The Call to War

Chapter 18

Arthur sat on the ground with his eyes closed as his rain spell continued to take effect. The fires had long since been extinguished, and the lava that was once Olfred's golems and other attacks were now just cool black rocks. He opened his eyes and looked at the large black stone that held Olfred's corpse, as he thought about the possible implications.

"Is Mica also a traitor? What about Darv? Is the whole dwarf kingdom our enemies now?" Were some of the thoughts running through his head.

As these thoughts ran through his head, he felt a familiar presence approaching from behind, that was moving unusually silently.

"I take it that you two wiped out that Alacryan division?" Arthur asked without looking.

"They were easy," Sylvie replied pridefully, still in her dragon form, as she came up on his left.

"How did you know we were here?" Aya inquired as she came up on his right and sat down beside him.

"I felt Sylvie's presence, and noticed I couldn't hear her. It was easy to tell you had to be with her," Arthur explained as she laid down on her side beside him.

"I see, so it was because of her that you knew I was here," she replied, suspecting that otherwise he wouldn't have detected her presence.

Arthur looked over to see her laying there looking at him as the rain made her clothes start to cling to her body.

"Comfortable?"

"I'd be more comfortable if you were laying down with me," she replied flirtatiously with a wink, patting the ground between them.

"For multiple reasons, no." Arthur pushed himself back to his feet. "But the most pressing reason, this mission isn't over yet." He said as he extended his hand to her.

"Mica," she concluded, now being serious. She then took Arthur's hand and he pulled her up.

"As well as the slaves. I know it wasn't part of our mission, but we can't leave them," Arthur added as he turned around and started walking back.

"Agreed. I'll contact Commander Virion to report our status, and see about getting some support to get the elves and dwarves out of here," Aya stated as she pulled out a communication scroll.

"The humans too," Arthur added.

"It's not illegal to sell human slaves."

"Maybe not, but as far as I'm concerned, no one has the right to own another person."

With that the three of them took flight back to the village. Aya handed Arthur a mana suppression artifact to use on Mica, as she left to free all the slaves. Arthur and Sylvie landed in front of the tavern, still loud and busy as if they had no idea how close to death they actually were.

Arthur swung the door open, leaving Sylvie outside. Without saying a word Arthur walked in, his hood down so that his face was in full view.

"Isn't it past your bedtime kid?" An older man said. He appeared to be older than Rey, and was a mage. But by the looks of his beer belly and lack of muscles, the only exercise he ever did came from lifting his beer.

Arthur had no patience for this, and immediately released some pressure from his core. The bar became silent, as everyone froze in fear and could barely breathe.

"By authority of the council, Sebastian was killed while resisting arrest for his illegal actions in capturing and selling Elves and Dwarfs as slaves." Arthur started walking again. "Anyone who worked for him, I'm giving you one chance, drop your weapons and run from this village immediately. You have until I return." He then released the pressure and began walking upstairs, as he heard a sudden scramble for the door.