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Fantasy The Dragon Wardens

Inside the Silver Lance

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“You should have let me pass.”


The boy’s voice caused Vorstag to pause, his head turning in search through the dimly lit cellar. The acoustics were such to where he could determine the location, but the barrels of ale shielded the boy from view. He didn’t have enough time to react to his words when the flames erupted.


“You will burn for what you did. Monster.”


The burst of heat and bright light sent Vorstag reeling against the desk. The metallic equipment clattered as the microphone fell to the stone floor. Around his silhouette flickered the dark void conjured by his shadow magic. Wide eyes searched through the inferno for a way out, but he was trapped. His dark aura sucked away the smoke and flames that lapped against his form. The hunter knew his limits and knew what this fire meant. If he was going down, he would take someone with him.


Before his aura would give way, Vorstag thrust his hands into the air, a ball of shadow forming within like a lightless hole. In seconds, he threw the ball to the ground, and darkness instantly snuffed out all the light. The roar of Olsten’s fire could still be heard despite not being seen. Vorstag screamed in agony, but the reason would be unknown in the darkness.


In the tavern above, the smoke seeped through the cracks, and a low growl of fire ominously gave warning. Idhrenan’s heart leapt at what she was sensing. The boy was down there with the Shadow Caster alone! She no longer cared for her embarrassment in being caught or Jern’s displeasure in her thievery. They had left a boy to do their dirty work against a terribly powerful foe.


Idhrenan rushed towards the kitchen door. She could now tell the boy was indeed a Dragon Warden, and judging by the raging fire burning below he was likely about to lose control if he hadn’t already. She had encountered the emotional strain within these casters on many occasion, and it was always difficult to help the mage calm their mind.


The elf reached out and grabbed Idhrenan’s arm to prevent her from going further. “His fire won’t harm him,” he reminded, “but it will harm you.”


“He’s down there with that Shadow Mage,” Idhrenan stated.


“Then we make sure only the boy leaves that-“


Glass shattered with the shrill cry of a dragon in warning, cutting off the elf’s words. Those left within the tavern covered their ears as their eardrums vibrated painfully. The foundation of the Silver Lance shifted and trembled with a great force, and through the wall a dragon’s head emerged at ramming speed. Beams splintered and the second floor collapsed with the force sending wood and rubble onto Jern, Granny, Idhrenan, and the elf.


Kraeg’s large head broke through the kitchen wall where smoke furiously billowed from the cellar stairwell. The fire still roared on and began to eat away at the wood floors of the kitchen. A darkness blanketed the stairwell leading downstairs like the night. Vorstag’s howls could no longer be heard. The dragon roared mightily into the void, the earth rumbling and reverberating with his attunement.


The void began to dissipate with his roar as if the earth was seeping the darkness into the stone and soil. Within seconds the dark cloud that clung to the cellar space was gone to reveal Olsten standing amongst his conjured fire, the flames bright and hot and out of control. The smoke stunk of death, and among the orange inferno was a heap of a once-mighty hunter now almost completely unrecognizable as the fire had consumed his form and ate through his flesh. The glow of the necklace trinket tore through his burning skin as the weight could no longer be held by the heap of softened muscle.


@UnwaveringKnight @Keitsumah @Red Thunder @Macaberz

Outside the Silver Lance

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Liola let out a soft whimper as another wave of pain filtered through her. Watery eyes opened and saw Feria, the Dragon Warden’s touch bringing a light back into them as she tried to lift her head. Her life was fading and held together through suffering and her body weak. Feral’s heated talons seared the opened wounds, cauterizing the flesh. All she could muster was a soft whine and leaned her snout onto Feria’s arm. One by one the wood fragments would be removed and the wounds sealed. As exposed and unprotected as Ice Dragons are, Liola was one of many of her kind with a high pain threshold. She continued to persevere despite the possible inevitable.


@CloudyBlueDay @Keitsumah @Red Thunder

The Wayward Pine Between the Border of Baladur and Thallas

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The shae hummed a little as she listened to Dinyla’s symptoms list. The glass vials clinked and clattered together as she rummaged, her bony hands pilfering and turning them about to read lables as she nodded. After all was said, the shae began to set out specific vials along Eosphelon’s tail beside her.


“Yes, yes, yes,” the shae said. “Ginger root extract for nausea. Also good for the woosies. Tastes like piss and vinegar, yes. Or is that beer?” She picked up the bottle and sniffed it thoughtfully, her actions completely halting for a moment as if frozen in time. With a nod, her movements continued, and she set down the vial to retrieve another.


“Peppermint oil and ginseng for the fatigue. Ginko biloba in cases the ginger no does the woosies.” The shae pauses and picks up the three vials. “Takes with meals. Weakness will go away with good meals. Lots of meats. Eats the meats!”


She holds out the vials for Dinyla to take, clearly forgetting the woman’s blindness. After several moments of her hand outstretched, she stands with a grunt and grabs Dinyla’s hand to force her to take it. “Takes!”


@LadyMatsudai
 
Eelikas and Tronje


"Oh dear." Tronje stated dryly as the fiery girl on the earth dragon began her charge, the arcane Emasari leaning back on Eelikas in anticipation of the ensuing crashing and burning.


Only then did the thought occur to him that maybe, the people he sensed besides the Shadow Caster within the tavern may in fact be uninvolved innocents about to be caught rather literally in the crossfire of the fire-attuned one and the charging dragon.


"Oh dear!" he called out, realising his alarming lapse of judgement to be an uninvolved observer, hand stretched out towards the earth dragon as he yelled "Miss, wait!"


A fruitless gesture, the draconic giant tearing into the tavern, granting a canvas to the picture of destruction while the fire and smoke gifted lines and color, leaving nothing but torn and burning woods where once a proud inn had been established.


"Oh dear..." Tronje muttered quietly, self-disappointed concern written across his face.


Eelikas merely gave a satisfied growl. A few less that required maintenance.


"Ah just be silent you..." he groaned, concentrating on his attunement with the aether to locate the ethereal presence of the trapped ones, near what appeared to have once been a kitchen, as judged by the various raw foodstuffs scattered about.


As the fire-attuned lad did not appear to be in immediate danger, years of ensuing psychological trauma aside, Tronje went straight for the pile underneath which the former inhabitants of the tavern were buried while calling up to the girl on the earth dragon again "Miss, as soon as you recover from the shock of being involved in carnage and destruction, take care of your fellow fire-Warden before he sets everything in flame. That is an order you received from an Emasari, believe it or not. I will free the others.", his voice and tone unused to being defied in such a situation.


Eelikas in tow, hat tipped once and crossbow slung onto his back anew, the veteran Warden and his dragon set to work on clearing rubble.


@Keitsumah , @Effervescent , @Macaberz , @Red Thunder
 
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Hale

Before Feral would apply her cauterization, Hale would apply a salve he had mixed to the injured dragon's wounds. As he worked, he'd glance at Feria worriedly, seeking from her a sign that the dragon was pushing through. But her labored breathing told him plainly that she was doing poorly. Eyes wide in concern, the half-elf tossed a worn leather canteen of something to the Ice Warden.


"Here! Make her drink this. She won't like it, but it'll help her."


As he turned back to continue his ministrations, Hale muttered, "Gods, let it help her."


@CloudyBlueDay


Kraeg

"I will free the others."


At the sound of the strange voice, Kraeg's head whipped around to face the man. And promptly gurgled in his drsgonish way of rolling his eyes. He clearly thought the clothes that the Emasari wore were ridiculous and consequently that the man was not worth listening to. Instead he acted on Ava's last instruction, beginning to speedily but carefully lifting floor planks and fallen rafters away from the entrance to the cellar. Flames lapped his scales, and the flowers and leaves on his antlers and the grass on his head quickly turned to ash. Breath escaped between his teeth as he hissed at the pain from the fire. Earth Dragon hide might be tougher than most, but they were far from indestructible. But he kept at it, determined to help retrieve Olsten from the burning pit.


@Keitsumah @Unwavering Knight @Macaberz
 
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:Ava and Feral:


Kindling

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Feral kept a close eye on her charge's temperature as she worked. Losing so much blood could lead to heat loss, and the fire dragon was careful to press her head to the ice dragon's side from time to time to check her pulse as well. Hale handed something to Feria in the corner of her eye,but she paid it no mind.


When they finally finished cauterizing the wounds, Feral checked the she-dragon's temperature again and clicked in dismay. It was dropping. Too much blood loss. She needed warmth.


However, Feral eyed the broken wing. Hale would need help fixing that as well. Growling, the fire dragon quickly ran to a patch in the road where there was some drier earth and gravel. Scooping up a mouthful in her jaws, Feral crunched down on the mixture of stone and minerals and the lights emanating from her heart-fire in her chest began to glow more brightly. Her fire was heating up, turning the stone and earth to lava within her. After a few more moments digesting what she had just taken into her body, Feral turned back and, upon passing a tree dead for the winter, bit off several of the longer branches with a resounding crack.


Carrying the severed limbs back to the group in the ditch, she laid the sticks down near enough to Liola's broken wing for Hale to work with. For now, Feral aimed to lay her body close to the other dragon and drape one wing over her form like a heating blanket; the fire dragon's veins pulsing with new warmth from the molten rock that sped through her body. A deep, comforting hum throbbed in her chest as she urged the other dragon to hold on.


@Effervescent @Red Thunder @CloudyBlueDay

* * *

​




"Miss, as soon as you recover from the shock of being involved in carnage and destruction, take care of your fellow fire-Warden before he sets everything in flame. That is an order you received from an Emasari, believe it or not. I will free the others.", his voice and tone unused to being defied in such a situation.


Ava paused, eying the stranger at first with wariness, but then with confusion. He was an Emasari!? Ava both heard and felt Kraeg's rumble of amusement, but there was no amusement in her gaze as she realized what they had accidentally done.


Her face paled and she waited until Kraeg turned his gaze back to the floorboards and began pulling them up. Ava waved a hand near his nose when he burned himself, trying to get his attention.


"Stop. Let me." She crawled carefully down the dragon's nose, then pulled her cloak off. She'd need the fire-proof spells woven into it to wrap around the boy if they found him. Hopefully he hasn't been burned to a crisp yet... Ava shook the ugly thoughts off and grabbed a fist-full of her shirt and held it close to Kraeg's jaws so he could clamp down on it.


"Lower me close to the flames and I'll try to smother them." she yelled over the blaze.


But "try" doesn't mean you will succeed. A tiny, evil voice chittered in the back of her mind.


@Red Thunder @Macaberz
 
Dinyla and Erramun

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Dinyla could hear the faint clanking and echoing of glass hitting itself, wondering what kind of concoctions the shae had brought back with her from her trip to the man, whose name escaped her sickly mind. She could hear the muffled clang of the glass against something hard...a rock perhaps? Upon the list of the ingredients for each vial the shae was retrieving to match with the symptoms Dinyla had explained, Erramun purred deeply towards Dinyla, his golden eye watching the shae intently with his snout keeping Dinyla up on her own two feet.


"A lot of meat? Oh dear..." sighed Dinyla more to herself, grimacing at the idea of having so much meat in one sitting, let alone in several for all of the medicine she will be taking to cure her ailment. Unaware to the vials being held out in front of her, Dinyla frowned confused at the awkward silence before gasping to the shae forcing her hand open to take the vials, carefully using both to keep the vials from falling. "Thank you, madame..." she cooed softly, Erramun snorting his thanks to the shae. "But...what would I...pay you for the vials? They can't be for free..."
 
Inside the Silver Lance

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The partially collapsed tavern would not look so run down if a traveler would look at it from the East. The combination of Baladuri and Thall architecture made the façade strong and unwavering. But to the West the back was marred by a far more sturdier Earth Dragon that deftly poked his head through to the kitchen. Had the snout not hit so many support beams, it would have been possible to conceive the structure would have held the second floor even with a gaping hole in the stone wall.


But the second and main floor merged regardless, and to make matters worse, a fire grew hotter and higher from within the lower cellar. The flames burned holes into the kitchen, joining with the fire within the kitchen hearth that sent thick black smoke into the air like an ominous beacon.


The heap of rubble and wood piled high and thick. As the newly joined Emasari set out to clearing away the scraps, a groan released from within. Idhrenan could feel the crushing weight of debris upon her chest as her body was pinned uncomfortably. She couldn’t see anything but the splintered woodgrain just inches before her nose. Attempting to shift herself even slightly was fruitless. She could feel a panic rise within her, and it hurt her ribcage to breath so heavily.


Calm yourself, she thought before sending out assurance to Eosphelon. As her anxiety had risen, so too did the dragon’s. Having him worried would not help, especially since she wanted him with Dinyla. She felt Eosphelon’s concern, but he complied with sticking to the sick Dragon Warden.


“I’m here!” she managed to call out. “Somebody there?”


@Keitsumah @Red Thunder @Unwavering Knight

The Wayward Pine Between the Border of Baladur and Thallas

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The shae huffed through her nostrils at the proposition of payment. “Yous pay by getting off my propertay!” she exclaimed. “I has no time for goldies and shines. The shae works in trade. Trade dunnie has to be coins. But! In this case, I will take no receiving.”


She collected her bag, synching up the sides to secure the contents within. Hoisting it over her back, she grunts and scrunches her nose as she looks about the large pine. Her large eyes dreamily cast along its boughs seemingly lost in a moment of thought before looking back to the blind Dragon Warden.


“Yous aren’t alone,” the shae speaks softly, her eyes now turning to the tops of the other pines. She sniffs the air once, then twice in short, thoughtful bursts. “Oh, I sees a vision. Mm. The worlds speaks to Shae Kelfie in this time, Drake Charmer. Dunnie trust every one of your kind, understand? The worst has yet to come, and when it does yous be the one to see through the darkness.”


Kelfie looked back down at the Dragon Warden yet again, her dark eyes settling on Dinyla’s sightless eyes. “Well, nots literally.”


@LadyMatsudai
 
Feria & Ifer

This couldn't be. Liola. It was her, she was here.. she wasn't supposed to be. She had been gone so long. Feria had missed her so much. She had searched, and searched, and waited.. she was just a jumble of emotions as she held Liola's muzzle, struggling to keep them inside. The world around her stopped. There were muffled sounds, the fire mage and the cripple talking, swords coming out of sheaths, and then an awful scream. Feria flinched, and she held out a palm with small ice spikes forming, preparing to strike if needed, but her attention was focused on Liola.


Ifer snorted and dug his claws into the ground, unsure of how to react. This was for sure Liola. She was so weak, so depressed, not like he remembered her at all. He whined and stepped closer to Feria, pausing for a brief moment to glare at Feral as she screamed. Was it really necessary? Ifer stared at the newcomer with the dragon, let out a growl in their direction, and turned away from them. When Feral tapped Ifer on the neck, his hissed but listened. He gave a grunt of approval and looked Liola in the eyes, telling her what was going to happen without words, and as gently as he could, held her down. Feria stared at her dragon, but she knew he would not do anything to hurt her. She watched as Feral started to seal the wounds closed and tried to keep Liola's mind off of it by holding her close.


Hale shoved a leather canteen into her hands. Feria stared at him, then inspected the bottle before nodding slowly. It was strange for her to be without words. Feria also kept the majority of what she felt inside and let the rest fly verbally, but now she had nothing. She showed Liola the bottle and guided it to her mouth for her to drink. She has to be okay. I'm not losing her again. Feria cringed as she thought of Zachary. Was it possible that he was still alive as well? The oaf had his necklace.. but Zachary was smart.. he could have survived..


When Feral settled down next to Liola, Ifer's immediate reaction was not thrilled. He let out a snarl, unhappy that Feral was so close to her. He wanted to help too, but it seemed Feral had everything covered. So he stood next to Feria and from time to time let out a soft whine, as if to say, 'I'm here.'


@Effervescent @Keitsumah @Red Thunder
 
Kraeg

As Ava waved her hand in front of his nose, Kraeg pulled back, allowing the Fire Warden a better view. He'd cleared enough by that point to reveal a largish hole within the smoking debris, and within could be seen the dark hellish red of a slowly dying fire. Which meant there was little left to burn in the cellar. The implication hit the Earth Dragon hard. His huge eye filled with panic as he spun to find Ava. There she was, standing upright and strong within the terror of the blade, making preparations and plans. Hale's feelings had not gone unnoticed by him, and Kraeg thought he could understand why his Warden felt them. Cloak in one hand, bit of shirt in the other, Ava yelled at the dragon.


"Lower me close to the flames and I'll try to smother them."


Grunting acknowledgement, he turned his head and grabbed the cloth in the very top of his muzzle. He hoped desperately it didn't break as he lifted her up and down into the burning cellar.


@Keitsumah @Macaberz


Hale

Feria seemed in a haze, but she had finally poured the concoction down the injured Ice Dragon's throat. Good. In addition to a good bit of concentrated alcohol to help dull the pain, there was also a fair bit of various ground roots and herbs to bolster her system against shock and infection. At the sound of Feral laying down beside their patient, Hale turned to look and smiled despite the situation. It looked as though she had remembered the bit of medical training he'd given her and her rider. He dug through his bags until he found a good length of vine, passable for rope, and crawled over to the broken wing, ignoring the sharp rocks and splinters. Slowly and carefully, the half-elf began setting the broken bone as best he might, tying it off onto the most serviceable branch so that it could heal right. As he did so, he glanced at Feria. She was cringing, obviously upset.


"It will take time for her to heal, Feria, but she will be fine. Feral has cauterized her wounds well."


@Keitsumah @CloudyBlueDay
 
“I’m here!” she managed to call out. “Somebody there?”


"Oh dear, such a bell-bright voice~" Tronje chuckled with audibly faked appreciation as Eelikas lifted the remnants of a wooden beam with her maw to reveal an opening in the pile, allowing light to shine onto the half-buried form of a woman.


Leaning in closer, eyes narrowed, it took Tronje a bit decipher her features in the dimness "Awww, now look at that!" he waved for his dragon to render an inspection of her own "What say you, girl, don't we recognise this one?"


Eelikas's horned head snaked downwards, slitted eyes peeking into the hole, before widening upon recognition, fanged maw instinctively opening to reveal rows of razor-like teeth-


"Now now, girl..."


-only for the dragon to be prompty pulled back by Tronje, the diminuitive warden insistently keeping his grasp on Eelikas's pronounced horns as she followed the demand with angered hesitation, emitting a menacing growl.


Smiling brightly in stark contrast, Tronje merely announced "Let's free ourselves an old acquaintance!" before resuming the clearing with care.


Only that Eelikas remained still and silent, claw insistently slammed into the ground.


"Girl, don't laze around there, I require help."


Hissing, her clawed feet tore small trenches into the earthen ground, teeth grinding, wings twitching, unbridled fury within raging.


"I must say, girl..." Tronje exclaimed, stopping his work to turn around and look at the defiant creature "This is quite new. I can't tell why you suddenly have such feelings of enmity against her, you certainly didn't have those before our exodus, quite disturbing for me, but dear Idhrenan doesn't have time for a cheeky debate between the two of us."


He pointed at the opening with emphasis, voice unamused as he commanded "Get to work."


Growling, frozen for a few more precious moments, Eelikas slowly moved forward, each movement forced, like a broken clockwork-mechanism of sorts, as she slowly but carefully used her superior might to clear the rubble without harming the buried.


Tronje simply glared with intensity, making it clear that the slightest attempted "mishap" would be noticed.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Several minutes later Tronje finally dragged the fellow Emasari from what remained of the rubble, Eelikas silently standing at attention behind the sharply dressed man.


The dragon emitted nothing but pure killing-intent, clawed feet tearing open the earth.


"I must say, Idhrenan..." Tronje smiled charmingly as he beheld the woman "Since I last saw you, you have aged like fine wine. The greying hair fits your wrinkles quite nicely."


@Effervescent
 
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:Ava and Feral:


Force of Will

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Ava kept her arms spread wide as the Earth dragon lowered her closer to the flames, heart in her throat. Though she knew he wouldn't drop her, Ava's innate fear of heights left her breathless even with slight drops.


When he finally stopped lowering her, her body was coated in a fine sheen of sweat and Ava curled her nose at the smoke. But she couldn't ask Kraeg to flap his wings and blow it away. That would only fan the flames. If the boy was still alive in there somewhere, she had to find a way to help.


Licking her dry lips, she gathered enough air in her lungs to call out the name Hale had told her: "Olsten! Come to my voice! I'm gonna get you out of here!"


Coughing, she grit her teeth and arched her spine back, spreading her arms wide. In one clenched fist she held her cape, and then bit onto the corner to free both hands before spreading them once more. She had seen her mentor do this so many times, she should be able to do this easily by now, right?


Keeping her hands level, Ava focused on the flames all around her and gradually lowered her palms. The flames growled at her meagre attempt to quell them, but their height shrank by a few inches. Eyes narrowed, tongue in cheek from concentration, she continued to lower her hands slowly, watching the flames flicker, rebell, but continue to shorten.


Then with a roar, they burst back up higher than ever.


"Shit!" she yelped and tucked her legs in to narrowly avoid being burned. No. No! She had to focus!


"What is a fire mage worth anyways, if they can't cast fire?" The memory made her cringe. Gritting her teeth until her jaw ached, Ava struggled to block out the voice, but it continued to weed it's way into her mind, pulling her back to a time when pain and misery had seemed to be her only companion.

Dust. Tears. Pain. Pain so great she felt as if she should just suffocate amidst the old tomes she hid behind and vanish from the face of the land.
"You can never hope to understand what I'm going through -so just shut up and stop trying to help me! You're only making it worse!" his hateful words, coming from a mouth that had once spoke such flattery and kindness before, now grated against her ears like a screaming banshee. Ava's body shook in mixed sorrow and anger, but mostly sorrow.


She could sense Feral's distress as her dragon prowled around the library, gnashing her teeth and bristling her spines. If he or his dragon showed his face Feral would show no hesitation in giving them what for.


Ava sniffed, only slightly comforted by the thought, but right now she just wanted to be alone and away from everybody else. She slowly cupped her hands in front of her and concentrated. Watched a tiny spark, then a flame fizzle into existence, only to puff out like a candle.


"What is a fire mage worth anyways, if they can't cast fire?"





Her hands clenched and Ava's head dropped back to her knees, hiding her tear-stained face form what little light filtered between the old, dust-covered books. At least they were silent. Could offer her shelter without qualms. Did not nitpick and pull her apart piece by piece.


Break her heart like he had.


The heavy, warm silence shattered, broken by the clack of thick wood upon the stone floor and the shuffling gait of a cripple. By all rights, it was an old Warden come to review ancient scripts and relive days of glory. But the voice that muttered softly in the candlelight was a young voice, the voice of a journeyman scholar.


"She said it was here. Where is that blasted manuscript?"


The sound of the cane and the hobbling step grew closer. The faint light grew brighter. Suddenly it rounded the corner, followed immediately by a averaged sized half-elf. As all within the walls of the Haven, he sported a head of red hair, but whereas the Wardens tended to be examples of physical perfection, this Warden stumbled along upon a twisted foot as he leaned upon a quarter staff. His eyes roved as he searched the shelves, and his brow was furrowed in concentration. But suddenly he caught sight of the female Warden huddled in a dark forgotten corner. His eyebrows raised in surprise.


"Oh! Erm, I'm sorry to have bothered you. I'll just, uh, leave you al-" He stopped, as if just noticing her tears. Slowly he sidled up to her, hesitant. "Um, you okay? What's the matter?"


Ava sniffed and looked away, eyes red and puffy from crying. Though the loud clack of a cane had startled her at first, she was more relieved that the person who had found her was at least a teenager and not an elder who would just berate her for being foolish and hiding. "No. An' I'd r-rather not talk about it." she mumbled, struggling to form coherent words. Then she eyed his foot and remembered her manners, patting the floor beside her once in slight embarrassment. "If... if you're goin' ta stick around you may a well sit down. Though I might not be worth your time." She winced as she said those words and looked at her feet.


At her assessment of herself, the half-elf stared at her momentarily, as if considering the circumstance. But finally he stepped toward her, muttering Ah well. It can wait. His going was slow, almost agonizingly so. When he reached her, he sat heavily beside her. His good leg angled up and his bad leg straight out before him, the half-elf leaned against the book case and sighed from the exertion. The silence that he'd broken returned briefly, covering all in the room in a thicker layer than even the dust on the books. But as before, the intruder was the one to interrupt the quiet. His voice was low, respectful.


"Um, I'm, uh, I'm Hale. A-an Earth Warden."


"Ava. Fire Warden..." she muttered, then opened a palm and tried to will a flame to life again. And again she got little more than a candle-flame before it sputtered and died. The girl cleared her throat. "Well, not much of one. I'm better at swordplay than magic." she said quietly, a faint smile trying to appear at the corners of her mouth. "I'm training to be a warrior. What are you going to do? Surely there's more to life than reading books all day."


Hale chuckled nervously.


"I, uh, I guess there is. But my mentor has me doing some research."


He fell silent, leaving the obvious question merely lingering momentarily.


"Oh!" His eyebrows raised as he realized he hadn't completed his thought. "Research concerning the lands about us. I'm training to be a scout, you see. I'm, uh, a little hindered from pursuing a more martial path."


Gesturing to his leg in emphasis, he shrugged.


"Takes all kinds, right?"


A watery laugh escaped her and Ava grinned. "Yeah, I guess it does..."
Click to expand...
With a snarl, Ava snapped open her arms again and shoved her palms down at the rebellious flames. "DOWN!"


Her focus, combined with such strong emotion, created a conflicting effect amongst the blaze. Blue red, yellow, white tongues shimmered and shortened. Ava forced her palms down further, no longer trying to much as to put the flames out as to keep them in control. But such a deed would be impossible for such an inexperienced Warden for long. Already sweat began to pour off her thin frame, and her gaze flickered dangerously close to the edge of oblivion.


But if it was one thing the girl had in abundance of, it was an iron will. Despite her weakness, she refused to give in, even as her skin began to turn pink at her heels, and crept up her ankles. She just had to hold the flames down long enough to help the others escape. Had to hold them down until she knew the boy was alive, or dead.


Hissing as pain registered in her legs, Ava tucked them up higher against her body and ignored the agony of stretching her burned flesh. Her gaze did not once waver from the inferno below, and upon gathering another breath, she called out again to the boy, in hopes that both he and his dragon was near enough to hear. How could his dragon have not come by now? Was it dead? Did he think that he could do some good before dying in a blaze of glory to join his companion in the Void?


Gritting her teeth as pain sizzled up her thigh, Ava forced the flames still lower to the ground. She might be able to stop their rampage and contain it, but she couldn't put it out no matter how hard she tried.


I won't let another one of us die... not when we've already lost so many...


* * *

​



Feral's head snapped up upon sensing her Warden in pain. But she didn't sense any fear: only intense concentration and some anger.


Not a good mix. Letting out a whine of distress, she turned to look at Hale. Feral trusted both him and Kraeg explicitly, but that didn't mean she wouldn't go charging into an entire platoon of orcs to get to her rider if she sensed her in any actual danger.


Trilling again, the fire dragon thumped her tail on the ground. She wouldn't be much use in putting a fire out. Making one was a completely different process, and though she remembered a lot of what Hale had taught her and Ava (someone had to mind their teachings) dousing a blaze wasn't exactly something either of them were good at.


She glanced at Ifer for a moment, wondering if she could ask him to help the Earth dragon and her rider put out the blaze, but the realized that his fragmented breath could very well kill the boy they were trying to save. Growling again, she laid her head down with a huff and continued laying next to Liola, tail-tip twitching and legs positioned in such a way under her body so as to allow the ability to spring up and run with ease.
 
High up amid the vapor of clouds, blood-red wings drummed the air. Grybil sniffed. A faint, beastly scent stung his nostrils. He’d smelled it before, Haven had reeked of it. Dragons.Like a snake slithering through the grass, Grybil’s nimble form cut through the gray mist that had shielded him from sight. Below, The Northern Mountain’s slopes cut deep into the landscape like rocky fingers.


He sniffed again, nostrils widening to take in the vast array of scents. The one he’d picked up on came from a clearing below. There was a other scent too, not quite human, but not quite dragon either. He was about to circle lower when a fierce pain stabbed at the edge of his mind. Grybil’s mighty jaw settled into a snarl. Foolish little boy!


---


Without warning, all light was snuffed out. His stomach backflipped. It was dark. Vorstag had cast some kind of spell. His magic was still there, fiery snakes still slipped from his outstretched palms, adding to the all-consuming fire.


Something moved.


At once he was thrown back, stumbling over his own feet through perpetual darkness, unable to tell up from down. With a smack his spine slammed into a wall. There was something lodged in his shoulder. He couldn’t tell what, only that it was large. Without thinking, he yanked it out. Bloodied metal clattered to the floor. A bloodcurdling scream tore at his eardrums. It was too much, the flames he had unleashed reigned freely, happily consuming their dark meals. Yet all of him felt cold.


The darkness was broken, replaced by the baleful light of the raging inferno he had set loose. At the center of the rippling heat, a dark lump lay twitching on the cellar’s floor. It was over. Along with Vorstag, his resolve had been burned to ashes, his mind closing itself off to the inevitable. The ceiling would rumble. Stones the size of small boulder would land on his head and split his skull in two. Or perhaps the suffocating smoke would get to him first, or the magic woven into his tattered armor would wane... He no longer knew if he was laying or standing, only that he would surely die. Before his very eyes the cellar’s supports caved in. Dark tendrils of smoke tightening their grip around his throat.


A voice, distant and muted over the bellowing red monster he had spawned, called. Like knives, light stabbed through the oily clouds. Again the voice called. The wall of fire lowered. An outstretched hand reached through the rubble and Olsten clawed at it with frozen hands. But when his savior pulled up, it felt as though his skin was being peeled off with a pair of pliers. Ava and Kraeg would hoist up a panting Olsten, breaking himself free from their grip as soon as he’d been hoisted into safety. It wasn’t until he’d half-ran, half-stumbled his way out of the tavern that he realized just how faint he felt. Not even the sight of two more Dragons could amaze him as his knees buckled underneath him, teeth chattering in his skull. His right arm was ablaze and he swallowed as he glanced at his right shoulder. A gash, quickly widening, traced over his collarbone to his shoulder. The bounty hunter had missed his throat, but his dagger had been sharp enough to slice through padded leather and skin. He almost wished he hadn’t been saved, for the fire he’d been saved from seemed to live on in his wound.


Gritting his teeth, he tried to limp forward. Had an enraged Grybil not landed that very moment, he would’ve fallen face down into the soil, but his dragon was there to catch him, blood-red scales lending support his shaken and injured rider.


“You shouldn’t have come,” Olsten protested weakly.


Grybil hissed, slithering his frame around Olsten to keep the stubborn boy from stupidly running off again.
 
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Dinyla and Erramun

​



A little disappointed with the answer, Dinyla simply nodded her head respectfully to the exclamation, cradling the vials carefully in her shaking hands. "Thank you again..." she cooed softly, leaning more against Erramun who started to sniff at the vials with his large nose, hot air escaping through his nostrils and tried to nibble a little at the vials curiously, cooing when Dinyla stroked his nose. She could hear the shae start to collect her things to leave, opening one vial to smell it and grimaced to the strong odor before glancing towards the shae's general direction.


"I'm not alone?" she repeated, Erramun snorting as he looked around for anything strange, his large body curling up more around Dinyla protectively, a deep growl rumbling in his chest. "Who else is here?" Her heart was only pounding in her chest to the idea there were other Dragon Wardens they could not trust. Who were they supposed to trust if not each other? "I don't understand...what Dragon Warden would hurt us? Who is after us?" she asked worriedly. "What do they want from us?"
 
Outside the Silver Lance

​



The topical salve placed upon Liola's wounds could help the dragon in the long run, but she would need to survive the current ordeal for the salve to do much good. The hot burning from Feral's claws was a pain the ragged dragon could only endure for so long. Weakened shrills of pain escaped through the Ice Dragon's teeth as she sought comfort in the only ones she knew. It was a comfort to her in such an hour to find peace in familiar faces.


Feria showed her the canteen, and drank from it as best her open maw could handle. Remnants of the concoction trickled past her teeth as she lapped from the stream lethargically. Whatever was within the canteen would expedite her recovery and prevent her body from going into shock. The pain she felt began to dull and she wanted so desperately to rest. Her eyelids grew heavy, as did her head upon Feral as Hale began to set her broken wing and fashion a splint. With their combined efforts, the dragon may just pull through. Only time in the night hours would tell, and the dark taint still remained ebbing upon the dragon's skin.


@Red Thunder @Keitsumah @CloudyBlueDay

Inside the Ruins of the Silver Lance

​



Digging through the first layers of the rubble eventually revealed the Emasari Idhrenan, her long red hair flowing about in the open like a rusted halo. The face that lifted her from the ruin did not register at first, for she was too relieved to be released from such confinement. Slender fingers brushed through her tangled locks as she dreamily searched for her hat.


"I must say, Idhrenan... Since I last saw you, you have aged like fine wine. The greying hair fits your wringkles quite nicely."


Her fingers paused in a tangle, or perhaps it was the words of a familiar voice that halted her actions. The woman was not vain in the least, and often romanticized the appearance of age with wisdom rather than death. She turned her head to gaze upon a fellow Emasari, a small smirk forming as she then recognized the man.


"Tronje," she said as she knelt down to aid in digging through the rest of the rubble. "Perhaps if you did less talking and more aiding, we could save the lives of those left-"


She paused as she realized the numbers to which she could feel. She counted the etheral presences over and over. Olsten. The elf, yes. The elf's magic could be sensed. There was only one left. Where did the other go? Her pace quickened, and she ignored the stinging pain shooting through her chest.


Towards the kitchen and down within the cellar, the flames roared as Ava attempted to tame the inferno of an emotional young Dragon Warden. Olsten was now freed from the collapsing cellar, though the fires raged on. Should Ava release her dampening measures, the fire would be left to its own nature and consume the wooden floorboards and support beams with renewed fervor. Those attempting to remove the survivors from the rubble would need to work quickly.


@Red Thunder @Unwavering Knight @Keitsumah

The Wayward Pine Between the Border of Baladur and Thallas

​



Shae Kelfie sniffed the air again heavily and looked between Dinyla and the two present dragons. "Not alone. Not alone. Not alone!" she repeated in frustration. "Very sees through. Very transparents the words. Yous not alone!" She points to the dragons and then up into the sky with a pointed bony finger. "Not alone! More of your kind close and far. More of the Drake Charmers good and evil. Dark and light. Do you feel the Earth and the World Tree, Drake Charmer?"


The shae brought her hand down to the earth and hummed a tune for a time, her hand brushing over dead leaves and dirt in tandem with the rhythm of her humming. "The World Tree knows more than whats it lets on. Yous will see one day. Yous will be the only one that sees what it sees." She rises with a small grunt. "Well, more than what Shae Kelfie is allowed to sees."


She takes in another deep breath. "I dunnie know what the evil ones want. I knows there's a fire. Smells the air, Drake Charmer." She sniffs loudly to prompt Dinyla to sniff the air. Eosphelon follows the prompt curiously as he noticed how many times the shae had actually sniffed the air. It was odd. Maybe she had a cold. He couldn't smell the burning.


@LadyMatsudai
 
Dinyla and Erramun - The Wayward Pine Between the Border of Baladur and Thallas

​



Dinyla grew a little tense to Shae Kelfie repeating loudly about them not being alone. More of the Wardens...could she mean more than the two she was traveling with now? How close were they? She wondered if that could be the reason why the others were taking so long...what if they were in trouble? What if they did run into other Wardens that were not on such friendly terms? The worry made Dinyla's head spin, making Erramun nuzzle her a little more. But upon the mention of the Earth and the World Tree, Dinyla relaxed to the familiar sound of her Earthly magic. Slowly, Dinyla shook as she struggled to lower herself to the ground, Erramun grabbing the back of her shirt with his teeth to help her gently kneel down.


Dinyla could feel the vibrations under her fingertips to the shae's hum, tingling sensations rushing through her body, dead leaves and twigs crunching under her touch from feeling everything around her. "What I am allowed to see? The World Tree?" she repeated more to herself before glancing upwards towards the shae's direction upon the grunts and groans. Upon the prompt to smell the air, Dinyla took a moment to catch her breath before closing her eyes, sniffing the air quickly before frowning. Another deep breath in to inhale the fresh forest air, Dinyla's blind eyes opened wide with fear as she seemed to stare right at the shae, glassy blind eyes worried. "There is fire..."


@Effervescent
 

:Ava and Feral:


The Boy and the Dragon
​



When Kraeg and Ava finally lifted out a boy not much younger than her, she couldn't feel anything but an intense relief that he had somehow lived. "What do you think you were doing, taking on a--" but her words were cut short when he struggled and broke free of her grasp, and she watched him flee the building with wide eyes, finally noticing the patch of red across his chest and shoulder.


Dropping from Kraeg's jaws, about to chase him, Ava halted when she spied a dark red form streak past above. The small fire dragon slammed down next to the boy and curled up around him, but it didn't seem as if they were about to run anytime soon.


Turning to eye her companion, Ava placed a hand against the earth giant's foreclaw and examined the light burns that had darkened his scales. "Thank you. For helping me." She looked into Kraeg's large, emerald eye and for a moment felt sorrow clench her throat. She was sworn to protect what little of her kind remained. Both her and the dragons. And if anyone dared try to harm any of them, they would meet her rage head-on.


Turning to look at the blaze below, slowly dying without fuel but now crawling up to the floor and walls above, she decided she would have to enlist her injured friend's help once more.


"I need you to dig up some earth and bury that fire before it spreads any further. You think you can do that?" she asked, gesturing to a nearby hill. She didn't want to cause any more damage to the foundation of the building. By the looks of that fire, it might already eat away at the main support beams shortly and send everything crashing down inside. They couldn't afford to further weaken the structure by stealing earth from the sides.


But her gaze trailed back to the boy. He needed treatment by the looks of that wound, and with Hale busy she knew she was the only one who might be able to bind it at least long enough for her partner to look at.


Yet her task here was equally as important -if not more so. She had to focus on keeping the fire in check rather than try to tend to any wounded. Hale and Feral could manage that.


Biting her bottom lip, Ava spread her stance and focused on the blaze again, trying to hold back the inferno. Her burned legs sent a bolt of pain through her body, but the pain was small compared to the pain she knew she would feel if she let anyone else die.




* * *​



Feral rest her head on the female dragon's uninjured shoulder and sent a calming hum through her body -telling her that nothing was going to hurt her anymore. She watched the others with large, blood-red eyes for a time, but eventually her gaze roamed back toward the burning building. To the new dragon curled up around the boy.


Humming again to reassure Liola, Feral waited to be sure Hale was done with his work, then jerked her head toward the newcomers. From Ava's thoughts she had gleaned the boy was injured, and she knew that with her rider busy she would have no time to try and help the lad when she had to focus on keeping the others safe.


Standing up, Feral offered a wing to Hale and lowered her body into a more crouched position so he could climb into the saddle on her back, before padding in the direction of the new dragon and his rider.
 
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Grybil & Olsten


Like molten wax on a candle, Olsten leaned heavily into Grybil’s side. Slowly his mind pieced itself together and expanded back into the world. The tavern held a new stranger, a stout man bearing a smile unbefitting the damage he’d wrecked. Mind dulled by the scorching throb in his arm, it took him ten seconds before he noticed the elf, Granny, and Jern were missing.


They were just…gone, and he was to blame. “Come on,” he motioned his head towards the rubble. Grybil tensed, his spiky tail roping around the boy as he headed back to the tavern. “I said come on,” Olsten snapped through clenched teeth. Without warning, Grybil kicked off again, leaving Olsten to stand on trembling legs. The fire dragon hovered above the rubble and carefully maneuvered down. Claws took hold of a fallen beam and carried the obstruction to the side, letting it thud to the ground with deliberate force, only to return and continue digging the trapped out.


His dragon wasn’t happy. Not one bit. Nor was he. Spinning around on his heels, left arm squeezing and clutching his right he hobbled over to Feria. “You!” If the kick he threw at her ankle wouldn’t get Feria’s attention, perhaps the forceful stomp that followed would. “You complete idiot! What part about staying low don’t you get? Turn around and look. Look. Look what you did!” He gestured wildly at the smoldering rubble, tears burning in his eyes. “Everyone that died today died because of you, because you couldn’t resist picking a fight!” He spat at her feet. “More will die too. Now they know where we are, now they know that we’re the murderers they make us out to be. All you do is stand around and hug dragons that- I-“ His mouth snapped shut. “It should’ve been you under that rubble…”


What initial care Grybil had shown had molten away. Like a hawk he dove at the rubble and flung it aside. All these people, all these Wardens and strange Dragons...things had been much better when it had been just him and Olsten, and he sensed Olsten felt the same.
 
Kraeg

"Change of plans. Help the newcomer and his dragon dig the others out. Quickly. I'm not sure if I can do this correctly."


Ava sounded hesitant, uncertain. But Kraeg rumbled assent. He glanced over to where the newly arrived Emasari was pulling the female one from the rubble. Grunting, he swung his head near their position and began pulling fallen beams and rafters up, smelling and feeling for life. And trying to stay clear of the sudden shape of Grybil diving into the wreckage.


Hale

“It should’ve been you under that rubble…”


"Enough."


Hale grunted as he stopped ascending Feral's wing and instead began lowering himself off it. He hit the ground to stand in front of the young boy and raised a hand, fingers outstretched. The ground beneath Olsten's feet sunk down and closed in, trapping his feet.


"You're hurt, Olsten. Throwing kicks and blame isn't going to do anything." The half-elf looked at Feral uncertainly, thinking about his own dragon. He could feel Kraeg's desire to help as well as the dragon's worry for Ava. Shaking his head he turned back to Olsten. "We can discuss that later. Once everyone is safe, for instance, including yourself. So keep still and quiet will I patch you up."
 
Feria and Ifer
​



Every little whine of pain that Liola made caused Feria to cringe. It was so hard for Feria to look at her in such a state. When Liola's eyelids began to droop, panic rose in her chest for just a moment as Feria thought she was dying. But she placed a hand against the Dragon's neck and found her pulse to still be beating; weakly, but beating. Feria breathed a sigh of relief and turned away to cough into the crux of her arm.


Feria looked up at the burning and smoking tavern, or what was left of it as figures emerged. She wiped the blood from her mouth on her sleeve and stared as one of the figures, the shortest hobbled towards her. Oh. It was that boy again. She frowned, but squinted as she saw him, practically still smoking from the burning building. He was dirty and bleeding from a gash around shoulder. Jeez. So that's what everyone was running back in for. But why was he coming straight at her? Then, out of nowhere, the brat kicked her ankle.


Feria was already in enough pain, but she stumbled back, clearly not have expecting it. She caught her balance quickly, though. “You! You complete idiot! What part about staying low don’t you get? Turn around and look. Look. Look what you did! Everyone that died today died because of you, because you couldn't resist picking a fight!” Something lit up in Feria's eyes, an anger and rage. He didn't understand the pain Vorstag had caused her, then and now. She couldn't yell at him either. The stupid boy stomped around, yelling and lecturing her. “It should’ve been you under that rubble…” Feria's nostrils flared.


Suddenly, the ground beneath Olsten swallowed his feet. Feria flinched, but she realized it was the cripple. "Enough." He said, and Feria clenched her teeth together. Feria stood in front of Olsten, such emotion in her eyes, it was hard to miss but hard to pinpoint exactly what she was feeling. "He.. killed.." Feria attempted to speak as best as she could, but doubled over in a terrible coughing fit just after those two words. It hurt like hell. She steadied herself, just to complete the sentence. "My friend.." Her voice was hoarse, hard to understand. She coughed and spat more blood onto the ground, trying to deal with the awful burning pain in her throat.


@Effervescent @Macaberz @Red Thunder
 
Tronje





Giving a chuckle before tipping his hat in acknowledgement, the diminutive Emasari followed his prior course of action and got to work on the pile for the last remaining presence he could locate.


"Lucky you, to still have all your limbs and senses, dear." he said in a light-hearted tone "Quite impressive how many of those assembled here didn't even lose one of those." grinning childishly, he pointed at the patch covering the hole where once his left eye had rested.


Eelikas remained where she was, claws dug into the ground, eyes casting an intense, baleful gaze upon Idhrenan. Waiting. Watching. Anticipating. But he could tell, she was first and foremost shocked, alarmed, terrified. Each and every muscle-fibre set to jump.


Sighing with the carefreedom of one whose morning-meal had just been spoiled, the Warden made sure to keep his form physically between the two at any moment.


"How long have you been on the road like this? It's been months since I last saw another 'living' Warden." he eyed how the small and wounded Fire-Warden gave the frosty one with the bloody throat a kick and a stern reprimand, before being restrained by an apparent Earth-Warden "You know, looking at everything like this, it would be hard to refute those accusations thrown at us by the good Queen of Thallas about being omnicidal maniacs and all."


Lifting the remains of a charred beam, the Warden was granted the sight of a mangled hand, fingers torn, radius and ulna bones sticking out in splinters. Giving another sigh, Tronje gave the adjacent rubble a good pushing to uncover the rather unsightly remains of what might have once been a middle-aged man, skull caved in, facial features wholly destroyed.


Resisting the urge to wipe his hands off the grime and bodily fluids, the Emasari dragged the corpse free before taking off his cloak, covering the poor man to preserve his last remaining dignity.


"Friend of yours?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.


Eelikas gave a shiver, vigil never wavering from Idhrenan as she listened to any word with tightly-pulled sinews.


Tronje could only take solace in the certainty that she would never harm him.
download_zpsifodvh6q.jpg



With enhanced perceptions came enhanced feelings.


Those primal destructive impulses now seemed massive urges. The urge to slash the throats of everybody walking the path with you. The urge to rip open someone's chest or let them vanish in your fiery breath.


And even more puzzling was just how grounded these beliefs actually were.


The nasally tone of someone's voice as they whine for the sake of whining.


The hypocrisy of people hating themselves and doing absolutely nothing to change it.


Everything was so much more vivid than it once was. So with enhanced perceptions came realization: The realization of a simple universal constant.


Every single person in the world deserves death for some reason. The only variable was 'Over what?'
 
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Inside the Ruins of the Silver Lance

​



The inferno was dulled down to a muted roar, the flames’ tips only able to lap against the kitchen’s floorboards above. While it wasn’t completely squelched, Ava’s management still served it well. The Dragon Warden letting it go would allow the fire to rekindle anew and blaze through the wood and debris. A chilled wind blew through the gaping hole Kraeg had opened threatening to feed the fire. It would prove quite the challenge for the young Dragon Warden on her own. The wind swirled a few of the flames upward to lap around the girl’s form as if to coerce the girl to give up and let it free.


Within the cellar and the tame orange glow, a bright blue light stood out among the chaos. Within the ashes and charred remains of Vorstag’s body rested the brilliance of his necklace trophy. Such a pretty thing unmarred and untouched by its deadly surroundings as it sat within the darkened soot.


Grybil’s and Kraeg’s efforts in uncovering the trapped helped expedite the task. Idhrenan stepped away from the disgruntled Fire Dragon as he swooped in to remove fallen support beams and the heavier debris that rested within the mess. She clutched her ribcage as the pain protested against the manual labor, but she pressed on knowing her injury wouldn’t kill her.


Tronje's casual banter gave her a pace to which she worked and oddly calmed her nerves. His calmness gave her too much pause to allow her anxiety to rise, though perhaps her head was cloudy from the concussion. Her ears rang a high pitched tone as she tried to tune in on his words, and her body flashed from hot to cold as the weather and fire challenged each other for the surrounding air.


"They're young, Tronje," Idhrenan pointed out. "And they were released from the Haven prematurely. They know nothing of the world." She turned to glance towards the gaping hole in the tavern's side where she tossed out a few pieces of debris. It was disappointing to see such dysfunction within her people.


The elf was quickly recovered at the foot of the debris. Fresh blood oozed from a gash along his brow where a wooden shard had barely missed his head. He nursed his left arm, likely broken, and scuffled out of the tavern. All that was left was to excavate Jern and Granny.


Idhrenan turned and looked away just as quickly. She had never been at the forefront of battle and had never seen so much blood as what Tronje had unfortunately revealed within the rubble. Jern's body was mangled and barely even recognizable.


"Friend of yours?" he asked her. She shook her head no.


"He was the tavern owner," she explained before raising her voice. "Granny? We're getting you out!"


Granny Phillis was not too far behind where Jern had been. Moving his body was not entirely necessary to dig the poor woman out. She looked dazed and confused, her head and leg bleeding profusely as Idhrenan carefully aided her out of the debris. She was lucky to be alive at all at her age, and it seemed as though the wood had fallen just right to create a sort of small pocket for her to be happenstantially protected within. When the old woman gained her bearings, she cried at the sight of the burning Silver Lance and called out for Jern. She would not listen to Idhrenan when she gave the news of his passing.


@Unwavering Knight @Macaberz @Red Thunder

Outside the Silver Lance

​



Liola finally slipped into slumber. Whatever argument was spat between Feria, Hale, and Olsten went unnoticed as the dragon rested near peacefully. Her pain was dulled and her injuries tended to as skillfully as the environment could provide. All that was left was recovery.


The thick black smoke that rose through the barren trees was eye catching. Through the chaos, a lone horseman trotted towards the scene and pulled closer by the sound of angry yelling. Rounding the front façade of the Silver Lance revealed to the traveler the nature of the events that transpired and would reveal to those outside the nature of the traveler.


Upon the anxious chestnut mare was a Thall patrolman. His golden armor glistened in the muted sunlight that broke through the overcast. Upon his back was fashioned the royal crest of Queen Malan in interlocking gold and purple threads stitched upon a white fabric. The Thall’s eyes widened as he urged his horse to turn, his legs kicking the mare’s flanks with urgency. With a whinny the horse galloped off in the direction they came.


@Macaberz @Red Thunder @Keitsumah

The Wayward Pine on the Border Between Baladur and Thallas

​



“Fire, yes,” the shae repeated. “Fire and anger and-- Oh! Do yous feel the intent? Words spittles like dribbles from a babe. Yous travel with such children. Hmmmmm.” The shae chuckled and tapped one of her irridescent horns idly.


Shae Kelfie scrunched her nose and moved about her lower lip to stretch out her nostrils. “Meh. Yous best be heading North. North is where the Drake Charmers gets together for tea and mahem. And it gets yous off my propertay. North, North, North. That is eh..." The shae walked up to Dinyla and grabbed the woman's shoulders to face her in the direction of North. "North! Tells your drakes this is North. They understand yous, yes? Go thataway and in the mouth of the mountain at the tippy peak is tea and mahem. Gots it?"


@LadyMatsudai
 

:Ava and Feral:


Feral Scream
​



Ava grimaced as her legs ached, and tried to find a more comfortable position as she kept the fires down. But as she moved, a faint blue light near the back of the room caught her attention.


Squinting, she recognized the charred body of what had once been the Shadow mage, and that something was resting on his chest. Her frown deepened when she remembered Feria had been looking at something on the man's chest a moment before she'd attacked him.


Whatever it is must be important to her... Gritting her teeth, Ava forced herself to move and edged toward the lip of ground between her and the cellar below. A breeze swept about her body and into the inferno, pulling two tongues of flame to warm her body for a brief instant before the cold set her shivering again.


Swallowing at the drop, she girl shook her head to herself and hobbled away, moving around the cellar and toward the staircase. Maybe the flames hadn't completely eaten it away yet and she could get the object Feria felt so strongly about. Of course, doing such a thing was foolish, but if it had belonged to her... or someone she'd known....


Ava's jaw set and she moved more quickly, passing alongside Kraeg as she aimed for the stairs.


Feral looked up from the two Wardens beside her at the sound of hooves, and her head snapped around just in time to see the fleeing backside of a golden man.


With a deep-throated hiss, the fire dragon rose to all fours and bugled an alarm to the other dragons before taking off after the fleeing Thall. She felt Ava's sudden alarm, but the she-dragon blocked it as bloodlust came over her. She'd been chased, harassed, and injured by those men's pointy sticks one too many times, and knew that where there was one, only more would come.


And more meant her Warden, and the other Wardens, were in danger.


Feral let her body stretch into longer and longer strides, gradually spreading her wings as her giant leaps took her within striking distance of the horse. Ava didn't enjoy flying as much as other Wardens, so Feral humored her from time to time by only running along the ground. This had developed an even placement of muscles both in her forelegs and hind legs, when most dragons carried the bulk of their strength in their hind legs for launching into the air.


But like every fire dragon, Feral's bite was worse than her bark.


Each step thundering, shaking the ground as she neared, Feral let loose a blood-curdling roar and sprang high into the air, pumping her wings three times to gain distance ahead of them, then slammed down in front of the horse. Every inch of her body bespoke of the word that Ava so affectionately dubbed to her companion. Spikes raised. Spine arched. Wings spread like an all-consuming hood around her quarry. Eyes blazing with animalistic fury.


No one would harm her Warden. No one would harm the others.


Opening her jaws wide, Feral released an ear-splitting scream loud enough to match a flash arrow's explosive report.
 
"Enough," the command sounded. Like quicksand the soil collapsed and sucked his feet in, enclosing his boots with a vice-like grip. Olsten's face hardened. White teeth ground like mill-stones. Feria's petty excuse would gain her no sympathy. She was a bloody cow to have risked everything just because she couldn't restrain herself. He was about to tell her just how wrong she was when a voice, creaking with age, called for Jern. A cold crept through his soul, tickling his innards before lumping up in his throat. Slowly, for as far as he was able, he turned around. There, amid the rubble she stood, not much taller than himself, but a lot older, and in a lot more pain. "Jern!" She would cry again and again. "Jern!"


No answer came, no deep voice sounded from the rubble.


All of him turned hollow. His ears deafened to the beating of Feral's wings and her ferocious battle-cry. Feria and Hale were forgotten, even the stinging gash on his arm dulled to a mere throb. This was his fault. If he hadn't started the fire....if he hadn't snuck down the cellar...if only he could've kept his magic under control...


He sensed Grybil's boiling turmoil simmering down. Grief, guilt, and agitation washed over him through their bond. Olsten mentally apologized, Grybil snorted in return. Words were meaningless to dragons, he knew that much, but their sense of emotions was impeccable and Olsten knew Grybil would understand the message before he could think it. We must help her...


A warmth probed the edge of his consciousness before slipping away. Seeing no point in clearing the shattered tables, toppled pillars and splintered beams anymore, the slender red dragon trotted over to where Olsten stood. Part of the Dragon yearned to chase after Feral, investigate what all the fuss was about. Perhaps one of the other Dragons he had smelled? One of his maroon eyes remained fixed on the statue amid the havoc. If she were to tense any of her muscles further, the vigil arcane Dragon would surely burst into pieces and add her innards to the bits and pieces that littered the ground. Grybil couldn't probe her mind like he could Olsten's, but it took little effort to deduce that she didn't want to be there at all.


Turning back to face Hale again, Olsten met the half-elf with a grimace. "I don't have to do as you say," he fired back, "not if I don't want to." He flashed a scowl at Feria. "We should get a move on, thanks to her." He wished Hale had casted a similar spell on the ice-bitch, only stronger so she would sink through the earth's crust and disappear forever. "So whatever it is you've ensnared me for, better make it quick." Annoyance flashed through his mind. There was no fooling Grybil, the Dragon knew equally well that Hale intended to heal. It was obvious. Narrow shoulder blades dipped into a sigh as he undid his armor as best he could with only one arm. Soon the padded leather and tattered linnen thudded to the ground leaving torn, bloodied skin exposed to the chilling air. "Make it quick," he murmured, "or we might as well kill ourselves before hunters do it for us." A sneering eye fell on Feria, "maybe you would like to do the honors, you'd be doing something useful for once."


Grybil sculpted dirt with his claw.
 
Hale

"I don't have to do as you say, not if I don't want to."


Hale rolled his eyes but retrieved a strip of cloth and some salve from his saddlebag to rub on Olsten's wound. Silently the half-elf watched the the dragons at the inn's wreckage and the Wardens. And watched the wounded ice dragon closely, making sure she didn't suddenly wake with signs of fever. "We should get a move on, thanks to her. So whatever it is you've ensnared me for, better make it quick."


The Earth Warden glanced angrily back at his patient. His own patience was reaching its end quickly with the lad, and he longed to reach out and smack the brat with his staff. But he restrained himself for now, all the more so once Olsten's Fire Drake sat down beside them. He glanced up, a tinge of worry in his eyes, but Grybil only watched his work. Satisfied for now, Hale turned back to his wrapping, his mind absorbed in the past.

A short time after meeting in the library, the pair had left it and were walking through the nearby Garden of Falls. The titular waterfalls originated from a spring and cascaded down different levels into a large pool. Surrounded by green grass and gray stepping stones, the pool released a mist into the air that gave the gardens a vaguely mystical quality. Trees, bushes, flowers, all of diverse kinds and breeds grew about, flourishing in the moisture rich environment.


Hale leaned on his staff as he walked, using his free hand to display a balanced throwing knife to Ava and waxing eloquent about it. The manuscript he'd been looking for had been found and was tucked safely in a nook in the library for later retrieval.


"...not only that, but knives are a much more versitile tool in the wood, I think."


"You do have a point there. And they probably can't be broken as easily as an arrow." Ava responded. She seemed fully recovered from the state she had been in earlier, but to an experienced observer, one could notice that her gaze was still slightly glazed, and would darken every time her thoughts turned down a path best left alone. But for now, she was as happy as could be expected, and as she looked about at the array of plants and animals curiosity returned and she knelt next to a bush with heart-shaped leaves and black, thorn-coated bark. "Why do they keep such a prickly plant in the gardens?" she asked.


Her companion stopped with her. At her observation, he shrugged.


"I can't see such things being allowed to grow here without some purpose. Perhaps the leaves are a salve for wounds. Maybe the bark makes a good poultice for poison."


A thought seemed to occur to him, and he laughed.


"Of course, it could be far simpler an explanation: perhaps they allow it to make us ask questions. It's certainly what I would do in their position."


Ava laughed too. "Yeah. Maybe so." But her laughter was cut short when a loud roar shattered the peaceful birdsong of the afternoon. Hearing a dragon roar was not too uncommon, but it was the particular frequency, the grating, metallic pitch, that gave Ava pause. It was the kind of sound a female fire dragon would make when they were guarding a nest, and their eggs were threatened.


"Feral."


Hale glanced about them, his face displaying his curiosity.


"'Feral'? What's a 'Feral'?"


Finally he glanced down at Ava. Seeing what seemed to be worry or panic on her face, his brows furrowed in concern. One hand griping his staff tightly, he reached out with his other and touched her shoulder.


"Ava? Are you okay?"


The girl shook her head and stood. "My dragon. She's spotted the reason for why I was crying earlier. I need to stop her before she does something stupid."


An answering roar shattered the air, and Ava flinched. They had to move quickly. Grabbing Hale's wrist, she pulled him along at a pace that could comedangerously close to knocking him over. "Feral likes to joke sometimes, but most times she means what she says!"


The half-elf stumbled after her, doing his best to limp along. He grimaced.


"That certainly didn't sound like any joke," he muttered.


They passed out of the Garden quickly and traveled down a well worn path. The roaring grew louder and more agitated, and Hale swore he heard another answer it. Sure enough, when they crested a low grass-covered hill, they saw a pair of wyrms staring each other down, occasionally roaring at each other. Between them was a figure, though detail was difficult to make out at this distance. The half-elf cursed.


"I suddenly find myself wishing for my own dragon. This might get ugly.


"That person below is your reason, I guess?"


His voice was inquisitive, but his eyes flashed in anger.


Ava slowed. "Yes. That's him." her voice was darker, and a strange look crossed her gaze as they made their way down the hill. When they came near enough, she raised her voice to a shout. "What purpose do you have coming to the libraries of all places today, Vant?"


The boy -another fire mage- turned his head toward her, yet he stood between the two snarling dragons with crossed arms as if reprimanding children. Ava saw his eyes narrow. "To gain knowledge for my mentor. I do not see you doing your tasks so willingly. Ivan would not be pleased. And he would be even more displeased if he finds that you kept me from my duties."


Ava grit her teeth and halted in her tracks. The dragons had begun to move in half-circles, Feral arching her spine and rattling the deadly quills along her neck and tail. Shiny, spiked scales stood out along the rest of her body, a painful defense against any broad attacks. The other dragon, a smaller, almost black-green male, hissed and moved with serpentine strides, his short legs and long body only increasing the resemblance.


"My mentor would understand my need to have a break today. Yours, however, would be displeased if he found thereason for why I was."


The boy's otherwise calm, if pompous expression soured and he glanced at Hale. He looked the half-elf up and down and, when he spotted the boy's foot, smirked. "Looks like the library isn't short of hands at least."


At the spike of anger in Ava's mind, Feral roared and sprang at the boy. Vant's dragon screeched, and charged forward to block the female before she could harm his Rider. Collision. Scales scraping against one another as the two drakes grappled. Blood had yet to be spilled, but already with two fire dragons, and their tendency to violence, it was obvious neither would come out without some sort of wound.


At her side, Hale frowned and, ignoring all else, began hobbling forward in a rather foolhardy direction toward the fighting dragons.


"Hey," he yelled, trying to be heard over the din, "you two drop it! If there's an argument to be had, it's between your Wardens!"


As he spoke he'd managed a little distance, and the half-elf now stood perhaps fifty yards away from the embattled creatures. But they ignored him as they might a fly. Frustration written all over his face, Hale turned from them to face the other Fire Warden.


"'Vant', was it? Look, no one wants an injury to them or their dragon. Be the bigger man, take your dragon, and just go." He leaned heavily on his staff, and his breaths came in gasps. The quick pace he'd been making himself move had wearied him. "I doubt your Mentor would take kindly to seeing his student engaged in this behavior."


Vant grit his teeth in obvious annoyance and considered the brawling reptiles, but upon close glance they could see he was dangerously pale in complexion. Almost sickly.


Ava walked up behind Hale, silent, confident in her dragon's ability to beat the other, but eventually Vant whistled and his dragon sprang back from Feral.


The red dragon still snarled in response, missing a scale or two, but otherwise none the worse for wear, whereas it looked as if the male dragon had taken no damage at all. Vant smirked again at Ava's startled expression and turned away. "I'll go, but I still need that book for my mentor. I will be back to pick it up later, and I do not expect to be stopped again."


Feral growled in response, but the green dragon remained between her and his rider as they strode away. Ava clenched her hands and her body was suddenly overcome by violent trembles.


"He wasn't that way in the beginning." she grit out, watching them until they rounded a corner and vanished amongthe cluster of buildings several hundred yards off. "He was like you or me. Butt hen... after he went patrolling several weeks ago, he came back and fell almost deathly ill. He's recovered, but he can't be outside for very long and he starts having fits of rage. I think it's because of his sickness. It frustrates him now that he can't do things that he used to. I tried to help him but..."


Ava looked down at her hands, open now but still shaking. "You can see the results."


"Sounds like what I imagine Shadow magic to be," Hale muttered, but he placed a hand on her shoulder in a show of solidarity. He, too, looked after the retreating Vant, even after he turned the corner. His eyes were hard and filled with anger, but he sighed and addressed her calmly.


"Well, uh, it seems to me that you're better for it. You don't want a fellow that drags you down, after all." Hale smiled.


"Yeah..." Ava turned to look at Hale and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.


"Yeah. I don't."


"Make it quick, or we might as well kill ourselves before hunters do it for us." Hale looked up suddenly, Olsten's voice breaking his revelry. The lad shot a look at Feria. "Maybe you would like to do the honors, you'd be doing something useful for once."





His forehead twitched, and Hale tied off the impromptu bandage, pulling it a good bit tighter than it needed to be. The cripple's face was stone as he packed his medicines. Suddenly he stood and handed Olsten a small vial.


"Here," he intoned. "It'll help prevent infection."


In reality it was a powerful hystemine and should send the lad to sleep in a few minutes, should he drink it. Hale turned away, shuffling over to check on the injuries of those pulled from the wreckage.


@Macaberz


Kraeg

As Ava tried to sidestep the massive Earth Dragon, he threw his head in her path to stop her. Kraeg knew well that the stairs had been eaten badly by the fire and was certain his friend would fall should she try to descend them. So he rumbled at her, commanding her in his dragonish way to stay put. His head then tilted to the side, and one deep green eye peered down into the grave of ashes below, trying to see what Ava had. The blue light caught his eye, and he understood. Looking again pointedly at the Fire Warden, he snaked his head into the pit and carefully picked the necklace up in his teeth. Pulling his head back up, he dropped it at her feet, happy to have helped and curious as to what it was. He whined, an odd sound from this dragon, but it easily communicated only one thing: What the heck is that?


@Keitsumah
 
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Work done, corpses and living excavated, mourners going about their business with the usual wailing cries and unbelieving name-yelling, Tronje was finally free to contend with his ever all too tense dragon, who still remained frozen with teeth grinding and eyes glaring.


Such an unsightly occurrence, the Warden mused.


Striding over, staring upwards to meet her burning gaze, Tronje lazily waved for her to lower her head, expression one of self-deprecating mirth. After all, in this kind of relationship, anger for one was a laughing matter for the other, and again vice versa.


A short laugh, a provocative grin as her bestial contours came to level with his own, a haunted stare met wild eyes. Some would have said these actions of poking, provoking and taunting when presented with something that so very much seemed to represent a rabid, cornered beast was nothing but a fool's suicidal tendencies.


None of them would have understood Eelikas as she glared at him with a barely-constrained tension.


The dragon hissed.


Baring his teeth, the human growled back, one hand stretching out to grab the dragon by her horns and yank her closer, each one's heartbeat rising, breathing quickening.


When they had first met at such a young age to be bonded, the senior Warden's expectations for the ease of the process were decidedly low. Some would have said that they were too similiar, their independence making them incapable of valuing such unforgiving closeness.


And indeed, they couldn't have been anymore right.


But it wasn't a slow, grueling effort, not a simple cold war with both sides erecting walls to keep seperate in fearful tension. It wasn't a ceaseless growing in which the dragon would naturally become the Warden's extension or expression of their inner beings. It wasn't even a sluggish feeling of increasing respect for eachother's actions.


It was more akin to two, rabid, yet cultured animals keeping up a veneer of civility while ruthlessly prying at eachother's weakness, aggressive, unending advancing, a primitive martial struggle for dominance over one another, carefully hidden away from outsider's eyes and executed with paradoxically cold-blooded efficiency.


A game, oh such a wonderful game.


Panting, Tronje's incited breath washed over the dragon's reptilian features.


A struggle. A sound low at first, turning to a growling, rumbling, screeching, the stuff one would imagine the grinding of metal upon metal to sound like; laughter. Inhuman laughter.


Tronje's grin widened in response. Their roles had flown so unrelentingly into one another, changing from partners to masters to servants to rivals in the blink of an eye, both their beings coalescing into each as the years passed.


The dragon laughed and the human's chuckle joined hers. Poking, provoking, taunting, embedding one's bite, that was how they had learned to understand.


He could not remove the root of the problem, she had closed herself off too tightly for that. He could, however, grant release. It was now, after all they had possessed had simply vanished in the course of a single night, that they were at their most similiar, akin to two flawed mirrors facing eachother, twisting eachother.


The dragon's head shot upwards, the human's unrelenting grip hardened by experience pulling him along with her, coming to a seat atop her scaled scalp. The two faced the heavens, hearts beating furiousely with carefree mirth as both dragon and Warden roared with all their different might, the former's unbound scream causing the earth to tremble.


It was also at times like these that he could use a drink, Tronje decided. Figured that their location was a destroyed tavern, the only one for miles.


Such a lowly joke. But, in her own way, she had grown to like bad humor.


Soon enough, the voices turned to exhausted breathing, the dragon's muscles relaxing as she lowered her head again, allowing the diminutive Warden exit. Patting her scalp a few times, he slid off, landing elegantly on his feet, before taking off his marvelous hat in a grinning bow to any confused onlooker.


Only a temporary measure, to be sure, and one not likely to work more than a few times spread over a number of weeks. Saddening.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hat back on head, the Warden strode anew, Eelikas following with renewed vigor, even gaze devoid of killing-intent for the moment, the strange duo aiming for the arguing younger Wardens, engaged in such hateful debate.


"Lads, Ladies." the Emasari yelled, waving with the sluggishness of a king that lowered himself to address some rowdy subjects "Unless you want to be at eachother's throats even in the moment when an executioner's axe blessed by dear Queen Malan, Behave, and quit speaking while blood keeps pouring out of your throat, the sounds are most unappetizing."


He gave the frosty one a charming smile, looking back at the cripple and the youngest "A few innocent dead, an uninvolved but popular establishment destroyed, an old woman bereft of all that was dear to her." he spoke with a calm, detached voice, before his tone turned for the insistent "Do you honestly believe either of you are the first or the last Wardens running and flying about with more power than their brains can handle?"


He spoke with confidence. Intent was to have them concentrate their aggression on him in the worst case, of course. Though this carnage, in a way, was uncomfortably familiar, just with the sides switched.


He gave a sigh.
 
Outside the Ruins of the Silver Lance

​



Granny was inconsolable. The old Thall pushed away Idhrenan's hand as the Emasari attempted to provide comfort through contact. She rocked back and forth where she sat upon a tree root and mourned the death of Jern. With a solemn sigh, Idhrenan pulled away to give the woman space and looked to the group further down the road.


"I will stay with the woman," the elf said as he approached Idhrenan's side. The Dragon Warden turned to look at him, assessing his injuries at a glance. His right forearm looked out of place and twisted as he hovered it close to his torso. "All of you need to leave."


"I won't leave you here with what we have caused," Idhrenan responded before walking towards the group along the road. Despite her disheveled and battered appearance, Idhrenan adorned her commanding air with confidence as she stopped next to Tronje. The Emasari within her surfaced as she cut through any further banter.


"Enough," she said with a booming tone, and then pointed towards Feria. "Ice Caster. I need you to go to the tavern and help Ava put out that fire. Please ask your dragon to help." She turned to Hale. "Hale. I need you to see if you can tend to any of Granny's wounds. I will tend to the elf."


Her eyes fell upon Liola's form as the dragon took in a slow breath. "Olsten is your name, correct? You can either guard this dragon while we work, help Hale tend to the wounded, help Ava with your fire, or leave. That decision is up to you. If you choose to stay, no more arguing. That goes for everyone here. If any of you have something to say, it better be to coordinate or for an emergency, otherwise I want silence. Understood?"


She glanced over at Tronje before moving back to the elf. The man was old enough to decide what he wanted to do, and she had begun to notice the demeanor of his dragon. Her gaze looked over to the Arcane Dragon for a moment, her head slightly inclining as if to convey her very slight understanding of what the dragon felt towards her. It didn't look inviting in the least.


@Red Thunder @Unwavering Knight @Keitsumah @Macaberz

Along the Eastward Road

​



Feral's scream spooked the patrolman's horse and reared upon its hind legs. The patrolman fell to the ground, left without a mount as the horse galloped away. Resituating his golden helm and rolling back onto his feet, the Thall stared at the dragon with wide eyes. He did not reach for his sword, though he reached for his shield and held it out before him. He knew there wasn't much he could do but find a way to run and survive.


@Keitsumah
 
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