**************
Chapter 34
**************
Cantrell lowered his head. He wanted to hide and slink away. What was she doing here?
“Oh, Warden, Yoo-hoo! Cantrell,” the female elf called again.
Cantrell had just turned around from locking the office, and the sudden onslaught of femininity made him jump and cringe. It was Mavis. Again. He could see her walking up towards him on the path. She was, of course, batting her eyelashes.
“I mean, honestly!” he thought to himself “Who even says, ‘Yoo-hoo’ anymore?”
Apparently, Mavis did. Quite a lot. Not that he had not been at last slightly flattered at her recent attention. She was much younger than him and pretty. Not in the way Ardwella was, of course. That was a ridiculously high standard for anyone to measure up to. The warden had been a job-oriented confirmed bachelor for his entire life. He supposed that he had eventually hoped to share his life with someone. Not in the frenzied passion of a youthful relationship but a steady friendship with someone that might bloom into something more. The warden shook his head. “Oh no!” He mumbled. It wasn’t at all like him to spend so much time comparing every woman he met to Lothinar’s mother. This could be a problem.
"Good morning, Mavis, " he spoke, forcing a smile. "How can I help you today?"
"I was just speaking with my good friend, the blue dragon..."
"Is this Aleena we are talking about?"
"Yes, I don't really know Candasar, but maybe someday you could introduce me. I understand that she is bonded to my neighbor. Do you know that she's pretty much a hero to the other dragons now?"
"I can imagine"
"Did you know that he got married? That was a major disappointment!"
"Yes, I was fortunately able to attend the wedding. He married one of my other wardens"
"Yes, Ardwynn. She certainly worked hard to get him. Well, there are other fish in the lake, as the dragons say! You aren't by any chance married, Cantrell?"
"Um, eh. No. I've been too busy with my career. Before this, lots and lots of traveling..."
"Don't you think a fine gentleman elf like you should take some time to settle down and smell the roses, so to speak?"
"I'm not sure any of the wardens are going to have a job here in a few days. We will all probably be running for our lives if it goes the way I'm thinking with the dragons. The emperor....."
"Oh yeah! That's what I was going to ask you...."
"What's that?"
"Did you hear about the big kerfuffle over at the lake this morning?" asked Mavis.
"No, what are you talking about?"
"Apparently, the dragons caught a couple of the royal family trying to steal some more of their magical eggs. They executed them both!"
"You sleep in one morning!" thought Cantrell to himself.
"That sounds kind of urgent! Excuse me, please, Mavis. I have to go talk to Ardwella over in Delora Natine. Gotta run!"
"Oh, just call it Delora. All the dragons are... I'll be seeing YOU later. Maybe dinner?"
Cantrell could only shrug as he ran toward Ardwella and further information as fast as he could. He was sure that it was for only the right reasons.
"Men!" thought Mavis. She would have to do something to increase her appeal. They seemed so hard to please. It couldn't be the clothes. They were perfect. Perhaps she should take Aleena up on the offer she had made. She had always wanted to bond with a dragon. Which one would be best? The way things were starting to happen it wouldn’t do to wait too long.
---------------------------
"So Ulaire and Quinton are dead?"
Cantrell was sitting on a large couch in the front room of the temple suite that he had recovered in after being electrocuted in the battle with Tempton. Ardwella and Alberad were sitting across from him on a loveseat. They had just finished telling him what happened.
"They are," said Alberad. Quinton was smashed and suffocated by Esmarilla being subdued, and Ulaire was captured and turned over to the dragons. They administered their own justice.
"How is Ardwynn? That couldn't have been easy for her.
"I was actually rather impressed," replied Ardwella. She has been unwavering in her commitment to our cause and probably, more importantly, to Lothinar."
"She must have had a very different upbringing. From what I briefly saw of her relationship with Quinton, they didn't seem to like each other much," commented Cantrell.
"I've heard the same." Said Alberad.
"How are you feeling? Your injuries... I've just recently been able to heal again after my own electrifying experience and wondered if there is anything I could do for you?" asked Ardwella
"Candasar says it's just going to take time. She worked on me a couple of more times after the initial battlefield triage."
"I don't think I actually thanked you for what you did for me out there". Said Ardwella. "An oversight. Without your interference, that second blast would have certainly left me dead"
"You're welcome, of course," said Cantrell. "Anyone would have done the same"
"Yet only you and Harvey acted," said Alberad. "I am in your debt for the life of my beloved." He smiled warmly at the warden, then at his lovely wife. "Thank you as well.... from me."
As Cantrell nodded and began to rise for his exit, the other male elf reached out to shake his hand.
"I think Ardwella and I have figured out Harvey's motivations for heroism, but Cantrell.... Why are you here?"
"What do you mean?" asked the warden. "I needed to find out what happened...."
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
"And yet you came here... not to your own wardens, Lothinar and Ardwynn, just a few doors down. They also could have provided the answers you needed," said Alberad.
Ardwella looked down and away, a strange expression on her face.
"Well shit," thought Cantrell.
"You are right of course, Sorry for the intrusion. I'll go and speak with them immediately. Candasar and Tundor too. That probably makes more sense." He finally said.
"It certainly does," Said Alberad.
Cantrell showed himself out. He knew the way.
---------------------------
As Alberad had suggested, he found Lothinar and Ardwynn just a few doors down. It was incredible how accommodating the high priest and temple staff had been with the intrusion of elves and dragons into their human environment. They all decided to meet and discuss developments in the appropriate warehouse where the dragons had taken refuge. That way, the dragons could fully participate. Cantrell observed that the area was surprisingly clean and odor-free.
Hey Tundor, Where do you do your business these days? Asked the warden. "They are feeding you, right? I did see those piles you left up in the woods. What's changed?"
"We have a room for that down the hall. McDonald's has a deal going with a couple of the vineyards in the area. Apparently, our 'products" excel at making healthy grapes and what McDonald calls 'fine wine. We go into that room, and when we are done, they have a team come in afterward and take care of everything."
Candasar appeared a bit flummoxed but added her own commentary.
"As a lifetime 'aquatic pooper,' it seems very messy and untidy to not have water present for the process. You know... swim your problems away...."
Cantrell laughed. "I guess I can understand the benefits of that sort of system".
"It's all in the way you arch your back, Candasar," Tundor said sincerely. "Oh, and good tail management. You'll catch on in no time"
"I'm sure," said Candasar. "I have yet to attempt the so called 'airborne drop' that Esmarilla is so fond of.... But it does sound exciting! I can't wait to try."
"I'm sure that there should probably be some rules about the 'when and where' of that sort of thing!" said Lothinar with a strange grin.
"Again, it feels like I am going to be missing out on all the fun," said Tundor sadly.
"Soon, my friend. I've been feeling a lot better. I was going to check in with Esmarilla and see how well her power has recovered. Maybe this afternoon?"
"Oh wow," said Tundor. "That would be wonderful!"
"To think that the greatest motivation for getting his wings fixed would be so that he could take a poop from the sky," said Ardwynn rolling her eyes.
"Hey, I could save McDonald some time. Do you have any idea where those specific vineyards are located?"
"Ardwynn, Why don't you catch Cantrell up on the situation with your mother and brother and what we might expect from the Emperor, and I'll go check in with Esmarilla and set things up."
"You can't talk to her from here?" asked Ardwynn.
"Well, certainly not as well as I could if she was a full bond like Candasar. I think this is something I had better do in person. I have some further questions about the process... I don't want to find myself out of magical commission for such a long period of time ever again. I think I'm going to need to have some defensive options with my magic soon. "
"If and when the Emperor shows up, that would probably be for the best" she agreed.
He left them talking...Cantrell was asking her about her brother.
---------------------------------
Lothinar found Esmarilla in the indoor central temple courtyard with his mother. It was really the only internal structure large enough to accommodate the giant black dragon. Lothinar was pleased to see that her skin was as shiny and black as the first time he had laid eyes on her. Ardwella, on the other hand, looked a little sad. His father wasn't around at the moment. Lothinar figured that he might be caring for his horse.
"You ok, mother?" You don't look happy.
"A lot has happened. How is your wife? She has had a strange time of it, don't you think?"
"Ardwynn seems to be ok. She is very strong and determined. Surprisingly resilient." Lothinar answered. "But it has not escaped me that you avoided my question."
Ardwella sighed.
"It's probably easy for you to forget, my son that I have lived several normal lifetimes before settling down with your father and having you."
"I remember it came as a bit of a shock. I don't think it's something that I could easily forget"
"Knowing it intellectually is a lot different than having lived those years, son. Would it surprise you to find out that I had been in love before I met your father? That I have had other relationships?"
"I suppose it makes sense," said Lothinar.
"The great majority of all those years, I was on my own. Yes, Esmarilla was still my bond. Her magical energy still could find me, but often I had to be so far away from this temple that we were cut off from communicating"
"There were many lonely times," Agreed the dragon.
"I was on my own, trying to avoid being recognized, searching for the elves that carried the knowledge of the word that made the dragons vulnerable. Made them burn themselves. After the war, these people went back to their homes. These places were all over the continent. I watched. I waited. I struck when no one was looking. It took its toll on me."
"I can see why you are so determined to do anything it takes even now," said Lothinar, not understanding where this story was going,
"I was always beautiful...." said his mother. "But I found that channeling Esmarilla's magic in certain ways would enhance that even more."
"Well, I can see that it obviously worked," he replied.
"What I did to myself. To be able to get close to my targets,,, Its not just what you can see externally that appeals to men. My voice, my mannerisms. The way I smell..."
"They call them Pheromones," said the dragon. We saw it in that book you were reading... remember?"
"Yes, I remember. My memory is perfect also. Far beyond normal. I can remember the face of every one of them that I killed. The utter and complete surprise when I ended them."
"Mom, you need to start forgiving yourself. Let that time in your past go... I think the rest of us have."
"Well, it still has some unintended consequences."
"Like what?" Asked Lothinar.
"Like Harvey. I'm pretty sure I somehow bewitched him. Unintentionally. I had been running, perspiring a little. He stopped your father and me at the gate."
"The Pheromones!" said Lothinar with the dawning of understanding. "Look, we don't know that Harvey wouldn't have helped anyway... He might really have wanted to do the right thing!"
"No, he was out there looking for me. He was headed to Tasumakoji when he met your father and Tundor on the road. Why else would he be going there?"
"Ok, well, I can see why that would bother you, sure," said Lothinar. But it's over. Sadly he's gone.. We move on... You've done it before. What's different now?"
"A couple of things, actually: said Ardwella,
"Ok, what are those things? Maybe I can help,"
"First, there is Cantrell. I think he somehow got a dose of Pheromones. I don't even know when it happened"
"Cantrell? my boss?" he asked
"Yes. He threw himself in front of Ardwynns father's lightning strike, for me, fully knowing he would be destroyed in the process. His actions don't make sense otherwise." "Do you know he came to me first when he ran into town this morning? Not to you... That's where he should have gone... But he came to me," Your father called him on it. It didn't look good.
"Ok... We can tell him... He's strong. He can overcome it... He will get over it.."
"Probably, in time," She said sadly. "We will definitely need to part ways, But yes, he should recover. "
"You said that there were a couple of things?" said Lothinar.
"In your times working with Ardwynn in the past, were there occasions when you were intensely physically active, or there was a lot of ambient heat?"
"You mean like when we first met or on the job? I've obviously been pretty physically active and close to her lately... " he said, blushing...
"Didn't you say that you fought a forest fire together and then worked to restore the area?" his mother asked.
"Why would that matter?"
"Because my son, I passed on to you an incredibly handsome face and a fully functioning set of Pheromones. It may very well be why Ardwynn has been willing to put aside everything she has ever known to pursue you!"
"What can I do? I didn't ask for this!"
"Neither of you did. It's my fault. If you want me to, I will tell her for you."
"What do you think she will do if she finds out?" asked Esmarilla.
"I honestly don't know," said Lothinar. His voice was hollow and empty.
"You know you could take the easy way out and not tell Ardwynn at all," said Ardwella.
"I don't think I could do that to her," Said Lothinar.
"Of course, you couldn't," said Candasar, entering the courtyard with Tundor, Cantrell, and Ardwynn. All of them except Candasar looked confused.
"My bond is the kindest elf that has ever lived. He will take the hard way. He will do the right thing. This is who he is..."
"Tell me what," said Ardwynn, flashing a genuine smile at her husband. "Sorry for butting in, but suddenly Candasar just got up and told us to follow her..."
"Well, the good news is that we will be able to put some functioning wings on Tundors back this very afternoon!" said Esmarilla.
"Yea!" said the white dragon.
Lothinar looked at his mother standing next to the black dragon and frowned.
Gazing at Ardwella, Cantrell was suddenly gobsmacked. "She looks so beautiful standing next to her dragon," Cantrell thought, And she smells fantastic."
---------------------------------------