The Dragons Mark

Chapter 14: Doc's Move

Doc paced anxiously in his private room, "they sure are taking their time getting back to me." He had done the impossible, he had reached out to his government's biggest irritation; the Ambassador of the Courter Region. the very patch of dirt that the Dragons had been ripped away from.

     The Ambassador had been away from the region only briefly to visit an ally of the Dragons when the attack took place and since the attack he had been the sole purpose of the Courter Region remaining off limits to everyone. If the attackers thought they would get free land, they quickly learned they were wrong.

     The ambassadors formal name was Basenji but only his most trusted friends called him that, most called him Senji. Doc had only heard about him, he had not had the privilege of meeting him yet.

He had been told that his features were extremely unique and that he went everywhere with his spouse Fossa, who didn't speak. If you wanted a meeting with him, you would have to accept the fact that Fossa would attend as well. By reputation Doc knew that he never made a decision right away and that his decisions were often brutal and would require a strict adherence to a specified set of rules with absolutely no wiggle room. If you didn't agree, he would walk away and you would not be able to get an audience with him again.

     Doc wasn't certain if he could get him to help or even get the truth out of him but he had to try. The higher ups in the government refused to listen to him, in fact the secretary to the speaker of the house whom he had spoken with quoted the very senator he had hung up on, saying "The man cannot be trusted, he has clearly lost his mind..." the secretary then laughed at him and disconnected the call by blocking him from calling again.

If Doc was going to get anywhere with this new information he would need help. It was a long shot but worth the effort. If he could get Senji on his side perhaps he could have a word with the people in charge, they couldn't all be truly as evil as they were suddenly seeming.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself as he took a seat in his favorite armchair "I really should come up with a plan C just in case..." he rolled his eyes "Now I remember why I refuse to have a personal secretary."

Doc didn't know what else to do. The Senator had issued a halt order on him disallowing him from contacting any media or press and then there was the embarrassing outcome of that call. He hadn't even made it past the secretary... "I can go no further alone," he leaned forward resting his head in his hands "I need help..."

Finally the call came he had been waiting for, he leapt to his feet and rushed to the table flicking the button a bit to harshly "hello," he greeted the unusual faces before him.

Senji had vibrant green eyes, cream colored skin and flowing hair that was yellow, gold and peach. While Fossa had tan skin, golden eyes and hair that held all greens and browns you would ever hope to find in the deepest forest.

"What can we do for you" Senji's bass voice boomed.

"I know the secret of the Dragons," he blurted out "I was just informed that they are a humanoid species that phases." He took a breath "the attack on my country is being largely ignored by the government, they don't care if the people are injured so they don't care which city is hit. They are simply using this as a distraction towards the countries they want to hit next."

"This affects us how?"

"The Dragons here are in danger too."

Senji laughed outright "please, our species can heal rather quickly, I doubt your threat is a true threat to them..."

"Your king, Xerus seems to think it is." Doc interrupted "he sent his new wife Teal and her friend Sage to tell me so. They are concerned enough to try to bargain and raise a fuss..."

Senji looked distracted and Fossa was no longer looking at the view screen. Her gaze was down like she was deep in thought and Senji noticed. "Give us a moment to discuss this please..." Senji reached out and tapped a button putting Doc on hold.

Doc tapped the table anxiously "what can I do if this fails? " he thought to himself "I will have to just release all of them, it will most likely get me executed but..."

The view screen buzzed to life again and the two seemed more composed than when they left "Tell us more of Xerus's concerns please?"

     "He seems to think the people here don't care about being owned by an arrogant dictator."

    "Is he correct"

   "No, I believe their will has been broken."

    Senji and Fossa both cringed then Senji questioned Doc "and you are certain that this is Xerus's opinion?"

"Well from what Teal said I believe that he was discussing the situation with his two wives... That is Teal and Nyala one of the..."

"We know her, she is his wife?"

"Yes, she found out this morning that she is pregnant by him." Doc smirked "they made a show of that for the public and since Nyala is known to nearly kill anyone that touches her..." he laughed "it is definitely Xerus's baby."

Fossa smirked and tried her best to stifle a laugh. Senji smiled as he addressed the Doc "so tell me why you are calling again?"

"Xerus is trying to bargain some kind of immunity in your blood for the people or the government to wise up and I believe block the attacks." He sighed "or something like that."

"You don't seem to have much faith in your government anymore?"

"Not after getting rudely hung up on when I was trying to discuss this matter with them."

"I see." He nodded as he was thinking "I will have to take some time to look into this situation." Fossa nuzzled against him "we will make our opinions known to the attackers that currently threaten your cities." He smiled "if they don't want to anger us they will halt their attacks until further notice."

"Oh...thank you so much" he smiled gratefully "if they don't want to halt them, tell them to target the government not the people please."

"I will, and Please let Xerus know that we are happy to hear he is alive and well and happily married too." He held back a laugh

"I get the feeling that was more Nyala's and Teal's idea than his." Doc chuckled "Xerus had a full out obsession going the first time he laid eyes on Teal in fact he nearly ate her. But she sure knocked the manners back into him." He laughed "and from the way they behave I believe Nyala and Teal made a similar, albeit less violent connection."

"Now that is news to spread around." He smiled at Doc.

"I will try and compile names, health status and other such details for you so you have more news to share next time we talk." Doc was relieved that this was going so well.

"We thank you for that." He nodded and glanced down at Fossa who stood a whole head shorter than him then looked back up at Doc "until then, please do keep our contact information private and close." He smiled and disconnected the call.

Doc slumped into the chair and just breathed slowly for a while the. He stood back up and smiled "he was quite pleasant, I don't know what all the fuss is about," he straightened his clothes "a very intelligent man and clearly that lovely wife of his is just as smart as she is beautiful." He chuckled "let's see the Senator stop this."

Doc made his way to the medical room to check on Nyala, perhaps he would share these events with her. Last he knew Xerus and Teal didn't want to be interrupted. He came out of his office when he was met by one of the new  workers for the facility.

"Sir, I have news about Teal's family."

The worker handed over a paper than promptly darted away to get back to work. Doc looked at the papers and frowned "oh dear..."