Chp.8: The lizardmen's situation

Thora became so tense that her scales almost seemed to detach from her skin. Her eyes became like two slits. "You're talking to the wrong person. I don't have a husband" she said. "Now go away"

"Madam, please. We didn't come here randomly asking around, and this excuse won't be enough to convince us" Rhaegal replied. "We know that you were having an affair with Zamor Adelia, and that you were married. And we also know that your husband has been framed. We have already identified the real culprits, but we are still looking for the man behind it. We have reason to believe that it is mainly a group of extremist priests supported by unscrupulous nobles and merchants, but we need to know what is really happening in the Baudonia City Alliance to establish it with certainty"

Thora looked surprised by his words, but her gaze didn't grow less suspicious. "How do you know such things? Who are you really?"

"We can't reveal our true identity to you, but we can tell you this: we want to free your husband" Rhaegal replied. "We want to know what is really going on in the Baudonia City Alliance. The reports that are being delivered to the royal palace probably don't contain the reality. We need your help"

"Other people have said similar words to me in the past, but it didn't end well" Thora said. "How do I know you don't work for them? Are you by any chance royal agents? Do you have any way of proving to me that you have good intentions?"

Rhaegal was silent. Indeed, the lizardman had no reason to believe him. "If you don't have it, just leave. I don't want any more trouble" Thora said as she went back to planting the flowers.

Rhaegal sighed, a little bitter at the lack of trust. He was about to retort, but suddenly Sarah stepped forward and said: "We're not royal agents, ma'am. We're just adventurers who want to know what's going on in their home"

The others looked at the woman in utter confusion. To begin with, they didn't have the faintest idea what Sarah was saying. And secondly, she had never, until now, helped the dragons unless they ordered her to; while Carlos and Efren occasionally lent their support and seemed almost accustomed to the three dragons by now, Sarah had remained very hostile towards them. So it was strange that she suddenly wanted to help them.

Thora looked even more confused than they. "What do you mean by 'your home'?" she asked.

Sarah clenched her fists, as if she was unsure of what she was about to say or if it was a good idea to say it. "Ma'am, I know this might sound absurd to you… but we are from the Baudonia City Alliance. Even though we look like this, we are not human. We are catman" she said, then she nodded to Rhaegal. "Show it to her"

Rhaegal was beginning to understand what Sarah wanted to do, so he played along. He raised his hood to hide from anyone, and then used the invisibility rune to alter his appearance. In an instant, whiskers sprouted on his face and his ears lengthened and moved to the top of his head, his facial features became leaner and more stylized, and a light fur covered his skin. Rhaegal didn't know much about catmen and so was using a fairly predefined look, lacking detailed characteristics, but that seemed to be enough because Thora was speechless. "You... how did you do it?"

"That would be hard to explain" Rhaegal replied, not knowing how else to answer. After that he altered his appearance again and returned to having a human face; he didn't want anyone else to notice.

Thora opened and closed her mouth a couple of times without saying anything, then she finally asked: "Why would some catmen disguise themselves as humans?"

"We haven't always done this. Up until a few months ago, we lived with our normal appearance. But recently, we've started to suspect that not everything we were told about the Baudonia City Alliance was true. So we used a trick to disguise ourselves. Humans talk more easily if they're with other humans. That's how we found out a lot… not good things, including the false accusation for you and your husband" Sarah explained, then took Thora's hand and squeezed it. "But we need to know more. We need to know what's happening to our people. Please, ma'am, you're the only one we can turn to. We have relatives over there, we need to know if they're all right"

Thora looked somewhat indecisive. Doubt had clearly appeared in her eyes, while the suspicion was much diminished. Indeed, she thought, the people who had fabricated false evidence against Zamor and her were already aware of what they knew; they didn't need to send someone to question her. On the contrary, those people seemed sincere, especially the woman with the red hair.

In the end she made her decision. "Okay. I'll tell you what I know" she said. "But you must know that you won't like what I will say. The only positive thing I can tell you is that your relatives, unless they are hotheads, are probably still alive"

Rhaegal was elated: it had worked, the lizardman was now willing to talk! He couldn't show his joy though, so he pretended he was just relieved. "Well, at least some good news" he said. "But what's really happening there?"

Thora seemed to bite her lip. "Initially, things weren't too bad. The army garrisoned every town and village, but they weren't too violent. They kept order, sure, but other than that they were friendly and tried hard not to be too threatening. Even though we had lost the war, we thought it wouldn't be so bad to be part of the Jurao Kingdom, and many had started working to obtain citizenship... but then, some priests arrived". Her fists clenched slightly. "Those priests... they weren't like the ones of this temple. They were much more... extreme. At first they just preached, but then they started persecuting the beastmen who didn't convert to their religion. If anyone dared to display the symbols of another god, they were branded a heretic and brutally killed. That commander, Carrion, and many generals of the army supported them, and although the soldiers were initially reluctant, in the end almost all of them turned a blind eye. The priests became more and more violent and began to persecute even those who did not go to the temple, then all those who did not they seemed to pray sincerely... and to scare even more they prevented the burial of the bodies of the so-called heretics, which were hung over the city walls as if they were capons"

This matched what the dragons knew. Apparently exactly what they had predicted had happened: Carrion, with the help of some corrupt generals, had allowed the extremist faction to do as they pleased in the Baudonia City Alliance, with the aim of causing more and more discontent and causing an uprising. And apparently it looked like they were making a serious effort to do so.

The three adventurers looked a little uncomfortable. Efren and Carlos were clearly not very happy, but Sarah in particular looked quite disgusted. "So it's true... it's all true..." she whispered to herself, as if up to that moment she hadn't really believed that story. "Is that why you and Zamor came here? To warn the king of this persecution?"

But Thora shook her head. "No. We came here to save our people"

Sarah was dumbfounded for a moment. "What?"

"Some beastmen have received much worse treatment than the one I just listed to you. The lionmen and tigermen, which are the peoples from whom the two legendary levels came who fought in the war... and the lizardmen, who provided the hydra who later escaped, was recaptured, and was turned into a calamity" Thora explained. "Even though almost all the warriors of these peoples died in the war, Carrion still wanted them to pay. Unlike other peoples, they were sentenced to forced labor. The soldiers took away everything we owned and then forced to drain the swamps where we lived. Everyone, even the children, was forced to work. Our eggs were destroyed in front of their mothers. We all had to work at least sixteen hours a day, and if anyone dared stop they were whipped"

Sarah appeared to be on the verge of vomiting. She was pale as a corpse. "Has anyone tried to do anything? The soldiers…?"

"As I told you, most of them pretended to not see anything. And those who tried to protest… didn't end up very well" Thora replied. "There was this sergeant, Utom, who was very nice to us. With the help of his men he provided us with food and medicine, and created some routes through which the children and their parents could escape. He saved many lives, and over time he became convinced that it was necessary to go and talk to the king". The lizardman wiped her eyes, from which some tears seemed to be falling. "One day we found him in front of the labor camp. They had hanged him and a third of his men for treason"

"What!?". Now Efren and Carlos were also upset. "But that goes against the military code! No one can sentence a soldier to death in peacetime without a fair trial!"

"The military code has no effect in the Baudonia City Alliance. Carrion rules there. And as long as his corrupt generals help him check reports sent to the king, he won't notice a thing. Most likely the king believes those men are died while suppressing a gang of bandits or something like that" Thora replied. "My husband... he was a great friend of that sergeant. He believed in his words, he believed that the king would help us. So he decided to follow in his footsteps and come and talk to him. Thanks to the help of some guards remained loyal to Utom, we and several of our friends managed to escape. But when we got here we were prevented from seeing the king. My husband wanted to organize a big protest in the streets of the capital, so that the ruler would come to know about us for sure... but as you well know, they arrested us before we could do it"

When that story ended, the lizardman could no longer keep from crying. Almost instinctively, she hugged Sarah, who was directly in front of her, as if seeking some comfort. The woman looked completely shocked, and not knowing what else to do hugged her back trying to comfort her. "You did a very brave thing indeed" she whispered to her.

Thora was now shaking in sobs. "W-We were just fishermen!" she exclaimed. "My husband… he could fight because his father trained him as a child… b-but he never used a weapon in his life after that time! And now he's locked up in that awful place, fighting and killing every day... and then... and then...". Her grip tightened even more. "W-We were about to have a child! It was supposed to be born last spring! T-They... they crushed our egg... w-we didn't even get to see it hatched... we don't even know if it was going to be a boy or a girl... we won't even know its face..."

The more the lizardman spoke, the more the little color left on Carlos and Efren's faces faded. Sarah looked like she was about to cry too, but she steeled herself and held on. Thora continued to cry for nearly half an hour, then she finally calmed down. "Thank you" she whispered, pulling away from Sarah. "I'm sorry to have made you see such a sight..."

"Y-You don't have to apologize!" the woman exclaimed in a strangled voice. "You have every right to cry... after what you've been through..."

Thora wiped away her tears and sniffled. "If you really have relatives in the Baudonia City Alliance, then take my advice: go get them now and take them away, before the situation gets worse and other races are punished like us"

Sarah bit her lip. Now she felt really bad for lying to her. "Is there anything we can do to help you?"

Thora shook her head. "When you leave this temple, forget about me. You will only get yourself into trouble trying to do anything" she said. "At least, life here isn't bad. The days are very simple, I don't have to work hard and I can pray every day for the soul of my husband and the child I should have had. I'll be fine. Just think for yourself, it's better this way"

The group members looked each other in the eyes, then nodded at her words. They stayed with her for some time longer, then when they were sure she had recovered from her seizure they left. They went to greet the priests again, thanked them for their hospitality, and then they left the temple.

No one spoke for a long time. When they were far enough finally Carlos asked: "What do we do now?"

Rhaegal shrugged. "We got what we wanted. Let's go back to the city and communicate the information we got to the others"

He didn't think he had said anything too terrible, but at those words Sarah literally seemed to explode: "Seriously!? SERIOUSLY!? Is this your reaction!? Did you even listen to what that poor woman told us!? How can you act like anything happened!?"

"I have listened, and I have heard her sad story. But we aren't here for her, but for the information she could give us. We have it now, so we have no reason to think about her any more" Rhaegal replied.

"Of course we have reason!" Sarah yelled. "We can't just walk away and ignore what we've been told! I feel sorry for that lizardman and everything she's had to go through! Do you have no heart!?"

"Even if we cared, there's nothing we can do for her. So stop pestering yourself and forget her" Rhaegal said.

"I CANNOT!". Sarah's eyes seemed to flash. "Not everyone has zero empathy like you, okay!? I can't put it all behind me! It's not easy for a human to ignore the suffering of others! We aren't...". She seemed to consider which insult to use, and in the end she chose the worst. "We aren't DRAGONS!"

Silence fell between them, and suddenly the atmosphere seemed heavy. "Take back what you said, now" Rhaegal hissed. "Or I'll show you how a dragon really behaves"

But for the first time, Sarah didn't seem to care. She continued to stare at Rhaegal with a murderous glare, as if to invite him to force her to take back what she had said. Rhaegal seemed to be about to punch her, but suddenly Corgorin intervened. "Forget it, brother, she's just telling the truth. Humans and dragons are different… dragons aren't hypocrites" she said dryly. "She says it's hard for humans to ignore the suffering of others, and yet most of their army ignores the suffering of beastmen, and in the cities the rich ignore the suffering of the poor, and even these three adventurers turn a blind eye to the suffering of the beasts they kill. At least us dragons are consistent..."

"Corgorin, stop" Serengal said interrupting her. Corgorin seemed to want to retort, but a glare from her sister made her give up. "We've all got our nerves on edge right now, so let's go back to town and relax, and then we'll figure out what to do. Okay?"

"Yes, we agree" Efren replied, stopping Sarah before she could say anything. The group then resumed walking in the direction of the capital, much more disgruntled than when they had arrived.