Issac awoke to the sound of Marry nudging his body forcefully, her voice filled with panic.
“Issac... Issac wake up!” She whispered, her voice fearful.
“What is it?” Issac mumbled as awareness flooded his mind, giving a reptilian grumble as his eyes opened, the light of the moon below them, casting the ground in a blue light.
Issac’s eyes met Marry’s, letting Issac see the incredibly worried look on her face.
“People, nearby, to the west of us, there are too many to be travelers or a patrol. They must be soldiers.” Mary quickly explained.
All drowsiness faded from Issac at those words, who immediately got up, his form towering over Marry as he took a moment to listen to his surroundings.
She was right. To the west, he could hear distant voices and the faint noise of what sounded like drum beats ringing throughout the forest, steadily growing louder as time passed. Issac would later learn that the drums he was hearing was the tale tell sign of someone walking with heavy cloud steel armor.
Issac turned to Marry who was already in her own suit of silver cloud armor, one hand gingerly holding her travel pack and the other, nervously resting on the hilt of her scabbard. Issac nodded at Marry, who wordlessly began to head east into the forest, away from the sounds of the soldiers and deeper into the woods.
The two moved through the forest, trying to go as quickly but quietly as they could. While Marry with her sleek form found it easy to traverse through the forest, Issac, despite being faster, found himself having to slow down, in order to prevent his towering body, over nine feet tall, from crashing into anything.
The sounds of the drumbeats faded with distance as Issac and Marry kept moving, only stopping once the sounds were indistinguishable from the sounds of the forest night. Although Issac could still faintly hear them I’m the distant, they were safe, for now at least.
Issac stood guard as Marry leaned against a tree, taking a moment to take a breath, her pure white face sweaty with dew.
When Marry was no longer breathing heavily, Issac finally asked “How did they find us?”
“I’m not sure, it’s possible they could’ve guessed that I would be here after they found out of my absence in my home village, although magic is more likely than not at play here.” She answered, still panting slightly. Her face was stuck in a constant state of anxiety. Issac couldn’t help but notice how every sound made her jump slightly, how her eyes were wide with fear, and how she held onto the hilt of her sword so tightly.
While she may have training with the sword, this is her first time doing something like this, isn’t it? Issac thought to himself.
“What now then?” Issac asked, his eyes and ears keeping a watchful gaze over their surroundings. His reptilian muzzle occasionally breathing out a mist of warm air.
“We have to get to my hideout I had mentioned earlier, if we can make it there, not even the Sky King himself could find us.”
“How long until we can get there?”
“From our location, only about an hour or two northwest, from there we can discuss more about the assassination itself.” Marry explained, a snow white squirrel darting between her legs and into the forest behind them, making Marry struggle to hold in a Yelp before she calmed down.
Issac held in a slight chuckle at the sight, before resuming the conversation.
“How do you know they won’t be able to find us while in this hideout of yours?”
“Trust me on this, once we get there, you’ll know how.” Marry said cryptically.
Issac was finding himself to get annoyed with Marry’s deliberate vagueness, although he didn’t comment on it for now, there was a time and place for everything after all.
“Fine then, I suppose we ought to—-“ Issac said, getting cut off as what felt and sounded like thunder hit him dead on, the world around Issac spun as he saw the forest as he felt a great gust of wind blow his body several yards away from the source of the sound, crashing into multiple cloud trees that instantly dissipated as they felt the force of Issac’s body.
Tumbling into the soft cloud ground, grunting out as he felt his body was littered long slashes that seemed to have come from the wind, exposing the icy vines and molten granite that hid beneath his cloudy scales. Through pain blurred eyes, Issac saw the forest around him was in tatters. Stumps of scattered trees dotted the area around his prone form.
Above Issac, he saw a frightening image. A pack of about nine large grey scaled lizards, each one clearly draconic in ancestry with their long bat like wings and all of them wearing pristine white cloud armor. Above each of the lizards, rode a saddled rider, each one wearing thick heavy cloud armor and carrying an assortment of large blunt weapons. However, the most notable of them all was the helm less middle rider, who both himself and the wyvern he rode towered over his fellow riders. Around Issac’s height, the figure hovered alongside his subordinates, carrying an iron greatclub from the material world in one hand and a large shield embezzled with the symbol of a tornado surrounded by three hammers on each side.
The figure’s face was that of a cloudfolk, a light grey skin, signifying he was around his early thirties. It was smooth and soft, giving the man an almost childlike like look, something Issac noticed was a trait almost all cloudfolk shared. The man’s face was filled with innocent curiosity, like the look of a child who just petted a dog for the first time.
The man stared at Issac intently, his mount hovering midair along with the rider of the riders beside him.
“Oh! One of the lesser dragon brood it seems, although it’s features bare no resemblance to Malbur. Perhaps another dragon was made a nest nearby? Or is it a stray?” The man said more to himself than anyone else, talking after a long pause as if he had just realized what he was looking at.
“Who are you?” Issac asked, his tone menacing as he shakily got up, feeling the pain coursing through his body fade as his wounds regenerated, new cloud scales repairing the old, as he went into a defensive unarmed stance.
The figure paused for another moment before exclaiming “Oh! It speaks! One of the dragon kin? A fairly strange one, hardly any draconic traits.” The man said, either not hearing or simply ignoring Issac’s question. The man continued to stare at the paladin, uncaring of Issac’s battle ready look.
“Perhaps we should capture it? If it’s male it could certainly serve as a breeding slave for some of the lesser brood. Although...” The figure paused, taking his attention off of Issac to look at Marry, who in the last moment possible was able to dodge the major brunt of the wind blast.
She was only a couple of feet away from Issac, standing on two shaky legs, one arm clutching a badly bruised side while the other was pointing her cloud silver sword at the large man, a fearful but determined look in her eye.
“It’s you... so the cloud dividers were correct, I guess that means you should be coming with us now. Father was awfully upset when he found out you were missing, don’t worry, he’s been in a good mood lately so he probably won’t inflict that bad of a punishment.” He said, smiling without missing a beat.
“I refuse to go...” Marry yelled out firmly, unmoving. Her sword shaking slightly as she held it.
Fuck. Issac thought. So magic was at play then? I’m not sure whether I can fight him or not. We hadn’t planned for a full conflict, especially not this early on. For now I have to stall him until Marry can find a chance to escape.
Issac stood his ground as well, careful not to do another until an opportunity could reveal itself.
“I said, who are you? Are you in league with the Sky King?” Isaac asked, already having an idea on who he was.
The man looked back to Issac, surprise Jon his voice, as if he had just caught himself being rude.
“My apologizes! I completely forgot about your question. Let me amend myself then. In case you were wondering, that huge blast of wind was from my very own wyvern, Cloudy.” He said, patting the gigantic wyvern he was riding on, giggling to himself as the brood dragon gave the draconic equivillant of a purr. “Anyway, my father sent me to find the noble maiden beside you and to safely bring her to him. I believe the reason is to celebrate her upcoming maturing her body will undergo. Of course you’ve asked me for my name...” The warrior paused, thinking for a moment before saying.
“My name is Prince Wuthor Thunderclaw, first and only son of the Sky King and head commander of his majesty’s army, it is a true pleasure to meet you.”
AN: Apologizes for not posting for so long, I had some issues while writing this chapter, although I should be posting more often now that I got personal stuff out of the way now. Be sure to leave in your own submissions and contributions to the story, all ideas are welcomed, as long as they are actually coherent ideas that aren’t randomly brought into the story for no reason