Chapter 22 - Warg Ambush

Note : Chapters 80 and 81 of The Fallen World : A Dungeon's Story have been written and will be posted here in the coming days, although it might take a bit, as there are several corrections I'd like to make before they are ready for posting.

Chapter 22

Salran Mountains, Starnor Imperial Border Territories

Warg Valley

To her credit Airah reacted nigh instantaneously, and threw herself to the side as she turned back into her dragon form.

The pouncing Warg almost missed her. Almost.

Airah snarled in pain as the razor sharp claws dug into her shoulder, grinding past her scales in a flurry of sparks. She whirled around, and accidentally smacked the monster back with her tail in the process as it tried to pounce on her again.

She roared, and breathed her flames at the warg, but it nimbly jumped out of the way, before darting in and raking her head with its claws.

Airah roared in pain once more, and jumped back. She froze, sizing up her opponent, and her eyes narrowed as Stellyra fed her combat solutions. The warg was doing likewise, visibly destabilized at her turning into a dragon, but clearly not enough to give up.

The warg pounced at her, and she attempted to dodge, only for once again the beast to react with lightning fast reflexes, and strike her. She hissed in pain, and lashed out with her own claws, but the oversized wolf nimbly moved out of the way.

Airah looked at the creature for a second…and charged.

She couldn't match the warg in speed. But it couldn't match her mass.

She simply threw herself at the giant wolf like an oversized battering ram, and it understood her intentions too late. It tried to jump over her, and almost made it.

Almost.

The hit threw the warg back a dozen meters, like if it had been hit by a cannonball, and it bounced off the door with a resounding gong.

The warg got back up, snarling…and then its ears suddenly went flat against its skull, and Airah smelled terror….and ozone as the door began to glow brighter and brighter.

The warg attempted to run, but before it could even make it more than a couple of meters, the door flashed, and bolts of lightning leapt from several symbols and murals onto the monster. Airah winced and took a step back as the warg yelled out in agony, and suddenly fell silent.

There was no question that it was dead. The warg's body was literally smoking and the plants around it had been incinerated by the energy release. If anything it was a miracle it hadn't been simply reduced to charcoal or even straight up vaporized.

Well, at least it answered why the wildlife hadn't breached the doors or why the door wasn't covered in plants like the statue. Whoever had built that bridge knew how dangerous the things in the valley were, and planned accordingly. And apparently built things to last to boot, at least in the security department, if not in the bridge construction one.

"Well…So much for knocking and seeing what answers." Said Stellyra.

"Agreed." Simply answered Airah, before sniffing the warg's body. "We should probably leave before more come. Should I take the body?"

"If you're thinking of eating it, most predators don't taste good."

"I was thinking of the hide actually. It is valuable, from what Lenna said, and they do make spatial bags out of them."

"Mmmhhh, fair enough. Sure, why not? Let's just make it quick, I'd rather not find out if those things hunt in packs."

Airah grunted in acknowledgement, grabbed the warg's immobile body in her claws, making sure to drag it as far away from the doors as possible, before taking off.

Time to head home. With a bit more hurt than she'd expected.

So much for a quick scouting run.

I mean, you have seen the journal entries. Your 'scouting' expeditions tend to always turn like this. Remember Lania-6? Answered Stellyra over their mind link.

Airah winced, but nodded. Lania-6 had, according to the history books and her own journals, been supposed to be a reconnaissance in force. Yes, using a Devourer, but still, recon.

She'd stumbled onto an entire Conclave fleet base being assembled. Fortresses, shipyards, refineries, everything. And the accompanying defense fleet. It had been a bloodbath -her ship was basically only 1/3rd operational by the end of it- but she'd managed to take the system, not only delaying a full scale Conclave offensive, but also taking more or less intact several Conclave capital ship fabricators with their schematics database, which had then served as the basis for a whole new generation of Terran warships.

Fair enough. At least I got off lightly, comparatively.

For now. Of course I'm sure you'll find something else that'll try to kill you today.

Airah rolled her eyes, and declined to answer.

*****

It was a long and relatively painful flight back home. Airah's new body might have incredible regeneration capabilities, but even it had its limit as the deep wounds caused by the warg struggled to heal. Plus dragging its corpse through the air over such a distance wasn't exactly pleasant either, as the thing wasn't light, at all. At least the carts for the engineers only had to be transported for a short distance!

She dumped the warg's body in front of her home, before dragging it into her lair. She could bring it to town in the morning, although she'd need some fairly inventive explanation for how she'd dragged it to town, or she'd have to find a cart of her own. Actually, she might just buy one while she was at it, or a much, much larger bag of holding. As big as hers' internal space was, it simply didn't open wide enough to even put the warg's muzzle in, let alone the main body.

"I think we need to shop for some medical supplies." Said Airah as she touched her wounds. They'd stopped bleeding and even closed a while ago, but it still hurt like a bitch. "Not the regular kind -bandages seem to be fairly superfluous-, but however miraculous my regeneration is, it's far from instant."

"Agreed." Said Stellyra as her hologram appeared, perched on the warg's body, kicking her feet in the air as they failed to reach the ground. "Potions could help, but they seem expensive. Maybe they have some more regular medicine that could assist. And it might be enhanced!"

"Possibly, I suppose we'll see." Airah stretched. "Either way, I need some rest."

"Sure, although if you took the time to go to Klareswasser, you might find a far, ah, warmer bed with-"

"Don't finish that sentence Stelly, I'd hate to have to scrap you."

The AI laughed.

"Alright, alright! I'll stop! …For now at least."

Airah rolled her eyes at her AI's antics, before heading towards her sleeping spot. She really needed here rest.

*****

"You killed a what?!?"

"I, uh, a warg?" Answered Airah as the sergeant gawked at her. He was the same man from every previous time, and the dragon idly wondered if he was simply permanently assigned to the daytime gate guard,  or if there was some kind of separate unit for the town's defense altogether. "I something wrong?"

"You killed a warg?"

"Yes."

"Alone?"

"Well, yes." Not exactly truthful, but she wasn't about to tell him she had an AI inside her heard, built to handle capital ships the size of planets. "Why?"

The sergeant simply gawked at her for a few more seconds, and then rubbed his eyes and muttered under his breath.

"When I see the lieutenant again, I'll have to thank him for preventing me from arresting you. He probably saved my life." He coughed and starting talking normally once more, with Airah deciding that it'd be better if she pretended she hadn't heard his previous sentences. "Anyway, I'll, uh, I'll have the baroness warned, and I'll see what I can do for transport."

"You don't have to arrange it yourself you know. Don't you have some private individuals for that?"

"It's an old decree. Warg hides are too valuable, and the people skilled and brash enough to be hunting them too…volatile, to let transport be handled by private individuals. Plus, it allows the baroness to make sure the hides don't just go 'missing' when the taxmen comes calling." He suddenly looked worried. "That's…not going to be a problem, right?"

Airah chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'm sure the baroness and I can find an arrangement, push comes to shove, but between you and me, I don't have anything against taxes that go to help the region." And also because some of those taxes were used to pay her working for the baroness too. "Far from it. After all, what roads would I use if there was no one to build or repair them?"

It wasn't exactly truthful, but it was the right thing to say, and the sergeant smiled back, relief clear on his face.

"Well said milady. Well, if you'll excuse me for a few minutes, I'll get some messengers sent, and then I can send some men to the body so we can prevent something, ah, unfortunate happening to it in the meantime."

"I'd be much obliged sergeant. I'd be much obliged…"

*****

In the end it took over an hour for Lenna to arrive, as she'd been apparently detained by something. By that time they'd already gotten the carcass up onto a wagon, and moved it into the city proper. The only hiccup there had been was when one of the soldiers had commented that the wounds indicated the warg had been killed by some seriously badass lightning spell, but her reputation had made the soldiers just take it in stride. After all, those that didn't know she was dragon were already certain she was a badass adventurer that had taken out half a bandit company single handedly, and those that did know weren't about to ask the giant fire breathing lizard where it had learned such magic.

"Lady Kostner." Simply said Airah as the young noble leapt off her horse. She looked ravishing as always, although this time protection had clearly trumped seduction, or heat resistance, as she'd donned a far more practical outfit than her light summer dress, in this case a mix of iron and leather armor like her guards. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"The pleasure is all mine lady Starfire." Said Lenna feelingly, before looking at the cart, where a group of workers were currently busy setting up the crane to transport the warg carcass into the tanning building. "And I see you've come with another surprise. You seem to be making a habit of that."

"One tries milady." Said Airah with a smile, before giving her an impeccable bow.

Lenna chuckled.

"So I see." She looked at the warg. "So, you took it out yourself?"

"Well, yes. Although I will admit not without damage. Those things are impressively fast, and very resilient."

Lenna nodded grimly.

"That they are." She sighed. "I had an office set up for us, if you'll step inside? We need to discuss payment and…taxes."

Airah gave her a brilliant smile.

"Of course! It'd be my pleasure."

It only took a minute to step into the building, and make their way to a rather spartan office that had probably belonged to some supervisor before the baroness requisitioned it. That or she had some kind of permanent government office in the tannery, which given the town's main industry was the fur and leather trade wasn't that outlandish.

"So. As I'm sure you're aware, with the warg trade being such a big part of the town economy, it is rather heavily regulated…and taxed." Said Lenna as she took her seat.

"I expected the regulated part. Although I'll admit taxing heavily your biggest industry doesn’t seem like a very smart idea." Answered Airah as she took the chair opposite the desk. One of the guards frowned, and looked like he was about to speak up, although whether due to her comment or the lack of invitation  from Lenna to sit down Airah would never know, as the baroness shut the guard up with a simple, piercing glance. Probably not one of the guards that knew about her dragon identity, given the fact that he reacted at all and didn't keep his mouth shut. "But that's not exactly my business to worry about."

"Right. Well, we do tax it heavily because of the benefits involved. Warg hunting is dangerous -very dangerous- business, but it also yields a lot of money. Do you have any idea what that warg's hide is worth?"

Airah shrugged.

"Not really, no. Part of the reason why I brought it here."

"Well, the hide isn't damaged, despite the lightning attack." Lenna gave her an inquisitive glance and Airah gave the baroness her best innocent look back. The noble clearly realized that there was no way Airah had learned such a powerful spell in so short a time, and she clearly hadn't known that kind of magic or she'd have used it in the camp attack. "These things are really tough. It is a somewhat young and small warg, all things considered, and not one of the elder abominations that haunt the deep woods, but its hide would still be worth…five thousand gold pieces or so. On your end that is, once processed and turned into goods, it would be worth much, much more than that."

Airah whistled softly. That was more money than every coin she'd gathered since coming here put together, period.

"Of course, there are fees involved. Transport, security, and of course, taxes."

Airah smiled. It was a very toothy, and not particularly nice smile.

"Oh believe me lady Kostner, had I not have desired discretion, I would have been more than capable of transporting it here. And security, as you know, isn't an issue."

Lenna winced, but nodded.

"Which is fair. Still, someone has to pay the men that helped with all of that."

"Alright, cut to the point. You're dancing around the topic and I, frankly, don't have all day."

"Alright." Lenna cleared her throat. "The tax and fees are around 40% of the hide's value."

Airah blinked. That was…pretty huge, all things considered. Not remotely as high as some of the taxes on strategic or luxury materials in the Galactic Empire, but for an early industrial town, it was pretty freaking huge.

"I see…So I'd get, what, three thousand gold coins?"

"Yes, around that."

Airah looked at the baroness attentively, and tilted her head.

"And what if I refuse to pay?" She asked innocently, and pretended to ignore the same idiotic guard reaching for his weapon, before being stopped by another guard this time. "Not that I'm saying I will, just…wondering."

"Well…" Lenna swallowed heavily, and Airah could smell the fear in the air, although the baroness' sudden outbreak of sweat made that capability somewhat superfluous in this instance. But the baroness squared her shoulders and rallied. "In which case I would have no choice but to seize the hide, and forbid you from doing business with this town or any of the territories under my supervision until the…disagreement is resolved."

Airah met the baroness' eyes steadily, and she could see the pleading -and the steel- in the woman's eyes. The baroness really, really didn't want to do this…but she would anyway.

Airah smiled.

"Well, you stick to your guns. I like that! Alright, I'll pay your tax, but." She held up a finger. "If we continue working together on…other matters, you can be certain that some of my demands might include some, ah, tax rebates."

Lenna smiled and nodded, relief plain on her face.

"Of course lady Starfire, that's more than fair!"

"Excellent! Well then, I suppose I'll have to meet this tanner myself, and handle the transaction." Airah shook her head. "And yes, whatever tax official you have there as well."

"As a matter of fact, it's the same person. Like I said, it is heavily regulated, and I have done my best to smooth over the process as much as possible."

Airah chuckled.

"I suppose that works. Very well then, I'll talk to him and get it settled. Until next time lady Kostner!"