Erin's eyes couldn't escape the red-scaled captain and the old man. Captain Drake was a man of sorts who had entered the service twenty years before. Whether he was cursed or a strange creature of another world was unknown. Captain Grayson, who had been close to retirement before they had hijacked his ship and taken it all the way to Diamond Peak, glared back at her from across the room.

While Drake stood out on his own, thanks to his lizard-like appearance, Grayson was simply an old man, grizzled from years sailing across the nightsea. He wore the same black and red coat as all officers did around his shoulders, with loose sleeves. His hat was askew on his head and had been the same as when they fought in Tartarus on Aherlow.

They were in the town hall, awaiting Grim Aegis's council. A rounded set of seven chairs wrapped around the front of the room behind a long wooden table. A series of benches lined the rest of the room, facing the rounded table. Erin leaned on the wall on one side while the two captains stood on the other.

Animosity was an understatement. However, Erin could hardly blame Grayson at least. From what she understood, they had caused him a lot of trouble. However, it would be a little odd for a revolutionary to apologize to a soldier.

More strange to work together.

The Military Police represented the Empyrean or the ruling order of the Scions. They were the Scions's hands in the world, enforcing order, maintaining safety, and putting down rebellions when they arose. Erin would be lying if she said they didn't successfully solve problems and punish criminals. They kept people safe at a cost. Their evil was in the extremes, in the murdered families, when people stood up to authority. It was in the suppressed protests when nobles raised taxes. It was in the broken families when parents disappeared for criticizing the Scions.

Erin didn't like it but didn't see many other options. The People's Revolution had called her to enter the Core and rejoin it. Beyond that, Artur needed help. Despite his nobility, he was a good person.

She wouldn't leave him behind.

"How long does it take to get some bureaucrats together?" Grayson grumbled.

"They aren't bureaucrats. They're elected." Smoke rose from Drake's maw.

"Nobility allowing elections, that's why they fell to these malcontents." Grayson spat. "Giving up their responsibility to the people is just a sign they've lost track."

"Responsibility?" Erin snorted.

"What was that?" Grayson crossed his arms.

"How's that giving up responsibility? Shouldn't people have a say?"

"People don't know enough to rule themselves. That's just common sense," Grayson said, rubbing at his beard. "They need a strong hand, or they'll ruin themselves."

"The basics, as the Academy calls it." Drake flashed a line of teeth. "They say the people need a strong hand to keep them in line. Otherwise, we'd be overrun with outlaws, bandits, and warlords."

"And you agree?" Erin asked.

"I come from older places, and the tides of humanity's beliefs come and go." Drake sighed, releasing another plume. "Kings rise and fall. Democracies ignite and falter. Revolutions come and go with rolling heads. Does it matter if tyrants rule for a time?"

"It matters," Erin whispered. "To the child crying in the street after their parents are taken. That should be enough."

"It matters the same to a child whose parents are killed by outlaws or rebels." Grayson spat again. "Not that I had much to do with that. I just delivered the mail."

"A recalcitrant defender of our necessity." Drake chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

"I've been to Fringe islands outside outposts." Grayson shrugged. "People pick tyrants of their own out there. What do you say to that outlaw?"

"At least they made their own mistakes." Erin frowned, but she couldn't ignore the implications.

There would always be a need for order in the world. Even if the People's Revolution won tomorrow, they would need to establish their own government and their own power. She hoped they wouldn't do the same to dissidents to that order, but how far could they allow their authority to be challenged? She wasn't some idealist who thought they would be perfect, but she knew they could do it better than the Scions and the Military Police.

"Dead is dead." Grayson shrugged, looking away. "Better for the greater order than for the chaos of some madman."

The conversation ended as abruptly as it began. Erin didn't think she could convince them they were wrong; that wasn't what they had talked about. However, she felt she understood the two officers across from her a little better now. Grayson, at least, thought he was doing good by working in the Military Police. If it was to keep people safe, she felt he wouldn't stab them in the back, even after they destroyed his ship.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Drake, on the other hand, was still a mystery. His words hinted that he was older than she would have guessed. Was he truly a man, or was he a dragon? He had transformed into one back on Diamond Peak and Aherlow. That could be a curse, but a curse could also turn a dragon into a man.

Or it could not be a curse at all.

Dragons were creatures on her own home world of Erys, though no one she knew had seen one. They existed in stories and histories at the Coven, along with the massive medical records stored there. They killed where they wished, and none dared resist. Their armor was like tenfold shields. Their teeth were like swords, and their claws were like spears. Their tails struck like thunderbolts, and their wings brought hurricanes. Their breath was death—at least, that was a description of one in an ancient text.

She had liked the illustrations in that text. However, those illustrations were too grand to encapsulate the man with his arms crossed before her. Erin narrowed her eyes, but even if she squinted, she couldn't see the monster or the nobility in Drake. He was just a red-scaled man.

Clack.

"I'm not certain why you've called us all here at this hour, my lord," an older man said, entering the room from the far side through one of the two doors behind the rounded table.

"To do your duty," Harut said, coming in after him.

Two others followed in after Harut. One was an elderly woman, the other a younger man, perhaps in his fifties. The three wore blue and silver robes, and each bore a crest with a shield on their shoulder. Alex entered the room last, closing the door behind himself and shaking his head. Erin didn't run over to him, but a question did enter her mind. Why was she even in the room at all? They had left Mari with Sayed so that she could come. She didn't know what he was planning.

Which made it all the more frustrating.

"You say that, but what are you asking us to do? We just now reunited with our friends and families, the same as the people of Grim Aegis. We need time to recover." The older woman sighed as she sat down on the nearest chair, her bones audibly creaking as she adjusted herself. "Rushing into things is the job of the young, Ruben."

The younger man's face turned red at the words, and he raised a finger. However, no words came out of his mouth.

"No, we need all of you," Alex said. "Everyone in this room and outside of it, if we hope to finish this."

"Who's this kid?" The old woman looked over to Alex. "He should no better than to speak like that in front of his betters."

Erin flinched. Betters. That was the language of nobility. Was it so hard to see other people as equals? As humans? Even though the people chose this council, elitism was still present.

"He's the reason you're free." Harut grimaced. "That, I think, should earn him some respect."

"The one who tore up the counting house, the amount of coin lost has to be repaid," the older man said.

Crack.

"And it will from royal coffers." Harut clenched his fists. "The cost of freedom from that control is not important. What matters is that we still need to defeat Miss Malone. I asked for this man's help because he's shown he can win the day. Can you just accept that, Monte, Ruben, Karine?"

"Accept it?" the woman, Karine, huffed, shaking her head.

"..." Ruben continued to be unable to articulate his thoughts.

"Just what are you asking us to do?" the old man, Monte, asked. "You want us to cooperate with outlaws and put our people at risk? We have a trust to guide and manage them. Despite what has happened, we can't just put the people in harm's way. That will destroy their trust in us."

"Doing nothing will do the same," Erin said without thinking.

Everyone in the room turned to her at the same time, and suddenly, she wished she could disappear. However, she wasn't finished. She needed to explain the reason, even if it fell on deaf ears.

"The trust you have is based on action," she said, forcing herself to continue. "If you do nothing, you'll lose their trust."

"They are already safe, regardless of what happens in the keep," Karine said. "We need to keep them calm and in their homes until this is all over."

"The spiders will return," Alex said. "If we don't beat Miss Malone, they will come back. She has to reestablish order."

"Miss Malone?" Karine narrowed her eyes. "I never trusted her."

"If you do nothing, they'll be exactly where they were, and so will you." Erin nodded.

"She has a point." Grayson grumbled. "If you want to be more than useless bureaucrats, something has to be done."

"An officer, agreeing with ruffians. I never thought I would see the day." Monte shook his head as he leaned against the table.

"A compromise until this is all over." Drake snorted a small plume of smoke. "That's what this is. We'll work with monsters if it means we can break through this shield."

"But you should arrest them. That man is 'Tin Man' Ortega. She is 'Thorn Queen' Leah."

"Oh, that's just part of them." Drake laughed. "But even if we arrested them here, there's no justice to bring. You can't have a trial without a magistrate, and our ships can't leave the port. Sometimes, you must work with monsters if you seek justice."

He gestured at himself as he said it. Of everyone in that room, Drake was certainly the most monstrous—a scaled humanoid that only approached humans. Monte gulped, unable to form a response.

"So, you think to hold us hostage." Karine shook her head, her long grey hair fluttering after her. "Either we stay here and do nothing, lost to the spiders again when you lose, or we do as you ask, and maybe you win."

"A chance is better than nothing," Ruben whispered. "If they lose either way, we will return to the same. I don't want to lose my memories again. They took my wife from me this entire time."

The two older council members looked at each other. The younger man hadn't spoken at all yet, and both those words stung. More than anything they had said, the personal touch of one of their own brought the issue home. Erin didn't understand how they couldn't see the real problem and act. However, what worked took precedence.

"So you know the stakes," Alex said. "Erin lined it up well enough when it comes to your own power, and Captain Drake has lined out why we're necessary to help. The only question that needs to be answered now is whether you'll work with us or if I have to go and talk to the people of Grim Aegis myself. They won't be too happy with you if you run and hide."

A final look was shared between all three. Going to the people directly and offering them help in exchange for cooperation was always an option. It would have been harder, they didn't know who was important in the city. Presumably, the three council members would. Alex was using them as a shortcut to save time.

Erin could respect that.

"Fine," Karine said after exchanging nods with the other two. "Tell us what we need to do.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.