by Toni Cox
During the long hours of that night, Jagaer contemplated their situation. He had learned much talking to the other Lords, even the ones he did not agree with, yet the Vampyres’ plan only became more unfathomable.
So much still did not make sense and he felt ill-prepared, at best. The concern for his people weighed on him, yet during that long, cold night; thoughts of Malyn kept drifting in and out of his mind.
Had he been too stubborn? For over five hundred years they had been married. For nearly two hundred of those years he had been king. Had her advice not always been solid?
Grinding his teeth and huddling close to Shockwave, he thought about Blaid. The young Elf with the roguish good looks and that smug smile … he shuddered, making Shockwave twitch.
Yes, he conceded, Blaid had assisted them during the wars, but at what cost to his daughter? Every time he was involved, she suffered. He could not look past that. Would not look past that. Why could Malyn not see it?
When morning dawned, his heart ached for his wife and daughter, compounded by his worry for his son. The storm still raged, but the winds had calmed enough for the dragons to fly. If they encountered no further obstacles, they should reach Shadow Hall by nightfall.
Maia felt the cold at her back like an aching longing. She had become used to Blaid sitting behind her on Midnight and his absence was not only felt via the cold wind finding its way under her heavy coat.
Yet, as she glanced across, the sight of Blaid riding Fury excited her. Siana had given Blaid a quick lesson on how to ride a Fire Dragon, but with their mind bond, Blaid and Fury needed little assistance.
Although the day remained windy and snowy throughout, Fury’s swirling violet hide never dulled against the grey background. Only Vulkan rivalled him in brightness.
Alphadrake, Midnight informed her.
I have made him into an alpha? Maia asked.
It was inside. You let it out.
Will Vulkan not fight with him, or try to exile him from the scale?
Fury now with Blaid. Not Vulkan.
Maia looked at the pair again. As Midnight stayed with her, Fury would now remain with Blaid, instead of returning home with his scale after the war. She had not intended for this to happen and felt a moment of sadness for the dragon.
His soul is pleased.
Knowing Midnight would not tell her such to simply appease her, she turned her mind to the journey ahead. Today, they would reach Yolanden. The thought excited and terrified her. What if he refused to help them? What if she had it all wrong?
Pangs of self-doubt travelled with her as they headed ever further east. Her longing for home upon seeing the Grildor-Bron Mountains in the distance during a bit of clear weather did not make it easier for her.
They reached the area where Maia and Blaid had made camp that day they stumbled upon Yolanden by early afternoon. Wearily, she climbed down Midnight’s outstretched leg and then made her way to where the scale had landed. Behind her, Midnight took off again, stirring up the snow on the ground, engulfing her in a cloud of white.
Only her senses warned her of danger as she stood blind in the mini snow storm and, just as the snow cleared and she could see again, Lunar jumped up and licked her face.
“I am sorry,” Blaid laughed, running up behind the wolf. “Apparently my excitement is contagious.” He patted Lunar’s head, and then wrestled her to the ground. “Fury is incredible,” Blaid continued, a boyish smile on his face. “Thank you, Maia, for saving his life.”
Blaid leaned in and kissed her. All at once, all the emotions she had been bottling up over the past few Moons came rushing to the surface. They licked through her veins like fire, burning, demanding more. The pressure on their lips increased as Blaid felt her response and they stood, entwined in a kiss, hands holding on, unaware of all else.
“I know this may not be the right moment,” Siana said behind them, “but could you please show us where to set up camp? My men are confused. Everywhere they go; they have the strangest feeling of being unwelcome.”
Maia and Blaid stepped apart.
“They are. It is a spell,” Blaid said gruffly. “Just set up camp within those woods. Yolanden means us no harm; he just does not like uninvited guests.”
Siana winked at them before turning back towards her men to give the orders. Blushing, Maia followed her, but Blaid took her hand and stopped her.
“It is becoming harder to control,” he murmured. “I no longer know if I will find the strength to resist should we ever find ourselves in a situation where there will be no one around to save us from ourselves.”
“I have been feeling it, too,” Maia confessed.
“We shall endure a while longer. Come; let us face Yolanden while it is still light. We may be able to leave for Shadow Hall by morning.”
Their feet crunched in the snow as they made their way towards where the men set up camp. The wild dragons had followed Midnight to some roost further away, while the War Dragons now crawled in between the wide spaces of the tall trees of the forest to rest.
“Siana, we are going to seek out Yolanden. It is early enough. Can we take Tanyl with us for in case it takes longer and we need to get a message back to you?”
“Aye,” Siana agreed, “but take Tanyl and Agreon. They can stand guard while you are busy.”
Siana signalled the two warriors and gave them their orders. Taking up their weapons, they followed Maia and Blaid across the narrow valley into the forest on the opposite side.
Last time they were here, the forest had been still with frost, but alive with autumn colours. Today, snow covered the entire forest floor, except underneath the canopies of the evergreens. Yet, even in the winter, Maia felt the life that teemed here. Squirrels, foxes, owls, mice, deer, lynx, and bears.
Leading the way, Maia followed the traces of magic all the way to Yolanden’s tree house. Covered in snow as it was, it looked like a misshapen hill; even Yolanden could not cloak his home in invisibility if covered in snow.
“Master Oldenspear,” Maia called out. “The two that are two, but should be one, have returned to learn their lesson.”
Tanyl and Agreon both drew their weapons at the croaky chuckle behind them. Yolanden stepped out of the shadow of a tree they had just passed and onto the path. He glowered at the guards until they lowered their weapons.
Stepping past them and then leading the way, he said, “I have been waiting. It is time.”
“Many thousands of years ago,” Yolanden began, settled around the fire in his small cabin - Tanyl and Agreon had been left outside on the porch with a fire of their own - “there were the Accords. The Accords brought peace, for before the accords, chaos reigned.”
“The Accords?” Maia asked.
“Are you talking about the peace agreement between the planets?” Blaid asked.
“Aye.”
“That was over five hundred thousand years ago.”
“Aye, yet they are as relevant today as they were then.”
“Do you believe, then, that we should have another Accord?” Maia asked.
“Of a sort,” Yolanden said. “Do you know how the Accords were formed?”
Both of them shook their heads. They had been taught about the peace agreement in their histories because of its importance, but most of the details had been lost over time.
“There was a prophecy that spoke of the One that would come to restore peace and order to the worlds. For many years, the races fought over which race this One should come from. When it eventually happened, it was two people from each race. Twenty-two; united as one; armed only with their wisdom and their desire to bring peace, went forth to reunite the worlds. It was them that brought us the Accords.”
“How can this help us now, Yolanden?” Blaid asked.
The old man tilted his head, a crooked smile on his face. “For those that come as two, must leave as one.”
“Please, Yolanden,” Maia begged, putting a calming hand on Blaid’s, “our quest is urg
ent. Will you not tell us without the riddles?”
“There are no riddles,” he said. “You only imagine them. It is exactly as I say. I know the urgency of your quest, which is why I am helping you. For I, too, was once a Prime in love, but I never had my chance to become what you will be.”
Yolanden’s heartache, millennia old, briefly touched them both and they understood the loss he had suffered. He had cast away his responsibilities as Death Elemental after that and hidden out here in the wilderness.
“No, do not speak of it,” he warned them. “I only let you see for you to believe me. I cannot help you in your fight, but I can show you how to win it, for you have the power within you, but you need each other to unlock it. For those that come as two, must leave as one. Neither is complete without the other.”
This touched a chord within Maia and she sat up straighter, as did Blaid.
“In order for the twenty-two who formed the Accords to unite as one, the two from each race first had to become one as well. On Elveron, it was only the Life and the Death Elementals that were powerful enough to accomplish this. There dwells something within each of you that belongs to the other. For without life, death does not exist, and without death, life has no meaning. The two are bound, always, no matter what scripture you read, which histories you look at. If you want to save our people, you need to become one.”
“And how do we do that?”
“I can see Maia has found the last piece of herself that was missing,” Yolanden said. “You are now both able to transform, yes?”
“Yes,” Blaid confirmed.
“Good, then we shall begin. Everything you need is already within you. All you need to do is unlock it. Although I have never heard of a pair as young as you two, I have also never heard of anyone as powerful as you. Your youth and inexperience count against you, yet I sense that your love and your determination to save your people will overcome that.”
Yolanden paused and poured them fresh tea. Neither of them spoke as they waited for Yolanden to ready himself. Maia struggled with her impatience, but she pushed it down.
“First, you need to let go,” the old Prime said, retaking his seat and sipping his tea. They emulated him. “You have much on your minds. You need to clear your minds if you want to learn.”
Blaid sighed. Maia shushed him.
“If you are to accomplish this, two things will need to happen. One, you need to listen to me. Two, you need to work together. Tell me now if you think I am wasting my time with you.”
“We are ready, Master,” Blaid said solemnly.
“Aye, we are ready, Master,” Maia repeated.
“Very well, then. Set your cups down and close your eyes.”
Hesitantly, Maia and Blaid let their guard down and allowed Yolanden into their minds. They introduced him to Midnight and Fury and then asked the dragons to retreat from their minds completely for the duration of their training. This proved especially hard for Midnight and Maia, for they had not been completely without the other since she returned from Earth.
Once alone, Yolanden guided them into pushing all their foremost thoughts into the back of their minds and to concentrate only on themselves. He could only guide them so far, telling them what to do, for they had to find their own way, clearing their cluttered minds and freeing them to think only of what Yolanden had to teach them.
“Put your amulets on the table,” Yolanden instructed them some time later. “Come sit here by the fire.”
In a trance, Maia and Blaid removed their amulets, two each, put them on the table and sat down on the thick rug by the fire. Holding this trance-like state of not thinking of anything, yet thinking only of oneself, was the hardest task Maia had ever done. Her trance wavered for a moment as she sat, but she held on to it.
“Now, think only of the other.”
Too simple an instruction. Maia almost fell into the trap. Thinking of Blaid usually involved her searing blood rushing through her veins with desire. Yet, at their level of trance-like concentration, this would not keep him upright, or breathing, or even alive. Clenching her jaw in concentration, she focused hard on Blaid. Looked at how his body functioned … and kept it working.
There was only one brief moment that she faltered and that was when she realised she herself was still breathing. Blaid had passed this test, too.
What was left in the absence of space? They could neither hear, see, smell, taste, nor feel anything in the state they were in. Yet, Maia held total control over Blaid’s body and Blaid held control over Maia’s. In their minds, they could see each other’s soul as clearly as they could see any object in the brightest day. His soul looked back at hers and, for the first time, they saw each other.
Nothing could have prepared them for the feeling of oneness they experienced with one another at that very moment. They suddenly understood why they had been lusting for each other the way they had, for in each other’s soul there was a piece of the other. The only way the physical body could experience that kind of closeness was through such intimate contact.
It made sense now. They no longer felt ashamed of what they had done. However, they also no longer felt the lust. It had been replaced by something more refined, more real, more enduring.
They held on to each other, surrounded by nothing but the glow of their souls, knowing the powers of those that had gone before them, learning from their wisdom, and adding their own to that knowledge.
“Now, think only of me.”
Maia wavered briefly before retaking control of herself. She felt Blaid right beside her and she clung to him. Together, they searched for Yolanden and found him floating ahead of them in the sea of nothingness that was their current state of minds.
They reached out to him, and did what they had done for each other but a moment ago. For but a heartbeat, the three became one, and then Yolanden separated them and they opened their eyes.
Groggily, they looked around as they sat up from their prone position on the rug. Maia’s body ached. The tea cups had been removed from the table, but the fire still burned brightly in its grate. Outside, a storm whistled through the trees.
“How long have we been here?” Blaid asked, his voice hoarse.
“Four days, My Lord,” Tanyl answered from behind them. “Master Yolanden warned us that you may be away for a while and we should check on the fire.”
“You have done well, Tanyl,” Yolanden croaked. “Do you have fresh tea ready?”
“I do, Master.”
“Four days?” Maia whispered, her throat too dry to speak.
Yolanden gratefully took the cup offered to him and took a sip before speaking. “It is not up to the body to decide how long the mind takes to find itself. I have never made the journey myself, as my love was taken from me before the time. I am honoured that I was allowed to bear witness, even for but a brief moment, to your journey.”
“How did you know what to do?” Blaid asked.
“As with you and Maia, I was not allowed to be with my love. We spent years travelling, searching for an answer. When we found the sage that taught us, we were both over a thousand years old. It was the day before the Finding of Souls that she was taken from me.”
“I have felt your pain,” Maia said, reaching out to the old man.
“We are forever in your debt,” Blaid said.
“The only thing you owe me is that you use your knowledge for good. Save our people from this invasion. The time has nearly come.”
Darkness descended upon the land, but Jagaer needed no light to know where he was going. This was his home and, even from the back of a dragon, he would find his way.
The moons eventually rose and shone some light over the Yllitar Plains. With the familiar mountains to their right, and Thala Yll behind them, Shadow Hall lay just ahead. Every man had agreed to carry on flying, instead of making camp one last time.
Even at this hour of the night, they created an uproar within the city as they came in to land on the field alongside The
Crags. One nervous archer, posted along the outer perimeter of the city, loosened an arrow towards one of the dragons.
Within moments, the area around The Crags lit up with torches and lanterns and, while Commander Hollowdale’s men saw to the dragons, a group of Sentinels and Night Watch surrounded them to escort their Lord and his Guard safely to the Hall of the Guardians.
“We will bring the dragon riders to you as soon as they are done,” one of the Sentinels assured him, “but it is not safe for My Lord to be out in the open.”
“I have had news of the attack. Hence my urgent return. Have we suffered many casualties?”
“Your wife and son are safe,” the Sentinel said, avoiding the question asked, but answering the unspoken one. “You son will be here presently. I have already sent for him.”
“Thank you.”
The grit they had put down to prevent slipping on the icy stairs crunched under their boots as they descended the steep steps to the Training Grounds. Jagaer hardly recognised the place; even at night he could see the rows of supplies stacked in all directions. Jaik had been busy.
“I must warn you, My Lord,” the Sentinel said as he held the door open for Jagaer to enter the hall. “Your chamber is no longer just your own. I advise you to take your Commanders, but see to the rest of your men in the chart room.”
“Aye, I shall trust your judgement. Bring the men to the chart room when they are done and I will brief them there.”
“As you wish, My Lord.”
The Sentinel bowed and then left. Jagaer and Archer exchanged a worried glance. Hesitantly, Jagaer pushed at the door to his chamber. A vicious growl stopped him from opening the door fully and he took a step back.
“Who is there?” a forceful, but young man asked. “You know not to disturb at this time.”
Shocked, Jagaer looked at Archer.
“It’s all right, Luke,” Jagaer heard Silas say, although the sage sounded old and weak. “It is Jagaer. Let him in.”
