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“We are here to negotiate an alliance,” Tallu said in the voice that allowed no question, nothing but certainty.

“So you are, but we see you as well, Tallu Atobe,” Owl said, drumming her claws on the scarred table. “We see you. Not as well as Spider, but our waters here let us see what is unseen and our powers are unchanged. You may have killed the One Dragon, but you have not killed us.”

“Will you help in the fight against Bemishu?” Tallu asked.

“Not in the way you want,” Owl said. “We will no longer directly interfere in your world until you have fixed that which you broke. The One Dragon may have accepted her fate at your hand, but that does not mean the rest of us forgive you for it.”

“So why are we here?” Tallu asked, and the Dogs around him drew closer, as much shadows as guards. “Just to show us your powers?”

“No,” Owl said. “We are here to give you gifts.”

Twenty-Nine

My eyes slid to Zoigei, but his expression showed nothing. Even the small metallic pieces on his clothes didn’t ring in the wake of Snake’s magic.

“What gifts might you offer us?” Tallu asked.

“You have seen what we have done for our guardians.” Owl turned her head, looking directly at the goblins.

They were different than the ones the Imperium enslaved, even the free ones I had met at the Still Mist Tribe. They were stronger, larger, and more than that, they had weapons built into their bodies. They were not a people who would go down easily in a fight.

If Bemishu had fought these goblins, he would have lost and not been able to limp his way back to the Imperium and ask for more men.

“Are you suggesting you would change our soldiers in similar ways?” Tallu asked.

General Saxu shifted, and I could see his discomfort, although he hid it well; the only signs were the slightest tightening at the corner of his lips, the flicker of his eyes to Tallu.

“No,” Owl said. “We will not grant you the honor of such a change. However, we will promise you this: as long as your men defend our homes, they will be faster, stronger, and their bodies will heal more quickly from wounds. Those wounds will hurt less.”

“As long as we defend you against any attacks,” Tallu said. “And after? Will our men suffer the collected agonies of the fight? Will they die for having defended you?”

Further down the table, Snake let her lips curl up into a smirk. Her tongue flicked out briefly before Fox nudged her.

Owl ignored both of them. “No. We will let them leave as they arrived: healthy and whole.”

“Leave?” General Saxu asked.

“Leave,” Owl said more firmly. “We will help you kill your enemy, and in exchange, you promise to never allow imperial soldiers to set foot in the Ariphadeus again. Not with the intention of conquering the goblins. They have served us well all these years, and we wish to guarantee their home is safe.”

All these years, decades, nearly two centuries, the animalia had been more than happy to let the goblins fall to imperial swords. Yet, now, when the Imperium was weak, they were more than happy to take advantage and claim it as a kindness.

“We do all of the work, and in exchange, we get nothing,” Tallu said. “That is no deal for us.”

“Is the defeat of this general not enough for you? I thought that was all you wanted,” Owl said.

Tallu remained silent, still watching her as though he knew something not obvious to the rest of the table.

Owl drew back, her feathers ruffling. “And we will help this one fulfill his destiny.”

She tilted her chin at me, and I knew Tallu was going to protest. Tallu was going to say no. Anything to do with me would automatically lose the argument.

“What about an alliance?” I said, interrupting before Tallu could say something angry and ruin any chance of peace.

“An alliance?” Owl asked.

“Yes. An alliance between the goblins, the animalia, and the Imperium.” I looked between the three, letting my eyes linger on Tallu’s. The corners of his lips relaxed, and I could see him give in.

“An alliance?” Further down the table, Ox raised his head, and I saw the hint of horns where his hair pulled back from his forehead. “An alliance? We will not ally ourselves with humans. We are not the One Dragon, who gave you everything she had in exchange for death. We are the animalia. We are not some goblin tribe.”