It was quite a story. Den was right about that.

He and Floridiana took turns regaling us with their adventures, from their first run-in with Captain Rock above the Caligo Amnis, to their meeting with the Lady of the Photinia Tree, to their stints with her ally the Lady of the Evergreen Azalea and many other tree spirits. On their way out of the Wilds, they returned to the Lady of the Photinia Tree and negotiated for knock-out smoke to use against Lord Silurus. That led to a second battle against the rock macaque demons, which culminated in Lord Magnissimus stepping in and dealing Captain Rock such a crushing defeat that King Haplor was forced to accede to Den and Floridiana’s demands and send an army to assist us.

Unlike the other taskforce members (mostly Bobo), I didn’t gasp or ooh and aah as I listened, of course, but I did find myself breathing faster at times. It was an exciting tale. I’d give them that. But beyond that, everything they described triggered such a sense of nostalgia in me. Oh, I’d lived much further west in the Jade Mountains, so I recognized none of the demons or landmarks they named. I’d never even heard of the Caligo Amnis. But the landscape – the cliffs, the aspens, the landslides, the narrow icy rivers – it all sounded so familiar. And the constant skirmishing among rulers of fiefs and lone demons – ah, that was my home. That was my world.

A scaly coil nudged me, startling me into a jump. “Isssn’t it a good ssstory?” asked Bobo. “I’ve never ssseen you ssso happy.”

Me? Happy?

I’m not happ– I began indignantly, then amended it. Yes, as a matter of fact, I’m pleased to see Den and Floridiana returned to us safely. At the head of an army, no less. Now, what abilities have you developed during your time in the Wilds?

Den – and he was definitely acting like Den again, not Densissimus Imber the mighty dragon king – flashed a big grin. “I’ve gotten much better at creating illusions, plus I’m physically stronger. And I can do this.”

Standing up on his chair, he threw his arms wide. In the corners of the Great Hall, the hot, dead air stirred. It swept around the walls, picking up speed until the tapestries whipped in the wind. A wrought-iron candelabra toppled, spilling its oil lamps across the rushes on the floor. They caught fire with a whoosh.

“Argh!”

Den pushed his hands forward, shoving air at the fire as if he were trying to blow out a single rushlight. That only fanned the flames higher.

Floridiana had buried her head in her hands.

“Was that supposed to happen?” Mistress Jek inquired, half-confident that the dragon king knew what he was doing, yet half-concerned that the floor was on fire.

“Um um um, water water water.”

Den scanned the Great Hall for any kind of liquid, but alas, the air was dry and there was no stewpot from which to draw water. He gestured again, and the winds tore the tapestries off the walls and dumped them on top of the fire, smothering it. A burned smell wafted through the room.

The baron wasn’t going to like that. But hey, on the bright side, those tapestries had been worn and faded and now he had an excuse to commission new ones.

“Ta-da,” said Den, although not very proudly. “I can control the winds now.”

I gave the rest of the taskforce a moment to calm their breathing before I got back to business. All right. Those are potentially useful skills against Lord Silurus. Floridiana?

The mage didn’t flinch the way she used to when I turned my gaze on her, but she still wouldn’t meet my eyes. “For human mages, it’s less a matter of developing specific new abilities and more a matter of increasing overall magical strength.”

Meaning you can do the same things you could before, just better.

That was disappointing, but I could work with it. I’d seen her walk and fight underwater, and now that I thought about it, we were sorely lacking in aquatic fighters. At the moment, the only people we had who could do battle underwater were her and Den. The duck demons were more of water surface fighters – and I didn’t trust them not to turn tail and flee when they saw Lord Silurus. They were bandits, after all, not soldiers.

As for land combat, we had one wild boar, a lot of rock macaques, Baron Claymouth’s knight, cats, rats, and possibly a ragged peasant force waving shovels and axes.

No. No way I was involving the peasants. I couldn’t afford any more deaths on my hands. Feet. Whatever.

But there was no getting around it: We were going to need military assistance from the Black Sand Creek Water Court.

Den, talk to Yulus and convince him to join us. We need his guards.

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“You want me to ask King Yulus to lend us his guards? Just like that?” he gasped.

Yes. Right now, we’re far better equipped for a land battle – and we’ll find a way to turn it into one – but the first part is going to be underwater. Hence we need more people who can fight underwater. You and Floridiana will not be enough.

“Uh…,” Floridiana babbled, “when I said that I increased my magical strength overall, I meant in general terms, the improvement varies by the specific ability….”

That’s fine, I’ve seen you fight underwater. You’ll be fine.

To my surprise, Den leaned forward block my view of her (unsuccessfully). He even sounded protective as he declared, “Floridiana is the best at using the smoke crocks. She’s too important to sacrifice.”

Aww, look at me, helping a dragon king make friends! Would the Accountants give me credit for improving his social life?

We can discuss that later. We’re getting off topic. Den, we need Yulus’ support. You got him to help the Jeks before, back when they were starving. Just repeat what you did last time.

“Uh….”

The sooner the better. You’re due up in the Heaven for the Meeting of the Dragon Host in a week, are you not? That means we have one week to kill Lord Silurus.

“You want to kill Lord Silurus in the next week?!”

There is no way this barony can support an army of demons long enough for you to attend the meeting and return. They’re going to start eating people long before then, and then we’ll have to kill them, and that’s just going to be messy all around.

Not to mention terrible for all of our karma totals.

So off you go! Convince Yulus!

“Uh…did you mean right now?”

Well, is there anything anyone else wants to discuss before we adjourn this meeting?

I made sure to look at each taskforce member in turn, but all of them were shaking their heads. They acted dazed by the timeline. I didn’t know what else they expected from the moment they laid eyes on that army.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all…,” Den muttered to Floridiana.

She pinched her lips together. “If you like, I can go with you to negotiate with King Yulus.”

“Yeah, yeah! I’d like that.”

But I called her back before she could follow him out of the Great Hall. No, Den will be fine on his own. You need to show me these smoke crocks and act as my liaison to the army that you brought back. Oh, and the baron wants to see your lesson plans for the school. He needs to approve them before you can start teaching.

For some reason, that last part was what garnered a truly horrified reaction from the mage.

----------------------------------------

Den went home first.

He knew he wasn’t supposed to, that he was delaying their attack on Lord Silurus, perhaps even procrastinating his audience with King Yulus – but he had to see Caltrop Pond again. Journeys changed people, held the conventional wisdom. What if he returned from this journey and saw only what Caltrop Pond was not?

It was not big, it was not grand, it was not a seat of power. He had to see for himself that he still fit in there. That his friends were still there. That it was still home.

He was so afraid it wouldn’t feel like home anymore.

But when he rounded the familiar bend and came to the familiar break in the trees and saw the familiar lush green caltrop rosettes floating on the water, every scale on his body relaxed and smoothed back down. He ran for the pond, kicked off a rock on the edge, displacing it with his force – oops – and dove into the water.

Unlike the Fog River’s icy turquoise, Caltrop Pond was calm and green and lit by warm sunlight. The water wrapped around him like a favorite robe. He could almost believe that it was welcoming him back. He spread his arms, flipped onto his back, and let himself sink gently to the bottom.

He was too tall for the entryway. He didn’t duck his head enough, and his horns scraped the “Caltrop Pond Water Court” sign. He winced, straightened it, then concentrated and shrank until the view at eye level looked as he remembered it. Ah, much better.

He walked down the entry tunnel, running a hand along the wall and feeling the bumpy packed earth. It was late afternoon, the quietest part of the day, when any last guests had dragged their hungover selves home, and Ory, Sati, and Paddy were napping to prepare for the long night and the dawn ahead.

King Haplor posted rock macaque or swallow demon guards in his cave stronghold at all hours, to make sure no assassin could simply stroll into his bedroom. King Yulus always had shrimp or frog honor guards on duty, as befitted the dignity of the Dragon King of Black Sand Creek. Pausing in the doorway to his audience chamber, Den tried to picture a pair of guards standing where he was.

Nope. Couldn’t see it.

He crossed the dance floor, smiled at his throne with its caltrop nut-shaped back, and passed into the tunnel that led to the bedrooms. The crabs’ room was empty, all the servants in the kitchen churning out food for the party ahead. The rice paddy snake spirits’ room, too, was empty.

Den felt a pang of fear. Had he stayed away too long? Had his courtiers moved on to serve more powerful lords? Had his friends abandoned him?

Snoring drifted out of the bedroom at the end of the tunnel. He swam for it.

A little voice at the back of his mind noted that he was gliding through the water at speeds he couldn’t have reached before, but it was unimportant. Bursting through the strings of dried caltrop nuts that hung in the doorway and ripping off some of them by accident, he stared down at the long, contented, sleeping forms of Ory, Sati, and Paddy.

On his bed.

He grinned.

With a pump of his tail, he was hovering over them. He grew about a foot in length, stuck out all his claws in an attack pose, and shouted, “BOO!”

“Aaargh!”

His friends jerked awake, shrieking. At the sight of the giant dragon looming over them, they scrambled off his bed, twisting and tangling up into one another into a ball of knotted coils that rolled and bounced for the door.

Den couldn’t help it. Plopping onto his bed – ah, his soft, soft caltrop rosette bed! – he flopped onto his back, threw his arms and legs wide, and bellowed with laughter.

Three pointy heads poked out of the ball of coils.

“Den!” screamed Paddy. “Den! You’re back!”

She slithered out of the ball, tugging impatiently on her coils to free them, and wrapped herself around him.

“Den?” Sati flung himself on them next. “It’s really you! You’re finally home!”

Ory came last, glaring down at him. “That took you long enough! What were you doing, staying away so long? Do you know how much paperwork we had to fill out? Heaven ordered an extra financial report while you were gone, and we had no idea how to write it, and – ”

She peppered him with complaints until he wriggled an arm out from under Paddy and Sati and yanked her down for a hug.

“It’s good to be home,” he sighed.