Tales Of The Mighty Dragonair

"You are wrong," Sara had to step in as she read what this situation was heading to, "the enemy now is like a headless beast. It's still dangerous and quite ferocious, but it won't be like that when we allow the head to return to it."

"But we have a chance to save the two sisters of us without any fight," Amelia said and her words told Arthur her opinion already.

"Then what?" Doaf calmly said, "after agreeing then we will be attacked with all their might. We had one month, during which we kept expanding and our forces were exhausted after the fight they had to do in order to secure the empire."

He turned to Arthur before adding, "however our main enemy was resting, recuperating and amassing his new forces. Who knew what she could be able to do, we all saw what she alone did to us. I see we can't allow them to stay a single second in this world, or else this deal will be cancelled."

"I disagree with that!" Amelia stepped in and announced her opinion clearly and loud.

"And I do the same," Amanda also shared her opinion with others.

"And me."

"And me."

Many spoke and stood with the opposing side, however their numbers and influence was quite limited.

After all, the current stability and growth of Arthur's empire was decided mainly by the forces coming from the garden world and the higher realms.

Only the old guard and Amanda agreed to the offer of the envoy, as for the rest they didn't agree.

"Why don't we hear him out first?" Deem asked, trying to act as a middleman between the two sides, "at least we can try to ask for more benefits and assess the response ourselves."

"Good point," the crow said while giving his two friends a silent glance. "We should hear him out first and start negotiating."

"What if he was stubborn and refused to add any benefits?" Arthur strictly asked the question that many tried to avoid right now.

Yet the heavy silence he got back told him about how hard it was to reach a decision to please everyone here.

"Alright," he finally said after moments of deadly silence, "let's go and hear him out first then we can come back and discuss our options."

They all nodded despite the fact that they all had already made up their minds. According to the general view of it, most of them were opposed to accepting the offer as Amanda described it.

"You need to act tougher here," just as he was leading them all towards the next hall, Amanda moved to him and whispered to his ears. "I promise to sleep with you after that."

He glanced at her and said nothing. He wasn't now acting as a lone wolf, but a man who was responsible for a large number of beings.

He could risk an open war for his girls, but at least he would fight it doing his best to make his enemies weaker.

Giving Mera back to them would be like giving wings to a great serpent and turning him into a mighty dragon.

Besides he didn't believe he wouldn't be able to handle the issue of the girls on his own later on. He was already strengthening his base here, and in mere months he would be able to expand his reach to the entire world.

After all, his tree was still broadcasting his message and a large number of people kept flooding his cities despite his enemies' efforts.

As he entered the throne hall, he found a small group of ten mages with a single one leading them with a giant body.

He wasn't any lesser in size than Amera, Doaf, and the crow. Arthur could feel the same dangerous vibe coming out of him, making him sure he was one of those hailing from the higher realms.

"Speak," Arthur said once, resting on his throne and surrounded by his people, "what's your business here?"

"I'm here to make a trade," the man said.

"So you are a merchant then," Arthur faked ignorance yet that giant smiled as he calmly corrected him: "I'm here to make a trade between hostages."

"Hostages?" Arthur glanced around, "Do we have any living hostages still?"

Doaf smiled while Amera couldn't control herself and laughed a short one. "We have some still alive…" the crow said while pausing as if he was trying to recall a very hard piece of memory, "perhaps ten or twenty… I dunno how much is left exactly."

"Humph," the giant responded before adding, "I know how many you still have inside that worthless piece of world."

Arthur didn't have his face changed but he was now certain of the presence of the traitor. The question still lied inside who he or she was.

"If you can reach such info then why didn't you try and release them?" Arthur said before adding, "with force I mean."

"Force isn't the only thing to solve things in war," the giant said and his words were strangely similar to Mera's from before.

"Then what are you here to offer?" Arthur directly asked.

"Just a simple trade," the giant waved both hands before adding, "our girl for your two girls."

Arthur went to silence as if he waited for more but the giant also went into silence and said nothing. The two kept exchanging glances for a long minute.

"This offer can't be accepted," Arthur said and his words attracted the attention of the opposing camp, "if you want your girl, then you have to pay her weight in gold not in rocks."

"From what I heard the two girls are already your women," the giant said before turning to Amanda and pointing to her, "she is also yours I think, right?"

Arthur didn't answer while the giant kept talking:

"I can let you think for one week before I come to receive the answer," he said before pointing to his head, "but don't try to stall or negotiate.. In fact our leaders got tired of feeding two useless mouths and decided if you don't cooperate they will dispose of the three."