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Chapter Eleven

Part One

“Lorelei?” Valeria said softly as she entered the bathing chamber. The mermaid was lying in the pool with her eyes closed, but the healer insisted that she was awake. “Lorelei, can you hear me?”

There was a long pause before Lorelei opened her eyes and looked up at Valeria. “My Queen!” She formed legs and began scrambling to get out of the water until the healer grabbed her and pulled her back. “My Queen! I tried to stop them, but there were too many of them.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Ten

Part Ten

Dariad looked away from Alaryia. He’d never thought he would even consider trusting a goblin, but she’d been so helpful and right now her offer was very tempting indeed. But… She was still a goblin and he couldn’t discount the possibility that she was only being helpful to get him to trust her.

“I’m sorry,” he said after a moment. “I like you well enough, ambassador, but I can’t justify allowing you that much. My people wouldn’t stand for it.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Ten

Part Nine

Dariad had gone to Alaryia’s quarters to tell her he was going to be absent for several days and that Hreid would be acting as regent. The sole goblin he found in her rooms told him that everyone was down at the Mabain upwelling, working on the containment. He would have left a message but the tired looking girl told him that the stream was mostly contained now and he should be okay as long as he didn’t get too close. She hadn’t been certain though, so he held his breath as he approached the edge of the ledge. He’d also tied a rope around his waist and Hreid was holding the other end halfway up the tunnel, well beyond the range of the fumes. Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Ten

Part Eight

Kyle teleported to Darya’s side as soon as he felt his heart friend’s scream of  rage and distress. Ystelyan’s goblins were scattering in every direction to get away from the violent swirling waves that were bursting out from Darya, who was curled up in the centre of the large cavern and sobbing. Talira was kneeling on the other side of him with her arms around his shoulders, holding him. Kyle reached down their bond to try and find out why his heart friend was so distressed but the roil of confusion, distress and anger made wringing coherency from Darya’s mind impossible.

“Darya?” Kyle also knelt down and laid a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Darya just continued sobbing, but Talira looked up at him with worry-filled green eyes.

“One of his imps just came back,” she said. “The one he had watching his family. Something’s happened to his mother, but that’s all I could glean before he exploded.” She gently handed the merman over to Kyle. “I’ll go and fetch our mirian and one of the healers, they’ll be able to give him something to calm him down. We shouldn’t move him until he stops surging like this.”

“I know.” Kyle nodded reluctantly. He really wanted to get Darya somewhere where his hysterics would do less damage, but Talira was right that wasn’t possible.

“I’ll be right back.” She stood up and vanished in a swirl of blue fire.

Kyle turned his attention fully back to his heart friend. “Damn it, Darya! Get ahold of yourself before you kill someone!” He grabbed Darya by the shoulders and shook him. Darya gave an angry yell and tried to shake him off. Damn, he was pretty far gone not to recognise his own heart friend. Kyle steeled himself and slapped Darya hard across the face. His heart friend gave a surprised cry and his hand flew to his cheek.

“What? Kyle?” Darya blinked in confusion and stared around at the mess he’d caused. “Oh.” He gasped in a breath and the waves subsided as Talira reappeared with Ystelyan and another dragon Kyle didn’t know.

“Here,” the strange dragon held out a goblet to Darya, who still had tears trickling down his cheeks and was obviously only restraining himself from another surge with effort. “This will help calm you down.”

“Thank you.” Darya took the goblet and downed the contents, gagging slightly and pulling a face at the taste.

Ystelyan knelt down on the opposite side to Kyle. “Give it a few minutes to work,” he said. “And then you can tell us what has happened to your mother. It must be worse than when the Dark Warrior speared her in the shoulder. You just broke some crockery to calm yourself down that time.”

“It is.” Darya said flatly. Then he looked around at the mess he’d made and winced. “Damn, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“Indeed. Rill’s right, I need to work on your self-control. Both of you lose control far too easily.” Ystelyan waited a few more moments, obviously waiting for the roiling in Darya’s aura to subside to a reasonable level.

Kyle also watched his heart friend’s aura while he rubbed Darya’s shoulders. “Come on,” he whispered. “Pull yourself together.”

It took several more minutes before the spikes in Darya’s aura settled down and he nodded. “It’s that bitch Sirin she…” He trailed off and gasped in a few more breaths.”She’s helping Prince Maran in some kind of coup but Valeria had left mother in charge and… and…” He started sobbing again but Kyle had caught the images from his mind. From the snarl Ystelyan gave he’d seen it too.

“And Speakers dare to call us evil!” Ystelyan punched the floor. “I have never… would never… Did that nymph who grabbed her get her out safely?”

Darya looked up and nodded. “From what my imp saw she evacuated to Caerdu, but she was… I don’t know…”

Kyle rubbed his shoulders some more. “I’m sure she’ll be okay. Dariad has good healers.” He looked over at Ystelyan. “Can we find out for sure?” He clenched his fists. “And can we go and deal with the people who did this to Lorelei?”

“We can and once he’s pulled himself together, you can. Not that Valeria will thank you for it.”

Kyle just shrugged. “Who cares about that?”

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Chapter Ten

Part Seven

“How’s Lorelei?” Valeria asked urgently as soon as Alban slipped into Dariad’s study. He gave her a wan smile.

“She’s still unconscious and looks terrible, but the healer says she’s stable and should heal well – physically, anyway. He says she’ll probably need a lot of help to overcome the mental trauma of what was done to her.” He sobbed and choked out what Lydia took to be swear words in the Haltian language.

“Alban! Language!” Valeria said. “You shouldn’t call Sirin that. Even if it is appropriate.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Ten

Part Six

Only Valeria and Alban were in the throne room with Dariad when the portal opened. It was only two hours after Dariad had sent the imp to Xania, so she must have opened the portal almost as soon as the imp arrived which wasn’t a good sign. Nor was the fact that she’d opened a portal at all instead of just teleporting. Valeria glanced over at Dariad and saw he looked worried as well. He reached out and pressed one of the carvings on his throne.

“Hreid,” he said softly. “Go and fetch Brita.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Ten

Part Five

“What’s this Waldhafen place like?” Lydia asked Karen the next day. Korrig’s daughter was escorting the three of them from their chambers to the throne room.

“I don’t know,” Karen said. “I’ve never been there, but it has a good reputation.”

“Elapyron City had a good reputation as well,” Korrig’s daughter said sourly. “It doesn’t seem to have been well deserved.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Ten

Part Four

“Welcome, Dark Warrior. Miridan has spoken to me of your quest to warn us of your father’s plans,” she who had been Elaranor said when Daniel entered her dimly sanctum. What remained of the Guardian’s physical form after her transformation crackled in a pillar of multi-coloured lightning at the heart of the chamber. “You may approach me, I’m not going to strike you down by accident. You too,  Mela and Ebona.”

Daniel blinked. Miridan had warned him to keep his distance immediately. He didn’t realise Elaranor could hear what he was thinking behind his screen until silvery laughter filled the air around him. Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Ten
Part Three

The sheer number of guests meant dinner in Waldhafen’s Great Hall was an informal and communal affair that night. Plates of food sat on several tables near the dais, Humans, humanoid, semi-humanoid speakers and even goblins came and filled their plates, while young dryads and haltia fetched food for those Speakers with no hands to serve themselves.

His parents, Sarah and Jason were all still there, so Daniel sat with them and casually mentioned the Council’s suggestion.

“Could I look after Mela?” Sarah looked surprised at the question. “Well, I do have a nice swimming pool, and it’s not chlorinated.” She turned and smiled at Mela who was munching on a plate of some sort of poultry. “Do you want stay at mine?”

Mela looked up at her with a frown. “I’d rather be able to go home, but that’s not safe. If the dragons didn’t kidnap me, my mother would probably kill me. But will I be safe there?” A thoughtful expression crossed her face. “And will I be able to watch that TV thing?”

“You’d definitely be safe. I can draft in extra help if I need it.” Sarah stared at her for a moment. “You like television?”

“It’s interesting,” Mela replied.

“She likes science documentaries, Sal,” Matthias said. “She’s fascinated by the way our world works.”

“Really?” Sarah said.  “Well, I’m sure I can provide lots of those.”

Mela looked at her. “Well, it would be okay then, I guess.” She looked down at her hands. “Except it sounds lonely, I’d be the only Speaker there.”

“That’s true,” Sarah sighed. “Birke could come as well and I have a son just your age, but even so it’s not ideal.”

“Nothing about this situation is ideal for anyone.” Rilletta paused on her way to the table to refill her plate. “But for what it’s worth, I’m satisfied that you could protect Melusine from anyone but Gerian himself and the first dragons generally avoid Gaia.”

“I am so happy to have your approval,” Sarah said sarcastically. “It’s so important that renegades approve of me.”

“Now, now,” Rilletta said. “Be nice. There’s no need for that tone. I’ve been nothing but polite to you, Life Warrior.”

“You’re a traitor to your own kind, wretch, why would I be nice to you?” Sarah snarled. She was gripping the edge of the table so hard that her knuckles blanched.  “I saw the damage dragons can do thirty years ago.”

“You know nothing about me, nothing at all,” Rilletta said calmly. “And even less about dragons. Perhaps one day I’ll be at leisure to educate you, but not today.” She picked up a plate of meat from the table and headed back towards her seat.

Sarah snarled again and the wooden table beneath her fingers burst into life, sending out shoots which rapidly produced leaves. She pulled her hands back sharply . “Oh!”

“Calm down, Sal,” Matthias said. “I haven’t seen you do that since we were kids.”

Sarah nodded and took several deep breaths. “Sorry. It’s just she-”

“I know,” he said soothingly and then turned to Daniel.  “So you’re going to see she who was Elaranor this evening? Good.”

“Good?” Daniel frowned at his father. “You want me to talk to her?” He narrowed his eyes. “You never intended for me to help you, did you?”

Matthias’s lips twitched. “You are helping me, Dan. But no, I never wanted you to help in the sense you mean. If I’d wanted help in that sense I’d have roped in Andrew, not you.” He looked up as a little lightning imp flew in through a window and landed in front of him. It was sparking fitfully and the colour seemed wan. “Ha! I wondered how she’d react when she found out.” He absorbed it and went white. “Damn!”

“What’s wrong? Who was that from?” Daniel asked.

“Valeria. She wanted to apologise – abjectly – for the way she’s been behaving.” He snorted again. “When Karen was hurt she was trying to stop a dragon kidnapping Princess Salia. It seems that he caught up with her.” He looked up as Weide approached the table. “Dariad sent you an imp?”

She nodded soberly. “I assume Valeria’s told you what it said?”

“Yes. Poor kid.” He twisted a napkin between his hands. “At least the shock seems to have knocked some sense into Val. The war council is a good idea. Are you going to agree to host it?”

“We… well-” She broke off and chewed on her lip. “We need to discuss it and I suppose this is the only place where you could attend currently. But I’m not sure how secure we are.” She glanced towards Rilletta meaningfully.

“I don’t actually think that matters. Nowhere is really secure where dragons are involved, and we can ward where we meet to stop eavesdropping.”

“War council?” Daniel asked.

“Yes.” Weide nodded. “Valeria and Dariad are of the opinion that if two of the first twelve are moving it won’t be long until the rest will. They think we need to plan a response as a group. It’s a good idea… it’s just the where. As I said, we need to discuss it.”  She smiled at him. “Anyway Betula will guide you to She who was Elaranor’s shrine as soon as you’ve eaten.”

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Chapter Ten
Part Two

Karen pulled the comforter around her as if it could protect her from the news. She swallowed the lump in her throat, but it didn’t relieve the sick misery in her stomach.

“A dragon?” She closed her eyes in an attempt to stop her tears but she felt them trickling down her cheeks regardless. “Oh, Kyle!”

“It’ll be okay.” Valeria’s arms closed around her shoulders and Karen clung to her and sobbed.

“Why? Going beserk I could understand in the circumstances, but working for a dragon?” Karen scrubbed at her face with her hands. She looked over at Alban, who was hugging his knees unhappily. “I don’t understand.”

Alban just shook his head silently, obviously just as confused as she was.

“The obvious reason is to get at the Core,” Valeria said. “And it seems this Ystelyan saved his life.” She ran her hand through her hair. “Disillusionment is a good wedge to change a person’s allegiences.” She sighed. “It could be worse. At least he doesn’t seem to be like the yellow ones.”

Karen looked up at her. “Yes it could be worse. But looking back I think Darya already was when he reappeared. Someone teleported him in past all the Core’s safeguards. He couldn’t do that himself.” She frowned. “And he was wearing goblin silk – how did I never notice that?”

“You didn’t notice? That is strange,” Valeria agreed. “I would never have believed that Darya would willingly turn traitor. Certainly not that he’d work for a dragon. He was always such a sweet kid in spite of what his clan did to him.” She paused and snarled. “I had no idea that Sirin had done that to Mela; she told me she was a natural. I’m going to skin that bitch alive when I finally get home. Lorelei will be a much better chief songstress…” she trailed off and her eyes went wide. “Core’s Guardians! Poor Lorelei, she’ll be heartbroken. Well she already is. But this-”

“I know,” Karen said. She wiped at her eyes again and then gave Valeria a thoughtful look. “So, I take it you’re through thinking I’m evil?” she asked, mostly to distract herself.

“I- I’m sorry about that.” Valeria looked around at Lydia and Andrew. “All three of you. I don’t know what got into me, I was so upset about Darya… I… I’ve known him since he was a baby. I just couldn’t believe he’d willingly turn traitor.”

“You thought Kyle had forced him to turn on the Core?” Karen asked.

Valeria nodded. “I did. And then I thought that if Kyle was that good an actor, how could I trust any of you? And after what had happened to Kiridan, you didn’t kill them. Well, I guess it just festered.”

“Kiridan?” Andrew asked shortly. It was the first thing he’d said to Valeria and his tone was hostile enough to make Karen cringe. Valeria took it equably enough though.

“He was my mate, Salia’s father. One of the dragon knights killed him just before Karen and the others arrived here last time. I… I don’t like to talk about it.” She looked back at Karen. “So I thought no humans could be trusted, not even you… but the way you were willing to risk your life as a distraction for Salia, that coudn’t be an act.” She turned and nodded to Lydia. “And the way that you sacrificed some of your energy to help a person you didn’t even know. I was wrong, I’m sorry. I’m still not sure about your kind as a whole, but I think you’ve proved you’re on our side.”

“Hey I’m not sure about my kind sometimes,” Lydia said. “And these dragon knights sound like horrible people. They’re human?”

“Yes, they are,” Karen looked back at Valeria. “Sometimes I wish we could have killed them, but they were just kids. Hell, most of them were younger than we were. And in the end they surrended–” She broke off with a shudder. “We couldn’t just kill them in cold blood. There are some things you just don’t do. So we sent them back to Earth and sent a message back to Brierthorne to track them down and contain them, since they were all wild talents. Somehow they never could. I guess when we hid them from their master we hid them from ourselves as well.”

“Hmm. And now it seems he plans to use Mela to find them. Poor girl,” she said. “I hope we can protect her.”

“So you’re going to this Waldhafen place you mentioned?” Lydia interrupted.

“If they agree to host us, yes,” Valeria said. “I think they will. I want you to come as well. Maybe you can get your father to explain himself.”

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