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For the first night in several weeks, the occupants of Sistarrist Drakan's only habitable area slept in peace. Both eyes were shut and the encumbersome weapons often at their sides were laid to rest on the ground, where they belonged. Not one soul feared a summons to death, or even jumped to wakefulness at the sound of a hydra's passing outside. The black-flame torches that lit every inch of the foul place had been snuffed out, leaving sleeping chambers in absolute darkness. The reason for their peace of mind laughed jovially, amused for the first time in a month. Krent leaned back languidly in his chair, one massive arm drapped over its edge while the other supported a cultured hand holding a golden goblet of fine, rich-bodied wine. His armor-plated legs crossed, ankle to knee, before him. The foot of his upraised leg jumped a beat to the booming laughter that periodically thundered from his thick throat. He took a sip of his wine, ignoring the chill trickle that dribbled down into his beard and on the edge of his mustache. Illuminated only by the reflected light of black torches and a bright mirror, the spilt wine glistened dully on the wiry, pitch black hairs of his face. His thick, pale lips pulled taut in a smile, occasionally revealing a glimpse of white teeth, only a few shades lighter then the craggy skin of his face. His eyes, onyx pits beneath bushy, black brows, stared fixedly ahead, facinated by what he saw in the mirror. While it could be said that Krent was an extremely vain man, it was not his reflection that had so amused him. The mirror itself was enchanted. What he saw in its sun-bright surface was a battle scene being played out on a world not far distant from his own. A grassy field stretched into oblivion across the mirror's surface. Its emerald green base had been marred, dug up by vicious talons and spattered with blood the same crimson colour of his wine. A white dragon, lithe and low-built, spread wide wings and loosed a roar that was silenced by Krent's looking glass. Her gleaming white scales danced under the sun's rays. Even those marred by long gashes and crimson-black blood still seemed to radiate brightness. Her opponent was the darkness to her light. A paler crimson then the black blood that trickled down her steel-muscled body, she lunged forward with claws slashing and all twenty-seven heads hungrily seeking out the white's neck. Krent's broken laughter split the air again as the white dragon was knocked to the ground, only to whip around and spear the hydra with her fiery breath. An annoyed sigh broke his rapt attention to the mirror. Still smiling bemusedly, he turned a half-interested glance on the woman sitting to his right. Enma, contrary to her husband, looked to be on the verge of falling into a comatose sleep. One slender, white hand curled beneath her cheek on the arm of her chair. Her black lashes drooped over equally black eyes, shutting off their sinister light from the world. A detatched frown turned her wine-red lips, matching the overall bored slump of her body. "Do we really have to watch this?" She drawled in a voice betraying only slight irritation. Her eyes flickered across the mirror, but did not catch Krent's indulgent smile. "My dear wife, do you grow tired of not being in the action?" Krent's baneful grin flashed beneath his forest of black mustache and beard. His eyes, turning lazily away from Enma, came to rest on his goblet. He turned the stem between his fingers, watching the glittering light flicker off its polished surface. "Yes, and we both know this battle will end the same way as all the others." Enma's venomous words snapped through his many layers of contentment. A rankling gaze fixed on the very edge of his vision. She scowled at him, the hand that had supported her head now draping over the edge of her chair. "Ambush or no." "And how do you plan to change that, hmm? These ration raids were your own idea, dearest Enma." A heavy emphasis sat on the final two words issued from his mouth, dripping sarcasm. Krent's dark gaze hovered on her, though he had barely turned his head an inch. Before Sistarrist's Lady could answer, a third voice intruded on the conversation. Rumbling up from the depths of the earth, it was immediately recognizable as Toth's. The two Joined of the Lord and Lady had been listening in on their conversation from the back of the room. "Perhaps there is a way to distract the Warren riders. Supply us with a chance to launch larger battles without their notice." The sly, purring tones of the Chaos hydra's main head rippled around the room like a fish through water. Twenty nine of his thrity heads showed malicious or gleeful grins. Occasionaly, black tongues would flicker over their black-scaled lips. "And what sort of 'distraction' are you thinking of, Toth?" Enma gritted her teeth as she arched around to look at the black, writhing mass of the hydra's heads. She knew she was walking into a trap, and from the barely contained smugness on Toth's face, he knew it too. "A mating flight. Not here, of course, I have another location in mind. Vienna and I can attend." The Chaos hydra's numerous necks twisted and twined about each other like a nest of snakes. His heads made the occasional snap at each other, but were mostly focussed on the game at which their central head played. "Now I know there are no other pure blooded hydras out there. None that we have seen, as of yet." Vienna's smooth coo echoed as distinctly as Toth's rumble. Her own heads, each parallel to the other and perfectly aligned, turned syncronized glares on her mate. "So I do hope you're not suggesting I mate with one of those hy-dragon beasts. If you are-" "In case you missed it, I included myself in that plan, Vienna dear." Toth cut in smoothly before Vienna could further enrage herself. It was well known among the inhabitants of Sistarrist Drakan that Vienna loathed hy-dragons; and loath was not a strong enough word. Ever since Hyakuhei and her twenty-headed beast, Hottan Matsu, had escaped the grips of the hydra Queen, Vienna had hated them. It was not the escape that rankled her, but more the way it was done. Hyakuhei had been growing bored of the hydra realm for some time. For someone with as little sanity as herself, boredom was not hard to come by. Vienna believed that Hyakuhei and her beast were key to her. If she could control them, she could control pratically any of the bastard offspring produced by Diamis. Vienna had attacked Hyakuhei. Hottan Matsu had attacked Vienna, and actually caused damage. Like the ripple of a pebble hitting the calm surface of water, rumors began to whisper among Vienna's most faithful followers. The attack had come as a surprise, and Vienna's loss even more so. The reality that was her complete dominance shattered under Hottan Matsu's defiance. Vienna began to lose support, and Toth to gain it. Though she had not lost all of her worshipers, her numbers had deminished enough to be noticable. Since that day, Vienna had detested all things that were not full-blooded hydras. Vienna hissed displeasure, a crimson spark betraying the fire of her eyes beneath black, slitted lids. She was almost invisible in the near darkness of the cavern; a sea of glowing red embers hovering mid-air. Her voice was a subtly leathal purr when she spoke again, darts of light gleaming off her pointed teeth. "And where, exactly, do you plan for us to go, my dear Toth." "Cy Dragonstake." Toth grinned indulgently as he watched the tempest of Vienna's temper explode. Of all the places he could have chosen, that one was the worst. He knew all too well that Cy was the largest breeder of hy-dragons. Not to mention the fact that the flight they were attending was centrally for hy-dragons. Toth fed greedily off Vienna's fury as the hydra Queen shrieked. "Absolutely not!" Her central head spat venomously as thirty others gave off gaping hisses of indignance. Five tails lashed the ground, crumbling weak rock and bringing down a small part of the wall behind her. "I swear to you none will touch you but I, and if they do, eat them." Toth's serpentine smoothness rushed out in a smug breath, ending with a mockingly sincere grin and throaty purr. He could feel two pairs of human eyes upon him, and echoed his Joined's mirth. "Do not pretend to command me." Vienna seethed, though the shrieking of her heads had quieted. She was no longer vehemently protesting the trip to Cy, but it irked her that her mate had forced her into a corner as he had intended. A mass of black necks writhed through the air, their alternating movements preforming a hypnotic dance. Everything the hydra Queen did was perfectly ordered, perfectly pre-ordained. Being herded like a sheep to the shepard was an annoyance she could do without. "Of course, my dear." Toth bowed his thirty heads regally, one gray taloned claw resting gallently over his heart. The two-faced gentleman. "Then it's decided." Krent's voice, a pale shadow compared to that of his bond's, cracked through the air. He stood, an intimidating figure silouetted against the pure light of the enchanted mirror, and looked up at the two hydras. "Enma and I will remain here. You will return as soon as the eggs are laid, and Mystic will never be the wiser." "No." Enma mused, her tone slyly contemplative. She remained seated when her husband had stood, one hand curled thoughtfully beneath her chin. "No, I want Mystic to know." "Of course. There's nothing she can do about it." Vienna cooed agreement. Where Toth pretended loyalty to Krent, Vienna and Enma were truely connected. The Chaos hydra smiled rapturously, snaking her crowned heads around to face the guard standing before their doorway. The Basic hydra looked around at his Queen's call, a doeful look of obedience marking his unintelligent face. "Diamis has done well." Vienna began, knowing the idiot Basic had heard nothing of their conversation. That was what he was trained to do. "Go open a portal for her return, and leave it unguarded." As the Basic hurried off to convey her message, Vienna turned a seductive smile on her mate. Toth was grinning, and it seemed only Krent had missed out on the implications of an unguarded portal. "Come, dearest. We have a flight to attend." The maliciously sweet tones of Vienna's voice echoed around the vast room as she gathered her legs beneath her. Rock scraped beneath her wickedly curved talons, accompanied by the dull scratch of Toth's own claws. Black scales gleaming in the black light of torches, she moved with a languid step towrads the opening. Five tails dragged lines across the dusty floor, and behind them trailed the King of hydras. 
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