Sungold - Chapter 1

Arion tried to keep still as the servant adjusted the seams around his wings. The dress tunic his sister had chosen for the day was a smooth, ivory fabric that shimmered with tiny filaments of gold woven into it, a stark contrast to his copper brown skin and dark hair. Once the servant stepped aside, he stretched his golden wings, arching them around so the primary feathers caught the light and glinted with the same sunshine brilliance as the woven gold trim and belt.

"Stunning, as always," Kyre praised from her spot beside the mirrors before him. She had already dressed for their meeting in a belted dress of darker beige. The fabric was light and shiny, flowing down in rippling folds around her feet, ornamented with a sash of brown and gold that complimented her darker, bronze-gold wings. Her black hair was piled up into simpler braids with a wire circlet; Kyre wanted him to be the center of attention today.

"So, we are really going through with this…" Arion took a breath and folded his wings back into place on his back, fiddling with the sleeves of the tunic and wondering what boots were suitable for meeting the family of one's prospective bride.

Kyre narrowed her eyes and sifted slightly, canting her hips. "We have to cement the alliance with Gens Stelte, Arion. The emperor demands it."

"I am aware." Arion was fairly certain no one had guessed Sovereign Carstind Stelte would discover and adopt a brand new royal out of the ranks of his army. The Sovereign's genetic heir was only a few years old, and Arion had thought they would have more time before being pressed to formally unite the gentes in marriage... and that the obligation would fall to his younger sister, Harptise.

"At the very least, we will be the first gens on Acharyn to finalize their Eglait Blaeya alliance with marriage."

"Exactly," Kyre affirmed. She and their grandmother had made that same point to him many times over the past few years. She smiled, narrowing her eyes further. "They aligned us with the Steltes expecting ours to be the last, but fate has dealt us a better hand."

"I heard you ask Naird to double the guard. Do you expect trouble at the landing?"

"I always expect trouble, Arion." Two more servants arrived with a selection of boots, and Kyre moved to examine them, thoughtfully picking up an ivory pair before swapping them for a soft leather brown set with woven patterning.

Arion's lips twitched up to the side. "Well, we'll have Sovereign Stelte's guard with us as well. One thing you can always count on is that the Steltes are ready for a fight."

Kyre moved to hand the attendant the boots, allowing her to cross in front of him and fix his face with a humorless stare. "And it is a good thing they are, Arion. The Steltes have warriors, weapons, ships… everything the war robbed our gens of. They thought to use Gens Sones as a hobble for the General of Eglait Blaeya." Her smile became more predatory, baring teeth between her plump lips. "Instead, they have handed us a sword."

Arion nodded, resting an arm onto one servant as the others worked on his boots. "At least I'll finally get to meet my bride soon...?"

"Sovereign Stelte says within the next week, but I'm hoping he is trying to bring her in today with the rest of his family as a surprise."

"I hope she has better humor than the Steltes we've met so far."

"For your sake, I'll say a prayer that she suits you… For the sake of the gens, I'll pray for loyalty and fine, strong genes."

***

Arion met Kyre and her husband, Jariden, above the west staircase. Jariden had dressed in a tunic of brown and periwinkle blue, a nod both to Kyre's attire and the color of his birth gens. The slightly older man, with skin lighter than Arion's, closer to Kyre's in shade, was sedate and blandly calm as always, giving Arion a bow of his head and no more. Together, they descended to the atrium to join Sovereign Stelte. The ex-general stood with his captain of guard, Torelex Stelte, and the younger guard commander who had accompanied their party to Acharyn last month, Emex Stelte. All three wore the fitted dress uniforms of the Eglait Blaeya army, dark gray and black, with no adornments except for their sidearms.

"I see they had no trouble dressing for the occasion," Arion muttered for Kyre's ears. She pretended not to hear him and approached the general in greeting, leaving Jariden by Arion's side.

"Sovereign Stelte, you must be eager to greet your family today," she observed, stretching both hands out to the older man.

He smiled warmly at her, reaching out to grasp her fingers gently in his own for a moment. "Indeed, I have been away so often these past years that I am glad of any chance to see them." His fluffy hair, a mix of black and gray, was sculpted over his head like a helmet and cascaded onto his face in a thick beard. Stout and unassuming, he looked for all the world like someone's good-natured grandfather. Only the hard lines around his sharp, grey eyes belied the military man beneath.

Torelex Stelte hung a step behind his Sovereign. His broad face was buried in his brown hair and beard, which he seemed to have barely run a comb through. Next to him, Emex Stelte stood at attention, her broad shoulders held proudly, long brown hair tightly captured in a braid coiled at the nape of her neck.

All three of the Steltes currently had their wings hidden, as was customary on Eglait Blaeya. Arion knew from previous ceremonies that Sovereign Stelte's wings were deep silver, in a sleek, falcon style, but Torelex and Emex remained a mystery. As they were not royalty, their wings would be more natural, non-metallic shades, but Arion could guess no more than that. It was somewhat disconcerting to interact with the Eglait Blaeyans; he hadn't been aware of how much you could infer from a person's wings until he had found himself without those cues.

"Sovereign Select Sones, let us board and be on our way. Torelex tells me we will be there in plenty of time to greet the landing party." The Sovereign turned and waited for Kyre to fall in beside him before they moved toward the transport platform. Arion escorted Jariden for his sister, as he often did.

They took an open carrier to meet the Steltes; Kyre wanted to give them an eyeful of the Sones lands, since many of the members of the party had never before traveled to Acharyn. Arion enjoyed the breeze, extending his wings from his back slightly to let the air rustle through his feathers. The day could not have been more beautiful. The morning chill had burned away, but the swells of turquoise foothills still had mist clinging to them at the base of the distant mountains. The orange sunlight bathed the platform in warmth. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

They reached the landing area with time to spare, and Arion let Kyre handle making small talk with the Stelte Sovereign. A disturbed murmur went through the guards after a short time. Following their gazes, Arion made out a large, dark form winging through the air toward the platform.

"Emex, is that Izbega?" Sovereign Stelte turned to ask the younger guard.

"Yes, Sovereign. I thought it best that he be on hand…"

The dragon soared over the platform, the rushing air around his form creating a slow whir that receded as he circled and rose higher, patrolling a wide loop over the field. Dragons were another thing Gens Stelte brought to them that Kyre had neglected to bring up earlier, although perhaps they fell under weapons to her mind. The beasts had certainly made ground attacks on Eglait Blaeya all but impossible during the war. They were massive things, all black, armored scales and spiny fins, with teeth like daggers and a disturbing ability to breath fire or acid. The leathery, webbed wings that extended from their front legs weren't enough to logically keep the dragons aloft, just as Arion's own wings would not hold him without the magic that flowed through them. The creatures were an embodiment of whatever fierce magic sat beneath Eglait Blaeya's surface. When Eglait Blaeya had been colonized centuries ago, the Acharynians had discovered that certain individuals, like Emex, could develop an affinity with the dragons, which had allowed them to domesticate some of them and use them as beasts of war.

Arion glanced over at Emex and saw that her eyes were glued to the dragon. As he watched, her normally motionless form shifted slightly, and she craned her neck to watch as it circled again.

Torelex announced the shuttle was entering the atmosphere, and they all turned as the fiery streak of it descended in the distance. The flames winked out, and in time, the dark shape of the approaching ship grew until Arion could clearly make out its engines. It had slowed to a crawl by the time it reached the field where they were hovering, and it took some time for the crew to carefully dock with the platform and set up ramps to allow its passengers to disembark. Finally, the first figures appeared in the exit hatch, and Arion scanned the small crowd, wondering if the new royal was among them.

At the front, he recognized Sovereign Consort Yelgem Stelte, and the man quickly came forward to be greeted with affection by Sovereign Stelte. Behind him, several guards flanked a group consisting of two older women, one older man, and a teenage male. Arion eyed the teenager with apprehension. He'd been assuming his bride to be a woman, but the Sovereign had never confirmed that, only noting that the adopted royal was slightly younger than Arion. This boy looked a lot younger.

Arion noticed that Torelex and Emex had positioned themselves facing Kyre and him, respectively, and their legs were set apart in a stance that clearly indicated they were acting as a barrier between the Stelte party and the Sones contingent. He frowned and fixed Emex with a pointed look, flaring his wings slightly in irritation when she evenly met his gaze. Most guards would have adopted a distant stare to avoid making challenging eye contact with anyone above their rank, but Emex seemed yet to learn how to behave in the presence of royalty. It was not Arion's place to teach her; it would be below him to even speak to her. The woman seemed to know it, calmly maintaining her position and waiting for her Sovereign to finish greeting his family. Arion thought he saw a flicker of amusement in her eyes, even though she kept her face motionless.

Finally, Sovereign Stelte turned back to them and brought his husband forward, causing the two guards to drift outward and out of the way so the two parties could meet. Sovereign Stelte introduced the new arrivals, who turned out to be his sisters, Misaiah and Zenla, Misaiah's husband, Yalomyah, and their son, Teopilus. Arion eyes darted back to the ship, but the last of the Stelte guard had already cleared the ramp, and the crew was preparing to undock. He sighed and set his mind to making their allies feel welcome, asking all the required questions about their journey from Eglait Blaeya, smiling and laughing at his sister's prompts, and generally attempting to be a charming future relative. There weren't any townships in view on their trip back to the palace, but he told the Steltes the names of various mountains and described some of the amusements his sister had planned for their stay.

They were a little more than halfway through the slow sail back to the palace when a tingle ran across Arion's wings and energy flared in his chest. Everyone on the platform immediately was on alert as several magic portals flared around the ship. Several guards shouted the alarm as winged and armored figures materialized and descended on the ship. They wore helmets with facemasks, and nothing on their dark clothing revealed their identity. Arion wished he had brought a weapon, but Kyre had recommended the Sones representatives do their best to appear welcoming. He had no choice but to fall back into a ring of Sones guards. He glanced over to make sure the Steltes were all being protected in time to see Emex begin firing her laser gun, moving out alongside two guards.

"Their armor's resistant; switch to pulse rifles!" He heard Torelex yell from the opposite side of the group.

Emex fell back as a pair of guards ran forward with longer guns, but as Arion watched, she tracked the enemy flyers carefully, waiting until one slipped onto the deck before firing a brutal shot that burned straight into the gap between his visor and chest armor.

"Prepare for shield up!" One of the Sones guards called over the din, and after a moment, Arion saw the shield come to life, making the field of view outside slightly distorted.

Torelex ordered his men to hold fire, and they waited for reinforcements from the palace. There weren't any weapons on the transport platform that could handle assailants at close range, and they couldn't fire through the shield without damaging it.

Arion saw more men guiding a large weapon through one of the portals.

"Take cover! Shield breaker!" The Sones guard commander motioned for them all to get down, and Arion huddled next to Jariden.

The first shot made them all cringe, and burning blue plasma arched across the shield as the platform trembled. There was a long delay as their enemies waited for the weapon to recharge; then, a second shot came. This time, Arion saw a speckling of brighter light on the shield. It wouldn't hold up to repeated direct hits. There was a sudden flurry of motion outside, the armed men turning and firing down at the ground with their guns. Then, the platform rocked as a dark shape rose beside it.

With a growl, Emex's dragon seized the shield breaker in its jaws knocking the men grasping it aside as it flapped upward. With a jerk of its massive head, the dragon flung the weapon away and down into the field; it would be destroyed by the impact with the ground, Arion had no doubt. The dragon roared as Arion saw several energy blasts impact its hide, and it twisted in the air to circle away.

"Look out!"

The platform shuddered again, and Arion turned to see they had brought out another shield breaker on the other side. The shield seemed to corrode away in places, and although it slowly slid back into place, Arion knew the next impact would probably breach it fully. He looked in the direction of the palace. He could clearly see ships on their way now, but they wouldn't get here in time.

An squealing roar came from below them, and the men on either side of the ship released a barrage of fire downwards that tracked up as the dragon rose in another attack run. The men with the shield breaker scrambled back through their portal and winked out seconds before the snapping jaws of the enraged dragon could reach them. It growled as it looped away out of range.

"Move! Move!" Torelex screamed, pushing Sovereign Stelte and his family toward the stern.

Arion spun to see another shield breaker fixed on their position and scrambled out of the way, moving with his group toward the bow as the sound of the weapon firing was followed by something whining below the deck and a hot wave of energy. Air rushed around him, and Arion knew the shield had failed. Men spilled in from all sides, firing at the guards, who had closed around their charges and activated their shields.

Although a few men branched off to fire at the Sones cluster, most rushed the Steltes. Arion, crouched next to Kyre now, watched as the two sides exchanged fire. It was clear that the number of attackers exceeded the number of pulse rifles, but the Stelte guards were firing laser rounds whenever their enemies got close enough to avoid their armor. He saw at least two assailants take shots to the wings and go down before they all began landing on deck and hiding them. The Stelte guard wasn't holding back when it came to defending the gens.

They were putting up a fierce resistance, but more and more armored men were tumbling through the portals and onto the deck. Then, a dark shadow fell across them all, and several screams erupted as the Eglait Blaeyan dragon landed on the platform. Its muscular hind legs straddled the stern awkwardly as it braced its clawed knuckles on either side of the Stelte group and began snapping its head downward, grabbing man after man with audible crunches and tossing them over the sides.

The deck began to tilt, and Arior realized the weight of the dragon was pulling it down to one side; the transport wasn't meant to take this sort of off-center load. He could only watch in horror as the dragon lunged forward after a handful of men and caused the balance to tilt even further. Everyone started yelling at once, trying to hold on to one another and the few pieces of bolted furniture present on the smooth surface. The Stelte adolescent suddenly slid loose from the group with a terrified scream.

"Teo!"

Arion saw Emex shake herself from Torelex's grasp and slide down the deck after him.

"Emex, no!" Torelex roared after her.

With the shield offline and no power to the protective force fields that would have secured the edges of the platform, the youngest Stelte slid right off the side and out into the open air, Emex following an instant later. They both dropped out of sight.

The dragon growled above them and suddenly a furnace blast of flame erupted overhead, directed at what men remained flying near where Emex and the boy had fallen. Stepping back toward the other side and causing the deck to jerk back upwards with a heave, the beast released a second run of flame, this time dragging its head in a slow arc along the ring of magic portals surrounding the ship. The portals snapped closed, one after another, and men stranded on this side quickly found themselves targets of the dragon and rifle fire from the Stelte guard.

The thrum of approaching guard ships was clearer now, and a couple bright streaks of laser fire announced that reinforcements from the palace were finally in range. The last of the surviving raiders were quickly dispatched. Arion was on his feet as soon as his guard allowed it, surveying the damage. He saw a few guards from both gentes who appeared wounded, but overall, the losses didn't appear too bad at first glance.

Torelex jogged to the edge of the platform, a set of broad, hawk-like wings with russet feathers bursting awkwardly from his back as he flung himself off the edge. Two other Stelte guards were right behind him, spreading wings and diving off the edge in search of their lost gensfolk.

Sovereign Stelte trotted toward the edge, his own deep silver wings raised as though he might take flight himself.

"Move out of the way!"

A voice drifted up from below. After a moment of delay, Emex flapped into view, and Arion found himself struggling to make sense of what he was seeing. She held Teopilus Stelte gripped tight to her torso, arms locked across the young man's chest, legs crossed around his hips. Arion would have struggled to hold even a small child in flight; only an absolute torrent of magic could have allowed Emex to rise up with the full weight of another man. But that wasn't what had him gaping. Her wings were absolutely massive, extending far wider than her own height on either side of her body, and they gleamed in the afternoon sun, dark gray flashing reflections of silver as the light shimmered along the metallic feathers. Royal feathers, like darkened steel.

She finally maneuvered herself back over the platform and tried to release her cargo as close to the deck as possible before fluttering backward and collapsing to the deck herself. There, she panted for breath, head down, wings splayed out in their full glory for all to see.

"Sun's light…" Arion heard Kyre whisper behind him in awe.

The Stelte guards rose up behind her and landed outside her wingspan. Torelex quickly scanned the deck for remaining threats before settling into a guard position by her side. All these weeks, Arion had assumed Emex was shadowing the guard captain, but he now realized that it had been the exact opposite.

"Teopilus!" Misaiah Stelte rushed forward, her husband right behind her. They embraced the youth, his mother sobbing. He was shaking and seemed to be too shocked to respond, but he did not appear to be hurt as far as Arion could tell.

Finally, Emex raised her head and arched her shoulders, retracting her wings back out of sight. Her face was flushed and gleaming with sweat. She remained kneeling on the deck, looking up at the dragon still perched above the group.

Arion stepped forward until he could see Sovereign Stelte's face. The man was looking at Emex with a mixture of relief and displeasure.

"Sovereign…?" Arion prompted.

Sovereign Stelte glanced at Arion, then back at Kyre, and frowned a moment before straightening and facing them more formally.

"Sovereign Select Sones, Sovereign Sibling… This is not the formal introduction I had planned… Allow me to present my daughter, Emex Stelte."

Behind him, Emex broke off from gazing at her dragon to turn and meet Arion's eyes, her expression all resignation.