War of the Dragons - Chapter 17
"Why does he have such a big ass?" Caross complained, panting from where he lay sprawled out across the stone surface, his belly warmed by the fire that they had started... though the big black dragon that was Valerem took up most of the room around the fire, with the others choosing to start and lay around a second fire instead. Grateful for the warmth after a long night of swimming, flying and pulling... even though they were careful not to disturb the contents of the supply cache. "As much as I appreciate the fact that you're constantly admiring my hindquarters, I don't exactly swing that way, and even if I did you're a bit too small for either of us to enjoy." Said big black dragon was rather swift to snark back, making Nova snigger and Teprogia flush and shuffle her claws, trying not to listen to the conversation."What, like an old guy like you could actually get it up anymore? Even if it did, who would want to see such a pitiful shriveled thing? Let alone want to actually try and pleasure it? Maybe some hold hag whose all flappy and lose might like it, but a prime young male like myself, no thank you.""Oh so you're resorting to age now are we? And here I thought that a youngling such as yourself might actually be witty and intelligent, but I guess I was mistaken... such a pity, but if you oh so skeptical about it, I wouldn't have any regrets which showing you just how wonderful I am." Now that caused Teprogia to squeak, burying her head against Arcantos' side, who sighed and called back to the two fire dragons."Behave yourselves you two. Whilst you two might of missed out on what manners and dignity actually mean, the rest of here haven't and we will rather not have to witness you two brutes crassly pleasuring one another.""Oh? And the runt expects that he can command me?" Valerem questioned, turning his head so he could smirk at the bipedal dragon, challenging him as he said. "I might not have my flame anymore, but I'm rather sure that an experienced fighter like myself will easily be able to handle a youngling like yourself." "I don't need to fight you Val. If you misbehave, I'll just dunk you again." Arcantos said casually, getting sniggers from Nova and Caross as they remembered what happened on the swim here... and even get Frost to smirk at the memory, whilst Valerem's smirk turned into a glare. "Careful, otherwise you might find yourself being the one to receive a dunking..." Looking over at the pool of water that served as their entrance into this hidden area, the black dragon began to smirk once more, saying. "But of course, your threat is pointless, as you cannot dunk me unless I'm already in the water! So-"Valerem found himself cut off all of a sudden when his entire face was covered in water. His words turning into a startled gargle before jerking backwards, spluttering and shaking his head to shake the water off. Once he recovered, the black dragon turned his attention to what had cut him off, and watched as the globe of water was neatly returned back to the pool with a wave of Arcantos' hand... the bipedal dragon getting a glare from Valerem, before he turned away, shuffling closer to the fire."So Arcantos. Now that you are done with the entire male 'I'm the alpha' swaggering, can you actually tell us what's going on?" Nova said, startling Arc with her sudden interruption, and a frown at what she had said... he wasn't at all swaggering to put himself as an alpha. He was just making sure that Valerem would behave. "I mean, it's obvious that Val here is The Dread Sky. What with being a big black dragon and having been imprisoned inside of the cliffs of Kuvine. But it doesn't tell us why you freed him?"'In retrospect, it was rather silly for me to think that no one would figure out.' Arcantos mused wryly, a hasty glance around revealed that pretty much everyone had managed to figure it out, and even Valerem wasn't surprised at this. 'Whilst my readings do say that they less dragons that know the truth, the less chance of it leaking, the fact they know of his freedom is dangerous enough... so no real reason to hide it.'"Simple really. The fact that Kasai has a team of shinobi supporting him, whenever they be a legitimate support, which is unlikely, or rogue shinobi. Puts us as a serious disadvantage when dealing with him. In addition, Tryndamous raw power and political clout means that he can easily keep a lot under wraps though blackmailing and coercion. So, we need something to counter the shinobi, something that can get the information we require, whilst limiting the access to information that our enemies can get." "You want him to reform Death In The Night." Ace concluded from this, only for a very brief flicker of surprise to show across his face when Arcantos shook his head in answer... he couldn't blame him honestly, it was what he would have concluded in
Ace's situation. "No. In order to reform Death In The Night, would require it to have fallen apart... and I am confident that despite Val being known as the leader before he was captured, that the leadership was transferred over before his mission of revenge, and they kept the organization alive.""If the organization is still alive, why haven't they done anything for the past fifty years?" Ace objected at this, he knew that Death In The Night would of never stopped unless Aron'olia was freed from the nations that had split it in twain... even if the west was the ones that started the war. "There's been no signs of their activities since The Dread Sky's capture!""And yet, the area where Aron'olia was, is still the most crime ridden place in the world." Arcantos pointed mildly in response with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "Raiders and bandits aplenty. Sure you might argue that it's simply due to the only place when the east and west meet on land. But if you look at the statistics, you see that racial-based crime is at its lowest, whilst military and noble based crime have a much larger percentage than compared to any other region in the world.""You haven't lied to us before... I can't research and judge myself... but I doubt someone like you would check your sources and make sure you draw upon multiple locations for that information..." Ace said slowly, aware that everyone, even Val was staring at Arcantos in shock with his casual reveal. "When did you research this? When you took an interest in the story of Aron'olia in the past?""Actually, it was during my research I performed before heading in to talk to the Duke." Arcantos said with a shake of his head, though noting that it could come across as the wrong idea, the dragon hastily added. "His part ties him quite firmly to Aron'olia, and whilst he isn't in charge he holds a lot of sway over both the western and eastern parties in charge. So I decided it would be best to include it in my research in case it came up.""Personally that's more impressive than having researched it beforehand with the intent of having it ready in case you needed it to help convince the Duke of Death In The Night's existence, and thus have The Dread Sky freed." Ace noted mildly, as the looks of shock turned into awe when Arcantos revealed just how prepared he had been. "Makes me wonder what else you had researched, just to be on the safe side... " "Lets just say I like to over prepare and leave it at that." Arcantos said with a nervous laugh, rapidly getting uncomfortable with the amount of respect he was getting from the others... even Caross and Frost, who had known him for almost a year now... "And besides, I didn't actually link it and the possible existence of Death In The Night. That was Temeraire, after I showed it to him. Admittedly, he was already sure of their continued existence already.""The eastern dude who invited you around? Unless he's one of them - which I highly doubt - how did he have a clue of them?" Caross was swift to speak up when he smelled a weakness in Arcantos' arguments and reasoning... even if this time it was the bipedal trying to deflect praise away from him... though to his surprise, Valerem was the one to speak up."Most likely because his blacksmith is an old friend of mine, and to the public eye, once went by the name of The Emerald Fire. Oh and my sister also happens to be his mate as well. Whilst I know that the two of them would of done their best to hide their past and their connection to Death In The Night, this Temeraire is extremely shrewd dragon and managed to piece together their history with only a few clues to go on. So having suspicions of the continual existence of Death In The Night is hardly surprising." "Well to be fair, he got a pretty big clue about their existence when Kelaren visited Kornarok." Arcantos added, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea about his mentor and old friend. "When Kornarok received a visitor, Temeraire went to meet her, always happy to make friends of his employees. Only he overheard them having a heated argument before he turned up. Kornarok quite strongly refusing to do as Kelaren desired, saying that he liked Temeraire, and that the battle was over long ago... Kelaren storming out and brushing past Tem on her way out, and shooting him a hate filled glare... honestly it was that arguement that had actually prompted Temeraire to perform his investigation into Kornarok's past and discovered he was the Emerald Fire." "I'm guessing that this Kornarok is the one we know as The Emerald Fire?" Frost spoke up calmly, getting a nod from Arcantos even as Valerem turned away from the group, looking off into space as he heard about his old companions. "Who is Kelaren then? If she was part of the Death In The Night, and knows both The Emerald Fire and The Dread Sky, it makes sense to me that she was also part of the Fatal Five." "She's the The
Cerulean Fury." Arcantos answered, glancing towards Valerem spoke, and wondering if he should continue speaking, as the black dragon almost seemed... pained by remembering the past... but if events were to move forwards, he was going to have to confront the signs of his past... and so Arcantos chose to continue speaking. "If I am to hazard a guess, she's the current leader of Death In The Night. Which makes Val's release even more important. If events had gone differently, the two easily could of become mates, and have had a son together. If there's anyone that can persuade her to have Death In The Night fight for us... its him.""I don't think even he could do it alone however. Not in a single day." Nova spoke up now, shaking her head at Arcantos' words. "You gotta remember who were' talking about here. The Fatal Five embodied the belief of Blood for Blood. Val here might of learned the errors of following it through to the very end though his fifty years of imprisonment... but that's just given her fifty years of loneliness, fifty years of sorrow and pain... she's a dragoness who lost her love. She is not going to be willing to forgive, even if her love returns with the intention of talking her out of her war path... and that's not even taking into consideration Val's son, and the possibility that he also matches that desire." "He doesn't." Arcantos said swiftly and firmly, not wanting to have Valerem start to worry and even panic about the son he left behind for his desire for vengeance. "I've met him personally, and I can say that he is quite insistent in not making the mistakes of his father... he's a healer now in a small country town with a family of his own." "He must of got my letter..." Valerem said with a sigh of very pallable relief... though he ignored the curious looks he got from the others. Lost completely in his memories as he murmured. "I always hoped and believed that he had read it... that he would not make the mistakes I did... but I never expected for him to become a healer..." "We will need to take him with us." Nova said, breaking Valerem out of his thoughts and memories as the black dragon turned to glare the the red dragoness. "Dread Sky here alone won't be enough to convince Kelaren to change her path. But if she's facing her son as well as him... then I think it's possible that we might have a chance, however small it is.""You're very sure of yourself that you know how Kelaren would act, despite having never met her before." Valerem said with a growl, not wanting to get his son involved in these
matters ever... he had a peaceful life, and Valerem would rather die before separating his son from the family that he had crafted... and... Valerem didn't know how he would react to his release..."I'm an actress. Its my job to learn and understand how people I would have never met would act." Nova said, twitching her wings dismissively at Val's misgivings about her confidence. "Sides, even if you don't trust me. How about you trust yourself on the matter? You're the one so close to Kelaren after all... so how about you judge her? Fifty years of pain and hatred, festering within her body... perhaps it has healed, perhaps times has covered that wound... but you turning up would swiftly have that scar ripped right open... do you honestly think Kelaren would be so swift to forgive those who took you from her?" "Don't try and persuade me to your way of thinking by changing the wording of the question." Valerem said with a growl, narrowing his eyes at Nova in anger of how she tried to influence him so blatantly... ignoring the actual questions for now as he said. "If you really wanted me to answer honestly, then you should of asked me simply, instead of going on that tirade of yours.""Fine. Would Kelaren be willing to forgive those that took you from here, those that you had fought against for so long as Death In The Night?" Nova said bluntly, taking the large black dragon of guard by how she didn't even deny trying to effect his way of thinking, and instead bulling on to do exactly as he had said she should... simply ask the question."I..." Valerem said, now that he had been confronted so... had to face his views of Kelaren and didn't like what he saw. "No... the Kelaren I knew... would not be so willing to forgive... she didn't believe in Blood for Blood as strong as much... but she would not forgive... but, fifty years is a long time... she could of changed a lot since then...""We can't afford to take the chance." Nova said, shaking her head firmly. "We need Death In The Night on our side for this. Not only so we can have a defence against the shinobi and stop the Ketsueki no yoru... but so they won't actually work against us to try and cause the war... and war which they will clearly take full advantage of in order to re-establish Aron'olia."Arcantos felt like he had just been struck full in face at Nova's words. He had never thought of what Death In The Night would do if the war broke out... but now it had been spelled out so clearly it was
obvious... glancing sideways at Valerem, the mirrored look on his face showed that he had never considered it until it had been laid out so neatly before him..."Why just stop at Val and his son?" Caross spoke up after Nova's statement brought a grim silence onto the group. The orange dragon actually smirking slightly, knowing that he was getting a one up on both Arcantos AND Ace... damn he liked getting the better of those two smarty pants. "We got The Emerald Fire working for Temeraire, and his mate slash Val's sister too. I doubt they'll be wanting a war to happen anymore than we do." "No parents every want to see their kids go to war." Arcantos said, half to himself, half out loud in acknowledgement to what Caross suggested... but stil... the bipedal dragon frowned, shaking his head. "I'm not sure though... having four people that you were close to once, turning up out of the blue in order to convince you to give up a mission you've been working on for fifty years... I think that it might overwhelm Kelaren, put her on the defensive...""And Kornarok can't fly." Valerem spoke up, having recovered from his shock and worry now... though to Arcantos, it was obvious that the thought of Death In The Night causing war still lingered in his mind. "We will need to be swift as we can be in order to get the message to them as soon as possible... and in case we need to make a hasty escape.""Yeah, but you can't fly either." Caross pointed out with a roll of his eyes... only for Frost to sigh at his companion's swift reply."Really Caross... do you not think before you open that mouth of yours? With the amount of funding and connections Temeraire and the Duke have between them, getting the surgery required to fix Val's wing tendons is not exactly difficult.""I knew about that! But it still takes several months after the surgery for a dragon to properly be able to start flying again. Months that we simply don't have." The fire dragon spat back with his usual heat. Teprogia sighing as the two got ready for one of their arguments once again... only to be cut of by Valerem's growl. "I know. Which is why if worse comes to worst, I'll stay behind to ensure your escape. It will be the least I can do to atone for my sins..." "It won't come to that." Ace said sharply, surprising Arcantos and even making
Valerem flinch at the sheer passion in the voice of the usually calm darkness dragon. "We will convince Keleran to join our course. We will convince Death In The Night to join us against those who desire to create war. There will be no need for any sacrifices.""And how are you so sure?" Was the challenge, not from Caross or Valerem, but from the red dragoness at Ace's side, Nova herself. Actually getting up on her feet to confront her old friend. "We'll be attempting to convince an organization that has worked from the shadows to reclaim their country for fifty years, and their lead by a dragoness who has almost her whole world taken from her! What makes you think you can convince her to lay aside her anger and hatred and join her mortal enemies?""Simple. I'm not asking her to do anything like that." Ace said calmly, unaffected by Nova's heated objection to his passionate outburst. The darkness dragon back to his calm, controlled self as he stared right back at Nova. "I'm asking her to put her anger and hated to use. To channel it against those who caused her so much pain and suffering. To channel it for the exact same cause she has worked in for fifty years. Reclaiming her homeland, and vanquishing its enemies.""Of course..." Arcantos said, near breathless as Ace's suggestion struck him like a lightning bolt. "Of course! Ace, your a genius! Of course we don't need to convince them to stop their fight, we just need to convince them to narrow down the targets of their fight... Duke Cavador has done much in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the Aron'alian's, despite not being in command of its land. With his and Temeraire's connections, restoring the Aron'olian's to their home shouldn't be impossible as a reward...""There is no way the Council will give up any land." Frost said quietly, not wanting to spoil the growing mood, yet knowing that the flaw needed to point out. "Especially not after winning it so soon. The public would be in an uproar about it as much as anyone.""Its not a matter of giving them the land." Teprogia said, finally joining in the conversation herself to most's surprise... all but Arcantos and Ace had visible signs of surprise when the earth dragoness spoke up. "Its simply the matter of making Aron'olia an official recognized territory in its own right, instead of a part of the larger area. Similar to Osthurst, and how its has its own government, though they acknowledge the Council as superior." "Then what about
the parts of Aron'olia that belong to the eastern dragons? I doubt they would want to give up their claim on the land, especially not when they fought so fiercely to claim it... and offering Death In The Night only a fraction of their land will be seen as an insult, even if it is a large one." Frost continued after recovering from his surprise."We have a lord as an ally remember? Again, she might not exactly be the ruler of the place, but with her political clout alongside Temeraire's eastern connections, it should be possible for them to do the same. It would likely split Aron'olia in two, but they'll likely be ruled by one government, just acknowledging the overruling of the west and the east in the different sections." "And if it's not enough? If Keleran demands that Aron'olia gains full independence, that being under the rule of the nations that took their freedom would just be as bad as not having Aron'olia at all?" Nova said with a slow shake of her head. "Its one thing to talk about giving them Aron'olia back... and it's another to suggest just giving them shackles under the name of freedom." "She'll accept." Valerem said with a growl, the black dragon sick and tired of all this talk and planning and no one actually doing anything... even if there was nothing to be done now, he hated all this talk... the weak talked... the strong acted... "She won't have a choice. She either accepts, or she'll have to kill me in order to ensure her plans come to fruition." "We're going in circles." Arcantos noted with a hint of frustration in his voice, when Valerem once against brought up the subject of his death... the bipedal dragon growing worried for his mental state if he had so little issue with dying for this cause. "Look Nova, I trust your judgement in this matter, but at the same time, even you have to acknowledge you can't guarantee to know how Keleran would react in these situations." "Perhaps not, but as Ace always tells me. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst." Nova said, twitching her wings in response... and missing how Ace actually blanched at her reply. "And it sounded to me that you weren't preparing for the worst, getting overly confident that you'll be able to convince her to join. So someone had to be the voice of negativity to get you considering everything that could go wrong." "And it's a good of you to do so Nova." Teprogia said softly, a smile on her face as she faced the fire dragoness. "As you said, we were overly
confident that Val alone will be enough to convince Kalerem. Now, thanks to your arguments against it, we'll be much more cautious moving forwards, and make sure to have their son travelling with us to increase chances of convincing her. We also have motivation to give to Death In The Night as a whole to work for us." "And if that doesn't work, then I'll trust you all to be able to improvise." Arcantos said, speaking up and hoping to put this discussion to bed. "There's no such thing as perfect plan. Everything we do will involve an element of risk. An element of unpredictability that we can never account for. But we can trust in each other to ensure that this plan goes though. We've already done what others might consider impossible. All that's left is to keep attempting to prove them wrong."