The Provincial Dragon

Chapter 1: Honey, did you invite someone to breakfast?

The Dragon cracked open a knight’s shell and swallowed the contents. “I need more protection he muttered.” He utilized his magical energies and healed some of his wounds.

In rushed one of his junior clerics. “Are you alright, my lord dragon?”

The dragon looked at the spear impaling his former head cleric and turned to the junior cleric. He noticed the lizardfolk had his arm over the stump of his missing arm.

“Come closer.” The Dragon said.

The lizardfok, obviously a little frightened, stepped closer and let the dragon place a claw upon his chest. The dragon let his magical energies flow into the cleric and healed some of the cleric’s wounds. “You will be my new head cleric now, Jozque. It is going to take a little more time to heal your missing arm, for now all I can do is give you a little one to work with.”

“Yes, my lord dragon, thank-you.” The cleric said, marveling that a new, abet weaker, arm had grown out of the stump of his old arm.

“Assemble our followers and we will see who has survived.” The dragon responded.

The cleric turned to leave, and the dragon continued: “Since, you are my head cleric now you may call me Sidarthiamal, when we are in private.”

“Thank-you my lord dragon, for the new arm and for showing your trust in me. I mean…” He looked around, “thank-you Sidarthiamal.” He left the room.

The dragon stirred off of his bed pushed the fallen to the side sorting the human from the lizardfolk. He then left his den and moved to the main cavern. There the lizardfolk were gathering all the bodies of the lizardfolk. The dragon’s eyes glowed and he used his magic sight to sort the dead from the dying. He then touched each of the more heavily wounded and let some of his magical energies flow into them. A few stirred. The dragon announced; “These will live, unfortunately I cannot do the same for the others.” As he pushed the dead lizardfolk of the side. He pushed them into a side chamber and sealed the entrance with a heavy rock he moved into place.

“My people thank-you for healing us, my lord dragon.” The new head cleric said.

“I didn’t heal them, I merely speed up their life processes, so they could heal themselves. That means when they wake up they will be very hungry. Feed off the humans for now. I will go out to fetch some game for our use.”

The head cleric cleared his throat; “Excuse me, my lord dragon, but isn’t that against your teachings? You told us that feeding on the humans would only bring doom upon us.”

“That is true, but that event has come to pass, with the humans invading our home. I am going to seek revenge on those who wronged us. For now, feast and treat your wounded. Stay safe and recover, I will be gone for a little while.” With that the dragon headed toward the entrance to his lair. He stopped short and moved a large rock aside pulling out a bow and quiver of arrows from a hidden spot. He returned the rock to it place and transformed into his human form. He walked close to the wall of his lair and quietly moved toward the entrance.

He looked back fondly at the memory of the bard who had taught him the value of the bow and arrow and he honestly enjoyed hunting with it.

He chided himself; “I need to worry about the present and the problems before me.” He continued toward the exit of his den and had a thought; “Surely, there is someone else out there.”

He stopped short of the entrance and called out, in a loud whisper; “Is it safe?” He heard nothing and called out again in a slightly louder voice; “Is it safe?”

“What do you mean is it safe? You are supposed to tell us! What happened to the dragon and the knights?”

“Dead, I think. I was knocked out in the fight.”

“Have you seen his treasure?”

“it remains undisturbed.”

Three figures came out from behind some bushes and advanced toward the entrance to the dragon’s lair. Greed flashed in their eyes.

The dragon pulled out his bow, cocked it and quickly fired off two shots, hitting two of the peasants in the eye. They dropped instantly.

The dragon dropped the bow and quiver, shifted into his natural form, and charged out of his lair. He reached for the remaining peasant and grabbed him. “So, Stephen, were my taxes too heavy on you? Is that why you betrayed me?”

The peasant, Stephen, shivered. The tried to respond, but the dragon’s grip grew tighter. So tight he was unable to speak.

“My treasure is undisturbed, and it will remain untouched by the likes of you.” With that he crushed Stephen and swallowed him whole. He stepped forward and devoured the other two peasants. All his use of magical energies today had made him hungry, these three would put a small dent in his appetite, but he knew that he could wait until later to satisfy his belly. The peasants had tasted terrible, men who toiled in battle or worked in the field all day had little fat and fat has the flavor.

“Ugh, he undoubtable had fleas, but they will perish in the fires of my belly.” The anger of the dragon rose in visible waves of heat from his back. He mastered his rage and shifted back into his human form. He recovered his dropped bow and arrows and preceded on his mission.

Sidarthiamal went out into the woods hunting for moose or elk. It was a crisp clear early morning, so he still had a good chance to find one. He again recalled how the bard Imathax had taught him the importance of ranged weapons and he enjoyed the feeling as he drew back his bow and took aim. Then the familiar slap against his arm as the bow string sprang back into shape after his shot. He had purchased a magical bow years ago and enjoyed hunting with it. The dragon moved through the woods stealthily searching for his prey. It wasn’t long before he came across a male elk, he could tell by the rack of horns it carried and his vision was sharp enough to recognize the elk’s genitals. He dispatched it quickly, marked its location and set off to find another. He was able to find another elk, a female he thought, downed it, shifted into his natural from and threw the elk on his back. He returned to where he had dropped the first elk and too kit upon his back as well. He then returned to lair and dropped off the elk with Jozque. He went out in his natural form seeking more prey and headed to the north of his claimed lands. Here snow drifts piled up and the flora and fauna changed to less temperate and more subarctic. He entered the pine forest, hunted around its edges and found a moose, which he quickly downed. “That would have to satisfy me for now.” He ate the moose and moved out of the forest and took flight. Flying high into the sky. It was afternoon now and he had a bit of a flight before he reached the town, that had proved to be the source of his trouble.

Sidarthiamal flew over the town of Barthmal, so high that he seemed like a bird. Of course, his vision was strong enough to see clearly, what lay below. He circled the town, taking note of what and who lay below. He watched the town for a while. Little had changed since he had previously visited, both as a human and as a dragon, although he was careful not to show up as a dragon very often. He waited until nightfall when the town started to turn in for the night. The local tavern still had its lights lit, and a few buildings were lit, including the city center and the church.

The dragon dived and landed on top of the church, he scratched off some of the slate tiles, exposing the wooden beams. He then breathed on the beams and took to the wing, before the roof cracked under his weight.

As the church burned, merrily, Sidarthimal watched carefully for those evacuating it. He spied a well-dressed man running from the back of the church and he dived to snatch him. He was able to grab the abbot and lifted him high into the night sky, before he could be attacked by the other humans.

It was a clear night, with no moon, so Sidarthimal was able to disappear in the night sky easily; “I don’t know if you are behind the attack on me and my people, but I know it wouldn’t have happened without your clearing it. These peasants are afraid to get with 30 miles of my lair. A fear that I have encouraged and now must reinforce.”

The abbot struggled in Sidarthimal,s claws, but he couldn’t free himself. Sidarthimal flew higher and over sheep herder Stephen’s home. At the height of 300 feet he dropped the abbot so that he landed square on the roof of sheep herder Stephen’s home, crashing through the roof and no doubt killing the abbot. “That should delay any response by the church, but it will come at a future cost.” He grumbled to himself; “I may be willing to pay that price, but I am not sure my people can survive it.”

The dragon contemplated burning Stephen’s home, but he had a better idea. He returned to the church and landed at the base of the bell tower. The dragon turned his breathe up to high and included some of his salvia in the breath as he breathed on the base of the bell tower. Sidarthimal’s breath hit the stone of the tower clinging to it and melting the stone itself causing the entire bell tower to collapse. He brought the stone bell tower down across the road where it would be the most trouble. The peasants would need to utilize horses to move the bells, because they were so huge, and it would take a good deal of work to clear the stones off the road. “Hopefully,” he thought, “This would delay any response toward his people.” Then the dragon took wing and returned to his lair.

He came in, stowed his bow and met with Jozque; “My revenge is temporary, and it will not stop further incursions by the humans. For that I must travel south.” The dragon explained to his high cleric as he let more magical energy flow into the lizardman.

Jozque flexed his arm; “Thank-you, Sidarthimal, when will you leave?”

“In a day or two, first we must finish treating our wounded, so the people can defend themselves, but I can’t put this trip off any longer. The humans are bound to return, and I must stop that.”

“What do you wish us to do, lord dragon?”

“Stay low, avoid the humans as normal and use your spells on the people to assist their healing. I am going south to try and get to the root of the problem. For that I will need more contact with the humans, and maybe even approaching their king.”

Chapter 2: I don’t remember assault and battery on the tour?

Several days later the dragon had covered leagues of distance. He recalled the forest from many years ago when he had first traveled north. The forest remained the lush green that he remembered, but the road ran like a long scar through the middle of it. He followed the road that had been built two decades ago heading south. He noticed that the edges of the forest had shrunk since he had originally come here. He also noticed that firebreaks had been cut through the forest by loggers. Of course, being a dragon, he knew a lot about fire; it’s uses, it’s dangers, and the beauty of it. Fire breaks were cut through the woods, to limit the destruction of fires. He wasn’t sure if he agreed with that practice or not. He enjoyed the endless dance of flames, but he did not like that it drove all game away and left the land scarred for many years. He traveled at night, in his natural form and then switched to his human form and hid himself in the landscape so he could sleep undisturbed. He hunted in the early evening, ate his fill, and then took to the wing for the night. Flying was a lot of work, but he covered more distance then he possibly could if he traveled on the ground.

One day the dragon was in the woods sleeping when two men came across him. Sidathrimal made sure to go 100 feet into the woods, alongside the road. He thought that would be enough distance that someone would not notice his sleeping form. However, he proved to be wrong as two guardsmen dressed in breastplates, with chain greaves and arm coverings, came across his hiding place.

“What’s under this pile of branches, Recruit Albert?”

“I don’t know Sergeant.”

The sergeant started poking the pile with his polearm and his first poke encountered something solid. He poked again, and his polearm was swatted away. He returned to poke again and the dragon woke up. Sidarthimal stood and brushed the leaves off of himself. Quickly the sleep cleared out of his head and his anger rose.

“Ah, what have we here a poacher, or maybe a MURDER!” The sergeant exclaimed emphasizing each word with a poke in Sidarthimal’s ribs.

The dragon responded; “You will stop poking me in the ribs with that weapon of yours or I will beat you senseless with the damned thing.”

The guardsman appeared to ignore him; “So who are you? What are you doing hiding here in the woods?”

Sidarthimal quickly reached out and grabbed the sergeant’s polearm with one hand. The sergeant struggled, twisting, pulling and pushing on the polearm, but it failed to budge, held almost immobile by the dragon; “I am simply travelling through your lands, I have no designs upon your or your people. Nor am I poacher and I have not murdered anyone in this area. You are growling at the wrong bear, as my people would say.”

Meanwhile the second guardsman had moved around the pile of leaves and branches to cover Sidarthimal’s flank.

“Let go of my glaive at ONCE!” The sergeant shouted.

“I will the moment you promise to stop poking me in the ribs.”

The sergeant struggled for a few more minutes and reluctantly said; “I promise.”

Sidathrimal let go of the glaive and the sergeant had to step back a few steps to recover. The dragon turned to the second guardsman saying; “Don’t you start trying to poke me either.”

The other guardsman had moved into a position to flank the man. He had leveled his glaive at the dragon and had a grim look on his face.

The sergeant growled and said, “I will show you what a guardsman CAN and cannot do.” Then he charged Sidarthimal thrusting his glaive into his stomach. It takes a specially enchanted weapon to seriously injure a dragon, but the sergeants charge was strong enough to draw blood. Sidarthimal turned sharply, grabbed the glaive from the sergeant and beat him on the head with two strokes of the butt of the weapon.

The second guardsman said; “Ep!” in a cry of surprise and moved to stab Sidarthimal, a blow which Sidarthimal deflected with his other hand. The second guardsman then saw the sergeant fall to Sidarthimal’s third blow and rushed to his side. “Sergeant Bernard are you alright?!” he exclaimed.

Sidathrimal’s anger flashed in his eyes, but he beat it down when he saw the downed guardsman. He bent over and touched the sergeant’s chest and let his magical energies flow into the guardsman.

The sergeant recovered consciousness but was still dazed. Sidathrimal lifted him with one hand and with his other he pressed against the sergeant’s breastplate. “Let this be a reminder of how you need to treat strangers with some respect.” He said as he let a little of his anger flow along with his magical energies into his arm and hand. He pressed hard into the breastplate, using the heat of his anger and the power of his magic to leave an indentation of his palm print in it. Then he set the guardsman down on his feet.

The sergeant growled and bent over for his glaive, never letting his eyes leave the man before him.

“Shouldn’t we take this man to see the Captain Sergeant Bernard?”

The sergeant recovered his glaive and growled; “I will show you what a guardsman can do.”

“Can’t you say anything original? You are repeating yourself. Is that because you think I can’t hear you or because you are too dumb to come up with anything original?” The dragon said.

The Sergeant’s anger grew, and he moved to thrust the glaive into the man, but the man batted the glaive away and closed with the Sergeant.

The second guardsman pleaded; “Sergeant he disarmed you with one hand and he only attacked you after you stabbed him with your glaive. I really think we need to bring this man before the Captain.”

Sergeant Berniard grumbled; “Yes, let’s go see the Captain, and don’t you try any funny business.”

Sidathrimal said; “Yes, I would like to see this Captain of yours.”

“I will lead the way, you can follow me.” The second guardsman responded, secretly relived that Sergeant Berniard appeared to be alright. Sergeant Bernard brought up the rear.”

“If you stick me with that glaive of yours one more time I will break it over your head and wrap it around your neck.”

Sergeant Bernard’s face grew pale and he aimed his glaive away from the dragon.

The second guardsman said; “My name is Recruit Albert, and you have met Sergeant Bernard. What is your name?”

“You can call me Sid.” The dragon responded.

The trio walked into the town gate, past two guards who nodded at them. The town was protected with a wooden wall about a foot thick and twice the height of a man. Then down the street the trio went, taking a turn off the main street. It was a bustling, if fairly small city, with many people in the street. Sidathrimal looked around at the shops and homes and marvels that the humans could stand to live so close together. The trio passed a bakery, and at least as dozen shops. The people gave the trio a wide berth and Sidathrimal noticed that many of them were watching the Sergeant. “They must have come across his temper.” He thought. Finally, the trio went down a side street to a large gray stone building labeled “City Jail.” The trio marched past another guardsman and down a long hall to a door at the end of the hall. Recruit Albert knocked twice on the door and waited.

“Enter” a voice behind the door said. The Recruit opened the door and marched in. Sidathrimal followed and stood before the desk. Sergeant Bernard took up the position on the right of Sid, while the Recruit took up the spot on the left.

The office was small and mostly filled with the large desk, the Captain and his chair. There was paperwork piled on the captain’s desk and various plaques and certificates posted on the wall behind the Captain. The Captain was in uniform, with a helm, and with a floppy red cap perched on the side of his desk. There were various pieces of lumpy glass paperweights used to hold down the paperwork and inside of them were trapped insects. Sidathrimal had seen amber like this before and knew that it valuable, he had no idea of the value of the lumps of glass the Captain was displaying though.

The Captain was writing on a stack of papers and he continued to write for a while before he stopped, put down his quill and looked up. “Well what do we have here?”

“We captured a possible poacher or a murder, sir.”

“Oh, that is a serious crime. Where is his kill?”

“Um, sir I didn’t see one.”

The Captain said, in a tired voice; “Sergeant, how many times must I tell you that we need evidence, before we accuse someone of a crime.”

“We found the suspect under a pile of branches and leaves sir.” The sergeant continued;

“In the forest sir.”

“Oh, most suspicious, why didn’t he go to an inn?”

“Um, I don’t know sir. I didn’t have time to question the prisoner.”

“Yet, you brought him here, what was he doing that was so dangerous?”

“I am not sure, sir.”

Recruit Albert said; “He appeared to be sleeping, sir.”

“Ah, sleeping in the forest without permission, that sounds like a grave crime sergeant.”

“He attacked me sir! He disarmed me and beat me with my own glaive, sir!”

“Yet, you appear to have your glaive in your hand. How is this? Did you disarm him?”

“Ah, no sir, he dropped my glaive.”

“Oh, that sounds like strange behavior for a criminal. Why did he disarm you and beat you with your own glaive?”

“Um, I am not…I may have stabbed him with my glaive sir.”

“Ah, that explains the blood on his robe, and the bruise on the side of your head and the split lip. Why don’t you go see the cleric and get checked out, Sergeant?”

“Ah, yes sir, but what about the prisoner, he is a dangerous man.”

“Yes, I can tell by the way he is launching himself over my desk at me.” The captain responded sardonically.

The Sergeant saluted and turned to leave, the Recruit turned to follow.

The captain said; “Wait a minute Recruit Albert, I may need you to protect me from this dangerous man.”

Recruit Albert said; “Yes sir.” And he took up a position on the right side of the dragon.

“Now, why don’t you tell me what happened Recruit?”

“Yes sir, we were on patrol and Sergeant Bernard wanted to get out of the morning sun. We were walking in the forest when we saw a large pile of leaves. Sergeant Bernard said a pile of leaves seemed unnatural and he approached it and poked it with his glaive.

We woke up the prisoner, I mean Master Sid. He stood, and Sergeant Albert started to question him. He claimed that Master Sid was a poacher or a murder, who was hiding out under the pile of brush. Sergeant Bernard started poking Master Sid with his glaive and Master Sid told him to stop. He then grabbed Sergeant Bernard’s glaive. Sergeant Bernard tried to pull the glaive out of Master Sid’s hand. I moved around the pile of brush to flank Sergeant Bernard and support him. Master Sid said; ‘He would let go of Sergeant Bernard’s glaive if he promised to stop poking him with it.’ Master Sid released Sergeant Bernard’s glaive and turned to tell me that I should not start poking him with my own glaive. I could not see exactly what happened, but I heard Sergeant Bernard say, ‘he would show him what he, a guardsman, can and cannot not do.’ Then I think he stabbed Master Sid. Master Sid disarmed the Sergeant and before I could react he had knocked out the Sergeant.

I came over to assist Sergeant Bernard, but he was unconscious. Master Sid bent over and touched the Sergeant, then he came to.”

“You mean he healed the Sergeant?” The Captain interrupted.

“Ah, no sir, Master Sid didn’t speak any words of magic, he just touched the Sergeant. Then he picked up the Sergeant, with one hand and with his other hand he pressed his palm against the Sergeant’s breastplate and implanted his palm print on the Sergeant’s breastplate.

The Captain’s eyebrows rose.

I then told Sergeant Bernard that we should take Master Sid before your sir and Sergeant Bernard agreed.”

“I see, so the Sergeant annoyed the prisoner and when the Sergeant continued to annoy the prisoner he took his glaive from him and knocked him out with it, all before you could react?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I see, and then he healed Sergeant Bernard.”

“Ah, no Sir, I did not hear him speak in the language of magic or make any spell casting gestures.”

“Recruit Albert is there any magic on the prisoner?”

Recruit Albert gestured and spoke some magical words. His eyes glowed for a minute and Recruit Albert said; “Ah, yes sir, I see magic on his pouch, and Master Sid himself is magical.” Then the glow faded from his eyes.

Sid gargled something, and Recruit Albert answered; “Yes, Master Sid, I do know the true tongue, I was a mage’s appetence before I was a guardsman.”

“Thank-you, Recruit Albert, you may go now.”

“But Sir, what about Master Sid?”

Sid responded; “Can you let the Recruit stay? I would like to hire him.”

“Oh, hire him for what?” The Captain asked.

“I fear I need some instruction.” Sid responded.

“You mean instruction in how humans work?” The Captain responded.

“Yes, you could say that.” Sid responded, cautiously.

“And what brings you before me today?”

“You mean, why am I here instead of in my home?” Sid responded.

“Yes, why.”

“I prefer to discuss that with your king, in private.”

The Captain chuckled; “You clearly, don’t know how to deal with humans. We have a chain of command. Recruit Albert answers to Sergeant Bernard, Sergeant Bernard answers to me. I answer to a noble and the mayor and they answer to the Prime Minister and they answer to the King. So, for you to get an audience with the King, you need to tell me what you need, and you will need to grease the wheels a little.”

“I understand a chain of command, that’s why I wanted to see you about Sergeant Bernard. I would also like to hire Recruit Albert.”

“Recruit Albert is free to do what he wants on his own time.”

“No, I am afraid that I will need him, full-time, for at least one week.”

“But, Recruit Albert has a job already.”

“It is clear, from the way that Sergeant Bernard acted toward me, that I need protection, full time protection and I want Recruit Albert.”

“No offense, but Recruit Albert is not exactly our best guardsman, he only recently came to the force.”

“I don’t care, I want him.”

“I will have to hire someone to work Recruit Albert’s shift and that will cost. Then there is also Sergeant Bernard and you want to talk to our local noble. All that is going to cost money.”

Sid reached into his pouch and pulled out five gold pieces; “Will this be enough.”

“Maybe enough to keep Sergeant Bernard silent, but the noble I know will want more.”

“How about if I do this.” The dragon pulled out a gold coin from his pouch and scratched a rune into it. He then passed the gold piece to Recruit Albert.

“Recruit Albert, please take that coin, invoke the rune and breathe on that large metal object in the corner.”

“You mean the Captain’s stove?”

The stove in question was a small one hidden behind the desk with a metal pipe leading up into the ceiling.,

“Yes, I don’t think that your breathe will damage it.”

“Before you do that, Recruit Albert, what will it do Master Sid?”

“And how do you invoke the rune?” Recruit Albert asked.

“You did not cover runes in your training? The Captain asked.

“No, sir. I have heard, a little, about rune magic, but I know nothing about it.”

The dragon turned to Albert and said; “Simply hold the coin in your hand. Rub the coin and think about fire, then breathe at the stove. You will then be granted a power akin to dragon breath.”

The Recruit did, and a gout of flame shot forth from his mouth hitting the stove and causing it to smoke slightly. The Recruit shut his mouth and a little smoke came out of his mouth. He closed his mouth with a snap and a look of panic crept into his eyes.

The Captain said; “Will he continue breathing fire!”

“No.” the dragon responded, “He needs to invoke the rune each time he wants to breathe fire.”

The Captain said; “Can you do other rune magic?”

“Yes, I have charged my people’s weapons with extra energy so that when they attacked they would do more damage.”

“More damage against humans!”

“Of course not, when hunting game. I don’t let my people hunt humans, that would bring the King’s troops down around my neck.”

“How long will that rune last?” The Captain inquired.

“It will last for two more uses.”

“That’s good to know, but while I don’t know much about magic, I do know that all magic is temporary.”

“Almost all magic, but yes you are right the rune’s magic will hold for two months.”

“What happens to the gold coin after that?” Recruit Albert asked.

“The rune consumes a few grains of gold, but the magic is minor, and the weight of the gold coin won’t change much. It will spend like any other gold coin. Only the most accurate of scales will notice the difference.”

“Can you make a rune permanent?” The Captain asked.

“Yes, but it will require a little diamond dust.”

“Recruit Albert, what do you know about this? Is he telling the truth?”

“I told you that I don’t know much about rune magic, sir, but I do know that diamond dust is used in some high-level magic to make the magic permeant.”

“Okay.” The Captain said; “Let’s see if you can enchant my sword to be able to deliver energy with an attack, like you do for your people. I will talk to Baron Nord, and if you are willing to enchant his sword as well then, I am sure he can get you in contact with his superiors. However, that will not insure you get your meeting with the King, you will have to talk to his Prime Minster for that.”

The dragon growled and said; “I can do the enchantment, if you provide me with the diamond dust. I also assume that you can provide a private space for me to work.”

“Yes, I will.”

“Let’s see, how about enchanting four of those coins with your fire breath rune, and you enchant my sword for me. The fifth coin will go to Sergeant Bernard to keep him quiet. Is that acceptable?”

“And I get the services of Recruit Albert for a week?’

“What exactly do you want from our King and what do you need from the Recruit?

“I need knowledge. Recruit Albert knows about humanity and I need a guide to that world.”

“I see, that sounds logical and what about the King? What do you want from him?”

Sid lowered his head and spoke under his breath. “Protection, I need protection from people like Sergeant Bernard.”

“But, Sergeant Bernard is recovering from the beating you gave him. Surely, he does not pose a great threat to you?”

“No, individually he is not a great threat, but when you get ten, twenty, or thirty of people like him, then yes, they do pose a threat to me.”

“I see, well, I can help you with talking with Baron Nord. As to getting you protection, if you are a citizen then you would be under the protection of the town guard.”

“I doubt the King wants me to be a citizen. I seek a truce.”

“So, they have already struck you and your people.”

“Yes, and many of my people died.”

“And you and yours killed those people, who were they?”

“I honestly don’t know, nor frankly do I care.”

“You are cold customer.” The Captain responded.

“Those of us in leadership positions have to be, sometimes. They can live and die to our decisions, that calls for a little remoteness, as I am sure you know. Now as for Recruit Albert, I think he should be promoted, Sergeant maybe?”

“No, I can’t do that, it would enrage Sergeant Bernard, and Recruit Albert has not finished his training yet.”

“Still, I think that if I am going to guarded by someone, then it needs to be someone of higher rank.”

“Okay, okay, I will promote him to private. Will that satisfy you?”

“Yes, it will.” The dragon smiled.

“I assume you are not quite human?”

“No, I am not, does that make a difference?”

“Well, yes it does. What kind of creature are you?”

“That is a secret I would prefer to reveal only to your king. My kind is native to this world, in fact you can say that my ancestors were here before your kind.”

“How could that be?”

“Study your history Captain, study your history.”

“How long will it take you to do the work on the sword.”

“A day or so.”

The Captain leaned back in his chair; “I am also the town magistrate, so I will now rule on your case. First; you are judged to be a danger to our society, but a minor one, so you will be guarded by Private Albert at all times, that you are here in this town. Second; you will be confined until such time as you finish enchanting the gold coins and my sword, which you will give to me. This way I can tell Sergeant Bernard that you have been punished. Private Albert take Master Sid to cell number three and watch him there. You don’t have to close the door on the cell, I wouldn’t want our guest to fill locked in. Just see that he stays in the cell until he finishes his work. I will send someone down with the diamond dust. How much do you need Master Sid?”

“One-hundred gold pieces worth should be enough, that’s about an ounce. Oh, and since I will be working for you today, I need the week with Private Albert to start tomorrow.”

“You drive a hard bargain Master Sid. How will the rune work? Will I have to invoke it every time I use it? What energy will manifest?”

“The rune will work whenever the sword is swung, so no you don’t have to invoke it, you only have to use it. What energy do you want?

“How about electrical? Can you do that?”

“Yes, I can, but I will also need an ounce of amber for that.”

“I will see that you get it shortly. Private you can take away the prisoner now.”

The newly minted private asked; “Do you have the proper spells memorized, Sir Sid?”

“Rune magic doesn’t use memorized spells, but it does use spell energy. I am going to be hungry afterwards, make sure I have some breakfast and I don’t want slop.”

Sid reached into his pouch and pulled out a few coins, giving them to Private Albert.

“I suppose you will want your gold coin with the rune back?” Private Albert asked.

“No, you keep it. You might need it. Now show me to this cell and let me work in peace.”

“Yes, Sir Sid, but shouldn’t I stay with you to guard you?”

“I will be a cell, in the police station, can you think of a safer place than that?”

“Ah, no Sir Sid, but if it is alright with you I will wait until the Captain has the diamond dust and his sword delivered. That way he won’t know I deserted you.”

The pair went into the jail’s cellar and waited. A few minutes later, the Captain showed up bringing the diamond dust, the amber, and his sword. “I will go talk to Baron Nord after I see how well my sword works. I need to know you can deliver, before I make any promises.”

The dragon growled; “It will work, as long as I am feed a decent meal.”

“Ah, yes, you missed breakfast I bet, I will talk to the guard.” The Captain left.

“Should I give you back your gold Sir Sid?”

“No, I am going to need a lot of food, go ahead and go.”

The cell was a dingy cell, lit by a torch in the hall. The cell door was a grate of iron, not with bars, but with metal straps crisscrossing each other. Sid looked around and saw the straw stuffed mattress and the piles of straw on the floor. His especially sharp vision noticed the tail of a rat that had burrowed through the hard-packed floor and was, without a doubt, looking for scraps of food. Sid reached out quickly, grabbing the tail of the rat, and turning him into his breakfast. He thought; “Beggars can’t be choosers, so I will have to get whatever nourishment I can.”

A guard came by with a tin bowl of soup and a cup of foul water. Sid looked at him and growled. The guard seemed a little surprised that the cell door was open. After he laid the bowl and cup down he grabbed the cell door to close it.”

Sid said; “I would appreciate it if you left it open.”

The guard laughed; “Why are you expecting guests?”

“Actually, I am.” Sid responded sardonically.

The guard shook his head and left, but he left the cell door open.

Albert brought in the dragon’s meal; a sandwich and a flask of wine. Sid greedily devoured it. Albert marveled at the capacity of his stomach. He also peered closely so he could see what Sid was doing.

Sid started with the sword. First, he inscribed the rune of electrical energy into the steel, using his fingernail. No human could have done that, but for a dragon it was easy. Next, he sprinkled the diamond dust into the complex rune and pressed it in with his fingernail. He let his magical energies flow to inscribe the magic into the sword. Then he ground the amber into fine dust and mixed that into the sword’s rune. He bent over the sword and turned to face away from Albert so that when he used some of his fire breath to temper the sword Albert didn’t see him.

Later that evening Sid finally finished his work; “Now show me to that inn you and Sergeant Bernard were talking about.”

“Of course, Master Sid. Just follow me.” Albert said.

Albert took Sid to the local inn and said; “It will cost money Master Sid, but if you have enough power left over for another casting of your rune magic you should be able to make a deal similar to what you made with the Captain.”

Sid stepped up to the inn, past the night guard, who tried to stop him, until he saw the Private. Sid brushed him off and Private Albert nodded to the night guard. The guard bristled at the brush off and his hand moved to draw his weapon. Albert shook his head and the guard relented. Sid seemed to ignore the guard.

Sid walked in and approached a man; “I would like a room for the week.” Sid said; “Who do I need to see about that.

The man stared at him for a moment and pointed to the front desk.

Albert and Sid went to the main desk, where the two waited a moment. The bartender, across the room, was passing some drinks and said; “If you want a room, talk to me. The Night Manager is out.”

Sid came up to the bartender and said; “How much for a room for two for the week?”

The bartender started whipping down the bar in front of Sid, saying; “That will be six gold pieces.”

Sid responded; “How about we make three gold pieces and I enchant each gold piece with a magical rune.”

“Make it four.” The bartender said.

“No, three, and if you continue to push it I will make it only two.”

“What kind of magical rune?” the bartender asked.

“Private Albert if you would be so good as to demonstrate for our bartender in the fireplace?”

Private Albert went over to the fireplace and utilized the coin rune to breathe fire into the fireplace.

“Uh, how many times will that work?” the bartender seemed surprised.

“It will work three times, per coin.” Sid responded.

“Well, I don’t know, I am not the Night Manager, so I am not sure if I can authorize this deal.”

“Oh, excuse me, I thought I was talking to someone with authority. Well, maybe I was wrong. Let’s go Private Albert. I will just have to take you up on your mother’s offer.” Sid said as he turned to leave.

Private Albert seemed confused, but he started to follow Sid out, when the bartender said; “Yes, I do have the authority. Here give me the coins.”

Sid returned with a smile saying; “I will need a few moments to enchant the coins. Tell me do the rooms come with meals?”

“You can take what’s in the stew pot like everybody else.” the bartender responded.

Sid grumbled; “No, that won’t be sufficient, I will need three meals a day.”

“That will cost another three ensorcelled coins.” The bartender said.

“Two, or I will leave.” Sid responded.

“Give them to me,” The bartender responded.

“Maybe, I should give you the three and wait until tomorrow to give the day staff the other two. After all they will be handling my meals.”

The bartender grumbled; “You should give it to me.”

Sid’s hand shot out grabbing the bartender’s hand; “Are you sure about that?”

The bartender tried to pull his hand away from Sid, but Sid held on fast, and he squeezed a little.

“OH! okay okay, yea, you need to give it to the day shift.”

Sid said; “I thought so. I will scribe the three coins now and if you want to use them you need to hold them invoke the rune by thinking breathe fire and then breathe. It will create a fifteen-foot cone of fire so watch where you aim it and like Private Albert said, it only works three times.” Sid then pulled out three coins and started inscribing the fire breath rune on each one.

After he finished he turned to leave, when the bartender interrupted him; “Do you want your key?”

Private Albert came up to the bar; “I will take it, two please.”

The bartender shrugged and handed over a second copy of the key.

Private Albert read the key, it was number 4 and he led the way toward the back of the inn.”

The inn was a wooden building that looked sturdy, but Sid’s remarkable senses noticed the little things, like the rat hole, the smell of stale beer under the floor boards, and as they went down the hall the smell of blood from room number three.

Sid sniffed and clarified his smell, he detected a faint necrotic order and the blood had been spilled in the last two days. Sid said; “That man is wounded, I wonder why?”

“Excuse me, how do you know he is wounded and how do you know he is a man?”

Sid growled and looked at the private.

“Let’s just say that I know, there is also that drop of blood on the floor near the door?

Albert peered at the floor; ‘I don’t see any blood.”

“Get down on your knees and take a closer look.”

Albert did so and said he saw the blood drop; “I will go summon the guard.”

“I will wait in the room. Call me if you need any help.”

Albert dashed off to get the guard, and he returned almost a half hour later.

Sid heard the guard knocking on the door and announcing himself, then quiet. He strained his ears and heard wood scraping. Sid called out; “He is going out the window.”

Sid then went out into the hallway and saw the guards trying to break down the door and failing.

Sid said; “Excuse me.” He took the place of the lead guard and put his shoulder against the door, pressing hard. He heard the door splinter and the scrape of wood on the floor as the wardrobe that had been placed against the door moved. Sid continued to push open the door and let the guards enter.

Sure, enough the window was open, and the man was trying to go out it. The guards ran in and grabbed the man. He winced as they grabbed his wounded arm.

“What are you doing here? I haven’t done anything wrong?

Sid strode into the room; “No, you haven’t done anything wrong, that’s why you pushed the wardrobe against the door and were going out the window.

Sid advanced on the man and kicked bed, it skidded across the floor; “You almost forgot the gold you stole from the bakery.”

The man went white in the face; “I didn’t rob any bakery.”

“Of course, you did, and you had them pack a pretzel in your bag of loot.”

The guardsman asked; “How did you know?”

I have a strong nose and I detected that bakery when I arrived in town, the pretzel smells the same.”

The guards were surprised, but they took the man into custody.

One of the guards reached down, under the bed and found a bag. He pulled out the bag and opened it pulling out a couple of handfuls of gold coins and a pretzel; “It’s just like he claimed.”

Albert said; “You are remarkable Master Sid, I smelt nothing, and I didn’t even see that blood stain until I got on the floor.”

“It’s nothing, I am sure one of you would have noticed the man, eventually,” Sid then went back to his room.

Albert took one of the beds and undressed. Sid claimed the other one and listened to his stomach grumble. The nice thing about dragons is they can go for a long time without eating, but when they exert themselves or use a lot of magic, their stomachs do tend to rumble.

The next day Albert woke up Sid saying; “It’s breakfast time, Master Sid.” It took several shakes to wake up Sid, he was a sound sleeper.

Sid came down and talked to the staff making the same deal he had struck with the bartender that night. He had Albert demonstrate his fire rune one more time. “I want some alcohol; how many drinks do I get with the meal?”

“One the waitress said,” in a bored tone.

“How many will this buy me,” Sid asked pulling out a gold coin.

“Four sir,” the waitress said grabbing for the coin.

Sid closed his hand around the coin saying, “After, I get my drinks.”

“You want all four at once sir?”

“No, I want all eight, Private Albert is here as well.”

She looked at the Private saying; “Sorry sir, I didn’t notice you.”

Albert shrugged; “It is the uniform, it’s alright.” He waved the waitress on.

“What do you want sir?”

Sid intercepted the conversation, “Anything, as long as it is strong.”

“Master Sid, I can’t drink 4 drinks, typically I only have a beer or ale, or maybe some mead for breakfast.”

“The drinks aren’t for you, well one is, and the rest are for me.” Sid grumbled.

“Seven drinks aren’t you afraid of getting drunk?”

“It will take more than that to get me drunk, I have a… high capacity.”

Sid spent the next three days studying under Private Albert. Then the Captain sent a messenger to tell him he had arraigned a meeting with Baron Nord. Sid and Albert went, with the messenger, to meet the Captain in his office.

Baron Nord was a young man with an attitude and an air of superiority. He was well dressed in a purple suit with gold piping. Underneath he wore a chain shirt, Sid noticed the chain peeking out around the man’s neck. He had jewelry, and an expensive amulet and ring as well as a gold chain that held the amulet.

The Captain said; “I have shown Baron Nord my sword and he likes it very much. He says he will give you an introduction to court if you give his sword a similar enchantment.”

“I assume you will supply the diamond dust, I need?”

“Yes, only Baron Nord likes to be flashy and he wants fire, can you handle that?”

“Yes, if you include some Sulphur. I assume you will want me to do enchantment it in one of your cells?”

“Well, you don’t have a lab so one of my cells will have to do, won’t it?

Sid said; “Give me the sword, the diamond dust, and the sulfur, and I will let Private Albert escort me to your cell.” Sid held out his hand and Baron Nord handed his sword over to him.

Sid grunted, “You have an accuracy enchantment on it already.”

Baron Nord said, in a nasal tone; “You must be mistaken, I didn’t even see you cast detect magic.”

“I have the sight, when it comes to magic items. So, no I am not mistaken. You have an accuracy enchantment on it as well as a clean glamor.”

“Will it be a problem to enchant further?” the Captain asked.

“No, I am doing a different type of enchantment, and my rune magic may be laid down over the standard enchantments already on the weapon.”

Baron Nord asked; “Can you do more enchantments on the weapon?”

“That was not the price we discussed.”

“True, but if you could enchant it again I would be willing to pay for it.”

“I don’t have the time. I can easily do a rune today but weaving another enchantment in with the existing enchantments would be time consuming. I am also limited to being able to only enchant one rune enchantment and the permeance to once a day.”

“Is that typical for rune magic?” Baron Nord asked.

“Yes, the convenience has a price. A rune can only be applied to one weapon of six inches to six feet long. Larger weapons can have more than one rune applied to them, but it is rare that someone wields a weapon that is larger than six feet long.”

“My guardsman uses such weapons; the glaive is eight feet long. Can it take a second run?”

“Yes, but again this is outside of the contract we have struck.”

“But, casting the runes is quick, is it not.”

“Yes, but equipping all your guardsman would take a lot of time that I do not have, and a lot of energy, MAGICAL energy that does not replenish itself easily.”

Baron Nord said; “I wasn’t thinking about equipping the local guardsman, but the royal guard. I need to offer the Office of the Prime Minster something on your behalf.”

“That would be different, and it depends on how many royal guardsmen want to have their weapons enchanted, and since you are asking for two runes per large weapon that is going to require more work, as well as diamond dust to make each enchantment permanent. Furthermore, the magical energy required is going to be difficult to assemble.”

“But, can you do it?” Baron Nord asked.

“It will take a considerable investment, but I might be able to manage it. However, it will need me to spend more time in these lands, and working for your king, then I wish to spend.”

“I am going to the capital tomorrow, I would invite you along, but there is not enough room with the teleport.”

“That is regrettable, how many days is the capital from here?”

“It’s about a 3-day ride.” The Captain said.

“I don’t do well with horses; how long would it take to walk that distance?”

“About twice as long.” The Captain responded.

“Then I will need the services of Private Albert for two more weeks.”

“Why do you need him for such a long time?” The Captain asked.

“I am going to the capital and I will need the advice of Private Albert for that journey, as well as for the journey back.”

“That is going to cost you know.” The Captain replied.

“I figured you would want your pound of flesh. How about I enchant an electrical rune on the weapons of five of your guards.” Sid responded.

“I assume that will be useable for three times and lasting one months.”

“It will last for three uses and up to two months, as you well know.”

The Captain chuckled; “Just checking.”

“Then send me the five guardsman and I will work on their weapons. One rune per weapon. I will require two days to do that work.”

“But, you scribed the rune on the gold coin in just a minute?”

“Yes, and I scribed the rune on your sword that same day, but you don’t know the power that it cost me.”

“I understand, I will send you the five guardsmen tomorrow.”

“Just make sure that Sergeant Bernard is not one of them.” Sid growled.

“You haven’t inquired how he is doing?”

“No, I gave him some healing, enough to stabilize him and enough for him to walk. Furthermore, you sent him to a cleric, who I assume is competent or he would not be on your staff.”

“Just checking again. The sergeant has recovered, but yes, the cleric told me she had to apply healing magic several times to him. You must be incredibly strong to have damaged him so much with only two hits.”

“It was three hits and I am not a weakling, no.”

“Strange, I thought the magicians favored the more cerebral pursuits.” Baron Nord interjected.

“As I am sure the Captain has told you, I am wearing this human form, it is not my natural form.”

“And just what is your natural form, may I ask?”

“No, you may not. Now if that is all I have a great deal of work ahead of me. If you will excuse me I would like to get started.”

“Yes, of course, but do you mind if I watch you do the enchanting of my sword?”

“No, I don’t mind, but I ask that you remain silent during the procedure and not ask me any questions. I will have to concentrate, and distractions could ruin my efforts.”

“Ah, I wouldn’t want to ruin your concentration. I will instead stay up here and take tea with the good Captain.”

Chapter 3: We are inn for a surprise.

Sid turned and left saying; “I can find my own way to the cells. Have Private Albert bring me the weapons and the diamond dust, I will also need a stick of amber to do the runes on the glaives.”

When Albert assembled the weapons, amber, and diamond dust he went to the basement, to the cells, to find Sid.

There were no empty cells today, last night had been payday for the lumber jacks and a lot of them had gotten drunk. Sid had taken the cell with only one occupant and was waiting.

Albert came in and saw the sleeping occupant. “Uh, Sir Sid that is John Red Beard, he is a powerful mean drunk, that’s why he is in the cell by himself.”

“He won’t bother me. I figured he was a problem, when I saw him confined by himself. So, I took the precaution of putting sleeping spell on him. He will require a couple more, just to insure he doesn’t disturb us, but I will know when the sleeping spell expires.”

Albert seemed nervous; “Are you sure Sir Sid? It took six guardsmen to subdue him and prevent him from breaking up the bar. He is a powerful man.”

“He has some demon blood in him, that is what makes him so strong, but no he won’t be hard to handle. I have dealt with his kind before, you see one of my brothers was a bit of as bully.”

“Oh, and how did you handle him?”

“I distracted him while one of my sisters smashed his head in. He was out for two days. After that he learned not to be a bully.”

“That’s the first time you have mentioned your family to me. Did you come from a large family?”

“Large for humans, there were eight of us, but before you ask we all left home quite young and I haven’t seen any of my family for quite some time.”

“Why did you leave home when you were young.”

“I left home as people were trying slaughter my mother. Since my father didn’t help in the battle, I can only assume the slaughtered him first. Or that the bastard saw what a fix we were in and he abandoned us. Either way it was just my mother doing the fighting. She covered our escape. I went back to our home once, a few years later and found her bones bleaching in the sun. You will forgive me, but I have a good deal of work ahead of me.”

“Yes, Master Sid but didn’t you exaggerate the amount of time it would take you to enchant the weapons?”

“Yes, I did overestimate the time it would take to enchant the weapons. I don’t want either of them to get the idea that they can monopolize my time enchanting items for them. I have my people to get back to and this little adventure has consumed a lot of my time. The longer I spend here, the more danger they are in.”

“Where are you people?”

“I live north of here, in an isolated community. Frankly, when I was young I wasn’t treated well by humans, so I have tried to avoid them.”

“That is hard to do, there are a lot of us.”

“Yes, and more are being born every day and your kind has been spreading like a plague.”

“Surely, it is not that bad.”

“Let’s just say I have the advantage of a longer life, so I have observed humanities spread.”

Sid completed his work and returned to the Captain’s office bringing the items he had enchanted. Baron Nord was quite happy with his sword and insisted in trying it out on the Captain’s stove several times. He also wanted to spar a little with the Captain, who used his own enchanted sword. Sid waited patiently for the Baron to say he was pleased with his sword and he would speak with the Prime Minster. Then Sid returned to his room with Albert, for more study.

The next morning the pair took a hearty breakfast and Sid insisted on having his four drinks with his meal, then they took to the road toward the capital. Albert had a map and showed it to Sid pointing out the inns along the way. the best route to take and the villages and towns they would pass through along the way. After breakfast they hit the road.

Sid mused; “Humans have certainly spread in a short time. When I first came to this area it was virgin woods.”

Private Albert asked; “How long ago was that Sir Sid?”

“Oh, quite some time ago. Remember I came here when I was still a child. It was a long trip. For a few years I hung around our home, but it became difficult as humanity moved in. Then I was forced to move north.”

Albert responded; “This area has been settled for a long time, my great-great grandfather was part of the second Gold Rush, then when the gold played out he became an adventurer. That was how he met my grandmother. My mother followed in their footsteps, as an adventurer and she actually rescued my father. The two fell in love and married. I was the second child, but my older sister died when she was only eight. She got a coughing disease and it consumed her. We tried to get her to a priest, but the local priest wasn’t powerful enough to cure her. By the time my parents got her to the next town, and the priest there, she was gone.

“And where are your parents now.”

“My father died when I was twelve. My mother still lives. When she retired she worked in the local lumber mill, but she is too old to do that now. My parents married late in life. Besides the king has ruled that the forests need to be preserved for the game.

Sid mused; “Far thinking for a king. Most rulers seem to be content with only the present and consider long term planning to be five years out. Humans think in too short of terms.”

Their conversation continued for a while, with Sid listening carefully. Albert was doing the most of the talking when they were interrupted by a man who stepped out on to the road; “Your cash I will carry.”

Sid said; ‘What?” He then noticed that they had entered into a slightly thicker wooded area with a lot of ground cover near the road. Now that Sid was paying attention he heard the heartbeats of four archers on the side of the road, hidden in the bushes, with arrows nocked and ready. Sid noticed the arrow tips showing through the bushes.

The man was dressed in green and brown, as were his companions; “I said, your cash I will carry. That means I want you to give me all your money.”

“How dare you try to rob a guardsman, you know the punishment for being a Highway Man is death.” With that Albert lowered his glaive into the attack position and got ready to charge the highway man.

Sid knew that they were in trouble and blamed himself since he was paying more attention to Albert and the journey rather than the road, their surroundings, and who might be out there. He leapt forward, knocking Albert down and shifting into his normal form right on top of him. Sid reached out his neck and cleanly bit the head of the highway man off. Then he turned to the right and breathed at the two waiting to shoot at him. They got a shot off as did the two on the left. The pair on the right were burned to a crisp and the two on the left took to their heels. Three of the arrows fired bounced off of Sid’s hide, but the fourth was magical and was able to penetrate Sid’s side.

Sid jumped back, and off of Private Albert, and shifted back into his human form.

Private Albert recovered his glaive and got up; “What happened?”

Sid replied; “I had other ensorcelled coins I used one to lop off the head of that highway man and I used another to blast the two on our flank with fire. The other two ran off.

“What, they ran off! We need to get them. The king has ruled that the penalty for being a highway man is death.” With that Private Albert ran off into the bushes on the side of the road trying to find the escaping bandits.

Sid sighed and followed. The two highway men were nowhere in sight, for a human, but Sid could hear their heavy breathing and their footsteps as they crashed through the undergrowth; “This way he called to Albert.” And surged out in front of him, running faster.

Albert started breathing heavily, running in a breastplate was hard. Sid wasn’t hampered by armor, so he was able to easily out distance the human.

As he came closer to the running pair of thieves one looked back and shouted; “They are following us, let’s split up.” He then shoved the rogue on his flank, who barely recovered from the attempted tripping, as he took off in a different direction.

Sid caught up with the highway man who had been pushed and he grabbed him, turning him around and throwing him to the ground; “Here Private Albert, I have captured one.”

Albert was panting, out of breath, as he finally caught up with Sid. Sid waited until he was almost there, and he ran off after the other highway man. By this time the man had a good lead, so Sid had to fly. Dragons are flying creatures, yet they are not really built for flying. Their wingspan is not long enough, and their weight is too much. No, a dragon flies by sheer force of personality. Sidarthiamal tansformed into he natural from, crashing through the woods. It took him a few moments to catch up with the last highway man. He was careful to fly under the forest cover and didn’t mind smashing into a few branches along the way. He therefore easily caught up with the last highway man. This is the one that was armed with a magic bow, so Sidarthiamal was especially angry at this man. Therefore, he flew right into him smashing him to the ground. The highway man tried to stand up and Sidarthiamal lashed out with a kick breaking the man’s arm, so he fell again. Sid transformed into his human form and then picked up the man and headed back to the road where the other highway men’s bodies were lying.

Ten minutes later Private Albert came to the road dragging the bound highway man. He pulled more rope out of his backpack and started to tie a hangman’s noose. The highway man that Sid had caught was knocked out, the highway man who Private Albert had tied up, turned and tried to run. Albert was nobody’s fool though, he had left a leash on the highway man and simply jerked hard bringing the man to the forest floor and dragging him back to the road.

Albert cut his rope for two nooses and threw them over a tree branch. With Sid’s help he then strung up the two-highway man. He piled the corpses neatly under the still struggling highway men and pulled out his spell book. He tore out a page and pulled out some ink and a quill and started writing a sign. Sid looked over his shoulder and asked; “Is that your spell book you tore that page from?”

“Yes, it is about time it served for something.”

“You didn’t notice the highway man until he came out into the middle of the road and spoke, did you?”

“No, I didn’t my vision is not the best. That’s why it was Sergeant Bernard who noticed your pile of branches and leaves first.”

Sid waited until Private Albert had finished writing his note and posted it. Then he asked Private Albert to look at him. He grabbed Private Albert’s face with both hands and stared deeply into Private Albert’s eyes. He used his dragon vision to look deep into the eyes and see the fault that lay there, a cloudiness on the cornea. Sid let the magical energies flow through his hands and he watched as the cloudiness disappeared; “Here that should fix your vision problem.”

Private Albert blinked twice, then blinked a third time, real hard; “I can see better than I have in years! Thank-you Sir Sid, thank-you very much!”

“Tawas a minor thing, look at your spell book and see if you can read it now.”

Private Albert marveled at the book and read the text out loud; “I was able to memorize the low-level spells, but never the higher-level ones. That’s why Old Beady-Eyes gave up on me and I had to take an apprenticeship with the guards.”

“Why didn’t Beady-Eyes have your cured? It is a simple thing to do, with a remove blindness spell.”

“Isn’t that a divine spell? Wizards can’t cast divine magic. Are you a divine caster?”

“Magic is magic, to my race, I don’t divide it between divine, arcane, nature or whatever. I just harness the magical energies and cast the spell.”

“That is not how I was taught magic worked. There are schools and types of magic, it is all divided into categories.”

“As I said, magic is magic, it is that simple. You humans work to make it too complex, when the whole thing is simple.”

“I would be eager to learn what type of magic you cast Sir Sid?”

“My kind are natural magic users and to us the magic is breed into our souls and just comes out when we need it.”

“So, it is unique to your race?”

“Yes, I suppose so. I have used that spell on my own people several times. When they get old they suffer from cataracts, that spell clears them. You shouldn’t suffer from cataracts.”

“Do you mean the magic will linger?”

“No, as you know most magic fades once it is used. I cleared up your lens in your eyes and I improved it. Now it won’t get cataracts and your vision will be better than any normal human. I couldn’t give you dark vision, you lack the receptors for it, but I was able to improve the distance you can see.”

“I am not sure I understand all the words you are using Sir Sid? What are cataracts and what does a reception have to do with my eyes? I thought cataracts were rapids in a river and a reception is a party you hold before a wedding.”

“I am sorry, you lack the knowledge base to understand your own eyes. I am not sure how much training it will take to give you that knowledge base, and frankly I don’t have the time to invest in your education. I can’t help it if you humans don’t train your young very well. I had to remove a lot of nonsense from my people’s education process, what little they had before I came across them.”

“Remove nonsense? What kind of nonsense did you have to remove Sir Sid?”

“Incorrect theories and false theories; like the planet we are on is at the center of the universe, and the fact that our ancestors don’t haunt us, but pass on to the Outer Planes.”

“I know a little about the Outer Planes, we had to learn about that before we could summon creatures, but are you sure the sun doesn’t turn around our world? It sets in the evening and rises in the morning, doesn’t it?”

“All of that is a matter of perspective caused by a rotating planet. It only appears that the sun rises and sets, what is actually happening is that the world is turning. You also probably believe that this planet is flat, don’t you?”

“Well, isn’t it?”

“No, and if you were able to fly high enough you could see the curvature for yourself.”

“Do you fly, Sir Sid?”

“I have been known to use that spell occasionally, it makes scouting out your human expansion easier. Your kind makes a large impression on the earth. You destroy forests, you burn wood to cook and heat your homes, you build homes, villages, towns and cities and you even dig quarries and mines to steal the wealth of the planet. Your civilization makes a great impact on this world and it is only expanding.”

“I see, I haven’t thought of it that way before.”

“Call it the advantage of a long life, no you wouldn’t have thought of it that way. Most of your kind are born and raised in a single city and never pass beyond 5 miles from that city’s confines. For example, I bet this is your first trip to the capital, maybe even your first trip outside of your town.”

“I have been outside of the town before, we took field trips when I was younger, my mother wanted me to know of the world and she made sure I got a good education, I was tutored by some of the best and tested when I was young. That’s why Ma paid Old Beady Eyes to train me.”

“So, you are saying you have had more education than most humans?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sad, and interesting. If I was in charge I would make some changes.”

“What kind of changes Sir Sid?”

“Ah don’t you worry your head about that I probably won’t have a chance to be in charge, so it is idle speculation. Tell me more about your education, and the education of your peers. It all seems pretty freeform to me.”

The conversation continued, and continued when they stayed at an inn, during their meals, and when they took to the road again. A few days later they arrived in the capital and sought out a restaurant for a decent meal. Sid was ravenous, a few trail rations weren’t enough to feed someone of his size. He may have assumed the form of a human, but inside he was still a dragon and he needed to consume a dragon’s share of meals. Albert was slightly shocked by the amount that Sir Sid ate and drank, but he decided not to question him about it and made sure that he ordered big meals, so he could give the leftovers to Sir Sid. Sir Sid was reluctant to order a second serving at meal times, he didn’t want to be seen as different than a normal human. Only on the road did he indulge his appetite, but even then, he only lightly quenched his hunger.

The pair went to see Baron Nord. When Sid had enchanted the Baron’s sword he inquired where he lived. The Baron had told them to meet him at his manor. Once the duo arrived Baron Nord told them that he had talked to the Prime Minister and had arraigned an appointment for them. Of course, it was going to cost another enchantment. This time the Prime Minister was looking for a source of water for a couple of fountains in the city.”

“Just how many fountains?” Sid asked.

Nord responded; “I talked him down to four, can you do the enchantment, and make it permanent?”

“I know a rune that would work. I will of course need four ounces of diamond dust to make it permanent. I assume he wants fresh water, not salt water.”

“Of course, he wants fresh water, what use would salt water be?”

“Don’t say that to a merfolk, they will call you crazy.”

“True, I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Your people have a limited point of view. I would think a noble would have a wider point of view, after all haven’t you traveled the world?”

“Some, but then I am not an adventurer. I am a simple minister and the travels I partake in are all for my job.”

“When is our meeting with the King?”

“In two days at two in the afternoon. Do you have an inn to stay in?”

“We haven’t checked in to one yet, we had a meal and came straight here.”

Albert said; “We haven’t even had time to report the five highway men that jumped us.”

“Five against two, it must have been an impressive fight.”

Albert opened his mouth to respond, but Sid interrupted him; “Yes, it was a most impressive battle, the Private here used his fire breath and then hunted down the retreating highway men. I helped when I could, but it was mostly Private Albert’s show.”

Albert looked shocked and Baron Nord was skilled at reading faces, so he figured he knew the real truth of the matter. He was surprised that Sid had down-played his role in the battle, but then he figured that Sid didn’t want people to know too much about him.

“I can offer a room in my manor, if you would be so kind as to enchant one of my guard’s weapons.”

“Everything has its price. If we can stay in your manor for three days and be fed and have access to your wine cellar, and if you provide the diamond dust then I can certainly enchant one weapon for you.”

“It is agreed, one weapon. Then of course I will have to get you what you need to enchant the water sources. What do you need, I mean beside the diamond dust?”

“A water receptacle, a jug, barrel, bowel, anything will do. We are going to have to bury the item to prevent someone from running off with it, but that should be the Prime Minister’s problem. It would be better if the Prime Minister provided me with a container that could can be sealed so he can stop the flow of water.”

Baron Nord nodded and handed four small bags to Sid; “Here is the diamond dust, I will go talk to the Prime Minister about securing the water receptacles you need. I assume you want them to be of the finest quality?”

“Yes, the better quality, the longer the rune will last.”

Baron Nord escorted the pair to his mansion and called a servant over to show the two to their room.

Private Albert asked; “I don’t understand why the water receptacles need to be of the finest quality, isn’t magic just magic?”

“Yes, it is, and you are right the magic will work on almost anything, but the higher quality the better the chance of it lasting. In this case I wanted to make sure that the items were of high quality, so the customer wouldn’t feel disappointed. Besides, do you want to be carrying around a mundane looking magic sword, or a jeweled sword that is made of high-grade steel and looks like a real magic item?”

“Ah, I see, yes you are right the sword that looks magical is more intimidating then a normal sword. You appear to know a lot about Humanity, Sir Sid.”

“I have traveled among humans before and I have had a few human friends, also a few from the other races.”

“Oh, I thought you were alone in the far north?”

“Not so far, and humanity has spread to all over the world. They have been on my doorstep for quite a while. I have made…accommodations…with them. I even had a few human suppliers, that is until they turned on me.”

“Turned on you how?”

“Let’s just say they dropped some trouble on my doorstep and I had to handle them.”

“Handle them, how did you handle them?”

“What would you do to someone who you thought was a friend, who betrayed you and lead highway men to your door.”

“You know the answer to that, you helped me hang the highway men, that you caught.”

“And you didn’t think twice about sentencing them to death, did you?”

“I had no choice, it is the king’s law. But, Sir Sid you could have taken them to court and made them pay that way.”

“There are no courts where I live, and besides I didn’t expect a friendly ear.”

That evening Baron Nord brought four well-made pewter jugs home so that Sid could get to work. Again, he asked if he could watch, but Sid just growled at him and went to his room to work, accompanied by Albert. Three days later he came out early in the morning and produced the ensorcelled jugs.

“How do they work?” the Baron inquired.

“It’s quite simple, the jugs have a wax plug in them and when the plug is pulled they start the water flowing. You need to tell the Prime Minister that he needs to install the jugs in a fountain with excellent drainage since the water will flow constantly, at least until the wax plugs are put back in.”

“Will any plugs do?”

“No, they have to be wax plugs, identical to the ones that are in the jugs now. Anything else will be forced out by the flowing water. I assume that you don’t want the jugs to get stopped up easily, was I correct?”

“Yes, I am sure that is what the Prime Minister wants, I’ll be sure to tell him that he needs to save the wax plugs in case he wants to stop the fountains.”

The baron paused for a moment, and continued; “If you don’t mind, what type of caster are you Sir Sid? I know you enchanted my sword and you enchanted the jugs, yet only priests and druids are able to cast create water and only mages are able to cast magic weapon, so which one are you?”

“It is true, that there are casters who stick to one type of magic. However, you don’t know about rune magic, and you don’t know about all the possible casters. There are some who can handle priestly magic and mage type spells. They are rare, so I assume you don’t know about them, but they do exist. You will have to trust me on this or consult with a more learned mage.” Sid responded.

“Actually, I did consult with a scholarly wizard and she told me that such casters are almost always elderly. You look like you are in your early 40s, far too young to be such a caster.”

“’A’. as the Captain told you I am not human, I am only appearing human. ‘B.’ if you wanted to know that you only had to ask me. ‘C.’ No, I am not in my 40s, I am far older, but as a member of my race I am an adult and that is all that you need to know.”

“Actually, I need to know what species you are before I can offer you the meeting with the Prime Minister.”

“So, you had me enchant the water jugs before, you told me this. If I was a mere human I would be quite angry with you and I would do something rash, like take your life.” Sid angerly stared Baron Nord down.

“Wow, Sir Sid, there needs to be no talk of violence.”

“That’s why I said, IF I were a mere human. You are not speaking for the Prime Minister, you are just ‘fishing’ for information. I know this tactic. You negotiate from a position of weakness my dear Baron. Should I tell the Prime Minister how rude you were to me?”

“No, please don’t. Yes, I was fishing for information, you can’t blame me. The Prime Minister wants those new fountains badly and he was unable to get them for as cheap as you are offering them. He needs 10 more, can you handle that?”

“That was not in our deal.”

“No, it is not, but can we make a new deal? Please, the kingdom needs those new fountains and the priest’s prices for them are outrageous.”

“Yes, I am sure they are, but I side-stepped the kind of magic the priests are talking about using.” That’s why I am able to do it cheaper. I am also drawing on other powers that the priests and your king don’t know about.”

“And what powers are those?”

“When I agreed to do the work for you, I had Private Albert do a little research, talking with your staff. You were a bit of a magic caster yourself, weren’t you? But, you family had you quit your preistly studies when your elder brother died, and you became the heir. It is amazing the information you can pick up by talking to the so called lower classes.”

“Well yes, you are correct, and I didn’t know that you knew about my history.” Baron Nord chuckled.

“I know far more than you can imagine dear Baron, and I also know how to keep a secret. Like how you are having an affair with the upstairs maid.”

“What!” The baron and Albert exclaimed almost at once.

“You have very thin walls in this mansion, and I have very good ears.”

“But the walls are one-foot thick stone!”

“Yes, as I said, you have thin walls. Now take me to my meeting with the Prime Minister and I will keep my mouth shut. Fail to do so, and I will mention this morsel of information to your mother and to the upstairs maid’s parents.”

“No! You can’t do that, I will be ruined.”

“Oh, it is worse than that. The family will want you to marry the girl and your mother will be embarrassed by them. She will forbid the marriage, holding your bachelorhood out for a higher ranked liaison, but the girl’s family will not be quitting, not when they have a chance to be lifted out of poverty on the back of their daughter. So, don’t we have a meeting to attend?”

“How do you know all of this?”

“I have employed a smart advisor.” The dragon said as he glanced at Albert.

Albert smiled but remained quiet. He could see the estimation of him go up in the Baron’s eyes. Now he was finally being taken seriously. This mission was great, not only had he got his vision cleared up, but he had impressed Sir Sid with his information gathering and he had been following Sir Sid as he cast the rune magic on the jugs. Albert now felt he could do the spells himself and that would be quite profitable.

“Yes, I will take you to that meeting right now, just follow me.” The baron was definitely shocked by this information.”

The baron called his coach and took himself, Albert, and Sid to the office of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister didn’t make them wait long and he was quite pleased to get the four endless flowing water jugs. “I am impressed in how quickly you were able to enchant these. I have talked to the clerics and they told me it would take a week per jug and their prices are outrageous. Did Baron Nord tell you that I need 10 more of those jugs?”

“Yes, and unfortunately I cannot do that at this time. I need to talk to your king, I need to get certain favors from him and I need to get back to my people and my life. After that I am willing to discuss enchanting more water jugs for you, but I will not do so while the sword is hanging above my head.”

“What sword are you taking about?”

“The sword of destruction, which your kingdom is holding over my head and my people. Now, take me in to see you king please.”

“Very well, I will take you in to court, but you say you will consider my offer after your meeting?”

“Yes, I am in need of funds and I can do it for three-quarters of the price that the clerics are holding over your head, and I can enchant all 10 in a week’s time. NOW, let’s go see your king.” Sid put some extra emphasis on the last sentence.

Chapter 4: We are off to see the wizard, or the king, or somebody.

The Prime Minister had his guards escort himself and Sid to the court. Albert followed, but when the guards were ready to enter the royal court, they put a hand up to stop Albert from continuing. Sid turned and said; “No, he is with me. He has been with me for most of this journey, he has given me some good advice and I want him to be with me now when I talk to the king.”

The guards looked at the Prime Minister and he nodded to them. They then allowed the Private to continue. They passed through a great hall and Sid and Albert was impressed with the artwork and the gold work on the baseboards, ceiling decorations and crown molding that ran along the celling. Their heads kept swinging from side to side in awe as they took it all in. At the end of the great hall were a pair of huge doors, also chased in gold, with gold door handles, that the guards opene. The pair strode in, followed by the Prime Minister.

The throne room was some long enough to hold Sidarthiamal and several of his siblings and tall enough for him to stand on his hindquarters. with three arched domes towering overhead, the largest over the kings, head. The domes had windows in them and were decorated with frescos. On the sides of the great room were, large windows with stained glass, the images showing a man in golden plate mail fighting various foes. The whole room was built on a scale to dwarf a human. The room was crowded with various courters and the red carpet from the anteroom continued to the base of the throne; a large structure made of iron, highlighted with gold. As soon as Sid entered the throne room his face fell. Not by the size of the room, or the occupants inside, or rather because of one occupant.

The guards announced him; “The Prime Minister and Sir Sid of the Northern Provinces, and his guard.”

The king was seated on the massive throne. He stood up and said; “What is that thing doing here?”

Sidarthiamal, gave a shallow bow and said; “Forgive me your majesty I was not aware of the true nature of the situation. I will leave now.”

“Why have you come to see me. You paid for an audience, so you shall have your audience.” The king spoke in a very angry tone.

“I suspect that you know exactly why I am here. You sent your men against me.”

“I did not…or rather I didn’t know you were the one.” The King responded.

“Well, I am the one.”

“And of my men?”

“They are all dead, but the cost was quite high.”

“You look to be sound.”

“Oh, not me, although I was slightly injured, your men killed a lot of my people.”

“Call them what they are, they are lizardfolk. Disgusting lizardfolk.”

“They are not disgusting, they are merely different, but then your kind would just kill them without a qualm.”

“Oh, don’t pretend you are high and mighty. You use them for your own needs, and little more.”

“And you don’t use your own people for your own good as well?”

“That is different I serve my people.”

“Yes, you serve your people and they conveniently protect you. “

“So, are you here to seek revenge on me?”

“Actually, I was thinking of usurping you.”

“Usurp me, how dare you!”

“I said, I was thinking about it. I have since changed my mind about the subject.”

“So, what do you plan on doing now?”

“Well, appealing to your better nature is out, so how about we make a deal, your Prime Minister said he is having trouble procuring water sources for your kingdom.”

“So, you want to bargain for your life?”

“No, I don’t want to make a bargain with you, I know you won’t keep it.”

“What! Why you slimy red. In this kingdom my word is law!”

“Then why do you have a Prime Minister?”

“Even kings need advisors.”

“Yes, I have my own priests for that.”

“Bah, lizardfolk, of what use are they?”

“The fact that I am standing here, tells you what use they are. I was asleep when your men so rudely interrupted.”

“So, what of my knights that I sent after you?”

“You know what happened or I wouldn’t be standing here.”

One man clad; in full plate took two steps forward and started to draw his sword; “My sister was leading that group of knights!”

“What, so you seek revenge on me, how will that bring her back or how will it save the court.”

“You dare threaten my court?!” The king yelled.

“No, I dare defend myself, just as I did when that knight’s sister came and slaughtered my people! As he is threatening to do to me now. Do you think I am going to stand here and be attacked without defending myself? And I am sorry if my attack destroys half your court room and the people in it.”

The king said; “Sir, Henry, pause a moment. “

Sid continued; “I would survive, you would survive, but would the ladies in waiting, would the royal advisors, the Royal Wizard and the Prime Minister?”

“Then I demand…”

“I am here first to demand my own rights.” With that he stomped on the marble surface, spoke a few words in true speech and made a motion with his hand. Suddenly the marble surface flowed over him and he became a creature of marble. “I will not let you make-sport of killing me in front of your friends, so you can claim your honor is avenged. You sister came across us in the early morning. She did not announce herself, she did not try to speak or bargain. She simply barged in with her troops and slaughtered over half my people. They bought me time to wake up and I responded quickly, before the rest of my people were killed. Your sister attacked me and yes, she sorely hurt me. Her troops showed no fear and died in battle. Is that not the kind of death you warriors sing songs about?”

“Why you…” Sir Henry drew a foot of his sword.

Then suddenly the king was next to him, laying his hand on the man’s sword arm and said; “He has a bit of a point, about who would survive a battle in here. And he could have tried to repay us by attacking us in our sleep or coming at night when our guard is down. This thing is reprehensible, yet he chose to come in broad daylight and before the court. Let’s at least her him out.”

Sir Henry grunted an affirmative and sheathed his sword; “I am watching you.” He warned.

“Sir Henry wait a moment, could you detect for evil on this gentleman?” The High Druid stepped forward.

Sir Henry drew his sword, slowly; “I am not threatening you.” His eyes blazed with a yellow light as he pulled his sword into the guard position.

“I see the fires of self-interest and greed, which we all know is strong in his kind.” He peered closely; “Strange, I only see the fires of self-interest, I see greed and I see rage. I do not sense the fires of evil that normally dwell in his kind.”

The High Druid said; “We may have misjudged this creature. Have you scanned him closely Sir Henry?”

“I have indeed, and I am surprised.” Sir Henry responded. “I am still aggrieved, he has slaughtered my kin and he should pay for it!”

Sir Henry stepped forward and put his sword into the attack position.

Albert stepped in front of Sid; “Sir Henry you do not know this man’s story. You do not know what he has done, and he has come here to ask for the king’s protection.”

Sid said; “If I wanted to kill you, then I would already have attacked.”

Sir Henry swung around to be in front of the king and took two more steps toward Sid. Albert moved to intercept him; “You do not know what Sir Sid has done for me or for the kingdom!”

The king said; “What exactly has this Sid done to help you and the kingdom?”

“My vision was cloudy, and he cleared it up. We were ambushed by highway men and he took them on single handed. When Sargent Bernard stuck him, Sir Sid could have killed him, but he didn’t.”

“So, we should grant him mercy because he granted mercy to some guardsman?” Sir Henry said.

The king said; “We have granted mercy for less, and he did mention the highway men. Boy, how many highway men were there?”

“Five your highness.”

“Don’t call this man boy, he is in my service and his name is Private Albert.” Sid stormed.

“He is my subject and he is in my service.” The king responded.

“Okay, maybe I have only rented him, but he is still in my service and when you talk to him you will do so with respect.” Sid growled.

The king queried; “Why do you care about his title, it is not much of a title?”

Sid said in a menacing tone; “I care because he is in my service, because he is one of the few humans who haven’t attacked me on sight, and because he is worthy of respect. To expect respect, you must first grant it, no?”

“No, you must first EARN it.” Sir Henry said.

Sid responded; “So, your men respect you because of your great deeds, or do they respect you because of how you treat them?”

Sir Henry had to pause to consider; “A little of both, I expect.”

The High Druid stepped forward again; “Do you have to beat your men to prove yourself to them? Or do you instead treat them with respect so that they in turn treat you with respect?”

“I do not beat my men.” Sir Henry turned on the High Druid.

“So, you treat them with respect?”

“Of course, I do.”

“Then would it be too hard for you to give respect to Private Albert?” The Druid asked Sir Henry.

“But, I was not the one who called him ‘boy’.”

“No, you were not. I was, and I understand the High Druid’s point, to get respect you must be willing to give it.” The king said. “Private Albert, I apologize.”

Sir Henry bristled; “That still leaves, this pile of trash before us.”

Sid growled; “Are you sure you want to do this here?”

Sir Henry looked around and then stared at Sid; “You wouldn’t dare!”

Sid said, in a menacing tone; “Think about it, and think carefully.”

The king said; “He may have a point, maybe we should try this in private?”

“No, how, no way; I am not going to go to a private room where you can slaughter me!”

Sir Henry yelled; “It is not you that should fear being slaughtered, it is us!”

“Oh, and what have I done to threaten you? Drawn my sword? Sent people into my bedroom while I was asleep to kill me? Or do you have some other plans I don’t know about?”

The king said; “I promise that you are safe in our company. I will neither raise err… a hand, foot or breath to harm you. If we go talk with my council in private.”

Sid thought for a moment then said; “I too also will not raise a hand or foot or breath against you for the next 24 hours.” He then dismissed the earth elemental he had summoned around him. It flowed into the marble floor and returned to from whence it came.

“For the next 24 hours, then. Please, let us adjourn.” The king motioned to his left.

The court moved, some people went in the direction the king had pointed, but most went toward the anteroom. Sid and Albert headed off to join the smaller crowd.

Sir Henry motioned at Albert; “Not him.”

“Why not?”

“He is just a guardsman and we may talk about secret information.”

“Then who is better to trust than a guardsman? He will accompany me, I insist.”

The Druid said; “Are you sure you want to reveal your secrets to this Private, Master Sid?”

“I am sure, I will have to trust that he will judge me based on my actions, not my appearance.”

The Druid said; “I can’t speak for the king though; Sir Henry is right we might discuss something secret. Desecration is paramount.”

The king said; “I think Sir Sid wants a witness, so we don’t all gang up on him. Let the Private accompany us, if it will keep him happy. However, I will swear you to secrecy Private Albert. Everything you hear or see in this conference is secret and you cannot even tell you kin about it. Do you so swear?”

Albert considered the question; “Yes, sir I do so swear.”

“Then you may accompany us.”

The wizard sealed the door magically, behind the group and they all took a seat at the table. Sid stood at the foot of the table. Albert by his left side, and step behind.”

The king sat at the head of the table, opposite of Sid; “So why should we discuss?”

“You know damn well, what we should discuss. Namely, your invasion of MY home, your slaughter of MY people and your attempted slaughter of ME!”

Sir Henry shouted; “What did you do with my sister?”

The Druid spoke; “Sir Henry control yourself. You know the answer will not be good, or Master Sid wouldn’t be here. I told your highness that we should not have gone after this, ugh, guy, without him coming after us first.”

“And wait for him to rampage all over our lands!”

“Like I am rampaging right now, I bet.” Sid said sardonically.”

The king said; “Sir Henry calm yourself, Sir Sid has chosen to come to use in peace, even after we attacked him, so we should at least hear what he has to say.”

“I regret that I had to kill your sister. But, as I said, she struck me first and she hurt me, and her and her men killed many of my people. What do you want me to say; that I ate her?”

Sir Henry grabbed his sword, stood up and made to draw it. The king said, when I told Sir Sid that no harm would come to him, I also meant that no harm would come to him from my people. Sir Sid, did you not also promise to not hurt my people for 24 hours?”

“Yes, I did your highness.”

“Then please stop turning the blade. We acknowledge that we attacked you, and it may have been unprovoked. I am willing to give you that much. Now will both you Sir Sid and Sir Henry please take your seats.”

Sir Henry sat, but Sid glowered with anger and refused to sit.

“I am Father Denton and I and not sure of exactly what is going on here, could you please enlighten me Sir Sid.”

Sidarthiamal said; “Let me show you, Private Albert please stand back.” With that he transformed into his true form.

As a very large dragon appeared in the room, filling his end of the room both Father Denton and Albert gave a small shout of surprise. Poor Albert was pushed to the side and rear of the room and trapped between the dragon’s bulk and the wall.

Sidarthiamal turned to Albert and asked him; “Does this change your opinion about me?”

Albert was clearly shocked and, and slid out from behind the dragon, taking the time to stop and think for a minute; “I am not sure, Sir Sid. You did me a great service, you did the king a great service with the highway men, but you are a red dragon!”

“So what shocks you the most, that I am a dragon or that I am a red dragon?”

Albert considered for another moment; “I have been told that all red dragons are cruel heartless monsters.”

“Have I been a cruel heartless monster in your presence?”

“I can’t say your true nature did not shock me, but no you have not been a cruel heartless monster. At least not since I have known you. In fact, when you had a reason to attack the Sergeant, you delayed until he struck you first and drew blood.”

Sid said; “So what did I do to your kingdom to prove that I was a heartless monster?”

The Druid said; “I have to give that one to you Sir Sid, we may have been wrong about that, and on behalf of the kingdom I apologize.”

Sir Henry said; “You don’t apologize on my behalf. I for one am only sorry that my sister is dead.”

The Wizard looked at the king; “What do you feel about this, your majesty.”

“I confess that I am not sure. I know I have been taught that all red dragons are cruel heartless monsters. That was the only reason why I authorized the mission against him. I did not realize he was quite so large though.”

“Large Sidarthiamal said, I am confined by the space in this room. My real form is a bit larger. As it is I feel a bit cramped in here.”

The Druid said; “Then by all means return to your human form.”

“Why are you afraid I am going to breathe and kill you all?”

Sir Henry said; “You won’t kill all of us.”

“No, I would singe you, the wizard and the Father here may not survive, I fear the Prime Minster would not make it either, but your king would be hardly damaged, wouldn’t you, your highness.”

The Druid said; “And that covers the secret we were talking about, a secret that you Sir Sid appear to know all about.”

“I knew about it the moment I stepped into the room and smelled her.”

The entire group, except for Sid and Albert shuddered.

Father Denton said; “So, you know all of our secrets.”

“I don’t know her age.”

“Four-hundred and thirty-two, how about yours.”

“Nine-hundred and fifty some odd years.

A shocked Albert said; “Four-hundred and thirty-two! You mean the king is a dragon?”

“Bam, and now you know the secret, we were discussing.” The Druid said.

“Oh, there is more. The king is not a king, but a queen.” Sid responded.

The shocked expression on Albert’s face remained, and he pulled out a chair; “I think I need to sit down.”

“Go ahead and show us, your highness.”

The king looked up toward the ceiling and then transformed into a large gold dragon.

Albert stared at the dragon in shock.

“So, why do you pass as a male, and a human as well?”

“I pass, because the people are not ready to be ruled by a dragon, or a queen. They are quite backward in that manner.”

“So, what shall we do with you.” The Prime Minster asked.

The High Wizard said; “Imagine all that we can learn, your highness. His depth of knowledge must be intense.”

Sir Henry stood, if you will excuse me, I don’t wish to continue talking to this dragon.”

Sidarthiamal transformed back into a human and let Sir Henry step by him. The High Wizard motioned to the door to unlock it and allowed Sir Henry to leave. After Henry left he motioned again to restore the magical lock.

“So, what are we going to do about the red dragon in the room?” The king asked.

The Wizard said; “I think we should table any future assaults on the red dragon.”

“Agreed said the king, any who oppose?” The rest of the table sat quietly.

That is until Father Denton spoke; “I believe the one with the greatest objection has already left the room.”

Albert rose; “Do you think that Sir Henry might go after Sir Sid’s people?”

Father Denton said; “It might be possible. I wouldn’t like to think ill of the boy, but you did kill his sister Sir Sid.”

The king transformed into a human with a flash; “We will have to handle this discussion later, go protect your people, and please don’t hurt Sir Henry too bad.”

The High Druid said I will go with him, in case there is any trouble.”

Sid moved to the door and turned to face the wizard; “If you don’t mind?”

The Wizard motioned and motioned again removing the magical lock and swinging the door open.

Sid stormed out; “Druid, you keep up, you too Private Albert I may need your advice.”

The High Druid whispered; “Sir Sid is not going to want to waste time, or take horses, you and I are in for a treat my boy! Have you ever flown on the back of a dragon?”

Albert was struck speechless, but he hurried off to catch up.

Chapter 5: Adventuring we will go!

Sir Henry was in front of his patrol riding hard down the north road. He had told the guards to be quite about his leaving, he could be sure they wouldn’t tell the king, not at least until he had time to do the deed. Suddenly, overhead there came a rushing sound. Sir Henry pulled his horse up short just as a massive shape crashed into the road in front of him. The red dragon had to crash because the road was too narrow for his bulk. As he landed the High Druid, on his back, cast a spell. The road suddenly sprouted vines wrapping around the legs of the horses of the patrol. The Sid let out a roar that shook the forest, and used his dragon fear. The horses screamed in terror. Most of the men and women of the patrol were too shocked by dragon fear to even speak.

Sir Henry shook with rage, the dragon was bigger than he had imagined, but even the mighty must fall. He dismounted his steed, who unlike the others stood unnaturally steady, but he too struggled to free himself from the vines that entangled him. Sir Henry struggled through the vines, venting his rage, drawing his sword and slashing at them. The Druid and Albert slid off the dragon’s back and came around each side of him. Sid simply stood and waited.

When Sir Henry, finally cleared the edge of the vines he screamed a challenge, called upon his holy might and held his sword out in front of him as he charged straight for the Sid.

The Sid reached out with both claws. The first claw took the hit of the sword and grabbed it, as it bit into his hand. The second claw grabbed the knight and lifted him up off the ground. Sir Henry struggled, but he was disarmed and brought up to eye level with the red dragon. The dragon took Henry’s sword and shoved it hilt deep into the road.

The Druid came around and said; “Challenge given, and accepted Sir Henry. You are disarmed and defeated. Does the dragon have to use his fire breath on your or should he simply bite off your head?”

Sir Henry screamed and tried to break the dragon’s grip, but he was unable. Sid simply gripped harder, his claws piercing the knight’s armor and drawing blood. The knight screamed again, this time in pain.

“Do you still struggle futilely?” The Druid asked. “That is three times he could have killed you.”

Sir Henry said; “Arguuuh, just kill me you damn dragon, so I can join my sister!”

The dragon squeezed harder and Sir Henry lost consciousness. He came to with the Druid and Albert standing over him, and the dragon’s claw resting on his chest.

“Did you, did you… heal me?” He asked the Druid.

The High Druid shook his head; “It isn’t my fight. To the victor belong the spoils.”

The Sid said; “That’s right Sir Henry, you owe your life to me. Now do I have to take it, or will you put an end to this blood debt?”

Sir Henry screamed in rage and then went limp. The dragon released him, and Sir Henry rose, then dropped to his knees; “Finish me then.”

“And what good would that do me? Would your death stop the humans from coming after me? Would your death balance the deaths I caused or the deaths you and your sister caused?”

“I am defeated, what more do you want?”

Albert said; “Haven’t you listened to one-word Sir Sid has said, he wants to end this war. The whole reason he came to court was to end this!”

Sir Henry said; “I renounce my blood debt upon you and your people. Are you happy!”

“No, the dragon stated; “I want you to do me a favor in return.”

Sir Henry looked up; “What favor do you want of me.”

“I was angry when I was attacked, without cause and betrayed by people I had trusted. I want you to repair that damage.”

“How can I repair what a dragon can’t undo.”

“You can go to Barthmal, by yourself. You can then talk to the blacksmith and have him repair your armor. While, you are awaiting him you can go to the house of a recent widow there. The wife of a sheep herder. You will know her by the hole in the roof of her house.” Sid grabbed some grasses and wove a necklace. He then let the magical energies flow into his claw and into the necklace. He then dipped the necklace into the pool of his own blood, that had dripped from his injured claw. He then used his magical energies again and healed the wound.

“Give her this necklace and tell her to be wiser in her next choice for a husband. As long as she wears it she will be thought of as more beautiful than any woman 10 years her junior. Tell her to pick a husband who does not beat her and who can help her manage the herd.”

Sir Henry asked; “What did you make? For her, I can’t give her anything that is cursed.”

“I made a magic necklace, and no it is not cursed.”

Private Albert said; “He used a magic rune, I am not familiar with it, but from what Sir Sid said it must be the rune of beauty. Then lacking diamond dust, he dipped it in something more valuable, his own blood, so that the enchantment will hold. You are a man of magic and experience, look at the item yourself and identify it.”

“I fear that I am not that powerful.” Sir Henry replied.

The High Druid muttered a spell; “The boy speaks the truth. I do not know what rune magic is, but I can identify what magic is involved. I don’t know the exact spells he used, but he did not use a curse spell, that I would be able to determine.”

Sir Henry stood up and took the necklace from the dragon; “So be it.”

The High Druid dismissed his spell and the vines receded. He then then cast another spell and a dire mountain lion came out of the woods to stand meekly on the road; “I will accompany him to make sure he does what he promises, and I will visit your people Sir Sid and I will try to befriend them.”

The dragon rumbled; “Very well, Sir Henry will have a map to my lair. Ask for Joqaz the head cleric in lizardfolk tongue and my people will accept you. Don’t bring Sir Henry with you when you go to my lair, do feel free to ride the mountain lion there, it will give my people pause. I also want to see that map when you are done.”

“Why?” Private Albert asked; “There are bound to be other copies of it.”

“Because, I plan on changing the landmarks, so the maps won’t work anymore.”

“Of course!” The High Druid exclaimed, I am not thinking like a dragon thinks. “I can do a few things on my part to obscure the trail, but you have to know that people will be searching for your lair and will in time find it.”

“Yes, and maybe in that time I will have worked out a deal with your leader. You did know ‘his’ secret, didn’t you?”

The High Druid responded; “I know it, but only because of ‘his’ wizard. I know animals. However, please don’t announce ‘his’ secret here. Sir Henry’s men don’t know it.”

Sid said; “I understand. Albert climb aboard we are going back to the capital. I won’t be able to land until nightfall though. So, prepare to spend some time in the clouds.”

The High Druid climbed aboard the mountain lion and ordered Sir Henry’s patrol to return to the capital. He then said; “Well, you have the map Sir Henry so lead on. How long before we should be at the village?

“A few days.” Sir Henry groaned in pain as he mounted his horse.

“You can at least get the blacksmith to start work on your armor when we arrive.” He and Henry then rode off north.

Albert climbed back aboard the dragon and said; “I am ready Sir Sid.”

The dragon took off, heading south. Albert yelled out; “I am flying!”

That night, when it was dark enough, Sid landed outside of the capital and, accompanied by Albert, he started toward the castle, telling the guards; “I believe his majesty will want to see me, and you can tell him that the High Druid stayed behind to accompany Sir Henry. He was mildly hurt and is on a mission to repair a roof.”

Father Denton meet the pair as they walked into the castle; “The High Wizard asks for your time and invites you both to dinner. The king has retired to think about your situation. He says he will see you tomorrow, because he wants to talk to you more. We discussed your situation after you left, and his majesty was hopeful that the two of you could come to a suitable agreement.” He then escorted the pair to the wizard’s tower.

Sir Sid grunted his agreement.

Father Denton noticed the huge smile on Albert’s face; “Did you get to ride a dragon?”

“Yes, and it was the most fun I have ever had!”

“Appreciate it, it is a rare event. I myself have been so honored only once, and that was because my life was at stake.”

“What happened?” The eager Private asked.

“We were adventuring, when I was a younger man, and were attacked by giant scorpions. I was stung several times and dying. I don’t know where she came from, but a local dragon found me and took me to a church and left me on the doorstep there. The dragon knocked on the door, so the priests knew that someone needed aid. They helped me, saved my life, and I have been indebted to that dragon ever since.” Father Denton placed his finger against his pursed lips; “We must not speak of this though.”

Understanding dawned on the young man and he nodded his head quietly.

Father Denton continued; “Follow me the king has ordered quarters set up for you in the Wizard’s tower. If you are not too tired Sir Sid the Wizard would like to talk with you. He has many questions for you.”

Sid sighed; “I could spend a few hours with him, provided I am fed first.”

Father Denton chuckled; “We have a feast laid out for the two of you, don’t worry. Can I ask what happened?”

“I caught up with Sir Henry, he challenged me, I stopped his men, he charged, and I disarmed him. Then we talked, and he agreed to do a favor for me.” Sid said.

“I am sure it was more complex than that.”

“Well, it might have been, but that is for Sir Henry to tell you. I know how to keep secrets and his defeat is something that he may not wish to discuss.”

“He survived at least, the king will be pleased.”

“Yes, he survived, but his armor will need some repair before he can fight again.”

It was Father Denton’s turn to sigh; “Sometimes, the young must pay a price for their hotheadedness. If that price is only his armor, then he escaped cheaply. Was he injured badly?”

“Not seriously, I healed him a little, and the High Druid was there to attend him. Now, forgive my rudeness, but my belly is rumbling. I traveled a long distance in a short time and returned, and I need to quench those fires of hunger.”

“Indeed, I can understand how your great effort costs you. The wizard has a table set for you in his tower, and luckily it is a short one, so it is not a great climb. Do you want the Private to accompany you?”

“That is up to Private Albert. If I know wizards though the discussion will be boring for most people. You do not have to attend Private Albert.”

“Thank-you Sir Sid, I would like to monitor the talks. I am pretty sure that the wizard is going to ask you about rune casting and now that my vision is clear I can actually see the runes you are carving I could learn a few things from such a discussion. That is, if you are willing to share.”

“You are right Private Albert he probably will want me to teach him a few runes. If you can profit from the discussion, then I see no reason why you can’t come along. Now Father Denton let’s pick up the pace, before the rumblings in my stomach wakes your people.”

Chapter 6: Let’s just sleep on it.

The discussion with the wizard went long into the night and after going over a few runes it got into a discussion of the history of those runes and their makers. At some point Albert excused himself and staggered off to find a guard to show him to the room, that had been prepared for him, to get some sleep.

The next morning the king had a formal invitation sent for Sir Sid and Albert. He had a banquet laid out and eagerly awaited the pleasure of Sir Sid’s company.

Sid arrived, escorted by a page, to the dining hall. At one end sat the King, with his royal court arrayed around him. At the other end of the long table a whole cow had been barbecued and laid out. There were various bowls of sauces and flagons of ale and mead.

Sid approached the table and noticed that Albert had already taken a seat at the table near to his end. He said; “I hope this is for me, I have not eaten a full meal in a while. What the High Wizard had for me last night barely quenched my appetite.”

The Wizard looked surprised; “I had not meant to be rude Sir Sid.”

“No, you were not rude, you just don’t understand the hunger of my kind, especially since I had been asleep for a long while, before my encounter with this court’s knights. When I awaken I eat a lot. When I was traveling with Private Albert I was eating with a hunger like a human, so the meals were too small for me. The feast you put forward for me went a good way to making up that gap, but I had worked hard that night and I had an empty stomach when I started my journey.”

The king laughed; “I know a little something about your hunger. As such I had the chief prepare us our own meals, that barbecued cow is just for you.”

Sid bowed deeply and took his seat; “I thank-you your majesty, you must have studied under the tutelage of the High Wizard intensively to know so much about dragons.”

“And how was your discussion with the Wizard?”

“It was illuminating, for me, but not as much for him I fear. I showed him a few runes, but I was not able to tell him much about the people who created the runes, or their culture. I only know that they passed on a long time ago and came from a place far across the sea. I am but a provincial dragon, not educated at court or in a library, or school. I have made a study of the northlands, where I live, the flora and fauna as well as the inhabitants, but I know little about the outside world. What I do know came to me through various friends I met in Barthmal, and those friends were few and far between.”

The king asked; “Did you visit the town often?”

“Only once in a while, I had to shift forms and am a little uncomfortable in this form.” He looked down and pointed with his hands at his human form and his robe.

Father Denton said; “You have mentioned several times that you have people who work for you. Can I ask, what kind of people?”

“They are a breed of lizardfolk and they have been in my service for over 400 years. I am almost a demigod to them. Although, they have their own gods that they worship.”

“I thought lizardfolk lived in swamps?” A nobleman stated.

“Most do, or so I am told. I am a provincial dragon and have not had the occasion to meet many lizardfolk. The ones who live with me are shorter than humans, have thicker scales, and fur growing from between their scales. I am not sure if they are a natural breed or were constructed by the experiments of some wizard long ago.” Sid said between bites of barbecued cow. “They are still cold, so I have to make a deal to get them wool to make blankets for them, so they can sleep comfortably. They hunt deer and elk and wear clothing made out of their hides. They heat the cave with fire, using some chimneys carved into the rock itself.

“Do you know much of Melnda of the North?”

“The Lady of the North? I have never met her myself, but we have exchanged envoys and threats. She is more interested in protecting her territory and her folk.”

“Oh, I did not know she had any folk serving her? Who are they?” The king inquired.

“From my understanding she has a few bugbears and some trolls. Not the giant green ones that live in the south, but a shorter breed called ice trolls.” Sid said between mouthfuls.

“Have you seen these ice trolls.” The wizard asked.

“No, not personally, I have never been that deep into her territory, and the ice trolls don’t come down from the mountains. I have only gotten reports from my people who visited her on my behalf. I had them create a few trinkets for her and I enchanted them. Minor magic items, but still something of value. Apparently, she did not appreciate my offers though. She was most rude to my envoy and returned his head, she ate the body. The group that accompanied my envoy brought his head back and told me that she was quite angry that I had approached her at all. She still kept the magic items though. I haven’t had the need or desire to talk with her or her people since.”

The king said; “She sounds unreasonable, almost feral.”

Sid said; “You are wise, from the reports I have gotten about her feral is a good description of her.”

The servants brought in more food for the rest of the court and they dug into their breakfast, allowing Sid the chance to eat in peace. Albert ate his full and was amazed that there was still a lot of food left over. He had never seen so much food in one place in his life. What was even more amazing was how much the King and Sid were putting away. A lot of the nobles gathered around the table were fat and they ate to support it, but the King was still fit and thin, even though he appeared to eat a lot. Then of course Albert realized that he, or rather she, was eating for a dragon.

When the rest of the court had finished their meal, Sid was still eating his. The King stood up; “No, no the rest of you carry on. I am retiring to my office for some paperwork. This kingdom does not run itself. Sir Sid when you finish please ask the guard to show you the way to my office and we can go into discussions in private.”

“There are a few hours left on our promises, so I would like to talk with you. I have seen a lot in my short time here and feel deprived in my isolated lair in the north. If possible, I would like to extend our arraignment.”

“That pleases me.” The king said as he left.

Sid said; “Excuse me.” He quickly transformed into his natural form and opened his mouth wide to devour the rest of the cow. His tongue quickly lapped up the contents of the sauce bowls and then he transformed into his human form and left.

The court nobles were shocked. They did not know who Sid actually was, until he transformed in front of the general court.

Sid motioned to a guard to lead him away, as the rest of the court sat in stunned surprise.

The guard had been warned of Sid’s true nature, she led Sid down a long hall into the King’s office. The office was paneled in teak wood and two walls were filled with bookshelves, that in turn were filled with books. The King sat behind a great desk of oak with its outlines chased in gold. He was writing on some papers and recording some numbers in a ledger when Sid entered the room. The guard nodded to him and she left, closing the door behind her.

As the guard left, the king asked; “What do you think of my office?”

“It is quite grand, I have not seen its equal.”

“It’s trash, and just for show. Oh, I get some real work done here, but the main purpose of the office is that it leads to my private chambers behind me. Take a seat in that chair and I will be with you in a moment.” The King then went back to work with his scribbling.

After a few minutes he finished. Sid had taken a seat in one of the offered chairs, but he was not very comfortable sitting in his human form. It was an unusual posture for him and the cushioning on the chair was deep. He couldn’t help ogling the office, the books made an impression on him.

The king stood and said; “Please, follow me, but before you do please bar the outer door.” Sid bared the door and turned to see the King pull out a platinum key and unlock the door behind him. The king then went into the area behind his office.

Sid followed and came across an unexpected sight. The sky was sunny, the grasslands rolled out in front of him and a stone cliff stretched to either side of him. The king had transformed into her normal form and sat on the grasslands quietly waiting for Sid. In the distance cows mooed as they grazed.

Sid transformed into his natural form and stretched; “I admit I find your castle a little confining.”

“So, do I, that’s why I had the wizard build me this. It’s a pocket plane with only one entry.” She motioned to the left at the squat stone tower. “We built that tower by hand, well I used my hands, the wizard used earth elementals and spells. We used gorgon blood in the mortar mix and in the plaster on the inner wall. It prevents scrying, even though no one knows about this place, except for the inner court.”

She then went to the tower and motioned. As she did so, the huge door on the tower opened. It was large enough for the King to enter without having to duck her head. Sid had to duck to enter, but surprisingly enough there was plenty of room on the inside. The tower had been built flush with the cliff and the inner chamber lead to a cavern inside the cliff wall.

The gold dragon went to a huge bed and laid down; “We have plenty of time here. Time passes differently in this plane, here one day equals one hour on the outside. I often come here to sleep and to do work. Then I make my appearance at court. It gives the illusion that I don’t sleep and am always available. The people know that there is some magic behind this, and it comforts them.”

“So, why the disguise?”

“You mean why don’t I tell my people that they are ruled by a dragon? Or do you mean my disguise as the king instead of a queen?”

“Both actually.”

“Well, the reasons should be clear. Humans don’t like to be thought of as being ruled by unnatural beings and a dragon is by definition, in their eyes, unnatural. I masquerade as human for this reason. Originally, I was an adventurer with my inner courts as my comrades in arms. They knew my true nature and in society I passed as a human girl.”

“So, why the change?”

“Male pigheadedness, of course. Males don’t like to ruled by women and they don’t respect women, even after a woman has beaten them. Sir Henry was shocked and offended to learn both of my secrets, even though we broke it to him gently. We have much to discuss. Do you enjoy what civilization offers?”

“I haven’t seen a lot of it, but what I have seen I like. I must confess that I don’t like some of the people I have met though.”

“Pigheaded males, aren’t they?”

“Yes, the likes of Sir Henry and Sergeant Bernard have proven to be as pigheaded as you described.”

“So, you see the reason for my various ruses. But, I have other things to discuss, like what do you plan for the future. Surely, you are not satisfied confined to the northern wastes.”

“That is my home, and I, and my people, have spent a lot of time there. I am not sure if I should change that.”

“Okay, then let’s approach this in a different manner; have you ever mated?”

“When I was young, I was too frightened, and I never tried to mate with a human. My people are similar to us, and it was possible to mate with them. The direct results were pleasurable, but the long-term results were not.”

“Ah, you mean the children?”

“Yes, they were hot headed and prideful, far beyond their station. I thought to be able to breed dragon blood into the blood of my people, but my offspring seemed to mule out. Most of them lived short violent lives.”

“I have had the same results when I mated with humans. Dragon blood runs too hot in the veins of a mortal. It makes them rash, hard to train, and very willful.” But, have you ever mated with a dragon?”

“No, I have not had the pleasure. One of the reasons I tried to approach the Lady of the North was with a possible mating in mind.”

“You are the first dragon I have met. I was sold as an egg and hatched in a land far off from here. My early life was spent as a pet and a slave. When I grew too big to be a pet… I left the court. Eventually, I became an adventurer on my own. I wasn’t very good at it. Then I met the High Druid and his friends. I saved Father Denton and returned to the High Druid. We formed an adventuring company. Eventually, we were successful. I spent most of my time as a human, and kept my true nature concealed. A few times we “summoned” a dragon and that was impressive. Time came to pass, and we decided to retire and build our own kingdom. We moved north and established ourselves. We attracted some followers and our court grew.”

“If we mate, there is no telling what the eggs will be; they could be red, or they could be gold. Are you prepared to face that?”

“Your presence here proves that it is more in nurture than nature. A gold dragon would be the preferred result, but a red can be raised right, raised with care and to revere life. In that case I wouldn’t mind having a red dragon for a son.”

“I would want to be involved in the child’s rearing. My father may have been an old goat, but he did spend time with us and he loved us in his own way. I treasure the time I spent with my parents.”

“You could help raise the children, as could the members of my court. I would like that, but there are other things besides the enjoyable prospect of mating and the children that could be produced.”

“Oh, what do you have in mind?”

“Private Albert has his chain of command, and the nobles have their chain of command. It narrows on me, but I am not the head of it. It was not always this way, but things change.”

“I am but a provincial dragon, I do not know much about the greater world. Why would a king have to answer to anyone?”

“Because the goal is to survive and to survive you must grow. We grew, and we attracted attention, soon it became the wrong kind of attention. Another ruler was building an empire and he gave me a pointed invitation to join it or to become a member by force.”

“Did you ‘summon’ the dragon and use that to impress him?”

“Yes, and it impressed him, so he mounted a larger army and made his proposal again. I had just come off a war with a neighbor and was over extended. I took the Emperor up on his kind offer.”

“So, you are… what a state?”

“Yes, and I have an obligation to the Emperor. In return he offers protection and trade. If I had another dragon to offer him, one to impress him and to occasionally serve him, then I would be in a stronger position.”

“So, what do you want to do with me? Do you want to absorb me and my people?”

“Absorb, no, I could never ask one such as you to serve me, I would rather have you as another state, an allied state. I could even give you that village near where you live.”

“I must ponder on this, a state, a potential mating, children, and an introduction to a wider world. What I fail to see is what I can offer in return? I mean besides myself.”

“Yes, you are the major asset. We could send some advisors to work with your people, to improve not just their lives, but your own as well. But, you would be the major asset. Especially, for the immediate future.”

“I fear that I don’t have much to bring to the table on my part. I am but a provincial dragon.”

“We should discuss this more, but have you seen the opera before?”

“No, I have not. I have heard a little about it from a bard I once entertained.”

“Good, then which would you prefer a comedy or a tragedy?”

“I have had enough tragedy in my life, a comedy would be preferable.”

“Good then come lie with me, and we can give you some time to ponder your decision. In the meantime, I will extend my promise. I will neither use claw, nor wing, nor bite, nor spell, nor breath against you while you are here in the capital.”

“I recognize the ancient oath; I will in turn will neither use claw, nor wing, nor bite, nor spell, nor breath against you, while I am in your company. I will lie with you and I will think about your delightful proposal. I will need time though and some exposure to the delights of your capital.”

“Good, then when we finish you will no longer be a provincial dragon.”

“Oh, don’t be so quick to dismiss that title, you have traveled the world more than I have.”

“Okay, we will table that idea for now, let’s do something more enjoyable.”

For a while the two enjoyed each other’s company and afterwards they relaxed.”

As the gold dragon woke, Sid was still sleeping. He had traveled long and hard to catch up with Sir Henry and on his travels before he got to the capital. When Sid finally woke he noticed that the gold dragon was not there. He stretched, looked around and headed outside. There he saw the gold dragon resting next to her tower and watching the cattle graze.

“I am surprised that the cows are so calm.”

“That’s because I only hunt them as a human. I have worked for years to get them to accept me as a dragon. It helped that I am not so large, and I wasn’t so large, to them, back when I first established this herd. Frankly, they have it pretty good, not predators, except for the occasional ‘human’, and no other pressures on them. The sun is always out, the grass is always green, and it is always summer here.”

“How often do you feed on them?”

“I try to keep it discreet and only feed on them once in a few of their months. I try to keep my feedings to match their population growth, so we have a stable herd. Don’t forget they live at a different rate. So, I need to be careful in how often I come here to feed.”

“So, what does your Emperor require of you?”

“An annual tithe, a draw on my forces for his army, and the occasional appearance of the gold dragon that I can ‘summon’. Or rather that my High Wizard can summon.”

“So, what would I be required to give?”

“We can be easy on you. Eventually, I would like some help, but first we need to build you up. A little investment will make your neck of the woods more profitable. We can send some people to train your lizardfolk in manufacturing crafted goods; beyond the simple trinkets. We can also teach your people how to farm….”

“I don’t think they would like that.”

“Then we can teach them to herd sheep or cattle. Would they object to that?”

“No, I think not. They see the value of leather and wool as well as well as the value of their meat. I think they might have trouble doing the herding and then having to give some of their profits to your people.”

“The business model must be built, and that requires me to invest in your people. Surely, they understand that nothing in the world is free?”

“They understand it, but they are tribal and almost all property is communally held. Each family has its own clay pots and clothing, but all the weapons, the bedding, the few metal items they have is all held by the tribe as a whole.”

“Ah, I studied that system; it is called socialism and is not a very efficient system.”

“How so?”

“There is no incentive to do more, because you won’t get rewarded for it. For example; one of your lizardfolk hunts the game and another cooks the game and serves it to the people. There is no incentive to hunt more game or to cook more food than the tribe needs.”

“They live off the land and so are limited by what the land offers. They feel that they don’t need to hunt more than the tribe needs because it would be wasted.”

“And what happens in times of famine?”

“We range further, or we starve.”

“WE are you saying if your people starve, you starve as well?’

“I take advantage of my people, but I don’t take a heavy advantage of them. I am a provider and I will hunt for the tribe, if necessary, because I can range further, and I can kill bigger game.”

“Ah, so you take care of your people.”

“Of course, don’t you take care of your people?”

“I lead them, and my staff and my people take care of my people, but yes, in the final analysis I am responsible for all that happens in my kingdom. So, yes I take care of my people or rather I am head of the system that takes care of them.”

The gold dragon continued; “Maybe my example was a bad one. Let’s say your people created arrows. They could create just enough arrows for the tribe, and the arrows that they create all belong to the tribe. Under capitalism, they would create the arrows, have an incentive to create more than the tribe needs, because they can sell those surplus arrows. They can send them south to markets where they are sold and then they have profits that they can use to buy a new bow, or even a composite bow, or a new forge to make creating metal weapons easier.”

“That is true, and that sounds good, but wouldn’t they then be slaves?”

“Currently they are slaves to you and the tribe. Under a capitalistic system they would be paid for their work and they would be able to use that money to buy whatever they want or need. They would be free to go to a different job or even to leave your tribe. Of course, the system works better for humans since there are more of them and they can travel between kingdoms seeking the best job, and the best conditions for them.”

“Sounds like a lot of work for the people to do.”

“Yes, there is a lot of work involved, but that builds a work ethic, and it builds a surplus of goods which can be traded in times of need. It also creates a stronger people, with more equipment, access to more resources and of course more money.”

“And money translates to loot. I might have some trouble persuading my people about this.”

“I can send advisors to help with that, starting with the High Druid. He could instruct them in a few things and work it so that they are in harmony with nature. Then later we could send in advisors on how to expand your cave network, how to mine it for valuable minerals and how to improve their lot in life. You do want to see your people’s life improve, don’t you?”

“I do, but I don’t want them to lose their traditions and their identity. They will be resistant to change.”

“We can take our time with this. After all you have a long life ahead of you, so you can afford to take the long view and the long road.”

“And what about Barthmal?”

“Oh, it is a small town, with little output. I can give it up easily, with the intent that you develop the town and make it into a major city.”

“And what about Melenda, the white dragon to the north?”

“Well she is almost feral, you agreed with me on that. She can be left alone for now, but she will have to be handled. We will have to send an expedition against her sooner or later.”

“I don’t like the idea of us hunting one of our own kind.”

“She is a white dragon and we are gold and red, she is not of our kind.”

“Oh, but she is. How many dragons have you seen around here?”

“You know the answer to that, dragons are few and far between. If we breed, we can change that.”

“True, that is one of the things that I am considering.”

“Considering, so what is delaying your conclusion?”

“I am not sure of all the ramifications of a liaison with you. I would spend a lot of time traveling between my lair and your kingdom’s capital. I would have to serve two masters, and that is never easy.”

“As far as the transport time, we can send the High Wizard to your lair and he can create a teleport gate that opens into the capital. And as far as the two masters; aren’t you master of your people?”

“You know the answer to that, if you rule, you serve. You are responsible for what your people do and what happens to them.”

“And your second master?”

“You are being kind to me but face it you want to “absorb” me and my people into your kingdom.”

“Better me than my Emperor, or someone else, besides I already own Barthmal, adding your lands would be a small rise in my total square footage of land that I control.”

“Small for you, but quite large for me. In fact, it is all the land that I control.”

“Well, take your time and consider it.”

“I will. Now what is this comedy you have for me?”

Sid attended the show with the King, both in human form, and they both enjoyed it.

Sid returned, and the king turned him over to a palace servant who showed him to a room, next to the room where Albert was staying.

Sid went into his room, sat on the bed and thought for a minute. Then he went next door and knocked on the door to Albert’s room. Albert answered; “What can I do for you Sir Sid?”

“I need someone to talk to, you don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course, not Sir Sid, please come in and have a seat. What do you want to discuss?”

“The situation of humans and the kingdom. The king wants to give me the village of Barthmal and then train my people to work better so they can create manufactured goods and make a profit. The problem with that is I see this as slavery, and I don’t want to enslave my people.”

“Under what conditions do your people work for you?”

“They bring me food from time to time, they sing, which I enjoy, and they often come to me asking for advice.”

“They don’t work for you every day, except for the guard posted in front. He protects the tribe and I.”

“No.”

“Do they work all the time?”

“They work when they need to, which is typically only from time to time.”

“What do they do?”

“We trade for sheep, so they have to create trinkets for trade; charms, weapons and such that are sold in the local bar. Then in between all that they are hunter gathers; which means they roam the forest and the surrounding area looking for food. That can vary from apples to nuts, to insects, to game, it depends on the season and what is available.”

“So, they are lazy and only work when they want to?”

“I wouldn’t call them lazy, more like they work when they are motivated, and needed. Otherwise they sleep and lounge around the lair. It saves energy. Unlike, you humans when a reptile rests they consume less energy. So, they can for a longer period of time without eating. This comes in handy during the winter, when most of us sleep in.”

“I work an 8-hour shit, with a half-hour off for lunch. Then I go home and help mom cook dinner, after dinner I clean the dishes and we both clean the house. We go to sleep, get up in the morning she cooks breakfast, I clean up afterwards and we start it all over again. That happens each and every day.”

“I didn’t realize that you humans were so industrious.”

“Why do you think your people are not?”

“We take it easy around the lair. Of course, we have guards posted all day and all night, but inside the lair we tend to work in intervals. We work when we need food, when we have to defend ourselves, and when we need to make weapons, clothing or bedding.”

“You wear clothing?”

“No.”

“Do you use bedding or weapons.”

“No, I don’t need any of those.”

“Humans are very different from reptiles. I assume you, in your natural form, are reptilish.”

“Actually, we are our own race, species and genus. We may look like reptiles, since we have scaly skin, but we are closer to the dinosaurs and even that is not a close analog.”

“I confess that I don’t know much about dragons. This trip has opened my mind to a lot.”

“It still doesn’t answer my question, is the King offering me slavery for me and my people?”

“It is not slavery, but a faster life style. What has the King offered you?”

“The list is long and complex. She wants to mate, she wants to train my people, so they can produce goods and money. She wants me to join her kingdom and appear as part of her forces to the Emperor.”

“She wants to mate! That is a huge subject! What will the children be like, I mean, I assume they will be eggs, but what color will they be?”

“We won’t know going in, they could be red, or they could be gold. They won’t be of mixed blood though; not red/gold dragons and not of any other colors.”

“So, what is going to happen if they are red?”

“Well as you have seen, by dealing with me, I may be a provincial dragon, but I am not a heartless cruel monster.”

“No, Sir Sid you are not. Was your mother or your father?”

“I don’t know for sure. Mom treated us well. Dad was a bit rough, but you could tell that both loved us, all of us. Now as far as what problems the humans had with my parents, I don’t know. My parents could have been bloody raiders or nice citizens. I don’t know since we didn’t go far from her lair. I do know that she warned of us the humans and the chance that they would come to attack us. She said that several times, and one day she proved to be right. We had an invasion of humans, they attacked our mother and she fought with them and covered our escape. As I have said, I came back years later and found her bones bleaching in the sun. Many of her smaller bones had been taken, probably to be used to create magical items and weapons.”

“What about your father?”

“I don’t know. He could have fought, to defend us, he could have run away or some combination of the two. I just don’t know, and I probably will never know.”

“My father is out of the picture as well. When I was ten he died, and it has been my mother and me ever since. My mother had a hard life. She was an adventurer and she earned money, but she had to work hard for it. When she retired she married one of her adventuring partners and they had me. She was late in life to have a child and is now elderly. She is unable to do a lot of the housework, so she relies on me to do it for her.”

“I am sorry Private Albert, but at least you still have your mother.”

“Yes, I can be thankful for that, but I know it won’t be for much longer.”

“Humans do live short lives, I am sorry about that.”

“Dragons live long lives, but I bet the thought of losing your mother still hurts today, even though it was over 900 years ago.”

“You are correct in that. Time dulls the pain, but it is still sharp, and it always will be.”

“Do you love your people like you loved your parents and your siblings?”

“That is a hard question, but basically, no. I have strong feelings for them, but to me they are more like children and I don’t mean my own children, but I could say the same thing about you and humanity.”

“Yes, I guess to you we live the life of mayflies.”

“Ah, but even in that short time you burn brighter. You humans are industrious and do a lot. Look how much your people have spread.”

“So, your lizardfolk are not as industrious as humans. You need to explain that to the king, so she won’t expect a lot from them. They are going to be resistant to change, even if it is you that is bringing it to them. If it was a society of humans, then they would be more industrious and more like what the king is used to dealing with. Your people are unique, and she will have to learn that they live life at a slower pace. So, to answer your original question; the King is not offering you slavery, it sounds more like a partnership. Although there is little doubt that you will be the junior partner.”

Albert and Sid talked for a while and then Sid dismissed himself and went to bed. The next day the King summoned him for a private conference. Sid went, and he explained his reservations to the king; “You know I don’t even know your name?”

“Helsonattick, call me Helson for short.”

“How does your court refer to you?”

“To the inner court I am Hel or Helson. To the others I am Helson, and to the common people I am the Eternal King, plain and simple. It makes things easier if they don’t know my real name.”

“That is true, names have powers and I only tell my real name to my closest people. I want to be one of your closest friends, so I will tell you my true name; Sidarthiamal.”

“Thank-you for that, now what do you see as your position around here?”

“That’s complex. I don’t want to usurp your position or your rulership, but I do feel that if my children are to be raised here, that I should have some say in what happens here. Therefore, I would like to be a member of your inner council of advisors. Not head, and not junior, but an equal member.”

“That can be done, there will be some objections raised, but I can handle that.”

“What do you want to do with the rest of my ideas?”

“I thank-you for Barthmal, I will encourage them, that your advisors are to work there to improve their lot in life and their production capability. As for my lizardfolk though I don’t want to put a lot of pressure on them. Humans, by nature seem to be more industrious than my people. My people have other strengths, but they are a little backward in some respects, and they live life at a slower pace. I will admit that, and I will honor their ideas and their ways. That means I will encourage that they accept the help and assistance of your advisors, but I will not require it. I don’t want to force them into things that they don’t want to do though. I also have reservations about including them in your military or in your service for the Emperor. Frankly, few people know that they even exist, and the fewer that do, they safer they are. They are not comfortable around humans and I don’t want to push that. I also don’t want to force humans into contact with my people. I say let the two exist in a separate peace.”

“Well, I regret hearing that. I would like more productive members in my kingdom, but that is not a requirement. I will like annexing your lands though. You know your people best, so I will not push you on your decision. As for your membership in my advisor council, you will be treated as a junior member by the others, I have no control over that. I will ask for your advice and honor it, but it may be harder to get the others to agree to it. Remember, they have been with me for years, we have literally spilt blood for each other. They are going to humor you, because they trust me, but they are not going to respect you. You will need to do something about that on your own.”

I have an idea about that. Namely, you can present yourself to the Emperor as a red dragon who will fight on his side. As a real red dragon, you would be an immense force, a boon to morale, and a great component of his troops. You can perform aerial recon, you can cast spells, you can enchant weapons, and your presence at a meeting would be invaluable.”

“Yea, I could dominate a meeting for the Emperor, and for you. Having a red dragon at your beck and call would be great. But, remember I am not a great fighter, I haven’t fought in any wars, and I haven’t adventured like you have, I am a provincial dragon. My biggest contribution to the Emperor would be my mere presence. We will have to make that clear to the Emperor.”

“Are you sure about that, it will devalue your contributions to the Emperor. We could lie to him and say you are a very dangerous scoundrel.”

“That would work great, until that scoundrel came forward to claim his title. Because if we use the name of a scoundrel, he or she will likely hear about it. If we invent a scoundrel, what is to stop someone from coming forward and claiming that they are that person. Then finally, there is the fact that a bluff can be called, and I am not prepared to go into a duel with a human or fight a great wizard, or any of those things that an adventurer does. If I claim to be able to do this stuff, there are too many people who would be willing to step forward and challenge me about it. I am willing to take some risks, but only those risks I am willing to back.”

“I understand your reservations, but I can train you.”

“Yes, and your advisors can help with the training, but that will be a lot of work and it will take some time.”

“I am glad you admit that. It will go over easier with my advisors if they get to train you first. That will show them you are humble enough to accept their expertise, and you are willing to learn.

As for the Emperor, he will be happy to have a larger contribution from me. Maybe I can get him to cut down a little on the tithe I have to pay him.

Now, on to an important topic, what about the children?”

“That is a very complex issue. Your advisors will accept it, but your court may have problems and your common folk will have problems as well. I suggest that we mate in your pocket plane and we raise the children there. Then when they are old enough to transform into humans we can take them out and introduce them at court as your heirs. I am afraid you will have to decide the line of succession yourself. I am going to help raise the children, but I am not going to interfere with your rule or make decisions about who takes over afterwards. Frankly, I don’t plan on dying for a long time. I also don’t want to come between you and your friends, nor do I want to spoil what you have going here.

You probably won’t die, but the Eternal King might die. He is only human and if he lives longer than a human lifespan then people are going to talk. I don’t know what they are going to think about a king who has lived too long. They might look upon you as the Eternal King and long lived, or they might start rumbles that could lead to future problems. Have you considered this?”

“No, I have not. I have been king for only a decade, so it is not long enough for much discontent to set in, but in the future, this could become an issue. This is something to bring up to the inner court. Frankly, some of them might want to take over as ruler themselves. We were adventurers together and when we did that we were all equal. I was the logical one to take over rulership of the kingdom we founded, but I am not the only one who wanted the role.”

“Then we need to have a meeting of your inner council and propose that you and I are going to mate with the intention of producing eggs. Then we need to tell them about your line of succession. I don’t know how you are going to handle that. You will have to work it out with them and frankly, that is not going to be a meeting I want to sit in on.”

“You are right we need to talk about my succession and we need to do it without you present. Then we need to talk about your place in my kingdom, then about the children, and then about your place in the empire.”

“I am wondering how you plan on handling that. I wish you luck. I need to return to my people. If you want to set up a teleport ring, then talk to your High Wizard and he can set it up. I also need to get Private Albert back to his town and his people. Remember I am only renting him.”

“Do you like your Private?”

“He stood by me, when he knew what I really was. That speaks highly of the man and yes, I like him. He knows more of humanity than I do, and he has been a good teacher to me.”

“Then I will talk to his captain and have him assigned to your guard. If you want he can be the head of your guard.”

“That is a generous offer, I thank you, but he is not well trained in his guard duty, putting him above other guards with more training would not be fair. I should like him to be made into my personal advisor and released from his duty as a guard. Your advisors can give him the training he needs to be an administrator and he can then serve me in that capacity. As for the head of my personal guard, wouldn’t it be better if such a person came from Barthmal or elsewhere from your kingdom? Perhaps one selected by Sir Henry.”

“What? You know that Henry would put a spy in your ranks, and you would allow him to name the head of your detail, why?”

“Sir Henry would try to enlist a spy into my ranks no matter what we do, the rest of your court would support that idea. It is better that I know who his spy is, and it is better that I have one who is well trained. Sir Henry’s honor would not allow him to choose a lesser person for me. He would be forced to provide the best person to guard me. Yes, that person would be a spy, and yes, his loyalty would be torn, but he would be a known quantity.”

“It will be your fiefdom, so I will let you make decisions. Albert looks a little old to be a low ranked guard. Did he have a prior job?”

“That was his first training. His first training was as a wizard. His eyes weren’t good enough to read well and the fools in his town never diagnosed his condition. I think he travels the path of the warrior now.”

“You know that there is a different path; one that utilizes weapons and magic?”

“No, I was not aware of that. If such a path is available, then I will ask Private Albert if he wants to pursue it.”

“Why do you always use his full name? Isn’t it cumbersome?”

“It is cumbersome, but it is proper. I call him by his full name as a sign of respect.”

“I see, you are keen on respect, aren’t you?”

“I have to admit that I haven’t gotten a lot of it myself. Oh, sure my people respect me, but few humans do. Even the first dragon I knew about didn’t respect me. I have revealed my true nature to only a few humans in Barthmal, before coming here. When I acted as a human in Barthmal I usually was a visitor to the shops and taverns and passed myself off as a ranger, who traveled in the area. When I talked with the Melenda the Dragon of the North; it was through intermediaries. I never met her in person, and she was not interested in meeting me. She was most rude to my ambassadors and still I tried to set up a relationship with her. Her final response was to kill my ambassador, eat him in front of his staff and guards and send them and his head back to me. This ‘subtle clue’ let me know that she wanted nothing to do with me.”

“SUBTLE, I say that is a reason to go to war!”

“With what forces, and why? I don’t want her cold mountains and I don’t want to waste the blood of my people in killing hers. For that matter, I don’t especially want to kill her people.”

“But, she is a problem, I mean she prevents further exploration north, she raids caravans, so they have to detour around her lands, she is hunting wider looking for more loot. She is a growing problem. And eventually she will come into conflict with you and your lands, and then me and my lands.”

“Not to me, we have an understanding. She knows I am susceptible to her powers, and she is susceptible to mine. I live in an area that she doesn’t need, and she lives in an area that I don’t want to go. So, for now, at least, we have a truce. I proposed a mating with her, and she clearly got angry at the prospect and rebuffed me. I don’t know if that means she has her own mate or her own lovers, or what. I declined to investigate further and let her be. So far, she has let me be. I play each day as it comes and right now, we are at peace.”

“I see, she is going to be a problem for the future. Once we start expanding your town, she will come calling or raiding, or even send her people.”

“Let’s fall off that bridge when we come to it. Right now, I think the bigger issue is our potential mating and what will happen with you and your tithe to the Emperor.”

“Let’s start with the fun stuff. We can leave the hard stuff for tomorrow.”

With that they retired to Helson’s private plane.

The next day the council assembled to weigh on the decision on what to do with Sid, the mating and the problems that Sid’s presence proposed. They discussed, and the discussions did not go well. No one was sure what the drag on the meeting was. They dissolved late in the afternoon with little resolved.

Later that night Hel and Sid slept together and talked; “I don’t know what the hitch is, they whole group didn’t seem happy with the idea of you and I getting together, and the succession was also unpopular.”

“I wasn’t going to do this, but maybe I should speak to them and put their unease at rest.”

“Do you think you can do that.”

“No, I am not sure, it is a wild guess, and I am may be on dangerous ground here.”

“What do you mean dangerous ground?”

“Well, frankly your people have no reason to trust me. That means they might be afraid that I hold sway over you and I am influencing your decision.”

“They should know me better than that.”

“Well, hormones are powerful and so is the mating drive. I know it is powerful in dragons. Is it powerful in humans?”

“I could write books about it, yes, it is very powerful in humans.”

Sidarthiamal pondered for the rest of the night, and the following day. He transferred into his human form and took out his bow and went hunting among Helson’s cattle. He scored a juicy cow and brought it back for him to share with Helson.

Later, they returned to the normal world. It was night and Helson returned to her human form and went to sit on the throne. As the Eternal King, he was almost always available.

That night Sidarthiamal returned to his assigned chambers and laid down. He thought about talking with Albert, but the poor boy was probably asleep.

That next day Sidarthiamal rose and came to see the Helson; “Is your privy court meeting yet?“

“No, we got a few hours. I think they are catching breakfast.”

“Why don’t we join them?”

“Sure, I could always use a little more food. I am a growing creature.” He chuckled, as he rose and took the arm of Sid and went to the royal banquet hall.

The High Wizard, and Father Denton were eating, along with the Prime Minster, and her general. As his majesty came in they moved to rise; “No, my friends, keep your seats.”

“Are we?”

“Are you what?”

“Are we still friends?”

“By the blood we spilled, of course you are my friends. You are also my court and my advisors.”

“What about him.”

The king looked at Sid and said; “He is his own ruler, I plan on annexing his kingdom, but I don’t plan on changing his rule. I don’t plain on changing things too much. We talked, and caution is the best way go.

Would you be willing to listen to Sir Sid, he would like to talk to the council?”

“Ah… are you sure. We don’t want him interfering into our decisions. I mean all due apologies to Sir Sid.”

Sid laughed; “You, still see me as the raving mother killing monster. I want to talk to you and put your minds to rest.” He looked at the rest of the people in the room. “I would feel more freedom talking about this behind closed doors though. Some of the topics might be sensitive.”

Father Denton sighed in relief; “I guess you will never live down the color of your skin. I apologize if we have judged you harshly. We would be honored to hear you speak.”

Sid joined the inner court behind closed doors; “First let me thank-you for hearing me speak.

I think I may have put you all off. First by my true nature and second by Helson’s request to mate with me. This is going to be a group decision. I don’t want to make it seem like I am trying to wedge myself into your group. My primary concern is Helson and the possible children.

I could go off with Helson and we could mate without your consent. I don’t plan on doing that. You are her family. She looks upon you as more than her court advisors. If we are going to mate then we are going to make a change, possible a big change in your lives, as well as your court. We don’t want to take this step without your approval.”

Father Denton said; “You mean you actually won’t mate with Helson if we disapprove?”

“Yes, would you mate if your mother disapproved of your mate?”

Father Denton looked uncomfortable; “Well, I have counseled some couples to do exactly that.”

“What about if the father also disapproved.”

Father Denton continued; “I am afraid that young love still holds true and some parents are not willing to let they children make a mistake with their lives, but they are in love and see no other option but to run off so they can be together,”

“Forgive me, I am a provincial dragon, so I am not sure about humans. Look you are probably worried that I am going to marry Helson and try to horn my way into your council…”

The General spoke up; “But, isn’t that exactly what you want to do.”

“This is getting hard. Yes, I want a position on your council because I want a say in what happens to the children. I have no intention of telling you how to run your kingdom though. Frankly, I am looking at you all for a little advice on how to rule my smaller kingdom. We are also going to need your help in rearing the children and Helson wants me to server the Emperor as part of her tithe, so I am going to need some training..”

The Prime Minster hesitantly spoke up; “You mean you want our help in raising the children, don’t you want to do it yourselves.”

Sid chuckled; “Let me tell you how we handled my brother, he was a bit of a bully and started picking on all of us. That is until I held him down and my sister knocked him senseless. Do you think I want to set that example with my children?”

Father Denton said; “We all raise our children differently, the importance is for the parents to be involved, and for the church to be involved. And there is an old saying; it takes a village to raise a child.”

“I have seen how my people raise their children, and mother would not approve. The young are coddled and the infirm are cared for. Do you want me to raise my children where survival of the fittest and the strongest is the primary rule?”

The Prime Minister spoke next; “I did not realize your childhood was so… demanding.”

“It was, and more so. Mother and Father were not kind people. I have seen kindness among my people and I want my children to know kindness.” He looked at Father Denton.

Sid looked at the Wizard and said; “I want them to know the secrets of magic as well. Not, just the act, but the art and the theory. Doesn’t any parent want things to be better for their children?”

He looked at the Prime Minster; “I also want them to lead with a level head. Have no false hopes raising them will be difficult and will take the work of many people. And they will try to rise to the top of whatever group they go into. We need to direct their energy and remember any mistakes we make will not just be ours, but they will be around far longer than you and your children will be.

Make no mistake Helson and I want them raised right, and with the core values of civilization. Some of those values are a bit foreign to me, but I have seen them in my people and here in you all.”

The wizard asked; “What values are those that you seek.”

Sid responded; “I think you know, honor, good judgement, well considered decisions, and kindness, care for the sick and infirm. Dragons are not known for carrying for the sick. We tend to be in small groups and we can recover from almost any injury. But, if we are injured beyond our capacity to recover then we die. We have no one and nowhere to turn to, so we die. Existence as a dragon can be brutal.

Then add to it the hunger of humans. Dragon blood is valuable, and rarer than gold. Dragon bones can be formed into weapons and dragon hide can be made into armor. What’s more every dragon has a horde, and who knows what riches can be found there. Because of that we are a rare race, and my children will have to face that. Or rather I should say OUR children will have to face that.”

Father Denton spoke up; “OUR children, so you really want us to help?”

“Do you feel comfortable with ME setting their boundaries? Do you want ME to be the last word in disciplining the children?”

The High Wizard sighed; “We are going to have to discuss this.”

“And you want to do it in private. I understand. Just let me make my case and I will leave. We are not going forward without you, without your consent, without your help, without your approval. Hopefully, that will alleviate some of your concerns. Before I leave do you have any more?”

The Prime Minster asked; “You brought up the issue of succession, who would take over after Helson. What are your thoughts on that?”

“I am not going to take over for Helson. I am not going to masquerade as her consort and her queen. I am going to be introduced to the people as a king who works under the Eternal King. I will have my own kingdom to rule and control. I will be concentrating on that. It is none of my business telling you how to rule your kingdom. But, may I ask one question?”

Helson sat silently during the whole process, observing not just Sid, but her advisors as well.

The Prime Minster said; “So, far what you have said has carried great weight with me, I would be willing to hear more from you.”

“Thank-you. How did you decide to let Helson take charge of the kingdom?”

The Prime Minster said; “It was a group decision. It was decided that she would be the strongest and most able to rule.”

“But it was decided by the group, by you all. Just like all of your important decisions. I see no reason to change that. I would like to add my voice to yours, but I would like it to be a voice equal to your own. I have no plans on siding with Helson against you or trying to influence how she runs the government. My chief concern is the children and their upbringing. If you want, I will excuse myself from other decisions.”

The Wizard said; “Thank-you for that Sir Sid, but you are both dragons and blood is thicker than water.”

“She is a gold dragon and I am a red dragon. Those are two subspecies that are opposed to each other. That fact that we get along is because I am not your typical red dragon. Nor do I suspect Helson is your typical gold dragon. She told me that she was sold as an egg and raised as a pet. She has spent her entire life around humans, humans are her people. She is attracted to me, because she knows that she can bear children who have a good chance to survive. However, you can’t change her upbringing, she is more human than dragon. Just as I am more than a little lizardfolk.”

The Prime Minister spoke; “Thank-you Sir Sid, you have addressed a few of my concerns. We need to discuss more though, we need to talk about this succession thing.”

“Then maybe you should suspend the talks on that matter until the High Druid and Sir Henry return, then you will have a full quorum.”

“Sir Henry is not kindly disposed toward you.”

“I killed his sister, I killed his friends, I captured him and defeated him in battle, and I had the extreme nerve to let him survive. Then I stuck him with a denigrating task. No, I think kindly disposed is the farthest thing from his mind. I think that there is a very good chance that I have a blood enemy on my hands.”

Helson, finally, spoke; “And what will you do about that Sir Sid?”

“I will live with it. He has his honor and his code. That is not going to let him betray us. I have to trust in his honor, his friendship with you, and his loyalty to your kingdom that he will not betray us. If I am officially a member of this council then his honor will not let him kill me, or even challenge me.”

Helson continued; “It won’t stop him from voting against you out of spite.”

“No, it won’t, but does he usually let his emotions rule, or does he use his mind?”

Helson spoke; “He has a cool head, when he decides to use it. If he can get around his hatred against you, then he will decide on any decisions toward you fairly.”

“I have time, and patience. I can wait for that day to dawn. That is as long as you guide him in that direction.”

Helson said; “He is an old friend, whose council I value, he is an important member of this council.”

“Then as a reward tell him he can oversee the raising of the children. Who knows one may want to pursue his path of being a knight.”

The Prime Minster spoke; “And you would allow this? Wouldn’t he or she then make it their mission to destroy your kind?”

“Allow! I will hardly have the ability to allow my offspring to do something. They will demand it! Dragons are not coddled, and they are not told that they can’t do something, when they want to. If Sir Henry is able to kindle the fire of desire for one or all of them to be knights, then neither I, nor Helson, nor you and the whole place guard won’t be able to change their minds. That’s why I want yourselves to provide the good examples and the guidance, so they are tempted to go down a good path of life.”

Helson said; “Thank-you Sir Sid. We need to talk some more, and you are right, after you leave I will propose that we suspend the decision on the succession until Sir Henry and the High Druid return.”

Sidarthiamal bowed, turned and left the room.

Later that night Sidarthiamal and Helson talked; “You really moved the council. They agreed to table the motion for succession and they agreed that you had some good points. They have consented to make you a member of the Inner Council.”

“A voting member.”

“There were some reservations on that issue, but yes a voting member. There is one catch, they reserve the right to overrule you in decisions that are solely in the domain of the kingdom and they reserve the right to keep you out of the line of succession.”

“I have no problem with that. I will now have to work on getting acceptance from Sir Henry.”

Chapter 7: How to gently cook and serve dragon eggs.

It took months for the dragons to finish consummating their relationship, but eventually Helson was blessed with children. She started eating more, and they had to import some more cattle and goats.

Sir Henry was angry when he found out that Sir Sid was on the council. He made sure to seat himself opposite of Sid at each meeting and spent the majority of the meeting glaring at him. To his credit though he didn’t object to things that Sid said in the meetings. Sid made sure that he mostly listened and that he only spoke on matters relating to himself, Heslon or the children. Henry also made a habit of following Sid around the castle grounds. Sid humored him.

The wizard set up a teleport circle inside the castle and linked it to one that he set up in the woods between Barthmal and Sid’s cave.

Sidarthiamal returned to his lair and, with the help of the High Druid, he changed the hills and some of the trees in the forest on the path to his lair. Sidarthiamal made sure that Sir Henry’s map would no longer be valid.

Barthmal wasn’t too happy with being given to Sidarthiamal. Sir Henry presented it to them that:

A. They would be taken over eventually, and the Red Dragon would be better than the Lady of the North.

B. Kolariana could help the town expand and develop. They would rebuild the church, they had already repaired the roof that the dragon had damaged.

C. They would not have to worry about being attacked or raided by anyone. Not if they had a dragon on call to defend the town.

That seemed to calm the people down and they accepted that Sid would be in charge, but there was still

some resentment. Sir Henry said he could smell it in the people. Sid said; “People don’t like change. They have lived in fear of me for many a year, and suddenly one night I attacked. So, yes, we are facing an uphill battle converting the people of Barthmal to our side. This is going to be the case for quite a while, maybe even a generation or two. But, I can wait them out.

Sir Henry marveled; “I am not used to thinking in terms of generations. You haven’t asked about our decision on succession, aren’t you curious or has Helson already told you?”

“Yes, I am curious, no, Helson has not told me, and you should not use that name outside of the council chambers. Succession doesn’t matter to me. It will be one of you, or you children and they will be in charge. My position will always be junior to your king or queen.”

“And your pride doesn’t revolt against it?”

“Does yours?”

“No, I have served the king for quite a while. Do you know how we met?”

“No, we have not discussed it.”

“I was a young squire on a mission to recover a holy relic. I was split from my group and they came across a basilisk, they didn’t survive. I was wounded and had no access to any healing. I could smell the breath of the basilisk. I had no idea where it was, but I knew I wouldn’t have long to live. It was hunting me through a maze of ruins and I was slowly limping along, unable to out distance it.

With hope fading, I closed my eyes and prayed. Suddenly, I heard the sounds of combat. I heard a fireball go off and shouts of victory.

I took a chance and called out for help.

Helson, as she was known then, responded, her group followed. She bent down and used her magic to heal me. I thought she was a priest.

I joined the group, but there was something in the air, something hidden. I have a talent for reading people and I knew that they all were hiding something from me. I confronted the group on that a week later and Helson revealed her true nature to me. I swore on my life to keep her secret. I stumbled a moment ago, I haven’t spoken her true name in public. Could you forgive me for that?”

“It is a secret that we will share, I won’t tell anyone about your slip.”

“I thank-you for that Sir Sid.”

“You know I have noticed you in council. Those looks are like daggers at my heart.”

“You killed my sister, and my friends.”

“Yes, and I can’t take that back. But, remember they broke into my home and had just slayed many of my people. My reaction was instinctive, violent, and sudden. The battle was over before I knew who I was fighting. Your sister called upon the strength of your god and she tried to slay me with it. That made her the biggest threat, so I attacked her. She hurt me badly, but yes, I killed her. I am sorry it happened that way. I have apologized to you before, but I know you won’t accept that. Just like I will never forgive the unknown humans who killed my mother.”

“You know we can find out who they were.”

Visible heat waves radiated from the human Sid. He turned directly to face Sir Henry and angrily said: “And you think that will rectify what they did, or that soothe my injury!?! No, if I find out who they are I will seek them out and I will kill them and their families, and that killing will not stop. They will seek revenge for what I do to them, and because I am connected to your kingdom they will seek you out. Do you want that, do you want more bloodshed?”

“No, I do not. I thought maybe we could soothe your temper if we found out who killed your parents.”

“NO, it does not soothe my anger, and it never will. That is an open wound, that will never heal. Dragons have long memories. I have a choice I can make war on humanity for the stupid things they have done to me and dragons or I can accept it was an incident of long ago and let it rest. However, there is no way I will forgive or forget.”

“I am sorry Sir Sid.” A visibly shaken Sir Henry said; “I did not think I would make you so angry.”

“Never forget that I am a red dragon. We are rage incarnate. I have dreamed many nights about what I would do to those people who killed my parents. I have dreamed about the fires that would not just burn them, but would incinerate them, down to their very ashes. My rage for them has never died, never quieted and it never will!” The temperature in the area increased.

Now Sir Henry was visibly shaken, sweating, and nervous. He backed away from Sid with a shocked expression on his face.

“Ah Sir Sid… control yourself.”

“Oh, I have control. Can you feel my rage?” Sid stepped closer to Henry

“Yes, I… I can.”

“Then remember it. If I am made angry enough I could lay your entire continent to waste. There is no match for a dragon’s rage.”

Henry retreated again; “I see!”

Sid continued to advance on Henry; “Do you really, do you really see my rage, my anger? Feel the heat I am radiating, the fires in my belly are rumbling and asking to be brought forth.”

“Please, Sir Sid, control yourself.”

Sid visibly shook himself and calmed down; “I am a dragon, I am the ultimate in control. Remember that the next time you toy with my emotions. I understand that you are angry with me for killing your sister. I am sorry it happened, but I have never said I regret it. She attacked me, and she hurt me badly, so I struck her. And I killed her, and a I killed her friends. You have an undying rage against me, but no matter how strong your rage is. My rage is stronger. My rage is a dragon’s rage and it knows no limit and no end. You have no idea how angry I can get or what I can do when I get that angry. I control it though, I have learned how to control it. I have had centuries of practice at it.

Are you satisfied Sir Henry?”

“No, Sir Sid. I want you to feel my pain, I will never forgive you for what you did to my family and my friends.”

“Now you have felt a little of my rage. Now you know what I carry each day.

I am not asking you to forgive me, I do not forgive you for sending her or for your mission to go kill my people that I intercepted. However, I can still work with you. I don’t have to forgive you to work with you. And you don’t have to forgive me to work with me.

Keep your rage, and let it fuel you in doing great works. I do. That is how I get by each day.”

“I am afraid if I let my rage fuel me it would blind me.”

“Rage can do that, especially unguided rage. But, then any emotion can be harmful; jealousy, envy, hatred. They can all be used as a fuel for dangerous and deadly deeds and I have to control those feelings every day. You have no idea what goes on in my mind.”

“Envy, what have you to envy?”

“You, for one, you have your brother, you have your mother.

The king for another, he controls a kingdom AND he has just annexed MY kingdom and MY people. Don’t you think that makes me mad?”

“I did not know, you control your anger very well Sir Sid.”

“Then you need to take a lesson from me in how to control your own anger. Not just at me, but at the evils you can’t defeat.”

Sir Henry collected himself; “Perhaps I over stepped. I did not mean to rouse your anger.”

“Yes, you did, you wanted to twist the knife in me so that I would feel the pain that you feel. Well, I feel that pain and more. Your “kind” offer to help me find out who murdered my parents was a poorly disguised attempt to make me feel the same pain that you are feeling. Well, I feel it, I know it, and more. I have an endless source of rage in my belly and if you continue to play games with me then I will start playing with your head.”

“Is that a threat Sir Sid?”

Sid stepped up to Henry and got right into his face; “No, that is not a threat, that is a promise! I never make a threat or a bluff that I am not prepared to carry out. Not only will I play mind games with you Sir Henry, but you won’t know where it is coming from or what I am doing? Remember I have had over 900 years to think, to dream, to plan. You do not want to be the center of my plans and dreams.”

Sir Henry backed up; “Let’s call it a draw Sir Sid. We have to work together, and we need to be civil to each other to do so.”

“Yes, we do. So, if you are civil to me, I will be civil toward you. And if you can see yourself to someday dampen your anger toward me then maybe we can even be friends. Not close friends, but tolerable friends. I would like to see that. I have the patience to wait until you realize it yourself.”

“I can’t see myself being your friend Sir Sid.”

“Did you think a man of your religion could be a friend to the High Druid?”

“Actually, no, it kind of surprised me.”

“Exactly, a good life is full of pleasant surprises, but most of us don’t get to lead a good life, and most of our surprises are unpleasant at best, and downright cruel at worst.

Let’s move on to a different topic. Have you considered how you are going to train my children?”

“Were you serious, when you suggested that one of them could be a knight like me?”

“You would have to inspire them. They are going to be eager to learn, to experience life, and to join an organization and move up in the ranks inside of it. They are going to see what their parents have done, and they are going to want to match and exceed it. Dragons have lots of ambition. They are going to be little world changers.”

“You make that sound dangerous Sir Sid.”

“Dangerous, if not controlled. Just like your rage and my rage. Very dangerous if not controlled. They will need to be guided, to be taught, and to be inspired. I don’t know what paths they will take, I only know that they will have a dragon’s hunger.”

The High Druid led the effort to rebuild the church, it helped that he had an earth elemental at his beck and call. Sid was able to supply his own earth elemental, to assist, but it was smaller. They was able to rebuild the bell tower, while the citizens started work on replacing the tiles of the church, after the rafters were repaired and replaced. The town blacksmith participated in the work and he observed Henry very closely, but the blacksmith either didn’t comment or didn’t notice that someone else had worked on Henry’s armor.

Chapter 8: The kids are coming.

Helson finally laid her eggs, there were an even dozen of them. Helson was spending a lot of time in her private plane, gently turning the eggs over and warming them up with her breath. Finally, the high wizards stopped by and conjured a fire elemental. He made a deal with the fire elemental that in return for some exotic woods and incense it would rest in the hatching sands, keeping the sands warm. The High Druid got some exotic wood and the Prime Minister used his connections to get some rare incense, pounds of the stuff. This allowed Helson to take a break. Sid was shuttling between Barthmal, his lair, and the capitol. He was one busy dragon, he went to the pocket plane to visit Helson and the eggs as often as he could. Then in his precious time off he was being tutored by the Prime Minster, the High Wizard, the General, Father Denton, and even Sir Henry.

The High Wizard was intrigued by rune magic and wanted to find the source of Sid’s magical power. Finally, he had to admit that it was just natural and part of the racial makeup of dragons. He had made a study of Helson, but she didn’t know anything about her origins, and Sid did, but it was frustrating because to a dragon magic just is and it is part of their being.

The Prime Minister’s lessons varied from accounting to the rules for good governance, to how to properly run a meeting.

The General covered topics ranging from how to handle troops in the field, keeping them supplied, to motivating them, organizing them and leading them.

Father Denton was concerned about the lizardfolk and their relationship with god. Sid had to step carefully around this issue he didn’t want to anger Father Denton and he didn’t want to let him convert the lizardfolk to Father Denton’s religion. He tried to steer Father Denton into other paths, and the Father became quite talkative, but he was also persistent.

Henry provided some of the most practical education; in the sword and oddly enough in courtly manners. Sid was good with a bow, but if he wanted to pass as a human noble he had to carry a sword and that meant he had to know how to use it. Henry was most adamant on this issue. Sid would be carrying the banner of Kolariana to the Emperor’s court and he had to do it with style and grace. A grace of a fencer would show in Sid’s every movement, and the warriors of the Emperor’s court would notice that. When he seated himself at the noble’s table he had to know more than which fork to use, but how to pass items, what to order in a restaurant, and how to address people in court.

With the passage of time the eggs hatched. All the inner royal court were present for it. The eggs were days in the hatching, rocking back and forth. Helson was able to roughly estimate the hatching time, but she was off by a few hours. First a red one broke free, then two gold, then another red until finally there were four reds and five gold dragon hatchlings stumbling on the hatching sands. The last egg was still rocking, then it stopped. Helson started to cry, the Druid said it must not have been strong enough. Sir Henry jumped to his feet, pulled out his sword and clove the egg in two. There was a thick inner, sticky coating on the inside and a small grey hatchling. He spilled out on the hatching sands and stared up into Sir Henry’s eyes.

“Well, don’t just stand there, feed him.” The High Druid said handing Henry a hunk of fresh cut meat.

Sir Henry gently feed the hatchling, and the rest of the court were all doing the same. Helson was in amongst them stuffing the hatchlings until they finally were full. Then they fell to sleep in the hatchling sands. Over the days Helson called each of the inner court in to help feed the dragons and to play with them. They in turn imprinted upon them, just as she desired. Sid made sure to visit frequently so he too would be accepted as a parent to the hatchlings.

The grey dragon never forgot that Henry had freed it. Whenever Henry showed up he would emit a chirp of excitement and follow Henry around. He appeared to recognize Helson and Sid as well, but he stuck closely to Henry. Henry at first was cautious, but his heart was touched and soon he started smuggling in little extra sweets for the grey dragon.

“I have never seen a grey dragon before?” Helson asked the High Druid.

“I have never heard of one either, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Clearly, here is one.”

“Yes, but should it?”

“Dragons are big on matters of survival of the fittest, so maybe the previous grey dragons died in their eggs.”

Sid joined in; “Yes, maybe they all died in the egg, but Sir Henry wasn’t going to allow that. It may not be right, but it may be the heart I wanted to be in their lives.”

“He has certainly taken a shine to Sir Henry.” The druid mused. If we are not careful he may turn out to be the knight of the group.

Sid said; “You know what I said about dragons, the harder you pull on the leash, the harder they will pull on it against you. It is best to wait and see what happens, and what happens will happen. If the grey one wants to follow Sir Henry’s path, then I am not going to stand in its way.”

The dragons ate, slept and ate some more.

Sir Henry was feeding the grey dragon and asked; “When will they start to speak?”

Sid said; “Probably in a few days, but they understand you now.”

“How could that be, they are only a few days old?”

“Part of dragon memory is ancestral and inherited. Helson and I can speak your language, therefore so can the dragons. Or at least understand it.”

The wizard asked; “When did the dragons first gain consciousness?”

Helson replied; “I have memories that date back to my time in the egg, do you not as well Sid?

“Yes, I don’t know for how long, but I remember some of the dreams I had in the egg.”

The druid asked; “Are they learning now?”

Sid responded; “Yes, they are learning now. They are observing you and us and learning from us. They know that you favor the grey hatchling and the grey hatchling knows that you saved it.”

Henry started to turn a little red; “I had no idea!”

Sid said; “The only thing you can count on with dragons is that humans constantly under estimate them. I thought that your experience with Helson would have left you better prepared for dealing with dragons.”

“Her first children were difficult to say the least. I meet them, and they almost got into a fight with me defending her honor.”

“What did you do to offend her honor?” A puzzled Sid asked.

“To this day, I know not. I had to knock one out and pin the other. Heslon was not pleased and she cuffed the one I pinned violently. I was impressed by the amount of force she used, and by the amount of effort it took to knock those dragon-men out.”

Sid chuckled; “When I breed with the lizardfolk, it was an attempt to breed dragon blood into their lines and improve them. Or so I told myself, actually sixty percent was pure hormones. But, I succumbed and breed with them anyway. My first child made it to his teenage years before he got caught trying to plot to kill the tribe’s chief. He died in single combat against the tribe’s chief warrior.

My second child was raised a little more carefully. She became a sorcerer and overestimated her own fire resistance and died when she blew one too many fireballs at close range. This was during a simple hunt. She got a crazy idea that she could kill a herd and feed the tribe for months. Actually, she burned herself and her companions and started a stamped. She died under the hooves of a moose herd. The bull moose took it very personally and gored her and tossed her body several feet. By the time I was able to get to her she was dead. After that it was decided that dragon blood burned too hot in lizardfolk so I stopped trying to breed with them.”

The druid asked; “When do we start to give them names?”

Sid chuckled again; “You don’t give a dragon a name, they give themselves one. At least a calling name. Then their mother names them. At least that is the way it was with my family. How was it with you Helson?”

“I was called Hellen by the people who raised me. I kept the Hel and later added the rest. I liked the Hel, but not Hellen. It was too human, and I did not want to be known by a human name.”

Sid smiled; “See, dragons name themselves. They should start talking in a day or two and give us their names.”

Sure enough, true to Sid’s word, two days later the grey dragon said, to Henry; “I Al, I your friend.”

The others started to introduce themselves to their mother, by their own calling names. Helson had been thinking about what suffixes she would add to the dragon’s names and she had one for each of them. Al was unique though and she thought she might like a more human name, so she named him Alkzar. She said it just felt right. Later, she was sure Alkzar would add to his own name.

Alkzar started to follow Sir Henry around whenever he came into the plane and he missed him when he was gone, going into a funk. The other dragons started to bond with various court members. The Prime Minister was curious why a red and a gold hatchling seemed to bond with him. He started to teach them math and was surprised how quickly they advanced from simple addition and subtraction to algebra; “This ancestral memory comes in real handy, the dragons are more intelligent as hatchlings then I ever thought they would be.”

Two gold dragons and a red seemed to bond with the High Wizard and were soon asking him to teach them spells. He brought in one of his spellbook primers and started on cantrips. He too was surprised in how quickly they took to magic, not just the casting of spells, but the theory of it.

Two red dragons looked to Sid and started to follow him around. They were a bit confused since Sid was a generalist, with no skills other than being a dragon. So, they asked the High Wizard for books on dragon lore and read them.

The Druid asked; “How can the know how to read?”

Helson said; “As Sid said we are able to pass some of our memories to our young, I passed on reading and language. Its not that I had much of a choice in what I passed on to them, but things that were important to Sid and myself will be passed on to them, or at least some of them. Sid says he doesn’t remember if he parents were mean to humans. So, that probably wasn’t that important to them.”

Sid said; “To be honest they were probably mean to the humans, they didn’t think too much of them, they didn’t think that killing a human was a big deal.”

Henry said; “I don’t think I would have liked your parents.”

Sid said; “I agree, they probably would not have liked you either and their displeasure could be fatal.”

Unsurprisingly, two golds bonded with their mother and started asking her questions, that got very pointed and very personal. Like why they had red brothers and sisters. How could mortal enemies breed? She had a little difficulty and explained it as opportunity and a difference of nature or nurture.

That left a lone red who looked toward the Druid and started asking him questions about nature and herbs and so on. The Druid lacked any formal books about nature, most of his information was instinctual and “learned on the job.” Here in this pocket plane it was hard to explain the wider world to her. Finally, he brought his cat into the palace and let him roam in the pocket plane. Ove the next few days he started bringing in examples of nature, various roots, herbs, leaves, then whole plants. Helson stopped him when he tried to bring in a tree; “But, it is a small tree, it can fit through the door?”

“And what are we going to tell the cleaning staff when they don’t find the tree in my office?” Helson responded. “This pocket plane is supposed to be secret. It is an open secret, but still a secret from the commoners. All our comings and goings have put that secret in jeopardy. Now, your bringing in animals and trees and what not puts that secret in even greater jeopardy. Why don’t you summon a creature and let them examine that?”

“Because summoned creatures don’t last long enough for them to study and as you well know summoned creatures are just copies of the original, they are not the actual creature.”

“The difference between a summoned creature and a real creature is minor.”

“The differences are not minor; a summoned creature will do what the summoner wants, and it will go against its natural instincts to attack the summoner’s foes. A real creature will not do that. You know this Helson, you have known it since the High Wizard tutored you.”

“The High Wizard since when you have not called him Hank?”

“Since Sir Sid impressed on me the importance of a title and rank. It is a sign of respect and an example for our young wards here.” He motioned to the other hatchlings. “We are a court, and a court is nothing if not formal. We may have forgotten that and become a bit too relaxed.”

“Even with each other.”

“Yes, even with each other. We have to impress formality on the hatchlings and we should tighten up manors at court. Who knows who will come calling, an ambassador, an envoy, or even the Emperor himself.”

“I think the Emperor would summon me rather than come calling here.”

“That was before we had a red dragon at our beck and call, a real red dragon, not just some summoned monster. Then once we introduce the hatchlings to your court we are going to have a dozen more dragons.”

“But, they will be passing themselves off as humans.”

The wizard said; “And how long did it take for you or Henry to catch on to the fact that there was something wrong with Helson and we learned her secret?”

“It took Henry a week.”

“Actually, it took him a couple of days before he knew something was up, he only held off asking us for a week. By that point he was sure I was not human, it was only a matter of what kind of creature I was. He had already searched our souls for evil, so he knew I wasn’t an evil creature, but he knew I was something that wasn’t native.”

The wizard said; “But, aren’t we going to be training the hatchlings better?”

The druid said; “Yes, but they will still be children and children always make mistakes at some point. That is how they learn.”

Helson considered this; “So, we are going to be telling the Emperor that we got our hands on one adult red dragon, five young gold dragons, four young red dragons and a mysterious young grey dragon. How long before he suspects that I am a gold dragon and their mother.”

Henry said; “About two minutes to two months. The thing is, he will figure it out and when he does we will be in trouble. He WILL know that we have been holding out on him and he will demand compensation for that.”

The druid said; “We are going to be lucky if he doesn’t demand some of the young dragons. In fact, I know of no way to keep him from doing so.”

Helson said; “There is a way, Sid. He will stand up to the Emperor and he will not back down. That is a test of wills that I would not like to bet on.”

Henry said; “I can testify that Sid has more will than any man. We were talking, I tried to subtly stick a metamorphic dagger into him and he turned on me. Then he unleashed just a portion of his rage and I felt the heat. I mean physical heat, and not just uncomfortable heat, but sweating my heart out heat in a matter of seconds. He told me that red dragons are rage incarnate and that dragons are the very definition of control. He was confident in those statements and I believe him.”

The wizard said; “You are a good judge of character, Sir Henry. I am willing to go with your evaluation. If we introduce Sid to the Emperor, then he is going to have something major on his hands and little way to deal with it. He won’t want to alienate Sid or hurt him. He will want his service and he will demand the service of his children. We should tell the Emperor that the young dragons are Sid’s. Let Sid tell him who the mother is.”

Henry said; “In a test of those wills I think Sid would triumph.”

Helson asked; “Are you willing to bet my life and the lives of our people on him?”

The druid said; “We are going to have to and if we introduce Sid to him early then he is going to be trying to work on Sid and concentrating on him rather than the young dragons. I mean an adult dragon in the hand is better than twelve young dragons in the wind, right?”

The wizard said; “Then we got to introduce Sid to the Emperor as soon as possible. We need to tell him the truth about him and we need to tell him that we have annexed his territory. The sooner we do this the happier he is going to be, or rather the less angry.”

Helson said; “Is that a motion put before the council?”

The wizard said; “I am afraid that it is.”

Henry said; “We have a quorum, only Sir Sid is missing. Should we vote on it?”

Helson said; “Are you going to tell Sid that we all voted on his future, without him here.”

Henry said; “No, YOU are going to tell him Helson. WE have no choice in this matter AND we need him. If I tell him, he is likely to flambé me. If anyone else tells him, he is likely to go off on them. You are the only one who he won’t go off on and who he won’t be able to incinerate if he does.”

Helson nodded; “I hadn’t realized he would be leaving us so soon. He is not going to be happy about this. Who is going to look after Barthmal and his people?”

The Druid said; “That is going to have to fall to me. I am the only one who has a relationship with both groups. We just need to find a way to assure Sid that his people will be well taken care of.”

Helson said; “I swear it. I swear it on the honor of my kingdom and my throne, but not on the lives of my children. I have to say that I need to put them above all else. If I don’t then Sid will and there won’t be any way of stopping him short of launching Sir Henry at him.”

Henry said; “He handily beat me, when I challenged him. I would stand no chance against him. My brother wouldn’t stand a chance against him and I now fear that we sent my sister on a suicide mission against Sid. Face it he may be the strongest force we have in this entire kingdom.”

The Wizard said; “And we are going to be putting the strongest force we have in our kingdom into the hands of the Emperor.”

Henry said; “And heaven help the Emperor, if he takes on Sid then he is going to be taking on more than he can handle. Sid may be modest with that provincial dragon line of his, but a dragon is still a dragon and he is a big one.”

Helson said; “What about Melenda the Lady of the North?”

The Druid said; “Like Sid said, she can wait. I am going to be on the front lines handling Barthmal and Sid’s people. I am therefore going to be on the front lines if the Lady of the North comes south. Boy, do I have my work cut out for me!”

The Prime Minister had stood quietly, listening to the conversation, he said; “The vote has been cast and it is unanimous. We have to send Sid to the Emperor, Helson has to tell Sid this, we need to protect the hatchlings and we need to tell the Emperor that we have them. My mother used to tell me that if you rip off the bandage all at once it is going to hurt less than if you slowly rip it off. The Emperor is going to want to know what happened and what we have, and he is going to want to know it as soon as possible. Having a dozen dragons is the most momentous event in our whole history. No one has ever fielded a dragon in battle until you let the Wizard ‘summon’ one and that was a young one. Now we have an adult dragon, and not a ‘summoned’ one, but a real live red dragon. Didn’t Sir Henry say they are rage incarnate?”

Henry said; “That’s what he told me, and that’s what I felt coming off of him, literally. If he had just been two degrees angrier the ground underneath him might have caught fire. I am not exaggerating here, I am serious.”

So, Helson told Sid, and he was angry about it, to say the least. Helson waited until Sid was in the pocket plane before she told him his new job and the details. She did it in the tower so that Sid would not blow up in front of the children. That didn’t help, Sid blew up, and stormed around, scaring the cattle, and making the children real curious about what was going on. But, after Sid calmed down, and after Helson explained the details Sid relented. He had no choice.

Chapter 9: The Emperor’s new clothes.

Sid flew high in the clouds, following a map he had read to the Emperor’s capitol. He brought along the hatchlings who had bonded with the wizard and the High Wizard, along with Albert. It was crowded on Sid’s back, but he was able to carry them.

He landed short of the capital, at night and the wizard teleported them into the palace grounds at the teleport reception area. There a startled pair of guards looked at the three ‘humans’ and the three hatchlings. An alarm was sounded, and more guards were summoned. An entire company of guards were summoned and they all were bearing weapons aimed at the group.

Sid stepped forward; “Look carefully, we have dragons, they are mine and I am here as part of the tithe for Kolariana. Please hold you fire and stand back, I am about to show you something surprising.”

Sid waited until he had their full attention; “Then he transformed into his natural form.”

The Wizard took that as the signal to teleport home, along with the hatchlings.

Sid said; “Now you know I have dragons. Now you know I am a dragon. Let me introduce to you my rider Albert.”

Sid stood there and waited. The guards were shocked to say the least and two even fired their bows. They bounced off of Sid’s hide and he said; “Really, do you think that is going to hurt me?”

In a few moments an entire company of guards ran out into the teleport courtyard and faced Sid and Albert with their weapons ready. A squad of guards came out on a balcony armed with bows, all knocked and pointed at the dragon.

Sid said; “I am not here to attack, I want to conduct a deal with your Emperor. I am allied with the kingdom of Kolorania. I am here in peace. Please, summon your Emperor or take us to him. I am sure he will want to talk to me.”

The guard captain stepped forward; “I am Captain Overly. Do you swear you come in peace?”

Sid replied; “I do so.”

Albert said; “I do so as well, although I doubt I am of much threat.”

The guard captain continued; “You say you are allied with Kolorania?”

“I am, I am on here on their behalf.”

“I would like to treat you like an ally, but you are a dragon and a threat.”

Sid transformed into his human form; “Is this better?”

“Yes, it is thank-you, tell me can you still breathe fire in this form?”

“Yes, I can, but I promise to not attack unless I am attacked. I want to help you and your Emperor.”

“Okay, word has been sent to the Emperor, would you please follow me?”

“Of course, lead on captain, even if it is to a jail cell.”

The guard captain stopped; “You would agree to go into a cell?”

“I would, but do you think your palace’s foundation could stand an angry dragon?”

“I would not want to risk it. You say you are an ally, so I will treat you as an ally.”

“Thank-you.” Albert said; “We knew there would be a problem in coming here, but there was little choice, we couldn’t very well descend from the clouds upon your palace, now could we?”

“No, that would not have been received any better. By teleporting in you at least arrived in an approved manner. By teleporting in with a known ally of this empire you proved that we should at least give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Sid said; “I thank-you captain. I assure you we only mean well for your Emperor, provided he deals fairly with us and with Kolarina.”

“That is far above my pay grade, I will merely escort you to the audience chamber.”

The guard captain led them into the palace, down a series of halls and into a large circular chamber, built of stone with several stone columns supporting its roof. The floor was decorated with a mural and the walls were decorated in a complex, but abstract pattern. In the middle of the room stood a large dais with a throne off-center. There were two doors into the room, a large set of double doors, that the captain had led them into, and a smaller door on the opposite wall. In twenty minutes, the smaller door opened, and the Emperor walked in. Of course, Sid and Albert had no idea what the Emperor looked like or who he was. So, they came to attention and politely nodded.

The Emperor was a fat man in blue robes, with a balding head, dark hair, a rough and minor beard, he was wearing a gold necklace with a ruby amulet hung around his neck, fine silk robes and oddly enough glossy polished boots.

Sid waited patiently until the Emperor spoke; “So, you are a dragon and you come here to serve me. Why?”

“Koloriana owes you tribute, I am a recent ally to Koloriana and the Eternal King. I am here to help you. Currently, you are at war with Tothal, would you like a map of the country?”

“I have plenty of maps of the region.”

Albert held a rolled-up scroll; “Do they show their troop positions?”

“Are they the current troop positions?”

“Current as of yesterday, when we flew over the area.”

The Emperor scowled; “And what is the cost of that map?”

“Part of the annual tribute of Kolarina.”

“And just how much?”

“We will let you and your generals decide that. We realize that you are taking our word on this. You can scry on the area and check it out for yourself.”

“Scrying won’t do much good, it is like looking through a reed, you only see a little bit.”

“True, but you can take a few looks and confirm spots on the map. Then when you confirm random spots on the map you can assume the rest of the map is genuine.”

The Emperor turned and took a step toward his throne. Then quickly he reached out and made a grab for Albert’s scroll, but Sid’s hand on the scroll stopped him; “So, do we have a deal?”

The Emperor tugged at the scroll, but it didn’t budge.” Reluctantly, he nodded, and both Sid and Albert released the scroll. The Emperor sat down in his throne. It was a humble throne, made out of silver with scroll-work of swords on the sides. The back of the throne was short and straight with a minimum of cushion support. It was not meant to be comfortable or for a long audience. The Emperor sat heavily and sighed. He held the scroll in one hand and started rapping it against his knee; “So, how do you plan on helping me?”

Albert said; “Our skills and services vary. We can provide enchantments for your weapons, both permanent and temporary. We can do so cheaper than your wizards can. We can scout out enemy positions as our map shows. We can also go into battle and use dragon fear on your enemies, but our greatest contribution has already happened.”

“And what is that?”

“You have the backing of an adult red dragon and you have access to young red and gold dragons.”

“But you came in the middle of the night, and no one knows you are here except me and my guards.”

Sid spoke; “Who have by now told the rest of the guard staff. You have told your personal guard who is watching us now, and you will be showing that map to your generals. Then there are your servants and the spies that have been planted in your palace. Word will get out; how long do you think before your enemies’ learn about my presence? Not long I wager, and the longer I hang around here the great the chance that they are going to believe it. That will enhance your reputation. It will enhance it even if I turn around and leave this very moment.”

“So, you think you could just leave here?”

“Do you really think you could stop me?”

“I could if you were a man and not a real dragon.”

“Must I prove myself, shall I melt your throne?”

‘No, please don’t do it. I am quite comfortable with it as it is. Also, my guards which you have no doubt discovered would take it badly.”

“I am sure they would, especially those armed with rifles on my left. The wall is thinner there, so I assume they are sacrificial, and will get one shot off. Then while I am engaged with them you will have your wizard on the right use a cold spell on me.” Sid calmly stated.

“I will need you to prove that you are a dragon to the whole court. But, for now that performance tells me enough. Only a dragon would have such keen senses as to detect the firearms and the wizard waiting. I made sure they had scent blocker put on them before they took up their positions. How did you detect them?”

“I can hear their heartbeats.”

The Emperor’s eye brows rose; “Okay, there is that. No offense, but aren’t red dragons cruel heartless monsters who would rather slay all humans?”

Albert said; “So the rumors state, actually Sid is not a typical red dragon. He is also a father and he has people that look to him for their defense. In short, he has other obligations and duties, our time here is limited.”

“Then what good would you be to me?”

Sid said; “If you think we are not going to be any good for you, then we might as well leave.” He motioned to Albert, turned and headed for the door, he had come in by.”

“That door is barred.”

“Yes, I heard the bar come down. The problem is it is wood, do you think it will last long against my breath?”

“Okay, please don’t burn down my door, and please don’t leave.”

“Are we done playing games?”

The Emperor looked toward the ceiling and sighed; “Forgive me I am used to dealing from a position of strength.”

“And you don’t think I am the same, after all I am a dragon.” Sid reach the door and inhaled deeply.

The Emperor said; “Please stop.”

Sid turned around and looked at the Emperor and stood quietly. Albert had followed him to the door and was standing behind and to the left of Sid, he too turned; “It is very hard to intimidate a red dragon, I wouldn’t suggest you try it again. You will only make him angry and red dragons are rage incarnate. If he wanted to he could burn a hole through the wall, take our your wizard, withstand the shots from your riflemen, then smash through the wall hiding them, then in a few seconds reach you, before you reached the door to leave and swallow you whole. That is if he was the kind to be easily angered. I mean after all he is just rage incarnate.”

The Emperor stirred in his seat; “Sid, I don’t want you to do that, can we please talk.”

Sid turned around and advanced on the Emperor. Albert stayed at the door. The dragon started to radiate waves of heat. The Emperor was instantly sweating; “Ah, I am wanting to talk.”

Sid stopped ten feet from the Emperor; “No, you are wanting to play dominance games with me. You are not sure if I am what I claim I am, and you want to control this meeting. Well, you have failed to intimidate me, you aren’t going to dominate me, I am what I claim to be, and you are not in control of this meeting.” With that statement the temperature of the room started to rise even more.

The Emperor jumped out of his chair and looked toward Sid’s right; “What are you waiting for? Can’t you see I am in danger?”

Sid heard a mumbling from the wizard. With a flash he was over by that side of the room and body slammed it. The wall crumbled. From the other side of the room four rifle shots rang out. Sid ignored them and then in a flash he was standing in front of the Emperor with his wizard in his hand; “Do you still need to be convinced?” There was a clear note of anger in Sid’s tone now.

The wizard was struggling both against the heat coming off from Sid and Sid’s grasp, futilely. Sid just glared at the Emperor.

Albert said; “I tried to warn you. Please have your guards note that for your funeral.”

The Emperor said; “Please turn down your heat, please put down my wizard and please don’t wreck my palace any more. I believe you.”

Sid dropped the wizard, whose robe was now on fire, the wizard beat at it; “Thank-you. What test do you think the court will need to see?”

“Well, you have done everything except fly and use your dragon fear, so I assume that will be good enough.”

“Ah, but I can cast spells as well. Should I turn your wizard into a rabbit?”

The wizard mewed and shrunk back on the floor, still beating at the flames. Albert came over and assisted him. The temperature of the room started to drop. The riflemen were reloading and sticking their rifles though the small openings in the wall, taking aim to fire again.

Sid said; “If you shoot those rifles, I will burn the beard off of your Emperor’s face.”

“The Emperor shouted; “Stop!” He waved with his hands; “Just everyone please calm down.”

Sid stepped forward; “I am the epitome of calm and collected. Albert made a promise and I felt it best to carry it out, since it was apparent you were just humoring me.”

“I am not humoring you right now. I believe you. Strange as it may be, you have proved that you have the capabilities of a dragon. It has been long enough that any spells you had cast upon yourself would have faded, and the heat you generated could be duplicated by no effect that I am aware of.”

Albert was helping the wizard to his feet; “Actually, I know of a spell…” The wizard said.

Sid quieted him with a glance; “You were saying.” He turned back to the Emperor.

“Let me break my fast and think about this. May I offer you the hospitality of my palace.”

Sid said; “Yes, you may, and we apologize about waking you up early. I assume you also want to talk to your advisors, like the one standing inside of that column.”

The Emperor was surprised again, then realization hit him and showed on his face; “The heartbeats you heard her heartbeat. Alysia you can come out now. I think the wizard here can use a little of your healing.”

A female dressed in a golden breastplate stepped out from inside the column. She glanced at Sid and approached the wizard; “I am going to help you now.” She cast a spell and dumped water on him dousing the fire, then she cast another spell and laid her hand upon his arm.

The wizard sighed; “Thanks Alysia, what do you think?”

“I only heard the conversation, I was below the surface of the stone, so I couldn’t see what was going on, but if he heard my heartbeat from inside of that column he has a dragon’s senses.” Alysia then went and stood between Sid and the Emperor; “I think whatever you are deserves a second look, and whatever you are you could be of a great help to this Empire.”

Sid stilled the fires in his belly and the heat radiating off of him.

The Emperor said; “Okay, Alysia please show them to the guest quarters and give them every service we can provide. I will retire now to eat, and dress and we will convene again in three hours.”

Sid smiled; “Thank-you Emperor. Ms. Alysia I am Sid, he held out his hand to her.”

She gingerly took his hand and shook it. “Then she called out “Open the doors, you heard the Emperor. Follow me gentlemen.”

The doors opened, and Alysia lead the way as Sid and Albert followed. The Emperor in turn headed toward the smaller door and the wizard followed.

Chapter 10: Are we really doing this?

Alysia led the duo through the maze of hallways deeper into the palace to the guest quarters. Sid noticed the strong walls. Albert noticed the portcullis at every other doorway, which could be brought down to secure the hallway. Both noticed the narrow windows that a person couldn’t climb through.

After Alysia showed them to their room, a serving girl came with a tray laden with food, followed by another who had a bottle of wine and a jug of ale.

Albert ate a little and Sid ate most of the meal. It was a big meal for a human, but of course Sid was eating for a dragon. He let Albert drink his fill then Sid finished the rest.

An hour later there was a knock at the door and a woman entered. She was tall blonde, dressed in brown and had an air of command around her; “Do you require companionship?” She stated.

In walked four women scantily dressed. Albert couldn’t help but ogle at them, they were beautiful.

Sid said; “Thank-you, but I have already had breakfast.”

The women shuddered, except for the tall blonde.

Sid said; “Albert, if you wish to partake then I wouldn’t mind.”

Albert turned red in the face and said; “No, thank-you.”

The blonde turned and left with the maidens quickly following her.

An hour later a man came, knocked on the door and entered; “I am one of the generals to the Emperor, I have examined your map and I have had our scouts look at it. I am also having our scrying mages look at it and take a few scrys into the area. The Emperor said you wouldn’t mind if we checked the map out.”

“No, I don’t mind… rather we don’t mind. I almost forgot Albert here.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is he to you?”

“A friend, a college and my rider. We are a team.”

“Then will both of you follow me the Emperor has assembled his team.”

“Of course, I am on a tight schedule and we need to get started.”

The general led the duo out of the room and back into the maze of halls, now leading underground to a large room with a round table. This table had fourteen men and women seated around it, with the Emperor at one side and two empty chairs at the other side. At about three-o’clock on the dial from the empty chairs was another empty chair which the general took and sat down in.

The Emperor said; “You gentlemen can take your seats, we are prepared to hear what you have to say.”

Sid and Albert took their seats and Sid put both hands on the table; “As my companion Albert said we can provide a variety of services including scouting out your enemy, using dragon fear on them as you attack, or creating magic items in less time than your best wizards. Albert will now demonstrate.”

Albert pulled out a metal stylus; “Could someone, anyone please hand me a silver or gold piece?”

One woman pulled out a purse and tossed a gold coin over to Albert. He slapped his hand on it as it slid across the table. He then started to scribe on the coin; Mam, which would you prefer fire or electricity. I know both runes.”

The woman said; “Electricity, would be fine, what are you doing.”

Sid said; “He has to concentrate, so I will answer for him. He is creating a rune that will allow you to breathe electrical breath as a breath weapon. You merely have to hold the coin, think about invoking the power, rub the coin, and breath. It will work for up to three times and the magical rune will last for up to two months. This is just one of the types of magical items I told you we could create. We could enchant weapons, we could enchant more coins both with permanent or temporary runes. Making a rune permanent requires the use of diamond dust. As you notice Albert is using some amber to inscribe the rune. A tiny bit of amber and a tiny bit of gold will be consumed with each use of the spell, but it would take a very accurate scale to notice the difference. When finished the coin will spend just as readily as any other coin.”

Albert finished the rune and said; “It’s ready, just do as the dragon told you and test it.” He then slid the coin across the table to the woman. She reached out and grabbed it, stood and took several steps back from the table. Then she rubbed the coin and breathed at her chair. Sparks flew from her mouth striking the chair and traveling down into the stone floor, a few sparks jumped from the chair to the table. The effect only lasted a few moments, but the chair and the table were scored black where the sparks had traveled.

Eyebrows rose among all those at the table except for Sid and Albert.

“But, it only took you a few moments to inscribe the rune.”

Albert spoke; “Yes, but it still takes personal spell power, so I am limited to how many I can do a day. Sid taught me this rune magic, that he in turn learned from a traveling bard. Sid knows more runes than I do, but he is teaching me the few that he does know. Sid can also use diamond dust to enchant a weapon and make the effect permanent. That would take longer, probably a day or two and of course he is limited in how many he can make per day and he can only fit one rune in per six feet of weapon.”

One man asked; “Can he teach us that rune magic?”

Sid said; “That would be part of a larger deal. Right now, I am not prepared to do that. I would instead like to talk about how we can help you with your war.”

The Emperor said; “I don’t like the talk about limited time you have put on us, but I am willing to work with you. As you said your mere presence here is beneficial. Just what price are you asking for?”

“No price, merely a reduction on Kolorian’s tribute to you. As for myself, I want to remain a free and independent agent, an agent allied to you, but still independent.”

One man spoke up; “We have done some research on red dragons, you are not…”

“No, I am not a normal red dragon, my parents died when I was young and so I was not totally bred into their way of life. However, I am a full red dragon and I do have some lessons taught by my parents and others. I don’t on the other hand claim to be a well-traveled dragon. There are a lot of things in your civilization that I would like to see and partake in.”

The Emperor said; “What things?”

“Oh, I have been hiding from the world for a long time. I could use some books, I would like to see the sights of your empire, I would enjoy some plays.”

The Emperor scowled; “You mean you want to be a tourist?”

“Yes, I do. I know it sounds foolish, but I have been hiding from humanity for a long time and now I want to experience the world.”

One man dressed in a uniform asked; “How qualified are you as a fighter, I mean what can you do for our armies?”

“I haven’t fought a lot, I will be honest about that. I have trained with our chief knight Sir Henry; in both dragon and human forms. There is something else that I can give to you though.”

“What is that?” The Emperor leaned forward.

“Young, I can breed with your maidens, it would take a strong one to mother my young, and I warn you they will be willful, full of pride, and they will have a dragon’s ambition. They will make poor rulers, but excellent fighters. In fact, they will want to fight. If you are able to control them then they will make some of your best troops, but they will expect to be rewarded for their efforts.”

The Emperor said; “So that is why you did not engage with the maidens I sent to your room, you could have had your selection, I have some of the best slave girls around.”

“IF I breed with your women it will be because we have concluded a deal and because you agree to raise any youths that may result as valued members of your Empire.”

The woman who had provided the coin asked; “You mean you would renounce any claim to them?”

“Yes, I don’t want you to think that I hold anything over you. It is regrettable that I would have to abandon my children, but for you to trust them you would have to be responsible for raising them, providing for them, and handling them. It will be difficult, but I will keep my hands off of them, I won’t even claim to be their father if you wish it. I will leave that totally up to you.

The same woman spoke; “But it will take at least a generation for them to be of any use.”

“Yes, it would, they would age like normal humans, but if you want to think long term they could serve you well.”

The Emperor said; “Mr. Albert you haven’t said much so far, why is that?”

“I am merely Sid’s aide. I am an apprentice mage and a bit of a warrior. My chief job though is to provide advice to Sid on humans. He hasn’t dealt with them much.”

One man spoke up; “This all seems odd, why have we not heard of you before now Sid?”

“Because I have been isolated in the north and only just came forward. I have interacted with the Eternal King and I have agreed to ally with him in return for the safety of myself and my people.”

The Emperor said; “Strange, how could he threaten you?”

“He did, he sent knights against me. I was asleep at the time and many of my people died to give me a few seconds to wake up. I took revenge on the knights, I attacked the local town and then I headed south to try and strike a deal with the Eternal King. Part of that deal is for me to come here and serve you, to decrease his tithe to you. It does not mean that I am yours, but of course you can say it and you can spread any rumors around about me that you want. I am going to be a busy dragon. I have just started a family, I want to see more of the world, and I have to serve you. I will also have obligations to the Eternal King.”

The Emperor asked; “So how do you plan on coming and going?”

“I have a way to call upon the Eternal King’s High Wizard. He can come and take me home when needed, or he can send one of his underlings to do so.”

One other man at the table asked; “How does your rider stay on your back and what happens if he falls?”

Sid looked over at Albert, who said; “The best crafters of the kingdom created a saddle for me and the High Wizard gave me a ring to use if I fall. But, I still take a great risk riding on Sid. Any attacks that hit him, could very well hit me and my hide is not nearly as tough as his. As such if he is going to be leading your troops into battle I won’t accompany him. You might want to put a warrior into the saddle, but frankly it is going to be dangerous and if Sid lands to do battle or is struck, that warrior could be easily killed.”

The Emperor spoke; “This all sounds good, but what is the catch and trust me there is always a catch.”

Sid smiled; “Oh, there are several—you will only have my service for a limited time, I am only one dragon, if you decide to trade for the runes then I only have a few, if you want me to breed with your women then you will have a tough time raising those children. I have tried to be as open and honest with you as I could be.”

The Emperor said; So what exactly is the price?”

“I don’t know how to set a price, because I don’t know all that you want or all that I can do for you. So, I will let you set the value of what I do. That way I won’t cheat you.”

A woman spoke up; “We are going to have to discuss this in private. Personally, I like what you have available, even if it is limited.”

Sid and Albert stood, and Sid said; “I assume you want us to go back to the room you sent us to. I would like lunch to be served to us. I will happily wait on your and I will hope that you will judge my contribution’s value. Excuse me, I mean to say our contribution. Not just myself, but Albert’s as well, he drew the map while I flew over your enemy’s lands.” With that the pair left the council chamber, Sid guided them back to their room.

The pair were served their dinner and the tall blonde showed up again; “What kind of women would you breed with?” She asked.

Albert blushed, and Sid smiled; “The best would be a woman with wide hips. It should be a normal mating experience for her and a normal delivery. After that though things will get tougher.”

The tall blonde said; “They always do. That’s part of raising kids. How many women could you mate with?”

Sid said; “One or two a night should be sufficient, but not until the Emperor makes a deal with us.”

The tall blonde continued; “He sent me here to talk with you, the details are still being worked out, but he wants to deal with you and he wants all that you can offer. The main consideration now is how much of Kolariana’s debt will be paid by your contributions?”

Sid smiled again; “Considering that he doesn’t have a line of dragons making this kind of offer I would assume that ALL of the debt would be paid. In fact, your Emperor might just owe us.”

The woman frowned; “I was told you were going to let him, and the council set the price.”

Sid said; “I can wait a little longer, but my patience is not infinite. Make sure the Emperor knows that.”

The woman said; “I understand, I will arrange some women for your tonight and I will mention what you said to the Emperor.” She then turned and left.

It was only a few more hours before the woman who had given the coin to Albert came and knocked on the door, then she entered; “I am General Wilson. The Emperor graciously accepts your kind offer can you give him a month of service?”

Sid said; “I can.”

General Wilson continued; “Then we will supply you with a workshop, women and we want you to engage Tothol in battle with your breath and your dragon fear. You will also be required to make an appearance at court in dragon form and General Thomas requests that you take him on a flight over Tothol so he can see the lay of the land himself. We want you to make a dozen magical weapons, using your rune magic, and charge them with electrical energy. In return the Emperor will cut Kolorina’s debt in half.”

Sid frowned; “I can make 14 weapons and I want the total debt paid for. In addition, I will take General Thomas over the battle lines and you over the capital of Tothol so he can assess the walls of their castle. I will breed with 8 women, does that sound fair.”

The General also frowned; “I will take your adjusted offer to the Emperor. If you can make twenty permanently magical weapons and breed with a dozen women, then we might have a deal.”

Sid said; “I accept your offer. To make the enchantments permanent I will need diamond dust though, at least 60 ounces of it. And I am willing to teach one rune to your high wizard. Tell him I am sorry for setting him ablaze and for the rude treatment I gave him.”

The woman perked up; “That might be enough to make a deal, how long will you wait before this deal is no longer valid?”

Sid said; “I am patient, I will hold the offer open until supper time. Then I will start reducing the number of women and weapons by two per hour. Is that sufficient?”

General Wilson said; “Yes, I think so, will talk to the Emperor.” She turned and left the room.

Chapter 11: A wizarding we will go.

The deal was concluded before supper and the Emperor invited Sid and Albert to a state dinner to be held in their honor that night. He wanted Sid to transform into his dragon form and ignite a bonfire in the courtyard of the palace. He also wanted Sid to give General Thomas and General Wilson a test flight around the palace.

Sid said he was happy to do this and complied. He also ate a lot at dinner and transformed into a dragon to do it. In front of everyone assembled there. To say that they were impressed is an understatement. The Emperor put on his pleased face.

After dinner the wizard showed the duo to his library and to a workshop that Sid and Albert could work in. Sid approved of the workshop and noticed a safe in it; “What’s in the safe?”

The Wizard spoke; “That is where I keep the diamond dust. You will have to come to me for the combination. I would also like to observe you create the runes. If you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind, that was part of the deal. You will find that rune magic is a little faster to enchant than normal magic since the magic is part of the very rune itself. Then we have to cap it off with a permeance spell. I assume you have a copy of that spell?”

“Yes, I do have a copy of the spell. Would you mind if I worked with you?”

“No, I would not, are you going to help with my quota?”

“No, I am going to try and create more magic weapons for our forces.”

“So, who are we enchanting weapons for?”

“The generals will want their weapons enchanted. Can a rune be added to a previously enchanted weapon?”

“Yes, a rune magic is different than the magic you use to enchant a weapon, but the requirement for the permeance spell means that you have to weave it in with the existing magic and you can only put one enchantment on most weapons due to space constraints.”

“Ah, I see, what about a weapon that has an energy enchantment already on it?”

Albert spoke up; “Yes, Sid can enchant a single rune on almost any weapon, including those that are previously enchanted, even if they enchanted with an energy factor.”

The wizard looked down at Albert and asked Sid; “Is your rider, right? I thought he wasn’t that powerful?”

Sid replied, and let a little anger slip into his voice; “He is powerful enough and I wouldn’t be too rude to him, he is going to be the one showing you how to scribe the rune.”

“Oh, excuse me, I didn’t know how much you knew. I assumed you weren’t being modest when you said you weren’t very powerful.”

“Oh, I am not powerful, but Sid is big on respect. He has told us that he did not get much respect in his life and he is very big on receiving respect and even bigger on showing respect. When I was a guardsman he made sure to get me promoted before I was assigned to him. Just so that I would get more respect. Now he may look like a human right now, but never forget that he is a dragon. You felt a small measure of his rage in the Emperor’s audience chamber. Did you notice how he smashed the wall and captured you before you were able to finish your spell. He has reflexes that are faster than any I have ever seen on any creature. He has those reflexes, his strength, and access to his other abilities like his breath weapon even in his human form. He can also change into a dragon faster than you can blink. If he does so, he can fit in the space we are in and he has a dragon’s mouth with a set of dragon’s teeth.”

The Wizard looked a Sid, who smiled, and the wizard got apologetic; “I am sorry Albert I will show more respect toward you. What title would you like to refer to you as?”

“I WAS a guardsman, right now I Sid’s Chief Advisor, and you don’t need to address me by a title. I am proud of my relationship with him and I provide him with advice on human nature, something that he is not that experienced with. He has also taught me some of his runes. They are easy to master. I wonder why the magic hasn’t spread more.”

Sid explained; “That is because it is from a strange culture across the ocean that is now extinct. I learned the rune magic from a bard who was a friend of mine. There are few who know the secret of rune magic and we are careful in who we pass it around to. You know how bards are they pick up all sorts of things in their travels”

The wizard said; “So, why keep it secret?”

Sid smiled again; “Was becoming a wizard easy for you?”

“No, I had to work long and hard to learn magic and to get where I am today.”

“Exactly, do you want people to have a shortcut to be a magical caster?”

“No, I understand why you want to keep it secret, or at least selective, thank-you for selecting me.”

“I don’t want the secret to die out, so I am being selective in who I spread it to. I want you to do that same thing. Don’t forget if you teach and apprentice this rune magic then they will be able to use it and it will be easy for them and they will make it look easy. What happens to your position here in the palace IF suddenly using magic is seen as easy?”

“You are right, that would be bad for my business and for the business of all the mages I work with. That is a very good reason to keep your rune magic secret.”

The trio worked on the runes until late in the evening. Albert was able to teach the wizard how to scribe the electric rune and the wizard had come prepared with a few permeance spells memorized. So, he was able to create a few enchanted weapons. The swords given to Sid to worked on were all previously enchanted, so Sid had to be careful about working his enchantments to not detract from the existing enchantments. It was both easier and harder to work with a previously enchanted weapon. It was easier because the magic had already been laid down and the magical matrix existed. What made it harder was weaving the permeance enchantment into the existing spell matrix. If Sid made a mistake, then the new enchantment wouldn’t last. The advantage of rune magic is that it can be inscribed in a small area, but the permeance enchantment had to cover the whole weapon and weave into the existing enchantments on that weapon.

Albert wasn’t able to do much beyond teaching the Wizard how to inscribe a rune. He was able to show him the same rune inscribed on a few gold pieces and how to use a diamond tipped styles to inscribe the rune. The Wizard had his own diamond tipped stylus to use when he was inscribing runes in steel so he was able to follow along.

Meanwhile, Sid was working away at the inscribing of the runes and using the diamond dust he had gotten from the wizard. Sid was able to complete two swords that night, the Wizard was able to create three. Albert used the time to inscribe six gold coins with an electrical rune. They wouldn’t last as long as Sid’s would, he figured he could pass them out as tips to the staff around the palace. A slave girl might not have much use for an electrical breath coin, but a guardsman would, and guardsman were often bribed for little favors. Most of them considered it part of the job; they would over look minor offenses, be tipped extra food occasionally, and lean on people who were too troublesome. This was entirely illegal, but Albert suspected that something similar would exist in the Emperor’s Palace if it existed in his home town and in the capital of Kloriana.

The Wizard remarked; “That was fast work the Emperor will be quite pleased. I can enchant several more items with the electrical rune. Will it work on anything?”

“As you saw it works on a gold piece but doing so it consumes a little of the gold with each use. Not enough that most scales would notice, but a little. That is why we didn’t ask for a copper piece. It will work on any hard valuable metal that can hold the rune. The electrical rune is simple and takes less space than a few others. Before you ask I know of 10 runes; and one is the fire rune. Those are the only two offensive runes I know. The others are good for making things like self-heating pots or self-cleaning items. I also know a rune of beauty, there is not much use for that though.”

The Wizard said; “I can think of a lot of uses for that around here. The Emperor has a harem and he gets bored with it, so he goes out and conquers a new nation to add more women to his harem. If I could make the women, he has more beautiful to the eye he won’t get bored as quickly. I can also use it for some of the other women around here, and for my wife.”

Albert asked; “Wouldn’t your wife be offended by you saying she needs a beauty rune?”

The Wizard smiled; “I hope so, she will get very cross with me and I will be punished for it. But, secretly she will delight in it. She is the harem administrator and she is forever comparing herself to the women in the harem. She is a beautiful blonde woman, but she feels inferior sometimes, and that makes her mad. If I am going to improve the beauty of other harem girls, I need to improve hers first. What would it take for me to learn the beauty rune?”

“I would like a spell book for my rider, a low power one, he is still learning magic.”

“That would not be a problem, I have a few, let me get them.”

“Thank-you Sid, it would be great if I had another spell book to work with, but don’t give away too much on my account.”

“Don’t worry Albert dragons are known for being good negotiators. The beauty rune can go a long way here and it will only help people. Plus, if he is going to spend his time and resources enchanting a lot of beauty items then he is not going to be spending his time creating weapons. That would in turn make US my valuable for the magic weapons WE could create.”

“Oh, by the gods you are good Sid.” Albert whispered.

Sid smiled in response.

The wizard returned with a spell book for Albert; “This should make some good reading my boy, it was my third spell book.”

Chapter 12: Off to war, striking the first blow.

Sid had agreed to take General Wilson and General Thomas for a ride dragon-back. First, he took General Thomas for a ride. Albert helped the General sit in the saddle and locked him into the saddle. He also shared his ring with the General in case if he would fall.

Sid took off with little fanfare. He flew toward Tothmol and climbed high into the early morning sky. He crossed over the battle lines and started to fly in a wide spiral, gradually lowering his altitude. “That’s strange.” General Thomas said; “The battle lines have moved since you made the sketch.”

“You had them checked, you knew they were valid at the time we made it.”

“Yes, we did, of course like the Emperor told you scrying is like looking through a reed, you can see so little around the area. You certainly don’t get a view like this. This is magnificent.”

“So, did you not press them as that they fell back?”

“No, we are still assembling the forces we plan on using against them, not to mention we are still bringing up our siege weapons. I think they have ceded part of their country to us, that is very strange.”

By now the dragon was getting lower in the sky and the people on the ground had started to notice, they were firing arrows into the air in a vain attempt to shoot him down. Sid was being careful and kept to altitude where most of the arrows had lost their energy by the time they reached him. He wheeled in the sky and cruised along the front and saw that indeed it had shifted in the two days since he and Albert had flown over the area.

“I don’t know why they fell back General, but I would be careful with that land that they have left you, they may have seeded it with… surprises.”

“Yes, that is what I am thinking. There may be a magical solution to this problem. I just wish I could get a better look at the ground to see if they did any digging. That would at least give me an idea of what they may have planted.”

Sid said; “It will be a bit dangerous, but I can take a dive over the area. Make sure you are watching the ground though, because it is going to fly by quickly.”

“I understand” the General said, and he swallowed his fear as Sid did a wingover and flew behind the lines. Then suddenly, with another wingover Sid was flying directly toward the friendly lines from inside of Tothmol. He dived to get more speed and flew quickly over Tothmol’s front lines. As he did he noticed the Tothmol army was digging into their new position like they were prepared to defend this area and stay for a long time.

Of course, Sid was attracting more arrow fire and this time it was getting too close. Some of the arrows tore through his wing membrane and some of them stuck into his belly. Sid turned and raced over the Tothmol lines and then he did a quick wing flare, cutting his speed sharply. He scanned the ground, in front of the Tothmol lines carefully and then with four powerful beasts on his wing he gained a little attitude and headed for friendly lines. He quickly crossed into friendly lands, but still arrows were pursuing him. Finally, he landed in the rear, near General Thomas’s tent. Albert was there to help the general dismount.

“Are you injured Sid?”

“Yes, I am afraid so, my wings are torn in a few places and they got me in the belly.”

Albert hurried off the dragon’s back and began to pluck the arrows out of Sid’s belly. General Thomas called for some priests. Then Albert noticed that he had an arrow in his side.

The priests came quickly and started to treat the General. After they got the arrow out of hisr side and applied some healing he released a sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure just what the arrow had hit, but it was starting to hurt, and this healing felt good.

The priest said; “That is all I can do for now General, you should eat a light meal and go to bed and sleep, then we can check you for damage tomorrow. Don’t take any strong drink.

General Thomas said; “That’s fine for me, but you need to get at least two more priests over her. Sid was hurt worse than I was. They got his wing and his belly.”

The priest signaled for more priests to be brought over and for them to treat Sid. They gingerly approached Sid, not wanting to be his meal. As they did they saw sparkles of magic as the rips in his wings started to close.

Sid said; “I could still use your help. I have applied a little magic of my own to help with the healing, but the General is right they got me several times. Luckily, he is wrong in that the damage is not as severe as it was with him. It takes a lot to hurt a dragon. Most fights with dragons involved tend to be long ones because the dragon’s hide is so tough that it is hard to pierce. We had to have been the target of over fire-hundred archers though, and few of those shots got through.”

The priests advanced on Sid and applied their healing touch to him, several times. The wing rips and tears had mended, and the holes in Sid’s armor had sealed over, but he was tired from all the flight and hungry from using all that magic. Luckily, Albert had some experience with Sid and his magic use so, he was already approaching General Thomas; “Sid is going to need a cow brought here and slaughtered. When he expends so much energy flying and using magic he is very hungry afterwards.

Sid laid down and relaxed; “You had better make it two cows General Thomas. I am still hurt, but your priests did a fine job with me. Thank-you for that. Would it be possible to get some barbecue sauce for the cows?”

General Thomas chuckled; “You did us a good day’s work Sid, yes two cows would be easy to get, and I will talk to the chief myself about the barbecue sauce. After that I will approach the wizard’s war wagon and see if we can do something about the surprise that Tothmol may have left us in front of their lines. I was able to get a good look and I saw very little signs of digging.”

Albert got his ring back from General Thomas and he took off to find the field kitchen and the quartermaster, then the wizard’s battle wagon.

Albert approached Sid; “You seemed to have caught a lot of arrows, that dive you took over the enemy lines was amazing, but very risky.”

“Yes, but you can’t get something without taking a little risk. I was unable to ascertain if the Tothmol’s had planted anything in the ground, it appeared to be undisturbed. I also didn’t expect that many arrows.”

“They could have soaked the ground with pitch to ignite as the Emperor’s troops approach.”

“No, I would have caught the scent of that. They may have used something else, something that I am not familiar with. I caught some strange scents, but nothing I could identify. Those scents could have been from plants I don’t know about or from plant oils that were poured into the ground. For that matter they may have summoned earth elementals and had them plant secret traps in the area or create voids underground that would turn into pits.

Albert said; “When you fly over the Tothmol castle you are going to have to use an invisibility potion and you had better have one for your exit as well. You will also need a magical shield or armor potion to protect you and the General while you are in the area.”

“Those are some excellent ideas Albert, I wish I had thought of doing that before I took a flight over the Tothmol battle lines. I don’t have many potion makers among my people, or the thought might have occurred to me.”

General Thomas sent an aid over to see how Sid and Albert were doing. A few minutes later a pair of women came over leading two cows. It wasn’t long after that when a man wearing a butcher’s apron and carrying an assortment of knives and cleavers came over, towing a wagon with two barrels in it; “You are the dragon I am supposed to feed?”

“I don’t see any other dragon around here; do you know of another one?”

“Okay, you are the one. I will be butchering these two for you. The barrels hold barbecue sauce and ale. The General mentioned you might be thirsty after your hard flight.”

Albert spoke up; “Yes, Sir Sid needs a lot of food, he has flown long and hard scouting out the Tothmol lines and he was sorely injured in the process.”

“Well, I don’t have any heal potions, but I know how to make a good steak. How does you dragon like his meat cooked? I don’t see any fire and I wasn’t told to bring any firewood over, should I fetch some?”

“No thank you, I can supply my own fire. Just butcher the cattle, cut it into quarters for me and set the organs aside. I can take big chunks.”

“Your wish is my command, Sir Dragon.” With that the butcher used his knife to bleed out each cow, making sure to treat the cow behind the other one first. He then started to cut the cows apart. The blood spilled all over the ground and soaked into the soil.

As the butcher worked Albert took the cart and checked the contents. He brought over the barbecue sauce first and stood it on its end. Then he unloaded the ale and made sure it had a spigot; “Do you want me to poor the barbecue sauce over the cattle before you cook it Sir Sid?”

“No, let me toast the meat first then poor it on the cattle sections and let me lightly toast it again. That would be sufficient.”

Once the cattle were sectioned both Albert and the butcher stepped back, and Sid used his flame on a low setting to gently cook the meat. Then Albert stepped in and poured the barbecue sauce over the meat. The butcher gave him a hand. Then both of them stepped back and let Sid treat the meat one more time. Then Sid ate it in a few large bites.

The butcher was amazed how fast Sid downed the cow chunks. Sid then transformed into his human form and lifted the barrel of ale, opened the spigot and drank deeply. Again, the butcher was amazed how much Sid was able to drink; “I would hate to get into a drinking contest with you Sir Dragon.”

Sid wiped his mouth and said; “I may look like a man, but I have a dragon’s appetite and a dragon’s capacity. I could probably drink four of you under the table.”

The butcher was shocked, and Sid then went to finish the ale.

“Ah, that did hit the spot. Thank-you Mr. Butcher, err what is your name.”

“Donald Sir Dragon, Donald Haymaker.”

“A proud name, do you have a punch to go with the name.”

“Yes, Sir Dragon I haven’t been defeated in a bar fight yet.”

“You should be proud of that name. I am called Sid.” With that Sid reached out his hand for the butcher.

The butcher shook Sid’s hand saying; “Wow! My wife will never believe I shook the hand or a real live dragon. It is an honor to meet you Sir Sid. Did you like my barbecue sauce?”

“Yes, Mr. Haymaker, it was excellent and just spicy enough. I would almost kill for the recipe.”

Albert was amazed as the dragon and the butcher sat trading barbecue recipes. It seems that Sid had talked to the chief in Kolariana. The butcher and Sid walked away while Albert put the empty barrels back on to the wagon and started pulling the wagon behind Sid and the butcher.

The butcher turned around suddenly; “Oh, sorry sir, I should be pulling that wagon. Here let me take it from you.” Albert and the butcher traded places, and Sid walked next to the butcher still trading recipes with him as they headed for the mess tent. Albert was happy, because it was lunch time and he wanted to eat. He was sure that Sid would want to go into the mess tent and eat himself. He posed that very question to Sid, who happily agreed, and the trio retired to the mess tent.

Albert made sure to get a lot of food so that when he and Sid went through the line and sat down so he could share his plate with Sid. He knew the dragon’s belly wouldn’t be easily filled. Sid had explained to him that he couldn’t really heal himself or others, but he could speed up the local passage of time in an area to speed the healing process. The problem with doing that is that the subject gets hungry.

The mess tent was busy with a lot of soldiers coming and going. No one spared a second glance at Albert and Sid, thinking that they must be civilian workers. In an army less than half the people in the field are actual soldiers. The rest are those who make the fighting possible. The cooks who feed the masses, the farriers, who take care of the horses, the smiths, who take care of the armor and the weapons and of course the fletchers, who take care of the arrows and make more of them. Then there are the camp followers; everyone from bartenders to ladies of the night, all looking to turn an extra silver or two by serving the pleasures of troops. Most of the troops assumed Sid was just a camp follower and ignored them. That is until General Wilson came in, got her lunch and asked Sid permission to sit beside him.

“Of course, General. We would like to make a few requests of you.”

“I heard you and General Thomas had a rough flight.”

“The flight was as smooth as I could make it, it was the Tothmol’s who were rough. The scored several good hits on me and one on the poor General.”

“I know, the priests have him resting in his tent. What shape are you in?”

“I am still a little wounded. I did some healing on my own, then the priests came and helped me out greatly, but I would like to postpone our flight until tomorrow when I could get a little more healing from the priests. If you don’t mind.”

“Oh, of course not, your safety would be my safety. Since I can’t fly, it would be terribly embarrassing to lose you over enemy territory.”

“Good, then Albert and I will retire if you could please have someone show us to a tent where we could relax?”

“Of course, Sir Sid, I would be happy to show you myself. We have a tent pitched just for the two of you.”

She stood and motioned to a trooper to take care of their trays. Which he did, wondering who in the world Sid and Albert were. They came in talking with a butcher and were treated with respect by a General.

“I have a confession to make Sir Sid, I heard from the wizard you tutored that you know the rune for beauty. I wonder how much it would cost to have a charm with that rune inside made?” The General had waited until they were outside and was looking around to make sure she wasn’t being over heard.

Sid chuckled; “Do you have an existing charm I could use?”

“No, but I could get one from somewhere. The wizard also mentioned that you would require diamond dust, is that correct?”

“Yes, about two ounces of it, otherwise the rune would only last two months. Let’s see I could take an existing charm, if it is high quality, it must be made of metal. Gold or silver would be preferable, platinum if you could get it. Then I could do it for one-hundred gold pieces and a favor.”

She suddenly got suspicious; “What favor?”

“I want to learn more about the court. You know the gossip around the throne. Who is seeing whom, and who is in favor and who is not. I am not asking for any military secrets. I just want to know who I am working for better.”

The General had relief visible on her face; “Oh, if that is all you need I could shed some light on a few things, but you would be better informed by the Emperor’s banquet manager. She keeps up on the current gossip and such and she would be honored to meet you. I am sure if you demonstrated some of your powers for her and gave her a gold piece or two she would talk your ear off.”

“That would be excellent General. Can you have a runner fetch her and send her to my tent after you leave?”

“Yes, I can.” She looked around to make sure, again, that no one was watching her; “When can you make the charm for me?”

“I can do it the day after tomorrow. It will all depend on how much damage I take in our flight. I could have Albert here scribe the rune, but to make it permanent I would have to do the work myself. I am still in the process of training Albert here, and don’t worry. Neither Albert or I will tell anyone what we have made for you. The wizard shouldn’t have mentioned that I can do this kind of work, because now I will be flooded with orders.”

“We can’t have that happen, you have some weapons you need to enchant, and I am sure the Emperor will want your services in other areas. I will see about getting the charm tonight. Then I will give it to you after our scouting mission and you can work on it when you get the free time to do so. I don’t want to interrupt the war effort in any way.”

“That’s good General. Ah, Albert here had some excellent ideas he wanted to share, ideas that would save both our hides from the lashing I and General Thomas took today.”

Albert then told the General about the potions he had recommended for Sid to take with him. If Sid had several invisibility potions then, depending on circumstances he could even make an attack or two, just to check the enemy response time.

“The enemy is bound to have siege weapons mounted on the battlements. If we could damage one, that would go a long way.”

“Oh, how so General?”

“Well, think about it. You are safe behind the lines doing boring duty in the castle when suddenly out of nowhere you are attacked, your siege engine is burned, possibly wrecked. It would be on the battlements for all to see and impossible to ignore. To show that we could make such a vital strike, so deep in enemy territory would damage their morale. Even if they were able to repair that damage that you do, the actual strike itself would be damage enough. Word would spread like wildfire and the whole country would know. There is no better way to prove that we have a dragon helping us.”

Sid thought for a few moments; “That is a big risk, General. If you can get the potions we will require, and if I think I can pull it off, then I will attempt a strike on their siege engines. I understand the morale problems such a strike could cause. It would also make our trip more valuable and important for the war effort than just a scouting mission.”

“Ah, would you charge more for your services?”

“Just put it on my bill, or rather Koloriana’s bill and if the account is paid for this year then we can look at next year’s tribute. You will be there to assess the damage we do, so you will be the best one to tell the Emperor how valuable you think it is, for the war effort and all.”

“Thank-you Sir Sid, I am sure it will be of great value and we can talk to the Emperor when I make my report to him, AFTER we have done our scouting mission. I will secure the charm, get the banquet mistress over to see you tonight and I will make sure a pair of priests will greet you in the morning. I myself will secure the potions you and I will need. Boy are we going to have some fun tomorrow!”

The General showed them to their tent and came inside to talk with Sid for a half-hour about the gossip she knew. Then she left promising to get right on her tasks.

Albert asked; “Why do you want palace gossip Sid?”

“You never know what is actually going on in the place until you find out from the staff. We just found out that the banquet mistress is more important of a person than her title would suggest. With all that gossip she is not a woman to offend. That is power my good man, it may be soft power, but it is still power. I need to get power over the Emperor to make sure he honors his deal with Kolorania. If I know some important trivia then I can use that as a lever against his power structure.”

“Do you mean blackmail?”

“I wouldn’t put it so bluntly, but essentially you are correct. For example, I am not limited in what else I can do. For example, in this deal with General Wilson. I could also make a similar offer to the banquet mistress to actually get some incriminating information about the palace. Right now, I am flailing in the dark and the more information I gather the better I will be able to see a way to navigate through the human puzzle.”

“I thought you were a provincial dragon, you seem to have learned a lot about humans.”

“Only, what I have picked up since meeting you. But, a society is a society and they often share common features. For example, the witch in the lizardfolk society is also the birthing mother and so she knows who is breeding with who, who is in favor by the chief and who is not. I would talk with her to learn who had the soft power in the tribe. She, herself was one pole of power, and I made sure to cultivate it. You know that she has a rune of beauty on her, that I created. This gave me a lot of inside information that my people would be too afraid to tell me. After all you are not going to tell your god who is sleeping with whom.

Albert, I want you to go and secure a charm for ourselves. I will talk with the banquet mistress tonight and I will use my own blood to make a permanent charm of beauty for her. That should give us an inside track on things at the palace. Then when the priests come tomorrow they can heal the damage that I inflict on myself to secure enough blood to make the charm permanent. What do you think of my idea?”

“I am in awe of you Sir Sid. You seem to have thought of everything.”

“Oh, far from it my good man. If you had not suggested those potions, then I would be flying into danger. You were also clever in mentioning how I can further assist the Empire. Our goal is to make us valuable and since he can’t get my cooperation without going through Kolorania then he will be hesitant to do anything that would sour the relationship. That means when he learns where the children are, and eventually he will, then he will be less likely to blow his top or demand that we give him one of our dragons.”

“How long do you think it will be before the hatchlings are grown enough to come out into the real world?”

“Thanks to the accelerated time scale inside the pocket plane it shouldn’t take more than two years. By that time, they will be able to change into humans and blend into society. The inner court and Helson will have instructed them enough so that they won’t embarrass themselves too much when they come out into what you call the real world. Once that happens the demands of the Emperor will soon follow. In fact, I am sure a lot of nations are going to be looking to Kolorania, because no human nation that Helson knows of has made an alliance with a dragon, much less a family of dragons. And the day they are released on the world will be a momentous day, they will just be coming into their own and eager to take on the world.”

That afternooon Sid and Albert worked on enchanting a beauty charm. Sid was able to enchant an amulet that Albert had secured for him. Sid used his own blood to complete the permanency enchantments on the charm. Then when the banquet mistress showed up he made a deal with her and they got into a long discussion. They made sure to tell the woman to keep the charm well hidden in case someone noticed it, for they might be tempted to steal it.

Chapter 13: Off to war we go, the engagement.

That night the Emperor called a council meeting of his generals and General Thomas spoke very enthusiastically about what he and Sid had accomplished. The Emperor seemed pleased and a few Generals thumped the table in agreement with him.

The Emperor said; “That is excellent work for today, but what are we going to do when we have the army finally assembled?”

Sid said; “It might be clever if you give me an invisibility potion and I pop out over the army using the surprise to breathe on them and to use dragon fear. Then I can use another invisibility potion to disappear. Meanwhile my flame can be the signal for your army to advance.”

The Emperor said; “Thank-you Sid, that might be a good idea. It would be a clear signal to charge and we would have an advantage in that the majority of the army would be fleeing in terror.”

Sid said; “I am not sure if it will be the majority of their army, but it will be a large group.”

General Wilson asked; “Could you use dragon fear on them again, to make them flee?”

“I could use dragon fear on several segments of the army, but not all at once. I am only one dragon and I would have to move across their lines. However, a single person could only be affected by my dragon fear once per day. If they resist the fear, then I can’t affect them until a new day. I am hoping that a majority of them will not be able to resist my dragon fear.”

General Thomas spoke next; “So, how many areas do you think you could affect Sid?”

“It depends on how many invisibility potions I can get. If I try to fly between each segment, then I risk being shot at. That could ruin my intimidation factor, part of dragon fear is the sheer natural intimidation of a dragon. I would hope to strike, use my flame breath and then disappear and move on to another area and repeat. It would take me time to get to each segment of the army and a little time for my breath to recharge itself.”

The Wizard spoke; “I can supply six invisibility potions for you Sid.”

Albert spoke up; “We should also get Sid 12 healing potions. If he is going to make six strikes, then he is going to have to withstand at least six attacks. If his first two strikes are any indicator he is going to be targeted by a lot of bows. Sure, a good number of soldiers will be running away, but there are bound to be some that are out of range for the dragon fear or who are strong enough to resist the fear and they will suddenly see this huge, angry red dragon in the sky above them, that they are going to have target him.”

A priest said; “I will talk to my fellow priests to secure the needed potions. We would like to use them for our troops, but if Sid is going to be making a large portion of the army to flee then that would be the best use for them.”

Albert said; “Sid is also going to need a bandoleer to carry the potions in. Something large enough to fit him in his natural form, so he can draw the potions quickly and easily.”

A third general said; “I will send a runner to the tailors to get work on it immediately. They will work the night through if the have to.” He then motioned to an aide and wrote out the order for her to take to the tailors.

The meeting continued with the generals planning their strategy, making a direct attack along the axis of Sid’s attacks. They pointed out the areas on the map where Sid should make his strikes. Then the meeting moved to the topic of what may have been left behind when the Tothmol army shifted their lines. The wizard mentioned that he had several earth elementals scout the area and they found crystals that were implanted with fireballs. He summoned more earth elementals to glide under the ground to carefully grab, remove and stock the fireball crystals into several large stones. He had talked with the engineer about using these stones to hurl the fireball crystals back at the enemy. The wizard also said that the ground had been soaked in naphtha to make it flammable, so Sid needed to be careful where he breathed so as not to create an impassable fire barrier.

The Emperor said; “Why would the Tothmol’s plant such an obvious trap?”

The wizard said; “I don’t know, we only noticed the change in the battle lines when Sid made the map and General Thomas scouted the area out. If Sid and Albert had not scouted the front lines, we may not have known that the battle lines had been shifted.”

The priest said; “No, we would have noticed that they sacrificed part of their own territory. The movement in battle lines would have been obvious.”

Albert said; “They may have had something else in mind. Like using a catapult zeroed in on the seeded area to ignite a flame front right before our forces moved into the battle.”

Sid pondered about the topics posed at the meeting. There was no resolution to why the Tothmols had planted the fireball crystal seeds ahead of their lines. The shifting of the lines made it obvious that something had been planted. Sid figured it could only be that they didn’t count on anyone scouting their lines before the Emperor’s army got into position.

The next day at dawn, the sun rose and the dew glistened off grass as the Emperor’s army got ready to advance. Sid took off, this time wearing two potions bandoleers specially made for him and filled with potions. As he climbed he took an armor reinforcing potion, then he took an invisibility potion. He was in a spiral climb, with his wings beating hard. Then he made a wingover and charged toward the lines. He dived to increase his speed and engaged his breath weapon in a hard blow. That made him visible and he then used his dragon fear. His appearance right over the no man’s land between enemy lines, was shocking to say the least. He continued his dive and watched as the logs the Tothmols had laid to save themselves time digging, ignited. They wouldn’t burn long but they created a smoke cloud. In a flash Sid was behind their lines and he started his climb again. As he climbed he took another invisibility potion. Surprisingly he had been targeted by only a few arrows, and most had bounced off of him. One had pieced his wing, and he spent a little arcane energy to heal the wound.

As Sid watched more than half of the troops were climbing out of their trench and running. Sid chuckled and did a turn to the south. Sid flew over the enemy lines and lined himself up for another run. He dived and once he was in range he breathed hard again. Once again, he became visible and used his dragon fear. More arrows were fired at him and Sid flew over the enemy lines. Then he took an invisibility potion and began his climb. Sid moved down south and once again made another run at the enemy lines, breathed and used his dragon fear. The Imperial Army took this, third flash, as the agreed upon signal to launch their assault starting on the south flank.

It would be expected for Sid to either continue south or to head north to take a position next to where he had first attacked. Instead Sid flew further north, hoping to catch the enemy unaware. They were aware that a dragon was attacking their lines, but they weren’t sure where he was. Sid lined up for a fourth run and made it. Then he repeated the procedure two more times. Now the arrows were getting thicker, but so were the lines of enemy troops fleeing the front lines.

Sid was exhausted as he took his last invisibility potion. He had been scored on more than several times and took three healing potions. He made his final climb and once again headed over the enemy lines toward friendly lines. As he did he watched the left wing of the Imperial Army advance into battle. With over half the troops fleeing the Imperial Army, outnumbered the Tothmols were going to be in big trouble.

Sid landed in the Imperial Army rear near the mess tent. Once again Albert was waiting, along with a pair of priests and Butcher Haymaker. Sid was happy to see the butcher had already slaughtered four cows and was working on cutting them into quarters and removing the organs.

Sid landed a little hard and grunted with the pain. Albert ran to start pulling out the arrows that were stuck in him and the two priests came forward to apply their healing magics to Sid. Sid took two more healing potions and gave the rest to the priests, who were attending him. Then he told the butcher to stand back and he breathed low and soft on the meat. Once he finished Butcher Haymaker came in with the barbecue sauce and poured it all over the meat. Then he backed off and let Sid take another breath at the meat cooking it the way he liked. After Sid finished he started downing large pieces of meat.

Butcher Haymaker said; “I saw you attacking the enemy lines Mr. Dragon, and it was beautiful. All that fire and all those enemy troops that ran. It was poetry in motion Mr. Dragon. I talked to the baker and I have got four apple pies for you.”

Between mouthfuls, Sid said; “Thank-you Butcher Haymaker, and doubly thank-you for the pies.” He then went back to eating. When he finished he downed the apple pies and transformed into his human form.

“I think the Imperial Army is going to have a good day today.”

Sid then picked up the barrel of wine, the butcher had set out for him, opened the spigot and drank his fill.

Albert asked; “How tired are you Sid.”

“Very, but not too tired to go to the command tent to see how the operation is going.”

“I will escort you Sid, I know where it is.” Said Albert.

When Sid had finished both barrels of wine the butcher took all three empty barrels and loaded them on two carts. He motioned to a boy in the crowd to come over and help him with the other wagon and the two left heading for the mess tent. Albert and Sid left heading toward the command tent. When they arrived they were allowed into the huge tent.

Inside a large map was mounted on a vertical stand and two aids were taking reports from the field and moving troop markers, showing the Imperial Army advancing past the lines and deeper into enemy lands.

General Wilson noticed Sid and Albert and motioned them to come to the front of the tent. When Sid came forward. General Wilson said; “And we have our allied dragon to thank for a complete rout of enemy forces.” She then started clapping and soon the entire tent joined in.

General Wilson slapped Sid on the back saying; “You did an excellent job today. How are you feeling?”

“I am tired, and a little sore from some arrows. Your priests healed most of the damage though. I wanted to come here to see how well I did.”

“Well, you did excellent. As you can see.” General Wilson pointed at the map it has been a total rout. Most of the troops ran due to your dragon fear. Our army hit them hard and killed many on the southern flank. When the northern flank and the middle saw the army advancing on them, so many of their forces retreating, and what had happened to the southern flank they all routed. Now their whole army is in retreat. How long will that dragon fear last?”

“Only a few minutes. If they are still running, then it is because of the fear your troops have inspired in them.”

General Thomas spoke; “Our troops are following the enemy as fast as they safely can. The enemy doesn’t look like they are making a fighting withdraw but are in total retreat. Our army is causing their retreat for now, but it was inspired by you Sid. You won this battle for us, and you may have won the war.”

General Wilson said; “You wouldn’t be saying that if you saw the Tothmol castle. They are protected by some excellent fortifications. It is going to be hard to lay siege to their castle. Who knows what layers of defense they have?”

Sid said; “It looks like the Tothmols are going to run for a while, at least as long as the Imperial Army is on their trail. I can see from the map here that they are still running. Hopefully, this will please the Emperor and much as it has pleased you generals.”

Albert asked; “How far do you think they are going to run General Wilson?”

“For the rest of the day. Our army will be able to follow but come nightfall they are going to have to stop.”

Sid said; “That sounds good, I am going to retire to my tent, I am tired and need to heal myself a little.”

Albert said; “I will escort you Sid, I don’t know how to read this map and I am in over my head here.”

General Wilson said; “Don’t worry, young man, we can read the map and we are quite pleased with the results. There is a natural ridge here, she pointed at the map and at their present rate the enemy are going to be there around nightfall. If they are not molested, they can set up a battle line there.”

Sid asked; “How many hours will that take?”

General Wilson responded; “Six more hours.”

Sid said; “Then we will leave now, wake me up in five hours and I will try to prevent them from establishing their lines at that ridge you pointed out. I will need someone who can read a map and navigate me toward that ridge. I am going to still be very tired, but if I make an appearance and use my breath weapon on them again then they may rout once more. I cannot use dragon fear on them again, but my being there is going to be frightening so they may retreat once more.”

General Wilson said; “I will wake you myself Sid, and I will navigate for you, I want to personally see those troops run!”

Sid said; “It will be dangerous General Wilson so pack four more invisibility potions and two more healing potions. Albert and I are going to retire now.” With that Sid left the tent, with Albert following him.

Albert lead Sid to their tent, Sid entered and went right to sleep. Fire hours later General Wilson came inside the tent. Albert shook Sid. He was slow to wake, but he did wake up and he stood; “I am ready General Wilson.” With that Sid left the tent and transformed into his natural form.

General Wilson started to climb on Sid’s back and Albert was right behind her helping her to buckle into the saddle on Sid’s back. After she was secured Albert slid down and he slapped Sid on the tail; “I am clear Sid.”

Sid grunted tiredly and leapt into the air, with a strong beat of his wings he took to the air once more and climbed high into the clouds. General Wilson navigated and within forty minutes Sid was near enough to see the ridge. He took his invisibility potion and told General Wilson to take hers. Then he beat his wings stronger, increasing his speed. He had flown long, hard, and fast. Sid was tired, but dragons have willpower and a strong stubborn nature.

Sure, enough some of the troops were out in front of the others and they had turned around attempting to halt the retreating army. They were motioning for the troops to stop and take cover at the ridge line. That’s when Sid let out a mighty roar and dived. He headed straight for the leaders and let out a narrow tongue of flame. One man was caught in the gout of flame and he screamed as he dropped and rolled to try and put out the fire.

Sid did a wingover and flew down the ridge line. General Wilson let out a war cry and swung her sword over her head. Sid flew down the ridge line and did a wingover to return. When his breath was recharged he targeted another troop leader and fired his breath at them. Again, another person caught fire and they dropped and rolled to try and put out the flames. Sid flew back toward the advancing Imperial Army and lined up for another charge at the line. As soon as he did that the leaders who were attempting to rally their troops turned and ran.

A few of the enemy troopers had taken pot shots at Sid, but most of them went wide.

Sid watched them run and then dropped out of the sky and landed hard.

General Wilson gave another war cry and started to unbuckle herself from the saddle; “You did it Sid! You scared them once more. They will probably be running all night!

Sid let out a sigh and said; “Good. I need to take a nap, is it alright if I rest here?”

General Wilson looked around; “You should move back fifty yards. I can get some troops to guard you while you sleep. How long will you be out for?”

Sid walked back the fifty years saying; “I need at least 12 hours sleep…” He gave out a heavy sigh; “I am bone tired, I need to sleep.” He slowly walked toward the tree that General Wilson had pointed out. When he reached it he curled up around it and in a few seconds was fast asleep.

Chapter 14: Fighting a war is hard work.

Twelve hours later General Wilson hit Sid with the flat of her sword on his flank. He continued to snore, so General Wilson hit him again. Sid stirred and opened his eyes and inhaled. He caught the delicious smell of have a dozen slaughtered goats and an apple pie; “Thank-you General Wilson.”

Sid made short work of the food and looked around to see who else was in the area. He saw six soldiers guarding him and the rest of the army arrayed out in a battle line in front of him. Behind him he noticed people setting up tents, and he smelled the mess tent being set up. As Sid looked around he noticed more soldiers around him getting ready to move out.

“You have slept the whole night away Sid.” The General seemed quite pleased; “Are you ready to continue our advance?”

“I could fly some more, what have the enemy troops done?”

“They spent another six hours retreating, then they bedded down for the rest of the night and are continuing their retreat. I would like to have you put in another appearance. They are tired and scared. If you hit them again they won’t stop running until they reach their castle.”

Sid signed; “Mount up and let’s go after them. I am still tired, but I can use my dragon fear on them again and we can see if we can keep them on the run. Will the Imperial Army follow us?”

“They are waiting for you.” General Wilson said as she mounted Sid and then Albert climbed up next to her and started to buckle her in. Once she was set Sid leapt into the air and started beating his wings. Once again, he went into the sky, but only 100 yards up so the troops could see him. As Sid took off the army started marching right after him.

Sid flew slowly and in a weaving pattern, so the army could keep up with him; “I can see the troops, do you want me to go out ahead and make a run at them?”

General Wilson said; “Yes, please do so.” Then she turned around and shouted; We are making a run at the enemy, follow as soon as you can!”

Sid moved forward and with a few powerful beats of his wings he was able to climb in altitude. Once reaching a height of two-hundred yards he flew forward and then into a dive. Then Sid let out a mighty roar and dove at the center of the enemy line. He breathed fire and spread his dragon fear. The enemy had formed a ragged defense line, but when they saw Sid approaching they took cover a few brave souls fired arrows at Sid, but he ignored them.

As Sid passed over the enemy forces he breathed another gout of flame at a large tree igniting it. The enemy scattered with the dragon fear and the fear of dragon fire. As the Imperial Army advanced the enemy began to rout once again.

Sid did a wingover and returned to the tree where he had napped.

“General Wilson said; “What’s a matter, Sid? Can you not follow the enemy?”

“I General, am tired and I need to sleep another 12 or 24 hours and when I wake up I need to eat again. I have worked hard the last few days and built up a dragon’s appetite. Right now, I am exhausted. I couldn’t fly another fifty feet.” With that Sid curled around the tree and moments later was asleep.

Albert climbed on Sid’s back and helped the General out of the saddle; “I wasn’t aware dragons were so fragile.”

“I don’t know about fragile Sid is, but considering that he won the last two battles for you, I think he has served your Empire well. A dragon is not a reptile, but they are similar to them and a reptile works in small starts, afterwards they need to rest, usually a long rest. I know that using magic takes a lot of Sid, I imagine flying does as well. I have no ideas how much using dragon fear takes, but it is a powerful effect and so that requires energy. Don’t begrudge Sid’s need for rest.”

“You are right, Albert. I will make sure that Sid is guarded during the night, since he is such a sound sleeper. The camp followers have set up the camp, so you can go back to your tent and sack out.”

“Thank-you General Wilson, I could use something to eat first though, how about you?”

“It is a bit early, but I am feeling a bit hungry. Let’s check to see if mess tent has been set up yet”

“I thought the camp followers would have set the tent up for this morning?”

“They need time to sleep and usually the troops only get one hot meal a day. You Albert are getting spoiled, you haven’t had to march a full day and then fight. You haven’t had to spend days in the field with nothing but hard tack and meat dried to the consistency of leather.”

“No, General I have not had to experience those things. But, I have had to stand guard in the rain in full armor with the rain dripping down my back. I have had to pull late nights studying and I have had to work at binding my own spell book together and hours scribing spells in it. Yes, I was seated for a lot of this work, but it was still hard work. We have all had to work for a living. I am sure even your Emperor has been a hard worker to get to the point where he is in his life.”

“Yea, you got a point there Albert. Most of us have had to work hard for a living. I just didn’t know much of your history. How did you meet Sid?”

Albert told her about his failure to become a wizard and about how his mother was lucky to find him a position with the local guard and how he had to work with Bernard and how he had meet Sid. He also told her about how Sid got him promoted and how the king assigned him to Sid’s personal staff.

By that time the pair had reached the mess tent and had gone inside. A server told them that they would have to wait 30 minutes or so for the food to be ready. The General took a seat and invited Albert to sit across from her.

Albert looked around, making sure they had privacy and asked; “How is your beauty charm working out for you?”

“Excellent, I have gotten a few offers already. When things calm down, I plan on going on a few dates.”

“Excellent General, I wish you luck. Hopefully, you will find someone who makes you happy.”

“Thank-you Private.”

“Make it Albert please. I left my guard duty behind. I am now attached directly to Sid’s staff and I am studying the way of the warrior and the mage.”

“I thought one would preclude the other?”

“So, did I and my mother. The Eternal King knew better and found me tutor who could make use of all my skills, limited that they are.”

Albert asked some questions about Wilson’s background and home life, he was especially interested in how she found herself in the service of the Emperor.

“We were adventurers and had retired to form a mercenary company. The Emperor hired us to train his army. When we finished he offered myself and some of my officers a job with him. It was better to work as trainer of troops than spend my life on some random battlefield.”

“But, you rode Sid into battle, when you didn’t have to?”

“I have to admit that I miss it sometimes. Also, who would turn down the chance to get first hand intelligence AND to actually RIDE on a dragon!”

“It is exciting, isn’t it! I couldn’t believe it the first time I was able to ride dragon back.”

“I still find it hard to believe that a dragon, much less a red dragon would allow himself to be ridden by a mere human.”

“It is rare, I have only heard of it happening with one other dragon and she was raised by humans in a far-off land.”

“Oh, where?”

“Sorry, I don’t know. I got the story from my mother, I believe. She was a retired adventurer. So was my dad. He died when I was ten though.”

“That’s rough, my mother died when I was young too. My dad did the best he could, but he couldn’t replace my mom. He is why I chose a life as an adventurer. I was a bit of a tomboy before mom died, but afterwards I really went full bore. That explains why I have had trouble finding dates. I didn’t have much time for boys when I was young, and when I was an adventurer we had a married couple and the rest of us where women. Then when I joined the Emperor’s army I had to worry about rank and not looking like I had slept my way into my position.”

“No, you don’t want it to look like that. We all want to it to look like we got our position on our own strengths, but we could use some help now and then.”

“So, that’s why you and Sid were willing to help me. Is that really Sid’s true attitude, or are you his better nature?”

“Sid was raised by his parents, but they died when he was still a hatchling, so he left home, his mother giving her life, so her children could live. He moved north to escape humanity and has lived an isolated life. He refers to himself as ‘the provincial dragon’ because of this. When he was attacked by humans he came south to try and set up a relationship with the Eternal King that would ensure his safety. Part of our service here is in service to the Eternal King and as payment for our debt to him.”

“Debts, we all own debts in life. You to your mother and to Sid. Sid to the Eternal King and his family, and me to the Emperor. Our life always seems to be in service of these debts.” General Wilson mused.

“It is not a depressing as all that. I mean we have our time to relax and we have great events in our life; like riding a dragon.”

“You have a point, sometimes I can be a bit of a pessimist. Thank-you Albert.”

Chapter 15: A nice sunny flight, partially cloudy with a hail of arrows.

The Tothmol army continued to rout and headed back toward their castle with the Imperial Army in pursuit. Sid wasn’t called into battle again, so he and Albert worked on creating the magic weapons they had promised the Emperor. It took eight days for the Tothmol army to reach the fortifications around their castle. The citizens had retreated to either inside the castle or toward the border of Tothmol. The troops occupied the town and prepared to dig in and fight.

General Wilson called on Sid to do the scouting mission of the castle and its environment; “Are you rested enough Sid?”

“Yes, I am, and if you have access to potions then I am ready to do our scouting mission.”

“I have gotten your bandoleer from the priests and I have filled it with four invisibility potions and six healing potions. I have four healing potions and six invisibility potions as well. I think we can go scout the town first, invisible of course, and then hit the castle. If we are lucky you can make an attack on their siege weapons. They have ballista on the walls and catapults behind their walls.”

“Why would they have catapults behind their walls?”

“A catapult is an indirect fire weapon it has a high arc that clears the wall and then it falls directly down in the troops. It might be better to position them on the walls, but not for the walls. You see a catapult used a leather spring drawn tight and slams the throwing arm into the crossbar. Then the energy is transmitted to the projectile and it throws that projectile high into the air. The problem is that when the throwing arm hits the cross arm it transmits energy down through the catapult and into the structure beneath it. If it is on the ground then nothing much happens, but if it is on the wall then that energy shakes the wall damaging it.

A ballista is like a large crossbow. It too uses a spring in leather drawn tight, and then when it is fired the bolt is shot forth. A ballista is a direct fire weapon; meaning you aim it directly at what you want to hit. So, ballistae have to be on the wall and catapults have to be on the ground. Catapults on the wall can hurt the wall, where as ballista on the wall don’t harm it.”

“I did not know the physics of siege weapons, thank-you for the lesson General Wilson. How will that effect our scouting mission?”

“We shouldn’t have to worry about the catapults, but we want to know how many of there are. It takes a lot of skill to aim a catapult and it is very hard to hit moving targets. We will need to worry about the ballista, and crossbows as well as longbows on the wall. Those are all direct fire weapons that can engage you and are easy to aim.”

“I see. Well, let Albert help you mount up and buckle in and we can take flight.”

After Wilson was buckled into the saddle Albert slipped off and Sid called back; “Make sure to have some food ready for me. You can talk to Butcher Haymaker and he should be able to provide. Also ask him for…”

“I know, you want barbecue sauce and I will talk to the cook about securing you and apple pie.”

“Thank-you Albert.” With that Sid took some strong downbeats on his wings and took off.

As they neared the Tothmol Castle both took their invisibility potions. Sid whispered; “The town first.” As he dived and flew over the town. The town lay in a bit of a valley with the castle on a hill and surrounded by a moat. Sid flew down the main street and took a quick turn to the left to avoid approaching the castle. He then did a wing over and came back to buzz the town. The majority of the buildings were wood with thatched rooves, but Sid noticed that the town center had stone buildings. Most of the buildings were low one to two stories, but the town hall was four stories and the church was two stories with a six story bell tower. As Sid flew by he noticed that crossbow men where stationed in the bell tower and seemed alert. As Sid flew by the downdraft hit the crossbow men and they started looking around for the cause.

Sid flew away from the town and took some strong down strokes to climb higher than the castle. The castle overlooked the town and any weapons on the walls could easily engage targets in the town. As Sid climbed he turned toward the castle and dove, to approach it quickly. He noticed a clear field around the castle and the moat, which seemed more swamp than moat. It was thirty feet across and ended about ten feet before the castle walls, and it had reeds growing out of it. As soon as Sid crossed over the outer edge of the moat he felt a shiver pass through him and noticed that some people on the wall were aiming their weapons at him.

Sid said; “Damn, the invisibility seems to have been broken. We appeared to have crossed a barrier.”

As Sid flew closer arrows and crossbows started being fired at him, and the ballista swiveled around to engage him. He started to go into a horizontal spiral pattern. Hoping to approach the castle and dodge the missile fire.

The castle had six towers, each equipped with a ballista. The front of the castle had a balliey with its own pair of towers and an inner courtyard. The two closest ballistae fired at Sid and one hit his wing, causing him to lose height. The second ballista missed, going over his head and Sid beat his wings hard to clear the castle wall that was quickly approaching.

He barely cleared the wall and noticed ten catapults in the inner courtyard as well as a large inner keep. Now he was being targeted by the remaining four ballistae. He dodged to the left and then turned toward the northeast corner. He breathed and hit the ballista, as he flew overhead he noticed men rolling on the castle wall, close to the ballista, trying to put out the flames. Sid crossed over the castle inner courtyard.

Sid dropped below the height of the castle walls and used the energy to increase his speed. He quickly downed a healing potion and cut to the right staying close to the castle walls and over the moat. He noticed something with a snake-like appearance writhing in the moat. He beat his wings hard again and cut sharply inside his orbit of the castle approaching the middle ballista. His breath hadn’t recharged yet, so he reached out and grabbed the frame of the ballista and dragged it over the edge, causing it to tumble down into the courtyard.

Sid beat his wings hard again and climbed and he heard a grunt from General Wilson; “I’m hit Sid, we need to get out of here.”

“Agreed, hang on, I am going to try some fancy flying.” Sid turned a climb into an inverted fly over and headed back the way he came. He spun around, righting himself and dove toward the town. As he passed the moat he took a drink of an invisibility potion; General, drink your invisibility potion.”

She did and suddenly the arrows started missing them. Sid took a drink of two more healing potions and headed back toward friendly lines; How badly are you hit General Wilson?”

“I caught one two in my left arm and one in my right side. I was able to pull the arrows in my arm out, but the one in my side seems pretty deep. I am not sure if it is wise to pull it out right now. How are you doing?”

“Poorly, I caught a ballista bolt and too many arrows to count.” He drank the rest of his healing potions and spent some arcane energy to heal himself.

Sid approached the friendly lines and saw Albert near the mess tent. He landed roughly and grunted. Albert called two priests forward to heal Sid. Then he climbed on Sid’s back and started to unbuckle the General; “That arrow looks pretty deep General Wilson, be careful as you dismount.”

General Wilson was carried away by the priests to receive healing. Albert started to pull arrows out of Sid; “You sure caught a whole lot of arrows today Sid. That was a nasty encounter, what happened.”

Sid breathed hard; “They had a ward against invisibility set up at the edge of the moat. As soon as we crossed the moat they started to target us. I caught a ballista bolt in the right wing. How bad is it?”

Albert went over to the wing and examined it. He saw the sparkle of arcane energy around the edges and lifted them up to help them bind into position. He noticed the veins in Sid’s wings and the blood dripping off of him; “I am surprised you got back Sid.”

“It was hard, I spent a little energy healing myself and I drank all the healing potions they provided me, but yes, I was lucky to escape with as little damage as I got. I am not looking to approach that castle any time soon. Right now, I am starved, then I need to sleep.”

Haymaker said; “That is my cue, I have all that you asked for Sid including the apple pie and the barbecue sauce. Albert said you would be very hungry, so I secured two cows and a goat for you. They have been killed, gutted and cleaned and are all ready for you to cook.”

“Deep thanks Butcher Haymaker. Please step back from the meat.” With that he broiled the meat and Albert and Haymaker lifted the barbecue sauce barrel and poured it over the meat. Then they stood back, and Sid hit it again with his fire breath. Then Sid wolfed down the meat. He picked though the discarded organs and ate the liver, kidneys and heart.

“Ah, that hit the spot.” Sid then transformed into his human form and grabbed the barrel of ale. He lifted it up over his head and opened the spigot, then drank the liquid down. He wiped his face and looked around.

“The pie is over hear, it is piping hot so you don’t need to cook it. The cook just pulled a batch out of his ovens.”

Sid turned again, found the pie that Haymaker had for him and quickly ate it; “I apologize if my manners are rude, but I was starving.”

Albert said; “Casting magic and flying both take a lot out of a dragon. It takes a lot of energy to do what he does and that requires food to replace that energy.

Haymaker responded; “No need to apologize to me young man, I like my job and I like someone with a healthy appetite, like Sid has here. He may be expensive to feed, but from what I heard he did the job of the entire army when he routed them.

Sid panted and sat down; “Forgive me I need to rest a minute. I won’t say I did the work of an entire army, but I certainly got the ball rolling. However, that castle looks like a tougher nut to crack. I hope General Wilson got a good idea of the fortifications…” Sid panted again; “I hope this flight was worth it.”

Albert said; “When you can stand Sid I will show you to your tent, so you can relax.”

Haymaker came in and said; “Here let me help you Master Dragon.”

“Sid, my name is Sid and what is your first name?”

“Don, Don Haymaker. I used to be Don the Butcher of Oxford Bow, but I got the moniker Haymaker when an adventuring party came though town and got drunk. They then tried to leave without paying their tab. The bartender tried to stop them, they knocked him out, the bouncer tried to stop them, they knocked him out. I was pretty drunk myself, but being a small business owner, I knew I had to defend the bar. So, I got up and knocked them out. They woke up the next day in jail and had to pay their bar tab, work off their prison sentence and appear before the magistrate. Ever since then I have been called Haymaker. I haven’t lost a bar fight yet.”

While Don was talking he and Albert were both supporting Sid and walking him toward his tent. Don noticed that Sid was quite heavy, even as a man he had a lot of muscle mass. He thought “He would not want to get in a fight with this ‘man.’”

When they reached Sid and Albert’s tent Sid staggered inside and lay down on the cot, soon he was snoring heavily. Albert covered him with a blanket and stepped out; “Knowing Sid he will be out for twelve to twenty-four hours. I too hope the flight was worth it. I had to pull a lot of arrows out of him, more than when he challenged the entire Army.

Chapter 16: Just a friendly meeting with the staff and the Emperor.

The Emperor took part of his court and headed for the front lines to review the troops. His first stop was to call a meeting with his Generals and he asked Sid and Albert to be there. The Emperor congratulated his army on their fine work.

General Thomas said; “I thank-you, Emperor, but frankly we couldn’t have done it without Sid’s contribution. He caused the enemy to rout and he kept them running.”

The Emperor said; “Yea, he did us a service, but how do we handle the Tothmol castle and the troops in the town? Sid do you have an idea?”

“When General Thomas and I scouted out the enemy lines it was a hard mission. If the Tothmol troops didn’t know I was coming it would have been a different matter. When we scouted out the castle, we can in invisible and they detected us. They have a magical ward against invisibility set up at the border of the moat, who knows what else they have. They are very accurate with those ballistae of theirs. I don’t know what other precautions they have taken. I defer to General Wilson on that. She was scouting while I was concentrating on trying not to get shot out of the sky.”

General Wilson said; “They did have some alert guards on those ballistae, if we had stayed around long enough for them to reload we could have been in big trouble. Sid did a great job of keeping both of us alive. I noticed that the moat was shallow, but there was something living in it. The castle walls were tough, thick and well built, I estimate twenty to thirty feet thick. They had six towers laid out in a hexagon pattern with the inner keep on one flat side and the outer gate opposite it. The barbican was built to create a second courtyard before meeting the castle. If you ask me, we are not going to get past the barbican or the walls easily. I am afraid that we will have to lay siege to the castle.”

The Emperor looked unhappy; “A siege is a long, protracted and expensive affair with the troops doing little. We have a bloody dragon on our side isn’t there something else we can do. He was able to take out two of their ballistae, couldn’t he do more?”

Sid let a little anger enter his voice; “I routed the enemy forces, when they regrouped I routed them again and a third time. Once routed they were in full retreat until they reached their capital and their castle. It is hard to imagine that any mortal force could have done better. Now you are unhappy because you need to lay siege to the castle. Didn’t you plan on a long war and a siege on the castle when you entered this war?”

General Wilson said; “Yes, we did and thanks to you we have saved a lot of time, effort and frankly, money and lives. I also agree with you that no mortal force could have done what you did. We were set to fight an entrenched enemy and they were prepared for our army. Sid was the only factor that they did not take in account. We would have lost a lot of troops taking the ground that Sid gave us.”

The Emperor said; “I am sorry Sid, I don’t want to make light of your accomplishments, I just wish there was more you could do.”

“Have they repaired and replaced the ballista I destroyed?”

General Thomas said; “Yes.”

“As far as I know they still have their wards in place, so I can’t sneak up on them. I could try and drop rocks on them or something, but don’t you have your own siege equipment for that?”

The Emperor said; “Yes, we have our own siege weapons and they are on their way along with the engineers. We also have miners coning, but if we dig, we are going to have to dig deep to avoid the moat.”

“General Wilson missed a few things in her report. I saw that the moat was shallow and inhabited, I also saw the inhabitants; I am not sure what they were, but they were either large snakes, some sort of eel or something with tentacles. It could even be a combination of them. The moat seemed to be thick with them. I also noticed a large cleared field all around the castle and it sat on a mound that put it at a higher elevation than the town. In that field I noticed some little sticks of wood standing up, some were painted red and some were painted green. I have no idea what they mean, but it might be a sign of control over the fields leading up to the castle.”

General Wilson said; “You have sharp eyes to have noticed that. I suspect that they were aiming stakes for use by their catapults and ballistae. They probably have the range of those stakes dialed in, so they can set up their siege engines to attack anything that lines up with those stakes. That makes sense since the castle is their most important fortification.”

Another General said, “That means we will have to set up the army beyond their range. We don’t know their maximum range, they do. So, we are going to have to be careful about any troops that cluster together where they make a shot worth it. Ballista are hardly used to pick off individual soldiers, but if they see a general in the field or a worthy target then they will fire at them. Ballista’s tend to have a longer range than arrows, so we have to allow for that. We also have to allow for magic that they will have available. Who knows what they have seeded their grounds with. For that I defer to the High Wizard.”

The High Wizard said, “I could probably summon some earth elementals to search the area, but due to the limitations of my summoning time I would have to get pretty close to the front lines to do so. I expect that all, but the main approach is mined in some way. I was able to study one of those crystals we discovered that Bothmols had emplaced just inside of their borders. They are a spell holding crystal and can be charged with any spell like a fireball. Since the areas around them were soaked in pitch they would have made a nasty wall of fire. The bad thing is that the crystals are fragile in nature, but inherently fireproof. If we hadn’t used the summoned earth elementals to remove them then we would have had a wall of fire to block our troops and no easy way to fight that fire. We could have summoned water elementals or turned our druids loose on the fire, but that would mean getting our wizards and druids close to the front lines to fight the fire, exposing them to enemy fire. It was a well laid trap, they just didn’t have enough depth to it. I fear in this case they may have learned their lesson and they will be better prepared for us.

The Emperor seemed angry now; “All I am hearing is what we can’t do or how hard what we can do is going to be. There has got to be a better way? I mean we do have a dragon; how can we utilize him?”

Sid replied, “As I told you when I first came here there are catches; I am only one dragon. I can’t be everywhere and what I did do exhausted me. You can ask General Wilson, I slept a good portion of my time after the enemy rout. I was able to inspire them to retreat and to keep on retreating, but it cost me a lot of energy. Dragons are not built to sustain a long fight. Now I could go up to the front lines and summon my own earth elemental, but he would just be doing the same things that your war wizards did when you started this war. I have never fought an army and I have never had to scout out much less fight a castle. I know when I am out of my depth and this is one of those cases. I don’t see why you are complaining didn’t I get your troops to advance faster than you could have on your own?”

The Emperor raised his eyes, looking toward the top of the tent; “Yes, you did that and I thank-you for it. I guess it is just part of my nature to want more. I don’t rightly know what you are capable of or what you have done in the past and I was hoping that you had more ideas than my own generals and advisors had.”

“You have a touch of dragon greed. No, I have no more to offer than your generals do. Nor, can I do anything that your wizards couldn’t do themselves. As I see it, just approaching the castle is going to be a tough battle and one your army may not win. To me a siege seems like the only way you can win this war.”

General Wilson said, “I agree, there is no other way to bring the fight to the enemy without taking heavy casualties. We can send in some wizards who can scout out the grounds around their castle, but I am expecting to find it is mined and then there is that moat. I am sure whatever lives there is deadly.”

The Emperor closed his eyes and mused for a bit, then he said, “Could you use dragon fear on them again.”

“Yes, but dragon fear only makes them retreat. In the castle there is no place to go so while they may be poor soldiers for a bit, they will get over it and from the looks of the fields around the castle, they will get over it before your army could charge through their defenses. Thern there is the fact that I would have to show myself and get close to the castle for the dragon fear to work. That is just the field, I am not counting how difficult it will be to cross the moat. It looks to be twenty to thirty feet wide. I saw reeds growing through most of it so I assume it is shallow. But, only a scout that gets that close can tell how shallow or what lives in it.”

“Could we send in invisible forces?”

“No they are warded against that. I don’t know what spell they used or how they did it, so I have few ideas on how to take it down.”

The wizard spoke, “I assume a dispel could work on the wards, but we don’t know how many additional wards they have. Think of it as layers, we would have to dispel each layer, like cutting through a cake. Only in this case our cake is made of granite.”

“Could the dragon fly in and drop rocks in the moat making a crude bridge, or could he bridge it with logs?”

“Yes, I could, and after the ward removed my invisibility I would be seen and targeted. Carrying heavy logs or rocks would make me a slow target so I would be easily picked off, especially by those ballistae of theirs. I would favor a plan where I don’t die. And even if I were somehow able to bridge the moat, how are you going to get your troops to it, through the presumed mined field?”

General Thomas said; “I assume that the road leading to the castle is not mined, but of course it has switchbacks meaning that anyone traveling along that road is going to be under enemy fire for quite a while.”

The Emperor crossed both of his arms and was clearly angry. He sat in thought for a few minutes; “We need more information. That means Wizard that you are going to have to send in your earth elemental scouts to determine how their fields of fire are laid out and protected.”

Sid said; “The stakes I noticed were outside of the anti-invisibility ward, so you could send in some scouts, at night, who were invisible to move those stakes. That would put their aim off a little.”

General Wilson said; “I have thought of that and we will end up doing just that, but those aiming stakes are only to make sure the first few shots hit. Once they start firing they are going to notice the stakes are out of alignment and correct for that.”

One general said; “If I were the enemy engineer I would expect something like that and I would make sure that the stakes were more like ten-foot poles driven into the ground so that a human couldn’t move them.”

The wizard said; “That would be another task for an earth elemental. They could move the stakes. How far do you want them moved?”

The same general who spoke previously said; “Not more than ten feet. They will have maps inside and will notice a larger move than that.”

Discussion of what to do went well into the night and the only viable plan seemed to be a siege and one done at a distance so as to not enter the field until it had been cleared, or at least lanes through it had been cleared. Next the war discussion moved to the town.

Sid listened to their plans and spoke up; “I could use my breathe weapon on the town and cause a few fires. It is outside of the anti-invisibility ward, so if I am given enough potions I can pop out, breathe and pop in, then pop out again before being targeted. I could make several runs and start a good blaze. That would make defending the town much more difficult. Your army could even invade the town, avoiding the fires and attack the troops stationed there. If I set the blazes so they are close to the castle then that is going to cut out any support from the castle, they simply won’t be able to see.”

The Emperor brightened up; “Now that is what I am talking about a plan to take the town, utilizing our dragon and his fire breath!”

General Thomas spoke next; “I would like to get the siege laid in and the siege engines on line and assembled before tackling the town. That way if there are any surprises we would be ready for them and be able to support the troops going into the town.”

The Emperor looked down again; “How long is that going to take?”

General Thomas said; “I defer to the chief engineer.”

The general who had spoken before said; “I am afraid it will take two weeks. Most of that time will be spent assembling the siege engines and testing them.”

Sid said; “It won’t be wasted time. I promised you some magical weapons and I can use that time to create them. I can also take a few breaks from work to fly around the castle. I want to do so at enough range as to avoid being a target, but it will let them know that a dragon is still in the area and is definitely part of the sieging forces. That should harm their morale some.

The Chief Engineer said; “We may have another way to handle the approach, I need to work on it and will need the help of some of our leather workers and smiths.”

Chapter 17: Do we have to wade the channel?

One evening Sid was working on making the magic items he had promised the Emperor when General Wilson came to his tent and asked; “Can I come in?”

Sid groaned. Albert said; “Yes, please excuse my tent mate, he is just wondering when he will have time to finish his services to you.”

General Wilson came in and she had a sheepish expression on her face; “I hate to ask you this Sid, but the Emperor wants your help with the turtle.”

“I assume you are not talking about the aquatic animal?”

“No, a turtle is a siege engine that consists of an armored structure on wheels that has a battering ram inside. We have built one and the Emperor wants us to use it to deliver logs to the moat, so we can build a bridge across it. He wants you to man the turtle in the lead position, because you can handle the logs.”

“What does he want me to do to throw them out into the moat?”

“Well, place them actually.”

“And what does he plan on doing with the creatures in the moat?”

“He was hoping that you could breathe on them and take them out that way, if not that you could fight them.”

“General have a seat on my bunk. I don’t know if I would be better than any of your other soldiers.”

“We can provide you with a magical spell of strength and you are as strong in your human form as you are in your dragon form, are you not?”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can toss a log out into the moat myself. I am going to need a lot of help.”

“The Emperor is assigning his strongest men to the turtle to help you. That will include Butcher Haymaker, I am told you know him?”

“Yes, I do, and he is a bit of a friend. I thought he was a butcher not a fighter?”

“He is, but he is also very strong. He is an arm-wrestling champ, as well as he is armed with his legendary punch.”

“I am going to need some armor, as will anyone else in the turtle with me. They are going to need swords and axes to attack whatever it is that lives in the moat.”

“We have scouted out the moat and found it is a tentacled creature, low and squat, with a huge mouth, full of sharp teeth.”

“Ah, great, has he considered how many men we may lose to that, or those monsters?”

“He has considered it and thinks it might be worth the risk. We are laying siege to the castle and he has started mining to get under the moat. But, he is still looking for a faster way into the castle. Even though that faster way may cause more lives. He wanted to discuss you landing a squad of trips inside the castle, on one of the battlements, but we talked him out of that.”

“Did you tell him I am only one dragon?”

“Yes, repeatedly and he wants to know if you can summon that gold dragon?”

“You will have to discuss that the Eternal King and his High Wizard. That is not my spell, I don’t know it, I don’t know what is required for it and I can’t cast it.”

“There has been some discussion about the gold dragon and your comment that you had a family.”

“Has there been. Well my children are too young to be of any assistance and I won’t tell you who the mother is. She is safe at the moment, and I want her to remain that way. Any more discussion on that topic and Albert and I will pull up and leave.”

“Please don’t do that, but you knew there would be talk when you and that wizard teleported in with a red and a gold dragon.”

“Let’s table this for future discussions. Please pass around the true rumor that if there is any more talk about my family Albert and I will leave. Also tell Mr. Haymaker that I want to see him and his best cleaver.”

“I will send him to you and I will pass around that rumor.”

“Contact the Eternal King and ask him about the gold dragon.”

A few minutes after the General left Albert said; “You know the harder you pull on the leash the harder they will resist it. You said that about your children and you know it is true about the hatchlings.”

“Yes, that is just one reason why I wanted them raised where they are. Besides we have to break the news somehow, this looks to be the best way. If we just tell the Emperor then he will want to monopolize the children, if we tell everyone then he is going to be angry that we didn’t tell him first. So, I am shooting for some middle ground.”

An hour later Butcher Haymaker showed up; “Sid, Sir, and Mr. Albert, can I come in?”

Sid stood up and opened the tent flap; “Come in Butcher Haymaker and make it Sid, just Sid.”

“Only if you call me Don, that’s what my friends and my wife call me.”

“Glad to, Don. Look you are going to be signed up with that fool turtle expedition?”

Don nodded yes.

“Then, with your permission I want to enchant your best cleaver, so it will do additional damage; which would you prefer electrical or fire?”

“I need my best cleaver to work with Sid. I don’t want to have to replace it.”

“I want to keep you on my team and I want to keep you alive. If you are on the turtle team then I want, you to be able to strike true and hard. Your best cleaver is going to serve you best in keeping you and me alive.”

Don nodded and handed over his cleaver; “I suppose you know best Sid. Do you know what is in that moat?”

Albert spoke up; “We have an idea. Why don’t you sit down on my bunk while Sid and I work on your cleaver? We can finish it in a few minutes.”

Sid got to work on the cleaver; “I think the electric rune would be the best because it won’t cook the meat that you cut up. I can work the rune so that if you think ‘hold’ it won’t utilize its electrics. Before you ask, I don’t want to set it up for you to think ‘fire’ to get it to work, because in battle you are going to have enough problems. Later, after this campaign is over, if the rune bothers you we can remove it. Or you can sell the magic cleaver and buy yourself a better one with it. By then it will be a war trophy.”

‘What about the other people on the turtle team?”

“I can only enchant so many items per day and I won’t have much time to do theirs. After the first day, we can reassess, and I can talk to the Emperor about equipping the turtle team with magic weapons. Now, sit back and watch as I enchant this cleaver. It is a mighty fine cleaver, looks like it has seen years of good use.”

“Yes, it has. I am not just a butcher in the army, I am also a butcher in my home town. I have been called up to service for the Emperor, but most of the camp followers are temporary. We have other jobs in real life. Fighting this war is just a part time duty.”

As Sid listened he worked on the cleaver, first inscribing the rune, then drawing forth his own blood to make the enchantment permanent; “There now the enchantment will remain permanent. Anyone or anything you hit with this clever will suffer electrical damage unless you think ‘hold.’”

When Sid finished he returned the cleaver to Don; “Also make sure that General Wilson supplies you with light armor. Something you can swim in.”

“Do you think I will be going into the drink?”

“The creature is short, squat, tentacled, and have a large mouth with many sharp teeth. At least according to the scouting report from General Wilson. I strongly suspect that since I am going to be in the front, I am going to be the first one grabbed. We have no idea how many of these creatures are in the moat. I suspect that there is a whole family of them. That means after we defeat one, we will probably have to be fight more than one of those beasts. Once the survivors of the initial team report on how many of the these tentacled horrors are in the moat maybe the Emperor will rethink this plan.”

“If I know the Emperor, he will double down. He is a big gambler and rumor has it a pretty good one.”

When the turtle was finished, the team was assembled and introduced to each other. Sid said; “Since none of you are dragons, I am going to be the leader of this team. Of course, if some of you have a better idea, I am willing to listen.”

The team looked at each other and remained silent. Sid then ordered his team under the turtle and started down the road toward the castle. Once they got within 200 yards, a few arrows hit the turtle and stuck in it. A few flaming arrows were sent next, but then didn’t ignite the turtle due to the wet animal hide covering it. The team consisted of ten men and two women. Don Haymaker and Sid were in the lead with two logs slung under the turtle. Once they reached the moat they all took a potion of strength and started to pass the log up so that it could be extended into the moat. They had gotten ten feet over the moat and Sid, had to wade into the moat itself to handle the log. That’s when he felt something wet and slimy wrap around his leg; “Don, I need you to clear my left leg. Something is grabbing me.”

Don stepped forward, waded into the moat and started to hack at the tentacle. In a few hacks it had released Sid’s leg and they were able to get the log out into the water. Sid went back for the second log and when he returned to the water a large creature rose out of the water and roared at Sid. Sid roared back and kept feeding the second log into the moat. The creature looked stunned. Then it moved into attack and Sid breathed fire at the monster. This caused it to rear back and dive back into the water. Once the team had placed the second log, the team went back to get another pair of logs.

Sid said; “Does anyone regret me being in charge and in front of the team?”

The team all shook their heads or said; “No.”

Don said; “I doubt anyone could have handled that beast better than you did Sid. And you were right there is more than one of them. The one that roared at you didn’t look like its tentacles had been cut.”

The turtle team returned with two more logs and Sid started to place the third log. A moat beast rose up and grabbed the log, trying to pull it from the team’s hands. Sid glared at it and pulled at the third log, pulling it out of the moat beasts tentacles. The creature charged him. So, Sid breathed at it. The creature was injured, but it still kept coming and it grabbed both of Sid’s legs. Don jumped in with his cleaver to help Sid, but he was pulled off of his feet and dragged into the moat. A moment later there broke out a fight underwater. After a few minutes Sid rose out of the water, as a dragon, with a piece of tentacle in his mouth, that he promptly spit out. He was struck by several arrows, before he was able to return to his human form and get under the cover of the turtle again and he started positioning the fourth log. Once emplaced the turtle team went back to get two more logs.

This time when the turtle team came back one of the moat beasts threw a log at the turtle. Sid had the turtle moved up to the edge of the moat and emplaced the two logs, with little trouble. He then had the team go and recover the thrown log to properly emplace it and he ordered the team to return for more logs.

This time when they got back they found all the logs outside of the moat and stacked at a ninety-degree angle to the road, making it hard for the turtle to maneuver around to pick up the logs and emplace them. Sid said; “That is a sign of intelligence and a sign that they don’t want our log bridge over the moat. I think we need to go back and discuss this with General Wilson.” With that the turtle dropped off its two logs on the road and went back to the friendly lines.

When Sid came out of the turtle he said; “You wait here, take a break. Better yet, go to the mess tent and take your break there. Don see what the cook has and get these people feed and something to drink for them. I will track down the General and join you soon. Albert had awaited Sid were the logs were stacked behind friendly lines and he joined Sid in his search for the general. Albert suggested they start at the command tent.

General Wilson was in the command tent examining the map. When Sid returned he joined Sid in his search for the command tent. On the map Sid saw the friendly positions, the siege engines under construction and the entrance to the tunnel the miners were starting. He had to ask a captain to interpolate the map for him.

“General Wilson there is a problem with the log bridge.”

She turned saw Sid, smiled and said; “What is the problem?”

“Intelligence. The moat beasts are intelligent, and they don’t want us in the moat. They are making it very difficult for us to build your bridge. There is more than one moat beast as well. We need someone with a magic spell that allows them to communicate with the moat beasts and talk to them. If we can make a deal with them then we can construct the bridge. If we don’t make a deal with them, then it is going to be much harder to build the bridge. IF we get the moat beasts cooperation then we can maybe use them to help build the bridge. That would make it faster to get to the drawbridge.”

“I see, this is an unexpected development. I will have to dig up a priest to do the spell casting. That may take a little bit of time.”

“You can find me and my crew waiting in the mess tent. We are on a break until you get us that priest.”

“I understand Sid, could you take out the moat beasts?”

“It would take a lot of time and energy. They only attacked us when we went into the moat and intruded in their moat. They were definitely protective of the moat and they threw a log at us, so I am pretty sure they would be able to tear apart any bridge we build. When I was last there they took all the logs out and stacked them ninety-degrees to the road to make them hard to maneuver around. That is what makes me think that they can be dealt with. They were determined to not let us continue with the bridge and I am not looking to taking them on as enemies at this time.”

“Okay, I will meet you in the mess tent Sid. I will find a priest who can cast the spell you want. What do you think we should offer them?”

“I don’t know, but what would a moat beast want? Not gold, not land, they probably want to live in peace, maybe have their moat expanded and some food. They may be intelligent, but their needs are probably simple.”

Sid went to the mess tent and met up with his team and joined them in lunch.”

Don asked; “What did the general say?”

“She said she would get a priest for us, to talk with the moat beast, then she asked what the moat monster would want, and I told her they probably live a simple life, so they are going to probably have simple needs. General Wilson will meet us here, so sit back and rest. Who knows we might even get the moat beasts to help us with the bridge work.”

Don said; “Do you think it will be that simple.”

“We can only hope so.”

An hour later General Wilson showed up with a priest in tow; “This is Father Bertrude. He knows the spell that you need. I will wait for you at the logs, so you can tell me what the moat beasts want.”

Sid took the priest and the turtle team back on the road. When they got to the moat Sid roared and told the priest to cast his spell. A few moments later a moat beast reared out of the water and roared back. The priest roared and soon a conversation seemed to take place. The conversation took only a few minutes and the moat beast went back underwater.

Bertrude said; “He and his family just want to be left alone. I tried to make a deal with him, but he said that if he agreed to any deal the castle inhabitants would release poison into the water and kill his family. I told him we could protect his family, but he didn’t seem interested. I finally asked him if he and his family wanted to leave the moat and he said only if they could be protected. So how do you want to handle this?”

“Let’s go back and talk this over with the General.” With that the whole team returned to where the logs were stacked.

General Wilson said; “Well, what happened?”

Bertude related the conversation he had with the moat beast.

The General said; “Ask him where he is from and we can see about getting him and his family back there.”

Sid said; “Once more onto the beach. Team let’s go and Father Bertude prepare another spell for us.”

The moat beast agreed and told Bertude where he came from. He had himself, his wife and four children. Sid asked to see the family, so he could report the sizes to General Wilson. After the conversation was over the turtle team returned back to the log pile.

General Wilson had a pair of wizards with her and a warlock; “The warlock can read the moat beasts mind and find out where they come from, he can then give it to the two wizards who can handle the teleports.”

Sid told three people from his team to stay behind and brought the wizards and the warlock under the turtle and once again sent out with his team. When they arrived, the priest let out a roar and the moat beasts came to the edge of the water and the warlock advanced to do the reading. He then transferred the knowledge to the two wizards and they began the teleports.

As soon as the castle troops noticed the moat beast disappearing they started to fire arrows trying to get under the turtle, but the team was well shielded. Then they directed their arrows at the moat beasts and suddenly a purple liquid began to flow out into the water. The wizards wasted no time and teleported away. Sid then got the turtle off the road, so he could maneuver the logs to cover the moat. The team spent the rest of the day building the bridge. They tested the bridge with their turtle and used the cover to lash the logs together. Then the turtle team returned to the log pile for the final log; a metal capped one, that could be used as a battering ram.

Once again Sid lead the team and this time he was able to lead up to the drawbridge. He had the team start swinging the ram into the drawbridge door and slowly, but surely, they made progress. The castle soldiers pored boiling pitch on the turtle and ignited it. Sid kept the team working on the door and summoned a water elemental to insulate the team from the fire. Eventually they broke through. Then they started work on the door leading into the castle and once that was down there lay a portcullis.

Don said; “Sid it is getting too hot here, we need to leave, and regroup!”

Sid said; “Sorry, I haven’t noticed the heat, it is my nature. If we need to go then we need to go. Back it up people!”

As they got to the rear the burned hides were replaced with new wet ones and Sid ordered up some wet hides to put on the bridge. They then went back and laid out the hides on the bridge. The pitch made footing difficult, the logs had been freshly chopped down and were green enough to not ignite, but they were starting to smoke. Sid’s team was able to smoother the flames and Sid summoned another water elemental to keep things cool while the team returned to work. It took the rest of the day to batter down the portcullis and then advance into the inner courtyard and start work on the inner gate and its own portcullis. More boiling pitch was poured down upon them and ignited, so Sid once again summoned a water elemental to deal with the flames. Flaming arrows were launched at them and it started to get hot. So, Sid came out from under the turtle and summoned a fire elemental on the battlements directly above him. The fire elemental ran amok among the castle guards taking their minds off of Sid and the turtle. Sid returned to the team and they continued to work on the inner door. When they had come close to piercing it Sid ordered the team to retreat and had the turtle reskinned. Then he and his team went back and started work on the inner gate again. It was night before they got through. Then a squad of soldiers rushed the turtle. Sid breathed at them and ordered a retreat.

General Wilson was waiting for him. Sid told her; “We got thru, and I handled the counter attack. Now you need to send regular troops in and handle the breach. I and my team are tired, we are going to get something to eat and go to bed. You are welcome to use the turtle as you see fit.”

“The Eternal King and the High Wizard are waiting in your tent. They have agreed to summon the gold dragon and the Eternal King is here to witness the Emperor’s army in action.”

“Thanks, then I will talk to my ally first and meet the rest of you in the mess tent. Don see that they are well fed, they did a good job today.”

Sid and Albert went to their tent and greeted the Eternal King and the High Wizard. When they meet the king embraced Sid and gave him a kiss; “The Emperor has agreed to waive this year’s tithe entirely after your contribution today, in return he wants the gold and red dragon to join in his attack on the castle. He has had four more turtles built for his troops to go in with. He wants to start at first light tomorrow.”

“So, that leaves tonight for us. Good. Albert see that you get a temporary tent for you and the High Wizard, I will be in consultation with the Eternal King tonight. For now, I suggest we retire to the mess tent.”

“Sounds good to me. Dan you don’t mind bunking up with Albert tonight, do you?”

The High Wizard said; “Not at all, I can inspect that new spell books that Sid got for Albert. You never know when you will end up with a new spell.” He slapped Albert on the back; “Come on boy, sorry, young man, Sid wants private discussions with the king.” He then led Albert off to the tent that the Emperor’s army had set up for him.

The Eternal King switched to her undisguised human form and revealed that she had a picnic basket. It was a small meal, for dragons, and there were only two bottles of wine, but it should hold them over for the night. Sid and the Eternal King retired to Sid’s tent and “held discussions” all night long.

The next day the Eternal King ‘returned’ to the capital of Koloriana. Actually, she disguised herself as the Eternal King and went to an isolated grove that Albert had pointed out to Sid when they were in the command tent and viewing the map. The grove was a few miles away, but easy flying time for a dragon. Once inside the grove the Eternal King transformed into a dragon and took an invisibility potion. She then signaled the wizard that it was time to start the attack. He used his ring to send a message to Sid.

Sid told General Wilson that the dragon had been summoned and it was time to start the attack. She signaled and the five turtles, this time equipped with troops, started up the road toward the castle.

Sid took flight and made himself clear and obvious to the castle. He watched the turtle as it moved up the road. When the turtles reached the castle, Sid began his run toward the castle. He roared and all of a sudden, there was a gold dragon next to him roaring as well. Both dragons charged the castle, braving the arrows, crossbows, and the ballistae. The imperial siege weapons started to launch rocks and ballistae bolts at the top of the castle wall. Most of the catapults missed, either falling short of the wall or shooting over it. The ballistae were targeted at the crew of the Tothmol ballistae as were the arrows and crossbows from the imperial army. The longbow men and the crossbow men stood, yelled and charged, firing as they ran. The idea was to put the maximum amount of pressure on the castle at once.

The castle’s catapults started to fire as soon as the longbow men and crossbow men came within range, but since the aiming stakes had been moved by earth elementals the night before those shots missed. The imperial army held to the extreme range of the catapults and continued to fire their arrows and crossbows. These shots were in vain though and were really a coverup for the rest of the action.

As Sid and Helson charged the town each of them felt a sudden wave of sickness hit them. They shook it off, but it was hard for Helson and she wavered in her flight. Sid glanced at her, saw she had recovered and came in low over the rooves of the town. He let out his breath and was glad to see Helson join in. They ignited several houses, steered over the town and built up a wall of smoke between them and the castle. Inside the town troops were running out of burning buildings, firing longbows and crossbows at the dragons, but mostly running. Sid let out a loud roar and released his dragon fear, this caused people to stop firing at him and Helson and to start running anywhere that they thought they could escape. Meanwhile the turtles had reached the log bridge and were crossing it under heavy fire. In the last rank of each turtle was a wizard who conjured up a water elemental to accompany the turtle as it passed through the balliey and up into the inner courtyard.

Sid and Helson left the town rushing out of the smoke and straight at the castle. They climbed and instantly became the target of heavy attacks. When Sid and Helson reached the height of the castle wall Sid engaged his dragon fear and those on the wall and in the inner courtyard quaked. Helson was too young to have much dragon fear, but she engaged hers as well for maximum effect. The inner door, of the castle, had been repaired, and braced, but the turtle started ramming it. Sid and Helson landed on the castle towers and started to breathe on the ballistae stationed there. They ducked low to avoid being hit by the rest of the Tothmol ballistae and roared. Sid was roaring in pain as a ballista bolt hit his side and another hit his right wing. Helson was able to duck lower than Sid and escaped most of the missile fire, but she had a lot of arrows in her, as did Sid.

Most of the troops closest to Sid were paralyzed by his dragon fear and the rest didn’t really want to engage an angry red dragon so he made short work of the ballista and started to stalk the troops. They retreated from him, going into the tower and baring the door on the inside. Sid took a glance at Helson. She had also knocked over the ballista on her tower and caused the troops to retreat to the inside of their tower. She was moving stealthily along the top of the wall to the next tower. Sid was simply too big for that. He drank a few healing potions he had secured prior to his attack and roared again as he stalked the other towers troops. They held fast, firing at him as he approached, until he got within breath range. Sid breathed, and the troops scattered, a few actually fell off the wall, but most got behind the other tower’s door. That was fine with Sid he was hurt badly and didn’t really want to engage the troops. Sid moved close to the tower, using its bulk to shield himself from more ballista fire. Then he pulled the ballista bolt out of his side. He roared in pain and drank the last of his healing potions. Then he spent his own arcane energies to heal his wounds. He glanced over at Helson and saw she was taking out another ballista.

Sid transformed into a human and ran across the top of the wall toward the other ballista. Now he was a hard target to hit with a ballista and avoided those shots. He was still getting peppered with arrows though. He reached the third ballista and breathed at it igniting it. Just as Helson tore her third ballista from the wall. Sid transformed into a dragon and roared out; “I am hungry, and I am here to feed!” as he took a dead human into his mouth and bit him in half. With blood dripping out of his mouth he roared again. Helson used this chance to escape heading back toward the grove where Dan, the wizard awaited her.

Sid was at a new section of the wall and leaned over allowing half a body to drop into the courtyard. He then roared again and used his dragon fear on the inhabitants of the castle. Again, most of them were paralyzed in fear. Suddenly the last door broke, and the first turtle crashed into the courtyard. The troops came out from under the turtle and started fighting with the troops in the courtyard, they quickly retreated toward the keep, the last line of defense.

The second turtle came in followed by the rest and the second turtle went to work on the door to the keep, bashing it in within a few seconds. Then the troops under the turtle rushed into the keep proper. That’s when Sid heard the troops, inside the keep, yelling; “Quarter, quarter, we surrender!” He heard the counter cry; “Lay down your arms and you will be spared.”

With that Sid leapt off the castle wall. He dove and quickly headed for the mess tent where Albert awaited him with Don, a pile of meat and two priests. Sid was seriously wounded though, and he crashed into the ground at the mess tent and lost consciousness.

He came to a minute later with Albert trying to pry open his mouth, so he could shove a healing potion down his throat. Sid felt the healing energies of the priests as they worked together to treat the serious wound in his side. He opened his mouth and greedily licked the heal potion right out of Albert’s hand and swallowed it whole, trusting to his belly’s fire to break down the bottle. Then he sighed.

Sid looked at Albert and Albert could see the pain in his eyes. Sid said; “Stand back please.” He then treated the meat, that Don had laid out for him, to a blast of heat, almost charcoaling it. Then he started taking huge bites, not even waiting for the barbecue sauce to be laid down.

When he finished he transformed into his human form and picked up the barrel of beer, opened the tap and drank it dry.

“Are you alright, Mr. Dragon, I mean Sid?” The butcher inquired.

“Thanks to the timely intervention of these priests yes I am.” He turned toward them bowed his head and said; “I am truly grateful for what you have done for me. I am still wounded he turned back toward Albert and Don and said I need to go to my tent and rest.”

The two helped him move toward his tent, with Sid resting heavily on their shoulders. Along the way he received a message from Dan, the wizard; “The Eternal King is safe, and we are returning, she is drinking some healing potions, we brought, and Father Denton is standing by to heal her some more. She says; ‘Stay safe.’” Once he arrived at his tent Sid fell onto the cot and said; “Don’t wake me for at least twenty-four-hours.” Then he quickly drifted off to sleep, with the deep sound of his snores sounding all throughout the tent.

Albert and Don left the tent and waited outside to see what the result of the battle was. It wasn’t too long before they heard some shouts of joy from the army.

Chapter 18: Let sleeping dragons lie.

Sid slept the entire day away and on the next day he was called to see the Emperor; “Well I would like to thank-you for the work you did. We had to twist your tail a bit, but we got you to take on the castle and win.”

“I never claimed to be an expert on siege warfare, in face I told you the opposite. I also told you that I did not know what I could do for you. Now how much do you plan on taking off of Kolarion’s tithe?”

“I will say a year would be sufficient.”

“So, you expect me to bring that to the Eternal King?”

“I expect you to work for me.”

“Are you claiming I did poor work or that I did not exceed your expectations, or should I ask General Wilson about that. I was also seriously injured in my attack on the castle, should I tell the priests that you value their support so little?”

“Okay, one and a half years off of his tithe, but his tithe is going to go up, since he now has access to a red dragon and to your children.”

“How much is it going to go up by. I will need to tell the Eternal King this, so she can work my lizardfolk to death to make up for the extra tithe. Of course, that fact that you are going to increase his tithe will be reported to the press. You may suppress that, but you won’t be able to suppress the rumors. Especially, those rumors that I plant.”

“Are you making threats to me?”

“Yes, I am and you had better take my threats seriously or you will pay for ignoring me.”

“Okay, I will make it one and a half year’s tithe and I won’t increase his tithe. I will require two more months of service for me and two more months in the following year.”

“I will give you two months of service this year and one month of service next year.”

“NO, you will make it two months of service per year. YOU will have to be paying me a tithe since your people can’t or by your own claim, won’t.”

Sid started to get angry and he let his inner fires extend into the room. As he did this four guards came running in and leveled their weapons at Sid.

“Two months per year and I won’t back down on that!” The Emperor stated.

Sid was very angry, but he saw that he wasn’t going to win this one, so he agreed to the Emperor’s demand. He then turned and left the Imperial Council.

The Imperial Army left a small group encamped around the Tothmol castle to help in the transition. The rest of the army packed up and headed home. There was a good amount of talk about how quickly the campaigning season had gone and how good it was to have a dragon on their side. Albert rode with the camp follower’s baggage train while Sid transformed into a dragon and took General Wilson for a ride back to the Imperial Palace. It also allowed Sid to get back early and he asked General Wilson to accompany him to an evening play, which she was delighted to accept. Sid made sure to ask the Emperor’s staff for some suitable clothing and they provided him with some noble robes.

The general was impressed; “You cut quite the dashing figure Sir Sid. It is my pleasure for you to escort me to this play.” She enjoyed the evening and was quite glad that Sid showed her off, with her new beauty charm.

The next day the newspapers reported; “Victory becomes General Wilson, she was seen attending a play tonight with our dragon ally, Sid.” The story went into how easy the victory against Tothmol had been and were quick to give the kudos to General Wilson, General Thomas, and of course Sid, the red dragon. There was even an illustration of Genera Wilsonl and Sid in the newspaper.

The Emperor called Sid into conference, the day after, he and his carriage arrived at the palace; “So, how is your family?” The conference was called in the same room where Sid had first met the Emperor, again with only a chair for the Emperor, none for his guests.

Sid replied calmly; “I haven’t been back home yet, I don’t know.”

“Doesn’t the Eternal King know?”

“He keeps himself abreast of all that happens in her county, but I am merely an ally of hers.”

“I have heard the opposite is true. She has absorbed your lands, given you a town, and is now your liege lord.”

“You seem to be well informed about the goings on in our little kingdom.”

“I have many ears in many lands. So, why don’t you tell me about your family.”

“I have met a fellow dragon and we mated. She produced a dozen eggs and all but one of them hatched. The Eternal King and her court were invited to the hatching and one of her knights rose and broke the last egg reveling a grey dragon. I have never seen or heard about as grey dragon, so we are entering uncharted areas here.”

“I will say, you mated with a gold dragon?”

“Yes, she happened to be gold.”

“And are your kids of mixed heritage?”

“No, there are no mixed dragons; some are red, and some are gold, and of course one is grey. We have no idea what he is going to turn out to be.”

“I could care less about your grey child. There is a gold dragon lose in my lands and I did not know about it!” Now anger was entering the Emperor’s voice.

Sid remained calm; “You didn’t know about me and I was in lands that neighbored yours. It is not surprising that you don’t know every single citizen in your lands.”

“We are talking about a gold dragon, not your average citizen, and YES I want to know about her!”

“How does it feel to want?”

Now the Emperor was visibly angry; “I want to know about the gold dragon and I want to know about her NOW!”

“We are lovers, but we are not married. She lives her own life and I don’t pretend to be an expert on humans, so I don’t tell her how to live. She was an egg that came from who knows where and traveled to the court in a far-off land. She hatched and was raised as a pet in that court. When she grew too large she left the court and struck out on her own. She became an adventurer and did well.”

“So how did you meet her, where does she live, who is she in human life?”

Sid smiled; “I don’t owe you that information. You may learn it in due time, but until then my children will be raised as I want them to be and you will not get your greedy hands on them until I say so, nor will you get your greedy hands on that gold dragon until I say so? Angry, I am sure you are, get comfortable with that feeling, you are going to have an inkling about how I feel having to serve a human.”

The Emperor was rendered speechless for a moment; “I am going to find out and when I do you will not be happy!”

“Is that to be a threat? Remember how I defeated an entire army in one day. Don’t make me turn that power against you, and yes you can take that as a threat and if you try to do anything against me or my family, then I will bring down your palace, your Empire, your rule and I will remind your people why dragons are the most feared enemies in the world.” Sid sneered.

The emperor started to turn purple with rage; “YOU WILL TELL ME…”

Sid said; “I will tell you nothing, and you can stew in your own juices. Be happy that I am not angered by your childless lack of manners and decide to remodel this conference room with my breath, teeth and claws. You only have two fighters on guard behind that door. You didn’t think to bring more people with you because you thought you had cowed me.” Sid stepped right up to the Emperor; “Don’t interfere with the affairs of dragons or I will see how you taste barbecued!” Sid opened his mouth unnaturally wide and snapped his teeth shut with a loud clack.

The Emperor tried to back away from Sid, but he was stuck in his throne,

Suddenly, the small door opened, and the two guards entered the room with their weapons drawn.

“Do you two want to be desert? Do you seriously think that I the victor over Tothmol could be intimidated by the likes of you!”

The guards stopped and held back. The Emperor turned around and said; “Don’t listen to him you fools!”

Sid turned and pushed open the doors and left the room. Leaving on his terms and leaving a very angry and frustrated emperor behind him.

Sid went off and asked to see General Wilson. In a few minutes he was led to her chambers. The servant knocked on the door and General Wilson called out; “Come in.”

The servant opened the door and Sid walked in; “The Emperor is going to be quite mad. He asked about my family and he was not happy when I refused to give him more information. You should watch him so that he won’t do anything rash. Especially, against I or Kolariona or I will be forced to bring down this entire palace on his head.”

General Wilson was drinking and was quite drunk, but this statement sobered her up a little. She looked at Sid with a shocked expression on her face.

Sid smiled and said; “If I get mad, you might not want to be around here.” With that he turned and ordered the servant to take him to the teleport arrival area. Once there he used an enchanted stone given to him by the High Wizard that would let him and Albert teleport back to Kolorina. Albert had his own stone, with a similar enchantment and Sid had warned him to return before he went to meet the Emperor.

Albert told Sid he had to return to his town to make arraignments with for the care of his mother. He had been paying the local miller’s daughter to do the service for him and he needed to make more permanent arraignments. Sid loaned him a few gold coins, so he could do just that.

A month later the Emperor summoned Sid and Albert back to his capital. They were meet by General Wilson and a servant.

General Wilson said; “The Emperor has heard that you can enchant water vessels to become vessels of ever flowing water. The High Wizard would like you to enchant 10 jugs for him and he would like to learn that rune from you.”

“And how is the Emperor?”

“Furious, he has been searching high and low for that gold dragon and he is pouring more spies and more money into finding her. You would be surprised how angry he is at you.”

“No, I would not be surprised and remember that red dragons are rage incarnate. He will find out who the gold dragon is, in time, and let him waste his money and resources trying to find out who she is. I promised the Emperor that he could call on me for one month’s service twice. I will teach the rune of flowing water to the High Wizard and he can enchant the water vessels for you in return for clearing my month of service.”

General Wilson said; “How about teaching him the rune to clear two weeks of your service,”

Sid smiled; “Make it three weeks and I will agree.”

General Wilson looked relived; “Thank god you don’t hold a grudge Sid.”

“Oh, but I do, but I also know who is responsible for that anger, and it is not you or the High Wizard. I will work with the terms of my original contract. Just make sure the Emperor holds up his end of the deal.”

“Could you enchant 10 more weapons for the last week of service?”

“Yes, I can. What enchantment do you want electrical damage or fire damage?”

“Ah, electrical please.”

“Then have your servant escort me to the High Wizard and bring the 10 weapons to me and I will start work on them, after I teach the High Wizard how to make the flowing water rune. By the way, is the Emperor pleased with his harem?”

“So, you know that the High Wizard has been enchanting beauty runes for them.”

Sid smiled; “I taught him the rune, and he paid me for it. I expected him to do that, starting with his wife.”

“He has made a lot of money and a lot of friends doing that.”

“And it has kept him quite busy, time that he could have spent making weapons for the Emperor. Instead he is wasting it on making women look prettier. Soon half the nobles in the palace will have that rune and look at all the time he will have wasted enchanting those items.”

General Wilson was surprised, and she grew angry; “And you gave me the same rune.”

“It was in return for a favor, and to make sure you could compete with the other women. It doesn’t cheapen what I gave to you. It only brings you up to the higher standard of others. The fact that the High Wizard is spreading the rune around only cheapens its value. He will learn this lesson in due time and to his own sorrow. Then he will stop spreading that rune around and the value of your charm will regain its worth. Meanwhile, it will still work for you and no one but me and Albert knows you are using that charm. As the newspaper said; ‘Victory becomes you.’ They treated your sudden air of charm and grace to the fact that you had won the war.”

General Wilson lost her anger and become surprised; “So, that’s why you went to the play with me!”

Sid smiled; “Wheels inside of wheels. When a dragon does something there are often several things going on at the same time. Remember that when you deal with me in the future.”

“I will Sir Sid, I will, and I will pass that on to my fellow generals.”

“But, you will let the High Wizard learn it on his own, and you will not anger the Emperor further by telling him that either. Good choice. Now let’s go see the High Wizard.”

With that the servant led Sid and Albert off to the High Wizard’s residence in the palace.

Sid spoke softly to the servant; “Oh, I wouldn’t go spreading it around that the General uses a rune of beauty. She might be angry about it. Whereas I might just eat the person who revels her secret.”

The servant turned red and simply nodded in agreement.

Sid did his work and taught the High Wizard the rune of flowing water. Sid and the High Wizard worked together on the enchantments and of course the High Wizard kept close guard over the diamond dust. However, what he did not know was that Sid heard the tumblers click and watched the High Wizard as he turned the dial on the safe, so he knew the combination. He didn’t feel like he had to burden the High Wizard with that knowledge though.

Chapter 19: Have we been here before?

Three months later the Emperor summoned Sid again. He was teleported into the palace’s teleport arrival area. Again, he was met by General Wilson; “Greetings Sid, you were right about the rune of beauty, it has been spread all over the palace and when the Emperor found out it was being used on his harem he was angry. He is still angry about it, and that was a week ago. It has been a big scandal around here.”

Sid chuckled; “And what does the Emperor want me to do today?”

“Several things; first he has called a party for his allies and he wants you to perform for it. I think a live feeding, followed by as fly by and a demonstration of your breath weapon as well as you talking to the audience and staying for the whole party should be enough to make a nice impression. Then the High Wizard wants to learn more runes from you, namely the electrical and fire rune. Third he wants you to visit a few of his allies to put the fear of yourself and the gods into them. Then he…”

“I will appear at your party, happily, provided there is a large supply of barbecue sauce. I will teach the two runes to the High Wizard and that will fulfill my month’s service to the Emperor. I will not go on a tour of his allies or enemies; he can invite them to the capital and throw another party which I will happily attend, provided he allows me pick of his herd and enough wine and barbecue sauce to satisfy me. I would also like to invite you out to another play, after the party.”

“Why do you want to go out in public again with me?”

“Sometimes my motives are clear, I don’t always have wheels within wheels running, but you will never know which is the case. In this case I just want to see a play but having you on my arm would continue to do your reputation good and that might make up for the wizard spreading the beauty rune and cheapening yours.”

“I will approach the Emperor with your version of the deal, I expect he will not be happy.”

“That’s fine with me, he was unhappy with me already. I am not sure he will go for this deal though, he was quite insistent that you…”

“I don’t care what he wants and as I told him when I last saw him; ‘How does it feel to want?’”

“You are playing a dangerous game Sid.”

“You forget just how dangerous I am.” Sid said with a confident smile.

“Has he learned where my children are or the gold dragon?”

“He has a line on the gold dragon, but no, he has not learned the location of your children. That doesn’t mean he is going to stop trying.”

“I have a secret to tell you; the Eternal Emperor is actually a gold dragon.”

“What! You mean, he, I mean she is a gold dragon?”

“The emperor will learn it soon enough. Tell him that I told you this. It will shock him and please him.”

“I will tell him. You know he will want to renegotiate Kolarion’s tithe.”

“We know that, but the Emperor would learn it sooner or later, and he will be less angry if he learns it now. Besides that, will give him something else to chew on. And believe me she knows I will have told you this. I also expect you and the Emperor to keep this secret. If not, then I will be quite angry with whoever lets my secret out. I will find out whoever leaked that information and I will happily eat those people. Also tell the Emperor this and emphasize that I don’t make idle threats, I make promises. And don’t think that our friendship will exclude you from my dinner plate.” Sid smiled a wide smile.

“I will tell the Emperor ALL of this and how you volunteered the information. He will still want to know about your children.”

“That is a secret for another day now let’s go meet the guests at the party so I can show them how a dragon feeds. I also want Don Haymaker, the Butcher, at the party. Can that be arraigned?”

“I am not sure, he is home in his town, miles away from here.”

“Then why don’t you tell the Emperor our little secret, our new deal and you can I can go to this town and pick him up.”

“Why do you want him at the party?”

“I enjoy his company, he is an honest man with no designs on me and I want to learn how he has faired after the war. Along the way you can tell me how you have faired since the end of the war.”

“You mean while I have been avoiding having things thrown at me by the Emperor, or the rage of the other generals and staff as they try their best to not take their anger at his antics out on me?”

Sid chuckled; “The man needs to learn how to control his anger or it will lead him to an early grave. Has he got an heir yet?”

“He has several children that he has gotten from his harem, but he himself is single so no one bastard has the rights over any other bastard and believe me they know it and they fear his death and their status.”

“Good that means his Empire is in peril as long as he doesn’t have an heir. He should consider the Eternal King as his heir. He has worked out well in her kingdom and she would rule well in his stead.”

“Oh my god are you serious?!?”

“Yes, propose it to him and make sure you are not in his line of fire for his angry response. After he calms down though he will see that if he wants his Empire to succeed he should consider it. After all who is going to try and fight with two dragons? Who would be that stupid? Also, he has probably not named a heir because he is worried that they will try to take over. My mate is a young gold dragon with time on her side. So, she will be patient and wait for the Emperor’s inventible death. She will also be far away from court and so not a threat to his day-to-day rule. Furthermore, naming the Eternal King as his heir would be a calming effect on the Empire and its future stability.”

“But, aren’t we keeping the Eternal King’s secret?”

“Yes, you and I are, but the Emperor will not. If you deliver my words to him faithfully then he will have no one to blame if I happen to come calling on him for dinner. And if he has named the Eternal King as his heir then I will be happy, and I will be more inclined to take that tour of the countryside that he wants me to take.”

“Oh, you are playing a dangerous game!”

“Yes, you said that before, and I repeat to you; I am a dangerous customer.” Sid suddenly stoked the fires in his belly and let the heat in the room rise; “Or do you question my power?”

The suddenly sweating General was brave, and she stared Sid in the face; “No, I don’t question your power or your capability. I may question your motives though.”

“Think about it.” Sid said; “I have twelve children who will want their own countries to rule. What better way than to get them to rule countries that are part of their mother’s empire!”

General Wilson backed away from Sid who then calmed his inner fires.

She said; “I can’t in good conscious recommend your plan to the Emperor, that would only give you motive to kill him.”

“I already have plenty of motive. I am sure he can cut some sort of deal with the Eternal King so that if he is removed from office by her or my hand then he won’t inherit the title of Emperor. Let the two of them thrash it out. I have no desire to rule over a race that I have hated most of my life.”

“You hate us?”

“I did use the past tense, now it is a strong dislike. Except for a few like yourself, Haymaker and Albert here.”

Albert had been hanging in the back and quite in this conversation. The general turned on him and asked; “So you knew what Sid was planning and that the Eternal King was a gold dragon, a female dragon?”

“I can neither confirm or deny those vicious rumors, for I have been sworn to secrecy and I have no wish to end up on Sid’s menu, and yes, he was deadly serious in saying that he would eat anyone who threatens his children or their mother. He is a red dragon and red dragons are rage incarnate. You have not seen all that he can do. For example, besides healing himself have you ever seen him cast a spell?”

“Well he summoned the water elementals to deal with the burning pitch, but you didn’t see him do it, did you?.”

“No, but he did, and I have seen him summon an earth elemental, but that is one spell. I have also seen him use a spell to make an enchantment permanent like he did for you. But, he has been careful about what magic he has reveled to you. For another example do you know how many runes he knows or where he got them from?”

“No, I don’t, and I don’t know anything about rune magic I am not a magic user.”

“Ah, but the High Wizard is a magic user and he doesn’t know anything about rune magic or where it came from, except what Sid has told him. Sid has lived for over 900 years, think about all that he knows. The mind boggles at the idea of trying to assess all that knowledge. Then there is that genus intellect that all dragons have. Now imagine if he turns all that experience, all that knowledge and all that hidden spell potential against you or the Empire. Imagine the harm he could unleash. So, I would consider strongly what you call upon him to do and what favors you deny him. Do you not think he couldn’t force the Emperor to abide by his wishes? I have known him for a short time and I have learned to respect and fear him. I do not want to be the target of his rage and I work daily to avoid that. He has a nice outgoing personality, but underneath it all is a seething rage. Anger that he is not the one in charge, anger that you humans dare tell him what to do, and anger that you are not bowing before him and worshipping him like the near god that he is. He says he hates most humans and look at how well he hides it. You have no idea what thoughts are going on inside of his mind, no one except another dragon could.”

The general turned toward Sid and fear showed in her eyes; “I see, and there is a lot that I don’t see. I will tell the Emperor all of this and I will pray that he listens to me.” The general hurried off.

“She didn’t even finish showing us to the High Wizard’s tower.” Sid said with disgust in his voice.

Albert said; “I can find a servant to show us the way.”

“You don’t have to Albert, I know where his rooms are, I know a great deal about this palace. A dragon has perfect memory and choses what they remember or forget.”

“I did not know that Sir Sid. Do you mean all those times I showed you to your tent you already knew where it was?”

“I did, but it made you feel useful when you led me to the tent, so I did not tarnish that. There was not a lot you could do in the war effort. I expected to use you as a scout, but the Emperor wanted his generals to scout instead. Still you are a font of wisdom about humanity and I need that. Like how do you think the Emperor is going to feel about my offer?”

“He is going to be so angry that he…I don’t know what he will do. Honestly, why did you tell him and why in heaven’s name did you suggest that the Eternal King become his heir?”

“Because now he knows that I am not interested in his throne and he will be relaxed around me. Besides it is a good idea. The Eternal King would have my backing and he has experience in ruling a human nation, unlike me. He is also a trusted ally of the Emperor. If you look at it carefully he could do far worse than naming him his heir. And if he does name him as his heir that will inflate his position in the empire. If he does not name him as his heir, then he has to worry about how the generals and advisors will tear his empire into little pieces once he is gone and how his bastards will fight to become his heir killing each other and betraying each other and possibly the emperor himself in the process. Meanwhile, court will be rife with rumor and speculation and the likely hood of an assassination attempt on the Emperor will increase no matter what he decides because it will be known that I am interested in his line of succession. And despite my claims to not want the throne there will be speculation that I am actually interested and just telling him I am not to pave the way for my plans. As you said I have only shown a portion of my power, there is no telling what I could do if I set my mind to it. Then there are twelve dragons that will want to follow in their parents’ footsteps and take on challenges of their own. Any one of them could be a great king or queen. I could be planning for my dynasty, there is simply no telling what I plan on doing or what my true motives are.”

Albert said; “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

“Oh, I will, Albert, trust me I will.”

Albert made sure to drop some rumors and hints of Sid’s plans and his discussions among the palace staff, while Sid performed for the Emperor.

Sid talked to General Wilson; “I want Don Haymaker to be at tonight’s dinner. He is working in his shop, but that is a town over 100 miles away.”

“Is that as the crow flies or on the ground?”

“On the ground. The road leads through a mountain pass.”

“I will need a guide, are you available?”

“No, sorry, as much as I would like another dragon flight I have preparations to oversee for the planning council.”

“Then please get me a guide.”

“Yes, Sir Sid, I will assign someone at once.” The general hurried off.

A few minutes later a soldier came up to Sid with a map and compass in hand; “You want me to guide you Mr. Dragon?”

“Do you know a Don Haymaker?”

“Yes, sir I do. I have drunk with him before and I have… well I have lost an arm-wrestling contest to him.”

“Can you navigate over land?”

“Yes, Sir Dragon, that is why I have the map and compass. I can get you to Haymaker’s town, to his very shop in fact.”

“Excellent, lets go out to the courtyard and depart now!”

Albert met the group in the courtyard and Sid transformed into his natural form. The soldier was taken aback a little, but when Albert motioned to him, he climbed Sid’s back and Albert helped buckle him in to the saddle. Albert said; “Hold on tight!” He slid down the back of Sid and slapped him hard on the back.

Sid took a running start and flapped his wings taking off. He soared high into the sky and called back; “Start directing me soldier.”

Sid made the trip to Haymaker’s village, over the mountains, and landed in the city square. The guards responded rushing to meet the fierce red dragon, until Sid suddenly transformed into his human form, with the soldier sitting on his shoulders. Sid raised his hand and called out; “I am here in peace, and this soldier is from the Imperial Army and he can verify this.”

The guards stopped short of Sid and covered him.

Sid called out; “Donald Haymaker; it is your old friend Sid, I am here to make use of your excellent butchering skills.”

Haymaker’s shop bordered the city square, and Sid had landed facing it. So, his voice carried loud and clear. Haymaker heard and came running out of his shop with a cleaver in his hand; “Sir Sid. Welcome, I am pleased to see you. Come in to my shop and let me offer you something to eat. I am sure you are hungry after your flight.”

Sid chuckled; “You know your way to a dragon’s heart.” He then followed Haymaker into his shop. Nearly hitting the soldier’s head on the cross piece above the door.

“Excuse me could you please let me down Sir Dragon.”

“Oh, excuse me. I almost forgot about you.” Then with one hand he lifted the soldier off his shoulders and set him gently down.

Haymaker went behind the counter and pulled out a rack of ribs; “Here is something to munch on while I get you some real meat.”

“This should be enough for now. The Emperor is throwing a party for his ambassadors tonight and he forgot to add you to the guest list. I am here to correct that omission. Are you free?”

“For you Sir Sid I will be free. Just let me talk to my wife. I have told her all about you, and she would love to meet you.”

Sid spent a few minutes with Haymaker’s wife and then he told Don that he really needed to get back to the palace. He then took Haymaker out to the courtyard, where the soldier was still waiting, and he transformed into a Dragon.

The soldier mounted Sid’s back and started to buckle himself in. He passed a rope off to Haymaker and had him rope himself in. Sid called out; “Hang on you two.”

With that he took a running start and with a heavy downbeat of his wings he took off. He circled the town once, flew low over the city square and then climbed high enough to get over the mountains. He headed back toward the palace and landed in the palace’s courtyard. The soldier unbuckled and untiled the rope to Haymaker. The pair dismounted, and Sid transformed into a human; “How did you like your first dragon flight.”

“It was wonderful!” both men shouted at the same time. They then turned and looked at each other and laughed.

Later that night Sid was called to one of the palace’s courtyards where the party was going on. Sid called for a volunteer from the assembled ministers and ambassadors and got quite a few. He had General Wilson make the final pick and Albert helped the ambassador up on Sid’s back and buckled him in. Sid said to him; “I am going to take off and you can help me pick out my dinner.” He beat his wings strongly and took a few running steps to take off. He flew up into the sky and circled around the herds.

“Hmmm, what shall I eat tonight? A magnificent steer, or a nice juicy lamb?”

“His rider said; “Why not pick both?”

“No, I don’t want to be too greedy, but I can always go back for seconds.”

“The Emperor has plenty of herd animals feel free to take two or three even.”

“How about a succulent pig?” Sid said as he dove toward the swine pen. The pigs squealed in terror and tried to run. Sid let out his dragon fear and the pigs were paralyzed by the fear. Sid picked a large one and grabbed him. Then with a few strong flaps he took off into the sky. He squeezed the pig around the neck quickly killing it. Sid then landed in the courtyard and dropped off the pig. There Haymaker stood, with his trusty cleaver in hand and he started work on the swine; “So, how do you like your pig cooked?”

“Ah, well done, is there any other way?”

Albert was up on Sid’s back unbuckling the diplomat and helping him down. The poor man was shaking from the flight, he hadn’t expected the flight to be so rough.

Haymaker chuckled and said; “Not for a red dragon.” He threw the offal in the fire and laid out the ribs.

Sid gave it a gentle breath. Haymaker grabbed the barrel of barbecue sauce and punched a hole into the cover and lifted it on his shoulder to pour the sauce all over the meat. Once he finished, Sid motioned him back and gave a greater breath on the meat charring and cooking it. He then gulped it down in a few bites. All while the audience looked on.

Sid looked up, when he had finished; “A wizard can take on the shape of a dragon, they can fly like a dragon, and they can breathe fire like a dragon. But, they cannot utilize dragon fear.” Then he roared and let out his dragon fear scaring the entire crowd. Sid continued; “As you see I can do that. Also, a wizard can’t copy a dragon’s appetite. As you see I just consumed the entire pig and now I am going to go hunting for cow. General Wilson please pick the next guest who gets to fly.

After the party Sid took Haymaker back home.

“Why did you come all this way to pick me up, I know it wasn’t just for my butcher skills?”

“Do I need an excuse to see an old friend?”

“Yes, you do when I live over 100 miles away from the palace, and I thank-you. You put on a great show when you landed in the city square. The town will be buzzing for a month about the red dragon that visited Don the butcher.”

Sid chuckled; “So, you saw through my ploy. In my defense I wanted to help a friend and spend some time with a friend. The Emperor wanted me to perform and so I added my own twist to it.”

The Emperor was pleased with Sid’s performance, but he was not pleased with the Eternal King and his secret identity. There was little he could do about the situation though, except fume.

Two months later the Emperor called on Sid again; “I haven’t been able to find your children, and you know that I was this close to finding out who your mate was.” The Emperor held up his thumb and forefinger with a little distance between them. “So, where are you hiding them?”

Sid smiled and remained quiet.

“Well, tell me!”

“No, I won’t. Is there some service you require of me?”

“Damn you and your obstinate nature. I am the Emperor and I can command you to tell me!”

“I am not your subject and I can refuse that order. Or do you think you and your army can coerce me? I don’t plan on telling you a think about my children, until they are grown and able to take care of themselves. You can’t torture me, or I will break your torturer and just for trying I will bring your palace down on your head. And how would it look the Hero of the War against Tothmol revolted against you? People would suspect you of trying something with me and making me lose my temper. Which would be correct. Now how about that rumor that you have selected the Eternal King as your heir?”

“You bastard, you planted that rumor, and I will never let him, I mean her, be my heir!”

“Why not, he will surely out live you, and if you call him a her in public I will scorch your hair off of your head before I eat you! Meanwhile, your court is buzzing with rumors. Your bastard children all want a piece and will kill each other and you for that piece. Then there are your generals who wonder who will employ them after you are mysteriously killed in your sleep. On the other hand, if you name the Eternal King as your heir everyone will know that your empire is stable and in good hands. The Eternal Emperor will not be tempted to plot against you, he will be too busy with the children, and he knows he will outlive you. Your bastard children will know that they are not in line to inherit the throne, so they will look elsewhere to carve out their own bit of paradise. Your generals will know that they will be gamely employed and won’t be tempted by other kingdoms to turn on you.”

The Emperor fumed; “It makes too much sense and I… I will not be managed. Plus, how do I know you won’t try to kill me to get your mate on the throne?”

“You will just have to take that chance, but do you honestly think your people will want to follow a dragon as emperor? Why do you think my mate passes as a human, and a male at that? He knows that your people are not ready to be ruled by a woman, much less by a monster. Plus, you can put a clause into the agreement that if the Eternal King or I am behind your murder he would be excluded from being your heir.”

“Damn you, I will not listen to more of your prattle. You even have members of my harem talking, they each want their child to sit on the throne.”

“I am starting to make sense, aren’t I. Just imagine what happens when the women start to plot against you, you can never go to bed without a dagger by your side. I am sure glad I am not you.” Sid chuckled as the Emperor continued to fume.

The Emperor had some simple tasks for Sid; he wanted him to make some more magic items, to do a performance for the court, and to teach the High Wizard some more runes. Sid talked with him and negotiated a deal that he could accept. The Emperor was not happy with the deal, but he accepted. Sid spent four weeks performing for the Emperor’s court making the magic items and teaching the High Wizard the rune of burning. Afterwards the Emperor had a private meeting with Sid.

“Damn you, last night I had to execute one of my harem girls because she turned on me. I hate it that your plan makes sense, but it does. I will announce it next week, assuming I live that long. However, you will pay for it. Somehow I will make you pay!”

“Sure, you will. You are angry now, but you are already seeing the sense of my plan. Now I just need to break it to my liege and mate.”

“You mean you did all this, and you didn’t consult her!”

“Oh, I floated a trial bird or two into the air and an idea or two, but no I haven’t discussed it with her because I didn’t want to prejudice her. I also didn’t want to taint the deal or make you think that she is plotting to take over your Empire. All the plotting is mine, and mine alone. I won’t tell her your decision, I will let you surprise her. Then in a year or two I will show you my children.”

“How could they be grown by then?”

“Oh, they won’t, but they will be able to pass as humans, so they won’t be a target. It will take many years, if not centuries for them to be mature enough for me to trust them on their own. I will see that you are invited to court when they appear before it.”

“You had better do that. Now I got to think of what gifts to give to your children.”

“Don’t give them false titles, let them earn their way in the world. I wouldn’t mind if you sent a general or advisor of yours to help train them. They will need to be educated to face the world.”

“Can I supply advisors now?”

“No, you cannot. The children are still in hiding and I will not reveal their location; to you or to your advisors.”

“How about you mate with some of my women? I want dragon children of my own.”

“Yes, I will give you that one. Send one woman a night for ten nights to the capital of Kolariaon and I will mate with them. I promise no product, but if you haven’t had success in two months’ time then we can try again.”

“You are giving me this. Why do I think it is going to cost me in the end?”

“You will see, I warn you that while they will be human children, they will have a dragon’s appetite. But, just think of what fighters they will make. You will need to make sure that they are challenged and directed into the fields you want them to go. I promise that I will not interfere with your upbringing of them. I will acknowledge them, if you wish, but I will not tear their loyalties. You and your advisors will raise, train, and teach them and they will be loyal to only you and yours. They will also be your responsibility and I will be very angry if they die. You can insure their loyalty by promising them a position in your army.”

With that Sid left the Emperor, making him think he had won a victory, never knowing what he had in store for him by accepting this deal.

Chapter 20: Where do we go from here?

A year later Barthmal had expanded. A trade route, via a teleport circle, was established between the Capital of Kolariana and the lizardfolk started to come into Barthmal. That was a major event with the whole village coming out to object when five lizardfolk came into town. They blocked them and tried to prevent them from coming into town, until a, shadow came over the town. Everyone looked up to see two dragons flying over the town, a gold and a red. Jozen was in that first party and he said; “I think you should let us into town, if not you have two dragon’s overhead who might have some burning comments to make.”

After that the lizardfolk were allowed into town. They were guarded though, and they always made sure to travel in groups of five. Not too many to scare the town, but enough to handle any problems that cropped up. It took months before they were accepted.

The royal advisors talked with the High Druid and made some suggestions. The lizardfolk were not happy with the idea of making arrows or even arrow heads. But, they did warm to the idea of herding sheep. They did not like the idea of organizing on a capitalist plan, they wanted to stick to their tribal traditions. They did take a few improvements under advisement, but they were slow to adapt and evolve, just as Sid predicted.

The children were being raised well, as far as Sid knew. Barthmal was thriving and they took to the advisors better. They still weren’t happy to have a liege lord that is a dragon, but they had to learn to accept it.

Helson did something surprising after the Emperor named him as his heir. She stepped down as the Eternal King. It was a vote made by her council, Sid did not vote on the topic. Helson introduced the topic herself; “I can devote more time to the children and now that I am the Imperial Heir I will have to travel to the capital and back frequently. I also have to look at the larger image than just this kingdom. My mind and my loyalties will be torn, and I cannot serve the kingdom in that state. It is best if I step down.”

The Prime Minster was elected as the new king and Helson said the Eternal One would continue to make appearances and of course he would be available tor consults. He requested that he keep his offices and that request was granted. The Prime Minister had his own office anyway. Sir Henry seemed smug that dragons were no longer in control, but Sid and Helson still sat on the ruling council.

One day Sid was visiting his children when the grey one came up to him and said; “Can I be Sir Henry’s mount.”

Sid was furious at first, but he calmed down took a deep breath and said; “Do you want to be his mount or be a knight like he is?”

The grey dragon thought for a moment and said; “But, as his mount I would be accepted better.”

“But as a mount you would be expected to not talk, you would be treated as a pet. Would you feel good being treated as a pet?”

“No, I suppose not, but could I really become a knight?”

“Son, you can become anything your heart desires. Just because you are a dragon shouldn’t limit your horizons. He saved your life, when you couldn’t break through the egg, so it is only natural for you to look up to him. We have all seen you following Sir Henry around how much you want to be like him. You can do that, and you don’t have to be his mount.”

The grey dragon thought more and said; “I will talk to mom and Sir Henry about being an actual knight.”

Sid was not satisfied with that answer, but he would have to accept it. He knew that if he tried to put a leash on his children they would only tug the harder at it in their quest to be free. He figured that Sir Henry was behind this mount idea; maybe in an attempt to humiliate Sid, or maybe in an attempt to get a real powerful mount. Either way he would have to learn that while he might be an advisor he wasn’t in charge of the children.

Time went by the Emperor had Sid summoned again. He wanted that tour of his empire and he wanted Sid to take General Wilson with him. He was still furious with Sid for forcing his hand in the decision to name the Eternal One as his heir. Sid and the Emperor negotiated, or at least Sid tried to negotiate, the Emperor demanded. Finally, Sid ceded to his demands and went to see General Wilson.

“So, we are going to take a tour of the Empire and show the flag, as well as your fangs.”

“Yes, I didn’t want to do this, but the Emperor was adamant on the issue.”

“That man is pig-headed and stubborn, he always wants more and is never satisfied with what he gets.”

“That is ambition, but it also can be a mistake.”

“Well don’t hold it against the Emperor. He has demands of his own that he must meet, and your tour will go a long way to calming people down. Otherwise he is looking at a possible revolt. Some people are worried that he is conquering too much territory.”

“Well, isn’t he?”

“There is an old saying; “Expand or die. The Emperor needs to expand his empire to get new blood in, to get access to new riches, more tithes from the kingdoms, and so on. If he doesn’t expand then he has to scare up new resources inside the Empire, that means higher taxes and taxes are high enough now that people are getting restless.”

“I was told that he expanded his Empire to expand his harem.”

“That is just one reason, and a minor one at that, it is also a running joke around here. He has not been happy with his harem for the last few years.”

“Okay, so this tour of the Empire is going to calm things down across the Empire?”

“Yes, it will, or at least it will go a long way toward calming things down. You need to act like you are dangerous and that you are willingly working for the Emperor.”

Sid agreed, and he left Albert in the palace while he and General Wilson went on their tour. They covered several countries and many towns. At each one Sid was greeted with hostility. General Wilson was usually able to calm the troops down, but sometimes he needed to flex his dragon fear. Sid went to each leader of the country that he visited, and he talked with the leader and their advisors for a few hours.

Chapter 21: Haven’t we done this before?

Sid, Helson, the High Wizard and four children teleported into the teleport arrival area at the appointed time. This time the Emperor was there to great the dragons. Helson had to come in as a human to fit into the teleport, but she came in as her female human form. As soon as she arrived she transformed into a dragon. The Emperor invited them to the courtyard where the court was assembled, he had been plying them with booze to make them more relaxed and he had laid out a barbecue. He had a whole cow roasting for Sid and another for Helson. Once again, the harem girls occupied the balcony. One of the red dragons flew up to the balcony and invited them to come down to meet the gang. There was giggling, and the Emperor shouted out; “Why not, come down and join the party.”

The girls seemed puzzled and Sid called out; “I promise no one will bite you, come down and join us, we have barbecue, that’s my favorite.” So, the harem girls came down. Sid forced a smile to his face, while Helson was genuinely happy to see all the people. The children had been warned by the previous children, so they knew what to except; petting, being fed by hand, and being talked down to. They were rebellious teenagers, but their mother had made them promise to behave. So, they too pasted a smile on their faces and prepared to meet the horde. This time things went much better. The crowd was more at ease and with the addition of the harem girls they felt more comfortable. Without the harem madam the harem girls were very flirty, they even flirted with Sid a little. He was in his human form, but they all knew, from palace gossip, just what he really was. The Emperor seemed happy, but Helson could tell the smile was a forced one as well.

Helson drifted near the Emperor in the crowd and said; “I appreciate all you have done, gut you need to relax and enjoy yourself.”

“I am enjoying myself” he said with and angry tone.

“I swear you are almost as mad as my mate.”

“What has he got to be mad about.”

“Are you kidding? Putting all his kids on display for you and your court. Look at that smile on his face, it is so forced. He hates this, but you commanded it, so he agreed. Just like your tour, you know he nearly died on that one.”

“What!? General Wilson told me he had some trouble with a green dragon, but he avoided her!”

“There was that, and all the healing he had to do himself, and him low on food. He almost starved to death on that trip and he did it all to please you. You should show him more gratitude.”

“I hadn’t realized he had almost died, he never told me or the General that.”

“Of course not, he has his pride. He has little else left, but his pride. I mean I have annexed his land and now he has to serve you. That just boils his blood. Sure, he is hiding it now, but believe me I am going to hear all about it when we get home.”

“I didn’t realize it was so rough to do this.”

“Put yourself in his shoes. You are a superior being, with memories that date back to before the creation of humanity. Humans killed his family and force him into exile. He had to flee north to escape humanity and the spread of humanity literally came into his bedroom with sword, mace, lance, and spell. Now he finds himself thrust into the center of dealing with humans, serving a gold dragon, who he has ancestral hatred toward, and now he has to serve a human Emperor who makes him go on tours of his country, so he can prove he is a big man and able to command a dragon. Imagine how galling that is for him, he has to swallow his pride every time he serves you.

“What about his relationship with you.”

“It has some good points, I mean he is not a conventional red dragon, but I am still a gold dragon and 600 years his junior. He must serve me, put up with the annoying Sir Henry, and serve you. Meanwhile I am throwing all these new things at him and his people and he is worried that capitalism is a form of slavery.”

“Slavery, where does he get that from?”

“He has his own ideas about the word and he believes forcing people to do anything is cruel and unusual. He may not have the same morals as a red dragon, but he has the same instincts.”

“I haven’t realized all this, I was so worried about keeping my Empire intact.”

“You were spreading it so you could increase the tax base and improve your pick of harem girls. It is all the talk of country. They know the war finically taxed you and they see you as over extended. There hasn’t been talk of revolution, yet, but that is not too far from some people’s minds.”

“It never is. There is always someone who wants to reorganize the world with themselves at the top.”

“Kind of like you, huh?”

“Don’t be rude, of course I wanted to reorganize the world according to my desires. I was able to do it too!”

“Yes, you were, and you didn’t care who you stepped on along the way. Now you have a peck and parcel of enemies and you need to keep impressing them that you are in control. You are certainly leaving me with a mess to clean up.”

“And what does that mean?” The Emperor asked with a menacing tone.

“Oh, calm down, I have no desire to slip into your shoes early. Sid was right when he told you that I would have the patience to not threaten you or your rule. It actually was a stroke of genius, him suggesting that I should be your heir. It keeps him out of the whole mess, I am an experienced ruler, I won’t try to hasten your departure and I am going to have a dozen children who will want to do better than their parents did. That means they will work to expand the empire, all trying to impress Sid and I so that one of them can be named as our successor.”

“Don’t dragons never die?”

“Oh we all die in the end. It is true we grow in power with age and we have huge lifespans, but with the coming of humans we all have a death notice on us. At some point, somewhere, sometime some human will try to kill us, and they only have to get lucky once.”

“So, what are you going to do with your children?”

“First they need to be trained to interact with humans, they also need basic training in life and in how to be a dragon. They have the fundamentals, but you never stop learning and they have so much more to learn. Once they are beyond that point then they are going to want to strike out on their own. We are raising them to be kind to humans, so they shouldn’t go killing a bunch, but they are going to join human society and they are going to want to excel in it and like the cream they will rise to the top. Then they will enter the stage where they want to impress their parents. Sid will be easy to impress, he hasn’t done a lot just hidden away in his corner of the world, but me I was an adventurer and then I became king of my own country. And eventually I am going to become master of an Empire. That is a pretty tall order to live up to.”

“I hadn’t imagined things would be so complex.”

“Be careful when you meddle in the world of dragons…”

“I know because we are crunchy and taste good with barbecue sauce. I must have heard that a thousand times before.”

“Actually, that is the human version, our version is that you ‘will enter a complex world with wheels within wheels. Things are never simple to a dragon.”

“You have been dealing with Sid, do you think it has been simple?”

“God no, he has threatened me, confounded me, confronted me, and tested me at every turn. He is most infuriating.”

“Yes, dealing with Sid can be infuriating. That is due to his prickly nature. He always feels that someone is trying to take advantage of him. Even when you come at him with only simple things in mind he is expecting a hidden agenda or four and it frustrates him when he can’t see what your hidden agenda is.”

“But, I don’t have a hidden agenda!”

“Of course, you do. You want Sid to help prop up your empire and he knows that. He is not happy that he is being used and he is frustrated because the situation means he has to humor you, when he would rather tear your lungs our, or force you to kneel at his feet. He is a dragon though, so he is a master of restraint and he won’t let any of that slip. Except he doesn’t know humans very well, so he does let it slip, doesn’t he?”

“I have noticed his anger at me in almost everything he does.”

“You will continue to notice that, don’t let it get to you. Just remember when you command him that you need to understand what he feels and how he feels about serving you. He will serve you for his own protection and for the safety of his children, but heaven forbid if you harm me or his children. He will take revenge on you and it will not be pretty. Has he sent that threat at you yet?”

“Yes, he has.”

“Then believe me he is being honest about it, but it is simple don’t hurt me or the children. You can continue to command his services, in return for payment of our tribute. He knows that he is saving us a lot of money by working for you and he knows that as a member of your empire he has to work for you. Just don’t rub his face in it. You are too testy with him, you think that he wants your empire, because everyone you meet does. The thing is Sid wants to deal with humans as little as he can. He wants to get in, do his work, and then get out. Even this meeting is work for him. For me it is a chance to be seen and to hobnob with your folk. They or their children will eventually serve me, so it is nice to see and meet them, without having to scry on them.”

“I didn’t realize that Sid was so difficult to work with.”

“Oh, he is a pain and I am his mate. There is no one in the world who cares for him as much as I do except for his children and his people.”

“Just who are his people? He talks little about them.”

“His people are lizardfolk. As relatives to reptiles they work only in bursts and can spend a lot of time sleeping. Just introducing them to idea of working to make a profit made them and Sid angry. It didn’t help that I killed half of them either.”

“YOU killed half of them?!”

“Well not me personally, but members of Sir Henry’s family. They, in his eyes, ambushed him while he was sleeping, with no reason, beyond the mere fact that he was a red dragon. In my defense I thought he would try to kill me, lay waste to my kingdom and generally tear through us like a plague of rage.”

“So, what happened next.”

“He had a little adventure, he had the sheer nerve to confront me in my castle and in front of my people. I was more than a little angry with him, until I listened to him and learned to accept that he was not an evil monstrous killing machine. Of course, if he had been raised as a red dragon he would be, and he has the instincts of a killing machine. He keeps them under frim control, but they are still there. Remember that next time you call him into a meeting with your feeble servants guarding you. He told me how he handled your guards when he first meet you, and believe me he was being kind… they survived. If he had been truly angry at you, they would not have survived. He controls his rage, yes he does, but he can’t help but let a little through.”

“Thank-you, this has been most instructive. I will try to practice more restraint when handling Sid in the future. Was that the goal of this little chat?”

“Wheels in wheels. I wanted to meet you as myself. I wanted to meet your court when they were distracted, and I wanted to chat with you. I also wanted your court to accept my children. They are going to be rubbing elbows for a long time. Remember when you deal with a dragon nothing is simple.”

“I thought dealing with humans was difficult, everyone trying to do me in or one up me. Or ingratiate themselves with me. It is trying to be an Emperor sometimes.”

“Take a breather now and then, come to my kingdom. You know I won’t plot against you, I am in it for the long game. I don’t want to screw that up. You wrote the contract well, so your safety is my chief concern. You will be safe in my kingdom and you can relax. No one will be there to plot against you or to try to one up you. I can’t stop the people who want to ingratiate themselves with you, but I can stop the assassins.”

“Thank-you, I honestly believe you and I might just take you up on your offer. But, wouldn’t your king have other ideas?”

“They are adventuring companions of old. We have literally spilt blood for each other and one would die for the other. I was the one who resigned, and we all voted in Nelson. He knows that I want to be Empress and he knows that our kingdom will be safer with me as the designated heir. He will not want to rock that particular boat.”

After that party Sid and his family returned to the castle. Sid decided to stay for an hour or two in Helson’s private plane. They talked about the Emperor and Helson said; “He is a bit lonely. So, I invited him to come to our kingdom for a break. We can assure his safety here and he can take a break. Plus, it is only natural for him to want to build a closer relationship with ‘He who would be his heir.’”

“Make sure he is well guarded while he is here, I don’t want anything to happen to our children’s inheritance. I sure can’t bring much to the table, so it is all going to have to be you.”

“Oh, so you thought that my little kingdom was too small our children to inherit, is that why you suggested I would make a good heir for the Emperor?”

“Well, a little of that and little of I wanted to stir his coals a little.”

“So, you do think my kingdom is TOO SMALL!”

“NO, at least not your potential empire, besides what do you have to be mad about?”

She laughed and Helson said; “Well, leave it to a dragon to have big ambitions.”

“I expect once you get your Empire our children will have to work hard to top that one.”

“Oh, they will, and believe me our children will want to top their mother’s work.”

“Hey, I had a claw in it to, if it weren’t for me you wouldn’t have been nominated as his heir. He didn’t’ know who to name and it was slowing eating him up inside. He just didn’t know it.”

The rest of the evening’s conversation is best to keep between dragons.

Chapter 22: I am sure we have done this before.

Two weeks later Sid returned with the last four of the children, including the grey one. They were meet at the teleport arrival area by Captain Overton who took them to the West Courtyard where the Emperor, his court and of course the harem girls where gathered to another barbecue. There was a whole cow roasting over a fire and a butchered cow waiting for Sid and the children. When Sid, and the children reached the courtyard there was a sudden quiet. The Emperor turned to meet his guests and almost dropped the barbecue fork he had been poking the roasting cow with.

Sid nudged the grey child forward; “Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, I am grey, the first grey dragon known to be hatched, but probably not the first one laid. When I was laid the egg was unusually thick and had a strong membrane on the inside. I had just given up trying to break through the egg shell when a member of my mother’s court thought I was dying, he may not have been wrong. My father was comforting my mother when this court member leapt to his feet and clove my egg in two. I was thus brought upon this world. I say not the first of my kind laid, because it has been long known that a few, a very few dragons eggs don’t hatch. My parents now theorize that these may have been grey dragons who were stuck in their thick shells and died still in the egg. It is not known what kind of dragon I am, what I am going to be, or what this may mean for dragon kind. Only one thing is known; the man who rescued me was a knight, and I am going to follow in his footsteps.”

“A semi-friendly Red Dragon, and now a dragon knight. I can die now, I have seen everything.” The Emperor said.

That broke the silence and the crowd surged forward to meet the young dragons. They started to gather too close around the young dragons and were pressing in tightly when the grey dragon lifted his head and blew forth a column of fire. The crowd stepped back, at that outburst.

Sid said; “Let that be a warning to you, not to crowd dragons.”

The Emperor said; “I have called you all here for a party, so you will all have time to meet the dragons. Just give them some room, and besides, our cook just informed me that lunch is ready.”

The crowd split up and the cook started carving out hunks of cow for the crowd to eat. Meanwhile, Sid had found the barbecue sauce barrels and had used his wings to, gently, push the humans out of the way so that he could roast the sectioned cow. He then poured the barbecue sauce upon the cow and lightly roasted it again. He and the children dug in, much to the delight of court.

The Emperor said; “Come out and see.”

Sid had heard the extra heartbeats up on the courtyard’s balcony but had assumed them to be guards. He was surprised as a crowd of people advanced to the balcony’s edge.

Sid noticed different fashions from, presumably, different countries; “Who are these people?”

“Oh, those are just some guests I invited to watch a peaceful feeding of dragons.”

One of the children, who was a student of the former Prime Minister, said; “Let me guess you held a lottery among the biggest of your supporters, and you charged them each a small fortune to be here.”

The Emperor said; “You have a smart child there Sid.”

Sid said; “Normally, I would object to myself and my children being your floor show, but I guess that is part of the reason why we are here.”

The Emperor said; “You sound angry Sid, you know I want to show off the dragon who I have working for me.”

Sid stared at him and growled slightly, then went back to eating.

The Emperor stepped up to him and whispered; “Don’t worry, they won’t come down here and mingle with your children or follow you elsewhere, they will just observe. I thank-you for humoring me.”

“I will keep humoring you for 20% of the take.”

“Make it 10% and you have a deal.”

“Done.” The dragon said as he noisily crunched on the bones of the cow.

True to the Emperor’s word the crowd on the balcony did not interfere with the dragons, while the court and the harem girls interacted with them. They only stood and watched. The children, especially the grey one, were once again the hit of the day and the whole court enjoyed the barbecue. The Emperor had a smile on his face, and this time it seemed to be genuine.

By the time Sid decided to leave, he was in a good mood. He had made a little profit, he had a decent light snack, and the party had lifted up his spirit a little. He was happy to return to Kolorina though. He asked the wizard to handle the teleport and he ended up back in the castle. There the children took on their human (and orchish) forms and split off from Sid to their own rooms. Sid paid his respects to the king and told him that the meeting with the Emperor had gone well, then he went to meet Helson.

The children got their jobs and settled into them well. They realized that these were more like apprenticeships and openings to a wider world. The grey dragon told Henry that he wanted to be a knight and Henry was wise enough to accept that and accept him as his own squire.

Chapter 23: Ding dong, just visiting

Several months later Helson came into the court and said; “I just got a message from the Emperor, he wants to come for a visit, a fishing vacation. We should summon the royal council and discuss this, send a messenger to Sid, he will want to be here for this.”

When the royal council was convened Sid spoke; “So, what brought this about?”

Helson said; “Actually, it may be my fault. I invited the Emperor to come her for a vacation, if he got the chance and needed one.”

The king said; “So, what do we do?”

Helson said; “We should let them go to Sid’s lands. They are remote, and I am sure Sid knows a stream or river with fish in it. The Emperor was a bit vague on what he wanted. I think mainly he is looking for some time off. We can send Sid, Sir Henry, and his squire to accompany him. That should keep him safe and out of our hair.”

Sid grunted; “Sounds good.”

Father Denton said; “We should give the Emperor, Sir Henry and his apprentice refuge sticks so they can return here suddenly if needed.”

The High Druid asked; “When is the Emperor coming?”

Helson said; “His message was short, but I think he wants to come tomorrow.”

Sid grumbled; “How do we plan on getting all of us north?”

The Wizard said; “I could do a teleport and they can use the refuge sticks when they wish to return. Or I could teleport them there and teleport back. With a teleport there would be no trace, so no trail to follow. With the refuge sticks, that Father Denton can provide, they can come back at the end of their time and I can teleport them back to the Emperor’s palace, when they arrive.”

Sir Henry said; “Then we could offer him a tour of the walls and the armory.”

Heslon said; “We would have to ask him if he wanted that. I suspect he would not.”

The High Druid said; “Don’t bring that up while the Emperor is on vacation. If he wants a tour, he can ask for it and you can offer it to him AFTER you arrive home. In the meantime, let the Emperor dictate what he wants to do, while on vacation, you are just to be his security.”

Helson asked; “Has the Emperor ever ridden you Sid?”

“No, he hasn’t asked.”

“Do you think he would like a ride? I mean you could easily carry our child, Sir Henry and the Emperor, couldn’t you?”

“Yes, you know that I can. It would take me a lot longer to fly than the teleport would take. I think if he wanted me to fly him, he would have asked before.”

The Emperor arrived the next day, with a man the group hadn’t met before; “This is John Stone, a man who I lifted out of poverty years ago. He has been a loyal guardian and major domo for my palace.”

Sid said; “I don’t remember meeting him.”

“No, you haven’t. He was behind the door when you met me Sid. You are a supernatural threat and frankly, John has no magic powers. He was there with the army in the field, but he was not in the meetings you attended. When you came to the palace to show off your children he was on his yearly vacation. He was there during your last meeting, but I hadn’t introduced him to you. When I am surrounded by guards or in the middle of my army John tends to take it easy and fade into the background. The rest of the time he is at my left shoulder. I brought him because I wanted him to know your security arraignments.”

Helson said; “Sid you know, we will also be loaning you Sir Henry, our knight, and his squire. With the three of them and John you should be well protected. We plan on offering you a stay in Sid’s lands. They are wilder and would have more fish. They would also be isolated. I assume you wanted to go fishing so you would be alone with nature. Am I correct?”

“Yes, you are. I need a break from the hundreds of people who want a piece of me.”

Sir Henry said; “Let’s go to our council chamber. The High Druid is there with a bowl for scrying. Sid can show him the area and the High Wizard can teleport us there, unless you would like to fly on Sid?”

The Emperor had a surprised expression on his face; “Actually, I hadn’t considered that, and I would rather not impose on Sid that much.”

Sid said; “Thank-you, that would be a long flight. I would rather take the teleport.”

The Emperor said; “Didn’t you tell me that you had set up a teleport gate to Sid’s lands?”

Helson motioned the Emperor into the council chamber and said; “Yes, we did, but we are sending you to a more remote location. If that would suit your needs?”

“Yes, it would, thank-you.” The Emperor responded.

The group had moved into the council chamber and the wizard motioned at the door it closed and became barred all by itself.

the wizard had secured the door. The druid was there ready to scry into a bowl of water he had laid out on the council table. In the corner sat the grey dragon with a stack of supplies and the backpacks that they were packed into.”

Henry said; “I have my squire with the baggage train. I hope you will feel protected when your party includes two dragons and my humble self, a knight.”

The Emperor smiled; “I think with John accompanying me, and you, we should be all right.”

John, who hadn’t said a word yet, smiled and went to stand with the grey dragon. Once there he finally spoke; “I am John, we will be working together.”

The grey dragon nodded his head and handed John one of the backpacks.

The High Wizard, the Emperor, Sid (in his human form), the grey dragon, John Stone, and Henry assembled waiting for a teleport. The druid started scrying in his bowl of water and Sid directed him toward a stream in the northern regions of his lands. Once the wizard got a good view of the area he teleported the group there.

John Stone pulled out a cube and pressed a button on it and dropped it. The cube unfolded into a large tent. Henry pulled out a tent from the backpack he and the grey dragon were carrying and started to set up their own tents.

The Emperor said; “I am on vacation starting now, so you can all call me Mike and call John by his first name. Is that alright with you Henry and Sid?”

Henry said; “That is fine with me and this is my squire Al.” He pointed to the grey dragon who shifted into his human form, so he could help set up the tents.

Sid said; “Shall I get dinner?”

Mike said; “That sounds nice, but John and I are going to start fishing for our dinner. Henry could you and your squire collect some firewood?”

With that Sid transformed into his natural form and took off. Henry and Al went off searching for firewood and John pulled two collapsed fishing poles out of his pouch, handing one to Mike. The two then proceed to find a seat by the side of the stream and started fishing.

Sid came back with a deer and the Emperor and John each caught two fish, so there was enough food to feed them all, of course Sid had fed while he was hunting, or there wouldn’t have been enough food. Once the knights built the fire, Sid ignited it. Mike relaxed and started cracking jokes. At night he would go into ghost stories. Both of the dragons had never heard stories like this, so they were fascinated. John had heard most of it before so only gave out a few chuckles. Henry chuckled, but he wasn’t taken in by the ghost stories. Sid and his son enjoyed good stores.

Three days later the group got up early in the morning and Mike and John started fishing. Sid went off to catch a moose, while again the two knights went off into the forest to gather firewood. Mike was relaxed, he was enjoying his vacation and he was happy that the fish were biting, even if there weren’t many of them.

Suddenly there was a huge crash, as a very big white dragon landed on the main tent. She turned toward the two fisherman and breathed a cone of frost. John screamed, stood, reached into his bag and pulled out a quarterstaff. When it was in his hands he twisted it and it ignited. Mike pulled out a pellet and threw it to the ground, shrouding himself in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared he was clad in full plate with a two-handed sword in his hands. Just in time because two white wolves and a group of ice trolls started charging from the forest, where they had laid in wait. The dragon’s breath was strong enough to have frozen the water in the stream making a bridge across it that the on coming white wolves and ice trolls could cross.

The white dragon said; “So, who is poaching from my lands? You will pay for this, and I do mean pay.”

There was a battle cry from the forest and the two knights came running out, of the woods, with their breastplates on, and their swords glowing with holy might. The white dragon tried to bash the two knights with her wings as she reached out, with her claws, for Mike and John.

Johan and Mike stood back to back and John bashed the white dragon’s claw with his quarterstaff rapidly. Al was blocked by the white dragon’s wing, so he started to tear into the wing. Henry had dodged the wing and landed a sword blow right into the side of the white dragon. He gave another battle cry as he drew blood and she grunted in pain.

Mike was facing the white wolves and ice trolls and keeping them at bay with his sword. The white dragon reached out with her tail, in an attempt to sweep Mike and John off their feet, but they dodged her.

The white dragon was angry, and it looked like her side might be winning when a dead moose landed on one of the white wolves, causing it to crash through the ice into the stream. The white dragon was using her tattered wing to bat Al and trying to fend off both John and Henry. She heard a roar and felt the fire of dragon breath on her back. As she looked up she say the plunging form of Sid, with his claws extended. He landed on her back and knocked the breath out of her, just before she could use her breath weapon again.

Al cut through the white dragon’s wing and joined Henry in attacking the white dragon’s left flank. Sid invoked the power in his ring and breathed at the ice trolls, melting half of them. Two frost giants begin approaching from the woods, across the stream. The white dragon tried to recover her breath, tried to stand up and failed at the latter. Sid bit at her head and used his weight to grapple her. Al and Henry were inflicting serious wounds on the white dragon’s flank, but they couldn’t see the approaching danger on the other side of the white dragon.

There was a flash of a teleport and a gold dragon appeared with the druid and the wizard on her back. The wizard threw a fireball at the head of one of the frost giants while the druid conjured a fire elemental on the other side of the stream. The white dragon continued to fight, but it was a fight she was losing.

The frost giant who was hit by the fireball screamed and tried to bat out the fire. The other frost giant begin to run to get across the stream. Helson ordered the wizard to take flight and he cast a fly spell, while the druid grabbed him by the waist. The conjured fire elemental headed for the other frost giant. Sid, and the two knights continued to work on the white dragon.

As the frost dragon approached the fire elemental charged him and grabbed him by the leg. The wizard lifted off of Helson’s back and Helson dived at the ice bridge breathing a cone of fire on the bridge and the ice trolls. Mike was still trying to fend off the white wolf. The frost giant who had been hit by the fireball didn’t like the odds for the battle and turned his charge in a retreat. The other frost giant was batting as his leg, trying to extinguish the fire elemental. The fight with the white dragon was continuing and as her blood poured onto the lands it covered the ground in frost.

Helson landed berhind the white wolf and distracted it long enough for Mike to strike a deadly blow on it. The ice trolls had melted and trying to recover. The wizard threw another fireball at the ice bridge destroying it and the ice trolls on it. The fire elemental continued to climb the frost giant, who was yelling. The white dragon was continuing to fight, but she was losing the battle to Sid and the two knights.

Helson turned on the remaining frost giant and breathed at him. The white dragon fell as Sid successfully pinned her. The two knights continued to slash her with their swords glowing with holy power. Mike swung his sword looking for another target and saw the battle was well in hand. Waves of heat, from Sid, begin to over power the waves of cold coming from the white dragon. She was weakening and losing blood and power fast. The frost giant fell face first into the stream as the fire elemental climbed on his back and proceeded to burn a hole through his spine. Helson flew off, pursuing the fleeing frost giant to make sure he didn’t double back.

It was hard to tell who struck the final blow as Mike, John, Al and Henry clove deep wounds into her side. When she breathed her last breath, Sid flipped her over. He then clawed her chest open and reached inside, drawing out her heart and eating it. A white rim grew on Sid’s claws and around his mouth. He roared and said; “Revenge is ours!” Then he took off heading north.

Helson took off after him and Sid shouted back at her; “Don’t follow me, I have her powers for 24 hours and that means I can withstand the cold. You cannot so go back and guard the camp.” With that Sid flew faster.

Helson circled back and landed on the remains of the white dragon. The wizard slowly drifted down to the ground with the druid still holding him by the waist. The two knights were cleaning their swords.

Heslon ordered Al; “Go to the town and get the citizens to come here to harvest this dragon.”

Al nodded, sheathed his sword, transformed into his true form, and flew toward Bothmol.

The druid directed Henry on how to carve the dragon meat off of the bones.

Helson went exploring to make sure there were no other monsters lurking in the woods across the stream.

Four hours later a group, led by the butcher, came from Bothmol to help harvest the dragon. The druid took to directing them on how to do the job. Henry was happy to take a break.

The druid said; “Remember, dragon steak is tough meat it needs to be cooked for six to eight hours and if you eat two or more meals of it a day you will gain strength. If you eat three servings a day, then you are likely to start to become arrogant. So, don’t eat only dragon steak. You can keep the meat for up to a month, then smoke it and turn it into jerky. The bones can be used to make weapons and tools, especially the teeth, and the hide can be used to create anything from leather armor to plate male depending on how you cure it and treat it.”

The group got to work, luckily, they had brought a pair of carts with them to carry the meat, hide and bones in, but it was going to take four or more trips.

Two hours later Sid returned with a satisfied smile on his face carrying a huge fur that was weighted down heavily. He checked in to make sure everyone was okay and proceeded on to his lair; “I will bring my people by to get their cut in a couple of hours.”

Helson called out; “Off to count your stolen horde, are you?”

Sid called back; “You bet!”

The Emperor came up to Helson and said; “Everyone seems to be getting a share except me?”

Helson glared at him. The wizard said; “I make a magic sword for you and a dagger for John out of the teeth. Would that be satisfactory?”

The Emperor smiled; “Yes, that would, if you throw in one of Sid’s electrical runes on the sword and a fire rune on the dagger?”

Helson said; “You drive a hard bargain, but I will talk to Sid about it and he should agree.”

Hours later Sid came along with his own people and a pair of carts; “Can we get some of this dragon steak?”

The druid said; “Sure, we got plenty. I don’t want any of it to spoil. Did you get a good haul with the horde?”

Sid smiled and said; “She has been raiding for centuries, so yes it was a good haul.”

Helson said; “Shouldn’t you be trying to reunite the goods with their original owners?”

Sid said; “Since most of them are dead, I doubt it. Besides haven’t you heard of the rule ‘to the victors go the spoils!’”

The Emperor said; “Well he did drive out the inhabitants of Melnda’s lair, didn’t you Sid.”

“Oh, they fought with me over it, but yes I did drive them out and now I am claiming her lands.”

Helson said; “The Emperor wants his portion of her horde.”

Sid snarled; “What?!”

Helson said; “He will settle for you scribing a permanent electrical rune on a sword and a permanent fire rune on a dagger though.”

Sid grunted; “Who is going to supply the diamond dust?”

Helson rolled her eyes and said; “I will supply the diamond dust, is it a deal then?”

‘Yes.”

Helson looked at the Emperor and he winked at her.

Heslon suggested; “We should all return to the castle, so Father Denton can apply some healing. I bet

You could use it.”

Now that the battle is over, and adrenaline faded away, the Emperor felt the chill and the soreness of his wounds; “Yes, I think you are right, but could I come back here to finish my vacation?”

Sid said; “Of course you can. Now that Melenda is gone and her crowd scattered to the four winds we shouldn’t be bothered. I will be adding her territory to my own. He had a satisfied and wide smile on his face.

The High Wizard created a dagger and a long sword for the Emperor, putting an accuracy enchantment on the weapons. Sid then added a rune for electricity on the long sword and a rune for fire on the dagger. Sid used some of the white dragon’s blood to create the runes with. When a dragon ages their powers grow and Melenda had to be 300+ years older than Sid. This made her blood especially potent and when added to an enchantment it would make an enchantment permanent. Sid reflected how lucky he was to have the Emperor, John, and Helson and a few members of her court to help him with Melenda. He would never have been able to fight Melenda on his own. He didn’t realize how old she really was. His people only told him that she was bigger than he was, they didn’t have a good way to estimate her size.

The group returned to the river to finish the Emperor’s fishing trip and he called upon the High Wizard for a teleport back to his palace. Sid had that same satisfied smile on his face and kept it for the rest of the Emperor’s visit.

After the Emperor returned Sid returned to the castle and to Helson and her private plane. She asked him; “When are you going to stop smiling?”

“Oh, I didn’t realize I was smiling. I guess I will stop in a week or a month or two.”

She laughed; “You got your horde increased and your lands increased, so I guess I can forgive you for that smile you have. How much did your horde increase?”

“My lands about doubled and my horde as well. I haven’t counted it all yet, but it is clear she had been raiding for over a century.”

“I didn’t know she was that old. Makes sense though, she was huge. You know the townspeople really liked that you enchanted their cutting tools.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that much effort. Melenda’s blood did most of the work.”

“Well, I recommend that you go back to your town and you enchant a few more tools for them.”

“Would it make that much of a difference in how they feel about me?”

“Yes, it would. Your people may have enchanted weapons and tools, but they don’t. Most of them don’t have two gold pieces to rub together so a magic tool is way beyond what they can afford.”

“Over the years I enchanted most of my people’s equipment and I hadn’t considered how valuable that could be for people. I know some of the tools I have enchanted have been handed down for generations by my people.”

“So, why aren’t you calling Bothmol citizens ‘your people?’”

“I hadn’t thought of that, for so long I looked at them as the intruders. Thank-you, I will go enchant some of their tools when I get back.”

“Just all in an evening’s work.” Heslon chuckled.

Chapter 24: Helping out the good people.

Sid came into Bothmol, in his dragon form, and shouted out; “I would like to help you make your work lighter.”

A few people came out. A few more stared at him from their windows.

Sid continued; “I can use the dragon blood to make magical enchantments for your tools. Just bring out the blood that you harvested, and the tools and we can get to work.”

With that more people started to come out into the street, however they seemed hesitant. Albert was with Sid and said; “Sid why don’t you transform into a human, they might feel safer.”

Sid transformed and asked; “Is this better?”

He got his answer when the butcher approached him with his cleaver; “Can you make this cut better?”

Sid smiled and said; “Yes, I can. I can do four tools today and I plan on returning each day for the next two weeks until the town has its share of magical tools. I have done this for my people, in my lair, to make their lives easier. So, it only makes sense to do the same for you.”

The butcher handed him his cleaver; “This is my best cleaver, are you sure it won’t be damaged?”

“There is no risk to your cleaver. Just let me handle it and give me some of the blood you harvested from the white dragon.”

The butcher called out; “Hank bring out that barrel of dragon blood, will you?”

A few minutes later a teenager came out with a cart and two barrels of blood; “Damn if we know what to do with it?”

The butcher asked; “Is all dragon blood magical?”

Sid said; “Yes, but the older the dragon the more powerful the blood. I know what you are thinking can my blood be used to enchant magic items? The answer is that I can use it to do so, but they won’t be permanent. However, the white dragon, Melenda, was older than I am by a few hundred years, and her blood is more potent.”

The butcher passed Sid his cleaver and watched as Sid drew a rune on it; “This will keep it permanently sharp. Guard it well and it should serve yourself, your children, and your grandchildren.”

“It will last that long?” The butcher marveled.

Sid opened one of the barrels and dipped the cleaver into it; “It will last that long and longer. My people, who I share my lair with, have some tools that I have enchanted that have lasted for over 300 years. There is no reason for the tools I enchant to fail you. My enchantment will make the tools stronger and they should last longer.”

Sid finished the rune and handed the cleaver back to the butcher; “Who is next?”

Sid returned as promised and, in the end, enchanted 96 tools for the villagers. There was enough blood for him to enchant more items, so he promised to come back for another two weeks until every family had their own magic item. And more importantly, he delivered on that promise. The town folk were quite pleased by this and as they used their magical items they realized that they did help to make some of the work easier. The townsfolk were grateful for this and finally started to accept Sid as their ruler. They begin to ask them questions.

At first the questions were simple ones like, two dairy owners feuding over who owned a cow. Sid let one dairy farmer take the cow, only on the condition that he give half of the milk harvested to the other dairy owner. As time passed the questions became more detailed and harder. Sid was able to handle most of them, to the townsfolk’s satisfaction.

After a few weeks of this town asked; “Where is your magistrate?”

“He was out hunting a month-and-a-half ago and hasn’t returned. We have given up on him ever returning.” He was told.

Sid responded; “I will send one of my lizardmen to come to your town and be your magistrate for you. He will be neutral so there will be no problems with him favoring one of you over another, and since he is one of my people you can always appeal to me and if that doesn’t satisfy you, then I will talk to Helson about handling appeals, by a member of her court, and yes I will make sure she selects a human for this job.”

Sid appointed a witch, one of the tribes elders to become Magistrate. She was hesitant to accept, but he and Albert convinced her. Albert said; “It will bring both of your people’s together and as a lizardfolk you can be neutral toward the humans. As a tribal elder you can bring the wisdom the humans need and if you have any questions you can fall back on Sid.”

She agreed on the condition that her daughter and apprentice come with her; “She needs to learn my trade.”

Sid called for a lizardfolk search party to go out in search of the magistrate. In two weeks, they discovered his weapons, broken and almost buried under snow. Sid went out to investigate personally and uncovered dragon spoor. Melenda had struck. He brought the items back to town and informed them that Melenda had taken the magistrate.

At first the townsfolk were warry of the lizardfolk witch, but she opened a shop selling herbs and simple potions. This helped the town and caused them to come to her with their cases. In most cases her judgement was considered fair and worthy. Two of those cases were appealed to Sid and he handled them.

By no means were the townsfolk completely happy with their new magistrate, and her decisions, but they were happier than they had been. Most of the people where happier with Sid being in charge now. The lizardfolk witch got visitors from her tribe and more lizardfolk started coming to town.

The butcher came up to Sid, on one of his visits and asked him; “Your lizardfolk are coming into town and I am starting to not mind it. But, when can we go see you and your people?”

Sid pondered a moment; “Dragons like to keep their lairs exclusive and private, but I am more than a dragon now; I am responsible for more than just my life. I will take tours to my lair, but you have to promise to keep it secret. If you don’t then knights and adventures will stalk me. Yes, I have a horde, but you will excuse me if I don’t show it to people. A dragon’s horde is very personal, like the relationship between you and your wife. You wouldn’t want to try and make love in the middle of the street, would you?”

“Oh, no Sir Dragon, we would not do that, and I can understand how you want to keep your riches private. It is just that some of us are real curious about you, your people and where you live. We are grateful to you for finding out what happened to our magistrate, and especially grateful for the magical work you have done for us. But you have heard the expression; ‘Curiously killed the cat.’”

“Actually, I haven’t heard that expression before.”

“Oh, it is quite common among humans.”

“You have to remember that I am not human, and that I have been hiding from humans for a long time.”

“Well you can’t hide anymore, not if you want to rule us.”

“Do you have a problem with my rulership?”

“I did have some reservations, and there a lot of townsfolk who still do have reservations. Frankly, some of them will not come around. Can you handle that?”

“I will have to, and the best way to do so is to ignore their discomfort and treat them like I treat you all. No favoritism and no grudges.”

The butcher nodded an affirmative and asked; “Can I am my wife be among the first to visit your lair?”

Sid smiled a wide smile; “Yes you can. In fact, invite her out and we can go now.”

The butcher ran back into his shop and into his apartment above it. He and his wife hurried down and came out to meet the dragon. They were taken aback when Sid transformed, but when he invited them to climb on his back, they were elated. Sid took them dragonback to his lair, figuring the excitement of the trip and the aerial perspective would make it harder for them to remember the route. Over the next month he took many people on a trip to his lair. This weighed heavily in the dragon’s favor and the rides on a dragon were the highlights of some of their lives. Of course, only some people wanted to ride Sid and he made it a requirement to see his lair. He figured that this would reduce the number of people trying to visit his lair and he was right. There was an unexpected result of this; some of the townsfolk didn’t like the way their lord was living and so they did some things to improve his ‘simple life.’ They knitted him a rug to lie down on and they created some towels, handkerchiefs for Sid and his tribe. Things that his people hadn’t thought of.

As the season went by the two peoples and the dragon all became closer, even accepted. The dairymen had accepted Sid’s decision about the cow, but they weren’t happy with his rule. There were others who weren’t happy either, but they were in the minority. The butcher noticed that most of the people who were unhappy with Sid’s rule were those who didn’t get magic items that helped them do their daily tasks. For example, an ever-sharp knife helps a tanner, but a dairyman not so much. Sid was unable to scribe runes on a sewing needle and there were other people who he was unable to help, like he didn’t have a rune or a charm that made lifting a wheelbarrow or carrying a barrel easier.

The two red dragons that looked toward Sid started using the teleport circle to visit him, after their classes were done. They visited his lair and were not impressed, but the town did impress them a little. They liked how he had appointed a lizardfolk witch as the town’s magistrate. They started to show up in town and to even transform into their dragon form in public. Of course, this started because one of them made a mistake and his disguise slipped. The townsfolk knew that Sid had children and they were happy that he shared his children with them. After a while more of the children came for a visit. Of course, the most notable was the grey dragon. His orcish form scared the townsfolk, but his natural form amazed them.

Helson even came for a visit, as a dragon, and she charmed the town. She was dwarfed by Sid, but she was far bigger than her children and more impressive. She was also more articulate and more familiar with dealing with humans. Sid, and the family, made sure to not slip with Helson’s true identity. She told them the truth, that she came from a far-off land. She neglected to tell that that she was the Eternal One.

Things settled down in Sid’s lands and with time he and his people where accepted in Bothmol. They could have traveled to the capitol or any other city, but they would rather stay around the lair or explore the new lands that Sid had claimed for them.

Eventually the Emperor died, in bed. His sons tried to usurp Helson, but they had no backing at court so she was able to able to take over as Emperor. She brought her children, or at least most of them, with her and they were able to handle the bastard children.

Sid enjoyed the fruits of civilization. He frequently attended the theater with Helson and he borrowed a lot of books from her library. He became quite the cultured gentleman. The High Wizard established a teleport ring between the castle and the palace. This made commuting between his den the castle, and the palace easy. The dragons grew older and more powerful. One of the bastards tried to assassinate one of the dragon children and she turned on him and ended up slaying him instead. After that the bastards were more careful around Heslon’s brood as was the court.

Helson had quite a job to do; not only to find employment for her children, but what to do with the bastards and with the harem. But as time has the habit of doing things resolved. Heslon’s affection for Sid deepened and he grew to appreciate her ways and her plans.