The Dadæf Chronicles

Remara stood at the window that had so recently been Schnübertzen’s. And had also, she recalled, once Alvas’s. She had control over the city, though they knew nothing of it. Schnübertzen had had his memory wiped, Vana was as ignorant as ever, and those dark elves were hardly more than a nuisance.
Sometimes she looked out and remembered the city as it used to be – a sprawling, miles wide, centralisation of crime. It didn’t seem to matter what time it was… people got killed just the same.
Now the assassins had formed a guild, and anyone else who killed disappeared, sometimes mere seconds after it had happened.
The Watch was powerful now. Mountain and river trolls, dwarves, gnomes, goblins, and even a few dragonkin. Everyone was accepted into the thriving Dadæf society, and so Dadæf and Arakan had together become the largest city under the Aldrassi, with massive trade routes, a population of 8 million, a two-hundred-thousand strong standing army, and had managed to set up outposts – and small towns – as far as 40 miles to the north of the Aldrassi Mountain range, in the dreaded Darklands.
When you looked at a map of the world, it really could fill you with a sense of despair. There were four tiny pockets of human land, protected by natural features from the darkness which covered the rest of the world. The Danaren Peninsula, which Dadæf and Arakan were on, safely protected the Aldrassi, Tenorus island, a large tropical island about 120 miles to the south of the most southern point of the Danaren peninsula, Aeropolis, the city of mages and the only one bold enough to raid the Darklands from their massive levitating city, and Fel Reach, the neutral city that accepted demon, undead, and human alike, and their 12 foot high mecha-magical bruisers prevented any fighting. They might have had the power to destroy the darkness, but they found it more profitable to be neutral.
Occasionally a wandering troll would get into the centre of the Darklands and deal out merry hell for a while, before wandering out and eventually fleeing – even mountain trolls become scared after a while. Having hundreds of thousands of demons bearing down on you will terrify even the strongest countenance.
And Remara wanted it to stay that way.
*
She… she’s your what? asked Serrus.
My sister. Biologically and… um… mentally. She’s my twin sister, but I haven’t seen her for about thirty years. My… mother gave birth to twins, but we were both illegitimate. Then… then Alvas, my father… sent us both away. He cared for us, but he couldn’t risk keeping us… we were illegitimate. He… he felt the darkness closing in on all of us. All of Dadæf… Arakan… Aeropolis… nothing is safe. So he hid us as best as he could, keeping Vana in stasis for 37 years, then only just beginning to let her grow, and he sent me to the assassin’s guild. There’s… there’s a prophecy. But it’s pretty direct… thought Teraura.
You’re in a prophecy? Wow, said Drakaya.
Yeah, that’s actually pretty impressive, Teraura, said Sara, I mean… I wish I had a prophecy…
Lucky… thought Serrus.
It goes, as far as I can remember…
Darkness seeking twin queens’ blood,
Half is treetops, half is mud,
When darkness rises from the depths,
There will be shadow, there will be death,
After the shadow, four will remain,
Untouched by this ungodly stain,
One will cower, one will sell,
One will flee, and one will kill,
The darkness comes for people now,
For every man, for every cow,
For every child, for every wife,
The darkness will ignore no life,
Unless it’s banished, if it must stay,
We will be darkened, we will be slaves,
The queens can call upon the stars,
The moon, the sun, from near to far,
Their mounted steeds, their flowing hair,
One with the earth, one with the air,
One calls upon the drake of night,
The other on the phoenix flight,
The twin queens’ blood is a force for good,
But held by darkness, the world is doomed, said Teraura.
Um… “Good” and “doomed”? Wh… what are… that doesn’t rhyme at all! It’s just… well, one’s a soft “u” and one’s hard, and “ood” hardly sounds like “oomed”, said Drakaya, I mean… honestly… if it’s not bad enough that so much of it is so cliché, but… there are plenty of better words. And kill and sell? What the heck?
That’s so like you, Drak. The shadow is after me and my sister and you only pay attention to how it rhymes? I mean… just… said Teraura, trailing off.
Er, that’s not really a prophecy. Prophecies are more like, you know, “A great battle will be won”, not a poem, said Sara
Yeah, that’s nice and all, but what does it mean? said Serrus.
Heh, I like that they said Cow before Child or Wife. Really shows you the writers priorities, doesn’t it, added Sara.
So…the mission objective… that Darokh gave us… was… well, not actually the plan… we’re actually here… trying… to save… um… the world? said Serrus.
Um. Yes, said Teraura.
So… um, wh… I’m… confused. Why did Drak or I need to come? Why couldn’t this just be you and Darokh? Hell, why couldn’t it just be you?
Darokh… and Remara… have a history. I don’t know much about it. But they really seem to hate each other.
So… wait, you’re gonna save the world?
It’s not guaranteed. Like the prophecy says, if the darkness gets me and Vana, we’re all screwed.Oh, FUN, thought Serrus.
Well… what IS “the darkness”, anyway? asked Drakaya
Demons, undead, and monsters, oh my. The mindless zombies, the werewolves that aren’t humans for 3 weeks and wolf for 1, the ones that instead are wolves the whole time, but they only look like a wolf for one. The banshees that don’t hang around on rooftops screaming when people’re about to be killed, the ones that do it themselves. The warlocks that drain souls. The shadow mages, the dark assassins, the succubi, the flamewalkers, muck shamans, the necromancers, astromancers, pyromancers, hydromancers, um, even some gastromancers, no idea why anyone needs a snail and slug summoner, the death knights, the flamingos, the felclouds… and so on. And they’re all ruled by the “Dark Mistress”, who’s responsible for creating the Darklands. She’s supposed to be a fallen goddess, goddess of the chase or something. I dunno that much about her, said Teraura.
Wait. Flamingos? asked Drakaya.
Yup. No idea why. But they’re officially an unholy beast… replied Teraura.
A flamingo… is unholy.
Yes.
Wh… what the…
Um… just ignore that, said Teraura.
There was silence.
Really flamingos?
YES!
*
Vana knocked quietly on the door she’d found. It seemed to be the right one, seeing as a bleary-eyed young-ish dark elf girl wearing a nightgown opened the door.
Her eyes opened wide as she saw Vana, and with both hands, she grabbed Vana and pulled her into the room.
“Vana!” said the elf girl.
“Um… yeah…?” she replied.
“Oh, my god, I can’t believe this… after so long…”
“Er… who ARE you?”
“Oh, right… sorry about that. Um… I’m kinda… wait, I dunno… oh, what the hell. I’m your sister,” said Teraura.
“Er… no, I’m an only child, and you’re an elf. I don’t think we’re-“
“Urgh, fine… I hate spells, but I guess this is a counterspell, so… I should be okay…”
And Teraura waved a hand in front of Vana’s face.
“Look, this is just removing the illusion for you, so you can see the real me…”
Vana saw the transition between Aurabelle and Teraura, and gasped.
“You… me… what…”
“We’re twins, Vana. And the shadow is gaining power each day. We need to get out of here, but… we can’t yet. We got one more thing to do for now…”
“And that is…?”
“The other dark elf… is a dark elf. But he’s a boy.”
“But she’s a girl.”
“That was just coz of a potion I made to disguise him. We need to get his bounty down to a safe enough level for him to walk the streets again, and we gotta find the captain of the guard for that.”
“What, old Argus Jengison?”
“Oh, cruuuuud… Argus Jengison? How old is he now?” asked Teraura.
“Um, late sixties, I think. But… how… what do we have to do?”
“Er, we’re in trouble. Hang on…”
Teraura fumbled about on her person for the mission plan.
“Ah, here we are… it says here “Drakaya is to find the captain of the guard and… eurgh… seduce him and convince him to lower the bounty on Serrus.” Oh, god… Drak’s not gonna like this… a 70 year old was not in the plan…”
“Well, what did you do before you came to… um… save me…?”
“Alchemist and assassin. And no, I’m not gonna kill him,” Teraura added, as Vana opened her mouth.
“Hm. Wait, you made that potion that made… err… the other elf-“
“Serrus.”
“-A girl, right? And it’s illegal for a woman to occupy a post higher than sergeant in the guard? So, I figure, then…”
“…Hm… that might actually work… but I don’t have any of the reagents. I’d need quite a lot of stuff for it…”
“Right, how hard are the ingredients to get?” asked Vana. There was a burning eagerness in her eyes.
“Well, some are easier than others. The easiest is probably the strawberries, but we’ll need a lot. At least twelve pounds, which we have to distil about 5 or 6 times, and they have to be “tannin rich” or something. I don’t really know, I got them from a friend. Then there’s some unripe – and again, distilled – belladonna, four or five tablespoons of arcane dust, which can only be received as a gift from an eighth level mage, and some hairs from a real girl, and she has to be one that embodies the essence of… well, girlishness. And essence of drake, or any dragon. They tend to just shed it constantly…” said Teraura.
“Whaaaat? Where are we meant to find a dragon?”
“Hang on…” said Teraura, quickly, “I got to go quickly. Look, I’ll see you soon, okay? I’m sorry to leave you so much in the dark, but this whole thing is really important. And two things – first, you’re the only one who can see the real me. Second… don’t… say… anything, okay?”
“Okay… bye for now, then. This has definitely been… interesting.”
“See you, then. I gotta go find Serrus…” said Teraura, exiting the room.
Vana wandered around a bit in Teraura’s room. It was very unlived in, even for a room only occupied for a day. All it had in it was a massive suitcase which – when opened – contained a massive load of gowns and dresses, as well as a few soft toys. None of them looked used or worn.
It wasn’t a home, or even a bedroom. It was just a place that happened to contain someone overnight.
And somehow, it was slightly intimidating.
*
Serrus, Drakaya, said Teraura, I need to see you in person. Some really important stuff just happened.
Woh, Teraura? Why are you in my brain?
Argh, another person on the thought…wave…type… thingy, said Serrus, if we get any more people and we won’t be able to hear each other.
This thing’s getting real crowded, now, said Sara.
Thanks for that, captain obvious, replied Drakaya.
ANYWAY, I just met Vana, thought Teraura.
Yup I know, I just met you.
Look, who’s the newbie?
I’m Vana. Who’re you guys?
Serrus…
Drakaya.
Serrus.
Um, whaaaat… said Vana.
Er, Sara’s kind of me.
… I’m more than KIND of you, said Sara, affronted.
Fine, you are me. Happy?
Yes.
Urgh… look, Drak? said Teraura, eager to get away from the confusion.
Ye…esss…?
Um, you know how the plan said you had to, um, “convince” the captain of the guard to lower Serrus’s bounty?
Yup.
He’s… um… in his late sixties.
There was silence.
You… can not… be serious.
Um, yeah.
He’s twenty-five years younger than me, AND he’s about to cark it! So he’s damn too young and too old for me at the same time! protested Drakaya.
Yup, I get that, so… well… we got another plan. It’s actually based on the sexism of the Dadæf government, so we’re gonna use it against him. I’m gonna try to make up an exact replica of the potion we made for Serrus, and try to get him to drink it. Then he won’t be allowed to do his job, no-one will know who he is, and he’ll be replaced, hopefully, and the new captain position will be a younger. Any idea who the candidates are, Vana?
Well, I guess Sergeant-at-arms Ironhammer, but he’s a dwarf, so they’ll most likely ignore him. Sergeant Resha is disqualified by gender, so that leaves us with Sergeant Delphun and Sergeant Caeron.
Um, okay, what’re they like…?
Vana? asked Teraura, Would you mind telling Drakaya?
Er, I don’t really know, I haven’t seen them much. Caeron is, um, an elf or something, not really sure what kind, and Delphun is human, tall, kinda muscly, and as thick as… er, something really thick. Schnübertzen wouldn’t dare let him…
There was silence.
Schnübertzen… isn’t exactly getting a say in this now. It’s Remara… and I daresay she’d enjoy it if the captain of the guard is so easily manipulated, added Vana.
Hm… we should try to reverse the potion as soon as possible, but if we manage to get a reversal, we’d have to give it to him, seeing how Remara will be able to run the city so easily. But Serrus won’t be able to change back as soon, what with the having to get all the rare ingredients and stuff again… it’s basically a choice between your masculinity and everyone in Dadæf and Arakan’s life.
I’ll accept that. If it’s a choice between me being… well, ME, and the life of everyone in the city… I’ll stay like this for a little while longer, thought Serrus.
That’s good to know… because it might come to that… said Teraura, worried.

There was a short pause.

That’s actually really noble of you, Darokh, said Drakaya, surprised.

Yeah, I thought that too, thought Sara, right up to the point where I reallised he’s included in that “everyone” .