How does one deal with those going against their policy?
The simplest answer was: with violence. Threat of harm or death was an immensely popular method of ensuring compliance, typically favored by people whose office came with a prefix attached to their name, along with some manner of fancy headwear.
It was true for medieval kings, my much maligned ultimate superiors at Imperial High Command, all manner of dictators - it held true even for me, who as a nine year old drill sergeant taught Imperial military law to uncooperative recruits by threatening to ram its tools through their skulls.
It was brutish, often led to waste of resources, and was utilized by people generally not held in high regard. But as long as the ruling party maintained their monopoly on violence, it was effective.
Problem was, monopolies were bad for business. And seeing as business was my goal, what was bad for it was bad for me.
Still, I had to punish the perpetrators involved in this little sacrilege themed 'turf war' somehow. Goblins and kobolds had to honor the peace installed by my administration. And any breach of it was to be very thoroughly discouraged.
I consciously didn't add 'by any means necessary'. That line of reasoning was coming a bit too close to that of zealots and madmen for my taste.
That left me with a far shorter, but more acceptable list of 'means generally approved of'. Back in HR, selecting them was easy - the company framework almost chose them for me. The task of disciplining employees was no harder than solving a page of children's connect-the-dots book: little more than a matter of sequencing.
No dot seemed however an enticing starting point in my current situation. Pass them up for promotion or raise? Kobolds didn't have a concept for either. 'Fire' them? Exile was synonymous with death, and would be treated as such. Relocate them somewhere they didn't want to be? Community work with the goblins was a great idea… if I wanted their mutual enmity to fester further.
As it stood, no means seemed to pass the combined requirements of non-violence and severity. Perhaps it was due to me being out of practice. I admit that years of military life that required direct, immediate action, no matter how violent, warped my approach to those things somewhat.
With no solution surfacing in a flash of inspiration, I pushed those divagations to the back of my head, to be chewed on by my subconscious. I had something more immediate to focus on - Vaira was coming back, her silhouette approaching from over the treeline.
===
We exchanged some light greetings, after which Vaira presented to me her spoils: an appetizing looking auroch bull and a humanoid looking… thing.
"What exactly am I looking at, Miss Vaira?" I measured my draconic attache with a questioning stare.
Vaira shrugged her wings. "I don't know, Lady Tanya. To be honest, I hoped you'd be able to tell me."
"Why should I know what it is?" I prodded the unmoving treebark-skinned humanoid with my claw.
"Oh, well, I mean," the green dragon tried to look as innocent as possible, staring at me with puppy eyes the size of saucers. "You know…"
"No, in fact I do not know, Miss Vaira." I said, narrowing my eyes.
"But you know so many things, my Lady! I thought that surely you had an idea what this thing could be." Said the green dragon, puffing her chest in obvious pride for her 'masterful' deflection.
I sighed. "Let's leave the matter of my knowledge aside. Where have you found it? And what was it doing that you found suitable to interrupt by knocking it unconcious?" Or maybe killing it. I couldn't see or hear it breathing.
"I found it in a cave some distance from here, squatting over a bowl of water and using some strange magic to mess with your kobolds."
What.
"Could you please elaborate?" I gestured for her to continue.
"There isn't much to elaborate on, Lady Tanya. A fairy, sitting in a cave, talking in Kodur about the kobold god and totems to a bowl of water. All while making something out of straw, feathers and magic string."
Just what I needed. An unexplainably magical addition to my headache. "I appreciate your thorough and decisive action, Miss Vaira, I really do. Even if it was a little bit… too thorough and decisive. I'd like to be able to interrogate this creature on its actions and motives. As it is, it's too inert to do that."
"It sent a swarm of bats at me." Vaira's tone suggested she was more offended with the action itself than the violent intent behind it.
"A truly fearsome display of magic." I injected as much sarcasm as I could into my reply without it becoming offensive.
The green dragon lowered her head in her best impression of a kicked puppy. "Should I have let it cast something more serious?"
I cleared my throat, producing a low rumble similar to a starting tank engine. "Definitely not. You engaged an enemy with unknown magical capabilities; your response was near textbook. It's only a matter of measuring your strength that is left somewhat lacking. But it is something we can work on with additional training."
"Oh…" Vaira's head lowered further, touching the ground with her nose. For some reason, my words failed to cheer her up.
"Moving on." I changed the subject, out of concern for how far Vaira was willing to take her display of hurt pride. I did not want to have to dig her head out of the ground. "While the creature you brought is involved in my most recent problem, in its uncooperative state it brings me no closer to actually solving it."
"And what is this problem, Lady Tanya?" Vaira perked up, relieved that I left behind the subject of her performance.
"A group of kobolds took an exception to the methods goblins use to mark their hunting grounds, engaging in what some may call a turf war; I'd call it thoughtless vandalism setting me back weeks." A boiler-like rumbling growl escaped my throat. "You wouldn't perchance know something about that, Miss Vaira? It happened in the territory you were tasked to oversee after all."
"Nnnnno..?" The green dragon tilted her head in confusion. "I don't usually hunt when they do. How would I know something is going on between the kobolds and goblins?"
"Take a deep breath." I commanded. Vaira obliged, scrunching her muzzle after she took in the 'aromas' of the village. "Not exactly hard to smell their worry, is it? Certainly more than enough to figure out something is amiss, and investigate."
"Ummm, goblins are always nervous around dragons. I learned to ignore the smell back when I was still a whelp living with my father." Despite her defense, Vaira had the decency to look just a little ashamed.
"Then it is something to keep in mind for the future. A content populace is a productive populace."
"But why go through all that?" The green dragon gave me a look of genuine puzzlement. "Just tell them to work harder. It worked for my father."
"Through an implied threat." I rolled my eyes. "There is a human saying: 'Speak softly and carry a big stick'. Emphasis on 'carry', not 'raise it at the sight of slightest inconvenience'. Our administration will achieve much more with a polite smile than with a raised claw." I forced the corners of my mouth to part in a demonstration.
Vaira didn't react, barring a slight dilation of her pupils. "...I see. So, will we be using this 'stick' to deal with the kobolds that were picking a fight with the goblins?"
"Yes. But first, we'll consult shaman Obok. Whatever this creature is, it would be the most useful to us awake. And he and his magic may just be what we need to restore its consciousness." That is, if it was even alive.
===
Upon exiting his burrow Obok was greeted by two smiles which reminded him of the time when he nearly lost his life to a lone razormaw waiting in the bushes. The terrifying image was made worse by its plurality and size; dragon teeth were far bigger than those of a raptor.
That alone he could stomach; he was subjected to similar sights ever since Tanya Degurechaff took control of his village. But when a second later a corpse fell at his feet out of nowhere, his nerves, frayed to the brink by constant stress, finally gave out, making him scream in terror.
The corpse, perhaps feeling some sense of solidarity, screamed as well.
===
"I'm sorry Shaman Obok, I didn't mean to startle you." The tyrant of Earthmounds greeted the elder, presenting her teeth while smothering the still screaming thing with her paw as she did so.
"It's no problem, my Lady." He assured her with a weak breath.
"This," the silver dragon pointed her muzzle towards the creature, "is what I wanted to consult you about. According to Miss Vaira it was messing with kobolds, possibly influencing them to attack goblin monuments of worship. Maybe as a shaman you have noticed something? Any kobold acting strangely recently?"
"No my Lady, I am afraid that is all news to me." Obok replied, lying through his teeth to a creature that could literally smell lies.
But he'd sooner die than sell one of his kin to the tyrant. Except Hik - he'd sell the selfish bastard to the devil for a pair of used shoes.
Gods damn it! He told Riek and his friends that his anger, no matter how righteous, was not to be acted upon! That the Silver Devil would find out one way or the other! But he didn't listen. Now he will pay for his foolishness. A real shame; he was one of Obok's most talented students.
The fact that he might have acted under magical influence was however truly news to him. Taking a closer look at the thing thrashing beneath Tanya Degurechaff's claws, he noticed its bark-like skin. Just what Earthmounds needed: more fey business.
"Well then," the tyrant sighed, "seeing as the thing decided to wake up on its own, disrupting your business was unnecessary. Apologies, Shaman Obok."
"No need, my Lady." The elder waved her off, trying to sound nonchalant, and failing at it miserably.
"Well, while you are here, could you tell Hik to gather the tribe at the center of the village? Near the… Dragonmelter obelisk. I will be with them shortly; as soon as I ask our guest some questions."
Saying that she loosened the grip she had on the fey, uncovering its mouth and letting the world at large hear the full volume of its displeasure.
And then she let out a bellowing roar directly into the creature's face; the kind of sound the dead ends of Obok's ancestry might have heard while exploring a cave they previously swore was empty.
"Now then, let us talk like civilized people." Tanya Degurechaff said, smiling with warmth that didn't reach her eyes.
===
In the following silence, it occurred to Vaira that Tanya might not be very good at practicing what she preached. To bring back the 'big stick' analogy, any conversation with her seemed to be done under the shadow of an uprooted tree being raised as a club.
She didn't comment on it. It was a very big tree.
===
"Now then, let us talk like civilized people."
Igwe Sur'Serrantis wanted to scream and curse with all their remaining power. But they stopped themself, their observable world filled with two rows of arguments for why it would be the worst - and last - decision of their life.
Instead the spriggan took stock of their surroundings. The green brute that dared to ambush them in their cave was here. As was some old kobold with tired eyes and bitter expression.
However, the most taking, or perhaps better said persistent, element of the spriggan's surroundings was the silver dragon, currently drilling holes in Igwe's skull with its stare.
It spoke to them in Kodur, with a polite tone reserved to those holding all the power in the conversation. "Let's start with introductions. I am Tanya Degurechaff, chief administrator of Earthmounds and New Grotniks. This is Miss Vaira, my attache," the green dragon waved smugly at Igwe with its paw, "and Elder Obok, the leader of the local kobold community." The lizard stared at them from under his brow, making it painfully obvious he is not pleased to meet them. "And you, our dear guest, are?"
"Igwe. Igwe Sur'Serrantis." The spriggan wasn't afraid to speak their name - magic worked with true meanings, not empty words one used to identify themself. And they never bothered finding their true, arcane name.
"Then, Igwe Sur'Serrantis, how do you wish to be addressed?"
From very far away, the spriggan thought. "Igwe will do fine."
"Noted. Now, with all the formalities fulfilled, I believe it is time to address the issue that had us all gathered here: you magically influencing the kobolds under my administration to commit acts of vandalism in goblin claimed territory." The silk of false politeness in the silver dragon's tone wore thin, showing a glimpse of iron beneath.
"No such thing was done, dragon." Igwe almost literally spat out the words. They refused to be bullied, even as they were pressed down by a paw that probably was three times their weight. "I merely used one of these." Saying that, the spriggan reached for their waist, presenting a half burned loop made out of straw with an intricate pattern made out of string in it - a dream weaver. "Touch it with your magic. It's too damaged to work on its own, but a mage can still use it."
The dragon looked at them in contempt. "You must think me particularly stupid if you think I would touch a damaged spell matrix. I've already seen their results."
"The fairy way of killing." The green brute nodded with a sagely expression, making the silver dragon roll her eyes.
"I-it'snothinglikethat!" Igwe's words tripped over each other as the spriggan tried to explain the misconception as fast as possible - before the dragon could decide to act on her conclusions. "Unlike the mortal hackjobs, the spell is powered directly by the matrix. It's completely safe."
"And what does it do?"
"Gives visions. Or dreams. When I felt an act of simmering anger destroy the first totems, I constructed these, weaving the locations of the ones hidden from sight. I didn't influence kobolds; I merely aided them in finding what they were looking for."
"And why did you decide to help them? Altruism perhaps?" The silver beast's voice was dripping with venomous sarcasm.
"As if!" Igwe scoffed. Of the twin blades of honesty and deception, they decided to draw the former against the dragon. It was sharper than any sword… even if its cuts were left only on the soul.
Truth be told, the spriggan would prefer something less metaphorical. A dwarven siege engine would be a good starting point.
"Then? What motivated you?"
"Those totems dedicated to the Eye of Blight; the goblins placed them right under the leylines I feed on. Without their power, I started to wither and weaken, my head plagued by a constant unearthly headache. When the kobolds came and destroyed their first totems, the relief was palpable. I had to help them help me."
"You found an opportunity and seized it." The silver dragon nodded to herself, her expression gaining a smidge of genuine politeness. "But that doesn't explain why you didn't try to remove them yourself, or just move to a new source of sustenance."
Igwe laughed bitterly, showing the dragon the remains of necrosis left by the totem on the palm of their hand. "Because I can't - the power of Eye of Blight, even in most miniscule amounts, is poison to me. And I was born of those leylines, from an oak that reached deep enough with its roots to draw their power. My life and magic depend on them, no matter how far I travel."
"And bargaining with the goblins for the removal of the totems was out of the picture by the dint of your nature, leaving you out of options." Igwe's captor released them from beneath her paw, obviously chewing on some thought. "I've heard all I wanted. Oh, except for one thing: would you be able to recognize the kobolds you 'gifted' with those prophetic dreams of yours?"
"Y-yes. Definitely."
"Them come along, I req-"
"My Lady, what if this thing is lying?!" The old bitter kobold's interruption rang - no, blared - with undertones of desperation. "It's a fey! You cannot trust it!"
"-uire you for something. Good point Shaman Obok; we can't be certain of the truth of their word. But don't worry; I thought of a very simple way to check if the parts relevant to me weren't falsified." Tanya Degurechaff said, her muzzle taking on an unreadable expression.
===
Obok knew something was up, that much was obvious. He positively stank of suppressed fear and uncertainty, the smell of his hormones lighting up in my nostrils like a flare.
Question was: why didn't he tell me?
Was he working with the vandals? Unlikely. Despite being the head religious figure of the local community, he was a reasonable enough person to see why it would achieve nothing but draw my anger.
Or was he simply afraid for his fellow tribesmen? I couldn't tell. He was very quick to sell out Hik back when I first came to the village, so that probably wasn't it either. He was the pragmatic sort, willing to make sacrifices in the name of the village.
Surely he understood that for the future prosperity of Earthmounds my initiatives couldn't be compromised, and any attempts to do so, remain unpunished. I elaborated on them to him often enough that he must have seen the full picture.
Perhaps he simply didn't like the 'fey', and them speaking the truth would mean it wouldn't be punished… as severely.
Because even if Igwe had no choice but to act the way they did, the creature still contributed towards the actions that caused me much headache. Taking advantage of a robbery in progress to steal enough food to survive another day was understandable from a strictly human perspective - but it didn't change the nature of the committed crime.
I had to keep in mind that my divagations hinged on whether or not the being was lying. Which it very well could have. I'd find out soon enough.
"Now then, Igwe, see the kobolds gathering over there?" I pointed with my muzzle towards the personally maligned piece of kobold culture decorated with bones of Darwion and Red Eye. "Which of them did you send your dreams to?"
The… I decided to give up and just call them fey. The fey made a show of closing their eyes and concentrating, and I felt a small amount of power welling inside them. It then pointed their fingers towards one, two… seven kobolds. One of them I knew was a mage in training. A shame… and an opportunity. I committed each face to memory.
"Good. Stay there." I turned towards my attache. "Miss Vaira, if our guest decides to act funny - or even move a single wrong muscle - I expect a repeat performance of your first meeting. Without consideration for our earlier talk regarding measuring your force."
The green dragon looked first at the fey, then back at me. "Sure. But how would I know if it moved a wrong muscle? It's made of wood. I don't think it even has muscles."
I looked at her with a stare I normally reserved for people asking questions in the vein of 'But what about my raise?' or 'You expect me to follow a little girl's order?'. "I will leave it to your judgment. Now, if you excuse me, I wish to exchange a few words with the denizens of Earthmounds."
===
"Hey boss, the old pr-, ekhem, Obok told me you needed your 'sentient assets' gathered around your obelisk. So I did. Question is: why?"
"You'll see soon enough Hik." I looked down at my herald. The muscular kobold was covered in scratches, and his muzzle spotted a nasty wound going through his right cheek.
What could bang him up like this? If he had a close encounter with a terrorbeak, the only predator left in the forest that could threaten kobolds, his wounds would look different - as the name implied, they primarily used their beaks, not claws. Was he fighting with another kobold?
Or a goblin - the suspicious part of me added. "Pardon my curiosity Hik, but I couldn't help but notice the sorry state your body is in. What creature living in my forest could have left you in such a state?"
The smell of shame filled my nostrils. Not that I needed it to know how Hik was feeling - he looked like he just swallowed a lemon.
"Oh, this? Don't worry boss, that's nothing." He waved me off in a display of nonchalance that wouldn't convince a three year old. "I just… tripped. Yeah, tripped. On a root. While walking out Bastard."
I didn't buy it. Barring his smell of a liar, the only fall which would explain such wounds was one into a pool filled with broken glass. "Remind me, who is Bastard?"
"The pet raptor I bought from the snotl- goblins. Very enthusiastic walker. A bit too enthusiastic, but he's nothing I can't handle." He banged his chest, to convince himself more than anything else, and hissed in pain.
I see. He definitely wasn't involved in the acts of vandalism. "Well, I hope you'll watch out for those roots in the future; it seems they became insidious enough to be a threat even to experienced hunters."
"Khm, yeah." Hik replied eloquently.
One mystery solved, I decided to turn to the kobold population at large to solve another. "Welcome, citizens of Earthmounds. Let me begin by apologizing for taking you away from your no doubt important work. However, the circumstances forced my hand."
I paused for a few seconds, just long enough to let the audience start to wonder what these circumstances might be - and the guilty to start stewing in uncertainty.
Now I just had to grind their minds into mush for a bit - something I had plenty of experience in as a HR manager...
===
Hik listened to his boss's speech with complete lack of interest. Words like 'synergy', 'optimization' and 'delegation' flew through his head without touching his brain. The talk of the hour was goblins; how working with them could benefit the kobolds, their unique technologies, and so on.
In short, it was a load of bullshit. And boss knew it - by now he listened to enough of her tirades to know when her heart wasn't in it.
Hik scratched his cheek, hissing in pain when his fingers touched the gash left behind by Bastard's claw. Nothing better demonstrated just how full of shit the snotlings were than that fucking raptor.
He wasted ten kilos of meat, just to bring home a murderous ball of teeth and claws with the temperament of a freshly kicked hornet's nest. The day Hik opened his cage was the day he fought the hardest battle of his whole life, ending with him surrendering his kitchen area to the invading forces. His attempts to reclaim the lost territory so far remained unsuccessful.
Hik stopped his train of thoughts. After the meeting, he needed a solid round of swearing and singing crass songs in the comfort of his burrow - for a moment there his thoughts started resembling the way boss usually spoke.
Speaking of whom, it looked like her brain mulcher was coming to an end, the blessed words 'to conclude' stepping down from the heavens to save the bored, confused and in some cases very nervous looking masses.
"... I believe I outlined the importance of peace between your tribe and the goblins." The words of Dragonmelter's pre-wrap up brought hope to Hik's shriveled heart - "I do not demand, or really expect you to give up on your past grudges so quickly. I only ask for them to be brought to me, Miss Vaira or elders Obok and Kamik, and not be acted on in your own capacity. Which is why it saddened me greatly to have found out some of you did just that, disputing the goblins' claim to a part of the forest - the forest my administration claimed and reserved the exclusive right to distribute among its subsidiaries." - only for it to be mercilessly murdered.
Hik didn't get the fine details; he didn't need to. The important part was, some morons decided to muck around with something a dragon thought of as theirs - a lethally stupid mistake.
"I do not truly care what motivated you: hatred, jealousy, religious conviction." Boss's tone was completely flat; some might even say polite. Hik would disagree: he'd say it was fucking terryfying. "But I believe the guilty party should be given an opportunity to explain and defend themselves." The dragon's head moved, her ice-blue eyes fixed on some schmuck, one on the verge of shitting himself by the looks of it. "Well, I'm listening."
The poor moron stammered, producing a lot of 'ahs', 'uhs' and 'ums' while trying his best to sink his head into his torso.
"You want to know why?! The sons and daughters of Byrnak could not stand seeing the darkness you are dragging them into any longer!" It wasn't him who finally broke, but some other guy who Hik vaguely remembered hanging out with Obok in his free time.
"You slew Red Eye, the beast of Balor. I thought you then a godsend, a guide to show Earthmounds the way to the future. But since then, you brought his worshippers into our lands, let them raise fetishes in his image!" The kobold's eyes were burning with zeal. "You invited them into our homes to spread their filth, all in the name of some deluded idea of 'progress'! I refuse to hear any more of these inane drabless! No more! Obok may shy from acting, but not me! I know my deeds to be righteous, guided by Byrnak himself!"
Boss laughed, in a very non-happy way. "And just how did your 'god' guide you?"
"He sent me dreams, prophetic visions that guided mine and my followers' eyes in seeking the blight goblins brought into our woods! My hand was touched by godhood; even if you kill me, my spirit will live on, to cleanse our lands another day."
The silver dragon moved, standing up lazily from her sitting position and letting her full size eclipse the Dragonmelter obelisk named after her. The fires in the eyes of the zealot dimmed. Some other kobolds, previously rising up to form a line in front of their leader, were now rethinking their life choices.
They say faith can move mountains; importantly, at no point did they mention dragons.
===
I could just kill him. Rid myself of the subversive element and his supporters, maybe add some quip in the vein of 'where is your god now?'. It would be quick, easy - and it would cement me as a leader to work around, not with.
I worked under enough of those to know why it would be the wrong course of action.
The 'funniest' thing was, the crimes of the idiots before me weren't even that serious when taken out of the larger context of their motivations and their impact on my plans. 'Mere' vandalism, a symptom of a much more serious disease, alike in nature to an annoying rash. And rashes are supposed to be soothed, not carved out.
Which brings me to the 'hand of god'. "Miss Vaira!" I shouted. "Would you be so kind to bring our guest here?"
My attache approached the gathering, the cowed looking fey before her. I turned towards the mind-addled kobolds, some of which were still giving me challenging stares. "Behold, the 'hand of god' you were raving on about."
"I don't understand… What is that?" The voice of the lead perpetrator lost some of its fervor.
"This," I replied, "is the fey responsible for your visions. The goblins built their totems right above the leylines sustaining them, closing them off to it. When you first acted upon your prejudice, they saw you as an excellent tool to rid themself of a problem."
"Liar!" The kobold huffed. "I knew what I saw, what I felt in my dreams!"
Sighing, I turned to the fey. I had enough. "Go on Igwe, show him exactly what he saw."
The being reached for one of their dreamcatcher-looking matrixes. It was time to see if they weren't lying. "Use your magic to awaken the dream weaver. It's too damaged to work on its own."
The zealot looked incredulously, first at the fey, then at me. "Y-you can't be serious… I know what it will do to me if I touch it! I will not be subjected to any fey magic!"
"Unfortunately for you, you already were." I said with a breath of exasperation. "As were some of your followers. Go on, use it. The fey assured me it is completely safe to use, even when damaged. Prove to us your divine guidance."
The kobold steeled himself. "Know this, tyrant. I will go down as a martyr, a symbol that will haunt you until your grave." Saying that, he touched the matrix, the web inside lighting up with a pale light.
After a few seconds, the light dimmed. I sent out a scanning formula, and felt no rogue spell running through the kobold. It looked like the fey was telling the truth.
"Well, tell us what you saw." I purred.
"This… this proves nothing." The zealot's voice reverberated with disbelief. "Nothing! You hear me?! Nothing!"
"To you, maybe not. But to everyone else, your reaction is proof enough." I gestured towards the gathered populace of Earthmounds: some of it shocked, other angry, yet other unsure, and in Hik's case, seeming to have a time of their life. "But I must concede to you one thing: the goblin totems have to go."
"What?" Came the disbelieving tone from among the gathered crowd.
"As I said, these totems were placed over our guest's source of sustenance, greatly lessening their health, power, and general wellbeing." I started. "As such, they will have to be removed - something some of the goblins are guaranteed not to be happy with. As such, I plan to station a small force near the residence of the fey, to prevent any new totems from being placed, and to keep an eye on the magical being. I can't afford to let a potentially powerful fey to remain unsupervised after all. It would need to be someone of incorruptible conviction and magical talent. It would need to be someone like you." I finished, pointing my claw at the lead belligerent.
The kobold stammered in disbelief. "I- no… you can't do this to me, you godless creature!"
"You will find that I in fact can." I had enough of this. My claws were itching more and more with every word of the idiot. "You might call me godless, and I'd agree with you. But remember this: Your gods are high above, or deep below; I stand right before you."
That should remind the kobold population at large that the secular law of my administration takes precedence over their religious beliefs. My line said, I motioned for Captain Turok and her warriors to escort the zealot and his ilk. I still had work to do; I knew for a fact that the goblins won't be happy with the news.
===
The negotiations with the goblins had taken until late in the evening. As I predicted, some of their populace weren't happy with my decision. In private, I negotiated with Chieftain Borwit for the most outspoken elements against these developments to volunteer - or be volunteered - for the new feywatch outpost.
The mixed guard of Turok's and Borwit's most trusted warriors would be the watchers who watched the watchmen. The fey, a spriggan as they called their kind, already proved their potentially corruptive influence. Caution was more than warranted.
That was the official version. If I made a poll, I think one third of the populace under my administration might believe it. The truth as it was, satisfied no one: not the kobolds, not the goblins, not the spriggan, and certainly not me.
But it was the best I could make out of the situation. There were probably still sympathizers of the zealot's methods among the populace. I needed to win their hearts and minds if I wanted that to change.
I'll start with the most important of them all: the military and the children.
Patriarch Hurk submitted to me his education plan a few days ago, as well as chosen the candidates for the teachers. It was time to do a test run. A small school, right between the villages, where children of both species will be able to learn and share the knowledge of their forefathers, without the corrupting influence of their prejudices. Tomorrow, Vaira and I will start looking for a suitable location.
Coupled with supervised joint exercises between the two militaries that will force them to rely on each other, I hoped to build the steady foundations of cooperation the trade will be able to build upon.
I thought of the future, while watching the unusually bright sunset from below the treeline.
===
Fire reflected in the translucent wing membrane of a flying wyvern. Sitting on its back, a burly rider grunted to themself.
"Dere was no thunderstorm recently... Gotta tell da Boss." They scratched the neck of their mount. "Looks like we'z found it, Pufter."