Chapter 99: Flark Trip

  CROWN

  I hadn’t been sure if Sena would accept my offer, since she was obviously someone important now and might have duties to attend. I felt I had to make the offer though… I felt bad about letting her show me around town and then just ghosting her for eight years. If I was going to start introducing vaskan to the Downside dragons – whose actual name meant something like ‘sky-treader’ but the translation did the work for me – then it would be nice to start with someone who was pleasant and helpful to me.

  Duck, for some reason, thought this was incredibly hilarious, but she didn’t say why.

  I’d also made the invitation without thinking about one very obvious hurdle: it would take weeks to get to the nearest Elder Dragon on foot. Maybe months, if the terrain was rough. Zipping around with my interface all the time had given me a weird viewpoint of what distance was reasonable for mortals, but I was pretty sure this would be a long trip.

  It was a good thing that Sena had requested some time to put her affairs in order for the trip. That had given me some time to hurriedly confer with Duck about a way to move faster without giving away that I was basically a god here. I could always move myself instantly, and probably take a passenger, but that would give away that I wasn’t a normal vaskan pretty quickly.

  While in a Proxy Avatar I also couldn’t use all the same functions of my interface, so my options were somewhat limited. Duck had – after she finished laughing at my lack of foresight – helped me brainstorm a few ideas, and we’d settled on one that was probably a bit suspicious, but at least obeyed the rules of the world as Sena would understand them.

  “You have a personal flark.”

  Sena’s voice was flat, and her eyes stared at the waiting creature with an incredulous expression. Even her tail was twitching, though I wasn’t sure that meant the same thing that it did with elves. Most vaskans didn’t have tails.

  “Would you rather walk?” I asked it with an attempt at humor, but I knew what she meant. Flark riders were rare, she’d just said that to me a few hours ago. Tamed ones were hard to find, let alone people who could ride them.

  The large, winged beast just watched Sena staring at it quietly. Very well-behaved, of course. Animals did not have the same restrictions on tampering with free will as humans – though there were some restrictions – so making one obedient to me was absolutely possible.

  The double saddle was probably a little suspicious on top of that. I had known it would be, but better than trying to make do with one large saddle.

  I also fully intended to cheat my way through this. I grabbed hold of the saddle and hauled myself up easily enough, but none of my lives had any experience in riding, let alone guiding a flying mammalian wyvern-creature. Admin powers would have to substitute for skill, but if the flark did everything I wanted, that would be about the same as being skilled, I figured.

  When I turned to offer Sena a hand up, she was already settling into the saddle behind me. She adjusted her sword at her side, then her hands grasped my waist without any hesitation. I paused, feeling awkward for a second, then I laughed it off.

  “Ready to go already? You remind me of my sister,” I chuckled. “Never wanted to stay in one place.” The flark lurched as it took off, jarring us a little from the weight of the saddlebags making the takeoff less smooth than normal. Once in the air, the vague vertigo faded – partly from me telling my body to stop.

  The wind whipping by roared in my ears, for a few moments. It cleared suddenly as Sena used some kind of spell or ability to wrap us in a shielding bubble, allowing her to speak without shouting in my ear.

  “You have a sister that you think was restless? Aren’t you a [Wanderer]? Was she especially vehement about following the class’s dictates?” Sena paused those questions to ask another, more important one. “And how long will this flight be?”

  I laughed and glanced back at her. “So many questions! We will have to stop a few times, the nearest dragon I know of that would be worth meeting is some distance away. They’re very serious about not interacting with vaskan.”

  The rest of her questions I had to think about. I’d been talking about Eyssa, from my elf life, but if I kept it vague that probably wouldn’t matter. “She was a class very like a [Wanderer], and she very much believed that was her purpose in life. In some ways she did more travel than I have, but I have been more places. She went everywhere on foot.”

  Sena’s claws squeezed gently at my waist, digging in just enough to be felt through the leather coat I wore. “Do you fly where you want to go, instead? Is this how you normally move about?”

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  “Of course.” I didn’t see any reason not to say that. I let go of the reins to pat the flark on the side. “Wouldn’t you? Fastest way to travel, isn’t it?”

  She clucked her tongue behind me and was silent for a long while, the land passing by beneath us. I wasn’t sure what I’d said, but I thought it best to leave her to her thoughts, letting the minutes pass into an hour… then two.

  Not that the vaskans used that system of timekeeping, but the translation effect in my mind said it that way. I still hadn’t messed with the settings in my interface to set them to local timekeeping, because there were so many systems.

  When Sena cleared her throat, I glanced back at her – only to find her grasping my forearms and pressing them down gently as she leaned forward against my back. “Relax your arms. Keep your fingers on the reins, but if you ride like that, you’ll be stiff in no time. Relax your hips and thighs, too. If you tuck your feet inward you can hook the stirrups to the saddle.”

  “Er… thanks,” I answered awkwardly, trying to follow her advice. I could cheat away fatigue, but I had to admit that adjusting myself the way she suggested was a lot more comfortable. “Neat trick.”

  She sighed heavily. “It’s obvious you’ve never ridden a flark before. You’re a terrible liar, you know. Why are you really here? You did not show up in Chall just to take me to see a dragon, I am sure.”

  Guilty, as charged. I really should have been better at that by this point. “Actually I did come to Chall wanting to take someone to see a dragon. Not you specifically, but I like you. When you showed up, you got picked.” I chuckled and glanced back over my shoulder. “Should you really be confronting me about that when we’re this high in the air, alone?”

  Once again, her claws dug into my waist slightly. “You’re also here in the sky with no idea how to ride a flark, alone with me, a trained soldier. I just want some answers and you haven’t been forthcoming. Who are you, really?”

  It seemed odd to me that someone who was clearly high ranking in the city government or military would join me on a flight alone if they were that suspicious of me. I grunted, “Kenta, a nightsleek Totem. That’s all that is important.”

  I glanced back at her again, then added, “And you aren’t a trained soldier. I’m fully aware your main class is [Silent Killer], and a very high level. The question I have: why did I catch your attention? I’m nobody special.”

  She squeezed lightly with the claws, but I couldn’t see her facial reaction. “Fourteen years ago, you show up talking about dungeons. Right after, a dungeon appeared near us. You vanish without a trace, and appear again without any warning. Then you claim to know where to find a dragon and offer to bring me there.”

  That pulled a laugh from me as she laid out what I’d done from her perspective. “I didn’t know you knew about the rumor thing. Fair enough, when you put it like that I’m incredibly suspicious, aren’t I? In hindsight, you didn’t need the story, you probably would have figured it out yourself.”

  As I spoke, I recalled another question she’d asked: Did you know the dungeon was there before we did?

  “I knew a dungeon would appear,” I admitted. “I did not know exactly where, at the time, just soon. I can’t tell you how I knew that, though. I have reasons, and you wouldn’t believe me anyway. We all have to have some secrets, yes? But I mean you or your people no harm. I really do just want you to see the dragon right now. It’s important, not just for you but for the dragon as well. It’s stupid that you don’t interact with them, it’s costing you both so much.”

  Quiet for a long moment, Sena finally sighed. “You are a very strange person, Kenta. I want to believe you, but you make no sense.” Her claws dug in slightly once more. “Your sister is dead, from the way you speak of her. Can you talk about that?”

  A strange change of subject, I thought, but not one I felt was dangerous. “She is, but it happened a long time ago, and she was satisfied with her life. Half-sister, really, but by the time we were adults it didn’t matter. Why do you ask?”

  She clucked her tongue again. “Mostly just curious, that time. It does raise a question that I wasn’t prepared for, though. You are a strange one, but you’re… sloppy, Kenta. What you say seems true but doesn’t make sense. She died a long time ago, did she?”

  A short pause, then she asked, “And how old are you? You barely look adult yourself, you know.”

  That was a good point. I never expected people to recognize me, so I had not aged the Avatar body. I could have tried to weasel out of it with a lie, but sometimes, the truth – or a sort of truth – is the best answer.

  “Thirty-five years old. Around your age, if I’m not mistaken. I haven’t actually checked to see how old you are, I try not to pry into such things.”

  It was the truth, from a certain point of view. Kenta, the identity I had borrowed, had been born thirty-five years before.

  Sena let out a quiet snort. “You flatter me. And I don’t believe you, but fine.” She relaxed her grip on my sides somewhat. “Do you come here often?”

  I suppressed a laugh and instead turned it into a wry smile, looking back at her. “In the culture I come from, what you just said is a way to flirt with someone.”

  The gaze that met me was level and without emotion… at first. Her lip twitched upward into a hint of a smile. “I suppose it is here, as well. You are a strange and interesting person, Kenta… but not that way. Now stop dodging the question!”

  “Right to the heart, eh? You’re ruthless, Sena.” I laughed this time, turning my head forward. “I have too many secrets, I think. You should stop asking. But I will answer this one, I think. No, no I do not come by often.”

  “Only when something important happens?”

  I couldn’t argue with that. “Not every important event… but yes. If I am in town, it’s almost sure to be because something is about to happen.” Then I frowned slightly. “Except last time. I really was just sightseeing last time. I don’t get to do that often.”

  She made a low noise like a frustrated growl. “You are so impossible. Are you not scared of me? You know what my class is. I have done some terrible things in the name of my class and job.”

  “Mm.” I didn’t answer for a long time. When I did, it was quieter, impossible to hear without the magic she used to shield us.

  “I think we should not talk about what we’re here for, not for a while. But no… I’m not scared of you or what you have done. I am in no position to judge your actions.”

  Even if I quite literally was.

  Oracle or Not