Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

145. Impossible Standards

"He has family, allies, disciples, slaves, familiars, elementals, enemies, and even worshippers. But no friends." Clera clarified.

"If Cal is throwing around a loaded word like that and is trying to make friends, then things just became that much more dire." Shayley fell backward in her chair and tilted her head to look at the stain glass window behind her. "Twelve days. We are going to be cutting it close." Shayley smiled wickedly and the image stuck with Ves'rigand.

The light streaming from the stained-glass window reflected off her red hair like fire. Those green cat eyes glowed softly. The red tattoos stretched over her finely-honed muscles and the freckles on an elf were defiantly exotic. Her lips parted to display her elongated incisors. Her outfit held the bearing of a queen without being a dress full of frills and finery. It was something a king might wear made for a woman. The collar was cut low, but the outfit was reinforced with cleverly practical armor. It was a mix of silver and white with green and turquoise embroidery. Tucked deep inside her hair were blue strands folded into her own. Every other elf in the room was elegantly dangerous, the monsters like the slime queen were tamed catastrophes, and the amount of power these people represented was staggering. But Shayley O'heira Van Dravenkin, the Queen of the most dangerous city ever imagined, held no deceptive qualities. Everything about her displayed the confidence of the true and dangerous predator. Not a tiger that had been housebroken into a passive kitten, but a dragoness on a roost.

"Let's go on an adventure." She grinned dangerously as if challenging fate itself.

*

"If I may be so bold..." Ves'rigand broke the silence.

"Please, any friend of Calloway's is a friend of mine." Shayley nodded her head from across the table while the sound of scrapping paperwork and hushed conversations filled the room.

"I don't know much about you, and the more I learn about this city the more I realize how much I will have to adjust but I have a concern." Ves'rigand steadied herself with a practiced nobility.

Shayley nodded.

"The Dravenkin. You are God Killers. Cal is a god. What sets him apart from your old gods?" Ves'rigand asked.

"An excellent question. It's simple in a number of ways." Shayley began. "You are what you eat." She stuck her pinky in her mouth and pulled it to show her fangs. "Elves are the children of the gods, dark elves pissed off the wrong sun god and were chased underground with a curse. High elves spent too long under the effects of powerful enchantments and are relegated to the residents of the City of Perils. Dravenkin, we were crafted."

"There are many dragons and divine dragons. The divine dragons of the dark forest were warlords who rallied armies against their brethren. Since the elves were only one step away from the gods, they were the perfect soldiers for a war against gods. We killed and feasted on the flesh of the dragonnewts, dragons, and divine dragons that we were aimed at. With every feast we changed little by little until we became the ultimate predators. Eyes that couldn't be deceived by their tricks. Strength to dominate enemies much greater in size. The agility to match flying monsters. And fangs that pierce scales and absorb a dragon's essence. Eventually, the only enemies the war gods had were each other. In preparation for that war they unlocked a certain magic unique to our race."

Shayley held up her arm to display the markings. "the manifestation of our souls might and the ability to wield it's unlimited potential. When they tried to split us up to fight each other to kill the other war gods we become aware of something they'd never displayed before. Fear. Not for each other, but for us. We challenged our leaders. We would fight our kin to the death if they were still strong enough to wield our power. They weren't." She put her arm down and held up her left hand to show off her engagement ring.