----------------------------------------
Vera watched her daughter jumping up and down on the rickety bed of the inn, If Cal didn't get here to feed her soon she would just have to take her outside and risk missing him.
She stood up from the single chair in the room where she had been reading a book from the library and set it down, preparing to take Mia for some exercise.
She glanced one last time at the spot Cal told them to keep clear for teleportation purposes, at that exact moment Cal suddenly appeared in the room.
"Vera! Were you just standing there waiting for me? I'm touched, but it's truly not necessary." Cal grinned.
Vera didn't laugh or smile, she was worried about Cal.
After she had rescued him from Lilly he had been understandably devastated and she had heard him sobbing quietly every night for the first couple weeks of their journey to Ranock, often noticing him crying as they walked too.
But this time Vera had not seen Cal shed even a single tear.
Mia jumped off the bed and ran into Cal's arms, causing her to stumble back a few steps and almost fall over.
"Wow I can hardly lift you now! You must have gained a bunch of weight, what's your mom been feeding you?" She said with a laugh as she tried to pick Mia up.
Mia erupted into giggles. "I did not get bigger, you got smaller silly!" She said through her laughter.
"Cal," Vera began, but Cal cut her off.
"Call me Alex for now Vera, just until Derrin is crowned and we get out of Ranock."
Vera tried again, "Alex, we need to talk about what happened with your wife."
Cal's grin dissapeared for a second before coming back. "What, were the two of you having an affair or something?" She joked.
Vera sighed, "Alex be serious, I am worried about you. This is not healthy. You should be sad, angry. You need to cry and scream, not pretend like nothing happened and brush it off with jokes."
"We all grieve in our own way, if I want to joke about it that's my decision." Cal snapped, her grin dissapearing.
"Alex, after Lilly you grieved, and you moved past it. You need to let yourself feel what you are feeling." Vera replied softly.
Cal set Mia down and sighed. "Look I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I don't want to talk about it."
"Now come get some cream of Alex soup so that I can head to the library." She held out her right arm.
"Mia is getting restless waiting in the inn until you find the time to come here every day, can you bring us back to the castle and just visit us there please?" Vera asked before latching onto Cal's arm.
"Sure, that's a good idea." Cal responded.
"Oh speaking of the castle, I've been thinking about what we should name it, how about Castley mcCastleface, Oh! Or Castlevania, since it's the residence of some vampires." Cal said.
"If you choose either of those names Mia and I will find another place to live." Vera said seriously.
----------------------------------------
Cal teleported the vampires to her castle and then returned to their room at the inn, locking the door behind her and turning the key in to the bartender before heading off to the library.
She wished she could just use her powers to appear there, but the risk was not worth it.
As Cal walked a young teen boy ran up to her, and with blushing cheeks at interacting with the princess, said he had been sent by Lord Eamon Ranock to request her presence in the throne room.
It took Cal a second to realize that was probably the name of Alex's uncle who she had been staying away from the keep the last two days to avoid.
Cal thanked the boy and pulled a coin from the pouch at her waist opposite her dagger, pressing it into his outstreched hands.
She turned to leave but the boy interrupted her.
"P-Princess, you a-accidentally gave me a gold coin." He said, holding it out to her in the tips of his fingers like it would burn him.
"Not accidentally, all I have is gold coins at the moment." She said, turning to leave again.
"I cannot accept this, it is far too much your highness." The boy stammered out, his eyes flickering to her breasts causing him to blush even more furiously.
"I want you to have it, you don't want to offend your princess by refusing a gift, do you?" Cal asked playfully.
"N-n-no, your highness, thank you." He said before turning and running off.
Cal grinned as she thought about the boy telling his children someday about the time the princess had given him a gold coin for delivering a message.
Being the princess wasn't so bad, Alex had been a well liked princess and all the citizens Cal interacted with seemed to adore her.
I wonder what they would think of her if they knew the truth. Cal thought as she walked off to the keep.
She arrived at the throne room to find eight people present, Sophia, Hellen, and two other guards she recognized were standing at different points in the room.
Cal was confused, she thought Sophia had quit after being released from her oaths.
The other four people were Prince Derrin sitting on the throne where the crown had been for the past three days, their uncle Eamon standing beside him, and the two old men who had been arguing when Cal had released Blackburn and Sophia from their oaths.
Cal assumed they were the advisors she had heard about.
"You requested my presence?" Cal asked her uncle.
"Alex! I love what you've done with your hair!" He boomed.
Cal had complained about her hair at the family dinner two nights ago and her uncle had told her she could just stop refusing to have a maid at any point.
Upon finding out that was an option she had immediately requested a maid to the astonishment of her brother and uncle.
Cal couldn't understand why Alex had ever refused a maid, she was a godsend. She helped her get dressed and did up her hair in whatever style she wanted each morning.
Today her maid had picked out a modest long blue dress and tied her hair back with a matching blue ribbon.
Cal was getting used to wearing dresses, they were actually more comfortable than the rigid pants and scratchy shirts she had worn as a man in this world.
"Why am I here?" Cal asked her uncle, glad he hadn't crushed her in one of his bear hugs upon seeing her this time.
"For the corronation of course! We couldn't start without the whole royal family being present, now come stand to your brother's left and Gerald will fetch the guests from the feast hall."He said.
Cal moved over to the throne and stood to the left of the nervous looking Prince Darrin and one of the advisors left the room, coming back a minute later with a stream of chattering nobles following him.
Once everyone was in and standing to either side of the aisle of red carpet the advisor named Gerald, who was an angry looking older military man, yelled for silence and the room quickly grew quiet.
The older advisor who had yelled at Blackburn when he picked up the crown a few days ago, launched into a boring speech about past kings and the nobility of the Ranock line that made Cal's eyes glaze over.
Finally the advisor turned from the crowd of nobles and had Derrin make several promises about accepting responsibility for his citizens and upholding traditions.
Then he set the crown on Derrin's head and pronounced him King Derrin Ranock.
The newly crowned King Derrin made one final rehearsed promise, "I, King Derrin Ranock, accept and tranfer unto myself all oaths made to the crown."
The ceremony finally complete all of the nobles clapped and cheered before streaming out of the throne room.
Cal started to follow them out but her uncle Eamon stopped her.
"Alex, it's time to intern your father." He said.
She turned around in atonishment. "It's been three days, hasn't he already been buried?"
She hadn't given the bodies much thought, not wanting to think about her old body rotting in the ground.
Eamon looked at her confused. "Kings cannot be interred until their heir is crowned, you know this Alexandra."
"Come Derrin, it is time to lay your father to rest." He took Derrin's hand and led them both out of the throne room.
Sophia, Hellen, and Derrin's two guards followed them.
"What about m.. the body of my husband?" She asked, almost saying my body.
"I'm not sure, Blackburn took care of it I believe." Eamon replied.
He led them to a staircase she hadn't been to before and told their guards to wait at the top.
They descended down into a long torchlit hall with statues of former kings lining the walls in shallow brick backed alcoves.
They reached a section with a large pile of bricks stacked in the middle preventing passage further down the hall.
The alcove on the left did not contain a statue or a brick backed wall like all the rest, it led into a small room with a stone table in the center, King Lucious Ranock's stinking corpse lying on it.
Of course, they can't just have a nice funeral service and bury the body in the ground, Ranockian traditions are so fucked up. She thought, breathing through her mouth and holding back her vomit.
Eamon picked up a brick from the pile that was placed in the hall just past the room and held it out to Derrin.
"You place the first brick Derrin." He said.
Derrin apparently knew what was expected of him better than Cal because he scooped some sort of mortar out of a bucket with a small metal tool and spread it across the brick before pressing it firmly into a groove in the entrance to their father's tomb.
"Alex." Eamon said, and Cal grabbed a brick.
After Eamon finished walling in the king's corpse, he had to do the whole top section as Derrin and her were far too short, they returned upstairs and took in deep breaths of fresh air.
"Ok I'm returning to my castle, thank you for coming to help Uncle Eamon." She said, in a hurry to leave the city now that her responsibilities were taken care of.
As she turned to walk off Derrin spoke to her for the first time since she had switched into Alex's body.
"Wait! Alex, I know you hate me, but please don't leave. I don't know how to be a king, I need you here!" He pleaded.
"That's what Uncle Eamon is here for Derrin, and I don't hate you I'll come visit I promise, I'm only a days ride away." She said, feeling bad for the young king who had just lost his father.
Derrin walked over to her and gave her a tentative hug, sniffling.
"You're going back to that castle on the mountain? There's nothing there for you Alex, Derrin is right you belong here at the keep, you are still the princess." Eamon said.
"No that castle is my home, I have been here too long as it is." She responded, and was finally not stopped from walking away.
She made her way to her room with Sophia and Hellen in tow. "Hellen, how about you take the day off again." She said.
Hellen grunted and left, leaving Cal and Sophia standing in the hall.
"I thought you quit." Cal said, entering the room and holding the door open to let her in.
"I didn't quit I just got released from my oath and took a couple days off, besides you still owe me my cut of the money from charging the portal." Sophia said as she stepped into the room.
"Fair enough, how does five hundred gold sound? I only got two thousand after all." Cal replied.
She walked over to the chest of gold Lord Corin had delivered from her second portal charging job, her original two thousand gold was already at her castle.
"That sounds good." Sophia said, watching as she took out five heavy sacks of coins.
"You may be out of a job now though, unless you want to come live at my castle and guard me." She said, and turned to look at Sophia.
"You and Kyla can come live with us if you want, I'm sure Vera and Mia will get lonely there with only me for company."
"Plus neither of you would have to work anymore I don't really need a guard out there, but the kingdom would still pay you thinking you're working for me." She blurted out, nervously scratching the back of her head.
Sophia searched her eyes for a minute before replying.
"That's a generous offer Cal but I'll need some time to discuss it with Kyla, meet us at the inn around dinnertime in five days."
She hefted the sacks of coins and left to store them in the Bank of Ranock like normal people did with their wealth.
Cal tossed everthing she wanted to take with her to the castle into the chest with the remaining sacks of gold and then sat on it, carefully encompassing it and herself with spatial energy before teleporting to the courtyard of her castle.
She sighed at the loss of her maid, but she didn't want anyone living at the castle who wasn't aware of her true identity.
She would have to explain things to Kyla if Sophia and her decided to move in and Sophia hadn't already told her everything.
She heard shrieking and turned to see Mia running from her mom, playing tag.
Cal smiled and decided to go get one last thing from Ranock, she appeared back at her room in the keep and ran into town, getting directions to a pet store on the way.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
She walked into the large square building full of cages and looked with wide eyes at the dozens of strange creatures that didn't exist on Earth.
"Princess! What can I do for you your highness?" The surprised shopkeeper asked her.
"Uh do you have any dogs?" She asked as she watched a dog sized bright red lizard flick out its forked tongue.
"Of course, follow me Princess." The man said, hurrying to the back of the shop.
He led her into another room with more cages and she was relieved to see these ones were full of familiar cats and dogs.
She looked through some of the cages while the shopkeeper patiently waited.
"This one." She pointed to a black and white husky puppy in a cage with four others, she had always wanted a husky on earth.
The man opened the cage and pulled out the puppy she indicated, holding it out for her to take.
The puppy squirmed around in her arms, getting its head turned around so it could start licking her face causing her to laugh in delight.
She paid the man and left the building with the puppy wriggling around in her arms and then darted into the alley next to the building before teleporting back to her castle.
Mia was now chasing her mom around the courtyard but when she saw Cal she changed direction.
"You have a puppy!" She screamed, running up and petting the squirming dog in Cal's arms.
"Nope. You have a puppy Mia." Cal responded, setting the dog down on the ground.
It was a good thing she did too, because she needed her hands to cover her ears as Mia started shrieking in delight.
Vera walked over and gave Cal a hug while Mia hugged her new puppy on the ground in front of them.
"Thank you Cal, she has wanted a dog forever. Are you here for a while or just dropping in for a minute?" Vera asked.
"I'm here for good, King Derrin was corronated this morning and then we interred the old king's corpse right after." She responded.
"I'm gonna move this chest into my room and unpack the clothes I brought real quick then we can talk."
She sat back down on the chest lying in the courtyard and pictured the room she had shared with Alex in their castle home for their month of marital bliss and appeared at the foot of the massive bed.
She took a couple minutes to push and shove the chest into position at the foot of the bed, grunting and straining.
Then she opened the chest and took out the clothes she brought from Alex's dresser at the keep to store in the huge wardrobe.
She opened the wardrobe to hang up the dresses she held in her arms but they fell from her hands as she saw Alex's cream white strapless wedding dress hanging in front of her.
She unclipped it and walked numbly to the bed, sitting down and staring at the dress draped in her arms.
That's were Vera found her almost thirty minutes later.
----------------------------------------
Vera was happy Cal was finally away from the keep, maybe now she could start to heal.
She watched in joy for a while as her daughter ran around with her new puppy, Vera was happy she was finally able to have one.
She headed to the kitchens to get Cal something to eat since she probably had not had time to eat yet today.
Cal had gone to feed Vera first thing in the morning and then apparently gone to a corronation and a funeral in the short time between then and now.
She fixed up a plate of human food and headed to Cal's room, opening the door to find her sitting on the massive bed with Alex's wedding dress draped across her arms and a faraway look in her eyes.
"Oh Cal." She said, and Cal looked up, tears finally starting to flow freely from her eyes.
Vera set the plate of food down on a dresser and walked over to sit next to her, putting her arm over her shoulders and letting her cry.
"It hurts so much Vera. It feels like I'm being stabbed in the chest all over again whenever I think about them." Cal sobbed.
Vera knew what she meant by them, feeling a pang of guilt for her part in Lilly's death.
"Why is this world so horrible? Why is everyone so fucking evil?" Cal choked out through her sobs.
"I know Cal, I know how you feel. But do not give up on this world or the people in it, there is a lot of good in this world." Vera said, rubbing her back.
"You don't know how I feel Vera! I loved her and I didn't even know who she was. Everything was just a lie." Cal snapped at her.
"Mia's father..." Vera began, but thought better of it, Cal didn't need to hear another story of betrayal right now.
"I brought some food if you are hungry, is there anything else I can do for you?" She deflected instead.
Cal looked up at her and rubbed at her puffy red eyes. "Tell me about Mia's father, I've never heard you mention him before." She said.
Vera sighed, "Vernon is a very important and old vampire, he was around when the spatial mages still walked Selara."
"Wait, how old are you Vera?" Cal interrupted.
"Three hundred and nine. I think." She replied, and Cal's mouth fell open in shock.
"Anyways, Vernon is a sanguimancer, a powerful one. Sanguimancers only pass their power down to males, and when Mia was born he planned to sell her and try again."
Cal looked horrified, "What! How could he sell his own daughter?" She asked angrily.
"It is not uncommon for vampires to produce and sell offspring." Vera replied.
"I would not stand for it and as soon as I saw Mia's gender I fled, but Vernon's pride was too great to let his wife steal from him and get away."
"He caught up with us around Mia's ninth birthday, about three years ago. He captured and sold us to Lord Taro, and that is where we met you."
"I'm sorry Vera, that's horrible." Cal said while giving her a hug.
"Thank you Cal, but we are not here to talk about my husband, tell me whatever you need to get off your chest. I am here to listen." She said, and Cal finally began to vent to her.
----------------------------------------
Empress Sirenia Sandscale walked into Ranock alone, passing by the guards who wisely chose not to question a dragon.
She had left her warparty of two hundred and fourty warriors and ten of her brood in a fallow field outside the walls of the city.
Sirenia walked straight to the keep, she had been here once many kings ago.
According to her information King Lucious Ranock was the current man on the throne, and she was dreading dealing with him from his reputation.
She approached the raised drawbridge of the keep and was commanded to halt by someone she couldn't even see.
"Halt! What buisness do the dragons of The Sands have here at the keep of Ranock?" A voice boomed out from the wall.
"That is no way to address an Empress, worm. Get Lucious out here right now to tell me why he hasn't shared his spatial mage, unless you wish to start another war." She snapped.
Silence came from the walls for a minute and Sirenia began to grow impatient.
The drawbridge finally started to lower, they knew it wouldn't stop a dragon from entering if she pleased.
As it touched down at her feet a massive man started to cross over towards her, stopping halfway.
"Empress, I am Lord Eamon Ranock, proxy king for young King Derrin. I'm afraid you missed King Lucious by a week." He said.
That didn't make much difference to her, the human kingdom changed kings like the seasons, but now she would be dealing with someone she knew nothing about which irritated her further.
"Spatial mage, where is it. It will charge the portal to and from Crossroads to The Sands, or we will have war." She demanded.
"Surely you noticed only the portal from Ranock to Crossroads and not the way back is active? That is because the spatial mage is dead."
"We would share him if he was not. I assure you." He said smoothly.
Sirenia bared her pointed teeth, "You lie." She said menacingly.
"Feel free to ask around the city, nicely that is. The spatial mage's identity was known by all after his public charging of the portal."
"His name was Calibra Dair, husband to Princess Alexandra. He got into a confrontation with the late king, leading to both of their deaths." Eamon said.
"Married the princess you say? Is she pregnant?" She asked.
Eamon's face paled, "I don't know, I don't believe so. I will find out, and if she is, and it's a spatial mage, I will make sure it is well cared for until it is old enough to visit The Sands and charge your portals."
She considered the man who now looked rather nervous. "Bring her to me, I wish to speak with her myself."
"No, you will not go near her." He said quickly.
Sirenia snarled, smoke wafting out of her nostrils. "How easily humans seem to forget the wars they have lost, and will lose again."
"If I am not speaking to Princess Alexandra in the next hour I will burn every farm outside these walls on my way back to The Sands to retrieve an army." She threatened.
"She's not here. She's at her castle on Cloudcrest Mountain, next to Lake Ranock, about a days ride Northwest." Eamon blurted out, terrified.
"Thank you, I'm familiar. I believe I killed the entire royal family there once, of course I must have missed one or two, because they sprung back up like roaches." She said.
Sirenia turned around and began to transform, the distance to Cloudcrest would be stretching the time she could maintain her draconic form for, but she liked to push herself.
----------------------------------------
Cal teleported into the alley next to Kyla's inn wearing a black hooded cloak and a strip of fabric covering her face to conceal her identity.
She looked around to make sure no one had seen her sudden appearance before heading inside the inn.
She spotted Sophia and Kyla sitting at their usual table and grinned, they had packed bags at their feet.
She made her way over to their table, Sophia already watching her as she crossed the room.
"Cal?" Sophia asked as she approached.
"Hi Sophia, hi Kyla, I take it you are accepting my offer?" Cal said happily.
"On one condition, you have to teleport us whenever we want to go shopping." Kyla said.
"Or just get out of the castle." Sophia added.
"Deal." She grinned under her mask.
She helped them carry their luggage out of the inn into the alley and then teleported with two of their bags depositing them in the courtyard of her castle before returning for them.
Kyla and Sophia each lifted a bag in one hand and Cal grabbed their free hands, wrapping her spatial energy around all three of them and the luggage with a bit of effort, and then they were all standing in the courtyard of their new home.
"Pick whatever room or rooms you want, there's literally hundreds to choose from but only a few are furnished right now."
"If you find an unfurnished one you like I can bring furniture from Ranock." Cal said while removing her cloak and face wrap.
Mia came flying out the doors of the keep with her puppy at her heels and raced over to Sophia.
"Sophia!" She shrieked, "Cal got me a puppy!"
Sophia smiled at her and gave her a hug, "What's its name? Is it a boy or a girl?" She asked.
Mia looked at Cal questioningly.
"Don't look at me, it's your dog." Cal said with a grin.
Mia lifted her puppy by its front paws and looked at its belly while it squirmed.
"It is a girl, I think we should name her Lilly!" She said, and Cal's grin dissapeared.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "Maybe you should think of another name Mia."
"I think it's a beautiful name Mia, don't you agree Kyla?" Sophia asked.
"Yeah Cal what the heck is wrong with you, you just told her she could name it!" Kyla snapped.
"It is ok, I just wanted us to remember her, I can choose something else Cal." Mia said.
Sophia and Kyla looked at Cal in confusion.
"No, it's ok. Thank you Mia, that's a wonderful idea." She said with tears in the corners of her eyes.
Sophia and Kyla exchanged a glance before picking their bags back up and heading into the castle together, passing by Vera on her way out and exchanging quick greetings due to their heavy luggage.
"Is everything ok Cal?" Vera asked as she saw the tears in her eyes.
She wiped at her eyes before replying, "Yeah, Mia named her puppy Lilly, and I just..."
A loud roar tore through the air causing the puppy to hide behind Mia's legs.
All the eyes in the courtyard snapped to the direction of the sound and Cal saw a large flying shape heading straight towards them from Ranock.
Sophia and Kyla ran back into the courtyard and joined them in silently watching the approaching shape.
"What the fuck is that?" Cal finally asked, breaking the silence.
"A dragon I think." Kyla said like it was just a bird.
"A dragon?!?" Cal asked in disbelief.
"Yeah people are saying a whole group of them has been spotted on the King's Road, they've visited Ranock before, not a big deal."
"Not sure why it's flying around though, they tend to avoid using their dragon form and mostly just live as humans." Kyla responded.
"It looks like it's coming here." Sophia said nervously, as the shape grew bigger and bigger.
"Probably just going for a day at the lake or something." Kyla said, completely unconcerned.
Cal didn't share her lack of worry, Sophia was right it looked like it was headed directly for them.
The dragon let out another terrifying roar.
"I think we should go inside." Cal said, and everyone agreed.
She watched from the doorless stone entrance to her castle as a massive golden brown dragon the size of two city busses side by side descended on her courtyard.
Right before she thought it would impact with the ground the dragon dissapeared and a woman with sand colored hair fell the last few feet from the air, landing on her feet in the courtyard in a crouch.
She could do nothing but gawk in amazement as the woman fipped her hair over her shoulder and walked towards her.
The dragon lady was wearing a full suit of heavy looking armour made of scales the same shape and color as the ones on the dragon, except these were made from metal.
She walked right up to Cal who was staring at her with an open mouth. "Are you Princess Alexandra?" She asked.
She shook off her amazement. "Um yeah, that's me, are you a dragon?" She asked dumbly.
The dragon woman snorted, "I'd say that's pretty obvious, are you pregnant?" She responded.
Cal was floored, she wasn't sure what she had been expecting a dragon to ask her about, but that wasn't it. "W-what?" She stammered.
"Your dearly departed husband was a spatial mage, are you pregnant?" The dragon lady growled out in a sensual and dangerous voice.
"Uh y-yes." Cal said, gulping at the cruelty of her inflection. "But I'm getting rid of it."
"No, no you are not." The dragon lady said coldly, "You will be returning to The Sands with me until that baby is safely delivered."
"I don't know who you think you are, but I won't be going anywere with you." Cal said, pulling out her dagger.
"I've got this Cal." Sophia said, stepping in front of her.
The dragon lady snarled, lunging forward as her fingers elongating and grew sharp claws.
Sophia was taken by surprise at the partial transformation of the woman to deadly beast and quickly raised her arms to block her face and chest.
The dragon's claws raked across her arms ripping through flesh and muscle and Sophia's mark glowed with a malignant black light as she flew backwards past Cal from the force of the blow.
The dragon lady closed her eyes while shuddering and standing still for a moment.
Cal glanced back at Sophia to make sure she was ok but her wounds were closing up as she watched so she turned back to face the dragon lady and drove her dagger up towards the woman's unarmored throat.
The dragon lady opened her eyes as Cal's dagger raced towards her face and scales erupted all over her neck.
Her dagger bounced off and the woman grabbed her wrist in a grip like iron.
"A combat healer hmm? Haven't seen one of them in ages." She said. "Unfortunately for you dragons have more than one heart."
"Now are you ready to come with me or do I truly need to kill all of your guards first?"
"Or guard and innocent friends, seeing as only one of them seems eager to protect you." She said while holding Cal's angry glare.
Cal's mind raced, she could just teleport out of the dragon's vicelike grip but then her friends would all be in danger and the dragon lady would know she was a spatial mage.
"I'll go, just leave them alone." She said, planning to just teleport back to the castle and evacuate her friends once the dragon took her far enough away.
Then she saw the second flying woman she had seen that day drop from the sky and land in the courtyard.
----------------------------------------
Lumina touched down in the courtyard of the fort of Ranock, her pinkish-orange translucent magic wings dissipating into mist as she landed.
Two guards rushed towards her from the doors of the keep with no visible weapons in hand but surely armed with powerful magics.
"Good evening, I am Queen Lumina Dawnwing of the elves. Is King Lucious busy at the moment? I would like to speak with him." She said as the guards eyed her warily from a few feet away.
The guards looked at each other and the one on the right flicked his head to the keep, causing the other guard to run off inside.
The remaining guard stared into her eyes threateningly while they waited, Lumina wasn't fazed.
Finally the other guard came running back out followed shortly after by an enormous man.
"Queen Lumina, thank the gods you are here!" The massive man said like he had been expecting her, and then he dropped to his knees.
"I assume you are here for the spatial mage, he's dead, but he was married to Princess Alexandra."
"The Sandscale Empress just left to find her at the castle on Cloudcrest, you might be in time to stop her if you hurry!"
"If Alex is pregnant and the elves stop the dragons from taking her I swear to you her child will charge your portals. Please, save my niece." He blurted out in a rush.
She didn't even speak a word to the man, resummoning her wings while turning around and leaping into the air.
She sped through the sky to the Northwest and whistled sharply, causing dozens of elves who had been standing on rooftops to dart off after her.
She had been expecting an adult spatial mage already familiar with his or her powers, which would make it nearly impossible to force them to charge portals.
But if the only one available was an unborn child and the dragons got it... Lumina didn't want to think about that.
A short while later she spotted the mountain in the distance and pushed herself faster.
Finally she shot up over the side of the castle's walls at the top of the tall mountain and dropped quickly into the courtyard.
----------------------------------------
Cal's mouth dropped open as dozens of flying men and women with shimmering orange and pink wings landed noiselessly in the courtyard of her castle.
Her captor noticed her gaze and turned to look, cursing in a strange language and releasing Cal's wrist.
The dragon lady started speaking to the newcomers in a strange language and Cal pressed one of her fingers onto her ring.
The beautiful flying woman and the dragon lady argued back and forth for a minute as Cal watched, and she began picking up pieces of their conversation.
"It's your call Sirenia, you can leave right now and negotiate terms with me when the child is born, or you can die." The beautiful blonde lady said, causing the dragon woman to blow smoke out of her nostrils.
"Fine! But if that child comes to harm in the care of the elves we will have war!" The dragon woman shouted before walking down the stairs of the castle back into the courtyard.
Suddenly a massive sand colored dragon stood where a woman had a moment before.
The dragon beat its massive wings causing Cal to shield her eyes from the resulting gale, and when she looked up again it was flying off back towards Ranock.
She eyed the woman who had just come to her rescue, she looked just like the trio of elves Cal had freed from Taro's dungeon.
She had long straight blonde hair and bright green eyes and was as tall as the dragon woman, at least six feet.
"Thank you for the assistance, but I'm not going with you either." Cal said.
"As you said to the dragon, you can leave now and negotiate terms with me when the child is born, or you can die." She threatened.
The elf raised her eyebrow, "You couldn't even stop one dragon and you threaten the entire Dawnwing family?"
"That dragon wasn't so easy to cut, but I can rip you apart with the Ranock's shadow magic." Cal bluffed.
"Princess you could probably kill a few of the less experienced members of my family, but I promise your pleasant life with the elves with be significantly less pleasant if you try."
"You are not safe here, as you have demonstrated by nearly getting taken by the dragons, but you and your child will be safe with the elves." She assured her.
Cal sighed, Guess it's back to the let them take me and teleport out later plan. She thought.
"Ok, let's go then." She said, walking down the steps into the courtyard.
"Alex wait we can take them." Sophia said from the doorway.
Cal looked back at the fearful faces of Sophia and Kyla, Vera having already pulled Mia further into the castle to hide.
"Don't worry Sophia, I'll be back before you can even miss me." She said with an exagerated wink.
She walked up to the elf lady, "So how are we getting to my new home? You gonna give me a lift?" She asked with a grin.
Four translucent wings sprouted from the elff's back and she leaned forward, scooping Cal's petite form up in her arms.
"Wait, put me down, I was joking!" Cal screamed as the elf launched into the air.
----------------------------------------
Lord Karo hadn't learned much from the gnomes.
They didn't speak any common but luckily one of his men had once been a gnomish slave and spoke a bit of the language.
They had only been able to tell him that a male slave had freed the demon imprisoned beneath the keep and all the prisoners in the cells and left.
The useless gnomes couldn't even tell him which direction the slave had gone in, although Karo assumed he had headed to Crossroads, there would be little reason for a human to travel West of Taro's estate after all.
Karo had arrived in Crossroads two days ago sure that the trail was cold and he would never avenge his brother, when he came across something that made him sure he knew the slave's identity.
Traders with wagons were appearing in the Crossroads portal from Ranock.
He stayed in Crossroads for another day to question some of the traders coming from Ranock and learned the name of the spatial mage and that he was apparently married to Karo's own niece, Princess Alexandra.
Then he set off for Ranock and his revenge immediately.
----------------------------------------