Queen Ethcovir
Race: Cloud Elf
Hair: Raven Black
Wings: Pure White
Eyes: Piercing Icy Blue (almost gray)
Age: Young
Height: 4' 2"
Weight: 56 lbs
Figure: Maidenly
Othica
Race: Cloud Elf
Role: Priestess and Healer
Hair: Blonde
Wings: White
Eyes: Silver
Age: 190
Height: 4' 10"
Weight: 54 lbs
Figure: Maidenly
Zynrin
Race: Cloud Elf
Role: Brawler and Scout
Hair: Blonde
Wings: White
Eyes: Silver
Age: 190
Height: 4' 10"
Weight: 68 lbs
Figure: Maidenly
Queirian Whirlwind
Role: High Priestess
Race: Cloud Elf
Hair: Blonde
Wings: Golden Wings
Eyes: Deep Blue
Age: 675
Height: 4' 6"
Weight: 68 lbs
Figure: Matronly
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Chapter 8
I stared at the queen.
"I'm sorry, I must have misheard... You said the Cloud Dragons?" I asked nervously.
"Thou hast heard me correctly." Queen Ethcovir declared, her icy blue eyes boring into me with intensity. "While our relationship with our sisters in the mountains perhaps is in need of repair, that is work we may easily accomplish ourselves. If the gods hath sent thee to us to be tested, then there is but one task before us I could give thee to test thee and improve the lot of my people."
I swallowed. I had faced dragons before. The wyverns I'd shot down technically would fit in the family of dragons, but my experience with the forest dragon had shown me that there was a significant difference between wyverns and real dragons. Saying a wyvern was a dragon was like saying Australia is a continent, so it's the same as the Asian Continent in size. Asia is almost six times the size of Australia, if I recalled correctly, and that felt about right for the difference in power and danger between a wyvern and their more powerful kin.
What was I supposed to do against dragons? In the sky, there wouldn't be enormous tree roots to hide behind, so I'd have to face the great creatures in open combat. That sounded like a great way to end up less alive than I was.
"You want me to fight dragons?" I confirmed.
"I should hope it will not come to blows." Queen Ethcovir corrected me. "Cloud dragons are a noble, and proud, race. In ages past, they lived with us in this great city, walking our streets and joining us in discourse and learning. Long ago, the Cloud Dragons left our city, and our records do not indicate why. The dragons avoid us when we attempt to approach them, and it has gotten to the point that we may go years, if not decades, without a single fleeting sighting of those who were once our friends."
"So how am I supposed to...?" I wondered.
"I know not. If I did, I would do it myself, or have my trusted servants perform the tasks in my stead." Queen Ethcovir admitted.
"Well, we can take our ship and go looking..." I muttered.
"Your ship is too slow and not maneuverable, according to the reports of those who met you." Queen Ethcovir shook her head. "You must find a way to navigate the clouds and engage the dragons without your ship, or you will spend eternity chasing clouds and shadows."
I was rocked back on my heels. What the hell?
"I don't even know how I'll manage without the ship. How are my companions to-?" I began.
"If they cannot follow, you must do it without them." Queen Ethcovir shrugged. "I will see if there are a few among my people willing to aid you. A large group is too easily seen, so keeping your numbers as low as possible will increase your odds of being able to make contact with our old friends."
I was gutted. I was supposed to go out, pretty much alone, to "talk" with flying tanks with chainsaws for teeth and claymores for claws. How could that possibly go wrong?
"I... I would be willing to accompany him." Othica volunteered.
Zynrin, her voice still silenced by whatever it was that Queen Ethcovir had done to her, lunged toward her sister, fear and concern plainly written on her face, her mouth moved, but again words still failed to escape her throat.
"If you think the priestess will be unsafe, then you can keep them both safe." The queen snickered, then she held up a hand and began to chant, again words that I couldn't understand. Zynrin gasped and tried to recoil, but two of the guards caught a hold of her upper arms and held her.
"What are you doing?" I demanded; this looked very, very bad.
"... Taj forg naig tal vor rian!" Queen Ethcovir finished.
Light flared around Zynrin's neck and, when it faded, there was a pair of white rings on her skin, rotating in opposite directions. Zynrin cried out silently, falling to her knees.
"What did you do!?" I raged. Those rings look one HELL of a lot like the white ring on Amura's neck.
"Calm yourself, Emissary." The Queen chastised me.
"I'm not about to calm myself. You just enslaved her!" I retorted angrily.
The Cloud Elves exchanged a glance, and one of them actually laughed.
"Your concern for her is touching, but misplaced." Queen Ethcovir assured me. "While there are similarities, that is not a sigil of slavery, but a sigil of obedience. It is a temporary measure to ensure she does not attempt further treachery."
"That looks a heck of a lot like the sigil we've been trying to figure out how to get off of Amura's neck." I protested.
"I thought that was what I saw." High Priestess Queirian noted. "But your protestations are indeed misplaced." She swirled her hands, "Great gods, allow me to reveal the truth to this guest in thine holy city."
I blinked. Why could I understand her words? She was clearly casting a spell.
In front of her appeared two sigils, one matching the rings now around Zynrin's neck, and the other I now recognized as the one on Amura's neck.
"The white of the sigil is indicative of nothing, save that the maker did not deign to alter the color." Queirian dismissed, "The important aspects are the form, runes, and traits."
Looking directly at the two, I could begin to see a number of differences. Amura's slave sigil reminded me of barbed wire, wrapped around her neck with irregular spike-like stars every few inches around the ring. The other rings were far different. The rings had two narrow lines, a central area, and then another two narrow lines. The central area was filled with a band of characters, runes Queirian had called them. Where the spiked stars were jagged and raw, the runes were clean, crisp, and precise.
"The slave sigil has a few variations, but this is the form I believe I observed on your slave's neck." Queirian noted.
I bristled at "your slave" but tried to maintain my composure. She wasn't my slave due to any cruelty on my part, but was instead evidence of the tyranny of her people.
"As you can see, there is no beginning, end, or time factor in this slave sigil. It is intended to be eternal," Queiriean noted. "But as time progresses with the obedience sigil, the time markers will fade over time and, once the entire time markers have completely faded, the sigil will be broken."
The inner line on the double borders faded, like a fuse, first on the top border of the upper circle, then the bottom border of the upper circle, then the lower circle repeated the process, and the sigil seemed to fragment and blow away like dust in the wind.
"The sigil also does not deal in pain and punishment, and will simply render the bearer incapable of action, if they attempt to disobey the orders given to them by the one who placed the sigil." Queirian explained. "This could cause Zynrin to fall from the sky if she were stupid enough to attempt to disobey while in flight, but the duration of the paralysis is short enough she would be free to move and fly once more well before she reached ground, unless she was close enough to the ground that such a fall would cause no lasting harm."
They all chuckled.
I picked up on something there.
"How far can you fall without harm?" I wondered.
The Cloud Elves smirked. "I suppose light and flexible as we are, we can fall further than most, but no more than a hundred knots."
I wracked my brain, a hundred knots, if a knot was roughly eight inches, then that was... around sixty-five feet. God, that was a drop.
"Alright, you've made your point." I admitted.
"Made our... point?" Queirian asked in confusion.
"I see the difference between the two. I... I apologize for my reaction. It was unwarranted." I admitted.
"Your words sound strange to our ears." Queen Ethcovir admitted. "We hope our words do not sound overly cumbersome to your ears."
I shrugged. "I've gotten used to it since my summoning."
Queen Ethcovier nodded and turned to Zynrin. "Rise."
The dejected Cloud Elf rose to her feet.
"You will accompany your sister and this emissary until directed otherwise by me. You will render aid and service to them as you are able, though I do not require you to do anything that you believe would cost you your life frivolously." The queen ordered. "You will not attempt to harm the emissary or your sister. You will remember well the events of your time together, that you may report to me upon your return."
Zynrin nodded glumly.
"Acknowledge."
"I hear, and obey, my queen." Zynrin acknowledged, finally able to speak once more. Her voice sounded miserable and borderline depressed.
"You live by the intercession of the emissary. May you prove useful to him and earn this mercy you have been granted." Queen Ethcovir scolded, then turned back to me. "You have been given your mandate. Is there ought else you require?"
"Is there any information you can give me on the Cloud Dragons?" I asked after a few moments of thought.
"I have not had the leisure to study our ancient allies with the thoroughness I would desire." Queen Ethcovir conceded. "Perhaps among my advisors is one with more knowledge than I?"
Othica bowed, "If it pleases your Majesty, I have long read the stories and records of the ancestors and their dealings with the dragons, when dragons lived among them. Even some scribed by the dragons themselves. I believe I may speak to the emissary of this matter as we travel, and may advise him as he requires in his completion of this task."
"That is indeed ideal." Queen Ethcovir smiled. "Is this why you volunteered to accompany him?"
Othica nodded, "I know it is common for youth to dream of the day dragons once again walk our halls, but I would consider it a high honor to have some role in their return."
"Is that all you require then?" Queen Ethcovir turned to me once more.
My mind was spinning like crazy, but getting nowhere. What should I even ask for? What could be granted? Was there anything they could even do to help me succeed, when they had been failing for what sounded like thousands of years?
"I... I guess." I finally concluded. I hated being put on the spot like this. The Wood Elves had much better information, and had basically been able to drop me where I was needed, and the Wild Elves had been able to help me find a solid path to success. This felt like I was being dropped in the deep end with weights around my ankles and wishes for me not to drown.
"Very well." Queen Ethcovir dipped her head in acknowledgement. "May the gods bless your path and bring you success in your task."
It was a dismissal. Not as direct and formal as a commanding officer would usually give, but the intention was there. Fuck, why did I feel like I'd just been bent over and told to say "thank you."
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"This is taking far too long," Creadean noted with distaste, leaned against the wall in the corner, "and I did not like the way that Cloud Elf was looking at Master Thomas."
"Then there was that sense of danger." Anbethir noted, running a honing stone along the edge of her blade. The steel seemed to calm her; something solid and familiar in this strange world in the clouds. "I do not like that we were separated from our Master. It is our mandate to protect him. How can we do that when he moves ever farther away, with walls of ice between us?"
"He seems... mostly at peace now." Sevrina noted, her spellbook open idly in her lap, though her mind was far too distracted to study it. "If only I knew the magic to operate their doors as they do, I would at least have some measure of comfort. But, as we are, we are as good as prisoners."
"New experience for you, is it?" Amura taunted.
"That is enough." Tavorwen chastised them all. "Our master is not so weak as to require our guardianship constantly, and these are our sisters, not one of the savage races from beyond the plains. Such disparagement only serves to make our objective more difficult."
"Are we certain they are so civil?" Flendreir demanded, adjusting her blades, "They were willing to make an attempt on Amura in their own Royal Hall. At least when the Wild Elves attacked us, they did so without inviting us in as guests first."
"My people had justifiable fears." Laliera protested. "Kathra and her ilk wasted no chance to slay or capture us if we were found outside our defenses."
"I just wish I had Irsivir here." Risivis complained. "Somehow, things always go better with a good canine around."
Mavrin sat nearby, her brow furrowed in concentration. "The magic of this place is at least stable. If they were preparing anything serious, the amount of magic utilized in preparing their forces would likely give their intentions away."
"Can either of you two just blast the door apart, if needed?" Creadean demanded. "I hate being trapped like this."
Sevrina looked the door over, gauging. "Likely. Unless they are specifically enchanted to prevent it, but I do not see any signs of such enchantments. Of course, I do not see any signs of enchantment at all."
"That is why I am using detection magic." Mavrin explained. "The Cloud Elves seem to hide their runes and components inside the walls themselves. It is very impressive. It would be like us placing our enchantments two inches under the bark of our trees. The marks would likely suffer far less deterioration, if the trees could be convinced not to heal them over, but with walls of water and ice, that is no concern."
Sevrina stood and walked to the door, closing her eyes and speaking the words of magic as well. After a moment, she stepped back.
"The door appears to be denser than the surrounding ice, but seems to be devoid of enchantment. Probably because they dissolve and reform so frequently. A flaw in their architecture, considering how thorough they are with... wait a moment." Her eyes narrowed. "Ingenious! The enchantments on the door are anchored in the doorway! I nearly missed them! That could have been most unfortunate... Ah, I suppose that only makes sense."
She returned to her seat. "Yes, I could easily destroy the door, at least, from this side. The enchantments are placed to keep violence from breaking into the room. I do not think the builder expected those within to attempt to break their way out."
Tavorwen sat at the table, relieved despite herself to hear that. "We should not be making plans to break out. We are guests; surely some sense of decorum still exists in the home of our winged sisters."
Her eyes settled on the two maidens, Ulamir and Zanantha. They kept quiet, as was only appropriate for maidens among matrons, but she did wish they would speak up more. While Zanantha's speciality of guerrilla tactics would not be of special use here, it was clear she, much like Creadean, chaffed in confinement. Ulamir's understanding of how to defend a group from ranged harassment, which would likely translate somewhat to defending against flying foes, was something she desperately wished the maiden would share more of. The two of them, along with Risavis and Creadean, were the rangers of the group. With their training specializing in forested and grassland engagements, they would be somewhat out of their element here but, as this wasn't a battlefield, all of the assembled elves were feeling that somewhat.
A twinge through their bond made all eyes turn northwest.
"What could cause such a feeling of shock to our Master?" Nauveir worried, a hand going instinctively to her quiver at her hip. "His discomfort grows."
As the growing concern and anxiety filtered through their bond, the she-elves fidgeted. Ulamir and Zanantha couldn't help but feel on edge themselves, watching the connected Matrons grow more and more agitated.
