Day 352 (330)

Day 352 (330)
Orania woke us, hands full of parchment and journals.
"Morning, Sisters. We've been busy this morning. We've checked every Royal Guard and found that the Ranak has only six members. The Ronok, which was the elite King's Guard, is now some of the leadership among the Royal Guard. Some Ranak also make up the leadership. The Queen sent a formal order for the Ranak to disband and merge with the Royal Guard. This was their reply."
Orania showed us a pouch filled with shredded parchment and the Queen's seal snapped into pieces. She unearthed a worn book from her stack.
"They sent this as their argument for defying a direct order from their Queen and why she cannot disband them even though they are her guard."
Orania handed the book to Lisa as she told us to follow her to breakfast. Lisa read the book silently, but we could, mentally, hear what she was reading. It was a very old rule book, clearly outlining the duties of every member of the Queen's Guard, from squire to general to Ranak. Repeatedly, the same statement was made: "Due to female nature, no Queen can disband any part nor dismiss any person of the Queen's Guard unless a crime has been committed." The fact they felt it had to be not only stated, but repeated so often made it all the more insulting.
In the dining room, we asked Orania for the rules for the King's Guard. When she found it, we noticed it was much thinner than the other.  Nowhere, not once, did it state that a King could not disband nor dismiss anyone in his Guard. It actually encouraged the King to "cull the corp" frequently and "forcefully" of those unworthy to serve him. It also encouraged him to  "offer" his unworthy guards as "gifts" to the Queen's Guard. This, too, was very insulting.
The Crowns entered, worry hanging over them. They saw us and the objects we were studying. Some of the worry lifted. They sat.  Elenvarna let Sarvicnal voice their worry.
"Are you as outraged as we? Such archaic notions and shameful attitude towards the Queen, the very person they are sworn to protect. I am embarrassed to just now being educated on these rules of conduct."
"Have you read these, Sire? These at the instructions for your Guards," I stood and showed him the thinner book.
Reading it quickly, Sarvicnal's glow changed to red as his anger grew. He reached a point where he could contain it no longer. He slammed the book down had enough to rattle the dishes. He stood and stormed out of the room. Elenvarna was weeping, at a loss for words.
Getting both books, we searched for the authors of these irritating tomes. To our dismay, they were both written by the same person.
"Orania, do you know this Cardon of Meanash?" Alice asked.
"Cardon? He wrote these? Get the King, he needs to hear what I have to say."
Lisa ran out and returned with Sarvicnal. His glow still had a red tint, but was otherwise normal. They sat to listen to what Orania had to say.
"The Sisters found that Cardon of Meanash wrote both of these books. It freezes my blood to hear this news. For centuries, Cardon was hailed as a great thinker, a man who could bring enlightenment to all the 'dark minds' of Crialas and beyond. It was not until his death that the truth became known. He was a Drow, and outcast of his people who rankled against their female leadership. We've been trying to undo his damage since his death, during Oarvicnal's reign."
"So, these books are his attempt to make sure female rulers are powerless, unable to even decide on the personnel of her own guard. No wonder they are so offensive. I hope these rules are no longer followed by our current guard?" Sarvicnal inquired as he held Elenvarna's hands.
"Except for the Ranak, no guard in this Kingdom follows these rules," Janesh said from the doorway, "We rewrote the codes of conduct during your absences. We only revived the Queen's Guard when we had a queen to protect."
"So, why does the Ranak still follow these ridiculous rules?" Lisa asked.
"They told me that they feel the new rules do not apply to them since they were written when no Queen's guard existed. As there is no specific wording saying 'this includes the Queen's Guards', they do not accept them nor intend to follow them. Fortunately, the six Ranak are the only ones who heed these preposterous rules."
A large part of the cloud of worry over the Crowns vanished with that statement. They turned to the subject of Lisa's upcoming combat. The full moon was only a few days away. These were seasoned soldiers. Did she really think she could win?
"I am destined to be the Queen's personal guard, teacher and protector of the heirs of Crialas. Bo has been prophesied to shield the cradle of Crialas. I have no doubt that will come to pass. If combat is the only way to achieve these destinies, then I will succeed."
The Crowns, Janesh, and Orania were still doubtful, but agreed that it was Lisa's choice.
After breakfast, we went to Sarvicnal's training room. Dummies, bags, and other equipment left no doubt to the purpose of this place. Janesh offered to spar with Lisa. With staves, the two had at it. One or two  at a time, the staff entered, drawn by the sounds of combat. At first, they didn't take this activity seriously. A near miss to Janesh's head changed his attitude. Removing his jacket and tunic, he faced Lisa bare-chested, showing the scars of combat. Lisa absorbed his stronger strikes and responded in kind. Soon, the clash of staves echoed loudly in the room and down the halls. Even the guards at the doors heard the noise and rushed to investigate. They stayed to watch and cheer. The fighters only paused when the staves broke in half. In short order, they found wooden swords and continued to battle. Sweat was pouring off of both of them when Lisa made a sweeping move, disarmed Janesh, and asked him to yield. Shocked, Janesh could only nod his reply. Lisa dropped her battered sword and collapsed to sit on the floor. Janesh plopped down beside her. The staff, realizing that they were not working, quickly left the room. The Crowns  and Orania were just as shocked as Janesh. Sarah went to them to check for wounds. Bo conjured a breeze to cool the pair. Finally, Janesh was able to speak.
"By the Holy, where did you learn to fight like that? Those moves, the stamina, the power, never have I seen such. I have been a soldier for two hundred years and you bested me. I ... I am flabbergasted."
"My trainers did not separate boys and girls in the arena. Our village is on a major trade route. Bandits, vagabonds, and ne'er-do-wells come through all the time. We had to be ready for combat of all types. Some of our trainers were former outlaws," Lisa said, still panting a bit.
Janesh just nodded, saving his breath to recover. The other elves began to have hope, having seen Lisa in action.
While we waited for the fighters to rest, Set and our other partners investigated the training room. Echo found the practice dummy fascinating until a wrong push sent one of its weapon arms swinging and nearly colliding with her. It now bears a scorch mark where she vented her displeasure. Set found the strength station. After explaining its purpose, Set began testing himself as to how much he could lift. By the time he reached his limit, the rack of weights was nearly empty.  Bo, also, tested his strength, seeing how much he could carry and still fly.  We were all surprised that he could almost lift a child by himself.  Dawn just looked around the room, not being overly interested in any one thing.
We remained in the training room until lunch. During that time, we all experimented with various types of practice weapons. Alice, Anna, and Sarah, unused to anything like a weapon other than the Swords, simply tried not to smack themselves as they tested the wooden equivalents of various arms. Greta, Callie, and I, having welded pitchforks, axes, and other tools of labor, found we had enough skill to not injure ourselves. The elves tried not to be critical, but their faces told us their opinions. Janesh and Sarvicnal unearthed some "cutting  dummies". These were meant to be sliced by real swords.
"To satisfy curiosity, would you use the Swords on these. We have seen your skill. We would like to see your combined skill, if you please," Sarvicnal requested.
Not an outrageous request, we agreed. The two men set the dummies up around the room in preset notches on the walls and post holes in the floor. We decided on the order: Alice, Anna, Gretta, Callie, Sarah, myself, then Lisa. The men signaled when they were ready.
Envy pulled on her knowledge and her post guardians. Not at expert level, they did manage a few deadly slices and stabs. Even though Sloth was a wizard, he and Anna landed some serious blows, in spite of Sloth's edge not being sharp.  Gretta's height let Greed show her some moves Janesh called "man-killers". Wrath, having been a warrior, and Callie gave the elves a show of "dwarf death strikes", which cleaved a few limbs and heads off the dummies. Sarah and Lust were a bit clumsy, but stated that they were aquatic fighters, not land ones. Vanity and I left a bit of destruction in our wake and some wide-eyed looks. Finally, Lisa and Gluttony, both being defenders of their homes, laid waste to a cluster of dummies. The elves seemed impressed. We helped clean up before following the Crowns to lunch.
As we ate, they commented on our techniques. Sarah offered to re-do hers in water, but was told it was not necessary. Janesh  mentioned us showing the Guard some of our moves. When he did,  I felt a pressure in my head. I asked Orania for an empty book. She found one quickly. Placing my hands on both sides, I let the pressure roll down my arms to my hands. The book glowed briefly. When the glow faded, I gave it to Janesh.
 "Here you are. This should be sufficient," I told him.
He looked at it warily before opening.  Upon opening the book, he became fascinated, turning the pages quickly.
"Sire, my Queen, look at this,"  he stood up and raced to them.
The three of them were wide-eyed as they examined it. Sarvicnal looked at me.
"Kayla, this is astounding. Every move you performed and how to execute it. Plus, there are dozens of other moves in here. I do not know how you did this, but I foresee our troops becoming the best trained anyone has ever seen."
"Sire, even I am not sure how I do things. When a true need is voiced, I am compelled to do something about it. I don't know if this is Faerie nature or Starcrystal's, but it is something I must do or suffer until it is done."
"Even before we left Denar," Callie told them, "everyone knew that Kayla could be counted on to do 'the impossible' if the need was great. Some accused her of hiding what was lost or stealing it in the first place. It was not until she found a missing child no one else could find did they, finally, acknowledge she had 'the gift' as they put it. A few in my own family, to the day we left, still believed she was conning everyone."
"Starcrystal's influence has been with you all your life?" Orania asked, trying to wrap her mind around it.
"Apparently, even though I didn't know it then, I have had, what one elder called, 'stardust in my steps'. That was a term for those who were born 'lucky'," I answered.
"Come to think of it," Callie commented, "a lot of our neighbors were obsessed with stars. Do you think Starcrystal's temple had anything to do with that?"
"It may have, but her weakened state may not have imparted the knowledge of stars, just the desire to know. If they had fully known, the position of the Twin Stars in the Great Dragon at our birth would have meant something to them," I told her.
"Wait," Sarvicnal and Narvicnal spoke, then Sarvicnal continued, "The Great Dragon awoke during your birth? Both of you were born on the same night?"
"In the same hour," Callie answered, "The mid-wife was cleaning up from Kayla's birth as she went from her house to mine. My dad said that she was glad we lived so close or she could not have done both herself."
The elves exchanged looks. Being so long lived, the elves knew the significance of this event. They looked at Set and Echo. Sarvicnal had Orania document it and cross-check it with their accounts. "Someone" should record it, he stated.
After lunch, we all went out to where the Royal Guard trained. Janesh showed our combat book to the master trainers. They, too, were fascinated and asked for a demonstration. Even Sarah, in a nearby pool, joined us in showing how to execute the various moves. Quick and observant, the elves repeated them flawlessly after only a few tries.
As Lisa was doing her moves, I felt a point of shock and anger. Following this, I located the leader of the Ranak hiding in the shadows. His anger grew when he realized he had been seen. He slipped deeper into the darkness and tried to escape my detection. He did not know that his anger was a beacon in my sight. No matter where he tried to conceal himself, I still let him know he was seen. Furious, he stormed away.
We were still on the training grounds when an elf, much larger than any we had yet seen, swaggered out, parting the rest before him. He wore the Ranak uniform.
"You!" he shouted, pointing at me, "My commander says you are untrustworthy and cannot stay in the presence of the Queen. You and your pet will leave the palace at once."
Everyone was dumb-struck. Since we weren't moving, this large elf assumed we were refusing and made to grab me. Set, in an instant, slammed him to the ground and pinned him where they landed. When he got his breath back, the Ranak seemed unimpressed.
"Call off your pet before I hurt him. Dumb animals should not suffer for their owners foolishness."
"Not dumb," Set said clearly, "Not own me. We are krukrr. We stay."
Ranak, obviously, did not believe in the intelligence of dragons, as Set's words surprised the large elf. The Ranak leader, watching from the shadows, was equally surprised. Set's actions emboldened the Royal Guards, who extracted the large elf and, loudly, escorted him off the grounds and out of the palace. They returned with his uniform. They handed it to the Queen.
"A crime, attempted assault on a Royal guest. By their out-dated rules, he is, as they say, culled," one of the master trainers announced, loud enough for the consealed leader to hear.
Elenvarna accepted the uniform. She handed it off to a staff person to "put away". The Ranak leader slinked off.
Near sunset, a valet found us and announced that the Ladernelle group had returned. We followed him and the Crowns to the front doors. This was a much changed group. They could barely face the Crowns.
"Your Majesties," one began softly, "we have gravely erred. Since leaving here, we have sought in every corner of Crialas Pagaou for twelve others who share our views. Rich, poor, old, young, priest, criminal, noble, or common, we sought them all. As you can see, our party had not grown, but shrank. A few, after being laughed at by so many, could not face you and headed home. We, however, made the deal to return and settle our differences. The people of Ladernelle congratulate the Crowns on the impending births of three royal heirs."
The Queen was in tears. The King was choked up. The group bowed and left. We all went back inside for dinner.
Orania came in after we had been seated for a while. She had an armful of parchment.
"In a fit of curiosity, I looked up previous events during the Great Dragon's waking. While it is not long, it is impressive. I thought you might like to see it."
The pages were passed around the circular table. Once name caught our attention.
"Derrok Tatamore? He was born during Awakening? He was the last to ride an Emperor, we think. His story is a bit sketchy," I told them.
Orania examined his page, "I shall see what we have on him."
We told her what little we knew to aid her search.
The Royal Nursery had seven real beds when we retired for the night. Set also had a bed-like mat for his comfort. Dawn settled on the perch she had used before. Echo returned to the ornamental ceiling to hang and sleep. Bo took his usual spot, curled upon Lisa's stomach, since she hardly moved in her sleep. Through the window, we noted the phase of the moon. Full in two days.