Legon Ascension (15 page)

* * * * *

Phaedra crashed through the underbrush. Arkin was barely able to keep his hold. He wanted to slow down but the snapping from behind told him that the three Iumenta were still following. Luckily, Iumenta, like Elves, didn’t ride horses much if ever and Phaedra’s long legs helped her outpace the filth. It was a given that the Iumenta could jump from tree to tree like the Elves, but unlike the Elves their homeland was rumored to be open space, so they might not be willing to jump in the trees. Still, they weren’t magic users, and that was good news. It was dusk, casting the forest into near darkness. He couldn’t see anything. A branch ripped his shirt, cutting his chest. He swore.
 

A crack from above told him that one of them was in the trees and gaining. He chanced a spell slicking a passing tree. There was a THUD and groan from his other side. Now two more, but how to lose them? A thought came to him. He reached out with his mind, finding anything in the air. There was a small herd of deer—they would do. He raced toward them, freezing them to the spot with his mind.
 

The Iumenta were still coming, but further back now. He only had one chance to make this work. He burst into a clearing with the deer and scattered them with a thought. They bolted into the forest, loudly bowling their way through bush and brambles. His mind shot out again, panicking the animals and causing them to thrash and run aimlessly. Phaedra darted back into the woods, carrying him away from the mayhem. Through one of the minds he saw the Iumenta enter the clearing. Even with their more sensitive ears, they wouldn’t be able to hear him with all the panicking animals.

Not having long, he stopped and dismounted, urging Phaedra to the ground and covering her and himself with brush. He could sense the deer’s minds leaving as the Iumenta killed them off. As the last deer’s neck was snapped, the spell took its hold. If he stayed still and the swine didn’t get close, they wouldn’t find them.
 

The horse didn’t move, the spell being for her as well. He couldn’t afford to reach out with his mind on the chance he would touch the Iumenta. He heard them closing in, one still in the trees.

They were speaking Glosso, the language of the Elves, and Iumenta, so he didn’t catch everything they said, but he knew enough to see that his ploy hadn’t completely worked.

“Try and scare the horse, make noise,” a voice hissed in the tree above him.

Snapping and the sound of metal on metal filled the forest, but Phaedra couldn’t hear. They paced around, sniffing and looking. Arkin could tell they were young and didn’t have experience in the woods. If they had been older they would have been able to track him to his spot in a moment. After a while they left the area, but he didn’t dare move until morning.

* * * * *

Edis paced up and down the small family room. “Did she say what part of the woods she was going into?” he said to his wife, flustered.

Laura was wringing her hands. “I don’t know where she is. She’s never taken more than a few hours and it’s so late now.”

In response, Edis turned to look out the window to the pitch black night. Clouds were obscuring the moon, and he knew there was no seeing in the forest, but that was hardly the issue.

“Are you sure Elaine was correct?”

Laura stiffened, but not from him. “She said it went right overhead, taking light from the sky. What else could it be? I’ve seen them before when I was at school, remember?”

He did remember, and at the time he thought they were interesting, but as his youth faded so did his interest in Dragons.
 

“I’m going to go look for her, maybe she saw it and fell or something.” The something was what neither wanted to think about. Elaine said that its mouth had red on it but that didn’t mean it was Emma. It was probably animal blood.
 

Further concern became useless as Emma slid in the house through the back door. Edis whirled and felt the blood leave his face.
 

“So sorry, I didn’t want to wake…” Emma didn’t finish. Laura and Edis crossed the room in one movement and both wrapped their arms around the trembling girl, who started to cry.

As they stepped back, taking her in, Laura spoke first. “Was it the dragon?”

Emma’s head bounded up and down and her face paled.

Edis pulled the girl in close, like he used to do for his other daughter. “It’s ok, love. You’re safe now. Are you hurt?”

There was a cut on her face, she was covered in dirt and her clothes were torn up.

“I’m ok,” she said, not sounding it at all.

“What happened dear? Did you fall?” Laura asked.

She shook her head no. “I fell down a hill and landed in the mud, then the dragon flew down. It ate an elk that was nearby, then it saw me and I ran. But then I wasn’t running. I was glowing and flying and then I hit the ground and she was on me.”

Edis stopped her. “
She
was on you?”

“Yes, the dragon, it was a she, and she wanted information. She wanted to know if I’d seen an Elf. She didn’t give her name. She laughed at me and pinned me down with her paw and then flew off.” Emma sunk into a chair.

Edis felt ice water filling his insides. Laura looked like she felt the same. She gave him a worried look, and then it clicked in her mind.

“So, it just wanted to talk to her?” Brack said the following day.

They were standing in the back of the butcher’s shop.

“Yeah, right scary if you ask me. What is a Dragon doing by Salmont?”

“Well, hunting. Maybe it just wanted to eat.”

Edis gave Brack a look. “What? And figured it would ask some questions while it was at it?”

Brack shook his head and shivered. “Well, that’s simpler to think of than the alternative, which is that it was here for a reason. An Elf? Honestly.” He took a drink from a glass on the back counter. “You don’t think it was looking for your boy, do ya?”

That’s exactly what Edis did think, but wasn’t about to say it. “Does Legon seem like an Elf to you?”

Brack grimaced. “No, but they came looking for him didn’t they? And with the place we found him in maybe they think… I sound crazy. It’s just all this talk lately.”

“What talk?”

Brack looked confused. “Oh that’s right, you haven’t been to the tavern in some time.” He looked around furtively before going on. “They say there’s some new Elf lord that’s got the queen’s iron knickers in a dither, but the rumor is that he lived in the Empire for years. Hogwash if you ask me, but maybe if Emma is proof, there is something to it.”

Edis didn’t want to talk about this anymore and changed the subject to something less terrifying then a war with the Elves. After a bit longer Brack left, saying he wouldn’t tell anyone about Emma.
 

* * * * *

The handle to the wooden training sword vibrated painfully in Keither’s hand as he blocked a blow from Barnin. His combat training hadn’t actually started yet, but Barnin insisted on working with him before he went back to raid caravans. Barnin thrust at him and he paired, barely, and tried to slash back at him. This was not a smart idea. Somewhere between blocking and swinging, Keither lost his grip on the stave. Dropping his weapon wasn’t new. The problem was Barnin’s stave that was on its way to Keither’s head. There was that split second in which time slowed down. Barnin’s eyes flashed, realizing too late that there was nothing to stop his stave. Well, there was something to stop it, just not something Keither wanted to use.
 

There was a dull THWACK. Keither didn’t feel it yet, but he would. His head wrenched back and he toppled over. Now he felt it, and his hand flew to his face where blood was pouring down his chin and shirt. Pain throbbed from the center of his face to seemingly every part of his body. This wasn’t his first time getting hit in the head. Last time it was royal guard, but the wood hurt way more and his eyes popped with stars.
 

His ringing ears picked up a voice. “Are you ok?” The voice was Barnin’s. He didn’t sound panicked.
 

His eyes focused, and as he stood the concern on Barnin’s face left and he smirked. “Well, no you won’t drop your sword. Come on, let’s keep going.”

Let’s keep going?
He was appalled. He was hurt; they weren’t going to keep going. To his horror he heard the last voice he wanted to hear. Of course, Sara was home with her friend Sam. Both girls ran up to him and Barnin snorted.

“Are you ok? Here, let me look at you,” Sara said, pulling his hands away from his face.

She muttered something. “It’s broken.” She glared at Barnin. “What did you do?”

Barnin fired up. “I was teaching him and he dropped his stave. Don’t look at me like that! My nose has been broken a dozen times. He’ll be fine. We just need to move it back in place.”

“Move it back in place? Well obviously that’s what you’ve done on yours,” Sara shot back scathingly.

Barnin scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean? Come here Keither, it will just sting a bit.”

Keither backed up. “Get away from me!”

Barnin scowled. “Don’t be a wuss, come here.” He moved to grab Keither. “Stop it now, come on, I can see your vagina. Here, let me fix it.”

At last Barnin had gone too far. Sam, Sara’s friend, puffed up and the normally charming girl looked terrifying, “You can see his what? You sexist pig!”
 

Now Barnin was on the defensive for probably the first time in his life.
 

Sara walked up to Keither and silver light flashed. “Sorry about that, I had to do it fast before Barnin and Sam start killing each other, are you ok?”

“Yes, thank you,” he said, but it wasn’t his voice that answered. It was not nasal like before.

Sara looked at him with surprise. “You must have had a problem with your voice before, you sound a lot like...”

“Kovos,” is all he said.

Memories of his brother and his death came to him, and looking down at Sara all of his promises to himself came back. “Barnin, stop flirting with Sam, she’s out of your league. Let’s go again.”

Barnin turned wide eyed to him. “You sound like…”

“I know, Sara fixed me, now again.”
 

He picked up his stave and as he rose he saw Sara’s lips twitch in a smile. Sam took the opportunity to punch Barnin in the arm and returned to her friend.
 

* * * * *

Legon flopped down in his bunk, exhausted from a day of learning the ins and outs of working a ship, but at the same time he was too keyed up to really go to bed. He glanced in Sasha’s head to see what she was doing—no surprise, she was reading some book of Elvin poetry. Legon didn’t have anything against poetry, but the book Sasha had was about lost lovers and all that. He sent her an impression of dry heaving and she blocked him out. At some point he fell asleep.

He felt a sharp pain in his arm and woke with a start. “Ouch, what did you pinch me for?”

Sasha was kneeling next to him. They were in a misty field. He could hear waves crashing in the distance.

She spoke. “You’ll be fine, you wouldn’t wake up. What is this place?”

He got up and she steadied him. “For a dream, Legon you sure are needy. You’re normally stronger in my dreams.”

He arched an eyebrow. “In your dreams? You’re in my dream.”

She rolled her eyes. “What is this place?”

“It’s the field where I see the dragons. Well, the white one is here, but I’ve never seen him.” He pointed behind them. “Don’t go that way, trust me.”

She nodded, looking nervous. The waves were new. He’d never heard them before. In fact, it had been a while since one of these dreams and he hoped they weren’t about to start up again.
 

Sasha’s hand gripped his arm firmly and she whispered. “Do you hear that?”

He almost forgot to listen for it. “Yeah, that sound through the mist is the white dragon. I don’t think you’ll see him, maybe some blue, but that’s it. I’m not even convinced it’s the white dragon. It could be a blue one.”

The sound of heavy breathing was drawing closer. The mist looked to be thinning before their eyes. He gasped and Sasha yelped as a giant white dragon’s foot parted the mist to rest before them.

The scales were white and glowed, casting shards of light from them so that little rainbows of light danced across the ground. The dragon extended one golden claw and poked the ground with it, then pulled back in the mist. Where the claw touched, a plant started to shoot from the ground. Soon it grew into what looked like a rose bush. Buds appeared and lavender roses bloomed, filling the air with their rich scent.

“Sash, are those lavender roses?”

She leaned closer, as if speaking above a whisper was inappropriate. “Yes, they are extremely rare. Only the Elves really grow them, but they make roses in every color and shade. Is that a caterpillar?”

Sure enough, there was not just one but several caterpillars crawling up the stalks of the plant. As they moved they began to change, forming into white butterflies. One took flight and fluttered past them, its wings glowing white and veins of deepest purple running through them with wisps of gold along the tips. They were beautiful, but the bush was starting to wither away and die as the butterflies left it. Soon they were all gone and the bush was dead.

Legon spoke. “I don’t understand, what are you telling me?”
 

There was no reply, but he saw a flash of blue and awoke in a cold sweat, just like any other time.
 

He lay there for a time when he heard his cabin door open. “Hey Sash, can’t sleep?”

He looked at her, her face was covered in a sheen of sweat. “What’s the matter?”

She sat at the bottom of the bed. “You know those dreams you had about the dragons?”

“Yeah, I just woke from one. You were in it.”

She stiffened. “Was there a lavender rose bush and butterflies?”

“Yes.” A chill ran along his spine. “How did you…”

“I was there. You talked to him.”

This was starting to feel extremely uneasy. “He didn’t answer. How do you know that we can link in dreams?”