It had been decided that today was to be the day for the keep to get in some actual practice fighting alongside a dragon and their royal guard allies. That meant Jarix, Glira, every royal guard present, and the keep’s guards and huntresses would be going through formations, tactics, and some general combat practice. The day would be rounded out by a mock battle with Glira and crew standing in for a hostile raiding force.

Jarix hadn’t sounded too confident about that last part early this morning when Tom had come down to go over just what was supposed to be happening. He didn’t really know much so an early morning crash course had seemed like a good idea. Now though, it was go time.

“Sooo… What am I supposed to do? Find a comfy chair and wave my boom stick at anyone getting close to the keep?” Tom questioned, looking about the greeting hall where everyone was assembling and getting ready without a single clue what he should be keeping himself busy with.

“What? Is someone getting cold wings? Or feet I suppose?” Rachuck questioned in a bemused tone, looking Tom up and down.

Tom had already been done up in his ragtag selection of protective equipment. The old vest still covered his chest, which together with the green and black camo rather stood out against the polished steel plates and blue and brown leather that made up the protection afforded to his limbs.

They had been talking about what to do about his vest earlier. It left both his neck and gut dangerously exposed, as he had learned the hard way at Deriva. There had not been time to do anything about it though, and besides, he was quite unlikely to need it today after all. The parachute on his back was a different story. That had been repacked and double checked. Just in case.

“Me? Backing down? Never,” Tom replied with a chuckle, thinking back to all the stupid things he had done in his life just to feel alive. “I’ve just spent a fair amount of luck as it stands already. Maybe no acrobatics today?”

“I have no intention of luck coming into things. And you will find yourself fighting in the skies at some point I am sure. As for your post, I believe you have an obligation to fulfill,” Rachuck countered, checking over Herron’s equipment.

“Uhm… My obligation to Nunuk? That whole guard oath thingy?” Tom questioned, trying to pick his brain but having no clue what Rachuck was on about.

“It is not thingy,” the captain replied in a disapproving voice. “But no. Your promise to Jarix. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.”

“Uuuuhmmm,” Tom replied, glancing to Jarix, who was waiting for Radexi and Zarko to finish rigging his harness. The dragon had noticed the conversation, likely picking out his name being spoken, but didn’t look like he knew the answer either.

“Yeah… the promise… what promise?”

Rachuck stared at the two of them clearly not wanting to be rude. “Do you not remember? The promise given when you first arrived… That Tom would indeed fly with you if you submitted to his lessons… Would you not say he has done so, Tom?”

There was a combined “Ooohhhh” from the two of them before they turned to stare at each other.

“Weeeell?” Jarix tried, very leadingly.

“I suppose it’s a pass,” Tom reluctantly said, trying not to let a smile creep onto his face before raising a finger at the dragon. “But don’t you dare run off, we need you.”

“Didn’t he already get the machine gun for passing all that?” Jacky questioned as she stood at T pose with Shiva busy helping with her armor. The mother had a hard time letting anyone else handle that job after all.

“You don’t need to tell him that now, do you?” Jarix pleaded, sliding his tail about to partially hide her from Tom’s view. Jacky of course craned her neck to look over said tail, receiving a knock to the back of the helmet from Shiva’s curled fist. She promptly went back to staying still, much to Jarix’s amusement.

“My snout is tied,” Rachuck added with mirth in his voice. Tom’s best guess was that he was quite pleased people seemed happy enough with having to spend much of the day on practice and drills.

“We can still pretend, right? Besides, think of poor Jacky. She would have to carry him all day if I don’t do it.”

“I suppose so,” Rachuck yielded with a shrug, looking towards the doors leading further in where Ray and a gaggle of kids emerged, the woman carrying a bucket of red paint. “What is this now?”

“Jarix needs red tail!” Kiran shouted out, leading the group, a wooden sword at his side and a far too large helmet on his head. The dents and scratches it had suggested that it was likely one of the helmets used for training which had been “liberated” from the armory.

“I was wondering when you might come back. I was hoping to get my claws sharpened.”

“No need for that now,” Rahuck interrupted as Ray made her way towards Jarix’s tail, which was still trying to hide Jacky.

“There isn’t much paint left. We will brush it on rather than dip it I think.”

“If you say so,” the dragon mused, looking around the hall. “Is it just me who gets the special treatment?”

Ray raised her head and looked around the hall. “I don’t think we have the paint, sorry.”

“Besides, we will be mixing it up a little today. It isn’t just going to be us against them now is it?” Rachuck added as the kids went to work. Or at least made it look like work was being done. All the buckle checking and claw cleaning soon caught the ire of Zarko as Worpock decided to use his mouth to tighten a strap.

Tom watched, a little bemused, as he fiddled with his rifle. “There is gonna be so much shouting ‘bang bang bang,’ ” he sighed, looking down at the weapon in his hand then glancing around at what everyone was packing.

All the huntresses save Sapphire had their shiny new single-barrel shotguns. They were really little more than a water pipe with a stump of wood on the end, though Shiva and Kullinger’s collective OCD had managed to make them look at least halfway professional. To a trained gunsmith Tom was rather sure the result was more reminiscent of a sweatshop in Afghanistan that had just spent more time on polishing to try and make up for the lack of quality. But it was the best they could do and hopefully good enough.

The pistol version had been taken to heart by the guards. Originally they had just wanted to make one each for Dakota and Jacky, but now Rachuck and Anchor also sported one. Herron had the only double barrel present, that being Tom’s own weapon. That left Unkai and Balethon as the only ones not carrying shiny new weapons from the keep. Instead, they had gotten out the old sword and shield combo as well as a pair of lances, which were being secured to Jarix’s harness. More of the weapons had been brought up from the armory and handed to Glira’s crew, apparently for when they were to pretend to be a formation of so-called lancers set on bringing down Jarix. They would do the same against Glira.

On Jarix’s back was found only Radexi and Zarko, both busy going over the dragon's armor, harness, and the extra equipment being brought on. The dragon had grumbled a little about being slowed down, but when asked if the big baby would rather Glira took it all he had shut up promptly. His crew had also outfitted themselves with a pair of the shotguns for the day’s training. If anyone could make good use of the weapons in a fight it was likely them after all, even if Radexi was supposed to be working the fifty most of the time.

Tom’s biggest concern for that was how they would decide if they had managed to shoot down an enemy or not. Shouting ‘bang bang bang’ was probably not gonna help much short of boarding action.

No one was carrying a single round of ammunition just to be on the safe side, and all weapons were to be confirmed clear before they took off.

When she had finished getting her armor checked over, Jacky had tried to sneak up behind him, probably for a surprise hug or something. The clack of claws and clatter of plates rather ensured failure from the start, Tom whipping about and going “Boo!” just as she came up behind him.

Her expression flashed gleeful anticipation to shock as she briefly recoiled. He tried his best to look scary which had her doubled over in laughter about as quickly. “What is that face?”

“It’s my war face,” Tom replied, trying very hard, and failing, not to snicker.

“Oh yeah? Try this on for size,” Jacky retorted, and promptly roared in his face, which resulted in a bit of spittle splashing all over his face. It actually even hurt his ear a little, and it certainly got the attention of everyone around. Most likely wondering if they were about to be down one human.

Tom just stuck his hand in her mouth, grabbing a canine and giving it a bit of a shake. Jacky just looked at him with the most confused expression. Utterly adorable in his eyes. “Gotcha now.”

“Groo coom oome, eht go,” Jacky mumbled, trying to close her mouth but not wanting to bite him, even if the bracers should do their work.

“No.”

“Auuuuw. Guge!”

“No shouting then.”

“Fiiie,” she responded, rolling her eyes, and Tom let go. Immediately afterward he found himself dragged into an arm hold and receiving a noogie.

“Aaaow aoow, stop that! Not my fault you sound like an assault chicken…”

“You little-” and the rubbing intensified to actually painful levels before he was finally let go, stumbling to his feet and rubbing the sore spot on the top of his head.

“Aouw, that hurt,” he chuckled. It wasn’t that bad but still, ouch.

“That’s what you get. Chicken.. pwfeaaa,” she all but spat, but still with a grin on her face, arms crossed and looking rather sassy.

Tom straightened up, taking a deep breath and letting his eyes wander up and down her figure. “Looking good though.”

She looked fierce to say the least. Aggressive sharp edges and visibly thick plates made up the heavy set of enchanted mithril armor she was wearing. To the untrained eye she looked nigh impervious to any assault, and he knew from his facing a dark knight in the past that even his rifle at point-blank range was by no means guaranteed to go through.

“Not bad aye? Gonna be fun to try and use it in the air for once. Rachuck says I should take a crack at the lances too at some point. Been a while since I tried that.”

“I think you proved last time that you don’t need no lance,” Tom countered, looking to Rachuck, who was still paying attention. The captain tilted his head side to side a little, likely seeing some truth in the statement.

“Well if that red baby had a good crew, Jortun says they would have just shot me for trying that. But hey. They didn’t so here we are,” she replied nonchalantly, Tom trying not to think too hard about that.

“Well even if they did I’m sure this should put a stop to it,” he replied, giving a tap on her shoulder with the backside of his gauntlets.

“Hey, don’t scratch it,” Jacky protested with a chuckle. “Mum will fucking kill you.”

“I would be more worried about denting mine,” Tom chuckled while checking for damage. “So, lancer then?”

“Yup, been forever. It’s good fun though. As long as you don’t have to do it for real.”

“One of the first wise things you have said,” Zarko called down from Jarix’s neck, the woman currently securing the helmet in place.

“Hey, that wasn’t called for,” Jacky protested, though not seeming upset in the slightest.

“They are a crazy bunch though. The ones that do it for a living,” Radexi joined in, the harness man busy clambering down to the ground again.

“That’s like an actual job? Like they are just lancers. How does that even work?” Tom questioned, trying to add it all up. It sounded a bit strange to him to have a soldier that was only supposed to fight what you, as far as he could tell, really didn’t want to fight and rarely had to. Dragonettes’ tactics for dealing with a heavy flyer tended to just boil down to ‘bring your own’ after all.

“Well only in the cities and such, maybe some of the larger forts,” Radiexi clarified as he hopped the last few feet down to the ground. “I suppose they could have another job too as well. I heard it pays pretty good though, so why bother?”

“Aren’t Maiko’s parents lancers actually?” Jacky questioned, starting to look around, probably searching for the young man. He was not to be found though.

“Were,” Zarko corrected as she carried on her work. “It is hardly an enviable job though, now is it?”

“Oh I don’t know about that. Not much chance you have to do anything. Then you just sit around all day. Sounds good to me,” Jacky offered, sounding like she probably wouldn’t mind a life like that.

“They are still Royal Guards, you know that, right? They fight just as well and just as much as anyone else. Only real difference is they are expected to give their lives willingly and freely when the time comes.”

“Arh. That is a bit of a bummer.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Tom questioned, looking to the lieutenant.

“Do you think ramming someone like him with a pointy stick at full speed is something you fly away from?” Zarko questioned rather expectantly.

Tom took a second to ponder before glancing at the weapons strapped to the dragon's back. “I suppose not, no…”

“Yeah, better hurry up with that dragon-killing cannon you promised mother waaaay back. Remember that? You just wanted to make a tube and put powder and lead down the front of it I think,” Jacky chuckled, giving him a hard pat on the back.

“Iron, but yeah… That really wasn’t a good idea, but what was I supposed to do? She was quite insistent.”

“She gets like that at times, yeah-”

“I can hear you two,” Shiva spoke up, glaring at them from where she had been helping Unkai. The young healer was standing there stiffly, clearly not wanting anything to do with this.

“But hey, she sure loves you helping make this happen,” Jacky carried on with a slightly too wide smile, gesturing at the fancy armor and giving her helmet a few knocks with the armored gauntlet that he guessed would make for a mean boxing glove. Tom’s gauntlets just covered the back of his hands, but Jacky’s had tiny little individual links covering each finger. To Tom it looked like it would be hell to make.

Then the sounds around them slowly died down, the chatting and ordering about were replaced with quiet murmurs as heads turned to the door leading to the grand hall.

Where Dakota now stood.

Wearing her mother's armor and sword.

The older woman looked really rather uncomfortable in her position, soon enough having to bear the stares of everyone present. Slowly a proper silence descended as Nunuk herself came walking out from behind her daughter, walking to her side, her gaze sweeping around the room and trying to meet every stare directed at her daughter.

“Now don’t go getting any ideas. I’m not giving in just yet… But flying is not easy without wings. Just go ask Tom. And what are traditions but bumpy air to get in the way? Dakota will lead you all today. And she will do so in the future too. My days of fighting appear to be behind me. Be kind to her and I am sure she will do you proud. Now get your behinds moving unless you want the likes of Glira to think you all tardy! Go on, move it, people!” the old lady ordered with the same air of authority Tom had remembered so well.

Those were some mighty big shoes for Dakota to fill. He cast his mind back to the flight back from the lake, months ago now. The woman had been scared he was stealing away the respect she needed to do her job and he watched her waver under the responsibility placed upon her. He guessed she had likely not even been warned of it, yet here she was.

But everyone sprang to obey Nunuk. The pace of preparations redoubled, Jarix rising to his feet and turning to face the door, which started to crank open, revealing a grey drizzle outside.

“First time in charge and it’s raining. Go figure,” Jacky muttered from next to him as he kept an eye on Dakota. She was walking to the front in that brilliant-looking set of plate armor, polished to perfection. Lighter, lither, and much more elegant than what Jacky was wearing. Less protection, but also less hindrance.

On her hip hung the Talon blade that normally heralded the Lady of Bizmati keep. On her thigh was a fine-looking leather holster with her short barreled pistol-style shotgun and 6 spare shells sitting on display. It seemed so out of place yet still beautifully made, and luckily it concealed the rather crude weapon beneath. At least the wood was finely sanded and freshly oiled.

“You heard my mother. Let us put on a good showing, I would rather not be ridiculed at dinner,” Dakota called out in a forced voice, the air of authority seeming thin and fake.

‘She’s scared,’ Tom thought to himself, not sure if there was anything to do about it.

As she walked out into the drizzle, the gilded huntress glanced back at them and gestured for them to follow. “Come on then! And for the love of the gods, try not to hit anyone.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

Much as Saph had feared, this had ended up being a long, grueling, boring day. Flying maneuvers more or less just boiled down to hard flying for hours on end. Steep climbs, hard turns, and crash dives. Whenever anyone ended up out of position they had to dash back to their spot, which quickly wore on all of them.

They had been split into three separate formations. The keep’s guard led by Rachuck, Jarix flying alone, and the huntresses led by Esmeralda. Dakota had decided Jarix would make for a fine place to give orders from since he was most likely to maintain some semblance of battle awareness and crucially was fast enough to reach any troublesome position.

There had been some debate on where Jacky should go. Tom was on Jarix’s back, and the dragon didn’t need further protection for close quarters. It was far more important for Jarix to maintain what speed advantage he could, he was already carrying a lot more compared to his original training as it was. The dragon was only supposed to carry Zarko into battle along with his minimal armor rig after all. As such, Jacky had been placed with the keep’s guards. They were the only formation who would be looking to get in close.

That left just Esmeralda, Sapphire, Fengi, Bolinda, and Phospheno in the huntress formation. Rachuck, Anchor, Kokashi, Herron, Balethon, Unkai, Maiko and Jacky in the guard formation. They would need the numbers though. In a melee, numbers meant victory with far more certainty than in a ranged engagement.

The Royal Guard had two formations in the air. Glira with a minimal crew, Jortun among them, and Victoria leading the dismounted contingent from time to time to give some more flexibility in what they could train with and against.

The huntresses especially had it hard as the day progressed. With two dragons in play, they were constantly out of position and having to play catch up or react to a new threat, usually above them. The keep’s guard stood no chance of escaping a dragon's sights either way, so they would turn to face them down instead, hoping to break formation just before they get blown from the skies by the dragon's breath. Even if done right it only limited how many got hit, unless the dragon somehow missed at point blank. But it gave them a chance to land hits as Glira roared by, the wings being the preferred targets.

They practiced the maneuver several times on both Glira and Jarix. It took nerves of steel to pull off, and it was abundantly clear, watching them, that a blue like Jarix or Glira would easily manage to hit one or two of them. If someone was crazy enough to attempt to intercept the diving dragon with a lance, it more or less became a guarantee, and the chances of a good hit on the dragon were small indeed.

The only real respite from the climbing, diving, and scrambling around were the quick breaks on the ground, either to have something explained again, or to go over something new. Bo and Pho were both working overtime to try and keep up. Dakota was pushing hard, and Saph knew why of course. It was her first time ever properly in charge of everyone, and they had an audience to boot.

More than once either Bo or Pho slipped up, even if they never had to lead any maneuvers. That honor and horror fell to Esmeralda, and she slipped up more than once too. Dakota did not discriminate, coming alongside to shout orders and corrections when hand signals didn’t do the trick.

It clearly took a toll on Essy having her childhood friend shout at her in front of everyone. But she couldn’t play favorites, and Saph took a few turns taking the lead too. It did not go that well. They were always slow and out of position, and when she finally got into position she would check over her shoulder, only to find half the wedge no longer where they should be.

‘Never put your fastest flier in front,’ she sighed as Dakota swung by to remind her of said fact. Essy took back the lead and they carried on. They did learn some, and the formation did get better at sticking together, and especially reforming it after a break got a lot better. But as they grew more and more tired they slowed, and soon enough they were run ragged.

Essy had taken them into a steady cruise position above and behind the guards, who were trying their hand at enveloping Glira after she let herself get caught in a turning fight. It was at least something interesting to watch. Dakota flashed out signals for ‘dive’ and ‘attack’ from Jarix’s back, but Essy didn’t move. She only wiggled her wings in reply and held course. The wind was behind them so they could just glide along.

“We need a bit girls… just coast,” Essy called out, not even turning her head, letting the wind carry it for her. Saph glanced around at the wedge formation. Fengi’s arms were hanging and her tail was drooping, chest heaving. Essy was looking even worse for wear, and Bo and Pho to the rear weren’t doing much better. Saph guessed she was the best off, and even she was feeling all tired and hazy.

“Steady, catch your breaths,” she called back, repeating Essy’s order for those in the rear.

Glancing back ahead, Jarix began the dive they should have been a part of, Dakota dismounting and heading their way. The young blue carried on alone, which soon saw him interdicted by some of Glira’s disembarked crew lead by Victoria. They should have been there to cover him and keep them busy while Jarix went for the kill, instead Sapphire suspected they were in for a verbal reaming.

As Dakota approached they all closed the formation from battle spacing to help hear what she would have to to say.

“Why are you still up here? You acknowledged the signal!” the gilded huntress shouted out as she came alongside Esmeralda.

“We need a break Dakota… We can’t keep doing this,” Essy replied plainly, clearly thoroughly tired.

Dakota didn’t reply, immediately looking them all over. They for their part made no effort to try and hide the fact that they were exhausted. They needed a break, preferably in the sun or inside. The weather wasn’t bad, but the wind was cold. They could keep warm flying hard, but gliding along like this would soon see them freeze.

“FUCK!” Dakota finally snapped out, a shock rolling through the whole formation. Essy in particular, who was normally so good at reading people, was taken completely by surprise and actually banked away for a split second as if looking to escape before she got back on a level wing.

“I am sorry Dakota!” the older woman called back, her tone as sincere as could be managed between the pants.

“No, it is not your fault! Jortun and Victoria have played me for a fool. Back to the keep, nothing for it. Get something warm!”

And with that their leader dived away towards the mess of a fight down below. Jarix was keeping the pursuing royal Guard dragonettes out of close range, Radexi likely shouting at everyone behind them how they were all dead, while Glira had decided to stick it out with the keep’s guard even further down despite her minimal crew.

They glided along for a touch longer, Essy’s shoulders drooping as she turned her head back. “Follow me.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

Thus far Tom was rather enjoying his day. He had been a little concerned he was going to be spending half the day freefalling. Instead he got to enjoy several hours worth of airshow all from a nice comfy spot sitting down. The rifle scope, useless as it was up here, even made for a decent monocular to watch things from afar.

Radexi was having a less good day. All he got to do was point his gun at anything in pursuit and clamber around checking on the harness to make sure nothing was amiss. Dakota had it worse though. The future lady had adopted an extremely serious attitude to things. When combined with Zarko’s usual temperament, which was often described as militaristic, the mood aboard had ended up feeling quite dour indeed. Not even Jarix seemed set on cheering things up. It was clear the dragon was working today and he was doing his damndest.

The lieutenant had done her best to help Dakota with strategy and maneuvers fit for dealing with veterans who knew them all like the back of their hand. Slip up after slip up were exploited by Glira and her crew, the only true level fights resulting from when the Royal guard were split up between the teams.

It wasn’t her fault of course, but she sure seemed to take it that way. Tom couldn’t really blame her. She was playing deadly chess against grandmasters, and she knew if it had been for real they would have lost more than once already.

Tom didn’t really have any useful tactical input, so he busied himself with watching, learning, and trying to come up with a way to train gunnery up here. They really needed something, cause this pointing and going bang just wouldn’t do. He was of course not much better off than Radexi himself. He had spent the day pointing at dragonettes and going bang, and he guessed the keep’s guards were having similar problems. Only real excitement were the few exercises they had done for counter boarding.

Much to his relief, they had refrained from the joked about tactic of just knocking him off. But they had still proven decidedly tricky to deal with if they did manage to somehow get a boarding action going. Jarix had to humor them slightly when they did so, slowing down a touch. Both to make it possible for them to catch him as well as making it a little safer for all involved.

The soldiers from the Royal Guard were good at being sneaky, attacking from both above and below. Maiko had managed to latch onto Jarix’s belly rigging and clamber up to nail Tom from behind with a crossbow bolt. Assuming the weapon had been loaded of course.

The keep’s guards had the numbers to simply overwhelm them before Tom and Radexi could reasonably take enough of them down. And they had firearms of their own of course. Even if a shotgun wouldn’t do much more than lightly wound Jarix, it was not the same story for his crew.

During the quick breaks on the ground there had been much discussion of engagement ranges, what the approach angle would do, how to lead targets, and so on. The dragonettes were used to relatively low velocity weapons after all. The shotguns when firing buckshot would kill a man at 50 meters just fine, double that with a slug. The problem quickly became hitting anything. At much larger ranges the pellets were still dangerous, but the spread would be massive. It didn’t help that their guns didn’t have chokes. Tom couldn’t help but agree with himself that rifles would be a godsend against dragon crew. They moved far more predictably, and they were tightly spaced if the dragon happened to be carrying a large crew. The shotguns were undoubtedly effective, but range and velocity were holding them back.

“Why aren’t they coming down to help us! We would have this if they did. She told them to!” Radexi called out, the little guy downright furious at the fact that all he got to do was point the fifty rearwards and pretend to track targets.

“They are spent. She ran them ragged,” Zarko called back, she and Tom both watching Dakota beating hard for the formation of huntresses. “They will need some rest then they will be good as new.”

“For all the good it does us now! I get tired too you know!” Jarix complained as he kept up the pace, Junior calling out range to the pursuers.

Tom did feel a little bad. The most strenuous thing he had done all day was clamber around a little on Jarix’s harness, and even then he didn’t get too daring out of fear of falling off.

“Quit your whining, they have guys with them. They can barely make half your speed when you are trying.”

“When I don’t have four people, armor, and the fifty on my back.”

“Three people,” Zarko corrected as she switched her attention to the boarding action unfolding around Glira.

“Speaking of slow, I am guessing Jortun wanted to make it interesting… not like her to let someone on her back she doesn’t like.”

“She could just rinse them off with a crackle and pop,” Jarix retorted, looking towards his mother as well. “One of the upsides to minimal crew, they are all up by her neck.”

“Doesn’t that, you know. Hurt?!” Tom shouted confused.

“More of a nasty tingle really. Of course you only let the lighting roll out, not the full blast.”

“I could see how that might be a problem, yeah!” Tom shouted in reply, thinking back to the battle at Deriva where he had seen Jarix blanket a whole area in crackling lightning, tiny tendrils of light streaking out in all directions.

“And there it is… Well, they are all dead.”

“Only most of them, those up by the front would have escaped… and the coward at the back probably got away too,” Zarko commented as Tom brought up the riflescope, looking towards Glira’s tail where, sure enough, Unkai was attempting to hide behind the dragon’s own arse.

‘Classy move, bro.’