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

Mavis and Esmarilla had been flying a patrol over the Elven Capitol when images and thoughts of Mo-Rung's battle with the three dark clad elves hit. Rage and anger flooded her. She intellectually could understand that it was Mo-Rungs thoughts she was feeling but it still was hard to process. She had felt him hunt and kill food as prey. It was a necessary part of being bonded to a dragon. Mo-Rung usually killed without anger. Dispassionately. An act of violence that was more routine. This was a far different feral ferocity. The intensity of it caused her cry out with her own rage.

Because Esmarilla simultaneously had Cantrells perspective on the battle and his part in it was far less violent, the black dragon was able to maintain more emotional control and did her best to not unseat her rider. However not having a bond with Mavis herself she was concerned about the young elf’s unpredictability as she dealt with her bond’s post fight emotions . She swiftly located the capitol building tower and headed for it. A few minutes later she landed and immediately Mavis jumped off. The beautiful elf ran toward the door to the stairway.

"I need to tell Mandel about the attack" she yelled back over her shoulder at the dragon.

"Wait! Cantrell is with Siophra. There is more happening! Called Esmarilla.

Mavis turned back and stood a few feet away from the dragon shifting awkward from foot to foot as she waited for Esmarilla’s update. The dragon looked sad, then perplexed. Finally a strange look of wonder and excitement appeared on her face. Mavis had watched the parade of emotions marveling at how much more adept she had become at reading them since her bonding. It was far easier to understand a dragon’s expressions when you were directly bonded to them as you had the mental link to verify them. She lacked that with Esmarilla as she was Cantrell’s bond.

”Your Aunt Siophra was killed. I think. Actually I’m not sure.” Esmarilla finally said.

”What!? No! Don’t say things like that Esmarilla, especially when they are so ambiguous. What is Cantrell doing?”

”He’s holding Siophra’s hand and helping her walk. She’s a little unsteady.”

“That sounds like she’s still alive to me.”

”Parts of her definitely are.” Said Esmarilla.

“Your not making any sense dragon!”

”You’re right. I’m sorry. What’s that word Cantrell knows? Flabbergasted. That’s what I am. Flabbergasted.

”You are also obtuse.” Ask Cantrell what that means and tell me in simple terms what is going on. How is a walking Siophra making you think that she died?”

”Do you know how Lothinar is part dragon now?”

”Part dragon? Your kidding! You mean the bald head and ridges? That’s dragon?” exclaimed Mavis.

”Yes, but Vanquish did more than just that to him. He has quite a few internal dragon modifications as well.”

”Ok, that’s pretty weird. Let’s talk about Lothinar later. What has this got to do with Siophra?”

”Hold on a second. I want to pay attention to this. Tundor is going to meet his golden daughter!”

”You know, you are very frustrating to try to talk to at times Esmarilla.” Said Mavis. “I’ve got to tell Mandel about the attack. I’m going to try and find him. I’ll bring him back up here to you and then maybe you can tell us both what’s going on.”

Esmarilla only nodded. She had a far away look on her face. Mavis rolled her eyes and blew her bangs out of her face. She whirled and ran for the stairway that would take her off the roof.

—————————

Tundor watched Siophra coming out of the house and walk across the yard toward him. Cantrell was holding her hand and seemed to be steadying her. As she walked she seemed to become more steady and sure. Tundor wondered what had happened to the bond. He had felt it fade and believed the worst. Then Tundor locked his vision on Siophra’s eyes. They were glowing with a soft gold inner light. He looked again at the cracked and opened golden shell laying on the ground next to him. He suddenly remembered his talk with Siophra in the barn. It had been when she had been holding the golden egg. Golden dragons could teleport!

“Hello Father.” Said the golden eyed Siophra.

”Hello” said Tundor. “I’m sorry that I was so bad at protecting you. Both of you.”

Siophra looked at the bloody scraps of elven flesh cooling in the grass of the pasture. She looked skyward. Mo-Rung was making a low pass. He traveled over them and Tundor could see him looking down on the three of them with interest. He banked and prepared to land a distance away out in the grass.

”Mother was called away. The timing was unfortunate. This elf that gave me shelter seems to believe that mother would have made it back here long before my hatching time if those three elves had not interfered.”

”Shelter?” Asked Tundor. “Like an eggshell gives shelter?

“Siophra’s body is surprisingly well adjusted to being manipulated by magic. She had received thousands of injuries and thousands of healings. White dragon healings. Her pathways are extremely receptive. I could not have done this if they were not. Where is the dragon named Vanador?”

”I’m assuming he is a few miles away.” Said Tundor. “He is in Delora Natine. They were no longer bonded but were for a very long time. He did most of that healing you are talking about. . I only did a few things, and that was rather recently.”

”All the work was excellent father. I could barely see the differences when I moved in.”

”Moved in?” Asked Cantrell. “Does that mean that you will eventually be able to move out?”

”That rather depends on Siophra.” Said Siophra.

”So is my Siophra ok inside there? I guess I mean the old Siophra. Is she still….her?” Asked Tundor.

”She is resting and healing. The lightning passed directly through her brain. I am doing what I can but it is going to take some time before we know what will happen”

“”It just doesn’t seem possible” said Cantrell. “When Vanquish started changing him and giving Lothinar dragon parts it was much more obvious.”

”Did you not observe my eyes?” Said Siophra. “Can you not hear my voice? These are not Siophra’s. There are also other things happening inside this body that you can not easily observe. I am, however, trying to use restraint.”

Cantrell nodded. Siophra looked at Mo-Rung who had just joined them.

”Thank you for what you did to end the threat.” She said to the red dragon. “Were you able to see anything more from the air?

”The area is clear, at least for now.” Mo-Rung replied. Cantrell smelled something strange. It smelled like blood but worse.

“It’s a good thing that Siophra already fixed the well crank handle.” Said Siophra. “We all need a good wash.”

“I’ve got a lot of elf blood on me even after flying." Agreed Mo-Rung. “This blood seems to smell worse than most.”

Cantrell suddenly looked down at himself. He was covered in blood as well. His journey being thrown off Mo-Rung's back and trying to catch the egg had been a messy one. Thankfully none of it was his own. Siophra’s clothes and sides were badly smudged with blood as well from when he had carried her into the house.

”Ronniflass is going to want to kill me.” Cantrell groaned. “I’m sure that I’ve ruined one of her quilts.”

“Who were these three?” Siophra gestured towards the bodies.

Cantrell spoke, “I think that I have seen them before, although Mo-Rung has made it quite a bit more difficult to identify them at this point.”

”Are they some of Argent’s family?”

”The female certainly is. Her name was Thelma. One of the males looks like her husband. His name was Malick I believe. Not Argent’s bloodline but certainly someone that was loyal to him. The third is probably her son. He was not actually at the family gathering I attended.”

‘Their names no longer matter” said Siophra. “That three less of Argent’s blood exist is what matters.”

Siophra bent down and picked up both pieces of the egg shell. She turned and handed them to Cantrell. He took them. His eyes were asking questions.

“We need to make sure that this shell is destroyed. These people will stop at nothing. The shell could be dried and finely ground into a powder. It could be sprinkled on food or mixed into a beverage. It has extremely potent magical properties. We don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands after all.”

Siophra began walking towards the well. It was between the house and the barn. The elf and two dragons followed her. The bucket was sitting on the edge of the well. She pushed it in and the crank spun freely as the bucket dropped. Cantrell heard a splash.

“I am going into the house to change. Most of the blood on me is second hand and only on my clothes. Cantrell if you wouldn’t mind pulling up a few buckets? Get everyone a drink of water and if you don’t mind throw a few bucketfuls over Mo-rung and yourself. I think Lothinar actually left some clothes here in the house that will fit you. I’ll bring something out for you to wear when you are done. Lothinar has no doubt grown out of them by now anyway. “

Siophra turned and went inside.

“Are you disappointed?” Asked Esmarilla. “Because I kind of am.”

”What? Why?” Asked Cantrell. “I’m still not quite used to you hanging back in my thoughts and observing everything that I’m doing Esmarilla. Why would I be Disappointed?”

“Because she is changing her clothes inside and you don’t get to see her naked.” Said the dragon. Cantrell flushed in spite of himself.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“You know that I love Mavis” said Cantrell. “I’m not a voyeur”

”It’s not everyday you get an opportunity to see a dragon-elf hybrid. Lothinar is the only other one and he's probably not as nice to look at. At least for you. There are going to be changes, both internal and external. I thought you might be more curious. For entirely scientific purposes of course.” Said Esmarilla. Then she laughed.

Cantrell threw a bucket of water over Mo-Rung. Red rivulets of bloody water ran down the dragons sides and into the grass. Cantrell pushed the bucket in again.

“Hey, Warn a guy first” said Mo-Rung. And save the next one for rinsing and drinking. I need to wash the bad taste of elf out of my mouth.”

Cantrell cranked the handle and pulled up another bucketful of water.

“Sorry Mo-Rung. Esmarilla is distracting me with strange unnecessary thoughts.”

"I can only imagine" Mo-Rung chuckled.

”Set that bucket down. Right there is fine. This would be a lot easier if the creek was flowing better.” Said the red dragon.

Siophra came out of the door. She had changed her clothes. She was also holding some more clothes. The two little blue dragons Cantrell had seen inside followed her out. They ran to Tundor who had been standing a short distance away, avoiding the flying water and the rinsed off blood. He nuzzled them both happily.

“Are the bad elves gone daddy?” He heard one of them ask in a squeaky little voice.

”For now” said Tundor. “But we must remain constantly vigilant”

”I like that word” said one of them. Cantrell thought it was the male but wasn’t entirely sure.

Tundor gave the baby dragon a look. "It’s a good word and it might make a good name for you. Although you would have to live up to its high expectations.” He said.

“I can be Vigilant” said the little blue dragon. He began looking about. “There are some bloody dead elves over in the pasture.”

Tundor stifled a laugh. “Yes you are right about that. You are off to a good start it seems. Vigilant.”

”I want to be Constantly then.” Said the other little dragon. “It means always or all the time.”

”How about Constance?” Said Cantrell. “It means steadfast. You could also use another variant of the name which is Constanze, or shorten it to Connie. ‘

“I like Constanze very much.” Said the little blue female. It reminds me a little of my mother’s name, Candasar.”

”I like it too.” Said Tundor. “So it shall be.” He looked at Siophra. She didn’t meet his eye but thrust out her hand and handed Cantrell the clothes.

”Take off those bloody clothes and get washed up.” She said. “I have things I want to discuss.”

She turned and walked back into the hose.”

”That seemed a bit abrupt” said Cantrell to the two dragons. Mo-Rung nodded.

Tundor looked at the two blue baby dragons that were now running around chasing each other in the pasture

”Her childhood was just stolen and she had to make emergency adjustments. She also had had to teleport her fragile premature dragon body and merge herself inside a five hundred year old elf because her egg was stolen and then dropped.”

“I tried to catch her! I’m sorry.” Said Cantrell. He started stripping off his blood soaked clothes and pouring water over himself. “I wonder if she has any soap inside?”

A white bar of something flew out of the open doorway and hit Cantrell in the chest. It fell to the ground. He bent down and picked it up.

”Soap” he said sheepishly. He continued washing.

“There is obviously nothing wrong with her hearing” said Mo-Rung with a grin.

“Nobody is blaming you Cantrell. She was still at least several weeks away from her natural hatching time. I think she’s doing fantastic given the circumstances. She probably even saved Siophra’s life.”

”That she can teleport is very interesting.” Said Cantrell. “How do you know about that?”

”Old Siophra told me about it a while ago.” Said Tundor. “She wasn’t sure, but apparently she was right.”

”This old Siophra, new Siophra thing is going to be a problem.” Said Cantrell. “I think perhaps that is why your daughter got a little upset just now.”

”She saw her siblings choosing names” said Tundor. “Of course. She should have her own new name as well.”

“Zinariya” said the melodic voice. The beautiful female elf walked boldly out the door of the house leaving Cantrell scrambling for his new clothes. “That will be my name when I am able to return to my dragon body. You may call this elf Zinariya. It will reduce confusion. I will still answer to Siophra as well.”

”It is a fine name.” Said Tundor. “I approve!"

The beautiful elf smiled. Cantrell didn’t think Siophra could have been more beautiful but somehow now she was.

Cantrell hitched up his pants and pulled on the new shirt.

“Thanks for the soap. What did you want to talk about Zinariya?” He asked.

”Argents remaining children. How many of them still remain alive?” She asked Cantrell.

”You mean Argent's actual bloodline? Hmm. Let me think a second. It’s going to be quite a few.”

”Let’s simplify and begin with only those that carry fifty percent of the taint.”

”Oh, that’s easier. The sons are all now dead. Myron was the last and they actually killed him themselves. Mandel was surprisingly upset about that. I can disregard husbands as they don’t actually carry the blood themselves. Although from what I’ve seen most of them were pretty unscrupulous. Friends of Argent. Most likely, most of them married his daughters to gain favor or strengthen alliances.”

”How many actual daughters still remain alive?” Zinariya asked.

”Ten remain.” Said Cantrell. “They have substantial personal resources and privately paid security and fighting forces. The city is pretty much cut off from overland access.”

”If we cut off the head of the snake the body will die” said Zinariya. “Cantrell can I ask another favor from you?”

”Let’s hear it.” Said Cantrell.

"Siophra and I are going to the Capitol. That is I am going to the Capitol. I am going to finish this quickly. We can not allow attacks on the most vulnerable part of our population to continue. Eventually they will succeed in getting an egg. That will just prolong things."

"You are starting to sound like Esmarilla," said Cantrell. "She wanted to finish them off when we had them all in one place."

"You managed to get them all together?" said Zinariya. "I can't believe you didn't take care of this when you had the chance. Look at what's happened!"

"Mandel wanted to give peace a chance. You can probably blame that on his genetics." said Cantrell. "I didn't give him strong enough advice to the contrary I'm afraid."

"If you could see inside Siophra's mind. See her memories. What she endured. You would not hesitate to kill them all. " said Zinariya. Her eyes flashed a brilliant gold.

"I have seen these things." said Tundor. "Siophra would sometimes dream." He shuddered.

"So you are going to what? Teleport Siophra's body around and kill the remaining sisters as fast as possible? Don't take this the wrong way, but that might not be as easy as you think Zinariya." said Cantrell. "They obviously still have some power. They hit both you... uh.. Siophra and Tundor with an electrical discharge. A lightning bolt. They must have at least some eggs left. I'm pretty good at elven magic myself and even I don't have that kind of power."

"You are bonded to a black dragon. A really big one. You actually do have that kind of power Cantrell."

That statement stunned the elf.

"Esmarilla is what she is saying true?" he asked.

"Uh.. Yes. She's right." said the black dragon.

"What the hell!? When Ardwella was fighting Tempton she didn't do anything like that!"

"Two things my bond. First, you have to remember that I had just brought Candasar back from being a lake dragon. Just me and Lothinar by the way, and Lothinar was just a channel really. Well, Ardwella helped a little. That tapped me almost all the way out. It took me a while to build up my reserves again. You remember that don't you?"

"Oh right. I'm sorry. That was kind of a while ago. I've learned a lot about dragons since then I guess." said Cantrell.

"You have." said Esmarilla. "You are doing great by the way. There is also another thing going on."

Zinariya was tapping her foot and looking at him. Uh-oh.

"Hang on a second Esmarilla." Goldie is getting impatient with me!"

"You didn't call her that did you?"

"Hell no. She is actually scaring the crap out of me right now."

"You are a wise elf Cantrell."

"Did you feel it necessary to corroborate with your own dragon something that I told you? elf?" asked Zinariya.

"Uh-no. Well, actually yes." he said.

Zinariya scowled. Then she smiled and the sun came out. It was dazzling.

"I like you Cantrell. I like you a lot. You should always check with your dragon. And you didn't lie to me about it. We can work with that. But it's a little rude to drop out of a conversation with someone right in front of you don't you think? I mean I. understand but a lot of people wouldn't." she said.

Cantrell nodded. He looked down. "Sorry" he said.

"Now you look guilty about something." said Zinariya.

"It's nothing." said Cantrell.

"Did you say something to Esmarilla about me? Cause you know that I"m going to find out eventually." she said.

"I called you something." said Cantrell. "It was just a nickname."

"What is this nickname that you have bestowed upon me then." she asked. "Quite without my permission." One of her eyebrows was beginning to drop dangerously.

"I called you Goldie."

Tundor and Mo-Rung quickly stepped back away from the elf.

Zinariya paused. Her eyes widened and then.. she laughed. A beautiful bell was ringing merrily.

"I will accept this nick-name as you call it." said Zinariya. Tundor and Mo-Rung relaxed and stepped back.

"But only from you Cantrell." Zinariya said and shot a warning look at the two large dragons.

"Why not from me? I'm your father!" said Tundor piteously.

"Goldie! Goldie!" sang the two little blue dragons running up and nuzzling her.

"What have you done?" said Zinariya sadly shaking her head.

"You needed a favor from me?" asked Cantrell.

"Yes. Yes I do. Stay here. Watch over my little sister and brother. You and my father are going to try and get them flying as soon as possible. I don't like you being up here all by yourselves. More trouble is certainly coming. As soon as you can, take them to Delora Natine and meet up with the young dragons there. You will be safer there and Enderline has his troops to help protect you."

"What am I going to do?" asked Mo-Rung.

"You are going to give me a ride to Delora Natine. Then you will stay there and relay messages between Enderline and Mandel via Mavis. I am going to ask Vanador to take me back to the Capitol. Then I need to convince Mandel to let me borrow his sword."

"Wasn't that your sword?" asked Cantrell.

"Siophra's yes. I'll be giving it back fairly soon."

"You sure have a lot of confidence for a baby dragon." said Cantrell.

"I'm a five hundred year old baby dragon with a serious grudge." Zinariya said.

Cantrell wasn't entirely sure but he thought he could see a strange look pass over her face when she said that. It looked very much like the old Siophra.

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

Snow had stopped the bleeding. The placenta had ruptured as well as the uterine wall. At least that's what she said. Heirwynn could see that color was coming back into Ardwella's cheeks. The black and white dragons had worked seamlessly together to stabilize and heal both the elf and her baby. Now the baby was crying loudly. That was a good sign right? She was going to have to find some books and learn more about this kind of thing. Heirwynn suspected that being bonded to a healing white dragon was probably going to take her into situations like this quite often.

Muina was still nervously pacing back and forth. Albarad finally came back in. The two of them were talking in low whispers in the other room. Heirwynn began to suspect that Muina was having concerns taking her in to stay here. She decided to speak up.

"It's fine if you are uncomfortable with me staying here." she said loudly. "I'm a human after all. I'd probably eat you out of house and home."

"Oh sweetie" said Muina. "That's not what we were talking about at all." she said. "Albarad and I had some other issues that we were discussing. We would love to have you. Really! You can stay in Lothinar's old room!"

"Lothinar? Really." Heirwynn said. Everyone knew that name. "What if he wants to come home for a visit or something?"

Albarad laughed.

"Then he can sleep in the barn. One of his dragons is pretty big by now. Her name is Candasar. Firestorm is probably getting there too. Unless they are pretty little, like yours, Dragons really can't stay in the house."

Albarad just rattled off the names of people and dragons that Heirwynn had only heard in famous stories like they were regular people. She didn't know what to think about that.

"Ok I guess. Thank you. Is there anything I can do to help you with those other issues then? I'm a good worker. I actually have a little money if you need some." she said.

"Where did you find this child? She's absolutely precious!" said Muina.

"Platinum was trying to make her marry the King." said Albarad.

Muina paused, then smiled. "Well He'd be very lucky to get her then." she said.

"That's actually the point." said Albarad. "She didn't want to marry the King. So I had to rescue her."

"I'm a little concerned that you were able to be so easily distracted from what you set off to do." said Muina. "Not that I thought that was the only path forward at all."

"Well, yes. I was just about to do that... other thing when all this happened. Ardwella and the Baby. It seems the crisis may now be in the past." said Albarad.

Ardwella groaned a little and tried to sit up. Muina ran over to her.

"Lay still sister. Let me get you some water. Your probably very dehydrated." she ran towards the kitchen.

Albarad went over and looked down into his wife's eyes. Ardwella looked at him, then she noticed the little black and white dragons that were staring at the both of them.

"You didn't?" asked Ardwella.

"No I did not. Some very strange things happened." he said. "I never even saw Platinum."

Ardwella looked relieved. Muina returned with some water. Ardwella sat up gingerly and drank some of it.

"Bring me the baby" said Ardwella.

Muina picked up the still squalling child and brought it to Ardwella. She opened her blouse and put the baby to her breast. The lack of loud crying that suddenly occurred was a tremendous relief as the baby began to suckle.

Albarad looked over with a smile at his new daughter. He was more than surprised to see that even while securely latched to her mother's breast the infant was tracking him with her eyes. Without any doubt she was glaring.

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