Chapter Three
“You brought a human here?”
Vyktor had reported the arrival of his human pet to his co-general, a decision he was already regretting. The news had been taken incredibly badly. Vein standing out on head, vestigial scales hardening in preparation for physical battle, badly.
“It makes sense, Eldor. We do not understand these creatures well enough. The alternative was slaughtering a healthy young female in cold blood. That I will not do. They look so much like us. I believe this war can be ended peacefully. I believe we can find a way to bend these humans to our will.”
Eldor’s glower did not abate in the slightest. Eldor was greater in age than Vyktor by a significant factor. In their more human forms, Vyktor appeared to be around thirty years of age. Eldor was perhaps closer to forty. Eldor’s hair was jet black, his eyes were of almost the same hue, a marbled gray cut by the vertical black slash of his pupil. He was of the old school, a leader who instilled fear in his own men, and outright terror in those they faced. He did not believe in taking prisoners. He rarely entertained concepts like surrender. And he was furious that a human was now in their midst.
“I do not answer to you, Eldor,” Vyktor reminded him. “We are equal in these matters. Two generals. Remember?”
“You do answer to me,” Eldor scowled. “And you still answer to the king, do you not?”
“The king is not here. We are. You fight these battles one way, I another. We cannot destroy this planet simply because they made the foolish mistake of entering our realm.”
“We are not destroying the planet. We are at war with the upstart primate species who crossed the boundaries of our sovereign lands and caused the death of our people.”
“It has been established that it was an accident from the outset.”
“They sent a scout. The fact that he perished means nothing.” Eldor’s voice was rising with fury. “You should not have brought a human here.”
“Do not lecture me like a boy who brought a stray home to dinner,” Vyktor replied. “Our king sent us both for a reason. Even in his grief, he wanted this matter settled as peaceably as possible. You have made that almost impossible with the burnings. Every action you take antagonizes them anew. Their anger is global, Eldor. We are doing battle on one continent now, but there are billions more of them. This cannot be settled the way our wars are fought. They will not recognize defeat and simply surrender.”
“They are defenseless little creatures if you take their weapons,” Eldor said. “They are not worthy to do battle against us. The burnings have been targeted to disrupt their weapons. Once we destroy their mechanical wings, they will surrender. That is how this war will end.” His clenched fist met the table on which a map of the continent was projected.
“You’re wrong,” Vyktor persisted. “Yes, you can harm their offensive capabilities. But if you think they will lie down and die after that is done, you are wrong. The human I took from the wreckage of her burning flying machine continued to fight me on the ground. She had no hope of winning, but she did not lay down her weapons until they were taken from her, and even then she fought with tooth and nail.”
“Blunt tooth and soft nail,” Eldor snorted derisively.
“You underestimate these creatures. They are not stupid, and they are not weak and they have an appetite for battle which can span generations. There are wars on this planet which have been fought almost as long as the species has existed. They do not tire, Eldor. They die. And they send their sons and grandsons and great-great-grandsons to finish what was begun long before any of them drew breath.”
Vyktor knew his argument was taking effect when Eldor changed the subject abruptly. “And you know this because instead of fighting them, you have been reading their libraries. Your chambers are filled with their paperized natterings.”
“Knowledge is important, Eldor. These humans have writings sufficient to tell us everything we need to know about them. I have studied them intensely. And I believe that it is possible to take them, primitive as they are in so many ways, and tame them. The same instincts that make them fearsome foes can make them perfect allies. They are brave and tenacious. And each and every one of them is valuable. We are wasting life here, Eldor. That is against our code, and it is against the king’s wishes.”
“If the human causes any trouble, I will throw her from the mountain myself,” Eldor growled, confirming Vyktor’s suspicion that he had no further points to argue.
“You will do nothing to her. She is mine. I alone will lay hands on her,” Vyktor corrected him. “I tell you now, I will defend her with my own life, if need be.”
Eldor’s jaw dropped as his pupils narrowed. The air grew warmer as he expelled a hot breath between his parted lips, hot enough to make a scrap of paper on the table crumple and burn in a flash. Vyktor hoped nothing of importance had been written on it.
“Why? You have had this creature in your possession for less than an hour. What gives you such loyalty to her?”
“She is helpless in our clutches,” Vyktor said. “She is soft and she is scared, and what I intend to do with her will push her to the very limits of what she can take. These humans do not understand what they are. They are used to being the most powerful creatures in their realm. Compared to us, they are mere pets. She will resist that with everything she has. And in return, as long as I am training her, she will have my protection. Even if she does not want it. Even if she would kill me if she could.”
Eldor let out a sigh and shook his head. “Your words wear on me, Vyktor,” he said. “I will not change our battle plan. But I will tolerate one human here. Just one. She must be kept under control at all times. And if anything happens as a result of her presence, it will be on your head. You have been talking about training them from the beginning. Let us see if it is truly possible.”
Vyktor knew very well that Eldor’s acquiescence came out of a desire to see him fail. If the humans could not be trained or reasoned with, then extermination was the only option left. It was the option Eldor had preferred from the beginning. He had entered the human realm eagerly, with the desire to expand his territories.
At first it had seemed as though there would be no opposition to their invasion. As far as they were concerned, they had discovered a new realm through a natural rift in their own. One of the creatures from Earth had made its way in, but had perished in very short order, leaving them with very little information. They had mistaken the plane he had been flying for some form of exoskeleton, never realizing that it was, in fact, something the human creatures had made.
It took some time to realize that the creatures that looked so very simple were actually responsible for the strangest occurrence the dragon realm had ever seen. Understanding their language took several days. Oddly enough, they seemed to speak a variant of the common tongue. That fact excited many of the more studious types in the realm, but the warriors were only interested in its utility. Being able to read their simple scripts also helped. Once those two goals were attained, they had been greatly surprised to discover that the creatures that had torn a hole in their world were small hominid creatures with no grasp of any magic beyond the clumsy manipulation of physical matter. They were soft and particularly squishy, with nothing in the way of overly offensive qualities, no great teeth, no ability to breathe fire or ice. They had no access to the powers that they referred to as magic either. They were the simplest of creatures, incredibly delicate. That delicacy was what made Aria so very beautiful to him.