by N. Saraven
Neila volunteered to care for him. It proved to be a difficult job, as he wandered at the edge of death. She had to use several different types of spells on him just to guide him back. He would still need a lot of rest before he could regain his strength. Which meant waiting. A lot.
Time passed by, and Neila started to get more and more annoyed by the delay. She often murmured something under her breath as she paced around. The night already ruled the lands, and if they did not hurry, they would not make it back until sunrise. She could not have known that the Sun there might be farther or behind than from where they came …
After the many grumps and irritated sighs, Halgor opened his mouth to say something, when suddenly the shadow dragon trembled, then slowly turned to them. The reptile’s movements seemed stiff, a little shaky even, as if he could not fully control his body. He slowly took a more comfortable position. As he crouched on the ground, holding his head high, a medallion slid lower around his neck. It immediately caught the Masters’ eyes, albeit they stayed silent.
“Who are you, and how did you find me?” rumbled the shadow dragon huskily. Talek stepped forwards and made a deep yet not very humble bow. The mages behind him exchanged worried looks. The happenings managed to surprise even Halgor, who thought that after seeing a dead companion, nothing could surprise him. He proved to be wrong …
“My Lord,” started the kobold with a strong voice, “as you can see, we have come to free you by Arisha’s orders.”
“Arisha?!” snapped the dragon. His eyes glared in anger; he slightly fluttered his wings. “So she finally remembers me after these ages.” The reptile became obviously furious; his deep voice almost trembled the walls around him.
Talek slightly bowed again, as an apology, it seemed. Neila and Halgor just stood in their places, too stunned to do anything else. It was the biggest shadow dragon they had ever seen. And even though he was very weak, he emitted an enormous amount of power. So much so that the Masters really did not want to behave disrespectfully.
“Yes, my Lord, Arisha. She did not know why you disappeared o’ so long ago, so it would seem that she abandoned You. But nothing could be further from the truth. She discovered your prison, and sent us to free You.” The kobold’s voice was so smooth, which made the mages glance at each other again. They had never heard their friend speaking like that before, ever.
“And them?” The dragon motioned at the Masters with his head. He glared at them firmly, measuring them from tip to toe. His gaze felt so intense, as if his eyes could penetrate right through them. The two mages wanted to stand up to those eyes, but the power behind them proved to be too much. Even Halgor stood there silently, almost humbly.
“They are, my Lord, your helpers. Neila and Halgor from the Order of Varomor,” answered Talek, who could hardly hold back his smile. Even though the situation was very severe, he enjoyed himself terribly.
“Pff …” snorted the shadow dragon. “Two sort-of-magi—”
“What the …” gasped Halgor. This became too much for him. He was so stunned by this condescending treatment that he finally got his voice back. Nobody had spoken of them in such a mortifying tone before. As if they truly were some sort-of-mages …
“What now, elven? Is there something you do not like?” growled the reptile, lowering his head so their eyes were in line. His glaring red gaze almost demolished Halgor’s mind, although he resisted.
“Yes, YOU,” replied Halgor. His blue eyes now matched the dragon’s stare. “Who are you, that you can speak like that of us?”
“You do not know me? Interesting …” murmured the shadow as he straightened up. The medallion caught a spark again, drawing the mages’ gaze. It was a beautifully carved piece of silver, or white gold, or maybe some other metal. It formed a dragon-figure which blew fire. In the flames stood tiny human-figures, who seemed to absorb the flames in awe.
The Masters knew the meaning of the jewellery.
“At least you recognised my medallion, as I can see. Have I been imprisoned for so long …?” the dragon mused.
“Yes, my Lord. Many, many turnings have passed since you wandered this world,” replied Talek, which made the shadow snort. He glanced at the mages again, who stood almost majestic in front of him. They did not seem to be frightened at all, only what could be expected of them against a dragon.
“I am called Enargit. I am the founder of the Order of the Shadows. I am the Emissary of the Dark.”
16. The return
“The Emissary of the Dark …?” repeated Neila under her breath as she glanced at Halgor. Enargit’s eyes smouldered. Obviously, he did not like that nobody knew him. At all.
“I am not used to being treated this way!” he grumbled firmly.
“I am sorry, my Lord, but much has changed since you were last free.” Talek’s smooth voice did the job, calming the offended dragon. “But you now have the chance to do something about it, and regain your glory.”
Enargit looked at the companions searchingly. He obviously thought things through.
“But,” interrupted Neila by stepping forwards, “we need to get moving! Indrek will execute Cameron at sunrise. We must save him!”
“Indrek?!” growled Enargit. His voice was followed by such a wave of anger that it made the Masters draw weapons. He did not move a muscle, yet he seemed threatening.
Albeit the shadow dragon did not pay any attention to the mages. He seemingly was accustomed to doing whatever he wanted without explanation. He did not react to the whispers about how he could know Indrek. How could he know for sure that the name belonged to the same person he knew before?
Enargit slowly scrambled to his feet, then started for the entrance. At the mouth of the cave, he tried out his wings, as if he felt uncertain. After a few tries, he almost took off, but a voice from behind held him back.
“Enargit!” called out Halgor, so the dragon turned back with a flaring gaze. The elven winced under those eyes. Sweat beaded his forehead. He had never felt so small and … young before.
“What do you want, magus?” asked the reptile as he crouched on the ground. But before the elven could reply, Talek pushed forwards, tossing his friend away. The kobold did not give him any chance to answer.
“My Lord, maybe, if it suits You, You could take us wherever You are going?” requested the soldier respectfully. The dragon, however, just gave a disapproving grunt. He stood up again and spread his wings as much as he could.
“You cannot expect me to let some sort-of-magi and a paragon on my back,” he rumbled back, then took off without any more words. His flying was unsteady, although confident.
The Masters stared after him in total astonishment.
“And now what?!” snapped Neila at Talek.
“Now, we need to follow him.”
“And what about Cameron?”
“Don’t worry about him. But we must follow him!” said the kobold as an established fact, meaning it was pointless to argue against it.
It took a little time for the companions to catch up to Enargit, who did not give them more than a short glance. As they flew, Neila started to wonder, not paying any attention to the surroundings. Her warrior self, however, did not let her be truly absentminded.
Something in the back of her mind whispered that everything was in order, and everything was happening as it should. At the moment, she did not feel the undeniable urge to argue with anything, or to run off to save Cameron.
On the other hand, this specific whisper in her head also meant that something huge would happen—something that would affect her and her friends’ lives in a terrible way, which she would wish to erase later. Just as the end of the Dragonwars ten circles ago. It still darkened her life, following her like a shadow. It never faded away, nor left her relations untouched.
The thought that something so determinant would, or at least could happen to them made Neila uneasy. Especially since there was nothing she could do about it now.
The skyline started to t
urn colours when the companions had arrived. To where, they did not know. Even Neila seemed to be present again, whose warrior self could not let her attention weaken. She naturally became wary of the new surroundings; her body got ready for a potential fight. Glancing at her friends, she could see that they did the same.
Around them stretched seemingly endless grasslands. Only a few trees or bushes stood scattered; otherwise, grass ruled every part of the fields—tall, thick grass with sharp leaves.
Enargit looked around. Everything was just the same as when he left it. As if nothing could ever change, as if time had stopped. The shadow dragon could not resist inhaling deeply. The air still felt warm and full of various aromas. It was so much different from the forest he had to live in during the Wars. So much more pleasant.
He just stood there, overwhelmed by his feelings. He did not realise until that point how much he had missed these lands.
His home.
Then a new feeling emerged from the others—intruders standing beside him, which jerked him back to the present. He made a disappointed grimace. He never liked the two-legged creatures’ company, who usually talked in the terrible common tongue, which they dignified as a language. He would rather hear the hard tones of the kobolds’ or the elvens’ jangle of indistinguishable words. However, at the moment nobody was speaking in any language, filling him with contentment. Still, it was not enough to lower his hatred and condescension towards them in a significant way.
“We have arrived at the lands of the shadow dragons. This is my home.” Enargit broke the silence, but he could hardly form the words. He had been away so long now, and he had never thought that he would ever return.
The dragon started forwards without the need to explain anything further. He did not really care whether the companions followed him or not, which they obviously did.
“What are we doing here? And where is ‘here’ …?” Halgor asked Talek with a lowered voice. Talek just shrugged.
“The more important thing is, how long will we stay here? It’s almost sunrise, we’re running out of time,” complained Neila, who could hardly move in the chest-high grass. The withered ones always caught in her clothes, wounding her ankles or hands. She cut herself several times when she jerked herself free from the stubborn grass. All in all, it was very difficult to move forwards, or at all.
But as if this was not enough, the air around felt too hot, way warmer than anything Neila would have liked. As a result, she got hot, uncomfortably so, but because of the sharp leaves all around, she could not make her clothes short-sleeved. The air seemed heavy with the smell of dry dust and grass, making her feel dirty.
Overall she detested the place after a few steps. She almost blew in anger when she hardly could get rid of a particularly sticky, spiky plant. Neila opened her mouth to complain when suddenly Halgor grabbed her arm. She turned to him, furious, but stayed silent when she saw him stare at the slowly brightening, starry night. Neila followed his gaze, and her mouth fell open.
It was obvious what circled above them—a shadow dragon. Nobody could miss that; its lean body and V-shaped wings made it clear. They were built for speed; nobody could defeat them in the air. Furthermore, its size. This race was the smallest of the three dragon-types, although they still could carry even two average-sized men, if necessary.
Seeing the shadow dragon, Neila slowly grabbed her sword hilt, but Halgor’s grasp made her keep her patience. The dragon could have burned them to dust any time before, but it did not. They did not even notice it until Enargit halted at the front.
The dragon circled slowly above them. He did nothing; maybe he felt uncertain about what to do. After a few moments, however, it decided to land in front of the companions. Enargit straightened up; his appearance looked all but majestic.
“Who are you strangers, who have decided to cross the Border of our Home?” asked the shadow dragon in his own language.
Enargit looked around before answering. He could sense the others around them as well. He replied in the dragon’s tongue also, dismissing the companions’ lack of knowledge in the matter. But he could not attend to them at the moment. He had to do more important things.
“My name is Enargit. I have returned,” announced the Emissary of the Dark as a fact, which made the younger reptile seemingly uneasy. Even from his features it was obvious that he knew whom that name should represent, and what that would mean. However, something was not clear to him, which made him uncertain. He crouched on the ground, almost disappearing in the tall grass. His gaze hovered on Enargit.
Overall, his body language showed the ‘flight or fight’ dilemma—his stiffness and staring without blinking with dilated pupils looked like a predator who was about to launch an attack.
“Get me one of the Elders. He will verify me,” suggested Enargit in a soothing voice. The younger one thought about it. He did not cover his emotions at all; everything showed in his eyes and features. He obviously decided that the advice was acceptable. Regardless, he could not leave the intruders alone. They did cross the Border. Anger glared in the shadow’s eyes when he glanced at the companions.
“You have to forgive me, Mighty Visitor, but I cannot leave you here, alone with these two-legged persons. I hope that you will understand why I will send for an Elder with somebody else.”
Enargit sighed. It was so long ago when he had last heard the gorgeousness of his mother-tongue, which now almost made his heart ache. In a good way, it still hurt. Its complexity was music to his ears.
He became so overwhelmed with feelings that he completely dismissed their customs, which now made the younger dragon even more wary of him. Especially when Enargit only nodded to his proposal, which could easily be interpreted as offensive.
Meanwhile, the companions just stood silently nearby, completely unaware of the happenings.
“What’s going on?” whispered Neila to Talek, who just shrugged. “You are Arisha’s Emissary, are you not? Whatever that means anyway. Anyhow, how come you don’t know anything useful?”
“How would I know? You know Them, you know giving out information is their whole purpose when they deal with us,” jeered the kobold. “I too only heard some singing, or something. Some voices I’m not even sure I heard, more like … sensed. So give me a break, will you?”
Neila’s eyes flared up. She got the urge to mangle the soldier, but resisted. She looked around nervously and realised that the Sun was almost up. It still stretched under the horizon, yet its golden rays had brought light to the lands.
Neila felt that they were running out of time. Fast. She completely forgot about the shadow dragons for a moment. She just wanted to scream, to club some wisdom in the others’ heads if necessary, to make them see—they ought to go.
She turned to Enargit to say something, when she saw another shadow dragon approaching in the air. She also heard a groan from somewhere, which made her realise that there could be hundreds of dragons there, and she would never know. The tall grass meant a terrific hiding place.
But if this was not enough, she had to get used to the fact that there were still shadow dragons in the worlds. They meant the enemy, thus could not be trusted.
On the other hand, if anything, Enargit himself became the proof of the complexity of the situation. She could not condemn them all just because she fought against some of them. She knew well that not the colour of the dragon’s scale decided whether it became a friend or foe. In Neila, the rulers of speed created fear, but to a wraith, the golden sunlit dragons meant death. In the eyes of a werewolf, a white bright dragon was just as cursed as a sunlit, and he trusted the black shadows first.
Everything came down to a matter of perspective. There were no ‘good’ or ‘evil’ dragons. Every one of them could become neither, or both. They could bring death or promise of brotherhood for life. It depended on the situation only. They all looked alike in the middle of the night …
Neila’s thoughts were disrupted by two further dragons’ arrival. She
shook her head, just to utterly get back to the present. She was not paying any attention to the happenings; she did not know what had come to pass in the last moments.
The Master looked at the arrivals. One of them was crippled; he could hardly fly. When he landed, he stumbled a lot too. His wing was obviously broken and had not healed correctly. His hind leg on the same side was also damaged. Furthermore, he seemed old. Very old.
Neila felt pity, yet she suppressed it immediately. She knew these proud creatures well enough to be clear with the fact that this kind of compassion was an insult to them.
The Elder straightened up as much as he could and looked at Enargit searchingly. His gaze was cold, and he did not seem to recognise him. He most probably did not understand the situation, which made him nervous.
“Who are you, Unknown Intruder, who crossed our Border without any word ahead?” asked the Elder dragon.
“My name is Enargit,” answered the Emissary, starting to get frustrated. The fact that his name had such a wary welcome did not mean any good. If the Crossing and himself became this much forgotten, it meant that more than one generation had to hear their story.
“I know of whom you speak, but you cannot be the same dragon. The one who had led the Crossing had parted almost six times a thousand turnings ago, as the Makers count.”
Enargit was stunned by that number, although he tried to hide it. He had a warning before, albeit he did not listen. The kobold said much had changed since he last walked on the lands. The dragon dismissed his words back then because, in the eyes of the other species, ‘much can change’ in a time period.
On the other hand, according to the Elder’s words, currently the seventh generation of the shadows walked the lands.