Chapter 48

Talia met the King's gaze with a deep burning rage. He traipsed around clad in finery, though her real anger came from the color. He was wearing the same color of red as herself. He seemed proud and cocky as usual. The whores surrounding him kept their eyes glued to the ground. They all wore nothing but red bras, panties, and thin chemise shawls that did nothing to cover their bodies. The King was sending a message, she was certain she didn't like it one bit.

"Crown jewel?" She uttered dumbly. What in the Gods names could he mean by that?

"The time has come to announce to the world the arrival of a new rider." He spoke confidently as he grabbed a full goblet of wine from a platter in the hands of one of his harlots. She whimpered lowly though Talia was certain he never heard her. He spun on his heel and marched back, the smug look on his face reminded her of a fat hog.

"Indeed? And this is your decision?" She emphasized the 'your' part with a snap of her teeth. As if anyone could tell her what to do.

"Of course, as your King it is my duty and honor to decide when you will do things and how they will be done. Now that you've apparently healed, we can start to spread the influence..."

"I'll stop you right there, I am not going to be doing anything more for you. In fact now that I am healed I think it's time I continued on my journey. I'm sure you're aware of the old laws, Riders were not pawn pieces of kingdoms but were in fact independent of local politics and governments." She could tell by the look on his face that he was not pleased with her sudden knowledge of law. His lips thinned as he set his goblet of wine down on his desk.

"I don't think you realize just how precarious your position within my court is, Lady Talia. You owe me your life. You owe me a great deal. More than that, I own your friends. If you haven't noticed the 'Old Laws' did not serve the riders well. In fact I'd say it didn't serve any of them considering they've all long since died." His voice grew more serious as he held out a hand. Lotus grunted, grasping at her stomach as if in pain. Not a moment later she took stiff lurching steps towards the King. Talia's skin prickled at the feeling of necromantic mana filling the room.

'He's the necromancer? He's a god damned midget!' She thought to herself incredulously. Although her real question was how a man like Gordon managed to acquire the skills and pool of mana to do what he did. Humans had notoriously short lifespans, but necromancers... They could live for centuries. How old was he? And more to the point, how much mana did he have to throw away?

"Is this the path you want to take, little King?" She spoke with a deadly serious tone, her rage uncoiling like a venomous snake within her. Lotus's eyes were flickering between panicked and vacant, Talia's work was holding but only just. She wasn't sure how he still had a grip on the woman but she had a feeling it would quickly grow stronger if she didn't intervene. He smiled slowly, the look on his face made it clear he wasn't going to back down.

"You have no choice if you want to preserve the life of your friends. Or would you prefer I kill her now? I could release you from these chains..." He grabbed a knife from his belt and pressed it to Lotus's throat, a small bit of blood dribbled free from the wound. Talia could smell it, the acrid scent of copper and mana. She shivered slightly as she struggled to maintain her form. The longer she stayed cuffed the more Madora's spell broke down, she was running out of time if she didn't want to crush every single person in the King's quarters.

"Do you know why they call me the Hound?" She tried to stop the shaking in her legs, the burning sensation in her bones was becoming hotter as each minute passed. Would her body break? She tried to fortify herself, gritting her teeth she stood straighter and summoned every ounce of strength she could muster. She prayed quickly to Hephatus, hoping that her next move wouldn't require a lot of mana. The King paused as a look of minor curiosity and annoyance flickered across his face.

"Does it matter? That isn't who you are anymore. The world has no need for the Hound. Now you are a rider, the rider, and that is your identity above all else." He sounded so sure of himself it almost drew a laugh from her. He knew nothing, he lived in a tower of ignorance and delusions. How long had he locked himself away in his towers satisfying his lust for women and food? He was badly disconnected from the state of the world and the state of his people. If anything the world needed her as the Hound now more than ever.

"No? Do you think that one can just walk away from the life lived under Hephatus? That it doesn't follow you forever? I will always be the Hound, I will always be a killer. The gods may have wanted more for me but they cannot change what I am now despite their best efforts.

I am the Hound because the day I was marked and born anew into the world was the day I was blessed with a power. When I awoke from my journey a flaming dog erupted from my mark, the first gift Hephatus gave me. This dog became my callsign, my name became Hound and my mask formed to the likeness of my familiar. It is not something I can simply throw away and forget. This is who I am." Talia raised her hand and called upon her goddess, hoping against hope that Ibis would respond despite her lack of mana and dwindling strength.

'I am always here.' Hephatus's voice was soft in her mind before an eruption of burning pain jolted her arm. She was forced to close her eye as fire exploded outward. When she was able to open her eye again she saw the hulking form of Ibis, both heads turning and watching the humans closely. The hounds' body moved fluidly as it paced the breadth of the room, maws open and panting as it waited eagerly for her command. She started to see spots, her vision blurring in and out as her heart raced in her chest. Too far, too far, she chanted to herself. But there was no stopping now, it was like lighting a bomb, all she could do was brace for the impact.

"Get rid of that monster! Take it back, destroy it, whatever you do it had better not take a single step else your friend here will be its first taste of blood!" The King shouted while shaking the knife on Lotus's throat. Sweat was beading on his forehead at the heat of Ibis's flame. His eyes were darting wildly from her to the monster as he wondered just who would prove more dangerous to him.

Luckily her gamble had paid off, none of the Kings harlots were willing to stay in a room full of monsters and neither was a large portion of his guard. They streamed out the door screaming and wailing in a panic. She smiled as they abandoned him. It would seem that the biggest weakness a necromancer had was controlling the living.

"Lotus!" Talia called out harshly as she rushed forward. Lotus blinked quickly before wrenching herself out of the King's grasp. She threw out a hand which Talia took before she spun around and threw Lotus out of the room. She grunted as she hit the wall, though something surprisingly squishy and human shaped managed to break her fall. She hissed deeply as she pulled herself away, grabbing at her side only to realize that she was bleeding. A lot.

"You little cock-weasel!" She would have turned to berate him if an entire squad of spear bearing guards weren't bearing down on them through the hall. She threw her hand out and ordered Ibis forward, mentally encouraging the beast to rip them all apart and devour them. Ibis burst forward with a roar as it plowed into the men. Only when she was certain they wouldn't prevail did she turn to face the King.

Gordon was crouching in front of his balcony, a look of pure terror on his face. He was shaking like a misshapen leaf on the wind, teeth clattering as he slid backwards. She wasn't sure where he thought he would go, but she was glad he chose to go outside. She could feel her body giving way to the spell as it finally crumbled and broke. Without further hesitation she rushed him, reaching out she grabbed a hold of him as she launched them both off the balcony and into the air. Between his screams of terror and her screams of jubilation she wasn't sure who was louder.

Flipping in the air she stopped her struggles against the inevitable and allowed herself to finally grow to her true height. She only fell for a split second before she was standing. With a groan she straightened her back and stretched, clenching Gordon in her left hand. He screamed and tried to struggle but it was fruitless, her hand enveloped him completely.

Now that she was finally free of the cuffs she could feel the headache receding, not to mention the painful burning in her bones had finally dissipated to nothing more than an annoying itch. The outside air was a relief, she took a deep breath just to enjoy the feeling again. She could smell the rain on the air, storms were brewing just beyond the mountain rises. She could even smell the trees which lie miles away. Everything felt so new, so fresh, so tantalizing. She was practically buzzing with energy.

"Release me!" Gordon screamed, though his voice sounded more distant than he looked in her hand. She looked at her hand wondering what an appropriate end for him would be, she had no intentions of allowing him to live. Though there were dozens of delightful ways to make him suffer for all his sins. She could burn him, crush him, lock him in chains and feed him to the worms in his own dungeons... The possibilities were endless.

'Let me eat him!' Reezara's voice rang clear in her head. Talia looked around the city, Reezara was flying quickly above the rooftops as she gained altitude. Her flight was still a little uncertain, her body looked as if it struggled for every gain in feet upwards as her massive wings fought against the air. Her tail whipped around in a desperate effort to keep her aloft, though the faster she flew the more certain she became. From her vantagepoint as a giant Reezara seemed tiny, though she was the size of a large draft-horse now.

'Are you certain you could hold his weight?' While her skill in flight was getting better with every wing-flap Talia was still uncertain if she was ready to carry the weight of an adult human. Reezara flapped wildly as she circled Talia's head before landing lightly upon her right horn. She released a trill of a screech, the only roar she could muster so far.

'If not, I suppose he shall fall. Tragic, but I'll still get to eat him.' Her voice was full of dark humor as she imagined his body breaking upon the ground with a lick of her lips. Talia shrugged, he wasn't her problem if she fed him to a dragon. She turned and cocked her shoulder, enjoying the feel of her muscles bunch. She hoped he'd die the moment he was thrown from her grasp, though she also hoped he wouldn't be so lucky as that. She threw him as hard as she could, the moment he left her grasp Reezara rocketed from her horn and up into the air with another screech of a roar. She disappeared into the sky as she raced after him, it was almost like a morbid game of fetch.

With that taken care of Talia turned her attention back to the castle, she wasn't entirely satisfied yet with the result of things. She was still angry, terribly so, which drove her to plunge her fist into the stone as hard as she could with a roar of her own. Stone exploded outward as she destroyed the wing of the castle floor by floor. The destruction was beautiful, it filled her with a sense of sick satisfaction. As her fist hit the ground she saw a sliver of flame which raced back up her arm only to dissipate, it would seem Ibis had seen to its task and completed it. She wondered how many had died, and how many it had eaten.

Pulling back up she admired her handiwork. She wondered what it would be like to stomp her way through the city, destroying everything as she went. But as she turned to contemplate it she saw the streets filled to the brim with people all shouting at her. At first she wondered if they were angry with her, hoping their screams would drive her away. It wouldn't be the first time humans thought themselves scary enough to push her out of their towns. But then she saw along the walls banners unfurl with the Ermyrra crest, though this one had been altered slightly.

Each banner was black as night with a deep red dragon-head embroidered into its center. The dragon head was the most solid but behind it she could see glittering gold threads which shaped into a flaming horse. It was certainly a twist on her crest, but she would recognize the flaming horse from anywhere. How had they gotten a hold of her crest? How had they known?

'Heads up!' Her gaze snapped up to the sky where a small black bird was rocketing towards her, it's mouth open as it screamed in glee. She reached up quickly just as Nico transformed into his human form. She hissed in exasperation as she curled him close to her chest, he was lucky she was quick or he would have sailed right past her and into the towers behind her. She could feel her heart twist in glee, she wanted to crush him to her and never let go. Hearing his voice was a weight off of her chest that she hadn't even realized she was carrying.

'You stupid little man!' She squealed across their mental link. It took everything in her not to spin around and dance. He leapt from her hand and climbed his way up her hair which had slipped free from its braids to settle on her shoulder with a smug grin. He looked a little worse for wear, more pale than normal, but alive and well.

'I see you've decided to show the world what an ass you are.' He shot back affectionately. She watched as the people bounced around excitedly. Now she could hear them chanting,

"Queen! Queen! Talia!"

"The bastard is dead! Praise the gods! Praise the Rider!"

"Bless the dawn!"

They were shouting all sorts of nonsense but Talia was most taken aback by their chanting of 'Queen'. Did they not realize she had no intentions of sticking around now that Gordon was gone?

'Madora cleaned out all the rest of his little threads, everything linked to Gordon is dead or dying and soon to be burned and buried like the scum they are. She set this all into motion, she's spent months sowing the seeds of rebellion within the population here. They've learned your name, memorized your face, and started crafting everything needed to showcase your new reign as queen here.' Nico explained brightly from his perch. He seemed awfully excited, she noted irately, as he spoke.

'Queen seems like an awfully lofty title. It won't stick.' She assured him. Arboros had been ruled by humans since its birth, they would never accept someone like her at the helm. Especially after she destroyed the castle. She wasn't done destroying either, she just wasn't sure she wanted to rampage with everyone clogging the streets like idiots. Nico laughed aloud as he kicked his feet out to sit on her shoulder.

"I think you'd be surprised! Madora filled me in after you were drug off, it would seem Fate has some big plans for you, for all of us. This is only the beginning, so you'd better get used to this." He shouted before laughing again as fireworks started exploding above them, the glittering flames dazzling Talia as she watched in awe.

As the fireworks started she saw the army marching its way up the main street, banners flying freely behind them. The faces amongst the soldiers were young, gaunt, and jubilant. They were all smiling, all of them pumping their fists in the air. Were they really so happy to have her?

"They're happy to be free, Gordon had everyone chained up like rabid dogs. Starving, aching for anything better. You're like a breath of fresh air to them. There's rumors you've been giving money to the peasants to help them rebuild when Gordon would tear them down. You've got quite the following amongst them. Some would even insist you're a good person." Nico cocked his head with a small smile. Of course no one had to tell him, he knew full well she was a helper to those in desperate need. She always had a way about her, brightening the darkest places with her presence. She was a force of nature, and that was being as literal as possible. There was no stopping Talia once she was set into motion. As he watched the party below it became more apparent than ever.

So much had happened in such a short time, they had been living a life of drudgery not six months ago planning a mundane vacation to gods knew where. Now they were in the midst of a revolution, they were raising mugs and partying. Or they were about to, he had every intention of getting as drunk as possible as soon as possible. He watched as Talia reached out to grab at a nearby explosion, fireworks were popping off everywhere. Her fingers reached out and an explosion of fire erupted from her fingertips lighting up the sky as the sun started to creep above the mountains. It truly was a new dawn, a brighter dawn. He'd never seen a sunrise so beautiful, red, orange, pink, purple, blue, every color he could name blended together. And just as the sun broke the mountain-tops he heard the distinct wing-flaps of Reezara who swooped low with a cry of glee, flame enveloping her as she tried to spit a fire to match her rider's.

'If this is what the future is like, it's not so ugly...' Talia mused to herself as she allowed the happiness to overwhelm her. Arboros was celebrating, and from what she could tell they were breaking into every cellar and every cask to eat and drink it up like the world was ending. Maybe she could stomach staying just a little longer.