“Captain! We’re being hailed!” shouted one of the bridge crew tracking the oncoming ships.
Leon watched in fascination, wanting to see just how the Ten Tribes communicated amongst themselves in times like these. His only naval experience had been during the Bull Kingdom’s campaign in the Serpentine Isles, and for the most part, they used visual signals, such as flags and flares. The Bull Kingdom did have comm stones, but only on their dreadnoughts, and there had only been two of those in the task force sent to the Serpentine Isles, and hundreds of other ships in the armada.
It seemed that the Ten Tribes, however, had a different solution, though it wasn’t quite obvious at first. Leon watched as the massive ship leading the task force moving to intercept them flashed a series of lights at them, and as their ship flashed lights of its own back, and for a short time, that was all they exchanged.
“Keep our distance!” Yun shouted at the rest of the bridge crew. “Keep weapons on standby and prepare to defend this ship! I want all warriors armed, armored, and in their deployment zones!” He then finally turned his attention to the crew member tracking their interceptors. “What are they saying?”
Alarms began sounding off throughout the ship as the crew member answered, “They demand that we halt and await further instructions!”
Yun glowered at the approaching ships. “Have our escorts spread out, no need to make us good targets if this turns violent…” His eyes turned toward Leon and he said, “Apologies for this, my King. This is unexpected, the Thunderer’s fleet is small compared to those commanded by the rest of the Tribes, and they never perform duties such as these.”
“Please, no need for formalities,” Leon said. “And let’s all calm down, shall we? Unless we’re assuming hostility?”
Yun grimaced. “We fly under the banner of the Jaguar Tribe. Even if we weren’t immune to inspections, it should be our own ships that would perform them! The Jaguar of the West himself has been defending this coastline for centuries with our fleet! That the Thunderer’s ships are here at all can’t mean anything good.”
Leon frowned slightly. The ships moving to intercept them outnumbered their own, and their lead ship was larger and more heavily armed than theirs. If things took a violent turn, he didn’t like the chances that the Jaguars were going to come out ahead of the Thunderer’s own.
‘I might need to take action,’ he thought with some distaste. It would bode quite ill if the first action he took upon reaching Kataigida was to kill a bunch of tribesmen.
The crewmember watching the oncoming task force shouted, “Looks like they're sending a vox bat!”
Leon cocked an eyebrow, wondering what a ‘vox bat’ was, but he didn’t have to wonder long as a giant bat nearly five feet tall and with a wingspan longer than he was tall landed on a rather inconspicuous metal bar just outside of a window of the bridge. It looked so at ease on that bar, perched like a bird rather than a bat, that Leon could only assume that allowing a perch for this bat was the reason for the bar’s presence.
Yun nodded to another crew member, who opened the window. Once he did, the bat’s eyes turned completely black, and it opened its mouth and began to speak as naturally as if it were human.
“This is Captain Jace, commander of Wave Cutter. Upon the authority of the Thunderer, no ship may access Raimondas without proper authorization. You are ordered to heave to and submit to an immediate inspection.”
For a moment, Leon thought that the bat was simply relaying a message, but realized there was more to it when Yun shouted back, “The Thunderer has no authority to interfere with a Tribe’s private business!”
Jace’s voice responded through the bat, “The safety and security of all of the Ten Tribes is precisely the Thunderer’s business. Heave to and prepare for inspection, else hostility will be assumed, and more decisive actions will be taken.”
The bridge was silent for a moment as Yun scowled, broken only when he slammed the window shut in the bat’s face. Leon tempered his curiosity about the bat and asked, his voice calm and steady, “Do you have some kind of protocol for this?”
“No,” Yun replied. “We have never been stopped at port before. Bringing you here was done under the utmost secrecy, the Thunderer shouldn’t have known you’d be here until we made the official announcement!”
“Well, so much for that,” Leon said. “Is there any reason not to submit to the inspection?”
Yun looked at him in disbelief. “The Thunderer does not have the authority to stop us! The Jaguar Tribe controls the sea on this side of Kataigida. Interfering with us upon the sea is a violation of our rights and responsibilities.”
“That can be useful,” Leon said.
“You are a threat to everything the Thunderer stands for,” Yun insisted. “You cannot be discovered until we are ready!”
Leon simply smiled and said, “Don’t worry about that. I wasn’t a fan of sneaking onto Kataigida, anyway. Here’s what I’m going to do…”
He quickly outlined a plan to Yun. They had only a few minutes to hash something out, so he kept it brief and simple, but when he was finished, Yun’s expression turned downright horrified.
“That is beyond dangerous! What if—”
“That is what I’m doing,” Leon interjected. “You want me to be King. I will not creep into these lands like a thief in the night. Now, if you’re true and want me to be your King, then follow my order.”
Yun looked like he desperately wanted to argue, but in the end, his expression slowly turned to one of determination. “Very well, Your Majesty. We will follow you.”
Leon smiled and nodded, and as he cast his gaze around the bridge, he saw some fear, but most of the bridge crew were steeling themselves for what was about to happen.
Without another word, he clapped Yun on the shoulder and left the bridge.
His party was waiting for him on the ship’s deck, looks of confusion on just about all of their faces.
“What’s going on, boss?” Alix called out as Leon walked over to them.
“The Thunderer,” Leon answered. “I’d wager he got word that I was on my way and posted some sentries to wait for us.”
“Mole?” Marcus wondered aloud as he stroked his chin in thought. “Did someone in the Jaguar Tribe leak this information?”
“Probably,” Leon replied with a shrug. “I don’t really care about it right now. I’m more concerned about a bunch of ships between me and my destination.”
“We’re not… killing them, are we?” Gaius asked.
“No,” Leon readily replied. “If anything, I’m glad they’re here. I could use the audience.”
“For what?” Gaius asked, sounding more than a little nervous.
Leon smiled and quickly outlined his plan.
“… and make sure that you’re flying under your own power, not using one of my flight belts. We want to make a scene, not attract hostile attention.”
“I think you’re going to attract that regardless,” Gaius observed.
“I’ll do it,” Red said, quieting Gaius just like that. Leon cocked an eyebrow and glanced at his wyvern retainer with some surprise.
“Just like that?” Leon asked.
“The humans here ought to know that their betters have arrived,” Red arrogantly stated. She then flashed Leon a smile and added, “If those who would rule over them didn’t remind them of the power they have over them, then what’s the point of even having that power?”
Leon felt compelled to push back a little bit against that idea, but Jace’s task force had come too close, now. The incoming task force was now slowing and turning to bring Jace’s ship up alongside Yun’s, undoubtedly to facilitate their ‘inspection’, which Leon thought was more than likely just a reason to hunt him down.
“Let’s get going,” Leon said, not wanting to wait another moment.
Most of his people began moving immediately. Red, Maia, and Anzu, in particular, rose into the air without a second of hesitation, Valeria, Anshu, and Alix only a moment behind them. Marcus and Alcander only hesitated long enough to exchange one look before they, too, took off into the sky, lifted by their elementless power. Gaius hesitated the longest, but even then, he only stayed on the deck for long enough to sigh and stare at Leon for a second or so before joining the others in the air.
Leon smiled, gave the incoming task force a dismissive look, and then followed the example of his party. He could see people on Jace’s ship noticing them, and he felt a spike in killing intent that could only have come from a group of warriors preparing to engage hostiles—it seemed that Jace’s crew believed that he and his people were about to attack them.
But no, Leon was resolute in his desire not to announce himself to the Ten Tribes by killing many of their kin.
Instead, as he lifted off, he found himself staring at Jace’s command tower. The walls were enchanted steel, not allowing him to see through, but there were sailors on the observation deck, along with a group of strong mages, led by one that was eighth-tier.
‘Captain Jace, I do believe,’ Leon thought as he shot into the sky.
He wasted not even a second and pulled his clothes into his soul realm. But he wasn’t swinging in the breeze for even a tenth of a second before his power entered his original transformation enchantment and his body practically exploded into the near-identical copy of the Thunderbird that he’d used for almost two decades at this point.
As he beat his wings, his magic power exploded outward from him, inundating the environment. Dark storm clouds grew from nothing until they filled the sky in but a moment, and the wind, rather pleasant when Leon lifted off from the deck, had picked up into a howling gale by the time he had wings and feathers.
The wind buffeted him, lifting him even higher, his people just behind him. Anzu and Red had taken their original forms as well and fell in beside him on his right and left. Maia transformed into a flying Serpentine water dragon and, along with Valeria, flew just behind him, while his other retainers spread out into a wide V-shape from her. Despite the sudden storm that Leon’s power conjured, the raging wind did nothing to get in their way, and as the clouds opened up with a torrential downpour, the rain parted around them as if it were actively avoiding them.
The killing intent that Leon felt from Jace’s ships grew more and more powerful, and as he glanced back down, he noticed that the Lances they had on their ships were powering up, most of them turning in his direction while the rest put Yun’s three ships in their sights. The sea was turning extremely choppy, but Jace’s ship remained steady, his six Lances just about ready to fire.
So, Leon reached into the sky and let his power resonate within the clouds. The sky was his domain, and he began to truly feel like a King as he felt the building charge above him. Before any of Jace’s ships could fire their deadly payloads, a dozen bright bolts of silver-blue lightning erupted from the clouds. Six raced downward only to arc back up into the clouds, while the remaining six all struck the sea around Jace’s ship, finally doing what the suddenly-rough seas couldn’t and rocking it hard enough to force its Lances off-target.
At the same time, the killing intent he could feel from the ships noticeably faltered, and only dropped further as more silver-blue lightning raged throughout the sky.
Leon paid Jace’s task force little more mind and led his people into the city of Raimondas.
Raimondas was one of the most important cities in Kataigida, having one of the island’s largest ports and shipyards, and being the capital of the Screaming Eagle Tribe. The Screaming Eagles quickly proved their name as Leon and his retainers entered their airspace, as three arks lifted off from various parts of the city and several hundred powerful mages followed suit, most taking to the skies with various flying war beasts, but a few of the stronger mages doing so under their own power.
Some of those mages were strong enough to give Leon pause, with three ninth-tier mages and more than a handful of eighth-tiers. He counted himself lucky that, as the silver-blue lightning of the Thunderbird flashed around him, apart from getting into a more defensive formation, no one moved against his people as they advanced upon the city.
His destination was a large gathering hall at the top of a hill not too far from the port. There was a large courtyard in front of the hall, and in the center of that courtyard stood a large totem pole, with the Screaming Eagle itself at the bottom, followed by the founding members of the Tribe ascending upward, and capped at the top with a carving of the Thunderbird herself. Though heavily stylized, Leon was gratified to see that her coloring had stayed true in its depiction, being painted brown and flecked with gold.
He proceeded over the city, with the Screaming Eagles moving to surround him and his people, but none daring to get too close as Leon’s silver-blue lightning continued to arc around him and his party. Not a single bolt fell upon the city itself, but each bolt instead wreathed itself around them, keeping them separate from everything else in the city and making it as obvious as it could be exactly from whom this lightning was coming.
One of the largest groups of strong mages had formed up over the city’s gathering hall, and while they were clearly prepared for a fight, they didn’t immediately respond with violence as Leon’s party came close.
Leon then had something of a choice. He was entering Kataigida as he wished to, announcing his presence as loudly as he could. But he didn’t want to antagonize the Screaming Eagles too much in this endeavor. He felt that if he wasn’t careful, if he acted too aggressively, then his entrance would do more harm than good.
So, as he approached the gathering hall, he beat his wings and slightly altered course. Instead of flying directly to the Tribal Totem as he’d originally intended on doing, he instead went on a wide circuit around the courtyard, his people at his wings and back.
As he flew, he stared at the man who seemed to be the leader of the powerful force around the courtyard, an aged figure that nonetheless radiated strength and power. He was one of the ninth-tier mages that Leon could sense in the air, and his deep brown eyes tracked Leon as he flew in his circle, never once wavering from him despite having an eighth-tier wyvern and a ninth-tier river nymph flying with him.
Leon tried to discern what was going through the man’s mind, but his chiseled features might as well have been literally chiseled from stone for all the insight they gave him into the man’s thinking. So, Leon did the only thing he felt he could do in this situation and stared right back.
He completed a circle of the courtyard but didn’t stop. He continued flying in his circle, not allowing a single hint of killing intent to spill from his body, his eyes locked on the ninth-tier Screaming Eagle, quickly completing another circuit, and then a third. In all, he circled the courtyard ten times before he altered course and finally flew over the courtyard.
None of the Screaming Eagles made to stop him as he flew in, alighting upon the image of the Thunderbird while his family and retainers all landed on the ground around the totem pole in a defensive circle.
The Screaming Eagles remained in the air, with those who’d taken to the skies around the city converging upon the courtyard. All three arks took up defensive positions some distance from the courtyard, keeping it in between them all. The other two ninth-tier Screaming Eagles, however, joined their comrade in the air, all hovering in front of Leon, though about a hundred feet distant. Hundreds of other Screaming Eagles then formed around the courtyard. At the same time, Leon noticed thousands more armed and armored Screaming Eagles rushing into the storm-wracked streets and fighting their way through the rain and the wind in the gathering hall’s direction.
While all three of the ninth-tier Screaming Eagles were generally impassive, not letting a single expression betray their inner thoughts, most of those around them were not so controlled. Leon reveled in the looks of shock and awe on their faces as he stood perched upon his Ancestor’s image, silver-blue lightning continuing to arc around him and even strike him directly, though doing nothing more than dancing about his form.
None of the Screaming Eagles made a move against him or his people, so Leon spared a moment to check in on Yun’s small fleet, and was gratified to see that Jace hadn’t fired upon any of Yun’s ships. Instead, Jace had increased his distance from Yun’s ships, though none of his Lances had powered down. Now, all of Yun and Jace’s ships were simply lingering at sea several miles from Raimondas, and he couldn’t help but think that they were more occupied with watching him than with continuing the ‘inspection’.
So, with a smile in his heart, Leon restrained his power, allowing the storm above to visibly dissipate. The rain ceased, the wind slowed, and the sea stilled. Even the near-constant lightning stopped, though the thunder it had brought still echoed throughout the city and its hinterland beyond. In a moment, the sky was clear, not a single storm cloud in sight, and Leon had returned to his human form, clothing himself in a moment as he stood upon the totem and stared back at the three ninth-tier Screaming Eagles.
He took a deep breath and roared, his voice backed by his ninth-tier strength so that it could be heard throughout the entire city, “I AM LEON RAIME, LAST DESCENDANT OF THE THUNDERBIRD, AND I HAVE COME TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF THE THUNDERBIRD CLAN!”
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