Page 43 of No Ordinary Drakeling
Chapter 15
Chrysander followed Damian into a conference room. He offered a smile to Ellery, who was already seated with Zane at his side, then dropped down in the chair next to him. In a perfect world, he’d get to ask a few questions of his mate but the Reverent Knights, the Lich Sentinel, and Skeleton Lord Cassius Daray were striding in and getting settled. As usual, Chrysander had to grind his teeth in dissatisfaction over the enormity of his busy schedule and the impact it was having on the elf he still didn’t get enough time around. Costas shut the door so they could start the meeting.
“Thanks for juggling your schedule to accommodate us,” Conley offered.
“Wesley’s spitting nails but you said it was important, so here we all are,” Chrysander replied.
“Then let’s get straight to the point—there’s been a rash of robberies in Oklahoma. Things have gone missing over several counties, and many stores have been hit. We’re not talking about mass quantities, but some of these shops aren’t large and struggle to survive. This began a few weeks ago,” Drystan revealed. “When we tried to process the scenes, our fallen knights didn’t know what to make of it. They were picking up traces of something elven but not. They figured the culprits were sophisticated enough to confuse their ability to pinpoint the races of the criminals.”
“The two fallen knights that wound up being assigned to the robberies didn’t report that to their superior and instead waited out to see where the perpetrators would strike next. That’s something they’ve been reprimanded for and have lost a level of rank. We don’t sit back and wait to see what’s going on, and I personally made sure they know that,” Conley remarked with a ruthless grin. “As soon as their superior noted the number of unsolved crimes in her jurisdiction, she went up the chain of command, and it made its way to us.”
“We went to Oklahoma and determined there’s no scramble of our senses. There’s a race that’s somehow distantly related to elves as if they share some common ancestor many, many thousands of years ago. When we discovered that, we called in the Sentinel Brotherhood to investigate since they handle outside threats to the Council,” Drystan commented.
“I was brought up to speed yesterday, and we immediately began tracking the essence of this elven relative,” Alaric commented. “What we found was a primitive camp with perhaps thirty to forty men and women. About half are around five feet ten inches, while the others are several inches shorter. Their people rarely venture outdoors and when they do, they’re cloaked so it’s impossible to describe them. Their diet appears to be the same as elves, though not everyone has the same access to the available food, but they live in larger structures with many sleeping in the same hut.”
“Elves will often put an entire extended family in a single hut,” Ellery said.
Alaric nodded. “Yes, which is what we at first thought was going on in this tribe—we’ll call it that for lack of the proper word they use to identify themselves—but we observed a mated pair saying good night to a small child before the boy ran off to sleep in another hut. It appears all the children sleep separately from their parents.”
“It was my duty to watch over them last night,” Skeleton Lord Cassius said. “I found oddities I cannot explain. They even sleep cloaked, and they keep armed guards posted outside each hut. The man who leads them has the largest, and he’s the only one who sleeps alone. As I was prowling around, a man emerged from the leader’s hut, surrounded by four guards. It was about two in the morning, and I got excited because I hoped they were off to commit another robbery.”
“You hoped to catch them in the act?” Chrysander asked.
“Exactly, but that’s not what happened. They walked for nearly an hour to a clearing with several poles and scorched ground. An unarmed man was tied to one of the wooden stakes, and his sentence was read. Apparently, this man they called Ninthali stole food, and I figured they were going to lash him, but he was standing backward for that. Instead, a spear was driven into his chest, and he was set on fire,” Cassius told them grimly.
“When Cass called me to tell me what happened, the Skeleton Seven and I decided it was time to contact their leader directly,” Alaric stated.
“It wasn’t easy to get the guards to allow me in, but I did finally talk to Chieftain Chesvarin. He wouldn’t tell me the name of his people or respond to any of my questions. The chieftain calmly informed me that the only person he would speak to was Emperor Ellery Draconis,” Cassius said.
“So he’s kept up with current events,” Chrysander replied. “I hope to hell he doesn’t think Ellery’s going to march in there by himself.”
“I would like to meet with him. Perhaps there is something we can do for his people,” Ellery stated.
“Yeah, like getting him to join the Council so we can rescue the unarmed ones to save their lives,” Zane bit out.
“I understand in a small tribe with no money how big an offense stealing food can seem, but a death sentence—especially the way it was done—is unacceptable,” Damian added.
“It was barbaric. The man didn’t try to defend himself, but with a cloak on I couldn’t tell if he was gagged or restrained,” Cassius remarked. He was wearing a frown, and the scene must have been grisly to put such a ferocious look on the face of the Skeleton Lord. Cassius and the rest of the Sentinel Brotherhood were once bound to necromancers who’d ordered them against their will to commit atrocities, so they weren’t immune to seeing the worst people could do to each other. Chrysander was friends with the leaders of the Sentinel Brotherhood and had learned that a deep well of compassion existed in each of them. They also grew upset when they perceived someone was acting without honor. Cassius was a great deal angrier than he was letting on, but the assassin was taught too well how to conceal his emotions by the spell that created him.
Chrysander could relate; the idea of a man being speared through the heart, then set on fire for taking some extra food was horrible. It was ironic that this was the same tribe that was pilfering things from other people while punishing their own in such a cruel manner. The Council, however, could only intervene to a point as this tribe—whoever they were—didn’t belong. If they could convince this Chieftain Chesvarin to apply, his people would be governed by Council rules, and they couldn’t condemn anyone over something as trivial as stealing food.
“I assume our afternoon schedule just got more complicated,” Costas threw in. “When do we leave?”
“I don’t trust anyone in that village. The dragons prefer to take care of their own but as Reverent Knight, I can’t knowingly allow you to escort the Council leaders into what we consider a hostile tribe,” Drystan stated.
“As Lich Sentinel, I forbid it,” Alaric added.
“Relax, I was already going to ask you both to give us an escort,” Damian said. “I think we should bring some fallen knights and sentinels. I don’t want to play around with invisibility either. Let them know we’re fucking dangerous, and we’re not going to tolerate nonsense.”
“I’m going as well as the entire Skeleton Seven,” Alaric responded. “I’ll leave the Lich Reaper in charge while we are away.”
“I think it’s best for us to bring Arvandus, perhaps a Juris Knight, and whomever we can grab at Headquarters. We’ll only need a few fallen knights with so many sentinels. I assume the five of you will be going?” Conley asked.
“Absolutely,” Damian replied. “I’ll arrange for transportation. What do you think…leave an hour from now?”
Alaric rose as did the other three men. “We’ll see you later.”
After the sentinels and fallen knights strode out, Damian started chuckling, then fell into loud peals of laughter. Chrysander nudged his brother as he got to his feet. “What’s your problem?”
