One of the SWAT team members was keeping a lookout. His eyes widened at the sight of Serenity, but Rissa put her finger over her lips and winked and he stayed silent.
Most of the others were watching the card game, even Ita. Serenity hadn’t realized she’d gotten out of the van until he saw her there, but he knew the others were aware of her presence. He’d made sure to introduce her so that no one would think she was on the other side.
“I’m out. Looks like you win this round.” Rachel tossed her hand on the table. Serenity assumed it was face-down, since no one paid much attention to it, but he wasn’t tall enough to see.
“Guys? Please clear the cards off the map.” Rissa interrupted the card players, who still hadn’t noticed her.
They turned to look; several looked puzzled, but it was Allen that spoke first. “That’s not a bird. Feathered, though, reminiscent of some of the winged dinosaurs. A relative, perhaps?”
That was such an Allen reaction the Serenity almost laughed. Instead, he jumped up onto the table. He couldn’t really fly in his hatchling form, but he could definitely jump. “Perhaps. I doubt it, though. Most dinosaurs appear to have been nonmagical, and dragons require magic.”
“It talks?”
“He, please.” Serenity corrected Allen. “Or you could use my name. Either of them would work.”
“Serenity?” Rachel was the first to make the connection.
“Yep. You already know I’m a shapeshifter; well, I’m really a dragon. Most dragons learn to shift. Okay? Can we start the planning now? They’re without a leader, but they haven’t discovered that yet, and I’d like to take advantage of it if we can.” Serenity wanted to jump past all the discussion of his shapeshifting. He especially wanted to jump past any discussion of how cute he was.
“Are the numbers right? Are there over a thousand Sterath in there?” Brown didn’t seem to notice anything strange about talking to a bird-like being standing on the table. Of course, he’d done little more than ask for confirmation that Ita was a Sterath collaborator before accepting her; perhaps he was simply more accepting than most.
Serenity nodded. “That sounds about right. There were a lot of them; most of the first floor is pretty densely occupied.”
Brown shook his head. “Then I don’t think there’s much we can do. That’s a massive operation; we don’t have enough people. Whatever the goal is, we probably can’t achieve it.”
Serenity started to say something about finding people; surely they’d be able to get military support or something for such a large grouping of Sterath. He stopped himself and considered what Brown was really getting at.
Serenity tilted his head. “The goal. That’s a good question. They can’t get reinforcements, and they can’t take things back with them. They’re leaderless for now-”
“There will be a leader as soon as they realize they don’t have one, even if they have to fight over it. The Kaelitha can’t stand not having a leader.” Ita sounded sad as she said the last sentence. “I’ve seen it. They’ll stop in the middle of a battle to fight if there isn’t a clear chain of succession. There should be a second-in-command that steps in, but if there’s someone else close enough there may still be a contest.”
Serenity nodded, accepting her expertise. “So we don’t know how long they’ll be disorganized, but until they have a new leader they’ll be following FlameHeart’s orders. His last orders were to prepare to move out of the city, to a safe place in the country. I think he was planning to make his own clan, since he failed here. Is there any way we can take advantage of that?”
“You’re thinking of giving them a place, aren’t you?” Ita glared at Serenity. “What do you think they wanted? They weren’t just looking for land. They’re warriors, first and only. They were looking for slaves who could do everything else.”
Her English was improving by leaps and bounds.
Serenity remembered other times when “he” had ordered the same thing and knew Ita was correct. He couldn’t wait for those memories to fade; they weren’t his and he didn’t want them. “You’re right. Killing them won’t be easy; there are too many of them. Giving them what they want is worse. Do we have any other options?”
“Killing them may not be as hard as you think. We should be able to get Federal support for this, even if we can’t get military support, and that brings a lot of equipment with it.” Brown frowned. “How long do we have before they try to move out? Getting the people and gear here could take some time after we convince people it’s necessary.”
“It’s hard to say.” Serenity didn’t have a clear timeline from FlameHeart’s memories. “The scouts hadn’t found an appropriate location to move to yet. So we probably have some time.”
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“We’re all going to ignore the fact that Serenity’s voice is coming from a talking lizard-bird?” Dr. Ridge’s eyes still hadn’t left Serenity.
Rachel groaned and tugged on Dr. Ridge’s arm, pulling him away from the table. “Yes, Allen, we’re ignoring the fact that Serenity is a shapeshifting dragon. It was already pretty obvious, he has horns and scales and wings sometimes. The only surprise is how small he is. Do you always have to do this?”
“He has scales?” Dr. Ridge sounded completely shocked.
“Weren’t you paying attention after the fight at the church?” Rachel sighed. “Never mind. Serenity, would you get off the table? I’d like to pack it up so we can leave. I don’t think we need to be here any longer.”
So that was why most of them didn’t react more. Serenity was suddenly glad he’d chosen to show off his chimera form; if it made people - well, other than Dr. Ridge - less likely to cause problems when they saw him as a dragon, it was worthwhile.
Serenity hopped off the table and turned to Ita. “Is there any other way to deal with them? Would they … they’re warriors, would they be willing to work as mercenaries?” It would be using one problem to solve another, and it would have its own difficulties. Humans still needed to fight, and managing the Sterath wouldn’t be easy. Still, having them fight Earth’s enemies seemed better than trying to keep them from fighting humans.
Ita would know if it was possible better than anyone else; not only was she Sterath herself, she’d lived among the Kaelitha. Serenity didn’t trust FlameHeart’s memories to give him opinions like that.
“Maybe.” Ita sounded doubtful. “More likely they’d consider it beneath them; they are Kaelitha, they believe they can defeat anyone and take what they want. It all comes down to the leader, but I think most are too proud. It’d take power to get them there. What rank was their leader?”
“BattleLord. Tier Five, I think. Maybe low six but probably five.” Serenity was never, ever going to attempt to Merge with someone at a Tier that much higher than his own again. Ever.
At least not until he really figured out why it had almost gone so wrong. Yes, the BattleLord was higher Tier, but was that all there was to it? Was there a Path Skill involved as well, or simply attributes? Unless he knew, it was best to be safe.
“BattleLord? That seems high for this number of warriors. Perhaps only half his people had arrived? A BattleLord usually has a … what is the word? Four-high Group. Eight eights of eight Groups. Often more, as messengers and the like are on top of the Groups.” Ita frowned. “A BattleLord would definitely be high enough rank to order his Groups to act under another. Their aide … maybe, maybe not. Probably high enough rank but would they give up the power?”
That was likely why Tranquil Conviction took the chestplate with BattleLord FlameHeart’s markings; Serenity could see several ways he might have been able to turn it into enough authority to get the Sterath to do something.
Ita tapped her leg, looking at the ground. “Do you know if the aide is Named? Without a Name, getting Sterath to follow you like a Lord of any sort is hard. He would have to speak for someone who is Named.”
Serenity shook his head. The answer to that was easy. “No. FlameHeart was the only Named Sterath they sent. The only Named Sterath left on Earth is Tranquil Conviction.”
Ita stopped tapping and slowly looked up at Serenity. “But that is not true. You have a Name.”
“I’m not Sterath.” There was no way they would accept a non-Sterath just because he had a Name.
“Are you not? You are fluid, can you not look like a Sterath?” Ita grinned; Serenity didn’t think a shark would look more bloodthirsty than she did at that moment. “You are a Shameful One. If they have no Named, you can claim them. They may fight you, but so long as they obey the Rules of Honor, they know they will lose. Honor cannot beat a Shameful One. Will Tranquil Conviction bar your way?”
Serenity’s gut reaction was that of course he would, Tranquil Conviction was his opponent.
And yet. He’d seemed different in the mall. “Huh. I think he might actually like it if I turned them into cannon fodder. I think he hates them. Do you have any idea why?”
Ita shook her head. “It is best for those following the path of Honor to avoid the Shameless and even worse the Shameful Ones. If I could I would ask now, but now I am Shameless. I was not, then. I know the Shameful Ones have their favorites and their enemies but it is, no, it was not my place to worry about it.”
It was a better plan than trying to outright kill them; it would make them useful instead of a threat. He hoped he wouldn’t have to be there, though; that wouldn’t work. “Would I be able to have them obey people other than me? People they know are human?”
Ita nodded. “They would probably be happier if you did. No one likes spending time with a Shameful One if they are not Shameless.”
“You make me feel so appreciated.” Serenity was joking, mostly; he knew that Ita was mostly over her initial issues with him, even though she still sometimes startled easily.
“I am yours, Lord.” Ita crouched down as low as she could easily get.
Dammit Ita. There she went again. “Get up! You know I don’t want you doing that.”
Ita straightened. “Lord.”
Serenity grumbled, but decided to ignore it. Pushing her on the issue helped but only if he didn’t push too hard. “So. That sounds like a plan, but I’m going to need your help. Where would I begin? Should I wait until they know FlameHeart is missing?”
“He is missing? Not dead somewhere?” Ita sounded surprised.
He … hadn’t mentioned Merge to her, had he? Well, he wasn’t going to talk about it here. Not in front of Rachel, Dr. Ridge, and the SWAT team. He trusted his own team enough, but not everyone else. “Yes. Just missing. Hopped away from everyone, then disappeared.”
Ita turned to look at the mall as if it would tell her something. After a moment, she started. “You will want to present yourself soon. Before they know he’s gone if you can. Demand to talk to the BattleLord. By Name if you can, to show your command. That will help you display your Name to the unNamed and give you a good start. Once they have acknowledged you they will not be able to take it back, but if there is a full commander in place it will be harder.”