Liam abandoned Talocandel, skipping meetings to bury the church and college’s dead within the royal college’s grounds. Erecting a quartz headstone above each grave, he inscribed names where he could, descriptions or a bust of their faces when names could not be found, and for the rare few who lacked names or faces, a list of their personal effects. With Owen’s paladins the task was completed in a day, and half of the fulminonimbus legions abandoned the capital, protecting their families and noncombatant members out of the city.
Velena watched them go, walking with them to the city’s edge. Where she stood on the walltop, watching fifteen thousand people set course for her home. Four wagons led the way, laying down a sandstone road, just as Owen had shown them. Confusion filled the city, shocked at the church’s sudden flight. Though that quickly twisted into rage and hate as they saw the dead members be carried to the college. Many sought to find fault in the church, but even the Lord Bishop had been wounded, forcing the paladins to tighten the security on their inner sanctums. Patrols ceased. No college magi fought on the walls, for the few who survived withdrew into the care of King Aldric’s court. Where each was protected by a dozen knights, all wielding new magical gear.
All transpired under Liam’s mana sight. The world divulged its comings and goings to the master of magic, who spent his day at the docks, building a barge of quartz that put even the royal flagship, HMS Aldric, to shame. With only a few interruptions from aquatic wyverns and sea serpents of peculiar length. Though they were trivial distractions when he could control the water within their gills, proving how difficult it was to fight when the substance you breathed suddenly froze and slashed through your spinal cord. Chum filled the Yrendel, with lesser magi and sailors fishing the corpses from the water.
I wonder what filet o’ wyvern tastes like.
‘Hey Quetz, how does wyvern taste?’
‘Ick. Rough going down, and rougher coming up. Those bastards are the worst kind of scaly.’
Liam’s brows knit together.
‘Oh uhm, thanks.’
Note to self, don’t ask a snake for dietary concerns… Thought Liam, returning to his boat making.
The trick about boat construction was simple, anything floats, so long as you can make the overall density lower than the water around it. Which is why metal boats floated great, since their strength was high, but also thin, allowing a huge internal volume that reduced the overall density. Which was not true of quartz. It was strong, and rigid, but what would happen if they hit a rock…?
“Hey Owen, have you ever run aground on a boat?” Called Liam.
“Ah, yes sir. We ‘ad a junior helmsman and he properly dicked his draft. Got us stuck till I pushed him off the rocks and plugged the hull.” Owen shook his head. “Saw him five years later, still sailing.”
“Good for him. Even idiots need jobs after all. Can you hit this barge with some rocks? Try and sink her.”
“My lord! You’ve spent all morning working on her! She’s beautiful.”
“Quit blowing smoke up my ass and plow her! I don’t think she’s sound and the last thing I want is for the whole damn kit and ka-poodle to sink with us on it!” Snapped Liam.
“Bloody heaven.” Grumbled Owen.
Duty came before beauty, and Owen proceeded to conjure a sandstone pillar from the dock’s mud, slamming the pillar into the hull hard enough to bounce the crystal barge out of water. Like glass, cracks shot across the entire ship, her rigidity proving her undoing. For a boat needed to flex. Otherwise it would crumble and shatter.
“Damn. So much for plan B. I really wanted to knock Phaedra’s socks off. Guess the normal boats will do.” Ordered Liam.
At his command the paladins breathed a collective sigh of relief, after all, the trio of galleons they’d already procured were more than suitable, and unloading them to load another ship was the worst form of ‘hurry up and waste time’.
“Yeah yeah, count your lucky stars!” Grumbled Liam, flying onto the boat. “Magic gets stronger with use, and unlike your cock, you should always be playing with it!” Liam shouted.
“Taloc preserve us.” Echoed around the paladins.
A smile spread across Liam’s face, he hadn’t realized just how much he had missed these Khereshi orphans. It was like Owen, Velena, and even the other paladins were slowly becoming more than servants, or meatshields, or even friends. Karnak bounded to Liam’s side, wearing gauntlets and an odd mixture of armor strapped across his body. Most of it gilded and far too fancy. Some –obscenely wealthy– knights had taken to acquiring multiple sets of armor, some practical suits free of embellishments or excessive gold. While others were nearly entirely made of precious metals, entirely unfit to stop a butterknife, let alone a live blade.
“Where did you get all that gold Karnak?”
“These? Lord Pembroke gave it to me as a gift. Told me he was grateful for saving his life, and maybe next time these gauntlets can save your carpet.” Said Karnak, as if saving carpets was a supremely important task.
“Oh, uh- how kind of him.” Said Liam.
Mana was flowing into the pieces of armor at a curious rate, more than enough to power several fireballs.
Ah, enchanted gear. I look forward to seeing what you do.
Velena was the last aboard, upon her arrival they departed, with Liam giving them a localized tailwind to sail up the Yrendel river. Large ships like these multidecked galleons were not considered prey by the aquatic fauna, and passed without disruption northward. Sailing for hours.
Liam cut off his tailwind, not because he lacked the power, but because it was boring.
“Captain, sail us a bit closer to shore, I’m going to cut down a tree and drag it behind us.”
“Ah, uhm… Yes sir.” Said the ship’s captain, an older member of the fulminonimbus’ human cadre.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The rudder was tilled, and the ship began to near the shore, drawing ever closer. Mana flowed around Liam’s will, a sudden gust bending a lonely tree. A thick windblade slashed through the trunk, cleaving the trunk. It crashed wholesale into the Yrendel, where Liam formed a raft of ice to bring it behind the galleon. Two ropes were tied to the ship, and Liam flew himself and a brave crewman to the floating log, where the crewman anchored the icelog. Before both men returned to the galleon.
“Lord, you fly as if it’s nothing, is any affinity beyond your reach?” Owen asked.
“Thinking in affinities is fine Owen, helpful even, but…” Liam wiggled his nose, thinking, “Magic is more complicated than I would have guessed, I suspect that when Taloc returns, the level cap will change, and an underlying system, or maybe we should call it a primordial system? Anyways, that will be revealed in full.” Said Liam.
“Taloc, returns? My lord, his return marks the end times. Ragnarok, the apocalypse!”
“Yep, but hey, Kheresh has seen three of those now and it’s still standing. Could be worse.”
“Could be worse?!” Shouted Owen, leaning against the mast for support.
“Aye,” Said Velena, summoning a dozen flaming blades. “A hydra could squat in your cereal.”
Owen whirled on her, about to ask what the crazy bitch was on about, and then he followed her swords. All dozen of them pointed towards the disturbed bank, where Liam had cut the tree. Standing there, one foot on the stump was a green scaled monstrosity. Its snout was long, filled with razor teeth, shocks of pointed scales grew in clumps around its head, neck and back. While a dorsal ridge ran the length of its spine, almost as prominent as a spinosaurus, but thicker and more pointy.
“Hydra? HYDRA! TO ARMS!” Shouted Owen.
Liam readied a bolt of lightning, when he caught the hydra looking at him. The dark eyes held the glimmer of intelligence, a shine that only humann eyes seemed to possess.
“Hold! All of you! Hold Fire!” Shouted Liam.
“My lord, tis a hydra! You can’t talk to it! She is one of Pandora’s favored children!” Owen Cried.
“I ordered you to hold!” Snapped Liam.
‘Quetz, where are you?’
‘Can’t find Karceia, she wandered off–’
Liam beamed an image of the wingless dragon in front of him to Quetzalcoatl.
‘Oh, you found her.’
‘Bro… THIS is what you call a hydra! She’s a dragon! Not a small one either! Where are her extra heads?’
‘Doesn’t have any, cause I’ve killed all the assholes who tried to give her some.’
“Allways the cheek with you.” Sighed Liam, wondering how a cheekless serpent gave him the most. “Clear the deck! We’re bringing her on board.”
It was Velena’s turn to curse.
“What the fuck! Its Pandora’s daughter! She’ll eat us alive! This isn’t one of Taloc’s mounts, Tufan, that is a hydra! A city destroyer! Devourer of hordes!”
Liam flew past her, floating until he was just out of biting range. Karceia’s fangs reflected the sun’s dwindling light, gleaming like rows of daggers. And Liam was suddenly wishing he had backed up a few more feet.
“Can you understand me?”
The wingless dragon cocked her head, nostrils flaring as she scented the air. Then her head rose and dipped in a nod.
“Alrighty, I’m gonna pick you up…”
She blinked. A long slow blink. As if to say, ‘really? You think you’re gonna pick me up?’
Liam summoned all his wind, trying to lift the semi truck sized creature. Bushes scattered, torn to twigs, trees bent away from the howling gust. Her legs lifted off the ground, rising two feet, and only two feet. As her back legs never left the ground. The spell failed, too far beyond Liam’s skill to control but it did give him an idea. Her front legs were webbed, while her tail was like a cat-o-nine tails whip, with more tendres coming off of it than Liam could count. Hydras were semi aquatic, or at least this one was, be it on the merit of heritage or by the random curse of mutation all gorgons endured.
“Fine. Lets see if walking on water is easier.” Muttered Liam, zipping around behind the hydra to land on the bank. “Promise not to take a nibble?” Called Liam, receiving another head nod.
‘Quetz, is karc- Kari! Gonna try and eat me? Again?’
‘No. But I wouldn’t roll around in tasty things. She can get a bit hangry.’
How does a snake even know what hangry is?! Thought Liam, keeping that to himself.
Tapping into his least exercised affinity, Liam began to pull heat out of the water, rapidly cooling until ice began to form a sheet, then he formed a lip on the ice sheet’s edge, using that to slow the water flowing beneath it. Water began to pool, stagnating under the ice sheet, which in turn created more ice. A sort of positive feedback loop that ended with a five foot sheet of ice.
Then the most confusing event occurred. The hydra looked at the ice, then looked at Liam, and whimpered. Like she was a puppy about to get the squirtbottle.
“Oh you’ve got to be kitten me! Go on, get on the ice. How else are you gonna get onto the boat? We don’t have a dock, and if you think the dingey’s will hold you, well, you’re sillier than I am! Besides, we can’t just have you swim over there and capsize the galleon! There’s no way for you to board her without some kind of platform.”
She whimpered again, a baffling noise that seemed impossible coming from what was –to all observers– a dragon. She stepped onto the ice, wincing as the cold leeched into her skin, but it held her weight, even as she scrambled onto the sheet, moving to the far edge and spreading out her weight. Liam hopped on after her, realizing her back began where his ears ended, approximately eight feet tall.
If this is a baby. Daaaaaaammmmmmn, Medusa was right. Larger than mountains. I wonder if she’ll enjoy eating hellhounds…
A little water mana trickled from liam, moving the ice across the water. Lernaean claws tensed, carving foot long gouges in the ice sheet. Cracks ssplintered across the ice, oh so familiar to the failed quartz boat.
“Whoa, easy does it, you’ll be fine.” Called Liam.
Another whimper escaped the hydra, this time loud enough for Owen to hear.
“What in Taloc’s name is our lord doing with- with that!” muttered the old man.
Captain Jack Pigeon shouted at the crew, ordering all to the opposite side of the ship. Paladins, knights, and sailors jogged away from the edge, giving the hydra easier access.
“Slowly now, reach up with one leg and transfer your weight to the ship without lifting any other legs. Steady, steady, ah, there ya go!” Called Liam, still deeply confused on why he was treating the literal myth like a puppy.
A galleon of this size was generally crewed by a hundred sailors with a compliment of a hundred marines, though both crew and soldiery had been reduced to ship more paladins northward. A questionable choice due to the initial lack of warriors aboard the Silver Hind. Though with the addition of a Lernaean hydra, well, there would not be a want for combatants any longer.
Liam flew onto the deck, finding the hydra wrapped around the central mast, with her tail sprawled across the deck, and her head peeking over the side railing. Somehow she was shivering fiercely, as if the ice had stolen her warmth. A critical threat for a cold blooded creature.
“Velena. Keep our newest friend warm.”
“Friend? FRIEND? Tufan! It’s a hydra! You should know the legends better than all of us!” Shouted Velena, not at all pleased to be appointed as snake-mom.
“Legends are wrong, changed by the last servants of Pandora to keep her enemies from uniting against her.” Said Liam, knowing that was at least partially true. “Just keep her warm til we reach Sintra.”
“Portress Sintra, the sea of snakes.” Muttered Captain Pigeon.
“Aye Aye!” Shouted Liam, already planning some new decorations for the city.
Hope they like glass.
Although…
How are they gonna take baths in a glass house?