Discord Among Dragons

"Who must pay?" Sylena asked with a sly grin.

"Everyone," Meclandru answered with blood-thirsty grimness.

Sylena let out a light laugh, "Oh, I can see why Minestus picked you as his student. And what of that other one, Mardelian*, was he just as pathetically single-minded and brutish as you?"

Meclandru turned toward Sylena with a dark scowl. "Eye for eye, pain for pain, blood for blood, that is what the master taught me. Do you teach something different? Is it as Minestus said, that you hide in your mountains afraid to use your power as it should be used."

Sylena cocked one scaly eyelid and smiled. "Minestus was always over- fond of his own counsels, but I never let his careless words bother me. You on the other hand should be much more careful what you say to me." Sylena's eyes glowed dangerously as she gazed serenely at the young black dragon. But Meclandru did not cower, rather he reared up in anger, his mouth gaping wide and showing his fierce sharp teeth. "Stop this!" Moreau commanded. Meclandru snapped his head toward her and growled, but he did as he was told. "We are oath bound to the Dragon Circle," Moreau hissed. "And I shall not let this Circle be torn apart by petty umbrage!"

"You shall not?" Morgithus spoke up inquisitively. "How grand of you Moreau, but surely you do not believe that authority over the Circle has passed on to you?"

"What is sure is that you do not believe it," Moreau replied coldy. "But I am sure that your ignorance will not last for long."

"Now who is it that threatens the unity of this Circle?" Sylena grinned mockingly.

"We are all of the Circle," Sythabus barked gruffly. "We all must agree what shall come next and who shall lead, if a leader there shall be."

"If...?" Sylena mused. "Certainly we cannot let the Circle die."

"Let it die," Meclandru retorted. "What does the Circle matter if it allows the death of Minestus to go unavenged."

"Unavenged?" Sylena replied. "Malachi lies at your feet. She has paid the price of Minestus' death with her own life. What more can you want?"

"You think me a dim-witted fool," Meclandru snarled, "but I am not so foolish as to believe that Malachi did this on her own. The wrath of the Council would be upon her head if she attacked Minestus directly. And no amount of magic could have hidden her crime. So, she must have had help. And that means that there are others who share the guilt of Minestus' murder. And I will not rest until they are hunted down and made to suffer."

"True," Morgithus nodded, "but don't forget that the Council permits the use of agents, servants, and spies. To hunt them down now would be... frowned upon."

"If Malachi had lived, perhaps," Meclandru answered him. "But she is as dead as Minestus. Her servants will find no protection behind her now."

"You speak well, Meclandru," Moreau interjected. "And I am pleased by what I hear. But right now there are more pressing matters. Minestus is dead. His hoard must be tended to. On this I am sure that we all agree." And in this she was quite right.

1. The dragons proceed to take what they want from Minestus' dragon hoard

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