"What about you kid. Got any interesting stories?" the witch asked her.
"Not of my own to rival yours, but maybe I could tell you how my mother helped win the war on a beast bigger than Drogos" she said excitedly, she always loved telling her mother's story from during the war.
"Your mother also has a dragon?"
"A massive one. The people used to call him The Cannibal and now he is called Thanatos the Black Dread. Thanatos meaning God of Death in a tongue my mother knows" Allara continued as she placed down her now empty plate.
"Ooh, please do" Angela scooted closer to the fire to listen better and even Vanir left his dinner aside.
And so Allara begun from the beginning of what she remembered of her mother while the stars became brighter as the sky darkened above them.
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After she had told the whole Ice and Fire war, with the witch before her acting like a child from excitement at hearing the tales, they begun to settle down for the night. Allara had met many eccentric people throughout her life, but never one so much so as Angela. She was beginning to get used to her loud ways and enjoyed her stories.
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The Other stared down at one of his new soldiers, slaves to them now. The human who had previously been a gangly and weak man was now a buffer version of what it had been, no longer holding onto its human appearance. Its skin was a bluish grey and the veins that protruded enough to be visible on its stained skin were dark purple. Instead of its normal teeth, the painful transformation had left its fangs longer and thicker, its jaw having broken and reformed to fit the new set of mandibules.
As the Other continued to make the new creation turn its head, the screams of pain coming from the other prisoners echoed up from the dungeons but did not perturbe the Other. Instead, a wicked smile raised on their pale lips, scarlet red eyes gazing upon the new creation as if proud of it.
A flapping of wings claimed their attention away from the monstrous experiment as an insect-like bird with the appearance of a miniature Lethbralka landed on the window edge of the building they were in. The Other reached over to the creature and place a long nailed white hand on its head, stroking the things featherless skin before viciously plunging their pointer finger into its cranium.
Memories flew through the Other's head as they leaned their head back and the strange creatures body shrivelled up as its memories were taken from it. The Other smirked darkly, their bone white teeth contrasting scarily against their dark gums when they saw the pillaged small villages their servants had been to already.
The eggs of the Older Ones they had been searching for and found had hatched and the results had been quite gratifying.
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"...ra...llara...Allara!" the young woman was shaken awake and when she opened her eyes the first thing she saw was the dark eyes of Angela as the woman looked down over her, the witch's face framed by her short curly hair "Come on sleepy head. Time to get going"
"Wh...what?" Allara sat up "Thank you" she told Vanir when he brought her a bowl of cold water.
"You're welcome" the elf said, remembering to smile as he handed it over to her.
Allara dipped her hands into the cold water and rubbed the crusties from the corners of her eyes with the water to wake herself up. Allara stood, stretching her arms over her head and packing up the sleeping bag she had been using.
Allara then helped Angela carry her things over to the horses.
"I'll lead the remaining way to Ilirea" Angela said.
Solembum uncurled from his place on the floor and also stretched himself like Allara did but as a cat would. Allara refrained from letting out a noise when the large cat yawned.
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"Awwww, look how cute you are"of course Angela did not hold back and she stroked the werecat's long whiskers before she herself hopping onto her own horse.
"I do not enjoy that by the way" the cat snarled to the others "So if anyone other than Angela does it, they will find themselves without fingers"
Allara and Vanir shared an amused look and they incited the horses forward, the animal's bearing the trip easily even if they were a horse breed bred for pulling things.
Ж
"Drogos, Umaroth, time to go. The two legs have retaken their trip" Agaravel helped the she dragon wake the two males up.
"Huh, huh? What? I'm up. I'm up" the dragon tried to stand up too quickly and his head hit the roof of the cave.
"Come little one" Embar nudged the baby dragon with the tip of her snout until he woke up "Time to go"
"I don't want" the baby said wearily with the few words he had learnt after he had said his first word. He learnt to speak surprisingly quickly for a younger than one month old.
"Come on" Embar helped the white dragon come out from under her wing and lowered the very same wing to let Umaroth crawl onto her back where he curled right back into a white powdered donut.
Drogos and Embar debated who was to carry the remaining bags until the black and red sibling agreed to do so, managing, with help from Embar and Agaravel's spells, to tie the bags onto himself.
"I really hope the whole 'horse thing' will end soon" the dragon grumbled in annoyance as they flew out of the cave carefully so both of their cargos did not fall off.
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Sorry another
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Finally the three horses reached the gates of Ilirea. Allara tilted her head up to stare at the massive gates in front of them. The whole city was surrounded by what looked like a very thick wall of stones and metal, with several guards patrolling over them.
"Let me do the talking" Angela said asa she and Solembum took a step forward.
"Who goes there?!" a man wearing full body armour shouted from up in the walls.
"I am Angela, the queen will know me" the witch said.
"We know who you are witch, but we do not know your companions" the guard snapped at the older woman.
"These are Vanir of Ellesméra and Allara" the woman said, her hand waving at the two people behind her "Now let us in would ya? The queen is expecting us already"
The man backed away from the edge of the wall and not long after the travellers heard the gates creaking as they were being open enough for the three horses to slip their way inside.
"Welcome Allara, to Ilirea" Angela told her with a flourish of her hands.
