The dragon's harem

For a second, the civil war stopped, and the soldiers of both sides halted their advance. The bright light that flashed above the mountain was so intense that it almost blinded some of them.

“Damn it! Traitors, what is the meaning of this?!” One of the apes roared, and one from the opposing side cursed. “You bastard! This your doing! What now, are you going to sell us to another freak!”

Countless corpses were already scattered around the battlefield and bleeding, death engulfed the whole place, and many of the soldiers, in desperation, had taken this unexpected moment of peace to rest and drink their potions.

Ganta, who was standing at the peak of a tower, saw the blinding light and could feel the fine hair on her back standing up. Her horns crackled with magic, and her eyes burned red. She stood and started thumping her chest, roaring so loudly that all of the troops below stared back at her.

She had recognized that light and informed her subordinate that help had arrived.

After roaring, she jumped from the massive tower, and her body morphed into that of a massive horned gorilla. She crashed right on top of a building and shattered it into pieces, shaking the entire battlefield.

“This war stops now!” As she burst out of the rubble, she was almost twice the size of the other apes, more muscular, and her hair crackled with draconic magic. “I’ve told you this won’t go for long!”

The apes quickly split into two groups. One aimed to kill her, and the other stood there to protect her. But before they could do anything, a severed head of an ape flew into the sky and landed between them, splashing blood everywhere.

An old man in a suit walked right after the bloodied head, and he looked at the apes with a passive face. “You aren’t laying a finger on My Lady. I don’t belong to this clan, so it isn’t my place to fight in your civil war, but it is my duty as a butler to protect her.”

“Back away, Sebas! You aren’t a part of this! Your clan is already dead, so don’t butt in our business!” That ape approached and towered over Sebas. “I’m warning you, old hero. This matter only concerns our clan.”

“No, you’re wrong. Ganta is already one of Master’s ladies, and it is my business to keep her safe.” Sebas then smiled. “It looks like someone even scarier than me is nearby. Do you really want to keep causing trouble?”

“Scarier than you? Do you mean that stupid light? If they were scarier than you, then they’d better stop throwing party tricks and actually do something.” The ape growled. “And who said Ganta is your Lady now? Her father might’ve wanted her to marry your foul master, but we don’t agree. She’ll die here, and ties with that wyrm would burn to ash. We’ll never bow to a dragon.”

“So, the two sides, one agrees with Ganta marrying Arad, and the other is against it, which caused a civil war concerning the future of the clan. Am I getting that right?” A sharp voice asked, and the ape nodded, only to realize that he didn’t recognize the speaker.

The ape quickly turned around, and this barefoot halfling wearing a white robe was sitting on a charred wall. She looked at them with her diamond clear eyes, and her hair fluttered with the ashy wind blowing past her back.

“Lady Betty.” Sebas gave her a gentle bow, and Ganta, who was in the back, paled. “Chairman!” As she gasped, Betty appeared sitting on her head. “Call me Betty, we’re like sisters now.”

“Chairman, yeah. You’re that halfling from the university Ganta was sent to study in.” The ape growled and started ignoring Sebas to talk with Betty instead. “Why did you come here? You aren’t even one of us like that despicable old back.”

“Careful…” Betty stared at him with an evil grin. “Sebas is patient, but I am not. Call him an old back, and I’ll skin yours.”

The ape chuckled. “What did you come for anyway? Just to poke your nose in our business?”

Betty scratched her chin, “Well, Arad is worried about those two. If he came here, all of you would already be dead.” She pointed at them. “If you’re going to disagree, then split the clan. Why kill each other?”

She asked, and the ape frowned, smacked the ground with his fist, and shouted at her. “You ignorant fool! Our power lies in our solidarity! If we split the clan, then we’ll lose all of our power and dominion!”

She burst laughing and kept doing so until tears flew down her face. “You’re a fool. How is that any different from killing each other like this? Half of you is already dead. If you split the clan, you could’ve at least gotten a chance to reconcile and join forces. Even the half that is still alive won’t be alive in a year.”

Betty looked around. “You started a wall within your livable cities, burned every house, and raided everything. You’ve destroyed most of your civilization for nothing.”

As the ape fumed, Betty looked at Ganta. “Who is this guy anyway? Who started this whole mess?”

At first, Ganta and Sebas returned here and informed her father, the chieftain, that Arad accepted her as a concubine under a wife called Aella. She also informed them that Arad had no intention of stopping them from hunting dragons, as he sees it as the natural course of things; the apes’ role in nature was to keep the population of dragons in check.

Dragons already kill and eat each other all the time, so the apes’ presence didn’t bother him that much. It was set that Ganta would marry Arad, and the apes would come under his protection, so that they could keep living in peace and avoid any future conflicts with the dragons.

Of course, Ganta’s father was happy to hear that, but not everyone shared his feelings. Many called this a trap, and many more claimed that the chieftain had sold them to the dragons. They demanded that he step down from his position, and that his entire family, including Ganta, would be executed for treason.

It was then that Sebas stepped in and informed them that he wouldn’t even allow them to touch Ganta, let alone throw her in jail or execute her. If any harm were to reach her, Arad would wipe the entire clan from the surface of the world.

Ganta’s father tried to de-escalate things and delayed their next meeting, but the rebel apes weren’t going to wait, not even a minute, and they charged to kill him and Ganta on the spot. It was then that all hell broke loose, and the Civil War started. If it were just a couple of stray ones, it would’ve ended quickly, but it seems that half of the population thinks Ganta’s father sold them to the dragons, and so they started a war.

“Aren’t they misunderstanding something? Sooner or later, a group of dragons is bound to form and aim to exterminate all of you. Arad’s offer wasn’t to protect you from him, but to keep you all, Ganta’s people, the people of his concubine, safe from his own race.”

Betty stared at them. “Arad was offering to be a mediator between you and the dragons, to assure you’ll survive, but instead of taking his hand, you decided to kill each other.” She stood on Ganta’s head and smiled. “Fine. You wanted war, so you’ll get war. Me against you all. I’ll beat you all up and set peace here once more.”

The ape chuckled, “And what could a midget like you do?”