Hunter Or Huntress

Chapter 124: White and Blue

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‘Well, that was certainly interesting’ Tom thought to himself as Victoria herded the group of new arrivals towards Glira and Jarix. Things were apparently going well in the capital. Minus the little explosion. They had gotten paid, and they had an offer in case they wanted to sell some of the cylinders. Victoria had made it clear, though, that if they did sell some then the rule of splitting the wealth recovered would come into effect, meaning only a gold per capsule. Tom was rather confident they could jack the price up a bit higher than that though. They clearly had a monopoly on the stuff after all.

After the new arrivals had departed, Tom elected to go ask some questions of the last remaining new guest. Looking at Galaxer, the white dragon had walked over to a rather nice patch of long grass and rolled onto his back. The dragon flexed out his wings and stretched with a rather sizable groan as he made himself comfortable in the midday sun.

Nunuk had walked over with a slightly hurried step, Tom following along, the close footsteps of Jacky following behind. The lady had questioned if he would not prefer the greeting hall, but Galaxer had declined. He stated that he was perfectly fine right here. Some of his crew did take her up on the offer though, putting off pitching their tents.

Tom took the opportunity to inspect the dragon in detail. He had asked about the whites, of course, but this was still his first time seeing one. From what he had gathered, it was not so common to see them on the wing in the middle of summer, many preferring to use their cold endurance to make a higher profit margin during the colder times of the year. Where they often maintained critical trade routes. He hadn’t quite known what to expect, perhaps white frost coming off him or maybe just a constantly foggy breath, but then again Baron didn’t set fire to everything he touched so why should this be any different. Galaxer was rather spikey though, even his scales had pointed edges as opposed to the far more rounded and smoothly curved plates of Jarix. They weren’t as thick and tough-looking as Baron’s either but they did have an aggressive angled look to them.

“I’m confused, which one of us is supposed to be the interesting individual again?” the dragon rumbled, not turning his head to look at Tom, instead remaining motionless, looking like he was rather enjoying himself.

“Surely everyone can be interesting,” Tom countered, glancing at Jacky who had crossed her arms, doing her best to look sassy.

“Ooh a philosopher. Please don’t tell me you have come here to preach. The priest was bad enough for the trip out here. You would not believe how much they believe a pure creature like myself should devote themselves to a higher cause… mostly unpaid, of course,” Galaxer replied, still unmoving.

“No, I’m not about to make you pray to trees, don’t you worry.”

“Perfect. I much prefer the sun anyways. Even if I will have to envy the blacks for how well they soak up the heat.”

“Oh, if only Tiguan heard you are envious of him,” Saph added from behind them, apparently having taken an interest as well.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, they have it rough. You should have seen what the inquisition did to Illowa. It is rare to survive ending up on their bad side, but still. Yeowch.”

“What did this Illowa do?” Tom questioned, electing that he might as well sit down in the long grass.

“Oh, I don’t know. I think she stole something. Maybe hunted where she wasn’t allowed. Got in a fight with someone about it. bad things happened, the church got involved and wanted her branded as a traitor. Now she works in the Lordsdale Ironmine. Been there for twenty years I think.”

“Fucking hell,” Tom broke out. “Twenty years for poaching?”

“Oh no, it’s gonna be more than that. Not that I suspect she knows how long it’s been. She might get out one day, when they need her and assuming she doesn't refuse the offer out of spite. I don’t know though, how bad do you think mine work really is? I mean, if you are already black what does a bit more do?” the dragon questioned, turning its head to look at Tom, still upside down.

“Uhm. I don’t really know to be honest,” Tom had to reply after a bit, looking at Jacky, whose expression was best read as ‘poor fucker.’ It certainly didn’t sound nice, not to mention sounding incredibly racist.

“Yeah, don’t mess with the inquisition or crazy people in power in general. Be warned, if you tell the priest I said that, I will freeze you in ice and keep you as a trophy… I’m kidding but seriously don't. They might like my kind. That doesn’t mean they like me in particular,” Galaxer continued, rolling around again to lay its head on the ground looking at Tom. “Anyway, it sounded like you have a lot of questions. Fire away before I fall asleep here. It’s been a long day.”

“Well, I did have some questions about the frost powder you make. See I have a bit of an overheating problem.”

“They said you were hot-blooded, but in this weather? That’s a little extreme,” the dragon went, with a curious expression on his face.

“No, not me personally. But say I had a metal tube that gets very hot, and I wanted to cool it down without turning it to ice.”

“What is this, some kind of school?” Galaxer chuckled. “For that I would just use water, no need for magic. If you feel like wasting money, just mix in a small amount of frost powder. It won’t stay cold for long, but it won’t freeze solid either.”

“How long would something like that last?” Tom questioned, kicking himself a little for not thinking of such a simple experiment.

“Oh, I don’t know, half an hour maybe less. Just throw in a bit more then. It’s not that complicated.”

“Thank you very much. I must ask too though, can you just like ignore the cold, or what’s the deal? That seems rather useful.”

“Sorta. I think one of the brainy ones once told me I draw heat out of well just about anything, then I just spit out the cold and there we go. Nice and warm inside. If you would be so kind as to give my armpits a good scratch you’ll find I’m rather cold to the touch.” The dragon went, rather expectantly.

Tom understood a hint when he got one… at least most of the time… some of the time. And went to give the dragon a good scratch as he rolled over onto his back again. The rougher scales did make climbing easier than with Jarix, even if the white was about as large as Glira. The scales made for good handholds without being sharp enough to cut. The dragon was indeed rather cold too, despite the very nice warm weather.

“Yeah, that’s the spot… No, a bit lower… There we go… I think that smart guy was right. Your fingers are made for scratching. Are you for hire by any chance?”

“I’m afraid not. I’m a little booked right now,” Tom replied with a chuckle.

“Shame. I guess I’ll have to make do then.”

“I got a question too,” Jacky broke out after a bit, looking around as if trying to check who was around, not looking too pleased that Saph was still here. “Say if you did have a personal… overheating problem. How would you recommend fixing that?”

Tom did make out Saph letting out a suppressed snicker as she very pointedly looked away, Jacky’s ears lowering a little more.

“Whatever you do, don't eat the stuff. Not only would that be way gross, it would probably also kill you,” the dragon replied nonchalantly. “I know some athletes who compete on the ground use bracelets that hold powder. Just add water and they become very cold. Just be careful though. Don’t wanna lose a hand. or even worse, a wing if you want to put it there.”

“Thank you. I’ll think about that one,” Jacky replied, shooting a death stare back at Saph, who was scratching a bit at the ground with a foot.

“Oh and by the way, the oil things you found, is there a chance I could get to see one?” Galaxer questioned. Tom looked back at Saph and Jacky, both of whom just shrugged.

“I’ll go get one,” Saph went after a bit, walking over towards the bunker.

Tom just kept scratching. It was actually rather fun to be climbing around on Galaxer, who had apparently decided it was story time now.

“It’s just I’ve heard about those before. I might even have seen one. They had no clue what they were, of course, and they were definitely empty, but still could be interesting.”

“You must be old then. It didn’t sound like anyone knew what they were around here,” Jacky added as she walked up to the dragon’s side, having a go at a scratch as well.

“Please no, your claws are so scratchy… Have you sharpened them by any chance?”

“Might have done,” Jacky admitted as she lowered her hand again. “I got bored, okay?”

“It’s not like that is something to be ashamed of. I had mine sharpened a few years ago before heading far up north. Teeth too for that fact; you want all the help you can get when flying without a crew.

“You have been up north?” Jacky questioned, looking to Tom with an expectant expression. “What’s it like?”

“Really damn cold. I hated every day of it. But the pay was definitely worth it.”

“Why were you up there if you wouldn’t mind me asking?” Tom went curiously. All he had gotten about the far north was that it was cold and there was ice on the ocean. A lot of it too, apparently.

“Oh, nothing too special. I ran resupply for some of the garrisons up there for a while. It’s all just lookout stations spread around, but for most of the year it’s so cold they can hardly go outside. One of the girls who used to do the run just missed a stop one day and was never heard from again. So they needed someone to pick up her work. I had them pay handsomely for that one,” the dragon went with a smirk.

Tom had to let that one sink in a little. They hadn’t talked much about the north since, well, it didn’t really concern them. Apuma didn’t have anything other than a book or two which mentioned what could be found up there anyway. But they had watch stations, and they didn't sound like they were cheap to run either.

“Now, I’m definitely not an ignorant frontierswoman who has never been to the big cities for anything other than a quick jaunt… but what are we watching for exactly?” Jacky questioned, piling on the sarcasm nice and thick, even if it still didn't quite hide the worry in her tone.

“All kinds of nasty things like the ice up there. Wide-open areas of solid ground conveniently floating on top of the depths of hell itself. All ripe for corruption too... It’s rumored that there are ancient strongholds far north, beyond where even someone like me can go. They say that’s where the doetna’s come from. You know, when they aren't enjoying a nice swim. Damn demons.”

Well that certainly made Jacky look uncomfortable as Saph came jogging back over. “Got one. Look familiar?” she went, holding up a vial. Galaxer arched his head over to have a look.

“It does indeed. This was around decades ago though, so my memory is a little hazy, but I carried hundreds of these things to the capital. I’m fairly sure they were going to be melted down and reforged. Had I known what it was, I would have kept one as a souvenir.”

“Would make sense I guess,” Saph replied, looking down at the vial.

“They were empty though, right?” Tom questioned, looking at the dragon.

“Oh yeah, most of them were broken too actually. Though that might have been the rather rough handling. They were just valuable scrap after all.”

“Welp, ours certainly aren’t… By the way, just out of curiosity, what would you pay for honey?”Tom questioned looking at the trader.

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Victoria had gotten up after dinner, getting their attention with a semi-loud “listen up” as she stood up with some of the pieces of parchment she had received.

“I’m afraid it’s not exactly going to be a summer flight this one, so I’ll just get on with it.” She opened before clearing her voice. “Multiple keeps attacked. Enemy no longer concerned with hiding forces. Multiple cases of scares and probing attacks leaving little to no damage to keeps in question.”

“Reports of the new enemy bat-like heavy combatants now abundant; many reporting night raids, forcing people to stay indoors or risk capture in the night. Attacks reported as far in as middle ring keeps, though none have been destroyed. Four frontier keeps confirmed destroyed; two with no survivors. Evidence of acid and fire breath attacks present at both. Finally Iglan Coalmine has been attacked, the enemy seemingly securing fuel for winter operations Large red dragon confirmed present. Likely the traitor Rashan.”

That one made the room fall quiet as Victoria looked around at them with a knowing look before continuing reading. ‘I guess so much for safe once it snows’ Saph went to herself before Victoria continued.

“One enemy adult black dragon—estimated at 34 tons, likely male—shot down three days north of Bartelion, taking his entire raiding party and his escort, consisting of two adult giant bats, with him. Minimal guard losses. Considering both our latest successes and the increasing enemy threat, recruiting has been increased by order of the king. Gods willing we shall see the end of this.” Victoria finished, quite a few people cheering the victory. From what Tom had learned dragons and other heavy units were the cornerstones of a battle. Losing an adult dragon would be a major blow to the enemy.

“Aww, here I was hoping we would be the only ones that could kick-ass,” Jacky added from next to Tom. who just swallowed once. This was still very bad news, even if they had scored one victory. It also reaffirmed Nunuk’s and Dakota’s worries that the guard might recall Victoria now that the threat here had ostensibly been dealt with. That would be really bad. Sure they might have the firepower to kill a dragon now, but could they manage it before it got close enough to do a run on the keep? He could only imagine the damage that even a single run from a red dragon could do to the keep.

“I guess it’s something, even if it’s hardly a comfort that we aren’t getting our asses kicked all over the front. This one is quite good though. This is from our beloved General Josu, blessings be upon her,” Victoria continued in a rather sarcastic tone as she switched the pieces of paper with a smile.

“Colonel Victoria Hashaw. Following your latest discovery, I have received pleas from the Royal Academy, The Guild of Engineers, The Church, and even the crown, that the Vaults beneath Bizmati Keep are to be held at all costs. It has been decided that following your successes in the region, you are to be awarded this most prestigious of tasks. For the good of our kingdom, you must not fail. My only regret is that I have none to send to your aid aside from recruits to replace your losses. I do, however, have full confidence that against the dark you will prevail for the good of us all. General Alevix Josu.”

“How about that?” Victoria went with a crooked smile as she folded up the piece of parchment. “Well folks, sounds like we are staying right here. I take this as me being able to deploy as I see fit since a sizable portion of what was down there is now up here. Jarix and Tiguan will stay at their posts. Grevi is taking Hyldahl, Baron and Glira will be switching between the cave and patrol slash hunting duty, just like we planned. Any objections?” Victoria went, looking around at the room her gaze landing on Nunuk.

“No colonel. I must thank you for continuing to hold a wing over us,” Nunuk replied, visibly relieved. Rachuck literally sitting higher in his chair after that announcement.

“You just figure out what that stuff does. Though I do warn you: that knowledge I do want.”

“We will see what we can come up with. I’m sure it will be quite something,” Tom replied, receiving a smile and a polite nod from the colonel as she raised her mug, even if it was just water today.

“Well, here's to hoping we scared them off already. If not, they won’t know what hit ‘em.”

‘Well, I sure as shit hope so,’ Tom thought to himself as he raised his mug, Jacky grumbling something about it being bad luck to toast in water.

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“Wait, so you just bleed in a little clay pot?” Tom questioned, looking worriedly at where Saph was getting the tools ready. That is to say: glazed clay pots for everyone, cloths for cleaning up, and a spare knife for Ray since she didn't have one yet. The weather was nice, so they had gathered outside since quite a few people needed to have fresh leather made, not just their new arrivals.

“Yeah, how else were you gonna do it?” Saph countered.

“That’s fair, no one ever gets sick or something?”

“We patch up the wound of course,” Nunuk added.

“And you use your own knife… Helps remind people to keep their stuff clean. No one wants dinner butchered with a dirty knife,” Dakota added.

“Right, well at least it’s better than a ceremonial bloodletting. I’m fairly sure we might have shared the knife for those.”

“It’s comforting to know the common sense thing isn’t just you,” Saph went with a sarcastic chuckle.

“Low blow,” Tom countered. “I still wonder why we need some of those warnings we stick to everything. Danger! Fire is hot. Peanuts may contain peanuts. I swear we must all be idiots,” Tom went, shaking his head.

“He is joking right?” Bolinda questioned, looking worriedly at the human then to Saph and the others. Esmeralda just looked like she was in deep thought as she was staring at him, apparently not able to make up her mind for once.

“Well, have you considered the fact he might be a smart one?” Jacky countered, looking a touch offended.

“That’s a... depressing thought,” Bolinda countered, glancing at Tom, who was looking like he hadn't decided if this was funny or not yet. Junior poked him and asking if the fire one was actually true or not.

“Probably not… I hope not,” Tom replied after too long of a wait for Sapphire's taste.

“How do you even put a warning label on fire?” Junior questioned to himself, looking rather confused.

“I sure don’t want to put one on a bee. At least not a big one,” Fengi added, smiling as she shook her head.

“Do not pet,” Jacky replied with a laugh, most of them joining her, except Tom just shrugged.

“Well if you're gentle with them, perhaps add some smoke or something… I don’t actually know much about bees, but people say they're mostly friendly, if you're not an arsehole.”

“By ‘not an arsehole.’ You mean leave alone, right? As in, if in visual range of a hive, turn around now?” Saph questioned, looking up from her preparations.

“No, you keep them in your backyard. I’ve even seen people pet them. I think they’re quite cute too,” Tom went, making a gesture like he was petting a little thing on his finger.

“I retract my earlier statement,” Jacky went as people looked between each other in disbelief.

“Tom, how big is a warrior bee?” Saph finally went, gaining a suspicion.

“Like that big mostly,” Tom went, holding up two fingers and showing something pretty darn tiny.

“No, a warrior. Not a worker, silly” Fengi added lightheartedly.

“Warrior?” Tom questioned, looking at Fengi with a slight head tilt.

“You know, the big ones that try to kill you if they feel like it?”

“We don’t have that… Well, we have killer bees, but that’s different. How big are yours?” Tom questioned, seemingly very confused by now.

Saph had never actually seen a warrior bee up close, but she had a guess as she held up her hands, indicating around half a meter. “For the warriors. And they can and will kill you in one shot.”

“Oh yeah. Workers are smaller though. A lot smaller. Like this big,” Dakota echoed, holding up her fingers to show around 5-8 centimeters.

“Fucking hell.” Tom went wide-eyed. “Well, I guess that explains the price… I thought it was just because you all have a sweet tooth. And the whole go faster thing.”

“Oh hell no, it’s very dangerous work. Honey hunters often light huge fires to drive them off and then go in and empty the hive. Then they run like hell. it’s a very nice payday if you make it though,” Dakota replied with a shrug.

“I had an aunt who was a honey hunter,” Pho piped up before looking a bit solemn. “Didn't go brilliantly though.”

“Well, hurray for sugar beets I guess,” Tom replied in a somber tone.

“Hurray indeed. Might save some of the lives the guns are gonna take,” Nunuk went in an encouraging tone, looking like she wanted to give the guy a pat on the back. Tom’s expression betrayed that comment hadn't gone down particularly well.

“Anyways, should we get on with it?” Saph questioned, gesturing at the clay pots, trying to change the subject.

“Sure, I’ll start. Tom promised we could get to work on the fancy explosives for the vault after this,” Jacky went, holding a hand to the side of her mouth like she was letting them in on a secret.

“I thought you just didn’t want to leave me alone today?” Tom questioned, looking at Jacky. “You still have some of your leather lying around. Why do you need more?”

“It’s for my new armor. Can’t have the pride of the keep running around in someone else's leather, now can we?” Jacky replied. Nunuk, Dakota, and quite a few others developed a bit of a cough for some reason. Saph too all of a sudden had a tickly throat. Not that it bothered Jacky in the slightest as she cleaned her arm.

Tom had winced when Jacky nonchalantly pulled her knife and nicked her left wrist with trained precision. The vein spilled forth a slow but steady stream of deep blue blood into the small clay pot for quite a while before Jacky pinched it shut, going over to Nunuk to have the wound sealed up good and proper.

“Ooh look at him. Cuts his way through half an army, and he winces at a little cut,” Jacky went mockingly as Saph did her own cut. Tom didn’t comment, instead just looking a little uncomfortable as Jacky sealed the lid on the pot and wrote her name on the lid in charcoal. “Come on then, let’s do some dyeing.”

“Careful, might stain your fingers a little,” Saph added as the two walked off to the tanning hut to start dying some of their fresh leather.

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“Tom, I was wondering… God I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but… why are we making explosives that the guard will, you know… see in action? Maybe even get some? You really didn’t want us to have weapons before,” Jacky questioned as she was putting together the molds for the explosive mix. “Now we are making all these awesome things. Don’t get me wrong, I approve,” Jacky continued with an exaggerated nod. “But uhm… why?”

Tom had to think for a second before answering that one. There was no simple answer after all. Nor was he sure this was the right thing to do. They kinda had to though.

“Okay, so this might sound convoluted, but first off when I got here I needed to know if you people could be trusted to not just.. you know. Go and start killing. You give guns to someone who hates their neighbors and suddenly the neighbor is gone, that kind of thing.”

“I can see that… I think.”

“Then I might have had the idea that why not try and make a world that’s better than where I came from… That might have been a little bit naive on that one.”

“You have pet-able bees; that’s gonna be hard to beat. And running water at home… Cars don’t sound bad either… Or all the other insane shit you've talked about… You wanted this place to end up better? Not to be rude, but...”

“Sounds naive, right? ... Yeah I think that was aiming a little high.”

“Hey, you said it, not me.”

“Yeah… then came the rather simple problem that, well, if I teach you machining and chemistry then you will figure out the parts I don’t want you to know about in time. And the ones who figure it out might not be the people we want to have figured this out. It would suck if the one who invents high explosives is a brigand or, even worse, a darkling, dark knight… whatever. Then comes the problem that with every awesome thing we make… or find apparently, we become more of a target.”

“Right…” Jacky went, clearly doing her best to come up with something clever to say. “So, if we don’t make guns, someone else will and we might not like them… If we make them we decide who to give them to someone, then we decide who gets it.”

“At least in theory… might actually be even more naive than the original plan of just making the non-weapon stuff, but this place is not like home… my old home… If you had a weapon it was likely for fun, unless you are in the army or something. Here we actually need them. They killed Anastasi and leveled Hyldahl. It’s not for fun and games anymore.”

“So now the question is who to arm.”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Tom replied, slightly surprised at the level of insight displayed by Jacky.

“Well as long as I’m armed the most,” Jacky continued, going back to her work on the mold.

‘There we go,’ Tom mused to himself, pulling a smile. “The queen of dakka, Jackalope Furlong.”

“And to think Essy said you weren’t much of a romantic,” Jacky replied with a sly smile. “Long may I reign.”