In Farpas, in the former mansion of Tamalor, Habdlan and Prince Seigmur met in the office.
'Excellent work, Habdlan; my relationship with the Vonder is good, but thanks to you, Uruk is entirely on our side. I have heard that Uruk hasn't visited the De Vonder mansion in weeks.'
'Thank you, Your Majesty. Sometimes Uruk sleeps here; usually he spends days lost in the jungle, then he comes around and joins me for some fun in the arena or to have a good time in the house of Asmodes. I am sure that soon we will also have Temma on our side. In the end, we will seize the two young magicians without having to get rid of Xavier.'
Both men toasted for a bright future.
'By the way, I love the decoration; it gives a new air to the mansion. Tamalor was too rustic; it lacked color and vitality.'
'Thank you, Your Majesty; I had to make the place worthy of your presence. I am glad if it pleases you.'
'By the way, is that an egg?' asked the prince, pointing to one of the ornaments, which had the size of three or four human heads.
'That is right, your majesty. Brought directly from the world of dragons. There are a few in the dynasty. A few weeks ago, a family of fallen nobles gave it to me. They are trying to gain my favor and earn points with the high nobility. I was told that one of the leader's sons and colleagues took part in the dragon war and managed to smuggle some stuff into the dynasty. Dragon-related things are starting to be sold on the black market: wings, fangs, claws, scales, bones, and eggs. Now that the war of the dragons is being forgotten, all those items are beginning to circulate through the dynasty.'
'Well, maybe it's not a bad idea to get one for myself; I'll leave that for later. Do you know where Uruk is now?'
'My servants put him for the last time on his way to Morr Jungle. I'm sure we won't see him for a few days. How are things going in the palace? Habdlan asked in a wispering voice.
'Everything seems to be on its way. I have managed to get the support of several members of the royal court and many of the nobles of the upper class. I can count on the lords of Mennor and Duero.'
'Fillode is not a fool. He joined the winning team,' Habdlan smiled.
'Indeed. My sister has the titled magicians and masters from Liev's Tower. But I can count on the de Vonder family and the masters of the smaller academies. The figthing force difference is minimal, and we have the surprise factor on our side. By the moment my dear sister and father find out, I will be already sitting on the throne.'
They had a toast again.
Meanwhile, in Morr's jungle, Moger and Uruk were lazily lying on the cave floor by the fire. The scales of both reflected the light of the fire in blue and red tones, giving them a bright appearance.
'Temma and Xavier are worried; you should visit the mansion every now and then, Uruk.'
'Tch. I don't want to.'
'What are you going to do? Spend your whole life fighting monsters in the jungle of Morr and crushing wimps in the arena?'
'At least it's a lot more fun than these stupid subjugation missions.' answered Uruk with a sneer.
Both kept silent for a moment.
'Do you remember Reivax words?' asked Uruk.
'The All Father always gives us what we need,' answered Moger.
'But the All Father is no longer there,' said Uruk, rising up. 'Reivax is gone too; are we going to live our whole lives hiding? living as humans?'
'Remember what Xavier said. When we have a fortune big enough, we could flee to the kingdom of the South. There, brute force prevails. We could claim the whole kingdom of the south for ourselves. We might not have the need to hide anymore.'
'Bah, it's been two years, and we're still with the same plan.' Uruk put his right hand in his pants pocket and pulled out a gold coin. 'We have lots of these. However, we are still looking for more. It's ridiculous that humans accumulate these things... You know? I've started reading the books of humans. In their stories, dragons are greedy creatures who, for some reason, like to devour virgin maidens and accumulate large amounts of treasure in their caves. Can you imagine it? to live five thousand years and be obsessed with pieces of yellow metal. Only humans could think of something this foolish.'
They both laughed.
'Grandfather Reivax was right. Humans are idiots.'
The laughter stopped. They remained silent again.
'I'm hungry; let's hunt something,' Moger rose from the ground, leaning on his tail.
'I envy your tail.'
'I know,' said Moger, running through the jungle. Uruk followed him.
A week later, Uruk and Habdlan were returning from the arena.
'I don't think I will go back to the arena,' said Uruk, alarming Habdlan.
'Why?'
'They are weak, Habdlan, too weak. At first, I learned some fighting techniques, a few traps and tricks, but now...' Uruk let a sigh escape.
'I will talk to Tenkor,'
'Don't bother,' said Uruk, descending from the carriage. They had arrived at the Farpas mansion. They entered the mansion. Uruk no longer paid attention to the servants. They went straight to Habdlan's office. Uruk fell on the chair and put his sandy feet on the desk. Habdlan got annoyed every time Uruk did that, but he remained silent.
'I swear I don't...' Uruk remained silent, like frozen.
Habdlan looked at him confusedly and followed the path of Uruk's eyes toward the egg.
'Ah, that! It is an authentic dragon egg, brought directly from the dragon nest; they gave it to me to commemorate my ascension as Lord of Farpas. As you can see, I have spent quite some money to make a base of gold and silver to prevent it from falling.
Uruk rose from the seat without paying much attention to Habdlan's words, his eyes fixed on the oval object. His hands trembled as he approached the shell. As if he were someone who was drowning and managed to reach the surface of the water and take a breath, Uruk felt something inside him explode and release something; his body was warming up. Habdlan backed away by instinct. The air around Uruk was distorted. The egg, as if asking for help, gave a little vibration on touch.
'He is alive,' Uruk thought. 'How many do you have?' asked Uruk.
His voice was coarse, deep, and like a beast's growl.
'Just this one; I don't know if there is more,' replied Tamalor. 'It was a gift from a family of fallen nobles. They smuggled it from the dragon world during the war.'
'What family? What's their name?' There was a mixture of despair and longing in his voice.
'The Linarel.' They are a small family from Mennor Citadel.′ An idea came to Habdlan's mind, and his eyes opened in surprise. 'Wouldn't you be thinking...?'
'I'm taking it.' Uruk took off his jacket and shirt and wrapped the egg in them.
'Uruk, dont...' Habdlan couldn't finish what he wanted to say. Uruk was standing there, half naked, with his thin body and fibrous muscles, holding that egg as if his life depended on it. Uruk's eyes were the eyes of a madman. Habdlan came to the conclusion, "If I try to stop him, he will kill me." Habdlan tried to swallow, but his throat was dry. He had seen Uruk go wild in the arena more than once. 'I will arrange a carriage for you,' he said in apparent fear.
Uruk climbed into the Tumulos carriage without taking his eyes away from the egg for a second. Habdlan saw him go away, thinking, "He wants to fight a dragon."
The Tumulos carriage arrived at the new mansion of the De Vonder family on the outskirts of Farpas a few minutes later. The frenetic Uruk kicked the door to open it; the lock broke, but he didn't care.
'Temma, Temma,' cried Uruk as he walked toward Xavier's office.
Seron began to follow Uruk, and when he arrived at the office, Seron yelled at him.
'Master Xavier is meeting with several business partners.'
Uruk calmed down slightly. 'It doesn't matter. Open the door,' urged Uruk.
Seron was doubtful.
'Open the door!' cried Uruk.
Seron finally obeyed.
Xavier was reunited with a couple of minor nobles, former commercial partners of the Van Ferra family. Everyone was surprised to see a half-naked Uruk holding something in his arms.
'Get the fuck out!' cried Uruk.
Xavier wrinkled his face, but after paying attention, anything Uruk held that way was important. Trying to keep the appearances, he decided to get rid of the visitors.
'Gentlemen, this is a family emergency; we will talk about our business on another occasion. Seron, please, accompany them.'
As the nobles stood up, Uruk approached the desk. Seron guided the visitors outside and closed the door behind him.
'What's going on? What is that?'
Uruk uncovered the egg and showed it to Xavier. His eyes opened. Xavier ran out of the office, and in the hallway, he intercepted Seron, who was coming back.
'Find Temma; tell him it's a family emergency. And don't let anyone else come near the office. Nobody! Do you understand me?'
Seron ran away, and Xavier went back to the office.
'Is it alive?' asked Xavier.
Uruk nodded.
'How?' asked Xavier.
'Smuggling,' replied Uruk.
Xavier put his hands on his head, "Why didn't I think about that?"
'How many?' asked Xavier.
'I don't know. This one was in Habdlan's mansion. It was given to him by a family of Mennor nobles, the Linarels.'
'What are we going to do with it now?' asked Xavier.
'We need fire.' Uruk went to the fireplace and filled it with wood. He inhaled and lit the wood. Uruk placed the egg beside the flames. Xavier went out to the hallway and asked the servants for more wood. He ordered them to leave the wood in the hallway. The servants saw him carrying the wood himself inside the office. The fireplace was burning at its full capacity in the middle of the summer. A couple of hours later, Temma arrived at the mansion. When he saw the egg, he fell on his knees.
'It is not safe here,' said Xavier. 'Uruk, take the egg to the cave. Temma and I will visit the Linarel.'
Uruk dressed himself up, wrapped the egg in several sheets, and departed in a carriage towards the jungle, while Xavier and Temma traveled to Mennor.