Before walking out, Aurelius pleaded, "I don't care what you do! It can be something simple, like upping the amount of patrols that go out. It doesn't have to be drastic just yet, just… just do something!"
"We'll up patrols to keep everyone's minds at ease. But that's it. We aren't going to send everyone into a panic over a few dragons' dreams, of all things."
"Alright then. I guess my work here is done?"
"Well, we were in the middle of a meeting."
Aurelius huffed and turned to leave, meeting Farron and Mara outside.
"I think I convinced them to increase patrols- or at least they said they would. But that's it," he reported, "It's something, but I doubt it's enough."
“I agree, even if those old men and women don’t think there’s anything coming we will and we need to be more prepared then just more patrols.” Farron grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning against his dragon.
"So, what's it going to be? Stand our ground and fight or plan for escape?" Aurelius asked, tapping his foot.
I don't think we're dealing with something as simple as hunters or knights on horseback, Nox said, We could always plan for both, but there's no telling what we're about to face.
"I feel me and Riven would get in the way if we stay and fight. I'm only a self taught fighter, so I'm not all that well." Plus she's small, the best she could do is possibly out run and slip by people. "I'm flexible and stronger than I look, but I can be easily pushed over as Farron has witnessed, like three times." Mara shot a look at Riven, thinking about the first time she met Farron.
"We wouldn't put someone like you on the front lines because you're untrained and newly bonded, but depending on what we're up against, they could possibly tear through all of our lines of defense. I think Nox has a good point. We could stick it out a little longer, but if things look grim, we bail. Forget loyalty. These people have been warned," Aurelius said, "But if it's like in the visions, and everything is burned to the ground, we are going to lose irreplaceable things. I'm talking about journals filled with valuable information, artifacts, the list goes on. So you might think this is insane, but I say we gradually start stealing said things from the library and wherever else so that we can protect them too. We can also start prep for leaving, should it come to that."
"Should we warn the townspeople as well? Just so they have an idea and can choose to believe us or not. Maybe more will get away without having so many deaths like in the dreams?" Mara just wanted to help the people as much as she could. "And if we do end up staying, is there any possibility that someone could give me training? And of course I'll work on my bonding with Riven of course."
"Well, yeah, we'll spread the word, but… but dragon prophecy is pretty absolute. What they saw then, they will see in the future. Of course we can lessen the damage they didn't predict, if only people will heed a warning. As for your training, you can train whether we stay or not. I figure if things go to hell, we can just go ahead on that trip up north to learn more about Riven and find another village." Aurelius crossed his arms, still quite pensive.
"Riven saw someone with the same piercing as me and I was talking to him. My guess someone sent to come get me." She kicked the ground under her feet and looked up at Aurelius. "The thing is, he had a dragon, no one but me should be able to talk to dragons in that place." Her heart started racing. How is it possible, for that to happen? "Honestly, I'm terrified." Mara sunck down a bit and leand against Riven.
"Yeah, me too. But I've trained for this, and if that bastard comes after you, I'll stick him full of holes," Aurelius reassured her.
Nox grumbled. So are we going to start preparing?
What do we need? Riven was ready to help in anyway that he could. Cause if we things fast, Mara and I can do that for for you. Mara hopped on Riven's back.
"I'm not entirely sure. We need provisions, some of the books I was talking about, and we need weapons and armor, but most of us already have those. It's probably also wise to pack blankets, stuff to start fires, and other camping gear."
Stuff to start fires? You literally have dragons! Nox protested.
“We could always scout the borders? Just to make sure everything is safe at the moment?” Farron suggested, shrugging on shoulder, “We need to make sure the defenders are strong enough to at least slow down the attakers.”
"Good idea. I don't think anything's happening just yet. But as we pass through town, we need to spread the word of dark omens," Aurelius agreed. He patted Nox's head.
"What do you want us to do?" They could check the borders or spread the word. Mara just wanted to be of some help and not be in the way.
"Actually… I want you to steal," Aurelius replied simply.
“Steal what?” Farron’s eyes narrowed at his friend.
"The books I mentioned. I figure she's not familiar enough with the area to patrol. People will think she's insane speaking doom in the streets because they've never even seen her before. But I'm sure she can tell the difference between a book made from a printing press and a handwritten book," Aurelius explained.
"You want to to steal?" Mara's voice came out with more excitement than it probably should have, but it sounded fun. Her eyes lit up as she looked down at Aurelius.
"Yeah. I want you to go ahead and steal books that look irreplaceable and put them in this bag."
Aurelius took a few small things from his backpack and stuffed them in his pockets, then he handed the bag up to Mara.
"Put them in here and report back to us. Like I said, these are the books that need to be protected from destruction."
“Don’t get caught.” Farron added, his gaze flicking to Mara.
"If you do, play dumb. You're new here. Maybe you thought you could just borrow the books," Aurelius advised, "But it's obviously better to not get caught."
"I'll do my best." She gave both the boys a smile and heard off to the library. "Riven, you'll have to stand guard but still stay out of sight." Riven nodded and hid behind a clump of trees a few feet away from the library. Mara jumped off his back and carefully walked inside and started looking through books.
(Was it your guy that Valkyrie is supposed to meet? If so, I’m thinking of sending her on patrol and having her encounter him, but I kind of need to go to bed at the moment, so we can do that tomorrow probably.)
Valkyrie woke up and something felt strange. Valhalla was at the foot of her bed.
"Hey, what's up?"
I had a vision.
"Of what?"
Destruction.
"Oh, come on. I know you're all doom and gloom, but stop acting like it's real."
Did no one bother to tell you that dragons can see the future through visions and dreams?
"N-no… I'm going to go find Aurelius and talk to him. He knows more about this than I do."
Valkyrie ran out the front door and met Aurelius and Farron in the village.
"Valhalla says that he foresaw some sort of destruction. Can that happen?"
Aurelius turned his head to her. "That's what we're discussing. A bunch of dragons started having these prophetic visions of our village being destroyed. We're sending people out on patrol. Did you want to go?"
Valkyrie looked at Valhalla. "Did you?"
Yes, of course.
"Alright. I'll armor up and head on out to the western perimeter."
Valkyrie strapped on her heavy metal armor and grabbed her halberd at home before flying out to patrol with Valhalla.
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