Gatekeepers Book 3: Redemption
Chapter 4: Strategy Meeting

It was very late in the evening. The dark sky above was covered by the perpetual rain clouds that brought never-ending rain down upon the city below, lit by brightly colored neon lights. The light of the two moons barely penetrated the clouds, dimly lighting the way for a group of people on the outskirts of the city. The group was chasing after a black cloaked figure running ahead of them, ducking in and out of alleyways as it made its way farther out of the city. It was clutching something tightly against its chest, wrapped up in cloth.

“Seize her!” a voice rang out from the crowd.

“Don’t let her get away!” another voice shouted. “The King ordered them both to be executed immediately! Follow through with the command to protect the King’s reputation!”

The hood of the cloak fell back as the figure ran, revealing the face of a rather pretty young woman with long brown hair and brown eyes. Panting hard, she continued to run from her pursuers until she reached the end of the city. After running a few more yards, her pace slowed down gradually until she came to a complete stop. The ground came to an end just before her at a steep cliff. The bottom could not be seen past the galaxy of stars and stardust just below the clifftop. A stone dock extended out from the cliff into the starry sea, coming to an end after a few dozen yards. She slowly walked out onto the dock, her heels clacking against the stone as she strode all the way to the end. Floating above the starry sea at the end of the dock was a large stone ring with ancient runes carved over every bit of space on the stone surfaces. The inside of the ring was completely black; it seemed to swallow the very nearby light as it floated there.

The lady set the bundle she had been carrying down. After a moment, the bundle began wriggling a little bit until the head of a young boy with short black hair, no more than a toddler, poked his head out of the cloth. As he got to his feet, there was a shout from the other end of the dock. The woman’s pursuers had caught up to them and were slowly approaching the two at a menacing pace, weapons drawn and raised.

“Mommy,” the boy whimpered, grabbing the helm of the lady’s cloak as he tried to hide behind her. The lady spun around and squatted down so she could look her son in the eye. She gave him a sweet smile as she tightly embraced the boy.

“Listen, son. Mommy’s not going to be able to stay with you after this.”

“But why?”

“Mommy’s secret is out. The King won’t stand by and let things be this time. So I need you to go. Get as far away as you can.”

“But I want to be with you.”

The lady tightened her embrace before lifting up one hand. A ball of golden light appeared in her palm, and she threw it over the edge of the dock and into the stone ring. A loud rumbling noise rang out at the runes etched into the stone ring glowed with a bright blue light. The darkness in the ring shifted slightly, then revealed a darker, less colorful version of the starry sea on which it floated.

“Don’t forget that Mommy loves you, sweetie.” With that, the lady released the boy from her embrace and shoved him over the edge of the dock. Standing up with a determined expression on her face, she turned around to face her adversaries as the boy fell through the ring with a splash. He kept calling out to her, but no matter how hard he cried, his mother kept getting farther away. He kept falling through the dark galaxy, crying until he fell asleep.

He kept falling.

And falling.

And falling.

Until he became a shooting star that streaked across the sky of a small world of blue and green....

Vinkex slowly aroused himself from sleep and immediately let out an involuntary groan. His forehead was pounding from the aftermath of last night’s celebrations; he had too much to drink. Putting some magic power into his fingers, he gingerly rubbed his temples with his thumb and index finger in an attempt to relieve himself of his hangover.

What a weird dream that was. His thoughts became clearer as the pain in his head began to recede. Could those have been Draycos’s memories? He debated on that for a few moments before shaking his head, dismissing the thought. There’s no way that was one of his memories. That toddler looked to be two years old or so; a human can’t remember events from that early on.

Taking a moment to peer inside himself, Vinkex located the spot where he was keeping Draycos in a suspended state of animation in a separate dimensional rift he placed inside his body. Entering the rift through his mind’s eye, he explored the starlit space on the other side until he found an orb floating in the abyss. Draycos hovered in an unconscious state inside the orb, in the same attire he had been in when Vinkex ate him. Vinkex checked his back and saw that the wounds he inflicted on Draycos had healed nicely, leaving thick, jagged scars running down his back.

Sighing, Vinkex returned his mind to his physical body and opened his eyes. His hangover dealt with, he gazed around at the dragons scattered throughout the Rogue Castle courtyard, busy carrying supplies or weapons from one place to another. Stifling a yawn, Vinkex stretched his legs before standing up from the makeshift throne.

“Finally awake, I see.”

Vinkex looked around to see Río stepping out of the castle door behind him, quietly closing it behind him. Vinkex shook his head clear of the last remnants of his headache.

“I enjoyed myself a bit too much last night. Anyways, are you doing alright, ‘Río’?” Vinkex put a lot of emphasis on the name as he glared at the Rogue King.

Río looked at him quizzically before sighing. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply, but I’m just fine.” Río fingered a few glass ball-like vials hanging from a leather sash hanging around his waist. The vials were filled with some kind of red liquid too dark to be ordinary blood. A slight smile formed on his lips. “I’ve got enough harvested to last me for a while during this siege, if you know what I mean.”

“Good,” Vinkex responded, nodding his head. He glanced around as he looked for someone. “Where’s Balara?”

“He’s with the others to get the slaves ready for moving the castle,” Río answered. “They need to be...properly motivated to move such a massive structure over the long distance to Dragonspire Castle.”

“Get word to him to come here immediately, along with any of the section generals,” Vinkex ordered. “We need to discuss strategy before we head out.”

It only took a few minutes for word to reach Balara, and only five minutes after Vinkex demanded his presence, Balara flew over the courtyard wall and landed on the ground before Vinkex’s throne. All the other dragons in the courtyard dropped what they were doing and quickly left, as they knew this discussion was not for their ears. Five other dragonoids landed atop the courtyard walls, crushing the stone underneath their talons. They were the generals Río hand-picked out of his followers. Each one of them were in charge of a thousand foot soldiers.

Balara fell to one knee as he bowed to Vinkex, who was sitting in the makeshift throne again. “I heard you summoned me, ancestor,” he commented. “What is it that you wish to speak to me of?”

Vinkex snorted, amused. “No need for the theatrics, Balara,” he growled. “I know you don’t mean it. Besides, we’re family, so there’s no need to be overly formal with me. Just think of me as your father like I think of you as my son.”

The braid of hair hanging from Balara’s head quivered slightly as he chuckled. He rose to his feet. “Alright, then. So what’s the plan?”

Vinkex glanced up at the five section generals, who were watching with intense gazes. “We’re going with a tried and true old tactic: a pincer attack,” he announced in a loud voice. “You section generals, your job is to assault the main gate of Dragonspire Castle and draw as much attention to yourselves as you can. In the meantime, Río, Balara, and myself, along with a small, elite unit of our soldiers, will burrow through the rock the castle rests on and break inside.”

The generals glanced at Río, who gave them a slight nod. They returned their gaze to Vinkex and lowered their heads in agreement.

A smile ran across Vinkex’s face. “It’s like playing that age-old human game of chess. The king is the linchpin; he stays in the back while his forces do the fighting. If we can sneak past his forces and take him out while the defenses around him are low, we win.” He looked at the section generals again. “I want each of you to choose the best two fighters in each of your groups and send them to me. They’ll make up the elite unit I spoke of earlier. Is that clear?”

The generals dipped their heads to Vinkex again, showing their consent to the plan. One of them, a rather older dragon with bright yellow scales and light blue underbelly scales and wing skin, lifted his head slightly and made eye contact with Vinkex.

“Are there any other parameters we need to follow when choosing the two that’ll join your group?” he asked in a husky voice that showed his age.

“Good question.” Vinkex paused for a moment as he thought about that. His talons tapped the arm of the throne as he debated on an answer. “One should be proficient in physical combat, the other should be talented in magic,” he eventually announced. “We don’t know what we’ll encounter inside the castle, so having a group with a wide variety of skills will be most helpful.” Vinkex locked eyes with the aged section commander. “Thank you for that. It’s clear that you have much experience in this field. What is your name?”

The dragon bowed his head. “My name is Tornec, sir.”

“Tornec, is it?” Vinkex stood up from the throne. “I’ll have to remember that. You may very well end up being my advisor once I take the throne from Theravor.”

Tornec lowered his head even more. “Thank you, sir. Words cannot express my gratitude.”

Vinkex looked around at all the dragons present. “I think that concludes this meeting. You generals are all adept enough to know how to act on your own without specific instructions. I leave the style in which you assault the castle solely up to the five of you.” Vinkex’s tail thumped the ground. “You’re all dismissed. Remember to replace the two dragons of your units that fit my needs and send them here as soon as possible. The magic users will have to collaborate with one another to ensure their magic doesn’t disrupt any others, and I’d like to spar with the combat fighters to see how skilled they are.”

“Sir.” With that word, the five generals unfurled their wings and took off to the respective destinations. Vinkex glanced over his shoulder at Río.

“Tell the Slave Master that we’re ready to move out whenever he’s gotten the slaves ready. And be sure to return to the tower to maintain the storm wall around the castle as we move.”

Río nodded and departed without a word. As his figure shrunk in the distance, Vinkex sighed and fell back into the makeshift throne, which barely kept itself together.

“Vinkex?” Balara called, a concerned look on his face. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Vinkex muttered. He held his right hand in front of him and examined it closely. “My body’s just starting to assimilate Draycos now. I’ll be out of commission for a little while before we reach Dragonspire Castle. It takes a lot of magic to create a separate dimensional space inside my body and maintain it for a long period of time. Now that he’s healed up, I can assimilate him without suffering any repercussions.”

“So, once this process is done, Draycos will be no more?”

Vinkex nodded. “I only need his blood; I don’t need to keep him alive forever inside me. Once this is over, there won’t be anything left that can hold me back.”