The Endless Forest

Ithea stared at the group of elves– minus Eri –along with the dragons, and Felix. They were deep within the forest and no doubt it was Zira who managed to find her. Still, she was a little surprised to see them all here.

“What do you want?” she asked, folding her arms.

“First, what are you doing out here? You are usually near the edge of the clearing,” Felix said, he and Zira stepping forward.

“If you must know, I was staying away from all those elves. They are quite noisy and I like my sleep.”

“She isn’t good with people, Felix,” Zira said with a dragon’s grin.

Ithea knew what her daughter was doing, but wasn’t going to give in. “Be that as it may, my original answer stands. Plus, I don’t have to deal with them, just you,” she responded pointedly.

Felix, for his part, gave Zira a disapproving look before speaking up. “That’s fair, and I was merely curious. Anyway, we actually came here to ask for a request.”

A request? Now that’s rare… “You have my curiosity, what is it?”

The human glanced at the group behind him. “We want you to train us.”

She cocked an eye at that. She had mostly given up on training them after it was apparent that Felix was struggling with his mana. There wasn’t anything she knew that could help, though she would never admit that.

Though, I wonder what brought this up? Unless… Ah, that has to be it. “Does this have anything to do with the spirit?” she asked.

Felix looked surprised by that. “You knew about the Goddess?”

Ithea let out a snort. “Felix, there isn’t anything that escapes my attention around here. Even this far away. However, I never knew it was calling itself a Goddess. But I suppose that makes sense.”

The entire group had a dumbfounded expression.

“Why… Why didn’t you say anything?”

She shrugged. “I was pretty sure you would figure it out. Besides, it seemed harmless and it's not like it's the only spirit floating around here.”

“But it isn’t like the dragon spirits.”

“If you mean it manifested itself, then yes. Otherwise, what difference does it actually make?”

The human stared blankly at her for several seconds before speaking again. “It is a Goddess, you know? Aluin made it clear that they are much more powerful than regular spirits.”

Ithea let out a laugh. “They are called gods, but they can still die. They aren’t omnipotent, nor are they omniscient. They might seem like they are, but trust me. I’ve seen them fall.”

Felix looked like he wanted to argue, but after a second he shook his head. “In any case, the Goddess gave me a vision–”

“Another one?”

That caught him off guard too. “Yes, another one.”

“And what did you see in your vision?” she asked, folding her arms.

“Fire,” Felix said, the word was filled with intense, primal fear. “Fire and Ash. The humans– My people are coming, I saw them on their ships.”

Ithea’s amusement turned serious. “When?”

“I don’t know,” he said in a whisper. “But I feel it’ll be sooner rather than later.”

“Does Aluin know?”

“He does.”

“And the others?” She pointed to the group behind him.

“That is why they have joined me here, yes.”

Ithea fell silent as she considered his request. I wish I could say this could be fun but no, this is serious.

She let out a sigh, feeling for the first time in a very, very long time a bone-deep exhaustion. “I won’t go easy on you, you understand? Not on anyone,” the last part was directed at the elves behind Felix.

The entire group gave each other a look before turning their attention back at her. And, with a hesitant nod, they all agreed.

Ithea forced an icy smile, hoping to mask her true feelings.

“Fine then! We shall begin at once!”

For Eri, the day wore on. The thought of getting time to think, along with getting one of the items she needed for Felix’s present, had gone out the window. Now she was stuck watching Calinna as the other woman kept making honest, but silly, mistakes.

It took all her willpower to not sigh at every error, but that was starting to wear thin. Thankfully, things were starting to calm down.

“Do you think you can handle the rest?” Eri asked, holding her breath.

“I think so…” Calinna said hesitantly.

“Good.” I swear, I want to go and yell at her father! It was easy to blame the timid woman, but Eri knew better. It was clear she was forced into this mess. Still, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to snap!

She took a deep breath, as she glanced over to where Kyrith was. He was sunning and appeared to be sleeping, but she knew better. Her partner was simply bored and–

Both Eri and him suddenly perked up. In fact, most of the elves near her stopped and stared out towards Chief Calsen’s camp.

There was a commotion happening, filling the air with distant shouts. She could see people running towards her direction.

Damn it! she screamed in her head. What’s happening now?! Frustrated, a brief thought of slipping away entered her mind. Eri quickly squashed it. Instead, she took off at a run, heading straight for Kyrith.

Eri? What’s going on? he asked.

I don’t know, but get up. We’re going to check it out!

The ember-colored dragon hopped onto his feet just as Eri reached him. In an instant, she was on his back and directing him to the Chief’s camp.

Hurry, she added seeing more elves rushing away.

Okay, hold on tight!

She didn’t need to be told, and was already calling upon her magic to help keep her anchored. Still, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

Kyrith took off at a dead sprint, his wings unfurled and catching air. With a single leap and a mighty beat, he went airborne.

For a brief moment, Eri felt that exhilarating rush as she looked down upon the world. However, she pushed the feeling away from her mind and focused on the disturbance.

Keep low, she instructed, realizing he was too high for her to see what was happening.

The dragon quickly adjusted and dropped his height, gaining speed in the process. In the blink of an eye, they were over the camp.

Circle around, we need to see what’s happening.

He sent her an acknowledgement and banked, slowing himself. Eri leaned over and looked down.

Below, a group of roughly twenty elves were circling–

Are those dire wolves?! she asked, surprised. There was little doubt in her mind where they came from, but the question was why were they over there?

They are! We have to hurry before those elves hurt them! Kyrith suddenly let out a growl as something long and thin was thrown. Whatever the object was, it glanced off one of the wolves.

The wolf in question lunged, but more elves holding similar objects prevented it from attacking.

They’re throwing spears! she realized. Can you land in between them?

Not without crushing someone! But– Hold on! With that little warning, Kyrith dove.

Eri winced, feeling the air sting against her face as her partner started rumbling underneath her. With the wind deafening her, she did not immediately realize what he was doing. He was letting out a roar.

Meanwhile, below them, everyone froze and looked up. A mighty dragon was heading straight for them.

All hell broke loose.

Everyone scattered as Kyrith flared out his wings and braked. Even then, he slammed into the ground, causing it to shake and stunning those unlucky enough to be near him…

Eri let out a gasp, thankful that her mana held out. It had still been rough, knocking the breath out of her and rattling her to her bones. Without it, she was certain that she’d end up being tossed away.

Dazed, she had to close her eyes to keep the world from spinning. Nothing’s broken…I think.

She let go of her death grip around Kyrith’s neck and nearly slid out of her perch. Thankfully, she managed to catch herself and remain in place.

Eri! Are you alright?! her partner shouted, their bond suddenly filling with panic.

I’ll be alright. Just need a second… Now that she was starting to calm down, she could feel her entire body protesting his stunt. I’m going to be feeling this tomorrow, she thought letting out a groan.

Another moment passed before someone started shouting. “What in the hells?!”

It took her a moment to place the voice as belonging to Calsen. She cracked open her eyes and found the Chief approaching, spear in hand.

A growl sounded out, but it didn’t come from any of the dire wolves. No, it was Kyrith and he was sounding quite pissed.

The other elf froze, realizing the dragon was staring down at him.

“You hurt him. You hurt Growls,” her partner seethed.

Even with the fear plain on his face, Chief Calsen spoke. “They attacked us! We were defending ourselves!”

That was the wrong answer. Kyrith took a single step, the air around him heating up. “You’re lying.”

Eri decided that she needed to interject. “Kyrith! Let me handle this, go make sure the dire wolves are okay,” she said, quickly sliding off his back. She landed with a soft thud, the ground surprisingly malleable and hot.

Behind her, she could hear the whimpers of the wolves. Yet, her partner did not move.

Kyrith!

That finally made him blink, and after a tense moment he began slowly withdrawing. His eyes never left the Chief until he came upon one of the dire wolves.

“Now, what happened?” Eri asked with a huff, and folded her arms.

Calsen shook his head, erasing the terrified look. “What I said is the truth! What is up with your dragon?!” he demanded, becoming quite animated.

Eri furrowed her brows, doing her best to ignore the ‘your dragon’ part. However, the Chief made one fatal flaw.

“Chief Calsen, I should warn you, Kyrith is very good at reading people. He isn’t accusing you of lying on a whim. No, he accused you of lying because you are. So tell me, what happened?”

His expression turned defiant, as if he was about to challenge her. It might have been some of her partner's emotions bleeding through the bond, but Eri’s patience was thin and she cut him off the instant he opened his mouth.

“Either tell me the truth, or I’ll bring Kyrith back. And trust me, you might not live if that happens.”

Silence fell between the two as Chief Calsen began to sweat. It was clear that he was thinking up an excuse and indeed it didn’t take long.

“Okay, look. One of my men took one of the pups– I didn’t know that until, well, this started,” he gestured to the scene behind her. “But you have to understand, it was all a misunderstanding!

“You see, one of my men was out scouting behind the kobold village– The same village you failed to mention, by the way. He found the dire wolves and feared the worst. He came running back and informed me of them–”

Eri frowned and interjected. “Were there no kobolds out with them? Also, I did try to warn you about the village but you cut me off.”

“Humph, I’m sure you tried,” he muttered, already looking more confident. “There was only one kobold out there when I came rushing out with more men. Thankfully, I realized what was happening– And I must say, I find it quite intriguing, if a bit amusing, that they managed to tame the beasts.

“I was impressed enough that I tried to barter for two of the pups, but I was turned down. A shame, really, a breeding pair could be useful…”

“So you decided to steal one?” Eri pushed.

“Gods, no! I am no thief! And neither are any of my men. Anyway, I was getting to that.” He let out a huff before continuing.

“After trying to barter for one, we decided to leave. However, apparently one of the pups decided to follow us. One poor fool noticed it when we were nearly back to our camp. They decided to take it and bring it back with him.”

Chief Calsen waved a hand as if it was of little concern. “There was no malice or ill intentions, they simply were going to give it some food and water before returning it. Unfortunately, the dire wolves didn’t know that and showed up.”

With a shrug, he finished his long winded tale, “The rest is as you saw.”

Eri felt nothing but disdain for the Chief and his story. It wasn’t helped with the fact that she could still feel Kyrith raging over their bond.

She also didn’t trust a single word he said. To her, it felt like he was either omitting events or stretching the truth until it was about to snap. Whichever it was, however, there was a more pressing question on her mind.

“Where is the pup?” she asked as calmly as possible.

“Released,” he said confidently.

It was after that, that Eri heard the sound of footsteps rushing in from somewhere behind her. A simple glance told her it was a group of kobolds, with a heavily scarred, blue kobold leading them.

“Tamer!” she called out.

The kobold adjusted his course and ran straight up to her. His eyes were cold and his snout was curled up in anger.

“Where Nosy?” he growled out, looking like he was about to attack the Chief.

“Whoa, hold on now! It was released– Eri do something!” Calsen took a step back, holding his arms up and giving her a pleading look.

Nosy? Eri wasn’t sure which pup that was, there were now two litters of pups and she hadn’t been keeping up with them. Not that it matters right now… “Tamer, go check the dire wolves and see if…Nosy is there. Let me know their condition as well.”

Just like how Kyrith eyed the chief before leaving, Tamer did much the same. Only, he added a snarl as he whipped around and left.

“For your sake…” She brought her full attention to bear upon the Chief, her expression severe.

“That pup better be fine.”