Dawn? How’d they get here? I guess they could march endlessly through the night. They are possibly immortal, maybe, though neither of us would like to test that out. It could maybe be used as a scare tactic, somehow. Think Reggie, strategize. Pft, hah, look how well your last strategy worked out. Well, technically I did say that there was a distinct possibility of Kozzurth allowing an opening that would get me into her throat. Anyway. Okay, these two are loyal to at least one of the two lords, possibly both, and they’ve just seen only one die. Teuila’s fight is somewhere in the distance beyond even their sight range, but they’re probably assuming Karn won that battle, like a pair of idiots. Not that the Colossi are unintelligent. Far from it. Just people in general tend to become or act like idiots when they’re loyalistic and brainwashed.
Hm, tiny flickering in the distance going upward, then falling back down. Is that a flaming arrow? That’s a pretty big assumption, but I’d hazard that it’s true. Well, Teuila is likely alive at least. I wonder how she ignited her arrows. If that was her anyway. And it probably was. More ammunition for this conversation though, literally. Hah.
I cross my arms, looking bored intentionally. I rest my right elbow on my left arm, and my chin on my right fist. I roll my eyes and sigh at the two giants as I indicate northeastward and say, “See those flaming arrows in the distance? That’s Teuila signaling she won her fight. Whether or not Karn is alive, well, that’s doubtful. Do you seriously want to go against the honor of the duel, and cause the two of us to slaughter your tribe? When your lords granted us this duel to prevent exactly that? You saw me slay a freaking dragon. Do I really have to demonstrate how friggin screwed you are if you move that weapon even an inch closer to me?”
I nearly burst out with laughter at my own cockiness. Oh heavens, haha, okay, keep the laughter in my own mind, just in my own head, don’t break character. They would actually wreck me in an instant if they landed a blow. Okay, good, serious thoughts, no more laughter. Crap, Dawn’s laughing behind me, it’s going to make me laugh. Heh, dang it all. Okay, okay, roll with it, but make it menacing and maniacal.
I slap my forehead to appear in disbelief of these two, and let the laughter out while shaking my head, “Heh, hah, hahaha, hahaha. You, haha, you saw me stand in dragon’s breath, and you think what, a couple of feet of wood or metal are going to do me in? Hahaha. Oh that’s rich. Hahaha.” I wipe a tear of laughter from each eye. When I can finally quit my bout of laughter, there’s another uneasy silence in the air. The truth is, even a small bit of wood and metal is far more deadly to me than the dragon’s breath.
Dawn’s expression rotates between awe, fear, and mirth. It seems maybe they didn’t witness me actually slaying Kozzurth. Perhaps they’d just arrived, and their earlier laugh was likely somewhat in disbelief of my feat. The silence goes on for a while, and the two Colossi begin to exchange glances that tell of an unspoken conversation with their eyes. Hopefully they’re buying the bluff.
Dawn is the first to break the quiet, “Those three, the three at The Brook, they thought they were leading you to your deaths, they really truly did. I was trying to catch up to warn you that it might be a trap. Guess you didn’t need the warning. I didn’t expect to find this.” They motion to Kozzurth’s corpse as they continue, “Especially didn’t expect to find any dragon, and more so never expected to find one slain by your like Rej.”
One of the guards speaks up, having only noticed Dawn after they spoke, “Who the hell is this pipsqueak now? What, you kill our leader, then suddenly you’re invading our land, trying to take it over, and expecting us to not fight back?”
I call back, “Oh screw you you idiot. It’s one friend who just caught up with us because they were worried about us. You know, like you should have been worried about your lord taking on someone my size that wasn’t afraid of a dragon, at all, in the slightest. Seriously, go shove that weapon up your bum, go, do it. You want to piss me off some more with any more wild accusations?”
They seem annoyed, but also wary. My outburst was tactically bad, but in-character for the cocky bastard I’m playing right now. I need to maintain the facade a bit longer yet while dealing with this pair of Colossi. I do wonder why they aren’t called called colossus in the singular though. Or maybe Colossi is the singular, and the plural would be Colossii or Colossieses. Get it together Reggie, back to reality.
Apparently I’d stood silent long enough that he’s unsure of what happens next. There’s a dumbfounded look in his eyes, so I roll my own as I order, “The extortion stops! That’s all I’m asking of your tribe. The ancestors go back, or they mill about the place, whatever. They’re no longer a source of food for the bloated lord anyway. Nor is any of the gold that’s left. You should return it to The Brook, but return it, keep it, spend it in trade relations, I don’t give a crap.”
Dawn recoils when they hear that the ancestors were being fed to the dragon. As well they should. The enchantment that preserves their bodies likely didn’t hold up well against dagger-like teeth as hard as diamond rending them to pieces.
The other, the woman asks, “So who’s going to lead us now though?”
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I shrug, answering the question as if it were asked differently, “Do you even need one? A leader that is. What did they actually do for you beyond order you to kidnap ancestors for food, and feed you guys some blood? Seriously. Anything beneficial. At all. Anything? Nothing coming to mind? Fine, since the title doesn’t mean jack-all for any responsibility, I hereby name you the new leader of the Colossi. Your name shall forever henceforth and forthwith have Leader of the Colossi of the Plains appended to your title.”
The man starts to object, but she clubs him lightly in the face, just enough to stifle him. I almost burst into laughter at the slapstick nature of it.
I call out, “Don’t make the same mistakes as your predecessors. Just be good neighbors, good people. The people of The Brook don’t deserve threats. Have they ever even acted violently against you?” I pause, awaiting an answer, then continue in the character of the cocky bastard, “This pause right here? It’s so you can fill me in on all the times they’ve been atrocious to you. Yeah, that’s what I thought. Start by letting everyone know the hostility towards The Brook ends. So, anyway, lead well, don’t mess it up, or I’ll have to be appointing a new leader. If you catch my drift.”
She nods, catching my drift. Hm, I like that phrase. It feels like surfing. Or maybe hang-gliding. To stay in someone else’s driftwind, their wake, something like that. I’m probably mixing metaphors again, but I like mine plenty well enough. Ah well.
She does question my motives, or maybe intentions, “Pointless but impressive titles aside, you’re not demanding anything more? Not going to try to become our rulers or impose your will on us at all?”
I just roll my eyes at her, asking, “Do I look like someone who has the time to impose their will on every random band of miscreants that I happen to have to punish for misdeeds along my journeys? Sort it out yourselves and be better. Never know when I’ll be back this way again. I’d be far less lenient if there were a next time. Like I said, new leadership.”
Ugh seriously Reggie. Another disgustingly brutal show of force, and threats of violence? That’s not a heroic thing to do. That’s a villainous thing to do. Am I the villain? Did I just “what measure is a non-human” the plains? No. No, no no no. I did not. Don’t start down a rabbithole like that. Kozzurth was eating people and wealth, and Karn was enabling it. Both with the threat of deadly force looming over the heads of everyone in Autumn Brook. Hell, eventually the whole world. Plus, I’m pretty sure Harriet doesn’t know that the ancestors were being eaten by a friggin’ dragon. How would a pacifist have handled this situation? Hm. I honestly think they’d have been eaten. Maybe there was no good choice. I think I made the right choice amongst the few that were presented.
The woman, apparently Helen, or Helena, nods absentmindedly as she tries out titles on her comrade, “Helena of the Plains Colossi? Nah, Helen of the Plains Colossi? Helen, Leader of the Plains Colossi? Helen, Plains Colossi Chieftain? We’ll stick with tradition, it’ll be the two of us. Come on Rej, help me pick.”
I appear, and am, bewildered at her desire for my opinion when I realize she’s facing the male Colossi. His name must include Rej somewhere in it as well. I really, truly need sleep. I cannot maintain consciousness much longer, let alone maintain this facade much longer. I mean, why would I have thought she was talking to me when she asked a Rej to pick out her name? After saying something about tradition and the two of us, well, them. Ugh, just proves I need more sleep. I glance over my shoulder at Dawn momentarily, and they’re still there, just kind of standing around.
For some reason, my heart is incredibly warmed that Dawn is here. I mean, I’m grateful a potential ally came to warn us of danger at the very least. But it feels like more than that. I dunno, maybe I consider them a friend. Even still, how did they track us? With constant acid rain, even the Colossi footprints are mostly washed away in short order.
I’m about to ask Dawn in a whisper, but they ask me, “Rej, um, your boss, your leader, you called her Teuila was it? Is she okay? You two looked super close. Like, y’know, y’know, like, like a romantic couple.”
I blush as I flash Dawn half a smile over my shoulder and whisperedly answer, “Teuila’s off that way a ways, fighting one of the two lords, that one’s a Colossi. You’re right though. She’s going to beat herself up over not being able to fight the dragon, and also for not being at my side to protect me, since I’m so much weaker than her here.”
Dawn flubs, “You what.”
I barely contain a laugh, earning a snort for my effort. I simply nod rearward, affirming I meant what I said.
Dawn haltingly asks, “I thought you were joking when you said she was stronger than you back at The Brook. With those weird senses and stuff, that maybe you were equal and you were being modest. You slew this enormous beast. By the looks of you, barely a scratch on you. A few scorch marks, mostly just discoloration on the armor, and maybe some blisters. And. You’re telling me. She needs a verbal modifier for how much more powerful she is than you?”
I’m going to lose it and laugh my rear off if Dawn doesn’t stop with the questions, in such an exaggerated manner, so I change topics, “How’d you find us anyway? Me specifically.”
Dawn’s body language is abashed at the edge of my danger wrap senses. Dawn rambles, “That’s the weird thing. It was hard tracking. I couldn’t keep up. But, even though the tracking woulda been hard, shoulda been hard, was hard. I just kinda, I dunno. I felt where you were. You specifically. It was like I was following a trail I couldn’t see, like a magic thread. I’d honestly have gone to Teuila first if the pull led me to her, or the two of you evenly. No offense. Just that you said she was the leader, so I’d have figured she’d need the info the soonest.”
Huh. That’s. That’s quite odd. I cast the aura vision spell from the staff, and sure enough, the thinnest possible thread seems to link Dawn to me. I don’t even think the vision allows me to actually see anything, so much as feel its microscopic presence. But while that’s odd enough, there’s another odd thing. I see Dawn’s soul, external, and it looks chopped up, like there’s two thirds or more of it missing, and worse yet, being unraveled into eternity in the skies above. Poor Dawn. I wonder if I’m observing the soul right. I also wonder if it has anything to do with their curse.
I start to mention it, “Dawn, your soul. Has anyone ever looked at it for you? It’s, it’s so shredded, it —“ I’m interrupted in a big way.