Determined and unaltered, Allister returns to the Sorcerant's former tower. Honz and Sash follow quietly, careful not to disturb anything that may give their group's presence away. Planning to sneak a look at the nest (perhaps even pull off an ambush) under the cover of nightfall, Allister and crew cautiously pick their way over to where the hunter had last located the rare dragon's sleeping quarters.
The tower seems silent, it must be fast asleep.
Taking one look at how high up the gaping window entrance is, Honz mumbles a slight sense of unease.
"You sure we can get up there, Sir?" He whispers, pointing with a thumb. "Looks as high as a pine's top."
"Undoubtedly," Allister replies just as quietly, taking out a long roll of hooked, climbing rope. "Not a first for me to scale a dragon's roost." His only concern is that the Sorcerant's nest hopefully isn't too close to the entrance. Then it would almost be guaranteed for them to be noticed.
Allister flings the hooked end of the rope upward after a brief moment of swinging a few circles. It just manages to catch a crevice of withering brick below the window. Tugging it a few times to test its strength, Allister frowns. "It is good for only one man to climb, but not I." He turns to one of his men in particular. "Sash, my good man. You carry the least weight. Will you be daring to climb?"
Sash glances upward to size up the task. Just as it isn't Allister's first time reaching a dragon's nest high up, it isn't his first time trying something a little risky. "We shall see," He says approaching the dangling rope.
Luckily it holds, bearing Sash's weight as he climbs higher and higher up. It isn't until he's just below the window that the hook finally shifts a bit. Using all the upper body strength he has, Sash lunges upwards to attempt to grab the bottom edge of the window. The grasp is decent enough, but he still has to move fast before he has the chance to slip and fall. With some kicking, grunting, and using some free ledges to hoist himself upward, Sash eventually manages to get up to his elbows within the window, but something stops him.
"Eh..?"
Finally able to look inside, Sash is rather shocked at what he sees.
Noticing his man's hesitance, Allister raises a brow. "Something the matter?"
After one more sweep of the gaze inside the tower, Sash turns his head to reply, "It's empty, Sir Allister. The dragon ain't here." To which the hunter blinks with his own sense of shock.
"Pardon?"
Although doors are set within the said room, they do not look like they've been significantly tampered with to suit a fully grown, male Sorcerant. Chances are this is the main nesting area, or at least was the main area.
"The dragon ain't here!" Sash repeats with a louder voice. "Either this ain't the nest or he fled!"
"Get in there and pull me up!" Allister snaps, eager to climb on in to have a look for himself.
As soon as he's able to, Sash helps secure the rope's hook onto something a little more firm before helping to pull Allister up to the window entrance. Once inside, the hunter has no words. He sweeps his gaze left and right, up and down, all over the place to see that Sash was right - there's no Sorcerant here. Allister peeks inside some of the doors, stopping once noticing something behind the door to Slim's former room. Small, glimmering scales lie like pepper flakes on the ground. Upon crouching down to get a better look, Allister snorts with disapproval. "They were here.." Before standing up to leave the smaller room. "You are right Sash, my good man. They fled."
Although with a chip of obvious frustration, Allister's tone remains firm.
"So what's the plan, Sir Allister?" Sash begins afterwards. "We let him go?"
"For the time being," Allister nods as he begins to pace. "But yet I still refuse to let such a prize slip from my grasp for long. I'll be spending my following hours on the new search for this dragon."
Although supportive of his leader, after Honz is let in on the plans, he begins to feel a slight sense of unease.
"Begging your pardon Sir, but don't you suppose you're taking this too seriously? That dragon's not the only rare specimen out there, y'know."
Allister turns to him. "You are right, Honz, but no expert dragon slayer gets this far into his hunt just to forfeit. We had the Sorcerant once; therefore, we shall have him again."
"Right Sir, but if we can't find him?" Honze continues.
"Then it shall be a bitter loss," Allister replies. "Though I have my doubts on that."
Although a disappointing ending to what could've been an eventful hunt, according to Allister, it's still not over. He'll continue to pursue a rare dragon prize until there's nothing more to do. That is the heart of a true dragon hunter. If he fails to bag this rare, green Sorcerant, then it would've been with an honorable fight, no matter how painful the loss may be. As for the dragon's eggs.. well there are many uses for them too. Egg shells can be turned into jewelry, and sometimes even armor. The gems embedded on the eggs could sell for a decent price, as well as make a good magic conductor. Also depending on the stage of development in the offspring, they can be used to make things too, such as ornaments. Nothing about the eggs will be left unused either, just like their father's corpse. As terrifying as it is to imagine, it is reality in this dark relationship between man and dragon, but only time will tell if that's ever going to change.
The green, sunny summer days soon turn into wind and brightly-colored leaves as autumn nears the Isles. A couple months have passed since Emeraldus moved out of his tower, and yet he's still going strong with this project. More ingredients have been collected and the time draws closer for the brew to be made.
Although his wings are probably now healed enough to allow flight, Slim still remains in the nest to supervise and follow orders. By now, it's become his primary duty to babysit Emeraldus' eggs while the Sorcerant is out. Emeraldus' future children still remain healthy despite the abnormal gems. What makes things a bit more exciting, however, is that now and then, a tiny twitch can be noticed from within the shell - Yep, they're still on their way.
"D'aw.. Boss will be so happy when the little ones hatch," Slim says to himself one morning of further babysitting. He can't help but smile at the thought, but it's soon interrupted by more thinking. "So.. would I be Uncle Slim..? Or Nanny Slim..?" Since the slinky Alchemy is sorta a part of the "family" now that he works for Emeraldus as a subordinate, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that the baby dragons will see him as something along those lines.
Slim's thinking soon turns into a drawn out conversation with himself about some of the future responsibilities that will come with this.
"But, what happens if danger comes and Boss is not here? The little ones.. will be in danger too!" He puts his forehands to his temples in slight anxiety before beginning to pace. "I will have to be strong.. I will have to be like a.. like a.." He pauses for a moment, the thought instantly escaping his brain. "... Oh no, I can't remember! What is it!?"
Almost immediately breaking into a panic, Slim helplessly claws at his temples as a sweat breaks out. Is he sure he can be trusted for this? Is Emeraldus sure? How can a cowardly Alchemy with a memory so small it can be lost in a pinch of pepper be able to keep three baby dragons safe? How could an Alchemy like Slim not be.. so pathetic?
That is when Slim suddenly stops to put a foot down. "No," He says to himself upon putting on a braver face. "I am an adult dragon. Baby dragons need the adult dragon," Upon turning his head, Slim is met with his reflection in a nearby mirror. Turning to face it, he puts on an even braver stance, puffing out his chest and staring directly into the eyes of his reflection.
"I am the adult, fire breathing dragon," Slim continues. "I shall protect Boss' children.. even with my life!" He hesitates a little with the ending bit, but is able to get it out with feeling.
"Yeah, nobody messes with the little ones," Slim now points to himself in the mirror with an expression of stern accusation. "When danger messes with Boss' children, it messes with Slim - and Slim will not allow that!" Soon he finds himself being carried away in a moment of courage and determination, yelling at himself in the mirror with a genuine sense of duty. For some, this may be surprising, (perhaps even exciting) as who can name a time when Slim has shown such feelings?
It carries on for a few more minutes until eventually comes another little hiccup of not paying attention.
"You looking at me?" Slim growls pointing to himself again, pretending to be speaking to an opponent. "You looking at me??" Before taking a breath to spew flames at a nearby bookshelf jutting out from behind the mirror. Immediately, this breaks the mood and Slim is back to panicking as the fire quickly catches onto polished wood.
"Uh oh!" He yelps, tossing his glance all around to look for something to put it out. Scrambling into every cubby and corner, he hopes that by some chance Emeraldus could have stored some water somewhere. Unfortunately, the search is not going fast enough and the fire spreads to cover the entire shelf in flames. Slim has to think of something else, and fast!
Taking another heart pounding moment to think, he finally comes to realization - wait, he's an Alchemy dragon! Could he turn the shelf into something that cannot burn?
He collects a handful of stones and a random vile of some shiny ingredient off of one of Emeraldus' other shelves. Using a claw, he draws a circle and pours a bit of both into the center. He's seen the other Alchemies, especially the alpha, do this before.. but can he remember how to do it right? Well it's gonna create something whether he does or not, and time is ticking fast.
With a quick breath and a flash of Alchemy dragon magic, the shelf transforms - and only a couple seconds away from Emeraldus returning home. The Sorcerant comes to land with a bag full of fresh brewing ingredients. Lifting his head, he is taken by surprise to stare at what had resulted. With Slim hunkered down on the floor, trembling forelimbs covering his eyes, a shiny silver bookshelf stands with the last few dying embers on its boards.
Slim still does not dare to peek from under his covered gaze, though the heat of fire no longer can be felt.
It is when Emeraldus finally speaks that Slim lifts a forelimb,
"What happened here?" Still with a gaping expression, the Sorcerant asks as his eyes switch back and forth between Slim and the new, silvery furnish.
With a wide, nervous grin, Slim gingerly sits up. "Oh hey Boss.. I uh.." Trying to think of an explanation, perhaps even an excuse, to avoid getting into trouble. "..Just thought you'd like.. some of the spendy decorating..?" He hesitantly says pointing to the bookshelf.
Emeraldus proceeds to stare, though surprise finally mellowing down. "You did that?"
The wide grin returns to Slim's face. "Not on purpose.." Half bracing himself for a bit of scolding if his master doesn't approve of such actions.
Emeraldus comes to approach the silver shelf. With a bit of observation and fingering the foundations, he follows up with a rather impressed "Hmph." That's pure silver, alright. As long as nothing too important got changed, a single shelf is not that big a deal, plus it might be useful later on - and not just for storage.
"You do not need to be anxious of me, I am not mad," Emeraldus says, turning to face Slim. "More I am impressed by your magical capability, and I'd say some silver would be of excellent value."
Slim sits up a bit taller at his master's praise, though still a bit shaken, to which Emeraldus returns with a smirk.
Well there's another benefit to having an Alchemy dragon around. Although Slim doesn't have the best of reputations, or even skills, he at least still has the ability to make what his kind are most well-known for - making silver and gold, and other precious minerals. Such things can also give a significant aid in magic brews. For the most part, this is just yet another step forward to bringing Midna back from her unfortunate demise.