Bob, Mork’s night shift worker, examined his new card. Those quests were really coming in handy.

  It was exactly the thing they would need to take ground and reclaim it. Already, he was thinking about ways to make a giant spell circle to cast the spell. Putting it into his deck, he could see the utility.

  He could feel what it would take to make a large circle. It felt like it was going to be a lot of energy just to make the ritual circle. Then it was going to take more mana than he had available.

  But if he could make this a threat warding tool? This could change everything. They could actually rest safely without an extensive watch at night.

  There would have to be tests.

  Perhaps, Anthony with his divine spell-casting could use this to better effect in the same way that Zan could pick up the gate spell from Sonya. Bob doubted he would get a second card of this type, though Mork had been pretty good with the quests.

  At least when Bob got to finish them.

  He was still bitter about Sonya taking the Gate card. Sure, she had actually killed the death knight, but she knew that he had it as one of his quests. There had been no small amount of him wishing that they could fight it out, but Stella had kept it from boiling over into conflict so far.

  The other person who might benefit this from this was Andrew.

  He could see the runic script that was going to be used for this spell. In his mind, it was a big circle that rotated through the various letters in this Irumian language.

  He was definitely going to talk to Stella about it.

  There was a lull as the twilight receded back into true dark. That was a signal for their team in the back.

  Up on the promontory, several beacons were lit. Bonfires the size of humans stood tall along the side.

  “Sonya calls for aid!” Bob said, smiling.

  “Are you ready to return home, Chief?” Valerie said.

  The extra large lizard sniffed the air several times.

  “There is no honor of killing zombies. There is only the cold, rational need to exterminate them before they kill us. I believe that we may be close to a deal. Let us reconvene tomorrow.”

  It took them about fifteen minutes to walk back up to the promontory. The gate that they used to transport back to Yellow Tail City was the second mansion in. Zan was ready upon their arrival.

  The asian girl waved Bob over.

  “Bob? Is this true? The city is clear?”

  “I got a quest reward for it being clear. I think Mork is leaning on the side of things being finished rather than me doing it.”

  “That’s amazing. The locals are going to appreciate it,” she said, before turning to Valerie and Anthony.

  He held up a hand.

  “Zan, I think that Stella and I are going to stay out here tonight,” he said, turning to face both Zan and his girlfriend. “Stella, I didn’t tell you about this yet but this card...”

  She cocked her head.

  “This could change the war.”

  “Well fuck, tell me more,” she said.

  So he did.

  The next morning, Anthony and Valerie were in good spirits. The chief had appreciated their efforts and the two of them were ready to seal the deal as it was with the Yellow Tail tribe. All that was needed was for all parties to agree on the provisional agreement. Once everything was made, then Valerie could bring it back to her people, and the chief could bring it back to the tribe.

  They already had some inkling that the tribe would agree to what little they were asking for. There wasn’t much for it. They were just reopening diplomatic ties and establishing a mission there so that they can deduct trade. That it was going across the world was immaterial to the merchants and the merchants’ guild. But the merchant’s guild could exist in a large part because they had an agreement with the tribe. It wasn’t an exploitation to provide services, but they benefited from the security of having a tribe of muscular lizard folk.

  “You’ve drafted our final agreement with the tribe, Valerie. Are we ready to sign on the dotted line?” Anthony said.

  The short walk there was full of street vendors trying to sell them more and more meats. Valerie had to stop them every so often to ask where they were getting this meat from. Invariably, it would be some combination of goats and/or dinosaurs, as those were the only things they could grow or raise. Dinosaurs were treasured for their meat, bones, teeth and claws.

  “I think you should get one of these nondescript sandwiches. They are the size of your head,” Valerie said."You need to work on that ego. Sonya said that you have some swagger when you’re talking about the things you know about."

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  “If you want to talk about how to deliver a baby at home, I’m your guy. To talk about world cleaning games and tactical games. Also, your guy. If you want advice on how to make a large lizard folk woman do your bidding, I’m not really the person to ask, but you don’t really have anybody else, so you’re stuck with me.”

  “How about this? If you eat this giant leg of what seems to be a raptor, no wait, not that... If we sign this today, eat one of these raptor legs,” Valerie said, pointing to a street vendor that specialized in velociraptor thighs.

  “I will make that deal because those smell delicious.”

  The stand vendor smiled at both of them, displaying his wares. The group took it in.

  “You guys are both ridiculous,” Sonya said from behind them. “I love you both, but you are both ridiculous. I think we need to talk about whether we want Anthony to have his meat beaten or rubbed.”

  Anthony nearly choked.

  “Pardon?” Anthony said.

  “I know this one. Mr. Velociraptor legs guy. Do you beat your meat or rub it?” Valerie said.

  “Well, if you want tender meat, then you will want to beat it,” the tall lizard folk said. “However, for this? We want to rub the meat in with spices. What we never do is raw dog our meat.”

  “Pardon?” Anthony said, his voice rising an octave.

  “You neighbor makes raptor sausages, but those aren’t great for humans. You see, he makes the sausage dogs raw for people that just want to put fresh meat into their mouths.”

  “So you don’t recommend raw dogging?” Sonya said, inspecting the merchandise.

  “I don’t recommend raw dogging for my customers, but I’ll beat their meat or rub it for them. What do you say, stranger? Would you let me put my meat into your mouth?”

  The lizard man was so earnest it disarmed Anthony.

  “What does it cost?” Anthony said.

  “Aren’t you one of those Chosen? I’ll give it to you for a copper piece,” he said.

  Valerie dug through her pockets, producing some of the local coinage that had been totally given to her from their little trading post. Anthony was going to have to talk to Finley about that. Seeing as how the elf was behind them still trying to haggle for some large vegetables, he could wait.

  They had learned this time to order it to be delivered to the growing compound.

  “I take it you have been reading Valerie’s books?” Anthony said, gnawing on a leg of velociraptor. “Ah. Tastes like... gator.”

  “Gator?” Sonya said.

  “What tastes like gator?” Finley said, butting in.

  The group pointed to the overly sale-mode lizardfolk.

  “Why, just the finest meats this side of Sunderland! Step right up and let me put my meats in your mouth!” He said.

  “Pass, respectfully,” Finley said. “Also, you need to work on your sales pitch or people might think that you are propositioning them.”

  The brown scaled lizard folk turned burnt umber.

  “Propositioning? Perish the thought! I’m just selling the way my father sold his meat, exposing it and its great taste to the public and-“

  “And I think we’re done here,” Anthony said, walking away.

  ---

  Tumble and Fen were nervous. Mother has asked both of them to sit with her while she finished the last set of negotiations with the humans. The scary humans that had been a nightmare through both of their dreams daily since their arrival with their soft pink skin and hair- it was offensive on a base level.

  Mother had employed both of them to be strong and not think about the humans as possible monsters. Just because they didn’t grow up with Soul cards from birth didn’t mean that they were terrible. They were also enlightened, and so could be reasoned with.

  It wasn’t like the terrible lizards where one had to just kill them for the tribe. There were only a few terrible lizards that were ever domesticated, but those posed no threat to them.

  The humans had been thoroughly embarrassed.

  Their mother needed to save face. They needed to be shown to be saving face. The tribe could not have two of its sons be so dishonored.

  It didn’t matter what they were doing when they had been caught and turned away by the scary humans. All that mattered was that they stop haunting the brothers' dreams.

  After all, after you get so far underneath their scales that they would even consider asking their mother for help, it must be serious. It had to be. Mother had listened to them.

  “Good morning Chief. On this wonderful day. Let me just say that the fine vendors of your tribe make the best meat that my commander Anthony here could ever possibly eat. Why he is stuffing his face with that meat right now as we speak?” Valerie said.

  “Good day to you. He looks happy with a mouth full of meat,” the chief said.

  Anthony continued eating the velociraptor leg, a comically oversized cone of meat that really was the size of his forearm.

  He was taking his time, savoring every single bite because if they were going to toss innuendos at him, he was going to dodge. And if the innuendos became a delicious snack for him? All the better.

  “This really is great,” He mused aloud, the tangy spices hitting the roof or his mouth as the flesh melted onto his tongue.

  “Ahem. As I was saying, I’ve had an initial agreement drawn up for our two nations to come together. It covers all the points that we talked before about our status here and our agreement. It also goes into the use of military force and governs how we can ferry and send our troops here. We understand we will not be putting our military here for very long, but while they are here, we want them to shop in the local economy. We also want to freely trade with you guys. Both you as a tribe and the merchants' guild.”

  She held out a scroll of paper as if it was a baby, clutched close to her chest. She waited for the chief to extend into her high end. She passed it over to the red and yellow scaled woman.

  “This is well and good,” the chief said after quickly reviewing it. “I will have my scribes read it as well.”

  Finley produced three more scrolls, each an identical copy of a previous one. Because of a skill from one card that Finley had, it was easy for him to reproduce works.

  The verbiage was easy enough for Finley to write individually, then copy. Rather than taking five people a half an hour to do with the entire the of the transcribing, it took him about an hour.

  The time was spend going through each of the items and confirming that all were correct. Anthony was loving the effect that the card powers could have when they were used for good.

  “While they are reading this, I must talk about something else that’s on my mind before I can sign. It concerns two things that are near and dear to my heart.”

  With that, the chief turned and two Yellow Tail lizards stood up. Neither one wore the anything remotely distinct. dIn fact, they looked like they were off duty sailors wearing only pants. Neither one was female.

  “Who is this?” Anthony said.

  “These two are my sons, Tumble and Fen. There was an altercation between my two sons and the crew of what is the name of your ship?”

  “The Queen’s Con, chief,” Valerie said.

  “Well apparently, someone on your ship has scared my two sons so badly that they are experiencing nightmares daily. And I need you to answer for that. Before I can sign anything. This needs to be resolved. I understand that this was before we had met and before you had a chance to meet me because I was on hunt. I apologize for that. It is my duty to quell the larger monsters that attack our tribe and keep this place safe. I was not here to rein in my son’s. However, I must ask that we resolve this.”

  Valerie looked speechless.

  Anthony could do with some damage control.

  “We understand that this is a personal and family matter. I have already spoken to my subordinate. Going forward she will not permit such activities. It is my understanding that they were going to raid our ship and try to steal whatever they could. Had that not been the case, this probably would not have happened and we would not be talking here. I apologize in my half of Stella who assumed the guise of the undertaker.”

  “Pardon me, but what did you just say? They were trying to raid your ship?”

  “Yes, chief, it is our understanding that the two of them were trying to pick apart an easy target and steal something valuable. Though they swam to our boat, they both had large nets. It is to our understanding that both of them can breathe underwater temporarily or permanently.”

  “I can see why we have a problem,” she said. “Boys, I’m going to need to see you both in the back right now.”