The Conquest of Mytheyr
Chapter 33

“So you’ve been hanging out with Raven’s boys, huh?” Morgan said to break the silence. “They’re the youngest and rowdiest of us…” she was going to say more, but forgot her sentence. Vath looked like he really wanted to ask something, but was afraid to do so. “… What’s wrong?”

“I, uh… well… um… what… or… who… is Markus?” Morgan was silenced by the name, and Vath rushed to explain. “I-it’s just, I hear the Dragonkin whispering about it, and they stop when I get close. I asked Travis, and he just got quiet and said I should probably ask you… I’m sorry…”

“No, it’s ok.” Morgan shook her head. “It’s a painful memory for all Dragonkin. Well… have you ever heard of Hela?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“She’s the ruler of the Underworld. It’s the realm where imps and devils go when they’re killed. But none of them are originally from the underworld. Every imp, every devil, started out as human. Human mages that get mixed up in the wrong magicks, tried the wrong experiments. It’s not just black or Dark magic that can do it, even with Light magic there’s that danger, if they lose control. But worse than any devil or imp are wraiths, which require a specific black magic ritual to create. That’s… what Markus is.”

“… You knew him, didn’t you?” Vath said softly. “When he was human.”

“He was… the husband of a Sylvan Elf. Their world was falling apart. When her people sought refuge in Irideth… he had no elvish blood. He was not Fey. I… I made a choice. He was my friend, and I trusted him. He was the first human ever to see Irideth. When he became a wraith… he decimated the westernmost forest, the ancestral home of the DarkNight clan. All the Dragonkin hate him, and shudder at the name, but that clan especially.” Morgan looked down, a deep wound aching in her chest. “It set a precedence. I can’t ever let another human into our land. It would cause an outcry. Irideth is supposed to be a haven for the Fey. Now, many refuse to come, because they have humans that they care too much for to leave behind. Some die because of that.”

Vath didn’t know what to say. How could he possibly understand how she felt? He wasn’t a leader; he never felt responsible for anyone. He didn’t even have a family. These last days, he had been jealous of Morgan. From what he had seen of the Dragonkin, it was clear that they were close knit. They were always there for each other, no matter what. They shared each other’s laughter and pain. How could someone who was a part of that ever be this unhappy?

“Look, that’s not important now.” said Morgan. “This isn’t Irideth. It’s Mytheyr. What Semele could do is dozens of times worse than what Markus did. All I really know right now is that Semele has something to do with what transformed Markus. But for my people, that’s just enough to make this personal. Trust me, hell hath no fury like a pissed off dragon. This place is going to be fine.”

“But…” Vath started. Bas nudged his shoulder, as if telling him to get on with it. “I don’t think that’s what you should be worried about. I mean, I… never mind, you probably don’t know.”

“Oh no, don’t you dare say never mind! I hate when people do that. You started to ask, finish asking.” Morgan scolded.

“Why is Semele here? Why not… anywhere else?”

“You’re right, I don’t know. If I was going to lure me somewhere by endangering it, I’d pick a world I had a close connection with. Someplace where there were people I knew and cared about, like Zore. The only reason I came here personally was because I happened to not already be somewhere else when the flute was played.”

“…You lost me part way through that.” Vath said.

“Unless some one else was involved…” Morgan mused to herself. “Some one who knew when I’d be home, but that’d be impossible. I don’t even know when I’ll be home. That and it’d be ridicules for some mastermind to engineer all this… This seems like a poorly thought out plan on Semele’s part. If he even has a plan. What really is his goal? What does he want? Is there something blindingly obvious that I’m missing?”

“…What?” Vath said. If Morgan looked up to see Vath’s face, she might have laughed. His expression of perfect confusion was one that just couldn’t be imitated, no matter how hard one tried.

“I just realized…” Morgan’s wings buzzed, lifting her about a foot off the ground, “none of this makes any sense.” She darted past Vath, crossing the entire camp and disappearing into the trees before Vath had time to fully turn around.

Vath stood in shocked silence for a while. Then he turned towards the two horses.

“What,” he exclaimed to them, “just happened?”

A half hour later, Morgan landed silently, crouching into the brush next to Raven. Raven was looking through a pair of binoculars, peering between the trees at the palace.

“There don’t seem to be any guards. There are no traps either, as far as I can tell.” Raven whispered in Elvish.

“Raven, what do we know about Semele’s end game?” Morgan whispered urgently.

“Like he said on the first day we got here, he wants to create a place that is to him like Irideth is to you. The magic completely in tune with his own, and complete control of its elements. Also, he has a weird obsession with you.”

“Yes, but if that was really what he wanted, wouldn’t this whole place be saturated with black magic by now?”

Raven brought down her binoculars, and thought for a minute.

“You’re right.” she whispered. “We should be wading in it by now. It should have already killed at least half of the Dark Elves, and not to mention the plant life.”

“And Markus. Why would Semele corrupt him? What purpose did he serve?” Morgan pressed.

“You’re still right, but where are you going with this?”

“So what’s he really after?” Morgan answered. “And… Raven… I never told you this before… but…”

“…What? What is it?” Raven said, getting worried.

“The journey taken to gain that amount of power… I mean enough to create a place like Irideth… that power has a consequence. I have it well under control, but if Semele has done that, if he really has that power… he doesn’t show any signs of it. I don’t think he has it.”

“So you’re saying he might be trying to gain… whatever it is… from you.” Raven concluded.

“Well, maybe.” Morgan sighed. “I don’t know. Did you get anything else from him when he was in your dreamscape?”

“No. I didn’t want to risk him using his loophole on me. We need at least one of us fully in the saddle.”

“No, I agree. But… I’m afraid that… if he does have… it… and he doesn’t have the consequence handled… it can only be bad for us. If it’s not under control, it might control him.”

“What, like a Lord of Chaos? Like when Iri went insane?” Raven asked.

“Kinda not really.” Morgan said.

Raven sighed and shook her head.

“Do you think you’ll ever be able to tell me the whole story?”

“I hope so.” Morgan answered. “Just not today.”

“Okay, I trust you.” Raven told her, putting a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “Go back to camp. Sleep. Get your strength back. It’ll rain in two days. We’ll attack then. I just hope the full front is a good idea.”

“I hope so too.” Morgan said, slipping back into the shadows and back towards camp