The Queen's eyes fluttered open, revealing iridescent green irises which were at odds with the rest of her race. Despite their distracting quality, I found my own gaze drawn to above her head. Her identifier had become visible to me now and instinctively knew that was only available because she was bonded to me.

Danivra: Level 137: Queen of Helvien: Dokala (Dokalfar III)

Before I could really fully react, Sania’s voice echoed in my mind. “What have you done now, Clive? From the sense I’m getting through our bond, it feels suspiciously like you’ve just bonded the Queen of Helvien.”

“He has. And it was at my behest as the only way for me to continue living.”

“Oh. Well you agreeing should make it less problematic, I suppose. Is this a secret again? Like with Grigor?”

“We do not have to keep it a secret,” Queen Danivra replied. “Though, perhaps the details of how strict a bond it currently is, should remain confidential. I don’t want my people to question my ability to act freely. Once the bond matures, Clive assures me he will relax some of the more stringent aspects. ”

“Did I?” I asked genuinely not remembering that part of our conversation. Then, after I realized how mean spirited I’d just sounded, added. “But of course I will as soon as I can.”

Our internal conversation was broken by Hek and the other Dokalfar, present. Their excited chatter at the Queen's recovery drew her attention away.

“My Queen! Thank the soil that bears our soles and the clear night sky. You are back with us.” He knelt in front of the now standing Queen, eyes wide. Those tears and emotions he held back so well now free to flow, if only for this brief moment.

Other Dokalfar began to pour into the house of healing and dropped to their knees, as Danivra happily begged them to stop. I watched her with the people. And despite thinking she was going to be stern and solemn woman, she surprised me with how easy going and friendly she was. I couldn’t be sure, but I think we were going to get on, providing the whole bond thing wasn’t too weird. It took accidentally crushing Grigor’s skull to get him to accept the shitty situation.

With the barrage of questions directed and well wishes directed at her, she ended up having to raise her hands and ask for calm.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you. I feared I would never wake again and would not be able to see what was left of our fair city find safety. You have achieved the impossible while I lay stricken to have survived and made it so far south, and I can only commend your bravery and resilience. It seems we have also been incredibly fortunate to have met Lord Clive here. Who has been able to grant me a second chance at life. From what I can gather, it seems he and his people who are responsible for the success of the final leg of our journey here. I feel our people owe him a great debt.

Now, if you will forgive me, I must speak to the lord of our new home. We have yet even to meet formally, but once we have discussed matters further, I will personally come and speak with each of you, my beautiful brave people.”

There was wall of noise from clapping to shouting and cheering. It didn’t look like it would abate any time soon until Alial the Dokalfar healer began ushering people back out of the healing house, assisted by Hek. When they still showed reluctance to turn their still disbelieving faces from their returned queen.

As the last were escorted from the door by a now much recovered Hek, The queen turned to me with a soft smile. I could sense the pain that was hidden behind the expression, and I wondered how I would have read her without the bond. It spoke of her true sadness and heartache, presumably for all of the people she must have lost.

I smiled back and thrust out my hand to shake. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you in the flesh, your majesty.”

She took the offered hand a little uncertainly. “A pleasure to meet you in the flesh, too, Lord Clive. I’m not entirely sure what I expected from you, but a half human, half Demon was certainly not it. Though with what you alluded to in relation to Creation's involvement in your life, it should not surprise me. How utterly fascinating.”

“Yeah, it’s certainly a bit different,” I said waving my demon hand around. “But it’s working out alright.”

“Only Level 39, too. I must confess, when you healed my core and created the bond between us, you felt much stronger than your level implies.”

“Funny, that. “Because when I healed your core, you felt a helluva lot weaker than your level implies.”

Her serene face cave away her surprise from my statement. “You are able to see my level?”

“Ha, yup. Little perk from our new arrangement I imagine your highness.”

“That would make sense. As for the titles. The city of Helvien is no more and the whole region we once called home is being razed top the ground. I am Queen of nothing but my people. So, do not worry about honorifics overly much.”

Hek leaned in toward her placing a tender hand on her back. “We will retake Helvien one day my queen. For now, I must warn you that we arranged to stay only until you awoke. I warned Lord Clive that you may wish to leave once again.”

“I dearly do wish to leave, but only to rescue what remains of our people scattered across the surface of Kalabri. But we are not strong enough for such an endeavor. I am wise enough to know that we I will merely consign those left of our people to death. So not fret, Hek. We will remain here for the foreseeable future. We, and especially I, owe Lord Clive a number of debts that cannot be paid, though I hope he is willing to offer some aid in helping more of our people from Kalabri to swell his own forces.”

The queen looked back to me, hopefully and I laughed. “You don’t owe me any debts. You or your people. And hell yeah, we’re gonna try and save more people from Kalabri. As many as we can. But, at this moment, I have a couple of other issues, and one immediate one in particular. The Malatian army at my doorstep.”

“We are pressed from all sides, but all we can do is try to overcome,” Danivra said.

Before I could reply, Grigor’s voice came urgently across the bond. “Lord Clive. Grimstrom has arrived. He has a huge number of soldiers with him.”

“You’re shitting me? What’s he said? Do they look like they’re intending to attack us?”

“I haven’t spoken with him yet. I am heading up to the tunnel entrance now.”

“Were on our way, too. Gimme a minute.”

I refocused on the queen and Hek. “I’m sorry to leave, after you’ve just recovered, but we might have a huge problem. I’ve gotta run.”

“Then we shall run with you, Lord Clive,” Danivra replied regally. I didn’t reply, but I sure didn’t mind her coming either. She was way more powerful than Grimstrom, so it could only help any negotiations, and she was bonded now, so there’d be no double crossing.

As I marched hurriedly from the house of healing, Sania fell into step alongside me. She spoke across the bond, so only I could hear.

“You think they’re attacking?”

“I fucking hope not. I can handle indifference, but we could really do without Darkness as an enemy.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that when you were doing your hard ball negotiating?” Despite the words, there was an element of humor attached to them.

“Yeah, maybe I should. But then that’s the risk you run when you’re looking for the best deal. And I’m not selling myself or these people short.”

“Good to hear. Now are you going to tell me the level of our newest soul bound, then?”

“Guess,”

“100?”

“Higher,”

“Seriously?”

“Queen Danivra is level 137.”

“Clive! That’s… insane. She is so powerful, and you managed to bind her to you!”

“Yeah,” I agreed, not feeling quite so excited. The whole thing still left a bitter taste that I didn’t have time to dwell on as we were approached the tunnel opening where Grimstrom stood speaking animatedly with Grigor.

Grimstrom had the cheek to address Queen Danivra before me. Though he seemed genuinely surprised at her presence.

“Your Highness. We had news of your passing on the way out of Helvien.”

“If it wasn’t for Clive, those rumors would be true. No thanks to your brothers from Agorak, Master Grimstrom.”

“I can only apologize. Our hands are tied with the war at the moment. One does not simply countermand direct orders from their God.”

“As fascinating as this reunion is, do you mind telling me what the fuck you’re doing here with an unannounced army, Grimstrom? Our relationship isn’t exactly at a high point, so this,” I said pointing at the soldiers behind him. “Doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.”

“Ha, they’re not to here to attack you, Lad. I hope they’re not for the Malatians either. Let’s call them a deterrent. I do need to speak with you, though. Is any chance you could call another meeting and maybe try to keep your temper this time?”

“You can have your meeting, but I’m not promising Jack shit, on the temper. You’ve put me in hard place here.”

Grimstrom laughed. “I thought you’d say something along those lines. You’d have made a good dwarf, lad.”

I smiled at the powerful dwarf. Whether it was from relief that he wasn’t here to kick our asses or that he thought I’d make a good dwarf. Maybe a combination of the two. “Put your men wherever you can and head up to the meeting hall. I’ll rustle everyone else together.”

Once I’d assembled all of our council members, including my newly bonded Queen of Helvien, who nobody could keep their eyes off. The meeting began in earnest with Grimstrom standing at the opposite end of the table.

“I’ll not beat about the tunnels. After Malaita’s ill-fated attack and the death of one of their very few Nephilim leveled leaders, their Queen has reached out to King Oblitifist. It went something like this:

They accused us of invading their territory, classifying Far Reach as a dwarven outpost rather than the town of neutral independents that it actually is. As such, she threatened to ally Malatia with Justice over this.”

He was looking at me for a response. I couldn’t do much but shrug. “None of that’s really a surprise. Have they actually joined Justice, yet?”

“No. Because they, more than anyone else, rely on our trade. They also don’t want to be dragged along on an insane war by Justice. Ultimately, they don’t want to be against Darkness, and they want to be involved here, with you, specifically, Clive.”

“Well, they fucked that up then. Didn’t they?”

“Admittedly, they’ve gone about it entirely the wrong, which let’s be fair your bedside manner might have had something to do with. But either way, they thought because you're still relatively weak, they could shoehorn you into the position they wanted as you’re setting up on their land. What strikes me as odd is that they’ve already met you and they should know what a belligerent rock head you are.”

“So what? They’re changing their tune now and calling off their attack?”

Grimstrom looked uncomfortable and I shook my head in irritation. “Come on then, Grimstrom. Out with it, Mr., I’m not going to beat around the tunnels.

“Ah, well, they’ve gone about it in a bit of a sneaky way. With your relationship with Devotion as it is, they’ve seen fit to cut you out of the negotiations. Devotion has offered a full alliance with Darkness to protect both the Nideland of Kalabri. All she asked is that there is a temple for her, here in Far Reach, and that her people stationed here are to be involved with what is going on. They have agreed not to install their own leader, but ask that they have a strong presence in the council.”

“Let me think about it for a minute,” I replied, quickly adding, “Okay, thought about it and Devotion and her followers can go fuck themselves.”

Grimstrom gave me a long, hard look. “You can’t fight this, Clive. Darkness, in his infinite wisdom needs this alliance to happen. It is a rare opportunity for him and will have consequences the other secondary worlds, too. This alliance offers hope for all of our futures.”

“I thought Clive was supposed to be that hope?” Sania pointed out.

“Clive is the arrow in the air. An alliance with Devotion is an arrow in the target. Darkness feels this is best for all of us including you. Have a little trust.”

“And if we disagree and still say no?” I asked

Grimstrom looked suddenly uncomfortable. “We’re taking the alliance, lad. That’s not a discussion. And while we would never attack you, we will have to pull out if Malatia aren’t allowed to set up a presence here.

We’ll be back once they’ve achieved what they need to achieve, but we won’t be able to help you against them. You’ve got a good group here now, but you won’t make it alone. Not yet.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to fly off the handle. “Darkness said he had my back, Grimstrom. Does that mean nothing?”

“Of course it does, Clive. This is part of it. We grow strong together.”

“Fuck, fuck… double fuck with a steaming shit on top. You’re really fucking us over here, Grimstrom.”

“It’s not me, lad. I want you to know that. And I don’t think it’ll be as bad as you think. But I understand why you’re angry.”

“I can’t make this call myself,” I said. Looking around the table. “Honestly, if I did, answer right now, it would be for both Darkness and Devotion to go and fuck themselves.”

Grimstrom was about to reply, but I held a hand to stop him. “I’m well aware that would be suicide, don’t worry. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it.”

“I thought Dark and light aligned gods couldn’t work together?” Joel asked.

“Who are we to question the will of the god’s. I don’t know the rules on such an alliance. Though it is to remain secret until the moment for an attack comes.” Grimstrom replied.

I laughed sardonically at that. “A secret. There’s a bloody surprise.”

Grimstrom didn’t respond, so I looked around the table. “What’re everyone’s thoughts?”

“I don’t trust the Malatians. They had a chance to do this fairly and they attacked instead,” Sania said.

“We’ve just killed a good number of them, and they took more than a few of our own people. I for one don’t feel inclined to forgive them, nor invite them in to our homes,” Grigor offered. “It seems like the opposite of what we’re trying to do here.”

“But the dwarves will leave us if we do not agree?” Scralex asked for clarification.

“Better now than when you need them most and they are not there for you,” Danivra added quietly. Despite the volume, no one missed it. Grimstrom went red and I couldn’t tell whether it was anger or embarrassment.

“That was not the dwarves of Nuinaer Danivra.”

“Is there a difference?”

“What’s that mean?” Grastad asked.

“A promise of aid, unfulfilled,” Danivra replied. “The Dwarves are steadfast companions when it suits their purpose, but their purposes are not always clear, nor are they static.”

I looked over to Grimstrom. “Right now that’s sounding pretty fucking familiar mate.”

He was clearly unsettled by the turn the conversation had taken, but he managed to shrug off the negativity. “We’ve supported you since the beginning. How much of this would have been possible without the foundations we’ve provided to build on.”

“If you’re using foundations as a metaphor, then what you’ve provided looks like bedrock, but it is sand, Grimstrom,” Danivra added.

“That’ isn’t the case, Clive. But things do change, and we have to change with them. There’s no real harm in letting the Malatians in when we have so many other enemies to fight. Can you not see the futility of this?”

“Okay everyone, you heard Grimstrom! No harm in letting them! If they set up in Far Reach and decide to turn on us, then the Dwarves will have our backs. Unless things change, of course. What do we say to that? What are the positives here?”

“A united front against our enemies, if you don’t consider they are the enemy,” Scralex offered.

“They aren’t the enemy,” Grimstrom sighed.

“Correction,” I added. “They aren’t the enemy if we let them do whatever the fuck they want. Which is to possess our town.”

“And you say Clive is now an arrow in the air,” Grigor snapped. “Yet you’ll leave him to be killed by the Malatian army?”

“Clive won’t be killed. Devotion would keep him safe,” he said matter-of-factly. “But with our deal, he can level as a free man. The path he’s heading down right now will see him leveling as little more than a prisoner.”

I was struggling to comprehend how I was now having the rug pulled from under my feet in such a way. We were all but powerless to do anything about it. The chances of us being able to fight nearly four thousand Malatian troops with barely a thousand of our own was a tough ask, and even if we did win. More would come, and when would Darkness and Nuinaer decide they’d had enough and just come and finish us off. They had a fucking tunnel into the center of our town”

“Clive?” Grimstrom said loudly.

“At least give him a moment to think, Grimstrom,” Sania snapped.

“Thanks Sania,” I said. Completely ignoring Grimstrom. “What do you all say?”

“We don’t seem to have any choice if we want to keep this safe haven alive.” Grastad said dejectedly. Both Scralex and Zeine nodded.

“For the sake of our people’s lives, we should relent,” Sanyl said.

I felt Sania bristle across our bond. “I disagree mother. How many times will we have to make allowances for Darkness and Devotion to the point where we lose any semblance of our own independence?”

“I agree with Sania,” Grigor said loudly. “This is a slippery slope we find ourselves on, and I do not think our defeat to Malatia is a foregone conclusion. We live and breathe mountain combat.”

Queen Danivra cleared her throat to speak. “I may w I have just arrived here, but I stand against being bullied into something Lord Clive isn’t comfortable with and justifiably so. For me, all I see at play here is an attempt to control, Clive, from the Gods. Gods, we have all rejected.

If what they, and I believe to be true about Clive is the case, then the single most important thing we can do, for all of the people of Falritas, is keep him as free from their manipulation as possible.” Danivra sat back down after she had said her piece. A few others mumbled agreement, but ultimately all eyes fell on me, and I had my decision. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best I could come up with.

“Thank you everyone. And well, hell, that’s actually a pretty equal split. But as I said before, this is still a negotiation. Nuinaer and Malatia make their offers as demands and now moves have been made and people's true intentions have become much clearer. It appears that despite all of our hopes and fears in regard to Malatia, I have little choice but to agree.”

There were a lot of shocked faces. Grimstrom looked visibly relieved.

“On the condition,” I continued. “That both Devotion and Darkness officially acknowledge the South Craster Mountains as the territory of Neutrals, of which Far Reach is the Capital. We will allow Devotions followers to build a temple here. But I also want a temple to Darkness built here, too.”

Grimstrom looked troubled. “What are you playing at, lad? That’s not what’s being agreed here.”

“Furthermore, we will accept no more than two hundred followers of Devotion and two hundred followers of Darkness inside the city limits at any one time and anyone above level fifty must get specific permission from myself, Grigor, or Sania. That number will change as the infrastructure of Far reach increases, but I’ll not have my people outnumbered by potential enemies.”

“We’re not your enemies,” Grimstrom protested.

“I didn’t think so either, Grimstrom. But this shitty manoeuvre has lost you and Darkness a lot of good faith here.”

“Well, I hope we can regain trust, Clive, but this isn’t a negotiation anymore. I’ve told you what needs to happen.”

“Grimstrom. Let me be clear,” I said patiently. “This really isn’t a negotiation anymore, and I’ve told you what needs to happen. I’ve met you part of the way. I’ve compromised. But I’ll bend no further. We were setting up Far Reach before you came. We would have grown and developed on our own. It may have taken more time to get all these fancy buildings up, but we would have gotten there in the end.

Even the neutrals were already heading here. So in reality, all you did with all of this is attempt to buy us and now the hidden payment is coming due. But you’re not bullying us like a fucking bailiff on something I never agreed to. So do what you need to do to, and let me know if you can reach an agreement on my counter proposal. There’ll be no more negotiations on this, so if you can’t reach an agreement. Don’t come back.”

“Don’t do this, Clive,” he warned.

“Until then, kindly remove all of your people from Far Reach.”

“You want us to take our stone and tools too?” He asked with a clear edge of anger.

“Please do. Take it all. I want nothing that isn’t freely given or paid for with fair terms at the very least.”

Grimstrom shook his head frustrated. His chair tippling back and clattering on the floor as he stood up. “You’ll hear from me soon, one way or another, Clive.” Then he stomped angrily to the nearest window and jumped out.”

“Whew! Well, that was intense as fuck!” Joel said, breaking the silence that followed Grimstrom’s dramatic departure.

“You think you can build and work without them?” I asked him.

“Sure. Slower, but we can manage,” he replied confidently.

“We can help with building work of a more environmentally friendly design,” Zeine laughed tensely.

“As can we,” Danivra said. “My people are highly skilled with metal and to a lesser extent stone. We are no dwarves, but we will be of use.”

“Thanks guys. It means a lot to me that you’re all willing to stand by me with this. I’m probably being a bit of a dick with them, but I don’t like how they’re backing us into a corner. If I let them this time, where will it stop.

“I think you negotiated admirably,” Danivra smiled.

“I thought you handled it pretty fucking well too, mate. In fact, I’m surprised at how well you did handle it. You didn’t even start shouting and insulting every dwarf in Kalabri and god you could think of.”

I laughed uneasily. “You think they’ll take it?” I asked the entire council.

“Who knows. Does it even matter?” Sania replied. “These gods do what they want. Even if they agree, they’ll just turn it around and say something else a week later. All I know is that we need all of those Neutrals here from Kalabri and anywhere else that want to join with us as soon as possible. And we need to stick together like glue. I’m convinced we can achieve something together.”

“I like this plan,” Grastad said. “This is not the place of one of these corrupt gods. It is our place.”

“Unless we have a Church of Creation, too?” Danivra said surprising everyone.

“Agreed. I’m already a follower,” Sania said grinning at me.

“That’s just freaky and weird. And I’m not Creation. I’m Clive.”

“Okay, how about a Church of Clive?” Sania added. “You already have three followers.

“He’ll only be happy if it’s called Clive’s place, and people can come and worship his food?” Joel chuckled.

“We could do that and just not tell Clive, that they’re praying to him,” she laughed back.

“Let’s just survive whatever this is first. I’m really not comfortable with people following me like that.”