Chapter 899: The Way Ho (Ch.900)
The sun had just risen when Neveah was finally able to draw enough magic to summon a hovering portal large enough to let the dragon lords get through.
Everon had been strongly against the use of magic, insisting her health wasn’t anywhere near recovery to handle the strain of magic, but they didn’t have much better options than Neveah.
Mages would find it too draining to summon a direct portal across such a great distance, particularly in unfamiliar terrain with less free magic available to draw from.
Arcane was different though. It was far more abundant, and easier to manipulate in greater quantities.
The only other option was flight. And Neveah didn’t find seven days or more of flight all that enticing, given her current state.
After hours of Everon’s unrelenting protest, they’d settled for a compromise. Neveah’s portal didn’t need to be too precise as that would consu even more magic, but just enough to get them across to the nearest border of the stronghold, past the seas and unclaid territory.
Then, the dragons would take it from there, covering the rest of the distance to Dragon Keep with flight.
She’d been through the route once before and though the mory was still fragnted, she had enough pieces of it to make for sufficient navigation.
Even then, it had taken far longer than she thought it would, and one too many failed attempts, right from the crack of dawn.
But finally, she stood, staring up at the glinting tear in space, wide enough to accommodate a dragon.
"We’ll have to take the rear." Neveah said, walking over to Jian. "I can only hold it up from this side. And going through one after the other is bound to take a short ti."
He stepped away from his conversation with Cassian, eting Neveah halfway, "Certainly. Take as long as you need."
They walked the rest of the way together, back to where Cassian, Kaideon and Rodvan stood.
"I’m also not so certain of the accuracy of the destination this ti." She admitted, "We might make dragon territory, or a little ways off. But it shouldn’t be more than a day’s flight away, in that case."
Jian nods in understanding, glancing over to Kaideon and Rodvan. "You and should head out earlier. You will need to get the Dune Lady settled in as soon as possible."
Dune lady... the dragon lords had already begun referring to Eira with that title.
It was humbling, just how much they honoured true bonds, even when the lady in question was neither dead nor alive.
Kaideon nodded, patting Neveah’s shoulder before he headed off to make the arrangents.
Kaideon wouldn’t take dragon form, Neveah had been told. Rodvan would serve as mount, while Kaideon steadied Eira for flight.
It was the only reasonable approach to the situation. Eira wasn’t in any shape to ride herself and Kaideon would never tolerate anyone else steadying her on dragon back because it ant securing a proper hold.
Besides, Rodvan and Kaideon were close enough to not find the arrangent disturbing.
The party that had co for her consisted of just about a dozen dragon lords. They shifted and went through the portal one after the other, Rodvan being the third to go over with Kaideon and Eira.
Alpha Nolan had already said his farewells earlier on. He’d stuck around since the crack of dawn and only left to make arrangents for the challenges.
Neveah had also left him with a letter portal, that way he could always stay in touch. When the challenges were up and the winter wolves returned to their territory, Kaideon would arrange a thod to allow Nolan to visit Eira often.
She was drawn out of her thoughts by Cassian. He gestured to the side while Jian was distracted and Neveah raised a brow but trailed after him until they were a good distance away.
"Veah." He began when they were out of earshot, "I intended to have this conversation earlier on, but there hasn’t been much ti to speak with all that’s been going on."
"And I know Jian would hate for
to be bringing this up right now, when you’re not fully recovered. But I know he’ll take too long to say it himself, Xenon won’t interfere and I believe you absolutely have to know, so you’re not cut off guard when we get ho."
"Is sothing wrong?" She asked him, in concern. "Is everyone alright?"
Her mind imdiately strayed to Estelle and Dante, Kirgan, young Zephyroth and his parents, the Dune lords, Decaron, the Keep dragons and the Infernal dragons. She even thought of Lodenworth and his newly born son, who had been missing last she heard.
If anything had happened to anyone... she wasn’t sure she wanted to imagine it.
Cassian shook his head slightly, "Not in the sense of the word. But there’s been so changes in the stronghold since you...well, disappeared."
Changes? She didn’t like the sound of that. If there’s one thing she has learnt in these years, changes in the stronghold were never good.
In fact, they were mostly catastrophic. Like an erupting volcano, or a realm of beasts swallowing up the Dragon King.
"The cracks have been opening more frequently, for one. They’re larger and let up greater numbers of forlorn beasts, including the bigger and rarer species. And they’re becoming a pain in the ass, to close up."
Neveah nodded slowly. It wasn’t pleasant to hear, but the state she’d left the stronghold in, this much was expected.
"But that’s not all..." Cassian trails off, "After your disappearance, our liege summoned a unified council, forfeited dragon supre rule and dissolved the alliance."
"Dragon protection in the tributary territories have been recalled to the Keep, and various dragon fortresses. The tributary leaders were given leave to appoint themselves a ruler and uphold their own independent monarchy."
She blinked in astonishnt. Of all the changes she’d expected to hear, that wasn’t one of it.
"I believe you’ll understand better when we get to the Keep, but just a heads-up, things are not as they used to be." Cassian says, "And he’s still... navigating the aftermath of his decision. The King’s guard supports him completely, but I think he needs more than that...to get the weight off his shoulders."
Neveah’s brows furrowed, mulling over it. "Thank you for telling , Cassian."
Cassian shook his head, "No thanks required, Your Grace."
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