Silas returned to Riverside with the others several hours after Emmanuel’s arrival. Since the teleporter’s daily weight limit had already been met, they had to wait for Ajit to recover enough mana to make another portal, which was what led to the delay. When Silas stepped out of the portal and into the town’s communication monument’s range, he was barraged by messages from dozens of people at once. Flicking through, he saw that they were all in the same vein other than one, a message from the delivery boy saying that this week’s crate of Goblinz Blood had been delivered.

Dom, being the captain of the constabulary, was similarly struck by a wave of messages. Having a quick word to the group, they all set for the council meeting, which was in session. Given their standings, they were swiftly seen through to a hall with nearly a hundred people inside. The tension was palpable as shouting underscored their entrance. The noise hushed quickly, however, especially as Dom gave a steel-eyed glare to the offenders.

As Silas scanned the hall, he saw that Vivienne, Bobby, Hokul, and the prophet were already here, as well as Emmanuel and Katerina, who he knew were central to the current chaos. Of the Sovereigns allied with Riverside, only Elisha and Dlyo were missing. Nodding to himself, Silas took his assigned seat and waited for the session to resume.

“So, for their benefit,” Elise said, waiting until all the entrants were seated, “could you summarise what happened at Dresden again, Emmanuel?”

Emmanuel shifted his glasses up and gave a slight, if strained, smile. “Sure. Do you remember how I said Dresden once had a run-in with the light of our world, our most esteemed Necromancer? Well, I had hoped his plate was stacked enough right now that he wouldn’t return for a while, but it appears my judgment was wrong.”

“Wait, Dresden is gone?” Silas said, blinking in confusion. “Like completely?”

“That depends on your definition of gone, but yes, in most definitions you would be correct,” Emmanuel said. “I sent as many citizens as I could to other settlements, but that still left a few thousand behind.”

“You deserted them?” Dom asked in a dangerous tone.

There was a pause as Emmanuel stared directly at Dom, meeting the Black Knight’s gaze and holding it without the slightest of winces. “Yes, I deserted them. If you are in a situation where the invading army fills the horizon and you hardly have enough defences to stop even a quarter of them, maybe then you will come to understand my decision. At least this way a thousand or so of us survived.”

Glancing around, Silas saw that this was one of the issues which had caused the friction in the hall. He closed his eyes and thought, then thumbed at the Transcendence half-gummies hidden in his sleeve. “What about your goods? Does Kuraim have them now?”

Emmanuel chuckled for a second, before breaking into full laughter. The hall was silent except for this as everyone else watched with differing levels of disgust at the Alchemist busting a gut seconds after admitting he had deserted several thousands to their deaths. “Could you imagine that?” he finally said, taking his glasses off with one hand and wiping tears with the other. “If their army had K-9s, or if they all jacked up on Transcendence? Fortunately for you, I did my best to prevent such a situation. Other than the crates which I brought here or the goods which I handed out to my citizens, I burnt the rest so that they couldn’t get it.”

As the silence drew out following his response, Emmanuel shrugged and continued. “But who knows, maybe they have a skilled enough Alchemist to break down my goods into their raw materials, so that they can manufacture more. To be honest, with enough time, even a bad Alchemist can figure out the composition of most of my products, so I guess you can imagine it as a race against time.”

“How long?” Silas asked.

“I do not know - I am not a bad Alchemist,” Emmanuel replied. “But if I was to estimate, perhaps a month or two. Hopefully. But it is anyone’s guess whether we will even be around by then. Depends on how we proceed now, I suppose.” He gazed up at Elise.

Elise frowned. “We need to—”

“—try him for deserting thousands to their deaths,” shouted out a woman. Silas recognised her as a top healer and a friend of Iris’s. “He hasn’t even shown the slightest of remorse for it.”

A general murmur took the hall with even several influential people nodding their heads at the statement before Silas slammed his fist on the table. When some people continued to talk amongst themselves, he glared in their direction and said, “Shut up and listen. I can’t endorse Emmanuel for what he did, but at the same time I can’t think of what he should have done instead. If he and those who escaped tried to be heroic and fought to their last breath, all it would mean is that Kuraim would have stronger corpses to reanimate. Besides,” Silas said, looking at his fellow Sovereigns in particular, “let’s be honest, I don’t think any of our hands will be clean by the end of this. Maybe then we can try each other for our crimes, but I’m not going to let you shoot ourself in the foot now when we have enemies a hundred times worse knocking on our doors.”

There were several discontent whispers in the hall, but being the hero of Riverside came with the benefit that no one wished to openly take a stance against him, at least on this matter. Silas accepted their disgruntled groans, knowing from the start that there was no way he could convince everyone, and nodded at Elise.

“Right, we need to firstly create outposts further out from all our settlements. If Kuraim targets another one of our them, at least then we’ll have advance warning and an opportunity to try something to stop him. Secondly, we need to continue convincing the other Sovereigns that Meritocracy is the right way. How did it go with the drakkar and stingtails?” she asked Silas.

“The drakkar refused to switch, but maybe something can be done about that if both Svobald and Miurl die. As for the stingtails, Dlyo has joined us, Astor has apparently joined Lucian, and Serpil is dead,” he said.

“The information about Astor is correct,” the prophet said, “I checked it once you left to deal with Serpil. And while I would ordinarily suggest you took caution in engaging the dragons, it could be possible you will not have to at all.”

“Explain,” Ajit said before anyone else could. “I know they’re not the type to be messed with, so how do you suppose they’ll stop being a problem. It’s not like they’ll just disappear off the earth.”

“From all of my clones, I have calculated that Lucian is moving towards them at a rapid pace. It appears that he has taken offence of them.”

“Shit,” Ajit said, ignoring the rest of the hall. “So either they wipe each other out—”

“—or one destroys the other,” the prophet completed. “Either way, it will be a good result for us. Looking at the rest of the Sovereigns, there are only a few left which are unaffiliated with major factions. Since Bobby and Hokul have so graciously joined us, out of the one-off races, it leaves Azhtha-M’egnis, Shamu, Zitu, and Fayiure. Based on their movements, I believe Shamu is disinterested in the other Sovereigns and also unaware that Azhtha-M’egnis is chasing her. As for Zitu and Fayiure, they are both still together and flying around aimlessly.”

“What about Oakley,” Aengus said. “You forgot to mention the tree thing that was there with us.”

“Oakley is as good as dead, so there is no point in concerning ourselves with them,” the prophet replied.

“If you say so,” Silas said. “If Shamu and that kraken are in the sea, and the eye and phoenix are in the sky, then I’m guessing it won’t be easy to get to them. Are there any easier Sovereigns to reach?”

“The two shaerds, Alair and Princess Fiona. Alair is a hermit mage wandering the wilds like Bobby, and he is near Kuraim’s position right now. Fiona occupies Castle D’Alaesa, which is far from every other Sovereign.”

“Do you think Alair means to join Kuraim?” Silas asked, tensing up.

“The signs are inconclusive,” the prophet answered. “But either way the result will be that Kuraim becomes strengthened whether Alair means to combat Kuraim or join him. However, we may have a chance to intervene if we move quick enough.”

“Okay,” Elise said, “but what about the other human Sovereigns? Have they all picked their sides?”

“Kuraim, Zafeera, and Dahlia still appear to be allies, although I am uncertain whether Dahlia will support Kuraim’s bid for Autocracy. Zhang is in Jinzhou and not with the horde, but I believe he still supports Kuraim. And by extension, we can assume Hou, who too lives in Jinzhou, has now decided to support Kuraim as well.”

“What about Lucian’s faction?”

“Lucian and Sophie both supported his bid for Autocracy last time. Astor, Sandip, and Stefan are all in Brightmoor right now, so I take that they will support his bid next time. Which leaves us: Silas, Ajit, Aengus, Vivienne, Emmanuel, Katerina, Elisha, Dlyo, Bobby, Hokul, and me. Although we have the most Sovereigns, we still fall behind in terms of total forces.”

“What about Lavanya?” Silas asked.

“She is also dead,” the prophet answered. “I would suggest we make haste to reach Alair if you wish to intervene there.”

****

Lavanya glared across the rapids, clenching her sword. “We can do this all day if you want to, but know that I’ll get you eventually.”

The river seethed ahead of her, spraying foamy water. It was forty metres wide and two dozen metres deep, enough for her to easily drown in. Not that she would. On the other side, by the riverbed, proudly stood an oak tree. It had no face, but the Monster Bane could tell that it was snickering at her.

Growling, she sprinted into the river, releasing bursts of mana through her feet to bounce off its surface. She was thirty metres across, planning to pounce at the tree, when she blinked. When her eyes opened in the following millisecond, the oak tree was gone.

Screaming in frustration, she circled around and saw that it was on the side she had just left, taunting her with its faceless bark. She bound over there, but just as she arrived, the oak tree was gone to the other side again. She stopped and shook her head at it, before changing tactics and beckoning towards it. “Come on now, how about I fight you without my weapon? Look, I’ll drop it here, and you can beat me up then. How’s that sound?”

The oak tree didn’t reply.

Lavanya growled. “Why not? You’re strong enough to be a Sovereign, so why are you acting like a wimp?”

Suddenly, a voice came from the distance. “Nice, two for one.” Lavanya peered in the direction and saw Dahlia standing on a cliff overlooking the rapids.

“Oh, it’s you,” Lavanya shouted back. “I saw that you were nearby, but didn’t think you’d actually come here. What do you want?”

“What do I want?” Dahlia repeated with a guffaw. She looked monstrous. “Girl, I want you,” she rubbed her stomach, “right in here.”

“Well, I guess that’s fine too,” Lavanya said, picking her sword back up. “I mean, you’re pretty much a monster, so I won’t feel too bad killing you.”

____

Since I’m sure all the names are getting confusing, I’ve grouped up the different Sovereigns into their factions below.

Autocracy (for Lucian): Lucian Grimes (human, Warlord), Sophie Chandler (human, Demolitionist), Astor (stingtail, unknown), Sandip Mand (human, Windwalker), Stefan Sommer (human, Chronicler) - 5

Autocracy (for Kuraim): Kuraim Jaffer (human, Necromancer), Zafeera Bazzi (human, Blood Ripper), Dahlia Howe (human, Abomination) Zhang Bao (human, Barbarian), Hou Yu (human, Artificer) - 5

Autocracy (for Svobald): Svobald the Scourge (dragon) - 1

Autocracy (for Miurl): Miurl the Mountain (dragon) - 1

Representative Democracy: Baerl of Time (drakkar, Chronomancer), Peryn of Dragonfire (drakkar, Pyromancer) Klope of Rain (drakkar, Hydromancer), Broken Scale (drakkar, Barbarian), Folding Winds (drakkar, Inquisitor), Dying Light (drakkar, Devastator) - 6

Aristocracy: Fiona D’Alaesa (shaerd, unknown) - 1

Kraterocracy: Shamu (blue whale), Azhtha-M’egnis (kraken) - 2

Meritocracy: Silas Wycliffe (human, Duellist), Aengus Abercrombie (human, Master of War), Ajit Ghost (human, Warlock), Vivienne Durant (human, Beastmaster), Emmanuel Baasch (human, Alchemist), Katerina Ivanov (human, Hidden Blade), Elisha Luna (human, Primal Healer), Ferer Greencare (mycelia), Bobby (pygmy troll, Sorcerer), Hokul Ironboot (dwarf, Adventurer), Dlyo (stingtail, Aeromancer) - 11

Unknown/Undecided: Alair (shaerd, unknown), Zitu (Eyeborn, unknown), Fayiure (phoenix, unknown), Lavanya Sanghvi (human, Monster Bane), Oakley (perlor tree, unknown) - 5