“Yes. We have been thanked plenty. But that can’t be the reason you came to me, is it? I know that Kenton has done a good job as king of the dragons. And they’re coming back, too. Just the other day he told me that you have six new hatchlings due to come into the world any day now.” Caelin nodded with a smile. “What about Lewis? He can—”
“Say ‘Yes, Caelin, I’ll do what you need for me to do so you can go on a vacation’.” Vance repeated it back to him. “I know that leaving you in charge, you’ll gladly ask for help when you need it. Kenton wouldn’t. He’d think that since I asked him to keep the town from going to pot, he’d need to devote every second of every minute to it. The rest of them would as well.”
He was right. When Kenton had been asked to see that the breeding dragons had enough space to move around, he’d nearly gotten himself buried under the mountain by setting charges to blow larger caves in the place. Had Vance not been walking in the woods with Micky, Kenton might well have brought the entire mountain down on top of them. As it was, they had to make sure that someone came in to get the charges out.
“So you’ll do it? You’ll take over the running of the town for me?” Vance didn’t want to, because to do so would mean that Caelin would leave. And he enjoyed the man’s company too much for that to happen. “What if I told you that I’d contact you weekly, to just talk about anything you wish?”
“You’re making this very difficult for me.” Caelin told him that was the plan. “I see. All right then. You go on your trip and I’ll take care of things here. But I warn you, the first time I don’t hear from you, I’m going to find you and bring you back here. I love you, Caelin.”
“And I you, Vance. You were the most difficult of all the brothers to find someone for. I can tell you that now. She had to be strong willed, as you are. Smart, because you’d never be attracted to someone that wasn’t. And she had to have the heart to love you.” He asked why that was so hard, finding someone to have a heart to love him. “Because when I first found you, you were broken. I was worried that you might not be fixable. You had a hard life, my young friend, and in doing so, your heart was closed off to anyone new. Micky, while older than you, had much the same kind of life as you. But she was softer, in many ways, for you.”
Vance was still in his office, rocking his exhausted son, when Micky came to join him. Handing her the little man, he kissed them both then held them in his arms. Vance knew how blessed he was; he thanked his lucky stars every day that he’d been chosen for her. Vance also knew, for as long as he lived, the dragons would have a very special meaning for him.
Chapter 12
Caelin lay beside his lovely wife and held her in his arms. They were complete, he thought. They had all that they could ever want, their children had children of their own, and the dragons were cared for. The McCades, his generation of them, as he called them, had gone well beyond what he had ever expected of them.
“He will care for the town for us?” Caelin told her that he would. “And what did he demand of you as compensation? I know that he did. He will not want much, but something from you.”
“He wants me to talk to him once a week, about nothing at all. He said that he loved me as well.” She asked him if he thought that odd. “No. Perhaps from another person that I have no trust in, but I know that Vance does love me without any strings attached to it. He is a good man.”
“Of course he is. I’ve told the children, and they’re going to pass it on to the others. When can we leave?” She was so excited that he didn’t want to tell her to wait. “I can have us booked on the first leg of our journey by the morning if you allow me to.”
“I could never deny you a thing, my love. You book us, and we’ll leave as soon as it is light enough for us to see.” She clapped her hands and went to the office. He could hear her talking to someone, and decided to go to the den and have a nice rest. He hadn’t aged in a very long time, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t tire easily.
Caelin would love to be here all the time. And what he’d told Vance was only partly true. They did want to get away, to see the world once again. But he and his wife were going to never return. They were going to find them a nice beach, call the faeries to them, and be put to rest. Forever. Caelin closed his eyes and saw his mother there, dressed in her finest gown and looking as fresh and wonderful as she had all those years ago when he’d left her at the castle.
“You wish to leave before I can come back to you?” He told her that he was tired. That he’d waited for someone to come along to take over longer than most had. “Yes, you have. As have I. I am.... It has occurred to me that I don’t think I have it in me to be a part of this family either. I will pass on my magic, and then leave as well. I was wondering all this time how to tell you.”
“You and I, we have been apart for many years, Mother. Too many for us to be able to take up where we left off. I have seen you, a great many times, but was never able to speak to you, or to touch you as I wished.” She said that it saddened her to think how much she had missed. “We both have. But you’ve been around here of late, haven’t you? Seeing to the children of mine. Visiting where you could. I’m glad that you have, but it makes me miss you all the more.”
“Yes, myself as well. I miss you.” He watched her move around in his dream-like state, and when she paused, he could see the large chair that had been a part of the castle. “Do you ever wonder what might have been had Butler not come into my life? I’d still want to have you there with me, but perhaps you’d be different as well. I made a mistake taking him to my castle. I should have done more to keep him out of my life.”
“Had you done that, Mother, you know that someone else would have come along and taken it from you. The time had been that way. And without the help of Warrior, there is no telling what might have happened to any of us. Including Warrior.” He noticed the faraway look in her eyes, the one that his own wife had only recently pointed out to him. “You love him, don’t you, Mother?”
“Warrior? Yes. I think I always have. To be free to love him as I want, it would be a great gift, but one that I cannot hope to have.” She stood up and moved to the large throne that he’d played on as a small boy. “When he helped me birth you, I saw what a man was really like. A man that gave more than he would ever be able to receive. But even before that, he owned my heart. And now he shares it only with you.”
“I’m sorry.” She waved him off, but he thought of all that she had suffered so that others might have more. “You can visit us when we leave here.”
“Nay, you know that I cannot. I am now bound here because the McCades have come at last.” She smiled then, brilliantly. “You have so many children and grandchildren that I don’t think I could have imagined it when you were but a babe. I love to see them, playing and having fun. How I wish that I could have seen you do the things they are doing.”
“I was a boring child, Mother. I only worked hard so that I could free you and Warrior.” She looked sad again, and he thought of something that would cheer her up. “You should be with Alisha sometimes. She gets into more trouble than most of the smaller children here. I swear to you, she is like one of the dragons that gets into mischief all the time.”
“I was in the courtroom this morn. She is having the time of her life, I think. And she drags young Gavin with her everywhere just to make him have fun too. He is much too serious, I think, for one so young.” He agreed with her. “I must go soon. Please tell me when you are to go. I would wish to see you once more.”
“We hope to leave in the morning, but I will let you know. I think there might be a delay or two with things.” He was going to make sure of it. Caelin had a plan. “You will always have a place here, Mother. And the faeries, they know what to do if you wish to leave.”
“Yes, I’ve spoken to them as well.” She started to fade a little, but came back for a moment longer. “I love you, Caelin, my son. And I will love you forever and a day.”
When she left him the
re, he woke, his mind still centered on the conversation and what he must do now. Calling to the magical creatures all over the land, he was glad when they answered him with their promise of help. He was going to make his mother happy if it was the last thing that he did. When he had all that he could from the lands, he called to Raven and Micky. They would be the final touch that he’d need.
I need for you to meet me at the caves of the castle. Both said they’d be there. Bring your animals, please, and I will need the dragons too. All that you have with you.
They were all there when he arrived at the caves. He was surprised to see all the McCades, but knew that he shouldn’t have been. They were a family that helped when they could, and this time was no different.
Caelin called for Warrior to come to him. The dragon looked like he had all those many decades ago. He was a brilliant blue, his body long and hard with armor that was his to use. The tail that he used in battle was spiked with hard blades, his face covered in scars, as well as a face mask that took care of the worst of the blows he might have had.
The armor at his chest carried the seal of the family; the large dragon was Warrior, his wings spread out and his fire blowing hotly from his nose. There were none more powerful than the dragon in front of him, and there never would be. Not unless he found him a mate, and that just wasn’t possible. Not yet, at any rate.
“You love my mother?” The warrior bowed low before him, his body still high enough that you could see the top of the mountain from it. When he said that he did, and had forever, Caelin asked if she loved him as well.
“Yes, my lord. We have loved each other well before you were birthed, and since then for all eternity. She has my heart in her hand to do with as she pleases.”
Caelin looked at the people there with him. All the magic that he could summon would not have been enough without all of them there.
The dragons left the bodies of their hosts. Roderick and Lyna, even as small as they were, they were as powerful as any of the other dragons on the land. There were others there as well, their offspring, as well as visiting dragons.
Vance drew his sword and the air hummed with the power of it. He said a few words, and just behind him stood his own dragon, dark in color, her body strong and true. With a request from Vance, the entire mountain and all the creatures on it would be dead. A single breath from her and there would be nothing left.
Micky called her own dragon. To Vance’s blue female, her dragon was light. He was just as powerful, but his magic wasn’t his breath, but water. He was a dragon that would be the perfect foil for a fire dragon. It was why he’d matched them together.
Caelin only nodded once, and when he did, he was nearly knocked over with the amount of freely given magic to use. The queen of faeries came as well, then the queen of the brownies. The magic would be just what he needed, and he turned to Warrior.
“Had you a name, what would you call yourself?” He looked up from his position on the ground, but laid his head back and asked what he meant. “A name. What is it you’d like to be called should you be a man?”
“I was called many names, my lord. But there is only one name that I should like to be called; it would be McCade.” Caelin looked at the men that had brought them so much, and each of them nodded. “I’m sorry to question you, my lord, but what are you about?”
“I will give the magic to you and my mother. What it will do with the two of you, I know not.” His mother came then, to stand next to her dragon. “This magic is given freely. It will be yours for the taking. To be used to make you lovers. To give you the chance that you never had to be together. I, Caelin of the McCade family, give this and all that I have to bring the two people I love most in this world happiness.”
He felt the power of the magic explode around him. There was so much of it that what wasn’t used by the couple before him would make the earth very fertile for the next several hundred years. The trees would give so much fruit that there would be much canning and making of jellies. The lake beyond would have so many fish in it that he knew the women and men of the town would be drying and smoking them well into winter. All the magic that surrounded his mother and the dragon swirled around them. Then they disappeared.
Caelin fell to the ground. He wasn’t just exhausted, but it felt as if every part of him had been drained. When he felt the small touch of someone behind him, he smiled up at Micky when his strength was returned, and he felt better than he had in a while. Standing up with the help of Vance, he noticed a difference in them immediately.
“You’ve changed.” Vance laughed. “What is it? Something has changed you. The magic? Was that it?”
“No, this happened before you left today. And when I talked to Micky a bit later, she got it too.” Their hair was now longer, and streaked with an inch-wide strip of silver. Not white or gray, but a very shiny silver. It suited them both. “Not only that, but I do believe that our dragons to call are larger. They certainly are on our bodies.”
He had noticed that they were larger in a vague sort of way, but hadn’t been paying attention. Caelin was more focused on his task and what it would mean for the two people that had brought him into this world.
“What will happen to them?” Caelin told Alisha that he hoped that Warrior would be a man, so that he might be with his mother for all time. “But you don’t know for sure. What could happen to them?”
“They could be just as they are now. Or Mother will become a part of him. I gave them the magic to do with as they wished. There was more than enough for Warrior to become a man. I hope that, of all things, is what happens.”
He went home to finish his packing. Caelin should have known that his wife would not only have it finished, but would have them booked on the first flight out. He knew not where they were going but was happy because she was. And when they left just as the sun was coming up over the mountain, he still had no idea what Warrior would look like.
“They’ll be happy, no matter what you have done for them.” He told her that he knew that, but he wished to have seen her once again. “We will return, if only to see her once more.”
“I don’t know, love. If we return, we might not want to leave again. And you and I need to start anew. Or to sleep.” She kissed him on the mouth and he smiled. “What was that for, may I ask?”
“I love you. You can be very silly at times, but I do love you. Now, think of all that we’re about to embark on, and tell me what you think of a ship. We’ll be on one for a month, traveling around the world.” Caelin told her that was what he wanted to do, see the world with her. “And you shall. But I also wish to send home gifts to be hidden away for Christmas. I have spoken to Alisha, and she said she’d do it for us. Oh, Caelin, I’m so excited that I could burst wide open.”
The first leg of their journey was going to be a long one. The flight was taking them to a remote place, she’d told him, and from there, they’d board a ship. Caelin was glad for it, but he still thought of his mother. He only hoped that she’d be happy with Warrior being her man now.
~~~
Micky dug the small plant out of the dirt and laid it gently in the basket she had. There were several other plants in her basket, but none as treasured as this one. Dragon’s tail was a prize that she never thought she’d find in these woods. Standing up, she looked around for more of the flowering plant, and saw a few others just beyond her. Walking there, careful of the other plants, she kept an eye out for anyone coming around.
For the last several days she’d had a feeling that there were others in the woods when she was out. Nothing that would harm her, at least she didn’t think so, but she knew as surely as she was there that someone was around. Just as she bent to dig out another of the plants, she felt her dragon stir and she paused in what she was doing.
The small child came around the tall oak and stared at her. Micky wasn’t going to assume that it was a child, and not a child in sheep’s clothing. There still wasn’t the feeling of being harmed, but she w
asn’t going to take any chances. People, she knew, would do anything if they wanted.
The child came out from behind the tree and stared hard at her.
“Are you lost?” The child just shook its head. From where she sat, Micky couldn’t tell if it was a male child or female. “What’s your name, child?”
“Pena.” She nodded and asked her if she was hungry. “I am, but I have to find my own food. I’m not to take things from strangers.”
“Are you alone, Pena? Do you have your parents nearby, or perhaps a brother or sister?” She said that her parents were dead, but she had a little sister. “Where is she? Is she hungry too?”
“I killed them.” The dragon at her waist seemed to curl tighter around her. “They were hurting us. The teacher said that don’t supposed to happen.”
“How were they hurting you?” She pointed to her chest, then between her legs. “Who touched you there?”
“Do you have food on you?” She didn’t, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t make some for the little girl. “I’m very hungry. And so is my sister.”
“You bring me your sister, and I’ll feed you both.” She looked back behind her and Micky started digging at the plants again. “Or you could just go and find your own food for the two of you.”
“She’s little. My sister, her name is Kerrie. She won’t be easy to feed.” She asked her why not. “I don’t have no milk for her.”
So, the child was young. “Go and get her, bring her to me, and we’ll make sure that you’re both safe and fed.”
Pena didn’t seem to want to leave her. Whether she thought that Micky would leave without the promised food or she was afraid to get her sister, Micky wasn’t sure. But she’d not leave them. No matter what.
She told the child that she wanted to dig for a little while longer. Micky had all that she dared take from the dragon’s tail, but she’d find herself more things to take home. When Pena left her, she called to Raven; the witch would know what to do. When she appeared beside her with a basket full of plants and a small knife, she asked her if she’d been looking too.
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