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[b][u][center]A Whole New Party

Part 8

for Engy

by Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

Viola wasn't angry about being fooled. That much, her old instructors had managed to correct her of and train her out of. Someone getting angry at being fooled could be goaded, taken advantage of while they were raging, and that was something that no commanding officer could afford when they were on the battlefield. No, she wasn't angry, but she was annoyed, and that annoyance was coming through a little more physically than usual.

She saw the blood on her sword, and she knew that the dragon could be cut with this blade. There was something hungry about it, something that demanded feeding for the offense that she had suffered. In a way, the blade had almost become something that expressed her anger for her, and she was rather pleased with that. However, she still controlled it, still held it close, even though it wanted to swing and rage the way that Red-Arms did when he had a particularly bad day.

Speaking of Red-Arms, he was still unconscious. Not something that she wanted when they were facing a dragon. One man down...

[i]We can make it work.[/i]

"You have three seconds, dragon."

"I can offer you many things."

"I'm sure. We can also take them off your corpse, now that we know what you are."

"You're just going to kill me? After all the platinum I've paid you?"

"There's a lot of people that would pay for a dragon's corpse, and they'd pay more than you."

The dragon was obviously irritated, and no surprise there. These goodie-goodies always thought that they knew better, that people should play by their rules. Why? Why should someone that had learned how to survive like she had bend to the rules of someone that had obviously known almost nothing bad in life?

[i]You think that you can just tell us how to live?[/i] she thought. [i]Think again.[/i]

"You want to live, dragon, you better start answering questions."

"And why do you want to ask questions when you can just have prizes?" the platinum dragon asked, backing up slowly.

Viola stopped him with a quick stab. She was focused now, and she could feel her body moving with greater ease. There was something to the sword that understood what she wanted and allowed her to strike with greater strength than usual, and with greater speed. The dragon almost stumbled over the blade before he caught himself.

"I want to know what the fuck you're doing...and why. I want to know before you cause even more trouble for me and mine."

"..."

"So, tell me, dragon. What...the hell...is the point of all this?"

"...Do I get to live if I tell you?"

"For a little longer."

"...Fair enough. I mean, I wanted to bargain but - gah!"

She hadn't done much, only touched the blade to the back of his calf, but it still scored his scales enough for him to feel it. She stored that bit of information away, making sure that she would remember just how easy it was to cut there. If she had to fight...

She didn't want to fight. Not if she didn't have to. The dragon was still dangerous, and she knew better than to believe that it would be so easy as just cutting him apart. He would have a fight ahead of him, but so would they.

"Stop with the bullshit. What were you doing?"

"...I was trying to find underlings," the dragon admitted.

"...Underlings?"

"Subordinates. Not minions - that comes later - but, um, we call them Claimed. People and species that we pick and keep with us to get jobs done."

Of the various things that the dragon could have said, that was perhaps the one that she had expected least of all. She knew that he could be lying to her, but that was something that anyone could be doing. She glanced over her shoulder at Olfel, and the dwarf nodded. The dragon, so far as the dwarf could tell, was telling the truth.

She pulled her sword back slightly, giving the dragon's legs a mild reprieve from the sharp blade. He breathed out in relief, but she didn't let him get to his feet again. Not just yet.

"What do you mean, you wanted us as your 'Claimed'? We're free people."

"You're also monsters, let's be fair. No offense, of course," the dragon said, nodding around the group.

"...I'm not," Kyo'Thar muttered under his breath.

"Shut up," Viola said. "We're monsters because we have to be."

"Nobody has to be."

"Monsters live. People die."

"Until someone comes out to hunt the monsters."

"Then we know who replaces the monsters, don't we? New, bigger monsters."

"..."

The dragon didn't seem to have an easy response to that one. She had already been through this particular speech with her teachers all that time ago, way back when she was still learning how to fight, how to lead, how to organize people. There were those that pushed her to be the better person against the other students, to show mercy towards the end of a fight. She still remembered the lectures when she had punished a fellow student for loss, beating them down and then making sure that she wouldn't get back up again. They pushed her to show mercy, to show understanding for her fallen foe.

[i]You show mercy, you show understanding, and they get back up again and try the same shit. You beat them hard enough that they never get up again, and you don't have to deal with that.[/i]

The blade almost felt like it understood and encouraged that point of view. She clenched her hand all the tighter around the grip, shaking her head.

"We aren't for sale, and we're not available to be claimed. We're not that sort of group."

"You could be," the dragon said. "I mean, I do pay well."

"Not well enough to take all that from us."

"Come on. You gotta want something. And you have to admit, the missions haven't been that bad, have they?" the platinum dragon asked, looking from one to another. "I mean, yeah, I did bullshit you a little bit about the bucket thing -"

"Never. Mention. The bucket," Kyo'Thar muttered, shaking his head.

"...Okay. Never mentioning that again. Sorry."

"I told you," Viola said. "We're not for sale. You better find someone else, because if you keep pushing this -"

"You keep saying that you're not for sale. But I don't want to buy you. I want to Claim you. Everything else is just compensation after the fact."

"...Are you sure that you're a good dragon?" Olfel asked. "Because that sounds like slavery."

"I - you - that's stupid! I'm not trying to enslave anyone. Why the hell would you compare this tradition to that?"

"Because that's exactly what it sounds like. Like someone trying to force someone else to become their property." The dwarf cocked his head to the side. "Isn't that slavery?�

"That's not what Claiming is, though!"

"Do we belong to you if we go through with this?"

"Well, yes, but -"

"Are we allowed to leave?"

"Um, not really..."

"Are we equal to you?"

"..."

"Those three things really sound like the same as slavery. The only difference is whether you have paperwork on us or not."

"Well, there are usually certificates..."

Viola blinked, and so did every other member of her group. The dragon kicked the ground, blushing.

"Gotta use those calligraphy lessons for something..."

Smack, smack, smack. Three facepalms all at once as the group realized that he was serious and not joking. Certificates. Fucking certificates about them being owned? They were supposed to be happy about this? Embrace it? Want it? What the fucking fuck?

The dragon, at least, had the grace to look properly abashed at the whole thing now that it had been said aloud. His blush was so deep that Viola started to wonder if she really needed to take him seriously as a threat. She remembered how he had faked his death before, but until that point, they had been hammering at him, and hammering hard. Even when he rolled over on her, that hadn't been the weight of a full adult dragon, or the extensive, experienced slam of someone that knew what they were doing in a fight.

She blinked, slowly lowering her sword. The rest of the party hissed.

"What are you doing?" Olfel whispered.

"This is your first time, isn't it?" she asked.

"...Um, uh...I mean...it's not [i]quite[/i] my first time," the dragon muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, I've looked down at your world hundreds of times."

"But this is your first time with...people?"

"...Maybe?"

"No wonder you're so bad at this!"

"Hey, hey, I'm doing alright, all things considered."

"You're a moron!"

"You - You're a moron!"

"No, I'm not. I figured it out. You didn't."

"Says you."

Viola groaned, rubbing her forehead. Oh, god, this was his first time down here, it was his first time in a fight, and from the sounds of it, he was a young dragon. How young? Who knew, but he was young enough that he wasn't going to be that good at standing his ground with them just yet. No wonder he'd been such a moron with all the money. She should have figured it out then.

The money. She hissed.

"The money. That's still good, right?"

"What? Yes, of course. I don't pay in fake money."

"Some dragons would."

"Some dragons are evil."

"And some are stupid."

"...I'm not stupid."

"If you're not, you're doing a fucking good job pretending to be."

"That's..." He sighed. "Okay, okay. I made a bunch of mistakes. But...at least you don't want to kill me anymore, right?"

The truth was, she was tempted, but not nearly as tempted as she had been just a moment ago. Despite the fact that it might actually be easier to kill him, now that she knew that he was a younger dragon that probably didn't know what the fuck he was doing, she honestly felt bad for him. And that shocked her, considering just how hard that was to actually feel for anyone these days.

Maybe he was doing something to them, but she tried to put it down to pragmatism. If she let him go, then she got to keep all the money and the magic items that he had given them. She could keep all the prizes, make sure that she stayed strong, that the group stayed rich, and...

Well, it was a better deal than trying to push a fight that she didn't have that good a chance of winning, that was for sure. She put her sword away.

"We're leaving."

"What? But...but I still want -"

"We're leaving. You are going to stay here, or fly away, or whatever the fuck you guys do when you don't get what you want. But we're done, and we're getting the hell out of here."

"But...but I'll pay you. I swear, I can triple everything I already gave you."

That much money would have paid for a personal palace, and they all knew it. Yet, they didn't have to look at each other to know that none of them were tempted. No, that was a lie. Kyo'Thar looked at the dragon, but for a different reason. Some other, weird reason that might have had something to do with the fact that he had taken the big lug off to the side in the first place.

She didn't care. She walked around their 'benefactor' and bent down, pulling Red-Arms to his feet. He slumped forward, still dizzy and out of it from being knocked around, but he was able to stumble along as she pulled him with her.

"I can give you, uh, magic. Lots of magical items."

Still no dice. They were free, and they weren't going to be bought by some dragon trying to justify using them as his personal toys. They walked along, the thump-thump of Kyo'Thar's staff mixing with the uncocking sound of Olfel's crossbow. They weren't afraid that the dragon was going to attack them from behind. That wasn't what 'good' people did. They waited to hit from the front, tried to do dirty tricks, but they never knew how to do it properly.

"What's it going to take? I can do lots of things!"

"We're not interested," Viola called back.

"What about me?"

"I don't care about you."

"No, I mean, what if you got me? A dragon slave?"

That stopped her in her tracks, and she slowly turned. The others did the same, more than slightly interested. For the first time, they were united outside of combat. They were actually curious, wondering what the hell was going on, and all united in that same unique blend of frustration, anger, and curiosity.

The dragon sighed.

"I really, really hoped that wouldn't be the thing to get your attention," he muttered. "Figures that an evil group only gets interested once you offer yourself as a slave."

"Start talking, dragon," Viola said. "And you better make it good, because surprise is only going to work once."

"First off, Audron. If you're going to talk to me, at least use my name."

"We'll see, [i]dragon.[/i]"

"Fucking evil - fine. Fine. Fine. But before we start, let me just make one thing clear. Do you want to know how close one of you came to dying?"

"You're young. We could have beaten you, most likely," Kyo'Thar said.

"Not from me."

As the platinum dragon pointed upward, Viola had a sudden surge of worry. It could have been a trap, something that would allow the dragon to cast some sort of spell at them that would bind them to his service right then and there. Yet, at the same time, she couldn't quite resist turning her eyes towards the heavens and seeing what he had to show them.

Squatting on the branches overhead were more than three dozen kobolds, each and every one of them armed with sticks, slings, stones, and clubs. They were not the strongest-looking monsters out there, but there were a lot of them...and that would have been a great many surprise attacks hitting them all at once. Her plate armor would have protected her torso and legs, but a couple of good shots could have cut her neck open or hit her right in the skull hard enough to kill her. Kyo'Thar would have been incredibly vulnerable, and Olfel would have managed to deal with maybe three of them before he was swarmed and carried down. With Red-Arms unconscious, their crowd-control would have been all but nil.

They could have attacked at any point, she realized, and they only didn't because the dragon, their master, had kept them from doing that. He was protecting them, for some reason.

[i]Just because he wants us,[/i] she realized. [i]Still. We have value. Good to know.[/i]

"Alright...fine. You kept us alive."

"Yes, I did, so try and keep that in mind for this part."

"This part?"

"When I make this offer."

"Let's start with the part where you offered to become a slave. What's that about?"

"It's part of a gamble. You're strong, and so am I. Instead of duking it out in a big battle, though, why don't we make it a little more interesting?"

"Because you'd lose the battle?"

"Because some of you might die before you beat me."

Viola was pretty sure that it was really more just rank cowardice, but she also understood the risks. There was something to be lost even if the dragon won; he wouldn't be able to take on all four of them at once, and so he'd have to hit harder just to make sure that he stayed alive long enough to win something. By making this a gamble, then he gave himself better chances of getting the full prize at the end.

She looked over her shoulders. Neither of her fully-conscious party members seemed to object to listening, at the very least, and Red-Arms only groaned as he slowly began shuffling back to consciousness.

"Take him," she muttered to Kyo'Thar, and the orc took the monk off her hands. "Alright, dragon. What do you have in mind?"

"The dungeon that we're heading to. It's...not as simple as I was making it out to be."

"Obviously."

"But instead of retreading the same ground as the dungeon before, let me make this offer. There's four paths running through the dungeon. Four different routes that the four of you can take. On each route, I'll lay traps and other things that will either convince you to join me, or do other things that will make it harder for you to get to the end, at least the same way that you are now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Viola asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Just...let me finish, please?"

"Fine."

There was always a risk of pissing off a dragon, but she didn't feel too concerned at that moment. If anything happened, then they would end up with a fight. While she had been trying to avoid that - and she still didn't entirely know why she was trying to avoid it - there was always the possibility of that happening. One couldn't entirely avoid it, no matter how hard they tried. If they ended up fighting, it would be no worse than the worst case before. As it stood, they had everything to gain by keeping the dragon on the back foot.

He took a deep breath, then continued. Despite her seeming inattention, Viola was not letting a word slip by, and she knew that the others were doing the same.

"The four different routes will be trapped, and the way that [i]I[/i] win is if I can make sure that none of you reach the end without wanting to be one of my Claimed."

"And we win by one of us getting through?"

"The more get through, the more total my...slavery," the dragon said. "If all four of you get through, I am your total slave until the entire party dies. If three, then I'm only a partial slave, more of a hireling, same time. Two of you, then total slave for twenty years. One of you, hireling for twenty years."

That was a deal, and it was a damn good one, too, particularly for their side of things. Even if just one of them got through, they could order the dragon to reverse all the changes that had happened to the other three. The fact that they were dealing with one of the 'good' dragons meant that he couldn't just kill one of them to make it so that they wouldn't get to the end, either. He would have to play fair.

Viola turned the situation over and over in her head, examining it from every angle that she could consider. Was there something in there where a loophole could come into play, some way that the dragon could take what he had said and fuck them over with it?

The one thing was how he planned on making sure that they didn't get to the end wanting to fuck him over. If they made a deal in the dungeon, where he would think that they wanted to be Claimed and they were willing to say that at the end, what was to stop them from lying?

[i]The main question is, is he that stupid?[/i]

The answer seemed to be yes, considering that he was willing to make a deal like this. He had every disadvantage, and every little conditional in that agreement favored her and her people. There was every way for them to win, so why did he think that he had a chance?

Was it just that he wanted them that badly? Did he crave having them as his Claimed to that degree? It was almost flattering to have a dragon want you that much, but she had to admit, she could have done without quite so much wanting.

"Do we have a deal?" the dragon asked.

"Give me a second."

"Take sixty."

She turned away, pulling the rest of the group a little ways off. She looked them in the eye as Red-Arms finally managed to stand on his own.

"Thoughts?" she asked.

"He's not lying," Olfel said, pulling the monocle down. "Whatever he was doing to fog this up before, he's not doing it now. He wants us to trust him."

"Kyo'Thar?"

"I want to see where this goes. If nothing else, he will have something interesting down the dungeon for us, and I doubt that he can fool us forever with his spells. Now that we know what he is, we will know what to expect."

That was the hope, at least. They were still up against a dragon, and that was not something that any of them were enthused about. The loot would be good, but it was the chance of having a dragon [i]slave[/i] that really stirred the bunch of them to being tempted by this.

"Red-Arms?" she asked.

"...I am tempted to become his Claimed," the monk admitted.

The other three all turned to stare at him, their eyes wide. Olfel was sputtering, while Kyo'Thar just stared with his mouth agape. Viola shook her head, holding her forehead.

"First, why?"

"There is no clear reason. I merely...do not feel like killing him."

"And that's enough to become a slave?"

"He has offered me a form of peace. It is more than anyone else has without dying."

"More than what I offer?"

"Frankly, yes."

"...Okay, so we can kiss eternal slavery from the dragon goodbye...still..."

It wasn't as if they'd get nothing if they only got him as a total slave for twenty years. That was definitely better than any other group like theirs had. And if he was taken in, they could probably pump him for all kinds of information on how to expand their grip on the world, and how to make sure that they kept everything that they took with him at their side. It wasn't as good, but it was still worth chasing after.

Yet, at the same time, she could tell that Kyo'Thar, at the very least, was thinking about something else. He was very, very, [i]very[/i] clearly thinking of something else, considering the shape in his robe. She didn't know what had gotten into him, but she could only imagine what kind of distractions the dragon would be able to cook up for that.

[i]Okay. Me and Olfel are the reliable ones, much as I hate to admit it. Kyo'Thar should make it through, but there's no guarantee. That means we'll either have a total dragon slave for twenty years, or we'll have him as a hireling for the rest of our lives. Either one is good, and even if the worst happens, nothing says that we can't fight back as his Claimed.[/i]

Nodding to herself, she turned around to face the dragon again. This Audron was waiting with his back to a tree and his arms crossed.

"Fine. We'll take the deal."

"Then it's a bargain." He smiled, though the expression was shaky. "Alright. I'll need a week."

"Two days."

"Six."

"Three."

"Five."

"Fine," she said. "Five days, for four paths."

"It'll be the same place that I showed you on the map. I'll be waiting for you."

"Make sure that you have something good waiting for us, dragon. Would be a shame to take you as easily as we 'killed' you last time."

He winced at that, and she imagined that he had carried some scars. Something struck her then, and as he turned, she sighed.

"Wait."

As the platinum dragon turned, she reached down to her belt. She fumbled for the claw that she had stolen last time, and pulled it free before tossing it to him. He caught it, and it attached back to his finger.

"...Why?" he asked.

"You weren't dead. Can't take a trophy if I didn't win."

"...Thanks."

And with that, the dragon was gone, flying off into the heavens. His wings cut through the branches in more than a few places, and the kobolds were soon leaping along, following their master with hoots and hollers. She shook her head, crossing her arms.

"Five days until we have to try a dragon's death maze. This is gonna be fun..."

"How are we going to prepare for this?" Olfel asked.

"You're asking me this time?"

"You're the leader. I might want that position, but that doesn't mean that I don't think that you have something to put out for this."

Considering that was the first time that the dwarf had ever actually commented on her ability, she half-expected a trap from the Banished dwarf. When he merely looked at her expectantly, however, she smiled. It seemed that, just this once, he was willing to take her advice without her having to force it down his throat.

"Alright. Here's what we do..."

#

As Audron flew away from the evil party, he was cursing himself out for everything that he had had to put on the line. The fact that he'd offered money, magic, and more for the chance of getting them on his side was humiliating enough, but the fact that he'd panicked to the point that he actually ended up offering himself as a bit of collateral was something that the rest of his family would hold over him to the end of time, even if he won. If he lost, he would be the laughingstock of the family, wasting his younger years as the pet of an evil party.

[i]And that's if only a few get through. The whole group making it? Fuck...fuck...fuck...[/i]

The orc would die young if he didn't find something that extended his life. Orcs were never long-lived, but wizards were weird that way. The bard? Probably someone that would live reasonably long, particularly as dwarves had a few hundred years to their lifespans. The warrior woman, Viola, probably would have around forty years left in her life.

But that monk...he shivered. Red-Arms was a monk, and that meant that there was every possibility that he could stumble onto that immortality mindset that some of them managed to discover through sheer power and perseverance. The idea of having to be under someone that was supposed to be quick-lived for hundreds of years was bad enough. The idea of extending that to an immortal was beyond reckoning.

[i]I just have to win. I just have to win, that's all. I just have to win.[/i]

And he felt like he could. That was the important thing.

[i]They're still stupid, they're still underestimating me. More so, now that they know that I'm not that experienced.[/i]

Then again, they were probably right. Even with all the kobolds under him, he only had five days to pull this dungeon together, and he was going to have to spend half a day just getting there. The only thing that he had to his advantage was that the dungeon was built to split people up, so they were all going to be forced down the different passages. He could plan for that, could work with that, and if he could just knock them down a few pegs and offer them what they really needed...

[i]...Ugh...[/i]

The more that he thought about it, the more that he realized that he was in trouble. He obviously didn't know what they wanted, and that meant that he was going to have a very hard time making tempting offers and 'correcting' spells on the paths that they were going to take. It meant that they'd have an easier time getting through, and that, in turn, meant that he stood a stronger and stronger chance of actually losing the bet.

[i]Dammit.[/i]

He was going to have to cheat a little bit. One day not laying traps was a big sacrifice, but it was going to be worth it to get the sort of advice that he needed. There was one family member that he [i]knew[/i] would know how to deal with this sort of problem, and someone that had long since left any idea of shame behind. One of his uncles, Raithir, had been dealing with the perversions of the quick-lived for far longer than any other member of the family, and while he was definitely someone that went too far with it, he understood them better than any member of the family, too. Considering his own proclivities and temptations lately...

Well, it might be a bit uncomfortable, but he would be better off with that kind of advice than without it. He was so close to the finish line now that stumbling and losing would be far worse than just taking the bit of discomfort.

He lowered himself in the sky, flying just above the trees as the kobolds followed just under him. Some jumped high enough from the trees to pet his legs or his chest, and they all giggled and smiled happily as they did. They were having the time of their lives around him, it seemed.

There was something utterly adorable about them, and if they had been any stronger, he would have Claimed them rather than the evil party. As it was, however, he had his heart set on getting someone more powerful than just the little monsters under him. He needed that flexiblity, that additional punch.

[i]This is going to be close...but I think I can do it.[/i]

Not sure if he was just talking himself up or actually believing it, Audron turned his flight more directly towards the dungeon. It was going to take some hours to get there, but considering that it was as far off the beaten trail and main roads as it was, he might be able to get a little bit of an advantage from that. Not just from being able to travel by air, but the fact that it would take the evil party time to get there. They could either travel most of the day for the five days to get there without needing too much rest when they arrived, or they could push themselves and have to rest up to be at full condition once they actually did get to his front door. Either way, they weren't going to be entirely at their best from moving around all that time, while he would be getting proper rest every night.

The kobolds would help, too. He knew they wanted to, and he would let them. There was no point in holding onto pride any longer.

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: Audron is revealed, and Viola bargains for something that the dragon can give them if he wants to live.

Tags: No sex, nudity, dragon, orc, human, dwarf, bargain, evil party, series, slavery, fantasy, magic, kobolds,