Will thought about it and then nodded.
“The pain is not as extreme for a dragon as for a human female in labor, but it is quite uncomfortable. Just lend her your strength, and she will get through this just fine,” Brock said gently, laying his hand on Will’s shoulder and giving him an encouraging shake.
Will smiled and turned back to Saadia. “I’m here, Love. Do you need anything?”
“You being near is all that I require, Love,” Saadia responded out loud. “My mother is circling overhead, and she has told me just what the older Rider has told you. We will be fine. This will all be over soon.”
It wasn’t long before the tip of the egg appeared so that all could see it. Once it had reached the opening, it moved faster and slid out in only a few seconds. It lay on the ground gleaming. The shell was hard and mottled, and glistened with a faint coating of the fluid that lubricated the passage.
“Now that the passage has been forced to relax to allow the first egg through, the second should pass much more easily,” Saadia said.
She was right, of course. Within several minutes the second egg appeared at the opening and then slid rapidly out onto the ground beside the first. The third egg repeated the performance of the first two and the laying process was over. Then, even though she had only three eggs, which was a big clutch for a dragon, Saadia spent a great deal of time arranging them near her until they were set just the right way to her satisfaction. She kept one of them slightly apart from the other two. In fact she placed it on the other side of her body.
“Why have moved the one egg to the other side of your body from these two?” Will asked.
“Because that is the male,” she replied. “He will hatch very soon and he will be much more mature than either of his sisters.” At Will’s perplexed look she explained. “Male dragons aren’t as intelligent as females, but they are born much more fully developed. They are still small at hatching, but they are immediately capable of flight and hunting small game. Once he hatches, I will feed him lightly, and he will leave in search of a suitable territory as far from any other intelligent beings as he can get. However, if I didn’t separate the eggs, he might attack the un-hatched females before I could stop him in his effort to find food before he leaves. At this stage in his life, he would see them as nothing more than a source of nutrition.”
“We will make sure that he has food when he hatches,” Delno said.
After listening to Saadia’s explanation, Brock said, “We may as well go and see those children you spoke about. Being a first time mother, Saadia will spend a great deal of time tending these eggs, and won’t settle down as long as there are too many people around.”
Will stayed with Saadia, and everyone else went back to the palace to see if the children were awake.
Chapter 30
They found the children in the nursery playing: John Okonan was watching them. As they entered, the girls, who had been playing with dolls, came running to Laura and Rita. Marcus, who was building something out of wooden blocks that Delno recognized as the same toys that he and Will had played with, looked up for a moment but went back to his toys rather than interact with any of them.
The girls were anxious to show him their new dolls, and he took a few moments to look at them and make appropriate compliments. Then he moved to Marcus and sat down on the floor with him.
“What are you making, Marcus?” Delno asked.
“A fort,” the boy responded.
“That’s very good. Are you going to keep an army there to protect it?”
“No, armies can’t protect forts. This fort will keep out sickness so children’s mothers and fathers won’t die.”
Delno’s heart almost skipped a beat, and he was immediately engulfed by the enormity of the boy’s situation. He nearly cried.
“You know, Marcus, that would be a good thing if we could do it. I wish we could have done that for your mother and father.” As Delno spoke, he realized he had suddenly gone a little hoarse and was having trouble speaking around the lump in his throat.
The boy looked up at him angrily and said, “You’re a Dragon Rider. You’re supposed to be able to protect people. Why didn’t you protect my mother and father?”
“Marcus,” Laura said softly, “dragons can’t fight sickness the way they fight armies. Delno and the other Riders brought the healers as soon as they could. They tried very hard to protect your mother and father.”
Tears began to flow down Marcus’s cheeks, and he yelled at Delno, “I wish you had died instead of my parents.”
At first, no one spoke. Then Delno, with his own tears starting to flow, said, “So do I, Marcus, so do I.”
The boy hit Delno several times on the chest. Delno made no move to defend himself or stop the boy from venting the pent up frustration. John Okonan started to move to stop Marcus, but Delno stopped him with a wave of his hand.
After striking the Rider about dozen times, Marcus threw himself into Delno’s arms and sobbed uncontrollably. He held the boy and rocked him. The girls were a bit distressed by the scene, and Laura and Rita took them out of the room. Delno continued to hold Marcus until he was beginning to worry that the sobs that wracked the child’s body would do him harm. In the end, Marcus settled down into soft crying, which eventually abated completely. Still he clung to Delno, and Delno held him, trying to convey the feeling of safety and love the boy needed.
“Rita says to tell you that that is the first time the boy has wept for his parents. He has been trying to put on a brave front, but it’s good to see that he has finally let some of it out,” Geneva relayed to him.
“I’m glad that he has also. Now maybe he can begin the long process of healing,” he responded. “Where are Rita and the girls now?”
“In the main hall. The girls are playing some game I don’t understand. In fact, I think the girls are the only ones who do understand it. These children are extremely intelligent, Delno. It’s too early to tell, but they might make good Riders someday if the magic stays with them.”
“Stays with them?”
“Yes, sometimes a child with strong magic loses some of that connection as he grows. Sometimes they simply suppress it as they get older. Hopefully, with you and Rita raising these children, they will do neither.”
“Well, that’s very interesting, Love, and I would enjoy talking about it further with you, but right now this boy really needs me to be with him. I will talk with you later. I love you, Geneva.”
“Give the child all the time he needs, Dear One. I love you, too.”
As he finished talking with Geneva, Marcus sat up in his lap. “I’m sorry I hit you,” the boy said.
“It’s all right this time. You had all of that inside you, and it needed to go somewhere.” Then he looked the boy in the eyes and joked, “I’m glad you stopped when you did though; it kind of hurt.”
He and Marcus both laughed a little, and Marcus hugged him. The boy was still sad and would miss his parents terribly for a long time to come, but he had finally started to heal.
Delno looked around and saw that everyone had left the two of them completely alone. “Are you ready to go and join your sisters and the others?” he asked.
Marcus thought about it for a second and then said, “I need to finish my fort first.” Then he again looked at Delno and asked, “Would you help me?”
“Of course I’ll help. Let’s make it a big, strong fort.”
“With dragons to guard it?” Marcus asked.
“If you’d like, we’ll have a whole army of dragons to guard it.”
Marcus gave him a big smile, and they spent the next hour building the fort out of blocks.
Chapter 31
“I don’t know if this is going to work, Love,” Geneva said. “I haven’t seen Marlo here since she bonded with Nat.”
“You did say that all dragons always kept an awareness of the Dream State, even when they are awake, right?”
“Yes, I said that. I also said that b
ecause of that, I will have to sift through all of the consciousnesses that are present to find her while dampening my search methods enough not to alert our enemies. This is no easy task.”
“I’m sorry, Geneva, it must be rather like looking for a needle in a hay stack.”
“No, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack while blindfolded and wearing mittens, and it’s a very large haystack. Now if you don’t leave me to it, it won’t get done,” Geneva replied testily.
Delno had no choice but to sit back and enjoy the view in the Dream State while Geneva tried to locate Marlo and pull her and, hopefully, Nat, in with them. Delno wished for the thousandth time that he had insisted that Nat and Marlo wait for the rest of them. He needed to speak with them, and this method was too iffy. They had already tried and failed on the previous night. If he had known it would be this difficult, he would have had Geneva start trying the night he sent Lawrence off to Palamore.
“I have them, Love,” Geneva said triumphantly.
As she finished her statement, Nat and Marlo came into view as if they had been standing there all the time and had just become visible.
“Delno, isn’t this place magnificent?” Nat asked by way of greeting.
Delno couldn’t suppress a chuckle. His appeal to Marlo and Nat to join him had been most urgent, but his friend couldn’t help but let his curiosity get the better of him.
“Nat, my friend, when this is all over you may spend all of the time you like studying dragons and everything associated with them, but right now I have to talk seriously with you about the war.”
“I’m sorry, Delno, I forget that you have been here enough times to be used to it by now.”
“Nathaniel, every time I come here, I find it new and beautiful, as well as mysterious. However, time is short, and we have much to discuss.”
“Yes, you’re right, of course. I haven’t gotten to Horne yet. I am still following your orders and staying with the men you sent. It will be at least another week before we actually get there. However, we did meet several messengers on the road, and they were carrying news and seeking aid for the same sickness that afflicted Larimar. I told them about the sickness and how to treat it, and sent them back to the healers in Horne at double speed. The sickness should be under control by the time we get there. As for the rest of it, well, the messengers were glad to see our force of men going, but they had hoped for more. It seems that the Roracks have been massing by the hundreds and sometimes even by the thousands.”
“Well, the news about the sickness sets my mind at ease. Perhaps we should have just sent word instead of tying you up with the job. As for the Roracks, that will be more difficult, but I think we will be ready,” Delno replied.
“I could have sent word, but I still feel better going. I don’t want to leave anything to chance,” Nat said.
“Neither to do I,” Delno said. “That is why you are going to divert back north.”
“What? Divert north? Why would I do that? I’ve spent a week sleeping among sweaty soldiers to get less far than Marlo and I could have flown by ourselves in a day. Now you want me to turn around and come back?”
“No, I don’t want you to come back. I want you to fly to Orlean and meet Lawrence and Rhonna. They are traveling with Jhren, and I want you to see to him personally. Even in a weakened state, he is a powerful magic user, and he is willing to help in Horne. However, I don’t want to risk his life needlessly. I need you to see to him and find out if he really is strong enough for the trip.”
“When did you send for Jhren, and why?” Nat asked.
“I sent a message to him the morning after I left Orlean after seeing to the Hatching of Gina’s eggs. That was four days ago. I got new information on this whole situation while in Orlean, and because of that, I called for Jhren’s advice. I had thought that he might come here to Larimar and talk with me directly, but he’s a stubborn man. He decided to go directly to Horne and see the situation for himself. Geneva and I spoke with Lawrence in the Dream State last night, and Jhren is adamant about this. I should have sent someone with a stronger will than Lawrence, and now I am trying my best to deal with that mistake by sending you to see to the old man before he exhausts himself right into a grave.”
“Delno Okonan, if you would talk about these things before you act, we could all advise you better before the situation turns into an emergency.” Nat paused and thought for a moment and then continued. “Yes, there’s nothing for it; I’ll have to divert. If he and Lawrence have been traveling for four days, they should be closer than Orlean. Why don’t I wait for them here? Then we could all continue on with these men.”
“That might be a good idea, but he didn’t leave until yesterday. It seems that he had some things to see to that might be helpful and that took time. As for meeting them in Orlean, I told Lawrence that he is to wait for you there no matter what threats Jhren makes to try and convince him otherwise.”
Nat laughed and said, “It’s Lawrence I’m going to have to see to. He’ll be so torn between obeying you and obeying Jhren that he will have developed stomach problems from the fret by the time I get there. Very well, I will leave as soon as we finish our conversation.”
“You can wait until morning,” Delno replied. “There’s no need to exhaust yourselves over this.”
“Oh, isn’t there? If we don’t get there soon, Jhren will take it upon himself to find alternate transport. Besides, Marlo and I have been traveling lazily because we have had to wait for the men to catch up. We like to fly in the dark, and it will give us something to do beside circle this army like an overlarge bird of prey.”
“Very well,” Delno said. “The newly bonded dragons and Riders who are coming with me will be ready to travel in a day or so, and we will all meet up in Horne. I will look for you here tomorrow night. Until then, keep safe.”
“We will; you do the same,” Nat said as he and Marlo faded from view.
“Fahwn and Rita are here, Love. I have kept them waiting because I know that you haven‘t told her about Jhren, and I wasn’t sure if you wanted her to hear.”
“Thank you, Dear Heart.”
Rita and Fahwn came into view and Rita joined him. He was always impressed with how solid this psychic realm felt.
“You’ve been very secretive in here for several days now, Delno. Care to tell me what you are up to?” she asked.
“I may as well. That letter I sent off with Lawrence was to Jhren. I wanted his advice about the compelling stone and other magical means that Warrick may possess. The problem is that Jhren is so damned stubborn that he has insisted on joining us in Horne.”
“But he is too weak for such a journey. How does he plan to get there?” As she asked the question, it dawned on her and she said, “He is flying with Lawrence. You told Lawrence to make himself available to Jhren so that Jhren could join us in Larimar, but the old conjurer beat you at your own game and used Lawrence’s lack of insight to get the man to take him to Horne instead.” She looked at him the way she had taken to looking at the children when they were doing something they shouldn’t, and then added, “What do you intend to do about it now that the deed is done?”
“Well, at least Lawrence did take enough initiative to contact me last night and tell me of Jhren’s plans. I have given him strict orders to take Jhren no farther than Orlean until Nat or I arrive and pronounce the old man fit enough for the trip.” He then quickly explained his meeting with Nat just before her arrival. “So, you see, My Love, everything has worked out. The soldiers in Horne will get the medical treatment they need, and I have diverted Nat so that I know he is in no immediate danger.”
“I hope your luck never runs out, Handsome. Because if it does, you will have a lot of debt to pay from all the times it’s saved your hide and your reputation,” she said with mock severity.
“Don’t worry, Beautiful, this isn’t over; there is still plenty of time for luck to fail me. Hopefully, when it does, my loyal followers will be there to sa
ve my arse.”
“So,” she said, “Nassari has the saddles and supplies for those new Riders who will travel with us. Are you still planning on leaving day after tomorrow?”
“Actually, since it’s almost dawn, it will be tomorrow, and yes, we will be leaving at dawn that morning as planned.”
They were silent for a moment and then Delno said, “The last four days with you and the children has been more than I ever hoped it would be. I have really grown to love those kids. I also love to watch you with them.”
“Delno,” she said sternly, “I know where this is going, and I won’t be left here. I am going with you to Horne and that is final.”
“The children would much prefer that one of us stays here, and I have to go because I am in command . . .” he began, but she cut him off.
“That is not fair!” she said angrily. The landscape shimmered and blurred for a moment because of her angry outburst. They waited until the changing hues of the Dream State settled down and she said, “Also, it isn’t going to work.”
He looked like he was about to respond, but she hushed him and said, “I know why you want to leave me behind. Damn it, if I could leave you safely behind, I would do the same. I appreciate why you want me to stay, but you have to understand why I can’t.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for several moments. Finally, she said, “You lead, Handsome, I’ll follow.” Then she added, “To the ends of the earth if necessary.”
“Well, for now, how about following me to breakfast? It’s time to get up anyway. I have a lot to do today to make sure that we are ready to leave tomorrow.”
“It’s funny,” she remarked, “I am usually a slave to my stomach. Here in the Dream State, however, I never feel the hunger that I know my body must feel. It seems strange that I have complete sensation of everything here, but I have no sensation of my body lying next to you in our bed.”
“You can get a sense of it if you spend enough time here and practice. I’ve worked on being able to stay in contact with my physical body so that I can remain aware of my surroundings. I’ve even been able to come here and find Geneva without her pulling me in. Now if I can figure out how Warrick is able to come and go while he is awake, as well as pull in someone else who is also not sleeping, this could be especially useful to us. I suppose in time I will, but time is a luxury I don’t have at the moment.”
Dragon Blade Page 26