"You brought us the problem, and now we will deal with it our own way! You have no place to tell us what we can and cannot do!" Lectar, Military Catfish Councilman of the Sky Folk High Council, shouted back from his place across the table.

The women had been shown the massive crater left in the ground from the first test launch, and it was horrifying to all of them. Serria was trying to keep the woman calm, but not even her touch seemed to be able to calm Miasma down.

​​

She could see all the lives that had been destroyed from this. Miasma knew that it would even be worse for all the Goblins.

The fact that these people were ready to use something like this was sickening. The idea that the Sky Folk would rather use this then go in and take care of the problem made her nauseas.

"So you are ready to wipe an entire tribe of Goblins off the map, and you are not concerned what King Growd will do?" Miasma countered, but this made all the Council members at the tables that surrounded them burst out in laughter.

"You think we care about the Goblin King? They are worthless land-bound creatures! We are the Sky Folk of the Higher Realm! There is nothing that we fear; no creatures of the lower Realm can harm us! You all are the ones required to pay homage to the great God of Kadeon, Hilda!" Sky Shark yelled back after the laughter stopped.

Miasma was pulled back down to her seat by Messia, but all the girls knew that Hilda was not actually up watching over Kadeon.

"Just let them finish, and then we will go talk with Gamble. Miku and Rixie went with the others, so we need to figure out what we are going to do about this! Arguing with them is going to get us nowhere," Messia whispered, leaning into Miasma as she pulled her down.

Miasma looked at her with a defiant look, but Messia returned the look just as fiercely, and Miasma relented with a sigh.

"What else do you want from us while we are here, and when do we get to meet with Echidna? There must be a limit to which you can hold us, considering that you made a direct attack on our Queen. So, how long is that?" Messia asked as she stood to take Miasma's place as the center of attention.

"You will be meeting with Queen Echidna in four days' time. We can not allow you to leave before then because it is clear that you would try to interfere. As for what we need from you, nothing. You are still our prisoners, and there is nothing other than what Brand has asked," Gretchen, the head councilor said, and dismissed the women.

The four got up and then turned to Riza, Joni, Leah, Fen, and the four other Rock Trolls.

Riza had refused to sit with the women, or she would have had to take the lead. Raine also had refused to even come on the trip, using her birthing duties as an excuse.

"Let's go. We have to go find Gamble," Messia said as she motioned for the guards to move ahead.

[Ashia's View]

I awoke, but I didn't want to get up. Helaina was still cuddled into my back, and Atom's fur was so warm and inviting, but every second wasted was a second that I needed.

I shifted, and I could feel Helaina starting to move behind me, so I got up and rubbed my eyes. The Cat Dragons all got up and stretched out, but then all three shrank simultaneously and then flapped up to me.

Atom flew into my chest, and then the other two landed on my shoulder and got comfortable after I stood up. I reached down and gave Helaina a hand up after she had done a couple stretches and rubbed her own eyes.

"Ready to go?" I asked, and she nodded at me with a cute sleepy smile, then I leaned in to kiss her.

It was meant to be a short kiss, but our tongues touched, and I was pulled into a deep kiss. Eight arms moved around our two bodies, and it was Helaina that pulled away finally.

If left to me, I might want to spend a bit of time here before leaving, but all of that could be done in the comfort of my home when we get back there. For now, I needed to get to Rai Cait and get his help if he would give it, but I was pretty good at Godspeak, so I wasn't overly concerned about that.

The biggest concern would be taking the Vampires all with us.

I didn't want to leave them even if I got the Genes. No one should be forced to stay underground in the dark, and I was sure that there would be many invaluable people among the group that was down here.

I was confident that taking him on as my subject would help Bill, but I was also going to give him a dose of BeeBliss. The combination should be more than enough, but I would have to think of a possible backup plan.

I took Helaina's hand, and the two of us walked outside the area we rested in. Maurice and Hamble were both out there waiting for us like they had promised.

The two of them gave me a bright smile, and I nodded to them.

"Thank you both for watching over us, but I am going to have to ask you to stay behind. I can not take you with me to where we need to go," I said, and both men looked worried.

"You heard what Kilaida the Ravager said, right? We can't stop you, but I think you should rethink your choice," Maurice and Helaina chuckled.

"The Queen has made her choice. It would be easier to convince the wind not to blow than try to change her mind," Helaina said, and I resisted an eye roll because I knew that she was right.