All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 288: Dragon Everyone Else Along

As I got closer to Daedalus's form on the ground, my sensors made out Archibald sliding off of his back and stretching his legs. The human champion walked around, bending over a few times to limber himself up.

"Hello, my friend!" Daedalus called up to me as I hovered toward the ground.

I returned the greeting excitedly with a beep and a projected message. "It's good to see you. How have you been?"

"Oh, you know. Busy. Archibald and I have been working nonstop, though most of it's been flying over the countryside." Daedalus yawned. "We managed to spook a few farmers pretty well. Man, it felt like old times..."

We went back and forth briefly, sharing little tales of what we'd been up to with each other. Then I asked what they'd come all the way out here for. Daedalus let out an annoyed growl.

"We found the trail from the Lieutenant that you fought with Thucydides. His powers took him quite a ways away from that fight, it seems."

I listened intently, curious about what they had found. Daedalus continued on. "We think we've found out where it is hiding. There's a mountain in that direction," he nodded his head to indicate, "where the trail turns cold, and I believe it went somewhere inside."

Archibald nodded. "I got to squeeze in between a few rocks, some places that Daedalus couldn't go. But only a little way in. It seemed like it stopped teleporting and started walking into the mountain. It's still not moving very fast, but fast enough that we couldn't catch it in time."

I hadn't expected them to be actually able to catch up. The demon had had several days head start, and this time, it knew it was being chased, so it probably wasn't taking its time.

"So you want some help killing a demon?" I asked. "We were also hunting the illusion, Lieutenant,"

Daedalus and Archibald both looked surprised at that." Really? Did you find another one? What happened?"

I projected the story of how we took the capital and found the king being impersonated by a Lieutenant. I assured them that I managed to kill that second Lieutenant who showed up, but the illusionist got away.

After I finished, I projected another message into the air. "We were just getting ready to track them out of the city with the help of some demon experts. And then you showed up."

"Huh?" Daedalus furrowed his brow. "What direction are they headed?"

I interpolated the path and pointed in the general direction. The dragon hummed thoughtfully. "That's around where we were headed, too. I wonder if they're meeting up there."

"That's very interesting," I said. "Maybe we could get two at the same time."

Daedalus and Archibald looked at each other. After a moment, Archibald shook his head from side to side. "Yeah, I guess we could. Weird to think that fighting more than one of them at a time would ever be good, but

"The more the merrier," I said. I wasn't sure I fully understood the phrase, but it was something my humans always said, and I always did enjoy more company. "I could get rid of more at the same time."

"That's good," Archibald let out a barking laugh. "Then I suppose you're right, Void. The more, the merrier."

"Well," Daedalus stretched, "perhaps we can rest in the city for a little bit. I'd appreciate a small break from the flying. Not that it's enough to tire me, but a change of pace would certainly be nice."

Archibald nodded. "Yeah, it'd be nice to catch up with Bee. I wonder how she's taking this all. I'm sure she has a bit of a different perspective on events. No offense, Void."

"Why would I take offense to Beatrice having a different perspective? I'm sure we see things differently. Especially considering that I am much closer to the ground than she is. Though it seemed unlikely that she'd see something that I missed with my sensors. They're quite powerful, after all."

Archibald seemed very confused.

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When we were about to take off toward the city, I noticed that Beatrice was heading back our way. She zipped along on her magic carpet, soaring over the treetops towards our location. She had a very focused look on her face as she worked on maximizing her speed. When she saw that we weren't actually going anywhere, though, she seemed to relax slightly and came to touch down.

"Oh, good. You're here. I was worried for a second. You were right to not head into the city."

Daedalus and I exchanged sheepish looks. "Uh, should we not have?" I asked.

Beatrice shook her head emphatically. "No, no, the city's still a bit tense after the battle and everything. Just seeing something unknown on the horizon sent them into an uproar."

Daedalus looked at Archibald, who nodded. "Ah, yeah. Sorry. I forgot that people aren't used to seeing dragons around in this era, and especially not as good guys. I suppose that could be a little freaky, having a giant fire-breathing lizard that could destroy your city in moments flying overhead."

Daedalus protested. "I would never! I find human architecture quite interesting. I know some of my kind don't share the appreciation, but still."

Beatrice looked slightly concerned still but thanked the dragon. "I appreciate your willingness to give us some time. Maybe we can have you come to the city later? When it's planned out ahead of time, you can walk the last little bit. And, I don't know, maybe the kids could come out and see you so they're not so afraid."

Daedalus nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I do enjoy the adoring cheers of human children. It's always best after a victorious battle as well."

Beatrice nodded. "Yeah, well, you came just in time. We were about to set off on a hunt for one of the Lieutenants. Now that we have the city mostly under control. And I assume you bring news as well?"

"Yes." Archibald and Bee went off and discussed for quite some time what they had found. Daedalus and I didn't feel the need to participate, though. What really was there to discuss? Well, besides saying, "Oh, hey, look, a demon. Let's get rid of it." This wasn't like it was some grand plan for cleaning a city or anything.

I told Daedalus about my plan to incentivize cleanliness and reward those children who kept their rooms clean. He thought it was a great idea but unfortunately agreed with me that he just didn't have enough spare treasure lying in his many hoards to use as prizes. However, he did like the idea of my apples, and I pulled one out to show him. He daintily speared it on one tooth and then licked up the juices with his forked tongue. His eyes widened in surprise, then he roasted it with a surprisingly gentle burst of flame and ate the rest.

"Hmm. That's quite delicious. Best apple I've had in millennia," he said. "It's pretty hard to pick them when your teeth are this large. And without Archibald, I haven't been able to convince any of the local humans to pick any off the tree with me. I gave up a few thousand years ago. I couldn't get them to stop running away whenever they saw me."

I nodded in understanding. "Yeah, humans do have a tendency to run away when they're surprised, don't they?"

"Oh, you have no idea," Daedalus said. "Man, after the dragons mostly went into seclusion and the demon lords were gone, humans quickly forgot about us. And it wasn't even a thousand years before they were surprised to see a dragon alive."

"I'm not surprised. I mean, the first thing they did when they saw me was run away and abandon the castle. Only Beatrice was kind enough not to flee," I said, putting a slightly better spin on the series of events that led me to come to this place.

"Yeah. You mentioned something about that before." Daedalus rumbled, laying his head on the ground. "Well, I'm glad at least some of the humans are understanding. At least it means we have our companions."

"Yeah," I said. "Beatrice was offered a companion class, actually."

"Oh, she didn't take it?" Daedalus's ears perked up.

"No. She went with the High Priestess instead."

Daedalus seemed to take an interest in that. "Archibald didn't have that option. He didn't tell me about it, at least. I suppose that's what you get for being a god."

I waved my claw dismissively. "Yeah, it's nice and all, but the skills I've gotten at the higher levels aren't really that much better. I'm still waiting for some sort of instant clean spell."

Daedalus laughed at me. "They are definitely better. They're way more powerful," he said. "They just are a little bit niche. Sometimes, you'll find that they're easier to train up than some of the earlier skills, probably because they're more tailored to you."

I pondered that. It was true that I did receive a very powerful level 80 skill. I explained to my draconic friend how Convergence of the Faithful worked.

He let out a smoky breath. "That is impressive. Almost makes me envious. I'm sure dragons would get that eventually, but we just need to get a little higher level. And you know, have more followers."

"I am sure they would," I agreed. Dragons were very impressive, though they could work on keeping their hoards a little more organized. Then again, I had only seen one so far.

Soon, Archibald and Beatrice finished their discussion, and Daedalus and I broke off our small talk to hear their action plan. It was rather simple and something that I could have told them we would do 20 minutes ago, but at least they were on the same page. We were all going to fly towards the mountain, following the rough direction of the tracks.

Apparently, Harold and Susan and a set of bodyguards were now following the trail of our Lieutenant. If the paths didn't actually end up going to the same location, we would have some sort of backup to find the other one, at least. But everyone agreed that time was of the essence. So Beatrice got on her carpet, and Archibald got up on Daedalus's back. Together, we lifted off, flying at speeds that made the birds seem slow.

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