Ellis sat on the inn's rooftop eyeing Indels Castle as he ate his supper. He was bored of Bale already but there was the odd and narrow chance that Lloyd might side with the Dragoons. The maid hadn't even said anything when he had told her to bring the stew and bread to the roof today; it was a sure sign he should leave soon. Still, the thought nagged at him. He had long since learned not to put Lloyd above anything.

'I probably should have killed him,' he mused.

************

"Why would the spirits try to kill us?" Dart demanded.

Lloyd shook his head mockingly, "Don't you get anything?" He walked to the cell bars again and leaned on them haphazardly. "First you slay them then you enslave them to an eternity of servitude, who wouldn't be a little upset? They are forced each and every time you transform to give up their legendary power, their birthright, to you." He paused for drama. "They say love has the power to bring back the dead well hate has the power to kill."

"So, how do we defeat them?"

"Destroy your spirits."

"No. You defeated the Thunder Wraith, tell me how to do it."

"Release me, and I will."

Both Lloyd and Dart glanced at each other then the Dragon Block Staff.

"I don't have the power to do that," Dart finally said.

"Then bring it to your king."

*************

"Is he the one that has the Blue Water Dragoon Spirit?"

Ellis nodded, "The one in the red armour."

"He's the Divine Dragoon too?"

"Yes."

Ellis was handed back the small telescope. "Can we risk an assault?"

"What? On the castle?" he asked, bewildered. "You winglies are crazy, no! We'll have them all on us if we do that!"

"We can't handle all of them?"

"I never said that, I'm just saying there's no need to find out if we can," Ellis replied.

"I suppose. We're not here to start another war."

"No, we're not. Now, get outta here. I told you that I'd handle it."

She flew off leaving Ellis to his plans.

*******************

"I don't like it; he's trying to play us," Miranda consulted.

"Well, I think that's obvious," Shana commented.

Albert put up his hands to quiet everyone. Something buzzed inside him, almost like stagefright. Fear, anger, anxiety - all rolled into one - wrapped a sinuous hold around his conscience. He couldn't just let Lloyd go but he couldn't just ignore the winglies offer either, even if there was only a speck of truth in it. Albert began rubbing his brow sub-consciously as he thought both courses of action through.

"I think there's a lot of credit to Miranda's instincts," Albert remarked. "For one we don't even know who it was that first brought Lloyd in and how exactly he got a hold of the Dragon Block Staff in the first place. For all we know this could be one huge ploy . . ." he sighed. "On the other hand, he may very well be acting out of some self-preservation tactic because he truly is powerless at the moment." Albert stood and walked around his desk so that he could lean on the front of it. With one last attempt to shake off the smothering feelings, he realized they couldn't go on playing it safe. "But we do need him because he is the only one who seems to know about any of this." The king nodded to the guards waiting at the door, "Dart, I want you to go with them. Tell Lloyd that I accept his terms. We'll let him go providing he help us and with the stipulation that we keep his Dragon Spirit as collateral."

Dart nodded and left with the Royal Guard in tow.

"I hope this was the right thing to do, king," Miranda quipped.

'So do I,' Albert admonished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`````

Thanks for reading, sorry it's so short. Next chap longer, I promise!