They're All Crazy

He leaned closer and tried to get a better look. He asked Mila, "Are you sure this is a dragon?"

"Yes, of course it is." She spoke faintly, as if she was in a trance.

Wyfrost turned to see what had her so distracted. Several items cluttered a carved-out alcove near the dragon. There was a painting of a water lily, a couple of wood carvings, a metal etching, and several lotus flowers all preserved in various ways. Mila stared at this display, and her shoulders sank. She let her sphere drop to the floor. It rolled near his feet, and Wyfrost bent to pick it up.

Perhaps it wasn't what Mila expected, but this cave was clearly a sacred space. People had been here before, bringing lotus flowers like hers in offering. Wyfrost looked at the dragon and at the altar, and though he couldn't understand it, he felt a connection to something much larger than himself.

Mila sounded sick when she said, "I thought... I thought I was chosen."

Wy said, "You were chosen, Mila. You braved the pass and made a successful pilgrimage." He tried to return the flower she'd brought with her. "Here, you should put this with the others."

Mila ignored him. She dug into her pack, bringing out the old journal she had held in such high regard. She tossed it to the floor with disdain. Mila turned away from Wy and left the cavern. Wyfrost was left on his own, holding the lotus.

He approached the dragon and stared at it for a while. He didn't know the first thing about magic or talking to dragons. They'd come all this way though, and someone should at least try.

Quietly, he said, "She doesn't mean anything by it. She's just come a long way, and she's got opinions about things. She's full of more quit than I'd thought, though. I guess our world's going through some things, and if you could see your way to helping out, we'd appreciate it."

Wyfrost reverently placed the glass sphere among the other offerings. Gently, he picked up the cast aside journal. He flipped through the pages and wondered about the language it was written in. He still couldn't make any sense of the letters and figures drawn in it. He closed the book, then set it in place on the altar.

He waited for another long moment. He wanted to be there if the dragon woke. At length, he thought he could stand there until he froze to the spot, and that dragon would never move. Wyfrost lowered his head and sighed, then he climbed back out of the cavern.

He expected Mila to be waiting for him right outside, but she wasn't there. Wy noticed the snow cover outside the cave was tamped down, and he could tell that something had happened to Mila. He took his axe in hand and crouched low to follow the trail.

Coming over a slight rise, he paused. Mila was dwarfed in the presence of four metal monsters. Her face was bruised, and she was manacled and leashed to one of the monsters. One held her chain, while the other three surrounded them.

The creatures matched the description he'd had from Vala Gudny. They were ten feet tall, humanoid giants. Their armor was made of the same material as the beings they'd found at the wyvern nest, but it was a bulkier plate. The armor looked so heavy, Wy wasn't sure how they could move in it. They all had long black sticks, just like the magic wand Wy had on his belt.

Mila spoke loudly to her captors, with a feigned air of defeat in her voice. "He's down there, hiding from you in those rocks." She directed them with her bound hands to a position away from Wyfrost. She pointed downhill to a nearby outcropping of stones, and one of the monsters went to investigate.

Then he heard her voice in his own head. "If we work together, maybe we can get out of this. I'll move when you do." No one had ever gotten inside his skull with him before, and he wasn't fond of the sudden vulnerability. He decided he would argue with her about that later.

The opponents' armor made them larger than Wy, but it also made them slower, especially when every footfall sank several inches into the snow. He would have to stay moving and keep them off balance. Confident in his own strength and agility, Wy's plan was to create some chaos then figure it out from there.

With a loud roar, he ran at them. Wyfrost wailed against the nearest giant with his axe in one hand and the magic lightning wand in the other. He slammed against the metal body and managed to put a sizeable dent in part of the back plating. Before the creature could turn on him, Wy brought the wand up and shot a bolt through the gap between plates.

Lightning flashed all over the creature's armor. Though his opponent flopped face first to the ground, Wyfrost was thrown back from the blast. He landed hard on his back, making a big crater in the crusted snow. The wind was knocked out of him, and he felt like his bones had been shaken. A little blood came from his nose and he wiped it on his sleeve.

Wy was a Norrhim warrior, and he was still alive, so it was time to get back in the fight. He picked himself up out of the hole he'd made and shook off the stun. A lesson learned, he tucked the unfamiliar magic in his belt, and took his buckler in hand instead.

With Wyfrost's arrival, Mila found her courage. She swirled against the thing with her chain, and she spoke in a strange chant. Her spell manifested, and a section of the leash between her and the monster began to turn white.

Wy had everyone else's attention then, and the one down in the rocks came scrambling back up. He was faster than Wy thought he could be. While that monster came for him, another was also closing in. He'd have to be quick, because Wy wasn't certain he could take more than one at a time. Then he realized he wouldn't have to, for Mila's spell casting took effect.

Her battle shriek might have been cute, if they weren't in so much trouble. Mila yanked back hard on the chain, and the super-frozen section shattered like brittle glass. Without even a glance at her startled captor, she spun and took a few steps toward the monster climbing up the rocks. The crusted snow under its boots suddenly became a solid mass of ice. Both of the alien's feet slid out from under him, and he fell back on his metal-clad rump. The being then tumble all the way back down.

Wy might've laughed at the scene, but he had some trouble of his own. One of them came at him, brandishing a lightning rod in preparation for a strike. Wy roared as he lifted his buckler and ran headlong into his attacker. He came in under the weapon and swung upward, knocking the aim off to the side.

He immediately followed with the blade of his axe. While the thing recovered its position, he wailed on it again and again. With every dent in its plate, he made it harder for the being to move. One final blow to the center of his opponent's chest plate, and the armor bent sharply inward. Wy could hear him struggling to breathe inside his helm as the alien frantically tried to remove the broken chest piece.

Meanwhile, Mila's captor had recovered from his moment of awe. Wy turned to find the elfess and the metal monster engaged in a tug-of-war over the creature's lightning wand. Wy knew what it was to take a hit from that thing, and Mila was holding the wrong end. He didn't understand why the alien didn't just zap her with it. If it did, it would kill her. So maybe the invaders didn't want her to die.

Wy ran at the struggling pair, determined to get Mila away from that thing. He came on fast and shoved Mila back with his buckler. He figured he would pay for that with a shrill earful later, but he'd knocked her out of the fray. At the same time, he brought his axe blade down in the middle of the wand. Sparks flew as the weapon cracked in two, and Wy put himself between Mila and the alien.

He was unnerved when the alien in the armor chuckled softly and began to back away from Wy. By Wyfrost's count, these invaders were losing the fight, so there wasn't anything for the guy to laugh about. Then Wy saw a massive structure come down out of the clouds to hover just above the ground.

It looked like an ovoid building of some sort, but buildings shouldn't move like that. "Ship" was the only word that came to Wy's mind, because it was a floating transport. Though proper ships rode the water, while this thing hung in the sky. It was completely outside of Wyfrost's scope. It made him feel queasy to stare at it, but he couldn't look away.

An opening yawned in the side of the ship with a platform extended from the portal. Another armored being emerged and pointed a cylindrical object at Wyfrost and Mila. Wy was too stunned to move as the creature took aim. A sudden burst of pain exploded in Wy's left shoulder.

From that center of pain, a weird numbness spread throughout his body. In seconds, his axe and buckler fell from his hands, and he lost the feeling in his legs. His vision narrowed until all he could see was one fading pinpoint of white light. Mila screamed, and he wanted to help her, but she sounded too far away.

*****

When Wyfrost regained consciousness, he was pinned to a platform by bands made from the alien metal. He struggled against his bonds, but the effort made his head hurt and he felt like he needed to vomit. The dimly lit room brightened, and the light stabbed his eyes.

A male voice with a cultured tone and an unfamiliar accent spoke Barter at him. "There you are. I was beginning to think we'd dosed you too hard."

As Wy's vision cleared, he looked into the face of one of the blue-skinned aliens. This one wore a dark cloth uniform that was decorated in glimmering medals and silk ribbons. The blue-skin made a complete circle around the platform Wy was strapped to. He coldly studied Wy's form before he continued. "My people are called the Ay'niki. I am Dar'Vem. What are you called?"

When he was answered with only a hateful glare, Dar'Vem issued a loud sigh. He called to one of his armored soldiers. "Bring the female."

A metal-clad Ay'niki approached with Mila. Her wrists were bound tightly in front of her, and they had placed some sort of cage around her hands. He assumed it was to keep her from casting spells. The monster guided her with one massive hand around her neck, and all he had to do was squeeze.

In a bored tone, Dar'Vem asked, "Do you require an explanation? Or do you barbarous types understand how this kind of leverage works?"

"Wyfrost," he answered right away. "My name is Wyfrost."

"Excellent," Dar'vem said with a smile. "I'd hoped you were capable of polite conversation."

"Look, I'll do what you want. You don't have to hurt her. Just let her go."

"One way or another, you will,/em> do what I want, and so will she. Whether this female is hurt, or not, is completely up to you."

At that point, the alien who had Mila took her from the room. Wyfrost called out to her, and they let her answer. "I'm okay, Wy."

That was the only reassurance he could get at the moment. Until he was free, there was nothing he could do for her. He turned his aching to head towards the alien boss, and waited for him to say what he wanted. "What are you going to do with her?"

Dar'Vem explained. "Among my own kind, there is a rather infamous scientist that I have the dubious pleasure of an acquaintance. He is particularly interested in the mutations that give beings like her their power. His experimentations are cruel, grotesque, and his subjects often die under the most bizarre and painful circumstances. However, Kai'Scalderun is also known for his generosity. Subjects like this one are quite rare, and I could collect a sizeable renumeration."

When Dar'Vem let a smug silence hang between them, Wy prompted, "Or?"

"'Or'?" Dar'Vem asked. "Should there be an 'or'?"

"I'm not dead, so you want something from me. Hurt her, and whatever you want, I'll make damn sure you don't get it."

The being smiled at Wyfrost and nodded with satisfaction. "Ah, nothing pleases me more than owning a smart animal. I'll suppress her mutation, falsify my records, and the good doctor need never know about her. I'll sell her to my colleague, Dar'Houda, who takes a great deal of pride in his harem. She will be housed, fed, watered, cared for in every way, much like pampered pet. A better life than being gutted on the table of a mad scientist, hmm? You cooperate with me, and your female gets a life of luxury."

In defeat, Wyfrost hung his head. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to fight in the gladiatorial arena. You've already made quite the impression today. Impress my audiences, make me wealthier and more influential, and you'll be rewarded. You be good to me, I'll be good to you— and to your elfess. Betray me, and I'll have you both killed."

"If you're selling Mila, how do I know you're taking care of her?"

"Do what you're told, and you'll receive regular progress reports. Now, who would you like me to contact? Will it be the 'good' doctor? Or shall I contact my dear friend, Dar'Houda?"

Dar'Vem tried to make it sound like a choice, but Wyfrost understood that he and Mila were to be enslaved. There was no choice at all. He could only imagine how angry she must be to know that her fate was in his hands. He had to do the best he could for her, and took the only sensible option they had. He answered, "Dar'Houda."

"Of course. You are now property, my property. And so is she. Assets are well cared for. Liabilities are eliminated. Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Wyfrost said. "I get it."

Dar'Vem turned from Wyfrost to acknowledge a uniformed blue-skin who came into the room. The soldier asked, "Your orders, Dar'Vem?"

"Start the female on the initial suppression dosage to control her mutation. Then get Dar'Houda on communique. I'd like to arrange a trade before we leave this planet."

"And the horned one, sir?"

"Prep him for travel. Wyfrost is coming home with us."

Wy had no idea what was in store for him and Mila. He had never been anyone's property before, and he was sure he was going to hate it. At least they'd saved him from another trek through the Pass.