by Teresa Grant
It was almost comical to watch, as Drake began to prance up and down lifting his paws as if he might find Elise hiding beneath them while Cameron watched from a safe distance calling out helpful suggestions.
After only a moment he caught himself and looked hard at his son. “What of the Queen?”
It was Darion’s turn to look a little sheepish. “Well… she’s here, sort of… It’s a rather long story.
Chapter 9
As it was done in the way of the Dwarf, a massive wake was held in honor of Branadon. It was decided that his body would be buried deep in the mountain, where his soul would hear forever the sound of the earth’s eternal song.
The body of Fynlaylyn was sent back to his people. There were ancient rights and secret rituals involved with burying an Elf. Elise said her final tearful farewell and an honor guard bore the body proudly home.
The men of the South returned home to rebuild their land. They were hardest hit in the beginning, and there was much work there to be done.
Faradon and the rest of Branadon’s cousins sent for all their relatives. Together with some of the other people who had been fighting, they began to build more permanent housing. No one wanted to move into the caverns of the mountain directly, but felt a permanent force was needed to keep an eye on Garr’s Scale till something could be done about it. This proved a wise decision as no sooner had they dispatched the few remaining trolls and other things the Witch had created to throw at them, then a mighty demon appeared. They assumed it had escaped from The Scale, and together with a small contingent of lesser demons, it fought its way out of the mountain and escaped. A search party was sent out, but it was as though they had disappeared, of course not before nearly decimating a nearby town. Those who survived could not even agree on the direction the marauders had left in. The trail went cold.
Chapter 10
In Neglavale, Rylan received word about the fall of Fynlaylyn and Branadon and wished he had been there for Elise. It was a tremendous loss to her. For some reason, she sent word refusing to let him come to meet her on the journey back. Assuming she needed time alone to mourn, he honored her wishes.
When the party reached Arilonia, Mickael and Dryfus sent messengers telling Rylan that his loved ones arrived safely and would be home within days.
His mother and Silina helped Rylan prepare a huge homecoming party. All was made ready, and still there was no sign of the Dragons returning with Elise.
Rylan sent for Luther, thinking that if anyone could cheer Elise up when she returned, it would be her unquenchably jolly cousin. He was actually starting to grow on all of them. He would show up out of the blue and stay for days driving everyone crazy, but as soon as he left, he was missed. Luther came immediately. He brought with him Kevin, his court appointed advisor, and Peter, the young man who had saved all the children from Slater, when the castle was in his possession during the war last year. This was going to be a regular family reunion, miss-matched group that they were… That was, if Elise ever showed up.
Shortly after Elise and Rylan had been married, Luther requested a number of the younger Dragons come live with him at his mountain. He had told Drake that he wanted to start a delivery service and would show the young Dragons a bit of the world.
This was long before they received word about all the troubles in the South.
Drake found out later that there was no delivery service at all. Luther was training the young Dragons for racing. He was starting quite a gambling racket with them, that was until Kevin sent word about his true venture, and Darion had been sent to straighten him out. Little did Drake know that before he put the brakes on Luther’s action, Darion had placed a few bets himself. The younger Dragons were having a blast and seemed to think it was great sport. Drake looked at it as something completely beneath any self-respecting Dragon and admonished them that they were not brainless animals.
Luther volunteered a possible explanation for the late return. “Did ya maybe mention I was visitin’, Rylan? The last time Drake and I crossed paths, he wasn’ vary pleased with me.”
On the morning Drake and Darion finally were spotted on the horizon, Rylan was pleased to see Mickael and Dryfus accompanying them as well. The two of them took their Regency very seriously, and rarely left their beloved Arilonia for anything. Rylan wondered why, after Elise had extended her visit with them for the extra days, would they not have remained behind.
As the group in the air approached the castle, Peter called out, pointing, “Your Highness, look! The Queen aint with them. You said she was fine! Why wouldn’t they bring her if she were fine?”
“I would have heard if something happened to her,” he assured the young boy. “Don’t worry. There’s got to be an explanation.” Secretly he swore under his breath, “and it had better be a damn good one!”
Landing, there were no calls of greeting, no exchanges at all. Elise’s absence was like a wall holding all conversation back.
Finally, Rylan walked up to Darion, eyeing his wife’s crown upon his head, and asked, “Well?”
Darion looked as though he would rather be anywhere else in the world but where he was at that moment. He shuffled his feet, stretched his wings, looked at the sky…
It startled him when Rylan shouted, “Out with it!”
Darion was thinking of what to say for every moment of every day since it happened, but still he hesitated and drew a blank when faced with Rylan’s fury. They stayed on in Arilonia knowing they could not linger too long, or Rylan would come looking for them. But they had needed a few days to scour the secret library there for a solution. Nothing even came close to fixing what they were facing now. Even the crown was of no use to him.
Darion knew there was nothing for it but to just say it out loud… and face the consequences.
“Elise is here, Rylan. I can’t really explain it… but I drank her.”
Rylan looked as if he had just been told a very poor joke. He looked at Darion and was waiting for the punch line. “More details Darion, more details!” he growled staring at his wife’s crown.
Speaking as fast as he could, he blurted out in one long breath, “This Witch named Angelica turned her into liquid, she was oozing between the cracks and I was going to lose her. I promised I would bring her back no matter what. Everyone was screaming at me from the mirrors. I didn’t know what else to do… so I drank her… her father told me to!” When he finally finished he looked at Rylan as though he dared him to not believe him.
“You drank my wife? My wife... you drank her? She is inside you? You drank my wife? Let me get this straight,” Rylan growled. “We finally get separated, and now you two are Shifters?”
“No, no, it’s not like that at all,” Darion tried to explain.
“Thank God, you had me worried,” Rylan sighed.
“It’s worse, so much worse…” Darion stuttered ramosely. “She can’t talk to you. Only I can hear her. She’s INSIDE me. Not sharing like we did. She’s INSIDE,” he cried, pointing a claw at his chest. Quietly he continued in a hushed voice for only Rylan to hear. “Rylan, have you any idea how scary it is to know a woman’s mind? They’re not what they pretend to be at all!”
“Ow! Now she’s yelling at me,” Darion cried, screwing up his face as though his head hurt. “Okay, Okay! She says to tell you she loves you. She will figure out a way out of this mess, don’t worry!”
Suddenly his eyes opened wide as though he’d just remembered something very important, and pleaded, “But Rylan… she better hurry up and get out of here… cause she doesn’t want me to tell you this, but she’s pregnant… and there’s only so much you can ask of a friend.”
Chapter 11
Months slowly passed as everyone tried to adjust to the very awkward situation.
Rylan watched horrified as his best friend Darion broke into tears. This was the fifth time this week.
A Dragon crying is simply not a pretty sight. It just is not done!
They are a proud and often
violent race, and watching this normally aggressive, self-assured beast break down in front of him, time and again, was more than he could stand.
Darion was beginning to take on more and more qualities of the hormonal Elise as her pregnancy progressed. It seemed to be affecting her Dragon host in the most embarrassing ways.
Sitting in the main chamber of Darion’s magnificent cave, Rylan grimaced as he listened to his friend’s complaints.
“Elise wants raw rabbits… and porcupine feet!” Darion insisted with an almost maniacal glint in his eyes. “NOW!” he roared.
Sighing, Rylan assured him testily, “Come off it, Darion, Elise wouldn’t eat anything’s feet! These cravings you’re having are all in your imagination.”
Darion was so humiliated by his behavior in public lately, that he was becoming a recluse. Even Silina could not coax him out of their cave anymore.
“I’ll get it for him, Rylan,” Silina offered quickly, as she made her way towards the entrance, glad of any distraction that would take her away from the cave for a while.
“No! You’ll only encourage him!” Rylan ranted, pointing a finger towards Darion and insisting, “I’ll not have a child of mine nourished on the obscene things this beast insists on devouring!”
Silina was getting used to this quarrel. Rylan was practically living with them since Darion’s return from Garr’s Scale.
To complicate matters more, everyone in the Kingdom was becoming anxious about just what was going to happen.
If any of them had known about the side betting Luther was holding, they would have fed him to Darion. Luther never missed an opportunity to place a friendly wager, but usually he was a tad more discreet about it. This little ‘bet’ was ‘secretly’ circulating in the castle. There were three most popular predictions of what might happen when Elise came to term; either Elise and Darion would separate in time for the birth; Elise would deliver while inside the Dragon making it even more crowded inside poor Darion’s head; or, and this was the favorite of Luther’s, Darion would somehow give birth for her.
A lot of people really wanted to see that one!
Silina hung her head and sighed as she reluctantly came back to take her place beside Darion. She did not know how much longer she would be able to put up with this nonsense. She loved Darion with all her heart. Even she and Rylan had become close in their own way, but it was very difficult for her not to resent the woman living inside her husband. This was no way for newlyweds to begin their life together.
“Darion, how about we go for a nice picnic? We could fly over to Arilonia and visit your brothers,” she coaxed.
“I’m too fat to fly,” Darion whined.
“Knock it off already!” Rylan hollered disgustedly, “For the love of Pete, buck up man!”
He just could not take it anymore. He threw Silina a conspiratorial look of sympathy and stormed out of the cave.
The view was breathtaking. It was the highest point in all the Kingdom. This was where the original Dragons dwelled many years before the curse. A few of the older Dragons used to come up here before the Divide on short holidays, but now that they were free, most moved up here permanently.
Rylan could not blame them. From here he could see clear across the castle to the shores at the very edge of Neglavale. Some days most of the view was obscured by clouds, but this morning, it was spectacular.
Rylan sat on what the humans fittingly referred to as the Dragon’s Stoop. Large shelves of rock outside each cave entrance looked as though a giant had somehow built steps starting halfway up the sheer side of the cliffs.
Rylan smiled to himself as he remembered trying to coerce the first Dwarves to allow themselves to be flown up here.
Being the best stone masons in all the lands, their curiosity finally overcame their initial aversion to heights. It proved well worth the flight when they glimpsed the beautiful array of caves and tunnels.
The Dwarfs were hired to renovate the caves originally dug by their forefathers to make them more inhabitable for the Dragons. They accomplished much in a short time, wanting to leave as much of the original handiwork intact as possible.
As Rylan sat lost in thought, Silina emerged from behind him and joined in his quiet meditation.
Just as Rylan was beginning to think it was time he was getting back to the castle, Silina broke the silence. “He’s sleeping…. Thank goodness! There is one benefit to that blasted ‘condition’. He now naps. Naps!” she snorted. “Blast the pregnancy!”
Looking quickly at Rylan, too late Silina remembered just whom she was talking to. It was hard to keep in mind that the child would also be Rylan’s. She was horrified that she might have offended him.
“I’m sorry your grace. I’m not myself,” she offered lamely.
“It’s alright, Silina,” Rylan sighed. “Whether we like it or not, fate insured we are all in this together. I just don’t know where else to look for a solution.
“Unfortunately, the only one who I think could possibly fix this is Elise, and she is as much a victim of Darion’s mood swings as we all are. Heaven knows, between the two of them I fear for their sanity at the end of it all. If only Argra were still around.
“Thank the Gods for Drake. I’ve been relying on him heavily to help with the matters of state. I’m afraid that I’ve been neglecting my duties lately.”
“He understands Rylan, really he does,” she assured him, “and besides, I know he’s enjoying himself immensely. When he ruled with your father, I don’t think they were always in agreement with some of the decisions. I believe he’s the only one having a great time with all of this.”
“That is another part of the problem. No offence, but Dragons tend to look at things a little more black and white then the average human. Drake needs to see a bit more gray in some situations. I’ve already received a few complaints from some of my subjects, of both races.”
Changing the subject, Silina looked into Rylan’s eyes dejectedly and sighed, “I don’t think I can live like this much longer.”
The look she gave him reminded Rylan of a time not long ago when she thought she lost Darion forever.
“I can barely stand it myself,” he had to agree. “Mickael and Dryfus have searched the library at Arilonia from cover to cover; we’ve sent runners out to everyone we could think of, including the Elves, to find anyone with any knowledge of what we’re dealing with. I just can’t help feeling that we’re missing something.”
As Darion gradually came to terms with the pregnancy, things slowly became ‘almost’ bearable. Although between Darion’s horrendous mood swings, Elise being a constant presence, and Rylan’s frequent visits, Silina and Darion did not get much time to be alone.
Being Shifters for all their lives, they were better equipped than most for what was happening to them, but while Silina was reveling in the solitude away from her shifter counterpart, having Elise as a permanent resident inside her husband made her crave privacy all the more.
This did not seem to bother Darion as much as Silina, so he made a conscientious effort to try to spend some time alone with Silina whenever possible. Whenever he sensed that Elise was sleeping, he would drop whatever he was doing, and go off to find Silina.
This did not always go over so well, especially when he was in the middle of court. Darion would suddenly stand and silently scramble outside, right in the middle of some of Rylan’s meetings.
One morning, Darion awoke suddenly to Elise sobbing uncontrollably. At first, he didn’t comment as he thought to try and give her privacy. He felt she was probably just letting go a little, but as the sobs turned to hysteria Darion burst out of his cave not heeding Silina’s frantic questions and flew frantically in search of Rylan.
Rylan was enjoying a late breakfast on the terrace when he saw Darion flying hell-bent towards the castle. His first reaction was to jump up in alarm but as he remembered the ‘mood swings,’ he sat back down and casually buttered his toast.
“What is it this
time Darion? Hick-ups, gas, ridiculous cravings of…?”
As he mocked his friend, a sick feeling of doom slowly crept into his belly and worked its way up, choking off the end of his sentence.
In a whisper he asked, “What’s happened?”
Darion did not know what to say. It wasn’t his place, but he was the only way the two of them could communicate. He stared at his friend for a long moment before replying, “I’m so sorry Rylan, Elise has lost the baby. She’s inconsolable.”
Rylan was speechless. How was he supposed to hold Elise and comfort her? With all that they had been through, this was by far the hardest yet.
Reaching up he touched the tears as they cascaded down Darion’s cheeks. What could he say? How could he make it better? He had nothing to offer. So deep was his own loss, if he had been able to hold Elise at least they could have shared the grief together.
Darion leaned his massive head on Rylan’s shoulder, and they just stood there with Rylan’s arms about his neck. Rylan could only imagine what Elise was going through, as he felt the Dragon’s body clench and unclench with each wave of grief.
As the morning drew slowly on, the three of them talked. They contemplated what might have been; what could have been; what should have been.
Eventually they calmed Elise, and gradually began the long process of acceptance.
When Darion did not immediately return, Silina began to prepare for the day and discovered she was ravenously hungry. She ate all her breakfast, everything she had brought out for Darion, and then still went looking for more. Finally, she had to tell herself to stop. What she’d already eaten was outrageous, even for a Dragon.
Realizing it was almost noon, Silina became alarmed that Darion still had not returned.
Leaving the cave, she felt… awkward, kind of bloated. After all she consumed it was no wonder, but this was something different. She must be coming down with something she thought, as she flew towards the castle. She decided to start looking for Darion there. It was still about the only public place he would go, but he was getting better.