Chapter 120: Tag, You’re It!
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It would seem Essy and the kids had been busy while Saph had been showing Tom just how far he had to go if he wanted to compete around these parts. It wasn’t like that whole running thing mattered anyway. She could fly. Why would she ever want to run that far? Her feet sure did hurt though.
The kids and Esmeralda were all out in the greeting hall, having commandeered the canvas tarp that formed the floor of Jarix's little work area. The scraps of metal and the press itself had been moved over to one side for the time being. Radexi was currently sitting in a circle of kids on the tarp looking at Jarix expectantly, while his tail was in the hands of the impromptu art department. Kiran and Holdey were busy discussing just how far up the tail the paint should go while one of the twins was making the decision for them. Others experimented with different brushes or just dipping their tail in the bucket under Lothal’s watchful supervision.
“I thought you said you didn’t want to be painted?” Jarix questioned, looking at his tender.
“I didn’t… that apparently made me a Nazi. I’m not letting that stick. That and Kiran threatened to get the charcoal to make me look like them. You know black uniform and all that.”
“Hah just be glad they didn’t get the mud out to make you look like the pilots,” Jarix replied with a chuckle. ‘Don’t give them any ideas,’ Saph cursed the dragon as she put on a nervous smile.
“We should go get mud!” Kiran and Holdey let out in unison, the previous squabble quickly being forgotten as they looked at each other.
“For fuck’s sake, Jarix,” Radexi protested, as the two kids set about recruiting more hands for their latest plan.
“Uh-uh, no mud,” Jarix added, taking an instinctive step back, looking down at the kids.
“Anyone willing to stand with the guard?” Tom questioned, stepping forth. Kiran stopped in his tracks, clearly thinking, as Holdey set off running with a few of the kids.
“Mud! Mud for Jarix!”
“Oh no they are getting away,” Essy let out, pretending to at least try and stop the laughing kids as they ran off. “Lothal, look after Jinaro, would you?” Essy questioned, pointing at the basket in the corner of the room before setting off after the kids to keep an eye on them. The young man nodded as he in turn entrusted the bucket of paint to Vigon, who didn’t seem too engaged by what was going on, instead busily painting pretty patterns on his own wing.
Kiran didn’t follow Holdey and the others, instead turning around and running over to Tom. Two confused kids followed him, seemingly not sure what they were doing.
“We stand!”
“Very good. We don’t have much time. Jarix is the senior officer around here, we are under his command,” Tom responded without a second thought, flawlessly switching to a rather convincing officer as he saluted Kiran, who returned the gesture before they all turned to Jarix. The dragon was a bit slower on the uptake as he stood there processing what was going on.
“Just get the paint finished and run,” Radexi let out, shaking his head at the dragon. “Honestly, don’t dragons play games?”
“No game, this serious!” Kiran protested, looking angrily at the private.
“Right yes... It needs to look good. Get in under the scales, please. Two coats so the blue doesn’t shine through and please help them Tom,” Jarix responded after a second or two of silence.
“On it!” came the reply as Kiran set about organizing what was left of the kids, Tom nodding his consent and having a look at the available brushes. Vigon seemingly decided that this was an acceptable cause, carrying the bucket over and leaving the twins to finish up Radexi’s tail with what they had.
Saph just stood back, admiring the genius at work. She knew Tom wanted Jarix to get along with the kids. She reckoned it was to try and bind the dragon to the keep, so he wouldn’t leave when that time came. Yet he didn’t seem to be scheming. He certainly hadn't let her know if he was, and there was no way Jacky could hold that kind of secret for long, so maybe not. It was clear that he was enjoying himself as he sat down, doing exactly as Jarix ordered when it came to the new tail decorations.
“Come on, move it soldier,” Jacky then went from behind Saph, before whispering into her ear. “The other kids are gonna need a ride. I'll go fetch more, meet in the grand hall.”
Saph’s shoulders sagged a little at the thought of being relegated to the mud battalion, but she would get a chance to at least try and catch Jarix. That ought to be pretty damn good fun. Jacky set off at a slow jog down the stairs. Saph elected to go into the grand hall instead, moving at a leisurely stroll and checking to see if she could find any willing volunteers. To her disappointment, the only face in there was Heron, who was halfheartedly sweeping the floors.
Saph needed a second to think. She was supposed to chase Jarix… Her legs were still burning, and her heart was beating hard… and she would have kids on board. Granted, Jarix probably needed to win anyway since she doubted he would appreciate the mud, but should she just try and latch on and unload any kids? Or was this supposed to be a proper hunt? It was time for a strategy meeting, so she jogged over to Heron, gesturing him into a little huddle.
“Wanna get out of sweeping duty?”
“What’s your price?” the guard questioned, looking at her like that was the dumbest question ever.
“Help me catch a dragon.”
“Sure, that sounds like a perfectly sensible idea,” Heron replied sarcastically, leaning on the broom. “It’s not even that different from sweeping.”
“Oh come one. He’s gonna run with the kids, and we need to catch him and throw mud at him, I think.”
“Throw mud at a dragon... What are the chances of survival if I hit him?”
“Not brilliant, but you are gonna be a spy for us. Try and slow them down a little. Can’t be that hard. Just go over there and play along. I’m sure Jarix won't get too caught up in it,” Saph went with a smile as she started pushing him towards the door to the greeting hall.
“Perfect. Don’t even have to work for it. As long as Tom doesn't find out I’m a spy,” Heron chuckled as he leaned back, making her work for it. “I wonder what would be worse actually. What do you think? Mud on Jarix or Tom finds me out?”
“Kiran rats you out to Tom,” Saph responded as she pushed Heron over, sending him jogging towards the door.
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“So, what do you think?” Tom went, putting the brush back on the paint tray.
“It looks so much better with an actually straight line,” Jarix responded, glancing towards the stairs while swinging the tail, back and forth gently to try and dry it quicker. “We don’t have long. And I don’t want any red smears on my back,” he continued, looking down at the kids.
“You heard him. Brushes down. Heron, would you mind putting the lid back on?”
“But we wanna paint!” The two twins protested, Vigon also looking pleadingly at Tom.
“Okay, we’ll pour a little out. Just don’t get it everywhere.”
“Yay!”
“What are you doing up here?” a rather confused Ray questioned, sticking her head up the stairs. There were wet rags hanging from her horns to dry, likely from cleaning work, making her look like a bit of a goofball. Not that she likely minded that of course.
“Getting ready to play tag I believe,” Tom replied.
“That makes more sense then. Jacky told me to bring you this? And she said to tell you that if you hurt yourself, she’ll kill you,” Ray went, looking rather apologetic as she held up the parachute.
“Says the one that got launched at a wall,” Tom replied with a chuckle, walking over. “Mind looking after these ones till we are back?”
“Sure. I’ll just wash the floors later,” Ray replied with a smile. That gave Tom an idea. She could likely use a hand after all.
“They’re going back inside!” Turinia shouted out from her spot peering over the edge, interrupting Tom’s little idea session. “They have a bucket!”
“Then I think it’s time to sound evacuation. You get mud on you, you’re out,” Tom ordered. They did need some rules for what sounded like it was going to turn into an aerial mud fight, even if he didn't have much faith in them being followed.
“I am not getting dirty,” Jarix echoed as he got to his feet.
“That’s the spirit. All aboard.”
“Remember, if Jarix gets mud on him we are all done for. Defend the dragon. The losing team ends up washing the floors for Ray,” Tom ordered, Kiran and one other kid saluting, the rest simply running at Jarix starting to climb up the nervous dragon who didn’t take his eyes off the stairs.
The timing was almost cinematic, Jarix kicking off the platform just as the group of kids came running up the stairs, pushing past the still slightly bewildered Ray, mud-filled hands and bucket at the ready.
There were some rather loud protests from the kids as Jarix took off. Some let out curse words they shouldn't have known. Holdey, much to Tom’s shame, cursing in English, at least sort of.
Looking back, Tom then saw Sapphire come running out of the grand hall where she had been hiding with her reinforcements. Just like Kiran had reported after his very important spying mission.
“Enemy six o’clock,” Tom shouted to Jarix. “Still on the ground and rearming.”
“I still don’t get why that is better than saying behind you,” Radexi protested as Jarix put his back into it, getting some altitude in a hurry. “We don’t have anything to shoot them with. You are gonna have to outrun them. Just not too much. If you know what I mean,” Radexi let out, laughing a bit.
“Air show?” Jarix questioned, turning his head to the side with a cocky smile.
“Yeah, I think air show,” Radexi confirmed, starting to go over the kids they had onboard, making sure they were all holding on tight and in the middle. “Just don’t shake the kids off.”
“Yeah yeah, I wanna see what Saph can actually do. Everyone keeps saying she’s oh-so-brilliant.”
Tom made sure Kiran was hanging on tight as he himself hunkered down, not quite sure what the dragon might decide would be kid-friendly. Or whether or not that would be human-friendly.
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Right okay, Sapphire had Holdey, with his fist full of mud, on her back and a bucket of it in her hands. At her sides were Essy, Fengi, and Wiperna. Dakota was still running around with her face covered in bandages, so she was out. Jacky was also still grounded, but at least that meant Ray had some company while she looked after the remaining kids.
Saph had feared Jarix would just run like a coward since there was no way for them to catch him in a straight line. But as the four of them climbed upwards, the dragon seemed to almost be daring them to come and get him, rolling around the sky and pulling daring maneuvers. ‘So you wanna show off, huh?’ Saph thought to herself, seeing her chance and leveling off the climb.
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“Let him get above us, give him a good target!” she shouted out at the others. “Let’s lure him in.”
Wiperna didn’t seem to grasp what they were doing, but Fengi replied with an evil grin, Essy just shaking her head with a smile on her face.
“But they are up there?!” Holdey pleaded.
“Yeah, and soon he will be down here. No need to waste our breath.”
“Uh… okay.”
It didn’t take long before Jarix took the bait. They had given him a perfect target, and had he been firing on his way down, then they would all have been burnt to a crisp. But he wasn’t today, so instead they just broke formation, splitting out into four directions as Jarix came diving past, shouting about how many of them he had hit. Well, except for Wiperna, who stupidly tried to follow Saph as she piled on more speed. ‘We ain't playing for hits today big guy,’ she chuckled as she rolled into the dive to follow the dragon. Fengi and Essy followed suit, cutting the dragon off in three directions, Wiperna trailing as she tried to keep up with Sapphire. She felt Holdey live up to his name and hold on for dear life as the two of them cut through the air like a dart.
Even with the wind screaming in their ears, it was still a losing fight, though, as Jarix pulled away. ‘This just isn't fair! Why is he so fast?’ Saph cursed as she pulled up, trying to guess what way the dragon was gonna go. Of course he had spotters on his back, so he could just choose a different way from what she had guessed.
There was something going on down on Jarix’s back though. Saph grinned a bit as a pair of wings was folded out, Heron taking off, spending the speed Jarix had just gained for him to climb hard. Not long after, Jarix pulled up, turning to follow the fleeing guard.
‘Oh you evil little sod,’ Saph chuckled as noticed there was one kid less on the dragon's back now. She matched Heron's bearing and kept level. ‘Tom better not catch you now.’
Jarix being forced into a climb was all the advantage they needed; the dragon might be fast, but they had altitude on him this time.
“Dive Dive Dive!” Saph shouted out, noticing that Essy had made it back up alongside her. A quick glance behind revealed Fengi on her six.
Holdey cheered out as they rolled over again, heading for Heron, trying to beat Jarix to him. Jarix had gone nearly vertical, trying to catch the guard, who had replied by turning hard right and attempting to double back. The guard was flying for his damn life, trying to force Jarix into an even steeper climb and it actually looked like he would manage to make Jarix overshoot..
Sapphire got the bucket ready, still not believing this might actually work, as she closed on her target. She pondered for a second whether or not there was a law against this. There probably was, but it wasn’t like that likely applied out here anyway. She should probably run anyway though if she actually managed the hit, just in case.
One problem with being an eight-ton dragon was that, while Jarix was incredible on the dive, climbing wasn’t his strongest suit, despite just how powerful he was. She had to admit though he was making incredible progress. But Heron was about as light as they come, and with his turn, Jarix had indeed overshot, burning much-needed speed going higher than he needed to.
Annoyingly, he did spot Saph incoming despite his little predicament. The dragon pulled up even harder, inverting and tucking in his wings, falling backwards into a dive to escape, plummeting towards the ground back first.
‘Abandoning a crew member, I do say,’ Saph chuckled as she carried on her dive towards him.
It was certainly a spectacle as those on his back struggled to hold on, Tom predictably just dangling by the handholds like an idiot as they fell. It wasn’t his fault, she knew that. It just looked so damn funny. Jarix didn’t have much altitude left to give though, and Sapphire did consider holding back and forcing him to pull out of the dive, as he seemed content to just keep falling back first. That pristine belly was such an inviting target though, and she was gonna ruin it.
“Bombs away,” Saph shouted out as she flipped the bucket, emptying the contents before pulling up. If she could hit a basket with a stone from a hundred meters up, she could hit a dragon with a bucket of mud.
As she glided over Jarix, her wings were buffeted by a strong gust of wind, the dragon having folded out his wings and beating hard towards the ground to get out of the way of the brown streak. Saph cursed for a second before tensing up, as the dragon came perilously close to the ground before he managed to roll back onto his belly and pull up. He headed for Heron, who was still heading back towards the keep.
“Fuck, that was close,” Saph cursed as she went into a banking turn to give chase once again. Looking ahead, she saw Fengi rolling into a dive to have a go at Jarix herself, though she sadly didn’t have a mud bucket, so she would need to get real close.
She did manage just that though. Jarix had no more altitude to give, and he didn’t have time to put on the speed he needed to get away as Fengi came down on his back.
What ensued was a quick mock battle between Fengi and Radix, who defended his charge valiantly. None of them had actually brought a training sword or even a stick so it became more of a wrestling battle, the two of them locking arms and trying to force the other down onto Jarix's back while hanging onto the harness straps with their feet. Fengi was small for a woman and rather lightly built but she was still a head taller than Radexi and older. The guard put up quite the fight though, his training soon seeing Fengi on the back foot.
Saph would have paid good money to hear what curses the private had for Tom. The human refused to let go of the harness and who she assumed to be Kiran who was trying to go join the battle as they sped across the landscape. The result was that Fengi managed to buy enough time for Revo to climb off her back and put his dirty hand on Jarix's ass before cheering loudly in triumph.
“Hah, suck it losers!” Saph shouted out, cheering loudly.
“Yeah, suck it!” Holdey echoed, Saph shutting up again, slightly ashamed. ‘Whoops.’
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While they had lost the little aerial skirmish, Jarix delivered a truly impressive slew of excuses that were almost worth documenting in and of itself. Despite the defeat, Tom definitely considered the little impromptu game a great success. Even Jarix seemed happy when he wasn’t bitching about air currents, insufficient starting altitude, the number of passengers, their ability to hold on, or the restriction on using lightning breath in mock battles, not to mention the failure of his crew to fend off just two enemies.
Radexi had made sure the muddy spot was dealt with thoroughly before they all had to go do their duty cleaning the floors of the entire keep. Tom couldn’t tell if it improved Jarix’s mood that the ones he thought responsible for his defeat were also the ones paying the price. But he was a fool if he didn’t think Tom was pondering how to turn him into a mobile cleaning platform as they got out the mops.
Ray had, as always, not wanted to relinquish the work, so Tom decided to give her a different duty instead. He knew that she had a soft spot for Saph and it sounded like she had been to hell and back more than once. Perhaps she could help Saph somewhat.
“Tell you what, follow me. Keep an eye on them. Kiran, I’ll be back”
“Yes sir. Back to work. You scrub hard, you got captured,” Kiran replied.
“Heron cheated,” Worpock protested grumpily, getting to it. Radexi just shook his head at the whole situation.
Tom had taken Ray to an empty room for a second, the dragonette looking a touch worried as he closed the door. He didn’t really want Saph to stumble on them accidentally.
“Why don’t I take care of the floors and then you have a chat with Sapphire? She’s had it really rough as of late, so I think she could use it.”
“But you have known her longer. What about Dakota or maybe Fengi? Essy seems sweet too.”
“Oh I will have a chat with them, but I think they know already. What about you, by the way? You doing okay? It wasn’t exactly nice down there.”
“Oh don’t worry, I’m fine. It just got to be a little much.”
Tom wasn’t buying that, not even a little bit. She should not have come, she wasn’t ready yet. Actually thinking about it, she had probably had it worst out of all of them, but at least she hadn’t tried to see it through to the end… Was she ashamed of that?
“Well if it’s any consolation, I think it got a little much for many of us.”
“Oh you. I’ve heard the stories. I’m betting that was just another walk in the park for you.”
“Eh yeah, I'm gonna have to go with a no on that one. A big one too. Tunnel fighting is the worst, nowhere to go but forwards or back.”
“But you killed so many of them. I don’t think I actually hit anything, silly me.”
“You spotted an ambush and you helped take care of the wounded. Now I want you to take care of another one. Just try and help her, would you? You can do more than mop floors.” That did get him a cautious smile and a polite curtsy, something he couldn’t remember anyone at the keep doing, well aside from Ray.
“No need to be so polite. We’re friends around here, and you ain’t alone either,” he went, holding an arm wide as an invitation, which was quickly accepted as Ray gave him a quick hug. “There we go. Now we have work to do. We need smiles all around. You have it easy on that front. I have three kids on mop duty,” Tom joked as he gave her a solid pat on the back, being careful to avoid the mangled remains of her wings.
Over the next few days of work, Tom decided that he should really be getting back into the spirit of just what had sent him down this path. Fight for what’s worth fighting for. It had become abundantly clear that they would have to fight, and there wasn’t much he could do to change that fact. But he had been thinking about the fight too much. The keep had been turned into a borderline arms factory, and they had a literal military deployment on their doorstep. They were only one step away from a war zone right now.
In the beginning that would perhaps only be a short-lived thing. ‘Scare them off so they don’t come back' that kind of tactic. But it was becoming clear that just wouldn’t happen. The enemy would keep coming in whatever form they took. Fighting for the sake of the fight is pointless, so they would have to focus on making something worth fighting for at the same time, or rather keeping it worth fighting for.
This was an amazing place. He had never imagined anything like it. It felt like home, and he had only been here a few months. And it felt like he was harming it. It had been so peaceful before he arrived and sure, not everything was his fault, but some of it was. They needed days like this. They needed fun and games. Smiles and laughter. What the hell was the point of possibly turning this place into the richest place on the planet if the result was sitting around wondering when the next attack would come and whether or not they were ready for it?
It seemed like an impossible task, having fun while living in constant worry. He wasn’t alone either though. He had Jacky and Kiran. Not the most unbiased of people when it came to his ideas, but both more than willing to assist. The fact that the name of the game was having some fun likely would be more than sufficient motivation for both. He wanted both their ideas though cause if it was up to him, then he would try and have fun the way he knew. So they held a little secret meeting one night. Saph got invited too, to provide some moderation.
They discussed games, sports, and hobbies, as well as all the other things they could come up with to answer “how do you have fun?” They all agreed that perhaps having a sports day was a great idea. Though once again, picking a sport was rather tricky if you wanted everyone involved, since well that included a human, a cripple, adults, kids, the elderly, and a dragon. They did put down tug of war, everyone against Jarix. If nothing else, it should be entertaining.
“Well the summer solstice is coming up. We usually visit each other. The longest days are best for travel and all that.”
“Not gonna be much of a party this year,” Jacky added, ears drooping.
“Why not? The place is crawling with dragons: that means transport and security. The whole point of this is to have fun despite the situation.”
“Well, Hysldal is gone, and Deriva is reeling,” Sapphire added with a pained expression. “They lost a lot, Tom. Food stores, huntresses, livestock, crops. They are gonna be struggling this winter as it is. Dakota even talked of sending over some provisions for them. We might have a lot of mouths to feed, but we have a lot of hands too.”
“Then we help them. We will have the money to buy what we can't make or find. They did take the hit so we didn’t have to. That's worth something. Let’s hold it here and then send them home with what they need.”
“We have sooo much to do though. That would mean a lot more work.”
“We are gonna have to roll with the punches. If we are constantly worrying about the enemy getting the better of us despite now having dragons and soon a working machine gun, then when will it end? We are gonna have to take it by the horns when it comes to it,” Tom replied, grabbing one of Jacky’s horns, trying to wrangle her a bit. Jacky decided to prove a point, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him into her lap, crossing her arms over him, pinning him in place, and then proceeding to ignore him.
“Jarix will beat Tiguan,” Kiran added, crawling over onto Tom’s chest, Jacky giving him a good scratch behind the ear.
“Sure he will” Saph-replied-with a not-so-convincing nod. Kiran smiled though so whatever.
Judging from some of the tidbits Kiran had given him over the last few days, the aerial tag had been more than a little successful. It seemed the dragon rather appreciated having his ground crew expanded from one to a small army, even if they were a little shit at their jobs. Tom could see that being rather kind to the dragon’s ego. It wasn’t the play uncle attitude of Tiguan, more a fake commanding officer with a strict but fair approach, with perhaps a little hint of making fun of Victoria and Baron. He was a little surprised it had taken this long, judging by how the dragon had acted at Hylsdal with the buried kids. But at least it was now confirmed that he did in fact like kids. Perhaps it had been that ego that was the problem. He needed to be more grown-up and cool. He couldn’t be seen hanging out with kids… Yeah, Tom could actually see that now that he thought about it. But all it had taken was a good idea that sort of gave him an excuse.
The kids clearly found it fun. Not to mention, working in the ground crew came with the perk of getting to play on and around the dragon as long as you were sort of doing something. It was also rather good fun to hear about Radexi playing at being an officer himself. He was only a private after all, and officially he was only really supposed to be Jarix’s tender on the ground. ‘Tom the accidental genius strikes again.’
“You look pleased with yourself right now based on your current predicament. What have you taken credit for?” Saph questioned jokingly.
“Oh, just getting a teenage dragon to play with the kids and not have him mope about it.”
“I think you will find the kids sorta figured that one out on their own. With a little help.”
“Hey as long as it works.”
“We work hard,” Kiran interrupted. “We make boomies for Jarix.”
“Isn’t child labor bad… I think you said something about that at some point?” Jacky added, looking at Tom curiously.
“I said back home a twelve-year-old isn’t considered ready to be a soldier, that's a bit different… What did Radexi make you do exactly?”
Kiran then went into a fair amount of detail concerning the distribution of work including titles and everything he was apparently head of claw maintenance and polishing inspection. which both Saph and Jacky found quite funny as the four of them continued to chat about ideas for a bit longer before Kiran needed to be put to bed for the night.
Tom wasn't sure he approved of the kids now also being involved with the stamping work, but after getting Radexi’s assurances the following morning that “No, the kids would not be allowed to get their fingers anywhere near anything dangerous," and “No they are only running around having fun while being a little productive by accident” he had agreed to let that one slide too. They were only really hauling things around after all, and he wasn’t gonna be risking that leap of progress between the dragon and the kids lightly.
It wasn’t like he was much better anyway, constantly bringing Kiran along for his work… having a three-year-old assistant was perhaps a little unethical too come to think of it. Next on the program though was asking Nunuk just how she intended to mark the solstice or whatever other excuse they could find for a good party.