by Teresa Grant
The whole camp was becoming subdued and expectant, Mollywog on the other hand was becoming a nuisance, walking around menacing all the younger warriors, and even some of the old. They all thought she was an old Witch and she might be the cause of all the ill feelings spreading around the mountain. She never bothered to set them straight either. She was having great fun.
One morning Nat approached her after Branadon told him about the threats to her that were escalating.
“Noni, would you like to go back to your cabin?” It was becoming apparent that something had to be done about her before things got out of hand. “I’m sure Branadon would send some lads to escort you and keep you safe,” Nat assured her.
“The day I need a bunch a Dwarves to keep me safe…” she started to rant, but softened when she saw the good intentions in Nat’s eyes. “I was planning on telling ya at dinner. I’m goin’ home tonight anyways. I’ve got an old barn owl I use when I want ta travel sometimes. Ya know Nat, I wasn’t quite finished my restin’ yet. You coulda’ waited a few more months,” she admonished him.
“I’m sorry Noni. I just couldn’t wait. The time seemed right and I just went for it. I didn’t think about your rest. I’m so sorry,” he assured her.
“Don’t worry yerself over it. I’ll go home. Ya did keep your promise ‘bout that didn’t ya? Have I a new roof and how are my walls?” Mollywog questioned him.
Shamefaced, Nat explained, “We got most of it done, honest. I promise I’ll come finish it soon. Once we’re done here, I’ll come over often to visit. My parent’s place is not that far from you, you know?” Nat reminded her.
“We’ll see lad, we’ll see. By and by, did that Dragon ever come back for you? I almost forgot about her. We’ll have a bite to eat and then go chat awhile, then I’ll be on my way. I smell trouble coming and I’m too old to be foolin’ around with all this mess.”
That night Nat and Branadon rode out to a secluded wood with Mollywog. Grudgingly Branadon thanked her for being his host, and Mollywog just laughed at him again and chuckled to herself, “‘boo’, some warrior, ‘boo’,” she kept repeating it and making faces as Nat held Branadon back from throttling her.
She began to undress.
Branadon turned his back and waited while Nat unashamedly hugged her and wished her a safe journey home, promising again to come and finish any repairs they hadn’t completed to her satisfaction.
“Careful what you promise lad, she’s a conniving old bat,” Branadon warned him. “She’ll end up having you construct her a castle if you’re not careful.”
They saw Mollywog transform and fly off, then returned to the camp.
Chapter 22
Mickael, Dryfus, and Luther caught up with Rylan and Darion a day out from the mountain. There was no way Duncan could catch up with them on foot anytime soon, they had already delayed a few days and wouldn’t wait any longer.
Landing just inside the camp perimeters they quickly found Rylan and Darion.
Not wishing to encourage any false hope, Luther immediately brought forth the empty eggshells.
This brought out a lot of curious questions from people standing close by, but luckily none of the Dragons noticed before Rylan reached out and quickly covered them back up in the blanket. He did not need a riot to start here with the hot-headed Dragons. An egg hadn’t been laid in centuries.
Taking them aside, he asked, “Was there any sign of the baby?” Rylan was too nervous even to wonder how Luther had joined up with them.
Darion just stared at the cloth. He didn’t know if he could handle the answer.
Luther told them, “Sorry lads, not a recent sign nowhere. It’s as though the babe sprouted wings n flew away…” he bit off that line of exaggeration, since in this case it could have easily been a possibility. Luther went on, “Thar was just nothin’ thar. No evidence as like ya might say.”
“We checked it too,” Mickael added. “But there was also no sign of anything buried near by either, maybe the egg was empty?” Dryfus suggested, not believing it either, as he looked at everyone else.
Whether Elise was trying to say anything or not, Rylan couldn’t tell, but Darion spoke up again, “It’s all come down to Silina then. She’s the only one who could have answered all these riddles.”
The new arrivals had no way of knowing about the wings they had found and the dreaded conclusion they had come to.
They all stared at the bundle. Each lost in their own private Hell.
Chapter 23
Slater had arrived a day or two ahead of them. He had made camp in a valley far enough away as to not be seen from above or below. Scouts returned informing him of the reinforcements the men and Dwarves had made around the mountain. It didn’t really concern him. He wasn’t going to fight his way through anyway. The fighting would begin once he got inside and started pulling his army free. He would sneak in alone with his strongest demons and of course the Dragon. All their fortifications and tunnel blocking would be of no use to them now. He planned on strolling right through the front gates.
Chapter 24
Branadon and Nat sat with Faradon and Borris around a cook fire waiting their turn for the evening meal of stew and flatbread. Branadon had decided his bones had spent enough time inside that mountain and it gave him a chill up his spine to think of reentering it now.
Nat on the other hand, still liked to prowl around inside spending a part of each day studying Garr’s amazing Scale.
The Scale seemed to attract him.
It fascinated him.
But each evening he would find Branadon again, and they would share their evening meal together.
On this night, they were listening again to Borris regaling them with reenactments of some of his tournaments. They roared with laughter as he mimed one of his opponent’s attempts to best him at wrestling by crying out compliments incessantly at the top of his lungs, this had affectively unnerved his challengers, until of course, Borris’s turn had come.
Suddenly they heard shouts from all around, and then an eerie quite descended on them all as a slow brown fog rolled in and sent them off to sleep where they fell. Some tried to outrun it, but it spread too quickly in the breeze.
“Pity I can’t seem to make this fog strong enough to silence them permanently.” Slater said to his minions. “Best I can do is give them a great roaring headache in a couple of hours. No matter, let’s get our pretty little Princess into her new home before these buffoons reawaken. I’d love to run around and slit their stupid throats while they snooze for daring to oppose me, but we’re a little outnumbered for the time being.”
Quickly Slater made his way up the mountain pathway with Silina tied to a crude, but sturdy cart pulled by Gargle. Once inside he released the last of his sleeping breath. He needed to work night and day to muster enough for what he needed for tomorrow night, when there would be enough of them to finish the job. Once he was rid of the nuisance outside, he’d have time to perfect a few more of his spells. They had to work quickly. Leaving instructions for Gargle to find a cell for Silina’s wagon, Slater ran for the Scale. She had been knocked out like the rest of the people outside the mountain by the fog, might as well leave her chained as she was for the time being.
What he had figured out was although the demons could not leave the Scale of their own accord, they could easily be pulled free by an outside influence. The beauty of it was, that as many times as one was released, another would be sucked in from the valve replenishing the stock, in order to keep The Scale in balance.
There was a never-ending supply!
Laughing at the lady in the light, Slater waved happily at her and began to fish more minions from the quagmire. The Dwarves had conveniently constructed a bridge out to the edge of The Scale, making the operation easier for him. “Idiots!” he laughed again.
As each one emerged, he sent them on their way to secure the inside of the mountain and ensure there were no other Dwarves inside. The beasts weren’t very imaginativ
e, but they were thorough. In no time at all the inner keep was fully under Slater’s control.
Slater realized he had had a narrow escape. While all the men and Dwarfs outside the mountain were slowly awakening with splitting headaches, some thought their eyes were still enchanted as they witnessed the awesome spectacle of the army of Dragons flying in to land.
While Mickael and Dryfus were a common sight around Neglavale and Arilonia, they were drawing quite a crowd as people scrambled to figure out what had happened and what was going on.
No one in camp knew if the fog was from the Dragons or what had caused it. Suddenly there were shouts from the mountain and everyone went silent as they saw Slater standing just inside the open gates with Silina in chains beside him. He had a sword pointed at her chest. Blood still dripped from the patch where a scale had been torn from in front of her heart.
Rylan on Darion’s back, and Luther on Mickael and Dryfus’s, quickly flew up to within hailing distance of the gate before they had even had the chance to land. They hadn’t even had time to ask who was in charge at the mountain. They nearly fainted when Branadon came trotting up behind them, flanked on either side by his cousins, and bringing up the rear was the oddest, yet somehow familiar looking being, any of them had ever seen before. And that was saying a lot.
Darion for once was so overwhelmed by seeing Silina alive in front of him, and Branadon behind him, that he just stood there, dumbfounded. Not even one degree warmer.
Elise was crying for them both, tears of joy at seeing Branadon and tears of sadness at how pitiful Silina looked without her wings.
With no time for introductions or explanations, they all turned to Slater as he began to shout. “I have taken full control of the mountain. Any who were still within are lost! There is but one small chance for the rest of you. Leave now and I’ll spare your lives!” Slater lied.
Rylan wasn’t having any of it, and the Dragons agreed, “Surrender now and we ‘may’ spare yours!” he hollered back, as he drew his sword.
Slater pricked his sword into Silina’s chest giving everyone a start.
Little spits of fire began to fly from Darion’s nostrils. Even Dryfus was working up a bit of heat. That had never happened to him before.
They could not bear to see Silina this way.
“One more step, any of you, and she dies! Any takeover or rescue attempts, and she dies! Step into the mountain, and she dies!” with each threat he prodded Silina over and over. Darion was singeing everything around him. They could hear the other Dragons growling and stamping as well.
Elise was weeping uncontrollably, and it was all Darion could do to ignore her and keep his mind focused on his Silina.
Suddenly the gates slammed shut. Slater needed to work quickly before they realized he was still so outnumbered. Silina was returned to the dungeons and Slater raced back to The Scale.
Taking charge, Rylan ordered them all from in front of the gates and retreated to the base camp.
Darion gave orders that all Dragons were to back off at least a mile and make camp. It sent them into hysterics when they saw what was done to Silina. It was one thing to die valiantly in battle, they could relate to that, but never had one of their own been tortured and mutilated.
Slater misjudged the effect it was having on them when he thought to control them with threats of killing one of their own. It was taking everything everyone had to keep them from storming the mountain before Silina could be rescued. The only Dragons not willing to sacrifice Silina to the death of Slater, was Darion and Dryfus. Fortunately, with Darion being their Prince, and Drake not there to be in command, Darion’s commands were all that kept them from the slaughter. They felt that now that she was flightless, Silina would look upon a martyr’s death as favorable. They were all for storming the mountain immediately and were barely kept under control by Darion’s horrific screech as he demanded they obey him. He had to fly off with them to ensure they remained under control.
“It’s damn good to see you man!” Rylan addressed Branadon as they walked together towards the camp, both of them shaken at seeing Silina in such dire straits.
“Mickael and Dryfus told me you came back to Arilonia. Do you know me?”
“I do Rylan. I’ve my full memories restored. Some amazing things have been going on here. I’ve a million questions for you,” he replied, “but the first one is, where is Elise?”
“You haven’t heard then? She… is living inside Darion. She probably fainted when she saw you. Poor Darion will be storming back here any moment I’m sure.”
“You mean to tell me, after all the ‘Dividing’ she did, she ended up getting herself stuck in such a mess?” Branadon asked amazed.
“You don’t know the half of it!” Rylan assured him.
“Well, I can beat that. I’ve been hanging around inside an old crone’s body and now I’m walking on my ‘own’ two legs again,” Branadon began, “My originals!”
Rylan cut him off, this was all becoming too much, and he shook his head and smiled, “Yes? Well, after you got yourself killed, Elise met her father… trapped in a mirror. The Witch tried to do the same to her and Darion ended up drinking my wife!”
Shaking his head, Branadon assured him, “I can still top that one.” Laughing on the verge of hysteria, Branadon turned around, grabbed Nat by the shoulders and pushed him towards Rylan.
“This probably isn’t the best way to introduce you, but meet your baby-egg-boy, Rylan. Nathanial, this is one of your fathers!”
Silence.
Except for Branadon trying to get his sniggers under control and rein in his sanity, everyone within hearing distance just gaped, waiting for Rylan to deny it.
“Impossible…” he breathed.
“Father… it is true,” Nat told him quietly, feeling very awkward.
Rylan touched Nat’s face, his hair, his shoulders.
When Nat started grinning, Rylan finally believed.
“I didn’t know what you’d be like. The egg was so small,” he began as he turned to Branadon for affirmation.
“He’s only a few months old… his time. I guess you could say that I raised him. Luckily Silina left him with the old Wog. By the time I met him a week or so later, he was already a young lad.”
Mickael and Dryfus stepped forward.
“Why didn’t you tell us at the castle?” Mickael demanded of Branadon.
“I didn’t know. My memory was a little short at the time if you recall,” he explained.
Rylan was still in shock.
Ignoring them, he could not stop starring at Nat. One tiny tear escaped when he whispered, “She won’t even be able to touch you…” than gave himself a shake, “They named you after your Grandmother.”
Nat nodded and smiled again.
Branadon felt like an intruder. He hadn’t realized how awkward this would feel. He felt as though Rylan were looking at him like he stole something from him. Rylan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again the look was gone. He smiled, “It’s fitting. Did you know Branadon named your mother as well?” and suddenly dragged Nat into a bear hug as if he would never let him go.
When he finally did let go, he turned to Branadon, “Thank you for keeping him safe.”
“Rylan… I wasn’t finished… Nat is um, very special, and not only in the looks department. He’s the one who put me back together again. He has some incredible powers.”
Rylan was stunned. What else could happen today? But then it dawned on him. “Nathanial! Your mother, can you remove her from Darion… your” Rylan paused confused, “Can you remove her from your other father?”
“No father. I’m sorry. I can’t. I just can’t see it. With Branadon it was different. I had his life force, and I had part of his body to work with. I can’t bring someone back from the dead and I can’t recreate someone’s body out of nothing. I need both elements. I thought about Branadon, and I could see it in my mind. I wish I could help mother too, but I can’t. I�
��m so very sorry.”
Rylan was devastated to hear it. It was the first glimmer of hope that was dangled in front of him yet. Hiding his disappointment, he assured the boy, “It’s okay Nathanial. It was just a thought. She will be overjoyed to see you regardless. We have all been so worried! You’ve a whole family to meet here. You’ve already met two of your uncles in Arilonia,” he pointed to Mickael and Dryfus, who smiled very warmly at him. There is also your Uncle Luther… Where is Luther?”
No one could answer that question. No one saw him come down from the mountain.
“O well, he’ll turn up. You can meet him later. I’m sorry to have to tell you, but that poor creature at the gates is your other mother. We’ll get her out, I promise you. She’ll be fine once she sees you,” Rylan assured him. “For now, let’s get you over to the Dragon Camp. They’re not going to believe this!”
Although Branadon tried to remain behind, to avoid any more awkward moments, Rylan would not hear of it. Nat on the other hand, was glad he was coming, he was even more nervous meeting more of his parents.
Rylan insisted, “You two are the best things to happen to any of us in a long, long time. Branadon, Elise never got over losing you. You were the closest thing to a father she had after her Grandfather died. She’s going to want to see you too.”
They hadn’t walked ten feet when Darion suddenly came flying in and landed gracefully in front of them.
Trundling right up to Branadon he demanded, “Is it really you?”
“In the flesh!” Branadon replied smiling.
Darion started purring and then prancing about as if he had ants in his pants. “Stop it Elise!” he shouted. “I realize how happy you are to see him, but I am in no mood for such feelings. Until Silina is safe you will have to control yourself!”
Just then Nat stepped forward. He walked up to the puzzled Dragon and took his face in both hands. “I see you mother,” he told them happily.