Interpreter Chalise came to. Her regent had left for the day. As control flooded into her limbs, she immediately strode into her office.
The dragon might have forgiven Helmond, but she could not afford that luxury. Her power in the Auxilia Senate was now on the chopping block and she would have to be swift to avoid the blade from falling.
A grazing look at the map sent elated shivers down her spine and she looked again, enraptured. Today's revisions of troop movements and positions were indeed destiny's poetic gift.
Ithral Ortis sat on a tree stump, leaning on his Zweihänder. The stump had been a full tree mere minutes earlier but he wanted to sit at a height that was comfortable to sleep, so the tree had to go and Elfdread was just as capable as a timber axe. The sheer weight of the weapon was enough to kill and it hadn't held a good edge for years. Not since it had been named. He chuckled. Those were the days, in the army.
Below him, a little blue dragon paced. The creature had zapped Kel something fierce and so he had decided to put him on a leash.
"Isn't 'e just adorable, Ith?", his wife asked, chucking little bits of meat at the dragon. Zym did not seem inclined to eat them.
"Yah, he's sorta like a blue puppy, innit? A blue thunder puppy.", he stretched, "Har, I wish them bruisers would budge already, I don' wanna sit 'ere for the rest of me life."
"Wanna go get 'em out now?", Kel suggested, reaching out to pet the whelp's white mane which he paid back by zapping her hand. It didn't bother her too much through the leather glove.
"What, them midgets? Kel, we're good, but not `take on an entire town` good."
"Did it before, though, didn't we? Ah but, we were a bit more spry then and had a tail. It's fair, Ith, I don't doubt they're gonna send 'em out at some point. Got no reason not to. Problem off their hands."
"If not we'll just have to strangle us some more messengers. Might be they just have to talk to som'un higher up the food chain.", he yawned thunderously, "Methinks I'll be hitt'n the hay here. Wake me when ye wanna switch watches."
Callum had fallen into an uneasy sleep before Rayla returned. He woke to her carefully closing the door.
"You took a bit", he said sleepily and she froze, clearly not having expected him to be up. She was holding a small satchel that seemed to be filled with odd-shaped items.
"Uh. Hey. Sorry I woke you!", she said sheepishly and grabbed her linen pants and shirt from her bag.
Rayla walked toward the bathroom.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting dressed for bed?", she asked, avoiding the actual question.
"I guess I meant, what were you doing outside?", he said with barely controlled annoyance.
"Nothing. Just took a walk", she said, unconvincingly and getting a bit frustrated.
The lie put him off. Callum was now slightly angry. "Fine, don't tell me, then!"
It was clear that she was equally mad when she answered, "Yeah, I won't!"
The bathroom door closed energetically behind her and Callum got out of bed.
He wasn't going to be sharing, tonight.
Helmond could not sleep. The coming day was full of uncertainty. His entire life seemed to pivot on this one moment. He hoped quite keenly that tomorrow was going to end well for everyone but with the Predators Ortis involved, casualties were basically inevitable.
For years he had hunted and killed humans, now he was helping one. It felt strange how endearing the kid had been, sharing a drink with him. The officer rolled over.
Callum was not unlike Torlan, his son. Strong willed, temporarily lovestruck - and very naive.
Unlike the proud, headstrong Torlan though, Callum seemed to have spent a lot of time listening to everyone around him rather than barking orders. The boy had diplomatic instincts that had loosened his tongue today.
"Something to look out for", he thought.
With a pang of guilt, Helmond admitted that there was another thing Callum and Torlan shared - he had spoken about the same amount of words to them both since they had been born.