“But it’s what we already agreed!” Bel shouted. She shoved her fists under the table as they curled into fists. She couldn’t do anything to hide her hissing, agitated snakes though. The unfamiliar humans, whose names Bel had already forgotten, leaned back in their chairs and regarded her with disdain.

  Their leader smirked. “You claim that High Speaker Cove agreed to these terms, but you haven’t shown us any evidence of that. I don’t know how things are down where you’re from, but here we write down our agreements.”

  “I–”

  “On paper.”

  Bel stifled a growl. “I know–”

  “Contracts. That’s what they’re called.”

  Bel clenched her jaw, waiting to see if her new least favorite person would interrupt again.

  “Listen, Dice, there was–”

  “It’s Bryce.”

  “I don’t care if it’s Lice!” Bel spat. “We signed a contract! It doesn’t matter if all copies were destroyed in the attack, it was still an agreement!”

  Bryce held up his hands, miming his helplessness in the face of her obstinacy. “I’m afraid you don’t understand your position. You want us to yield this town to–”

  “Our town,” Bel hissed. “This is our town.”

  The human shrugged. “You and the scrattes and a few–”

  He glanced at Flann and Jan.

  “–half people?”

  “Hey, we’re fully people,” Flann replied, “just not fully human.”

  Bryce sighed and pushed down on the wooden table, pushing himself to his feet.

  “It seems that we’ve reached an impasse for now.”

  He gestured to some papers on his side of the table.

  “I’ll leave our proposal here so you can consider it with cooler heads.”

  Bel glanced at the paper and almost thought about it. Then she realized that the human was trying to use some stupid negotiating tactic on her. He wanted her feel like the failure in negotiations was because of her. She felt a surge of disgust at the thought of working with someone who would resort to petty tricks.

  “Don’t bother,” Bel said. “We won’t be accepting any offer from you. Take your papers and leave.”

  “What?” the man said. He was frozen half out of his chair. “You can’t be serious? Your people need us humans. You’ve said so yourselves.”

  “No,” Bel insisted. She pointed at Jan and Flann. “Their people need you humans. The scrattes want some mud in the sun and the gorgons are fine without you. If you want to negotiate with the people of the Golden Plains instead, you can go there.”

  The man’s face reddened with rage. “You think you can hold this town?”

  Bel silently pointed to the petrified body of a large sea monster. Its neck arched over one of the harbor’s piers, frozen mid-roar. She could see a few more statues from her seat, and she knew that the city was quickly turning into a sculpture garden of creatures that thought they could wander into town for a quick meal.

  The man paused, searching for his next words. Bel didn’t want to hear them.

  “Get out,” she commanded. “You have until sunset.”

  They fumed, and yelled, and stomped their feet, but Bel held firm. She breathed a sigh of relief when they finally left. She relaxed her clenched hands, and was surprised to notice that she’d crushed the edge of the table into splinters. She flushed with embarrassment and thought about the meeting. As she went over her words, a heavy pit grew in her stomach and she felt sick enough to vomit.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  She turned to her friends: Flann and Jan to represent the Golden Plains and Cress to represent the gorgons. She’d thought about bringing a scratte, but decided against it. Instead, she had left Orseis with the little green plant people, hoping that they would keep eyes on each other.

  “Sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t feel that we could trust them.”

  She winced when she looked at Flann and Jan. “I’m really sorry – I know you guys need the humans.”

  The two semi-humans shrugged.

  “Eh, plenty of humans have already committed ta stayin’ in the Golden Plains.”

  Jan nodded at Flann’s words. “It seems like Technis’ creations killed the best of the humans here anyway.”

  Flann’s ear twitched. “Well, the best non-delvers. Those ’uns are okay by me.”

  Bel shoved her hands through her snakes, doing her best to sooth them. Vex and Sparky wanted to kill everyone, but the rest of them were quickly calmed.

  “So, what happened?” Cress asked. “The words were too fast.”

  “I felt like they were trying to squeeze out from the agreement we had with their former leaders. They were talking down to me, so I told them to get out.” Bel slumped. “I should have left the talking to you, even if you needed an interpreter. Or we should have let Fortuit negotiate.”

  Cress shrugged. “We gorgons are used to people attempting to cheat us. We are tired of it. Will they take the delvers with them?”

  Bel shook her head. “No, Rock didn’t get killed so nothing changes with them.”

  “He doesn’t believe in bits of paper either,” she grumbled.

  Flann cleared his throat. “Well, let’s talk about the future.”

  He tapped his ear cuff. “Once things calmed down in the Golden Plains, James called back. Technis was aiming for the leadership there too, but only some of it. Still, things are bad.”

  Bel sank even farther into her chair. “Meaning?”

  Flann grimaced, showing off a full muzzle of teeth. “He took Hanti out, and most of the other faction leaders, but left Robète. Would have probably gotten Daran if James and Beth weren’t there.”

  “She always opposed Hanti’s military actions,” Jan reminded Bel. “Since some humans escaped into the Golden Plains, she’s likely to declare their emergency over.”

  Flann’s tail swished rapidly. “Already happened, actually.”

  Jan’s nose twitched. “Already? What about the front line?”

  “James said that Technis’ troops moved back. Robète was against sendin’ anyone to scout, but Daran convinced some stealthy folks ta check it out.”

  Flann waggled his eyebrows, letting the tension build before he revealed anything. “They’re runnin’ back into Satrap with all haste, leavin’ supplies and stuff behind as they go. James thinks that means Technis is goin’ to open a portal to the Old World and abandon Satrap, and they’re racin’ to get out in time.”

  Bel sat up straight. “Then we need to strike quickly. We need to organize everyone and move out right away.”

  She clicked her tongue. “I’ll have to go to that Dice guy and apologize.”

  Flann and Jan exchanged looks and shrugged. Jan rubbed his ears for a few seconds before finding the right words.

  “I know you’ve got this quest from your mother, Bel, but Robète and the rest of the Golden Plains aren’t invested in it. With their leadership gone and Technis’ forces in retreat, the humans from the Points would probably rather go home, even if you offered them the city.”

  Bel’s mouth dropped open. She thought about everyone she’d met in Olympos and…

  They don’t have any reason to chase a demigod, she realized. It’s just me. Well, me and Orseis if she really wants to go to the Old World.

  And James, since he’s from there.

  Bel glanced at Cress, and the warrior flared her wings dramatically. “I will go with you, Bel. As far as Technis’ fortress at least.”

  Cress tapped her metal nails against her maul. “Oculaire said that she will come as well. And Manipule insisted that someone has to bring an egg if a gorgon could die.”

  Bel frowned at the thought.

  Jan tapped on the table. “Don’t forget that Beth is still comin’ ta help,” he said.

  He scratched his cheek. “And, uh, James said he’s coming too. Not to fight though.”

  Bel’s eyes lit up. “Did he come up with some super weapon to use against Technis? He used to talk about those all the time.”

  “Not quite,” Jan said.

  Flann laughed. “He convinced Daran that they should move here, if the gorgons are okay with it. They’re plannin’ to bring along a bunch of orphans and young, hopeful people. Maybe collect more from Satrap on their way here.”

  “He said adopting orphans was some kind of story trope,” Jan added. “I think he may just feel bad for all the strays.”

  “Oh,” Bel muttered, disappointed. She immediately felt bad; James had a wife and a little baby and no special abilities to fight. Expecting him to solve her Technis problem was crazy.

  “Ah, don’t get your snakes all tangled. Me and this ol’ furball wouldn’t leave ya stranded without shade,” Flann declared. “But we’re just two old men, so I don’t know if we’ll be much help.”

  Bel felt a ball of warmth in her chest. “Thanks, you two, but I’d feel bad–”

  “Bah,” Flann interrupted, “we’d feel bad if you went off on your own. Don’t think you’re doin’ this all on your own, young ’un.”

  Bel laughed with relief. “You’re right. And I’ve got my mom on my side, too. That means some of her priests may also want to help.”

  She shrugged. “And maybe some of the delvers are carrying grudges too.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Flann said. “By the way, Orseis has been braggin’ about how she’s gonna get to go to the Old World, and that sounds like just the kind of relaxin’ trip we’ve been lookin’ for.”

  Bel stared at them in disbelief. “What?”

  “We figure we’ll just go through Technis’ portal. If Orseis can get through, why can’t we?”

  Bel’s snakes looked at the two old me in shock. “You think you can just dance through whatever portal Technis set up?”

  Flann grinned. “Sure. Why not?”

  “Yeah,” Jan added. “What’s he going to do? Stop us?”