Chp.33: One last talk

Haku within minutes reached the base of the gorge. Even though he hadn't climbed the rock for two years now, since the last time he had done it was when he sneaked out of his mother's cave to go find food elsewhere, that didn't mean he didn't remember how it was done. Even though his body was now bigger and heavier, he also had increased muscle mass and claw grip, so it wasn't difficult for him to hang from the vertical wall; and since Haku memorized any information perfectly, he knew very well which rocks and minerals were strong enough to support his weight, so he knew where to put his paws and prevent the rock from collapsing under his feet.

Once he got to the ground he looked blankly at the pile of rocks. It was at least five meters tall and must have weighed tens of tons. Even he and his siblings together would take days to move them all. Carrion had no chance of breaking free. Even if he wasn't dead (Haku thought it was highly unlikely), there was no way he could lift that much weight before he'd at least partially recovered from the hydra's poison, spirit summoning, and nullification rune. At present, even if he had still been conscious, he would have been trapped under the pile of rock. Exactly like Haku wanted.

"Brother!" Kialandì's voice came from above. Haku looked up and saw the royal basilisk controlled by his sister land in front of him. Maleficent jumped off her back and gave him a quick hug. "You succeeded! We won!"

Haku looked around. By now the jet of water that gushed from the ground was almost completely exhausted and the precious liquid had cooled down. Not a single living human was to be seen: everywhere there were only beastmen celebrating triumphantly. "Yes. We won" he commented satisfied, and then he noticed a person approaching. It was Zamor.

"Judging by the mess you've made, I'd say Carrion is gone" the lizardman said as soon as he was in front of him. "Even though I knew you had thought of everything, I still have to congratulate you. It's not for everyone to kill a legendary level. My compliments"

It was actually very unlikely that Carrion was dead, but Haku didn't correct Zamor. The dragon didn't want the man to die, because that would have deteriorated relations with King Marcus, and that would have been of no use to anyone. Even if Carrion had committed treachery, he remained a legendary level, and therefore killing him meant depriving the Jurao Kingdom of an important military force that served to defend the nation. Killing him would have been no different than a declaration of war. And Haku preferred to avoid antagonizing the king, at least while he was still on the wrong side of the Skai River; once he passed it and reached the desert, he would have no qualms about it. Furthermore, the dragon was not even sure how the goddess Heloisa would react to the killing of her chosen one; although judging by the tales and stories it was unlikely that she would have done anything, it was still best not to mess with unknown and dangerous forces.

This was logical reasoning. However, Haku was pretty sure the beastmen wouldn't have listened to logic. They hated Carrion for his actions and certainly they wouldn't have been satisfied that he was punished by simple confinement in his mansion. They wanted more, they wanted his blood. They wanted to see Carrion dead. Therefore, Haku had omitted from Zamor the fact that he had told the king that he would spare Carrion (at least initially) and had defeated the man with a landslide so that he really looked dead. Thus, the beastmen would be convinced that justice was done. And if in the future Carrion was stupid enough to go after them, Haku could just say that he really thought that he was dead, but that after all everyone believed that. No one could blame him: the only way to verify the man's death would have been to remove the pile of stones, but that would have taken days and they didn't have that much time. Even if Zamor suspected something, he wouldn't have been able to accuse Haku of anything.

Haku wasn't worried about Carrion chasing them. By the time he was able to fully restore his power and break free they would already have several days, maybe a whole week ahead of him. Before he could reach them they would be very close to the desert, so by then Haku would no longer have had to fear any repercussions from King Marcus and could give Carrion a real death. The prospect of facing him again didn't scare him: he already had a new plan in mind, one that would have allowed him to kill him much more easily and personally.

So, in a nutshell, Haku had absolutely nothing to fear. Neither the judgment of the king, nor that of the beastmen, nor the vengeance of Carrion. Everything had gone exactly as he wanted. "How many men have we lost?" he asked Zamor, even though he already expected an answer.

"Not even one" the lizardman responded. "At least, among the men I led. I can't tell you about the ones my wife led, since we haven't met again yet"

All as expected. Haku was sure that, with all the help he had given him, Zamor would have been able to lead the beastmen to victory without losing a single man. The lizardman, while not having excellent leadership skills, was still very good at military tactics, so he would surely have been able to take advantage of the situation Haku created for him. Defeat five thousand soldiers and one legendary level without losing a single man... he was pretty sure that story would have became a legend. Now that could be called a total victory.

"Let's not waste time" Haku said. "Order your men to collect all the soldiers' weapons, equipment, armor and anything else. Leave the bodies there, they are ours"

Zamor nodded. He knew that Haku would not have agreed to leave without a loot, and it was normal that such loot was the bodies of soldiers and possibly their mounts (in particular, he had noticed that Haku looked at Carrion's wyvern with great interest). Knowing Haku he probably would have preferred to keep everything to himself, but he had decided to divide the loot by giving the beastmen the part that interested him least so as not to create discontent.

And in fact that was exactly Haku's intention. Beastmen didn't do anything with corpses, while they were very useful to dragons; similarly the dragons now had enough money and connections to buy any weapons, so they didn't need to steal them. Basically, everyone would have had what they needed. Furthermore, Haku knew that any unidentified magic item or potion should be given to Maldor and Isaac, since they were the only ones who understood anything, therefore he would have immediately discovered if there was anything of value among the soldiers' possessions and he could have thought how to appropriate it later. At the moment he was more interested in the corpses; those of soldiers would have provided him with much food, but those of winged creatures could be very useful in various ways.

And in case anyone considered it too macabre… he would kindly have reminded them that according to the version they had offered to the king all the soldiers' bodies had been burned due to the epidemic, so they couldn't leave them lying around; might as well make the most of them, right? However, he didn't fear this eventuality too much: when his sisters began to collect the corpses, in fact, Haku noticed that the beastmen seemed satisfied rather than disgusted. Evidently, their hatred for those people made them think it was right that they should not have a grave but instead end up digested in the belly of a dragon.

However, Haku still had one last thing to do. For a while he helped collect the bodies, then as soon as everyone was distracted enough he left and hid in a secluded place; after which he closed his eyes and connected to an avatar, the avatar with which Kotaru had faced Carrion. Haku had obviously made a connection with that body a long time ago; he had done it with the bodies of all his siblings, to be able to use them in case of need, as he had done with Rhaegal's to talk to Gerard.

Below the pile of stones, Carrion was motionless, crushed by several boulders. He was still alive: with his divine power he had created a barrier to resist against the landslide. However, he barely had the strength to keep this barrier active and avoid being crushed: he would have had to wait a long time before he could free himself, or even move the rocks enough to sit up. Next to him, partially mangled by the rocks, there were the two avatars of Finiar and Kotaru, and both still had their heads intact thanks to the fact that they had clung to Carrion at the time of the landslide, and therefore his barrier had protected them too.

Suddenly the head of Kotaru's avatar opened its eyes. But the voice that came out of it was much more masculine. "Are you having fun?"

Carrion just turned his head. "Haku?" he murmured. "Are you a necromancer too? A dragon who is a necromancer?"

"Dragons are many things. The stories that you newcomers tell reveal only a small part of our nature" Haku answered voluntarily remaining vague. "I'm here to inform you that your life will be saved, at least for today. I won't kill you. You just have to wait for your power to reconstitute and you'll can get out of here"

Carrion narrowed his eyes. "Why?" he asked. "Why did you spare me? I'm sure you knew this landslide wouldn't kill me. Why did you want me to live?"

"You are insightful" Haku laughed. "The answer is simple. I made a deal with your king, and I promised him that you would live. I made him an offer he couldn't refuse"

Carrion's eyes widened. "A deal? With the king?"

Haku quickly explained everything to him. He didn't go into details, but he told him that soon all the labor camps would have been liberated and his men killed, while the king would prevent aid from the cities by posing it as a serious epidemic. He explained both the pros and cons of that proposal, effectively explaining to Carrion that it was an extremely advantageous deal for both parties. When he finished, Carrion was shocked: "You... how did you do all this behind my back?"

"Being silent and stealthy is another virtue of dragons. I know how to remain unnoticed" Haku replied.

Carrion grit his teeth. "The king will never do as..."

"... as I ordered him? He doesn't really have a choice, have you forgotten?" Haku asked him hinting that he could unleash the fury of 'The spider' at any time. "But even leaving that detail out... what do you think the king would do? Would he fight me to defend your pride and then expose your misdeeds to all the kingdom and other nations... or would he prefer to follow my proposal and cover it all up?"

Carrion did not answer. He knew the dragon was right: that was what the king would have done. Suddenly he realized that everything had danced on the palm of Haku's hand (or rather, paw) from the beginning; even he had been just a pawn.

"Let me tell you very clearly, high royal general Carrion: you lost" Haku said in a more severe voice. "There is no longer any version in which you could emerge triumphant from this situation. The only thing that you can do now is recover, go back to your kingdom and accept the punishment that the king will give you. Because know that, if you dare to follow me, I will kill you. I spared you this time because you are more useful to me alive, but if you will prove to be a problem I won't hesitate to eliminate you. I promised your king that I would have let you live during our first fight, but I also told him flatly that if you will be stupid enough to chase me I will show you no mercy. Do you think you've seen my worst side today? You haven't seen anything"

Carrion shivered slightly. The dragon's tone was so scary that it made his blood run cold. However, he still had his pride. "Don't think you can scare me. You won only thanks to your deceptions. If I attack you when you least expect it and I will defeat you. You may be smarter than me, but I am stronger!"

But instead of looking intimidated Haku smiled, a creepy smile made all the more terrifying by the fact that it came from a severed head. "Oh, that can be remedied. And now, thanks to you, I've got the last few pieces I was missing" he replied. "Don't kid yourself, Carrion. If you really represented any danger to me, I would have killed you right now. I'm leaving you alive because I already know that you can do nothing against me. And if you think otherwise, then know that yours is just a pathetic illusion"

Carrion didn't know why, and he knew it was impossible, but it seemed to him that the severed head was getting closer on his face. "Take what happened today as a lesson, Carrion: this is what happens when you cross a dragon" Haku said again in an increasingly cold and menacing voice. "Our age doesn't matter, WE are the top of the food chain. Not you, not your spirits, not even your gods. We are the ultimate predators, and if you'll be foolish enough to challenge me again, you'll relinquish the role of high royal general of the Jurao Kingdom with that of red meat in a balanced diet. This is my only warning: don't follow us. Go back to your king and with some luck you will never see me again. But if I see your face just from far away one more time, then I'll really show you why your kind fear so much the wrath of my kind. I hope I was clear"

Carrion couldn't help but swallow. He didn't know why, but Haku suddenly looked dozens of times scarier.

The dragon didn't wait for his answer. "That's all I had to say to you. Good recovery. And goodbye... and I hope for you this will really be a goodbye" he said closing his eyes, then he suddenly opened them again: "Oh, one last thing: your secret is safe with me. And don't worry about the two women you fought with, they won't tell anyone either. However, I can't promise you that I won't use it as a way of blackmail you if I will need your services in the future or if I will consider you a too problematic person"

And having said that, he closed his eyes definitively, and the head became inanimate again. Carrion was alone again, and he couldn't hold back a scream of anger and frustration that got stuck inside the pile of rocks without anyone outside hearing it.