by N. Saraven
As the dark mage accepted a young elven’s compliment on his great appearance, he discovered that not everything was perfect, although it seemed very close. Some still rather avoided the others—kobolds seemed to elude humans, but they had long conversations with elvens if they had the mood. If they ought to do business with humans, they still smiled, but it looked fake, using small words.
As the companions headed for the main square, they passed a small group who danced to a musician’s tune. The pairs were mostly kobold-elven pairs, probably because the tune was a kobold tune. Humans sometimes could not properly learn these complicated dances, so they just stood around the pairs, clapping and singing along.
Halgor could hardly refuse politely a very pretty, young human girl’s invitation to the dance, who then tried to call Elnor as well. Both men refused, but the maiden was reluctant to give up. In the end, Carus had to step in, saying that they ought to go because Indrek awaited them. His voice sounded very cold as he excused themselves. The girl looked disappointed for only a moment because she soon found a dance partner.
The companions started forwards again.
“What is going on here?” gasped Halgor, eyeing the many people who were carrying an enormous amount of colourful decorations.
In the next moment he had to accept a little bouquet from a young kobold child, who, for some reason, got attached to the elven. The child meandered around him for a little while, but then something caught his attention so he bolted away.
“Well … we might have forgotten to tell a little thing,” confessed Elnor, as he took the bouquet when the elven handed it to him. “The city is in the middle of the preparations for a festival dedicated to Indrek. In two days it will start, and it will last for four days, with processions, performances, and everything. This is what the whole hubbub is about. Everybody’s preparing for that.”
“Well, there is a bright side,” Halgor muttered as he started to look around differently now. “Everybody is too busy to notice me.”
Guardsmen were strolling everywhere, but they mostly kept busy with restraining the forming chaos than anything else. At the moment, it seemed easy to infiltrate the city, if one would want—at least, easier than in normal times. The scarlet-armoured Guards were there to help anybody in need—lost children immediately turned to them, just as the elderly if their baskets became too heavy. If a cart went wild, they jumped to stop it, then helped to settle it again with the owner.
Halgor could not do anything but gasp. Everybody worked swiftly, and he could hardly hear a bicker. All seemed excited, as if they could hardly wait for the fun to begin.
“This whole thing is supposed to be about Indrek, isn’t it? To glorify his tyranny. Yet I don’t see anybody who would be bothered by this,” said the elven, baffled.
“Indeed.” Elnor nodded, which made the mage sway his head.
“Cameron lives not far from the mansion. We’ll be there shortly,” noted Carus, although his soft voice was almost lost in the noise.
Even though they could only move slowly in the billowing crowd, soon they stood in front of a huge stone fence, which seemingly encircled a large enough space for an army. Carus knocked on the massive wooden gate. A little later a human boy opened the gate.
“What can I do for you?” asked the boy with cold politeness as he looked at the companions searchingly.
“I would like to talk to Cameron. I have news for him,” replied Carus.
“My master does not want to be disturbed at the moment. Please come back later, if possible.”
“It is not. Tell him that Carus wants to see him.”
The boy was startled by the name. Obviously everybody knew of the second-in-command scÿta.
“Certainly. Please follow me,” said the boy hurriedly, then he led the companions into the house. “Please, wait here, while I get my master.”
“Not bad, not bad … He likes comfort, that’s for sure,” mused Halgor as he looked around with his usual cold gaze. The ‘nice elven’ disappeared as if it never existed.
They waited in a big, finely furnished atrium. But before anybody could think anything further, the boy returned.
“Please, follow me.” He gestured to his guests to do so as he started forwards.
They headed for a huge double door at the far end of the atrium. Beyond that lay an enormous hall with glass walls and ceiling. A few other doors stood open, letting the cold, outside air in. As for the inside of the great hall, it was full of plants. The ground itself lay as floor, with a perfectly cut, thick lawn. It seemed as if somebody planted a little part of the forest inside.
At one end lay Cameron on the ground in his dragon form. The bright dragon was born and raised in the lands of pure ice, so he was not bothered by the cold at all. Now he turned to his visitors. Curiosity shone in his red eyes, which widened when he recognised Halgor in his bright clothing. He dismissed the boy before saying anything.
“Why are you here?” snapped the dragon, eyeing the elven.
“I only wanted to talk to you.” He stepped closer. The bright seemed to measure him thoroughly.
“You moved to the city, or what’s wrong with you? Otherwise I cannot imagine why you would put on something like this,” the reptile growled, obviously meaning it as an insult.
“I understand why you speak to me like this. No, I don’t think about moving here. Only about why you would not want to come back to Varomor?”
“Now you want to ‘care’ about me, when I left. You might even ‘miss’ me, is that it?” snorted the deeply offended Cameron.
“We have always cared about you … and yes, we … miss you,” confessed the dark mage, feeling a lump growing in his throat. Cameron just rumbled something.
“If so, you still didn’t care when Indrek caught me. You let him ‘execute’ me, just to save Enargit! You chose him over me, so I don’t see how I am not entitled to choose another path.”
Halgor sighed. He felt perfectly the wrath emitted by the dragon, and he could relate to it. Yet he needed to understand why his friend came to this decision.
Meanwhile Elnor and Carus stayed in the background, waiting in silence.
“Look, I will not make up excuses—”
“Then don’t!” Cameron clattered his jaws together. His red eyes smouldered.
“—but I need to know, why did you leave us? Don’t you love Neila anymore? She stood beside you the whole time, fought for you. However, some unfortunate happenings held her back.”
“Unfortunate happenings, like Enargit?” Cameron exhaled sharply. Then took a deep breath. His anger disappeared, letting pain in its place caused by the situation.
“Listen, Halgor … I appreciate what you are trying to do here, honestly. It’s very good to hear this from you. But … I cannot go home. Not yet. The wound is just … too deep. I cannot face the others now. I need to be away. From you. Here … is good now. Indrek is not that bad either, so I am fine. I have a purpose here, things to do, what have meaning. Can you understand this?”
Cameron’s voice softened as he talked; he seemed sincere too. Halgor’s eyes dropped as he nodded. He could bring up the soultaker spell, but it would be no use. The dragon would blow that reason away like the wind a leaf. He knew nothing of it, so why make things even more confused? Especially since the dragon did not seem to be injured at all.
On the contrary, he looked content and happy. Whole.
“I hope you change your mind and come home,” the elven whispered hoarsely. He could not look into the dragon’s eyes, so he did not see when the other nodded.
Carus broke the momentary silence.
“If you are finished, we must head out. I assume Indrek is on his way over, as he always is in the afternoons.” The wraith glanced at the dragon, who nodded, so the companions started forwards. The bright followed them with his eyes. He seemed to be at the brink of saying something, yet stayed silent as the others walked out.
“Hey, cheer up, it could be worse.” The pa
ragon tried to lighten up the mood with a sad smile. Halgor gave him a piercing glance, then he sat down on a bench near the gate. The friends let him in peace, since he looked truly shattered. They just also took a seat, as far from him as the bench let it.
“At least now we know that a dark elven HAS a heart,” Elnor whispered in Carus’ ear, recalling one of their old arguments. During the Dragonwars, they doubted this possibility many times.
Carus did not answer. He just gazed at the sky as he got used to doing since he became a scÿta. And a small, black dot caught his attention, which seemed to flicker closer and closer. Its route seemed curved and bumpy, as if it were injured.
“A shadow dragon!” he gasped, jumping to his feet. He now could make out the wings and the long tail. But something looked wrong. Very wrong.
“He looks injured.” Elnor frowned, stepping by him. The frozen air around them drew Halgor’s attention as well. He almost asked what they were staring at, but when he saw, he left his mouth open.
The shadow had serious difficulties with flying. It obviously took a great effort to keep himself in the air. He could hardly move one of his wings; maybe it was broken. His legs just hung down; he did not tuck them in as he should. He still headed forwards, as if it were the last thing he wanted to do before he died.
“He’ll land on the main square,” muttered Carus and hurried away to be where he should when this happened. But before he left the others, he asked them to stay put, out of sight. Talon would show up for certain, not to mention Indrek.
The wraith was right, of course. When the townsmen discovered the dragon, they cleared a space for him to land. But he rather fell down, being exhausted beyond reason. When he hit the ground, he did not move, only tried to breathe. He jerked his head to turn it, but could not.
Carus stepped to him, then knelt down at his head. It was obvious from one look that they could do nothing for him. One of the dragon’s sides was burnt horribly, leaving the remaining scales sooty. The wound itself was black, both the muscles and the ribs. It did not even bleed. It seemed as if he had a fight against a terrible fire.
“What happened?” Talon stepped closer and also knelt down, trying to keep the dragon awake. But his red eyes became foggy as life flew away from him. The wraith ordered the Leader of the Guards to scatter the crowd, giving them some space.
“Lexénia … fortress …” mumbled the shadow almost inaudibly. His eyes almost closed, but he tried to keep them open. Talon had to lean close to him if he wanted to catch his hoarse words.
“The enemy …” he panted. “Ish … there … Ish there … Attack …” he muttered faintly. He tried to form some more words, but he could not. His eyes closed, he exhaled, and he never moved again.
Talek stood up, frowning, albeit obviously stunned. Then he barked orders to Carus to follow him to Indrek’s, who must have seen this from his window. As he passed the Leader of the Guards, he also ordered him to call the other dragons, who could bury their own as they wanted.
“Whaaat?!” shouted Indrek, when he heard the news from the scÿta Leader.
The Ruler became pale as he thought about what this meant. He always knew that that so-called truce was nothing but a pretence. However, he thought that he would be the one who took the first step. Neila did not show any intention to do so, yet as it turned out, nothing could be farther from the truth. Most possibly she got her hands on Lexénia’s fortress, ruthlessly killing the small forces who stayed there. It was a miracle that one could escape with these injuries. Although the ‘how’ remained a mystery …
“Shall I prepare the army?” asked Talon quietly. Indrek only nodded as he was thinking hard.
“Yes, we move at once. I don’t want the battle to come here, to the city. If they moved after that one dragon escaped, it would still take them more than a day to get here, even on dragonback. Although they may wait for us at the stronghold.”
“It could be a trap,” said Carus, which made the Ruler sigh.
“Yes, but I still want the war to be as far from the city as possible. Get everybody ready! Tell Grey that I want everybody outside the walls, now!” the cursed dragon ordered, so Talon bowed and left. Carus followed him after Indrek told him to get Cameron as well.
This could not have gone better for the wraith because he got the chance to talk to the others as well.
“Follow me,” he barked to the others as he hurried by them to Cameron’s home again. The companions jumped to their feet, catching up to him at the gate. The wraith this time did not bother to knock, just barged in, almost tossing aside the boy, who tried to cut them off.
“I’ve said what I wanted,” started Cameron, when the uninvited visitors reached him. The scÿta motioned him to be silent.
“This time, I am here as the second-in-command, who follows Indrek’s orders,” said the wraith, which made everybody listen. “An injured shadow dragon arrived to the city not long ago. He brought the news that the enemy had captured Lexénia’s fortress, killing all but one from the scouts. Even the one survivor had to give his life to bring us this information. Indrek now ordered the army to assemble and wants you there with him. I suggest you do so.”
Cameron only blinked a few times in astonishment, then turned his gaze to Halgor. His flaring eyes showed that he thought it was the elven’s doing, that this whole visit was a scheme of some kind. But the mage looked just as frozen as everybody else, maybe even more so. He became so pale, he could faint in any moment. His blue eyes shone in worry as he tried to make some sense out of this.
“I suggest that you should get out while you can, if you don’t want a less friendly scÿta to discover you,” said the dragon to the elven, then he left the huge glass structure through one of the open doors.
He had nothing more to say.
42. The beginning of the End
Halgor felt dizzy. He just stood there, completely frozen, trying to puzzle things out. Obviously something had happened in Varomor while he was away, and the day was not even over …
When it was, maybe they all would pray that it should have never begun in the first place …
He looked around but saw nothing. He stumbled as his knees felt weak. Elnor’s shake brought him back somewhat to the present. He glanced into his worried golden eyes, which reminded him of another.
This news meant that Neila must have fallen over the edge. She wobbled on a very fine line to begin with, on a crumbling rim, with nothing but a dark abyss under her. It seemed that somebody pushed her …
“You need to get out, now!” Carus ordered the elven, which seemed to bring a little colour back to his cheeks.
He obeyed without a word, slowly starting for the door with trembling steps, which showed how stunned he really felt. The wraith caught up with him.
“Elnor will lead you back to the tree, where you can get back to Caracen. You must bring Varomor here! We need everybody!” hissed the wraith, who then hurried away before his absence was noted by somebody. He had much to tend to.
“Come, we can slip out unnoticed while the crowd is occupied with the news,” said Elnor, and he grabbed the elven’s elbow to drag him.
This proved to be enough for the mage to really get back to the present. He jerked himself free, then hurried by the kobold. He still looked pale; his flaring eyes showed that he was thinking hard. They moved as quickly as they could.
On the streets chaos ruled. The air became filled with worry, fear, and tension. The inhabitants formed small groups, discussing the news. Some ran from group to group in the hope of hearing something new. The Guards strolled in formations, eyeing everybody, yet letting them be. They looked for signs of panic or hysteria. Their Commander also roamed the streets, surrounded by people wherever he went.
“Be calm, people, please remain calm.” The companions could hear his soothing voice to the crowd. “Yes, an enemy is advancing on the Empire. But our glorious Ruler has already set his armies in motion as well. They will seek out this enemy and destroy th
em, before its shade can reach Nightfort. Please, I call to everybody to get back to their work. We can help our soldiers with keeping the city alive, with doing what we must in order—”
The Commander spoke further, but the companions could not hear him anymore as they hurried away. They took the most popular roads to be invisible in the billowing masses around them. Some tried to stop them, to ask questions, or seek companionship from Elnor, but they always had a way to turn them away.
They could reach the gate without any trouble, but there stood the guards. Elnor, however, knew exactly how he should talk to them to gain all attention, so Halgor could sneak out behind the men. Furthermore, although the guards said that nobody should leave the city, the paragon gave such reasons, turning their words upside down, that in the end the men felt pleased with themselves. After all, they managed to help in a very important task, which the kobold would have forgotten if they had not reminded him.
“When did you learn to manipulate like that?” asked the elven as they ran in the forest. The paragon just flashed a charming smile.
“I never manipulate anybody, my friend. I just show them facts, and they can decide what they want to do,” Elnor replied mysteriously.
Halgor made a grimace, but stayed silent. He had heard about the group called illusionists, but he always dismissed those tales. He could not take them seriously because whatever they wanted to do, how magical or impossible it might seem, they never used the World’s Power. Seemingly they could turn a drawing of a flower real, or pass through solid walls. It all stayed an illusion nonetheless, taking advantage of the other person’s lack of attention.
On the other hand, Halgor had to admit, that to do so, the illusionist must know every species like the back of their hands—what they might think of something, how they would reach a conclusion. Also, what and how the illusionists had to present to the other, or say to have the results they wanted. Showing the correct signs to the others, what would lead them, even if they had a ‘free choice’. But in truth, nothing could be farther from it …
