Mibata took a few more exploratory glances around the room and between the two of us with the strange device. His head would bob and move every which way in an attempt to pilot the little eye, but as I began to write a few suggestions and a question he frowned and cupped his hands around it. A ‘blegh’ sound came from him, and his hands extended towards me with the machine still trapped inside.
“Oh goodness, I’m going to be sick if I suffer any more of this. Kayrux, could you please deactivate this before I make yet another mess today? “
I let my mana sensor rune look upon the thread connected between my brother's source and the device, and even the miniscule amount of mana the sensor pulsed with was enough the snap the line. The drone eye faltered and dropped back into the palm of his hand, the mana string reeling back into the device like a worm receding into its den. I now noticed that the device was cloaking itself somehow, but my own ability to sense its magic negated the effect and only made the drone look desaturated, as it was now a gold and white metal device once again. Mibata blinked a few times before letting out a relieved sigh.
“Thank you. That was…unusual and uncomfortable for my mind to endure. It was novel at first, but the unblinking eye constantly showing me the world even as my real eyes were closed was not pleasant.”
I rolled the spy eye over in my hands, wondering if maybe there was a way for me to activate the drone for my own use. Mibata was able to activate it just by speaking the words for the drone to do the tethering, but maybe if I were to make a thread of mana and plug it in myself I might be able to replicate the connection. Since I only have the one drone, it might be a good idea to keep a few sensors, limiters, and a control system set up so I don't pop it with a surge of power right after plugging it in. I conjured the necessary runes on my right shoulder and drew out a thread of mana with my hand, and as though it could sense my intent the drone's own mana snaked out to meet mine mid way. The two threads met, and the flow of mana rippled and waved as some form of signal was sent along the strand.
At first there was no obvious difference in my field of view, just a sort of blurry smudge in my peripheral vision. I closed my eyes and could see something there, but the image was so faded and weak that it looked like a sunspot that flickered and waned. Perhaps a direct connection is the only way to make it work. I slid the connection off of the limiter it was connected to and instead tried to plug it into my mana line directly, only for the nearest sensor to snap at the line like a hungry beast. A new shape like a sort of twisting coil in the center grew in, and from that rune I could feel a sensation of information waiting to be touched. It was being nice and patient, so I might as well let it speak, right?
I reached my mind towards the rune with the intent of letting it work, and as soon as my desire to see came through I found my vision interrupted by a circular window carved out of my view. Through this hole I could see only my own face as I looked down at the drone, my nose appearing to be gigantic due to the angle I held it at. I lifted my hand up and tilted the eye around, which gave me a vertigo-inducing rush as the whole world rolled on its side. Okay, maybe next time I shouldn't roll the camera I'm looking through like a marble. The eye itself had some means of orienting itself upright through levitating so I released it to do that for me.
Mibata was looking at the air in confusion, reaching his hand around trying to find the drone. Oh right, he couldn't see it when it was turned on, my bad. I cracked an eye open and pointed to where it was, clicking my claw slightly on the top of the frame so he could hear that it was still physically there. He too reached forward and touched the eye, marveling at how he could touch it but not see it.
“Incredible. I cannot tell that it is there, and even touching it does not convince me that I had really touched anything. Are you well Kayrux? Is the experience of seeing through it bothering you?”
I shook my head, as this wasn't all too alien for me to adjust to. I had done some drone piloting and VR gaming a long time ago as a human, but such experiences were only similar in the sense that I was seeing through more than my own eyes. By all sense it felt as though it were one of my eyes, one that I could move simply by looking in a direction and wishing to move in that direction. Even turning, angling, rising and lowering were all intuitive actions, meaning that I could simply think of doing a barrel roll and get one from the drone that instant.
I opened my real eyes and wrote on the slate, explaining what I saw and observed, as well as an idea.
“I'm alright. There was something like this in my old life, so I'm used to it. I'm going to fly it out of the den and see how much range it has.”
I closed my eyes and returned to flying the device out of the hobby room, through the den, and out into the tunnels. I could tell through the strand and my sensors just how far the drone was from me at any given point, so taking it to its maximum length and returning would give all kinds of data to experiment with. Down the tunnel, past the family walking back to their den, over the head of a kobold riding on the shoulders of another kobold, and out into the main spire. I didn't notice before, but the eye was also able to pick up sound, and as I flew it around I could hear all of tha barking, trilling, shrieks and cries of hundreds of kobolds in various states of partying or working. Flying the drone out into the main shaft further elevated this experience, as the sights and sounds of floors above and below were also observable from this vantage point.
Eventually I had the information I originally sought to gain when the drone reached a point where no matter how hard I willed it the thing would not go an inch farther, which by doing some rough calculations I found to be somewhere close to 500 feet. The festivities would still be there when I arrived in a real sense, so I guess I should just fly this thing home. I turned the drone around, and much to my dissatisfaction saw that a few kobolds were huddled by one of the praetorians on the balcony outside of the tunnel to my home. The small kobolds were frantically searching the area on the ground while one was explaining something to the big one. I tried to listen in, but for some reason their words were untranslated across the link. Not that I needed the translation, I knew who they were and what they were looking for just by seeing one of those emotionless super guards in their midst.
I was careful to fly the drone slowly past them, and thankfully the camouflage ability of the gizmo was more than capable of getting around them effortlessly. Now that I had some practice using it, zipping down along the tunnel was actually quite easy and allowed me to do a victory flip right before I banked it around the corner and through the doorway. Bahruk was unaware of the drone that slipped right past him as he worked on making a new chamber for Humey’s moss growing endeavor. Mibata was still sitting in the chair right next to me as I reached out and caught the drone, forcibly severing the connection with a sensor to regain my primary vision again. I wasted no time in relaying the news to my brother once the drone was out of my hands.
“We have a problem. One of those big guards is on the main landing of our floor and has a whole squad of people looking everywhere for their toy. I couldn’t understand what they said through it, but I have a feeling they might not know where it went.”
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Mibata frowned at the slate, then in an unexpected blur of motion rose to his feet and power walked out of the room. He appeared back in the doorway a moment later, his bag with the concealed knives at his hip and a determined look in his eye. I was about to ask him what he thought he was doing, but he put a hand on my slate to block me from writing.
“I will merely go nearby while remaining unobserved. If I follow the tunnel farther down there is an exit to the floor beneath us I can pass through, then approach them from a different angle and overhear them unseen.”
I flicked his fingers to get them to move, allowing me to reply before he hastily skittered off.
“Either you take me with you, or you don’t go at all. This is way too risky for you to just go and do without thinking things through or understanding what the consequences could be.”
Mibata bit his lip as he read my words, and something about the way he glanced at my shape bothered me.
“Kayrux…I…you…merciful gods help in my hour of need, but I cannot abide by that. You have many talents, but stealth is not one of them. Your scales are much too unique to be hidden, your height too great to pass in the crowds unseen, and this may sound rude but you lack the agility and dexterity necessary for quick movements.”
This was a really roundabout way of calling me fat Mibata. I know I’m a little chunky, but a dragon induced food binge is something beyond my control! I rolled my eyes and offered him a new suggestion.
“We both go out the other tunnel, you do your spy stuff, and I wait by the nearest stairs for you to come back. You call my name and I come running, ok?”
He nodded in agreement with this idea, and without any more delay we were on our way out the door. I did remember to double check to see if I had my hammer, the drone, and that Tim was not following us due to him being heavily invested in the magic that dad was making use of in the den. We stole away down the tunnel of our home, which to me was the first time going this way down the tunnel. It curved slightly to the right and had an decline to it, so it was no wonder that it would come out just a ways away and a floor lower from the usual entrance we took. It was also very apparent why this entrance was seldom used by us, as it happened to come out right next to a downward spiral staircase that seemed to have been constructed by mistake. One of the downsides of living in a mountain was that anything you subtracted from the rock was quite difficult to put back, unless of course you were an earth mage like Bahruk.
We skirted the edge of the staircase until we could see the city lifts and terraces out beyond the railing, and going off of memory we managed to find the closest stairwell to the floor above. I found a little nook to lean into to remain out of the way while Mibata seamlessly blended into the crowd by hunching his back and severely bending his knees. I was honestly shocked that he was able to change his height so effectively and naturally, and even more surprising was just how well he was able to blend in with the colorful crowd around him. Damn brother, you really are the noir detective I’ve always admired. Well there’s no point in just loitering with no purpose, so I might as well do something.
I toyed with the idea of sending out the drone again, but the thought of having twice as much noise and an extra eyeball bogging me down was a bad idea for recon like this. I wanted to keep myself alert for the scenario that Mibata began screaming for backup, but I also hated standing around doing nothing. No, this is no time for distractions, this is a real focusing time.
I waited for only a few minutes before I felt a hand tug at my bag, and when I turned to look I found Mibata just standing next to me casually. Whoah, I never even saw him take the stairs, so did he come from over the railing unnoticed? Damn that’s cool. He tugged at my bag again, a clear indication that this was not where he wanted to speak to me.
We skirted around the spiral staircase and back into the tunnel leading up to our home, but something felt off. The walk down had been quiet for the most part and was rather peaceful, but the climb back up felt tense, as though there was something waiting in one of these houses to pounce. I almost turned to look over my shoulder, but a slight hiss from my brother told me not to do that. Oh no, that can’t be a good sign.
We reached the doorway to our house, but instead of going in, Mibata instead leaned against the doorway and looked back down the tunnel at whoever was coming up from behind. I didn’t move or flinch as the individual stalked past me, but their lack of mana presence bothered me and made me shudder after they had left. Mibata glanced over his shoulder once their footsteps had departed, then in a flurry of motion led me into the dorm with a look of concern. He pressed a finger through his lips and onto his teeth, a hiss escaping from around his knuckle.
“Pardon me, that was just me processing something. First, I would like to tell you the good news: they do not know that you took it. By the account of the one who was operating the device, he had seen you acting suspicious and followed you to the railing, but upon drifting too close to you their spell abruptly ended and caused them to lose their device. The large protector that was with them showed no sign of irritation, and just kept telling them to continue searching. They did not know your name it seems, so we are safe on that front.”
He drummed his fingers on the wall while his brain wrestled with the bad news. Here it comes: the other shoe.
“There is some bad news. The one that passed us was a member of the same kind of investigator as me, and they knew you had taken it. The fact that this individual did not act leads me to believe that there are either spies within the seekers, or the seekers themselves are affiliated with these strange observers. I wish for it to only be the former, but I am too low on the command structure to know of any details.”
Well shit, that’s worrying for a whole slew of reasons. First off, how the hell was that guy hiding his source like that? Second, what does it mean for Mibata if he’s working for the spy agency that’s spying on us? Third, what does it mean for the seekers to know that I have it but not the praetorians? Could there be another layer of this mystery and clash of the elders we didn’t see?
Standing around biting our claws isn’t going to get us closer to any answers, and right now it seems like there’s too much heat on us to go wandering about outside of the house. I was a little worried about everyone who wasn’t home, but I’m sure between the combined brute strength of our muscular Humey and Juaki they won’t be facing any opposition, and Tokols’ speed and deviousness makes him particularly evasive even on his worst day. I’ll tell myself that they’re fine, but if they aren’t home in time for supper I’m going to start frying spies that come down the tunnel. I pulled up my slate and chalked up an idea of how to proceed.
“We should stay home for right now, help dad make that reinforced front door, and we need to come up with a full on list of things we want to ask of old Faerukurch. He’s our information center right now, and we need as much info as we can get. I’ll type up that list after we finish the door.”
Mibata looked away as he slithered his tail around his ankles, a slight tick that meant that he was getting anxious. I reached out a hand and placed it on his arm, tilting my head in a silent request to hear his troubled thoughts. A smile flickered on his lips, but faded as his false pretentiousness fell away in a rare moment of sincerity.
“I’m sorry. I just want to keep you safe, and knowing that the seekers might be on you makes me worried. I’ve seen those kinds of people when they’re serious. My ability to hide and blend in is amateur compared to the elites, and the one we met was barely an apprentice seeker a rank above me. I do not wish to wake one day to find your bed empty and a note bearing the seal of the greater seekers claiming you for investigative purposes. That would break my promise and put you in danger, and I don’t want either.”
It had been a while since he had brought up that promise of theirs, which told me that he was truly worried for my safety. I reached out and squeezed at his hands, making sure to lock eyes with him while keeping up a brave smile. I might not have a voice with which to tell you not to worry Mibata, but I can at least show you that I'm not scared and neither should you.