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Which worried everyone, of course. Nothing good came from having quiet enemies. This would be the third search attempt to locate them, as two other earth dragons had come out alone and tried to pick up the trail with no success.
Zahur landed not far from him, shaking out his massive green wings before settling and panning the area with a sweep of his giant, spiked head. The earth dragon had volunteered to come out with them and see if he could possibly pick up the Jaeggi’s trail.
Nikki unbuckled from the harness and slid to their feet—a little clumsily, as they weren’t used to the motion. Yet. Gunter had full faith that once Nikki unfurled a little and trusted the clan enough to interact with everyone, they’d quickly be seduced by someone. And then flown everywhere.
Gunter turned his head to look at Nikki, trying to interpret the expression on their face. But Nikki was hard to read. Probably a survival tactic picked up after a decade of living within the Jaeggi’s regime. The poker face was strong as Nikki stared straight ahead. Gunter was worried about them, truth tell. Nikki had already endured so much, being here had to be a stark reminder of things they’d rather not remember. On one hand, Gunter was strangely proud Nikki would face their demons; on the other hand, worried they’d overdo it.
He’d keep an eye on Nikki. If it got too much for the young mage, Gunter would fly them out of here.
Zahur shifted back into his human form and crouched down, holding his hand just an inch above the dirt, his harsh face lined in concentration. The earth dragon was not what you would call small, not in any sense. He had a good six inches on Gunter in height and was nearly as broad as he was tall. And only some of that was due to muscle.
Zahur, he had a feeling, was a person who loved food.
But he was beginning to wonder if that was an earth dragon trait. King Chalo of the Earth Dragons was also something of a walking mountain when it came to his size. All the earth dragons who’d arrived at Burkhard were quite large. Was that a trait of the warrior dragons or an overall earth dragon trait? He’d have to ask, but later.
After a moment, Zahur shook his head and stood. “I’m not picking up much from this side,” Zahur said definitely. “Where did they exit?”
“Northeast side, I think.” Nikki pointed ahead. “At least, that was the other main road in. The dragons all came in from this side.”
“So, they fled in the opposite direction? Okay, makes sense to me.” Zahur turned to look at Gunter. “I know you said you wanted to poke around a bit.”
With some reluctance, Gunter shifted to his human form as well. As a dragon, he could better protect Nikki—at the very least shield them with his enormous body and wings. But poking around couldn’t be accomplished effectively while also trying to mind a long tail with a knack for knocking things over.
“We didn’t really search this place as carefully as we could have,” Gunter explained. “We had injured people, distraught mages to rescue, and Sora was fit to be tied by the time we got Ravi back to him. It was chaos. The only focus on this area has been to try and pick up the trail from here, which—as you know—hasn’t met with success. I feel like we might garner some clues if we look. It will be risky, though. As Nikki said, they’ve surely left booby traps behind.”
“I’ll do my best to steer you clear of them,” Nikki promised faithfully.
A half smile tilted up one corner of Zahur’s mouth. “I trust you to do so, young mage. Alright, let’s wade in. If I can catch the start of their trail, it’ll be that much easier to track it out of this place.”
Gunter possessed only an intellectual understanding of how an earth dragon’s sense worked. He knew they were very in tune with the earth, that it would do their bidding to limited degrees when summoned, but he was shaky on the details. They were excellent trackers, though; everyone agreed on that. Hence why Zahur had volunteered to come out with them.
The trio approached the damaged city with wariness. The closer they got, the more Nikki gravitated to Gunter’s shadow. They walked in step with him, but tensely, as if they were a second away from latching onto his arm and not letting go.
Having some sympathy, Gunter turned his hand palm up in offering. “If it makes you feel better—”
Nikki latched onto the offered hand instantly, the grip borderline stranglehold. But they did relax a little at the same time, as if Gunter was the safety line they needed.
It gave Nikki confidence, too, as they turned their elvish face upwards with a grin teasing their mouth. “So nice. All of you dragons are so nice.”
