Chp.5: Meet the dragon

After a few more minutes of walking, the group reached a small opening half hidden between some very high rocks. They crossed it and what they found in front of them was a completely different landscape from the one outside. If the one outside was dead and bare, the one inside was swarming with people.

It was a clearing surrounded by a huge circle of stones, each at least ten meters high, extremely steep and sharp, forming a sort of natural wall. The area inside was as barren as the outside, but everywhere you could see some huts built with wood and rocks that looked very solid. Among them, hundreds of beastmen (with a certain prevalence of lizardmen, tigermen and lionmen) were engaged in the most varied tasks: some trained to fight, others tried out new weapons, still others manufactured others in a sort of foundry. They looked like a real army preparing for battle. "How many?" Thora asked. Even though he had helped save many of those people, he had no idea what their total number was.

"One thousand and two hundred" Zamor replied. "We're obviously no match for the Jurao Kingdom army, but we're good enough for what we plan to do"

"And that would be?" Thora asked.

"A battle. A single battle with the aim of luring the opposing army to a place favorable to us, and then eliminating it with cunning and strategic superiority" Zamor answered. "Haku has been studying this plan for months, but we are still missing some pieces"

Thora was immediately interested when she heard the dragon's name. "By the way, where are the dragons?" she asked, noting that there were none around.

"They don't come among us often" Sarah answered behind her. "Since many of them are coordinating our operations across half the country, they rarely find time to mingle with us. Also, many of them are quite aloof, though others are more social"

Thora turned to listen to Sarah, and at that moment she realized that Rhaegal, Corgorin, Serengal and Teramon were gone. "I guess they went to… change their dress" she said.

"Of course. We will see them appear in their real bodies in a while. I hope you don't let the size scare you, because seen up close they are really big. It seems impossible that they are just kids" Carlos said in an amused voice.

Thora shrugged. Actually she had never seen a dragon up close: even Tikka, whom she had met shortly before, had been on top of a very high rock. Even from this distance, though, Thora had been able to get a vague idea of ​​how large the creatures were... though she assumed that seeing them up close was another matter altogether. "I want to meet him" she said referring to Haku. "I've heard a lot about that dragon, and I'd like to meet him"

Zamor didn't seem very happy, but he knew he couldn't avoid that meeting in the end. "Fine. But don't expect hugs and kisses, he's not… exactly the type" he said. "Follow me, I'll lead the way"

Thora and Zamor walked down a path, followed by the five adventurers, heading towards what appeared to be a large structure formed with several large stones stacked on top of each other. Some curtains at the entrance showed that it was a man-made structure, and given the symbols drawn above Thora believed that this must be some sort of headquarters. As they walked, he noticed that slightly further away was another cluster of houses. Which was odd, since there didn't seem to be a reason for dividing the military camp. "What is that?"

"Here they call it the 'village of the workers'. In reality it doesn't have a predefined name, it's just a group of shacks built as best they can, just like the ones where the soldiers live" Zamor answered. "You know that we also took some servant slaves with us in our escape, right?"

"Yes, my companions have told me about it during these four months" Thora said.

"Well, when Haku agreed to cooperate with us, he also offered those slaves jobs. He asked them to do the clothing, cooking, and dressing the wounded, since they were more experienced than us in such matters. In return, dragons not only give them food, furs and everything they need to survive, but they also protect them" Zamor explained. "What you see over there is the place where they live, which the dragons helped them build. Even with the promise of protection, they didn't trust to stay near the soldiers, so they positioned themselves a bit apart. Occasionally some of them descend among us with carts full of stuff, and we in return deliver them all the food and things they need. At first Haku personally witnessed this exchange, but soon both sides got used to it and his presence didn't it was more necessary"

Thora clicked her tongue. "Well, at least it's a win-win solution" she said. "Has anyone ever tried to violate the agreement?"

The rest of the group burst out laughing as if Thora had just told a joke. "Anyone who dares to go against Haku? I'd like to meet such a daredevil" Zamor said.

"When Haku formed this agreement he literally said 'we will all respect it, and whoever doesn't respect it already knows that they will get badly beaten'. No one has tried to contradict him" Carlos said laughing heartily.

Thora blushed slightly, but then turned to her husband: "I understand that even if you say that there is a partnership between you two, in reality he is the only real leader here"

Zamor stopped laughing, but he didn't frown as Thora expected. "It would be silly to deny it. But the fact that he is the real leader doesn't mean he can do as he pleases" he replied. "Haku knows that I control the soldiers, and that I could betray him at any time if I wanted to. Likewise, I know that he controls all of our operations and that he could betray me if he wanted to. But we both know we need each other if we want to keep this place running and achieve each other's goals. Therefore, at least for the moment, peace reigns between us. And I don't think Haku will break it anytime soon, he's too smart to do such a foolish thing"

Zamor knew very well that Haku needed him to control the army. Even after four months, most of the soldiers shivered every time one of the dragons approached. While there were some, like Gord and Brenno, who seemed to have gotten used to them enough to build friendships with them, all the others would never trust a dragon enough to be guided by it. Therefore, if Haku had eliminated Zamor, he still would not have been able to officially take command of the armada, at least not without a policy of terror and bloodshed that would have increased the chances of treason. From a logical point of view, it was much more convenient for Haku to stay in the shadows and command everything from behind the scenes, leaving it to Zamor to take responsibility for keeping the army together and leading it. Thanks to this double thread, Zamor knew he could argue with the dragon if he didn't like his plans, because Haku couldn't have eliminated him; sure, he could always find a replacement, but he would hardly be as charismatic and easy-going as Zamor at the same time. So it was wiser for Haku to keep Zamor, even if their opinions clashed at times, rather than replace him with someone he knew less.

The group reached the entrance to the stone structure and Zamor moved the curtain aside for his wife to pass. Once they were inside Thora could see that despite the ungainly appearance on the outside, the inside was quite orderly: the stones were arranged to form a large circle and in the middle of them were wedged a few torches that illuminated everything. The room was very spartan, with only a large table in the center on which there were various documents and a large map with some wooden pieces resting on it. And behind that table was a huge creature. "My dear, let me introduce you to Haku, our true leader" Zamor said.

Thora swallowed lightly. Carlos had been right: seeing a dragon up close was a completely different effect than seeing it from a distance. He was more than twice her height and his body was gigantic, at least ten meters long. His long tail, the huge spines on his back, and the scales that reflected the light from the torches gave him an even more menacing look, but what really made her blood run cold were the huge claws and razor-sharp teeth that protruded from his jaw whenever he opened his mouth. The horns were much bigger compared to the Tikka's ones. The dragon's eyes, then, were like two deep wells that seemed to scrutinize her soul. "So this is your wife, Zamor?" Haku murmured.

Thora realized she hadn't introduced herself yet and took a polite half-bow. "Hi, Mr. Haku, I'm Thora Ildes. I wanted to thank you for giving my rescue such a priority in your plan"

"Don't thank me. I only did it to avoid the risk of you being used as a hostage. When the time of fight will arrive I will need a reliable ally, not one who is incapable of acting because someone has a knife at his wife's throat" the dragon replied without sparing her a glance.

Thora was somewhat surprised and a little offended by that cold response. "Really a pragmatic guy, mh?" she asked ironically in a low voice to her husband.

Zamor shrugged. "He's even nicer than usual today" he whispered to her.

"I can hear you" Haku growled, though he didn't say anything else and returned his focus to the map. Thora, however, felt somewhat uncomfortable when he said those words. She made a mental note that dragons could hear extremely low sound frequencies, and therefore speaking softly in their presence didn't work.

She was about to say something else, when suddenly the door swung back and more huge figures entered the room. Four new dragons had appeared, and all of them were huge. Thora felt extremely small in that room full of giants. "Hello, brother" one of them said.

Haku smiled for the first time. "Welcome back, guys" he greeted them, then looked at them one by one. "Great work, everyone. You too" he added, glancing at the five adventurers. "You have successfully completed the first part of the plan. Everything went exactly as planned"

"Did you doubt it?" the other dragon laughed. "You know I like a job done right, brother"

"Wait a minute… Rhaegal!?" Thora exclaimed finally recognizing the dragon, then she pointed her finger at the other three. "So you are…Teramon, Corgorin and Serengal…?"

"Yes, this is our true appearance" one of the dragons answered with Serengal's voice. "We are quite different from how you are used to seeing us"

"Y-Yeah..." Thora murmured, not taking her eyes off the dragons. Even though she knew that the human bodies they'd used so far were just avatars, she'd expected them to at least slightly resemble their real bodies. Instead, they seemed to have absolutely nothing in common. Her mind was unable to connect those huge reptiles with the people with whom she had shared four months of travel. She was also having a hard time figuring out who was who, as there were apparently few distinguishing marks. However, she immediately noticed that only Haku and Rhaegal had big horns; perhaps they were a prerogative of male dragons? At least she could use that sign to use the right pronouns when talking to them.

Haku looked back at the map and moved some pieces. "Now that every piece has fallen into place, we are ready to move on to phase two. All we need now is…"

"The location of all the labor camps, we know" Rhaegal stopped him. "For the record, Glausar told me to let you know that he has spotted Darbi and his party in the distance. They are returning"

"What!? And you're just telling me now!?" Haku snapped raising his head abruptly.

"I wanted to enjoy your reaction. And I'd say it's hilarious" Rhaegal said, bursting out laughing at the sight of his brother's angry face.

Haku looked somewhat annoyed, but then resumed a calm and calculating expression. "If he's coming back, then he sure has what we need. Finally..."

Even Zamor had become serious. "If we now have the location of all the labor camps..."

"Exactly. The preparation time is about to end" Haku said with a determined look. "Soon we will act and free your people!"