King Jend was falling again. Duke Klajo Nohara the Mighty dove after him, but only managed to accidentally whack Jend with his tail as he passed by. Tumbling through the air, Jend concentrated to invoke his powers of levitation. His fall slowed, but he still hit the ground with considerable force.
Jend laid on the ground, spread-eagled, contemplating the clouds and his sanity. Klajo, the massive dark red dragon Jend had been trying to ride, circled down, landed near Jend, crawled over and looked down on his king, checking to see if he were still alive.
Above the dragon, in the heavens, Jend, with his sorcerous perception heightened by the near-death of the fall and the great pain covering every inch of his body, could perceive Teyspater, the Sky Father. Teyspater was laughing at Jend, as were the other gods with him. Jend could make out Thorsin, Admi, Doaris and Neptos, all of whom seemed amused by the action. Mana changed hands. Thorsin was annoyed. Teyspater had bet against Jend.
Bite me, Jend thought to his god, whom he'd served faithfully all his life.
You are my loyal servant; you are blameless and upright. You fear your god and shun evil, he heard in reply. You also take yourself very seriously.
Yes, I serve you loyally. So was this really necessary?
Jend, you did this to yourself. We were just watching. You though are great entertainment, something to observe while we wait for the battle of the revolutionary serfs against the oligarchs in Ushos to get going again. You wanted to ride the dragon as you aim to impress. Don’t blame the consequences of your own actions on the gods.
It had started well; they’d been rising together through the clouds. Jend riding in a saddle they’d had custom crafted for Klajo’s back. They could look down on their kingdom and see all the way to the mountain range to the east that held Duke Klajo’s home cave and his keep. They glided toward the shore, over the forests to the north of Pelsa’s capital city, Lagar’s Haven. The wind had picked up there along the sea, winter’s sudden gusts still making appearances this far north. Klajo banked a bit harder than normal away from the sea, and to ride the winds higher.
The straps on the right side had broken, and while the saddle stayed on the dragon, Jend did not. He tumbled toward the forest, spinning. He was wacked by the diving dragon’s tail, but he finally managed to balance himself and invoke levitation to slow his fall, somewhat later than was ideal. He’d need to improve that spell too.
“Well, no broken bones,” said the great dragon, as he inspected Jend, his fallen king. “You're in the right shape, not on fire.” The dragon put his head to Jend’s chest. “Still breathing…Jend, speak to me. Your wife will kill me if you’re dead. Please speak to me.”
“I am here. By the wrath of the gods, I am King of Pelsa, and I live yet.”
“Well, um, excellent, sire. Shall we have another go? I felt that one was really working, well, right up until it wasn’t.”
Jend still lay on his back, contemplating the sky. “No. We have both had enough for today, have we not? And the saddle needs to be fixed. Not just that, it needs improvements. I will think upon this and remove its weakness. We have made progress though.”
“Yes, definite progress sire. Still, though…” Klajo looked like he wanted to say more, but then went silent.
“Still what dragon?” Jend said, perhaps more harshly than he’d meant to.
Klajo started to open his mouth, but closed it again, looking bashful.
Jend rose, slowly inhaled and tried to calm himself. He decided to be a wise monarch, and not take his royal frustrations out on a poor innocent dragon. A dragon who was one of his closest friends.
“Klaj, you can speak openly with me.” Jend dusted grass and dirt off his trousers. “We’ve been friends a long time, and we’ve been through a lot together. I don’t blame you for the fall. Just tell me what you are thinking. I value your words.”
“It is that we need to get this right. Maybe one more try. My wife and daughter know that we are trying this, and after the last time, my daughter was smirking at me.”
"Well, my daughters smirk at me every time I talk."
"This time though, when I left the cave and when they thought I was gone and couldn't hear, they chortled."
"Chortled?"
"Very loud chortling. Flames burst from Kladska’s nose."
"It isn't good when the women chortle at their men. It means we've done something very seriously stupid," Jend wisely noted.
"Indeed,” Klajo agreed solemnly. “In my one hundred and eighty years on this planet, if there is one thing I have learned, it is that when women think what their men are doing is ridiculous, the women are most often right, as painful as it is for me to admit that.”
"Yes, but for the love of all the gods don’t tell them that…. So, we are probably doing something wrong. I need to think more about this. Redesign the saddle, perhaps."
"Yes, and on that sire, I may have some insight, if you might be interested…."
This amplified Jend's annoyance from the fall and the chortling. "I've already asked you to share your thoughts, so share them, you reticent wyrm!"
"Well okay already then sire. But remember you asked. I think I saw Scarlett with a humanoid riding on her back last week. It was late, near Lagar's Haven, and as soon as they spotted me, they hid. But I believe what I saw going on was dragon riding."
"That doesn't sound so bad,” said Jend. “It is good to know it can be done. If we can't get it right, we could even ask her how she made it work."
"I wish she hadn't done it though, not without consulting me so that I can supervise. She could get hurt or hurt somebody. Scarlett is still so young," explained Klajo.
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“Isn’t Scarlett over thirty-five years old? She was already out of the nest when I first met you…”
“Yes, yes, yes, but that is very young for a dragon. She is still very vulnerable, still learning. And sometimes I’m not sure about her judgment.”
"We do need to let our children go, though. Have their own space and all. That is what my wife keeps telling me. I guess it might be true. Did you get any hint of how she does it? Has she made her own dragon-riding saddle?" asked Jend.
"I didn't suspect at first, but Scarlett has taken to wearing a scarf around her neck. I asked her about it, and she told me it was 'the newest fashion for dragons, a great scarf,' whatever any of that means. But then I saw the receipt for the scarf back in our lair. It was very expensive and made of a blend of unicorn tail-hair and giant spider silk. Stronger than the strongest steel, according to what the proprietor wrote on the receipt. The invoice was from the high priestess of Hista’s temple, made out to the company SFAC. The receipt also named the person who helped design and arrange for the production."
Jend felt a chill coming down his back. He said somewhat sharply, "And what name was on the receipt?"
"It was your Princess Myla. And it looked like Myla I saw riding on Scarlett. Wrapped up in the great scarf."
Jend almost exploded. “Myla can’t just go around riding dragons without my permission! And my close supervision! She can get hurt!”
“Well, yes, riding dragons does seem to be tricky for humanoids. We’ve established that previously, I feel.”
“What the hells was she thinking?”
“The mind of my own daughter remains opaque to me, sire, much less the mind of your daughter.”
“Completely irresponsible. I will ground her for a year!”
“To ‘ground’ a daughter means that you don’t allow them to ride dragons? Am I understanding you correctly, sire?”
“Yes, dragon riding is now completely out! It was out before too, but now it is more out.”
“But sire, perhaps if we inquired about the use of this ‘great scarf,’ perhaps we could make progress ourselves? Should we not perhaps…”
“No, we should not perhaps! I will definitely not ‘perhaps’ use great scarves to ride dragons! And neither will Myla! I command it!”
There was rustling in the trees. Both males looked over at the noise.
- - - -
Queen Aida was an eagle. Not figuratively speaking. She'd taken the form of a large, brownish-red eagle and flown south-west from Lagar's Haven, staying near the coast, along the large forests that blanketed much of her realm. She had a pretty good idea where her husband was, and what he'd been up to.
She enjoyed flying, and normally would have taken her time and gone farther, to the islands or to the mountains, but today she urgently wanted to talk with her husband. As she neared him, she flew down from the clouds, circled the crash site, and landed on one of the lower branches of a large evergreen.
She changed, and was again an elf. She spent a minute making sure all the feathers were gone and getting her hair back in place. Transforming into an animal and back messed up your hair.
She took a moment to get herself together, meditating upon the Great Mother’s Meditation Against Laughing at Men (Too Often), a meditation that she often recited to herself:
"Do not laugh at the men.
They do not take it well,
And this man has had his ego bruised already today.
If we laugh at them too often, they stop doing
Their funny men things, and then
One of our major sources of entertainment will be lost.
So I shall not laugh at them any more today,
However much they deserve it."
She did smile. Nothing more though.
The males looked over as she entered the crash-site’s clearing. They looked as if they'd just been caught at something. Jend tried to look busy fixing the saddle.
"Love, but you are back early. And how did you know we were here?" he asked.
"You know I can sense you whenever you are in contact with the earth. In this case, you contacted the earth particularly hard, so much so that it startled me."
"Oh, right. Can you do that with the girls?"
"Most of the time, no. I have tried, but it only works if they are standing on the ground and in one place for a long time. Their presence on the earth is more discreet than your big hulking self. You blot out cities," explained Aida.
Jend looked pleased to hear that.
"But there is something I need to talk to you about."
"Right now, love?" Jend was a brave king and liked to face danger head on.
"Yes, right now, dear. I sensed a sinister force,” Aida said.
“Is it the giant sea serpents again?” Jend interrupted. “I told you I’d get rid of those. You don’t have to remind me every month. You know we are forming a navy and…”
“It isn’t the sea serpents! You know we gathered The Circle today."
"The Circle? Sure, yes, of course. I figured you’d be there all day, so I thought I’d come by when we were done here. Did something go wrong? You’d prepared for that all week. Is there somebody that you need me to talk to and motivate?"
"No, no, our Circle is fine, that is not the issue” Aida shook her head. “I felt something dark, something just completely wrong, in Carstones. Vathary may be under assault – there is a presence there that should not be, and I do not know what it means. A corruption the like of which I have not sensed since we defeated Lothar."
"Well, there is a new king there. Lots of changes, I’m sure,” Jend said.
“This was not just a new king. This was not something human, or even natural. It was something demonic.”
It was at that point that Private Zegs and Private Wolds, two goblin soldiers whom Aida distinctly remembered having sent off as guards for their daughters, arrived. They came in at high speed on their wolves and had to brake quickly to not collide with their monarchs. Zegs and Wolds leapt off their mounts and saluted. The exhausted wolves made for a shady spot to lie down.
"King Jend, Queen Aida, we have a report from the Royal Princesses. Humans! Three armed humans entered the kingdom!" They stood at attention, continuing to salute.
The king and queen, and their noble dragon companion, stared at the goblins for a dozen seconds. When the goblins didn't say more, Aida propted "Please continue, and please explain where our daughters are."
"Yes, our queen. We were visiting Sir Nicodo, and the Aerial Reconnaissance Force reported that three armed humans were in the kingdom, riding toward Grendom. The princesses sent us to report to you."
Jend, Aida, and Klajo breathed out and their posture became more relaxed. Jend said "Well, three humans can't be so bad, and the guards should easily be able to handle them. Perhaps just some of the ‘sight seers’ we are getting recently. Maybe we can head over there and investigate the situation?"
"I agree three doesn't sound so serious,” Aida said. “But, still Jend, one of us must go there straight away, just to be sure. Perhaps also to make sure the humans themselves are not incinerated. Or to help deal with them if necessary. The girls are sensible, generally, and can control their powers well…. but I think I’ll just fly over there now?"
"Why don't we all? After all, our saddle works now, we've just been making small modifications." Jend paused, and turned back to the two goblin guards, who were still at attention. "Private Zeg, Privat Wolds. At ease." The two goblins shifted to the at ease position, arms behind their back and feet a foot apart. "Now, please tell me how you knew where to find me?"
“Your Majesty, it was Lord Klajo the Mighty's daughter, sir! Lady Scarlett, she told us, sir. She saw us riding hard to Lagar’s Haven, and she flew down and questioned us. When we explained the human invasion to her, she directed us here. Told us exactly what path to take, she did.”
“Are all of the females of the kingdom tracking my location?”
They all paused and reflected. Neither the goblins nor Aida either knew the answer or ventured a response.
Jend turned to Klajo “This does imply your daughter was watching us, although from where I don’t know.”
The great dragon pondered for a moment. "Or she has figured out some other way of knowing where her parents are. I will have a talk with her. She is clever, and bends magic to her will better than I do."
Aida didn't wait. She was already an eagle, flying toward Grendom. Jend finished his tightening of the repaired saddle rope and climbed on. Klajo took flight, following Aida's path, although going easy on the turns.