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Chapter 59
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Vanador out-raced Mo-Rung back to Delora Natine by over a minute. Despite the unknown fate of the black dragon Esmarilla lying in the field, Cantrell couldn't help smiling at the exhilarating speed the white dragon was capable of. Landing near Vanquish, Vanador swiftly explained Esmarilla's plight to her. Cantrell slithered down off his back and waited for Mo-Rung to land with his bride to be on his back. After they stopped, she jumped off Mo-Rung and into his arms. He caught her and swung her around before setting her down. She kissed him enthusiastically.
"Tell me you don't want to fly on dragons!" She said with a huge smile.
"It’s a rush,” He admitted. “Vanador is pretty fast. He's a nice dragon, too, but I think he's spoken for."
"So you admit you are willing to look for another one?" she asked.
"Ones ready to fly seem to be in very short supply around......"
Cantrell’s sentence was interrupted because Lothinar had just exited the city gate and ran directly past them. Firestorm was hot on his heels. He headed for Candasar, standing near the other blue dragon, Vanquish. Cantrell observed that it looked like he had found some sheath for the red sword, which hung unobtrusively at his waist as he rushed past. The glowing red blade was no longer visible.
Cantrell watched as the four of them began a rapid conversation. Except for the overflight when Lothinar dispelled the whole town stasis effect, the two blue dragons had not been apart since they had healed the queen together. They had been discussing many things since their first meeting only hours before. Candasar must have been learning a lot about Dragon history. He thought that would have been an exciting thing to listen in on. He wondered how much of what Candasar learned Lothinar would also know. That telepathic link was a compelling advantage to being bonded. Lothinar’s haste and rapid arrival were undoubtedly due to Candasar updating him on Esmarilla’s plight.
”That telepathic connection Lothinar shares with both his dragons has its benefits as well.” He commented to Mavis .”He got the message about Esmarilla as soon as Candasar heard it.”
"I'll have you bonding with a dragon yet," said Mavis.
Human soldiers soon came boiling out of the city gates, reminding Cantrell of bees exiting a beehive. They were armed and armored. Someone had told the human forces that the enemy was close at hand.
“There is my brother, Mandel,” said Mavis, pointing to an elf that was surprisingly climbing on Vanquish. “I haven’t talked to him in a while.”
One of the soldiers ran up to them. He was the same one who had escorted them back to town after confronting them at the lake. Instead of his aggressive attitude, he dipped his head respectfully before speaking.
"Dragon riders," he began. "My name is Conner. I was told that you have first-hand knowledge of the forces on their way to us. Can you give me an idea of the direction and distance?"
"You are not planning to ride out to meet them in the field, are you, Conner?" asked Cantrell, "Because I think it would be a terrible idea to leave the protection of the city walls."
The commander grimaced. "You are probably right, but we have orders to slow them down. We need to try to delay their arrival if we can. There is an evacuation in progress."
"That's probably a good idea. Get the civilian humans out while you can. Where are you taking them?"
"We are not evacuating the humans of Delora Natine. They intend to fight. We are evacuating a large cache of ancient dragon eggs that have just been found under the city. The Dragon priestess Ardwella needs some time to do this."
Cantrell's eyebrows raised at Ardwella's sudden promotion to priestess.
"How many eggs are we talking about?" asked Cantrell. "It can't take that long."
"Several hundred it seems," said Conner.
"Hundreds of eggs!' Whispered Mavis. "We can't let Argent or the other egg-using magicians get a hold of those. We can't let them have access to that kind of power."
"Our plan is to get in their way, engage them, and slow them down so that those dragons get a chance to hatch. They are the last of their kind. With the Queen's restoration to life, we have recently seen firsthand that they are all that our forefathers thought they were."
"They are really your gods then?" asked Cantrell somewhat skeptically. "I've been to your islands. I've seen the temples there, but I didn't think anyone took that old superstition seriously."
"Our gods, yes, that is a term that can be so easily misunderstood. We have had a pact with them and have served them since the earliest days of our history. There is a prophecy. We believe that they will find a way to bond with us, as they already do with you. That's why we are here at this temple at this time." said Conner.
Cantrell nodded. “I understand. I respect your prophecies, and I want the best for dragons, too. But I have to remind you that they, like you, are mere flesh and blood. Don't throw away your lives cheaply on the battlefield today." he said sincerely. I was there when Harvey, one of the town guards, was struck down. I will never forget that.
Mo-Rung, who had been standing and listening to the exchange, rumbled his agreement.
"We will fight with our human allies today. Dragons have long memories, and we will not forget your sacrifices to save our children. I will fly above you and lead you to the enemy." the red dragon said.
"I want to come too!" said Mavis.
Lothinar had come up to them while they had been talking. He looked like he was in a hurry.
"This whole thing is becoming a tactical challenge, he said. "I need a favor, Mavis."
"I've heard that line before," she said. "Recently."
"Look, we've got no time. We need to slow the Emperor's forces down. My mother is trying to get a couple of hundred baby dragon eggs out of a hidden chamber beneath the town. We are going out to fight Argent but need to know when the egg task is done so we can begin a strategic retreat back to the better fortifications of the city. When we meet the Argent and his other spell casters out in the open, Enderline’s men are likely to take heavy casualties.. Did you see the damage to Esmarilla?
"Not really, but she obviously came down hard,.” said Mavis. "Argent almost got a shot off at us as well."
"We can't just take the dragons and fly in there without expecting the same. Except for me, apparently. If they are shooting lighting at me, they might not have enough juice left to use it on the human troops."
"You and Candasar are going up against those lightning strikes alone?" asked Mavis incredulously
"Crimson, the sword your mother bequeathed to me supposedly can take a direct bolt and absorb it. I can probably shoot it back too. As soon as I figure out how it works." Lothinar said sheepishly. "No time like a battle to learn to do crazy advanced magic."
"How many of those can you take... before you die?" asked Cantrell. .”What if you miss one, and it hits Candasar? Seriously Lothinar, this doesn't sound like a good idea."
"I need to bleed down their power. Use up the reserves. It's the only way we are going to have a chance. The other dragons and riders are going to emphasize trying to rescue Esmarilla. Only after I try to draw the lightning casters off." said Lothinar. "Esmarilla is going to need major healing if she is still alive. Vanador and Vanquish are going to try and do that."
"So what do you actually need me for?" asked Mavis finally.
"Communication. Mo-Rung comes along with us,” he paused awkwardly, “and you stay here. You tell us when the eggs are safely moved and secure. Then we can all disengage and try to make it back. Hopefully, in one piece and with Esmarilla."
"I don't want to miss this!" said Mavis. "It's going to be amazing!"
"It's probably going to be terrible," said Lothinar. People are going to die. Dragons may die. Nothing good is going to happen in this fight today. Save yourself the nightmares, sister."
"If this works and you get Esmarilla out of there, managing to bleed down some of their power, why is bringing the fight here going to be better?" asked Cantrell.
"I had no idea she was doing this, but Ardwella has been setting up some long metal poles she calls lightning rods on the city walls. They are supposed to be able to help absorb lightning strikes. It might save some lives."
"All right, I'll stay here and be your communication relay," said Mavis, blowing her bangs out of her eyes with a loud exhale. But Cantrell..."
"What?" he asked.
"Can you go with Mo-Rung? I don't want him out there alone. I think you two going together might be important. I just have this feeling..."
"What do you say Mo-Rung? You want to take me along?" asked Cantrell. “For history? I’m going to write a book, you know.”
"Thank you, Mavis.” Said Lothinar. “Decide fast, you two. Because we are leaving. Immediately, if not sooner!" He ran off towards his own mount and quickly climbed onto her.
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”Has he always been that crazy?” asked Mavis. “Or is it a new bald-induced thing?”
”No, I think he’s always been that brave.” Replied Cantrell. "Now, at least he won't have to worry about his hair getting in his eyes!"
The King's soldiers were already moving out quickly and with precision. They rode in a loose formation on the horses that they had brought on their journey from the coastal city of Dween. Their faces were grim but eager. One even gave her a saucy wink as he passed. Some things never change, she thought.
Dragons began leaping into the air. Vanador carried Siophra. She carried the black sword in a sheath at her waist. Candasar and Lothinar were next. He was similarly armed with the red blade. Vanquish's huge body also leaped high into the air and left the ground. Mandel was still seated on her. Mavis wondered what was going on between them. The next to jump was Tundor. He was flying with what looked like the Human King on his back. That was new. The king looked a little terrified. Mavis supposed that for his first time on a dragon, it was understandable.
"Get on!" said Mo-Rung to Cantrell. "And hold on tight! This takeoff is not going to be like the last one." Cantrell displayed his still fine physical abilities and was quickly seated. The red dragon also jumped. He spread his wings and lit out like he had been doing it his whole life, not just for the first time today.
Mavis felt both pride and concern as she watched the two most important beings in her life as they flew quickly away from Delora Natine. She really hoped she would see them again. There was a bump on her leg. It was a Firestorm.
”Hey!” She suddenly realized and asked crossly, “Why did I have to stay behind? You can relay the information to Lothinar yourself!”
The little dragon sniffed and looked sad.
“You realize that Lothinar is probably not going to survive this today. He wanted to make sure everyone knew when to get out if he and Candasar went down. Mo-Rung is in a much better position to make it back. I also think he was trying to protect you, Mavis."
Mavis gulped. “Wish him lots of luck from me.”
"Come on, Mavis," the little red dragon said. "We've got a lot of work to do. Mavis looked at the little red dragon and couldn't help but feel that Aleena would have been proud of how far she had come. She realized that, in many ways, she was very connected to Firestorm. She had been bonded to her mother before her death. She was now bonded to her father, and the dragon's bond was her half-brother. That was a lot of connections. She didn't want to let her down now.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Eventually, to the lake. By way of the hidden tunnel. We are going to collect the eggs from the chamber and disperse them to the water dragon nests for now. If the emperor takes the city, he will have to find each egg individually. He would also have to deal with angry water dragons to get to them. That should slow him down. But hopefully, it never gets that far."
"Who worked this all out?" asked Mavis.
"Ardwella and the Ronniflass, of course," replied the Firestorm. "They are the new Priestesses of the dragon temple since Starets's betrayal was discovered"
"I understand, Ardwella, sort of..." said Mavis. "But why Ronni?"
"The King and Queen made the decision. The mother and the betrothed of the Dragon Messiah were the obvious choices," said Firestorm.
"Dragon Messiah? You mean Lothinar?"
"Of course. Who else?" replied Firestorm.
"Does he know people are calling him that?" asked Mavis.
"We are nearly there,” said Mo-Rung, interrupting from afar. "We are circling a long way out of range, but Candasar looks like she is going closer!"
Mavis didn't think she was going to be able to concentrate on anything but what Mo-Rung was telling her, but she let the little red dragon lead her away toward her necessary tasks. Those eggs needed to be moved.
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Esmarilla was in agony. She could feel her body was badly injured. Things shifted inside her. Things were broken. Many things. She opened an eye and saw that she was totally surrounded by the Emperor's soldiers. They had long and wicked-looking spears pointed at her. She was lying in a long furrow that she had dug with her body as she crashed to the ground and slid to a stop. She had been frozen in electrical agony at the time and barely conscious. She was actually surprised that she was still alive. She almost wished she wasn't because she hurt so bad. She had been angry and foolish. Now she was going to die. Childless and alone. She was keenly aware of her inability to reach out to contact Ardwella.
It had seemed such a normal part of life, that instant communication. It's useful most of the time but so painful. Ardwella probably didn't even realize how much her current pregnancy had dredged up such huge frustrations in her dragon. Esmarilla had been frozen when Ardwella had carried Lothinar. At least during that pregnancy, Esmarilla mentally felt like she was part of it. She felt like she had put a part of herself into that baby. Her magic. This current pregnancy, the daughter, was a hollow mockery of Esmarilla's unfulfilled longings to be a mother herself.
She had been kept from ever having that. First by the war, then by being frozen into a statue for those hundreds of years. She longed for a chance at motherhood herself. There seemed no way at all for that to happen. She wanted a male companion. All of the male dragons her size and age were dead. Tundor had briefly crossed her mind, but he had already committed to Candasar. She had enjoyed his male companionship nonetheless. Mo-Rung had been mated to Aleena. There was no one for her! In a strange way, that's why Esmarilla was so fond of Albarad. He wasn't a dragon, but he was always there for his mate. It was admirable. Esmarilla wanted a relationship like that as well. Her anger at Ardwella stemmed from these jealousies and more.
When Aleena had sacrificed herself for Mavis it had seemed far too insensitive to approach Mo-Rung. Ardwella had also had her own agenda. Other plans. Things for Esmarilla to do. Ardwella had never really considered how important these things were to Esmarilla. That, above all else, was the reason Esmarilla was so angry at her. Now, she would never have the chance at being a mother, which had been all she had ever really wanted.
"I see you have finally awakened, dragon," came a voice from outside the circle of spears. "I would speak with you."
"What do you want, child of Argent?" Esmarilla asked. "I can smell your reek from here."
"That hardly seems a way to begin a civil conversation," he laughed. "Are you so ready to die?"
"We both know that I am dead already," said Esmarilla. "I am far too broken to even stand to try and defend myself"
"You attacked us! Eighty-four of my father's best men and almost twice the horses died from your flames," he said. "Before my father took you down."
"Wish it could have been more." said the dragon. "How many hundreds of our children have you personally devoured while still in their eggs?"
The elf did not seem to have an answer for that. Finally, he spoke again.
"We saw two other dragons earlier. While you were snoozing." Then he laughed. "We blasted them from the sky as well."
Esmarilla started to panic.
"Were they as big as me? What color were they?" she asked hesitantly.
"About your size, yes approximately I would say. A white one and a red one. The red might have been slightly smaller. They crashed into the forest a mile away or so. They, unlike you, are dead. Impaled upon some tree fragments. Quite a sight. I'm sorry you missed it."
Esmarilla began to suspect that he was not telling the truth. The white one he mentioned could have been Vanador. Mo-Rung, at least the last time she had seen him, didn't yet have his wings. It seemed very unlikely that Mo-Rung could already be flying by now. That eased her mind and her conscience. Her brother was probably safe. If he had been killed while out searching for her, that would have tormented her. Vanquish was blue and enormous. There was no mistaking her. That just left Tundor and Candasar. They were quite a bit smaller. Her thoughts confirmed again that Argent’s spawn had to be lying.
"It's no matter. There are hundreds more where they came from." She lied back. "They will burn your pitiful army to the ground. You will never leave this field alive!"
"They will have to fly through lightning to do that," The elf smirked. "It didn't seem to be very easy for you, so I hardly think so."
The elf laughed, but Esmarilla thought that he sounded nervous.
Esmarilla remembered the story Vanador had told her about the Ardwella's sword blowing up. She decided to use that.
"How did you like our little explosive demonstration that destroyed several buildings in the Capital the other day," she asked. "I heard that it was something to see."
He didn't like that very much, it seemed, because someone poked her with a spear. She struggled to move away from the pointy tip. She failed. Her body just wasn't working. Her back might be broken. The spear poked around some more in the meat of her hind leg. In spite of herself, she whimpered. She tried to turn it into a growl.
"The obvious inaccuracies in the information that you have provided and your general lack of repentance for your actions have convinced me not to offer you a clean swift death." the elf said haughtily. "We will be going to retake back the lake and retrieve more eggs containing your unborn children. I prefer mine hard-boiled." The elf said angrily. “With salt!”
To the ring of soldiers, he added. "Each of you gets to stab her once. But not too deep. I want her to suffer for as long as possible. We are leaving."
The elven soldiers enthusiastically carried out his wishes. Esmarilla once again blacked out from the immense pain.
Buscoe turned his back on the grisly display and looked at his brother. He frowned.
”You didn’t get the information you wanted?” Asked Byron.
”I suspect even more, now, that Father has not told us the truth about these dragons, “ answered Buscoe. “They are smarter than I was ever led to believe.”
"Yet, it appears that you left her alive.” Said Byron. "Father had better never find out!"
"She will be dead soon enough" said Buscoe. "But I'm worried about something else she said."
"What's that?"
"That there are hundreds of dragons. Big ones, just like her, waiting for us at the lake," said Buscoe.
”I hope you are wrong,” answered Byron.
"Here comes another one!" shouted someone. "It's a blue one, but it's a lot smaller!"
"I guess it's time we get some practice with our aim" said Buscoe. "I hope that I can pull this off because Father's not going to tolerate me missing again."
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Mavis joined Ardwella in the tunnel under the town. A temple acolyte had handed her a lit candle, and she had followed the small red dragon into the darkness behind a bookcase. When Firestorm had led her to where the eggs were stored, it was clear that something violent and dirty had happened there. Recently. Someone had moved the burned body of a man off to the side and covered it with a blanket, but there were marks in the dust that showed a struggle had taken place. Thankfully none of the eggs had been broken. Large, long-burning candles had been set up all around the area so at least Mavis could see. She set her own candle nearby. There were a few extra holders. Ronni was looking through the shelves for the eggs that seemed farthest along toward their hatching. Firestorm soon began consulting with her. She seemed to know quite a bit about it, which probably should have been expected. Mavis suddenly had a thought.
"I know that this is really a bad time to ask, but has someone taken over caring for Mo-Rung's and Aleena's new hatchlings in the nest at the lake."
"Of course," said Firestorm, coming back over to her. That was the first thing I did when I came back down here after running through. They are my sister and brother, after all. They were frozen when Lothinar cut loose, but they woke up fine when everyone else did. They are staying with Tundor's family for now. Their place is quite a bit farther from Delora Natine. I really wish Mo-rung, I mean Father, had named them. It's long overdue. I may have to intercede. I kind of like Salt and Pepper."
Mo-Rung seemed extremely busy but Mavis got a strong impression that those names were fine with him. She told Firestorm so.
"That's great. Thanks, Mavis. I'll let Maud know next time I see them. "
"Are they getting enough to eat? Anything besides fish?" asked Mavis.
"Yes, the wardens are involved. A couple of Cantrell's rangers. Cenderick and Amstell I believe. Yes, that's what Lothinar's memories tell me. They got a deer for them and cut it up into dragon baby-sized portions. Pretty nice of them, considering they don't go anywhere near meat for food themselves."
"I think we elves that become bonded are all going to have to adjust to living with dragons that can eat more than fish," said Mavis. "Mo-Rungs been eating red meat for years. Aleena used to like a deer when she could get one too."
"I've caught my own weasels!" boasted Firestorm. “I am not at all fond of skunks, as you can probably imagine."
"Ardwella, come quickly. This egg is hatching now!" Ronniflass suddenly yelled from among the shelves.
"Bring it here to me. where we have more light!” yelled Ardwella, who was using a quill and notepad to categorize the eggs.
Ronni set the egg down in front of them. It was already shaking. It gave a little pop, and a chunk of shell popped off.
"Oh my," said Ronni, reaching down to pick up the piece of shell. "Is he going to be all right?"
"How do you know that it's a he yet?" asked Mavis.
"Can't you hear him? He's already talking to me," said Ronni. "Oh my! I think I just accidentally got bonded!"
"Are you serious?" exclaimed Ardwella.
”I believe so, yes.” said Ronniflass in amazement.
"Kids grow up so fast these days," said Firestorm.
“Cinnabar says that he’s at least a few hundred years older than you and very tired of waiting around down here.” Said Ronni laughing.
”Great, another red dragon then.” Said Firestorm “And he even named himself. It's just what we need. Reds can be so very cheeky.”
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