The rest of what remained of the day, since the Glance Glass revealed the Army of Cemfyllen was fitful to say the least. We made near-pointless small talk to ease our collective anxieties and even managed to find three bone dice, on which we made bets on the outcomes of throwing them inside a cup. Once the sun set, we took advantage of the warmth and safety the Hold of the Arcuzane provided and climbed into our respective beds. Eggs curled up on the floor by the bottom of my bed, resting their head near my own. Their gentle snores accented the general silence in the room, and I found myself in a dreamless sleep.

  Morning came and we were summoned by Leech, he stepped off the moving floor around an hour or two after sunrise with a platter of meat, cheese and bread. Five dead things carried buckets of fish, which Eggs seemed delighted by, given the rate they seemed to inhale the offerings.

  “When you have eaten, we will meet the council,” Leech said, before standing silently near the table, watching us.

  “Thanks, Leech, won’t you join us for a bite?” Sila asked, a smile as pleasant as the spring first emerging on his face.

  “I…will not,” Leech said. Unmoving.

  “More for us, eh?” I laughed, slapping a piece of cheese on bread and taking a bite out of it. It was beautiful in its simplicity. The bread was still warm from the fire, and the cheese had the perfect amount of resistance as you bit into it. We all sat in silence, just happy, rested and content, the only sound that of Eggs sucking down fish after fish. I clicked my tongue, making them look up as I threw them a hunk of cheese half the size of my palm. Their eyes widened as they tasted it, and I realised I’d probably given myself a very expensive habit to keep up. After a few minutes, our morning feast was done, and I stood from the table, wiping my mouth with the back of my sleeve.

  “Let’s get this over with, then shall we?” I said.

  “Follow,” Leech replied, walking immediately to the platform. One by one, we followed, including Eggs.

  “Leave your Wyvern here.” Leech pointed into the room.

  I bristled at this, but let it be; a council meeting was hardly fair to make Eggs sit through and expect them to sit silent.

  “Eggs, stay here.”

  They chirruped and stomped a foot at me, nostrils flaring and forked tongue flicking out.

  “Don’t give me that, you will wait,” I said.

  They curled up on the floor facing away from me, defeated I stepped onto the moving floor.

  #

  The Council were all already seated when we arrived, and the room was awash with conversation. Dawn lay in the corner, raising their head at points before curling up on themselves. They had the distinct look of something that just wanted to sleep if it wasn’t for the incessant noise. A look I had worn myself on many occasions, including when that lad Elp kept asking me questions on the wall. I wondered if the silly sod had found any answers yet.

  “Tullen. Fal. Barraz. I. Saved. Your. Seat.” Helezar jerked their arm, no doubt an attempt to wave me over.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed, “Mummers' sake.” I whispered to myself, but I heard Gertha snort next to me, so I had clearly not been as quiet as I thought I had. Taking my place next to the dead man, I smiled thinly at him as he nodded and rocked forward at the same time. It was at that moment Master Zath thunked his staff onto the floor, the echo around the room silencing the council and allowing silence to hang in the air like fog.

  “Dark times are upon us.” Zath intoned. To a murmur of agreement from around the council chamber. He raised his hand, silencing the room once more before continuing.

  “Cemfyllen sends forth its army, in numbers unseen since the time of struggles and the Gnawed One.”

  This time, gasps of shock went around the room, and I immediately felt my heart slam into heavy, rapid beats. He’d mentioned that God. The one we learned of and immediately tried to forget. To dwell on thoughts of them was to poke your head out of the loosing slit, to invite death itself. I gritted my teeth and dug my nails into my palms. It was fucking irresponsible, is what it was, invoking an entity like that. I desperately tried to think of anything, anyone else. The thought was useless; all I could conjure up was a dark, skeletal figure reaching toward me with a yawning maw.

  “Fuck sake.” I hissed as I folded my arms.

  A cold, unreassuring hand touched my elbow, without even looking at Helezar. I shrugged the dead man off me.

  “I hate to mention that name, and I apologise. But the truth of the matter is this. War is no longer coming, but it is in motion. Our agents in Avandun have confirmed the archaic practice of conscription, while our contact with the Cemfyllian court has reported large numbers of Cemfyllian and Outland soldiers, machines designed to breach and damage fortress walls and the most troubling news of all.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  I raised an eyebrow, leaning in, curious what the old codger had to say.

  “Our contact reports several large eggs being smuggled into the Cemfyllian palace over the last few months. They’re said to be large, single in colour and smooth.”

  My heart leapt into my mouth as I remembered what Gertha had said, which was only days but felt like lifetimes ago.

  Wyrm eggs are rough, Drake eggs are multicoloured, and Dragon eggs are much smaller.

  “They’ve got bloody Wyvern eggs?” I said, unable to hold myself back.

  Zath looked up at me, his brow furrowing, “It appears so, Tullen Fal Barraz.”

  The room exploded into outcry, and scattered conversation between both living and dead Arcuzane members. Helezar leaned in toward me.

  “Inspired. Thinking. Really. Isn’t. It?”

  “What?” I asked, only half listening to his wittering.

  “Declare. War. Use. Death. On. Two. Legs.”

  My heart sank. I was well-versed in how dangerous the so-called Li’ards were. But I’d known only one Wyvern, who seemed anything but dangerous to anyone not directly threatening them. It would surely take a special kind of evil to try and twist that particular nature. I imagined Eggs being forced to unleash themselves on the harmless people of Avandun, and shuddered. As far as I was concerned, each of those eggs could hold another creature equally as capable of bonding with a human as my own Wyvern. I wouldn’t let something innocent be twisted into something brutal. I wouldn’t suffer anything to meet my own fate.

  A chuckle sounded at the edge of my hearing, but I forced it out of my mind with the thought of the forbidden God.

  The room fell silent when Zath smacked his staff on the floor.

  “I will have order and decorum in this chamber, or I will silence you all myself, and you can serve in your afterlife.” Zath barked, his face reddening. His staff took on a deep red glow, and I felt the skin at the back of my neck prickle. The room fell into silence once more, and I was struck with the memory of learning my letters and numbers as a child, with a frustrated adult at the front desperately trying to keep control of us. Somehow, I figured I’d have a harder time if I threw rotten fruit at Zath.

  “If Cemfyllen has the Eggs of Wyverns, then three things are clear. There’s more than one Wyvern, Cemfyllen are likely weaponising these mythical so-called “man-killers”, and one of them could be what we’ve been searching for all this time. There’s a chance that our esteemed guest and his pet are not who we need.”

  “Well, thanks very much,” I said, leaning back in my chair.

  If the daggers that Zath glared at me were actual ones, I’d have died on the spot. But he didn’t pay my wages, so I’d say what I liked, when I liked. The sudden realisation that I no longer had wages left me feeling simultaneously free and panicked.

  Fortunately for me, Zath let my blatant belligerence lie unpunished.

  “We need to verify what is happening in Cemfyllen, and we need to do it quietly, before the war does too much damage and feeds the Fugue.”

  “Hold on, feeding the Fugue? How did we land there?” I asked, this time Gertha nudged me in the ribs so hard I actually yelped.

  “Tullen,” Zath sighed, “With war come many dead, and with the dead, especially those not unclaimed and uncared for, the Fugue grows.”

  I felt my cheeks redden; it made perfect sense, and if I had taken a few moments, I probably could have come to that conclusion myself.

  “I see.” That was all I could say.

  Zath took a deep breath in.

  “We’re left with a situation that is unprecedented. War has descended upon mankind. We risk the Fugue growing ever more powerful, the Cemfyllians weaponising Li’ards we suspect to be Wyverns against mankind and the possibility that Humanity’s answer could be in the hands of the Warmonger, Stallivindium.”

  “Then what are you going to do about it?” I asked, the palms of my hands tingling as I saw how this duel would end before it started.

  “If a member of the Arcuzane makes a move against a Kingdom, it will make us a target, no matter how quiet we are about it.”

  “So you’re stuffed then?” Gertha said, leaning forward.

  “We are. But if certain, unaffiliated persons, currently on the run from Cemfyllen’s enemy, were to arrive as refugees, but privately investigate…”

  “If they fucked it up, it wouldn’t dismantle the Arcuzane.” Gertha finished.

  I looked around the room, “I’m sorry, why would we agree to this? All risk and no reward, fat lot of good that is.”

  “If you’re asking what’s in it for you, all Tullen Fal Barraz, the answer is simple.”

  “Go on, spit it out then.”

  “Mankind doesn’t get swallowed by war or Fugue, and maybe, just maybe, be in a position to thrive.”

  I sighed as the chuckling began to get louder.

  “So you’re relying on the goodness of our hearts then?” I asked.

  Zath smiled, “Despite your best efforts, I can tell you’re a man of certain principles. You won’t be able to stomach the dark fates awaiting man nor wyvern.”

  “Oh yeah, and what about the rest of us?” Gertha sneered.

  “What is the saying of the Nomads? Family stays together?”

  Gertha growled as I sighed.

  “What now?” I asked.

  “You’ll depart for Cemfyllen to investigate, but we won’t be sending you empty-handed. The Doctor will provide you with all you need in your room. Zath stood, bowing to us, before the rest of the council followed suit.

  “I should hope so,” Gertha said.

  I didn’t know what to do in response to being bowed to, so I stood up and nodded. A hand grasped my shoulder.

  “Thank. You.”

  “Don’t mention it,” I said, walking toward the moving floor. As eager to avoid being touched again as I was to remain in that strange room of so many people but only one voice.

  Two, if you count the dead man.