Chapter Fourteen Children of Streg

Hikaru looked up as armored footsteps approached, moments before Roselyn entered the room. Her armor had clearly seen better days, it had been regal and pristine when he met her now it had numerous deep rents in it and some of the plate was missing. Seems she was the type to get into the thick of the fighting. Her visible skin looked fine though, then again so did his. Hikaru had to say one thing for this world: the potions and healers were amazing. Of course that was due to them being magical in nature. She looked around and spoke first, “Is there a reason those babies are hanging from the ceiling?”

Hikaru being closest answered, “They are hanging over a deep pit, we don’t dare let them down until after we’ve made the pit safe.”

“Understood, so the babies are alright?”

Polca moved in, “We’ve treated the ones they were... doing things to. Healer thinks they were experimenting. I just think they were torturing the poor things. I presume things were just as bad with the children?”

Roselyn sighed, “You could say that, the kids they had taken down were strapped to tables, tubes pushed into their skulls. We found them screaming as if in pain.. After we cut them loose, I had a mind-mage look at them. She says that nasty setup was a brainwashing scheme, they were being brainwashed, but she thinks we got to them early enough.”

Hikaru looked around, “Brainwashing kids, killing parents, tying up pregnant women like livestock, strange symbols then there is this odd nursery. What were these fiends up to?”

“That’s for the mage clans to figure out. Our job is to help the kids and clean up the mess.”

Polca spoke up. “Right, did we figure out what the baby sacrifice was about?”

“Recall the pit by the altar? It leads straight to a Hellgate. I’ve ordered the order mages to seal the thing before any more fiends, or worse emerge.”

The three shared looks, “This was nasty no matter how you look at it.”

Over by the pit, someone called, “Pit sealed! Now get over, we’ve got babies to cut down.”

Hikaru groaned at the phrasing but went over to help.

________________

Meanwhile Arlie and company were setting up camp. Hammer in hand, she secured the girl’s tent, just as a loud wingbeat caught her ears. A shudder went down her spine even before the large form came into view.

She turned as a flash of light and magic flared out in a circle, from which a dragon vanished. In her place was Aurora’s humanoid form, pretty as ever and entirely naked.

Aurora smiled, “Evening girls, boys.”

Horon and Thron had both drawn weapons, but Arlie just slumped to the ground Aurora wasn’t a dragon to fight. On the plus side Aurora was more or less friendly but that wasn’t much of a comfort. “Um, what brings you here Aurora?”

“Relax, I come bearing news and gifts.”

“Why doesn’t that sound reassuring?”

Aurora giggled, and settled by the fire while the boys just watched her, confusion on their faces. Finally Horon asked, “Um, Arlie? Who is this?”

“Aurora, one of the twelve dragon gods and...”

“Her family guardian,” interrupted Aurora, just as she produced a pair of identical outfits, “Rose, Lily come over here and discard those pointless leathers. I’ve got something better for you.”

The girls groaned as they walked over, stripping out of their armor, “Really? In front of the boys?”

Aurora grinned, “Hey you have nothing to be embarrassed about, you two have wonderful bodies, you should be proud of them.”

They just blushed, standing naked in front of the dragon girl, as she handed them each an outfit. Rose glanced at it, a frown on her face, “Um what is this?”

“Armor, you humanoids have such soft skin, you need proper scales when you go into battle. Now some of you can learn to harden it against blade and claw but I don’t expect that out of pups. Other dragons might, but when you have been around long enough you learn a thing or two and I’m not going to let two kids go north effectively naked.”

“You stripped us!”

“As far as I’m concerned those leathers were the same as being naked in the first place. I based these on your old outfits, so they should feel similar. The real difference is the material. Treated spineback leather lined with the scales of wyverns, then enchanted by me personally. I picked enchantments to aid ease of movement rather than protection but there are a few protective enchantments as well. Should keep your vitals nice and safe. Now try them on.”

The twins started getting dressed, some evident relief on their faces. Arlie felt a little sad they were covering up so soon, she kinda liked seeing them naked, but then Aurora spoke to her, “Now Arlie come over here let me get a good look.”

She sighed and walked over, wondering what this was about. Was she going to end up naked as well?

Aurora stood back up and stepped closer, looking her over closely. “Lady Ange does some really fine work. Her enchanter however leaves a little something to be desired. Hold still, I’ll fix those right up.”

Arlie blinked, “um?”

“I’m not stripping you naked, if that’s what you are worried about.”

“And what are you doing?” she asked, sensing the mana work.

“Well the enchantments are okay, but as an expert myself I just can’t leave them. I can do much better myself, kinda of a waste of my scales for such subpar work.”

“YOUR SCALES!?”

Aurora giggled, “What? Did you think I’d let your tailor use subpar scales on you?”

Arlie had to wonder how Aurora defined subpar, especially since she’d apparently swapped out the scales used in her mage armor. Just she couldn’t bring herself to ask the question. Yet she knew the outfit she was wearing was worth a lot more than she’d paid. Dragon scales could be ranked by grade, older more powerful dragons would shed denser tougher scales that were worth more in armor and as such sold for much higher prices on the market. “So you are telling me Lady Ange sold me two sets of high end mage armor on the cheap?”

“When you put it that way it sounds bad.”

“The guild manages prices on these things for a reason. It's to keep people from being scammed.”

“So they do, but my scales don’t often end up on the market. I’m not even sure what your guilds would value them at, but if you are worried about her losing work or something, don’t. Lady Ange has a promising future, I might even send some work her way myself.”

“You would? Why? You don’t use clothes or armor.”

“I don’t but you do and I do have other charges that use armor as well.”

Lily interjected, “Um, we’re dressed.”

Aurora looked them over, “Fit looks good, won’t need to do anything it seems.”

Arlie sighed, “You said you brought news?”

“Right so I did, your buddy the Failed Hero went looking into where those hellspawn came from. Earlier today his party and a band of knights subjugated a nest. I figured you should know about that.”

“A nest?”

“Hellspawn are the weak minions of hell, but they are deadly in numbers. Those claws of theirs are particularly lethal, but thankfully they don’t carry toxins. They are just wickedly sharp and strong. Naturally the things are highly social, particularly with each other. They’ll form nests, once they have one they will try to summon their larger kin, the Hellfiends. Fiends are larger, faster, and sturdier, their skin is natural armor, their claws as deadly as any sword and twice as sharp.

“Anyway, Hikaru and the knights dealt with that nest before it could really develop. They’d only just started summoning Hellfiends, they weren’t ready to bring forth the other creatures of hell, like hellhounds or devils.”

“That’s good right?”

“More or less but the fact they were here in the first place is a bad sign. I’m afraid we are going to be seeing more of them and the next nest might not be found so quickly.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“It's not,” replied Aurora, “I have yet to see evidence of the prophesized false god but that doesn’t mean they aren’t here. Hellfiends and spawn in the mortal realm are just the beginning, something is trying to break the chains of hell.”

“That’s bad isn’t it?”

“Hellspawn and Fiends are one thing, but there are worse things locked in hell. I’ll be doing what I can to make sure they stay there. However this will only be a temporary solution, sooner or later they will get out.”

Arlie sighed, “You aren’t saying what I think you are?”

“Unfortunately I am, so we are going to be seeing more of each other. I’ll be popping in from time to time to continue your training in your aunt’s place. I’ve already spoken to her about it, and she agrees. Told me where you are falling behind as well, and said I should work on you with wards.”

Arlie groaned, “Really!? WHY!?”

She couldn’t believe her aunt would betray her like that. It just didn’t seem fair, why’d she have to be shackled with an elder dragon as her teacher of all things? It didn’t help that she was nothing but a baby to Aurora and just as helpless. She’d felt that back home when Aurora had controlled her like a puppet. This wasn’t fair at all. Strength left her legs, but before she could slump to the ground she felt magic hold her in place. “Careful now, it’s not that bad.”

“My life is over,” she muttered as several stories she’d read flashed through her mind.

Aurora giggled, “Alright done, I’ll check your other suit. Then maybe we can talk some more about the Red Temple?”

“That might be interesting,” hedged Arlie, not sure where this was going. She’d much rather this evening have been more... normal.

_____________________

Hikaru settled heavily onto his seat, this quest certainly wasn’t the kind of thing he’d expected on an isekai adventure. If anything, things had taken a rather dark turn. He shuddered, but perhaps that was expected of things that had escaped from hell of all places.

Polca came in, her armored robes gone, replaced with a simple shift. He’d changed out of his armor as well. Not that it would do either of them much good, when they got back to Arcs they would need to order new armor, he only hoped the pay for the quest would cover it. Something about that thought made him feel a little dirty but a man needed to make a living.

She settled heavily into an opposite chair, then shuddered, “I hate quests like this.”

“Surely they aren’t that common?”

“I’ve never had to deal with hellspawn before, but I’m talking about the quests that leave a foul taste in the mouth.”

“Right this quest tastes like ash. I pray I won’t run into another.”

“Careful about wishes like that, they have a way of biting you in the ass. Who knows we might end up having to clear a Rylark den or something.”

Hikaru winced, thankful he’d never taken one of those, but he’d heard the stories. Those were nasty, foul birds. If the stories were to be believed they were truly twisted creatures. Foul creatures that would kidnap young girls, using mind powers to lead them back to their nest where an unpleasant fate awaited them. “Um right, could we not deal with those?” he shuddered, “The stories...”

“Aren’t pleasant, I know. Every quest dealing with Rylarks has been foul, just maybe not this foul.”

Hikaru gestured toward the other room, “I guess the bright side is we rescued a room full of babies and a bunch of kids.”

“Village is pretty much toast though, and they are basically all orphans.”

“What about the pregnant girls?”

“They’re in no shape to be watching kids, the fiends gave them something. We don’t know what, but they aren’t all there anymore. Healers say the kids are fine, whatever the fiends dosed the girls with didn’t affect their unborn babies.”

“Small comfort,” he replied, knowing what that meant. The village would have to be abandoned, the kids would be sent to orphanages and the mothers would need someone to watch after them.

“I know, Roselyn says we will be marching them all back to Arcs in the morning. So we better get some rest.”

“I don’t think I’ll get much sleep,” said Hikaru, “I think I need a drink, or two.”

“I think we all do, let’s go to the tavern when we get back. Have some fun and forget about this mess.”

“Sounds like a plan,” replied Hikaru as he pushed himself up, “Night.”

Polca wished him night as well before heading to her own room for the night.