“What more do we have to lose before you realize this is not working, Zemi?” Zento choked, forcing the words between his teeth.
The Marked army of Zeromus was on the move across the Outterlands. And they were moving fast, with renewed purpose. Zemi didn’t question. He knew there was only one place Zeromus would strike next – the mountain city of Wyndor.
With Ceiswyr in ruins, Wyndor was the last bastion of safety afforded to those who made the migration out of the Islands. It was the place where the women and children had gone to take refuge. And it was just like Zeromus to strike out at the weak and defenseless in order to tear at the hearts of those who had the will and power to fight the darkness.
Looking back over his shoulder, Zemi only had to get a glimpse of the haggard, lined face of Zento to know that to be true. Zeromus’ tactics had struck home with the death of SaRa, leaving the winged Champion in shambles.
Zemi didn’t pause to wonder how much fighting will was left in Zento. There was no time.
The moment the Dragons and scouts from the Spiral reported a mass motion of the Marked army away from the Spiral proper, Zemi knew what it meant. He had gathered what Dragons and men that remained able to fight and ordered a direct high-speed flight after the shadowy forces in attempt to intercept the attack on Wyndor.
The Spiral warriors, without wings to fly, had opted to stay behind, working to clean up their city and hunt down any straggler Marked that might still remain. There was also the strange report of one smaller band of Marked that had turned back and re-entered the Inner Realms by way of the Passage. Whether the report was true or not didn’t concern Zemi, though. The fewer Marked laying siege to Wyndor, the better.
Zemi’s whole being was focused forward, the great white war Dragon’s wings stretched, bending the wind around him as he flew with unearthly speed. His mind was locked on the movement of Zeromus’ armies. The heat of anger and vengeance coursed through his form, leaving light-flecked shimmers in the sky behind.
SaRa had been one of his own, like a child that he had raised. He had known her since she had been very small. Though he did not teach her as much as he had taught Zento, he had still watched her grow up to become a leader at her brother’s side. The thought that he would never hear her warm, chiding voice or feel her kindly hugs again… left a hollow sensation in the depths of Zemi’s being. Something that he could only define as the Earthian feeling of grief.
Someone would pay for this loss. Someone would feel the same grief that he did. And that someone would be Zeromus.
“Zemi,” Zento’s voice struggled to be heard above the wind. His fingers gripped the thick white Dragon mane where he lay against the Dreigiau’s neck. When Zemi didn’t respond, the Champion called louder, “Zemi!”
-I hear you, Zento.-
“Zemi, this is crazy!” Zento tugged back on the mane to accent his words. “The men are exhausted. We’ve just come through one battle and have had no rest. No sleep! You’re flying them too hard!”
-There is no time. Wyndor will be under attack and the Marked move quickly. They will not rest, and neither should we.-
“The Marked are nothing but soulless beasts! Of course they need no rest!” Zento half snarled.
-Soulless beasts? Is that what you would call your son? -
A deep silence fell from behind. Instantly, Zemi regretted his thoughtless words. But it was the truth, unspoken or not. Zento should know that – he should be realistic about the situation.
Finally, when the Champion spoke again, his tone was broken and somber, “Our men are not Marked. We can’t keep this pace, Zemi. Maybe you can go without resting, but the Earthians can not.”
The Dreigiau gave a rumble of impatience and slight frustration. Taking a break would put the Marked armies even further ahead of them than they were already. Soon, there would be no interception… and allowing the Marked into the halls of Wyndor was not permissible.
Receiving no reply, Zento pressed further, “What do you expect our men to be able to do, even if we do reach Wyndor in this condition? An evacuation takes planning, time and energy. That’s another long trip, likely with the Marked nipping at our heels.”
-Evacuation?- Zemi couldn’t hide his tone of surprise.
“Right… evacuation. That… is… what we’re going to do, right Zemi?”
-And just give up Wyndor to Zeromus the same way we lost the Islands?-
“You certainly don’t mean to fight! Not after all of this!” Zento answered incredulously.
-What other options do you think that we have?-
“That is not what you were instructed to do, Zemi. Fighting Zeromus has done nothing but lead us to loss and destruction! We’re just not strong enough!”
-I will make that decision for myself! No one instructs Zemi Dreigiau to do anything!-
A roar of frustration bellowed from Zemi’s throat, breaking the clouds in front of them. He could feel Zento’s hands shake just a bit where they still held fast to the white mane. Then the grip grew solid and resolved again — there was about to be an argument.
“What more do we have to lose before you realize this is not working, Zemi?” Zento choked, forcing the words between his teeth. “We’ve lost a lot of men… we’ve lost SaRa…”
-Are you blaming that on me, now?-
“No! I’m blaming that on that Bane Child Sygnus that you protected all this time. And now it’s just as I said it would be!” the Champion snapped with a grating voice. “This is just the beginning – he’s going to destroy us! He’s going to destroy you! And you’re going to walk straight into it… taking all of our people with you because you can’t see that–”
-ENOUGH!-
“Don’t you tell me enough, Zemi Dreigiau!”
-YOU ARE MY CHAMPION AND YOU WILL DO AS I TELL YOU!-
“I am your Champion because you don’t understand enough about your own people to know what’s good for them!” Zento retorted. “Well, I say enough! I am a Champion… and I champion my people! I refuse to watch you lead them into destruction because you’re too stubborn and proud to accept good advice when you are given it!”
Zemi gave a grudging growl, scolded and annoyed. But he gave ground knowing that the winged warrior spoke parts of truth. Zento had sacrificed much to follow the Dreigiau’s visions… and he had always acted as a bridge between Earthian and Arweinydd kind. It had not been an easy road for the Champion and his family. And it was rare that Zento’s advice regarding Earthians was wrong – he had an exceptional judge of character.
-Zento…- the Dreigiau approached with a quieter tone, -This has been difficult for us all. You are responding and talking out of your grief.-
However, trying to sympathize only earned the opposite reaction to what he had hoped.
“Zemi Dreigiau!” the Champion fumed, tone growing angry. “Don’t you dare tell me that I’m talking out of my head due to grief! I’m the only one making sense here!”
-And I don’t make sense just because I want to defend what is ours?-
“There’s a time to fight and a time to cut your losses,” Zento muttered. “We tried this with Ceiswyr. And honestly, we had a better chance at defending the Islands than we do fighting in a giant hole in the ground. But we still lost. We’re going to lose again, Zemi. This isn’t going to work.”
-You don’t know that.-
“Do you have some miracle up your sleeve that I don’t know about?”
Zemi fell silent. The truth was… he didn’t. He had nothing but the rage of justice within him. And the loyalty of his people to back him on his rampage.
For just a moment, a trickle of doubt traced through Zemi’s mind.
“You don’t, do you?” Zento’s voice was grim.
-I’ll think of something.-
“The time for thinking is over,” the Champion intoned brokenly. “Zeromus has taken most of my family from me. I will protect the one I have left… no matter what I have to do.”
-I see.-
There was no arguing with that, not once Zento got something into his head. Still, times were much too dangerous for Arweinydd and Champion to be divided in heart.
After a time, Zento spoke again, “I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you.”
-You’ve never disappointed me, Zento.-
“I know what you’re thinking right now. You can’t fool me, Zemi.”
-I can’t fool you,- the Dreigiau admitted. -But I’m not disappointed in you. I chose you as my Champion because of your fearless spirit and potential. I knew that you would always do what you felt was right.-
“I try, Zemi…” the Champion sighed. “I know you try, too.”
That sounded positive. At the least, that Zento wasn’t still angry. He was never the kind to stay angry long. So it was a good time to pursue things.
-If you don’t think we should defend Wyndor, what do you think we should be doing?-
“Evacuating,” Zento answered.
-Evacuate to where? Zeromus will hunt us and find us. You know that.-
“We should try the Vision Stone. Like the voice in the Lion’s Keep suggested.”
-And how do you know about that?- Zemi asked quizzically. He hadn’t talked a lot about his experience in the Stone Keep and the voices that spoke to him who claimed to be Arweinydd kind from the Time Before.
“Let’s just say I pick up on more than you give me credit for, Zemi,” the Champion’s voice had a slight smirk to it.
Zemi sighed. -So you trust in what some unknown voice instructs me to do?-
Zento was quiet for a moment, “I don’t know. But there might be something to it. I saw the images on the wall, Zemi. Someone knew about us before we even existed.”
-How do we know that “someone” means us well?-
“I suppose we don’t. But sometimes you have to have a little faith in the unknown,” the winged warrior answered softly. “I don’t see how it would mean us ill if it was suggesting a way to escape from Zeromus.”
-Perhaps… but even if we did make the journey to the Vision Stone, there is no promise that we will find any help there. We’d be in the same situation as before… with no strategic ground to defend,- Zemi reasoned.
“I suppose that’s true, too. I just have a hunch… call it warrior’s Earthian intuition.”
-Aren’t you the one telling me not to rely on feelings, Zento?-
The Champion sighed and did not answer.
They flew on for a short while, the Dreigiau’s speed significantly slower than before. Something within Zemi yearned to find peace and unity with the winged warrior – Zento had been by his side through so many things. And it very well could be that this was their final stand together.
-Why don’t we give defense of Wyndor a shot? Then, if things start to look bad, we’ll head towards the Vision Stone,- the Dreigiau reconciled.
“Is that possible? Once we get in those caves, aren’t we going to be trapped?” Zento asked with a worried frown.
-Do you really think I’d hold my ground in a place that I couldn’t escape?- Zemi responded with a sly tone.
“Hmmm?”
-So what do you say?-
Zento paused before answering, “The men need rest if you want them to go into battle. Even if the Marked get there before us, it’ll still take them time to figure out how to breach the mountain fortress, right?”
Zemi was silent. Zento was silent.
Then with a short backwing, the Dreigiau turned about face towards the army behind him. His voice filled the sky, rolling off the clouds, seemingly effortlessly.
-We will stop to rest here for a time. Tend those who need tending. Eat if you need to. Sleep for a short time. Then we move on to defend Wyndor!-
A grateful sound from men and Dragons both came in response. Wings of feather and scale began an exhausted spiral down towards the ground for a much-needed rest. Zento offered a tired but thankful smile as Zemi’s wings folded, carrying them down for a short landing.
Sometimes I forget that this is not the same Zemi as the one in Wayrift. And it is pages like this which demonstrate that character in development. In fact this page is so much more than a simple conversation. Not only does it build character and character relationships further, it also is an important turning point that maps out some of the direction of the up coming chapters, it gives us hints of what to expect. Perhaps this is because we are nearing the, “climax” or “conclusion” of Dreigiau as a whole. Though given that there are five books I’m sure that there are several high points in the story. But I’m not going to look for them specifically right now.
Then again, what do I know?
Furthermore the actual structure of the chapter works very well. I don’t know if I have commented on the choice to make Zemi’s (Well, Arweinydd’s in general) words different (as they are in this case not even quite spoken words as we speak, or so I believe) even to the point of actually appearing different on the page itself. I like it, and it highlights the two character’s back and forth dialog very while. I also think the use of spacing overall contributes to this effect too.
Anyway, speculation time. I can’t help but think that Zerom has been one step ahead of Zemi since just before the fall of Ceiswyr. Zerom has all the momentum, all the right timing, and the most successful strategy. And of course he is far more ruthless (Zerom would have had Lucci destroyed if he were in his brother’s place). This is compounded by the fact that Zemi, who may be individually more powerful than Zeromus, cannot fight him directly (without going chaotic). And so far a lot of Zeromus’ actions have had dual purposes, one of which is often a kind of feint. The attack on the spiral was actually a distraction for having TsuYa go after AsaHi (because she is a Dreidistau), in an attempt to weaken Zemi further, etc. So when Zemi simply dismisses that a small band of marked turned away and went back I get suspicious, what if the attack on Wyndor is another feint? I already doubt that Tsu will be present, in fact I suspect that TsuYa is hurrying back to Nefol. Which might mean that Zeromus knows what Lucci is up to… And now Zeromus might just be leading Zemi around by his dragon nose… Again.
Anyway, great page. And even though it doesn’t end directly in a cliffhanger, it still leaves me wanting more! (So… it is a cliffhanger…).
Thank you for such a detailed comment, Canuovea! I think you’re right on the money about a lot of these things.
Zemi still has a lot of development to go through between now and the end of Dreigiau. He thinks he understands loss right now… but sadly, it’s going to take the loss of a lot more than what he has before he becomes more like the Zemi of Wayrift (who still has much to learn). I’m glad someone could pick out the importance of this conversation and what it reveals for both Zemi and Zento… sometimes their arguments have made for the most important discoveries I’ve had with Zemi in particular.
And a keen eye in taking note of the small group of Marked that are heading back to Nefol. You are right in your speculations.
I’m trying to update weekly… so you may not have to wait TOO long!