The New Solare - 11. Chapter 11- Restraints and Reactions

Solare Sindri leaned over the ellipse-shaped table in the middle of the council room. He was busily going over a large, digital map with markers showing the census of the tribes of each segment. “We have plenty of room on the planet for an entire kingdom full of Pure dragons. However, we can’t very well have them standing around unprotected during the tremors.” He thought out loud. “If we could have half of the tribes share their living spaces with the other half, then we could house the same amount of Pure dragons in Astral form within those quarters.”

“Mm,” Sentain Yuneza agreed as she tapped her staff down onto the ground. “Sentain Vitara,” She spoke into the staff.

To Sindri’s surprise, Sentain Vitara’s voice began to come out of the staff.

“Sentain Yuneza?” Vitara prompted from the other end.

“By order of the Solare, I will need you to broadcast to the other Sentains that they are to usher half of the tribes into the other half to safely house the incoming Pure dragons into the other half," Yuneza ordered.

“Let the Solare know that it will be done!” Vitara responded.

“Can she really do such a thing?” The blonde Astral dragon asked.

“Vitara’s talent lies in projecting her voice a great distance. Before, as Solare, she was only able to broadcast her voice within the distance of the fortress. Now, as Sentain, she can carry her voice all across our planet.”

“The strength that our limited magic has grows with us, then?” Sindri affirmed.

“Yes. When it is time for you to transcend, your status, as well as your magic, grows.” She elaborated. “Every decade of your life, you become stronger. When you are released from your duties as Sentain, then most of that magic is also released and goes on to become a part of the infant that is to become a Solare in the future.”

“Sentain Yuneza…how do I know what kind of magic I even have?” He asked her with a slight frown. “I did feel a warmth during the ceremony, but otherwise I haven’t felt any different than before…”

The elderly woman raised a hand to gently rest on Sindri’s cheek. The look in her amber eyes was a mixture of amusement and kindness. “Not all magic is flamboyant and visible. Some magic is more innate and subtle.” She explained. “Close your eyes and concentrate. Your magic will show itself.”

The Solare did just that. In his mind's eye, he could almost feel the emotions that radiated from the grand Sentain. “You…are worried about our people and the planet…and you are homesick for your family in the desert.” Sindri gasped, his soft orange eyes flying open. “Insight! But, how-?”

“How have you not noticed until now?” Yuneza prompted. “Because it has been a part of you since you were an infant, young Solare. You are such a levelheaded thing that you subconsciously held back from abusing such a gift. During your crowning, it merely became stronger.”

Sindri couldn’t help but beam. The gift of Insight would be a tremendous asset, especially during their current chaos. “Thank you so much!” He replied. “I have to tell Ansar and let him know what is happening!”

“Go, quickly.” Yuneza conceded.

The Solare took the spiral stairs two at a time as he rushed down to the Gallant Hall to Ansar and Kelius’s room. His best friend had been quite glum and holed himself up in the room from the moment that he wasn’t allowed to go with the Gallants. Sindri hesitantly knocked on the door. “Ansar, you awake?” He asked gently. When he received no answer, he sighed and knocked harder. “Ansar, come on, I have a lot of things that I need to talk to you about!”

When there was still no answer, Sindri frowned. He closed his eyes and focused his magic on sensing out Ansar’s feelings, but he felt nothing. With a sharp intake of breath, he opened the door and rushed inside. “Ansar!?" The first thing he saw was the rabbits gnawing on willow bridges on the floor and a note on top of the bed. The blonde snatched the note right up to read it.

Sin,

Don’t worry about me. Snuck off with the Gallants. Will return with them later. Keep safe. –Ans

The apricot dragon felt faint. His knees gave out, and he ended up sitting on the bed. "How could I possibly not worry, Ansar?” He whimpered.

::::::

Emyve had been, once again, impressed with the Astral dragons that kept constant maintenance on the technology of their ancestor’s past. With each of the Gallants piloting a ship of his own, he worried that some of those ships wouldn’t take flight. When the entire fleet took off at different speeds, he realized that he had worried in vain.

As his ship cut through the sky, the redhead let out a long sigh. “Is it not uncomfortable back there, Visionary Ansar?”

A thump was followed by a low curse. “Ow!” Ansar whimpered as he rubbed his elbow. “Hey, did you know I was here the whole time?”

"You were not as discreet as you thought when you boarded my ship," Emyve explained. “After you had gone through so much trouble, I decided to help you reach your destination. However, you are not to leave my side, for I am now responsible for you.”

The beige Astral dragon stood up and sat down in the seat behind the pilot. “Emyve, you’re the best!” He boasted as he finally allowed himself to look through the sliver of what he could see of the front window. “I thought for sure that I’d get queasy in one of these things. It’s not that bad.”

The burgundy dragon shook his head slightly. “Ansar, what I am about to tell you will not be pleasant,” He began. “Understand that there were many circumstances that led to this and we all had little choice in the matter…”

“Go on,” Ansar prompted. From the way that the other dragon was beating around the bush, he knew it dealt with Kelius having been left behind.

“Gallant Kelius first posed as Lunare in front of Duke Borev of the Pure dragons. As we rushed to depart to bring our news to the Solare, the Duke took hold of Kelius and kept him as collateral.” Emyve continued, his face forming into an expression of disgust. "He did it in such an underhanded way. He grabbed him when a tremor struck, and we urgently boarded the ship, save the platform give way underneath us."

“So, what you’re saying is that some Duke, with his head wedged far up his ass, currently has his grubby paws around my lifemate?”

“Something along those lines.”

“He better not have harmed a hair on his head, or so help me…” Ansar grumbled heatedly as he folded his arms and settled back into his seat for the remainder of the flight.

As the ships carefully descended into the crater and evened out their way into the Dozeanro kingdom, Emyve noted that the Pure dragons were ready for them. The queen must have certainly been busy herself. Their Lunare, Gonuret, rushed over to her to divulge what Solare Sindri had said.

"I have already instructed those that can fly long distances to follow your flying…machines." Queen Caldrea stated. A wry smile formed on her face. “My little ones have also shown those that can’t fly how to change forms.”

“It was easy!” One of the Pure dragon twins spoke up. “No covering cloths, though…”

A bright blush formed on Ilohir’s face. “I…better take half of those on my ship.”

“The other half come with me,” Madhal added as the two of them, with the help of the twins, led the nude crowds onto their ships.

“Emyve and I are here to transport anyone who’s expecting and any children,” Ruthed came forward. As wave after wave of pregnant, female Pure dragons approached him, the aquamarine dragon felt humbled. “We have enough room for five of you at a time.” He explained, suddenly understanding why they were hesitant to change into an Astral form. As expecting mothers, the safety of their unborn babies came first.

“Some of the children can also join us,” One of the female dragons suggested. “They are smaller and can burrow under our wings.”

“Or, they can run around like this!” The twin named Cera rushed past them in Astral form, buck naked.

“Lots more would fit into the ship that way.” Her brother, Cero, added as he put his hands on his hips. Both of them seemed to be far more comfortable in their Astral forms than any of the others.

A few at a time, the children began to change. Ruthed was in awe when he saw the different colors of shimmering scales that preceded the transformations. “Then, let’s try to fit as many of you as we can!” He encouraged as they began to board the ship. One of the toddlers tripped and took hold of one of Ruthed’s legs to steady himself. The older Astral dragon reached down to pick him up without any hesitation. “Don’t rush! And don’t be afraid to crawl on all fours if it’s easier for you!”

Just then, another earthquake struck. Though, it was strong enough for debris to fall on them from above, only some of the dragons in Astral form lost their balance.

Ansar tugged roughly on one of Emyve’s sleeves. "For crying out loud! You help Ruthed with the evacuations. Just tell me where to find that blasted Duke!”

Emyve glanced around, his hyacinth purple eyes seeking out any sign of Duke Borev. When his gaze fell on the twins, he firmly detached Ansar’s hand from his sleeve. “Give me one moment.” He told him as he walked over to them. “Young ones, do you know where your uncle is?” He asked as Ansar quickly caught up to him.

The twins shook their heads simultaneously, but it was the boy who spoke. “No, but I’m sure he does!” He insisted as he pointed to a Pure yellow dragon somewhere behind Emyve. The burgundy dragon recognized him as the Duke’s attendant…the one called Fringe.

“Got it!” Ansar affirmed as he ran right after the Pure yellow dragon.

“Ansar, wait!” Emyve called, but the beige dragon was light on his feet.

The twins gave each other a glance before they both looked up at Emyve. "Don't worry; we'll go with him!" They declared as they ran after Ansar.

Emyve felt he had no choice but to chase after the twins, as well. But, not before he told his beloved what was happening. “I have no time to explain, my mischief. The twins are leading Ansar to Duke Borev, and I'm going after them!" He relayed as he began to run in the direction of the twins. "Please keep to the plan until we return!" The look of confusion and concern on Ruthed’s face seemed to have burned into the back of his mind as he picked up speed to catch up.

Ansar and the twins stopped at the side of the entrance of a cavern. As they carefully peered down the cavern, they saw Fringe don his Astral form before turning the corner. Ansar was well and ready to rush in after him, but Emyve held him back with a grip on his shoulder.

“Not yet.” The redhead whispered.

As the four of them looked on, Fringe came back the way he came with another dragon in Astral form, and the two of them walked down another path in the cavern.

“Uncle?” Cero wondered out loud.

“Now.” Emyve urged quietly, leading the way down the cavern in the direction where Duke Borev and Fringe emerged from. As the four of them sped down the cavern, they came across a light that shone from inside a room. The sight that greeted them as they entered the room caused Ansar to immediately shield the eyes of the twins.

“What in the world?” The Visionary hissed as he gaped at the restrained Darifer, who was decked from wrists to ankles in bondage and suspended with several different bars.

“Ansar!?” Kelius gasped.

Ansar rushed over to him. “Kelius!” He was both relieved and anxious at the same time. “Did that dickheaded Duke do this to you?”

“Yes, but…” Kelius trailed off at the sound of identical sharp gasps.

“It hurts so much!” Cero whimpered as he covered his webbed ears and hunched over.

His sister did the same right beside him. “What is all that buzzing? Why won’t it stop!”

“No! Are those Pure dragon children? You shouldn’t have brought them here!” Darifer warned. “Quickly! Get them as far away from here as possible! The technology harms them!”

“Ansar, take them back, now!” Emyve ordered. “I will help Kelius.”

Ansar’s gaze went from Kelius to the twins and back again, but he swooped down to grab each child over his shoulders and took off.

“Why are these restraints so difficult to remove?” Emyve huffed as he tugged and shoved the metal bindings. When he finally managed to release Kelius, he wrapped an arm around his waist as the dragon sagged against him.

“Fuck!” Kelius hissed as he rubbed at his arms and legs. “I’ll be fine…just gotta get the kinks out. Go help Dar over there.”

“Understood,” Emyve said as he propped Kelius against the side and he struggled with the lavender dragon’s restraints. “Can you explain to me why the technology in this room affects the Pure dragons? They don’t seem to have any kind of reactions to our ships.”

“I don’t know for certain,” Darifer began. "Maybe-" The lavender dragon trailed off, practically choking on air when he caught sight of something behind Emyve.

“How dare you release him?” Borev hissed as he took hold of Emyve by the neck and squeezed hard. Emyve was the tallest of all the Gallants, but the duke was merely a couple of inches shorter and was bulkier.

The redhead took hold of the Pure dragon’s hands and put all his strength into trying to force them off of his neck. He was barely able to keep him from choking him to death and was finally starting to win when the duke sent sharp, painful magic through his hands and down Emyve’s throat. The Astral dragon felt as if he was being whipped by several branches of lightning from the inside out. He began to see darkness blurring the edges of his vision when Borev let out a pained growl.

Emyve struggled to clear his vision and instantly regretted the motion. "Ruthed, get off of him!” He called out.

“If he stops playing dirty, then I will!” Ruthed responded adamantly as he roughly tugged on the Duke’s hair. The Pure dragon was flailing and trying to pull Ruthed off of him to no avail.

“GET OFF ME!” Borev hollered.

The fact that his beloved was in such a perilous situation spurred Emyve into action. He rushed over to where Darifer’s restraints resided. “Ruthed, try to maneuver him over here!” He called out.

Distracted by the suggestion, Ruthed paused in his rough handling, which was just enough time for the duke to bash him against the bunker’s counter. “Enough, filth!” His hands tensed as he extended them, charging power. Ruthed scampered behind Emyve, and Borev stalked towards them. “Darifer is mine.” He rumbled fervently.

The Astral dragon’s gazes were drawn to something just past the duke’s shoulder, which caused him to turn around. Kelius was wobbly on his feet, leaning against the counter with one hand.

“You know, that’s the funny thing about distractions…” He commented as Ruthed took the opportunity to take hold of the nearest, solid thing he could find.

The loud sound of a metal clang was then heard as Ruthed hit the back of the duke's head with one of the bars that were used to hold Darifer suspended. The aquamarine dragon let the bar fall from his hands to the floor, and then promptly turned to pinch Emyve’s arm.

The redhead hissed and frowned down in confusion at his mate.

“That was for worrying the living daylights out of me!” Ruthed huffed.

Kelius allowed himself to slump back down to the ground. “Ru, I don’t think we have enough time for you to lay down any punishments on him.”

“He is correct,” Darifer agreed from his place on the floor. His limbs had been suspended for so long that he simply could not will himself to move. “We need to restrain him. And we need to activate this bunker’s radar system so it can tell us more about the tremors.”

Ruthed and Emyve immediately dragged the unconscious duke over to the restraints that once held the lavender dragon. They locked him in place, and then Emyve helped lift Darifer over to the controls.

“Drag that gold slider to the left and press in the switch to activate the screen.” Darifer began instructing Ruthed. “I wasn’t able to get past-“

“I’m back with more help!” Ansar called as he ran in with Madhal and Ilohir.

Emyve let out a long sigh. “If we are all here, then who is evacuating the Pure dragons?”

“We are here to help Kelius onto a ship,” Ilohir explained. “From what Ansar’s told us, he’s not up to the task himself.”

“You got that right,” Kelius spoke up from his spot on the floor. “And I haven’t even been here as long as poor Darifer over there.”

“Kelius!” Ansar gasped as he rushed over to him. He gave him a hard kiss on the lips and then began to kiss his face all over. “I was worried sick!!”

Madhal and Ilohir walked over to the pair and hefted Kelius up with an arm over each of their shoulders, causing the Gallant to hiss in pain. “Let’s get you to one of the ships.” Madhal insisted.

As much as he wanted to go with them in case he needed to protect Kelius himself, Ansar stayed behind to help Emyve and Ruthed. He was going to ask them what they needed help with when a large screen appeared before them.

A young woman with long, curly white hair and violet-blue blue eyes was projected before the image zoomed out and a group of Pure dragons was seen pacing around in the very bunker that they were standing in.

“Just look at that detestable human! If she only knew that we managed to stow away this station and those detonating devices, she’d surely take her subjects with her and evacuate our planet!”

“Forget telling her, we should trigger the bombs now, while they’re all distracted with their festivities.”

“Wouldn’t that affect the remaining pure dragons on the surface?”

“Those human-whoring fools are already lost to us!

“They are still our brethren!”

“…Fine. Then we will set them to detonate one at a time during midday, every day. That should give them plenty of time to evacuate.”

“What if they find this work station?”

“They won’t. Not if we hide it deep underground…”

The message came to an abrupt end. Darifer shook his head, pain shooting down his spine at the simple movement. “That cannot be it.” He searched the control pad desperately for some kind of indication that other recordings could be extracted.

Ansar and Ruthed began to rant at the same time after the initial shock.

“What!? Ancient Pure dragon farts planted bombs somewhere!?" Ansar cried out.

"Of all the bumbling, bombing, buttheads!" Ruthed gasped.

“Hush, both of you!” Emyve chastised with a frown. "I have seen recordings like this in the library of the fortress." He admitted. He tried a combination on the display pad and turned the switch once again, but nothing happened. "I can't get it to bring up the radar. But, perhaps there is more information on this device in the fortress." He took a moment to briefly look at all of them in the eye as he came to a decision. "We've no other choice but to head back for now."

A frustrated sound fell from Darifer’s lips. “Why do I feel that all of my time spent here has been in vain?”

“On the contrary,” Emyve countered as all of them began to head back. “We finally know the source of the tremors. Now, we must learn how to operate this radar to find those hidden explosives.”

“Wait…Borev, we cannot leave him.” Darifer insisted.

Fringe entered the bunker just at that moment. He froze, took note of all of the Astrals in the room, and tried to run.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Ansar cried out as he tackled the man’s legs. “If you don’t want to end up in the same position as your Duke, you better help us board him on a ship with restraints!”

Ruthed once again picked up one of the bars and slapped it menacingly across the palm of his other hand in a threatening manner. “I’d do as he says if I were you.” He prompted.

Emyve raised an eyebrow at the scene but chose to scold the two of them some other time. They did, indeed, need help transporting the unconscious Astral body. Their Solare was most certainly not going to be pleased when informed of the many risks the young Visionary had undertaken in merely one day.