Omnixius
patreon
DKP 6-11 Dragons and dreams.
🕑 Added 2021-01-02 02:07:51 +0000 UTC“I knew something like this was going to happen!” Thayle roared as she cradled the weeping Lilly in her arms.
“My wives, please be strong,” Gersius urged as they watched the two sleeping dragons. Both Numidel and Sarah were unconscious from the severity of their wounds. The priests of Vellis arrived just as their aurae began to flicker and pulled them back from the brink, but it was close. Had the priestesses of Ulustrah not pushed themselves to exhaustion, they would not have made it.
Gersius demanded an accounting and was disturbed to hear the ground shook as the dragons suddenly became injured. Mingfe relayed the final message, which did nothing to soothe their concern.
“Lilly, please calm down,” Thayle urged as she held on tight. “Sarah is well; she just needs time to recover.”
“She isn’t well,” Lilly sobbed. “Her aura is so weak!”
Thayle tried not to cry herself as Lilly presented the truth. Sarah was severely injured and snatched from near-death by Mingfe's rapid efforts to stabilize them and the timely arrival of the priests of Vellis. A minute of hesitation and both dragons would be gone, the secret of whatever they learned with them. The injuries were mended, but such wounds often required a good sleep after healing. Gersius was at Sarah’s head, rubbing her scales as he watched her dreams.
“She is dreaming about the valley,” Gersius said. “She wants to live there.”
“We should go now!” Lilly urged. “I don’t want to fight this war anymore.”
“Lilly, please,” Thayle cried and tightened her grip. “Please, sweetheart, she will be fine in a few hours.”
“I am sorry this has happened,” Mingfe offered with a lowered head. “We saw no sign there was trouble until right before she woke up.”
“There was nothing you could do,” Gersius replied as he began to stroke the side of Sarah's massive head. “Thankfully, you recovered quickly and set the women to healing.”
“How did they get hurt in the dream?” Thayle asked. “And why would the injuries carry out here?”
“The ground shook as if they had fallen from the sky,” Mingfe said. “We even saw them bounce from the impact. Perhaps that is what caused their injuries?”
“Sarah nearly died!” Lilly wailed as Thayle cupped the back of her head, desperate to hold on to her own emotions.
Gersius watched Lilly for a moment before looking to Mingfe with concern. “And you saw a frost?”
“The whole hilltop was plunged into winter in the snap of a finger. It was as if Lilly were breathing her ice down on top of us.”
Gersius stood and looked about the scene of tension and confusion. Three thousand men and women now stood watch around the hill, the dragons far too vulnerable a target. The rest of the army was hastily breaking down the camp to move here. He would camp around the hill in a wall of defense until Sarah and Numidel were well enough to travel. To attempt to speed things along, he had the wagon of treasure brought and placed between the dragons in an attempt to feed them the life-giving energy.
“Something very unexpected is going on here,” Gersius sighed.
“But it should have been expected,” Thayle countered as she gently rocked Lilly. “You should never have let her go. It has taken the combined efforts of nearly every divine to counter this threat. What made us think Sarah could go directly to the heart of it alone?”
Gersius looked to Numidel, but Thayle cut him off. “You know what I mean. One more dragon obviously made little difference. The next time we face this enemy, it will be at the head of armies like it should have been in the first place.”
Gersius understood her pain, but she was overlooking a critical point. “Thayle, Sarah, and Numidel are far older and wiser than all of us combined. She assured us it was safe, so I trusted in her, as I trust in you and Lilly. I have no authority to demand my wives not do something because I have a bad feeling.”
Thayle went to argue but saw the rationality of his point. She lowered her head with a nod as tears began to roll down her cheeks.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I am not in my right mind. Too much has happened of late, and I find my heart heavily burdened.”
Gersius felt deep compassion for the woman who only recently had to face the fact that her order was fallible. One of the highest-ranking members of her order had proven to be as vile as the Father Abbot. She was working with the false father to wage a holy war against the truth. Another prime was dead, murdered no doubt by her command. Worse, this fallen prime was willing to corrupt a sacred artifact of Ulustrah to achieve her goals. It was a terrible blow to Thayle's belief in the gentle and pure nature of her order. Then came reports that women of Ulustrah were fighting for the enemy, willingly aiding the Father Abbot in his mad campaign to stop them. It caused her to question much of her belief structure, throwing her blind faith into doubt. She still held firm to Ulustrah but no longer believed any member of her order beyond question.
“Then you understand,” Thayle said as she read his thoughts, looking up with wet eyes.
“How did you do that?” Gersius asked in alarm, gesturing with his hand to the distance between them.
Thayle looked startled by it as well. They were close enough to talk provided they raised their voices, but reading thoughts was another thing altogether.
“I can hear your thoughts as if I was touching you,” Thayle said. “You are wondering if this has something to do with Sarah.”
Gersius nodded. He had indeed wondered if adding so ancient and powerful a dragon to their bind would have repercussions. The glowing heart that existed where the lines of their bind crossed swelled when Sarah joined. Now it was like a small star, pulsing with golden light that caused most women of Ulustrah to gawk. Certainly, such power had grown, and it should be of little surprise Thayle could now read his thoughts across a room.
“I did notice I could feel more of you the other day,” Thayle said silently in his mind. “I was speaking to Mingfe while you and Lilly shared a kiss. I was halfway across the camp, and I swear I felt your arms around me. Sarah has increased the range and level that we can feel of one another. Even now, I can feel something of Sarah, some level of regret.”
Gersius looked back to the tremendous red-scaled head and peered into her dreams. She was sitting on a cliff face, her long neck held high as the wind blew, ruffling her wings. She looked majestic with red scales over a powerful frame looming over the valley like a queen.
“I love you,” he said softly as he broke the connection. He stepped away and held up a hand, a good three paces between them, and once again saw her dream. No longer did he need physical contact to peer into her depths; such was the power she brought to their bind.
He stepped away and came to join Thayle and Lily, wrapping them both in a warm embrace as they cried.
“Shh,” he urged with a gentle tone. “She will be awake soon.”
“I should have been there to help her,” Lilly sobbed as her eyes came up to look into his.
“Lilly, we don’t know what happened,” he whispered, struggling to keep his tone quiet. “You might be asleep right beside them while Thayle and I cried over you both.”
She nodded and turned to hold on to him, finally freeing Thayle, who took a deep breath to calm herself.
“Well, this gives us some time to look for Alayse,” Thayle said as she wiped her eyes.
Gersius agreed; this would give them a pause to hunt for the missing second company. Thus far, the scouts said the road ahead was clear; perhaps he could risk sending nearly all of the south.
“I don't want you to take that risk,” Thayle said. “Sarah and Numidel are too vulnerable, and you will need the eyes to watch the surrounding lands. I will fly out with Lilly and see what we can find.”
“Sarah and Numidel have flown out before and found nothing,” Gersius said. “They might be aware there are dragons about and actively hiding when they spot one. You could fly right over them and not see them.”
“We have to try,” Thayle insisted. “If needs be, I will have Lilly land and walk the roads. I like it better when she walks anyway.”
“Do not be too long. They will be awake in half a day,” he pressed.
Thayle looked to the two dragons and shook her head. “Their aurae are weak. They are going to be out for another full day.”
“The gold should help them recover,” he suggested but understood Thayle just wanted to be away. “You two go when you are ready. I will see to it the hill is fortified, and all are safe.”
They were forced to wait until the wagon with Lilly's saddle arrived but were quickly into the air afterward. He watched as they flew into the darkening sky, feeling a sense of loneliness as all his wives were new away. He hadn't realized how accustomed he'd become to having one or more of them nearby. With a sigh, he returned to Sarah and knelt beside her head.
“What happened, my love?” he whispered as he probed her dreams. He smiled to see Sarah dream of being curled in a ball with Lilly tucked to her side.
“Do you know anything?” Gams asked from behind, having recently arrived with the wagons.
Gersius didn’t get up, shaking his head to indicate how helpless he was.
“I don’t understand this dream,” Gams added. “How do they get into it?”
“I don't understand it fully myself,” he replied. “All I know is when dragons sleep for long periods of time; they enter the dream. Powerful dragons like Sarah can enter it at will by meditating, but it functions like another world. They are awake there while they sleep here.”
“For what purpose?” Gams dared to ask, his gray hair blowing in a gentle breeze.
“They used it to meet and organize a vast society they called the order of the scale.”
“Used it? They don't do it anymore?”
Gersius looked to the sleeping dragon. All he knew of the ancient order of dragons was from her, but it was clear the order was long gone, lost with the near extinction of the dragons.
“It was based on age, with the oldest dragons ruling over the younger ones. There are no ancient dragons left to organize and rule over the order, so it no longer meets. Now they use the dream as a quiet place to rest, dreaming of hunting and isolation.”
“But somehow she managed to injure herself in this dream?” Gams asked, not fully understanding it.
“There are places in the dream where even the dragons do no go. Sarah went to one of these because from there she could call on the name of our enemy to try and force him to appear.”
“How would a Doan chieftain be able to answer a call in the dream?” Gams asked, rubbing at his stubbly chin.
Gersius looked down and realized they had to reveal their suspicion. The camp was told Numidel and Sarah were going into the dream to see if they could learn something valuable. For most, it was the first time they had ever heard of the dream, and only a basic description was given. Now that it had gone so horribly wrong, his command staff needed to know.
“Our enemy is not a Doan chieftain,” Gersius said as he looked up. “Our enemy is a dragon.” The silence told him Gams was not at all pleased by that revelation.
“You’re sure?” he said after a long pause, his voice hard as stone.
Gersius ran a hand along Sarah’s jaw and nodded. “Only a dragon could have replied to the call.”
“And they battled in this dream?”
“I do not know,” Gersius replied, his voice uncharacteristically weak. “She assured us it would be safe, that all the enemy could do was insult them and send them away.” He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back as Gams stared with eyes wizened with age and experience.
“Son, I am sure she will be fine. We both know what healing weakness is like. We have pulled each other back from the brink enough times.”
Gersius nodded, clenching his fists in frustration. “I have led men to their deaths many times. I always lamented their loss, but I find leading my wives into such danger nearly paralyzing. Knowing she was hurt while I could do nothing is a terrible burden.”
“Of course you do, because your hope is in them,” Gams agreed. “I have seen the change in your demeanor and the way you approach your goals. You aren't fighting this war to save the people of the old empire anymore, and your driving motivation isn't honor and glory for your god. You are fighting to end this war so you can start your family.”
“Am I that easy to read?” Gersius asked.
“Son, you can’t hide that from me. I know how badly you wanted a family years ago. I can’t imagine the desire has grown any weaker since you last mentioned it.”
“The dragons cannot provide children,” Gersius confided. “But Thayle has promised to have them for all of us. If I lost her, all our hopes would go with her.”
Gams took his hand away and stood nearby, chewing on a thought. “She is chosen of Ulustrah, and I might mention a quick thinker. She is a little slow to place judgment, though. Yarvine was clearly a danger to her position in the camp.”
Gersius laughed as he turned to face Gams. “We are all too slow to place judgment. How many warnings did the Father Abbot give us? How many questionable decisions did he make that foreshadowed this madness? But we are so conditioned to believe our leadership is infallible and can be trusted even when our very souls cry out that something is wrong.”
“You challenged him,” Gams pointed out with a pointed finger. “You called the formalizing of the raven guard a betrayal of principles. “You even called on the council of bishops to intervene, directly challenging the Father Abbots authority.”
Gersius nodded. “And look where it got me—sent out to lead every war on every front. My life spent endlessly on the battlefield, always a heartbeat away from death. That is what he was trying to do all this time. Keep me away from Calathen so I could not further my objections and perhaps get me killed on a distant battlefield.”
“Maybe that was his plan, but what he ended up doing was shaping the perfect weapon to end himself. You are battle-hardened and tested, more able to lead this force than any other man. You have friends who would die to protect you and wives who adore you. Even the divines favor you, each one giving you a high priestess for a wife, so their power would march forward with you.”
“Hmm,” Gersius said with a smile. “I wonder where my wife from Vellis is?”
Gams laughed, turning to face Sarah. “If she was smart, she is fleeing east as fast as she can. When she hits the coast, she should go south and hide in the southern kingdoms.”
“I suppose I will have to fly out and collect her then,” Gersius said with a slight smile.
“You are blessed, Gersius Udwan. Blessed by the divines and by the love of women. Don't let this war darken your heart. The time will come when the people will call you a hero again, and the life you always wanted will be yours.”
Gersius nodded, a stone expression on his face as Sarah slept beside him, recovering from her injuries. He looked forward to the day where she would lean on a balcony looking over the empire at his side. Lilly and Thayle would be there, filling their family with the simple love they shared. One way or another, they would achieve this dream and look forward to the new challenge of raising children.
“Where am I supposed to go?” Lilly asked as they flew to the south into cloudy skies.
“We head south and east until we find the river,” Thayle replied, using the bind to speak silently. “Then we scour the mile or two along the river bank looking for any sign of them.”
“Gersius said they might be watching the skies and would hide from us,” Lilly replied, turning her head just far enough to look back.
“They probably are,” Thayle agreed. “But so many horses will leave a trail. If we can find that, then you can land and follow it on foot. You are significantly faster than a horse, and we should catch them in no time.”
Lilly nodded and spread her wings wide, catching the wind as they soared through the night sky. An hour later, the river came into view, and they turned south, flying in a wandering path as Lilly used her keen sight to search the ground. Hours later, they had seen little save a dozen small towns, hundreds of farms, and miles of empty countryside. The moon's light filtered through small gaps in the clouds as Thayle grew ever more frustrated.
“Are you sure she is on this side of the river?” Lilly asked.
“No, we are gambling based on the evidence. Sarah and Numidel have repeatedly searched the other side and found nothing. She missed the battle to cross the river and is now days behind. As much as she and I don't get along, I respect her skill as a commander. She knows she missed the meeting and that we will move on without her. It makes sense she would cross the river the be veering to link up as we push in.”
“What about Jessivel?” Lilly asked. “He was sent out days before the river battle. We haven’t heard a thing from him.”
“I have no idea what's happened to him, but Gersius said he is skilled at locating people who don't want to be found.”
Lilly looked ahead, her eyes searching the clouds for any disturbance. She was wary of the mysterious storm Numidel reported when he attempted to explore this side of the river.
“I worry about that too,” Thayle said as she looked around, her long hair trailing behind. “Thankfully, it seems to have moved on.”
Lilly nodded and looked down, her sharp eyes immediately spotting something out of place. As her gaze focused in like a hawk, she let out a gasp.
“Do you see something?” Thayle asked.
“I see something,” she replied and folded her wings, going into a shallow dive. A minute later, she spread those wings wide to slow her descent before circling a ruined town and coming down in a field outside.
“By Ulustrah,” Thayle said as her dragon sight illuminated the carnage. Hundreds of bodies littered a field ravaged by war. Horse and men were strewn about, left behind to rot by armies that fled rapidly. Thayle saw the women instantly, the green and blue armor standing out among the carnage. On their shoulder was the double swords of the second company. Was Alayse finally found?
“Lilly, let me down,” Thayle said as she stood in the saddle. Lilly dropped to her belly to shorten the distance as Thayle dropped to the ground and began to walk among the dead. She knelt over a body garbed in black with a sash around its face. Turning it over, she wasn't surprised to see the dead gaze of an assassin from the deserts.
“She was ambushed,” Thayle said with a shake of her head as she looked up. “The Father Abbot has hired entire assassin companies to harass us now.” She turned about when Lilly didn’t respond to see she had walked across the field and was now sniffing at a dark mound. As her dragon vision focused on the shape, she could see why it had Lilly's interest. Carefully she crossed the body-strewn field to stand beside Lilly, who felt broken inside.
“Another dragon is dead,” Lilly sniffed. “I was supposed to be a light to Gersius’s people. A symbol of hope to save them. All I am is a catalyst of death that is ending the lives of dragon after dragon.”
“Lilly,” Thayle said with a hand to her leg. “You can’t look at it that way.”
Lilly’s head turned about to glare at Thayle with tears falling from her eyes. “Why are so many dragons dying? I wanted to teach them about love, not end their lives.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Thayle responded and grabbed Lilly's snout in a hug. “Your emotions have grown so much. You feel the pain of others now, but you can't bear this on your own. You are only doing what Balisha begged you to do for her. I am sure she wishes to free the dragons so they can learn about love and has a plan to do so.”
“She hasn’t told me,” Lilly replied. “Even if we win the war, the dragons will still be cursed, what few of them remain.” She looked back to the broken body and lowered her head. “Balisha, forgive this dragon and welcome her into your paradise. Comfort her when she realizes the joy she missed.”
Thayle felt a deep pain in Lilly's words that was magnified by the binding. Lilly eagerly wanted to share the new happiness she found and teach it to other dragons. To her, the time they spent alone brooding in a dark cave was a waste of their long lives. Seeing one dead before it could know the truth was a wound to her very core.
“Sweetheart, I need to search the area and get an idea of what happened,” Thayle said as Lilly turned to regard her.
“Go. I want to pray over this dragon and wish her well on her journey.”
Thayle nodded and stepped away, leaving Lilly to begin a sad song of low tones as she blessed the passage of the fallen dragon. With worry of her own, she searched the field of battle, slowly counting the dead of Ulustrah and praying Alayse was not among them. It was with some surprise when she found a man in red and white armor, the white eye of the seekers on her shoulder, laying side by side with the women. Jessivel had found them at some point, and his men died alongside the women of Ulustrah. It was to some relief that the number of enemy losses far exceeded friendly ones. In all, there were only thirty-one women, and two men dead in the battle, none of them Alayse.
The focus seemed to be the town in the center where crude barricades and walls of thick plants had been erected in defense. The bulk of the assassin dead seemed to be focused just beyond these barricades where they no doubt attempted to break through and reach the forces inside.
Thankful that Alayse had won the battle, Thayle set about looking for the route of their exit. It looked as if they left in great haste, the horse prints wide as they rode hard away. The path was to the northwest, angling to intercept Gersius as predicted. She took one last look about wondering what drove the second company to leave the bodies of their fallen unburied.
“Did you find anything?” Lilly asked as she appeared behind Thayle, her song now done.
“Alayse isn't here, but she was, and so was Jessivel. They are headed northwest at a near full gallop but won't be able to maintain that for long,” Thayle replied as she turned around to see the face of a mourning dragon. “Lilly, I am sorry this war is becoming so barbaric.”
“I don't know what I expected,” Lilly said. “I guess I thought I was going to be the only dragon in the war. I never thought there would be more until we met Shadros. Then I thought how wonderful it would be to show them what I discovered about love. I never expected them to stand against us and start dying for the same lie the priests of Astikar do.”
Thayle ran a hand along Lilly's jaw as the blue dragon sniffed in regret. She hated what this war was doing to them but knew it wouldn't end until both Calathen and the Doan were defeated. She knew there would be more regret for Lilly in the future and more dragons to sing over.
“Come on, Lilly,” Thayle urged, rubbing at the dragon's jaw. “We need to see if we can catch them up.”
Lilly lay down, allowing Thayle to climb up before setting off to follow the missing forces on foot. They slipped into the darkness of the countryside, hopeful of finding Alayse and returning in time to comfort Sarah when she awoke.
Lilly ran at a modest pace, her dragon endurance going on much longer than any man or horse. She easily negotiated hills and streams, crossing miles of land in minutes. She slowed where trees became thick, even flying over dense clusters and picking up the train beyond. As time wore on, Thayle began to work out what must have happened, sharing her thoughts with Lilly.
“The priests of Astikar must have battered that dragon down with their hammers,” Thayle suggested, knowing the women of Ulustrah possessed no such methods.
“That dragon wasn’t slain by hammers,” Lilly replied. “It was killed by another dragon.”
“What?” Thayle remarked in surprise. “How do you know?”
“The wounds,” Lilly replied with a glance back at Thayle. “I have been struck by many of those terrible hammers. You have seen the wounds they cause with broken scales and bruises. The dragon has a couple of these, but it died by being crushed by something larger. Its body is broken in a way I can't describe, and the crater underneath suggests it fell from the sky. She was probably already dead by the time she reached the ground.”
“Who would have done that to her?” Thayle asked, her mind not reeling with the new revelation.
“It had to be another dragon,” Lilly said. “I can’t think of anything else that could kill a dragon and hurl it from the sky.”
Thayle remembered stories from her homelands of wyverns, great winged beasts with leathery skin, and a bee-like sting in their tails. Legend had it they were large enough to carry away a small house, but nobody she knew had ever seen one. There were also the giant bat-like creatures known as terrocs, but they were only as big as an average man, certainly not large enough to tackle a dragon of even Lilly's size.
“That would mean this dragon was helping us,” Thayle said at last.
“Maybe,” Lilly replied and glanced back with a single blue eye. “Or maybe it had plans of its own and were both its enemies.”
Thayle felt a cold shiver run down her spine to consider the possibility that there was a third party in this terrible war. She consoled herself with the knowledge that the divines would be aware and working to thwart this foe as well. Even as she pondered the thought deeper, Lilly lifted her head high, sniffing at the air.
“I smell horses,” Lilly said as she crept over the countryside. She peered into the darkness, her blue eyes glowing brightly until at long last she looked back to Thayle.
“There are lots of women in your armor camped under the trees.”
“Oh, thank the goddess,” Thayle sighed, her heart hopeful that one mystery was finally over.
“Should I walk over there?” Lilly hesitated as she turned her head to see Thayle.
“Let me down, sweetheart. I will walk ahead and call you in when I have established your safety.”
Lilly nodded, laying down so Thayle could get off and approach the camp in the dark of night. She smiled when her dragon sight revealed the hidden guards, watching her from thickly grown hedge works. As she got closer, three of them finally challenged her, demanding to know who she was.
“I am Governess Commander General Thayle of Ulustrah,” she replied in a commanding tone. “I am wondering why my second is late.” The three women looked shocked as Thayle's light revealed her truth. With bows, they welcomed her and told her that the road was much more dangerous than anticipated. Thayle listened only briefly before looking to the women with a firm gaze.
“My wife Lilly is out there in the darkness. I am going to call her in now. Spread the word that she is a friend and not to be harmed.”
“Lilly is the dragon from the temple?” one of them asked with a nervous tone.
Thayle nodded and turned to the darkness, reaching over the bind to the hidden dragon. “Come here, sweetheart,” she whispered just loud enough for the others to hear.
A shadow moved and grew, becoming a large shape that seemed to stalk toward them. Two blue fires burned like torches, slowly increasing in size and luminance as the form of a dragon entered the moonlight. The women fell away, running through the camp to let them know as Thayle waited for Lilly to arrive before her.
“Did I scare them?” Lilly asked, looking to the fleeing women.
“I told them to tell the rest of the camp you were coming,” Thayle replied. A moment later, a tall woman with brown hair and a decorated helm appeared. She walked boldly up to Thayle though her eyes warily watched Lilly every chance they could.
“Governess commander Alayse will want to speak with you,” the woman said. “She is in session with the leader of the seekers.”
“In session?” Thayle asked, not sure what that term meant.
“It is difficult to explain. You will understand when you get there,” the woman replied and motioned them in. Thayle shrugged and followed as Lilly ducked under the trees, doing her best not to get tangled in their branches. Even before Thayle saw them, she could hear the words being spoken in anger as a man and a woman spared with words.
“You are the most uncooperative woman I have ever met!”
“That's because you think you hold some authority over me!” a woman replied, her voice full of anger. “I only answer to Thayle, and that only because Ulustrah raised her.”
“I am not trying to command you, only suggest you press due north and pick up the trail. By blazing your own path west, you risk further battles. Why not follow in the wake cleared by the larger army?”
“An excellent question,” Thayle asked as she walked around the dense hedge wall grown to create a private space.
Jessivel stood like a man who had smelled a foul scent, his face creased in disgust. Alayse faced him with arms crossed over her breastplate, a look of utter contempt for the man evident in her countenance. They both looked over as Thayle entered, and Lilly's tall neck reached over the hedge wall to look down from above.
“My commander,” Alayse replied, taking a knee. “I had no idea you were here.”
“Lilly and I just arrived,” Thayle said. “The better question now is, why are you here?”
Alayse stood and gave her report, explaining how they were being followed by the assassins and preyed on by dragons. She took her army across the river in the hope of losing both parties, but they eventually found them again. There were several battles culminating in the dragon fight. Alayse looked ashamed at this part of the tale where she had to admit Jessivel arrived just in time to save her. What happened after that chilled her blood as Alayse and Jessivel described the sudden storm and the dragon's death.
“Does that description mean anything to you?” Thayle asked over the bind.
“No,” Lilly replied silently. “I have no idea what that was or means.”
Alayse went on to describe how they were intentionally thickening the growth of trees to conceal their camps from the air. They were afraid of any further dragons locating them and terrified of what lurked in that storm.
“It was very unnatural,” Jessivel added. “A brief lightning flash illuminated something in the clouds.”
“Something?” Lilly pressed, causing all to look up.
“It was like a mountain,” Alayse said. “So large its edges were beyond view. It evoked such a panic in our forces we fled as soon as we were able.”
Thayle realized that explained why the bodies hadn't been buried. She also wondered if this was the same storm Numidel saw and if somehow it was related to what happened in the dream. “Is there anything more you can tell me?” Thayle asked, trying to make the pieces fit together.
“Yes,” Alayse replied, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “It started to snow.”
“Snow?” Thayle repeated as she remembered the frost Mingfe saw spreading over the hill.
Alayse nodded and recounted how snow began to fall from the sky as they fled the town. Their very breath becoming mist as the temperature dropped.
Thayle looked to Lilly, who understood the implication, echoing her concern in the bind. Somehow these events were related and even more troubling than originally anticipated. Perhaps Lilly was right, and a new player had taken the field, one that saw both sides in the conflict as enemies.
“Make sure your army is ready to march at first light,” Thayle said in a firm tone. “Lilly and I are going to fly back and report your location, then return to lead you to where we are camped.”
“Camped? Why are you not marching?” Jessivel asked.
Thayle looked up to Lilly, whose eyes went wide with pain.
“Because Sarah and Numidel are too injured to go on,” Lilly said in a pained voice. “We are waiting for them to wake up from the healing weakness.”
The words were not missed on Jessivel, but Alayse had to have it explained. When she realized that Sarah and Numidel were two dragons significantly older and larger than Lilly, she too looked shocked.
“We will be ready before dawn,” Alayse replied with a bow.
“Good, go straight north until Lilly, and I return.” With that, they left, eager to be in the air and report what they learned to Gersius. Hopefully, Sarah would be awake soon, and together they could figure this mystery out. With concern weighing down their hearts, they headed into the night sky, the dawn only hours away. They would be at Sarah's side just as the sun crept over the horizon. With any luck, she would be awake to shed some light on what happened and put their minds at ease. Otherwise, they would have to face a terrible truth, that the war just grew far more deadly, and something none of them was prepared for was moving against them.
Comments
Sam4005
ty for chapy
