Wasteland Saviour - Spreading light - ch5
#6 of Wasteland Saviour
Our first day saw us passing out of Australia and into the islands to the north. We saw not a single human or hybrid from there until several weeks later when we reached, by skirting around the southern areas of Russia and Kazakhstan and into the Ukraine.
They were filthy, some were hybrid, some still plainly human, when they saw us though they began running, trying to hide wherever they could.
Landing, trying to call out to them, helped us not a bit. "Guess something really has them spooked." Fox said as I slid back to my kitten form.
Suddenly a good twenty men and women, seeing us clearly, came out, calling words in something sounding like Russian.
The soldiers all turned to me, Fox included, shaking their heads, letting me know that they could not understand a word they said. I reached then, for my power, 'let me understand them' I thought.
"Please, you have to hide, they will be coming any minute!" they cried out over and over, urging us to either leave or hide.
I smiled, "It will be ok, we can protect you, who is coming?" I asked, trying to sound reassuring.
A fear build in their stance and all those eyes focused past me, behind me.
"Uh, ma'am, I think the locals they fe-" Ryst began but a screech of fear hit my mind from Harnyth.
A voice called from the mounted lizard like people approaching, "Ahh, the slaves and a dragon, this will be a fine catch!"
Two of the newcomers raised what looked like magic wands and from behind me I heard a cry. Turning I saw every single one of the locals fall to the ground, the hybrids among them whimpering as their forms flowed back to human.
Raising my eyebrows I turned back, only to stop, gazing in fear as I saw, right where Fox had been standing, a male human crying in pain on the ground.
Realisation hit me even as I felt their magic flow past, trying to affect me but something about me stopped it. Almost moving to Fox to see what was her problem I saw her hand reach for, and wrap around one of the special knives.
With a gasp of relief Fox was once more her furry self and I could see blood and anger in her eyes. I was about to move to try and calm her when Ryst's paw touched my shoulder. "Forget it, she is a berserker, I have seen gods try and stop that woman when she was angry, mostly its best to just keep out of her way." he advised and I nodded gently, even as I saw the blur of her motion toward the startled lizard men, her knives only lightly scoring them.
For all of a moment they turned, each marked by her blades, before it grew dark, dark with thunderclouds.
I closed my eyes as the first flash of lightning sprayed down from the heavens, lancing around the mounted group, discriminating its targets, limited to just those she had sliced.
Panting, I saw her pace back, her tongue lolling, to go to Drath's side, murmuring something to the big beast that none of us had noticed, was as badly affected by the spell as the humans had been.
With an aggression that startled even me I growled, "They would hurt the people who I am protecting?" even as my power flowed out and over all those who were under the spell. It hit Lieutenant Jessup first, he had been whimpering on the ground, his shape-shifting along with his hybridisation stripped from him, I saw as my power flowed over him, wrapping him in its protection, allowing his form to flow back to his usual mercurial, wolf like, self.
Flowing past Ryst and Brie, I felt their own core of power that would have denied the spells influence.
O'Brian was different, there was another touch on his soul, one I recognised. "Mother." I spoke softly, my muzzle creasing in a grin. He would not be affected by their power.
Out it spread, freeing Drathnial from the torture inflicted on his mind, out further over the people the lizard patrol had sought to subjugate, those who were hybrids regained their form and their control, those who were human just regained their minds.
~"Love, you are glowing. Pretty bright too."~ I heard Harnyth's voice tell me, ~"Hey, I wasn't affected by them?"~ she suddenly exclaimed.
Smiling I replied, out loud, "Seems their power can't affect those touched by Gods." I got a pair of nods from Ryst and Bri, all I could sense from Fox and Drath was an argument, I reached out trying to tune into it.
~"... tell you they count! I killed them, it doesn't matter that you couldn't move, they were my ki..."~ I heard, and by the tone of their minds I could tell it was an argument for the sake of having something to talk about, I also felt their love for each other twined in every thought.
Turning to check on the locals I was startled, they had wandered up and dropped to their knees, all as one.
~"You made an impression I think, my love."~ Harnyth spoke into my mind.
My anger grew, not at the people in front of me, but at those others for driving them to this.
Walking forward I dropped to one knee in front of one woman, my paw going to her forehead, as she tried to keep herself prostrated, eventually levering her face up.
"Don't bow to me, don't bow to anyone." I spoke softly, yet I have no doubt every single person there heard me, some daring to lift their eyes.
I reached down, pulling the power forth again, but it swelled white hot, there was something more within it. I reached out and put a seed of power within each person, giving them not just immunity from the cruel subjugating spells but also the power to pass it on, to give it to others.
"Don't bow to me, and make sure not a single one of your people ever has to lower their heads again." I whispered softly before I was wrapped in arms, many pairs of arms, as the people rose and crowded close.
My power burnt even brighter and it was with a frightful insight I realised this was their faith, their belief in me, that was fuelling my source of energy.
We stayed with them, teaching them how to use both the power I had given them and how to fight the lizards. They spoke to me in reverential tones, despite my attempts to dissuade them of the notion.
~"They see what you are, love. They see it more truly than you do yourself I think."~ Harnyth said into my mind cryptically.
~"I am not this though. I can't be a God, that's Mother's job, the Old Man's job. I was just a student."~ I said to her.
Her echoing laughter, filled with warmth and love, rang through my head. I never got any more words from her on the subject.
-
With no more than a promise that they would spread the power I had granted them and confirming that they had seen the lizards sometimes ride dragons, we set on a westerly course, for Harnyth's home lands.
Poland and Germany were wastelands, there was no buildings, no signs of cities, it was forest and plains and little more. ~"This is like what we were seeing in Australia."~ Fox told me, ~"Anywhere not populated by people slowly just faded, the cities, the technology, lost forever. Like it had never been."~
~"We are nearly there."~ Harnyth told me.
I nodded my draconic head as we soared, making good time despite having to hunt now for food on a regular basis.
We found the first of their cities, well, towns, and I was almost ready to swoop down and lay into it with vengeance and fire in my heart when Fox called to me, ~"Wait, don't start a song you will regret, look down there."~
Adjusting my eye sight, past the limits of what even a dragon could see, I almost retched. There was a slave auction taking place in the small town, it looked like a full third of the towns population was in the pens, humans, hybrids and lizards alike. My anger turned lethal and I couldn't stop my descent, landing just outside town as Harnyth and Drathnial joined us. ~"Thank you Fox, I almost did something terrible."~
Brie and Ryst jumped down from my back and cleared up the tack on me quickly, pulling it into one of the oversized packs for carrying them.
My form flowed and the others fell in behind me as I reached the outer, flimsy wooden, wall of the town.
"Open up!" I bellowed, my voice enhanced and echoing all over the settlement. "You will let me in this disease ridden excuse for a town or I will raze it to the ground!"
Spells filled the air all of a sudden and my power flared brightly. "Very well." I spoke now, almost a whisper.
Fox was beside me, "Don't go too overboard, there are many innocents in there." she said, and all at once I realised I was being counselled to temperance by a berserker.
Leaning my power in on the wall, I caused the wood to rot in seconds, falling to the ground, "Fox, dispense some justice here, remember those faces of the people in the Ukraine?"
She turned back to the hole I had made in the wall, eyes hard when a shot rang out, a rifle shot.
Spinning to see who had shot I found my whole party the same way. "Shooters, to the north." Brie said softly, even as another few staccato shots rang out, indicating there were indeed multiple riflemen, and the complete lack of offensive spells coming from the wall was a testament to their accuracy.
A single voice, loud in two respects, "We have your backs, you get our people out and we will drink to you tonight!" a woman, hidden in the trees called, with both her voice and her mind.
The only reply I got from those of my party were rifles being lifted and Fox's song, echoing in every mind present, as she started to trot forward, knives out, electricity arcing with anticipation down the blades and over her paws, even crackling up her slender arms.
I just began to walk forward, hearing the steyrs as they heralded the deaths of the lizard mages, their mystical protections unable to halt the magic enhanced rounds that Ryst and Brie had designed, the rounds that were standard issue for all the soldiers now.
We came up on the pens, Fox was racing around, her blades lashing out, dealing killing blows even as a thunderhead gathered above. I saw why she was frenetic now, the slave masters, realising they wouldn't be able to halt us, had taken to executing as many as they could.
I witnessed as one reptile hybrid, standing nearly fourteen foot tall, covered in the chains the lizards had bound him down with, tore his way free and reached a talon out at a torch on a nearby wall. Suddenly there was fire around him, swirling, it ripped its way through a few of the lizards even as they were about to kill others, humans and lizards alike, for daring to be weaker.
Heartened at the scene I began to reach out with my power when I saw the big hybrid get cut down, his massive body propped over a pair of slaves, protecting them, even after the spell had torn his head completely off.
"STOP!" I yelled, my power burning a rip in the world as everyone's movement halted.
I walked among them then, taking blades, spears and spells from the slavers, walking over to what was left of the selfless, huge creature, pressing my paw against its hide, knowing that there was nothing I could do.
My tears spilt freely to the ground as I stood there, even as time began to flow again, and the last of the slavers found themselves unarmed against foes to whom their weapons were useless anyway.
The two young lizards that the big hybrid had sheltered looked up at me, gasped and lowered their heads again, even as I felt my power grow hotter still.
I turned to find myself engulfed in Harnyth's arms as she held me close, "Why won't the tears stop?" I asked her as I held her just as tight, wondering if my soul, my heart, would be big enough for this task.
"Because they are worth it." she said softly back to me, and I realised she had fully embraced my own love and need to protect creatures, regardless of whether they were dragons or not.
Letting go, I turned to the people and spread my power again, reaching to each and every one of them.
"Don't bow to me, don't bow to anyone." I began, realising that these words were already being spoken all over lands to the east of us, and I would spread them to every creature on this planet if I must.
Yeah, I cried while both writing this and proof reading it, I find it is taking a lot out of me to work on this arc of the story, there is a lot of heart wrenching but also, as you can likely guess, something wonderful will grow.
As for the speed of their travels, well, call it dragon magic. Bahz, I got no idea how long it would take to fly from Australia to Europe on the back of a dragon, if anyone does, please message me (I would like to test said trip for verification purposes).