by Darren Lewis
Ellie rose to her haunches and with one hand on Cole's flank moved forward to the tent wall.
Can you hear anything? Ellie asked Cole. The dragon bent the side of his head to the back of the tent and closed his eyes. After a few seconds he shook his large head.
Plenty outside, nothing inside. He answered.
Okay. Make me a door please.
The red dragon raised a paw and extended a sharp claw. With an unheard pop Cole forced his claw gently into the fabric. He then drew it softly down to the ground creating a smooth tear. Ellie reached over, raised the newly formed flap and looked into the dark room beyond.
Any movement? Cole asked. Ellie eased her head into the darkness and waited for her eyes to adjust. Objects resolved and Ellie saw a makeshift table and rough stools in the centre of the pavilion and a cot in the far corner. It was the cot that drew her attention and with a silent sigh of relief, she crept into the tent towards the sleeping figure.
*
“Put me down! Put me down!” The man screamed.
“With pleasure!” Ellie shouted back. “Let him go.” She instructed Cole. Cole loosened his grip on the man's clothing and he screamed louder. After creeping into the tent Ellie had merely grabbed the sleeping soldier, the commander, and tossed him towards the slit freshly made in the tent fabric into Cole's outstretched paw. They'd been in the air in less than thirty seconds and before the soldier could even squeak a protest. He was doing more than squeaking now as Cole held him by his leg upside down and one thousand feet in the air.
Are you having fun? The orb inquired with a note of boredom in its voice. Ellie rolled her eyes.
I am a bit. She replied guiltily. Okay, Cole let's land.
Cole leaned to his left, his right wing tip pointing at the moon, and banked to take them back to the monastery.
Upon landing, the commander of the small army grasped at the earth he knelt on as if releasing the long grass would allow him to float away. Ellie sat and leaned against Cole's chest, waiting patiently for the man to calm down. As his breathing slowed Ellie patted Cole's foreleg and rose so her head was level with her dragons.
“Can you talk?” Ellie asked bluntly. The man pressed his forehead against the ground and then looked into Ellie's eyes. With that look Ellie could see why this man was in charge, despite his recent ordeal and facing a creature of myth, his quickly regained calmness brought cold logic, exactly what Ellie wanted to see.
“I am able now. I am Captain Corbus. Who are you? What gives you the right to treat me in this way?” The man's voice barely trembled as Cole released a small black cloud from his mouth and that impressed Ellie.
“We'll keep this simple.” Ellie said. “My name is not important but the monastery is mine and no one is taking it.”
“I have my orders!” He protested, bolder now but Ellie simply shook her head.
“You had orders, now you have a choice.” Ellie told him. Corbus narrowed his eyes and cocked his head in interest.
“If you choose to stay and attempt to take the monastery, my friends and I will be forced to stop you.” As Ellie spoke the last few words Cole unleashed a blazing torrent of fire at a nearby tree. The Captain gasped and crossed himself. “Now,” Ellie continued, rubbing her hands together. “I can imagine the problems you and your men would face if you just turned tail and went home. I gather your Lord would not be very happy with your report?” Captain Corbus nodded in silent agreement. “So I propose an arrangement. You and your men will disappear. Leave this land and cross the sea.” Ellie took a pouch from her belt and threw it at the Captain's feet. “There's gold enough there for you and your men to live on for a time.” The Captain swallowed nervously, his eyes darting from Cole to Ellie to the untouched gold pouch. “And if you just need a reminder of what we can do then look up.” The Captain did so in time to see Malachite swoop low overhead. He let loose a mighty roar that caused the Captain to fall to his knees. Ellie walked forward, picked up the pouch and offered it to the shaken man. “Please take it. I have no wish to hurt you or your men. But I will.” Ellie finished with a cold and final tone.
Captain Corbus nodded and took the gold with a trembling hand.
Friends and enemies
“Run! Run!” Ellie screamed at Isabelle, grabbing her arm and propelling the young woman forward and into the woods. Isabelle was dragged for several feet before finding her feet and running alongside her friend.
“What happened?” Isabelle yelled while weaving around trees and bushes, ducking occasionally to avoid low branches. Ellie's head whipped around as behind them came shouts and the sounds of people crashing into the woods.
“We were too late.” Ellie called back. “They executed the boy last night.”
Isabelle felt her face flush with anger and slowed her run to a quick stop. She turned and looked for movement from the way she'd come from for their pursuers. Isabelle's breath plumed in the cold air in front of her face. She and Ellie had arrived with the dragons in the early hours of the morning in this town to spirit away a boy accused of performing evil spells. That the boy seemed to be a magician or sorcerer apparently wasn't an issue here, it was several accusations from farmers saying the boy had ruined their crops and turned the weather bad.
Word had been sent from Ellie's contacts within the St. Benedictine order about the boy, and Ellie, along with Cole, began investigating. Ellie told Isabelle she discovered pretty much the same story encountered everywhere. Fear and jealousy ruled the hearts and heads of some and others became the target for the release of those emotions.
“Come on, then.” Isabelle whispered as she detected movement in the woods ahead of her.
“Isabelle!” Ellie shouted, now from behind her. Isabelle didn't respond. All she could see in her mind's eye was the townspeople's abject humiliation of an innocent boy and then his death. To Isabelle there was no execution, it was murder, pure and simple. Her imagination ruled her heart as she felt the grip of the hangman's noose around her own neck. She felt the abject terror the boy would've felt in those last few seconds before his life was unjustly ripped from him. Her heart thumped as fast now as she waited for confrontation as when she was running.
“There!”
“There's one of them!”
Figures resolved from the trees into dashing people, all now converging on Isabelle.
“Isabelle! For god's sake move!” Ellie shouted once again, closer but far enough away now that the townspeople would reach her first.
Nearly twenty people by Isabelle's quick count emerged from the trees and formed a tight wedge in front of her with a few edging around the trees to Isabelle's left and right.
“Your little sinner is dead!” One of the men shouted, followed by yells of approval from the others. “If you were in league with him, you're in league with the devil!” He spat at Isabelle. Isabelle seemed to give this some thought and tilted her head as she stared at the man who'd spoken. The power within her started the journey from her head, down her arms and into her hands. Both hands quivered as ice began to form from the wrist and into her fingers. The crackling sound captivated her pursuers and they all stared unblinking at the actual use of magic before them. Isabelle lifted her arms and turned her palms towards the sky. Small dark clouds started to form above her palms and within that black mass, lightning bolts began to writhe and squirm as if seeking release from the prison they found themselves in. Isabelle looked at each town dweller around her and prepared to strike her cold rage into each of them.
Isabelle?
Mother?
Yes, my darling. What are you doing?
Punishing these idiots. They killed a ten year old boy.
And you will kill them in return? In retribution?
Yes!
You're killing them for yourself. To answer the call of rage that has taken you. Is that what you will then do to all that act this way?
Then what? They can't just get away with this!
They won't. Even now Ellie is s
ending word to Charlemagne that his laws have been broken. Justice will be dispensed.
There is no justice.
Not for the dead, no. Justice is what we fall back on rather than continue years of revenge and bloodlust against those who've wronged us.
I can't just let it go.
Then don't. Remember this day. Remember this boy and remember who you are. Remember what you swore, to help Ellie and the others do. But you must let the anger go or it will burn your soul.
Isabelle's vision swam with tears before a grief wracked sob caused them to cascade down her cheeks.
That's, my girl.
The people around her looked at each other, confused, as this young woman cried in front of them. Isabelle didn't care. She cried for the boy and the life he would not live. She cried for the hatefulness held in humanities' heart and she cried for Ellie, her friends and the ones' who would strive to be better than that. Her hands warmed and wept cold tears of dead magic.
It's not easy. Ellie said silently in Isabelle's mind. I felt the same way when a village I found had executed a girl. You're right, there is no justice in this world. There is no final answer to what is right and wrong as there are so many people who think they know. There is only what we do.
Isabelle sniffed and saw the people who had tried to surround her back away quickly as Ellie came into their vision. Isabelle turned and saw Ellie striding confidently and calmly towards her with Cole at her side. The townspeople screamed in terror and all turned and fled. Ellie smiled at Isabelle.
“That should make for an interesting story when the soldiers arrive.” Isabelle swallowed hard and wiped the tears from her eyes. She shook her head.
“I'm not sure I can do this.” She said, her voice wavering with emotion. Ellie looked at Cole and rubbed his shoulder.
“We're sure. You have a good, strong heart. You're going to live a long life because of your magic. We want you to help us because you felt how you did just now. Trust me, if you hadn't felt anything I'd get Cole to drop you a thousand miles from here.”
“What if I can't control it? What if you or my mother aren't there?”
Ellie gave a small shake of her head.
“I don't know, I really don't. But you can't be afraid, Isabelle. Never be afraid.”
Cole trotted forward and butted Isabelle's shoulder inducing a teary laugh and she stroked his snout.
“Alright.” Isabelle whispered, wiping her hands dry on her riding clothes. “Let's go home.”
Mishaps
Hang on! Just hang on!
Cole! Where are we? Where are you?
You're going into shock, Ellie. But I need you to help me.
Help you? We need to get home?
Yes home, Ellie. Think about home.
Isabelle!
What?
Ellie's injured. She was chased out of the town and someone put an arrow in her leg!
Oh no! Okay. It's night here so land outside the gate.
Isabelle?
Ellie, just relax and hold on.
I'm cold.
I know. Over here, Cole. Okay let me have her. No. Cole, no! Please, you can't come with me.
Cole?
Cole!
*
“How are you feeling?” The young man asked.
“Stupid.” Ellie replied gruffly.
The man smiled and checked over the wound on Ellie's leg.
“I can see no signs of infection. Your friend Isabelle has taught me a lot about medicine since I arrived. But…” The man stopped abruptly, frowning at Ellie.
“What?”
“Neither you nor she have elaborated on how you came to be injured in such a way.”
Ellie crossed her arms and gave Thomas, the young monk recently arrived a hard look.
“I appreciate your kindness and help in my recovery, however, I'm not accustomed to divulging information to people I hardly know.”
Thomas nodded and a quick grin flashed across his face before disappearing.
“I hope in time to gain your trust.”
“We'll see. We'll see.” Ellie said and shifted her leg into a more comfortable position.
Home
The bells of the monastery tolled waking Ellie in the early hours. She jumped from her cot and left the cell making her way to the main gate as quickly as possible. Others began to appear in the passageways and Ellie called out for them to move or get back in their cells.
The bells hadn't been rung for a long time. They signalled danger or its possible approach.
Cole! Malachite! Wake up!
The dragons, in their lair one mile away roused and immediately took to the skies.
As Ellie raced down the stone stairs as fast as she dared, she tapped the orb on her belt.
Do you know what this is?
No. And you don't have to hit me to get my attention you know.
Ellie jumped the remainder of the steps and into the courtyard. The bells had been ringing long enough for people to gather and start worrying. Ellie saw the man she was looking for and made her way over.
“What is it?” She asked him breathlessly. The man turned. He was nearing middle age, dressed in his customary black robes and completely bald. The torchlight in the courtyard shined off his head like a beacon and Ellie resisted the ridiculous impulse to pull the monk's cowl over his head to try and hide their position. The monk was Thomas and had been Ellie's friend for the last seventeen years.
“I don't know. Isabelle was on watch tonight and she's not one to spook easily!” He replied. Ellie gave the bell tower a quick glance and saw the bells slowing in their arc, Isabelle must be on her way to the main gate.
“Get them back inside, Thomas. Cole and Malachite are standing ready.” Thomas gave a quick nod and began calming and moving the men, women and children that Ellie and her friends had been responsible for saving over the last few years from the courtyard and into the chapel. Ellie ran to the set of stairs to the guard position by the gate as Isabelle arrived.
“Riders! About twenty!” Isabelle gasped grabbing Ellie's arm. “I couldn't see their banners.” Ellie nodded and looked over the thick stone walls and into the countryside beyond. The road to the monastery was steep and designed as a switchback and devoid of foliage, making any attempting to approach unable to do so quickly or undetected. She saw torches out in the dark blue world. The speed they were moving told her all were on horseback. Ellie turned and saw Thomas had successfully cleared the courtyard of people.
Where are you? She asked the two dragons.
Right above your head. Cole replied.
Can you make out who they are?
No. They're fully armoured though.
Ellie cursed. Over the last twenty years they'd received many visitors at the monastery and the illusion to the outside world that nothing was out of place was successful. Charlemagne, on the day of his coronation, had kept his word and invested lands and the building of a monastery to Ellie's cause. The secondary part of the plan was to gain approval of the church, in fact the Pope himself. Ellie's appearance in the lives of many who would lead the Catholic Church paid dividends. Their beliefs, that God was everything, made for a functioning partnership and they would denounce witchcraft or the belief in witches, sorcerers and magic as pure superstition. Charlemagne himself had become involved and encouraged certain monks of the St Benedictine order to seek Ellie out and offer their services and slowly a network of information was established throughout Western Europe. Thomas was one such as these who'd arrived at the gates seventeen years ago. His honesty and dedication to the people housed here, people that Ellie or other monks had rescued from persecution, was absolute. Ellie often thought Thomas would have made a wonderful father if he'd not become a monk, but the loss to the refugees here would've been too great, she concluded sadly.
The one secret that Ellie and her friends knew but Charlemagne, the various Popes and monks were kept away from was that magic was very real. Only Charlemagne had met Cole
and Malachite once as a young boy, only Thomas was now trusted with knowledge of their existence.
If they're planning to launch an attack their tactics are awful. Cole observed.
And if they do I'll cook them in their metal contraptions! Malachite added making Ellie roll her eyes and then chuckle until she received a strange look from Isabelle and Ellie pointed upwards and Isabelle understood. Isabelle then moved a short distance away and composed herself. Building the magic forces within her so they would be hers to bear if these soldiers were hostile.
The riders kept a steady pace up the road, not too slow or fast to attract unwanted suspicion. Ellie relaxed slightly but kept the dragons ready. As they approached the gate the banners became clear and surprised Ellie, it had been almost forty years since she'd last seen it.
“Open the gate, Isabelle.” Ellie instructed quietly. Isabelle made to protest but saw the look on her friend's face. Isabelle released the pent up forces of magic she was containing with a long fiery blast from her hands and rushed down the steps to the intricate mechanism for the large gate. Ellie followed slowly, speaking to the orb.
What year is it?
813.
It goes by so fast, doesn't it?
I find it best not to dwell on it.
As Ellie reached the courtyard the riders were entering the monastery. If they were surprised to be met by two young women they were trained well enough by their King not to show it. A rider at the head of the column separated and trotted his horse towards Ellie. Without a word he handed her a sealed parchment and gave a brief bow of respect his face a picture of concealed grief. He then snickered at his horse who turned and he led his men away and out of the gate.
“Was that it?” Isabelle asked, puzzlement clear on her face. “People normally stay for food and rest at the very least.” Ellie didn't answer. She simply stared at the roll of paper in her hand. She turned it slightly and the wax seal caught the wavering light of a torch. It was the seal of Charlemagne.
