Hunter Or Huntress

As the thunder boomed, clearly heading towards them, Saph had to admit she had no clue where they even were anymore, nor what time it was. Visibility was next to nothing, they were getting pounded by some of the worst rain they had seen all year, and she and Fengi were too busy huddling up atop the swaying dragon’s back to really be in a position to find much out.

It was getting damn cold, and the wind was picking up to a full-on storm. At least the skins and furs were shielding them quite nicely, but if they broke cover things could actually start getting quite dangerous for them. Yldril was still lumbering along, the steady smack of giant feet stamping onto soft soggy ground keeping steady at least for now.

Fengi was currently sitting in Saph’s lap with all their skins and furs wrapped up around the two of them to make a little cocoon. The water was still getting in though, and it wasn’t exactly comfortable as the wind howled and the flash of lightning shone through the cracks in their armor against the wind.

“I think I get why Tiguan hates storms so much now,” Fengi all but squeaked out in a low voice, a hint of fear showing. “What does a dragon even do when there is nowhere to hide?”

“You weather it and you just keep going, never stop, never look back,” Saph responded, clutching the younger huntress tight. Neither of them was dangerously cold yet, but caution was certainly advised.

“First wise thing you have said. A dragon should always learn to fear the storm,” Yldril rumbled, breath labored and heavy as she stopped for a second, the logs behind her slumping to the ground with a wet thud. Fengi and Saph felt it as she looked around, swaying as she was buffeted by the storm with the now loose chains clanging against each other. “I can’t see anything! What stupid good-for-nothing pieces of half-fermented boar shit came up with this idea!”

“Language,” Fengi responded in a quiet, half-hearted tone, letting out a deep sigh afterward. A noble effort, but Saph figured this was maybe not the time.

“If we don’t know where we are, we might as well be walking in circles,” Saph added a little louder.

“Congratulations, your brain isn’t frozen yet… I’m making for that high ground over there,” Yldril grunted in reply, turning sharply to the left and carrying on, chains pulling taut with a twang as she leaned into the harness. It was clear the dragon was pushing hard despite any lingering wounds and the pain they might be causing her.

Saph certainly didn’t have a problem with that. If the dragon gave up on them, they would be stuck in this gods forsaken weather until it chose to clear. They would be fine if they found shelter, but they would need to find it quickly if they didn’t want to freeze. As it stood though, it was sounding more and more like they would have to make camp sooner rather than later and use Yldril for cover instead.

What was worse though, it hadn’t rained for a while despite the cold autumn weather. Which. With rain like this, meant flooding was a real possibility out on the plains. Saph had already been hearing Yldril walking through standing water when they were going through a gully or other low in the terrain. Streams or even temporary rivers could become a very real problem if this kept up.

From her little cocoon she couldn’t see or do much though, so reckless as it seemed she was quite happy to let the dragon work out how to make it home. It wasn’t like she could betray them after all. Even if she did somehow break the magic, she would probably be dooming herself too.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Water was pounding down like some sort of monsoon. It wasn’t quite the worst Tom had seen yet but it was certainly getting there. Nunuk had called a meeting in the grand hall for all to attend. The lady had been resting and so didn’t know quite what had been going on. She had been less than pleased when she learned they had huntresses stuck outside in an autumn storm, but with Yldril there too they all agreed there should not be much cause for concern. It would however mean that Saph and Fengi would have had to make camp. Hence they were not getting the wood today. Not that it mattered much cause in this weather there was nothing they could do with it.

According to the farmer, it didn’t feel like it was going to be getting any better. In fact, the worst was yet to hit them. That had led to some concerned faces among the huntresses, which Tom really didn’t appreciate. The possibility of bringing them home had been raised, possibly through the use of Jarix or Glira. Glira especially would make for an excellent stormrunner. Tom had proposed using the quad bike, but both had been shot down by the same problem.

Their chances of even finding them would be slim to none. Visibility was measured in hundreds of meters and falling, they would struggle to even find them, and only Zarko stood much of a chance of navigating back home safely.

No, they would simply have to wait this out and have some nice hot food ready for the two of them when they made it back. Even Yldril would probably be deserving of at least a decent meal, provided she had not let them down now.

On the home front, the main concern was the construction efforts. The building site was already flooding, and with the rain due to continue the chance of the newly dug walls caving in seemed almost like a certainty. To at least attempt to prevent that from happening, Glira and Jarix had been told to go dig trenches to lead the water away. Tom wasn’t too sure it would do much and they couldn’t actually cover the foundation since every scrap of tarp they had was sent with Yldril to protect the dried-out wood. But Tom was no civil engineer, so what did he know.

Tom’s mind was elsewhere anyway. As the meeting carried on discussing if there was anything else to be done for the foundations, he found himself staring at Unkai from across the room. The healer hadn’t volunteered to go with Fengi. Even if he did have some excuse, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t easily have gotten out of. And if something did happen out there, Fengi and Saph were without a healer. Tom couldn’t actually decide if he wanted something to happen or not.

Maybe just a little thing like Fengi spraining her foot or maybe a finger. Yeah, a finger would be good. Just enough to make him feel bad about it in future. As Tom zoned out he thought back to how completely determined Unkai had been, weathering rejection after rejection and carrying on chasing a woman that honestly didn’t seem to care for him much. And here he was, making sure she never would again. At least not if she found someone else to lean on besides Saph and Essy.

Tom let out a sigh, leaning back against Jacky a little, which seemingly got her attention as she followed his gaze. “Oh what now?”

“He’s just scared, isn’t he?”

“I mean, probably,” Jacky shrugged in reply. “Not like he was ever the brave sort, despite being given that medal.”

“Question is should we try and fix that? I mean, Fengi is sweet as a pie. Does he even deserve her?”

“Uhm… I mean he’s not an arsehole, unlike some people. Just a bit of a coward.”

“I will take that as a yes.”

“Oh no, you are not taking relationship stuff from me. No way.”

“I disagree, I couldn’t even think of anyone better,” Tom tried, pushing up against her a bit more.

“Essy,” Jacky stated flatly.

“Huh?”

“Essy is better. Come on, you know that,” Jacky responded, looking down at him as he just gazed back.

‘I guess so much for that compliment.’ “Should I ask Essy then?”

“Nah, if you can fix him have a go at it. Worked well enough last time, and Saph sounded worried. Fengi needs some help right now, and having goodie two shoes over there be scared of her is not helping. She can dump his sorry ass later then.”

“Right… I’ll look in to it.”

“Got any brave pills in the medicine box?”

“Short of alcohol, no. A shame that also makes you stupid for a bit.”

“Hey now, I just get a bit more free-minded,” Jacky joked, ruffling his hair a little.

“If you say so. But he needs his head to talk with her, else he might just do more harm than good. Saph has had a chat with him, right?”

“Sure think so. Essy too probably.”

“And it didn’t work. I guess the Russian approach then.”

“Which is?” Jacky questioned as a few heads around them turned look.

“Well you put something even scarier behind him than is in front of him.”

“Have you considered talking with the other boys about it perhaps?” Zarko added in, seeming unimpressed with him. “Don’t tell me you humans don’t know the value of a bit of peer pressure… and perhaps the threat of a little shame if you fail.”

“That is true. You almost always just sit over here. Or with the kids. Perhaps you are a woman after all,” Pho added in with a snicker. Tom was really wishing he hadn’t just started talking about all this at a meeting with nearly everyone in attendance.

“Why would he want to go over there? They are loud and annoying,” Jacky countered perfectly seriously. Tom locking eyes with Zarko for a second, the lieutenant rolling her eyes.

“I think he’s just scared of Anchor or Rachuck beating his ass again.”

“You weren’t even here for that, remember? Oh wait, no you don’t,” Jacky countered, the young racer not seeming perturbed in the slightest.

“Well maybe I just wanna see it then? Is that too much to ask for or what?”

“I’ll go have a chat… Just been a bit busy that’s all.”

“I’m coming with then?” Jacky declared, already shifting and clearly ready to go at a moments notice.

“Eeeh, hold your-... oxen there for just a second. Maybe this is a boy’s talk.”

“Oh… Right. In that case, I will be watching.”

“Great. And Paulin will be listening, I’m sure,” Tom replied, trying not to sound too defeated by the notion he would for some reason be partaking in a boy’s talk about girls while being tailed. What made it even worse was that the whole reason seemed to be that the allure of sex was somehow not enough to make a dude stick his dick in crazy, even when Fengi wasn’t actually crazy at all. ‘What a shit show, oh well then.’

“Well what are you waiting for then? Get moving, groundling,” Pho snickered, receiving a very cold glare from Jacky.

“Geez calm down, didn’t call him a cripple or anything.”

“If you don’t shut up, greenhorn, I think you might end up as one,” Zarko huffed in an amused fashion.

“Cripple my ass. I’ll run your legs off any day of the week.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

“I still can’t see anything. Do either of you even know what way we are going?” Yldril roared out in frustration, having dragged the logs all the way up a rather tall hill, at least a hundred meters by Saph’s reckoning. “There is nothing! And I do mean NOTHING! But rain and fucking hills out there!”

Saph sneaked a peek out from her and Fengi’s protective hut of fur to at least try and see if she knew where they were. A very quick scan around revealed nothing immediately familiar to her, so she quickly got her snout back inside. “Not a clue, sorry. We fly high above the ground. We don’t walk around down here like crippels,” she shouted out in annoyance as she got the furs tightened up as good as she could get them.

“Wonderful, just wonderful. So much for getting anything to eat today. Not that you fed me yesterday either.”

“We will get you something when we make it home, I promise,” Fengi replied, clutching Saph before speaking in a lower tone to her. “What should we do?”

“I don’t know. Go high it’s wind. Go low it’s water everywhere. But we can just camp and hide under her wings or something, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“She’s been walking all day yesterday and today, and she’s still a bit banged up at that. Least we could do is find something a little better than open ground for her,” Fengi replied, still in a low tone.

“Speak up back there. Wind is howling!” Yldril snarled, clearly out of patience as she looked around from her vantage point.

“No point in carrying on. See anywhere at all where we might hide from the wind at least?” Fengi retorted, worry evident in her tone now. “Just something, okay?”

The dragon rumbled angrily in response before speaking up. “Got it. The back side of this hill is rather steep. Not even much grass on it. Might just break the wind.”

“Sounds good!” Fengi shouted out, Saph turning her ear away from the loud sounds as Yldril was already stepping forwards.

Her back tilted to go down the steep incline, almost sending Saph and Fengi tumbling off. Saph managed to grab a spike with one hand, Fengi just holding on to Saph.

“Fucking hell. Are you sure this is smart?!” Saph groaned as she held on. “Grab the spike would you?”

“Right, sorry,” Fengi apologized, shifting her weight off of Saph to the convenient backspike.

“Shut up back there, unless you feel like helping for once,” Yldril snapped in reply as she started carrying on down the slope slow step by slow step.

“Wait, what about the logs?” Fengi questioned just as the two of them heard a series of wet thunks behind them.

“Well maybe I don’t have to AHRG WHAT THE-” Yldril roared out as the sound of the logs sliding down the slick muddy embankment was replaced by them slamming into her hind legs. The dragon was sent sprawling to the ground as Saph and Fengi held on for dear life. The some 26 odd ton dragon slammed into the wet muddy embankment with a wet thud that sent mud flying in all directions. Then she too started to slide along with the logs.

Saph and Fengi could both see nothing from their cocoon save for slivers of light as the furs flapped in the rushing, biting wind. Yldril roared furiously as she struggled with the now loose logs, trying to regain purchase. Then Saph felt the all too familiar sensation of first going heavy then weightless as Yldril slid over a bump in the terrain. The dragon went airborne for a second, coming down with considerable force and knocking both Fengi and Sapphire from their perch.

The two women careened down the dragon’s slick side, clutching each other and screaming. The cocoon was ripped away by a spike, the force sending them both spinning out of control. Saph could make out nothing save gray and black as she spun and rolled down the dragon’s side like a helpless child.

Fengi let out another scream as the two of them slid off the dragon and fell the last meter or so into the mud. Saph landed face first in the muck, spraying liquid mud into both her eyes and mouth. Now blind, she tried her best to just breath and steady herself into a controlled slide. She was sliding on her chest with no idea where Fengi or the heavy logs could be, praying that she would not end up squashed like a bug.

“Yldril! Help! We’ve fallen off!” Fengi shouted out from somewhere behind Saph. She tried to arch her neck to look at the younger woman, wiping mud from her face with her left arm as her right tried to keep her steady. “Saph look out!” Fengi all but shrieked as Saph made out the sound of massive claws carving a deep groove in the soft, sloppy mud. Her vision all of a sudden became a touch brighter as the big black mass to her right disappeared.

“What is it?!” she cried out. Scared for her life, she tried once more to wipe her eyes so she could at least see, tearing up as she forced one of them open only to see a log flying through the air, tumbling end over end as it headed right for her. There was nothing she could do as she just screamed in terror as she watched certain death approach.

There was a crunch of wood and a groan of monumental effort as Yldril’s head snatched the end of the log, halting it mid-flight. ‘Holy shit’ was all Saph could think to herself as the dragon strained, the far end of the log slamming into the ground, leaving it dragging after the dragon. Yldril tried to flick the log away with some success, sending the end she had caught flying off to the side.

With one eye clear, Saph could see that the dragon had spun herself around and was now sliding backward down the hill, which was finally starting to flatten out. Yldril dug in her rear legs like massive brakes, and Saph found herself sliding into the dragon’s arms. “Climb up, moron!” Yldril commanded, Saph doing as she was told, in near-blind panic.

Staring back over her shoulder as she scrambled up into relative safety, she saw Fengi sliding in front of the remaining logs. “Fengi!” Saph screamed out, trying to point behind the young huntress and hoping Fengi’s eyes were still clear. Fengi’s head turned to look behind her before going stiff at the sight of the wall of wood hurtling along behind her. Then she screamed for all her lungs could muster.

“Oh shut up both of you!” Yldril commanded, clearly furious as she stretched her neck, reaching towards Fengi. Yldril opened her maw and snatched up the huntress with a care and delicacy that had to be down to the magics affecting her. Fengi had run out of breath but remained stiff with fear as she was lifted out of harm’s way, the logs sliding past and into Yldril who caught most of them, arms still spread wide and Sapphire hanging on for dear life. Finally after what felt like an age the hill started flattening out and they began to slow down, Yldril continuing to brake and digging a pair of trenches all the way down the hill.

By the time they finally ground to a stop, Saph was clinging to one of Yldril’s forelegs and panting for breath. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she stared up at the track of carnage they had left heading up the impressively tall hill.

“Wh-What just happened,” Saph stammered out, still jittery with sheer fear after the horrifying experience that had to be up there with the least pleasant things she had ever done.

“I slipped,” Yldril replied, mumbling angrily due to Fengi still being in her mouth. Her head arched down to deposit the young huntress next to Saph. Fengi was still, laying on her back with eyes wide as she tried to process the fact she had just been inside the mouth of a murderous venerable black dragon. “One job. You had one job,” Yldril snarled, sounding ready to snap them both in half.

Saph simply wasn’t ready to come up with a snarky reply right now as she slowly calmed. As she did, she finally noticed the cold rain still pounding down. At least it was slowly washing the mud from her face. “Are you okay?” she questioned, looking to Fengi, who also seemed to be slowly getting her act back together again.

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m good… I think… That was terrifying.”

“Yes…” was all the response Saph got out as she cleared her other eye, though it still stung as she opened it, looking around and raising her ears to try and listen for anything else bad happening. All she got was the panting of Yldril, Fengi, and herself, as well as the pounding rain.

“Yldril please… the rain,” Fengi said quietly as she sat up with a grimace on her face, likely having taken quite the pounding going down the hill. Saph felt sore too, having hit a fair few bumps. Her chestplate likely had earned its keep once more today.

Yldril just grumbled in response as a great big black wing folded out above them, the rain drumming loudly on the membrane. “Useless children.”

“Children… Children!” Saph shouted out, finally having regained enough composure to fight back a little. “You just walked off the side of a cliff, look at that! How in the blue water hell did you expect to just walk down that!” Saph shouted angrily, gesturing at the very steep though not quite sheer hill they had come sliding down.

“Fuck you, that’s how,” Yldril rumbled, raising her head up and looking around as the rain drummed away.

“No fuck you, did you think the logs would just stay behind you? Have you never tried rolling something down a hill before? You damn near killed the both of us!”

“Only reason you were in any danger was because you managed to fall off. The least I’ll expect of my crew is that they will stay put when told so, kids as young as 12 can manage that,” Yldril snapped back, lips pulling back into a snarl as her head came around to look in under her wing. “And after you fucked that up, I still saved both of you, so I think a thank you is in order.”

“A thank you?!” Saph let out staggered by the arrogance. “You barely managed to undo your own fuckup, and look at the logs!”

The dragon reluctantly looked down at the logs, which had broken free of their restraints and were laying scattered around the area. Some had been caught by Yldril as she braked, the one that had nearly smashed Saph had slid on by them and one more seemingly had gotten caught a bit further up the hill. What was left of the tarps were all in front of them together with all the smaller branches that had made up the ‘roof’ of the bundle of logs they had been hauling.

"...Useless junk.”

“We can worry about that later okay! When the rain goes away I say. Let’s find a place to make a fire, get dry and perhaps a bit more clean then work out what to do,” Fengi interjected, tone still rather scared.

Saph really wanted to keep shouting at the cruel, self-centered, arrogant ass of a dragon they had somehow ended up with, her heart still pounding and the fear replaced with fury, but Fengi was probably right. They needed to make camp to get out of the rain. There would be time for shouting and pointing fingers later. Right now they needed a fire.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Actually getting to talk with just the guys had proven more difficult than he had imagined. For starters, he needed to swing by the workshop to make sure everyone was indeed on track and he wasn’t needed right now. Edita had looked like a sad puppy when he let her know he sadly had something he needed to do real quick. Then he had headed off to work out what the guards were actually doing.

When he discovered the answer was either ‘sitting in the guard tower in a storm’ or ‘up to their asses in mud helping the dragons,’ he had elected to postpone the operation till dinner and gone back to the nice warm workshop, which had certainly made Edita’s afternoon.

Jacky had followed up with a snarky remark about how he couldn’t stay away from her for long, much to everyone’s amusement. Edita had shown off some of her ideas for where to make use of the rather more exotic materials the Inquisition had so kindly made available to them all while they got on with all the menial labour for a bit.

When dinner had rolled around, Tom had kept his promise and gone to sit with the guards, which earned him quite a few looks from around the table. It wasn’t like it hadn’t happened at all before, it just wasn’t often. And certainly not for the last month or so. The guys were all here, including both Radexi and Junior as well as much of Glira’s crew down at the far end. Major Jortun was seated at the high table with the Bizmati family.

The storm was still raging outside, and all the outer doors had been sealed shut as soon as Glira and Jarix had made it back inside. Looking around, Tom was more or less the only one not covered in mud, including the dragons, who took turns sticking their heads through the hatch to grab a bite to eat out in the greeting hall.

With the rumble of thunder and the pounding rain, all the shutters were in too and the only light making it through them was the flash of lightning somewhere off in the distance. The entire hall was thus dimly lit by torches and the fireplaces. Usually it would only be the fireplace behind the grand table that would be lit, but ever since temperatures had started dropping the two smaller ones spaced out into the hall had also been put to use. The temperature was really rather cozy in here, even if it also ended up looking like some scene out of a bad horror movie starring Dracula in his castle or something.

“Well then, what brings you to our neck of the woods? Need a ghost story?” Balethon chuckled as Tom sat down with his rather unimpressive plate of food.

“Really, bro?” Herron let out, shaking his head and clearly finding the joke rather distasteful.

“Nah, my dad doesn’t scare me. Now Morten, that’s another matter. If I was a darkling, I would be scared shitless he might be around to give you the bad news.”

“Wait, you don’t actually believe the things you saw were real, right? They couldn’t actually do anything?” Radexi questioned, looking like maybe they had already gotten started on the ghost stories.

“I have no idea,” Tom chuckled, trying to sound at least a little bit dark and mysterious. “But he sure did a number on that inquisitor.”

“You’re scared of the guy who sang the stuff Essy likes?” Herron questioned, tilting his head. “Not gonna lie, that’s a bit strange, bro.”

“No I… oh never mind.”

“Don’t tell me that’s what you sing in the army back there. Not gonna lie, that would make you a lot less scary.”

“I don’t know about that. Imagine a company of soldiers marching towards you singing that one about the Dardi girl,” Kokashi interjected.

“Barbi girl… it’s pronounced Barbi girl,” Tom sighed, hiding his head in his hands and thinking back to a few incidents of precisely that sorta shit.

“Hey now, you know we can’t make that noise, now you’re just being mean.”

“No, me being mean would be me telling you some proper horror stories,” Tom sighed, hoisting his head out of his hands, taking a slice of the fried salted boar, and dipping it in the thick gravy-looking stuff. It tasted quite alright, but it was really rather tough for his poor teeth. Of course, the other guys didn’t struggle at all, ripping the pieces apart with ease with those oh-so-brilliant teeth of theirs. ‘I swear to all the gods if Jacky has to chew my food when I get old I’m making a set of mithril dentures or something.’

As he ate and pondered if such a device could perhaps be steam-powered, he noticed that most of the table was looking at him now for some reason. “What?”

“Well go on, can’t just tease us like that and not tell one.”

“Oh right… You sure you girls are not gonna piss your pants and run back to your rooms?”

“Please, some of us have killed before,” Balethon boasted, brash as ever. Only now did Tom notice the lizard sitting on his shoulder. Since last he saw it, a small collar and leash had seemingly been fashioned. It was currently tied to a hoop that was part of securing the pauldron to Balethons armor. Possibly an anti-food theft measure.

“Well tried to at least. Of course not everyone can be equally lucky,” Herron snickered, taking a drink of water. “Let me guess, your stories involve going someplace high and falling off or something.”

“I mean a lot of humans are scared of heights, pretty healthy response for us all things considered. But nah, I think I could come up with something better,” Tom said, pondering for a second just what might do the trick best. He sure wouldn’t mind something that could scare Balethon at least just a little. Might even let him see if Unkai really was such a coward.

“So who wants to hear about some of the craziest humans to ever serve in the military?”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Right then. I cannot even remember how far back the idea for a proper submarine horror story/movie was floated. Or I guess sunk badumtssss...

Anyway I we'll finally be getting it. Next week haha.

What we do get though, is a special chapter. So watch out for that one it will be out just after this one. I hope you like them both if not. Then well shit.