A king's return

AN/Hello people.

Chapter 8

Qrow and Arthur sat on the back of a carriage as they traveled along a road on the side of a mountain. Arthur leaned to the side looking over the edge at the bottom as he saw a flock of birds flying below them. As he looked over he turned to look up the face of the cliff at the top where large platforms were built into the mountain just below the top of it.

"What's the matter Arthur, afraid of heights?"

Qrow quiped only to have a pebble hit him in the face as Arthur laid down in the carriage as Qrow rubbed his forehead.

"No, I am not, but I am just wondering what the village we are going to is like, it's odd for there to be a village so high up a mountain."

The former king said as he laid back putting his arms behind his head as he waited for the carriage to continue on its assent up the mountain. The old crow just sighed as he pulled his scroll out.

"This village is one of Vale's major resupply airports."

The old crow said causing Arthur to raise a brow questionably.

"Airport?"

Arthur said confused as till he thought back on the flying metal transport things from some of the villages they have been in. Qrow just rolled his eyes having forgotten that Arthur wasn't accustomed to modern technology as well as modern transport.

"Yes, an Airport, it allows for airships from Vale a safe landing to refuel as well as resupply before heading out again to reach the border villages."

The old crow said as Arthur nodded before sitting up looking at him questionably.

"Wait, if this is like a resupply port for ships, why did we not take an air ship from the villages we have already visited to get here?"

Arthur asked confused as to why Qrow had let them waste 2 months traveling by foot and carriage if they could have just taken an airship to this port to reach Vale. The old crow though was ready for this question as he turned his scroll around to show the former king a map of the route they had traveled.

"You see we didn't pick up an airship earlier is so we could investigate the village's we passed through on our way here."

Qrow said getting a nod from Arthur as he understood, what he was saying as he saw the map. It made since now seeing as if they did pick up an airship earlier they would have just passed all six villages they passed through. Even if they would have saved time they wouldn't have been able to keep up with the investigation of the Shadows, or even the investigation Qrow was working on. Even if Arthur didn't know the full details behind it. He did know though that Qrow was looking for information on some criminals who attacked someone he knew.

That was all Arthur knew about Qrow's investigation and while he didn't truly care for all the information he still was bothered with how guarded the old crow was about the whole thing. But he could overlook it for now seeing as it didn't concern him. Arthur sighed as he laid back down and continued to wait for the ride to be over. Qrow did the same as he pocketed his scroll and leaned back and took a drink from his flask. After about an hours trek up the mountain the carriage finally came to a stop at the gates of the village.

Qrow and Arthur jumped off of the back of the carriage thanking the driver as he nodded to them as Qrow threw him a small stack of Lien. As Arthur looked at the currency he couldn't help but feel disappointed in how currency worked in this world. Back in Camelot the currency was that of silver, copper and gold coins, an actual valued substance over how in this world currency was that of weird plastic cards that had no real value. He just shook his head at the transaction and looked up at the walls that stood before them.

Surprisingly they were metal; unlike every other village they have visited so far this village seemed to be more advanced than the others in its construction. Arthur followed the top of the wall where he could see guards and strange mounted objects that moved on their own. 'Are they like golem's?' He thought as they reminded him of the golem's Merlin had made once when explaining mage craft. As he looked over the wall he couldn't help but think back to Camelot back when its walls stood.

"This is the village of Dodge."

Qrow said getting a nod from Arthur before looking back up the wall. Qrow followed his gaze as he saw him looking at the sentry turrets at the top.

"Those up there are automated Sentry turrets, when the walls are attacked these turrets will attack whatever is attacking the wall."

Qrow said only to be ignored as Arthur walked along the wall looking up it. Qrow just stared at him for a second before following.

"What is it?"

The old crow asked as Arthur slid his hand over the wall.

"I am just thinking about the past."

The former king said as he turned to see a man walking up to him and Qrow. He patted the crow on the chest and pointed as he turned to see the man.

"Hello there, who might you two be?"

The man asked as he walked up his hand resting on a pistol holstered on his left leg. Arthur figured them examining the wall put him on edge as he gave a small bow to the man as Qrow just waved.

"My name is Qrow Branwen this here is Arthur Pendragon; we came here to pick up an Air ship to Vale."

Qrow said as he pulled out his scroll and showed it to the man. Arthur had seen Qrow do this several times when dealing with village guards and watchmen. He had asked about it in the past and it seems he has an identification he has to provide to most village guard and watchmen before he can get cooperation from them. The man who walked up looked at Qrow's scroll nodding as he pulled out his own and connected a weird plastic string to it. Arthur looked to Qrow for an answer but he simply stared ahead at the man. After a few seconds the man nodded and smiled.

"Well seems you are who you say you are, if you are looking for a ship to take you to Vale just head in to the docks and buy yourself a ticket, but don't bet on getting a ship to take you for a while."

The man said as he turned around about to leave only for Qrow to stop him.

"What do you mean, why will it take a while to get a ship?"

The old crow asked as the man just rubbed the back of his head.

"You see there have been an increase in Nevermore activity recently and all air travel in and out of the dodge has been halted because of it."

The man said waving offhanded as he looked up at the wall.

"So far we have lost two supply ships to the damn birds, not much we can do about it though, we don't have the fire power to take down the Nevermore."

The man said turning away leaving while Qrow just sighed tiredly.

"Well that's great, who knows how much time it will take before the air clears up."

Qrow said while Arthur just raised a brow at him.

"What are you talking about, we just take an airship and if we happen to get attacked we will just kill whatever is attacking."

The former king as Qrow rolled his eyes at him as the two walked into the village.

"It won't be that simple, Nevermore all vary in size, even growing to the point that they are bigger than our airships."

Qrow said as Arthur nodded cupping his chin in thought. If Nevermore were the avian Grimm and could grow to extreme size's it certainly would be foolish to take to the sky with the risk of such a creature attacking them. Still Arthur didn't feel like wasting time waiting to reach Vale. Qrow had told him that the man he works for could help him understand things in this world better, so he would like to reach Vale as soon as possible.

"If the Nevermore are the problem than let's remove them."

Arthur said as Qrow looked to him somewhat confused.

"What do you mean, do you want to go and kill a flock of Nevermore?"

Qrow asked as he saw Arthur nod causing him to groan.

"As good as an idea as that is Nevermore aren't like normal birds, they don't need nests, and if they have one it's probably miles away. It would take us weeks to find them and even if we did we have no guaranty that…."

Qrow began only to stop as he turned around to find Arthur gone as he looked around to see Arthur heading after the man who had met them at outside the village. 'God damn it there is not enough liquor in the world that can give me a headache like he does!' Qrow thought as he ran after Arthur. When he caught up with him he found him talking to the man they had met earlier. He quickly ran up to him as the man waved and left as Arthur gave him a small bow.

"Arthur, what the hell are you doing, I wasn't…"

Qrow began ready to yell at Arthur only to stop as he put a piece of paper in his face.

"The man, Alex was his name, gave me these numbers saying they were the quadrants to the nest the Nevermore's are using. He said it's not that far from the village which is why they are causing so much trouble. He said if you put these numbers in your scroll it will show us were to go."

Arthur said as Qrow just stared at him shocked.

"How did you get this information?"

He asked as he took the paper and looked it over before putting it into his scroll to see if it worked, and low and behold it gave him the location. The nest was located 10 miles out of the village. With it being so close no wonder they were having trouble with letting the airships take off, but for a nest to be so close was strange. Qrow turned to Arthur and rubbed the back of his head.

"How did you get the guard to give this to you?"

He asked as Arthur just smiled.

"I asked for it."

He said cheekily as Qrow just sighed and rolled his eyes at him.

"And he just gave it to you no questions asked."

"He asked a few questions, I answered, he called me crazy and then gave it to me."

Qrow just stared for a second not really sure how he should react to that as he sighed again.

"No way that happened; no rational man would just up and give you this information like it was nothing."
Qrow said as Arthur just shrugged.

"I just reasoned with him for it."

Arthur said as Qrow raised a brow questionably.

"How so?"

Qrow asked wondering what reason the guard would just give this type of information to a random kid, while he knew Arthurs situation for a stranger to just up and give out such information.

"Simple, I told him that he had no reason to not give us the information. I told him if we succeeded in killing the Nevermore than we would take care of their problem, and if we did die what would two stranger's deaths mean to him."

Arthur said matter of fact as Qrow just stared at him somewhat shocked but at the same time impressed. With a sigh he nodded and showed Arthur the map and the two went to deal with the Nevermore's.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Arthur and Qrow were scaling the side of a cliff that was maybe 200 feet tall at the moment while they were about half way up it and Qrow just grumbled about how stupid an idea this was as Arthur simply climbed as he balanced himself with his invisible air while doing the same for Qrow so they didn't fall.

"So can we go over the plan again!?"

The old crow just shouted as Arthur passed a glance down to him but kept climbing.

"Simple, the Nevermore's nest is below us!" Arthur said pointing down below them at the trees where he could see the nest. "So if we forced them out of their nest and to us up on the top of the cliff we can pick off the small ones with your gun and a few well placed slashes with the 'invisible air'!"

Arthur said as Qrow just groaned again as his hand slipped for a second before getting a hold again.

"While a great idea, you seem to have forgotten that Nevermore's FLY!"

Qrow shouted frustrated at Arthur as they continued to ascend the cliff.

"Qrow you should trust in me more; believe me, this will work!"

Arthur shouted down as the old crow just sighed and figured he would do as he said. After about an hour of climbing the two of them finally got to the top of the cliff and Qrow was out of breath from the climb, not used to doing something like that in such a long time. Arthur on the other hand wasn't out of breath he was just somewhat winded, panting just a little as he looked down at the Nevermore nest smiling.

"This is where our plan takes effect, get ready, you better not run out of ammo before it's over."

Arthur said, his tone shifting as his smile fell and his sword swirled in his hand while Qrow just looked at him shocked by the shift in tone. He looked up to Arthur confused as he saw he looked different as he stood before him. It was the same way he had looked when he battled the assassin two months again. He had some sort of power to him that when Qrow saw it he couldn't help but want to either cower in fear or follow him into battle. It was odd but Qrow took a deep breath and waited for Arthur to put his plan into action.

Arthur looked at his sword before raising it up ready to send out a slash down to the nest to draw out the Nevermore. As he did though he debated on if he should use a prana burst. 'It's been 10 months' sense I woke up as Jaune, and every time I tried to do a prana burst it has damaged my body, but I should be more accustom to it now, even if I burn myself it will at least be better than blowing my hands up.' He thought as he felt the prana flow through his body into his sword as he also willed the invisible air and then slashed out sending a huge slash that was heated with the prana as it flew out crashing into the trees below as well as the Nevermore nest.

Arthur held back a wince at the pain he felt in his hands from the recoil of the slash as he looked down to make sure his hands weren't bleeding. He just sighed as he turned to look down the cliff and wait for the Nevermore's. As Qrow and Arthur stood staring down at the nest, Qrow shifted his weapon into gun form and waited for the signal to fire. Arthur took up his stance again and prepared to attack all the same. As the two waited a small rustle was seen in the trees and in the next second a swarm of small Nevermore came flying out from the trees, while a much larger Nevermore raised itself up above the tree line screeching as it did.

"Well you weren't kidding when you said they get big."

Arthur said somewhat impressed at the size of the Nevermore that came out of the trees, while not as big as the cliff it still was about 3 stories tall. Arthur just turned from it as he saw the small Nevermore's getting closer and smirked.

"Fire."

He said as Qrow began to shoot down as many of the small Nevermore as he could while Arthur charged up one large blast of invisible air and slashed out destroying almost all of the small Nevermore. He smiled at that as Qrow picked off the last of them that had lived. If he had to count he had just killed 100 of those birds. Now all he had to do was kill the large Nevermore.

"Well Qrow do you want to take this one?"

Arthur joked not really feeling all to threatened by the bird. Qrow on the other had just glared at him.

"Not the time to be joking, Nevermore's of that size are extremely resilient and their feathers are as hard as steel, so if you have any other bright idea's I wo…."

Qrow began only to stop as he watched Arthur jump off the cliff and fall towards the Nevermore as it began to flap its wings ready to fly up to them. Qrow just stared slack jawed and shocked as he watched Arthur fly right to the bird.

"That idiot!"

Qrow shouted ready to jump after him only to stop when he saw the invisible air around Arthur's sword swirl as the then slashed out sending the largest slash Qrow had seen out as it easily split the Nevermore in two as he then fell into the trees. Qrow just sat staring for a second as he watched the giant Nevermore fade away as both halves of it just laid atop the trees disintegrating. Qrow just began to laugh slowly at that as he took out his flask and downed it. 'He may be a pain in the ass be he gets results.'

Qrow thought as he saw Arthur jump up onto the trees and waved him down. At the bottom Arthur just dispersed his armor and then looked at his hands. His fingers were all bruised and the palms of his hands were cut. It seems that prana bursts were still taxing on his body, but he was glad to see it was nowhere near as bad as when he first tried it. He remembered the pain he felt from it seeing as he had almost ripped the muscle from the bones of his legs. With a sigh he looked up to see Qrow quickly making his way down. 'Now we can get to Vale. I hope this Ozpin fellow Qrow was talking about is going to be of use to me.'

Arthur thought as he turned and looked up to the sky. With a sigh he turned to see Qrow finish his landing as he fell into one of the trees near him. With that he smiled and turned to return to Dodge.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Arthur and Qrow now sat on an airship heading straight to Beacon as Qrow just took a swig from his flask with a satisfied sigh. Arthur on the other hand stood by the window staring down at Dodge as it got smaller and smaller.

"It was nice of them to let us take the first flight out."

He said with a small smile while Qrow just laughed.

"Hahahaha, I know right, who would have thought that they would be so grateful that they would even let us fly free."

Qrow said happily as Arthur just turned back to him.

"Well you heard Alex, the air fair his how the village survives if they didn't get people coming in every other day their village would end up falling apart and its economy would plummet."

Arthur said remembering how happy the guard Alex was when they came back telling him they killed the Nevermore nest.

"I know that, but I didn't think they would be that happy, I mean a reduced fare would have been kind enough but free, well I guess we has some pretty great luck."

Qrow said as Arthur just shrugged and sat down looking out the window. 'Just a few more hours and we will be in Vale.' Arthur thought as he prepared for his meeting with Ozpin. He truly hoped he would be able to help him in finding a way to give Jaune his body back. That and hopefully answers to the shadows and the mastermind pulling the strings. As he thought about that he remembered the night he killed the assassin. It was strange, that shot of lightning that had hit him. It wasn't mage craft, if it was his resistance to magic would have saved him from it.

Whatever it was that had attacked him was either a magic that surpassed his magic resistance or it was some strange lightning shooting weapon, like some sort of gun that shots lightning. He remembered Qrow mentioning something about some guns being able to do that. With a sigh Arthur leaned back and figured he could just think about it later when he was in Vale. For the time being he should just rest and wait for the ship to reach its destination.

End

AN/ Hello reader people, seems I was away from this story for too long, sorry about that I had just got myself distracted with writing other things and just plain old life. That and I have the attention span of a mentally retarded dog. But excuses aside I am back and writing this again for you supposedy lovely readers. Now I am back and I did a time skip while I know many of you will wonder what happened in the two months between now and Arthur leaving Jaune's home town but don't worry that will be explained. Also the reason for the time sky was I felt it would take to many chapters to explain the things and I would be wasting time with it.

So as always leave a review I need to know what you people think of my story.

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