Spring 4995, 15 Buromoth
Lily let her head fall back, then flinched as it hit the stone wall harder than she intended. She rubbed the sore spot, grumbling to herself, and returned to her reading only to immediately groan and do the same thing again, slowly this time, resting her head on the wall with an exaggerated sigh.
Rose let her own book fall to her lap with her own frustrated sigh and glared across the reading area in the circular library at Lily, "What is it this time?"
Lily turned her head enough to look out the window. Where to start? There were so many things on her mind, and what was supposed to be fun escapist reading wasn't helping today.
For the last week, she'd been living in a perpetual state of poorly hidden paranoia. She refused to enter any room without a window and always positioned herself with easy access to it. Preferring the option of jumping multiple stories out of the tower than being cornered. In the most blatant show of stubbornness, she'd even set up her tent outside the tower rather than take one of the available rooms to sleep.
In addition, her mind refused to hold still. Jumping from thoughts of the past; to anxieties of the future; and repeating a multitude of make believe scenarios along with how she might respond to each.
When alone, she would curl in on herself, holding her arms and leaning her head against anything sturdy enough to hold her, wishing it was Shon and wondering where he was. Damn the kingdom and damn the gods for forcing them apart at a time like this.
Now the time for her to go to the Central Talon and face the Warlocks' leaders was only two days away. A time she'd always hoped would either never come, or if it did, that she would at least have him with her...
"Lily?" Rose asked, closing her book and tilting her head at her sister's extended, uncharacteristic silence.
Lily shook her head and forced a quizzical look on her face as she lifted her book and pretended to examine the pages. Better to change the subject. In her head and in conversation. "I'm not sure which is more stupid for making the same dumb mistake, the heroes or the villains," Lily said.
Rose rolled her eyes and opened her book, "What did they do wrong in the children's book this time?"
Lily waved the offending tome in the air. It was a collection of short stories in a long series of fictional tales following a group of underaged heroes constantly at odds with the same recurring villains. It was written for children near maturity, so between ten and thirteen years old. "They keep letting each other live!" Lily exclaimed, slapping the cover with her free hand.
Rose tilted her head to the other side, and Lily could see -now on the receiving end- why so many had compared her to a kitten when she did that. "I would think you, of all people..." Rose started.
Lily rolled her eyes even more theatrically than Rose had, "I can kind of understand the heroes. Even if I think their oaths are stupid, I can understand why they try so hard to keep them." After all, oaths like these were paramount to people like Shon. She couldn't respect him and denounce everyone else that held the same. "But seriously, with all the trouble these bad guys have caused, it would at least stop any future issues..." She narrowed her eyes at the book, "I suppose that does answer the question, though. The villains are definitely more stupid."
"Oh?" A man in robes climbed into view up the spiral stairs in the middle of the room with a snicker, "If they are so mentally challenged, then how is it that they continue to cause trouble?"
Lily huffed, "They don't. The heroes always stop them." She watched the Warlock Archmage closely as he joined the two dragons. He was alone when he should have an apprentice with him. He carried his ever-present porcelain doll in the crook of one arm and hummed a lullaby under his breath as he walked. Moving towards the cabinet on the other side of the window from Lily, he pulled from it a large cauldron -that shouldn't have been able to fit- full of muddy-looking water. Why would they even keep something like that in a library?
Lily continued to explain as the Warlock proceeded to drop other things from the cabinet into the cauldron, "They always almost succeed, but then a hero shows up to stop them-" Bits of broken glass, a shredded and partly burned book, and a handful of potatoes all disappeared into the cauldron. He started to stir with a large wooden spoon in the hand not rocking the doll gently. "-I can't count the number of times one villain or another had the heroes captured, and rather than kill them, they put it off. They always say they don't have time right now, or they might need them later, or that they want to see the pain in their eyes when they lose, or some other stupidity..."
Lily tilted her head at the mad Warlock, who just nodded for her to continue as he sipped his strange, certainly disgusting, concoction. "... well, the heroes always escape and foil their plans. It's stupid. It doesn't take that long to slit someone's throat. Then they won't be able to get in the way anymore. I would think after the second or third time..." She shifted her head to tilt the other way, "What are you doing, Kareem?"
The Warlock snickered again and waved the spoon at Lily, "What does it look like, my dear Firewyrm? I'm cooking dinner! All you younglings need to eat plenty to grow up big and strong." He looked down at his doll and crooned to it, "Isn't that right, Isabell? You'll eat all your veggies tonight, won't you?"
Rose sighed, closing her book once more and standing. She moved to rest a hand on Lily's shoulder -her water magic hissing audibly against Lily's fire- and whispered under her breath before Lily could correct the Warlock with her name. "Leave it. Today is a bad day."
"I have a name, damn it." Lily hissed just as quietly to Rose, but the Warlock wasn't paying attention to either of them.
He sampled his 'soup' again, then hummed, "It's missing something... Oh!" then he dropped his doll into the pot.
Lily jumped in surprise, but Rose held her back. The Warlock sampled the concoction again and sighed, "Perfect." then he looked around the room and called, "Isabell? Isabell, where did you wander off to? It's dinner time..." A bad day indeed.
The Archmages of Rose's tower were very, very mad, but neither of them were directly harmful to anyone but themselves. Provided you knew to stay out of their way and played along on bad days. They still held powerful magic, and still knew how to use it...
Rose stepped forward and cleared her throat as the Warlock tried to look under the cauldron for his missing doll. "I believe I saw her crawling towards the books on elemental affinities..." she told him, pointing to the other side of the library.
The Warlock sighed. "Silly girl," then he grinned at Rose and pat her arm. "I remember when you were just as rambunctious, Waterwyrm. What a handful you were!" then he scampered off to look a few rows away.
Once he was out of view behind the shelves, Rose scooped the doll out of the pot and, with a single brush of her hand, banished all the murky fluid from it. "So you've never spared an enemy?" Rose asked Lily as she sat the doll on her abandoned chair.
"What?" Lily asked, thoroughly distracted from her own rant about the children's stories. "Oh... Once. And it was stupid then too. I won't make the same mistake twice." she answered.
Rose nodded, then called across the library, "I found her, Kareem!" She turned her back on the Warlock as he came rushing back, focusing on Lily, "Will you tell me about it?"
For all Rose claimed to be free, she'd rarely left her tower. As such, she showed a strong interest -and new envy- in Lily's past adventures.
Lily shrugged, but before she could share the story, the missing apprentice scampered up the stairs. She looked frantic but then sighed in relief once she spotted the Archmage. Lily eyed the two Warlocks for a moment then muttered, "Sure... it's bound to come up eventually..." but now wasn't the time, not with this audience.
Rose pursed her lips but didn't speak until after the Archmage and his young escort had retreated back down the stairs -crooning to his doll once more- "I assume it was one of their number?" she asked.
Lily nodded but shrugged again. "If I'd just toasted her when I had the chance, then she wouldn't have executed the apprentices we'd captured, and I would've had some answers without having to seek you out." And more importantly, Shaloon would be dead now.
Rose hummed, turning her back on Lily to stare at the stairs leading down to where the Warlocks who practically -and in one case literally- worshiped her, worked. "Well, I, for one, am glad you sought me out."
Lily stood, setting her book down on her seat, and stretched, "I would have eventually anyway."
Rose hesitated a moment, then turned back to Lily and asked, "You really think you could have... toasted... one of them?"
Lily nodded, "I was angry enough." Though killing someone like that would have been the only thing she'd been able to do that night. Which would've left the others to fend for themselves against the horde of undead.
She shook her head at the memory. There was no point in contemplating 'ifs' after the fact. Instead, she explained to Rose, "If we're going to adventure with each other, you should know that fighting with magic takes less energy than magically attacking someone from the inside. I could've cooked her, but that would've left me pretty much catatonic for the rest of the day." though the attack she'd leveled against the undead after had done that anyway.
"Is that why you hesitated to go to the Central Talon?" Rose asked, "You're afraid you'll have to fight your way out?"
Lily growled, "I'm not afraid of fighting." It was only half a lie.
But Rose just hummed, seeing through it. Lily hissed like a cornered cat, and Rose smirked, "You don't have to be afraid. We're dragons, and we're together in this. I won't let them hold you, Lily."
Lily huffed, "Well, let's go then." and brushed past Rose towards the stairs.
"Wait, now?" Rose asked, rushing to keep up, "Weren't we going to wait a week?"
"I'm tired of waiting." Lily snapped. She'd already waited too long. She'd thought she could come up with a plan, or at least brace herself, but all she'd ended up doing was working herself up. And now Rose was offering to protect her? Well, Lily didn't need anyone to protect her. The only one who ever seemed to realize that was Shon. So Lily would show them.
***
Lily stepped through the star-filled portal and found herself in a windowless stone room. A robed figure with skin-colored scales covering his face jumped in surprise and stuttered, growing more incoherent as Rose followed. Lily focused on her breath, doing her best to keep her nerves in check, but then Rose snapped her fingers at the Warlock, and Lily nearly started the poor man's robes on fire.
"Take us to the Master Archmages," Rose ordered in draconic, holding her chin imperiously high and straightening her already straight gown.
The Warlock continued to stutter, and Lily couldn't tell if he was trying to speak in common or draconic. Though some of her confusion could be from the thundering of her heart in her ears. There were only two exits, and the one they'd come through dissolved into ash as their escort passed through and let the portal close.
Rose scoffed and waved an absent hand at her own journeyman. He passed them and helped the stuttering Warlock out the door, speaking softly, in draconic. "Come now, the ladies are expected. Let's not make them wait..." The Warlocks preferred the complex language, and even Lily couldn't help but fall into it when it was all they chose to speak.
Rose swept after them and Lily took one last breath, squaring her shoulders and drawing her staff before following.
Rose cocked her head at Lily's staff, "A weapon? Already?"
Lily just nodded. She kept the long weapon in her bag of holding, and if they attempted to use an anti-magic field on her, she wouldn't be able to get it out. The weapon also offered some physical comfort to soothe her nerves. She just hoped Rose and the Warlocks couldn't see her anxiety.
As if reading her mind Rose eyed Lily and slowed her pace to let the others get further ahead. Lily matched her, and Rose said, "You put on a good show, but... are you alright?" it was only then that Lily noticed the other dragon sweating. Lily was controlling her appearance, but her heat had gone up significantly.
She brought the magic in as best she could and answered, "I'm fine. Just... Just don't snap like that." she confessed.
"What? My fingers?" Rose asked, raising the offending hand.
Lily nodded, then took another deep breath, letting it out slowly through pursed lips, and explained, "When I said they used to choke me and steal my magic with a snap of their fingers? I was being literal."
"Oh..." Rose dropped her hand, and the two walked in silence down the windowless hall for a time before Lily finally asked,
"Where are we?"
Rose shrugged, but at least she didn't answer with something stupid like 'the Central Talon.' "I don't know exactly where the Central Talon is. Few do, as far as I know. For security reasons."
Lily snorted derisively. And she thought she had been paranoid the last few days. Though considering the group was currently being hunted for extermination, she couldn't honestly blame them. Grant it, everyone was hunting Lily too, but that was just to imprison her and experiment on her, not kill her.
Most people seemed to think the latter was worse...
Probably as an added precaution, the halls they followed kept twisting and turning back on themselves. It was as if the structure itself was trying to get them lost. Assuming it even was a structure and not a cave system, considering the lack of windows.
Their Warlock escorts stopped every figure they passed on the way through the maze and sent them off hither and thither, probably to warn of the dragons' coming. The reactions displayed by these new Warlocks ranged from fear to awe to complete indifference, with a smattering of mad giggles thrown in for good measure. Finally, after what felt like far too long, they reached a pair of overly ornate doors, cast of five types of precious metals and studded with five kinds of precious stones.
"A bit ostentatious, don't you think?" Lily asked, her confident mask firmly in place.
Rose nodded, adding, "Tacky."
Their nervous guide knocked lightly on the door, but Lily rolled her eyes and shoved past him to hammer on the door with the butt of her staff. The metal rang like a gong, and both Warlocks covered their ears. Lily smirked, hoping it was just as loud, if not louder, on the inside.
Rose rolled her eyes, "Laying the confidence on a bit thick, aren't you?" she asked.
Lily shrugged, "We were invited." and was glad to feel the banter helping. Fake it 'til you make it, Lily... confidence is little more than an expression and stance... behave like nothing is wrong, and nothing will be wrong... she told herself.
"Then we should go in." Rose agreed, striding forward and pulling the door open without waiting for permission.
The doors slid open surprisingly easily considering their size, and Lily snickered, "Good thing they're well-oiled. It would've been embarrassing to struggle."
Rose huffed, then let go of the doors and instead spread her arms apart in the air. Water formed against the back of the doors and pushed them both the rest of the way open before crashing down to soak the floor. "I don't struggle." Rose declared flatly, making Lily snicker again. Master Velona always said that Lily had too much pride for someone her age. Maybe it's hereditary. Lily shrugged at the thought.
The room beyond stole Lily's mirth. It was a grand chamber with seven statues forming a circle around the center. Five human figures, each ten feet tall, stood in a loose circle with two dragons behind them, looming over the entire room, their long necks arched across the domed ceiling, glaring at each other across the center. Though Lily wouldn't have been able to tell with the dragons anyway, each of the humanoid statues appeared to be a blend of genders, making it impossible to tell if they were meant to be male or female.
The central statue, directly across from the doors, was carved of wood and particularly alien, with animal features mixed with the human. It had antlers sprouting from the head, clawed feet like a hunting cat, and bird-like talons for hands with living plants growing out of the flesh. Cathbad?
The two dragon statues sat on their haunches, with their wings partly spread and overlapping behind the wooden statue of Cathbad. One was cast platinum, and the other an amethyst so deep purple it looked nearly black except where light glinted off the edges. Before the dragons were knights in real armor. The one on the platinum dragon's side wore silver and had flesh carved of blue-tinted marble, while the one on the amethyst dragon's side wore black -polished flint?- with red-tinted marble skin. Beside them, and flanking the doors, were two figures in robes, one of gold and the other of silver, haloed by the sun and moon respectfully. The seven original gods...
Where others might have been awed by the spectacle, and Rose at least looked impressed, Lily's lip curled in contempt. She had little love for any of the gods, all of whom had abandoned her in her tower. And Hengist... she turned her face pointedly away from them for what they'd done to Shon.
"You don't like them?" a voice asked, and from behind each dragon leg came Warlocks. The four of them moved slowly, studying the two living dragons. One -a woman- waved a dismissive hand at the journeymen that had led them here.
Lily purposefully relaxed and tried to keep all the Warlocks in sight without turning her head. Though one, in particular, kept distracting her despite herself. His hair was spiked down the center of his head and dyed red. He also carried a fat red hen in his arms.
Rose tilted her chin up, "Archmages." she greeted without bowing.
"Waterwyrm." a man with a shaved head, not unlike a Monk, returned her greeting.
Lily hissed, but Rose just smirked, answering, "I have a name now actually..."
"Oh?" a second woman asked, "Dragons are born knowing their own names. Tell us, what is yours?"
"Rose," Rose answered.
Three of the four scoffed, and the first woman continued, "That isn't a drag-"
But the chicken man dropped his hen with a loud flutter of ineffectual wings and clapped his hands, "Oooo! Like the flower? It will be a good nickname at least."
Lily snarled in common, "It's her name. And mine is Lily."
But the chicken man wasn't listening. He scooped up his hen, and ran across the distance to bring his face right up to Lily's. Turning his head like a bird, he studied her from just a few inches away, then actually reached up to poke the scales across her cheek. "I did do a good job, didn't I!" he declared, brushing his finger over her scales then picking up a lock of golden hair and sniffing it.
The bald Warlock scoffed, "Hardly,"
The second woman shrugged, "Considering the magic resistance of even a newly hatched dragon..."
The first woman added, "And this way, we have an endless supply of pure samples."
"You did this to us?" Rose growled at the chicken man, making his hen panic, flapping frantically to drop from his arms and hide behind his legs, "Can you change us back? Give us back our true forms?"
The chicken man cocked his head at Rose, nearly poking Lily in the eye with his spiked hair. "I hardly think you would fit..." he said, then shook his head and asked, just as excited as before, his draconic informal and rushed, "Do you think I can get a flesh sample? We know your scales and hair are pure, and your blood is a mix, but the flesh... oh! And bones! They seem to be pure human. Have your minds been affected? Do you feel human? As dragons, you would still be very young children, or hatchlings, I suppose, but as humans, you're quite mature. We already know your chromosomes are mostly unchanged, which is why you can't reproduce. Tell me, have you felt the urge to mate?"
Lily blinked, overwhelmed by ideas and concepts she couldn't begin to understand. She was spared asking for an explanation as a familiar voice, spoke from behind the platinum dragon, "I think that's enough, Archmage Tolinar." The woman that had spoken through Rose's Journeyman...
The man's voice from that same encounter came from behind the amethyst dragon, "Perhaps after we've come to an agreement, we might share information..."
Then they both stepped out, each footfall sounding like stone clacking against stone. They were like animated statues, but ones whose stone skin shifted and flowed like real flesh. The female was carved of white marble but with onyx eyes, and the male onyx with marble eyes. They wore robes matching their eyes, which were unreadable in the totality of their color.
"Nins!" the chicken Warlock exclaimed happily, picking up his chicken once more and sprinting to the female, who reached out to pat the side of his face in a loving gesture. "Don't they look lovely! I did a good job, didn't I!"
"You did, Archmage Tolinar," the male assured him,
"And to answer your question, Waterwyrm," the female started,
"He did transform you," the male said,
"Using a true polymorph spell." the female finished.
Lily tilted her head at the pair of them. It seemed they always spoke in this alternating fashion.
"We may be able to change you back," the male explained,
"But we won't."
"Too dangerous while the Paladins of the Slayer still rule."
"But you may be able to transform yourself with time."
"Assuming we are able to achieve our goal..." the male finished the exchange, and the female turned her head to make it clear she was looking at Lily with those blank black eyes.
"What are you...?" Lily asked, slipping back into draconic before she could think better of it.
The chicken Warlock giggled, "The Nins!"
"Our leaders," the first female Warlock interjected.
"Master Archmage Yonin," the bald Warlock indicated the marble female, "and Master Archmage In'nin." indicating the onyx male.
"Yo..." Lily breathed, then looked around the room surrounded by gods and laughed. She tapped her staff on the ground, gripping her sides, and laughed, "Yo-Nin and In-Nin?" she asked, then laughed some more. Breathing heavily, she made a show of wiping her eyes, "Nothing like a little blasphemy when the gods in question are dead. Ah..." she sighed, "at least some of you have a sense of humor."
The normal human Warlocks looked like they might explode in rage. Except the chicken Warlock, who just giggled as if laughing along with Lily, though she wasn't sure he understood her mirth. That one was like a child. The two stone leaders just smiled.
In draconic, the symbol for writing 'Nin' could roughly be translated to mean 'human' while 'Yo' and 'In' were more complex, meaning anything from light and dark, or good and evil, or creation and destruction. They represented the duality of opposites and were the prefixes for the names of the dragon gods.
"It is true, Yoryuu and Inryuu were killed by the Slayer..." the male said,
"But don't assume they are truly gone, Firewyrm..." the female finished.
"They're dead," Lily snapped at them, "And you may have missed it, but I have a name."
The three more sane Warlocks scoffed again, but the leaders didn't argue. Instead, they changed the subject.
The female started, "Bringing back the dragon gods is one possibility to save this world..."
"But is beyond our capabilities..."
"That is a job for their Chosen..."
"But we get ahead of ourselves..."
"You are here because you want information..."
"And we have it..." the male finished.
As they spoke, a seventh figure entered from behind the platinum statue of Yoryuu. They wore their hood up, and Lily assumed them to be another Archmage, considering the others didn't question them or order them to leave. She chose to ignore them, as she did the others, focusing on the leaders.
"I've gotten some from Rose already," She gestured toward Rose with her staff, "And I've decided to believe you, for now, that the world does actually need saving."
"Very wise of you..." The female started
The male opened his mouth, but Lily interrupted before he could continue, "But that doesn't mean I'm here to join your mad and mary band of lawbreakers."
"Lily..." Rose whispered in a warning hiss.
In'nin looked to the female, and Yonin nodded. He continued, "You wish to maintain your autonomy..."
"Despite the kingdom hunting you..."
"As they hunt us..."
Lily waved a dismissive hand in the air, "Well, you are Warlocks, and that is kind of against their laws."
Yonin nodded, "You care for their laws..."
"You are half gold..."
"And yet you will help us?"
"And also half red..." In'nin nodded as well.
Lily rolled her eyes. Draconic was a complex language that had many variations that didn't translate to common well. The leaders spoke in the most formal, almost ceremonial, form. It consisted of a lot of words and extra syllables to make things sound as overly polite as possible. And it drove Lily absolutely crazy.
"Can we get to the point, please?" Lily's own speech pattern was nearly as blunt as she was, crossing the border into rude, "You need my help, and I want your information. Are you going to give it to me or not?"
"And what will you do with it, Firewyrm?" the hooded figure interjected, making the other Archmages gasp. Except for the chicken man, who just hummed and pet his clucking hen. "Will you give it to the kingdom? Sell us to them for a promise of your own freedom?"
Lily finally let her attention shift from the leaders to the new figure, locking onto her voice. A voice Lily recognized. Would never forget... It haunted her nightmares.
In Lily's peripheral vision, Yonin nodded, "Archmage Shaloon makes a good point..."
A growl rose from deep in Lily's chest that no one seemed to notice. Shaloon... She was here. Still. Though Lily couldn't see the woman's face, she remembered it clearly. Those eyes that shifted in color through the spectrum, that smirk as she snapped her fingers to choke her as a child. This woman had tried to convince her counterpart, Archmage Morndancer, to seal Lily's power permanently. She'd attacked Hamerfoss and Lily's Squires on a wyvern.
Lily had last seen the Warlock Archmage of her childhood after Shaloon captured Shon and suspended him by the wrists in Swailand.
In'nin continued, "You said yourself that our existence is against kingdom laws..."
"Laws your chosen companion has sworn to enforce..." Shon...
"Will you swear to support us despite that?" Swear...
"Work against the kingdom?" Against Shon...
"For their own good, of course..."
"Lily?" Rose whispered to her.
Lily clenched her staff, her knuckles turning white. She turned her face back to the leaders standing side by side. Their white and black coloring clashed until they merged to gray as her vision blurred and red began to creep into the edges. She closed her eyes.
She had only sworn two oaths in her life. One was shared with Shon, who was working with the kingdom to hunt these Warlocks. The other was to herself and was much simpler,
Never again.
"I'm going to make this very, very, clear..." Lily said, her voice calm. "You assume to know me. You don't. I only care about laws that make sense. Selling your soul being against the law is stupid. It's your soul, you can do what you want with it. I don't even care why you did it. To save the world or give yourself power? It doesn't matter. What does matter is that there are people in this world that I care about. I will work with you to save them. I will give samples, at my discretion, and do jobs you need done, for information. Information that I might give the kingdom, so they can try and save the world too..."
"You-" Shaloon snarled, trying to interrupt, but Lily held out her hand, palm forward, to stop her.
"I don't care that you're Warlocks," Lily reiterated, "But I do care that you held me captive and still hold my siblings. That you kidnap and torture people. If an individual or Talon threatens the people of this kingdom, then the kingdom has every right to deal with them in their way. And if an individual threatens me or mine..." Lily twisted her wrist, bringing her fingers together, "then it isn't the kingdom you need to be worried about..." Lily opened her eyes, the room awash in red.
She snapped her fingers.
***
