For Lord and Land

For Lord and Land
By: Delilah deSora
Chapter 5

**

. . . to the service of my lord and land.

**

Dante thought he had been prepared for any circumstance. Dorjan had explained to him the role of the Leviathan and what would be required of him. He’d expected to be forced onto bed as soon as he stepped through the heavily guarded door to the Emperor’s suite. He had been expecting a lot of things, actually.

But he had not expected to find his new master huddling in a corner, staring at him with wide frightened eyes. They had stared at each other for a few minutes before Dante had taken a step towards the man. The Emperor had stiffened and begun screaming like he was being murdered. Dante had hurried back, surprised by the reaction.

The scream had brought Dorjan and a silver haired man running. The unknown guard had immediately drawn his sword and advanced on him but Dorjan had flung himseetweetween them, forcing the smaller man back. He’d reluctantly gone to the shrieking Emperor and quieted him with a few soft words.

The Emperor had clung to the guard, staring wide eyed at Dante through the guard’s strangely colored hair. Dorjan had ushered him through a cloth covered doorway and ordered him to wait. Glad for any excuse to escape his immanent fate Dante had amused himself by peering about the large room.

It was larger than the Emperor’s own room and lit by a glass ceiling that rose high overhead. There were holders on the wall for candles but at the moment they stood empty. Sunlight sparkled on the still pool that took up most of the floor space. A simple bed sat to the side of the pool and Dante was relieved to find that all the upholstery in the room had been done in soothing blues and greens. He’d feared more of the reds and golds that the Ardae were so fond of. Even the stone that had been used for the walls was a bluish grey that helped to relax him somewhat.

He could hear arguing in the Emperor’s chambers but he chose to ignore it. A set of arms ocs occupied one wall and he opened them, his heart sinking at finding only the same robe he wore in them. Apparently Leviathans weren’t supposed to wear anything but the light cloth. Makes it easier to get at the body underneath. Dante thought to himself as he closed the wooden doors.

His attention was drawn to a bookcase in the corner and he peered at it curiously. The entire case contained handwritten journals, some unbelievably old if their dates were to be believed. They had been arranged chronologically and he pulled down the first in the case. It opened easily and Dante sighed, realizing that generations of men before him had probably flipped through its yellowed pages.

He carefully returned it to the case and moved to the last book in the set. It was fairly new and the ink was still black, not brown with age. He opened it to the first page and began to read. A few pages later he was forced to close it lest the despair building within him take hold. The man that had written this journal had expressed his feelings exactly.

The same s, ts, the same doubts, the same worries. But unlike Dante he was livened by the strange twist his life had taken. He saw it as a chance to help his people. He believed that he could help his family by serving the Emperor. Dante threw the book onto the nearby desk, sinking into the chair and laughing humorlessly.

That man hadn’t changed anything at all.

The Llyrs were still being hunted and another of their brood had been stripped of his life so he could serve a mad Emperor. He sat back and his hand brushed a thick book he hadn’t noticed before on the desk. Curious he opened it. The binding cracked and empty pages stared up at him. He snarled and slammed it shut, backing away from the leather covered journal.

So this was what his life was to become? Another book on a shelf of stolen lives? He stared at the rows of journals. He imagined each one as a man, like himself. He shuddered at the sheer numbers. How many lives would the Aidan’s devour? How many other volumes would sit after his? How many other men would turn to his journal just to try to find some glimmer of hope in the fiery prison they had found themselves in?

He shuddered and fell to his knees.

Dorjan found him there some time later. He didn’t even look up when the large man flung the curtain aside and stormed towards him. He heard the disgusted snort and found himself dragged to his feet by a firm hand.

“Go to him, boy.” Dorjan demanded, shoving him in the direction of the door. “I don’t know what’s got himterrterrified of you butis. is. A servant has brought food and Kaze has promised to watch over him so he’s agreed to have lunch with you present. Watch your tone and try to be unthreatening. You know what you must do.”

Dante nodded silently and followed the general back into the Emperor’s room.

The Emperor shied away from him, staring with wary eyes as though he expected Dante to leap at him. Dante tried his best to look friendly but all his efforts at putting the smaller man at ease failed miserably. The Emperor said not a word the entire meal nor did the suspicious stare soften in any way.

Dante took the time to study the man he’d been serving for four long years. He had to admit; the Emperor did possess a beauty that he had seen gifted to only a few men. He found himself comparing the Emperor’s thin frame and delicate features to Sibley’s. Both possessed elegance to their movement and both inspired in him an urge to protect them.

He caught the last thought and resisted the urge to laugh. The Emperor needed someone to feed him before he needed someone to protect him. He looked frightfully thin and Dante knew from experience that the shadows under his eyes weren’t from genes bred too thin.

Thperoperor wasn’t sleeping and he wasn’t eating.

Dante wondered at that as he picked at the food on his plate. Why wouldn’t a man who had everything take advantage of it? Was it a side effect of his insanity? Dorjan had assured him that the insanity was only temporary. Once Dante’s body cooled the dragon’s blood within him the Emperor would return to his senses.

Despite his anger at being used in such a way, Dante found himself longing to see what the man cowering across from him would look like when brought back to his prime.

e fie finished his meal and the Emperor pushed away his still filled plate. He glared at Dorjan and demanded to know if they were finished. Dorjan bowed.

“We will leave if that is your wish, your majesty.”

“Yes, yes!” The Emperor snapped, “Get out of my sight!”

The general bowed once more and moved to the door, holding it open. “Come along Kaze.” He said softly.

Those words seemed to stir somethinep wep within the Emperor for he shrieked and clung to the silver haired man’s arm tightly. “No! Not him! Take that one!” He howled, pointing accusingly at Dante.

Dante blinked in confusion, glancing back at the general for instructions.

Dorjan frowned. “He cannot come, your majesty. He must remain here, with you. You know how it is.”

The Emperor shook his head violently, red hair whipping about his face. “No! I don’t want him! Take him away from me!”

“Kaze, excuse us for a few moments will you?” Dorjan asked, his eyes fixed firmly on the Emperor.

Kaze gently peeled the Emperor from his arm, promising to be just beyond the doorway. He disappeared into the next room and Dorjan closed the heavy door firmly before pacing towards the man who clung to his chair as though it were a lifeline.

“My lord, don’t you know what he is?”

The Emperor bared his teeth in a grimace. “Yes. I know what he is.”

“Then you know that he must stay. You know you must use him to . . .”

The Emperor stood suddenly, slamming his hands down on the wooden table. Dante jumped back as the flowers that a servant had placed in the center went up in a tower of flame. “I will not use him!” The Emperor screamed. “I do not want him! I do not want him in my bed! I do not want him in my rooms! I do not want him in my palace!”

The flames began to crawl towards the edge of the table and Dante reached out with his mind to the pitcher of water amidst the flames. He excited the liquid within and sent it out to quench the flames before they had an inferno on their hands. Silence fell over the room and he looked up into twin sets of astonished eyes.

“Sorry,\" he murmured, \"the fire . . .”

His words were cut off by a blood-curdling scream from the Emperor who fled past them and out the door. Dante stared after him in shock. He turned his attention to the general who cursed under his breath. “You don’t leave these rooms, do you understand?”

Dante nodded and watched as Dorjan passed through the open door and slammed it closed behind him.

**

“Shhh, my lord. It’s alright. It’s alright.”

Ardel sobbed against his guardian’s pale chest, curled up against his only source of comfort. “It’s not alright!” He sobbed, “What am I supposed to do? He’s right there and they want him to . . .” he choked into silence as his voice caught in his throat.

Kaze cradled him, stroking his hair soothingly. “Its alright. I’m here. I won’t let him touch you.”

“Promise?” Ardel asked, peering up through tear stained eyes.

Kazeghedghed softly, kissing the pale lips, their tongues twining together. The Emperor sank into his arms, limply allowing his guardian to use his body. Kaze rose over him, thrusting into the smaller man and drawing cries of pleasure and pain from the thin throat. He shoved the delicate face into the pillows, holding the struggling man down as took his pleasure from the fire warmed body. His grin turned feral as he claimed the god, marking him with his own seed and feeding off the power within him.

“You’re mine.” He hissed, placing a bite on the unconscious Emperor’s side. “I won’t let that creature take you from me. I\'m not done with you yet, after all.”

**

Dante frowned, peering up at the night sky when he heard the door to the Emperor’s room open. It was far too early in the morning for the Emperor to be wandering the halls. He pushed himself up and contemplated the situation when he heard the door open and close a second time. He slid out from under the heavy blue coverlet and padded around the pool.

At the doorway he gently lifted the curtain cloth, peering around. A fire burned brightly in the hearth and he had to bite back a hiss at the wave of heat that struck his face. How a person could sleep surrounded by such heat he didn’t know.

Dante started, staring at the sleeping form in the bed.

If the Emperor was in the room, who had just left it?

He crept forward, careful to keep from waking the sleeping man. The Emperor slept curled up on his side like a child. Dante peered over him, wondering at the peaceful face.

“And where have you been for all these hours, my lord?” He whispered softly to the sleeping form.

He tensed, ready to flee when the Emperor murmured in his sleep and stretched, kicking the covers off. Dante flushed as the Emperor unconsciously bared his naked form to him and turned to leave when a familiar scent reached his nose. He frowned deep and turned back to the sleeping Emperor, studying him with new eyes.

He knew that scent. It was the same scent he left Sibley with after a night of stolen passion. It was the same scent that permeated his brother’s room after a conquest had slipped away, giggling behind a pale hand.

It was the scent of sex.

But Dorjan had informed him that the Emperor had no lovers. They disposed of the ones he took to keep people from revealing the Emperor’s madness. Yet Dante couldn’t discount the smell. Nor could he discount the dark marks on the pale skin. With gentle fingers he brushed the worst of them, amazed at how hot it was. The Emperor arched and moaned in his sleep and Dante quickly slunk away.

He didn’t sleep at all that night as his thoughts ran circles through his head. They were still circling when a servant appeared that morning to ask what he wished for breakfast. He gave the man his order and asked to see Lord Dorjan. His breakfast came and a few hours later his second request was fulfilled.

The Emperor had awoken and fled to some other part of the palace as soon as he had realized that he was alone with Dante so the two of them sat at the table in the red bedroom. Dante asked a few questions about the role of the Leviathan and its history, questions which Dorjan answered for him dutifully. After about an hour Dorjan’s patience wore thin and he stood to leave.

“My lord, one more question.”

Dorjan sighed and turned to stare at him.

“Does anyone have complete access to this room? I mean other than the Emperor.”

Dorjan frowned and studied him. “Only myself and Kaze.”

Dante smiled and thanked him. He received another searching look but Dorjan finally shrugged his suspicion off and left, leaving Dante alone with his thoughts. He remembered how the Emperor had clung to the silver haired guard’s arm and smiled. If the Emperor wished to find release with his guard who was Dante to stop him?

Satisfied that he had solved the mystery Dante took himself back to his own room and decided to try out the gadgets that Errol had shown him that worked to fill and heat the pool.

**

The Emperor returned while Dante was drying in front of the fire and gave him a wide berth on his way to the large desk in the corner. Dante gave him what he hoped was a friendly smile but all it met was a suspicious glare. He shrugged and turned his attention to the man that had followed the Emperor in.

He had to admit, Kaze was pleasant to look at. He was a little muscled for Dante’s taste but then again Dante always preferred a more willowy frame on his lovers. Still, Dante could see what the Emperor saw in him. He imagined there weren’t many lovers available to the Emperor that would be both discreet and trustworthy. Apparently Kaze had proven to be both.

The guard was studying him silently and Dante shifted, slightly unnerved by the penetrating stare. He found himself getting suddenly annoyed by the superior air that hung around the man and before he could stop himself he turned and opened his mouth.

“Things get a little rough last night? You left quite a mark.”

He heard the Emperor’s gasp and had the satisfaction of seeing Kaze’s grey eyes widen in surprise.

Kaze studied him for a moment before he smiled softly and spoke. “Are you adjusting to your life as the Leviathan?”

Dante sighed and shrugged. “I am try . . .” He froze, suddenly away of the guard’s words.

Kaze wasn’t supposed to know about the Leviathan.

As far as Kaze was supposed to be concerned Dante was a pleasure slave gifted to the Emperor by a non-existent noble in Aquilae.

He whirled and was suddenly met with a blast of air that slammed him back into the ground. He gasped for breath, staring up at the silver haired guard in surprise. Kaze’s hair blew about him and he raised a hand only to send it down in a slashing motion. Dante cried out in pain as a wall of air struck him, knocking the breath from his lungs for a second time.

“Kaze?”

Dante looked up in time to see the Emperor come stumbling around the desk. He struggled to his feet and grasped the man’s wrist, hauling him back as another wall of air slammed into them. Dante flung the thin man behind him, shielding him with his body against the onslaught of wind. The silver haired guard snarled, slashing at him. Dante hissed as a line of blood appeared on his skin.

Kaze smirked and gestured towards the fire, the wind catching the flames and sending them roaring as the oxygen fed them. The air around them turned searing hot and Dante shuddered.

“My lord, you must put out the fire!” He growled, staring at the man behind him.

The Emperor stared at him with wide green eyes.

“Please! He’ll boil us alive if you don’t!” Dante begged.

Kaze laughed. “Correction, boy. I’ll boil you alive. I have other plans for the dear Emperor. I don\'t wish him to become a martyr to be used against my people, after all.”

“Why?” Ardel whispered, clinging to Dante’s arm. “Why are you doing this, Kaze? You said you loved me!”

Grey eyes narrowed. “Loved you? How could I love you? You’re a pathetic brat!”

“Then leave him alone. You don’t have to kill him, Kaze.” Dante urged, wishing beyond hope that there was some kind of water present but knowing that the Emperor’s ingrained fear prevented it.

“Ah I’m afraid I do. Once he is dead the Aidan line will be gone. I was hoping to eliminate him at a later date but I’m afraid you’ve forcedhandhands, Leviathan.

\"I\'ve already killed one, a second one dead so soon will raise questions I don\'t wish to answer. Better to kill you both and flee with my life. If he regains his sanity I’m sure he’ll see right through me. Once he is dead there are no others to pass the Dragon blood on to. Without the Aidans there will never be another strong Ardae to take over other lands. There will never be another family like mine!”

“Like yours?” Ardel asked softly.

Kaze smiled grimly. “Ah, didn’t I tell you about my family, Emperor? Well let me elucidate them to you. They used to be royals, like you. At least until your father decided to annex Ventae. The Ardae swarmed my country, tore down our palace, and slaughtered my family! It destroyed our records and convinced our nobles to rise up and declare us unfit to rule when they failed to conquer our nation! Now we are hunted like animals. We, who once slept on feather beds are now forced to hide in caves and sell ourselves like commoners. Rather like the Llyrs of your country, Leviathan. In fact you should be helping me!”

Dante grit his teeth. “No. I agree that Ardae should not have attacked our lands but it is not for us to take it out on a man who has done nothing to us! Ardel has never been fit to rule so how can we judge him? It is not fair.”

Kaze shrugged. “Why should we be the ones to die to protect the other countries? It is not fair but it is so. It took me years to get the protectorate of my kingdom to give me his power. It took me many more to learn to use it. I will not be stopped.”

Dante fell to his knees as the temperature spiked, sending flames to dance over their heads. He could barely hear due to the whirlwind of air blowing through the room. Smoke threatened his lungs and he coughed violently.

“Ardel . . . please.” He whispered, pulling the young man close. “I do not know what this man has told you but surely you can see that they were lies. I am not here to harm you but he certainly is. Please extinguish the flames!”

The Emperor trembled and suddenly all was dark.

**

Dante heard the door close behind him and latch. With a sigh he straighd hid his shoulders and took a few more steps into the room. Ashes crumbled under his sandals and he peered up at the charred remains of the ceiling.

Green eyes peered at him warily from the dark corner where the red haired Emperor had crammed himself. With his legs drawn up to his chest and his auburn hair coming free from the tie that held it bhe lhe looked more like a frightened child then the god-Emperor Dante had been raised on.

He smiled gently and approached the man, holding out his hand. He knew he\'d find him here after he had awoken to the shouts of guards looking for their missing Emperor. Ardel’s frail body trembled but a hesitant hand came up to take his. He drew the man into his arms and held him as the tremors gave way to shaking and tears stained the front of his robes.

“He said he loved me.” The Emperor whispered, clinging to him. “I believed him. I . . . I thought it was true.”

Dante rubbed his cheek against the red hair, just holding the sobbing man tightly. “I know. It’s not your fault. In the end you did everything right.”

When the sobs lessened he urged the man to his feet and led him to the bed. Ardel peered up him with frightened green eyes but he relaxed when all Dante did was climb up and just hold him.

“He . . . he said that you would hurt me.”

Dante tightened his arm, cradling the man beside him as he had done when Sibley had awoke from a vision, paralyzed with fear. “No, my lord,” he whispered, “I won’t hurt you. Ever.”

“He said you would take away my power.”

Dante shook his head. “No. I’m just supposed to calm the fire that burns within you.”

Ardel peered up at him curiously. “How?”

“I think you and I are supposed to . . . you know.” He whispered, blushing slightly.

“Oh,\" Ardel peered off in the distance as though weighing his options, \"I don’t think I could . . . with you. Not yet.” He finally replied.

Dante laughed quietly. “That’s fine with me. We’ll go as slow as you like.”

The Emperor fell silent for a few moments and Dante stroked the long hair back away from his face. Ardel smiled softly. “I like that.” Dan Dante repeated the motion over and over again until the man beside him relaxed and fell asleep. He lay quietly, holding the man he’d just met against him. The Emperor had been frantic after Kaze had attacked them. Once he had extinguished the flames Dante had flung himself at the startled man, dragging the guard to the floor until Dorjan and a fleet of guards had come bursting in.

Dante had been forced to hold Ardel back at Kaze’s execution and he had held him all that night while he cried himself ragged. The Emperor had clung to him like a child that had lost its way and he had allowed it. They both had been treated for burns and the scratches Dante had sustained but none of it had been life threatening.

After that night Dante had been surprised in the change of his master. Ardel still had attacks when he would shriek and set things aflame but they were becoming increasingly less common. They’d even managed to have more than a three word conversation. Dorjan had explained that the Leviathan’s very touch helped to cool the dragon’s blood.

Watching the sleeping man beside him, Dante was inclined to agree.

They still had a long way to go but Dante was beginning to look forward to discovering the man that existed just beyond the shattered child. Occasionally he would catch a glimpse of sharp intelligence in the bright green eyes and the smile that would play across the pale lips hinted at something more.

Dante smiled to himself.

He knew what he would do for his lord but now he knew what he would do for his land.

He would give it the Emperor it deserved.

And he would give that Emperor a chance to shine.

**

-The End-
Of Part 1