Kal hated the smell of the rocks, he was a Naga and their natural habitats were caves, but the very air of the dancing caves of Noxis Nyx did not sit well with him.

The earth here had a distinct stench of misery and suffering. He did not like it, especially when such misfortune was not caused by him. He was strange that way, he pitied people who suffered at the hands of others, pitied people who suffered from his own hands. But he believed it was better for them to suffer from him than anyone else. After all he had the softer touch.

The ringing sounds of steel over earth has been a constant companion for the past two months. It has taken them that long to reach the halfway point of the tunnel to the pit and every second of those two months has been rather agonizing.

He could not help but be impressed by the dark elves and vampires. They would have mined this tunnel out a lot faster and with less amount of blisters and grumbling. Those people were really suited for this kind of labor, so it was quite unfortunate that they had to stage a revolt.

Well now he had to kill a lot of them, make example of others and shackle them again. Tighter this time. It was one of the reason why the council of light sent those two filthy weavers here to assist them. But so far all both these obese idiots have been doing was drinking wine and being attended by their contingent of exotic slaves.

Kal was sorely tempted to place a rotting spell on them and see just what happens to their overweight body. But alas, such actions will bring the wrath of the council of light upon his poor naïve people. Hmm duty really was a shackle of the worst sort, and even more so when the person who had to see it through accepted all his responsibilities wholly.

“How long until you snakes finish excavating this tunnel?”

Kal was angry, snakes? Who was that fool with little regards for his life, that would look a Naga in the face and call him a snake. Aha Kal was not surprised, Adein was not made warden of the dancing caves due to his superior intellect or outstanding charm….. No he was here because he was cruel. But unfortunately also very stupid.

“do I look like a slave to you, human?”

The vast contempt that Kal felt for Adein was laced into his words, and the way he pronounced human made it seem like he had called out the most forbidden thing in all of Shearath.

“That remains to be seen, snake. You were sent here to assist me where you not. As such what does that make you…..a helper?, or a messenger? You and I both know your people are of little importance to the council of light. You’re errand boys as such maybe just a step above a slave. But still very much below me.”

Kal moved so fast Adein did not have the chance to retaliate, but the thick trunk of Kal’s lower body wrapped around Adein so fast that his breath was cut short from surprise. Kal squeezed, and he squeezed hard. Adein could not say anything at the moment, he couldn’t breath.

Kal loved the shade of purple that covered Adein’s face, he loved the look of terror and sweat that glistened on his brows. He loved the feel of his bones creaking beneath his powerful coils. Kal let out a hiss of pleasure, and he could very much feel Adein shudder in fear.

On a normal day Kal would never do this, in another lifetime he would not even be here. But duty calls and he answers, if only that duty did not put him in the path of a useless oaf like Adein and he had to endure he ceaseless insults. Kal would very much like to be in some remote village somewhere, where there was no racial prejudice and be a doctor. Heal people. But as long as people like Adein existed in this world, such a dream was nothing more than a novelty for him.

Kal moved his face closer to Adein as his forked tongue flicked out. Naga’s could smell fear, and Adein had a lot of it to spare. Kal looked at Adein, letting his eyes fall straight for his. He let the quite hum of magic flow to his eyes as he whispered the spell of the true fear.

He was not allowed to kill Adein, but he could very much make the swine fear him. Kal’s eyes glowed yellow as his serpentine pupils seemed to stretch and bleed out of his eye sockets, trailing lines of yellow light down his cheeks and unto his exposed fangs.

They dripped like liquid, like acid. And with a speed that would put most vampires to shame, Kal sunk his fangs Into Adein’s neck. His screams were music to Kal’s ears, but he knew for a fact that he should not be feeling anything than a little prick. This guy was a coward that’s for sure.

Kal released him without a word and watched Adein scamper away like a dog with his tails between his legs. Oh how the mighty have fallen. But some people are hunters, and those hunters unfortunately are preys to others. Adein was still very much at the bottom of the food chain.

Now Kal had to wonder how he would deal with this Kael Cor, he was quite famous around this part it seems. The world may have forgotten him, but the dancing caves of Noxis Nyx, remembered him plenty. It would be wise to plan a course of action before they met. After all, the lion of Shearath was no ordinary person.

*******************************************

I sat at the they edge of the assembly. I had a birds eye view of the entire place and every one that was in it. The new policies that we all agreed on a few day ago would not come into effect until I was crowned, so for now it was just as filled with people as the first time we had a meeting. Watching them bicker among themselves would have been a welcome sight, but instead they were all so silent, quiet. And they were all looking at me.

Honestly this was a little overwhelming, everybody here, with the exception of Teluna and Nisi have been alive a lot longer than I have, watching them all waiting and looking up to me for decisions was a little stupid don’t you think. But it seemed they were all very much willing for me to bear the brunt of the mantle that was leadership alone! in times of crisis.

I felt Nisi shifting awkwardly beside me, Teluna was a little well behaved, but that was to be expected he has always been the more reserved of the two of them. Not to mention this was not his first time in the assembly. His mother was behind me, I would never admit but I drew strength from her silent support. But I was determined to be focused for this meeting.

I had a feeling this was not just an ordinary meeting. Apart for the fact that it was to make decisions for our survival, it was also a test on how I would act in the present situation we now seemed to find ourselves in. “Perfect.” But for some reason I was calm, much to calm that I even surprised my self.

With my elbows resting on my knees and my hands clasped below my chin I move my gaze from left to right and from top to bottom. With no proper power structure yet to be implemented, the vampires and dark elves still ruled their selves much like before. Which meant no one was really responsible for the security of both races, but they all had people watching the collapsed tunnel.

I turned to Mars, as it seemed he had the highest authority here, and not to seem rude, but he was the only guy apart from Xaseah whose name I knew here.

“Do we know how long it would take for the Naga’s to get here?”

The old man matched my gaze as he stood up with a flourish and gave a deep bow. Then he answered with that polished speech of his.

“Not exactly my lord. The gnomes have given a rough estimate of about as late as a month to as soon as a week. While we may have vastly depended on our strength, and the fact that each subsequent generations of dark elves and vampires have all had our physical abilities strengthened by the continuous mining of mountain, but the Naga’s still have access to the way, they may not have strength as great as ours but they have magic. And they can and will very much over power us with such a tool by their sides.”

Well that was not good news, not good news at all. In the end it still boils down to the way. With no access to the system, a great number of all their abilities were blocked, there is only so much that the physical strengths and abilities of both races can accomplish.

“do we have any equipment that could be used to bolster our defenses. Anything would do at this point, weapons, armors, traps.”

“we do have equipment that we salvaged from the guards and wardens, but ultimately it can only sparsely outfit at least three hundred vampires and elves. And even then it would not provide adequate defense. Not to mention, the Naga’s are a magic race, they are sure to be armored and their armor would be on ordinary one.”

Seriously, more bad news after another. With the way this was going it almost seemed as if there was no way that we could survive this. Unless we had some sort of miracle happen. We were very much all going to die painful and horrible deaths. I heard Naga’s were a war mongering race, and they loved to torture, in fact they lived for it. Not the fight, not the kill, but for the amount of pain they could inflict.

I couldn’t help but shudder, pain was not something I wanted to be conversant with again. I felt Teluna and Nisi place their hands on my legs. It helped, this was the reason why I brought them with me, support. Not to mention they both had abilities that could help.

I looked up at everyone of them again and asked the questions they have all been expecting me to ask. Their pride was really sickening, but I knew and understood why non of them have been so forthcoming with ideas about how to repel the coming invasion. They wanted me to ask for help, they wanted me the man who they have chosen to become king to beg them and appeal to them. Of course all this would be done in an ordinary way, but it still did not change the crux of the matter.

They were all trying to prove a point. I was a necessity, even more so considering I was chosen by the people. It was to their great credit that they as leader were always willing to listen and do what’s best for the people they led. But that did not mean they had to like it.

I really had no time for games like this, but it seems like for me to truly get this group of people under heel, under my control or at least as my allies. I had to play politics with them, I had to pull and push, stretch and squeeze. And I was definitely going to be making decisions I would regret. But so be it. Lives were at stake.

“Do any of you have something to contribute. Or a way we can weather this crisis at our door step.”

I felt like I had swallowed ash. One thing I realized about me was that I did not want or even liked to have a reason to ask anyone for help. Especially when that person would use that moment of weakness against me.

“my lord we could negotiate” a chubby vampire woman provided.

Seriously with all this suffering how could she be that fat. I was thankful Someone else replied to her.

“ this are Naga’s apart from the fact that they are vicious sadist and one of the personal kill squad of the council of light. We have nothing to offer or use as a threat. So negotiation does nothing but buys us a little time before we are all slaughtered.”

And then the whole place descended into an open market place. Someone would suggest and another person will find faults In that plan, and then the whole thing would resolve into an argument or a debate.

This was the way I wanted them to be in the first place, chaotic and unaligned, its quite unfortunate it had to happen when I needed the damn bastards to be calm and rational. With all this going on, my confusion grew greatly. My leg was tapping down to the earth, each time faster and harder than before. I could feel my anger slipping away from me as my mental energy went out of control I could see cracks appear on the ground snaking it self onwards to the podium.

I could feel both Teluna and Nisi’s nervousness. And Nisi the most considering she was the only one to have ever seen me get angry. It was getting to a point where I was almost about to lash out, before I felt a hand on my shoulder and a voice whisper to me.

“Keep your composure my lord. It would not do you any good to loose control at this point in time. Be calm, and ask them if we can enlist the help of the gnomes.”

There’s a saying; behind every successful man there’s a woman. Well I guess they were right. Kuyait did not take her hand off my shoulders but she took a step back. Teluna had a rather weird look on his face, but at the moment I couldn’t care. I felt like I could take on a team of charging dinosaurs, but that would mean something if I knew what dinosaurs were.

But Kuyait was right. There was a host of problems that could be taken care off if we could enlist the help of the gnomes.

“ENOUGH!!!!”

I had no idea how my voice could carry such power, I did not scream but I was sure everybody heard me. Letting out a sigh I got up from my perch at the edge of the assembly. I felt Kuyait following behind me, like a loyal shadow. It made me feel safe, powerful and a little bit more sure of myself. Once I got to the center I nonchalantly sat on the stairs that led up to the podium.

As far as I was concerned I was king, this people wanted to play a game with me, but I was more than willing to accommodate them. But right now we had to focus, but to get them all on the same page I had to use a rather different approach. A tougher approach.

“honestly your incessant squabbling is very annoying. Its grating and it gets on my nerves. It almost like you are all a bunch of children. Caution yourself elders, priestesses, a lot of people look up to you for guidance, don’t throw away your image.”

There was nothing much to be said about the way they acted. They were still people in the end, and they will act in incredibly stupid ways during times of crisis.

“is it possible to enlist the help of the gnomes?”

There was a few moment of silent contemplation before the answer was given.

“the gnomes are a neutral race.”

The person who answered me was someone whose voice I haven’t heard in a while. My old play mate Xaseah. She had very much chosen to stay under my radar due to our rather complicated past. After all she had gotten me addicted to human blood so that she could better control me and my abilities. Getting pay back would be just as easy as breathing now.

“that’s not an answer Xaseah, but you did not refute my words so if you have something to say spill it.”

There was no warmth in my voice. Just ice and a very thick hint of arrogance. It made me sound like I looked down on all of them. Non of them would like that, they are all prideful creatures after all, but it was all part of my elaborate act. Give them a common ground, and as such give them a common enemy that they have a hope of beating….me.

But I think I surprised a lot of them by the fact that I knew Xaseah. Especially from the priestesses. It was quite obvious that they thought Xaseah had a made a move on me, so that I could choose her to be queen. It was a very female like reaction, but it was something I did not have the time to care for at the moment.

“yes the gnomes help can be enlisted, but not all of them. While construction has been going on in bulk this past few months, especially in the area where your tower is located. These gnomes are a small part of them who are sympathetic to our cause. And of the two thousand gnomes currently in the pit, there’s only two hundred who would fight for us.”

That was a very low number, but two hundred was more than enough for what I had in mind. But I still needed to understand why the amount of gnomes willing to help us were so small.

“Xaseah why are the number of supporters we have from the gnomes so small.”

“gnomes are a naturally selfish race.”

And then I heard Nisi shout

“Hey we are not selfish……um we are not selfish we just don’t like trouble.”

And then she ran behind Teluna, and peeked from the side in embarrassment. A wave of silent chuckles swept through the assembly at how cute they found her antics. I did not find it cute. It was reckless, and with that, she had just put her self and her innocence on display for a pack of wolves to chase after. Why can’t my job be any easier?

Xaseah continued like she did not just hear Nisi protesting.

“Selfish or not, the gnomes are mostly cowardly and care mostly about profits. The constructions taking place have been taken on by the two hundred gnome sympathizers, but the others feel it is best to remain neutral and will not render any help to us unless we paid for it.

This people had two thousand years to help us, but all they did was exploit us during our time of suffering. The two hundred will help, that I can assure considering they are all under my employ and protection. But the others I can not guarantee unless you want to give them the remaining ores left in our possessions.”

Damn. Xaseah was not just anybody in the game. She had assets that I needed, she was careful and honest. Even though it seemed like she had a lot of animosity against the gnomes, she did not seem so bad considering the only available two hundred were in her employ.

She had found a way to make her self relevant, there was a lot of help the gnomes and their abilities with earth magic could render. Not just with the coming crisis but with the regular everyday, domestic and mundane life of the people living in the pit. And she controlled the bulk of them that would be willing to render the help that I needed.

She was two steps ahead, bravo. I severely underestimated her, it seems like I was not the only one playing a fool the last time we went head to head.

“Very well Xaseah after the assembly meet me at my tower. Let’s have a very long discussion on how you somehow acquired so many gnomes under your employ.”

There was so many meanings to what I just said. But it was done that way to keep this dudes and ladies on the assembly confused. I had to play my cards right, and as such. I needed this devilish purple skinned woman.

“as you wish my lord.” Then she bowed and took her seat.

“as for the rest of you, we will meet back here in twenty four hours, go and research, find a way that can increase our chances. This gnomes can help, but not so much. We all have to work together. The Naga’s are not something we can take lightly. We are all in Imminent danger, and its up to use to take the fight to them. Dismissed”

As I watched them file out of the assembly room I couldn’t help but lie on the ground in frustration. There was so many things running through my mind. It made me wonder how in just this short few months my arrival to the caves completely changed a two thousand year old status quo. Now I was going to get my ass kicked because of it.

“My lord are you okay.”

I turned my head to the right to see Kuyait, Teluna and Nisi standing there with worried looks on their faces. I really did not want to worry them, after all this were my closest confidante. Soren could not be counted considering he damn lion was just a mysterious as Asare and disappear for days on end.

“What do I do Kuyait. Everything seems so hard. And everybody wants to play games with my head.”

She leaned down and stretched her hand out to me. I took her hands and she pulled me up into a hug, and then she whispered into my ears, in soft sensual tones that sent electricity dancing through my body.

“Just do your best, and when the Nagas come, make sure you let them know what it means to feel true despair. Let them know how foolish an action it is to walk into a lions den.”