“I didn’t need your help,” Penelope vehemently claimed.  Leon gave her an exasperated look, and a moment later, she added, “… Though, it was appreciated.  Thank you.”

Leon nodded in acknowledgment, unsure how to respond to such direct thanks.

It had been about an hour since he’d joined the battle between her and the black wyvern.  The rest of the flight following that monster had been cleaned up, with both Leon and Penelope adding several more wyvern heads to their kill counts.  Cassandra, too, added a couple, but for the most part, the battle was over by the time she left her ark.

“I’m sure you had everything well in hand,” Leon eventually stated.

The two were walking together back to the rendezvous point as the rest of the hunters around were squabbling over their kills—Leon and Penelope had already taken their kills into their respective soul realms.  Leon and Penelope’s retinue had gathered in a shallow valley between two large hills, at the top of which grew a pair of trees, massive even by the standards of the Scorched Fields.  In that valley, both the ark Leon had rode in on and Cassandra’s ark had landed, and the Princess’ followers were out in force, securing the area.

There were sixteen other hunter teams present in the valley, all gathered to help in bringing down the black wyvern who’d killed more than a hundred in the past day.  Almost five hundred relatively powerful mages, though not a single eighth-tier mage among them.  Only Leon, Penelope, Cassandra, and Maia were so powerful.

With barely another word between them, Leon and Penelope linked back up with their retainers and made for Cassandra’s ark, outside of which the Princess waited.  She looked rather bored standing on a small platform surrounded by her guards, her ruby eyes narrow with what looked to Leon like displeasure and disappointment.  She stood still, but her fingers kept twitching toward Sunlight, which still rested upon her hip.

“Leon!  Lady Penelope!” cried out one of her seventh-tier hangers-on, a young woman in gleaming golden armor that appeared to Leon to be beyond tacky next to Cassandra’s clean white plate.

The Princess spared both of them a quick glance before turning her gaze out in the direction that the black wyvern and the six seventh-tier female wyverns had fled in.

“We cannot let this threat go unaddressed!” Cassandra declared before Leon or Penelope could offer greetings.  “Such powerful wyverns… they slaughtered so many in so short a time, and rallied so many others behind them…  Klea!  Do we have casualty numbers yet?”

Another young woman, this one only fourth-tier and dressed in green silk instead of armor, replied, “Seventy-eight hunters died in this battle!  A hundred and ninety-three more are currently being treated for their wounds!  At least two days until they’re all back on their feet!”

A scowl moved across Cassandra’s beautiful face, and she finally turned to properly acknowledge Leon and Penelope.

“This was a bad day, I’m afraid,” she said.  “Many have died, but it’s thanks to your efforts that those who now frolic in the Lands of Eternal Bounty were not joined by many more.”

“Such is our duty, Your Highness,” Penelope said with a tilt of her head that could be seen as the slightest of bows.

Leon mimicked the gesture and added, “Duty or no, I’d be here hunting the wyverns all the same.”

Cassandra’s scowl lightened for a moment as a smile tugged at her lips, her glittering ruby eyes almost flashing in the afternoon sun at Leon’s statement.

The Princess asked, “Duty and desire… you two have strong motivation to hunt down this Black, then?  And his harem?”

Without hesitation, Leon responded, “I was already considering going after him, I just hadn’t yet spoken to anyone else about it.”

“After today,” Penelope added, “I have some personal business I want to settle with him.  Duty and desire intersect for me, and I would relish the chance to kill that thing.”

A slight spike in killing intent pulsed out from Penelope, her words ringing absolutely true to Leon.  She was doing an admirable job of covering it up, but the state she’d been put in by the black wyvern had her furious.

Cassandra, after hearing their words, said, “Your words please me.  I intend to hunt this monster down, and all of his consorts.  So long as they live, the Scorched Fields and all its surroundings will remain in danger.  These actions they have perpetrated over the past day indicate both their intelligence and will to hunt humankind, and once this hunt is over, if they’ve not been dealt with, then there’ll be almost nothing stopping them from running right over the Pegasi States.  They must be stopped!”

“How about this, then,” Leon said in suggestion, not thinking that the danger was quite as severe as Cassandra was making it out to be, but also knowing that after riling the black wyvern up, he couldn’t now leave this mess for someone else to clean up.  “Let’s all finish mopping up and meet again in two hours?  I have some information that might prove useful to this hunt, but first I think we all need to check in with our own people.”

He gave Penelope a meaningful look, and she gravely nodded.  Leon had seen two of her people fall to the wyverns, and that was just when they were in sight.  Penelope and her retinue had been fighting for longer than that, so he had to assume that she’d lost a fair number of her followers.

None of his had fallen, thankfully, but he could still see Alcander looking more than a little wobbly on his feet, and Alix had a healing spell wrapped around her arm.  He needed to make sure that his retinue was in top shape and that the area was secure.  Then they could get to planning.

“I don’t want to wait too long,” Cassandra declared.  “One hour should be sufficient, no?  Meet back here then.”

“How about a more central location?” Penelope replied.  “I’ll see that a secure camp is set up between our arks.”

Cassandra scowled again but didn’t argue.  Penelope and Leon weren’t her subordinates, and while she could speak as imperiously as she wished, they were under no compulsion to follow her orders.  Leon understood that while arguing over sovereignty and authority at this time would be nothing but self-destructive, certain distance and decorum had to be maintained.  Cassandra couldn’t just order them to appear before her in an hour, it was better to meet on more neutral ground.

“So be it,” she growled, and the three went their separate ways.

Leon and his retinue met back up with Elise outside of the Heaven’s Eye ark and Talal immediately got on the comm stone to send his report back to Vyrias.  Leon was certain others had already informed the city of the battle that just took place, but every report had to be filed, and Talal was on top of his duties.

Camp was set up, and Leon left his retinue behind to rest after seeing to them with the tau pearl.  The thing was startlingly powerful, healing their injuries with ease just as it had done with Penelope.  Leon was incredibly pleased with its performance and felt like he was starting to understand just why the Director wanted one badly enough to send an eighth-tier mage to find one.

He couldn’t wait to find out what else the thing could do.

Alix was all right, having only sustained a large gash on her arm.  Alcander had been knocked about and had received a mild concussion, but it wasn’t anything that the tau pearl couldn’t fix.  He was back to bragging about the fifth-tier wyvern he’d managed to kill—with some help from Marcus and Gaius—in no time.

Everyone else was fortunately uninjured, or their injuries had already been healed by spell or potion, and Leon’s score for the bet had increased by a dozen, including those killed by the rest of his retinue.

After an hour passed, Leon left his retinue in his portable villa and made his way to the center of the main camp where Penelope had established something of a forward operating base.  It was a relatively small, though luxurious and heavily secured, modular building with several of her personal retainers standing guard outside.  The building was almost exactly in between the Heaven’s Eye ark and Cassandra’s ark.

Waiting outside, Leon noticed several of Cassandra’s armored retainers, and realized he was probably the last of the eighth-tier mages to arrive.

When he walked in, he found that the entire building amounted to a single room with a large conference table in the middle and chairs lining the walls.  The table had a large crystal as its centerpiece that radiated light magic.

Near one end of the table sat Cassandra, while Penelope sat to her right.  About half a dozen others were sitting in the chairs at the edges of the room, though Leon largely ignored them as adjutants and assistants.  Judging by their attire, though, he was the only one that showed up without his entourage, which was immediately pointed out.

“Leon,” Penelope said as he walked in, “abandoned by your retainers?  Have they realized they can do so much better already?”

“Keep talking, Penelope,” Leon replied with a smug grin, “as it stands, you’ll be handing that diamond over to me by the end of this hunt, and then it’ll be your retainers in danger of desertion…”

Penelope went quiet for a moment, her mocking expression turning downcast before becoming more guarded and neutral.  Leon internally winced as what he’d just said sank in—Penelope had lost several of her retainers in that fight, and Leon had likely just reminded her of that.

He wasn’t going to apologize, not for an exchange she started, but he felt his cheeks burn in mild embarrassment and he hurriedly took a seat on Cassandra’s left, though sat at such an angle that he hoped it was clear he wasn’t making any tacit implications about their power.

“Retainers or not,” Cassandra said as Leon got himself situated, “I thought that the other eighth-tier mage in your party would be joining us.  Why is she not here?”

“She’s tired,” Leon replied.  “She also has little interest in making these decisions.”

Cassandra stared at him for a long moment, then seemed to accept what he said and moved on.

“Leon,” she said, “you said that you had information for us regarding this beast?”

“Yes,” Leon replied.  “I happened to see something a couple days ago…”

Leon quickly caught up Penelope and Cassandra with what he knew of the black wyvern, informing them of his own fight with the monster and the tribute the wyvern had received from the six females who seemed to be following him.

“Dispel any doubt as to this thing’s intelligence,” Penelope stated as Leon finished his story.  “It’s clearly sapient and capable of making rational decisions.  It fled when it realized it couldn’t win the fight.  The fight itself seemed to almost be a revenge strike against us for your actions, Leon Raime.”

Leon shrugged.  “Maybe, who can say with such a beast except the beast himself?  I won’t apologize, the idea that a wyvern taking revenge after my little sojourn into their lairs was hardly something I could’ve predicted.  Besides, it’s not like male wyverns seem to care that much about their young or their mates.”

“Such things only matter with their weaker and dumber of their number,” Cassandra said, cutting in before Penelope could fire back at Leon.  “Regardless, what’s happened has happened.  We can lay blame later, right now we have to kill this monster.  Are we in agreement on that?”

“I am, at least,” Leon replied.

“As am I,” Penelope added.

“Good,” Cassandra whispered.  “This thing is a danger to all of us.  We need to do this carefully.  Surgically.”

She spoke with a certain degree of hostility to her tone, and Leon immediately picked up on what she was saying.  “You want to leave the other hunters behind?”

“Yes,” Cassandra replied with a brief smile of appreciation, her ruby eyes glittering as they quickly swept over Leon.  “They took far too many casualties in that fight, they won’t help us with this Black.”

“Are you sure you’re not just doing this to increase your chances of taking his head?” Leon wondered, only half-jokingly.

“Such a kill would bring me closer to the lead, wouldn’t it?” Cassandra responded with a slight smile.  “But no, right now I’m only thinking of how best to kill this monster.”

“Let’s just fly over this thing’s gorge and collapse it right on the monster’s head,” Penelope bitterly suggested.

Leon instinctively disagreed, though he recognized that his desire to hunt this monster was playing a large part in that response.  However, after a moment’s thought, he was able to add a little reason to his instinct.

“It’s a large gorge,” he said.  “Who knows how many cave systems it might connect to?  Our quarry is powerful with darkness magic, and has eighth-tier power, besides.  Simply collapsing the gorge won’t kill him, or even his… mates?  The other six with him.”

“We need to do this personally,” Cassandra said with intensity, her lips turning upward in an almost mad grin of anticipation, and Leon noticed her fingers curling around the hilt of Sunlight, which yet hung from her belt.  He wondered why it wasn’t stored in her soul realm, but he supposed she might just be excited about the new weapon and wanted to show it off a bit.  “Killing this thing and bringing its corpse in will do much to ensure that this region remains at peace.”

“Then let’s head into that gorge and flush him out,” Leon responded.  “Him and his harem.  Although…”

“What is it?” Cassandra asked.

“The Red, Gold, and Blue.  Did you notice their general reluctance to follow Black as he retreated?  White, Green, and Brown didn’t hesitate, but the former three seemed to need a little extra persuasion.  Was I just seeing things?”

“I can’t tell what these things were thinking,” Cassandra said almost dismissively.  “Who knows what they were doing, or why.  What matters is that they fall.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Leon whispered in thought.  “If Red and the other two aren’t that willing to follow Black, and can be reasoned with, is it not worth a try?”

“You want to reason with a wyvern?” Penelope derisively asked.

“I’m wondering if it’s possible, and if it’s something worth trying,” Leon retorted, a hint of indignation entering his voice.

Penelope seemed about ready to argue, but after a moment of thought, she held her tongue.  Leon noticed that one of her hands briefly rubbed one of the places she’d been wounded by Black, and where Leon had healed her.

“Do you think it’s worth trying, Leon Raime?” Cassandra asked, her expression neutral, giving away none of her thoughts.

Leon paused a moment, turning the idea over in his mind.  It was a recent idea on his part, and one that he didn’t think was fully formed.  “It’s dangerous,” he began, thinking out loud more than he was explaining any specific idea.  “However, I think we can handle three seventh-tier wyverns between us.  But can we even get the opportunity to talk to them on their own without Black noticing?  Or any of the other three?  We can’t say why they follow Black, so how can I say if trying to turn Red, Blue, or Gold is even possible, let alone if it should be attempted?”

Cassandra regarded him with a thoughtful look.  “I’m… open to the idea,” she hesitantly responded.  “But I’m not willing to waste too much time trying to get in contact with them.  That said, Lady Penelope was already wounded by Black, and if you hadn’t arrived in time, she might’ve even fallen to the monster.”

“That’s up for debate,” Penelope murmured in disagreement.

“Debate it all you want, but it doesn’t change that the situation looked bad for you, didn’t it?” Cassandra asked.

Penelope scowled but didn’t respond.

“Wyverns are dangerous,” Cassandra continued.  “They’re stronger by far than a mage of equal power.  And this Black having such powerful darkness magic only makes him that much more dangerous.  Any and all assistance from powerful beings is a thing to celebrate when hunting him down.”

“Then you think it’s worth a try?” Leon asked.

“Assuming we get the opportunity,” Cassandra replied with a slight smile.  “No matter what, though, we have to bring down that black wyvern.  He’s already proven that he’s willing to venture out and specifically hunt us down.  If we leave him here after the hunt…”

She didn’t need to finish her statement, they all knew that leaving Black and his wyverns alone was no longer an option.  It wasn’t something that would impact the entire plane or anything, but Leon wasn’t leaving without bringing Black down.

The three spoke for a little while longer, running through the specific details of their plan.  They had to get to the gorge, and they had to do so as quickly as they could.  All of them had to remain alert for signs of any of their targets just in case they either hadn’t fallen back to the gorge, or in case they left before the hunting parties could close the distance.

All the other hunting parties were to be left behind.  They couldn’t move as fast, nor would they be as useful in a battle against so many powerful wyverns.

And so, they decided to leave at dusk, using their two arks to move as quickly as they could into the wyvern’s aeries.  Once they drew close, their hunting parties would disembark and move on foot or by using their personal flight gear while Cassandra’s ark would provide long-range artillery cover with its Imperial Lances and the Heaven’s Eye ark would fall back several miles to where it was safer to wait for them.

Once they reached the gorge, they’d have to move a little more cautiously, but they couldn’t exactly plan for what they didn’t know.  They’d have to play their clearing of the gorge by ear.  At the very least, there were a few places to make camp along the cliffs overlooking the gorge, if the need for them arose.

When the meeting ended, Leon felt like it was a pretty solid plan, all things considered.  As he left the meeting chamber, though, he felt Cassandra’s eyes upon him, and he slowed for a moment, turning just as he reached the door and making eye contact with the Princess.

She was staring at him, a strange look on her face: one of intrigue, he thought, though why she might be intrigued had him guessing.  It also had him flashing back to Anastasios’ warning to him, proving that at least the Ilian Empire knew who he was, and who he was connected to.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the Sacred Golden Empire, and Cassandra by extension, knew of his power, too.

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