Chapter 6

Markus

Markus watched in awe, the first dragon had fallen to the ground, most certainly the rider would be dead. He shut his eyes and extended his senses, there was no use of arcane energy besides the dragons in the sky. Though he felt something on the ground, something not active.


Lann had snatched the tube from his hand and was watching intently.

“Markus, did you detect any magic?”

Markus shook his head looking at Lann who was still looking through the tube.

“No Lann, not enough to do that, I only sense the Dragons flying, theres something very small on the ground there.”

“Same here, I sense ... OH what...” Lan handed back the tube.

“Look” Lann said urgently pointing toward the sky.

Markus took the tube and looked, only 2 of the five dragons could now seen. two more were now missing.

“what Happened, did they land?” He searched the tree line below.

“What is that, theres a light coming from the trees below. Ahhh” Markus through down the tube. blinking his eyes, he had been blinded by the flash.

Lann shook his head pacing. “I saw that flash, but felt nothing.”

“No they just dropped from the sky, no magic, nothing, they just looked like they died and fell.” Markus was stunned, he still saw spots in his eye.

“What can take out 3 dragons with out using magic Lann?!”

Lann picked up the tube and continued and was watching intently, the two remaining dragons fled the area, both heading in the same direction.

“They are going back, those were scouts, they will be heading back to the main force for reinforcements.”

Markus took the tube back from Lann.

“thats in the direction of that Elf village isn’t it?” Markus asked.

Lann just nodded.

Markus sighed.

“Nothing is ever easy.”

Lan Laughed.

“It never is, but at least its interesting.”

Markus shook his head, Lann was a damn fool sometimes.

“Get in your stupid balloon, we need to find out whats going on and fast.”

Lori.

Everyone stood stunned, Elle had just killed three unseen dragons in the sky, for the first she had used a sword, for the 2nd she had thrown a nearby rock, for the last a spear from one of the hunters who had been too stunned to move. She had moved so quick, the chains she had braced herself with had glowed so bright that they had to look away from her.

They all had seen the three fall from the sky however, killing their riders. All had turned to stare at her, with looks of awe and fear. Darius how ever was a blank face as he watched Elle.

Elle walked over to me, I watched her curiously, I had seen some of what she was capable of, this was on an entirely other level. I had never seen anything like that, most of all she had not used any magic, in fact she felt like a void to me now. Wrapped in the chains, I couldn’t sense anything from her at all, it was like a bubble of empty space, even the trees had a feeling of power, but not her, just blank space like she wasn’t there.

“Raise your hands” I just nodded lifting them up.

She effortlessly snapped my cuffs, she looked at them before using her bare hands to bend the metal, she used them to secure the chains that had held her down, she took time arranging them in a harness type fashion around her mid section. She seemed to take a deep breath The glow from the metal had almost subsided, where as earlier the entire area had lit up from the glow they had emitted from her.

“thats much better” Lori could hear the smile in her voice.

Everyone was just staring, doing nothing, Elle had her eyes closed.


”The remainder are moving away, I am tracking them west of here.”

Lori looked at the other hunters, several of them knelt down and bowed to Elle, Lori could hear the whispers, they were murmuring Fae.

It was Darius that Voiced what they all were thinking.

“Summer queen.” He dropped to his knees before Elle bowing his head deeply.

Elle for her part still had her eyes closed. “something else is there, an object is slowly lifting from the ground where your village was Lori.”

Elle hadn’t noticed what was going on around her, she was doing something, eyes closed and facing where her village had been. No one was doing anything everyone was bowing, except for her and Elle who was lost in thought.

Lori shook her head.

“GET UP, there will be more, Darius, go grab what you can from those dragons, now!” Lori shouted, it seemed to shake everyone out of it, yet no one moved.

Elle looked around startled at me yelling, she paused when she saw everyone kneeling, she glanced at me confused.

Elle.

It was not good, all her internal systems seemed to be decaying, it was as if the very world was rejecting them ... the only thing that wasn’t showing signs of decay was her biological systems, accept she had a warning that the retro-virus converting her had been corrupted by additional strains of DNA out side of Lori’s.


She had taken a moment pull up as much sensor data as she could, with her sensors functioning she began to take stock of this worlds physics, as much as she could. Everything was off, even the sun light was reacting differently than would be normal. She had crossed the threshold for the galactic standards of physics, gravity was off, everything was off.

The DNA from the retrovirus concerned her, the only sample was Lori ... and she had been covered in dragon blood when she had taken the sample. She shook her head and took in the kneeling people

For a moment Elle had forgotten those around her, Lori yelling at them had shaken her out of scanning the skies with her sensors. for the first time she had been able to get a clear scan of the area, and herself.

She looked down at Lori who was looking at the Sidhe hunters expectantly, Elle wondered why they were just kneeling there.

“What did I miss?”

Lori shook her head

“they think you the Summer Queen, tell them to listen to me.” Lori gestured to Darius.

What the hell was a Summer Queen, she would have to ask Lori later.

“You heard Lori, gather their gear, we need to get out of here fast.” Elle looked to the kneeling Darius.

That seemed to do it, Darius was the first to speak.

“You heard the Vassal of the Queen, do as she said”

Everyone started moving, Elle kneeled down but watched the hunters rush off to where the dragons had crashed, she pulled Lori close to her.

“Okay whats the deal Lori?”

Lori moved near her to whisper.

“They think you are the Queen of the Seelie court, the Queen of the Fae court of summer, the Good Gods of our people, when you killed the dragons the glow from the chains on you got so bright we couldn’t see you, only the light. All with out magic, as far as they are concerned you are some kind of deity”

Elle looked down on the chains, the metal was familiar, what ever it was it was drawing what was interfering away from her systems, allowing them to partially function. She took a moment to think, her mind was clearing, she was regaining use of her higher functions. She looked over the chains, she could see though that some of them had melted a bit. The more power she used the more they glowed.

“Lori, where can I find more of this metal?” From all her readings she was on a time table, her reactor was functioning, but decaying, her batteries as well.

Lori shrugged.

“Its found deep in the eastern forest, many use it to bind magic users, it is said the beast men have a prison made from that metal in their city.”

Elle nodded, she would have to find more of it, but now was not the time. She had more pressing concerns, she had to process this data before her systems got too badly damaged from what ever was decaying them. The metal of the chains helped, but she could still sense the decay. The virus was entering its 2nd phase, it would begin making more changes soon, she didn’t know what the effects of the dragon Dna in the mix would be.

She looked toward the direction of the village. “Lori, are dragons the only method of flying?”

Lori shook her head.

“No the strongest of the mages can propel themselves short distances if needed, it takes massive amounts of control and power. The lore keeper told of legends of Sidhe mages able to do it in the far past.”

Elle nodded, she was deep in thought.

“I need a lab, I need an area to work, what level of ... what kind of artisans do the Sidhe have at a village?” Elle looked at Lori who was watching her with concern.