Chp.5: The capture
Rhaegal growled and got defensive, but started walking anyway trying to draw a semicircle. The aim, of course, was to force her opponent to turn and then reach the river, in order to escape back into its depths. But of course, Black Vulture didn't fall for it and didn't move a centimeter from her position, precluding him the possibility of even approaching the water. This was frustrating to say the least; even though Rhaegal knew it wouldn't be that easy, given the intelligence that the woman had shown, he was still annoyed by the situation.
And he was also angry with himself. Rhaegal had understood from Black Vulture's words that she had been able to predict his moves because he had shown himself to Gerard. If he had been more cautious Gerard would not have noticed major weaknesses that Black Vulture could have exploited... indeed, if he had been more cautious Gerard would never have even known of its existence. He had been a fool and if he was in that situation now it was all his fault.
Haku this time would have really killed him, and in a certain sense he hoped it because if it hadn't been him, their sisters would have taken care of doing it. While the end result was identical, Rhaegal much preferred the first option.
The thought of his sisters sparked an idea in his head. Rhaegal wasn't as smart as his brother, but he was still very shrewd and could read the situation and see all possible advantages. And perhaps he had glimpsed one. "Where is Serengal?" he asked for clarification and to gain time.
"A dragon that cares about a human? Are you sure you're normal?" Black Vulture asked mocking him. Rheagal, however, paid no attention to the teasing: there was much useful information in that sentence. Thanks to them, he now knew that Black Vulture didn't know that the body used by Serengal was only an avatar, which meant that even his information about him was limited to what little Gerard had discovered about him. Not only that, but he also realized that while her mask let her know where he was, it didn't really let her see through the invisibility rune, or she would notice that Serengal's avatar was using an illusion to masquerade as a human. Clearly, she couldn't perceive the difference between the illusion and reality if the illusion matched the physical body. Perhaps the mask relied on other senses than sight? Maybe it used a thermal sense like a dragon's, or something like that?
Rhaegal tried to gather more information. "I am a dragon... very particular" he answered, pretending to be offended by the woman's words. "There are good dragons and bad dragons, and I fall into the former category. Now tell me what you did in Serengal"
"If you really believe it, then you've mastered the skill of lying so well that you can even convince yourself of your lies. There are no good dragons" Black Vulture said.
"How can you tell? Are you a dragon?" Rhaegal asked rhetorically.
"It's not in your nature" Black Vulture answered. "All you dragons know ever do is take whatever you find and look down on all other races. Dragons can only bring death and destruction, nothing else"
"This is a great prejudice… albeit a fairly solid one" Rhaegal said. "And by the way, you still haven't answered my question. What did you do in Serengal? I won't ask you again"
Black Vulture was silent for a second, then she finally replied: "That woman tried to stop me, so I broke both her legs. I have orders to leave everyone alive, but the king never spoke of leaving them unharmed" she answered. "That woman really tried to stand up for you. She was clearly motivated by more than just an alliance. What lies did you tell her to get her to fight for you so hard?"
"I'm starting to feel offended by these constant accusations" Rhaegal grumbled, but inside he exulted: if Black Vulture had only broken Serengal's legs, then his sister had probably already regenerated her avatar and was coming to help him. Trying not to get noticed he opened his nostrils as wide as possible and sniffed the air; as he expected, the familiar faint rotten smell of corpses reanimated with hydra venom seeped into his nose. Serengal was close to him, positioned exactly fifty meters to his right, hidden behind some rocks and bushes, waiting for the right moment to strike. He just had to create an opportunity; he had to distract Black Vulture enough to cause an opening in her defense. "If it's a fight you want, you'll get it" he said, slapping his tail on the ground in a clear provocative attitude. Then he snapped and ran towards her opponent with his jaws wide open.
The woman responded to that assault by swinging her sword and parrying the blow of his claws. Rhaegal moved at incredible speed, striking with his tail, paws and mouth, and even though Black Vulture didn't move from her position and she managed to stop all his attacks, her arms were visibly shaking. Even if she was a warrior of level mithril or even level adamantium, Rhaegal was still a dragon over ten meters long that used every centimeter of his massive body to increase his power; each of his blows was the fusion of the force of several tons of muscle, nerves, bone and extremely hard scales. For comparison, it was like fighting a small landslide that continually dropped new boulders against the poor victim. Rhaegal couldn't see it because of the mask, but he could clearly smell the sweat and hear the Black Vulture's teeth gnashing. He too was starting to get tired, but compared to the human his stamina was on a completely different level. He could have continued with that deadly dance for several hours before being unable to fight.
Finally, the dragon noticed that one of Black Vulture's feet had slipped slightly back from its previous position. It was the sign that his opponent was getting tired. 'Now!' he thought, and he activated the different fortification runes drawn on his scales. His strength increased tenfold and this time Black Vulture was unable to stand the blow motionless: her sword was thrust back so much that it nearly cut off her mask, and she herself was forced to back away. That was the moment Rhaegal had been waiting for: his tail wrapped around one of Black Vulture's arms and blocked it. The woman tried to free herself, but Rhaegal took advantage of her moment of bewilderment to grab her even with his paws and block her sword with his jaws. Keeping her still was difficult: the woman was very strong, but thanks to the fortification runes Rhaegal was able to hold her back. Just then there was a whirlwind and Serengal appeared behind Black Vulture, her sword raised in order to cut off her head cleanly now that she couldn't defend herself.
But then, something unexpected happened.
Black Vulture suddenly stopped struggling and instead pulled Rhaegal towards her; taken aback the dragon was unable to resist, and so the woman was able to touch his chest fully; after doing this she lifted him slightly placing his head between her and Serengal. Rhaegal was somewhat bewildered and was unable to stop her; Serengal, seeing this, was forced to abandon her attack and scrambled away, or she would end up cutting off her brother's head. Then Black Vulture released Rhaegal with an incredibly strong jerk and jumped back.
Rhaegal gasped and saw that at least the way to the river was clear, so he tried to run trying to dive back into the water, but then something wrapped around his paws and he fell to the ground. He looked down and saw that golden threads had appeared on his chest that were rapidly growing and were wrapping every part of his body like ropes. He tried to free himself, but it was all in vain: his body was completely wrapped up in the golden threads, becoming totally unable to move.
Rhaegal remembered Darbi telling him that when they first met humans he and Haku had been ensnared by indestructible golden threads. It wasn't difficult for him to understand what had happened: when he hit him in the chest, Black Vulture must have released those strange threads from his gloves, which had wrapped around him imprisoning him in the same way as his brothers. It had been played!
"It made sense that you would attack me" Black Vulture said. "You would not have chosen flight after ascertaining that I was prepared to stop your every attempt to escape. It was obvious that you would have preferred to face me, and that you would certainly have tried to prevent me from reacting to your attacks. Also, your brother some time ago in the court of his majesty had demonstrated that he could also face a level adamantium warrior, so there was no reason to believe that you would not be able to do it. I could hardly have fought you in hand-to-hand combat, but at the same time you, not knowing what tricks did I have in store, you would have tried to end the fight as soon as possible I only had to lower my defenses slightly for you to try to block me, but in doing so you in turn lowered your guard and allowed me to hit you and put this on you little trap. I could have used something more lethal, but the king wants you alive". She barely glanced at Serengal, who was returning to attack position. "Although I didn't expect you to trust this woman again. It was a very clever trick, but I had noticed that your nostrils were perpetually open, a sign that you were sniffing the air, and therefore someone else must be close to us, so I prepared accordingly. I didn't think it was you again, though; tell me, woman, did you have a healing potion with you? I was sure I broke your kneecaps"
"When you fight, you fight, bitch! No talking!" Serengal yelled, lunging at her, intending to kill that woman immediately and free her brother. She didn't want to see him wrapped in those golden threads for even another second. But in response, Black Vulture leapt back after Rhaegal and raised his head as a shield. Serengal stopped again and her opponent took the opportunity to jump on her and hit her cleanly in the waist. Serengal's body landed with a thud… and his legs landed a few meters away.
Serengal growled furiously: even if it wasn't painful, since this was still an avatar, she couldn't regrow her legs, at least not in such a short time: she had to reattach them. She tried to crawl to them, but Black Vulture kicked her legs and sent them into the river. "For two times you showed that you cared about that dragon. It was obvious that if I put him in danger you would lose concentration and let me hit you. I wonder why you wanted to protect him when he tried to abandon you twice... but to tell the truth, I don't actually care" she said. "Last time I broke your kneecaps, yet you're annoying me again. So this time I've gone a little more drastic. I doubt you'll bleed to death given your strength level, but at least you shouldn't be able to hinder me for a while"
Serengal clenched her fists in fury and helplessness. Rhaegal couldn't even say anything to comfort her: the gold threads blocked even his mouth. This woman was really dangerous; she really had the same strategic intelligence as Haku.
Black Vulture gave a whistle and her wyvern descended from the sky and grabbed Rhaegal with its claws, lifting him albeit with a little effort. "You and your companions are free to go. His Majesty doesn't intend to stop you" Black Vulture told Serengal. "But be sure to take this message to Haku: if he wants to get his brother back alive, then he has to go to this place in three days. The king wants to meet him" and having said that she threw a map on Serengal's face, on which a well circled dot specific. Then her wyvern took off and flew away, followed by the other amphitrites that were there, and the ships blocking the passage in the river turned and moved away.
Serengal could only watch helplessly as Rhaegal was taken away. She was so angry, but most of all so desperate, that she started punching the ground. 'Haku... I have to warn Haku!' she thought breathlessly, and immediately she deactivated her connection with her avatar and returned to her real body, to then look for her brother's scent and run at full speed towards him.