“That’s insane,” Adam said, still trying to process all the information. ‘So that means, what, it’s been two thousand years since Bckwater Crisis. Sihen, the Iyr has pretty much kept all its nds? Aldnd has basically remaiable sihen, and Aswadia too?’

  Adam rubbed his head, trying to massage the information into his brain. “So that means the Dragon is at least two thousand years old?”

  “At least, yes,” Jurot said. “She may be closer to three thousand.”

  “Insane. Does that mean she has a Spark then?”

  “I would believe so,” Jurot said, though he couldn’t say for certain.

  “Wow. How strong is she?”

  “She is the stro, save perhaps Lord Stokmar,” Jurot said, thinking about how the pair would match up. One was made by the Gods, the other was a being out of reach of Divine influence.

  “Damn. How strong is she pared to the Chief?” Adam asked, uo tain his excitement.

  “The Great Elders together would find it difficult to defeat her,” Jurot said.

  “Together?”

  “Yes.”

  Adam shook his head slowly. “That’s insane.”

  “That is what it means to be an A Dragon.”

  “So does that mean Strom is pretty damn strong too?” Adam asked, not knowing that Strom had already defeated Jurot’s grandfather, Kitool’s grandaunt, the Chief, and other Iyrmen simultaneously.

  “Yes.”

  “Crazy,” Adam whispered. “I knew he was strong, but…” Adam tried to uand just how strong that could be, trying to use the meics of the games he had pyed before. “So if Lord Stokmar didn’t wake up, that Gold Dragon would have beero iire nd?”

  Jurot nodded.

  “Crazy,” Adam whispered again.

  “As a Dragon, her wealth also assists her. Dragons gain a small boost to their strength from their hoard.”

  “The hoard of a Dragon whose collected taxes for thousands of years…” Adam stared into Jurot’s eyes. “Insane.”

  “Yes.”

  “How much stronger is she then?” Adam asked.

  “It is a small amount, but enough to surpass other Dragons of simir age.”

  “Wow…” Adam made a mental o behave in the capital. “Do you think…” Adam began to whisper. “You think they ever think about killing her for her gold?”

  Shamia leaned in too, feeling equally as naughty. They had moved on from such a dark topic, so she was gd to push away thoughts of the Empire for now.

  “I do not know,” Jurot admitted. “It would be a death sentence. Killing a Gold Dragon is a taboo, as they are at the least favoured by the Gods, even if they work outside their influence. She must also have many great traps proteg her ir from her millennia of proteg the capital, and it would be inaccessible to most.”

  Adam whistled. “Whoa…”

  “It would be a terrible idea to do so. She grants great magical boons from her presence alohe capital is only prosperous due to her influe is se that it holds the entire popution of North Aldnd inside a siy.”

  Adam whistled again. “Whoa,” he said, again.

  “If the capital wished to create an army, they could create twenty thousand soldiers in the span of days.”

  “Whoa.”

  Jurot nodded.

  “Just that oy outhe Iyr by so much…” Adam said.

  “It holds a greater popution than even Hakor,” Shamia whispered.

  “It is the third greatest defended settlement in this entire nd,” Jurot said.

  “Third?”

  “The Iyr is first, the Elvish nds are sed.”

  “Ah,” Adam said, nodding his head. “Right.”

  “The walls of the capital are great, but it is the existence of the Gold Dragon which makes the capital almost impregnable,” Jurot said.

  “What, dons gh menopau-,” Adam said, though he was uo plete his joke as he spped his knee and howled with ughter for the sed time that day.

  Adam wasn’t howling in ughter when the groups arrived ter that evening to bathe. “Thank you,” he said, accepting the barrel of food with open arms. “We’re going to be feasting tonight.”

  As dinner was made, he heard something from James, the leader of the harem party. “What was that?” Adam asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Adam said, smiling at James, watg him as he ehe baths with the rest of his harem.

  Adam caught Mikay’s gre. She clutched her staff tighter, pulling it to her chest, scowling at the Half Elf.

  “Is there a problem?” Adam asked, sighing.

  Mikay stared at the group as they ate. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”

  Adam furrowed his brows, looking to Jurot. ‘Are you seeing this?’

  Jurot nodded.

  “Ashamed of myself for?”

  “Not only did you damage all our loot, but you also forced Oliver to hand over a barrel of food,” Mikay stated. “Even if you surround yourself with… Iyrmen, you should have some manners.”

  Adam sucked in air through his teeth, and the tension in the air became thick. Jurot stared at the Half Elf, prepared to calm him down if need be. The nced between one another fused.

  ‘There’s no way she’s that dumb, right?’

  “I’m sorry you have to hear that sort of thing, Lady Shamia,” Adam said. “I spoke with Oliver about handing over some food so that we could treat you well, and even though we helped them with killing their birdcats, they still didn’t want to hand over food to help you and yours.”

  “That is not what I meant,” Mikay said, clutg her staff tighter, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Fet it, you wouldn’t uand.”

  “There’s ohing I do uand, and it’s that you aren’t going to be bathing in my fu-,” Adam paused, recalling that there was a Noble near him. “You are not going to be bathing iower I summoned.”

  Mikay raised her brows in surprise. “What?”

  “You heard what I said.” Adam returned back to his meal.

  “You ’t do that.”

  “Why not?” Adam asked. “It was a tower I summoned with my magic. If you don’t have the ability to show a modicum of respect, then you o leave. I don’t know who you think you are, and how you possibly think that you e into my camp, to use my tower, all the while behaving like a, as you might say, savage.”

  “I am no savage!” Mikay growled at him.

  “You best watch your tone, girl,” Adam said, noting James quickly stepping out, having slipped out of half of his armour.

  “What’s wrong?” James asked, quickly stepping in front of Mikay, holding out an arm to protect her.

  “Nothing,” Mikay said, withdrawing away from Adam, towards the tower.

  “If she steps into my tower, I’m going to beat her unscious,” Adam warned.

  “Adam,” Vonda called, calmly. “There is no need for that.”

  “I assure you, Sir Vonda, there is a need for it,” Adam said, standing. “If she takes oep into my tower, I’m going to beat her unscious.” Adam gred into James’ eyes.

  “No you won’t,” James said.

  “You ’t stop me,” Adam said, “Even with your armour, even with your panions beside you, you wouldn’t be able to.” Adam raised his hand, twiddling with his ring. “I don’t o cast Fireball to deal with you, but if I o, I’ll be sure t your crispy corpse back to Oliver. Then I won’t o worry about destroying half the loot with my Fireballs, because we’ll have more to be spread between us.”

  James swallowed, gring at Adam. His mace was right at his side, and his amulet was still across his chest. However, even with them, Adam was a difficult, if not impossible, fight for him. “We’ll bathe and leave, and you won’t hear from us again.”

  “I dare you to give me an excuse to beat you,” Adam said. “Go on.”

  “For the sake of my good Lady, would you be willing tive her?” James asked. “Lady Ebony will surely bless you.”

  “Oh, I’m sure,” Adam said, keeping the man’s eyes on his own with his gre. “I’m going to love beating her.”

  “You would not show Lady Ebony respect?” James asked, trying to ihe name of his Goddess again.

  “You may love Lady Ebony, but I’m rather partial to Lord Sozain. Matter of fact, I might even have to send him another soul tonight.” Adam’s eyes remained glued to the Priest’s.

  “Iyrmen… ’t you do something about this?” James asked, uo take his eyes away from the Half Elf’s.

  Mikay remaiunned, gripping onto James’ shirt from behind. “Do something about your Elf.”

  Jurot stood as the two other members of the harem party appeared, w what was taking so long.

  “If you do not leave now, I will drag you out,” Jurot said, his eyes narrowed slightly.

  Kitool and Jaygak both stood too, noting the dark look on Jurot’s face. They, who had grown with Jurot, uood things had escated too far.

  “e,” Kitool said, approag the Wizard. “I will guide you out.”

  Jaygak followed Kitool for a few steps, before stopping, standiween Jurot and the Wizard.

  James gnced between the Iyrmen, noting that something had gone wrong. “Mikay, go with the Iyrman.”

  Mikay gasped, gripping his shirt tighter, but she rexed her grip and followed Kitool out. She ighe gazes against her, turni red.

  Once she stepped out of the outpost, Jurot sat dowurning to his meal.

  “You better not be celebrating yoddess ihs,” Adam said. “I don’t want to that up.”

  James swallowed, slowly retreating to the tower. Ohe group was out of sight, the camp returned back to normalcy, in some sense.

  “Are you alright?” Shamia asked.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Adam said.

  “Did you have some prior issues with that party?”

  “We saved their lives and the Wizard tried to accuse me of rape,” Adam said, simply.

  “Oh.”

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  Damn. So close to beating them up.