Chapter 4: Other Victims

Shyvana sniffed the air with a faint cringe as they walked along some time later that day. Smoke, and some kind of scorched air…

She raised her hand. Sylus obeyed her silent command to halt, becoming more alert, trying to calm his panting instantly.

Shyvana angled her head, listening, sniffing gently. The wind was weak, but they were moving against it. There were no sounds of battle, nor panic. Perhaps it was further than she suspected?

"…Shyvana?" Sylus whispered at last.

With a glance over her shoulder, she replied, "Smoke and spell-touched air. It's soft on the wind, but I know those scents too well to miss them."

"How far?" Sylus immediately returned, his expression animated with purpose.

Shyvana shook her head, looking out again. "I'm not sure. I can't hear any sounds of battle or frightened civilians, which indicates a few miles out at least."

"From Diligast?"

It was an uncomfortable thought she'd tried to brush past. Sylus cut right to it. She appreciated that, after a moment's further thought.

"Possibly, yes."

"Let's hurry on, then. If that poor town has been butchered by whoever this mad caster is, I'll see a summoner try to help."

His sudden resurgence of energy and passion caused her to smile at him, and she agreed with a nod, the two jogging ahead.

(Later…)

It was Diligast. The reason there were no sounds of panic was simple. It was mourning now. Shyvana and Sylus crossed the town's border quietly, their pace much slower as they surveyed the damage.

It was never a large town, barely more than a market, town square, and houses, but now most of it's Northeastern space was a charred, cracked crater. The townsfolk were silent, dismal, but carrying on with surprising ease.

"…Why the town?"

Shyvana heard Sylus whisper it, pain twisting his voice. He seemed to feel responsible for the slaughter somehow. It was an empathy borne of responsibility that she could respect without that uncomfortable twist in her gut. It was like her wading into a massacre performed by another warrior. A proper warrior had no need of such butchery.

Needing information, however, the dragoness quickly reached out to grip the arm of a passerby. "Excuse me. Can you tell us what happened?"

It was a young man, carrying a basket of bread with both arms to one side. He seemed tired more than anything, but the weight behind his eyes said much. "An explosion. Took half the town with it, as you can see. Most of us are packing to move away."

Sylus eased forward. "My deepest condolences. May I ask when it happened?"

The man shrugged. "About… a week now?"

Shyvana and Sylus gawked at him with almost identical expressions.

Shyvana prompted, "P-pardon? A week? …At night?" she asked the last question with a rush of barely constrained fury in her core.

The man noticed her change in demeanor warily, but then nodded. "Yes, very late. Well, early really. Apparently it was in the tavern, because that was the center of the giant black mess we have left."

The two travelers immediately focused out at the crater, gauging its position. Distant, Shyvana muttered, "My thanks. Carry on…"

The man wandered off.

Sylus clenched his fists, and moved forward. "I want to read the spell remnants. I'll know if it was the same signature."

Shyvana followed him. "Signature?"

"Every magic user has their own style when they touch the energies. You need to be comfortable with the art yourself to recognize it, summoner for summoner, mage for mage, for example, but it's there. I want to see if it was the same beast, or if he has accomplices of similar inclination."

Making the comment without thinking, Shyvana added, "It's the same with warriors on the field. You can tell if someone was cut by the same blade."

"Just so," Sylus affirmed, apparently over his exhaustion from the long walk somehow.

No one tried to stop them or get in the way, and the two walked down into the bottom of the wide, shallow crater easily.

There, Sylus bowed his head, closed his eyes, and lifted his hands out to the sides, palms down. Shyvana eased back, watching as rings of runes started to dance and writhe around the summoner and his limbs. Evanescing waves of gold-green power danced and arced around him, more feeling out along the crater, like little earthworms digging for food.

At length, the lights faded, dancing down into specs of dust, that also vanished. Sylus took a deep breath, and opened his eyes at nothing with a dark temper etched into his features. "…The same."

Shyvana crossed her arms, thoughtful. "Two bomb attacks, the same night, both using summoning magic, but no clear reason why the town itself was targeted. Perhaps a mistake?"

Sylus turned, and she saw the darkness in his manner. It was the first time that uncomfortable twist in her gut and her warrior sensibilities both reacted at once to him. She'd seen that look before. She'd worn it. Death was written in those lines of hate.

"More than that, my lady," he began, his voice an intense rush. "They were done at exactly the same time. Both blasts."

Shyvana raised an eyebrow. "That is very difficult, is it not?"

"Not just difficult. It should be impossible." Sylus started to pace around, his hands gesturing as he explained. "It's like trying to do arithmetic in your head, no tools at hand. Many can manage one calculation, some two, even three if they're truly gifted. Common understanding tells us that no caster can truly manage four different calculations in their head at once. This?" he swept his hands out. "This is well beyond four calculations, Shyvana. The sheer complexity of the matrices is mind-boggling, but two foci? Miles apart? Replacing and transposing matter in four different vectors with as many different targets? No… no, no, this is no mere master summoner."

He turned away, walking around, anger growing in his voice and manner. "This is prodigy and genius. This is the mind that could bring about a new Age, and it does what with it? Slaughter children and bickering aristocrats? Vaporizing men and women in their sleep just to prove a point?"

Sylus stopped, a clenched first down at his side, his eyes smoldering down at it. "No… this won't do. You don't waste talents of that level. Not for this barbarity. You don't get away with this, not when you could practically pull the world together with your own mind. I can't forgive this… not with this level of power."

He snapped his arms down, his head bowed as he shook with anger.

Shyvana had been entranced, for lack of a better term. Watching this meek little summoner smolder in such righteous fury had even her dragon side watching with interest. She felt compelled to push him further, see his fury expressed in more detail. "Is it truly so powerful as that, Sylus? You're certain your own understanding simply isn't too limited?"

"A fair point, but I am certain, my lady," he answered, and then turned to her, walking closer. "Consider this. A normal soldier, trained in the sword, but no great master, watches you hand a sword to a child, and order the child out into the field against an army. Would that soldier's estimate of the child's chances be so far wrong compared to a master's?"

Shyvana smirked. "I see. To build on that, however, what if the child succeeded?"

Sylus lifted his hands out to the sides. "That is what you see before you. A child, handed a sword, who bested an army… butchering them to the last man. And when that child was asked to protect his homeland… he sacked it."

Tilting her head back, she finally challenged with, "An unforgiveable abuse of talent, is it?"

"Exactly!" Sylus affirmed, leaning at her with a pointed finger. "A summoner should know better! Do better! The heroes of the world put their minds and their bodies in our hands just to try and keep the peace, and they do it every day! You don't play games with that kind of duty, with that level of responsibility! And you especially don't slaughter the innocent to get away with whatever frustrations you have with the damn system! Two squabbling high summoners? Perhaps I could forgive wiping them out. Maybe. But the others? These good people!? No, I won't stand for that. This monster is facing justice! If a weakling like me must stand in the place where all summoners should be, then at least I'm a summoner to do so. Please, Shyvana… let me help you catch this beast."

The dragoness smiled, fangs baring slightly. "Why do you think you're out here, summoner?"

Sylus was finally able to ease from his anger and grin. "Thank you, Shyvana."

She nodded aside. "Come. It's later than I'd like to, but we should press forward. There's no tavern to rest in here, and I'm not inclined to press the survivors for a place to sleep."

Sylus followed her as they walked out of the crater.

No sooner had they touched the solid ground again, than one of the locals walked up to them. He was a middle-aged, tall, thin man, clothed plainly. Both travelers became attentive.

"Are you a summoner, sir?" the man asked Sylus, his manner calm, but cold.

Sylus straightened, but was grave, not proud. "I am, sir."

"Are you leaving?"

Shyvana eyed Sylus sidelong.

"Yes…" Sylus answered, though his eyes tightened.

"Good. I would prefer we hosted no more summoners here."

"No more?" Shyvana pressed, her powerful voice taking command of the conversation immediately.

The man focused on her, and answered, "We used to have a frequent guest, who was a summoner. It was an honor to host him, and we let him stay at the tavern without charge. Last week, he came to visit late at night… The explosion followed. I was out here, and I saw it. I know magic when I see it. I have no need of summoners if they can bring this kind of destruction upon themselves."

"…Do you recall his name?"

"Valhan," the man answered flatly.

Shyvana tipped her head, and gestured for Sylus to follow her. They remained silent until they were past the town's border, and back in the woods beyond.

"Did the name mean anything to you?" Shyvana asked quietly.

"Not yet," Sylus chose to answer.

They shared a smile.

"It's good to see you with a bit of fire in your eyes, summoner," Shyvana chose to mutter idly, still humorous.

Sylus blushed a little. "…I'm glad you approve."

The bright smile she gave him over her shoulder, though her eyes remained sharp and dry, was a vision of unexpected beauty to him. She didn't realize, as she looked ahead, that he was following her in a bit of a haze afterward, grinning like a little child.

(Later…)

They had made camp shortly after leaving Diligast, and Sylus found he was becoming oddly used to sleeping on dirt and roots. Or at least he told himself that as he shifted until falling asleep finally.

Shyvana continued to lead them on a brisk pace the next day, and her mood was quite pleasant for her usually harsh manner. She'd even cracked a wan half-smile at him before they started off.

Sylus, however, finally noticed she seemed tired. Perfectly alert, ready as ever, but her eyes had a heaviness to them beyond her powerful presence.

"Shyvana?"

The dragoness blinked, and glanced over her shoulder. "What?" It was actually a cordial response, her tone simple and easy.

"Have you slept?"

Looking ahead dryly, she rolled her eyes when he couldn't see it. "…No."

Sylus frowned a bit, realizing how foolish he'd been. She had to keep watch, of course. "…I'll take first watch tonight," he chose to continue, pumping himself up a bit, convincing himself of it. "I have spells like the wards you use in the games. I can give us quite a bit of warning, and the spells themselves are subtle. They shouldn't give us away."

Shyvana waved it down. "I'm fine, summoner. You asked a question and I answered, nothing more."

"Dragon," he chose to say with bland aggravation.

At this, she actually stopped, and turned to him, her jaw shunted to one side.

He started to smile, but went on, "You are a powerful and mighty creature, Shyvana. Even one so strong as you, however, needs sleep. I was foolish, and not thinking. I will do my part. You need at least a small amount of rest."

Her eyes narrowed, but she turned and kept walking without speaking at first. Sylus followed, fully intending to press the matter that night. That she'd not punched him flat on his back was a rather good sign, he thought.

(Later…)

Traveling mostly in silence that day, the pair only briefly rested for food and water around lunch time. By the time it was dark again, Shyvana led them to a small clearing against a large boulder in the woods, clearly intending to make camp.

Sylus cleared his throat softly, and started to cast the subtle spells that would make up his wards around them, his hands flicking gentle shimmers through the air that danced along and faded through the trees.

Shyvana's shoulders slumped. "Summoner, stop. I've gone longer than this without sleep on hunts. Sleep."

Sylus responded, but kept casting, his back to her at the moment. "And there's no reason to take such a risk here. I will watch our camp until the moon is high. Then I will wake you, and I will rest as you do the same."

"Sylus," she growled, her fists clenching at her sides.

Changing tactics, Sylus replied, "Shyvana, if you intend to guard me properly, you need to be at your best, yes?"

He couldn't see her practically arch like a feline, hackles up, her face contorting with a silently furious grimace as her hands twitched into claws. It was such an aggravating and transparent play at her sensibilities. For a moment, she warred between slapping him upside the head (possibly hard enough to knock him out…) and halting herself to simply accept his stubborn insistence. There was a certain logic behind it.

At length, she calmed herself, frowning at his back with surprising venom in her eyes. "Very well, summoner. Since you are so adamant, I'll play along. Be warned, however," she added with a hiss over his shoulder as she brushed past him, "that if a bandit makes it to me in the night, and scuffs my armor, I'll be extracting payment from your hide!"

She didn't look at him again before she crumpled against a tree, twisting away from him in a manner she most likely did not intend to so-resemble a child in a huff.

Sylus had a rather adoring look on his face as he watched her do so, all the same. She also didn't realize that her hiss over his shoulder had inflicted quite the opposite effect. His spine had rushed with an icy wave at the proximity and depth of her voice at his ear, the burnt incense aroma just reaching his nose.

Putting the memory of the thrill out of his mind, he focused on his task. He attuned to his spells, and waited patiently.

(The next morning…)

"Shyvana?"

For just a moment, a heartbeat, she felt as if she were in a soft bed, looking out at a warm morning sun through a window of some small cottage, a hand gently touching on her shoulder to rouse her from a luxurious nap.

The next, she was conscious, her eyes focusing forward through the woods around their camp. She turned enough to see Sylus retracting his hand from her shoulder with a soft smile on his weary face. He seemed deeply exhausted, she realized with private concern. She didn't know that it softened her expression to a gentle glance.

Sylus, tired and worn by his spells, still marveled at how beautiful she seemed in that simple moment. Still mostly faced away from him, the way her back turned, her shoulder drew back, her face tilted… and those amazing eyes were focusing on him with such a surprisingly soft regard. He knew it was likely fog from sleep or a trick of his own eyes, but he couldn't stop a momentary reverie at the vision.

Shyvana stood up smoothly. "I suppose you acquitted yourself well enough, Sylus," she admitted in a dry, playful way. "We're not captured or dead."

He had to chuckle at the grim joke, and simply sank down into the same spot she'd used, though he lay on his back. "I try, Shyvana."

The dragoness gave a faint laugh, and took stock of the area afresh as he settled in. For once, the uncomfortable twist in her gut didn't form as she thought on that odd vision just before waking. It had been wholly… comfortable. Peaceful.

Foolish sentiment, of course, but undeniably appealing to her. She let it drift to the back of her thoughts as she kept guard. She did glance at Sylus once or twice, realizing he was in a very deep sleep. His effort had worn him down. Well done, summoner.

(Later…)

Travel the next day was a pleasant and quiet affair. Sylus was glad he had taken watch, and he felt that Shyvana was regarding him with a slightly better air. He hoped that was so, as he still felt the guilt of his flight after the first bombing.

Though still day, it was getting late when they came near a bridge. Shyvana put an arm back, however, halting Sylus from passing the tree line with her. "Wait," she whispered.

Sylus tipped his head, remaining quiet and still.

The bridge was wooden, just wide enough for one cart it seemed, but the ravine it crossed was surprisingly deep and jagged. An old river ran down dozens of meters below.

Shyvana's eyes scanned the far side, suspicion deep in her gaze. She sniffed, she listened, but she couldn't shake the dark feeling in her gut.

Sylus tried to glance around her, but could see nothing amiss. He knew to trust her instincts, but he was confused.

At length, she eased back with him. "I feel something is wrong. We'll proceed, but stay behind me. Don't expose yourself to the far side. Not until we're in the trees."

He nodded sharply.

With a faint wave, she started ahead, Sylus falling into her wake. He keenly noticed how her hand reached back to gently brush against his own in a protective posture. He'd not seen her so tense and wary since their brief and terrifying encounter at his cottage when she discovered him.

He heard it. A faint thud and whistle. Shyvana was like lightning, however. Her hand snapped up from him and caught an arrow like a wall. It would have pierced his heart from the side.

In the same instant, she rammed her right fist out, blasting a gout of fire over the bridge and into the trees from the left side.

Sylus watched a dark figure drop out of the trees' high branches like a comet of fire after a horrible shout of pain. He was dead before he hit the ground. Sylus didn't have time to even cringe as Shyvana twisted toward him, grappled him to her like a vice in a bear-hug, and started to dive off the bridge!

In panic and instinct, he cried out, "Shyvana!" His brain couldn't fathom why they would jump off the bridge.

The reason was supplied when arrows ripped into the bridge like a storm, shattering it to kindling and tethers even as Shyvana's feet left the wooden planks. If she'd not grabbed him as she had, they'd be in free fall with the bridge (and riddled with arrows).

Shyvana's eyes flared over his shoulder as they dove together, her pupils dilating to narrow cuts as she started to roar with fury. Her muscles clenched and grew, her bones popped and split, her hair receded into her skin as the skin became hardened scales.

In a heartbeat, a dragon was diving with a summoner in her wings. She lifted her rear legs to catch hold of Sylus, and then snapped her arms free, catching the air with her mighty wings. Sylus grappled her ankles desperately, though he was in no danger of falling from her perfect grip.

Shyvana wrenched herself higher into the air with violent swipes of her arms, fire already bleeding from her maw. "I'll burn the forest down around you, cowards!"

As she crested the top of the ravine, she rammed her head forward, unleashing a full fire-breath torrent. The sheer force of it cut nearly a dozen trees in half, incinerating their upper portions. Sylus realized, even as she lifted him protectively into her wake, her tail whipping the air over his head, that he saw flaming silhouettes dropping to the forest floor that were too soft and lumpy to be wood.

"Is that all of them?" Sylus called over the roar of air around him while Shyvana started to circle wide in the air over the burning stumps.

"No," she growled, but her voice was calm, steady, and focused, her eyes flitting across the terrain below.

Shyvana caught motion at last, and dove. Sylus moaned from the inertia warping his insides, but said nothing. The rush of motion was thrilling, and he realized he was easing enough to appreciate the sheer speed and power of her draconic flight. It was exhilarating to actually be in her talons as she flew. The dreamlike sensation of the games and sharing her experiences was nothing to this real event.

At last, he saw what she was chasing. A black-clad figure was sprinting along, not using the trees for cover anymore. He possibly realized her fire-breath made the forest a deathtrap rather than an escape.

Shyvana sped up, her wings ripping on the air more violently, practically ramming her through as her body streamlined. The force of it put Sylus right under her lashing tail, and he glanced up at it with crossed eyes due to proximity. Even he wasn't sure why he blushed so powerfully at the realization, and he quickly tried to look down at the ground below.

The dragon suddenly closed her wings and twisted, diving and rolling just past and ahead of the fleeing assassin.

Sylus did have to cry out as she threw him free into the air above, his clothes rippling and lashing around him. He screamed in panic on instinct, even though a whisper in his mind mocked him for doubting her intent to catch him again.

That same instant, Shyvana slammed the assassin into the ground, her left wing-claw pinning his neck to the stone with a talon on either side.

Rising up with surprisingly regal demure, she pressed one foot-claw to the assassin's back, and snapped her right wing out like a great canvas… catching Sylus with a meek 'oof!'

"Sorry for the start," Shyvana muttered, slipping him down to the ground.

Sylus cleared his throat, brushing his shirt down. "N-no matter! Thank you for saving my life. Again. This week."

She smirked, and then leered down at the assassin with her fangs bared. "Now then, stalker. Who sent you? Why did you open fire on us?"

The assassin choked and coughed. "Just… a job…"

"Then explain the job!" she roared full force, the ground shaking under Sylus' feet.

Shivering from her roar, the assassin muttered, "J-just… told ta… watch the bridge. If we saw a summoner or somebody from the League, drop 'em with the bridge." He coughed again, blood splattering the dust this time. "Didn't pay us… 'nough for a ruddy… champion."

"Your life hangs on the next answer, wraith," Shyvana growled at his ear. "Who hired you?"

"I don't… know. Hired by… a guild… they don't tell us who the client… i-is."

Shyvana roared, light burning in the back of her open throat.

Sylus jerked forward, a hand reaching to her closest shoulder. For some reason, he didn't want her to kill the assassin this way. It just… something was wrong.

He froze when Shyvana completely stopped her fiery exhalation, and stared at him, but not angrily. She was looking at him like an idiot. Then she actually shooed him back with her right wing-claw like a pest.

Sylus meekly backed away, and she leaned back down at the assassin with a fresh growl, heat licking from her teeth to his neck. "Convenient…"

"It's… it's all I got… can't… can't tell ya what I don't… know."

She growled more sharply.

The man coughed again, but squirmed, managing, "Musta been a high roller! Big team, lotsa gold on the table! Had to be some high up noble or something!"

Shyvana leaned away, and shoved the assassin's body further along the rock with her foot before stepping off. "That will do… Run. If I ever see you again, you die."

He stumbled up, and shambled away as quickly as he could manage with his broken frame.

Shyvana then turned to Sylus, her full draconic face giving him a dry stare. "Do you trust me so little as that?"

Sylus looked down in more serious shame. "I… I don't know how it works in the field. I just… I felt something was very wrong with killing him that way. I had to… reach out. I'm sorry, I should have trusted your intentions."

"Yes," the dragon growled, but was starting to shrink, limbs and skin warping and clicking in a swift rush. Her human shape, back in the plated armor and flowing hair, finished, "you should have… but I respect your intentions. I have no need of pointless bloodshed, Sylus. Please follow my lead and trust me in such situations. In another circumstance, that one gesture would have undermined our entire purpose."

Sylus nodded, still looking down. "Of course. I'm very sorry."

Shyvana sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Sylus?"

His eyes eked up.

"You did the right thing based on your experience. I recognize that. Learn the lesson, and move forward. I'd follow yours if I had to dabble in summoning myself for some reason."

He flashed a faint smile at her suggested reversal, and then nodded, straightening his back. "I will. Thank you, Shyvana."

She returned a wry smile of her own. "Come. Let's get to the trees before we talk more."

(Later…)

In a fairly well-secluded little clearing, the two stopped again. They weren't far from the ravine. Shyvana just wanted cover from other assassins.

"A high roller isn't really much of a shock, but it confirms part of our suspicion. It's someone of authority behind this or at least involved," Shyvana muttered.

Sylus nodded. "And more than likely a high summoner. It doesn't feel like a group. It feels like one mastermind. Hirelings, certainly, but only one person calling the shots."

"Agreed," the dragoness offered with a nod. "This also means we're going the right way. Someone doesn't want a League agent to reach Valein House. What else of value could be this way?"

"That stands to reason, yes. Continue on then?"

Shyvana tipped her head, and they started out again.

After just a few minutes of further travel, Sylus felt compelled to comment on their recent brush with death. "I must say, seeing you in action off the field is much more breathtaking than on it."

Shyvana blinked, glancing over her shoulder at him. Her expression was sincerely puzzled and a bit embarrassed. "By breathtaking do you mean panicked screaming?" She tried to brush off her sudden self-conscious feelings with dry humor as she focused ahead again.

Sylus chuckled. "Not denying my screaming like a small child, but no, I meant seeing you fight and move with such ferocity and speed… the field can't really represent it. Not to mention flying with you." He tried to brush over his embarrassing memories of the sensation of her grabbing onto him and carrying him in her wings or claws.

Shyvana realized her blush was intense as she faced ahead. This time the uncomfortable twist in her gut was so extreme it actually made her nauseous, but she couldn't deny that some part of her mind was elated at the positive reaction. It affirmed his fond perspective of her dragon form, her true manner and nature. Swallowing a bit, she realized she had no response. None she was comfortable making. Thanks for his kind words? Grateful he thought it was such a wonderful experience? Those made her feel even more sick with anxiety. What was this childish foolishness?

"…Shyvana?" Sylus' voice came back worried this time. "Did I offend you?"

She glanced aside, but didn't actually turn enough to look at him this time. "N-no… no, summoner. Pardon me, I… I would prefer we let this conversation stop?" Her tone awkwardly lifted at the end, not wanting to be forceful, but deeply uncomfortable.

"Of course," Sylus said instantly, and returned to steady walking in silence.

Shyvana glanced aside with a grimace. Now her nausea was from guilt. Why was a softened tone from this panicky man more effective against her than a full army of armed warriors? …Because armies don't compliment my flying, she realized miserably. Tensing her stomach against her desire to throw up, she straightened her back, and spoke aloud. "Sylus… one last word on that topic…"

"Yes?" he asked in sincere confusion.

"…I am grateful that you… liked it." Her blush was returning violently, so she couldn't look at him.

Sylus started to smile a bit. "Glad to inform you, my lady."

She tipped her head, still not looking at him, and led on.

(Author's Note)

I'm fond of this chapter for two reasons. It actually feels like a bit of an investigation (for once), and we get to see Shyvana in dragon form (at last!)

I very consciously wanted to keep Shyvana as powerful, capable, and intimidating in combat, and I hope this came across during the bridge sequence in particular.

The conversation in the crater is some of the most in-depth characterization we see for Sylus himself. It gives you the root of his professional pride (the duty of a summoner to the world), and shows you where his real strength lies (as it certainly isn't physical prowess). Some may find Shyvana's reaction to him a bit heavy-handed, but I felt it was proper for how I'm writing her and how she's feeling at this point. Her positive feelings are instinctive here, not conscious. If asked, she would certainly not agree to any romantic leanings. She's just 'impressed.'

Thank you for reading, and thanks for the reviews! They keep me going!