Chapter 137: Hunger Games

“So then, pipsqueak, ready to get your ass kicked?” Glira chuckled as her crew set about adjusting her nets, Jarix looking down to Tom and Saph pleadingly.

It had been a busy few days of packing supplies and getting the Deriva Keep folk sent home. Saph had kept busy helping plan for winter as well as getting the keep back in order after the festival. It had been a few days, but they had finally gotten around to Glira and Jarix's little hunting competition. Much to her surprise though, Jarix actually seemed to be less than confident, rather unlike his usual self.

“You’re sure we can’t convince Tom to let us use the fifty?”

“Yup,” Saph replied as she was looking over her own gear, getting a little tired of answering that question. Tom had conceded to let him actually bring it after a lot of arguing concerning several points of varying credibility. Ranging from getting used to flying with it, what to do if the keep came under siege while they were gone, and needing the extra handholds for the huntresses.

The dragon just grumbled a bit, swinging his head in under his chest to look at Zarko, who was herself hanging by her feet from his harness and working on Jarix's own net. Glira might have more nets, but Jarix was the more experienced at using them for hunting by now, So their contest would boil down to Jarix's hunting skill to compensate. It was all about headcount after all.

“Staring at me won’t make it go faster’,” the lieutenant grumbled as Jarix just kept staring at her.

“Hey, Zarko. How much to lead him astray just a little?” Glira asked with a chuckle as her own crew finished prepping for take-off.

“You think I’m for sale?” the lieutenant replied, not looking away from her work, her back turned to the older blue.

“No, never… I just think it could be funny since I’m guessing he still hasn’t learned to navigate by himself yet.”

“Hey, I can find my way to the forests and back no problem,” Jarix protested. Saph just shook her head a little. The guy had the sense of direction of a weathervane in a winter storm, that much she had learned by now. He had Zarko though, so she doubted their party was getting lost today, even if the autumn weather decided to ruffle their wings a little.

“Sure, and how many trips has that taken?”

“A few,” Jarix countered not terribly convincingly. “What about it, old woman, need to send me astray to have a chance? In that case I could just give you a head start?”

“You better shut it or Tom is gonna need a new dragon here,” Glira chuckled with just a hint of a snarl to her tone, Jarix clearly not being impressed by her antics.

“Oh really? And who might that be then… Tiguan?”

“Me, you overgrown lizard. I can do anything you can, but better,” Glira snapped, though still wearing a smile.

“For the small cost of eating three times as much and being completely insufferable,” Jarix countered, confidence clearly growing again. “You would hate him if he got his claws into you.”

“He doesn’t even have claws,” Glira dismissed, not seeming worried in the slightest.

“You do know this is Bizmati keep and not Hansen keep right,” Saph questioned, looking between the two of them. “He hadn’t bought the place yet”

“Well maybe that’s how I prove my worth then” Glira all but laughed evily. “I think I could afford the place if I wanted.

“I doubt it’s for sale,” Saph clarified, not sounding terribly respectful. Glira just smirked though.

“Anything for sale for the right price.”

“You’re not that rich mom. And I doubt dad is up for giving you finance” Jarix interrupted, Glira letting out an annoyed grunt, looking back to Kulk.

“Ready for take-off?”

“Ready when you are,” the healer confirmed, looking back to the three huntresses they were bringing. She would be Glira’s officer for the day. Kulk hadn’t wanted to go, but the major apparently had stuff to do at the keep, and she was Glira’s second highest ranking officer. Saph guessed the majors schedule conflict had something to do with why Linkosta was still at the keep rather than down below. Well, aside from trying to figure out how to get Tink balanced again. Saph would put more money on Tom’s patience with the mines having run out, or perhaps he had another scheme in the works. It was hard to tell these days.

According to Jacky, Tom had been rather conflicted on the whole situation with Tink. Sure, the inventor should live, at least by the sound of it. Linkosta had assured them it would go away eventually, but for now the inventor had a tendency to start floating off or all of a sudden weighing much more, which had proven nearly catastrophic when he had been experimenting with floating through the air just using the wind to move him along. Further testing had been restricted to only a few feet off the ground.

For now though, it was all about their little competition. That served Saph just fine too. It was gonna be her, Jacky, and Pho helping Jarix, with Essy, Fengi, and Bo making up Glira’s hunting party. Essy was in charge of the other group’s hunt. Or at least pretending to be in charge, as Glira decided what she wanted them to do. She had made it very clear when they had proposed their little idea that she would be in charge, especially once she found out the major wasn’t coming. It was hardly a surprise though, that was more or less how it had worked up to this point if Glira had been on a hunt. The main difference now was that she was technically hunting for the keep rather than just the combat wing and the people down in the caves below, which was more than enough reason to humor her for the day.

Glira smirked at Jarix as she took off running. “Don’t worry, I won’t wait for you!” she laughed out as she ran, eventually kicking off into the air.

“Sometimes I really hate that woman,” Jarix pouted, looking back at Zarko. “We about done yet?”

“Just about. Don’t want them coming off early,” Zarko replied as she tightened down the release knots.

“Well hurry it up, she’ll be insufferable if we lose this. Where is Radexi?”

“Said he needed to grab something,” Zarko snarled, clearly quite tired of getting shouted at as Pho tried to help, getting told off once more. “No, you don’t touch anything. I’ve seen the knots you make.”

“Just trying to help,” Pho pouted, crossing her arms and looking rather offended as she walked back a few steps to watch.

“What are we aiming for today?” Jacky questioned from Jarix’s back, where she was busy securing the fifty cal one more time. Saph had no doubt that didn’t need doing, but they were waiting on Zarko to finish anyway.

“As long as it’s quick and easy, it’s fair game,” Saph replied with a shrug.

“So like you on a drink night?” Jacky laughed. Saph decided against providing Jacky with a rebuttal, instead just sighing before continuing

“We are going for headcount here, not amount of meat.” Jacky didn't even attempt to hold in her laughter as Saph cursed herself as she realized what she had said.

“I think you could have phrased that one better,” Jarix added, clearly trying hard not to join Jacky who sounded like she was in danger of falling off from shere laughing. She quickly shut up then when she caught sight of Radexi, who was trotting down the stairs.

“Sweeet. Did you get it?”

“Yeah yeah, I got it,” the young man replied, clambering up Jarix and handing a satchel to Jacky.

“Do I even want to know what’s in there?” Saph sighed.

“Shotgun shells. We are going bird hunting,” Jacky replied with an evil grin.

“I thought we were gonna try and net a large herd of deer?” Jarix questioned, swinging his head back to look at Jacky.

“You still are. But we three are gonna blow some ducks and geese out of the sky. It’s migration season after all; they will be flying high and in groups,” Jackalope replied as she drew one of the guns from The modified holsters on Jarix’s harness, checking if the weapon was clear.

“And how did you get your hands on a satchel of shotgun shells?” Saph questioned. Jarix did have some rounds on board as his ‘ready ammo’ as Tom had called it, but there was clearly a lot more than that in Jacky’s new favorite handbag. Saph wasn’t even sure she wanted to know the answer. She certainly had nothing against getting to try their new weapons on something aside from static targets.

“Battle practice. The duck, goose, or whatever tries to get away and we have to shoot the bugger,” Jacky smirked as she retrieved a bandoleer of the shells from the satchel.

“Is that one of Tom’s belts?” Pho questioned, with evident envy in her voice.

“Damn right it is,” Jacky replied with a snicker as she put the belt on.

“Lucky you, I want a guy like that too.”

“We both know he’s definitely the lucky one in our relationship,” Jacky chuckled, doing her best to look imposing, which wasn’t hard standing next to a machine gun with a shotgun in her hand.

“Sure...” Pho replied, looking very jealous. “Got more than just your own belt in there?”

“Yup. Yours are a more personal blue,” Jacky snickered, throwing down a leather bandolier for Pho and getting out a third one. “Head’s up, Saph.”

Saph caught the belt and put it on, looking to Jarix. “So what do you think of our chances now?”

The dragon just pulled a crooked smile.

“Right, there we go. All aboard, and let’s get our asses in the air. Now don’t burn yourself out trying to catch her. We’ll be out here for hours,” Zarko went rather sternly as she clambered around onto his back, not dropping off the harness as the dragon sighed.

“And I can fly for a day if I have to. I’ll take the lead, you stick close,” he ordered, lining up for a good run-up between two of the new fields. Radexi jumped on just as Jarix set off, the young man hanging on to the fifty. Saph and the other huntresses got airborne under their own power for now, letting Jarix lead the formation.

It hadn’t taken very long before Jarix had ordered the three of them aboard though, seemingly not happy with the speed they were making, even with him breaking the wind for them. Saph joined Radexi in hanging on to the machine gun as it sat locked in its mount providing an excellent handhold. Pho being well… Pho decided grabbing onto the dragon's tail was an excellent idea, cheering as she bobbed up and down with every beat of Jarix’s wings. It certainly spoke to Jarix's determination to win that he didn't even complain as they picked up speed, heading for the blue shape quite some ways ahead of them by now.

“Let’s not ruin the surprise, we don’t want them to see the guns or really hear us if we can get away with it. Let's hunt a bit further south; been a while since we’ve been there,” Saph shouted out as they flew.

“That’s quite a lot further,” Zarko noted, looking back to Saph with an unsure expression.

“Yup, but I think it would be worth it, and we won’t be flying into the wind when going home with a full load hopefully.”

“Not a bad idea. Jarix come right… thirty-five degrees.”

“That’s a tenth turn, right?” the dragon questioned, hesitating on the maneuver.

“Something like that.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Understood, right thirty-five degrees.”

“Thirty-six degrees,” Jacky shouted out, prompting looks from both Zarko and Radexi. “It would be thirty-six degrees for a tenth turn… just saying… Well, thirty six point five.”

“No, you muppet, that’s for days in a year. Remember he thinks there are 365 days in a year,” Saph shouted out shaking her head smiling wide. good old Jacky.’

“Fuck, right, yeah thirty six degrees,” Jacky corrected with a shrug.

“Fine. Thirty-six degree right turn,” Jarix responded, executing the turn.

“What would thirty-five degrees be in fractions?” Pho questioned from her precarious position as she held on tight.

“It would be… It would… no… I think… I don’t know,” Jacky admitted after clearly trying hard.

“This is so confusing,” Jarix protested as they changed direction.

“Stop complaining, it was you he managed to convince into using these degrees,” Zarko replied as she scouted ahead.

“And you were the one that didn’t talk me out of it. He said it was very good for calling out shots and the like.”

“We already called out shots the old way!”

“But now only you would know what you are saying,” Jacky added enthusiastically. “Also, are we there yet?”

‘Dammit Jacky.’

__________________________________________________________________________________

“You want me to make sheets how large?” Shiva had questioned, clearly not impressed. She glared at Tom and Tink, who, despite their best efforts, were looking like kids asking permission to go outside.

“I mean, we could make several plates and then rivet them together. And you are a plate smith, right?” Tom tried, hoping he might be able to capitalize on the smith's pride.

“I am an armor smith. As in plate armor. And correct me if I’m wrong, but your plan is to fling this thing at the enemy, resulting in a fiery explosion?” she replied, her demeanor turning even darker.

“You remember when I promised you to make that cannon waaaay back?” Tom tried, still hopeful.

“Yes…”

“Well, this is gonna be even more powerful than any cannon we could realistically make. Hell, using this on a dragon would probably be a waste actually. Good chance of it being the biggest explosion this world has seen in decades.”

“No, a blitz gel storage facility blew up a few years ago. Roof tiles were raining all over the city for minutes afterwards. Killed a few people… They no longer use roof tiles,” Tink interjected before clearing his throat, looking away as Shiva stared at Tom accusingly.

“We just used wood and dirt. Should be fine.”

She stared at him for a few seconds, leaning forwards as if she was trying to peer through him before straightening back up. “I see... You want this for killing these massive steel behemoths that apparently tread the skies. Or at least did once?”

“Yes,” Tom replied, confident he could see the cracks in Shiva’s facade. ‘Yeah, you know you want a big boom too.’

“That would be so much work for something that’s a one and done thing,” Shiva protested, clearly reluctant.

“I know… and really we are gonna need more than one,” Tom replied, trying not to sound defeated. Shiva rubbed her face with one hand, clearly not happy to hear that either. “Alternatively, we are gonna have to start rolling plates.”

“I think I saw pictures of that in your book,” Shiva replied with a knowing nod, Tom raising an eyebrow. “What? I can look at the pictures.”

“Yes, it’s either that or the huge hammer,” Tink added, the inventor currently being grounded, though there was no telling when that might change.

“Huge hammer?” Shiva echoed, clearly also interested now.

“I think that’s a power hammer… and yeah, that would be handy too. As would a million other things. Might look into making some rollers though,” Tom admitted, doing his best to do the mental math on how long that would take.

“Those are a thing, you know, for rolling out soft metal plates. Copper, silver, and the like,” Tink added with a shrug.

“Yes, but we need to roll steel into a thin plate. That means hot rolling. Easier said than done, but not impossible… Either that, or we could use copper or brass plate, but that would be fucking expensive.”

“Tom, help me out here. Should I be happy or worried you are looking to make more machines? Where are we even going to put it?” Shiva questioned with a rather tired looking expression on her face.

“I don't know. How many more shotgun barrels would you like to handforge?” Tom retorted with a shrug as he was rubbing his chin. “Not that you aren’t amazing at it. I don’t have a hope in hell of doing that good a job.”

“No, because you can’t smith to save your life,” Shiva replied with a cocky if still tired looking smile.

“Yeah, yeah. Still, if we need bigger plates, and thin ones at that, this is the smart way of doing it. at least in the long run.”

“Fine. Back to your drawing dungeon, you two. I’ll get back to melting down the scrap we got from Deriva,” Shiva replied, hefting a large hammer over her shoulder and walking back to her forge to kick in the wind powered bellows to get it hot enough. “Well, don’t just stand there. Get to work with you next miracle machine,” she scolded as she started poking the coals, Tom eyeing some of the pieces of armor plate in the sack on the floor.

Then the bell rang.

“Oh son of a chalk powdered whore!” Shiva shouted out. She punched the lever back into place, put down the hammer, and turned back to them with a sigh. “Let’s go see what has them scared this time. Probably Arch or one of those friends he promised would be swinging by. Would be about damn time.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the two guys just let out in unison, nodding.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Well, Saph should have seen this coming. They had three of the most competitive people at the keep currently engaged in a competition with another team, but of course that would lead to competition within the team too. Pho was reckless and took chances to try and keep up, and she burned more ammunition to do so. Jacky was the fastest in a straight line and a scarily good shot with her new gun, and Saph was really wishing they were hunting down in the forest below. Or that she could guide these damn shots. They were just too fast to even see as they shot out at the target. Plus side though was that once a formation of geese started taking shotgun fire they broke up and started flying around like mad, doing whatever it took to shake their pursuer. Just the kind of flying she absolutely loved.

Tight turns, steep dives, and hard climbs all in quick succession. She had missed a lot of shots to start with but she had started to down birds relatively quickly. And she had to give it to Jacky. This was top notch target practice that was for sure, and with mostly clear skies they could easily tell if they had a clear shot behind the target to avoid accidentally winging each other. It was a good sport too as she latched onto one of the few ducks up here today, getting closer and closer with every piece of straight flying. Unlike Jacky, she could even just about stay in a turn with the little, panicked, and furiously squawking bird. And when the range was finally close enough, one squeeze of the trigger was all it took as a sharp push hit her shoulder, sending the deadly cloud of metal out ahead of her in a narrow cone. The poor target received an unwelcome present up the ass as it let out it’s final squawk, tumbling towards the ground.

It was an easy enough thing to catch though, the trick was not throwing away any more altitude than you needed too. That was yet another good reason to get as close as possible before pulling the trigger, aside from saving on the precious ammunition. They certainly needed it today, as the air was thick with geese, even if they had been expecting a lot more ducks.

There were so many, in fact, that Jarix had ditched the idea to hunt deer for the day, instead just acting as an aerial perch for them. Zarko and Radexi worked overtime to stow and secure all the birds the three huntresses brought back in, while Jarix did his best to try and catch some with his net. He did actually get a few, much to Sapphire’s surprise, though it wasn’t many. It certainly brightened his mood though; the amount of kills there were piling up had him down right giddy about their chances of winning today.

“The hell are we even gonna do with all these?” Zarko questioned as Saph came back with another four, two dangling from her belt and one clutched in each foot.

“I have no idea, but we are having goose tonight, that’s for sure,” she laughed as she sat down for a quick breather. “There’s too many to even pick from.”

“And they are too dumb to run away,” Jarix laughed out as he scaned around for the next flock.

“They are damn fast though,” Saph countered, taking deep breaths to try and recover as quickly as possible.

“Nah, the Silver Streak Rayland is just a little slow.”

“Is that so? Tell you what, I’ll listen to your opinion when you have a title of your own,” Saph chuckled, stretching out on his back and folding up her wings.

“Oh, that’s a good one,” the dragon replied, seemingly pondering the proposition for a few seconds. “What about ‘nightwing’ or something like that. You know, after I killed two night terrors at night…. Terror’s terror is a bit much, I think.”

“And the first one wasn’t?” Saph questioned, trying not to chuckle too much.

“What about ‘the oxen?’ You certainly murdered those fields,” Zarko smirked as she crawled down under Jarix's belly with Sapphire's kills.

“Or clothesline,” Radexi added as he got out some more shells to replace the ones Saph had spent. She damn near burst out laughing at that one.

“Careful, or I'll hang you out to dry,” the dragon chuckled in good spirits, Saph gauging his tone as slightly hurt but unwilling to show it.

“Oh but think of Ray. She would be soo happy,” Saph got out, still trying not to laugh.

“No, because unlike you, she is very considerate and knows I would not like to be called ‘Jarix the clothesline’ for the rest of my days,” the dragon replied, still in good humor.

“Fine. Jacky would probably call you ‘the gun platform’ or something like that.”

“Hey, what about those planes from the movie? ... Mustangs?” Radexi added after he got back to his post as look out.

“Mustang…” the Dragon replied, mulling over the word a few times. “That could work… No one would have a clue what it means though.”

“No, because Jarix is a treasure trove of hidden meanings, right?” Zarko questioned from down below. She sounded quite amused too.

“That is a name not a nickname. There is a difference, Grumpy.”

“I think Glira lost a bet or something,” Radexi added, sounding quite amused.

“Look who’s talking, ‘Radexi’. You sound like you were named after some novel type of weather gauge.”

“Hey! Behave, big guy. I could take your head off with this thing,” Radexi replied, patting the side of the machine gun. “I could take you hostage and have you do whatever I want.”

“No, that's a high ranking officer with a power trip, not a private in an outflanked position´.” Saph interjected, trying to get included.

“Yeah yeah, how long are we planning on being out anyway? Weren’t we supposed to be back by midday?” Jarix grumbled, seemingly not quite happy with this.

“I think we can get in one more run, then we are heading for home. Maybe two for Saph if she gets moving,” Zarko replied, looking at the sun.

“Better make it count then.” Saph sighed, getting up from her comfy position.

“Yeah, go get 'em. For me… Or something,” Jarix added, looking back at her.

“Sure thing, Mustang. Now you just need five more machine guns and to not be so spindly.”

“Hey! I’m lean, not spindly!” the dragon protested as Saph turned to face upwind, folding her wings out.

“Yeah, and I’m fat,” Saph laughed, kicking back off into the air.

__________________________________________________________________________________

“Well look at it on the bright side, we got the doors shut in time,” Herron shrugged, not seeming terribly worried by the situation. Either that, or he just hadn’t quite woken up from his mid day nap yet, impressive as that might sound. Then again, the poor guy had been the night guard for the previous night, so they should probably cut him a little slack.

“We have two dragons outside! A nasty looking black and a young red above us! And you think a damn door is gonna help much?” Rachuck snapped at the young guard before looking at the ceiling, seeming to mutter a small prayer or something.

“Well more than if it was open.”

Rachuck looked like he just wanted to punch either Herron or himself right now, but luckily for both of them, they had more pressing matters to attend to. Namely, the aforementioned two dragons currently knocking at their door. They had spotted the two dragons incoming quite a ways out. Both had been flying flags identifying them as traders. Luckily for them, Rachuck had been the one on watch, the guy’s paranoia meaning he had kept a close eye on them all the way in with the binoculars Tom had handed over a while back.

The two of them had been carrying an excessive amount of crew and seemingly next to no cargo. Nunuk had thought that made pretty good sense if they were expecting to simply buy the expensive sugar and transport it back. What hadn’t been so easy to explain though was when the black came into land while the red stayed high in the sky. The cry of ‘Brigands!’ rang out from the watch tower above.

It had been a mad scramble to get the doors shut and barred before the brigands made it in. They were not even going to attempt to intercept them, that was for sure. Not that they had the time even if they wanted to try. When Tom had made it back to the greeting hall half geared up, the black dragon had already touched down outside, Rachuck currently busy organizing what they had. Dakota and Wiperna were busy getting Nunuk dressed for battle, and the major was inspecting his troops, consisting of what Glira had left behind.

“Why haven't they attacked yet?” Tom questioned as he did up a pauldron, half-running over.

“They are Brigands. Not darklings. They don’t want to fight, they just want money and valuables.”

“Okay… So we stall them or make it not worth their time?”

“Something like that,” Rachuck replied, seemingly slipping back into deep thought.

“So we shoot them,” Tom shrugged, running the action on his rifle. “They don’t know what a gun is. That should see them off. Maybe a grenade or two for good measure.”

“They have a red above us. Do you not know a threat when you see one!?” Rachuck snapped back at him. “If you manage to hurt them, they will burn this place to the ground to send a message. No, we buy time and wait for Glira and Jarix to get back. No way they are staying in the face of a fair fight. Then when they run, you can shoot all you want. With some luck, it might convince them not to take the time to burn our home down. For now we need a silver tongue and a lot of good excuses.”

“Where’s Fengi when you need her?” Herron sighed, looking around the room.

Rachuck just looked at him rather unimpressed before sighing. “Nunuk, you numbskull.”

“Ahh… That works too, I guess.”

“She’s still getting into her armor though,” Kokashi interrupted.

“Which is why I’m going to do some stalling.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Anchor questioned, clearly more than a little sceptical. “What about the major?”

“No, but we are a little short on options. You secure the lower door,” Rachuck dismissed his second in command, pointing at Anchor. “Unkai, you are in charge of the watchtower. Take two people each. Tom, Linkosta, you two are in charge of mounting some sort of counterattack to drive them off once our air support gets here. Don't want them deciding it’s worth it to do a run on us before they bolt. Major Jortun, any idea what Victoria is planning?”

“She will not abandon the caves when Glira and Jarix should be back before she could even get here. It could be a diversion. I’m sorry.”

“Right.” The captain replied clearly, trying very hard not to curse that particular piece of news. “Doesn’t matter, the blues should be back soon… Apuma, kids in the grand hall ready to fall back whatever way we may be forced. Herron, distribute what guns and other stuff we have. Tom, just help him a bit with that, would you?” Tom just nodded; he could do that no problem.

“Shiva, Ray. Make ready to lock and bar every door in case we need to start falling back, maybe see about a few barricades. We will be falling downwards if possible. I don’t want to give them the armory.” The captain nodded to the very nervous looking Ray.

“Don’t worry. Just hide behind Shiva,” Herron said, likely hoping to brighten the mood just a little.

“You are safe with me,” The smith chuckled, stamping her halberd on the ground. “Why isn’t Jacky here? She needs to test her new armor.”

“Armor won’t stop dragon's fire,” Rachuck replied dismissively, clearly having little time for their Banter.

“I know,” Shiva all but growled her demeanor flipping like a coin, eyes glaring at him with a gaze that could probably kill right now. The captain looked over at her and simply nodded, before scampering off down the stairs with Anchor.

“I guess it’s time to fight for what’s worth fighting for ey?” Linkosta added in a very meek voice Tom turning to look at her.

“Yup and I would prefer not dying for it. Let’s tip the scales a bit.”