Chronicles of Den'dra: A land on Fire

by Spencer Johnson

  “I have enough of a resemblance to Em’risi that after she escaped, Reigns used me to keep the people happy. Torroth rescued me.” Anissa took up the tale briefly until she realized everyone’s eyes were on her.

  “It was more Cero’s doing, but we all worked together.”

  “It sounds dangerous. How old is this Cero? Is he the leader of the team she is with?” Mytera looked unsettled by the story she was hearing.

  “No, he isn’t the leader. Probably no older than Inadar is. He is the other Dragon Lord, but they don’t seem to have their powers yet. The Asgare is the one that is really in charge.”

  “The Asgare…? I thought he was dead.” Encer sat up in surprise.

  “From what I was able to gather, that was the idea. He is Cero’s adopted father.” Torroth gloomily recalled that his sudden disappearance with Anissa was unlikely to garner any goodwill from the legendary assassin.

  “What has Inadar gotten herself into…?” Mytera mournfully wrung her hands.

  “She has done what she was always going to do. Get in over her head. We didn’t have a choice, but I knew she shouldn’t have gone.” Encer shook his head.

  “I told Onwier that I need to speak with Iradaemi and Setur. Any idea when they might be coming by?” Torroth suddenly felt the strain of the last few days. He could only imagine how Anissa must be feeling.

  “I don’t know about Setur, but Iradaemi went south for a while. She said that the elves might have a soul forged weapon. Onwier has been the one patrolling the border in this region since the other two left. Every now and again one of the younger ones makes a circuit through. I think it is mostly so they can say that they have seen humans up close.” Encer explained what Torroth already either knew or suspected.

  “That is pretty much what Onwier said. Do you mind if Anissa stays with you until things get straightened out?” Torroth’s voice quavered a little making his request sound more like a plea than he had intended.

  “Of course she can stay with us. You both will stay. It will take a little while to build you your own place, but until then, our home is your home.” Mytera stopped when she detected the flicker of desperation in Torroth’s eyes.

  “You are afraid. Of what?” Encer inquired pointedly.

  “I saw what it is like out there. Inadar is in danger. The whole Braebach is going up in flames. I can’t just sit idly by.”

  “Torroth please…” Anissa had never brought the topic up during their wanderings, but had always seen it in his eyes.

  “I have to. I never wanted to leave here in the first place, except it is worse out there than I had thought possible. I can’t stay here where it is safe. I have to go back and do what I can.”

  “Every man has to live up to their own values. Without them, we are nothing.” Encer grimly observed.

  “Where are my manners, come, let’s get you cleaned up. I will get your old room made up. Just make yourself at home.” Mytera busied herself with the preparations for the guests. Supper consisted of a pot of soup, smaller than would have been normal for the extra people, bolstered with fresh vegetables from the garden. The meal was simple, but that simplicity was refreshing and could even be termed extravagant when compared with the road fair that they had been consuming for the last few days. The trip from the cave, where the Asgare had been in the deep sleep, had at most taken a week and a half, but it felt like a greater span of time had elapsed since they had a chance to relax. Relaxation proved a drug, that once consumed, rapidly took control of all their exhausted facilities. Mytera noticed in the middle of her regaling them about the newest member of the village and promptly rousted them. Before they were awake enough to realize what had happened, they were both standing in Torroth’s old room with some nightclothes in hand.

  “I can sleep on the floor.” Torroth knew he had made a mistake when he saw the ire thinly veiled in Anissa’s eyes.

  “I can also sleep on the floor. This is your room after all.” Torroth flinched as if feeling the razor sharp edge of sarcasm hidden in Anissa’s offer.

  “You should take the bed. I am well able to spend another night on the floor.”

  “It is your bed. I never slept in a real bed until I was taken to the castle.”

  “What is wrong Anissa? I want you to have the bed. I never meant to argue over this.”

  “You never warned me that you intended to introduce me as your wife.”

  “So that is it. The dragons are under standing orders to keep any strangers out of the village and I thought that Mytera and Encer would be more inclined to like you if they…”

  “If they thought that I was your wife? They seem to me to be as kind hearted as any I have ever seen. I doubt they need a deception to feed me and give me shelter for a couple nights.”

  “A couple nights? Anissa, you will be safe here. They can make sure you are well taken care of after I leave.”

  “You are leaving? Why…? Never mind, I know why. Your foolish notion of duty.”

  “Foolish? It isn’t foolish. You know as well as I do what is happening out there. I don’t even know if I am going to survive tomorrow’s meeting with the dragons. They are going to be enraged when they find I lost Inadar.”

  “Let the deep have the dragons. You too for that matter. I don’t care anymore.” Torroth got the same gut feeling he would get every time he found himself on thin ice and decided that it was time to change the topic.

  “Was it true what you said when Mytera asked you if…”

  “I said that we are in love. I hope I wasn’t lying when I spoke for you.”

  “No, of course not. I love you like I have never loved another.”

  “Then stay with me.”

  “Anissa… Don’t ask that of me, I beg you.”

  “Then take the bed.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Then I will also sleep on the floor.” Anissa crossed her arms impatiently waiting for Torroth’s response.

  “It would be a shame to waste the bed. On top of that, there isn’t enough room on the floor for the two of us. Take the bed.” Anissa scowled furiously as she tried to think of a comeback equaling Torroth’s, but finally threw her hands up in frustration. The rest of the night was spent in silence until a dragon’s roar sent Torroth sitting bolt upright covered in a cold sweat. He hadn’t removed any clothing for the night so a moment later he had brushed the blankets off, leaped to his feet, and was rushing outside. Anissa, on the other hand, was delayed a minute and by the time she got to the door, Torroth was nowhere in sight.

  “That sounded like Iradaemi. She doesn’t countenance tardiness. Must had flown through the night to get here this early.”

  “She won’t harm him will she?” Anissa recalled Torroth’s fears from the night before.

  “Iradaemi is a strange one. She acts as if she doesn’t care about humans, but the truth is, she is the one that fed us the winter after the storehouse burnt. I doubt that she is going to hurt Torroth. It is odd really. They all seem to feel that we are their possessions in a way. Perhaps we are in a way.”

  “Onwier seemed nice. At least as nice as a dragon can be. I got the feeling that he is fascinated with the human language.”

  “Ha, I have a terrible time talking with him.”

  “Encer… Can I ask a favor of you?”

  “Anything. As long as it is within my power.”

  “Torroth told me that you are the burgomeister of Dragon’s Hamlet.”

  “I founded this village so I guess I am.”

  “Can you perform a marriage?”

  “Would this have anything to do with the… the discussion that you and Torroth had last night about the floor?”

  “You heard…”

  “You weren’t exactly quiet. Mytera was a little mortified, but she saw the sense of it after a little fuming.”

  “I'm so sorry. Torroth never spoke with me about it. That is why we were… loudly discussing it.”

  “So you want to marry him?”

/>   “Yes.”

  “What does he have to say about this?”

  “He won’t have anything to say about it if I have anything to do with it.”

  “How do you mean?” Encer smiled faintly.

  “He loves me. I know he does, but that isn’t enough to stop him from running back out there to fight in the war. I don’t know what he will do, but I want him to know that I will be waiting for him.”

  “I see. He already has a reason to come back, but you want to make it an obligation. That’s a smart thing to do. Although, I don’t think it is necessary.”

  “Please. I was nobody until Reigns forced me to be his puppet princess. After Torroth rescued me, I was nobody again, only this time I was something to him. Since then, he has become everything to me.”

  “I understand. I had someone special once. A long time before I came here, there was someone I loved enough to do what Torroth did for you.”

  “You mean, you and Mytera?”

  “No, before I ever met her. Before we came here. Mytera and I, we weren’t anything for years. We just lived in the same house because we needed each other to raise Inadar. It wasn’t until Inadar left that we realized we had something between us beyond Inadar.”

  “You seem like you have been together for years.”

  “We have, except we just didn’t know it yet. I hate to seem insensitive, but how long have you known him? Two weeks?”

  “Nearly three. We have had the worst the deep can offer in the last three weeks. I am now a hunted fugitive. We were attacked by thugs every time we turned around. I wouldn’t have survived without him. I can’t imagine living without him now.”

  “I will do what you request, but only if Torroth agrees.”

  “I will speak with him as soon as he returns from speaking with the dragons.”

  “It isn’t much of a ceremony. We can do it as soon as he agrees.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I am not doing it entirely for you. I saw how his eyes never left you last night.”

  “I have one other question. Torroth and Inadar, he speaks of her a lot.”

  “Don’t be jealous. They were more like siblings. I think that might have been different except she scares him.”

  “I met her for only a short time, but she struck me as… strong? I don’t know another way to put it.”

  “That is as good a way to put it as any. She has a strong will, a strong sense of duty, a strong body and a strong temper.”

  “It seems like a paradox to describe her like that, but after having met her, it is fitting.”

  ***

  “Explain your meaning human. Where is the hatchling?” Torroth made a brief mental review of all the poor choices he had made that had led up to this moment.

  “She found the other Dragon Lord and a soul forging. I believe it is called Skeln’den’hal, or something like that.” Iradaemi responded with a long drawn out hiss that seemed to indicate that she wasn’t pleased with this news.

  “She should have returned here with Eld’or’s sword and the Dragon Lord.”

  “That would have been difficult. Cero and his father had no intention of coming.”

  “I have observed human females cause human men to do strange things for them. This power appears to come from within all human females. Why did she not make this Cero come with her?”

  “It is not that simple. Cero’s father is the Asgare. He is the one with the sword and Inadar didn’t want to come.”

  “Explain! Her mission is finished. Why does she not want to return to this place?”

  “Because she wants to help them. Cero and Urake are fighting a war.”

  “As are dragons. What is their purpose in fighting this war and why does the hatchling want to help them?”

  “No one is trying to fight the dragons any longer. I think Inadar likes Cero or something. I don’t know. I tried to convince her to come with me but she wouldn’t.”

  “She tricked us into letting her leave this place and now she refuses to return to safety… Eld’or has cursed us with this hatchling’s vagshu! By the deep and all the wrathy hordes… Tell me of the other Dragon Lord. Is he as stubborn as Inadar?”

  “He actually seems like a nice kid considering he was raised by an assassin.”

  “Assassin… Our hatching might be in grave danger. Tell me of this Shadow Reaper.” Torroth paused a moment before responding. It always took a moment to recognize when either the dragons or Inadar would unconsciously translate something from the ancient tongue.

  “The Asgare is legendary. He wields Ice Heart and is feared throughout the Braebach. Since the war started, he has been leading a unit fighting Reigns. I am afraid that she might be in danger.”

  “She is among humans. They are a dangerous race. She should be here in safety.”

  “I tried.”

  “And failed. This other Dragon Lord should also be here.”

  “Why are you so interested in protecting these Dragon Lords?” Torroth immediately regretted asking the question when Iradaemi wheeled on him with smoke steaming between her teeth.

  “They are kin to us. Dragons never abandon their own. You would do well to remember this in the future.”

  “I had no choice. It was either stay with her and face imminent capture and death or save Anissa.”

  “Anissa… A human female name. You being under the influence of a female explains why you left Inadar’s side. However, it does not excuse abandoning her”

  “It isn’t like that… I guess it is a little, but I am going back as soon as I can.”

  “Good.”

  “Finally, someone who thinks it is a good idea… If I may ask, why do you think it is good? I haven’t found a good reason myself.”

  “Inadar thought she had outthought us when she forced us to let her leave this Hamlet of Dragons. Rothlt saw farther than the hatchling. He saw that if she found the Dragon Lord, then we could find and retrieve them both.”

  “How do you plan on doing that?” It finally made sense now as to why the dragons weren’t more upset over the news. They had been waiting for this exact thing since the two of them had left.

  “She is kin of dov. We will find her.”

  “How? There are thousands of people in the Braebach. You can’t just find one among all of them.”

  “You have little faith in our lim?”

  “No offence intended, but no I do not.”

  “Then I will explain. My time in the south was not without profit. I spoke with Insignor and Essdra of the elven nobility. He told me that the ones we seek will be in the north.”

  “In the north… You still don’t understand. There is a lot in the northern Braebach. What if they are in Shienhin? Are you going to attack the city and hope to find your Dragon Lords?”

  “Insignor also said that the blue dov will speak of the place that we will find them. Setur is nearing us now.”

  “Anything else this prophetic elf thought to mention?” Torroth thought it impossible that even an elf could know what was happening in the north from the far south.

  “He said that two human warriors would be required for our mission to not see failure.”

  “You knew this the whole time. I can’t believe it. You played me from the moment that you announce your arrival this morning.”

  “You will join us on this glorious hunt.”

  “I figured out that much just now. I should be enraged at you, but that is the worst part. You are right. We have to save Inadar even if it means saving her from herself.”

  “Humans can seem to be exceedingly unintelligent, but then they have flashes of wisdom. I believe humans have a word to describe the rare event. Shocking. Or was that the effect of a storm of thunder… It is unimportant. Now one other human warrior must be found and we must hear Setur.”

  “If I didn’t know better, I would think you just complimented me.”

  “Do not presume to understand my meaning.” Iradaemi stretched and appeared to
be examining her wings.

  “I can’t help you with finding another warrior. These are just a bunch of farmers here. Can I ask you a question?”

  “There is nothing to do until Setur arrives so you may as well amuse me.”

  “At least you aren’t trying to eat me.”

  “Humans are unfit for consumption. What is your inquiry?”

  “I am thinking of asking Anissa to marry me. We aren’t actually married like I told Onwier, but I am thinking of asking her to marry me. I have only known her for a few weeks but…”

  “You aren’t yet mated and you wish for my advice. I am pleased. Two sparks of wisdom in the span of one sun.”

  “Don’t insult me. This is serious. How do dragons choose a mate?”

  “You ask a great deal of me. No one must be told of this. Dragons mate for life so we must be sure of our choice.”

  “That is why I am asking you. I know I won’t live as long as you, but I want to know how you make such an important choice.”

  “An important decision indeed. I will help you. Dragon females choose our mate when he hatches. A female dragon of a hundred years waits until she finds the male most suited to her. It sometimes takes many years, but when the sagno dov kea is sensed, then the female raises the hatchling to be her mate.”

  “That doesn’t help me. I just met Anissa a few weeks ago. She didn’t raise me; although, I think most women wish they had had a hand in their husband’s upbringing.”

  “Of course humans can’t take the time to raise their prospective mate. They rarely live to be one hundred.”

  “Why did you tell me if you knew it wasn’t going to help?” Torroth tried to keep the irritation out of his voice.

  “Because of this. Humans do not have the chance to ensure their mate becomes what they need to match themselves. They must find another human that fulfils these requirements. I understand it to be a crude method, but in the case of humans, it is unavoidable. I believe that leaving such an important thing up to sinam… chance, it is reckless. Your courting rituals are poor equivalents of our methods.”

  “Please humor me and tell me exactly what you are getting at.”

  “Is she a worthy mate?”

  “How would you define worthy?”