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A Little Less Counselor, A Little More Concubine

Part 12

For Fyacin_Tia

By Draconicon

With Alys's help, they were able to rig up something that should have sufficient pomp and circumstance to make the audience work without the Emperor being present. The hybrid was in full regalia, with a robe that ran from her shoulders to her hips, and then split to cover the front and back of her legs. Conservative, it was not, but that mattered not when they had been named concubines. He was not at all surprised to see that she had gone the route of showing off more of her legs than usual, stretching them and posing them so that they stuck past their coverings, flaunting the wrap around her neck that turned her from a crimson and yellow creature to something of gold and ruby with the way that it directed the light.

As for himself, the lion did not have the freedom for clothing. In that, the Emperor's power held true, and the orders that left him naked had not been rescinded. However, he had been speckled with glitter and oils, giving him the appearance of something spectacular. He stood with his arms behind his back, a servant of the Emperor of Dol-Ma in the truest sense. His body was oiled, his fur styled so that it was swept back, certain places coming to points around the shoulders and hips as if his fur was merely another outfit to be styled and worn for the public to adore. Even his cage had been decorated, smoothed down and lifted up, giving his balls the chance to breathe and for everyone to see the sac that the Emperor had nearly drained.

They stood on either side of an empty throne in the Serpent Garden, standing among the various coils of the well-trained snakes. Neither of them were in danger, and the snakes provided yet another gorgeous statement to their beauty, something to show off and hold the eye when the representatives of the lowlands showed themselves.

"They are coming, yes, Fyacin?" Alys said, tapping her hip with a finger.

"They're coming."

"I would hope that we did not get this decorated for nothing."

"Why, we are decorated for each other. Is that not enough?"

"If it was merely for you, I would have done far less; your sense of taste would not appreciate the time that was spent on arranging these layers."

"And you hardly would understand the effort of the oils and sweeps and points that my fur has taken on, but there we are."

The lion shrugged, ignoring the slight surge of excitement that came when one snake 'kissed' his rump with a flickering tongue. He didn't stiffen, but he did feel his cage twitch ever so slightly.

Should have gone with the numbing oils...

Regardless, it was too late now, and that would have been an issue of the scent that created. As it was, the lion was trying to focus on the now, to bring his mind forward to think about how he was going to handle this.

The representatives of the lowlands wanted the Emperor, but would not have him. They had sheathed the throne in a number of snakes, and the Serpent Garden was situated so that none may see the Emperor without circling the throne to see him.

It was the only place, therefore, where they could stage that the Emperor was there when he was not.

Fyacin waited, doing his best to ignore the various snakes that coiled about his ankles, or those that had climbed up his body. He occasionally moved them for better visual effect, but they were quite the mobile bunch, and few stayed where he wanted them to remain.

He had just moved one to his head when he saw the shadows of their visitors moving in the hall outside. He hissed, and Alys stood up straight once more. It was time.

A group of horses and a group of bulls walked forward, each of them staring off with the other. They kept their eyes upon one another until they realized where they had come. Then, and only then, did they bother looking at the floor, negotiating their path among the various slithering serpents.

Naked lion and well-dressed dragon bowed before the representatives, poorly dressed as the newcomers were. They were still honored guests. Alys spoke.

"Be welcome among the garden of serpents, my friends. Allow me to bid thee welcome in the name of the Emperor, and in the name of the spirits of wind and light, who watched your travels."

"Bah," the lead horse grunted.

"Hmmph," likewise the lead bull.

The hybrid narrowed her eyes, but continued, to her credit.

"We are happy to have you before the Emperor, and to give his words to you. What do you wish to say to our great lord?" she asked.

"We have nothing to say to advisors," the bull said, harrumphing again. "We are here for what we were promised. Weapons, gold. We wish to hear from the Emperor that they are ready."

"And we wish to hear who he favors more in this war," the horse said.

"Who he favors? Why should that matter? His favor falls down like the rains, and we are all happy to receive but a portion of it," the hybrid said.

"Yes, but the rains, like his weapons, might favor others in the future," the bull said, looking out the corner of his eye at the horse. "And there might be...securities...to be obtained between now and then, so that we aren't at a loss."

"Indeed. We would like to know who our friends are...and our enemies," the horse said, as suspicious as the bull.

Fyacin should have known. The lowlands to the east and west had always been suspicious of each other. Suspicious of all the world, to be fair, but particularly of one another. The west believed that the east stole all that the world had to offer their people, and then wasted it, and the east believed likewise. They did not see that so much was taken by the north and the south that the other two withered away on what was left, goaded to believe that everything that they lost was wasted by the other, most poor of nations.

It was the game that the kingdoms of the north and south had played for ages, ensuring that the middle lands remained as a buffer zone between them as they gathered their forces, ensuring that neither one could move on the other without wasting much just to get to the other side of the lowlands.

Now, however, the game had shifted.

Fyacin bowed his head to the bull and the horse, and the delegations turned to face him. They narrowed their eyes at his undressed state, but he refused to allow that to shake or startle him. Truly, he was starting to become accustomed to it.

"I see that you believe that our great lord would abandon you, merely for the sake of uplifting your neighbor. Do you really think that our lord is so capricious?" he asked.

"He has never given us aid in the past," the bull said.

"And now, war is coming to his doorstep. Why should we not be afraid that he will sacrifice one of us to save his skin in the future?"

"Why should you be so certain that he will, when he could easily buy off the forces that rise against him?" Fyacin asked.

"...He is so rich?" the horse asked.

No, the Emperor was not, but the legend that was the Empire of Dol-Ma was. The lion banked on that, and pushed it, nodding his head.

"The Emperor could end this war, right here, right now, but to do so would be to drain the treasury. To allay the powers of the north and south, he would leave nothing to himself. But to uplift the two of you, to give you the chance that you have long been bereft of, is something that would be a far better use to him."

"Hmmph. He knows the true soldiers when he sees them," the bull said.

"No, he sees only the incompetents, and blesses you with sympathy. Whereas we -"

"You think you are the superior land? You must be joking."

"We have the fields and the power of hard hooves."

"And we have the power of hard work, and great labor."

"And we have soldiers fleet of foot."

"And we have the great fields and food for the soldiers you could field."

The lion could see that the rivalry had grown, and grown, and grown, and now, it was coming out at the worst possible time. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Alys, and the hybrid walked to the throne, as if she had been summoned. He raised his hands, and the snakes hissed at the ends of his arms. The bulls and horses fell silent.

"Be still. The Emperor speaks."

"Then let him speak to us," the bull said."

"He will not speak. He speaks only to those that are his counselors, and his concubines," the lion said. "Now, be silent, and we will tell you what he has to say."

It was their only chance. If Alys could present this properly, then they would at least slow down this rebellion that was gradually building between their only allies. Fyacin was glad of the oils that painted his face, now. They were sufficient to hold back the sweat that ran down his forehead and the back of his neck, keeping him from showing his nerves and anxieties.

Alys knelt by the throne, nodding from time to time, but she did not speak. He wondered if that would be sufficient; would it not be better for her to pretend? No, it might not be something that she could keep straight. Her skills were more in her communication with the unknown, not with her conspiracies of lies.

Eventually, she stood again, and she turned to face the hooved delegations. She held out her arms.

"My lord, the great Emperor of Dol-Ma, pledges his friendship with the people of the lowlands. He pledges that he will stand beside them until the end of the war and beyond, and from there, build an alliance with them, so that this will never come about again.

"The promises of his weapons he shall deliver, as they are created. A hundred spears and a hundred swords are waiting, fifty for each of you. They will be delivered before the day is out, and you will be welcome until such time that the rest of your weapons are made."

That was as good as they could hope for, though when the arctic fox found out that they had gone behind his back to make this deal, he hoped that it wouldn't come back and bite them in the ass. It was a very difficult maneuver that they were trying, and he could only hope that it was the right one.

The bulls and the horses eyed each other up, obviously wondering if one was getting a better deal than the other. However, they nodded, then began the process of withdrawing. Alys and Fyacin stood in state until they were gone, and only when the servants closed the doors did they slump forward.

"I can't believe that worked," the naked lion muttered.

"You? I have never lied like that in my life."

"You lie all the time."

"I beg your pardon, but I am the most truthful of the counselors."

"Yeah, that's not saying a lot."

"True, but low standards do not beget a lack of them."

He chuckled, shaking his head as he slowly removed the snakes from his arms and his back. They were not particularly pleased to lose their heat source, but they went without fighting, and without biting, more importantly.

As Fyacin found the half-hidden stones on which one could walk through the garden, he joined Alys on the way to the hidden exit on the right-hand wall. The various serpents kept trying to slither up their legs, craving the warmth that they offered, but it was easy enough to move them aside.

"He is not going to be pleased that it got to this point," she said.

"I know."

"And he's going to blame you."

"I know."

"And he's going to be right."

"I - wait, you went along with this!"

"Yes, but it was your idea."

"Because you weren't coming up with anything!"

"Because you left us all senseless."

"No, because -"

They both stopped, hearing the self-satisfied humming coming down the corridor. The two of them looked each other in the eye, remembering early that morning when the whole plan had been shot to hell by Kisari taking the Emperor into her arms for one more late-morning rut, and how they had had to improvise around that.

That was who to blame.

That was who needed punishment.

"I'll get the ropes," Alys said.

"I'll get the flogger."

"The flowers."

"The potions."

"The artist."

"Oh, yes, we must commemorate this," Fyacin muttered.

They were soon gone, moving through the hidden passages to get their various toys. For all their own arguments, they were not, repeat, not, going to allow the third of their party to get off consequence free from this nightmare.

The End

Summary: Another game of trying to keep everything working, with Fyacin and Alys having to work together to make it happen.

Tags: no sex, nudity, M/solo, snakes, lion, hybrid, horse, bull, politics, negotiations, fabrications, fantasy, mysticism, series, patreon,