All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 317: Dragon Delivery Service

It was within an hour that Archibald climbed onto Daedalus's back, his things packed and ready to go. Susan and Tony climbed right up after him, bunching up between the large rainbow-tipped spikes along the dragon's neck.

With a brief coiling of muscles, the red dragon launched skyward. Daedalus had been fairly lax about humans riding him ever since he'd woken up, thankfully. Archibald expected that the kids' enthusiasm for rides helped a bit with that.

Archibald held on tight to the spines in front of him, and the passengers behind him let out whoops as the air rushed past. He couldn't stop the grin that spread across his own face, either.

Flying on a dragon never got old. Which was good, since he'd spent more time on dragonback than he had on the ground these past four years. Much more. The search had been frustrating, and they had yet to really find any meaningful trace of the Lieutenants and their activities. Not since that last battle in the mountain.

But on the bright side, it had given him and Daedalus plenty of time to just catch up and hang out. Despite the dragon having been asleep for a long time, Archibald had been in stasis for even longer. It meant his old friend had plenty of stories to tell.

Plus, despite the monotony, it still felt like they were doing something worthwhile. What could be better than protecting humanity from the forces of evil? This was something they were used to, and it felt way better to be on the winning side for once.

Of course, Daedalus had always thought he was on the winning side. Archibald didn't exactly correct him.

It wasn't a long trip to Barleona as the dragon glides, especially not with Daedalus's prismatic enhancements. So, only a couple of hours later, they were touching down just out of sight of the country's capital. As the dragon swooped down and alighted in a forest clearing, Archibald and his companions slid off to land on the grass below. Together, the three of them walked around to Daedalus' head. Archibald reached out to scratch the side of Daedalus' nostril, and the dragon leaned his head gently into his hand with a snort.

Susan spoke up first. "Alright. Technically, Tony is the lead delegate here, and I'm here to keep him in line. And Archibald…" She glanced over at him. "Well, since you know nothing about modern politics, I suppose you're the muscle."

Archibald gave her a thumbs up. "Just how I like it. Politics sucks, anyway."

Tony raised a hand. "One of us needs to go pick up Harold, too. Based on what we know, he's likely heading toward Gorgina. But it's still pretty far away for him, a few days at least."

"Assuming the message wasn't delayed. And that he he actually made it out of the city," Susan pointed out.

"And if he didn't make it out of the city?" Archibald asked.

"Then we'll need a way to check the dungeons. Hopefully, he's okay. Even if he did get caught, I'm not too worried, though. I've worked with Harold for a while now, and if anyone's good at escaping..." Susan said, trailing off.

Archibald nodded. That made sense. He personally didn't know much about Harold, but if Susan trusted the guy, it was good enough for him.

Daedalus pulled his head up and shook himself slightly. "I will go find the wayward human if he has made it out of the city. Don't worry." Daedalus looked over at Archibald. "Will you be alright on your own?"

Archibald nodded. "I can take care of myself. Worst comes to worst, we'll just get out of there. Simple."

The ground shook as Daedalus launched himself skyward again.

"All right," Archibald said, clapping his hands together. He was more than ready to move on and head toward the city. Tony was, too, as he started floating toward the road ahead of him and Susan. "So, who are we going to be talking to?"

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Harold had slept poorly. Before night fell, he'd managed to get several hours away from the city, but he didn't really have the supplies for camping in the wild. It meant that he was stuck with the few tree branches he'd pulled together as his only shelter. A shelter made even worse by the light drizzle that night.

He rose from his bed of flattened grass and stretched the crick in his neck. There were a couple of new bruises along his spine, where roots had poked at him constantly while he slept. However, his grogginess and discomfort didn't mean he wasn't alert.

He crept through the undergrowth and left several false trails for anyone still following him. So far, there were no signs of anyone behind him or trying to track him. But he wasn't going to stop making it difficult if he'd missed a sign, not yet. Maybe sometime tomorrow, he'd focus more on speed. But for now, stealth was the name of the game.

Coming to a large river, Harold frowned. It appeared that he'd been going a little bit farther north than he had planned. He needed to course correct. So, turning south, he began walking downstream. His memory indicated that there should be a crossing nearby. It was too cold and wide for him to ford the river, even though it would be a great way to disperse his scent and lose any animals tracking him. So he stayed within the tree line while he moved, which slowed his progress considerably but made him less visible from above.

As far as he knew, there weren't any flying forces that the city would deploy to find him. Not with the profile they were keeping. But if the demons were operating more openly, then who knew what they might try?

Of course, there were certain types of demons that would make tracking him down look like child's play. If any of those were around, he was as good as dead. But since they hadn't caught him yet, he had to hope that wasn't the case. They certainly would've been able to overtake him already if they knew where he was. The fact that they hadn't indicated he was either in luck or the various anti-scrying charms he'd hidden about his person was working.

After several hours of trudging, he finally saw the bridge appear in the distance. Harold stayed hidden in the trees, checking all directions. Once he was certain the coast was clear, he darted out, staying low as he dashed across the 50-foot bridge as fast as he could. His eyes kept scanning the clearing behind him and the ground in front, certain that something would jump out at any moment. But all of that focus made him forget to look above.

A thunderous crash ahead brought him to a dead halt. Harold's head whipped toward the sound, already dreading what he would see. There, standing before him, a massive red-scaled body blocked the path forward. Shattered trees lay beneath its titanic weight where it had landed, their trunks resembling little more than sticks next to its size. The sunlight glittered strangely off of its scales and horns, nearly blinding him with prismatic rays.

Harold's thoughts raced. In that brief instant, he debated between jumping off the river and seeing if he could make it downstream or simply running back the way he'd come. Neither one of them seemed to be a viable option, as this dragon could surely snap him up before he could even move.

His muscles locked up in terror. As much as he thought, he was unable to come up with any sort of solution that would leave him walking away from this predicament alive. Who would have thought that Barcelona would have a dragon to track him down?

Just as he began to accept his fate, the dragon spoke. "It was hard to find you, Harold."

He blinked. It knew his name? Did the demons really have that much intel on him?

The dragon continued. "I don't believe we've met before. My friends call me Daedalus." His maw parted in a horrifying toothy grin. "Would you like some help?"

"W-what?" Harold stammered intelligently.

"Do you need some help?" The dragon asked again, a little more slowly. His head bent down toward Harold, making him flinch back. "Susan said you'd be heading to Zoranza, but you seem to be a little bit off course."

Suddenly, it clicked. The dragon knew Susan. He was named Daedalus. He had heard that name before. It was the name of the "dragon friend" that Void had "made" -- at least, that's what everyone else seemed to claim. He'd never seen a dragon in person, so he'd assumed that everyone was making a misclassification or exaggerating somehow. Apparently not.

For a moment, Harold thought that it might behoove him to start believing those crazy stories a bit more.

"Yes. Gorgina. I suppose that was an option, but it seemed too obvious. I'm headed for Dieze. An extra day of travel, but a lot more discreet," he explained cautiously. He didn't see much point in lying, but being careful was another matter entirely.

"Well," the dragon said, "I suppose that's fine. Susan, Tony, and Archibald are nearby. They got your message and came for some further investigations. I've been sent to bring you back. Not to the city itself, mind you. That would be disruptive. But nearby so that you can tell us the whole story."

Daedalus explained the situation as Harold nodded cautiously. "Yes, uh, that sounds like a great idea. Er… thank you."

He took a step toward the dragon, only to find that it didn't work. He tried again, but something was preventing him. His muscles were still locked up from fear. In fact, it was all he could do to keep talking.

"Okay," the sensation was receding, but not quickly enough. "Just… give me a moment? I'll be right there."

"Do you want me to come closer?"

Daedalus took a thunderous step towards him. The ground shook as Harold jolted where he stood. "No, no! That's quite alright! One moment!"

Harold breathed in deeply and counted backward from ten. When he had regained his composure, he made a single step toward the giant death machine. And then another.