Crowned in Black: Chapter 19

My throat was so tight now that I wasn't sure speaking was possible. Me... a Prince? Vlachia was one of the largest, richest, and most complex countries in all of Archemi. Ignas had two weeks, meaning that I would have two weeks to... to what? What the fuck was I supposed to do if Ignas died, and suddenly I was the fucking Volod?

As the acceptance screen hung, I felt out along the Bond for Karalti. She was asleep, dozing somewhere warm and humid. There was a hot spring in the mountains she loved, the place we'd finally made love during her last heat. Her mind was calm, her sleep dreamless and content. Even though she wasn't awake, her presence steadied me.

"Sorry. I..." I croaked. "What are the right words?"

"By the mingling of our blood, I accept you as my rightful sire before these witnesses." Ignas said, slowly enough that I could follow.

"B-By the mingling of our blood, I accept you as my rightful sire before these w-witnesses," I repeated, trying - and failing - not to stammer. "And I... I accept the title of Crown Prince of V-Vlachia as... Hector Dragozin-Corvinus."

"The first." Ignas's face relaxed, and flooded with a smile as he dropped his arm back to the bed. The small act had exhausted him, but there was a radiance in him now that had nothing to do with the mana eating him from the inside out.

[Global Alert: Ignas Corvinus II, Volod of Vlachia, has selected an heir: Crown Prince Hector Dragozin-Corvinus I, Voivode of Myszno!]

Oh my god. What the fuck had I just gotten myself into?

"Somewhere, Ororgael is like, villainously brushing his teeth with his Iron Cross toothbrush or some shit, while Janos is getting his ass fucked by a hooker with a strapon," I said, voice still tight. "Both of them just spat out whatever was in their mouths and screamed. And Lucien just shat a litter of little green kittens. He's gonna need to beat off his tiny flaccid roid weener at least ten times to burn the rage off."

"Jesus Christ, Hector." Suri rubbed her face, while Ignas shuddered with weak laughter.

"This is how it should be," the Volod said, once his mirth had passed. "Hector Dragozin-Corvinus the First... a good strong name, eh? A Volod's name! Ahh, Hector... if I had married my Jeun princess - and was capable of fathering a son by her - he would have looked something like you, you know."

I closed my eyes and bowed my head, taking Ignas' hand in mind as a wave of confusing, conflicting emotions rolled through me. Pride and grief and... fuck, I didn't even know what to make of it all.

"Can you guys give us a moment?" I couldn't get my voice above a whisper now.

Suri came up and lay a hand on my shoulder, then bent down to kiss the top of my head. Vilmos clapped me on the arm, Kitti gave it a light glancing touch... and surprisingly, Ebisa did the same, squeezing my shoulder as she glided past and closed the door behind her.

"Do not fear, Hector," Ignas croaked. He was getting weaker, headed toward a restless healing sleep. "Your power does not lie in your connection to the gods, nor in your dragon, or in anything outside of yourself. Your power is in you. I have seen it keenly, over and over again. You will not only be Volod, Hector, you will become a GOOD Volod. A wise and just ruler of the people. Janos' petty political maneuvers cannot... cannot hold a candle to the power I see in you."

"Stop talking like you're going to die any second from now," I said hoarsely. "Matir promised me healing magic. I'm going to fucking get it and save your stupid bony ass, you hear me?"

Ignas chuckled weakly. "See? You already have... have the eloquence of a statesman."

"If you're my dad now, then I don't need to Your Majesty this and Your Highness that any more, do I?" I choked a laugh, and rubbed at my cheeks. "But seriously. I swear we're going to try everything. Vlachia still needs you too."

Ignas smiled again, and curled his fingers in mine. But they were much weaker now.

"You need to sleep," I said, getting to my feet. "You need to sleep and rest and stay alive, you hear me? No dying allowed."

"Mmph... I hear you." Ignas didn't resist as I lay his hand back down on his chest. "And I assure you. I do not want... to die. Not just yet. Not like this."

"Don't. Otherwise, Lucien wins." I sniffed, and tipped my head back, trying to drain my nose. I didn't want to walk out into the hospital bawling my eyes out like a fucking kid... but no matter what I did, I felt like one as I struggled to gather myself. "He'd be way too pleased with himself if you died."

"Mm. That alone... it's a good reason to live." Ignas sighed, and fell silent as exhaustion finally rolled him under. I watched his chest rise and fall for a minute, making sure that he was still breathing, and only then did I leave his side.

Masha, Suri and the others were waiting out in the ward for me. They all looked to me expectantly.

"I'm not letting him die." Not for the first time, I was kind of surprised at how calm my own voice was. "The Dragon Gates are Level 50 to 60 dungeons. If we clear all our current quests, and me and Karalti clear the next stage of our 'Light Shines in Dark Places' questline, we'll be a high enough level to attempt the Gate of Endless Night dungeon and break Matir out of his coffin.”

“But… that’ll fracture the Caul of Souls,” Suri said haltingly. “Are we ready for that?”

“It won’t destroy it. It’ll weaken it, but it won’t bring it down. Matir’s Gate is the first one we need to do; Lahati told me that if we brought them down in order, it’ll be a slow, controlled demolition.” Even so, I found myself feeling a pang of doubt. "Masterhealer... you really think we have two weeks?"

Masha made a soft sound under her breath. "Two weeks. Maybe three. The progress of the Stranging is slow but certain."

“Fuck.” Two weeks just wasn’t long enough: not with Janos breathing down our necks. All jokes aside, he and everyone else now knew two things - that Ignas was alive, and that he'd just named me his fucking heir. Grinding my teeth, I paced over to the window and looked out. It was too much, too fast. Ignas, Janos, the Drachan... We’d been working toward resolving the Dragon Gates and preparing for the fallout for months, but now the kickoff for what could be the destruction of Archemi was measured in weeks. Days.

“I’m going to check in with Rin and Gar see how the reconstruction of the Warsingers is going,” I said, after a few tense minutes. “While they do that, we handle the plague in Karhad and gather every scrap of EXP we can. That should push me to Level 38 and Karalti to 20, which means she’s officially a fully-grown Queen. As soon as we’re there, Karalti and I fly to Cham Garai and bet on solving the Diamond Pact before Ororgael notices. And if we manage to pull that off…”

“Karalti, you, and the rest of the Triad will go to Cham Garai,” Suri corrected. “Don’t think I’m letting you go there alone. It’s a huge bloody risk, for one thing. For another, there’s probably doors that need all of us there to open. That’s how it was at Perilous Symphony’s place.”

I opened my mouth to protest, to tell her this was for me and Karalti to deal with, but then thought better of it. As Suri so often was, she was right. “Alright. After Cham Garai, we attempt the Dragon Gate no matter what level we are. Worst thing that happens is we try to bust into the Gate of Endless Night, fuck it up, get more EXP and die.”

“That’s not great for you,” Suri said.

“No, but if I die and get scrambled, it is what it is. Saving Ignas - and stopping Vlachia from slipping into civil war - are two very good things worth dying for.” I shook my head. "God dammit. I'm a fucking prince now. And none of you better 'Your highness' me yet. I will literally flip a table."

"Nah. It's too soon. Suri grimaced. "I guess... the good thing to come out of tonight is that the satraps are going to have to permit the army to go ahead. For now, though, we need to decide what the hell we're going to do, and how we're going to do it."

By 'we', she meant me. I saw the way that everyone looked to me. Kitti, Ebisa, Masha, Vilmos... even Suri herself. Leaning against the windowsill, I thought back to the meeting, and the fact I’d revealed that Ignas was here in Kalla Sahasi. “When he’s safe to move, I want Ignas taken to one of the guest rooms in the hospitality wing. A mid-level room, no windows. No guards outside his door, either: they stay inside. Vilmos, I'm going to ask you and Vash to take turns watching over him, sleeping in the same quarters. Any security moves to that room via the servants’ corridors. I’m also going to assign my personal butler to take care of the both of you. Ignas saved Rudolph’s life and appointed him to me. He’ll help you with anything you need.”

“As you say,” Vilmos replied. “You fear assassins?”

“I don’t fear assassins: I expect them. Janos isn't THAT stupid. He's going to put two and two together and realize that Ignas is alive and with us, and I guarantee he’ll try to kill him and probably me as well.” I turned back from the window to look at the group.

"It would be really stupid for him to try and assassinate Ignas now," Ebisa remarked. "He just named a Starborn his heir, with witnesses, and triggered a Global Alert."

I shook my head. "He's got to be panicking right now. Panicking people do dumb shit. If we're lucky, Ororgael is doing the same thing, and he and Lucien are fighting over the failure to kill Ignas before he was able to name a successor right now. That's going to throw a huge spanner in their works when it comes to taking out Vlachia. And if we can save Ignas..."

“You truly think there’s a means to heal him?” Ebisa asked.

“I want to say yes, but... I don't know how this is going to pan out. I don't know if we'll reach the right challenge rating fast enough. I’m confident that we’ll do our best,” I said. “If I can’t stop Ignas from dying, then the best I can do is make sure his death doesn’t send the country and the world into shambles.”

Ebisa didn’t reply for several minutes, then bowed her head. “He would… want that. And for us to succeed against the Drachan, should they return. Have you spoken to Rin about the Warsingers yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“You should call her. The heart of Perilous Symphony is in a containment chamber, but it still affects her mind, and that of the others working on studying it. They’ve been having bad dreams, episodes of melancholy and dark thoughts.”

"Shit," Suri said. "Is she alright?"

Ebisa shrugged. "So far."

“That’s a pattern when it comes to the Drachan, and this ‘Squalor’, whatever it is.” I sighed, and rubbed my face. Fatigue was starting to set in. “It’s… toxic. Toxic for mind, body and soul. Seems to me like whatever it touches corrupts. Except me, and that’s not some kind of self-stroking bullshit. The system literally tells me I’m ‘immune to corruption’.”

“Then Rin and the others need to be away from it, and you must face whatever being it contained in the crystal.” Ebisa turned her face to me, the sigil on the front flaring with baleful red light.

“It’s on the list of shit to do,” I said. “The very, very long list. Which reminds me: I have a job for you. I need to send you back to Taltos.”

“I will not leave Ignas’ side,” the assassin replied bluntly.

“You said you’d follow my orders, so you will temporarilyleave Ignas’s side, go to Rutha, and have her link you up to your contact in the Nightstalkers.” I glared back at her. “Because we need eyes and ears in Janos’ court, both the royal court and his strongholds in Czongrad. You tell the Nightstalkers the Regent is hostile to Ignas, and mobilize them to make Janos’ life as difficult as possible. Ships and depots set on fire. Riots incited. Corrupt officials bribed or taken out. Anything that forces him to focus on the capitol. We HAVE to slow Janos down, or we won’t be ready when he shows up here with a Black Army fleet and a hundred thousand militiamen.”

Ebisa tensed, as if about to retort… but then she actually thought about it for a second, and eased back down. “Understood. May I stay with him tonight, at least?”

“Sure. Rutha usually wakes early, so go see her at dawn.” I pushed back from the window, pacing up and down between the hospital beds. “I’m going to go call Rin, then keep working on this army plan. And if I’m lucky, I might even be able to get some sleep before we drag Jacob to Karhad tomorrow.”

***

Dialing Rin and Gar was the last thing I had to do before I could get some shitty-ass sleep, take Jacob to Karhad, and see if we could claw our way toward Level 40. Ever since being converted into a dhampir, I hadn’t slept well – one of the side effects of being part vampire was that I needed to be nocturnal, sleeping through the day. Unfortunately for me, the world of a voivode didn’t magically switch over to night time. The people I had to deal with and the things I had to do mostly occurred during daylight hours. That meant I almost never got a solid six hours any more, and pretty much never had the Well Rested buff.

“OMIGOSHHector! I saw the Global Alert!” Rin had a sweet, musical voice, crammed into the video frame alongside Gar. Gar was looking pretty seedy and tired himself, a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth, his scraggly grey hair pulled into a ponytail. They were in one of the construction hangars of the Royal College of Engineers. Even at this time of night, the place was bustling – I could hear all kinds of industrial noise from behind them. “Oh my god, you're a prince! THE Prince! Of Vlachia!"

"Yeah," I grunted. It still didn't feel real. "Don't want to make a bigger deal about it than has already been made, sorry. Ignas is... it's not looking good."

"Oh no." Rin's face fell. "Did he... name you as his successor because...?"

"Yeah. Because."

Rin's expression turned sorrowful as she looked down. Gar shifted uncomfortably.

"Anyway, I didn't call you about that. It is what it is." I leaned back in my desk chair, hands behind my head. "We're planning to do what we can for him. Where are you guys at with the Warsinger?"

"Oh! Right. Well, we’ve almost got Withering Rose laid out properly to start the repairs?"

“Great. Do you think you’ll be able to learn anything from those krypton… uh… kyanite plates?”

“Well, we’re about eighty percent done reconstructing the blueprint reader,” Rin replied. She sounded alert and excited. “Mostly thanks to Gar. He’s a GENIUS when it comes to arcane electronics.”

“Thirty years of fixin’ shit’ill do that,” the older man grunted. He had a touch of a Texas twang, stronger than usual from fatigue. "This vidya-game stuff is easy by comparison."

“What’s the plan for Rose? We don’t have her blueprint, do we?” I frowned slightly.

“No, but we DO have the blueprints for all the Warsingers preceding her,” Rin replied chirpily. “Which means we’re going to be able to figure out a lot about how these machines work and solve from there. We’re probably going to repurpose a lot from the wreckage of Nocturne Lament: we know that Warsinger best out of all of them, and with the blueprints… well. If we found enough materials, we might even be able to rebuild it.”

I thought of the giant, bestial scorpion-tailed revenant Warsinger pounding toward me down a mountain valley, and shuddered. “Yeah, maybe. It had some pretty big design flaws, though. I was able to go full Jack the Giant Killer on it.”

“Yeah, but Nocturne Lament 2.0 won’t have those flaws, right, Gar?” Rin beamed at the mechanic.

“Uhhn.” Gar drew on his smoke, and blew a plume away from the camera.

I snorted. “Anyway, everything else alright? What about the Heartstone?”

“It’s… okay.” Rin suddenly seemed less comfortable. “We’ve got it in a lead-lined containment shell – the heart cavity from Nocturne, actually. That seems to be helping, a bit. But… whatever the Drachan have become, Hector, they’re awful. Just… toxic to everything around it. Like radiation.”

“I was just saying that to Ebisa.” Brow furrowing, I leaned forward again. “Are you going to be okay handling it?”

“Yep! It’s causing some issues, but nothing we can’t handle,” Rin replied. “We’re going to run some diagnostic tests and probe it a bit tomorrow to make sure it’s compatible with Rose’s drive cores. We think she has a different power requirement to the older Warsingers, but given we’re dealing with magic and not just electricity, I think they’ll be compatible. The… I hesitate to call it a ‘soul’ of the Drachan in that stone is pretty powerful.”

“Soul-powered machines,” I mused aloud. “So the battery never runs out?”

“Not as far as we can tell. It’s the weird type of mana crystal it’s encased in,” Rin said. “Neither we or Soma have ever seen it before. Soma’s decided to call it ‘diamonia’. But we think that sounds like something kind of cleaning product, so the rest of us are just calling it whitecrystal. Anyway, that’s why we’re going to poke it tomorrow. We need to learn what it’s properties are.”

“Sure.” I stifled a yawn. “Just… make sure to get some rest, okay? And far away from that thing. It might be safe inside of the Warsinger, but it’s not safe in the hangar.”

Rin laughed nervously. “It’s not really safe in the Warsinger either. I mean… the Warsingers were pretty notorious for eating their own pilots. You know… like it did with Suri.”

“Yeah. There’s a reason the Warsinger pilots had to be Starborn.” I grimaced, and rubbed the back of my neck. “I mean… do the machines HAVE to use Drachan?”

“That’s… a pretty good question.” Rin looked to Gar. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s all a load of fantasy baloney,” Gar drawled, taking his cigarette between his knuckles and ashing it. “And bearing that in mind, don’t see why the stone needs a Drachan in particular. Another thing to look at during the tests, I guess. See if we can get some idea why they stuck a dang Void Dragon in the dang thing.”

“Alright. Can you message me when you’re about to start the tests?” I looked between them both on the holoscreen. “If something gets FUBAR, I want to be able to get to you with Karalti as fast as possible.”

“Sure. I’ll ping you.” Rin bobbed her head. “How’s everyone doing in Kalla Sahasi? Were you able to rescue Ignas?”

I hesitated before answering, remembering that we had a spy in the ranks. Somewhere. “Uh… yeah, we did. Everything’s fine. Anyway, I have to head off and get some rest. We’re going to be babysitting Jacob tomorrow.”

“Oh! That reminds me!” Rin waved her fists briefly, hopping up and down. “You asked me to make that tracking anklet for him! I did: it’s in the armory.”

“Awesome, thanks.” I sighed, stretched, and popped my hands. “Here’s hoping he’s a good boy, and we don’t need to use it to chase his ass down.”