After a bit of argument, the pirates had decided to send the party out on a rowboat the rest of the way to shore. The main ship would be turning around and attempting to leave the stilled waters as quickly as possible. Captain Penteconter was willing to trade a single rowboat for better odds that the main ship survived the threat of more sea serpents.
Also, the crew had apparently decided they wanted Illyxa and her knowledge of solar magic as far away from them as possible as soon as possible. While they were mostly Goblins, and so no fans of the Slumbering God’s retinue, they still didn’t want to risk the wrath of any of the gods.
So, the party were shoved out onto the small boat with minimal fanfare or opportunity to resist. Gragya and N’ratha took over rowing, Pin serving as the scout, while the two Elves glared Illyxa down.
It was obvious that the superstitious pirates weren’t the only ones put off by Illyxa having dabbled in forbidden magic.
“Practice of solar magic is banned,” Fuan muttered.
“It endangers His recovery,” Hyi added, with a reverential tone.
“If it’s powered by prayer. You know that. I’m not just going ‘yoohoo, mister sun god, smite these people for me’ like some… cleric. I’m doing the work myself,” Illyxa countered. “It’s my own magical mental fortitude. No one else’s mana is needed.”
“You are still draining some of the background solar energy. All magic is balanced. You know that,” Hyi replied. “That is how the equality and stability of the universe is maintained. One can only increase the Foundational Chaos’ creative energy in one place by lowering it elsewhere.”
“There’s an entire sun above us to draw on,” Illyxa said, pointing a thumb towards it. “I’ve studied enough about it to know that some natural mathematicians think it’s larger than the world.”
With a moment of silence lingering over them as the Elves gathered up new arguments and worked through their outrage, Illyxa noticed that Pin was definitely listening in. Those big Halflet ears made him good at that, and his bardic curiosity meant he was using those abilities. Maybe he’d learn something the priestly orders wouldn’t want him to know. That would be nice. Bards liked to share information.
“It still seems a needless risk to me,” Hyi said, at last.
“That’s why I don’t tend to let people I think will squeal see me do it,” Illyxa replied. “None of you are going to rat me out for just a little arcane magic are you?”
“Why shouldn’t we?” Fuan muttered.
“Does the potential punishment seem proportionate to what I’ve done?” Illyxa asked, putting on the cutest puppy-dog eyes she could manage.
That was one advantage to dealing with tallfolk, Goblins were child sized to them, so it was easy to tug on that to seem cute and innocent. Plus, the bonus of being a girl on the outside.
Unfortunately, she was dealing with Elves. They weren’t exactly known for their parental instincts, a town generally having only one or two children at a time. Even with Elven childhoods being as long as they were.
“The risk of a death penalty does seem rather extreme for occasional arcane magics,” Hyi said, compassion in her eyes.
For his part, though, Fuan seemed to have to weigh his options. Illyxa shifted from cuteness to a cold glare. One that Gragya seemed to pick up on, the Gorc clearing her throat, a reminder she was still there.
“I… I suppose, if you get me to the Moon Palace, where my cure can be lifted, I will owe you my life, so I will excuse your heretical behaviour,” he said at last.
It seemed he’d decided it was better not to risk his own neck on principles. Even if he’d been willing to risk Illyxa’s.
A few minutes later they arrived on the shore. Everyone scrambled out of the rowboat, glad to have the safety of dry land. Illyxa then took a moment to look back at the retreating pirate ship. It was still quite visible, only starting to reach the horizon. She quietly hoped they’d have a safe journey, the mutual struggle of being Goblin’s operating outside of the normal bounds of the law making her feel empathy towards them.
She was only willing to be sentimental for so long, however. Especially knowing Fuan would complain about every tiny delay. So, she turned and started marching off, into the forest ahead of them. One made of up the sort of skinny trees one found at high altitudes and latitudes. Birches, mostly.
“How far of a walk is it now?” Illyxa asked.
“I’m not sure. It’s hard to say where, exactly, we are,” Fuan muttered. “The pirates probably knew, but they didn’t say when they were shoving us off of the boat due to your use of forbidden magic.”
Illyxa made a face, but knew she was at least mildly to blame for it.
After stewing on that for a moment, she had an idea. “Are there any major landmarks to look out for? You’ve got to have a map, right?”
“I—yes?” Fuan said, pulling out his pack to dig through it for a few moments. Then he produced a small parchment. Unfolding it to show Illyxa, he waved dismissively. “Forests like this stretch across the whole peninsula, however.”
“I don’t care about that,” Illyxa said, leaning in to study the rivers and mountains shown.
Nodding a bit, she thought she had a bit of an idea of what to look out for, then wandered ahead a bit, to a small clearing. She began to scrawl a magical circle in the dirt with a stick, sure it would be roughly neat enough for her needs.
“Lindu!” she shouted, blasting herself into the air with a flight spell, strengthened by the magical circle to launch herself even higher.
She flew up enough to feel the clouds were almost in her reach, but there was little time to enjoy that. The seconds were essential for getting oriented.
She saw some large hills, perhaps large enough to count as small mountains. Though those weren’t what caught her eye the most. No, it was the great plumes of smoke or dust off towards the north-west. That seemed like it had to be important.
Then the gravity of the situation become apparent. Specifically, the way it meant she was about to collide with the ground, if she didn’t have a plan quickly. It was something she’d prepared for, however. It was too far of a fall to rely on softening the ground, so, instead, she had to use what she knew of wind magic to slow her fall. Then softened the ground at the last moment, just to be safe.
Laying on the ground, feeling a little sore from the impact all the same, she decided to do her best impression of a slug for a few moments, recovering while the others hurried over to her landing site.
“There’s something major to the north-west of here. We should go check it out,” she said.
Moving on foot, through an unfamiliar forest, the plumes of dust and smoke proved to be far further away than Illyxa had realised. At least it had given her plenty of time to check the map and confirm that it was, indeed, roughly where the Moon Palace should be. At least if she was right about which rivers and hills she’d seen from the air were which points on the map.
The distance also gave them time to set up camp and have a decent night’s sleep. As well as a chance for everyone to refresh their magical reserves. Or, well, everyone who had magic. Gragya and N’ratha used the time to spar a bit.
As they set out in the morning, the rest of the party were getting excited about finally reaching their destination. Fuan was thrilled by the idea of ending his curse. Hyi was rendered giddy by the idea of somewhere with the luxury of civic magic, which meant running water and iced treats. Pin was excited to be able to petition for a magical transition, and N’ratha was thrilled for him. Lastly, Gragya was looking forward to the idea of getting paid and being able to leave the Elves behind.
Illyxa had kept quiet about just what she had seen, to avoid spreading panic, but she was struggling to put up a front of optimism. Everything else had gone so sideways on the whole mission. Could she really expect the final stage to go any better?
“I suppose one downside to this is that we will have to deal with the Birch Elves,” Fuan said as they walked.
“Oh, yes. That is most definitely a drawback,” Hyi added, nodding slowly.
“What’s wrong with Birch Elves?” Gragya asked.
“Sticks in the mud,” Fuan said. “Utter sticklers for etiquette.”
Gragya blinked. “Ok, if Elves think they’re bad… I’m going to need alcohol.”
“There won’t be any,” Fuan said. “The whole palace is holy ground and it does not become one to grow intoxicated on holy ground.”
That got a face of utter horror out of Gragya. Illyxa was less alcohol motivated, but did feel a similar aversion to the implications from their Elves about the folks they would soon be dealing with.
“Is that smoke?” N’ratha asked, looking out across the small meadow they’d just reached.
The plume was rising from the same direction Illyxa had seen before. Though, closer as they were now, it was clear it was actually several plumes.
“Cities make smoke?” Gragya replied, seeming to not realise it was anything out of the ordinary.
“Not an Elven high city. There is magic for cooking and heat… we do not take to burning trees unnecessarily,” Hyi replied.
“Forest fire, maybe?” Illyxa offered, though she knew in her gut that it wasn’t anything so innocent.
Fuan was the first to break out of the moment of hesitation and confusion, rushing ahead through the woods with a grace only an Elf could manage. Or, most of the grace only an Elf could manage, slightly slowed by his currently Human body.
Illyxa took off after him, as quickly as her short Goblin legs could carry her. It would not be good for her coin purse if he went and got himself killed after all this work. She only managed to run after him for a few moments, though, before Gragya scooped her up, plunking her on her backpack. While Gragya didn’t have the perfected understanding of forest of an Elf, she had the agility of a martial artist, and was soon bounding between branches to escape the undergrowth.
They caught up with Fuan after a couple of minutes, the trio reaching the forest’s edge a short time after that.
An artificial edge, with a long extent of stumps and torn up earth before them. Though it was what lay on the other side of the moat of deforestation that drew their eyes.
An army had been gathered. White and Green Dragons numbered in the high dozens. More than Illyxa had ever seen in one place. Looking for longer, she realise other breeds of Dragons were peppered among them. Silver. Gold. Red. All while thousands of Kobolds built earthworks and siege engines, utterly surrounding the great palace of the Moon Goddess.
The palace itself, a small city built of mystical purple-grey stones, seemed safe for now, behind walls and magical barriers. Though the latter were being tested every few moments by catapults and dragon breath.
“That’s a lot of lizards,” Gragya said.
“There should have been outer defences,” Fuan muttered, dropping to his knees as he watched the siege.
“Guess they weren’t up to the job,” Illyxa said, hopping down from Gragya’s pack. “Though, I’m surprised they have that many troops to spare with the main fight out west.”
The others caught up then, also taking a moment to process what they saw before them. It seemed that Pin and Hyi were both as shocked by the sight before them as Fuan. To those raised within the Alliance attacking the armies of the Alliance and raiding its cities was one thing, but to strike a home of one of the Twelve… that was beyond simple politics. It was true sacrilege by the Dragons.
“I would have thought picking a fight with one of the Twelve would be harder myself,” Gragya said, leaning against a tree. “The Moon Goddess doesn’t seem to be doing anything.”
“Luvra’s powers are more subtle than most deities,” Hyi said, her voice quiet. “She is not Toor’ep or Arazo, able to release floods and fires upon her enemies. The Moon governs chance and knowledge.”
“She’s probably rolling the dice in her mages’ favour to make their magical shields stronger while I’ll bet the Dragons are having absolutely terrible luck,” Illyxa said. “There’s a reason the faces of a die match the phases of the moon. Luvra is the lady of luck.”
“Still. I’d expect a Goddess to be able to take a few dragons in a fight,” Gragya muttered.
Illyxa rolled her eyes and then turned to Fuan. “Well, I think we’ll call Gragya and I’s contract fulfilled? We’re within a league of the Moon Palace. You can arrange our pay through the Automen Bank.”
He turned to her with a look of shock and betrayal.
One she answered by levelling a glare at him. “I wouldn’t pick a fight with that army for five times what you’re paying me.”
Her reply made him blink, honest confusion spreading across his face. “I… I had not expected you to fight them. Merely to help find a way past them. You seemed good at stealth.”
That comment briefly sent a shiver down her spine, as she wondered if he’d worked out where she’d gotten her secrets of solar magic, but he continued without dwelling upon it. Instead, he let out a small and vaguely sarcastic chuckle.
“If I thought you could break this draconic siege of the Moon Palace I’d make sure you were paid ten—no, twenty times what I promised you,” he said, eyes growing distant as he scanned the army before them.
“Twenty times,” Illyxa mumbled.
“No,” Gragya whispered.
“Forty thousand… forty thousand gold,” Illyxa said, turning to look at her cousin.
“There’s one of The Twelve right there!” Gragya countered, waving her arms towards the Palace ahead of them. “One. Of. The. Twelve!”
Illyxa stared at Gragya, ignoring the confused mumblings from the others behind her.
“Just for some money?” Gragya asked, in a slightly weak voice.
“It’s not just for some money, Gragya,” Illyxa said, getting a raised eyebrow from her cousin. “It’s for a literal kin—no, a god’s ransom.”
“I—we can’t spend it if we’re dead!” Gragya protested, but Illyxa ignored her, spinning around to look at Fuan.
“Swear it.”
“What?” he asked.
“Swear upon your spirit that you will ensure I am paid forty thousand gold for breaking this siege,” Illyxa said.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Gragya muttered.
“You are… you are serious?” Fuan asked, waiting for Illyxa to nod. “Then—then yes. Yes. I swear upon my spirit itself, and upon the honour of my blood, that you will be paid forty thousand gold if you break the siege.”
Illyxa drew her small dagger slicing her palm and then Fuan’s in two quick motions.
“The oath is complete,” Illyxa said, before adding: “Also, maybe wash that cut. Since the knife had Goblin blood on it.”
Fuan nodded slowly, though he didn’t seem to quite process it.
Illyxa ignored him and turned to Pin. “Give us a song. A war song.”
“I—I can do that, but… what are you two about to do?” Pin asked in a quiet voice.
“Commit a slightly lesser heresy to break this siege,” Illyxa replied.
Turning, she saw Gragya briefly rub her temples, before letting out a defeated sigh. Then, matching Illyxa’s lead, they both pulled off the bandages wrapping their arms. Beneath was revealed circles of tattoos, filled with ancient Celestine words of power. Runes to invoke and channel the flow of solar energy.
Exposed to sunlight, the tattoos began to glow, flush with the power they were pulling from the environment around them. Matching that glow, came a slight but appreciable decrease in the brightness of the space around them.
“I have always wanted to fight dragons,” Gragya said, flexing. She then winked at Hyi, who was staring with utter horror at the tattoos. “Even if this is a mildly insane way of going about it.”
“So then, Pin. Music,” Illyxa added.
The Halflet nodded slowly, before producing a lute and beginning to play a battle song.
