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Chapter 15
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Esmarilla's landing was a little hard. Ardwella had to give her a little leeway as she had not flown in over three hundred years. As much as he appeared to have enjoyed flying, she was not surprised to see her husband Alberad jump swiftly from her back. It was a lot to take in, poor landing aside. The ground was solid, and it was what he knew. Nobody rode dragons! "We will have to do something about that," she thought to herself.
Leaning forward, reaching her arms as far as she could around the great neck, Ardwella pressed her body tight against the dragon in a hug. Esmarilla rumbled contentedly, feeling her emotions. She was happy to finally have her back. The string of magic words she had used had placed the dragon in a type of hibernation and, in a way, linked their life forces. It had never been tried before.
She had done it to save the dragon’s life, but there were unforeseen consequences. Magical power from the hibernating dragon’s core had needed somewhere to go, and so it had flowed into her. Ardwella’s body had no longer aged. She had incredible strength and stamina. When she received a wound, it healed extremely quickly and left no scar. But now that the dragon was awake again, things would be different. She would actually have to be careful!
Speaking mind to mind, with her elven bonded, Esmarilla said,
"He is cute and fits you well, but I wonder if he is concerned about what our relationship means for him."
"Alberad? Of course, he is! “ Ardwella thought back. I never had the courage to tell him any of it! I'm sure he is probably in shock,"
"You had lived a lonely life until you found him!” The dragon thought. "In many ways, even though I could see things passing me by, the time went quickly"
"It was the only way that I could keep you alive, and you know how important that has always been to me. And, of course, I had a great deal to do!"
"Yes," the dragon murmured, "and for that, I thank you, but now we must make up for a lost time. Why don't you introduce me to your son."
"We will get to that soon," said Ardwella, "But I think I need a few minutes to talk to him first"
”Do you think that he will be angry?”
”No, but it will create many questions when my son figures out that the whole time I carried him, I was filled with your power. Both he and his father will have to consider the ways this has affected their lives”.
"I understand," Esmerilla replied. Perhaps while you talk, I will eat a few cows.
Ardwella replied, "That will probably be okay, but try to keep your search on the human side of the lake.
"It makes sense for now," the dragon said, dropping from the cliff. Pulling short her dive over the water, she pumped her wings and vanished quickly into the distance.
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Lothinar had just watched his PARENTS jump off the back of a dragon. Not a Candasar-sized dragon. Not even a Tundor-sized dragon. A primal history defying giant black DRAGON! Even as he watched, the immense, fantastic creature dropped from the cliff from which he had dived just slightly over an hour before and flew off into the distance. He had no doubt it would be back.
As Lothinar watched his father and mother, Ardwynn watched Lothinar. The black dragon was terrifying and impressive, but Ardwella stood out like a wonderful jewel. With beauty like that filling his eyes every day while he was growing up, it was no wonder Lothinar seemed impervious to the charms of normal women. Although it was hundreds of years out of style for elves to use animals for clothes, she wondered if the leather tanner in the human town could make her a cute little dress like that and some matching knee-high boots.
Cantrell had always believed in the war stories. The ones where the elves had used their overwhelming intellect and power to kill all the dragons, well, except the few lucky remnants that had been reduced to non-flying fish eaters here in this lake. Someone had lied to him. Lots of someones. Now, not only had he seen major evidence to the contrary that the BIG dragons of history were NOT extinct, but he had met and talked to a dragon. Not the terrifying black flying version that had just flown off somewhere, but the one he had spoken with in the forest. Tundor. In spite of his expectations that he might be forced to fight for his life against a bloodthirsty beast, Tundor had seemed polite and reasonable. Well, at least until someone tried to take a bite out of his mate. His actions after that were something Cantrell could understand. He would have done the same in a similar situation. What had really happened back in that terrible war?! He didn't know anymore, but he suspected he might know someone who did.
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Tundor watched the black dragon pass overhead and out of sight. Wings, WINGS, WINGS! That's how they were supposed to look. That's what they could do. He looked at the shriveled excuses on his own back and bellowed, "LOTHINAR! How do I get some of those?!"
All her hopes and all her dreams could not have prepared Candasar to see what she had been working for. She stood speechless, her mouth hanging open. Big dragon tears fell from her eyes. The ravings of her Grandfather had not done justice to the grandeur and power of her true heritage. She had lived her whole life for this moment! A glimpse of what they all might become. "Thank you, Thank you, Grandfather! You were right!" She had never even really believed herself that her dreams might be able to come true. Even if that beautiful dragon never came back, it was enough. But she hoped that she would. Candasar had many questions.
Alberad was watching his wife hug a dragon. A creature he had always believed was unrepentantly evil and dangerous. His mind was spinning as he tried to compare what he was seeing now with the way he had always thought the world to be. He was glad that the priest back in the human town had insisted that they take that gold as a wedding present. It was going to cost a fortune to feed this thing! He had better keep Jamison out of sight.
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‘The four surviving members of the water dragon council had returned to receive not the honors due to conquering heroes but chaos, anger, and questions. The answers had all come out in a rush. The clan leader, Killingsworth was now unwillingly wearing the nickname of “One Eye”, adding insult to injury. Candasar’s family had seemed resigned to her fate but now were hanging about the fringes listening for news of their reclusive daughter. Bartuug’s wives, as well as the families of the other two that wouldn’t be coming back, had predictably reacted in horror before fleeing for privacy to cry and grieve. There was a lot of anger, but strangely some of the dragons had reasons for joy. Tundor’s father had a strange but not unhappy look on his face and his mother had been swimming around telling everyone with excitement that her son was alive! Their daughter Vanessa even looked pleased.
Killingsworth went home. He would need some time to figure out what to do next. His face hurt. He would talk to the other leaders in the morning. He shouted to his wife, “Bring me some fish!” Somehow he would find a way to make Candasar pay for his missing eye, but he didn’t think it was going to be as easy as he did before.
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Old MacDonald had a dairy farm. In the late afternoon, he had gone into the house because he had suddenly felt like helping his still-pretty wife churn the butter. He had come out twenty minutes later with a smile on his face. But now he was surprised and upset that some of his cows were missing. Stranger still, on a tree stump in the yard that MacDonald had soon intended to chop into firewood, he found a strange note. It had been scrawled into the wood with some sort of sharp awl. "I OWE U 2 COWS, STARETT." Now that was unusual. The name was unknown to him. He would have to ask old Womber over at the temple. He knew everyone.
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‘“Somehow, saying that I am surprised doesn’t seem like nearly enough.” Said Lothinar as his parents walked towards him across the beach. “My normal unassuming parents are riding a dragon now!”
“Well, when you didn’t show up at our house to sneak out of town with us, I had to make other arrangements.” smiled his mother.
”Someone interfered.” he growled, looking at Ardwynn
”Love your outfit!” Interrupted the female warden. “Do you remember where you got it?”
”Yes, I do,” replied Aredwella warmly. “But it was a while ago, and I’m not sure the company is making them anymore “
”That’s too bad, I wonder if a human leatherworker could put something like that together for me”
”I’d imagine he could. There is not that much to it”
”He might need a pattern. Do you think I could, perhaps, borrow it at some point for a few days”
”I’m sure that could be arranged……”
”Um, Ah! I hate to force my way into this interesting fashion conversation,” said Cantrell suddenly, “But I have some questions.”
“I suppose you do,” said the ridiculously beautiful elf, smiling.
In spite of his best efforts, Cantrell felt himself staring a little.
“Ahem!” Coughed Alberad.
“Will you be trying to arrest me for keeping company with dragons?” She asked, raising an elegant eyebrow.
”Well, before today, that is exactly what I might be inclined to do,” he said, surprising himself.
”You’re not serious!” Interjected Alberad
”I don’t think Esmarilla would be too happy about that,” said Ardwella. “But tell me more about the ‘before today’ part of that sentence “
”I am starting to think that everyone has been lying to us, suppressing some of the facts. This may have led to inaccuracies that I have been assuming about dragons,” Cantrell said.
”Not everyone “
”Well, obviously!”
”Listen, my dear warden, you will someday realize that the winners of wars can take great liberties with the actual facts and reasons why they happened. Some dragons did wrong, this I do not dispute. But Elves in this conflict were the real guilty party. “
”I can’t imagine an elf doing something to deliberately provoke a primal dragon.” Said Cantrell, “No offense Tundor”
Tundor and Candasar had been standing quietly nearby during the conversation. Although it was not telepathy but elvish, he could figure out quite a bit of what had been going on. He was getting better at this.
“What can an elf do to anger a dragon? Enrage her, in fact?” asked Ardwella
Cantrell just shrugged helplessly.
”He can steal her eggs!”
Even Candasar could understand that.” She began to growl.
” Yes, I suppose that might do it.” Said Cantrell.
There was a lengthy, awkward pause while the group looked at each other
“Can I ride her mother?” Lothinar finally asked.
‘I’m sure you will, my son. I believe that you two will find that you have a lot in common.”