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Malion read the inscriptions on the teleportation rune and pointed to Arthur, within a few miliseconds after he uttered the words, a flash of blue flame engulfed Arthur, who had neither the time nor the reflexes to scream, then, just as the flame consumed him, it disappeared along with him.

"I only hope you arrive to save as many as you can." Malion whispered to himself, as he started going back to the human encampment.

The king used up the time the dragon has been absent to talk with his closest advisors, most of them agreed that Detomia would be much more powerful with a dragon backing it up and especially with two dragons and a giant, his family (sons) also agreed.

"My king, the magi have never seen such powerful spells such as these, in fact we didn't believe they even existed, fireballs were a thing of legend up till now!" Arcanius exclaimed. Malion received a better reaction than he and Lillian hoped, as soon as he started talking he was bombarded with questions, as soon as he realized the humans had mages he conjured a "apprentice book of magic" and gave it to Arcanius, he realized that he was giving them power and that could be dangerous, but hey, he would cross that bridge if it comes to that, right now he had a war to win.

"Well master magi, then I must inform you that you don't have any sort of developed magic, if you are one of the top mages in this country." Malion said as he returned to the meeting, his sentence caused quite a few laughs and a lot of embarrassment to the now red faced mage.

"Still, I see great power in you, you have promise to become the savior to many, or the destroyer to even more, depending on your choices and circumstances." Malion encouraged him and it worked, Arcanius spirit was filled with pride 'I was praised by a dragon! How is laughing now!' he thought to himself.

"Well, master Malion, will you please go into more detail about this whole ordeal? I mean, explain to us what we are facing here and what our tactics are." The king pleaded.

Now the meeting went on for the good part of the day and it was only at the end, when the king asked what had happened to his bastard child, when Malion told him, the king was annoyed, but was wise and he knew there was nothing he could do about it 'That boy loves his men way too much.' he thought to himself. If I was to tell you the entire meeting, it would take me an entire day and night, so I'll just be short and tell you that many a thing was accomplished that day and agreed, new friendships made and new plans arranged. From time to time I'll bring up some of the things that were said and done that day, but suffice it to say it was a very important day.

The end of the meeting was marked when the Malionian army came, it was ill equipped, ill trained and even if they had 2000 men, they looked like Mazzirogs bandits could slay them all and not break a sweat.

Their general Nazim was rude, he was obviously one of those people who was polite when in public to get a good reputation, but was rotten on the inside, he was shouting a lot and it seemed that even Mazzirog had a better attitude than him. Hell, he was even rude to the king, you don't just do that.

"AND WHAT GUARANTY DO I HAVE THAT THESE CULTISTS EXIST!?" He asked, his face drawn out and his teeth rotten, 'he almost looks like the creature in the cage' Valonfar commented.

"ALSO, WHAT PROOF DO YOU HAVE OF A DRAGON AIDING YOU?! DID I JUST COME HERE TO BE THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WORLD!!??" He tried to continue, but was cut short by a powerful voice.

"What about my word? Is my word enough, to prove that a dragon is aiding this cause?" Malion asked, standing in front of the general who's mouth nearly fell off.

"M..m..mmuhum." He tried, his knees were shaking and his posture gave away fear. His soldiers were more brave than him and stood their ground, Malonia was more accustomed to not-humans as they were a (failed) maritime trade nation.

"And as for what you came here to do, you came here to fight this!" The dragon uncovered the sheaths and THEN the real fear sat in, this time even the soldiers beaconed, some even screamed, as for the poor general, lets just say that he was lucky he was wearing brown-yellow pants as he quite literally pissed himself, luckily for him, he had little to let out.

The creature spat out its black gooey spit, which hit a poor bug, the poor bug instantly transformed and twisted, until it became a corrupted shadow of its former self, it smelled a lot like a rooting corpse and it behaved in a strange way.

Malion picked the poor bug up with his claw and showed it to the Malionian soldiers.

"This will be what you fight. This will most likely be the first and last fight for most of you, for even though we have them outnumbered, each time they corrupt one of you they will gain a soldier and I assure you that many will fall. Fear not of death fear becoming one of them, for it is a fate far worse than dying, fear losing, for if you do, it will spread across the land and this isle will be lost in less than a year." He said sadly.

"Siii-r dr-agon, I f-f-fear not d-death, but I p-prefer living, is there a-any chance we might survive this." A soldier asked, gathering up his courage.

"Well son, one thing is known about this blight, the more courage you have, the harder it gets you, it's said that some hero's with courage alone beat it, for when the battle is over it is not done, the corruption is still in you, YOU need to beat it!" Malion said and made a slight pause where he smiled. "So don't ask me if you can survive, ask yourself if you are strong enough to survive." He finished.

"And oh mighty dragon, what is this we fight called?" Another soldier asked.

"It's called... ŠTIIIIIH!" Malion hissed as he said that and fear crept in everyones bones. "We must CRUSH IT where it stands!" Malion crushed the bug in his claws which screamed something that sounded like a 'thank you from releasing me from my misery'.

Seeing that his superior was incapable of acting, one officer stepped forward. "Sir, the army of Malionia is at your disposal." He exclaimed, the soldiers nodded in approvement.

"Good." Malion replied and turned around. "Now, if you will excuse me, this day has been tiring, I'll retreat to my cave, expect me here in the morning." He winked at Lillian before he took off, causing her to blush.

'I hope that half giant saves them, I wouldn't want that fate to my worst enemy.' He thought to himself.

Now, when the dragon left, the real talk started to flow, in short, there was WAY more commotion at the table than it was before.

"AND WHAT ASSURANCE DO WE HAVE THAT YOU WILL NOT USE THIS DRAGON ON US!?!?" The Malionian general shouted.

"OH FOR GUTTERSHAJTS SAKE!" The officer who spoke to Malion shouted. "Sir, with all due respect, maybe I should handle the talking here!" With that, the general went silent.

"My king, may I ask that we be allowed to inform ourselves more on magic by making friends with the dragon?" Arcanius the magi representative asked.

"What do we do with the dragon after the war?" One officer asked from the back.

"Where is Arthur?" Captain Valorfar asked.

"OH TO HELL WITH ALL OF THIS!" Mazzirog said and left.

The commotion started and everyone was yelling at each other, the king was rubbing his forehead. He leaned in and whispered to Lillian. "Go take care of Mazzirog, I'll do the work here." He said that and then turned his attention to the crowd in front of him, trying to calm them down desperately.

Lillian instantly left to search for the bandit lord, she soon found him in his encampment.

"Sir, when are we to establish our new base and be free once more?" One man asked Mazzirog, Lillian hid behind a tent and listened closely.

"Yea, we are not going into chains once this is over!" Another man said, the two men must have come to express Mazzirog the desire of his men.

"Relax boys, we just only need to improvise, first we need to win this and unfortunately some and even most of us won't survive. Then we have to wait for our opportunity too..." he started, but Lillian interrupted him as she stepped out in the open.

"To do what? Betray us? You don't need to do that." She said casually.

"Ha and go back into chains after we risk our own life? No way!" One of the men said.

"Well, I happen to be a princess, I can persuade my father to pardon the men who fight in this battle, no matter how severe their crimes may be." She said. "Think about it Mazzirog, if you keep your men under control, I'll grant you a legitimate title and ownership of the town you and your bandits created, I will also allow you to be mercenaries and members of the army. In return, all I ask is that you remain loyal to the king, pay taxes, control your men and generally do well with the affairs of your town, be they economic, political or any other type." She offered.

Mazzirog ran his armored hand thru his thick black beard, his face being brown (it wasn't his natural tan, but being raised next to the underground furnaces the orcs had his white complexity changed to that of a brown-ish one).

"A generous offer princess, I'll consider it." He said.

"Again, what guaranty do we have she isn't lying?" One of the men said.

"And what proof do I have, that you will keep your word?" She responded.

"None! That's the point, words mean nothing and even actions, everyone acts as they intend, but no one knows their intentions." He barked.

"I quite agree, humans are no better than animals, but doesn't it get tiresome to always look behind your back? Doesn't it make no sense, if we practiced that we would all be living alone and no civilization would exist? Sometimes truth doesn't satisfy the needs, I'm the first to say lying is bad, but does truth have a meaning if lying doesn't exist?" She asked.

Mazzirog waved his hand dismissingly, he did not like the philosophical debate in front of him. "I can't speak on that, it's too complicated, most warriors have their own code of honor and even the people who say honor doesn't make sense, have something they are guided by! I don't want to break my head over who believes what or what is right, I don't say that makes no sense, but I'm just not that kind of man. I always was skeptical and untrusting, but I have a gut feeling you are telling the truth, don't let me down!" He said, his head already hurting from over thinking, he was a warrior, not a scholar for god's sake.

"Good, I'm glad we can behave like sane beings." She said.

"To be completely honest, I don't know better. I was raised by orcs from little to fight, I had neither the time nor the privilege to think of my existence, nor did I want to. My life was one battle after the next, my 'ultimate' goal was to escape, which I did, now I don't have a purpose, so I made one for myself. At the time it was too loot and pillage, but then I saw that it made no sense to do it, when I don't have a use for gold. I don't buy expensive... stuff nor do I need too. My current goal is to find my men a home and if you can secure me that, then I'll be more than happy to scratch your back." He said, lifting his mace to his shoulder.

The two men rolled their eyes, they weren't philosophers either, they were simple men who were not bored with Mazzirogs speech, but were unmoved by it. Mazzirog turned to go somewhere, but Lillian told him.

"How very noble of you." She complimented him.

He stood still for a few seconds and then responded.

"I don't know the meaning of the word." He started going again.

"Yet you have a choice and you made one." She crossed her arms.

He stood again and flinched, then he turned.

"I'M NO HERO, ALRIGHT!" He yelled.

"Yet you behave like one, what you do defines you. You have a choice Mazzirog, remember it." The better educated princess outsmarted him, she then turned and left.

Mazzirog stood there frozen, 'I have a lot of thinking to do' he thought as he turned.

"Where are you going boss?" One of his men asked.

"SOMEWHERE!" He barked, not looking back.

________________________________________

"YOU OFFERED WHAT?" The king shouted.

"Think about it, we get to populate that part of the kingdom and get a boost in every way, military, economics..." The princess tried to explain herself.

"I'M MORE CONCERED WITH THE FACT...." The king realized that he was in public and lowered his voice. "...with the fact, that he can stab us in the back at any moment!"

"I assure you my king..." Lillian continued persuading her father, while she was observed by Valorfar the younger.

"You come to die cousin?" He felt a hand grab his shoulder and it was not a light hand, but a hand cladded in golden plate armor.

"Leave me alone Mrgud! I know what I want and you know it yourself, I'm old enough now!" Bistri told his cousin who was 7 years older than him.

Valorfar the older simply HATED when someone called him by his name (maybe it had something to do with the fact that his name meant "frown") so on his behest I'll call him valorfar the older or simply Valorfar.

"Bistri you're barely of age!" He implored.

"You were younger than me, when you left to join the army!" Bistri tried not to yell at his older cousin.

Truth be told, the two men looked very similar, they had about 80% of the same appearance. The main difference was their hair and their age. Bistri had long tar black curly hair and no facial hair whatsoever, while Mrgud had military style short black hair with some rigid short beard, which was pointy and even shorter than his hair and scars. Mrgud also had a slightly narrower and extended face, but it was hard to notice, compared to his cousin. Everything else about the two men was the same, hell even their teeth were the same, nose, eyebrows, EVERYTHING. Later on, Bistri's eyes would become black (since both men had blue eyes), but I'll tell that story when I come to that.

"Trust me when I say you don't want military life!" Mrgud insisted.

"I WANT TO HELP MY PEOPLE!" Bistri responded, he was usually a calm man, but when it came to this subject he was easy to anger.

"NO! You want to be the hero out of your egocentric desire! Imagine a world where no hero's are needed, I bet my ass you would be bored to death!" Valorfar insisted.

Bistri felt shame, he KNEW that Mrgud was right, but he didn't want to admit it, instead he changed the course of the conversation.

"I want to do my duty!" He demanded.

"By dying?" Valorfar mocked.

"YES, IF IT NEEDS TO BE!" Bistri shouted, dawning some attention.

"Oh no brother, that is not the hard part! The hard part is the killing, you think you can live with that?" Mrgud tried his best.

"Really? If it was human and sane then yes, but If I am to kill that!" Bistri pointed to the cage. "Then I'm more than happy to do it!" He responded, trying his best not to yell.

Mrgud realized his mistake, but pressed onward. "Oh really, well tell me then 'knight' you fear not the pain, you fear not, loosing your LIMBS which don't grow back and living the rest of your life in a shithole waiting to die? Do you fear not, becoming your enemy? Do you fear not, do you think not about becoming that!" Mrgud pointed to the cage.

Bistri felt proud when his cousin called him a knight even in mockery, since childhood he was his role model and they had many debates such as this one.

"No I am not!" He responded with determination, the younger Valorfar had a more romantic view of knights and warriors, while the older one was more realistic.

Bistri then explained to Mrgud his knightly duties and principals (I found a video, don Quixote= Bistri explaining to Mrgud why he must do what he must do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYB92jGPnlg).

On the other end of the camp, 4 young men snuck away from the boring life of politics.

Luca, Fabio, Ravilon and Lorevale entered their own tent.

"I can't believe that we met a dragon! I wish we could ask him all about dragons and their culture!" Luca said.

"Yes well, when I'm king I'll open the borders to as many dragons as possible." Lorevale said boasting.

"Better yet, why don't you marry a dragoness? You will be the first Detomian monarch to do that!" Fabio teased him, not knowing how true his words will prove to be!

Lorevale blushed. "I might as well do that! Get some scaly ASS in my bed! King Lorevale ?asni Ponosni and his dragoness queen!" He blushed at his own words. "We would make quite an example of... Detomian hospitality and openness." Everyone laughed at this.

"So brother, how goes your grooming for the crown?" Ravilon asked him, while pouring wine to his royal silver cup, being the only one with the beard (which often smelled of alcohol, not because he was a alcoholic, but rather for the fact he didn't wash it). He was the only one with a mixed hair color, at some places it was nearly blond, at others it was brown and it also had a few shades of black in it.

"Rather well, I wonder what those old kings saw in it however." The heir said, offering his cup to be filled, he had the closest resemblance to Arthur, even if they had different mothers, which suggested that someone of the kings ancestors was also black haired.

"What do you mean?" Ravilon rose his eyebrows as he was filling his cup and then turned to Fabio and Luca, to fill theirs as well.

"Well, the kings of old killed their family to secure their throne and while I agree that the power is tempting, I must wonder if it is worth it? Sure, it is nice to have no one question you and the people and the country can progress faster without division in the government, that is... provided that the ruler is at least semi sane." They laughed at this. "But... it soon becomes boring... I mean, everyone wants what they don't or can't have, but once they get it, at first they can't get enough of it, always consuming..." He took a sip of the royal wine. "...but soon after you see that your goal was reachable and it becomes..." He rose his arms in the air, holding the cup. "POOF! Boring!" He laughed at his own joke.

"Quite the thinker, dearest brother." Ravilon took a sip himself. "Are you sure, that you hadn't drank some of this wine before we came here, for you are already talking drunk." To this they all laughed.

"BUT IT'S TRUE!" Lorevale protested thru his laughter. "Don't tell me, that you would want to be in fathers place right now, he has absolute power, but has to deal with... that, everyday." He referred to the commotion outside. "And seriously, why kill those who threaten you, when you can use them?" He asked, drinking the rest of the wine out of his cup, before he rose his heavy black leather boots on the table.

"Mother would slap you if she was here!" Fabio commented jokingly. "But on the subject, you yourself no one can lead the nation divided."

"Yes, but if we look at it literally, then father should execute all of his advisors and ministers and even us! My point is, one man SHOULD and COULD have absolute power, but it is impossible for him, to run the country, no matter how small, alone. Imagine, if father had to do everything by himself, if there were no dignitaries, he would have to travel by himself to foreign lands, if there were no generals, he would have to lead all armies himself, if there were no judges, he would have to judge every court himself." Lorevale said and then drank another cup, feeling his throat go dry after that speech.

Ravilon made a mocking applause. "You are one hell of a politician brother, in so many words, you said everything and nothing!" Everyone laughed at this.

"I suppose you're right." Lorevale said, as he poured another cup.

"You shouldn't drink that much, we have a battle to do tomorrow!" Luca commented.

"Relax I'll go to sleep after this one, I won't drink more, for I don't want to wake up with a hangover, but also, I don't want to think about the fact that I might lose my life tomorrow." Lorevale commented as he drank the last cup. "I'm done, it's bad enough that father made me drag my armor all the way here!"

"Serves you right, all the other soldiers were already fully cladded (dressed) in armor, you're a prince, but that is no exception." Fabio commented.

"Yeah yeah, whatever!" Lorevale said as he stood up. "Well that's it, damn all this to hell, you included, I'm going down." Lorevale said, as he in his semi drunk state made strange arm gestures, he turned around and in a few steps, he let himself fall down on the makeshift bed straight on his back. It was a rather comical situation, he put his arm over his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

Ravilon took another cup (being able to drink more than his older brother) while Fabio and Luca were still on their first cups.

"Lore (nickname which his family used) Lore are you still with us?" Fabio asked.

"Yes your royal ass-ness, I am." The heir responded, not moving from his position.

"Tell me, I'm curious, what type of dragoness do you prefer." Fabio asked with a grin.

Ravilon spat his entire wine out of his mouth, as he bursted to laugher, small drips going to his beard, he nearly choked. This caused a lot of laughter from the two men sitting next to him.

"Me? I'd like beasty dragonesses, beastyyyyy." Lorevale grinned as he imagined it.

"Oh, knowing your fascination with military, you would most likely want her to be a warrior, wouldn't you?" Luca added.

This made Lorevales grin even bigger.

"Imagine it, a huge dragoness, battle hardened wrapping her body against your own, I wonder how she would fit in the throne room?" Fabio added.

Lorevales smile turned to a huge smile. "Stop it, you're making my manhood bigger and bigger."

All four men laughed and soon afterward fell to sleep.

________________________________________ "Ugh fine, dress in your armor and come to the training grounds with me!" Valorfar said to his younger cousin.

Bistri looked at him with disbelief.

"Well, come on, I see that there is no way I can persuade you to give up on this mad quest of yours, ready your men and come to the training grounds, if you are going to die in this battle, I hope to at least make sure you take a few whoresons down with you." Valorfar grumbled.

"Y-yes sir, thank you sire." Bistri stumbled out, too surprised to say anything else, he hurried off to rally his men, some 500 peasants (remember this is a country where nobility is highly respected and those of the house of Valorfar were nobles, albeit minor ones).

Soon after that, with the sun still setting, Valorfar brought his own 20 most experienced men, to help him train the rabble.

Valorfar shouted. "ALRIGHT, we have only until nightfall to train you, tomorrow is the battle and most of you will die without proper equipment and training, so lets get this over with, on the cart next to me are the weapons and armor you will be wearing. Please take what you think best suits you, if you were a hunter take a bow or a crossbow, if you were a thief or a criminal take a dagger, if you think you have the strength take a two handed sword, axe, mace or a spear. Same goes for armor, if you prefer movability and agility take heavy leather or chain mail, if you think you have the guts to be a front like soldier take heavy plate and under that, chain mail and preferably a shield." He shouted orders, as the peasants already started cramping up at the cart where the equipment was.

Bistri started going there, but Valorfar put a hand in front of him. "Not you." He said and he lead him to a old chest inside the tent

"I think you will find this to your liking." He said as he opened it, Bistri ran over its content, it was an old chain mail/full plate armor with a huge shield and a sword. Despite its oldness, it was in prime condition, fully decorated and ready for use.

"My old suit of armor." Valorfar said pointing to the crest in the middle of the chest plate, it was a man fighting countless enemies, hopelessly outnumbered while holding a banner up high, defending it, the house crest of the house of Valorfar.

Bistris eyes widened and he looked to his cousin.

"Don't look at me like that, if you die, please try not to damage it too much and blood soak it!" Valorfar tried to hide his excitement, this was serious business after all.

Unfortunately, it took a better part of an hour for the men to help each other into the armor they chose, it usually took a man a few hours to done the heavy plate himself, luckily they had assistance.

"LISTEN UP PEOPLE! The sun is setting and you each must go to your weapons trainer, look at what your trainer has for a weapon, find the trainer with your matching weapon, bows go to the bow trainer and so forth!" Valorfar shouted to the rubble and once again put his arm on the shoulder of Bistri. "Once again, not you." He then took him some space away.

"Now what's the first thing to do when you're in combat." Valorfar asked.

"Assume a stance!" Bistri tried his best to impress.

"Good, why aren't you in one?" Bistri immediately stood into one of the stances Valorfar taught him when he was younger.

"Now, if I thrust my sword upon you, then what will you do?" Valorfar the older asked.

"Either block, parry, or dodge, then counterattack!" Bistri commented.

"Good! Remember, counterattack is everything!" Valorfar said and swung his sword at Bistri, Bistri blocked with his own sword and pinned Valorfar's sword to his shield.

"Good, you neutralized my sword and shield, but you can't attack with your sword, now what do you do?" The master asked.

On this question, however, the pupil didn't know the answer. "I don't know." He said with shame

"YOU HIT ME WITH YOUR SHIELD!" Valorfar yelled, trying to hide his pride, for he was proud that the young one has remembered so much. "You hit me with your shield, I stagger and you run me thru and then move on to the next opponent that is it! War is not a one on one battle you eliminate your opponent, one way or the other and move on to the next one!" He preached.

Some time later, the sun nearly sat down on the ground and the training was nearly over.

"Remember what you learned here today, for it will most likely save your life tomorrow. Now, for the last part of training, we will train formations, Bistri!" Valorfar said.

"Men, shield wall formation!" Bistri yelled as the man next to him pointed to a sketch, shield bearers up front spears and pikes second row, heavy weapons in the middle, daggers and light infantry on the sides and bows and arrows in the back.

it took some time, approximate 3 minutes for the men to make it, with constant hurrying of their superiors.

"You need to do it quicker! We will use this formation to advance quickly, it is not a defensive one since flanks are not secured! Square formation!" Bistri yelled again, this time, it was a square with shields up front, pikes and spears second, heavy and light weapons next and bows and crossbows in the middle.

Again, the men took their time.

"How fast you can make the formation, means difference between life and death! This formation is a hold your ground, combining defense and offense! CIRCLE FORMATION!" Bistri ordered.

Luckily, this formation was similar to the previous one, so it didn't took much time for soldiers to follow the sketch.

"This one is very similar to the previous one and has similar use. TORTUISE FORMATION!" Bistri commanded.

This one was complex, as it required soldiers to literally make a house out of shields, a roof and the walls with pikes and spears sticking out, while all the soldiers were inside. It took them 10 minutes to make a makeshift formation, but at least it looked like something!

"BAD! We need to do this quicker!" Bistri said. "ARCHERS!" At that, 100 archers equipped with blunt arrows stood in line next to him.

"I'll say the formation and you make it, while these archers fire blunt arrows at you, ready, set, go! WALL FORMATION!" Bistri shouted and with that, Archers drew their bows and fired their arrows, now they didn't do much damage, but they hurt like hell! And the men whined at the pain, while they hurried in the formation!

Despite the fact it was already night, the training went on and after a few formations, word from the king came in, he had apparently heard about the training and has ordered Malionian and Mazzirog's forces to be equipped and trained as well, he didn't like this decision, training potential enemies, but he didn't had a choice. Because of this decision and because of the fact that Arthur had to return, he had also post ponded the battle to the noon/afternoon, so his troops could go there fresh, if they went in the morning they wouldn't be rested enough.

Training went long into the night, until everyone went to bet and the silence of the night ruled over the air above the village.