As Dalengor toured the Shadow Dragon and Drow camp with Tantu, she could see that not everyone was on board with the Realm Trinity Empire’s goals. She decided to speak with her old friends about this and gather more information. She was once a member of the higher-ups, so it was easy for them to explain the situation in secret through bits and pieces. The basic story was that the current General of all Shadow Dragons, Ank-tu, was a more public proponent of eternal war, pleasing Oyed mightily. His father, the previous General, was slightly more subtle. As she talked with her colleagues and friends, she learned their true feelings on the matter and so arranged a private meeting with Dotan, Tantu, and a Shadow Dragon woman. Dalengor explained the whole situation to Dotan. “You were there in each meeting!” urged Dalengor. “He’s shot down any suggestions of peace with Realmfleet! He’s so bent on keeping a grudge!”
“I understand your logic,” said Dotan, “but I don’t reach the same conclusion as you. Look, like everyone here, I’m not pleased with Ank-tu’s leadership, but it’s not clear whether what you propose will succeed or not.”
“That’s why I’ve urged Dalengor to invite our friend here,” signed Tantu.
“Yes, a Midwife, if her crest is any indication,” muttered Dotan.
“Listen and join us!” urged the Shadow Dragon Midwife. “I know things about Ank-tu’s birth! His troubled rule will fall in the telling and pave the way for an alliance with Realmfleet.”
“What would you know that could possibly…?” Dotan’s question was interrupted as Ank-tu and a company of soldiers arrived.
“Well, well, well, what have we here?” he purred. “It looks like a few of my councilors whispering in corners like handmaidens. About what, I wonder?”
“If only you would hear our council!” pleaded Dalengor. “As our people suffer, I’ve urged détente with Realmfleet!”
“And I told you,” snarled Ank-tu, “that I would rather writhe in the Depths than treat with the ones who broke my parents’ hibernation eggs!”
“Those specific people are dead!”
“Then every race under the Realmfleet banner will serve as the object of my vengeance!”
“They are innocent in your parents’ murder!”
“No one is truly innocent, just less guilty!”
“I never wanted to go this far, but given the internal threat to the Shadow Dragons, I have no choice. Ank-tu, you refuse practical solutions to credible threats. You ignore our people’s suffering. You endanger our race.”
“And sedition does not?! Speak your last, Dalengor, before I have your tongue!”
“Take her tongue, bastard son of Lak-tu,” threatened the Midwife, “and I will slice your throat open as I should have done ages ago!”
“Bastard son?” asked Dotan. The Midwife took that as her cue to reveal the truth to everyone.
“I was the one who helped his mother give birth to him!” she explained. “It was only two years later that she and Lak-tu married! She was a prostitute that had no choice but to marry him unless she wanted to die along with the baby! I was at that rushed wedding! Your best claim to leadership of our people is moot!” Ank-tu then slapped the Midwife.
“How dare you!” he roared. “I succeed Lak-tu by his decree!”
“Succeed him, you have,” replied Dalengor, “but the Shadow Dragons demand new leadership.”
“From you?! Realmfleet dog!” Ank-tu turned to Dotan. “Kill her!”
“You said nothing to disprove the Midwife’s claims!” snarled Dotan.
“Who cares if I AM a bastard child?! I still rule the Shadow Dragons! Now, I repeat, kill Dalengor!”
“Go to the Depths!” roared Dotan. “By ancient law, no illegitimate child may claim anything of their parents, especially leadership! I serve no bastard!”
“Traitor!” shouted Ank-tu. He turned to the soldiers that accompanied him. “You will destroy them as your General commands!”
“Lak-tu is dead!” answered a soldier. “You know ancient law as well as I do! We will serve our immediate commander! Lord Dotan, orders?”
“Capture the bastard, but do not kill him!” ordered Dotan. Unfortunately, not all the soldiers sided with Dotan and his group. This was enough to start a fight between the two sides as Ank-tu’s supporters tried to kill the rebels. A soldier on Dotan’s side then threw his enemy to the ground.
“You would still serve Ank-tu?!” asked the rebel soldier.
“His family conquered our tribes!” answered the enemy. “We owe his bloodline our loyalty! We are all bound to honor his will!”
“I’m sorry that we’re on opposite sides, then,” sighed the rebel soldier.
Over with the fight over Ank-tu, Dalengor let Tantu mount her and followed the bastard Shadow Dragon to the sky. Tantu pulled out a crossbow and lined up her shot, then pulled the trigger, releasing the arrow and piercing Ank-tu’s wing, causing him to cry out and crash to the ground. He was surrounded by his loyalists as everyone came to see the whole thing. Dotan arrived with his soldiers. “He has revealed himself to be a bastard child!” he announced. “By ancient law, we must renounce him!” There were only a few that truly supported Ank-tu.
“My General!” urged a loyalist. “We are too few! We must withdraw!”
“…Retreat to the Drows’ sector!” ordered Ank-tu. They blasted a path clear and fled to the eastern part of the camp.
“This is bad!” signed Tantu. “If they rally the Drows now, we’ll never get out of this alive!”
“Don’t worry,” assured Dalengor. “I have a plan. I just hope Arsha’s successful in convincing Mordek that my apparent treachery was part of it.”
Mordek looked to the north, his gaze hardened, and his mind plagued by thoughts of vengeance. As he looked on, he heard the voices of Arsha and Delselii call his name. He turned to see them approaching him. “What may I do for you, my children?”
“Lord Mordek, the plan’s going well!” reported Arsha happily.
“The plan?” asked Mordek.
“The plan to increase our numbers!” answered Delselii.
“You know, the real reason why Dalengor’s with the enemy!” elaborated Arsha.
“You mean her treason was part of a plan? Since when is a filthy traitor a good thing?”
“Lord Mordek, let me explain,” answered Arsha. “After a little chat we had before the city was lost, Dalengor and I planned on turning the Shadow Dragons and Drows against Oyed. She explained that the majority of Shadow Dragons and Drows don’t want eternal war, so she would infiltrate the camp, convince them to rebel against their leaders or turn the leaders to our way of thinking and then we’d have more soldiers to work with! The Shadow Dragons instigated a coup against their leaders and…”
“I had not thought you gullible, Arsha,” interrupted Mordek. “A Shadow Dragon’s schemes serves only to benefit them. How could you fall for such lies?!”
“Lord Mordek, have faith in Dalengor! Have faith in me!” Mordek snorted before vanishing in a fireball.
“…You know, if we were desert dwellers,” mused Delselii, “I think Mordek just said a discouraging word.”
“I hope he doesn’t do anything rash. I don’t need them driven away.”