A Benevolent Evil Dragon

I feel the urge to have a violent talk with the moron that roofed these houses. Turns out that sturdy ceramic tiles and thick wooden beams are reserved for the rich people, because the house I am on has only a weird hay with some wood planks underneath which creaked from my weight. I feel my claws slipping every so often, and the roof threatens to buckle under me, but I need to be up here regardless. Soldiers are walking around, holding torches as they clear every alleyway and yard, leaving less than a minute gap in any one part of the town. I do not want to rely on my camouflage fooling people that have passed by an area who knows how many times in a row, knowing it like the back of their hands.

Which is why I am painted as black as I can be, spread out over this crappy roof, looking into the room where Edith is interrogated. The overall quiet of the place and the fact that they have an open window allows me to listen easily even though they are speaking quietly. Now, the problem is that Edith is facing a baron and a knight, both of which have more mana than she does, however the baron thankfully only has lightning to his name, which while deadly, is at least more manageable and less tricky all things considered. As for the knight, he has… mana. I frown at the mix of many colors, knowing that there's no way this man can control all of these concepts…

"So, Lady Edith Feur, was it?" The knight spoke with gravitas and with a rasp typical of someone in his 50's. He certainly looked older than his lord…

"Yes, Sir Michal, Lord Glozko. I am the third daughter of Baron Otto Fleur, vassal in the service of Viscount Kleinn, in the south." It seemed the hastily made backstory would suffice. The empire is big, bigger than I thought originally considering how many biomes it apparently touched. That means most people here only really know the northern nobles and some eastern and western names, instead of knowing every minor family by heart. We still had to go for her and her father's real name because she honestly said she'd slip up if people suddenly called her by a different name.

"You are far from home, girl. Though it is all to our benefit, it seems. Whenever I tried to go after the damned bandit and his group, they scattered in the woods. They were a fast bunch, yet they fell because they got complacent. Still, you did something I've been trying to do for months, so you deserve to be rewarded. Were you a northern girl we would be talking trade deals, but something tells me you would value true coin more." The man spoke with a strong accent, unlike the knight, yet despite his respectful demeanor I could see a glint of something in his eyes.

Neither of the men had any spell active and despite the riches sprinkled throughout the office which made for a pretty light show to my eyes, the mana in that room seemed manageable, right up until lightning started seeping through. I caught it and I focused, feeling time slowing as my heart started pumping harder. The bastard caught on, or at least was prodding. How could I tell despite no spell showing up? Despite no runes lighting up like a beacon in the night? Because at least half of the mana in him suddenly poured out, making even the man beside him shiver.

Alright, this is exactly why I am here. I knew they would try something, Edith is not a perfect actress and I am not a god damn scriptwriter, so our lies were half baked in a matter of tens of minutes at best. This man was who knows how old and he was prodding at the girl pretending to be a noble, either to get away with not paying shit or to have her on a leash. Damnit, I need to stop thinking of the worst.

Back to focusing, the wave of mana is rapidly expanding towards her. My best bet is that she would feel sick or panic and her arm will go out of whack which will reveal everything. How to fix that? Stop the mana. I can't use a spell, it would make no sense for the mana to trigger itself. I can't create a protective bubble around her either for the same reason. I need to rely on my most inconsistent talent of all.

I pull in my senses. I disable my body. The wood below me creaks, sending vibrations through my entire being, but it holds and my body doesn't slide. I focus on mana, on feeling it without my eyes or anything else. I focus on moving it without shaping a spell. I can't shout to command it but I can grab it with my mind. Or I could, but this one's too far away. I can't reach her. I could try to push the mana that I do reach, but this isn't a projectile, it's a tide, it will simply hit her when it bounces back anyways.

I breathe deeply and focus on reaching further. I'm reaching for something just a bit beyond my limit, as if my arm would suddenly extend. I imagine it dislocating as it stretches and I feel a snap and a sharp pain, but I push further anyways. I imagine the arm thinning out, splintering, the muscles pushing beyond their limits, the claws growing rapidly, the tendons extending, hardening and then extending again.

My mental image crumbles as I feel my mental hand being hit by something, so I open my eyes. The mana flows around Edith's body, missing it by a hair. If anyone could see this it would notice the mixed mana of the office wrapping protectively around her torso and hand, almost like a pair of arms grasping her. Still, it brushes just past her, raising her hairs on end, triggering her instincts. Just like at the lake, she can feel the mana if it is overwhelming or if she focuses, and this one is simply overwhelming enough to make her sick if not for my protection. With it, though, I see her weaving her own magic into a flame in her good hand. I was too focused to hear her chant, but even if she did use one, she was fast.

"Hah! You have good instincts! And some decent reserves if you don't even sweat under this. Very well, you're not claiming unearned rewards. You're more than able to handle the rabble and the songstress. Let's see… Considering the threat of… what was it, potentially four songstresses in our local wonder, and the bandits that eluded us, I'd say thirty should be fair?" Despite the daze I felt, I heard the way his heart beat just a bit too fast as he spoke the last line.

I lost focus on the spell so I had to weave it quickly. There was a lot of mana in the air around me at least, so I quickly pulled it from all around and drew the rune in front of myself, whispering with some difficulty to my only ally in this world.

"Bullshit. Raise it. Be mad. He be scary but outrage." I cough, my control on the spell slipping. My hearing muddles out, like I am submerged. I feel a splitting headache as more mana flood around myself, now even messing with my view. Where is it even coming from? This place was dry a moment ago…

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I look down at the blood. I see how it keeps dripping down my snout. I have five small rivers adding to the trickle of mana-rich fluid… How very annoying. At least the hay is absorbing it. See, mother? This is why you should have let me learn blood magic at least. I shake my head and my hearing returns just in time to hear a sharp sound in certainly not Vernian. I look towards the source only to see a small kid jumping up and down, screaming and pointing straight at me. A woman steps towards him, but before she can turn I bolt and glide down to the other side, ending up in a small alley.

I feel tired from the bleeding and headache, but I manage to pull on the buck's understanding of earth, weaving it into a quick spell. The earth below me hardens and becomes flat, even my weight doesn't leave a track as I rush away from the houses and all the way back into the fields. I need to lay low for a while.

"I feel like there's a story behind that face." Jokes Edith between chuckles.

The sky is just barely starting to light up when Edith finds me, or rather she goes out in the field, aggressively whisper shouting "Heart! Heart!" while I waddled her way, careful not to alert people with my size. Apparently she decided to start mocking my look. I frown as I look her over.

"I would mock you back, but you look better than you've had in… ever." And she does. She's clean, like proper clean, like flowery shampoo type clean. Her hair even shines. She's also wearing a proper dress. Which I didn't expect I'd ever see. She almost looks like a proper- "Please tell me you didn't go to the baron's home.

"I am still stuck on your… wait, why? I… uh… right. He gave me sixty coins, a rough fire crystal and a ring made of silver and gold with a carefully carved red gem on it… it's even lightly enchanted to make a small flame if you have the mana for it, no chanting needed!" It's almost like she is trying to sell me that this wasn't a bad idea. Bonus points to having five eyes, the disapproving look is at least three times worse. "Fine, yes, he asked that I go have dinner with him… But I told him I was too tired after the whole deal and I just wanted to rest for the night. I'll have dinner with him today. He sent a servant with a dress to the inn I'm staying at. Figured it'd be good to keep up appearances…"

The killer headache is making parsing through her words hard, the very sound of her voice being drowned out by whispers. Looking around I've bled quite a bit, but thankfully whatever wound I got fixed itself. Edith, noticing my silence, tries to get my attention but it's hard to even think right now.

"Alright, Heart, please, tell me what happened to your horns." I just tilt my head which makes her frown. "So, you're missing two and at least a few of the ones pointed forward I am sure were angled in different directions before. Plus, I see cracks and splinters all over… Even a few scales on your head look damaged… Did someone hit you?" I can feel the worry in her tone, which made me sober up.

That was a good question. After the kid spotted me there could have been a guard seeing me… but was there? I don't really remember much, just me running through, molding the earth under my feet to not leave tracks, then collapsing here in the field. I was already hurt though… Shit… I breathe out some air mana and try to manipulate it. It's not hard, but I feel something wrong during the process, like I'm writing and for some reason one of my fingers is longer than the others. I sneak on through the field, towards the river. I can hear Edith behind me, but I keep moving. Some people are coming out into the field to start working, but it doesn't matter. I feel wrong and I need to check it.

Of course, once I get to the water it is exactly as Edith said. My horns are messed up. Most of them are still aimed randomly, but a few of them got forced forward while two became just stubs. I tap one of the stubs and it hurts, badly, like someone shooting lightning through my nervous system. Upside, I learned something new about my abilities, downside, I think imagining my ability to manipulate mana like a hand that breaks itself over and over to stretch forward was a horrible idea.

Edith catches up and pulls on a tail, drawing my attention towards a group of women in the distance that seemed to bring laundry to the river. I nod and go back into the field, with her following behind, holding a hand on my back.

"Are you alright?" she eventually ventures, only to hear a sigh from me.

"I told myself I would stop pushing myself in such dangerous ways… but I couldn't evade this. Not realistically." She doesn't say anything, but I know she is focused on me, so I stop and sit down, laying on my side. I open a wing and she sits on my body, careful not to dirty her dress. "I just knew that if all that mana hit you, it would endanger you. Realistically, this is a better outcome than the possible alternatives, but still… it feels so wrong."

I raise my head, nudging her a bit which just made her tilt her head. "I should be back home, with my siblings, slowly learning my tongue and powers, figuring out the shape of all magic. I should have learnt that my horns are linked with my ability to manipulate mana, not learnt it while having to stealthily combat some self important nobleman's magic! And you should be with your family… enjoying your life as a young girl with magic at your fingertips…"

She smiles and lays down on me, rubbing my scales in a comforting manner. "That would be nice… I sometimes regret that I didn't just run towards them… even though they forgot about me so easily, I still miss them. Maybe I should have cried loudly, maybe slap them for all of it, instead of running away… I should have been outraged when the entire village pushed me into it, not accept it silently…"

I feel her body warm up, mana from the ring on her finger flowing into her and then back into it, making a flame in her normal hand. "Maybe I should have burned and raged… then I would be with them… ready to be executed."

"What?" There was no way to make this any more flowery. My genuine bafflement at the sharp turn her words took left no room for me to interpret anything.

"Heard an old lady talk when I was eating at the inn. Apparently they kill unsanctioned witches. Towns are only allowed to have a single witch, and even that is only if a count or something higher that has claim over that place allows it. They hung one such witch recently in a border town over in Vernia. This kingdom's a bit more lax, but they still don't let more than one witch and one apprentice per village, unless one witch is in passing. Life's nothing like under the Mistress out here…" She tears up and I try to comfort her as best as I can, then I remember something I heard her talk about with grandma Yvonne.

"Your friend… wasn't she…?" My only reply is a nod from her.

"Rather not think about that.. but you know? A small part of me is happy the chief's girl is likely hanging too. Or, well, probably already a rotting corpse… They sent me out to be food and I ended up surviving… Fate's a joke…"

I let silence fall over us for a moment, then sigh and laugh. "One of these days we will cry, scream, and claw at the walls for an entire week if only to make sense of our situation. One of these days whatever frail walls we built will crumble down and we won't be able to even laugh. One of these days it will all crash and burn, and yet… We both know that day isn't today." One of my tails carefully wipes away a tear from her eye.

She sighs and nods, pressing her forehead against the blunt part of my boney blade. "Yeah… Not today. Today we have to figure out how I can survive a whole meal without outing myself as a peasant and a witch."