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Loose Threads
One Hundred Twelve
Year Five
Iain motioned towards the plate in the center of the table where the tiny pills were laid out in a row. “They’re called twee. I want each of you to swallow one of them. They won’t hurt you and will actually help you out a lot.”
Solnys picked one up and peered at it. “Sir, what will it do?”
“First of all, it will make you healthier and protect you against disease and poison. It’ll help you to heal faster and more completely. It will also, eventually, make you stronger and faster. You’ll live longer and it will make it easier to remember things.” He hesitated. “It will also allow you to communicate with anyone else who has a twee even if they’re far away from you, if they want to talk to you. Finally, it’ll eventually talk to you as well and help guide you in your life, if you need it. Most adults don’t and so it’s usually quiet, but it can be very helpful for children.”
Zilvra looked up from contemplating the twee to regard him. “Will this be given to children?”
“I want everyone who is clan to have one. If nothing else, it’ll let us talk to anyone trapped in a cave in or lost in the Underdark and will help keep them alive until we can get to them.”
Quick Bite picked up a twee and swallowed it. “Master, do you want me to bring the other kobolds by as they become available or should I stop the regular activities and assemble them all right now?”
Zilvra looked at the dragonwrought kobold. “You do not have more questions?”
Quick Bite grinned at her. “We serve our master. He is not stupid. If he wanted to kill us, this is a stupid way to do so. It would be easier to assemble the kobolds so he could trap and eat us without any delay.”
Iain chuckled. “While her reasoning is a little shaky, she’s essentially right. And these are voluntary. Nobody will be forced to accept a twee.” His humor faded. “But it is an extraordinary aid for us and it will only be available for clan. Outlanders will not be given twee unless I decide otherwise.”
“What about you, Xune,” Zilvra asked.
Iain’s daughter was, as had become normal for her if Iain was still long enough, sitting next to him. She looked up from the book she was reading. “Father already gave me one. It doesn’t hurt and it has made even me smarter than I was before I got it, if that can be believed.”
Solnys looked like she was trying not laugh at the young gold dragoness as she nodded. “What happens if someone gets a twee and leaves the clan?”
“Once you have a twee, you have it pretty much for the rest of your life. If someone decides to leave the clan, their twee goes with them. They do not, however, get twee for any outlanders if they are not clan. That includes anyone they mate with or any children they have outside the clan. Also, if someone is clan and leaves the clan, if they marry, mate, breed or otherwise acquire offspring or a family, they are not eligible to automatically become clan. They may petition to join us and I will give them preferential consideration, but that is all they get.” He leaned back in his chair. “For that reason, I will control access to twee for the foreseeable future.”
“Sir,” Solnys asked, “will you accept a twee?”
“I have had one for several years already,” Iain replied. “I find it very useful and it has never caused me harm.”
Zilvra picked up one of the pellets. “Does Laelra have one of these?”
“She does not. She’s is an outlander.”
Zilvra swallowed her twee. “I want to start letting the drow that we rescue stay with us and offer them the chance to become clan.”
Stolnys was still looking at the twee she held. “What if they refuse,” she asked without looking away from the pill.
“If this place is not to their liking, then they can travel on to Ilhar Mrimm,” Zilvra replied. “But things like these twee make this a better place for the Lady Dancer’s worshippers than Ilhar Mrimm is.”
Quick Bite eyed her curiously. “Does this have to do with how much you dislike Laelra?”
“I do not dislike Laelra Mytlar,” Zilvra said. “I do not like her either. She is trying her best and, for most drow who travel to Ilhar Mrimm, she does an adequate job of ministering to their needs. For some, however, it will not be enough.”
“Like it wasn’t for you,” Iain asked.
“Yes.” Zilvra picked up her glass of water and sipped at it. “We will not allow this place to be like Ilhar Mrimm can be.” She smiled. “Even if Solnys does not want drow here, she would not allow us to do less than our best for anyone who seeks our aid. And you, Iain, seek to grow the clan. That means eventually we will have humans and surface elves here, along with anyone else who finds this place to be home for him or her.” She gave him a direct look. “I will have to return to Ilhar Mrimm for a short time. I was not the only person who was not happy living there and some few of them might be willing to consider becoming clan. I will attempt to not turn Laelra’s heart against you, but the Lady’s worshippers are more important than your relationship with any individual priestess. Do you agree?”
She was right and she knew that he knew she was right, but it had to be said. “I do. Do what you must to help anyone there who needs us. If it means that Laelra and I are no longer fuck buddies, then so be it.”
“I will leave tomorrow.”
“Everyone needs to understand that some people would have to vetted much more carefully than others,” Iain said quietly. “While I don’t have a problem with tieflings or anyone like that, someone from the Abyss or Hell would have to be carefully evaluated before being allowed to live here. That goes for people from the Celestial planes too. Clan comes first. While Eilistraee is our goddess and she can order members of her priesthood to do her bidding, I won’t allow even her to demand we do something that would harm the clan and I don’t want the agents of other deities or powers to try to make us into some arm of their patron.”
“Will everyone have to worship Eilistraee?” Solnys put her twee in her mouth and swallowed.
Iain shook his head. “That would go against the idea of individual choice we are trying to espouse.” He leaned back in his chair. “Having said that, however, I’ll be honest that I’m not going to welcome the priestesses of other gods into the clan for a while, possibly not for a very long while.”
“What if a clanswoman wants to become a priestess of some other god,” Solnys asked.
“As long as she understands I’m not going to do more than listen to her if she asks for our aid for her god or wants official permission to proselytize here, she is free to do as she wants.”
“Sir,” Solnys said, “I believe that decision is a mistake. You are the Grey and you are a priestess of Eilistraee. I think you should make her the clan’s patron goddess. You still do not have to insist that we all worship her, but she should come first within the clan.”
“The kobolds favor Kurtulmak,” Iain pointed out. “That would not be fair to them.”
“That is changing, master,” Quick Bite said. “Naldryn’s words and conversion have spread within the clan and many pray to Eilistraee when we meditate on being the blood of the dragon. And her magic as a priestess of Eilistraee is undeniable. Many kobolds want the favor of our master’s goddess.”
Zilvra looked as bemused as Iain felt. He’d intended to wean the kobolds away from their gods, but he hadn’t planned for events to change this soon or quickly. He shrugged. “Take a survey of the clan and find out how widespread Eilistraee’s worship is. After you’ve gathered that data, we’ll discuss this again. In the meantime, tell our clanswomen about twee and I’ll schedule some time to meet with people who want them or who have questions you can’t answer about them. I do want any children or hatchlings to get them as soon as possible. They can be invaluable in helping them survive the childhood maladies and whatnot that can claim their lives.” He smiled thinly. “It will also let us find them if they get lost or are kidnapped.”
Quick Bite stood. “I’ll talk to the kobolds watching the wyrmlings today, master. The young get a small meal right before bedtime. If you are willing, we can give them twee then.”
“I’ll be there.” He looked around the room “Is there anything else?” He waited a moment. “Then we’ll meet again in a week.”
***
Calazith was lightly dozing when the sounds of the disturbance outside his cave woke him. His nose informed him who had arrived even as he heard the dragoness’ voice. “Get out here, Calazith!”
This day had been long coming and Calazith touched his chest to make sure his holy symbol was still embedded among the scales before heading outside. It was firmly attached, and he knew it, but it was a reassuring gesture that had become a nervous habit. He stopped just outside the entrance to his cave and drew himself up so his holy symbol flashed in the morning sun. Waiting for him was the blue dragon that had laid the egg he’d hatched from. At least she hadn’t brought her other children to make his humiliation complete, but then she was more than powerful enough to deal with the situation, and with him, on her own. “I don’t care what you do to me, Aardath” he said calmly. “I will not renounce my worship of Bahamut. You can either kill me or accept this fact, for I have not broken your edict and been in the territories of any of those who share blood with me.”
To his surprise, his mother didn’t immediately lunge forward to beat him or otherwise punish him for not bowing his head to her. Instead she seemed surprised for several seconds. “Bahamut,” she asked in a voice filled with disbelief.
“Don’t toy with me, Aardath. My decision to reject the philosophies of Tiamat and the other evil gods is the reason you cast me out of my home and the clan. You formally declared I’m not your offspring, remember? It’s why I can no longer call you my mother.”
Aardath shook her head slightly. “Well, shit.”
Calazith stared at her. “What?”
“I’m not Aardath and you just fucked up my plans to use you to get to her.”
Calazith bared his teeth slightly in annoyance. “I am not sure what ploy this is, but I said I will not attack you out of the last vestiges of respect and I meant it. That does not give you the right for whatever deceit you are attempting by coming here today. Leave.”
Aardath’s form changed and grew into a dragon with black scales edged in silver that was much larger than any dragon Calazith had ever seen. Even her scent changed, becoming male. “I am not Aardath. I’d taken her shape to lure you out of your cave so killing you would be easier. But if you’re a worshipper of Bahamut and your mother has cast you out from the Shimmerscale clan, taking your life wouldn’t do anything useful and just might cause me a lot of trouble with certain individuals.”
Calazith stared at him. “Who are you?”
“I am Iain Grey.” He started to say something else, but Calazith interrupted him.
“You’re the kinslayer?”
Iain cocked his head curiously. “I’m the what?”
“You’ve been killing dragons in these mountains, including other blacks. I heard you started with your own family.”
“Take a good look at my head, Calazith, and then at the rest of me. I am not a black dragon.” He shook his head “Dude, I’ve coughed up phlegm that’s smarter than the average black dragon.”
“Then what kind of dragon are you?”
“I’m unique as far as the dragons of this world are concerned,” Iain said. He chuckled. “I can’t believe how much that stung my pride. Wow. At least you didn’t claim I was a melanistic white dragon, considering that they’re routinely outwitted by small woodland animals. That’s why they live in places that are so cold, so they can’t be outsmarted by squirrels.”
Calazith snickered. “I’ve only met a few white dragons, but you’re right about how stupid they are. You said you intended to use me to get to Aardath. How?”
“She has declared she’s going to kill someone I know. That person asked me to help keep that from happening. I wanted to kill you in order to anger her and so lure her to a killing ground of my choice since I’ll be fighting all of the Shimmerscale clan.”
“You know Tagiss?”
Iain nodded. “I’m not surprised you’d heard.”
“She repeatedly thwarted Aardath’s plans to expand her territory to the north about a century ago. Aardath has hated her ever since and only recently discovered where Tagiss had moved her lair. She knows she’s more powerful than Tagiss and confronted her in order to make her paranoid about when Aardath will finally move to finish her off. She likes playing this game with her victims.”
Iain sighed. “You know, Tagiss is really good at omitting things I might need to know, like glossing over the fact that she and Aardath have a history. That girl has another couple of spankings coming at this rate.” He shook his head. “That’s something for another time.” His eyes sharpened on Calazith and the young blue felt his heart suddenly race. “Now whatever shall I do with you?” His teeth gleamed in the light as his jaws opened slightly. “I can’t have you warning Aardath that I’m coming for her.”
“I am not talking to any of my former relatives,” Calazith said with a calm he didn’t feel. “And I don’t share their animosity towards Tagiss. If you’re a just and fair person, I haven’t done anything that you can seek justice for. If you are just like them, then nothing I can say will change what you will do to me.”
“I hadn’t decided yet what I was going to do,” Iain said with a note of amusement in his voice. “But killing you was not my first thought.”
“I am a blue dragon. Everyone knows that we are always irrevocably evil.”
“I don’t normally judge a person based on the group they belong to. I deal with individuals. Yes, I came here to kill you because you are a Shimmerscale and because I thought your death could be used to lure the others into a trap, but I now know that killing you won’t give me what I thought it would. And because of that, I have no interest in taking your life. I kill for valid reasons, not because the urge to do so strikes me. That way would lead me into a life of evil and that’s something I want to avoid. I don’t suppose you hate your family enough to help me, would you?”
“I would not, but not for the reasons you might think. Facing my family would put my life in unnecessary danger, and that is something to be avoided at all costs.”
Iain chuckled. “The god that the holy symbol you carry represents would want you to put yourself into situations like that to prove your goodness.”
“The fact that I worship Bahamut has not made me insane,” Calazith replied. “I am not one of his holy warriors or one of his priests.”
“Well, be that as it may, would you help me by providing some information about the clan you used to belong to?”
“I will not provide the information that you could use to destroy the Shimmerscale clan,” Calazith paused for emphasis, “for free.”
Iain chuckled again. “Then let us first negotiate a bit but understand that if I find your information is not worth what you claim it is, I will discuss that with you after I discover the truth.”
“I do not wish to die,” Calazith said simply. “And you believe that you can defeat my entire clan somehow, which means you can defeat me alone. I do not know if that is true or not, but I will negotiate with you as if it is.” His wings spread and refolded carefully. “After all, lying to you and presuming it will get you killed would likely put my life in unnecessary danger just as much as standing with you while you face them would. It is also a situation I would be wise to avoid.”
Iain nodded. “I think that is a wise statement. So, let us discuss value and then we will discuss truth.”
***
There was a decent flow of traffic into and out of the palace’s front door and Iain merely joined it and walked unobtrusively into the building. As he’d expected, the sentries on either side of the door ignored him like they did everyone else. Once inside, he looked around and headed for where a nicely dressed female elf stood and watched the traffic. She wore the livery of the Keltormir court officials but wasn’t a guard, which is why Iain picked her out of the people in the entranceway. She watched him approach with a slightly bored expression. “May I help you,” she asked courteously when he stopped in front of her.
“I am Iain Grey and I’m supposed to meet with Princess Shatris today. While I have been here before, I’ve never been here unescorted and I’m not sure of the protocol involved.”
The elf raised an eyebrow. “Your hosts before didn’t explain the protocol to you?”
“No, the first time Duke Rhyem Ammanth was rushing me to the waiting room for an audience with the king and the other times someone from the king’s guard was waiting for me when I arrived and took me straight to see His Majesty.” Iain dug into a pouch. “I have the letter from Shatris inviting me to visit, if that will help.”
The elf’s eyes had widened slightly while he was talking and she silently took the piece of parchment, unrolled it and scanned it. Her eyes snapped up to meet his for a second and, for the first time, she looked him over before producing a bright, completely professional smile that didn’t fool Iain for an instant. “Sir, you are the Grey?”
“I am. Is that important?”
Real humor crept into her smile. “His Majesty says it is, sir, so it is. If I’d known you were coming to visit today, sir, I’d have had an escort waiting for you.”
“As you can see from the letter, it isn’t anything so formal as to require an escort,” Iain said. “Shatris asked me to drop by today if I could. But if you could get me someone who knows this place so I don’t have to wander around for a few days trying to find out where Shatris is, I think we can consider your duties fully and well discharged.”
The elf handed him back the letter. “Her Highness should be taking breakfast right now, sir. If you’ll come with me, I will be happy to take you to her.”
Iain chuckled. “Lead on.”
His guide whispered something to one of the guards lining the walls and then led Iain deeper into the palace. Instead of heading upwards, as he’d done several times before, they stayed on the same floor, eventually emerging in a small garden where Shatris sat at a table, picking at a bowl of fruit. Her eyes lit up when she saw him. “Iain!”
“Thank you,” Iain murmured to his guide as she stepped aside to let him pass.
“You are welcome, sir,” she said with another professional smile before disappearing back into the palace.
Shatris pointed at another chair at the table. “I didn’t think you’d actually be able to come here today, but I am glad you did.”
Iain dropped into the chair and smiled. “Your letter was pretty insistent and I recently heard that Sylnala was pregnant. I wanted to bring her a gift and this gave me another reason to come so I could visit you.”
Shatris frowned. “A gift for the baby? It’s still in her womb.”
Iain chuckled. “Clan tradition is that a pregnant woman receives gifts that can help with the baby, like beginning clothing, blankets and other things. I understand that this is Sylnala’s first child and so the gifts will help her since she’s presumably inexperienced with having her own children to care for.”
The princess eyed him curiously. “What did you give as a gift?”
“I’m going to give her some diapers. They’re enchanted to clean themselves and their surroundings when soiled. It keeps the diaper clean and the parts of the baby covered by the diaper clean as well.”
Shatris looked surprised. “That’s quite a gift. I’d like some of those when I become pregnant.”
“I’ll see that you get them as soon as you might need them.”
“Thank you. If you’re giving magic as a gift, it must be fairly easy to make.”
Iain smiled. “The enchantment isn’t that expensive to apply and is permanent, although it doesn’t protect the cloth from damage or normal wear and tear. It also doesn’t take a powerful wizard to apply it and sorcerers don’t have any problems with the process either. This means we will be manufacturing them for sale, probably starting about this time next year. I hope that other nobility will find out about them and want some too, creating demand for when we have a decent supply of them available for sale.” He shrugged. “It actually cleans anything it comes into contact with, so you could use them to wash dishes, clean armor, clean your body, clean wounds while waiting for a healer and do other maintenance that requires cleanliness. Theoretically there’s a huge market for them.”
Shatris smiled suddenly. “Will you be selling the process for making these cloths?”
Iain gave her a smug grin. “Certainly not. Would you?”
Shatris laughed. “No, I wouldn’t either.”
Iain leaned back in his chair. “So why did you suddenly issue this invitation for me to visit and strenuously suggest I do as you ask in the same letter?”
“My brother, Raloric, wants to meet you.” All humor had faded from her face. “He’s the crown prince and he has been listening to my father talk about how much he likes you and has become curious about the elf my father is discussing.”
Iain nodded. “I’ve heard a little about him already. Did you invite me here to meet him or to warn me about meeting him?”
“I wanted to warn you before taking you to meet him.” Shatris motioned towards the platter of fruit. “Are you hungry?”
Iain politely took a grape and popped it in his mouth. “Does he know the truth about me?”
“I don’t think so. I think he’s read the official reports I sent to Father, but I never revealed any of your secrets in them. Those were only ever discussed when we were together and alone. He knows that Father declared that the mountains you live in will belong to the Grey clan in perpetuity and renounced all claim to them. I know he feels that was a mistake. He’s seen the reports of the revenue that has been starting to come out of the mountains from trade with your clan and he’s been listening to the complaints of the tax collectors about lost revenue in the taxes that they can’t levy on your clan. Things like your magic cloth are only going to make him certain he is right in feeling we should reassert our claim to the land you occupy.”
Iain shook his head. “Without us, there wouldn’t be any trade coming out of those mountains and there are no ‘lost’ taxes if we’ve never been taxed. Besides, Keltormir still has its hands full with the war with the Vyshaantar Empire. Looking to start more trouble would be silly.”
Shatris smiled amusedly at him. “The war has been going much better since you destroyed the leadership of several of their armies, Iain.”
Iain sighed. “I did this to myself.”
“You did.”
“What is the best way for me to introduce myself to Raloric?”
“Raloric likes to be in the strongest position in any negotiation. However, my father and I agree that you should meet him with the two of you being equals. You do not want to appear weak to him, and,” she smiled again, “from my time with your clan I understand that you prefer to appear as strong as possible in order to give potential enemies pause.”
Iain frowned. “You consulted with Thefaren before having this little discussion with me?”
Shatris laughed. “No, my father consulted with me before instructing me to write you that letter, have this talk with you and then introduce you to my brother.”
Iain nodded as he thought. “Is this a formal diplomatic request from the King of Keltormir to the Grey?”
“It is. Father wants the two of you to meet before he dies, in the hope that you and Raloric can reach an agreement that will keep your clan at least neutral towards Keltormir.”
“Is Thefaren likely to die anytime soon? I know he’s under a lot of stress, but he’s still fairly young.”
Shatris’ smile faded to be replaced by sadness. “As you know, he is not well. The priests say that Corellon will call him to Arvandor soon.”
“Can I meet with him? I may be able to diagnose what’s wrong and fix it.”
She shook her head. “I have already pleaded with him to let you do that since your healing powers are like none I’ve ever seen. He refused. He’s tired and he wants to rest and he wants to be reunited with his one true love, my mother. He has asked me to ask you to remember the friendship you two have developed and to respect his wishes in this.”
They weren’t really friends but they had corresponded a great deal over the years since they’d met, and Iain had recognized Thefaren to be an elf he could have been friends with, if their lives had been different. He certainly respected Thefaren. “Reassure him that I won’t attack him in the hopes of healing him,” Iain said with a smile. “That would violate my beliefs in his right to choose his own path.”
“I will pass your answer on to him. It will make him happy to hear your words because he wants to see you again at least one time before he leaves us.” Shatris smiled. “He likes you.”
Iain made a quick decision. “Send me a note when he’s available and I’ll come to see him if I can. If cannot, I’ll let you know and we’ll keep trying until I can.”
The princess looked surprised and then smiled. “Thank you, Iain. I know you don’t want any appearance of being at our beck and call. I appreciate this gesture.”
“It’s not a gesture. You are my friend, Shatris, and I like your father. In another time and in another place where we both had more free time, I think we would have either been close friends or at least friendly competitors. I want to see him at least once more.” Iain shrugged. “For the same reason I’ll meet with your brother and I’ll try to be polite to him without letting him walk all over me. I’d like Keltormir and Grey to keep our current relationship and I am willing to at least see what the future king is like and what he might want in order to maintain the peace between our two governments. Is he available now?”
Shatris stood. “He should be.” He stood and she put a hand on his arm. “Thank you, Iain,” she said softly.
Iain gripped her hand for an instant. “One of the last things I want to do is look at a Keltormir army that I have to fight and wonder if you’re in it and if I’m going to have to kill one of my few friends. I won’t sacrifice my clan to save our friendship, but hopefully your brother and I can reach some sort of agreement that will keep us from facing each other on the battlefield.”
She nodded. “This way.”
***
Crown Prince Raloric stood with a group of guards and other people watching two teams of Keltormir’s troops training against each other. Referees determined casualties and waved the dead to a pair of areas where they stood and looked forlornly at the training exercise. Iain could easily identify the prince because he closely resembled his father, Thefaren, both in looks as well as in build.
One of the people with the prince noticed Shatris and Iain approaching them and said something to Raloric. The entire group turned to watch them. Raloric nodded to Shatris. “Sister.”
Shatris motioned towards Iain. “This is Iain Grey, the leader of Clan Grey. He wanted to meet you.” She turned to Iain. “Iain, this His Highness, Raloric, the crown prince of Keltormir and my brother.”
Iain watched with amusement as Raloric and the others sized him up. Knowing he was coming to the palace to see Shatris, Iain had dressed up a little and wore a comfortable silk tunic and trousers in dark blue with silver trim. His boots and belt were black with matching stitching in silver that also matched the embroidery on his sword’s scabbard. The stitching on all three looked like dragons but actually showcased dragonwrought kobolds placing traps and had been embroidered by a kobold seamstress with a sense of humor that Iain really liked.
Silk was known in Keltormir, but it was almost prohibitively expensive to own, considering that all silk production was what Iain would call wild silk and from a variety of limited sources. The only reason he had ready access to silk was because he had a way to easily get to Chult and had discovered a moth there that was a dead ringer for Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkworm from Asia. One of the jobs of his undead harem there was to cultivate the moth and begin selectively breeding it to increase its silk yields and quality. The cocoons they’d chosen to harvest had provided raw silk for processing and use.
“Your Highness, I’m sorry to hear that your father’s health hasn’t improved since I last saw him,” Iain said quietly, “but it means that it is past time that you and I meet since you are the heir to the throne and I would like the relationship between our governments to remain cordial.”
“Cordial?” Raloric smiled. “I will be direct, Iain. The mountains you live in are Keltormir land and you are a citizen of the kingdom. My father’s illness has caused him to say things that make little sense and some of them pertain to the mountains in which you live. As soon as I am the king, I will enforce Keltormir law throughout the entire breadth and width of my realm. I am willing to be reasonable, however and, if you swear fealty as required, I will be willing to grant you a barony and title to some land within the mountains. I’ve read the reports my sister compiled after her return from the valley you live in and I’m afraid that such valuable property will need much more direct control, royal control, than you can provide.”
Beside him, Iain could easily hear Shatris’ sharp intake of breath. “I appreciate your candor,” Iain said evenly. “And, in return, Raloric,” someone hissed in anger amongst the group the prince was with at the bald use of his unadorned name, “I too will be direct. The armies of Vyshaantar are larger, better trained and better equipped than Keltormir’s. They also have a long history of winning both the battles they fight in and the wars they start, which gives them an esprit de corps that Keltormir cannot match. The fact that someone has blamed Vyshaantar, correctly, I might add, for the devastation that has been a result of the Crown Wars over the past several thousand years does not change that, nor does the somewhat religious bent of the current war. The only reason Keltormir exists today as a kingdom for you to inherit is because I decided to get my clan involved in the war between you two and on the side of Keltormir. Your father recognized that fact and acknowledged its veracity. You apparently do not. I would strongly suggest you get your head out of your ass and use your brain to think a little after you have done so and can see daylight and breathe clean air again.”
There was silence for several seconds while Iain’s words sank in. Then the group muttered angrily. Several hands went to sword hilts as Raloric turned purple. “You dare to threaten me, here in my own home?”
“I am not threatening you, Raloric. I am telling you that your threat against my clan, as well as your threat against me directly, as subtle as it was not, does not impress or frighten me. We have never been and are not now citizens of Keltormir and clan land is sovereign land.”
Raloric’s eyes blazed with fury. “One word from me, peasant, and your life is forfeit here and now.”
Iain smiled, which seemed to infuriate the prince even more. “I have had a great many enemies make threats like that during my life. We are not enemies, not yet, but you are just as wrong as they were. Now, out of respect for my hostess, I will take my leave of you before one of your minions draws a weapon and things spiral completely out of control.” He turned his back dismissively on the group and headed back the way Shatris had brought him. She followed silently.
Iain waited until they were alone before turning to her. “I’m sorry for that display, but I can’t let him think he can successfully threaten my clan or he’ll dispatch an army during his coronation.”
Shatris looked back the way they’d come for an instant before giving him a broad grin. “Head out of your ass? Iain, that was inspired.”
“I expected you to be a little more upset with me. I wasn’t really polite to him.”
“Iain, you started out on just the right conciliatory note, and I am certain you would have been as polite as you could be after that. It was Raloric who decided he had something to prove to you.”
“I just insulted the crown prince and your brother,” Iain said.
“I never said I like him. My brother is the heir to the crown and he has never shown me any kindness. I can only hope that a few years of the reality of being king will make him a nicer person and a better king.”
“Well, please make sure your father gets an accurate description of our conversation instead of the one I suspect he’ll hear from Raloric. In that one, his guards might just barely beat off my assassination attempt, miraculously without taking a single wound while doing so.” He smirked. “After all, as a peasant, my swordsmanship is as horrible as my volatile temper.”
“I will.” She grinned again. “I’ve got the conversation between you two memorized, word for word.”
Iain shook his head slightly. “He’s a real threat and one I have to take seriously.”
“He is. What are you going to do?”
“What’s important is what I’ll have to stop doing, Shatris. If he thinks he can free up forces to send against my clan because I’m weakening Vyshaantar’s army, I’ll have to stop weakening Vyshaantar. It means there will be more Keltormir casualties.”
She gave him an anxious look. “You won’t take their side against us, will you?”
“That I don’t see a reason to do just yet, so no.”
“If you start reconsidering that decision, please let me know.” She put her hand on his arm. “You will keep writing me, won’t you?”
“I’m not going to let your brother come between us, Shatris.”
“Good. I’d miss your stories about what’s happening in your valley.”
“How accurate were your reports about your visit?”
“I was as precise and accurate as I could be. I am a princess and I could do no less than my duty to my father and the kingdom.”
“That’s what I expected.” He smiled. “And I understand the burdens of responsibility. It just means I’ll have to start changing things regarding my defenses and start some light editing of my letters to you. If I were your brother and thought like he did, I’d have a spy who had access to all of your correspondence, possibly before you get to read it.” He sighed. “Well, I need to be going before someone tries to stick a dagger in my ribs for insulting the future king and you need to try and beat his agents to your father.”
“If I were my father,” Shatris countered, “I’d have spies among my brother’s entourage.”
“And if I were Raloric,” Iain said, “I’d know who they are and I’d have already suborned them so they only told my father what I wanted him to know.”
Shatris shook her head. “I can only hope he hasn’t and plan as if he has.”
“And I can only hope I haven’t caused you too many problems today. Be well, Shatris.”
She smiled. “Be well, Iain. Can you find your way out of the palace?”
“Yes. I’m great a leaving places where someone might be trying to kill me.” He turned and headed for the front of the palace.
***
Year Twenty
“What are you plans for the future?”
Xune opened one eye at her father’s question. They were outside, in a clear area overlooking the entrance to the valley. Sometimes, in the life of a young gold dragoness, it was nice just to lie down, spread your wings and let the sun beat down on you while the always overactive brain in your head spun down to a temporary halt. With a sigh, she heaved her head up and curled her forefeet under it as a rest to lay it back down on. In her normal form she was now nearly twenty feet long, the benefits of having food always ready at hand. “I was thinking about having a third helping of pie tonight at dinner,” she said loftily.
Iain gave her a quizzical look. “You’d stop with only three servings?” He peered closely at her as he frowned. “Are you feeling well?”
Xune harrumphed loudly. “What are you asking about, Father?”
“You’re reaching the age where a young dragoness starts thinking about striking out on her own to find an abandoned hovel or scrape out a rough hole in a muddy embankment for her meager hoard to lie completely exposed in for someone to take while she’s out chasing a sheep.”
Xune shivered at the thought of losing her treasures. They were hers, fairly earned or stolen, as had been the case in some situations where Iain had left small amounts of coins unattended too long. She cast a baleful eye on him and growled. “Not funny!”
“Oh, that reminds me, we need to inventory your treasure. Some of that is supposed to stay here since it doesn’t belong to you.”
“You stay away from my hoard.” She sighed in pleasure when Iain pulled a dagger from his belt and used the point to scratch along the edges of the scales on top of her head. “What is it you want me to do instead of sneaking out some night while I hope you’ve finally fallen asleep so I get to keep everything I say is mine?”
“Quick Bite and I have been planning for this day, Xune. The tribe hasn’t reached the population cap for what the local environment can sustain just yet, but nobody can remember a kobold tribe getting this big instead of sending out a colony to the tribe by now. We’ve been keeping it from happening so far because I have a proposition for you. We have scouted out a good spot for a satellite colony, but it’s kind of far away and I want the kobolds to remain clan. I’d like you to be the governor for that colony and help me keep the clan from splintering when the tribe does.”
Xune lifted her head and turned to regard her father. “Why on Toril would I ever want to do that? My early years are supposed to be for exploration and building my hoard as I begin to come into my power as a dragoness and begin to consider seeking out my first mate.” She cocked her head when Iain winced. “What is wrong, Father?”
“What you just said. You are my little girl. I have taken care of you from when you were born way too early until now and you will always be my daughter. The idea of you dating fills me with dread.” He chuckled. “And I’m not sure which I’m more worried about, my daughter with her knowledge and terrible lack of sexual experience or the those poor naïve drakes who have no idea you’ll be casing their hoards for small, easily pocketed valuables while you’re tempting them with your body.”
Xune began laughing so hard she frightened the birds out of nearby trees. She rolled onto her side away from him and curled up into a ball as she laughed, forcing Iain to jump out of the way of the sweep of her tail. She finally calmed down and uncurled to shift to her drow form, sitting cross legged on the ground. Her current preferred form was that of an adult drow female who had just reached her majority, with long silver hair like Eilistraee’s and Iain’s blue green eyes. “Why of course you should fear for me, Father. I’m just so innocent after all. And if the drakes are stupid enough to leave their hoards unguarded for even a second with a dragoness they don’t know well, what happens is as inevitable as the sun rising in the morning and completely their individual and collective faults.” She stood, brushing off her leggings as she did. “I’m waiting to hear why you think I’d be brain dead enough to volunteer to take a leadership position over your crew of insane kobolds.”
Iain smiled. “The mineral survey shows the area is lousy with valuables and the governor’s post comes with a stipend. The kobolds and other clan there get a quarter of what comes out of the ground, the colony coffers get a quarter, I get the third quarter and the governess gets the last quarter all for herself.”
Xune was staring at him. She abruptly smiled. “I think a bunch of my brain cells just died. Keep talking. Let’s see how far you can make my intelligence drop.”
“They wouldn’t be my crew of insane kobolds. They’d be yours. You’d have almost complete autonomy, to the point that if you really wanted to, you could eventually split away and form your own allied clan.”
“Appealing to both my greed and my desire to empire build.” Xune grinned. “I just got a lot dumber. What else can you say that will sweeten the pot?”
Iain chuckled. “As governess, you’d have to be read into my mission and my plans for the future, things that not even Solnys and Quick Bite know. You’d get free access to almost all of my possessions, with the exception of my treasure, which you would still be able to access, I’d just have to be there to wipe up the drool and make sure I still had some treasure when you finally got hungry enough to leave.”
Xune’s smile vanished. “That’s just cruel. You know much I’ve wanted to know what’s really going on since Eirian let slip that some secret mission had brought you to this world.”
Iain grinned at her. “Eirian didn’t let anything slip. I told her to reveal that to you to whet your curiosity. She was supposed to make you think she did it on accident and I’m glad it worked.”
Xune gaped at him. “I was four. Are you telling me that you’ve been manipulating me since I was four years old?”
“I’ve been manipulating you, as you put it, since the instant I bribed you into becoming my daughter. That’s what parents do.”
Xune closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Well, I can happily tell you that I’ve finally answered a question you’ve been wondering about for years regarding your sometime adversarial relationships with women. Right now, I want to strangle you and it is most definitely all your fault. It’s not me and it hasn’t been the other women who wanted to hurt you when you get too cute either. It’s all you.” She grinned when he laughed. “And you’ve always known the truth about that.”
Iain laughed. “I’m pretty sure that I should not dignify that by confirming or denying your baseless accusation. So, have you lost enough brain cells to do what I want you to?”
Xune stuck out her tongue at him and then grunted loudly. “Xune strong. Xune not think good. Xune do what Father want. Xune want be good girl.” They both laughed and Xune hugged him. “I love you, Father.”
Iain hugged her back the way she liked, hard enough to make her gasp. “And I love you.”
Xune rested her head on his shoulder. “Speaking of love, Father, I’m worried about you.”
“How so?”
“You need a woman in your life. I was it up to now, but I have to leave soon and I’m worried you won’t stay good.” She lifted her head to meet his gaze. “And don’t tell me that you’ve got Eilistraee to keep you on the straight and narrow. If you don’t love a woman, she doesn’t have any real influence on you.”
“Let’s be crystal clear about something,” Iain replied. “I love you, but you have never been the woman in my life. You’re not Miriam, don’t go there.”
“Is Miriam one of the others from before?”
“She is. She was adopted by Lucifer and me and then went all Celestial and announced she was going to one day be my wife to keep me from doing something evil.”
Xune blinked. “That’s just fucked up.”
“Young lady, I won’t disagree with you, but I will point out that you have been listening to my bad language entirely too much.”
She smirked at him. “No, I’ve spent my entire life listening to you, the dwarves and the kobolds. They learned from you but curse a lot more than you do. Besides, that is fucked up. If you were inclined to take daughters as mates, even if only the adopted ones, you’d have paid more attention to me during the years when I was crushing on you.” She took his hand. “But I’ve gotten wiser over the years and realize just what a horrible match you’d be for me.”
“You got wiser? Since when?”
“Don’t try to change the subject, Father. Can I kick Miriam’s ass when I meet her?”
“I think that as soon as she becomes old enough to be eligible for challenge days, I can’t stop one of my other daughters from thrashing her as she might so completely deserve for putting Lucifer and me through her shit.”
“Thank you, Father,” Xune purred. “Still, I don’t want you to stay alone after I leave. And don’t try and trot out your not romantic relationship with Laelra, either. All she wants from you is what she wants, nothing more. She doesn’t really care what you might want or need. And she comes to you for guidance, so you can’t lean on her for it.”
Iain shook his head. “I’ve got some good friends here, but I haven’t found anyone romantic yet. I’ll survive without you for a while.”
“Don’t worry about it, Father. I’ll just do what April and some of the others would do in a situation like this.”
Iain stared at her for a long moment. “I should never have told you about them or let you experience some of my memories of them.”
“Don’t be silly, Father. They’re family and you want me to know about them since I should still be alive when you go back. I’ll get to meet everyone else in the clan and I can’t wait. But in the meantime, they’re not here and I will have to fill in for them in making sure you are taken care of.”
“I used to like you.”
Xune squeezed his hand. “You don’t have to like me, Father. I am your daughter and I know you will always love me.” Iain groaned and she laughed. “I love you too.” She tugged on his hand. “Now let’s go and you can show me your hoard now that I can see it.”
***
Aardath of the Shimmerscale landed and folded her wings as she watched the entrance to the cave with a mixture of eagerness and caution. Beside her, Tanphalas landed lightly and she glanced at her eldest daughter with amusement. “Since you insist you want to kill her for me, you go first. Tagiss is tricky but I think we have her cornered this time.” Two years previously, her estranged son, Calazith, had reported he’d met Tagiss, who didn’t know he was a Shimmerscale. He'd been informing on the gold’s movements ever since in order to try and get back into his family’s good graces. It wasn’t going to work, but Aardath was willing to string him along until she got her teeth into her elusive victim. Then she’d deal with him and his worship of a foolish, powerless god.
Aardath had almost caught the elusive gold dragoness more than once, but each time the wily Tagiss had narrowly escaped her claws and teeth. Today, finally, the chase would end and she would take Tagiss’ hoard as her prize.
Tanphalas hissed softly. “Yes, Mother. Stay close.” She headed into the cave confidently. Aardath waited a few seconds before following.
The cave looked like a natural cavern that had been widened out only when necessary and it extended farther into the mountain than Aardath had thought, but the air was heavy with the scent of Tagiss and it was fresh, fueling her hunger for the kill. It helped that Tagiss hadn’t been here long enough to do much more than the rough excavations. She almost certainly hadn’t had time to put in any defenses. And, if Aardath’s estimation was wrong and there were any traps, Tanphalas would trip them.
So the net falling on her came as a complete surprise. It landed on her and slammed Aardath to the floor in a cloud of dust and gravel. She braced her feet and shoved, to no avail. She could not budge the net, which was composed of thick wire and heavy links of chain. Behind her, rock shattered as five iron golems shaped to look like kobolds smashed through the thin walls that had hidden them and charged for the rear of the net and Aardath. Each carried an adamantine mace in its right hand. Each weapon weighed as much as an ox and the golems’ orders were to smash anything in the net until it stopped moving. Behind the iron golems, kobolds carrying spears trotted in formation as they followed to help with the killing.
Tanphalas whirled to see what had happened. “Mother, I’m coming!” She charged for the net.
“Fuck! Oh, no you don’t!” Tagiss raced out of the tunnel that Tanphalas had been heading for and threw herself on Tanphalas’ back. In midair, her form shifted to become Iain’s and his weight crushed the adult blue dragoness to the ground as he drove his claws into her hide and ripped at her neck with his teeth. His grip wasn’t secure and she rolled onto her back underneath him. Blood sprayed to coat their surrounding as they tore at each other and lightning flared once as Tanphalas used her breath weapon to try and kill her assailant. She never got to use it again as Iain locked his teeth in her throat just under her jaw and tore at her neck with his razor sharp foreclaws until her head came off.
He spat out her head and looked at the net. Aardath was screaming in pain and fury as the iron golems beat her with the maces until she was deathly still. Then the iron golems moved back as the arrayed kobolds moved in. Spears flashed in the light as they stabbed her to make sure she was truly dead.
“Father?” Xune and Tagiss came out of the tunnel behind him. Both were in their elven forms and Xune ran ahead to stare at his wounds. “Father!”
“I’m healing,” Iain said as his wounds closed with visible speed. “The wench got worse than she gave out since the claws of blue dragons are optimized for digging and not melee combat like mine are. I never thought Aardath would bring help, but because she did I had to get involved in the fight when the wheels came off.”
Tagiss was looking the scene over with amazement on her face. “The other is her eldest child, Tanphalas. She’s arguably the best fighter that the Shimmerscales have. Why did you throw yourself into the fight like that? Aardath was already trapped.”
Iain shook his head slightly. “She would have slaughtered the kobolds,” he said simply.
“They’re just kobolds,” Tagiss noted. “Easily replaced.”
“They are my kobolds and nobody gets to murder them,” Iain snapped. “Clan lives or dies together.” He sank the claws of one forehand into the body of Tanphalas and heaved it to the side. “If all of the Shimmerscales had come with Aardath, they’d have won. And if they ever learn who killed their matriarch, they’ll come hunting us. They at least have the glimmering of an understanding of what it means to be family.” Iain shifted to his elf form. “I’m not trying to insult you, Tagiss, but you’re loyal to your family and the gold dragon leadership. When you have children, your loyalties will shift to put them at the top.” Xune hugged him and he pushed gently at her. “I’m filthy and still healing so I’m covered in blood.”
“Your wounds are not lethal and I need to reassure myself that you’re all right, Father,” she said.
“Neither one of them ever had a chance,” Iain said. “That’s the way I try to plan my fights, even if I had to improvise with the daughter. By the way, the fact that she was able to tear me up the way she did is because I didn’t consider that Aardath might bring help with her. Don’t ever make that mistake because it could be your last. I know I won’t, especially when I move to kill the rest of the Shimmerscale clan.”
Tagiss was looking at the dead Aardath. “How was she unable to fight back?”
A kobold dropped to one knee in front of Iain. “Master.”
“Get up, Runner. Is anyone hurt?”
Runner grinned. “None of the clan was injured except you, master. The golems took some damage but they can be repaired.”
“They will. Assemble the strike team, please.”
“Yes, master.” Runner raced off.
“I have the bag, Father.” Xune opened it to pull out a small gold basin and cup. “Here.”
Iain took both items. “Thanks.” He headed for Aardath’s corpse.
Xune looked back at Tagiss. “We’ll wait here.”
“What is he doing?”
“Making us strong.” Xune smiled at her. “The kobolds set up the trap. Father designed it, but they did all the work, which is what he wanted them to do.”
“How did it work so well??
“The net is made of cable and chain that’s thick enough that it’s hard for us to break. It’s got six chains attached to it that ran down the walls and were hidden by being plastered into the wall. The chains run into the floor where there’s a pit a good forty feet deep under a ten foot thick floor so it was hard to detect while walking or running. Each chain is attached to a ten thousand pound boulder and they were dropped twenty feet to pin Aardath down with thirty tons of weight so the kobolds could kill her.”
“Iain planned all of this?”
“My father is very smart.”
Iain stopped at Aardath’s neck and used his sword to slice open her carotid artery. She was dead, but enough blood flowed to fill the basin he held. He stepped away and knelt to put the basin on the ground before filling the cup with blood from it. “Runner!”
The kobolds had fallen back into formation. At his call, the leader of the team stepped forward. “Master!”
Iain dipped a finger in the blood and sprinkled blood on Runner’s forehead. He spoke loudly enough to be heard by all the kobolds as they watched. “I am very proud of what you have done today. Today, the kobolds here have proven that they are not just the blood of the dragon, they are dragon in truth for they have done the thing that only a dragon can do. You have trapped and slain an angry dragon who knew that she was going into a fight. Humans, elves and dwarves only fight dragons if they must. We are dragon and we seek out our foes to destroy them before they can threaten us and ours. We are clan and our name strikes fear into the hearts of those who would threaten us. I am dragon and you are kobold and today we have proven that nothing and no one will ever triumph over us.” He held out the cup. “Runner, you will be the first today to drink the blood of our enemies who have fallen at our feet. You and your team killed her and you did it alone. I am very proud of all of you for what you have accomplished today. Now, if you ever fall under the sway of someone like Zartalymere, I know that you will kill him and return to the clan even as we search for you.”
Runner took the cup for a second before offering it back to Iain. “Master, you drink first.”
Iain took the cup. “You give me quite the honor.” He took a swallow and handed the cup to Runner. “Now you and then each of your team in turn. We will not always drink the blood of our enemies, but today we do so in celebration of the fact that we are united and we are victorious over one of the greatest possible foes we can ever face. If the cup goes empty, refill it until all have had shared in the kill.”
“Yes, Master.”
From where she stood with Xune, Tagiss shook her head. “This is barbaric.”
Xune smirked at her. “It is. And yet I can smell how much it interests you. At this moment, you want my father to breed you.”
Tagiss blushed. “That’s insane. I have a new mate.”
“Yes, and Laraxithious is a good male but he will never take a group of kobolds and kill two of your most powerful enemies while you watch. As long as you don’t act on your desire for my father, nobody needs to know how worthy you feel he is.”
Tagiss looked relieved. “I will not.”
Good, Xune thought to herself. You would be terrible for Father. “Now all we do is turn those two into spare parts for sale and then decide when we will have to kill the rest of the Shimmerscales. You have seen Aardath die. Now I believe you owe us the second half of the fee you and Father agreed upon.”
“I will deliver it to Iain within a tenday as we agreed,” Tagiss said. “You are likely to try and add it to your hoard instead of his.”
Xune looked offended. “I would never do that.”
“And I will ensure you don’t have to fight the temptation and become a liar,” Tagiss said with a grin. “You do not have to thank me.”
Xune stuck out her tongue and headed to where Iain was helping set up for the dissection as, behind her, Tagiss laughed.
***
Iain looked down at the kobold trotting to keep up with his and Xune’s much longer legs. “Well, Chaser?”
Chaser grinned toothily up at him as his tail lashed with amusement. “Master, I think you should ask Leaper that question since she will be moving with the new tribe to here.” The elderly kobold that Iain had first met on the night the tribe moved to his valley was gone, replaced by the medical technology of his twee with a male kobold at the height of his strength, only now tempered with the learned mind that Chaser had acquired during his long years of life.
Iain glanced at where Leaper trotted on Xune’s other side. “I will, but you’re my best ore locator and she’s in Xune’s colony group now. That’s why you’re both here with us in Chult. I’m still trying to understand more about how you do what you do and getting the opinions of the two best diviners we currently have will give me more data to work with.” He stopped walking, the others quickly following suit. “Now, someone speak up.”
The mountain that was in front of them stretched upwards for thousands of meters to break through the jungle and tower over everything around it. Behind them was cleared ground where test plots of sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, tea and cacao had been planted by Iain’s undead harem. Also there was a dead diplodocus that had insisted on being allowed to graze on the precious crops. It had lost the argument and was currently being butchered out by Sorrel and Malachite.
Xune frowned and motioned to her right. “There’s a cave entrance two hundred meters that way, Father. I saw it on our last visit.”
Leaper shook her head. “Mistress, the ceiling in that cave is unstable.” She pointed to the left. “We will begin tunneling here and angle west and down to reach the closest ore deposits.”
Chaser laughed. “You didn’t finish reading the information our master gave us. Always dig up first or you’ll flood during the first heavy rains. And if you don’t flood then, you’ll certainly flood when the monsoon comes.”
Leaper blinked and her eyes went slightly unfocused as she consulted with her twee. “Mistress, Chaser is right and I am very sorry for not understanding the weather patterns better.”
Xune nodded. “This place is new to us and will have us adopting new ways, but Chaser is right that you had the information but didn’t use it. I accept your apology. Don’t make that mistake again and I won’t be upset at you.”
“Thank you, mistress.”
Xune looked at Chaser. “What’s your opinion?”
He pointed straight ahead. “I would say to start tunneling there and tunnel up at an angle of forty five degrees for a hundred yards. There’s rich iron and some coal there to start smelting for tools and weapons. The angle of the entrance will let you roll rocks and such down on anyone who tries to invade while the tribe is getting settled.”
Leaper closed her eyes for a moment. Iain suspected she was pulling up the map of the minerals of the region in her mind and comparing it to what her augury spells had seen when she’d cast them earlier. Her eyes opened. “Mistress, taking the flooding into account, I agree with Chaser.”
Xune nodded as she turned to Iain. “We’ll start tunneling there. Since the Batiri goblins will eventually find us, and they will want to destroy us since we’re not going to let them eat us, I want as defensible a location as possible from the beginning. I’m not as lethal as you are yet, so I will be relying on my troops much more from the beginning. Since we’re not hiding our presence, I thought a wooden palisade wall with a fosse first to encircle our area and we’ll replace everything with stone as quickly as we can.”
Iain shrugged. “I’m not an expert on defensive fortifications, which is why I hired that sun elf engineer who is. She should be arriving in the valley in a week or two. She’s supposed to be working on fortifications in the area around the valley but go ahead and bring her here before she gets started on my work. Explain what you need, tell her about the weather and then listen to her advice on what needs to be done. Quick Bite and I are lending you our miners and troops to expedite getting set up, so you should have all the resources you’ll need. Once the engineer is done here, she can come back to the valley and she and I will see what we can do to make things safer there.” He looked around the area. “If something does attack the colony while we’re getting it established, call me. I like a good fight as much as anyone else here does and any fight that takes place around here is a clan fight.”
Xune smirked at him. “I like the idea of you fighting at my side for a change, Father, instead of me at yours.”
Iain sketched a salute in her direction and gave her a shallow bow. “Yes, mistress.” Chaser and Leaper laughed as Xune grinned. He shook his head. “Actually, once you’ve take up residence, I expect that within a week or two you’ll have a better idea of how to conduct battles here than I will since you’ll be living in the colony. When someone is an expert in something I’m not, I listen to her advice.” He flashed a quick grin. “Even if it’s my daughter and she does make that advice sound a lot like she’s giving me orders.”
Xune reached out and took his hand. “Let me show you the ideas I’ve had already.”
Iain Grey
Harem
Ninhursag Grey - Elfqueen & maharani
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique Grey - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Zareen - Nightmare
Sofia - Ria
Vanessa – Evangelion
Lucifer – Megami Sama
Ganieda – Snugglebunny Splice
Heather - Elfqueen
Marguerite – Unicorn
Scheherazade – Dread Wolf
Irena – Sanctuary Goth
Lynn – Dire Wolf
Rosemary – Mistoffeles
Dianthus – Elfqueen
Candace – Nurse Joy (kami)
Bellona – Dragonqueen
Elizabeth - Vampire
Outer Clan
Golden Cloud – equine unicorn
Arianrhod -Fey Goblin Female
Satellite Clan
74 male Goblins
89 female Goblins
Queendom / Outer Clan
73 Elves
Dionne - Elfqueen
Adrianna - Elfqueen
Heltu - Wet Queen
14 Wet Elves
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Liadan - Twau
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Natalie - Blazicunt
Maria – Slutton
Rhea Silvia – Chimera
Alabaster – Dragoness (white)
Onyx – Dragoness (black)
Lapis – Dragoness (blue)
Garnet – Dragoness (red)
Iolite – Dragoness (purple)
Malachite – Dragoness (green with white swirls)
Dabria (was Loviatar) – Dark Queen
Omisha (was Hel) – Demoness
Viersunuth great wyrm blue true dragoness
Helesatra Vyshaan half pit fiend (fiend) half sun elf. Princess of the Vyshaantar Empire.
Talyl – drow commoner
Zarza – drow commoner
Sabrae – drow commoner
Sintree – drow commoner
Alyfaen Dinaen – drow, matron of House Dinaen
Phaerxae Dinaen – drow, former matron of House Dinaen, mother of Alyfaen
Selsharra of Evermeet
Mother Children
Vanessa
Myrna (Age 4)
Saoirse
April
Dorothy: Duelist (Age 3)
Meara: Duelist
Regan: Duelist
Lucifer
Olivia: Megami Sama (Age 6)
Seraphina: Megami Sama
Miram: Angel (Age 5)
Zareen:
Caltha: Nightmare (Age 0)
Kim: Nightmare
Xanthe: Nightmare
Epona: Nightmare
Philippa: Nightmare
Nott: Nightmare
Nyx: Nightmare
Sofia
Anna: Ria
Esmerelda: Ria
Monica Chambers
James: Jamie Harris kid (Age 2)