Ansar and the twins stopped at the side of the entrance of a cavern. As they carefully peered down the cavern, they saw Fringe don his Astral form before turning the corner. Ansar was well and ready to rush in after him, but Emyve held him back with a grip on his shoulder.
“Not yet.” The redhead whispered.
As the four of them looked on, Fringe came back the way he came with another dragon in Astral form, and the two of them walked down another path in the cavern.
“Uncle?” Cero wondered out loud.
“Now.” Emyve urged quietly, leading the way down the cavern in the direction where Duke Borev and Fringe emerged from. As the four of them sped down the cavern, they came across a light that shone from inside a room. The sight that greeted them as they entered the room caused Ansar to immediately shield the eyes of the twins.
“What in the world?” The Visionary hissed as he gaped at the restrained Darifer, who was decked from wrists to ankles in bondage and suspended with several different bars.
“Ansar!?” Kelius gasped.
Ansar rushed over to him. “Kelius!” He was both relieved and anxious at the same time. “Did that dickheaded Duke do this to you?”
“Yes, but…” Kelius trailed off at the sound of identical sharp gasps.
“It hurts so much!” Cero whimpered as he covered his webbed ears and hunched over.
His sister did the same right beside him. “What is all that buzzing? Why won’t it stop!”
“No! Are those Pure dragon children? You shouldn’t have brought them here!” Darifer warned. “Quickly! Get them as far away from here as possible! The technology harms them!”
“Ansar, take them back, now!” Emyve ordered. “I will help Kelius.”
Ansar’s gaze went from Kelius to the twins and back again, but he swooped down to grab each child over his shoulders and took off.
“Why are these restraints so difficult to remove?” Emyve huffed as he tugged and shoved the metal bindings. When he finally managed to release Kelius, he wrapped an arm around his waist as the dragon sagged against him.
“Fuck!” Kelius hissed as he rubbed at his arms and legs. “I’ll be fine…just gotta get the kinks out. Go help Dar over there.”
“Understood,” Emyve said as he propped Kelius against the side and he struggled with the lavender dragon’s restraints. “Can you explain to me why the technology in this room affects the Pure dragons? They don’t seem to have any kind of reactions to our ships.”
“I don’t know for certain,” Darifer began. "Maybe-" The lavender dragon trailed off, practically choking on air when he caught sight of something behind Emyve.
“How dare you release him?” Borev hissed as he took hold of Emyve by the neck and squeezed hard. Emyve was the tallest of all the Gallants, but the duke was merely a couple of inches shorter and was bulkier.
The redhead took hold of the Pure dragon’s hands and put all his strength into trying to force them off of his neck. He was barely able to keep him from choking him to death and was finally starting to win when the duke sent sharp, painful magic through his hands and down Emyve’s throat. The Astral dragon felt as if he was being whipped by several branches of lightning from the inside out. He began to see darkness blurring the edges of his vision when Borev let out a pained growl.
Emyve struggled to clear his vision and instantly regretted the motion. "Ruthed, get off of him!” He called out.
“If he stops playing dirty, then I will!” Ruthed responded adamantly as he roughly tugged on the Duke’s hair. The Pure dragon was flailing and trying to pull Ruthed off of him to no avail.
“GET OFF ME!” Borev hollered.
The fact that his beloved was in such a perilous situation spurred Emyve into action. He rushed over to where Darifer’s restraints resided. “Ruthed, try to maneuver him over here!” He called out.
Distracted by the suggestion, Ruthed paused in his rough handling, which was just enough time for the duke to bash him against the bunker’s counter. “Enough, filth!” His hands tensed as he extended them, charging power. Ruthed scampered behind Emyve, and Borev stalked towards them. “Darifer is mine.” He rumbled fervently.
The Astral dragon’s gazes were drawn to something just past the duke’s shoulder, which caused him to turn around. Kelius was wobbly on his feet, leaning against the counter with one hand.
“You know, that’s the funny thing about distractions…” He commented as Ruthed took the opportunity to take hold of the nearest, solid thing he could find.
The loud sound of a metal clang was then heard as Ruthed hit the back of the duke's head with one of the bars that were used to hold Darifer suspended. The aquamarine dragon let the bar fall from his hands to the floor, and then promptly turned to pinch Emyve’s arm.
The redhead hissed and frowned down in confusion at his mate.
“That was for worrying the living daylights out of me!” Ruthed huffed.
Kelius allowed himself to slump back down to the ground. “Ru, I don’t think we have enough time for you to lay down any punishments on him.”
“He is correct,” Darifer agreed from his place on the floor. His limbs had been suspended for so long that he simply could not will himself to move. “We need to restrain him. And we need to activate this bunker’s radar system so it can tell us more about the tremors.”
Ruthed and Emyve immediately dragged the unconscious duke over to the restraints that once held the lavender dragon. They locked him in place, and then Emyve helped lift Darifer over to the controls.
“Drag that gold slider to the left and press in the switch to activate the screen.” Darifer began instructing Ruthed. “I wasn’t able to get past-“
“I’m back with more help!” Ansar called as he ran in with Madhal and Ilohir.
Emyve let out a long sigh. “If we are all here, then who is evacuating the Pure dragons?”
“We are here to help Kelius onto a ship,” Ilohir explained. “From what Ansar’s told us, he’s not up to the task himself.”
“You got that right,” Kelius spoke up from his spot on the floor. “And I haven’t even been here as long as poor Darifer over there.”
“Kelius!” Ansar gasped as he rushed over to him. He gave him a hard kiss on the lips and then began to kiss his face all over. “I was worried sick!!”
Madhal and Ilohir walked over to the pair and hefted Kelius up with an arm over each of their shoulders, causing the Gallant to hiss in pain. “Let’s get you to one of the ships.” Madhal insisted.
As much as he wanted to go with them in case he needed to protect Kelius himself, Ansar stayed behind to help Emyve and Ruthed. He was going to ask them what they needed help with when a large screen appeared before them.
A young woman with long, curly white hair and violet-blue blue eyes was projected before the image zoomed out and a group of Pure dragons was seen pacing around in the very bunker that they were standing in.
“Just look at that detestable human! If she only knew that we managed to stow away this station and those detonating devices, she’d surely take her subjects with her and evacuate our planet!”
“Forget telling her, we should trigger the bombs now, while they’re all distracted with their festivities.”
“Wouldn’t that affect the remaining pure dragons on the surface?”
“Those human-whoring fools are already lost to us!
“They are still our brethren!”
“…Fine. Then we will set them to detonate one at a time during midday, every day. That should give them plenty of time to evacuate.”
“What if they find this work station?”
“They won’t. Not if we hide it deep underground…”
The message came to an abrupt end. Darifer shook his head, pain shooting down his spine at the simple movement. “That cannot be it.” He searched the control pad desperately for some kind of indication that other recordings could be extracted.
Ansar and Ruthed began to rant at the same time after the initial shock.
“What!? Ancient Pure dragon farts planted bombs somewhere!?" Ansar cried out.
"Of all the bumbling, bombing, buttheads!" Ruthed gasped.
“Hush, both of you!” Emyve chastised with a frown. "I have seen recordings like this in the library of the fortress." He admitted. He tried a combination on the display pad and turned the switch once again, but nothing happened. "I can't get it to bring up the radar. But, perhaps there is more information on this device in the fortress." He took a moment to briefly look at all of them in the eye as he came to a decision. "We've no other choice but to head back for now."
A frustrated sound fell from Darifer’s lips. “Why do I feel that all of my time spent here has been in vain?”
“On the contrary,” Emyve countered as all of them began to head back. “We finally know the source of the tremors. Now, we must learn how to operate this radar to find those hidden explosives.”
“Wait…Borev, we cannot leave him.” Darifer insisted.
Fringe entered the bunker just at that moment. He froze, took note of all of the Astrals in the room, and tried to run.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Ansar cried out as he tackled the man’s legs. “If you don’t want to end up in the same position as your Duke, you better help us board him on a ship with restraints!”
Ruthed once again picked up one of the bars and slapped it menacingly across the palm of his other hand in a threatening manner. “I’d do as he says if I were you.” He prompted.
Emyve raised an eyebrow at the scene but chose to scold the two of them some other time. They did, indeed, need help transporting the unconscious Astral body. Their Solare was most certainly not going to be pleased when informed of the many risks the young Visionary had undertaken in merely one day.
Comments (1)
See all