As captain of the king’s guard, Lamwen held rank but not enough to be given a female. The knowledge of this drove him mad, as he toyed with the idea that he should kill her rather than see her given to another. Alas, it was a continuous debate, one that he felt he would lose, no matter which course he chose.
“You have returned,” Ziewen growled, announcing her presence.
“I have,” the male agreed, raising his chin.
Lighting the pyre with a hiss from her lips, she walked in a slow circle around him. “I have summoned our king,” she informed him.
“And the others?” His heart fluttered with an instant of panic that his allegiance was in question.
“They will be along,” she assured, noting the scent of his fear. “Tell me, before they arrive, what is it that brings you reservation?”
“My queen?” he replied, forcing down his trepidation.
“I smell the angst upon you. Do not lie,” she accused, her eyes narrowing to thin slits.
“You would be a fool to challenge me before the arrival of the others if you believed me to be unworthy.”
“I believe you serve your king but only when it suits you,” she accused.
“As do all,” he agreed evenly. “Tell me then, before we are interrupted. What would you have of me?”
“The girl. You have seen her, watched her, for many months. Have you observed any oddities that we should be aware of?”
“Oddities you would not want revealed to the council,” he surmised, his lips parting as flames danced between his teeth. His loins ached as he thought of the princess. “She is a mortal female. I have seen nothing that would damn her or her companions.” There, the lie had been told. The second time he spoke the words, they would come with greater ease, as nothing makes an untruth more solid than to repeat it.
The flutter of wings pulled their attention as Gwirwen scattered small stones upon his landing. “Begun without us?”
“Only the pleasantries,” his mate replied.
Observing her, Lamwen’s tail twitched. What game she played, he did not know, but she had her own secrets to keep, and that gave him power if he were cunning enough to use it. “My lord,” he said aloud, bowing his head before the sovereign.
“What news have you?” his king snarled.
“You do not wish to wait for the council?” My, my, he observed, is no one to be trusted these days?
“They have duty elsewhere this eve,” Gwirwen informed him with an air of discontent. “Inform us of your report.”
“I have little to share,” Lamwen grinned. “The humans are in the north and have begun construction for a cabin in the forest of Yilaric. It is my understanding they will build a vessel in the spring on which to sail from our shores.”
Glancing at one another, the royal couple gasped in surprise.
“They cannot be serious,” the king mused, followed by a loud boisterous laugh. “Do they think they can rebuild Abolia? New Abolia?” he gurgled.
“Fools,” her ladyship agreed, her cackle echoing in the night. “They waste their time, as our shores are quite safe from any wishing to escape and carry word of us back to the mortals of the rim.”
“Yes, quite safe,” Gwirwen continued to chuckle. “What of the trolls? Will they be eliminating this problem for us then?”
“I’m afraid Yaodus and his people have already taken to their caves for the winter, as the snow came early to their mountain this year. It has not yet reached the beach where our quandary lies, but it will not be long before it finds them.”
“And you will slumber over them once more through the long dark months,” the king stated calmly, his humor under control.
“If that is your wish, I will construct a nest within the trees and spend my winter hidden beneath the snow,” Lamwen agreed, painting his features with his best regretful expression. “Although I am certain we could leave them be. They have nowhere to go…” he observed, his voice trailing away to further enunciate his reluctance at the assignment.
“Vaudien has done quite well leading our guard,” Ziewen informed him. “You needn’t worry about your troops.”
“Vaudien,” Lamwen snapped, anger coloring his eyes. He had wondered how they had fared in his absence. “So, he has risen to replace me.”
“Only temporarily. This matter of the girl is delicate. We could not trust this to just any dragon, but you have proven yourself loyal to my cause,” the king soothed.
“More loyal than Vaudien?”
Studying the younger dragon, Gwirwen held his placid expression in place. “Return to the beach and ensure that the mortals have no surprises for us.”
“Yes, your highness.” Lamwen bowed, leaping into the air and leaving the fire upon the cliff behind.
Watcher in the Woods
Lying in his preferred nest a few days later, Lamwen observed the progress on their cabin from above. “You shouldn’t tease him,” he mocked the girl below, stripping bark from a tree. Focusing, he could see the smile on her face at his rebuke. “Amicia.”
“I hear you,” she replied, returning to her scraping as Rey walked away. “You know I can’t talk to you and him at the same time.”
“Exactly,” he replied with a low laugh, toying with her. “He might notice, and then where would our surreptitious romance be?”
The banter they shared had grown lighter since arriving in Yilaric, and her cheeks flushed as her heart raced. She knew she should tell the others about him, but having a secret friend gave her a rush of excitement nothing else could match. Besides, she had kept his presence from them this long. What would it matter if she continued to do so?
“When you finish with that, we have another that is ready to begin,” Bally informed her as he marched past.
“Exactly how did you get to be in charge of all this?” she gasped in reply. “Last I recall, you were the cabin boy.”
“Aye, and I know everything about building cabins,” he laughed, admiring the pun. Wafting his hand over her work, he observed, “It’s about time I got to be useful to the group,” a satisfied grin covering his features.
Glancing up to see the pride in his eyes, she stopped herself from making a sharp reply. Instead, she showed him her right palm. “Well, have you any suggestions for preventing blisters?”
Grasping her hand, he inspected the wounds. “Bugger, Ami, you should have said. You need to let these heal. If we pop them, we risk infection,” he lamented, running his finger over the pair, one along the top next to her fingers and a second smaller down next to her wrist.
“Maybe Zae knows of an ointment that we can make,” she replied, pulling the injury away and picking at a bubble of skin.
“Don’t!” he commanded, slapping her fingers to stop them. “If she can get the swelling down, you might try wearing your gloves. The ones we made from the leather.”
“I get too hot,” she whined. “This is hard work, not that I’m not used to work… but the sweat against the leather is unbearable.”
“We’ll have the cabin erected in a few days,” the Mate informed her, joining the couple to have a look for himself. Shaking his head, he agreed with the boy, “Your attitude is commendable, not wanting to let us down, but you really should have mentioned this.”
“Is it bad?” she asked more quietly.
“I’m sure we can deal with it, but you’ll have to be given another job. Go and see Zaendra about the treatment, and I’ll get to work on this stripping. We can’t cut any more boards until this part is done.”
“But you were chopping,” she frowned.
“Don’t argue. It all has to be done, regardless of who does what,” he replied, smiling at her devotion.
Leaving the two men, she wandered in the direction of Zae and Lin, who were selecting branches to use when making their beds. Presenting the puss-filled pockets, she asked, “Have any remedies for this?”
Gazing at it for a moment, Zae looked up at her, shaking her head. “I’ll wrap your hand,
and you can help Lin with the beds. We need to gather more of the grass for the mattresses, and these are for the bases,” she informed her, indicating their pile of limbs. “I’ll see what I can find this far north that we can use to prevent the infection when they are drained.”
Cutting a strip of cloth from their bolt of material, she bound the wounded flesh loosely, adding, “Be careful not to pop them until we’re ready with the treatment.”
“Ok,” Ami agreed, setting to work on the grass. When she had finished the task, she wandered over to see that Meena was directing the laying of their wooden floor. Looking around at the final outline, over half the sections had been assembled. “This is going to be one heck of a cabin,” she observed.
“Yes, it has to house a lot of people,” Meena agreed.
“I grew up in a two-room house,” Amicia added. “Gus and Arely had a bedroom, and I slept in the front room, which also served as the kitchen and sitting area, around the fire.”
“They are the couple who raised you?”
“Yes, and they taught me how to run the farm. I know how to make preserves, spices and the like. When we need those things, I’ll be the expert,” she grinned, watching as Baldwin bounced around and directed the others. Her eyes following the outline of the walls, she could see that there would be a central room, which opened to face the beach.
On either side of the cabin, a long narrow room would hold three beds each, while a smaller room off the back of the structure would be for Meena and Piers. Swallowing as she glared at their quarters, her fingers picked at the dressing Zae had placed over her blisters.
“Is there something you would like to discuss?” Meena asked, seeing the girl’s distant expression.
“No,” she shook her head, sniffing as tears formed in her eyes. “I’m going to take a short walk and clear my head,” she announced more loudly, stepping over the planks and marching up the hill. “Where are you?” she asked into the abyss.
“I’m above you, among the trees. Aren’t you afraid your friends will see if you pay me a visit in broad daylight?”
“They won’t see,” she sighed. “They’re all busy working on our shelter.” Passing the place that Piers had dug a pit for an outhouse, she grinned at his attention to detail. They had planned it well, as there would be two stalls for them, one for the girls and one for the boys, so that they did not have to share.
Continuing on, she reached a thinner section of trees. Turning to peer over her shoulder, she shrugged. “See, they haven’t even noticed that I’ve gone.”
“Come to me then. Make a left where you are, and I’ll let you know when you’re ready to adjust your direction again.”
Smiling, feeling a little better, she speculated, “I bet it’s nice, being a dragon. No cabins to build, I would ponder.”
“No, we live in the side of a cliff,” he informed her. “The mouths of our caves open over the sea.”
“Ah, I bet it’s splendid,” she breathed, selecting her steps carefully as the ground changed the further up she went. “We lived on a cliff next to the ocean in Nalen,” she explained. Noticing the coolness of the air, she shivered. “I should have brought my coat.”
“You’ll be warm enough,” he soothed. “Turn more to the east and continue up the slope.”
Making the adjustment, she caught a glimpse of his green scales through the trees a few minutes later. Bold in her approach, she did not hesitate to join him in the clearing, making it to his neck where she pressed her full body against his warmth. “There you are,” she said aloud.
“It pleases you to join me,” he observed, puffing heated air over her.
“I’m going to smell of smoke,” she laughed.
“You have a fire, or will have when your meal is made,” he pointed out.
“You are so practical,” she chided, her hand resting over the scar on his neck. “I can’t imagine hanging in the shadows, watching us all day when you could be soaring through the sky.”
Catching himself, he held the thought, enjoying the moment with her and not wishing to spoil it. “Would you fly if you could?” he asked tentatively.
“But of course,” she giggled. “If I were born with wings, I would know no different.”
His heart pounding within his massive chest, he sputtered, “What if you could be given wings? Would you accept them?”
A tear dripping onto her cheek, she sighed, “Oh, Lamwen. What good does it do to dream of such things. I am a mortal of the rim while you are a magnificent beast of the air. I do not know why you have come to me, but I am grateful for your friendship. When the ship is built, and the others have gone, I hope that we shall still be friends.”
“You do not intend to go with them?”
“No, I do not,” she sniffed, stepping back to look into his massive green eyes. “I knew when I awoke on the sands of Riran that I had found the place that I belong. I suspect that this is why the Mate takes such care with the cabin he is constructing, as he knows this is where I will live out the rest of my days.”
“I doubt Yilaric will be your final home,” he observed in a gravelly tone.
“Regardless, I will remain behind, and although the other natives of Eriden may go forth from this place, I find a peace here I cannot deny. I will enjoy this cottage upon this shore and pray you will visit with me often and lay with me upon the sand.” Placing her left hand on the tip of his nose, a nostril on either side, she wiped away her tears with her right, her cloth-covered blisters feeling odd when they touched her cheeks.
“I will be your friend and companion for as long as you shall need one, Amicia Spicer,” he promised, lifting his chin to push against her flesh. He could not bring himself to tell her, as she had not responded well to the hearing of her name. Perhaps by the time her friends had built their ship, he could divulge more of what he knew.
For now, he would let them have their dreams, as unrealistic as they were. When the thaw came, the trolls would stand against them, and even if they did not, their ship would never sail. The waters around Eriden and had been enchanted some three millennia ago, at the time that Abolia had been destroyed in a rain of fire.
Blinking at her frail form, he thought about the stories he had heard of the ancient civilization, when mortals had shared their great land before their exile to the rim. It had been a trying time in the Kingdom of Eriden, one that had ensured that the divide between the magical land and the mortals would remain for eternity in its place.
“Ha ha, that’s funny,” Bally laughed, smacking his friend on the back.
“Well, you know being an elf isn’t always easy,” Animir replied, ready to delve into another story.
“Stop!” Rey commanded, bringing the pair up short.
Before them, the forest opened into a wide clearing, which they had discovered was not unusual. However, this one had an odd look about it, as all the grass within it had been flattened.
“What’s wrong?” Bally clipped, not seeing the issue. “We need to get started on collecting our game so we can get it dried.”
“Aye, you two go on, but skirt this clearing. Head east and you can cut around on the far side,” he instructed, “and be sure to go around when you come back.”
Shaking his head, the younger man didn’t understand why but didn’t bother to argue. “Fine. We’ll go around,” he sighed, giving Animir a shove before tearing into a run, with the elf in close pursuit.
Glad to be alone so he could think, Reynard knelt on the edge of the abused turf, touching a few of the blades tentatively. It could have been a family of bear or some other large animal making a bed for a few days. Or it could be the dragon, he realized with a stab of horror.
Eyeballing the width of the space, he figured the dimensions would be just about right. Pivoting, still low to the ground, he peered out over the expanse, only he didn’t enjoy the view. From that location, whoever or whatever had been there had seen everything taking place at the cabin below.
Deciding thi
s bit of news couldn’t wait, he stood and stomped along the way that they had come, looking back periodically to get a landmark so he could recognize the blind from below. When he arrived at the cabin, Piers was busy setting up to cut a few logs.
“Are we starting on the ship?” he asked, glaring at the work in progress.
“Nah, not yet,” Piers grinned. “Meena has requested a patio be added to the front here. I guess she misses the one she had in Whitefair.”
“A patio,” the younger man spat. “I thought we weren’t doing anything else to the cabin. It’s fine, and we’re only going to be here until the ship is finished anyways.”
“Aye,” the Mate agreed, laying down his tools and facing the other man squarely. “Well, obviously you aren’t here to help. Have you already rounded up a deer that we can dress to be dried?”
“No. Baldwin and Animir are still out. I found something, and I didn’t think it could wait,” Rey explained, dropping his gear next to the door.
“Oh?” Piers asked, his mind still on his project as he pinched his lower lip and glared at his selection of wood.
“I think the dragon has followed us.”
His attention instantly redirected, Piers scowled, “Why would you think that? We haven’t seen him a single time since we left the glen.”
“We haven’t seen him, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t seen us. I’m not going to point in case he’s watching us right now, and I don’t want you to appear to be looking too hard either, but up above us, on the north ridge, there’s a large rocky section where it forms a bit of a cliff.”
Cutting his eyes up, but not obvious about it, the Mate agreed, “I see it, what of it?”
“Behind those trees is a clearing, and a very large creature has been laying around there. From the front edge, I had the perfect view of our whole setup here,” the boy explained, pulling his arms across his chest.
“Shit,” Piers replied. “So, you went traipsing across it, spreading your scent for him to find?”
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