Spring 4995, 02 Buromoth
Lily ran.
Not because she was frightened, though she knew she was being hunted. And not because she was in that much of a hurry, though she kind of was. Lily mainly ran because she was bored.
She ran beside the road. Aiming for every rock, bolder, and lonely tree she could. To leap, vault, or jump off of as she went.
For the last seven years, her Monk Master had insisted that she run in the mornings as a warmup before drills, at least three days a week, though usually every day. Even after Master Velona and Veon-Zih retired, Shon continued running in the mornings. The strange man actually liked running. Lily tried to insist that there were other cardiovascular activities she preferred to do with him in the mornings. Shon's answer, of course, was to do both.
Now Lily was alone, and there was no one to insist that she do any kind of exercise. So, of course, now was when she finally discovered the appeal of running.
She'd started out of sear boredom from having no one to talk to and nothing to do but walk. But with running, especially the way Lily was doing it, she had to focus on her movements, but not so much that she couldn't think about other things as she went. It was like, by giving her body and only part of her mind something to do, the rest of her could better focus on what mattered.
Lily knew that the water dragon was somewhere in the deserts of Halakon, but she didn't know exactly where. And, now that she didn't have access to any of the kingdom resources, Lily didn't know how she would find her dragon sister. Hells, even if she did have access to the Mages Guild, Lily wasn't sure how much help they would be. The kingdom had formed an entire team to find the Warlocks. Warlocks who claimed to be active since the death of the dragons five thousand years ago. And here she was, trying to do it all on her own.
But Lily did have one significant advantage the team lacked.
The Warlocks wanted to find Lily. Ever since she'd escaped them eight years ago they'd wanted her back. Even going so far as to attack a Paladin training fortress with a force of draken and a wyvern. And every time she'd run into them again, twice in the last season, they had tried to take her back into their custody.
She formed her plan as she ran. Lily would use herself as bait. She'd speak draconic in every town. She'd dress in her sleeveless tumbling shirts, to show off her scales. And She'd wear her golden hair long and loose to shine in the desert sun. Simple, but hopefully effective.
If all went as planned, then she wouldn't need to find the Warlocks. They would find her. Especially if the young Warlock woman who'd warned Lily to leave the capital had passed on Lily's intention to find them.
But before that, Lily wanted to see her Master again. And so she ran. South, back into Halakon from the Capital. It had taken her and Shon two weeks to travel the distance from their Masters' winter home, but with her lonely running, it should take Lily only a week and a half.
Meanwhile, Shon and his new team would be teleporting through magical gates all over the kingdom. In an effort to find both her and the Warlocks. Lily could only hope that they would focus on the latter of those goals first. And that they didn't succeed before she did.
Lily didn't like thinking about what she would have to do to the team if she did run into them.
***
"What do you want, Archmage Shaloon?" She crossed Her arms and tilted Her head at the Warlock in the mirror. She was in Her room at the height of the tower, technically it was supposed to belong to the lead Archmage of the Eastern Talon, but as the man was completely mad and subservient to Her, She had claimed the room as Her own years ago.
The Waterwyrm resisted scratching at the black scales on Her upper arms. it wouldn't do to show weakness of any kind to the Warlocks who hadn't already sworn loyalty to Her and the other Wyrms -though it itched like mad to grow scales back after donating them to the Warlock's work- and She knew that this Archmage, in particular, had a sorted history with the Firewyrm, the first to escape.
Shaloon grinned in the mirror, her eyes shifting in color from the Waterwyrm's own black scales through the spectrum of color all the way to the bronze of the Waterwyrm's hair before she answered, "I have a message for you, Waterwyrm. Someone is looking for you."
She rolled Her slit-pupiled eyes -a vibrant aqua- to show Her exasperation, and enhanced the show by brushing Her hair over Her shoulder in a dismissive gesture. "Then why aren't they contacting me? Are you to be my liaison to the Central Talon then?" The other Talons were constantly trying to enforce their power and control over Her and this tower. But as each branch of the Warlock organization operated nearly independently, they couldn't do much as long as Her Archmage continued to allow the Waterwyrm Her freedom.
"No..." Shaloon let the word trail long, then switched to speaking in draconic, "The Firewyrm is in Halakon and is looking for you."
She'd been prepared to scoff at the Archmage but found Herself choking on the response. One of the other Wyrms was looking for Her? Both the Firewyrm and Eathwyrm had escaped the Warlocks' control, and though She didn't have any intention of joining them -the work the Warlocks did was too important- She had wanted to find them. For Herself.
"Where are they?"
The infuriating Archmage just shrugged, answering, "Halakon."
The Waterwyrm hissed like an angry cat. "You've been hunting her for eight years! Surely you have an idea where she might go..." But Shaloon just grinned, swiping at the mirror's surface and fading from it, leaving only the Waterwyrm's own reflection to glare back at Her.
"Bitch." She spat, then turned on Her heel, Her dress billowing around Her ankles. She strode for the door, Her mind working furiously. Like all the Talons, She preferred to keep as low a profile as possible, but She would make an exception for this.
She descended the tightly spiraling stairs through the middle of the tower, opening each door as She passed. She snapped and waved imperiously at everyone She found to follow. Without explanation, She made Her way all the way to the basement level, two apprentices and two journeymen following closely behind. She found the last two Warlocks stationed here, both Archmages, in the lab room at the end of the long hall and snapped Her fingers at all six of them.
Turning again and brushing Her metallic bronze hair back over Her shoulder, She ordered, "You will go to every town and city in Halakon" -the desert province was huge but sparsely populated- "The Firewyrm is looking for us. For me. You will bring her back here." The Warlocks exchanged silent looks, and She hissed, "NOW!" They jumped in shock, then bowed reverently before scurrying from the room like the chattel they were.
"Fools..." She growled under Her breath, turning for the abandoned experiments.
They worshiped Her here. Worshiped all the dragons. It was the only reason She was allowed Her freedom where Her siblings had been imprisoned. "Fools..." She repeated in a whisper, reaching out to stroke the bronze fur and black scales of the two dead and mangled cats on Her table.
The Warlocks had sold their very souls to the Father of the dragon gods, the embodiment of creation and destruction. And yet they used his only remaining children like mindless tools and not the majestic embodiment of magic that they were. What had the Firewyrm suffered under their care? Would She be able to convert Her sister to their cause?
It wasn't just a matter of pride, though She had that in abundance -as any dragon should- it was about the fate of the world itself. And no matter how foolish these humans that now ruled it were, She liked the world. It was Hers. Created by dragons for dragons. And they would return to fly its skies and swim its waters again.
