IX

Son of Za-Hel

Men Za-Hel stood behind his father, surrounded by dozens of his fellow soldiers, holding his nerves back as he once again stared into the eyes of the Ancient Red Monster. What exactly made him so nervous was unclear to him. He was shoulder-to-shoulder with his people, and standing just a few feet away from the Head General himself. Despite the circumstances, he couldn't be safer, his nation would be sure of that. And yet…

"Agria the Red." Rey began, his voice leagues deeper and more imposing than Men had heard in a long time. "You have broken the pact binding our nation together with Dragonkind, and in doing so, crossed the one line keeping our militia from snuffing out your life. You have not just endangered, but stolen the lives of dozens of civilians from an underdeveloped and defenseless nation. You have irreparably damaged the trust and reputation that the Sky District has procured with its neighbors over the course of centuries. Tell me, dragon. How do you plead?"

Agria huffed, and glared at the Celestial Bane, wrapped around Rey's arm. "The only grounds you have to spout such arrogant drivel is threaded between your fingers. There is your pact. Do you think justice will ground me through its strength? Or do you truly claim it as your own? I wait eager to see where your justice goes when that chain is wrapped around your neck."

"You will answer my question, animal!" Rey grumbled. "Do you claim the lives you took from the Land Dwellers!? The lives we now take responsibility for!?"

"I claim nothing." Agria responded. "And you take nothing. The Heavenfell Militia locked me to the confines of Freefield, and let me hunt as I please. So, when these birds come to my land, and threaten to kill me for who I have or haven't hunted? That is not the act of a militia. You are only birds. Birds on my hunting ground."

Men Za-Hel's eyes drifted as he pondered the dragon's words. He quietly gasped as Rey continued arguing with the dragon.

"You are deluded if you think you'll be taking another Aarakocran life." Rey began. "You tell me-"

"You're saying you didn't do it!" Men interrupted, stepping out beside his father. The soldiers behind him began murmuring amongst themselves, many shooting dirty looks at Men.

"He's telling us he's innocent." Men continued. "You're saying that our coming to execute you isn't what the militia would do. Because our half of the pact said that we wouldn't attack or try to subdue him. A mob of angry civilians- maybe- but not the militia itself. We have no grounds to, because he didn't kill those people!"

"Bright, that one." Agria grinned. "I thought draconic a dead language by now- but the sky is full of surprises."

"Men, step back." Rey said, standing in front of his son. "He's just trying to avoid admission- anything to stay alive."

Rey turned back to Agria. "Is that what this is about? Anger? Were you upset that I subdued you to defend my son? So you broke the pact and put me under fire in retaliation?"

Agria nearly choked trying not to laugh. "Son!? That thing is your son? Ohh- now I really wish I'd snuffed him out quicker. No, Rey, I envy the version of myself that remains that petty, but I'm afraid he would have died centuries ago. I've suffered countless indignities from foolhardy avian Generals. You're hardly worth losing my life over."

"Then what happened?" Men asked, again to the ire of the soldiers behind him.

"Stand back, Men!" Rey scolded. "We've talked about this long enough, Agria! The Land District will never know rest until I've made you cold!"

Agria bared his teeth. Men stepped out ahead of his father, blocking his path.

"Stop!" Men shouted. "We can't do this yet! We haven't proven his guilt!"

"The Land Dwellers' word is enough! Now move!" Rey shouted, raising his hand to ready his troops.

"No, stand down!" Men flew above his father to speak to the troops directly. "Everyone stand down, this isn't done yet!"

"I don't take your orders, boy!" One soldier shouted, as more and more troops began taking flight.

Rey himself took to the air, and thrust the Celestial Bane back to swing at Agria, who had begun building up his flame.

Men Za-Hel panicked, foreseeing the bloodbath this would inevitably become. Even with the Celestial Bane, Agria would have time to needlessly kill too many soldiers. And if it turns out Agria wasn't even the cause of that attack? But his people were gone- their flame had been stoked by the promise of a just battle, they wouldn't listen to reason if it meant walking away now! He had to take action.

Men Za-Hel readied his own whip, and- instead of swinging it at Agria- he swept it downwards, intersecting its arch with the Celestial Bane, from his father below him. Sure enough, he timed it well enough for the two chains to twist around each other, rendering both attacks useless and pulling the two birds toward each other with sudden, disorienting force.

"The hell-!?" Rey blurted out, caught off guard.

Rey realized what happened, and glared at his son, staring resolutely back at him. The soldiers around the two realized the gravity of what Men had just done. In interrupting his father, and pulling them together, they found themselves reorienting themselves directly in front of Agria's line of fire, which was building much too quickly for them to escape on their own.

Acting on impulse, without any organization, five different soldiers shouted and rushed to tackle the General and his son out of the line of fire. Rey and Men were violently knocked down, tossed between five different brick walls on the way to the cloud floor.

Men, on his back, looked up and watched the five soldiers, now themselves disoriented and stuck in place, be completely engulfed in a sudden and intense wave of fire. The air burst and shredded as hellsent heat and flame erased the soldiers molecule by molecule. As he watched their bodies disappear, mercilessly burnt beyond a fine ash, Men Za-Hel trembled, and screamed for the soldiers that died protecting him.

"Dammit! No!" Rey cried, quickly getting to his feet, and whipping his chain back, detaching his from Men's, and sending his son tumbling across the ground. Men watched Rey attack Agria with the Celestial Bane, sending those rivers of golden light coursing through the dragon's body, and he could think of nothing else to do but lay there and watch it happen.

Then, Men felt the ground beneath him shake. He turned his head in the other direction, as a few other soldiers also noticed the earth cracking and splitting to make way for one of its masters. Together, they watched as the clouds parted, the universe reshaped at a monster's whims, a gargantuan metallic beast soared out onto the battlefield.

"DRAGON!" A soldier shouted to the General. "THE BRONZE DRAGON IS HERE!"

Rey and Agria both stopped their fighting as Xemmier the Bronze planted his claws into the ground, sparks and crackles of lightning lacing his very breath. This dragon, though every bit as old and worn as his counterpart, glimmered with the rustic gleam of resilient, unbending bronze. If Agria's presence could instill fear in every creature with a reasonable mind, Xemmier demanded one's attention in a wholly different way. This beast seized control of every environment it inhabited, as if the universe itself functions with Xemmier as its center- its unmoving, undentable core.

 Rey dropped to the ground, put his weapon back on its latch, and spoke to Xemmier.

"Xemmier. To what do I owe the interruption?"

"You already know my business here, Za-Hel." Xemmier spoke, the gravelling depth of his voice making Rey's sound like a mere imitation by comparison. "I would ask you what you are doing here, with that."

Rey gripped the still latched Celestial Bane. "I'm upholding our pact with Agria. A responsibility that holds no relevance to you. I would ask that you leave us be."

"Is that what you are doing?" Xemmier asked. "Then you must pardon me for assuming you would wield happenstance to rid your district one of its many nuisances."

"I am no nuisance, you old fool." Agria snapped. "You'd do well to watch your copper tongue."

"Agria was sighted razing a Land District city. In doing so, he-"

"I am aware of the accusations laid against him." Xemmier grumbled. "I have yet to hear reason to humor them."

"Have you gone mad!?" Rey asked. "There were survivors of that night! Many of them! You would deny the testament of dozens of witnesses?"

"And what of the hundreds of witnesses who ought to have seen Agria leave Freefield?" Xemmier retorted. "Do you mean to tell me that this massive, graceless cur slipped past your entire citizenry unnoticed?"

Rey did not respond, so Xemmier continued. "No. This is no trial. This is a lynching. You take opportunity to rid one of the two living creatures keeping your barbaric empire in stalemate. You would nail down that pin, and be rid of us completely."

"Nonsense!" Rey shouted. "The Sky District is more than content to coexist with you! You think I would endanger my people's lives because I find you inconvenient to live beside? No!"

"Then what is this for?" Xemmier asked. "Are you truly so deluded, you believe these grounds for execution?"

Rey began to speak, but stuttered. He briefly turned to look at Men, still on the floor, trembling. He sighed, and looked Xemmier in the eyes.

"The Land Dwellers believe me to have orchestrated this massacre. Rumors have spread that I razed Clearbrooke- leaving my newly developed colony unharmed- to effectively take all of Clearbrooke at once. It's a flimsy story at best, but it makes rounds. The longer I delay Agria's punishment, the more resentment and distrust will fester between our nations. I would rather kill Agria, then find him innocent- than set the precedent that we do nothing to protect the Land District from the two of you."

Xemmier glared. "You- who stole our sentience from us- now condemn us to death, to romance another race you yearn to conquer. Barbarian."

Rey finally broke eye contact with Xemmier. "I wear your labels shameless. I will do what is best for Solevi."

"Then I welcome you to continue your justice, Za-Hel." Xemmier bared his teeth. "I will do what is best for our kind. Let us see if you wield that chain deftly enough to fell two Dragons at once."

Agria grinned. "I hope he tries, Xemmier. I'm not satisfied with only five soldiers."

"You keep your unsightly maw shut." Xemmier growled.

Rey stood still, pondering his next move. His soldiers watched and waited intently for his command. Men tried his hardest to keep his eyes from the five corpses still smoking not far from him.

Finally, Rey leapt into the air, and swung his arm back. "Retreat!" He cried, and began soaring out of Freefield, his soldiers quickly taking flight behind him. Men scrambled to his feet and fled, trying to steady his shaking breath and unrelenting ticks.