Strategy meeting

The men on horses were wary of me now.

No surprises there, I would be too after my last performance as Smaug, and the three celestial beings following me everywhere like puppies.

We were half a day away from the fortified walls of the imperial capital and the forbidden city. I could almost smell the end of my journey and the uncertainty of my future. I did not doubt I would win, but what would happen after that.

When the uncertainty began to consume my heart I once again heard Marduk’s words like an echo from happier times ‘Worry not about things you have no control about. Think of the present, and what you can do to change it to your advantage.’

He had been silent this whole while, probably thinking I had gone insane or giving me time to mourn in my own, destructive way.

The chieftains Carbon and Mutugen were ecstatic with the developments, but Khashi was not, and he told me so in person when he came alone to the spot I had chosen to meditate and sleep.