Chapter 148

Pe Riyuro looked out over the little sea of weary faces, the varying shades of fur denoting that not all were as strong as their comrades, and yet somehow they had survived an attack by Jaldabaoth. Not far from them stood a vast number of hopeful members of various tribes. Every fight, Pe Riyuro made a habit of mixing attack forces to ensure each tribe was used to fighting by the sides of the others.

It ensured minimal rivalry and maximum camaraderie, it also spread the casualties out so that no tribe felt oppressed or like they were mere fodder.

Now that meant that thousands of his people arrived to see the briefing and to learn if any of their family members were among the survivors. Even at a glance Pe Riyuro knew the truth. 'Few. Very few will be anything but disappointed.' It wasn't hard to feel pity for their longing.

But as the uniter of the clans there was no way he could allow himself to show it.

The spokesman for the survivors relayed all that they saw and all that they heard. The way Jaldabaoth ignored them to engage in a search of the ruins and otherwise seemed to let them escape lent credence to Quadwar's words.

When the survivors spoke of fleeing 'with' dwarves, a steady rumble of words, vague and unpleasant ones alike, were turned their way.

But it was the moment of meeting with the foreign King that drew gasps of astonishment.

"He rides a dragon?!" Pe Riyuro knew all the dragons by name and, such as it were, by face. As the explanation came out, he realized it could have only been one. 'Hejinmal survived… he must have escaped when Jaldabaoth was killing his father.' The lord of the quagoa had to give that abundant thought, the fact that the foreign king ensured the quagoa survived and let the dwarves go as well… 'He is neutral… if we can broker an alliance with that one…'

Pe Riyuro felt his resistance melt away in his head.

When the encounter was told in full and the last of the few surviving warriors spoke their peace, it was time for a decision.

He stood on a stone that jutted up a foot higher so that he loomed over all his people, and asked, "Were you opposed on the way here, is it safe to travel?"

The quagoa survivors murmured their assent. "We were unopposed, the demons don't seem to have found the way yet, or they haven't concerned themselves with the dwarves… if we move quickly, we can all make it."

That clinched it.

Worried at first about the gathered quagoan clans hoping for survivors, Pe Riyuro was instead relieved. "Survivors who have beaten the odds, one by one, announce your names, greet your families, but don't take long! Hear your Chief! We are going to make for the last dwarven city, we will meet this foreign king and ask his help! The demons want all of us dead, if this King knows what we face as he seems to, then he is our best hope for victory and survival! Gather all the food you can, necessities only! Food, water, ores, nothing we don't need can go!"

He held his breath back for just a moment, 'There's no way we can let the demons know what we're doing, if they learn about it, they'll chase us and we'll be vulnerable. We can't risk that.'

So he shouted the order, "You have two hours to pack, and then… I need All Sires of three adults to present themselves here again."

"An All Sire unit…" The words were carried back, and Pe Riyuro waited with his arms crossed in silence. 'Will they argue?'

He waited. Other than repeating the words, nobody said anything, and no opposition rose.

An All Sire unit was comprised only of quagoa who had living sons, ensuring their line did not die out, they were a suicide unit who would stand and die. To use so many out of all surviving seventy thousand plus quagoa would be a sizable force.

But they were facing demons.

Any other time, the quagoan tribes and clans might have argued.

But not after facing the demons.

"Now go!" Pe Riyuro shouted, and the survivors one by one named themselves and answered the cries of someone from their family who stood in the surrounding body. Quagoans came and embraced one another, having only mere minutes, but Pe Riyuro waited through it all.

'This is my place.' He told himself and watched as the seated survivors one by one were welcomed with cries of relief. In the end, when the last survivor stood and was embraced by his loved ones, the rest let out a cry of despair as hope died in their hearts that their loved ones might come home again.

"Now, enough! Get ready to go!" Pe Riyuro barked the order as only a chief could, so that even the mountain sky echoed the words back to them, as if the mountain wanted him obeyed.

They did, departing to spread the word to all others.

The racket of thousands preparing to flee was noisy in the extreme, and Pe Riyuro could barely hear himself think even when he retreated into his quarters where Quadwar waited for him. The mutilated 'bothling' as he privately began to call it, was pensive and quiet for the most part and kept itself confined and under guard of its own volition, though it would return often to his quarters when it was able.

"We're leaving." He said to Quadwar. "You were right, the survivors told me what they knew, we have to go to… the dwarves." He ground his teeth in anger. "They had unbelievable things to say… if there were any deviation in what they said I wouldn't believe it… but I can't ignore this. We're leaving in a few hours."

"Good." The dwarven head's beard was looking thicker and fuller, and the eyes had more luster than before, food and water did wonders for both sides. "What about… me… us…" He asked.

Pe Riyuro glanced at the quagoan head, and the dark eyed quagoa returned the look with unexpected defiance. "If the dwarves have a way to separate you and let both live? Fine."

"I suppose you intend to keep us… unobserved?" Quadwar's quagoan head accused.

"Yes!" Pe Riyuro hissed and stepped closer, he slapped the stone on the side of either of their heads and leaned forward to hiss at both. "Of course I do! The fewer who see you, the better. The courage of the quagoa hangs by a thread, every fight sees fewer of us, every fight has fewer charging ahead with vigor, and every fight we have more losses. It's enough to make me think you were let go to spread fear among our ranks! I will not let you be used as a weapon against us now! You will go with us, but you will be hidden until we can see what the dwarves can do to unmake you as you are!"

Quadwar hung both heads.

"We did not ask for this." They said as one.

"I know. This is enough to pity even a dwarf." Pe Riyuro growled out, "But I can't deal with what you asked for or didn't, I have to keep us going or we will all die."

With nothing that could be said against that, Quadwar was silent.

Pe Riyuro changed the subject and probed for any additional knowledge the bothling might have, until his second in command entered hours later and said to him, "My Lord, the All Sires are ready for you."

Pe Riyuro answered with a heavy, exhausted voice as he stood with the slowness of a quagoa several times his actual age, "Good. Then I'll be out in a moment to address them all, for the last time."