Sylka locked gazes with Brask, the soft smile on her face a perfect contrast to the angry snarl pulling on the chieftain's snout. She kept her composure and waited.

  "You?" Brask scoffed, "planning?"

  Sylka raised an eyebrow. Now he sounded more like the animal misconception the other races thought Kobolds to be, way to live up to the stereotype. Or, she supposed, she's unique in the respect in that she's actually competent.

  "I don't understand?" Sylka indirectly insulted, she did. Perfectly even. "what are you implying here exactly?"

  She knew, of course. A lot of people viewed her similarly to Velkris, the second command of the Leaftop Tribe as well as a rather cunning tactician.

  A lot of Kobolds, including herself, rightfully believe that the opportunist would willingly sell out other tribes right as long as it benefits his own. Velkris was like that.

  She too has that reputation. Distasteful but not truly incorrect.

  Brask bit down on Sylka's bait and hurled out a harsh insult, "you're gonna drag us all down you backstabbing mutt!"

  "On the contrary, I'm gonna lift us all up." Sylka rebuked, she decided to correct the chief's misconception, "we all will have casualties by the end of this, that's normal." Sylka explained something called "logistics" to enhance Brask's feeble understanding of war.

  Sylka softly smiled, this idiot. "It would be more shocking if all of us fought and end up without a single wound on our backs no?"

  Brask stared at her, she sat idle, unwilling to move backward or forward or add anymore unnecessary words to her brief and indirectly condescending explanation.

  "What do you want from us?" Brask went straight to the point and bluntly asked why they came here

  A good sign truth be told, but not the end of the negotiation. There is more to come.

  Kobolds are weak yet they are not smart like the humans are. In fact, most Kobolds have a hard time processing information and very few have Sylka's natural gift of learning easily and being cunning.

  To combat such a glaring flaw, they as a species tend to mounts and occasionally practice magic. Technology is often beyond their understanding so what little strength a Kobold could muster, they keep.

  Treefeller Anteaters are the best thing that the tribes in this forest could have asked for; they do not feast on Kobolds, are relatively tame, easily domesticated, and to top things off, they are ferocious beasts when trained properly. The fact that they don't eat meat is a bullseye amidst good slingshot shots.

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  And Mound Tribe have the best and strongest anteaters in the entire forest, their mounts are healthy and their riders are competent enough to be considered a threat by those in their weight class.

  Most of their children, assuming that they show signs of being good riders, are given a young anteater at a certain age so the animals also have a liking to their handlers and would, on most occasions, even die for them.

  All of that combines into a powerful workforce and a strong, if not slow army of Kobolds who ride anteaters several times their normal size.

  They aren't without weaknesses as anteaters are animals and could easily be tricked but in an all out war, Treefeller riders are invaluable infantry which can hold the front lines with ease.

  They are here for these riders but asking for them specifically would cause the chief to go from somewhat amicable to hostile in a single moment.

  "You already expect this-" Sylka said to hopefully lessen the blow of her request, "- but we need your riders to be part of the front lines, they'd fight the Goblins alongside everyone else while we slowly take ground."

  Brask laughed, "we?" He asked disdainfully, "each of my riders are worth half a dozen of your own people!"

  "I know that," nodded Sylka, she was well aware that what she's asking is essentially Brask losing a portion of his fighting force. "Which is why Zyla will be boosting them instead of our own tribesmen,"

  "It'll be pointless if I do that," her sister broke the argument Sylka was trying to put across with a calm look.

  Zyla continued talking like she didn't just lower their chances of getting anteaters in the battle, "I can only boost other people, better if they are Kobolds, anteaters aren't part of my spell's influence as they are animals."

  Sylka let the tense silence after her sister's mechanical- and completely oblivious - explanation of her spell drone on for a few seconds as her mind came up with an argument.

  "That may be," nodded Sylka, her tongue picked up slack and got going. "I did not know that," she said to get out of the metaphorical binds the conversation put on her, "how about this then; our own people will be on the front lines,"

  "That's a given," the daughter, Tessira, took the bait. She glared at Sylka with barely hidden hostility. "Were you implying that your people wouldn't have gone to the front lines if our riders are there in their place?"

  "No," Sylka hid her smile, "if you listened, then I was implying that my people would be further on the battlefield than your riders,"

  A bit of a stupid decision in her opinion but wartime strategies can be discussed when all of the leaders are present on the same table. Her promises are not absolute, especially when the words of other chiefs override them.

  Sylka expected her rebuttal to divide the father and daughter in a decision-based manner and it did, Brask glared at Tessira who looked down at the ground.

  "You can't guarantee that." Brask said, showing that despite his flaws, he is the chief of this tribe.

  "Yes, I can't." Sylka admitted but reassurances go a long way and when they are backed by a reputation? Well...

  "Not for now at least, but you'll see our warriors and hunters move to the front of the battlefield with my father, that, I can guarantee."

  "Of course you can," as always, the respect their father garnered in the battlefield is still a tool she can use for negotiations. Brask huffed, "what's in it for us?"

  "Safety." Sylka quickly answered, "we ensure that our tribes are the dominant force in this forest rather than the goblins, and the best part? We aren't pushed out of our own homes."

  "And that's it. Then?" Asked the chief with a smirk, "nothing more?"

  "Negotiating the loot we'll get from the home of the greenskins only happens when all the other leaders are present," Sylka bluntly answered Brask's implied request, "however, I assure you that our tribe won't take much,"

  "And why is that?" Krynn, having apparently found her tongue and spine, joined in on the conversation.

  "Because we don't need it," Sylka replied, she stood up. "Out of everyone, we have a quick access to the roads the human merchants travel. We do not need the tools and weaponry the greenskins forge on their cave,"

  "Aren't you all also close to their home?" Tessira asked, hoping for one last bark. "Why can't we just let you get destroyed and take your territory for ourselves?"

  "Incorrect." Sylka huffed as a show to the healer that she wasn't worth talking to, with a disinterested tone she adds, "the goblins live closer to the Leaftop and Crusher tribes, not us."

  The following silence is when Sylka took her leave.

  "Goodbye, Brask, I hope you are there on the meeting between the chiefs when the time comes," Sylka turned around and departed, her entourage following behind her.

  "We didn't tell them about the potion," said Tessik.

  "We didn't need to," Sylka replied, mentioning that two tribes are under threat would be enough of an incentive. "We only tell them about it when we deem it appropriate, that didn't come before the conversation ended and we already got what we wanted so it was pointless."

  Tessik nodded. He looked around, hands gripping the handle of his dagger tightly.