The draconic alcaoris takes a long time to respond. When he does, it’s not to either accept or reject the Bond.

Why should I accept this? he asks. Despite the slightly dismissive edge to his emotions, there’s more respect and wariness present than there was in the recent Battle of Wills. You are…not as weak as I thought. Nor is the idea that you were the one to destroy the trees I planted quite as laughable as it was before. Yet if I reject this, what could you do? You have not proven capable of killing me.

He seems genuinely curious where before he might have been contemptuous, so I answer him in the same spirit. I don’t know whether he will be able to pick up my thoughts as Kalanthia does, so focus on using Animal Empathy to aid my communications. I’m not nearly as familiar with this creature’s means of communication as I was with the samurans’, so I don’t know if it will help. Still, no harm in trying, right?

“The fighters I have present are not my only ones. And there are other possible connections I could draw on. You’re right – I’m not sure I could defeat you today. But I’m far more confident about being able to do it if I had time to prepare. I could probably double my strength; maybe more. Can you say the same?” Perhaps it’s a mistake to reveal that much: if he rejects the Bond and starts trying to attack again, then we will have to retreat and he will now be forewarned that we will be back.

But I sense that he’s weaker too than before – whatever that last attack was, it seems to have taken a lot out of him. The presence which had always been around him, something which made him seem bigger and more fearsome than he is – not that he needs much help with that – has fallen away. He still looks deadly, but he seems diminished in some way.

It puts me in mind of the aura which Kalanthia has used on me before. That one was unmistakable – a feeling of a predator ready to pounce. It had triggered my fight, freeze, or flee instinct, and I’d only managed to control them since I’d been aware of what was happening.

This one is more subtle, though – enhancing the alcaoris’ natural attributes and making him seem like a more difficult opponent than a blunt mental attack. Stripped of it, his teeth seem blunter, his scales less impenetrable. The wounds which he took from my Bound’s weapons and teeth seem more serious than before. I start wondering whether we actually could defeat him.

He’s grounded – his wings seem damaged from the fall – and his scales look paler than they were before, though whether that’s to do with blood loss, fatigue, or simply his aura being absent, I’m not sure. Still, there’s no guarantee of that and creating an agreement of some sort is probably better in the long run. Especially since I really don’t want to lose more Bound than I already have and, even weakened, the alcaoris would no doubt take as many with him as he could.

Then why did you try to fight without your full strength? he asks. It’s a good question, though one I’d rather not answer. I sigh.

“Because I underestimated your strength,” I admit. He fixes me with a hard look. It’s rather impressive when it comes from an eyeball about five times the size of mine in a head more than three times the size of Shrieks’.

How can you ask me to trust that you will find a way to give my eggs what they need without causing the consequences you fear when you have proven to have such poor judgement as to face me in your current state?

I wince at his summary of the situation. The problem is, he’s right. If I had realised just how powerful he is, I’d have retreated at the outset: it would have been easier to lay a trap for when he came out, or even to deal with him inside the caves than it’s proven to be when fighting him in the open. But I didn’t realise, and made decisions based on what I thought was right at the time. All I can do is try to be better next time. As for now….

“I have always found a way to do what I need to do,” I tell him honestly. “Sometimes it’s taken more time than I wanted, but I’ve always succeeded in the end.” Since coming to this world, anyway – I can’t say that the same was true back on Earth.

The alcaoris looks at me steadily for long moments, then finally I feel him moving on the other side of the Tame offer. I can’t tell exactly what he’s doing; all I can tell is that he hasn’t just rejected it which is a good sign.

The ‘offer’ returns to me, like a trade window has been adjusted on his side, but not fully accepted. Now, his requests and requirements are clearer.

He has required me to come up with an alternative solution to the issue in the next three days. In the meantime, neither I nor any under my command may act against him or his eggs in any way. If I do not find a solution for him, I swear not to interfere with his eggs until they are hatched.

I think about it for a long moment, then adjust it a little. I agree to not allowing any under my command to interfere with him in the three day truce, but require that he reciprocates. I also add that if I don’t find a solution to ensuring his eggs get what they need while also solving my quest, that he will then help me find a way to deal with whatever the effects are of the blockage continuing.

He hesitates for a moment, before accepting on his end. I do the same and the Bond snaps into place. Much like Sirocco's, this Bond is very much based on the mutual desire of both parties to keep in place. I sense that it’s equally as restricted in terms of what I can do to affect either the Bond or the alcaoris through it; perhaps even more so.

But the fact that I've managed to make a Bond with a creature I’ve been worried was going to kill us all is a victory in itself. However, as I consider the number of Bound who have died in the last…twenty minutes? It seems a rather pyrrhic one.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I am going to check on my eggs, the alcaoris announces. Remove the barrier in the tunnel.

“Can’t you take it down quickly enough?” I ask tiredly. “The one who created it is exhausted; she won’t fight against you any more, but she probably can’t get rid of it quickly either.”

The alcaoris sniffs huffily.

Considering it was your subordinates who put it in place, I would have thought it should be your responsibility to remove it. It takes far too much mana to eat through plant matter for me to succeed at the moment and I’d rather not wear my claws and teeth further. I sigh.

“Fine,” I reply, stalking off to the tunnel mouth. I can’t unweave the blockage, but I can burn it.

My aches are slowly improving, my natural regeneration healing the superficial damage from the explosion. I move faster towards the tunnel than I’d been able to cross the clearing, and quickly approach the woven barrier. It doesn’t take much fire to catch light to the roots, and only a bit of time to burn the remains of the woven obstacle to ash.

The effect of the draconic creature’s teeth and claws are certainly in evidence but, true to his words, there’s not much acid damage, and more to the floor than the roots, in fact. I suppose there’s the proof of my theory that he used acid to create the tunnel rather than Shaping it.

Once the barrier is reduced to ash, the alcaoris brushes past me swiftly, disappearing quickly into the darkness. I head back out, eager to check on my Bound now that the danger of attack has passed.

Outside, Sirocco checks with me first whether I need to have eyes in the air still. When I confirm that I probably don’t, she soars to land on my shoulder as I move quickly towards where the woven dome was. It’s open on one side now, and my Bound have spilled out from it.

They’re in a sorry condition, though I’m relieved to have confirmation with my own eyes that all who were alive before the final attack are still alive now. Unfortunately, we’ve lost six from our group, and we only started with twenty to begin with. Twenty-one if we include Aingeal.

Murmur, Demon, and Wolverine were killed earlier. Peace, Woozle, and Marty fell to the scythe attack while the dragon was still tied up in the net. Bastet’s group has been cut in half, as has the small group of Warriors I Dominated not far from Kalanthia’s cave.

The knowledge of the losses mean that there is none of the jubilation which might have been expected from surviving a battle with a Tier three – and one who was apparently unusually powerful to boot. But I don’t blame them. A Bond is probably the best outcome, but it’s certainly not as satisfying as succeeding in killing it, and the losses are heavy.

At least, that’s how I feel. Shrieks seems to have a different opinion.

As I approach, he looks up, relief coming over the Bond.

You are unharmed.

“I am,” I confirm. Out of everyone, I’m probably the least injured. Well, out of the fighters – Joy is exhausted but unharmed. River and Tarra aren’t even that. “But many of us are not.”

No, he agrees, and a sense of sadness comes across him as he looks back towards the battlefield. The bodies of our companions who were killed are no longer on the field – the explosion must have blown them away with the trees. We’ll have to find them to give them whatever honours are appropriate. But to have come out of a battle with such a powerful beast with only two Warriors dead is far better than can be expected.

“We lost six, not just two,” I remind him. Somehow, it rubs me up the wrong way to have the other four beings' efforts discounted.

They were Unevolved, Shrieks pointed out. It is more surprising that the casualties among the Unevolved were not greater. Unevolved have no place trying to fight anything above Evolved, and even then they often struggle.

That doesn’t actually make me feel any better: it just tells me that I should have barred all the Unevolved from joining the battle at all, but if I had done that, I suspect the casualties among the Warriors would have been higher. And I can’t bear to think that Bastet might have been killed along with them.

Just remember to do better next time, I remind myself. Now I’ve actually fought properly against a Tier three beast, I feel exceedingly lucky that Kalanthia has never really intended to kill me.

“It just shows how much your mother was holding back even when she was furious at me for the Bond between us,” I remark to Lathani, heading to check on the Bound who look to be in the worst condition.

Mother is weakened at the moment, anyway, Lathani remarks cheerfully. I freeze, looking at her.

“What?”

She’s told me. Having children is very difficult for our kind, Lathani explains willingly, though more seriously than before. She had to dedicate part of herself to me to help me survive. Until I Evolve, she’s not able to use even half of her abilities, and is magically and spiritually weakened. Or if I die, I suppose.

I stare at her wide-eyed, and notice several of my Bound – the samurans in particular – doing the same. Well. I suppose it makes sense. Her mental presence felt stronger than this alcaoris’, but I’ve only seen her use her Earth-Shaping skills where this creature had significantly more than just a single skill. I’d been kind of putting it down to Earth-Shaping being a wider skill than what the alcaoris demonstrated it was capable of, but what if it’s because she can’t use other skills while Lathani is still in Tier one?

And what would have happened if the shaman’s plan had gone through as intended? Lathani said that her mother would get her full capabilities back if she died, but what if the shaman’s interference meant that that wasn’t the case? I shiver at the implications. Suddenly, her caginess when talking about her Energy channels makes an awful amount of sense.

Another thought occurs and I fix the samurans in my company with a gimlet eye. Even River doesn’t escape my stare – I trust her more than almost anyone else present, but she now has commitments to the village as a Pathwalker.

“This is an order,” I say firmly, not letting there be any doubt, either in their minds or in the Bond. “Do not discuss what you have just learned about Kalanthia with anyone. Do not even hint about it, or act in a way that might take advantage of the information. Understand?”

Understood, Honoured Tamer, answer Shrieks and Iandee swiftly. River chimes in next with an ‘understood, master’ – I’m not sure if that was intentional or not. Joy and Tarra acknowledge my words next with a certain degree of hesitation in Joy’s case, and reluctance in Tarra’s. I understand it – this is valuable information which could help them if Kalanthia attacks them again. But hopefully that won’t come up. Ultimately, she’s my friend.

With that baffling information received and settled, I turn to healing my suffering Bound as quickly and efficiently as I can.