Dragon Falls (Indigo Apocalypse Book III)

Chapter Eleven: Brooklyn Breaks Out Her Inner Warrior Princess

SYDNEY:
Dione gave Huntor a feral smile before saying, "Every ruler has spies, no matter their reasonings." She threw Kneecora a look. "I'm sure the Snow Queen can speak on this." Kneecora didn't respond. "You cannot ignore the fact that you are well aware of the war that is upon us." Dione shrugged. "I will not say that I am unaware of a war. The jungle has spoken of this. Whether or not it is a war against myths and legends is a whole different story." "You can't be serious." Murmured Zavala. "What are you looking at?" She asked, more loudly. "They are Sun Dragons, Molten Ilio Drakous. Not one, but two of them. That is clarion even to the most of fools. She's back, and it's up to them to destroy her and bring back the sunlight." "Then they can handle it." Purred Dione. "If they are what they claim, then they can destroy her without Dodona, without a great war." "Very true." Purred Huntor. "But there is no way that we can destroy her, and destroy the spiders at the same time." "Spiders?" Dione asked. Briella rolled her eyes.
"Arachne, Queen of malice, darkness and spiders." "Watch—"I don't have to watch anything. And if you call me a half-breed once again, I'm going to rip your throat out." Dione glowered slowly stepping toward Briella. Briella's eyes glowed gold in challenge as she snarled deeply. "You should control your gods Huntor." "I don't control them." He said. "They think for themselves." Dione opened her mouth, but high above, a section of leaves swayed softly. Dione tilted her head. I turned to Brooklyn, who eyed the treetops as if she could make sense of the leaves. "Your time is up." Said Dione. "I have another meeting to undertake. You are welcome in my country, though if you break any of my laws then you will face the consequences." She strolled away, but turned. "And do please, not mention the so called war to anyone, as if they'd believe you. But you'll find that now, is not the time, and that if you do, then, well, the clock will tick."
    "Hmm, she's not a very nice person." "Lucy, you should be a detective, your conclusions and observational skills impress me." Huntor said as we sat around a low-lying table with dishes of greenery on top of it. Lucy stuck out her tongue at Huntor, lifted a bit of fruit to her nose, and sniffed. "Well, at least they aren't trying to poison us yet, or drug us, this fruit is clean." "Doesn't say much about the country though." Said Briella from her post by the wall. Lucy shrugged and ate the fruit, smacking her lips loudly. "What did you all find on your tour?" Zavala asked. "Is that what they're calling it these days?" Asked Lucy. "Everyone has nothing but niceties to say about Dione." Said Kupoa. "Nothing but niceties and that Dodona, the grove I mean, is the center point of all the life here." "Interesting." Said Sarah. "Yeah," Kupoa climbed a pole and hung in the rafters twenty feet above. "All the greenery we see, the glow from the leaves, the vibrance of color, it's apparently from the grove itself, it sustains the country." "Hmm." Said Huntor. "Which you don't believe." Noted Kneecora. "I've seen, har-har, this kind of work before, I've read about it, and from what Audrey said, Dodona doesn't have that kind of power. Something else is giving this country it's power source." "Oh?" Asked Briella. "Yeah, oh." Huntor paused, and Lucy's head jerked toward the door. Zavala's head turned in the same direction too. I didn't need to turn, like my mate, like my friends, I had picked up the sounds of soft feet stepping toward our cottage door. Soft feet that were trying very hard to be silent. "Who?" Asked Sarah as she held up a hand, ice silently crackled into existence, an ice fan. There was a soft knock on the door, and telekinesis wafted through the air. I felt Huntor's power taste the air, and swirl outside. Then the door opened and I saw a golden haired girl standing in the doorway, her sky blue eyes fixed on Huntor, a boy stood by her side, his hand in her's, his violet gaze sweeping the room in an instinctive move, a predator's move.
    "It's really you." She whispered in a voice barely over a whisper, barely over a breath. She stepped in and hurridly closed the door. "Come right on in why don't you." Muttered Briella. Sarah relaxed her power and the ice fan melted into mist. The girl flinched and spluttered. "I—I—I—I'm—"Don't mind her." Said Brooklyn, shooting Briella a hard look. "I recognize you." Brooklyn came closer, eying the girl from head to toe. She was certainly one to see, her long golden hair, her fair almost delicate skin almost glowed in the light of Huntor's lights hanging near the ceiling. She had delicate pointed ear, but other than that didn't look like she had any powers. Her friend was more or less the same, where she was fair, he was dark, a deep brown almost like Briella, his long black hair was loose, and his violet eyes glowed just like her blue eyes. He too had delicate ears, pointed ears. "My name is Callianna—"Oh Jesus, another Callie?" Asked Briella dramatically. Callianna frowned. "No, just Callianna. This is my boyfriend Phoenix." Phoenix inclined his head. "Pleasure." Sarah said. "But why are you here?" 'Because, we have information about Dione, information—" she threw Kupoa a look, still up in the rafters. "That you were looking for." Kupoa slid down the pole and landed with barely a thump. "Is that so?" Asked Lucy, red fruit juice coated her mouth like blood. As she gave a feral grin, she bared red stained teeth. Briella gave her a disgusted look. "The ruler," said Callianna. "She's a careful tyrant." "Is she now?" Asked Kneecora. "She took, takes," she corrected. "She takes an item from every new citizen, says it's to show their appreciation for being in this country. But the item has to be of great value." "And this pertains because?" "Because," Phoenix said impatiently. "She took Callianna's golden fleece, and my shadow fleece."
    "Ahhhh." Said Huntor. "I knew there was something." He stepped toward the girl. "Callianna, the embodiment of the golden fleece, skinned off the golden ram I'dd take it?" The girl nodded. "And you're Phoenix, also known ask The Dark Phoenix." Again, that incline of the head. "That I am." "Behave." Callianna chastised softly. "I am the Dark Phoenix." Said Phoenix. "And the two rams." Said Brooklyn. "They are my, our, protectors, and friends." "Mnemosyne and Selene." "Huntor, translation." He rolled his eye. "I know a few languages. I happen to know a little of Greek, which those two names derive from Ancient Greece, Spanish, Italian, and of course, English." Briella sighed. "So you had to give up a golden fleece, and a shadow fleece, point being?" "Briella." Sighed Brooklyn. "The golden fleece is a magical object." Said Callianna. "It provides the wearer with purest health and strength. With vitality, with vigor, with near immortal gifts. And, if set atop a tree, or in the apex of a forest, it can generate pure health for said forest." "So that's why all those plants look like they've been living for centuries and fed fertilizer on steroids." Said Sarah. "And the shadow fleece?" Asked Brooklyn. "It can do the complete opposite, and can drain life from spacific areas. And, it can also notify the wearer of any who wish to do harm in the general vicinity. If you wear it, or have it nearby, you can take lives without getting blood on you. Can torture without being there to do the work, and, take control of others's minds and or bodies." "Seems like one hell of a sepulchral fleece." Said Sarah. Phoenix gave her a shrug. "Depends on the wearer or owner of the fleece." "No wonder she gave that clarion warning." Said Kneecora. "Yet she's yet to demand we give an object." "You are only passing through." Phoenix said. "But you must be careful." Said Callianna. "If you intend any falsehood, any kind what so ever, the fleece will alert her to it." "Then, you'll be fed to one of the great carnivores here. Or dumped in the writhing mass of tendrils by the grove." Added Phoenix. "We must go, before our absence is realized." With that, they fled out the door. "Well then." Said Lucy as she started eating more fruit. "Wasn't that just ominous?"
The next day, three dryads came to the cottage we were in and said in unison, "Dione would like to see Huntor and Sydney in her grove." Lucy who happened to have answered the knock, bellowed over a shoulder, "HUNTOR, YOU HAVE GUESTS." As if we owned the place. Sarah came around a corner, her eyes tracking the three dryads and their weapons before she shifted into her dracon form and stretched her wings. Zavala folloed suit, and said conversationally, "We'll work on simple flight techniques." Kneecora, Kupoa, Briella and Decre were sitting around the low table still finishing breakfast. Finally, a portal opened behind the three dryads, and Huntor stepped out of it. "You bellowed?" He asked conversationally. The three dryads jumped and spun to face him. Their faces slackened in awe as they saw the portal fading. "Guests." Said Lucy, running a brash hand over her all too revealing shift over her naked body. She whirled, and the shift swirled with her, revealing part of her left butt cheek, and, ugh, apex of her thighs. "Such a, careful way of saying vagina." "And such a callus way of saying it." I thought back. "She needs more clothing, her body is too revealing." Huntor shrugged casually. "What do you think Luce? Clothing?" She stuck out her tongue and waggled it. "Ew, disgusting, clothing is so, constrictive, besides, I'm one with nature." The dryads looked like they wanted to say something, but instead kept their mouths shut. "Oh, I almost forgot, come on Delphi." Brooklyn swept from around the corner of the cottage, her hair done in long plates, curtesy of me, well, and some help from Sarah. Her green crown glowed slightly atop her head, and the sword Katoptris, gifted to her by Kendra, hung at her side. "We do not require the, girl." "Pity, I do." Said Huntor. "Dione did not request—"Well now, I don't much give a shit what Dione requests." I snapped, changing the pace of the argument. The dryad who'd spoken spun to face me. "Females do not speak unless spoken to." "You just did." I noted. The dryad opened her mouth, then closed it. "To respond to that comment, I'll say this, I'm a goddess, I don't much give a shit about your customs." "You will because you need our armies." Snapped another dryad. "What armies?" I asked sweetly. "I—we—that is to say—they." She stopped, realizing I had just maneuvered her into a trap. "Anyway," said Huntor smoothly. "Let us hurry, we don't wish to tarry much longer do we?" He waved an elegant hand. "Have fun training girls, Kupoa keep an eye on your sister, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble exploring the country."
Lucy waggled her tongue again. "Kneecora, Decre, do get word back to the dracons, I want them to continue and start flying over Dodona, I have the feeling they won't be allowed to march through here. Also, alert my gods to await at the river side, they'll meet a certain old favorite friend pretty soon." Kneecora nodded, rising to her feet. "And I?" Briella asked. "You're on Kupoa duty." Sarah snickered. "Duty, he said duty." "Shut up." Snapped Zavala. "Why is she on Kupoa duty?" Kupoa asked. "Because while you're chaperoning Lucy, she'll be chaperoning you." Kupoa rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. I stepped outt the cottage and passed the dryads. "Come Brooklyn." She stepped passed them and I heard the smallest satisfied snort from Zavala. Then the door closed and we were moving toward Dione's grove. "So," Huntor said as we walked. "What kind of armies does Dione have?" "It is not Dione's armies." Said one of the dryads primly. "It is Dodona's armies. The armies are Dodonian, and therefore, belong to the grove herself." "Such high praise, the grove must be one hell of a sight." Said Huntor derisively. "The grove is the most powerful oracle in history." "Noted." Said Huntor. "What is your opinion on the matter Brook?" Preening a little, Brooklyn answered with, "No oracle has ever bore a weapon." "You are no oracle." Snapped one dryad. Brooklyn placed her hand over Katoptris, and the blade glowed green, snakes hissed in the air, Brooklyn's eyes glowed poisonous green, and she bared her teeth in a feral smile. The dryads stumbled away from her. Then, the ora faded. "I do believe I am." She purred.
We crossed the bridge and entered Dione's grove. The queen, tyrant, whatever, was standing waist deep in mud, and trailing her palms through it. Huntor gave me a look. "Did you do that?" "Tempting, but no." "I am conversing with the earth." Dione stated, to no one in particular. "Fascinating." Drawled Huntor. Dione rose from the soil and said haughtily, "Disrespect will not gain you admittance to the grove of Dodona." "Funny." I said. "Because your dryads seem to believe that the grove is but it's own entity. Commanded by none other than itself." Dione seemed blank for a moment, then said, "Dodona is of it's own entity. Disrespecting me will not play well in your favor toward the grove." "Uh-huh." I drawled. "They also say that Dodona has an army. Now, that's fascinating." "Indeed." Said Huntor. Especially since this country seems to be nothing but peaceful satires of both sexes, and dryads, we've yet to see any kind of force. You Gave the impression there wasn't one." "You're fired." Dione snarled. The dryad who'd spoken gasped, and vanished in a puff of green leaves. Huntor frowned. "And I am pretty sure my mate was only joking. This gives me and her cause to wonder, why a deity such as yourself is acting so brashly and giving falsehoods and false impressions." "I need not explain myself to you." "Maybe not but the satires certainly."
    Dione's face hardened even more. "Do you understand who I am? What, I am?" "Certainly." I purred. "I can have you gone like that." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that, and you'll both be gone. And forgotten." "Geez, now I'm shaking in my boots." Said Huntor derisively. "Oh, let me not forget you use very intriguing ways of controlling your people." I said. "Like stealing from them, stealing, valuable objects, valuable objects with dangerous powers." "What are you talking about?" Dione snapped. But then she straightened. "I have another meeting, you both will have to go, now." "I don't think so." Said Huntor. Trees hissed, branches swaying. Grassed waved about and a root slithered across the ground. Dione apparently wasn't used to having her orders ignored, let alone disbanded so irreverently. "Let, them, pass." She said, very slowly. "I will not have you antagonizing me in front of my people." "Sadness." I cut in before Huntor could. "Don't give them a reason to." Said Brooklyn. Dione slowly turned to Brooklyn. "What did you say?" "Don't give them a reason to." Slowly, very slowly, a root slithered toward Brooklyn's toes. "And, what makes you, think, that, I'd, care what a warrior princess, a demoted warrior princess of a long since dead queen would have to say?" Each slap struck Brooklyn in the gut, though it was only because I knew where to look to see where the blows landed. But she held her head high, and said, "Warrior princess is exactly right. And because of that, my blood runs more powerful than your's. Because of that warrior blood, I am the most powerful oracle alive in history. Because of that blood I have a power that rare oracles ever had, the power blessed, or cursed, by Cronus himself, the power to slow time. Or speed it up."
    In that moment, I'd have fully trusted time did actually slow down, or stop. Simply, because there was too much coincidence. Huntor and I becoming Sun Dragons, Brooklyn now tossing this card on the table, the fact she could manipulate time. Kitana delivering death like a woman might switch jewelry. Too many cards now, way too many now. Dione looked like she wanted to spew flames, but then footsteps echoed from around the bend, and four figures stepped into view, accompanied by six dryads. Two of them were the satires from last night. One white, one black. "Oh, My Lady." Both Mnemosyne and Selene bowed deeply, though Selene's cold eyes tracked us and assessed harshly. Dione waved her hand absently. They rose. "Report." Dione snapped. "Our people are struggling." Said Mnemosyne. "We are unable to make this month's quota. The lack of sunlight is what's causing such a decline in crop." "We have the golden fleece, we do not need sunlight. Why aren't your people using your gifts, you thrive on them, your gifts should be supplying enough light." "Apologies My Lady." Said Mnemosyne. "But we thrive only with the sunlight, we are unable to use our gifts unless there is all the necessary ingredients available." Dione scowled deeply.
    "I believe that you have been using this same story for the last month as well. Am I to believe that your people just don't want to make your contribution? Do I need to remind them who's feeding them, who's providing a place for them ever since the fall of their home territory? Must I demonstrate my power from here?" Even Selene's hard face went pale. "Lady." Whispered Selene. "Yes, something to add?" But before Selene could speak, there was the sound of rolling thunder, or at least, to them it sounded like thunder. But I recognized it as wings, lots, lots, lots, of wings. Dione snapped her head upward, her face, for a second, was blank with shock, undiluted shock. She whispered, "Molten, and, Snow." Both Mnemosyne and Selene looked confused, so did the dryads. The root that had been creeping toward Brooklyn sank into the ground. "Impossible." Whispered Dione. "Impossible." "Very possible." I purred. "Molten and Snow dracons arre flying together in this war, working together in this war." "War?" Squeaked Mnemosyne. Dione threw me a snarling look. Branches creaked and roots pushed out of the ground and swept toward me. I sighed as they grew around me. I waved my hand absently and the ground liquified, the roots sinking within with another wave of the hand. Dione stepped toward me, her face harsh, then she seemed to remember Mnemosyne and Selene.
"What is it you both want? Dodona has no standing army, we do not have the power to send with you to any kind of war, even though war is not here." "War is here." Huntor said over Mnemosyne's gasp, selene's blank stare. "And better yet, the adversary, is the Dark Queen, Arachne." Even the forest seemed to still, as if it was aghast. As if even it had to stop and say, "Say what now?" Dione stumbled away, her face paling. Mnemosyne and Selene both looked confused. "Who's Arachne?" "The goddess of spiders, venom, malice, and darkness." "What?" Selene finally said. "Too much to explain." Said Huntor at the same time as Dione snarled. "She doesn't exist." "Clearly she does." Said Huntor. "Because we as Sun Dragons, are existing." Now Selene's face paled. Just as Mnemosyne said, "I thought I felt something from the pair of you, I just put it to the former Snow Queen. But, Sun Dragons." She bowed, deeply, her and Selene, then the three dryads, then the six who came with the four satires. "Lies." Dione snarled. "We did not come here for Dodona's army." I said. "Even though I and my mate know that you have one, secreted away. An army that apparently isn't much, but is fiercely terrified of you." Dione stepped toward me. Both the satires stiffened, the dryads raised their spears. "Don't take another step." Brooklyn's voice was barely above a whisper as she stepped forward,