Without a full nights sleep without food they were roused by the hammering on there rooms door. One of the guard captains from the main garrison. They dressed in armour grabbed weapons and charged out together. There was the ringing of gongs North port was not under attack yet, but something was circling in the sky. A powerful gold dragon its body impressive in terms of speed its breath weapon consisted of slugs of molten rock hurled with immense force. The gold dragons range and rate of fire was well above the other dragons, but the area of effected was far less, they were akin to a precise sniper.

A beast like that flying around the city or docks would have usually been punctuated with the heavy ballista and other weapons as soon as it was in a good firing range. The magical shield would have been raised around the outer walls. however a message had been received well in advance, The dragon bore a royal seal a banner fastened around the dragons belly, like a tabard. It clearly showed the crown with a sword and axe passing through the centre. The royal mark even if it was a little faded. The guard captain informed them who had summoned them to the main square then left as quickly as possible.

Princess Serena Attila surveyed North port for the first time. She was third in line to the throne with her duties she mostly stayed in the southern part of the country. The boring but necessary work she was based around deep furrow defending the nations grain basket. She rode upon the dragons back in a custom made harness, custom made for a much older rounder man.

She wore adamantine kings-mail and an impressively fluted helm. The helmet was topped with a selection of ribbons braids and bands trailing form the back forming half a crest. She remained mounted on her dragon in the main square before the cathedral. The dragon dwarfed the commoner and there basic houses, but the solid cathedral dwarfed the tamed dragon buy an equally impressive margin.

The beast was forty five feet long from tip to tail and around 30 tones in weight, light by comparison to other dragons. She was a veteran dragon rider usually she rode upon a young yellow dragon sun-flame. But she had left her in the capital and borrowed her uncles mount Aurelius. Behind her was half a squadron of wyverns half ash grey half black spined. Able to bombard a target with acid and fire between them they remained in the air circling overhead, waiting for a signal.

The Duchess was there to support her. She was mounted on a demi-griffin. Her noble mount was encased in a set of steel plate armour, Though they had a high natural armour this extra plating would help her mount. The duchess herself wore mithril a mixture of plate and mail. She was determined and prepared with a pole axe edged in adamantite gripped resolutely in her hands.

Her ducal guard surrounded her with several tamers bests like salamanders and basilisks but the majority were giant hounds. She was serious this time having called in her own agents powerful warriors two knights and a man at arms. They had good quality equipment on par with the duchess. Those three were all master at the very least experts in there chosen profession. Right at the back were a couple of mages. Veterans by there equipment they were backing the duchess up, some looked more comfortable than others.

Francis the local head of the vampire hunters was there waiting. A dozen veteran hunters and crusaders were standing beside him. Vivian looked at the rest of them then directly at Francis, “no message from the bishop Alexius, no orders to hand over the keys?” he shrugged, “nothing that I have seen it looks like it will be coming to a head”.

Alice looked at the group assembled, “I don't think the duchess went to the king or else we would see something more official, just a letter …not a show of force, we have one of the heirs to the throne who wants to prove themselves outside the kings shadow”. David counted up the numbers facing them, “I would not bet on our odds”. Martin watched as more of the church militant started to arrive the crusaders and monks could pack quite a punch as well. “It depends who we stand with”.

Vivian looked at the royalist forces and the church militant. They were slap dab in the middle now. Vivian sighed, “we need to pick a side do we”? David gripped his blade, a degree of arrogance permeated his voice “How about we pick our selves”? Starting a war with two thirds of the triune was certainly a mistake she looked at him her eye conveyed her displease. “Don't be stupid, one group at a time perhaps, but we are outnumbered hear if this starts to go south someone important dies and we get the blame”.

There was the ringing of the church bells and something else entered the arena, the flying wyvens slowly moved back to allow another group of flying shadows to approach the area. Four baronial griffins from the holy mountain settled down in the square each one was smaller than the dragon in terms of length. In terms of mass they were more sturdy able to survive the riggers of a high altitude strike dropping in on an opponent diving faster than most creatures could react. The griffins had no ranged attack worth anything. There sonic screech was not going to cut it against anything but small prey but if they could close the distance they could rip a small dragon to pieces.

The beasts were stocky and solid the strength of brawlers. There wings were white grey there fur a brassy gold. There beaks and claws looked like silvery steel almost as if they had somehow been transformed into metal or mithril. Upon the back of the four griffins were harnesses with seating for a dozen people each.

They were lead by a man in white clothes the robes of a monk, they would be blessed nightmare spider silk very tough. They got off there mounts and the griffins climbed up into the sky without riders or passengers. The princess and the duchess looked far less confident.

He looked about the area, “your royal highness duchess, I am Abbot Denix the leader of the monastic order of beast shapers”. He spread his hands and two dozen monks on demi griffs appeared from the streets around the cathedral, “parent order to the order of beast tamers”. There were nearly four dozen monks spreading out around the duchess. “I bring my brothers the Monks of the adamantite hand”. These monks wore simple brown robes but carried staves with octium and adamantite heads on them iron oak construction. One end to strike against the magical one to strike against the physical.

The princess had counted on the big gold dragon being intimidating enough to just end the argument there and then. Would they force her hand would any of the locals help her out. The situation could go south any moment. The Bishop was suddenly there on the upper part of the cathedral looking down on her with him was a dozen vampire hunters with clockwork rifles. The cylinders were chambered with adamantite bullets targeted down. They were part of the forces protecting the city during the trade talks, it looks like he had recruited them.

As a commander princess Serena had a voice amplification enchantment in her helmet, she got her dragon within fifty feet of the group she started to talk, “I am the princess Serena Attila you should bow before royalty. The party gave her the customary greetings. A salute form the mercenarys a nod from the hunter and a curtsey from Alice.

The princess tone became more pleasant, “mage would you stand with us and surrender the key you hold. Or would I send your mother and father to the tower jail as traitors to the wardens mercy's”. Alice was shocked and a bit taken aback, she almost on reflex launched her mana lance spell.

Her voice had a stutter to it but it was filled with incredulous disbelief “you … would threaten … my family”? The princess doubled down on the intimidation her jaw twitching just visible, “You dare use that questioning tone with me? We own you mage as I own this dragon. Except the dragon is far better tamed”. For a second Alice considered cutting the arrogant royal in half with her mana lance. But a life time in the tower keep jail would not help anyone, the dragon that the princess was riding eye caught Alice for a second. Alice swore that there was a moment of understanding before the beast blinked and shifted its head.

The princess blinked and turned to the rest of the group. “Mercenarys name your price it will be paid to the bronze penny”. David was almost tempted to see how deep the princess pockets were but Vivian answered first. She was neutral and professional,“we already swore our word, we signed our name and took another's mark, we are professionals,”. She looked even less happy the hired Mercenarys were thinking above there station, “contracts can be bought out”.

David shook his head “not in the glass bay mercenaries charter”. He was quite surprised that the words came out of his mouth and not Vivian's. They were the people who raised him surprisingly when it came to it some of there code had stuck. The princess was well informed Vivian had to grant her that she had gone straight for the weakest link, Alice threatening her family. She now went for the closet thing that Vivian and David had to family apart from each other.

The princess sneered at them, “loyalty to your company you should work for the crown”? The princess posed a seemingly innocent question. Bb the inflection of her voice something else could be drawn, “how strong is your mercenary companies charter”? The implication that she could remove there licence and legal status, Vivian's tone became significantly less friendly, “strong enough”.

The princess tried one last gamble though a long shot, “you hunter you want your vengeance for your family, to kill all the vampires. If you were leading an army of golems by royal command think about how you would crush them”? Martin considered and weighed her words, “Tempting but I decline for different reasons, I have seen the vampires corrupt the forces of nature. Dragons the very dead rise at there command against me. I don't trust that they would not have some counter to this”. The princess was surprised the zealot was the most polite of the lot.

Vivian faced her down with her golem eye focusing in on the princess, she tried to keep a level tone, “we serve the bishop of Good-ford not the crown, we are agents but not yours”. She was taken aback, “my father sits upon the triune, upon the ivory throne”. Vivian continued, “he is not hear and I don't see papers with his mark in your hand”. The princess gritted her teeth a retort on her lips, Vivian was quicker, “those that rely on saying my father or my mother have no power of there own”. “... how dare you insult me I am a dragon rider”. At her urging the dragon prepared to shoot, wither it would be a warning shot or not they didn't get the chance to find out.

A ki imbued adamantine staff struck the dragon in the side of the head, the beast hit the main square with enough force to crack the flagstones. The princess was thrown from her saddle and rolled down the side of the dragon. The abbot moved in front of the princess before she could do anything else. “My apologies my staff slipped when I thought I saw you lose control of your dragon. Little child you have spoken it is my turn”. The abbot had used up most of the Ki stored in the staff to imbue it with such a powerful attack. The dragon spat out a broken tooth and stood up. He eyed the bishop, then the four griffins overhead that would drop on him in an instant. The dragon did nothing. The princess held out a hand and the dragon used one of his claws to help her stand.

The abbot looked over at the group. “I don't come to offer threats or promises I come to humbly remind you of your duty”. Vivian sighed, “do you have orders from bishop Alexius or the patriarch to hand over the keys”. The abbots words were kind gentle even if he had just knocked down a dragon, “I do not but there is a bishop right there who speaks reason, that you entrust the keys to the servants of the creator god not the panicking nobles”. He was making a better argument than the princess but that was not hard, her uncles dragon was more reasonable and level headed.

The abbot continued, “David Vivian when you were young orphaned the church looked after you we gave you food shelter and an education, before you were apprenticed, now is the time to pay that back”. David shook his head, “the mercenary company paid towards the upkeep of the orphanage so that they can have first pick of healthy recruits”.

“we have killed plenty of things in the name of the church from lich's to rat men”. Vivian scratched her head, “our patron dose work for the church, but he is not you, I find it funny that I have sent three messenger eagles over the last week asking for clarification on what we should be doing, how we should proceed and I have not had a response once”.

The abbot looked a little frustrated but kept his cool. “I would not know what happened to the messenger eagles, perhaps it was deemed too sensitive a message to send”. The princess retuned to her seat strapping herself in place this time, “It is a long flight something could have happened to the messengers, they will show up soon I am sure”.

The bishop turned to Alice, “you have lived these last six years under the patronage of the royal court how have you found it”? “It is like many orders religious and military. You go where you are sent you do what you are told, I would change many things if given the opportunity, what do you drive at Abbot”? “perhaps you would enjoy another's patronage more”.

Alice considered her future ambitions to reform the mages tower, the church would be a useful ally. Especially the abbot who controlled his order and many smaller orders from the holy mountain. “The inquisitors and witch finders have been held in check the last three hundred years. The offer of the churches friendship later on still dose not change the fact that we mages are in the service of the crown, unless specifically assigned, as I am now as an agent to Alexius”.

The Abbot turned to Martin, “consider the influence of the creator god consider the power he has given you for your righteous retribution pray meditate on what needs to be done”. Martin emptied his mind he held out his holy symbol there was a brief glow. “thy will be done”. He paused thinking then put his holy symbol back on his belt.

He stood between the Abbot and the princess, “I am moved, neither left or right, the two options that you present are not the will of the creator. You see duty and your responsibility to keep a weapon away from misuse or to hold a weapon ready for use. You see gods will I believe you see your own preconceptions. You see duty I believe its your own ambition, even if you don't realise it .” the atmosphere was tense.

Lady Nicole Kamen circled above with the rest of the wyvern riders she had told them how the bats had died, how thoroughly they had been obliterated. It gave them pause for thought the griffins circling about the sharp shooters on the cathedral. She hoped someone folded soon she had only just been healed form her last injuries.

The bishop considered his position, was he right was he absolutely sure that he had taken the right course escalating this by calling in the griffins. The duchess had made the first move with the dragon riding princess. He had sharpshooters trained on a member of the royal family and the local vampire hunters and crusaders ready to take on the duchess and her guard. If this moved any further , neither side was backing down. Then he imagined his entire city flattened by golems and his resolve hardened.

The duchess noted how effective the abbot had been against a dragon, she was not so certain if this was the right course. The four masters would probably side with the church she had thrown them out of her home she had threatened them. And they had chewed through the vampires and the lich's skeleton army her worry grew. The princess was far more of a hot head than she was lead to believe, no wonder she was kept away from the capital.

Francis looked around him his hunters and crusaders had an unflinching zeal. He recognised most of the duchess guard. They were people he had worked with in the common defence of this city before. People he called friends the loss of even a handful would put holes in the city's defences. He noticed that there was no sign of the merchants guild mercenaries or Ghost. The sheriff and the head of the mages guild had not shown up to pick a side, even if this went badly they would still have a few people to defend North port.

Brother Percy had not seen the fight but he remembered the results of the battle against the Hellions how they had been completely flattened. If the four masters picked the wrong side it would be problematic. He owed them a debt he wished to repay, he also had no desire to fight a golden dragon.

Vivian looked over to Alice, if it came down to it Alice would cast a shield spell over her and Vivian. Martin was preparing to use all his defensive blessing his litany of blessings would allow him to activate everything at once if he was targeted. David was ready to bring his mithril shield to bear against whatever would come. They had an understanding who ever struck at them first they would turn on, who ever acted first would be acting against the general orders of the triune and would be held liable.

The Elven ambassador and the trade commissioner sat watching from a balcony. The elf looked over the tense scene. “If the triune can hold its own people intact, if it is not torn by this. If reason and compromise prevail I will know that I have the correct decision”. The stand off continued seconds turned into minutes and no one moved. The elven ambassador felt movement behind him and raised his hand to stop the person behind him, “do not join them yet”.

The elf took a sip of his brew, “Part of me would like to see my distant brothers in the church succeeded the golems locked away. Or even destroyed, but I am an ambassador I need to look to see compromise rational nations negotiating together”. I thought crossed the ambassadors mind, “Though now I think of it, I do wonder if this situation was intended so that there would be these extra elite forces in North port to stop a potential attack. If that was the case you would already have a way to diffuse this before it went further”. The trade commissioner smiled, “I could not possibly comment on that theory”.

There was the sound of hoof beats as a rider in a tall hat and long coat entered the square, there was a frenetic pace to her energy. She held a symbol of her office and an official looking letter in one hand. She stopped in front of the princess and the abbot everybody gathered felt a collective sigh of relief.

“princess your grace we need to speak now, I am Nicole Fitzalan an emissary of his holiness the patriarch, I am a witch finder they call me the necromancers bane”. The party relaxed as they were not going to end up fighting it out, the abbot looked like he recognised her and the princess looked ahead her expression a regal mask. Nicole held out the scroll, “I bring urgent news from the capital someone had been interfering with the regular communication to this city. So this message had to go via black rock”.

She held the paperwork in front of them with reluctance the princess had to unstrap herself and get down form her dragon. “Please note the triune seal, three as one. All members of the triune had to meet to stamp this document it is law”.

“Duchess Teach, Princess Serena you act without your fathers permission, Abbot Denix , bishop Gyfford you acted without the patriarchs blessing, scribe advocates will be reviewing your actions and your various flouting of our laws. Half of the keys will go to the duchess for safe keeping. Half of the keys go with the abbot for safe keeping”.

The trade commissioner and the elven ambassador walked over to the group. The trade commissioner nodded. “The Merchants guild support this compromise no one can take any rash actions. If we release the golems against a threat it will not be a casual decision. If we decide to destroy the golems and strip them for parts it will not be a casual decision. All party's will come to an agreement. If and when a suitable threat arises. The witch finder looked at the party who started to dig out the keys. She looked at the abbot and the princess, “you are both to remain hear until the trade negotiations are concluded, which should be soon. Then you will probably be accompanying the ambassador to the capital before you go back to your regular duties”.

Alice felt the weight of the key the power it represented, she was not happy to give something like that up. But it was not as if she could keep or control a vault full of golems. Had she been an enchanter with a decent level of skill, she might have tried for it. She handed the first key over to the duchess who gripped it like a drowning man holding onto a life raft.

It gave David a little embarrassment how much effort it took him to retrieve the key, Vivian had to help him remove half his armour as it was sandwiched between his armour and padded vest. It made him feel even more embarrassed that he had handed the key over to the abbot, without any form of payment.

Martin was glad to give up the responsibility the weight of carrying the key, he had so much that he felt he needed to do. This was at least one thing done lightening his burden. He passed the key to the abbot relieved that his part in this was over.

Vivian felt pride, they had held on. By the end of this saga they had done there duty to the letter waiting it out until the correct orders appeared. She handed the key to the duchess with a sharp solute.

The duchess and the abbot eyed each other they were not happy, but they could live with it. It would mean that half the keys were locked away in the holy mountain. It would take a great deal of effort to get to the vault, still she held two keys it was better than a month ago when she held no keys. She might be able to trade a favour with the church in the future for the other two keys. It would have to be a good favour though, still she held a lot of the docks and the trade. The trade commissioner and the elven ambassador invited them to a small informal meal. A look from the witch finder and they agreed to attend.

The trade commission sat in the centre with the elven ambassador and the patriarchs emissary on either side. The princess bishop abbot and duchess around him. They drank and talked of compromise and understanding and the city of North port survived another day.