Hunter Or Huntress

Chapter 138: Unfair Negotiations

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“Anybody home?” the black dragon had questioned from outside. It sounded female to Tom, but that was sometimes rather hard to tell with their deep voices and all. Said voice was calm and silky smooth though, and they sounded very pleased with themselves right now. “Knock knock.”

“Yes, we are home alright. What might I be able to help you with?” Rachuck shouted in reply. He was watching the brigands from an arrow slit in one of the covers that had been put over the windows. The Guard captain had been wanting to keep an eye on Tom and Linkosta, seeking to know just what to expect from their little counter attack. Not to mention what weapons they actually had. He had not been pleased to hear that they were down a considerable amount of shotgun shells. Then again, it didn’t look like this was going to be a drawn out engagement. Tom certainly planned on putting on a show, but engaging that red high above was gonna be a touch tricky.

Linkosta was working on the land mine prototype. She had been so damn busy over the last several weeks with the vault and Tink and all the other shit that had been going on that she hadn’t managed to get the detector to work yet. The manual detonators should work just fine though, and they had one for both the mine and the bunker if it came to it. Of course that stupid fucking dragon had decided to sit down and have a taunting little chat from a relativly safe distance rather than come in nice and close or maybe walk ever to to bunker where they could blow her sky high.

“Oh, nothing much. Nice little place you got here… I heard there were some interesting things in there. Wouldn’t happen to be up for sale now, would they?”

“We have some pretty nice rope, a few pieces of darkling armor, some ale that is probably an acquired taste, and some really rather nice pelts. Any of that strike your fancy?” Rachuck went in a commendably calm tone.

“Not sure. Would it be possible to see the selection?”

“Hmm… I mean we might be able to string something together. Would you want the whole tour or perhaps just a sampling?”

“Oh a sampling, how thrilling. I do trust that this marvelous white powder you are apparently in possession of would be available, or is that only for special guests?”

“Oh, that is for very special guests indeed. We only bring that out for the rarest of occasions,” Rachuck replied, looking back at Tom and Linkosta with a shrug. He looked like he didn’t believe this was actually working. Tom was just pondering if the fact the dragon was seemingly after the sugar was good or bad. I could certainly have been worse though that was for sure. Then again she could be lying.

“Oh such as?” the dragon questioned enthusiastically. Tom couldn’t even tell if it was genuine or fake though.. She sounded like some posh woman making conversation at a tea party who believed herself superior to just about everyone around her, which was probably accurate.

“Well, perhaps a royal visit; it couldn’t just be any member of the royal family though. Obviously.”

“Oh no, obviously,” the dragon echoed as Tom just shook his head. “I am very important right now though, wouldn't you say?”

“Oh, most definitely. Speaking of which, we haven’t done proper introductions yet.”

“You’re right! Where are my manners? You may call me the tax collector. That will do for now, I Presume.”

“Well, I’ll be the captain then. I guess you came early this year.”

“Indeed Rachuck Bizmati. That does tend to be when peoples’ coffers are the most full after all. Speaking of which, I really must insist on inspecting yours, else a terrible accident might happen,” the dragon replied, voice not deviating from the calm, friendly, and incredibly posh tone.

“I was under the impression you were here for some of our trade goods?” Rachuck tried, clearly trying not to worry about the fact their guest seemingly knew more about them than they did her.

“Gold is a trade good, but I'm not picky. I will take whatever you have. If you cooperate, I even promise to leave you enough to survive the winter.”

“Mighty generous of you. This wouldn’t be for the purpose of coming back next year now, would it?”

“Oh certainly not. I have a very busy schedule. Now what is it going to be, dear Captain?”

“I’m gonna have to think about that for a little bit. My lady hasn’t woken up yet you see.”

“Oh well in that case I recommend waking her post haste. I’m a very busy woman after all haven't got much time, Chop chop.”

‘What does she by ‘haven’t got much time?’ Tom thought to himself, hoping dearly that she didn’t know the status of their air support.

“Right away, Ma’am,” Rachuck went, trotting back from the window to see what Tom and Linkosta had managed. “She’s certainly full of herself,” he whispered to Tom, leaning in. “Any brilliant plans yet?”

Linkosta brought over the mine, not saying a word as she carefully handed it to Tom. He didn’t need to hear her say the thing was live and dangerous, when people handle explosives that carefully you just know. Tom just nodded at the captain. “Payment.”

“And how do you suppose we give that to her? Put it in a bag of gold and hand it over?” Rachuck replied, seeming quite annoyed.

“Could tell her what it is. Sure she would want that.”

“And then she’s just gonna go away? She’s gonna want everything.”

“We just need to buy time,” Tom shrugged. “Maybe give her a little. Why not invite them for a nice drink to discuss things.”

“We could try that… I would like to come out of that alive though.”

“Noted. Will see what I can do.”

“Very good. I’ll go fetch Nunuk and Dakota,” the captain went before running off hurriedly. Tom just looked to Linkosta, who also shrugged.

“Well don’t look at me. I know nothing about any of this.”

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Their little hunt had been concluded, Jarix currently flying along as they searched for Glira so they could put a stop to her hunting before she actually managed to catch up. The huntresses were flying under their own power as Jarix led the formation. He was absolutely covered in birds by now, to the point they were struggling to find places to put more. That seemed like as good an excuse as any to call it a day and go to find Glira to secure their win.

“So what’s the total?” Jarix asked, voice heavy with anticipation as they flew along.

“Seventy-Two,” Zarko went, clambering back up from under the dragon.

“Oh fuck yeah,” Jarix replied, sounding quite condfident in his imminent victory. Saph, Jacky, and Pho gave each other a wing tip high fives. “Now to go stop that big daft blue thing from taking the win.”

“You know Jarix, all things are relative,” Saph shouted out, the dragon looking back at her unimpressed.

They knew roughly where she was, and it hadn’t taken too long until they spotted a large blue climbing up into the sky.

“Hah. She has been hunting deer,” Jarix laughed as he sold off some altitude for speed. Glira spotted them coming in, turning to intercept them as she continued her climb. After a few minutes, both of the dragons came alongside each other, heading back towards the keep.

“I take you called it quits, huh?” Jarix roared out as Glira came into shouting range.

“Shut it, tiny. Where the hell did you get all those birds!?” Glira protested, not sounding very happy at all.

“Well we shot them out of the sky obviously. How did your hunt go?”

“Apparently not well enough,” Glira grumbled, letting out a dismissive snarl as she looked over Jarix.

“Wait… You cheated, didn’t you?! You used your machine gun! Or did you zap them out of the sky? We were not allowed to do that!”

“Rules didn’t say anything about shotguns,” Jarix laughed back at her, gracious as usual in victory.

“Hell yeah. He didn’t beat your ass. We did! Aha, oh yeah!” Jacky shouted out, launching into a signature set of show off maneuvers.

“What can I say? Crew is important,” Zarko added, also seeming quite proud.

“I hate you,” Glira snarled, looking back ahead.

“Of course you do. I beat you,” Jarix laughed out, followed by some kind of deep gurgling snicker that honestly had Saph wondering if he was choking.

Glira didn’t humor him with a response to that one. Luckily Jacky made sure they wouldn’t suffer any awkward silences as she started bickering with Fengi about if this was indeed cheating or not. The two of them came alongside, taking refuge in the dragon's combined wake to bicker. Saph made her way over to listen in, not finding anything else to do right now as they flew. Glira was positively loaded down with deer, to the point Saph had to wonder just how much knife work was in her future right now and whether or not there was even a herd left.

Aside from whenever someone came up with a new argument either for or against using the shotguns, the trip had been fairly quiet. Glira let out the occasional grump, and Jarix was smiling wide all the while.

Silence had reigned for a few minutes when Glira spoke up, tone sounding very different.

“Is that a red dragon circling over the keep?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jarix questioned, head swinging forward to peer at the keep.

“It damn well is. Black on the ground too; that's not traders,” Glira confirmed, Saph and the other huntresses maneuvering to get a better view.

“Fuck… What do we do now?” Jarix questioned seeming stumped for a second or two.

“Get that gun loaded… A dragon counts for ten, a dragonette two,” Glira chuckled in reply, seeming almost thrilled at the prospect of a round two.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Zarko shouted out, looking at the older dragon. “You want to make battle a competition.

“Of course. It’s just a couple idiots out for a hustle. How else do we keep it interesting?”

“Mom!” Jarix let out, looking at her. Zarko pretty clearly had something to say too, but she stayed her tongue.

“What?!”

“Could you try and be a bit pro about this? What if they know we are here? We don’t know that.”

“Sure I can do ‘Pro’ as you call it” Glira repleid sarcastically. “How do we trick them into engaging us so we are allowed to turn them into charred corpses?” Glira continued, tone changing completely flat and uncaring.

Jarix just looked at her, seemingly not sure how to reply to that one.

“Come on now. If they haven't actually attacked yet, we can’t really go in and murder the lot of them. How do we get them to do it? Want to let them have a run at the keep?”

“No!”

“Good. Then we don’t quite do this by the book. You be a good little boy, snap their neck like you would a deer and you laugh at their misfortune. They’re scum with wings, and we are gonna solve that problem. Now get your new weapon loaded. Kulk, blades out please.”

“Yes, ma’am,” came the reply from the healer as she scrambled down Glira’s sides, getting to work extending the blades the dragon wore religiously.

Jarix was silent for a few seconds, glaring at the keep. Saph was keeping an equally close eye on it. There was no fire and no swarming combatants. All seemed in order, in fact, aside from the two dragons, one above and one below.

“Do we dump the catch?” Jarix questioned in a more sombre tone.

“Yes. We have plenty of height on them. Use the weight to gain some dive speed.”

“I know how flying works, Mum.”

“Good. Cause you are catching that red for me. Do your job and your friends live. Fuck up and you’ll loose a few.”

“Yes, mum,” Jarix replied flatly, the last scraps of excitement gone from his voice.

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Tom certainly had to admire the balls of Nunuk, who had taken up the mantle of negotiator as soon as she was properly dressed for battle. The sight of the lady sitting at an improvised table and having what looked more like a friendly teaparty down in the courtyard while facing a dragon was an odd one to be sure. Tom and Linkosta had gone to the greeting hall after finishing their preparations, where Rachuck was also ready for battle. Kokashi kept everyone updated on what was going on down below, Tom peeking out a window, rifle at the ready.

He had finally got a good look at said dragon. It seemed to wear only the lightest of armor, and even that looked bruised and battered. The dragon herself didn’t look much better. She seemed healthy enough, but the amount of scars and rends covering her made her look more like an abused slave than a combat veteran. Her crew was massive too. Far larger than even what Baron brought. Tom guessed people were cheaper than dragons if you were fighting for money. There were four dragonettes on the ground at the moment, the rest circling above outside of bow range. The dragon and her entourage on the ground were smart enough to sit outside of grenade range, even if a bow would have little trouble reaching them.

‘hopefully we are out of acid range too then,’ Tom thought to himself, looking down at the old lady. She certainly wasn’t though.

The dragon had still not given a real name, nor had any of her crew introduced themselves aside from a lot of poorly veiled threats and posturing according to Kokashi. If Tom’s intuition was to be trusted, which was arguably questionable at best, then there was not a single dragonette down there who enjoyed this whole charade. The dragon most certainly did though, and luckily for them she was the one doing the talking, to the point that nearly none of them had spoken except when she had asked some rhetorical question. To which they would reply “Certainly” or “Of course ma’am” in a very respectful tone, often accompanied by a small bow.

Nunuk had been doing her best to pretend like her plan was to strike a deal that left her keep as unharmed as possible. This had clearly been helped by the fact she was willing to come out in such a set of armor, quite a price, ripe for the taking. It had certainly led to some looks and murmuring from the dragon's escort. When Nunuk had introduced herself in full was probably the only time he saw the dragon hesitate, Tom willing to bet she had heard that name before somewhere.

That seemed to be confirmed when the dragon started asking questions about her past. Nunuk set to answering diligently, which had quickly evolved into her telling tales of her past. To Tom and likely everyone in the keep’s relief, the dragon lapped the tales up like a kitten with warm milk.

Their job in the keep, though, was two fold right now. The red could not be allowed to make a run on the keep, and the black could not be alowed to murder Nunuk before she could make it to safety. Armor or not, getting chomped on by a dragon or sprayed in acid would not end well for the old lady.

They had as many gun barrels as they could spare trained on the black dragon, hoping that the fusillade of firepower would be enough to send the brigands bolting in sheer shock and surprise, letting them switch their fire to the red dragon. Dakota was standing with a compound bow at the ready, one of Saph’s arrows nocked and primed to ruin someone's day. She hadn't fired one before, but even if it didn’t hit, the boom should at least help with the scaring away part of the plan. Of course, if they could injure the dragon enough that she couldn’t evade pursuit when their assistance arrived, that was just a nice bonus.

For the red though, they were going to have to risk an intercept in case it decided to brave the shotgun fire, which at that range would likely not be much of a problem for it. The major and his remaining Royal Guard warriors, with the exception of Twitch, had been put in charge of that perilous operation. Lances had been brought up from the armory to equip them since they were geared for fighting with Glira, not alone. They hoped the younger dragon would simply turn and run in the face of danger with no incentive of reward, but just in case they were all up on the stairwell in the tower ready to take to the sky.

Linkosta had also been trying to work out what kind of magic they might be facing, but thus far the enemy had played their hand close with that one. One of the dragonette brigands had walked up to the black dragon, demanding her attention for a second, the dragon leaning down to hear whatever they had to say.

“She is not pleased,” Dakota went, drawing a slight smile, standing to Tom’s right.

“You fucking idiots! They we were supposed to have half a day at least!” The dragon roared out turning to glare at Nunuk.

“You will open your doors right now. and I will keep my word.”

“Is that so?” Nunuk had questioned looking up at the dragon. Even Tom was able to tell she was having a hard time keeping her cool. “Sure you don’t want to negotiate for a surrender? We might let you go if you promise not to return?”

“I will burn your home to the fucking ground just to hear you scream. now open up or I’ll cut them open! I will take your gold and all those precious documents I was told to get and nothing else or you will die here today”

“I don’t think you would survive that action. Those two are Royal Guard”

“Oh, don’t bother lecturing me on how to do my job, you old fang I know who they are. Open your damn doors!”

“Very well,” Nunuk replied, getting up and turning back to the keep, going to walk up the stairs.

“You stop right there,” The dragon chuckled menacingly. “You didn’t think I was letting you back inside, now did you!?”

“I guess not,” Nunuk replied, turning around to face the dragon again.

Tom looked at Rachuck, who had walked up right behind him and had a hand raised in the air, looking like he would be sweating bullets if he could right now. “Aim for an eye if you can.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Tom replied, shifting his purchase on the arrow slit, taking aim as Rachuck put his other hand on Tom’s shoulder.

“People of Bizmati Keep! I have your lady! Open your-” the dragon shouted out as Rachuck squeezed. Tom didn’t know if that was the signal, but he pulled. The trigger the dragon roared out in agony, and Rachuck shouted “FIRE!”

Tom just ran the action, going for another round to the head. “And pop goes the eyeball.”

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With the catch dropped, much to Sapphire's despair, the dragonettes had all latched onto the dragons as they made best speed for the keep, maneuvering to keep blue sky behind them. With a little luck they would not be spotted until they were ready to pounce. A few jokes were made about how mad Kalestine would be with this minaly to try and lighten the tense atmosphere a little

Their plans had somehow been thwarted though. Either they had been spotted or something had gone wrong on the ground, but the explosion that rang out from the keep left little doubt that the battle had just begun. They were too far away to make out what was happening on the ground apart from the black dragon retreating under the crackle of gunfire.

“And the hunt is on!” Glira let out, steepening her dive. Jarix stayed level for now, but picked up the pace all the same. His crew all flattened down as best they could to help with the wind, Saph included. She could hear the dragon muttering under his breath, but as they accelerated the wind eventually drowned it out. Radexi and Jacky went through the gun one more time, trying to stay low as they worked.

“Hey Saph, are we keeping scores too!?” Jacky shouted out, not looking up from her work, Saph recognizing the fear peeking through Jacky’s facade without much trouble. ‘Don’t worry girl, we prepared for this,’ Saph thought to herself, not entirely sure who she was reassuring.

“Sure. If you think you can keep up!” Saph roared out in reply, with a fake smile before looking back ahead.

“In your dreams!” Jacky shouted, turning to look at the rapidly approaching keep.

“Black dragon retreating and the red seems to be hesitating,” Jarix let out, sounding a bit more optimistic than earlier.

“Fucker hasn’t learned what a good boom is yet. He’s right to be scared!” Jacky went as she slammed the feed tray cover shut on the fifty. “Ready to rock and roll, little fella!”

“I don’t know what that means!” Radexi protested, with remarkable professionalism, bringing the gun on target.

“It means pull the trigger to kill shit,” Jacky replied, not taking her eyes off the keep.

“How are they doing on the ground?” Zarko questioned, holding her shotgun at the ready. They had spent a fair amount of ammo, but not all of it. They had a few dozen rounds left. Saph had switched back to her bow though, giving Zarko the shotgun. She knew her bow better, even if she hadn’t brought any of her special arrows. And Zarko would be without a ranged weapon otherwise.

“Black is running to get airborne,” Jarix replied, peering ahead as he kept beating hard for speed.

“I can see that. What about the people on the ground?”

“A few dead dragonettes shot from the keep, I think.”

“Hah. Tom’s been busy already!” Jacky added, jumping at the good news.

“Some of them are sprayed in acid. Stuff is everywhere,” Jarix added, sounding a lot less enthusiastic.

“What do you mean?” Pho questioned, Jacky and Saph looking at each other without saying a word.

‘No. That’s... no,’ Saph thought to herself, shaking off the thought. They had probably blinded the dragon somehow, provoking it into spraying everywhere. Or maybe it just didn’t give a shit.

“Someone pissed off their ride!” Jacky added, voice positively quivering by now. Even a kid could work out she didn’t believe a word of what she said.

“Red’s diving!” Jarix let out, Saph feeling their own dive steppening.

“Yup, he’s seen us,” Zarko confirmed. “Time to play chicken. We aren’t close enough to intercept. Come in over the keep, height half a kilometer. If he makes a run on the keep, he’s dead.”

“But what if he still does it!?” Jarix protested, clearly not happy with the idea.

“Not like we can't stop him. Girls, ready to disembark on my order. Radexi, you will call out before firing!”

“Yes, ma’am,” all except Jacky replied, her eyes glued to the scene below. Saph gave her a slight kick to snap her back into reality. “Yes, ma’am,” Coming in reply from the slightly dazed looking Jacky.

“Snap to it, little Jacky. Can’t beat me like that,” Saph goaded, hoping to get her friend to focus as she slung her bow over her shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, shatter-wing. You try not to get grounded for another few months.”

Saph kinda wanted to protest that new nickname, but for the time being she could live with it.

“He’s still diving,” Jarix went, sounding more and more worried.

“Lancers from the keep!” Zarko shouted out, the keep now close enough to make out dragonettes. “Keep your course. He wants you to come down to meet him where he can smash you to pieces. I would say that's a twelve to fourteen ton red. I’m sure he doesn’t want to die today. Just keep going and don’t miss.”

“I won’t. It’s the major doing the interception.”

“So much for enemy magic then,” Zarko replied, sounding unsure if that was good news.

“Red’s crew is disembarking.”

“Is that bastard really going to keep going?” Radexi questioned, standing up to look. Saph’s eyes went wide as the red made for her keep, then she felt the tingling of electricity.

“Too soon!” Zarko cried out as Jarix fired, the blinding light blue beam streaking out, Saph closing her eyes for a second. But there was no explosion. Opening her eyes again, she saw the red had broken off, evading the shot and then pulling up. He was heading straight for them instead, the momentum of his dive carrying him back upwards. Jarix rolled hard right without warning them, pulling into a hard turn, Saph feeling herself get pushed into his back as the dragon strained under her. A torrent of flame shot past Sapphire's face as she tried to look over the side. Jarix roared out in pain as he cleared the incoming attack, holding his hard turn.

“Kill it!” Jacky shouted out as the red came soaring up past them, not managing to sink his claws into Jarix as the Blue dragon held his turn. Radexi let loose with the fifty, spewing fire over Saph’s head as she clamped her hands over her ears, screaming as the muzzle blast pounded her from above relentlessly. The bright flashes shined through her eyelids with blinding light until her world went dark.

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