Dragon Kin - Resurrection

A Magi's Mission

Tuari was surprised to feel the familiar sensation of portal travel, rather than cold iron manacles, encasing his body. The moment was brief, and before he knew it, he was crashing into cobblestone as his saviour could not steady them upon emergence from the portal. 

"Carry on like that, and you'll be gladiator bait before you know it," a small, breathy voice explained. 

Tuari whipped around, still somewhat on edge, wary of offering trust too quickly. However, he was stunned to find a small child, her brow glistening with sweat, skin pale and eyes sporting deep purple bags. As the shock subsided and he regained his senses, he noticed a shuffling in the shadows around the dusty, cellar type room. Squinting, he held back a gasp; children shivered in all corners of the room, most skin and bone and deathly pale. 

"Where are we?" Tuari asked, striding across the room to a small barred window high up on the wall, "why are you all hiding here?" 

"We are Wanderers of the Waste," the girl answered, lowering her frail body to the ground, sitting atop a thin, tattered blanket, barely shielding her from the cold stone beneath. "Our people came here to trade our goods, as we do every year. We did not know how things had changed."

A few minor children began to sob; their elders hugged them close.

"What happened to your parents?"

"The dark magi took them; they are enslaved now." A new voice answered through broken sobs.

Those words hit Tuari so hard he felt his knees go weak; they could only mean one man, he was sure of it.

"Do you have any food with you, mister?" One of the children asked.

"I . . . I'm afraid not," He mumbled in response; turning back to the child that saved him, Tuari asked, "why haven't you left the city?"

"We have used wards to hide us here, but should we leave, our magic will trigger the alarms, as weak as it is," the girl explained, "we can't all teleport, and those of us who can are too weak to carry other with them. I used the last of my energy saving you, and I could only manage that because you were right outside."

Tuari began to pace suddenly. The children watched; their youthful eyes carried no glint of hope. 

"My name is Mena, by the way, what's yours?"

Tuari stopped, looking down at the girl. She had laid herself down, her breathing shallower now. Other children began to scurry closer, their expressions weary. As they neared, they muttered a chant. 

Mena waved her hand, the gesture weak and movement limp, "stop it, don't trade your life for mine," her breathy voice chastised them.

"You're healing her?" Tuari asked the gathering children.

They nodded, one of the smaller ones adding "she is our Chieftess now." 

Tuari strode forward suddenly, lifting Mena's frail body from the floor, and causing the children to scatter to make way for him. 

"Gather around now!" he barked at the children. They hesitated. "Hurry up now, if you want to live!"

That statement was enough to get the children moving, though some did so very slowly due to their malnourishment. Summoning all his strength, Tuari Gritted his teeth and ground out, "I will not stand by and let him kill another Chieftess before my very eyes."

A swirling darkness puddled around his feet. Taking slow, steady breaths, he forced its circumference out further, sweating and panting with the effort. The children huddled closer, almost climbing atop one another to sit within the boundary of Tuari's magic. When the last frail limb was within his magical embrace, the room fell away as its occupants sank into Tuari's abyss like portal. 

_______________________________________________________

"Please Chieftess, you must calm down-" Drak pleaded, hands up as he backed away.

"Calm down," Vada huffed, it was beyond her to calm down, she was barely managing to hold back a war cry that would bring the whole mountain crumbling down around them. She could feel the flow of life pulsing all around her, empowering her through her connection to the elements. She felt strong enough, in this moment, to take on a whole army and then some, such was her rage. "How can you sit so idly by!" 

"I had no choice!" Drak snapped, "He is more powerful than I am, If I turned against him I would be defeated in a breath and my people would be entirely at his mercy." 

Vada scoffed "As though they aren't already?"

Drak dropped his head into his hands, his shoulders sagging and knees giving way. Vada looked down at him, kneeling in despair. "If I help you fix this, will you help me return to my people?"

His head snapped up, his glassy eyes searching her face. At first he looked elated, then a flash of disappointment before it was replaced with a steely resolve. 

"I will do anything you ask."

Vada held out her hand, pulling the heap of a man from his knees. 

Rather than release her hand, Drak took a step closer, "I am deeply sorry for deceiving you, I hope I can earn back your trust" he all but whispered as he stared deeply into her eyes. 

Vada was captivated for a moment, her heart wavering at the soft sound of his earnest apology coupled with the passion searing his gaze. Drak refused to waste the moment, lifting his free hand to cup her face, caressing her cheek with his thumb. Goosebumps erupted across Vada's skin. 

"Are you so eager to return . . ." Drak paused, brow furrowed, "for a lover?" 

The question struck painfully. Visions of Bram flashed before her eyes and her lips tingled at the memory of his kiss. She pulled away, turning her back to Drak so that he wouldn't see the tears that threatened to fall. 

"Family." She managed to bite out, hoping the quake wasn't evident in her voice. 

"I see," Drak mumbled, turning away, massaging the back of his neck. "We should speak to princess Ilwae, she also wishes to end her fathers tyranny."

And awkward silence fell over the room, Vada couldn't bear the weight of it, "would you wait outside while I change?" She asked, turning slowly. 

Drak spun at the sound of her voice to find Vada attempting to conceal herself with her arms. Only then did Drak realise how thin her nightgown was, his eyes bulged and a slow burn crept up the back of his neck at the sight. 

"Ah yes, of... of course!" he stammered, racing from the room.