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They stepped into the elevator. There were a surprising amount of buttons for floors to access.
“What’s your name?”
“Eamerson, sire.”
“Jori Mountainside.” He held out his hand.
He hesitated but shook it.
The doors opened. They stepped into an ultra-modern room, all hard angles and gleaming surfaces. It was vast, feeling more so with the floor to ceiling windows lining the entirety of the far side.
It reminded him of the assembly room he’d been taken to, to stand trial before the queen. Its size was comparable, and it too had been surrounded by massive arched windows.
“Is this where the council meets?”
“Council, sire?”
“Council—you know, where people meet to make decisions?”
“There is no council. This is the king’s room to use for whatever he wished.” He moved toward the windows. His hand brushed the glass and a huge pane slid open. Fresh mountain air rushed in, and drew Jori out toward the open space. They were nestled into the side of the mountain overlooking a rolling valley carpeted with thick pines.
No council. A king in his high castle overlooking the world, his people beneath him in the bowels of the mountain.
The queen had her citadel overlooking her island. A queen that had ejected the entire male population. This felt different.
Where else could they have gone? Of course they would try to find their own kind. After centuries of forced enmity, it was no wonder their worlds had come to this.
The king preyed on the young men, trapping them in an endless cycle to feed his power.
He hadn’t meant to kill the king. He had just wanted to free his mother and Kymri from enslavement.
Kymri.
She had spent her life protecting her people from that very enslavement which he’d tried to save her from. She would have done anything to protect them. Anything.
He recalled the day she pulled a knife on him to secure the batteries of his equipment. She’d been prepared to kill him.
He had no doubt she had been prepared to do so again, had he submitted to the will of the king.
Luckily for him, things went a little differently.
Jori stepped out onto the large platform. Large enough for a dragon.
His chest rumbled.
Eamerson stepped back into the room with a short bow.
Jori stripped, dropping his clothes in a pile beside the open glass. Moving to the center of the platform he breathed deeply and closed his eyes searching.
Come on then.
His body tingled, his breath puffed and heart raced.
Opening his eyes, his vantage point was dizzyingly higher as he looked down at himself, nearly filling the enormous platform.
His chest rumbled again.
Finally free.
