chapter 2: the sokarans

Dyues leads the diplomats into his palace. An extravagant building made out of wood while nowhere near as glorious as stone castles of the high king. it is definitely a building worthy of a great leader. The halls were lavished with items framed with a material of the the most beautiful blues. The chief and his granddaughter both wear bits and pieces of this material leaving the astrans quite curious about what this material might be as they so lavishly decorate their homes and themselves with it.It shined like painted ceramics but had a grain more akin to scales.

He led them to a part of the castle where the door seems to sink into the ground as the floor in front of it slopes downwards. lead into a large circular room where there were flat layed out animal hide that seemed to surround a open area to speak. Gora and dyues sit down in the center of the back wall ontop of a flat platform that seems built into the wall.them at the center of the room.

They did not sit on thrones but a raised a platform that was covered with lush fur blankets. rexan and cofus sit on the floor in front of them. the courtier with the wrapped present sitting directly behind them. Rexan ushers the courier to give the gift"before we begin any form of diplomatic negotiations may i present to you a gift from the head of the cofeneva clan." the courtier speaks with a humble voice before bowing and presenting the item.

dyues looks at it curiously and unwraps it as the courtier is holding it. He says nothing as they see what it is. He simply takes it in his hand and looks at it. A spear made entirely out of the same blue material that covered their domesicle and was adorned on their clothing. Rexan looks at the spear and disbelief.

What could possibly have the king of the east be thinking to give him such a gift would surely be an insult, But before anyone else can react the courtier starts speaking'' this spear as im sure you can see is entirely made out of the remains of the last known sokaran dragon killed over 80 years ago. By some raiders we were told. Our lord had found the weapon 5 years ago in some market market. knowing the sacredness of the dragons to your people he bought the weapon with intent to be given back in a show of goodwill. we regret to return these materials to you in the form of a weapon but it appears it had been forged into a weapon for some impudent bandit chief from the east. when his terror met an end the weapon was recovered we hope that you appreciate our masters thoughtfulness."

the room remains silent after the courtier finishes speaking. Rex could not believe his ears in front of him lied a weapon made entirely from parts of a dragon something only the high king of astra could afford and here cofus's father is giving one away. Cofus looks a little amazed himself thinking how lucky he didn't pawn it after all for drinking money as he had no idea of its true worth and would of most likely sold it for much less its value.

Gora's eyes light up upon seeing the weapon her eyes glued to it as her mouth is gaped open as she keeps a look of bewilderment and yet dyues makes no reaction to it he holds it in his hand for a moment then tosses it to the ground as if the priceless item was worthless. A collective sound of shock roars into the roam as he drops it to the ground. Though no one dares say a word as they just look at him waiting for an explanation"what an insulting gift."he says before looking up from the discarded item and meeting eye level with the 3 foreigners eyes

"The "sokaran dragons" as you'd like to put it were great war mounts for the sokaran chief of old. My grandfather Harus kalo rode the last sokaiadoan. A beautiful beast that hed let me ride as a child. 80 years ago a raid was set into motion with the explicit desire to kill the beast in hopes to sell its parts. they murdered my grandfather and his mount while they slept. The monsters den was turned into my throne room and became the center of my lands. The beasts former lair being this very room. I hunted every last one of those raiders myself for many years in the lands of the east but it took too long and I could only bring back half of my grandfather's beloved companion. That spear which is made from the remains of my grandfather's friend was stolen and forged into a weapon only due to my failures and has been tainted with most likely the blood of the innocent what a shameful gift it is nothing but a reminder of a bitter memory and a part of my life that I'd wish to forget"

gora looks at her grandfather with absolute disbelief. quickly running to grab the spear"wait hold on grandfather this is made from drakkite a material that is our birthright we can't simply give it back to them if you don't want it at least let me keep it for our ancestors sake.'' His eyes dart at gora like furious arrows; they stop and pin her right in place as she looks at her grandfather's face. Without having to say anything else she hands it over to the courtier and sits back down without saying anything.then acting like nothing happened Dyues coughs and resumes speaking.

"well now that the pleasantries are out of the way, what do you astrou want with us?"

rex straightens his back before beginning to speak his body feeling tense at the events that had just transpired "im sorry the gift wasn't my idea it was just a formality from my kinsmen I'll have it loaded up onto my horse and taken back to them,''

dyues nods saying nothing allowing rex to continue"the luutons are moving into the plains and the king of astra are seeking an alliance to find off these raiders. The astrans are inexperienced with these flying war mounts and are requesting assistance or in the very least training in how to handle them."rex still sits up straight waiting for the response of dyues.

Though for a moment no response comes he just sits there stroking his long gray beard. Looking like hes deep in thought. then he stands up and looks down on the astrans though not in an aggressive way thankfully. He sighs and shakes his head "I'm sorry young man but you have traveled all this way for nothing. I can not lend you my aid as no other clans would possibly agree to this and there is nothing I a sokaran could teach you an astran. for our method is to use our geia. Winged beast are easily hit by our lightning as they flock together. causing their beast to panic at the lightning that surrounds them. You astrans and your flames are dangerously beautiful but you lack serious range and will be no match for the luuton archers."

Rex and cofus look troubled at hearing this. not sure how to react rex stands up to appease the situation"but Honorable one i have personally helped your territories on our most northern border from raiders of west. how can you so openly refuse our plead for help with these luuton raiders?"

Dyues looks at the man with a protruding frown."i think you have made a grave mistake my friend while i do appreciate your help with those raiders on our most vulnerable territories the favor you are asking are not of the same caliber. mindless marauders who plunder indiscriminately are nothing compared to the hordes of the north that flood down from their mountains"

Rex and cofus look at each other a little worried now wondering what he could possibly be talking about. Rex gets abit closer and tries to meet dyues eyes"what are you talking about sir they're simply savages on winged beast its a clever trick but nothing else."

Dyues frowns at the man's ignorance and shakes his head" i guess you have only heard stories about their actions from merchants and travelers it amazes me your kingdom has avoided their influence for so long. The luutons are a force of unrelenting violence they are impartial to the greater things in this world and only care for one thing and that is power.they spend their whole lives training to ride those beast along with learning how to use a bow on top of them. Their chiefs all swear allegiance to great chiefs like myself and their great chiefs swear to the almighty Fon. they are not raiders but invaders; they do not seek to extract your riches from your land to theirs. they want to crush your armies, command your kings into submission ,or to execute them publicly and install their own. Do you think 80 years ago it was mindless marauders who created such a detailed plan to kill my grandfather and his beast no it was those warriors of the mountains the world beyond our region is filled with many powerful peoples you astrans are so ignorant of your place in the world and will soon be enlightened"

Dyues sits back down and looks at the men. Rex is shaken; he has no idea what to believe but he understands that their is no help here. He bows his head and stands back up"if that is how you see it then we will have to return back home and inform our lords the negotiations were fruitless. Were sorry for wasting your time great one"

He then stands back up and looks at cofus with a passing glance. Cofus nods and stands up bow and follows his superior. As they leave the room Gora looks at her grandfather with puffed up cheeks and a slight pout on her face"grandfather i understand not wanting to help them but why in the world would you deny their gift that was a fabulous weapon i know you personally don't like blades but i could of used it you know?!?"

she says in a voice that rings with annoying disapproval Gora looks at her grandfather with much fury. Dyues sighs and shakes his head at his naive granddaughter"i hope i can live another 50 years as i don't think you'll be ready to be chief until then"

dyues says with a calm voice that bears no hostility and yet it cuts so deep regardless. Gora's looks at her grandfather with an incredible amount of anger"what the hell did you say you shitty old man!"

Dyues ignores his granddaughters rude remarks and continues"the body of a sokaiadoan is a holy item gora those beast were seen as important members of a clan they'd live for 600 years my grandfathers dragon could be tracked back all the way to our earliest ancestors back when the beast were numerous many sokarans clans claim legitimacy from the beast there ancestors once rode by framing them in their homes and weearing fragments of them. While it is true i own a few blunt weapons with those materials i would never allow a blooded blade of my ancestors' beast to be shown off in my land. It goes not only against how i feel as a kalos but as a sokaran it would be an insult to my ancestors to keep such a corrupted peace of our history"

He stands up indicating he has said all he has wanted say and heard all he cares to hear. Gora frowns and stands up herself and makes her way out of the room knowing there is no point in arguing with her grandfather his word is law after all.

Outside of the palace the small party of astrans start making their way onto their mounts the courtier unenthusiastically wraps the spear back up into its fine wrap. Cofus looks at rex with a worried look upon his face"Rex i have a bad feeling about these upcoming days. Do you think what dyues has said bears any weight to it?"

Rex sighs and looks back towards his young kinsmen the same thought had been on his mind.the grand chief was a remarkably respected person so the idea of telling them such a grand lie is unthinkable."i do not know cofus but im sure no matter what happens in the coming days we will find out"

As rex, cofus and the courtier get on their mounts rex feels on sensation as he looks at the wrapped spear that he now knows his party is caring. he looks at the courtier and moves towards him"listen i don't think its the greatest idea that you carry such a high value item"

He says in disclosed manor trying not to alert any one else about what the questionable wrapped item could be''but my master has in trust me with-"the courier begins to speak but is interrupted by rex"and he has chosen well just fear for your safety. he most likely didn't intend on you bringing it back to him and now that it has been revealed to a few people i fear that soon others may have its existence revealed to them too. Just for my peace of mind let me carry it that way you may not be targeted"

the courtier feels off about this but seeing as rex is a noble he isn't in any real position to refuse his offer. He nods his head and hands over the secretly priceless item in the middle of the day. Cofus gets onto his large lizard-like mount and looks at rex."so what now sir? We will stay the night in this village or begin our journey home within the hour?"

Rex hops onto his mount as well after strapping the spear to his giant lizard like mount. He climbs on top of it and looks down at cofus with a grin"well be camping out in the wilderness tonight so well try to make as much progress as we can with what daylight we have"

The group nods and starts preparing to head out unaware of the eyes watching them.the locals from every corner would be staring them down. Rex had no intention of staying here it was clear these people were quite curious as to why they were here, and the last thing he needs is people asking questions.so within the hour they're off. Riding their beast outside of the village by nightfall the village is just out of eyesight. With no daylight left the astrans start preparing their tents and fires getting ready for the night. Rex volunteering for the first watch admitting to not feeling at ease enough to fall asleep yet. So as his travel companions started resting their heads rex climbs on top of his six foot tall mount to get a better vantage point he lays down on his saddle preparing for the long watch. He keeps any out on the land as he gets lost in thought. Though somewhere in the night he fell asleep only to be awoken of the sound of what sounds like a young boy screaming.

He darted up and started looking around"Cofus!"he shouts out as looks down to see where a rustling sound was coming from. hoping off his beast and could not believe his eye as he saw grigora kalos granddaughter of the grand chief of the sokarans next in line for the title was pinned underneath the leg of rexes mount clinging to the spear in her hands. he gawked at her for a moment trying to process what in the world is going on. Cofus runs up holding a sword in his hands while wearing light cloth pajamas"you called for me sir?"rex disregards his oddly dressed companion for now and gestures toward gora

'' it seems we have a thief" he says in amused tone watching the chieftess princess struggle to get out of the grasp of his war mount. Cofus confusedly nods and looks at her" i guess so. So you uh found her here like this?"

Cofus questions but before rex can speak gora does" are just gonna stand there all night gawking at me!?! tell this dammed beast to get off me astrou!"

rex sighs and nods his head signaling the beast to let her go. Gora quickly starts dusting herself off and stand up still with the spear in hand"there now that i have this i will be leaving"

she begins to turn around to run away but before she can dash away rex places a strong hand on her shoulder while giving her a menacing look." lady grigora im afraid we insist you stay until we figure out what has transpired."

gora looks defeated and nods her head as rex and cofus begin to interrogate her"lady grigora i must say this is most unbefitting for a lady of your stature"

rex seems to spout out in a disappointing tone. Gora eye brows twitch at hearing this"what did you just say to me sir rex? Id watch your tone if i were you im not some unimportant official whose 25th in line for the stupid throne of an arrogant nation i am heiress to the grand chief of a proud and free people i have no obligation to act fit for YOU!"

Rex is taken aback by her bold lack of etiquette not even the men of his society would speak so boldly to another noble. Use to dealing with passive aggressive posh nobles he feels lacking enough experience to handle this situation.rex coughs into his closed fist and begins to speak again as cofus just sits there quietly."um yes im sorry my madam i should of taken your higher position in your society into consideration."

Gora exhales through her nostrils seeming content for now with his answer"so are we done here or shall i amuse myself for a little longer?"

Cofus tries his best to stifle a chuckle. The normal calm well headed rex seems to be off balance unsure how to handle someone who disregards him so much. He felt as if he was once again a student back at the academy getting drilled in by his unenthusiastic professor."well then let me just cut to the chase then why were you attempting to steal a gift your grandfather refused?"

This question only seemed to annoy her further"my grandfather while highly respectable; in his old age is going senile. there is no way i could let you astrou take back such a rare weapon made entirely out of our most sacred beasts. I do not care about my grandfathers feeling. to let you have this weapon would only bring my family more shame. I will redeem this blade myself if i have to!"

Rex eyes sparkled at hearing that now seeing a little crack into her mind"and how would you do that miss your grandfather seemed very sincere about the the corruption of the beasts legacy what could you do to avenge your 3rd great grandfather and his beloved mount who were killed by the invaders of the north that we now face? Who the used it to slaughter the innocent?"

rex asks enthusiastically. Gora looks at him and stands up unwrapping the spear. Looking at the blade of the spear it was a brilliant sky blue that almost looked liked steel. it was connected to a poll of harden scales that seem to be melted together the pattern of the scales spiral down the beautiful staff. It was abit heavy for a throwing spear but would still do fine."this weapon can not enter your peoples hands i wont allow it. so in order to make sure this national treasure is returned to my home i shall assist you in your war in hope my good deed will redeem my ancestors beast and in the process prove to not only my grandfather that im a worthy successor of our clans legacy but to install faith in all of the clans of my people."

The air thickens with her words her voice held no doubt in it and no fear before them lies a warrior willing to risk her life for the sake of her family's legacy and to more importantly form her own path in minds of her people.rex nods and bows his head to the young woman."we'd be honored to have you lady grigora i look forward to fighting along side you"

rex voice seems to have lighten. Gora smiles"first thing tomorrow i shall alert my grandfather of my decision!".

once again the little camp feels at peace as gora sits back down and makes herself comfy in their tent she looks at cofus and rex with a coy smile on her face and with a gentle voice she says"well get out then i'm exhausted from this whole ordeal."

rex and cofus look at her confusedly for a second what she might be talking about this is their tent.

"Huh did i stutter? Im a princes did you really expect me to put up my own tent? As your special guest its only right you give up your tent for me"

She says in a quite matter the fact way that came across quite rude to the two red haired astrans. They look at her quite unhappily as cofus goes to get his stuff and quickly leaving the tent figuring its best not to argue with her. They step out of the tent and find a soft place on the ground, luckily cofus had a spare blanket as gora had confiscated his to use for herself"who does she think she is? Taking two noble men of astras tent and forcing them to sleep outside."

Rex chuckles abit as he lays on the ground use to it"you better get use to sleeping on the ground cofus the battlefield is constantly moving you will not always have the luxury of a tent lets just be thankful its not cold"

Cofus rolls his eyes to his seniors words"cant we we just take the courtiers tent?"

Rex sighs and shakes his head" no sleeping outside wont hurt for a night cofus and this will be the end of it"

cofus seems disinherited by this, but doesn't dare to argue further lying down on the ground on top of his blanket as to not get dirty as rex just sleeps under it as the dirt doesn't seem to not bother the old warrior in the slightest bit. Cofus scoffs at the savageness of his senior travel companion before calling it a night

The next morning before anyone else wake up gora stumbles out of her tent holding a piece of papyrus in her right hand goes to wake cofus up by gently nudging him. Cofus would wake up to see lady grigora in front of him looking down at him bemusedly. A small bit of him was filled with fear as to what she might do next"i need a bow do you guys have one?"

He takes a minute to process what she said as hes still quite groggy, not usually a morning person. When the words that came out of her mouth finally click he shakes his head and sits up"um ya i think theres one one on my mount. Why-"

Before he can finish his sentence gora thanks him and walks off towards his mount and begins searching his mount for said bow. Cofus now sits up looking confused for a minute before looking over to a still sleeping rex. Cofus sighs and rubs his eyes still trying to wake up. grigora eventually finds said bow and smiles contently to herself. walking up to a little mound of dirt that is off to the side of the camp and begins tying the little slit of paper to an arrow. After making sure the piece of paper is thoroughly attached to the arrow she slides it on her bow and begins focusing on the landscape. After thinking about where she is she looks towards the direction of daonertofiaa she closes her eyes suddenly her hair starts standing up bits of static come off her as she pulls the bow back she opens her eyes and makes her adjustments then releases the arrow. It hisses and crackles as its sent flying through the air at a speed not possible for a normal bow the string catches fire and snaps instantly. Rex jumps to his feet his hand on his sword as he looks around to see what just transpired. Gora smiles and walks back over to cofus and rex with a smile on her face.

She tosses the bow to cofus not even bothering to stop and look at him"looks like you need to restring your bow sir cofus"

cofus catches his bow and looks both in awe and angry. But before he can say anything she continues the conversation with rex "Morning sir rexan i have alerted my grandfather of my decision to help you fend off the luutons"gora smiles as she greets rex. Rex straightens himself up and dust himself off before returning her greeting

"Morning lady grigora did you find our tent suitable?"rex replies in an honest tone

She smiles and nods walking past him not carrying to continue the conversation she plops by the embers of the fire and throw some kindle and timber on top of the burnt out fire of list night. She snaps her fingers and the timber ignites"so what's for breakfast?"

rex and cofus sigh they had a feeling gora would be quite the handful though they're not for sure who yet. After breakfast is cooked and ate our party starts again on the journey back to the capital of the astran kingdom oneidoria. A city placed in the center of the lands of astra so that he may keep peace in the nation without prejudice.

Gora having never been to the lands of astra looks around amazed at the massive stone city.steering her horse over to every market stall they pass. rex cofus chuckle at their primitive travel companion as she gawks at the splendors of the astran city like some country bumpkin. As they continue down the street gora is continually impressed by the developed city though she also finds herself disgusted by the smell. Beast littered the street. there was someone responsible for sweeping any waste that might be produced. They load the waste onto wagons and while the streets aren't spotless they are not filthy ether. Either way the stone streets were still always more clean than the dirt roads that run through goras village. They eventually arrive at the palace gora is amazed to see the incredible stone palace. It was the larger than the block her grandfather palaces was even found on.

Her mouth gapes open with awe at the shear size of the building. Rex chuckles and pats her shoulder"impressive is it not? High king onie called for the destruction of the two palaces of the kings of the divided astrans to be destroyed so that the new kingdoms palace can be built within the center of our united kingdom."

Gora looks amazed at it while it was still not worth as much as her families tower of dragon remains and the many items that contain said remains the size alone is a feat of marvel. As she arrives at the front gate she watches amazedly as it opens. She for once in her life felt impressed by the astrans she thought of them as a constantly warring people she didn't think of them as fine architects she in her gross incorrect estimate is a bit humbled as she enters the palace to take her part in the upcoming war.