A dragon forcibly takes over a kingdom. Their rule ends up making the kingdom much more financially prosperous and most of the citizens are generally happier.
A dragon forcibly takes over a kingdom. Their rule ends up making the kingdom much more financially prosperous and most of the citizens are generally happier.
(Part 1 of 5) [Can't seem to get the entire story posted in one comment.]
Lan sighed wearily as he thumbed the bills out carefully, he had never been one for counting, and this fiat currency required a lot of it. It had been fifteen years now since its introduction, which, he had to admit, was more than enough time for him to have gotten proper used to it.
He slid the bundle of bills into the drawer beneath the desk and nodded gruffly. "Payment's all accounted for, sir. Wait one moment, I'll have your order brought out."
He pushed open the employees-only door behind him, cupped his hands to his mouth, and shouted to be heard over the din of hammers on anvils, of bubbling, molten metal, of finished product being roughly dumped into wooden boxes (with serious-looking apprentices carefully checking off items on their clipboards).
"One 100 piece set to bay five, for the revered gentleman!"
"Aye!" a thickset lad called back, "100 good-lucks for the well-to-do at five!"
Lan rolled his eyes. He didn't understand his apprentices---all young and 'educated' (as they called it now)---desire to make up names for their small array of products and their perhaps smaller array of customers. But, he supposed he couldn't begrudge them anything that made their work more palatable.
He let the door swing shut behind him, paused a moment for the ringing in his ears to settle, and told the well-to-do before him that he could wait with his cart, and the delivery would be brought out to him.
After the tinkling bell announced the customer's departure, Lan leaned heavily over his desk and rubbed his head with his large, rough-callused hands. This wasn't how he'd imagined he'd end up as a boy. He hadn't hated blacksmithing---in fact, he'd been told on multiple occasions that he had quite a knack for it---but it had never been intended as anything more than a stepping stone in his journey.
He was doing it again. Lorra had told him a thousand times that ruminating was only making things worse for him, and that this was a better world for their son to grow up in. But, godsdammit, he couldn't help it. And was it really a better world for their son? A world where a boy can't dream of adventure? What sort of boy dreams of this?
On the walls, the product displays mocked him. Hung here and there, tastefully arranged (his wife's handiwork), not only burnished steel, but glittering adamantine and twinkling mithril. There was no pig iron, no copper, no bronze here---none of the metals he had trained with in his youth. There was only the stuff of dreams, forged in magical flames via processes that few understood.
And he hated all of it. There was no spark in any of it, in the adamantine horseshoes or the mithril plows. It was all so boring, and it represented nothing to him but broken promises and a wasted life.
He had apprenticed to Halrth, the local smith, at the age of eight. It wasn't his first choice of vocation, but the closest thing there had been to an adventurer's apprenticeship was following one's father out on quests, and unfortunately neither Lan's father nor his father's father had been an adventurer. But it had been a well considered choice, especially for a young child: blacksmiths were strong, so were adventurers; blacksmiths worked with swords and shields, so did adventurers.
And Halrth had been the blacksmith of choice for Terrel, the provincial lord and legendary adventurer. Terrel had been tall and wiry. An adventurer first and a lord second, his gold rings were always smudged with dirt, and he never did seem to be able to get the rust-colored stains completely out of his doublets.
If there was trouble at the border, Terrel was there first---twin blades in hand and a crop of rough adventurers at his heels. The people had trusted Terrel, and Terrel had done good by his people. Lan adored Terrel, and Terrel had humored him.
Lan wanted to be like Terrel, which his mother had told him meant he needed to learn how to read, and only nobles were 'lettered' (that was the term for it in those days) so he should give up on that orcheaded idea and focus on making enough copper for them to eat meat once in a while. But Lan had, he had thought, seen clearer than his mother: Yes, Terrel could read, but most adventurers couldn't. He could be just like Terrel (the cool parts of him anyhow) without worrying about that at all.
He remembered the last time he had seen Terrel. It had been very exciting. Lan had been at the forge, hammering out his dozenth horseshoe of the day. Halrth had promised him that once he'd forged ten thousand horseshoes, then they would work on the swords and axes that kept the city safe and made up the bulk of their sales.
His hero---the province's hero---had come in unexpectedly. He had looked excited. A dustcloak slung over his shoulders, a bulky pack (which Lan knew to be full of books) puffing it up like the hunch of a hag's back, and his two trusty swords sheathed at his hip. He had spoken hurriedly to master Halrth, sparing Lan a small wave.
He was sorry, but he was in a rush. He needed two new wheels for his cart, a dozen horseshoes---just in case, it was a long journey---and the dents knocked out of his breastplate (last week's goblin extermination had been particularly hard). He needed this all as soon as possible, because this mission was, perhaps, the most important he'd ever had and would ever have. He was off to parts unknown, to where it was rumored the silver dragon Hsar'gl resided, to recover a cache of magic items the dragon had stolen from a heavily-armored caravan (after eating all but one, it seemed, of the caravan's guards). The king had offered him an audience---one hour---and to listen sincerely to his ideas, about governance and the economy and... some other stuff (Lan hadn't really understood most of the words being thrown about at this point, though neither did most people), if only he would recover these magical items.
Lan had piped up at that point. Was Terrel going to fight a dragon? That was so cool.
Terrel had laughed. No, that was impossible. Dragons were forces of nature. He was going to find its lair, sneak in when the dragon was out, and recover the cache from its hoard.
That had honestly sounded almost as cool to Lan. He remembered that he had opened his mouth to say more, when master Halrth cuffed him across the head, snarling that it was time to get back to work.
Terrel had departed shortly after, and that was the last time Lan saw him. It was some small comfort, and counted a measure of pride, that there was a very good chance the horseshoes Terrel used on his final adventure had been made by Lan's hand.
He just wished that he had had the chance to make a sword, even if he never got the chance to swing one at a goblin neck, but things had changed so quickly and so completely that there was no longer enough demand for weapons for a blacksmith in a backwater province to make a living doing it. And, like his mother had always said, making a living was the most important part.
There was a tinkling at the door, and he straightened his back, set his hands firmly on the desk---as if that could keep him from slipping away---and forced a smile. "Welcome to Lan's Pots, Pans, and Assorted Other Items, what can I do for you today?"
(Part 2 of 5)
-
Marta sighed as she shaded her eyes to gaze over her family's greatly expanded holdings, over the fields of green shoots and orchards of trees young and old. She had been doing that a lot recently. She wasn't unhappy. Things were better now, and in many respects easier, but they were different than she'd expected.
When she'd been a child, her mother had told her and her aunts had told her and her older sister had told her how life was going to be. It was going to be simple. She was going to grow up; marry a nice local boy; work a small patch of land; have as many kids as the gods allowed; and they would grow up and work the land with her before they eventually either joined someone else's family or started their own.
That had always sounded hard to her, the toiling in the fields and the baby making (she had been present for her little sister's birth, and oh boy did that not look fun), but it had been simple, and the path had been clear. As she grew up and learned more about the work of planting and cultivating and living, she even managed to see some dreams in it. Maybe her family could have a few more acres, which would make it easier to live off of the 10% they were allowed to keep by the local lord; maybe they could even, and this was truly a flight of fancy, have enough land that they could grow a second type of crop just to have something a little different to eat every now and again. Sometimes she even dreamed about having a bed just for flowers, some of the pretty red ones that grew up wild but would look so nice in a patch. Little dreams for a little life, but dreams.
What was she supposed to dream of now? They had fields of potatoes, squash, cabbage, and tomatoes (an import from the Westlands!); orchards replete with apples and pears; and small, experimental patches of vegetables that didn't even have a name in Common. The front of her home was decorated in vibrant hues of yellow and red, tastefully and painstakingly arranged. There was always enough for her, her four sons, and her husband to eat; and she rarely made the same dish twice in a week.
Things had been so simple before. You worked in the fields so that you could eat. If you didn't work, you couldn't eat. Working was living. But now? Most of the crops they grew were exported to towns whose names she'd never heard of, and the only digging in the dirt she did was in her garden, so she wouldn't forget the feel working the earth with her own hands.
Most of her work was managerial now. She directed the small, scaled creatures---they used to be called Kobolds, but she did a good job now calling them Drag'thilden (their own name for themselves)---that did much of the work now. She worked with the larger among them (for some reason the larger ones always seemed to have greater responsibility) to plan out expansions to the fields, what crops to plant, how to extend the irrigation system, how to get a permit (!) from the city for increased water usage.
This work fell to her, because her husband had never quite gotten the knack for their tongue. Maybe it was because she had been a few years younger than him when the change happened (they say that its easier when you're younger); maybe it was because she'd always thought they were kind of cute (in a scaly and offputting kind of way), while she suspected her husband was afraid of them; or maybe it was because her husband had never seemed to master even their own native language (the way men mumbled and just expected you to understand them!).
Her husband had given up on tilling the earth. At first, he had been out to prove that this "irrigation" and "kobold employee" business was a distraction, and that nobody could work the land like a man who'd grown up on it. But reality eventually caught up to him, and, after a period of listlessness, he changed gears. He had always supported irrigation; he had always supported the inclusion of the Lord Emperor's vassals; and he had always intended to leave the running of his considerable fields to his wife, so he could focus on the business of selling and making deals---of bringing home the coin (he still said, though any coins he received ended up in the treasury in exchange for paper money).
It was a little funny, his turnaround---his stubborn desire not to face up to the fact that he had changed with the world. But he was happy, and their children were happy, and she was... she had to be happy too.
She had more than she could have ever dreamed about, anything she could have ever wanted. But when she looked out, she could only see. She couldn't imagine anything better.
-
Viko sighed as he slunk further into his well cushioned chair, the fire crackling a few feet away, warming his handsomely soled boots. A half empty bottle of wine rested on the side table.
He had never been better rewarded, and he had never been so bored. As the Head of the Royal Household, he had always had more power than one might expect. He commanded, and the servants obeyed. He requested, and the soldiers acquiesced. He talked, and the king had listened.
Servants had quaked in his wake; nobles had greased his palms; businessman had sought his advice and favor. He had taken a salary a provincial noble would have envied, and he had taken so much more.
He hadn't needed the money, but it was the carefully managed risk that enthralled him. Will this noble betray me? Will this or that would-be usurper manage to connect me to the shadowy figure who'd offered them a chance at poisoning the king, for the right price? Would this family of the royal foodtaster start to wonder how poison slipped by me so many times? Could this noble have the balls to try to blackmail me?
He stroked his white beard and wiped a bit of dribbled wine onto his pants. He had served this castle for forty years. He had survived three kings and one short lived queen. He had been responsible for two of those changes of power, and another week would have seen him responsible for a third.
But it was over now. It had been over for a long time. The Lord Emperor, Our God and Protector may he live forever (though he certainly didn't need our prayers for that) was never under threat. No nobles vied for his position through treachery and politicking. He was unassailable, untouchable. His kobold vassals politicked amongst themselves and stabbed one another in the back (literally and figuratively) but were perfectly loyal to their king, and Viko imagined no thrill in participating in their petty squabbles.
Certainly, there were still risks. He could, for example, throw his lot in with the sputtering resistance (nominally loyal to the ostensibly surviving prince). But that wasn't a calculated risk, it wasn't manageable. There was no chance of success and every chance of the Emperor's otherworldly eyes wresting that secret from him.
To play games now meant not only to court death, but to invite it in through the front door with a smile and a wave.
Viko knew that he was too old and twisted to adjust to this new life of doing his job and only his job, but he also knew he was too attached to the pleasures of this life (ash as they may now be) to give up on it all.
He poured another glass of wine, his hand trembling, and held it out in a mocking toast to the empty air. "To our most terrible king."
Only the fireplace crackled in response.
(Part 3 of 5)
-
Agatha sighed as her dirt-encrusted talon dug out a splintered finger bone from between her molars. She flicked it onto the refuse pile and spat, saliva mixed with black green blood sizzling on the damp stone.
The taste of goblin did not agree with her, and their wails and pleading were so much less musical than the humans she had grown accustomed to in her long centuries in that city previously called Saril, then Burthar, and now finally (and she well imagined it might truly be finally) Hsarton.
She felt the rage well up in her. It was less often now, but it takes long for the desires and habits of an age to fade.
She slammed the stone wall of her underground lair, the stone pulverizing under her mottled, wrinkled fist, the sinews of her arm taut like the roots of a tree. The crying of her chained prisoners stopped a moment, and she realized that her aim had been poor---this wasn't the section of wall next to the goblin leader's head, it was the section of wall behind the goblin leader's head.
She licked her now slimy fingers and winced. This one was definitely not good enough to eat so shortly after eating another. Perhaps she could turn it into a potion or at least give its meat to her wargs. Be a shame to let even such low quality meat go to waste.
Life here in the mountains---in this mediocre and long forgotten dungeon---was challenging, and as a young hag she had never imagined she would have to rough it like this. She had been raised in a tight-knit coven in one of the most rotten cities in the world; a city where there was too much scrabbling by the rich to worry about laws for the poor, and too many assaults by orcs, goblins and foreign powers for the formerly poor (adventurers) to worry about problems at home.
It was a wonderful place where a girl could disguise her warts, her humps, her fangs and claws, and find a new, fresh meal every day. A place where, there was a child to fool as the kindly grandmother, a mother to fool as the sage herbalist, or an adventurer to fool with swaying hips and buxom illusion. Her and her sisters prided themselves on never eating the same meat twice in a week.
But that dream was dead and gone, along with her two sisters. One of them, Kalgra, had sought to bargain with the kingdom's new lord. Surely, not being human, he would want to come to a deal with the Wicked Three who ruled the seedy, dark underbelly of the kingdom's capital. Surely, he would see reason.
Agatha had warned her not to go, not until they knew more of this new king, and she had watched through their shared eye as the king's maw---deep thundering laughter escaping from it---closed over her sister, and the connection was forever severed.
Her other sister, Niessa, had been caught by one of the so-called Dragoons, elite guards outfitted with magical rings that let them see through all illusions and all pretense. She had taken four of them with her, bless her black heart.
And now she was all that was left. There were no games here; tricking goblins was no fun. The meat was sparse, spare and gamy. This was not home. She was trapped in this frozen hole, forced away from the dark kingdom that was her right by birth.
"Curses be on thee! Thou thrice-wretched usurper!" She snarled, as another goblin's head popped beneath her grip.
Oops. She hadn't even realized she'd grabbed that one.
-
Beata sighed dreamily. She was small for her age, and her legs still kicked the air futily as she sat at her desk, pencil twirling languidly in one hand.
She was staring off into space, over the heads of the dozen or so students in the rows in front of her. Mr. Fil was standing on a stool and scratching characters onto the board, the chalk held clumsily in his talons. They were Drag'thildenese characters, and she already knew them.
Twice a week, Mr. Fil visited their school to give them a lesson (from a native! Ms. Gilt explained, her eyes wide, and her accent always so bad and awkward in Drag'thildenese). Beata didn't need the lessons---her best friend, Thilda, was a Drag'thilden, and they had basically grown up together on her parents' farm.
But her parents said it was important, if she wanted to work for the government (work with Mr. Hsar'gl!), not only to be able to speak Drag'thilden, but to have graduated from a prestigious school that taught it.
"The degree is half of the point," her mother would say. "That's an expensive piece of paper!" her father would joke. She didn't understand, she was only eight, but she understood that she needed to listen to Ms. Gilt and Mr. Fil explain things she already knew so that she could work for Mr. Hsar'gl one day.
So, she spent those periods dreaming about him; about the blonde hair, blue eyes, wide shoulders, kind voice and gentle smile that he surely had. Thilda had explained to her that Mr. Hsar'gl (Thilda always called him Lord Hsar'gl, though) was a mighty beast, born in the form of the divine, and that he could take any form he wanted, human, noble beast, or even Drag'thilden or goblin!
Beata didn't like to imagine him as a goblin, but she did sometimes imagine him as a dog, the noblest of beasts. And in her imagination she would give him scratches and they would play and he was her best friend.
She had never seen Mr. Hsar'gl. In fact, almost nobody had. But they said he was out there in the city, disguised as a shopkeeper, or a beggar, or a guard, so you should always be nice to everybody. And she was, mostly, except for Bobby, because he was a jerk and ugly and Mr. Hsar'gl would never disguise himself as somebody ugly.
"Ms. Beata. Ms. Beata?"
Her reverie was interrupted by Mr. Fil rapping on the board with his claws.
She shook her head and focused on the board. Apparently nobody else had managed to answer Mr. Fil's question, so it fell to her to save the day yet again.