“So, are we going in with equal terms for this meeting?” Silas asked.

“Not exactly,” the prophet answered. “Although Elisha tried to organise one in such terms, it appears the drakkar insist on believing we have requested an audience from them.”

“Don’t tell me they refuse to budge from Representative Democracy then.”

“I believe that is the case,” the prophet replied. “However, we will know for certain there. Aside from that, we can also meet the stingtail Sovereigns in the area, so it will not be a wasted visit either way.”

“I say we just do what Dom here says,” Aengus said, patting the Black Knight on the shoulder, “kill the dragons, and then they’ll be a lot easier to convince.”

Ajit shrugged. “It’s not a bad idea, but I would be cautious about attacking them. We’d definitely lose some people if we tried it.”

“Ye think?” Aengus asked with a crinkled brow.

“I’ve seen them before. Let’s just say it wasn’t by luck that Svobald was the first of everyone here to ascend.”

The Master of War considered it, then huffed. “Oh well, let’s just get this meeting over with then.”

And it was so that Silas, Ajit, Aengus, and the prophet entered Riverside’s teleporter, heading for Lisa’s Homestead. After them came Dom and Mia, for support, and Bobby and Hokul, as unwilling companions. Arriving in a matter of seconds, they swiftly crossed the quarter-mile to the village proper and went to Elisha’s house. The villagers on the street shrunk away from their group as their combined aura was enough to bring physical discomfort to passersby.

As they arrived at the aged cottage, they saw Vivienne was already there with Mirza, her baby dragon, and a giant floating eye. When Silas saw this, he pointed at it with a raised eyebrow. “That’s not…”

“It’s not Zitu,” she said, gesturing at the floating eye to come closer. “They’re the same species, but Oscar here is weaker and a lot better behaved.”

“Huh, do you know where Zitu is?” Silas asked the prophet.

“I am not certain, but I believe Zitu is currently with Fayiure, the phoniex. It would appear their quick friendship from before lasted into Idroa.”

Elisha stepped out of her home then, regarding everyone there with a brief nod. “Alright, let’s go. We’re meeting in no-man’s-land, so we won’t have to worry about being ambushed or anything. Just keep it peaceful, and they won’t turn to violence either.”

Ajit smirked at the comment but left his comment unsaid.

As before, the group moved rapidly, reaching their destination in about ten minutes. Silas scanned their surroundings but found nothing unusual worth worrying over. It was simply a dry field with soil which crunched under their feet and long patches of wilted yellow grass. Of course, the drakkar could just suddenly appear here through portals, but Silas knew from Ajit and Mia that portals were ridiculously difficult to form, let alone stabilise for use. This meant perhaps only a handful of people on Idroa could use it, Ajit and Karaes being the only two which Silas knew of personally. In addition to this, you could only bring a severely limited number of people through them, so there was no chance that the Magi could suddenly make a portal to send a drakkar army here.

Fortunately, it became apparent some minutes later that the drakkar had no interest in ambushing them in the first place as their entourage came in clear view from the distance. There were a score of Titans averaging twelve feet, jogging to meet the humans. The four Titans in the centre held a massive litter on their shoulders. The litter was enclosed and roughly the same size as a small hall, its outside decorated with red scales and marble pillars and foggy windows. It was clear that the Magi were in there.

“They’re really not taking any chances, are they?” Vivienne commented on the sight, smirking.

Silas recalled back to his experiences with the drakkar. Back when he had fought to free Chloe, a single Magi had summoned all the others through scrying circles, but he had the feeling now that their entire circle was in the litter. If he was to guess why they had brought all their strongest troops, it would have to be that they feared the humans would attack if they brought any less. Glancing around, he didn’t have to guess who these worrisome humans were either.

“Should we not do something?” Dom said in a severe tone. “They massively outnumber us.”

Vivienne batted one hand dismissively while the other scratched at Mirza’s head. “Given who we have here, we’ll be fine. If anything, they should have brought more if they wanted to match us in power.”

It was only when she said this that Silas realised something that immediately put him on edge. It wasn’t her words but rather the sight of Mirza which reminded him of how eager the drakkar had been in trying to take away the baby dragon from Vivienne. By the fact that the Beast Master had brought the dragon here, she was practically taunting the drakkar, egging them on into launching an attack. Vivienne caught him gawking and offered a wink for all the trouble she was about to cause.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it since the drakkar were here now, many of the Titans openly glaring at Mirza and Vivienne. Silas took a quick reading of their auras and found the three Sovereigns - Dying Light, Folding Winds, and Broken Scale - who were the three biggest and meanest looking ones, particularly Dying Light who, unlike his peers with dark and matt scales, had snow-white ones. Although Silas knew lightened scales were a sign of age amongst the drakkar, he didn’t think age had weakened Dying Light whatsoever.

The score of Titans stopped as one, and the central four gently lowered the massive litter. A few seconds after it touched down, its walls split apart and slowly swung to the ground, revealing the circle of Magi inside. Rather than the 25 Magi he remembered, there were only 19 inside, of which he only recognised Haurun. Their litter was sparsely furnished, but Silas immediately noticed its primary purpose wasn’t transport or comfort but rather defence from its comically thick mana barrier. As Vivienne had said, it seemed the drakkar really weren’t taking any chances.

“We are told you desire an audience, humans,” shouted out a Magi. From its strong aquatic aura, this had to be Klope of Rain.

“That’s correct,” Elisha said with a bob. She waved at those behind her, “My companions and I would like to discuss Idroa’s ruling method.”

There was a pause before Klope spoke again. “Elisha, out of respect for you, I will tell you straight that we will not move from Representative Democracy. Svobald and Miurl are the peak of existence, and as such it can only be them who rule over the rest of us lesser species. While you may try to resist, it will all be futile in the end.”

Remembering back to what Josh had said, Silas called Klope out. “Svobald is literally called the Scourge. What do you think he’s going to do when he gets into power?”

“Such decisions are not ours to consider,” Klope answered. “If he so wishes to destroy the world, then we will know that he has good reason for doing so. Not only their bodies but also their minds are well above ours, so much so that it is pointless for us to try to understand their actions with our limited brains.”

“That’s funny. Ye said ye thought they were as dumb as rocks back then,” Aengus casually said to Ajit. “Butting heads like rutting deer, weren’t it?” Aengus’s carrying voice made sure that, although the comment was only intended for the Warlock, everyone else heard it too.

The drakkar looked scandalised, gaping at the Master of War as if disbelieving what he had just said.

Ajit shrugged. “Well, now that I look back, I think that Miurl was actually female. Maybe they had a nasty breakup or something.” Then, seeing all the drakkar venomously glaring at him, he grinned. “But yeah, I maintain my comment. Dumb fucking animals. I mean, you gotta be a special type of stupid to think there’s anything remarkable about them.”

“You!” yelled out a Titan, likely Broken Scale. “I’ll stuff those words down your throat.” His voice was on the verge of breaking into insanity.

This only seemed to further amuse the two man-giants, whereas the other humans took on a range of emotions from shame to horror at their companions’ actions. The exception to this was Vivienne who stuck her tongue out at the drakkar, clearly enjoying herself as she sat on Mirza’s back.

“Will you now?” Ajit asked. “So tell me again why your old bastards came in a lockbox? It’s almost like they’re frightened for their lives here.”

Before Broken Scale launched himself forward in fury, Dying Light intervened by catching his fellow Titan by the shoulder and yanking him back. “You are unsightly provocateurs,” the Titan said, his facial scales shifting into an expression of disgust. “Elisha, you would do better than to keep such company.”

“So you’re not going to budge on this Representative Democracy of yours, no matter what?” Silas asked before things devolved any further.

This time, it was a different Magi who answered, seemingly the most powerful of the circle. “Certainly not,” Baerl of Time said. “With time, you will see the errors of your way and join us, if you survive up to then.”

Aengus lifted his greatsword, but Silas raised a hand to stop him. While Silas was confident they would win, he was also certain some of them would die in case of a fight, and being the weakest here, Mia was likely to be the first to fall. It made far more sense to wipe out the drakkar in the future with several armies equipped with guns.

“Well, we’ve got other appointments to keep, so we’ll be leaving now. You’ll know where to contact us in the future when finally use your brains and change your minds,” Silas said.

The departure was tense, but neither party started conflict, although they were several who looked eager to initiate it. The whole thing left Silas in a sour mood, and so he hoped the stingtails would be far more willing to cooperate, for his benefit and theirs.

****

Freddie gazed across the canyon, his lips curling up as he spotted Svobald and Miurl. It had only been a day since he had butchered Shrjkle, and today he had sensed, to his surprise, that the two dragons had abruptly flown nearby Newford. He had climbed up the canyon with his army expecting to see a bloodbath, but what he saw instead put him in good humour.

Miurl was lying on the ground, and Svobald was atop her, straddling her as best a dragon could do. Although there were fierce expressions on their faces, it was not the fierce that one would see in combat. Neither of the dragons took notice of the approaching army of humans.

“I thought you two wanted to tear each other’s guts out,” Freddie shouted, swinging an arm in a circle with the other supporting it, preparing. “But it looks like you would much rather fuck each other to death.” The pebbles under his feet crumbled under his force as he neared. The bronzen rock of the canyon looked magnificent under the setting sun.

Finally, Miurl glanced over and frowned at the human. When Svobald continued to hump away at her, she cast her head back and knocked the dark green dragon on the chin. Scourge responded with a deep groan which rumbled through the canyon. He glared about, before finally settling on Freddie, who was bite-sized compared to him.

“Same as before,” Freddie shouted to his men and women. They looked terrified at the beasts ahead of them. “Just clean up after me. Shoot through their wings if they try to esca—”

His sentence was cut short as Miurl’s paw came down on him, its looming shadow rapidly focusing in on his position. The Dreadnought grinned at the challenge and leapt directly into it, pulling his arm back for a knock-out punch.

Dragon met human, and the crashing boom which followed left no doubt of who had won. Freddie was embedded in the shattered rock floor. Although outwardly uninjured, he clutched his head in pain, the blurry blue sky spinning circles over him. He struggled onto his feet and almost tripped over himself when Miurl helped him up, hooking him under the armpit with a single claw. It should have sliced right through his arm, but instead it only left a surface wound on the Dreadnought.

Miurl flicked up and sent Freddie soaring, the human swinging wildly as he realised several seconds late that he was off the ground and flying. It appeared he would smash into something dark green and massive, so he prepared for impact, pulling his body closer together. Then the dark green opened up into something red and white and reeking.

Freddie’s thoughts could hardly follow on with what was happening to him when suddenly a particularly intense strand of pain traced into his head. It was all dark around him as he kept balled up, the darkness regularly opening to light before closing up again. The strands of pain started to come from all across his body as he was thrown about by something wet and muscular into hard, gnashing boulders. Finally, his bones began to give, small cracks in their lengths deepening with each gnash until they split entirely.

****

Flicking the human to the left of his mouth with his tongue, Svobald chewed until the flesh was mushy and tender, at which point he swallowed. Miurl bucked at him from below, throwing him off her body. In irritation, he looked from her to the humans who were now running en masse. Growling, he took a brief run-up before jumping into flight, the claps of his wings echoing through the canyon. There was no way he was going to let these humans live after interrupting him like that.

Svobald the Scourge (dragon), has killed Freddie Littlewood (human), the Dreadnought

38 Sovereigns remaining.