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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

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From the hill overlooking Dween, King Enderline gazed down at the port. His flagship the Sinspirilla was still tied to the dock. The other vessels of his fleet were strung out behind it, like pearls on a necklace. He could see them rocking on their anchors with the incoming tide. On the flagship’s highest spar, the flag of Silvantra fluttered in a cool evening breeze. It was his flag. Looking down, and back upon the dusty road behind him, the King observed a bizarre, but now familiar sight. Stretched out for over a mile was a plodding line of baby dragons. Each of them was loosely accompanied by a man or woman on horseback. As the young dragon's flight abilities were steadily improving, it was likely that this would be one of the last times they spent time walking anywhere.

When Ronniflass had approached him about funding another cattle purchase, Enderline had listened, then made a different choice. The process of driving more cattle from the port town of Dween back to Delora Natine didn't make a lot of sense to him. Moving the dragons to a place where food for them was more plentiful did. The port city was reported to not only have livestock, but a relatively untouched local deer population. It was also on the way to where he wanted to go. He gave the orders and without delay they were obeyed. Supplies were gathered, saddlebags were filled. Within two days his troops were on their way.

All hope for a well ordered journey had quickly disappeared, however, once the caravan left Delora Natine. For the small dragons, this had been their first real trip out into the world. They seemed insatiably curious, sometimes wandering off the road to get a better look at something. This had required their respective human to stop, and wait, intermittently halting forward progress. Usually, the dragon's human was able to quickly cajole them back to traveling, even then they were still inexorably filled with questions. Since the expedition was not under a huge time constraint, Enderline had decided to relax regulations and had allowed the dragons, and their chaperones to enjoy the outing.

Naturally, Enderline had ridden close to Pricilla and Ivy for the journey. Pricilla’s telepathic link to Ivy had definite advantages, and usually kept the verbal questions to a minimum. Nevertheless, Enderline sometimes found the young dragon specifically asking questions out loud. To him. He actually suspected the young green dragon was trying to make certain that he didn't feel left out. Perhaps Ivy was concerned that Night-Sky's dissolution of his bond with the King had affected Enderline's attitude toward dragon-kind in general. She wouldn't have been wrong.

Enderline thought of the young woman, Heirwynn, and how she had shown up to bond wearing a wedding dress. A lot had hinged on her decisions. He wondered how things would be different now if she and Snow were among those traveling on the road. Would she have been coming back as his wife? Would Night-Sky then have stayed? He pushed the thoughts from his mind. She was not. He had not. Fate had made different choices. There was nothing to be done about it now.

What had definitely changed was Enderline's tolerance for dragons.

Enderline had never expected to outlive his half-elven wife. He supposed that it would eventually seem strange as he watched himself grow old, while she did not. Instead, due to some confusion, she had been taken from him by a fluke dragon attack. Then another dragon, Vanquish, had miraculously given her back.

For restoring his bride, The king felt that he owed a great deal to the blue dragon. If there was a goddess among dragons, it was her. She was powerful and wise. She and her mate Vanador were the very best examples of dragon kind.

No longer, however, were all the dragons the mysterious gods of legend that he once thought they were. Night-Sky's behavior had shown him that dragons could be capricious. As with humans and elves, wisdom came with time. Sometimes it didn't come at all. Night-Sky's choice to alienate the King of Sivantra was not a good political decision. Enderline highly suspected that Ivy understood that there would be a few consequences.

His experience being bonded with Night-Sky had left a bad taste in his mouth, although his affection for Pricilla’s dragon, Ivy did counteract that somewhat. It was now very clear to him that a bad bond was worse than no bond at all.

Enderline actually found himself wishing for another audience with Vanquish. Perhaps her learned perspective would help him understand how it had gone so wrong.

Not encumbered with a young dragon to distract him, Enderline eventually decided to move forward and lead the column himself. He was therefore in the group that reached the Dween overlook first. He was accompanied by the group of Silvantran soldiers that, for various reasons, had not formed a bond. After watching the Bonded trying to herd all those distracted dragons, for the moment at least, Enderline considered them the lucky ones.

The numerous women making this trek were all dragon bonded. They, like Heirwynn, had been picked by dragons that preferred a female to bond with. In the time that his men had stayed at Delora Natine, more than a few relationships had developed between his bonded soldiers and the bonded young women of the town. Most of those new human pairings seemed to be due to the commonality of dragons.

Humans now seemed to fall into two distinct groups. Those that had a dragon bond and those who did not. Women that had been picked by the dragons seemed naturally drawn to his men that had also. When it had came time to leave Delora, they had petitioned to accompany their favorite soldier back to the island. Pricilla had commented that it created a whole new standard for the term 'long term relationship'.

Because they were immigrating, Enderline had given the women a fair amount of scrutiny before he agreed. The truth was that the dragons had picked their bonds well. They would make great additions to the population of Silvantra.

In just a few years, this new category of Bonded humans would likely change Silvantran society a great deal indeed.

While he had been distracted with his thoughts, the column had mostly caught up. Roth and Ember trotted up behind him.

"It looks like the ships didn't take off and leave us here" chuckled Roth, as he road up and stopped his mount beside the King.

Ember was staring at the sea. "It's Pretty!" she said in her childlike dragon voice.

Enderline smiled down at her and addressed Roth.

"Now we just have to hope these dragons can make the journey without getting sea sick." said Enderline.

"We will spread the dragons out, so they can spend plenty of time above deck. They are still fairly small." his new second in command replied. For exercise, they can even take short flights out over the water."

"As long as they don't miss the ship while landing and end up learning to swim!" laughed Enderline.

"Some of them are pretty decent flyers by now" said Roth. "Although they couldn't make the trip home by air yet,"

"Lothinar's bond Firestorm did it when she wasn't that much older than this." said Enderline. "Although I understand Elven magic was involved."

Yes, replied Enderline. I've recently been reading about some of her exploits in a letter from Regent Courtney. It seems Firestorm is up to giving his daughter Michelle rides now."

"Is that safe? It doesn't seem like Firestorm would be big enough yet."

"Michelle is petite, and Firestorm is a bit older than your dragon." said Enderline. "Michelle was at our bon voyage party. You may have seen her there."

"There were several dignitaries daughters there." said Roth. "Was she the short pretty blonde in the green dress?"

"Yes that was her."

"Nice!" Roth said enthusiastically. Then he blushed. "Not that I would presume a high born girl like that..."

Enderline's laugh interrupted him.

"You have good taste. If I wasn't already married I might have to fight you for her." said Enderline.

"May the best man win!" your Majesty. Roth said with a smile.

"Now that you are the head of my military forces, you probably would have a good chance" said Enderline. "Not to mention that taking a second wife is still pretty rare."

"The heart wants, what the heart wants sire." said Roth. "I barely know her. There are other girls."

"Maybe Roth is right." Enderline thought. "Courtney has been a steadfast supporter of the crown."

Promoting Roth to his new position had been good advice, even if it came from his former bond, Night-Sky.

Roth looked quizzically at the king.

“I know that you ended your bond and left Night-Sky behind. How are you feeling about that?”

”I don’t miss him. If that’s what you are asking.”

Enderline was satisfied. He had accomplished what he had come here to do. He had helped the dragons end Argent's tyrannical rein. He and his men had paid a high price to do so. The dragons that remained behind had not chosen a human. Enderline would do no more for them. They were on their own. He and Pricilla were going home to have their child. Their new heir would be born on the Island. In Enderline's own castle. If for political purposes, the subject of Michelle as a second queen came up, they would discuss it then. For now he had other problems to solve.

"Find me the dairyman!" Enderline bellowed as the dragons entered the town and came to a stop. "I have some hungry mouths to feed."

A unkempt and dirty man came forward. His breath smelled of alcohol but he had a glint in his eye.

"I'm McDonald, your highness" he said, slurring a bit.

"I understand that you might have some cattle you could part with." said Roth, stepping between the filthy man and the King. You probably know our situation. We will need several for tonight, then more to be slaughtered and salted for our journey across the sea."

"Apologies, your highness, " said McDonald as he looked over Roth's shoulder at the King. "Unfortunately the price of cattle has gone up substantially. It's over double what you previously paid. I'm sure you understand why."

"I understand that you may be harboring a grudge against my wife's sister." said Enderline icily. "That is very small of you. You were very well paid for your share in Ronniflass's dairy."

"The price is non-negotiable." said McDonald.

Roth put his hand on the pommel of his sword, but Enderline reached out and stopped him.

"Give the young dragons some of the horses to eat." said the King. "Enough for tonight. Then, as needed, we will take the rest to the butcher for processing in the morning."

McDonald grew pale. He started to sputter.

Roth leaned over and whispered in the King's ear.

"Someone told me earlier that he went into debt purchasing every cow for a hundred miles around."

"That's too bad for him." said Enderline. "This actually makes more sense. We can't take the horses with us anyway and we bought them months ago."

"It's a good thing Albarad isn't here. I've heard how he feels about horses." said Roth.

"Well, he's not here." said Enderline. "And besides that, how would he ever know?"

"You have a point." said Roth.

A man that had been looking on at the exchange with McDonald suddenly spoke up.

"I buy and sell horses." he said. "For those you don't need, I'll give you a fair price!"

"Certainly" said Roth. He looked disdainfully at McDonald. "We appreciate the help."

"If you let me take a look at them first, before you start serving them up to your dragons," said the man, "I'll help you sort them. We can set the best ones aside. That will give you a better price."

McDonald shot him a dirty look.

The man dirty looked him back.

"My names Belmont" he said. "I also have a couple large pastures where your men and dragons can spend the night. We're not expecting rain."

"That's very hospitable of you Belmont." said Enderline. "Give Roth here the details. I'm going to find an inn. My wife's pregnant and I won't have her sleeping out in the rough again."

The three of them walked away leaving McDonald wringing his hands.

"I wonder if his hands are hurting him?" Pricilla asked Enderline as they walked past the man.

"He's probably just thinking about all the milking he still needs to do." said the King with a grin. "Let go find a nice soft bed!"

"And supper!" said Ivy.

"Your not interested in trying horse tonight with the rest of the dragons?" asked Enderline with some surprise.

"I've had a craving for bear kabobs since we left Delora Natine." she said sadly. "Pricilla says that there are no bears in Silvantra. I probably won't ever be able to eat them again."

Enderline thought about it for a second.

"You're right, but we do have things called goats. You're going to love them!" He said.. “And who knows? You could possibly come back here someday. By then you would be able to fly great distances, even with Pricilla on your back.”

”Wouldn’t me leaving with Pricilla, even for a bear hunting trip make you lonely?” The green dragon had asked.

”I’m sure that will be some time from now.” Said Enderline. “Until then we will be very busy. I have a country to run after all.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Do ships ever sink?” Asked Ivy.

”We actually lost one on the way over.” Said Enderline.

”Maybe we should wait until we’re all bigger and then we can just fly over” said Ivy.

"We need to get home. We can't stay here that long." replied the King.

Ivy gave him a sad smile.

"You're probably right, Enderline. You aren't looking any younger. What are we actually going to do about that? You realize that the odds for locating a suitable dragon for you in Silvantra are just about zero."

"I think that's why I may be in a hurry." said Enderline. "I'm hoping I can talk to Vanquish about it before she leaves. Perhaps she can tell me what I did wrong with Night-Sky."

"Hey, there's an idea." said Ivy. "Vanquish is un-bonded. If a powerful dragon and a powerful human were to bond, just think of what you might accomplish together!"

"Do you think that's even a possibility?" asked Enderline growing excited.

"She's been bonded before, and you are on good terms with Vanador. It couldn't hurt to ask." said Ivy.

Filled with a new hopeful determination, Enderline's week long scowl began to fade.

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

Tundor had just returned from a patrol of the foothills surrounding the lake. He and Mo-Rung were taking alternating turns watching over the dairy and the grey dragon nests. They were stretched pretty thin. Tundor had been thinking of asking some of the grey males for help but he had still not found Killingsworth.

His plans came to a decisive end when Mo-Rung gave him some news.

”Killingsworth is dead.” Said Mo-Rung. “I found out from Mavis yesterday. I thought you would want to know.”

Tundor looked at the red dragon in disbelief. Killingsworth had been part of the group of water dragons that had tried to drown him so many long months ago. The cranky old council member certainly wasn’t a friend, but the news still came as a shock.

“Wait a minute! Mavis told you? Mavis is in the capital. I thought that Killingsworth was here, somewhere up in the hills. Vanador said that he was sulking about something.”

“It was Vanador that spotted him. It was after he left here and while on his way to the capital. Killingsworth was surrounded by a group of spear wielding elves. They stabbed him to death. Vanador was pretty upset about it. He arrived a few minutes too late to save him. He blamed himself for too much sentimental dallying at a lake.

“What was a grey dragon like Killingsworth doing, flying all the way to the Capital by himself? Seriously! Most, if not all of that area is enemy territory!”

Did Vanador tell you about their fight? Though It really wasn’t much of a fight, because it was over so fast. It was at Ardwella's house. That was when Zinariya broke Enderline's nose.

”He told me about it, but not what it was really about. He just said that Platinum was involved. Something about brainwashing?”

“Platinum had powers that allowed her to persuade others. She had her own interests that revolved around forcing a bond on Ardwella’s unborn baby. Albarad and Ardwella seriously objected to that."

"I can certainly understand why." said Tundor.

"Platinum was also controlling Enderline. She was trying to set up politically expedient bonds between various humans and dragons that would give her a stronger power base. Obviously Siophra would know more of the specifics about that than I do. It was a mess that just kept getting worse until it turned into a complete disaster."

”How did Killingsworth get involved in something like that?”

”His granddaughter was missing and he went looking for her. He found a mysterious set of blackened and burned dragons bones.”

”His granddaughter?”

”No, but it turned out to be her boyfriend. According to her parents they were most likely together at the time."

"Did Killingsworth find her?"

"No, not as far as I know. The granddaughter’s name was Penelope. She is still only officially missing. Then, Killingsworth began to suspect that if any elf was to know the ancient spell of burning it might be Argent’s ex-wife. That led him to Muina."

Tundor shuddered. “I actually met Argent, you know. For Muina to do what she did….To infiltrate the royal family and undermine his power structure was risky but it eventually help to bring him down. Muina is a hero!"

“Well, Hero or not, she got in Platinum’s way and Killingsworth’s antipathy was useful to her. She used Killingsworth to move forward her own agenda. Zinariya and Vanador arrived and broke the whole thing up.”

”I think I can guess the rest. Nobody believed Killingsworth about Muina." said Tundor.

"That, or they were actually unwilling to do anything about it.” speculated Mo-Rung. ”Do you think Muina actually torched that young dragon?”

”If Muina did, then she probably had a good reason. I’ll probably work up the nerve to ask her at some point. Right now, though, it’s not the first thing on my list of things to do.” Said Tundor. "She is, after all, Siophra’s sister."

"Could Killingsworth have wanted justice bad enough to try and take the issue to the capital and gotten lost?" speculated Mo-Rung.

"We may never know now." Tundor replied. "But, In my opinion, Muina has probably suffered enough on the behalf of dragon-kind, to pay for a few crimes or misdemeanors."

“Killingsworth obviously didn’t feel the same way.” Said Mo-Rung. "What if had been one of your own children that had been killed? What if it was Candasar?"

“Obviously, you, more than most, understand that when it comes to family it gets intensely personal. Yet when you were made aware of the facts, It seems that it was possible for you to forgive me for what happened to Mavis and Aleena."

Mo-Rung had grown strangely still.

"I suppose that I have at that." he finally said. "You were, at that time, only a weapon, wielded by someone else."

"Ardwynn." said Tundor. I've actually been asking myself what I might do if Lothinar was to show up here someday with her. Lothinar was my first elven friend, but I can't really understand what he is doing right now."

"He must be trying to save his unborn child." said Mo-Rung, "By now, Lothinar must know that there is nothing good about Ardwynn."

"I'm sure that he does." said Tundor. "But what is he eventually going to do about it?"

"I hope that I don't end up like Killingsworth." said Mo-Rung. "Trying to take justice into my own hands and at odds with the elves."

"Your bond Mavis would never let it go that far." said Tundor. "She has her own issues with Ardwynn. Don't forget that."

"I hope you're right." said the red dragon. "But Mavis has always been partial to Lothinar."

"That's something entirely different." said Tundor. "These elves sure live complex social lives don't they."

"As far as I've seen, it all seems to revolve around this one family" said Mo-Rung.

"Yes, and it's a family that both of us seem inexorably linked with."

"At least it's never boring." said Mo-Rung.

”You know something Mo-Rung?”

”What?”

”I think I’ve just changed my mind. I want to go have that talk with Muina after all. Do you want to come along?”

”Sure.” said the red dragon. “Let’s clear the air.”

The two dragons flared their wings and prepared to take off.

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

Arriving back at the site of her nest had only led to disappointment for Candasar. The house and barn was empty and the house was locked. Tundor and her eggs were gone. Lothinar had jumped down from Candasar's back still holding the still immobile Ardwynn. He climbed the stairs to the porch and gently set her down. He moved slowly, obviously stiff from holding her in such an awkward position.

"It does't look like anybody's here." he said. A few knocks on the door verified this.

Michelle had stopped below, at the well. She pushed the bucket off the edge. It splashed noisily as it hit the water far below. She slowly turned the crank.

"I suppose this body does have some useful attributes." she said pouring the water into the trough for both dragons who snorted appreciatively before dipping in their dry muzzles in to drink.

"It must be strange to be human after all these hundreds of years." Lothinar said.

She winked at him. "I can't wait to show you some of this body's other useful features Lothinar."

He tried to smile, but it was a thin attempt.

Michelle blinked. "I'm sorry Lothinar, I'm still working on trying to obtain a balance between Michelle and I having more shared control"

"It's ok, really. The flirting doesn't actually bother me that much. I actually appreciate you not completely shutting her down. I think that would be a terrible way to live. Your own body constantly under someone else's total control."

"We are working on more of long term solution at this point" she said. "It's pretty certain that I'm going to be living in this human for a very long time."

"It's always a good idea to try and get along with the neighbors." agreed Lothinar.

"It's not like there would be an unused dragon body somewhere around here for me to occupy" laughed Michelle.

After drinking, Firestorm immediately headed for the barn.

"Wake me in a week! I'm going to literally hit the hay" she said, disappearing inside the large structure.

"I need to find my family." said Candasar.

Lothinar waved her off, giving her leave to depart.

”Thank you Candi. We are fine here. Go find Tundor.” He said. “You should probably check the dairy next. Ronni will know how to find him. They all probably moved down there!”

”That means my eggs have hatched and I missed it” Candi said grumpily. “Not only that but they are obviously flying by now.”

”You knew that was a pretty good possibility when you left” said Michelle, obviously channeling the thoughts of Vanquish.

"There were no good choices." said Candasar miserably, before lifting off again.

Michelle looked at Ardwynn.

"I suppose you are probably going to want to wake her up right away." she said sadly.

"Why wouldn't I?" asked Lothinar.

"It's just the very first time that I've actually had you all to myself." said Michelle.

"I think with us, until Vanquish and I can come to terms with this, it's going to be three is a crowd for a while longer, Michelle." said Lothinar.

"That what she said."

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

Candasar made the quick flight from Ronnie’s mountain home back to the dairy as fast as she could. She was tired but refused to rest before she found her family. Circling over the livestock yard she saw Vanador and Mo-Rung. They seemed to be having an important conversation. It looked to her like Vanador had been growing a little. He was definitely larger. He had probably been trying to get closer to Vanquish's size. He was going to be devastated when he heard the news of his blue mate's strange demise. She dropped wearily from the sky to land beside them. They looked at her in surprise. She looked at them in shock! The white dragon wasn't Vanador. It was Tundor! She rushed him, intertwining their necks as she tried to reach up to him. He was so much bigger! There was a lot of nuzzling.

"What happened to you Tundor?" she finally asked. "Wait, before you tell me...Where are my children?"

"Two of them are over there by the barn." he said chuckling.

She looked over and saw two young blue dragons peering at them with intense curiosity. Tundor nodded his head at them and smiled. They started running toward them.

"This pair is Constance and Vigilant" said Tundor beaming. "They look like you!"

"Momma! I just knew it was you!" said Vigilant.

"I knew you would come back!" said Constance, hopping up and down and bumping up against Candasar excitedly.

Candasar was lost in the moment. Her heart was overflowing with joy. Then she did the math.

"There were three eggs Tundor."

"Oh yes." said Tundor. "There certainly were. That is a going to require a somewhat more lengthy explanation. Go inside the big barn and get to know these two. I'm going to go get you something to eat. When I come back I'll tell you all about it."

"Our little sister has become an assassin." said Constance. "And she's living inside an elf named Ardwella!"

"Would you please explain this to me now, Tundor?" Candasar asked icily.

Mo-Rung looked sympathetically at the big white dragon.

"By the way Candasar..." he asked, trying to change the subject. "How did everything turn out with Ardwynn?"

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

The blue light faded....

Ardwynn jerked.

"Just do it!" she cried. "This is really starting to hurt!”

Wait! Something was different. The flapping had stopped. It felt way too still. Riding on dragon back was far breezier than this! She opened her eyes. They had been squeezed shut in pain. It still hurt. She was having a contraction, but she found herself in a bedroom.

Lothinar was looking into her eyes.

"Breathe" he said.

She did, pulling in a lung full. She was in a large bed.

"Where are we? she said shakily. "We had just finished fighting the rocs!"

"I need to remove your lower garments. Do you mind if I do that?" asked Lothinar.

Ardwynn shook her head. "No go ahead. You've seen it all before."

Michelle walked into the room. She was had oven mittens on her hands. She was holding a large pot of hot water. A white towel was draped over each of her shoulders.

"I've been trying to get you to ask me that question since we first met!" she said.

Lothinar rolled his eyes.

"Whoops! Did I say that out loud? I accidently let that one slip." said Michelle.

"How much actual control do you have over her at this point?" Lothinar asked, looking over his shoulder at the very pretty petite human.

"Its actually pretty good until I start multitasking. But don't be surprised if I suddenly try to steal a kiss while I'm trying to deliver this baby. I'm probably going to have my hands full. I've never done this before for an elf. Eggs are obviously so much easier!"

"Have you ever laid eggs yourself?" Lothinar asked. He gestured toward the hot water. "Just set that down here on the end table."

Michelle set down the large pot and stepped back. "No I never made a nest. The war happened. Vanador was trapped on a roof and I knew that if I tried to get to him they would burn me."

"I'm sorry. That was a very insensitive question." Lothinar said.

"No, its fine. I don't really mind talking about it. It was quite literally another lifetime ago." said Michelle.

"GUYS! I hate to drag you away from such a strange and obviously important conversation, but I'm kind of having a baby right now" gasped Ardwynn. Her face scrunched up as another contraction hit.

Lothinar removed her clothes and undergarments, but he left the traveling dress covering Ardwynn's upper half.

"Where are we actually, I don't recognize this place at all." Ardwynn asked.

"This is Ronniflass's place." said Lothinar. "We flew right past Delora Natine and came straight here. It's not that much farther and this is where Candasar left her eggs. She just about went crazy when nobody was here. I actually had to break into the place. She only stayed long enough to drop us off, then took off out of here like a streak of blue."

"Is she ok?" asked Ardwynn, breathing rapidly through clenched teeth.

"I gave her as much magic as I could along the way here" said Michelle. "She's tired but she wants to see Tundor and her children more. She'll be fine. But she will probably eventually want to sleep for a week when the excitement wears off. Now let's work on having this baby!"

”So I’m giving birth in the home of your other wife? Asked Ardwynn with some rancor. I may have lost some of my memories but I do know my deceased parents left me a home back at Tasumakoji.”

“We can sort all that out later. I think you might be forgetting that you are not the most popular girl in town right now. This place is just far enough out of the way to give us the privacy we are going to need.”

"It hasn't done me any good so far." complained Michelle.

"I think after you watch what I'm about to go through," said Ardwynn through gritted teeth, "You are going to be a lot more reluctant to get yourself knocked up."

"Oh posh!" said Michelle. "You've obviously forgotten about your magical dragon midwife."

"What are you waiting for then?" said Ardwynn. "This is really starting to hurt."

A cool blue glow began to surround the elf. Her face relaxed. She groaned in appreciation."

"Oh that's amazing. Thank you."

"Don't forget to push." said Michelle. "I can't do everything for you."

Just a few minutes later Lothinar was holding his son. He was beautiful. His eyes were blue, just like his mother Ardwella's.

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

From Mandel's office, Ardwella had teleported Cantrell to the stable. Both dragons were there.

The dragons took the sudden appearance of Cantrell and Ardwella with minimum surprise.

"We are going to go after the ballistae." she told them. "Once we take them out, you should be able to safely fly over the city again."

"Is this what you wish as well Cantrell?" asked Vanador

"I think it's a necessary next step." he answered. "We will do our very best to stop them from firing at you."

Vanador looked at his sister. "What do you think" he asked.

"I trust Cantrell implicitly." she answered. "Let's do this."

In just moments the elves had mounted. Cantrell on Esmarilla and Ardwella on Vanador.

"This feels strangely right." yelled Ardwella flashing a smile as they cleared the tower and headed out over the city. "Flying again I mean. It is, I have to admit, a little strange being on another dragon."

Esmarilla huffed.

"Get used to it" she sent

"I fully intend to" sent back Ardwella.

Vanador, unsurprisingly spotted the ballistae emplacement first. A quick word to Ardwella and Cantrell found himself standing on the ground behind the weapon's operator. The bolt was charged and in the rearmost position. The elf cackled gleefully seeing the dragons in the sky and reached for the trigger. Cantrell's knife flashed out and interrupted the elf's concentration. Pulling the knife from his victim's temple he looked for Ardwella. A second weapon had been set up just a hundred yards from the first. This one wasn't really pointed directly at the dragons but was set up for an alternate flight path. Ardwella had quickly dispatched its operator as well. She met his eye across the distance and they blinked back to the dragons. Cantrell had a bit of the wind knocked out of him as he hit Esmarilla's back fairly hard.

"Ooof" she grunted. "That's going to take some getting used to."

"For you and me both" he said with tears in his eyes.

Ardwella smiled apologetically.

The airborne dragons closed up ranks.

"Now lets go burn the weapons so that they don't just put someone else back on them" Ardwella said.

The dragons circled around and poured down flames upon the two stationary weapons. Cantrell heard the twang of the tension ropes burning and releasing as they flew over for a verification pass.

"That felt pretty good, I must admit" said Vanador.

"I can understand why" said Ardwella. "That thing almost ended you!"

"Let's go finish our reconnaissance." said Cantrell. "Then we can go back and make our plans for tomorrow."

"Why wait?" asked Ardwella. "The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can go back to our regular lives."

"Have our lives ever been regular?" he asked.

"No I suppose not." she said with a smile. "It's kind of addicting isn't it."

He wiped his knife on the bloody towel that Ardwella had given him before.

Cantrell had to admit that, in fact, it was. But it wasn't the killing that thrilled him. It was her smile.

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