Croag stood twenty yards down the street from the house the Regent and his men had been found slain within, contemplating his next move. He was morphed in his preferred manner, shrunk down to the size of a horse but retaining his shape and function. The previous day he had ordered the house ransacked, but not destroyed. When the loyalist troops had finished, he ordered Celia abandoned altogether, and none had questioned his decision.
He heard footfalls coming from the east and craned his neck to find a dwarf and a bear faerie walking his way. They didn't appear afraid, which was in itself curious. When they were ten yards away they stopped, the dwarf, armed to the teeth, gripping the haft of a battle axe. "Need I draw," he asked of the dragon.
"No, little man," said Croag, angling his body around to face them. "You needn't. T'was Daggeuro lived here, wasn't it?"
"Aye, it was," said the dwarf, posture easing. He took out a pipe and tobacco pouch, tamped some in and lit it, drawing deep.
"And the humans?"
"Recent guests," said the dwarf. "Sent 'em to me fer armor. Hephin, I am, blacksmith. This big quiet fellah here is Norick, a healer. We live down in the yellow house back that way," he said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder.
"You are brave to come speak so openly with me, stout one," Croag said, scaled tail flickering back and forth. "Most would be trembling when answering my questions."
"You sent the troops away," Hephin observed, casting his eyes about. "Figured you might be different than the others."
"Hmm, you are quite correct on that score," Croag replied, lowering his hindquarters so he was seated in the style typical to his kind when locked in conversation or quiet thought. "Do you know where they might have gone off to?"
"Oh yeah," said Hephin, grinning. "I know. But I won't tell you, wyrm."
"You may call me Croag."
"Won't tell you, Croag. You may be on the fence right now, but that guarantees nothing. No offense meant."
"None taken." The dragon cocked his head to one side, eyes narrowing slightly. "Your kind are not often seen these days, dwarf. It is said that most have fled to the old underground strongholds and cities you once controlled. Is that true?"
"I can't speak for my entire race, but it seems logical," said Hephin.
"Yet not dwarves alone will be found in such fastnesses, I suspect. Is it to one of these they go?" Hephin grinned wryly at the wyrm, who he now took a liking to. He had ever enjoyed clever folk.
"Might well be, yeah. Any ro', we're leaving Celia now, figure there's nobbut few folken round these parts as'd want or need our services. Fare you well, Croag the green. We never spoke," he added, guiding Norick, who waved weakly at the dragon, on past him down the broken street.
Croag sat staring at Daggeuro and Selena's house a while longer before placing a protective seal upon it and taking wing away, returning to his normal size.
Kathy and company had been about to settle in for the evening when the specters attacked, streaming out in a pack from a nearby copse of trees. Panther-like creatures with reptilian scales along their flanks, the pack came eleven strong, hurling gusts of wind magic from their maws.
Kathy used her earthen magic to raise a wall of stone up in front of the creatures, who all roared in shock and pain as they slammed into the wall. She pushed it over with an effort of will, crushing three flat as the others bounded over and around the barrier. Daggeuro and Turot's blades flashed out, and Marianna flung darts of white light, taking the remaining eight between them.
The fight had been brief, and thankfully, nothing more followed. The company remained on edge a while into night proper, but their tents were put up and all save for Kathy and Marianna slipped in for sleep. In four hours, Kathy would roust Byron while Marianna woke Turot, allowing Daggeuro and Selena what little rest they could take.
Kathy and the kennin girl sat next to one another before the campfire, sharing coffee. Kathy broke the quiet, saying, "So, you're much more of a magic wielder than your brother Turot."
"Yes," Marianna said. "Rasmus and I take more after our mother, while Turot is a lot like dad."
"He's quiet," Kathy observed. Marianna snorted, grinning like an imp.
"That's pretty new, actually. He used to be a lot more talkative. But that changed when our mom got hurt. I don't think the reality of our lives really sunk in until then." She sipped from her mug, looked around. "Raz had already started being, well, Raz, by then. The High Mind always makes people a little different."
"Do you have it?"
"No, just Raz. But mom says her grandmother had it, that she was incredibly powerful." Marianna swept ashes from the fire off of her chain leggings absently. "So you and Byron, you're a couple?"
"Yes we are," Kathy said with a grin. "I put up with him."
"Heh, you jest. But I figured, the way you look at one another. Raz says he's dangerous. Is he?" Kathy sipped her coffee, suddenly uncomfortable.
"If pushed, yes. But I'm not afraid of him, and you shouldn't be either," she added quickly. Looking to change the subject, she asked, "You know you and your brothers are going to stay behind with your mom at the Boneyard, right?"
"Yeah, mom already talked to us about that," Marianna replied. "I expected T to argue with her, but he just said 'okay'."
"Really? Your father seemed to think he'd be pissed."
"Oh, he is. He's just wise enough nowadays not to belabor an argument he won't win." Kathy finished off her coffee and stood up, stretching. "Making a round?"
"Yeah." Kathy picked up her bow and drew out a single arrow, muttering a single word to raise a stone from the ground and wrap it with magic around the arrowhead. If she had to shoot, the stone skin would explode outward on impact for added damage.
She ranged herself a hundred yards from the camp and began making her sweep. With the night clear and cool, she could see for a couple of miles all around, which she was thankful for. She spotted movement after a minute, but saw that it was a wild deer cropping at grass. Kathy watched it for a few seconds, thinking, None of these worries for you. Take peace in that. Far off to the north, something canine howled at the moon, and she shivered.
She was halfway around her sweep when she sensed something watching her. Kathy stopped in her tracks, notching her arrow and sweeping her strike area. When she had turned to look back the way she'd come, she spotted a vaguely man-like shape, a spot of darkness in the night too black to be a trick of the light.
Kathy saw it turn toward her, green eye lights flashing. She recognized its nature immediately, having encountered its kind before. "Shade," she rasped, taking aim. She loosed her arrow, sucking air between her teeth as the shade batted it down with a mild twitch of air magic, walking slowly toward her, arms held out, palms up.
"I do not intend harm," the shade said, its voice carrying well despite its low volume. Kathy saw Marianna behind the shade, unraveling her concealing shadow spell, long knife in hand. But the kennin girl vanished suddenly, reappearing at Kathy's side, stepping forward and stabbing empty air. Perplexed, she looked to Kathy, who lowered her bow. Marianna followed suit. "Your concealment spell was impressive, girl, but I heard your boots in the grass."
"What do you want," Kathy spat. "We've enough to worry about already."
"One could gather the same could be said of all faerie and humans in Ether," the shade replied. It took no definitive shape as it came to a halt five feet away, remaining vague, wispy. "I am the shade Dasren. You might be?"
"Kathy Potts," Kathy said.
"Marianna, daughter of Daggeuro," said the kennin girl. The shade visibly wavered along its outline.
"I know that name. Slayer of Luga. A sliver of his essence carries on in me," the shade observed. "As for your question, Lady Potts, I am merely here to observe the other human. My feeler spells have almost finished taking his measure. I will soon return to the one who asked this of me with my findings."
"And who asked this of you," asked Marianna.
"Maefus, the red dragon."
"You serve a dragon," Kathy asked incredulously.
"No, I don't. I cooperate with him on occasion for my own benefits, of which he knows little. True, he could destroy me easily in a direct confrontation, but by ingratiating myself to him, I avoid such pitfalls." A cloud of gray mist streamed over him from the camp, and Kathy inwardly cursed herself for having not noticed the spell earlier. The shade's green eye lights flickered, and he let out a long sigh. "Intriguing. I will consider this at length." Kathy began pulling another arrow from her quiver, making her movements exaggerated. With her magic, however, she infused the downed arrow from her first shot with power. "You have no reason to attack me, Lady Potts. I'm not here looking for a fight."
"This dragon you're going to report to, is he going to come attack us," she asked, notching her held arrow. The shade shrugged.
"Perhaps. That is not my concern. My business with your companion and group is at a close."
"Says you," said Kathy, thrusting her will into the downed arrow. It shot up from the ground into the shade's back, stone shrapnel bursting into it. She and Marianna sidestepped the wounded shade as it lurched forward from the blow, howling in pain. It darted away into the night, a streaking collection of shadows, finally morphing into a giant bat and taking off through the air, trailing brackish blood behind it. Marianna whooped with savage glee.
"That was excellent," she exclaimed. Kathy demured, putting her second arrow way but keeping hold of her bow.
"Would have been better if it had killed him. We'll need to tell your father what happened."
"I saw," said Daggeuro, stepping out of his own concealment spell a few yards away. "I'm ever surprised by your resourcefulness, Kathy. A little shocked as well by your bloodlust."
"He's a shade," Kathy said. "He could be a problem."
"Unlikely," said Daggeuro. "I've heard of that one. Young yet, as shades go. You wounded him badly, and that will make him leery of coming near again."
"What about the dragon, Maefus?"
"If he comes sniffing around, we'll do what we can," Daggeuro said calmly. "Otherwise, we focus on getting to the Boneyard." The trio returned to camp, Daggeuro taking care of waking Turot and Kathy getting Byron up for the second watch. Theirs was a quiet shift, and a new day dawned bright and far too early for Kathy's liking.
Maefus sent the word out that very same dawn, calling upon his own Eldest to help. When he was back in his cavern, Dasren the shade was there, looking somehow less substantial than ever before. "What news," he asked, settling in to rest for the day.
"There are two humans, both dangerous," rasped Dasren. "The man is indeed much like your god in the nature of his power. But he cannot realize its full potential. A malady born of having it in the first place hampers his mind. As for the woman, she is crafty, deadly. I sensed it was not in her nature, but as you can no doubt tell, she nearly killed me."
"How so?"
"An enchanted arrow, fused with a strange Awakened magic and earthen power. She has the heart of a lion, that one." Dasren lay prone on the cave floor, pulling shadows to himself. "I think it might be best to exercise all caution. The kennin Blademaster travels with them as well."
"Daggeuro, eh?" Maefus tugged at his chin, pensive. "The Destroyer gambles with fire. He has demanded no dragon set upon the human and his group."
"Then your god is a fool, and will meet the same end he served to your previous deity," Dasren said peevishly. "Such a combination would be lethal to most."
"True. But the Destroyer is far more manipulative than even my kind. He may yet find a way to deal with them. Perhaps that is the purpose of the box."
"What box?" Dasren now sat up with a grunt, his humanoid shape wavering a moment.
"There is a box beside his tower, a solid piece of black stone. It stands perhaps ten feet on all sides. On one side stands a plain wooden door. When I was at the tower, waiting to be let in, I felt its energy, and it was like being close to a kalpa entrance."
"You know, that puts me in mind of pocket realms," the shade observed.
"Yes, that's it exactly," Maefus said, his scaly face glowing with revelation. "A pocket realm! And if such a thing as the Destroyer has one, it is no doubt the deadliest place imaginable. Any who might pose a threat could easily be disposed of there." Maefus thought on this a moment, then rose up again.
"I thought you were going to rest," Dasren said.
"Not yet," rumbled the red dragon. "This is too important." He took flight once more, wondering if Croag would be surprised to find the ancient red seeking him out for a change.