Call of the Ancestors

Chapter 11: The Battle of the Vale

It was as quiet outside as Sethelis had expected. No birds in the skies, and few people out and about, paying no mind to the Shadow dragoness as she made her way back to the keep. Once she reached the door to the side entrance confusion struck her, as it was now guarded by two soldiers of the keep. Their spears blocking the doorway.

Seth moved her hood down to reveal her visage, and about to ask why they were stationed here, when they both in one swift movement pointed the sharp ends of their weapons towards her. "Captain Sethelis of the Defenders of Warfang, You are hereby under arrest for treason towards the governing council and the citizens of the Vale." One of them called out.

This caused Sethelis to furrow her ridges even deeper. "What is the meaning of…" She started, before it struck her clear as the day.

She needs to get into the keep and find the others. Warn them.

But just as she was about to neutralize the two guards, the clanking of metal boots, and rasping of claws against stone became hearable. She looked around in the alley. And she is now trapped between two sharp spears and some tough looking soldiers. She narrowed her eye. Good.

It was a long time since she'd last fought. And she'd hate to get rusty. Luckily for her, everything casts a shadow, hence arming the cornered dragoness. With a smug wink of her lone eye, she felt the shadows bend the light around her, turning her invisible. That is when something worrying happened, just as she was about to take off, she saw how they all gained the one and the same facial expression. Irritancy. "You cannot hide forever, mortal." One guard spoke, another following up as if they were thinking exactly the same;

"I will find you." Sethelis' eye widened. An Ancestor was talking to her. Her! Sethelis did not take herself for the spiritual type, she leaves that to Miarko and his Mover, but this was both shocking and completely out of nowhere. And admittedly it made her feel… Terrified.

"And you will be mine, a mere drone under the might of my power…" One of the spear guards ends, taking a jab at the place where Sethelis had stood. Luckily the dragoness snapped out of her almost trance-like state by flapping her wings as hard as she could, taking off to the skies. Only narrowly dodging the metal tip which struck the ground with a twang-like sound.

Her heart was racing.

The usually calm and collected dragoness took a deep breath, trying to get her pulse back in order.

Only now she had fully realized the… Extent of what they were fighting.

She needed to find the others. One final deep breath before she had to get it together. The shadows surrounding her body let go, as the dragoness wouldn't want to lay too much of her energy to stay cloaked, despite the fact that she was being hounded by the enemy, with a literal hive mind after her.

She looked over to the keep, needed to find a opening, it would be stupid to crash in through a window.

Sethelis stopped beating her wings, trampling air before glide flying her way up to the keep.

No way she'd be able to get in through a closed window, the panes were clearly reinforced. The dragoness, having to think quickly, looked about to make sure that she was not spotted. The sounds of battle could be heard through the glass, only pressing her on exactly how urgent the situation was.

There were no cracks she could slip through…That was all Sethelis had time to note before she had to dive, spotting a pair of dragons bearing the coat of arms local to the region. The dragoness prepared for a hard landing. Having no time to straighten out, she merely spread her wings as to slow her descent, landing, or rather crashing, in a cart of hay.

Surprised over having not broken a single bone, Sethelis started to device her plan on how to get herself inside…

Meanwhile, the situation for Miarko was deteriorating quickly.

Terron and the Fire Captain lay entrenched behind a overturned table, crossbow bolts still flying and thudding around them. The screams of dying soldiers, the clashing of blades and the zaps and whirring of elemental attacks came from all around the duo.

Looking over at Terron, Miarko nodded quickly, the two knowing what they had to do. The duo dove out from the table, both launching an elemental shot near the balcony of which the crossbowers had taken up their positions. Two of the Valians, not expect the quick attacks, were sent back flying against the wall behind them, knocking them both out. This in turn caused one of their crossbows to fire a stray bolt, which got sent whirring through the air, only to plant itself into the wooden door known as the DOW soldiers' only escape out of the room. With the enemy range combatants focusing on them out of the way, Miarko could take the chance to rear up on his hind legs, placing his front ones onto the table, take a deep breath and in a impressive display as to why the DOW forces are an ally worth having and why nobody, not even a Ancestor should consider standing up against them. Letting out a ball of flame, which was sent directly towards the remaining part of the balcony opposed to the two. And in a glorious explosion, quickly followed by a fiery blaze the structure was reduced to burning planks and cinder. As Miarko had caused quite the disorganisation amongst the hostiles up on the second floor, the ones down on the ground remained. But they stood no match for the remaining DOW with less than half of their fire support still operating.

As this all was going on, Terron had tried to focus his Earth powers to blast the door open. Hitting the door with a crushing green blast of energy, the wood cracking and splintering, but the door stood tall.

Miarko looked back at Terron, calling over. "How is that exit coming along?!" Before searing some enemies who were foolish enough to charge at a Fire dragon. Something they soon came to regret, as a cloud of flames met them as soon as they got close enough to the makeshift table-barricade Miarko had put up.

Luckily the few remaining DOW had managed to make their way over to the two, some carrying wounded and others bearing rather grizzly wounds themselves. And after seconds that felt like an eternity the door blew off its hinges, letting the fleeing troops escape. "We're not done with you, Commandant, if I should even call you that anymore!" Miarko spat out, before turning and joining his men in a search for an exit. Surprisingly they found no form of real resistance within the winding corridors, other than the odd soldier, most of which seemingly got snapped up by Congeria's presence to-and-fro, going from surprised to lunging at the soldiers like madmen. It seemed like the Commandant had placed most of his men to wipe out all of the DOW in one swift blow, something he now had failed, leaving his targets a chance of escape. They ran further and further. Seeking for the nearest exit. Which would probably be some kind of postern.

As they made their way down a staircase, having had to let one of their Electricity comrades shock a few heavily armored Valians in the process, the stairwell being filled with the smoke and stench of burnt flesh, since the poor sods had been cooked alive inside their protective suits of armor

Miarko looked over to Terron quickly. "Remember any other ways out of here other than the main gate? Taking that path would be suicide." To which Terron thought for a bit, speaking up as the group reached the bottom of the staircase. They had lost 3 more good men since the escape from the Dining hall. And Miarko could tell morale wasn't the best. If his memory didn't fail him they'd just need to make a spurt across the courtyard and they'd have a shot at freedom. So they'd need to get out of the keep, and all the windows were…

That's when Miarko got an idea. "Halt!" He called out, him and his soldiers stopping before a window. "These things are reinforced from outside assault, but not from the inside. All we need is one well placed Elemental blow and we can get ourselves out of here, glide down onto the courtyard and then bolt for the side exit. When I reach three, everyone prepare your strongest possible attack, those of us that possesses strong wings will need to carry our wounded… 3..." As Miarko counted down, he prepared a burning ball of flame within his lower throat. Focusing his mind as to not let the flames pour out when he spoke.

"... 2…" He continued, seeing how his soldiers did as he commanded. Charging.

"... 1…"

And in a flash of magic, the window shattered, pieces of the stonework in the walls flew blasted away, and so did the metal grating that was covering it from the front.

"Go, go, go!" The Fire Captain called out, leading into a steep dive down along the castle wall. Before spreading his wings, gliding along the ground before reaching down with his legs and sprinting, reaching the door and opening it by charging through, only to find Sethelis shaking a dead Valian Mole in her maw, dropping the corpse upon seeing the rest of the troops.

And Miarko admittedly felt a world of relief wash over him when she said "I have a safe way out of the Vale."

Sethelis had given up the attempts to try and open up the window. Especially since Congeria insisted on sending troops looking for her. So Sethelis had to duck, dive, hide and dogfe her way across the alleys and ways. Hoping that her contacts within The Vale had some kind of escape reaching the door in the shadowy back alley, Sethelis didn't bother to knock, but rather turn into shadows and slither under the door itself.

And correct, in the room with the table, she spotted now that in the corner there was a hatch, which had been hidden under a moth eaten rug. It was left closed, but Sethelis knew very well that she'd be able to open it.

However she prayed, ironically enough, to the Ancestors that Miarko had managed to evade capture.

"I suppose I have to make my way back to the keep…" She sighed to herself, getting a move on. And after a small Deja Vu of making her way across the town, avoiding troops, she reached the back entrance. The one problem is that she'd need to keep it clear for Miarko and the others if they were to escape. She knew that flirtatious Fire Captain, he wasn't dumb. So walking out the main gate is not what he'd do. No, he'd take this door. The best possible and viable option. Now the problem was just holding it. Because if she were to wait here and dispatch enemy troops as they come, she'd eventually get swarmed. "Why'd she have to be a hive-mind…?" The dragoness groaned inwardly. And her distress turned into a actual groan of disappointment; "Damnation…" As she saw a small group of guards charging at her. Sethelis then began by taking a combat stance, huffing out a cloud of black smoke, shadowfire. However it's choking effects didn't seem to apply to Congeria's drones, whom tanked through it. Yet…. She was unable to see, So Sethelis yet had the advantage. The black dragoness pounced up against a wall, only to gain momentum and launch herself into one of the Guards. A smaller bright cyan dragon, who's formelry pristine blue scales got stained red as Sethelis dug her fangs into his neck, ripping it open.

She had the taste of blood in her mouth, and a foul chunk of flesh which she was quick to spit out in disgust. She always preferred elemental or claw-based attacks against dragons. Felt almost like cannibalism otherwise.

This outlash had made a noise, and the dragoness saw a sword dropping towards her,making her dodge back as the second of three guards came swinging at her. Cheetah, they are fast and agile. Cannot take much in form of punishment usually.

"Aim for the legs." She thought to herself, her combat-set mind moving at a speed as if almost making everything else feel sluggish and slow. This is her element, the combat in the dark.

Especially when fighting one-on-one in this fashion. She dove down onto the ground, pressed her wings against her own back as the sword came at her again, but she bit down with a audible crunch, causing bone to break and sinew to snap, the Cheetah dropping onto the ground. Sethelis quickly placed a paw on top of the sword which he had been using, as the dragoness placed a claw onto his neck, and drew blood.

One left.

Or… Five. She realized she'd need to expand her shadows, and just as she was about to huff out a second cloud, she felt a piercing pain in her side. A spear had found a sma spacing in her armor, scratching her and causing Sethelis to bleed. She groaned in pain before swatting the spear away with her wing, noticing how they grew more and more numerous. So the Shadow dragoness felt like she needed space. So what she did was manipulating her shadows to move ever outwards, causing a sort of pushing effect, causing Congeria's drones to fall onto each other, break things as well as accidentally hurt each other.

She fought for what felt like far too long. But took them down, one by one. Getting a few new nasty scars and wounds here and there. Panting for breath, feeling woozy, the dragoness walked up against the final enemy. A mole clutching a dynamite stick as a last resort. He brought up a match; "Well done. But now the game is over."

Congeria said, as she brought it closer to light it's fuse. But not before Sethelis chomped down on the little rodent, shaking his body back and forth in a sheer rush of adrenaline. That is when the door behind her burst open, and her heart sped up upon the sight of Miarko and their soldiers. She could only muster one sentence, one she had waited to say ever since the last time they saw each other.

"I have a safe way out of the Vale."

She had wanted to say those words for the last couple of minutes more than she'd want anything else. And now once she had, the Captain of the 18th lead the men and women of the DOW who were left along the streets, sneaking alongside Miarko, she whispered; "What in the names of the Anc-..." She refrained from mentioning them for now, especially since one was hellbent on killing them.

"What happened in there? How heavy casualties?" she asked.

Miarko shook his head in disgust, "We lost almost everyone. Just a handful of us left."

This caused the dragoness to swear, "Curses! How? Has Congeria really taken the entire military force just like that?" She muttered, feelt how her heart sank as she turned a sharp left, making sure that her armor doesn't make any metallic rattling.
"Once we're out of the city, using the getaway I secured, we'll need to wander through the wilderness. Without tents or rations, it'll be one hell of a walk." She told the fiery drake next to her. Forcing a little smile despite their grim position. And near impossible odds at that.

"What have you arranged, then?" asked the Fire dragon, his eyes picking up.

"A tunnel leading out of the city, and in the lack of bare necessities... " She had a pause before speaking up.
"I am not a fan of committing B&E, but it was deemed necessary. So I have aquired food to keep at least four of us going for… Five days if we ration it heavily." The shadow dragoness replied, pushing the door to the Shadow hideout, leading the DOW inside. "Everyone, hurry. There should be some healing gems hidden around here somewhere to fix your wounds. We will lay low here for 40 minutes tops, and then we move out." She instructed, looking over at Miarko.

"I'll need a brief of what the everloving fuck happened in that keep." She said as she closed the door behind them, locking it with as many ways as she could, even going as far as to place a chair against the handle. Crude but efficient.

Miarko shook his head as he nursed a slight scratch that was on one of his forelegs, "It all happened so fast…" he said, taking the next few moments to explain what had happened to the rest of the unit.

Sethelis drew a sharp breath. Clearly not happy with how things were going. "Miarko, I…" She started, before having to quickly break mid-sentence as she brought a few red gems out of a large open sack of the stuff that the DOW had found. Half full, that is.

Miarko shook his head, putting up a paw, "Please. I don't want to hear it. I lost everything in that room. My friends, my allies, nearly my entire unit was killed in that hall," he shook his head as he finished his statement, clearly emotional.

Seth knew how he felt. Despite being in a branch that lost far less agents in the field than Miarko probably had to endure, it always hurt to sign those papers declaring a individual deceased or MIA.

"That does not matter right now, what matters is that you got a few of them out alive." Sethelis replied, her thoughts trying to gather themselves, the dragoness not noticing how the few of the DOW still remaining, Terron amongst them, had stopped nursing and looked over at their two Captains.

"There can't be any more than a dozen of us left. Regardless of the fatalities, how are we going to get the rest of us out when we have such small numbers? If we get discovered during our escape, we'll be hunted down to the last man," responded the Fire Captain, shaking his head again.

"Miarko, listen to me. We are the Defenders of Warfang. And if there is anything I know that we are capable of, is that we can adapt to any situation, any odds. And overcome them." She started, turning around and using her wing in a swooping motion as to point at every male and female in the room. "Look at these dragons. They all rely on yours and my own leadership to get out of this mess alive. There is a old saying…" She continued, before turning back to Miarko, letting a red gem heal that scratch on his foreleg. "... Live to fight harder another day, or die trying to make a difference."

Miarko looked up at the Shadow Captain then, his eyes regarding her seriously, "Alright. Let's do it, Seth." Sethelis gave a nod, turning and walking over to the hatch in the floor, studying it closely.

"Everyone, ready up to head out, either that or we move without you." She said, sticking a claw into the lock itself, fiddling around for a few minutes. Silence besides armor making metallic sounds and the locks tumblers clicking and whirring. And after some more time, the lock clicks open, and she uses some well-woven shadows to push the hatch open from beneath. "Come on now, get off of your scaly behinds, or Congeria will come-a-knocking." She called, slithering down into the underground tunnel, running under the streets.

It was crammed, small and little more than a crawl space, even for more sleek dragons like Sethelis. She pressed her wings hard against her back, her element allowing her to see in the dark. She crawled forth, letting the others come in after her. They could sometimes even hear people passing over them.

"Any of you Fire dragons think you could light a flame or something?" A nervous sounding Electricity dragon called out from somewhere in the middle; "It is so dark that I can barely see the end of the tail which is right in front of my snout."

To which she could hear Miarko from far back: "If I did, you'd all be torched. Small flames were never my thing." Somehow telling his voice out from the huffing and groaning from the soldiers as well as their armors scraping against the dirt and rocks. And the other fire dragon of the group, a dragoness of normally few words, having said near to no words at all during the entire trip to the Vale, fills in with a "Just keep crawling. A flame would eat up all the oxygen we have in these blasted tunnels. Captain! How far?"

Sethelis moved further ahead, squeezing herself past a specifically tight mound of dirt coming out of the wall; "Nnngh!... Ah… Around twenty minutes of more crawling. Do not stop, and that's a damn order." She said, using her claws to pull herself forth, before continuing on. She hasn't done much field work ever since she got her desk-job. Except the odd mission here and there requiring her personal involvement. The dragoness groaned to herself; "If the recruits saw me now…" to herself.

"Oh, they'd love you even more than they already do," came Miarko's voice from behind her. He apparently had her muttering under her breath…

"You suggest they actually like me? Hah!" Came the dragoness' reply, the soldiers seemingly not minding some friendly banter, sort of like a relief from the… Tense situation they are in. "If anything they'd get a good laugh out of it." She continued. "I mean.. Any of you lot trained under either of us during your start in the DOW?" She asked, using her shadows to try and brush loose dirt out of the dragons' path.

Terron's voice came from somewhere behind the pair, "Aye, I trained under Captain Miarko for a year."

This earned a reply from the Electricity dragon from earlier. "Same. 17th for life, however long that's been now, I don't even know." Followed by a nervous chuckle.

As much as Sethelis enjoyed this talking and crawling, one far more preferred than the other, all good or bad things comes to end. And this did in turn come as the open sky. Through what appeared to be very thick bushes.

Sethelis could slip through, if she'd use her shadows. But there weren't enough of them for her to properly do so. Instead, she craned her head to look back at Miarko; "Captain, think you could… Somehow crawl past me and blast our way out? The fresh air is lovely and all, but best experienced from the outside." She offered, pressing herself against the wall as best she could.

This'd be… Interesting to say the least. If not painful.

"Are there enough shadows in this...tunnel to have you get out of the way? I don't want to blast you," Miarko responded, clearly worried at the prospect.

"No, sadly. I can turn myself into a mist if I had enough, but I don't. So… Please don't burn me too badly. Or crawl up next to me, it is nice and comfy over here." She said, her words heavy with irony.

Miarko rose an eye ridge, whispering to her, "Flirting? Now?" Which earned a sigh from the dragoness in reply.

Smiling, the Fire dragon shook his head and carefully bent his body to a position that could be used to pass by Sethelis. After a few moments of struggling, grunting and two bodies brushing up against each other, Miarko was able to fit his head to the side of the Shadow Captain's body.

He looked at her, within a few inches of her snout and said, "Ready?"

Sethelis grinned and nodded, "Let's roll."

Nodding, Miarko ignited the gas in his throat and let a large fireball rip from his maw, sending it screaming towards the thick shrubbery. The flash was so great, Sethelis was forced to shield her eye. Opening it back up, the the bright light of daylight greeted her from the end of the tunnel. Remnants of the bushes still lied on fire in several places, but the majority of the tunnel had been cleared by the fireball's intense strength.

Sethelis looked over at Miarko, nodding, "You're real good at that, Miarko."

Miarko grinned, bowing his head lightly, "I try my best."

Sethelis rolled her eye, twisting her body around the Fire dragon again and kept crawling out from the tunnel. After a few moments, she emerged into the open daylight. Drawing fresh air into her nose for the first time in what felt like forever. But her moment of relaxation and relief over being able to stretch her wings out again, their joints cracking slightly, was brief. They needed to move.

"We have about a day or two in advance, I'd say." She started, looking back towards Miarko and the others.

"Just like that? You really don't think they'll find us out here?" asked Miarko, emerging from the undergrowth himself.

"That is if I am optimistic. And you know me, I'm hardly that type." Sethelis admitted in return, before walking over and offering a helping paw to drag out their supplies, which poor Terron had pushed in front of himself this entire time.

This included a map of Warfang's territories. The dragoness nabbed this item, sitting down on her haunches. "Miarko, come over here." She requested, planning a route in her head as she put it onto the ground, using four small rocks to keep it in place.

"This will probably be the longest march any of us will ever experience." She muttered, her ridges furrowed deeply, causing her to need to correct her eyepatch. "I sincerely hope all of us can walk properly, because you all should be after that gem-stop we did back at the hideout. We're moving out in five." She said, before lowering her voice and glancing over at the Fire dragon, whom had joined her by the map. "I don't think we can fly. At all." She explained, with a heavy sigh. This was going to be hard. One of the hardest things they'd ever have to do.

"Mere thought of it makes me kind of want to go back to my desk, to be honest. And believe me, I'd never think I'd ever hear myself say that. How about you, Miarko?" She admitted, feeling the need to simply not worry about other things and.. .Stay positive. If she even could muster that.

"I don't even want to think about my paperwork right now," he sighed, trying to lighten the mood, 'Let's get going."

And with a nod, Sethelis picked the map up, put it back into it's field casing, and hung the scroll around her neck. "Let's go!" She called, before taking the lead.

A few hours later, after walking south...time felt like it hadn't move at all.

Miarko sighed and looked above him. The more they walked, the more he wished he could take up and soar into the sky. But Seth was right. They couldn't risk getting discovered by any aerial patrols that they the Corrupted Valians might be sending at them.

So, they marched.

And march they did, over hills and into deep valleys, ever going on and on in the same direction, except for when they had to take a detour to avoid what they thought to be potential Anointed Ones, wild beasts or natural obstacles.

The dragons of the DOW kept on walking, marching and wandering with few to no stops unless necessary. Which, despite its necessity seemed to gnaw on the morale of the troops and their Captains.

Even Terron, who normally didn't complain much about things such as physical exercise seemed more gruff and irritable than usual. It pained Miarko that he knew that with a few flaps of his wings, he'd been able to travel several hours of wandering within mere minutes.

He pointed this out to Sethelis as the two walked along, And The Shadow Captain retorted with "It is times like these when I can't understand how Shadow #2 just rolls with it." Earning a questioning look from Miarko, who assumed it to be one of her mysterious "agents".

He noted how the dragoness sighed to herself, before replying: "A colleague. And since you know that she can't fly, I might as well tell you that she is a Cheetah. Far too relaxed for what protocol allows, but one of my best. There is yet to be a building she cannot get into."

Miarko could sense a bit of pride coming from his night-blue companion, but decided not to question it further, he knew she'd only be cryptic about it anyways.

So he kept quiet about his further questions, simply saving energy to walk.

The two stopped, as they needed to look at their map, turning East shortly, leading their little company further on through the wilderness, which had taken form as a meadow with grass that had seemingly never been cut, standing tall over the heads of the dragons. Even such tall ones like the Fire dragon whom had been snarky in the tunnel-crawl. And she towered over even Terron.

The sun was setting on their first day of wandering. The dragons had made their way to a relatively defendable clearing.

And Miarko sighed in relief, sitting down on his haunches to rest his poor hind legs when he heard Sethelis as she called out to their tired soldiers; "Good job, all of you. We've made a great distance today, considering our odds. We've all made ourselves deserving of a rest, enjoy your rations as I'll take first night watch."

The fire captain then proceeded to help his comrades in setting up a small campfire, just enough flame to keep them warm and it sustainable over the course of the night. He then proceeded in aiding the dragons that had been handed the task to erect the two tents they had managed to bring. It'd be cramped to say the least, squeezing several fully armored dragons into a tent, and then have them all rest comfortably would be nigh impossible. But it was better than no sleep at all.

The fire Captain mentioned this to Terron, whom tiredly joked in reply; "Well, sir, with all due respect if I say this, but something tells me you will not mind too badly." Causing Miarko to laugh just as tiredly in return to his Lieutenant.

Miarko briefly glanced over the campsite, making sure everyone were doing their part, amongst other things he noticed how Seth covered the camps in a "shadow bubble" like she had done during their travel to The Vale.

Either this technique must be surprisingly cheap on magical energies, or she has a near endless supply, and despite how strong that dragoness ever may appear, Miarko'd still bet his scaly behind on the firstmost of the options. He walked over to the campfire again, laying down onto the ground with the map of the area in front of him.

If his and Sethelis' calculations were correctly guessed, and they marched on at the same pace as today without any interruptions or hindrances worse that earlier, they'd reach Warfang's broad rolling steppes and grassy hills within 3 or so days, and that was if they were lucky.

Never had he longed to fly as much as he did now, as they were in need of aid as well as carrying the valuable information back to the Directors. "Congeria and her minions are probably scheming to strike at some other target right now…" He thought to himself, before noticing that whilst he had been deeply steeped in thoughts, everyone besides Sethelis had gone into the tents, and put out whatever light sources they had in there. The Shadow settled down next to him, but focusing rather on staring out into the distance and through the thin smokey layer that was her own magic with her vaguely fluorescent eye rather than talking to him.

"Well… We made progress today, at least." He said, breaking the silence. He didn't get any initial reply, but rather after a few more awkwardly quiet minutes the sounds of the night was replaced by her voice.

"Yes. We did." She simply answered. A little smile gracing her snout for a few seconds. Miarko looked back down onto the map, having drawn out a clear line of how they'd need to walk the rest of the way using a tiny bit of charcoal. And now when he was looking down at it, it didn't look too far. Only two more days of walking like this and they'd be able to fly over Warfang's walls.

But despite that big ray of hope in the horizon Miarko had to admit that he still felt slightly disappointed in himself due to the loss of his soldiers, Which he didn't word out publicly, but rather just sighed. The red scales of his shimmered slightly in the flames of the fire as he god up, looked over at the ever alert Sethelis.

"Good night." They said to each other before her turned back to the tent, and went to cram himself down amongst the others, soon drifting off to sleep.

Sethelis sat awake, only the sounds of the night accompanying her. Miarko had gone to bed hours ago, leaving her to reflect on the last couple of utter catastrophes that had been this mission:

They had lost over 50 soldiers, and barely made it out of the city alive. The fact they were even breathing right now and were not mindless drones in the army of a recently-brought-back-from-the-dead dead god is a miracle. She chuckled to herself over how utterly hopeless the situation was for them, and yet how they had been able to survive this far. "I'll be damned, this sure is sticking two claws up to religion if I ever heard about it." She mused to herself.

The hours slowly crawled by and the fire had turned to embers as she looked up at the night sky, the moons up above had moved. But only slightly. This brings memories of her time in the military, standing on guard somewhere remote. But Ancestors forgive, it was boring. And she muttered quietly. This was just as boring.

The dragoness was as alert as one can be when running at barely any sleep, being bored and tasked with just waiting for a couple of hours. Which is… Not too good, to be honest.

She laid down onto her belly, tapping the ground with her claws. After a few more minutes.

Just… A few.. More… Minutes...

It was early. Too early for Miarko's liking. He had never really been a morning dragon anyhow, but this time he woke as he heard shuffling and clanking of metal pieces. The dragon got up, trying his hardest top not step on any of his comrades, as dragons were cold blooded creatures, they tended to huddle up near the closest heat source. In this case it was the two Fire dragons in the group.

He stalked slowly towards the small slit in the tent door.

There he peeked out, first being blinded by the barely risen sun, but after his eyes got used to the light, he saw a familiar… Back. Her clothes were dirtier than usual and had a odd hole there or there, but there was no mistaking that this was no one other than the Skav pirate Elmira.

Miarko felt his inner flame torch itself into a fire. He was ready for anything as he slowly moved out into the open, spotting Sethelis on the floor, bound and muffled with a rag bound around her maw tightly. All sorts of things were scattered on the ground around the pirate and Miarko was certain he'd get the drop on the former Under Captain…When the pirate suddenly asimed one of her guns at him, not even turning to look. A clicking sound echoed through the camp as she prepared the pistol to fire.

"Thanks, but no thanks." The pirate hushedly said, turning around. Miarko could now see she was clutching a loaf of bread and some apples close to her chest, And she certainly was worse for wear.

Her fur was somehow even crazier and worse kept than before, even so far as to having a loose leaf in there or two. The cocky grin which had always been plastered on her face, no matter if she stood face-to-snout with a angry Spyro or locked in a interrogation room with two determined DOW Captains, was no longer there. Instead a simple determined look. Not even a hint of a smile. Rather desperation.

Several of those little golden trinkets she had worn, like her rings and some of the necklaces she had carried with pride were missing, her boots were muddy and looked knackered, in need for repair after a long time of use in a environment where they were not intended to be worn. As he had noted before, her coat was torn but only now did he see the stains over the front of it. Brownish red. Seemingly coagulated blood. And something told the Captain it wasn't hers.

"Call for any of your little friends and you'll end up worse than your precious madame director, Miarko." She threatened, stalwartly pointing her gun at him.

Her sword was missing, lowering the risk of close range combat with the skilled swordswoman.

That is when the Fire Dragon noted a black mist seeping along the ground, up behind the Skav, taking a form of Sethelis who materialized herself behind Elmira. Not looking too happy. "Drop the gun, pirate scum."

To which the Pirate groaned, before simply dropping it onto the ground. Miarko saw Sethelis flinch as the contraption hit the ground with a thump. Elmira in turn looked at the Fire dragon in front of her, still clutching the food close. "It wasn't even loaded. Ran out of ammunition days ago. Had to go as far as shooting someone with a button." She admitted once she had seen that the game was completely lost.

Miarko woke the others, calling for them. The camp then gathered around Elmira, Terron remarking that "Isn't that…?" To which Miarko curtly nodded. He was just as unhappy to see the criminal as Terron was surprised.

"So what do we do with her?" One voice came, from the scrawny Electricity dragon, only for the Fire dragoness ,who sat opposite to Miarko and hadn't let Elmira out of her sight for mere seconds growled; "Off with her head. Congeria's filth has already cost us our friends and so much more. She even bears the damn mark on her forehead!"

To which Elmira grumpily responded; "Yeah sure. And I cleeearly look like one of her mindless drones to you, miss brooding soldier?" Nearly causing the aforementioned dragoness to almost strike out at the Pirate, had she not been ushered away by Terron to make sure nothing was done hastily.

Despite Miarko almost wishing that no one had stopped the DOW soldier. It would be one problem less.

He glanced over at Sethelis, the two were in charge so they'd need to make a decision. Neither spoke up for a few seconds, before he sat down onto his haunches as the Shadow Captain spoke.

"She is no longer one of Congeria's minions. She has killed many of them, as she has to us, and killing her would only leave tracks for the Anointed ones to follow. Hence we shall bring her back to the City and let her suffer the consequences of her actions."

And so the Pirate was bound in the strongest ropes the squad of Dragons could gather up, and then tied to a volunteer, Miarko.

And with that, they all packed up their camp, and started their journey a few hours earlier than planned. The sun rising over the treetops.

AN: Hello there, t'is Hawk writing! Sorry for the delay in chapters, but just like the last time, schedules hasn't been matching up, and I have even been sick for a few days. But finally we can say that we got the chapter done, and me and Mike both hope you'll enjoy it!

As always, we appreciate any and all feedback! Reviews are always read and responded to when we can get to them.

See you next time!

-Mike & Hawk