Jemini

Well, couple days late. I've got a much more free schedule now though, so I think I ought to be able to get the next chapter out on Monday and return to a more regular schedule. Enjoy everybody.

Aerien’s POV

[Kenra.] I said as Gaerien and I were watching Sarafon on his final approach.

[Yes, your highness?] A small pixie-size fairy suddenly appeared over my shoulder as though she had materialized out of thin air. The little sprite had a certain stillness to her that was completely unlike the majority of the smaller… or rather, normal fairies. This stillness, like that of an attack dog ready to leap at it’s master’s command, gave the small pixie an eerie sense of danger, although most of that was due to how incongruous this behavior was with her small size and cute appearance.

[Once Gaerien’s ride is sent away, we will be starting that experiment with our friend.] I told the little sprite. I was not looking directly at the small fairy, but I could just imagine the side of her mouth twitching upward as I felt the slightest ripple of playfulness and an urge to tease escape her normally stony mask. I suppose even those at Kenra’s rank cannot fully suppress their nature.

[I beg your pardon your highness, but her majesty left the decision on when the experiment would be conducted to me and me alone.] She said, letting out stronger waves of amusement. Honestly, I likely only managed to catch onto the first ones because of my fire meditation, but now she was just being careless.

[Your control is slipping.] I tell her. [The experiment was proposed more than a year ago, you were given the duty of deciding when it would be performed for security reasons, due to the fact only Gaerien, Sagel, and the boys could be near enough to assist if we were attacked in the middle of it. The idea, I believe, was to prevent information leaks. The boys are ready, and Sagel and Gaerien have always been ready. And, going by the mischievous air I’m picking up from you, I believe your intention from the beginning was to have me randomly decide when the experiment would start anyway. Pushing it on my own whim is even less predictable than yours, is it not?]

The fairy was silent. These seventh committee types really do take themselves too seriously. Is she trying to keep herself from smiling before she talks again? [I concur with your reasoning your highness.] She finally says. [I will guide you to the location. Fortunately, it is in fact within walking distance.]

Oh? Well THAT’S certainly a coincidence.

[Vahnn, Sta’harr!] Kenra shouted [Reveal yourselves! The operation is on!]

At Kenra’s words, two more small fairies appeared over my shoulders with a bow of their heads.

[All eyes on each other until the operation is concluded then.] Vahnn, a young looking male fairy, says. Sta’harr, a fairy who seems to find amusement in being as serious as she possibly can, gives him a glare that makes me want to shake my head.

I take a glance over to Gaerien who nods with a gentle serious expression as we both turn to face Sarafon as we can now both feel the change in the airflow as his large head comes within 20 feet of us. Sagel grabs Levin and Rolwen in an under-arm carry as the two boys immediately secure their swords to their sides, keeping them from swinging about as Sagel leaps from the dragon’s head and then begins running along the uneven stony terrain toward Gaerien and me.

Sarafon could have just used his wind magic to set them down. Did Sagel ask him not to for the sake of some training or something? The boys really didn’t seem very surprised either, so that seems to make sense.

After having his passengers disembark, Sarafon glares at me. Or rather, at the area over my shoulders. ‘Is that the seventh committee, your highness?’ the dragon asks.

[Yes.] I shout in elven, deliberately not using the spirit speech specifically because it would carry a lot farther otherwise. [We are beginning the void experiment. We will be leaving off on our own to the location. Please inform Gaerien’s assistant that they are not to leave under any circumstances and keep them under your supervision. Of course, they should also be invited to return the favor for you as well.]

[I shall go with him too your highness.] Vahnn volunteers and flies on up toward the other dragon hovering much higher in the sky.

[Well then, please lead the way.] I said to Kenra.

[At once, your highness.] Kenra flew off, with Sta’harr trailing closely behind.

“Alright! Rough terrain pursuit training! Let’s go!” Sagel shouted to the boys as he set the both of them down and took off after the fairy. I gave Levin a nod and a glance to Rolwen, and then I was off as well. Gaerien and the boys were then determinedly taking up the rear together. I noticed, after going a short way, they were actually staying in a sort of formation. They hadn’t lagged behind, they were hanging back until I left in order to guard the rear, and now that I was moving they were keeping up very well.

Of course, it would be no difficulty to navigate this rough terrain at all if I were to use my wind walker robe, but I had grown frustrated enough with the training the boys were getting while I was off on these constant diplomatic missions. As such, I stubbornly refused to take the easy way and I was hopping from one jagged rock to the next just like everyone else with the exception of the fairies we were following. When the heaven’s fall happened, all the top-soil and loose stones in the area were blown away, leaving only an arrangement of uneven rock formations in it’s wake. A crater that was larger around than the main wound bored into the earth at the center.

There were not the peaks and vallies of a desert rock formation, but the ground was all very uneven rock, and there were also some rather infrequent cracks that extended deep into the ground below. It was not the hardest of terrain, but you definitely wanted to watch your step and pay attention to where you were going.

Eventually, our chase came to a stop as Kenra stopped over a fairly non-descript location. However, now that we were this close, I could feel the chaotic energies in the area beneath our feet.

[We have arrived, your highness.] Kenra said.

[Should someone be sent to fetch a gnome?] Sta’harr asked.

[There is no need] I said, and then turned to Gaerien. [Would you like to get this, or should I?] I asked her.

[I would only collapse the ceiling on top of him and cause a cave in.] Gaerien said. [As much as I bet he would thank me for it, that is not our objective. I know your control is good, but, are you confident? It might be safer to just do it without opening up the cave, it might be safer that way, and we also wouldn’t have to deal with his constant venom.]

[Not an option.] I said, getting immediate satisfied nods from the two nearby fairies. [He has been here for around a year. There has been plenty of time for a deep gnome to happen across him, they likely know about this place. We are going to have to retrieve him and move to another location before we do this.]

Having said those words, I stepped over toward the area I felt the corrupted spirit and clustered arcane energy coming from and looked over everyone else gathered around. [Alright, please step back everyone.] I said, and then the 4 land-bound people backed away from the area while the two fairies flew a bit higher.

I focused on the energy of Earth, and formed my intent. The image I formed was to simply rip a chunk of stone straight from the ground. I took a deep breath and then a step back as I raised my arm into the air behind me and extended my fingers. I imbued my hand with all the energy of my intent, and then made a scooping motion as I focused on the image of gravity altering to my will.

There was a loud cracking sound, and I watched the results of my spell with a blank expression as a very large chunk of rock, almost the size of a car, was flying through the air in front of me, sailing away like a divot torn out of a golf course before it landed back on the ground with a violent crack as it hit the ground and a clatter while it skid to a halt a couple dozen feet away.

That’s the thing about exercising this kind of control over elemental magic. I have to go pretty deep into my meditation in order to manage it. Casting my gaze downward though caused me to come out of this deep meditative state and back to my more common standard pretty fast. I gazed down into the dark hole of the pocket in the stony earth I had opened up, and at the cage sitting atop a raised pedestal in the center of it. Inside that cage was a familiar imp, hissing and shielding his eyes from the sun.

Gaerien immediately jumped down into the little cave without hesitation. She snatched up the iron cage by the conveniently placed brass handle and handed it to Sagel who placed it on the ground, distancing himself from it immediately as he was glad to be away from it.

The little creature looked miserable, it seemed a year isolated in the dark had broken a lot of his initial viciousness, but there was still hatred in his eyes as he looked around at the people gathered around.

[So, the princess returns.] The imp says.

[Yes] I said. [Congratulations, today very well might be the day that you die.]

[Heh! You didn’t want to kill me even after I told you what my crime was, about how I loved the sound of those children crying and begging for help as they drowned in that mud! What made you change your mind now?] He asked dejectedly.

[I didn’t.] I told him. [I decided right when I heard that. I have an experiment I would like to try, and it is likely to be deadly to any fey who is not spiritually bonded to me like Gaerien and Sagel. You telling me about that made up my mind, I’m going to use you in this experiment to see just how deadly or not so an ability of mine happens to be. If you survive, you will return to your natural fey state. The only reason we didn’t do this sooner and you were sitting in that cave is that we needed time to get ready for it.]

[Hmph! Well, hurry this up then.] The imp said, crossing his arms and brooding as he sat in his cage.

Sarafon, apparently having noticed we were holding still now, lowered himself down to pick us up and eyed the cage with caution. Yeah, I know the feeling. The sick feeling any fey gets from unpurified fire-worked iron. It’s always letting off an energy, almost like the stuff has it’s own aura, and to a fey of any sort that aura feels like your in the presence of a predator. Even if it isn’t weakening you, it’s mere presence causes you to feel constantly on your guard.

In a strange and probably sick way, I actually kinda like the feeling. It forces me to keep my senses sharp.

[I will carry the cage.] I said to the rest of the gathered crew. [The iron will disrupt Sarafon’s wind magic, but my robe’s enchantment is internally supplied with my mana. I should be able to fly with it. This works out fine, I was going to be the one choosing the location we use anyway.] After all, if both the day and location are chosen by me, the only way this could possibly go wrong would be if I was selling myself out to the demons. I happened to know for a fact that was not the case.

After a few acknowledgements all around, Sarafon lifted the four up and placed them on his head, while I flew and lifted the cage. The fairies of the seventh committee hung back with Sarafon, unwilling to get close to the iron cage or the imp contained within. Sta’harr even grumbled something about wishing she had her sword with her.

We took off, and headed on a course that would have us pass near the capital and the center of the scar. As we were crossing over it, I suddenly heard Sarafon’s voice from behind.

‘Your highness.’ He said. ‘I believe that is your gnome friend down there, he is with two elf women.’

“You mean at his workshop?” I asked. I didn’t even try looking. A dragon’s eyes were simply better at picking out things from this kind of distance. I had no illusions about being able to make them out myself.

‘No.’ He said. ‘They are walking through the barrens of the scar.’

“Don’t worry, he’s probably out looking for metals and hired them as some kind of guard detail.” I said. It was a pretty convincing guess, but just like what prompted Sarafon to bring it up, there really was something that felt off about this. “It is too late to stop the experiment now. We have already removed him from the cave, and I even happened to tell him about our plans. If we delay this, the chances of the demons discovering our plans raises significantly.”

‘They have seen us as well.’ Sarafon warns. ‘Judging by their behavior, they seem to be quite aware it is you.’

Really? How!? They shouldn’t have the benefit of dragon eyes. That slight feeling of something being off just turned into my gut screaming at me as this very strange piece of information was added to the puzzle.

“We will set down some distance from them and set up the experiment. They can approach if they want, and one of you can intercept them to ask if anything is wrong. Taminarda is only half fey, he ought to be able to to approach while the experiment is ongoing in case it is something important.” I said.

That really seemed like the best solution to both the current and new problems I was dealing with.

-

“Alright, so the plan is that you will signal if this guy’s condition seems to change in any way.” I said to Levin as we were setting things up. “We will start at a distance I have already confirmed has no effect, and then we will all walk forward toward you. Just raise your hand if something happens.”

“Yeah, got it.” Levin said with a slightly put-upon tone to his voice. He can probably guess pretty easily why I chose him instead of Rolwen for this job. But, despite all the precautions we’ve taken already, there is still always the chance we might face danger and that danger will be targeting me directly. Rolwen was the one with the greater level of fire-meditation mastery of the pair. This didn’t JUST mean that his senses were going to be sharper than Levin’s. The fire method was trained by moving effectively under pressure and taking decisive action with the right timing. It was a lot more demanding that the Earth method’s using the terrain and even gravity itself to your advantage or the water method’s overwhelming your opponent with high strikes like a wave and disrupting their balance and momentum. It was in a whole different ballpark entirely.

The skills learned along with the technique were almost as valuable as the extra sensory information from the technique itself. Rolwen just seemed better at decisive action than Levin.

Of course, Rolwen also had his own skills from his previous life. But, like me, they paled in comparison to Sagel’s skills trained from all the actual battlefields he had been on over his life.

“Alright! Let’s get this started.” I said and took to the air and snagged up Gaerien under her arm-pits. At the same time, Sagel transformed his body. He became long, slender, and scaled as his body took on a serpentine appearance. He became a dragon of the blue-jade variety. Only a lesser dragon, but he’d still pulled it off.

Sagel immediately swooped down and lifted Rolwen by diving between his legs and lifting him up

“WOOOOOWHAAA!” Rolwen complained as he held onto the ridges of Sagel’s jaw in a death-grip. It was somewhat comical looking at the two of them. Rolwen had the body of a 5 year old kid, but Sagel had the form of a rather small lesser dragon. It looked like he was way too small to be carrying Rolwen, and the difference in size obviously made the ride rougher for Rolwen than the relatively secure ride on Sarafon’s head.

I couldn’t help having a light smirk pull at my lips as I leapt to the air and activated the enchantment on my robe, quickly soaring after them.

Now then, it's go time.