Chapter Fifty-Three Wait! What? (Patreon)

Amy stared at the crystal plate, its surface etched with the results of a spell she had recently cast. By recently she meant two days ago, but she had not told anyone about it. Her mind drifted from the plate she had once again pulled out to the last few weeks. Several emotions flitted through her, as she thought about the weeks since they left Yilsu. Nothing had gone right for her. She had lost Hikaru. Ruri was closer to Hikaru now than ever, and the goblin girls wouldn’t talk with her either. The text just told her one more thing that went wrong.

Everything had gone wrong after she had done that. Amy had not regretted it at the time, but she was starting to. She slumped in her tent. Besides, she had messed up, really messed up, and in more ways than one. Amy knew she should have apologized then, but she had not. It had taken Ruri forcing her to get her to apologize. That was a low point and reminded her that Ruri was now the leader of their party.

She tossed the plate onto her bedroll and sighed. She really should have done that on her own. Even if she didn’t really mean it. Although she was starting to understand where she went wrong. Unfortunately in her case, she had no one to blame but herself. She had not even told Hikaru yet because she was afraid of how it might look. Not that it mattered, both Hikaru and Ruri knew something was wrong, but neither of them had pushed her. It was the only thing she was thankful for. Nothing else that had happened recently had gone right for her, and the worst part was that she did not know how to fix it. Maybe she could not. Maybe only the gods could set things right. It didn’t help her mood that every time she was with Hikaru she could feel her pain. Hikaru did not trust her, but Hikaru had also been wounded in another fashion.

Amy had not seen it at the time, but now thanks to that bond she could not fail to see it. It was plain as day to her. Made her see that she had been so focused on her own desires, and fears that she had been blinded in regards to Hikaru. Amy deeply regretted acting on the first opportunity she had. Maybe if she could do things over again things would be different. Perhaps there had been a better way to get what she wanted without hurting Hikaru. Amy sighed, too bad it wasn’t possible. Not even gods could change the past. Hopefully, it wasn’t too late to fix the present, but she feared it was. Well, too late for her to fix it anyway. With another sigh, she pushed herself up and made to leave the tent. The plate left lying in the open on her bedroll, the results still magically displayed in bright clear text.

Arlie stretched as she stepped out of her tent. Today was the day, the day they would reach the capital. The plan was to get the young Grey family princess home and then head to the docks. Their goal, the blue temple, was located on an island several days sail to the east of the capital and the only way to get there was to charter a ship. At least they had plenty of funds. She had every confidence that they could find one without too much difficulty. Finding a good ship would be the real challenge

Her thoughts drifted from the road ahead, to the group. By now it was painfully obvious that Lily no longer had a sense of modesty. If Lily hadn’t admitted to what happened, Arlie had no doubt both she and Rose would have figured it out. That lack of modesty certainly made things awkward at times, but no more so than Emilia Grey with her dragontouched dressing habits. At least they managed to find a few outfits the princess was willing to wear. Arlie just hoped her family would not complain too much about that. Not like she could have stopped Aurora from changing the young Grey princess.

Perhaps more damaging was the fact that young Emilia had certainly been up to naughty things with a certain dragoness. Arlie had heard the noise during her watch last night, the night before last, and the night before that too. Not that Arlie was surprised, it had been painfully obvious that the princess had been charmed on first sight. Aurora was certainly a beautiful dragoness, and Arlie might have pursued her too. If she wasn’t already in love, that was. Arlie understood the attraction all too well, and as for Aurora, well. Arlie was pretty sure she was just taking advantage of the whole situation. It seemed to her that Aurora was using the promise of naughty times to get the princess to work harder on training. Yes, training. The poor girl had gotten roped into their daily draconic training sessions.

Sessions that had been really hard for Rose. Lily seemed to have things better, but it helped that she had lost her sense of modesty to a bet. Rose still had hers, and that made it harder for her to spend hours practically nude.

As for herself, Arlie had spent a lot of time practicing her shield spells, and when she was not practicing her shield spells she was working on that spell the gods had shown her. Arlie would not claim to have mastered it, but she could cast White Plasma now. It was a powerful spell, but it was also quite draining. She figured it would be a decent trump card. Best of all, unlike some of her best spells, this one did not need access to the sky in order to cast. Namely, her Solar Burst spell, until the gods taught her White Plasma that had been her most powerful spell. It was still a mighty spell, but it paled in comparison to White Plasma. Although she was starting to get an idea of how she could improve her older spells.

Reaching the campfire she noted that Rose and Aurora were talking. The boys were nowhere to be seen, likely in their tent, and while she could not see Lily, Arlie had no doubt she was nearby. As for the Princess, she was sitting on a log and watching the road.

Arlie checked the pot and noticed breakfast was not quite done yet. She turned to the pair and greeted them. “Looks to be lovely weather today, don’t you think.”

Rose frowned, “Yeah, it is.” then she sighed, “Unfortunately it seems Aurora here wants me to spend the entire last leg to the capital naked.”

Arlie did not know what to say. She knew how tough that was for Rose. A part of her didn’t like this. Especially since it gave Horon free eye candy, that she wanted to keep for herself. Not that it was of any use arguing with a dragon. By the gods, she had tried, but nothing she ever said made a difference.

“You know if it helps. I could do for you, what I did for Lily. Your sense of modesty isn’t really doing you any favors.”

A voice spoke up from behind and would have made Arlie jump if she hadn’t sensed her approach, “I don’t know. While I admit it has been liberating in some ways, I now have to watch myself in town.”

Arlie didn’t want two twins without a sense of modesty. One was already enough trouble, but before she could say something, Rose said, “Give me a little time to think about it.”

“Well, think quickly. Our time together is almost done. I’ll be leaving you when we reach the capital, and all three of you will be working extra hard today. I want to make sure you have got down everything you need to know. And don’t go slacking just because I am not here. I will be checking in on you from time to time.”

“Wait! What?”

“I have things I need to do. You girls aren’t the only pieces on the board. There is another group in Dragonreach I need to visit. I also need to visit the Wastelands, and I do need to make a stop at the Great Mage’s Archive. Just to name a few of the things I need to do. Speaking of the Archive, I suggest you also visit the Archive. It should be a very illuminating visit for you.”

Arlie knew of the Archive. It was a very famous library, built by the most powerful mage to ever live. That mage wasn’t just any mage though, but one of her ancestors. Not just any ancestor either. The mage in question was the very first Bykuru Kinsara, the founder of the Contrey clan.

The Archive itself was on the southern slope of the Syra mountains on the Dragonsreach side of the border. It was also magically sealed preventing just anyone from entering without a key that is. Arlie had one, her very blood was a key to entering the place. Arlie also recalled that there was a secret passage through the Syra mountains that led to the Archive. One built by her ancestors, and they still maintained a holding on the northern slopes of the Syra mountains in southern Varixyies. A holding that guarded that passage. It was her clan’s own secret route into Dragonsreach, although they had not used it for generations. Although her clan owned quite a few Underdark passages and holdings that they had not used in generations. Some of which she had no doubt may have been forgotten.

“It might. The place is massive, and as I recall it is the largest library ever built.”

Aurora smiled, “that place is more than a library. It holds secrets even your ancient clan has forgotten. In fact, I insist you visit. I can not speak of the secrets it holds, but I can show you. There is one in particular, I feel you need to see. Just you Arlie, no one else needs to see it.”

“Just me? What do you want to show me? Why can’t anyone else see it.”

“I can’t tell you what I want to show you, but as for the others. I can’t take them to that part of the library, only you and I can survive the deadly radiation that permeates that section of the Archive,” said Aurora with a slight twist to the truth. Arlie didn’t know yet, but Aurora had not told the full truth here.

The twins frowned, “What is radiation? Why can Arlie and you survive it, but not us.”

Aurora gave them a look, and sighed, “I can’t tell you. I can’t even tell Arlie not yet, but suffice to say it has to do with her blood. As for what radiation is, well it is similar to certain types of corrupted mana yet different. It can cause mutations, wasting sickness, and death.”

Arlie didn’t find that particularly informative but had a feeling Aurora would not say more. Instead, she checked the pot, stirred, and found breakfast was ready. She looked up, and with barely a thought said, “Rose could you go wake the boys. Breakfast is ready, and we do need to get on the road within the next handspan if we want to reach the capital before sundown.”

Rose nodded and went off. Arlie turned to the dragoness, and said, “We will talk more about this visit on the road.

Meanwhile, with Hikaru and friends. The party was also enjoying their breakfast. Amy, Ruri, and one of the goblins were at the campfire eating. While Hikaru and the other goblin were supposed to be keeping an eye out for monsters. Hikaru was doing what she was supposed to, but the goblin had disappeared after Hikaru had offhandedly mentioned that she was starting to get worried about Amy. Ruri was too, but neither of them felt it was time to press her for answers. They both knew something was bothering her, but she wasn’t ready to tell them.