At last, Maekrux knew the truth. His grandson had failed in his quest to stop Maurger, and his student had been responsible for Ausixen’s capture. Maekrux was many things, but he was not powerless; thus, to feel so when his family was in danger was a burden and a blow to him. This, he thought, must have been how his family felt when he was captured. But their rash decisions killed him. His hasty decisions might do worse.
Maekrux had a plan. He had been preparing for such an event since he had regained his senses, and Ausixen began to grow angry, aloof, and prepare to ascend.
The first step was already complete: fool Maurger into believing he was a hermit, retired from all society, and uninterested in justice for crimes against him. Now that Maurger had eggs about to hatch, the time was right for the next step. Maekrux needed help.
He reached out and contacted an old friend. “Mm, Nyoko. How are you this day?”
“Well enough, a'na. This is surprising,” Nyoko replied.
“Oh? That I should speak to an old friend? Or that I should speak to anyone? It seems I am oft reclusive of late.”
She chuckled in her melodic manner. “Well, nieo have da been the only one. Iea am just surprised that nieo would come to Iea. Usually ien just happen to meet.”
“Mm, well… there are circumstances,” Maekrux admitted. “If you aren't busy, I'd love a visitor at my lonely valley.”
“Iea would be honored. Iea shall be there shortly.”
“I shall await your arrival on my terrace,” the blue phoenix said.
He climbed out of his lair and rested on the rocky overhang, surveying all of Harton Valley. It had grown so quiet there, with only a single gnome living in the valley below; Chioxin had passed, and the fate of the other lair was no better: left dormant, unwanted. In a way, it was fine by him; he liked to say all of Harton Valley was his. But it was lonely at times.
Maekrux looked up as his guest arrived. Nyoko drifted in and landed gracefully on the rock, fanning her wings before she folded them along her form. She gave a sort of hum as greeting and smiled. Maekrux stretched his wings and smiled back at her. “Ah, hello Nyoko. I must admit, I wish to ask something of you, but I wanted it to be here, at the privacy of my lair.”
“Ae is da a problem at all. Iea was merely watching k'iea aorban.”
Maekrux perked up at the mention of the children, and then looked downcast. He had failed as a father, and now his only waking family member was in the personal hell of a monster. “Well, the matter I ask of you is dire and requires some risk. You know my grandson, Ausixen. He went missing some time ago, more completely than he ever did when training. I had hoped that was all it was, but I learned quite a bit to the contrary...”
Nyoko frowned deeply. “Tell Iea? Iea know aeo was looking into k'aeo nieon. Iea take ae, something has happened.”
Maekrux nodded. “Ae has. Ausixen was tricked by Amalteah into going to Maurger's lair, and he was ambushed and captured. He suffered as I did... and he is he no longer. I cannot believe Amalteah would join him...” Had he failed as a teacher as well? A secret, self-hated part of him prayed to Drulkar he would not fail this time. “He is there, tending to the eggs that she and he laid. And, potentially, others.”
“Amalteah is Maurger's mate after all. Iea would da be surprised if aea joined aeo,” Nyoko said.
“She wasn't always,” Maekrux said before looking to the horizon a moment. “In any event. She is overseeing him now. He has Maurger within him, and so he cannot leave, but Amalteah has control of him through that.”
“D'na... So, Maurger has da changed...” She frowned as her earfins drooped, her eyes turned to her feet.
“If he has changed, Nyoko, he has gotten better at what he does.”
She shook her head before lifting it again. “How may Iea help?”
“I need someone to rescue my grandson. If I act directly, there are consequences. Not only will I become a target once more and potentially be prevented from playing my role in this tragedy, there is also what he stole from me when he killed me. A foreign power that he made a part of himself. All I was able to do was keep the key to it.”
Maekrux thought back on that power. When Maurger had killed him almost a year ago, he had taken latent energy from the Blue Phoenix's time as a living conduit of pure magic. Maurger’s power would be truly immense if he were able to wield it, but Maekrux’s soul had maintained the keystone of that power; without it, the black could not benefit from that energy. Should Maekrux attack directly and die, or be captured, or possibly even impact him in some errant way, the power would be unlocked. He was unsure who might stop Maurger then.
The exact detail of that power, however, he kept hidden. He always preferred to maintain the Prime Barrier, even if he himself had dissolved it. “However, I have a plan.”
Nyoko tilted her head. “Tell Iea. Iea will help however Iea can, though that may da be much.”
“I will pull Amalteah away in deep discussion. She was my student, and so we have much to talk about… while I am doing that, I need you to sneak into Maurger's lair in Sak'tal - the furthest in the back - and find Ausixen. My source tells me that he tends to hover at the entrance, the furthest he can get from the lair, so it should not be too hard to find him.”
Nyoko nodded slowly. “Iea see... Iea do wonder, by... Iea guess Iea shall call ae imprinting for lack of better word, onto k'aeo victims... if Maurger leaves a part of aeo Song behind...that should be easy enough to separate and cut out, returning Ausixen to normal...which would help in the escape.” Nyoko referred to the goo that Maurger used to control his victims, though she did not know it.
Of course, Maekrux had prepared for that as well. “When you find him, use this.” He handed her a charged exquisite orb. “It has a charge of primal energy. It may make Ausixen a little loopy, but it should disrupt the darkness within him long enough for him to escape to here and to be restrained. To cut it out would be very dangerous to both of you while you're there. Maurger knows what happens to that which he leaves behind.”
Nyoko furrowed her eyeridges. “Iea see. Do nieo know if Ausixen is any part of k'aeoself?”
Maekrux tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“Iea mean...how to explain this. Would Ausixen come with Iea of k'aeo free will, or is k'aeo will Maurger's? Will the orb be enough?”
Maekrux nodded. “Ah, I see. He would not come, unless you use that orb. His will is his own, but his body is not.” He lowered his head and tilted it slightly, tapping the base of his neck. “This is where Maurger controlled me. He prevents the mind from working, but it is not like the sorcerers of Tazoons or Kirascant. It is of the body, somehow. As long as that goo within is disrupted, he will be able to act as normal.”
Nyoko nodded. “So aeo will recognize that Iea come to help. That will make things easier then. A'na. Iea will do this. Nieo must take care too though. Amalteah... seems to be, well... what is the word... latched onto Maurger. Iea would da trust aea.”
Maekrux sighed at that topic. “A'na. Do not. I know she is not controlled like all the others before her. She has chosen her path of her own free will. She… loves him. But I shall take precautions that she does not trick me as she did Ausixen.”
“G'rei. Ien have lost enough g'rei Dragons, without having to lose another.”
Maekrux agreed. "With any luck, we shall get another back."
“With hope.”
Maekrux nodded and murred thoughtfully. “The only thing we can't be sure of is where Maurger will be in all of this. Take great care while you're doing this...” He paused a moment. No, it would not be enough to leave things to chance. He would have to risk the sister if the eggs were not enough to distract the black. So the time would have to be just right…
“Iea will. Besides, for all Maurger knows, perhaps Iea agree with aeo. Though Iea do find aeo ways twisted. Aeo harms the Song and Iea da like that at all,” Nyoko said while Maekrux was thinking.
“It may be best to wait until his brood has hatched. He will be distracted by his indoctrination of those hatchlings, and might miss you and Ausixen as you escape,” he said.
“Can ien wait that long though?” Nyoko asked.
“We have little recourse. When Maurger felt threatened in my lair, he killed me and the egg I had growing within me, and then escaped into the cracks in the wall.” Maekrux shuddered at the memory. “Maurger will not kill Ausixen... no, he would rather exploit him, I'm afraid.”
“Iea am da worried about aeo killing aeo...more like, doing more damage.” She furrowed her eyeridges. “Iea think aeo reach is further then ien think and if ien can free one... that at least is a step forward.” Nyoko had a point about the damage.
Maekrux, however, had recovered. He trusted his grandson would as well. “I am just cautious about acting in haste with Maurger. He acts erratically whenever he feels threatened. Even if he did birth a cache of eggs, those hatchlings-to-be should not be subject to death; I've no doubt he would kill them if he needed to, or felt he needed to.”
Maurger was a spiteful creature. He didn’t have to kill Maekrux before he was chased from the phoenix’s lair, but he did. Doubtless, he would kill his grandson and other hostages, even his own children, in the same way should he be directly confronted.
Maekrux was wrong, but he had no way of knowing that.
Nyoko frowned deeply. “So why da take the eggs as well? Iea da like to think of needless death.”
“From what I have been told, he is with them constantly. He wishes to be a good father - laughable, in a sinister way. There is no way we can hope to recover those eggs without Maurger being dead, and we have to do that away from those eggs, or he will use them to protect himself.”
Nyoko growled softly to herself. “But - to leave aen...”
Maekrux shook his head. “I understand... believe me, I do. But he will not harm them unless he is threatened. And I know that Amalteah took at least some nurturing instinct from her time as my student. It would be better to play Maurger's game against him.”
“Perhaps da harm aen in body... one thing at a time though. Ausixen first.”
“A’na. Once he is free and recovered, we shall make the next move.” He paused a moment. “I am sorry to ask this of you, Nyoko. It is dangerous and you have hatchlings to think of.”
Nyoko shook her head. “Iea have a responsibility, Maekrux elder. Iea am thinking about k'iea hatchlings in this. If Iea allow such things to continue, how can aen live safely in an already dangerous world. To da be able to trust anyone... Iea will da have aen live like that. Count Iea in, with anything nieo need help with.”
Maekrux thanked her, and the two discussed a time longer about the state of the two factions, growing suspicious of Valkoth and Semeneth, and what Maurger might have done. Eventually, Nyoko left and Maekrux returned to being a hermit. Now, he would have to wait. Again, he gave a silent prayer to Drulkar that his grandson would be freed without losing the fire in his soul.