by N. Saraven
Halgor was nowhere to be found, as always, when a situation like this had formed.
Halgor marched through the garden of Varomor, head down, mumbling to himself. He left as soon as his friends all arrived to the study and asked Neila how she was. He did not even wait for the food to arrive. Nobody really cared about his absence, so he could do whatever he wanted.
He stormed out, picked up something to eat from the kitchen, then headed for his dragon companion.
But his heart felt as heavy as a mountain. He truly worried about Neila, and about where this all was heading. It became too similar to the beginning of the Endgame at the third Dragonwar ten circles ago.
He shuddered.
The most disturbing thing was that it seemed he could do nothing about it. He loathed the atmosphere in the Tower—the constant arguing with Agony, the nothing but problems, the nobody-could-smile-or-make-a-joke air. It made him choke.
So he spent less and less time in Varomor, and after he picked a dragon who could speak the common tongue, he flew out into the wilderness. He charted everything he could, collected samples, took notes with little drawings as illustrations, and so on. He found peace in his explorer self.
At least something good can come out of this whole situation, he thought, twisting his mouth. It was a strange feeling, choosing the unknown forest with who-knows-how-many dangers rather than facing his friends.
But with every step further he took, he felt his chest become even more heavy. He knew it was only a matter of time before he could not reach the most important person in his life anymore, whom he never, ever wanted to lose again. This thought filled him with such cold fear which he could not face. Not yet. He knew, if he tried to, he would lose for sure.
Then another very disturbing thought swirled around his mind—namely that while he fled, Veilon stood right beside Neila …
“The same again?” asked a low voice, which made the elven look up in surprise. He blinked a few times as he came back to the present.
“Yes, same old, same old. Let’s get out of here, Nighthunter,” Halgor murmured as he climbed on the dragon’s back.
His gloomy mood was in total contrast with the sunny, warm weather around them.
As it turned out, the shadow reptiles needed a different type of environment from where they had to live, so Halgor changed the weather inside the Mist to their liking. This meant more sunshine, with drier air.
‘Winter’ was coming in those strange lands, which meant even more rains, turning everything cooler than before, yet still warm and impossible to dry. So the Master gave in, changing the environment for them. One less thing to worry about, said Halgor. The truth was that the elven had had enough of their endless complaints about the ‘bad weather’ …
As the shadow dragon took off and Halgor felt the warm, damp air in his lungs, he tried to leave all of his useless worries behind—in the Tower, where they belonged. He needed to concentrate on the tasks ahead instead of trying to solve things which could not be dealt with.
He glanced around, noticing the two younger dragons behind them. It was the drill—nobody could fly out alone. The reptiles ought to form groups of three or four, and they had to be accompanied by a skilled magic-user when they charted the landscape.
Halgor took a deep breath as he felt peace growing inside him. Here, outside in the wild, he could be free from his problems and just exist as he liked, doing what he always loved—discovering new things, solving mysteries, and so on. With Nighthunter, he could be this person. The dragon never judged, never snorted or made cynical comments.
“I do not understand you two-leggeds,” rumbled Nighthunter, bringing the elven back to the present. “Why do you need to concern yourselves with these things that happen so far away?”
“Because some of us have a soul …” Halgor growled. He too agreed with Neila. If nobody asked for their help, why would they just give it away—for free, nonetheless …?
On the other hand, he wanted Indrek’s head on a silver plate for what he had done to Cameron.
“You know, I truly envy you. You don’t even know what war is. What it can do …” the mage said sternly, which made the reptile snort.
“Look, Halgor, I know enough about you to say: you in the Tower are not the same two-leggeds who are at each other’s throat just because you can be. On the contrary, you are the ones who clean up the mess others had made.”
“What do you mean?”
The dragon stayed silent for a moment as he looked around. He tried to order his thoughts.
“As far as I can tell, here is how I see you all: cast-out persons, who could not find their place amid their own because of some silly reason, like you are somehow different, maybe think differently. This isolation brought you together and forged you into a group. You are not just friends or companions, at least not in the ordinary meaning humans use. You are true soul-mates to each other. How could you face such terrible dangers time after time, if you were not?”
Halgor listened, baffled. The dragon had a point. He too observed that their little ‘group of heroes’ was nothing more than the collection of outcasts of different species. But as for the soul-mate part … he could not disagree more.
When the elven did not respond, Nighthunter continued.
“We have a word for the likes of you—shinoktaru. It cannot be put to such primitive words as the common tongue. It means ‘friend’, but has a deeper meaning as well. If you have, or are a shinoktaru, it means that you truly know the other person. You know what is in his or her heart and mind without any masks he or she may use because of others. The latter behaviour is very common amidst you two-legged creatures.”
“This, my friend, could not be farther from the truth.” Halgor laughed, but no mirth lay in his voice. “We are nothing of the sort. We know nothing about each other. More and more less, as time passes.”
“Then you may know even less about yourself than they of you. Which might bring problems in the future.”
But the mage could not hear the end of the thought because the other reptiles started to circle in the air, preparing for landing. They said something in their own language to Nighthunter, who nodded and followed them.
“What is happening?” asked the Master, who would give up half of his power to learn the reptiles’ language. They refused his request every time, however. It was not for the minds of two-leggeds, they said, which made the dark elven angry and even more dedicated than before.
“They saw a grazing animal of some kind and they are hungry.”
Halgor just took a deep breath, saying nothing. He had no reason to argue, nor to overpower them. They got far enough from the Tower; it was as good a place for his studies as anywhere else.
Especially since in this terrain something new waited in every step. The plant life proved to be unbelievably rich, which resulted in a similarly various animal life. The latter never interested the elven that much though.
After landing, the mage slid down to the ground. He let the dragons go free as he looked around. Everything seemed the same as the landscape from yesterday, when they took their little trip in the opposite direction.
He moved forwards slowly and carefully, stepping over branches, trunks, bines, and plants or rocks. The ground was covered with many things, although little sunshine made it down. Dried leaves, some small plants, mushrooms, and rocks or pebbles lay scattered everywhere. The canopy of the tall trees grew thick; their great trunks gave home to many other plants and mushrooms in a diversity that almost hurt the eye.
He could obviously hardly decide where to start. So many surrounded him. He did not have to walk for long to find something intriguing. He delved into his study-case, looking for papers, ink, and pen. When he got everything, he comfortably sat on a rock and started working.
Nighthunter watched him from where they landed. The dragon crouched on the ground, glancing around curiously. He had all the time in the worlds since he saw Halgor making a little nest amidst the p
lants. He seemed like a youngster, who found something very interesting to play with.
The dragon made himself comfortable, but never let his guard down. He could still smell his relatives, so they should be safe too. Then, from behind a huge bush, a great bird stepped out.
Nighthunter stared at the newcomer with widened eyes. He never saw such a big bird before. It could have held Halgor on its back, and that would be a sight to remember. It had huge, strong legs and seemingly no wings, so it most probably could not fly. Its great, yellow eyes sparkled in the dim light, occupying most of its head. It was now looking at the shadow dragon curiously. Interestingly, its eyes were in front of its head, not on the sides, like on other birds. It then opened its huge beak, showing its bright-yellow mouth and red, thin tongue. It also had brownish feathers, what blended perfectly into the background.
The bird stared at the shadow for a few moments, but after it decided the blackness was not dangerous, its attention turned to the bush and its red berries. It gulped down some, then it left as it arrived—without a noise.
Nighthunter lost sight of it almost immediately in the thicket.
Abruptly, a cracking sound broke the silence, which made the dragon straighten up. He looked around uneasily, catching a glimpse of fire on a tree trunk in the distance. He immediately started for it, but he was slowed down by the bushes and other plants. He did not want to fly because the canopy would cover the fire from above.
Nighthunter moved as quickly as he could, but it still seemed too slow. The fire started to vanish, since there were not enough dry things for it to feed on. He cursed. This would be the perfect situation when the dragon could use magic, for shape-shifting, for example. He could have learned something in the passing time. Why did he not?
There were only a few amidst them who could use magic, Elders mostly. The others did not show any interest in the subject, and nobody forced them to. However, now it would be really useful, despite the fact that a dragon could run acceptably fast, but not on a terrain like this.
The fire soon vanished in the distance, which made Nighthunter gasp. Silence fell on the land, which now seemed more ghastly than peaceful. The dragon turned around frantically, sniffing the air. They had excellent smelling, although the others’ scent seemed to be all over the place. He had little time to follow all, trying to find the right direction, so he glanced around, wanting to find some other clue. But everything seemed quiet and normal, terribly so.
Then a huge, grey something burst out from the thicket, almost stomping on the reptile, who looked up at it with widened eyes. The unknown prey was twice as big as he and was moving with incredible speed on its thick legs.
“THIS they wanted to hunt down?” he gasped, but then he heard the other dragons’ cries to stop the animal.
Nighthunter blinked a few times in surprise, not really knowing what to do, but then he jumped on the savaged animal’s back. It was already injured; it should not take much more to take him down for the three of them.
However, the beast had a very thick skin, so the shadow could not get a firm grasp. When the animal frantically changed direction, the momentum threw the reptile off his back into a bush.
Nighthunter scrambled to his feet, dizzy from the fall. He tried to find the beast’s trail again, but it vanished without a sign. He took a deep breath as his companions finally got to him.
“Our huge, yummy-looking food has escaped.” One of the young dragons sighed sadly, which made Nighthunter growl. Then he looked around, wanting to find the way back to the elven.
He froze in place.
He suddenly realised that they did not know the way back. As he looked around, fear grew in his heart. Everything looked the same to him. There was no trail, nothing that they could trace back. The elven did not walk that way, so he left no scent behind either. The air stood still too, leaving the reptiles with no options.
They knew nothing about where they might be from the border of Varomor, or more importantly, from Halgor.
Nighthunter crouched on the ground, desperate and frightened, then he tried to calm himself, to think things through.
However miraculous it sounded, the shadow dragons could not learn anything about being in a forest. They just did not see the trails, the clues which should guide them. They tried, they really did their best, but nothing worked. For some reason, they even forgot to use the Sun as guidance. They behaved like newborn pups, in a way.
On the other hand, whenever they got to an open space, meadows, or fields, they were undefeated in tracking.
Anyhow, because they could not function properly in a forest, Enargit made a rule for them: every time a group had to go out, they ought to have a magic-user with them. Normally, the apprentice or mage must not interfere with the reptiles’ task; he or she was there to observe only. The dragons had to do everything by themselves, including finding their way back home. The mage should only help as a last resort, when the shadows gave up hope to ever be home again. The magic-user took precautions, of course, like putting signs on trees, visible only for them, to guide them back if the group became that lost. Even though the mages were used to forests, this terrain looked vastly different from what they were used to.
Only one exception existed in the reptiles’ tracking lessons, namely the moving-without-a-trail. Nobody knew or could solve how they managed it, but the dragons could move around in a forest so smoothly, even Agony or Talek had a difficult time finding them afterwards. This was another reason that Enargit and Agony never let the shadows alone in the wilderness.
A reason which every dragon took seriously, especially Nighthunter.
His heart almost froze when he realised how much trouble they were in. He calmed down the two youngsters, who were still talking about the escaped prey.
“What are we going to do in this gloomy situation, my older brother, Aiyaromontos, without the two-legged Halgor?” asked the younger one, frightened, as he crouched on the ground.
Nighthunter tried to calm himself, to not startle the others even more. He saw the growing fear in their eyes, and panic would not do any good at the moment.
I really need to learn some magic after this. How useful would it be now? he chided himself. If he would be able to contact Halgor telepathically, they could be home in no time. They would only need to stay put and wait for the elven to find them. To stay put … It struck him.
“Do not worry, my younger brother, Aiyarokoshos, it will be all right. We only need to stay in this specific place and make ourselves somehow visible to the two-legged elven, who is looking for us,” said Nighthunter. The two younger ones nodded.
“If we fly high into the skies, could we not see our home, Varomor?” asked Aiyarokoshos then, but his brother shook his head. A spell was cast on the Tower, which hid it from searching eyes. Only from a close proximity could it be seen; from everywhere else one would only regard the forest.
“How could we make a sign which will bring the two-legged Halgor to us?” asked the youngest dragon at the same time with the other.
“The border, which was set by the Masters and our Leader and what we cannot cross, is not in sight from Varomor. So even if we fly above the trees, we could not see our new home, the Tower. As for the sign, I would say that we need to make something that could be seen or sensed from far away. A fire should be enough, in my opinion.”
“And what happens to us if something less friendly finds us because of this fire?” asked a quivering Aiyarokoshos, who obviously was imagining things already. Nighthunter sighed.
“I would think that we need to take this risk. Furthermore, I do not think that we need to be afraid. So far, we encountered nothing of the sort in this peculiar land.”
“Only the one which we tried to hunt down earlier because of our hunger,” said the youngest dragon, which earned him a disapproving glance from Nighthunter.
With no further questions, Nighthunter gave out some suggestions on how to make a fire. They dug a little hole, put as much dr
ied wood and leaves in there as they could find, which was not really much, then lit them. They swept away every other thing from around the hole, of course; they did not want to start a forest fire by accident.
After the flames danced lively, the dragons lay down on the ground around it. They watched the surroundings warily as they talked amongst themselves.
And they waited.
26. New secrets
Halgor swept off the sweat from his forehead. He felt content and at peace as he worked. He forgot the others as soon as he glanced at something new that needed to be charted. He delved into his baggage and fished out his things to take notes. He tried to draw the plant, but it never looked realistic. Halgor was a bad drawer, which he never liked about himself. He could imagine how the others would smile at him if they saw those scratches that he called drawings. The elven’s pride would never survive such an encounter, so he never showed his notes to anybody. If something needed to be precise, he asked somebody with better handwork to do the job.
Nobody could be perfect, he sighed, not even the Gods.
He snorted. Then he turned back to the plant. He did not really know whether it was truly something new, or only that he had never seen it before. Because he liked to spend so much time outside, Halgor could hardly look through all the notes the others made in the library. As far as he could tell, they did a wonderful job cataloguing everything they discovered, albeit he had little time to read them.
Not to mention the variety the terrain had. Some things looked so similar to each other, the differences only emerged by a thorough look. So whenever Halgor found something interesting, he put a magical sign on them, so he could visit the place again later.
The elven made notes about everything he thought useful. He planned to compare them to the notes in the Tower.
When he finished with that particular plant, he grabbed his things and moved along.
“Well, well, another hardskin tree. This seems to be very popular. And if I am correct, almost every one of those has a red-cloak-leafed plant also nearby,” Halgor murmured. He got into the habit of talking to himself when he was out in the wild, exploring. He named everything for himself to remember them more easily.
