"To Adona with It"
The villagers saw the mercenary company still strutting around earlier and a few tried to go find the Dragon Hunters, but they were stopped by the company. When the company went back into the vacant house, they tried again, but a voice in their minds would stop them with a warning.
It was such a beautiful voice, such that they'd never heard before, but with the coldest words.
Some began to gather in the village square to discuss what was going on. "D'yer reckon we's 'onted?" asked one village woman to another.
The other village woman shivered. "What else can it be?" she wondered and made a superstitious hand gesture to ward off evil.
Laughter filtered through the minds of all the villagers.
Instead of coming to the square, those still in the square exclaimed in fear and ran into their houses. The sounds of doors and windows being barricaded.
The voice laughed at them again.
The sounds of barricading paused, but then resumed again, even more urgently.
Chrystianna snorted as she walked into the square.
She pulled an ornate chair out of her storage space. Unlike her daughter who liked making clothes the medium, hers was usually a ring, easily worn on a finger. She sat down and fluffed her skirt and waited regally. She knew some of the villagers were peeking at her watching everything.
They were afraid, but from what they could see she was just a slender woman. Ethereal and beautiful, but still just a woman. Not a ghost. Even though she could somehow speak in their minds, they didn't think she could hurt them in any way.
Chrystianna pulled a briskberry tart out of her space. Briskberries were native to Thelessia, not found on Emphyralis, but they were delicious. Britiana had already collected seeds to be cultivated on Emphyralis when they returned, as well as many other varieties of plants. Chrystianna sighed, missing the days when the Dragon Gate Network didn't need to be destroyed, and they could still trade with other worlds.
She finished off the tart while reminiscing. She dusted the crumbs off her hands and pulled a handkerchief out to dab daintily at her mouth.
She stood and smoothed her skirts and put away her chair. She began to change shape. Growing silver scales, leathery wings sprouting from her back, her body growing and elongating, turning into a beautifully majestic Silver Dragon. As a Dragon just over a century old, she was larger than the young Dragons in their twenties, about twenty-five feet high and forty-eight feet long. She roared, then took a deep breath and spit out a silverish ball of psionic energy at the empty town hall and it exploded.
--
Delaney brought Britiana through the shadows to a place not far from where the Dragon Hunters were camped. She then cloaked her in shadows. She had a feeling that cloaking her in shadows would hide her presence from the holographic device they used for tracking. "Stay here, I'll be back soon," she said.
Britiana nodded.
Delaney then used the shadows again to appear in the middle of the camp cloaked in shadows. She took out a vial of liquid. She poured some into their liquor barrel, then poured some in the cups they were drinking out of, on food they were eating.
Most didn't notice anything, but some were very vigilant, seeming to feel the disturbance she made in the air. She would completely stop, but the cloak put her partially in another dimension and they couldn't discern her at all when she wasn't moving or interacting with reality.
She then shadowwalked back to Britiana. "Want to watch? It'll probably be pretty gruesome," she said.
Britiana tilted her head and blinked thoughtfully. "Yes," she said. Delaney nodded and took her through the shadows again and arrived at the camp near the spacecraft. She looked at the spacecraft curiously.
"Don't move around too much," Delaney warned her. Britiana silently agreed, her face serious. She was still studying the spacecraft when she heard the guttural shouting. She glanced around and saw several of the hunters clutching at their chests, spitting dark blood, shouting for help, drawing weapons, trying to figure out what's going on.
It was already too late. Just three Dragons and more than forty Hunters, they never doubted their victory in this Hunt. They feared nothing from the locals on this planet. They had no reason to be on guard, especially not from poison. They were warriors bred to hunt Dragons. Their constitutions were superb.
Shadowbane laughed at their superb constitutions.
After being ingested, the shadowbane worked even more quickly than from wounds.
Delaney took advantage of the confusion a bit and added to it, pushing a Hunter that was already staggering, and tripping another. When she saw one pulling out a familiar communication device, she kicked it out of his hand. Within fifteen minutes they were incapacitated if not dead.
"Should I finish them off?" Delaney asked Britiana as she dropped their cloaks.
"No. They deserve whatever pain is happening to them. The Plague was a thousand times worse," Britiana said. She subconsciously played with the pendant wrapped around her wrist. There were records inside showing the horror of the beginning days of the Plague. The rapid aging was bad enough, but being forced into changing into Dragon form against one's will was so unimaginably painful. These chyanashim deserve much more than the relatively quick death from the shadowbane.
"Can you help me collect their weapons and armor?" she asked as she turned her attention to the spaceship. As she was waiting, she was determining the best way to deal with the spaceship. She pulled out a small table, a writing brush, and some ink. Then she began drawing on the ship. As she wrote she also chanted some words in Emphyralian Draconic.
Delaney watched, fascinated for a moment. She was super excited. Even though her magic was at a higher level than the other girl's, the kind of magic she was using was so different and interesting. She couldn't wait to start learning. She knew her aunts would feel the same way.
She began gathering weapons and stripping armor from the bodies of the Hunters. The weapons and armor were a range of different colors and textures. It was frankly dazzling. "Are outsiders able to learn your language?" she asked as they both worked. She'd noticed that Britiana only spoke when she was done drawing a particular pattern.
"Hmm. If you and your family choose to settle on Emphyralis, you are welcome to learn whatever you want," she answered.
Delaney asked a few more questions, and they chatted while each worked. When she had piled everything up that looked like it was made from Dragon parts, she chanted her own spell, "Exalant Omnia!" she said and threw dark matter on the bodies. They began to evaporate into a black mist that soon disappeared. They didn't even get the benefit of a fire burial.
Britiana stood back from the ship after one final stroke of her brush. She said another magic word and the magic arrays lit up. The ship shimmered and began to shrink. When it was about the size of a fist, she picked it up and tucked it into her skirt folds.
"Impressive magic. How did you learn it here on Thelessia?" Delaney asked.
Britiana smiled and held up her hand and shook it, showing the pendant. "This moonsong crystal was made into a chronicle crystal so that Darius and I could learn about Emphyralis, including magic," she said. "Why don't you go see if Sariya and Darius need help? I'll head back to the village on my own," she said.
Although Darius could easily communicate with her, he wouldn't let her know if he was in trouble unless absolutely necessary.
Delaney raised a brow. "Are you sure? It's a long walk back," she said.
Britiana's eyes scrunched up when she smiled. "It's a short flight," she said and stretched as her wings unfolded from her back, surprising Delaney. Britiana giggled. "Just kidding. These are pretty much aesthetic," she said and continued changing into her Dragon form. She then jumped into the sky and flapped her wings, gaining altitude heading back toward the village.
Delaney laughed as her hair was blown by the wind produced by the wings. Feeling lighter than she had for a long time, she walked into the shadows to find Darius and Sariya.
--
Guennit remembered Britiana making a magical copy of their map and wandering off to do more magic on it. What she actually did was enchant it to track the Dragon Hunters. More accurately it was to track the people that resonate differently than Thelessia. The map recorded them as well as the Dragon Hunters.
They saw the group in the mountains, there was also the other group moving quickly toward them. They weren't sure how they were traveling. Delaney hadn't seen any vehicles, but that didn't mean they didn't have any.
Darius and Sariya set out to intersect them part way. There were less than ten left. Between Darius's skill and Sariya's shadowbane laced arrows, they didn't expect to have too much trouble.
They both had a lot of stamina and could run far and fast, but Darius tried something first. He concentrated with a destination in mind and then used his hand to split the air, making a glowing crack with faintly misty edges. He took Sariya's hand and stepped through while pulling her along. They ended up about a mile along their path.
"What was that?" she asked.
"Voidwalking. That's only the third time I've been able to do it," he answered. Voidwalking was different than Voidjumping. Voidwalking was using the Void to get from point A to point B on the same physical plane, whereas Voidjumping used an anchor to cross time-space-dimension, which was what caused a snap-back unless the Voidrifter was strong enough to resist the gravity of their starting point.
He scoffed. "To Adona with it," he said and began changing. He changed into a young Silver Dragon with a slight blue hue. He was a little bigger than Britiana at twenty feet high, and forty feet long. His wingspan was also about forty feet wide. He knelt down, lowering his shoulder. "Come up," he instructed.
Sariya was surprised. They'd said before that Dragons rarely let people ride them. She was also honored. She climbed up and settled at the base of his neck. He took a few running steps and jumped into the air, flapping his wings to gain altitude. Sariya leaned forward so that the wind wasn't whipping her face too badly.
They shot off at incredible speed. Darius scanned the ground as they flew. It took less than twenty minutes before they saw the Hunters speeding along on two-wheeled vehicles that hovered above the ground and moved at incredible speeds. The Hunters spotted him.
"Can you hit them?" he asked Sariya as he slowed his speed a bit.
Sariya sat up and looked at the hovering vehicles coming toward them. "Yes," she answered. She unslung her bow from her back and adjusted her position so that she was kneeling. She pulled a poisoned arrow from her quiver. She nocked it and shot. Then another and another.
By this time, the Hunters had seen the Dragon. They weren't afraid and even laughed at the arrogance. Flying Dragons were nothing to them. It was even better that it was already in its Dragon form, so they didn't have to force it.
They were beginning to stop their vehicles to grab their anti-flight weapons. It might have been better if they hadn't stopped, that made them even easier targets. Three of them were shot with arrows one after the other.
They didn't expect that blasted Eoduun to be riding the Dragon. Some started firing their plasma guns at them, others continued to try to get the anti-flight weapon set up, but Sariya was faster than they were and shot three more before Darius had to dodge the plasma blasts.
He landed nearby and Sariya immediately jumped off his back and ran into the woods to take cover, while he took to the sky again. Now was not a good time for his Change to go wonky, so he stayed in Dragon form. He made another pass at the Hunters. Six were dying and the remaining three, including their leader, Ull, and Kith were left. Ull and Kith released their anti-flight weapon, a missile that could track him through the sky.
He knew about them; he still wasn't worried because they assumed that the Eoduun was with him. That was until arrows protruded from their necks.
The leader was alone, having taken cover. He was angry and tried to find the Elf's location. He wasn't worried about the Dragon, until the Dragon suddenly dove. Right in front of his eyes he saw a tear rend the sky and the dragon disappeared into it, but the missile didn't. It hit him and exploded.
Darius popped out of the rift several yards away and transformed again. He blew out a breath of relief that nothing had gone wrong. Only the leader, Ull, and Kith were dead. The others were merely poisoned and dying. Darius approached the group. Sariya joined him. He began collecting the vehicles with his cloak. He hadn't seen anything about these vehicles in the information about the Dragon Hunters on the moonsong crystal he owned. The Technomages would probably love to study them.
Sariya prodded an unconscious Hunter with her foot. "What should we do with them?" she asked.
Darius looked at them disdainfully. "Gather the armor and weapons. We probably shouldn't leave the bodies to kill scavengers," he said.
"The shadowbane would kill them, too. It would cause a chain reaction and affect the whole area," Sariya agreed.
"I'll handle the bodies," Delaney said as she came out of the shadows. She scrunched her nose. "Some of them aren't dead yet," she said.
Darius took a dagger from his belt. "I'll deal with them, you two help me strip them," he said.
At the end of the gruesome business, Delaney evaporated the bodies. Darius transformed again and took to the sky while Delaney took Sariya through the shadows.
--
Delaney and Sariya were the first to return to the village and were surprised by what they saw. Several buildings had been destroyed and Chrystianna was sitting in a stately chair in the square, sipping tea with several bags of silver and gold at her feet.
She smiled when she saw them. "Everything went well?" she asked.
Delaney nodded. "Yes," she said.
Chrystianna sighed in relief. "That's great. It's all thanks to you, Sariya. If we had something like shadowbane, maybe it wouldn't have taken a hundred years to get the Hunters off Emphyralis," she said sadly, looking at the tea in her cup.
It wasn't that they hadn't tried poison on the Hunters, but their constitutions were tough, and they were highly adaptable. It seemed like every time they found something that'd work, they'd be able to counter it. She shook herself out of her reverie when she saw Britiana flying overhead. Her daughter landed and had a strange transition where her face remained reptilian for a while before finally changing into her own face.
Chrystianna hid her chuckle behind her teacup.
Before Britiana could pout too much her brother arrived from a crack and landed and kept a tail for a while.
"I checked on Guennit and the company. They're on their way back after defeating the mountain trolls," he said, ignoring the stubborn tail.
Chrystianna finished her tea and put her things away. "Then we'll go to them. I don't want to stay in the village a minute longer," she declared, fluffing her skirts with a sniff. She looked at Delaney and Sariya. "Do either of you want any of this?" she asked, poking a bag with her toe.
Sariya and Delaney both shook their heads. Sariya was a hunter, she didn't need a lot of money. She could survive. Despite their reputations, Eoduun also wouldn't allow one of their kind that was pregnant to fend for herself. She had no worries about herself or her baby.
Delaney also rejected the money. As a high-level witch, getting by or getting rich wasn't anything she was worried about either. Even though they lived modestly, the Crowley family had been quite wealthy and had plenty of priceless family heirlooms.
"Very well, all for the company then," Chrystianna declared. She transformed and grabbed one of the bags. Darius and Britiana transformed and grabbed the others, taking flight.
Delaney took Sariya's hand again and walked into the shadows.
She popped out where Guennit and the company were hiking down the mountains, tired but in good spirits.
"Holy God of Light above!" Guennit exclaimed when they saw them suddenly pop out. Although they'd seen the cat-witch transform, they'd never seen anyone pop out of thin air.
Delaney chuckled. "Wait 'til you see what's next. Rest while we wait," she said mysteriously.
Guennit didn't argue much, he just signaled for the men to come to halt and rest. They gladly complied, sinking to the ground to either sit or lay. Some of them were injured, but not so badly they couldn't move. They'd done field first aid until they could get to a doctor. They'd live.
One of the men laying down suddenly shouted and grabbed a companion. "Monsters! Monsters!" he screamed and pointed at the sky.
The others saw them and reacted, preparing to get up and run.
Guennit saw the calm demeanors of the two women. "Stand firm!" he shouted. Though terrified, the men did so, but they vigilantly huddled together.
The three Dragons landed and tossed the bags of money in front of them before transforming back into their humanoid forms, each briefly sporting fluffy white wings before they, too, disappeared.
"Are they demons or angels?" one of the men uttered with wide eyes.
"Neither. We're Dragons," Chrystianna said with a kind smile. She gestured to the money. "The bribe that the village was given by the Dragon Hunters to set everything up," she explained.
The men finally came back to themselves and looked at the money. It was more money than any of them had ever seen in person. Guennit reacted first and went down on his knees and bowed to her. "May the God of Light bless, my lady," he declared.
Chrystianna laughed. "I don't need his blessing, but I thank you for the sentiment. It's only fair, my family brought you danger. It's what you deserve," she said as she helped him up.
Britiana nodded. "That's right," she said and pulled a Silver Dragon scale with some etching on it. "You can't use this for no reason, but if there's ever anything you need enough to cross time and space, use this to contact us," she said. It was slightly easier to communicate through time and space than travel. Still, this scale pushed her abilities to their limit. It was definitely rare and precious.
Guennit took the scale in a daze.
Darius took his forearm. "It was a pleasure working with you. All of you. You were my brothers, and I will miss you all," he said. The company was touched and echoed his sentiments.
Britiana sighed. It was too bad they couldn't say farewell to Uncle and the gang, but every time they parted, they said farewell as if they would never see each other again. She took out a vial. "This should help with healing the injured," she said. "Mix a few drops with water," she instructed.
"Are we all prepared to leave?" Chrystianna asked. Everyone gave an affirmative answer. "Lord Raziel. We're ready," she called out.
Raziel appeared with his sharp-toothed grin. "As her Grace bids," he said, and tore a rip in the sky and gestured. "Guests first," he said to Sariya and Delaney.
The two looked at each other, braced themselves and stepped through the Void.
Chrystianna gave her children a push so Darius and Britiana stepped through the Void into the cozy living room of the Silvermoon Keep's family wing. There was a familiar face waiting for them, shocking them. "Dad!"
"Elias!"