Havoc
Chapter 47: 40: Castle Vadriz
Previous Chapter“Are we there yet?” Coldsteel asked.
“No,” Ibis replied.
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we-”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Havoc shouted. Coldsteel and Ibis had been at it for half an hour, and before that Coldsteel had been pestering both Havoc and Lightning Dust with mean questions and general rudeness.
The travel to Castle Vadriz had been some of the worst hours Havoc had suffered through. Ibis was a very fast flier, so Havoc had set up a magic barrier around them so the wind and noise wouldn’t annoy them. The travel had been extremely uneventful, as Ibis had decided to fly above the permanent wall of smoke and ash that covered the Dragon Badlands. They had spotted another dragon in the distance, but it decided not to approach them.
“There it is. Castle Vadriz,” Ibis said five minutes after Havoc’s outburst, gathering everyone’s attention. In the horizon, a single mountain broke through the volcanic clouds. Squinting, Havoc realized that the top of the mountain had been carved to become a tower.
“Wow, it’s huge,” Havoc said.
“I didn’t know things so large could be built,” Lightning added.
“Meh, it’s not THAT big,” Coldsteel muttered without conviction.
“Lightning, it’s your turn,” Ibis said as she slowed down. “Take a quick look below the clouds. Don’t forget the mask.”
Lightning Dust nodded and put on a gas mask. It was very similar to the ones used by humans to survive chemical warfare, but using magic to compensate for the lack of technology. The mask’s magic also protected Lightning’s skin from the abrasive smoke. It had been designed by Zira so Wonderbolts could fight in the Dragon Badlands without asphyxiating and suffering burns all over their body.
“If I take that off, would you die?” Havoc asked her, unable to resist himself.
“It would be extremely painful,” Lightning replied, her voice distorted by the mask.
“You’re a big mare.”
“For you,” she said as she dove off Ibis’ back.
“So, Ibis, what was your life like before starting this dragon hunting thing?” Havoc asked while they waited for Lightning Dust to return. “Like, what have you been doing for the last few years?”
“Well, I have grown to love bustling cities. I move to a different city every few decades, always pretending to be a teen dragon. By the time I return somewhere, it’s been more than a hundred years since anypony there heard about me. I’ve been living in Manehattan for the last ten years.”
“Huh.”
“I also change cities when I wake up from a century-long nap.”
Ibis talked about some of the cities she had lived in for the last years, most of them being far away from Equestria. Eventually, Lightning Dust returned, her eyes wide open.
“What did you see?” Ibis asked.
“I have seen him,” the pegasus replied so softly that Havoc barely heard her.
“What was that? Speak up,” Ibis asked.
“I have seen Ancalagon. His h-head was poking from the castle’s main door. He’s bigger than an Ursa Major! Oh Celestia we’re all gonna die I just kn-”
“Take off the mask and start taking deep breaths,” Ibis ordered, then waited for a moment. “Now, what else did you see?”
“There were more dragons, less than ten, and they were all smaller than you. One of them was talking with Ancalagon, and the others were flying around the castle.”
“Are you sure they were talking?”
“I didn’t get close enough to listen, but my sight is pretty good.”
“Do we get in and kill him while he sleeps?” Coldsteel asked.
“That could work,” Havoc said. “He’s so big that I could shrink myself enough to swim into his brain though his bloodstream and then return to my original size.”
“That wouldn’t work. He would feel the magic signature of any of us if we got too close,” Ibis replied. “Well, now that we know that there isn’t an entire army waiting for us to cross the smoke screen, we can land and consider what to do next. Hold on tight.”
Ibis nose-dived, crossing the acrid smoke too fast for the ones riding her to get burnt. Then she slowed down and landed behind a small hill, out of the castle’s line of sight. There, she shrank so she wouldn’t be easy to spot.
“We can’t get closer, too risky,” she said. “We should observe and, when any of Ancalagon’s guests leaves, follow them until we find a good opportunity to confront them.”
Havoc sat down and relaxed, enjoying the scenery. The Badlands were just like he remembered them: hot, desertic and with lava rivers. The area had a certain beauty to it, even though it was dangerous and uninhabitable for most species.
“When I signed up to hunt dragons, I expect less waiting and boredom and more actual dragon hunting,” Lightning Dust eventually said, snapping Havoc out of it.
“How many dragons have you killed so far?” Havoc asked.
“Only two. I’m never lucky to be around when a dragon attacks. The only times I’ve managed to get to a fight in time it was almost over.”
“So she’s never killed someone,” Coldsteel said. “Ibis, why did we bring her? I’m faster and I doubt she has the guts to do what she must.”
“I’m right here, you know?” Lightning said.
“He’s got a point,” Ibis replied. “You’re here because he can’t fly, and I need someone fast enough to keep up with me in an aerial fight. I don’t expect you to kill anything on your own, only to provide support.”
“You think I don’t have what it takes? I’m better than any Wonderbolt, and they’ve killed many dragons!”
“I know you will either hesitate when the moment to strike a killing blow comes, or do it and then break down and become a liability. You might be faster and a better fighter than most Wonderbolts, but they have military training and each other to help them through the experience of killing someone. You have nothing. I have dealt with hundreds of hotheads like you. You are full of self-confidence and eagerness, until it all comes crashing down and I have to clean the mess.”
Ibis’ cold stare quickly dealt with Lightning Dust, making her squirm and look away, unable to reply. Coldsteel and Havoc looked at her with similar shit eating grins, until Havoc felt bad about it and laid down next to her.
“Hey, don’t be sad,” he said. “It’s not easy to kill. If it were, you ponies would be killing each other all the time. I had a hard time after I first killed someone, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Ibis is just worried about us, that’s why she wants you out of the fighting.”
“Why does everypony think I’m not good enough for them?” she asked. “The Wonderbolts kept pushing me back when I was the best, and now you all won’t let me do what I came here to do because you think I won’t be able to handle it.”
“Come on, don’t be like that. We know you’re great, and with a bit of experience you’ll become even greater. Even if Ibis doesn’t believe you capable of killing, she still trusts you enough to bring you with us, right? Right?” He emphasized, looking at Ibis.
Ibis sighed. “Lightning Dust, if you weren’t good enough I’d have taken another heavy hitter so Havoc could be a scout. You are a great flier and, from what I’ve seen, none of the Wonderbolts has your natural talent. Now that we're done with the motivating talks, can we get back to the mission? I see someone flying away.”
Havoc got up next to Ibis and looked at Castle Vadriz. Ancalagon seemed to have retreated into the castle, and a red dragon was flying away from the castle while the rest kept circling around it.
“Let’s follow him,” Ibis said as she took flight.
They trailed behind the red dragon for at least two hours as he went north, until they reached the sea. There, he landed near a cave created by the sea’s erosion and went inside. Ibis and the others landed a hundred meters away from the cave.
“Well, picture me surprised,” Ibis said. “He lives in a sea cave. I can’t believe someone so stupid made it into adulthood.”
“What’s the problem with living here?” Havoc asked.
“Sea serpents, leviathans and some other creatures from the sea can get the better of an unprepared dragon when fighting in a cave, where you can’t fly. A tsunami could also sweep away your hoard. We live on mountains. Living here doesn’t make sense,” she explained, then shook her head in confusion. “Anyways, here’s the plan: we go in, I return to my original size and beat him into submission. Havoc, be ready to help me if he starts using magic.”
She looked at Coldsteel and Lightning Dust. “You two stay here and warn us if you spot another dragon coming this way.”
Havoc followed Ibis as she silently sneaked towards the dragon’s cave. As they got closer, Havoc could hear the red dragon’s heavy footsteps and the unmistakable sound of coins hitting the ground. The cave rose above the sea level after a few meters, so they could walk on sand rather than swim. After walking for a minute through a corridor too narrow for Ibis to fit in her true size, they reached a large chamber where the red dragon was trying his best to cover his whole body under all the gems and gold coins that made up his hoard. He didn’t notice them as they closed in on him, so he yelped in surprise when a gigantic dragon twice his size appeared out of seemingly nowhere and punched him in the face. In the fraction of a second it took him to react, Ibis already had him in submission hold, using her larger body to keep his arms and wings trapped, her arms keeping his mouth shut and his head immobile, and her tail hugging his legs.
“Now listen here, whelp,” Ibis began. “I know you’ve been near Castle Vadriz. I want to know what’s going on there, and you’re going to tell me. Oh, and don’t try anything funny. If I hear something I don’t like, I’ll break your wings. Understood?” The red dragon nodded, so Ibis shifted her body so she would have one hand around the dragon’s neck and the other near the base of his left wing.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he said and Ibis ran her claws along the his wing, tearing its delicate leather in some places. The dragon cried in pain. “Stop! Stop! I’ll talk! I heard from a friend that the castle mountain was no longer dangerous and that dragons who went there learned incredible secrets. I went there but the black one inside the castle was so big that I decided not to risk talking to him.”
“Is that so? I find it hard to believe that you’d just leave without talking to anyone?”
“I-I just talked with another dragon I knew. He told me that the giant can make any dragon how to become incredibly powerful, but only if he deems you worthy.”
“You’re lying again,” she said as she got ready to hurt him again.
“Potentia!” the dragon shouted and a surge of power allowed him to throw Ibis off his back and get up. “Auxilium!”
“Silentium,” Ibis said as she dodged a punch. When the red dragon tried to say more magic words, he found that no sound came from his mouth. “Fortitudo, celeritate et tolerantia.”
Moving faster than any being of her size should, Ibis unleashed a brutal barrage of hits with her fists, knees and elbows. The red dragon could do nothing against her, and in a matter of seconds she had beaten him to death. Havoc felt cold shivers all over his body when he noticed that Ibis was smiling the whole time.
“He’s called for help,” she said, her smile turning into a frown. “We need to get out, fast. For all we know there could be a dozen like him coming this way.”
Shrinking herself to fit through the cave’s narrow entrance, Ibis followed Havoc as he flew out. Lightning Dust and Coldsteel met with them when they noticed their fast exit.
“What happened?” Lightning Dust asked.
“He sent a distress signal,” Ibis said. “We’re going to hide and see just how many dragons come to help. If there aren’t too many, we’ll kill them all save for the weakest, and then we’ll bring that one to Black Diamond for a proper interrogation.”
“I like the sound of that,” Coldsteel said, smirking and cracking his knuckles.
True to Ibis’ warning, three dragons arrived in less than five minutes. One of them was a blue female larger than most dragons, but still small compared to Ibis, while the other two were a smallish green and a average-sized purple males.
“I’ll handle the blue and the purple, you three focus on the green. Try not to kill him.”
They all charged in, taking advantage of their smaller size to get close to the dragons without being seen. Ibis attacked first, turning big just in time to snap the blue’s neck, killing her instantly. Then she turned to face the purple while Havoc hit the green’s right wing with Infernal Soul, breaking it and forcing him to land.
The dragon said a long phrase, and hundreds of fireballs appeared around him and darted towards Havoc. The fireballs were moving too fast for him to teleport, so he summoned his black axe and blocked with it those he couldn’t dodge. Meanwhile, Lightning Dust and Coldsteel kept on attacking, targeting the sides and the neck. Unable to hit the two speedsters, the dragon thrashed in frustration. Meanwhile, Lightning Dust’s razorwing and Coldsteel’s punches slowly wore him down.
“You’re too slow!” Coldsteel taunted, and then jumped to punch the dragon in the face.
“Retardo!” the dragon shouted, and grinned as Coldsteel began to move much slower than he should, as if he was in water rather than air. Coldsteel could only open his eyes with surprise and terror as the dragon brutally swatted him down, a surge of sand rising where he hit the ground.
The dragon breathed deep, flames seeping from the corners of his mouth as he readied a flame breath, but Lightning Dust swept Coldsteel away just in time to avoid the fiery death. While the dragon was busy releasing his fire, Havoc returned to the fight, his body badly charred. Focusing most of his magic, he hit the dragon in the back of the head with the dragonbone hammer, the resulting impact being so brutal that it knocked the massive beast down and left a crack in the “head” of the hammer.
Knowing that he had not enough magic left to fight anything stronger than an angry timberwolf, he rushed towards the purple dragoness that Ibis had killed first and drained all the magic he could from her corpse. Only then did he look around to assess the situation.
Ibis was exchanging spells with the purple dragon, who seemed to be barely holding her off. Meanwhile, Lightning Dust was flying towards Havoc, with a worried look.
“Coldsteel is badly hurt!” she said. “Come, you have to help him!”
“I can’t!” he said. “My magic can’t heal others.”
Even then, Havoc had no idea why his magic couldn’t perform something as simple as healing others, when it could heal him and perform much more complex feats. Still, this limitation meant that only Ibis’ magic could help Coldsteel.
“Let’s help Ibis so she can save Coldsteel!” he ordered as he flew towards Ibis and her opponent.
When he was close enough, Ibis noticed him and assaulted the other dragon with a barrage of spells, leaving him open for a sneak attack from Havoc. Using Infernal Soul, he hit the purple dragon at the base of the neck, his whole body spasming as his spinal cord was severed. Ibis then rushed towards him, grabbing his head and biting him in the neck, the brutal strength of her jaws ripping his head from the rest of his body after a few violent yanks.
“Holy fuck,” Havoc said as he drained the magic from the newly deceased dragon. “I think I’m falling in love. By the way, Coldsteel is badly hurt, go help him maybe?”
Releasing the corpse, Ibis dived towards Coldsteel’s location. Meanwhile, Lightning Dust approached Havoc.
“I hope she can save him,” she whispered. “I don’t like him, but he doesn’t deserve to die.”
Havoc asked what happened to Coldsteel, and whistled when she told him. “I didn’t know dragon magic was capable of slowing time like that. That’s one of the things I can’t do.”
After a few seconds, Lightning Dust spoke again. “This is so unfair. Dragons already had the physical strength, firebreath, immortality and durability. Our only advantage was our magic, and now they have magic that’s stronger than what any unicorn can do! All I can do is make my wings cut their skin, how can I compete with them?”
“A mouse can’t compete with a lion, either. It’s unfair, but that’s just the way things are. There’s always a bigger fish. Alicorns beat dragons, Discord beats the alicorns, and the Elements of Harmony beat everything so far. You are not forced to fight dragons. I don’t think anyone will blame you for quitting now that dragons have become even more powerful.”
“I don’t want to quit! I’m just saying that dragons have it too easy.”
“Okay, okay. Hm… Let’s check on Ibis and Coldsteel.”
They found Ibis, back in her reduced form, on her knees near Coldsteel, bathing him in a golden light that came out of her hands. She was muttering in Latin, and Havoc couldn’t help but shiver when he felt the power behind her magic. Coldsteel’s body convulsed during the whole process, until Ibis stopped after a full minute.
“I couldn’t save him,” she coldly stated. “He is dead.”
“You tried your best,” Havoc said.
“Cut that crap, human,” she hissed. “I failed, and now a child is dead. He was hated by many, but that is because nobody knew what he went through. He was ten years old, and now he is dead. I knew he didn’t have much time left, he was a piece of the game of the gods with no chance to win. However, that does not change the fact that he has died.”
“Should we bury him?” Lightning Dust asked.
Ibis shook her head and, breathing deep, unleashed a torrent of flames on Coldsteel’s corpse, cremating it. Then, turning back to her original size, she grabbed the unconscious body of the green dragon and took flight, with Havoc and Lightning Dust following her in silence.
Author's Notes: