Every dragon snapped their mouths shut, swiveling their heads back to the podium, where the spirit of the city had appeared beside Julius, her orange eyes shining like spotlights in her rage.
“I am not a corpse for you vultures to bicker over!” she snarled, baring her sharp teeth. “I am the DFZ, the living city! I can choose for myself which dragon is fit to manage your affairs within my borders, and I have chosen Julius Heartstriker. Of all of you, he is the only one who stood beside the Merlin to save me. He was the one who kept up hope when all other plans failed and the one who died so that the Lady of the Lakes could have a second chance and we could all survive. For these reasons and more, Julius Heartstriker is the only one of you I trust as the dragon of my city. I will accept no others.”
She set her jaw stubbornly after that, glaring at the dragons as if she was hoping they’d be stupid enough to fight her on this. And sure enough, someone did.
“It’s not your place to tell us whom to obey, spirit,” Fading Smoke growled. “Why should we listen to you?”
“You don’t have to,” Bethesda said sweetly. “Even if you were stupid enough to ignore the will of the sentient city you’re so eager to exploit, the DFZ belongs to Julius anyway. You were there same as the rest of us, Arkniss. You know perfectly well that my youngest son was the one giving the orders during the defense of the lakes, because you obeyed them. That fight and what he did after is the reason we’re still here to bicker about this, which means the lands those actions won are Julius’s by right of conquest. It’s the same logic you used to claim your territory in Gibraltar, so unless you’re willing to give your rock back to the dragons of North Africa, you have no ground to stand on.”
“Bethesda is right,” Svena said, her pale face shocked as though she couldn’t believe those words had just come out of her mouth. “We all fought hard that day, but Julius Heartstriker was the one who led. Even I followed where he pointed, but none of us followed him into the final confrontation that defeated the Leviathan. For that alone, I back his claim. This city and all the Great Lakes belong to him.”
“Why do you say to him?” Arkniss said, his dark eyes wary. “You mean they belong to Heartstriker.”
“I am a Heartstriker,” Julius said carefully. “But our clan lays claim to the whole of the Americas. Even we’re not big enough to centrally manage all that land, which is why our clan has a long tradition of letting each dragon claim and run their own territory as they see fit. By claiming the DFZ, I am bringing it into Heartstriker’s shared territory, but I—not Bethesda or anyone else elected to the Council in the years to come—will be the one who controls dragon affairs in the city.”
When the other dragons started grumbling, Julius raised a finger. “Before you complain, this does not mean the rest of you will be cut off. As the dragon of the DFZ, my plan is to keep the city exactly what it is right now: neutral territory. I want to make this city a place where dragons of all clans can come together and talk without fear of being betrayed. Every one of you is welcome to work and profit and run whatever enterprises you wish inside my city. My only requirement is that you do so peacefully, no killing, no fighting, no clan wars. Furthermore, I also intend to offer myself as a neutral third party to mediate clan disputes so that they may be settled without the usual bloodshed.”
“So that’s your ploy, is it?” Arkniss snorted. “Play the peacekeeper? Make us come to you?”
“It’s not a ploy,” Julius said stubbornly. “It’s a hope. We’ve lost so many powerful dragons to stupid clan drama, including my own grandfather, the Quetzalcoatl.” His mother made a choking sound, which Julius ignored. “My goal is to stop that from happening again. It shouldn’t be hard. We’re dragons, the cleverest, sneakiest, most conniving creatures to ever live in this world. If we can’t talk our way through a problem, then it can’t be solved. We just need somewhere safe to do it, and that’s what I mean to build.” He thumped his cane on the burned carpet. “From this moment on, I am Julius, Dragon of the DFZ. Anyone who wishes to challenge me for that title may do so now.”
He stopped, listening, but the room was silent. No one, not even Arkniss, said a word against him. Then, slowly, Lao, the Qilin’s cousin who was filling in for the absent emperor, raised his hand. “The Golden Empire supports Julius Heartstriker’s claim,” he said calmly. “In this support, we honor our debt. Any who oppose him oppose us.”
“Heartstriker supports him, of course,” Ian said, speaking quickly before Bethesda could open her mouth and remind the other dragons in the room how much they hated her. “We feel that a neutral DFZ is in the best interest of all parties, and we will bring our full might against any who threaten it.”
“We also support him,” Svena said. “The youngest Heartstriker has long been an ally of my clan, and I can think of no better use of his skills than what he has proposed for this city.” She flashed Julius a cold smile. “He is, after all, the dragon who tamed Heartstriker. I think we are all eager to see what other miracles he can perform.”
The other clans seemed to like that, and Julius let out his breath at last. “Thank you all for your support,” he said, trying not to sound as relieved as he felt. “And welcome to my territory. Now…” He smiled wide. “What can I help you with?”
***
“See that?” Bob said, passing his binoculars to the Black Reach, who was sitting beside him on the scaffolding surrounding the still-under-construction hotel directly across from the one the dragons were having their meeting in. “What did I tell you? He had it in the bag the whole time.”
“You are no longer in a position to tell me anything,” the construct replied sourly, though he did look through the binoculars. “You made a lucky guess.”
“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Bob said proudly. “That, old friend, was skill. I know all my assets, and Julius is the most reliable, especially for something like this.” He sighed happily. “They’ll be calling him ‘Julius the Peacemaker’ and flocking to him with their problems before the year is out, mark my words.”
“Of course they will,” the Black Reach said. “Because you’ll be sending them, and spreading that ridiculous epitaph.” He passed the binoculars back to Bob. “It’s not actually predicting the future if you’re setting everything up, you know.”
“I don’t care what you call it so long as it happens,” Bob replied. “And neither should you. My little brother is in there building the future you’ve always wanted. You should be falling over yourself to help me help him.”
“Who says I’m not?” the Black Reach said with a cryptic smile. “I’m here, aren’t I? Despite that thing on your shoulder.”