*************

Chapter 44

*************

When Lothinar suddenly started healing the baby dragon Firestorm, Candasar didn't know what to do. Every time she was a part of Lothinar doing this kind of thing, it was a group effort. They had planned it and had the giant black dragon Esmarilla there. Lothinar was the conduit, but Esmarilla supplied the majority of the power. This time, he must have lost control. He had been so upset. She could feel that. His relationship with Ardwynn was falling apart, and everything that went along with it had taken him into an angry despair. Candasar had never felt such anger in him before. He had lashed out in what he must have felt was a positive way. He had tried to heal Firestorm. And with Candasar's help, he had succeeded.

Candasar had instinctively shared power with the reckless elf, and together, through their bond, they had made the necessary changes. She had felt her magic bottoming out, but Lothinar kept going. His anger and frustration powering his desire for perfection. Candasar needed more power but remembered her eggs. She had been magically enhancing them for almost her entire adult life. She just couldn't dip into those magical reservoirs a second time. She cut the flow of her power into Lothinar leaving her eggs untouched but her natural magical reserves empty.

Lothinar was so lost in the process that he hardly noticed that he was magically alone. Recklessly he continued until she could feel his mind shutting down. Blackness filled his thoughts. The bond snapped shut, and he was mentally gone. His unconscious body toppled and fell into the lake with a huge splash.

Candasar called to Aleena to try to get the water dragon to pull him from the water, but the baby dragon was clearly pleased with their efforts, hopping about and trying to fly. Her new mobility allowed her to quickly speed out of sight. This caused her mother, Aleena, to panic, flopping forward on her fins and chasing after the little one.

"Wait!" Said Candasar, "I'll get Firestorm, Please get Lothinar! He fell into some very deep water!"

It was too late. Aleena had already run off, chasing her child. For some reason, there was a solitary human nearby at the lake. She had probably been gathering reeds or something because her presence had been unnoticed up til this point. She had a large sun hat on made of the same woven reeds. Without speaking at all, Candasar watched her run towards where Lothinar had fallen into the water. She threw off her hat and dove smoothly into the depths. She must have been in good condition for a human because she soon had Lothinar pulled to the surface. Lothinar was very pale. He was not breathing. Dragging him up onto the shore, the human female placed her mouth over his in what resembled a kiss and began to blow deeply into his lungs with her own air. She struck his chest and did some more air forcing. Lothinar wasn't responding.

Stopping her actions for a few seconds, the human asked, "Can you heal him? Her long, wet hair completely hid her face.

Candasar realized that she could not. Her magic was completely spent. She felt confused and disoriented from her empty power reserves.

Candasar could only shake her head for no.

"Go get help! said the human female. Try the temple. They should know what to do. Go quickly!"

Candasar turned and began to move shakily away. She tried to run and knocked down a small tree. Somehow she managed to leap into the air and fly. It was worse than her very first time.

The human gate guards did not interfere as she crashed to the ground in front of them and then fell. She saw people dodging out of her path as she ran, stumbling toward the temple entrance. Esmarilla and Ardwella were in the courtyard with the large sibling dragons and most of the others. They seemed to be having an intense conversation. She barged in anyway, tracking mud behind her.

"I need help! Lothinar is dying!"

That broke up the meeting fairly quickly.

They all arrived back at the lakeshore just five minutes later, with Ardwella riding Esmarilla, who thundered in for a landing right behind her. Candasar had interrupted their meeting but she didn't care. Ardwella didn't seem to care either. Lothinar meant the world to her and her dragon.

They all looked around. Except for a few muddy footprints that looked deep, Lothinar and the human were gone. Esmarilla tried to follow the single set, but the footprints suddenly disappeared when they traveled over some hard ground and rocky places.

Lothinar had been unconscious. How could a single human have carried him off?

Just then, Firestorm flitted up with her breathless mother flip-flopping after her. Aleena snatched the baby dragon up, pushed her into the nest, and leaned against her. The little dragon complained loudly. She fluttered her wings.

"Your bond sure is unpredictable, but thanks for healing my little one!" said Aleena. "Hey, where did Lothinar go? I need to thank him!"

Ardwella ignored the interruption.

"You said a human pulled him out of the water? Do you know who she was?" she asked.

"Female, young and pretty, but you know humans all kind of look the same to me," said Candasar. "It all happened so fast!"

Neither Candasar nor Esmarilla could feel Lothinar at all. This was very bad.

"We need to check back over at the temple. Maybe she took him there"

It turned out that she did not. Lothinar and the human female were missing.

They searched the lake shore again. They got all the water dragons involved. They searched the whole area.

Lothinar and the mysterious girl were not in the city. Guards and temple staff assured Ardwella of that. His room above the warehouse had not been entered.

All the flight-capable dragons, including Tundor, had flown all over the area. There was no sign of him or his abductor.

Even Ardwynn looked worried. She left Tundor with the rest of the group and walked off with Mavis. Mavis had speculated out loud that Lothinar had probably secretly fallen in love with her after all and was waiting for her over at her place. Ardwynn was going along to mock her when she discovered that she was actually wrong.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"That is one strange family," said Cantrell. His ardor for Mavis seemed to have cooled sufficiently to allow him greater objectivity.

Ardwella seemed to be trying to keep a respectable physical distance between herself and the elven warden leader.

"How could this happen?" asked Ardwella. Albarad had a horrible sick look on his face. Candasar realized that it was helplessness.

"I don't know," wailed Candasar, leaning on Tundor, who suddenly spun his long neck around to look into her eyes.

"Do you remember what we were talking about yesterday, Candasar? When we were flying back after hunting?"

"Is this about me thinking about eating Albarad's horses because I haven't even been in the barn!" "Do you think Lothinar is hiding in his father's barn because I bet Albarad has checked," said Candasar.

"He did!" Said Ardwella.

"Nobody had better try to eat those horses!" Alberad said sternly, glancing around at the dragons.

"No, not that," said Tundor. "I am talking about how you were going to have to watch out to make sure Lothinar didn't affect anyone with his pheromones. Do you think that could have happened with the human that pulled him out of the water?"

"How could a human collecting reeds at a lake become obsessed with Lothinar? Oh wait, she put her lips on his and blew into his lungs, trying to revive him. That could have exposed her to pheromones, I guess"

Cantrell had been listening in.

" That is a technique I have seen humans that populate some distant islands use. It can bring someone back after drowning. Not many that live around here should know about it." he said. "There has officially, up till now, been no swimming allowed in the lake."

"Um, speaking from my personal experience," he gave Ardwella a strange look, "It takes a bit longer than that for the effect of the pheromones to become fully active. At least a few hours. That is, if Lothinar's pheromones are anything like yours?"

"Yes," she said. "that sounds about right"

"Speaking from your vast history of infecting others?" asked Cantrell.

"We don't have time for these recriminations," said Ardwella.

"Your meddling with people's feelings and giving your son that same ability is probably what got us into this mess," said Cantrell.

" She shrugged."

" Based on how quickly you got over me, they must not be that bad"

" If Mavis hadn't been so energetic and enthusiastic….." he stammered.

"So," interrupted Tundor. looking unhappily at them both. "Has there been anyone exposed to Lothinar perhaps yesterday or several hours ago that might have developed an abnormally high interest in him"

"Not really", said Candasar. We just delivered a cow out to Grandpa. There were some burly men playing cards that wanted to eat the cow... Wait, you don't think one of them secretly swings that way? A bunch of men out in the woods together for months at a time? Poor Lothinar! But wait... the person in the reeds was female."

"Again, not enough time,"...said Cantrell, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, where did you get a free cow?" asked Tundor. "I'd like to get in on that!"

Tundor suddenly got a very strange look on his face. He seemed to be in pain.

"Oh, it wasn't free. said Candasar. "The McDonalds charged us for it. I'd already just eaten, as you know. So Lothinar and I flew it out to the caves for Grandfather. She wanted a ride, so we dropped Ronette off back at the dairy."

"Hey, I have to take care of something. Ardwynn is calling me," said Tundor.

" Is he going to be alright?" Asked Cantrell looking at the quickly vanishing Tundor

" All this talk about a cow probably made him hungry," said Candasar.

"I think' said Cantrell suddenly. "that you have been looking in the wrong barn!"

" Ronette!" Said Cantrell and Ardwella together.

Ardwella and Candasar bolted to find a place to get airborne.

"Do you mind giving me a lift? asked Ardwella

"Just this once," said Candasar. "I don't want to make Esmarilla any more jealous than she already is with me."

---------------------------------

What is this elf doing sitting in the dark in our milking barn? Came a familiar voice.

Lothinar just couldn't remember who it was. His head was fuzzy, and it hurt. The nice girl who said she was his girlfriend had brought him more medicine. It tasted like milk but with something much stronger in it. He choked it down. He was glad he had someone who was trying to help him get better, even if he couldn't at the moment remember her name. She was very pretty. She pushed the much older human male out of the barn through the door while asking him to be quiet. She gestured to him and pulled him far enough away that Lothinar couldn't hear what they were saying. He closed his eyes and laid his head back on the straw pillow. He felt so strange. He would probably feel better tomorrow.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could hear someone calling. More than one someone. Their voices seemed strange and yet familiar. They were starting to become annoying because they were keeping him awake. Now someone was rolling a large wagon through the doors and right up to him A very large bull was hitched up to it. How could anyone possibly sleep with all that going on? Well, he observed groggily. The previously noisy man obviously could. He was lying immobile on the straw nearby.

"So noisy." Murmured Lothinar.

"Climb up in the wagon, darling and we can find a quiet place for you to rest and get better"

Lothinar unsteadily climbed into the back of the wagon. It was piled high with clean straw. The woman closed the tailgate and climbed onto the front bench. She clicked her tongue a few times and the bull pulled the wagon out the barn doors and into the night.

---------------------

Aleena Mavis's dragon had agreed to carry both of the cousins back over to the elven outpost to check again if Lothinar somehow had turned up there. She dropped the elves on the shore.

"I'll wait here," she said, looking sadly at her flippers.

"Thanks for bringing us," said Mavis

"Well, I feel partially responsible for what happened to Lothinar. He was trying to help my daughter, after all."

Mavis had been a little disappointed when Lothinar was not hiding in her house.

"Don't be disappointed, cousin; he was not hiding in mine either," said Ardwynn.

"Now that I actually have you by yourself, do you mind if I ask you something" asked Mavis.

"I can probably guess, but go ahead," said Ardwynn.

"What the Hell is wrong with you? Both of us have been chasing Lothinar since we moved into this town. You finally catch him and then drop him. It doesn't seem fair. To him or me!"

"Cantrell seems like a great catch. What are you complaining about?" said Ardwynn with a scowl. "I don't think Lothinar even knew that you existed. Look at all I went through to get his attention, and he barely even noticed me, even when I worked with him."

"Is it that you finally won? Now you just throw him away? I got a dose of those pheromones, too, you know. They lost their effects when I bonded with Aleena but it didn't make me loathe him like you seem to. He's still a very kind and good-looking elf."

'Is that why you and Cantrell don't seem to be together right now? Because you still have a thing going for my husband?"

" You don't seem to want him!"

" We don't even really know if he is still alive!" Said Ardwynn feeling her eyes well up and surprising herself. She choked it back hard.

" Actually, in spite of all my efforts, I think Cantrell somehow still has some feelings for Ardwella," admitted Mavis. "It's perplexing!"

" That's going to be increasingly awkward, "said Ardwynn.

"Just exactly what are you up to ditching Lothinar after all of that?" Asked Mavis again angrily.

"It's different for you. Haven't you figured it out yet? They told you everything, but you just don't seem to understand! You may be Argent's daughter on paper, but it's pretty clear you are not really one of the royal bloodlines."

"And I'm relieved! You are all so nasty."

" Yes, we are," said Ardwynn. "There is a darkness deep inside. We have learned to celebrate it"

"Tundor would have never bonded with you if you were not deeply under the power of Lothinar's pheromones." Gasped Mavis, suddenly realizing something. "It's like now you are a totally different person"

" I'm getting there," said Ardwynn. "somehow, Tundor interfered and slowed down my return to me. My natural charms"

" Now, I need to go before Siophra realizes what is really going on"

" Go? Where would you be going?"

'To deliver a new white dragon to my uncle, the emperor. I can force the bond now that I'm inside. White is the color that he's always wanted"

" You're mad! I have to warn the others!"

Mavis ran quickly from the house and right into Tundor, who had just landed in the yard. His flight path had taken down the clothesline. Tundor grabbed her and violently shook the pretty young elf, instantly snapping her neck and dropping the body. He looked horrified.

Down by the lake, Ardwynn could hear the blue water dragon screaming.

" Let's go, Tundor; we are flying to the capitol today," Ardwynn said, stepping off the porch. Then suddenly she turned around and went back into the house. She took off the small ring Lothinar had given her and left it sitting on the table.

"I'd say this qualifies as stating my intentions for a divorce"

——————