Chapter 105: A Good Haul
Tiguan was planning on staying the night, heading back out tomorrow morning. That gave them some time to just chat and have a laugh. The black dragon rather quickly ended up as the world's largest play uncle much to Tom’s amusement. He let the kids crawl around as much as they pleased, even spreading out a wing enough for it to be used as a bouncy castle. Jarix did complain a bit about how they would want him to do the same now, to which Tiguan simply questioned what the problem with that was.
The Hylsdal kids had also joined in, if rather more cautiously, especially at first. Seeing the others have fun apparently did well enough to convince them there was no danger present. In fact, the only ones who appeared to be showing fear were the adults. Though they too seemed to be easing up ever so slowly.
“Tom, before you go?” Tiguan questioned cautiously, just as Tom had gotten ready to go to the infirmary. “I have a few questions… If you wouldn’t mind.”
“Fire away,” Tom replied, sitting back down on the bench.
“Sapphire said you make things?”
“Yes,” Tom replied, not quite sure where the dragon was going with this.
“Have you ever been able to… you know… fly?” The dragon tried, sounding like he was very worried about offending Tom.
“Not by myself. I’ve flown here, though, and at home too… Why?”
“Could you make someone who can't fly anymore fly again?”
“Like a cripple?” Jacky interrupted. Tiguan wincing a little at that, though nodding in response.
“I have no clue,” Tom had to admit. “Would it have to be using her own wings?”
“I mean, I think she would like that?” the dragon replied, seemingly pondering the question.
“You have the parachute thingy, wouldn’t that do it,” Jacky added, optimistically. Tom wasn’t about to give that away though. He kinda needed that.
“I guess so. Who are we talking about here?”
“One of the people coming here is… not so lucky,” Tiguan replied, looking to the kids, with a sad smile.
“Dakota hired a cripple?” Jacky questioned, sounding genuinely confused. “That’s new.”
Tom could guess as to why. They flew all the time, every day almost, and often they spent more time on the wing than on their feet. Nunuk had talked about them getting some more hands to help out. A statement Tom wholeheartedly agreed with. And they had plenty of work to do on the ground, he knew that better than anyone.
“Could you?” the dragon pleaded, voice heavy with worry.
“No idea. Make something to help her fly… probably. Fix her own wings? I have no idea. I haven’t even seen her.”
“I know. If you try I think she will be really happy.”
“I can try,” Tom replied, trying not to sigh, remembering just how long the to-do-list was. It hadn’t gotten shorter following the last week's worth of events.
Tom had gone to the infirmary after he was content that things were in good hands, Jacky following along dutifully. He had been expecting more herb porridge or something similar, but what he got was a large mug of steaming hot tea.
“Now once the splash of potion has been added you need to drink it quickly,” Nunuk stated as she held out the mug, Jacky taking it for him. Tom sat down on the bed next to Esmeralda, giving her a nervous smile as she sat with her mug.
“And what exactly does it do?” Tom questioned. He had some rather bad experiences with drinking local drinks as of late.
“The tea will help take the pain, and it should put you to sleep for at least a day. The potion is going to be burning out the damage so it may be replaced.”
“I have no idea how that would work… So it’s painkillers and magic stuff?” Nunuk looked a tad confused for a second as she pondered it.
“Yes, precisely,” Apuma replied with an optimistic nod. Tom didn't really think taking anesthesia designed for something not human sounded like a brilliant idea. Then again he hadn’t exactly followed that rule himself come to think of it.
“And if I don't drink the tea?” Nunuk and Apuma exchanged glances for a second before looking back to him.
“You are gonna want to drink the tea,” Nunuk replied, a sense of foreboding in her tone, Apuma nodding convincingly. Tom relented, sitting down on the bed with a sigh.
“I’ve survived this far, what’s one more, hey?” he tried joking, looking to Esmeralda with a false smile. “Say bye to Tiguan for me, once he’s done having fun with the kids.”
“I can do that,” Jacky added, clearly doing her best not to seem worried.
“Here goes nothing,” Essy replied, her voice thick with forced optimism, as Nunuk brought out two vials of perfectly clear toxic green liquid.
“Yup,” Tom said, not sure what else to say as Jacky sat down next to him with the mug of tea. Come to think of it, that did look rather hot to him. Nunuk poured the contents of the first vial into Esmeralda's mug, giving the tea a stir before Essy brought it up gulping it down in deep drafts. She winced a bit, her expression twisting slightly, but it could have been a lot worse, much to Tom’s relief. Kokashi helped her lay down properly on the bed after she handed back the mug of tea. Tom didn’t feel like he needed a guinea pig, but it would have been nice to see what happened next. Unfortunately, Nunuk was already stirring his mug for him.
With Jacky pouring, it ended up reminding him more of a drinking competition than a medical procedure, as the scolding hot liquid was poured down his throat. He did manage to keep up, even if Jacky was a little enthusiastic. His entire mouth felt numb and burnt when he finished. He couldn’t feel his tongue anymore, and his throat was not happy either.
“There we go,” Jacky said proudly as she put the mug back down, picking him up and laying him down on the bed while he was still sputtering and trying to curse just how unpleasant that had been.
“No, don’t talk, just lay down, and try not to move or cough. You may pray if you so decide, but try not to get agitated, just relax,” Nunuk went, putting a hand on his chest for a second.
Tom didn’t feel like including gods after the last time he was in this kind of situation, but he did really want this to work, so he did shut up and tried to lie still. To his surprise, Jacky apparently decided to take up the mantle for him. Even if it was definitely a rather unorthodox prayer, it was very sweet though. She ran out of things to say rather quickly though. Luckily Kokashi was doing the same thing over Essy, providing a very handy guide for her to follow. Tom promised himself he would give her a hard time over it. That was just too damn sweet.
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Sapphire didn’t quite know what to feel right now. They were about to witness the death of possibly the person she hated most, at least in recent memory. The shock hadn’t really worn off yet following the court case yesterday. It felt weird. They had wanted this bitch dead for weeks by now and worked quite hard to make it happen, and now… they were here.
She clearly deserved to die too. Not only had she tried to wipe their keep off the map, she had, admittedly probably not intentionally, wiped another keep out completely. Or at least removed their last chance of survival. She was guilty of treason, in Sapphire’s mind on more than one account, and she had tried to kill them more than once by now.
Hence they now stood as part of the sizable crowd of people all holding stones waiting for The bitch, or Ursula as she was apparently called, to be brought out to face her judgment. When the executioners came out, dragging the screaming bitch along, Sapphire made up her mind. She had nothing but contempt for that stain upon their people. The Bitch screamed and begged, going back and forth between attempting to bribe the executioners and whoever she managed to maintain eye contact with, to screaming out curses, damning them all to eternal suffering, or claiming they were servants of evil out to get her.
Her expression was downright manic, to the point she was nearly foaming at the mouth, and her eyes no longer those of a sane individual. She had seemed rather unhinged before, but this was something else.
“Looks like the inquisitor took a toll,” Balethon said quietly, with a bit of a chuckle.
“Might as well put her out of her misery then,” Dakota replied, voice stone cold as she walked forward. She was one of the main victims of the Bitch’s crimes. Being the representative of both Bizmati Keep and Esmeralda, she was gonna be one of the people to break the Bitch’s wings.
As was tradition, her crimes were listed, along with the results of her actions and all those who she had wronged, a moment of silence being given for those who could not be here today. Among the people present were a large amount of family and acquaintances of the people of the lost keep, as well as representatives of the Royal Guard, Victoria, and a few other members of the Hashaw family, including both the lord and lady.
The last words The Bitch got out before the beating began was a pitiful plea for mercy as they laid into her. The Bitch was not much of a physical specimen and was quickly forced to the ground as they set about maiming her for life, not that she had much left. Sapphire was very glad they had not brought Ray along for this part after what Ralex had told her yesterday.
When The Bitch was left a jabbering broken mess, the procession began. Everyone who was wronged by her would place a stone in the sack that would weigh her down as she fell. Sapphire had wanted to come up with something clever to say as she put in her stone, to help doom her fall. But it was clear The Bitch was in no position to appreciate it anyway. So she just spat at her.
“Well at least you get to see him again,” Balethon quipped as he put in his stone, seemingly pleased with his contribution. Dakota had just chucked her stone at The Bitch face and turned her back, walking to their place. They eventually ran out of places to put the stones, many electing to just throw them at her instead. One man had to be restrained after he tried to beat the shit out of her, which he was allowed to do for a bit.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
But with the ceremony over, the executioner walked up in front of the bitch and with a firm kick to the chest sent her flying off the edge, into the nothingness below.
“I guess that’s that then,” Sapphire let out, breaking the silence as the scream of the traitor slowly faded into the distance.
“And good riddance,” Dakota echoed. They had taken a bit of time to exchange condolences with the victims. They hadn’t stayed long though, but they had preparations to make. Victoria had also made her excuses not long after the last flight, though the rest of the Hashaws did hang around for a bit.
They had only had one full day to get to know the two new huntresses before the trial. But as time tables were, that was all that they were gonna get. They both seemed nice enough, if rather curious about everything that was going on. Sapphire had been a little worried this was all going to scare them off, but they would learn the truth eventually anyway.
Phospheno grew increasingly excited the more she learned about everything that had happened. She clearly had both spark and spine. On the matter of fighting, she had apparently been training to become a lancer and considered going mercenary after she was denied entrance into the Royal Guard. As it stood she had gone for racing in various sports and signing up with the militia instead.
Bolinda was a tad more cautious, taking the news with more thought than excitement. She didn’t back down, though her skepticism was growing rather quickly. Her expression betrayed that she was seriously doubting what they were saying, despite acting very politely. The promise that she would get to see for herself soon enough did seem to alleviate her concerns though.
They had gone to see the families of the two huntresseses they had recruited. Or as it turned out as close as they had to it. The visits were mostly a formality, though they did exchange locations, means of contact, and other such useful information. And the contracts were signed. There hadn’t been any objections to the two girls going off on their own, though the two of them had broken the news prior to the visit. There had been some concern about the rumors that frontier keeps were falling left and right at the moment. The notion they had already repelled such an attack and had a dragon stationed to ward off any future attacks, not to mention the area was getting scoured for any trace of the enemy, did a lot to alleviate the families’ fears. It wasn’t like they could stop the girls anyway, and they had made their choices.
Bolinda and Phospheno would have one last night with their respective families before they were going to depart tomorrow morning. They were gonna be put to work for the rest of the day though. There were a few complaints as they spent the afternoon lugging crates around to get ready for departure, but all in all, Sapphire was pleasantly surprised by the two’s work ethic.
It was a truly staggering collection of goods though. Bolinda’s doubtfulness of some of the boasts they had made receded in exchange for questioning just how it was true. It was blindingly obvious that they meant business as bars of mithril, crucible steel, copper, and other metals were loaded into Archeon's crates alongside various alchemical concoctions, tools, and personal belongings. Sapphire made sure the small painting she had bought from a street vendor was nice and safe. It had cost her a fair bit, but it was a very nice piece, depicting the cliff as seen from above, with the Palace at the top. There were even a few dragons and smaller fliers dotting the sky around it. All in all, she was quite pleased with it.
Glira and Baron had agreed to take on some of the more dangerous substances to spread them out a bit. Captain Tyborg and a few of Archeon’s guards delivered the dangerous cargo to the training field in preparation for the morning.
The evening had been spent at the bar. Haiko had of course tried to convince them they needed to stay a while longer. Though Saph did assure him they would likely be back more frequently in the future thanks to Tom’s shenanigans. She had also handed him a few letters for home. Someone from Vultzha Keep was bound to swing by to take them along at some point.
Next morning they had been up bright and early to eat breakfast and get their things packed. As it turned out, they hadn’t needed to. Linkosta had arrived, rather late by their standards, with two aids hauling along both a chest and several bags of things.
“Traveling light I see?” Dakota jested as her sister set down her bag with a sigh.
“Sorry, I swear it’s not all my fault. Lady Ishani let me borrow a lot of nice equipment. There's even a telescope in there for some reason.”
Sapphire and Dakota exchanged glances for a second. ‘Why the hell does she need a telescope?’ Sapphire questioned to herself. Though if Linkosta said ‘for some reason' then there was no way she actually knew, so no use in asking.
“Well, we can ponder that when we are in the air. We are late as it is,” Dakota broke the slightly odd silence. The two aids were clearly relieved to have some of the load taken off; the chest meant no flying to the guild though, so they needed to get moving.
Tink and Junior had been waiting for them at the guild, also bringing a sizable amount of cargo with them. With everything else having been prepped the day before and plenty of hands available it was a short matter to get Archeon loaded up for the trip, even if the venerable dragon was less than pleased with the load.
They had three others to help take the load though, so the trading duo wasn’t too worried as Vulzan went about making sure everything was nice and secure.
Coming in over the training fields, the rest of the wing was also still busy getting geared up. That is to say, Baron was ready to go and currently sitting there looking a tad bored, and there was a young green dragon at his side, looking rather stately. Glira was lying on the ground, her crew busy with her armor as well as a sizable amount of different equipment and boxes of cargo.
“And we were wondering why Jarix was that pleased about the machine gun,” Sapphire let out as they came into land.
“Yes, she likes her toys,” Archeon replied, sounding a touch disappointed. “At least my son prefers keeping his back clear.”
“Well she does have a rear ballista,” Dakota pointed out, also looking at the odd combination.
Glira was clad in very well-worn armor, deep gashes, and hammered out dents and other repairs riddling it. It seemed to be very well made and the repairs were thoroughly made. She was carrying a rear-facing ballista much like Baron. Her helmet was equipped with a huge blade running down her snout and up her forehead like a spine, seemingly designed for ramming into a target. She of course also still sported the huge tail spike.
“Whatever you do, don’t smoke near her. Those boxes on her side are full of bombs for her crew... Lunatics every last one of them,” Archeon let out as they set down, walking over at a leisurely pace.
“You know I can hear you, right?” Glira replied, not looking up from where some kind of mechanical device was being strapped to both her forelegs.
“Of course I do. Are you planning on blowing up again?”
“Hey, I wasn't the one who handed me even more flash powder. And gel too for this trip. What do you need all this stuff for anyway?”
“You can ask our son about that when we get there. I’m guessing he knows more about that than me by now.”
“And willing to give a straight answer, I hope,” Glira replied, as she lowered her head to let her crew fasten the straps on her neck armor.
“Don’t be too hard on her, she did drop the harpoon for this one,” Baron added, with a bit of mirth to his voice.
“Haha,” Glira protested sarcastically. “We tried, it didn’t work, we moved on. No reason to rub salt in it. I’m still bringing the nets though, I have not given up on that one yet.” True to her word, large sections of folded up netting were hung from her underside, seemingly rigged to be dropped at will. “What about you Grevi, ready to give some scallywags a good spanking?” Glira questioned, looking towards the younger green.
“We will find them and purge them as we have been ordered to do,” the green dragon replied, maintaining her very dignified pose. Baron cracking a proud smile.
“Oh come on, show a little excitement,” Glira tried, seemingly not pleased with that response.
“I will be very pleased when we are underway. The sooner we get there the sooner the hunt may begin.” Glira sighed a bit, Baron giving the young green a nod of acknowledgment.
Maiko had come over to fetch Junior, who, as agreed, would be flying with Baron for the trip. Some of Archeon’s cargo was also shifted over to lighten the load a bit. The other dragons were carrying a sizable amount of supplies already though, so it was apparently not as much as Vulzan and Arc had hoped for.
The other dragons had both the things requisitioned for Jarix originally as well as spare parts to fix the damage he sustained during the battle. After a bit more fiddling, Glira got to her feet, her crew boarding, as she started going through the various accessories to ensure everything was secure and working.
“Is the flying armory ready for take-off?” Baron questioned, not waiting for a reply as he walked off to open ground. He left Glira fiddling with the extendable blade on her foreleg, trying to get it back in.
“Like you could outrun me anyway. You heard the young lady, we have a hunt to get going,” came the cocky reply, as a crew member managed to unjam the strange device.
Baron just replied, “Formation will be maintained,” As he took off at a gallop before kicking into the air, Grevi on his tail. Archeon took a bit longer to get airborne, with Glira bringing up the rear.
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Tom had been wondering just what this experience was going to be. In the end it had been almost like going into surgery, just one second he was hearing Jacky copy Kokashi’s prayer the next he was in a dimly lit room staring up at the ceiling.
He felt stiff as a board, and when he tried to move he couldn’t… He wasn’t restrained though, it was more like if his entire body had just fallen asleep, like when you laid on your arm wrong for too long. He was awake though, so that was something, and he had tried sleep paralysis before. It fucking sucked but oh well.
He felt weak and drowsy, but he didn’t even have a headache, so that was something… In fact, it didn’t hurt at all right now. That might be the strange magic painkillers at work though. It took him a while of trying to will himself to move before he managed to move his head a bit, soon followed by getting a finger to wiggle. After a few minutes, things slowly started to begin working again, even if he felt like he needed the mother of all stretches right now.
Looking around, Esmeralda was still in the bed next to him, seemingly asleep. Jacky was sitting on a chair leaned back over the backrest, seemingly sleeping very soundly, mouth slightly agape and tongue hanging out.
It was all Tom could do not to snicker too loudly as he tried getting out of the bed, which went just fine. Standing up he tried doing some basic stretches; they were both so painful and so pleasant at the same time as he kept going through whatever stretches he could think of. Then came the big test as he held up his hand, finding it perfectly steady.
“What they wouldn't give for this stuff at home,” Tom mused to himself in amazement. If anything, after a bit of time running his hand through the motions, it actually felt better than before. Chuckling to himself a bit he contemplated scaring the shit out of Jacky. Though he didn’t know if that might wake Esmeralda. Instead, he just went over to admire the improbable position she was currently in, her head actually pointing at the ground behind the backrest.
He wondered just what he might be able to get away with without waking her up. He had to start out with the classic, booping the snoot with a single finger. To his annoyance her eyes slowly opened, looking at him curiously.
Thinking quickly, Tom decided to have a little fun anyway. “This is a dream, I’m here to give you guns and explosives.”
“Wait, what…? Oh, you little shit, I’m not that dumb,” Jacky let out, giving him a shove to the shoulder before she got to her feet. Tom shushed her a little, pointing to Essy with a smile. “Oh don’t worry, she won’t wake up until it wears off. Believe me, I tried singing, calling her names, and even playing Kokashi’s violin after he was done playing for her… I’m not very good,” Jacky added while looking him over. “How do you feel? Nunuk thought you would be out for at least a day.”
“Pretty good,” Tom had to admit, holding up his hand to show it was nice and steady. “Real Tired, but I think it worked, somehow.”
“Aw hell yeah,” Jacky let out, taking him into a very tight hug lifting him off the ground. “Next time you go drinking, I’m tasting it first.”
“Jacky, I don't think you would notice,” Tom replied, getting one hand free to pat her on the shoulder as he dangled from her embrace.
“Then I’ll… I’ll keep proper alcohol on me all the time to fix it.”
“That’s very sweet of you… I’ll try and make a new warhammer for you, one that doesn't break so easily.”
“Don’t be daft. My mom will make that. A bit of teasing about the old one breaking would do it, I think and you know what I want you to make.”
“I can hazard a guess.”
They had let Esmeralda rest, fetching Kokashi to let him know it was his turn to sit watch. The guard had gotten up in a hurry, managing a few excited questions about how Tom was doing. Clearly delighted with the news the concoction had worked.
After some convincing that despite just having slept Tom was in fact still completely knackered, Jacky had relented to just sleep away the night in her bedroom. It was nice to just cuddle up, on the one-person bed. Once again able to just not worry at least for one night. No one was in danger, they were safe, more help was coming and Jacky was so nice and cool under the blanket.
And the morning held promises of a bit more time with a truly hilarious dragon, all the kids and finally getting to work on that slightly scary to-do list.