Crowned in Black: Chapter 18

The four of us rushed back to the hospital to find Masha waiting for us in the ward. She was seated, a cup of tea cradled in her hands. Ebisa stood nearby, her arms crossed over her chest, head turned away.

"Ahh, Lord Tuun. The man we needed." Masha sighed. "Captain Vilmos, Countess, His Majesty has asked that you also stay."

"Ignas is awake?" I took a step forward. "What's happening? Did he have a bad reaction to one of the medicines, or...?"

"Or your blood," Masha replied heavily. "We aren't sure, because he was given both to save his life. But yes, he is awake for now."

"But why would Hector's blood cause him to Strange?" Because of the vampirism?" Suri's expression fell as she came to my side.

"We know nothing for certain, but the way his Stranging is happening... it doesn't match the usual symptoms I would expect from alchemical poisoning." Masha looked uncharacteristically gloomy as she sipped at her drink, fingers tapping on the simple, but beautiful Chuurvi-style cup. "Based on what I see, I am inclined to say that something about Hector's blood is toxic to normal men. You drink your dragon's blood every week to maintain your bond with her; that, and perhaps whatever other things were done to you, have caused your blood to become magically potent. But if nothing else, your donation has brought Ignas some time. Without that transfusion you gave, at the speed we were able to give it, he would not have lived at all. Now, at least, he is able to speak with us at the end."

The... end?" All the muscles of my chest and gut tensed.

"There's got to be some way to stop the process," Suri insisted. "Some kind of... I dunno. Magical dialysis or something. Some way to filter the mana out of his blood."

"If there is, I do not know of any devices that can do so." Masha looked down at her cup. "Mana is a pernicious thing. In tiny amounts, heavily diffused into our bodies, it is the stuff of life itself. It is toxic to us precisely because living bodies absorb it so readily. Mana is not itself poisonous. Rather, our bodies can absorb too much, and then expire from the stress of 'too much' life being forced into it. This is what is happening to Ignas."

"And what's the end result?" I asked.

"Death, or mutation into some monster," Masha replied. "At this stage it looks more like the former, though he is starting to exhibit some... changes. We observed small crystals forming in his eye sockets."

I flashed back to the Rotmother in Lahati’s Tomb, shuddered, and rubbed my eyes. Fuck. "No. We can't let him die."

"There is little that can be done for Stranging, Your Grace." Masha fixed me with a piercing look. "Short of healing magic returning to the world-"

"Wait. That's it." I looked up, and blinked at her a couple times. "Healing magic."

The Masterhealer flashed me a look of disbelief. She looked at Suri as if to say ‘can you believe this shit?’.

"I swear I'm not just pulling that out of my ass," I said, fighting the urge to start pacing. "Matir told me that he'd be able to return healing magic to the world when he was freed from his Dragon Gate. How long does Ignas have, do you think?"

"With care? Perhaps two weeks." Masha still looked skeptical, but she glanced at my right hand - and the Mark of Matir.

"Dragon Gates are a Level 50 thing though, right?" The gears were also turning in Suri's head now. "Me and you are only Level 37. Rin's about 35, Gar's still only 29..."

"I'm not letting him die," I repeated stubbornly. "We'll figure it out. Masha, you said he's awake. Does he want to see us, or...?"

"Aye, that he does. He was very specific in who he requested, too," Masha replied. "He wants to speak with you, Ebisa, Suri and Countess Kitti Hussar, as a group."

"He wants to speak to Kitti?" I frowned. "That's... weird."

"I sent someone for her," Captain Vilmos said. He looked as unsettled as I suddenly felt. "Perhaps he wishes to congratulate her on the reclamation of Bas? Or encourage her. She is only young."

"Maybe." I did start pacing now, unable to help the restless energy in my limbs. "If you don't mind, I want to go see him now and talk privately while we wait."

Masha hesitated, then looked to Ebisa. The Mercurion bowed her head. "Very well, Your Grace. He is in my private quarters. It has no windows... we thought he might be safer there."

I nodded, clapped Suri reassuringly on the arm, and left them to murmur quietly to one another. Some part of me refused to believe that he was really dying, after the ordeal we'd been through to rescue him. My mind was a numb haze as I knocked softly on the door, braced myself, and let myself inside.

"Hnngh?" Ignas grunted, head turning slightly. He was clean, now, which only emphasized just how badly he'd been hurt. He looked thin and grey under the woven hospital blankets, a cloth draped over his missing eyes.

"Evening, Your Majesty. It's me." I closed the door behind me with a small click, then went over and sat next to his bed.

"Hector." His voice was surprisingly firm, if not raspy. Following his ears, the king reached out with his hand for mine. "Where are the others?"

"On their way." I took it, and as I did, saw a faint pulse of greenish light under the skin, glinting like embers. Ignas flinched and grimaced.

"My veins feel like they're burning," he muttered, pausing to swallow and catch his breath. "And before you say anything, Hector, you're not to blame. I forbid you feeling any guilt about my condition. It is thanks to you that I live at all."

I swallowed down on the apology I'd been about to offer him, and forced a watery smile instead. "Understood, sir."

"I thought you might. You can take the soldier out of the army, but you can never pull the army out of the soldier." Ignas's breathing sped a moment, then settled as he overcame another spike of pain. "Tell me: what happened at court? Ebisa spoke of Janos committing treason."

"We have every reason to think he joined Ororgael's cult," I said, frowning and glancing back at the door. "He was wearing the Ryuko Corp pin, same as the one your brother had. He was also doing his best to try and frame me and Suri for 'making' Dakhdir betray you. It failed pretty damn hard. There was a rebellion... the entire 4th Fleet deserted."

"Curse that man," Ignas spat. "I should have listened to my instincts and had him and all other of Andrik's toadies thrown into the damned dungeons, at the least. He led me ill, Hector. Him and that bastard Khemmemu."

Another pulse of light rippled under Ignas's skin, and he jerked. Looking down at his wrist, I had the brief, mad idea that I could somehow draw the mana out of him, but no amount of concentration, Willpower, or wishing made a difference. I tried to activate one of my Mark of Matir abilities, Purify, but only got a short error message: [This ability cannot be used to cure Stranging.]

"We'll get ‘em, chief," I said thickly. "Don't worry. I just sat down with the satraps of Myszno to plan our army. Actually... I wanted to ask..."

"I know of it. My eyes are gone, yet I am still able to see my Kingdom Management System. Don't ask me how, but Khors' blessing yet remains on my House," he replied, voice stiff with pain. "I have it open as we speak. And yes... this Free Army of yours, it has my blessing. Where are the others? Vilmos? Ba’Hadir? Hussar?"

"They're coming." I frowned: it was the second time he'd asked. "Kitti was probably in bed."

"I need all of them here. Hells... I should have asked for Count Turok..."

I frowned, and was about to reply when there was a tap on the door behind me, and Ebisa stuck her head around. She opened it ahead of the three people Ignas had requested. Kitti definitely looked like she'd hurled herself out of a dead sleep and flown around her room getting ready. She was wide-eyed but composed, dressed in armor bearing her family's pterodactyl and lily crest. Suri was right behind her, along with the captain.

"Oh, thank the gods. All of you... come here and stand." Ignas' fingers twitched as he blindly navigated the KMS. His breathing was harsher now: he was pushing himself to stay awake. "And not one bloody word about how I should be resting. This is important."

Suri glanced to me, and I shrugged, turning back to Ignas as the other four gathered around. The Volod squeezed my hand - for comfort or to reassure me, I wasn't sure.

"I've gathered you here because I need three witnesses of noble blood and title," Ignas said, wheezing a little on the last words. "So all of you, listen carefully. I am without heir, and moreover, I've known for some time that I will never produce one. Me and my brother both are... were... as sterile as mules. Why, we don't know, only that neither Andrik or I ever so much as conceived a bastard, let alone needed to hide one."

Before he'd even finished, my eyes started to widen.

"Without an heir, Vlachia will perish, leaving Dakhdir and Ilia to squabble over the remains like vultures over a corpse," Ignas said, voice firming as he summoned some deep inner reserve of strength. "So as Hector has given me his blood, I shall give him mine. I enact the tradition of Anda, Succession by Blood Oath. Ebisa. Give me your knife."

I wanted to protest, or say SOMETHING, but my tongue wouldn't move. Behind me, Suri and Kitti watched on in solemn shock. Ebisa wordlessly handed over her dagger. Ignas grasped it, notched small cut in his wrist, then extended the blade to me.

"I..." I reached for it, but my fingers wouldn't quite take it. "You're... making me your heir? Why me?"

"You restored Vlachia to me, saved my life twice, and stood by this nation more times than I can count," Ignas replied, tilting his sightless face toward me. "I've watched your progress as Voivode from afar, Hector, seen this province regain its prosperity and claw its way back from the brink of ruin to a functioning state. None other of my Voivodes has shown the same initiative or concern. Besides that, you are a bridge between Vlachia and the rest of this world, and I fear we will need that in the times to come. The Drachan are returning, are they not? And you... you are the chosen of the Black God, Hector. You, Karalti, and your inner circle are heroes of this age."

I swallowed, trying to clear the tightness in my throat. "Yeah. Yeah, they are. I mean, both the Drachan thing, and the fact my friends are heroes."

"Yes. You, Suri, the other Starborn. The arrival of the Black God's chosen in Vlachia, riding a dragon, is a sign." Ignas winced as motes of mana crawled through the pores of his cheeks, then waggled the knife at me to take. "You're the right one, Hector. So take the damn dagger, make a cut, and speak after me."

Ebisa folded her hands in front of her and shifted into a parade rest, as did Suri and Vilmos. Kitti, biting her lips to stop from crying, clumsily mimicked them as I drew a deep breath and pricked my arm. Ebisa stepped forward to take the knife without asking as I clasped Ignas's bloodied forearm to mine.

"Dragozin Hector, by the mingling of our blood do I claim you as my son and only heir before these witnesses," Ignas recited, breathing hard through his nose. His grip was firm, but the muscles of his forearm trembled. "And before these witnesses, should you choose to accept, I proclaim you the Crown Prince of Vlachia following my death or permanent disability, should I become unfit to rule. So may it be."

Like an incantation, Ignas' words caused my KMS to open of its own accord, along with a prompt from Navigail.

[You have been chosen to assume the title of Crown Prince of Vlachia. This will change your family name from Dragozin to Dragozin-Corvinus or Corvinus, depending on your preference.]

[Will you accept?]