Tales Of The Free Nations Army

Dalaharil Mizra Baenre swooped into her saddle and patted the big Frost Dragon Frostbite’s side twice.

“Not bad.” Frostbite said, he surveyed their surroundings one more time before they went skyward. No smoke. No fire. No bodies. No destruction. Her ‘diplomatic solution’ must have worked. “Not bad at all.”

“We’ll have the situation resolved by lunchtime, Freezepop.” She assured.

“We’ll have the whole war resolved by lunchtime.” He said with a toothy grin.

The young Lieutenant Commander, the second in command of the Free Nations Army, blasted into the sky on Frostbite’s back.

Medusa. Dala. The Mind Mage said in Dala’s head telepathically.

Go for Dala.

A couple messages for you.

Well, if you’re going to abuse your power and authority you may as well do it for Number Two.

Number Two was Dala’s official designation, recognizing her authority in the Army.

Hilarious. You know they’re sanctioned. Medusa said.

Okay, ‘sense of humor’, what do you got for me, please?

Two messages. Your mom Mizruil, and Elgyn. And I have a sense of humor by the way.

Why would you say my mom’s name? Do I not know my mom’s name?

I - wait, what?

Relax. Dala said. Just pulling your dick. You said you had a sense of humor. Mom first, please.

Oh, more jokes, lots of jokes today then:

“Hi, Dala Diggums, its mom, You and Freezepop watch each other’s butts, kick an obscene amount of ass, kiss a few babies maybe, thumb your nose at ‘The Man’ and be careful!! See you when you’re back, Navik’s making pot roast, love you to pieces!!”

“Heh.” Dala smiled, “Dala Diggums.”

DALA DIGGUMS

1

Children Of The Revolution

Elgyn’s message? Medusa asked.

Please.

“Hey babe, the situation in the forest is resolved, they ordered us to hump over to Horse Creek and await further orders. I’ll update when I know more. Love you.”

Thank you, Meddy.

Of course.

Meddy you ain’t tinkled off at me for breaking your balls, are you? You seemed grumpy.

Couldn’t stay mad at you if I wanted to, and believe me I have wanted to. Be careful...Dala Diggums.

Ouch. Dala smiled, Okay, fair play.

Here if you need me. Out.

“Okay, what’s next, Freezepoppus Maximus?”

“Port town, Ravensummer.” Frostbite said. “Pirate attack.”

“Not much of an attack.” Dala commented.

“True.” Frostbite said, “One of the HKs sent them to the bottom before they ever got close to the port of Ravensummer.”

HKs were December’s solution to acts of opportunistic piracy brought on both by the distraction and, in some cases, weakening of defenses in the ongoing war effort.

Her final solution.

She warned the pirates once.

They didn’t listen.

So she deployed.

The Hunter Killers.

Or Pirate Hunter Killers.

Nineteen terrifying and massive floating death factories straight out of nautical nightmares.

No one questioned how she had these monstrosities constructed so fast.

The lowest designation on the vessels was HK2. So we had HK 2 through HK 20.

But where was HK1?

Rumors began to circulate about December’s new personal Navy flagship, HK1, even bigger, badder and more well-armed than the others.

“You think they’re still complaining about December’s extinction agenda against pirates in Ravensummer now?” Frostbite asked.

“Doubtful.” Dala said. “They can say December’s actions against pirates are ′bloodthirsty excessive overkill’ until those actions prevent their daughter from being raped and killed by a pirate.”

Frostbite nodded thoughtfully, then cut upward through the clouds. “Headed there now.”

As they punched through the grey clouds and came out atop them, the entire world grew quiet.

The grey clouds below them spread out from horizon to horizon like an ocean.

Since they were above the clouds, the sun was bright and cast their shadow down onto the clouds.

A perfect “T”.

Dala leaned back, put her legs up and crossed them at the ankles.

She would never get tired of this.

“Hey, Sangua.” Frostbite said.

Sangua was the dragon word for Blood Sister.

“Yes, my dearest?” Dala smiled, relaxed.

“December’s moving a lot of troops around, like, strategically positioning her chess pieces while consolidating her power.”

“Can’t say I love the chess piece metaphor.”

“I know that’s not how she sees it, ya ding-dong, it was just the easiest analogy to use.”

“I know, I was just giving you crap.” Dala said, “She does seem busy, but I know as much as you know.”

“You think there’s any truth to the rumors that she’s about to do one big, destructive push to end the war?”

“Well,” Dala began thoughtfully, “If not that, then definitely something.”

“Could be the endgame.”

Dala nodded, “Could be.”

They flew in comfortable silence awhile.

Dala closed her eyes.

A few moments later, Frostbite said, “Hey, I’m picking something up here.”

She knew what that meant.

There were a few dragons that, despite their species, had abilities that were unique to them as individuals.

Queen Of Shade for example, the elder Abyssal Dragon was arguably the most powerful telepath in the world.

Frostbite also had a power unique to him.

The way he explained it to Dala was that it was empathy, but almost empathy as telepathy.

He could feel the emotional states of the people near him, in a very complex sense, more than “he’s sad”, “she’s angry”, he could feel the braided emotional inertia inside a being.

Also, if he knew exactly where someone was, even at great distances, he could reach out to them as a telepath would, and get a complete emotional “read” of them. He didn’t know the range of this because no one had been out of range yet.

Lastly, and in his opinion the most useful, he could pick up strong emotional states like telepathic screams.

If someone was afraid for their life, for example, that specific fear, due to its intensity, would blast outward from that person and Frostbite could “hear” it, as well as pinpointing the location of the person that felt it.

It worked with anger, joy, anything. As long as it was intense.

Negative feelings like anger or fear were always the most intense though.

He and Dala had used this ability while on patrol many times, to prevent harm to people, and bring resolution to a great many other issues.

“What do you got?” Dala asked. The time frame for them reaching Ravensummer was pretty loose, so...

“Pretty intense.” Frostbite said. “Fear, anger, superiority, almost a “how far can I get away with taking this?” vibe. Innocent fear, more fear - children.”

“Take us there.”