MIRRI
Following the monster's trail to the foothills had been surprisingly conflict-free, despite Sutai's earlier prodding.
The 'priestess' from the wastes, who Mirri was starting to suspect had simply been summarily declared helpful and taken the title to her head, had been the first through the gap in the ceiling after the Seraph disappeared into the early-morning skies.
She might have lacked the philosophical grounding Mirri relied on to navigate the world, but Sutai had at least developed a passable takeoff form somewhere along the way to survival.
Mahira already knew what was on Mirri's back, and carried worse scars, so Mirri followed Sutai without hesitation, leaving the cave.
Her practice had been light over the winter, but this was no lengthy glide above the Roads. A purely vertical leap of less than six lengths was completely within her abilities. With the apprenticeship all but formalized, contingent on the rest of her performance today, there was no reason not to show off that capability.
Anything to offset the obvious shortcoming of her dismal marching endurance, and show that she had gone the proper route, healing slowly to rebuild mana investment in her membranes.
She had flexed her wings through their full range of motion, and monitored the amount of mana she had used to just barely accomplish what she needed, making the leap to catch herself on the dirt above. Being wasteful after the Venatrix's generosity in powering her lightstone would be an ungrateful motion.
Flight was the only thing other than fire Mirri would ever do efficiently with magic. Not even the warping nature of the Tyrant's Marks was able to prevent her that most basic pleasure of denying the ground her presence.
Tracking the beast had been a child's work as well, in a way that became more and more worrisome as the wind had picked up and the trees had thinned, eventually giving way to the pines more common on the slopes of the Fang as they wove through the border regions of the Highlands.
Their quarry seemed almost intent on avoiding the Roads, but also failed to cut across several of the easternmost farms managed by Ashgrove, even where the terrain around them was rough or complex to navigate. The monster had taken the long ways around, every time, even fording the river at a common crossing at one point.
The trail had only swung further northeast after reaching rockier grounds, veering towards the portion of the Fang north of the pass, then all but disappearing.
The Wyrm couldn't possibly be conscious of their intended patrol route, but—
"Big reptile's being quite polite to us, following our planned path this far," Sutai finally drawled. "Do you think your garrison has seen it from the towers? We are close enough to ask."
Mirri controlled her flinch, and reminded herself that the word hadn't been pointed at her, so it couldn't be derogatory.
She did not pulse mana into the warming plates on her armor before replying. That would be drawing attention, and her newest acquaintance wasn't one she would be trusting with any weak spots.
"It was following prey," Mirri said. "Not Arrivals either, all of these signs are more than twelve hours old. They would still have been in the sky."
The rushing of the river behind them was insufficient to drown out a snort.
"Must be chasing juicy prey, maybe even sapient, to get something with chilled blood to cross that river absent wings. Think it caught the scent of some of your neighbors through the pass?" Sutai asked innocently. "They do tend to smell a bit more than us. Though any Arrivals on this side of the mountain would be closer prey."
Mirri pointedly did not grit her teeth as she added the jab to the ledger. Twice in a row was intent, subtle or not.
"The river would have been lower, then. Meltwater's swollen the banks since." Mirri corrected her. "More than usual, with so many gifts from the sky this year. The heat likely fooled it into believing the altitude was safe at the time."
"Unfortunate for any of those gifts it stumbles across." Mahira declared. "With the chill coming in, it'll frenzy, hunting for energy when it wakes hungry. We'll need to pursue, if we want any of them to see another sunrise up here."
Monsters the size of their target couldn't afford to be entirely picky, and would hunt large herbivores when pressed for prey, but Sutai had been correct about one thing. Only sapients would have the mana density necessary to truly sustain a reptile that large this far up the mountains, especially outside a shelter. There were dozens of abandoned mineshafts this far to the edges of the Roads, any of which might house the wyrm if it had time to go to ground.
Even as the wind picked up again, and the first droplets of rain began to fall, the reminder of their purpose dropped a somber note across the exchange.
At least, in Mirri's mind.
"Which is why climbing that hill and asking the garrison if they've seen any of the trees shaking is our best option." Sutai barreled ahead, sparing a glance of faux-pity for Mirri. "At least, before we have to worry about any of us shaking. Why waste the energy chasing it while it wanders?"
At that, Mirri was done being prodded. Tapping a claw to her chest, she let loose a burst of mana fit to sear her scales into the runed plates she was wearing, driving any semblance of chill away.
"Let me know if you need any help keeping warm." She said as sweetly as she could. "I've power to spare there, if the cold gets to be too much for you."
A generous offer that asserted she wouldn't be a liability in need of coddling. One that cost her next to nothing, even if it were taken, because efficiency was what made a mage. The aether was thick enough up here that Mirri had reabsorbed nearly a third of the mana she had just spent before Sutai's smug expression could finish souring.
"Girls. We have a problem." Mahira put an end to the verbal sparring, and a stop to their advance now that the sounds of the river were far enough behind them to quiet. "Sariel's not back, and your mother's getting ready for a fight."
At the warning, Mirri eyed the sky through the thin foliage. The Venatrix was right, the clouds were roiling a bit more than they needed to. It was one of the several ways her mother could increase the power she had available at a moment, but had side effects, including shortening the natural life of the storm.
On its own, it might just mean she was posturing until Mirri's patrol was over, ensuring no humans were bold enough to try the pass at first melt. But...
"What would stop a Seraph's return?" Mirri asked almost hesitantly.
"A diversion, or a tactical reality." Mahira snorted. "And if it were Arrivals in need of rescuing from the Wyrm, Sariel would act under mandate, and lead us to them after the fight was done. I'd have to do your mother a different favor. No natural diversion would have Sariel skipping two check-ins in a row, not without other signs."
Sutai huffed, spraying a fine mist of water through the rain.
"Not without shiny-wings burning down half the woods, she means."
"So it's a tactical reality that makes dropping out of the sky to us a bad idea." Mirri put the pieces together. "We're in danger from someone unseen, but they don't know where we are yet either."
And a Seraph wouldn't be fearful of knights from the tribes, even if they had dared the pass or circumvented it for now. Sariel's presence would nearly guarantee that Mirri would not be dueling steel-clad humans today.
"Likely. I've even got a decent idea of what it might be." Mahira said.
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"I told you they let us go too easily. Didn't even bleed the tribes gullet-side after we crossed." Sutai grumbled. "No enemy like a Warband that hasn't gotten their due yet. They expected to take all of you in that amb—"
"Enough. Eyes up." Mahira interrupted the pronouncement. "Sariel is likely nearby, but won't act until the threat is revealed. Whatever it may be."
Mirri's pulse spiked at the mention of a warband, and an ambush, but Mahira was obviously avoiding the specifics. Catching the Venatrix's eyes naturally while she scanned the treeline above the river proved an impossibility, so Mirri simply forged ahead and asked.
"Do we signal the tower?" Mirri asked. "They'll recognize distress, and relay it to Eastwatch."
"No. If the sky is like this, your mother knows more than we do. We need to bait out what's happening, or whoever finds the enemy will be snapped up." Mahira denied the idea. "Likely us first, but if there's a Horde warband this far from home, they're confident they have the tools for us, and her."
Just a day prior, the assertion that anyone would be able to force her mother out of Tenashki's skies might have driven Mirri to mirthful laughter, but from the mouth of a Venatrix, it held the weight of prophecy.
Or perhaps Sariel was missing for a different reason. Sanctum wouldn't interfere with local conflicts between Wardens. If humans had crossed the pass, and were angling for an ambush, the Seraph might also keep their distance.
Mahira had said the deal was between her and Mirri's mother, and Sanctum had strange whims at times. Standing 'guard' over Mirri might be counted as interference.
Neither potential truth brought Mirri any comfort as she searched the treeline again. Nothing moved. Not even a bird. The insects weren't even chirping through the steady patter of raindrops on her helmet.
"I'd be more comfortable with walls to shelter us till the Warden arrives in truth." Sutai grumbled. "And the help of that garrison."
Mirri was starting to agree, despite her earlier assertions. Mahira seemed to think the decision was no longer about the chill, or their original quarry. Sariel's frequent absences had been more relief than anything, in the early sections of the patrol. Now, the lack of silver wings felt ominous.
Mahira was crouched low in the underbrush as they moved, obviously matching her profile to Mirri and Sutai's heights. She had even thrown her grayed traveling cloak over the shield on her arm, to cover the gleaming Seraph Steel.
Surprise would have to be their ally, if they were hunting a prepared enemy. Or a strong defensive position.
The Venatrix seemed more inclined to the second option, as she directed her next query to Mirri.
"How many would be at the tower?"
"Four at most, this early in the season. One or two will be trainees." Mirri said confidently. "All from Second Bend. It's good field experience for younger Wards."
Mahira grimaced when Mirri said 'trainees', and pointed up the hill.
"We're going to have to help before those scouts find them. And I suspect that's the point." The seasoned adventurer added.
Under the impression that any force close enough to worry the Seraph out of landing would be sharing the treeline with them, Mirri had focused her efforts on the foliage around them. Against that assumption, four overtly draconic silhouettes were busy creeping outside the wall of the northern watchtower, plainly lit under the overcast skies.
They were not wearing her mother's colors, or any semblance of local cloth at all, bearing heavy furs more consistent with with the climate inside the northern circle than the dusty wastes or more temperate climes of Tenashki.
Their weapons were the true giveaway though, iron being anathema to fighters rich in mana, and visible as crudely forged even at this distance. A few carried a little bronze, but—
"It's them. I recognize the wrappings on that bow." Sutai hissed. "They're exposed in the open, looking for a place to set him up out of the rain so the toy isn't ruined. We can have them surrounded."
"That is the bait." Mahira agreed. "And Isha will have my horns if I let a Horde patrol make rations out of any of her people for fear, which is why we need to do this quickly and—"
A muffled crack echoed down the hill, demanding attention like a spark meeting sulfur.
The Horde scouting party had frozen in seeming confusion as well, still unawares that they were detected.
"Not ours." Mirri pre-empted the question with her hearts full of fear as a second gunshot followed. "The garrison must already be under attack. It will be knights."
How the humans had threaded through the stubs and past the watchtower would be someone else's trouble to piece together. Later, if they were still alive.
"Not the humans I expected we'd be saving today, or the monsters I expected to save them from." Mahira's tone was almost flippant as she straightened. "But I suppose a few extra allies under the Accords will help us hold till your mother arrives."
Three more cracks rang out. At least five knights then, to the four of the garrison, and they were having trouble.
The scouting party atop the ridge seemed to realize it too, filtering through the gates like sharks scenting blood.
"What if they don't cooperate?" Mirri heard herself ask, tightening her grip on her spear.
It wasn't fear, simply a need for instruction. She was working more tightly with Sanctum's goals than Tenashki's, in this company. Knowing the plan was important.
A grin split the maroon scales of the Venatrix's snout.
"Then we'll likely have to subdue them first. Do avoid crippling anyone, if you can, but not at risk to yourself." Mahira instructed. "Your mother's already going to have some firm words for me when we reach Eastwatch."
Before their party could finish breaking the treeline, over a dozen bronze-clad humans screamed out of the bushes just twenty lengths to the left. The armored knights immediately charged the tower, drawing their weapons and the attention of the singular guard the Horde scouts had left outside.
The men were clearly attempting a rescue of their fellows up at the tower. Mirri took barely a moment to wonder just how many armed and armored humans they were about to face with only the Twilight Accords as a shield, but shook off the fear before it could set in.
Sariel had not yet graced them with a return, so there was more to come.
Near-simultaneously, a similar distance to her right, Dovin's golden scales gleamed out of the woods. He was trailed by half a dozen Wards, all of them taking off in pursuit of the knights.
"Work together or we die, idiots!" his familiar voice boomed.
"Hate forests." Sutai complained next to Mirri. "Too many bushes. How many fighters are even in—"
The first stone arced out of the woods, nearly a hundred lengths north of them, striking the lead knight in the group of raiders.
It dented his chestplate, staggering him into another man, and seemed to signal that the ambush was sprung.
Three dozen more followed it in a disorganized wave that was only the prelude to more chaos.
Violet light flashed atop the ridge from behind the walls. Even two hundred lengths down the hill, Mirri still felt the aether ripple.
Her boots sank into the muddy grass just outside the treeline, torn between her sense of duty and her understanding of what that meant. Her brain was refusing to finish performing the arithmetic, under the argument that the density of the rain in the air would throw off her estimate anyways.
Regardless of the exact measurements, there was a terrifying amount of power being discharged. The weapon was being wielded by an Immortal.
A real one.
A claw tapped her behind the head, a quiet reminder that echoed loudly only for Mirri, inside her skull.
"No freezing at the Maw's first inhale." Mahira said, rising and throwing off her cloak. "It's how ambushes end bad. Move! Both of you!"
The force of command behind the last four words broke the spell, freeing Mirri's feet just in time for the Maw's putrid exhale.
If she hadn't just been galvanized forwards, she might have stopped running again. The knights barely halfway up the ridge did stop, and for good reason.
The northern watchtower began to crumble like a hatching egg.
The pale-scaled wyrm must have been ten thousand talents all told, with the weight of all three skulls at the end of its necks.
It was also screeching like the damned as it burst free of the comfortable warmth of the heated tower, crashing over the roof towards the source of the offense.
The sound sent a chill like premonition down Mirri's spine. It told her they had been far too late to save the garrison, with such a horror nested inside the structure so tightly.
If seeing close to two dozen fighters who had not yet turned on each other sprinting up the hill hadn't sent the horde scouts into a panic, the motivation of the monster emerging behind them did.
Only three of the four left the gateway, and each of them was busy sprinting, sliding, and stumbling down the hill to the north with weapons in hand, including one clutching an oversized longbow. Mirri would have bet the tip of her tail that was the Immortal. The fighters emerging from the woods had balked, readying slings rather than charging to meet their scouts.
Thunder boomed as the Wyrm finished crushing its way over the wall, two of the three heads locked on the sprinting fighters who had tweaked its tail.
The rightmost was busy tasting the air towards the still-advancing knights. Calling the hesitant stumbling and cajoled movement a charge would have been too generous.
Mirri didn't blame them one whit, assaulting the thickening mud with her boots on the way up the ridge. Her own knees might have refused orders, if anything but bravery didn't also spell her death. There was one cluster of fighters here that would not gladly dismember her for one reason or another, and they were following Dovin.
Hearing the singing start up felt like a fever dream, but there it was, coming from up ahead.
Another barrage of stones lifted from the woods, most thudding uselessly off the monster's scales, but some were directed up the hill at them.
Mirri dropped to the mud below a whistling projectile, and heard another clack off the Venatrix's shield.
Moments later, the Wyrm made its choice, dragging the reluctantly outvoted head away and down the hill.
The knights unfroze, sprinting just ahead of the Wards Dovin was wrangling. They had quieted their voices under his bellows, but the tune kept up under the rain.
It was a terrible rendition of 'Here be monsters', but Mirri couldn't blame them for being off-time and off-key at the moment. Her hearts were having the same difficulty.
"Good. Let the monsters kill each other a little." Mahira cajoled as the serpent crashed into the treeline, buying them time to push for shelter. "We'll clean up the mess when Isha gets here, if we're still alive."
If Mirri hadn't known better, she might have thought it was fear in her voice.
Timber crackled when the warband in the forest clashed spears with the monster, and Mirri felt a sliver more understanding for anyone who had ever hoped for carnage.
The aether thrummed again as Sariel arrived, streaking silver over Mirri's head, barely three lengths off the ground.
The Inverse Square Law is a principle of physical sciences that describes how observed energy intensity is inversely proportional to the distance from its source. This happens because, barring other interference, the energy is scattered in three dimensions. (See the formula for calculating the surface area of a sphere, 4πr^2) The principle applies to gravity, electricity, light, sound, and other forms of energetic radiation, so long as they are conserved quantities being evenly radiated from a single point in a three dimensional space.
