A little over a month had passed and Buckie still would not tell Saphaer what he wanted to know, but the fae king was fine with this. After all, he was patient. Saphaer wasn't quite sure where this sudden mercilessness had come from, but it would serve him well.
Saphaer was coming up from the dungeons when one of the servants ran over to him.
"Sir! Your sister, Saurena, has been reported to be acting strange. She recently attacked one of the other Lords." The servant stared at Saphaer with wide eyes. "The guards have detained her and carried her to the throne room. They're awaiting her judgement."
Saphaer frowned. "I've been expecting an attack on someone for a while now. What do you mean by strange?"
"She speaks of dragons and power." The servant trembled. "She says that the old Fae traditions are false. King Saphaer, she spouts lies."
"That's not possible." Saphaer said, his eyes wide. "Fae can't lie."
"That's what everyone said." The servant said, her eyes big and horrified. Saphaer began walking over to the throne room. "Alert my council, bring them to the room. This is serious, and if my sister can lie, then something has happened to the Faerie Tree."
The Faerie Tree was a large tree in the center of the Fae Kingdom, and it was the thing that bound fae to deals and prevented them from lying. Fae could make deals without the magic, but they could lie their way in or out of the deals without the Faerie Tree's bindings. Saphaer feared what some fae would do with the opportunity.
Not long after the news, Saphaer received his answer. Olverson, his general, walked up to him. "Sir, the Faerie Tree was attacked and uprooted. Our soldiers attempted to save the tree, but all that could be salvaged was this." He handed Saphaer a small, round, pink seed. Saphaer stared dumbly at it for a few moments. "Who attacked?"
Olverson's gaze darkened. "Sir, you will think me crazy, but it was the dragons. They've struck again."
"Of course." Saphaer hissed. "They're hitting our weak points. Send more guards to watch the skies. Don't attack unless you think they will."
Olverson nodded and ran off, and Saphaer rushed to the throne room, where Saurena sat. Her gaze was filled with anger and she struggled against the guards, shouting, "Curse you! Curse all of you, and may the dragons take you and strike you dead!"
"Sister, stop this nonsense." Saphaer sat down. "You've turned against one of your own, and you have to be rightly punished.
Saphaer studied Saurena, feeling a sense of dread. Tendrils of black ran down the side of her face like spiderwebs, and the color was mirrored on her antlers; usually a bright shade of green, black was now creeping up in tendrils, making her antlers darken in color.
Black was a magicless color, the color that often represented mages and their horrid curses. Saphaer let out a quiet, inaudible hiss. Fae's antlers couldn't be black; it was the one color that was impossible. And that meant...
"Have you been dealing with mages, Saurena?" Saphaer looked her up and down again. Her green robes were tattered and her eyes, the same color as her antlers, shone with anger. "It seems as if it hasn't done you well."
"I've met with the dragons," Saurena hissed, "I've told them to kill you all. I've told them of how you've grown soft. They have mages with them, they will destroy all of you! You disgrace fae in whole."
Saphaer tried not to wince at his sister's betrayal. This was a hard blow to his apology plans and it could ruin them altogether. Saphaer clenched his fists and looked at the guards. "Take her to the dungeons. Give her food once a month and no more. Give her water every two weeks. Make her crack, and then I will see her."
There were a chorus of screams as Saurena managed to break free and drew a sword, stabbing through one of the guards and piercing his armor. The black crawled further up Saurena's antlers and her gaze flared with triumph. Saphaer got to his feet and drew his own sword, but he was rushed away by his own personal guards. He managed to see over his shoulder as Saurena began to slaughter his men, and eventually they managed to get her under control. In a fit of rage and desperation, his sister bit one of the guards, making him hiss in pain and recoil.
Saphaer's heart skipped a beat as he got a glance of the bite wound; it was black and swollen. Once the King finally got away from the chaos, he turned to the guards. "Send her to the dungeons and quarantine anyone who was injured in the fight. Something is terrible wrong."
Saphaer watched the guards run off, panic filling the castle for the first time since the fire.
++++
Another month had passed and Saphaer had no luck with Buckie. He'd made the right call with the guards; the one who's been bit and one other came down with the same symptoms. Meanwhile, Saurena had succumbed to whatever disease had befallen her and gone completely feral; almost as if she were insane. She spoke more of dragons and tried to snap at anyone who came near her. Saphaer had posted guards by her cell and told the guards to quarantine anyone who got bit.
Outbreaks such as Saurena's were blossoming all over the kingdom and Saphaer was considering giving up when it came to fighting this strange disease. It had been nicknamed The Blight and the infected-the Blighted-fae could lie. Saphaer sighed and slouched in his throne, studying the splotch of black blood that stained the carpet. He'd been taking it away, but it was going to take a while.
He frowned as the steward came in, trembling. "Sir-"
"Saphaer!" The steward was throne aside as a man burst into the room. Dark brown horns curled upwards from his lighter brown hair and he had red eyes than shone in the light. His armor shone with the familiar gleam of dragonscale and the sword in his hand was clearly forged of dragonfire. He had a feral grin that Saphaer simply couldn't forget.
The guards began making moves to strike but Saphaer held up a hand to stop them. "Naireth. I heard that you were back."
Naireth, King of The Dragons-also known as Fury the Merciless-Had been great friends with his dad, at least before the betrayal. Saphaer suppressed a shudder as he thought about how he's wreathed the castle in flame not long ago.
"Still young, I see!" Naireth ignored his question and met his gaze. "Brilliant! I see that you're still unwed. Are you not lonely?"
"I've courted before, thank you. After her I'm not sure I could take another." Saphaer's mind traveled back to when he was far, far younger and in love.
Naireth bellowed a laugh. "What, did she break your heart?"
"My father broke my heart and he took her's." Saphaer said in a monotone voice, meeting Naireth's gaze. A little part of him died as he remembered his father's reaction, how he'd shot forwards from his chair, how his fist had plunged into his lover's chest and ripped her heart out. Saphaer remembered his sorrow, he remembered weeping for hours, having to eb dragged back to his room and not leaving for two weeks.
"Apologies." Naireth rose his hands and tipped his chin down. "I hear you've been encountering troubles."
"I hear you're behind them." Saphaer countered. Naireth laughed. "My friends and I have been causing a bit of trouble, but trust me, Saphaer, I come for peace."
"I had hoped." Saphaer wanted to deflate with relief right then and there, but he had to stay serious. "Are you proposing an alliance?"
"Smart and quick to catch on, as always." Naireth gave a toothy grin. "Yes, I am proposing an alliance. You stay by our side, and we will not destroy you. Besides..." His smile faded. "I have some words to exchange with your father."
"I'll send for him." Saphaer met one of the servant's eyes and Naireth looked surprised. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't have prepared my convincing speech on the way here? I will admit, you are a lot colder than Saurena gave you credit for." He flicked a wrist. "I heard that you've survived a murder attempt?"
"From an insolent boy with no wits." Saphaer said boredly.
"First time?" Naireth bellowed a loud laugh again. It rang through the throne room. "What're you doing with him?"
"I will break him." Saphaer said, "I will destroy his being. Perhaps I will send him to the torture chambers for a week. And then I will let him go."
"But why?" Naireth blinked. "Don't you want to kill him?"
"I will cause him more pain to live with the trauma of what he's endured than to die, even if it is a long and painful death." Saphaer met Naireth's gaze. "You can repair one's body, but never one's mind."
"I like you." Naireth nodded in approval. "Perhaps I'll take that as my own, if you don't mind."
Saphaer waved a hand dismissively. "I care not."
"Brilliant." Naireth grinned. "Well, I must go, I have things to do and villages to burn. But trust me, Saphaer, I will keep your alliance close to me."
"Keep your friends close and enemies closer." Saphaer said. "Trust me, Naireth, e are on your side."
The dragon's face became grave. "I'm not sure if I can believe than, I know you understand."
"I do." Saphaer nodded and watched the Dragon King leave.