Summer, 666 BCE, Prydein

  VORDILLAINSURA LED HIS procession of dragons across the skies over the flat, empty plains of central Prydein at a measured pace. He did not hurry, but neither did he take his time.

  Balhamuut, the young platinum, had given him much to think about yesterday. So much, in fact, that he had struggled to rise and get the others moving again this morning. They were going to be late to the Council.

  As he had when he’d risen, Sura shrugged. It wasn’t as though Baalhalllu would do anything to him for being late. Surely, he would not be the only one. With so many wyrms coming from so many points across the Earth, it was inevitable that not all would make the midday appointment for the start of this Grand Council.

  Wasn’t it?

  Besides, he had much to ponder. And of far greater import than this farce of a Council.

  Assuming Balhamuut was telling the truth— and why would he lie? He would be discovered in short order, so what would be the point? —Baalhalllu had an unprecedented plan and intended to force it on all of them. A plan Sura most definitely did not agree with.

  How would Baalhalllu force them, though? The younger platinum hadn’t been able to give him an answer to that.

  Might it be possible to sway the Council against him? he wondered. Overthrow him and install myself in his place?

  Sura made plans and contingencies all throughout his flight. He wasn’t at all certain he could, in fact, sway the Council against the dithering coward, but he was determined to use every trick he could come up with to make it happen.

  He would only have one shot at this. If he didn’t garner enough support, it would all be for naught.

  * * * * *

  In the end, owing in large part to his refusal to allow his followers to perceive him as hurrying to do the bidding of a metallic, no matter his station, Sura almost missed the Council. It was nearly six hours past midday when he reached the appointed spot in the southern plains of Prydein.

  In the fading light of Ryujin’s Blaze as it neared the horizon, the veritable rainbow of dragons glittered and shone, sending an array of colors shooting in all directions from the massive gathering of wyrms.

  Sura couldn’t recall ever having seen such an array of dragons in one place before.

  Ever.

  He came in to land at the edge of the circular gathering amid mutterings from the crowd and dark looks from the thirteen who stood in a circle at its center. The Council themselves.

  Graayyya glared at him from that inner circle.

  Sura shrugged and allowed himself to be surrounded by his followers. Scanning the crowd, he found Balhamuut— surrounded by a sea of metallics, of course —and a clawful of others he knew would support him.

  In the center of the gathering, Graayyyavalllia cleared her throat and spoke in an annoyed tone, as though she had been interrupted— Doubtless she had been. By his arrival, no less —“It was then, good wyrms, after I had clarified our position for him, that King Gurgastius moved to order us to depart his realm and not return. For failing to do his bidding, as though we were his servants–”

  Angry mutterings cut her off.

  The Council waited, no doubt hoping the assemblage would quiet itself.

  After several minutes, during which the angry mutterings continued to grow in intensity, Baalhalllu flared his shining, blue-silver wings out to his sides with a snap and the voices ceased immediately.

  “After much consideration,” Graayyya said, raising her voice. “I have come to the conclusion that contrary to behavioral evidence, Gurgastius is not mad. I believe it is pride and arrogance that rule his actions now, perhaps spurred on by foolish advisors.”

  “What can we do?” cried a voice near Sura.

  “Why don’t we leave him to his death, then?” rumbled a low voice from across the gathering.

  A few of the council members shook their heads.

  Klarrundiaul, a large azurite from the highlands in the north of Prydein, stomped a claw into the dry soil. “This kind of arrogance is epidemic. If we acquiesce and leave his realm, the commands will continue. They will also grow in magnitude.”

  Jorrduliannsa, a pale celestine from the far north who was known for rarely speaking his thoughts, chose that moment to do so. “Not to mention that we’d be forcing the wise Graayyyavalllia from the only home she’s known in long centuries.”

  “You say this like it’s a bad thing,” Sura said under his breath.

  From within the sea of metallics, Balhamuut’s young voice rang out, cold and clear. “Let us simply kill Gurgastius and be done with the human threat.”

  Sura’s blood surged. That was the signal! His moment was coming. He had to pre-empt Baalhalllu’s inane plan.

  The platinum leader rose up, his shining, silver-blue head towering over the other council members. He breathed a gusty sigh. “Gurgastius is but one human leader among many, my friends.”

  “’Tis true,” Graayyyavalllia said without missing a beat, as though it were part of the same thought. Which, of course, Sura knew it was. “I have heard tales from the mainland of the chieftains in Gaul and Rome, the kings in Greece and Persia, and the lords, earls, masters, chiefs, kings, and emperors of the hundred nations between. Like Gurgastius, they all now think to command us, to rule us. To force us, often by threat of violence, to do as they wish.”

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  Her speech was punctuated by the crack of shattering stones, which Sura guessed meant she had thumped her tail to the ground like an impudent wyrmling.

  Jorrduliannsa spoke up again. “Dragon slayers are also becoming a larger and larger problem with each passing season.”

  “Only for you,” Sura said softly. “If you’d learn to control your Vikings, you wouldn’t have that problem.”

  By the Chaotic Queen, were celestines truly part of the stone breeds? In Sura’s experience, they acted more like the cowardly metallics.

  Kwallindauria, Baalhalllu’s other wyrmling, looked around the huge gathering from her place just outside the circle of elders. When she had circled around to meet the gazes of nearly the entire gathering— no mean feat, that —she spoke, slow and deliberate. “The problems are mounting, no question. What we need, however, is not a recounting of the problems we face, but solutions.”

  Sura’s belly roiled. He wanted to vomit. That young dragon’s archaic sense of honor was sickening. It was said, often and never in her hearing, that her idealistic sense of morality was such an intrinsic part of her that her scruples had scruples. Or that her scales must have honor of their own.

  Sura scoffed at such nonsense, of course. He cared only that this foolish dragon go back to her own island in the east. Let her dwell with her adoring humans and leave the real world to real dragons.

  “Here, here!” rang out the voices of dozens of metallic dragons.

  This, too, was rehearsed. He’d known to expect it.

  As if pre-planned accolades will sway anyone, he thought in disgust. Just what do they think they are going to accomplish?

  As though a gong went off in his head, Sura realized this was his cue. He needed to speak now. Convince them of the right of his plans.

  “It is time to strike,” he called out in loud, ringing tones. He shifted his head slightly to catch the light of Ryujin’s Blaze, hoping the glare would draw the attention of any wyrms who might be engaged in other discussions and not paying attention. “Not the foolish one-dragon-against-an-army battles that have been taking place in haphazard fashion throughout the world, but a concerted attack against the Humans.”

  He paused for a moment, to let the thought sink in. “We are not the only ones being threatened! The Sidhe, the Gnimshei, the Famorians, the Firbolg, the Tuatha, and scores of others are being threatened by the Humans as well. They will all join with us in a war against mankind. It is time. Who is with me?”

  It was not strictly accurate, of course. He had no assurance whatsoever that any of the aforementioned species would agree to take part in a war against humans. It sounded good though. And he felt certain that if he had enough support, they would all join his cause. He refused to believe that, with the support of enough dragons, the other species could do anything other than join them.

  Some of the stone dragons cheered, mostly those in his immediate vicinity. But not many outside his circle joined in the accolade, and scant few metallics or gemstones took part at all.

  Sura’s heart sank. What happened? What went wrong? Balhamuut had assured him that if he gave the speech, hundreds of wyrms would support him.

  Did the platinum trick him?

  Graayyya turned to face him, obvious pain in her golden eyes. “Are you insane?”

  Sura’s blood boiled and a haze of darkness blotted out his vision. He heard himself say something, short and clipped, but he had no idea what it was.

  More words passed and these, too, were well beyond his comprehension. A small voice in the back of his mind whispered that he needed to calm himself and speak intelligently.

  He struggled to do exactly that.

  When his hearing and vision cleared, Kwallindauria was speaking to him. “Do not let your violent nature get the better of you, Sura.”

  How dare you call me familiar! He thought, but managed to tamp down his rage and think with at least a modicum of clarity.

  With a scoff, as though he’d heard all that had been said and dismissed it, he turned away from the platinum to face the stone masses around him. “Rally behind me, wyrms!” he roared at the top of his voice. “Battle comes, and we will not run from it! We must fight and we must destroy the humans once and for all!”

  A bit more cheering support seemed to come, but it was cut off by Jorrduliannsa’s smooth voice. “Do not be an idiot. You know the destruction we have wrought in the past when we have warred openly. If we do this, if we go to war, one and all, there will be no Earth left by the time we are done. Nothing will survive.”

  “If that is what is needed,” Sura snarled. Why could the fools not see that no matter what destruction they wrought in the process, the destruction, or at least subjugation, of humanity needed to happen?

  Graayyya glared at him, a tinge of crimson marring the gold of her eyes. “Can you hear yourself?”

  Sura almost laughed. “All I hear is the bleating of a coward.”

  The garnet shook her head sadly. “How many times have you come to me to arbitrate disputes with your Gauls, Vordillainsura?” she asked.

  Turning, she stared at the malachite to his left. “Or your Greeks, Korathroonllea?”

  She pivoted and faced the azurite at his other side. “Or between you and the Gnimshei, Dreerovadia?”

  The garnet twisted and looked to a copper standing near Balhamuut. “Thrunndiaun, what about you and the Romans?”

  Arching her neck, she looked to the emerald immediately behind Sura. “Or the Vikings that occasionally try to raid your younger dragons, Briteillaun?”

  Then she turned to a celestine who stood next to Jorrduliannsa. “Or Viritriain, when your wyrmlings occasionally raid livestock from your Germanic tribes?”

  Finally, she moved her gaze far to one side, where she settled on a charoite wyrm lounging to the west of the gathering. “And Cukhorilai, what happened the last time the Persians encroached on your territory?”

  She paused, looking around to all she had addressed. “How often have you all come to me for my wisdom, to settle disputes, or to facilitate talks with the other races? How often have each and every one of you come to me and listened to my counsel?”

  Flaming garnet, Sura thought, lowering his head a bit. She makes far too good a point. What more can I do here?

  He raised his head to meet her eyes with a glare. “What do you suggest, then?”

  “Can I at least convince you that war is not the answer?” she asked sweetly.

  And, she has me, he thought. She’s snared me in quite the trap. If I don’t agree, she’ll have me removed, and if I do, then this whole battle will have been pointless.

  If only I’d been able to recruit her to my cause! What an ally she could have been. Curse your influence on her, Kwallindauria.

  He spoke quietly, carefully enunciating each word. “If you can show me a better solution.”

  The garnet gave a curt nod and a small, knowing smile. As though his answer settled everything. As much as it annoyed him, he supposed it probably did. From her perspective, at least.

  Baalhalllu looked rather pleased with himself, to which Sura snorted in disdain. The platinum’s daughter looked around the mass of standing stones, once again catching the eyes of most of the wyrms who had gathered for this Council.

  She certainly is taking her time, he thought in annoyance. He hadn’t achieved nearly the support today he’d been hoping for, but all was not lost. He still had at least one more gambit he could play.

  It was true that the plan Balhamuut had brought to him was now void and useless. The young platinum had not brought him nearly the support the plan called for. But maybe, just maybe, he could still turn this apparent failure into victory.

  Was The Council’s plan truly as Balhamuut had outlined?

  Finally, Dauria spoke, her voice stern and pointed. “If you will all listen, the Council of Elders has a plan which will ensure both our own continued survival as well as that of the Humans and the Earth Herself.”

  Baalhalllu’s gaze swept the assemblage, though he spent much less time at it than had his daughter. He gave a curt, satisfied nod and began speaking.

  The plan he laid out was so ludicrous, so inane, so close to what Balhamuut had said, Sura wondered that the assembled wyrms didn’t laugh.

  Or riot.

  Or both.