Ashton rode in the end car along with the Clan's Shadow Flight Representative. Every feather along his crest itched everything she looked over at him. In her claws was a strange string game, something she called a "Floracat's cradle". Several attempts to teach him the game left him entangled in the string loop time and again. Instead, he now rooted through his travel chest, counting and recounting his tools. It wasn't that he didn't trust the Skydancer, more it was his way of calming himself.
Everything had a place, and everything was in it's place - ready for use at a moment's notice.
The train slid to a bumping halt. They were are the borderlands. From outside someone called out ,"Ophelia, your presence is needed mi-lady."
His skydancer companion rose from her seat and stepped from the rear door of the rear train carriage. Ashton stifled a snort. She wasn't a "lady". Maybe she held some royal or high-born blood in her veins, but she was not a lady. Delicate in feature, she was a ruthless mage with the ability to twist things every which way by only using her words. A poisonous politician with a candy coating, that was Ophelia.
He mused in silence as he watched her leave. Then with a silent step, he approached the train car side window. Smiling she greeted the Shadow emmisaries in some strange ritualistic fashion. It was all too much. He turned back and wondered. Would they ever get there?
After a few moments, Ophelia re-entered the train car. "I'm afraid I have bad news."
Ashton grimaced, "do they need something from us?"
"No, not exactly. You see," she waved a hand as if Ashton's concerns were of no matter, but her choice of wording left a cold chill creep up his tail to the base of his spine. He tilted his head to one side, crest raised by a fraction, listening as she continued. "There is a monster wrecking havoc not too far from here. We can't use the train."
"What?!" Every muscle along his legs tightened as he stood up to his full height, wings drooped open by a fraction.
The trackline coming from the Viridian Labyrinth started as a foot path, ended at a bare-rail bucket car at the junction where Nature, Light and Shadow domains touched. From here they were able to transfer the supplies of coffee beans to a proper train, and skirted the borderlands between Light and Shadow for a few miles.
Now this? Ashton groaned. The shipment was going to be late.
Crap.
"By the spines..." Ashton started to say, then snapped his jaw shut. He huffed and paced. "Okay then, what did you arrange?"
Ophelia smiled an ingenious smile,"Well now, why would you think that I..."
"Can it." Ophelia's smile faltered as Ashton's irritation bled into his words, "I don't have time for this. Every second that ticks by where we talk about this, this shipment is late."
Ophelia sniffed, her antennae waved. Then with a grace, she bowed to Ashton and spoke with a softer and kinder tone then he expected from her. "Yes. I did. We have a caravan coming to take us through the tangled wood of Shadow Flight's domain."
"What," Ashton turned, confusion creasing his forehead. "is blocking us?"
Ophelia paled, he purple tones faded to an almost-Arcanist-pink hues. Her eyes dilated with real fear. "I dare not speak of it...."
Ashton's blood chilled. She rarely showed true emotions to anyone. "Tell me."
"An Emperor," the words where whispered, hushed, and full of fear.
"But those are just tales told to hatchlings to get them to behave." Ashton huffed. Ophelia frowned in return, then reached for a small divining crystal she lept on her person. After the shortened ritualistic set up, it glowed into life and showed an area of Light's Domain. It was destroyed with dead bodies of both beastclan and dragon alike... or what was left of some of them.
One dragon, a large guardian, was crushed at an odd angle. Ophelia waved her hands over the crystal and it pulled back and up higher. The guardian lay in the footprint of something vaguely draconic. Ashton glanced up at Ophelia who still concentrated on her work. Returning his gaze to the crystal, the view left him dizzy. It sped past ruined villages, burning homes, and ruins that were even more ruined then before. Finally, just as Ophelia's hands were shaking with the effort, they spied it. Ashton gasped, his body responding with a full on threat display as terror filled his heart. Ophelia responded likewise, hesitated for a moment as if to burn the image into their minds, before she doused the crystal's light and snuffed the candles.
They glanced at each other.
"Only dieties can take out those... things.... if the stories hold any more truth to them, yes?" Ashton's voice crackled with a soft whine of electrical power. Ophelia nodded her head.
"We need Stormcatcher's help." Ophelia said softly.
"Why?" Ashton snorted, resettling his feathers and wings.
"Because that thing is too close to my homelands, and if Shadowbinder and Lightweaver try to take this out together, they could seriously damage each other. Stormcatcher has the ability to blow this thing part."
"Ah I see... is this why you decided to go with me?" Ashton's eyes narrowed.
Ophelia sighed, "Yes. Stormcatcher can't be persuaded if he doesn't get his daily intake of good coffee, yes?"
"Yes..." Ashton tilted his head to one side.
"So.... I will ensue nothing... happens... to this shipment if you ask your Flight's progenitor for help."
"ME?!?!?@!?!" Ashton quailed at the thought. "You might as well ask me to find Steve!"
"Who's Steve?" Ophelia quirked an eyeridge.
"Oh.. uh.. don't worry about it. Point is, I'm not even upper management. Why do you think I could even get near HIM with out dying?"
"Because," Ophelia smiled, "you bring the best gift, along with the coffee."
"What's that?" Ashton growled.
Ophelia motioned towards the windows. Ashton walked over to them, keeping a suspicious glare pinned on Ophelia. When she shrugged, he turned his attention back outside and saw a massive pile of something fluffy. "What is it?"
"A mug warmer."
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