Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: Ferrum’s Clever Chain of Stratagems

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ferrum launches his third assault on Golden Grain City using the Nether Dragon and over a hundred Wyvern Cavalry.
• The attackers bombard the city with arrows and magical fire. Ferrum personally smashes through a battlement, destroying soldiers and a ballista before withdrawing.
• The raid succeeds in frightening the defenders without committing the full Vanguard Army. Ferrum uses the attacks, visible Juvenile Dragons, and deliberately unchallenged messenger birds to make Golden Grain City request reinforcements.
• Ferrum believes the likely relief force will come from nearby Agate City, which is his true strategic target.
• In the command tent, Ferrum explains that the Vanguard Army’s exposed position and the slow advance of the twenty-thousand-man main force create a serious risk: enemy forces could bypass Golden Grain City, attack the stretched-out rear army, and cut it apart.
• He orders Hidorivi and Jelierion to return to the rear army, abandon heavy supplies and siege equipment, and lead the troops through the dangerous Blackrock Plateau instead of along the expected Deerhunting Town route.
• Ferrum reveals that he had already investigated the plateau, confirmed that a narrow route was passable, and arranged for In Tas to scout it. The dragons accompanying the army should be strong enough to control the monsters and dangers there.
• The maneuver is designed to threaten Agate City from an unexpected direction while Ferrum and Kelaili attack Golden Grain City with the arriving five-thousand-man battle group.
• If successful, Ferrum will seize Golden Grain City and then bring the Dragon Corps to reinforce the attack on Agate City, effectively replacing the abandoned siege engines.
• Ferrum’s larger goal is to capture both cities, isolate Tagoma’s western region, inflict major early losses, and force the remaining western forces into surrender or destruction.

Character Developments

• Ferrum Solax is established as a patient, deceptive, and highly strategic commander. He combines direct military pressure with misinformation and psychological manipulation, planning several interconnected moves rather than relying on brute force.
• He demonstrates awareness of logistics and battlefield vulnerability, recognizing that his slow-moving supply train is more endangered than the faster vanguard.
• Hidorivi displays strong tactical judgment by immediately identifying the danger to the scattered main army. Ferrum praises his leadership ability, vigilance, and strategic vision.
• Jelierion serves as a practical and questioning commander, asking about the risks of the plan and the fate of the supplies and Golden Grain City.
• In Tas contributes through reconnaissance, confirming that the supposedly impassable Blackrock Plateau can be crossed.
• Ferrum’s trust in Hidorivi deepens as he entrusts him with command of the entire twenty-thousand-man rear army.

Significant Themes

• Deception and misdirection: Ferrum intentionally makes Golden Grain City believe it needs aid while concealing his real plan against Agate City.
• Speed versus logistics: Abandoning baggage and siege equipment allows the army to move through terrain where conventional forces cannot follow.
• Psychological warfare: Repeated raids, visible dragons, and controlled intelligence leaks create panic and manipulate enemy decisions.
• Strategic flexibility: Ferrum uses the Dragon Corps not merely as cavalry or shock troops, but as substitutes for siege engines and as a force capable of rapidly shifting between fronts.
• Calculated risk: The plan depends on sacrificing supplies and dividing forces, but Ferrum believes the capture of two cities will compensate for these dangers.
• Overwhelming force paired with intelligence: Dragon strength makes the dangerous plateau viable, while scouting, local knowledge, and careful planning turn geography into an advantage.

Character Interactions

• Ferrum summons Hidorivi and Jelierion privately to prevent information from leaking through careless conversation among the Juvenile Dragons.
• He physically guides Hidorivi to the map and explains the hidden purpose of the campaign, showing both authority and confidence in his subordinate.
• Hidorivi correctly interprets Ferrum’s concerns and validates the strategic reasoning behind the new route.
• Jelierion challenges the plan by questioning the abandoned supplies and the response of Golden Grain City, prompting Ferrum to clarify that both Agate City and Golden Grain City are simultaneous objectives.
• Hidorivi and Jelierion ultimately accept the mission and depart loyally, pledging to carry out Ferrum’s strategy for the Lineage.

Chapter Summary: “Afterglow”

Key Plot Points and Events

• At the Vanguard Army’s camp, Afterglow discovers Olysia using magic to send information to the Tagoma Kingdom. Believing Olysia to be an active enemy agent, she attacks her with powerful composite magic.
• The other dragons—including the Thorn, Frost, and Sea Dragons—gather, while the soldiers retreat in confusion.
• Ferrum intervenes before Olysia is killed. He blocks Afterglow’s attack, removes Olysia from danger, and orders Afterglow to accompany him.
• In Ferrum’s tent, he explains that he already knew Olysia had been transmitting intelligence. He deliberately allowed it because her reports could help mislead or pressure the Tagoma Kingdom.
• Ferrum reveals that Jelierion and Hidorivi have taken the main dragon force through the Blackrock Plateau. The strategy is intended to draw Agate City’s defenders out and allow the dragons to capture the city with minimal losses.
• Ferrum asks Afterglow to travel north alone and use her high-altitude spellcasting and senses to monitor Agate City’s garrison. She agrees immediately.
• He warns her repeatedly not to engage the enemy and assures her that the dragons can retreat or alter their plans if the tactic fails. His primary concern is her safety.
• As evening falls, the Tagoma and dragon armies continue maneuvering. A group secretly leaves Golden Grain City and approaches the dragons, while an unexpected important visitor arrives at Ferrum’s camp.

Character Developments

• Afterglow is shown as fiercely loyal, aggressive, and uncompromising during wartime. She believes anyone resisting the Lineage should be killed and is frustrated by Ferrum’s tolerance of Olysia. Her accusations also reveal that she feels Ferrum has changed since awakening.
• Ferrum demonstrates strategic patience, explaining that Olysia’s apparent espionage is part of a larger military calculation. He also displays authority by stopping Afterglow’s attack and assigning her a mission.
• Ferrum’s concern for Afterglow becomes increasingly personal. He embraces her, worries about her safety, and suggests that they discuss their feelings and relationship once the war allows.
• Olysia realizes that her covert communications were never truly secret. She is also struck by the fact that Ferrum knowingly allowed her actions, suggesting that her identity and usefulness are central to the dragons’ plans.
• Jelierion and Hidorivi take command of the main force’s detour, while Afterglow is separated from the group to perform reconnaissance.

Significant Themes

• Strategy versus ideology: Afterglow sees Olysia purely as an enemy, while Ferrum views her as a potential source of intelligence. The chapter contrasts immediate military justice with long-term strategy.
• The cost of war: The dragons discuss soldiers’ lives, tactical sacrifices, and the dangers of conquest, but Ferrum emphasizes that victory should not require unnecessary deaths.
• Trust and secrecy: Olysia’s hidden actions, Ferrum’s concealed knowledge, and the dragons’ broader deception show how intelligence and misinformation shape the war.
• Changing relationships: Afterglow senses that Ferrum has changed since awakening, while Ferrum seeks to reconnect with her emotionally despite the demands of war.
• Duty versus personal attachment: Ferrum must balance his responsibilities as corps commander with his concern for Afterglow and his desire for a private relationship.

Character Interactions

• Afterglow and Olysia: Their confrontation is driven by opposing loyalties. Afterglow attacks Olysia as a traitor, while Olysia attempts to defend herself with her spiritual power.
• Ferrum and Afterglow: Their argument begins as a dispute over military policy but becomes an intimate exchange. Ferrum challenges her recklessness and expresses deep concern for her, while Afterglow hides her embarrassment behind sarcasm and military discipline.
• Ferrum and Olysia: Ferrum protects Olysia from Afterglow and reveals that he has knowingly tolerated her espionage. Their relationship remains strategic and ambiguous.
• Ferrum and the dragon army: His intervention establishes his authority as commander, while his orders to Afterglow and the other forces demonstrate the larger coordinated campaign against Agate City.

Plot points and events

• Envoys from Golden Grain City arrive at the Giant Dragon Vanguard Army’s outpost, insisting they will reveal their identity only to Ferrum. He orders them searched, disarmed, and admitted under guard.
• Olysia assumes the envoys are traitors and tries to stay for the meeting, but Ferrum dismisses her, citing the need to protect the guests’ privacy. He reminds her that he knows she secretly sent a message and says he will not kill her, though she must not do it again.
• Olysia argues that Ferrum promised she could learn useful information. He refuses, pointing out that he has protected and favored her while she continues to regard him as an enemy. He promises to exchange prisoners with her Lineage if Golden Grain City falls and he survives.
• Determined to discover the envoy’s identity, Olysia returns in a deliberately revealing gown, then covers herself with a robe. Ferrum insists she remain nearby, and she reluctantly opens the robe enough to satisfy him.
• The envoy arrives: a formidable, nonhuman-looking warrior in black armor and wolf fur. He recognizes Olysia as familiar, but Ferrum declares her his closest servant and says she will not interfere.
• The warrior introduces himself as Karn, an Apostle, and says he brings greetings from his lord, Tempus, to the Heavy-Metal Dragon. Ferrum says he has never heard the name.

Character developments

• Ferrum presents himself as disciplined and protective of diplomatic rules, while also treating Olysia possessively and expecting her loyalty. His refusal to let her hear the talks reveals a growing weariness with her hostility, despite his stated protection and promises.
• Olysia remains committed to her Lineage and kingdom, but feels guilt over her secret message and frustration at her helplessness. She continues to maneuver for intelligence, even accepting clothing that deeply embarrasses her.
• Karn enters as a powerful and formal emissary, but his pointed observation of Olysia suggests he may know more about her identity than he initially lets on.

Significant themes

• Duty versus personal survival: Olysia’s actions are guided by loyalty to her Lineage, even as captivity leaves her feeling powerless.
• Trust and obligation: Ferrum invokes the responsibilities of hospitality and his own promises, while Olysia questions whether his favors create any real trust.
• Power and control: Ferrum’s protection of Olysia is inseparable from his possessiveness and control over what she may know or do.
• Diplomacy and secrecy: The envoys’ guarded arrival and Karn’s unexplained connection to Olysia set up a potentially significant political meeting.

Character interactions

• Ferrum and Olysia argue over her right to attend the meeting, exposing their conflicting views of her status: she sees herself as a prisoner owed information; he treats her as a favored possession.
• Ferrum’s formal welcome contrasts with Olysia’s suspicion of the visitors.
• Karn’s familiarity with Olysia briefly threatens her effort to remain unrecognized, while Ferrum’s claim that she is his closest servant keeps the meeting moving.

Chapter Summary: “Tempus God”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ferrum meets Kahn, an envoy from the Tagoma Kingdom who worships the obscure war god Tempus.
• Kahn explains that Tempus is an ancient but newly recognized god of honorable warfare, opposed to Gallagath and Tagoma’s seven official war gods.
• Tempus condemns slaughtering civilians, killing the wounded or surrendered, using poison, threatening families, and destroying indiscriminately. He believes warriors should earn glory through courage and strength.
• Kahn invites Ferrum to become Tempus’s Apostle. Ferrum refuses, insisting that dragons do not need gods to guide or empower them.
• Kahn instead proposes a personal alliance with Ferrum rather than with the entire Ashmark Lineage. Tempus values Ferrum’s character and ambition, not merely his power.
• In exchange for establishing Tempus’s temples and spreading the War Law in conquered territories, Tempus’s followers will help Ferrum resist the Wild Hunters serving Tagoma’s seven gods.
• Kahn argues that Tempus does not favor a particular race or nation. Any being—dragon, elf, giant, or human—with courage and a fearless fighting spirit may earn his favor.
• He also reveals that Tempus’s hidden temples preserve historical records suppressed by the official Holy Temple, whose influence over Tagoma’s rulers is extensive.
• Kahn departs, leaving Ferrum to consider whether an alliance with Tempus would strengthen the dragons or allow divine influence to threaten their independence.
• Back in Golden Grain City, Kahn’s attendant complains that the dragons failed to show sufficient respect and that Ferrum did not accept apostleship. Kahn replies that Ferrum is already Tempus’s Apostle, even if he has not yet realized it.

Character Developments

• Ferrum becomes more politically and spiritually cautious. Though he initially distrusts the unknown god, Tempus’s principles closely resemble values he learned from Valyria, making him seriously consider cooperation.
• Ferrum remains fiercely independent and refuses divine possession, emphasizing the dragons’ belief that they must solve problems through their own strength.
• He recognizes that Tempus may be a suitable ally because the god is young, relatively humble, and apparently willing to respect the separation between divine authority and mortal rule.
• Kahn is established as a disciplined, devoted warrior rather than a conventional Tagoman loyalist. He values respect, character, and honor over submission or empty deference.
• Kahn demonstrates confidence in Tempus’s long-term plans, implying that Ferrum’s destiny has already aligned with the god’s cause.
• Olysia learns more about Tempus and is surprised by Ferrum’s refusal of such a prestigious divine offer. She also becomes suspicious that Ferrum may possess qualities recognized by Tempus, especially character and ambition.

Significant Themes

• Honor versus brutality in war: Tempus represents disciplined, honorable combat, while Gallagath and the seven official gods represent indiscriminate violence and bloodshed.
• Secular independence versus divine influence: Ferrum fears that accepting a god’s support could eventually subordinate dragon rule to divine will.
• Faith and self-reliance: Humans seek gods for guidance, whereas dragons believe in their own power and reject dependence on deities.
• Political legitimacy and religious control: Kahn exposes how the Holy Temple manipulates kingship and suppresses rival histories and beliefs.
• Recognition beyond power: Tempus values courage, ambition, and moral character rather than race, political allegiance, or brute strength.
• The enemy of one’s enemy: Ferrum considers an alliance with Tempus because both oppose the Tagoma war gods, particularly Gallagath.

Character Interactions

• Ferrum and Kahn: Their conversation shifts from suspicion to cautious mutual respect. Ferrum interrogates Kahn’s motives, while Kahn presents Tempus’s ideals and makes Ferrum a personal offer.
• Ferrum and Olysia: Olysia observes Ferrum’s decisions and questions whether he has been recognized by Tempus. Ferrum later orders her to remain with him, reinforcing their personal relationship.
• Kahn and Olysia: Olysia challenges Kahn’s claim that Tempus can aid outsiders against Tagoma’s own forces. Kahn counters that Tempus judges individuals by their courage rather than by race or nationality.
• Kahn and his attendant: The attendant focuses on the dragons’ lack of submission, while Kahn emphasizes that respect—not obedience—is what matters. His final statement suggests Tempus’s influence over Ferrum has already begun.

Summary: “The Assault on Golden Grain City”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Vanguard Army reaches Golden Grain City after a week of psychological and physical harassment by Giant Dragons and Wyverns. The city’s defenders are exhausted from repeated false alarms and nighttime attacks.
• The attacking force includes the Giant Dragons, the Wilderness Warband, Wyvern riders, and Dire Wolf Cavalry. They advance without supplies, intending either to seize the city’s resources or die in the attempt.
• Olysia estimates that Golden Grain City has roughly 10,000 defenders, but realizes that reinforcements from the Tagoma Kingdom cannot arrive in time because of its slow, decentralized command structure.
• Ferrum orders the assault. The defenders respond with ballistae, trebuchets, arrows, and magic, inflicting heavy casualties on the poorly equipped wilderness warriors and Wyverns.
• The Giant Dragons absorb the city’s defenses and attack the walls directly. Ferrum activates Blood Frenzy and charges the wall alongside Kelaili, whose repeated impacts have already weakened it.
• Ferrum and Kelaili break through the northwestern wall, disabling the city’s magical barrier and opening a breach.
• The Tagoma defenders fight fiercely at close quarters, forming spear squares and resisting the invading army despite overwhelming odds. The breach becomes a brutal slaughterhouse.
• Gax, Barloz, and the juvenile dragons lead the assault through the opening. Nili proves especially lethal, using cold flames to destroy enemy formations and targeting officers.
• Wyvern cavalry penetrate the city, striking strategic locations such as bell towers, armories, and crossroads. Resistance collapses throughout the streets.
• By dusk, Ferrum stands atop the city’s highest castle while Dire Wolf Cavalry announces that those who resist or flee will be killed, while those who surrender will live.
• Golden Grain City falls in mid-August of 8160, shortly after Sand City, marking another major victory in the Giant Dragon Lineage’s “Midsummer Eastern Campaign.”

Character Developments

• Ferrum demonstrates his dual nature: privately immature and playful, but on the battlefield commanding, ruthless, and kinglike. His authority over both dragons and wilderness warriors becomes unmistakable.
• Olysia recognizes that the Nether Dragon’s previous claims about the dragons’ hostility were false. Her view of Ferrum becomes increasingly conflicted as she observes his childhood-like personality alongside his terrifying battlefield majesty.
• Kelaili displays loyalty and courage by repeatedly crashing into the city wall and coordinating with Ferrum to bring it down.
• Nili emerges as a particularly deadly combatant, mirroring Ferrum’s golden eyes and fighting with cold, efficient brutality.
• The Tagoma defenders evolve from exhausted and frightened soldiers into desperate but courageous fighters who defend their city even after the walls fall.

Significant Themes

• The contrast between youth and power: Ferrum’s childish private behavior contrasts sharply with his authority and violence as a military leader.
• Military efficiency versus bureaucratic weakness: The Giant Dragons’ speed and unified command overwhelm the Tagoma Kingdom’s slow feudal system, where orders must pass through multiple layers of authority.
• Psychological warfare and exhaustion: Repeated dragon raids weaken the defenders before the true assault begins, making exhaustion as important as physical casualties.
• Courage amid inevitable defeat: The Tagoma soldiers know the city is likely lost, yet continue fighting to protect their families and homeland.
• Power and conquest: The fall of Golden Grain City demonstrates the destructive force of organized dragon warfare and signals the rapid expansion of the Giant Dragon Lineage.

Important Character Interactions

• Olysia observes and internally evaluates Ferrum, struggling to reconcile his private childishness with his public role as a dragon king.
• Ferrum commands the dragons and wilderness warriors with unquestioned authority, while the dragons openly call him “elder brother.”
• Ferrum and Kelaili coordinate their attacks to destroy the city wall.
• Gax and Barloz direct the juvenile dragons during the breach, while Nili independently cuts through enemy formations.
• The Tagoma defenders rally around their commanders and one another, choosing collective resistance rather than surrender despite the city’s collapse.

Chapter Summary: “Framework of Rule”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ferrum’s forces capture Golden Grain City in less than half a day after dragons destroy the Holy Temple and overwhelm the city’s defenses.
• The city’s banners are replaced with Ferrum Legion’s Bloodfire banners, marking the end of Tagoma control.
• Surrendered spellcasters reshape the former count’s mansion into a large dragon palace, giving Ferrum a suitable headquarters.
• Although the city has fallen, chaos follows. Wild Clan warriors burn, loot, kill civilians, and massacre prisoners despite Ferrum’s orders to maintain discipline.
• Ferrum summons a War Council and establishes an immediate governing and military framework:
  • Troops are recalled, encamped, and ordered to stop looting.
  • Noble estates, granaries, and merchant warehouses are secured.
  • Spoils and rewards are distributed to the soldiers, including gold, food, livestock, and wine.
  • The Vanguard Army receives especially generous rewards but is forbidden from drinking or visiting prostitutes, since Ferrum may soon redeploy them to Agate City.
  • Nipo is appointed governor, with Gern and Heias assisting in civil administration.
  • Kelo is placed in charge of prisoners, interrogation, recruitment of local informants, and intelligence gathering.
• Ferrum ends the council by declaring his intention to create a true Dragon Kingdom based on organized rule rather than barbaric conquest.

Character Developments

• Ferrum demonstrates strategic foresight, administrative ability, and strict moral authority. He understands that conquering a city is easier than governing it and acts quickly to prevent his forces from destroying their new possession.
• Nipo is surprised and delighted by her appointment as governor. Her enthusiastic acceptance reveals her confidence and strong loyalty toward Ferrum.
• Moqi questions Ferrum’s decision to reward the troops before the spoils are inventoried, but accepts his reasoning and carries out the order.
• Kelo, previously overlooked among the dragons, receives an important role that suits his talents for interrogation, information gathering, and covert intelligence.
• Gax, Barloz, Moqi, Nipo, Gern, Heias, and Kelo are entrusted with practical responsibilities, showing the young dragons maturing into capable military and political leaders.
• The Juvenile Dragons experience pride and excitement at accomplishing their first major conquest independently, but Ferrum reminds them that the greater war has only begun.

Significant Themes

• From conquest to governance: Victory is presented as only the beginning; lasting power requires administration, discipline, and control.
• Civilization versus barbarism: Ferrum seeks to distinguish noble dragon rule from the Wild Clans’ uncontrolled violence and establish a more modern, organized state.
• Leadership and responsibility: Ferrum places the welfare and loyalty of his troops above immediate personal enrichment by distributing rewards promptly.
• Institution-building: The creation of military, civil, financial, and intelligence offices marks the early formation of the Dragon Kingdom.
• Transformation and modernization: Ferrum’s declaration that “the age of barbaric rule has passed” signals a deliberate shift toward structured government and political legitimacy.
• Collective ambition: The repeated motto, “Scattered Fire Sets the Plains Ablaze,” symbolizes the dragons’ unity and their belief that their growing power will spread across the region.

Character Interactions

• Ferrum meets briefly with the surrendered count but sends him away to await judgment, establishing his authority over the former regime.
• During the War Council, Ferrum gives direct orders to each dragon while allowing them to demonstrate their individual strengths.
• Moqi respectfully challenges Ferrum’s reward policy, leading Ferrum to explain his different standards for disciplined dragons and less-controlled Wild Clan warriors.
• Ferrum reassures Nipo that the governorship can be given to someone else if she doubts herself, prompting her to confidently accept the position.
• The dragons respond collectively to Ferrum’s speech and repeat his motto, confirming their loyalty and shared commitment to building the Dragon Kingdom.

Afterglow confessed that she felt left behind by Ferrum and the other dragons, and Ferrum encouraged her to seek a different path to power. Their talk turned into a sexual encounter that continued until near dawn on the third day.

• Afterglow told Ferrum she was unhappy because she could not keep pace with the dragons advancing to archaic species, and she wanted to become a crowned dragon and rescue her mother.
• Ferrum suggested that the bloodline-refinement methods they knew might not suit Afterglow and supported her plan to seek powerful spellcasters on the Shien Peninsula.
• Afterglow said she was glad Ferrum had killed a prisoner and leaned against him before they settled down to sleep.
• Ferrum initiated sex with Afterglow, who protested and struggled before yielding to his strength.
• Ferrum and Afterglow remained in the bedroom until dawn approached on the third day.

Ferrum negotiated with Roderick over the return of Olysia and demanded a thirty-day truce, but Roderick said the Southern Territories could not accept. Ferrum then proposed that the Beoranz Lineage marry Olysia to him, leaving Roderick stunned.

• Ferrum offered to return the captives if the Southern Territories kept their armies out of Golden Grain City's jurisdiction and gave no aid to Tagoma for thirty days.
• Roderick rejected the truce condition, explaining that halting the war would undermine the Southern Territories' army and that Tagoma was gathering more than a hundred thousand troops.
• Ferrum threatened to abandon Golden Grain City and Agate City, concentrate his forces, and march south if the Southern Territories insisted on war.
• Roderick offered fifty thousand gold coins and military supplies as ransom for Olysia, while Ferrum asked her about Roderick's standing and authority.
• Ferrum proposed that the Beoranz Lineage marry Olysia to him and form an alliance, leaving Roderick speechless.

Ferrum met Zane in Deepstone City, where Zane ordered an advance on Tagoma’s Royal Domain and Ferrum argued that it would leave the dragons’ homeland exposed. Zane’s bloodline call then drove him into a violent crisis, and Ferrum used his blood to stabilize him.

• Zane summoned Ferrum to Deepstone City and proposed abandoning the dragons’ current holdings to attack Tagoma’s Royal Domain.
• Ferrum warned that the advance would let enemies retake Sand City, cut off the rear, and threaten the Lost Wilderness and the warriors’ families.
• Zane revealed that the bloodline call was summoning him back to the Burning Legion and began losing control as his body split and bled.
• Zane asked Ferrum for the blood of an archaic species, and Ferrum cut his foreleg and fed his blood to him.
• Ferrum opened more wounds and activated Blood Frenzy until Zane’s frenzied aura finally vanished.

Ferrum learned that Zane was a balor demon hybrid whose blood call nearly transformed him into a dragonspawn balor, and Zane recovered after Ferrum transfused blood. They debated the war strategy in Deepstone City and agreed to turn back and destroy the enemy forces in Greyhawk City first.

• Ferrum wondered about the value of Zane's blood after using his Burning Heart ability to keep producing it.
• Zane revealed that his true dragon name was Zane Mellon, his demon name was Zelanrien, and he was the son of the abyssal lord Wennai.
• Zane explained that Ferrum's transfusion had prevented him from losing his dragon body and becoming a dragonspawn balor.
• Zane told Ferrum about his demonic origins and promised to repay him in gold after the war.
• Ferrum argued for defeating Greyhawk City's troops before advancing against Tagoma, while Zane defended his plan to seize the capital.
• After Ferrum assured Zane about the Southern Territories and the War God Temple, Zane agreed to turn back and eliminate the enemy in Greyhawk City.

Ferrum met Duke Riwen Beoranz to seek an alliance with the Beoranz Lineage and explained that he wanted to prevent his mother, Zane Mellon, from deciding the war by conquering Tagoma’s capital. The chapter revealed that Ferrum was building support and influence so he could become Dragon King.

• Riwen Beoranz met Ferrum at an outpost and thanked him for returning Olysia and the captured knights unharmed.
• Ferrum called himself the Beoranz Lineage’s future master, and Riwen challenged his presumption while Olysia stayed silent.
• Ferrum proposed an alliance that would preserve the Southern Territories’ independence and help Tagoma submit to conquest with fewer casualties.
• Ferrum warned that Zane planned to attack Tagoma’s capital and explained that he wanted to prevent her from gaining decisive power through the war.
• Ferrum recalled Veloa’s support for his ambition and revealed that his alliances and military reforms were meant to help him become Dragon King.

Ferrum urged Duke Riwen to support his bid against Zane, offering the Beoranz Lineage autonomy and a share in governing Golden Grain City. He left the decision to Riwen, who was left weighing the offer against his kingdom’s alliances and obligations to the gods.

• Ferrum argued that Tagoma should support him because Zane would unleash massacres if she became Dragon King, and he claimed the other Giant Dragons would back his bid.
• Riwen asked what would happen if the Beoranz Lineage refused, and Ferrum warned Olysia that they would become mortal enemies if she rejected him and betrayed his expectations.
• Riwen argued that supporting Ferrum would mean betraying the Tagoma Kingdom, while privately considering the gods’ edicts and the Southern Territories’ religious divisions.
• Ferrum offered to let Olysia return to Golden Grain City and govern its civil affairs alongside the Giant Dragons, while they retained control of the garrison and Lord’s Castle and shared the revenue.
• Ferrum left for Golden Grain City and told Riwen that the Beoranz Lineage’s fate depended on whether they sent Olysia or brought their army.