Tales of Eldelórne

by Karleigh Bon

  “It has been almost seven turns of the moon,” Fionna finally said, trying not to look as grim as she felt.

  She brought him some broth and fed it to him by small sips from a cup. He looked at her face, so close, as she put the rim up to his lips to drink.

  “Seven,” he repeated between swallows.

  “Seven is not but a blink in the eye in the life of the Edhellen.” He looked sad again, remembering how captivity felt.

  “...It was like an eternity of suffering,” his face screwed up in pain, and he choked on the food. “I would gladly sleep... can we go to Naalin’s island and sleep?” he began to whimper with imploring eyes.

  Fionna wanted to cry. She couldn't stand seeing Roevash this way.

  “We will talk about that later, brother,” Eijlam said quietly, preparing to leave. He held Roe’s gaze a moment.

  “Please be strong for us,” EJ said.

  “You always fought for me, little brother ... I never thanked you for that... I wanted to thank you...” Roe said, sincerely wagging his head against the rope.

  “I know now of your efforts to keep me from injury,” EJ answered him.

  Eijlam lifted his brother’s face in his hands so he could look into his eyes reassuringly. Roe tried to smile.

  “Remember that vow I could not keep,” EJ asked, and Roe nodded, “There are things in this realm that are out of all control brother. We can only watch out for each other and live with what may come.” Roe nodded again as EJ planted a kiss that was a solemn vow, solidly on his brother’s lips.

  “Always remember that,” EJ said seriously, forehead to forehead.

  “I love you, little brother,” Roe said soberly. “I am glad to be here to tell you this myself.” His eyes told of his sincerity.

  With a final hug, EJ urgently departed to go clean up any traces of the cavern that was left outside. Fionna continued to feed Roevash broth and the last piece of weybread that they had.

  Ej gathered up foul-smelling clothes and weapons. He carried them across the river and then dragging them on the ground as he ran south to the ocean edge. He made a scent trail away from where they hid. He spread them along the beach and threw them into the water to make it seem like Roevash had drowned himself.

  “They may still find us,” Eijlam thought as he washed himself off in the brine of the ocean waves.

  He started back, dodging through hills and around rocks to scatter any leftover scent. The sky was lit up with a full moon. EJ found he could navigate easily through the underbrush as he ran.

  Sudden darkness covered the landscape as a shadow blotted out the moonlight. It was the massive body of the low flying black drake gliding silently through the air above.

  Ej was lucky to be near a dead tree on a stony outcrop, and he moved quickly into the shadows. The dragon, being preoccupied, did not seen him and continued on its path north.

  “So the darkness is again upon us. The dragon returns to its lair,” EJ said to himself.

  He saw a rabbit and quickly ran it down to bring back a supper for Fionna. He also found some large bird eggs. EJ stuffed them gently into his pack after cracking one open in his mouth and finding it fresh. He was picking some herbs when he felt the paralyzing pain of sudden violence tear at his heart.

  “Fionna!” his senses reeled as he jumped across the boulders in front of him, and ran at full speed back to the base.

  +++

  Surmanos had sensed the half-breed as he flew over the area and woke inside a dimly lit room.

  “The sister is here,” he smiled greedily to himself. She had secured his body in rope shackles. From this, he knew she would not trust him. He watched her in the dim glow of firelight. Her black tattoos seductively traced down her shoulders and up the backs of her legs. His eyes squinted in an evil glare as he felt his desire rising in his body.

  “Please, untie me,” he breathed out the words with his low rumbling voice.

  “Your brother means to leave you tied until he gets back.”

  “There is another ... brother,” Surmanos said to himself, sensing the danger.

  “How many more elves are there,” Surmanos asked with a calming voice.

  “Just our own,” Fionna answered, “we have not found any more kin since you have been gone.”

  “Come to me...” The dragon lord hissed into her mind, taking control of her thoughts, and pushing her unguarded will into darkness.

  Fionna could not stop herself. She turned away from the fire as in a trance and came to the front of him. He sat tied against the wall with his arms held helplessly apart by the ropes. She viewed his handsome face eye to eye as she pressed closer and began to open the front of his shirt. With eyes riveted to one another, she tickled his sneering upper lip with the tip of her tongue. Her hands worked to free him from his clothing, echoing the mindset of the dragon. He tingled inside as his body grew thick with anticipation. He commanded her to untie the ropes. His long tongue tasted the salty sweetness of her skin as she leaned forward, reaching to untie his left wrist, and then … he was gone!

  “Noooooo!” Roevash howled, realizing the monster had come back. He frantically kicked Fionna full force away from himself.

  Her body slammed into the stone hearth across the room. He was mercifully, trying to kill her the only way he could.

  +++

  Surmanos was torn back into the body of the dragon that had strayed too far from his stolen vessel. The dragon let out an angry roar as it turned again, spinning madly as it landed.“It has somehow escaped my elaborate prison! Those incompetent priests I shall end them all,” he raged. The black drake desperately searched the mountains of Illianheni for his half-breed vessel.

  +++

  Roevash was raving mad, hanging himself against the wall when EJ slammed through the door. The bindings held, but he was straining so much against it, the thin rope cut into his wrists. Blood ran down his forearms as he jerked himself forward, again and again, and again.

  “He knows of you now, brother. I tried to save her. Do not let him take you. Kill her. End yourselves," Roevash bellowed hysterically.

  Fionna was lying across the room dangerously close to the flames. EJ could smell flesh and hair burning. He quickly pulled her unconscious body away from the hearth before she completely caught fire.

  The dragon's presence filled Roe with blind panic. His eyes wide in terror, he spat foam from the corners of his mouth. He flailed madly against the ropes as he slumped down in exhaustion; still thrashing; trying to find the strength to somehow end this madness.

  “I am not afraid of what might come,” EJ tried to calm Roe down with his voice so he would stop struggling.

  EJ remembered Fionna’s pack had a slumber potion. He found the tincture, and he poured some drops in Roe’s lips to make him sleep.

  “I know you will not fail me, brother,” EJ whispered as Roe’s pleading eyes fell silent.

  Dragon Heart

  Chapter Forty Eight

  EJ carried Fionna quickly to one of the sleeping rooms and laid her on the nearest bed. She was severely burned deep into the left broken shoulder and knocked completely senseless. EJ took a calming breath and let it out as he squeezed his eyes in concentration, and the familiar healing light came to him.

  “Roe is lost,” Fionna’s voice echoed her last thoughts. She woke from a bad dream in a pitch-black room. She scowled and then stood frowning at the apparent blindness in her eyes as she waved her fingers in front of her face and could not see them.

  “He has been damaged almost beyond all hope. If he finds out about my sister, in this frail minded condition, he will be driven over the edge, never to return.” She pleaded to whoever could hear.

  “I know this weighs heavy on your kind heart,” Eijlam answered.

  “He was my friend,” she rambled, turning, and walking into the darkness.

  “The dragon is nearby outside looking for him,” she said flatly.

  “I know,” EJ took her face in his hands.
In her blindness, she could not focus on him. She heard a distant voice echo, “You have to wake, wake, wake up, up, up.”

  “It might be mercy just to kill him.” She turned away grief-stricken. She wanted to die with that thought.

  “Fionna, you must come with me,” his voice persistently sang to deaf ears. EJ desperately reached for her hand, but she spun around, again disappearing into the shadows.

  “Fionna, COME WITH ME!” He raised his voice, and the darkness shook with a rumbling quake.

  “Ow, that hurts.” She stopped moving and clutched at her shoulder. She turned, suddenly sensing a closeness.

  “My eyes have gone dark,” she cried, half out of her mind.

  “Eijlam,” She said his name.

  Startled that she had not recognized him before, she reached for him.

  “EJ. Help me!” Her groping fingertips found his hand in the darkness. He led her back, stumbling and crying through a vast starless void towards a bright glow. She felt his arms pull her close and wrap around her. She felt his breath on her face. Lips gently kissed her eyelids and then her temples. Fionna felt a warm sensation flow over her as the pain and confusion melted away. She put her hand up across her brow to shade her eyes as she stood alone in the sudden glare of his light.

  “You are my heart...” EJ’s words reverberated in her ears as both their eyes fluttered open in the dim room of the ranger outpost.

  “That... was not good,” Fionna moaned, feeling the soreness of her beat-up ribs as she inhaled deeply and then breathed out slowly. She felt heavier than usual with her face smashed into the old cot materials. She didn’t move. EJ sat next to her holding her fingertips to his lips. After he gently kissed and then blew on them, he said, “We are a tougher kind of Edhellen my Fionna. I swear it.”

  Ej filled her senses with his brilliant smile, and she thankfully took it all in.

  He was anxious and fidgeting as he spoke, "I wonder if our daughter will be as strong as her beautiful mother."

  He had a meek look of sweetness as he said it.

  Fionna smiled from the bed, “You mean son,” she said, thinking of Elgelion.

  “No, I mean daughter...” was all he had to say and her eyes locked into his. She stared back at him, suddenly realizing what he was telling her. She was too young to bear offspring, but it seems nature wasn't keeping within the rules this time.

  “I will be happy about this when our home is safe,” she said, looking concerned. They would have to sort out the rules later.

  EJ just nodded as they gazed into each other’s eyes. He leaned forward and kissed her softly; noses tenderly lingering together a moment before he drew back.

  “I am glad you are both unscathed," he tried not to sound ominous.

  "Rest now. We may have a serpent to deal with if Roe is still not with us,” he whispered.

  Fionna suddenly looked exhausted.

  Eijlam got up to tend to his brother.

  +++

  High King Feldaron’s forces arrived at Ettenfahls. They finalized their attack strategy into the old goblin ruins in the mountain.

  An army of five thousand men descended into the tunnels from both directions. The surprise attack destroyed the horde at its source. The dragon was not there to defend its twisted cult as the soldiers flooded the caverns with oil and fire and let the flames engulf every chamber. Thick gaseous air ignited near the rock ceiling. It exploded and crashed down with crushing heat, destroying their evil inventions.

  The king’s men blew up the entrances, sealing it up forever. If any survived inside the caverns, they would soon be dead under the weight of the fallen mountain. It seemed the east and west valleys were now safe again from the ravages of the Shadow Cult.

  +++

  “This was way too easy. Where is the dragon, and where are Eijlam and Fionna? They should have returned by now. There was also no sign of Commander Roevash in all this either.” Dakein wouldn’t buy into the victory the general was handing out. His friends were still missing. There were too many unanswered questions.

  The fort sent out their own men on horseback to search the valley for the dragon and their lost commander in hopes that he had somehow escaped the devastation. Dakein also sent riders south and west to fan out for any signs of Eijlam and Fionna.

  +++

  Roevash glared at Eijlam as he entered the detainment room.

  “Did you save your stinking she-elf...” Surmanos said flatly. “I could smell her... She has bred easily...” he spoke dispassionately.

  Eijlam stood silently, watching for signs of weakness from this enemy.

  Lord Surmanos paused, turning Roe’s face strangely sideways, studying his prey.

  “Your thin rope would not hold me if I let it cut these hands off.” He jerked them both hard, making the heavy steel rings clang against the stone wall. Hot blood gushed down to his elbows as he considered it.

  “... I do like these hands... I use them to rip heads off before I eat them. The best part of a kill is the beating heart freshly torn away,” he snickered at that thought. Lord Surmanos turned his head toward Eijlam, with the cold expression of the dragon, and sneered, showing all Roe’s teeth as he demonstrated how he would eat the raw meat of human flesh. He liked seeing the horrified expression on the scrawny elf’s face as it struggled to conceal its emotions.

  “When my dragon finds us, I will take you first. I will use your own hands to rip your stinking spawn from her belly... before I end you. Of this, you can be sure…” He laughed maniacally as he continued his verbal assault.

  “She will not care when she is under my command. Your brother can not help you. He is tied up,” Surmanos sadly shrugged his shoulders, mocking Eijlam’s hopelessness.

  “When it is her time to breed again, she will beg me to take her," he roared in laughter. His head lulled in a circle, and his laughter faded.

  The body hanging in the ropes convulsed as the dragon moved too far away above ground in its search for their hidden location.

  Roevash came back, eyes terrified, released from the monster’s possession. He thrashed against the wall, violently again.

  “Kill me, kill yourselves, Oh Lords, there is no time!” Sobbing and writhing, Roe fought a losing battle as the fallen Lord pushed his way back into his mind.

  “Ellinduil was right. There is nothing this evil would not do," Eijlam said as he helplessly observed the monster retake his brother. Bulging veins and neck muscles strained in frustration against Eijlam’s rope.

  “The dragon hunts you now,” the fallen Lord Surmanos yelled in anger, wholly inside his stolen vessel.

  “It is only a matter of time…”

  “Not yet leech,” Eijlam’s eyes narrowed as he picked up an iron fireplace tool and bludgeoned it back into unconsciousness.

  “Do you mean to kill him!” Fionna screamed as she came rushing down the stairs, alarmed at the sight of EJ’s actions. Roe’s face was turning a bloody purple where he had hit him.

  “Not unless I have to,” Eijlam abruptly said through pursed lips. He was barely able to compose himself as the metal rod clashed against the far wall where he threw it. He wanted to tear the mad gods head off for the vile things he’d just said.

  “I have to tell you something now Fionna, and you must listen to me carefully!” he snarled in agitation as he stomped up the stairs.

  He took her by the hand and quickly led her out of earshot in case the monster woke up. He also knew Fi would probably be yelling during this next part.

  “The dragon is, in a way, also possessed. It is animal, born from its egg. It would fly away to its own kind if the cult had not drawn it to us. The fallen one, Surmanos, or what is left of him, had been joined with the beast. Like the mushroom found feeding off the inside of the rotting tree.” EJ grasped for better words. “The fallen one was made aware of his godhood by the cultists while still in his dragon form. He is always struggling with the dragon’s nature.”

  Fionna had a blank look on her fa
ce, but she shook her head as if understanding; wondering where EJ was going with all this.

  “Surmanos is a lord of Ilmatar. He is, or was once, as my own Lordly father in beauty, power, and ability.”

  Fionna listened patiently.

  “By now, he must desire to keep my brother’s body completely to himself. He wishes to build a kingdom among men. As it is now, he can never be too far from his dragon.”

  “The dragon is tethered to whomever he has possessed," Fionna said as she nodded her head again.

  “Yes, and you can observe how it vexes him when he loses control of his puppet body. It must tax his limited powers to be crossing between bodies,” EJ continued, realizing something new with that last part. “This is why he needs the blood of his cultists to fuel his power!”

  Fionna took a deep breath and sighed.

  “In all these past months he has separated from the dragon's body enough to know he can survive without it. The dragon must be a burden to him now. He must want to be rid of it..." EJ tried to clarify but was met only by Fionna's puzzled expression.

  “Too many words,” he thought, “I must get to the point…”

  So he blurted out, “I plan to kill the dragon and then let the fallen one possess me.”

  Fionna looked horror-stricken.

  “He has already threatened to do so…” EJ tried to assure her, but her face was turning a bright color of pink.

  “No! I will not let you. Not now, not ever!” Her hand unconsciously touched her belly as she fearfully locked onto his gaze. “There is another life to consider here... and Elgelion! You got all that wisdom from watching him for ten minutes? Have you gone mad," she raved at him as she reeled around trying to breathe.

  She had a good argument, but EJ was focused on the task at hand and would not be dissuaded.

  “Fionna... I must take him to the Lords of Ilmatar to stand for his crimes. It is the only way to rid this realm of the fallen one permanently. Roe cannot do this. Only I have my father’s light… I can hold him…”