by N. Saraven
Especially Enargit wondered about that. He knew what the soultaker spell could do to the bright. The when or how remained a mystery, however. He tried really hard not to care, but he had found himself in a difficult position. He became actually worried about the others, he realised, which made him anxious. Mostly because of the fact that he could connect with these two-legged people and it seemed inappropriate to him.
Yet he saw qualities in the companions that he found very appealing. The elven’s energy and attitude suited him, not to mention his points of view and craving for knowledge. Neila’s character had amazed him even back in the Homeland, and he considered the paragon as a particularly good soldier. Although the Leader had a hunch that the latter had lost something important when he returned from Death.
Somehow he seemed to gain companions, with whom he could go to war confidently, and of whom he started to feel fond. This became an unusual feeling for him, which held an interesting prosperity.
Overall, the shadow dragon hoped that he would be proved wrong about the grim future. He hoped that in a lot of things lately. Or at least that he could make the companions accept the happenings, guiding them through somehow.
He growled and got rid of his useless thoughts. He ought to look where he was going, if he did not want to get themselves lost. A long time had passed since he last flew around in the worlds. However, after a few glances at the lands, he could relax—almost nothing had changed during the ages.
Enargit sighed. It became a comfortable feeling that he did not have to learn everything over again. Yet it seemed somehow wrong. He, as a long-lived creature, had already learned one or two things about Life, about Nature. If something stayed the same, sooner or later it ceased to exist.
In the shadow dragon legends appeared creatures who since then had become extinct, or had changed so much that they hardly showed similarity to the original species. Without change, there could be no evolving.
On the other hand, some things had never changed. The mountains, the forests, lakes, and rivers, they all stayed like before. Not to mention the ‘talking species’, like kobolds, humans, elvens, or dragons. Everything about them remained the same—their language, customs, attitudes …
Enargit knew the reason, of course—the Gods, the Four Creators, had never let anything change significantly. For better or worse.
The Leader shook his head. The trip was boring enough for him to get lost in thought. Nothing should be happening, yet he should not let himself go like this. Regardless, his mind wandered off again soon.
Endless forests ruled the lands around, and at the time heavy clouds billowed above. It might rain, which made the shadow dragon wince. He disliked rain and never could get used to it, nor could he make himself like these strange lands and skies, which belonged to the two-legged creatures.
To him, the weather changed frantically, and even though it had some cycles, mostly it seemed unpredictable. In his eyes, whenever he started to like some scents or the lush green at spring, it ‘suddenly’ changed to hotness and sunshine. The latter became the most likeable for the shadow, yet it turned almost immediately to the hateful rain with gloomy clouds, which made everything dark and cold. The trees gained colours, then everything became white and frozen. Enargit hated winter, the hardness and coldness of it.
Overall, he was not surprised at all by the two-leggeds’ senseless ways and aggression. He believed that if they could live in a more stable, warmer, and kinder land like his Homeland, everybody would behave more peacefully and reasonably. Apparently nobody could stand the craziness of this weather and stay sound at the same time …
Suddenly Enargit shuddered. He clearly felt the angry stare at his back, so his thoughts spiralled back to Cameron, although he soon let that one go too. The bright dragon was not the first, and probably neither the last one who loathed him. The shadow Leader learned to get over these pity things.
As the companions flew, the Sun slowly set, giving its place to its Moon relative. It turned dark when the shadow dragon sensed something change in the air. He looked back at the friends just in time to see Talek fainting. The reptile dived after him immediately, shaking everybody up from their thoughts.
After Enargit safely landed on the ground with the unconscious kobold, the others joined him. Neila ran to the paragon to see what had happened, but he was just extremely exhausted. Meanwhile, the shadow dragon looked around to make sure that they were safe enough to spend the night there.
The companions stood in the middle of the forest, or at least it seemed like it. Tall trees surrounded them, hiding the stars and the Moon from their eyes. Everything was quiet, and probably they would not ‘run into’ anybody. Enargit still suggested that they should lose the heat of the fire. The mages complained, however, saying that they did not have any hard scales to keep them warm. They needed something besides blankets, and hiding the flames demanded less energy than keeping all three of them warm by spells. So they were allowed a small fire in the end.
Still, the companions spent the night in cold and misery, not to mention a vibrating fury from Cameron. The bright dragon said or did nothing at all, only stared at them. Especially at Enargit and Neila. He obviously was thinking of some sort of plan as he lay on the ground as far as he could within safety, huffing and puffing. He obviously remained aware too, ready to fight if needed. In spite of being furious, the fear of the unknown could not be dismissed.
There still lay something in the background, which did not let Neila fall asleep easily. During their flight, Talek stayed between her and Cameron, so she would not be able to see the kobold struggling, but the bright dragon most likely would. So why did he not? She could understand his anger towards them; they did let him down in Nar. But Talek? What could he possibly do to deserve this? To let him almost die …?
Not that this would release them from the responsibility, far from it. Neila felt ashamed enough, yet when she glanced at Cameron, that sensation changed to confused uncertainty. She became wary, which disturbed her deeply, since her closest friend had caused it.
It felt wrong.
The next morning, the companions woke up with numbed limbs. Even Enargit murmured something about his soreness, what made Cameron snort just loudly enough for everybody to hear. The shadow dragon glanced at him disapprovingly, but left the matter alone. This, however, seemingly did not suit the bright.
Neila swayed her head, seeing the dragons like this. Enargit did not help at all in calming down Cameron. He did nothing, absolutely nothing, which proved to be worse than endless insults. Completely ignoring somebody meant that the other did not consider his opponent as a living creature, let alone worthy of any attention.
The biggest question at the time seemed to be, who should the friends believe? The shadow Leader said he had friends amidst his bright relatives before, yet Cameron obviously saw only the worst in him. During the Dragonwars, the friends had fought against living, then dead shadow dragons, so it was no surprise that Cameron did not forget that overnight.
Regardless, something seemed off with this whole situation.
Although there was little time to sort it out. Enargit hurried them along, so after a short breakfast, the companions were in the air again.
The shadow Leader said they would reach the castle shortly, but not much else. Even though he agreed to share his knowledge, in truth it meant hardly anything. And Neila would have liked to know a lot of other things—the terrain for one, although she expected the endless forests to stretch out that far as well. The Endless Forest got its name because it truly seemed to occupy almost every territory on Nimron with only a few breaks scattered around.
The only thing she knew was that there lay an enormous lake near the castle. According to Enargit, it was so huge that a dragon could not fly to its other side without rest. This fact seemed to be an exaggeration, but it might be true. Shadow dragons were the smallest of the races; they could not fly big distances. In exchange for this little weakness, no other air-c
reature could really match their speed and manoeuvrability.
Either way, the lake still should be enormous.
The Master became so lost in thought she did not notice that the landscape had changed. Not much, but enough—the flatness started to get less unbroken, hills appeared here and there. They grew just high enough to have a splendid sight from their top, or for a castle to be built upon one of them.
Halgor grabbed her arm, bringing her back to the present. However, at first, Neila did not see anything, just the woods all around. The huge lake, which really was enormous, lay silently in the distance at their left. Neila stared at the seemingly endless waters with widened eyes, but the elven turned her attention back to the castle ahead. The Master squinted. When she looked carefully, she managed to see something—ruins of an ancient tower and its walls. In its golden age, it must have been gorgeous, standing majestic on the top of a wide hill.
“We have arrived,” announced Enargit, slowing down a bit to fly beside the mages. Then he started to land, trying to find a less thick place for them to break through. Unsuccessfully. At least, there was hardly any underbrush because the branches and leaves closed so much. That would be fortunate when the army arrived. If they could reach the ground …
The companions had their problems with the landing as well. All of them suffered from the anger of the trees, who seemed very furious about being disturbed like this. Talek was caught in the canopy, which did not let go easily. Cameron had to help the kobold down, almost tearing his legs out during the process. In the end, the paragon could stand on land safely. Then he tried to get his pride back while attending to his messed-up clothing. He fought long with a particularly stubborn and friendly leaf, which he could hardly find in his short hair.
His friends did not pay much attention to him, mostly turned their backs on him. However, they behaved so, so that the paragon could not see their attempts to hide their laughter.
“So … ahem … where are we, to be precise?” asked Neila, whose voice trembled a little from the contained mirth. She could hear Talek’s muttering behind her, who still struggled with that leaf.
But Enargit stayed silent. His gaze looked firm as he glanced around. He seemed to be sensing something, what made him wary. Seeing him like that, Neila glanced around as well. She did not feel danger, nor spotted anything. This thought struck her, however.
They stood, in fact, near to Lexénia’s sacred place. According to her kobold mage friend, Veilon, she should feel very … unpleasant by now. She should not get a warm welcome from the Goddess of Darkness because she did not serve her. She ‘served’ none of the Four, albeit she was the God of Light’s Chosen One. So Lexénia might have a quarrel with her.
Yet Neila felt nothing of the sort. Veilon, on the other hand, had hardly survived when he, a truly dark mage, wanted to enter Setal’s Temple. At his second time, he had to use specific tricks and spells to actually get inside, and he still suffered greatly. Perhaps the Guardian of Plantlife was pickier about whom he wanted in his territory, while Lexénia welcomed everybody with open arms. Maybe then they decided to stay …
Overall, Neila could not tell what bothered Enargit. She could see the black stones of the castle nearby. She opened her mouth to say something, but the Leader motioned her to be quiet. As a result, the mage glanced at Halgor, who shrugged. He obviously did not think of drawing a weapon, or else he would already have held his magical bow in hand. If he had to use such action, he always preferred his bow, as any elven would. He was the one who had taught Neila to use her bow on an ‘acceptable level’, as he called it.
Neila still looked around questioningly. Talek seemed absentminded, regarding the trees, and Cameron still pouted as he crouched on the ground.
On the other hand, Enargit had far more advanced senses than them, so they might have missed something.
So after a few exchanged glances, the friends waited, for a few moments at least.
Then something did happen, which crossed them all again.
They could not even see how it happened, or what exactly. But suddenly Enargit cried out something, jumping in the air, but the branches held him back. He grasped as many as he could, hanging from the treetops as if he were some kind of ornament, all but majestic.
Neila looked at him, astonished. She could not even think about a question, however, because suddenly somebody jumped on her, laughing and jabbering.
The Master landed on her back from the invader’s momentum, which caused her to become winded. She desperately tried to jerk the unknown attacker off, but it held tight like its life depended on it. Neila could not see anything; her head was buried under the thick leaf-litter. The noise made by her movements in the dried leaves prevented her from hearing anything clearly. She tried to push the attacker off, but somehow the thing always slipped through her fingers. Furthermore, she felt more and more weight on top of her.
The situation started to get really serious. Under the growing pile of bodies, Neila felt suffocated. Panic lurked around her mind, waiting for the right moment to jump on it. She fought for her survival as it seemed to her. At one point, when something smashed into her stomach again, she had to do something more serious. So the mage created a shield around her, then expanded it, throwing everything off. When she finally got fresh air in her lungs, she could regain her calmness.
Neila slowly stood up, looking around. Her eyes then widened, being stunned by the discovery—kinwas swarmed the place all over.
“Neila! It’s so good to see you again after such a long time. This shield-thingy was really fun, by the way; could we do it again?” asked a familiar voice from somewhere, so Neila tried to find its source. She almost could not believe her eyes when she recognised her old friend, Silumar, with all his four feet, bouncing at her with a wide grin on his face.
“Kinwas!” Enargit growled from above, which drew Neila’s glance to him. If nobody had wanted to trample her alive a few moments ago, she would roll on the ground right now, laughing hard until she cried.
“Enough already, or all of you will end up in a block of ice!” Neila heard Cameron’s complaints behind her, so she turned, still too baffled to actually comprehend the happenings.
The bright dragon could hardly handle the small figures around him. Some he had to pull down from his head, almost from between his massive jaws. A few kinwas had the idea that maybe they could see how that ice would come out …
“Um … Silumar …” Neila tried to start, but she lost her voice. Where should she start …? The shock caused by the kinwas was still upon her, and it seemed impossible to just ‘shake it off’. One could be more than enough trouble, so dozens would mean …
She would take almost every other possibility, gladly—including Indrek and/or Lexénia.
“Neila,” continued Silumar, still grinning, so Neila turned to him again. “You could’ve sent a word for us to set up a proper welcoming for you. You look marvellous, as always, by the way, although a little pale, if I may say so. But, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you find a shadow dragon? I thought they were gone for good. Weren’t they?” The kinwa started his usual lines of questioning, as he looked up at the still hanging Enargit. As he spoke, he played with his long ponytail, which sometimes got caught up in his elongated, pointy ears.
“Yes, they were, as a matter of fact,” joined in another kinwa, then some more, who started to discuss the facts, making the already huge noise even bigger. Everybody knew that they had excellent memories, so now they all tried to put together what could have happened with the shadows exactly.
It became too much for Neila.
“ENOUGH!” she snapped with a tone, which drew every gaze as the kinwas fell silent. The many eyes now looking at her made the mage redden and clear her throat nervously. She also caught Halgor’s grin, which did not help. From that moment, the elven always referred to that tone as ‘The Teacher’.
“Ahem … thank you …” mumbled Neila, still blushing. Then she turned to S
ilumar. “Could you … um … you know, tell your friends to leave us a bit?”
“Of course, Neila.” The kinwa grinned, as always. He raised his voice as he looked around his companions. “Boys, what are you doing here? The castle is a mess. Do something about it! We can’t have visitors like this!”
As impossible as it sounded, it worked. Every single kinwa ran off immediately, forming a huge, noisy, billowing mass. A few moments later, silence fell on the friends, which now almost hurt their ears.
The companions sighed in relief. Even Enargit climbed, or rather fell down, to the ground. Only Silumar remained, who had never lost his charming grin.
“What are you doing here?” rumbled the Leader all but friendly, lowering his head so his eyes became in line with the kinwa’s.
“Well, we live here, if you don’t mind. And I should be asking the questions, if I may say so. I am delighted to see you all, after such a long time, you know. You should tell a story or two, about what you’ve been up to lately. Even you, Talek, I imag—”
Silumar halted. He had just realised who he was talking to, which made him lose his words. Literally. He became deathly pale, looking as if he was about to faint. He gasped silently, trying to form words.
Meanwhile, Talek just rolled his eyes in the background, obviously annoyed by the reactions he got.
Regardless, it became the first time in history that a kinwa was shocked to silence …
Although everybody could understand why.
The poor fellow was captured with the kobold during the Dragonwars by the werewolves. They had to survive many things, but in the end, the paragon was tortured and killed in front of Silumar. After these horrors, the kinwa’s nature became twisted for days. He hardly ate or slept, and mostly gazed into the distance.
