered. “Do you feel less nervous now?”

Nick blinked, looked around, then back to Harlowe.

Jessie, Claudia, Erica, Sara, and somehow, even Julie, were all in a group chatting amongst themselves. They were all armed and armored and ready for whatever might happen.

Well, at least I’m not alone. They’re just not standing near me.

I wonder if that’s a way to protect me since… well… two of those individuals wouldn’t be given much grace.

No one else seemed to have noted the fact that he was talking to the Werewolf and he personally felt a lot less tension after speaking with her. He was oddly enough feeling that strange tension with her and that superseded his concerns.

“Yes. I’m feeling better. Thank you. I’m surprised you came though,” Nick murmured quietly. “It feels like Sara, Jessie, and Julie would all fight for it.”

“They did, until I suggested myself. Then everyone felt it best that I came over since I’m the highest level,” said Harlowe, ever watching him. “That and everyone else seems to become a multiplier for your emotions.”

Nick couldn’t deny that with everyone else, he tended to ramp upward. With Harlowe things tended to slow down and mellow a bit.

Though that was mostly due to how he treated her.

A skittish and wary predator that was just as likely to snap off one of his fingers as it was to sit down next to him at the campfire.

“It’s because I treat you like a high-strung apex predator I’m trying to not spook into biting me,” confessed Nick. The king wasn’t too far ahead of them now. “I end up forcibly curbing my own emotions to try and keep you calm.”

“Ahhhh, yes. My fat, confused, and happy self would agree with your statement. I am quite fat, quite confused, and quite happy,” Harlowe acknowledged, a small furrow creasing her brow as the smile faded away. “I didn’t realize I was being tamed, though it seems I have been. It wasn’t even that unpleasant and was mostly you just giving me things.”

“Sounds like dating to me, but I have real limited experience with that,” offered up Nick.

“Ho there!” called a man at the front of the procession, ending the conversation with Harlowe. “The Dukes and the Dragon King have come. Do you still offer parley and for the throne?”

“Yes! We welcome the Dukes and the Randolph line!” someone shouted back.

Slowly, the group closed in on the King’s group until they were only five or feet from each other. Close enough that a spoken conversation would be able to carry from the front of each group to the back.

“As requested, we’re here,” said what sounded like Duke Denahn. “We admit we’re somewhat confused as to why the Fash line would be willing to give up their throne, however. It feels almost like a trap.

“A trap designed to try and take the head off our faction and leave you with the throne.”

“I assure you, I was being quite genuine in my statement,” rumbled a voice that sounded quite old, though hearty. “I would like to discuss what could be the logical conclusion of this civil-war of ours. The cessation of hostilities and then refocusing our goals.

“There have been more attempts on our Dungeons. We captured one single person amongst the forty that made the attempts. Have you had similar situations?”

“Multiples,” said what sounded like Duke Ternahl. “It was solved by simply closing the bottom floors and then reinforcing them to the point that they could defend against nearly anything. We weren’t able to capture any however. They all killed themselves upon defeat.

“Though they haven’t tried anything in a month or two. As if they’d run out of resources or turned their designs elsewhere.”

“We sent no one to your Dungeons,” Danahn proclaimed. “You claimed previously you did not do so either to us. If neither of us lie, and both of us speak the truth, then we have a third party.”

“It isn’t the Dragon King?” asked the same wizened voice.

“No. It isn’t the Dragon King,” Nick stated with absolute certainty in his voice. “A notice was sent to the Dukes as well as the King asserting that fact.”

“Then… there is indeed a third party,” continued the other party’s older speaker. “When we questioned the one that was captured, they revealed nothing. At least nothing directly.

“There was a single moment when they spoke a language not known to us. A single word, spoken in a delirious haze after they caught a fever. Only to die that day.”

“That doesn’t quite explain why you’re willing to barter away your throne,” Denahn redirected. “That still feels impossible considering how hard you’ve fought up to this point. The losses you’ve taken and what you’ve done to the soldiery and people just to maintain it.”

There wasn’t an immediate response.

It was as if the speaker were talking to someone else or contemplating how to respond at a deep level.

Nick was quietly trying to peek through the heads, helmets, and weapons of others to see more of the enemy group.

Despite his height and size Nick wasn’t actually along in that regard. Many of the high-level physical type of people that were brought along were easily his own heigh and in some cases, a touch taller.

From what he could see though, it was an elderly man in the middle of the group that’d been talking.

He had somewhat long wavy white hair, pale brown eyes, and a frame that once supported a great deal of muscles and bulk. Now it was withered and the man looked as if he would crumble to the ground any moment.

If that were true, they were now looking at the ground and considering their words.

“The Dragon King, the Randolph line, has been reborn,” said the older man, lifting his gaze up and looking to the Duke’s faction. He blew out a short breath and shook his head. Impossibly, his eyes floated over to meet Nick’s. “The people no longer accept me as the king. I have been robbed of my youth, strength, levels, and abilities. The kingly rights granted to me through my forbearer’s have been stripped and left me without the ability to command a kingdom.

“Only as of late did I come to realize just how deeply the rule of Fash was predicated on sucking the lifeblood away of the Randolph line.

“Nor did I understand the covenant that we were supposed to maintain and it’s intricacies. How if it should fail, how deeply, and badly, my line would collapse.

“Now there seems to be wolves circling the hen-house. All as two roosters squabble over who should remain inside, despite the fact that both will be eaten and quickly if something doesn’t happen soon.”

“To be fair, Sire,” put in Lucian as the older man took a slow breath. “The penalties were going to be incredibly harsh considering how the covenant was broken. I imagine the land is also putting in all it can to bring back your line ot the throne.

“Though, this is all irrelevant. If it weren’t for the Dukes waging the war they did, it’s unlikely the King would be forced into the position he is now. If there had been no war, he would have had time to pool his resources and consolidate.”

“—now find myself as the last of my royal line and likely about to squander the kingdom away,” the man continued. “As well as the fact that my family has been withering. Slowly, spreading downward from me, and to all those who share my blood.

“Yet I hear that the current Duke Fash and all his line have suffered no ills or losses. It would seem that a long set trap has been sprung through my families own doing and now I must gnaw off my leg to survive.”

“Then… you’ll accept defeat and hand the crown over the Dragon King?” asked a Duke.

“Yes, provided we can come to an accord. I would need a Ducal title for my Fash family that doesn’t intersect with the current Duke Fash. There would need to be a separation. I would also request that the Dragon King marry into my family so that there would at least be a claim of royalty to hold to down the line. I would wave all rights to the throne and all future claims for any in my bloodline, however,” stated the King. “As well as a number of assurances and… well… bribes. I’ll just say it for what it is.

“Otherwise it’s not worth it and I’d prefer to keep fighting. Even if that meant making it easier for someone else to come in and run down our land into the ground.”

“All Randolph possessions, lands, and titles would be returned to the Randolph line,” demanded a voice from the Duke’s camp. “As well as royal possession that would befit the ruler of the land. It wouldn’t be right for a Duke to have such things.”

“As to a Ducal title and carve out,” Danahn mused loudly. “Were you not considering opening a new title to the mountain lands in the west? You had a number of requests to make that a Ducal title but resisted often. That land has a good deal of potential for a new Duke to set up a family and land.”

“That would be the best we could likely offer at this junction,” Trenahl declared without any room in his voice for arguing. “You would be a renegade noble who was brought to heel after generations of leading a false royal line.”

“That’s… possible. We would need to discuss the finer details though about which parcels and ownership of certain things,” the king shot back. It sounded like he was willing to move things around on the points stated so far. “Again, however, I demand the Dragon King marry into my family. Not the Ducal Fash, but the Royal Fash.

“It would likely be best to separate the family as well so there is no confusion later. As well as familial de jure titles.”

This was all a bit much to Nick.

He was following along with it, but there was so much context that he was missing that it felt almost insurmountable. His awareness of all of it would be through Lucian at best which incredibly out of date.

“I don’t think that’ll be an issue at all,” Count Distis said clearly near the front of the group. “I’m the Dragon King’s chamberlain at this time and I’ve been operating as his Steward at the same time for the moment.

“I believe that so far we’ve found much ground to meet at and there would only need to be some… dickering back and forth over some details.

“This would obviously be something that can’t be finished here but we can at least make inroads. Shall we put up a pavilion and begin hammering it out between designated envoys?”

“Yes, that is… acceptable,” said the Fash King.

Only for everyone to slowly turn around and look at Nick.

“I name Count Distis as my envoy and agree to the terms,” determined Nick. He most certainly didn’t want to hang around in the middle here and he trusted Count Distis. This would also be an opportunity to assert his trust in the Duke Ternahl. For Duke Denahn, Nick had a different plan in mind. “Duke Ternahl would you be willing to act as my Chamberlain while the Count is indisposed?”

There was a moment of confusion at the request, followed by a low guttural chuckle.

“I would most certainly take up that mantle for the time, Dragon King,” came the hissing response from somewhere in the group. “I am delighted that my family can take up the role we inhabited before.”

I’m starting to get the feeling that there’s more to Ternahl’s relationship with the other Duke’s and the King. Any thoughts?

“Only that there might be some confusion, Sire, as to who was there at the end, and who wasn’t,” suggested Lucian. “After all, our family was quickly put into internment camps, executed, and generally hidden. It’s one of the reasons that backlash as intense as it is for the King.”

“Then we should-should… what… what’s that?” asked the King, looking around now.

Nick frowned only just now realizing he heard something as well.

“Gryphons,” hissed Harlowe, looking up and toward the northern skies.

“What?” Nick demanded turning his gaze in the same direction that Harlowe had looked.

There were indeed Gryphons flying toward them. There were a great many of them in fact.

All of them flying in formations and looking as if they were starting to descend.

“I think it’s that third party we were talking about!” Nick shouted and then pointed up at the Gryphons. “Unleash hell on them! Fire!”

As if his command was irresistable, both sides of the group began launching spells, arrows, and other projectiles, up at the Gryphons.

A second after that, both armies began doing the same thing. All of them firing at the beasts even as they continued downward. Diving with ever increasing speed toward the center group.

Several different spell shields sprang to life around the group and Nick noted that one looked a lot like the one Julie often used.

Next to him, Harlowe had lifted her bow and was firing arrow after arrow. All of them neatly passing out of the magical bulwarks that’d been thrown up without much of an issue at all.

“This is going to shit,” grumbled Nick, watching the monsters. There wasn’t anything he could really do at the moment other than throwing weak spells. Except his magic would more than likely strike the shield and cause it problems.

Instead, he started casting Earth Shield on everyone around him. He wasn’t going to sit here and do nothing at all.

“Lord King, I will defend you,” Nathaniel stated and took the spot directly in front of Nick.

Moments after, Sara was there at his left, Claudia, Erica, and Jessie all moving in behind him.

Julie put herself in the space between Harlowe and Nick.

“They’re different levels and breeds,” warned Julie as the Gryphons began reaching their targets. A great many of them were attacking the king’s army.

They leveled out their descent just as they reached a height low enough to claw and snatch at the people below. Seconds after, several struck the magical shields around the party in the middle that Nick was part of.

After that, they began striking the Duke’s forces.

This was an attack on all of them at the same time.

Their goal was to cause as many fatalities as possible, Nick imagined, since there wasn’t any cohesion to it other than killing.

If they were here for Nick and the Fash King, they’d be focusing entirely on the middle area.

Nick looked back to the sky and then the distance.

There were a great many more gryphons coming.

More surprising than that, was the second wave of them all had riders. Every single one had at least one rider, though a great many of them all held two.

“Fuck,” Nick whispered, watching it all as both sides continued to pile on magic, shots, and projectiles. “Gramps, if I set you loose, how much of this could you handle?”

“A great deal, my boy. A great deal,” said Lucian in a very strange tone. As if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be excited or nervous.

Contemplating the situation, Nick felt like this was a perfect opportunity for him to display that the title of Dragon King wasn’t wrong. That while he hadn’t really known about it, or leaned into it, it wasn’t wrong.

“Lucian Randolph, defend your Bloodline!” shouted Nick at the absolute top of his volume and the entirety of the breath in his lungs. At the same time he tried to mentally activate ‘summon dragon’.

Quest!

Defend your people: Fight with and for your subjects.

Rewards Granted:

Unknown.

Materializing out in the open space beside the party of the Dukes and the Fash King was a massive Red Dragon.

He was easily fifty foot in length, thirty foot tall from foot to hip, and was covered in massive glittery crimson scales.

The wings snapped out and Nick’s group was suddenly plunged into shadow.

“These are my families lands!” roared Lucian in a way that made Nick’s heart flutter. To the point that even his knees quivered and he felt the need to fall to the ground. “Suffer my wrath!”

Lucian’s massive horned head casually snapped out to the side and snatched a grpyhon out of the air. His massive teeth crunching down and nearly cutting it in half.

One wing fell away and fell to the ground at the Dragon’s feet.

Swallowing, Lucian launched himself into the air, only for a second later to let loose with a breath of fire that spread out in an impossible way. As if it were alive and quickly encompassed a dozen gryphons.

“For my descendant, the Dragon King!” Lucian screamed as he began to fly straight toward the Grpyons as the fire died away.

How the hell did my ancestor ever beat you?

“He used his brain, my arrogance, his great abilities, and a great many tricks,” Lucian remarked with a laugh inside of Nick’s mind. He sounded genuinely pleased as well as eager. “My son-in-law was a great man, as has been my line since then! As what could be stronger than a brilliant mind and body paired with the natural abilities of a Dragon!”

Lucian casually flipped his tail to the side and lashed out with his mouth, picking off another Gryphon with his jaws and his tail slashing through a different one.

“That’s-that’s…” whispered Nathaniel, staring up at Lucian.

“My forbearer and one of the starting points of my line,” Nick answered, feeling awed by the massive Dragon as it continued to slaughter Gryphons.