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Chapter 38
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It had been over a week since anyone had shown up to torture her, and for some reason, that made Siophra very uncomfortable. With Vanador’s vast magical powers to heal her being unneeded, the excess energy was building up within her body. It had been a long time since she had felt this good. A very long time indeed. A few days ago she had heard some clanking and shouting in the passageway outside of her cell. A heavy door had slammed. Now there was only silence in the tower. They had even stopped feeding her. At least her cell had indoor plumbing. a small sink had provided water and a toilet allowed her the small dignity of returning the water sitting rather than squatting once her kidneys had finished processing it. When your captors keep you locked up naked in a cell, dignity is a rare commodity.
It was ironic how much use one could make of their childhood studies of elven biology when parts of your body were maimed or chopped off on a regular basis. At the moment Siophra was working on improving her hearing. Improving it substantially might help her figure out exactly what was going on. This had backfired on her before. She had learned to enlarge and sensitize her eardrums only to have them explode in agonizing rupture when one of the jailers had entered abruptly and slammed down a metal tray. Thankfully she had been able to grow everything back, eventually.
Not having anything to eat was pretty disgusting but she had played that game before as well. It had proved impossible to starve someone to death who had an inexhaustible supply of stomach lining and intestine to digest and magically grow back. She had the same aversion to meat eating that most elves shared, and digesting herself for sustenance not only made her a carnivore but a magically powered autotrophic cannibal.
"A girl’s got to survive." She said to herself.
There were long-term nutritional limitations to the self-digestion strategy. Right now she really had a craving for mung beans. Oh, and a banana. A banana would really hit the spot. Maybe a pickle. She really missed salt.
She would never recommend the process of self-digestion to anyone, even if somehow they had the magic to pull it off. The heartburn was terrible. It was a good thing her pain tolerance was high. With all the rest, she had strategically changed her nerve clusters and pain receptors over the years so that the torture she regularly endured now felt more like getting a haircut. That was a handy survival skill to employ when regularly losing body parts.
All this body sculpting had made her feel more like she inhabited a wooden puppet rather than a body of flesh and blood. She had often wondered when having a limb hacked off why blood and not sawdust came out. Wet red sawdust. It just didn’t phase her anymore.
Siophra had realized hundreds of years ago that she was quite insane. She wasn’t worried. She would fix that, too, if she were ever able to get out of here. For now, it was very convenient. It certainly helped pass the time.
Right now she just wanted to figure out what had gotten the imperial compound so riled up. Her superior hearing was finally ready. Gingerly she opened her mind to interpret the faint sound waves that penetrated the cell walls. Finally she had made sufficient changes to be able to make out a conversation.
“How could this have happened, Dewey?” came a voice. It was Argent!
”Sire, I have told you time and again that my name is not Dewey. I am only a clerk. My name is Romer. Dewey just sent me here to deliver his message “
”Where are the dragon scrolls, Dewey? This is a matter of National Security!”
“If you will just allow me to return to the Library, I’m sure Dewey will have found them by now, for your Highness.”
”You keep saying that you are not Dewey, but when I ask for him at the library, everyone over there keeps telling me that Dewey is already here. What am I supposed to believe, Dewey? I have made inquiries. Not only are the dragon defense scrolls missing from the main library but did you know that all of the backup scrolls are gone as well?”
”I have no idea about any of that, Sire, being only a humble clerk. Can we not find someone to transcribe a new one for you from memory? I’m sure that there must be someone…..”
”No! That’s just it! The whole team is gone. Everyone that we used to bring down the dragons! They are all dead or missing. There were over a hundred of them. How can this have happened? The spell is apparently lost. It is strangely difficult and I can no longer remember it myself. I can’t be bothered to keep track of all these things. I need some answers, Dewey!”
“I’m afraid that I don’t have them, Your Majesty. I am not your librarian. As I said, my name is Romer.”
A loud bang came as what had to be the royal torturer slammed his tray of implements down on the table in Romer’s cell. The abrupt noise popped Siophra’s eardrum nearest her own cell door. It was, of course, agonizing.
With the one remaining eardrum, Siophra could just hear Argent say, “Well then, I hope you don’t mind losing a finger or two as we get started. Maybe that will improve your memory!”
Romer’s shrieking blew out the second eardrum pretty quickly after that.
It was a good thing Siophra didn’t need eardrums to talk to her Dragon.
“Vanador, my darling, I am going to release the hibernation spell. We are leaving. I am two floors down and in the cell block on the right. Do you think you can dig me out of here without bringing down the building?”
“Why now? Not that I’m complaining. It has just been so long. What has changed?” The dragon replied.
”I’ve just learned that somehow, the spell that attacks dragon fire glands has gone missing, and there is no one alive who remembers it.”
”How is that possible? Asked the dragon. She couldn’t actually hear it with her eardrums broken, but she could feel vibrations and shaking as the dragon began slowly but violently clawing his way through the roof and floors above her.”
”If I had to guess I would expect that somehow Ardwella was involved.”
”Took her long enough!” Complained the dragon. “Oh there you are!”
Siophra could see his head and face poking through a large hole in the ceiling. She jumped up and grabbed his white beard as he pulled back his head, lifting her from the cell.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
”Ew!” she said.
”Is it the dust?” he asked
”No not that, your beard is full of bird droppings. Is that a nest?”
”Yes, more than one, I’m afraid, “ He said sadly.
”We will have to get you a good wash later. We are heading back to the house at the lake, anyway. We need to hurry. It wouldn’t be good to get hit by a lightning bolt while trying to escape. I’m sure Argent still has a few of those up his sleeve!”
Siophra slid around to the dragon's back.
“You know, the bird poop's pretty thick up here too. You poor thing! I really wish I had some clothes on!"
”I feel so stiff!” The dragon complained as he flapped and bird droppings shook loose like disgusting dandruff.
”No flying for centuries, and the first thing we do is set a goal of three hundred miles. I hope you know that I’m stopping for snacks!” Vanador said.
The dragon suddenly dodged as a huge purple lightning bolt shot past him and impacted the roof of the library building nearby. It looked like there had been a few people up on the roof arguing about something. They had disappeared after the flash. The roof had apparently caved in.
“That was way too close,” said Vanador.
”Shake it off and get flying. We can’t afford to get hit by one of those. I wonder what happened to my sword?”
Siophra could not hear, but somehow she felt an intense magical surge behind them.
”Dive Vanador!” she screamed.
He complied instantly. The bolt passed over them by mere feet.
”I wonder how many of these he can shoot and what the range is?” Asked the dragon.
”Hopefully, that’s an answer we won’t find out today!” she replied, hanging on tightly as the dragon bobbed and weaved through the air.
Vanador kept flapping. An hour later, they finally felt safe enough to land. They were flying over a forested area, and Vanador had spotted a few deer. He couldn’t resist taking a pair. He ate them quickly. A few miles further they passed over a clear mountain lake. Both the elf and the dragon stopped for a quick rinse-off.
Coming out of the water and running around a bit to get dry, Siophra said,
“I suppose that I am eventually going to need to find some clothes. When we get home, It would be best not to shock the neighbors.“
“I’m sure Ardwella will have something for you to wear,” said Vanador.
“I’m sure that her clothes will fall off of me. I’m skin and bones. I haven’t eaten anything in a week. I can’t hear; my eardrums are ruptured and over-modified. I can’t really feel my arms and legs correctly, and I’m obviously insane from years of torture.”
”It’s always going to be something negative with you, isn’t it, Siophra,” said Vanador. Then they both laughed.
The dragon continued. ”Don’t forget that you managed to save me from a fiery death, and we have finally escaped from the private prison of the Insane Emperor. For that, at least. I must give you high marks."
“Just a minute. I can at least fix your ears." Vanador said. The dragon sent a powerful white pulse of magic at her head. “Ok, your ears should be back to normal, and I repaired a bit of the mental trauma while I was inside your head. There is much more to do in there, I’m afraid.” That’s all I can do for now. I'm going to need a few more deer or maybe some cows. We need to find a human settlement for those though. You know we dragons should find a way to bond with humans. Their dietary preferences are much more similar…..”
Siophra began to cry. It started with tears in the corners of her eyes. Then the dam burst, and great heart-wrenching, gut-wracking sobbing began pouring out of the slim, frail, still somehow hauntingly beautiful elf.
“Hey! I was just joking! It’s the cow craving talking.” Vanador said guiltily.
“E..el. Eh…Elves have done nothing but destroy your people." she said with her voice catching. "You should absolutely find a way to bond with the humans."
”It’s not really fair, I suppose, but they have absolutely no magic. They can be good friends with dragons, but communication between us is difficult and very limited. They can’t even eat dragon eggs to become more magical. I think some of them actually may have tried. It is not the kind of thing I like to think about. Some of them worship us, not that we try to encourage that, usually. Do you know that they were starting to build a temple to dragons just before we left? Vanador had tactfully carried on the conversation. deliberately prolonging it to give her a little time to cry it out a bit.
Siophra shook her head.
“Your sister and Esmarilla were trying to talk them out of it. We’ve been out of the loop for a long time. We need to see what’s been going on. We need to get back and find some answers.”
“And some clothes," she said, looking down at herself. "We need to get home. But that is, unfortunately, exactly where the emperor is going to come looking for us”
”Yes, we will be leading him and his magical troops directly to anyone who still might be willing to help us!”
"Going by air, we at least will get there a few days before he does. Let's hope your sister has something planned for his reception," said Vanador.
"Thanks for fixing my ears. It's nice to hear the birds singing again!"
"Sorry, but I've had it up to HERE with birds. It is going to take me some time to appreciate them again." said the big white dragon quite seriously.
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"You faked your own death?" asked Candasar.
"I'm sorry, Candasar. I had outlived my first mate, your grandmother, by too many years already. You know that water dragons have very short lifespans. I'm sure that you were already feeling that time was slipping away from you. It's part of what Argent's magicians did to us. I just couldn't take being mocked and disrespected any longer. One day I was walking around in the woods here and one of these men offered to help me hunt. As you obviously know, physiological changes begin to rapidly occur inside our bodies when we go back to the diet that is most normal for us."
"You just couldn't go back," said Tundor. "I understand."
"But you could have let me know!" Candasar exclaimed.
"What would you have done, granddaughter?" the red dragon sighed. "We were both playing the cards we were dealt"
"What are these cards?" asked Tundor.
"Sorry, I've watched these men who help feed me for years as they have played various games around the campfire with little white paper emblems. It seems to bring them some relief from the boredom. They are sorted and handed out randomly. Although I think Arnold over there somehow cheats"
That earned Arnold a dirty look from several of his buddies.
"What is it you want to do now?" asked Lothinar. "I assume you asked my bond out here so that we could talk about how you might get your wings”
”Got it in one,” said Mo-rung.
"You are large" said Lothinar. . "The amount of flesh sculpting that Esmarilla and I will have to do will be difficult. We just brought Tundor to flight ability yesterday morning"
"He was easier than I was, right?" asked Candasar.
"By an order of magnitude, yes," said Lothinar. "But his sheer size is going to make things more difficult"
"What if I am willing to bond this dragon before we begin?" asked Cantrell. "Will that make it easier?"
"We will be able to add your magic to the process, yes. It all depends on what kind of power reserves you have," Said Lothinar.
Cantrell's fingertips began to crackle and sparkle with a purple energy. Ardwynn gasped.
"You can probably tell that I wasn't as afraid of your father as I wanted him to think," said Cantrell.
"That's how you survived his blast," she exclaimed.
"I distracted him with the knife attack and kept the magical energy as my defense," Cantrell admitted.
"How did you get that powerful without eating dragon eggs?" asked Candasar suspiciously.
"Some elves are just born with a little extra oomph," said Ardwynn. "Or a lot." Many of the Royal family are an example of this even without adding in magic from dragon eggs. Of course, they primarily use them for life extension. "What did you say that you did before this posting in regard to the Royals?"
"Ambassador, Emissary, Explorer... I recently did a stint as the warden of Captive Dragon Lakes... The usual."
"Those with job titles like that are usually chosen for high ambient magic levels. " Ardwynn said guardedly.
"I get by," said Cantrell. "If your grandfather wants to bond with me, I'll augment his transition. I recently became rather attached to his mate Aleena's bond. Her name is Mavis. She's a sweet girl. She helped me out of a bad situation. That helped me decide what side of this conflict I wanted to belong to."
Cantrell looked around and found that the entire group was looking at him as if he had suddenly grown a second head.
"You were still in doubt?" asked Lothinar.
"Well, your mother really did a number on me. I had some things to work through."
"Should we trust you now?" asked Tundor.
"Come on, It's still me. Your good friend Cantrell. I just thought we should get all of our 'cards' on the table." Then he gave Arnold the card playing dragon guard a very dramatic wink.
"Welcome back, Grandfather," Said Candasar. "I, for one, have missed you. And welcome to the family, Cantrell."
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