“Cofahre,” Angulus said.
“I suspect this is part of your problem, human king. We dragons see animals grazing on open land, and we are hungry, so we pluck them up and consume them. They seem little different to us than wild prey, except that they’re usually easy to grasp because they’re in the open. It’s quite pesky to fly around trees in jungles and forests to find sufficiently sized prey to consume.”
Trip looked at Rysha, wondering if she knew where this meeting was going. Were the dragons only here to justify why they were eating people’s sheep?
“Are you saying,” Zirkander said, “that our farmers’ sheep are too enticing a target to resist?”
“Indeed. They are delicious. And, as I stated, easier to acquire than wild animals. But dragons do not mind a challenge. If there were more wild animals, we would happily chase them and enjoy the glory of the hunt before sinking our teeth into fresh flesh.”
Ew, Jaxi said into Trip’s mind.
Azarwrath did not comment, though he was perhaps thinking that dragons were unlikely to employ sommeliers at their dinner gatherings.
“This is what is happening on Yveranoar, your jungle continent.”
“Dakrovia?” Angulus asked.
“I believe this is what you call it, yes. Human settlements are much smaller, with less land cleared for your farms and livestock. There is a great deal of wild hunting land, and many dragons have gravitated there.”
“Lucky Dakrovians,” Zirkander said.
“But many dragons in one area leads to many battles for territory. The most powerful dragons claim what they wish and are able to defend it. The less powerful are either killed or, more often, driven off to squabble over inferior hunting grounds.” He gestured toward one of the glass walls of the solarium. Indicating Iskandia as a whole? “As you may be aware, more and more dragons have been coming to your land. Many are indifferent to your presence on it and simply wish to hunt. Others believe humans are evil, that they’re the reason there are fewer prime hunting grounds now—which is undoubtedly true to some extent—and will attack without provocation, simply because they are irritated with the situation.”
“Is there anything you can suggest we do?” Angulus asked.
“I have a possible solution,” Bhajera Liv said, stepping forward.
“It will not work for them,” Wyleenesh told him.
“It is a possibility they may wish to consider, nonetheless.”
“I highly doubt it.”
Phelistoth, who had found a seat on one side of the table and gripped what appeared to be a steaming mug of coffee, sighed noisily and muttered, “Bronzes.”
The two speakers ignored him.
“My suggestion,” Bhajera Liv said, holding a hand up with curled fingers toward his colleague, “is for you humans to get rid of your farmlands and plant trees all over the continent, so it will return to wilderness such as it once was, and thus improve the habitat for dragons.”
Rysha snorted softly.
I don’t think the king is going to go for that, Trip told her silently.
Not when seventy percent of the nation’s food comes from farmlands, no.
“That would not improve the habitat for humans,” Angulus said. “We need the farmlands to feed our people.”
“Yes,” Bhajera Liv said, “but if there were fewer farmlands, your species would have less food and perhaps be less fecund. In future generations, there would be fewer humans in the country, thus creating more balance in the world.”
“Balance,” Angulus said darkly.
“I told you they would not be amenable,” Wyleenesh said, elbowing Bhajera Liv aside. “My colleague is overly blunt, but he is correct that right now, the population of dragons and humans is not in balance. We estimate there are one billion humans worldwide.”
Are there truly that many people? Trip silently asked Rysha, the number sounding incredibly huge to him.
Possibly. We only have estimates, but there are hundreds of millions in the Cofah Empire.
“A thousand years ago, before dragons were tricked into leaving this, our homeland—” Wyleenesh frowned around the table, as if to suggest someone there was to blame, “—there were approximately three-hundred-and-fifty million humans worldwide and two thousand dragons. Even though there were still battles over resources, that was closer to a sustainable number. Now…” Wyleenesh spread a hand.
“It wasn’t a problem before dragons came back,” someone Trip didn’t know muttered, one of the people with clipboards and pens.
“This is our homeland too,” Wyleenesh said. “Our absence from it was involuntary. And our species did not thrive in the other world. Birthrates were abnormally low.” He looked back at Shulina Arya. “There were only about a thousand of us left there at the time the portal was reopened. It is unfortunate that more of our kin did not make it through before it was prematurely closed.” This time, he looked toward Trip, and Trip fought the urge to squirm. Yes, he had been a part of the mission to close the portal… “But,” Wyleenesh went on, “perhaps it is for the best, since, as I said, we have a problem.”
“Any ideas on how to solve it?” Angulus asked. “Besides by cutting the global human population in half?”
“Seven gods, please tell me none of the dragons are planning on making that a reality,” a colonel in uniform murmured from one of the seats. He wore one of the sheathed chapaharii blades on his belt.
The two bronze dragons looked at each other, holding each other’s gaze for several long seconds.
I don’t find that silence encouraging, Azarwrath said.
Nor do I, Jaxi said. I don’t have many human friends. I wouldn’t care for their numbers to be halved.
Perhaps if your words were less lippy, you would have more friends, Azarwrath replied.
Perhaps if so many humans weren’t afraid of magic and sentient swords, I would have more. I don’t see you and your un-lippy tongue being invited to cocktail parties.
“There have been rumors of some discussions on that topic,” Wyleenesh finally answered the king. “You must understand that we, as bronze dragons, are on the bottom of the power and social order when it comes to our kind, so we are rarely invited to meetings with golds or even silvers. I believe that those dragons who have claimed jungles and islands sufficiently large to have enough prey to suit their needs are unlikely to bother your country.”
Trip thought of the bronze dragon that had claimed the Pirate Isles. Maybe he’d been smarter than he had seemed.
“Those who haven’t been able to find a territory of their own are hungry and restless. It is very possible there are plans in place to remove the, ah, human infestation as some have called it, on some of the continents with territory in favorable climate zones.”
“I suppose that’s us,” Zirkander said.
“The southern half of your continent is most warm and appealing, outside of those chilly mountains,” Wyleenesh said.
“That settles it,” Zirkander said. “We’ll just move all of humanity into the Ice Blades.”