Eirathem landed his great dragon just outside the city where six boys sat bound upon the ground. "This is the best they could send against me?" he asked dryly.
"Apparently so," said his head rider, Kaiadon. "This one," he continued, pointing to the second boy, "claims the smallest was with him and was meant not to get into the battle."
Eirathem reached into his bag and pulled a small amount of dirt into his hand. "Water," he said simply.
After the water was added, he stirred the mud with his wand, "Get the smallest on his feet."
Kaiadon walked over and jerked the boy up. The child looked terrified. "This," said Eirathem calmly, "is Casariu'n {the emperor's} mud. If you speak the truth it will harm you not. However, if you lie to me it will burn hotter and hotter until you speak the truth. So you will speak true, will you not?"
The boy nodded his head.
"Aye, Casari," corrected Eirathem sharply.
"A-aye, Casari," the child parroted.
"Hold out your arm," he commanded.
When the child didn't obey immediately, Eirathem grew his wand into a staff and banged it out on the ground, and a stoop wide enough for a man to sit grew out of the ground. "Fehrahndon {head rider}, show this one how we deal with boys who obey not in Casariuhof'n {the emperor's garden}."
Kaiadon sat and pulled the child over his knee. When he had dealt about ten smacks to the boy's bottom, Eirathem said, "That will do. Get him back on his feet."
The child had the beginning of tears streaming down his face. "Hold out your arm," the Emperor commanded again. The boy began to cry harder, but this time obeyed.
"Did you raise your wand against my riders?" asked Eirathem.
The boy shook his head violently. "Answer with your voice," commanded Eirathem.
"N-nae," answered the boy.
Eirathem spread a bit of mud on the boy's arm with his wand. "You speak true," he said, "however if you forget again to speak to me with the proper respect, I will believe you need another lesson in obedience."
"A-aye, Casari," the boy said softly.
"Is your father in the city?" asked Eirathem.
"N-nae," replied the boy.
Eirathem spread the mud showing the boy was telling the truth, then said, "Ten more smacks to his bottom for not showing the proper respect."
Once the boy was back on his feet again, the Emperor said, "I daresay you shall not forget again. Hold out your arm."
The child was crying hard now but obediently held out the arm. "Where is your father?"
"I kn-know n-not, C-Casari!" he cried, "Our fathers were supposed to meet w-with t-the C-Casari; w-we w-were l-left in t-the c-city b-because he l-likes not to b-be b-bothered."
Eirathem shook the remainder of the mud back into his bag then wiped his wand and hand upon his pants. He folded his arms and looked sternly at the boy. "If your father were here, I would set you aside and have him claim you as he left the city. However, he is not, so you shall remain in my care until such time as he reclaims you." Eirathem pointed on a spot on the ground, "You shall sit, and sit quietly whilst I deal with the others. If you obey not you shall get another lesson in obedience."
The boy sat.
Eirathem turned his attention to the remaining boys. The oldest still looked defiant, the second he could tell was worried for his brother, and the last three had differing looks of anxiety on their faces. "What do you plan to do with them?" asked Kaiadon.
Eirathem strode in front of the other five. "They look like myendoi {Myende men} with strong backs. They shall make fine Munde. These Myende, and any others who stand up in defiance of me or my riders shall be given the bonds binding their magic as these have and serve me for a time. These shall serve until my lands have been reclaimed and I invite their fathers to reclaim them. That may be one turn, or thirteen; I have yet to decide. Transport them to my stronghold. They can journey with my Munde and work alongside of them."
"I lay claim to one," said Kaiadon mildly.
"Oh," said Eirathem, "and by what right do you lay claim to him?"
Eirathem knew full well Kaiadon was an heir, but had chosen to allow him to choose the time to reveal it. Kaiadon reached up and loosed the band he had worn all his life and let it fall to his wrist. "You," he said to one of the boys, "on your feet and over here. What does this band say?"
The boy approached cautiously, and as he inspected the band his hands started shaking. "What does it say?" demanded Kaiadon.
"Y-you are the heir of Fifuhus'n {the fifth house}"
"And what house are you from?"
The boy gulped, "F-Fifuhus'n."
"What relation are we?" Kaiadon asked more gently.
"Y-you are my eldest brother. W-we thought you were lost."
"I am very much alive, and well able to deal with you I assure you," he said sternly.
Eirathem said, "You may have him, but the bands remain."
"The
first thing I shall do," he said harshly as he grabbed the boy
by the arm and headed towards the stoop, "Is let you know
exactly
how I feel about a boy raising his wand against riders. You could
have died you fool of a myendelihto {Myende
boy}!"
He strode with
the boy over to the stoop, where he sat down and proceeded to turn
him over his knee. As he began smacking the boy's bottom, he said,
"And while I teach my brother a lesson, somebody shall find a
tunic. For you are dragon boy now, and dragon boys wear tunics so
that when their rider needs to deal with them there is nothing
between that rider's hand and their errant bottoms. And I have the
feeling; I will need to deal with you often."When he was done, he proceeded to change his brother's clothes. Once the boy had been redressed in the tunic he marched him over to where the other boy sat. "Sit there," he said harshly, "on your bottom, hands flat on the ground, head bowed. You are very much in disgrace."
Eirathem said, "We gave them a chance to leave peaceably, and they defied us. So send your riders through the city, and get those people out of there. Give them not time to gather belongings, just get them out. Then go through the city and remove everything we can use. Afterwards, get the brown riders and have them level it. If they need my help to level the city, let me know. This Great City of the Myende shall be no more!"
Eirathem strode over to the wall he had made when he took control of his land. He grew his wand into a staff and ground it into the dirt a bit. Then he used the end to draw two lines on the wall a little wider than the width of a man. He banged his staff between the lines and stone fell away revealing an opening. Changing the staff back into a wand, he made the intricate movements to create the portal only Myende could leave though. Then he strode back to where the boys sat. "Up," he said harshly.
The child rose to his feet looking at Eirathem fearfully and the Emperor said, "Take my hand."
He
walked over to where the remaining boys sat. "You,"
he said pointing to the brother of the boy at his side "shall
say goodbye to your brother. He shall remain with me. Neither of you
need be harmed so long as you obey." He allowed the boys a few
moments together and then called the boy to his side.
He
turned and strode over to the head rider. "Did you confiscate
their wands?" he asked.
"Aye,"
said the rider as he walked over to his dragon and pulled the wands
out of his bag. Eirathem noticed his brother had been moved and now
sat next to his dragon, although the rider still had him sitting in
the stance of disgrace.
"How long do you plan to have him sit that way?" asked Eirathem.
"Mayhap for the remainder of his life," said the rider darkly. Eirathem nodded and took the wands from the man. He held them out to the boy. "Choose yours," he ordered. The boy chose his and then Eirathem broke the others. "Now break yours," he said.
The boy whimpered, but obeyed. "Now that you have broken your wand and shown a willingness to obey, I shall take those cuffs binding your magic off your arms."
He removed the cuffs, and handed them to the rider. "Soon, I shall get a bag for you in the ways of old," said Eirathem to the boy. "Each day you mind, we shall walk amongst the trees, where you shall find things of interest you want to keep in your bag. I may also send you with my riders. When that bag is full, I shall take you to the trees and teach you to make a wand with great might. Do you understand?"
"Aye, Casari," the boy said softly.
"You shall call me if there are any other issues," said Eirathem shortly to the head rider.
"Aye, Casari," he said calmly. "I will have the others taken by dragon to you by tonight."
Eirathem said nothing else, grabbing the boy's hand and striding to his dragon.
No comments:
Post a Comment