Free Isle of Wysteria: The Monolith Crumbles by Aaron Lee Yeager

yes,” Duke Relivan shivered. “One time on a dare. Frightful stuff.”
    “Yes, well, those are made from raw stone. Stonemasters can convert bare rock into an edible substance. What’s more, their inner islands have enormous underground lakes. No, I’m afraid they can withstand decades of siege. Our airships would run out of food long before they would.”
    Kahn Alakaneezer of Iso slammed his white, bear-like fist down onto his table, causing the wood to groan in pain. “What is this? I don’t understand this hesitation! The bulk of the navy fleet is still back at Notorn, curing themselves of the DeathCap plague you infected them with. We control the largest force of ships and soldiers in Aetria right now. Have we suddenly become cowards? We should strike immediately! I say we run our ships right past their outer defenses and strike the home island directly!”
    “I agree,” King Vilmas of Korsica added, his long colorful beak clacking together.
    “As do I,” Regent Kowless of Paxillus clicked thought his mandibles, his antennae sniffing about.
    “Let’s hang them all by their stubby little necks!” King Dolan of Madaringa shouted.
    Kahn Alakaneezer stood up and held out his razor sharp claws. “We may take some casualties, but far more will die if we do nothing, so the choice is simple.”
    “Run the gauntlet against those defenses?” Underking Meekil of Metrion warned, his long whiskers twitching nervously. “We could lose everything.”
    Queen Forsythia calmly rested her hands atop her staff. “The situation is worse than you realize. Consider for a moment that the crystal array system we use to communicate between islands--the very means we use to send orders to our ships and coordinate our forces--is under the complete control of the Stonemasters. Not only do they listen in on every conversation we have, they can simply refuse to send any signals we send out that they deem too dangerous. They can switch off our messages at any time. Worse, they can intercept and send out false messages. They can scatter our forces; trick battle groups into attacking their allies, call a retreat if the tide turns against them. If we do not come up with an alternate means, any invasion is doomed to failure.”
    Kahn Alakaneezer folded his arms defiantly.
    Nikki stepped up to add her own comment. “At this very moment, every single airship under our control has in its stone core, a Stonemaster engineer, listening in and relaying everything we do to their masters. It is a serious security issue.”
    Queen Forsythia nodded. “It is even more serious than that. The second our invasion force sets out for Boeth, the Stone Council could simply withdraw the void magic that keeps our ships in the air, dropping every last one of us into the sea.”
    The room grew quiet. Delegates looked at each other in bewilderment.
    “Would they really do such a thing?” King Chawness of Nigowitt wondered, his skin changing color to a dark brown, his tentacles wriggling in despair.
    “I have no doubt that they would,” Guru Inthanos of Chidd said gravely, rubbing his shell nervously.
    The room grew dark as everyone processed the danger of their situation.
    King Buni of Hazari tugged sadly on one of his dog-like ears. “So, we have an armada of airships we can’t safely use, a message system that is compromised, and defenses we cannot beat once we get there.”
    “Have we already lost then?” Precept Nolocauss of Timmeron wondered.
    Queen Forsythia tapped her staff. The sound rang through the hall, awakening them from the cloud of despair that hung over them. “No, there is still hope. The potential for victory lies within each person sitting here at this conference. Allow me to demonstrate. Nikki, please continue.”
    Nikki blew a fresh puff of crystal dust into the air. It took the shape of a hexagonal island made of solid black volcanic glass. Smooth on every surface, reflecting the sunlight ominously as the tiny ocean waves pounded