Redux: Lineage

"One of the biggest things we need to worry about is her air advantage," Zane said, leaning forward and hovering his hand over a large section of the map that detailed the mountains. "If she can fly, she's got more than enough clear space up there to land a shot and the whole sky to escape to. I don't wanna chase her through the mountains. How do you usually take care of dragon wings?"

"When one is equipped with a proper army you have a large amount of options," Luna said with an offhand wave. "Trebuchet, ballistas, arrows, spears, lances, swords, and even chain nets in some cases. But with what we've got on hand; archers are clearly our best bet."

"Hopefully we can position them somewhere high," I said, standing up and pointing to the mountain area on the map. "This kind of place is gonna be our best bet for taking out her flying abilities. Places to hide and wait in ambush, high ground to make sure our archers don't wait shots misjudging the distance their shot arcs will carry the arrows. All around the best place to be."

"Her wings gonna be armoured?" Annerose asked.

"Thankfully, no," I said, answering for Luna who then nodded in approval. "Dragon wings tend to function like sails: the more air they can trap in them when flapping and flying, the better. A rigid surface doesn't stretch so it doesn't catch air, whereas the membrane they have on their wings does. A great benefit to them when it comes to flying, but an enormous weakness when it comes to combat. They can usually be punctured with a single arrow and bleed pretty badly when cut."

"So we just keep firing until they look as holey as a sponge?" Annerose asked.

"That's the idea," I nodded, going silent for a moment while I thought things over. "That tail needs to go as well."

"They act like battering rams and can sweep whole lines of defence out of the way in seconds," Luna nodded, clearly experienced with the action. "Sadly, they're not the easiest things to get rid off."

"The scales just as thick?" Annerose asked.

"Not to mention the muscle and the bone," I said with a heavy sigh. "It'll be like trying to cut through a brick wall with a dry stick."

I went silent for a second, all of us thinking of different solutions, before Angela stepped in with suggestion.

"I can probably conjure up something big enough to cut clean through the fucker, if you want?" she said, hand on her hip with another raised in a quizzical manner.

"What've you got in mind?" Zane asked.

Angela clicked her fingers, summoning up a glowing-yellow bearded axe before twirling it around in her fingers.

"Make one of these, make it much bigger, and bring it down on her tail as hard as I possibly can," she said.

"Will it be heavy enough?" I asked. "It isn't a real axe, after all."

"Boy, I can make this thing as light or as heavy as I want it to be," Angela scoffed. "That's what construct magic is: making whatever you want, however you want. I can make one as big as another dragon and as heavy as a castle. Her tail doesn't stand a chance."

"Could do that with the wings, too," Grael commented. "Some kind of spinning blade to cut straight through the joints on her shoulders rather than waste time puncturing the membrane. If the wings are off entirely, then we'll have nothing to worry about."

"That's a rather good idea," Luna nodded. "Well done, Grael."

"Thank you," the wolf said with a smile.

"And if we're using less archers, we might be able to get them to pick up a sword as well," Zane nodded. "Winter's Maw's army tends to have a policy where every unit, even the medics, are trained in some degree to handle a sword."

"This isn't the army," Annerose pointed out. "We might have guys in here that can use a slingshot like a god but can't count higher than five."

"The Barb Tails aren't your usual town-brewed militia," Luna said, waving the suggestion away with a hand. "These guys are the best of the best. But, since I've never been a woman that likes to assume things: we could ask if they're able to do that."

"I knew there was a reason Celestia keeps you around," Annerose smirked, giving Luna a thumb's up.

"Eh, funny," Luna sneered, sitting back in her chair with her arms crossed.

"Alright, keep the claws away, ladies," I said with a roll of my eyes. "So we've got its air capabilities taken away. What else?"

"Breath," Grael answered immediately. "That should actually be our first priority, but it's your call."

"We've got a few of the girls on that, right?" I asked, looking over at Celana and Lot who both nodded in confirmation. "And our little snow-haired air-head finally managed to get her shit together and bring us our armour, so we've got some defence against that. At least a few of us do."

"Eh heh..." came the nervous chuckle from the court mage.

"Not to mention Lot being able to redirect most of it," Zane said, turning to the elf and giving her a thankful smile.

"'Tis my duty," she said, giving a brief curtsy before sitting down once more. "Though I feel I must warn you: do not expect me to be able to keep up such a strenuous practice for long. A dragon's breath is a powerful force that may drain me something fierce should I try to combat it for the entire bout."

"We'll only use you when we need you then," I nodded. "And we can sort you out some potions, anyway. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect," she said, leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes, returning to some kind of meditation.

"So what are our plans for the forces themselves?" Grael asked. "We lack a cavalry and an official order of knights and have been left with mostly swordsmen and a few spearmen."

"There are a few axemen dotted around the camp," Annerose pointed out. "Saw of a few of them on the way in. Wish there was a few more of them. Axes are good for cutting, but we could do with their crushing factor as well."

"War hammers would be better for that," Grael corrected. "But the dragon's muscle is much too thick for any kind of blunt force to take effect."

"Really?" Annerose asked.

"I'm afraid so. A Narrowscale's body is covered with scales tougher than plate and backed up by such dense muscle that regular attacks mean nothing to them. Like swatting a suit of armour with a feather duster."

"They need that thick muscle for impact absorption when landing," I elaborated. "They need to be that strong as to not crush their legs when they hit the floor, and the denser and larger an object is, the more force it can absorb before showing any adverse effects."

"So these things are basically impenetrable?" she asked.

"To most conventional weapons; yes," I nodded in a solemn manner. "It's why stories of dragon slayers are extremely rare tails and the tales almost never feature one man or woman. It often takes armies to bring down a single one of these mighty beasts and a solo dragon slayer is held in as high regard as a king or a queen.

"Wow..." Annerose said, her eyes then moving over to Luna. "You really picked a hard fight for us, didn't you?"

"Because I knew you could handle it," Luna nodded, looking at all four of us individually as she spoke. "The four of you work better together than even the best-trained of units, that's undeniable. Your strength, spirit, and camaraderie will carry you all through any battle or challenge you face and into victory."

"And the three of us will be carrying Richter the entire time," Zane added.

"Uh-huh," Annerose nodded.

"Oh, of course," Grael chuckled.

"Right, the lot of you can get fucked," I growled in an angry manner, sitting down in my chair and glaring at my 'friends'.

Luna chuckled quietly to herself, gently tapping a well-groomed nail on the table. There was silence between the group at this point, the room only being kept from being dead by the sound of the wind howling outside the building and the crackling of the torches that lit the dreary room.

"Anyone else hungry?" Luna asked after a long minute. "I feel like my stomach's eating itself at this point."

"Yeah, now that you mention it..." Annerose said, patting her flat abdomen with a bemused expression. "I could go for a steak."

"I'd be happy with a beef sandwich," Zane shrugged.

"Ooh, shit, get Grael and I one as well," I nodded along. "With a lot of salt. Girls, you want anything?"

"Do you think they'll cook ham?" Celana asked.

"Am I allowed about half a tonne of bacon?" Angela questioned, cocking a smooth eyebrow.

"I'm a vegetarian," Lot answered.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said, looking at the white-skinned elf with a pitying gaze.

"Drinks?" Luna asked, scrawling down the food names on a spare piece of paper.

"I'll go with apple juice, please," Annerose said.

"Same," Zane nodded.

"Make that four, one for Grael and I," I said, raising a finger.

"Am I not allowed to order anything myself?" Grael asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry," I said, feeling as if I'd over-stepped my bounds. "What did you want?"

"... Beef sandwich with apple juice, please,"

"Get fucked, Grael,"

"Ladies?" Luna asked the girls sitting against the wall.

"Tea, please. No sugar and milk," Celana said with a smile.

"Extra strength honeyed mead, please," Angela said with a wink.

"I'll just have some water, thank you," Lot said with a nod.

"Alright then," Luna said, scrawling our requests down and standing up. "Gonna go see what the kitchen has to offer us."

Once Luna had gone, I turned to the three women sitting against the wall and offered them a place to sit with us.

"Are you sure we won't get in the way?" Lot asked.

"Of course not," I said with a smile. "You guys are on our team, so your opinions are just as valid as ours."

They all took a seat at the table, Celana making sure to sit as far away from me as possible, before Luna came back with food about twenty minutes later. She handed the dishes out to each of us before sitting back down and munching on her own plate of beef, sprinkling it with a good bit of salt before chowing down.

"So," Luna said through a mouthful of meat. "Where are we planning on fighting her?"

"Depends where the scouts find her," I shrugged, waving my hand over the map as I spoke. "The Ridge-Tooth Mountain Pass is a big place to hide and to fight. Lots of caves, lots of tunnels, and lots of death traps in the form of pits and valleys."

"And that's even if she's in the Pass," Annerose pointed out. "She could be hiding somewhere around the Frozen Coast or in the Rended Woods. That's a hell of a lot of ground to cover."

I nodded quietly, taking a sip of my apple juice before tearing a chunk of the sandwich for Grael off and feeding it to him.

"This is really good," he said as he munched on the food. "Really well cooked."

"I know," I smiled, swallowing down a mouthful of apple juice to clear my throat before returning to the topic at hand. "So where do we think she's most likely to be?"

"Gotta be the mountains," Zane said. "Best place to hide for a dragon. Not within easy reach, nearly impossible to march a proper army through, and secluded enough to hide large stores of treasure."

"But also rather obvious," Grael countered. "Heimili's an ancient dragon. She knows we'd be more than aware of her culture's tactics, their favourite places and hideouts. What if she's set up her home on the Frozen Coast as a method to throw off trackers? Go the last place they'd think to look for you. It wouldn't be too taxing for a dragoness of her strength to dig out an underwater cave of some kind to hide from fisherman and any passersby, would it?"

"What if she's outdone both of you and gone to hide in the first place you'd look?" Annerose suggested. "She might be sleeping in the Rended Forest. A place so obvious you'd think her too smart to go there and never check for yourself. A little bit of mind games to throw off your opponents?"

The discussion continued from there, each person continuing to present points and counter arguments for a few minutes until Luna turned to me and asked a question.

"What're your thoughts on the situation?" she asked, finishing her drink.

"Maybe we could ask Svea?" I suggested, an idea nobody else seemed to have had just yet. "She seems to know Heimili better than any of us. She might have an idea as to where she's staying."

"And how are we supposed to find Svea?" Zane asked. "Winter's Maw is a big place."

"We could try asking a Guardian?" I suggested. "With how much they know, it should be easy for them to tell us where they are."

"Don't sit there and act as if a Guardian has been your ace in the hole this entire time," Luna said with a cocked eyebrow. "You've only just remembered they exist, didn't you?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," I said with a shrug, trying to hide the small smirk on the corners of my mouth that Luna was able to notice immediately.

"Yeah, okay then," she said, shaking her head. "Do you remember how to summon a Guardian?"

"An offering they'd be interested in and an actual plea for assistance," I nodded.

For those not in the know: a Guardian, or a Spirit Guardian as they're officially called, is a benevolent deity that watches over a specific area of land they've claimed as their own. They protect both the land and the people with all the problems they face, either directly or indirectly, and are worshipped as Lesser Gods by a lot of the people on this world. Despite their well-documented existence and the level of public knowledge of that existence, there isn't much known about the Guardians.

They're clearly not one singular species due to the wide difference in their appearance, they're clearly not all working together as they only ever lend assistance to those in their area, and they're clearly not all bound by the same codes or laws, as some Guardians are extremely strict in their summonings, others appear if a human so much as thinks about it, and some people have gone on record saying that they've copulated with a Guardian at one point or another.

"What's the name of the Guardian in Winter's Maw again?" I asked.

"Which one?" Luna asked in response.

"The closest one, obviously," I said.

"Don't be cheeky," she said in a scolding manner. "The one you want to help you out is named Cotan. She's an odd Guardian, not well versed in things like 'Tact' or 'Empathy', but she's a sweet girl that does her job rather well. She's a fan of bushels of sticks, sheep's wool, and cheese."

"What's the correlation there?" I asked, utterly confused about that particular shopping list.

"I haven't a fucking clue," Luna said with a wave of her hand. "Like I said: Cotan's a strange girl."

"They have a summoning shrine here?" I asked, referring to a designated meeting spot for a person and a Guardian to speak to one another.

"Yes, but Cotan practically never uses it," Luna nodded. "There's even been times where I've tried to summon her at it and she's appeared... only to sit next to me for half an hour without announcing her presence, waiting to see who I was trying to summon."

"She sounds a little... slow," I said, wanting to put it as politely as possible.

"She is, but it comes from a place of innocence," Luna said with a sigh. "Are you taking anyone with you when you go?"

"No, I'll go solo for this one," I shrugged. "I figure you can all come up with ideas while I'm gone and fill me in when I get back."

"Sounds fair," Luna nodded. "You heading out now?"

"Yeah, 'a job sooner begun is sooner done' and all," I shrugged, getting up from the table. "Mind tossing me a coin pouch, Zane? I need to go visit the farmer's market."