War of Dragons (65 page)

"It's not the only division by any means," Lord Daniel added. "Other than Prince Gerald here, all those from the West and the East favour having rather less interference from Furnace, whereas all of the South, the Centre and most of those from the North are what we call centralists. We're quite a divided bunch and hardly anyone agrees on anything."

"Yet here we are," Lord Jeremy interrupted impatiently, "and very keen to know more about this general."

Mark frowned. "I don't know much. He claims to have led the attack on Obud, apparently, so he's quite senior and probably well respected as that was a spectacularly successful campaign. Apologies, Lord Daniel, I understand it's a painful subject. He's one of a number that the True Dragon injured, but did not kill, so we've taken him prisoner and are holding him in the Circle of Death."

"The Circle of Death?" Lord Robert asked. "What a marvellous name. I take it that's where those creatures live. Very clever. They won't try to escape and we won't attack them there. As long as your men survive the trips in and out it’s a perfect arrangement."

"A big if there," Lord Jeremy commented drily. "What do you propose doing with this general? I take it you're in no rush to hand him over to us."

"The leader of the army, a general called Zygar, is thought to have been killed along with most of the high command. I don't know how much you know about Blue Dragon politics, but the leader of the army is effectively the leader of the country as well and all of the top political positions are filled by retired generals and commanders and being administrative positions they're less powerful than the current generals. If this Zygar is dead, this general may be in a position to negotiate a peace treaty. Considering the devastation left by those monsters, the Blues are likely to be willing to negotiate."

"A peace treaty?" Lord Daniel asked. "What a novel idea. I can't see it going down well with the rest of the Council and to be fair, I can't see how we could trust the Blues to keep to it."

"Would the Browns accept it?" Lord Robert asked dubiously. "They'd have to agree too."

"Depends what we propose," Mark replied. "If we can agree a proposal now, then we can present a united front to the rest of the Council."

The others paused for a moment to consider this. "I'm keen," Lord Robert stated, breaking the silence. "My cities will share the fate of Obud if we try and retake them. That won't matter to Prince Henry, but Lord Lance will understand."

"We're all keen for peace," Lord Jeremy pointed out. "That's why we're here. But how can we achieve it?"

Noah cleared his throat and the others turned to him expectantly. "As far as I see it, for this treaty to be a success, it has to be acceptable to all three parties or it will not last. To do this, it needs to be carefully balanced. It must include some measure of compensation from the Blues, but not so much that they reject it. It needs to reduce the likelihood that they will attack again, but not in a manner that they feel leaves them weakened and prone to attack. Thirdly, it needs to ensure that the Browns and you receive some sort of reward for success, or your leaders will want more and finally, it needs to facilitate cooperation between all parties involved. I say three parties, although these are just the main parties. There are six parties if you include us, the Wasp and the Sandy Dragons and then even more when you consider the dispossessed peoples living in our land."

"A good summary of the challenge," Lord Daniel said. "How do we achieve it?"

"We draft the treaty ourselves, without involving the rest of the Council. The six of us get it finished today. I have already been discussing this with some of my colleagues for two days now and have a good starting point. We then present the treaty tomorrow to the Council, to the Browns, the Sandys and Wasps and most importantly to Kanesh. I'll have Jude send communications to each of the various parties to get them to attend a negotiation meeting the day after tomorrow."

"That's a little ambitious," Lord Daniel observed politely. "Bear in mind it took the Military Council over three months to draft new regulations for the training of conscripts last year."

"Which still haven't been approved," Lord Jeremy added. "I don't think that you realise how our Council works yet."

"That may be," Noah admitted. "But this is unprecedented and extraordinary measures are required. It will be difficult, but it is in interest of every party to agree. The Blues will have limited room to object, seeing as their army is in ruins. The Browns, Sandys and Wasps all know that the Blues would turn their attention to them for revenge if peace was made between you and the Blues and they weren't included in the agreement, so they should be relatively easy to work with. And for all the bluster of your Council since the victory, everyone is aware how large that army was and how near to complete destruction you came. I don't think anyone really knows how badly the Blue Dragon Army has been hurt; if they can be convinced that they still have a fight in them, then it may be easier to persuade them to find a peaceful solution."

"Do you mean to lie to the Council?" Lord Robert asked. "I can't agree to that."

"Not lie," Noah replied. "The opposite, really. That army was several times as large as yours; if only a quarter has survived then they still might outnumber you. They'll have retreated to their cities, and probably also to the cities they took from you. Retaking them might be harder than you think. I'd recommend sending your own spies to your Southern and Northern Principalities, and quickly. Everyone is assuming that you have an easy task ahead of you; anything that can challenge that view will smooth the passage of this treaty."

"I'll get on it," Prince Gerald said, standing up. "I have friends in military intelligence; I can bypass the Council for this. They should be doing this anyway, really."

"I'll get word out to our spies," Mark volunteered. "We can get word to Jude and he'll then send messages to all of the other nations."

"Excellent," Noah replied. "Then get back here as fast as you can to help with the writing of this treaty. We'll get started straight away, but we'll need help from both of you. If this document is agreed, it may change our world for ever."

Chapter 35 - The End

Crystal had seen many street parties in her home town of Black Rock, as well as one or two celebrations in Furnace to mark the birthdays of various members of the royal family, but nothing prepared her for the festivities that marked the signing of the treaty. The city was completely transformed, with every street decorated and dancing in every square. It was going to be a long night of partying and it looked like everyone in the city was out in the streets to celebrate. Although the war had been won some time ago, the formal signing of the peace treaty which had just taken place yesterday marked the end of the all hostilities.

"I was a little disappointed when I heard about the celebrations in Furnace after the Blues were defeated," Jenna commented as they walked through the streets towards the centre. "I thought we'd missed out being stuck in the East. But I bet they were nothing compared to this."

"We just got back in time," Crystal replied, shaking her head as someone offered her a drink from a stall at the side of the road.

"Don't be silly," Seth told her. "They're in our honour! They couldn't have started without us."

"
John's
honour," Daisy corrected. "He's the one that they're celebrating."

"If only they knew which Golden Dragon he was," Seth mused. "You could help them out there. You don't need to stay hidden now."

John was wearing a hat that covered his hair and was passing by unrecognised. They had seen several Golden Dragons in the streets who people were assuming were John and he had done nothing to disillusion them.

"I'm happier this way, Seth," John replied, pulling his hat closer to his head. "I don't need lots of attention from people I don't know."

"You don't know what you're missing out on," Jenna replied. "Besides, I feel as if we should be getting some sort of recognition as well. We did fly all the way there and back to get the Browns into this war. I don't know why we have to miss out just because you're shy."

"Leave him alone," Arthur replied, taking Jenna's arm. "You're getting enough attention as it is."

Crystal stared at Jenna in surprise, who smirked smugly back at her. So she was back with her Prince. Crystal wondered when that had happened.

"You won't be able to avoid the attention at the palace," Seth remarked. "Isn't there going to be some sort of official recognition of what you did at this ceremony?" Unfortunately, Crystal and her friends were obliged to attend the official ceremony held in the palace, which would probably take several hours.

"Of what
we
did," John replied. "All of the Golden Dragons, not just me. Noah will be representing us, so I can hide at the back."

"What?" Seth asked in amazement. "So why are we going? I thought we were only going to cheer you on. This is going to be the dullest part of the day."

"Sorry, Seth," John replied. "But the rest of us have to be there anyway, so you may as well come along."

"Our whole family will be there," Daisy said. "There's no way we could get out of this. I would have thought that your family would have to be there as well. The King is your great uncle, isn't he, Seth?"

"It's a very large family," Seth replied. "No one would notice if I wasn't there. Not even my own parents, let alone the King."

"I have to be there as well," Crystal added. "My father was the Commander of the Southern Army, so it's expected that his family would be there."

"Was?" Seth asked. "Has he retired?"

"Yes," Jenna replied. "And he very kindly recommended that my father take over. I am now the daughter of the Commander of the Southern Army. Although I do admit, it's probably a good thing that there's not likely to be any fighting any time soon as I don't think he's that familiar with how the army works."

The others all laughed at this.

"What will your father do now?" Daisy asked.

"Some sort of government role," Crystal replied. "He was a little vague about it."

"Well, congratulations, Jenna," Seth added. "But I'm still not looking forwards to this ceremony and think we should try and get out of it. It's going to be very dull. Will they read through the whole treaty? Do you think they'll mind if I fall asleep while they do?"

"I can summarise it for you," John replied. "It's quite straight forward?"

"You know what's in it?" Crystal asked in surprise. "I thought only the Council knew what was in it. And the commanders of the Blues and Browns. My father didn't give me any details."

"Not just Blues and Browns," John replied. "Golden Dragons, Sandys, Wasps and a few smaller nations also. And seeing as my brother helped draft it I know exactly what's in it. He discussed some of it with me while he was drafting it."

"Did you really help write it?" Daisy asked. "A treaty that our government signed?"

"That's only fair," Seth replied. "He did end the war. So what's in the treaty? Give us the short version."

"The short version, alright. Firstly, you get your cities back of course, along with some modest advances in your borders. The Browns get to keep their gains, as do the Sandy and Wasp dragons. No one actually gains that much land, truth be told, but it's enough to satisfy the vanity of your leaders and appease the more vengeful members of your Council."

"Probably best if you didn't describe them like that when we're in the palace," Crystal pointed out.

"Fair enough," John replied. "That's the uninteresting part, although the bit which took the longest to negotiate. Your Council found it difficult to agree amongst themselves let alone with the other nations. But the bits that Noah and Mark put together are far more exciting."

"Well, tell us," Jenna replied impatiently. "We'll be there soon."

"I will. Secondly, the Blues are to get a completely new style of government. This general will be the last military leader to run the country, a change that will hopefully rein in their tendency to invade their neighbours, but the changes go much further than just changing the leader. The structure of their new government will be something that combines ours and your way of doing things and should give them a more responsible government that looks after their own people, rather than concentrating solely on expanding its borders. Like your principalities, they going to be divided into nine regions, each with powerful local governments and a weak central government."

"Our King wouldn't like that comparison," Seth interrupted. "But it does hobble our ability to do anything, so I can see why you'd want to impose it on the Blues."

"There are other changes to their government. The army would no longer run the government, but would report to the government and answer to it. The government itself would be elected, so the Blues would choose their own leaders, with everyone over sixteen able to vote. Finally, each region would host peacekeepers, delegates of ours, who would be there to observe the Blues and ensure that they keep to the letter of the treaty. The government will take time to establish itself and we'll be there to help that happen."

"Very good, although I don't envy you the task," Arthur commented. "And I'm not sure about this style of government either. It may work for you, but I think larger nations such as ours benefit from the stability that a King provides. I find it hard to believe that my brother agreed to this suggestion."

"I think he really liked the idea," John replied. "Now we get to the really interesting bit. The south-western part of their territory was not really captured by anyone, but was abandoned when they fled the attacks from the True Dragons. Instead of returning the land to them, or giving it to you or the Browns, three new cities are to be built on the ruins of that land."

"What?" Seth asked in surprise. "But that should be our land. We defeated them, after all."

"Not really," Daisy replied. "John did. We just fled from that land."