Haku, king of all dragons

Sarpa blinked. "... a city?" he murmured, hoping that he had misunderstood.

If anyone else had made such a request, the ogre would have assumed that this someone was asking to let him rule a city. But he knew that the dragons couldn't care a damn about ruling anything, much less an ogre city. In their eyes, ruling a city was nothing but a waste of time. It was no different than trying to ruling an anthill.

Haku sighed. "I guess I didn't express myself well" he said. "Okay, I'll try to rephrase the request: I'll make you a king and I'll give you the possibility to prepare your people for the future human invasion, but in return I want your help to destroy one of your cities"

Sarpa clenched his fists and swallowed. What the dragon was asking was downright awful. He certainly couldn't promise it so lightly! Although Sarpa had helped Haku a lot in starting that war, up to that moment he hadn't done anything that could really affect his conscience. After all, all the dead there were so far were soldiers, and soldiers existed to go to war and die. Not to mention that many of those soldiers had rushed to the front lines voluntarily in the hope of finding glory. Therefore Sarpa wasn't concerned for them, and what little guilt he possessed was easily erased by his oath and his concern for his son still held hostage.

But helping dragons destroy a city… that was way beyond that. In a city there were old people, women, children. Helpless, innocent people. Despite his oath and his desire to see his son again, Sarpa wasn't sure he would have been able to allow such a thing.

But now, the situation had changed. As much as he hated him, that damned dragon had become the only one who could prevent his people from being completely wiped out or enslaved or even worse in the future. Sarpa knew that the ogres at present had no chance of winning against the humans, so relying on Haku was the only hope; hr still didn't know what the dragon intended to do, but he knew he would have kept his promise one way or another.

If that would have saved all the ogres in the Karbraland Great Forest, then sacrificing a few thousand innocents couldn't be such a high price, right?

Sarpa wasn't sure. He didn't want to accept, but he knew that refusing meant risking losing everything. So he did the most obvious thing: he took time, inquired about the dragon's intentions and hoped to be able to negotiate. "Why would you want to destroy a city? Do you want to eat its inhabitants? Don't the armies and the forest already provide you with enough food?"

Haku grinned. He had been succesfull. Sarpa had taken the bait. His plan had worked!

Kotaru had been right: Sarpa wouldn't have been able to sacrifice a city in exchange for his son. Haku could have seen it on his face when he told him. If he had no further benefits, Sarpa would almost certainly have tried to stop them. But Haku doubted that he could find anything valuable enough to silence Sarpa's conscience. So he had decided to rely on the most powerful weapon he knew: fear.

Sarpa until that moment had respected Haku's wishes because he was afraid of him, enough to ignore the guilt feelings regarding the other soldiers. But where the lives of innocent people were concerned, a greater fear was needed. And so Haku had decided to use a very effective technique: introducing a new enemy into the game, one strong enough to be a danger not only to the soldiers, but to all the inhabitants of the Karbraland Great Forest. Thanks to Ethan's diary, Haku had evidence that a future human invasion was possible, if not basically sure. With that, it would have been impossible for Sarpa to deny the reality. At that point Haku had only had to lay bare all the flaws in the ogres' social system that would surely mark their demise, leaving it clear that he was the only hope for the ogre to avoid that dire future for his people. Now, all Haku had to do was use enough rhetoric to convince Sarpa that sacrificing one city in exchange for all the others wasn't a bad deal. "It's not about the food, actually" he said, pretending to be condescending. "What we're aiming for is something locked away in warehouses"

"Then there is no need to destroy the city!" Sarpa tried to say. "I can..."

"No, you can't. Trust me, I've already explored every possible scenario" Haku immediately stopped him. "Believe me, there's no way you're going to go in there and come out with what we need. There are too many guards. Even if you're an ogre too, they won't trust you enough to let you in anywhere and take away what you want without permission"

Sarpa stopped, and he seemed to be brooding to himself. "May I know your plan?" he asked after a few moments.

Haku reflected, wondering if he should tell her. But then he decided he could do it: if he couldn't convince the ogre, he wouldn't have let him go alive. "Okay. Listen carefully..."

Haku explained the plan to Sarpa, albeit in very little detail. After all, what was important was the big picture, and the ogre didn't need to know more. He made sure Sarpa understood that there was no other way to get what he and his siblings needed, and that if there was a more discreet way he would certainly have followed it. When he was done, Sarpa was thinking so hard that the skin on his forehead was redder than usual. Then suddenly he seemed to be struck by an epiphany; he was so elated he almost smiled. "I agree to help you, but on one condition: you must let me save the inhabitants!"

Haku snorted, surprised by that stupid request. "You know that's not possible. Anyone who sees me or my brothers and sisters will have to die. This is non negotiable and..."

"No, no, listen to me! There's a way to keep them from seeing you!" Sarpa exclaimed.

Haku stopped. He didn't understand what the ogre was saying, but Sarpa looked quite sure of himself. He decided that it was worth at least hearing what he wanted to propose. "Speak" he told him.

Sarpa felt his blood freeze under the dragon's inquisitive gaze, but he kept his composure: "You must know that the three great cities of my people have a secret. Do you know why they are so prosperous, while all the other tribes aren't?"

Haku thought about it. He had never asked himself that question, but it actually seemed rather strange. "Because the women are more fertile?" he tried with the first thing that came to his mind.

Sarpa shook his head. "No, it isn't for that. The trick is that these tribes, even when they lost a conflict with each other, didn't suffer many civilian losses" he replied. "You see, under each of the three large cities there is a cave. It isn't large, but it can allow the entire population to take refuge underground in case of danger. This cave is several meters underground, but the inhabitants of the city have dug a tunnel. It is very small and consequently it is easily defensible: even a handful of ten or so ogres could be able to defend it, even if they had a whole army against them. This is why the three big cities are so numerous: even when they lost battles and their territory was invaded, the population took refuge underground and waited there until the enemy retreated. Even if the city was burned or destroyed, the population survived. This allowed the three big cities to never suffer too many losses and continue so to grow steadily, until they become the strongest and most feared tribes"

Haku was interested now. He didn't know that particular feature of ogre cities. "I wonder why the human didn't mention it in his diary..." he murmured.

"Because it is a secret of my people" Sarpa explained. "After the three great tribes became the strongest, they enjoined all the others never to tell strangers about it. In return, they promised the other tribes that if they were able to reach the cities in time they could find refuge underground too. During the generations, this rule became so fundamental that today no one would even think of ignoring it"

Haku nodded. This actually made sense: even a seasoned spy like Ethan wouldn't have been able to uncover such a secret if all the ogres agreed not to tell anyone. "I think I understand what you want to propose me: you want to ask me to wait for the population to take refuge underground, right?"

Sarpa nodded. "In that way, they won't see you. I don't ask you to show mercy to the guards or the sentinels, but after you will eliminate them, please wait for the women, the children and the elderly to escape"

Haku reflected. The idea was not a bad one: indeed, that way it would have been even easier to appease Sarpa's conscience and guarantee his loyalty. However, there was a problem. "We will have to make the ogres believe that the destruction of the city was wanted by the fairies. Wouldn't it be strange if they left without affecting the civilian population?"

Sarpa shook his head. "Not at all. As I told you before, the tunnel is easy to defend. It will seem normal that the fairies have stopped there. Such a sneak attack could be the work of only one battalion, and therefore had a time limit to attack since the flames would be seen from afar and the ogre army would be rushing to check within hours.In contrast, the faeries would probably choose to burn the city and carry off valuables, ignoring the populace who have taken refuge underground. After all, you too are only interested in valuables, not the people, aren't you?"

Haku thought about it. Actually, what Sarpa said was absolutely logical. In fact, it would have been even easier for him and his siblings: in that way, they wouldn't have had to worry about some ogre surviving hiding somewhere, or trying to flee the city.

Finally he made a decision. "Here's what I'm going to let you do. As you well know, the plan will start with a fire. As soon as you see the fire, you'll have to start leading the population underground" he said. "Before attacking civilians I will wait until the guards are completely eliminated and the wall is engulfed in flames. In total, then you should have ten, maybe fifteen minutes to get as many innocents to safety as possible". His eyes suddenly narrowed: "But after that time, any ogre that isn't underground yet will die. This isn't negotiable. It doesn't matter if they are soldiers, women, children or elders: even if they beg you to let them enter the tunnel, you won't open the door. This is my last offer"

Sarpa swallowed: it was clear that the dragon wouldn't have accepted any objection. That was really his last offer. "I fully understand" he replied. He mentally tried to console himself: after all, the time available to him was enough. In all probability he would have been able to save at least half the population, perhaps even more. If that would have granted him the dragons' aid in preparing the ogre tribes for the future human invasion, that was a price that he was willing to pay. Besides, he was sure that if he rejected the dragon's offer again he would have just killed him and then he would have carried out the plan even without his help, destroying the city completely. Therefore, it was better to be condescending: in that way he would have been able to save at least someone, even if not everyone.

"So, we have a new deal?" Haku asked, smiling wickedly. For a moment, he really seemed a demon.

Sarpa sighed deeply, as if he were mentally trying to accept that choice, and then he answered: "Yes. We have a new agreement"

Haku laughed. "Gorgeous!" he exclaimed. "It's a pleasure to bargain with you, Sarpa"

The ogre wasn't sure that was a compliment. "Take one curiosity away from me, though: how are you going to make me a king?" he asked, unable to hold the question any longer.

Haku stopped laughing and glanced at the pile of stolen items behind him. "Oh, I'll just give you an hand with some... fairy magic"