Personal System Calendar: Year 00015, Day 1-28, Month VII: The Imperium
Imperial Calendar: Year 6859, 1st to 28th day of the 7th Month
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Gathering
For a gathering of the forest's beast lords, all parties had agreed to meet on neutral ground. That ground belonged, as it always had, to the home of the Arbiter Guardian Beast, the one who presided over matters concerning the forests and everything beneath them. Once, that had been Ozythalos's domain. Now it belonged to Rex, the Armored Tyrannosaurus. As for where Ozythalos was now, no one knew for certain, though Rex had some idea. His wounds from the fight against Pico the Wise Owl had been severe, with one of those blows nearly fatal. He'd survived, but hadn't fully recovered even until now, and had since retired to the depths of the neutral ground to heal in peace.
Matters that once fell under his judgment now fell to Rex instead, which was why three beast lords from the west had been summoned here, in addition to the village's own representative, Aetherwing, Beast Lord of Maya Village's territory, who also served as Forest Guardian Beast for the entire north. "West," in this context, simply meant that all the beast lords in question held territory here in the north. Rexy, for her part, served as steward over the whole of Maya Village's 8,000 square kilometers of forest territory, on top of the original 100 km² of territory Maya Village had started with, combined now into roughly 8,100 km² total. She was called upon only when Aetherwing's other duties as the Northern Lonelywood's Guardian Beast pulled him away. Since he was currently free of those duties, he was the one to represent the village here. He could, technically, have settled this matter himself, sitting as judge given it fell well within his authority. But he preferred to see it handled properly, through the forest's established process, so he came here not as the Northern Lonelywood's Guardian Beast, but as a fellow Beast Lord.
The territory Aetherwing ruled was already a strange case, even set against the forest's long history. It was practically unheard of, a land predominantly ruled by humans, Beastmen, and dwarves alongside beasts, and won fairly at that. During the Beast Dominion Wars, fought against seven invading Grimfang beast lords, Maya's territorial claim could have grown far larger than it currently was, since they'd defeated all seven. By the forest's own laws, any beast lord who won a Dominion War outright claimed the losing side's territory as spoils. Yet Maya Village had only expanded by an additional 8,000 square kilometers, allowing the rest of the defeated Grimfang packs to return to their ancestral lands untouched.
Had they been the greedy kind of humans, they could easily have claimed everything the losers held, since by the forest's own rules, it would have been entirely within their rights. Instead, they'd taken only the portion that mattered most, enough to extend their territory to the forest's natural border. They could have claimed all six remaining territories of the defeated Grimfang beast lords if they'd wanted to.
Whether they'd predicted it or not, that same restraint turned out to be well founded. Those six territories, as it later turned out, were decimated in the subsequent war against the Lonely Forest of Shadowfen, and even now remained slowly recovering from the scars that conflict had left on the land. Restraint had been the right call all along. Overextending while they were still this young, this small in the wider politics of the world, would have been the worst possible decision they could have made. None of that, however, was the matter at hand today. Those were things of the past.
The actual issue was simpler, if no less delicate: the village wanted permission to use a portion of forest territory to the west as a corridor, a path connecting their lands more directly outward. As it happened, that path would cross through three, possibly four, separate beast lord territories along the way. What the village wanted, specifically, was permission to scout portions of that land, and some form of agreement with the beast lords who ruled it to actually use it. Of course, they understood there would be a price attached. Nothing here was given for free, or worked one-sided, without an equivalent exchange. It had to be a give and take.
August himself was present too, not just Aetherwing, as the human representative for the village. He was reasonably well known among the beasts already, having helped defend the north before, and many of them recognized him from the earlier war in defense of Lonelywood Forest. That reputation, more than anything else, was likely part of why Maya Village had been recognized as a legitimate territory at all, despite being made up largely of humans.
"I take it everyone here is present," Rex asked, the words carried telepathically, the way beast lords always communicated among themselves.
"Yes."
Three beast lords represented the affected side. The first was a serpent, though August didn't immediately recognize it. It was the same one that had once quietly trailed him and Andy during the earliest days of his journey out of the forest. It had grown considerably since then, enough to claim beast lord status of its own.
The second was ancient beyond easy reckoning, old enough that a passerby might mistake it for a dead tree rather than a living creature. An arborwyrm, ruling the territory adjacent to the serpent's, though the serpent it once was had long since changed beyond recognition.
The third and final beast lord held territory nearest the border, right up against the buffer zone before the imperial highway and the great river beyond it, a Grimfang lord.
Given their proximity to the proposed road, the village's plan would allow it to connect directly to the imperial highway on its western edge, cutting travel time significantly for anyone approaching from the south. Rather than trekking all the way north to the current sole entrance, travelers could instead reach Zone Four far more directly. That meant faster trade, at least for southern routes, and dovetailed neatly with the village's separate plans to eventually build a water settlement along the great river. All of it, of course, contingent entirely on whether the beast lords agreed.
"Then let us begin. Aetherwing, I trust the human representative has his request ready."
"Yes, my lord."
"Then, human August Finn, begin."
"The village's proposal is straightforward. We have no wish to claim any portion of your territory, nor any plans to take it from you. What we ask is permission to build a road connecting to the road beyond the forest, one the Grimfang lord to the northwest already knows well, having protected these lands from invading humans and trespassers before. All we ask is that you allow us to build a road network spanning all three territories along that path. We respect the dominion each of you holds over your own land. But our forest sits far from that road network, even accounting for the northern entrance where the forest's edge ends. It would take considerable time for anyone traveling from the south to reach the north as things currently stand. That kind of distance means little to beasts capable of running the full length without concern, but for us, speed matters. So we come with a proposal meant to be proportionate, not one-sided, not something that benefits only us. And if any beast lord here intends to refuse outright, I ask that you say so now, so that we may accept your answer and move forward accordingly."
It was the Grimfang lord, holding territory to the northwest, who spoke first into the shared telepathic space.
"Human, you speak of respect. But I must ask: would this road, and those who use it, actually respect our lands once they pass through? Or would human greed take hold eventually? Would they grow cowardly and deceitful, convincing themselves it was safe enough to start hunting us instead, and plundering our territory?"
"Master Grimfang, I can't claim to know the minds of every human, nor would I pretend to. There are evil men among us, and good ones too. I can't promise you certainty on that front. But know this: humans, as a rule, fear the great forests and everything living within them. When I ask you to allow a road through part of your territory, it's with the understanding that humans would stay on that path alone, and that the land itself remains entirely yours. You remain free to deal with anyone who wanders beyond it, or anyone who attacks beyond the road's boundary, however you see fit. Kill them, eat them, whatever your law demands. All I ask is that those who stay strictly on the road be left to us to handle instead. We wouldn't be so careless as to leave the road unguarded either. Our own soldiers would help deter exactly the kind of behavior you're worried about, and any crime that happens within your borders remains yours to judge. Only what happens on the road itself falls to us. You should also know that in our own territory, the roads we build carry land bridges above them, letting beasts cross freely without ever needing to set foot on human ground. There are limits to that, of course, we can't reasonably bury an entire road network underground, but wherever a bridge makes sense, we intend to build one. We'll do everything we can to remind travelers to stay mindful and respectful. I won't claim every human will listen. Those who don't are yours to deal with as you see fit. Our security won't cover every inch, either, so as I've said: anyone who trespasses beyond what we've agreed to is entirely your concern."
The Grimfang lord considered this carefully. He had no real objection to the proposal itself, but he intended to ask for something in return, understanding, as August had already made clear, that nothing here would be given for free. It needed to be an even exchange. He turned the question over in his mind before an idea finally settled.
Maya's own territory sat two territories removed from his own. He'd heard Grimfang packs lived there too, and that, to keep their bloodlines strong, they'd learned to crossbreed with other Grimfang packs elsewhere.
"Then, human August, I ask that you allow us to select Grimfang from your own population to breed and mate with ours. We can't afford to dilute our bloodline through inbreeding. That's how a pack stays healthy."
"Very well, Master Grimfang. I'll carry this request to our own Grimfang population. I'm confident they'll agree."
August waited for the remaining two to raise their own questions or demands. In truth, he had little sense of what either the Arborwyrm or the Serpent might want. Most beast lord territories already held everything necessary for their own survival.
Worth noting, too, that a "beast lord" simply meant the single most dominant beast, and its followers, within a given stretch of territory. It didn't necessarily mean they were the only beasts living there. Every territory held a whole ecosystem beneath its ruling lord and that lord's followers, the same way Maya's own lands were home to Boarats, bees, and countless other creatures beyond Aetherwing's own family and the Grimfang population under Rexy.
August had already secured a fair agreement from the farthest territory. Now only two remained.
"Young human, you've said we're free to decide the fate of anyone who wanders beyond the agreed path, yes? Your reasoning is sound, and your proposal well made. But we're not obligated to agree to any of this, are we?"
The ancient arborwyrm spoke next into the shared mental space.
"No, Master Arborwyrm, you're free to deny this outright, and we'd simply be forced to rely solely on the village's northern entrance instead. But know that we'll remember whatever you decide here today. We'll respect it either way, though it may cost you something down the line, should you ever need anything from us in return."
August wasn't gentle in his approach, not here. This was a negotiation, and faltering now risked derailing something that mattered a great deal, hopes and plans that could vanish entirely if handled poorly. War remained technically possible, in theory, but the Dragon King had forbidden it outright since the end of the Beast Dominion Wars, a peace that would now hold for the next three centuries going forward.
"I see. Then I'll ask only one thing, proportional to your own request. I accept the terms as you've laid them out, though my own condition will come at a later date. I hope, when that day comes, you'll answer the call."
"Yes, Master Arborwyrm. I'll take that to heart and remember it."
The final beast lord, and the one whose territory sat closest to their own, was the serpent.
The little green serpent August barely remembered had grown considerably since those early days, transformed almost beyond recognition. What faced him now bore three massive, red-tipped horns crowning its skull, the largest jutting forward like a lance, the other two curving back along the head. Its scales had shifted entirely, the vibrant emerald of youth replaced by something earthier, deep greens mottled with brown, patterns built for blending into the forest itself. Its tongue, strangely, had taken on a distinct blue hue.
It had earned an official Beast Index entry by now too: the Three-Horned Blue Fire Serpent, though most who knew of it simply called it the Devil's Serpent. One of thirty-three beast lords currently recognized across the forest, its elevation to that rank had been something of a controversial point among the more traditionalist lords, though its sheer domain size and demonstrated power in territorial challenges had ultimately settled the matter.
Unlike a true dragon, it had somehow developed the ability to breathe fire: blue, venomous, and acidic all at once. A specialized gland inside its body produced a flammable, acidic venom, ignited biologically, something like flint striking steel, into a burning stream capable of melting armor, corroding straight through flesh, and injecting venom that lingered long after the initial burn.
The serpent was the last to speak. "Human, I have only one condition, since open combat between domains is forbidden by our law. I wish to challenge you. To what you humans call a duel. It has long been the forest's way to honor the terms set by whoever wins such a contest, and I hold to that tradition. There's only one way you'll convince me to agree to anything otherwise."
Ordinary beast lords didn't typically earn names the way Rex, Aetherwing, or even Rexy had, though in Rexy's case, credit for that belonged to the humans who'd named her while she was still young. Beast names, as a rule, had to be earned, granted by the World System once a creature proved itself worthy of recognition. That held true even for beasts like Finnester and Kirpy, already carrying names given to them by humans. A human-given name wasn't automatically treated as a creature's true name by the World System. Even they would still need to earn it properly, the same as any other beast.
"Very well. I'd ask that Master Rex and Master Aetherwing witness our duel, made sacred under the forest's own laws, the rule of the strong."
Since everyone necessary was already present, there seemed little reason to delay. Rex and Aetherwing both approved the sacred duel, with one condition attached: this wouldn't be a fight to the death. The terms were simple enough, forcing the other side to yield. Compared to a duel between two humans, far more restrained by custom and rule, a duel between beasts ran considerably more brutal, with only one real restriction standing between them and total destruction: neither side was to kill the other.