Chapter 29: salvage
Flying above the forests and shores, plains and swamps of the temple-island and chains of smaller, more isolated land masses spread across the seas of the dragon realms, Darkcynder paused in mid-air and hovered. With a half smile now upon her multi-fanged maw, the dark dragoness dived down onto the north-west beach of one such island. Once on the sands she took from her acquired pack a crystal of eighteen sides. Placing it upon the ground to her left, she gathered up a few chunks of driftwood in one hand and set alight to them with a jet of flame. That done, Darkcynder unbuckled Gaul's sceptre from her back and cast a spell upon the body six feet in front of her to ensure that it remained both incapacitated and alive, then rested until nightfall.
Upon the rising of the full moons, the dark dragoness held the crystal-of-eighteen-sides so that the light of both celestial bodies would shine through it onto the being in front of her. With a flash of light and a sound of cracking bones, the being was a moment later beside a dark copy of itself.
"Irse, Rrnao." Said Darkcynder, and the being rose to reveal both its face and physique. The dark dragoness handed it a pair of leggings, black dyed and composed of an assortment of fabrics and leather bandages; the sort that pirates of the air arena might wear if not for their colour – and a tight black vest. The being accepted them and put them on, along with some underwear of the same colour that came mid-way down his thighs underneath the leggings.
Once clothed, the being moved to address Darkcynder, but was cut short as she pushed a pair of steel toe-capped boots toward him. With gratitude, he put them on and tied the laces. Turning to face Darkcynder, he allowed her to examine him. To the dark dragoness only two things were apparently different between he who stood in front of her and he who lay behind that being in the grip of her spell. The first thing was that unlike any dark dragon, this human had retained his skin colour but still emanated an aura of dark energy, whilst the second was that, like Darkspyro's, his eyes were pure white.
"Hit that red oak." Said Darkcynder, gesturing toward the large tree behind her creation. The being turned on his heel, strode two paces and struck out in the direction of the mentioned tree of a five-foot diameter with a powerful right smash-punch. The oak splintered and its upper bulk bent over him dangerously. The being glanced at Darkcynder, who was now sat down, and received a wordless reply of a nod at the tree and a nod at the other version of the being that lay incapacitated nearby.
Teeth bared, the dark being barrel-rolled under the large branch to his left on his shoulder and rise to throw his full mass as well as strength into a side-kick diagonal to the tree's fracture. The oak broke from its roots and lower half to land with a damp "THUD" on ground to the right of the other man. The being then hefted his other form of equal mass and strength above his head and hurled the sixty-stone behemoth eighty feet from the shore into the crashing waves.
Pleased with her new ally's performance, Darkcynder poured into his mind the knowledge of how to reach her fortress by foot telepathically; he was too heavy for even her to carry at present.
Satisfied that he now knew the route, the dark dragoness took to the night air as the being set off through the forest below her.
