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Chapter 26
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"Woohoo! Let's go! Yelled Ardwynn as Esmarilla crouched and began moving forward.
She was fiercely clutching at Ardwella's back, though, as the massive black Dragon took a running leap and propelled herself upwards through the air. Even from where he sat on Candasar, still firmly on the ground, Lothinar could feel the massive wind generated by ferocious thrusts as the Dragon shot away, gaining altitude rapidly.
"I've seen you fly," Lothinar said to his bond. But can you carry me as well?"
Candasar chuckled
"Esmarilla says I'm near a ton and a half. How much did you say you weigh?"
"Lothinar laughed." I didn't. Well, I guess my weight is pretty insignificant when you put it that way."
"Yeah, that's right, but do hold on tight. I'd hate for you to fall, and then I would have to find a new bond after just one flight."
Lothinar gulped, and Candy laughed.
"I'll let you in on a little secret that Esmarilla passed on to me this morning during the flying lesson."
" Secret?"
" Yes, through the bond, you and I will remain so closely connected that you will know exactly what aerial moves I will be making as, or even before I make them, allowing you to adjust your positions and grip seamlessly."
" Well, that sounds helpful "
" It may even provide the feeling that you are doing or at least participating in the actual flying. Esmarilla said that the first time can be somewhat of a sensory overload as you adjust to co-controlling my body"
"I have co-control??"
" Let's just say that I might be extremely open to instantaneous suggestions, but don't get too distracted."
"I'm still kind of upset you took off and learned to fly without me being able to watch."
"Sorry about that. Wasn't much to see. I don't think taking you along would have been a good idea, especially riding, although Esmarilla would probably have been willing to let you ride her. I swear, that dragon half thinks that she is somehow bonded to you instead of me. I'm kind of impressed that your mom doesn't get at all jealous, the way Esmarilla is always going on about you with her"
"We have a unique relationship, as you know"
"I know, I know. For nine months in the womb, you were suckling off her magical teat".
"I've never heard it put quite that way!"
" We dragons do not nurse our young, so the analogy must have come from your mind and experiences. I try to use the information from the bond that is the closest fit. It will take some time to integrate the different life lessons we have experienced."
"Lothinar, you need to get Candasar in the air now! There are two Elven Archers approaching your position!" Came the Basso mental projection of the already airborne Esmarilla. Fly now, talk later!
It had to be the strangest sensation Lothinar had ever experienced as he suddenly felt his body tense and surge forward, Charging powerfully on his four legs. He felt his/their wings unfold and snap into position, and his strong shoulders began pushing violently down on the air beneath them. He could see from both his own and the Dragon's eyes as she chuckled gleefully and threw herself into the sky. He watched the home and barn that he had been born and raised in shrinking rapidly as he turned his elven head around for a last look.
" Now that's very helpful," said Candasar. "Flying with you, it's like I have a second set of eyes in the back of my head! The situational awareness should be excellent "
Lothinar did not see the archers that Esmarilla had warned them about. However, he did see a neighbor hanging out her wash on a clothesline about thirty seconds into the flight. She looked upward, mouth hanging open, as Candasar flew rapidly overhead. He couldn't resist waving. He could see her snap out of her shock and begin to run quickly into the house as they flew onward and out of sight.
A little ways ahead of him but higher in the sky, he saw Esmarilla slowly circling an area on the forest road that could only contain Tundor, the wagon, and his father. They were a fair distance away from the village and had made good time, but Lothinar was suddenly painfully aware that they were the weakest link in this plan. He really wished they had gotten an earlier start.
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Cantrell had listened just about as long as he could to the pompous elf Quinton disparage his sister specifically and females in general for trying to do the work of males. He had heard it all before. Cantrell had always believed and had found from real-world observation that people and their abilities fit on a bell curve of competency. It just wasn't fair to outright dismiss someone for a task just because they happened to have their sexual organs on the inside. There might be a smaller number of females that had the physical prowess to hike endlessly through the wilderness, recording wildlife populations and fighting an occasional forest fire, but Ardwynn had more than proved herself every bit as competent as any of the males in his crew. Except, he realized now, possibly Lothinar. Now as he thought about it, Lothinar had always been a standout. Ridiculously handsome, tall, and muscular, he attracted attention everywhere he went. His magical ability was off the charts.
Everything Cantrell had ever asked of his subordinate, he had delivered. And Cantrell had asked a lot. He had put him on the most strenuous assignments. Testing and probing for weaknesses or faults, he found nothing significant. Cantrell had seen others with some of his attributes, but most seemed to have at least one weak point. To top it all off, Lothinar seemed to be one of those genuinely humble and helpful people who seemed unaffected by his ego. Hearing how his mother had planned and implemented her pregnancy, empowering his gestation with dragon power, now it all started to make sense. Was his mother trying to make a superwarrior, or was she planning something grander for her son? Cantrell did not see Lothinar as much of a killer, and he had met more than a few.
"Are you even listening to me!?"
Cantrell looked at the red-faced elf sitting in front of him. "Sorry, my mind drifted off."
"I will be sure to mention that when I speak to the Emperor about your job performance!" the envoy hissed.
Cantrell was spared further recriminations regarding his job inadequacies by hurried steps on his porch and a sweaty and out-of-breath warden as he ran into the office. "
He only had to say one word. It was the word that Cantrell had expected to hear all morning.
"DRAGONS!"
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Just a few days ago, when Alberad had traveled this road, he had been on foot, chasing his impossibly fast wife. They had been moving flat out. It had taken a little more than an hour to make the almost twenty-mile distance. Alberad speculated that it would take the horse and cart about six hours. He hoped it was fast enough.
Ardwella had decided that she should be there for her Dragon's awakening. The transition from Esmarilla's state of hibernation to active had been eventful. Unmoving but not unaware, the old priest in charge of the temple had been doing things that displeased her. Showing her dissatisfaction with his corrupt management style, she started to take it out on the temple structures and ornamentations. Ardwella had arrived just in time to prevent the worst from happening. Her presence had immediately settled down the understandably disoriented Dragon.
The Temple of the Dragon had held the statuesque Esmarilla for over five hundred years, while Ardwella had made the world safe for her return. All of the elves that knew the spell to use the Dragon's fire against them were dead. The knowledge of the spell was destroyed. Alberad wondered if those in charge of such things had realized that henceforth they would have to resort to killing dragons in more normal ways. There was still plenty of elven magic around, but the Dragon's fear of death by internal fire seemed to be resolved for the immediate future.
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"Can you see anyone following us?" called Ardwynn to her co-rider.
Ardwella looked back over her shoulder at the forest passing below them as they moved in gentle spiraling circles above the road and moving wagon. Candasar was doing well and had caught up with them. She and Lothinar seemed lost in the bond, enjoying their first flight together. She was glad for them both.
"Not since those two archers just outside of town. I suspect they were wardens returning from patrol."
"Yes, I saw them, Cenderick and Amstell," said Ardwynn, "Two of my co-workers. We regularly patrol armed with bows, as you probably know. They were scheduled to return this morning"
"I have seen Lothinar's kit, yes," said Ardwella. "You were scheduled to go out as one of their replacements...Did you pack your bow?"
"Yes, I have it." Said Ardwynn," gesturing to the unstrung wooden recurve that stuck out of the top of her pack. "It is quite a bit shorter than Lothinars"
"Good, I have a bad feeling that we might need it."
"I might have some additional information on who might eventually be pursuing us." Said Ardwynn, "But it's a story that is going to be very difficult to tell, considering the circumstances...."
Ardwella blinked, then narrowed her eyes at the other elven woman. "I hope I won't be too disappointed in what you tell me..."
"I guess I had better start by admitting that even though I didn't want to, I lied to Lothinar about something yesterday"
Ardwella scowled, "You are not inspiring confidence here..."
"First, I want to say that I have never eaten one... EVER!"
Ardwynn heard the great Dragon beneath her snort in what had to be shock and anger as she figured it out before the elf beside her.
"You're not..." said the elf.
"Yes," said Ardwynn. I'm a royal duchess once removed. My mother is the one working for the Emperor. She is the one harvesting the magical dragon eggs from the lake."
"Your mother is the egg thief!" bellowed the Dragon.
Lothinar and Candasar, distracted as they were in exploring flight for the first time together, could not help hearing the massive Dragon's psychic shout. The blue Dragon wobbled and then righted herself. Lothinar looked over in confusion.
"My mother, the Dutchess, has only done this for five years since the last person who had the job moved on to other tasks.
When we moved to this town five years ago, I honestly earned the warden position. I just wanted something to do that would get me away from her and them. Working in the field for so much of the time was how I survived!"
"Why should I believe you?" Asked Ardwella with narrowed and angry eyes.
"I have watched Imperial Royalty hoard and use the eggs of your kind my whole twenty-five-year life. It makes them beautiful, strong, fast, and extends their lives for the ancient ones. I have always observed that although the benefits seem obvious, they are HOLLOW!" They are fake, having an image of power, strength, and beauty that is stolen and false. If they stop eating them they revert to empty shells, even weaker than before. Somehow I have always been able to sense this about them. What they are doing is deplorable. It made me hate everything about them! Once, they tried to pressure me to give in to consuming one of the eggs myself, but I swear I refused. I didn't want to become like them.."
"And then I met your son. Everything that they pretend to be want to be, he actually is."
"When you have been looking at counterfeits your whole life the real thing must be more than appealing", acknowledged Ardwella.
"I am, more than anyone else, convinced of that!" Said Ardwynn passionately.
Ardwella sighed a sad sigh. "Ok, Duchess," said the Elven Valkyrie, "Why don't you tell me what we might be up against from the Capitol?"
"Well, I think the one we should be the most concerned about, for now, will be my brother..."
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