At first I saw nothing but a smudge in the sky - no different from the distant shrieks that so routinely appeared overhead, but as it neared it glinted red in the sunlight. A commotion started in the camp beneath us and I glanced down to see Earth, Rain, Wind, and several others emerge from the camp to send their eyes skyward.
“Is… that a Kobold with wings?” Melwyn murmured beside me, squinting into the sky. “And brave enough to fly over the Heartwood. That's more worrying.”
The shape drew closer, growing larger and larger until I could see sunlight shimmering off the crimson scales of a creature held aloft by broad leathery wings. It angled sideways to fly a lazy circle above the ruins of the plateau. I could sense the entire expedition holding their breath as it circled once, twice, before descending on its third pass. It headed straight for the wall where Melwyn and I sat. We leapt to our feet just in time for the creature to alight upon the stone in front of us. Melwyn grabbed my arm and shoved me behind her.
It’s smaller than I expected. I thought, eyeing the creature. Its lithe bipedal form stood some five feet tall from the tips of its taloned feet to the top of its reptilian head. Swept white horns sprouted from its scalp while slitted yellow eyes set upon us. It wore a fine armor of worked leather straps and metal plates soaked with enchantments. More gleaming metal adorned its long sinuous tail and the edges of its now-folded wings, giving the creature an air of poise and elegance.
Dragonsworn Kobold: Level 241
I understood why Melwyn held her staff in a white-knuckled grip. I took a nervous step back.
The kobold opened its mouth to speak only for Wind to arrive at that moment, followed by Rain and then Earth. They arranged themselves beside Melwyn, hiding me from view. The creature tilted its head at the newcomers looking annoyed.
Earth spoke first. “I am Dance of the Earth and this is Midsummer’s Rain. We are both the acting matriarch and patriarch of this portion of the Shadowclaw tribe and the leaders of this expedition. May I ask the reason for your visit?”
“I am Alrizza, the second commander of the Crimson Dragonsworn.” The kobold spoke in perfect Helise, her voice smooth and feminine. “I have come to greet the newly chosen Keeper in accordance with the Pact of Endar.” Alrizza gave me a pointed look. “Unless the new keeper does not wish to speak.”
Earth, Rain, and Melwyn all glanced back at me. I bit my lip and shrugged. Earth frowned, but the three of them stood aside. I swallowed and stepped forward.
“That’s me, I think.” I said, sounding about as confident as I felt facing a high level creature of unknown intentions. “I’m River, or, um, Dancing River, and the ‘keeper’ thing was more of an accident than anything intentional. I’m not sure I’m the best person to engage in diplomacy.”
“I can see that you are one of the Lost.” The kobold spoke in an almost soothing tone. “And perhaps the first ‘heli gifted an arcane affinity since the Empire’s fall. It would seem that the jousting of the gods has already begun.”
Unsure of what to say, I merely nodded. Then, to my surprise, the kobold gave a deep bow.
“I am Alrizza, and I have come in place of my queen. The magic of the Pact of Endar remains unbroken and we the living Dragonsworn will do everything in our might to fulfill the duty that our ancestors failed many millennia ago.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Earth cut me off before I could speak. “Our ‘keeper’ requires council before he-” She trailed off as Alrizza set her fiery gaze upon the matriarch.
“A matriarch cannot speak for the Keeper.” She hissed at Earth in a tone that sent the matriarch flinching backwards. The dragonsworn turned her attention back to me. “River, you are still a low-leveled Lost. Your level and your ignorance leaves you both easily controlled and easily influenced. As of today, every power on this continent knows that the heart of the ancient Heli empire has awoken. Be wary of everything and everyone.”
“The people here are not unkind.” I said. “They could have left us Lost to fend for ourselves, but instead they went out of their way to help us. We wouldn’t be alive if not for them.”
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“Even so. Be careful.” Alrizza said again. “But it is not my place to say more. My presence here is to inform you that the pact still holds strong.”
“I’m afraid I do not know of this pact.” I said.
“I will let my Queen explain when she arrives. Expect her appearance soon.” The dragonsworn took a step back and spread her wings. “And I would leave you with one last warning: the orcs have turned south. They are battered and defeated from their conflict with us, but still a formidable foe for the likes of your tribe. They will have set their sights on this place.”
Then with a great beat of her wings, the kobold leaped some fifty feet into the air and took to the skies.
Earth grabbed my arm and dragged me to the command tent. Rain, Wind, and Melwyn followed, and then Carmen too entered with a tired Autumn who flopped down on a stump beside me. Everyone began talking at once until Rain clapped his hands for silence.
“To stop your senseless questions, no we have no record of this ‘pact’.” Earth stated to the gathering. “However, we have more pressing things to worry about. First is the orcs, which may very well be our death. Second is this queen of the dragonsworn, which if you’ve not guessed, is likely a proper dragon. Third, is that these kobolds will evidently speak only with the single least qualified individual in this expedition for diplomacy.” Earth glared at me.
“We will address one issue at a time.” She continued. “First: the orcs.”
This time Wind spoke up. “We either stay and defend ourselves, or we flee south. It’s not an easy choice, but one we must ask the tribe to vote on.”
“Does anyone disagree?” Rain asked.
“What is all this about?” Asked a groggy Autumn, evidently more affected by the remnants of the mana poisoning than myself.
“We will explain later.” Earth said. “The second order of business: how do we deal with the dragonsworn. Before we can answer that, I believe all of us require a retelling of what transpired in the tunnels below.
For the second time today I retold my story, this time with help from Autumn. When we finished, Earth groaned and set her hands on her forehead.
“So the eligibility to be a Keeper is tied to your path.” She confirmed.
“I have an arcane professional path.” I confirmed for her.
“And there is no way to transfer Keeper status?” Earth asked.
“I’m not sure. I would have to figure out how that sphere works. Then we would need to get someone besides Autumn and I down below.”
“With so little time I want you and Autumn to begin training with Melwyn to protect against the mana poisoning. If we can just get the ‘Keeper’ designation switched by the end of spring-”
“Earth.” Rain interrupted his mate. “One thing at a time. River, Autumn, why don’t you two go with Melwyn. The rest of us will continue the conversation.”
**********
It took me until after lunch for my thoughts to clear up enough to get angry. Angry at Earth for seeing me as nothing more than an annoyance to deal with. Angry at myself for screwing up again and again. I didn’t want to deal with the politics that came with whatever this ‘keeper’ was, but I also didn’t want to give Earth the satisfaction of handing the position over to someone she viewed as more ‘competent’.
“I don’t want to waste time worrying about mana poisoning.” Autumn grumbled as we found Melwyn in a corner of the plateau. “There are a thousand other useful things I could be learning with the orcs on our heels and the entire world’s eyes upon us.”
“You sound like me.” I said with a grin, and she scowled back.
We found Melwyn who began our first lesson. “There isn’t much for me to teach.” Melwyn told us. “The first step is sensing the mana, the second is blocking it. Both require practice and are dependent in part on your attributes.
It turned out that magic was the one thing I was leaps and bounds ahead of Autumn at. Even ignoring my mana sight, my little magic torture session with Wolf had pushed my ability to sense mana leaps and bounds ahead of Autumn who hadn’t yet learned to use hers. Still, defending against an intrusion of mana was more of a headache than I expected. My willpower crumpled beneath the slightest push of Melwyn against me.
“Don’t be discouraged, I have many times your willpower.” Melwyn told me. “Just focus on the strength of your mental image. Your will is a fortress.”
So I tried again and again, trying not to be distracted by Autumn’s glare.
“Is it possible to just build a natural resistance to ambient mana?” Autumn asked, fed up. “Because this is not the most important thing to spend my time on.”
“Theoretically yes, if you expose yourself on and off over an extended period of time.” Melwyn nodded. “But Earth-”
“Great.” Autumn said, standing up. “I’ll just do some of my usual training underground. Problem solved.”
“It is still an important skill to have against mental intrusion.” Melwyn warned, but Autumn just shrugged.
“Then I’ll try again when there isn’t an army of orcs at our doorstep.” She said, and stormed away back towards the camp where her bow awaited her. I could feel the frustration rolling off her in waves.
“Perhaps you should go after her.” Melwyn suggested, following my gaze. “There isn’t much more to blocking magic than what I taught you. The rest you can practice as easily on your own as you can with my help.”
“Thank Melwyn.” I said. “Though I suspect this may not be my, and especially Autumn’s, only run in with mana poisoning this week.”
**********
That evening the expedition did not gather again about the orcs as I expected, but everyone had heard the details. The real surprise came from my sister and Karl’s announcement that they had both reached level 10 this afternoon. Unlike Autumn and I, they entered the command tent and underwent their pathing one at a time.
My sister selected her path and emerged first before bubbling over to where Autumn and I waited. She tried not to give us hints about what she chose, but within a few minutes her willpower crumbled.
“I got it!” She squealed. “A fourth rank light-based combat path. Death lasers here I come!”
Karl emerged second looking far more composed than my sister but with a gleam in his eye. When he returned to our group, the large sanask’s gaze met Autumn’s and then lingered on my own.
“I chose a combat path to be my primary, and a smithing one second.” Karl rumbled. He sounded pleased.
“Kar’ktar will be disappointed.” Autumn said with a frown. She sounded as surprised as I felt.
“That he will. But for now, I’m ready to hunt.”