Chp.30: Do nothing

Although the time for departure had now arrived, the ships were still anchored in the same spot. This is because many people were currently sitting on the river bank. And those people were the beastmen's leaders, or at least the temporary ones they'd chosen for themselves.

Darbi had sent there the beastmen leaders in a hurry because he wanted to talk to them. He hadn't specified why: he had only sent some of the ex-slaves to call them. The beastmen leaders had obviously been quite confused by this request, but of course they couldn't refuse since Darbi, much as they despised him, was still the leader of the fleet.

So everyone had taken a boat and headed for the shore. Meanwhile Darbi had revealed his plan to Gord and Misune, and the latter had not only given their approval but also praised the initiative. After that they had done their best to revive Brenno, who had since passed out from too much beer, and after a quick treatment with buckets of ice cold water and several beatings from Gord they had managed to completely erase the effects of the drunkenness.

At that point he too had been made aware of Darbi's intentions, and Brenno had burst out laughing in anticipation of the face that the bigoted beastmen bosses would have made. Once they too were down, Darbi smoothed out a small area with his tail for everyone to sit without risking their butts resting on a sharp stone; thankfully, it would have been a hilarious scene, but not at all useful for conversation. Darbi was no genius and often acted on emotion alone, but even he knew when it was time to avoid silly situations.

When he was done, all the beastmen leaders sat down in three easily distinguishable groups. The first, the one in the center, was that of the tigermen led by Tzegorn, who from their faces seemed to be somewhat annoyed at having been called on such short notice... even if they hadn't scrupled in the previous days to look for him and force him to a conversation when they want it and without any warning. But after all, hypocrisy was certainly not a rare thing among newcomers.

The second group, placed a little further to the right, was that of the lionmen. Unlike the Tigermen, who had more than a dozen people in their party, they only had four. Furthermore, they did not rely on just one leader, but each chose for himself and then voted. If it ended in a tie, then the proposal was simply redrafted so that we could vote again. That way, they were able to make decisions while maintaining a certain degree of autonomy; in fact, according to Brenno, the lionmen were a race that gave more value to the single individual rather than to the community, and therefore it was natural that different leaders did not want to elect a momentary leader but preferred to work each on their own. Their names were Leuce, Shamar, Failemon and Yuro. All of them had powerful muscles and thick manes, with the exception of Yuro who was a lot older than the others and therefore had a more bald mane, but still had an exceptional physique. Darbi had been able to speak to them only a few hours before, when Brenno's fleet had arrived, but that was enough to understand that the opinion that the lionmen had of him was not very different from that of the tigermen; one of them, Leuce, had at least tried to be cordial and had tried to have a dialogue with the dragon, and if he had been the leader Darbi had no doubts that they would have come to a mutual understanding, but the other three hadn't even pretended to believe in him and indeed had openly shown their contempt for the possibility that a dragon was leading them.

Finally, the last group consisted of some lizardmen. After seeing what the tigermen were doing, the lizardmen had also elected some representatives, who obviously had chosen Gord as their momentary leader since he was not only the one who knew the plan most and had the best physical qualities, but he was also a dear friend of the dragon who was in charge of everything. While the lizardmen were not prejudiced against Darbi, they made an effort not to show it and to behave politely. Needless to say, they were the people Darbi got along with best.

When he'd made sure everyone was there, Darbi sat across from them, and next to him sat Brenno and Misune, while Gord, for obvious reasons, sat with the beastmen. "Gentlemen, forgive me for having brought you here on such short notice" Darbi began. "But I recently realized something that each of you needs to know"

The beastmen leaders looked at each other, and it was clear from their looks that they were worried. Darbi wondered if they were thinking that he had called them there to kill them, although that was unlikely: these people were certainly not stupid and they knew that a mass murder could not be carried out in such an open place and not far from the ships where everyone they could see it. "You see, we will be sailing steadily over the next few days, which means that our current situation will change quite a lot. Things like the distribution of food will have to be done not by one person, but by the many captains on each ship. Regularly we will need to exchange communications, and of course sentries will be needed to make sure no ship gets left behind or crashes on a rock in the night. And that, of course, assuming the weather is in optimum condition..."

"The point" Failemon grumbled. He certainly didn't say it out of contempt: as boss he knew that all the problems listed by Darbi were real, and that it was important to talk about them. However, he knew that if someone began to list the issues of a certain event at the beginning of the discussion, this meant that he was aiming to intimidate the opponent into getting exactly what he wanted, so continuing to let him speak would only be harmful.

"As you wish" Darbi said. "What I mean, gentlemen, is that this fleet needs a capable leader who knows how to keep everything stable during the voyage. And I realized that I cannot be that leader"

All of them were completely taken aback and opened their eyes and some even their mouths involuntarily. The only ones who didn't bat an eye were Brenno, Misune and Gord who obviously already knew Darbi's intentions. But all the others could not understand his words. "What do you mean?" Tzegorn asked trying to shed light on that mystery.

Darbi shook his head strickenly. "The events of these days have helped me to think. The one who will lead this fleet must at least have the trust of the leaders of these three peoples, and I don't possess it. I cannot force you to trust me. But without trust, this fleet is in danger of being destroyed from within. It's one thing to run things while we're anchored here, with ships at rest and people who can travel from ship to ship to help with anything. When we're on our way, that won't be anymore possible, and each ship must therefore fully comply with the leader's orders. If only one of you were to disobey, then ships could collide, food could go low, water supplies could dry up, or other unfortunate events could take place. Therefore I can't be the leader of this fleet. No, you need someone like Zamor, the one who formed this rebel group and whom you will soon know, whom everyone trusts and who everyone follows. So, I have made a decision. I hereby relinquish any of my roles in this fleet, and place command in your hands. You won't have to worry about me anymore"

The beastmen leaders let out a muffled 'oooh' when they heard this. They couldn't believe their ears: it was truly absurd that a dragon, a creature known for its greed and possessiveness, would voluntarily give up a position of absolute command. While they were glad that they finally wouldn't have to account for their actions to him, they all suspected there was something going on, but no one could figure out what. Silence reigned for a while, and finally it was Leuce who took the initiative: "Well, if Darbi here has relinquished his title, then we must immediately reform the command structure if we are to set sail today. We must succeed in find a way to make the fleet work even now that we are all in command. Darbi, could you please provide us with details on the distribution of supplies, obstacles in the way and so on?"

The beastmen leaders didn't have this position at all; all of them could see that while leaving Darbi in charge had drawbacks, taking him away had many more. Darbi was like a thread holding all the ships anchored together; without that thread, the ships would have drifted away on their own. Darbi controlled everything, from the distribution of food to that of the dormitories, he selected the tasks and duties of each one, he knew the route to follow and thanks to his photographic memory he knew exactly what obstacles he would encounter along the way, and so on. There was a reason why, despite their contempt, none of them had tried to get Darbi out of the way in any way, even if they were a lot and he was alone.

But when Leuce asked his question, Darbi seemed to have just woken up from a long sleep: "Uh? Forgive me, maybe I expressed myself badly. I won't stay here with you, and I don't have to give you any details. I'm no longer your commander, consequently only my good will could convince me to help you, and I think it is obvious to everyone that the attitude shown towards me on your part hasn't greatly helped my good will"

The beastmen leaders' eyes narrowed. Here's where the catch was. "What do you mean?" they asked him.

Darbi let out a bored snort. "My men and I will leave on our own. It is clear that I am not welcome here, and you have made it clear many times. Therefore I will accommodate you by personally getting out of the way. You will no longer have to warn your children against the evil dragon. I'll leave as soon as we finish this conversation"

"Are you going to abandon the fleet? With your men?" Tzegorn blanched, followed by all the others. The reason was simple: it was Darbi's men who really ran the navigation! The lionmen, tigermen and lizardmen knew next to nothing about running a ship. Not only were almost all those who were able to do so dead by now, but these peoples lived in environments that rarely led them to sail, therefore they knew little or nothing about ships. They could do purely manual work, such as rowing or hoisting the sails, but they needed someone to handle all the work and be able to use the wheel. Until now it had been the soldiers in Darbi's service who had done it… but now Darbi wanted to take them away. "You agree?" Tzegorn asked Brenno, hoping he would deny.

But the minotaur instead nodded vigorously. "The commander has resigned his position as head of the fleet, not as our leader. And neither I nor anyone else has any intention of relinquishing the commander, I have already checked personally"

That was a lie: Brenno hadn't checked at all, because Darbi didn't want too many people to know what they were saying in that discussion. If he had done so, he probably would have found many who would have preferred to stay with their peoples and help them. But since the beastmen leaders couldn't know that, then Brenno could use that lie to scare them.

Darbi cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to him. "Yes, I intend to take all my men with me, since Zamor entrusted them to me and they fought with my trust in me. Oh, and of course I will also take away the ex-slaves: after all, my brother would kill me if I left them behind, especially this crazy one here"

Misune felt a little offended to be called that, but she knew that Darbi was doing it in a joking way, and that she had to play along with him, so she said: "I can confirm that. After all, Haku cares about me a lot. If Darbi comes back without me, surely his brother will make him pay. And all the other ex-slaves who are here came because I convinced them to, so it would be unfair of me to leave them behind"

The beastmen bosses were turning a strange color, a mix of red with rage and pallor with concern. The ex-slaves were primarily responsible for caring for the wounded, the elderly and orphaned children: they could not leave! Without them, many people would have had no one to rely on. Even if there were some among their peoples who knew something about medicinal herbs, they were an extremely small number. "Are you going to take away our underwear too!?" Yuko growled furiously.

Darbi played dumb: "What's wrong with you? Wasn't that exactly what you wanted? Every time we met, you said you were worried I was up to something, and that you wanted my guarantee that I wouldn't do anything. Well, now I have satisfied you. I will do absolutely anything... which also means that all the people under my command will do anything. You will no longer have my help, either as a simple adviser or as an assistant or as a support of any sort. I'll just leave and rid you of my presence, and I'll do exactly what you want: nothing. Shouldn't you be happy about that? Well? Why aren't you celebrating?"