I awoke to someone talking. I couldn’t make out the words at first till they asked; “Do you think he is dead?” followed by “Gods I hope not.” then “What will we tell the others?” I opened one eye and saw Shryke and Imar perched on the edge of the caldera. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what they were so bothered about. I yawned and stretched, bringing my wings out of the lava then lifted my head a bit.

“Is it morning? It’s still dark.” I said with a yawn.

I heard an ungodly shriek as Imar jumped up into the air.

“What the hell? Are we under attack?” I asked looking around.

“Are you okay? We thought you fell into the lava!” Shryke was rattling off in a panic.

“Huh? No, that’s where I sleep. It’s nice and warm.” I said, relaxing, fighting the temptation to sink back into the warmth.

“SLEEP??? What the hell?” Imar said as he landed on the edge again. “I can barely take the heat from here.”

“Oh, you’re not a fire dragon, then.” I yawned and stretched as I made my way out of the pool. “Sorry, never was a morning dragon. What’s up?”

Imar shook his head. “Viennarinia said she hit you full in the chest with her fire and no one believed her. I think she did and you just didn’t notice.”

“Oh, yeah. She hit me. I was wondering what she thought she was trying to do, but she was gone before I could ask her.”

Shryke laughed, still a little frantic. “Bahel be damned. What the hell are you made of?”

I chuckled. “Scales and gristle, mostly. Gods, I forgot, I need to get down and get those ships moving.”

Imar chuckled. “The others just ain’t going to believe this.”

“Eh, so I am a heavy sleeper. It just felt so good floating there.”

“Yeah, floating on molten rock... I can see that would be comfy.” Imar rolled his eyes.

“Don’t knock it and all that.” I said as I took wing. “Time to get the show on the road, I guess.”

I heard Shryke behind be say in a soft voice. “You know, I don’t have a clue what he is saying sometimes.” I chuckled to myself.

After porting down to Calalistos, we made the flight out to the landing pad where Haladoria and Dorvus was waiting for me.

“Ya oversleep a bit there, lizard?” Dorvus asked.

“Yes, but I was awaken by this ungodly high pitched shriek. It kind of sounded like...” I laughed.

“Hey! We were just worried.” Imar said indignantly.

Shryke just shook his head. “What were we suppose to think? Most things don’t sleep half submerged in lava.”

Dorvus’s eyes went wide. “Lava?”

“Yes, it’s nice and warm.” I said with a smile.

Haladoria just shook her head. Just when she thought she understood the dragon...

I decided to get back on track. “Are you ready to go, Admiral?”

“What is an Admiral?” Haladoria asked.

“It is the person that leads the fleet.” I said with a smile.

“Ah, then yes. I will take them out, what do you want us to do?”

“I will circle till you are on heading, slight moonward by north. When you are making your best speed, I will open a portal and all you need do is adjust your course on the other side. I will put you about a mile out. Call me with the gem when you are in place.”

“Very well. Good luck and be careful, Michael.” Haladoria said in farewell.

“We will be with you the whole way.” Shryke said as Darhla landed next to him.

Dorvus and Imar were quiet as the ships left the harbor. When the last one was out and they were formed up, I took wing and flew over them. I circled and waited till they looked to be going as fast as they could, then opened the portal. I could actually feel it drain me a bit as I held it open, but when I checked my stats, I had only dropped by ten percent. Overpowered, thy name is Michael, I thought to myself. Darhla and Shryke were the last ones though and I dropped the portal and returned to the dock.

Tirreg had joined them as well as the strike force off the pier. As I landed, both Imar and Tirreg were just staring at me.

“What?”

“Just wondering... how much mana did that cost you?” Tirreg asked in a flat voice.

“Oh about ten percent.” I said offhandedly.

Tirreg and Imar just looked at each other and shook their heads. I looked at them, then asked;

“Ready? You first Imar, then Tirreg.”

When they were gone, I shifted then motioned to Dorvus and the group started marching. I fell in beside Dorvus and opened the portal. He didn’t even flinch at the shimmer in the air. As we went through, I summoned my mana blade.

“Get them organized and take the walls.” I said. “Then send some people to guard the slaves.”

“What will ye be doing?”

“Housecleaning.”

We were almost in place when the alarm was raised. As the last guard on the wall fell, about half a dozen men in armor came streaming out of the first building followed by the other buildings starting to empty. I met them and went through them like a knife through butter. The others paused as I started walking towards them, then rushed me. I didn’t let one of them pass. After that it was just turned into see movement, slash. I sighed as I became the butcher again. There were about half a dozen left and they dropped their weapons and knelt.

I turned my back and saw a blade break against my shield. I turned and split him in half, then took his head. The rest stayed put. I turned back again and motioned for five to guard them, then started walking thought the camp to make sure none were in hiding. My last stop was the slave pens. I almost went back and killed the last of them after seeing what condition the slaves were in, but thought better of it.

Dorvus caught up to me and told me the wall was secure and they had the escort ready for the trip to the ships. He had talked to a couple of the guards, who seemed quite willing for some reason, and found that the shift change was coming up in a couple of hours. Good, that gave me time to get the rest of the plan in place.

“I will be gone for a short while to get the rest of the force in place. Will you be alright?”

Dorvus chuckled. “We be fine, Michael. I already started the slaves down to the coast. No sense waiting. They be in pretty ragged shape.”

“Good. Once I get the call, I will be leaving.”

“We have some of the uniforms from what was left of the guard. If anyone comes, we will let them in and hold them. If it is a large group, we’ll lock the gates and let ye know.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

About ten minutes later, the call came in from Alistor. I ported up to their city and they met me at the gate. They came marching out four abreast, about a hundred of them. They were the most professional looking force that I had seen to date.

“Are we ready?” I asked, dropping into step with Alistor.

“Ready as we will ever be, how did the slave pens go?” He asked.

I opened a portal and we marched through. “No problems, five prisoners. I await the call to move the people of Veirania.”

I looked up as Tirreg flew through.

“Well, I will let you get to it.” He said with a salute.

I thought about the situation, then decided just to port into Veirania. I walked into pure chaos. The people of the town were firing bows at Imar. I watched as he simply kept out of bowshot.

“STOP THIS.” I yelled.

They turned to me muttering.

“What the hell is going on.” It wasn’t a question.

One of them stepped forward and yelled. “We ain’t dealin with no damn dragon.”

I sighed. “Your call. I will go tell him.”

“You do that.” The elf spat.

I shifted in front of them and watched as they turned white. “In the mean time, something to think on." I turned my head and spat a magma blast off into the woods to the south of them. The blast rocked them to their knees. As they watched the cloud travel up into the sky, they dropped their weapons.

“My gift to you, who promise and do not keep their word. You have a new lake. Think hard on what would have happened if this damn dragon would have taken exception to your words.” I said in a level voice.

I took wing and flew up to Imar. “Looks like it is on you. Anyone who tries to break to the moonward side is all yours.”

“I thank you Michael. I did nothing to provoke them.”

“Worry not on it. I will not bother with a portal then, just fly in and find a place where you can watch the town.”

“I will do this. Good luck with the rest of the plan.”

“If this is all that goes wrong, then I will be a very happy dragon.”

He laughed as I dropped down and shifted to human. One of the elves came running up.

“We are sorry, lord dragon.” He said as he watched Imar fly off.

I sighed, then turned away from him and opened a portal and went back to the slave pens. I was met by Dorvus.

“How’d it go?” He asked

“The elves of Estaria are getting in place as well speak. The elves of Veirania decided not to participate. Imar is on his own.” I sighed.

“Don’t think on it too hard. Promisin be easy, doin be hard.”

“I am not worried. It is nice to know beforehand who you have at your flank.”

“Too true.”