Dragon's Keep: The Complete Dracengard Series

by Christopher Vale

  “You will be alright soon,” he heard a man’s voice say. Surprised to hear any voice other than Aura’s, Erec jerked his head up to see several men dressed in green and brown clothing standing nearby. They had not been there a moment ago. “Seraph’s flight often turns a man’s insides upside down. Or, at least, that is the way the feeling has been described to me.”

  Erec wiped his lips with the sleeve of his doublet. “That sounds like an accurate description,” he mumbled before spitting the taste of vomit from his mouth. Erec pushed himself up and began to stand. His legs were still a bit wobbly and he almost fell, but the man who spoke rushed to catch him. “Who are you?” Erec asked.

  “My name is Alaric,” the man said.

  Erec looked around. “Where are we?” Erec asked.

  “In the Great Forest, south of Elophborne,” Alaric said.

  Erec turned to look at Aura. She stood stoically watching him. “Thank you for rescuing me,” Erec said to her. She nodded to him but otherwise did not respond. His eyes were drawn down to her thigh where she had been cut by Rayfen’s sword. The sword had slashed part of her dress as well. The wound in her thigh had turned black and the blackness was spreading in tiny tendrils down her leg. “Are you alright?”

  The men in brown and green turned to look at Aura at the same time. Aura looked down at her leg. She gasped when she saw the blackness spreading through her skin. “I must return to Auraehalis!” she exclaimed, but when she attempted to spread her wings she stumbled and fell forward. One of the elophim rushed to her aid and caught her before she collapsed. She felt sick, as if she had been poisoned. The black areas of her skin felt cold, like ice flowing through her veins.

  “Take her to the sun house immediately!” Alaric shouted. He then turned to look at Erec. “I know you have many questions, and I shall answer them as best I can, but right now I must help her.”

  “I understand,” Erec said.

  “Come,” said Alaric and he led Erec over to a large oak tree. “Rest here for awhile and I shall speak with you soon.” Erec nodded as he lowered himself to the base of the oak tree.

  Aura was taken to a building which was positioned in an open field to maximize sun exposure. The building was made of glass and the floor consisted of highly polished mirrors. The lower parts of the wall, from about the waist down, were also mirrors. During the high point of the sun, the house was filled with light. It is where the elophim went when wounded. High and prolonged exposure to light could cure them of almost anything. Unfortunately, the sun was not high in the sky, but rather was beginning to sink behind the trees as long shadows obscured much of the house. Still, there was enough light inside the house to help.

  The two elophim that escorted Aura to the sun house removed her armor and weapons and laid her down in the middle of the mirrored floor and left the house. Aura laid on the floor and soaked up the sunlight. It felt warm and countered the coldness from the black tendrils which began to recede back toward the wound.

  The glass door opened and Alaric entered. He walked over to her and knelt down beside her and examined her wound. He placed fingers lightly upon it and felt the coldness. She winced and he jerked his fingers away and looked her in the eyes.

  “That is a nasty cut,” he said. She nodded. “Did you kill the shedom?”

  “No,” she said. “Your progeny distracted me.”

  “How do you feel?”

  “Better,” she said. “How does it look?”

  “The darkness is receding,” he replied, “but it has not completely healed. It will take a little time. Unfortunately, the sun is setting, so we are almost out of time today.”

  “I must return to Auraehalis,” she said. Alaric nodded.

  “Aye, you must, but not tonight,” he said. “You cannot enter the realm through darkness. I am afraid that in your weakened condition, by the time you reached the gate, the sun would be set and the gate closed. Then you would be out in the darkness all alone.”

  Aura knew he was right. She sat up and looked down at her leg. It looked much better, but until the darkness was completely removed from her body, it would begin to spread again once the sun set. She glanced up at the sky. The light was fading quickly. She looked at Alaric. “So what do you do after darkfall?” Aura asked with a smile.

  “Try to stay warm,” he said seriously. He stood and offered her his hand which she accepted. He pulled her to her feet and helped her out of the sun house. As the two walked back to the camp, Aura watched the fading light in the sky. Alaric experienced the darkfall every day, but for Aura it was a strange and frightening thing. She had experienced darkness during the last Realm War, but not often, and that was a long time ago.

  They made it back to the camp just as the last beams of light disappeared from the sky. The fire was already burning brightly and Alaric guided Aura over to it, telling her to sit on a bench. She sat alone with her wings wrapped around her body, staring into the flames as Alaric left to find Erec.

  When Alaric found Erec, the Prince was still seated at the base of the old oak tree, leaning against its massive trunk. Another elophim had obviously provided him with bread, berries, and water as Erec sat munching on them. He swallowed the mouthful down and quickly stood when he noticed Alaric approaching.

  “How is she?” Erec asked as Alaric joined him.

  “She will be alright,” Alaric said. “Please sit and finish your meal,” Alaric said.

  “Thank you,” Erec said and sat down popping a berry into his mouth. Alaric sat down beside him.

  “Your sister was here last night,” Alaric said. Erec stopped eating and stared at him.

  “Terrwyn?” he asked.

  “Yes,” replied Alaric.

  “Where is she? Was Taite with her?”

  “Actually Terrwyn left early this morning to rendezvous with Taite. They are quite safe—at least for the time being—do not worry.”

  Erec set his bowl down and looked at Alaric. “Who are you? What is this place?”

  “We are elophim, Erec.”

  “The seraph sent to watch over humanity?”

  “Yes,” Alaric said.

  “And the one that rescued me? She is elophim also?”

  “No, Aura is not.”

  “Aura,” Erec said to himself. What a beautiful name. “But she is a seraph?”

  Alaric leaned in and smiled. “Is it that obvious?” he asked with a chuckle.

  “So, what was Terrwyn doing here and how do you know she is my sister?”

  “She was fleeing through the forest trying to escape drakmere with two companions, Prince Willem and Prince Tybalt. We rescued them and slew the drakmere. And I know that Terrwyn is your sister because she is the one who asked me to rescue you. I asked my sister Aura to do so. And she agreed as you can clearly see.”

  “And you are certain Taite is alright?”

  “Apparently she is a passenger on Prince Tybalt’s ship,” Alaric said.

  “Tybalt? I did not even know he was alive. How did they find him?”

  Alaric shrugged. “I am afraid I do not know. All I can tell you is that Elophborne has been taken over by drakmere and the three of them were fleeing. We rescued them and escorted them to a ferry this morning.”

  Erec let the news of Elophborne’s fall sink in. That was at least four kingdoms under the Wizard’s control, but there was nothing he could do about that now. His first priority should be finding his sisters. “Do you know where they are going?” Erec asked.

  “They crossed the river and intend to rendezvous with Tybalt’s ship south of here, near the Glass Sea. From there, they shall sail to the Island of Avalon and Dracengard.”

  “So Dracengard does exist?” Erec asked. He was ready to believe now. Catching a flight with a seraph had that effect.

  “Yes, it exists,” Alaric chuckled.

  “Can you tell me where this ferry is? If I hurry, perhaps I can catch up with them,” Erec said.

  “No, Erec,” Alaric said. “Dracengard
is Terrwyn’s destiny—not yours.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You have heard of Seraph Sight?”

  “Yes, but…” Erec began but Alaric cut him off.

  “Some of us can see not only what has happened, but what is going to happen. Or one possible outcome anyway. The sight is triggered by events or people that we come into contact with. For example, I could see nothing of Terrwyn until she came to the camp. Then I saw her in Dracengard. But neither you, nor your sister Taite were with her.”

  “Have you seen my future?”

  “I have glimpsed one possible future for you,” Alaric responded.

  “And?”

  “I will not tell you what I saw other than to say that you will play an important role in the coming Realm War.”

  “Realm War? This war is going to spread to the other realms?”

  “Yes, this war has far greater implications than you could possibly imagine now. And that is why I begged Aura to rescue you and to slay the shedom.”

  “The shedom is still alive,” Erec said.

  “Yes, Aura told me.”

  “But you do not know exactly what is going to happen to me? You said you can only see one possible future.”

  “That is correct. Our destinies are not written in stone.”

  “So, perhaps I should go to Dracengard.”

  Alaric smiled at him. “Erec, I understand that you want to find and protect your sisters, but trust me when I tell you, you will do them both more good here than in Dracengard.”

  Erec wanted to scream at him. He wanted to stand up and run off after Terrwyn, but he knew that would be useless. He did not know where the ferry was. It could take him days to find a way across the river and by then Terrwyn would be so far ahead that he would not catch her in time. So he decided to accept his fate, the one presented by Alaric, at least for the time being. He also decided to tactfully switch subjects.

  “Could you tell me about my father?” Erec asked. Alaric tilted his head to look at Erec. “He was in the dungeon with me. I was speaking to him. He was alive, but Aura said that he was already dead. I don’t understand.”

  “Perhaps you should ask her,” Alaric said.

  “May I speak with her?”

  “Of course. Neither of you are prisoners here,” Alaric said.

  “Where is she?”

  “She is warming herself by the fire,” Alaric said as he pointed toward a glow through the trees.

  Erec stood. “Thank you,” he said.

  “We shall speak again later,” Alaric said. “I am confident that you will have more questions for me after you have spoken to Aura.” Erec nodded. He walked off toward the fire.

  Erec found Aura sitting on a wooden bench huddled by the fire. Her beautiful wings were wrapped around her body. Other elophim sat on the other side of the fire watching her, but Aura sat all alone. She stared into the flames and did not look up at the others. Erec walked up beside her.

  “May I join you?” he asked.

  Aura jerked as if suddenly shaken from a trance. She turned her head to see Erec standing beside her. She nodded her head slowly. Erec sat down on the bench next to her. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Cold,” she said with a shiver. “I am not accustomed to the darkness.”

  Aura’s wings covered most of her upper body and her thigh where the wound was, but much of her legs were uncovered. Erec realized that they were bare. Her dress ended above the knee and she wore sandals, thus exposing her legs and feet to the cold. Erec quickly began unfastening the brass buttons from his doublet. Once they were all undone, he removed the doublet and offered it to her.

  “Place this over your legs,” he said.

  Aura looked at the doublet he extended to her and then up at him. She did not want to remove her bare arms from underneath her wings. Her eyes cut to her legs. “Do you mind?” she said.

  “Um, certainly,” Erec said as he cleared his throat. He had never seen the bare legs of a woman other than his mother and sisters before and it made him slightly nervous. Still they were so beautiful he almost hated to cover them. But cover them he did, slinging the doublet over her knees and allowing it to drape down over her shins, ankles, and tops of her feet. Then only her toes were exposed to the cold. She slid her feet closer to the fire and wiggled her toes.

  “Thank you,” Aura said in a beautifully melodic voice. “That does help.” She turned to look at him and noticed he was staring at her toes. She cocked her head and he realized she was looking at him. He jerked his eyes to meet hers, suddenly embarrassed. He saw that she was smiling at him. “Why has your face turned red?” she asked.

  “I am sorry,” he said. “In this realm, for a woman to bare her legs and feet in public, is…” he trailed off unable to finish what he was thinking. Aura laughed aloud.

  “That may be true now,” she said. “But when I first visited this realm humans were barely clothed at all. Men and women ran barefoot through the forest wearing animal skins.”

  “Regardless, I have never seen a woman’s—well other than my sisters and my mother of course, but that is when I was younger and…”

  “I am Aura,” she said interrupting him. His bumbling over words was momentarily charming, but Aura knew that if it continued for much longer it would cease to be.

  “Yes, Alaric told me. I am Erec.”

  Aura looked down at her toes. “I understand why your women keep them covered,” she said. “Where I am from, it is much warmer. There is no darkfall. If I had to face the darkness on a daily basis, I would wear more clothing as well.”

  “I cannot believe you are real,” Erec said, surprising even himself with the candid statement.

  “Of course I am real,” Aura said, a strange look washing over her face.

  “I do not mean you specifically. I mean the seraph. I thought seraph were just characters from bedtime stories.”

  Aura looked away.

  “I apologize,” Erec said. “I do not mean to offend you.”

  “You do not offend,” Aura replied as she turned to look at him. “I remembered humans as a primitive race, barely more intellectually attuned than a dog. Alaric told me that you had grown into a civilized people, but I doubted his opinion. Not that he was lying of course, but Alaric has always been too emotionally connected to humans.” She looked up at the elophim across the fire from her. “All of the elophim are. But, they are correct. Humanity has evolved very well, if you are a good specimen.”

  Erec blushed. He was unsure why. Then again, Aura was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, so he had a natural desperation for her to think well of him.

  “But maybe you are not a good specimen,” she continued. “After all, you have seraph’s blood in you.”

  Erec was taken aback. “Is that true?” he asked. “The legends say that the royal families of the Middle Realm are descended from the elophim, but I never really believed that.”

  Aura began to laugh aloud. “Of course you are descended from elophim, Erec. Alaric is your grandfather.”

  “My grandfather?”

  “Well, scores of generations removed, of course. Did he not tell you?”

  Erec shook his head.

  “Well, it is true. That is why the elophim are here in the forest. Cold and wingless,” she said as her eyes cut to the elophim staring at her from across the fire. “The Father took their wings for mating with human women. They were exiled here. Once the pride of the Father, the elophim became exiled traitors.”

  “Traitors?”

  “Eight of them anyway.”

  “Yes, and she sat in judgment of us, Erec,” said one of the elophim sitting across the fire.

  “I am sorry, I do not know your name,” Erec said as he turned to face the elophim.

  “I am Talis,” the elophim said. “When the Father discovered that we had mated with human women, he became extremely angry. He threatened to kill all of our offspring, all of our wives, and at one p
oint, all of humanity itself. We begged him to spare their lives and in return we would voluntarily stand judgment and agreed to accept any punishment. Three seraph were hand selected by the Father to sit in judgment of us. This one, his little pet, was one of them.” Erec looked at Aura. She was not paying Talis any attention, only staring blankly into the fire. “They found us guilty of treason. Treason! For what? Falling in love?” Talis was growing angry. Angry that he had to share his fire with Aura. It was bad enough that Alaric still communicated with her—he attempted to hide it, but everyone knew—but to have her here in their camp? “She told you that the Father took our wings, but she did not explain how.”

  Alaric was suddenly standing beside Erec. He glared at Talis. “That is enough Talis,” Alaric said.

  Talis ignored him and continued. “He burnt them off. We had wings like hers,” Talis shouted as he pointed to Aura. “He burnt them off of us with blue flame.”

  “Enough!” Alaric shouted so forcefully that the air shook and the fire danced and flickered. Talis stopped speaking and everyone stared at Alaric. Everyone but Aura who remained focused on the fire. “All of you, go and check the forest,” he ordered, his voice now calm. “There will likely be patrols of drakmere out tonight searching for the nephilim.” The other elophim nodded and left to patrol. Talis lingered a second longer than the others. He met Alaric’s eyes and then shook his head demonstrating his disappointment with Alaric. Talis looked away and ran off to check the perimeter.

  Once everyone had gone, Alaric looked down at his sister. “I am sorry, Aura. I did not intend for you to have to hear that.”

  Aura turned her face from the fire and looked up at him. “It is alright brother. I will return to Auraehalis tomorrow and then peace can return to your camp.”

  “How is your wound? Let me have a look?” Alaric said.

  “No,” Aura said forcefully and Alaric took a step back. “Please just leave me alone.” Alaric nodded and walked away into the darkness. Erec stood to follow, but Aura stopped him. “Not you,” she said. “Please stay with me,” she said.

  “Alright,” Erec said as he sat back down on the wooden bench.