Sorry for being late again, guys. Would have finished this sooner but I spent the last seven days trying to trap a raccoon that was pilfering my eggs and chickens. Persistant little jerk. Anyway, he's no longer a problem.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I think...." I began, then paused before continuing. "I think that we should take the Dwarf twins back to Locus Crescent. Theyra, could you pick a group of people from your clan that you trust, and take the Demon children back to the Citadel? We can pay you for it." As much as I was curious about the old land that I used to live and fly by, I had a few reasons why I didn't think that going there was a good idea. For one, Lucian. I had no idea how my 'theft' of 'property' was taken by the authorities there. Also the way that Tal and I basically made the slavers piss themselves, heh. For two, Tal's Light affinity was generally looked at as a blessing from Bahamut, who didn't really like Demons all that much. His beautiful golden scales were a dead giveaway, and many Paladin orders used a Gold dragon for their crest. And lastly, Demons tended to live for a long time. There might be some who would recognize what a pure white High Dragon could be.
Most people mistakenly assumed that a white High Dragon's secondary element was Ice. It was not. Ice High Dragons typically kept their crystal-like baby scales and color, so, they were more shiny than I was. (Green High Dragons, by the way, usually had plant or wind-related breath or powers.)
In any case, it was likely a poor idea to go to the Silver Sands at this point in time.
Theyra nodded as she looked over at the kids. "No payment will be needed, Lady AHaHa. I have the feeling there may be a reward for their return, my Brothers and Sisters will be pleased enough with that."
I frowned slightly as I thought it over. I hoped it wouldn't be one of those 'LAST REWARD' sort of situations, but I didn't think it would be. After all, it's not like they'd say we were the ones who kidnapped them. "Thank you, Theyra." I said, relieved that this situation would be at least a little straightened out. I was actually pretty excited about having a brief visit to Locus Crescent. It was a city-state, sort of like Venice from what I understood, and a huge trade center for a good chunk of the continent. They might be tiny, but no one wanted to piss them off. They had a HUGE library, and were the center of the Merchant Guild and the Adventurer Guild. I was really looking forward to it.
Kaya went back over to the kids with Theyra and began talking to them. While they did that, I began.... subtly using the mind exercises and 'Peek' spell Mom taught me to begin looking at their surface thoughts. I felt bad about doing this, but I really didn't want them to have memories of getting killed in a terrifying manner. Well, actually one of them hadn't died, so... yeah.
A couple of them had really terrible memories, and I winced. One of the Dwarf twins had been looking at the other when the ray hit, and actually remembers seeing what the power did to their sibling just before they died themselves. Just a flash, but it was scarring. Only one of them hadn't seen or felt anything at all, the little demon boy, and I was glad of that. Gently, little by little, I began to pluck at the little fibres of memory, trying to get them to unravel and separate naturally. I didn't want to leave behind any mental damage or obvious signs of tampering. The mouse girl and the Dwarf would probably always have a deep fear of dragons now, but... hopefully this would dull it a little. enough so that this trip wouldn't be excruciating.
Once we had figured out our plans and confirmed what the children wanted to do... we started trying to figure out how we would be transporting them. Every animal we hadn't scared off was dead. So, the only 'beasts of burden' we had were Tal and I ourselves.
Dammit, I was really wishing for a small fleet of like griffins or wyverns or something now. We were big, but carrying this many people at once was risky and awkward.
If only we had a.... I stopped, then grinned and let out a small burst of laughter, drawing weird looks from the kids, a questioning one from Theyra, a raised eyebrow from Kaya, and rolled eyes from Tal and Lucian (Lucian because he could read my mind and understand why I was suddenly thinking of a fat man in a red suit and deer.).
"Just wait a minute, I have a great idea." I said, before turning and beginning my search for a cart or buggy or carriage or something.
Well... there was a cart I spied, but when I got closer I dismissed it as a possibility. There was a huge hole through the center and it looked like the axles were cracked. A little distance away, I found a wheel. Hah.
But when I looked in the mouth of the cave where they stashed loot, I hit the jackpot. At some point, these crafty bastards had stolen a fancy carriage, like the ones nobles used. I grabbed the dangly bits on the front with my jaws and dragged it out of the cave. It was perfect. The kids would be comfortable inside, and it had a lot of curtains and was all closed off so that they wouldn't have to look out of the windows and see that they were hundreds of feet up in the air. More importantly, it looked like it would be light enough that I could pull off the enchantments without too much trouble.
"We'll use this." I said, once I was back over with the others. "The kids will ride in here, and I'll pull the carriage behind me."
One of the human kids crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Right. How's that going to work?"
I puffed myself up. "I'll have you know, I am a Master Sorceress." I said loftily. "This is a simple enough enchantment for me."
It wasn't as simple as I made it out to be. I had to remove the wheels and have Tal lift the entire thing so I could inscribe runes in the undercarriage with my talons. I worked in Levitation, Stabilization, and Tag-along, which was sort of a homing spell, but one that wouldn't have it run into me.
Lucian looked over the children while Kaya and Theyra went through the camp, getting everything they could for the trip. A lot had been abandoned. Only a few books, I wasn't surprised really, they didn't seem to be too logically inclined, but we actually were able to salvage a lot of foodstuffs. Including salt and pepper!!! I was really excited about that.
It all went into Tal's bag of holding for now, we'd get it all sorted out when we got home. For now, we got the kids situated in the carriage and headed back to the town from the other day.
~~~~~~
(A day later)
The trip back was uneventful. We had no random encounters (I actually would have liked one, as any creatures able to reach this altitude would likely be useful. Aaah, I wish we had someone with the monster taming skill in our party already....) and even the weather was clear and pleasant. The Dwarf kids don't enjoy flying very much, but that demon girl was actually pretty difficult to try and convince to stay inside the carriage. She kept climbing out to sit where the driver would usually be, and called out to me to try and engage in conversation. I tried to act like I couldn't hear her over the wind for now, since I sort of had a weak spot or two (Or ten) for kids, and didn't want to change my plans any more than I already had. I Hoped that Mimikyu and the golems were doing alright and had made a good headway on the cleanup for now.
Once we landed, we stepped aside with the village headman again to bargain things out as to what was going to happen with the Mouse girl and the two human kids. I had Lucian act as a lie detector, deciding to err on the side of caution. I wasn't sure if these humans practiced in the slave trade or not.
In the end, things turned out fine. With a small gift and reminder that I'd probably have Tal or myself check in on them time to time for good measure, the two human children were accepted for apprenticeships with the village carpenter and stablemaster, the mouse girl electing to go into service at the village temple. It seemed that her tribe was usually more spiritually inclined in the first place, unlike most beastkin races.
Theyra picked out several strong warriors she trusted to take the Demon kids back to the Citadel. After talking in private, we decided that she would meet up with us later back at home, and I gave her some extra gems so she could aquire a flying beast or other transport that could take her to the Nyrraedia, along with a spell worked into a tattoo that could give her the right idea of where to go.
"I will see you again soon, My Lady." She said with a bow as they mounted up, their horses shaggy and compact, made for Northern weather. "Safe travels."
"You too, Theyra. See you soon!" I said, waving her off as she left. I felt a little conflicted about letting one of my party go off on her own so soon after I met her, but the relationship level gave me faith I wouldn't be betrayed, and besides, I still felt responsible for what happened to those kids.
That afternoon, I was back in the air again, with Tal, Kaya and Lucian, the Dwarf kids holed up in the carriage behind us. Kaya had convinced them we were taking them back to their parents, but I think they still didn't trust Tal or I too much still. I mean, it made sense. Dwarves and Dragons, in most fantasy settings, did not mix well at all.
Now, even flying fast, Locus Crescent was a few days away at least. The large city-state was to the Southeast, surrounded by lush fields, and a giant freshwater lake that was shaped like a crescent moon, hence the name. This was going to be a little boring, so I had Lucian sit in the carriage with the kids and Kaya, everyone telling and swapping stories, Luc linking me in through our bond so I wouldn't get too bored. I even took a couple hours to craft a telepathy spell to link Tal in, so he wouldn't be too bored on the flight. He'd been sort of quiet since the whole thing at the thieve's village. I understood why, but I was sort of worried about him anyhow. Hopefully he wouldn't be.... I mean, dwelling on it couldn't be good for him. Were there dragon psychiatrists? Oh hell, I was probably the closest thing we'd have for that, being a healing dragon and all. Nuts.
When we stopped for breaks, I'd try to spend ad much time with him as possible, sleeping next to him when we had to sleep, and when we didn't, we watched the stars like we had when we were hatchlings and talked softly about things in Draconic.
"... You are strange." He said quietly to me one night, after a long, but not awkward silence. I looked at him, choosing to remain silent as I waited for him to elaborate. "You always have been, I mean. You paid more attention to stories about non-dragons than our own kind when we were in the nest, and even given your nature, you'd insist on flying close as possible to the borders of the most human-like races around. I never understood that about you. It still doesn't make perfect sense. They're so...." He paused, looking down at his claws. "... fragile. Mortal." He said in a solemn tone.
I opened my mouth to speak, but he wasn't done yet. "I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing, just that it's.... different. Strange. But I think... I might understand a little more now." He said, looking at me. "It's due to your nature, Ivori. You're a healer. You try to think of how our actions will affect all beings we touch, not just other dragonkind. If it hadn't been for you or Lucian...." He paused, trying to think of how to phrase it. "... I wouldn't know. No, I wouldn't care, I don't think. I wouldn't think of them as equals. I still don't, not entirely. They are clever, yes, but alone they are weaker than us as a whole. At most, I would find them amusing or annoying." He looked back at the sky. "But when you hit me, and you screamed about children... I.... It became more.... real?" He hesitated, then sighed. "I've been doing a lot of thinking. I have the Breath of Light. Dad said, the 'blessing of Bahamut', and that he would be watching over me. I thought that meant I would become a Champion of our kind someday, and that I had to do what's right by them." He turned back to me again, amethyst eyes searching my face. "But, Bahamut is not just our God. He is the God of many humans and elves as well, and who knows how many others? He doesn't protect us alone. Maybe..."
He trailed off, and my mind raced a bit. Holy shit, I was getting the feeling that my next response might help shape his actions for centuries, if not the rest of his life. Um... What should I say? What should I -DO-?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[] Tell Tal the truth of your birth (Let him know about your life before, cause ???)
[] Tell Tal that he should reflect on this more and choose for himself what he wants to do.
[] Yes, Bahamut would want you to be a protector for all, not just dragons.
[] Write In
[] Maybe when we reach Locus Crescent, he should visit Bahamut's temple and pray about it?
}
