Hiding a Tier 5 Spiked-Back Lizard was no easy feat. Removing his trail across three days' march given the time they had was close to impossible.

Now they had the forces of the Desert King on his tracks and those tracks were going to lead them straight to Frontier Town. It was only a matter of time, a couple of days maybe, before they found him.

There was no use trying to put him in the hangar now. That might hide him from the airs.h.i.+ps above, but their ground troops would still follow his footprints. A simple search of the buildings around town would reveal the big fellow in short order. Trying to hide Spike at this point was a fool's errand.

What to do? What to do?

"Spike…" Remian said at last, "I'm sorry. We're going to have to make you suffer."

[Why?!] Spike wailed.

"Just for a while!" he told Spike his plan.

Spike didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit.

But they really had no choice.

***

Two and a half days later, the forces of the Desert King came upon KarGoth.

"In the name of the Desert King, comply or be destroyed!" that was the greeting that blared down from the lead Sky Galleon.

There was a ruckus, and a scramble, and then a delegation from the High Rock clan met with the delegation from the lead airs.h.i.+p. Aren stood, pale-faced, in front of a flat-nosed man and six burly figures in heavy scale-mail armor.

"Good sirs, what can we do for you?" he asked. "We don't have much in way of food and drink…"

"Bring out all your valuables! You owe tribute unto the Desert King!" he intoned.

"V-valuables? Sir, we are slaves hired out as workers, there's nothing here of value except the ores we mine."

"Are you deaf? I said bring out all your valuables! NOW!"

So they brought out the ores they had at the mines today, three crates of Fire Copper ores and one of raw jade.

"That's all?!" the flat-nosed man growled suspiciously.

"Sir, we deliver the ores to the smelter every evening… we wouldn't even sell you these normally…"

"Sell?" the flat-nosed man roared. "This is the property of the Desert King, now! How dare you talk of selling anything! It is tribute! And it is not enough! The Desert King demands more!"

"More? All we have left is food and water!" Aren hesitated. "If you want water…"

"Water is useless! It is everywhere around here!" Flat-nose snarled. "If you cannot pay, you must work! That is the rule!"

"B-but…"

"Send out your clan! We are looking for a monster! Spread out in every direction, search every hill and valley! By tomorrow night, you will find the Tier 5 spike-lizard-turtle, or we will take payment from your women!"

At that, Aren gave him an odd look. Flat-nose was perturbed to find that Aren didn't seem particularly frightened, that in fact, all fear seemed to drain out of him suddenly. He glanced down at his pants awkwardly, wondering if he'd forgotten to fasten something important this morning.

"You mean the Spike-Back Lizard of Craggy Falls?" Aren asked.

"Yes! That loathsome creature has to pay for the destruction of our- the Desert King's- property!"

"Well, we don't need to send anyone out to find him. We know exactly where he is."

At that, Flat-nose brightened. "Speak! Tell me now, and we will spare your women! We will even waive your measly tribute of ores!"

"Really?" Aren looked impressed. "Well, good sir, he's right there."

He pointed to a very large, very deep hole in between Kara and Goth.

Flat-nose and his men went over to the edge of the Pit and peered down.

Seeing them, Aren's hand twitched. He had to resist a sudden urge to rush over and push them in, or kick them in the tailroots…

But no. This wasn't the time to antagonize the Desert King. Not while the High Rock clan still suffered under his slave-bond. Not until they had the strength to fend him off.

"That's the monster!" Flat-nose declared upon seeing Spike snoozing at the bottom of the Pit. "You captured him?"

"We have a lid that can suddenly open." Aren told them. "We could close it now, but that creature tends to become violent if we close him in the dark. The noise becomes a distraction to the workers. Best to just keep it open and leave him down there."

"Good! Very good!" Flat-nose straightened fiercely. "As a reward for your bravery, you may keep all the ores!"

Aren said nothing as Flat-nose and his men proudly strutted away, but once they were gone, he muttered, "The ores are ours to begin with."

***

For all their posturing and blathering, the Desert King's troops did not actually want to get into a fight with a Tier 5 Wild. Having the 'monster' stuck in a pit as a prisoner was good enough for them. They could safely report back that the creature had been neutralized without risking even a hair on their own heads.

This, they accomplished most speedily, and they were proud to claim that the Black Ruins were once again safe for excavation.

Therefore another expedition was prepared and launched the following day. It was just a single Sky Galleon this time, and like before, it completely ignored all air traffic signals from Fort Spoas Airport.

This Sky Galleon made its way to the Black Ruins to rebuild the excavation camp site and resume the excavation of the Black Ruins.

***

Meanwhile, the Roving Albatross' latest trip to Frontier Town was accompanied by no less than three other airs.h.i.+ps.

One was an airs.h.i.+p of the Iron Legion under the command of Tiberius, 1st Centurion of the 12th Cohort, with Primus Pilus Gaius as his guest. He also brought the entire 12th Cohort's 1st Century with him, all 102 men and a cat.

The second was a Deutero Wandering Egret, similar to the airs.h.i.+p that first brought Remian to the Frontier, the one he met Markus and Max on. It was carrying cargo and pa.s.sengers.

The third was an Aurora s.h.i.+pyards Wind Voyager, currently very popular in Ashdale.

"What's going on?" Remian had to ask when he saw all those airs.h.i.+ps coming in.

He glanced up; Mindy was there above the airport, waiting to greet the incoming airs.h.i.+ps with the Tug and the Sky Barge. They had managed to stick another XL Ballista onto the Tug, which was a Tier 4.4 Corvette with most of its capacity dedicated to a powerful Magic Drive. If not for that, they would have been able to stick the XXL 'Bellower' Ballista on it, but as it was, the XL Ballista was the best they could do.

That was why, in order to bring 'Bellower's firepower to bear, they had to tug the whole Sky Barge along for the ride. On top of that, the FDF had clambered aboard with Tier 4 crossbows at the ready. A small squad of them were also bringing the Foresight over.

Should they be worried? Probably not, Remian felt. This was Charlie, the Iron Legion, Deutero and Ashdale airs.h.i.+ps. As far as Remian could tell, they were friendlies. Had they been flying the flags of Fal'Herim, Remian would be a lot more tense, but despite all their precautions, he didn't think they were here as hostiles.

He really wasn't expecting trouble.

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

Kaleo on the Deutero airs.h.i.+p was no trouble, but on the Iron Legion airs.h.i.+p was Tiberius. And more troublesome still… Charlie's family had come to visit on the Wind Voyager.

Mandy had come with them.