Hunter Or Huntress

Chapter 147: More Pieces

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They had continued their questioning session for a while longer till Fengi finally decided enough was enough. Even Linkosta couldn’t come up with any more relevant questions, so it was probably the right call.

So Linkosta and Saph had headed back to the keep to discuss what they had learned with the others, as well as question Tink on what he might know about this Tsarina. Dakota had called a quick emergency meeting to get everyone she could in one place to figure out just what they were going to do about this. They were currently all bickering and talking amongst themselves as they waited for Junior to return with Tink.

“Right, I'm here, what is it?” the inventor questioned as he came running up the stairs, tools in hand.

“Do you know someone called Tsarina Kosovo?” Dakota had replied with a cold expression.

“Tsarina? What does she want?” Tink asked, seeming quite confused though clearly recognizing the name.

“She was the one that sent Yldril and the red. Who was apparently called Tarak, by the way. Not that it matters now.”

“Oh…” was all the reply they got out of the now genuinely baffled looking inventor as he went to take a seat, Junior sitting down next to Saph. “But why?”

“She wanted designs, drawings, items, models. Whatever she could find of worth.”

“And Tom,” Saph added rather pointedly.

“Ohhh… “ Tink let out, looking like he had just realized something that they would doubtlessly like to hear. “I would never have taken her for going that far.”

“Care to elaborate?” Dakota questioned, leaning forward in her chair.

“I mean… all I know is she once stole one of my inventions and claimed it was one of her people that came up with it… damn thing might have been the only invention I made that really ended up earning a lot of money.”

“What was it?” Linkosta asked, ever inquisitive.

“It was a new kind of metal tooth gear I came up with when I was trying to make a much smaller grindstone for flour. You see what I-”

“That will do” Dakota cut him off. “Tsarina please.”

Tink just grumped a bit, though he seemed to falter under Dakota’s stare and sprung to it. “She stole the invention and made some money from it… And she really doesn’t like Craftsmaster Jakolev. I guess she wanted to be in charge of the guild instead,” Tink chuckled before starting to flat out laugh, clearly finding that very funny. “Dumb woman can’t even make a flower garden, but she wants to run the Guild… Oh that would be funny.”

“I see,” Dakota replied with a sigh. “So we have a businesswoman looking to steal everything we have to advance her own position. Marvelous.”

“Fits with what Yldril said,” Saph added with a nod.

“She’ll do more than that,” Junior then went, looking a touch uncomfortable as all eyes turned to him. “She will want to humiliate you afterward… she took most of what dad had in lawsuits over the whole gear thing.”

“We don’t talk about that one, Junior. It doesn't matter,” Tink added, giving him a caring, if rather sad, look. “That was just me being dumb again.”

“No, it wasn’t. You came up with it. And it was smart!” Junior protested.

“And I didn’t even realize… It was just a bit I needed for something else.”

Saph could see Junior's face twist, though he held his tongue. ‘I guess that explains the rented workshop,’ she sighed to herself.

“Besides. Look at where we ended up. It all worked out just fine,” Tink let out with his usual enthusiasm.

“I guess it did… But now she’s back for more.”

“And she just lost two dragons and five hundred gold trying to get it. I doubt we will be seeing her again anytime soon,” Dakota went, looking like she was thinking hard. “It wouldn’t be worth it.”

“She might try some different way. More subtle perhaps,” Junior tried, not sounding like he actually knew how she might go about that.

“Then we have the Inquisition inform her she’s flying over cold water,” Dakota retorted. "Might as well make them work to our advantage.”

“So we just give her a warning and that’s it?” Rachuck asked, seeming outraged. “She ordered an attack on our home! She crippled our mother!”

“And we don’t have the time to deal with her!” Dakota countered. “Not properly at least. We will let Jakolev know, maybe he can do something about it. Sounds like he might hate her just as much as us if we are lucky.”

“And if they like each other? Or just made common cause for a bit?” Saph asked, feeling she at least partially agreed with Rachuck here.

“Then I doubt she wouldn’t just get in on the deal we made with him.”

“And what if this Jakolev decided this deal wasn’t good enough?” Rachuck added, seeming like he was barely keeping himself from shouting again.

“No, Jakovlev isn’t like that. He’s an engineer, a proper one,” Tink protested, looking around at them. “He wants great things built. Just with his name on it, you know.”

“And he knows he needs smart people and money to make that happen,” Junior added. “Plus he’s helped us before.”

“To keep the smart minds on the same team, you know,” Tink added with a wink, looking at Dakota as he tapped his temple.

“I see… Then we use the Inquisition. The last thing they want is people snooping around for secrets. Just tell them what we know and I’m pretty damn sure they will deal with the problem,” she replied as she looked to Rachuck, who just gave her the stink eye.

“If not deal with her for good,” Saph heard Junior mutter under his breath, sounding quite content with that possibility.

‘Well, you never know, little guy,’ she thought to herself as they got back to discussing just how to deal with Yldril. Mainly how the hell she was going to be housed. Not to mention what preparations they needed to complete in time for the inquisitorial visit they were expecting.

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Everyone had been wondering just how long they would have before their next guests came in. As it turned out, three days of hard work trying to get things back in order was all they got. That meant Yldril was still out by her little camp, with Fengi not leaving her just in case. She and Linkosta had been experimenting with how far away Fengi could get from Yldril and still command her. Linkosta had been wary of having Fengi stay far away from the dragon for long, at least until they knew more. According to her, rule one of magic was ‘never sleep with an enhancement turned on’ else you might risk never waking up again; increasing the range always leads to more energy being spent.

Whether Fengi was actually spending any magic constantly was rather hard to work out all things considered. For now, they would take it slow and steady. It wasn’t like Yldril would be of much use yet anyway.

“Well this should be good,” Tom sighed, looking at the horizon. The weather wasn’t great, but it was dry and the clouds were high. The four dragons were coming in under them, making them stand out quite clearly. One blue, one white, and two reds.

“You know, I was kinda expecting half an army. This is positively tame by comparison,” Rachuck replied, nodding & looking at least a little relaxed considering what the cargo probably was.

“Thank the gods for that. It is Galaxer, right?” Tom questioned, peering at the grey muddled sky.

“Yup, Galaxer and Arch in the lead according to Dakota. We don’t know the reds. Flags are out and clear,” the captain replied, straightening his back. “Let’s get lined up.”

They had spent a bit of time over the last three days making the place look a bit more presentable. They’d mainly cleared the evidence of the battle. The dragon’s corpse had been cut up and carried off piece by piece by Glira. The well-behaved prisoners had been put to work as well in exchange for extra rations. Jacky had obviously kept the head, Trimming off what skin and meat she could before putting it on top of an ant nest that Wiperna had been kind enough to find. By their reckoning, it would take a few weeks tops. The remaining bodies had been thrown off the edge unceremoniously, every last one.

Tom hadn’t protested; it wasn’t like he had much to say on the subject of their afterlife. When he had asked Rachuck why they didn’t deserve a proper funeral, he just replied that they didn’t fight or die with honor.

Nunuk was still bedridden and being tended to nearly around the clock, the old lady had even conceded to taking some of Tom’s painkillers, though she had refused the antibiotics on Apuma’s advice. So without consulting her mother, Dakota had taken one to test if they were safe. They were still waiting on the results of that particular experiment, but thus far she hadn’t gotten sick.

They had all gotten lined up and looking presentable. Tom felt very appreciative of not having been dressed up this time either. It wasn’t like the Inquisitor they were expecting wouldn’t know that he was here after all.

The four dragons had come in to land in the grass since there was no way they were fitting in the greeting hall. Jarix had come down to join them as well, even if his underside was looking rather odd with pale baby blue skin covered in little nubs of scales and the beginnings of what Tom guessed would become the plates covering his underside. Glira was out at Yldrils camp and Victoria hadn’t left her post in the mines save for a short visit flying under her own power to get a face-to-face update on how they had all fared. Thus, it was Apuma, Dakota, and Zarko that were out in front today.

Archeon had come in first with what looked like his regular crew, only a few new faces were onboard, looking like passengers. In addition, he was carrying a sizable amount of cargo, much to Tom’s joy. Galaxer though appeared to be carrying passengers only, with next to no cargo. In fact, it looked almost cramped up there despite the size of the venerable white dragon.

The two reds were of middling size and were carrying what looked like full crews, all armed to the teeth, not to mention armored, though Tom couldn’t make out any Royal guard insignias on said armor. They both had a decent amount of cargo on board too, though not as much as Archeon was hauling.

To his eyes, there was only really one candidate for the title of inquisitor, that being a tall slender woman riding on Galaxer, dressed in what he could only guess was an incredibly expensive hide cloak with fur trimmings and lining. By the looks of it, it was form-fitted too, and with an intricate-looking hood that left the horns jutting out. To Tom it didn’t seem overly practical, though it did manage to keep her face mostly hidden, only her snout sticking out until she took it down.

It was hardly necessary to look at her clothes to work out she was likely his person of interest though. Galaxer’s navigator got up and lent her a hand as they walked down the wing, the woman’s head on a swivel, clearly taking in what information she could, focusing mainly on the keep as far as Tom could see. Not to mention, she definitely looked like she felt she owned the place. She walked with a straight back, her head held high, and an almost regal gait. ‘Yeah… that’s her.’

With her leading the way, most of the other passengers on Galaxer had gotten up and started to disembark after her. Tom guessed this was what an inquisitorial retinue looked like. They looked like a mixed bunch, though most of them were clearly more academics. Tom’s best guess was they would be overseeing the ones down in the caves to make sure they didn’t do anything dumb.

The woman following right behind the assumed inquisitor looked rather interesting though. She wasn’t that large or imposing, but she was carrying two boxes that looked a lot like tool chests to Tom, and she had a very intricate set of goggles on with what looked like polished brass mounts for some kind of gizmo.

A third woman was backing her up close as well. She was also wearing a hooded cloak, though the armored covers on her feet were a dead giveaway that she was likely kitted out for battle underneath. Behind that came two people who looked a bit like the fake priestess that had arrived with Galaxer originally, only these were wearing cloaks made out of a metallic thread rather than white which made it look like they were draped in flowing metal. On a second glance, the woman with the goggles had a similar cloak; her hood was just down at the moment. ‘Maybe those are actually priests?’ Tom thought to himself with a sigh, as he spotted investigator Paulin, the woman they had been so graciously introduced to previously. This time around she was not in priest’s robes, instead sporting a thick traveling coat and some sort of headwrap that looked rather thick and comfy. She was currently talking with some of Galaxer's actual crew while still on the dragon’s back, her demanding gestures towards the other three dragons seeming all too familiar.

‘I guess we get to enjoy her company again then,’ Tom sighed to himself, looking down their line of people.

The people of the keep were all lined up in the traditional fashion for receiving formal guests. Tom had lined up with the guards this time around, feeling he really did fit in best here. Not to mention, he would not stand getting dressed up for this.

The Inquisitor had rather quickly got her eyes on Tom as she scanned over the people assembled before her, staring him down as she walked up towards Apuma.

She had started off with greeting Apuma. She barely glanced at the old guy though as he did his best formal greeting, wishing her welcome to their keep. She had quickly greeted the rest of the Bizmati family, as well as Zarko, before making her way straight to Tom, walking with purpose, eyes firmly locked on him as she approached. Tom just straightened his back and stood at attention, looking ahead waiting till spoken to.

“So… You are the cause behind all this trouble? Well, some of it at least?” she asked, standing in front of him about a pace away, staring him down.

The smaller woman with the goggles had put down her boxes, going to circle around him like she was inspecting a statue, shooing the others out of her way with a dismissive wave. “Fascinating,” she finished, stopping in front of him and looking at his head, tilted face far too happy for Tom’s liking.

“Edita,” the assumed inquisitor interrupted after clearing her throat, the smaller woman quickly stepping out of the way without saying a word, though not taking her eyes off Tom.

“Tomas Hansen, pleasure to meet you. Call me Tom,” he said plainly, sticking his hand out, looking at the taller woman.

She looked at it for a second before taking off her thin blue leather gloves and giving his hand a gentle shake, holding his hand awkwardly. “Inquisitor Joelina Hashaw. The reports seemingly haven't done you justice. You look nothing like what I had imagined.”

“Is that good or bad?” Tom felt he had to ask, looking at her emotionless face and trying his best to gauge her.

“Your looks are irrelevant for this. But you are not as hideous as one might expect a semi-haired, pink-skinned freak missing three limbs to look. I take it you know who I am.”

“I’ve had a quick run down,” Tom replied with a nod, not quite sure if he had just been insulted by an inquisitor.

“Very good. We can skip the nonsense then. This is Artificer Edita. She is now your personal aid,” Joelina stated, gesturing to the curious woman.

Tom just turned to look at the excited-looking woman, swallowing once. She for her part rushed up to him, taking his hand and shaking it vigorously.

“Hi, I’ve got to say I’m so excited for this. You are going to teach me so much!”

“Thank you, Edita,” Joelina said in a slightly annoyed tone, the artificer taking a step back again, eyes wandering over Tom as he just stood there.

‘Artificer… you have got to be shitting me,’ Tom lamented to himself, turning his gaze back to the inquisitor, not sure if screaming internally was the right response.

“Edita has always felt she needed to do more than simply maintain the equipment she’s been working on. I trust she will be a fine fit for this operation. Unlike some of her previous postings.” There was quite an edge to the inquisitor's words, though this Edita clearly failed to care completely.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Edita just replied with a fast nod, then went right back to staring at Tom. “We will not disappoint in bringing the world new holy machines.”

‘Oh no. It’s a female Tink, and she’s religious,’ Tom cursed to himself as he looked into a pair of eyes with a far too the familiar spark of madness embedded within. She was staring at Tom like a kid looking through a shop window at a new toy. ‘Jacky is not going to like her.’

Rachuck came over and cleared his throat. “Inquisitor, a moment of your time.”

Slowly Joelina turned to face him, though her face didn’t shift in the slightest. “Yes?”

“We came under attack a few days ago. We have taken prisoners.”

At that, the inquisitor did raise an eyebrow. “Continue.”

“Well most of them are over in that building,” he explained, pointing at their little improvised holding cell.

“Most?”

“Yes. We also cripled and captured a black dragon named Yldril. She’s currently camped a short flight that way.”

“That complicates a few things… I will deal with the prisoners here. The dragon will come later. She is not allowed to return to the keep, understood?”

“Yes, ma’am. That won’t be a problem.”

At that, Tom felt he needed to barge in, clearing his throat as well. “When you say deal?”

The inquisitor’s head turned back to look at him, once again perfectly straight-faced. “Then I mean deal with.’”

“I do have ears,” Tom tried again, not breaking his stare.

She did cock her head a little at that before answering. “I see. Well, I have four dragons at my disposal. I believe I have the capacity to send them to the bastion.”

“Which is?”

“A training complex.”

“You want to recruit criminals?... into the Inquisition?” Rachuck asked, sounding dumbstruck.

“Maybe. They will be tested there. Who knows, there might be someone we can use. Or they might be of interest in other ways. Anyway, does that alleviate your concerns?” she asked, staring at Tom.

“Sounds good to me,” Tom replied with a nod. He didn’t for a second believe that going there was going to be a pleasant fate, but at least some of them might live if they weren’t all bad. Either that, or he guessed they might have been better off being granted the mercy of being put down like a dog once they surrendered.

“Very good. Let’s get to work.”

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‘And there he is,’ Saph thought to herself, as she saw Balethon disembark from Archeon, looking a bit clumsy. Then again, that was to be expected with the odd wood and metal contraption hanging off the stump that was left of his tail. ‘And the girl is nowhere to be seen,’ she chuckled to herself. It was a bit cruel, but she loved being right. There was a small flying lizard sitting on his shoulder though, oddly enough. She wondered where he had gotten that.

The inquisitor seemed busy with Tom, and then she had just walked off with him in tow, not even giving an explanation, the armored woman and the one with the strange goggles following after. Saph wasn’t quite sure how she felt about not even being greeted; then again, she had not exactly been looking forward to coming face to face with an inquisitor.

‘Probably a blessing,’ Saph thought to herself as Balethon made it over to start greeting his old friends, mainly the guards running up to him. They had kept it formal till’ Rachuck gestured for them to go ahead after the inquisitor had made it out of sight up the stairs.

After the proper welcome back, they had all been set straight to work under the gaze of a familiar-looking face, their old friend Investigator Paulin. She had quickly determined the prisoners were not allowed to witness or listen in on what was going on right now. The prisoners had thus been rounded up and marched off blindfolded, carrying tents and other supplies to set up a prison camp a safe distance from the keep.

Saph did wonder just what might be going through their minds right now. Blindfolds or not, they were quite aware that someone had just landed and they had brought four dragons, even if only two of those seemed ready for a proper battle. There was certainly plenty of murmuring as they were marched off.

Victoria and Baron had also been sent for right away, one of the reds being unloaded in short order to go replace Baron down in the mines. The two reds were apparently acting as escorts for Joelina, making Saph question just what was in the crates they were currently unloading. There were so many of the damn things that they had been forced to start moving their own things around. Non-essential supplies were taken out of the keep and some of the new crates had to be stored in the various small buildings they had down on ground level.

Tom had obviously been spirited away to show the inquisitor around together with the Bizmati family, save Dakota who was helping organize the unloading, though having two trade dragon crews helping out did mean they were getting an incredible amount of work done.

Still, that didn’t make the crates go up by themselves, so Saph found herself standing in line at the second red waiting for her crate, together with half the keep.

“Think Rachuck will be able to relax for a bit now that we have the literal Inquisition here guarding the place?”

“Never,” Dakota replied as she noted down the size and content of the crates. “I wonder what ‘Tools’ covers in this case?” she mused aloud, looking up at Saph.

“I don’t think it’s pots and pans,” Saph chuckled with a smirk, going to lift it up, Wiperna taking the other end as they started to carry off the crate. It was certainly heavy, and there was the distinct clank of metal coming from inside it as they went up the stairs.

The next time she came down the first of the reds was already gone, crew and all, leaving just a pile of boxes for them to deal with. “Damn grunt work.”

“Indeed.” It came from Wiperna as they both sighed. “Still beats fighting for your life.

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Joelina had insisted on a tour before they sat down to discuss what had been happening as of late. It had been a quick affair, the inquisitor seemingly not having any complaints. Though she was obviously taking note of all of Tom’s things for later. He did admire her professionalism though, as she didn’t even question what any of it was. Only how much there was and where it was. Edita did not possess the same level of restraint, though Joelina once again came through for Tom, shutting up the artificer on more than one occasion.

Once the little tour was complete, they had all gone to the library. It was just Tom, Rachuck, Apuma, Jortun, and the Inquisitor's retinue, minus Investigator Paulin. The major had joined them after arriving under his own power, Glira remaining on watchdog duty over Yldril.

“So. I hear things have not gone as smoothly as we had hoped,” Joelina started, sitting down in what was normally Apuma’s chair. The rest of them all stood around the room. Tom glanced at the floor but decided standing was probably better in this company.

“It could have been worse,” Rachuck insisted, standing straight. “They never made it inside our walls, the mines have been kept safe, and we took minimal losses.”

“None, last I heard. Very impressive. I also saw your collection of prisoners. Now, this dragon you talked about, they could be a problem.”

“Yes. She is an adult black named Yldril. I believe that has been taken care of,” Rachuck replied, looking rather uncomfortable now.

“How so?” she asked, tilting her head and staring at the captain.

He just cleared his throat before speaking. “A unicorn intervened.”

“Excuse you.”

“Kalestine, your… I’m sorry, what is your title Exactly? I don’t want to be rude.”

“Inquisitor or Joelina will do to you,” she went with a smile, though clearly wanting him to get to the point.

Jortun cleared his throat, gaining Joelina’s attention as she looked at him expectantly.

“I trust we have the word of the Inquisition for absolute secrecy on this subject,” the major replied, standing at attention.

“We expect nothing less of you,” Joelina replied with a nod.

“Naturally. Here at the keep lives a very young girl, who was saved by the grace of the unicorn Kalestine.”

The Inquisitor just narrowed her eyes and stared at the major, waiting for him to continue.

“She has been blessed with the gift to enhance magical abilities in the same fashion as can be achieved using unicorn horn.

“I see… How is this of pertinence to the black dragon?”

“A young woman of the keep named Fengi was recently revealed to be an enchantress.”

“So you used the child to force Yldril into cooperation,” the guard-looking woman from the inquisitor’s retenue answered with a slight huff. “Hardly a show of gallantry witch hunter, but effective.”

“And where does Kalestine’s intervention then fit in?”

“The child got scared during one of the attempts. We believe Kalestine then took over Fengi and bestowed a sentence upon the dragon. Yldril is now bound to the young woman's will. As far as we can tell… permanently.”

“Fascinating,” the goggled woman added as Joelina rubbed her chin, thinking. “Sounds heretical as all hell, but fascinating.” Tom just swallowed once at that.

“Putting a child blessed by a unicorn in danger. Definitely… But her will being allowed to be carried out… The exact opposite,” Jolina replied, staring down the major. “How was this child blessed?”

“With blood willingly given, Inquisitor.”

“That’s new,” the armored woman interjected, receiving a quick glance from the inquisitor.

“That is… Not unheard of, but I don’t think I’ve ever met one,” Joelina replied after looking back to the major. “I believe the horn you were reported to possess belongs to Kalestine as well. Was this all part of the same exchange?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jortun replied with a prompt nod.

“I see… I guess this may work to our advantage then. A bound dragon is a rare luxury indeed.”

“Planning something I guess?” Tom asked, looking around to see if speaking up had any negative reactions.

“Yes. I have plans for you people, but the less interference the better. An adult working dragon already on the island certainly helps. Am I correct in the assumption that Jarix can also be relied upon to assist with construction?”

“I would think so, yes.”

“What are you planning to build?” Apuma asked, seeming quite confused.

“All the facilities required to make use of him,” she went, pointing at Tom.

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