Mage And Wolf
Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Chapter 52

I’m into the Troll lines now, ducking a fast moving club to remove the offending limb from its body. My energy claws are no longer the red of Lycan energy, but a deep black. They’re also no longer restricted to a field near my actual claws, extending half my arm length in addition, giving my bare hands almost the range my sword used to command. I’d use it now, but I’m not sure it would survive an encounter with these giant clubs, even coated in energy.

Hui Jin has set up a flame shield over us like an umbrella. It’s not as strong as Karl’s arcane barriers, but it deflects glancing blows, letting the rest pass through. More importantly to her, it scorches almost all the blood flying towards us into ash, leaving us warm and dry.

A crushing blow smashes down through the shield and I catch a club twice my height to rip it out of the Troll’s hand with a twist, letting the awkward weapon fall to the ground before tearing the monster’s heart from its chest. The blood floods through the weakened flame shield, leaving us drenched and I shoot the gagging dragon kin a sympathetic look.

"Goddess it smells so bad. How can you stand this filth?" she shouts.

"You get used to it. We hunted wild animals in Lycan form when I was a kid, so the sight and smell of blood meant food to me from a young age."

"They didn’t let us out of the orphanage much, for fear we’d be abducted with nobody to miss us." Hui Jin fires a barrage of fiery missiles at a Troll approaching from our flank "And then I was taken in by the clergy for training, and I didn’t see sunlight for almost 2 years. Just study, study and more study. The first time I was out was for the mission I failed for fear of blood."

Oh, I didn’t know she was an orphan.

"Be a dear and pass me the shotgun would you? They’re starting to run back toward the portal." This conversation feels a bit surreal. However, it’s clear that we’ve won.

I fire off round after round, chasing the fleeing Trolls, making sure none escape into the surrounding area. Wouldn’t want to botch the job and inflict these monsters on the surrounding farmers.

The last of the trolls flees beyond the portal and Hui Jin pulls a magical circle drawn on parchment in glowing black ink from her coarse apprentice robes. Who decided the apprentices should wear what’s basically a dyed burlap sack? They’re not horribly fashioned, like an old catholic friar’s robe, but the material is horrendous. Maybe it doesn’t matter as much if you have scales?

Slowly, magical energy builds around her as she’s chanting a spell. The knowledge imparted to my brain tells me this is a portal closing spell. Apparently it’s something I can also do with the energy from the recently deceased that’s now pouring into me following the battle. I rack my brain, looking for more abilities and find that I’m only granted what the Goddess deems essential for all High Priestesses. Closing portals, the war cry, plus raising or turning away the undead. The energy claws come from my cultivation, tinged by the Death God’s mark on my energy. But I’m significantly physically stronger than most.

Not a bad class option for a physical fighter type cleric.

I focus on the ability to close portals, and find that it’s more costly than I could manage with just my own energy. Makes sense in a way, can’t do it without an offering to the Goddess. Fortunately the energy from Deaths around one of her Priestesses flows into and through them. It might not last long, as most of it isn’t stored, but it’s enough to easily close a portal after a battle.

"We’ve prepared a room for you and your assistant to clean up back in town Priestess. We’ve renovated an empty house for visitors, so you ladies can have some privacy to get washed up." The chief greets us on our return.

"There’s showers in the training area for the rest of the team if you need, and we’ll be holding a cookout tonight to celebrate the victory. It starts in 2 hours, so you’ve got time to prepare."

Opting out of making a mess in the truck, I run beside it with Hui’Jin still strapped to my back all the way to town. The prepared house looks like a government built double wide trailer, not fancy, but more than sufficient for our purposes.

Once inside I lean forward and release the knots on the ropes conveniently tied at my sides, letting the little dragon kin drop to her feet on the bathroom floor.

"Alright, strip. Let’s get you clean" I instruct and she looks a little concerned.

"Don’t worry, I’m not like that, I’m just going to wash you young acolyte." I reassure her, but it seems to have no effect on her expression.

The robe vanishes, showing she’d not bothered to get dressed underneath, only donned her robe. Sensible I suppose for someone that wears the garb full time? Though as an orphan, maybe she doesn’t own anything else? I didn’t see her bring anything with her to the base this morning. I’ll have to remedy that when we get home.

Still deep in thought I set her directly into the shower, letting it run over both of us, me still in my blood soaked robes. She’s decidedly more dragon than kin I discover, every bit of her covered in scales, except for a portion from below her ribcage to her inner thighs, leaving her belly covered in a shiny black, leathery skin. Her scales are very uniform, dark gray with black streaks and rims, varying in size from big ones the full width of the bottom of her tail to tiny ones like fish scales on her face and neck. Her mouth is wide, like a lizard’s muzzle, with pointy teeth in front and half covered nostrils set into the sides. Her eyes are like mine when I’m wearing the ceremonial robes, the entire eyeball is black, so dark it’s impossible to tell from a distance that it’s not covered in a black film.

The biggest surprise is the wings on her back. They look like they’ll open up to about as wide as she is tall, much larger than the ones on the dragonewts I saw back in Seattle. Theirs were mostly shorter than my lower arm.

"You’ve got lovely wings Hui’Jin"

"You won’t tell anyone, right?"

Why wouldn’t I tell anyone she’s got adorable wings? I’ll bet she looks amazing when they’re spread.

"Care to tell me why it’s a secret?"

"I’m an orphan you see, it’s shameful for the powerful to abandon their young. If anyone finds out that I’m a dragonewt with wings like this, like I’ve got over half dragon blood, they’ll go looking for my parents to punish them. Assuming they’re still alive that is. I might not know them, but I don’t want to get them in big trouble like that."

That makes sense I guess? I’m not recalling anything about it in my implanted knowledge of Dragon laws, but perhaps it’s not a holy law and instead is a social standard? Like how women used to be ostracized, cast out, or stoned to death if they demanded a divorce here on Earth?

"Can I ask if this coloration is common? Everyone else in the group you came with is one mostly uniform color."

"They’re all nobility. The priestesses are full blooded dragons, as I’m sure they mentioned, but the juniors and apprentices they brought with them are all from noble families who can trace their bloodline back down a single holy Dragon’s service for millennia."

I should have brought a notepad before asking random questions.

"It’s normal for common dragonkin to have multiple colors from mixed bloodlines. But this grey doesn’t match to anyone, so the trainees at the temple used to tease me that my parents were so out of favor with the Gods that it caused my scales to dull."

"Well, as a High Priestess, I can assure you that the Goddess isn’t that displeased with you. After all, she gave you a rather easy penance. No pain, no humiliation, just more work. Did it help any with your fear of blood?"

"You know, I think it did. Now when I think of blood, I think of it dripping from your hair as you giggle and tear apart Trolls."

Hey, I do NOT giggle as I fight. Right?

"Well, that’s an improvement I guess. As long as it doesn’t stop you from doing your job anymore."

"Hopefully I can work through it, I really want to be out of penance status. I have a feeling that as soon as I can satisfy the Goddess I might be given a permanent assignment. Finishing my initial training and moving onto gaining experience as an acolyte attached to another priestess."

I send happy thoughts towards the Goddess, hoping she’ll feel benevolent and reward me with my own acolyte for my service in helping her clear her penance. That’s not too much to ask is it?