Chapter 3941: Snakes in the Grass (Part 2)

"Verhen’s children are under the protection of the Guardians." Salanoth pointed out.

"True, but for how long?" Jorl’s beak curled up in a smile. "Besides, you can always wait for Verhen’s children to have children on their own and possess his little brother, nieces, and nephews while you wait.

"Their Demon form will make perfect practice material until you can access a pureblooded Tiamat."

"Yours is an interesting proposition, Jorl." Uragar’s hardcover brimmed with mana from excitement. "But there’s still a major obstacle to this plan. As you pointed out, the Dead King will soon be unstoppable. Even if he can’t kill me and Solanoth, he can imprison us if we rebel."

"I bet he has already prepared sealing arrays for us the moment we outlive our usefulness." The Ring of Space nodded.

"You are right, and that’s why we need to move now, while Orpal has yet to master the full extent of his abilities and his focus is spread on too many fronts." Jorl replied. "If we wait for him to conquer Garlen before we make our move, it will be too late."

"Are you suggesting we should dispose of the Dead King?" Akhton steepled his clawed fingers, ready to point out the many flaws of such an idea.

"Absolutely not." Jorl’s answer flabbergasted the two cursed objects, but not the Bastet. "Orpal is still the only Vurdalak on Mogar and our best chance at discovering the rest of our Upyr’s bloodline abilities.

"He is also the Horseman of Night and the only one with the ability to produce more Upyrs. As long as Orpal lives, no matter how many Upyrs we lose in battle, we can create more. While the Council needs decades to nurture a powerful mage, it takes us a few months to add dozens of Divine Beasts to our ranks.

"Without him, we are just a bunch of quarrelsome misfits disowned by their respective families. If Orpal dies before we bring the Council to its knees, we will be hunted, persecuted, and killed wherever we go.

"Assuming we can keep a united front, of course. I’ve seen what kind of people we are associating ourselves with, and I don’t trust them farther than I can throw them. We need Orpal to crush those who stand against us, but then he has to go, or there will be no future for us.

"Defeating him together is easy, but killing him is another story. His bloodline abilities make it impossible to imprison him, and if he runs away, he’ll build another army of Upyrs and kill us next.

"Asking Baba Yaga for help is not an option either. After what we’ll do to Garlen, she’ll kill Night and then thank us by slitting our throats."

"Then what’s the point of this assembly? What do you need our help for?" Uragar asked.

"The point is to work together to prepare a contingency plan for after our victory." Jorl replied. "We’ll strike after the Kingdom has fallen and the Awakened Council is broken, but before Orpal can consolidate his authority over the Upyrs by taking credit for our victories.

"The perfect opportunity to strike will be right at the end of the war, when we’ll have earned the loyalty of our troops as generals, and Orpal’s forces will amount to a little more than what each one of us will lead.

"He’s already stronger than any of us individually. If we allow him to gain the numerical advantage as well, there will be no chance of victory. We’ll never manage to get close enough to him to strike him down."

"Strike him down how?" Akhton asked.

"This brings us to Uragar’s second question." The Storm Griffon nodded. "Akhton, I called you here because you are the only other true Divine Beast in our ranks and one of our strongest fighters.

"When the time comes, your mastery over the Origin Flames will create our opening." The Bastet nodded, and Jorl turned to the cursed objects. "Uragar, Salanoth, you two are the oldest creatures I know.

"Your mastery over magic is great, but your real asset is your knowledge. Are you aware of the existence of someone or something powerful enough to kill the Dead King or at least imprison him for good under the right circumstances?"

The Book of Knowledge and the Ring of Space exchanged a short glance, establishing a mind link between them. According to Awakened etiquette, it was an incredibly rude gesture.

It implied no trust towards their co-conspirators, and for all Jorl and Akhton knew, the two cursed objects might be plotting to expose the plan to Orpal. After all, if Uragar and Salanoth had no answer to the Dead King’s nigh-immortality, there was no point in being involved in a coup doomed to fail.

It would have been much better to betray the Divine Beasts before they betrayed the Dead King and curry his favor. If the cursed objects played their cards right, they would be safe and get their Tiamats anyway.

Akhton looked nervously at Jorl, who instead showed no sign of worry.

’It’s easy for that bastard to stay calm.’ The Bastet inwardly cursed. ’He’s bound to die anyway, whereas before I took part in this meeting, there was a small chance that Orpal upheld his word and left Verendi to me.

’Even if he didn’t, I could have acted as regent and built my strength until I could claim the independence of my territories. While he wasted his time conquering the Empire, I’d have shared everything I know about his army with Verendi’s Council and prepared for the invasion.

’Now, instead, Jorl has driven me into a corner and bound my fate to his own. The only thing worse than a powerful idiot like Orpal is a powerful strategist like Jorl.’

"After a long debate, we have reached the same conclusion." Salanoth broke the mind link. "There are only a few powers on Mogar that can defeat the Dead King, and we assume you are not interested in dealings with lost cities, correct?"

"Correct." Jorl nodded. "I won’t exchange a tyrant for another. Lost cities are powerful, but it’s better to die at Orpal’s hand than spend eternity like your hosts. No offense."

"None taken." Uragar replied. "Then we have only one option left. The Black Throne."

"The Black Throne?" The Storm Griffon echoed in disbelief.

"The black throne?" The Bastet sneered in contempt. "What is a painted chair going to do? Give Orpal’s ass sores?"

Jorl and the cursed objects looked at Akhton as if he were drunk, their faces a mix of scorn and disbelief. Then, they remembered how young he was and everything became clear.

"The Black Throne isn’t a chair." Jorl explained. "It’s an artifact so powerful that I always assumed it was just a legend."

"It’s not. I’ve seen it with my own mystical senses and I’ve bargained with it in the past." Uragar said.

"It exists?" Jorl stood up, incapable of standing still. "My mother warned me about the Black Throne, though. She warned all my siblings. She says the Black Throne is a mortal danger to the entire Mogar."

"And she’s right, but not in the way you think." Salanoth replied. "What did Tyris tell you, exactly?"

"She said that-"

"I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about, and I hate being excluded from a conversation that might determine my fate." Akhton cut the Griffon short. "Jorl’s family stories can wait. What’s the Black Throne?"

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