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With the Old Hump hard at work with the spies that they had spread throughout the capital, it didn't take long to find the real story that had brought the Flying Serpents to the Empire. The story was, as ever, something that gave him the advantage. In all honesty, he was beginning to wonder if fate smiled on him over the others in his life.

The Forest of Flying Serpents was on the verge of collapse, not out of a loss of manpower, but out of a loss of hope. They had always been able to keep the armies of the Sizwe at bay before, but it had come at a cost of the fighting serpents that they were able to field. They were able to hold out, though, maintain their pride...but then they had seen the fall of the Empire's imperial line. They had seen through the lies that Lorenus had put out to the rest of the world, a fact not lost on him, and had realized something.

They were not going to win.

And so, they want to sue for peace before I conquer them,_the naga Emperor thought as the Old Hump fed him the information, though in much greater, long-winded form. _They want favorable terms...

And the chance to spread further from the Forest, he imagined. The fact that it bordered the Lands of the Untamed meant that they were in constant danger from both sides, which was something that he would be sure to bring up. He could certainly offer them some relief in the form of Sizwe troops stationed there, but only in exchange for something from them. Something that would likely be keyed to more of their people in his army...and some of their connections to the other border lands around him.

And some breeding rights, of course. He had rather enjoyed Ni'Shalin under him, and he would like to have some fun with their leader, Ak'Talan, as well. Perhaps with one or the other watching as they realized the superiority of nagas to their own reptilian species.

He was smiling at the thought when the Old Hump cleared his throat. The naga sighed.

"I am lisssstening."

"You are thinking of your ruts again, Master."

"And if I am?"

"You would do best to hide that."

"Why? I am Emperor now. There issss little need for me to hide anything."

"Yes, but it does your focus no good."

"My focusssss issss fine."

"Is it, Master?"

"It issss." The naga narrowed his eyes. "Do not presssume to lecture me on thissss again."

"...As you say, Master."

"Continue."

As the Old Hump did just that, the camel going through the other subtleties of the political situation, Lorenus regretted having to come down as hard on his old advisor as he did. But the situation was well in hand. There was no worry about a lack of focus. Nothing was wrong with him, and nothing was wrong with his ability to get what he wanted.

After all, they were nearly his to begin with. They were not strong-willed enough to avoid the power of his mind, and he had his leverage over the breeding female already. The others would fall in line soon enough, and that would be that. They had the authority to treat with him, clearly, and that meant that they had the power to make a binding agreement that would pull at least a majority of their people into his Empire.

He could just hypnotize them into it. He had the power, he had the capability, but he wanted this to be sure. He wanted this to be something that would last, that they would never question, and that meant taking it just a bit slower. His father...

Father would just take it...

But his father had the manpower to back that up, as well as an entire nation of slaves to throw at the problem if it came to war. There was no such back-up for him there. With Thulani already released, he knew better than to think that there was no chance for war to come to him. The various tribes that lived north of the Empire were not entirely tamed, and while they were mostly warring among themselves, if they smelled weakness...

His father had sent him here to get him out of the way, to punish him. It wasn't until he became Emperor that he realized the second trap. Taking over the country hadn't given him a way home. It had merely revealed the cell that he had walked into. Having the country meant nothing if he didn't have a way to focus its military, if he didn't have routes to the north that would give him access to the Snake Lands.

But I can make that happen...I am that good...

"Ssssend an invitation to Ak'Talan," he said, interrupting the Old Hump.

"Master?"

"Tell him to meet me here."

"Right now, Master?"

"Yessss. Elsssse I would have sssaid."

"May I ask what for?"

"You may not."

"..."

"Heh...trussst me, Old Hump...I have planssss."

#

The warrior came as he was called, bowing at the far end of the throne room. He clearly looked flustered, and Lorenus wondered if he had been in the middle of a breeding session with the female. Surely, that would have resulted in an embarrassing interruption...and would have explained the bulge in the other male's loincloth.

"You called for me?" the warrior asked.

"Yessss. Come closssser."

"...Hmmph."

The warrior walked across the throne room, though his eyes were always cocked in a direction just off from the naga's face. He clearly didn't want to be caught, had the awareness that there was a potential trap to the meeting. Lorenus chuckled, hissing through his fangs. He had no intentions of the sort, of course. Not this time.

Instead, he waited until the two-legged serpent was within reach, and offered his tail. The warrior took it, pulling himself along it like a rope until he stood at the side of the throne. They both looked out at the empty throne room, and the naga gradually shook his head.

"How doessss it feel?"

"Hmm?"

"How doesss it feel to be up here? To ssssee the room the way I ssssee it?"

"...Not that different."

"No. It'ssss not."

"What did you want?"

"I want you..." He let that linger for a moment, just long enough for the warrior to sweat a little bit. "I want you to undersssstand ssssomething. I took thissss throne, and I will keep it...but I will not be like the otherssss. I will not be like the Ssssizwe, that ssssee no value in thosssse under them."

"Hmmph. I haven't seen you freeing slaves."

"Sssslavessss are not nothing. Ssslavessss are valuable, in their own way. My people learned thissss long ago, and I am teaching the people here that very lesssson."

"Will you ever free them?"

"Perhapssss, if they earn it."

"..."

"They will earn it. Either in battle, in learning, or many other wayssss, but they musssst earn it."

That was the rule that he had established. There would always be a slave class among the Empire, but that was better than the order that the Sizwe rulership had established before. There was no eternal slavery that a person could never buy their way free of. There was no generational slavery that one was stuck in forever. Sure, there was the fact that one's family line would eventually drift back down, but that was something that could always be earned out of again within a generation.

To have a certain prosperity at the top, there had to be those that were giving up the otherwise finite resources and luxury. It was the simple mathematics of the situation. And if one was willing to see that as worth it, then it was entirely possible to make it happen.

He glanced at the warrior. Ak'Talan was clearly thinking it over, probably seeing if there was some poison barb in what the naga was offering him. Not yet, there wasn't. But there would be, soon.

"You want to join ussss, if only for the ssssake of sssafety, and becaussse you don't want to losssse the next war."

"...We admitted that much."

"What you didn't ssssay wassss how afraid you were...and how much you want to win the war against the Untamed..."

That stiffened the Flying Serpent quite well, the warrior standing straighter, almost ramrod straight at the naga's side. Lorenus chuckled.

"Your friend would do better to sssstay silent."

And your breeder has a mouth that does more than pleasure a cock...

Once more, Lorenus allowed the silence between them to stretch on. He'd planted shock, planted fear, and now, it was time to allow that fear to try and blossom -

"Of coursssse, we can help with that."

And then cut it off with a little poison of hope. He smiled as he turned his attention more fully to the long-tailed Flying Serpent, chuckling as the warrior tried to maintain a composure that was becoming ever more fleeting.

"My warriorsss can ssstand on your border, give your people a ressspite."

"...And in return?"

"You...give me accesssss to the riverssss north, and work with me for the sssake of the Empire againsssst the ssssix tribessss."

He knew that he had promised Thulani that the monkeys and the other primates would be given the chance to have peace. And they would, of course. They would see peace beneath the reign of the Empire, and more importantly, they would be given the chance to have that without being conquered. The trap behind Thulani's eyes would be more than sufficient to take care of that, he was sure, and even if it wasn't, it would spread far enough that resistance would be meager compared to what it would have otherwise been.

And with the aid of the Flying Serpents, with fast messengers, with their rivers that ran up to the borders, that would ensure that his flanks stayed secure, and more to the point, that they would be grateful enough to him to allow him to do what he wanted.

Ak'Talan still looked at him with a vaguely pained expression, looking as if he was sure that there was something off about the offer. There was, of course, as Lorenus had every intention of completely swallowing up their population into the Empire eventually, but there would be time for that. Time enough that they would accept it the way that a frog placed in a slow-boil did. Bit by bit, they would come to accept their fate.

Finally, Ak'Talan nodded.

"I believe we can...accept this bargain."

"Good." Lorenus chuckled, slowly uncoiling himself from his throne. "Then let ussss ssseal that in the way of my people."

"...And how is that?"

"In sssssex, of coursssse."

The warrior's eyes went wide, only for Lorenus to laugh. He shook his head, patting the other male on the shoulder.

"I'm joking with you. There issss no need for that." Yet."But for now, go and tell your people. We will meet privately to write up the termssss of alliance, and then, we will ssssign the deal."

During the negotiations, of course, he'd have them all to himself, and he could do as he liked with them. Their guard would be down, their hopes high. Certainly some anxieties high, as well, but with the aid of their breeder - and Ni'Shalin was broken enough that she would be more than willing to come to his aid - he doubted that there would be any issues. She would be more than willing to show them how to serve their new master...and then they would be more than willing once he got into their heads.

He was already thinking of how they would look prostate before him, and his shafts started stirring in his coils. The naga twisted himself around, clearing his throat as he realized that he was on the verge of showing them unintentionally.

"I believe that issss all we need to disssscusss..."

"...Yes, I think it is. Thank you for this...offer, Your Majesty."

The warrior bowed his head, and then beat a hasty retreat. As soon as he had left the throne room, Lorenus looked down at his cocks, then slowly shook his head in annoyance at himself.

Perhaps the Old Hump was right. Perhaps some of his thoughts were turning towards his lusty needs a little more often than they should. Not exactly impossible to solve at the moment, but certainly starting to get out of hand.

I will have to tend to these...

And before his other servants returned from their trips to the northern tribes. If he was still this focused on himself, this needy...

Well, then the negotiations could be flipped, couldn't they? And he would not have that. Potential slaves should not have the advantage on their potential master.

The End