Legon Ascension (23 page)

“I agree,” Sasha said, speaking for her and Legon.

“We need to find a way to make sure that the Cona Republic can survive this in case they are invaded,” Sasha pointed out.
 

“Yes, we need to set up evacuation routes for the cities. Sooner or later the Precipice will be attacked, and the dome can’t repel a force that large. The dome was built more as a relations piece for the old Cona Empire,” Sydin said. They spent the next few hours arranging evacuation routes and preparing communication for the other houses. Once approved, the plans would be sent to the Cona Republic to approve or deny.

* * * * *

Sasha made her way out of the conference room and was approached by an Elf with shaggy black hair.
 

He spoke in a liquid smooth voice. “Good afternoon Un Prose, I am Edling.” His gray eyes fell to hers and it took her moment to speak.

“Hello Edling, umm, did we have an appointment?” She asked, embarrassed.

Edling smiled warmly. “No, my father was to teach you about crystals, but he thought it would be good for both of us if I taught you what I know before he takes over. Your assistant said you were free today,” he paused, and added as an afterthought, “Sorry.”

Sasha liked him, and she had never met anyone with that color of eyes. They intrigued her. “That’s fine, let’s go to my apartment so I can get a book for notes. Does that work?”

He motioned for her to lead the way. As she moved, Edling stepped in alongside her, but seemed a little uncomfortable by the looks her guard was giving him. Sasha’s mind flicked out to the closest of her guard. “Is there something wrong?” The guard’s response was slow, and she felt a protective edge. That was different than normal. It surprised her. “You wouldn’t notice, being human, but he…” the guard struggled for words. “He showed a little too much warmth for someone just here to teach you, Un Prose.”
 

She was confused and asked another question. “Too much warmth?” She prodded.
 

The guard huffed and thought in a rush, “His heart rate picked up, so did his breathing and his pupils dilated.”
 

“You mean he was checking me out?” she said to him. “Really?”

The lack of response was all she needed for confirmation. She found it hard to believe that an Elf would be interested in her that way. They were immortal; they didn’t often go for mortals. But her guard was highly trained at reading body language, and she knew they wouldn’t be mistaken. She gave Edling a sideways glance. Like all Elves, he was easy on the eyes and he seemed friendly. He looked over at her, smiled quickly, and looked away. In her mind, the guard showed her what he saw, and she was amazed to see that Edling’s cheeks had flushed. Sasha’s guard wasn’t happy about the pleasure she felt from this, but didn’t pursue the subject. After a moment of thought, she expanded her mind to her whole guard. “I forbid you from intimidating this Edling, or killing him or telling Sydin or my brother.”
 

There was silence and then a response from one of the women. “Fine, but if he breaks your heart I’m disobeying you.” Sasha rolled her eyes.
 

Once they were to her apartment, she opened the door and signaled for Edling to enter. He looked uncomfortable. “You want me to come in?” he asked.

“Is there somewhere that’s better? I have a huge terrace. It’s shaded and nice this time of the day, can we talk there?”
 

He shrugged and gave her guard another glance. She entered her apartment followed by Edling, and made her way to a bookshelf that was packed full of books from the national library about crystals, and her notebooks. She pulled one off the shelf and motioned for Edling to follow her out onto the terrace. As they walked, she reached out with her mind and ordered some drinks. The terrace was shaded, as she had promised, and Sasha made her way to a small table and two chairs next to the railing. She relaxed into the soft fabric of the chair. Before Edling could speak, an Elf with long bronze hair came up to them with a bottle of Poti and two glasses.
 

“Thank you so much,” she said to the Elf. She started to move to pour the drink when she stopped, forgetting that would be rude to the Elf serving them. Sasha was getting more accustomed to being served, but it still made her uncomfortable.

As soon as the Elf was gone, Edling spoke. “You don’t like being served, do you?”

“That obvious?” She asked, concerned.

“Yes, but it’s also obvious that you don’t want to offend anyone. You’ll get used to it, I’m sure,” he said warmly, and then went on. “So, why don’t you tell me what you know about crystals?”

With that, Sasha launched into what she knew. Before she became a Venefica, she had always wanted to be a healer and she stilled loved that. But she found that she loved everything to do with crystals more. Legon learned about them and he respected their necessity, but he didn’t have a lot of interest in the subject other than that. Sasha, on the other hand, spent a great deal of her free time reading about them. She spent hours in the palace library perusing the sections dedicated to them.
 

It didn’t take more than an hour before Edling raised his hands, stopping her. “Ok, Un Prose…” he started. “Sasha,” she corrected, a little breathless.

He smiled. “Sasha, breathe. This isn’t a test.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “I know that I should know more. I’m an Elemental and all, and I’ve tried to learn as much as I could…” he stopped her again.

Edling took a moment to answer. “Look, I’m going to be honest with you.” He gave her a look that was half admiring and half exasperated. “I think you could go on for some time about this subject, and from what I can tell, you know more than I do about it.”

She was brought up short at this. “Um, ok, so I’m not behind?

He laughed. “No, but I think I may be.”
 

* * * * *

Emma heaved and with as much strength as she could muster, she finally pulled the boot free from its owner’s foot. Then she looked at the other boot with distaste, gripping and pulling. The man groaned and Emma stopped pulling. “Are you ok?” she asked. He didn’t respond, and she moved to the other side of the bed, trying to stay conscious of the slanted roof; she’d hit her head twice this week.
How did Legon stay in here? He’s taller than I am,
she thought. She leaned over the man’s face, worrying about the beads of sweat rolling down it. “Sir, is your foot hurt?” She asked. Nothing.

“Laura!” she yelled out the door. Laura’s voice rose from downstairs. “Coming! I have something I think will work on the fever.”
 

A moment later Emma heard her coming up the hall and Laura came in the room. “Did he wake up?” she asked.

“No, but he groaned when I pulled his right boot. I think he may be injured,” Emma supplied. They had no idea what was wrong with man. Emma wasn’t even sure what his name was. He’d come to town a week ago, gotten a job at the tanner, and then today he passed out. They had no other information about him.
 

“I bet he’s not sick in the way we are thinking. I would bet when we get that boot off we are going to find a cut that’s infected to high heaven,” Laura said, pointing accusatorially at the boot. Then she turned and called down the stairs, “Edis!”

“What?” he yelled back.

Laura sighed. “Come here.”

“Why?”

She lost her composure. “Because I asked you to, that’s why! Because I have a sick man in your son’s room, that’s why, and because you love being in my warm loving presence, that’s why. Pick a reason and get up here!”

“FINE! Since the world is at an end I’ll come up!” Emma tried not to smile when she heard him say in a lower voice, “Crazy woman. I’m not a nurse for crying out loud.” His mutterings continued until he made it to the room and he smiled at his wife. “Yes, love? What can I help you with?” he said in what was obviously an attempt at a pleasant tone.
 

Laura gave him a look. “I’m not crazy. Hold this guy down. He’s out of it but might wake up, and we have to get this boot off of him.”
 

“Oh, we are torturing someone, sounds fun. Why didn’t ya say so?” He made his way to the man on the bed and held him down. Emma and Laura went to work on the boot, and sure enough, the man woke up with the pain. He screamed and shouted accusations at them, having no clue where he was. Emma was worried about getting kicked or hurt, but after a few minutes Laura barked, “Edis!” Edis nodded and looked at the thrashing man. “Night night time!” He reached back and punched him, knocking him out.

“Thank you,” Laura breathed, dropping the boot on the floor. Emma winced at the ravaged and infected foot. Once the smell hit her, she tried to hold her breath.
 

* * * * *

Edis only needed a whiff to know that Laura had her work cut out for her, and that later tonight he would probably be helping with an amputation. But for now his work was done. He didn’t need to be dismissed, and made his way out of the house and to the shop. He felt for whomever that was up there, he honestly did, but how often did your wife ask you to deck a total stranger? Not often, and if he played his cards right he could tell her his fist hurt and he might get a little TLC himself. He whistled and went to work in the shop. A few hours later the bell on the door dinged and Laura walked in.
 

“How’s he doing?” Edis asked, concerned this time.

“He’ll be fine. I don’t think he’s going to lose that foot, but I’ll watch it for a bit. He’s up and talking.” She looked at him. “How’s your fist?”
 

Edis looked at his hand, which in truth was fine, but he shook it a bit. “Meh, it’s fine… a little tender… I’m sure it will be good by morning.” He tried to look like he was acting tough, like it hurt more then he said. She scowled playfully, walking up to him and taking his hand, rubbing it. “Faker,” she accused. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, moving down her neck. She giggled. “So what if I am?” he asked.

She made a halfhearted attempt to push him away. “Edis, what if someone comes in?”
 

He smiled. “You’re just taking care of what ails me, right love?” he said between kisses. He stopped and just held her, enjoying just being with his wife. Then he got serious again. “How’d he get hurt?”

Her blue eyes looked up into his. “On the road. He was trying to get away from the South and then once he got to Salez he said it was worse. Their crime is out of control. I guess he thought a small town was the way to go.” She laid her head against his chest. “… said his company had some trouble on the road. There are not many patrols up in the North and central areas anymore, he said. Edis, I’m worried.”
 

He squeezed her and rested his head on top of hers. “I am too love, I am too.”He stood for moment then said what was on his mind “How do you think the children are doing?” Laura tensed. “I honestly don’t know, but Kovos and Legon are strong…” she trailed off, neither hoping that Kovos or Legon would need that strength.
 

* * * * *

Legon walked with Iselin through the house gardens, neither making a sound as they glided along the cobbled path, looking over the edge of the roof into the harbor. She laced her fingers in his and they relaxed in the other’s emotions. Legon knew that what they had wasn’t uncommon. He knew that once two compatible people linked that they grew together quickly. Even now, it would be painful to lose her, and he knew she felt the same. There was no doubt in either’s mind that they would be together forever.
 

“You’re thinking about Arkin’s mission more than normal, and your parents,” Iselin pointed out. Though she had never met his parents, because of the connection she shared with him, Iselin worried and cared for Laura and Edis nearly as much as he did.

“We need to get people out of the Cona lands,” he said.

“How? Small groups can cross the border, but I would think that would be ill advised, and who could we send?”

Legon thought for a moment. “It will have to be Arkin , but not until he can spare the time. Salez has been a good case study. Once other cities progress, the Cona lands will destabilize quickly. The way I see it, the sea is the only way right now that’s still an open option.”
 

“But it won’t be for much longer. Reports show that the Cona Empire is building more ships than ever before,” Iselin said.

“Parks isn’t a moron. He has to know that sooner or later we will start to hit shipping routes, and it’s not like they are going to send the Impa Navy to deal with it,” Legon thought out loud. From what they could tell, the Queen was having issues pulling from the Impa areas. In reality, she wasn’t a queen of either land. While recognized by the Cona Empire as a queen to the Iumenta government, she simply had more power than anyone else. Because of her control of the Cona lands, she had taken control of the Impa Empire, but her power was not absolute. Legon’s advisors found it unlikely that the other Impa leaders would be willing to divert too many resources away from the homeland. This meant that Hoelaria was going to be forced to use more and more human resources.
 

“We will give Arkin a bit more time, then I am going to send him and Barnin to collect my parents, and Keither’s. We will see if Kovos’s girlfriend Emma wants to come too.” As far as he was concerned, Emma was family now. Kovos would have married her if he hadn’t gone with Legon and Sasha. Legon would do whatever he needed to to make sure she was taken care of.

Iselin sent soothing thoughts Legon’s way. “It’s not your fault,” she said simply.

“I know, but I still owe him for saving us and for everything he did for Sasha.”

Sometimes when he said Sasha’s name, he felt Ise pull away from him, and in that moment he would feel anger, fear and shame. But then she would guard her emotions and change the subject.
 

They were on a bridge over a small stream that ran off the edge of the roof and down the side of the palace.
 

Legon stopped her. “Hey, what is that?” he asked softly.