Jason would not sleep well. Before Quil had neared the outpost, Jason was already moaning and fidgeting in his arms and still was when he laid him down on one of the less musty smelling cots in the old outpost. And even with as tired as he was, the old dragon couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. He knew what it was like to have whole your life change in an instant. Quil’s instant was not the same as Jason’s, but the struggle, the pain, and confusion of having life flip on you transcended those details.
After watching over Jason for a bit, Quil walked over to the adjacent room where an old worn desk and chair sat, and a pile of undelivered messages was stacked up high next to it. This was not the first time Quil, Sarre or Manus had been to this outpost. Instead, they had taken it over as their base of operations and this was long before Sarre’s brother had been murdered.
They had used it to keep an eye out for any troublesome activity in the eastern woods and had acquired it from the messenger named Peter who had manned this post with two soldiers before the dragons arrived, in their human forms, with fake orders posing as their replacements. This outpost, in particular, was ideal for them. It was at the fridge of the most heavily populated area of Avonous and closest to the eastern woods, which was notorious for plague activity.
At first, they tried to maintain the outpost’s normal duties and taking care of messages and travelers, but it became too much of an annoyance and hassle. With another round of forged orders, Quil had so, except business from the military outpost in the eastern woods, were rerouted and the outpost became theirs exclusively.
However, Peter still came by to check in on them and the outpost he was oddly attached too. Even though Quil and Sarre despised Peter’s presence, it was a threat to keeping their identities safe, Manus, like an overly chatty parrot, enjoyed talking with Peter. Luckily for Manus, his long conversations with Peter paid off when Sarre’s brother was murdered and enabled his plan for revenge. To Quil though, who had never fully supported Sarre in the revenge endeavor, found Peter’s presence and openness with sensitive information to be, too convenient.
And now with everything that had transpired Quill murmured to himself, “Far too convenient,” before glancing over at Jason and added, “Or there is something…greater happening.”
For now, to be cautious, Quil decided it would be best to change into his human form, assessing it might be less confusing for Jason to wake to a human’s face rather than a dragon’s if he woke disorientated. The transformation from his councilor dragon form to human was similar to the process of changing to and from his full dragon form. His red scales disappeared with a ripple beneath his fair colored human skin. The regal robes he wore molted into a simple brown traveling cloak with matching trousers, boots, a thick leather belt, and a tan tunic. And finally, his intimidating dragon face morphed into the face of an older human male that reflected his dragon age complete with a balding head of gray hair, a matching neatly trimmed beard and the sort of wrinkles that one would expect to see on a wise man but with clear, youthful, deep blue eyes.
A hand mirror that lay on the desk caught Quil’s reflection to which he huffed. He had never liked the way he looked in his human form and less with every fifty years that had passed. He opened the desk’s drawer, placed the mirror inside and pulled out a small stack of parchment, a jar of ink, a quill pen made out of a pheasant’s feather and began to write out what he would need to teach Jason.
While Jason would not be the first fire hatchling that Quil would teach, he would be the first to become a Monarch and the highest reigning Monarch after his mother at that. His previous fire hatchlings had only needed to learn what it was to be a dragon and of course, what every other egg hatchling learned as well. Jason, however, would need to learn all of that in addition to everything future Monarchs were taught and none of this included dealing with the complications that his former occupation as an infamous dragon slayer would bring.
Already the overwhelmed Advisor’s head began to ache with the weight of everything that would need to be done. Calmly he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, grateful the night air had cleared itself of the heat and smoke from the battle. Finally, Quil decided to focus the first lessons on practical matters and immediate knowledge he would need upon arriving in the dragon’s homelands, such as dragon etiquette, culture, and history, homelands, the history of Torvis that Jason did not know.
As for the other dragons, Shea, Manus, and Sarre, they stayed up over the course of the night investigating what had transpired before, during and after the battle. Shea spoke at length with Sarre on how he had become infected and was able to remain undetected. Normally infected dragons gave off an obvious smell before they showed physical symptoms and allowed them to be cured before the plague could progress, but this had not been the case with Sarre. Sarre had no idea, so he was left to rest while Shea and Manus had carefully scoured the area. It took most of the night before the came upon an unknown dragon’s bed in a small wooded area near the outpost along with the stench of the plague, but no horde, and items, such as extra clothes, money, and tools that dragon’s traveling in their human form commonly used. There was only one known group of plagued dragons with these abilities, The Order of Venex.
The Order of Venex was a group of dragon radicals and heretics who believed in the prophecy that an ancient dragon named Venex was the true ruler over both dragons and humans, and was coming to claim his throne. This dark part of dragon history was well over a couple thousand years ago and was mostly regarded, even among the long-lived dragon race, a myth.
It was told that Venex, born of common blood, had been a wise, kind and benevolent dragon, working closely between the Monarchs and the other social classes improving their society as a whole when the prophesy first came about. He was already well liked and served in positions that were well above where he had been born into in dragon society. Many of the Monarchs at that time believed in the prophecy as well and had begun making plans for Venex to join their ranks until the plague broke out. It was at this time that they discovered the healing power of the Monarchs’, both immune and able to cure the plague. And with the plague so virulent, it was decreed that only bloodlines whose fire carried the cure would be allowed to rule. Many new bloodlines from every part of their society were found to have both, but Venex’s only granted him immunity to the plague, not cure it and was denied to become a Monarch.
Instead of using his talents and working with the Monarchs to battle the plague, Venex became jealous, obsessed, claiming the cure was nothing but a trick and that they had created the plague themselves to increase their power and control. His jealous rage escalated to the point where he attempted to assassinate the High Monarch, Shea’s ancestor, and at the time one of the only dragons who continued to try and work with Venex despite everything. Ultimately Venex was banished instead of executed by the High Monarch through an old tradition called “Final Act of Mercy”.
Like all dragons, Shea had believed that Venex and the Order were dead. They had been branded as traitors to be killed on sight after the “Massacre of the Monarchs”, a mass slaughter of the Monarchs and their hatchlings committed by the Order, which had formed during the plague outbreak, in retaliation to Venex’s banishment. However, Shea’s belief had been quickly changed.
The High Matriarch had already been on her way to their location to stop Sarre after Quil had reported the plans of revenge to her and asked that she intervene. On a hunch, before she left, she reexamined Sarre’s brother’s body and when she did, a small fragment of a dragon’s claw was found deeply embedded in his fire sack, proof he had been murdered by another dragon and not slain by the Dragon’s Brand. She took immediately to stop Sarre but was attacked by a group plagued dragons. It took little effort to dispatch them all and she was about to take off when one somehow was able to utter, “Kill the Matriarch and drown her fire. Let the madness rise and Venex will rule.” The mantra of The Order of Venex, but with a new first half that could only mean her. When Shea told Quil of the attack after finding the unknown dragon’s nest, dread and fear filled his mind that he could do little to hide from coating his features.
They were seated at a small dining table in the outpost in their human forms, discussing everything that had transpired with Jason’s Torvis forged daggers, the blades still their normal, creamy white placed in the center to act as a detector for plagued dragons. Shea’s appearance was graceful and elegant no matter what form she took. In her human form, she had long, intricately braided, brown hair with honey undertones woven throughout. Her skin was lightly tanned and dewy with youth. Her oval face held sky blue eyes that could pierce through even the darkest night and she held herself with an air of nobility and power about her despite looking no older than thirty. Otherwise, her clothes were the same common traveling type garments as Quil’s, only she wore a plain long skirt instead of pants and a corset over a faded gray-blue tunic.
Trying not to let his wearied and worried state show through more than it had, Quil proceeded, “This will make traveling to Torvis, much more difficult. If we fly, not only will we be more vulnerable to attack, but it could easily reveal Jason’s existence, who’s now the carrier of your fire and bloodline, to them. That is if they haven’t already found out.”
Shea closed her eyes to help her remember back more clearly, “I think it is safe to say that the plagued dragon left shortly after he infected Sarre. If it had lingered here too long, Sarre’s condition would have progressed much faster than it did.”
Quil nodded in agreement, “True, the presence of a plague carrier hastens the madness and if he was present during the battle, Sarre would have instinctively sought him out rather than fight against us when he started to turn. Even if it came back and is watching, Jason has been out of sight since before it would have an opening to return.”
“Then we should proceed with traveling north on foot through Densai. There we will be past the eastern woods and majority of the plague bearers and can fly east along the mountain border to Torvis.”
“Shea, we cannot fly that close to the Griffin Clans’ territories. They’re at war with the Charoshe Flock and with their borders closed, crossing onto their lands, even accidentally, could provoke an attack.”
Shea grimaced, she had forgotten how the griffins, half lion and half eagle, and the charoshe, half wolf and half raven, were always at each other’s throats. There had been so many clashes between the two that even Quil as an Advisor had a hard time keeping up to date on them and what they were fighting over.
Shea sighed, “Then we will have to continue on foot along the old kingdom’s pathways. It’s likely you need make a visit the Ancient’s Hall along there anyways.”
Thoughtfully Quil looked up as he responded, “Very true, I am overdue for a visit.”
The Ancient’s Halls were old historical sites from when the dragon’s Old Kingdom existed. It was the duty of all Advisors to check on their condition now and then.
“And the one they would be near to would be an excellent place to educate Jason on dragon culture and history,” Quil commented silently to himself.
“Then it is settled. After everyone here has rested and we are certain we are not being watched or followed, we head north to Densai. I will explain the plan to Manus and Sarre after they have had a chance to recoup. And it would be best if they adjusted to sleeping in human form sooner rather than later for the trip,” Shea said with what energy she had left that she could muster.
“Agreed. And if we find we are being followed or at risk of being found out, Sarre or Manus can fly off and hopefully mislead them,” Quil added, also void of any energy and enthusiasm.
Shea nodded back in agreement, stood up and headed to her chosen bed after beckoning for Manus and Sarre to join them.
Quil stood up and checked in on Jason, still heavily asleep and took as his que that he could finally rest himself. He picked the cot that had a clear view of the doorway with thankfully no windows to worry about in this part of the outpost. Despite the general discomfort of human sleeping arrangements, Quil along with everyone else was fast asleep, not noticing that the daggers blades’ had turned black before fading into an ominous dull gray.
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