“What in the Ashen Fields was that?” Cassandra demanded as she, Leon, Maia, and Penelope finally sealed the door of the conference room behind them.

They’d emerged from the black wyvern’s gorge not even two minutes ago, and with barely a word to their retinues, Leon and Penelope had steered them into the most private room that the Heaven’s Eye contingent had established in their little camp.

Given how steamed she seemed to be, Leon was surprised Cassandra managed to hold herself back from exploding in anger until now, when they were no longer relatively public eye of their retainers.

“We could’ve had them!” Cassandra vehemently continued. “We were doing damage!”

“Not enough to overcome White’s healing powers,” Penelope replied. “And we took some damage of our own.”

“Not enough to overcome Leon’s healing powers!” Cassandra replied, pointing at Leon for emphasis.

As soon as he’d entered the room, Leon had taken to examining Maia, fussing over her a bit and ensuring that her wounds were fully healed. Maia, for her part, didn’t seem to mind the attention, though fury at having been injured at all spilled from her through their connection. After making sure Maia was fully healed and sensing that this exchange had the potential to spill over into an extremely heated argument, Leon calmly responded to the Princess, “What was the point of this fight?”

“To kill those wyverns, obviously!” Cassandra almost shouted back.

Leon nodded. “That was the end goal, I agree. But how important was it? As far as we can tell, these wyverns are stuck here defending their own turf. They’re not going anywhere. We can do damage them enough to ensure that they’ll flee battle, and they’ve proven that we’re not untouchable, either.” Leon gestured to both Maia and Penelope, neither of whom seemed happy about being called out like this. But Leon continued, “What was this battle supposed to be? Were we supposed to fight to the bitter end? As far as I was aware, this wasn’t an existential, no-holds-barred fight to the death. In the face of danger, it was all right to retreat, we can afford to come back later with a better plan that won’t risk injury or death.”

Cassandra scowled and said, “And by leaving like this, we’ve only given them more time to prepare to fight against us! We’ve given them time to heal and regain their lost power!”

“Wyverns are terrifically powerful,” Leon pointed out. “I don’t think we really taxed their powers that greatly…”

Cassandra just folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

“My point stands, though,” Leon replied. “What were the stakes of that battle? Civilization is hardly going to end after retreating, so why not let them have this round and come back later? We’re pressing them against a wall, here, and that makes them dangerous.”

“I don’t think we were in as great of danger as you seem to think,” Cassandra insisted.

Leon sighed.

From within his soul realm, the crackling voice of his demonic partner added, Neither do I. If things got truly dire, you could’ve always summoned me. You may be too weak and cowardly to fight these creatures, but I could certainly make up for that…

I know that, Leon replied, saying no more.

He turned his gaze from Cassandra to his right hand, where he could still feel a bit of leftover heat from his final strike against Black. He’d used black fire… and he was both excited and somewhat apprehensive about what that meant. Unlike almost every other time he’d used that power, he was fully conscious of himself when he’d used it, and he was fully conscious after. He could remember what his magic had felt like, and how it had changed…

It took him a couple seconds to tear his thoughts away from that power and back to the conversation at hand, and fortunately, Penelope had spoken up as he fell into contemplative silence.

“Those were only four of the wyverns,” she said. “Where were Red, Blue, and Gold? If we committed to that fight any more, then we might’ve been ambushed again and truly put in a dangerous position. Without knowing where those other three are, I think committing too far to this fight isn’t in our interest. Besides, as Leon pointed out, we’re not too battered, and just as they can rest and heal, so can we. We can make another play at them later, after we analyze what we did right, what we did wrong, and what we can do next time to make sure we’re all as safe as we can be.”

“In that respect,” Leon responded with great hesitation, “I think I know what we can do to increase our powers some.”

“Do tell,” Cassandra responded a little bitterly. Her tone and body language were a little calmer, but she was still angry, that much was obvious.

Leon took a deep breath and, taking some comfort in Anna and Helen’s response to learning Xaphan resided within him, explained, “I happen to have a contract with a demon…”

He quickly told them about Xaphan and his powers, and to his immense relief, other than a few hints of surprise, neither Cassandra nor Penelope interrupted him. If they’d been truly opposed to demonic power, he guessed they would’ve stopped him soon in his explanation.

When he was finished, he let out a quick sigh as fear and anxiety settled within him. It was his first real time offering information on Xaphan of his own accord, without the demon manifesting in ways that he couldn’t otherwise explain away, and the possibility that the information would be poorly received, even with Cassandra and Penelope’s relatively subdued reactions, still weighed on him.

His companions were quiet for a couple seconds before Cassandra exclaimed, “Why the ashen ** didn’t you call upon that demon instead of calling for a retreat?! If you still had powers you could’ve invoked, then why didn’t you invoke them instead of decrying this hunt as hopeless?!”

“I didn’t decry it as hopeless,” Leon countered, his temper starting to rise in response to Cassandra’s anger. He’d calmed down significantly with Maia healed, but the memory of her injury still had him feeling a little emotionally raw, and Cassandra’s tone was insinuating that she thought him a coward. “This was dangerous, and there was no reason—”

He cut himself off and turned away from Cassandra, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself.

Silently, he told himself, ‘Maia’s fine, I channeled black fire. No reason to get angry with her. No reason at all. Stay calm, dumbass, stay calm!’

“I think we’re starting to argue in circles,” Penelope finally stated. “What’s done is done. Let’s do what we can to locate those few remaining wyverns, and then we can make another play at Black?”

Her voice wavered a bit—from fear, Leon guessed. She clearly didn’t want to go back down there, and yet was more than willing to. In spite of himself, Leon felt a tiny smidge of respect blooming within him for Penelope.

Before anyone could properly respond to Penelope, though, a knock sounded at the conference room door. It was a messenger bearing news of a rather strange guest the camp had just received.

—

Leon stared at the woman in front of him, unsure if he was seeing things true or not.

She was quite beautiful, being rather tall and fair. Her hair was as red as Elise’s, and long enough to hang down to her lower back. She wore a plain red dress and held herself with arrogant grace.

Most strikingly of all, however, were her eyes. They were the color of amber, and slitted like a snake’s. Surrounding her eyes were hundreds of tiny red scales, showing her to be inhuman, and her aura radiated seventh-tier equivalent power.

When the messenger brought news of her arrival, it was with the addition that she brought information on the black wyvern that they might find useful. Leon and the others agreed to meet her, but as soon as they saw her, all four almost immediately knew who she was.

She was the red wyvern in the group they were hunting.

The fact that she wasn’t overtly hostile was the only reason she was still alive—that, and the sheer confusion that she engendered with her arrival. She refused to meet with them in their camp, so the eighth-tier mages met with her on the edge of the camp, where she awaited them a few dozen feet from their sentries.

Leon, after taking her stock, projected his magic senses and examined their surroundings in great detail. This could very well be a trap, though he was inclined to think it wasn’t, thanks to Red’s lack of participation in the previous fight. However, he wasn’t able to sense any other wyverns around.

When he refocused back on Red, he found her staring at him, a strange intensity to her gaze that had him feeling like he was being examined in greater detail than he was comfortable with. He could even feel her magic power lightly settling around him as she used her own magic senses to take his stock, in turn.

“Who are you and why are you here?” shouted Cassandra’s seventh-tier guard commander, who’d accompanied them to the edge of the camp.

Red ignored her and continued to focus on Leon. He felt a light touch brush against his mind, which he found familiar: it was almost akin to a darkness magic probe, but not nearly as serious. It was a mental communication technique almost identical to Maia’s. He wasn’t able to hear anything, however, now that he was a little more experienced with and more heavily warded against such magic.

In response, Red stared at him with some exasperation, her mouth turning downwards in a shallow frown, but refraining from audible speech. With some reservations, Leon opened himself up to the mental communication, but kept his magic power on standby, just in case.

He felt that magic almost recoil in surprise, then brush against his mind again with the lightest of touches, forming a loose mental connection. A moment later, information passed along that connection: thoughts, feelings, and intentions, forming something in his head that he interpreted as perfectly-understandable speech.

… There, finally, Red said to him, as far as he could interpret. I don’t speak your language, this is the only way we can communicate.

“I see,” Leon whispered, drawing the attention of his companions and interrupting Cassandra’s seventh-tier guard captain as she continued to shout at the wyvern. To them, he explained, “She’s speaking to me in my head, much like how you do.” He nodded to Maia, who nodded back in understanding.

“What’s she saying?” Cassandra impatiently demanded.

“Nothing substantial, yet,” Leon replied aloud as he turned his gaze back to the wyvern, while also using his own mental communication technique to repeat his words in a way she could more readily understand. “What do you want and why are you here?”

You know what I am, human? Red asked.

“You’re that red wyvern, aren’t you?” Leon asked.

Yes, Red replied. I’ve come to speak with you. I believe we may be able to come to an accord…

Leon stared at her in shock before relaying her statement to the others. After a few moments of surprise on their part, they hurriedly made mental connections with Red so that they could communicate, too.

“You want to help us?!” Penelope said in disbelief once a mental connection between her and Red was established strongly enough that she could speak aloud without need for translation.

Red glanced at her for a moment before stoically nodding her head, though tempering that agreement by stating, That depends entirely on what kind of deal we can work out…

“Why?” Cassandra demanded, her Imperial haughtiness making itself known as she glared at Red in an unmistakable challenge. “Why should we take the words of a monster seriously? What’s to stop us from killing you here and now and throwing your corpse down into that canyon?”

Red’s stoicism cracked slightly with that threat, and she glanced questioningly at Leon.

Do they… not know what you are? she asked him.

Leon’s heart skipped a beat, and he remembered that he’d first seen Red when in avian form. ‘Does she remember that? Is she able to connect that with me?’

Carefully measuring his words to make it clear they were still speaking, but trying not to draw any suspicion, he asked Red, “What do you mean?”

Red’s reptilian eyes narrowed slightly.

I take that as a ‘no’? Perhaps this was a mistake…

She almost turned to leave before Leon called out, “Wait! If you’re here in good faith, we’re not going to hurt you!” He glanced at Cassandra, who gave him a subdued look of exasperation, but didn’t argue with him.

Red paused and looked back at him.

Shall we talk, then? And come to an accord?

—

As soon as Leon, Maia, Penelope, Cassandra, and Red returned to the conference room and left the public eye, Cassandra demanded, “Why are you here?”

Red, looking almost bored by the question and not at all perturbed by Cassandra’s mildly turbulent eighth-tier aura, replied for all four of them to hear, I want my mate dead. He threatens my unhatched young and takes my kills. His usefulness has ended.

“What usefulness?” Leon wondered.

His strength is passed to my progeny, Red explained simply.

“Where are the other two?” Penelope asked, not elaborating.

Red gave her a quick look, then explained, They are nearby. If you kill me, then they will return to our mate and fight you alongside him.

“And if we don’t harm you?” Penelope continued. “If we come to an accord?”

An accord with me is an accord with them, Red explained. We want our mate dead. We want our eggs returned to us.

“Why you three, then?” Penelope inquired. “Why not White, Brown, or Green?”

Red cocked her head slightly as if parsing out just what Penelope meant. A moment later, she replied, They are scared. They fear our mate’s power, and do not wish to call his wrath down upon themselves, as others have before.

“What exactly is Black out here?” Leon wondered aloud.

Red cocked her head again but didn’t respond this time.

“I mean, he had a lot of wyverns following him yesterday,” Leon elaborated. “Is some kind of King? How did they fall in line? And should we expect more hordes like that in our next tangle with him?”

Red explained, Threats were made, others followed out of fear. His power was enough to gather others. No others have been threatened since his flight, though.

Leon lightly frowned, but he supposed that was as good an answer as any.

“What will you do after we kill Black, then?” Cassandra asked a little bitterly.

Red glanced at her and merely said, Hunt.

Cassandra scowled, her ruby eyes narrowing as her aura began to close around Red, who stiffened and seemed about ready to leap out of her human skin and fight. Leon almost intervened before Cassandra schooled her expression and retracted her aura slightly. “If we do this, then there are going to be some conditions,” she said. Without waiting for Red to reply, she said, “First and foremost, you are to stay away from the Pegasi States.”

Red replied, Human civilization holds no appeal. If we are left to hunt in peace, we’ll leave you humans in peace.

“Good,” Cassandra drawled. “Second, we get to keep Black’s body when all is said and done. If the other three resist and fall to our blades, then we keep their bodies as well.”

We have no need for them, Red replied.

“Wonderful,” Cassandra responded.

In return, Red said, causing Cassandra to straighten up a bit and regard her with deep suspicion, we want your guarantee to leave us and our young alone. No plundering our aeries. We fight alongside you to get rid of our mate and to secure our young. No other reason.

“Allies can expect that respect,” Leon responded. “Fight alongside us, and we’ll depart, if not as friends, then at least not as enemies.”

Cassandra clicked her tongue but didn’t argue. Penelope nodded, as did Maia.

Then we have an accord? Red asked.

“As much of an accord as I think we’re going to get,” Leon replied.

Red blinked, but appeared to accept Leon’s statement.

“If we have an agreement,” Penelope said, drawing everyone’s attention back to her, “then we should get to strategizing, shouldn’t we? Black has run away when battles turned against him twice now, what’s to stop him from doing so again?”

This is his aerie, Red replied. He’ll not abandon it.

“Why not?” Penelope pressed.

His hoard is here, Red replied.

“Hoard?” Leon asked, his eyebrows shooting almost all the way up into his hair, his interest certainly piqued. “I didn’t think wyverns built hoards…”

Few do, Red explained. Only males do, and only when they grow strong enough to establish permanent aeries. My mate is strong and established a permanent aerie, and so built a hoard.

“You sound disinterested in this hoard,” Cassandra responded. “Are you laying any claim to it?”

Red sighed a moment, then glanced at Leon. Speaking only to him—or so he assumed—she said, I don’t know how you stand humans…

Speaking again to the room as a whole, she simply said, No.

“Spectacular,” Cassandra replied, an avaricious smile blossoming across her face.

“Is there anything else we might need to know about Black and his capabilities?” Penelope inquired. “Is there anything in his hoard that might be some kind of weapon he could use against us?”

No, Red replied.

Leon smiled, the promise of a hoard to loot at the end of this hunt getting his heart racing with excitement like nothing else, yet.

“Let’s all get a night’s rest, and then move back down there tomorrow morning?” he said. He wanted to head back down there immediately, but the memory of Maia vanishing into Black’s jaws, and his subsequent use of black fire weighed a little heavier on his mind.

“So be it,” Cassandra replied, the sentiment shared around the room.

After only a few more brief exchanges, they arranged with Red to have herself, Blue, and Gold appear at the camp at dawn, and then the eighth-tier mages went their separate ways to see to their own people for the remainder of the day as Red departed the camp.

However, hours later, as the sun set, Leon’s rest was interrupted when Talal hurriedly found him in his portable villa and said, “Leon, there’s… uh, a visitor here to see you…”

Leon projected his magic senses out of the villa and found that even though she’d left the camp after the meeting was over, Red had come back, and now stood outside of his villa.

Leon nodded for her to be shown in. He didn’t know why she was here, but his curiosity was piqued, regardless.