by D. E. Morris
Another dragon cry called to them, and they saw the green speckled dragon watching them. It flapped its wings, desperate to usher the last of them off the island. They ran as quickly as they could for the beach, gathering leftover elves and humans to run in front of them. The rest of the fires were sinking into the ground now, detonating the explosives within them. As Jaryn and the grounded survivors took to the sea to swim as far from the island as they could, Misuzu was first in the air with Cavalon soon behind. Luella just barely made it off of the ground when the final blasts came, a shockwave of fire and concussive force blowing her out over the ocean, as well as the small earth dragon behind her.
Mirasean blew apart before the eyes of all who were close enough to see it. Dragons and those who rode them bobbed in the air near enough to witness the destruction but far enough away to avoid injury. Several of the elves wept, their home for generations no longer. All that remained were hunks of land that somehow stayed in tact, barely large enough for one of the smaller dragons to land on, debris, and a rising pillar of smoke so black and so wide that it would have been impossible for the mainlands to miss it if they looked out to sea.
Cavalon flew low to scoop up Jaryn and make sure the other two were all right, and found Luella first. She'd shifted once she hit the water, finding it much easier to swim in her human form, despite her clothes. She reached up to grab Cavalon's leg, but he made an urgent sound deep in his throat and looked farther out to sea. Luella turned in the water and saw the green dragon floating on its back, unmoving. With wide strokes, Luella swam for it. She didn't make it far before a long water dragon, larger than Elas, came up under her and ushered her along. Though there was no way between them to communicate, she knew it was Rowan who carried her. When they got close enough, she floated right beside the dragon's head, close enough for Luella to reach out and touch it.
“Open your eyes,” she coaxed, running a gentle hand along the moss colored scales under its chin. “Please open your eyes. You were a great help to us. Death would be the cruelest end to your kindness.” Luella frowned sadly. Please.
The dragon's eyes snapped open, deep emerald and filled with panic. It flapped its wings, desperate to turn itself over, creating waves strong enough to nearly knock Luella from Rowan's back. The water dragon backed away quickly, avoiding both of them being slapped by a wing as the dragon turned over. It kicked out with its legs and lifted its neck as high as it could, flapping and sending water spray everywhere. Rowan rolled a bit to the side, letting Luella slide off of her before diving back down and swimming directly under the earth dragon. She lined herself up with its feet and rose up, acting as a solid mass for the dragon to use. As soon as the dragon felt the support below, it launched itself into the air and flew away without looking back.
Once more, Cavalon dipped down for Luella to grab onto his leg. Once she was safe in his grip, he joined the others and flew away from the rubble that was Mirasean no more.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jaryn stood on the shores of Marl in Siness, his arms crossed over his chest, staring out at the pillar of smoke. Though they were far enough away now that it looked a fraction of what it had been, he kept seeing the island break apart below him in blast after blast, knowing he had almost lost his life - knowing all of them had. Cavalon moved beside him, a haunted look of sorrow in his eyes. “I've never had any real love for the elves...but I would never have wanted this to happen.” Jaryn only nodded, his heart broken for an entire race of people who were now displaced. There weren't many of them left now, maybe a few dozen at best. He took comfort in knowing many elves lived in different parts of the Celtique Nations, as well as other parts of the world, but all of them knew Mirasean as their home and the heart of their race. He couldn't imagine how deep their sense of loss would be.
“Many of the full blooded dragons have gone,” Luella reported, joining the men on the shore. “The dam was nowhere to be found and Gia thinks she may have died in the explosion. Some of the dracklings are missing, too. The ones she did take notice of flew off with the other dragons.” She glanced at the wide open area behind them where men, women, elves, and dragons all crowded together in shock. Her eyes could not stay away from the smoke at sea for long, however. “News of this will not take long to spread. A great deal of people from all over the nations saw the dragons flying before this happened. It will only take so long for even the slowest among our countrymen to put everything together.”
“Dragons and Gaels attacked Mirasean,” Cavalon rumbled, “because there has been a lifelong feud among them. Hideo knew of the tensions between them and exploited it. Now the world will hear of the death of the elves at the doing of their worst enemies.”
“Which means dragons, Gael or not, will be hunted,” Luella finished. She looked to the two men with question. “Can we stop this, or is it to be another war between man and beast?” Neither of them had an answer for her, causing her to return her attention to the ocean. After a time, she sighed. “I do not look forward to telling Tasarin of this. No doubt he already knows, but he will want a full account and it will only hurt him more.” She was sorrowful as she shook her head. “Neither my son nor our future children shall see where their ancestors came from.”
Jaryn wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. The three of them stood together, silent, for a long time. Hideo, not unlike Tadhg, wanted to start a revolution, an age where the dragons would be destroyed and the Gaels along with them. Jaryn was afraid he may well get his wish, even in death, though he was loath to give word to his fears. What would that mean for his family? A king may sit on a throne, but that hardly makes him invincible. Most of the time, in fact, that made him all the more vulnerable than any other.
Trying to rid himself of his dark thoughts, he asked, “How's Cailin?”
Luella grimaced. “She is lucky to be alive. Not only did she hit her head hard enough to knock herself out, but Misuzu's dagger struck the artery in her leg. Were it not for the help of the elves, we likely would have lost her.”
“But she'll be all right?”
Luella hesitated and gave a small cock of her head. “Physically, yes. I daresay it will take a great deal of time for her to be able to forgive Misuzu, if ever.”
“It's going to take me a great deal of time to forgive Misuzu,” Cavalon snarled. “None of this would have happened if she hadn't gotten in the way. We could have killed Hideo, released the hold on the dragons, and extinguished all of those explosives before they went off if she'd have let Cailin shoot him.”
Jaryn withdrew his arm from around Luella and turned to survey the crowds. The elves were mixed in with the men and women, all taking turns in addressing wounds and injuries, though they were taking great care to stay away from the dragons. Apart from them all, Misuzu sat alone, her knees drawn up tight to her chest with her head bent over them. “Don't be too hard on her,” Jaryn said gently. “I'm sure she's being hard enough on herself.” He released a sad sigh. “I'm going to go talk to her. I leave it to you two and Gianara to figure out what our next course of action should be.”
As he walked through the crowds, he stopped occasionally to see how some were doing and offer words of condolences or encouragement, sensitive to who needed to hear what. Mairead and Connor were with Cailin, and Jaryn spoke to them as well, his talent for humor even in the darkest times managing to bring at least tiny smiles to their faces. Connor was taking great care of the drackling he'd saved, watching every movement it made. Turning for Misuzu, Jaryn felt a flurry of different emotions. Though they had not become as close as he and Cailin had over the course of the past few weeks, he thought of her as a good friend, certainly. He knew her love and loyalties ran deep and understood the pain her heart must have carried at the loss of her father, but also for the way she acted against a woman who had become her friend.
With the crowds behind him, Jaryn silently took up a spot beside her and faced out to sea, the smoke still in his peripheral but no l
onger a dark reminder in front of him. Misuzu didn't look up, but she sniffled within the protection of the cocoon she'd made of her arms around her head. “When I was a lad,” Jaryn told her, his voice low and even in an effort to be comforting, “there was a boy named Callum in a village I stayed in with my mentor for several months. We were about the same age and often played together. I suppose you could say he was my closest friend. If ever I found my back up against a wall, he was there, and I was always there for him. We grew as close as brothers in the short time we knew each other, and in that closeness, we often found ourselves at odds with one another. One day, both of us noticed a pretty girl in the market. Now, we'd probably seen her dozens of times, but when boys reach a certain age, they notice things about the fairer sex that they hadn't before...namely that they are the fairer sex. I'm sure you can tell where this is going. Callum and I fought over her, and I tell you, no punches were held this time. We threw rocks at each other. I don't know if you've ever seen the Highland Games, but imagine solid rocks bigger than your head. We hurled them at one another without even thinking of the possible damage we might inflict if one of us actually got hit. One of us did, of course – me. The rock he threw landed on my foot and broke all of my toes, nearly crushed the entire thing. I wasn't able to walk on it for weeks, thus extending our already lengthy stay in the village, and even after that, it took awhile still to heal properly, though I'm not sure it ever truly did. It still smarts when it rains.”
“Stop,” Misuzu pleaded thickly. She sniffled once more and finally lifted her head, her eyes red and puffy and her nose swollen. “This isn't some childhood scuffle, Jaryn. Cailin and I aren't going to laugh about this over a couple of beers down the road. I almost killed her.”
“Aye,” Jaryn conceded quietly, “you did. There's no getting around it.”
“I chose my father, a maniac who was trying to kill hundreds of dragons...to kill all of us...and nearly succeeded, over a woman who has become a close friend.”
“In that moment, Misuzu, you weren't thinking about all of that.” Jaryn looked over at her, his brows drawn together. “You were thinking of him just as your father. Even after everything you learned about him, I can understand why your gut reaction was to do what you did. Am I happy with your decision? Of course not. This could have ended so much differently than it did, but the choice was yours to make and now you have to own up to the consequences. You will have to work to rebuild trust with Cailin and a great many others, Cavalon included.” She let her head drop back down, her shoulders shaking as fresh tears took her over. “Cry now. Feel sorry for yourself for a few moments, then get up and fix it. I'm not saying it's going to be easy and that everything will turn out the way you want, but this is a defining moment in your life, Misuzu. You can choose whether or not this makes you stronger, or if you let it break you.”
“How will anyone be able to forgive me?” she wailed, her voice muffled. “How can I ever look Tasarin or Luella in the eye again, or any other elf, for that matter?”
“I don't know.” As he had with Luella, Jaryn wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He pulled her close to his side and squeezed her tightly. “You made a mistake. Yes, it was a big one, but you're not the only one who's misread the wrong decision for the right one. I can't say as I forgive you for what you did to Cailin, not yet at least...but I do love you and I'll not turn my back on you. You can trust that.”
Cavalon watched the pair, still in the same spot on the shore with a line between his brows. “I don't even know what to say to her.”
“Try not to worry about that now,” Luella gently guided. “We have other things to concern ourselves with.” She looked at Gianara who had joined them, her eyes full of questions. “Jaryn told us a little about your pipes and the dragon songs, but I am afraid there is still much about it that confuses me. You are a Gael, yet you are unaffected, as has been the case with all of us, save Cailin. I can understand there being no power surge or compulsion for the Elementals, but you, Elas, and Mairead are normal Gaels, just as Cailin is.”
“I always attributed it to my elven blood,” admitted Gianara. “Your friend, Mairead, however, baffles me. She was not bothered at all by the song, and though Cailin built up a bit of an immunity to it while on my island, she is still quite bothered by it, especially when the music is played unexpectedly.” She shook her head. “I am afraid there is still much about it that confuses me, as well.” Glancing over her shoulder, she looked at the men and women there, all dressed similarly to how Gianara was dressed herself in leather and furs. “Some of these people are mine, some are not.”
“It looked like dragons attacked from all sides of Mirasean,” Luella supplied. “Could there be more than two islands?”
Gianara's lips pursed. “I am quickly learning that anything is possible.”
When Elas and Rowan joined them sometime later, they confirmed that there was an island off the western Caedian shores that was now completely destroyed. They'd wanted to swim farther and explore the seas that surrounded the other continents, but the water dragons followed Rowan like chicks following a mother hen. Even when she tried to command them away, they still swam behind her.
“I suggested we take them to Dragonspire Mountains,” Elas was explaining as Jaryn joined the group. “Rowan told them to follow me so I could lead them there and they did, up to a point.”
Cavalon shook his head. “We can't have all the dragons in one place, especially when we don't know what the fall out from all of this is going to look like. Put them all on that island and you're practically inviting anyone with a grudge against them to slaughter the dragons in one fell swoop.”
“Cavalon's right,” said Jaryn. “Dragonspire may belong to the dragons again someday, but not yet. They need to be scattered if they have any hope of survival. The destruction of nearly an entire race is not something that will be overlooked or taken lightly.”
“We have caves in the mountains surrounding Montania that can be used and guarded,” Luella suggested. “I am certain Ibays can shelter some of them, as well as Siness.”
Gianara nodded her support. “I would like to see if my island still stands. Though I realize it would be folly to stay in one place for too long, if there are usable caves left, I will watch over as many dragons as I can from there for a time.”
“Braemar will take some of them, too,” said Cavalon.
“Horses!”
Everyone turned at Connor's exclamation. Though all were still battle weary, they came together as one people, prepared to fight and defend what was left of them at any cost. As the small caravan sped across the plain, however, Jaryn was quick to recognize the high stepping hackney that led the charge. “Stand down,” he commanded with confidence. The men, women, and elves did as they were told, but the remaining dragons fanned their wings and hissed, trying to make themselves as big and menacing as possible. Gianara and her people rushed to calm them, using their voices and whispering-soft soothing melodies from their pipes.
Snow Steps barely came to a halt in front of the crowd before Ashlynn slid from the saddle. She ran the rest of way, Jaryn covering half the distance and meeting her, throwing his arms around her as tightly as he could manage with his bruised and beaten body. They had no words to convey everything they were feeling, but were more than happy to simply stand there in the embrace of one another. Kenayde was quick to follow her sister's example and rushed to her husband. She looked at him sadly, seeing the scales and scars that had returned completely, then kissed him there before wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Rowan!”
The little girl perked, bouncing on her feet. “Da!” Killian was soon scooping her up and twirling her around, making her laugh as he kissed her face.
As the reunions took place, Cavalon and Luella stood together and watched it all. They saw several soldiers come forth with blankets, fresh clothing, bandages and salves, as well as bread and meat. Somehow Ashlynn knew what would be needed most and had supplied
it at just the right moment. As the relief of seeing one another again faded and gave way to sadness over Mirasean, everyone gathered to eat and rest with one another, even Misuzu, who found a place among the dragon riders. Very little was said, but Jaryn was struck with the importance of this moment, when they all broke bread together, race and titles all but forgotten.
“Are you sure you're all right?” Ashlynn asked Jaryn quietly once the meal was finished and people began making plans as to what they would do next. His arm had been around her nearly the entire time, and it didn't appear he had any intention of pulling away any time soon.
“I've got bumps and bruises like anyone else here.” His eyes wandered to where Cailin lay wrapped up in a blanket with Mairead and a young elven man watching over her. “Comparatively, I'm all right.” He kissed Ashlynn's head and admitted, “I'm glad you stayed back after all. The things I saw...”
She looked down and nodded, sorrow set deep in her expression. “Jaryn...there's something I need to tell you.”
“We will be leaving,” Gianara announced, breaking into the moment. “I would like to assess the situation as quickly as possible.”
“If Ironedge has been destroyed, you and your people are welcome at Altaine,” Jaryn offered. “As for your dragons...well, we'll figure something out.”
“Thank you, Jaryn.” He stood and the pair grasped forearms. “It has been...interesting.”
Jaryn chuckled. “Aye, that it has been.” He glanced at Misuzu, watching her walk away from everyone else and understanding she was about to shift. “Taking back a little extra help with you?”
Gianara nodded with a glance at the young woman. “I think it will be best for everyone.”
Though it wasn't ideal, it was better than Misuzu disappearing as she had after the battle at Altaine two years ago. “Before I forget...” Gianara reached into her furs and pulled out the rolled up map she had taken from Jaryn so many days ago. “I believe this is yours.” She handed him the parchment, which he accepted with a grateful nod. “Be well.” Gianara dipped her head to the couple, then hurried back to her waiting people.