The Warhorns admitted defeat two years before the bitter end, surrendered and even helped the rest of the Realm to fight the Pyonians. As a result, they were graciously pardoned by the Emperor and the House of Houses.
After the war, the Houses’ meeting decreed that Covax would be under Royal Army supervision for a quarter of a century, at which time their vote in the House of Houses went to the Emperor’s family, the Sunflares.
For having started the war – and the last two – the Pyonians were punished much more severely. The rest of the Realm had had enough of the Stingers and decided to teach them a lesson. Their country and vote was given to Emperor Lexandros Sunflare’s dynasty – for fifty years. After twenty-five years Pyonia was allowed to have an Empress again, who could attend the House of Houses meetings in a guest status.
It was decreed that the further fate of the country would be decided once the five decades of punishment were over.
The House of Houses consisted of the Representatives of the twelve countries and the First Servant, who was the leader of the Academy.
It was Emperor Lexandros Sunflare I, who suggested learning from their mistakes. He graciously offered to abdicate as the Emperor of the Realm and became merely the Emperor of his country, Heliodoria with only one vote instead of the seven that had been granted to the current Realm-Emperor. The Representatives of the other eleven countries, as well as the First Servant, agreed that by not having a Realm-wide ruler, they could negate the struggle for the coveted throne and title.
The Peace Treaty of 729 also decreed, that due to the lack of a supreme leader, the countries were to govern themselves and give their people the opportunity to elect Mayor-Governors and other officials rather than having them appointed by the Emperor or Empress.
The continent was given a new name; United Empires. It didn’t really catch on; most still called it the Realm.
The only things the Stingers could keep after the war, were the Stinger Palace Complex on Realm’s Heart Island, their title and - since 754 - their seat without a vote in the House of Houses.
After her mother’s death, Empress Sidonia was the Stinger’s House of Houses Representative.
The fifty years of punishment were coming to an end. The House of Houses had to vote in the next few weeks whether the Stingers could get their country back. In less than four months, on the First Festivalday of the Month of the Scorpion – the old or the new Empress would step on Pyonia’s throne.
Sidonia finished her meal, rang for a servant to empty the table and to clean up the mess that Scypian’s shattered plate had caused, and decided to visit her cousins at the Windscale Palace.
Pyonian-Lazulian Central Garrison
Commander Searbow of the Pyonian-Lazulian Falconriders was getting desperate.
Blacclaw was meant to return three days ago. His falcon Vanda was getting unmanageable.
Searbow had sent out two squads daily to find him; with no results.
He decided to wait for another day; then he’d have to make a farspeaker call and inform the Academy.
The Garrison was in one of the thirty-seven towers of the Structure.
The Main and Central Tower of the Realm, was the seat of the House of Houses. The other thirty-six – twelve around the Capital, twelve in the centre of the Realm and twelve on the outer border – were the main hubs of the Realm Guard.
On the top the Falconriders, on the ground the Sharkpatrol of the Structure’s Channels, and on the bottom, deep underground, the Infantry of the Fire Rings and Tunnels.
Somewhere between the ground and the top were the quarters of the Academy Professors.
The members of the Realm Guard were used to the Academics emerging from the middle section of the tower; they suspected some kind of transportation device inside, as the members of the Academy had never used any other means of travelling. They were right; every tower was equipped with a Dodecagon on the floor, which portalled the Equimancers to other points of the Structure. Nevertheless, there was no possibility to investigate the matter; the Academy level was inaccessible to anybody but the Professors. For everybody it was just another proof of the Structure’s divine origin.
Commander Searbow was a real Lazulian; his optimism was very hard to suppress, but now he could feel it evaporating. Naturally, he was concerned for one of his men’s wellbeing, but he feared that there was more behind this disappearance.
Over the years, they got used to randomly committed acts of sabotage by the Pyonians, and he knew exactly what to do in those cases, but if anybody was reckless enough to attack - or worse, to murder - a sworn member of the Realm’s Army; it would mean treason.
The implications of that were too grave to even consider.
The squad he had sent out returned. Their leader dismounted and shook his head. There was no need for words. Searbow decided to turn in for the night and to make the call to the Capital first thing in the morning.
Searbow was woken by Blacclaw’s falcon screeching. He jumped out of his bed. He could hear shouts. Half-dressed, he mounted his own falcon and flew down.
He saw a circle of his men surrounding something on the ground. When he pushed his men aside, he saw what he had feared to see for days; the lifeless body of Vandar Blacclaw.
“Am I crazy or does he seem to have drowned?” he asked mostly himself.
“There don’t seem to be any obvious wounds on him,” replied one of his men.
“My aunt drowned… she looked just like this,” said another one.
“One thing is clear. Poor Blacclaw didn’t get here by himself,” pondered a third.
Searbow buried his head in his hands.
‘Damn this bloody fucking Pyonian country’ he thought to himself.
“Commander, how do we proceed?” asked a voice. He had no idea whose it was and he didn’t care either. Searbow was rubbing his temples.
“I’ll send for a prosecutor… for the Chief Prosecutor,” he sighed, hoping his head wouldn’t explode.
Summerwind Palace, Realm’s Heart Island
The Canals of the Realm were the Waterways of the Structure. These embedded Waterways – that were open at the top - consisted of twelve straight riverbeds and four connecting rings, all made of Gods’ Glass. They separated the twelve countries of the Realm.
The first and smallest ring ran around the centre of the Capital, the second separated the city from the countryside, the third, central one ran through the hearts of the countries. The fourth and largest was a vast tube which surrounded the whole of the Realm. The only point that disrupted it, was Realm’s Gate; the entry and exit for the rest of the World.
The waters of the straight canals of the Waterways miraculously flowed rapidly, yet smoothly. In six of them the stream ran towards the Capital, in the rest of them towards the outer border of the Realm.
The overflows of the Waterways provided the continent with smaller rivers and streams. For lack of a better explanation, it was seen by the people as another proof that the Structure was indeed the work of Gods.
Duchess Gloria Summerwind was hovering at the dock in front of her palace, overseeing the servants carrying her luggage on board her luxurious falcon-pulled barge, designed by her late husband’s recently deceased granduncle, Croesus Summerwind.
Gloria, mother of the sixteen year-old Lady Nessa and the twelve year old Lord Olivier, was a celebrated golden-haired beauty and a woman of importance; she was a member of Royalty, rich, well connected and known by about everybody in the Capital.
She was about to visit her good friend, Queen Mother Aquina Wintersky of Lectricka in Winterhaven, where Nessa had spent her summer.
“Everything is ready, my Lady,” Lorio Brightstar, her Master of House announced, when Dinah, Gloria’s lady in waiting appeared.
“My Lady, we just got a farspeaker call from Lectricka,” she panted.
“Queen Mother Aquina had one of her operators call to ask you no
t to come. Lady Nessa will arrive shortly, and she will explain,” Dinah added.
‘How rude,’ was Gloria’s first thought, but then she started worrying.
Dinah hurried on board and told the servants to take all the luggage back to the palace.
Apart from being annoyed, Gloria was also rather disappointed about the cancellation. She loved sailing up the Waterways, watching the countryside change, being passed by patrolling Sharkriders of the Army. No matter how many times she saw them, she couldn’t help but being amazed at the impossible speed the giant fish were capable of. She had always particularly enjoyed the part of the trip when the Canal led her barge between the high rocks of the Hermit Mountain Range. It seemed that when the Structure was created, it had been placed onto Earth with such a force, that it cut straight between the mountains.
‘Oh well, I’m sure I’ll get an explanation soon enough. At least I won’t have to fly,’ she thought with a shudder, remembering the mortifying experience of getting into one of the small air-barges and ascending amidst wildly flapping wings to the mountain-top that the Winterskys’ Summer Residence had been built on.
She walked back to the palace and went straight to her magnificent garden. She settled under her favourite orange tree and asked a servant for refreshments.
Duchess Summerwind’s thoughts kept trailing back to the previous night.
‘So Octarian had other plans, big deal. You should have invited him over sooner; it’s your own bloody fault. It was really on short notice…
Still, he could have come back later.
Eh, stop being so paranoid, you’re driving me crazy,’ she snapped at herself.
After Gloria’s late husband had passed away, she had decided it was time for her to enjoy life until such time that social convention dictated it would no longer be acceptable for her being without a husband.
Some whispered that she had seen the inside of every single Royal Palace’s master bedroom, which was of course wildly exaggerated, but she undeniably had had a few influential men in her life. By far not as many as the public suspected. She accepted the rumours as the price for fame.
Her liaison with the young Prince Sunflare had started a few months ago. She had to give it to him; he had been very insistent.
As charming as he was, the age difference of - give or take,- fifteen years, and the fact that he was the son of Gloria’s good friend, Queen Mother Lunea Sunflare, made him forbidden fruit for the Duchess.
Initially.
Then again, at the age of twenty he was a grown man. That was usually the final argument with which Gloria justified her surrender.
Nevertheless, the previous night was more than a little awkward.
Even though up until then their affair was purely physical, consisting of random pleasurable encounters after decadent social events, that involved numerous glasses of noble beverages and even more flirtation, Gloria had thought that they were both grown-up enough to spend a night in each other’s company in a more civilised way. She had formally invited him over for a light supper. A night of passion was implied. Or so she thought.
Apparently, she was wrong.
The coppery haired Prince Sunflare did manage to show up in time and was clearly dressed to impress, but after some initial pleasantries he made it very clear that he had to be somewhere else.
It was the kind of humiliating situation that the Duchess was not used to.
To divert her thoughts, she took out her own personal holy book; The Annual Issue of the Realm’s Royal Genealogy. She didn’t need to look long for the page she wanted to see; the book fell open at the Winterskys’ family tree.
Gloria looked for the hundredth time at the artistic photograph of the future Emperor of Lectricka, Crown Prince Sylvain Wintersky. He was one of the most handsome men of the Realm. And still unattached.
Prince Sylvain had deep blue eyes and a square jaw. The most unusual thing about him was his hair though; it was dark grey with snow white streaks through it. Women and girls of all ages and classes swooned, blushed, blanched and sighed in his presence. He had less than a year before stepping on the throne, by which time he had to be at least engaged to a Royal Lady of the Realm.
***
Gloria thought for a moment that a herd of wild elephants had invaded her palace, but very soon she found out that the source of the noise was merely the arrival of her daughter.
Nessa was flushed with excitement.
“Oh mother, you won’t believe how I got here. Guess. No, you’ll never guess,” she said instead of a greeting, and hugged Gloria.
“We came via the Airways. Did you know it’s like a tube? With savage winds blowing in them? And there’s ice on the ground. We all got into a sailboat that stood on huge metal blades. We came full speed, with three sails. We got here in five hours. I thought the speed would kill us. It was absolutely crazy. You have to become a Representative in the House of Houses, if for nothing else, so we can use the Airways. Bloody Hell, that was fantastic,” she blurted, threw herself into one of the chairs and took a sip of iced tea.
“I will do my best once there is an opening for new Representatives. Now, tell me everything. How was the summer?” Gloria asked once she had a chance to speak.
“It was brilliant! Especially after Sylvain and Octarian arrived. Liona was so glad to have her big brother there. She hasn’t seen Octarian for ages. The six of us spent a whole month together, we…”
“Six? Who were the other two?”
“Noc and Trill.”
“I didn’t know your cousins were there,” Gloria was referring to Sister Nocturnia Mountainborn, a Professor of the Academy, her late husband’s niece and Lord Trillian Silvertongue, son of her sister, Duchess Silberie Silvertongue.
“They came over after having stayed at Onyxia. Noc has left, but Trill stayed.”
“How is he?”
“Naughty. As always,” Nessa grinned.
“And Nocturnia? I’ll never understand that girl. She could be Empress of Ricornia,” Gloria shook her head.
“Why? She chose the Academy. She loves it.”
“Anyway. Tell me about Sylvain.”
“He’s great! He wasn’t well when he arrived, his heart was broken…”
That was news to the Duchess.
“…but now he’s fine…” Nessa paused for effect, “…and getting engaged!”
Gloria could hardly believe her ears. Could it be?
“Getting engaged to…?”
“Who do you think?” Nessa looked at her uncomprehendingly.
“Oh by the Gods! Really?”
A long shot it might have been, but all her prayers had been answered; her daughter will be Queen of Wintersky! And her grandson will be Emperor.
For a few seconds the World around Gloria seemed to have ceased, as she was silently praising the Gods. Nessa’s voice brought her back to reality.
“Yes, really. Sylvain is getting engaged to Liona. Who else?”
Gloria felt as if she had been hit by a brick, but Nessa didn’t seem to notice and carried on.
“It’s huge! The Winterskys and Sunflares are on top of the World. They say that it will be the greatest engagement event since Princess Eldorine’s and Emperor Donis Windscale’s. Well, hopefully with a happier ending.
The engagement dinner will take place tonight. That’s why we all came back.”
Nessa suddenly stopped.
“Wait a second… you thought… you wanted me to marry Sylvain? That’s hilarious,” she started laughing.
It seemed she would never stop.
“Sylvain and… me… I can’t believe it… too funny,” she wiped away tears of laughter.
“Get a hold on yourself, for Gods’ sake,” Gloria snapped at her.
Nessa took Gloria’s hands into hers and looked into her eyes.
“Mother, I have wonderful news. Please take a deep breath, and listen to me. I’m going to the Academy.”
“You’re doing what?” Gloria was shocked.
“Nocturnia thinks I would achieve great things at the Academy.
Or I might get bored after a few months and then you could marry me off if you find an eligible husband for me.
Hmmm, but where to find literally hundreds of unattached, eligible nobles in the greatest concentration in the whole Realm?” Nessa tapped her temple with an index finger.
“I know! At the Academy!” she exclaimed triumphantly, which earned her an approving little nod from the Duchess.
“You’ve been practicing this, haven’t you?”
“All summer long.”
What Nessa said, was true. The Academy was teeming with the most eligible bachelors of the Realm. Girls were admitted as well, but they were mostly commoners and lesser nobles’ daughters. Nessa – and Gloria – would be spoiled for choice.
Now that her grand plan had burst like a bubble, it would be worth considering.
“So where is Nocturnia then? I would like to have a word with her, before I even start thinking about this.”
“She abruptly returned to the Island a while ago,” Nessa wrinkled her brows.
“We got word that she’s back at the Academy and she’s fine, but the way she went, was rather strange. Octarian was convinced she was in trouble, so he packed his things and took off the next day.”
“Interesting… I shall see her soon then.”
Gloria was pondering the new information.
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Nocturnia is way too old for Octarian. She’s almost thirty. Ooops, bad argument,’ she thought to herself.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Gloria said pensively.
“Hmmm?”
“I met Queen Mother Lunea only a few days ago. She never mentioned anything about an engagement.”
“Well, apparently it all happened very quickly. Sylvain asked Lexandros for permission to marry his sister in a letter. As soon as the favourable reply arrived, Queen Mother Aquina had the engagement celebrations arranged,” Nessa replied.