by James Patton
“Why kill her?” She asked changing the subject.
“You are something of an enigma, but you are also powerful. I do not recall the last time I saw a female Seer, much less one with the sight ability as their Primary. Seers are highly sought after and protected, by all nations. To an extent, I am a Seer too, but my ability is more specific to one type of magic. If you are found out, your life will be in constant danger.”
“I understand.” This fact was already obvious to her, and she felt her fingernails digging into her palm just thinking about it. “I want to understand something. How are bonds broken?” She was going to ask about her ability, but she was not quite sure what she wanted to ask.
“The rider or dragon dies, but don’t die. Or you can bring it up at an open council.”
“Is that like a court?” She wanted options, in case she did not succeed.
“Yes. And you just met the judge. However, gaining the audience needed to reverse a bond just won’t happen.” Midnight said, but she could practically hear his distaste for the situation and knew what he was implying.
“Because I lack strength?” She asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes. Remember, dragons honor strength, and if you want to get acknowledged by the council, you need to perform a heroic deed of some sort. Now, the king might make an exception for you, because of your ability.”
“That is complete crap! That will be the first thing I change,” she said vehemently, her knuckles cracking as she gripped the handles in front of her.
Event Bonus: Politics in the Sky
- Willpower +1, Willpower is now 13.
“You may certainly try.” Midnight chuckled. “You certainly have a stubborn streak I would not want to cross.”
“I will succeed,” she said as she punched Midnight.
“Calm down little one. No more talking, we have to ride fast, very fast. Enjoy it while it lasts.”
“Wait, one question. How do you know Metallicore?”
“That is a long story, but the reason I decided to take you is that you remind me of my last rider. The songs we would listen to would make even the dwarves blush. Now hang on, we ride!”
Before she could reply, Midnight bolted across the sky faster than he had previously. She reseated her goggles and tightened her scarf. Then she gripped the handles before her and held on enjoying the rushing wind as it fought unsuccessfully to remove her from her saddle. Occasionally, Midnight would spin so fast that she was glad she did not suffer from vertigo. Several times she felt like puking, and despite that, she loved every second of it.
Boh
Chapter 27
Valoh
Those who suffer most cry out the least.
-from Aesop the Wise
Hours went by, and she started feeling a noticeable drop in temperature. It was not freezing, but the wind had a bite to it. Midnight recommended she use her Elemental Shield while they flew, and it cut down on the wind and cold quite a lot. The shield worked against natural elements too, but just muted them.
In the last hour, she also noticed a coastline in the distance, but she had no idea how far they had traveled from the Dragon Spire to reach this point. If she had to guess, they were speeding along at close to a hundred thirty miles an hour. They probably traveled over a thousand miles.
“Welcome to Valoh.” Midnight said as he dropped them into the clearing north of the town. Two dragons were lying about but compared to Midnight they looked like whelps. “We will stay here for the night and move on to Minot in the morning.”
She hopped down off of Midnight as they landed and shied away from the other dragons. She was torn between talking to them and running away, and as much as she tried to rid herself of that fear, it did not want to go away.
Midnight sheltered her, and he positioned himself between her and the other dragons. He may not know what she went through, but he had a way of knowing her mindset and temperament.
“Would you like to hear a story?” Midnight asked her.
“Sure.”
“There was this dragon, from long ago, called Aesop. He loved telling stories with unexpected endings, but each had a moral or a point it was making.”
“A fable?”
“Yes. A Roc, a large bird, was soaring through the air when an arrow struck it. The Roc knew it was a mortal wound, and it fell towards the ground. Lying there, bleeding out, it saw the arrow sticking out from its breast. Earlier in the day, he traded a local farmer some of his feathers for food. The farmer traded them to a hunter for meat. And the hunter built arrows using those plumes, the one of which brought the Roc down.”
“That is a horrible story. How is that supposed to cheer me up?” She asked him, a little bit shocked at the dark twist the small story took.
“You are missing the point, the moral. I tell that story to you so you can think on this: We often give our enemies the means for our destruction. I know something happened to you in your Trial, and you do not have to tell me. However, tell someone. Do not give your enemies the weapon needed to destroy you.”
Midnight continued toward the small town while she stopped and thought about what the big guy had just said. He was not wrong; she had been playing the victim to perfection. Her fear and pain was only part of it. Vasia had humiliated her. Made her a plaything for her amusement, but not even that could explain the violation that occurred. The Dark Queen stole her sense of security and safety and made her feel weak.
Dammit. It was easy to funnel all her issues into anger and dump it on Midnight. He was not her enemy, nor were the other dragons.
She ran to catch up to Midnight, only to find him talking to a guard in a tower. It was not a medieval tower, it was made of wood and had a shelter in place with a surrounding balcony that the guard could walk around and have an unobstructed view of the world all around the town.
She spotted what looked like a machine gun. It had a crank on the side and a belt clip of ammo feeding into it. The boxy look to it reminded her very much of a World War I era weapon, maybe World War II.
Those machine guns were not very accurate, but at close range, it would tear everything apart. It would also wreck an Elemental Shield. The rounds were usually small caliber, so they did not do much damage. Then again, one lucky shot is all it took.
“Hello, ma’am.” The guard said, pulling a cigar from his mouth and pushing back the bowl-like helmet on his head. He rested his arms on the railing, and she could see his thick well-groomed mustache. His hair was white and silver, but his weathered face wore the years well. “My name is Paul, and if you need anything just ask. We do not have much, but what is ours is yours.”
“Thank you. I am Boh, and the big guy is Midnight. I could use a meal a good night’s sleep.”
“Spoken like a soldier. We can accommodate you. We have an inn closer to the water. It only has a handful of rooms, but they are almost always available. The owner had a large flat stone slab moved behind the inn, just for dragons. I am told it helps hold the heat of the day.”
“And food?” Midnight asked.
“The fishermen will be in soon, and they usually have plenty of surplus for a dragon your size. Or there is a farm a bit more to the east. The farmer is a bit of an eccentric, but he raises a lot of sheep and goats. I’m sure he’ll part with a few for some vees or trade.”
“Thank you. I will probably settle on the fish. Not supposed to leave the Champion unattended.”
“Understood, see you two around.”
They made their way to the inn. The broad street was beautiful, but the amount of labor that went into cobbling these roads must have been steep.
“How about we get you some sheep,” Boh said. “It will be awhile before dark, and I would not mind a stroll through the countryside.”
“You sure?”
“Yup.”
Malinite
Chapter 28
Torus Ring
Seventh Talon stood as a beacon, uniting all the Talons. It has nev
er fallen to an enemy at its gates, but it was not immune to betrayal. Truth is more complicated than the fiction.
-from Atagon, Audio Roll 788
The seven Sentinels stood tall, waves from the Serpentine Sea crashed against their knees as they stood in various poses around the protected city. Whatever had once powered them had faded, but their eyes still powered up as they followed his path through the sky.
“Do not approach any closer. The sentinels no longer move, but they can still attack. Why are you here?” A grey and red dragon said from above him.
Admittedly, he was caught up in staring at the Sentinels and had not even noticed the guard approach. These ancient constructs guarded the Seventh Talon for as long as the city had stood. The Sentinels drew power from the city itself, or so people believed. It was a lie perpetuated by his Matriarch and the King No More, a family secret. His secret.
“I’m Malinite, a student at the Spire. We were learning about the Seventh Talon in class, and I wanted to see it for myself.” He told the guard his prepared lie.
“Go ahead and look. Just—“
He struck while the guard was distracted. A burst of speed and he was breaking the fragile bones in the guard’s wings. They growled at each other, but they both knew who was flying away from this encounter. Moreover, he pushed the guard across the Sentinel’s invisible line causing it to power its weapon.
A beam of Radiant energy came from the Sentinel’s palm and slammed into the guard. Before the beam even cut into the guard, he heard bones snapping, and bulge appear on the front of the guard. The beam had physically pulverized the guard’s insides before it cut through burning everything to ash.
His wings pumped hard as he rose into the air. Then he released the guard’s broken body and rocketed through the air. Without the dead weight, he soared past the Sentinel and hoped his Matriarch had not lied.
The Sentinel did not move, turn, or otherwise acknowledge that he had slid by it. Turning back towards Seventh Talon, he rotated his wings and flared them out trying to catch as much wind as possible. The nails on his talon brushed against the barrier and were sheared off, and just like that he had his answers.
Seventh Talon was sealed by—
“That is not a dome,” he muttered. His new sight allowed him to see the barrier; it was why he was here. The boundary where he was hovering curved inward towards the city, but not like a dome or sphere. Looking upward, he saw it curving out and away from the Talon.
A torus ring? He could not be absolutely sure, but the barrier appeared to form a ring. Seventh Talon sat in the middle, untouchable. Vasia assumed that the king had sealed Seventh Talon in a spherical barrier or dome, but the truth was much worse. The only Talon not sealed was this one.
Rising as high as he dared, he edged away from the barrier to get a better look. It was definitely angling away from Seventh Talon, and climbing higher into the sky than he could fly. He circled the city just to be sure, and the shape was perfectly symmetrical.
The only way to know for sure was to fly away from Seventh Talon until he found the downward slope of the barrier.
Mission Updated: Queen’s Investigation
- Orders: Vasia has ordered you to fly out to Seventh Talon, find away around the guards and avoid the Sentinels. Use your Seer ability and discover the truth about Seventh Talon.
- Objective 1: [Complete] Find a way past the guards and Sentinels
- Objective 2: [Complete] Observe and report what you have discovered about the Seventh Talon.
- Objective 3: [New] Return to Vasia and tell her everything.
- Bonus Objective: [Failed] Discover a way past the barrier.
- Orders Given By: Vasia the Dark Queen
- Reward: The Submission curse is removed.
It made little sense, why seal the Talons? It suddenly felt like something was watching him, and he did not like the feeling at all. This whole situation left him uneasy, but one thing was crystal clear. The Usurper King knew and wanted to keep it a secret. Seers and Tinkerers were not dying out— he had them eliminated.
Boh
Chapter 29
Bloodbath
Skiing once, I was almost to the bottom of the slope when I saw a wolf tearing apart a small animal. Show was painted red for several yards around them. The contrast was so stark and startling that I remember it clearly, even after all this time.
-from Boh, Audio File 0899
She settled back into the saddle as they walked off to the east at a brisk pace. She started to talk several times and stopped herself, and Midnight said nothing.
“You are right.” She finally said, not sure what she was admitting, but she just felt like telling him.
“About what?”
“I don’t know. Everything.”
“You are not the only person to have their trust betrayed. My rider—” Midnight stopped as he turned his head and smelled the air. Something in the way he tensed left her wary of the thicket of pines they just entered. She looked up to check if there were aye-ayes here and was relieved to see the trees clear of the netting they used.
“What is wrong?” She asked softly.
“Blood. A lot of it.”
Midnight kept moving, but they did not talk. Clearing the trees, they understood the reason for the smell. The field surrounded by barbed wire once held a lot of sheep. She knew by the bits of red stained wool scattered throughout. Something had painted the entire field red with blood, and it was still fresh.
“What the hell is that?” She asked, seeing something in the distance, growling and shaking its head.
“That is a drake, but something is going on here that does not quite add up. Drakes do not needlessly kill, fight yes, but not kill.”
“Well, that one did a lot of killing.”
“No, look around, there are footprints everywhere. I’m going out to the drake to see what is going on. Look for the farmer. He is probably holed up in a bunker.”
“Midnight, be careful. I do not like the look of that thing, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“So you don’t have a heart of ice after all,” Midnight said. “You concern is duly noted, little one.”
“Go, before I slap that big toothy grin off your face for being a bastard.” She growled at him and hopped down, but not before she felt him laughing.
The house was a small affair. She found the door was still open, but inside was a single room layout. It contained a bed, stove, and a big table filled with a bunch of gears and other knick-knacks. The stove was a curious thing, and it had a crystal nearby that looked like it powered it.
Other than the mess on the table, the room looked clean. Nothing stood out as out of the ordinary. She closed the door behind her and moved on to the next building, which had an enormous sliding barn door. Pushing it aside she found a workshop, and again the machinery was a little more advanced than she expected.
Touching one of the machines a window popped up.
Steam Shovel - a smaller version of the original. Designed for moving rock and soil on a small farm.
Interesting, so there was some capability of building complex machines. Midnight roared, and she ignored the other tools. More fighting broke out, and she could hear the snarling and growling from several sources. They were stomping around, and she could feel the ground shaking under her. Above all that, she could swear she heard Midnight whistling another Metallicore song.
She ran out of the workshop to find Midnight dancing around three drakes and tearing them apart. The drakes moved like a pack of wolves, attacking him with coordination that surprised her.
With no other way to help she cast Transfusion and prepared for the seductive nature of the spell. It came alive, and she ignored the pull. The stolen life she directed towards Midnight, and out of her other hand a beam of warm yellowish light shot forth and washed over Midnight.
The drake’s life flowed through her, but without healing her. She only felt the smallest effects of the euphoria. Ke
eping an eye on her Feedback, she noticed it did not rise as quickly as before.
Midnight looked stunned for a second but kept fighting. The drake her spell targeted started to turn towards her, but Midnight slapped his talon across its snout, and it roared angrily and attacked the dragon.
“Stop, Boh.” The dragon called out as blood started to come out of her nose. He had the fight well handled, so she did as he said. The spell left her dizzy. She spat out the blood from her mouth and wiped her nose trying to focus on what was happening.
“You have to watch while casting. In battle, it is easy to forget, but if you do forget, then you will most likely die. You find the farmer?”
She said nothing but pointed towards a pair of shredded pants, and a wool shirt. The drakes tore someone apart, and blood covered the clothes. “Is that him?”
Midnight started laughing, but she did not get the joke.
“That was a scarecrow. Farmers use them to scare away birds.”
“Some good that did.” She muttered, but Midnight took no offense and chuckled.
“Farmer!” Midnight yelled out. “You alive!?”
“Is that a good idea with- whatever that was, running around.” She asked pointing at the drakes that Midnight had killed.
“Drakes are easy enough to kill, at least for a dragon my size. It's the alphas that you need to worry about, but these seemed like beasts without a pack. Ferals. Not sure I have ever heard of a feral drake, but it can happen.”
“I’m here. Thank Rune ye came.” A man said dressed in a greased covered jumpsuit. He looked more like a mechanic than a farmer, and she had expected overalls.
“Why thank Rune?” She asked, curious at the turn of phrase.
“Ah ye be a greeny if I e’er saw one. Rune is the main god of dragons. You’ll know why when ye see him.”