Chapter Two
It had been nearly an hour since Volga returned to his side of the caves. A verbal report was being made about the skirmish at the tavern, another about the incident with the thief, and Volga was awaiting the arrival of the lizalfos sent to record these reports as well as the goron negotiator. News was circulating between the gorons and lizalfos about both topics. The throbbing in his leg had lessened significantly and he had gotten his voice back. He returned to his maps and paperwork, deciding what he should do with his new leverage. His new bargaining chip, Wizzro's ring, was safe in his pocket.
"...Ssso, the thief came to our ssside of the cavesss and didn't make it out of Eldin at all[,]" hissed the lizalfos messenger. It was delivering a report to a dinalfos.
The dinalfos laughed at the stupidity of the human thief, a rather guttural sound, before asking, "What did he sssteal?"
"The twisssted wizard'sss ring. Massster Volga sssent for a negotiator for itsss return."
The dinalfos was rather taken aback by this remark but kept his thoughts to himself, simply nodding at the lizalfos next to it. If I was king, I would not have allowed the thief anywhere near our side of the caves, infact, there wouldn't be an 'our side' only the caves.
"Anyway, here isss the report." The lizalfos thrust the page at the dinalfos, then turned and ran to its next destination.
The dinalfos snorted in disgust at his master's actions. He's lost his edge, the dinalfos thought to himself, taking the report to Volga's keep. Nearly taken out by a thief and now trading the ring for some land? He's becoming soft. The dinalfos stalked angrily around the caves, taking a longer route to his destination. We need a strong leader! Not someone who will let the weaker side walk all over us! I suppose spending so much time with them corrupted him, thought the dinalfos, trying to puzzle together why his master would act this way. He narrowed his eyes, putting a clawed, scaly hand on the hilt of his short sword as delusions of grandeur played themselves out in his head.
He changed course and trotted deeper into the caves. His species was not renowned for its intelligence but they knew when a fight was over their head. The dinalfos found some of his fellows discussing the current events. He joined the conversation, relaying what he'd heard in an attempt to rally them to his side. The dinalfos relayed his thoughts on the matter and, cautiously, his plan. They immediately agreed, putting together a broader dinalfos explained what he was going to do and the signal it would make to the lizalfos. They returned to Volga's keep and the dinalfos left his accomplices at the door.
Volga heard the clicking of many claws outside his keep, though only one creature entered the room. He stood and met the dinalfos halfway, leaning heavily on his pike as he walked.
"Massster, the report," said the dinalfos, handing Volga the sheet. The knight nodded and took the paper, skimming it for any inaccuracies, then turned to walk back to his desk. Behind him, Volga heard the rapid scraping of claws and the metal hiss of a sword leaving its sheath as the dinalfos charged him. He stepped to the side to avoid the attack but wasn't nearly fast enough on a healing leg.
The short sword hit his armor and slid, catching a seam in the protective gear and cutting through it. The determined thrust did not penetrate the chainmail underneath though it did shove the mail hard into Volga's ribs. The dinalfos hadn't accounted for his attack to miss, the momentum sending it tumbling across the room. Volga jumped into the air, the report fluttering to the ground, forgotten. Once he'd recovered the dinalfos signaled for the lizalfos waiting outside to make their move. His call was cut short, Volga's pike easily piercing the thick scales protecting the dinalfos' throat.
"You're outmatched!" Volga roared, his eyes flashing angrily as he climbed back into the air as the scrabble of claws echoed from either side of the keep. The group of lizalfos poured in and he grimly faced the mutiny below.
The lizalfos messenger stood at the unmarked border. He could see the gorons coming up the path and licked his eyes clean as he patiently waited for the negotiator to arrive. It had fallen on him to escort the goron to Volga's keep so they could discuss what would be exchanged for the ring. The yellow skinned goron finally topped the hill, nervously watching the lizalfos for any signs of aggression.
"Follow me," said the lizalfos, turning towards his destination. The goron hastily fell into step behind the lizalfos. There was an uncomfortable silence as the two walked to the crumbling building. It wasn't until they reached the building that the goron made any noise at all, gasping at the scene inside.
"Massster Volga, the negotiator-" the lizalfos stopped as he stepped inside, taking in the scene around him. Blood had been splattered over the walls and what was left of an innumerable amount of lizalfos and dinalfos lay strewn about the room. Volga hovered above it all, a small amount of blood flecked his face, his armor coated in the stuff.
"I sssee you're busy. Ssshould I bring him back later…?" the lizalfos continued shakily. Volga landed, his wings folding into his back as he carefully bent to retrieve the now blood-soaked report.
"No, we will deal with this now," he growled, "Take him to the northeastern keep next to the mines and make sure someone gets this cleaned up. I'll also need a new report."
The lizalfos nodded uneasily as he watched blood drip off Volga's pike, then hastily turned to escort the goron negotiator to the requested keep.
The negotiator, Dugan, waited fearfully in the keep, a dozen questions running through his head. The cool blue light coming from the mines did nothing to soothe his nerves, as the familiar terrain should. Why had the dragon knight just killed a number of his own men? Was he in a bad mood? Was his life in danger if he said the wrong thing? Was the dragon knight injured in the fight? Would he be blamed if something happened mid-negotiations due to those injuries?
The goron decided he did not want to know very much about it and that it was a bad idea to ask any of those questions. He also decided he had better watch his phrasing carefully and hope the knight's injuries, if any, were minor. Volga flew in a few minutes later, he had taken a moment to clean up, changing into an identical set of armor, and washing the blood off his face. The knight sat at the table opposite the goron, pulling Wizzro's ring from his pocket and setting it between them.
"I apologize for the scene you had to witness. Mutinies must be dealt with swiftly and forcefully among the lizalfos."
The goron swallowed nervously. "I understand."
Volga nodded. "Then we shall attend to business. What are you willing to trade for this?"
It took Dugan several seconds to find his words, reciting what he had memorized in preparation for the negotiations as he pulled out a map.
"My chieftain is willing to trade safe and unprosecuted passage through the marked entrance and exits in exchange for the safe and unprosecuted passage through in and out of the crystal mines."
Volga considered the offer. He and his soldiers knew of several exits and entrances that were not on the map of the Eldin caves. By the gorons phrasing and the map he brought it seemed they did as well. That trade would be beneficial to both groups, and because Volga had no use for the mine he was almost willing to make the trade. However, he had inquired about the ring first and wanted it off his person as soon as possible.
"We will come back to that, what will you trade for the ring?" He reiterated.
Several minutes into negotiations Dugan began to calm down. Volga made no threatening movements, nor was he implying negative consequences to disagreement on the gorons' part. The only threatening thing about the knight currently was the role he played in the war, the carnage Dugan had witnessed in the other room, and the dragonbone pike resting against the back of the knights chair. Volga also seemed to be holding up to any injuries the mutiny may have caused, which meant nothing would reflect badly on the gorons in case something happened and Dugan was blamed for aggressive behavior.
The negotiations lasted about an hour. The gorons' got the crystal mines and Wizzro's ring in exchange for supplies and trade routes for the lizalfos, as well as redrawn territory boundaries. Dugan left with a different perspective of the dragon knight, recalling stories he'd learned as a pebble of a brave and kind dragon knight who defended the Eldin caves. He learned that the lizalfos and dinalfos were hunted outside of the caves so agreed to give them more land, and that if they were left leaderless they were more violent, so the dragon knight continued to protect the caves and their inhabitants. Dugan did not yet understand why the knight had traded sides during the war, but he was content with the results of the negotiations as he was escorted back to the border by another lizalfos. After seeing off the escort, Volga went to clean his previous set of armor.