Five
Nick had turned over the new prisoners to Janet and headed straight for his personal tent. Not wasting time on anything else at all.
He really wanted to start combing through the ledger with Lucian to see what he could find or figure out to combat the gryphons.
There needed to be a response to them before the day was out if he could manage it.
If not a response, than at least a plan.
Because realistically speaking, Nick wouldn’t be surprised at all if those gryphons came back tomorrow with larger numbers.
The group that came at them today had been larger in number than the ones they’d thrown away at the mountain pass. Significantly so.
Which meant they had a large number of them, or could breed them at will.
At will with only a four month turn around from pregnancy to birth. Which if Nick looked at this from an ugly perspective, the losses he gave them at Harbor pass could have already been replenished.
They’d just need to growup, which would take about eight months. Then they could turn around and begin breeding themselves.
Entering it, he moved over to the back wall of the tent where he kept a magically locked chest.
It’d been set up in such a way that if the key itself wasn’t used then the contents of the chest would be transported somewhere else.
In this case, the Randolph treasury that Lucian was the unliving guardian of.
Pulling his helmet off, as well as his poleaxe, Nick set them both down beside the chest. Squatting down he pulled the blood-bound key from his belt-pouch, slotted it, turned it, and then opened the chest.
Taking out the ledger, Nick relocked the chest, put the key back away, and took the ledger over to the table someone had put into his tent for him.
“I’ve been honestly thinking on this one, Sire, and I’m not quite sure what we should be writing as the inquiry,” Lucian murmured from inside Nick’s mind.
The Earth Dragon had unsummoned himself so that he could be called back faster in the future.
“Yeah, kinda in a similar place,” Nick confessed as he pulled out the thin charcoal stick he’d fit into the spine of the ledger with a simple tie around the whole thing.
Setting the ledger down now that the binding was undone he opened it to the first page and stopped.
Then with a shrug he wrote down ‘gryphons’, waited, then went through the listings.
He could buy young gryphons, adult gryphons, gryphon eggs, gryphon meat, and every other possible gryphon product. Nothing was missing at all and anything he could ever wish for was here.
The problem was the price was rather high for adult gryphons.
He didn’t have the four months to get one to give a birth then eight months for it to grow up.
Truth of the matter was Nick had barely a few weeks, which meant he had to purchase them outright.
“Ninety gold a head,” whispered nick even as he stared at the unwavering listings.
There were slight deviations, a gold here, a few silver there, but it all boiled down to roughly ninety gold a head. That didn’t include hardware to ride them or any type of training beyond the basic.
“It’d take a third of the kingdom’s wealth just to purchase an equivalent number to what we saw today, Sire,” Lucian offered, sounding very conciliatory. “That doesn’t even assume any losses or repurchases later on. This… isn’t an answer we can reasonably take. We don’t have the coin for it. Not like this.”
Closing his eyes, Nick leaned back in his camp-chair and folded his arms across his family armor.
Sitting there, he thought.
He thought and thought.
He thought so hard he felt like maybe he was going mad.
Yet no matter which way he approached it, there was no way to simply purchase the gryphons outright.
“I should probably purchase a large number of young gryphons, since they’re far cheaper, and start there,” Nick muttered after what felt like an entire day of thinking but was probably just five minutes. “We can start breeding them from that so long as I make sure I buy all the gryphons from different buyers.
“It by no means solves our immediate issues, doesn’t even solve tomorrows issues, or this year. Or next year. But… maybe in five years, with careful management, we might have our own gryphon force.
“It’s something I need to make sure we get moving, even if it doesn’t solve today. Because if I’m only ever looking at today, I’ll never catch up.
“Back to the main problem at hand.”
Opening his eyes he was somewhat unsurprised to find Delaney sitting in a chair across from himself. She was currently writing in a book with a quill and ink. He hadn’t even noticed her enter, unstopper the ink bottle, or begin writing.
On his left was Lorelai who was currently leaned over and looking at his ledger. She’d taken the charcoal stick and was quietly writing down things in the inquiry field and then looking things over.
Jessie was talking to Sara somewhere behind himself, the two quietly discussing what sounded like the best way to eat gryphon.
Given that conversation, he imagined people had gone out to collect the dead gryphons and turn them into dinner for a portion of the troops.
“Lorelai entered with Delaney. Sara and Jessie came later. You were deep in thought and no one wanted to disturb you, my boy,” Lucian advised. “Lorelai is curious about you and the ledger, but I genuinely don’t sense harm from her.”
“Lorelai, my Dark Elven beauty and consort,” Nick began, getting her attention.
The gorgeous creature sat upright, met his eyes, and smiled at him.
To which Nick smiled in return. Truly smiled at her. He did his best to hit her with whatever attractive looks he had as well as the rudimentary charm he held.
“Would you be willing to barter for more Dark Elves if I allowed you to make purchases directly through the ledger at a very small profit for myself?” Nick asked her. “Is there something your people would need from you as their Queen that if you provided would consolidate their belief in you and provide you with more troops?”
Queen wasn’t the right title for her.
He knew that.
She knew he knew that.
His choice of words was therefore deliberate and led her to a conclusion he was very much willing to make on her behalf and assist her with. It was a unique tone and stance he could take with her that he couldn’t take with the others.
With Sara and the Wretin, he’d already made deals with them and could do so further, but he needed their coin more than soldiers. Which were fairly generic and compared quite normally to Humans, unlike Dark Elves.
The Werewolves worked less like a nation and more a group collective and were unwilling to barter troops or soldiers since their numbers were far fewer and less easily replenished.
They weren’t Werewolves as they were in the old tales, where a single bite could transform you into one, but actually bred and born creatures. They didn’t transform others, that was a different form of Werewolf.
For the Gnomes and Dwarves, they both had been hired as artisans and crafters. Not soldiers.
Of all those who sought him out, only the Dark Elves would be better traded to for their soldiery work, though more so because they made wonderful back-line wet-work specialists.
“She looked up drilling and mining equipment, Sire,” suggested Lucian.
Nick didn’t jump on that immediately, though he tucked the information away. He didn’t want to reveal Lucian had been paying attention to her while Nick had been lost in his thinking.
“I’m sure we can come to an agreement,” Lorelai said, her dark eyes sweeping over his face. “I want two more heirs from you, to begin with. Three children in total to secure my line.”
Keeping his mouth locked shut, the smile on his face real, warm, and genuine, while also staying silent, was a tall order in this moment. Nick barely managed it all and had nearly blurted out a ‘no’ immediately.
Giving her three children would give her enough leverage to strong arm a lot of future family concessions out of him. Her line in the Dark Elf territories would nearly become a branch family to the Randolph’s.
One heir was bad enough, but a single person’s ability to reproduce would be limited.
Three heirs, whether they were all boys, or all girls, would give him a lot more of a headache.
Lorelai had assured him that any child he gave her would be a male, however. In this moment, he thought that if she could secure the firstborn as male, it was quite likely she would make all three male.
They would become the ‘baby gryphons’ I just spoke of for myself, but for the Dark Elves.
“It’s a large ask, I know. I would offer you thirty-thousand Dark Elf soldiers, marry you formally so that I cannot take another man as a lover or husband, and begin making purchases from you in your… fun little book,” Lorelai continued and pointed at the ledger. “We could discuss it being for coin or soldiers but I’ll be direct with you, dear, if you take me on my offer, there wouldn’t be many left who could wield a weapon appropriately for you.
“This will strip the Dark Elf…”
Lorelai’s words trailed off as she stared at him.
She blinked, her smile grew, and she raised her eyebrows.
“This will strip the Dark Elf kingdom of it’s defenses,” she continued, clearly adapting to his earlier suggestive title. “Though at this juncture, that might be a benefit if I make sure to take everyone’s troops away. They will have only their police forces and all the soldiers will be mine. Here. Safe and secure with… you.”
Nick knew this was an offer he needed to take, despite very much feeling like the gryphon now.
“Alright,” Nick allowed, sighed, and let his gaze fall to the table in front of him. “Three heirs. For exactly what you said. Thank you, dear.”
He would force himself to adopt her own nicknames and address. Because he needed Lorelai on his side.
“Wonderful! Then please excuse me, I need to go draft up a few contracts real quick, send off a few more ravens, and get ready!” Lorelai excitedly said.
She stood, her assets once more jiggling in an eye-catching way, leaned over, kissed him, then fled. Her cloak going up and around her completely as soon as she reached the tent exit.
“It’s a good deal, Sire,” assured Lucian. “It’s just a painful one, but a good one. I do not think we can really hesitate on it because we really do need their soldiers. We have no people who can perform the work they do, nor with that level of expertise. They will cause more casualties than just those that they kill.”
I know. I just… I just got the throne back and I’m already creating future claims against it.
Looking back to the ledger Nick stared at it for several seconds, then picked up the charcoal stick. He wrote in ‘Dragon finder’, not really expecting much of anything.
What came back were magical crystals that were apparently tuned to the magic inherent in a Dragon and would lead you to one. That was rather surprising to Nick, but more so was the price.
It was a simple thirty-gold for the item.
“Rather cheap,” Nick said to himself.
Delaney, Jessie, and Sara had all kept to themselves despite Lorelai leaving. Harlowe hadn’t joined them either. Everyone was dealing with their own things at the moment.
“I would imagine, Sire, it’s because no one wants to go find a Dragon unless they have a death wish, or something to prove,” mused Lucian. “Even if one took an army to fight a Dragon, it’s unlikely for that army to win. Because a Dragon would just fly away rather than remain. They fly, after all.”
How exactly did you die then?
“Pride. Pride and my son-in-law setting me up perfectly,” admitted Lucian. “He lured me into a location where I couldn’t fly away, acting the part of a knight realizing the error for their ways and running.
“Much as many predators who sense weakness, I couldn’t help myself and followed him. After that he didn’t take my life when my daughter intervened and… here we are.”
Here we are barely covers it, Gramps.
He beat one dragon down to bed the daughter of it, all for… what? What was he doing there?
“Oh. He wanted my hoard,” Lucian admitted with a guffaw. “I had already given it to my daughter though. I had no reason to keep it and she would need it to lure in a male Dragon. I saw no point in chasing a new mate.
“Though I do suppose the hoard I gave her… drew in her mate. Just not in the way she nor I expected it to.”
Nick purchased several of the Dragon-seeking magic crystals. Having sent the money directly from his ledger’s account rather than utilizing physical coin.
A while back he’d started leaving coin in it so he didn’t have to constantly lug it around one way or the other. It was just genuinely easier that way.
Though, Nick wasn’t sure if the Dragon-seeking magic crystal would respond to him but he was fairly certain it’d be alright. He wasn’t actually a Dragon nor did he have the inherent Dragon magic.
He used a mortals magic.
A human’s.
Nor was his blood purely Draconic, either.
One of the reasons he’d bought there, however, was he did not know how long the thing would work. It hadn’t actually been listed.
Which left him feeling like it could last the whole time, or an intermediate amount of time that someone couldn't complain about.
Having more than one was prudent.
If it lasted perfectly until the Dragon was found, he’d use the other two to find two more dragons.
Right now, he needed to recruit something, or anything, that could help level the playing field with the gryphons. The best answer he had was Dragons.
Gramps, how do I barter a Dragon into service?
“Honestly, you don’t. All you can really do is hope you catch the attention of one whos curious about doing such a thing,” Lucian confessed to him. “I know that when I was lounging around after my daughter left my roost, there wasn’t much of anything I wanted to do. I had already succeeded at my goal.”
Running a gauntleted hand over his head, Nick really wasn’t sure what to say to that.
Other than it sounded like Dragons weren’t quite what he expected. They seemed to seek out a mate, utilize their hoard as the means of doing so one way or the other, and then raising a child.
Once the child was grown up, it seemed as if they were content to settle, snooze, and do nothing.
That left Nick with only a few options.
Trying to find Dragons who hadn’t paired and attempting to get them a meet and greet with other Dragons, finding those who already have a partner and are trying to protect their kin, or those that are passed that point but have as Lucian described as a curiosity to fighting an army.
“If I may make a suggestion, Sire? Your thoughts in regards to Dragons are actually quite correct and thoughtful,” Lucian began, seemed to hesitate, then continued. “However, if we are unfortunate and come across a Dragon who has yet to pair, it will be an issue.
“You’re not a Dragon, but they will realize what you are. You will be close enough to a Dragon to trigger a sense of challenge in a male, and interest from a female. Especially… especially as a king.”
As a king?
I don’t-oh. Oh.
My hoard is massive as a king.
Got it.
Instead of bright feathers, dancing, singing, or some sort of strange mating cry, to a Dragon, the size of a hoard is linked to perceived fertility. Both male and female.
“Yes, Sire. That’s entirely correct,” agreed Lucian. “I’m sure there are those that would call it shallow, but the ability to provide and maintain is a well documented courtship across many varied animal species, as well as… many humans.”
Nodding his head, Nick hesitated, then wrote in a new inquiry.
Dragon soothing scent.
If he ended up coming across a male Dragon, he wanted to be able to at least have something that might give him a chance to talk his way out of summoning Lucian to fight alongside him.
Then again, I could always just beat them up and force them to serve me.
Couldn’t I?
“You could, Sire. Though that would come with a great many limitations. You’d almost be better off killing them,” advised Lucian. “Any slip up in the contract, any miss-spoken word, any slightly vague thing, is something for the Dragon to discover and use against you. It’s not a guarantee of course, but it’s a risk.
“The smarter a Dragon is the more likely they’ll figure out how to ruin such a contract and with violence.”
I don’t really have another alternative on what I can do to fight the gryphons.
Do you have another suggestion?
I don’t.
Even our best casters wouldn’t be able to strike them at the distance they were standing-off from us.
I’d bet that the damn arrows ended up going slower at the end of their flight than when they were fired and they just let gravity do all the work for them.
Hell, even the magic would be beholden to the laws of the world.
No?
“I… yes, Sire. You’re absolutely correct,” Lucian confirmed. “I have no alternative, I cannot think of a way to strike them back other than to recruit those who can fightin the air for you. I know only of gryphons and Dragons, though that doesn’t mean there aren’t others.
“Perhaps Rahak would know something? She would have a fair assessment of those who take to the air, would she not?”
I mean… yes.
But she’s still moving with the army. Not something I can confer with her easily on.
Even then, that’d be more likely to exist in realm, would it not? That’d mean envoys, sending messages, and negotiations.
It’d take longer than trying to track down a Dragon because we can do that without forcing the army to move or waiting for the others to arrive.
“Then I would suggest buying several gryphons, my boy,” Lucian declared after a long pause. “Because I of course will not be able to fly you there. I’m a Dragon and would almost certainly skew the results. You’ll need a way to follow the trail and quickly. Several because I doubt Delaney, Sara, Jessie, or your royal guard, would let you leave without them.”
Nodding his head, Nick bought the Dragon soothing scents, then went back to the gryphons.
He had a plan.