Chapter 101: Coup in the Marshes (I)

“What a pity, the peaceful days of the past are gone forever,” Weiss sighed softly. “Just at the beginning of this month, a goblin diplomat calling himself ‘Sir McKinney’ arrived at our camp. He claimed to hail from the ‘Screaming Forest’, representing the goblin lord, General Letu the ‘Dinosaur Conqueror’, to conduct formal alliance negotiations with our Coldblooded Tribe.”

The name “Letu” sounded familiar to Joan. After a moment’s thought, he remembered hearing Conti’s parents mention him—a leading warlord of the Screaming Forest, chief of tens of thousands of goblins, whose ambitious expansion in recent years had already become a severe threat to Powhatan Village.

“You’ve already allied with the goblins?” Joan asked uneasily.

“In fact, my father refused Sir McKinney’s alliance proposal face to face,” Weiss replied, his expression dark. “There were three main reasons for rejecting the alliance. First, our lizardfolk and the goblin kindreds have an ancient feud, with endless conflicts over the years—mutual trust is hard to come by. Rather than having an unreliable friend and always watching our backs for betrayal, it’s better to keep our distance. Second, Letu is far too ambitious. My father detests dealing with schemers. Forming an alliance with Letu is like boarding a runaway speedboat—it might look dashing, but it’s fraught with danger and could crash onto the rocks at any time. To preserve peace and happiness among our people, my father wants nothing to do with such a warlord. Lastly, my father did not wish to offend the humans just to curry favor with Letu, the so-called ‘King of the Goblins.’”

“Offend the humans?” Dick couldn’t help but interject. “What does an alliance between lizardfolk and goblins have to do with us humans?”

“It has everything to do with you!” The lizard prince said seriously. “Why do you think Letu is so eager to recruit allies? He seeks to expand his power as quickly as possible. Once he feels he has gathered enough strength under his banner, he will wage war against the surrounding villages and towns, slaughtering human inhabitants in the most brutal way. First would be the Algonquin Valley, and then likely your own Derlin Town. The goblin lord will not halt his conquest until all of Alfheim lies under his rule.”

“If we lizardfolk are drawn into that war, we would inevitably suffer the cruel vengeance of the human armies. My father knows that humans are the most dangerous race in all of Alfheim: they possess the most advanced civilization, the deadliest weapons, and the strongest armies of our age. To provoke the humans is to dig our own graves! Why should we abandon our good life, only to follow that madman Letu down the path of self-destruction?” Weiss’s face flushed with agitation.

Joan listened silently to the prince’s account. Since Weiss’s father clearly understood that an alliance with the goblins was unwise, he ought to have refused their request, leaving the lizardfolk strictly neutral between the two opposing camps of humans and goblins. The Great Marsh would remain tranquil, and Weiss would continue as a prince—so how had things come to this? Clearly, the matter was not so simple.

As expected, Weiss took a deep breath to steady himself and hissed, “My father wanted to drive Sir McKinney away, but someone in our tribe openly opposed him, advocating an alliance with the goblins. That was Elder Basson—the other great shaman of the tribe, second only to my father in power and seniority.”

Joan exchanged glances with the Dindall brothers; all three sensed the unmistakable aroma of a power struggle in Weiss’s tale.

“That Elder Basson and Letu could see eye to eye is no surprise, for Basson is ambitious too. He often criticized my father in the council for being too soft, endlessly yielding to human encroachment, and even incited the tribe to raid human villages by force and plunder their wealth. Many young tribesfolk were swayed by his rhetoric, becoming more impulsive and belligerent, growing impatient with my father’s strict discipline. Some even conspired in secret to overthrow my father and enthrone Elder Basson in his place.” Weiss’s words dripped with bitter resentment as he spoke of Basson.

“In other words, Elder Basson kept the goblin diplomat around precisely to challenge your father’s authority with Letu’s backing and to seek power for himself. How did your father respond?” Roger Dindall asked.

“Three nights ago, my father and I discussed the matter. We agreed that Basson’s swelling ambition threatened the tribe’s safety, and decided to act decisively—strip him of his elder’s title and family name, and banish him from the tribe!” Weiss, seeing Joan and the Dindall brothers’ confusion, explained further, “For us lizardfolk, the greatest virtues are honor and loyalty, both closely tied to the tribe. One who is loyal and brings honor to the tribe is a hero; conversely, one who commits a grave crime may be stripped of his family name and no longer be counted as a tribesman. A lizardfolk without a family name is the most shameful of criminals, utterly without honor. His very existence brings disgrace to the tribe, and he must live out his days in loneliness, shunned by kin and friends.”

“My father intended to announce Basson’s trial at the elder council the next day. But we hadn’t expected Basson’s cunning—he showed up at the council with the goblin diplomat in tow. That way, my father couldn’t carry out the trial as planned, lest we become a laughingstock before outsiders.”

“Not only did Basson show no understanding for my father’s efforts to protect our tribe’s honor, he shamelessly demanded that the council discuss in depth the question of an alliance with the goblins’ ‘Screaming Tribe’. He insisted that everyone present listen to Sir McKinney’s honeyed words about the many benefits of such an alliance, and that the elders and nobles present vote on whether to support the alliance.” Weiss spoke with hatred.

“The lizardfolk elders’ council sounds a lot like our own Derlin Town council,” Dick remarked. “The mayor or the high elder doesn’t have the power of a king—if you want something passed, you need most of the council’s support. But… Weiss, does your father have the majority?”

“Of course!” Weiss answered without hesitation. “Including myself, out of the thirteen eligible council members, at least eight support my father. Basson could muster, at most, five votes.”