Chương 50: Siege

Nobody slept. The being haunted each of them for different reasons. Andy couldn't stop thinking about the pull, the familiarity of the being.

"Kesseroth," Andy asked the dragon.

"Yes?" Came his familiar gravelly deep voice.

"What is a Tier Question Mark?" Kesseroth turned. His entire attention on Andy now.

"What do you mean?"

"Well when you joined the party it said you were a tier question mark. And then the system said that the horror was a tier question mark."

"The system said…Okay, I need several points of clarification here. One. You can see the tiers of people in your party?"

"Yeah. Can you not?"

"No."

"Oh. Well what tier are you?"

"That is complicated. You see, certain events in ones mythical form cause one to take on a new set of–let's say goals. The system no longer measures my growth in tiers. Next question. The System said it was a Horror? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. You didn't get the notification?"

"What is a notification?"

"When the System tells you something is happening."

"That's not how the System functions. The System purely is there for abilities and progress. It is not a sapient anything. You're saying it talks to you."

"Sometimes. It's not usually very helpful."

"The System doesn't talk."

"It does to me…" Andy said cautiously.

"Well, that certainly is–an interesting thought. Regardless a Horror is one of the top levels of sophontism. Or, it was. Horrors haven't been seen in a thousand years. Perhaps longer. There used to be three branches of sophonts, The mythical beasts which is what fauna sophonts are referred to as, flora sophonts which is what Treeven is, and eldritch sophonts."

"I had the option of evolving into that branch."

"As a horse?" Kesseroth asked incredulously.

"No, when I was a single-celled organism."

"When you were a–" Andy could see the gears turning in the dragon's head and [TRUTH SENSE] confirmed that his confusion was genuine.

"--I don't know this species. And you were offered eldritch evolution?"

"Yeah." Kesseroth was quiet again.

"That should not be possible." Andy snorted.

"Well, here we are."

"Here we are indeed."

"So what happened to the eldritch branch?"

"No one knows. They were here, and then they were not." Andy raised a still perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

"That's not a very satisfying answer."

"History rarely is."

"Well that thing didn't seem very strong." Kesseroth stopped and stared.

"What?"

"The combined efforts of an ancient dragon, a merfolk, a sky herald, and two unicorns failed to injure it." Andy pondered a moment.

"Why did it keep looking at me." Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"That is a good question indeed." Neither of them had an answer. The conversation really left Andy with more questions. Dawn was beginning to break and it was time for the party to gear up and head out. Georgina began packing things up while Andy set about to reinvigorate his B. A. L. L. S. The cuttings had wilted considerably during the journey. He frowned and placed them into the sack. Moments later healthy green vines began poking out from the openings in the fabric.

One wrapped around the knapsack that Georgina had placed Barnacle in again and gave it an experimental lift. Satisfied Andy turned to the group.

"So the plan is, we fly in on Kesseroth. He does a fire sweep clearing out our landing zone. Georgina and I resume our unicorn forms. And we fight our way through the soldiers, and watch towers to the prisoner entrance that Reggie–""Primordial Bassssilissssk Sssir Reginald Boggart Hemsssworth the Third." Reggie corrected.

"We then head toward the prisoner entrance that Primoridial Basilisk Sir Reginald Boggart Hemsworth the Third found." Andy shot Reggie an irritated smile.

"Then Georgina, Sessaly, and Gustave hold the line while we go inside to find Auri." Silence followed and Andy added, "That's the entire plan?" Georgina, who had come up with or at the very least pitched the plan responded, "Yes?"

"Shouldn't there be phases and more like steps and action sequences and codenames and stuff?"

"Does there need to be?"

"I don't know– I guess I always imagined there was more to a rescue op."

"Andy," Georgina said solemnly.

"I don't think any additional steps are going to make this any easier."

"What about a distraction?"

"What could possibly be more distracting than a giant red dragon?" Andy looked at Kesseroth.

"Good point."

"What about a contingency plan?"

"If something goes wrong and you risk capture, death but you can escape–do that. Otherwise give it all you got."

"I think the expression is 'to blow your load.'""No," Georgina said.

"I don't think it is."

"Okay what about a mission name?"

"Why would we need a mission name?" Sessaly cut in. Andy looked at her sheepishly, "Oh, all successful rescue missions have a name."

"Like what," She asked genuinely curious.

"Like… Strategic Team Infiltration For Fox Freedom." Georgina nodded slowly, "Okay."

"Or," Andy continued, "Emergency Rescue and Extraction of a Captured Target."

"That one's a little long." Georgina commented. Gustave made a choking noise.

"How about, Breach On North Extract Recover." Georgina frowned, "That is awkward."

"They often are. We could just go with the Tactical Insertion Plan." Reggie tilted his head, "Andrew, are you ssspelling thingsss on purpossse?" Andy stared back, "I don't know what you mean. I was just thinking and all of a sudden they came." Georgina narrowed her eyes, "Andy…"

"Wow, what are the odds."

"Zero," Georgina said immediately.

"Statistically improbable," Gustave agreed. Reggie bowed his head, "You are either remarkably clever or remarkably immature."

"Why not both?" Andy asked. Kesseroth rose to his feet.

"Are you finished?"

"Yep." Andy said.

"Feeling that post-joke clarity already."

"Good. Mount up." The dragon spread his wings.

"We have a facility to take down and a fox to rescue." The facility was larger than Andy had expected. Which was pretty unfortunate considering he'd been expecting it to be fairly large. Stone walls rose from the forest floor. Towers rose from regular intervals along the perimeter. Thick black pylons with the same twisted spiral as the staff surrounded the complex. Buildings filled the space within the walls. Then there were the soldiers. Lots and lots of soldiers.

"Oh." Andy said taking it in. The alarm sounded before they'd even crossed the outer perimeter. A horn blared from the closest watch tower. Followed by another and another. Figures in the towers began pointing their bows skyward.

"You're up Georgina," Kesseroth said. Georgina began concentrating. At first nothing appeared to be happening. And then the ground beneath the first pylon cracked. The crack grew. Rock jutted upwards tilting the black pylon. The symbol carved into its side shattered as it struck the ground. The same symbol on the staves the soldiers had carried. A pulse swept outward from the broken pylon. Below soldiers were shouting.

"They know what you're doing," Sessaly observed.

"Good," Georgina grunted. A second pylon cracked and then a third. Sweat beaded on Georgina's forehead while the entire mountain range seemed to shudder as stone obeyed her will. Arrows streaked upwards. They bounced off of Kesseroth and he let out a mighty laugh. The soldiers were quiet for a minute and then a giant boulder flew straight at the party. Kesseroth banked sharply causing Andy to slide and his arms waved frantically as he attempted to regain his balance. Sessaly grabbed onto him.

"Steady," she breathed.

"Steady." Georgina's breathing was becoming labored now, another pylon collapsed then finally the last one. Another boulder flew toward them causing Kesseroth to drop altitude.

"This is it. Brace yourselves."

"Oh," Andy said, "before we go in, did we decide on operation BONER?"

"Sssssserioussly Andrew?"

"I just want to make sure we're all on the same page." Kessorth opened his jaws. Fire began building behind sharp gleaming teeth.

"Absolutely not." Then the dragon unleashed hell.