Chapter 10
Alsen left the thinking for another time.
He wasn’t going to stand here watching the library burn. He raised his hands towards the sky, pulled on his power, and pushed it out. The power flooded through him, raw and unstable.
He hadn’t ever tried to manipulate the weather. But all his spells started from a focused thought. None of them was prepared, at first. Not the shield. Not the lance. Not the indirect missile.
So, he might as well try this. He willed the power into clouds, heavy clouds, full of water that needed to fall.
His body gave him the chilly warning of being overused.
He stopped the power drain, focusing on finishing the spell with what he had already used.
Turning pure mana into clouds turned out not to be all that difficult.
Clouds covered the sky from one horizon to another.
Rain began to fall in an absolute downpour, heavy and relentless, centered over the forest where the library burned. The drops hit his face like tiny hammers as the storm spread outward from its epicenter.
Cold flooded through Alsen’s body. He grunted, needing to focus to stand straight.
“That was smart,” Luna remarked from beside him. “It’s quite the strategy to nearly exhaust yourself right before a potential fight. That’d make a great epitaph.”
He grimaced. She had a point. He hadn’t considered that the source of the fire could have been someone who still lingered around, not an accident. “You can do the fighting, if there’s any.”
She rolled her eyes. “My hero.”
The palpable disappointment hit him straight in the gut. Ouch. He blushed a bit, but rushed forward, anyway.
Luna did so as well. They ran into the forest, the rain soaking them within seconds. Luna moved ahead, her footing sure despite the mud forming beneath their boots. Alsen stumbled twice, his coordination suffering from the drain, but he kept pace.
As they got closer, the sounds reached them. Screaming. Crackling flames. And underneath it all, a deep, rumbling sound that might have been laughter.
They burst through a tree line into a clearing.
The Oak Library sprawled before them, a massive structure built around and into an ancient oak tree so large its trunk could have housed a small inn.
The east wing was engulfed in flames, the fire fighting against the rain and producing clouds of hissing steam.
Scholars in singed robes and villagers formed a chain from a well, ready to pass water hand to hand, but they weren’t moving at all.
Above it all, two creatures sat on the tree’s thicker branches, straight above the library.
Two red drakes, each one about twenty feet long, serpentine bodies covered in scales that glowed like cooling embers.
Their wings spread wide as one of them released a torrent of flame onto the library to sustain the ongoing fire.
Their bodies steamed, evaporating almost all water that touched them.
The scholars had gathered around the library, shouting something at the drakes. No spells were cast, though.
“Tribute was due three days ago,” the drake called down, its voice surprisingly clear despite its inhuman throat. “You did not pay.”
“We gave you the meat you asked for!” a couple of scholars shouted, despair slipping from their voices.
“The cows tasted disgusting.” The drake’s rumbling voice boomed through the forest. “I ate half of one, and I still feel sick. The tribute doesn’t count if we don’t enjoy it.”
An elderly woman in scorched robes stood at the library’s entrance, her hands raised in supplication. “Please! We will get you new cows. We’ll have the full tribute within the fortnight, I swear it!”
“I’m hungry now, not in a fortnight!” The second drake glared at the woman, smoke snaking up from the corners of its jaw. “Get us the cows, or we will burn down the library.”
“We’ve served faithfully for generations! My grandmother paid tribute to your lord’s grandfather. Please, the collection is irreplaceable—”
“Then you should have thought of that before you served us disgusting cows.” The first drake landed on the library’s intact roof, its claws digging into the wooden shingles. The structure groaned under its weight. “Maybe we should burn the west wing, too. To help you remember for next time.”
Alsen and Luna finally ran close enough. His blood ran hot despite the chill in his bones.
He stepped forward, pulling on the dregs of his power. It wasn’t much. Enough for a few shields, maybe one good lance if he pushed himself beyond the edge of consciousness. But the drakes didn’t know that.
“Leave,” he said, his voice carrying across the clearing. “Now.”
Every head turned toward him. The scholars. The villagers. The drakes.
The first drake tilted its head, reptilian eyes focusing on him with sudden interest. “What’s this? An adventurer?”
“A mage,” the second one said. It jumped off the branch, sliding down to land in front of Alsen. It hit the ground with an impact that made everything shake. “Unregistered too. A fool who thinks he can be a hero.”
Alsen hadn’t expected them to figure that out. He kept his expression neutral. “I won’t ask twice.”
The first drake laughed, a sound like rocks grinding together. “Not a cow, but a snack nonetheless.”
Luna stepped past Alsen, measuring the drake with a cold, disinterested look. “Could you turn a bit? I need to see if your neck’s long enough.”
A stunned second of silence passed through the air. Even Alsen froze in place. Something about Luna’s tone was so out of place in the situation that it completely threw him off.
The drake glowered at her. “Long… enough?”
“Yeah. I used to have dragon-hide boots, and I really miss them. The best part to make them from is the hide on the neck. Flexible, but durable and still everything-proof. So, could you turn a bit?” She waved her hand dismissively.
The drake lowered its stance, bringing its snout to Luna’s face. “What did you say?”
“You got the angle wrong.” Luna looked the drake in the eyes.
Her voice sounded steady, bored, her expression unreadable, emotionless.
“Then again, you aren’t really a dragon, are you?
Just a drake. So, you’re supposed to be stupid, I guess.
I wonder if anyone would even care if I had boots made out of you.
Then again, you might make for a decent raincoat. ”
The drake growled. “I’ll keep you alive as I tear the meat from your bones.”
Alsen’s thoughts finally caught up. The drakes barely steamed anymore, and they were lizards.
Cold-blooded creatures slowed down when cold.
The drakes produced their own fire, but they were cooling off.
“In this weather?” he asked, doing his best to sound calm.
He raised his hand, creating a tiny floating orb of frostiness.
It didn’t do anything, but it looked like he was preparing an ice spell.
“Don’t!” One of the scholars shouted at Alsen. “If you hurt them, they’ll come back with a dozen more.” Her eyes were wet, and not from the rain. “They’ll burn the whole valley. They’ll kill everyone. Everyone. Do you understand?”
“But I’ll have my drake-wing raincoat,” Luna said, voice devoid of any sympathy. She shifted her stance slightly, standing sideways to the drake, her dagger on the side it couldn’t see. “Plus, isn’t drake meat edible? It’s sure to taste better than the game I’ve been eating for the past week.”
Other scholars gathered around, forming a barrier between Alsen and the drakes. Their faces all showed the same expression, terror.
Alsen wasn’t sure of what, though.
“Please,” another scholar said, a young man with burns on his hands. “We know you mean well. But you don’t live here. You won’t be here when they return.”
Alsen understood. But if he let go of the spell, then they would eat Luna. He intensified the icy orb in his hand. “Nobody has to get hurt,” he said. “We will help the scholars get double tribute for the next round, and everything will be fine.”
The second drake stretched its wings. “Double tribute would do us good. Though, I do think the west wing could use some remodeling. What do you think, brother?”
“I think you’re right.”
The drake opened its mouth, turning from Luna. Heat gathered in its throat, a glow building behind its teeth.
“No!” The elderly scholar released Alsen and ran toward the library, placing herself directly in the drake’s line of fire. “Please! I’ll triple the next tribute.”
The drake released the torrent of flame. The flame blasted above the woman, hitting the roof of the west wing. The wood caught ablaze in spite of the rain.
The drake on the branch chuckled. “Yes, you will triple it. Or we will burn everything. Come, brother. Let us fly to our nest.”
The ground drake spared Luna a sideways glance and, with a single beat of his wings, flew up.
The wind blast almost knocked Luna off her feet. She kept glaring at him.
The second drake jumped off the branch, rising into the air, carried with ease on his massive wings.
Alsen and Luna watched them fly away. A white text floated in front of their eyes.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: CONFLICT RESOLVED – RED DRAKES (2)]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 200]
[CURRENT LEVEL: 5]
When the drakes got far enough away, Alsen let the fake chilly spell vanish.
Luna bent over, releasing a deep exhale. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” She started hyperventilating. “I really have to stop doing shit like this.”
Alsen stared at her, surprised. Was she bluffing?
“Damn it. Fucking drakes. Fuck. I need a longer dagger.” Luna kept hyperventilating. “Fuck. I thought I’d end up as a snack.” Her whole body shook, splashing water around.
Alsen walked to her. She had been bluffing. “Can I help you?”
“Ah, fuck.” Luna straightened, her breathing still double the usual speed. “Let’s help put out the fire. We can leave becoming drake snacks for later.”