Jealousy
"It is too suspicious to sign a magical contract, we know that the magic people never used that before, so we do know for a fact that this is something this new ally of theirs came up with," Esmeralda explained. "From what happened so far, this unknown individual is quite knowledable about your tactics and considering what they demanded with the truce, it is clear that they want you out of the picture."
"But…" Rain said.
"But… we would benefit from a short period of peace, we can strengthen our forces and train more warriors in three years," Esmeralda added. "We don't have to sign any suspicious magic contracts, but we should try to negotiate with them the truce. A brief respite and avoid being attacked in several fronts will do us well."
"The problem is that they will have time to recover as well and there is no telling when they will try to stab us in the back," Branden said.
"You don't know?" Rain asked. "It is pretty obvious."