Arc 2 – Part 6

Caprifexia was forced to wait a whole day more after returning to Nirn. In part, because the fussy Lombardia had insistedshe have a full 'check-up' in the Winterhold infirmary, where a member of the Psijic Order 'specialised' – allegedly – in healing magic poked and prodded and scanned her stomach in both forms to make sure that there hadn't been any permanent damage done by the cross-bow bolt that the cowardly mortals had shot her with.

There wasn't, of course – Dragons healed perfectly, but the healer had given her a stick of some nice salty and spicy black thing called 'liquorice' thing that wasn't too terrible, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

After that, she had to wait for Lombardia to stop showing Kallian around the college. The elven Planeswalker from the backwards, magic-hating world had joined the college as a 'remote learning student' – something that seemed to involve a lot of voluntary homework and assignments, and only occasionally actually sitting in on classes which, while usually boring, meant you actually got to observe and practice magic. Why someone would do this, Caprifexia wasn't sure, but Kallian seemed very enthusiastic to 'formally study magic.'

More interestingly though, the elvish Planeswalker had arranged to run a few workshops on Kaladeshi style enchanting. Caprifexia already knew a lot about the style, of course, since she'd bought a book when she'd visited, but she wasn't too proud to admit that the elvish planeswalker was, very, very, slightly, probably, a little more experienced with it in a few areas.

The 'sign-up' sheet in the student lounge on the 'Exotic Enchanting Workshop' had filled up almost immediately, and the person at the top whose name Caprifexia had crossed out and written her own in place of had whinged at her, but after the noodle-incident her 'dorm-mates' had learned better than to provoke a dragon's ire.

But then, as the sun began to rise on the following day Caprifexia, Chandra, Serana, Einar, and Lombardia once again set out. This time, however, Einar did not sabotage the navigation, and they arrived at the strangely un-ruined platform that led to Innistrad, taking the path that Caprifexia had always wanted to in the first place.

Caprifexia stepped through the aperture and into brilliant sunshine. Unlike all the other times she had visited the plane, it wasn't night, and instead bright noon-day sun blazed down upon her. There were a few wispy cloud and a crescent of the great silver moon down near one horizon, but otherwise the sky was brilliant blue.

She was standing in a grassy meadow atop a gently sloping hill. Beneath her was a lazily winding river, and there were a few small, picturesque thatched and whitewashed towns dotted along its banks, along with a handful of small boats and barges. Atop a small rise by the river a turreted castle rose like a sentinel, colourful pennants flapping gently.

The crisp air was rich with the scent of wildflowers, and the only sound was the buzz of bees as they made their waydisgustinglybetween the rainbow of coloured petals.

Crack!

"Fucking hell! What is going on!?" shouted Einar, rushing through the portal, hand on hilt of his sword. He looked around wildly, before slowly releasing his grip on his weapon."Capri!?What are you doing?"

"There were insects," she sniffed, gesturing to a blackened patch of flowers and the fried, disgusting bodies of the buzzing creepy crawlies. "Bees."

"So you shot lightningat them?" he said. "Capri, you can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"You mean apart from the fact it is pants-shittingly loudand could attract the attention of who knows what?" he said. "Bees are kind of really important for nature."

"They're disgusting," she sniffed. "All… insecty."

"You're a dragon!"he shouted.

"Exactly," she nodded. "And one looked like it was about to attack me. The proper, dragonly response to a threat is obliteration."

Einar put his face in his hands.

"Hey, Scales, don't shoot lightning at insects, OK?" said Serana.

"My name is not 'Scales,'" huffed Caprifexia. "Anymore than yours is 'Teeth,' you undead fiend."

"Might want to run that statement over in your head again," said Serana, ruffling her hair. Or rather, she tried, only for Caprifexia's invisible horns block her hand. "Ow, those are getting sharp."

Caprifexia was, in an effort not to be insulted and labelled a 'demon,' wearing the glamour that Kallian had made her. It was only very marginallydifferent from her basic mortal guise, which she of course could have changed if she'd wanted; it made her horns invisible, and dulled her glowing orange eyes to bright amber that were within the bounds of a normal elf. Her hair tended to fall a little bit 'oddly' if she wore it normally, but Chandra had helped her by putting it in something called a 'braid' that now fell across her chest.

Serana had some kind of 'natural' vampiric glamour that made those without magical ability unable to really tell what she was until she attacked, but she was also wearing her elvish glamour on top, so that even to Caprifexia's superior mystical senses, her eyes didn't look in the least bit like their usual creepy glowing yellow ones.

Einar and Chandra and Lombardia hadn't wanted to use theirs, however, and just remained round earred like normal. It was apparently 'weird' to use the glamours when they didn't need to, according to Einar. Something, something 'passing oneself off as a marginalised group.' Caprifexia didn't really understand what he was talking about, but that was hardly a new phenomenon.

"So… do we just wait here?" asked Chandra, looking around.

"Sorin-"

"Sorbet," corrected Caprifxia idly.

"-Sorin-"

"Sorbet."

"-Sorin,hesensed us arriving the last time we came," said Einar, insisting on rudely misnaming the frozen fruit loving vampire. "Saved our lives. Well, first he sort of wanted to kill Caprifexia when he figured out she was a black Azerothian dragon-"

"-hmph, typical dragonist behaviour-"

"-but after I talked him down he healed Capri and J'zargo," finished Einar in what was a totally inaccurate retelling of history. "So yes, we'll wait. If he doesn't come… I guess we'll try and find our way there?"

They waited. And waited. And waited,until, sometime in mid-afternoon her ears twitched as in the distance she heard the sound of hoof-beats and stomping boots, coming from down the hill in the direction of a copse of trees. Caprifexia glanced at Serana.

"Yeah, I hear it too," said the vampire, frowning beneath her heavy cowl and looking up from her book.

"Hear what?" said Chandra, who had been practising charms with Lombardia.

"Boots, and hooves – some kind of caravan," said Serana, raising a hand and pointing. "From over there."

"Alright, everyone just relax, we haven't done anything wrong," said Einar. "It's a public road, probably, and we're just travellers. I know people seem to attack us constantly, but we'll be OK if no one overreacts or starts throwing lightning at bugs."

"Not that we're naming names or anything," said Serana drily.

A column of humans emerged from the copse a minute or so later, some riding horses, some riding in carriages stacked with crates and barrels and canvas and other complicated things that Caprifexia was assured mortals needed, and others walking. Many of them were armed, and a few in at least partial armour.

One of the rider's at the front of the column spotted Caprifexia and the others, and raised a hand in what mighthave been a greeting, but could also have been a threat – one could never tell with mortals, after all – and broke off from the column, trotting over the grass towards them with another two riders. Caprifexia readied herself to obliterate him, but was the soul of patience and heroic benefit-of-the-doubt-giving, and gave him a few more seconds to make his intentions properly known.

"Ah ha!" said the middle-aged man, his large brown moustache vibrating as he spoke. He had an unusually wide face, and considerable excess mass the mortals tended to put on if they had access to large amounts of food. "Blessing of Avacyn on you, friends!"

He was dressed in a fire red doublet stitched at the edges with a repeating pattern in gold-threads: a broken three-quarter circle with a dagger-like protrusion at the bottom, and two sort of vaguely wing-like bits at the top. She'd seen the symbol before, in the not-ruined platform of Innitgrad.

"Hail," said Einar, who was the most cowardly, and therefore best at diplomacy. After Caprifexia, of course – not because she was a coward, but just, as a dragon, she was naturally better at everything than a mortal like Einar. "Sir…?"

"Ah, is that a foreign accent I hear?" laughed the moustached man, jumping down from his saddle and tossing the reigns to one of his armoured companions. "Welcome! My name is Duke Razvan."

He shook Einar's hand, glancing over the group, his eyes lingering on Caprifexia and Serana for a moment.

"And elves! We don't have the fortune of seeing many of your people around these parts," he said. "Have you come to join the battle? You're mages, unless I'm mistaken? Welcome, welcome!"

"They are, I'm not," said Einar. "I'm Einar, and this is Serana, and Lomeria, and Chandra, and Capri."

"Caprifexia," corrected Caprifexia sullenly.

"Positively splendid to meet you all!" said the man, his moustache vibrating even more strongly. Caprifexia wondered if he got too excited, if it might not fly off.

"And what battle might that be?" said Serana.

"You don't know?" laughed the Duke. "Why, we are finally pushing back the blight on this region!"

"The, ahem, 'blight?'" asked Serana carefully.

"That's right," nodded the Duke. "Too long have the vampires had a hold on this place – for thousands upon thousands of years. But we have been striking back! With faith in our comrades and in mighty Avancyn, we shall root out the bloodsucking fiends, wherever they may be, and put them to the holy flame!"

"Oh, um, Holy flame…?" said Serana, shifting uneasily, glaring at Caprifexia intently for some reason. "Err… swell."

"And which vampires… specifically?" asked Einar carefully.

"Why, the cursed Markovs of course!" laughed the Duke. "Hard to believe during the bright of our glorious sun, but we are less than a day's march from their foul manor. Even if you are mages, I would not advise lingering overlong in the wilds. Come nightfall, this pleasant meadow will the hunting grounds of dark and twisted creatures. You're welcome to come with us, even if you're not here to fight. Safety in numbers, after all!"

"Oh, um… thank-you, that's very generous," said Einar. "Well guys, shall we?"

"Oh, all right," said Caprifexia. "We do need someone to show us the way there anyway."

The Duke paused. "What-"

"The way to… to town!" said Einar quickly, rudely stepping in front of her.

"No-" began Caprifexia, before Lombardia's hand moved and covered her mouth. "Mrrph!"

"Sorry, she's new to the language," said Einar, waving his hands. "You know dr- I mean, you know elves? Heh."

"A person's species has no bearing on their worth, she should be commended for taking up the difficult task of learning the midland tongue," said the Duke sternly, before smiling at Caprifexia, speaking very slowly and very loudly. "You are very welcome here, my elven friend."

Then he got back on his horse and with an 'ah ha!' trotted back towards the cavaran.

"Capri, please, for the love of Talos," said Einar. "Don't tell people on their way to try and killSorinthat we're on ourway to meet him."

They reached a medium sized, walled town that sat on the riverbank as the sun was growing low in the sky. There thousands of tents clustered around the walls and mortals wearing a kaleidoscope of colours and motifs moving about, laughing and singing. There was a small ditch around the tents, and some holy glyphs in the air, but the gates were wide open, and the entire thing looked more like a festival than a massing army.

"This… I think I… I might stay outside," said Serana, peeling off as ahead of them to armed column they'd been walking alongside began to set up in a clear bit of field.

"Huh? What? Don't be silly," said Einar. "We're trying to keep a low profile – someone will notice that."

"Hey, Einar, there's a wall of fire over there – feel like walking through it?" snapped Serana.

"Err, what-"

"That's what you're asking me to do," she said angrily. "Those glyphs, I can feel them from here. They're tuned against undead."

"Oh, um, right," he said. "Sorry. Are you… OK?"

"Yeah, right, sorry – it's just reallyuncomfortable being this close to that kind of magic," said Serana, shivering.

"I guess you can camp by the river?" said Einar.

"And what if they get suspicious and come to look?" said Serana testily. "Einar, these people hunt vampires, and, in case you didn't remember, I'm a vampire."

"Yeah, but you have the glamour–"

"Glamours can be pierced," said Lombardia. "Particularly by the type of magic that made those wards. If they get suspicious, they might send people to investigate."

"What if Capri stays with you?" said Einar. "That way you can always retreat to another Plane. I doubt she wants to go into the town and look around anyway."

"I don't," agreed Caprifexia. "It's full of noisy mortals."

"Yeah, yeah, that works," said Serana, putting a hand on Caprifexia's shoulder. "But further away – there was a thicket back there."

"Alright, we'll meet you there tomorrow morning then," said Einar.

"Yes, morning, joy," said Serana, clapping Caprifexia on the shoulder. "Come on then, Scales. How about I show you how to use a sword like I've been promising?"

"I'm a dragon, why would I need to know how to use a metal stick?" said Caprifexia.

They wandered back down the road to the small grouping of trees in a bend in the river. It wasn't very large, but there was a clearing by the river that was more or less hidden from the nearby road. It was, like the meadow, grassy and flowered, although thankfully there weren't any obvious bees, ringed by birch and fur trees, and with brambles with what looked like the disgustingly sweet blackberries on them dominated one side of the clearing. A boat passed by, drawn along the fast-flowing current, and a figure waved to them. Serana waved back.

The vampire began to set up camp, and Caprifexia opened a book, only to close it again a few minutes later because Serana kept on pestering her to 'help.'

"I'm a dragon, I don't even needa camp!" protested Caprifexia. "And you're a vampire! Why do youneed one?"

"Because its not exactly comfortable to sleep rough," said Serana. "And you want to shout that any louder, kid? These lot are religious zealots, one whiff of anything differentand they'll come in, holy fire blazing."

"Holy fire doesn't work on dragons," sniffed Caprifexia. "Only undead abominations."

"Just help, OK?" said Serana. "You can either set up our tent, or do the wards – your choice."

Caprifexia grumbled, but did begin to walk the camp's perimeter, pausing every few feet to cast a ward, her finger glowing gold as she carved a short draconic phrase into the air, leaving behind glowing phrases that slowly faded as the spells took hold. They wouldn't last long without a physical anchor, but they only needed to last one night.

"Repulsion field," she muttered as she moved. "Perception filter… electrification threshold…"

"Remember, no lethal wards!" called Serana from where she was struggling with a tent pole.

Caprifexia ignored the foolish vampire: the wards were shaped by her intent, and wouldn't hurt any of her friends. So why, exactly, wouldn't she make them as lethal as possible?

"Pain curse… explosive rune…"

She finished her circuit of the camp and sat back down and opened her book. A moment later her ward triggered as some small animal attempted to cross the threshold.

"What was that?" said Serana, looking up and sniffing. "And why do I smell burnt rabbit?"

"I've no idea," lied Caprifexia, convincingly.

Serana sniffed a few more times, before shrugging and reaching into her enchanted bag, pulling out two wooden swords.

"So, how about that fencing lesson?" said Serana.

"Why would I need to learn how to use a sword?" said Caprifexia, again – couldn't mortals, or undead abominations for that matter, remember anything?

"I can remember at least three times that you knowing how to use a sword could have been useful for you," said Serana. "You're really strong, but not that coordinated yet-"

"I am a dragon!We're the most coordinated species there is! The best at coordination!" said Caprifexia.

"Uh huh?" snickered Serana, tossing the sword at Caprifexia's feet. "Then prove it."

Caprifexia narrowed her eyes and closed her book, setting it aside before reaching down and picking up the practice sword. It was heavier than she expected, although not nearly heavy enough to give her problems.

"Alright, now remember you little menace, this is a friendlyspar," said Serana seriously. "So no magic, and no breathing fire at me – got it? Come at me when you're ready, Scales."

Caprifexia huffed, before raising the sword above her head and rushing at the vampire, aiming to club her in the head and teach her a lesson in the proper manner to address a dragon.

Said vampire, however, did something clearly cheating with her sword, and Caprifexia's wooden blade flew from her grip, and then she was knocked face-first into the dirt.

"This is stupid!" complained Caprifexia, spitting out a leaf. "I don't need to know this! I'm a dragon! I have claws and fangs and- and fire breath!And I'm a wizard!"

"Your future self learnt, from what Einar said," said Serana. "And when you're massive you'll be terrifying, I'm sure, but you're currently what – a meter long?"

"I'm one hundred and fifty sixcentimetres!" said Caprifexia.

"Ah yes, truly a dread wyrm," said Serana. "The nightmare of small puppies and kittens everywhere."

"I could- you-" spluttered Caprifexia. "I am- this- you can't-"

"Look at it this way," said Serana. "Learning this will help you hold off people who get close to you in your mortal form, long enough to fry them with magic."

"Why do you even care?" grumbled Caprifexia. She'd much rather be reading. Why couldn't people just leave her alone?

Serana cocked her head to one side. "You do know you saved my life, right?" said Serana. "Saved Nirn? Call me a bleeding heart, but I'm thankful for that. Sometimes you make it hard, but I do like you, Capri."

Caprifexia regarded her sceptically.

"Or, if that's too mushy for a big bad, super serious dragon like you – look at it this way: I'm trying to ensure you survive long enough to kill Mirael."

Her future self. Einar had told her what she'd done, of course, the glorious, borderline omnipotent mage she would become before she… died. She supposed, if her wise and powerful future self had learnt swordplay, then it must have made some sense.

"Fine," she said, summoning her wooden blade back to herself with a cantrip and raising it above her head again. "Fine."

"Hold up, I was just making a point there," said Serana. "Firstwe're going to work on your stance and footwork."

"My… what?" said Caprifexia, looking down at her feet.

"Exactly," said Serana.

A.N. If you like my writing, you might also be interested in an original novel called 'Shattered Moon' I have written and am posting new chapters for once a week on Sufficient Velocity (if you have an account), Scribblehub, Royal Road, and my (which is two weeks ahead for supporters!).

I also have a new fantasy/adventurer/supernatural episodic work set in an original Spelljammer-esque/Space Fantasy world that I will be starting to post up soon called 'Mishka, the Great and Powerful.' That will go up on my (for free!), Sufficient Velocity (Unlisted), and Scribblehub and Royal Road at some point.