Nick Smith

  Adventurer Level: 18

  Human – American

  "What is this?" the vampire demanded, his eyes trained directly on me.

  'Uh oh,' Ten whispered in my mind.

  "It's a human," Ulurmak said.

  'What do you mean, uh oh?' I asked Ten.

  'You don't recognize him? That's the vampire we fought in VysImiro's dungeon.'

  Ten's reply made my heart skip a beat. My memories of the fight weren't exactly clear, but the parts that I could recall made me nervous. We'd nearly died in that fight, and that was with help from a group of adventurers.

  "I know it's a fucking human," the vampire growled. "I demand to know why it's here! It nearly killed me!"

  "Oh, what an absolute shame," Tix said mockingly. "A shame that it was just nearly, you absolutely vile piece of-"

  I held up a hand to settle the fairy down. I'd just met it two days prior, but it had been immediately obvious that Tix was prone to getting excited. Because of this and Mumuldobran's wishes, we'd agreed that I would do the talking. Tix nodded and mumbled a quick apology.

  "We tried to kill each other, if I recall correctly," I said. "It was just a contest of might, and I happened to come out on top. As far as why I'm here, the wylder sent me as a representative."

  "Why?" the vampire demanded.

  "They crave your demise, but don't want to harm their relationship with the Unified Chiefdoms. They felt that if one of their leaders came to negotiate, they couldn't stop themselves from trying to kill you. Since I am a friend of the wylder, but not bound by the same hatred, they asked me to represent them."

  The vampire took his seat with a new expression, one that no longer showed anger. Instead, he wore the face of someone who was in the process of figuring out a puzzle. I looked at Ulurmak for guidance, but he simply shrugged.

  "Well, no matter," the vampire sighed. "I believe introductions are in order. I am King Kirain Yith, a master vampire and ruler of this realm."

  The next to introduce themselves was Ulurmak, followed by the drow. Larie and Yulk then took their turn, both giving Kirain stern looks as they spoke. Or sterner looks than everyone else at the table, rather. Tix, who sat between Yulk and I, refused to speak.

  "I'm Nicodemus Liam Smith, human representative of the Wylder," I said after a moment of silence.

  "And that's everyone. So tell us what you want, King Yith," Ulurmak said, emphasizing the vampire's name and title mockingly.

  "Well, I want everything," Kirain chuckled. "Every scrap of land, every stacked stone, and every drop of blood. But much like eating, drinking, killing, and fucking is an integral part of your kind, megalomania is simply part of my nature. And just like you, I get the choice to temper my nature. As such, I would limit my demands to the former borders of the Night Kingdom being restored to my control."

  The drow at the table began to loudly object, but Ulurmak held up a hand to quiet them. A few of them looked hesitant to hold their tongues, but ultimately fell silent. Probably because Ulurmak's face grew stonier with each passing word, and the hand he was holding up was bigger than their heads.

  "Why would I agree to that?" the High Chief asked. "I conquered this realm through legal, consensual warfare, and I don't believe that I owe you or your ilk any consideration. If anything, you're illegally occupying this castle and your claim to kinghood is completely fictitious."

  "Laws," Kirain chuckled. "I don't mean to be condescending, High Chief, but what good are laws that you cannot enforce? As much as mortals like yourself like to play pretend that the world is based on logic and order, might is and has always been the right of things. This castle was built under the direction of my ilk. It was taken from them much like you took it from the inbred bastard, and I took it from you. But its previous owners and even its founders are irrelevant to our situation. As things stand, the castle and these lands are now in my clutches and the only way to pry it from me is to fight for it. That would be bad for both of us, wouldn't it?"

  "Oh? How so?"

  "Feigning ignorance is a childish thing to do, High Chief. The daemons appear to have retreated, but anyone with a brain knows that they're actually regrouping. The entire reason you're here is because fighting each other would cost us both soldiers and put us at their mercy when they attack again."

  "My armies are strong, and I have allies. You're alone, vampire."

  "Your army is strong, and I would lose many soldiers. But vampires are stronger than orcs, elves, and dwarves. You would lose more soldiers than I if we were to come to blows. As far as being alone... Well, not quite," Kirain chuckled. "I took this castle without a single vampiric casualty because I came to an agreement with the daemons, and they fought for me."

  "Bastard," Tix growled.

  "If you're allied with the daemons, why are we negotiating?" Ulurmak demanded.

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  "Because I'm not a fool, Ulurmak," Kirain replied disdainfully. "If I remain aligned with the daemons, I will have to fight alongside them against you and your neighbors. Perhaps the entire continent, or even the world. I'll have lost a lot of soldiers by the time the fighting is done, and there's a chance that the daemons will take advantage of that weakness and turn on me once we're done with you. They're well known for their treachery, after all. Is it not more logical to pursue a peaceful method of restoring my people's kingdom? Would it not benefit everyone if we could resolve this without spending more lives?"

  Ulurmak and Kirain went back and forth, with the High Chief's position becoming a little bit more sympathetic with each sentence. It reached a point, though, where the drow angrily interrupted and began to make demands of their own. The vampire king listened whilst maintaining an almost perfect facade of patience. I saw the little twitches of anger, though, and wondered what would make him boil over.

  "The fact is that while I understand your situation, your family hasn't owned your lands for very long," Kirain explained to one of the drow.

  "It's been generations!" The drow exclaimed.

  "And what are generations to an immortal? I don't mean to be rude, but one could take a nap and wake up to find five generations of mortals have come and gone."

  Tix leaned over and whispered in my ear, and I had to try not to grin.

  "King Kirain, are you truly older than five generations?" I asked innocently, putting a tone of awe into my voice.

  The vampire narrowed his eyes at me for a moment, but quickly recovered.

  "My age is irrelevant, the point is that the land was developed long ago," he replied. "Have any of you even overseen a single construction that wasn't for housing? How can you claim that the land belongs to you when you weren't the ones who built the buildings that made it livable? I also happen to know for fact that none of you are related to those that originally conquered the land from my kind, either. Lofin's grandparents had them all killed."

  "The lands were bequeathed to us," one of the drow said. "That makes us the ow-"

  "I am SO glad you brought that up," Kirain interrupted with a grin. "The crown granted you custodianship of the lands. That makes you a trustee, not a landowner. Since the crown is now in MY possession..."

  The vampire trailed off and smiled mercilessly at the open-mouthed drow. All of them searched for words to argue, but none of them seemed able to. After basking in the moment for a bit, Kirain spread his hands with mocking graciousness.

  "The entire reason I didn't invite you to the negotiations is because you don't have a legal reason to be here," he said. "In the end, the decision of whether or not the lands upon which you reside return to the Night Kingdom is completely up to High Chief Ulurmak and myself. You have no right to arg-"

  "The lands belong to the Unified Chiefdoms, and these are the Great Chiefs that rule them," Ulurmak said.

  "Oh? Does the High Chief of the UC not hold supremacy over the Great Chiefs? I could have sworn you were legally able to-"

  "You seem to be under the mistaken impression that supplanting a Great Chief is a quick and easy task. It's anything but. While I do have the right to initiate the process to remove them and reclaim their lands, they also have the right to resist. The first chance they get to do so is once I've notified the rest of the Great Chiefs. We have a trial in which I present my reasons and the chief in question presents their defense. The rest of the Great Chiefs then vote on whether or not I'm within my rights. If I am, the chief in question gets one more chance to resist by attempting to gather an army and fight to retain their responsibilities. It's a process that can take years. Decades, even."

  Kirain rubbed his chin, thinking things over.

  "We don't have years," the vampire muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "The daemons are coming, and if we're foolish enough to fight each other this, they'll overrun us both. Fine, I'll make a concession. The most obvious solution to this dilemma is to return the lands to the Night Kingdom on the condition that the current leaders remain in their positions."

  All of the drow objected to this, but most of them weren't quite as loud as they had been previously. However, Altix, the drow sitting closest to the right of Kirain, was fervently against it. The vampire eyed him suspiciously whilst the argument continued.

  It wasn't long before everyone was staring at Altix. The points he made were both shortsighted and stupid, and he seemed to be actively trying to anger the vampire. Kirain's voice steadily grew in volume, but otherwise he kept his cool. The other drow glanced at each other, seemingly befuddled by Altix's antics.

  "Enough," Ulurmak interrupted. "This discussion is going in circles, and it isn't as if this needs to be decided today."

  "We wanted to say something, though," Tix added.

  "What is it?"

  Tix turned to me and whispered into my ear. I repeated everything that the little fairy said, except for its giggles.

  "The wylder consider the current ruler of the Night Kingdom to be an existential threat. The Deepwyld Forest will under no circumstances share a border with the vermin that tortured, murdered, and enslaved our ilk. As such, we have three demands that must be met if peace is to be maintained. The first requires that a portion of the Night Kingdom must be ceded to the Unified Chiefdoms to act as a buffer between our realms. The second is that the Unified Chiefdoms will be responsible for developing the land to the point that it can guard against any hostile action between the Night Kingdom and the wylder of the Deepwyld Forest. The third is a guarantee from the Night Kingdom that no vampire will ever enter the aforementioned region, nor attempt to enter the Deepwyld Forest under penalty of death for the perpetrator and international sanctions toward the Night Kingdom."

  "I'll consider it," Ulurmak sighed as he stood. "If there's nothing else, I will retire to my chambers to ruminate over what has been discussed thus far."

  I glanced at the table and realized with horror that most of the plates were empty. Mine was still mostly full, and I was still hungry. I wondered how they'd managed to eat and talk at the same time as Ulurmak and most of the drow left.

  "As I do not require sustenance, I will also retire," Larie stood.

  "As will I," Yulk said.

  "I'm going to go with them," Tix added. "Are you... Staying here?"

  "I'll catch up in a bit," I replied, stuffing my face as politely as I could.

  The fairy, lich, and orc exited the dining room, leaving Kirain, Altix, and myself at the table. The drow noisily slurped his drink as the vampire stared at him in disgust. Then Kirain turned to me.

  "Human, approach. I would exchange words with you," he said, tapping the table to his immediate left.

  "I, uh-"

  "It's regarding your quest, and I don't mean the one that the wylder gave you."

  The vampire and I stared at each other while I tried to process what he just said. What could he know about my attempt to return home? What was his motive? Did he want to help me, or was this somehow a trap to harm the wylder?

  I glanced at Altix. The fact that there was at least a witness allowed my curiosity to win out over my apprehension. Plus, it wasn't as if I could just say no to a king.

  With a deep, calming breath, I stood and lifted my plate. My heart raced as I approached the vampire, its pulse accentuating each step that I took. When I got to the chair next to the one Kirain indicated, though, a loud hissing noise grabbed my attention.

  Kirain and I simultaneously turned to look at Altix, who had leapt back from the table, knocking over his chair in the process. Steam rose from his sizzling flesh. The room stood still for a moment, disbelief hanging over us all like a thick shroud.

  "Shit," the freshly undisguised daemon growled.