How the Emperor trapped a Witch

Chapter Thirty-two: Dragon Flight

"There have been strange occurrences. Incredibly strong creatures have been appearing." Falvin sighs as Suli sits down next to me. "We have started having trouble recently and a few of the younger Dragons have gone missing."

"I see." Suli ponders over his words as an uneasy feeling started to form in the pit of my stomach.

"Excuse me Lord Falvin." I jumped into the conversation as I started to realize what he was talking about. "Can you describe the creatures?"

"Each one did not look the same. They reminded me of chimera's that a human created three thousand years ago which caused a lot of problems but they were much easier to destroy then these new creatures. One defining characteristic is that they had pitch black orbs inside of them which needs to be completely obliterated to stop the creature."

Suli and I looked at each other wordlessly as Falvin spoke, there were more of the same creatures from before and if Dragons were having problems- this wasn't good for humans.

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"I see." Falvin responds after listening to the past year attack by those creatures. "Someone is playing a dangerous game."

"Game?" I asked, starting on my third cup of tea.

"It is obvious that these creatures are not natural. They were created for a reason; we need to find out what it is."

"Were you able to follow them if any retreated?" Suli jumps in as Jewel snoozed at my feet.

"Unfortunately, they just suddenly appear." Falvin shakes his great head, throwing beams of light from the floating orbs above across the walls of the cavern. "And they do not retreat."

"Didn't you say that some Dragons have gone missing?" The two of them look at me. "So they must of gone somewhere....." I paused. "Were those Dragons alone? Or weak enough to be overpowered?"

Falvin ponders over my words for a moment before blinking in surprise, his molten gold eyes wide with surprise. "Yes... We had found traces of fighting but the Dragon that was attacked would disappear. We also tried following their tracks but they would be gone after a certain distance."

"That might be because of magic or-" I stood up suddenly causing Jewel to jump and give me a look before sitting down next to Suli. "Tunnels."

"Celestia?" Suli says as I started to pace around the table.

"Lord Falvin, are there tunnels that run through the mountains?" I kept pacing as I started to think of my previous world tactics. "The creatures must be testing your defensive capabilities with hit-&-run attacks and using the tunnels to get away safely." 

"By the Gods and Goddess of the World." Falvin gasps "You may be onto something Witch Celestia. There are old tunnels that run though the mountains, though some have collapsed overtime. Luckily, I and a few other Dragons sealed up any of the tunnels into our home except the entrance to keep out unwanted visitors."

"So they have to be tunnels which are big enough to take a Dragon through." I mutter, staring to chew on a lock of hair. "Especially since the creatures can be large themselves... But how are they navigating around the fog?"

"I don't know." Falvin sighs. "I need to speak with the others about this. However, Witch Celestia- it might be better for you to wait here."

I raised an eyebrow as Suli jumps into Falvin's awaiting claws.

"I have met a few Witches in my lifetime, but others might be..." He hesitates, looking for the right words. "Overly aggressive."

"I see." I sit back down with a little bit of disappointment.  "Then I shall wait here." Jewel sits down next to me, putting her head down onto my knee as we watched them leave.

I started to mope a little, feeling like a kid who was told to sit and wait when I started to hear thuds coming from the entrance we had come from earlier.

A vibrant amethyst colored head pops out and looks around the cavern before settling it's deep purple eyes on me.

"I KNEW IT!" The Dragon suddenly yells, echoing loudly in the room and causing me to cover my ears. "Darn that Falvin! Hiding something so interesting!" It's scaly body; which was much smaller then Falvin's, follows behind it's head as it approached the ledge. 

"Hello, Great Dragon." I quickly stood up and lightly bowed as it inspected me from head to toe. "My name is Celestia."

"How polite! And so pretty!!" The Dragon's eyes sparkled. "Your human right... but you smell of Nature- even more so then Elves! Are you a Witch?"

"Yes I-" I started to respond when suddenly I was picked up with my feet dangling in the air as the Dragon turned and rushed through the crystal and treasure caverns from earlier and paused for a moment at the ledge before the open air.

I glanced back as I finally caught my breath from having the wind knocked out of me and saw a pair of purple wings open from being folded against the Dragon's back. The wings spread out like sails before the Dragon leans forward and freefalls.

"WOOOOAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!" I hollered, almost screaming as I had to close my eyes against the furious wind. "Ugh!" I later groaned as we were no longer freefalling and the Dragon used the momentum from the fall to suddenly accelerate upwards before flying horizontal with the horizon and as their claws tighten around me.

I held onto the Dragon's finger which easily wrapped around my abdomen  even as I could feel bruises forming from how tightly it was holding me.

"Hey Em!" Another Dragon swoops in, speaking to the amethyst Dragon before noticing me. "What you got there?"

The Amethyst Dragon named Em clutches me tighter to her chest. "None of your business."

"Oh come on!" The Fiery Red Dragon says suddenly reaching out with it's claw towards me. "Let me see!"

"No." The two Dragons start to fight mid-air, the Red Dragon's claws contrasting against Em's Amethyst scales as it tried to pull her arm out from her chest.

I was getting wrenched around  so much that I felt like I was a toy that two children were fighting for and was about to get ripped in half. I started feeling sick again and put both my hands against my mouth to stop from puking when the Red Dragon hits Em too hand and she suddenly lets me go in surprise.

I hang in the air for a moment before slowly tilting over and falling, thousands of feet between me and the ground.