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Chapter 60
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Tundor had to hold himself back as he watched Candasar fly away. The current battle plan had him very concerned for both her and Lothinar. What they were planning to do seemed like a suicide mission. Deliberately drawing lightning attacks seemed too perilous, even with the red sword. Now Tundor was carrying a man on his back that he had never even met before. They had only very recently been introduced. His name was Enderline, and he was the human King. Tundor had no idea how a human would become a king, but it must be not easy, or more humans would do it. Vanquish had asked him to carry him as a personal favor to her. Even though Tundor still felt somewhat obligated to Vanquish, he regretted saying yes. They were flying relatively low and watching the forces the king had brought to Delora Natine from across the sea. The troops on the ground were riding horses. The king was gesturing and signaling to his sub-commanders by pointing and using his hands in mysterious ways. They seemed to understand what he was urging them to do because they were at least headed in the right direction.
Tundor had to keep circling back around, making sure not to get too far ahead of the king's men while the other dragons and their riders quickly flew out of sight. Horses sure seemed slow. He tried to have sympathy by remembering the times running around without wings. He had even pulled a cart. He realized that the horses were not actually moving that badly, even though they were on difficult terrain. Having the king directing them from the air seemed to be helping. One of the most annoying things about the king being on his back, though, was that he was, without a doubt, far more used to riding horses. He kept trying to use his legs and knees to press against Tundor, apparently trying to urge him in one direction or another. He was not a horse! He knew where he was going without his kingship trying to squeeze him uncomfortably with his knees.
Vanquish must have felt it was important to offer Enderline this advantage. But he couldn’t talk to him while in the air, and those bossy knees were hard to take. The next time, if she wanted him to fly, then she would have to carry him herself! Tundor also wondered why she was so concerned about Mandel coming along. Vanquish had admitted that Mandel had been a bit upset when he learned that Lothinar would inherit his mother's sword instead of him. Tundor thought that they had resolved all of that back at the ruined city. Suddenly Tundor got a strange thought. If Lothinar and Candasar fell and perished while carrying the sword, could Mandel, riding Vanquish, then pick it up and continue to fight with it? That must be it. It seemed the big blue dragon had planned for just such a contingency. That lightning attack was certainly devastating. Understanding that made Tundor even more concerned for his mate and his friend. He blew a blast of fire into the sky as he came up behind the troops on one of his spiral loops. "Hurry up, horses!" He thought. Perhaps a little fear would get them moving. Enderline ducked his head as the fire passed over them and squeezed him even tighter with his knees. He was definitely walking home.
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Lothinar was reaching out through the bond. Firestorm immediately connected. She felt distracted.
"Candasar and I are about to get a lot closer, Firestorm. How are things going with the eggs? Lothinar asked the busy little dragon.
"If you're asking me how many lighting bolts you and Candasar are going to have to take before we can tell you that the eggs are secure, then it's going to be a lot," she replied. "It's crazy around here."
"What's happened?" he replied. "Do you have enough help?"
"That's not the problem. Many of the eggs have just started hatching. Not just a few. About half of them. All at once. And Lothinar, they are not all wingless dragons like I was when you found me. At least not the ones that have already hatched, these dragon eggs are older.“
"I thought my mother said that her father had gathered them from the dragons of the lake, then hid them there," he said with surprise.
"That's what she initially thought. She assumed he was outsmarting Argent's agents by beating them to the best eggs before they found them. "Ardwella is just not sure anymore. Some of these might have been laid by full-fledged dragons even before the end of the war and then hidden away down here by her father somehow."
"He did have the blue sword the whole time," said Lothinar. “He probably knew a lot of real dragons that wanted a way for their children to survive. Even if the parents could not.”
I seem to be the only one that they are willing to talk to." said Firestorm. "Ronni and your mother are doing their best but these older dragonets seem to inherently distrust elves. Some of them have even started following me around like I'm their mother! I'm way too young to be dealing with motherhood issues, Lothinar!" said Firestorm. "Are children always so dumb? How did you ever put up with all my questions?" she said with exasperation.
Lothinar couldn't help but smile and imagine the scene. It was a scene worth fighting for.
“Ronni and the Queen just left to make a deal with McDonald for all the cows. She said half should be hers anyway. We have to feed the babies soon. A bunch of townspeople went along to help them walk the cows back. Mo-Rung’s men are helping, too. Ardwella didn’t want Ronni trying to deal with McDonald without some backup.”
"Lothinar, your mother says we need some additional time to sort this out. The little dragons being mobile helps immensely, but it’s much harder to take care of a baby than an egg, especially when they will almost immediately start trying to fly. The water dragons are freaking out."
"I'll do what I can to get you more time. This is actually really good news. The dragon population can be restored much more quickly now, Most of them won’t need actual healing. Thank you, Firestorm." said Lothinar.
"You really didn't just contact me to find out about the eggs, did you, Lothinar?"
There was a pause.
"No Firestorm," he admitted. "This probably isn't going to go well. I wanted to say goodbye, just in case we don't make it back."
"You have to come back, Lothinar!" said Firestorm. "Ronni just got bonded to a dragon! He's a spunky little fellow. He's the smartest one in the group. He's just hatched, and he is actually trying to help me. That's exceptional. You don't want to miss that... Please, Lothinar, Don't die! I need you to come back!" cried the little red dragon.
There was no answer. Lothinar had pulled the red sword from its sheath. Candasar was in a dive. The blue dragon had heard everything. She also was very willing to fight so that baby dragons might survive.
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"Our advance scouts say that there are humans on horseback approaching this position," said Byron.
"How long until our main forces make contact?" he asked.
"They are about fifteen minutes away. They are moving fast. There is another dragon, a white, with someone on his back circling above them, sending hand signals. He is apparently in charge."
"That must be the human king. They do seem to have a few dragons to spare, after all. How could this have happened? Someone on the egg team must have really screwed up! One of us needs to take a small group out ahead and see if you can drop that dragon carrying the king out of the air with a lightning bolt."
"I'll go said Byron. I'll take twenty elves as an escort. "I'll bring him down."
"What's father doing?" Asked Buscoe.
"He seems to just be watching us. He is sort of smirking. Is this a test or something?" Replied Byron.
"Or something" said Buscoe. "Go take care of that white dragon carrying the king for me. Then hurry back.”
"My escort is ready; I'm leaving now," said Byron.
Buscoe had found a small cairn of rocks sticking up from the large and fairly level field that Esmarilla had attacked them in. He climbed upon it to get a better view of the shape of his forces. It also looked like the blue dragon he had seen earlier had finished delaying. The mounted elf on her back was starting a run. He had pulled a really large red sword out of somewhere. The other dragons that were hanging back also concerned him, but he would deal with them later. This blue one was definitely the closest.
Buscoe reached for his magic, corrected his aim again, and fired. A huge crack and snap lanced out from his outstretched arms. He felt his power drop. The lightning raced out right on target. Then, unbelievably, the blue dragon dodged, dropping almost to the height of the field. The lightning had missed. It dissipated into the distance, finally hitting a tree at the edge of the meadow. The tree unsurprisingly caught on fire. Buscoe cursed. The blue beat her wings rapidly, and Buscoe felt he could almost reach out and touch her as she whizzed past. A bald-headed elf sat upon her. He had a ferocious tattoo on his head. No, those were not tattoos. They were some sort of bony growth. They went over his skull. Then they were suddenly past and climbing away.
Buscoe heard a secondary crack, and another lightning bolt shot toward the flying dragon from the other side of the field. This one is obviously from one of his brothers. It had to be Fignair. He was the third of the brothers that could throw lightning. To Buscoe's amazement Fignair's bolt did not miss, The bolt flew straight and true. But at the last second, the bald elf held up the red sword. It caught the lightning on the blade. It flashed and glowed even a brighter red. The flying elf quickly pointed the sword back at Fignair. A huge thundering blast flew out from his outstretched arm, holding the sword. Buscoe blinked, trying to dispel the blinding he had received from the bright flash. When he looked again at Fignair's position he was just gone. There was a huge crater in the field where he had been standing with a few of his personal guards. Suddenly, blood and body parts began raining down into the hole left behind. That got his father's attention. He began screaming at Buscoe to shoot at the rider again. Belatedly Buscoe realized that if he had any hope of surviving this then his father was probably right. But why did he suddenly hope that his father fired his own lightning next?
The blue dragon climbed back into the sky. No one else, including Argent, seemed brave enough to fire lightning again. The dragon and her rider regained some distance and began to turn back toward the field of battle. The troops were scattering. They climbed on their horses and began racing around. Fignair's troops, now leaderless, seemed the most chaotic. Nobody wanted to be a standing target. Buscoe sure wished they had been able to bring some more bows. The few that they had were out with the scouting patrols. His father was still screaming at him when the blue dragon began her second run.
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Siophra was concerned. She had seen a small party of elves slink away from the main body and quickly make their way toward Delora Natine. It looked like they had one of Argent's sons among them. Tundor was back that way, flying with the King. That was a high-value target for these egg eaters. She was no longer bonded with Vanador but decided to make an appeal.
"Did you see those elves slinking away? I think they are going after Tundor and the King."
"You're probably right," he replied. "What do you want to do about it? Lothinar is about to start his first run."
"I'd like to go back and at least warn them about it," said Siophra.
"One of those stinky slinky elves probably shoots lightning. We will be making ourselves a target," said Vanador.
"Once they get out of that field, they are going to be in a heavily wooded area. That's going to stop most of the lightning casts." Siophra said.
"We won't be in the trees. We will be in the sky. I don't know if you noticed, but there are very few trees up here," said Vanador. "Also, I want to be available to help Esmarilla if I can."
"Ok, let's go quickly then. Warn Tundor, and then we can get back here fast," said Siophra. "It was much easier when you just listened to me."
"I'm still listening." Said Vanador. "Just need to understand and agree first. It's a healthy change, in my opinion."
"This must be how you felt when I was ignoring you about that sword exploding," said Siophra with a groan.
The big white dragon banked hard and turned back toward the human troops that were still on the way. As long as it didn’t take too long, he was more than willing to warn the King and Tundor of the possible ambush. He smiled. It was good to be free.
It didn't take the fast dragon very long to make it back to the humans. Siophra gestured to the king, and both dragons made a quick landing. The mounted men rode up quickly after that.
"What is it?" asked the king. "Has something gone wrong?"
"No, but there is a small contingent on its way out here to intercept you. I am pretty sure they must have advanced scouts that have spotted Tundor and you in the air. They probably aim to shoot you out of the sky."
The King paled.
"I'm not used to riding on this dragon!" He doesn't seem to go anywhere that I tell him to!"
"He's not a horse," said Siophra. "He has a mind of his own. A good one. Leave the flying to him. Plan your battle."
Just then, an arrow whizzed past the King. It somehow missed him striking one of the men in the throat that had ridden up near them. The man went down gurgling blood.
"Get Down! said Siophra, drawing Mortimer and running into the trees. A minute passed. There were sounds of fighting and screams. In a few minutes, Siophra came limping back. She had an arrow in her thigh. She yanked it out but then dropped to one knee.
"I got two of them, but there is one more. He ran off. They must be the scouts that spotted you. We are not safe here. Damn, having all my sensory nerves back really makes these wounds more painful. Could I get a little help, Vanador?" she said, gasping a little.
A white light flowed out of the large white dragon. The bleeding stopped as the wound closed. Vanador looked concerned.
"I might not always be around, you know?" he said. "You need to start being more careful!"
"I'll try to remember that," said Siophra with a grin. Perhaps you should have left me a little injured so that I would have a scar. That would remind me."
Vanador looked at the king. The King was looking at his dead man. The one with the arrow in his neck.
"I am reminded that you can't scar if you are dead," Enderline said. "We must be closer than I realized. I'll do the rest of this from the ground. Thank you for the ride Tundor, but I'll be taking this poor dead soldier's horse instead."
"I told Vanador that he could go back, but I'll stay with you here on the ground, your Kingship." smiled Siophra. I think you still might need my help.”
"Thank you. From what I just saw, you are more than capable," said Enderline. "Mount up. You can ride with me."
"I will take you," said Tundor suddenly. He realized that Siophra had probably just saved his life from an unexpected lightning attack as well. He didn't want to leave her here alone with strangers. no matter how closely their goals might align.
"I don't think we should fly until we deal with the lightning caster," said Siophra to Tundor. "It's really not a good idea."
"You probably know this, but I'm really good at walking, too," said Tundor. "I started out without wings, you know. I got a lot of practice."
Siophra smiled. She really was beautiful. It was too bad that Ardwella and Muina got most of the attention.
"I will accept a ride from you, Tundor. Thank you."
"Sure, just don't accidentally poke me with that black sword," he said.
"Got to go now. I’m going to be late,” said Vanador. "Glad it worked out." Then he leaped into the air. He was quickly gone.
"That just feels weird," said Siophra. "He and I have been together for a very long time."
"I wasn't with Ardwynn for that long, and it still feels weird to me, too," admitted Tundor.
The human army started to move out. Tundor was out front with Siophra on his back. He realized that when they met Argent's lightning-casting son, it would necessarily be on the ground. It didn't sound like something to look forward to, either way.
‘The humans began moving on, trying to find a suitable path through the trees. For Tundor, that seemed substantially harder. He began flattening saplings. He noticed that quite a few of the men began following in his path of destruction.
”Great! More twigs and pine needles in my nether regions,” muttered Tundor.
Siophra laughed. “My grandfather was a renowned elven smith. Maybe I can help design you a codpiece or something. That's armor for your tender bits, in case you don't know the word. I wonder how something like that would attach?”
“Uh, no thanks,” Tundor replied. “That sounds very restricting and would block the special pine fresh scent that Candasar has grown so fond of.”
Siophra laughed out loud. Then, she checked herself, looking around guiltily.
“I should be more quiet. Enemies are about.”
Tundor nodded and moved ahead, squishing small trees and circumventing the larger ones. Suddenly, there was a bright flash off to his right. A tree directly in front of Tundor shuddered and then exploded, flinging wood chips everywhere. Siophra jumped off his back in the direction of the flash and disappeared into the trees. The front part of the king's forces quickly followed after her. Tundor snarled as he went crashing after them. He suddenly realized that his chest and front legs were impaled with large wooden slivers. That really hurt! He kept going. He came upon a sight. There were eight dead elves on the ground. It was a little hard to tell because several of them appeared to have been cut in two. Another ten had Siophra surrounded. She was, however, still fighting.
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The black sword Mortimer flashed out like a snake, and another elf went down. The humans had arrived and rode through the circle, stabbing out with spears and swords, whichever they carried. Another elf fell, but six humans died, and their horses ran on riderless. More humans and horses tried again. Siophra was definitely wounded. Every time she spun to face another attack, blood would fly off her body from some hidden wound.
Tumor could see three elves off to one side. Two were obviously guarding the third. He must be important. Tundor went for that one. The two guards jumped in his way when they noticed him changing direction. He blasted them with fire and ran through their crispy remains before they even had time to fall. He was inhaling for a second breath when there was a huge flash. The world went white. His momentum carried him forward even as his body locked up in electrical agony. He felt something crunching beneath his body, but he was blind and couldn’t see what it was. He made sure that when he finally fell, it was on that crunchy thing. It smelled a little bit like Argent. That made him happy. He tried to rake it with his talons. He succeeded. It smelled like blood and wet meat. He bit down on something. It must have been an elf. As expected, It tasted terrible. Then there was only darkness.
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"That worked out better than I hoped," Said Lothinar to Candasar. "I think we actually got one of them."
"You know, when I was living alone in the lake, I could never have imagined I'd be doing something like this," said Candasar.
"You know that when I was a warden guarding water dragons, I never dreamed of this either," he replied.
"Vanquish says that you are a Child of Destiny," said Candasar. “I am beginning to agree.”
"She probably knows a lot, but she doesn't know everything," Lothinar replied. “You could have let me die back in your cave, and then none of this would have happened. The Emperor would still be collecting and eating your people’s eggs.”
”We are going to stop him today,” she said.
”We might be able to try that, stopping them all. Like we did before when we froze the town of Delora Natine.”
“You had just been overfilled with power to raise the queen by Vanquish and me. Just to be clear, that was mostly her. I don’t think that spell is going to be nearly as powerful the next time you try and use it. It’s the same spell that your mother used to put Esmarilla to sleep.”
”Well, maybe I can at least stop one of them.” Said Lothinar. “I probably should try to freeze one of the lightning casters.”
“Vanquish didn’t mention that as part of our strategy, “ said Candasar. “It could create some unknown problems. “
”The sword can probably only hold the energy of one lightning bolt at a time. If you hadn’t dodged that first one, and they both had hit the sword, it might have blown up with me holding it.” He reminded her.
“Fine, we can always try. Who are we going to target? It looks like chaos down there. Our last pass really upset them!” She chuckled.
”That elf on those rocks definitely shot the first bolt. Let’s try him.”
Candasar began her next dive.
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Esmarilla awoke to the sounds of chaos and battle. Horses screamed in fear. That sounded promising. She groaned and managed to turn her head to see what was going on. Candasar was flying toward her fast. Lothinar had a big red sword out. It was Crimson, the sword that had bonded her so long ago. She hated that sword but had to acknowledge that if someone was going to have it then it should be a person as selfless as Lothinar. He was flying towards a big pile of rocks on which an elf crouched. The elf could probably shoot lightning but seemed hesitant to do so. Yes, the sword. That had probably caught the egg eaters by surprise. The return fire was probably devastating. The elf on the rocks seemed to make a decision. He looked over at her. He began to run towards her. Oh no! You are not going to stand next to me and shoot lightning at my friends using me as a shield, she thought. The elf came close.
”Still alive, dragon? It seems I have one last purpose for you,” he smirked. Esmarilla, not for the first time, regretted not being able to Heal by herself. She still had some power. If she could just fix the nerves in her back…
The stinking elf leaned his arms against her to steady his aim and prepared to fire lightning at Lothinar. She shook herself. It was the best that she could do. The elf grunted and pulled out a sword. He intended to finally finish her off. He swung for her throat. Suddenly, he glowed blue, locked up solid, and toppled over. He had a weird look on his face. Candasar blasted past overhead. Lothinar had the red sword held high. Lightning from somewhere out of her field of view lit up the sky. It found the sword. There was a red returning flash and an explosion. Horses screamed. In spite of her terrible situation, this was turning out to be a pretty good day, she thought. Uh oh. There were more soldiers riding up to see what had happened to their general. They had those wicked-looking spears that had poked her before. This time, they didn’t look like they were going to leave her alive.
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Mo-Rung had seen enough. Even from this distance, he had watched Lothinar and Candasar fly across the huge battlefield twice. His grand-daughter was making him proud but he felt angry and helpless sitting out this battle. Now it looked like Spearmen were closing in on Esmarilla. He couldn't allow that. She was an elegant, ancient, and beautiful remnant of their race. He would not allow this to continue. His wings beat furiously as he closed the distance to the down black dragon. He had almost expected his rider, Cantrell, to object to this impulsive action, but Cantrell was pointing at the spearmen too. They seemed to be in agreement on the issue. His movement in that direction seemed to stir something in Vanquish because she also turned toward Esmarilla and began to dive. On her back, Mandel was grinning ferociously.
There was a flash from far below. Because they still had some distance from the field, it appeared that the lightning was moving in a long, lazy arc. Mo-Rung realized that this couldn't possibly be the case, and there was an impact close by him. Mo-Rung could not, in the chaos, see which elf had cast the bolt. They had been targeting Vanquish. They did not miss. She wobbled, but somehow she shrugged off the direct hit and kept flying. Mandel looked slightly stunned but was still ok. Then Mo-Rung saw Candasar. She was climbing toward them. Another flash streaked from the ground, but it bent around, seemingly attracted to Lothinar's blade. The red sword caught it and sent it thundering back down, shielding the flying dragons as they closed on Esmarilla's position. A boom sounded on the other side of the field and once more dirt flew up, however no one on the ground appeared to be hit by Lothinars electrical riposte. The elf responsible had fled after casting it. They were getting smarter.
Mo-Rung had arrived at Esmarilla's side. He crashed through the spearmen, ripping and tearing at them with jaws and claws. Cantrell jumped from his back upon contact with the ground and began an incredible dance of death with the spearman. He had a long and wickedly sharp knife that he had pulled from somewhere on his waist. The spearmen should have easily been able to deal with Cantrell having greater reach, but he ducked inside the pointy end and began carving them up, seemingly at will. Mo-Rung had no idea that the Elven Warden could fight like that.
Mo-Rung had been distracted by Cantrell's fighting but recovered in time to bite at a spear that was coming for him. Breaking it in his jaws, he lunged for its operator. Jumping forward he pulled his back legs up and disemboweled the one with the broken spear and did the same to the elf next to him. A full set of rear leg talons for each one cut into them like paper. There was screaming and death. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Vanquish landing with Mandel. Mavis's brother, like Cantrell, had also jumped off. He likewise began fighting Argent's soldiers. Some of them must have been confused to see that someone that they once knew as their elven general had turned on them. They hesitated, and it cost them their lives. Mandel picked up a dropped sword and continued his onslaught with it. Beside him, the huge blue dragon roared, then whirled and breathed fire. A torrent of flame, a firewall forty yards across, engulfed another group of spearmen running towards Mandel. When Mo-Rung could look again through the haze and smoke, there were only twitching ashes in the places where they had been.
A crackle resounded from across the field, but Lothinar was still in the air, circling nearby. The lightning that had once again been heading for Vanquish impacted the red blade. It flashed brightly, absorbing the power. He threw it back. There was a boom and then another. It seemed that Lothinar was now fighting Argent himself. Across the field, a grey-haired elf was screaming in frustration. They traded blows several times before the Emperor seemed to break it off. Mo-Rung saw him recalling his troops to himself and trying to get off the field. He was leaving.
Mandel ran up to Mo-Rung. "You're my sister's dragon, right? Her name is Mavis?"
Mo-Rung grunted his ascent, but his eyes remained locked on Esmarilla. He could tell that she was hurt. Someone had stabbed her. A lot of someones.
Cantrell had just finished wiping off his blade and looked up. "I am here with Mo-Rung in your sister's stead. My name is Cantrell. Your sister and I are to be wed."
"Congratulations, I've never known Mavis to want to settle down. You must be something special to her......"
Leaving the elves to their introductions, Mo-Rung ran to Esmarilla's side. She grimaced as she tried to turn and speak to him.
"You came for me! That was foolish. Mo-Rung."
"We are going to get you out of here. I can't let someone as beautiful as you die!"
Esmarilla laughed and then groaned in pain.
"Are you flirting with a dead dragon Mo-Rung? Because that would be a very poor use of your time."
"I am unworthy of you," said Mo-Rung, "or I certainly would."
Esmarilla looked sad.
"I'll make you a deal, handsome red dragon," she said. "If I can fly off this field, I will be yours but don't get your hopes up. I am very near death."
"Vanador will be back soon. He came here with us. I just don't know how he could leave at a time like this!" groaned Mo-Rung. "Wait, there is someone else!"
Mo-Rung ran to Vanquish who was pacing back and forth and roaring, apparently encouraging Argent's troops to rapidly leave the battlefield. As if her huge, imposing presence was not enough, she was occasionally shooting a blast of dragon fire toward the retreating forces. With the threat of lightning attack temporarily gone, the dragons held a likely, if temporary, victory. Candasar and Lothinar, however, still remained in the air. They were flying a circular route, watching for trouble and preparing for lightning.
Mo-Rung did not hesitate to interrupt Vanquish's bravado-filled display.
"Esmarilla doesn't have long. She says she is near death! Do something now!" he roared
"Vanador has not yet returned. Blame him if she dies. I told him to stay with the group!" Vanquish replied in frustration.
"Does it have to be a white dragon?" asked Mo-Rung. "Can't I help?"
"I need a channel and a healer. A red just won't do," said Vanquish. "I'm sorry."
Cantrell stepped up, obviously overhearing. he cleared his throat.
"You raised the Queen from death with Lothinar. Maybe I can help."
"Lothinar is unique. He was made for many things that regular elves can not do," she replied. "I would need to see deep inside Esmarilla to fix those things that are broken. Can you do that, Cantrell?"
"Then get Lothinar down here. He's right up there!" Cantrell gestured upwards.
"He is our overwatch. He and the red sword. If he comes down here, the Emperor will not hesitate to attack us again with lightning. Would you risk us all?" asked Vanquish.
"What if I was bonded to her? I could feel a lot more. Perhaps I could at least prolong her life until Vanador returns."
"She is very near death, as she says. She may refuse to bond. If she dies while I am working through you, then you will die too. You may die from overusing your own power. Do you understand this?"
Cantrell looked at Mo-Rung, who hung his head.
"I can not ask this of you, Cantrell. Mo-Rung said. "Mavis says no, and I must agree. It is too big a risk."
"It is my risk to take." He said. He ran to the dying black dragon. She was fading in and out of consciousness.
"No!" she said. "I will not bond with you. You will die. I am almost dead already. My heart is barely beating. I can't feel my body."
"Please," said Cantrell. "I can't help but feel that, somehow, this is my destiny. And yours." Mavis said that I needed to come today. I'm sure that this is the reason!"
"It's your life, Cantrell," Esmarilla said weakly. "You should know that I'm not that easy to get along with. Not like Vanador at all...." Then she slumped. But somehow, deep inside him, Cantrell could feel her offer him her bond. He took it. He screamed. She was full of pain.
Blue dragon magic flowed into him, blasting through his magic channels in ways that he had never imagined. It could only go so far, then it hesitated.
"You must look inside her Cantrell," he could feel Vanquish say. "Tell me where to go. Tell me what to do."
Through the agony, Cantrell began to look. Her back was broken. He guided the power. It was slow and sloppy. He made mistakes, but somehow Vanquish found her way. There was so much to do, but through the new bond he could begin to see what most needed to be done. Suddenly he realized that he was at the end. He was himself beginning to slip away. There just wasn't any way to do more. He saw nothing but darkness closing in.
Then a bright white light began to shine. It filled his soul and body with health and power. He gave it to Esmarilla. Vanador had finally returned. Slowly the burden of the healing shifted from his weakened elf body to the power provided by the great white dragon. He felt his own life returning to him. It had been very close. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into the eyes of a very large black dragon. She was standing. Somehow he was on the ground. Everyone was staring at him.
"That was very, very foolish, Cantrell," said Esmarilla. "But thank you. I look forward to a new chapter in my life with you as my bond. My brother Vanador speaks very highly of you. He says you are a very nice elf."
Mo-Rung was jumping up and down. He was obviously very excited.
"I bet you can fly out of here!" he said happily.
"Yes, I probably can." said Esmarilla, "But I've got something to do first." She walked over to the body of an elf that was also lying on the ground. Nobody seemed to have noticed him before now. He was glowing slightly with a blue light.
"What is Buscoe doing just laying there? asked Mandel. Cantrell knowing what was about to happen, quickly climbed to his feet. Being bonded was weird. He shared her knowledge. It was going to take some time to process it. She knew a lot of history. That made him very happy.
"He and I had an interesting conversation earlier. I got the point. I think he was just lying here waiting for me to make an impression." said Esmarilla strangely. Then she began to furiously stomp and pound on the shimmering blue elf. Somewhere about thirty seconds into the furious assault, the blue shimmering stopped. There was a moment when Cantrell thought he could see the elf's body try to move. It looked like it might be trying to heal. Esmarilla stepped back and poured out fire on the flattened body. It twitched a little, then finally lay still.
"That should do it," she said. "Now, Mo-Rung, we have a date."
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Argent watched from a distance as the black dragon stomped and burned his oldest son, Buscoe. It made him angry, but it probably served him right for letting the black dragon live. He had told him not to. Things like that happened when people ignored him. Scouts had returned and reported that Byron, son number two, had also perished under the human soldier's attack and the claws of another dragon. It had been Tundor, the dragon that had been so close to being his own ticket to immortality. His third son, Fignair had taken return fire when he had hit the red sword with his lightning. The return blast completely destroyed him. That was a surprise. It must have surprised Fignair too, Argent thought. That sword seemed to capture the lighting, amplify it and send it back more powerful than before. He had barely survived one of those himself. His own power had taken a surprising drop as well absorbing the blast while dueling with the bald elf on the blue dragon. He needed more eggs! He was losing sons fast, but he could always make more. Only he needed to survive. This field was insignificant. The battle here is meaningless. He called his troops to get moving. Only the human king's men stood in his way. Once he got past them and to the lake, hundreds of eggs were waiting.
Myron, son number four, watched as his father began to lead his forces out of the meadow and into the forest. All he could think was that he didn't sign up for this. Maybe Mandel was right. He rode his own horse toward a tree at the edge of the forest and broke off a branch. He pulled a bandage from his supplies and tied the bandage to the branch. Then he rode slowly toward the dragons still gathered in the field, holding up his white flag of surrender. He looked back. Hundreds of his father's soldiers were following him. They were surrendering too. When they got to Mandel and threw down their weapons, the fifth son knew just what to do. He accepted the surrender. The dragons growled but surprisingly didn’t try and eat anyone. Argent must have lied about that too.
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"If you were not a white dragon, you would not have survived that little stunt!" said the voice. Tundor was very glad to hear it. It was Siophra. That meant that she was alive. He still couldn't see. He tried to get up.
"Nope. Stay down for now. We can't have you crashing around and hurting yourself or stepping on me. You are blind."
"But you can heal me?" he asked.
She laughed. "I'm not Vanador. And I'm not sure if I have long to live actually. I'm in pretty bad shape myself."
"Oh. I didn't know. I'm sorry. What happened to the King and his men? Can they help you?"
"Argent's troops have been coming through the forest for a while. The King and his men are tied up fighting them. They are all off over there a ways. Oh, I'm sorry, you can't see where I'm pointing. Just listen."
Tundor tried, and he could hear the sound of furious fighting off in the distance.
"Your pretty calm for someone dying," he said suddenly. "Are you sure?"
She laughed again. Then came some furious and wet-sounding coughing.
"Pretty sure. I can tell. Probably better than anyone... anyone that's still alive. I've had a lot of practice dying. I know what it feels like."
"Oh, that's right. The Emperor tortured you, even tried to kill you. You're probably right about that, then. Again I'm sorry."
"At least I'm not alone. Thanks for waking up. Gives me someone to talk to. Makes it easier somehow."
Tundor didn't know what to say. Then he thought of something.
"For what it's worth, I think you got the most horrible deal out of all the sisters."
"Well, thanks. That makes me feel a lot better," she said sarcastically. "Seriously?"
"I didn't mean it that way. I'm sorry. You are just so nice and pretty. Your sisters had lives and children. I think you deserved a lot more."
"They didn't plan it that way. I was the one who made the decision to go try to talk to Argent one last time to prevent the dragons from being killed. Nobody made me do it. Then he betrayed the truce and attacked Vanador. I froze him to save him. You know the rest."
"I do," said Tundor. "It still is terrible."
"If I had a way to do it over again, I would do things differently for sure," she said.
"Maybe you can do it over again," said Tundor. "I'm a white dragon too. I can heal you."
"You can't even see!" said Siophra. She coughed wetly again.
"If we were bonded, then I could use your eyes," Tundor said.
"I know what you went through with Ardwynn. I could not ask that of you," said Siophra.
"You are not asking. I'm offering," said Tundor.
"Are you sure? Because I heard Vanquish say that you probably would never bond again?"
"I think with you, it would be very different," said Tundor. "Ardwynn was a liar."
"If you're sure, then we can at least try. It might help both of us."
"What do we have to lose? asked Tundor.
"We had better do this fast, then," said Siophra. "I'm fading fast. If my eyes close, then you won't be able to see."
Tundor offered his bond. She hesitated, then accepted. He breathed a huge sigh of relief. She wasn't like Ardwynn at all. Her bond smelled pure and sweet.
Tundor looked at her body through her eyes. It was bad. Tourniquets had been tied on both legs. One arm was also tied. It was cut off at the elbow. There were deep punctures in her abdomen. They still bled. She still held the black sword in her right hand, though.
"I'm a mess. I told you." she coughed. "We did get all those bastards, though"
Tundor looked around at where the elven soldiers had fallen. He also observed that there were far more dead humans than elves.
"If you are going to try to do something, Now would be a good time," she said weakly.
Tundor unleashed a fury filled with white magic. This beautiful elf had suffered so much, yet she had hardly complained. He began to fix her. He used everything he had. He poured on the power. Siophra moaned and closed her eyes.
"Open them!" he said. "I need to see what I'm doing."
"Sorry, she said. "It hurts. You are healing me very fast."
"I don't have a choice. You were not lying. You were almost dead. I am fixing the body punctures first. I should be able to get your legs back. Undo the tourniquets. Let the blood flow back into them. It shouldn't leak out now. The arm is going to have to wait but I closed it off. You might want to see if you can find the missing part somewhere. I've enhanced your blood supply, but I don't think I can do more right now.”
"Where did you learn to do that?" asked Siophra.
"Vanquish gave me some additional information on elvish anatomy when I first met her. She seems to like me for some reason."
"I'm impressed. I don't think Vanador could have done as well. No, I take that back. I was trying to make you feel good, Vanador's better." she said.
"Really?" asked Tundor. "Why even say that? He's obviously been healing you a lot longer than I have."
"Well, I corrected myself because I wanted to start this new relationship with absolute honesty. I feel it is important. I want this relationship to be a good one. We are probably going to be spending a lot of time together."
"I can go with that," said Tundor. "I'll make the same commitment." Absolute honesty, then. "By the way, how do you feel about Candasar? She's a big part of my life."
"Vanador's been mated to a blue dragon for a very long time. I think I'll be fine with her. Candasar's probably easier to deal with than Vanquish. Smaller too. Saves on food expenses."
Tundor laughed. "You might be surprised. Candasar really wants a family"
"I can do family. I may have one myself. Have you seen that elf Cenderick? "Wow. I hope you can grow that arm back before I see him again."
"The battle is coming back this way," said Tundor. "I can hear it."
"Enderline's troops must be on the run. That's too bad. That means Argent is probably on his way here." said Siophra.
"Can a blind dragon and an elf with one arm beat the emperor?" Tundor asked.
"Probably not, but we are surely going to try," said Siophra. "I've waited for a chance like this for a very long time. Let's just say that I'm highly motivated!"
"Me too," said Tundor. "But not the long time part... The highly motivated part."
"This total honesty is going to take work, isn't it? said Siophra with a smile.
Enderline grimaced at his losses, but his forces were chasing down the last of the elves that followed Argent. It had been a hard victory, but very few of Argent's troops had survived the fighting in the woods. Their numbers were not as high as anticipated. They were much lower. Apparently, many of them had surrendered after the dragons had destroyed their leaders in the field. No one had seen Argent yet, but they were going to find him.
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Argent came stumbling through the trees. That battle against Enderline's forces had not gone as anticipated. What had happened? Half of his troops seemed to be missing somehow. His magic was almost empty. He tripped and fell. He got back up. Where did his bodyguards go?
He never really saw Tundor and Siophra waiting for him. He put up a fight, but there was not much left of him when they were done. They had to kill him twice. Each of them got a turn, so it all worked out nice and fair.
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