by Bianca D’Arc
“Yes, sir,” Seth replied. “I want Hrardorr to be able to see whatever he wants to while this spell lasts. I’m his for the duration.”
“You’re a good lad, Seth. I can see that now. You take after your fathers, who always struck me as decent and honorable men.” Rudrik’s compliment made Seth feel a humble sort of pride.
“I’m sure they would be gratified to know you think so highly of them,” Seth answered politely.
“I believe we should seek the great hall so that Seth and Cole may break their fasts. We can also check in with the leadership and explain our hasty arrival,” Belisandre said.
From her words, Seth realized the dragons had come straight here, without even stopping to make the usual courtesy calls. That spoke highly of their concern for their son’s welfare. They’d come out of retirement at the first hint that their son needed them. They struck Seth as good and concerned parents. It was Hrardorr—as usual—who was being stubborn.
Seth realized for the first time that Hrardorr would have been able to join his parents when he’d been blinded, had he chosen to do so. They would have helped him. He could have gone off with them, done his mourning in the privacy afforded by only draconic company, and been well looked after. Surely, these two concerned parents would have hunted for their son, making sure he did not starve or want for anything.
Instead, Hrardorr had chosen the more difficult path, going it alone in the confines of a Lair he couldn’t see among humans he didn’t know. Seth had thought Hrardorr stubborn before, but this was going well above and beyond what Seth had reckoned.
They all adjourned to the great hall so Seth and Cole could get some breakfast and the dragons could check in with the new leadership. Drake and Mace were at the high table with their lady, Krysta. Unlike most of the women in the hall, Krysta was wearing light armor, and her sword was propped against the table, within easy reach should she be called to action. Seth hadn’t met her yet, but he’d heard that she was a warrior in her own right.
After his time among the fair folk, such a sight didn’t really surprise him. Even in Draconia, there were many women who chose to serve with arms, though not many in the Lair. Krysta looked a capable, fit woman, and she greeted Hrardorr’s parents with genuine warmth before they went to the small gathering of dragons to make their private hellos to Jenet and Nellin, who were now the dragon leaders of the Lair, despite their young age compared to most of the dragons in this setting.
Seth took a seat near enough the high table and Hrardorr’s position to be able to share his view with the dragon. Cole followed him, and they sat down to a hearty meal together.
The conversation was easy between the two men. Cole was a bit older than Seth, but they discovered they had a lot in common. They’d both grown up in a Lair, under similar circumstances. Cole had lost his parents young, though, when tragedy had struck the human side of his family. Both fathers and mother were taken by a virulent illness that had run through a nearby village. They’d gone to help and had succumbed to the contagion before help in the form of a team of Temple healers could arrive.
Cole had been left with only his dragon parents, who had gone into mourning, taking the unusual step of bringing their human son with them into seclusion. It didn’t happen often, but it wasn’t unheard of in such situations. The remaining members of the family clung to each other in their time of grief, and it didn’t make a difference if they were human or dragon. Hearts were hearts, and they still broke when loved ones died.
Cole had been a young adult when his parents had been taken by the sickness, and he’d wanted to go into the mountains with his dragon parents. They looked after each other, living rough at first, in a cave the dragons had picked out. They stayed within walking distance of a small village so their two-legged son could be among his own kind once in a while, if he so chose. They stayed apart from other dragons except for the occasional visitor who brought news.
All fighting dragons understood the need to grieve. Or so Cole told Seth.
Though not bonded to a dragon per se, Cole still lived with his dragon parents, and the bond that formed from parent to child never faded, so Cole still benefited from the dragon magic that kept him fit and young. Those who lived in the Lair and had any sort of bond to a dragon, however faint, gained some benefit from their intense magic in this way. It was only those Lair children who left their home and made lives on their own in the outside world that lost the dragon magic, aged and died in the natural course of things.
Seth couldn’t stay, though. He knew that now, especially. There would be no healer position for him. No chance to work with and live among the dragons he so admired.
He would eventually leave the Lair and live his life as a regular person. He’d have to be happy with the life he’d been given. He would have to resign himself to the fact that Livia would find mates in the Lair and live on long after he was gone. Seth was glad she would. He wanted that for her—a life filled with magic and joy.
If he couldn’t give it to her, he wanted her to find it with someone else. He loved her that much. And, if she lived on, at least someone would remember him when he was long gone. Perhaps she’d remember him fondly every once in a while. He really hoped so.
“What’s put that sad look on your face?” Cole asked, bringing Seth sharply back to their conversation.
“I’m sorry. I was just thinking about something.” Seth reapplied himself to his meal, busying his fingers while he gathered his thoughts.
“Something troubling, I’ve no doubt. I’m sorry if our presence here has brought any sort of difficulty to your life, Seth. I want you to know that.” Cole sounded so serious, Seth looked up at him and away from the dragons.
“He means it,” Hrardorr put in, an observer in Seth’s mind, and Seth remembered the dragon saw what Seth saw. So, right now, instead of seeing the melon he’d been eating, Hrardorr was looking at Cole’s face along with Seth.
“Sorry, Hrardorr.” Seth looked back at the dragons so Hrardorr could once again see an image of himself sitting with the others. “Thank you, but you’ve no need to feel that way,” Seth told Cole. “Any trouble in my life, I brought on myself.” Seth let out a rueful chuckle. Never had he spoken a truer statement.
They spoke of many things over breakfast, and Seth had a chance to apprise Cole of Hrardorr’s heroic deeds since arriving at the Southern Lair. Cole had many questions about Gryphon Isle and the sea dragons. He also seemed very interested in gryphons and asked astute questions about how they differed from dragons. Seth enjoyed the meal and thought he might just have made a new friend.
Then, his parents arrived. In force. All five of them.
His fathers and their dragon partners looked as if they’d just come in off patrol. The dragons made straight for Hrardorr’s side while Seth’s mother and her mates made brief greetings to the high table before coming over to sit with Seth. He introduced them all to Cole and felt the protective weight of their love surround him.
He realized belatedly that they’d come to make sure the newcomers weren’t there to find fault with Seth or Hrardorr. Both Alyria and her mate seemed to be as protective of Hrardorr as Seth’s human parents were of him. They’d apparently decided to take Hrardorr under their wing and look after him, even if it came to defending him to his own parents.
Now wasn’t that interesting? It was as if they’d adopted the blind dragon as one of their own.
Seth had just about processed that nugget of news when the doors to the great hall opened wide again to admit Livia O’Dare. She strode straight to the high table and made a graceful bow, becoming the instant focus of all attention in the room.
“Mistress O’Dare, to what do we owe the pleasure?” Drake asked in his cultured tones. He had a smile playing about his lips as if he already knew what was afoot, but played out the scene for the benefit of everyone else.
Seth noticed the dragons had all gone perfectly still. Something was about to happen. Possibly something big.
Seth’s eyes widened. Skelaroth was here? And he’d asked Livia to introduce him? Now wasn’t that interesting?
“By all means. Sir Hrardorr has spoken highly of the Lord of the sea dragons, and we would be most interested in meeting him, and any others he has with him.” Drake’s blue eyes twinkled, and Seth knew Drake had had some kind of foreknowledge of these events.
Some of the fair folk back on Gryphon Isle had intimated that bards were often spies in disguise, and Seth had a good idea that Sir Drake hadn’t given up his spying ways. Far from it. No doubt, he’d probably already established a spy network of great complexity up and down the coast since coming here.
With an almost theatrical flair, Livia stepped back and held out her arm toward the large door at the other end of the great hall. Seth figured Livia probably signaled Skelaroth silently because, at that moment, he appeared, in all his sea dragon glory, framed perfectly in the high arched doorway.
He paused for a moment as if to let the audience take him in, when in reality, Seth realized he was scanning the room for any hint of threat. Seeing none, he stepped into the hall, moving slowly toward the high table. Unlike most others, though, he aimed for the cluster of dragons around it first, not the humans sitting at the table.
Skelaroth did not bow, but he inclined his head almost regally to Hrardorr first, then to his mother, Lady Belisandre, whom he eyed with obvious interest, then to the others present. Livia appeared at Seth’s side, having moved quietly out of the way of the scene that was unfolding before their eyes.
“When did this happen?” Seth whispered to her.
“He just showed up on my dock this morning,” Livia replied, also whispering. “I knew I’d have to bring him here first. Is that Hrardorr’s mother?” Livia was gawking at the dragons, looking from Hrardorr to Belisandre and back again.
“Yes,” Seth told her quickly. “His parents and brother showed up this morning too.” Seth gestured toward Cole, who tipped an imaginary hat at Livia. Seth could see the gesture out of the corner of his eye while he kept his attention trained on the dragons so that Hrardorr could see what was happening.
“Greetings, Lord Skelaroth,” Hrardorr said into the stunned silence, broadcasting his thoughts so that all who were able to hear could understand what transpired. “Welcome to the mainland and to the Southern Lair. May I introduce Lady Jenet and Sir Nellin, dragon leaders of this Lair, and their partners, Sir Drake and Sir Mace, and their lady, Krysta.”
Hrardorr seemed to have the protocol covered, introducing the leadership first. Greetings were exchanged, and then, Hrardorr gestured toward his parents.
“And these are my parents, arrived only this morning. My father, Sir Rudrik, and my mother, Lady Belisandre.” Hrardorr gestured toward both elder dragons in turn while Lord Skelaroth made his formal greetings. He then stepped a pace closer to the family unit and spoke directly to Lady Belisandre, though he kept his words available to all who could hear.
“It is clear where your son gets his sea dragon heritage from, lady,” Skelaroth said. “I am very pleased to see that he is not the only example of the mixing of our two lineages. Your presence bodes well for the newly formed pair of land and sea dragons now making their life on the shores of Gryphon Isle.”
“We only just arrived a short time before you did, Lord Skelaroth,” Belisandre explained. “We have not yet heard all the news.”
“Ah, yes. I see. Then, let me proclaim to one and all that the union between a dragon of this Lair, young Sir Xanderanth, and a young female from my group, Lady Shara, is recognized and welcomed by the sea dragons of Gryphon Isle. We also recognize the bonds they share with their two-legged companions, Sir Leonhardt and Lady Lizbet.” Skelaroth addressed his words to everyone in the great hall, turning his head to look around the room, taking them all in. “Furthermore, I have formally accepted the great wizard Gryffid’s invitation to make use of the Lair he is having constructed on the far side of his island. Though I will not live there, I will visit from time to time and have recognized the young people as the leaders—such as they are—of the small Lair they will call home. I have also forged an understanding with the gryphons of Gryphon Isle to work in concert with them to protect the land and people of that island. Gryphons patrol the skies, as they have for centuries on end, while we will now patrol the water, and occasionally the sky, as we learn those skills.”
“Word has reached us of these events, Lord Skelaroth,” Drake spoke for the human part of the leadership. “And we have also recognized the union of our young folk with those of Gryffid’s island. We are glad to stand in unity with you on this important matter.”
Seth wasn’t a big fan of politics, but he understood the importance of the words and display. Some things had to be stated in public. No doubt there would be more private talks among the parties involved, but the public statements were for the benefit of everyone else.
To that end, it wasn’t long before the leadership and Lord Skelaroth left the great hall, in order to facilitate private talks between them. Skelaroth had brought two other sea dragons with him, and they remained in the great hall, renewing their acquaintance with Hrardorr. Both seemed very interested in meeting Hrardorr’s mother, as well.
Breakfast was almost over, but nobody seemed to want to leave the great hall. There was an air of excitement in the Lair. Skelaroth and his companions were something new. Something that had never been seen before—or at least, not in a very long time. Sea dragons were the stuff of legend, and everybody wanted to get a good look.
Into this walked Genlitha and Gowan, clearly having just come from a dawn patrol. Gowan was still dressed in his light-colored flight leathers when he spotted Livia and Seth at the table. He came right over while Genlitha made her way to the cluster of dragons.
Gowan greeted Livia with a kiss on the cheek and a smile. “Seems like there’s been some excitement here while we were aloft.”
“Does Genlitha realize she’s about to meet Hrardorr’s parents?” Seth asked quickly, hoping to get word to the dragoness if she didn’t already know.
“She’s spoken of nothing else since she first heard about their arrival. The dragon gossip column is in full effect this morning. We had only just reached our patrol zone when she was contacted by another dragon about Hrardorr’s family arriving. She turned around without so much as a word of warning and headed back here at full speed. She wanted to be here to back him up, if needed.”
“Oh, Hrardorr’s holding his own,” Seth was happy to report. “And you haven’t met his brother yet.” Seth guided Gowan’s attention to Cole, who sat watching the proceedings with a knowing grin. “Sir Gowan, this is Cole.”
“Hrardorr has had a human brother all this time?” Gowan asked, clearly as shocked as Seth had been at the news. Even so, Gowan reached across the table to shake Cole’s hand. “Welcome and well met, Master Cole.”
“Thank you, Sir Gowan,” Cole replied modestly. “It is good to meet you. Thank you for being friend to my brother. We have not been close, since he was grown and already had a knight of his own when I was born, but he is still my brother. I care for him a great deal and am glad he found such fine friends in all of you during his time of need.”
“He is a remarkable dragon,” Livia said quietly, speaking for them all. “And a dear friend.”
They spent a good few minutes talking and getting to know one another. The conversation was friendly, and Cole proved himself to be an amiable companion. Seth kept an eye on the dragons and thought perhaps the meeting between Hrardorr’s parents and Genlitha had gone well, though he couldn’t know for certain just by body language. Still, it looked promising.
The great hall began to empty out, but the small group stayed talking, long after the rest of the Lair had to go to work. Gowan had handed off his patrol to another because Genlitha refu
sed to be anywhere else at that moment, which Seth found interesting.
Their discussion was interrupted when a young messenger came to tell them they were wanted in the Dragon Council meeting place. Every Lair had a Dragon Council that met wherever there was room for all the dragons to gather. Usually, that was outdoors, on top of the Lair. Some Lairs had natural rock formations on top of their mountains that served as meeting places, some had purpose-built amphitheatres where the dragons could sit on terraced steps so they could all meet to discuss important matters among themselves.
The Southern Lair had a natural amphitheatre at the top of the cliff into which it was built. It was a place humans didn’t often go, but that was starting to change now, with the new leadership. The old leaders had been content to let the dragons do as they wished among themselves. Most of the retirement-age knights were happy to live out the remainder of their comparatively short lives quietly, while their dragons planned for the rest of their own very long lives. Dragon affairs became less and less of an interest to the aging knights, and the Dragon Council was left to their own devices.
Not so now, with the young leadership and fresh blood. Or so Seth had heard since returning to the Lair. The grapevine was abuzz with all the changes, and this was a major change. Seth supposed the leaders had taken Lord Skelaroth up to the Dragon Council amphitheatre so that any dragons who wished to could see the sea dragon leader.
And now, they had been summoned. Hrardorr, Genlitha, Gowan, Seth and, strangely, Livia too. Seth wondered what was afoot, even as he walked with the small group toward the ledge from which they could launch to make the short flight up to the Dragon Council meeting place.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Livia had never seen anything like it. The place where the Dragon Council met was as amazing as it was hidden. The rugged terrain made it impossible to get to other than by air, she noted as Genlitha circled for a landing. Livia held tightly to Gowan as Genlitha made a steep descent.