Chapter 387

remember that this work is not written by me... and at no time do I earn anything from this, it is only to disseminate the work if you want to support the one who writes it, I leave your discord in the thoughts of the Author.

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'You worry too much. You're clinging to him like he'll disappear if your tail relaxes even a little.' Neia reprimanded herself and tightened her heels into Olasird'arc's neck to spur him forward. In the thick clouds and gliding as they were, they made no sound and wouldn't be seen, but thanks to her dragonid eyes and Cenna's Godkin lineage, observing proved easy.

"They're doing just as I expected, we can go and wait for them." Cenna said and tightened his hold on her waist just as she relaxed her tail a little bit. 'After this is over, whatever happens… good or bad… hold her tight.' Cenna told himself, it was a strange thing to see someone so dangerous be so nervous. 'She was less afraid when the tip of my spear was over her throat, right then, she appeared almost peaceful, like she was tired and ready to fall asleep.' It was just at that moment when it hit one of the strongest men in the world, that the Queen of Frost never spoke of her life before becoming who she was in the present. Nor did her parents, all he knew of her in fact came from the briefings given to him from the Pontifex's files.

And with that realization, came the overwhelming desire to know more. 'I want to know everything… what forces in this world could possibly shape a woman like her, who could tend a dragon's wounds with such devotion that it called her his sister, that would first defy a nation, and a being called by some to be a god, before building one of her own… such a woman is going to be my wife? I might have to take fewer naps if I'm going to be a worthwhile husband to someone like that!' It was a moment of almost reverential awe to watch as the dragon took them out of sight, even without seeing her fearsome eyes he could feel them boring straight ahead, readying herself for whatever lay ahead.

'Have I done the same?' He wondered about himself, his own nature was no mystery, not to him, 'Happy go lucky, good times, good beer, sweet bark and naps with the occasional hunt… I betrayed my nation for her and I'm about to betray my friends… no. No! I've already done that, even if she captured none of them, everything I said without a thought is enough to neutralize them or ensure their deaths at any time by picking fights they can't hope to win! I've just been assuming that things will go the way I want them to! I've always assumed that!' By contrast… he recalled her meeting with the Allfather's representative, the careful choosing of who among her demihumans would be the best fit, the endless discussions and negotiations when the slender man from Nazarick wanted only the 'bodies' of the Black Scripture.

'I thought of nothing, I just assumed, assumed, and assumed some more. If she'd given in to the demon in glasses, what could I have said or done? If he'd played hard, could she have refused? I wasn't even in the room when she negotiated a trade… what did she agree to give him in their stead?! I assumed something simple but… oh my gods… I never even asked!' Cenna never once in his life cursed himself, born lucky and superior to almost everyone he'd ever met in combat, the best without even trying, and the weight of the world now crashed down on his shoulders while he stared at the back of the head of the dragonid.

There was no way for her to know the content of his thoughts at that moment, and for that, Cenna Tachoni was more than grateful, and in no small way, worried about what lay ahead. 'They will surrender! They 'have' to surrender! There's no way for them to win!' He told himself that repeatedly, and reached behind his back to rub the handle of his divinely given spear, the familiarity comforted him while the dragon went on.

Neia disengaged his hands for a moment and parted her wings. "Now hold tight." She said and before he could ask why, she jumped, Cenna reflexively held fast to her waist, and dangled so far above the ground that his heart pounded instinctively out of the fear of such an absurd height.

'Even I might not survive a fall from up here!' He thought and felt her body wince when his grip went a little tighter than she was comfortable with. However the Frost Queen didn't tell him to relax, instead she only floated down well out of view while the rest of the Black Scripture passed through a cluster of trees.

The air battered at his body in ways he didn't know air could do, the freezing cold was negligible when he could think of something else, but now that he was being hit full in the face and descending toward a ground that just kept getting bigger, his blood threatened to freeze as it never had against even the coldest of undead monsters.

When she finally came close to the ground, Cenna released a breath he hadn't known he was holding and put his hand to his chest, he leaned forward, bending over a little so that he was almost eye to eye with Neia and said, "If we could never do that again, my dear… that would be great."

She chuckled a little bit and said, "So I've been told that some dragonids mate on the wing, I'm guessing you wouldn't be interested? Supposedly the beating wings can make small hurricanes if the mating pair is strong enough."

Cenna tried to picture it and he looked at his wife-to-be with blatant desire etched on his face, she practically preened. "There, that perked you right up." She clapped him on the shoulder then spun on her heel to put him at her back, put her fingers between her lips, and gave a long, shrill, sharp whistle.

"Why yo-" He cut off his indignation with a stark, gallows humor laugh while the demihuman teams came into view. Tribal leaders, the strongest of the strong… and now the most loyal of Neia's followers, came into view.

"My Queen!" Hectowaizes Ah Ragara loped toward her, his massive lion body encased in intricately carved orichalchum armor, his thick, based adamantite tipped lance held ready with the point skyward. He lowered himself to one front knee and bowed his head. "Your forces are assembled and I have drilled them relentlessly, whether the humans arrive at the cave and are taken on entry, or are taken at their departure, the decision is yours, but the result will be the same!"

Neia's General brought his lance front and center to his body and close to his broad built human torso. Out of all the demihumans Neia knew, he was one of the easiest to relate to, a soldier and a leader through and through. 'Beating him was a narrow thing, if I hadn't beaten him by out maneuvering him and needed a commander of his caliber?' The unpleasant thought of a prolonged war in the Hills was a bitter taste on her tongue even though it hadn't happened.

The Orthrous tribal leader gave her a wink of his eye as if he could read her thoughts, and she… winked back. 'If I am ever killed, he is the best chance to ensure my Kingdom endures after I am gone, and if I have an heir to pass it on to, then he will be one of my heir's finest tutors.' Neia could almost see it now, a strong young son, winged and willful, the blend of his father and herself, it felt more like a vision of the future than an idle moment of imagination.

But one way or another, she had little time ahead to consider it. Behind the General stood his closest aides, the eldest heirs of the other tribal leaders. "You have a right to live. Kill if you have to. But if you can take them alive, do it. That is all, take your places." Neia snapped the order out, and watched as the small groups made for the Peace Trees. The hill nearby, unlike other hills, had an empty tomb within, the burial place once belonged to a now disinterned chieftain from a time when they ruled this place, and the entrance to his burial chamber, cut into the earth itself, still lay exposed from where it had been dug.

"So do you know anything about this place?" Cenna asked with idle curiosity.

"A little." Neia said and waved toward the dark entrance. "Just that he was incredibly rich and was buried with his wealth. Unfortunately he made the mistake of being 'famous' for his wealth, so his burial mound was barely over his head before his tribe was attacked, scattered, and his tomb looted by a neighbor. They're gone now, the orcs still tell the story of the Greedy Chief and how his love of wealth destroyed his people. If you ask me, humans could have benefitted from that story." She snorted and walked toward the trees with the others.

"Supposedly this grove once went up all around the mound, his idea to keep anyone from 'doing violence' to his body. What a stupid idea, I'd imagine at most they just 'gently plundered' his greedy corpse and were very gentle with every chunk of gold. Now all that's left is this large grove here." She gestured to the thick dangling white strands which swayed in the breeze. "I guess we should thank him, his stupidity and greed gave us a grove of trees that inhibits detection. The perfect place to hide from those who aren't expecting us." She snapped her fingers and her claws clicked when she did it.

"And remember, I only promised I would try." Neia added one more time as they vanished within the strands.

"I know." He assured her as best he could, resting a hand on her back before they all fell silent and waited to spring the trap.