.^^ Khanic Serpent ^^

— Tommy —

"-and tighten that screw, yes the left bottom, alright... now rotate the cap, and align the chamber." I murmured gently.

I was currently coaching Sariel through the creation of my newest invention, 40mm grenades for my grenade launcher, and his, (a small flare-gun type that fired one 30mm grenade, not a rotary launcher,) and also for the sidearm launchers. Each one contained a thunderstone, not chemical explosives or gunpowder, so it was relatively safe to teach him this, for now.

I'd also taken the time over the past few weeks to create a new rotary launcher, making this one gas-powered, not gunpowder-based. It reduced the range a little, but also made it near-silent, and best of all, no longer any sort of explosive propulsion, which would have ended badly someday, I could feel it.

Reducing the range to 250-400 feet didn't bother me much, as anything I was likely to grenade was going to be at least that close. Creating the ammunition, while fun, was time-consuming, until I read my grimoire, and got a terrifying idea.

The grimoire held a magical enchantment called 'Magic Magazine', which made a satchel that created bullets for me, and I'd already made one for everyone who had the side-arms. But I read deeper into it, and found it also said 'bullets or uncomplicated ammunition'. The grenades were seemingly simple enough that all I needed to do was combine the ThunderStone and a capsule of Laernean Hydra Gas with the Grenade casing, ahead of time.

Sandy and Cassidy were to one side, discussing who to bring on this mission, (we'd been hunting dragons for about a month at this point, testing the new Druids to see if they were fit for adventuring, and also completing the contract we'd been given by the Queen, while mom and dad dealt with the Behir,) when I shouted loudly. "HA! FUCK YOU, YA HATIN' MOTHAFUCKA'S, I WIN!!!"

Cassidy raised an eyebrow, halting in the middle of a sentence. "You win... What?" She asked warily.

"I can make more grenades with my bag! Anyone with the 'Recipe' and a 'Magazine' can! Try it! Now!" I demanded, rushing over and staring at her bag.

She sighed and reached into her bag, rummaging around, and pulling out a new grenade, shiny and perfect to fit in her sidearm. "Ooh... Alright, you did win, very nice." She nodded.

I snatched her bag, and handed to to Sandy roughly. "You try!"

She hummed, and reached into the bag, producing a silver tube... with nothing it it. "Oh, I don't think that worked..."

I shook my head, handing the bag back to Cassidy. "It worked perfectly!!! No one who doesn't know the exact inner workings can create them, so the invention is safe with us!" I laughed, and pranced away to Sariel, spinning him into a bear hug.

He grunted as I spun him, and tapped my arm, like he was submitting in our wrestling matches. "Nope... mmmnope, gonna puke!" He shook his head.

I set him down carefully, handing him a bag. "Sorry." I hummed.

"... s'all good, I'm good." He shivered, swallowing heavily, and spat into the bag, sitting back down at the workbench.

"Alright, get your bearings, and then we'll try Cassidy's rifle-bullets. They're a bit more complicated, but I think we can manage, yeah?" I asked, rubbing his back to relieve some of the puke sensation.

He nodded. "Yeah... yeah let's do that." He picked one up, and began disassembling it expertly, examining each element and then setting it aside. He put it back together, then reached in the bag, producing another. "Ha! But that's too easy." He set it aside, then started curling a piece of solid brass, forming the bullet components out of the metal sheets on the workbench.

I nodded and sat next to Cassidy. "So! Which ones need to stay with Sariel when we go fight the things that made the dragons run away?" I said bluntly.

Sandy nodded. "Hyla is a good Healer, but I think she's more of a support-type. She can't stand to hurt anything that hasn't done her any wrong. Sweet, but unrealistic in a battle scenario. Jia is strong, as is Iris, and they're both Elemental Druids like me. Kiri... she's extremely powerful on the surface, but without access to weather patterns, underground, she's... severely handicapped." She said simply, gazing at the girls who were sleeping on the large pile of pillows nearby in a lump.

I nodded, and Cassidy interjected. "But wouldn't that mean that underground creatures would be weak against her magic, if we could find a way to make it work?"

"No, rock-dwelling species' in this continent are immune to fire and lightning. Surface dwellers, I've no doubt she would wreck them, and she has an amazing amount of control, which is very rare in young Druids, and very impressive, but not whatever we're fighting. A different adventure, yes. Not this one." She shook her head.

"Wouldn't part of her training be fighting things that she has to get creative to beat? We don't want her getting an ego, so a scary, dangerous fight that she wasn't guaranteed to win would be perfect... no?" I asked.

She blinked slowly. "True... yes, you're right. I'll have Iris and Kiri, then. Jia would be at a severe advantage, down there, so instead I'll have her here, I guess. Mother is busy with her new apprentice, but she can study on her own with a few books I leave her." She agreed.

I hummed. "Okay, So Hyla and Jia are staying with Sariel and assisting him in the city with the Project I'm giving him?"

He perked up. "Project?"

"Yes... first of all, you'll check in with my baby, The Roost, to make sure it's on schedule, and then you'll work on your own Baegelltach. The mages in the ClockTower will do as you say, and whatever help Hyla and Jia can give you, but you should stay close to the final plans for Sparrow. The only major changes should be to make it smaller, and only use two ship-class flight crystals, at the bow and stern." I instructed him calmly.

His eyes widened slowly, becoming like red disks, and he grinned, rushing forward and tackling me in a hug. "Thank you Master!!!" He squealed, waking Iris and Kiri. Jia and Hyla slept like rocks, another thing they'd need trained out of them.

From her stern glance, she knew what I was thinking, and she stomped over to them and began poking them with her staff annoyingly. "Up you lazy brats! If that had been a dragon, you'd be dead in your sleep!!! UP!!!" She growled.

I turned back to Sariel, as Cassidy hummed. "Sounds interesting... why smaller?" She asked.

"Because once we get the Roost situated over the Southern Fleet, we'll only be sending out strafing fighters. The Sparrow is an Equipment/Personnel Ferrier,- an AC130, essentially. The other Baegelltach-Class Crafts will be Strafing fighters. They don't need the carrying capacity, nor the seats for passengers." I explained.

"So it'll be smaller?" Sariel asked, looking disappointed.

"Yes, with the same amount of weapons, though. If you can figure out a Lightning Rail instead, like I showed you a few weeks ago, and mount that inside the Bird's mouth, so it looks like it's spitting lightning, that would be cool. Also, it needs to be able to dive into the water for a short amount of time, like a Kingfisher, without the water entering the craft." I hummed.

He nodded, grinning again. "I've got a few ideas. I'll get it done, Master!" He hugged me again, and then ran to the workbench, examining the blueprints for the Sparrow, and then making changes immediately.

I nodded, and looked at Cassidy. "So! What's the mission this time? Go find out what sent the dragons packing?" I asked.

She nodded. "Essentially. Find it, kill it, bring back its head."

"Alright, sounds good. Sandy, are the girls ready to go? We need to check in with your mother, drop off those who are staying, and I need to settle Sariel in his Workshop with the mages who'll be assisting him, so we're on a clock if we want to start moving at sundown." I reminded her.

She looked at the girls. "Yes. Hyla, Jia, you're staying with Sariel, study the books I gave you, and help Sariel with anything he can think of, pertaining to his Project. Iris, Kiri, this mission is a test for you. The creatures you'll be fighting are likely either immune or resistant to Fire and Lightning. You'll have to be creative, to kill them. Jia, you would be at a major advantage, and as such it wouldn't be a test for you, only a free-for-all. Hyla... you're... sweet." She sighed.

Hyla chuckled. "Gee, Thanks." She said dryly.

"Mm. Practice your healing potions, and mother or Renata will help you sell them. If you impress Renata, she may help you open a store, when your apprenticeship is over. She also knows a few Earth Genaasi, specifically an herbalist she's quite friendly with, and who might give you a job." She nodded.

She perked up. "Really?!?"

"Yes. Study your magic, make your potions, and we'll talk more about that when I'm back from this mission. Now, let's get going. Glade, you and Karon coming with?" She asked.

"Couldn't stop me if you tried." He grinned. "However, Karon is staying here, training in seclusion, as is The Way." He smiled cryptically.

I hummed, pulling him into my chest. "You say that often, The Way... is that the name of your religion? Or just your Martial Art?" I asked casually, playing with his hair.

"The Art is known as BladeSong, The Way is the... Code of Conduct, I suppose." He explained, relaxing into the hug and not resisting, which he knew made me happy.

"Interesting... Alright, so it's Glade, the Twins, the Druidlings, and me?" Sandy asked, making sure.

"Yes. And I've already got the rations covered for one month." Cassidy nodded, and led the way to the Door, as the girls grabbed their still-new staffs, collecting Swift bags of components and such.

The Fairway was full of dwarves, funnily enough, interposed with rare elves and tieflings, rushing to and fro through the different branches of the bank. I spotted a few of my engineers and mages that were in charge of finishing The Roost, (which was very nearly done, almost three months into construction,) and the teachers traveling between the Academy and the Northern Castle, all of them using this as a thoroughfare.

I dropped Sariel off in the Workshop of the ClockTower, with Karon, Hyla, and Jia to keep watch over him. I smirked at his blush, as the two Druidling girls fawned over him, playing with his white hair and his small horns. "Lookit you, killer! Good luck with that." I winked, and sent them off, following Cassidy and Sandy to the Jerel exit, which we were the only ones to use.

The Door opened to reveal the storage warehouse of a small shop, which one of Adila's cousins, (one of literally 1,200 cousins on just his mother's side, because apparently dwarves kept track of like thirty generations of cousins,) was currently operating, selling mostly basic alchemy supplies and potions; my own personal business.

We exited, and made our way out of the city, through the Water Elevator, (I'd shown dad the volcanic water slide and elevator, and he'd tried it four times before demanding one of his own in a rare display of spoiled-brat-Teagan,) and began making our way to Tel-Mithras.

"So, Tell me, why is Tel-Mithras the furthest north you've made your cities?" I asked Sandy.

She stared at the water for a moment, and then answered softly. "We collapsed the Tunnels north of the Lonely Caldera." She said vaguely.

"Why?" I pressed, curious.

"The Behir infested them, and then ate the People of Chalet, the Northern Capital. In Chalet and Jerel combined, there once were Twelve Great Houses. Only Three Remain." She kept her eyes on the water, but smiled softly when Cassidy kissed her cheek.

I blinked. "Oh... I- I didn't mean to bring up a touchy subject."

She shook her head. "It's fine. The past should be spoken of, and often, to teach the newer generations. In remembering our past, and swearing not to make the same mistakes, we Honor the Ancestors." She looked at the girls, and they nodded solemnly.

"Yes, Auntie." Iris said, and directed the boat into a side-stream.

The speed of water increased, but instead of dipping down, we tilted up. "Whoa... Alright, I love magic." I laughed, looking at the water, which smelled of magic faintly.

Sandy laughed gently. "Yes, it is rather fun, isn't it? Hold on. The reversed waterfalls are... bracing." She shivered.

I raised an eyebrow, and then Cassidy and I laughed loudly when the boat began flying up the odd waterfall, losing all stability as it no longer could press against the water.

Sandy groaned. "Of course you love this nonsense. You are Twins, after all." She muttered, clutching the side of the boat like a wet cat.

Eventually, though, the fun had to end, in a small underground lake with a path in the end, a collapsed tunnel.

Sandy shivered. "Welcome to the Broken Road. Watch your step." She sighed, and Iris tied the boat to a rock, climbing out.

We disembarked, and I touched the wall of broken stone, smelling the magic. "This opens, doesn't it?" I asked.

Sandy nodded, and tapped her staff against it, speaking softly in a language I didn't know, until I cast Comprehend Language on myself. "I seek passage into the Broken Road, that I might seek out and destroy the evils that have perverted it."

Another voice answered, in the same language, from the rocks themselves. "Passage... is given." Then the rocks began to move, collecting into a massive earth elemental, even bigger than Sandy's normal form, and even the form that Jia had taken during the ritual. He stood perhaps 30 feet tall, and stepped aside.

I bowed, on an odd instinct. "Greetings to the Elder." I spoke in the gravelly, rockslide-esque language.

He looked at me slowly, and chuckled loudly. "The Lightling speaks to me. Amusing."

Sandy pulled me and Cassidy along, as the girls and Glade rushed ahead. "That was unwise. Elder Elementals are known for their fickle nature." She said quietly, once we'd begun walking past the entrance, and the Elemental had turned into a rockslide again, blocking the entrance.

"Seemed like the right thing to do." I shrugged, and looked around. "But this is notably less broken than I'd imagined?"

She frowned. "It leads to Chalet. The Broken Road refers to the story behind its creation. I'll spare you the story. It ends in tragedy, the end." She muttered, and walked to the front with Cassidy.

"She's touchy about this place, isn't she?" I asked Glade.

He nodded. "Let's say that a member of her family made this tunnel, and went to Chalet to kill off the Behir, and reclaim the city..."

"By theirselves? No wonder it ends in tragedy... that's sad, though. Still, we're continuing that work, aren't we? She should be happy, What with the whole 'Honor the Ancestors' thing." I grinned.

She glanced back at us. "It wasn't my ancestor. And we all have very good hearing."

"I'm aware. I wasn't whispering." I shrugged.

Cassidy chuckled. "She's got you there, babe. And she's right, anyway. How hard could it-"

Sandy and I both tackled her, covering her mouth, and I looked around. "No one heard that! Nope, no challenge to the Karmic Universal Laws of Chaos and Order here!" I sighed, knowing it was useless, and a soft hissing noise reached my ears.

Cassidy grinned. "Sorry not sorry. Someone had to start the party!" She laughed, and drew her rifle, shoving us off her and taking a blind shot into the darkness just outside the light we were shining.

A massive cobra appeared, dodging the bullet and striking out at us. I threw up an arm, and growled in pain as it's fangs pierced my skin, yanking me off my feet and pulling me into the air. I growled and gripped its fangs, bracing my feet against its jaw, and ripped them out, still buried all the way through my arm.

Cassidy took a potshot as it's reared, screeching in pain, and I fell away from the massive ball of ice that was now its head, though the effect did freeze my feet as well.

Glade caught me, pulling me away from the falling snake, and sighed. "You'll thaw out in a few minutes, luv. But that arm... Khanic Serpent poison is no joke, it burns the body from the inside out."

I chuckled. "I'm made of Fire, Lover. I'm fine. The piercings are painful, however." My feet warmed at my command, and the ice melted.

"Sorry, you got caught up in the AOE." Cassidy hummed, and pulled the fangs out of my arm, pouring a healing potion on the wounds, and they stopped bleeding. "You're fine, let's keep moving." She nodded casually.

Glade raised an eyebrow slowly. "Good thing you aren't a medic... that wound requires at least a binding. There's holes through her arm!"

Cassidy shrugged. "Alright, Fine. We've been going for eight hours, we stop for a rest, then start off again." She said, and handed me another healing potion, before pulling out some rations and sitting next to me.

Sandy looked at Iris and Kiri. "Well? What's a Druid's first priority?" She asked calmly.

Iris began dragging the snake into the vault, while Kiri began assisting her, making Sandy laugh incredulously. "Oh wow... we've got a long way to go..." she sighed, and healed my arm over the next thirty minutes or so.

As she finished, a chorus of hissed sounded in the tunnel.