“Mr. Redding, we understand your frustration, but the High Council has carefully considered this decision, and it is final.”
Leif stared in disbelief at Blaise Morgan, the Head Councilor of the High Council. Surrounding Blaise were the other Councilors. Every single member was here, and they all stared at him as though nothing of great importance was happening. Leif looked from the wizards, to the dragon shifters, to the one wolf shifter who sat on the council. All of them had the same blank, bored expressions on their faces.
“But your honors, you’ve spent millions of dollars to bring these dragons here. Why rush them to finish their jobs? You know that the longer we keep them in training, the more time they have to fall in love with Torch Lake. I don’t get it. It’s like you’re just throwing away all that money, and throwing away your chance to keep more dragon shifters here in town.”
Leif looked at the dragon shifters seated around the conference table. If anyone saw the urgency and importance of this matter, it would be them. But they just looked back at him with stern faces, unmoved by his pleas.
Leif looked at the rest of the Councilors, making eye contact with each one. None of them had the slightest hint of sympathy or understanding on their faces. Leif felt like he had stepped into some sort of weird dream where no one acted rationally. He buried his face in his hands for a moment, his elbows planted firmly on the rich wood of the conference table.
Most of the time, Leif loved being in this conference room. The High Council’s official meeting room would have easily won the award for “fanciest conference room in existence,” if such an award were actually available. The conference table was about fifteen feet long and made of thick wood that had been polished until it shone under the simple chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, filling the room with warm, welcoming light. No obnoxious fluorescent office lights for these guys! The chairs around the table were soft brown leather, and were so comfortable that Leif thought he could fall asleep in them if he wasn’t in the middle of an important meeting. The best part of the room was the view, though. The exterior wall of the conference room was made up of floor to ceiling windows which overlooked the lake in the distance. Now, in the early afternoon sunshine, Leif could see dozens of people strolling along the lake’s beaches. No doubt they were laughing and enjoying the fresh air, completely oblivious to the fact that in here, on the tenth floor of the High Council building, decisions were being made that would almost certainly result in two dragons deciding not to stay in Torch Lake.
“This town needs dragons,” Leif insisted again as he raised his head to once again make eye contact with the Councilors. “You all know as well as I do that they are the best defense against either a shifter or wizard attack. They are tough, and can withstand both physical and mental attacks better than any other shifter. They can resist the lure of dark magic better than anyone. How can you just give up on them like this? That’s what you’re doing. You’re giving up on them. And why? Because of some audit by a junior auditor who’s too self-important for her own good? What lies did she tell you to make you agree to this absurd course of action?”
“Enough!” Councilor Morgan said. His sharp tone surprised Leif. Usually, the Head Councilor kept his cool, but today the man was in no mood to be questioned.
Leif felt his stomach twisting into knots. This meeting was not going at all how he’d wanted it to. He’d thought that there must have been some sort of misunderstanding. The High Council had probably misunderstood something Sofia had said, at best. Or, at worst, Sofia had lied to them and the Council was basing its decision to end the training program early on inaccurate information. Either way, Leif had expected to waltz in here and correct whatever misguided information had influenced the Council. Instead, the High Council refused to tell him what, exactly, had made them decide to send his dragon trainees off on their missions immediately.
“Your Honors,” Leif tried again, not sure what to say to make them understand. His voice sounded hollow and frustrated even to his own ears.
“Mr. Redding, we appreciate your bringing your concerns to the High Council, but our decision is final. We made it after careful deliberation of the matter, and we would thank you to respect our choices instead of insulting a junior auditor who isn’t even here to defend herself. What she said in her report is not important for you to know. All that is important is that you honor our decision and get the trainees sent off by the end of the week.”
The Head Councilor’s tone left no doubt that he was done being questioned about this. Stunned and defeated, Leif nodded his head. “Yes, your Honors.”
Leif managed to hold it together all the way back to his office, but once he was there, with the door closed behind him, he lost his temper. In a fit of rage, he threw books, papers, and even a framed picture of him on his first day as Head Trainer. The sound of the glass shattering in the picture frame brought him to his senses, and he stopped short of punching a hole in his office wall.
At that moment, a knock sounded on his office door. Leif scowled and cursed under his breath. Who was bothering him now? He hadn’t seen anyone coming down the hallway behind him, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with any stupid questions from his staff right now.
“This better be important,” Leif muttered under his breath as he stormed over to his door and swung it open. To his relief, it was only Clint. Clint was not only Leif’s assistant trainer, but also one of his best friends. If anyone would understand how frustrated Leif was right now, it was Clint.
Clint stepped into Leif’s office without waiting for an official welcome, then raised an eyebrow as he took in the chaos around him. “It looks like a tornado blew through here.”
Leif sighed. “I may have been a little angry when I came back from the High Council Building.”
“Hmph. Speaking of the High Council, what is this?” Clint held up a printed copy of an email and waved it around in front of Leif’s face. “It’s from that audit girl, and it has a bunch of bossy instructions on getting our trainees ready for their mission this week. I didn’t know you were going to end training this week.”
Clint’s tone was slightly accusatory. No doubt he thought Leif was off making big decisions on the trainees and then telling Sofia before bothering to tell him. Leif’s blood started boiling even more than it already was. Who did Sofia think she was, giving orders to his staff? The High Council had told him he needed to end the training program. It hadn’t told him that he had to listen to Sofia’s ideas on how that should be done.
“Give me that,” Leif said, grabbing the paper away from Clint. After scanning the email quickly, Leif sighed and looked up at Clint. “This is some bullshit.”
Clint looked relieved. “So it’s not true, then? We’re not going to be ending training early?”
Leif shook his head sadly. “Well, we are going to be ending training early, per the High Council’s orders. But Sofia is not in charge of getting our dragons’ missions set up. And she’s definitely not in charge of whatever part you’re going to play in all of this.”
Clint looked less relieved. “I don’t understand.”
Leif sighed and shut the door to his office. “Have a seat. You’re going to want to sit down for this.”
Clint did as he was told, sitting down in the guest chair as Leif walked around to the other side of the desk. Leif winced as he heard the crunch of broken glass beneath his feet. He’d been foolish to lose his temper and throw everything around the room like that. All he was doing was destroying his own stuff and making himself look like a fool in front of Clint.
“I had a visit from Sofia this morning.”
Clint nodded slightly, his eyebrows already furrowed into a worried expression. Clint clearly knew that nothing with Sofia was good news. He’d been just as upset as Leif to have her following them around all of last week, her pen always poised over her clipboard, ready to check off everything she thought they were doing wrong.
“She made an appointment, and I agreed to take it because I figured she had some stupid follow-up questions or something. Turns out she was here because she had managed to get an emergency meeting with the High Council over the weekend. She convinced them to order us to end the training program early. I figured there had to be some mistake, but when I went and demanded an audience with the High Council, they refused to give me more information and stuck by their decision.”
Clint’s eyes had grown wide. “You’re kidding me.”
“I wish I was. I’m so angry I can’t even see straight. And the fact that Sofia thinks she can email my staff to give instructions makes me even angrier. It’s not her place to give orders.”
Clint was speechless, which didn’t surprise Leif. Clint didn’t say a lot on a normal day. On a day like today, the man would probably be happy to not have to talk at all. Leif didn’t feel much like talking, either. He leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling, wondering whether he had been a fool to move to Torch Lake. He’d come here as a dragon trainee himself a little less than two years ago, and had been convinced to stay after his own dark monster mission was complete. Torch Lake held so much promise. Here, wizards and shifters lived together in harmony, united in their desire to spend the days in peace, free from the horrors of dark magic. The diversity of the town made it a fun place to be, and the town’s mission to hold back dark magic had made Leif proud to work for the government here. But lately, Leif was feeling that the High Council wasn’t on top of things as much as they should be.
First, the head commander of the Dragon Recovery Bureau had turned out to be leading an underground dark magic movement. That had been unsettling, but the High Council had removed the commander as soon as they knew. Leif had figured that things like that were bound to happen no matter how careful you were. But now, the High Council seemed to be laughing at the need for more dragons in Torch Lake. Why else would they have agreed to order Leif to end the training program early? But Torch Lake needed more dragons! Had the High Council gone soft? Had they let down their guard, thinking that the danger from dark magic was over? The danger was never over! Leif loved this town, but he wanted no part in a government that didn’t take the threat of dark magic seriously. If things continued this way, he’d be forced to resign. But then what? Where would he go? What would he do for a living? His whole life was here now, living in Torch Lake and working for the Dragon Utilization Department.
“So what are we going to do?” Clint asked, finally breaking the silence.
Leif let out a long sigh. “We’re going to get our trainees ready to go on their missions this week. That’s all we can do.”
“But there must be some way we can fight this! There has to be.”
Leif shrugged, feeling defeated. “I’ll see if Jake has any ideas, but it looks like we’re stuck. If getting in the faces of the High Council members and explaining to them what a big mistake they are making doesn’t solve things, then I don’t know what will.”
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. There’s something strange going on here. I have a feeling that there’s more to this situation than we think, but I don’t know how to figure it out. For the moment, all I can do is obey the High Council’s orders.”
“You’re going to lose your first two dragon trainees,” Clint said quietly, his voice sad.
“I know. I’m not happy about it. But what can I do? The High Council has spoken, and I’ve sworn my allegiance to them.”
Clint shook his head in disgust, then stood. “Don’t give up hope yet. There’s always something you can do. We’ll figure out a way to turn this around.”
Leif didn’t share Clint’s confidence, but he didn’t want to dash his friend’s hopes, so he just nodded and smiled as bravely as he could. After Clint left his office, Leif sat there for a long time, trying to figure out what Sofia could have possibly said to convince the High Council so thoroughly. He wondered if he should have pressured Sofia harder. Maybe if he’d insisted that she needed to explain things, she would have caved and done so.
Or maybe she would have just been more obstinate. Leif had never met a junior employee so full of herself. She knew something he didn’t, he was sure of it. But what?
He was going to find out.