Chapter 6

The dragon rose slowly from the ground, stretching and looking to see the Empress a few feet away. Clearing his throat and then an obviously fake cough to get her attention, he smiled as it worked. She turned around.

"I didn't know you were awake."

"I could tell."

"We haven't much further to go this time."

"I'm ready whenever you are."

That had been good enough for her, climbing onto the dragon and waiting the ten seconds for him to take off in flight, she let out a sigh. Almost there. They headed east at top speed, it had taken Soranto all of fifteen minutes to get them to the Nucandu forest. She was impressed as he landed three feet away from the town square. Slowly climbing down she looked at the dragon for a long moment.

"Thank you."

"Anything for you. I'll be in the forest." He told her, heading just outside of the soare.

The Empress nodded before going the other direction, making her way through the center of town. She waved at the villagers as she passed them, before eventually getting to the old wooden door of the pub. She took a deep breath before opening the door. She looked around the small crowed until she saw Stergis with a woman she'd never met before. He waved her over and she quickly joined them.

"So glad you could make it out here, this is my love, Ravenessa." He introduced, handing them a fresh pint.

"Drink up, Daniel and Richard are on their way. Jim's at the bar getting more drinks."

"Thanks, It's nice to be called away for a good night out instead of work."

"I couldn't agree more."

"It's been calm around here." Stergis said.

"Goblin's Hollow, too.. No real threats."

"It never stays that way for long," He joked.

"I'll drink to that."

Fifteen minutes passed in a flash when Daniel and his wife, Zeta, showed up. Five minutes later, Richard and Veronia joined them as well, taking the table next to the rest of them. Daniel introduced the other two to Ralvania. It was nice, getting to know a little about them. She really didn't have a lot of creatures she called close friends. They laughed and talked over drinks. They wanted to know more about her as well. She'd given Zeta potion advice, Helped Veronia and Ravenessa with a few spells. Stergis got up, getting a tray of drinks for them.

"Please come out to see us more often." Veronia said.

"Yes, please do." Ravenessa quickly added.

"I'll see if I can arrange more visits, I really like it here, too."

"I'm usually off fixing problem left and right."

The warlocks nodded in agreement, they knew all too well how that felt. As the evening progressed, she was having a wonderful time with all of them. They were a fun, delightful group to be around. It had been years since she went out with friends instead of saving parts of the world. As the night went on, she was having a splendid evening with the warlocks and their mates. It was nice, she'd have to come out and do it again soon.

Not meaning to, she sensed that Jim had an interest in her. She tried not to, but the feeling hit her a few times. Sometimes, her gifts were a curse. There was no way to just turn it off. She could sense that he found her attractive and mysterious. He wanted to know about her hopes, dreams and interests. She could also tell he was shy near women, it came shining through his bold blue eyes. Taking a slow sip from the pint, she tried not to giggle. In no hurry to be mated to anyone, she didn't make a single move. If it was fate, it'll happen. She preferred to let nature take it's course. She was happy, just having a great evening with friends. Time soon began to elude all of them; as if it got sucked into a wormhole. It was as if time existed elsewhere, but not there in that moment. Evening had flown by them, leading into late night before they knew it. She could really get used to this on occasion, it had been more fun than she'd anticipated.

As the nocturnal hour struck the Nucandu village, a strange little critter entered the pub. He looked scared and a little panic stricken. He stood four foot tall, with dark green leathery skin. His pale grey blue eyes were filled with a fear so strong it was overpowering. The little guy talked to the bar keep for a moment before heading to their table. How did she know, it was always something. She quickly chugged down the rest of the pint.

The little gremlin just looked at the group of them, hoping he'd approached the right table. Taking a deep breath, then worked up the nerve.

"I hate to interupt the fun, but which one of you is the Empress of Sorcery?"

"That would be me, how can I help?"

"I'm Vamier.. My home has been hit with a bizarre illness, we really need your help."

"Sit here next to me and tell me whatever you can."

He quickly walked around the table and sat next to her.

"Thank you. There is a terrible curse on our land....A creepy looking silver mushroom appeared in our forest; anyone that's touched it has become deathly ill. Thier magickal essance just seems to fade away."

Ralvania just listened as the gremlin told her all that he knew of the mushroom.

"It's the size of a small cave, we tried poisons but nothing is working. I think we need magick to kill it."

"How far away is it?"

"On foot it took a fortnight from Delpheria."

"We'll help too."

"We can do some research before you go, this sounds like dark magick." Ravenessa added.

"We should finish up here and head to our castle's library." Stergis mentioned.

"That sounds great." She agreed.

Twenty minutes later, the whole group followed Stergis back to the grand scale castle, near a half hour from the pub. Ravenessa gave them a tour of the place as Stergis began to brew the elven coffee. He had a good feeling it would be a long night of enchanted research.