The Dragoness Queen

Chapter Eighteen: Bryag

Durag met Relma along within his office as he had several times before. It was a barren place, with a simple window looking out over the mountains. There were many books on the walls, meticulously organized and it did not look like anyone had read them. He was standing there, looking out that way.

"Relma, I'm told you have a plan for invading hell?" said Durag, voice amused.

"Not a plan so much as a concept," said Relma. "Did your meeting with Wrynncurth go well?" She tried to keep the memory of Durag's horrors from her mind, it affected nothing.

"Yes," said Durag. "Very.

"But please, provide me with the details of your plan."

"Our association with Lucius has caused us to have on our hands a large group of satyrs who want to die in battle," said Relma. "We're concerned we'll have to fight them and are looking for an opportunity to give them someone to fight."

"And why do you want to use the Hellfire Jewel?" asked Durag.

"Well, I was hoping that we might be able to open a portal through the Road of Ancient Stone to the pass of Dragon Bones," said Relma. "If we could do that, we could get them here.

"Or, somewhere else."

"Thus invading hell?" asked Durag.

"Yes," said Relma, feeling a bit self-conscious. But if you were going to invade somewhere, hell seemed a good choice.

"I shouldn't try to invade hell directly," said Durag. "Doing so is a very... personal sort of attack. Traditional means of assault are not efficient for fighting demons. A single man of sufficient will can do immense damage to demons, while an army of fools might not even make a dent.

"Hell is a purely spiritual plane, after all. What you see there, the landscape, is more an interpretation of the mortal psyche."

"Ah, I see," said Relma. "Well, King Tyus has been pushing to launch an invasion of the Sun Soul Empire and I'm trying to talk him out of it."

"That is out of the question," said Durag flatly. "I do have an arrangement with them, after all. And if I were to cut them loose, my own position would be that much weaker."

"Then we have a problem," said Relma. "Shren and his kind will eventually attack someone. The only alternative is murdering them."

"Jolly bad situation this," said Wrynncurth, emerging from the shadows. "Still, if we can't afford to invade any one of these nations, why not help one side against the rebels?"

"What rebels?" asked Durag. "There is no rebellion underway?"

"Then let's find one," said Wrynncurth. "I have in mind an idea that has been turning in my head for some time.