Path of Dragons

“If you keep making that face, it’ll freeze like that,” said Elijah, looking up from his meal of seared lamb chops and spanakorizo. The lamb chops were well-seasoned and flavorful, with a hint of lemony zest, but the real star of the meal was the spanakorizo, which was a dish composed of spinach and rice. For Elijah, it was a nice change from the relatively bland dried meat that made up most of the meals he’d eaten while traveling. And while he’d enjoyed the Mongolian fare, he had to admit that there was a special place in his heart – or perhaps his stomach – for Greek food. Especially when it was made by Agatha, who clearly had a potent cooking skill.

But the deliciousness of the meal seemingly had no effect on Sadie Song, who sat across from him. Her food remained largely untouched, and her resting expression seemed to be one of mingled disgust and disdain. The only time it had changed was when she had joined him at the Temple of Virtue, where she’d contributed to healing the people of Argos.

And there were plenty of takers, too. More than Elijah would have expected, if he was honest. Argos had grown, but they were still afflicted with a dearth of Healers. As such, only the most egregious wounds were treated with any regularity. Beyond that, the population had to rely on mundane cures and tonics made by Tradesmen dedicated to alchemy-related fields. Even those were rare, which meant that unless their illnesses or injuries were life-threatening, the only healing available was what Elijah offered at the Temple.

The only issue with that was that he was rapidly becoming something of a folk hero for the people of Argos. It wasn’t difficult to understand why, either. With a backdrop of the grandiose Temple of Virtue, he cured their illnesses and mended their injuries without question or demands. In their eyes, that made him a saint.

So, he’d been glad to see that Sadie had chosen to join in, if only because the act shifted some of the attention from him. It was also a little surprising. When Elijah first met her, he’d taken the armor and giant sword to mean that she was a Warrior. However, she was capable of healing as well, which meant that she was, at the very least, some sort of hybrid, just like him.

That was where the similarities ended, though. Elijah’s brand of healing was gentle, and in a lot of ways, it functioned by injecting vitality into a person and letting their body take over, healing via its own natural processes. From the outside looking in, it looked miraculous – and it was – but Elijah knew that it was just a sped-up version of what would normally occur.

Mostly.

But Sadie’s healing was very different, involving beams of light descending from above. Elijah wasn’t capable of tracking it as well as he could his own healing, but Sadie’s spells seemed far closer to miracles than his own.

Still, her spells were no more effective than his. In fact, he suspected that they were a little more limited in efficacy, especially after he’d evolved Touch of Nature into Nature’s Bloom, which had performed above expectations. The initial effect was at least twice as powerful as Touch of Nature, and the bloom effect was as advertised, adding a second bout of healing twenty seconds later. However, the best part was that, finally, Elijah could cast the spell from afar. The range was still short – maybe ten feet – but even that small distance was a good deal more convenient than having to lay his hands on someone in order to heal them.

It wasn’t all good news, though. With that increased power came an increase in cost as well. Before, he could cast Touch of Nature almost indefinitely without draining his ethera. But now, Nature’s Bloom took so much energy that he could only cast it fifteen times before exhausting the contents of his core. So, he knew he would need to be judicious with his use of the spell going forward.

Fortunately, Soothe and Healing Rain were still just as efficient as ever, and for the most part, they were sufficient for his purposes. Having Nature’s Bloom in his back pocket for when he needed rapid healing was nice, though.

In any case, as eager as he was to test his new spell a little more, he was more concerned with the pair sitting across from him. Barely a moment passed that Sadie wasn’t glaring at him, but at least Dat seemed amiable enough.

“What?” she asked, responding to his previous statement.

“That’s what my mom used to tell me,” Elijah answered. “If you keep making that face, it’ll freeze like that. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t being serious, but I think the sentiment still applies.”

Her jaw flexed, and it was clear that she was grinding her teeth. Elijah’s mother would’ve had something to say about that, too, but in this instance, he chose discretion.

“Bro.”

“What?” Sadie asked. If Elijah hadn’t already heard her explanation of the situation back in Hong Kong, he might’ve thought that single word was the extent of her vocabulary.

“We talked about this,” Dat said with a sigh. “Be nice.”

She glared at him, too.

“I once saw a movie where a guy said that massaging his earlobes and saying ‘woosah’ helped with anger management,” Elijah offered. “Maybe do that?”

“Did you just give her advice from Bad Boys 2?” Dat asked. “Bro. That’s my favorite movie, bro!”

“You are an idiot,” Said sighed, dipping her head and massaging her temples. When she looked up, her face was almost completely impassive. There was still a slight wrinkling of her nose when she looked at Elijah that suggested she’d smelled something off-putting, but it was markedly better. “I apologize for my behavior. I will try to do better.”

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Elijah gave her his best grin. “Water under the bridge. I’m just –”

Just then, he heard the inn’s door open, and a familiar figure strode in. Delilah wore her adventuring get-up, which meant that she looked a bit like Wonder Woman, but with a bit more muscle than in the movies. She didn’t hesitate to cross the common room, then slide onto the bench next to Elijah.

“I heard you were back in town,” she said, putting her hand on his back. “But here you are having dinner with another woman. Color me jealous.”

She said it as a joke, but Elijah knew Delilah well enough to recognize that there was more than a little truth to the remark.

“Whoa, bro. Your girlfriend is yoked,” Dat said. Then, to Delilah, he asked, “Do you lift? What’s your routine?”

“Not my girlfriend,” Elijah said. “Just a friend.”

“Well, not just a friend,” Delilah added, shifting closer.

“Right,” he said, feeling just how uncomfortable everyone was. “But –”

Suddenly, the facet of Elijah’s mind that was dedicated to monitoring his locus went off. Normally, he barely even paid attention to it, but he’d long since managed to establish a mindset where he would become aware of any major changes. And strangers landing on the shores of his island definitely qualified for that label. There were five of them. Three men, two women. All but a single man and woman were unconscious, but the two that remained active seemed strong enough to cause trouble.

Anger erupted in Elijah’s mind.

He had told them. He had made it abundantly clear that no one was allowed on his island without permission. And yet, there they were, acting as if they belonged. As if his commands didn’t matter. They were human, which suggested that they were newcomers to Ironshore. Imports from Norcastle that had come along with the trade deal. He’d expected it to happen eventually, but he’d hoped to avoid what would almost assuredly be an unpleasant situation.

“I have to go,” he said, already casting Roots of the World Tree. Thankfully, the function that would return him to his island wasn’t on cooldown, which just further emphasized that he needed to be careful with how he used the spell. The worst thing that could happen would be if someone or something invaded his island and he couldn’t immediately teleport back.

“What? Why?” demanded Sadie. “I didn’t mean to offend you!”

“What’s up, bro?”

“Is everything okay?” asked Delilah, clearly intending to help. It was a nice gesture, but Delilah was barely level fifty. Anything that could hurt Elijah would obliterate her, regardless of how combat-focused her class was.

“It’s fine. I’ll be back in a week or so,” Elijah said.

Then, without further delay, he finished the casting of his spell and disappeared. Only a moment later, he reappeared in the center of his grove. As he did, he saw through his locus that Nerthus had already responded to the intrusion, and in an unexpected way. There were six ambulatory trees already surrounding a makeshift raft, and the people who’d come onshore were wrapped in twisting vines.

Elijah’s original plan for a response was to fly to the beach in question, but seeing that Nerthus had the invaders well in hand, he chose to run instead. And given his attributes and Essence of the Wolf, he could cover quite a lot of ground in a hurry. So, he arrived after only a couple of minutes.

“Didn’t think you had this in you, buddy,” he said, approaching Nerthus. The spryggent had once again grown, reaching a height that exceeded Elijah’s own, if only by an inch or so. He glanced at the ambulatory trees. “You have control of those?”

“Of the trees, yes. It is a skill. The guardians, no.”

Elijah had noticed the family of deer nearby, but he’d thought nothing of it. They often roamed across the whole island, so he hadn’t thought that they were responding to a threat. That they had was a great source of comfort. The two adults could pack quite a punch, which would probably help to dissuade any unwanted visitors.

“Have you spoken to them?” he asked, glancing past the tree line and to the surrounded watercraft. The raft was in an advanced state of disrepair, and it looked like it would fall apart at the first sign of rough seas. The people weren’t in much better condition, with three of them being unconscious and the other two looking like they’d just stepped off the set of the movie Waterworld.

The woman did spark some degree of recognition, though Elijah wasn’t certain why that would be. As far as he could remember, he’d never seen her before in his life. And with her mane of red hair and striking appearance, he thought he would remember someone like that.

Perhaps he was just predisposed to looking at pretty women in a favorable light, because the man who’d accompanied her was completely unfamiliar to Elijah. Aside from looking like he needed a trip to the barbershop – or a nice, hot shower – the only remarkable thing about him was a long scar that ran diagonally across his face.

And he was missing quite a few fingers, Elijah noted.

There was something else going on. These people didn’t look like they’d come looking for a fight, and if they’d originated in Ironshore, then surely they would have used a proper boat, rather than something that looked like it had been assembled from discarded flotsam.

Elijah stepped out of the trees, his staff clicking against the rocky shore as he approached the captive invaders. He asked, “Who are you, and why have you come to my island?”

The woman’s eyes widened as she declared, “Please, we need your help!”

The moment she spoke, Elijah remembered a frightened, red-haired woman with an Irish accent. More than four years ago, he’d been seated next to her when the plane had been torn to pieces by a giant bird. He didn’t remember her name, though.

“You were on the plane with me, weren’t you?” he blurted. Then, he glanced at the scarred man. His memory of that flight was more than a little fuzzy. After all, he’d still been reeling from chemotherapy and preparing himself to die. So, he had missed quite a few details. However, he thought the man tangled in Nerthus’ roots could have been the pilot he’d seen upon boarding.

The woman’s eyes widened. “Are you another survivor?” she asked.

“I am. I think…I think we need to have a little talk,” Elijah said. “Nerthus, let them go.”

The spryggent didn’t respond. Instead, he simply complied. The roots retracted, and the two conscious survivors collapsed to the ground. Elijah didn’t immediately approach, but he did summon Healing Rain and cast Soothe on each of the castaways. The healing wouldn’t do much for the three unconscious people. They had more issues than a simple heal would fix. Namely, they were starved, dehydrated, and exhausted. But the healing would help.

As those heals took effect, Elijah reached into his Ghoul-Hide Satchel and retrieved a handful of his grove berries. Then, he offered the little fruits to the conscious couple. They took them eagerly, ingesting them without hesitation, and immediately, they began to recover their lost energy.

Once they looked like they weren’t about to keel over, Elijah said, “Now, I think it’s time you tell me your story. I’ll help however I can.”

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