The North (Closed)

[heartofcourage]

"Dola." Fiona said as she turned towards the white wolf. "You will be in charge of the young prince."

She stepped towards her, gently passing the baby into Dola's arms, making sure that he wasn't about to grow too upset. It seemed that he was content for the moment to cuddle against her soft fur.

 

[KieranSoares]

Dola took the boy without a second thought, nodding and bundling him against her chest. She was fully confident, Fiona could see, as she carefully looked Arnulf over to make sure he was comfortable and didn't need anything in the moment. It seemed the Major had taken good care of him even while fleeing.

Looking over to Owen, Soma asked quietly, "Uka. Your gift is to track dragons. Are you able to give us an idea where Hesperus is?"

"Give me a little time and silence to focus, and I will give you a rough estimation," Owen said with a nod. "I may be able to get an idea of how fast he travels as well."

"Do what you need to do to get that information." Soma then looked to Riley. "I know you like to keep your walls up, Riley, but we need your talent too. If any other Caller starts acting strange or you feel something out of place, we need to know immediately so we can stabilize them and hopefully resist Hesperus. Joachim being sick either meant Hesperus found an opening and took it, or he caused the sickness himself to get hold of Joachim. I'm worried about the dragons too, knowing Hesperus might be able to sway them like Zaufberg did twenty years back."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Then we clear the camp. They stay away after we make a perimeter. It might hurt our partners in the beginning, but we need to keep ourselves as safe as possible." Fiona offered as Soma mentioned Zaufberg controlling the dragons. "Someone will be assigned to check in on the dragons that are camped regularly."

She placed both hands on the great table and leaned her weight against it, lowering her head as she considered what else needed to be done. "I'll work with my father to track him. There are things we might do together to make the process go faster."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Let's get the word out," Andre called over the gathering. "Split up and get everyone packing, bring in the greenhorns and their partners to help move supplies. Gather up wagons for any of our sick and wounded and get them moving with the doctors."

As the Callers began to file out, Owen stepped up to the table beside Soma, the young man bringing up a chair for him before heading out to do his own part in directing the massive move, and to make sure Dola got safely to her tent and under Jani's protection with the Imperial prince.

"It seems an old Fox can still be of use," Owen murmured softly, laying his hand on the table. One arm was still in a sling with his shoulder injury for a long while more, but all of his injuries were healing well and he was capable of moving around and doing things for himself again without Nora's constant help. He would have to adjust his lifestyle to work around some permanent damage and weakness, but he would be able to manage with a little help.

Looking across at his daughter, Owen said softly, "I know this monster has come too quickly, little Kit. But I'm with you. We all are."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona was quiet as her father pledged himself to her. She knew that a very real threat had come to their doorstep faster than they wanted, but it was the reality of the situation. Quietly, she moved from the table to Soma's stack of maps and chose the map of the isles, rolling it out across the wooden top before she pulled up her own chair and took a seat across from her father.

Looking up at Owen, she reached into a pocket that Sam had made in her armor and pulled out a smooth, black stone of obsidian and placed it on the map. It was marked with a flowered F and her personal sigils, her own seeing stone as Blackstone family tradition demanded she keep. She had never had cause to use it, but she kept it on her at all times. After a long moment, she also pulled out another black stone, placing it beside her own and waiting for her father to notice that she had kept Ephriam's with her as well all that time.

"He told me that one day I might find a use for it." She murmured as she folded her hands together and watched Owen carefully. "It always made me feel like he was here, so I kept it with me, but I think he knew more than he let on."

 

[KieranSoares]

Owen stared at the stones for a long moment before reaching into his own pocket, withdrawing a scarred, chipped, and weathered stone of his own. "I hid it before I was taken," he murmured softly. "In the hollow of a tree. I went back to get it the spring after Riley was born."

He placed his stone down as well, the very thing that supported his tracking abilities and had led him to dragons in an attempt to save them after he'd left Scotland.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona let out a long sigh as she looked at the three stones and then met her father's gaze. "As much as it hurts, Da, we can do this. Together. Just tell me how to begin."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I've never tracked a dragon to kill..." Owen murmured, knowing that they would likely have little choice with Hesperus. "We just have to remember that we are not Arbiters. We're Callers. We take care of the dragons... even if that means we have to fight one for the good of many."

Owen didn't need a map to focus, his gift naturally giving him the ability to see into places even if he'd never been there. But for Fiona's sake, he reached out to tap a finger on London. "The last place we have confirmation he passed through was London. You have a fresh memory of it; that's incredibly helpful. Picture the city as if you're perched on Schaller's horns. Imagine the north end, and look southward toward the channel."

He pressed her stone into her hand, having her raise it to her chest. "The wind blows east today. Picture the movement of the clouds and the waves. Focus on every single detail you can accurately imagine. Even little things help. Remember the damage still being repaired, the ruined wall, the broken weapons atop tall buildings. Remember where Avfairn crashed. Anything and everything you can."

Owen helped her build that image in her mind, lending his own memories as best he could. "Now... on the south horizon... his wingspan is twice Schaller's. He's a southern dragon, brass and gold with a black underbelly and a great mane running down his spine, a full beard and sharp, broad features." The image was slowly materializing, putting pressure on Fiona's mind to sort fact from imagination and using her dreams to build out more of the titanic dragon. One horn was damaged and cracked. He was missing a large patch of scales on his left shoulder, a massive purplish scar left behind. His blazing eyes were not golden or amber like many southern dragons, but two different colors. One was a deep, rich burgundy like deep red wine. The other was an icy blue, pulsing with power and light even in the dark.

Owen winced as he focused and tried to help Fiona visualize. The images came in flashes, the monstrous Hesperus flying over London, circling and watching as below, a small Imperial retinue walked down the street with Joachim and Tanya at its core. Tanya was holding little Arnulf. And suddenly, Joachim drew his blade, his eyes turning solid black. He slashed at Tanya, and she was barely able to twist away enough to shield Arnulf as the blade sunk deep into her ribs. That was all Hesperus stuck around to survey before he moved on, his course turning northwest.

Another set of images came showing Hesperus on the ground stalking through pastures, snapping up scores of livestock with no care for the livelihoods of farmers beneath his feet. Fiona knew the area. It was Chester. She could see a flash of the castle, cavalry and a couple stationed Riders charging out to try to pull the monster's attention away from the keep. She saw Hesperus snag a smaller dragon out of the sky, so huge that his jaws completely closed over their upper torso and even the Rider in the saddle. The other dragon met an even crueler fate, its wings torn off and its spine shattered, left to suffer while Hesperus carelessly swatted horses and drakes and their riders away. The last image available to her was Hesperus drawing back a huge claw to smash down a tower of Castle Chester while people fled in every direction.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona held her stone against her chest, in a trance as she saw everything happening as Hesperus lumbered through southern England. When she saw the tower of Chester fall, she closed her eyes and let her own abilities take hold, reaching out to make even the briefest of connections with the behemoth. As he started to materialize in her mind, the familiar growling voice echoing in her mind, Fiona reached out and took hold of her grandfather's stone to ground herself.

"You have my attention, sir." She murmured, arching her neck to look up at the great, scarred face.

 

[KieranSoares]

In a void of grey and mist with stars somewhere far beyond, Hesperus's destruction came to a halt as Fiona reached out. The ancient, battle-worn maw of Hesperus lowered to her level. He truly was the size of London's largest cathedral, a single gleaming fang half the length of Fiona's body as his nose wrinkled in a snarl. His voice was like the very shift of the earth, deeper than thunder.

"And you mine, child of Margaret," he rumbled in the language only those of draconic blood knew. "You impress me... All others would hide."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I have no need to hide." Fiona murmured as he rumbled out his words, the earth shaking around her. "You would find me no matter where I went, of that, I'm sure."

"Why have you come here?" She asked him, standing her ground as he snarled. "If it's sleep you seek, we can help. There's no need for this mindless destruction."

 

[KieranSoares]

A soul-shaking chuckle rumbled forth from the great beast as he lifted his head away, sitting tall with his shoulders squared. "I have slept longer than most of your minor wyrms have been alive, and I have lived longer than your people have known how to write about me. The time for sleep is over. Now is the time to reclaim my rightful territory. The land you all divided amongst yourselves and named Europe is not yours to have taken. Greedy, prideful little things..."

A great clawed hand planted on the ground within feet of Fiona as he began to stalk around her in a tight circle, his great tail swishing dangerously like a cat considering cornered prey.

 

[heartofcourage]

"So, a dragon of olde. A dragon looking for a hoard." Fiona countered as Hesperus stalked around her, threatening to intimidate her as she stood her ground. "That world has passed you by, Hesperus. It no longer exists. What is here now is much different than when you went to slumber, but it can still have a place for you."

"You can try to intimidate me, old one, but you need me more than you care to admit. I'm the end to your means." She offered, refusing to back down from him.

 

[KieranSoares]

"You are certainly the end of something," Hesperus echoed what Markos had told her. "I have dreamt of you for a hundred years, Fiona Blackstone. But a minute in my time, perhaps... but dreams do not invade my mind lightly. You are the end indeed. But the end of what?"

He lowered his head back down as he stalked, his eyes alight with curiosity. "The end of dragons, perhaps? Will your foolishness see the end of the little ones? Or maybe the end of the Blackstones. Will you be the last to die after your children and your father fall trying to save you? Or... will you be the end of an Empire again? Will you have to strike down yet another mad Emperor who would've slain his own son?"

Pushing forward, his great icy blue eye came within a few feet of her, so bright that it was almost hard to look at up close. "Or... are you the end of something much larger? Will you be the last I burn away as I take my rightful place back? Or is your bloodline the reason it's all happening in the first place? It's a shame... Reven would've presented me at least a small challenge, runt that she is... or was. Shot down by tiny human weapons. A pitiful excuse for an elder dragon. But at least longer-lived and stronger than the wyrmlings you associate with now. I expected better from a Blackstone."

His words were not that of simple hubris. He was daring her, hoping she'd give him a thrill he hadn't found in centuries. It was the thrill of the hunt, a great predator looking for a worthy opponent when he hadn't had one since before he went to sleep.

 

[heartofcourage]

"If you wish to see an arbiter in action, tell me where Margaret's sword is and I'll issue you a true challenge." Fiona murmured, her own temper stoked for a moment as he insulted Reven and her family, speaking of all the ways that she might be the means of an end. "I'll drive her steel through your black heart and show you what it feels like to die a lowly wyrm."

"Or perhaps her sword isn't good enough for you and you want the sword that slew an Emperor. Is that perhaps the better weapon to fell the great Hesperus? Would that be a better ending to your legend? I can throw ash in your great blue eye just as I did for Barbarossa and drive my own sword through your ribs."

 

[KieranSoares]

Hesperus's lips curled into a delighted smirk, his hackles raising with growing excitement. "There's the Arbiter," he chuckled, the sound like a great ship creaking in a hurricane. "You have her temper. Feed it. Show me a Blackstone worth remembering. None before or since Margaret have left any impression. They all were born, lived miserable, tiny lives, and died without my notice, just like the dragons they slew or tamed. Show me someone worthy of being remembered by the namesake of a god."

He surged forward again, this time opening his great jaws to reveal an ocean of teeth and a fire as bright as the dawn exploding out from his throat. As the fire overtook the dream state they shared, Fiona was violently shunted back to reality and out of her seat. She would've hit the ground if not for someone already holding her arm and trying to bring her back. Nearly overbalanced himself, Sam caught her and sank to the ground with her, pulling her into his lap and immediately lifting a kerchief to help her stem a stream of blood running from her nose. There was no splitting headache left over like she'd experienced when battling Markos or Dzana, but her entire body was a little too warm. It almost felt as if a fever had just broken.

"Fiona?" Sam murmured. Owen was still there with them, kneeling stiffly beside his daughter.

"Come back, little kit," Owen murmured, looking absolutely terrified at whatever he'd seen while her mind was far away.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona flailed against Sam as he pulled her into his lap and onto the ground, her reality snapping back violently. Her eyes were open and still unseeing, her pupils having turned them flat black, but she could hear as Sam called her name softly and Owen coaxed her back to reality. A cold sweat broke across her skin, soaking her body in an instant. Absolutely nothing made sense as she reached up a gloved hand and gently touched Sam's, helping him with her heavily bleeding nose.

"He's in Chester." She slurred, blinking until her vision started to return bit by bit, her normal blue returning. "He'll pause for a rest before he continues his journey."

 

[KieranSoares]

Sam held her tightly, secretly terrified at the state he'd seen her in. "Owen, grab someone for me," Sam requested, unwillingly to let Fiona go. Owen rose and limped out of the tent, calling for a passerby. A younger officer stepped in, immediately alarmed at the scene. He snapped to attention when Sam looked at him, saluting quickly.

"Lad, I need you to run a message to Soma, he'll spread the word," Sam explained quickly. "Hesperus is in Chester. Send Dola an' Prince Arnulf to Wick with Idunn an' elite escorts an' have Idunn return to Soma immediately after. Lastly, I need Markos's projects to take full priority immediately."

The soldier nodded, repeating back the orders to confirm, and sprinted out as Owen came back to Fiona's side. Sam got her on her feet as her nosebleed slowed, still keeping an arm around her. "What do you need, love? With Soma in charge of the defenses with my officers, I can be free t'help with anythin' you need."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Just give me a moment." Fiona murmured as Sam got her onto her feet and Owen stayed close by.

She cleaned her nose, resting her head against Sam's chest until she gathered her wits about her. When she finally felt strong enough, she glanced at the map that she had placed upon the table. Her stone was where it had been dropped off the edge of the table, but Ephriam's was still there, nestled perfectly over a spot on the map despite the struggle she had just gone through with it in her hand.

"Da. Where is Margaret?" She asked softly, looking over at her father and knowing that her grandfather was showing her the way.

 

[KieranSoares]

"She fell fighting off pirates coming in from the North Sea," Owen explained quietly. "Her husband placed her and their infant son in a small barrow somewhere outside of what is now Inverness, though I've never been sure of exactly where. I only know it was somewhere hidden in the highlands, and it was a proper underground barrow that Skolgeir spent years building for them after they died."

"A barrow..." Sam murmured. "I don't know of any around Inverness."

"It was sealed, and extremely difficult to find on purpose. Skolgeir hid everything important to Margaret there, especially their son Ulf after he was killed by an arrow meant for Skolgeir himself. I would guess it's northwest of the city, but I've never been able to find it."

 

[heartofcourage]

“Da, I need you to go with Nora and Soma when the forces move.” Fiona said as she finally moved on shaken legs to retrieve her stone, looking down to where Ephriam was telling her to go. “Work with Markos when you can to slow Hesperus. Sam and I need to look for Margaret. Grandpa is going to show us the way.”

 

[KieranSoares]

Owen looked immediately nervous at her plan, but he forced himself to take a deep breath. "Inverness is dangerous territory, little kit... Royer's most loyal ally holds it now and they're dead set on keeping it from us."

"Just two Riders in the highlands will be tough to pin down," Sam assured him. "But keep this quiet. The less who know what we're up to, the better."

Owen nodded, taking his personal stone before kissing Fiona's cheek. "Go soon, my love. We need Margaret's help badly." With that, he slipped out to find Nora and help as much as he could to pack their camp.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona was quiet as she wiped the last of the blood from her nose, carefully folding the kerchief to gathering her nerves back together.

“The size of the largest building in London.” She said softly to her husband, glancing up at him. “Unwilling to bargain. He wants a challenge from me, my anger and my rage.”

 

[KieranSoares]

Sam grew a bit pale at her description of Hesperus, but he stood firm before her. "And what are we doin' looking for Margaret Blackstone? Is there somethin' she might still have that can help?"

Sam's brows furrowed. "I trust you t'keep a level head, love... Until the moment anger serves better. Just let me be there to help, okay?"

 

[heartofcourage]

“Margaret has something that I might need. Grandpa is going to guide me to it.” Fiona said softly, looking at Sam as if begging him to not think she was crazy for her ramblings. “There will be things I do out there that might scare the shit out of you, Sam. Things that make what happened here and with Reven look like child’s play. I need you to be stronger than you’ve ever been for me before.”