Chapter 2 - Perfect Landing

Chapter 2

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"You know this is pretty nice." Said Airah as she slowly beat her wings, staying up in the air.

"Yes, well while you're in flight."

Airah rolled her eyes, although the AI was right. She might have some instincts for keeping her altitude in flight, kind of like breathing, but it seemed like dragons had a very 'push the baby birds out of the nest to see if they fly' attitude. Because she hadn't had any proper instincts on how to take off.

Which was why some of the fires she'd started had been promptly put out by a very heavy and fireproof dragon crashing into them like a drunk combat mech.

Good news: they'd learned she was apparently as tough as a damned tank, as she'd collided with and crushed several trees in her failed attempts. Even her wings appeared reasonably though as well, although she definitely had some aches now.

Bad news: she really sucked at taking off, and whoever came to the clearing she'd woken up in would ask themselves what kind of atrocious, hard fought battle had taken place there. Which raised the absolutely terrifying question of dear stars how was she going to land?

She had pushed that question to the back of her mind, although she could tell it probably wasn't going to be a pleasant experience.

Stellyra was still accompanying her with the mental avatar, keeping in place in front of her nose with a simulated grav suit and jetpack. That was wholly unnecessary of course, she was a projection, she could just whiz around at mach 3 while T-posing naked and it wouldn't have any physical impact, but the AI's concession to logic and human sensibilities was appreciated, as always.

"So, while we're up there, should we head somewhere in particular, or just fly straight in any given direction?"

"Well..." Stellyra looked around. Airah knew, intellectually, that the AI no longer had access to sensors and such, and couldn't actually 'see' what Airah couldn't, but it still felt like it. Although, to be fair, the AI had explained that by filtering her audio and such she could actually identify nearby objects and movement all around the body. Sort of, it was complicated. "The mountains are an obvious choice of course, but on Earth very few major settlements were built there, and they tended to have low human concentrations. Probably not the safest of bet. We should try to find a river. Most major settlements on Earth were either built by a water way or on the bank of a large body of water, so our chances would be much higher."

Airah nodded, then caught something at the corner of her eye.

"How about a road?"

"A wha-Oh."

To their front and right, barely visible in the distance, was the unmistakable snake of a road cutting through the forest.

It only took a few minutes to -very carefully- adjust course-, and start following the road.

"It looks paved, kind of roman style. No asphalt though, so pre-oil era?"

"Yeah. Well, predating oil being used as a fuel used everywhere. It took a while for oil companies to find a way to use that stuff. It was basically industrial waste they had to pay to dispose of originally, not a commodity."

"Fair enough. Wait, how do you know that?" Said Airah as she looked suspiciously at her AI's avatar, who was doing her best to look innocent.

"I might -might!- have partaken in some of the lectures with you. When I was bored, of course. Oh, and read some of your textbooks and such."

"Riiiight." Her textbook being essentially a holographic tablet displaying files, but still. "So you at least know some stuff about ancient history. Good, you won't be a total useless weight."

"Oh don't you go there you-"

"Stop." Airah's tone was deadly serious, and Stellyra immediately shut up. Instincts, still vaguely remembered even after many memory wipes, took over, and military discipline asserted itself. "We've got some kind of convoy up ahead." Airah squinted. "They look like they're....fighting?"

"Well, whatever they're doing, it won't be long until we pass over them. Should we circle around?"

"No, hold on, I'm going to try to get lower, to get a closer look." Airah pulled her wing close, and dived.

"No wai-"

Airah tried to deploy her wings again...an completely lost control, spinning uncontrolably as she tumbled towards the ground, screaming her lungs out in terror and anger at herself.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

*****

Lenna stepped back as the bandit lunged forward, and cut his hand off at the wrist, before following it by a swift slash to the throat.

The bandit fell, gurgling as he choked on his own blood, and the baroness stepped back as another three took his place.

Where the hell did these bastards even come from?!? She asked herself as she forced her exhausted limbs to move her into a guard stance. She had been on her way back to her town with a light, fast escort when suddenly what looked like a small army of bandits had fallen upon them.

Her men were good, but they weren't 'fight at three-to-one odds' good. Especially not since many of the 'bandits' were fighting and coordinating like soldiers. Oh, not very well, but those has clearly been in the military at some point, and several teams of them were working together like well trained units, although they had no larger coordination. Several high quality bandit groups banding together for a big hit? That sounded insane, but then again, so was attacking a noble on her way to her town, with a full damned escort!

Another one of the bandits surged forward, except that this time there were others to back him up, and they knew enough about fighting not to get in each other's way. Lenna parried, and took a step back. And another. And another as she furiously parried the attacks of three opponents at once, until she felt her back hit the carriage. And at that moment, she knew she was doomed.

Part of it must have shown on her face, because the bandit pressing her the hardest smiled. She bared her teeth at him. She would rip out that bastard's throat even if it was the last thing she did! There was no way she wasn't going down fighti-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The warcry filled the air, and Lenna covered her ears. It sounded like a hundred dwarves had decided to scream their hatred into the air as they charged the enemy, and-

The cry ended with a violent CRACK as something impacted the ground, and Lenna watched in stupefaction as the main group of bandits, the one which had been pressing the tight knot of the remaining escort, separated from her carriage as they were drawn off by the diversionary first attack, disappeared in a cloud of dust, screams and blood.

And then the dust settled, and a magnificent golden dragon emerged, its scales only tarnished by the blood of the unworthy wretches it had just crushed.

*****

Okay, note to self, don't dive in the air. Thought Airah as she got back up.

Yeah, no shit! Answered Stellyra over their mind link.

Airah was about to vocalize a snarky response when she realized that they weren't alone. And that the squishy thing that had cushioned her fall where now liquefied. And looked very much like humans if, say, something had dropped a tank from a kilometer up into their faces. Granted, the tank in this case had been desperately trying -somewhat successfully- to break its fall with wings, but still. And the remaining humans around her were looking at her like Zeus himself had just blasted from the sky, riding a thunderbolt.

Which in many ways she had, to be fair. Still it was...awkward. She quickly debated whether it was a good idea to simply take off and fuck off,  before deciding against it. It had taken her several tries last time, most of them ending in failure, and the humans around her were very well armed. She wouldn't be able to pull it off while being stabbed with spears and sliced with swords.

In the back of her mind, with Stellyra's help, she quickly cataloged the humans there. They were roughly divided into two groups overall, one was made out of soldiers, in proper uniform and armor, looking like men at arms who had jumped out of a medieval documentary. They were separated in two groups, one in the middle of the now wrecked convoy, arranged in a defensive formation around a carriage, while the second group were in a tight ring, further back. The other humans were quite clearly some kind of bandits. They looked disheveled, wore a mix of clothing with pieces of armor and salvaged metal strewn about as makeshift protection. Their weapons did look clean and sharp though, although she'd freely admit she was truly a medieval weapon expert.

She idly noted that about half of them were women, despite clearly being in a violent, physical profession, which would have been unusual at their apparent level of technology on Earth to say the least. Something think on later.

She was starting to open her mouth, although she had no idea what she was going to say, but it triggered a reaction, and one of the men in the rag tag clothing, a bandit, screeched in terror and swung his sword at her.

It hit her, and amazingly enough drew blood. Airah roared, and swatted him aside with her hand. She had just intended to make him drop his weapon, but she considerably underestimated her strength, and the fellow went flying, impacting a tree not too far off, and falling at its feet in a heap, probably dead or dying.

That seemed to break the spell. The bandits started screaming incoherently, some charging her, terror clear in their eyes, while others dropped anything that might weigh them down -weapons, bags, everything-, and ran as fast as they could.

Airah swung around, swatting those that were attacking her away, trying her best not to kill them -dead enemies don't answer questions after all-, before finally losing her patience, and after making sure the soldiers were out of the cone of effect, breathed out.

The bandits screamed in agony as the flames enveloped them, and the few remaining ones simply scattered in terror, joining their earlier comrades. Most didn't make however, as arrows caught them in their back, and they fell to the ground, crying out in pain, before another few arrows silenced them forever.

Airah turned towards the soldiers, and was about to greet them, when a woman extracted herself from the group, and fell to her knees in front of her.

"Thank you, oh mighty one. Your intervention was most timely."

"I..." She was about to say that she didn't mean to, before catching herself. "Do not require your thanks. They are appreciated, but it would have been a slight upon my honor had I not intervened when innocents were assaulted by vile bandits."

Clearly the humans hadn't been expecting that, as they looked at her in confusion and some cases even wonder. Stellyra, appearing behind the woman, held up a sign with a dragon hugging a giant pile of gold.

Right, dragons are supposed to be greedy, aren't they? Not noble and chivalrous.

"I would, of course, not turn down an appropriate compensation for my assistance, if offered."

It was about as explicit as it could get without physically nudging someone, but the woman nodded, and the soldiers looked much less surprised now, a few even chuckling.

"Ah, yes, of course! It would be my pleasure to reward you, oh mighty one."

"There is no need for titles. I am Airah Starfire."

The woman froze, and nodded.

"Of course, lady Starfire. I am Lenna Kostner, of the house of Kostner." She bowed deeply. "It is my pleasure to meet you, lady Starfire."

Airah nodded.

"The pleasure is all mine. Now, lady Kostner, I assume rewarding me here wouldn't be feasible." Airah looked to the side at the bodies strewn about. "Your men need to be collected, those that can be saved need to be tended to, and those already lost given proper respect. And this vermin." She nodded at the bodies. "Needs to be searched. No point in leaving anything for their comrades to come back for, to arm another group of their ilk to attack innocents with."

"Quite so lady Starfire, quite so. If you will accompany us to my town, Kaisersgrenze, I am sure we can reward you properly."

"Excellent then. I will stand guard while your men do their work."

That seemed to have been more or less expected, and everyone nodded as Airah sureptiously checked on her wounds. The minor cuts she'd suffered had already stopped bleeding, her blood clotting extremely quickly, and they did little more than sting a bit. Well, that answered how tough she was to metals, and not just wood.

*****

Lenna walked calmly to the other side of the carriage, putting it between her and the dragon, before collapsing. She would have hit the ground of her guard commander, Stavros,  hadn't immediately grabbed her.

"There milady. Please, sit down, you need at least some rest."

Lenna weakly nodded, and sat down, before grabbing the waterskin he handed her, and drawing a long gulp from it.

"Holy divines, that was..."

"Close?"

"Yes." Lenna smiled at him. He was one of the few persons she trusted completely, what with him having been her bodyguard as long as she could remember. He was also one of the toughest persons she'd ever met, and that was saying something. Had he been of noble blood she might have even considered him as a suitable match! Which was the highest praise she could give anyone, really. "I don't think I'd have held a minute more."

"Most of us wouldn't have. We were on the verge of collapse. That ambush was well planned, and professionally executed."

"Yeah, I noticed as well." Lenna sighed, before looking briefly over the side of the carriage, peeking at the shining golden dragon currently slowly surveying the woods, on the lookout for more bandits. "And they'd have succeeded if not for her. Damn. A dragon just...popped in. What are the odds?"

"I'd say very low milady." Said the soldier drily, and Lenna chuckled.

"Fair enough. Alright, I'm going to go change quickly in the carriage. Travel clothes, still, but I think I need something more grand than combat armor to talk to our esteemed savior."

Stavror raised an eyebrow, but nodded. Lenna seldom dressed up, but then again they were at the very frontier of the Starnor Empire. There weren't exactly many reasons to dress up to impress someone important, especially not when coming back from a visit to an outlying village!

The commander helped her get back up, and she made her way into the carriage, carefully closing the door behind her, and starting to go through her clothes. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, and she knew that in a few minutes she might drop, but damn it, a literal dragon had just charged down from the heavens to save her hide, the least she could do was greet her appropriately!