Day 41 of incarnation, Calendar Month 4, Day 13

—

Tower 23

Lady Celeste

—

Celeste was sitting in one of the repurposed Men’s quarter rooms, where Priestess Reelwen had been moved after the ambush by the Myiktek. The door was closed and locked from the inside, with two of Captain Susan’s best standing outside. If any demon wanted to finish the job that Myiktek had started, they were going to have to go through the very cream of the defense this town had left.

Which, Celeste was forced to admit, was basically her right now.

Her wounds from the battle had of course been healed by the Acolytes and her own considerable regeneration. Nothing physical remained, just the phantom memories of pain, there to join all the other memories she had of broken bones and torn flesh. She had never thought she would get used to such things, but over the years, without her even realizing, she had become… accustomed. Still hurt of course, it just didn’t disturb her like pain used to. What didn’t heal with the Goddesses power, and what only got worse with time, was the ennui. The fatigue, the dwindling of hope, watching so many around her be snuffed out.

The butcher's bill was surprisingly light, thank Lia. Seventeen militia women, dead from a combination of the thrown gate and various attacks on the walls. Half of Sergeant Isabel’s squad. Yvonne. And Fena and Michael were missing. Fled, according to Isabel, at just the wrong time as far as Celeste was concerned.

With Fena gone, and Yvonne dead, that left Priestess Reelwen as the only Tower authorized person in the city. Once she was on her feet again, she could authorize more, but until then, Celeste was stuck here like her foot was nailed to the floor. No tower to direct magical artillery at attackers, and the Lumber-way gate was badly damaged. No way the town could stand against a renewed attack by the remains of the Hag’s forces. Not without Celeste there.

The enemy's losses had been staggering, even for the losses expected in modern warfare. The militia and several work gangs of women were still dragging corpses out of the craters, but Celeste's best estimate was that three quarters of the goblins and something north of nine tenths of the warg riders were dead. The smoke from the charnel fires didn’t reach this deep into the temple, but outside it was quite awful.

And then, most inspiring of all, was the discovery of a Hag corpse, amongst the piles of orc war ladies. For as much random damage as Fena had done to the town with her inaccurate fire, killing a Hag made it all forgivable. With the coven broken, no new demons would be summoned, locally at least, and in all likelihood the two remaining Hags would be called back to their Auntie to explain the debacle. Celeste allowed herself a grim smile imagining that scene.

But that amusement only lasted for so long. She was going to have to finish this report to Empire Command tonight, and she simply didn’t have the answers they were going to demand. She was definitely not looking forward to that.

—

Empire Tower Control

Captain Victoria

—

Victoria was no stranger to the rarefied circles of power that surrounded the Empress. As one of three Captains who oversaw the central Empire Tower Control, she routinely was involved in briefings with the general and the Empress. So today was not unusual for that reason. No, what made it unusual was the reports that she was there to convey. Across twenty four resource towns scattered all over the north, fifteen had been attacked in the last 36 hours. Such a flurry of aggression from Hag forces was unprecedented in this generation, indeed hadn’t been observed for seventy years. A frightening thought, if Victoria would allow herself the luxury of fear. The last time this had happened, the Empire had been reduced to three cities, and two thirds of the men living at that time had been captured or killed by the hags. Plus the horrific losses you would expect amongst the military forces tasked with their protection.

Seventy years of crawling back from the yawning abyss of that war. She had hoped she would grow old and die before the Hags could put together another attack on that scale. It sounded like she would be living in interesting times.

“Captain, high level, what are we seeing out there?” The Empress's voice was melodic, as befit one of her rarefied breeding. Empress Evelyn of the holy line of Lia, second of the name. Head of House Lynne’Lia, the noble house which had produced more Empresses than any other in the four thousand year history of the Empire. Said to be direct descendants of Tul and Lia’s joining. The Empress certainly looked like a semi-divine being. Long, slightly wavy raven black hair cascaded down her shoulders to mid back, and porcelain pale skin was artfully enhanced by various paints and powders to give her an almost doll-like look. Her eyes were a deep blue, her nose small, her chin delicate and pointed. She was dressed in a rigid corset and shawl, with a full dress beneath that engulfed her feet and trailed behind her chair for some ways.

In all, she looked like the very model of a noble and set the standard by which elegance and beauty were judged, at least by those who bothered themselves with judging elegance and beauty in a woman. Naturally, it would take a very great fool indeed to miss the raw power she radiated, for over the course of her short rise to power, she had achieved Hero status, one of the four Hero tier women in the entire Empire.

Victoria saluted smartly, back straight and arm over her breasts. Then she adopted a slightly more relaxed posture to convey what she knew.

“Your Imperial Majesty. Fifteen attacks, three of which resulted in total loss of contact with the towns in question. Reports are still coming in, but the pattern seems to be full covens of younger Hags leading vassal troops. The standout fact is a new breed of demon being reported that can bypass even Temple defenses, an Infiltrator type. Losses amongst Tower personnel have been heavy, and only one Tower was actually able to be utilized to repel their attackers.”

General Dierdre sat at the small table along with the Empress, drinking tea and having a late breakfast. The general had been up most of the night, directing the response to the attacks and coordinating reinforcements, but her fatigue, if it existed, did not mar her appearance. General Dierdre did not put much stock in elegance or beauty in her own person, although the rumor was that she was personally a great appreciator of it in others. Not that Victoria could abide such rumors. No, the general set a different standard entirely, that of the iconic guardswoman. Rough, strong, dependable, brave. Close cropped blond hair, light green eyes, rough tanned skin from weeks spent in the field. While the general was merely Glyph tier, it was not her personal power which had earned her lofty position, but her keen strategic mind.

“A single Tower activated. Five times, despite suffering structural damage and losing one of its crystal batteries. Do we have any further details about this Fena woman?” The general was reading through the written report that Victoria had delivered when she entered, so Victoria assumed she wanted the Empress to hear about it.

“Sir, very little, I am afraid. Fena, no last name provided, approached Town 23 ten days ago under a crude disguise. Was cooperative and voluntarily wore a prisoner collar for the duration of her stay. Readily made friends with the locals, including Magus Yvonne, and was apparently settling in to become something like an apprentice to the Magus, before the attack. Went missing at the end of the attack, current location unknown.” Victoria summarized what was there in the report for the Empress’s benefit.

The Empress and the general exchanged an unreadable look. “Thank you Captain. I will have further orders for the Towers shortly, in particular about security with this new infiltrator threat. In the meantime, please organize a full review of personnel, and their identity words. Cautiously, Captain. Would hate to lose you to a panicked spy’s blade, understood?”

Victoria drew herself up to attention and saluted again. “Understood, sir. Your Imperial Majesty, with your permission?” With the Empress’s nod, she withdrew.

Deirdre sipped her tea, finishing her scan of the report. The survey of the damage to the town and the tower just didn’t add up. Or rather, they added up to something somewhat concerning. And Celeste’s rather sparse report about the fight in the tower and Fena’s emergency authorization raised all kinds of red flags. How did one journey tier Magi manage to recharge the tower not once, but twice?

The Empress was content to let Dierdre work through it. Once she was done and looked up from her papers, Evelyn nodded once. “This Fena. Survivor of a lost colony of humans? A prodigy who lied about their tier and was capable of hiding their true power from someone of Lady Celeste’s skills?”

“Yet no friend of the Hags. I don’t think they are conniving and ruthless enough to let one of their own be killed all to build some kind of trust for a spy.” Deirdre responded. “Yet, I am not content with either hypothesis. Celeste is strangely reluctant to go into detail in her report, but reading between the lines there is something else going on there. What do you feel is more likely, a hidden Master tier prodigy, or even Glyph tier, who could hide from Celeste… or a Journey tier prodigy who can Draw?”

“Now General Dierdre, don’t let your prejudices run away from you. Our dear Magister can Draw, and is the very picture of ethics and proper behavior.” The Empress was only mildly chiding, the contentious issue of Magi with access to Draw was old and tired ground between them.

“As you say, Your Imperial Majesty. But if there is a lost colony of Magi who survive by forbidden techniques, they could be a new threat axis that we can’t ignore. What if they link up with the Lich Queen…” Deirdre trailed off and sighed. “Nevermind. I will have a summary for you tonight with my thoughts on the matter. It is all speculation at this point, so I can’t waste too much time on Fena, other than to be grateful for her actions in protecting Town 23. “

—

Name: Phoenix

Journey Tier

Attributes: 0 points

Strength: 7.2, Constitution: 14.4, Coordination: 13, Mentality: 23, Will: 17.5, Charisma: 18, Luck: 13

Skills: Stealth 8%->9%, Survival 30%->31%

Synchronicity 3%->6%

—

Phoenix didn’t grumble as he cooked up some tea and breakfast for the pair. Michael was clearly a late sleeper who was forcing hirself to push through and get up early, and Phoenix had some sympathy for that, if only from his past life. It was distinctly strange to him what prompted memories from his past life. Mostly it was little things like this, a person who wasn’t a morning person, which drew back one of his previous partners, who acted in a similar way. Or remembering that he loved the taste of raspberries, while wishing he had some to add to this oatmeal gruel. Did it even matter that he had a previous life? Practically the first thing he learned was that he couldn’t go back, even if he wanted. Some of his memories were rather sad, lost loves and loneliness, while others were more melancholy. So far, not a lot of happy memories.

The thoughts roiling through his mind left him brooding and introspective as did the soreness of his legs, and Michael was equally dull and irritable, so they passed the morning in a kind of strained silence. A few words here and there, and a general sense of combined irritation with the world. Still, Michael remembered without prompting to range out ahead, looking for likely sources of food, while Phoenix tried to keep a keen eye out for prey.

Midway through the day, he had bagged two squirrels and a rabbit. He had also seen a vast array of new life, much denser and weirder than his previous foray. His spirit senses constantly highlighted the presence of spirits in the wilderness around him, hovering about this or that landmark, ancient tree, shallow pool of water. Any place that seemed unique or special in some way. He thought about trying to bond one or two, as he still had three threads empty, but the time commitment and risk didn’t seem worth it without Tiana there to guide or Chepi to protect. The plant spirit he did have with him proved useful, finally, by enchanting the meat so that it wouldn’t rot. A very powerful alternative to salting, smoking, or refrigeration, which Phoenix appreciated.

In addition to spirits and smaller wildlife, he saw much more fantastical beings. A colony of rabbit-like beings, each with a pair of horns just behind their ears, and a wary intelligence to their eyes. He asked Michael what they were, and zie just shook her head.

“Spawn of some spirit, certainly. These might be the only ones in the whole world, or there might be a million scattered about the continent. We have lost so much knowledge. You have to understand, humans simply do not trek into the wilderness. We use boats on the rivers and airships in the south, and that is it. Anywhere humans go, they have to go in numbers to establish a Guardian and, recently, man a Tower. Otherwise, colonies just disappear, and it isn’t always about the Hags.”

“A Guardian, like the one in the tower? They are that important?” Phoenix asked.

“My understanding is that the Guardian is the first line of spiritual defense for the town, riverboat, or airship. Without one, everyone is at risk from hostile spirits. The more people in one place, the faster hostile spirits converge to prey on them. You and I are relatively safe because it’s just the two of us, and we both have some kind of spiritual defense even if we are found. That is not true of everyone.”

“How many people does it take to form a Guardian? Do Guardians have to be with a particular person, the group, or an object? What about…” Phoenix pestered hir with more questions, but zie professed not to know and after their break for lunch hurried off to scout some more, leaving him alone to wonder. Phoenix got the impression Michael didn’t like not knowing, or at least appearing to not know, and wasn’t used to all of his questions. It made him reluctant to ask more, to not annoy hir.

It was in that rather unsettled mood the Phoenix traveled in the afternoon. He had noted a herd of deer like animals with shocking blue fur in the distance, when Michael came hurrying back.

“I found something, maybe something amazing. Like a legend! Come one, come check this out!”

The terrain was similar to what they had been traveling through all along- rumpled low hills covered in tall grasses, with occasional copse of trees near wetter areas. A creek, barely wider than he was tall, meandered near their route, and occasionally the hills were steep enough to leave nothing but bare rock, stained russet by the weather. It was through a pair of hills like this that they traveled, dull gray and streaked red on either side, a thin trickle of water centered between them heading towards the creek, trees scattered about but not so dense as to slow their progress. The sky was a clear blue, the sun sinking into the west, and the temperature was just slightly too warm in the sunlight.

Michael was exclaiming over a print in the mud near the crick.

“See? Look at the size! That is no deer track.” Michael said, pointing at the cloven hoofed imprint.

Phoenix didn’t know deer from horse from pig, so he nodded along. What he found odd was that there was exactly one print, in the mud just before the water started, and none else in the soft earth all around. “If you say so, Michael, but those blue furred deer looked pretty big. Could it have been them?”

Michael looked torn, then shook hir head. “No no… well maybe. Come on, I want to see what is in the valley up ahead.”

Phoenix followed along as Michael took off, gazing around him. The plant life here was certainly quite vibrant, richer and greener than the stuff they had been making way through. As if spring had come earlier and stronger to this area. It reminded him strongly of the meadow that Melite maintained for the faeries, rich with wildflowers, and a sudden hope sprang into his chest that there might be friendly fae nearby.

Indeed, shortly after he arrived to find Michael standing in the middle of just such a meadow, a riot of color and buzzing insects. Phoenix could feel the spirits as they moved through the area, even without checking his spirit sense, but none seemed hostile. Excited, he looked about, hoping to find the small treehouses that he had seen. Instead, what he saw was a brilliant flash of white in the distance, up on the crest of the hill they had been walking near.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“Holy shit it's a unicorn.” He muttered.

It was difficult to judge the size at this distance. However, it was delicate, like an antelope with a pointed head, thin legs, dainty golden hooves, large black (or were they blue?) and very expressive eyes. The single golden spiral of a horn contrasted with it all. It did not seem afraid, although it was at quite a remove, merely watching them both. The frozen tableau was maintained for a long held breath, and was then broken as it lowered its horn to them in a salute, before starting to make its way down the hill towards the valley.

“Michael, what do we do?” Phoenix called out to hir in a loud whisper.

“Like I have any clue! This is a bedtime story made real!” Michael started making hir way slowly back to Phoenix, keeping hir eyes on the unicorn as it approached.

And suddenly, it was there, not three meters away, close enough that he felt he could just reach out and touch it. Much larger than he expected, its shoulders even with his own, like a small horse. The coat was even more blindingly white at this distance than reflecting the sun on the top of the hill.

“Is this thing going to get all judgy about your sexual history?” Phoenix whispered to Michael.

“What! My sexual history!? Wha… I mean… it's not like…” Michael drifted off into silence after a few weak protests.

“Yes.” The unicorn said, clear and calm.

Michael’s jaw dropped, and hir face turned beat red, either in anger or embarrassment.

“You both are rather odd, for elves. Or rather, you are not elves at all, are you?” The unicorn continued, musing out loud.

Michael seemed quite at a loss for words, so Phoenix took a half step forward to answer. “No, we are humans, um…” and there he ran out of steam, not knowing what the polite way to address a unicorn was. Plunging on. “My name is Phoenix, this is Michael. A pair of travelers making our way through your lands in peace. We wish none ill, here.”

The unicorn gazed at them for a full minute in an increasingly awkward silence. Finally, it spoke again.

“You both stink.”

Phoenix put his hands over his eyes, mortified. Michael gave a short bark of a laugh.

“No, sweet smelling we are not. Kind of been out in the wilds marching hard.”

“Not that kind of stink. This one… “ The unicorn gestured with its horn to Michael. “Is typical, lacking purity but otherwise normal. Offensive to send to meet a unicorn, but typical. This one… “ And the horn rested its point in Phoenix’s direction. “A virgin, but something is… off. A shadow on your soul. I have seen it’s like before...”

Phoenix took a moment to recover. “Shadow? Look, virgin… I’m not… I mean I suppose in this life technically…” It was his turn to be at a loss.

Michael was torn between smirking at Phoenix’s embarrassment and wrestling with hir somewhat diminished awe at the unicorn's presence.

“Ok, sorry, we seem to be laboring under a few misunderstandings. Just travelers, not envoys from the elves or anything like that. We did not intend to offend, we didn’t even know you were here.” Phoenix tried again.

“I am Quirina. Guardian and caretaker of the denizens of this land. A task that I, until recently, shared with another. Perhaps you can be of assistance.” The unicorn, Quirina, said.

Phoenix glanced at Michael, who was veering back towards awe again. Exasperated with hir capricious emotional swings, he continued in the role of spokesperson.

“Well, unfortunately we have just come from a battle with the Hags to the north-east, and we would be poor guests indeed if we dragged that trouble to your door. Maybe it would be best if we just quickly moved on?”

Quirina looked on, judging him or weighing options he wasn’t sure. “A Hag would be foolish indeed to confront me deliberately. They will find no aid here, nor will they cross my path without dire provocation. I understand your reluctance to add to your troubles my own.” Quirina snorted. “Nor can I blame you. But, crossing my territory will force your pursuers to deviate from the direct course to you, and on top of that, I can guide you through the Ways to speed you along.” Giving Phoenix a considered look, she added, “Finally, I offer a boon, if you aid me.”

Left unsaid, if we don’t aid you, we have to go around your territory ourselves, possibly letting any pursuit catch up. Phoenix made sure his thoughts didn’t touch his face.

“That is very generous of you to offer. Before we accept, can you tell us what it is, exactly, you need?” He said out loud.

Quirina nodded her head, a peculiarly exaggerated gesture on an equine. “There is one who lives nearby, a partner of mine. Until they fell to shadow. Now they curl inward and become twisted and diseased, tainted as they are. If my horn could but touch them, I can strip that curse from them, but their power is such that approaching them will be neither safe nor easy. I would request your assistance in letting me approach them and free them.”

Phoenix had a suspicion that ‘bait’ was the real job they would be taking on. One glance at Michael though, and he sighed, as hir face lit up in excitement at the prospect.

“Just… distract them, so to speak, such that you can get close enough? I guess we could help. What and where, if I may ask, is your partner?”

“A great beast of the wilds, who has clawed out a cavern from the solid rock of a hill not too distant from here. There she has formed her lair. For some time now, years as you reckon things, she has been locked in a kind of feverish sleep, only rousing enough to lash out at any who approach.” Quirina responded.

“So, we would… approach, and provoke this reaction, and while her attention is on us, you would slip in?” Phoenix pushed.

“It is as you say. I will give you a word that will call me to you. When you have sufficiently engaged her, use the word, and I will appear nearby. It will take but a moment for my power to free her. At which time my presence should calm her such that the matter can be resolved peacefully.” Quirina was gazing at Phoenix steadily, as if she could read his doubts.

Michael had no doubts to speak of. “Easy as stealing pies. Fena, I could do this myself, if you want to stay back and safe.”

“Why don’t we see what the lair looks like before we assure ourselves of victory.” Phoenix said, noting to himself that the unicorn had yet to clarify what this partner was.

“Then I will lead you to the lair.” With that Quirina turned and walked along the valley floor, at a pace that the two humans could maintain comfortably.

The short walk itself was something to behold. As Quirina moved, the world became crystal clear and calm around her. Butterflies, out of season, danced around her hooves and flowers would bloom. The ground itself responded, becoming firmer, less muddy, leaving no dirt to mar her perfect pale coat. Phoenix had to wonder what the consequences of that display were. Would the flowers persist after the unicorn was gone? Assuming the butterflies were real insects, would they die in the cold or starve from a lack of their preferred diet due to the early spring weather?

And why was he searching so hard for the cloudy outer layer of this brilliant silver lining they had stumbled into, anyway?

In due time, they walked between two more hills and were confronted by a much larger hill, or perhaps a small mountain. The face of it that was nearest them was denuded of all plant life, stark rock weathered by the elements. Some distance around its side, grasses and trees grew once more, giving the appearance of a mossy stone crouched in the mud, with a coat of green wrapped half around it.

The rocky face steamed and fumed with some internal heat, and a great cave had been torn from the base, leading deep into the root of the mountain itself. The edges of the cave mouth were covered in what could only be claw marks, and the extant was much larger than Phoenix would like- perhaps fifteen meters wide and half that tall. He had a very bad feeling about this.

“Here, I will wait. Once you have properly distracted her, say ‘wush’, and I will come.”

Phoenix blinked at that a few times, then shrugged. Was there really some requirement that magic words have to be incomprehensible, after all? This didn’t have the feeling of any particular power to it, so he suspected it was just a sound that Quirina would be able to identify easily and then use her own power to respond.

“Right. Well, Michael, let's scout things out and then do some planning, shall we?”

The cave was just as raw and rough as its exterior would suggest. No natural formations softened the hard lines of the stone chunks torn out of the bedrock here. Phoenix noted, idly, that every so often, much better craftsmanship formed an arch. He assumed it was deliberately done to strengthen the tunnel against cave ins without using wooden posts like in a mine. The smell was a mixture of damp warm humidity and some kind of ticklish spice that he couldn’t identify, pepper maybe, which made his sinuses itch. Darkness engulfed everything just a few meters inside. His enhanced sight still let him see, with the dim light from the entrance, but even that would fail him if the tunnel were to turn or something were to block the light. He moved over to Michael, who seemed equally unperturbed by the darkness.

“Do you want me to light things up? I will be blinded if we go too deep down this place.”

“No, a light will alert anything down there well before it lets us see it in turn. I can see even in total darkness, I can guide you until we get close enough that light won’t betray us.” Zie held out hir hand. “Don’t worry, getting pregnant by holding hands is a myth that only virgins believe.”

Phoenix closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Of course, zie was not going to let that go.

Taking hir hand in his, he spent the next several minutes preparing his defenses. It had become a habit to have Death’s Panoply, Fire of Mentality, Spirit Ward, and Ward versus The Lie up at all times. After the discussion about spending Magic Pool points and being detected, he had made sure to fit those four in at a level low enough to not go over the threshold that Michael had set. He would then spend the rest of the day as they marched respirating normally to recharge his Magic Pool. Now however, he suspected that Magic Pool use would not be the beacon that it would normally be, with a unicorn and a… well whatever this thing was nearby. In fact, it might be beneficial to be found here in this territory, where the Hags would be reluctant to go.

With that in mind, he spent enough to charge his defenses to their limits. Based on his previous experimentation, he knew that his limits were based in some way on his Mentality and his magical skills, both of which had grown over the course of the last month or so. Where before, he had struggled to maintain a candle flame for an hour, now it was possible for him to maintain a torch all day. The same was true for his defenses, where he would put a low level of defensive power but increase the duration in turn, such that he didn’t have to refresh it constantly. Now he did the opposite, reducing the duration to an hour, but increasing the defensive power to one step below his maximum. A new twist on all of this was that changing parameters like this still cost him a fraction of the points he would have needed to cast the spell from scratch, an entropy cost to changing the spells.

—

Magic Pool: 22 (42) [respiration halted, draw breath 7 per activation]

—

He refrained from using Draw Breath, just in case either the unicorn or her ‘partner’ could sense such a power.

“All set?” Michael whispered, as he finished.

“Yeah… you could tell?” Phoenix replied.

“Of course, we are touching, it would be hard for me to miss something like that.” Michael then led him into the deeper darkness.

They managed to make their way like this for some distance, but the floor was rough and grooved and often caught at his feet. The third time he tripped and had to be caught by Michael, he pulled hir to a stop.

“Let me make just a candle flame, and we can hide it in a hood so it only reflects on the ground. Just enough for me to see where I am stepping.” Phoenix said, and Michael squeezed his hand in agreement.

With some concentration, he was able to form a lantern-like hood from his Illusory Earth, and place inside it a tiny sliver of light from his Halo. This gave off a very dim reflected glow, just barely enough for his enhanced eyesight to see the ground, and hopefully invisible from any distance beyond that. That sorted, they made better time through the cave.

The cave sloped very gently downwards, and curved like a snake twice through an unknown distance under the mountain above. Eventually, the oppressive darkness and weight of all that rock above gave way to a reddish glow. The ceiling stretched away from them, buttressed with those same carefully carved arches to a distance of twenty or so meters. Opposite the entrance where Michael and Phoenix crouched, a pool of liquid flame, surely magical in nature, glimmered. Water from the surrounding walls steamed off the rock, forming a deep mist that nearly obscured the highest point of the room, and leaked down to create the heavy, wet, breeze that had been blowing out of the cave mouth as they entered.

Next to the pool of flame, a dias of cut and smoothed stone, mounted by a throne which seemed to be carved directly from the same rock as the dias. A corpse sat there, dressed in tattered, golden threads, desiccated down to bones and dust. On its head lay a crown of gold, and in one hand rested a book. The sound of deep, heavy breathing echoed throughout, but Phoenix at least could not tell where it was coming from.

All through this spelunking, Phoenix had been speculating to himself on what it was they were going to find. If unicorns were real, then everything was fair game. Dragons, manticores, hydras, wyrms, wyverns, any beast of legend or myth that would be large and powerful enough to dig such a place out of granite. Given the rather cagey avoidance of specifying the nature of her partner that Quirina had, Phoenix had privately placed his bets on it being a dragon.

He was thus not surprised when the beast's head rose from the pool of fire. Crocodilian in shape, with jutting horns just above its eyes, its jaw was different from the mundane crocodile in that it looked like it could unhinge like that of a snake. The head itself was longer than Phoenix was tall, and twice as broad, covered in armored scales of deep purple and black, shiny and iridescent like an oil slick. Her neck did not thin, carrying the weight of that skull on thick muscles with a crest of spikes running along the spine down to the body. A body which too, emerged from the fire, two solid forelimbs ending in four clawed toes, two broad wings pulled in tight against its frame, and then two hindlegs supporting it all. Head, neck, and body, she was easily twelve to fifteen meters long. The base of her tail could be seen, sinking into the flames as she crouched down in the dimness.

Michael and Phoenix were hidden against the wall of the cave mouth, behind a kind of lip formed by the first frame of the arches that supported the ceiling above. Stacked one above the other, they each had one eye just around the corner to see this majestic sight, before pulling hastily back and staring at each other in worry.

“Not thieves, to reach so deep inside without triggering my defenses. How very peculiar.” The dragon’s voice was deep and rough, and Phoenix could hear the scrape of its hide and claws on the ground of the cave as it moved.

“Well? You might as well introduce yourselves. Not very many places you can hide, and I know them all. Or are you busy hunting my form for weaknesses, hrm?”

Michael made a pushing motion at Phoenix, then tilted hir head as if to encourage him to engage in parley. He just stared at her, aghast, before swallowing hard and raising his voice.

“Oh great and terrible wyrm…” He started.

Deep, rumbling laughter interrupted him. “Chumana. Call me Chumana.”

Still hidden, or at least obscured, by the lip of stone, Phoenix nodded to himself and continued. “Oh great Chumana, we have come here to present a tribute and perhaps, if our tribute pleases you, to ask a question.” Phoenix was making things up on the fly, and while he announced this new found tribute, he opened up his travel chest and pulled out the Tome of Arachnae. For he had recognized the torn robes of gold adorning the form of that corpse.

Michael, for hir part, sparkled dimly and faded into the shadows, leaving Phoenix alone while zie presumably was making hir way closer under cover of her powers.

A pause in the movement inside the cave then. “Tribute? From whom? Wait, what is it? Come out where I can see you, I am not going to eat you.”

Squeezing his courage down tight, Phoenix gingerly exited his concealment. Chumana had fully emerged from the pool of fire at this point, a stain of light like a rainbow bleeding into a pool of water, shimmery colors tending towards a red wash as her length led to the fire. Her large, lidded green eyes latched on to him as he emerged.

What struck him most about her was that she seemed… a little small for a dragon. Not that she wasn’t large, from snout to tip of her tail she must have been twenty five meters, easily. But for some reason, he had imagined she might be larger still. His imagination had been infected by movie depictions of dragons from his own world, monsters a hundred meters long or more, greedy, prideful, selfish and touchy.

Her response, deep voiced as it was, seemed more excited and curious than arrogant and wrathful. It was throwing Phoenix off his game plan, and he hastily started discarding certain kinds of flattery and lies in favor of others.

“From the Empire of Tul’Lia, great Chumana.” He held the Tome of Arachnae up high, so that it was obvious what he had. A grain of truth, in a way, since Michael at least was from there. They hadn’t had the opportunity to discuss strategy for this encounter, but he could guess what zie was doing right now- stealthing up behind Chumana where zie could call the unicorn in once zie was near enough.

Chumana narrowed her gaze as Phoenix stopped, book in hand. “A book? An interesting book. I have not heard of this Empire. I hope, for your sake, you and your friend are not playing any games with me. I would hate to fill this cavern with my fiery breath and find to my horror that someone had gotten… hurt.” and she chuffed out a puff of smoke.

Phoenix was definitely sweating way too much at this point. He hoped that Michael would get the hint, but just in case…

“No games, great Chumana. If it would please you, I would approach, so you might examine what I bring?”

“Fine, approach. I can only imagine that you think you can attack my eyes, or find some flaw in my scales to exploit. I assure you, neither approach will earn you more than a moment's surprise at your failure followed by a swift fiery death.” Chumana sat like a exceptionally large cat, front legs straight and hind legs folded under, head held high, tail wrapped around her claws in front of her.

“No… no I wouldn’t dare.” Phoenix had, in truth, thought about trying to blind her temporarily with a flash of light, but his task here wasn’t to harm her, assuming it was even possible for him to do so. Once he was as close as he dared get, he stopped again, resisting the urge to wipe sweat out of his eyes.

She pondered him for a long moment, then gracefully lowered her head level with his. “A Tome of Arachnae. I have a number of questions for you about this, but why don’t we start with what you wanted to ask me, if I approved.”

“Wush.” Phoenix said, gaze fixed on that one large eye so close to hand.

Chumana blinked slowly in confusion. “Wush?” She repeated.

Light bloomed in the cavern, brilliant white, and the unicorn stepped out of… nowhere, behind the dragon. Chumana whipped her head around with a roar, but Quirina was faster still, her horn dipping down to tap against the scaly backside of her opponent.

Phoenix had turned and started sprinting for the exit as soon as the Chumana had taken her gaze off him, and he could see Michael already at the tunnel mouth ahead of him.

“Oh you cheating little sprite! That doesn’t count!” Chumana bellowed in rage.

Doesn’t count? What?