DOPD Chapter 4
I'm going to be typing what I've written of this story within the next couple of days before the new semester starts up. Hopefully somebody's still interested. If not, it doesn't matter really.
Chapter 4
As the sphinx died, six individuals of Power (one of whom was in an enchanted sleep) felt the weight of the spell they sustained grow by a seventh. As the eldest and the most powerful, the dragon was the most affected by the change. He had been stretching his wings in his largest cave, preparing for a quick flight over the country when he suddenly felt energy leave him, making his legs buckle. Gravity pressed down on his body with a vengeance, making it hard for the creature to even breathe. He changed to his false form and felt the weight lessen slightly, though not enough to allow him to get up from his prone position.
The elf found him ten minutes later. Long silver hair framed his beautiful face and ran down his back, swaying slightly as he knelt down beside Mrr. He murmured the elfish word for light, creating a small ball of fire in the palm of his hand. “Separate.” The ball of flame fragmented into five smaller pieces and started to zoom around the cave, lighting the thousand candles that were mounted to its walls. Placing a hand onto the dragon’s back, he sent a wave of healing magic into the dragon’s body. “Your heartbeat’s still erratic.”
“I know that Anar.” The dragon’s golden eyes glared at the elf’s black ones. He ignored the elf’s hand and got to his feet slowly, just managing to not fall over. “I need to go check on Ilee.”
“She’ll freeze your balls off and make you eat them.” The elf pointed out, draping himself across the dragon’s shoulders. Compared to Mrr’s dense body, the elf weighed nothing.
“Not right now she won’t. Her control over her magic weakens when she’s upset and you know she’s devastated at the moment.” The dragon breathed in the elf’s earthy scent, relaxing despite himself. “You know I’d prefer to jump into bed with you but I need to make sure Ilee won’t do something stupid.”
“If she gives you a vasectomy, I’ll be upset.” Anar said lightly, already gliding away. “Go see your precious nymph.”
The dragon shed his false form and started to grow, becoming twenty metres tall in a matter of seconds. His spinal cord lengthened, becoming his tail as his extremities grew to support his massive body. His scaly human skin became indigo with the exception of his underbelly, which was a silvery-blue colour. Great leathery wings grew from his shoulder blades, bat-like appendages that became three times his length.
He exited Mt. Mirar on foot, raising his snout to determine which way the wind was blowing. Taking flight, he wondered how land-folk could stand such a restriction on their freedom. He had hated the need to maintain his false form during the Second Age when the unmagic was at its peak, a time that ended when Nina wove the Seal. It had been necessary, but it was still one of the worse times of his long life.
He flew across the mountain belt that followed the coast and delved into the centre of the continent, forming a large ‘w’ whose border was emphasized by the plumes of smoke rising from the openings of volcanoes. Grabbing a few cows near the great river Pyru, he continued through the marshlands and swamps of the northwest until permafrost started to coat the land. ‘Ilee must’ve won another fight with the hydra.’
Anxiety crept into the dragon’s mind as the surrounding temperature declined. He knew that it was Hyacinthia that died, but he was not sure if Ilee knew. Her ice-magic was very effective against his body, and he was in her territory. He had seen her freeze a selkie within a minute of removing his skin for insubordination, and his sin was much worse than that.
Ilee’s palace was made from frozen stone, as beautiful and powerful as the ice-queen who made it. The dragon landed in front of the large building and turned into his false form, using his fire magic to heat the air and the land in a five-foot radius. An ice-blast came from the castle, and would have removed his head if he had not ducked.
“Get out of here Mrr!” Its caster stormed out of the palace, snowflakes whirling around her like a blizzard curtain.
‘Still so beautiful He thought, evading the five icicle darts she shot at him.
“Have you gone deaf, old lizard?” She asked archly, frozen tears gathering under her ice-blue eyes.
“So you felt it.” The dragon mused, melting the next volley.
“I’m not human after all!” Ilee hissed. “I was hoping you were the one that died.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” He answered softly, crossing his arms. “But you know who it was don’t you?”
“Sanura.” Something shattered in the sprite’s demeanour, making her fall to her knees. “Why didn’t you help her? You vowed to after… after… you…”
“It happened too fast, I only knew she was in trouble an hour ago and someone disabled the tracker.”
“You swore, you stupid rapist!” Ilee screamed, the temperature around her plummeting even more.
The dragon would have winced if his facial features allowed it. “It’s not my fault you became such a lover of females after you Changed.”
She sent an ice blast towards his genitals. The blaze around his body managed to melt it, but the strength of his fire weakened enough to make him decide to leave. Before she could try again, he changed into his true form and started to beat his wings. Watch out Icy. I know you hate me but you’re smart enough to listen to good advice when you hear it, I hope. The person who murdered Sanura is powerful enough to block my trinket, smart enough to overpower a sphinx, and desperate enough to capture one of the seven. You, Sanura, and I are the only ones who know everything about the Seal; and Sanura is the only one who has not needed to fight in a while.
Krasnar.
I believe so. I have to check something first though.
Tell me when you find out.
Of course.
~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&
As Mrr was flying across the continent, the demon was snooping around Mt. Mirar. Fine control of unmagic allowed the demon to pass through the dragon’s wards without setting them off. The demon was looking for a cave with the right atmosphere for a human body -Nina’s body. Humans were much easier to break than dragons and the demon wanted to know how to undo the seal. Once unmagic was in the atmosphere again, chaos would erupt in the magical community, resulting in pain and desire that would feed the demon for centuries. The dragon and his merry band of good-doers would be virtually helpless, while his magical power would only grow.
He heard the elf signing as the ambient temperature cooled from furnace-like to something humans preferred. Taking care to mask his magical signature and the sound of his footsteps, he followed the voice to its source. His target was actually soaking his silken clothes in an underground stream, obsessive in his concentration. The demon reached out with his shield magic, trying to envelop the elf in barrier before his presence was discovered.
He failed.
Anar did not know why he glanced at his pair of short swords but was very glad he did. The smith who had forged the blades had embedded a foe-detecting spell, and they were now bright blue in their sheaths. Throwing on a spell-shield, he unsheathed his blades as he rolled to the side, letting his laundry fall into the river. “Krasnar!”
“Why didn’t you tell me the mage was still alive?” The demon inquired politely, another idea forming.
Anar knew that the only mage Krasnar ever acknowledged was Nina. “How did you find out about Nina?” He asked.
“You know the rules of old, One Who Bathed In Blood.”
Anar was not happy about the reference to his past but refused to let Krasnar see it. “She was put to sleep to prevent her from weakening the seal. Since you wanted her dead, we decided not to tell you. And my question?”
“A kitty told me.”
“So I was right.” The elf breathed, aura becoming visible as his anger grew.
“So Koros still lives.” Krasnar snarked. “Lets see if a century of being a pansy left you with some bite.”
Elven swords sang as Anar attacked the demon, falling into his old fighting style easily. The demon parried the blows with his gauntlet-like wrists and used his long claws to attack. It took a minute for the elf to inflict a flesh wound to the demon’s stomach.
The demon’s lack of concern worried the elf, making him hesitate for a moment. As he watched, the wound healed without leaving a trace behind. “Koros, Koros.” The demon chided. “Didn’t the fair folk teach you anything before you were exiled? My playthings wouldn’t be very interesting if they died too quickly.”
“Why did you kill Hyacinthia?” The elf demanded, chanting a spell in his mind.
Instead of answering, the demon slashed at the elf. He was not surprised that the elf blocked the blow; but he was surprised when his claws and the hand they were attached to suddenly froze and then shattered.
Furious, the demon took on his true form. Great leather wings emerged from his back, edges razor-sharp. His plain human face became longer, lips shrinking to better expose his jagged teeth as his claws grew and hardened. The hand regrew as he attacked the elf again, a ball of black magic swirling around his body.
The elf struck during the change but was repelled by an unseen barrier of demonic power. Coating his swords with white magic, he attacked the demon again. Sidestepping the blow, the demon slashed the elf with both of his wings, knocking the elf’s swords aside. In that half-second of vulnerability, the demon shoved a claw into the elf’s stomach, purposefully avoiding vital points in favour of pain centres. The elf’s resulting pain was almost as intoxicating as breaking the sphynx’ spirit.
He heard Mrr’s roar a few miles away and decided to retreat for now. His captive would know where the dragon kept his pet human, so the trip was not a waste.
In his false form, he made his way to one of his secret lairs and flung the elf onto the stone floor. A groan alerted the demon as to the elf’s imminent waking, so the creature cast a strong sleeping spell on his captive.
He had the elf securely bound to a wall by the time Camelia came in. She stared at the elf for at least a minute, mouth slightly open. “You took Anar!”
“I’m not in the mood to listen to your blather. Leave us.” The demon commanded abruptly.
Camelia held her tongue and obeyed. She needed to do something about Anar but she needed to wait until the demon’s attention wandered away form his captive. In this mood, he would not even hesitate before killing her.
~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~
It was the siren who came across the frantic dragon first. She had been skipping thorough the mountain’s caves, thinking about how she should share the lovely conversation she just had with the alpha merwoman when she heard the dragon bellow Anar’s name. “Mrr? What’s wrong?”
“He’s gone! I felt his magic while I was flying but I can’t pick up the trail. My nose isn’t as good as it used to be.” He rumbled, his false form shaking in anger. He wanted to knock a cave or two in with his tail, but he had to find Anar first.
“Nina’s laundry.”
“What?”
“Anar told me he was going to do laundry today because Nina is a human and they get stinky after a while.” The siren didn’t have a smile on her face, and that was enough to jolt Mrr back to rational thought. Somewhat.
“Follow me!” The dragon ran into a passage to their left, not pausing to see if the Siren was following. She did so with an unhappy look on her face. The fine layer of water that coated her body also ran between her feet and the land below them, reducing friction and making her more likely to trip. The pace the dragon chose proved to be too fast for her, and she fell forward with a startled shriek. She threw up her hands to protect her face, but the protective layer of water that helped her breathe made her skid a little, tearing at the dress Camelia had found for her the day before. “Stop fooling around Coral.” The dragon rumbled, pulling her to her feet unsympathetically.
“Slow down then.”
“I need to find him.” The dragon dismissed her plea, pulling her after him.
The path became steeper as they neared a plateau near one of the mountain’s many entrances.
The clothes Anar had started to wash were snagged against a boulder a few minutes downstream but neither individual paused to save them. The scent of blood and magic (demonic and elven) was obvious here; so obvious the dragon could not believe that he did not smell it earlier. “I am going to kill that demon, like I should’ve ages ago.”
The siren kept silent as he dragged her down one tunnel saturated with residual battle-magic and blood. As they went further down into the mountains she started to breathe heavily, clinging to the dragons arm as the earth’s heat warmed the rocks under their feet. “Mrr, I can’t-“
“Can’t what?” He growled, increasing the pace. The trail was fading, and he was so preoccupied with his chosen task that he did not listen to the siren’s answer. “Now hush for a moment, I might need your strength in this small place.”
“But the heat…” She whispered softly, feeling dazed.
The siren started to wheeze, the protective layer of water evaporating little by little in the earth’s heat. She felt smothered by the layers upon layers of rock, and there was not enough water in the air to refresh her. Finally, her body just went limp. Only the dragon’s hand on her arm kept her from falling on her face.
The dragon stopped immediately, his fury turning to concern as he noticed that her wrist was dry against his skin. “Coral…” he whispered, gathering her in his arms like a child. Her heartbeat was erratic, her magic weaker than he’d ever felt it. “I’m sorry.” He turned back towards the stream regretfully. He knew he was close, he could feel the demon’s magic like an oily film against his skin; but the siren would die if she did not come into contact with water soon. He should have left her when she became too quiet.
Mrr ran up the tunnels, heading for the cave he kept Nina asleep in… it was the best place for the Siren to recover, having a fresh pool of water and fresh air.
He just hoped that Anar could afford the time this diversion would take.
Prologue *** Chapter 1 *** Chapter 2 *** Chapter 3 *** Chapter 4 *** Chapter 5 *** Chapter 6
Chapter 4
As the sphinx died, six individuals of Power (one of whom was in an enchanted sleep) felt the weight of the spell they sustained grow by a seventh. As the eldest and the most powerful, the dragon was the most affected by the change. He had been stretching his wings in his largest cave, preparing for a quick flight over the country when he suddenly felt energy leave him, making his legs buckle. Gravity pressed down on his body with a vengeance, making it hard for the creature to even breathe. He changed to his false form and felt the weight lessen slightly, though not enough to allow him to get up from his prone position.
The elf found him ten minutes later. Long silver hair framed his beautiful face and ran down his back, swaying slightly as he knelt down beside Mrr. He murmured the elfish word for light, creating a small ball of fire in the palm of his hand. “Separate.” The ball of flame fragmented into five smaller pieces and started to zoom around the cave, lighting the thousand candles that were mounted to its walls. Placing a hand onto the dragon’s back, he sent a wave of healing magic into the dragon’s body. “Your heartbeat’s still erratic.”
“I know that Anar.” The dragon’s golden eyes glared at the elf’s black ones. He ignored the elf’s hand and got to his feet slowly, just managing to not fall over. “I need to go check on Ilee.”
“She’ll freeze your balls off and make you eat them.” The elf pointed out, draping himself across the dragon’s shoulders. Compared to Mrr’s dense body, the elf weighed nothing.
“Not right now she won’t. Her control over her magic weakens when she’s upset and you know she’s devastated at the moment.” The dragon breathed in the elf’s earthy scent, relaxing despite himself. “You know I’d prefer to jump into bed with you but I need to make sure Ilee won’t do something stupid.”
“If she gives you a vasectomy, I’ll be upset.” Anar said lightly, already gliding away. “Go see your precious nymph.”
The dragon shed his false form and started to grow, becoming twenty metres tall in a matter of seconds. His spinal cord lengthened, becoming his tail as his extremities grew to support his massive body. His scaly human skin became indigo with the exception of his underbelly, which was a silvery-blue colour. Great leathery wings grew from his shoulder blades, bat-like appendages that became three times his length.
He exited Mt. Mirar on foot, raising his snout to determine which way the wind was blowing. Taking flight, he wondered how land-folk could stand such a restriction on their freedom. He had hated the need to maintain his false form during the Second Age when the unmagic was at its peak, a time that ended when Nina wove the Seal. It had been necessary, but it was still one of the worse times of his long life.
He flew across the mountain belt that followed the coast and delved into the centre of the continent, forming a large ‘w’ whose border was emphasized by the plumes of smoke rising from the openings of volcanoes. Grabbing a few cows near the great river Pyru, he continued through the marshlands and swamps of the northwest until permafrost started to coat the land. ‘Ilee must’ve won another fight with the hydra.’
Anxiety crept into the dragon’s mind as the surrounding temperature declined. He knew that it was Hyacinthia that died, but he was not sure if Ilee knew. Her ice-magic was very effective against his body, and he was in her territory. He had seen her freeze a selkie within a minute of removing his skin for insubordination, and his sin was much worse than that.
Ilee’s palace was made from frozen stone, as beautiful and powerful as the ice-queen who made it. The dragon landed in front of the large building and turned into his false form, using his fire magic to heat the air and the land in a five-foot radius. An ice-blast came from the castle, and would have removed his head if he had not ducked.
“Get out of here Mrr!” Its caster stormed out of the palace, snowflakes whirling around her like a blizzard curtain.
‘Still so beautiful He thought, evading the five icicle darts she shot at him.
“Have you gone deaf, old lizard?” She asked archly, frozen tears gathering under her ice-blue eyes.
“So you felt it.” The dragon mused, melting the next volley.
“I’m not human after all!” Ilee hissed. “I was hoping you were the one that died.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” He answered softly, crossing his arms. “But you know who it was don’t you?”
“Sanura.” Something shattered in the sprite’s demeanour, making her fall to her knees. “Why didn’t you help her? You vowed to after… after… you…”
“It happened too fast, I only knew she was in trouble an hour ago and someone disabled the tracker.”
“You swore, you stupid rapist!” Ilee screamed, the temperature around her plummeting even more.
The dragon would have winced if his facial features allowed it. “It’s not my fault you became such a lover of females after you Changed.”
She sent an ice blast towards his genitals. The blaze around his body managed to melt it, but the strength of his fire weakened enough to make him decide to leave. Before she could try again, he changed into his true form and started to beat his wings. Watch out Icy. I know you hate me but you’re smart enough to listen to good advice when you hear it, I hope. The person who murdered Sanura is powerful enough to block my trinket, smart enough to overpower a sphinx, and desperate enough to capture one of the seven. You, Sanura, and I are the only ones who know everything about the Seal; and Sanura is the only one who has not needed to fight in a while.
Krasnar.
I believe so. I have to check something first though.
Tell me when you find out.
Of course.
~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&
As Mrr was flying across the continent, the demon was snooping around Mt. Mirar. Fine control of unmagic allowed the demon to pass through the dragon’s wards without setting them off. The demon was looking for a cave with the right atmosphere for a human body -Nina’s body. Humans were much easier to break than dragons and the demon wanted to know how to undo the seal. Once unmagic was in the atmosphere again, chaos would erupt in the magical community, resulting in pain and desire that would feed the demon for centuries. The dragon and his merry band of good-doers would be virtually helpless, while his magical power would only grow.
He heard the elf signing as the ambient temperature cooled from furnace-like to something humans preferred. Taking care to mask his magical signature and the sound of his footsteps, he followed the voice to its source. His target was actually soaking his silken clothes in an underground stream, obsessive in his concentration. The demon reached out with his shield magic, trying to envelop the elf in barrier before his presence was discovered.
He failed.
Anar did not know why he glanced at his pair of short swords but was very glad he did. The smith who had forged the blades had embedded a foe-detecting spell, and they were now bright blue in their sheaths. Throwing on a spell-shield, he unsheathed his blades as he rolled to the side, letting his laundry fall into the river. “Krasnar!”
“Why didn’t you tell me the mage was still alive?” The demon inquired politely, another idea forming.
Anar knew that the only mage Krasnar ever acknowledged was Nina. “How did you find out about Nina?” He asked.
“You know the rules of old, One Who Bathed In Blood.”
Anar was not happy about the reference to his past but refused to let Krasnar see it. “She was put to sleep to prevent her from weakening the seal. Since you wanted her dead, we decided not to tell you. And my question?”
“A kitty told me.”
“So I was right.” The elf breathed, aura becoming visible as his anger grew.
“So Koros still lives.” Krasnar snarked. “Lets see if a century of being a pansy left you with some bite.”
Elven swords sang as Anar attacked the demon, falling into his old fighting style easily. The demon parried the blows with his gauntlet-like wrists and used his long claws to attack. It took a minute for the elf to inflict a flesh wound to the demon’s stomach.
The demon’s lack of concern worried the elf, making him hesitate for a moment. As he watched, the wound healed without leaving a trace behind. “Koros, Koros.” The demon chided. “Didn’t the fair folk teach you anything before you were exiled? My playthings wouldn’t be very interesting if they died too quickly.”
“Why did you kill Hyacinthia?” The elf demanded, chanting a spell in his mind.
Instead of answering, the demon slashed at the elf. He was not surprised that the elf blocked the blow; but he was surprised when his claws and the hand they were attached to suddenly froze and then shattered.
Furious, the demon took on his true form. Great leather wings emerged from his back, edges razor-sharp. His plain human face became longer, lips shrinking to better expose his jagged teeth as his claws grew and hardened. The hand regrew as he attacked the elf again, a ball of black magic swirling around his body.
The elf struck during the change but was repelled by an unseen barrier of demonic power. Coating his swords with white magic, he attacked the demon again. Sidestepping the blow, the demon slashed the elf with both of his wings, knocking the elf’s swords aside. In that half-second of vulnerability, the demon shoved a claw into the elf’s stomach, purposefully avoiding vital points in favour of pain centres. The elf’s resulting pain was almost as intoxicating as breaking the sphynx’ spirit.
He heard Mrr’s roar a few miles away and decided to retreat for now. His captive would know where the dragon kept his pet human, so the trip was not a waste.
In his false form, he made his way to one of his secret lairs and flung the elf onto the stone floor. A groan alerted the demon as to the elf’s imminent waking, so the creature cast a strong sleeping spell on his captive.
He had the elf securely bound to a wall by the time Camelia came in. She stared at the elf for at least a minute, mouth slightly open. “You took Anar!”
“I’m not in the mood to listen to your blather. Leave us.” The demon commanded abruptly.
Camelia held her tongue and obeyed. She needed to do something about Anar but she needed to wait until the demon’s attention wandered away form his captive. In this mood, he would not even hesitate before killing her.
~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~
It was the siren who came across the frantic dragon first. She had been skipping thorough the mountain’s caves, thinking about how she should share the lovely conversation she just had with the alpha merwoman when she heard the dragon bellow Anar’s name. “Mrr? What’s wrong?”
“He’s gone! I felt his magic while I was flying but I can’t pick up the trail. My nose isn’t as good as it used to be.” He rumbled, his false form shaking in anger. He wanted to knock a cave or two in with his tail, but he had to find Anar first.
“Nina’s laundry.”
“What?”
“Anar told me he was going to do laundry today because Nina is a human and they get stinky after a while.” The siren didn’t have a smile on her face, and that was enough to jolt Mrr back to rational thought. Somewhat.
“Follow me!” The dragon ran into a passage to their left, not pausing to see if the Siren was following. She did so with an unhappy look on her face. The fine layer of water that coated her body also ran between her feet and the land below them, reducing friction and making her more likely to trip. The pace the dragon chose proved to be too fast for her, and she fell forward with a startled shriek. She threw up her hands to protect her face, but the protective layer of water that helped her breathe made her skid a little, tearing at the dress Camelia had found for her the day before. “Stop fooling around Coral.” The dragon rumbled, pulling her to her feet unsympathetically.
“Slow down then.”
“I need to find him.” The dragon dismissed her plea, pulling her after him.
The path became steeper as they neared a plateau near one of the mountain’s many entrances.
The clothes Anar had started to wash were snagged against a boulder a few minutes downstream but neither individual paused to save them. The scent of blood and magic (demonic and elven) was obvious here; so obvious the dragon could not believe that he did not smell it earlier. “I am going to kill that demon, like I should’ve ages ago.”
The siren kept silent as he dragged her down one tunnel saturated with residual battle-magic and blood. As they went further down into the mountains she started to breathe heavily, clinging to the dragons arm as the earth’s heat warmed the rocks under their feet. “Mrr, I can’t-“
“Can’t what?” He growled, increasing the pace. The trail was fading, and he was so preoccupied with his chosen task that he did not listen to the siren’s answer. “Now hush for a moment, I might need your strength in this small place.”
“But the heat…” She whispered softly, feeling dazed.
The siren started to wheeze, the protective layer of water evaporating little by little in the earth’s heat. She felt smothered by the layers upon layers of rock, and there was not enough water in the air to refresh her. Finally, her body just went limp. Only the dragon’s hand on her arm kept her from falling on her face.
The dragon stopped immediately, his fury turning to concern as he noticed that her wrist was dry against his skin. “Coral…” he whispered, gathering her in his arms like a child. Her heartbeat was erratic, her magic weaker than he’d ever felt it. “I’m sorry.” He turned back towards the stream regretfully. He knew he was close, he could feel the demon’s magic like an oily film against his skin; but the siren would die if she did not come into contact with water soon. He should have left her when she became too quiet.
Mrr ran up the tunnels, heading for the cave he kept Nina asleep in… it was the best place for the Siren to recover, having a fresh pool of water and fresh air.
He just hoped that Anar could afford the time this diversion would take.
Prologue *** Chapter 1 *** Chapter 2 *** Chapter 3 *** Chapter 4 *** Chapter 5 *** Chapter 6