A Run Through the City
I rush down the darkened streets looking for a place to hide, I spy some crates in a corner and I duck behind them as I perk my ears to listen for any sounds of pursuit. I take a deep breath as I think I might be safe a few minutes while I decide my next move. I look over the crates I was hiding behind, all marked with a label showing they were imported into the City of the Night. These had a label saying they came from Hope Point, based on the size and location of where I was in the city it was probably some greenhouse windows. Made from diamonds of course, seeing as how while dwarves admit the gem is very hard they are quite happy to make glass out of it because it has no color to it. Dwarves like lots of colors in things, vampires did to from what I had seen in the last year.
I only got to the city a year ago and every night I go thought the same thing. Chased by a hungry vampire, not that Lita would hurt me, but their concept of harm is a little skewed. I hear Dawn yawn in my mind, have you been caught yet I want to go flying. Sometimes I wish I had been partnered to Dusk and not Dawn. Yet I did agree with Cheshire, we didn’t need two people who rush into danger working on the same team. Best to split them up, or else we would lose two valuable members of the Hunter’s guild.
It was interesting that Lady Hunter Gwen chose to make the Hunters a Guild. Granted it only had a single requirement, that they be of a Hunter genetics. Grand Hunter Lance was currently off to check Eastern settlements if there are any Hunter born there. Seeing as how it is unsure if there is an equivalent in other societies, we still know the Age in which Merlin and Arthur come from is the key to known blood lines.
My head shoots up as I can sense Lita approaching and I look and spy one of the tunnels leading to one of the dark den areas of the city. These were spots for other creatures that are associated with vampire lore to live in relative peace within the city. Those dens could be dangerous if you don’t know how to protect yourself, but being a Hunter means that I have been learning to fight for as long as I can recall.
Even Lord Mordred was learning to hold a dagger and he was only six months old. I shake my head knowing that bestowing the name Mordred on the first half breed child might stir some people’s dislike for the originator of the name. Though the Lady must have her reasons for it.
I make a quick decision before Lita finds my hiding spot and I open the hatch that closed the path to the under warrens. These areas were the dens were, did not connect directly to the Undercity. As a great deal of the denizens of the under warrens were merely beasts. Though a few intelligent species that humans have issues dealing with live there as well.
While Sir Lance did not forbid entrance to these locations he did strongly suggest I should not enter the under warrens. Granted entering them seemed more like something my sister would do, however if this were life and death this might be the only escape. Which after all the point of this little exercise was to work on my avoidance skills. Tell me if you find some yummy food down there. Dawn was going through a growth spurt and based on what Cheshire said she’ll be ravenous until we find what ever her body says needs to be the main source of her diet. Dusk was dealing with the same, but he was keeping an eye on it himself as my sister probably has no idea what to do to help him.
Cheshire told us that by their last growth spurt we’ll need to figure out the main protein for their diet or we could have issues with them becoming weakened. If they were a standard set of gryphons it would be simple. However with them being Ligers, there was no idea as of yet what their main dietary requirement was. Atsuko over at Hope Point discovered via testing the blood of the wing there. The gryphons contain in their genetic code the markers for all bird and cat species, including ones not seen in millennia. What those are she doesn’t know aside from the fact they are there, and that the twins have bird genes that she cannot identify; even though it was thought they were harpy eagle. I had an idea and in a few days the hunter party will be back from the savanna with a possible food for Dawn. One that will require specialized breeding and we’d have to request import of some to near where my sister was at.
I carefully creep down a dark tunnel that was dug by what appeared to be claws, of what I do not know. The air smelled very damp and compared to the Under City it was a great deal warmer and humid in these tunnels. Thankfully due to the addition of being twins both him and his sister have night vision as an extra ability and it was helpful here. While the Undercity had a great deal of glowing fungus to keep the city in a permanent twilight, this tunnel was pitch black.
I smell the air trying to tell if there are any creatures in the tunnel and the only scent I get is something that smells Draconic, and I get the feeling that it may be fairly large. I knew as I learned over the years there are a number of things related to the Dragon species that may smell similar to one of the Great Dragons. Especially to him, his talent was smells. It seemed dumb to him, especially when you consider the Lady has Evil sense and Sir Lance has history sense. Sir Lance told him he was silly that his ability could be very helpful. His sister can use any weapon even if she had never touched it before.
That ability seemed a great deal more useful than my own silly ability. I come to an opening in the tunnel where there was a three choices for moving more down the tunnels. I sniff the air and chose to follow the Draconic scent, being a Hunter I needed to know if this was someone dangerous or not. Maybe I should spend some time down here cataloging the species here so we have a record. As we really have had no need to do anything here as the council here keeps a pretty tight control on everything. I walk carefully down the tunnel the smell of the Draconic entity getting stronger and I notice the tunnel getting wider. I then enter a large chamber where all I smell is the Draconic smell and all I see is black.
“Greeting boy, shouldn’t you be up on the surface?” A large head appears in the middle of the black, and I realize that yes this is a Dragon relation. It was a Wyrm, a large legless serpent. I had never heard of there being one that was black before however. I incline my head in respect, “pardon for disturbing your rest. I did not know we had any of the Draconic species living here.” I hear a deep chuckle coming from the coiled body of the Wyrm. “Quite alight boy, I cannot go above the surface as if you have not noticed I cannot see. I would also get a severe sun burn by moonlight, so daytime would be out of the question. I know of your Guild and maybe the council should have told your superior about me they figured none of you would encounter me.”
I incline my head again and I hear a voice behind me, “step back Lance. I will cut his head off if he gets close to you.” I hear another chuckle from the coils of the Wyrm, “now young lady I have no desire to touch the boy. He found me on his own following his nose if I am correct.” I nod my head and I see the Wyrm’s coils undulate. I then get a full nose full of the Wyrm’s scent and the creature speaks again. “There boy remember that smell, my kind are rare, my specific type is the most rare. As my type cannot travel very far and I would admonish my ancestors who chose to live in this small area where we cannot leave unless there is days of no sun or no moonlight. So I am the last of my line and I am old. I am glad I got to see the return of the Hunters and the end of that evil female. Do an old scale back a favor, please visit me on occasion. Young Lady I promise the boy will be safe when he visits me, I think the council forgets I am down here. So I never know what is going on in the world.”
I feel sorry for the old Wyrm, to know you are the last of your kind must be a terrible thing to live with. I touch Lita’s arm, “it’s alright. I’d like to visit with him, he could give me history lessons about the city.” The Wyrm moves his head back slightly, “I could do that. No one here knows more about this city than I do, I was young when the city was founded.”
Lita crosses her arms obviously unhappy with my wanting to come back into the under warrens. I give her a look and say. “Listen Lita. Sir Lance did not want us to have our place in the Under City as we are meant to be separate from the city itself and I still need to learn about the area I will be working in. Who better than the person who watched the city be built?” Lita sighs, “fine. I will permit it, as you are right about what you said. You do need to know about the City more as you will be stationed here. For now though you need to go and get in your flying practice then get Dawn fed before she starts snatching fish from the docks again. You have an hour of flight time, feed her then we have the world meeting later tonight.”
I nod my head as I head back through the tunnel, to the way back out. Oh I did avoid you. I can hear her mentally shake her head. I head back to our complex which Sir Lance had supervised the building of. Like Hope Point it was called a compound, where just inside the walls was the work out area including a training yard, there was a structure on the roof in case Starburst stopped by or we had Dragon visitors that were not Earth types.
Dawn comes winging over the roof of the top of the complex, she had really grown into her wing size over the years since I first saw her. Aside from a slight size difference her wings were almost perfectly sized for her bulky body. The color difference between her and her brother continued on as they grew up. Dawn’s striping from the tiger bloodlines was extremely faint, her brother had no discernible stripes. Dawn was the same shade of white that white tigers were, her wings were the same white but the striping she barely had on her body was highly visible on her wings. Which I learned if looking from below it broke up her silhouette in the sky which would make it easier to let her hunt. Which again made me think she was not a sea variant, more of a land hunter.
She lands next to me and I pat her shoulder, “ready to fly partner?” She bounds about the training ring, “yes, yes, yes! Lets go! The sky awaits!” I climb bareback onto Dawn’s back making sure to keep my legs in front of the wing joint. I had learned over the years that it was very different to fly on a gryphon verses Dragon back. The Lady had every Hunter child learn to ride everything that could be ridden. For physical tasks I had excelled in this instead of Mauve, she avoided riding anything when she could as it made her ill. I could only guess it had something to do with the fact she is very good at fighting.
I get myself situated and Dawn launches into the sky for our flight to the Nile and back.
