Some good news

Arriving in the throne room, they found the King arguing with Lord Eigard about governmental matters, reviewing agreements, and commenting on other kingdoms. The ministers talked and commented peacefully, completely different from the day before.

The court, composed mostly of magicians, was seriously discussing. A soldier suddenly approached, bowing in the middle of the hall – Your Highness, I bring news from the dragon empire.

Everyone was silent, the eyes of both father and son, Eigard and Aillard, sparkled with curiosity. Loona, the King of Waterfall, looked at the guard with a serious expression – Speak.

The guard stood up, speaking respectfully – The port of Cantellia of the Zhenan Empire was attacked yesterday morning. The loss was immeasurable. It was said that some suspects are still being questioned, but nothing has been done about it since the occurrence.

The hall was completely silent. Most were in shock by the event. Others, indignant or doubtful, who would dare to attack them?

Eigard, on the other hand, felt strange with the news, was there something wrong, was it their own move, or were they really attacked in broad daylight?

Loona stared at the guard for a while, sighing – I see. Is there anything else?

The guard continued – The Queen of Dragons signed a decree this morning. This document has something to do with our traders and merchants who sell on the west coast of the Empire.

Loona pursed her lips. He had just heard how well his people were treated in the land of dragons. This sudden decree, what is it about?

– We'll probably be getting a notice later this afternoon – One minister commented. The others whispered, what orders were these the dragon woman going to impose on them?

Although he was in someone else's kingdom, Eigard still spoke - It is probably a good thing for the kingdom, your majesty. I learned that the queen of dragons is a kind woman and that it was thanks to her that the number of merchants from other lands within their dominance increased.

– They are good people trying to earn a living. As a woman, inevitably, she would not refuse to help them – Another minister spoke, and the others laughed lightly, thinking: women are more sensitive. They would not deny help to some poor families.

Aillard looked at them, thinking that the queen of dragons was quite cunning. Without showing pride or superiority, she probably convinced the king to take a softer attitude even after they were suddenly attacked.

They chose to slowly create and strengthen a relationship that dragons did not have with other realms.

The king waved for everyone to be quiet, a little worried he decided to ignore any other subject and focused on what happened last morning.

Dismissing his ministers, he argued with Eigard over the matter. Lord Eigard shared his knowledge and ideas of what might have happened, but Loona wasn't convinced.

– Your majesty, this type of attack really is very strange, there's definitely something wrong – Eigard said with a doubtful expression.

Sitting on his throne, Loona looked at Eigard – So you really think it was something they did?

– Maybe… what I think is that this couldn't have been done by others, it was an attack in broad daylight, it doesn't make sense.

Aillard and Leonar were hidden in a corner of the throne room, the arguing leaders too absorbed to notice that the boys were listening.

– What do you think Aillard? – Leonar whispered asking.

Aillard pursed his lips – I think what my father said makes sense, but I don't think it was the king's plan…

– What do you mean?

Aillard looked at him – For what purpose would they attack these ships? What was in them?

– Perhaps, it was some kind of affront?

Aillard looked at him thoughtfully, frowning – Maybe that was it…

News of this attack reached virtually every kingdom, and everyone without exception felt surprised and impressed.

'It was probably just an accident, a strong wind…'

'There was an explosion, what kind of wind would blow up a ship?'

'Not just one, hundreds'

Bavellis looked down at the letters he was reading, sighing – News travels so fast.

– It's not often that others hear that we suffer an attack, even more so... – Leah pursed his lips – An attack in broad daylight...

Bavellis lightly lifted the cards in his hand, holding them close to his lips, he burned them – How humiliating.

Leah drank a little more from the bottle of wine he was holding, his long braided hair falling over his shoulders, his tired look – I hear the king intends to form alliances... That is true?

Hearing his question, Bavellis replied with a serious expression – Yes.

Leah snorted – We never had the need for an alliance, what's the good of forming an alliance now?

Bavellis nodded slightly at Leah's speech, lightly massaging his temples – I don't understand either, these little creatures don't reach our feet, there must be some kind of conspiracy about our race...

– How is it possible for us great and majestic creatures to suffer this kind of loss? – Leah looked at the bottle in his hands – Lesser things, they are like mice on my paws, if I could, I would end all this tyranny soon, I want my freedom, I want to fly over the ocean, I want to be able to use my claws and teeth and… shatter them like they were nothing...

Bavellis looked at him, Leah was absorbed in his own mind, Bavellis knew his friend's indifference to any other creature, he couldn't judge him because, in a way, he agreed with him.

Bavellis gathered some glasses that were on the table, all used by him and Leah while they argued during the night, after a while, Leah got tired of serving one glass at a time and took the bottle to drink, and when Bavellis tried to stop it, a soldier appeared before them.

– General. Commander.

Both looked at him at the same time, the soldier spoke as he bowed – The king requests your presence.

Bavellis and Leah stared at each other for a second before straightening their clothes and heading to the throne room.

Arriving there, they knelt before the king, who was talking with his queen.

Rairin waved them to their feet, looking at the other great leaders of their race in the hall.

The throne room was occupied by the most powerful families of their race. Dragons of earth, fire, water, and other magic came together for a sudden meeting.

Leah looked around, and once he found his family, he nodded at them. His father, one of the greatest leaders in the deep south, smiled, looking at him with a proud expression.

Leah too was of royal blood, but like many others in the throne room, they did not ascend and even now, their power could no longer be strengthened to the point of achieving the gift of domination a king should have.

Among all the families present, the only pure-blood house that did not attend was the Ocannanes Family, as their only heir was forbidden to leave the place to which she was resigned.

Alba Ocannanes was forbidden to leave Silverleak, for ulterior motives known only to the King and Queen.

Everyone was curious to know why his majesty had summoned them to such an urgent meeting, it wasn't very common for something like this to happen.

Rairin looked at everyone present, there were only two people left, but they couldn't attend.

He stood up. Everyone quickly bowed to him.

Rairin nodded – The reason I called them here was so that an alliance could finally be discussed.

Rairin was stared at by confused expressions, what alliances? What was his majesty talking about?

The leaders of the east looked to the queen. Had not an alliance already been made? Thanks to the marriage of their majesties, the North, West and East were somehow connected, the South had as its main representative, Prince Leah, who was the greatest Commander of the Empire.

Rairin took a deep breath, speaking – I'm discussing an alliance with the other races.

The moment he said that the hall fell silent. Rairin was met with confused looks again, but among those looks, some were disbelieving and some were indignant.

– About that, the attack of the previous morning presented exorbitant damages for our race, and our territory has presented problems in terms of health and economy. Now, we may in the future have a drop in the number of people born in a century.

One of those present stepped forward to speak – Does His Majesty speak about the loss of pearls? We have enough mines in the south to replace the damage.

Hearing his speech, the current leader of the south, Leah's father spoke – The mines are dry, our exploration was unnecessary in the last centuries, which caused this great loss of raw material.

– Well, we have a lot of gold…

– What? Do you want to scrap our houses and palaces to replace this? What a humiliation.

– Our babies are much more important than some houses and palaces.

– I'm not saying they're not important, I just don't want something like: "the dragons are having to tear down their palaces to strengthen their nests because they're too poor to have both", to be spread among the other creatures.

– He's right, we would be the butt of jokes and mockery.

– I agree with Minister Zhang, and also, taking from one to focus on the other does not seem very profitable. Where will these children who will be born live? In stone houses? Let's not be ridiculous.

A fervent discussion broke out in the throne room, Rairin didn't stress at all about what happened, he just went back and sat on his throne, trying to make the most of the discussion.

There were hours of doubts and debates, all involving the loss of a significant population that they would have in the future.

Ikalles was at the king's side, also listening to the lines of those who debated.

They still didn't know the mastermind of the attack, but they needed to solve the problem as soon as possible.

Until someone finally decided to ask: – Your majesty, if you allow me, with which kingdom we would be making this alliance?

Everyone stopped and looked at Rairin, depending on his response, the discussion would become even more hectic.

An alliance with Argon was out of the question, both had misgivings about each other. Both had a single dominant race, while Zhenan belonged to the dragons, Argon belonged to a specific race of shapeshifting mages, who called themselves: birds.

They were simply human-looking creatures, some with slight elven features, and they had wings on their backs. For dragons, birds were very showing off, it wasn't just them that had so many vibrant colors and powerful magic, dragons had that too, and unlike birds, dragons were big and lived much longer.