13. AMBROSIA

AMbrOSIA

E arlier…

Valerius, Marban and Chione sat in complete silence at the table in his quarters. The table was groaning with food. A massive roast beef sat on a large cutting board. Katelyn was cutting the beef into paper thin slices. The meat looked succulent, with juice pooling in the grooves of the cutting board. Golden, crispy roast potatoes were piled high in another platter, glistening with melted butter and sprinkled with green parsley. If one wanted to make sandwiches from the roast beef there were crusty rolls studded with rosemary and salt. Spicy mustard and hunks of strong cheddar were also set out. There was finally a salad with juicy, ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, bright peppers and a piquant dressing.

“This looks delicious,” Marban said for the fiftieth time, and gave Chione one of his grandfatherly smiles.

Chione smiled back in a bright unnatural manner. “Oh, yes! The kitchen staff always comes up with something wonderful for every meal. Please let them know our appreciation, Katelyn.”

Katelyn smiled and bobbed her head. “I will, Chione. Is there anything else you would like, King Valerius?”

“What?!” Valerius snapped. He hadn’t meant to. He had just been in his head. He grimaced. “I’m sorry, Katelyn. No, I do not think we require anything more.”

She had finished slicing half the roast. He would cut the rest when needed. She bowed and moved out of sight. She normally would have stayed and continued to serve them, but he had asked for them to be left alone after the initial service. They had matters of state to discuss. When the door finally closed behind her though, the silence continued. Valerius downed half his wine.

“Here, let me serve you, Chione,” Marban said as he got up and took her plate.

“Oh, that’s not--thank you, Marban. That’s quite thoughtful,” Chione said, and her eyes flickered to him.

He normally served people, but this scene hardly registered with him. He was thinking of Caden. He hadn’t told the young man about their plan with the Dragon Shifters coming to Reach. He’d meant to, but it had felt wrong to do so on the phone. Besides, Caden had been so happy that Valerius had not wanted to ruin his mood with concern or any anxiety.

Valerius was anxious enough for both of them. Though he wouldn’t have called it that. He would have just called himself “moody” or “out of sorts” or “wanting to be the Hell alone unless Caden was his company”. But he was anxious. Because the Dragon Shifters had not all come together since the War, and, he found that he was more concerned about this meeting than that one. He drank more wine.

“So… you have invited the other Dragon Shifters to Reach to meet the White Dragon Shifter,” Marban said as he set Valerius’ plate--now laden with food--in front of Valerius.

Valerius blinked down at the food. He hadn’t even noticed Marban doing this. But he was hungry so he grunted his thanks and dug in, shoveling pieces of the beef that melted into his mouth.

Caden and Iolaire would like this. I need to tell him to eat plenty of protein.

“Valerius?” Chione asked.

He glanced at her. Both she and Marban were looking at him as they far more delicately ate their food. Valerius rewound in his mind what had been going on. He then realized that Marban had asked a question.

“Ah, yes, they are coming. To annoy me,” he muttered the last.

Marban’s eyes nearly disappeared in the folds of his wrinkled skin as he heard the last. “I am sure they will annoy you very much.”

“I’ve been preparing world leaders for this meeting. Everyone is nervous, though last night’s meet and greet with the White Dragon Shifter has calmed some fears,” Chione said.

Marban chewed his food thoughtfully. “Caden is quite a good ambassador for Shifter kind, I think. A genuinely good, young person. You might think of making him--or rather Iolaire--a true ambassador of yours.”

“Caden will not be leaving my territory anytime soon,” Valerius said as he stabbed another piece of beef.

The very thought of Caden being in another Dragon’s territory was beyond awful. His imagination provided him with the image of the titanic Mephous swooping down and grabbing the much smaller Iolaire in its claws and carrying Iolaire off.

“Do you think he would be unsafe outside of your territory? Ah, yes, of course, he would,” Marban agreed.

“Illarion, alone, has been… difficult ,” Chione murmured. “He wanted to fly here in his Dragon form rather than on an airplane.”

“WHAT?!” Valerius realized he had shouted. “You did not tell me this!”

“I did tell you.” Chione gave him a sharp look which softened at his evident bewilderment. “But you were distracted.”

“Distracted? I am not distracted!” He imagined Caden’s smiling face with his arms full of plushies.

“Of course you are not. But, in any event, Illarion was placed in a private jet with Esme and both are on their way here in their human forms,” Chione informed him.

“That is good. Otherwise I would have to meet him in the skies and take him down,” Valerius growled.

“So the fight would have begun.” Marban patted his lips with his napkin. “He enjoys causing terror wherever he goes.”

“You think a fight between Illarion and Valerius is inevitable?” Chione asked Marban, leaning forward on the table.

Marban nodded. “Illarion is the type of being who will only stop when he is made to. And there is only one person who can make him.”

Both of them looked meaningfully at him. He chewed the beef in his mouth, and muttered something about getting more wine. He’d been thinking of flying with Caden that night. Iolaire had mostly been in control when they were in their Dragon forms, but it might be time for Caden to start steering a little bit. To truly be as strong as they could be was to have both Dragon and human in control together at all times. Raziel let out a puff of smoke.

Except when the Dragon is sleeping, of course. Valerius smiled absently.

Like many predators, Dragons slept most of the time so that they would be ready to stalk and attack their prey at others.

“Valerius, are you going to get the wine?” Chione asked.

Valerius realized then that he had been sitting there in his chair, acting as if the wine was going to get itself. He scraped the legs of his chair back and got up to go to the side board where several bottles of his favorite red were waiting to be opened. As he did this, Chione and Marban continued to discuss the Dragons.

“While Illarion is a problem, I actually think greater threats come from Dragons like Mei,” Marban offered. “She has been piloting her territory into ever greater technological discoveries. Robot warriors have been hinted at.”

“Robots! So she could have an army that vastly exceeds the size of her population,” Chione said as Valerius uncorked the bottle of wine.

“Yes, and that means she can attack or defend herself without the cost in human or Shifter lives,” Marban continued.

“It would make the cost of war so much less in their eyes. While we are having to throw people at her, she can send robots at us!” Chione’s eyes were wide. “Then again, her territory abuts Illarion’s. This may be in defense against him.”

“I think it is. The word is that Illarion may move against Mei,” Marban said.

“Mei and Illarion have been allies in the past,” Valerius finally added to the conversation. The robots had disturbed him. Mei had always been fascinated with technology, and clockworks in earlier years, so he had ignored her buildup of robotic helpers. Now he wondered if he had been wrong to do so. “They might be pretending to be on the cusp of aggression simply to mislead us.”

Marban nodded his head as he speared a crispy potato. “True, there might be a lot of show going on there.”

Valerius poured out the wine. “I hear tell that Caden asked you to look into the bombings that have plagued us.”

Marban nodded. “I am happy to assist our young Dragon Shifter.”

“It is more than assisting him, Marban.” Chione lifted an eyebrow at the Swarm Shifter.

“I am just pleased to be of assistance.” Marban put that avuncular smile on his face rather how another person might don a mask.

“I loathe when you pretend humility, Marban. It annoys me,” Valerius said pointedly. “You are useful. Continue to be so and your star will continue to rise. What have you found?”

Marban inclined his head, accepting the chastisement without any rancor. Valerius knew that the old Swarm Shifter would adjust his behavior to suit his audience. He had been used to annoying Valerius on purpose. Now, somehow, Valerius had to convince him that he would get more of what he wanted simply by being forthright.

“Very well, but I am afraid I have very little useful information on this,” Marban admitted. “What I hear is that Humans First are behind the bombings and yet, there are rumors of another faction aiding them.”

“Caden stated that there was a Shifter, a young girl, who actually placed the bomb. Humans First would be unlikely to accept a Shifter ally,” Valerius said.

“There are Shifters who hate being what they are,” Marban told him with an almost stern look. Valerius frowned. Who were these Shifters? “If one becomes a Shifter of a kind that is looked down upon, for example, that can have a devastating effect on a life. One could see the Spirits as parasites in that case.”

“Even if such a Shifter wanted to join Humans First, I highly doubt that Hawes would accept them into his little group, but even if he did, he would not trust them with such a mission,” Valerius pointed out. He was unnerved at the thought of a self-loathing Shifter. The Spirits were connected to their souls. To hate them was to hate the very core of oneself.

“Yes, true, and as this self-loathing Shifter would likely be of a kind that is viewed with a jaundiced eye to begin with, Hawes and his ilk would want even less to do with them,” Marban admitted. “We are assuming that Caden was correct in this assessment of the girl actually being a Shifter?”

“We are, but I believe the memory of that day is burned into his mind,” Valerius said.

Chione tapped her wine glass. She looked thoughtful. “I remember the day that my Spirit found me more clearly than yesterday sometimes.”

“As do I,” Marban agreed, and for a moment, the avuncular grandfatherly face was gone, and a very weary, bitter person looked out at them.

“Yes, it is something that stays with you,” Valerius agreed.

“Marban, would you share that moment with us?” Chione was looking curiously at the old Swarm Shifter.

Marban gave her a small smile that didn’t quite reach his black eyes. “Do you want the story I tell my grandchildren or the real one?”

Chione did not immediately say “the real one”. Instead, she regarded him with that cool, even gaze that had even Valerius squirming at times. It caused Marban to drop his gaze to the table.

“I was actually a grandfather by blood at one time, and a farmer.” Marban nodded his head as if confirming the truth of his own words to himself. “There was a drought that year. My crop had failed. Loans were coming due that I could not pay. I was going to lose everything. The land that had been in my family for generations. And there I was, standing in my sunburnt field. The earth was dry as dust. The plants were all dead. Yellow, brown, black. Sweat coursed down my face, dripping off of my chin, dropping to the ground that was thirstier than I was for water. The wealthy man I had taken the loan from was carried on a litter out to me. He normally did not leave his villa. But he did this day. He was like some kind of fat sausage, stuffed with all of the hopes and dreams of those he leant his coin to. He was smiling despite the fact that he was sweating like a stuck pig. The litter bearers brought him up right next to me. He leaned over, looming above me, smiling, smiling, smiling.

“You know what day it is, do you not?” he asked me.

“I need more time. I can recover--”

“Marban, Marban,” he laughed. “Even if you are a fool, do not mistake me for one!” His beady eyes narrowed at me, all show of civility gone. “Now, I think it is safe for us both to say that there is no chance you can pay your loan off.”

I remained silent, because of course, he was right. Not even if I sold everything I owned could I have done so. Not with the interest that he charged.

“Unless I am willing to change our deal.” He smiled oily at me.

“What kind of change?” I couldn’t hide the suspicion from my voice, or the raw hope either.

This land was all I would be able to give my two sons. My boys who meant the world to me. I was desperate for whatever he would offer. But I forgot at that moment who I was dealing with. This man, this creature , would never alter a deal that wouldn’t give him more than he deserved. And, since I was desperate, he would ask for everything and more. He did.

“Your son, Tomas.” The man actually licked his flabby lips as he said it.

I froze. “What about Tomas?”

“Give him to me. As a slave. And you will have a whole year to pay your loan. At double the interest of course.” He licked his lips again.

This man had a reputation. He lusted after young men. He abused them. He did unspeakable things to them. I would never give him Tomas.

“Never,” I whispered on lips as dry as the dirt around me.

“Then I shall call my loan now, and you, Tomas and your whole brood will be out on the street by this evening!” The man snapped. His piggy eyes flashed with anger. He leaned further over the side of his carrier. “And I shall have him then anyways.”

It was then that a wasp appeared in the corner of my vision. They were hungry and thirsty too. The whole world was starved. Even as I saw in my mind us driven out onto the streets to starve, my Tomas carried away to be raped and tortured, I also imagined this wasp stabbing its stinger into the center of the man’s eyes. I heard his screaming over the imagined screaming of my son. I imagined blood and the milky fluid of his eye as it burst like a grape flowing down his cheek, just as I imagined Tomas’ clothes being torn from his body, and his virginity being wrenched from him as well. I imagined… the man screaming as a swarm of wasps covered him.”

They were all silent as Marban stopped speaking. The old Swarm Shifter was breathing heavily. He drank down his wine as if he was as thirsty now as he had been back then. Valerius replenished his glass.

“Is that what happened?” Chione asked softly.

Marban licked his lips, and then wiped them with his napkin. “Not exactly. The wasp came after me .”

The wasp that had been lazily flying through the air landed on me. I slapped it. I felt it crush beneath my hand and forearm. It left a stain of blood and organs on my skin as it fell down onto the ground. I was that wasp to the man. I was easily crushed. All of my power was nothing in comparison to his.

And then there was a buzzing. It was loud. So loud. It came from the south. I turned to look, even as the man was hissing about how I was nothing, and he would have everything.

There was a moving cloud of darkness in the south. It dove down from the sky. The buzzing grew louder and louder until I couldn’t hear the man anymore. It was at that point that the man noticed he couldn’t hear himself. He gazed up at this black, moving cloud and his eyes grew huge. He screamed at his carriers to get out of there. But they were terrified too. They dropped the litter and scattered in all different directions. The litter broke under the man’s ponderous weight. He let out a howl as the wood from the litter’s floor stabbed up through his thigh. I didn’t stay to see how injured he was. I ran too.

And the wasps followed me.

I could not outrun them. Not even the terror fueling my flight gave enough fleetness to my old limbs to make them pump fast enough. I felt the wasps bodies hitting my back and shoulders. I frantically swiped at them. My arms flailed against them. It was like touching a vibrating wall. The wasps though settled upon me and started to sting.

I tripped. Falling face down into the dry dirt. The dirt filled my mouth, and then the wasps were in my mouth, too. Stinging me. My tongue swelled up so big that I couldn’t close my mouth. The wasps went down my throat. They stung me inside and out. My eyes were covered in a moving mass of wasp bodies. I felt their stingers reach my eyes. And the fate I had imagined for the man happened to me. My eyes were pierced.

I was in agony. I was dying. I screamed though. Because if I died then my beloved Tomas, my family, would all suffer worse than this. It was not fair. To be weak like this. I roared as the wasps crawled into every orifice of my body. I felt them fill me until I was the buzzing.

And then… my body broke apart.

I was the wasps. It took a moment to realize this. The pain was gone. All there was, was the buzzing. I was flying, hovering above the ground. Where my body had been, there was only the dirt. When I moved, the swarm moved. I saw through hundreds of eyes. I breathed through countless mouths. I heard through the swarm.

I have made you strong , my Spirit said.

Those were the first words it spoke to me.

Now what will you do with this strength? My Spirit asked.

And I turned to look back at the man who would destroy me. The swarm turned. I saw him staring back at me, mouth hanging open, eyes as wide as saucers. And I remember smiling. Whatever he saw in the swarm, caused him to scream. I flew to him, and gave him exactly what he deserved.”

Silence again hung in Valerius’ quarters as Marban went back to eating the delicious food. He seemed fine now, not fragile at all any longer. Valerius wondered if this was the story he told his “grandchildren” or the “real” story, and then he wondered if it mattered? It was the story that Marban identified with.

“And your family? You saved them?” Chione asked, her face pale.

“Oh, yes, I did. I left farming behind, and took over the man’s business,” Marban said with a smile at her.

“You--you became a loan shark?” Her eyes were wide, and there was a frown on her face.

“Much more profitable than farming,” Marban said as he drew a vial out of the inner pocket of his robes. “Though that land did produce something very interesting, which I think that Valerius here and myself could make good use of.”

“Wait! Wait!” Chione shook her head. “You became the same type of man that had abused your family? Is that what you’re saying?”

Marban looked at her almost kindly. “My dear Chione, you know the world as well as I do. It’s all well and good to say that the meek will inherit the Earth when you’re the meek. That gives you a ridiculous hope that all the suffering you’ve gone through is for some greater good. But I think we both know that it’s far better to be strong now, and take our part of that good Earth right this moment, instead of waiting for a handout.”

“But--but…” Chione fell silent, clearly distressed. Had she thought that Marban would have done anything else?

“I see you are not surprised, Valerius.” Marban turned his head to him.

“No, that is nothing less than I would expect. I am guessing that you made the man’s business far more profitable,” Valerius remarked dryly as Marban uncorked the vial.

“Yes, I did. And I will say that while I was firm , I was always fair ,” Marban told him.

“Did you ask for young men to be sold to you?” Chione’s arms were crossed over her chest.

Marban chuckled. “Oh, no, my dear. Young and old, women and men, wanted to join me all on their own. Now.” He tapped the vial that was filled with a strange black liquid. “Now, after that story, I think we all deserve a real drink. This is my own concoction called Ambrosia.”

“What is it?” Valerius asked, frowning.

“As you know, Shifter metabolisms work so quickly and so well that we, alas, cannot get drunk no matter how much of this fine wine we drink.” Marban put a few drops in his own wine glass and offered the vial to Valerius. "But Ambrosia allows us to experience all the glorious effects of drunkenness again."

“Even if this is true, I should not get drunk considering the Dragon Shifters are all coming and--”

“I think now is the best time to get drunk. You need to relax,” Marban said. “Forgive me, my king, but you’re already close to blowing your top. You will need all your strength to keep your temper in check. Have this moment of fun now, and it will pay off later.”

“Valerius, I don’t think,” Chione began, but Valerius had already nodded for Marban to put a few drops in his glass.

He was wound so tight that he needed release. He really couldn't stand the tension any longer. He needed something. Maybe Ambrosia was it. Besides, it likely wouldn't work. Maybe this concoction had some effect on Swarm Shifters? But on a Dragon Shifter? No, surely not. He took a sip of his wine. It tasted no different to him, but suddenly, he felt warmth flowing out of his stomach. It was the familiar warmth of alcohol that he had not felt in so very long. He drained his glass and stuck it out for more wine and Ambrosia.

“More,” he said simply.

Marban smiled. “I am happy to oblige. Bottoms up, my king!”