Hunter Or Huntress

Chapter 144: Prison camp

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When Tom and Jacky had made it up into the keep, Jarix had been sleeping soundly. The remnants of the trimming, as they called it, lay strewn about the place and were in the process of getting cleaned up. The dragon had about half the greeting hall to himself, the other half being dominated by tied-up prisoners currently under guard by Kokashi and Herron.

They had exchanged greetings, and Tom gave the prisoners a quick once over. They had quite a few, a quick headcount coming to 9 total, Kokashi explaining they had another 3 in the infirmary.

They had all looked at Tom with a mix of confusion and fear. Tom guessed they might recognize the odd weapons he was carrying and they were certainly acquainted with what they could do. At least two of them had caught some lead shot, one of them in the face which looked rather nasty.

He made a note to tell the healers those pellets needed to be removed if they were to live. He had no clue how quickly lead poisoning would set in, but it couldn’t take long.

It hadn't taken long before Rachuck had showed up, the captain likely having been informed Tom had returned.

“So, how’s this Yldril doing?”

“She’ll live. Get anything useful out of this lot yet?” Tom replied, gesturing around at the crowd of prisoners, who in turn glanced around at each other.

“Nothing useful, no. They have been quite forthcoming with what they know… Which is little to nothing. All hired within a few weeks for this job, from various places, mostly smaller towns and villages strewn around the capital or en route here.”

“Think they are lying?” Tom said rather pointedly while looking around at them.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Rachuck replied, looking around at the prisoners as well. Tom felt rather conflicted looking at the brigands before him.

They were a rather varied lot. Some had fine looking armor. One who looked no older than Boor Pho was wearing only simple and rather ragged looking leather clothing. Maybe the kid had been desperate. The few stories they had gotten out of Ray certainly made it sound like she wasn’t alone in her situation.

Then again, they knew what they were doing, of course they did. They were organized and following orders. It had felt a lot more like a battle than a robbery to him, that was for sure. And technically he guessed they might be considered mercenaries. So were they prisoners of war? Or common criminals? What were they gonna do with them all? Were they just going off the edge? He didn’t even know if this was considered treason or not.

Tom heard a grunt and a rattle of plates from the door to the stairs, turning to watch Ray struggle with the door, Jacky already trotting over to hold the door for her. Ray walked past with a “Thank you,” as Jacky looked down into the pot she was carrying looking less than pleased.

“Dear god, is that dinner?”

“No no. This is for the nasty ones. Still… Dinner won't be much today. But tomorrow…” Ray replied with a convincing nod and a smile. She quickly went to start ladle out food into the plates and started handing them out.

Rachuck cleared his throat and gestured for Tom to follow him as he started walking towards the stairs going up to the next level.

Tom followed, looking to Jacky, who gestured for him to just go with Rachuck as she started helping Ray.

Tom just nodded, following the captain up into the library and closing the door behind himself.

“So, think they are lying?”

“Maybe. They are all very similar stories,” Rachuck replied, “But believable ones. They claim to have had one veteran officer who served with Yldril. And he's dead by her hand down below. The red had one too. She’s gone as well, shot down by Sapphire.”

“Well isn’t that convenient,” Tom sighed. “Yldril killed her own captain or whatever you would call him?”

“Quite. He was one of the two that got sprayed with acid down there. We had to scoop him off the ground. The other one was a woman apparently.”

“So we might just have Yldril left unless some of this lot is lying.”

“I think so, yes. And if I’m being honest… I think she has a lot to say.”

“Like who hired her?” Tom replied with a sigh. “I don’t buy her story of just coming here for the money. All these people hired that quickly and by the sounds of it no questions asked. That sounds like this is not something she does on the regular.”

“Unless the crews are lying, this was their first raid with her. A few admitted this wasn’t their first run at something like this. Even sounded proud of it,” the captain said, sounding more despairing than anything else.

“I could believe that. Some of that equipment doesn't look cheap. Some of those people must have been expensive to hire.”

“Unless they were swayed by the possible prize.”

“Or that,” Tom relented.

“They certainly come from all over. Quite a few far off accents too. But I guess people can come from far and wide to towns near the capital. No keep dwellers though, not even inner keeps by the sounds of it,” Rachuck added, sounding rather thoughtful. “Guess it would leave a bad taste in their mouth if they understood what this would mean for a regular keep.”

“Well Yldril did sound like she rather dislikes people who live in keeps. Apparently someone kicked her out right before winter once.”

“That would be a death sentence for a dragonette in some cases… I guess it would be hard even on a dragon,” Rachuck replied, clearly not pleased with that either.

“So we have no clue if they were hired or just decided to have a go at this?” Tom sighed, pulling at his hair in frustration.

“I guess we’ll have to see what Fengi can manage, but by the sounds of it she’s spent,” the captain replied with a sigh, sounding no more pleased with the situation.

“Spent? I thought she couldn’t really use it yet?” Tom asked, looking back to Rachuck.

“Well apparently she figured that part out. Made Sapphire salute for a few minutes.”

“Okay that’s… quite scary.”

“And useful,” the captain replied with a knowing nod. “The major apparently advised training on one of the prisoners. They will be starting with that tomorrow at first light.”

“I see. So when they get it to work they go and try it on Yldril? Sounds like a better plan than just winging it,” Tom admitted. “Where is she now?”

“I think she’s sleeping for now. Maybe she’s still in Saph’s room. The major had a talk with her. Apparently he knows a thing or two about this stuff.”

“Well at least we have an expert. Can we trust him with all this?”

“As you said, he’s the expert, and I get the feeling he will find out by himself otherwise.”

“Fantastic,” Tom replied sarcastically. “What are we going to do with that lot up there? We can’t keep them around.”

“No, I intend to hand them over to the Inquisition when they get here,” Rachuck replied with what Tom swore looked like an evil glint in his eye.

“I think you would be doing a favor by sending them over the edge there.”

“Perhaps, but it would send quite the message. It would look like we are under Inquisitorial protection.”

“Which we kind of are.”

“Yes, but we can’t really go saying that aloud, now can we?”

“I guess not quite… Not actually sure about that?”

“We were told to pretend like nothing has happened, Tom,” Rachuck replied, not seeming very impressed with him.

“Fair enough. How long is that though, might be weeks?”

“I doubt it. I think a week is generous. I say we lock them up in one of the sheds. They know they can’t run, and we’ll feed them some crappy food and plenty of water so they don’t feel they need to break out. Then we hand them off. Just don’t tell them what their fate will be. Say we are sending them back home on the next trader to face justice in the capital. I’m willing to bet they will think they can just escape from the trader.”

“You sly little bastard.”

“What is it with you today? You seem so soft.”

“Hell no, I like it. Should be very effective. They will face justice, and we don’t have to put down a kid that might have gotten suckered into this.”

“The young guy in the rags up there?” Rachuck asked with a slight head tilt. “He knew what he was in for. Give him a few years, he would probably have ended up dead or a hardened killer.”

“Fengi and Ray didn’t.”

“Fengi and Ray didn’t agree to go murder innocent people for money,” Rachuck snapped back at him. “There's some damn difference between a common criminal forced to steal food and a killer willing to sell lives for money.”

“No no. I get it. I already said I agreed. Fuck it, who knows? Inquisition might decide the kid is useful or something.”

“I highly doubt that.”

Tom just sighed looking at the captain. Of course he was right, but the kid upstairs couldn't be much more than teen. No one was smart enough to figure shit like this out as a teen.

“… Come on, let’s get to moving those guys. Don’t want them hearing more than they already know… Actually it might be best to send them with the Inquisition just for that alone.”

“See? Two birds, one stone.”

“I guess some sayings stay the same.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

The following day things were rather strange at the keep. Saph had this sense of being behind, yet they had to take their time. They were messing with magic they really didn’t quite understand, yet they needed to find some answers.

Hence why they were currently in the kitchen with a prisoner lashed to a chair looking around at them curiously.

“Well it’s the closet we are gonna get… and I would rather not let you try this on me. I have secrets to hide, even from you,” Saph shrugged, giving the unlucky guy a slap on the back. They had come up with the brilliant plan to just keep Saph and Jinora behind him for now, with Essy ready to keep his eyes pointing forwards if necessary. No reason to let him know more than needed, just in case the Inquisition or someone else got their claws on him in the end.

“But, it still feels wrong. You’re sure I won’t hurt him?” Fengi asked, looking at her pleadingly.

‘Why are you suddenly concerned about that now?’ Saph thought to herself, looking at Fengi with an unamused expression.

“No, the effects are not permanent. I’ve certainly never heard of that being the case. You are not a mind reader,” Linkosta replied, notebook already open. “Now please, I don’t want to leave mother for too long.”

“Sorry. Thanks for… Just being here I guess,” Fengi replied, still not sounding convinced before looking down at the prisoner.

They had moved him into the kitchen and sat him down at the large work table so they would get a bit of privacy with him. For his part, he had been promised better food in addition to better treatment if he cooperated, which had apparently been sufficient for this guy.

Initial questioning had revealed that he didn’t know much, if he was telling them the truth, but he was a guy Fengi didn’t know and could ask just about anything and not know the answer. So a perfect subject to train on. That and the major had rather hinted at this being the right way to go about this, not to mention giving his consent.

“Okay, so I’m gonna ask you some questions. You might feel a bit weird, and then you should answer willingly or not. Try to resist.”

“This is the strangest interrogation I’ve ever been in?” the guy replied, looking up at her then down to his restraints before sighing.

“Have you tried many before?” Linkosta questioned, looking ready to write the answer down.

“... Is that part of the try to resist part?”

“No…”

“Then yeah… I've had a few.”

“Excellent, should be a bit harder to break then,” Linkosta replied, sounding quite chipper.

“Oh to the contrary, I’ve learned it’s easier to just spill the beans,” he said with a grin on his face, stumping Linkosta for a bit.

“Then… why has no one killed you yet?” she asked, not seeming able to make heads or tails of it. Saph had to admit he didn’t sound like he would last very long.

“ ‘Cause I tell them that I'll just spill the beans, so they don't tell me shit.”

“Hey that’s pretty smart,” Fengi admitted, looking at the others. Saph just sighed at the conclusion they weren’t getting anything useful out of this guy even by accident.

“Why did we pick this guy again?” Saph felt she had to ask, looking around at the others.

“Cause he was willing to play catch…” Linkosta sighed, shoulders sagging. “Fucking hell.”

“Okay. Try to resist now,” Fengi said before kneeling in front of the increasingly confused looking prisoner. Much as that seemed hard to believe.

“Please… I beg of you… Just tell me what I want to know,” Fengi pleaded, ears dangling and pupils nearly going round.

“Okay, magic,” Saph whispered into Jinora’s ear, pointing to Fengi as she held the sweet in her hand like a treat for a pet.

Jinora seemed more interested in the candy, having been allowed to get a lick before they started. She had pretty quickly grasped that using magic meant getting another lick of the candy when they had been training/experimenting. The tricky part was getting her to do it for long enough and on the right person on command.

Saph had to admit this seemed a little wrong doing it like this, but it was effective, and it wasn’t that far from giving her some other kind of reward for being a good girl. Jinora let out a happy little shriek before reaching her hand out towards Fengi, her eyes turning pale white and starting to glow.

“The fuck is wrong with you people?” the prisoner had let out at the sight of Fengi pleading, pulling back against his restraints.

“Oh, she’s just special,” Saph replied with a smile, looking at Fengi as she let Jinora get in a lick, eyes still glowing.

“This feels weird,” Fengi replied, looking down at her hands and studying them. “It tingles… a lot.”

“I think you need to ask him again,” Linkosta added, pointing at the prisoner with her pencil.

“Oh, right. Please, sir. Just tell me what I want to know.”

“Of course, ma’am… What is it?”

“Did you feel anything?” Linkosta asked, looking at the prisoner, who just returned her gaze, not saying a word.

She just let out a deep breath, sounding more than a little irritated and looking back to Fengi. “Maybe you should try asking him.”

“Oh, right… Feel anything?”

“Nah. Not really… Wait…” he replied, before furrowing his brow at the realization. “The hell?”

“I guess that’s something,” Linkosta added, taking down a quick note.

“Okay… What’s your name? ”

“Arro... Okay this is trippy,” the guy seemingly unwillingly replied as he tried to wiggle free of his restraints. “The hell did you do to me?”

“Okay, Arro. How did you end up here?”

“No, my name is Arr… Arro… Arrovita,” he finally let out, looking like he was fighting every word he was saying, eyes wide.

“I’ll just call you Arro,” Fengi replied, looking at him, seeming rather unsure of herself and talking in a careful tone. “So how did you get here?”

“I got hired… I have a guy…I… I don’t wanna tell you,” Arro finally stammered out, seeming to win his fight against her, breathing hard and looking around with wide eyes. “The fuck is she?”

“An enchantress. Didn’t you hear?” Linkosta replied, looking to Jinora, who had been denied further candy licks and was sitting in Saph’s lap, looking grumpy. “I guess we found a time frame of sorts.”

“In better news, Fengi didn’t fall over,” Saph went, giving the kid a bounce on her good leg and nuzzling the toddler’s snout gently. ‘Very well done, Jinora. You are such a good girl!’

She got rewarded by a happy smile and a giggle as Jinora reached out to touch Saph’s snout.

“Like you saluting. It lingers,” Linkosta observed. “I wonder if we can make that any longer?”

“That was pretty awesome, wasn’t it?” Saph questioned, looking to Fengi, who just nodded, seeming deep in thought.

“Really damn awesome… Do we wanna try again?” she asked in a meek voice, not looking up.

“Just ask him if he really doesn’t know anything.”

Fengi had done as instructed and with a simple question and a glowing baby they had gotten their confirmation. The guy knew fucking nothing. Not even what the target had been called. Just that they were raiding a frontier keep that was heavily defended.

Linkosta had noted it all down and they had dragged the prisoner back off after letting him munch on some fresh bread and a bit of jerky, promising he would be getting a better dinner today. Saph had just stayed in the kitchen playing with Jinora for a bit. They would be heading out for Yldril shortly anyway.

“Is she feeling tired at all?” Linkosta had asked as she made it back into the kitchen after a short visit to the infirmary.

“No, not at all. Is that good or bad?”

“I haven't the faintest clue. Maybe she can keep going forever?” Linkosta replied with a shrug.

“She’ll get bored eventually,” Saph chuckled, continuing to play with the kid. She did have a tendency to be distracted at times.

“Or that…” Linkosta relented, looking at the little kid. “I can only imagine what she might one day be able to do.”

“Might even boost your magic enough to rival a proper witch,” Saph retorted.

“And without any nasty bargains too.”

“Unless you count paying in candy,” Saph chuckled as Jinora perked up at the mention of candy.

“I think that’s a decent trade,” Linkosta said with a soft smile, looking at the kid before straightening back up. “Right then. There is work to be done.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

It had been a fairly long day in the end yesterday. Tom had helped to move the prisoners to the rather chilly outdoor shed after he had secretly moved the quad bike and parked it behind another building. Rachuck and the others seemed to all agree that the cool bulding would at least help keep their prisoners from doing anything stupid in the night. Even so, the building was put under guard, though only from the outside. They didn’t want a few prisoners breaking free and taking a hostage for use in negotiations.

Tom was quite sure by now that these people had already seen enough to constitute a serious security risk, but what did it matter if the whole lot was going to get executed by the Inquisition anyway?

Now it was morning though, and he was standing in the mostly empty and once again clean greeting hall looking at a sleeping dragon, rolled over onto his back with all four feet dangling in the air like the largest great dane ever.

‘Fuck, that’s hillarious’ Tom thought to himself, taking a few steps back and taking a picture before going up to Jarix’s head and giving the dragon a slight tap on the lower jaw.

“Wakey wakey, sleepy head. You doing okay?”

“I was… What now?” Jarix questioned as his eyes slowly blinked awake, the young dragon stretching slightly before wincing. “Ohhhhh gods, that hurts.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine… ahr shit,” the dragon groaned in reply, letting his head rest back on the ground again. “But it fucking sucks.”

“Well if it helps, if I got burned like that, I would be down for months.”

“It’s almost like I can feel the pain go away already,” Jarix groaned, moving his head just enough to look at Tom. “Mum’s pissed.”

“Yup,” Tom replied, nodding in agreement. “Real pissed.”

“Anything you can do about that?”

“Short of giving her what she wants? Don’t think so.”

“I almost want to tell you not to give her anything just to spite her.”

“Is that so?”

“I did my damn best, okay? Everyone else seems damn happy. But no, not Glira. Glira think’s I've lost my edge. Glira think’s I’m a big softy just cause I didn’t let my friends get murdered.” The amount of sarcasm the wounded dragon managed was honestly impressive to Tom. “What about you? Heard you were happy with her?”

“Jarix… Is your mother in the habit of killing for fun?”

“Sure. She’ll kill anything she feels warrants it. If she’s allowed to, obviously,” Jarix replied perfectly bluntly.

“Right… so-”

“She’s been like that since before I was born. Don’t bother.”

Tom didn’t really know what to say to that as he stood there scratching the back of his neck.

“The gun jammed again.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“Radexi said it felt like it had some weaker shots here and there.”

“Bad ammo. Not much we can do about that except try and be a bit more careful when loading. How did it do against the red?”

“Marvelously. He had no idea what it was. As soon as we got him into a turning fight even the few shots it got off were enough to scare him into a dive. From there I had him.”

“I guess that counts as good enough then,” Tom nodded, looking down the side of the stricken dragon.

“I know it might not feel like it, but damn if that wasn’t a clean win.”

“Last one wasn’t painless either.” Jarix seemed to sigh. “But it was worth it this time too.”

“No, it wasn’t… Look, do you think it would be better in the future if I just let Glira have what she wants?”

“She’ll do more or less whatever for it. Including taking the hits for you,” Jarix replied. “If you are worried about her giving it away, don’t worry. She’ll pay even more to have the only one.”

“i guess that’s something… what do you want to do with the prisoners?”

“Have I become your moral guide or something?”

“No, but you're the only proper soldier around here with training that I trust properly.”

“Aww. Thanks man,” Jarix replied, actually pulling a bit of a smile as he thought. “I would kill off the lot of them. They have seen too much and the Inquisition will throw an epic fit if we let them get away.

“Rachuck wants to hand them over; I guess maybe they might want to do their own interrogation.”

“Such is the life of a brigand. Losing once might be enough.”

“Doesn't that describe most fighting?”

“Depends on the enemy, but yeah I guess… Speaking of which. What’s the black like?”

“A real bitch.”

“Another one?” Jarix joked, letting out a snicker, which it sounded like he regretted shortly thereafter.

“Think they’ll kill her off too? Your mother wants to hand her in for a bounty.”

“Yeah, she told me… Really damn happy about that one,” Jarix replied, taking a breath and a second to think. “Depends on what she knows. They might just put her back in the mines.”

“Well that’s something I guess. The Inquisition will take care of it.”

“If Saph was here, she would be telling you not to worry about it I’m sure. Jacky too for that matter. Did she get to show off her kill?”

“Yeah she did. Big bastard that one.”

“Yeah, a good few weeks or maybe a month in a maggot pit and he’ll be a fine wall decoration.”

“You don’t have a problem with that?”

“With what?”

“Having a dragon skull hanging on the wall?”

Jarix just strained his neck a bit more to look directly at Tom, tilting his head. “Why is that? Glira has my grandad hanging in her cave back in the capital.”

“You have your grandad's skull hanging over the fireplace back home?”

“How did you know it was over the fireplace?” Jarix asked as he lowered his head back to lie on the floor with a sigh.

“Uhm… I didn’t?” Tom tried, with a shrug.

“Eh, fuck it. You should see it one day. Quite a nice place. Maybe one day I’ll have a place just like it. Not that the keep sucks or anything… But I kinda wish I at least had a proper bed.”

“Dragons have beds?”

“Yeah? I mean, I’m a soldier and all,” Jarix replied, back to laying on the the sarcasm. “So I have to learn to live and sleep wherever I need to.”

“Arch just had like a room back at the guild? Didn’t see any bed.”

“Was there straw on the floor?”

“Yeah…” Tom replied tentatively, not sure if that constituted a bed.

“I’m willing to bet he has a nice wooden platform under that. No cold stones.”

“I think we could slap something like that together.”

“That would be pretty sweet. Might have it made out of the planks you all used to fix Yldril, that would be funny.”

“I’ll ask Kullinger. Sounds like a project he would actually like to work on.”

“Oh the wood guy?... I guess… he seems a touch strange.”

“I just think he liked it the way things were. Actually, speaking of other people. You’ve met Junior, right?”

“Yeah?” Jarix replied as if that was obvious, which Tom admitted it of course was.

“He and Radexi are getting along alright aren’t they?”

“Seems so. Them against the girls and all that.”

“You know he really likes anything military.”

“I noticed. He’s been helping me out when he has the time.”

“Think you could maybe… do a bit more for the kid on that front? Think he could use some cheering up with his dad and all.”

“The old geezer didn’t die on us, did he?”

“No, but still. Junior is basically the adult in that situation. He needs to relax too.”

“Look at you, being all caring and everything. I’m not gonna be doing much for a while though. Any ideas?”

“Maybe just a chat. Tell him stories.”

“About my training?”

“I think that would work, or just stories you have heard. Might help pass the time.”

“Sure. But he’s damn busy, isn’t he?”

“I’ll try and help with that part. I think we earned a little respite for this.”

“Until the Inquisition gets here.”

“Until the Inquisition gets here, yes,” Tom echoed with a sigh. He was not looking forward to that.

“Oh by the way. How are you planning on dealing with the pissed off unicorn? You know after we dumped nearly a ton of meat out there.”

“what?”

__________________________________________________________________________________

“I can’t believe we are actually doing this,” Jacky chuckled, sounding more excited than anything.

“Shsss, she needs to concentrate,” Essy reprimanded as they all stood in a half circle around Fengi and Saph, Jinora currently residing in Saph’s arms and taking another little nap.

“Now remember, concise points, and get what you want in one go. No need for subtlety here,” the major added. He had come up with what exactly to say to Yldril just to make sure that part was at least a little bit by the book.

“What is the point of this circus? Yldril asked, looking at them with the one eye that could see them. Glira and the major had come up with the rather smart idea to have Yldril look away from them, with Glira standing ready to prevent any unwanted movements, meaning they should be perfectly safe.

‘You know, stop trying to act dumb,’ Saph sighed to herself as she started trying to rouse Jinora. “Wakey wakey, there is candy to be had.”

That seemed to do the trick as her eyes shot open and started looking around for this magical candy. “There we go. Up you come. Yes, it’s candy time,” Saph went with a nod, getting Jinora to sit up in her arms before looking to Fengi. “I think we might be ready to begin.”

“So we weren’t trying the horn first after all?” Rachuck questioned, sounding cautiously hopeful that idea might still be on the table as he looked at Linkosta. Dakota and Apuma were still back at the keep with Nunuk, leaving just the two Bizmati’s here for this.

“If it doesn't work. One thing at a time. We know this at least sort of works, and it’s free too,” Linskota replied unconvincingly as she paged through a book of hers. “I did bring the powder we have left and what we need to turn it into paint if we need it.”

Yldril had at least shut up and was instead just glaring at them now, Saph meeting the gaze of her massive eye. It was unmoving, unblinking, and clearly scrutinizing them. ‘Let’s get this over with,’ she thought to herself, suddenly feeling quite a bit more uncomfortable. They had removed the mine because it might just take a few of them with it if it came to that. It wasn’t like it was needed now that Glira was at hand.

“Okay Jinora. See Fengi. Magic,” Saph went, holding up the candy, Jinora quickly turning in her arms to look at Fengi, having very much so figured out what she was supposed to do by now.

Fengi stepped forwards as Jinora’s eyes began to shine, Yldril not moving a muscle, Glira leaning forwards and raising a foot just in case.

“Okay. Let’s try this,” Fengi went, taking a step forward and kneeling in front of Yldril. “You will not harm my friends. You will tell us what we want to know. And do what I tell you.”

‘Might have overreached yourself there,’ Saph thought to herself.

“No I will not,” Yldril sneered in reply. “You think I’ve not been here before?” Her voice sounded rather strained.

“I’m willing to bet on it,” Saph replied, stroking Jinora and letting her have a few licks at the candy. “Okay, Jinora. We're gonna try again.”

“Agai?” the child replied with a tilted head and a curious expression.

“Yes, again,” Saph grinned as Jinora let out a little shriek. “Oh, you are so clever, aren’t you?”

A short belly tickle later Saph held up the candy again. Jinora just bounced a little in Saph’s arms before turning to Fengi holding out her hand. “Actually Fen, think it’s a good idea if you hold her.”

Rachuck seemed rather worried at the idea, looking to the Major who in turn just shrugged looking at Yldril.

“Can’t see the harm in that. She would want the child as a bargaining chip anyway.”

‘Nice way to fucking put it,’ Saph sneered to herself as she walked up to Fengi, handing the kid over. “There we go. And the obligatory candy.”

“Thanks,” Fengi replied, letting Jinora sit on one arm as she held the candy with the other.

She turned to Yldril and once again kneeled before her, Jinora looking a touch confused.

“You will not harm my friends. You will tell us what we want to know. And do what I tell you.”

Jinora didn’t seem to get the insinuation this time around, Saph walking up and kneeling next to Fengi, taking the candy and holding it up. “Magic.”

“Magniks,” Jinora giggled as she reached for the candy.

Saph pulled it back, tapping Fengi on the shoulder. “Magic.”

Jinora seemed to think for a second before plonking her hand down on Fengi’s shoulder, eyes glowing bright as she reached for the candy with her other hand.

Fengi clearly felt… whatever it was, happen as she repeated her phrase once more. Yldril’s snout curled into a sneer before she tried to turn to face them, being rewarded with Glira forcing her head into the ground once again.

“Get that stupid little creep away from me!” she roared out, Glira letting out a snarl in reply as the black dragon tried to wrench free, Jinora starting to cry as she clung to Fengi who in turn started to backpedal away.

Yldril tried lashing out with a foreleg, black claws reaching, heading straight for Saph and Fengi. Saph tried to yank Fengi away, who instead just hunkered down, protecting Jinora. The kid screamed in fear as she clutched Fengi who was just curled up around her. Time slowed down for Saph as the clawed hand came towards them, stopping short of its target, Yldril having reached the end of her reach. Then Fengi lit up like a glowant on a moonless night.

Saph turned her head to look at Fengi, even the blue ribs on her back were glowing as she stood back up again, green light pouring from her eyes like Tom’s flashlights, clearly visible even in the middle of the day. And she spoke in a disembodied voice Saph swore came as much from inside her head as from her ears.

“You dare harm what I saved! What are you!?” It did not sound like Fengi either. It was a deeper tone, yet still feminine, and it sounded pissed. “I see. Thank you, Fengi… You come here. To my home. A forest under siege from the dark, and you dare attack those who defend it, inadequate though they may be. You force them to throw away my precious friends. Those who I care for! Just to take some trivial things you want like coins. I would rip you apart if I were there. But I can do this. I sentence you to servitude. Let these people do what they want with you, this one feels pure enough, possibly even kind-hearted. Hopefully, they will work you to death so you can repay some of what you cost me.”

Then Yldril screamed out in pain, Saph looking up to see Glira clearly struggling to keep the black dragon down as wounds ripped and braces snapped like twigs. Everyone quickly turned and ran except for Saph, who tried her damndest to move Fengi back. The young huntress just stood there though, as if glued in place. Skin glowing and eyes still shining bright as she stared at the black dragon.

“Why won’t you move! FENGI!”

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