Hunter Or Huntress

Chapter 131: Trial by Fire and Steam

When the food was all but gone, the now supercharged kids had been released. Much to Tom’s amusement, even the adults seemed to be moving faster as some set about clearing up, others running games for the kids, and yet more partaking in games themselves. Saph was soon busy getting everyone who thought they could give her a run for her money through the various courses she had set up. Jarix decided that was an excellent idea which resulted in quite the airshow, as eventually even Baron was convinced to try and give it a shot. He overshot some of the turns quite badly, but he did make it around in the end, much to his crew's approval. Even if his time had been close to the slowest of the day.

Tom had guessed Saph would make a course that suited her, so he was not surprised when she ran with the title of fastest flier. It was impressive to see her streaking through the tight turns nearly without scrubbing speed, Jarix taking the title for the dragons with an equal amount of predictability.

It only took an hour or two, though, before the side effects of the sugar became obvious as the kids quickly calmed down, eventually being taken to the keep to rest as the sun started getting lower in the sky. More drinks were brought out as the more adult part of the party started getting underway, the four dragons having laid down close to each other for a chat. Tom and Jacky dragged a bench, table, and some drinks over to listen in on the conversation, Tom guessing an over four-hundred-year-old dragon might know a few good tales.

The four dragons were currently reminiscing about the years of training Baron had taken them through back at the capital. Tom listened intently to some of the old stories. Mainly looking for some gossip about Jarix After a little while though, just as Tom had hoped, the old red decided to share one of his own stories.

“Say students, I have a story I have been wanting to tell you for a very long time,” Baron started, casting a glance at Tom, who leaned forwards on the bench. “Though I have been… unable to share it for quite some time.”

“Are you sure you can now?” Tom questioned, looking up at the venerable dragon. He had a pretty good idea what was coming and he was not sure that was a smart choice of story all things considered. Even if he would like to hear some of the old Dragon’s tales.

“The investigator failed to specify who I might be able to disclose information to, simply that I was allowed to do so,” Baron replied with a hint of a grin as he made himself comfortable. “Victoria, gather up the crew. If I am right about what’s to come, then they should all hear this.”

The Colonel just nodded once, walking off to wave people over towards the dragons. More than just the crews coming over, most of them with mugs or glasses in their hands.

“Is it the Battle of Latujha or Feldin? Maybe Luken, or maybe Pelinor?” Grevi questioned enthusiastically, leaning her head forwards as she paused to think.

“Cartehega,” Baron replied flatly. Grevi fell silent, and Jarix just tilted his head, confused.

“I think you told me that one. It was a while ago though. That was your first real battle, wasn’t it?” Grevi questioned, Jarix nodding in agreement. Tiguan just looked at the red and waited for whatever was coming, seemingly happy either way.

“No, I did not. I told you a fairy tale… This was a long time ago. I hadn’t even gotten my first commendation yet. “Baron replied with a bit of mirth in his voice. ”I was flying as part of a routine patrol, looking for anything that had slipped through our northern forces during the war. We had heard reports of some ‘massive metal monster’ as they called it being sighted up north. Damned Inquisition not wanting to tell us the honest truth. We had no clue anything was coming, let alone something like that.”

“For those that don’t already know this, don’t speak of this to anyone. Inquisitorial secrets. You all know the drill,” the red dragon went, looking around at the gathering flock of people. The ones from Deriva looked rather worried all of a sudden, their expressions turning to confusion as everyone else seemingly wasn’t scared for their lives at that statement. “Not to worry, little ones. You will be briefed on the wider situation tomorrow,” the dragon continued, looking at the folk from Deriva. Tom felt sweat running down the back of his neck. This had definitely not been part of the plan, but he guessed it was now.

__________________________________________________________________________________

It was a relatively quiet evening at Royal Guard headquarters, Cartehega. As quiet as could be expected on a military base during a war at least. It was an old base. Many believed it was older than the city itself. The spacious mountainside corridors wide enough for even the largest of dragons to pass each other without much hassle. It was one of the only places Baron had ever felt small unless he was trying to measure himself up against another dragon.

The young red dragon and his combat wing had only arrived a few days ago. A five dragon formation led by the thirty-ton veteran blue dragon named Forkyr, who had the misfortune of leading the four rookies, even if he seemed to relish the posting. Morale was high at the base, though Baron and the other rookies felt a little cheated by their assignment. They weren’t going to see any real action unless the forces to the north fucked up somehow. That seemingly suited Forkyr just fine though, the old blue having gone on and on about how perfect this assignment was for them. They would get some experience outside of the training fields at the capital and likely a little battle dealing with whatever slipped through to the city, which should be perfectly safe for them. That would ensure that none of the very valuable young dragons were lost before they could reach their proper potential.

Baron just heard an old man not wanting to do any more fighting. Forkyr was a vet of many battles, and he had lost the taste for it, that was plain as day to all of them. He had never spoken of glorious battles or valiant efforts, only referring to his by all accounts substantial achievements as at best “necessary duty” or at worst his own “young-minded stupidity.” Tonight’s duty for their wing would be a night patrol. Ever since the war started, the Royal Guard had been patrolling the city in force 24/7 and close formations. It had seemed rather excessive and rather inefficient to Baron, as opposed to spreading the wing out to cover more airspace, especially in the evening and night.

Rumors of heavy fighting to the north where the majority of the army was busy trying to keep the enemy back were aplenty throughout the base. The four rookies were currently just chatting a little, waiting patiently for their gear to be checked over and the last few pieces strapped on inside one of Cartehega’s massive cliffside hangars.

“So Kuma, think we’ll get anything interesting tonight?” Erdringer questioned the white dragon, always trying to be a little more upbeat than the rest of them. It could often brighten the mood, but it could also get a little grating in the long run in Baron’s opinion.

“You want the truthful reply or the one you want to hear?” The female red replied, seemingly more concerned with the positioning of her wing joint armor, The thick chainmail mats being tied down nice and tight where the plates didn’t cover.

“I think we are gonna see jack shit,” Yldrin grumped, her crew having finished already since the young blue was carrying a lot less armor than the rest of them. That left her and her crew to just lounge around, waiting for the rest of them. “Just like yesterday, and the day before that.”

“We don’t know that. It might be something at least. They can’t catch everything up north. What do you think, Baron? Got an opinion today, or do you just agree with Kuma as usual?” Erdringer tried again, looking at Baron, who was currently having his helmet strapped on. The heavy leather straps cinched beneath his chin were already feeling annoying, but a helmet was a helmet and he wasn’t going without one.

“I think there will either be something there or there won’t. If we find it, we will kill it. If we miss it, we will get a reprimand by some kind of officer tomorrow,” the red replied with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. This was a routine patrol. It might be from a new place, the four of them having been trained in the capital, but it was still the exact same thing. Go out, fly around, and if you see anything suspicious find out what it is. If it’s nasty, you kill it. Simple and easy.

“Couldn’t have put it better myself.” They heard a response come from down one of the corridors, Forkyr walking around the corner in full battle kit, Baron eyeing the ballista on the blue's back enviously. It shouldn’t be too long before he was allowed to have one, but for the time being he had to make do with the largest crew of the formation, not counting Fokyr of course. He had five people on his back, led by Lieutenant Illmore Hashaw. Baron had heard that family name before, so when it had come time for assignments he was quite pleased the two of them had been put together. The lieutenant was young, but bright. And unlike some of the other younger officers he had been forced to deal with, Illmore managed to not get on his nerves very often.

“Hurry up you lot, this isn’t a pleasure center. You should have been done by now,” Forkyr teased the crews that still weren’t done as he walked towards the still closed outer door. “Would someone mind getting this thing open? We have a mission to fly.”

“Could we not. Weather is terrible,” Yldrin pleaded, receiving nods of agreement from the remaining rookies.

“All the more reason to get wet before takeoff. We don’t want anyone to get a cold shock, now do we?” the veteran blue chirped, receiving no laughs from the rookies.

‘That can’t really happen in summer, now can it?’ Baron grumbled to himself disapprovingly. The crews looked even more displeased, sealing up whatever weatherproofing they had as tight as it would go before getting back to work.

“Open it up. If nothing else, it will make them move a bit quicker,” Forkyr went, looking to the work crew responsible for the door. The mechanism slowly came to life, and the door lifted up and away, the biting wind streaming into the now exposed hanger bay.

Baron felt the final straps being cinched tight as Illmore gave him a pat on the side of the lower neck. “Equipment checked and secured. Ready to fly.”

“Very good,” Baron replied, taking up his position as the other rookies slowly finished their prep work.

“Now you all know the drill. There’s nothing new about it. Follow my lead, tight formation to combat the weather, and let’s try not to get too tired too quickly. Ready?”

“Ready,” came the well-practiced reply from the four young dragons. Fokyr turned about to face the opening of the hanger again. “On me then.”

As they flew the weather only got worse, low-hanging clouds rolling in above them. They settled for patrolling below them, as it didn’t look like the clouds were small enough to climb through easily.

“Any chance this gets bad enough we get to land?” Kuma had questioned, even the dragon having to shout to ensure Forkyr heard her at the head of the formation.

“Perhaps. Not scared of water are you?” the lead blue replied, Baron grumbling to himself at the knowledge that the old blue likely wouldn’t take them down till they were so worn out they could hardly stand for the sake of training. A large blue dragon was damn near unbeatable in a storm after all.

“Well I shall pray for shit weather then,” Kuma replied, clearly not impressed with the response. Erdringer’s doubtlessly uplifting response was cut off by a quick flash on their right. Baron grew a bit of a smile; if thunder was incoming they would have to land. Then came the boom. It sounded off somehow, not as sharp as he expected thunder to be. Then came another flash also on their right, clearly a lot closer, and it did not look like lightning to Baron. It was more like a ball of bright light at right about the same altitude they were flying at…

“What the hell was that?!” Yldrin broke out as all eyes were locked in the direction of the flashes. As the explosion came it was loud, though the piercing screams that followed it were what sent a shiver down Baron’s spine.

Forkyr swung his head around to shout at them, likely bellowing out orders. Baron looked up hearing a strange whistling sound coming from above them, and it was quickly getting louder.

“Break Break Bre…” Forkyr roared out as a strange metallic thing came down from above with incredible speed, slamming into the lead dragon's back. Baron had thought it was some kind of massive lance but he was soon proven wrong.

Baron had seen flash bombs at work before, both in demonstration and in practice. Even an entire barrel of flash once. But he had never seen anything make a thirty ton dragon disappear in a blink of an eye. Gore and pieces flew everywhere as the formation scattered in desperation.

Baron and Erdringer had been taking up the rear of the formation when the weapon hit. Kuma and Yldrin were in the middle, and both of them fell out of formation, turning for the capital, heavily wounded by shrapnel. Baron checked himself for damage, and to his astonishment he found nothing of note, realizing Kuma had shielded him from almost all of it. Looking to his right, he saw Erdringer in a similar situation, the white turning to look at Baron wide-eyed. The young red’s attention soon shifted skywards, though, as brief flashes of light started appearing in the clouds above, all seemingly coming from the same area.

“What the hell do we do now? Should we retreat?!” Erdinger shouted out, the white apparently deciding Baron was now in command.

“Like hell we do! We kill it!” Baron roared in reply, beginning his climb, beating hard as he wiped the remnants of his mentor from his face. Forkyr was a bit of an arse, but he had taught them much. Cowardice was not one of those things, at least not once battle was joined, but navigation a storm had been a favorite of the old blue.

As they climbed, they began to hear the yammering shrieks of darklings filling the air, great big swarms of them all flying through the clouds.

“How the hell are they flying in the clouds!?” Baron shouted out as the swirling fog surrounded them.

“How should I know?” Lieutenant Illmore replied. “What the hell hit Forkyr!?”

“I don’t know, but it’s gonna die!” Baron roared as he climbed up into the clouds. No way that thing could be far away. They just needed to get a little lucky to find the bastard, but they needed to be fast while it was still close.

“All hands remain aboard! Crossbows at the ready. Fire at your discretion!” Illmore shouted out, the four-man crew preparing for the fight of their lives alongside their officer as they hunkered down. “All light fliers considered hostile!”

Baron soon heard shouting behind him as bolts were flung into the dense cloud, drawing an evil smile as he heard the wretched scream of a wounded darkling. What got his attention though was the fact that several of its comrades followed it down.

“Darklings don’t save each other,” Baron went, expecting a reply from his lieutenant. “What the hell is going on?!”

“They must be following the screams,” Illmor replied as Barron heard more bolts be let loose at whatever came close enough.

“Where the hell is it! Where is the monster?!” Erdinger, shouted out from behind Baron. “I can’t see it!”

“That’s because we need to hear it!” Baron shouted back.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!”

“It means Shut up!” Baron roared at the white. He perked his ears and listened intently.

“Turn left half, it must be heading for the city. I think it passed us!” Illmore shouted at Baron. “Darklings are coming towards us.”

“Roger, right half turn and be quiet,” Baron replied, executing the turn by feel, continuing to listen and swinging his ears to the front. ‘What the hell is that noise?’ he questioned himself as he made out a weak knocking sound. “I got something. Target dead ahead, use your ears. Let’s catch that bastard!”

“Right behind you!” Erdinger replied, Baron putting on more speed while trying to make out the exact bearing of the noise. That wasn’t helped by the incessant screaming of the darklings trying to make a target of themselves inside the clouds. As their speed climbed, they found themselves outdistancing the original pack and coming up behind another one, seemingly following some kind of leader, be it knight, witch, or worse.

‘Payback time,’ Baron mused as he opened his maw and let loose into the target-rich environment in front of him. The firelight shone off the cloud around him, engulfing them in bright light as he plowed through the slower-moving formation of darklings, turning most to ash in an instant.

“A fitting funeral,” Illmore added. “Keep going like that and we might make it home ali…”

That was the last thing Baron’s first Hashaw officer got out before the cannon shell hit him, passing slightly to the right of Baron's head and just above his shoulder and catching the lieutenant in the chest, not detonating as it kept going into the abyss.

Baron veered off course, banking hard right to escape whatever had just fired at him. “Ballista, evasive!” the dragon roared out, catching a glimpse of Erdinger as the white banked left, disappearing into the clouds.

“Who's still back there?” Baron shouted out, swiveling his head and ears around and trying to find the noise again, finding he had gone mostly deaf on his right ear.

“Claus, Unomi, and Jinaro!” came the reply from behind.

“Stay down and hang on!” Baron roared at them. He couldn’t worry about fancy maneuvers in here; they had zero visibility and no horizon for bearings. ‘Why didn’t I get a fucking healer,’ he cursed to himself as he struggled to find the noise with only one good ear. In the end, it was made blindingly obvious as a flash of light could be seen through the clouds, revealing a massive silhouette in the distance. Then there was another flash, and another, all accompanied by the same deafening boom that had signaled Illmore’s death.

“Oh I found you now,” Baron growled to himself, trying to keep low as he turned to intercept the weird monster, putting on what speed he could, then gliding in on locked wings. ‘Can’t hear me now.’

The first thing he encountered was yet more darklings, seemingly none the wiser to his approach, nor did they even harry him as he streaked past. Then, seemingly out of nothing, came a building of steel and wood. Baron, not sure what else to do, opened his maw and let fly another stream of fire sweeping across the massive construct. Determined to disable whatever weapons they had he kept up the barrage as he flared his wings to slow down before slamming into the side of the vessel. Thick steel plates not yielding under his weight. ‘It is a steel monster’

Latching on, there was screaming and shouting aboard as dozens of darklings and other crew sprinted across the deck, trying to man what must be weapons, some even prying their charred crewmates from their positions. To his right, a strange contraption with two metal tubes was moved to point at him, the darklings seemingly fighting to get their weapon to work. With a mighty heave, he hauled himself up onto the deck, leaving deep gashes in the side of the hull with his rear talons. Pushing aside the tubes, he squashed the weapon by simply putting his weight on it. It flattened with the sound of shattering gears and creaking metal. Then he cleaned the deck before him once more with a torrent of fire, charring most of the crew running out to replace the lost ones. A few exploded violently, taking their friends with them as their dangerous cargo ignited. Baron didn’t have much more to give as he shut his maw to inspect the damage. He didn’t bother to count the forms that were strewn across the now flaming deck. Bells were ringing, and sirens began blaring as he felt the vessel dip downwards, losing altitude.

“Don’t like it in the clouds anymore, do you!” Baron roared in victory as he scanned for anything that looked important, eyes landing on the large rotating things at the back of the vessel. ‘Let’s rip your wings off,’ he growled to himself, making his way awkwardly rearwards along the deck, darklings pouring out of hatches and doors. He squashed and swiped at what he could manage as he heard his remaining crew desperately fighting on his back.

“Incoming!” a familiar voice came as Erdinger appeared from the rear of the vessel, coming in fast and high.

“Shoot the spinney things!” Baron shouted as he stomped on another mindless darkling, reducing it to a stain across the fine wood decking. Erdinger responded with a shot of ice-cold liquid, which splashed across the rear of the vessel and instantly froze on impact. The noise was deafening as the blades of the propellers snapped, sending the shafts spinning wildly out of control, beating the ice and surrounding metal into pulp. The other noise that filled Baron’s ears at that moment was the sound of the rearmost weapon firing, hitting Erdinger in the shoulder and blowing his side apart with a massive explosion. The crippled white tumbled out of the air, landing in the chaos of his own design as the spinning shafts and propellers ripped apart what was left of him. A final piercing cry rang out as the mechanism froze in place amidst the expanding ice field left by the ruined white dragon.

Baron stood there shocked for a split second, looking at what was left of his friend before even noticing the rear gun starting to train on him. He dug in with his hind claws and launched himself at the elevated platform the weapon sat on, grabbing ahold of the deadly device and forcing it away from him with a metallic crunching sound. He bent his head down and crushed the darkling weapon crew in his jaws, spitting them out over the side.

“Kill the damn lizard!” It rang out from below. Looking down towards the center of the vessel, Baron saw a pair of dark knights and a witch standing guard over a large hatch, the witch seemingly preparing a spell as patterns running up her arms began to glow. The two knights took up station in front of her, shields raised after seeing Baron had noticed them.

Baron wanted to let the bastard know just who he was and why they were gonna die today, aside from being traitorous scum who didn’t deserve the air they breathed and having murdered two of his friends already. But that would have made it hard to roast them alive using what he had left to give. Rather hard. As flame poured from his maw once more, the witch got off her spell, a shimmering barrier appearing before the knights. The barrier did last for almost half a second. Then the screams began as they were cooked alive, their fancy armor only prolonging the experience. Baron struggled not to laugh at their suffering.

Baron was so engrossed by his revenge that he hardly noticed the pricks and slices as the darklings started swarming him, many coming down from above and tearing his crew apart. Instead, he laughed at his achievement once the torrent of flame petered out, liquid flame still dripping from his maw. “Who’s next?!” he roared out as they cleared the clouds, a shadowy black dragon landing on the ship amidships and staring at Baron with ice-cold hate.

“Get off my ship!” came the twisted snarl of a traitor of the highest order, Baron’s laughter fading in an instant.

He knew he stood no chance in a fight with the much larger shadow drake in his current state. As he stared at his doom, he knew this was probably it. Then so be it. “Not a chance,” was all he got out before he felt a rumbling beneath him, then the vessel spat back at him. Searing heat and fire shot out the door the witch had been defending, blasting Baron clean of the vessel. He roared in pain as he held up his forelegs to cover his face, hearing another thunderous boom and screaming as he fell.

__________________________________________________________________________________

“I managed to crash land in a forest a few kilometers north of the city,” the old dragon finished, placing his head on his front paws. “Kuma was the only one who made it back to defend the city. She died in the siege. Had I not been a red, that blast would have been the end of me too.”

“The only piece they found of Forkyr was the horn of one of his crew still embedded in Kuma’s shoulder after the blast. Yldrin didn’t even make it back to the city. Some of her crew made it, saying that she crashed over a kilometer outside the city. Her crew fought to defend her as the enemy swarmed the city, but they were forced to retreat after her lieutenant gave her his final mercy… I quite liked those two,” Baron went with a deep sigh laying his head on his forelegs, falling silent for a few seconds before continuing.

“My landing wasn’t much better. I broke both forelegs, snapped like damn twigs. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t fly, and I was barely alive as it was. And then along comes one of the guardians of our majestic forests,” the dragon continued with dark sarcasm.

“I still haven’t decided if I was happy to see him. I think it took nearly an hour to convince that damn unicorn that losing every friend I had and being blasted out of the sky was good enough to be allowed to eat a deer or two as he patched me up. I thought a legendary unicorn would have me back in the fight in hours at most. Instead, he took the chance to try and teach me some morals and the way of life… He was more full of himself than even that Flaxen woman.”

“The treatment was so bad I wouldn’t have made it out of that forest even if I tried for the next several days. Then the pretentious creature started going crazy about feeling dark magic at play. I didn’t believe him at first, but he suddenly felt the need to have me ready for battle in a hurry. Bastard healed me in a matter of hours, he could have done it whenever he pleased.”

“So what did you do after he fixed you up?” Jacky questioned from Tom’s lap, legs swinging freely like a kid at storytime. Even if said kid did have a mug of ale in one hand.

“I set about doing my job. I went to war. Never fought with a unicorn before or since and he wouldn’t let me leave. He sure did love those plants. Ever seen a darkling turned inside out?” the dragon asked coldly, looking down at Tom and Jacky.

“Seen one turned to mush,” Jacky replied, looking like she didn’t know if that was the right answer.

“I think there is less screaming for that. It was a stupid battle, but it felt good. There were so many of them just running around, ripe for killing. Darklings without orders beyond just ‘kill.’ It was easy to kill them, but they just kept coming. Such a startling variety too. To start with it was mostly keep dwellers, huntresses, guards you know the usual.” Tom felt Jacky shift a little uncomfortable with a few of the guards letting out a cough.

“More and more of them came, steadily claiming the forest pushing us back, young and old, rich and poor. I was enjoying myself until then… burning a child put an end to that part. It was hell. I didn’t think a unicorn could be worn out but he spent everything he had to save his forest. He killed himself using his magic, and it was all for nothing.

“When the army arrived, A scouting detachment found me and brought me up to speed on what had happened. Near enough everyone in the city was either dead or black as soot. When I made it to the city, to join in the assault, they weren’t even daring to set foot on the ground out of fear of what it might do to us. We were just covering the entire city in death, again and again, flying sortie after sortie, killing whatever came up to greet us, spending what breath we had leftover on destroying the city we had tried to protect.” With that, the red fell silent again looking around at the other three dragons. “So now you know. The actual battle of Cartehega. The largest military defeat in living memory.”

“Did any of the crew make it?” Jarix questioned, shooting a quick glance at Zarko, who had come up next to him to listen in.

“No... Never even found a piece, or a horn ring, or anything. Illmore’s crossbow was still in its holster, that's it. It’s still in Lady Hashaw’s collection I think... That's all I got out with, aside from a ruined harness and a burned face... A damn crossbow.”

“The city fell… We failed. Not due to overwhelming enemy numbers; it was just that damn ship. It wiped out three combat patrols. Cartehega only had seven total. One was half strength, and we were just recruits not counting Forkyr,” Baron finished, laying his head down on his forelegs again and staring off into the distance.

“Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Grevi questioned, looking almost betrayed as well as horrified at the old war vet.

“Why do you think? If you ask anyone who would actually know, that ship never existed. We fought valiantly against a pack of wild dragons that had been corrupted with promises of power and a life of luxury. Or bound to a witch's will, you take your pick of story,” Baron replied, darkly. He just stared blankly, Victoria walking up to give the old drake a pat on the jaw.

“Who knows how Illmore really died? Does my mother know?”

“Why don’t you do a headcount here? His own mother didn’t know,” Baron replied, not shifting. “Damn disgraceful. At least the official report gave him an honorable death,” Baron replied, shifting his gaze to Tom and Jacky. “Any marvelous ideas for how to fight that?” the dragon continued with rather dark sarcasm in his voice. The usual professionalism far gone. “Or were you not lying to the Investigator like you should have been?”

“No, not short of big guns and doing what you did. Get in close. You must have set off a magazine. Surely it crashed after that,” Tom had to admit, trying to process the story.

“Fell out of the sky like a rock. Landed in a canyon. My guess would be that the inquisition has the pieces,” Baron replied with a hint of a cruel smile. “The only good thing to come out of that day… How did it know where we were? The first shot found us through the clouds.”

“I don’t know, magic guidance?” Tom shrugged in reply. “Might have been using acoustics to hear you inside the clouds, hence the shot that killed Illmore… I’m sorry.”

Baron just gave him a quick nod in appreciation. “I agree, they weren’t ready for me on my second attack; they didn’t hear me coming. What of Jarix’s new toy?”

“Against something like that, it would only take the paint off I'm afraid. Well, it could wreak havoc on the decks for sure. But it sounds like you have that covered. You said the whole city was either dead or turned, what do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. A city of nearly one-hundred-thousand people either killed in battle or turned into darklings. The war that followed cost us more lives than even I know. The ground was so cursed it took decades to make Cartehega even remotely safe again, at least that part we could thank the unicorns for. The darklings persisted though, most not leaving the island. It took a century before resettlement began. Today you wouldn’t believe it was once a cursed hellscape where even touching the wrong thing could kill you.”

“But it’s safe now?”

“There are always rumors of strange things happening in that city. I think it’s fair to say we didn’t get it all. But thus far it seems mostly fine.”

That didn’t sound overly comforting to Tom to say the absolute least. But it sure did explain why it had taken so long to resettle. He also wondered just why investigator Paulin left out that rather sizable detail. Then again, he had only really questioned her about the ship and that damn woman didn’t strike him as someone who would reveal more than she felt she had to.

As Tom pondered the situation, he almost didn’t notice Baron bending his head down towards him, speaking in a lower tone. “Out of fear of Glira hearing this, I’ll keep this quiet. What about something bigger than Jarix's toy?”

‘Ahr shit here we go again,’ Tom cursed to himself mulling it ower.

“The agreement was clear, should these weapons become a necessity you would provide them,” Baron reiterated though his tone was very respectful, a welcome change from the usual demands and pleadings when it came to weapons.

“I don’t think we can strap a big enough ‘gun’ to you… I would suggest bombs or rockets. They don’t need to be fancy, just a big container full of boom powder and a fuze,” Tom replied, thinking back to his conversation with Victoria, pointedly ignoring Jacky’s now very attentive stare. Such weapons would be just as effective against a keep as a ship though Then again if you had a dragon a keep was not a hard target to destroy anyway. “They could be made simple enough that you could make them yourself without too much hassle. It would not be cheap though.”

“Don’t tell Glira,” Baron went, his face turning a bit more friendly again.

“Agreed,” Jarix echoed with an exaggerated nod.

“Yup definitely” Grevi added, Tiguan just nodding his consent too before speaking up, voice actually quivering.

“Why are you telling us all this now?”

“Because, if the inquisition is starting to share these things. There is a reason and it can’t be good.” Baron replied somberly. “tough Times lay ahead I’m sure of it”