SOMD Ch34: Spying (Patreon)

At Alice’s command, Iggy flowed out of the store and into the open air behind.

Leaving Alice behind while she was that close to danger felt unnatural to his very being. If not for the fact Prim was giving him the evil eye, he would have turned on his tail and watched over Alice from a hidden position – one close enough where he could attack anyone who dared to threaten her.

Alice did not have to know about it. In fact, if she didn’t, she would be doubly protected because if Iggy were discovered, she could not be held accountable.

There were plenty of places to hide. Perhaps… if he swooped down the chimney? No one had started a fire today. And even if they did, he was certain the Ultimate Protection on his scales could handle it.

Or better yet… he should send Spark. The little sub-aspect could easily slink under floorboards without being noticed. There were many holes in the outside wall, too, made by tunneling rats.

Prim suddenly surged forward and knocked him upside his head with one of her wings.

“I see your expression,” she said, unexpectedly fierce. “You will not disobey Alice.”

If Prim were any kind of combat dragon at all, Iggy would turn and easily duel her in air. Alas, she wasn’t. And the fact that she was the first of Alice’s dragons held him back.

He consoled himself by snaking around to puff a ring of smoke in her face. “It is my duty to protect Alice. Not yours.”

“I was Alice’s first protector,” she reminded him needlessly. “Also, we are leaving in order to protect Alice. Don’t you understand?”

Iggy shook his head and glanced over to Numi who flew beside them, sullen, but not entering into their argument. Iggy was mildly disappointed. Sometimes he and Numi made an effective team against Prim’s officiousness.

Prim went on. “Didn’t you hear that this mining company has sorcerer and magic classes with them?”

“Yes, that is why Alice is in danger!”

“No,” Prim snapped. “Think for a moment. They are looking for spies and surely hidden high classers, like Alice. Do you think I would leave Alice along for no reason? If you go back, they will surely see you.”

She pecked at his shoulder at the last word.  It didn’t leave any blood, of course. His scales were much too tough for that.

But Prim's words stung his pride as effectively as if she had injured him. The worst of it was that she was right.

Other than Spark’s assistance, Iggy had no defense against the magical classes. While his fire could burn, the scales could not protect against spells. He would have to remedy that.

Again, he glanced at Numi to see what she thought of the situation – she was extraordinarily clever and could usually spot a loophole if there were any.

But Numi only flew on with a grumpy expression. But that might be because Fixie was clinging to her back, whining, instead of flying like a normal dragon.

Well, that was Numi’s own fault. She had not required her sub-aspect to engage in any flying practice and had allowed her to become lazy.

Meanwhile, Iggy’s own Spark was having a much easier time keeping up with the larger dragons. He flowed effortlessly around trees and through the holes in the canopy. Though, of course, as a sub-aspect he did not have the stamina they did.

Fixie’s definition of ‘flying’ was to flutter from one project to the next. Hardly dignified for a dragon. Iggy kept Spark in good trim.

Iggy had decided that silence was the better part of valor, but as always Prim could not help over-explaining herself.

“A sorcerer or a wizard class may be able to sense my camouflaged magic at short range as well. So, leaving Alice completely without suspicion is the best thing we can do to protect her.”

Iggy’s only consolation was that Prim sounded as if she had a bitter taste in her mouth. He felt the same way.

With a sigh, he said, “Then I suppose we should do our best to leave Alice without any suspicion over her head.” With a few undulations of his body and flaps of his wings, he swam through the air ahead of the others. “I will lead the way.”

They had to keep concealed, which meant fluttering through the branches of trees rather than a faster sprint through the open air. But once they were a decent distance away where Iggy judged human eyes would have trouble deciphering if they were an oddly shaped bird, Iggy left the trees and started climbing. Because he was in a foul mood with Prim, he made the ascent steep.

“I will extend my illusion around you all,” Prim panted. She didn’t often fly for long distances as she mostly rode on Alice’s shoulder. “We are far from the town, but I want to be mistaken for birds by anyone who may be in the forest.”

“I thought you said illusions would bring suspicion,” Iggy grunted.

Now Prim was the one who looked frustrated. “Oh… I suppose you’re right. Let’s climb as high as we can, then,” she added, as if it had been her idea all along. “Alice was wise when she told us to fly high. People hardly look up to the sky.”

 To Iggy’s annoyance, she pumped her wings with renewed effort and nearly caught up with him.

Numi finally spoke, sounding a little out of breath as well. “We are magical creatures, though. Will a sorcerer class be able to sense us?”

“Woe to them if they do,” Iggy said. “Most I’ve seen wear robes and robes catch on fire.”

Prim ignored him. “I don’t believe so. My illusions and magics grow weaker the further they are from my body. We must assume that it is the same for pure magic classes.”

“Well, what if they are much stronger than you?” Numi asked.

That seemed to annoy Prim because her answer was clipped. “Then I suppose we will have to fly very, very far up.”

“Fine by me,” Iggy said and led the way high into the sky, though not quite to the bottom of the clouds. They were much higher than he had dared to go before.

From here they had a view of the entire river valley where the village rested, the mountainous ridge that separated it from the sea beyond. And, of course, the harbor.

Iggy directed his attention downward. If he could not protect Alice directly, at least he could spy for her.

It was not difficult. The mining company was highly visible as an oncoming caravan – the only ones on the road that led from the harbor to the town. They were currently approaching the edge of the valley from off the ridge.

Iggy squinted. His eyes were very good for long distances – he suspected all dragons’ eyes were compared to what Alice and the rest of the humans could normally observe.

He did not see anything particularly impressive about this mining company. There were five large horse-drawn open-air cart loads packed with people of all ages riding on them. Even more people in the mining company colors of orange and gray surrounded them. While the guards all had weapons such as swords and bows, there were no overt sources of elemental magic or sorcerers casting spells.

“I only see people. Low tiered ones at that. Hardly interesting enough to warrant the guards to protect them.”

“Look at the trees on either side of the wagons,” Prim said. She had her head hanging down low, scanning below with narrowed eyes. “Something is moving there. It’s not an illusion, exactly, but it’s… odd.”

Iggy concentrated, and after a few moments he noticed the same thing. There was a vague outline of… something moving through the trees.

It was alarmingly large – the size of two of the carts put together – and all logic and sense said that nothing that big should go unnoticed. Much less two of the things.

Yet the trees and vegetation all around bent without seeming to bend at all, the movements so natural and smooth it was almost as if they had been gently blown by a gust of wind.

When Iggy unfocused his eyes, he was able to see the general shape of the thing.

He was a dragon of fire and did not feel ice roll down his spine. Instead, his scales felt hot, and he had to swallow back indignant smoke.

“Those are wood dragons,” he said with a growl. “Much bigger than the ruffian we encountered in the woods. And there are two of them! What are they doing? Stalking the people? Preparing to eat them?”

“No,” Prim replied. “They seem to be guarding them, although I don’t understand. There are only people in the carts, not good. And they already have guards.”

Numi spoke up. “You blockheads. The people are the goods. These are new workers for the mine.”

“But,” Iggy protested. “None of them have the mining class. I see some General Laborers, yes, but many are inappropriate for a mine. Look, there at the end are three Seamstresses.”

“There are many children, too,” Prim said, sounding worried. “Most of those are too young for their first classes.”

Numi shrugged. “All the better from their point of view. They can be trained to their new classes in mining.”

“People get classes from their parents,” Prim shot back. “As for the rest… Iggy is right. They are all low classes. What good would they do in a mine?”

Numi hesitated. “Perhaps there is a way to change their class to Miner?”

“I see the sorcerer,” Iggy said, interrupting them. “There, toward the front in the purple and red robes.”

The dragons went quiet and still as they spotted the figure. They were leading the way, and there was another, dressed in less elaborate robes, in the back.

Two sorcerers ahead and behind, and two all-but-invisible wood dragons to either side. Iggy hated to admit it, but Prim had a point that it seemed all the low-class people were being guarded.

Or perhaps, being kept from running away.

“As I thought,” Prim said. “They are merely looking down the road and to the town. Not one of them is paying any attention to what is going on over their heads. As for the rest…” She trailed off and let out a scathing hiss. “I know that one!”

Both Iggy and Numi turned to stare at her.

“One of the sorcerers?” Iggy asked. “Is it that same one who saw through your illusions back at the city?”

“Not the sorcerer!” Strangely, Prim seemed torn between smugness and outrage. “I know one of those low classers. There, that woman in the third card, second to last row. The one with the double chains around her wrists.” She let out another hiss, but this was one of satisfaction. “She once stole from Alice.”

Instant fire leaked from between Iggy’s teeth. It took effort to shut his lips around it, not wanting the flash to attract attention above. “What? When was this?”

“A very long time ago,” Prim said. “Long before you were hatched.”

“Well good,” Numi said. “Because I appraise her as less than useless. She is only a General Laborer.”

Prim looked like she wanted to agree, but then sagged. “No, I’m afraid it is not good. She wronged our Alice, but I’m certain she will be very sad to hear about it anyway.”

Iggy did not understand what she meant, but he had to admit that Prim held certain insights into Alice’s mind that he did not have.

He was about to speak, but then he noticed something that stopped him cold.

The caravan had finally trundled to the edge of the village. There was much less vegetation to hide the wood dragons, so they had become more visible – though wooden buildings still helped to obscure them.

Though now they were near a building made of bricks, Iggy saw that each was ridden by another person in sorcerer robes. The sorcerers held golden chains that stretched down like reigns and went through nose rings at the end of each dragon’s snout.

The dragons did not seem to mind being ridden that way. In fact, they both had their heads close to the ground and seemed to be sniffing.

One on the right was pulling ahead and coming very, very close to Alice’s store.

Iggy trembled with rage and readied himself to dive.

But just as the dragon started to approach, the right hand dragon suddenly lunged forward. Its claws bit into the wooden porch of a building on that side of the street. Instead of splinters flying, the wood warped and bent all on its own. The dragon reached in and pulled a man who had been hiding under it, out.

With a toss of its head, the dragon threw the man out into the street at the feet of the guards.

There must have been yelling, though Iggy was too far away to hear it. The man tried to leap to his feet and either fight or run, but the guards were mid-classers.  They soon had him trussed up in chains and then tossed into one of the carts.

The leftmost dragon which had been sniffing at the store had turned its head to watch the show. The sorcerer on its back dug heels into its side. With a shrug of wings pinned by chains, the dragon continued onward down the road.

Iggy let his fire go and the mining company moved on, though now with one new asset for the mine.

Prim looked tired from more than just the unaccustomed strain of flying.

“We must tell Alice what we saw. Though the distrustful friend does not deserve it… I know Alice will not be happy to know she is now working for the mine.”