FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Cellista never enjoyed checking on the magical towers that bordered the Covenant's lands. She knew she could handle herself as well as any dragon in a fight, but some of the things out in the wilds of the world still worried her. This trip though, Thoradin left his herd of cattle for a day and came with her.

Thoradin soared somewhere behind her. Working as a herder for the Covenant build him large and tough. As a Red-backed dragon went, he was powerfully built. There were times he had to fend off predators, and having him along with her helped put her mind at ease.

He was a dark brown scaled dragon. Not usually considered one of the most flattering colors a red-backed dragon could be born with, Cellista found the color tolerable. His cream colored chest was broad and powerful. His faceplate and horns early matched the color of his chest with a light tan, that helped show off his bright yellow eyes. His eyes were the first thing that Cellista noticed when they first met as being particularly attractive, the other being his jaw fins started behind the jaw and flowed nearly to the tip of his muzzle. She thought it was cute.

She knew that Thoradin had his eyes on her for some time now, but she wasn't sure how he could find her much to look at. Her small faceplate and horns matched the color of her scaled, a rich deep blue. She thought the matching colors looked particularly bland on her, but Thoradin always seemed to disagree. He said that the blue set off her yellow eyes. She was roughly average in size for a red-backed dragon, roughly the size of a human war-horse, but she was lean and sleek. If there was one thing she was happy about her own body, that was it.

"We're nearly there," Cellista called over her shoulder, "it should be just down there in that canyon."

They were headed to one of the Covenant's ancient inventions, one of hundreds of towers designed to keep the boneweavers from entering their lands. The devices always needed charging, and sometimes needed repair, which Cellista had discovered she had a particularly nimble claw for.

As they both turned over the small canyon, the tower shifted into view. I hate this tower. I wish I could skip it, maybe let someone else do it. One of these days I'll ask the hunters or someone to come out here and flatten out some sort of landing. All those steep rocks just makes this a pain in the tail.

She drew her wings out, catching the air and slowing down. She stretched out her hind legs to catch a slanted rock, and hoped she wouldn't slide off the thing like she had last time she came here. Hoping to avoid the last landing, she caught the top edge of the rock and gripped with with her forelegs and knelt into the landing. At least I didn't fall over this time. Thank goodness. Thoradin made the landing look easy, but he would. Anything outdoors he made look easy.

"Cellista," Thoradin said, "why are all these things built in the worst places? Top of a mountain here, bottom of a gully there. You would think that our dim-witted ancestors would put one of these at the bottom of a lake."

"I heard there's an old one that no one services at the head of the Blue Ueban. But the currents are so strong there that the tower collapsed a long time ago."

Thoradin shook his head and shrugged his wings. "The gods should have stepped on whoever thought that was a good idea."

"Well, back then the boneweavers held quite a force near there."

"Yes I know. I remember Kathagra's energetic recounting of the old days. Who couldn't forget the way she danced back and forth and threw her wings all over the place like it was some amazing story?"

Their teacher had been rather energetic about a lot of things. History had always been her favorite, though Cellista could have done with a little less herself. The only real historian of her class had been banished from the Covenant after the Attunement that year. She remembered the day like she remembered a funeral. He was dead to the whole Covenant now, just fleeting memories that flow into the vast tide of history that nearly no one can remember.

She shook her head of the thoughts. She came out here to check on the tower and didn't want to lose her focus before she before she got to the delicate parts. She navigated the torn rocks and loose footing between her and the tower. The tower was a small bit taller than she was, and sloped slowly to a point at the top. Each side was carved small slots that let a dragon know the basic layout inside the tower.

"How do these work anyway?" Thoradin said as he hopped from rock to rock.

She knew he had some understanding of the towers, but the details of magic was not Thoradin's strong point. Thinking on Thoradin and magic, Cellista couldn't remember ever seeing him do any magic. He was more of an animal lover than anything else. She still enjoyed the company though.

"It's a mixture of prisms in each layer of stone. The idea is that the-"

Cellista heard rocks tumble not far from where they were, and the sound came from the unprotected side of the barrier. Warily, Cellista leaned her head around the edge of the tower and looked down the canyon. Nothing would live where the rocks and soil were this angry. Every rock face was sharp and jagged. The earth itself wouldn't allow anyplace flat here. The odd shapes allowed the sound of clattering rocks to echo oddly, returning in bursts and reverberations. It died off quickly though, and she saw Thoradin shrug then return his attention to her. She waited another moment, she didn't like being disturbed while she worked on the towers.

"So," Thoradin huffed through his nose, "what's all the prisms for? I thought we just used those as trinkets to trade with all the humans."

"Well, mostly yes." Cellista inspected the tower as she explained, "Though this is one of the other uses for them we've found. Over time these prisms leak a sort of field around them. The idea is to arrange the prisms in such a way that the boneweavers can't stand to get close to them."

"A shield then?"

"Not really, it doesn't actually make a physical barrier. It just makes a place they don't like being in. That's why when these get weak," Cellista pulled a brown wisp to her claw and reached inside the stone. She grasped a crystal she could feel that had emptied of power and pulled it out, "like this one here, the boneweavers can push themselves through. The field isn't as strong, so they can tolerate the discomfort."

Thoradin gave a thoughtful rumble and sat down. She liked a dragon that thought, but she wished Thoradin could think faster than a turtle ran. Since he would be quiet for a while, she began preparing to charge the crystal.

The quiet tinkling of gravel rolling off of one rock and bouncing on another drew her attention away again. There is something out there. She slid the crystal back into the tower and glared down the canyon walls. She glanced to her side, Thoradin's eyes searched either side of the canyon walls, looking above them.

"See anything?" Cellista found no source of the sound, and found nothing that could have produced it.

"Nothing. Yet. There is something out there. I can feel eyes on me." Thoradin stepped away from the tower, "I'll find it."

Thoradin glided over the rocky terrain like a shadow. For a moment, she forgot the noises as she watched Thoradin. He's so quiet, no wonder they have him watching over the herds. He stalks like a predator.

Cellista stood by the tower, frozen in watchfulness. Thoradin moved a few silent steps, then glanced in several directions before continuing. Cellista tried to remember if anything appeared wrong when they flew over the barrier. When they arrived nothing shared the air with them, so whatever stalked them now had to be a land creature. There were only so many that would consider a red-backed dragon worth attacking though. It might be boneweavers though, which either of them could handle. As long as it was a smaller boneweaver.

As quiet as a shadow, Thoradin slipped behind a large jagged rock. Cellista guessed that since the most likely creature would be a boneweaver, it would be best to finish repairs on the tower. She laid a hand on the top surface and felt the slight tingling in her paw of several different wisps. It took a moment to figure out which one was missing, but she found the gap in the crystals that held the magical forces. Then she willed one of the several wisps she kept inside of herself to her palm.

As the tiny purple wisp rolled around in her palm, she felt a wave of energy wash over her. For a second she couldn't place why the wave of needle pinpricks sent a chill into her heart. Then it dawned, it was the same force she felt two years before at her Attunement. There was something out in the canyon, and it was more than just a boneweaver. This was the very presence of the Thief himself.

"Thoradin, run!"