Rojuun

by John H. Carroll

  Chapter 35

  The companions were before the Council of Elders once more. Tathan was standing and had just exchanged pleasant formalities, thanking the elders for their hospitality. This time Liselle and Vevin were with them. Both were tired, but had smiles on their faces. They were holding hands, giggling and flirting with each other. Tathan sighed, knowing there was nothing he could do about it.

  Two days had passed since the last council meeting. Tathan, Vevin and Liselle had all slept until dinner the day after the meeting. When they woke, each moved gingerly to the common room of the suite and had their meal. Very little was said, but they gave each other gentle hugs and smiles of relief before going back to bed until morning.

  The morning meal had been eaten in quiet as well. After breakfast, they talked of their experiences. Liselle told of the hhorrj that had tried to take her glow. Vevin held her as she remembered her fear of the dark tunnels. Sir Danth and Tathan talked about the end of the battle and the council meeting they attended.

  Vevin then told how he had flown into the tunnel after Liselle. It had been filled with sstejj, which he killed with another blast of his breath. He continued down the tunnel for a long ways, passing other tunnels and holes that were in the ground. After a while, he had come to another cavern where he destroyed more sstejj with his breath.

  When Vevin found no trace of Liselle, he stopped. Numerous tunnels led from the cavern and he had no idea which way to go, so he turned back to find her scent. It took quite a while for the dragon to find it down the first hole he had passed. After that, he had to explore each tunnel to find the scent again. Vevin explained that scent was the weakest of a dragon’s abilities and the injury that he sustained to his head before meeting the cousins had actually made things worse. He had hoped to find tracks, but only the marks of sstejj were visible.

  It took much longer than he wanted to find the cavern where Liselle had been imprisoned. Her smell was stronger there, but he was even more afraid for her when he saw that she was gone.

  Throughout his searching of the tunnels, he killed hundreds of sstejj. When they were heavy, he would use his breath. However, his powers were not infinite and he began killing with tooth, claw and tail. His lightning was pitiful in the cavern of the hhorrj, only killing a few sstejj. The rest had to be physically killed and Vevin developed a severe distaste for the slimy meat of the creatures.

  When he heard Liselle weakly call out his name from down the tunnel, Vevin raced down its length at full speed. More of the foul beasts were converging upon her. The dragon went into a rampage and began slaughtering them as fast as he could. The small breath of energy that she had sent him was just enough to release one last breath of lightning.

  When he was finished with his account, Vevin told them that he was in love with Liselle. Then he looked into her eyes and told her once again.

  Liselle kissed him deeply and told him that she was in love with him as well.

  They both turned to Tathan. Vevin had a determined, but worried look on his face as to how Tathan would react. Liselle had a challenging look, as though daring him to disapprove.

  Not willing to risk the wrath of flowers, Tathan stood and said, “Oh yeah? Well, I’m in love with Sir Danth!” He reached toward the knight with outstretched arms and a kissy face.

  The knight put out an arm in sudden fear and held Tathan’s face in his gauntleted hand to keep him away.

  Tathan pushed forward saying, “Come here my knighty, knighty! Give me kisses. Smoochy, smoochy, smoochy.”

  Vevin and Liselle burst into laughter at the sight of the two. Tathan pulled back with a grin and even Sir Danth joined in the laughter, though he did sit a little further away from the rogue after that.

  When things had settled once more, Liselle watched Tathan rubbing his head, which still hurt from the explosion. She sat next to him and took his head into her hands. With a whisper and light breath, she eased the pain that rang in his skull. The touch of her fingertips was cool and healing. Tathan smiled gratefully.

  They went to the council meeting wondering how the news would be taken and how the Rojuun would treat them from that point. The four were united in their friendship and they vowed that they would stay together no matter how the Rojuun treated them. A small part of each was fearful things might come to a fight, but they earnestly hoped not. None of them felt good enough to endure sustained battle. In addition, they had grown fond of the Rojuun and didn’t want to be at odds with them.

  “Tathan Human,” the council leader spoke his name, drawing Tathan out of his reverie.

  “Yes, Elder?”

  “We would have Liselle Human and Vevin Dragon tell us of their experience so that we may fully understand the events of the other day. Are they well enough to speak now?” His voices were pleasant and the entire council seemed much more relaxed, though eager to hear the missing parts of the story.

  “Yes, Elder. They’re still weak, but will answer any questions you may have.”

  “Very good. Our first questions are for Liselle Human.” He gestured toward Liselle who stood up gingerly and stepped forward.

  Vevin stood to provide a steady hand, but sat back down at a smile of reassurance from her.

  “Liselle Human, please tell the council about the creature that took you and why it took you,” the Rojuun elder said while looking at his parchment.

  “Its name was Krraa and it said that it was a ‘hhorrj’. It wanted my glow.”

  All of the Rojuun in the room became animated at the mention of hhorrj. There was a great deal of discussion and alarm even among the elders. After a moment, the council leader yelled, “Quiet!” It was a sound like an avalanche rolling.

  The room instantly became quiet.

  “What did it look like, Liselle Human?” the council leader asked.

  Liselle described Krraa’s red eyes, malformed lower arms, hunch and wings. She detailed the terrible appearance of the hhorrj with a haunted expression.

  The elders and audience listened to every word. When she was done, the elders nodded sadly. “It is as you say, one of the hhorrj. It is forbidden to speak of them as they are a dark blight within the short history of the Rojuun. I will not tell you any more of them and you must know that you are not to speak of them outside of this council meeting.”

  None of the companions responded.

  The elder seemed to assume that they would simply obey the directive. “Liselle Human, you mentioned that the creature wanted your glow. Explain what this glow is and why the hhorrj wanted the glow,” the elder insisted in pleasant, demanding tones.

  Liselle took a deep breath and composed her thoughts. “The creature told me that I had a glow. It said that the glow would fix it . . . finish it.” Liselle gulped and took another breath. “It said it would take my glow and then it began to cut . . .” she stopped as tears began to fall. A sob racked her body as she fell to her knees, hunched over and clutching her stomach in memory.

  Tathan and Sir Danth stood and reached out, but Vevin was there with his arms around her instantly. He put her head against his shoulder and let her cry.

  Tathan looked at the response of the Rojuun. The elders were stoic, but Tathan could tell that they felt sorrow for her as well.

  After a moment, Liselle composed herself with effort, wiping the tears away from her cheeks. Vevin used his thumbs to catch a few she had missed. One of the Rojuun came to her with a glass of wine, which she accepted gratefully. Liselle smiled at Vevin and let him know he could sit back down. Sir Danth and Tathan sat as well.

  Liselle had told her friends that the ring saved her life, but they didn’t feel entirely comfortable letting the Rojuun know about it, so she told the story they came up with instead. “Right after the creature began to cut me, Vevin arrived in dragon form and killed it.” She turned to smile at her dragon. “He saved my life.” Then she turned back to the council. “He took me out of the ter
rible room I was in and then destroyed it with magical fire. We were both exhausted from our ordeal, but made our way back, not wanting to stay in that forsaken place any longer.”

  The elders nodded and discussed with each other for a moment. Then the council leader asked another question. “Liselle Human, do you know what this glow is, or can you tell us what is so special about you that the creature would want to take said glow?”

  Liselle thought for a moment then shook her head and held out her arms. Tears streamed down her face once more.

  The tears hit a nerve with the elders and they relented. “Very well, Liselle Human. You have been very helpful. Please sit down and have more wine,” he encouraged. Rojuun did seem to be fond of their wine.

  After Liselle sat and accepted the refill, the council leader spoke again. “Vevin-Dragon, we will ask you questions now.”

  Vevin got up and moved forward. The dance he did was subtle.

  Tathan watched it indirectly, out of the side of his eye. The movement was hypnotizing.

  “What was I going to ask?” A look of confusion crossed the elder’s face.

  Vevin continued the slow dance. His head moved back and forth much like a snake.

  The elder looked at his parchment and frowned. He rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes.

  Much of the audience had gone back to talking amongst themselves, totally forgetting about the hearing.

  The elder closed his eyes and concentrated, breaking the spell he was under. “Vevin-Dragon,” he said suddenly.

  The audience paid attention once more. Many of them looked surprised.

  “What exactly are you? The Rojuun have no knowledge of dragons and your actions are extraordinary.”

  Vevin continued his hypnotic dance, but he answered the question. “I am a dragon.” His true dragon voice reverberated through the room. It also filled their minds, much like Mother Tree’s had done. “We are an ancient creature dating back to the creation of life on Ryallon. Dragons are powerful and mysterious. Your lives are too short and silly to understand us.” Vevin smiled as he spoke, his words washing over the Rojuun.

  They all nodded as though in a trance.

  “I am not a danger to you. You like me.” His manner of speech was reminiscent of the way Rojuun spoke to humans.

  Once again, the Rojuun audience nodded.

  “Know that I have helped you, made you safer and that I am friendly to you.” Vevin bowed as he finished.

  All of the Rojuun nodded in agreement with his words.

  After a moment of discussion, the council leader held his hand up to quiet the room. “Vevin-Dragon, we are very thankful that you have helped to make Garrrn Dwelling and the nearby caverns safer. We like you a great deal and we thank you for your efforts. We also consider it an honor that such a powerful and mysterious being as a dragon would grace us with its presence.”

  All members of The Council of Elders agreed with enthusiasm, as did the audience.

  Tathan sat in awe of Vevin, who gave him a grin and wink as he took a seat.

  “Tathan Human,” the elder said with a gesture for him to rise.

  Tathan stood.

  “We ask that you and your companions wait outside while we discuss matters.”

  “Yes, Elder.” Tathan bowed.

  They went into a waiting room just outside of the council chambers. Food and drink were brought to them. Liselle and Vevin fell asleep on a lounge and Tathan nodded off as well. Two hours later, they were called back into the council chambers.

  “The council thanks you for your efforts in safeguarding Garrrn Cavern,” the council leader began after the companions had sat down. “However, we find your methods chaotic and dangerous.”

  The other elders frowned in agreement.

  “You kill many sstejj, but are reckless in your methods. The fact that Liselle Human was taken for her glow is alarming to us. We do not like unexplained glows in our society.”

  The elders murmured in agreement that unexplained glows were bad and shouldn’t be tolerated.

  “Do not feel badly about this. You are only humans after all and can’t help your nature, I’m sure.”

  The elders nodded in pity for them.

  “You will be teleported back to Puujan. Once there, you may seek employment with another family or go back to your human lands.”

  The elder became very serious and leaned forward. “The information that you gave us regarding the one called Krraa and the matter of the sstejj are not to be discussed outside of this room,” he said warningly. “Nor are you to discuss your time in our territory. You are not to discuss it with other humans or even other Rojuun. Is this perfectly clear to all of you?”

  Tathan responded immediately. “That is perfectly clear, Elder.” What he didn’t tell them was that he wasn’t an obedient human by nature.

  The elder sat back and nodded in satisfaction as did the other council members. “That will be all then. You have received sufficient pay and rewards. You will be escorted to gather your things. Afterward, you will leave for the teleport room.” With that, the elder dismissed them.