The Blackwyrm Chronicles #2: My Little Campaign of Carnage Gets out of Hand

Chapter 19

Helena answered my question when she spoke again: "I know you're here to kill Hurok, but please spare Erron. Please, don't kill my baby..."

She broke down and started sobbing. Luna embraced her and looked at me. Her gaze told me this: "What would we do if we were in this position?"

"Don't worry Helena." I assured her. "I may have to rough your son up to get the point across, but I won't kill him. You have my word on that."

Luna stepped away from the dragon priestess, who wiped a few tears off of her face.

"Thank you." She breathed.

"I must warn you," Augustus began, "It is very difficult to get into Niirshiim, especially since you have such a large group. You will look too suspicious."

"Yeah, you have a point..." I mused, thinking to myself, "Alright...I'll go to Niirshiim with four to possibly five of my people accompanying me. There, we'll collect what information we can and act accordingly from there. Now, if I run into Erron any time during this phase of the mission...hmph, that's the tricky part. I'll iron out the details of this plan in the coming hours. Tomorrow, Operation: 'Hunt the Hunters' will be a go."

Luna rose an eyebrow and looked at me in exasperation: "Really? That's the best you can come up with?"

I shrugged, "Well, it's the only clean operation name I could come up with."

"Don't tell me one of your choices was Operation: 'Who's your daddy'?"

I grinned, "How did you know?"

"You've told me repeatedly that you've always wanted to use that operation name for a mission." She reminded me, "You even wanted to assign that name to the mission in Mareth."

I chuckled, "Guilty as charged."

"Why do I even bother...?" Luna grumbled.

I grinned, "Only you have that answer, love."

"Sod off..."

I grinned, then noticed just how confused Helena looked. Regardless of her confusion, Helena seemed to push that aside and focus instead on asking me questions: "So you'll come up with a plan?"

"Aye. Considering Hurok will be a tough nut to crack, I'll need to come up with a fool-proof plan."

Luna snorted: "Fool-proof? You plus the term fool-proof is like handing Dorrian one of Nova's experimental weapons: they don't go together."

I sighed, "You're feeling sarcastic today, aren't you love?"

"I'm always sarcastic. I just love to use it against you." She replied smoothly.

"Of course you do...goober."

Her ears flattened against the side of her head: "We've talked about this before, Helix: Don't call me 'goober'. Only my mother calls me that."

I was playing with fire, but I was feeling ballsy today: "G-o-o-b-e-r."

"Do you want me to kick your ass?" Luna asked in a dangerously-sweet voice, "Cause I will."

My face went deathly pale, "N-No ma'am."

 She grinned smugly, "Good. That's what I thought..."

I hung my head in shame: "I'm sure this is painfully obvious, but I'm an idiot."

"You're my idiot." Luna corrected me fondly.

I sighed, resigned to my fate: "Fair enough...let's head back to our campsite and come up with a plan."

She nodded, still smiling smugly: "Sounds good to me, love. Let's get moving."

With me sulking in tow behind my goofy lover, we walked back to our impromptu HQ to come up with a plan that wouldn't backfire. My plans sometimes do that-Ack! Luna! What are you-!

-L- Let me write damn it! While it is true that your plans don't always backfire, you have the habit of forgetting the small, and sometimes strange details of a mission. Don't get me wrong, you're a brilliant tactician, but you are prone to errors-as most people are. To be honest, it is fun to have a mission go haywire every now and then.

-H- Too true...I'm going to get back to telling the story right now.

-L-Oh, fine...

-H- Hey, hey, hey, don't give me that look. Dear gods woman, you're going to make me cry. No, not the pout...damn it...

  Anyway, I sulked behind Luna as she happily walked back to our camp.

Dorrian looked up at us as he crafted arrows and placed them in his quiver.

"Hey guys. Why does Helix look down in the dumps?"

Luna grinned evilly, "Oh, he's just fine. Don't worry about him."

"Uh-huh..." Dorrian began slowly, counting the arrows he already placed in his quiver: "I pity you Helix."

"Gee, thanks dude." I grumbled, "Well, we're going to have to come up with a plan that'll fool Hurok without getting us killed in the process."

"Who's Hurok again?" Ben asked curiously.

"The demonlord we're going to be fighting." Luna explained, "The guy is extremely paranoid, so we'll have to find a way to fool him."

"That'll be easy." Dorrian chimed in as he pushed himself to his feet. He slung his quiver over his shoulder and gave Luna a lopsided grin.

She rolled her eyes, "Be that as it may, we'll still need a plan."

"True," Dorrian mused, "I, for one, don't want to die. Any ideas so far?"

"As far as I know, only four or five of us should travel to Niirshiim rather than the whole group coming along. That way, we wouldn't seem suspicious."

"So who all's going then?" Ben asked.

I thought for a moment before replying: "Me, Luna, Dorrian, Ana, and Nova. The rest of you will stay here."

Stanford raised his hand: "Two questions: One, why am I not tagging along? And two, why the hell am I not tagging along?"

I chuckled, "I need everyone else to keep an eye on Augustus's colony. I don't want Hurok trying anything while I'm gone."

I felt Sylvia grab my hand, and I looked down into her dazzling eyes.

"Can I come along?" She asked happily.

Umm...shit. I looked at Luna for assistance, but she looked just as stumped.

"Sure, why not?" I finally replied, earning an irked expression from my lover.

"Yay!" She cheered.

"Are you sure about this?" Luna asked nervously, "Should Sylvia really come along?"

"I believe she should." I replied, "She'll be safe, I assure you."

She sighed, "If you say so..."

Sylvia looked between us curiously: "Are you okay with me coming along?"

"Yes, of course!" Luna replied without hesitation, "I don't want to leave you here, Sylvia."

She smiled jovially, "Thank you, mom!"

Stanford groaned, "Don't rub it in, pipsqueak."

Sylvia then proceeded to stick her tongue out at my boss. (That's my girl.)