Chapter 68
Part 12
“Do you want to mate with me?” Talvol asked Reggie, who blushed almost purple in the firelight in
embarrassment, which was aggravated by his sisters and Karzog breaking outughing.
“Uh, I’ve heard that Sylvan females gain status amongst themselves by being mated by males of high
status.” Reggie stammered. “I assume that’s why you’re asking me? Since we’ve assumed control
here, I’m the highest status male?”
“That’s right.” Talvol smiled. “And males gain status from mating more females than the other males.
We don’t mind that if the male has really high status like you, so if it’ll help convince you, you can have
all three of us.”
“Sure.” Meblit agreed. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“We don’t mind that you’re small or anything.” Lutimik added. “You’re kind of cute in a really weird way.”
Valentia, Helemia, and Karzog had been having trouble controlling theirughter enough to follow what
was being said, and with thestment they lost inpletely. The girls rolled around on the sand,
braying and squealing with hysterical mirth, and Karzog had to tell those fighting in the ring to pause
until he could spare them some attention again. The Sylvan around them who were following their
conversation chuckled a bit at Reggie’s embarrassment, but they didn’t really know why he was
embarrassed, or what the three found so hriously funny.
Reggie was so mortified that he covered his face with both hands until he had a grip on himself again.
“Look. I’m ttered by your offer, but I’m not going to be mating with you or with anyone else!”
“Why not?” Meblit inquired. “We figured we had a better chance with you since we’re smaller than the
older girls.”
“Because I just turned six years old, that’s why!” Reggie dered in exasperation. “I’m not interested in
that kind of thing yet, and I’m not going to be mating with anyone for at least ten years!”
“Eww. Now I’m embarrassed.” Talvol muttered with a pinched face. “Excuse me.” she said as she
stood.
“Yeah.” Meblit agreed as she and Lutimik joined their friend in beating a hasty retreat.
Now theughter of the rest of the Sylvan was as enthusiastic as that of Reggie’spanions, and the
three girls ran into the woods to escape it.
That episode seemed to break the ice between the young Sylvan and their four conquerors. Soon a
group approached bearing offerings. “We’ve made up a vat of juice from the leftover berries and fruit.”
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their spokesman said as they approached with pitchers and sses they’d fashioned from ck
volcanic ss. “Would you care for some?”
“Certainly, and thank you.” Helemia said as the three half-elves epted, and Karzog declined with a
shake of his head as he re-started the interrupted fight.
“He said you were young, but we sure didn’t think you were that young.” a Sylvan girl dered as she
poured juice. “You sure don’t act like it. How’d you get so smart so fast?”
“We spent a lot of time psionicly Linked with each other and with our parents, from before we were
even born.” Helemia exined. “And besides that, we work on getting better at everything as hard as
we can, and we have the very best teachers.”
“And exceptional intelligence runs in our families.” Valentia added.
“I’d say from the look of you that you’re about thirty-five years old,” a young malemented to
Karzog, “And from what I know of dragons I’d say you act like you’re about eighty. But I bet you’re
younger than you seen too, like them.”
“I’m twenty, and you’re right.” Karzog confirmed. “I’m told I’m the biggest that any dragon has been at
my age, and like my friends here, I’m lucky to have exceptional parents. But to be honest, most of my
ability is due to these three. They’ve helped to train me, their friendship continually delights me, they
constantly challenge me to be the very best I can be, and though they haven’t said so, I think they’ve
subtly improved the physical state of my brain.”
“We’ll have words about that when next we meet!” Povon psionicly dered so that only the four could
hear her.
“And that’s why we didn’t announce that we’d done it.” Helemia giggled. “I think we’ve already heard
those words.”
“I couldn’t help but notice that your name sounds a lot like Zarkog, and he’s a big ck dragon too.”
another girlmented. “Any rtion?”
“Zarkog is my blood-father, but like most of his thousands of children, I’ve never met him.” Karzog
exined. “And I’m sure I won’t like him when I do. I was very lucky when I was adopted by my mother
Povon and my Father Kragorram, since they’re exceptional in every way and they’ve been very, very
good to me. And when they aren’t on vacation in time-bubbles, they rule Serminak as Dragon Lord
Regent and Prince of Serminaki Draconia on behalf of Prince Mark, who is Lord of Serminak since he
beat Zarkog.”
“So you’re the royal brats of the whole world, basically.” the girl giggled. “It’s too bad we can’t beat you.
We could get a pile of ransom for you, I bet!”
“In that context, whether you can beat us is irrelevant.” Helemiaughed. “Cause if you did take us
captive, you’d then have to deal with our parents, and there’s no chance they’d just pay the ransom
and let you be. They’re all sworn to justice, and they’d never stop trying to bring you to justice for your
crime. And they’re among the most powerful people in the world, and are allied with all the rest of
them.”
“Are you sworn to justice?” the girl pressed.
“Sure, Osbald’s Oath.” Helemia answered. “We swore to uphold justice, to not break the peace, and to
defend the innocent. And your next question will be; if it’s unjust for you to capture us for ransom, how
do we justify taking all of you captive?
“And the answer is; the fact that we’ve taken you captive is indeed unjust, for we’ve taken your freedom
and your choice, but that injustice is outweighed. All of you have lived in a state ofplete injustice;
you all kill each other without provocation whenever you can, and without our intervention, only one out
of eleven of you will live to twenty-five. We’ll prevent most of you from dying unjustly. Also, we didn’t
capture you for ransom so we could take what we didn’t deserve; we captured you so we could give
you what you do deserve, which is a long and enjoyable life, and we won’t be taking anything from you.
“Furthermore, only those who can take care of themselves deserve self-determination. If someone
can’t take care of themselves because they’re too foolish to do so, because they’re too young or too
incoherent or insane or whatever, then it’s no injustice to prevent them from foolishly harming
themselves or others.
“And on top of all that, we’re sworn to protect the innocent. None of you are innocents, but you’re
innocent of any crime against the demons, and you don’t deserve to be destroyed by them. So we have
to protect you from that if we can, and the best way to do that is to teach you to protect yourselves as
much as we can.”
“Look around you.” Reggie told the girl. “Are you less free than you were at this time yesterday? You
can’t leave here, but there were very few ces you could gost night without getting killed, so you
didn’t have freedom of movement then either. And other than that, you now haveplete freedom,
and you can do whatever you want so long as it doesn’t infringe on another’s rights or freedoms. You’re
free to dance, to sing, to yell, to have sex or fall asleep in the open, none of which you could dost
night.”
“Good point.” the girlughed.
One of the youngest Sylvan there, a boy of no more than twelve, stood and moved to stand before
Helemia. “Would you like to dance with me?” he asked with a cocky grin.
“Sure, as long as it’s a dance where we don’t have to touch each other.” sheughed as she stood.
“What, you don’t want me to hold you close and whirl you around?” the boy asked, feigning hurt
surprise. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Are you kidding?!” Helemia retorted. “You’re an unsworn Sylvan, and I’m fully aware of what that
means! I know darn well that if you thought you’d get away with it, you’d love to kill me and eat me right
now! I’m sure I can deal with whatever you might do, I’d just rather not be bothered with
it.”