Chapter Fourteen: Spring Storm

Abigail flew lazily through the brisk afternoon sky, this wasn't her true name its just what she had taken to calling herself, her true name was difficult to pronounce and strange to the mortal races. Her elders had warned her time and again about her flights of fancy, the mortals were dangerous, her race had nearly been destroyed no more then a hundred years in the past.

She was young and stubborn she resented her family for expecting her to live, mate, and grow to her elder stage without ever experiencing the world at large. So she left, she walked among the mortals as one of them however when she could no longer bear the restrictive illusion she would find some abandoned spot to start one of her daily flights.

She spun enjoying the feeling of the sun on her belly as she passed through the outer lands of Kanyra, there was one small village nearby and the roads were rarely travelled so worrying about being seen never occurred to her. She passed through a cloud as she dove down lower and a particular scene caught her eye. On the dirt road between the distant village and the capitol several armed men had a single opponent surrounded, he was unarmed and had upwards of twenty unsheathed swords pointing in his direction.

Typical humans she though to herself, a faint familiar scent reached her nose from below and she became curious, she smelled dragon, not one of her kind mind you but dragon nonetheless. As she thought about it longer she came to the conclusion that these humans annoyed her, she didn't want to end her flight prematurely and they could force her to do just that.

She flew back up into the clouds and called upon her innate abilities, the sky darkened, a light rain began to fall followed momentarily by the rumble of thunder. She felt pleased with herself, if the humans went away she could continue her flight, she dare not attack them directly less one of them escape. A streak of lightning burst from one of the clouds striking the ground throwing three of the assailants to their backsides, they began to panic and scatter looking for the cover of the trees.

All except the one man who was being targeted he sat upon the ground eyes closed in silent contemplation, another streak of lightning hit the ground showering him in dirt but still he did not budge. Abigail found herself intrigued by this man so she directed the next blast to a tree which a group of the men huddled under. The force of the blast splintered the trunk dropping the large pine on top of the group.

The men scattered again fleeing back in the direction of the village, Abigail could see their forms moving under the boughs of the trees, her next strike caught one of the men clearly being drawn to the metal of his armor. She felt great pleasure as she watched the insect cook inside his armor, the remaining men cleared the trees and made for the mountain the village was built into the side of.

A forking bolt of lightning took the lead three full on throwing the men trailing them to the ground, she decided she had driven them far enough away, they would remain hiding in the village till the storm passed. She flew back to the lone man, he was still seated despite the chaos around him, she increased the intensity of the rain, still he sat, she caused a wind to start gusting blowing loose soil and debris into his face and hair, he didn't move. She flew down low passing over his head allowing her aura to drive the nearby horses into a frenzy, the man ignored them.

Strange mortal she thought to herself, he hadn't reacted to her at all, she moved her storm closer to the village, the dark clouds passing beyond the man allowing the sun to once again shine upon him. With the passing of the storm the man rose to his feet, he looked at the carnage and without saying a word retrieved his weapon from a nearby capsized wagon, the animals had all bolted and thrown whatever they were harnessed to to the ground. After retrieving his weapon he looked back towards the town a somber expression on his face before walking off the trail and heading northward.

Abigail felt the urge to speak to this man, she wanted to tease him, to bully him, to make him show her his fear, she ultimately decided against it even if she were to reveal herself in human form it was to soon following her intervention. She flew north, her shadow was cast over the lone figure but he seemed not to notice, she knew of a city that the man would eventually reach if he continued his northbound journey.

Abigail landed miles from the site of her attack in the burning heat of the Osaran Desert, she shifted herself back into her human form before making her way north. She intended to make for Zuxmel the capitol of the northernmost civilization of the continent, it was to compact for her to fly there as it was a small nation with most of its land settled.

She casually hummed a tune as she walked, today had been a most pleasant day, she had taken a small measure of revenge against the humans responsible for her boredom and even potentially found herself a new toy.