Sapphire Skies

She smiled ever so slightly and took a step closer, looking down at him. Her voice took on a low melody with a rumbling, almost thunderous undertone as the growl of ancient Draconic escaped from her lips.

"Axun, Si mi vi darastrix. Daariv di wer darastrixi, Si qe."

He looks at her wide eyed and in shock, though not horror like the others. And when he opens his mouth to speak, it comes out rough and patchy "si will faestir serve you daariv" He knew some draconic, and knew she was a dragon. This man was truly an amazing individual. He then said "Can I stand now please?"

She tilted her head slightly, studying him. Interesting. She sent out a light tendril of psionic energy to see if she might pick up on the most notable of this man's thoughts, although her mind-reading capabilities were extremely limited, and even the least amount of resistance would render her unable to sense anything.

He was not resistant to her at all, the first thought she could feel was amazement, he saw her and instead of feeling fear felt incredible happiness, like he had found something he had been looking for. Unlike the rest of the humans who were absolutely terrified, he seemed happy.

"Stand," she answered. "And take back your sword. You have the same wisdom of those who see further than the rest of the human race. Serve me well, Silus, and there will be a place on my council for you." She decided not to tell him just yet that her 'council' was just made up entirely of herself and a few gnolls. Best not to rush things. "But first, you will need to work on your awful Draconic." Her slight smile returned, but faded again quickly as she stepped back away from him. "Stand, all of you. There is work to do."

Ular jumped off of him and took her daggers, allowing the man to stand and take up his shield and sword again. He immediately sheathed his blade as to not make anyone think he was double crossing her, and strapped his shield to his back. The rest of the men looked a mixture of confused, scared, angry, but they all bowed and then stood when they were told. These 'soldiers' obviously put their own lives ahead of duty to their bumbling fat leader back in Brighton.

"How many of the town guard is left in Brighton, and how many men and women who will fight me? The more honest you are with me, the less violence there will be." She addressed this question to all the guards, or at least, any brave enough to answer her.

Silus responded earnestly, as if speaking to a trusted commander "There are ten guards left in town, they aren't seasoned veterans but they aren't new blood either. Most of the men and women from brighton are traders and farmers, they wouldn't know how to fight you even if they wanted to try. I expect it would be rather easy, especially if you appeared in your dragon form, there probably wouldn't be any resistance at all if you did that."

Caeriadne pondered that. She was unsure if she wanted to reveal her true form just yet, but this Silus fellow had already guessed it, so there was no point in trying to hide what she really was. You tried that before, and look how it ended, her memory nagged at her. Perhaps Silus' advice was best - no one else needed to die.

"That is what I intend to do," she answered as if that was her plan all along. "Korrok is my second in command, and you are all to follow his orders unless I say otherwise." She gestured to the robed gnoll. "You will all march on foot and wait outside Brighton until it is safe to enter again." She turned to Arrak and Groo. "You, stay here at this camp with five other warriors. Hold this position. We will use it later."

She stepped ahead of the group once more, taking account of all the gnolls and humans present. She reached down to pick up one of the blades that had dropped from a fallen guard; she slid the blade out, handed it casually to the nearest grawl, and kept the sheath. She belted it around her and glided the elven blade loosely into it. Finally, she turned once more and started walking towards the north, leaving her group behind to watch her walk.

Korrok and the people she commanded to go to town with her followed, Silus was following close behind her. But they would stop far out of Brighton just as she commanded once they got close. But until then they marched forward as they were commanded to do. None of the humans spoke, the gnolls chittered away quietly to each other though. Silus stood tall at the front of the group, just behind her still, as if he had helped.

Back at the camp Arrak and Groo did as they were told, holding the position with five other gnoll warriors, just hanging around.

Not far from Brighton, the little peasant woman Sara Nash became imbued with a glowing aura of sapphire blue sparks that vibrated and hummed with energy. It consumed her, growing and growing to many times the size of the human, and shifted into the form of a dragon. As it faded, the massive creature was already striding forward faster and began beating her wings to take flight low over the grasslands towards the city.

Most of the humans in the group were terrified, though a couple were just in shock about the whole situation. The gnolls hollered and cheered as she took flight towards the city. And Silus looked at her graceful form flying towards his home and was overcome by awe and reverence. She was the epitome of power and gracefulness in his mind.

The guards near the city would see her pretty far off because of her blue scales contrasting against the landscape, and the time of day starting to cast a darker light against her very reflective scales. They started to ring bells and shout, but they knew there was nothing they could possibly do at this point.

Caeriadne gained altitude quickly and passed over the town once, twice, thrice by circling in the air, wings splayed and blocking out the sunlight. She cast a shadow over the town below and circled lower, her voice thundering and booming out to the terrified townspeople below.

"I am Caeriadne! Lay down your arms and bow to me, and no harm will come to you! Your city will be mine!"

The town was in an absolute panic, the Governor was staring up at her, mouth agape and on his large back side looking up at her. There was no resistance, no one had said it yet, but this town belonged to her. The guards that were there weren't even trying to fight back they were just running around trying to get people indoors at this point.

Caeriadne appreciated the lack of resistance. This seemed like it would be easy, but she needed to assure from the very beginning that there would be absolutely no dissent.

As the circled the town for the final time, she snapped her jaws open. Passing a small tree not far from the market square at the town's center, she inhaled a deep breath and let loose a low ear-shattering shriek. Hundreds of tiny shards of sapphire, glistening in the sunlight like brilliant blue stained glass, shot through the air and pelted the tree. Their razor sharp edges imbedded themselves in the tree's trunk and branches and scattered through the leaves, clinking to the ground harmlessly and shattering like ceramic.

Caeriadne wheeled around, flying so low to the buildings that she could've reached out with her back talons and ripped the roof off of buildings. She landed hard in the clearing at the town's center, bellowing out the last mesmerizing notes of her wicked roar as her wings lifted high and sent a gust of wind like a small aircraft landing.

Everyone saw her breath attack and absolutely freaked out, they hid, they ran, they did anything they could to hide from her wrath, but the Governor was still just sitting there, right in front of her now, not being able to move or speak, just staring up at her wide eyed, with tears in his eyes.

Sitting back on her hind legs and lifting into the air like some ravenous beast, Caeriadne locked her eyes on the governor. She came crashing down onto all fours and took a few thundering steps towards him, emitting a low, hissing growl. She crept towards him slowly, waiting to see what he would do.

He was shaking, and tried to back away but there was a step behind him so he couldn't quite back up without putting himself more in line with her mouth, so he just started blubbering about being useful to her in some way, he could be useful he knew humans maybe he could be her envoy or something he just really did not want to be eaten by this beast.

Caeriadne had already made up her mind. She was not wicked, and bringing such a brutal death to any sentient being did not bring her any joy or pleasure, but it was necessary for the greater good. If she were to rule this town without question, the old leader must be disposed of. She needed to take what was his.

There was no trace of hesitation or remorse in her actions, but she did exude some...respect, perhaps. She considered the trembling mortal before her with her intense sapphire eyes for a long moment.

"Human, I will be merciful because you have done me no wrong. Know that your city will be greater now than you could have ever hoped." Her nostrils flared. "Close your eyes."

He calmed down when she said it will be greater than he had ever hoped, but he wasn't that stupid, he had a moment of clarity. He knew she was going to kill him, thats how these things worked with invading forces, they killed the leader to rule out the idea of dissent. He closed his eyes but asked two simple questions "Can I be buried with my father and grandfather? And will you make my grandfather's dream come true?" His voice was choked up, he was scared, but he cared more about his grandfather's dream than his own life

She thought for a long, suspenseful moment.

"Yes, and yes," she answered finally.

In a flash, she raised one of her massive clawed feet and swept it across the governor's body with such force that it would be very likely to break him instantly, causing little pain and ending his life relatively quickly.

He died instantly and with a satisfied look on his face, he may not be the one to do it, but at least his families ambition would come to being.

The town was now hers, no one was left to oppose her. The people were scared and leaderless, the closest things to leaders they had besides him were the old cleric she sent away, and Silus.

As the governor's lifeless body dropped limply to the ground, Caeriadne rose up into the air once more and soared over the town.

"This city is mine," she rumbled loud enough to be heard even amongst her followers outside of the town. "All those who will pledge loyalty to me, assemble in the square! No harm will come to you. If you are found hiding and cowering from me, you will be eliminated. Show yourselves, citizens of Brighton! You have a new master!"

She hovered above the freshly conquered city, watching keenly for any signs of humans trying to escape from beyond the walls. She waited for her faithful gnolls to come swarming in, hopefully along with Silus and the disarmed guardsmen. She knew no one would challenge her now, but nonetheless, she scanned the city with eyes like a hungry hawk waiting to quell any prey foolish enough to defy her.

The humans started to come out of the buildings and slowly walk towards the center of the town, bowing at her feet, prostrating themselves before her as her new loyal subjects. They knew she could kill every single one of them, and they wanted to live, and if that meant being her subjects, they would gladly give themselves to her.

The gate flew open and the Gnolls and their captive humans entered the town. Silus said loudly "Everyone bow to your new lord and mistress! She will lead us into a glorious and wondrous future!"

Beating her wings hard to maintain her position above the city, Caeriadne reared her head back towards the sky and let forth one more roar before descending to the ground on her rear legs. She rallied her forces around her and then allowed herself to be overtaken once more by the sapphire glow as she polymorphed into her human form to walk amongst her newly conquered people.