Dragon Sorcerer 1- Interlude 4: Cami/Nan'sedoh (Patreon)

Interlude 4- Cami/Nan'sedoh

Cami was still upset with Nico. She had thought the revelation that she had a pursuit open to her which was related to dragons would please him. He was prickly. That much was always clear in his emotions, but then again he was the only dragon in a world full of humans. Once he explained a bit more about how he feared he’d be treated if he ever were discovered, she understood even more.

There was something else that he wasn’t telling her, but she felt like they were becoming friends. He had never pushed her about the way her father treated her so she wouldn’t ask him about his past. Perhaps in time he’d feel comfortable enough to let her know.

The revelation that he felt her emotions the same as she felt his was eye opening. It changed things. She’d thought that when his magic affected her that it created a bond which allowed her to sense him. But the way this worked now made it seem more like they were equals. Yet, he didn’t treat her like an equal. She wasn’t sure how to get through to him.

Thus it was easy for her to get excited when not one but two of the adventurers approached her about becoming her mentor. If they hadn’t been competing for her she would have taken one of them up right away. Now they were taking turns riding next to her and talking about what the advantages were of following their pursuit and accepting them as her mentor.

At the moment it was Modessa’s turn. She nudged her horse up next to Cami but didn’t say anything at first. Eventually, Cami said, “I’ve been thinking about your offer but haven’t made up my mind yet. Magus Serius makes some good points. Being a wizard is a broader study and will help me master all different types of magic. He also says that its very respected at the university, perhaps more than any other pursuit.”

“Bah, do you want respect or wealth. I can show you paths to riches that stodgy wizards won’t learn while sitting in their towers study musty old tomes. Sure, Serius will take you adventuring, in a couple of decades once he feels like you’ve mastered the what he’ll call the basics of wizardry. By that point I was the youngest adventurer to reach level twenty.”

Cami frowned at that.

Modessa held up her hand, “Maybe Lisella was a bit faster to twenty than I was, but I still think she’s lying about exactly when she hit it.”

Cami held her laugh in. She was becoming more comfortable with these people. At first she had been in a paralyzing combination of fear and awe. They were so powerful after all. But familiarity helped, well that and having a dragon for her best friend, a cranky dragon for that matter. Now seeing this powerful rogue who could move like the wind fighting over such simple things as who was the first to an accomplishment actually did a lot to humanize her. It probably didn’t hurt that the woman was trying to convince Cami to allow her to be her mentor as well.

“Either way, it’s a hard choice. I really want to learn as much magic as I can. I’ve dreamed about that.” Cami bit her lip. “You’re right though, I’ve been trapped on the farm and was about to be handed off by my father to be a wife to a farmer almost twice my age, like I was some cow. I definitely don’t want to be trapped anywhere.”

“Then you want me for your mentor. I’ll help you get the most fun out of life. I’ll find teachers for you so you can learn everything you need. I can probably even get Serius to teach you. I know what his weaknesses are.”

Cami started to ask what exactly that meant but then stopped. A plume of smoke appeared in the distance down the road. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sir Albrecht take off galloping on his horse.

Modessa grabbed her arm. “I may not be your mentor yet, but I expect you to obey me now. Stay here with Serius and Lisella. They can protect you. I need to help Galbrecht before he does something heroically stupid and gets himself killed.”

Cami nodded but she the rogue wasn’t waiting for a response. As she rode off at full speed, Cami heard her muttering, “That man is gonna be the death of me yet.”

________________________

 Nan’sedoh woke from his slumber. He didn’t know why. He and his kind had gone into hiding deep within the earth long ago and for good reason. They had almost been hunted to extinction by the horror cursed dragons and their riders. Dragons were bad enough but as long as one avoided their domains they left his kind alone. It was those riders which were the true problem.

Many of the elders had discussed a grand curse which would break the bonds, but such a magic was beyond a simple oni such as himself. Now though the cavern which he had slept in for an unknown number of years had trembled. A disturbance had broken the seal the elders placed and he was awake again. Not just he but the warriors and servants who had gone with him.

Only the strongest of their kind had been saved by this magic. He had a full platoon of twenty ogres knights, four rending trolls, and six were-tiger rogues. It was more than enough to run over many small forces from the humans who had occupied this land prior to their slumber.

Now that they were awake they needed to scout the land. The reports which came back to Nan’sedoh from the were-tigers was promising. The humans were gathered into a few towns but there were no large cities within one days travel at least. The highway which ran through this part of the countryside was in disrepair but still had travelers. It would be easy to set up as bandits.

With that in mind the oni had left the cavern. The sun overhead was hot, but his frost magic held it at bay. He brought half a dozen ogres, two were-tigers and a troll with him. That should be plenty. And sure enough it had been. They had raided several farms and a pair of small merchant caravans.

He never tired of the humans cries when they appeared or of the futile struggle of their guards. His sleep must have been very long for the humans didn’t bother to have anyone strong traveling with them. The most powerful of the caravan guards had been level four and it would take a couple dozen of such guards to even have a chance at taking down one of his ogres.

Ogre knights were something of a mockery of the paladins and other orders of the good gods. They supposed that their false humility and supposed honor, which was really nothing more than suffering the weak to live, were a good thing. Ogre knights were quite the opposite. They were imbued with dark powers from Mal’zek god of beasts. They were stronger than their kin and possessed just enough intelligence to make them dangerous.

Any who thought his ogres were dangerous had seen nothing though. Normal trolls were bad enough with their leathery hide and regeneration but rending trolls had been specially designed by a wizard who thought to play with the natural order. Needless to say he had experienced the power of his creations which had then escaped to breed in the wild. They were only marginally more intelligent than other trolls, but beyond their healing capabilities, they had a framework exoskeleton of bones as hard as iron which lined their body and culminated in long hardened claws capable of ripping into even enchanted armor or dragon scales given the right circumstances.

On the third day after their escape, Nan’sedoh was considering returning to bring out the rest of his forces. Together they would attack not just individual farms but one of the smaller cities to the south. His were-tigers had been able to mingle with the farmers in the area and learn that it was called Cloverdale and had over a thousand humans but no meaningful defenses.

The only thing that put him off was the report of a dragon which had eaten some cattle. Apparently it had flown off and was not seen again for a few days so the oni decided to risk it. The chance to put a town to the torch and have all the food and prisoners he and his troops could long for was too good to pass up.

He had been ready to head there when one of his two spies reported that a caravan was headed to south. It was the largest yet with a dozen wagons and twice as many humans. The attack would wait as he and his forces set up their ambush. His ice easily froze the wheels of the wagons, sticking them in place, and then his forces attacked.

Arrows from low level fighters meant nothing to his ogres and even less to the troll. Nan’sedoh didn’t even have to waste more mana taking them out as the were-tigers easily snuck into their midst and then eviscerated the archers one by one. Soon there was no resistance and he descended on the survivors. Unfortunately, one of the wagons caught on fire in the attack and the smoke it put off before he extinguished the fire was going to draw the attention any human forces for miles around. He wouldn’t be able to take his time enjoying the prisoners, or perhaps he could. He’d just have to take them to go.