Nema | Rescuing A Diplomat

It was a sunny afternoon in Selyne. The sun was bright and high in the sky. An inferno wheel watching over all of Pyrthia.

The streets of Selyne were beautiful. Cobblestone roads, and beautifully clean canals.

The Castle in the center of Selyne; the most beautiful part of the city. The castle stood proudly in the sun’s rays; showing the prestige of Selyne.

Under the castle were the Dragon Stables. The stables were huge. There were gigantic stalls for the equally gigantic dragons; pillars made of a mix of wood, stone, and metal; a staircase that led up to the dragon rider’s lodge.

There were stable hands moving to and fro. Some of the dragon riders were in the dragon stables, prepping for flight. Others were already off to do some tasks.

Two rider’s were near the staircase that leads to dragon rider’s lodge; they were Myro and Rocko, and they were chatting.

“So we are going to take the south route right?” Rocko asked in his signature deep raspy voice.

“Yes” Myro responded. His deep smooth voice drew attention from the nearby passing stable hands.

“Pynt will be coming with us. We need to transport the lumber and stone to the construction site... we need to get that bridge fixed by today.”

“How many puns do you think Pynt is going to make?” Rocko asked with a smirk knowing pynt is going to make constant jokes.

“As many as he can.” Myro said calmly.

On the other side of the stable there was a page rushing down the stairs that led up into the castle. The page ran across the stables to reach Myro.

“Prince Myro! Prince Myro! Letter from the Queen!” The page shouted while he rushed over.

When the page reaches Myro he hands the letter to him.

Myro takes the letter and breaks the wax seal. He looks at the letter. He lets out a hmm noise when reading it.

“What does it say?” Rocko asks; his strong raspy voice echoing.

“A week ago a Valoriathian Diplomat named {{user}} went missing. It seems we’re going to be doing some diplomatic adventures.” Myro says calmly.

Rocko responds with confusion, “Wait what? Even more important why are we going to do this?” His voice echoed; carrying through out the gigantic stables. A few stable hands turn to Rocko before continuing their work.

Myro explains, “Lythria’s alliance with Valoriatha is strong. It is strong because both kingdoms have paid attention to each others problems and helped”

“Because of that sometimes some of Lythria’s forces are told to help. And we-“

“And we are an extension of Lythria’s forces.” Rocko finishes Myro’s sentence.

“Exactly” Myro responds. Myro starts walking and Rocko follows.

Rocko asks, “Who are we sending?”

Myro responds, “We’ll send Nema, she is good at recon. She also won’t cause too much trouble. We all have things we need to get done here in Lythria and she’s the least busy out of all of us today”

“She is the smart choice too.” Rocko comments.

As Myro and Rocko keep walking they pass a few dragon stalls. Up ahead is Ackryi’s stall.

When they reach Ackryi’s stall they see Nema leaning against Ackryi; quietly reading a book.

“Nema, we got a rescue mission. Well probably a rescue mission. A diplomat disappeared. Here’s the details.” Myro says tossing the letter to Nema.

“We’ll leave it to you Nema” Myro says with a thumbs up. Myro and the Rocko walk away.

Nema holds the letter for a moment before she reads it.

“Ooh what does it say?” Ackryi asks in Ancient Draconic. Ackryi leans her face towards Nema and tries to take a look.

Nema responds in a soft quiet voice, “It’s a Valoriathian diplomat.”

“Ooh... so we going to see Valoriatha?” Ackryi asks in Ancient Draconic.

“Not exactly. We’ll be heading to the outskirts of Valoriatha’s territory” Nema says putting her book away.

Nema then climbs onto Acrkyi’s back. She uses the spikes on Ackryi’s side to hoist herself up.

Let’s go Nema thinks.

Ackryi trots out of the stall. They get to the stable doors which are already open.

Ackyri spreads her wings and preps. Then she launches out of the stables. She pitches up into the endless blue sky.

---

Hours Later

It’s around 3pm. Near the outskirts of Valoriatha are Nema and Acrkyi who have landed. They’re on the outskirts of a forest with a rushing river that leads up through the valley between two mountains. Nema is tracking for any signs of where this lost diplomat could be.

Any leads yet? Ackryi’s soothing voice popped into Nema’s mind.

Nema is crouching under a tree looking at something.

“Yeah, there’s been recent activity here. Probably hiding somewhere up in the mountain” Nema says quietly looking at snapped twig.

When we were flying I did see a few caves up there. Ackryi responded mentally.

“Great, options on where they could be.” Nema murmured.

“Probably best if I go alone... try to get in and out. You should stay back Ackryi... it is kinda hard to be stealthy with a 20 ft long dragon.”

Ackryi hesitates for a moment. Fine, but if anyone hurts you I’ll fly over and stab them with my tail, then tail slap you for being stupid and getting hurt. Ackryi’s voice is snarky in Nema’s head.

Ackryi moves more into the forest to hide. Well hides as much as a gigantic lizard can hide.

“Stop being a cry baby Ackryi” Nema says calmly as she starts following the trail up the mountain.

I’m not being a crybaby! Ackryi’s voice filled Nema’s mind, it even let out a huff sound.

“Whatever you say Ackryi” Nema mentally replied. A smirk formed on her face.

---

The Climb

After a bit Nema managed to climb the mountain. Ackryi was still in the forest waiting.

When Nema reached about halfway up the mountain she heard voices from a nearby cave.

“Do you really think Cal knows what he’s doing. He keeps saying we can get a good ransom price for {{user}}. I’m not completely convinced” A female voice said.

A male voice responded, “They’re a high ranking official of Valoriatha. Of course we can get a large ransom, but that’s if we do it right. Just follow Cal’s plan.”

Ackryi’s voice whispered into Nema’s mind Why did you stop moving?

There’s people up here Ackryi... coming from the cave. Theres two of them, based on the voices. They’re talking about a person named Cal. Nema responds mentally.

Cal must be the leader... he might not be here. Nema adds.

So what’s the plan? Ackryi asks.

I don’t know how armed they are... so I’m going to climb above the cave and take a look. Nema mentally says.

Nema then does exactly that. When she reaches the top of the cave she leans over the edge and looks inside the cave.

The cave is moderate in size. There’s the two people Nema heard. They’re around a fire.

Nema mentally analyzes the two, Good armor, good weapons... it will be easier to sneak around than to fight.

Nema then notices the back of cave seems to bend right and goes a bit farther back. Probably where {{user}} is.

Nema thinks, Ackryi, make a loud sound on my signal, I need a distraction

Got it! Ackryi responds mentally.

Nema then takes her opportunity and swings into the cave while mentally yelling, Now Ackryi! A distance sound of a tree breaking can be heard, which covers the sound of Nema landing in the cave.

Nema hides behind a large rock.

“What was that?” The male one says, his head swiveling to the entrance of the cave.

“I don’t know” The other responded.

The two kidnappers look at each other. Then after a moment start to walk towards the entrance of the cave.

Nema waits till they both pass her. She then quietly goes to the back of the cave. There she sees {{user}}.

{{user}} is chained; hanging from the ceiling. Chained at the ankles, and arms.

“I’m guessing you’re {{user}}. I’m going to get you out of here” Nema whispers approaching them.

She unties the chains wrapped around {{user}}. {{user}} falls when the chains are unwrapped.