The Paper King
The flight into Mytros was exhilarating - having never ridden a dragon before it was electric to skirt the clouds and see the world from up high, but that trip was bought to an abrupt halt as the dark cloud swirling above Mytros came into view.
Sydon’s welcome to the city was no kinder, with a lightning bolt arcing from the sky and striking the point of Braz’s javelin. The burning and static lasted for hours but did not stop the urgent business of meeting Acastus.
This pompous and power-mad fool was only made worse by his supplicant and nefarious confidants.
It became apparent that the king had brought the heroes to make a judgment on how to rid the city of a storm. The discussion was circular - it was not so much a decision that was needed as the solving of his problem.
Braz felt a ball tighten in his stomach. Across the whole of Thylea people are waiting for the heroes of prophecy to defeat Sydon and here they have been called because some jumped up governor who calls himself a king can’t lead, make a decision or choose to sacrifice anything of his own (he is more willing to sacrifice the children of the city than that jumped up pet of Gaius or gods forbid to raise funds from the city's coffers.)
Whilst hearing him speak the only word that Braz could hear echoing loudly around the chamber was REVOLUTION. The people of this city and the whole of Thylea need to run their own affairs, not be at the mercy of this “king” with less dignity than the messenger boy who had handed Braz Calliope’s message not a month before.
However, as always, there was a discussion about helping these jumpe-up urbanites through their predicament rather than getting on with the task in hand.
The main positive of the whole meeting was a chance to meet the final of the remaining 4 - although like her kin Vallus seemed to have little of the power myth describes.
However Gaius was quite a piece of work - This was the first time Braz had met this worm and, my word, if there was ever a reason for sacrificing this city for the good of Thylea it was Gaius.