Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm (31 page)

“Then this matter is decided, at least for now. The diplomatic envoy will proceed to Shidan as soon as it can be arranged. Pending the results of the mission, the call for war will be tabled, but not forgotten. My decision to stop aid is final, and I want to thank Michenth, General Becknor, and the weirs for all their support to the Alliance. Senator Gindren,” Premier Reagresh closed, returning the mantel of the senate to Gindren.

“Thank you, Premier, the next item on the agenda is the initiative by Captain Mkel of Draden Weir to provide support and benefits for veterans who suffer mind scars from their tours of duty and the battles they’ve seen or taken part in. Captain Mkel, you may have the floor,” Gindren looked over to Gallanth and Mkel, who began to stand up when he was interrupted by the Enlightened Senator Terrjok.

“Before this dragonrider begins to spin his story, I have several questions I would like answered. First, there is the issue that several esteemed Truth Seekers reported in the Truth Sayers publishings that this attempt to ascertain soldiers and veterans so-called mind scars is just another attempt by the weirs to increase their flow of wealth. This is from their assertion that the weir’s forces have been doing more of the fighting in these last few decades. Also, we hear that the new veins of mithril found in Draden Weir are being scurrilously hoarded for only the weir’s benefit,” he arrogantly interjected.

Mkel angrily argued back, “
Pogasch
Senator! You should remember that it was your party’s members who requested more mithril for the defense of their ships and for other so-called, ‘humanitarian,’ measures during the Great War. From this demand, my father Jmes gave his mithril helmet as a friendly gesture, even though the largest battle in Alliance history was looming, and it is that which killed him. His love of country was used as a weapon against him, and I vow, this will never happen again. The mithril our dwarves mine is proportioned to the weirs, the military, and a certain amount goes to commercial guilds, which they will purchase, not be donated,” Mkel replied, but he knew he had to calm his speech down, for he couldn’t let the senator get the best of his emotions.

“As for your beloved Truth Seekers, they tell only of the trumped-up failings of the Alliance and the weirs, while ignoring the evil, inhumane, and malicious acts of the Shidanese, Morgathians, and the chromatics. This in itself helps promote and even cause some of the mind scars that are inflicted on our veterans, while most of your puppet Truth Sayers guilds skirt the truth in the Truth Saying law; I believe several are currently on trial now for violating their responsibility of reporting what is fact and not misguided perception. And you know what penalty that will carry. Because you’re service was, how can I say, somewhat limited in its scope, you do not understand the consternation that this false reporting causes those veterans and their families. You and your movement do seem to enjoy the way you can manipulate the general population, especially the civilians, with your own version of reality, or your warped sense of truth.”

Almost totally ignoring Mkel, Terrjok continued with his rant, “As if to address the validity of this dragonrider’s word, we have reports and witnesses that claim that he murdered one of the rogue death knights that took part in the battle recently at Handsdown. I accuse you, Captain Mkel, of the murder of an innocent prisoner of war, who had given up his arms in the promise of surrender!” Terrjok shouted out, almost reminiscent of his old days as an arbitrator. The whole of the senate burst out in competing shouts, both for and against Mkel and the dragons and riders in general.

Senator Gindren pounded his hammer several times to regain order in the senate. “Senator Terrjok, you had better have good evidence for this accusation, for you are on very shaky ground,” Gindren demanded.

“I call upon two witnesses, the boy Tylorn, son of Debesora, and the esteemed actor Penseun,” he stated into his seeing crystal, as two of his personal bodyguards escorted the boy and the thin, brown-haired actor to the senate floor. Mkel could see Tylorn’s mother, Debesora, in the background; when their gazes met, she quickly turned her head and looked down.

“I will only entertain this for a short time, Senator, so I am warning you now,” Gindren commented. Terrjok dismissed him and ordered the boy to stand on the raised podium in the middle of the hall.

“Now, boy, I will ask you a few simple questions. Did you, on the day of the battle at Handsdown, see Captain Mkel slay the death knight who already had his arm and one leg severed by the dragonrider’s vicious attack?” he pointedly asked.

“Yes,” the boy answered sheepishly.

“Did he not have the surrendered knight on his knees, with his sword pointed at the knight’s throat? And did the knight even ask him for mercy, right before he drove the blade through his neck?” he asked again.

“Yes, but he had just killed my father and—” He was interrupted by Terrjok.

“Thank you. That is all we need. Esteemed actor Penseun, you were on a fact-finding quest in that region and witnessed this heinous event,” Terrjok continued.

“Yes, Enlightened Senator Terrjok. I was with a band of independent Kaskar warriors, who saw fit to join in on this attack at Handsdown. I was studying their language and customs for an upcoming play. From a distance, I witnessed Captain Mkel and his dragon massacring a company of orcs and half of the Kaskars I was with. Their leader had just surrendered after the dragonrider tortured him by severing two of his limbs. While pleading for his life, that dragonrider slew him for no cause,” the actor finished overemphasizing his words in a vain attempt to look shocked as he pointed to Mkel.

“Thank you, Penseun. In light of this eyewitness account, how can we take Captain Mkel’s word on this measure to squander more of the Alliance citizens’ and civilians’ tax drachlars, or anything else? This brings us to question the word of dragonriders and even their dragons. This cowardly act violates Alliance Army protocol, which the weirs are supposed to adhere to. Maybe this even brings into question the whole issue of weir autonomy,” he smugly finished.

“Senator Gindren, may I address these charges,” Fogellem stood up. Gindren gave him a nod. “I would invoke the right of Dragon Speak for the gold dragon Gallanth to give testimony on his rider’s behalf and remind the members of the senate of Article Ten, of the Articles of the Alliance. This gives the weirs autonomy and allows the instant dispensing of justice by the metallic dragons of the Alliance to all that fall under their jurisdiction and protection,” Fogellem turned to Gallanth, who raised his head a slight bit higher to take advantage of his intimidating presence.

Senator Tekend stood up. “I charge that a dragon’s word regarding his rider’s charges cannot be trusted. The Law of Dragon Speak was not meant to interpret their rider’s guilt or innocence.”

“Senator, your mastery of the very laws you seemingly worship is somewhat lacking. I invoke Article One, Section Three of the Articles of the Alliance, the Right of Dragon Speak,” Gallanth spoke out.

Tekend rudely responded, “Dragon, that right is only to be invoked upon senate request and—”

“Enlightened Pogasch Senator, your interpretation of this law is as warped as your sense of honor. Now sit down!” Tekend again tried to challenge Gallanth’s word or ability to ascertain truth in all cases. Gallanth cut him off again, “Senator, only a dragon can see into a man’s heart. And, Senator, I see in your heart, greed, avarice, arrogance, elitism, condescension, manipulation, ignorance, and cowardice. Any other questions?” he finished with his eyes glowing, giving a dragon type of smile that exposed his enormous fangs. The obese, red-faced senator started to sweat and almost shiver and quickly sat down.

“I would at this time ask the senate to look over to the wall above Senator Gindren’s head.” His eyes flashed, and the dragonstone on Kershan started to glow and then projected the image of the Handsdown battle. It showed the death knight slay the boy’s father and then raise his sword to cut down Tylorn. Everyone then saw Mkel’s bolt strike him in the shoulder and spin him around, as Gallanth landed and wiped out a good portion of the orc company. Mkel slid down and rushed to the boy’s aid. They then witnessed the brief fight between Mkel and the death knight, ending as Mkel had Kershan’s blade pointed at his opponent’s throat, and a brief conversation took place between them. Then the sword thrust itself into the evil warrior, killing him almost instantly.

“You see, even the rider’s own dragonstone shows his owner’s guilt!” Terrjok yelled out.

“Silence!” Gallanth roared back to everyone’s surprise. “You fail to see this portion of the image,” he said as he focused on the death knight’s left hand reaching for his dagger and starting to pull it out, just before Kershan thrust forward. “On one measure, Kershan, my rider’s sword is known as the Justice blade. It has been carried by him, his father, and for two hundred years before is well known to have dispensed judgment to the wicked. The sword has the ability to dance and defend its wielder on its own volition. It sensed Mkel was in danger and slew the death knight on its own. However, even if the evil vermin hadn’t attempted to stab Mkel, I would have ordered it done or slew him myself. You speak of murdering the innocent. It is a high crime to slay a wounded or helpless Alliance soldier, and the attempted murder of the boy Tylorn, or any crime against a child, especially a veteran’s child, is also a high crime in the Alliance. Under dragon law, this is punishable by death. This act fell under my jurisdiction and judgment, which is indisputable and final. This matter is unquestionable, according to the Articles of the Alliance,” Gallanth stated firmly.

“I do question this evidence—” Terrjok started to state but was cut off by Gindren’s hammer’s echo, much to his dismay, taking away from the distraction against Mkel’s veterans’ initiative.

“I consider this matter closed,” Gindren stated.

Terrjok had just started to protest again when Gallanth roared, “
Pogasch
verstek
!” which is loosely translated to “traitorous cowardly vermin.” His eyes glowed and Terrjok, overcome by a sense of fear, quickly became unsettled and sat down. “As for you, actor, you are a cowardly soul who makes a living pretending to be someone else. And you have managed to be lucky enough to have gullible people actually like the characters you play. The problem is that they like the imaginary or pretend you and not the true you. This is somewhat of a hollow feeling, isn’t it?” Gallanth scolded Penseun, who quickly got up and almost sprinted toward the nearest exit of the hall.

The boy looked at Mkel with a very sad, apologetic countenance. Mkel mouthed a response saying that it was all right. He knew he was forced to testify by the POEs. They had likely gotten to his mother somehow. Jodem whispered to Mkel before his speech to beware of the Enlightened senators tactic of vehemently accusing their opponents of the evil/or wrongdoing they perpetrated. He was right.

“You just bore witness to this, and there will be more to come,” the portly wizard told him in a low, quiet voice.

“Thanks for the warning, Jodem.” He looked back and smiled. “Thank you, members of the senate, for allowing me to address you of this concern I have for our silent veterans. In support of this project, I conducted a great deal of research in conjunction with many skilled healers, clerics, the elves, and several concerned wizards.

“This quest concerned the occurrence of mind scars among the veterans of the last Great War and the recent number of deadly skirmishes. My group has concluded that since the end of the war, over sixty thousand veterans have succumbed to premature death either by direct suicide or other related self-destructive activities, such as the overindulgence in wine and ale.

“An even higher rate of occurrence of mind scars has been seen in the non-weir-aligned forces, due to their more temporary nature of assignment. Their speed of transfer with the advent of the teleportation circles, coupled with the cutback of forces during Premier Bilenton’s tenure, has also exacerbated this. A cooling-off period is needed, in which they can become re-sensitized to allow them to talk to their comrades and heal the horrid images left in their minds of the battles they have fought. This, with the recent negative stories made by the Enlightened senators and their allies in the Truth Saying guilds, has made this difficult. Due to the reduction in forces, many soldiers and sailors can be faced with an intense fight one day and be back at their homes in as little as three days later. There are no battle lines in these recent small conflicts as well. So they are in constant danger with little time to relax.

“Another and most disturbing reason for these occurrences is the unappreciative treatment they get from the Truth Saying guilds, who don’t care about their experiences and are actually ungrateful and often hostile to them. Many of these veterans mistakenly feel that they cannot talk about their feelings even to closest family members. As most healers would agree, the only way to heal the scars of the mind is to air them out and discuss them. This luxury is not being afforded to many of these men and women. We have heard arguments, especially from our
dacul
, or foolish Enlightened senators, that you cannot scar the mind with memories. I say to that, they are wrong. It is just as easy to scar a caring mind as it is to be cut by a Morgathian sword. And both wounds need healing. I speak of this for the memory of my father, who sacrificed all, to save not only Michenth but the very fabric of the freedom the Alliance stands for,” he said, his voice starting to falter, and he felt tears come to his eyes.

Gallanth’s head lowered and then raised, his eyes glowing brightly at the emotion he was feeling from his rider. Mkel let slip a few Draconic words in his speech, for at extremely emotional moments, some dragonriders started interjecting the dragon language for common tongue, without being aware of it. Several senate members close to Gallanth started to feel the ripple effects of the gold dragon’s emotions.

“We as a free republic, and you as the leadership of this nation, when we do send our sons, fathers, daughters, and mothers into conflict, we must realize to the fullest extent what that service can bring, and the follow-on responsibility that you and the nation have to those who put their lives on the line for our interests and freedom.