Chapter 74 – Undercurrents.

Ueana had expected to be rather cold once they had left the cave and started heading back towards the pass, but she was quite surprised to find that she was in fact not. The skeon that the riders usually wore had a number of advantages. It was skin tight, so it didn’t interfere with the summoning of their bone armour. It also could be and usually was enchanted, with magic that kept their body temperature regulated when the outside was out of the comfortable zone, and magic that strengthened its defensive nature beyond what it naturally had, which was far beyond what you’d normally think given the appearance of the material. That made it a rather expensive material, but the riders had always had it, as much a tradition as being just plain useful, and often the ones who collected the materials for its creation. They didn’t have a monopoly on it, but certainly a dominance.

So, without the skeon, which had kept her warm on the trip thus far, she had expected to feel the brunt of the weather. After all, the only clothes she had on were the hot pants, possibly still skeon, though she wasn’t actually sure, the enchantments certainly gone with the damage they’d taken. Or changes. She wasn’t really sure what had happened there at all, and they weren’t actually rough or ragged. And the loose hoodie, which would keep you warm when snuggled up against another at night, but do squat when flying through arctic winds.

She did feel a little chill as the winds tore through them as they took flight from the plateau outside of the cave, but that was it. Otherwise she felt as comfortable as always.

Perhaps part of that was from Callisto’s new flames, that were currently dancing all over his body in mesmerising patterns. He’d always been a red dragon, his elemental association loosely being fire, but now it seemed to dominantly be so. But he didn’t feel that hot.

‘Maybe that’s because you’re also producing a comparable amount of heat yourself?’ Callisto offered.

That was a possibility, but she wasn’t fire aspected as far as she knew. At least she hadn’t been.

‘Daughter of Pyre...’

Ah yes. One of the many things said by the Ancients, both at the cave and at the palace. They had discussed that a bit on the way down from the cave back to the entrance and out onto the mountain. What it actually meant. That and all of the terms that had been said about the bond. They all felt that it was important, but they had no base from which to extrapolate, no knowledge or experience to draw from. They all knew that the words held power, that much was obvious to them. An instinctual understanding, relating to the nature of the Ancients. Something that transcended the magic that they already had. But the why and how were very different stories.

Child of Dragon, Daughter of Pyre.

Pyre could be related to fire, but even with all of the circumstantial evidence that didn’t feel right. She was certain instead that it was a name of a being. Who that was was the question. The logical choice was Crystal, given that Coorie had stated, and was still certain, that she could feel her mark on Ueana. But her name was just that. Crystal. Not Pyre. Unless there was a lot more to them than she realized. Or perhaps it was someone else entirely. Her head burned with questions, the answers as elusive as trying to catch a flame in your hand.

It was the same for the bond. It was there, the flames on the wrists of all three proof of that. Fleur had quickly discovered its presence, as had Ueana, the red flame bursting to life when she thought on it. It was a different colour to that of Callisto’s flames, and while it felt like it was a part of her magic, at the same time it felt like it wasn’t either. Rather a part of them all.

Bond of power, path, dream, and need. None of them seemed to relate to the bond mark. Or perhaps they all did. Speculation on the meaning of the words did them no good here, it all essentially wishes of what it could entail rather than any actual facts. Except for one. She was pretty sure that bond of path meant they’d all end up going in the same direction in life, involved in the same events even if from different angles. Hopefully though, together always as a team. That was what being a bondmate meant, on the simplest level at least, and what they’d agreed upon even before finding the cave.

Did they want more than just that from the arrangement? Fleur certainly did, and Ueana was willing to reciprocate, after her initial hesitation, and with some not at all subtle prodding from Callisto. Coorie had made it quite obvious that she did too, and that it was more than just a side effect of having met the deep dragons. That was the difficult one. How would that work for them? Could it work for them? Or would it tear their team apart, if acted upon, or if not acted upon. Triangles like that weren’t unheard of, especially amongst nobility, more so if they were also riders as well, from what Coorie had said. Fortunately she wasn’t part of that herself, her birth to very average parents who had to work hard to make their living.

‘It may well resolve itself. But I don’t think that they’ll be the sticking point.’

Ueana sighed. Callisto was right there. Perhaps it was all down to her, and her views and feeling on it all. She’d been surprised when Fleur had mentioned the possibility of sharing when Ueana had told her about the kiss. She’d thought Fleur to be more possessive than that. Maybe she’d got the context wrong, and Fleur was actually referencing something else entirely, but somehow she suspected not. The conversation as a whole strongly pointed towards her willingness, and actual potential like for Coorie. Even Ueana would admit that Coorie was the prettiest of them all. The caveat being that Coorie had to prove herself, whatever that entailed. And it was still dependent in the end on Ueana herself. She really didn’t know if she wanted to go down that road, bondmates or not.

‘Perhaps you should talk to them both about it.’

‘And do you have an opinion on it all, given your insistence about Fleur?’

‘Love makes the world go round?’

Ueana chuckled to herself. A non-committal answer if she’d ever heard one, yet one hiding his real response deep beneath.

‘We are part of the same being after all.’

While that was entirely true, it sometimes carried its own weird connotations with it as well. To be shelved for more appropriate times.

She had to admit that her magic felt a bit different too. She wasn’t sure how to quantify it though. Apart from the changes to her dragon bone armour, if it could even be called that any more, all other applications of her magic seemed to still work, and work the same. But the feeling was there. Hopefully she would be able to pinpoint what was the cause of the feeling before it became an issue.

‘Perhaps the changes haven’t fully manifest yet, or they’re waiting for something?’

‘Do you feel any different?’ Ueana was actually rather curious about that. Callisto still sounded and acted the same to her after all, even with the flames dancing across his form.

‘No more than you do I think. You’re changes are much more pronounced than mine, but wouldn’t that be expected given that I’m a part of you?’

‘Fair enough.’ The whole concept of dragon familiars and how it all actually worked was still foreign to her, even though she was a rider. Sure, she understood it on a fundamental level, and had never really questioned it beyond that, but now that he had awakened and they could talk, it took things to a whole new level. Callisto was his own person.

Ueana sighed. So many questions. Life had become so much more complex now.

Then there was the fox cub. It did indeed appear that it was a part of their family now. Once they had finished getting ready, and it had managed to score some food from her, the cub had hoped straight back into the saddlebag that it had been riding in previously, making itself comfortable and probably dozing off. While she did have the hoodie now, the saddlebag was probably the safest and warmest place for it. There had been no hesitation from the cub at all, no looking or pining for its family members. Instead it was more like, we’re done here, let’s go now. And even while it was super cute, she didn’t actually have any idea how she was supposed to look after it. Not to mention, did spirit animals require any special treatment? Asher had said that it wouldn’t survive well outside of the Basat Line.

‘That was before it was bonded to you. I think it’ll be just fine.’

‘Says the dragon who doesn’t actually require anything in the way of being looked after,’ Ueana thought back with amusement. Though in all honesty, you could still do so, and treating them well resulted in a stronger and closer relationship with your familiar. She had always tried to look after Callisto well, apart from the whole feeding thing. That was a waste of time.

‘You’ve always been a special rider. In many ways.’

The winds were still strong, but nowhere near as bad as they had been on the journey in. It was no longer trying to smash them into the side of the mountain, instead just the gusts that you’d normally associate with a blizzard. With the accompanying snow and hailstones of course. Difficult to travel though, but a welcome change. A silver lining to an issue that they’d been ignoring.

They really had no idea whereabouts in the Basat Line they were, nor were any of them sure if they’d reliably be able to retrace their steps, beyond following the leyline as far as they could. Which left them with three feasible options. Head directly north, or as much was possible, till they emerged somewhere on the lower edge of the Empire. Or do the same heading South, returning to Avaraline. Finally try and make their way directly East till they reached the pass. Getting out of the mountains and flying along the edge of the range, either north or south, was likely to be faster than trying to battle through them again, but it was highly dependant on how well they could judge and maintain the correct directions. In the Empire, even in bad weather, it was easy enough. Here though, a completely different story. Some gem aspects had magic for navigation, which unfortunately none of the possessed. They were also all taught how to read the sun and the stars when in unfamiliar terrain, but the current weather, as it had been almost the entire time that they had been in the Basat Line, did not allow that.

In essence they were quite lost.

They couldn’t sit still though. They’d lost an unknown amount of time already, and travelling, hopefully, in the vague direction that they needed to go would be better than not, especially when coupled with the chance of being able to get their bearing at some point along the journey. That and there was no guarantee that the weather would ever clear from around the plateau, given what it had been like for the two days that they had travelled through the range.

It didn’t take them long to fly back down the side of the mountain, the leyline pulsing strongly underneath them. Ueana didn’t recall it being so easy to sense last time, so either her senses were now better, or its density had changed, both which were just as likely a possibility given common understanding and what had occurred. They then followed it as it snaked through a pass between two peaks and along the slope of a neighbouring peak before it finally disappeared into mountain itself. With no better heading, they continued in the same direction, weaving along the mountainside, down past a frozen valley and then up and along again, frequent tailwinds pushing them along much faster than they had managed.

Ueana couldn’t place why, but she had a sense of optimism that they were travelling in the right direction. Perhaps the winds were tying in with that. While on the journey in the winds had made it significantly harder than it should have been to reach their destination, the Ancient had wanted them to find the temple. Certainly not helping them, perhaps a challenge instead, gauging their worthiness? Would they do the same now? She didn’t know, but she wasn’t one to try and guess at their motivations. Somewhere deep in her though she felt that no, they wouldn’t. They’d achieved what they wanted here, and if they were just pawns in some greater beings game, elsewhere is where they needed to be.

‘There may be something to that,’ Callisto agreed, the frozen terrain passing by quickly underneath them. ‘The winds are just as unnatural as the ones we faced coming here. Subtle, yet also not.’

Ueana smiled and hugged down against her familiar, ears and tails kept as close to her as she could manage.

“Do we keep following the currents of the wind then?” Fleur asked when Ueana passed on her thoughts to them. They had landed near the edge of a valley around the middle of the day for a much needed break and food, even the fox cub poking his head out of the saddlebag, hungry looking at Ueana. Of course, once he’d scored some meat from her, he snuggled back down into the saddlebag, quite content to stay out of the cold.

“Yes.” Ueana didn’t think too long on that one.

Coorie nodded in agreement. “The sooner we leave the Basat Line the better. There are areas along it’s edge where the winds push the snow lower and further out than it would normally reach, and perhaps that it was is being tapped into here. Even if not, if we can get ourselves into one of those currents, it’ll make tonight a lot more comfortable.”

The weather showed no sign of changing, and they quickly found themselves with tailwinds again, Callisto easily able to pick them out, the winds appearing to push them in the same general direction. The mountains were all unfamiliar, not that there was much way of telling them apart in the first place, their flight path weaving them between and along the mountains. The dragons swept over only a couple of valleys, still desolate and frozen, but the number far less than what they had passed over on the two previous days. Ueana had half hoped that they might have found one of the secret valleys that she was sure did exist in the Basat Line, but apparently it still wanted to keep its secrets, the only one that it was willing to reveal being the fox temple. By mid afternoon the air had started to become significantly warmer, the sky starting to clear just a little, and shortly after that broke entirely, the dragons careening down the slope of the mountain to find themselves out of the snowfall and flying across the lush plains of the Empire.

“Yes! Finally!” Fleur pumped her arms in the air, Lily and Seashae drawing up alongside Callisto.

Ueana smiled, the familiar sight very much welcome. “Any idea whereabouts we are?”

Both Fleur and Coorie shook their heads.

“This is definitely the Empire though. No mistaking it.” Coorie added, a smile on her face.

“It’s nice to be home again,” Ueana agreed. Though, having said that, given all that had transpired, she’d quite happily travel away from the Empire again.

They flew out into the plains for a little while more, making sure that the Basat Line was still in sight, before banking to the right and flying parallel to the mountains. As per their plan, they’d follow the mountains until the reached the pass, and then fly north from there towards Elmer’s Nest. They could probably fly north from here, but until they reached or passed one of the mountains of the Empire or a settlement or town, they wouldn’t be certain of their relative bearings. It might take them a little longer than if they got lucky, but this way at least they’d be certain, and it was likely to prove the quicker option. And if someone had been sent out to look for them, then they’d be at the pass, or have left a message there.

Once night had fallen they stopped, their familiars forming a circle around them as they ate some of their rations and then snuggled up together, the fox cub worming its way out of the saddlebag too late for food but more than happy to snuggle up with them.

“We’re going to need to name you, aren’t we,” Ueana mused as she patted it and stroked it’s ears. The cub gave her a quiet yap in reply, far too happy with it’s current position to bother moving to give a better response.

‘Kitni.’ Callisto’s response was almost instantaneous.

‘Why that?’ Ueana queried.

If Callisto could have shrugged, Ueana was certain that he would have done so. ‘It just fits. Let’s call it intuition.’

“Sure, why not. Kitni it is then.” Ueana gave the cub another pat. She wasn’t going to fight over a name. The choice was kind of nice, and as Callisto had said, it fit.

“No complaints here,” Fleur murmured, her face buried up against Ueana and likely not much awake.

They resumed their journey at first light, food consumed once they had untangled themselves, then straight into the air. Kitni was back into the saddlebag, head poking out for a bit before it decided that even though it was warmer overall, the winds were still too much for it to deal with. The plains flew underneath them in relative quietness, not much to be said between them. Herds of wild plains beasts or flocks of birds fled as they passed by, but other than that there wasn’t much to see. Mountains on one side, green on all others. No settlements had been built close to the Basat Line, and they saw no signs of any other riders. Which is what they had expected, but it did make their journey rather boring. Ueana lay down against Callisto, enjoying his warmth as the flames danced around her, her mind wandering. Callisto was more than capable of keeping them on the right path by himself, her familiar giving her a smug chuckle in response to the thought.

A blood curling roar brought her out of her daze, a few hours having passed, Ueana bolting upright, seeing the others doing likewise. She wasn’t the only one who had decided that their full attention on the flight wasn’t needed. A side effect of being able to talk with your familiar.

“What was that?” She asked, all of the familiars stretching out their wings and rapidly slowing down.

Okay, she actually already knew, but only the barest of details. It was the roar of a familiar, but not a happy one. Rather, one of pain, fear, and desperation, a chill running down her spine. It was not a sound that you ever wanted to hear. She couldn’t see anything at all, but the sound had been very clear. Too clear.

‘They all heard it, but not as well as you. Closer to the mountains I think.’ Callisto turned his head in the indicated direction.

“It it what it sounds like?” Coorie asked, her face pale.

Ueana just nodded, staring where Callisto was looking but not seeing anything. “What are we waiting for then?” she then asked, more to herself than anyone else.

Gaining some height, Callisto then banked, heading towards the source, Fleur and Coorie following close behind.

“Oh %&#$.”

Callisto’s sense had been entirely accurate, as had hers, her blood running cold at the scene. A large teal dragon, easily twice the size of any of theirs, lay on the ground in a shallow crater, numerous gaping gashes all over its side, skin and scales hanging loose in some areas, the ground around it soaked in blood. Its wings were a mangled mess, torn to shreds and one barely still attached to it’s body, it’s tail ending in a bloody stump. Blood poured down it’s face, one eye missing as it moved its head, snapping at a figure that was dancing around it, it’s movements sluggish. It was not in a good state at all, and that was understating things. Familiars almost never ended up that way.

Ueana didn’t hesitate. Calling her magic to herself and reinforcing her body, she leapt off Callisto’s back, straight down towards the figure as Callisto roared behind her. The figure looked up at her, viscous purple eyes sizing her up as she descended, jumping out of the range of the teal dragon and then pausing, waiting.

She slammed her heel into it, flames flaring off her as it blocked with its bony arms. Ueana used the momentum to flip herself backwards, twin short swords materializing in her hands to block its retaliatory strike and protect her tails as she landed in a crouch, then dashing forward again to attack with her blades, not wanting to give it any pause.

Ueana rolled to the side as Fleur came up beside her, her greatsword slamming into it and pushing it back even though it somehow managed to deflect the attack with it’s arms. Ueana charged again, swiping at it’s legs as Fleur brought her blade around again for the next strike. She dodged off to the side as Fleur’s greatsword connected, the figure giving them a wicked grin as it stopped the greatsword with its hands, the ground carved up beneath its feat.

“Mooree Riideersss...” it hissed, it’s voice guttural and very much unnatural.

“That’s right, you monster,” Coorie sneered as she landed beside them, a flaming war-axe slamming into its side, blasting it across the ground a short distance.

Seemingly unharmed by the blow, it picked itself up and gave them an unnerving smile. While it had the same general shape as a person, there was nothing natural at all about it. It’s portions were well off. It’s long clawed arms nearly reached to the ground, its knees far too high and an extra joint below that in the opposite direction. Muscles bulged all over its body, and its upper back seemed to be twice the size that it should be. Pointed teeth adorned its mouth, a forked snake like tongue flicking out. It’s skin was a deep purple with an oily sheen, clashing with its unsettling solid purple eyes.

A demon, but not like any that she’d ever heard about.

Demons were bad news, and until a decade ago the stuff of nightmares. It took a team of normal riders to take down one, though she had heard that a rider from Avaraline was hunting them down on her own. Probably not a normal rider, especially from what she’d heard about her. Fortunately demons were rare, and most riders had yet to encounter one. Hopefully, it would stay that way too. This demon was not a normal one though. There was intelligence in it’s eyes, something that demons lacked.

But behind them was a critically wounded familiar, its riders location unknown, probably barely alive. There was no room for hesitation, time was of the essence. Fear would have to wait.

‘We’ll protect our brother,’ Callisto said to Ueana as she dashed forward again, his voice tinged with worry and sadness.

The demon was good, his attacks measured and well paced, Ueana realising that his movements that she had seen as she’d dropped were just the same now. His reach was a problem for her as well, but she wasn’t alone. Her balance felt a bit weird at the moment too, she was definitely not used to her tails yet. There was an instinctual sense and adjustment that was certainly helping, otherwise she’d be tripping over all the time, but she wasn’t fully there yet.

Flames danced off her blades as she swung at the demon’s arms, her strikes blocked or parried, and his like. As soon as an opening presented itself she switched with Fleur, the greatsword slamming into the demon again and throwing him back. A trick that had worked twice, but possibly no more. A flaming bolt smashed into the demon, causing him to stumble as he looked past them, two more following quickly afterwards. Ueana wasn’t the only one with multiple weapons it seemed.

The demon shimmered and vanished, appearing right in front of her, hissing as it kicked her hard in the middle, sending her tumbling backwards unceremoniously. Recovering into a more dignified roll, dirt and blood through her tails, she leapt back up, pushing more magic into herself, heat gathering around her. The demon appeared right in front of her again, claws slashing at her, Fleur stumbling to right herself behind the demon. Ueana tried to twist out of the way, bring her swords up to block, her balance feeling slightly off. Pain shot through her upper arm as the demons claws bit into her, the hoodie there shredded and flames burning fiercely at the point of contact.

‘Duck!’

Ueana dropped to the ground as more flaming bolts slammed into the demon, Fleur slashing her greatsword into it from it’s flank, sending it tumbling off to the side.

“How dare you touch her!” Fleur growled, fury on her face, tongues of flames dancing through her hair, Ueana picking herself back up and standing defensively beside her.

“Are we even doing it any damage?” Coorie asked, worry in her voice.

The demon looked unscathed. No blood, no broken bones, no visible wounds. The strength of Fleur’s attacks would have torn any normal creature apart, and even done decent damage to a night beast. Not to mention that fiery arrows to the face would definitely leave a mark at the very least. Yet this one was just shrugging them off.

The wicked grin was still there, the demon licking the blood off its claw.

“Blooodsss of the Anciieentsss....” The demon cocked its head, and gave them a strange look. Ueana had no idea what it meant, but it was still rather unsettling.

Ueana tightened her grip on her swords, the flames growing hotter.

Blood exploded around the demon, wings unfurling from its back.

“Neext timeesss...” it hissed, and then suddenly it was in the air, rapidly ascending. Coorie loosed a shot at it, the demon easily evading.

“*%#$. Do we chase it?” Coorie fired another shot, the result the same.

Ueana shook her head. “No. We have a rider to hopefully save.” Ignoring the fact that they had been severely outmatched. And she had no idea why it had suddenly left. Hopefully it didn’t decide to return.

‘Keep an eye on it though,’ she added to Callisto.

‘Most certainly,’ Callisto replied, with an accompanying verbal growl.

---

The teal dragon regarded them with it’s one good eye, it’s breathing heavy. Ueana felt sick to the core of her being, and afraid, now that the adrenaline was wearing off. No creature should ever have to suffer like this. She had never seen the like before. The demon had done a real number on it, and it would take it a long time to heal. They were lucky to even have done as well as they had it the short time of their skirmish.

Ueana dismissed her weapons, and looked up at the dragon.

“Please, where is your rider. Let us help if we can.” She had no idea if it even understood what she was trying to say, but at the very least it wasn’t trying to attack them.

The dragon gave a weak sorrowful roar, blood dripping from its maw, before it pulled it’s head back and shifted its weight off to the side, moving open its front limbs to reveal the form of the rider. Ueana rushed in to her, kneeling down beside them. Like her familiar, she wasn’t in a good state. Her legs were bent at the wrong angles, large gashes on her right shoulder, blood still seeping down out of it and coating her skeon. Her jet black hair was matted with blood, her surface of her right arm torn up and glistening red. Her copper skin was looking pale, dry and cracked, her eyes half closed and breathing irregular. Ueana couldn’t see her dragon armour at all, and even her feet were bare.

Ueana cursed to herself that she didn’t know any healing magic, not that many riders actually did. It fell outside almost everyone’s aspects. Including Fleur and Coorie’s. You had to have a light aspect at the very least, or have some connection to it. She could tell at a glance that there wasn’t going to be a lot that she could actually do, but she had to try. Better to try and fail, than to do nothing at all. Leaning in, she placed her hand against the rider, trying to push some of her magic into the other rider. She had no idea if it would help at all, but the rider looked exhausted, and she couldn’t sense much of her magic at all, weak magically as well as physically.

The rider opened her eyes fully, and looked at Ueana, a glimmer of hope reflecting in her beautiful orange eyes.

“We’re here to help.” Ueana said softly.

The rider tried a smile, instead coughing weakly, blood dribbling from her mouth. She then shook her head, lifting up her good arm, placing her hand on Ueana’s.

“Please... let them know...” her voice was weak, and she was spending all her effort to talk.

“...that we.... found Water...”

The rider then closed her eyes, her breathing stopping and hand sliding off Ueana’s.

Dead. Just like that. They’d arrived too late.