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Chapter 27
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A second set of footsteps crossed the threshold, and another warden entered the office. It was Cenderick. Before speaking, He looked smugly at the first, who was silent except for his ragged breathing.
”I told you that you were running too fast. You need to save enough of your wind to be able to deliver the necessary information, Amstell”
”He at least managed to get out the word ‘dragons!’ Said Quinton, having leaped from his chair with a very alarmed look on his face.
”This is important information for Cantrell,” said the second elf. “Just exactly who are you?”
”He claims to be an envoy from the Imperial palace.” Cantrell replied, “But all I’ve been able to really confirm is that Ardwynn admits that he is her brother”
”You dare question my position!?”
”You know, boss, if Ardwynn actually had connections to the palace, what would she be doing out here in the sticks, hiking all over the countryside? Asked Amstell, who had finally caught his wind enough to speak.
”I want to know about the Dragons!” Quinton practically screamed.
Cenderick raised an eyebrow toward Cantrell, waiting for confirmation to continue.
”I suppose we can give him the benefit of the doubt for now….”
”Enough of this. Tell me! ” Said Quinton.
”We saw two. Not the swimming type. The old-fashioned flying type. A smaller one and a great big black monster. The kind you read about in the history books. It must be hundreds of years old, at least! I had no idea anything like that had survived the war!” Said Amstell
Quinton paled.
“Looked to me like they were flying over the road in the general direction of Delora Natine. They didn’t attack anyone, just flying slowly away.” Said Cenderick.
”I was going to try and take a shot at them,” said Amstell. Gesturing at the longbow still slung over his shoulder. “But Cenderick told me not to.”
”Sounds like a brave thing to do. Why did you stop him?” Asked Quinton angrily.
"Well, it crossed my mind that it might not be a good idea to make them mad," said Cenderick. "And they hadn't really done anything yet."
”That's not the reason you told me." said Amstell.
Cenderick looked quickly between Cantrell and Amstell. He tightened his lips and shook his head slightly as if appealing to Amstell to be silent.
"What was the real reason he gave you?" Insisted Quinton
Oblivious to the hint, Amstell continued..... ."On account of not wanting to accidentally hit one of the elves.”
“Why would he be worried about you hitting an elf?”
“Well, you see,” said Amstell awkwardly. “There were elves riding the dragons. One of them I've never seen before but the other two looked an awful lot like Lothinar and Ardwynn!
"I guess, Quinton," Said Cantrell with a wry grin. "Ardwynn actually decided to take the day off like you suggested. You should be careful what you ask for. You just might get it."
"Some sort of response will be required," said the envoy. "I must go now and speak with my mother."
Cantrell observed that he did not look very happy.
"By the way," he asked, stopping just before walking out the door... "Who is this Lothinar?"
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At the Dragon Temple, once again, Starett was having a conversation with the dairy farmer. This time he had brought along his wife. Scarlett couldn't help but notice that she had dressed up for the occasion, and for a middle-aged lady, she was still very pretty. Drinking all that milk must be good for the skin, he thought.
"So I brought you another one of those Dragon I.O.U's said the grizzled dairyman. This one is for three cows. And it looks like the Dragon also left some additional information."
"Are you sure it's from the black dragon?"
"Yep, I saw her write it herself. I didn't know dragons could write, but she just started in on that log with her front toenail like she had been doing it her whole life. Amazing, really!"
"What does it say?" asked the priest.
"Read it for yerself" said McDonald. Do you want to borrow my glasses? The writing is a little small."
"I'm 19 years old!" said the priest taking the piece of wood from McDonald's outstretched hand. "I think my eyes still see well enough to read."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Starett followed the descending spiral of words, written in the human language, as they wrapped around the piece of circular firewood. It read:
"COMING FOR VISIT SOON. BRINGING FRIENDS. WILL BE STAYING AT TEMPLE. PLEASE PROVIDE SNACKS. TOOK 3 COWS IN ADVANCE. THANK YOU. THE DRAGON GOD.
Starrett just shook his head and got out his pocketbook.
The Dairyman and his wife were smiling happily.
"I think you are about to have a lot on your plate for someone so young." said the still-beautiful milkmaid.
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They had packed way too much, thought Ardwella. The horse was doing his best but the loaded wagon would be no match in speed for the Warden’s elves if they chose to follow. Even if Cantrell delayed pursuit as long as he could, Ardwynn’s brother Quinton would eventually force his hand. When he attacked, the wagon on the road would be a sitting duck.
That he was an “egg eater,” both infuriated her and worried her. The magical dragon eggs were fairly rare as not every water dragon could lay them. Each one was a dragon like Tundor, taken before it could hatch. It seemed that the royal family committing this racial atrocity had at least a few to spare to enhance the magical prowess of their foot soldier enforcers like Quinton. Most of the harvested eggs, however went towards extending the life and youthful appearance of the ancient emperor and his closest cronies who had begun this farce of a war so many hundreds of years ago.
The emperor that she remembered from her youth had been a foul, evil elf with self-serving ambitions. She recalled his callous regard for both his fellow elves and dragons. He had watched from afar when Lothinex and his family, through their magic, had begun to form symbiotic bonds with the great creatures. When the dragons had been approached by his entourage the young elven leader had insisted that he had wanted to bond with Vanador. Only the great white dragon was up to his standards.
Not only had Vanador refused, but all of the other dragons had as well. What they saw inside his soul was a foul stench of greed and deceit and they had wanted no part of it. Apparently, he had then decided to hatch the plan to use the dragon's eggs to obtain a semblance of the things that bonding with a living dragon would have given him. He had made up lies about the dragons, declared war, and employed a new type of spell caster to destroy the dragons who had spurned him. After almost all the dragons were destroyed, he had employed his best flesh sculptors to change the majestic creatures into a shadow of their former glory, ensuring his eternal access to their magical eggs.
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In the elf capitol, hundreds of miles to the south of Tasumakoji, stood a great white tower. On its roof stood the statue of a great white dragon. For over seven hundred years, it had withstood rain, snow, lightning strikes, and the indignities of thousands of birds whose droppings covered it. Throughout all the years, the statue had not weathered or aged. It looked as lifelike as the day it was placed there.
In a dark and dingy chamber within the tower was a prison cell. A female elf of exceptional beauty lay naked on a dirty mattress in the corner of the cell. She was Ardwella's sister Siophra. Currently, she was unable to stand because her lower leg was missing. As usual, it was growing back. It was an incredible sight to see. It defied all reason and logic how fast the healing was occurring. This was not the first or even the thousandth time she had regrown an extremity. It had become so routine that the savagery and brutality of what happened to her each day had lost most of its shock value.
When Ardwella had worked out the word spell that placed Esmarilla in a form of hibernation it had saved her from being killed by an elven spell. The hibernation ceased all the dragon's internal bodily processes. Had they been active, the spell would have caused her dragon to burn up from the inside. Ardwella's discovery of that solution had been late in the war. She had only been able to share her solution with one other person. Her sister. She had sent her a message and never heard back from her. Siophra on one last mission from their grandfather to try and reach a peace, had traveled on Vanador to the elven capital to try and reason with the selfish young emperor. When that mission failed, one of the emperor's magicians had tried to burn Vanador. Out of options, Siophra had cast the hibernation spell. They had obviously been captured and held ever since. It had been a lifetime of suffering for the female elf.
Each day, at noon, the emperor would climb the stairs to her tower and demand that she relinquish her bond with the white dragon Vanador. Each day, when she refused, he would send in his royal torturer to provide a severe beating and then hack off a limb. Then when they were done, it would begin to grow back. Thankfully the emperor had given up on the occasional rapes about a hundred years ago.
"I guess he finally did start to get too old for that..." she thought. I might actually someday outlive him.
On the roof, the white dragon, immobile and impotent, silently wept while his immense magical power poured healing into his bonded, named Siophra, the other granddaughter of Lothinex.
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Harvey had left the walls of Delora Natine early this morning. It was his day off. He was done worrying and waiting. He wanted to see if he could track down some information on where the Dragon God had disappeared to. He had lived in the town his whole life and had taken it for granted that the temple was a grand and special place. Now it seemed empty and Harvey had realized that he missed the dragon. He knew that others did as well.
Now on the road for a few hours, Harvey could feel his excitement growing. He also seemed to have a great deal of curiosity about the beautiful female elf. Maybe that sweaty elf with her had not been her husband. He had been with her, of course. But sometimes being with someone didn't automatically mean you were "WITH THEM," if you know what I mean, thought Harvey. Elf and Human relationships were rare and from the elf's point of view, rather short-lived, but Harvey could learn to deal with that, at least as long as he lasted. She seemed really nice.
Up ahead on the road, he heard the clatter and thump of a wagon moving at a fairly fast speed. He turned the corner to see something beyond his wildest imaginings. A Dragon was hitched to a cart. He was lumbering along at an extremely rapid pace. The sweaty elf from the other day was sitting on top of the cart piled high and covered with a thick tarp. He looked terrified and about to fall off any second.
Looking up, Harvey saw not one but two dragons in the sky. One was a beautiful blue and was being ridden by the most handsome male elf that Harvey had ever seen. Harvey didn't swing that way, but if he did, that elf would be the one to change his mind. The other dragon had two beautiful elven females riding her. It was the Black Dragon God! Held gently in her claws was a large horse. Harvey knew horses. This horse did not look happy.
Harvey just stood there, his jaw hanging open as the group in the sky and the wagon on the ground thundered past where he stood.
"Hey, human!" yelled the handsome elf on the blue dragon.
"Yeah?" said Harvey, somehow finding his voice.
"You might not want to stay there much longer. There are a bunch of elves coming, and they are not in a good mood!"
"Is there anything I can do for you, Dragon God?" Yelled Harvey up into the sky.
"As a matter of fact, there is," said the beautiful elven dream girl on the back of the huge black dragon.
The great black swooped and turned, flying low. Amazingly she began to hover, her wings pounding furiously at the air like a mammoth hummingbird. She gently lowered the struggling horse to the ground, where it stood still in obvious shock.
"Do you think you could watch my horse for a little while? I might have to do a little fighting, and he might get shot at." asked the elf of his dreams.
"I'll do anything!" said Harvey. "Where can I meet up with you later to give you back the horse?"
"We will be staying at the temple. I'll meet you there."
"It's a date!" said Harvey with a big smile. This was working out better than he could have imagined.
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