The world returned to Bobbin's senses all at once, starting with a sudden and sharp pain in his skull. The Fae grimaced as he pushed himself up, blinking rapidly as he tried to adjust his eyes to the heavy fog once more. It was then that he remembered that he had something important to do. It wasn't just important, it was absolutely
essential for the good of his clan, and the good of the inhabitants of Sorienth. His heart skipping a beat, he reached for his distaff and the all-too-heavy bag of treasure that he was forced to carry.
However, it was soon that the watchdragon had caught up with him, the larger dragon's wingbeats nearly blowing the young gray dragon away as he lighted down. Bobbin quickly fixed his hood and turned to face the armored Imperial that had just landed behind him. It was Kendall, from the clan that he and his caregiver were presently residing with. Swallowing hard the Fae nodded as the other spoke.
”Apprentice, you are late. You will return with me now.” the masked dragon's voice cut through the fog like a knife.
Bobbin's crests fell as his eyes widened, pressing himself further against the ground. The strange experience was coming back to him now. Kendall was the watchdragon from earlier, the same one he saw with that strange Nocturne. He was a
large Imperial--it was no wonder that the leader chose him as a watchdragon. Not removing his eyes from Kendall, the Fae's claws continued to search for the treasure bag and his staff.
“Right! Yes! I ran into a tree on the way here and lost our earnings for the day and... Oh! I just found it!” His crests shooting up proudly, Bobbin tried to grin as he held both objects up--though he seemed to have a great deal of trouble with the bag.
Kendall held out a claw, to which Bobbin tried to place the treasure in, "I will carry you," Kendall cut in. Bobbin's crests tilted oddly, "It will be much faster. Time is of the essence."
Pausing for a moment, the Fae eventually nodded. He felt a chill pass through him as he climbed into the yellow claws of the other, thinking about the undertaking that was now in front of them. He hardly knew anyone in the clan, for goodness' sake! He barely even knew everyone's faces, much less Kendall's. It didn't help that he was always wearing a mask... But it's not as if Bobbin was any different. His face was always concealed by the shadows of his cloak.
As Kendall lifted off and wind was soon whipping about them, Bobbin wrapped his claws and tail around one of the Imperial's thumbs for security. Looking up to the other, his crests rose for a moment, before they fell and his nose scrunched up with worry. Bobbin was suddenly uncertain if the Imperial would even help him. He attempted to swallow his own fear again. With his crests and head low, he turned back to Kendall.
"H-hey," he puttered, "You're going to help me with this, right...?"
Despite the mask, he could see Kendall's eyes drift towards him. Bobbin felt another chill, "With what?" the Imperial asked flatly. He almost sounded like a Fae himself with that.
"Er," Bobbin gulped, "N-nevermind." he looked to Kendall's palms. Did he forget? Was that all a dream, or was it real? His insides started to churn as worry overcame the cloaked dragon.
Suddenly something flew by, causing the fog to swirl about them in a strange way. Bobbin tumbled backwards despite his grip on the other's claws, and had to quickly bull his hood back up before Kendall saw his face. It seemed as though he had done so just in time too, as the Imperial's snout was suddenly against the back of his head.
"We're both assigned to this mission," he whispered, "But you must be as secretive about this as possible. Understand? If we raise suspicion, we could get killed. Be careful to not let on that you're immune."
Bobbin could only nod in reply.
It wasn't long before they could see electricity sparkling through the dense fog--it appeared as though they had arrived back at the lair. Another chill passed through Bobbin's entire form, closing his eyes as he took in a deep breath. He had no idea how he was going to manage this. He only hoped that his dear caregiver Hetchel could provide some guidance to him... But even then he doubted he could so much as trust her... Or even the leader Anixo, for that matter!
Kendall landed and allowed Bobbin to leave his claws. The Fae hovered just above the Imperial's palms, holding his distaff close to his chest. The faces within the clan were all familiar, but one of them could have been an imposter. But who? The best way that he could gather was to study their body language. Watch them carefully and watch for anything that stood out as odd. But what would that be, he wondered.
Just then, Anixo approached the two of them, smiling brightly as he always did, "Welcome back you two!" he hummed, he looked over Kendall and Bobbin, a brief look of uncertainty flashing in his pink eyes, "I see you've found the straggler! Elixir will be pleased with that. You'd best report to him quickly, Bobbin."
With a nod, Bobbin took the bag once again, his wings having to work overtime to compensate for the heavy load. But he seemed to manage. Once the Fae was out of an earshot, Anixo approached Kendall, whose size seemed to dwarf the Nocturne. He seemed to have something on his mind that he wanted to mention, but his face soon darkened.
"What are you still doing here?" Anixo demanded sharply, "Get back to work, or else the Stormcatcher will know of your lethargy!"
Kendall was taken aback by the sudden change in disposition, his jaw tensing. However he gave a curt nod before he started his way into the lair. Anixo was now at the top of his suspicions, but more investigation was needed before he could make a decision... He thought of following after Bobbin, though could that have come off as strange. He thought it best to split up for now. Look about in the shadows like Shadowsong had instructed.
Bobbin made his way to Elixir as quickly as possible, flying overtop the heads of most of the dragons. His bright blue eyes scoured them, searching for any particularly strange behavior. So distracted by his search, Bobbin quite nearly flew past his master! The blue and purple Skydancer was speaking intently with a very purple female Bogsneak, one who was still rather new to the lair. They seemed to be well into their discussion, the fog slipping in between their feet, now. Bobbin winced as he lowered himself to be eye level with his master.
"Yes, yes. If you want magic lessons I can--ah, Bobbin! There you are!" Elixir grunted. Although he didn't seem angry, he certainly wasn't happy that one of his apprentices were late, "You'll have to excuse me, Miss." he addressed the Bogsneak, "I must take care of my student."
"Oh, certainly!~" she hummed, "We can discuss this later!" with that, she shuffled off, casting a glance back at Elixir and Bobbin, her smile growing.
Continued here on Tumblr for the sake of convenience.
... And so I don't make a post with over 4k words in it. For sake of ease, please use Ctrl + F and search for "CONTINUED FROM FLIGHT RISING" on the tumblr post.
