Chapter 37 Wall of the Storm
Character Rayon
Ray was talking with Geyser and Kris the day after they had discovered their Duplicity, the three were gliding outside of Wing Harbor looking over the plains and the half-destroyed city. "So you two have a talent that hasn't been seen since before Malafor, and I am going to be an uncle, and Storm can see into the future, that is a lot to take in at once," he said after Krista explained to him the events of the past two days, "Why tell me first?"
"Because you are the closest to Krista," Geyser said, "other than me and you are more cunning than the rest."
"We want your opinion on this ability of ours," Krista continued, "does it seem a little unsettling?"
"What do you mean unsettling," Ray replied, "seems like that would be for the two of you to decide other than an extremely consistent flow of ideas I wouldn't have ever picked up on it, and the fact that you told me. Sis if you are worried about Mom and Dad's response I can't think of a bad one they will be overjoyed that you two have finally gotten together, not to mention the Duplicity."
"Geyser, Krista, Rayon," yelled Storm as she approached, "Fiona has found where two of the remaining golems are hiding and she wants you to help kill them, follow me." Rayon grinned at Geyser and Kris as he took off to follow Storm, they fell in behind him.
"So it just the five of us verses two golems," he asked.
"No," Storm replied, "Blitz, the Guardians, Xavier, and Ember are going to help."
"How are we supposed to kill these things," Krista asked.
"According to Father just hit them hard, hard, and harder, until there is not much left," Storm replied.
"Then why do you look as if something is bothering you," Ray pressed.
"If you have all of history and some of the future pressed into your brain then you tell me if things don't bother you a little," Storm snapped back then with a sigh, "forgive me I have been under a lot of stress lately."
"No its alright," Ray said, "sometimes venting the stress helps, I seem to be a lightning rod for it." Storm gave him a half-smile as they met up with Fiona and the others.
"I see you found them," Fiona said, "Kris I hate to ask this of you and Geyser but if what Terrador said about your abilities is true then this should be a lot easier with your help."
"Oh, and I am just here for the ride," Ray commented.
"Dude," Blitz said, "we are the distraction, sis is planing to take back Warfang, to do that we get to lure the golems out."
"You will have our help in that," Terrador said as he and Cyril glided over, "Volteer and Flame along with Ember will be a part of Fiona's ambush."
"Four on two, sounds fair," Ray replied.
"Five," Storm added, "I'm going with you no argument."
Terrador's expression grew dark for a moment and Ray was certain he was going to object when, to his amazement, Terrador just sighed and muttered something under his breath.
"Terrador," Fiona said, "your in charge of the distraction, make sure that those golems are out of the city before we start blasting them wouldn't want to level what we are trying to salvage."
"I know," Terrador said, "I will assume that that comment was meant mostly for Blitz."
"What it is not my fault that Earth Magic happens to be very good at breaking things," Blitz said.
"It is your fault that you enjoy breaking things," Ray added.
"Fine, can we get this over with," Blitz consented.
"Soon as the golems are out of the city we will bring them down," Fi said, "its all yours." Terrador nodded and the five headed into Warfang, in search of the golems. It took longer than Ray expected to find such big creatures, but Warfang was a big city. The golems were near the old city center, not surprisingly Ray thought considering that the first golem was destroyed there, this made it hard to get them to come out of the city without having them smash through almost every wall and cluster of buildings in the way.
"How are we going to get them out without having the walls knocked down," Ray asked.
"You're the clever one," Cyril said, "think of something."
"Ok," Ray thought, golems; "large, earthy, four legs, two arms, strong, built like a beetle. Wait beetle, earth, strong, tunnel," "Blitz," Ray called, "can we get them to tunnel out of the city?"
"What do you have in mind," Blitz replied.
"Well it involves you, Terrador and Storm," Ray said, "and it might not even work but if we were underground would the golems not chase us underground as well?"
"They might," Terrador commented, "seems likely. What is Storm supposed to tunnel for us and we roll through like bait?"
Well that wasn't exactly what Ray had planned but it would work just the same and keep Terrador happy, "If you will do it," he said.
"I will but I can't speak for the others and what would you and Cyril be doing," Terrador replied.
"Herding the golems so they want to chase you underground," Ray responded, "Storm, Blitz how bout it, up for a chase?"
"I'll tunnel with the Electrosphere," Storm said.
"Always up for a challenge," Blitz added, "how are we supposed to keep up with Storm though?"
"Roll through the tunnel she carves in the boulder you should be able to out distance the golems just don't let them loose sight of you they might surface and knock down parts of the city," Ray clarified, "As far as keeping up with Storm good luck."
"How are you going to get the golems underground in the first place," Terrador questioned.
"With the fear of ice," Ray said, "by combining Cyril's ice with my fear the golems will want to follow you instead of fight walls of ice that are closing in around them."
"I can't create walls of ice like that," Cyril commented, "I suppose that you will use fear to make the golems think they are being closed in on by the ice."
"Yes," Ray replied demonstrating a confidence that was more faked than real but this was the only way he could see to get the golems out of the city and if he showed any hint of possible failure Terrador would scrap his plan and come up with a more destructive way to remove the golems.
"What do we need to do," Storm said, "I mean how are we going to draw the golems attention and get them to follow us?"
"Land amongst them I guess," Blitz said, "maybe hit them once or twice while Ray gets his fear working then boulder form through the tunnel Storm makes".
"You sure you can do this," Terrador asked his daughter.
"I am fine now father," Storm said, "tunneling will be easy enough for me, how I will know I am out of the city will be harder to determine."
"Warfang is raised a little from the surrounding plain, when you are out of the city there will be less pressure inside the tunnel," Cyril said. Storm nodded and looked at Terrador.
"Right lets get this rolling," Terrador said as he, Storm and Blitz flew down toward the golems, "just make sure that the golems go underground."
Ray and Cyril let the three land and get the golems' attention before diving in and hitting the golems with ice and fear. Ray watched as Storm blasted into the ground and Blitz and Terrador followed in the rolling boulder forms, the golems turned about of a few seconds before diving under the earth to chase the three. "We should probably return to Fi and get ready to attack the golems when they resurface," Cyril said. With that Ray and Cyril flew out of the city and rejoined Fiona's group.
Character Fiona
Fiona saw Cyril and Ray flying out of the city and was immediately worried that something had gone terribly wrong, fortunately she was wrong as Cyril explained how everything seemed to be going right according to Ray's plan. "Its when things are going right that you should expect something to go wrong," she heard her mother's voice saying, it was a memory but also her cautious side telling her to be ready for anything. Anything happened a second later as Terrador, Blitz and Storm burst out of the ground followed by the golems, except they had come out right underneath Fi's group. Flame and Ember dodged one golem as it grabbed for them, Cyril hit the same golem with ice, Fi had to shadow meld to avoid the other golem's fire breath, Storm blasted a hole through that golem but didn't kill it, Terrador and Blitz were blasting the golems with earth missiles and Xavier just tried to stay out of the way seeing as he was only there to heal any injuries. Shooting a golem with a shadow bolt, she wondered where Geyser and Krista were, but didn't have time to dwell on the two as she was knocked from the sky by a golem. She hit the ground hard and was lucky that nothing broke in the landing, she melded to avoid the golem's hand crashing down on her and ripped through its wrist as the arm hit the ground. The golem reared at the lose of its hand and ran into the other golem. The golems pushed apart as Storm Sphered through where they had just been. "Dagum it," Fi thought, "that blow could probably have ended this." The golems were now fighting together instead of just flailing around, they were pushing an attack against Flame and Ember, seeing as those two could only use fire and the golems were not bothered much by heat. Flame was able to keep the golem after him away but Ember, with less powerful Fire magic, was snatched in the other golem's hand. "No," Fi thought as the golem was bringing its other hand around to crush Ember. Then she saw Geyser and Krista slam into the golem, they were surrounded by a sphere of ice, as they meet the golem's body it was frozen and ripped apart by wind at the same time. The shattered golem fell to the ground its top-half separated form the bottom, it flailed around for a little longer but once the lava drained out the golem lost its ability to move and died or whatever happens to golems when they stop moving. The remaining golem, the one with one hand and a hole in its chest, backhanded Blitz as he rammed into it, sending him flying into the other golem and he fell to the ground unmoving. Fi, Kris and Ray froze, Storm, to Fi's surprise, roared and spread a torrent of electricity into the golem, her entire body became one huge arc of lightning as her power lifted the golem into the air and ripped it apart, Storm fell to the ground gasping as she recovered her strength. Fi motioned for Xavier to check on Blitz, she landed by Storm.
"I never knew you had that much power," she said as Storm looked up at her, "you ok?"
"Yes I'm fine, apart from the exhaustion of using all of my power in one spell I'm good," Storm replied, "though now I am hungry how is Blitz?"
"I figured you would already know," Fi said, "but I'll check."
"I was asking more out of politeness," Storm added, "don't worry he is fine just unconscious."
"That must be really weird knowing everything that will happen," Fi said as she and Storm walked over to Blitz as he was shaking off the blow from the golem.
"The hard part is having to remain mostly silent about future events in order for them to come about as they should," Storm replied, "I will apologize in advance for what I will have to keep from you all."
Fi didn't answer but thought about what Storm had said, would there be some catastrophic event that Storm could warn them about but then change the future if she warned them, Fi didn't want to think about it. Blitz was on his feet now and rubbing his head, Xavier was looking over the rest of him and telling Blitz that his head would hurt for a few hours. "How do you feel," she asked Blitz.
"Like I was hit by a mountain," Blitz said, "do we have to fly back?"
"I was thinking about returning to Warfang," Fi said, "seeing as it is now golem free, I and the rest could deal with any remainder of Malafor's minions that might still be within."
"Could we," Blitz asked, "my head feels like it is three times as big as it should be and I don't know how well I can fly."
"I'll help you if you start to veer off," Storm said, "as will anyone else here."
"If you all go to Warfang it will be without us," Ember said, "my mate and the other Guardians need to return to Wing Harbor and gather up those who previously lived in Warfang before we settle back in."
"That seems appropriate," Fiona replied, "good luck."
"Keep Blitz from hurting himself even more," Terrador said as the six dragons, including Xavier, headed back to the harbor, "he has a good head on his neck lets keep it that way."
"What did you do to impress him so," Ray asked.
"Can I answer questions later," Blitz begged, "I just want to sleep for now."
"Lets get you to the Guardian's tower first," Fi said, "the sooner we get there the sooner you can sleep and we can start searching for any remaining minions." Her brother shook his head one more time then jumped into the air and headed for the city. His was a wobbly flight but thanks to Storm and Krista's help he managed to make it into one of the rooms in the Guardian tower, where he promptly fell asleep.
Storm, Fi observed, was acting nicer to Blitz since her 'ordeal', "so why are you nicer to Blitz but seem more aloof to us," she asked.
Storm seemed to think about her answer for a while, then simply said, "Spoilers," before walking to her room.
Geyser and Krista were lodged in his room, Fi found an empty room next to theirs and Ray was across the hall. Blitz's room was in the middle of all of their rooms so any one of the five could keep an eye on him. Fi slept better knowing that Warfang once again rested in dragon hands. The next morning, Krista and Geyser woke her up as the Guardians returned with about 300 other dragons. Shaking the sleep from her eyes, Fiona walked out to greet the returning dragons and, as Terrador put it, earn more respect from the older dragons with her accomplishments as general. The day wore on at the slowest pace Fi could possible imagine, having to return all of the dragons to their original homes and keep track of Storm's search of the city for more minions, apparently the minions went and hid in the tunnels when the golems were destroyed, She would have to go in after them sooner or later, but for today it was enough trying to keep the dragons from fighting and bickering over who lived where and which buildings were owned by whom. Fi though it odd that this soon after Malafor's attack that the dragons would be arguing over building rights instead of counting themselves lucky that they weren't dead, but then again many of these dragons didn't see much of the fighting so probably had no idea of what they almost lost, Fiona decided that was probably for the best. Blitz slept until mid-day but woke up feeling much better, Geyser and Krista went looking for a house as well and found a little place near the tower but not too conspicuous, Fi knew the reason for their want of seclusion, the though made her smile, she was glad that Kris and Geyser were finally together. Storm came back from a scouting run in the tunnels with bad news, there was a veritable army of orcs and gargoyles and the like down there and it appeared that they were reading to attack the city.
"We can't convince all these dragons to move out right after they moved in again," Storm was saying, "there is only one option, to force them into a hole."
"There is that many," Volteer asked, "we couldn't just clear them out?"
"Not that many, there must be hundreds of miles worth of caves down there, we can only hope to keep the minions contained in a part of the tunnels," Storm said, "it could take years to hunt them all down not to mention the recurring monkey problem."
"And there are still eight golems somewhere out there," Ray said, "we counted twelve around the Destroyer."
"That could bode ill for us," Volteer stated, "Storm I think you are right we need to get these minions under control and quickly, Fiona how soon can you, your siblings, Geyser and Storm be ready to head down there with a force of the dragons?"
"Tomorrow," Fi answered, "let Blitz rest for another day and give me time to get to know the other dragons I will be leading down there."
"Fair enough," Volteer said, "the dragons you will have at your command are already here you can meet them now if you have time they are over near the west gate, I will accompany you to tell the current leader of your assumption of command, his name is Carter."
"Thank you," Fiona said as Volteer flew her to the platoon of dragons. As she approached she recognized a cobalt healer named Helda, and a verdant fire user named Jack, she nodded to the two as she landed, a large brown dragon walked out from between two buildings to meet her and Volteer.
"This is Carter," Volteer said, "Carter, Fiona our general and your new superior."
"I am honored to meet you," Carter said, "for one so young you have done more than most of the dragons I know combined."
"Powers and accomplishments mean nothing if I don't know how to lead," Fiona replied inclining her head to Carter, "I am honored that you think so highly of me."
"I see you two will do just fine without me here," Volteer said, "I'm off to help Cyril keep a civil tongue while he deals with more of the returning residents," with that he flew off into the air.
"So you want to meet the troops," Carter asked, "follow me I'm sure your reputation preceded you here but might as well make it official."
"Thank you," Fiona replied as Carter led her through the the ally between the buildings he came out of and into a plaza that had nine dragons in it, Helda and Jack walked into the plaza behind her making it eleven.
"Listen up," Carter said, "this, as you may know, is Fiona, our general, she has done more by herself than all of us put together, we are going to accompany her into the caves under this city and round up the remaining minions that are cowering under our streets." The assembled dragons gave a roar of approval, Carter whispered, "all yours," as he walked over to join his platoon.
"Thank you Carter," Fiona said to him and the assembled dragons, "As your leader said, I am Fiona, while you will be directly under my command for this mission, I want to keep the flow of authority relatively the same," Carter will still be giving the orders as he sees fit, but I will direct where I need you all. Also you know my name I would like to know the names of the dragons I am fighting along side."
The other nine dragons beside Carter, Jack and Helda were, Breor, a golden shadow user, Crush, a black earth user, Sterling, a silver wind user, Uldred, a crimson poison user, Zar, an orange electricity user, Jess, a violet fire user, Evona, a white ice user, Carly, a tan healer, and WeLarzun, a yellow earth user, Carter's power was fear. Fiona mingled with the group and filled them in on exactly what they were going to do, Carter was surprised to learn that her siblings, Geyser and Storm were going with them, but he took the news as a good thing. The next morning they all met at the entrance to the caves under Warfang. "Well," Fiona said, "lets get started," and with that the eighteen dragons walked into the underground tunnels.