Weighted lines fell off the side of the Old Ugly as it came to a low hover over the open field. Workmen reached out grabbed the lines and secured the dangling ropes to iron pegs hammered deep into the ground. More workmen and beasts of burden pushed over mooring towers for the airship to dock on and slowly the airscrews and boilers winded down.

The belly cargo ramp dropped down with a rattle of chains and the crew of the Old Ugly stepped off. Blake stood at the top of the ramp and looked around the busy airship field. Several airships other than the Old Ugly were docked on the mooring towers and streams of wagons filled with cargo were moving up and down the ramps.

"The Mountains bless you. Welcome to Mallodge Hills," A dwarvan smartly dressed in a rich looking coat and robes strolled up to Blake. "You must be the ship's captain?"

"Blake," Blake wearing a set of prosthetic ears to hide his alien looks, made a bow in the way of the local customs as he introduced himself. "I am the captain and owner of the Old Ugly."

"Ha!" The dwarvan let out a loud guffaw of amusement when he heard the name of the ship. "By the mountains! That is a good name! Haha!"

"I am Turner Roc!" The dwarvan introduced himself. "My people called me Master Turner. I am one of the merchants providing supplies and services here. Anything you need, fuel, labourers, wagons, supplies, I can provide them."

"It has been a while since I last saw a Loose Confed here," Master Turner mused. "Well, the rules are simple here, no killings permitted anywhere within the city. No stealing and no trading of slaves."

"As for the docking fees, it would be fifty gold crowns per day! The Field Overseer will come to collect the fees at the end of the day," Master Turner continued to list out more rules to Blake. "Well, if you do not pay or could not make payment, they have the right to confiscate your ship, so my advice is to pay up on time."

"What about entering the city?" Blake asked. "Is there a toll or fee?"

"Well, entering the city will cost you a gold crown if you have no trader's pass. If not it would be a silver to enter." Master Turner explained before he gave a wink. "Well, to be honest, there isn't much to see in the city. Unless you fancy one of those high class bordellos where they have all those different races..."

Blake frowned at the merchant's words but the merchant did not seem to notice Blake's change of expression. "There's enough pubs, inns, and brothels right here at the field. And if you want to find merchants or markets, the major guilds and trade houses have branch stores here at the field too."

Blake looked towards the city walls that were a few kilometers away. The airship field was situated at the eastern outskirts of Mallodge Hills. A road that was crowded with traffic led out of the airfield towards the city walls. Under the midday's sun, the city looked bright and pretty with all those red and blue roofed houses and towers.

He turned back to Master Turner and said, "I would like to restock my ship's supplies and fuel. My quartermaster will give you a list of our needs."

"Of course, of course!" Master Turner rubbed his hands happily. "Since this is our first meeting, I shall give you a good price, unlike the others!"

"Thank you," Blake smiled back and he returned inside the ship. He found Trism and the ship's quartermaster at the tiny cubicle that served as an office at one corner of the cargo hold. Both of them were going through their list of needed supplies when Blake knocked on the door and entered.

"Sir!" Both of the officers came to attention when he entered. Blake gestured them to continue as he squeezed a spot for himself in the tiny office. Trism held out a roll of a scroll and sighed, "Here is the revised list of supplies we need to restock. I really missed proper writing tools..."

Blake let out a small smile as he unfurled the scroll and scanned through the items written in ink. "We can't use printers and paper out here. They don't have such technology and it would only make us targets."

Blake rolled up the scroll and handed it over to the quartermaster, "Looks good, settle it with Master Turner, he is one of the suppliers here. He promised me a discount earlier."

"Trism, inform the crew that no one is to leave the boundaries of the airfield here," Blake ordered. "No one is to leave and enter the city today. They can go visit the stores and pubs here if they wish during their free time."

"It would probably take a couple of days to restock on our supplies," Blake continued. "Arrange a schedule for any of the crew who wishes to visit the city tomorrow. Must sure that an officer sticks with them and they must travel in groups and no one is to get into any trouble!"

"Have the officer carry a copy of our trader's pass when they enter the city," Blake said. "Or it's going to cost us a bomb! The docking fees per day here is already fifty gold crowns!"

"So, the intel Ait has given is pretty solid?" Trism asked as he and Blake walked out of the office.

"Yes," Blake nodded. "The city of Mallodge Hills is pretty much an upscaled city for the rich."

"I noticed there was no smoke from factories around the city," Blake added. "And the trade markets and fewer desirables were at a location outside the city at the airfield."

"Could be that it makes it easier for the merchants to do their trade, rather than having to travel in and out of the city?" Trism suggested. "Would save a lot of time."

"I doubt that," Blake said as he shook his head. "From what I can see, that is a city for the elitist..."

-----

The Old World, The Domain of the Dragons, Dragon's Peak

A loud angry roar echoed through the many tunnels and caverns of the highest mountain on the lands of the Domain of the Dragons. The many servants covered their ears until the roar dissipated away and hurried on nervously with their duties.

"The Dragon Matriarch's temper has worsened a lot lately," One of the female servants whispered to her companion who nodded in agreement. "Her health and mood are also not so well too..."

"Yes! It has been ever since they lost contact with the fleet to the New World," The servants gossiped in low tones. "She must have missed her Ladyship Saphia a lot..."

"If you lot have time to gossip..." A sharp voice cut through the servants' gossip. The servants jolted in shock and they quickly bowed and apologized. "Get back to work! Do not let me catch you all slacking away!"

The servants quickly scampered away and the old minister shook his head. He let out a deep sigh and walked briskly down the tunnel and soon came upon a massive gate that the guards admitted him in. He entered the gate and came into a cavern that was the heart of the fire mountain that provided the warmth for the people living in the frozen lands of the Domain and for the crops growing on the mountain slopes to flourish.

"Hail the Dragon Matriarch! Queen of all Dragons!" He kowtowed into the darkness and waited.

"Raise..." A deep growl rumbled out from the dark. The Dragon Matriarch walked out from the darkness, her golden scales glittering under the torchlight. "Do you know of this?"

The old minister glanced at the scroll placed on a table at the foot of the platform and lowered his head, "Yes, My Matriarch..."

"First my daughter goes missing... and now news of the Prince of Fire becoming the next in line for the Iron Crown?" The Dragon Matriarch growled. She let out a defeated sigh and closed her golden eyes in sadness before she spoke in a softer tone. "Does this means the end of the dragons?"

"My Matriarch! No!" The old minister let out a cry of shock. "The line of dragons shall never fall!"

"Day by day, our numbers dwindle," The golden dragon said softly. "The world's magic is getting weaker and weaker and soon, it will all disappear... And when that time comes..."

"There must be a way!" The old minister was horrified at the Matriarch of speaking of such things. "We will come out a way to prevent the Prince of Fire from becoming the Crown Prince!"

The Dragon Matriarch shook her head and said, "Who else has the qualifications to be the next in line of the Iron Crown? The second prince is still a small child!"

"The fourth? Or the Fifth?" The Dragon Matriarch sighed. "Both of them are known to be useless and only seek the pleasures of the flesh!"

"The Iron King might be an old miser, he is still not stupid!" The gold dragon said. "The only flaw of the Third Prince is his love of hunting dragons!"

"The Third Prince must never become the Crown Prince!" The old minister declared. "The peace between our two nations will... be destroyed if he comes to power!"

"The Suugon's Eternal Emperor wishes to form an alliance with us regarding this issue," The Dragon Matriarch gestured with her serpentine head to the scroll on the table. "He has sent word to our embassy at the City of Ender about forming a treaty with us."

"The Eternal Emperor?" The old minister frowned. "Why would they want to help us? That fox must be up to something! What did he ask for this time?"

"He wants one of the Mothers," The Dragon Matriarch sighed again. "They want our bloodline."

"Has he not given up on the bloodline of dragons after all this time yet?" The old minister grumbled. "They have tried for generations but they were only successful in breeding a lesser dragon!"

"Yes, the abominations that they called drakes..." The Dragon Matriarch shook her head helplessly. "Unlike a true dragon, those poor creatures can only live for a bare twenty winters or lesser..."

"And their bodies are deformed, with wings growing from their arms instead of separately," said the Dragon Matriarch as she flexed her golden wings. "Nor could they even form words nor possess intelligent thoughts..."

"Their experiments are an atrocity!" The old minister grumbled before he asked in a worried tone. "How about the Loose Confederation? Or the Cartel? Will they help us?"

"The Loose Confederation are our allies, they will of course help us if we requested it," The Dragon Matriarch said confidently. "But they are too scattered and lacked the political power against the Iron Kingdom..."

"As for the Cartel... They are the Third Prince's greatest supporters..." said the Dragon Matriarch. "I believe they are the ones providing him with all kinds of support behind the scenes... I highly doubt they would cease their support to the Third Prince for us."

"Then will you agree to the Eternal Emperor's terms?" The old minister helplessly asked. "Is there no other options?"

"I will have to discuss with the Mothers on this matter..." The Dragon Matriarch said after a moment of silence. "We shall talk about it later once we have come to a conclusion."

"Now leave me be and prepare the Domain for war," The Dragon Matriarch commanded. "Those religious fanatics will no doubt come into our lands once they smell blood! We must be prepared to protect our people and our future!"

The old minister bowed and left, leaving the gold dragon alone in the chamber. The Dragon Matriarch let out another deep sigh as she slowly and tiredly made her way back into the darkness.

"Where are you, my child?"