"And if we are successful, his rule will indeed end," said Meld. "Should I be able to disable the missile silos, then the imperator will lose his greatest trump card in deterring the south, and yet, the state will not lose so much of its fangs that the south will retaliate.

It will be a perfect opportunity for you to fill a power vacuum and pursue peace considering you have quite a few traditionalists supporting you in secret."

"That is the hope, though I am not so sure I in my advanced years should be one to hold reign over the Republic," said Cicero.

"Regardless of what you decide to do, you must ensure that you or your successor will pursue for peace. True peace." Meld's voice did not change a single beat as she continued. "Or your life is forfeit. You know better than any among your kind that there is no escaping me should my sights set upon you."

"I know," replied Cicero coolly. "Yet, I do wonder. We worry about our future plans presuming the demons will be defeated."

"The north will be fine, will it not?" said Meld. "For the demons to invade the Republic, they must cross through the Felfire strait, and the mountain range of Torr Valeris will keep them at bay. It is only the south and the west that will bear much of the burden of this invasion."

"Not so," said Cicero. "Even in the past Darkening, the dragons did not intervene. I doubt it will be so for this one. Though of course, Torr Valeris still serves as a strong deterrent for the dragons will never allow demons to enter their territory unharmed, limiting the size of the invading demonic force."

Meld knew little of the dragons and their relation to the elves. She wanted to glean more information about this, for a draconic alliance would be something she had to thoroughly consider in her assessments of the north. "You have not reached out to the dragons? I presume Gronn is not representative of the majority?"

"The dragons look beneath all that is not them, and even among themselves, they will scorn lesser bloodlines. They have practiced a policy of non-intervention for centuries. There is no convincing them," said Cicero. "That has not changed with Lucius, though I cannot be entirely certain. Gronn here I could only reach for he is a renegade among his kind, requiring aid to save the kin he once was ordered to eliminate."

Meld knew that Cicero was helping Gronn by providing safe transportation of dragon eggs, hatchlings, and cover for older dragons who needed a spot to rest and hide not only from draconic eyes but elven troops. In return, Gronn promised the aid of the dragons allied with him, and though that may not have been many, any dragon was a force formidable.

"It is quite a wonder that you yet retain such influence and wealth when your opposition to Lucius is one rather publicly known among your senate," said Meld.

"I am sure Lucius still sees me as his friend in some way, though it is difficult for us to be on speaking terms. He would not strip me of my estates as he has done with others, for he trusts me." Cicero shook his head and changed the subject. "And what of the south? I know the duchess marches the five armies west to meet the demons head on. Are you confident of their victory? That they may truly seize the Sunspear?"

"Nothing is certain," said Meld. "All I can say is that I have faith in the duchess's decisions, for though her methods may in times be murky, they are still for the good of the people. And there is the matter of Li. I am not certain about the true boundaries of his power, but I am confident in placing him as a war asset easily on par with Sunstar."

"I doubt he can be considered an asset," said Cicero. "He is too powerful to be controlled."

"That is true, and yet his intentions are pure. They will protect the realm. That, I may surmise from my previous interactions with him."

Meld felt Gronn rumble, his body shaking like an earthquake before his gruff, deep voice echoed outwards.

"I sense enemies," growled Gronn.

Cicero widened his eyes as much as he could. "What? We are flying far higher than what elven craft nor sensors can handle."

"Not elves. Dragons." Gronn paused, his breath catching.

Meld immediately felt her instincts flare up. She knew something was horribly wrong if even a powerful dragon like Gronn was holding his breath in surprise.

"Valerikynthimos," said Gronn in almost a sense of awe.

"Gods, what!?" shouted Cicero in pure terror completely unbecoming of his usual more reserved cool. "The drake-queen of the elements herself!?"

Meld immediately readied herself not for serious confrontation but escape. It was not that she was a coward.

On the contrary, she felt not even a single shred of fear in her heart. She simply operated efficiently based off of the context clues and situation around her, and she could immediately glean that if Gronn, a powerful dragon, stood in awe of this newfound enemy, then she herself had little to no means of defeating it.

Better to spend her efforts and thoughts on something productive rather than some sort of ham-fisted and ultimately futile offensive.

"Are you planning on confronting this dragon?" said Meld to Cicero. Her voice was calm but loudly projected, cutting deep into Cicero and shaking him away from his temporary fear.

"Not in a thousand years-," began Cicero.

"Then we escape now," said Meld as she leaped up from her temporary shadow portals, reaching by Cicero's side and putting a hand on him.

"Hold fast!" shouted Gronn, and a moment later, his body lurched backwards, and Meld dropped halfway down into a portal once more to anchor herself.

It was evident that Gronn had been struck with a powerful impact, and the force of it easily tore Cicero apart from the dragon's back. Meld, however, was quick, and she immediately reached out to grab Cicero's arm and stopped him from plummeting down to the depths below.

Though Meld might not have been the heaviest of hitters nor the fastest of runners among the Ascendant Order, she was still a hero, and with that came formidable natural strength honed by years of intensive training.

"What is the situation?" said Meld to Gronn, and the dragon sensed her voice.

"I was hit. By a spine shot. Lesser dragons of the emerald wing clan. Dogs to Valerikynthimos." Gronn's voice deepened into a particularly guttural growl as he uttered the other dragon's name. "Emerald wing whelps cannot harm me. But Valerikynthimos, I cannot defeat."

"Then work towards an escape," said Meld. "There is no point fighting battles you cannot win."

"Valerikynthimos will chase me, and I cannot escape her," said Gronn. "But she will not care for you two. Go. I will deal with this. My business anyway."

"Gronn, are you certain?" asked Cicero.

"Go," said Gronn gruffly and simply. There was not a shred of hesitation or remorse or anything resembling sadness in his voice. Just a simple declaration. This must have been the pride of dragonkind.

Meld saw Cicero hesitate, biting his lip as he tried to think of something.

Meld hoisted Cicero up and then roughly squeezed his shoulder both in comforting gesture and to shake him up to the seriousness of the present situation. "Your magic is pitiful, and my powers are suited for assassination, not battles of mythic scale such as this. We cannot lose our lives here. We cannot waste more time. We leave, now.

If you disagree with me, I will knock you unconscious and take you against your will."

Cicero nodded. "But how? We are far above even the line of clouds. A fall from this height will turn us into little more than mush."

Meld tightened her grip on Cicero as she felt Gronn lurch, his wings beating down to send him hurtling high up in a sudden instant. The rapid intensity of the movement caused whiplash that disoriented the elderly elf, and she took care to put a hand to his head to prevent him from breaking his neck.

She could sense a massive and exceedingly quick projectile speed past below, right where they had been. Judging by the way the dark clung to its form, it was a long, thin, spine the size of three horses lengthwise.

"I will waste no more time. Trust me." Meld grabbed Cicero to her and then dislodged herself from the shadow portals that kept her legs anchored to Gronn. She expected the old elf to begin protesting, but he simply clenched his jaw in equal parts determination and fear, accepting the situation and believing in her.

Respectable will.

Meld felt her wide hat fly off from her head. Her hair tie also blew apart as rapid winds began to whirl around her rapidly falling form. Her hair, long and silvery white, fluttered out, forming a little tail of silver above her as she fell. The black of her sizable, cloak-like cape fluttered all around her, causing a constant cacophony as winds buffeted it.

The cape helped her orient herself so that she could fall with her feet pointing downwards, and she made sure to keep Cicero held up high above her head. She concentrated, knowing that even the tiniest miscalculation would lead to both of their deaths.

When they would reach terminal velocity accounting for the winds. And from the winds, how they had blown before, how the cloud cover below was thick and rain-filled, she knew they were over the northern center of the Republic that had the most rain during this time of the year.

Precisely where, she could not an exact coordinate, but she knew they must not be flying anywhere over heavily populated areas. The ground in this part of the country would be either thickly forested or flat and dead. She hoped she would land on deadened ground, but she knew it was entirely up to chance.

Chance, she hated, but she could deal with it. She always tried to minimize chance, because usually in her observation, compensating for chance required sacrifices, and sacrifices, though she was willing to make as many as it took, she was not fond of.

That was what she thought as she kept her mind focused on her surroundings while she plummeted down to the earth.