Unbound

Felix was sweating as they approached the gates of Pax’Vrell. A crowd of people waited in line at the massive gates, slowly being waved through by annoyed-looking Dragoons mounted on Avum. They looked the same as any other Dragoon Felix had met: sleek armor covered in draconic designs and a spear secured in their saddles. They were clean and uninjured as opposed to his own army, which was a bit battered around the edges, thanks to days of forced marches across the Territory. The only real difference between them was the sense of putrescent wrongness he could see coiling around the Oathbound Dragoons, and he knew intrinsically that it was their coerced Oath that he was detecting. It stuck out, a tarnished silver cord, twisted around their necks.

He tore his eyes away from it; the Oath just made him angry. He focused instead upon his Abyssal Skein, a cold oil against his skin that he had long since grown used to—and after days of exposure, the army behind him didn’t squirm nearly as much as they had at the start. Felix led the vanguard, approaching the gates at an angle to the main line, and held tight to his Skill. His worries were unfounded, however, as the Dragoons at the gates remained entirely oblivious, their eyes never straying from the trudging line of farmers even as his people came within feet of the nearest Avum.

Felix nearly sagged in relief, but refrained. He’d looked at the Dragoons from a distance with his Emperor’s Vigilance and confirmed their low Temper, but one thing about war that Felix had learned was that nothing was ever certain.

Paladins, Pit warned.

A squad of them was just inside the gates, perhaps no more than ten, and Felix’s hackles rose immediately. Where the Dragoons just lazily waved people in, the Paladins were far more thorough in their inspections.

"Those are mine," one farmer shouted, as a barrel was thrown open, spilling produce into the bed of his wagon. He reached for it, only to be knocked to the ground with a casual backhand.

"All you own is a blessing of the Pathless, so all you own is His, too," the Paladin said, munching on some sort of raw vegetable. He spat it onto the ground. "Bleh! It tastes like shit. Is this poison?"

"What? No, it's from my farm. I'm bringing them to the night market."

"Poison? In the night market? Take him away," the Paladin commanded, and the two others grabbed him by the arms and dragged him off. "A night in the cells will teach him to bring better food next time."

Felix jaw was so tight he worried he’d break a tooth, but it was all that was keeping him immobile. If he let up…Felix shook himself, suppressing his anger. If he let up, there would be ten dead Paladins in short order. Beside him, Vess did much the same, while anger rolled through their army like smoke. None of them could let it blaze. Sneaking was the way through, and Felix refused to let them ruin their advantage.

"Next," the Paladin said, as the farmer's wagon was driven off by another, and the Dragoons waved the next group through.

I could eat them, Pit suggested. He was back in his puppy form and sitting atop Felix's shoulder. Just a little.

Felix smiled and ruffled the Chimera's head. "Forward, first company," he said.

Right as the Paladin stopped another farmer, the first company of Dragoons slipped through the wide gates. Not a single Paladin looked their way, and once the last of them stepped into a side street, Felix gestured for the next.

Abyssal Skein is level 96!

Company after company stole through the unknowing gap between Paladins, Dragoons and conscripts and his own friends. Within a handful of minutes, Felix and Pit were the very last left outside the gates just as the sun dipped beyond the horizon.

"Close it up," ordered the Paladin captain, and some Dragoons began turning the winch wheel. The huge gates creaked as they slowly pivoted.

"But there are still people out there," one of the Dragoons protested, stopping the winch.

"So? You lizard knights keep telling us how safe your lands are.” The Paladin spat onto the ground. "Let them go home or camp out. Either way, they'll be fine for the night."

The Dragoon moved to argue, but another, older man pulled her back. The Paladin captain laughed, sharp and nasty, while his cronies guffawed in his wake.

"That's right, listen to your elders, or else." He clenched his fist, and it glowed with a golden light—answered by golden rings around all of the Dragoons' necks. The warriors didn't cry out, but they tensed in obvious pain, and the young one fell to the ground, clutching at her collar. “Turn. The. Winch.”

Soon, the gates slammed shut, and the Paladin released them all with a disdainful sneer.

Felix and Pit stood just inside, inches from the nearest Dragoon, and his hands shook. I could eat them. Just a little.

No, bad Felix.

This time, Felix's smile was a bearing of his teeth, and all of them were sharp. Still, he walked past the posturing Paladins and down the side street where their army had already split apart. All that waited for him were a pair of cloaked Eidolons and Evie.

"Evie, you're supposed to go with Verona."

"I know. Harn told me to hang back and give you this." She handed him a wrapped package. "He said you'd know what it was for."

Felix gripped it tight, almost feeling the edges cut against his fingers. "I do, yeah. Oh, Evie, one last thing." He told her quickly about the Paladins yanking on the Oaths of the Dragoons. Her eyes widened.

"I didn't know anyone but you could do that."

"Me either," he said. "Be careful, and tell Verona."

“Aye. Go kill that priest and take this worry off our hands.”

Quick as a blink, she vanished around the corner. Felix turned to the two Eidolons, Eagin and Telys, and Pit nuzzled closer onto his shoulder.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"We're running," he said. "Now."

Storm Shaping is level 84!

Abyssal Skein is level 97!

Two minutes and dozens of city blocks later, Felix and his three friends stopped before a building made entirely of metal framed glass. An elegant sign made of brass-like metal hung above an ornate door made in much the same way.

"Wispwind Aviary," Felix read.

"Looks delicate," Telys observed. "My theory may be too un-gentle to enter."

"Just stay under your cloaks. If I can keep your footsteps from alerting the entire city on the run here, I can keep a few windows safe from you too." Felix had spent a not inconsiderable amount of effort muffling the Eidolons' progress through the city, which had amounted to outright carrying them on gusts of wind Mana. "Inside, all of you."

Stepping through the aviary doors was like entering another world. Far warmer than outside, the humidity was ratcheted to levels Felix hadn't felt since leaving Florida. The ground rose and fell around them, forming actual small hills covered in wild grasses and flowers, all of them in full bloom. Magelights hung from the rafters, dim now as if mimicking the sunset. Water pooled between miniature hillocks and trees rose up all around them, filling the expansive glass structure with dappled shadow. The entire place was a riot of color, but none more so than green.

Flitting through all that green were birds. Hundreds of them, thousands perhaps, moving in flocks and as lone creatures, wading through the water or leaping from branch to branch. Inscribed cages hung all over, from branches of trees to metallic brass bars that extended across the aviary. Some were filled with nests and eggs that birds sat upon while others flitted about building and adding twigs and leaves to make their own.

A path wound between all the hills, splitting many times as it wandered the entire aviary. Felix and his friends, still cloaked in Abyssal Skein, walked through carefully. Only a hundred feet in, Felix spotted movement and he gestured for the others to freeze.

A Korvaa was there among the birds, tending to their needs despite the evening hour. They were male and seemed to be a type of hawk, which made Felix pause. Memories of an old friend resurfaced, tugging at a wound he'd thought had long since scarred over. He closed his eyes and took a breath, mastering himself. It only took a moment—his Will could not be denied, even by himself—but it left him feeling…hollow.

"Keep moving," he said, voice rough. "The entrance is supposed to be marked with the ducal Seal." Vess had an amulet of it, and had shown it to Felix before they’d left their final camp. It was burned indelibly in his memory. “Hard to miss. If you see a bunch of squiggles, that’s likely it.”

As they walked, the paths grew narrower and the caretaker seemed to be everywhere somehow. Fixing this, cleaning that. Did he not have to go home? Did he not have to close the aviary? Those questions plagued Felix every time the slender bird-man cut them off to polish some brass post. They did their best to stay out of his way, but it was a constant annoyance.

As they moved, birds fluted their high-pitched songs while others screeched at one another. A few plodded about in sullen silence, staring in Felix’s general direction as if entirely aware of them.

Impossible. None of the birds were higher than Tier II. Their Perception would be extremely limited.

And yet, there was something…

The birdsong wafted through the aviary like a physical force. A wind that buffeted him, by turns gentle and insistent. Sweet musicality met by ugly squawking. Yet there was an entrancing resonance there, contained within the textured flow of it all. It was fleeting and familiar.

"I can't find the entrance," Felix said, frustrated. "Anyone else?"

"No luck here."

"No, Colossus.”

“It is well hidden," Egan rumbled. "We may be required to ask this caretaker."

Vess had said that each passage was guarded by someone at the location. They weren't always obvious, but they were in charge of the entrance and exit of all that used it. Felix licked his lips. Talking risked many things, but it was worse to remain silent.

He dropped Abyssal Skein from the four of them.

"Where did you come from?" the caretaker squawked in alarm. He took several steps backward, looking between Felix and his very large companions. "Who are you?"

Felix bowed. "My apologies, honored Korvaa. I didn’t mean to startle you."

"You, uh, you didn't. I was just... I just wasn't expecting your sudden—It's fine. We are closing, however, and visitors are not allowed on the streets after nightfall. You must hurry back to your homes."

"Wish we could, but that's not in the cards for us." Felix took a step closer and the caretaker stepped back. "I am here to help, I swear by pinion and crest."

That stopped the Korvaa in his tracks, as Felix hoped it might. "An interesting phrase for a Human to utter. Help how, exactly?"

"We need to access the tunnels to the Citadel—"

The caretaker slashed a feathered arm. "No. Perhaps you may kill me, stranger. But I will not betray my charge. You are not allowed."

“We’re trying to—”

“Should I trust honeyed words, stranger? My father swore me into this service, and his father before him. A thousand times, no.”

Felix frowned, annoyed…but mostly impressed by the guy's conviction. “What can I do to prove myself? There must be something.”

“There is nothing. Please.” The Korvaa’s eyes pled with Felix, and his Spirit sang of fear and earnest worry—for them. “You must leave. The Paladins will patrol soon.”

Pit, still in dog form, trilled. It was a surprising sound to come from a Dire Hound, apparently, because the Korvaa’s feathers lifted up like he’d been electrocuted. He opened his beak, perhaps to ask a question, but snapped it shut as the sound of feathers overwhelmed them all.

A flock of birds circled them, first a handful and then dozens.

Hundreds.

“How beautiful,” Eagin muttered.

The creatures were jewel-bright, their feathers glinting in the magelights of the aviary. More and more flew in ever-tightening circles, hundreds expanding to thousands until it seemed like all the birds in the aviary had come. Mana cascaded from their wings like contrails, describing a spiraling arc of shimmering, ever-changing color.

“I have never seen this before,” the caretaker whispered. “How—”

From out of the cyclone, a single pale songbird twice as large as Pit landed before the Dire Hound. The caretaker choked on his words. "The Zephyrfinch…!"

The pale songbird hopped forward once, peering at the Chimera with large, luminescent eyes. It chirruped. Pit chirruped back.

It bowed, and Pit nodded, as if all was right in the world.

The caretaker’s beak hung open for several long seconds. His feathered throat worked, and when sound came out, it was a dry croak. "That is...how did you do that, little fella?"

Pit looked at the Korvaa, tilting his head and letting his ears flop to the side. He barked once, before nuzzling against Felix's leg.

Laying it on a little thick, dude—

"Come in then," the caretaker said, his voice recovered but tight.

Felix blinked. "After all of what you said, that's enough to convince you?"

"I trust her judgment," the caretaker said, gesturing to the Zephyrfinch.

What the heck did you say, Pit?

The Chimera looked up at Felix, and their bond radiated with an incredible smugness.

The caretaker stepped back, and with a wave of his hand, unblocked a hidden passage behind a nearby cage. Suddenly Felix could sense everything, from the ducal Seal above the door to the descending corridor beyond. He frowned. It wasn’t often that things escaped his notice like that, and the effect was a bit dizzying.

"Now come, before someone sees you all."

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