102 Tortoise Wisdom

It was in the evening that the report came in; the third challenger for the lordship of Shadowflash Fief, the giant tortoise, had finally, finally arrived at Kara-Goth.

"Where's Spike and DD?" Remian asked.

"Already in position." Mindy replied, with a little grin on her face.

"Shall we?" Remian asked her, offering his arm.

"We shall!" Mindy took it happily and together they boarded the Red Helm, the military-grade battle galleon previously owned by the Desert King.

It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, going to be a fair fight. Following the Red Helm were the Red Fang and the Tugged Sky Barge with the Bellower Ballista primed and ready on it. Remian arrived at Kara-Goth with three combat-ready airships, a Tier 5 Boar, and a Tier 5 spike-backed Lizard, and proceeded to surround the tortoise.

The giant tortoise blinked once, slowly as it considered the sudden arrival of Remian's forces. DD behind and to the left, Spike behind and to the right, two military-grade airships and a heavy weapons platform in front and above… surrounded on all sides, ambushed with the enemy holding the higher ground, caught in a three-way crossfire and pinned up against a gigantic trap of a pit, the tortoise did the only wise thing it could do.

"I surrender!" he said immediately.

"Swear fealty! Serve me or die!" Remian said, feeling oddly familiar with the phrase before suddenly reconsidering. "Actually, wait, before that, are you even capable of serving me? I have more use for tortoise soup than I do for slow workers."

To that, the tortoise blinked, and pondered, then said, "I can advise."

"Really…? Would that really be helpful?" Remian asked doubtfully.

"They call me Jujar the wise… I have lived many years. Many, many years." The giant tortoise mentioned.

"That's nice, but you'll have to speed up a bit if you want to join our crew." Remian warned him.

"Better hasty than dead." Jujar showed some of his ageless wisdom.

"Great. Swear upon the dragons." Remian prompted.

The tortoise swore fealty upon the grass and Kor'ag-dras.

"So, Jujar, what advice do you have for me?" Remian asked.

The tortoise blinked at him slowly, looked up at the sky and the airships, then to DD, then to Spike, and finally said, "Conquer."

He was right, Remian instantly realized. They had military-grade airships, now, and three Tier 5's with the potential to be Lords of the Wilds in their own right. With a little air support, Jujar, DD, and Spike could each very well hold territories the equivalent of Shadowflash Fief.

Remian wanted to develop Shadowflash Fief. That much was a given. But no matter how much farming one Fief could do, the income potential of tapping the natural resources of four Fiefs would most likely outstrip a single agriculturally developed Fief by far. Remian remembered the maps that Joshu and his friends had put together of the surrounding areas; valuable mineral deposits, rare trees and flora, Wilds that could produce useful goods similar to the Feelo-Wasps…

Plus, now they had an influx of population. Jujar was totally right. They had the military power, now. The days of struggling to defend one town was over. They should expand.

"What do you think?" he asked Carrie, who was coming up to the Pit along with Buff. "Should we expand to the east and west, or just go along the Beast Wave route to Spike's place and beyond? We might even cut a line straight through the entire Wildlands if we keep going that way." He said, jokingly.

[You don't want to do that.] Carrie told him, seriously.

[Really? Why not?] Remian asked.

[Because if you keep going in that direction, sooner or later you will come up on Dragon Lake and Wyvern Peak.] Carrie informed him. [I do not want to fight Kor'ag-dras and Mal'thor-dras for territory.]

Remian gulped, feeling very quickly humbled. No matter how strong he thought his forces were now, they were only good compared to the Beast Waves he'd been fending off, and the local Wilds. Compared to the likes of the Dragon Twins, who were even bigger and stronger than Khar'al-dras, however… he might as well be throwing stones.

"Okay, so maybe we expand cautiously." He gulped. "Very, very quietly. East and west, then?"

[Also not a good idea.] Carrie shook her head. [To the west, on the other side of the Amber Gorge is Misty Valley, which is the territory of the Fog Pegasus Lord. While we might be able to oust him if he was alone, he has a brother in the next fief over, the Rain Pegasus Lord, who would certainly come to his aid. More importantly, we do not want to offend his father.]

[His father…?]

[The King of Five Lakes, the Storm Pegasus King.]

Remian remembered. Above the Lords, there were Kings. Apparently, the Fog Pegasus Lord's dad was one such. If the Lords were Tier 5, then… [Tier 6?!]

Carrie nodded slowly.

Remian instantly threw out any ideas of invading the east. Spike alone was already so huge, thinking of a winged horse many times his size was just… mind-boggling.

"To the east, then?" he tried.

Carrie shook her head again. [That's the Emerald Woods. We might be able to challenge the Rock Fist Ape Lord, but he serves the King of the Far Woods, the Great Ape King.]

[Another Tier 6?] Remian guessed, rubbing his forehead.

Again, Carrie nodded slowly.

[Forget it. I don't want to fight a monstrously gigantic ape either.] Remian groaned. "So where can we expand? We're not going to make a move for the desert, are we?"

[Claiming the lands as far as Craggy Falls is easy enough. Spike's already on our side.] Carrie suggested. [Afterward, well… you could challenge the Deepsilver Lord for the Black Depths Lake, or the Salamander Lord to the south-east for the Rocky Thorns territory. Farther to the south-east would be the Blood Lands, ruled by the Scarlet Viper Lord. None of them have a King backing them up.]

"What about directly south of Craggy Falls?"

[The Golden Savannah? We might challenge the Golden Lion Lord, but what will we do when his grandfather comes to avenge him? We're talking about the King of the Four Savannahs, the Earth Lion King. Same for the south-west, which is the Thundering Savannah, turf of the Fierce Roar Lion Lord, the Golden Lion Lord's brother. Either way, we'd end up facing the Earth Lion King.]

"Another Tier 6." Remian gave up on that idea too. "South-east it is, then. Just to check, what's farther south of the Golden Lion Lord's lands?"

[The Speckled Highlands, home to the High Crown Stag Lord. He has no backing of a King, but don't underestimate the High Crown Stag Lord. There's a reason why he's neighbors with a Lion King and doesn't worry about getting eaten.]

"And south of the Blood Lands?"

[The Striped Highlands. That's the Fief of the Thunder Hawk Lord.] Carrie eyed the airships. [You might be able to challenge him with your airships. Maybe.]

"And even farther south?"

[South of the Speckled Highlands? Three Pines Peak, home of the Sun Eagle Lord. South of the Striped Highlands are the Bog Marshes, ruled by the Cyan Python Lord. They are not backed by any King, but considering their strength, they probably don't need it.]

Remian grunted. "So our most viable path of expansion is to fight snakes for wetlands and birds for highlands. The Thunder Hawk Lord sounds tough, but I have no qualms about bombing snakes from our airships. What if we went farther east after the Blood Lands?"

[That would be the sea.]

***

Remian called in Markus, Joshu, Song Chen, and Salim, who was sent by the Second Queen's general to represent their interests in this 'new military campaign to the south' Remian mentioned. Tim, Mindy and Carrie were already by his side when the arrived, but still Remian waited before starting the council of war.

"Sorry, I'm late…" George panted as he made his way in. "I couldn't get a wolfcat ride and had to run."

"You'll have to make sure that doesn't happen again. Assign one to yourself." Remian frowned.

"Yes. Sorry." George drew a deep breath. "What's this about?"

"This is about expanding our territories to the south, and then south-east." Remian pulled up a map. "The first stage of the campaign is to clean out the expedition campsite at Craggy Falls. As we already know, doing that would put an end to the Beast Waves, and this time, they won't have the Desert King to avenge them or rebuild the camp. At that point, the only thing preventing us from easily settling all the lands from here to Spike's den is the Black Depths Lake. Or, in other words, the Deepsilver Lord."

"Are we going to bomb the lake from airships?" Mindy asked.

"Not just yet. I was hoping we could negotiate first." Remian turned to George. "Think you can manage it?"

George's jaw dropped.