It took 3 days and allot of magic and hard work but 'The Prison' has been set up, It's little more than some very tight cages on poles over a section of sand between 2 good sized hills, so the average person need not see them.
Anwen used a bit of magic and some purchased iron bars to make them. They are fixed so a body can be removed or added by opening the bottom. Anwen wanted to be able to reuse them. There are 5 of these poles in all but at present only 3 are filled. The merchants are still being 'questioned' and those who had a more 'hands on' part of the deal are going in to the other cages. So far they have 20 merchants and craftsmen who were in on this deal, several have ended up as slaves as they had no way to pay their debts. One tried to commit suicide after losing everything only to wake in a cage, brought back to life by Anwens powerful magic. (All non-dragons just think she is a very powerful Mage and maybe a priestess to one of the 'True Gods' that travel with her.)
Anwen spends a lot of time in dragon form, learning what it means to be a dragon and also flying. She still loves to fly and is more in love with it as it does not cause her head aches anymore. Sarah and Shule love it to, but it's hard without a saddle. So while the last of the meals are being gathered up Anwen gets some very good cow leather and works with Shule (who does the measuring) and builds a large multi-person halter / saddle / harness for Anwen to wear, so she can take her friends flying whenever she wants (and can carry goods and gear to if need be.) A few dragons try to tell her it's undignified, but she ignores them as doing so makes her happy. Even her pets love to go flying. Mew Mew is still trying to convince Anwen to give her the power to fly. Anwen does not think giving her that power is a great idea.
She does however, using a spell she worked out from the black book, grant the 3 guard animals Immortality, increased speed, agility, endurance, strength, leaping ability (+30ft), Night vision (on the dogs) and Regeneration. As well as the ability to communicate telepathically with each other and others with in about 120ft. Otherwise they are left with their normal skills and communication abilities.
For weeks the dogs ran Everywhere, jumped on things, over things and generally learned their new limits. Also much playing with the dragons once they learned that they could not die and hurts went away allot faster.
The day Finally arrives that Sarah is to be turned. She has said goodbye to her favorite foods (by pigging out on them), had a nice bath, gotten a trim and a few minor things to her looks so she will be more perfect forever. The turning, they mix lovely sex with all 3 girls and Anwen holds her close when Shule finally finds a good spot and sinks her fangs in for the final draining and gifting of the blood and even shares the secret ritual of turning with Anwen (Nast does not care but some of the others, if they knew would be furious).
Sarah awoke 3 days later in a deep pit with only the old battered mage with her. She was careful for a little bit, before the hunger really hit and Shule called down to her to remember what she was and that the old one was her First meal. He did not last long as she found him, took all she could get the traditional way, then tore him open to get all the rest out of him she could. Afterwards she laid down and took a nap. While she slept Anwen carefully removed the remains.
"I am so glad I thought to set up this deep pit." She tells Shule and Nast as she levitated out pieces of Sarah's first meal. Nast nods "Was an excellent idea. Wish I had thought of it the first few times I turned someone. Well after the first time we learned Rope was a friend but chains were better. Then we just tossed food at them till they got some form of sanity back. It's those first few days that are the hardest." Shule is watching, fascinated by the changes in her first child. Shule whispers, "She is scary isn't she." Anwen thinks about it, "Not really, I have seen you two in a blood frenzy you know, your much scarier when your like that." Nast smirks, Shule looks surprised. Anwen ads, "Of course you can't see yourself, so it becomes a matter of perspective." After her 3rd awakening they tied her to a middle pole with a series of levers so they could control how far out she could get. Put the pole in the middle of the 'prison' and let her attack the prisoners in order to feed. Anwen put a spell on the cages, at Sunset those inside would regenerate until alive and whole again. The spell could be turned on and off for each cage by the moving of levers high on the poles. (levers cover or uncover special runes that are activated by twilight and Dawn) As a means of punishment and torture it worked very well.
The whole of the transformation and return to sanity took about two weeks. Though she was approachable within a week. (Well she did not attack anyone who got to close. Anwen spent that time bringing back her lover to the surface and dealing with the beast, which included removing some darkness that the Beast side let in. That weakened the beast and let Sarah control herself better).
By the end of the month she was mostly her old, over sexed, submissive happy slave girl again. Though a touch more homicidal, which was to be expected. A month After that, Sarah is full, happy and Shule is pleased with her new child, Anwen celebrates by Granting wishes to her people. This means the 3 Immortals are put in a magic circle and when the spells are done, they can eat like mortals if they wish, they can have sex like mortals, their tears are no longer blood laced (or at least it's not so evident) and she unlocked some powers in their blood (Obfuscate, Presence, Dominate, Protean - powers normally only granted by the Darkness - but she did a work around and unlocked them and removed allot of the madness or mutations that normally went with those gifts.) She also granted them Telekinesis, Teleportation, and a limited form of Clairaudience, which allows them to 'see' the area they want to teleport to. Lastly She Made Sarah Slave in to a Demi-Goddess under her authority. The title is Servant of the Goddess the sex side was put in as a sort of side note in the new goddesses portfolio.
Glaxlomax was not happy with this development. Well the punishment part was ok, but the addition of a Servant and Sex Goddess (something dragon kind never really had before, especially one specializing in Perversion) Really pushes her buttons. So she request helpers from the local Temples and 'agencies'. What she gets is one overly officious male (Blue, very Lawful, what the Serene One calls a Rules Lawyer. Which really fits and they both like it.) but the Other one they get, she is, well her record as a spy in the human world is good. But she is not really a rule follower, she has marks against her on that. Add to that she arrives Late because she thought it would be good cover to come with a caravan instead of flying like a normal dragon. So as punishment Glaxlomax decides to assign her as Anwen Cin'aed's new liaison officer, meaning the girl will have to go Live with the Serene one and her Immortal friends. It may be just what the girl needs to get her straightened around. Glaxlomax has nothing (Officially) against the Serene One, but the woman's tendency for sex and way of looking at things really grates on her nerves, though she is really good at hiding it even from the Serene One. Thinking about sex seems to distract the Serene One enough to keep her oblivious to her real feelings on the matter.
2 days later, Shari-goth, dragon spy, now assigned liaison officer to a Goddess, who according to rumor made her old human companion in to a Demi-Goddess with dominion over perversion and slavery. Ok, so being turned in to a Demi-god is not a bad thing, it's the type that worries her. Well not too much, she loves a lot of perverse things herself, but never in the history of dragon kind has there ever been a god dedicated to it. Which is ironic given the number of dragons who have such impulses. She knows a dozen alone who like things most dragon kind find to be perverse. The part that worries her is the Slavery side, dragons don't normally keep slaves … ok Evil dragons have been known to but it's not a common practice.
And now here she is, coming from the Caravan camps, dressed as an adventurer, toward the semi-permanent camp of the Goddess and her group, of which she has heard so many rumors that she does not know what to believe. Everything from a Death Cult, to show girls, to the League of Assassins (which as far as she knows is only a legend based on some old Cults that may or may not exist and no one has ever proved in either direction.)
She easily spots the tall Red haired half-elven woman she was told to report to. The fact that she is curing leather, and not ass deep in books on dragon lore and law, is hopefully a good sign.
She walks up to the woman, who does not even glance up at her, "Um pardon me ?"
Woman, "If you’re here to worship the new sex goddess she is taking a bath in the lake."
"Ah no mam, I was sent by Glaxlomax actually." That gets the woman to look up, "What does that old stick in the mud want now ?"
Sheri is taken back, "Sorry what, I don't know what you mean ?" The woman picks up what looks like a sheet of elephant hide, smacks it down and starts working on another sheet of hide, removing the fat from it so it can be tanned properly, "Last time she sent someone it was a dragon with a tree up his butt to go over dragon rules with me, He was very annoying. I only got rid of him by pointing out about 10 of these so called Holy Rules that counter each other or in the case of 5 Rules, that came out of the same council meeting about 500 years ago actually neutralize each other. Making the whole of them completely pointless. You're not another Rules Lawyer are you ?"
She shakes her head, the woman's hair caught on fire as she was ranting about this other dragon. Unfortunately she knows so many that would fit in the GB she has no idea who it could be. "No mam, I am Shari-goth, I am to be your liaison officer. Um that means I am to live here and work with you and help with stuff between you and the Golden Balance. I have a letter of introduction if you want it."
She looks at the girl for a long minute, "Better not, in my present state of mind it would likely burn to a cinder before I got to read it. I am Anwen by the way, prefer you call me that and not Mam or Serene one. I am beginning to hate that title. I am not Serene, not by a long shot. Too much Fire in me to be Serene for very long." Shari slowly nods, she is really wanting to run screaming in to the lake right now, but her training is the only thing keeping her from doing that.
Anwen looks at her, "Why are you afraid of me ? I am Not Glaxlo-Pole-Up-Her-Ass-Max. Stupid Lawful bitch does not really get that I did not ask or want this job. I got it because The Queen Mother Bitch, wanted payment for fixing a problem done to me by Bast the cat-bitch, and failed to mention what the job entitled only that I would be working with this Golden Balance group. I think Ms. T is having a great laugh at turning me in to a Law Officer… Oh don't look at me like that, my period started last night and it puts me in a horrible mood. Makes me really bitchy and miserable. Cramps are bad enough, but my roommates are vampires" pause "That's blood drinkers in your language. Which means I end up sleeping in a one person tent made of canvas well away from them. I hate sleeping alone. I have tried sleeping in dragon form, just cannot get comfortable. Which also does not help my mood."
She slowly nods, "Yeah I don't stay in dragon form if I can help it either. Prefer a bed to a pile of coins or the like. Never could stand such things which kind of makes me weird by dragon standards. Lots of things about me make me weird by their standards. Why do you think the Mother making you a supreme law is a joke ?"
Anwen grins, "I was a Mage - Thief before I got pulled in to the god business. Adventuring type thief mind you not a house breaker type. Still, hard to go on adventures when your more powerful than almost anything out there. I really wanted to be an adventurer, but life did not work out that way for me. Truthfully I am pretty miserable here. I have a strong case of wanderlust. I Love going places, though there are a few I don't want to travel through right now, tend to teleport around those if I can. Glax-head-up-her-ass-max actually tried to get me to move in to one of those temples. Freaking Stone prison is more like it. Even Less freedom there than I got here. She really does not understand why I would not willingly lock myself inside one of those holes."
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Shari is nodding like her neck has been replaced by a spring. "Oh I know what you mean. I had to go through 5 years of training in one of those temples when my family placed me there. I Hated it. I lucked out when I got assigned to surveillance. Got to live in a human city, see sights, eat the food, meet the people, actually have fun, even though we are not technically supposed to have fun while on assignment. The head of the order there has written me up several times for un-dragon like behavior while on duty. For things like dancing at a wedding, or drinking with dwarves and other things that were part of my cover. I am Supposed to act like a human, not an Elf with, how did you put it, a Pole up their Butt ?" Anwen nods starting to like this girl despite her bad mood.
Grinning slightly, "I take it your superior never actually did any field work before ? They are just a 'paper pusher' one of those types who keeps track of reports and logs and such."
Sheri nods, "Oh yeah. Even though she has been in humanoid form for over 30 years she still does not know how to lighten up or live a little. Everything is by the book."
The Goddess nods, "I know the type. The kind that would not last a week in the field, could not improvise if their life depended on it. If it's not in the book then it's wrong.
The more I see of this so called Balance organization the more out of balance it looks. I am all about Balance, but more on a cosmic scale. Cause when it comes to a mortal scale after a little while I just want to blow it up and start over. And these overly lawful, rule following types just speed that up allot. One thing about me, I was not born a dragon, The Mother turned me in to one, with the Fathers blessing to boot. I was a half-elf psionicist who was trained by an Prism Dragon in the use of those skills. As far as the Mother goes, that opened the door to my 'upgrade' as she put it. Well that and getting screwed over by the Egyptian gods. I like the Egyptian people, their gods I no longer trust.
The Mother was being Ironic I think. I am a purely amoral Neutral individual, know what kind of dragon she turned me in to ?"
Shari shakes her long red haired, head, "A Gold. Adolescent age cause that matched my physical age. I can see it from the point of view that I have allot of fire in me, but that is it. And the fire was a side effect of a screw up in something Bast tried to turn me in to. Unwillingly I will add. That reminds me, that kind of dragon are you really ?"
Shari gulps, "Bronze Miss."
Looking thoughtful , "That the chatty ones ?"
Shari shakes her head, "No Miss, the chatty ones are Brass. They love the desert and will talk people to death. Bronze tend toward being curious and live by water if we have a choice." Anwen nods, "ok then. I used to know all this long ago. Probably could remember if I put my mind to it. Just don't feel like putting in the effort."
Shari nods again, "Um mam, where should I set up then ?" She indicates her mule loaded down with she is not even sure what. "The temple gave me supplies but I am not sure what all they included, only that I was assured a nice tent and such."
"Knowing your temples it could be anything from a pup tent to something a flight of dragons could fit in." Shari grins and nods, "Would not put that past them." she agreed.
What they sent turned out to be magically shrunken, till they went to unwarp it. Knowing she was at least delivering this stuff to the supreme one, and that the camp site was a poor looking place. They sent a tent and supplies suitable for a Sultan, though one sized to be a dragon. They actually had to hire help from the Caravans to put up the monster tent. And once it was up a strong wind, caused by a large dragon flying overhead, made the whole thing collapse on itself. Anwen looked at it, shook her head at how poorly designed the thing was to start with and sighed. Then she asked who assigned this monster mistake to them. Fortunately it was listed on the invoice. So She teleported the whole thing, in the pile it was in, back to them. She kept the extra's though (lots of nice gold and silver items. Very impressive and not something any dragon (or thief) would likely let go of easily. Divans, and furnishings that were supposed to be in the tent.) While talking with the workers she learned that the group that made the tent tried to warn those that ordered it that it would not work in windy conditions. They did not listen and this was the result. As Anwen paid them she commented though, it did look good for the 4 or 5 minutes they got it to stand. Then she spent another 15 minutes trying to explain what a minute was.
2 hours later, via crystal ball, the depot and clerk that sent the mistake of a tent tries to yell at Shari for the tents return. Anwen takes the globe from Shari, "Excuse me. Are you the one who sent that tent ?" The clerk, a young looking man with slightly green skin nods, "Yes, and who are you to question me ?"
"I am the Serene One. I am the one who teleported that stupid, useless item back to you after it fell on us when a full sized dragon flew overhead. Now while I have you on the globe, I will explain a little something. The Reason we don't have a fancy-smancy looking place is we don't want the humans to know how important I am. Some get stupid idea's around important people. Secondly, I can read your thoughts from here, thricely loose the green skin, it does not make you look special, it makes you look like your diseased. Oh and I am keeping all the other items you sent. If you really thought I, a dragon, would send back such a nice array of gold and silver items when I was done with them, your both younger and dumber than I thought." She passes the ball back to Shari, who looks at it, then shuts it off. Then she cracks up laughing, "He is a green dragon who uses a spell to change his appearance. He really thinks showing his real color mixed with his human appearance makes him look better ?" Anwen nods, "Yes. He is only 50, but only been around humans for like 3 years. And not much that way. I think a relative got him that job to tell the truth. Cause he sure did not get it for his intelligence skills. Of which he does not have any."
Shari nods, "They will send someone to try and collect the treasure items since they are not going to be used 'properly'. "
Anwen looks at her, "Are the ones they are going to send gods ?" Shari indicates no, "Then they are going to have trouble getting the stuff back. Besides I look on them as gifts to my perfect self." she states with a straight face, which she can only keep for about a count of 5 before cracking up with laughter. Shari smiles.
Anwen turns to her, "So tell me, if you hate being in the GB so much why don't you quit ?"
Shari sighs, "It's forbidden. Once you are in, you are in for Life. As it is a Religious Order not even You can get around that rule."
"Wanna bet ? So, if you die, you are out of the GB ?" Shari looks sad, "They lock your soul away in a special ceremony so you can't be brought back, for the security of the realms they say."
Evil smile, "REALLY ? Well how completely and utterly Evil of them. I may have to do something about that."
"You are not the Mother or the Father or IO. Not much you can do."
"I know allot and I may actually have a way around that. Just someone I got to talk to." She goes quiet for a while, then actually flickers in and out of reality then for a moment she is more Real than everything around her, then normal and smiling triumphantly, "That rule, it's against the rules of this universe. No Soul is to be locked away from Resurrection or Reincarnation, to do so is against the laws set down by the AO of this universe. That is the Supreme Law maker for all this reality. Anyone who says otherwise is Breaking Laws not even Io can break. Are you getting the picture here ? If your church has been doing this, then they have been breaking a LAW, a big one to. Several evil and Entropic forces have been trying to enforce laws from Other realities on this one for a while now. Even tricked some of the gods in to believing those laws are in effect here. But I came in with several of those laws known to me. I think the Lady of Fate put them there so I could tell others about them and break the hold these dark powers are trying to enforce here."
Bouncing around, so very excited, she actually summons Glaxlomax to herself. Glax is in human form, holding up a mirror in one hand and a dress she was thinking about in the other. When she realizes she is not in her rooms but in an open field she clutches the dress to herself and spins around. Spotting Anwen she loses it, "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU STUPID LITTLE" Anwen holds up a hand and Glax goes mute, "I am the Supreme Judicator and Law-Maker for Dragon Laws. All of them, Social, Judicial and Religious I looked in to it. The Only ones who can over turn me are the Mother, Father and Io and AO. I spoke with AO and he/she/it was kind enough to explain so many things that you and the rest of the High Council never bother to tell any Serene One. Well several things actually, things you don't want us to know cause then we would know exactly what our true purpose is supposed to be and none of you want that. That for all effects and purposes I am Supposed to be the acting Empress of the Dragon Kind in this World. You in your utter need for Law and Order have gone to the point of Breaking Rules set down on this world by both AO and Io in the beginning. Like locking souls away. Oh and as I made an Official Report of this to AO those souls are even now being set free on the other-side.
While I may not want this job, I will do my best at it. Starting with dissolving the High Council effective now. Trust me on this. I am being nice about it. I have it with in my power to just Dissolve you down to your component cells with a thought. Mother and Father gave me that kind of power cause they Knew about how your group has been misusing the powers you were given. Oh and you are hereby stripped of the powers and title of the High Priestess of the Golden Balance till such time, if ever, I find a reason to put you back in place. I will be going over all the records and information available to me and making adjustments accordingly."
Glax is furious and calls out a prayer that would strip Anwen to her bones, Nothing Happens. Nothing at all. Anwen adds, "Yeah, I also removed your ability to use any magic that is not inborn when I stripped you of your titles. Same goes for the rest of the ex-high council. They were only supposed to exist to aid the High Serene One, ie me and my predecessors. But instead you all decided to just run things and give the Serene one a job that you could work around and when they learned what …" Anwen turns, looks at the lake, and something out there just explodes in to a white cloud. "Right, removed your ghostly assassins to. Not just the ones hidden in the lake, but all of them worldwide in that instance because They were against the rules to. You know, you are actually a very evil little girl with delusions of being good and nice. I agree the society is better than what was before, all the small families and solitary living stuff. But you went too far. You started down a dark path, lied to yourself and others and really underestimated the gods. I know now why I was chosen for this job. Cause while I may complain about it and not be a happy camper, I will do it and I will follow the rules set down before me by my superior gods and I will Enforce those rules, as needed. You and yours, well for now you have a lot to think over. Bye Bye now."
Glax vanishes.
Anwen turns to Shari, whose eyes are Huge, "you really are a god, not just in name but for real and true." Anwen sighs, "Yeah, and now I can remember why I became mortal in the first place. I used to be a god a very long time ago. Before even dragons existed. I was not happy then either. But I did my job and such till one day I decided that there was so much I did not understand. So I applied to become a living being, to learn about the universes. I learned allot, but it was never enough. I did it for so long I forgot I had ever been a god. Now, on the other end of time, I am a god once more. I know more, but I am not really that much more perfect. I will make mistakes, I will fail at times. Because I am not perfect and really, well I really don't want to be. Perfect tends to be boring."
Shari nods, "So what of the Golden Balance, they only answered to the Council, what now ?
"Well now they answer to me. Which means you still have a job and are still my liaison officer, which just went up in prestige allot. Though I suspect I am a nicer boss than they were. I also plan on offering retirement plans that don't start with a grave. Definitely going to work on hiring practices to. It needs help. Like getting a certain little green guy out of supply. It really is not his strong suit. So what do you say ? Willing to work with a very strange, over sexed, once and future goddess to try and fix the problems of the dragon kind, and maybe the world along the way ?"
Shari slowly nods, "ok. Sure, sounds like a lot of work, but um, do I get days off ?" Anwen thinks about it and nods, "Sure, we can talk about it. Also dancing, I really want to go dancing sometime." Shari smiles, "I know a few places."