Chapter 18: Lisandra

The argiphones continued to transport various forest elves, and thousands of arqilunians were now near the Greywind Forest. Lisandra approached the elf king, who was acting extremely strange and didn’t understand what was going on.

“Aelarnal Ilfelkeer DelRaddik,” she turned to the king, “do you remember who you are?”

“Umm... Hmm...” the king pondered.

“I see, we’ll deal with you later,” and she flew up and turned to the arqilunians, “Forest elves, you already know me, I am askaldenfirst, the mother of dragons. Your king is not himself right now, so I ask you to accept me as a temporary leader of your race. Right now your land is burning, Eileenelia is in flames and death. And I know your pride, forest people, I know you want to fight. But if you fight now, you will lose not only your home but yourselves, your race will be lost in time and forgotten! It was not my duty to save you, but I want to take it upon myself. There, under the ground, hidden from prying eyes, lies a huge city, a large kingdom of forgotten people, Itskel-taash, the home of the tukhtaashes. Now I will go there and speak to their king. I will make sure they let you in, even if they don’t want to. Filled with resentment and bitterness, the tukhtaashes do not like strangers. But now they will have no choice!” with these words Lisandra flew to the border of the forest, crossed it and went landed and walked.

She did not walk very long, finally, the mechanism worked, and she fell into something soft, and the elevator room began to descend.

And she saw a city-state, a kingdom of tukhtaashes. She quickly flew to the gates and she saw free riders.

Slu Tis was taken aback and immediately jumped off the karkhash, as did her two companions, Slu prepared to cast spells, and two men drew their swords.

“I will not fight with you, I need to talk with your king!” Lisandra said.

“Who are you?” Slu asked.

“I am an askaldenfirst! An underground child, can you take me to the king?”

“We can’t do that!” Slu said.

“I don’t have time for this, child... I feel something. Or someone. Someone important and special. Here, yes...”

“It doesn’t matter what you feel, flying woman, an askal-something, this is the kingdom of Itskel-taash, and here we obey the laws of the kingdom!”

“Hmm, curious, tukhtaashes don’t know who I am,” Lisandra said in surprise. “Well, child, tell me what do I have to do to get to the king without killing anyone?”

“Are you threatening us?” Slu got angry. “That’s it!” and Slu began to move her hands. “Kas Kar Arad Frahal!”

And a giant soil elemental appeared behind Lisandra. He wanted to grab the askaldenfirst, but she dodged and said, “Lyal Kada Mit Ur Nar,” and the elemental immediately began to obey her.

“How did she do it?” Slu was surprised. And the askaldenfirst sat on the shoulder of a giant elemental who passed through the gate and headed for the royal palace.

Slu Tis and two silent men sat on the karkhashes and quickly caught up with the giant.

“Stop!” Slu shouted, “I sad stop! Kiyal Farus Fiyas Dracal!” and a fireball flew into the elemental, it hit the giant’s body, and the elemental just turned in bewilderment, as if he didn’t even feel it.

Lisandra ordered the elemental to stop, and went down from him, the giant froze.

“What’s your name?” Lisandra asked.

“Slu Tis.”

“Listen, Slu Tis, I need your king’s help. Thousands of arqilunians gathered near the forest, in need of shelter. The dragon has returned, and he has returned not the way we expected it to. Gaaldalksirin burns everything in his path,” askaldenfirst turned sharply, as if she heard something, “I can feel him. He’s here!”

“Who’s here? The Dragon?” Slu asked, puzzled.

“Was Dombard right?!” Lisandra said, ignoring Slu’s question.

“Who is Dombard?”

“It doesn’t matter now. Everything has its time. Take me to the king, I hope he will be sensible and accept us. What’s his name, by the way?”

“His name is Ikki Raak. All right, I’ll take you to him, but I must warn you, the king is young.”

“You are all young for me, child.”

Slu Tis, two silent men and Lisandra headed for the palace, leaving the soil elemental alone.

The palace was located on a small hill, not far from the giant statues of the tukhtaashes. The building was smaller than the courthouse, but inside, right in the middle, there was a beautiful and rather large five-tiered fountain, the water in it was clear. Behind the fountain was the throne room. The throne was a flat square-shaped giant stone chair. Not far from the throne was a long table at which a young tukhtaash, about eighteen years old, was sitting, he had a very short, neat haircut, and he was dressed in a red robe with yellow transverse stripes.

“My dear, Slu,” the king rejoiced, “you brought guests with you!”

“I didn’t want to, Your Majesty, but…”

“Of course you didn’t want to, but you did!” the king’s mood changed dramatically.

“Maybe you brought me another woman in my harem?”

“Uh, no, Your Majesty,” Slu answered.

“If you weren’t an akhtaresh, I would have fucked you long ago,” with these words, the king slapped Slu on the butt.

“Yes, Your Majesty, I’m sorry.”

“And this is your king?” askaldenfirst raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“And who the fuck are you?“Ikki Raak asked irritably.

“I am a mother,” Lisandra replied, “and I came to ask a king, but I saw… a someone… and I’ve changed my mind. I’m dethroning you and removing you from your duties, Ikki Raak.”

“What?!” the king was indignant.

“Kras Toph Ast Fah Danus,” Lisandra cast a very powerful spell, creating an enhanced magical cage-prison that cannot be destroyed.

“Kill her immediately!” the king ordered, trapped in the magical cage.

“Kras Toph Ast Fah Danus,” Lisandra managed to say and several guards, including Slu’s companions, ended up in small prison cages. Slu was about to attack Lisandra using her staff, but askaldenfirst approached her and calmly said, “Look at him, Slu, do you see him as a king or as an ignorant child? I declare you as temporarily queen of Itskel-taash, and you have a choice, start ruling now or attack me and become imprisoned in a cage. I don’t want to kill anyone, although killing would be a practical solution. But there are too many deaths on the surface, and the forest elves expect me to fulfil my promises.” She looked back sharply, listening. “He seems to be calling me!”

“Kill her,” the king shouted from the cage! “Let me out of here! Kill her immediately!”

“Who is calling?” Wondering what is happening, Slu asked.

“My brother... Never mind, Your Majesty,” and Lisandra smiled.

“Kill her, I order you, Slu, cut off her head!” the king shouted, “otherwise I will hang you for treason and betrayal of your king!”

“The king,” Lisandra turned to Ikki, “if you say just one more word, I will squeeze the cage and you will die. Nod if you understand.”

The king was silent for a second and then shouted, “I’ll cut your fucking throat...”

Lisandra snapped her fingers, and the cage began to shrink, and the king screamed, but after a few seconds, a pool of blood and bits of bones, meat and the pieces of skull were on the floor.

“Do you want to die for your king?” Lisandra asked, “For a king who has no respect for anyone!”

“The elders will not accept me,” Slu said suddenly, “there is an order of succession to the throne. Raak’s line was broken with the death of Ikki, now there will be a meeting–”

“I’ll try to convince them,” Lisandra interrupted, “though I have little time left, take me to them. Right now!”

“Can I release the guards first?” Slu asked.

“Yes, but order them not to attack me, otherwise death will come for them today!” and Lisandra snapped her fingers and all the cages disappeared, freeing the prisoners.

One of the guards ran up to Lisandra, but she took off, then he decided to attack Slu, but Slu hit him on the head with a staff and he fell.

Askaldenfirst and the new queen left the palace; Slu sat on the karkhash and galloped along the stone road, and after her flew Lisandra.

Next to the courtroom was the hall of elders. Lisandra flew into it.

“I am an askaldenfirst!” Lisandra said, addressing the eight old men sitting around a glowing vat of spices.

“Who? And what are you doing here?” one old man asked.

“I see. The underground world is even worse than the surface,” Lisandra said disappointedly, “I’ll say simply and clearly, I have seized power, killed your king, declared Slu Tis the new queen, and now you will accept her, and then let several thousand forest elves enter your city!”

“What?! What a madness!” said one of the old men with the big beard, his name was Khmen Rashp.

“Execute her immediately,” the two twin old men shouted, addressing Slu.

“Ska Huv Rav Ud Clee,” Lisandra cast a beheading spell, and two twins’ heads were separated from their bodies and hung in the air for a second while the bodies fell, splashing blood. Horror froze in the eyes of the elders. “Disputes about whom to execute, whom to have mercy, should not start, elders! I am an askaldenfirst and I should only care about my children! The dragons! But I decided to save the arqilunians because they are the most important dragon worshipers in Ermir! And the one who honors my children is my friend. But you, on the other hand, wasting precious time for the sake of stupefying mind, take the arrogant mean lustful boy to the throne, on the contrary, do not deserve to live. But Slu Tis is your new queen, and she will be deciding your fate, do you understand?”

“Yes, lady,” said Anz Shabo, a bald old man, and gestured to others stay away, “Slu Tis is our queen!”

“Your Majesty,” Lisandra turned to Slu Tees, “can you shelter several thousand arqilunians in your underground kingdom until I figure out what to do next?”

Slu hesitated, she alternately looked at the old people, at the dead bodies, and Lisandra.

“Yes,” she finally answered.

“I’m glad we’ve reached an agreement in negotiations,” Lisandra said and flew to the exit. And she was about to fly to the surface when she felt something again, and she decided to fly to where her inner instinct was calling.