It took several moments to prevent Molniya from killing Istorik, and vice versa. Eventually, after much screaming, threatening, and insulting, the two were separated between Cosmo and Lysander, seated on the rubble in Razorinye. The two boys were exhausted and fed up with their bickering and fighting, but were kept alive by the curiosity of what was truly happening.
"Istorik. Explain yourself." Cosmo sighed, resting his elbows on his knees.
"This tablet serves as a calendar system for the ancient people of Razorinye, illustrating time, the seasons, the months, and the years in a unique fashion never seen before. What Molniya suggests being here is preposterous. I would have recognized information of that sort long ago."
"Apparently you see yourself as less of a fool than you actually are." Molniya glared at the orc. Lysander silenced Istorik's rebuttal by gripping his wand.
"What exactly do you believe this tablet is, Molniya?" Cosmo asked. Frankly, she trusted the lizardwoman much greater than Isorik. He had seen a lot of emotions on her face, but hardly was her expression one of fear.
"This tablet seems to explain it all, which would explain its superior size and detail. It describes not a cycle of the seasons and time, but rather a cycle of devastation." The room fell into silence. Even Istorik did not speak. His head hung in shame. "It describes the cycle in which Folcanrog is resurrected, not by a tribe of the Boiling Pot, but through the flow of mana in the world once every one hundred years."
"Impossible..." Istorik muttered. His voice was the only noise present in the room.
"It goes on to say that the strict security on who was allowed within Razorinye's walls is due to the protection of Ralthar himself. He placed a ward on the village to ensure this place remained intact should the elder dragon ever destroy it. Not every citizen of the Boiling Pot was determined worthy enough to be protected, but it seems the ward was barely powerful enough to begin with." She crossed the room to stand in front of Istorik.
"Molniya, don't-" Cosmo began. She interrupted him without a second thought.
"Your translation was careless, your work, shoddy, and your interpretation of the ancient dialect, shameful." She spoke with every bit of malice in her being. "My-" she paused. "Our people could have been saved years ago had you used a fraction of your intelligence here."
"Do you plan to kill me?" His voice trembled.
"No. While I have descended from dragons, you have descended from cowards. Be grateful you still have utility to me, for I should have taken your life already." Her fingertips sparked. "I will grant you another chance at life, if you heed my words."
"What do you need me to do?" His voice was at a murmur, his posture hung over himself, his face hidden from everyone in the room. Cosmo couldn't help but feel bad for the orc. He had made a grave mistake, but had done the most effective job with the resources available. Regardless of this, he did not plan to stand in Molniya's way.
"We will depart for Kran immediately." Molniya barked. "You will tell that fool Silár the truth. Folcanrog is resurrected once every one hundred years. It is our testament of strength from Ralthar. If we do not defeat the beast, then we have failed him altogether."
"And if I do not?" Istorik responded. At this point, Cosmo, too, had lost his patience with the orc.
"Are you so stubborn to admit your failures?" Cosmo exclaimed. He ripped Dragon's Focus from the satchel and aimed it at Istorik's nose. Lysander placed a hand on his forearm, attempting to lower the weapon. Molniya slammed her fist into his face once again, electricity jolting through his body.
"I have been merciful to you and your people so far. Do not make the lofty assumption that I have forgiven any of you for what you have done to my people. Do not be bold, also, and assume that I do not have a great deal of pent up rage to let loose." Molniya grabbed him by the throat and set him on his feet. "Lets go, shall we? I believe you have a treaty to give your assistance in signing?"
"As well as some apologies to Silár for your failures." Lysander couldn't help but grin as he spoke the last sentence. Cosmo found it uncharacteristic for him to break his typically reserved composure, but couldn't help smiling at the remark.
* * *
Once Istorik began to overcome his own shame and support the treaty between the three tribes, negotiation became easier than Cosmo had expected. Silár himself had sent correspondence to the other two leaders of the Boiling Pot only a day after hearing what the four had discovered in Razorinye. From what Cosmo had heard, Queen Rasseyat had managed to quell the anger most of her tribe harbored towards their kin. This compliance only increased upon hearing what had been found at Razorinye. Dreyniv was ecstatic that everyone was finally on the same page and had designated a location in the large crag fields outside of Folcanrog's Domain for each tribe to convene at.
After two days of recalling and organizing troops and five days spent communicating between the orcs, ogres, and lizardfolk, the entire tribe of Kran stood outside of the city gates. Each citizen held as much as their arms and backs could carry, lugging along food, water, swords, spears, axes, bows, clothing, and hundreds of ivory colored tents. Even Cosmo, Lysander, Elias, and Molniya did their part, each hefting a large bag of food and waterskins as well as a deconstructed tent strapped around their shoulders.
Since the treaty had been decided on, Molniya's anger for the other tribes seemed to decrease greatly. She still did not like Istorik, however, which she was not afraid to display publicly. Luckily enough, she had not succeeded in killing him yet, even when Silár had made the decision not to remove him from his position.
"Two things I will not forgive the Koysha or Zelenn for." She had told him one night in the medical lodging. Cosmo and her had made a habit of talking while Lysander slept and Elias studied with Hiner. He not only found it relaxing to converse with her, but interesting to learn more about Molniya. Ever since he had met her she had always raised more questions than answers. "I will not forgive the Koysha for Moldaya, that is a fact. I may make alliances with them, but it will be impossible for me to forget my late brother, nor forgive the soldiers that took his life. I believe you already know which orc I refuse to forgive." She chuckled and Cosmo smiled when he saw her slightly sharp teeth past her scaly lips.
Now she stood to the right of him, a grim expression on her face. Lysander stood to the left, constantly resituating the enormous load of gear on his back, clearly unable to hold it very well. Elias and Hiner stood behind Cosmo, rambling on about technique and incantations. The two strong boys had no trouble carrying more than the average citizen, and seemed completely absorbed in one another's conversation. Elias had taken quickly to healing magic over the eight days they had spent in Kran and now understood its most basic level to the fullest extent. Lately, Hiner had been teaching him more intricate and advanced spells, to which both of the boys seemed to be enthused about.
"Is everything alright?" Cosmo asked hesitantly, turning towards Molniya with his head cocked. She blinked as though something was in her eye and looked at him.
"Hm?" She turned towards him and he could tell her mind had been elsewhere. "Oh, I'm... okay, I suppose."
"You can tell me if something is wrong." Cosmo smiled at her, reassuringly. However, a part of him was unsure if he wanted to know in the first place. If something is scaring her of all people, it must be big. He thought to himself. "We're a team." He continued, gesturing to Lysander and then to Elias. "You can trust me."
"I won't lie to you, Kyosah. This battle has me nervous." She brought her hand up to her bicep and rubbed it awkwardly. "It's not often that a fight has me scared, but I'm used to being stronger than my opponent. And to fighting alone."
"It doesn't matter if you're individually stronger or weaker than Folcanrog. We've got hundreds, maybe even more than a thousand on our side. Collectively, we can do this." Cosmo outwardly expressed confidence that contrasted with how he actually felt. There were doubts sinking in the pit of his stomach, just as Molniya had expressed to him.
"You don't get it." She paused, looking at him as though she was worried she had sounded too harsh. Cosmo believed that to be too out of character to be true. "Lizardfolk do not pride themselves in solidarity but rather individual strength. Our tactics in war have always been simple: our collective strength matters not if each soldier is stronger than their respective enemy. We don't fight as a pack and, as far as I'm aware, the orcs and the ogres don't either."
"You've changed plenty enough already." Cosmo responded after many moments of thought. Kran now only seemed to be a few inches tall on the horizon as the enormous group of orcs pressed onward through the rocky crag. "I mean all of you: you and your kin. Just a month ago you were at each other's throats. Now you have agreed on a treaty! You are close to being united once again."
"Signing a treaty is merely writing words on paper, Cosmo." A shiver ran up his spine that made his neck twitch. She rarely called him by his name and it always caught him off guard when she did. "Years of war have broken the ties we once shared and our brethren now hold grudges against us not for the supposed resurrection of Folcanrog but rather what we have done to them in battle. Things such as this take time. You may be different from most humans, but one thing remains the same." She looked at him, a crooked grin tugging at her lips. "You are impatient, even more so than the rest of your kind." She laughed, showing her sharp ivory teeth as her crimson scales gleamed in the harsh sunlight. Cosmo felt color rise to his face.
"I apologize, I suppose I am all too optimistic at times as well." He admitted, turning away from Molniya.
"Keep saving my breath like that and I might live twenty years longer." She laughed once again, and even evoked a chuckle from Lysander, who stood next to him, attempting to stifle it.
Despite Cosmo's embarrassment, he couldn't help feeling good for putting a smile on her face. Her state had significantly improved since the beginning of the conversation and he felt pride in making that happen, even if it was at his downfall. What he was not content with was the entirely new plethora of worries plaguing his mind.
Curse my naive imagination. He thought. Why would I think that the years of war behind these tribes would suddenly be forgotten due to the signing of a paper? Not to mention that disagreements over the text and lack of morale amidst the troops still stand in our way. He began to wonder if it would even be possible to order all of the soldiers together as one group. They had all been trained separately, differently, and perhaps most significant, to kill one another. The three leaders are taking an enormous risk in this operation. I just hope everything goes smoothly.
Hours later, Cosmo could no longer see Kran behind him as the horde of people around him trudged over the rocky earth. Sweat poured down from the curly mass of hair on his head, dripping into his eyes and down his back, causing Cosmo great discomfort. On top of the sickening amount of sweat, the immense amount of weight he carried on his shoulders was crippling. Not only did he carry the provisions for the orcs, but his own personal gear sat at his side too.
As the pain in his shoulders, back, and legs increased, time seemed to slow exponentially and, at some points. Cosmo swore it stopped. Even still, he attempted to distract himself from the journey, looking at the scenery and the people around him. While Lysander and Elias seemed to be in the same condition as Cosmo, Hiner seemed minimally affected and Molniya appeared to be completely impervious.
As far as the unfamiliar orcs that towered around Cosmo, the distasteful glares had subsided since the signing of the treaty. He never quite understood the cause of this treatment, but assumed that after enough time at war, any outsiders could be seen as a threat. While it made him feel both insecure and dismal that most of the orcs still did not take kindly to him, he understood their position and assumed the kinks would be worked out by the time the three tribes had congregated.
After hours of journey, the sun now grew lower to their left as the sun became less fierce. And, after more time, an enormous silhouette appeared on the horizon. Uneven, the dark grey form shifted in the heat, as though it wished to avoid being seen properly. Another ruin such as Razorinye? Cosmo wondered. However, after almost half an hour of journeying, it became clear that the proper question was not what they were looking at, but rather who.
"Ah, the lizardfolk approach us on the horizon, it seems." Molniya said, peering around the crowd in front of her. Cosmo was just relieved that their journey was to end soon.
"Good. Let us increase our pace so we may get an opportunity to rest before setting up the tents and unloading our supplies." Cosmo said with an optimistic look on his face.
"You humans are always so lazy." Molniya smiled. "Us lizardfolk do things differently. When our people converge, we shall begin the construction of our camp immediately. Only after every last tent is pitched shall we take a respite before training at dusk."
Cosmo's heart sank and his smile fell, which produced a laugh from Molniya. Lysander and Elias were far too tired to make any additional comments, needing all of their energy just to move forward. After several more hours of walking, the two tribes intersected.
The tensions were high at first, few members of either groups attempted conversation with the other, leaving the desolate wasteland in an eerie silence accompanied only by nervous whispers. Dreyniv was the first to speak, standing at the front of the citizens of Kran with a rapier strapped to his belt. He adjusted his gold-rimmed spectacles before clearing his throat. Extending a hand to Lord Silár, he spoke.
"Greetings! I am Dreyniv of Ogof. I cannot express my gratitude for your trust, time, courage, and patience in meeting here not just for the treaty, but for the impending battle upon our nations' horizons." Dreyniv stood several inches shorter than Silár and almost seemed childish when comparing their different demeanors.
"Do not fret. The trip was not difficult, nor do we have any fears of meeting you alone. Surely, with the entire army of Kran behind me, you would not attempt an attack, lest you wish to be defeated." Silár responded bluntly, his arms remaining crossed. The tension amongst everyone present was palpable. While the Lord of Kran had been in agreement with the treaty, it seemed as though he did not favor Dreyniv in the least.
"Let us, then," The Lord of Ogof cleared his throat after a silence that was too long, his hand remaining outstretched in front of himself. "Shake hands on the promise that this day, and those to come, will be the beginning of a better, stronger destiny. A celebration of the unstoppable group that is to take what they want, when they want it, and paint the streets with the blood of all who oppose us! To glory, and victory, Rodnya." Another long silence transpired before Lord Silár's mouth twisted into a smile.
"To glory and victory, Rodnya." He took Dreyniv's hand firmly and shook it, drawing a resounding cheer from the crowds of people around them. Swiftly, everyone began to offload their supplies, placing provisions in a pile and unbinding the tents those from Kran had carried. Cosmo and Lysander were thankful to get the load off of their backs, sore and exhausted from travelling. Nevertheless, they jumped into the flurry of people, who had already begun construction.
While the lizardfolk had not brought tents with them, they had brought numerous tools. Several people from Ogof held sturdy wooden boxes crammed full of hundreds of sharp metal stakes, as well as several dozen hammers. The rest of the lizardfolk carried expertly crafted weapons of all sorts, including several extras for both the ogres and orcs, as well as armor, food and water.
Shockingly, the two tribes worked expediently together. Despite the fact that they seemed to refuse to communicate, or perhaps did not know how to, their movements were fluid and connected as though they could read one another's minds. The lizardfolk were strong and bold, throwing around bundled tents and boxes full of nails as though they were no heavier than parchment. To balance this, the orcs were precise and measured, ensuring the stakes were placed in just the right place before being hammered into the ground with zeal by a lizardfolk.
It took all of Cosmo's energy just to keep up with them, both misplacing stakes and not being able to push them all the way into the hard, rocky ground. Even though his failure was embarrassing, their craft was a privilege just to spectate. Several feet away he could see Molniya, who worked at three times his rate, effortlessly hammering a stake into the earth with one strike. She didn't break a sweat. Can lizardfolk sweat? He wondered to himself, dazed from the heat of the day.
"Hey, Kyosah! Get to work." An orc he was supposed to be helping shouted.
"We don't have all day!" The lizardfolk three feet away from him yelled, smashing his hammer into a stake with a deafening crash. The two looked at each other and, to Cosmo's surprise, gave each other a smile. His energy rejuvenated by seeing everyone work so well together, he apologized and began to work again, with twice the determination. We will win this battle. He thought to himself, the right side of his mouth pulled into a confident grin. Slamming his hammer into a stake with all of his force, Cosmo allowed the evening to pass by, hypnotized by the monotony from the chorus of metal clangs echoing throughout the camp.
By dusk, the previously vacant crag field was filled with hundreds of tents, like an army of ivory cloth, organized in an erratic manner. The ogres had arrived only about an hour after the two tribes had begun working. Cosmo saw as Ometa greeted both Silár and Dreyniv cordially, gesturing towards the group of orcs behind her and talking about something he could not hear. This must be the first time each leader is meeting in person. He thought to himself. Before now, the only time they had heard one another's names was most likely in military correspondence. He wondered for a short time what any of the three could possibly be feeling at that moment.
Once the ogres had arrived, the work continued much faster. The rest of the tents were pitched within an hour, as well as a final and significantly larger tent that stood where Dreyniv and Silár had met. Almost immediately after the final tent's completion, the three leaders entered the cloth dwelling in a stony silence. The tension in the air rose once again and those who stood around the tent slowly crept into the sea of white around them.
After two hours, Cosmo laid on a stiff cot in one of the numerous tents with Elias, Lysander, Molniya, and Hiner. Molniya seemed uneasy, sitting on her cot and fidgeting with the pebbles between her fingers. Cosmo and Lysander had too little energy to interact much, and Elias and Hiner were no better off. The silence of the night was overbearingly quiet, the chirps and skittering of insects and rodents completely absent. Cosmo shifted uncomfortably. He was grateful, however, that the lizardfolk did not desire to train that night, and couldn't complain.
"What do you think they're talking about in there?" Lysander asked, staring at the cloth ceiling and sighing. He stretched and smiled, content to not be on his feet.
"There's no way to know." Elias spoke, closing his journal and setting a pen down next to it on the ground. "The amount of time they have spent in that tent makes me uneasy, however." Hiner nodded.
"Things such as this take a while." Molniya said, gritting her teeth. She moved the pebbles between her fingers faster.
"As though you would know much of diplomacy." Lysander snickered and grinned from the back of the tent, his teeth shining in the lantern light.
"Be quiet Kyosah. You should be taking this more seriously. If this treaty falls through, I am not the only one who will look like a fool." She looked up from the ground and stared Lysander in the eyes. "Everyone could be packing up what they brought and leaving any minute now."
"That, however, is perhaps the most fortunate outcome." Hiner added. "If a battle is to break out, then it will be the first to transpire between all three of the tribes at the same time. If one thing is to be certain, we will not emerge alive."
"Not to mention, no treaty, no Divine Prism." Cosmo said, a knot of worry forming in his stomach. "Everything we plan to do here is banking on this one decision." Lysander didn't respond and the tent fell into silence as Cosmo stared at the small flame flickering in an oil lantern that dangled from the ceiling in the middle of the tent.
"Whatever the verdict is," Molniya began. "I have asked my father to return here first when a decision will be made. We will be the first to know whether this treaty will be the beginning of a new age, or our total destruction."
Time passed arbitrarily in the silence. A minute or an hour could have passed as Cosmo gazed at the flame, burning the image of the lantern into his retina before looking at a small gap between the cloth flaps of the tent, staring at the endless ocean of stars millions of miles away. The night was black and mesmerizing as he listened to the silence of white noise washing over him. At first, he was merely lost in thought, but soon Cosmo drifted into a trance, his mind vacant and calm but not asleep. His body jerked into an upright position when the entrance to the tent was disturbed loudly. Dreyniv stood there, the cloth flap of the tent in one hand and his glasses in the other. Lysander, Elias, Molniya, and Hiner all looked at the lizardman expectantly.
"What happened?" Molniya snapped, almost on accident.
"It took much compromise and debate, but I have succeeded in passing a treaty with Queen Raseeyat and Lord Silár." Dreyniv said in a flat tone. Everyone seemed relieved around the room, but were not joyful by any means. While a difficult process in their plan had succeeded, perhaps their most challenging feat yet towered in front of them. Dreyniv received a few nods but little vocal recognition. "We have agreed to storm Folcanrog's Domain at dawn two days from now."
"So soon?" Molniya asked, incredulous.
"At this time, the only two things we have on our side are numbers and haste." Dreyniv replied in a grim tone. He appeared exhausted. "Better to push the advance as soon as possible before our shoddy alliance crumbles before our eyes." Molniya reluctantly agreed. "We will train all day tomorrow. Ensure you are well rested." Dreyniv turned around and brushed the cloth flap out of the way.
"One more thing." The Lord of ogof turned around in the entrance way and looked each one of them in the eyes. "The day after tomorrow, we liberate ourselves from a tyranny that I have lived under my whole life. It has taken much time for this to happen, and would not have been possible without the assistance of you all." He bowed low. "I am truly in your debt. If there is something I can do for you to assist you, it is yours."
"The battle with Folcanrog is not over yet." Cosmo looked up at Dreyniv with confidence. "When we emerge victorious, we can talk about spoils." The Lord of Ogof smiled in response.
"Very well." He rubbed his eyes and donned his glasses. "Do not forget what we will truly be training for tomorrow. Our bodies should be as strong as possible, but they will still only carry you so far. In the heat of battle, what truly matters are your wits."