“Thayle!” Lilly screamed as Gersius carried her out of the cave into the snow. Behind him, he could hear rocks falling as dust belched out of the tunnel.
Gersius took her to the saddle and set her down. She fought him and tried to stand but didn’t have the strength.
“You have to go back!” Lilly cried. “She's still in there!”
“Lilly!” Gersius cried as he knelt, trying to grab her flailing arms. “Lilly, the tunnel has collapsed!”
“But, she's still in there!”
“I know she is! But we can’t reach her this way. Can you change back? Maybe you can dig her out?”
Lilly nodded and struggled to concentrate. He saw white mist form over her skin in little patches, but she suddenly looked dizzy and fell over.
“I can’t change back,” she panted as he propped her up. “You have to go back and find her.”
Gersius could feel a sort of void where Lilly was in the binding. Somehow the ward sapped her strength so terribly she felt weaker then he imagined he or Thayle were to her. Now she sat naked in the snow with tears pouring from her eyes hardly able to sit up.
“I am going to check the tunnel,” he said as she curled into a sobbing ball. He went back to the cave as dust floated out and was carried away by a mountain breeze. He looked down the shaft into curtains of dust and couldn't make out anything. He also couldn't breathe. The dust was so thick it hurt to inhale, and he had to retreat.
“Thayle,” he whispered as he reached out over the bind. He could feel her someplace within the mountain. However, she was so far away that she was only a vague presence somewhere below.
“Balihsa, Ulustrah, Astikar, I don’t care who, somebody help me!” he cried to the uncaring stone.
Behind him, he heard Lilly weakly calling for Thayle. He stepped away from the tunnel and put his mind to work. That lower tunnel was cut into the rock. This cave was natural, so that means it wasn't the proper entrance outside. Somewhere else on this mountain was a proper entrance. If he could find it, maybe he could get in that way.
He went back to Lilly, who was a weeping ball on the ground.
“We need to get you dressed so I can carry you and look for another entrance,” he said.
“My Thayle is gone!” Lilly cried.
“She is not gone, she is just separated,” he said deeply hoping that was true.
“I can't feel her anymore,” Lilly sobbed. “She's gone.”
Gersius realized the effect of the ward must have weakened her sense over the bind.
“Lilly,” he began as he knelt. “Whatever happened to you is making it hard for you to feel her. She isn't gone, I can still feel her, but she is far below us.”
“You can still feel her?” Lilly asked with tears in her eyes.
“I can. She is far enough away where I can only feel her direction, but she is alive.”
Lilly nodded and tried to stand as her sobs renewed.
“Stay where you are. I will get your dress from the saddle. He got up and dug through the saddlebags, pulling out Lilly's green traveling dress. “Come, I need to get you dressed so we can go find her.”
Lilly weakly tried to help, but he had to do most of the work. Once she was dressed and booted, he rose to help her stand, but she couldn't support herself. With a prayer to Balisha for strength, he scooped her up and carried her in his arms. He picked a path down a slope that was shallow enough to walk and started searching. All he could do now was pray Thayle was alright. If she was injured or buried in the rock, she could very well die before he reached her. If her presence in the binding link faded, his heart would go with it.
Thayle coughed in the thick dust that choked the air. She struggled to lift herself with her hands and lookup. All around her was bare jagged stone and clouds of dust. She groaned at a pain in her side, where she hit the ground and quickly sang a healing prayer. She choked on the dust while singing and followed it with a chant of purity to clear the air and enable her to breathe. The prayer caused a pulse of light to spread out through the dust, and it fell from the air.
With the dust rapidly settling she could now see where she was. It was a large natural cave, bored out by flowing water. The room was well over sixty feet tall, and there was a shaft above that went so high even her dragon sight couldn't see the top. The floor was relatively level but covered with mounds of rock and debris. Pieces of the temple hallway were piled up, forming a huge mound of giant stones under the dark shaft above.
She struggled to her feet and looked around in a panic. She was alright, her injuries were slight and already healed, but she was lost in a deeper tunnel.
“Lilly!” she yelled, her voice echoing off the walls. “Gersius!” she tried again.
She began to spin around in a panic as the echo faded and left her in silence.
Her breathing became staggered as she fought the panic welling up inside as she realized she was alone. She searched around until she saw a glint of metal in the rubble. She reached down and drew the strange sword from the loose rocks and held it in her hand. With a sigh, she threw the sword down. She felt sick just holding the blade, knowing what it did to Lilly.
As it clattered to the floor, she set about trying to find a way out. Some tunnels led into the darkness, but the only way back was the dark shaft above. She went to the mound of rocks and rubble piled beneath it. Maybe she could climb the mound and reach the wall of the shaft and climb up. It looked like it went right up to the opening, and she was desperate to try.
Just a few steps up the mound, she stumbled, causing an avalanche of rocks to slide away. As the rocks fell, they revealed a blue eye, the size of her hand glaring at her with hatred. The rocks under her feet shifted, and she scrambled to get down as the head of the great black dragon struggled to get free. His jaws took a vain snap at her as she fell back on her butt and skittered away.
The dragon twisted its head, and the rocks around it shifted and fell in on it. He roared in pain and anger as he struggled to get up from his stone prison.
Thayle felt her heart racing, and on instinct, she grabbed the sword beside her. Slowly she rose to her feet, eyes fixed on the head of the dragon.
The dragon's eyes narrowed on the blade, and he let out a pained laugh.
“So you came for the sword,” he laughed. “Did you not read the warding?”
Thayle was slow to respond as the dragon shifted and caused the mound to fall in on it. She hadn’t been prepared to deal with a dragon, let alone speak with one.
“None of us could read it,” Thayle said.
“Then one of you paid the price. I saw the bigger one carrying a woman away. She must have paid the price.”
“That woman was a dragon,” Thayle said. “She tried to pick up the sword, but it hurt her.”
“Do not lie to me, little rodent,” the dragon growled. “I saw a human carrying another human.”
Thayle didn't want to argue with him as more stone suddenly fell from above, causing him to cry out in pain. She realized a simple truth and saw an opportunity.
“You, you can't get out, can you?” she asked.
“Go away, little rodent. Leave me to die in peace!” he bellowed, with a voice so strong she could feel it.
Thayle struggled to stand boldly in front of the trapped dragon.
“I know about you, about dragons, I mean,” she said, looking as directly into his eyes as she could.
“What do you think you know, little rat?” he said with a voice growing strained with pain.
“I know you can get out,” she said, struggling to control her breathing. “I know you can change forms. You can change into a human. I know because that woman you saw was the human form of a dragon.”
His eyes narrowed at her words and took a murderous look.
“So, go ahead and change. You can crawl out of the rocks then,” Thayle said.
“You think I am a fool. You will kill me yourself!” he roared his voice echoing off the walls. “No little murderous rat. I will die in dignity as a dragon!”
Thayle steadied herself and stood as tall and proud as she could. She couldn’t believe she was face to face with a dying dragon just as Gersius was all those weeks ago.
“Why die at all?” she asked. “I can save you.”
He eyed her cautiously, being silent for a long moment.
“How can you save me?”
“I am a priestess. I can heal your wounds. Only a little but enough to keep you from dying, I hope,” she said, trying to sound confident.
Another long silence followed, and the rocks shifted in the mound again, causing him to wheeze in pain.
“Why?” he gasped as his lungs started to constrict. “Why would you help me?”
“Because I do know about dragons, and I know that you are not what you were meant to be,” she said, taking a step closer to him. “I can show you how to be more than you are if you will let me.”
He stared at her with a calculating glare.
“What do you want?” he bellowed, “How much of my horde do you wish to steal?”
“I don't want your horde. You can keep it, all of it,” she said.
“What then?”
“I want you,” Thayle replied, holding her hands up.
“Me?
“Yes you, I want you to tell me your true name.”
White light burned in his eyes, and the whole mound shook, causing dust to fly.
“Never!” he roared, his head twisting in the rubble to get free.
“If you keep struggling like that, you will die before I can save you!” she yelled.
“Save me!” he bellowed. “You want me to take a fate worse than death!”
“Is it worse?” she called out. “You will outlive me by thousands of years. Even if I bound you my entire life, what would that be to you?”
“Never!” he roared again.
She remembered what Gersius and Lilly said about their first encounter, about how Lilly refused to tell Gersius her name. She remembered what Gersius did to gain her trust.
“I will make you three promises,” Thayle shouted as he began to gasp from his exertions. He gave up, and his head collapsed to the floor as he struggled to breathe.
“I will make you three promises,” she said again in a soothing voice.
“First, I promise to treat you with respect and dignity,” she said, stepping closer. “Second, I promise never to reveal your true name to any other.”
He eyed her watching her intently as she crept closer.
“And last, I promise to limit your binding to a year and a day.” She stood before him again, just a few feet away. “What is a year and a day to you?” she asked him softly.
The mound shifted, and he made a pained groan.
“Please, there is no time. You must let me help you,” she cried.
He let out a long cry of frustration, lifting his head as high as he could as if trying not to cry.
“Asaxerxies!” he yelled out.
“That is your name?” Thayle asked.
He lowered his great head and closed his eyes, unable to look at her.
“Yes.”
“I know you're frightened, but you will thank me someday,” Thayle said. She wasted no more time and began the chant calling on the ancient power, binding Asaxerxies to her will. As the bond formed, so did her link to him, and her heart filled with the absolute loathing he had for her. The sensation made her sick, and she had to look away from him for a second.
“Now change quickly!” she yelled.
White smoke began to crawl across his skin, rocks began to shift, and a white cloud engulfed him, followed by a bright flash. The mound moved and groaned, and Thayle looked desperately at where the great dragons head once was. She knelt and looked into the void to see a man with dark copper skin and long black hair struggling to drag himself out.
“Give me your hand!” she called to him as more rocks shifted.
He looked up at her with glowing blue eyes and reached up, taking her offer.
Thayle pulled with all her might, dragging him out of the crumbling mound. She had him free of the pile for only an instant before it caved in, sending fresh gouts of dust into the air. She lay on the ground breathing heavily, holding his hand to her stomach.
He let out a groan of pain, and she remembered he was still hurt.
“Lay still,” she said to him as she crawled to her hands and knees.
As she knelt over him, she got a good look at his body. He was strong and lean with well-defined muscles. He was taller than Gersius by an inch and his facial features were sharp. His hair ran down to his shoulders in a black as dark as her own. It was his eyes that held her attention. They were as blue as Lilly's and burned with the familiar flame. His eyes, however, were narrowed in a glare that matched the scowl on his face.
Over the link she now shared with him came a sensation of hate. His anger burned with a fierce passion, and his aura was vivid red that pulsed and wavered. She fought the sensation that was coming from him and put her hands to his chest. With musical words, she began to channel the power of healing into his dying body. Golden light spread from her hands and across his chest to his arms and legs.
She could feel the severity of the wounds now. He had broken legs, and many of his ribs were cracked. He let out a few small groans as she struggled to hold on to the power giving him as much as she could manage. She wanted to reach out for Lilly and use her power to aid in the healing, but she didn't dare try. She had no idea how injured Lilly was and was afraid to draw on any more of her power. She felt her muscles begin to burn as she pushed her limits and then fell back when the pain became unbearable.
“That is all I can do!” she cried, supporting herself with one arm while holding her head with the other. Her body felt weak from the expense, but she would recover soon. She hoped it was enough to restore him, and with any luck, he could lead her out. She heard him move and looked up to see him slowly testing his limbs. He glared at her but said nothing as he sat up.
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“You could say thank you,” she panted. She felt a surge of anger at her suggestion. “So now you don't want to talk?” she asked, getting silence in return.
His glare was his only answer.
Thayle let her head fall back as she struggled to regain some strength. She had bound a dragon just like Gersius had, but her dragon looked at her with death in its eyes. She wondered if Lilly had looked at Gersius like that.
He stood up and turned away from her, his hands curled into fists.
“Your life isn't over, you know. I have no intention of humiliating you or making you a slave,” she said, getting to her feet.
He stood in silence with his back to her.
“Will you please say something?” she asked him.
“Will you just shut up!” he yelled back as he turned to stare at her.
She studied his aura. He was a burning sun of rage and frustration. Nothing she said to him now was going to make any difference, so she opted for just getting out.
“I command you to answer my questions. Do you know where we are?” she asked.
“We are in the lower tunnels under the mountain,” he said with a voice dripping with venom.
“Do you know a safe way to get from here to the surface?”
He shook, and she felt pain over the link, he was actually trying to resist it.
“Y...y...yes!” he stuttered out.
“You will lead me to the exit, and then follow me out,” she commanded him.
“You will die for this!” he said as he started to walk toward a twisting tunnel.
They walked in silence for what seemed like hours as he led her along a path that was slowly twisting upward through large natural tunnels. Eventually, he glanced over his shoulder at her and spoke.
“How can you see in this darkness?” he asked.
Thayle realized he noticed she wasn't blind in the darkness. He was curious as to how she was able to see as he did.
“I am gifted with dragon sight,” Thayle said.
“Do not lie to me,” he retorted. “If you do not wish to tell me, then keep it.”
“I am not lying to you,” Thayle insisted. “I told you the woman you saw being carried away was a dragon. She is my...” Thayle paused, not sure if he was ready to hear the truth. “Friend,” she said a moment later. “She has shared some of her dragon abilities with me.”
“Ha!” he laughed. “No dragon would do such a thing even if they could. I am a dragon, and I know of no way to share my power with you.”
“I am telling you the truth,” Thayle argued.
“Keep your secrets then. I will not accept your lies.”
Thayle felt her anger rising, and she did the only thing she could think of.
“I am not lying to you!” she shouted in the dual dragon voice.
He snapped around to stare at her with calculating eyes and an open mouth.
“How have you done this?” he asked.
“That dragon knows how to share her essence. She has done so with me and one other, the man you saw carrying her.”
“This is impossible,” he said again. “But your eyes deny me.”
Thayle was shocked by that comment and held up a hand before her face. She could see the blue light from her eyes reflected on them.
“I have her flaming eyes?” Thayle said in a whisper.
“Why did you and your dragon come to my lair?” he asked.
Thayle tore herself away from her shock long enough to look at him and reply.
“We came for this,” she said, holding up the sword.
He studied the blade and seemed unimpressed. “and it was your dragon who touched the sword.”
“Yes, Lilly tried to pick it up, but the ward hurt her,” Thayle said.
“She is lucky it did not kill her,” he replied. “It was warded to prevent dragons from picking it up.”
“Why would it be warded against dragons?” Thayle asked.
“I do not know. I only know what the warding said,” he replied with terrible anger in his voice.
“So, you can read magic?” Thayle asked.
He decided to remain silent and didn’t acknowledge her as he walked.
“You don't have to hate me,” Thayle said. “I mean, you no harm.”
He suddenly turned around and faced her his nostrils flaring with rage.
“This binding is harming me! You humiliate me that you are still alive to speak!”
Thayle stepped back and instinctively gripped the handle of the sword. His rage was all-consuming, and his aura looked hostile. If not for the bind, she was sure he would try to strangle her.
“I am sorry you feel this way,” Thayle said. “I know you hate me, and being bound to me is humiliating, but I ask you to give me just a little time to show you something. If you still hate me after that, I will release you from the bind.”
“You lie!” he growled. “You will never release me!”
“I wove the year and a day limitation into the binding!” Thayle argued. “I did exactly as I said I would. You have no reason to trust me, but understand that another dragon already does. She is my friend, and I want you to meet her and see the truth.”
“If she isn’t dead already,” he said with a wicked smirk.
“She’s not dead!” Thayle yelled as he provoked her anger.
He smiled at her outburst and walked on, leading the way down the tunnel.
Thayle let him get ahead of her in the hope that the anger she felt from him would dissipate. She discovered it did, rapidly decreasing with just a few paces apart. She decided that talking to him any further was pointless. He needed some time to stew in his anger and burn out. She also hoped that once he met Lilly and saw how she behaved around humans, he might begin to learn.
For now, she would follow him and wait. Sooner or later, they would get out, and then she could worry about finding Gersius and Lilly.
They walked in silence for hours as he led. Eventually, they arrived at a ledge that had to be climbed to a lower floor. Here they took a large jagged tunnel that went back up at a gentle slope until, after what felt like another hour, she saw light ahead.
“Thank Ulustrah,” she whispered as she stepped out of a cave hidden in dense trees not far from a river. She looked to the snow-capped mountains above, Gersius and Lilly were still up there.
She turned to the dragon and realized she was going to need his help. She steadied herself and began to speak to him.
“I need you to take your dragon form,” she said. “I need you to carry me and look for my friends.”
“I will not!” he growled his face straining with rage.
“I am not asking you to crawl at my feet,” Thayle said. “I am asking you to help me.”
“I will never help you!”
Thayle saw the truth in his aura. He would never willingly help her, and that meant she only had one option. She shook her head as she knew what she had to do.
“I command you to take your dragon form and carry me up. You will fly where I tell you to go and help me find my friends. You will never willingly harm them or any other human without my say so.”
She saw him twitch, and his face flushed red as he struggled to resist the command. A moment later, a white mist began to crawl over his skin, and Thayle wisely stepped aside before he changed.
“I...Will…Make you suffer! For this!” he groaned as the mist grew into a swirling cloud. It flashed with light, and the great black dragon stood in the mist, glaring down at her.
In most respects he looked like Lilly. His neck wasn't as long but it was thicker, and his head was shorter and broader. He had the same back facing horns, but they curled a little more. The spikes on his back were longer jagged. His scales were black as her hair and glistened in the light.
Without a saddle to cover his spikes riding on his back was out of the question. Thayle saw only one option to fly with him and ordered him to carry her gently in his hands. A sense of panic filled her as those hands closed around her. Lilly held her just a few days ago, but that was in playfulness and love. He had no such feelings. She could feel his anger seeping into her as she was bathed in his aura. With an angry roar, he took to the sky and flew along the mountain.
Gersius struggled down a rocky path working his way down the mountain. Lilly was still in his arms, sniffling and making little cries as they walked. He felt empty as he struggled to find another way into the mountain. Thayle was missing and lost under the mountain. He could feel her presence somewhere ahead, and for a little while, she actually felt closer. That sensation faded over the next hour as he struggled to find usable paths. To keep himself sane and he focused on his task and not the faint sense of his missing wife. Now though, he found his mind screaming at him to think of her and mourn her passing.
He refused to give in to such feelings. In defiance, he felt for her again, and to his surprise, she felt much closer. Lilly looked up from her tears and started to look around.
“She feels close!” Lilly cried.
“I feel her too. Maybe there is an entrance nearby,” he suggested.
They heard the roar of a dragon and looked up to see the black form flying overhead.
“Can you change back?” Gersius asked as the dragon began to circle.
Lilly shook her head weakly. “I feel like I haven’t slept in hundreds of years.”
Then we may have a problem,” Gersius said.
“I can try to talk to him,” Lilly cried.
“How do you know it
is male?”
“See how short his neck is?” Lilly said. “Males have shorter, wider necks.”
As they watched, the dragon circled lower until it flew directly over them and landed on the slope right before them.
“Help me stand,” Lilly said weakly. “I will try to reason with him.”
Gersius went to set Lilly down when the dragon placed its hands on the ground and released Thayle.
“Lilly!” Thayle cried as she stumbled her way across the slope.
“Thayle!” Gersius cried. He struggled to meet her halfway with Lilly in his arms.
Thayle ran into them both and wrapped them in a hug.
“Sweetheart, are you alright?” Thayle begged.
“Thayle!” Lilly sobbed and weakly reached out her arms. She latched on to Thayle and refused to let her go forcing Gersius to put her down so Thayle could hold her.”
“I am alright, sweetheart,” Thayle said as she held Lilly tightly. “I am more worried about you.”
“I am fine but have no strength. I can't take my dragon form!”
Thayle nodded and looked to Gersius, “Where is the saddle?”
“Where we left it,” he said, looking past her to the dragon that glared at them with hatred.
“I am going to take him and go get it,” Thayle said, gesturing with her head to the dragon behind her. “We will come back for you both.”
Gersius looked from the dragon to Thayle. “He is helping us?”
Thayle nodded. “Not of his own free will. I have him bound.”
“You bound him?” Lilly asked.
Thayle nodded and rubbed Lilly’s head. “He was badly wounded in the fall. I made him the same offer Gersius made you. He hasn’t taken it nearly as well.”
Lilly looked over the dragon that looked like it was struggling to attack them.
“He hates you,” Lilly said.
“He does hate you,” Gersius added. “It is so strong I can feel your discomfort from it.”
“He does hate me, but he can’t harm me,” Thayle said. “We will go get the saddle and come back.”
She struggled to hand Lilly back to him and then took a deep breath before turning to go.
Gersius looked at her nervously as she went to leave. “Be careful,” he said.
Thayle turned back to smile at him. “It’s too late for that.”
They watched as the dragon picked Thayle up in his hands and flew off in the direction of the peak. Nearly twenty minutes later, they returned with Lilly's saddle on his back. He was breathing heavily, and his tail twitched side to side in obvious irritation. Gersius handed Lilly up to Thayle, and they set her between them on the saddle and tied her in place.
“Take us east,” Thayle commanded.
The black dragon shuttered as he spread his wings and took to the sky, heading east. They were all silent a moment as the dragon shuddered oddly beneath them.
“Why is his flight so rough?” Gersius asked silently over the bind.
“He is fighting the binding,” Thayle said. “He wants to throw us all from his back and kill us. He is struggling to resist it every inch of the way.”
“He needs to stop,” Lilly said weakly. “He’s making me sick.”
Gersius agreed that a full day and night of flying like this was going to be horribly uncomfortable. He watched as the dragon glance back often as if hoping they had fallen off.
“What do we do with him?” Gersius asked over the bind.
“I was hoping we could break his curse,” Thayle said. “Like you did with Lilly.”
Gersius considered the raging beast that was still struggling to break the binding and wondered if that was true.
“Lilly never fought me like this,” he said. “He is far angrier.”
“You were not the one who broke my wings and left me for dead,” Lilly said. “I hated that you bound me, but you were not the one who broke me. He is different, Thayle is the one who broke him, and then bound him. If you had beaten me near to death, broken my wings, and then bound me, I am not sure I would be your wife.”
Gersius nodded as he considered the truth of her words. Thayle was to blame for everything that this dragon suffered, and he was burning to pay her back.
“Maybe we should send him away,” Gersius suggested.
“What?” Thayle replied silently. “We have to try to break the curse.”
“This is a completely different situation,” Gersius said. “How are you going to break the curse on him? I broke Lilly’s because I was falling in love with her. Do you plan to fall in love with him?”
Thayle was silent a moment as she considered that. “No, of course not, but maybe Lilly can talk to him when she can take her dragon form. Maybe if he sees her and how enriched her life is.”
Gersius looked up to see the black dragon glaring back at them with raging eyes. Somehow, he didn't think Lilly would have much effect. Speaking about Lilly made him think of her, and he squeezed her tightly to his chest.
“Do you feel any better?” he asked over the bind.
“I feel my strength returning,” Lilly said silently. “That spell drained me so terribly I couldn’t keep my dragon form.”
“He said he could read it, and that it was warded to keep dragons from touching it,” Thayle added.
“Why would it be specifically warded against dragons?” Gersius asked.
“He claims he doesn’t know,” Thayle replied. “But I wasn’t paying close enough attention to his aura to see if he was lying. I may ask him again when we are back.”
“I need him to stop rocking and shaking so badly,” Lilly groaned.
Thayle understood and looked up at him to catch one of his glances.
“Will you please stop trying to fight the bind!” she shouted.
“Will you just fall off already!” he roared back.
“Tell him to land,” Lilly said as she got light-headed.
Thayle felt Lilly's discomfort over the bind and ordered him to land in a field. They climbed down, and Lilly was able to stand weakly as she stumbled away to throw up.
Thayle was angry at the sight and confronted him.
“You are responsible for that!”
“You came into my lair and stole my sword!” he yelled. “You collapsed the tunnel and humiliated me by demanding my name. Now you bind me and force me to carry your worthless husks. You are responsible for everything!”
Thayle shook her head at him. “One day, you will see the truth, and you will tell me you're sorry.”
He snarled at her, and she could see him twitching as he fought the bind.
“What good will all that rage do you?” Thayle asked. “What do you have to gain by being so angry?”
“Freedom from you!” he roared back.
Thayle nodded. “You stay here,” she said as she turned away and went to Lilly.
“I’m fine,” Lilly said as Gersius tried to help her.
“Just sit down for a bit,” Gersius insisted.
“He is the angriest thing I have ever seen,” Thayle said. “His rage puts any ten men to shame.”
“He is a dragon,” Lilly coughed. “You have humiliated him. It's hard to explain, but we see humans as rodents. Gersius once said it must be like you waking up one day to find out you're a slave to an insect. Those first few days I was with him, I was upset about it. I was sure my life was going to be a long chain of humiliation and suffering.”
“How do I reach him then?” Thayle asked.
Lilly shook her head. “I don't know. I was more open to begin with, and Gersius wasn't the one who broke me. Without the love connection, I don't know that I would have, or it would have taken a lot longer.”
“We can’t fly all the way back on him shaking like that,” Gersius said. “Even I will get sick if that keeps up.”
“My strength is coming back slowly,” Lilly interjected. “Maybe if we camp here a night, I will be strong enough in the morning to take us back myself.”
Gersius looked up at the black dragon some thirty paces away. He could see it breathing deeply as it seethed with rage. He decided to camp a night was a better idea.
They took the saddle off the dragons back and used it as their camp. He built a fire and sat with his back against the saddle with Lilly curled into his chest, sleeping. As the sun began to set, he could see the blue eyes in the distance staring at him. The dragon's scales were black as midnight. If not for the dragon sight the beast would have blended into the shadows and vanished.
Thayle tried to speak to him one more time, but all he did was insult her. Now she sat beside the fire, feeling miserable as she looked at the sword.
“At least we have the sword,” Gersius said as he watched her.
Thayle held it up so the firelight could glint on the blade.
“What is so special about this sword?” she asked.
“There must be something,” Gersius said. “I have never seen a metal such as that. It was also warded to prevent dragons from claiming it. Somebody wanted it kept safe.”
“But it has no runes or marking on it,” Thayle said. “At least wind razor had a command word.”
“It might not need a command word. The dragon knight sword is just a sword as far as I know.”
“A sword that can never be broken,” Thayle added. “And the stories say he was able to work great blessings with it.”
Gersius shook his head, careful not to disturb Lilly. “I have no idea what that means. I wish I was allowed to read the actual prophecies.”
“Even your rank didn't have access to them?” Thayle asked.
He nodded. “For nearly a thousand years, only the highest ranks of our holy order can read the sourcebook.”
“Only the Father Abbot then,” Thayle said.
“And his three archbishops,” Gersius added. “Men he picks himself.”
“So, you don't know any more about the prophecy than anyone else?”
“We are taught certain aspects of the prophecy as we progress through the order. I assume we know more than the average person, but I honestly can’t say.”
“But some of what you do believe might not even be true,” Thayle said. “Lilly had a good point the other day about the dragon knight serving Balisha.”
Gersius nodded. “I have done much thinking about that. It makes sense that he was of Balisha, but my order teaches that he is of Astikar.”
“You don’t think they have been lying about that all this time?” Thayle asked.
Gersius stared out over the fire and didn’t move as the thought of the Father Abbots lying for generations played out in his mind.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to raise such a disturbing question,” Thayle said.
He closed his eyes and sighed. “The only thing that truly shook me today was the thought that I lost you.”
Thayle moved over and leaned into him on the other side and nestled her head to his chest close to Lilly’s.
“You didn’t lose me,” she whispered.
“Lilly was so weak she couldn’t feel you over the bind. She was sure you were dead,” he told her.
“Oh, the poor thing,” Thayle said. “No wonder she wouldn’t let me go.’
“I could feel you, but you were so far away; you were just a presence. I had no way of knowing if you were trapped or injured. You could have been buried under rock unable to get out.”
Thayle reached up and put a finger to his lips. “I am fine. I was barely injured in the fall. I slid down the rocks most of the way. Now put this out of your mind. I am here, and I always will be, and one day I am going to hand you your child.”
He nodded gently and then leaned over to kiss the top of her head. “I love you,” he whispered. “and I cannot bear the thought of losing you.”
She settled into his chest with a sigh and glanced to the side. Even as an all-consuming love embraced her, blue eyes glared at her with all-consuming hate. She looked away unwilling to face the rage that was Asaxerxies, and wondered how she would reach him.