As SJ had watched, she could now see the wyvern in the lake. It was being dragged by the current across its surface. It shrieked as it thrashed its head wildly.
‘I wonder if that was Kibble?’ SJ thought.
“May have been, but we won’t know until he returns. Oh, there he is,” Dave said.
SJ noticed Kibble’s small shape as he flew towards the south of town. He had skirted out high above the lake, rather than flying directly back to where she hid. It only took him moments to reach her coming into land. The hatchlings squeaked happily at his return.
“What happened?” SJ asked.
Kibble explained what had happened at the mill after the wyvern was attacked and that he had told it to enter the water, knowing that the wyvern could swim. Not that he thought it was doing a very good job at present. The path the wyvern was taking would mean it might end up close to the river that broke through the valley. The lake’s natural flow carried it there.
“It may end up at the waterfall,” SJ said.
Kibble chirped in response. “There isn’t really anything I can do to help. It has an injured wing.”
“I wasn’t thinking of helping,” SJ said in surprise. “It was more of a hope. If it fell down the waterfall, at least we wouldn’t need to worry about it anymore.”
Lightning immediately formed on Kibble’s jaws as he snapped a growling reply. “It’s one of my kind.”
SJ stared, not sure what to say in response to Kibble. He was absolutely right, but she couldn’t understand why he would wish it to survive after the damage it had caused. She didn’t know if any or how many of the townsfolk may have been injured by it. She thought it best not to mention it as she tried to change the subject.
“Can you do me a favour?” SJ asked Kibble.
He tilted his head, the lightning of his anger receding. “What do you need?”
“Could you take a communication stone to the crags? I spoke to Cristy, and she is down in the valley below. Also, I’m unsure what we can do with these hatchlings, but it may be better for them to be taken to Farleck Cottage. They can’t eat the skeletons, and it would keep them out of danger.”
Kibble looked at the hatchlings as he bobbed his head back and forth before he replied.
Kibble sounded a little dejected when he did. “Why?”
“They will be safer, and we can’t have them flying into danger across the town. I am worrying about you enough as it is, never mind five hatchlings as well,” SJ reiterated.
Kibble drooped his head in acceptance. “Okay.”
“Here,” SJ said, removing Zigferd’s communication stone, which allowed him to talk to Petunia. “Take this to Cristy or Alice, please.”
SJ placed it on the ground, and Kibble hopped to it before grasping it in his clawed foot. He then turned to the hatchlings and started to chirp orders at them. They squeaked in response. Eventually, after Kibble appeared more forceful in his tone, they all lowered their heads.
“Oh, wait a second,” SJ said, suddenly remembering that Kibble couldn’t communicate with the skeletons, and they might be a little shocked by his arrival with the wyverns. “I need to write a message to the skeletons. Also, take the wyvern to the lake first; they can hunt in the forest around there, or Brian can catch fish for them. Once they are at Farleck, then you go and see Cristy or Alice, and not before. If you take them with you, they may shoot first and ask questions later. I also want you to stay with them.”
“Good point,” Dave said in agreement.
“What?” Kibble said.
“You stay with them. I want you somewhere safe,” SJ said. “If need be, go back to Farleck again and look after the wyverns.”
“I can’t leave you here alone.”
“I’m not alone, I have Dave.”
Kibble’s miniature face twisted through various emotions before his head dropped. “Okay.”
“Bah. I need paper and a pen.” SJ’s notebook was in the cottage north of town, and she wasn’t going to fly all the way there to get some. Zigferd’s home was much closer and out of the way, being on the dock edge, so she shrank and flew directly there, collecting what she needed and writing a message before returning. After attaching the message to Kibble’s leg, using a torn-off piece of her dress, she watched as he took off with the five hatchlings.
Kibble flew wide again, detouring the town across the lake, and SJ watched until their dots disappeared out of sight.
“Right. I need to locate Zigferd,” SJ said.
“Let’s go,” Dave said with determination.
‘What freedom do you have now, by the way?’ SJ thought as she took off, heading back toward the barracks location.
“Erm... well, I have the freedom to establish direct communications and am no longer being monitored while I am overseeing you. I won’t be brought back into the main cluster until such a time as you are no more.”
‘Doesn’t that affect what you can see and do? Isn’t it going to stop you from looking into the system code if you’re isolated?’
“Oh, I’m not isolated. I have full access as I did before. I just have a separate link, which prevents the system’s sub-systems from going rogue and trying to dispose of you. In the system’s defence, its subsystem was doing what it had always been programmed to do when discovering a threat.”
‘I’m not sure anything trying to kill me gets my sympathy.’
Dave chuckled.
“Oh. This will help,” Dave suddenly spoke as SJ reached the barracks, flying high above and out of range and probably view of any hostiles.
‘What?’ SJ thought.
“It looks like I can clear the fog of war from regions you have visited. It won’t give you the full details, but it should allow the addition of terrain.”
‘That could be very useful. It’s not going to be one of those blinding pains again if you change it, will it?’ SJ thought nervously.
“No. This is interface-based. Oh yes, and considering interfaces and other things. I should now be able to add basic locations and details, including surrounding villages and the like. Right, here goes. Your map will be offline while everything updates.”
SJ wasn’t even considering her map at present as she hovered above the town. There was still a large group of beings sitting outside the barracks, with a ring of draconian and gnoll forces overseeing them. Occasional cries and shouts reached her ears from below, but she was too high to be able to make anything out.
‘I need to get closer. I’m not going to discover where Zigferd is from up here.’
With that, SJ lowered towards the town. The awning of the wagonistas was still lying dormant, and the leaders had obviously left the location. She flew down towards the jail, but in the daylight had to check her approach and wait as enemy forces passed beneath. On reaching the jail, she located Zigferd’s cell, but it was still empty.
‘I hope nothing has happened to him,’ SJ thought, her mind directing to the worst-case scenario rather than anything good.
“I doubt it yet. They may do, but I think they will keep him alive for now at least. If they were going to do anything, they would use him as an example to the rest.”
That thought filled SJ with dread. ‘I wonder where he is then,’ she thought, lifting back into the air and flying over to a nearby building, before landing on its roof. The lack of aerial ability of the draconian and gnoll forces was a severe weakness.
SJ watched as a draconian guard entered an alley across the street from her. The draconian’s back was towards her. She wasn’t going to waste an opportunity, and without saying a word, equipped her claws and took off. The draconian had stopped partway down and appeared to be carrying out its business as SJ neared. She didn’t pause, her claws extended and immediately thrust them into the base of its neck and upwards, as she grew.
The draconian only had the time to squeal weakly before its body went limp, the weight dragging her claws down and freeing them as it fell to the ground. Immediately, she again took off and flew back onto the roof.
“That was very efficient again. You are getting good at this,” Dave’s voice sounded proud.
‘Thanks,’ SJ thought, as she scanned the streets below. There was nothing here that told her anything about where Zigferd was. The conversations from below, which filtered to her, were of no importance or relevance. She pushed off the roof again, lifting into the sky. Systematically, she began searching the streets from above. She wondered if the gnolls were using the inn as a base or around there at least, if the draconians were doing similar. From the tension she had seen between the forces, they didn’t get along, so she doubted they would be anywhere near them.
That made SJ’s mind up as she swept the distant streets, checking the larger buildings as she did. There were only the signs of ransacking and searching, and nothing stood out. She flew over several groups of gnolls still undertaking searches along streets where the buildings looked untouched. At one point, she watched as a group of four gnolls dragged a screaming orc female from a building, and a draconian sat on a lizard at the entrance to the street, shouting orders at them to take the orc to the barracks. There wasn’t much SJ could do as she was led away.
It was as she was about to head further north when she spotted something unusual to the east of town. Near to where Blossom had her field, two draconians stood on what could only be classed as guard. The unusual circumstances drew her attention as she stood there. Reaching them, she noticed the tracks in the soft earth, which led down the track to Blossom’s meadow. SJ flew over the trees until she found where the lizard riders were keeping their mounts. Five draconians were busy feeding the group of fifteen lizards.
It was a grim sight, and SJ didn’t even want to consider what they were being fed. There were too many for her to do anything about, but it also meant that if there was a way to block the path leading to the clearing, the lizards could be trapped there. The path wasn’t very wide, and the lizards couldn’t have traversed it easily. She was aware that the beetles had been over at the ridge, so they couldn’t just uproot the trees and free them if they were trapped. But how could she trap them?
‘Any thoughts?’ SJ thought.
Dave had been listening to her thoughts as she flew.
“Nope. Not unless Fas can do something as a dragon? He could block the path, but doing so could put him in danger. He would likely need to land.”
‘That’s not a bad thought, but we would still need to take out the guards, and he can’t attack them.’
“I’m not sure what we can do then. If we had one of those beetles, we could easily trap those lizards,” Dave sighed.
‘If we had one of those beetles, we could do more than trap the lizards. I’m just glad they are at the ridge and not in town. They’re the only things they have that can threaten aerial assaults.’
SJ copied Dave’s sigh as she wished there was something she could do. The lizards couldn’t fit through the trees without using the path, and blocking it would be the perfect solution.
A draconian entered the clearing from the path, and after speaking to the handlers, the largest of the lizards was moved forward. The draconian, who had arrived, took hold of its reins and, with an effort as the lizard resisted initially, not wishing to leave the food it had been eating, it started to follow.
‘That’s their leader’s mount,’ SJ thought excitedly. As she watched it go.
The draconian, on leaving the clearing, turned south and continued along the track that ran along the east side of the town. In the near distance, SJ realised where it was going. The Wandering Ogre came into view. Its plain, unobtrusive form had, by the looks of it, become the home away from home for the draconians. Fires had been lit outside and awnings had been raised amongst the sparse trees, SJ soon realising that this was where the older and younger draconians had been led. There were no gnolls in the area that she could see, and with care, she approached.
The Wandering Ogre was open on all sides; only the sparse trees and decorative bushes surrounded it. The rear of the building was the closest to the forest, but the remainder was clear of trees and shrubs, making it an ideal location to monitor for any approaching threat. The fact that there were no gnolls in the area again confirmed to SJ the lack of trust they had for each other. As she observed the building, hidden in the forest canopy, she watched the draconian leader, who had challenged Zigferd, walk out of the building and take the reins from the draconian who had collected his mount.
The leader jumped nimbly onto its back and, with a flick of the reins, turned its lizard towards the town. A group of six guards formed up around him as he did.
“I bet Zigferd’s inside,” Dave said.
‘That’s what I’m thinking.’
The building had no windows; everything was blacked out due to what went on inside. It was, after all, a pole-dancing club, and she was aware that many of the townsfolk who did visit wouldn’t wish to be seen by their wives or partners. Even the windows on the upper floor were secured with shutters. There was no easy way inside; it had two entrances. The main door at the front of the building and a side door, where she had visited when she had met to speak to Niweq. SJ wasn’t even sure if there really was a second floor to the building, having seen what she believed was the full extent of the inside. The large, open area at the front of the building featured a long bar and a spacious seating area, where tables were arranged for clients to watch the dancers on stage. The rear of the building consisted only of offices and changing rooms, along with a platform that led to where the curtains and lanterns were stored.
As she sat contemplating what she could do, her display triggered.
“Wha...” SJ started to speak, but managed to stop herself as her display flashed and the newly upgraded map sprang into life on her screen.
‘Wow,’ SJ thought as she reviewed the details. Areas that had previously been greyed out were now clear, and SJ was able to see parts of the forest that she hadn’t visited clearly enough to be able to locate clearings of a similar size. It was a significant improvement. She zoomed out on the map, opening up the other regions she had crossed. The vast extent of them was now clear. Her recent visit to the desert region had now shown the true scale of the open and desolate sands, which the maps Fas had purchased hadn’t shown. It must have been easily eight times the size of the region where Killic sat.
Across the map, known villages or towns were shown. Many weren’t named, but they were at least detailed.
‘This is unbelievable.’
“It’s pretty damn good, isn’t it?” Dave bragged.
‘I have to admit. This alone makes a huge difference, never mind anything else you can now do.’
“I know. I know,” Dave’s smarmy voice replied.
SJ rolled her eyes in disdain at her friend.
“Now, all you need to do is look at your experience gains and see what has been granted. Remember, I said there is a three-times multiplier granted.”
SJ hadn’t considered her level of experience or expertise in the face of so much going on. She was just killing what she could when she could and trying to fathom what they could do in the long term until support arrived. She closed her display and rechecked her surroundings. I can’t do much from here at the moment. I am going to check on Zej and Lythonian, make sure they have reached safety, and then meet up with Fas. Maybe he can think of something.
‘I’ll check my levels when I get back to the cave,’ SJ thought.
She took off from a branch she had settled on and was just leaving the area when a thought struck her.
“Harrietta!” SJ suddenly blurted.
“What?” Dave said.
“Harrietta. If she is with Fran and Fran is in the valley with the others, maybe we can get her to scout the Wandering Ogre, as she did previously.”
“Now that is an excellent idea,” Dave said.
