Chapter 22.3 – Hidden agenda and flight plan – part 1.3

Two enormous shadows were in the sky, approaching the castle. Meryda reassured the King that everything was alright, and it was even worse when the small Emptiness came barging in, crossing the bars of the metallic main gate as if they were not even there.

For the soldiers that were at the main gate, a moving dark fog right after the sound of the alarm made them apprehensive, but they soon figured out it was the strange fog that only minutes ago had passed by them, sent by that young Monster Tamer.

The two shadows in the sky were still approaching, and the King shouted for his soldiers and Mages to lay down their weapons and stand still so that the new Monsters didn't see them as a threat.

The shadows came down in an instant, and their massive size made everyone freeze in fear. Even with Craydon and Meryda shouting that everything was alright, no one dared to breathe for fear of causing a disaster if those flying meat eaters saw them as prey.

With a couple of powerful thrusts from their massive wings, the two Drakes landed, lifting a cloud of dust that took only mere instants to dissipate because of the wind.

Meryda went to them and rubbed the massive snouts of the Drakes, talking with them in a gentle tone so that they could be sure everything was safe for them and their owner.

With a slight grin, Craydon looked at the still-pale Ooman Ambassador and said, "As you can see, even if you sent a message yesterday for your friends in the Alliance to lay a trap for my daughter, it would be of no use. With these two and the Monsters we brought with us, I seriously doubt there will be a single soldier who will try anything, even with his superior officers shouting orders at them."

The Ambassador stuttered, while Craydon climbed to the back of one Drake, and sat comfortably in the saddle. "How… How was your daughter… How did she tame such beasts? This is impossible!"

"A friend got them for her. The moment they landed, my daughter tamed them, and now they are hers. It is only a guess, but I think it was Demons who sent these two as a peace offering. Strangely enough, the Oomans never gave her anything. Well, you did, but nothing but worries, rudeness, and threats I still wonder who the bad guy is — Oomans or Demons. King Vosen Rask, thank you for the hospitality, but we have to go. I wish we could meet again one of these days, and perhaps by then, there won't be that many Oomans in Oka."

Meryda helped one of her Sub-Demons sit near her father, while she took the other and the Salamander with her to the other Drake.

When she sat on her saddle, and after one last wave, the two Drakes ran towards the castle wall while flapping their massive wings, with the two Karkadanns right after them.

They took off, leaving behind a trail of dust that faded with the wind.

On the front yard of his castle, King Vosen Rask took one slow, deep breath and said, "May the Goddess be with you and with us." He then faced the group of Nobles and spoke, "Whether she will join the Alliance or not depends solely on the way they receive her. I suspect the Demons are aware of her power if it was them who sent the Drakes to her."

The Ambassador was still looking at the shadows flying into the distance and said, "Even if the Demons are aware, there is nothing they can do. The Alliance is waiting for her, and she will join them. She has to!"

With a sigh, the King retorted, "For the survival of the Alliance, I hope she joins them willingly because if they try to force her, they will surely die. For as many soldiers and Mages are on the front lines, they are no match for two Drakes. And she has more Monsters that are not as deadly as they are, but still extremely dangerous."

While Craydon and Meryda were flying to reach the front lines, in the Demon's country, four High Demons were seated at their usual meeting table.

Demon Azazel was looking at a report, and after a slow, deep breath, he asked, "Is this accurate, Lamashtu?"

"It is. Yesterday, that young Monster Tamer arrived in Rokumizu City, Oka's Capital, and met King Vosen Rask. The Ooman Ambassador there tortured one of my Sub-Monsters in front of her, and a Fae told that young girl to tame the two, and so she did. And like what happened with the previous Sub-Monsters she tamed, I lost my connection with them. From the other two Sub-Monsters that are in the castle, I know she was treating them well by feeding them some of her food and often hugging them."

"Say what? A Demi-Cat Monster Tamer, a very young girl, hugging a Sub-Monster? For what reason?" asked Demon Azazel, completely blown away.

"What I could gather from her previous encounters with my Sub-Monsters, and from the point of view of the two that are still in Oka's castle, she seems to actually care about them. Apparently, she sees all the Monsters she tames as her friends."

The High Demon Azazel placed the report over the table and asked, "Where are they now? Flying again?"

"Yes, straight to the front lines, but this time, riding the Drakes we sent to her. Her father is quite suspicious about Ooman's intentions, and he doesn't want to risk arriving there only with the Karkadanns. Maybe he thought that with the Drakes, no Ooman soldier or Mage would be foolish enough to try to force his daughter to agree with anything. And if we are to believe in what the Fae told us last time, that Demi-Cat family doesn't agree with the Ooman's intentions, and they don't believe their excuse about preventing us from conquering the World."

After a brief moment of silence, Demon Pazuzu said, "Perhaps we should send some spies to the Alliance campsite so that we can follow their arrival. Maybe a small Emptiness, that can mingle with the shadows. If she decides to join the Alliance, we could use that Emptiness to get rid of her."

With a gentle smile, Demon Manananggal said, "You are drifting away from your usual self, dear Pazuzu. You are supposed to always defend Demis against our violent tendencies, remember? Or are you having doubts about our last decision? We all agreed to let her go to the front lines, and when we had a chance, invite her to come to us."

"I am not having doubts; I am just being careful, and I have no intention of letting anyone kill that young Monster Tamer unless she becomes a threat. For as much as I like Demis or I tolerate Oomans, our people have to always come first."

With a deep frown and looking exhausted, Demon Azazel spoke, and everyone gasped at his words: "If she accepts to come to us and decides to join our cause, I believe we will need to uphold Resolution 12."

Since everyone was still in shock and thinking about his words, Azazel continued, "I am very aware that none of us ever thought we would choose that Resolution willingly, but our ancestors predicted long ago that someday that Resolution was going to be needed. Like the previous eleven were."

With clenched fists, Demon Pazuzu asked, "Why should we be the ones to shoulder that responsibility? Our lives, our people… it will all change!"

"Like our ancestors predicted, it was bound to happen, and with such a powerful Monster Tamer on our side, I believe it is the logical decision to make. Or we will lose the opportunity, and this never-ending war will continue."

"We need the others to vote on that! We can't have the responsibility only on us four!" complained Demon Manananggal.

"Of course. I wouldn't want it any other way. Even for me, despite being the one suggesting it, it is a Resolution I wish to avoid at all costs. Unfortunately, I also think we can't," said Demon Azazel while rubbing his face with both hands, feeling completely drained with worries.

His predecessors made all the previous Resolutions, from Resolution 1 to Resolution 9. In his lifetime, he had already voted to put into action Resolution 10 and Resolution 11, and he still remembered how many sleepless nights those cost him and the other members of the Dark Eight.

Every time a voting session was scheduled, it would take a few hours to finish, but votes to decide to activate a Resolution were more important and affected the lives of far too many beings to be taken lightly. Days upon days of discussions, weighing the pros and cons, would lead to a vote in favour or against it, with the majority winning.

That was why he and the others were so hesitant. It was far too important, and it would bring such massive headaches and overwork that all of them expected to never vote on a Resolution in their lifetime ever again.

And there he was, the High Demon Azazel, talking once again about such a voting session.

Meanwhile, Craydon and Meryda were flying towards the front lines. The mountain range stood at their right, and Craydon noticed that the high snowy peaks were diminishing in height while they were flying, and at some distance ahead, the mountains were lower, almost half the height of the tallest ones and without any snow on top, and then they would increase in height again and the next mountains would have snow as well.

It was as if an enormous hand pushed the mountains down, making a depression or some sort of passage to the lands on the other side.

It was right on the left of this landscape that there was an enormous prairie, as far as the eye could see.

On that prairie, there was a massive campsite, surrounded by a wall that looked like tree trunks from that distance. There were constructions and what seemed like tents laid in lines, protected by those walls, with shadows moving. Shadows which looked a lot like groups of people.

Craydon shouted for Meryda to look to where he was pointing, and there it was: four lines of smoke in red, coming from four fire pits spread over the campsite, one in each corner.

Their function became clear as Craydon saw groups of shadows making lines, facing the Drakes' flight. Soldiers, with what looked like Mages in the mix, were alerted by the fire alarms to gather and stand ready.

Following Craydon's instructions, Meryda told the Karkadanns to deliver a message to the Emptiness which was hovering down below, hidden in the Drake's shadow.

Both Karkadanns dived and flew close to the ground, with the Emptiness right under them. Meryda told the Drakes to slow down to give time for the Karkadanns and the Emptiness to get near the wooden wall.

She saw as the Karkadanns approached and the soldiers on the tall wall shot arrows upon arrows at them, with the Karkadanns easily avoiding everything, until the small Emptiness stood in front of each soldier's face, moving rapidly from one to the next and scaring to death the poor souls, who thought they were about to be melted by that dark nightmare, one they knew was death incarnated.

Mages were called to the walls to fight the Emptiness, but before even one Mage could get there, the Drakes were already landing, and Meryda was calling the Karkadanns and the Emptiness to go to her.

When Craydon got down from his Drake, holding under his arm the Sub-Monster he was giving a ride, he said the moment Meryda joined him, "I think we made quite an entrance. Bet they are now thinking they are seeing things."

"Now what, father?"

"Now we wait."