Autumn, 2065 CE, a deep cavern in central France

  VORDILLAINSURA TOWERED OVER the wyrms around him, looking down on them even without the benefit of a raised platform on which to stand.

  The few metallics in the chamber quivered with nervousness, all except for Chhry’stuulliound himself, who stood tall and proud despite his diminutive stature.

  The stone dragons, on the other claw, sat at their ease waiting for him to address them. Complacent fools. What did they think, that the coup they were going to attempt would go off without the slightest threat to their safety?

  “Gather and report,” he commanded, beckoning the group with his wings.

  One and all, the assembled dragons gathered in closer to him to report on their activities. Some had been out in the world for centuries.

  Directing his gaze to his far left, to a deep green malachite, he waited.

  The female cleared her throat. “Aggllentyya, the silver Elder, was foolish enough to lair with her family. We have taken measures to insure they all sleep for at least another century, even after the accords are broken. We have also sealed the lair tight, ensuring that even if one or more of them should somehow wake, they will not be able to impede our efforts.”

  He nodded in approval and turned his gaze to the wyrm next to her, one of the rare shadow dragons. Mellusarria, if he was not mistaken.

  “The Council Leader is still lost to us, my lord. The platinum is either far more devious or far less trusting than any of us expected. So far, no one has the slightest inkling of his whereabouts. We can only hope that wherever he is, the sleep holds him captive until it is too late.”

  Sura growled low in his chest. This was not good news. Baalhalllu had the influence to destroy everything he had been working toward for centuries if he woke too soon. “And,” he hesitated, not wanting to speak the names. “His progeny and her companion?”

  From the center of the chamber the other platinum, Balhamuut, spoke in his unnaturally deep, reverberating voice. “The females have been… dealt with. Initial attempts with my clutch-mate were, through unforeseen circumstances, unsuccessful. But it has been confirmed that the two of them are now trapped within the garnet’s lair with no means of escape.”

  Sura flashed a toothy grin. At last, some good news. Those two could have been almost as much trouble as the blasted platinum sire.

  For the better part of a day, the dozens of wyrms around him related news of the opponents to his plans. Each had been kept asleep, locked away, destroyed, or otherwise kept from making nuisances of themselves for the coming proceedings.

  When all had spoken, Sura allowed himself to breathe a deep, relieved sigh that was echoed by the cavern at large. A part of him had been expecting some disaster that would interfere with his plans. He couldn’t help being almost as shocked as he was pleased by how well things were working out.

  When the last of the wyrms had exhaled their relief and the tension melted from the chamber, Sura pulled himself up to his full height and backed up a step to address the assembly once more. “It seems all has been prepared. Every foreseeable obstacle has been removed. It is time to wake the others and convene the Council. Backup council members, you know who you are. It is time.”

  Although the wyrms did cheer, it was a muted thing with far less enthusiasm than he was expecting.

  This lot were going to be the death of him. What had they been expecting? Did they think to be part of this without having to actually do anything? Were they having second thoughts? Were they doubting his ability to pull this off?

  He shook his head. His unfounded insecurities would be of no help here. His plans were moving forward, and he would do everything in his power to ensure they were successful. Nothing else was important right now.

  * * * * *

  Weeks passed while he waited for the bulk of Dragonkind to be awakened from the Long Sleep and to make their way to the council meeting he had organized.

  The wait was excruciating.

  As one more means of distancing the new council from the one all dragons had known from ages passed, he chose a new location to hold the meeting. In the south on the large, arid continent the humans called Africa, there stood a tall mountain range, the top of which almost never lost its cap of snow and ice. That peak was, he admitted, a bit on the small side to be the meeting place for a Grand Council of Dragons, but they would make do.

  To avoid any accusations of orchestrating things, he kept himself hidden in a cave near the base of the mountain while the dragons arrived, leaving his makeshift council in place atop the mountain to welcome the wyrms as they arrived.

  It took all his self-control to keep himself hidden in the cave amid the sounds of dragons flying in to the mountaintop in ones and twos. Even more so on the few occasions that larger groups arrived as one.

  Oddly, though, there was no conversation between those arriving dragons. He admitted, of course, that the wyrms might be conversing telepathically, and he did not wish to risk revealing his presence by Delving their minds. But he found it odd that none of them were talking aloud. Not a single draconic voice.

  He counted, as best he could, the number of dragons coming in. He was determined not to show himself until the number was in the hundreds. He couldn’t take the risk of too many wyrms associating him with the organization of the Council. Doubtless, a great many of them would still remember his ardent insistence on war before the Long Sleep and if they thought he was behind it all then they might find the motivation to oppose this council’s decision about where things would go.

  It was a chance he could not take.

  Time crawled by while he waited, eons seeming to pass as he counted out the wyrms as they arrived.

  Finally, he counted out five-hundred dragons having arrived. He slowly crept from the cave, careful to check that no other dragons were approaching from this side of the mountain.

  Seeing the skies were clear, he leaped into the air and flew away from the mountain for several strokes before turning in a wide arc to return to the peak of the mountain and the waiting sea of color and metal that signified a large group of dragons, their scales reflecting the silvery light of Tiamat’s Eye above.

  Moderating his speed, he came in for a middling landing, not overly rough but not gentle. He did his best to appear just as ruffled-yet-curious as the rest of them. A garnet of moderate size immediately greeted him from the raised shelf of ice The Council was using to set themselves apart from the rest.

  He nodded a return greeting, then found his way to the western edge of the mountaintop where the stone dragons seemed to be congregating.

  “What is happening? Where is The Council?” he asked once greetings had been exchanged.

  “This is The Council,” the garnet said.

  He narrowed his eyes along with nearly every wyrm in his field of view. Almost as one, the dragons turned to the thirteen dragons who sat atop the raised shelf of ice.

  “Where is our Council?” asked a large azurite he knew as Klarrundiaul. “You are not the wyrms we voted into place before the Sleep.”

  The garnet nodded. “That is true. For reasons unknown, the Council of Elders has not risen. We know not where they are. Therefore, we alternate selections, chosen by the Council themselves, will serve the function of The Council.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Though Klar was clearly unhappy about the situation, he nodded his agreement. After all, what else could he do?

  Choruses of grumbling circulated about the top of the mountain. Though loudest from the southern end, where the metallics were congregated, even the grouping of stone dragons behind Sura was not immune. The rumbling of draconic voices gradually grew to a dull roar that seemed to come from everywhere.

  Sura sighed. Although he had predicted this response— it was the majority of why he had selected this out of the way place for this, to avoid their discovery by any humans before they were ready —he couldn’t help being frustrated by it. If the assembled wyrms were this upset about the replacement of The Council, how were they going to respond to the other sweeping changes this day would bring?

  He stepped back into the group, not listening to their individual rumblings but hoping to get a better idea of the general mood of the group while keeping himself out of view of the metallics and any newly arriving wyrms.

  The exchange about the Council repeated several times as more and more dragons arrived, many with questions about what had happened to the Council of Elders.

  Each time, the roar of the assembly grew just a little bit louder and more chaotic.

  Tiamat’s Eye rose overhead, its silvery glow illuminating the myriad dragons atop the mountain. Although he felt as though days— if not weeks —had passed in the interim, it wasn’t far past midnight when the new Council atop their ice shelf stood and called the assembly to attention.

  Sura rose to his full height, towering over nearly all of his stone dragon brethren.

  Thankfully, he had always been one of the larger among them, so none thought it more than passing strange that he now towered over almost all of them. Klar, the azurite, was one of the few exceptions, being a truly monstrous wyrm from Baalhalllu’s generation or possibly even earlier.

  Tiamat’s Eye was at its zenith in the sky above, shining down directly on the blue-white ice shelf and the array of wyrms atop it. The rainbow of eye colors within those draconic heads shone in the silvery light.

  Sura risked a covert glance about the mountaintop and couldn’t help being amazed at the turnout. Dragons were crammed into every claw-width of available space atop the mountain. At a guess, he supposed there were in excess of two-thousand wyrms here tonight. He could hardly believe so many fit on this mountain.

  It is good to see so many though, he thought. With no real opposition, this should work out just the way I planned. And this is enough dragons that we can carry it out with minimal difficulty.

  After all, how much threat could the humans truly be? Even with all their vaunted technology, it wasn’t as though a human could actually be a threat to a grown wyrm. At least, not one that was awake and aware of their presence.

  The garnet wyrm in the center of the ice shelf trumpeted loudly for silence, calling The Council to order.

  One final round of grumbles made its way around the assembly before the dragons quieted. Sura resisted the urge to growl at the buffoons.

  The garnet sucked in a deep breath. “For those who do not know me,” she called, her voice deep and powerful, “I am Alyygstraazzza. I was chosen by Baalhalllu himself to succeed as leader of the Council should anything untoward happen to him. Well, it seems something has. To him and all of The Council of old that you were all familiar with.”

  This time, miraculously, the group kept mostly silent.

  She introduced the other twelve council members then, along with the names of who selected them for their position.

  “Now, as I’m sure you are all aware, things have changed and we must make a decision as to what to do. Where do we go from here?”

  A hundred voices rang out all at once and the garnet raised her wings, quieting the group. “One at a time, please. In a gathering this large, we cannot go about shouting down all others. Now, who would like to go first?”

  Having learned from his mistake last time, Sura kept silent.

  Nearly a dozen wings raised, requesting the right to be first to speak.

  The garnet pointed to a metallic at the far back of the crowd of wyrms. “Kaiyullaaurand, isn’t it?”

  A tall, lithe gold raised his head above his fellows. He spoke in a deep, majestic voice full of command and nobility. Clearly, he was used to being obeyed. “I have heard the arguments, and I must confess myself unimpressed. Can you explain why it is that The Watchers believe our intervention is necessary?”

  The garnet nodded, though Sura saw in her eyes that she was annoyed with the question. “Certainly. The Watchers have been keeping close tabs on the humans and their technological advances for centuries now. And while throughout most of that there was little cause for concern, things have changed in the last several decades.”

  “Yes, yes,” the gold said impatiently. “I know all this.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Then do you also know that the humans developed a weapon that would make your grandsire’s flaming breath seem as the first sparks of a hatchling?”

  “Surely you exaggerate.”

  “I do not. Two uses of this weapon obliterated tens of thousands of human lives and spoiled the surrounding land for thousands of wingspans. After more than a century, the flora and fauna still have not recovered. That is fact, my lord, not exaggeration.”

  The gold clenched his jaw.

  A topaz wing shot up from the eastern edge of the mountaintop.

  The garnet pointed. “Yes, Phluuriityan?”

  The topaz rose and bowed his head to The Council. “With respect to The Council, why can we not act in an indirect fashion, influencing the human leaders as he have in ages past? From the shadows, without revealing ourselves, preferably.”

  The garnet turned to the other Council members in turn, each giving a slow nod. “This is a flight we have considered, but The Council is in agreement that such action would produce too few results in too great a period of time.”

  The topaz scowled.

  “If I may,” called a silver from the back of the crowd.

  Alyygstraazzza nodded. “Go ahead, Daarvyynyyshia.”

  “What matter could be so dire that some well-placed manipulations could not solve the problem within one or two human generations?”

  The garnet clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “Therein lies the heart of the matter, I am afraid. We do not believe we have a human generation to wait. Many of you may not remember, but humans are impulsive creatures. And vain. Each believes himself to be the single moral authority in the Universe, and hence that only his own opinions matter. As such, these humans are not content to wait. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of these mega weapons across the globe, each pointed at a different place. It is the opinion of The Watchers, as well as this Council, that our manipulations would not sway the humans from this course.”

  “So your solution is to destroy the Earth before they can?” The silver was incredulous.

  The garnet smiled sadly. “No, Daar. Not at all. Our goal is to prevent such action. We believe that… well, suffice to say we have an idea in mind that could solve this problem. But you, my good wyrms, must have your say before we decide what to do.”

  The silver frowned, but nodded.

  “Who else would have their voice heard?”

  Wyrm after wyrm, dragon after dragon proceeded to voice their own opinions, which were in the main only variations on the ideas already presented. Some thought they should just go back to Sleep and not worry about what the humans did. How could it affect them, after all? Others thought that a campaign of manipulation to alter the course the humans had chosen was the better way to go. Some thought that revealing themselves to the humans, in all their majestic glory, would be just the shift the world needed to come back from the brink. Most thought that a terrible idea. A few suggested that revealing themselves only to the leaders of Humankind could avert the disaster the humans seemed to be heading toward.

  The debates raged on for hours, yet didn’t appear any closer to a consensus than when they’d began.

  With the arguments losing steam, Sura thought his time was approaching. With all other options being vetoed by one side or the other, perhaps now they would listen to him.

  He started to raise his wing to get the garnet’s attention but the thunderous crack of a powerful wing snapping against the wind brought him up short. A shining blue-silver form shot past him from above and dropped to the snow-covered mountaintop right in front of the ice shelf whereupon The Council stood. The form ceased its rapid flight so quickly, Sura had no doubt it was accomplished at least in part with the wyrm’s arcane strength.

  The immense platinum form rose up to his full height. For a moment, Sura thought this majestic form was Baalhalllu, somehow arisen from his hidden lair. Then the form turned and he saw the face in profile.

  Balhamuut. What was he doing here?

  Or, more accurately, why was he just now arriving? Where had he been?

  “You are all missing the obvious answer,” the platinum said in his incredibly deep, cultured voice. “The one that was suggested, and overthrown, millennia ago.”

  The garnet raised her brow ridges at the platinum. “And what would that be?”

  Balhamuut smiled, his white teeth glowing in the silvery light of Tiamat’s Eye. “It is time,” he said softly, “to eliminate the problem.” He continued, his voice growing in volume and intensity with each word. “Long ago it was suggested that extermination or subjugation was the only way to handle the Humans. To prevent them from destroying everything we hold dear. Look around, my friends. We have proof of that everywhere we look. We once thought to ally with the Sidhe, the Gnimshei, the Famorians, the Firbolg, the Tuatha, and others against the humans. But look around! Where are they? Have any of them survived?”

  The platinum paused, apparently letting the facts sink in.

  Sura was forced to admit the young wyrm was quite the orator. He had the attention of every wyrm on the mountain in a way he could never have achieved.

  A soft murmur spread throughout the dragons.

  “No!” Balhamuut roared. “None of them live, because the humans have exterminated them all! I tell you, the time to take the Earth back from the humans has arrived! No longer will we live in shadows! No longer will we sleep away the ages while we wait for Humanity to achieve some form of enlightenment that is clearly beyond their reach! The time has come to bring war to the Humans and take back what we once ceded to them in passivity!”

  Again, he paused. Looking almost like his sire had all those centuries ago, he looked about, meeting the gazes of many of the dragons around him.

  The murmuring had ceased, now the dragons around the mountaintop stared at the platinum in a mix of expressions that ran the entire draconic experience, from pleasure to giddiness to worry to scorn to rage.

  The platinum reared up on his hind legs, stretching his neck and head as high as they would go. “Who will join me? Who will become a part of the revolution to liberate the Earth from these humans who never deserved it in the first place?” he roared.

  The roar that came back to the platinum, including each and every one of the newly appointed council members, was all the confirmation Sura needed. He would get his war. Dragons would, once more, rule the Earth.