I swear that her advisors looked as if their faces were going to boil over and explode.

“Swear our Allegiance to a Beast?!” spluttered her Scottish Chamberlain, while Sages and Archmages behind her shook with outrage. “We would rather die first!” he declared pompously, holding his head high.

“Your opinion is absolutely irrelevant,” I replied softly to him, and blood began to leak out of his nose as his eyes nearly popped. “You are an Archmage and can flee this siege as you wish, sacrificing millions of your countrymen to your pride without batting an eye, for it won’t affect you at all. Thus, your words mean nothing.” My eyes moved over to the one person there who mattered, while the other Casters flushed deeply. “The only voice and opinion is that of the ruler of your tribe, who speaks for her people, including all the millions of them who cannot possibly escape this catastrophe that is coming.”

Queen Diana stiffened despite herself.

“Not a Beast in the world will give a damn if you sacrifice all your countrymen in a blind fight to the end and walk away, Queen Diana. That is exactly the right of a Ruling Beast, and they simply will not care if you make that decision. You will be doing exactly what a Ruling Beast is entitled to do.” The looks on the faces of her advisors were priceless at the realization.

“As for the Humans of the world,” I narrowed my eyes, aware that everyone else in this room was watching her narrowly, too, “we tend to think of ourselves as a more moral species than most Beasts. I imagine our opinion of you and those you bother to save with you will be very different.”

The silence there was awful, faces were twisting all over as the powerful Brits realized the implications. It wouldn’t be a valiant fight to the end. It would be a massacre they had chosen to make happen, and they would be the survivors who ran from it!

They would be called traitors and cowards until the ends of their days, no matter where they went. For proud men and women, that was simply unthinkable.

I decided to hit home the hammer, too.

“Emperor Leviathan is also one of the greatest Psychic and Sound Users in the world. He can hear conversations across all the islands of the United Kingdom as they happen. He can feel the moods and intentions of those living on them with ease.

“If you wait until there is no choice but to call on Him, He is going to ignore you entirely. Desperate promises have no meaning to Him, and He’ll just watch Great Britain fall. If the people think they can just fake a promise and an Oath to Him, and later renege on it when it suits them, breaking treaties and promises as nations and Humans are inclined to do, He will also ignore you entirely.”

I waved in a gesture that dismissed Queen Diana’s advisors completely. “The powerful of your Court have no status whatsoever in the eyes of the Beasts, Queen Diana. You are the Ruler of your weaker tribesmen, and their fate is yours to decide, and no others. If your powerful don’t want to bend a knee to Leviathan, then either get rid of them or force them to do so, as is your right as a Ruler... because He will definitely do the same.

“However, I daresay that if I were to broadcast this discussion to your citizens, being expended mercilessly against the Aquatics in a fight they cannot win is probably not what they want to have happen.

“But if you wish to do so, the Beasts will watch them die without the slightest qualm. I’m sure the Synod, the Church of Light, and the Black Curia will also enjoy your decision. More heretics on the fire, after all.”

Queen Diana took a very deep breath. A couple of the people beside her made to speak up, and she simply stated, “Be silent!” and they shut up also.

She stared at me, glancing at Briggs and Sama and the Irish, who were all watching this with great interest. Her eyes flickered to the Tokens on my Staff thoughtfully, weighing what they represented.

“Have you given your oath of service to the Thunderbird, then?” she asked of me.

“I have chosen to live in North America, which is His territory, and has been before Humanity ever came to its shores. I have indeed visited Thunderbird Emperor and acknowledged His sovereignty,” I confirmed, to the electric delight of the people behind her. “This is not news, of course. If you think of it as betrayal of the Human race, well, with one command Thunderbird Emperor could wipe every Human off of North America within six months, and more likely within three. I consider contributing to that NOT happening to be the highest form of service to Humanity, not some pithy defiance and rebellion the Synod has been attempting to foist off on us to create conflict with the Beasts and encourage reliance on the Church of Light for the past millennia.

“I do hope you are not thinking the Synod will come rescue you. I imagine the price you’d have to pay for that would be crippling, indeed, and you know they are plenty happy to watch you heretics be eaten alive.”

“Why would you bend your knee to a Beast, even an Emperor?” Queen Diana asked intently, focused on me.

“Interesting. Why would you give your Faith to a tyrant and enslaver from an alien realm through its puppet church?” I asked in reply. “Because you are giving lip service to its creed right now. Regardless if you deny the Synod direct authority, you are still empowering their masters.”

“That... is a separate question,” she finally replied slowly, finding something else to grapple with, and someone else to resent for their lack of aid, as was all of Protestant Europe. “You obviously and publicly acknowledged that you can speak with the Emperors of the Beasts. That places you in a... unique position on this world. Even I, or other Sages, find it difficult to open a discourse with them, yet you were capable of doing so even before your incredibly early rise to the power of a Sage.”

“You are looking for the secret of my speaking with Emperors?” I was amused. “I would say a lack of pride is first. The Church of Light has bred humanocentric racism deep into the bones of Humanity as part of its agenda. This creates conflict with the Beasts by making us ‘better’ than they are. If you think that powerful Beasts cannot sense this, you are extremely foolish.

“The Great Beasts do not sense that upon me, and they can sense my acknowledgement of the natural hierarchy and willingness to obey, to work with them, and to benefit them without grasping and lusting after power for myself.

“We are a very greedy, very grasping Tribe of ill-mannered Primates in the eyes of the Great Beasts. That does not mean that there is not a place for us, but the Synod has made it plain that the only acceptable means of dealing with Beasts is for Humanity to dominate them, our boots on their heads, and the system which has ruled the world for a billion years is hogwash and meant to be swept away by the means and methods bestowed upon us by a bunch of inhuman, alien conquerors who want to reduce us all to compulsively obedient thralls to empower them and their conquests further.

“Let me boil the choices down to three simple choices, Your Majesty?” I asked her, and she nodded slowly at me.

“First, you may choose to fight on. You will lose. You are outnumbered, out-Powered, and the enemy is united in their will to destroy you. I expect your greatest cities may hold out for as long as a year, certainly not until the end of the five, and just because we break The Great Flood at that time does not mean the Aquatics will retreat, regardless of the unfounded assurances and assumptions of your advisors.” Some of which promptly paled as their queen glanced directly at them.

“But you will have your Synod-decreed pride and your life, as you and your elites flee under your own power, and the citizens who depend upon you are massacred off the British Isles. How the rest of Humanity regards you I will leave to your own imaginations.”

Her lips thinned at that very unpalatable choice. “And the next?”

“Evacuate, and very soon. Decide where you want your people to go, and I can take the time and payment to send your people there. I expect your choices are limited to America’s shores or to Australia’s. You will be able to save your people, take at least some of your heritage and wealth with you, and if you will still be fighting, at least your situation will not be unwinnable.

“This may hurt your pride, but I’ve never found disappointing what the Synod wants to happen to be a bad decision. Earn it back in your new home.”

Queen Diana’s eyes flickered, definitely considering that point. “And the last is to swear fealty to Emperor Leviathan.”

“So it is. This will drive off your foes, leave you on your islands, give you a great protector, and involve Great Britain in the true game about the fate of the world. If it means you must obey Emperor Leviathan’s dictates, so be it. At least He will be obvious about it, while you are obeying the Synod now without them raising a finger.

“You should know enough now that Great Beasts don’t care about the internal functions of their vassals and thralls, those are left to the Beasts. You might well find yourself involved in conflict with other, hostile Great Beasts... which is remarkably similar to the situation you find yourself in now, albeit without a True Emperor behind you.

“Furthermore, fealty to Emperor Leviathan naturally brings about alliance with His Vassals, if you are so inclined to greater cooperation. I do not believe I have to tell you what an alliance with the Whales would do for the sea power of the United Kingdom, let alone defense of its shores.”

Even her advisors were caught a bit off-guard by that, and could not help but consider the benefits of such an arrangement.

“The most horrible thing about this is that you WILL be held to your Oath. The consequences of betraying Emperor Leviathan are, well, probably terminal for every Human on these islands. If you cannot embrace your status as Vassals of Emperor Leviathan, then I recommend you just leave.”

Queen Diana closed her eyes for a moment. “Is this an option you have presented to your President?” she asked of me.

I blinked at her in surprise. “President Dukakis is a Sage, but he is an elected manager of our governmental system. He is barely a clan leader, let alone a Noble! He has neither the status nor the personal power to be acknowledged by Thunderbird Emperor!

“There have been inquiries to me about ‘opening a discourse with Thunderbird’ from members of the American military and the White House, as if they have some sort of status or bargaining position with the Emperor Beast of North America.

“Thunderbird Emperor is a True Emperor. You do not go to His Nest to ‘open a discourse’ with Him. You go there to be recognized by and to serve Him.

“I am not a conduit to Thunderbird Emperor. I do not convey the words of our government to Him, because He does not care in the slightest about our government. Humanity exists in America because He allows us to do so, why should He care about our internal Tribal politics?

“I will convey the Will of Thunderbird Emperor to Humanity because He bids me do so, and I can be more diplomatic in how His words are conveyed. That does not make them less absolute, only more prettily worded.

“On the other hand, there are literally hundreds of mages who have made the trek along what is now called the Road of Thunder to pay homage to Thunderbird. Some have been recognized by Him, some didn’t get past the Stormcrowns, some touristy idiots got themselves eaten. Thunderbird Emperor is not a sight-seeing attraction, but Human Primates are as intermittently stupid as many other Monkey Tribes.”

The Queen of England smirked despite herself at that. “Just to be certain, Lady Fae... are there any other choices of Emperors we could... swear fealty to?” she caught herself before she said ‘approach’. There were no negotiations involved with that action.

“Great Britain is technically a part of Europe, and so falls under Old Mountain Emperor by default, Your Majesty. As you’ve not made fealty to any Sea Emperor, it is His writ which includes you, and Old Mountain Emperor cares about the fate of Humans about as much as you care about the fate of random ants. The fact Humans have been annoying him for three thousand years or something probably doesn’t help matters,” I informed her.

“And the old Dragon will just... let us go?” Queen Diana asked in some surprise.

“As I said, you live on an island, Your Majesty. It is the unique right of island-dwellers to acknowledge a Sea Emperor or a Land Emperor close by. If you want to change loyalties after Swearing such, however, you’d best vacate the island. The Emperors are not going to get in a territorial conflict over Humans, and the easiest method to resolve any fickleness is to just purge the island. You just don’t play diplomatic games with the Emperors.”