Chapter 140: The Dragon Vs. The Kraken

“Sire, there is a fire near the docks of Austice!” one of the lookouts with a cutlass pressed to his eye called behind himself to the Captain and King. Who were conversing on the dewey front lawn of the castle, the chilly night air making their breaths come out in puffs. At hearing the soldiers call however, both immediately ceased their conversation.

The two strode forward together, both frowning.

“We still have an hour until dawn,” the King began as Antonio took the spyglass and looked for himself.

“Ah, it… it isn’t a blazing fire it merely appears to be… moving and not growing… It’s boarding one of their ships now.”

The men were perplexed over the strange display, when they were interrupted.

“Your Majesty, I apologize for interrupting, but I was told you wanted to see me as soon as I was awake?” The Viscount’s voice interrupted the newfound mystery and instantaneously shifted their focus.

“Yes, Lord Ashowan, have you summoned your familiar?” Norman demanded urgently.

“I have, I’m not entirely certain what time he will be here, but it should be- Gods, that’s the dragon!” Fin’s exclamation made everyone turn back around in time to see the great beast in the slightly paling starry sky.

“ARCHERS READY! SPEARS UP MEN! REMEMBER, GO FOR THE EYES OR GENITALS!” the Captain roared as the soldiers on the castle walls stood at attention.

The dragon soared over them out of reach, a terrifying roar shattering the quiet night as the beast swooped around one of the towers and surprised the archers. Knocking them and a portion of the wall over with its tail, shouts and crumbling stone filled the air.

Chaos reigned as the dragon then barrelled through the glittering peak of the green house’s tower, shattering the glass at the top, exposing it to the outside. As the beast began to fly away from the scene of destruction to inflict damage elsewhere, a wave of vines and branches suddenly burst out of the greenhouse, immediately lassoing the dragon’s tail and stopping it from pulling away.

Aidan turned in his saddle and snarled at the obvious use of earth magic, and immediately sent a stream of fire down to burn the plants to a crisp, only a sudden burst of wind nearly knocked him from his seat.

Turning to look down where the attack had come from, his eyes widened briefly and a cruel cold smile stretched across his face. “It’s been a while, Sky.”

The white haired witch was staring up at him in the growing dawn by the soldier’s torchlight, tears stained her cheeks as she threw a concussive burst of air that forced Aidan to flip his familiar to take the brunt of the attack in its belly. The beast wheezed audibly, and once again, Aidan was almost shaken from his saddle as more vines danced out of the tower greenhouse.

“Godasdamn this,” the fire witch muttered before conjuring an explosion of flames in the sky over the castle, the heat wave forcing everyone to dive for cover or immediately be burned to a crisp.

Aidan pulled the dragon back into the sky, and sent him into a dive towards the outskirts of the King’s forest where the archers would have a significantly harder time without the high ground.

As he descended, he spotted several witches already running or flying towards him, and to them, he sent a similar fiery explosion that knocked them all to the ground. Once Aidan had landed, he remained mounted and waited for the next wave of attackers.

Only he was suddenly launched from his seat and thrown to the ground unceremoniously from behind.

Standing and turning with fireballs in each of his hands, he was immediately doused with water as he faced off against the infuriating Royal Mage of Daxaria.

Lee.

“I give you credit for not running with your tail between your legs, but you’ll die quickly.” Aidan threw another fireball at him, only to have it redirected into the trees. Unfortunately, it sent a good many trunks up in flames, and appeared to be spreading rapidly.

Aidan continued bombarding the old man on every side, until all there was… was fire.

Even when Lee managed to extinguish some of the flames the steam still stung and obstructed his view.

“Now, you’re close to the King from my understanding, tell me. Where is my wife?” Aidan smiled down at the mage who was on his knees sweating and panting as the heat encumbered them, stealing the breath from his lungs.

Lee said nothing, only began uttering his magic words and extinguishing more of the heat around himself.

With a sigh, the fire witch grabbed the elder by the front of his tunic and hauled him up closer.

“Answer my question and I might let you live.”

Lee glared at the fire witch as sweat poured down his brow in the unforgiving steam around them.

“Very well. To be honest I was hoping you’d be stubborn.” The Chief of the Troivackian Military smiled, but as he did so, found himself suddenly…

Underground.

The earth opened up a hole just his size, and completely swallowed him.

Lee gaped at the dirt that was still churning from its meal, before then lifting his chin to stare at his saviour. He met the warm gaze of Adamma Jelani briefly before she continued launching patches of earth up into the trees, until at least the area around them was safe to exit.

“Thank you,” the mage managed briefly before coughing violently.

The earth witch pulled Lee towards the castle, they were nearly at the final ring of trees as Adamma patted his back carefully. “Come, you need water and rest. Help is coming, but we must-”

The dragon suddenly appeared, it’s great yellow eyes glimmering in the fire of forest. The great beast opened its mouth, revealing fangs nearly as long as a man’s entire arm.

Behind the duo, the earth began to heat…. And crack… and slowly fall apart around a very angry fire witch.

The dragon opened its mouth, ready to take a gruesome bite when it was shot in the eye with an arrow.

Roaring, in agony the beast began to thrash around.

Aidan, with a surge of flames, burst out of the hole, and stared furiously in the direction the arrow was shot. Locating the cloaked figure, he recognized them as being the one to shoot his shoulder the previous day. As he fixed his attention on the figure, he watched as the attacker drew back their hood to reveal…

Lady Jenoure holding a crossbow.

“I’m the only Godsdamn Dragon here,” she muttered as she swung the weapon over her shoulder.

Aidan’s hands ignited as he felt white hot rage feed the desire to murder the woman point blank, when he was suddenly launched backwards by a burst of blue shield.

Fin strode forward coming from the castle, his eyes glowing as he stepped in front of Annika and continued to walk towards his father who was already back on his feet laughing.

“I wondered when you were going to come. Let’s try this again shall we? Where is your mother?”

Fin stared at his father stonily. While his insides raged about Annika and his children being in danger, he decided to not give the fire witch the satisfaction as a strange cold clarity seeped into his mind.

“Why do you want to know where Mum is?”

“Still call her ‘mum’?” Aidan laughed, while behind him both Lee and Adamma were frozen in place before the beast whose other great yellow eye glared threateningly at them. He appeared even more dangerous despite clearly losing an eye.

Fin tilted his head and waited for the answer. The longer he kept his father talking, the more time he would get until another witch or two joined them to help.

“She’ll do the work she has avoided doing her entire life. Serving the pure elemental witches as she should!” Aidan finally responded while staring at his son with great amusement. “It’s no use lying to me, so may as well tell me where she is- you were always terrible at hiding your nonsense.”

Fin stiffened at the phrase that had been said to him many times in his life… but as a result, he stepped closer.

“My mother is dead, you pathetic excuse for a father.”

Aidan’s features stilled then, his black eyes clearly searching his son’s face for any sign of deception.

“How? With her healing, she should-”

“That is not your business,” the redhead replied evenly as he felt the heat around them begin to rise.

Aidan snarled. “Boy, you will tell me what happened or you-”

It was then, the rustling of ground foliage in the forest could be heard coming from the eastern tip that was closest to Austice and away from the blaze that was rapidly spreading. It wasn’t a single animal either it… it sounded like a wave of rustling amongst the smokey trees drawing nearer.

Both Aidan and Fin turned towards the woods to see Kraken suddenly emerge.

The redhead frowned down at the feline in confusion as more cats suddenly began to appear from the forest underbrush.

“How many cats do you own?!” Aidan burst out incredulously.

“I swear I only own that one,” Fin replied, pointing at the fluffy black familiar at his side, unable to cover his own confusion.

“Doesn’t matter I suppose. There’s always more than one way to toast a cat after all.” Aidan’s hands once again ignited with fire as he turned towards the growing sea of feline’s that were bypassing the fire witch entirely. “I know you had something to do with the poisoning last night.”

The last remark his father made gave Fin pause. “Wait, what about poisoning?”

Kraken addressed him suddenly then. “My Witch, you take care of your sire cat. My comrades will take care of the overgrown lizard.”

“What? What do you mean you’ll-” the redhead didn’t have a chance to finish his question before his father tried to toss an explosion of fire at the army of cats that Fin immediately snuffed out.

“Your magic won’t last forever, son. You’ve used far too much already,” Aidan taunted while turning his attention back onto the redhead. “Besides, why are you wasting your time? We both know your ability makes it impossible for you to kill me. So why not-”

Fin’s eyes suddenly burst into lightning as a blue spherical shield encompassed his father entirely.

Cursing loudly, the fire witch began to try and use his magic… only to find he had none within the shield.

“Fin! You know you won’t last long! What are you doing?!” Annika rushed forward to her husband’s side as Aidan shouted and carried on his taunts.

“I don’t need to outlast him. I just need to make sure they finish whatever it is they’re doing,” Fin ground out.

The Lady turned to see where the redhead was referring to, and noticed the wave of cats… swarming the dragon.

“It looks like… wait… why are there rats?!”

The beast’s head dove into the swarm, jaws opened wide, only all cats leapt out of the way perfectly in time, while a single group of strangely plump rats were swallowed instead.

“Why are they just waiting to be eaten?!” Annika burst out as her grasp of the situation continued to grow even more distant.

“Witch, please tell your mate that these rats volunteered their noble sacrifices for this moment.”

“What?!” Fin demanded while nearly losing his hold on his father. “How are rats going to kill a dragon?!”

Kraken didn’t say a word, and yet within a minute the dragon slowly, but surely, collapsed.

“Your beloved coffee kills lizards. Your mate’s minions discovered this at the estate, and even added tobacco to make it more… effective on the intrusive small lizards in their midsts. I knew your sire human didn’t smell right, and when I discovered this pompous reptile was going to ruin my dinners, I broke into your mate’s hideaway food space for the goods.”

Fin released his father from the shield, too shocked and drained to maintain it. Aidan immediately turned to his dragon and ran to its side, sending hundreds of cats fleeing.

“In exchange for the sacrifice of fifty rats, us cats will share our food with them and not hunt them for a year. Be prepared for the repercussions of this because I have no regrets. I have clawed my way to this position and I’ll be damned if some senile familiar thinks I will relinquish my place as the head of the pecking order.”

Staring down into the bright green eyes of his cat. The redhead’s mind failed to grasp the extent of what was being said as days of exhaustion and stress weighed upon him. Fortunately, Kraken took pity on him, and added on a final meow of wisdom.

“While some familiars are mirrors of their witches, others are strong where their masters are weak. You are the Ruler of Homes, you bring peace, and much more. I am war, chaos, and seductively fluffy. Together, my Witch, we are unstoppable. Now a good day to you. I expect fresh cheese bread and a grilled salmon every night for dinner as thanks. Oh, and congratulations on the kittens!”

As Kraken began to saunter away, Annika stood at Fin’s side perplexed, and desperately wanting answers, when a fireball out of the corner of his eye had Fin grabbing her and turning his back to the flames to protect her.

The blast had been aimed at her.

Gasping and shaking from the pain, the redhead slowly turned around. He ignored Annika’s horrified gasp at the burned flesh on his back as he faced his father who appeared to have gone mad with fury at the death of his familiar, and was bearing down on him, flames once again in his hands.

“YOUR CATS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF A THOUSAND YEAR OLD-”

Kraken’s words rang in his head…

“‘You are the Ruler of Homes’...”

Fin seized the front of his father’s tunic, and hauled him up to his face. Aidan returned the favor and grabbed what remained of his son’s shirt, only through the pain, Fin managed to smile.

“I am the Ruler of my Home…”  

Aidan laughed, but the redhead continued.

“I’m the Ruler of my Home, and in my home,” the redhead’s eyes suddenly filled with white and gold. “You, Aidan Helmer, are banned from using magic.”

There was a strange ringing in the air that pierced everyone’s ears on the castle grounds. As its frequency grew louder and louder, Aidan’s fire extinguished as his hands moved to his ears and a gentle wave of power rippled out of Fin, bringing silence over the grounds once again.

When the fire witch realized that the noise had stopped, he lowered his hands from his ears, and seized his son’s tunic again only… there wasn’t any fire.

“What- What in the… how… did you… you…” he was staring down at his hands, his eyes wide, his forearms trembling as they flexed and strained with effort.

Fin gripped onto Aidan’s forearms and shoved him to the ground.

“The Coven will come for you in a moment, excuse me.”

Turning around and striding away with Annika at his side, Aidan was left to stare at his son’s back. As he watched him go, his anger surging, he suddenly stilled when he noticed the angry red and blistering skin on Fin’s back beginning to mend itself, healing into fresh healthy skin as though he hadn’t been burned at all- save for the tunic that was little more than a rag.

It was then Aidan realized exactly how his wife died.

Shortly after that knowledge sunk in, the sickening realization of just how much he had lost that day had him seizing the grass beneath his hands in clumps, and screaming.