by Vic Broquard
All five fully materialized along the wall opposite the dozen chained dragons. Unlike the cold black eyes of the dragons that they had seen, these dragons’ eyes were a cloudy grey. They’ve been Blinded! Awinita sent. They heard noise coming their way and hastily stepped back into the Shadows. The caretaker dragon entered and paused, sniffing the stone on which the five had just been standing. Evidently the caretaker found the smell to her liking and went about her duties, collecting up several piles of dragon dung.
Honani took his group far from the dragon lairs and materialized. “Well, I don’t know what is going on there, but it sure is strange,” he began, casting Clean spells to remove the dragon dung from himself. His companions did the same.
“I counted sixty blinded dragons. What does that mean?” asked Askook, baffled. Awinita shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s the strangest sight I’ve seen. However, there are sixty baby dragons in there. If we could make a surgical strike, we could extract revenge for the four dozen villages that the dragons destroyed four days ago,” Honani suggested. All five chuckled and agreed with his idea.
“They have an extraordinary number of traps on their entryways,” Cheveyo noted. “Surely they consider these caverns of immense importance. Mothers guarding babies — well, I suppose that could account for it, though we have killed a number of baby dragons to get the blood for Milan and Archmage Karel. Still, I think that they are overreacting to our few kills.”
“We should take them out, but will Evsen go for it? Killing their young, I mean,” Donoma asked.
“He might not, but I know someone who would,” Honani answered with a wry smile. “I will be back shortly.” He Shadow Walked back to Brn and Messaged Archmage Karel. A minute later, Karel appeared out in front of the fortress in the nearly deserted street where Honani stood waiting.
“Well met again, Archmage. I have something interesting to tell you.” He outlined what they had discovered and what he wanted to do. “I don’t think the Evsen or even Zoran would go for it, but you and I, we know that these dragons need to be taught a lesson. Sixty babies have got to get their attention and let them know that they cannot wipe out four dozen of our towns without paying the price.”
Karel grinned, “I like it! You were right to come to me with this. Zoran isn’t really taking any revenge for the massive slaughter of our people. I don’t have a squeamish stomach. This must be done. We cannot allow another sixty dragons to mature and enter the fight against humans! Come on; let’s do it now. Let me get a few things that we’re going to need.”
Ten minutes later, Karel and Honani rejoined the four other Star Dancers. Karel handed each one of his Rods of Dragon Slaying. “Now here’s how we go about it,” Karel began outlining his plan for revenge. “We leave the blind dragons alone; we can easily come back later and finish them off.” Everyone agreed with his method of attack which would minimize the risk to themselves. After Karel cast numerous protective spells on all six, Honani Shadow Walked them to the first cavern complex.
Peering out of the Shadows, Karel saw that Honani’s description was accurate. He gave the signal. Several Silence spells activated and the six materialized on either side of the female dragon that was caring for the ten babies. While the five began hacking the red, Karel fired a Disintegrate beam into the dragon’s head. She died several times over. Two minutes later, the ten babies were history and the six were again safe in the Shadows, moving to the next chamber. Fifteen minutes later, they moved on to the next red’s nursery. Forty-five minutes later, the deed was done and Karel had sealed the entrances with Force Walls, preventing the other dragons, that were out either scouting or hunting for antelope to feed them all, from entering the caves.
Next, he proceeded to deactivate the many traps at the entrance of the shared cavern. Leaving Donoma to stand guard, the five headed to see about dispatching the dozen blind dragons.
“Is someone there?” Milena called out. She thought she had heard footsteps, which only added to her confusions. Dragons didn’t have footsteps, humans did. But she was supposed to be a dragon. “What’s going on?”
“You are right, Blind spell. All of them. What the devil is going on here? Why would they blind their own dragons?” asked Karel himself. He certainly didn’t expect Honani to know.
“Humans! Help, humans. Stand back. I’ll blast you with my breath!” yelled Vesna. Karel held his rod steady.
“Want me to start hacking them?” Honani asked.
“All right, take that you vile, wicked humans!” Vesna cried out and opened her mouth. Honani held onto his rod tightly, expecting the worst. Karel seemed amused, however, though he kept his rod at the ready. Nothing at all happened.
Karel couldn’t resist taunting the dragon. “My, you are slipping. Not even a tiny drop of acid. Surely you can do better than that before we slay you!”
Vesna tried and tried, but nothing happened. She began crying. “The humans have cut out my acid glands too. It’s not bad enough that they blinded me and wiped all memories of my spells from my mind, they had to go and cut out my glands too!” She sobbed and wailed. Karel noted that the others also tried to breathe fire and acid onto them as well, but not one of them could manage the slightest breath effect. Nada.
Karel rubbed his head. “What the devil is going on here? We cannot cut out their internals. Hell, we don’t even know what their internals are. What is she talking about — wiping out their knowledge of magic spells? Well, there is such a spell, but we’ve been killing dragons, not wiping their minds. It would take an Archmage to do that in all likelihood. I’d rather have a dead dragon than an alive one any day. This is devilishly strange, Honani.”
“Hey, five are returning with antelopes,” Donoma called out.
“Hum. Honani, I am casting an illusion spell here and then you stick around in the Shadows and see what happens when they discover the slaughter. Cheveyo, take me quickly to each of the other caverns, fast. I have spells to cast in a big hurry!”
Cheveyo took Karel from cavern to cavern as rapidly as he could. While Karel cast a powerful illusion spell over the captive, blind dragons, Cheveyo canceled the Force Walls. He stepped the two into the Shadows just as a red entered the cavern, carrying an antelope. The male’s reaction was the most hideous howl that the two men had ever heard, dampened considerably because they were mostly in the Shadows!
Before long, five more adult males arrived and added their howls to the din. “Even the breeders! They killed them all! My god! Dario has to be informed. Come on. Let’s get out of here fast.” The six reds left. Before long and after similar reactions, some twenty males, both red and black, took flight and then vanished from the sky, stepping into the Shadows themselves.
“Quick, we might not have much time before this place is overrun with dragons,” Karel pointed out. He returned to the first cavern and stood before the chained dozen.
Honani said, “They sure fell for the illusion that these dozen were as dead as the others. Now what? Kill them quickly? They sure are a strange lot. Something is really off with them.”
Milena spoke up. “Well you would be off too if humans tortured you and blinded you and did awful things to you. But I can’t see myself. I am a dragon, aren’t I? It feels like it anyway.”
That did it. Karel cast his Dispel Magic and watched shocked, as a tall, naked woman appeared where the black dragon had stood. The chain around her leg dropped to the floor.
“My god, a Morph Other spell!” Honani declared.
“I am sorry, I don’t know that spell. But I’m going to Sleep all of you right now!” Milena cast her Sleep spell, but could not see if anything had happened. Then she exclaimed, “I have hands again! What is happening to me? I am not a dragon after all? This is so confusing.”
“What have they done to you, Milena?” Vesna called out, waving her head wildly about trying to feel for Milena who was now drastically smaller than she had been.
Honani cast his Dispel Magic and sudden
ly Milena’s eyes returned to normal. “Oh! I can see again. Oh, I am human. Vesna! You are a big Black Dragon after all! Oh! Now you are a human, Vesna, this is so confusing!” Karel had just cast his Dispel Magic on Vesna and she returned to her human form. Cheveyo followed up, returning the woman’s sight to her. Quickly, the others joined in. Askook and Awinita handled the next, while Donoma and Cheveyo worked on the next. Karel and Honani headed down the line, canceling all of the Morph Other spells, allowing the others to remove the women’s Blind spell.
To their dismay, Rada screamed, “Foul humans! Give me back my dragon body!” She started pounding her fists on Askook. Meanwhile two others, yelling the same thing bolted out of the cavern.
Honani heard them yelling back to the others, “We are free. Quick, run and jump off the cliff and that will bring our dragon forms back so we can fly and warn the others!” Before they could do anything to stop them, three women dashed out and disappeared. Later, Honani saw their bodies smashed on the rocks far below the cavern’s mouth.
Karel acted as soon as the two dashed off, followed by the third woman. He cast Sleep on the remaining nine women, but Milena didn’t obey the spell. “I know that spell. You can’t Sleep me. Where did they go? Did they really change back into dragons and fly away? I’d like to fly. The old mage told me that perhaps one day I could fly. Why are they sleeping now? What’s going on? Why am I so big down there? Oh! I was raped, I remember now.” Milena chatted on.
“Milena, I have a job for you. Your companions are getting a much needed sleep. Can you stand guard over them a little while? We need to get to some other women too,” Honani asked her.
“Oh sure. I can shoot a Magical Missile if anyone comes. Oh, I have a memory of shooting one at the dragon who was looking in the hole in the roof of Moose Lodge, but maybe that isn’t my memory. I’m not sure of much of anything anymore,” she rattled on.
Honani took the initiative. “If all these chained dragons are Morphed women, we can’t get them all out of here quickly. I’m going to Message Evsen to lend a hand.” Karel grunted and reluctantly agreed. Within a minute Evsen and the rest of Strike Force One arrived, homing in on Honani.
“Archmage Karel? What’s going on?” asked a very surprised Evsen.
“We need your help getting these abducted women back to Zoran’s infirmary. They were morphed into dragons and are so disoriented that the best thing for them is to Sleep them and transport them that way. Three dived off the cliff thinking they were dragons and could morph back into dragon form and fly away. Be quick about it, I don’t know how soon other dragons will return,” Karel answered.
Honani added, “We will undo the spells and bring the women here. This is Milena and she knows some spells and can guard them for you.”
“Yes I can Magic Missile them if they return,” Milena spoke up. “I don’t think that I am really a dragon anymore, but maybe I am. It is all so confusing.”
Thirty minutes later, Honani Shadow Walked Karel and Milena back to the infirmary in Zoran’s fortress. They were the last to leave Voss. All told, they brought back forty-five women. Except for Milena, most of the women were causing all manner of troubles for the Archmages, however. Being in various degrees of pregnancy wasn’t the problem.
Once roused from the Sleep spells, many of the rescued women shrieked, cursed, and tried to pummel their care givers. Some tried and tried to somehow change back into their dragon bodies. Some even tried to escape the infirmary. Hence, Zoran had to place guards near the doors to prevent them from slipping out.
At last, Archmage Nadia found a workable approach. “Dragons, please, we need to get your human forms all cleaned up and cared for. Once that is done and you get fed, why then we will get you back into your proper dragon forms. You don’t want to be dirty or filthy in your dragon forms now do you?” While they grumbled and griped, forty-four women went along with the suggestions.
Jarka cleverly mixed a little sleeping potion into their food. Thus, once cleaned, clothed, and fed, the women fell asleep, all except Milena who continued to chat away, adding her confusion into the mix. Since she was at least being semi-rational and not trying to harm anyone, Nadia allowed her to stand guard over the sleeping women.
“Oh yes, I can do that. Now that I can see, it really isn’t bedtime, is it? They must be very tired. I will cast my Magical Missile if anyone tries to harm them while they sleep,” she rattled on.
An exhausted Nadia met with Zoran and Tomas moments later. “What has happened to them?” Zoran asked, though he already knew the answer. He was looking for confirmation.
Archmage Nadia explained, “It is the damnable Morph Others spell. You know as well as I do that if someone is Morphed without their consent, there is a good chance that they will thereafter believe that they are the morphed creature, even when the spell is undone. In this case, it was far worse, they were morphed into dragons. The coupe de gras was having them blinded before the morph occurred. Unable to see what they were turned into, they only have disembodied voices telling them. These women have been literally brainwashed into believing that they are dragons who have been tortured and harmed and raped by humans, then later rescued from we humans by dragons. Since the dragons were taking total care of them, they bonded heavily with their dragon care givers. In short, we have forty-four insane women.”
She went on, “You should have seen them eat. Not one used any silverware, rather they bent over and ate like dogs. Presumably that is the way that the dragons eat in the wild, though I’ve not seen such.”
“Well, they are rescued. I guess now the question is will they recover their sanity?” he asked.
Nadia answered, “Some of them have already born a baby dragon. They claim that their dragon care givers helped them regain human form only to be raped again and returned to their dragon form. Why? I’ve given this some thought while I was working with them. I believe that the dragons have discovered that if the women are morphed into dragons, then they can have their babies safely and then be re-impregnated. In short, they become reusable baby factories for the dragons! Hideous and with no end in sight!”
“Well, that explains why there were so few women abducted this time,” Zoran put it all together. We’ve only lost four women from Adapazan, when I was expecting to lose dozens. Damn, reusable baby factories! What will the infernal reds and blacks think of next?”
“Let’s hope that it all ends here,” his daughter replied and left to get herself something to eat. Zoran headed off to discuss the findings with Honani and Karel.
He found them discussing everything with Evsen, Dusan, and the members of Strike Force One. “Well done all of you, and especially you Honani, Karel, Askook, Cheveyo, Awinita, Donoma. We’ve worked out what happened to the women.” Zoran then gave a complete explanation to the group, though Karel already had surmised most of it, except the reusable baby factory concept. He growled even more when he realized Zoran was absolutely right about that detail.
“Evsen, for the time being, it may be way too dangerous for you to go back to Voss. The dragons will certainly be hunting for all of you now. Instead, I’d like Strike Force One to train up Strike Force Two — get them up to speed on the tactics that you have found successful. I suspect that we will need your services soon,” Zoran suggested. Evsen agreed, but he felt a little uncomfortable teaching his older brother.
Later, Archmage Danika dropped by to report. “The last of the Brn folks are now underground and getting settled in their new quarters. That leaves only your fortress guards, staff, and the three Archmage towers still occupied. I’m a little worried about nighttime security. If the dragons continue to attack in the middle of the night, we will all be in bed. The many magic students will be as well, including our new arrivals.”
“Yes, I have been considering just that. Way too risky. If I rely on guards, they can be easily handled by simple spells, leaving us at risk. Further, I can’t have an Archmage on duty all night either. Here’s what I’m thinking. At ni
ght, we move everyone below ground. In the mornings, we come back up topside. Of course, Jarka will claim that we must anticipate that the dragons could be lying concealed in any room waiting for us to surface.”
“Precisely my thinking. I’ve worked out a spell modification today and bounced it off my fellow Archmages.” Danika explained her idea, “We can put up a Modified Force Wall over every entrance point of the towers and fortress. I’ve tied an In Case Of spell to the walls. If the wall is breached or the new spell is dispelled, a loud Alarm spell detonates, alerting us to the breech. That way we could feel pretty confident that the rooms are safe.”
Zoran replied, “Let’s get that widely implemented, Danika. Well done indeed. There is also the possibility that the dragons could Shadow Walk and arrive inside as well, bypassing normal security. I will have to work on that one a bit, but I think I can find a way to be alerted if that should happen. Let’s get everyone drilled on your spell modification and get everyone settled in below. I am leery of staying above ground much longer at night.”
Danika added, “One other thing, Baron Jan is really going to need Archmage help enlarging his underground living quarters. There are far more people in the capital city and immediate surroundings than here in Brn. May I take a number of Archmages over there tomorrow and lend him some help?”
“Absolutely. Then, we have all of the outlying towns and villages. I really am worried about how many more innocent lives are going to be lost before we get this dragon mess under control,” Zoran admitted.
Danika smiled, “You really do care about the average person, don’t you? I admire that. Zdenka is lucky to have found you.” She smiled and left.