"You will give to us, The Outlaw." Viktor's calm, matter-of-fact exterior did not reflect his true emotions. Inside he roiled with anger and apprehension. He was so close, so very close to his prize he wanted to shout and rage. He knew, however, that the time was not now. He could not afford to lose face and show to these Barrani bastards just how desperately he desired the Outlaw. "The creature is ours to contain and ours to punish." He added. "Or has the Outlaw committed some crime against the immortals of this city that we have not been informed of?" Barrani Lords expected much more respect than Viktor was offering but he was not beholden to any of them. He served only two men and they were Lord Diarmat and the Eternal Emperor. They deserved his undying respect and gratitude, not the Barrani.

The Lord of the High Halls made no movement to hint at the foul dip of his mood but the deepening of the blue of his eyes was all the indication Viktor Norios needed. The Lord was silently furious, angry about Viktor blatant disrespect and the fact that he was mortal and in The Halls. "The Outlaw has not committed any great transgression against us, no." He drew an arm up and waved a graceful hand as if batting the statement aside. "However," Viktor tensed, "it remains to be known that the creature is capable of becoming a great danger. It is a magic of unknown origin and my Kin and I are content at the moment to contain the anomaly ourselves under the surveillance of our own people," He paused. "Unless of course you have proof of the emperors desire to attain and transport it." The Consort, silent throughout the entire meeting, remained stoic and impassive, save the slight quirk of her lips. They were laughing at him.

Viktor's grimace was brief, but not unnoticed by the Lord of the High Halls or the rest of the gathered Barrani court, having called into question the only thing lacking in Viktor's resolve. He did not have the proper documentation on hand to warrant the confiscation of the outlaw and therefore could not do as he intended. He could not have foreseen that his hunt would lead him to The High Halls and neither, for that matter, had The Imperial Dragon Court. He gritted his teeth in his anger and frustration. His orders had simply been to track the source of the recent magic imbalance in the lines of magical power that lay beneath Elantra. He had did not think that the source would prove to be solely confined to one specific being: on the contrary, he as well as The Imperial Dragon Court had assumed that the only power great enough to siphon enough energy from the lines would be a large circle of Mages or Arkanists. Upon discovering that the magical drop in the lines was caused by one person, no, one creature, he vowed that he would capture it and bring it to his Lord.

Viktor, upon accepting the hunt from Lord Diarmat, had been supplied with what could be called a bomb. That particular bomb, however, had not been designed to destroy or incinerate but to place any creatures within the radius of the blast into a lasting coma that could only be broken by the creator of the weapon. It had been potent enough to consume and nullify the power of at least ten fully fledged Arkanists. He deemed the use of the bomb on only a single target necessary due to power it ad demonstrated and was now caught in a dream stasis. The Barrani, unfortunately for Viktor, had also been tracking the Outlaw and reached the unconscious threat before he had.

"The Eternal Emperor is not confined to his own laws." Viktor Norios stated. "And what would the Barrani even hope to gain from the Outlaw?" He didn't think that the Barrani Court understood that they would not be able to wake and observe the power of the Outlaw unless the spell of the bomb was lifted. It was his last hope of returning to his Lord victorious so he added. "Only the power of both Lord Sanabalis and The Arkon can lift the veil of sleep so I must take it with me… Unless of course you would rather The Imperial Dragon Court pay a visit to the High Halls to nullify the spell and appear on a regular basis to observe and test the creature?" Viktor grinned as The Lord of the High Halls showed a grimace of his own. He'd won. He would bring his prize the his Lord Diarmat and finally… finally, he would impress the immortal dragon who he swore his allegiance to. Finally he would prove to his Lord that mortals were not the expendable, fragile things that were limited in their accomplishments and their ingenuity.

An hour later Viktor Norios boarded an imperial carriage, an iron box large enough to carry three adults hitched to the tail end of the cab. He grinned to himself as the driver shut his door behind him but it fell from his face one he caught sight of the Barrani man watching him from the front steps of The High Halls. Lord Evarrim glared down at him, eyes so dark a blue they appeared black even in the afternoon light. Viktor knew that the look promised trouble and his eyes never left the Barrani's as he leaned forward to rap the interior of the cab to signal the driver to depart.