Chapter 4
Gunter would rather be shopping again with Nikki than out here, trying to pick up the Jaeggi’s trail again, but needs must. He set down to earth gently, not wanting to jar his passenger.
Even as he landed, he kept a wary eye on the abandoned place in front of him, his lip curled in a warning snarl as he settled his wings close to his deep sangria red scales.
The last conflict with the Jaeggi had occurred here, and it bore the signs, Nikki’s explosion well in evidence.
Black marks crisscrossed the walls and ground from shrapnel that shredded like a destructive flower blooming violently.
The buildings reflected evidence of dragon fire, areas now completely hollowed out with destruction.
Magic was evident, too—the spells that had torn at the buildings and pavement, the crumbled areas where dragons had physically attacked.
The town was a husk of what it had been, making the area look like a desolate battleground.
Which, in essence, it was.
It had taken this long to settle everyone in, what with the damage the rescued mages had faced, and the injuries of the battle itself. Nikki, too, seemed to be ready now, as they faced it all without flinching. The downtime had been good for them.
However, it had been a good two weeks since the battle, and the passing days had carried no hint of the Jaeggi.
Which worried everyone, of course. Nothing good came from having quiet enemies. This would be the third search attempt to locate them, as two other earth dragons had come out alone and tried to pick up the trail with no success.
Zahur landed not far from him, shaking out his massive green wings before settling and panning the area with a sweep of his giant, spiked head. The earth dragon had volunteered to come out with them and see if he could possibly pick up the Jaeggi’s trail.
Nikki unbuckled from the harness and slid to their feet—a little clumsily, as they weren’t used to the motion. Yet. Gunter had full faith that once Nikki unfurled a little and trusted the clan enough to interact with everyone, they’d quickly be seduced by someone. And then flown everywhere.
Gunter turned his head to look at Nikki, trying to interpret the expression on their face.
But Nikki was hard to read. Probably a survival tactic picked up after a decade of living within the Jaeggi’s regime.
The poker face was strong as Nikki stared straight ahead.
Gunter was worried about them, truth tell.
Nikki had already endured so much, being here had to be a stark reminder of things they’d rather not remember.
On one hand, Gunter was strangely proud Nikki would face their demons; on the other hand, worried they’d overdo it.
He’d keep an eye on Nikki. If it got too much for the young mage, Gunter would fly them out of here.
Zahur shifted back into his human form and crouched down, holding his hand just an inch above the dirt, his harsh face lined in concentration.
The earth dragon was not what you would call small, not in any sense.
He had a good six inches on Gunter in height and was nearly as broad as he was tall.
And only some of that was due to muscle.
Zahur, he had a feeling, was a person who loved food.
But he was beginning to wonder if that was an earth dragon trait.
King Chalo of the Earth Dragons was also something of a walking mountain when it came to his size.
All the earth dragons who’d arrived at Burkhard were quite large.
Was that a trait of the warrior dragons or an overall earth dragon trait? He’d have to ask, but later.
After a moment, Zahur shook his head and stood. “I’m not picking up much from this side,” Zahur said definitely. “Where did they exit?”
“Northeast side, I think.” Nikki pointed ahead. “At least, that was the other main road in. The dragons all came in from this side.”
“So, they fled in the opposite direction? Okay, makes sense to me.” Zahur turned to look at Gunter. “I know you said you wanted to poke around a bit.”
With some reluctance, Gunter shifted to his human form as well.
As a dragon, he could better protect Nikki—at the very least shield them with his enormous body and wings.
But poking around couldn’t be accomplished effectively while also trying to mind a long tail with a knack for knocking things over.
“We didn’t really search this place as carefully as we could have,” Gunter explained.
“We had injured people, distraught mages to rescue, and Sora was fit to be tied by the time we got Ravi back to him. It was chaos. The only focus on this area has been to try and pick up the trail from here, which—as you know—hasn’t met with success.
I feel like we might garner some clues if we look.
It will be risky, though. As Nikki said, they’ve surely left booby traps behind. ”
“I’ll do my best to steer you clear of them,” Nikki promised faithfully.
A half smile tilted up one corner of Zahur’s mouth. “I trust you to do so, young mage. Alright, let’s wade in. If I can catch the start of their trail, it’ll be that much easier to track it out of this place.”
Gunter possessed only an intellectual understanding of how an earth dragon’s sense worked.
He knew they were very in tune with the earth, that it would do their bidding to limited degrees when summoned, but he was shaky on the details.
They were excellent trackers, though; everyone agreed on that.
Hence why Zahur had volunteered to come out with them.
The trio approached the damaged city with wariness. The closer they got, the more Nikki gravitated to Gunter’s shadow. They walked in step with him, but tensely, as if they were a second away from latching onto his arm and not letting go.
Having some sympathy, Gunter turned his hand palm up in offering. “If it makes you feel better—”
Nikki latched onto the offered hand instantly, the grip borderline stranglehold. But they did relax a little at the same time, as if Gunter was the safety line they needed.
It gave Nikki confidence, too, as they turned their elvish face upwards with a grin teasing their mouth. “So nice. All of you dragons are so nice.”
Gunter scoffed. “Wait until I’m on top of a deadline and Ravi sneaks in to prank me. Then you’ll see how ‘nice’ I am.”
“Ravi’s fun, though. I bet his pranks are awesome.”
Gunter stopped and pointed one finger in warning at Nikki.
“You are forbidden from following his example. The clan already has two troublemakers, we don’t need three.
” Naturally, he ruined the effect by lightly booping the tip of Nikki’s nose with his finger.
The action startled himself as much as it obviously did Nikki.
Where had the boop come from? Why had the boop come out?
Gunter never booped anyone. Hadn’t done a single boop in his entire life.
But Nikki was so delighted with the gesture, grin stretching from ear to ear, that Gunter immediately felt justified.
Boops were fine. Good. Yeah, fine. No need to overthink it. He shook it off and looked both ways up the narrow street. “Alright, where to from here. Zahur?”
“I’m just picking up a lot of traffic back and forth,” the earth dragon admitted. “Lots of feet and vehicles going every direction. Nothing clear enough for me to pick up. Let’s walk where Nikki thinks they escaped.”
“Okay.”
They kept walking. Gunter saw signs of hasty escape in the oddments—clothing torn and trashed, splintered glass spell bottles, broken personal effects. So much waste, but that was standard in this kind of quick evacuation. Gunter could still remember similar moments he’d lived through in the war.
“So much trash on the streets,” Zahur noted. “If I were more scent-oriented, I’d have a field day with this.”
“Same. But we dragons aren’t exactly bloodhounds, more’s the pity.”
“Tell me about it.”
Nikki popped his head out to look up at Zahur. “Zahur, if I can find one of the main garages, would that be the best starting point for you? Can you track vehicles?”
“I can. Why, do you know where one is?”
“I’ve got a good idea. It’s where I was brought in from.”
“Good, then let’s try there first.”
Nikki led the way—still holding onto Gunter’s hand. Gunter allowed this due to the uneasiness still tightening Nikki’s slender shoulders. Being here no doubt brought a lot of bad memories back.
Lisette had already talked to Gunter once about getting Nikki some therapy.
With a good health clinic in Sonthofen, it would be easy to arrange, and Nikki without question needed someone to talk to after everything that had happened.
Why Lisette would speak to Gunter about this, he had no idea.
Sure, Nikki seemed to have latched on to him as a safe haven.
And didn’t really leave Gunter’s workspace without him.
But that didn’t mean Nikki was his responsibility, either.
This entire arrangement was only temporary until Nikki grew more comfortable at Burkhard around the various dragons and mages.
He’d pointed that out, being perfectly logical about the whole thing.
Lisette had looked at him as if he’d said the stupidest thing she’d heard all year. But she also hadn’t explained what he’d said to make her react so. All she’d said in the end was to discuss it with Nikki.
Gunter hadn’t. Or hadn’t yet. How did you even bring that up in casual conversation, anyway?
Right now, if Nikki needed to hold Gunter’s hand to keep their nerve up, then they could hold it to their heart’s content.
“Is that…a cellphone?” Nikki turned their head a little sideways. “Under that plastic bag, there.”
Zahur went ahead to look, bending and removing the bag. “It is. Pretty busted, though.”
“Grab it anyway,” Gunter said. “I’ve seen Cassie and Cameron both repair things I thought beyond hope. What we consider broken and what they consider broken are two very different things.”