(Path of the Dragon Mage - Nomad) 15. Death From Above (Patreon)

Note: Got busy this weekend and wasn't able to reply to comments as I normally do, but I loved how you took the hints and ran with it. Super fun to see.

Charm never felt as free as when she was in the air.

In the few fanciful moments she allowed herself, she imagined this was what a seal must feel like when it entered the ocean for the first time: she was master of an environment perfectly suited for her in every way.

As she gained altitude, she looked around. One of the sides of the rocky bowl had been broken into rubble which had created a ramp shallow enough for most of the swarm to escape out. A thick dusty trail extended from the ramp and led to the south, directly back to Meadow City. There were plenty of ratkin left in the bowl, including several queens.

Daffodil was nowhere to be seen. Good. Charm looked forward to fighting him again, though she knew she would have to be much stronger to win. If he wanted to leave her alone to grow… well, she wasn’t one to stop her enemies from making mistakes.

Below her, a living carpet of ratkin chattered, scurried over one another, and tried to push their way through the hole in the tree-made barrier. This included three giant Queen Rats, each above level 30.

The Queens waded through their smaller kin, flailing their tails to knock higher levels out of their way.

Well, they wouldn't get to Corvus. They would have to go through her Charm, and she was death from above.

Quickly gaining height above the level of the lip of the rocky bowl, she folded her wings and dove.

Her first target was the largest Queen. It was a giant which stood nearly twenty feet tall—each fang longer than Charm’s forearm. But it was only a rodent, and she was a dragon.

Charm landed on its wide back, all claws exposed to slice through meat and fur. The Rat Queen shrieked and brought up its flail at an unnatural angle to knock her off. Too late. Charm dug deep down, the smell of hot blood filling in her nose. She then slapped a Thin Blood rune on the gash before jumping back into the air a moment before the flail came down.

A geyser of blood followed her into the sky. Even losing that much blood would not kill a creature the Rat Queen’s size, but it would slow it down.

More importantly, the smell of blood frenzied the smaller level ratkin around the queen. Soon, she was too busy battling off her own kind to be concerned with Charm or Corvus.

Meanwhile, more of the smaller ratkin had recovered from the initial sawdust explosion and were crowding around the hole in the tree barrier. Abruptly, vines shot out, leaping from one ratkin to another. The thorny vines entangled and snagged them, and the creatures caught inside began to deflate as the vital juices were sucked out.

That was Corvus’s doing, and Charm watched with the greatest satisfaction as the vines ate through the crowd of vermin and re-blocked the entrance. He would be safe inside, at least temporarily. It was time for her to play.

The sun overhead shined down bright and warm on her scales. Concentrating on it, Charm gathered her breath and felt the air heat in her lungs, the runes of her solar breath spell collecting in golden threads to shine brightly on her back. She swooped down, letting out the condensed sunlight in a long, burning line that cooked ratkin where they stood. Her breath ran out just as she reached a particularly large cluster that surrounded a second Queen.

With a flap of her wings, she sailed upward, and threw down the mana needle at the Queen's feet. It exploded, engulfing the Queen and her retinue in magical fire.

The concussive force was so intense that she staggered in the air, dropping several body lengths. But she righted herself with rapid wing beats. Looking down, she saw blackened bones and ratkin parts where there had been dozens before.

Oooh, she liked the depth of Corvus’s new mana reserves. She liked it very much. Perhaps, enough to permit him another tattoo, even if it did hurt him. Perhaps, she would get one of her own.

She was so busy congratulating herself that she only barely caught the next movement out of the corner of her eye. It was a flail from the third Rat Queen, in an attempt to bat her out of the air.

Charm darted to the side, dipping a wing to spill air. Not fast enough. One of the maddened lower-level ratkin scraped across her back, pulling out several scales.

She roared in outrage and decided that particular ratkin had to die. Painfully.

Charm executed a turn so quickly that she flipped over in the air and followed the living flail back down to the Queen. Choosing the Deadly Bouquet, she charged it with her own mana and flicked it down to land by the Rat Queen’s rear paw. Green gas rose to choke the ratkin can all around, including the ones attached to the flail.

Unfortunately, the gas remained low to the ground — heavier than air as Corvus had once explained. It did not rise high enough to affect the Queen, just her minions.

As the Rat Queen turned in place to see what was killing its retinue, Charm landed on the back of its neck. She gathered her breath, and breathed out to burn a thin, penetrating blast down into the body. The ratkin shrieked and tried to shake her off.

Sensing their queen in distress, lower-level ratkin climbed up into her fur, trying to reach Charm. But they were choking and dying from being exposed to the gas.

Charm breathed and breathed, burning down until she reached where spine met skull. There was a snap, and the Rat Queen slumped limp and moved no more. The lower-leveled ratkin abandoned their dead queen in droves, loyalty broken.

Ding!

Congratulations! You have gained a level!

New Level: 5. XP to next level: 40/600. 

Mana has increased by 50. Health has increased by 50.

Congratulations! 

For reaching a level 5 milestone you have been awarded 5 attribute points.


Atop her vanquished foe, Charm roared in triumph.

A wave of stretchy, burning sensation started at the tip of her nose and rolled backward across her body. Scales hide, tendon, and bone stretched and lengthened. She always received an initial burst of strength and rapid growth right after reaching a new level. That would continue—at a much-reduced pace—over the next few days.

Right now, she felt full of power. Her lengthened wings cupped the air and she shot up into the sky faster than she ever had before. This time, she rose to the tops of the intertwined trees which still caged her human partner.

She might have been able to dig and pull through the branches. But she had a better idea.

Corvus! I’m coming through the top. Move to the side so you don't get burned!

Expanding her lungs to the greatest limit, she breathed out a line of fire in a perfect circle and sketched an Ever-Flame rune.

A fire rune made of fire burned quite nicely.

As she suspected, Daffodil’s silly plant magic resisted her, but she was named for magic itself. The tops of the trees burned with a sick, oily unnatural smoke. Then the circle burned through, crashing branches and leaves down.

Charm dived through the new hole, wings snapping open right before she reached the ground.

The look of shock on Corvus's face was gratifying as she slammed down next to him, trailing burning embers.

That's right, I am beautiful. She basked in his admiring as he took in her larger form. I’ve reached level five, and I’m flying you out of here.

Flying with Corvus was not easy. He was nearly man-grown and the added weight on the base of her neck made it hard for her to compensate.

But his feeling of joy as she leaped into the air fed her own and gave her the power to make it to the top of the cliff… barely.

Immediately, he dismounted and reached to throw to hug her neck. His arms could barely reach around.

Then he stepped back to take her in full view within the sunlight. She saw herself through his eyes. Not only had she gained several feet in length, the twin horns on top of her head had sprouted thin webbing, giving her a dramatic, regal appearance. Her scales had both thickened and deepened in color, with the pearlescent white more vibrant and the coppery undertones more subtle.

"You’re huge," he said, and she preened. "You're bigger than a horse and cart put together, not counting your tail."

Yes, and I’m not done growing, she said happily, and then looked over the side of the bowl. The gas was dissipating, and great swaths of ratkin were dead or dying — notifications were still coming in. But there were still many left, including one of the Queens.

I reached level five, but we have more enemies to slay. 

He shook his head. “We have to stop Daffodil. He’s taking his swarm to Meadow City.”

And we will, she said, But first, we have to get strong enough to face him.

A surge of his of emotion jolted through her — alien, human concepts of pity for an enemy trapped in a bowl and helpless against the slaughter. Her human had a tender heart.

Luckily, Charm was there to balance him out.

We have enemies, Corvus, and we both need to level up.

His face twisted with distaste, but he didn’t disagree. Edging to the cliff, he looked over the remaining ratkin who were seething down in the bowl below. She sensed his guilt wash up anew. But he was also a practical soul.

This was a bowl full of experience points, not to mention the loot.

Corvus sighed, drew out his remaining rune daggers, and then nodded.

* * *

Through the eyes of his Queen Rats, Daffodil watched Charm sew death and destruction through the sliver of a swarm he had left behind.

He rumbled in satisfaction as she visibly gained a new level. She was so very, very young. Life had many hard lessons in store for her to learn.

He doubted she saw the tiny swarm left behind for what it was — a gift of experience points.

As the last Queen was felled and his connection was cut, he heaved a sigh and turned to the rest of his swarm. They stretched as far as he could see. A living ocean of ratkin, all under his control. He had fed on their essences whenever he'd come across them. As the Queen Rats bound the lower leveled ratkin to their tails to make the living flail, so he bound the Queen Rats to his own will.

Daffodil imposed his will upon them now, directing the Queen Rats to dig into the sandy earth. They could tunnel their way to the great human city by the shallow sea.

The tunnels were not meant to hide their arrival. Charm and her human would see that the city was forewarned and Daffodil had no intention of stopping them. The more soldiers the king sent down to supported the city, the weaker the capital would be.

No, the tunnels would only keep the ratkin safe from the blazing sun. While underground, they would breed a new crop as well. They would be that much stronger when they struck.

Daffodil impressed his final directives into the Rat Queen's minds. Then, he took off into the sky.

His destination was not the city by the sea. It meant nothing to him other than a distraction and a way to weaken the kingdom.

No, Daffodil's true target lay to the north — a place he remembered only through dim hatchling memories.

It was time he paid a visit to the mountains. And then, at least, he would return home.