To Pass The Time pt 2

Muse sighed. "If you two don't need me, I'll take a little breather. Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Just…scouting ahead."

Harmony nodded to her. "Go ahead. Just make sure you're a natural color…and don't get caught by anyone this time."

Muse grinned, showing all her teeth, which were suddenly pointed. "You betcha."

She lept into the air and transformed into a tiny brown mink, then scurried out through a hole in the door and away. Harmony felt her dash into the brush and change into a hawk, before taking off.

Harlan sat, amused at the conversation; Harmony reached out to him mentally, and he let her in. Harlan..would you like to see as a hawk sees? We can make that happen, Harmony thought at him. Harlan's face lit up, and he thought back, I would love to!

Harmony mentally joined with Muse, then with Harlan, and together, Muse showed them what she saw. At first, it was almost difficult to understand what it was; a vast expanse of darkest green, lumpy with a narrow stripe of light brown in the center, winding back and forth; and something that looked like multi-colored ants, crawling along it. Then suddenly Harlan gasped, "That's US!" Harmony could feel the shock and awe radiating from him. "This is how a bird sees us?! We are so small!" Harmony giggled softly. "Yes, we do look very small to a bird. Shall we explore further?"

Muse's eyes swooped upward to the horizon; the dark greens of the forest gave way to a lighter green, soft and far-away. Off to one side was a towering wall, golden in the sun. "the desert cliffs of Ellux" Harlan whispered, his voiced awed. Then Muse's eyes swooped to the right, and the dark greens of the forest ended abruptly, replaced by a broad band of blue-black which filled the horizon. "The Sea!" Harlan murmured again. "Oh…"

Then Muse was pushing against the wind, her wingbeats carrying them higher, higher; her eyes trained ahead of them, on the lighter green. Something lay there–a patch of something rough-shaped, a reddish-brown stain. She folded her wings, then, and stooped towards it, moving at incredible speed. The patch became rougher; became moving; became an army, a group of red-brown tents of differing sizes and shapes, which were quickly being packed into carts, hundreds of people milling about. Muse's eyes hovered over one group; they were clearly practising drills of some kind. Another group was tending horses, although there weren't many of those–it appeared they were used only for the carts. Another group were dragging what looked like a bear carcass out of the forest. Finally Muse's eye shifted to find the largest tent yet–a massive thing of red and gold, like a palace of canvas and wood. Atop the peak of it flew a single banner–a stream of blood-red silk, prominently bearing a golden skull and crossed swords. "Barantides!" Harlan pulled out of the link so abruptly that he left a dark, blank void, which startled Harmony. Before she could recover herself, she felt Harlan returning, asking to see again. I'm sorry. Please let me see the location. Harmony and Muse showed him; a group of over 30 tents including the largest, with a lot of movement, not far from the road they traveled on. They were on a different branch of the road, one that led off towards the sea; and it appeared they were getting ready to travel.

Muse, can you see Blackwall castle? Harmony thought. I think those are reinforcements for the enemy there. She heard Harlan agree. "Muse–can you look to the south and west a bit? Blackwall Castle should be there."

Muse rose high again, turning herself to the south-west. There it was; a large black stone wall encircling a town, many times the size of Grebefal. It stood around the castle at its center, encircled itself by a second set of walls and a large castle garden. Even from this distance, Harmony could tell it was massive–and very beautiful. But the black walls were broken and smoking in several places; fires raged in a few places, both inside and outside the walls. The fields surrounding the town were all burnt black, and there was evidence of fighting in several places–stone cairns and dirty workmen dragging cartloads of something away. Harmony realized they were medics; and the things were bodies. Suddenly she felt sick. "Ohhh. How awful!!" This time it was Harlan who squeezed her hand, much to her surprise.

"It truly is. I wish we could stop this." He released the link, more slowly this time. "I have…seen enough, for now. Thank you, Harmony." He closed his eyes. "I think…I will rest for a while, now. That was a lot for me to comprehend."

Harmony nodded. "I think I will rest as well." She closed her eyes too, following Muse-the-hawk. Muse had shifted back to the Barantides troops and was watching them as they crawled slowly down the road towards Blackwall. They were now crossing a ravine, it looked like; a few carts at a time, passing over a narrow strip of land.

Muse, she thought, Can you find some way to stall the reinforcements? She felt Muse grin all the way across the sky. Stall them? I'll stop them. Leave it to me! Harmony felt a little scared; what would happen if Muse were wounded or killed? Would it kill her, too? Muse, just be careful please, she thought. We don't know everything about our link yet. I'd rather not die finding out.

Muse had transformed; Harmony could feel it. Her vision had changed, wasn't as sharp; her link felt hot, and large. Harmony saw something was whizzing through the air. It struck Muse, but bounced off, as harmless as handfuls of small pebbles. Then Muse roared and stooped sharply towards the group below. As she roared, heat and light poured from her mouth; it lit the grass, trees, road in front of the army on fire. The rocks of the road turned to lava, gleaming white-hot for a few seconds before settling to red. Several large trees on either side of the road roared into flame. Muse whirled in the air, using her tail; they collapsed, falling into a massive pile across the road, as big a pile as herself, and then some… There were men screaming, horses screaming, carts blazing…things falling into the ravine. Then she whirled, and dove to the ground. 

Harmony leaned forward, as if that could somehow help the men. Muse! Please! Stop! It's too much. Don't hurt them!

But Muse was ignoring her now, in a way she never had before. The scene was so close, moving so fast, but she couldn't touch them, couldn't stop it. No, of course she couldn't; she was sitting in a glossy wooden coach, miles away, with Harlan. Harmony forced a deep breath and steeled herself to open her own eyes, to look at something else, to break the link. She could feel Muse still battling; she didn't want to see what was happening. She felt outraged and ashamed with herself; this was her responsibility, her other-soul, fighting the Barantides as a mighty red dragon; this was her own power, harming those men. But, this was so much violence. So much rage…was this really the Muse she knew? For the first time, Harmony felt a little afraid of what Muse could do, and questioned whether Muse was really hers. But she needed to know. She re-opened the link, opened her eyes to Muse's, again; this time, it appeared Muse was leaving, flapping powerfully into the blue sky, with a raging fire and a massive column of smoke below her. 

Oh, all done, Muse proclaimed happily, as if she were telling the time of day. I burnt all their carts to a crisp, and blocked the road with logs. Probably burnt a few of 'em too, I wasn't really looking…but that'll keep them held up for a while. I'll come back now. Our link is getting thin, I'm too far from you. I can't hear you sometimes.

Harmony shivered, still feeling nauseated and shocked at the violence.

That's enough, Muse…thank you, although I wish you could have found a way that didn't harm them, they are human… Now if only we could fly into Blackwall so easily…

But Humans hurt humans, Muse remarked emotionlessly. And, we can, I could fly you in on my back. But taking everyone there, would take a lot of trips… and I doubt that the horses would appreciate travel by dragon.

Harmony smiled ruefully. No, I expect they wouldn't. Most of the soldiers probably wouldn't either.

Plus, I'd have to show myself, Muse continued. There would be no way to explain a tamed dragon suddenly offering to carry you on its back.

Also true. Although that might not be the worst thing, Harmony thought. There may be a time soon when it will be more important to protect others, than to keep our secret.

Especially Harlan, thought Muse. He's cute, right? She had transformed into a tiny sparrow, and was soon perching on the carriage, to slip back in through one of the wooden screen holes. Cute, and nice to you.

And Harmony agreed.