The Knights of Erador (The Echoes Saga: Book 7), page 31
They were all empty now…
They had both witnessed the last of the clans following the Largo River, heading for Illian soil. With no dwarf to call it home, Dhenaheim was once again an untamed and desolate realm. The ability to traverse the barren land was a testament to this invader’s tenacity and strength.
Having cleared the Vengoran mountains, Athis glided through the centre of Dhenaheim. So immense was the valley that they could see everything and anything that might cross the snows. What they failed to see, given that they weren’t looking, was anything crossing the snows via the sky.
Inara instinctively ducked as Malliath’s hulking form descended from the heavens, narrowly missing Athis’s head. The black dragon displayed his enviable speed and cut through the air, quickly putting distance between them. Athis huffed and beat his wings with all the force he could muster. No dragon enjoyed being shown up.
What are they doing here? Inara asked.
Getting in my way, Athis replied with obvious irritation.
When the two dragons were finally side by side, Inara reached out through her bond with Athis to connect with Malliath and therefore Alijah. They were well aware that the black dragon would say nothing while they were all bonded, a fact that only made their interaction an awkward affair.
Alijah turned in his saddle to look at his sister. His black cloak whipped about behind him, flashing the red interior. He looked so confident astride Malliath, a contrast to fifteen years ago when they had both been new to flying together. The saddle was still an odd sight to Inara, who had been trained in the ways of a Dragorn, an order which believed that dragons were not to be ridden, as a saddle would suggest. It certainly looked comfortable though…
What are you doing in Dhenaheim? I thought you were with the king…
Alijah would have replied straight away if he wasn’t laughing to himself. Hello Inara, he finally said, his tone suggesting there was sarcasm to come. We’re fine in case you were wondering, despite the fact that we haven’t stopped since leaving Velia. How are you? It must be nice to see a familiar face.
Inara caught herself and let her brother feel some of her embarrassment. Sorry. I am glad to see you. Sometimes, when you don’t see anyone else for a while, you can forget how to talk to other people.
I’m the same, Alijah confessed. Malliath and I have been known to carry on private conversations for days at a time. It’s usually followed by an equal amount of days apologising to the palace servants for my rude behaviour.
You speak so easily of your kingship, Inara observed. I can’t imagine my brother with a crown on his head. Or servants for that matter!
Alijah grinned. That’s funny. Growing up, that’s all I ever imagined!
Athis mentally nudged Inara to focus, a reminder that she so easily fell into old ways around Alijah. Regardless of all that had transpired and all the time they had spent apart, she still enjoyed his company. There weren’t many in her life she could so naturally talk to.
You have left the king? she enquired, approaching the topic from a different angle.
At his behest, Alijah explained. The reports coming out of the capital are only getting worse. Like Vighon, my concern for this new threat was growing.
We can handle ourselves, Athis felt the need to say.
No doubt, Alijah quickly recovered. But even astride Athis the ironheart, I couldn’t let my twin sister fly into the unknown, he added with genuine warmth.
Inara gave an appreciative nod while simultaneously instructing Athis to calm down. Of course, the root of the dragon’s discomfort was Malliath beside him. The older dragon unsettled them both, regardless of Alijah’s demeanour.
Well your company is most welcome, Inara said. How goes the king’s investigation?
There is no investigation, Alijah replied surprisingly. Vighon has called on Lord Carrington’s bannermen to join him on his return to the north.
That was the first good decision Vighon had made in a while, though Inara kept that thought between herself and Athis. I haven’t seen anything but fleeing dwarves, she said instead.
Alijah surveyed the land. Well, nothing can pass through here without us seeing them. Malliath and I would appreciate some rest before that happens…
Of course! Inara replied, intoning some of her gratitude. You must be exhausted. In truth, Malliath appeared to have more than enough strength to keep flying until the land ran out.
The dragons searched for a high outcropping, somewhere they could maintain the advantage over anything that crossed the flat valley. Between the four of them, starting a fire was easy, though dragons had a tendency to create larger fires than any camp required. Alijah was the one to usher in the first flame, sparking a cosy fire for the two riders, both nestled within the lying forms of their dragons.
“I’m not accustomed to seeing you use magic,” Inara commented over the fire. “You always preferred the bow…”
“I’m still better than anyone you know with a bow,” Alijah replied with his amusing arrogance. “But some things have changed - I’m not the boy you grew up with.”
“Well,” Inara quipped with a broad grin, “you’re still cocky, so that hasn’t changed.” The pair fell into laughter, a sound the Dragorn had long missed, even if she hadn’t realised it until this very moment.
“I will concede that some things have changed,” Inara continued. “You were always confident, but I could always see through it to the young boy desperate to prove himself. Now… Now, you carry yourself with such surety, as if your every action has already been calculated.”
Alijah smiled as he stoked the flames. “It has,” he said with the same surety Inara was speaking of. “Besides my work in Erador, I’ve spent a great deal of time studying the Dragon Riders. They were a confident order. They knew themselves, a truth they shared with their dragons. It only made them stronger.”
“And you know yourself?” Inara couldn’t help the suspicion that crept into her voice.
“You mean because of what The Crow did to me?” Alijah laid it out plainly. “I know myself,” he reiterated. “Better than you know yourself at least.”
The latter naturally began to stir Inara’s feelings, just as it did to Athis. “I know myself,” she stated as a fact.
“What does your sanctuary look like?” Alijah asked.
Taken aback, Inara glanced at Athis, feeling vulnerable at the idea of sharing such details.
“You have a sanctuary yes?” Alijah pressed. “A place out of time and reality where only you and Athis can exist?”
“I know what a sanctuary is,” Inara replied with the perfect eye roll. “It’s all very personal and not a question you ask.”
“That sounds like something a Dragorn would say…”
“Well, I am a Dragorn,” she protested.
Alijah tilted his head as if he were assessing his sister. “I would wager it’s somewhere high, your sanctuary that is. As close to the sky as you can get with your feet on the ground.”
For just a moment, Inara wondered if the dragons were still connecting their minds together. “It is, as it happens,” she admitted reluctantly. “It’s a beautiful range of mountains, unlike anything you’ll find in all of Verda.”
Alijah appeared to be very proud of himself. “Somewhere in those mountains, there will be a cave or a lake or a valley… something. It will be too small for Athis to fit. In there, you will find the path to yourself.”
Inara didn’t say anything at first, her mind quietly eager to seek out such a place.
“It’s that easy?”
“Stepping inside is easy,” he answered. “Living with the changes takes time. And it can be hard, at first.”
Inara was moved, excited almost, to think of a place inside her own sanctuary she had never come across before.
Athis did not share her feelings…
The sun was reaching for the western tips of The Whispering Mountains by the time Alijah and Malliath were ready to scour Dhenaheim. The snowy plains were painted in the burnt orange of the dying light - soon, they wouldn’t be able to see the mountains in the north.
“We should go,” Inara said, doing her best to disguise her frustration with urgency.
“We would be better waiting until true dark,” Alijah countered. “They see better at night than they do at twilight,” he added, gesturing to the dragons.
Inara looked out from the plateau, her red cloak flapping about her legs in the northern wind. She wanted to be out there, hunting this new enemy. Staying still disagreed with her.
“Come,” Alijah bade, seated by the fire. “Eat. You will need your strength if we meet these invaders.”
“I don’t want to eat,” she replied, deliberately slowing her speech so as not to be heard snapping at him. “I want to find whatever threatens Illian and—”
“And what?” her brother cut in. “What will you do when you come across a force so powerful it beat the dwarves?”
Inara knew her reply before Alijah had even finished his question though, upon reflection, the Dragorn could see that deterring the invaders from advancing any farther was folly.
“We will show them these lands are guarded by dragons,” she settled on. “And then we will report our findings to the king so that defences might be put in place.”
Alijah nodded along as if he was only casually listening. “Why?” he asked, his expression perplexed.
“Why?” Inara echoed, equally perplexed by his strange question.
“Why do you do it? Any of it? They call you the Guardian of the Realm, but why are you guarding it? Gideon left and the Dragorn with him - I remember the speech. You’re free of your order; you could go anywhere. There’s more to Verda than Illian or Dhenaheim. You could go east and see where the sun truly rises. Or west and leave Erador behind in search of land evergreen. And this certainly isn’t the top of the world, as much as everyone would like to believe it is.”
“I…” Inara couldn’t quite put her sense of duty into words; it was simply a state of existence she had long accepted. “From the time of the elves, the Dragorn have watched over—”
“Those aren’t your words,” Alijah interrupted. “I can practically hear Gideon’s voice. Why are you spending your eternal days alone, watching over a kingdom that isn’t your own?”
“This is our home,” Inara answered, taking the words from Athis’s mind. “Our parents are here, we were raised here…”
“You’re immortal, Inara. The world is yours!”
“Why are you asking me this?” she demanded, tired of his argument.
“Because we’re about to face an army that threatens our long lives. You could leave all this and come back in a few hundred years. It won’t matter who wins now - everyone currently alive will be dust one way or another.”
“You cannot be serious?” Inara stepped closer to the fire, the flames mirroring those that ignited in her heart. “You would suggest leaving everyone to this enemy just because they’re all destined to die anyway?”
“I could never do such a thing,” Alijah replied calmly. “I am a king and a man who knows what he was put on this earth for. But you are free, bound only by your sense of responsibility, a responsibility put upon you by an order that abandoned you, I might add.”
“Why are you speaking like this?”
“Because I want you to live, Inara. I want you to be free, to enjoy your life and the wonders this world has to offer. But, if you keep travelling down this path you will be throwing yourself in front of danger time and time again. And for what? A kingdom you can never connect to? You would bear witness to an endless cycle of death - I do not want that for you…”
Inara sighed - her exasperation knew no bounds when it came to her brother. “What you want for me is irrelevant. You chose a different path, one that took you away from me, from our home.” She shook her head and moved closer to Athis, seeking comfort from him instead.
It was in the crook of his front leg that she waited for nightfall to assume its dominance over the land. The stars became veiled by thick rolling clouds that came in from the north-west.
“Inara…” Alijah’s voice carried on the breeze, his tone laden with apology.
The Dragorn wasn’t interested in talking anymore. “Let’s go,” she said, climbing onto Athis’s back.
The red dragon stretched his wings and dropped off the side of the cliff while Malliath and Alijah shot up into the air. With as brief a discussion as possible, they decided to fly farther north, reasoning that any invading force would be following The Whispering Mountains in order to root out the dwarven kingdoms.
The bond between Athis and Inara was constantly probed by Alijah, perhaps searching for a way of apologising. Neither of the companions intended on letting him in to do so - further conversation would likely just irritate them.
Hours went by as the hidden moon undoubtedly shifted across the sky. Athis reported signs on the ground, evidence of a massive force marching over the plains, as well as debris from the fleeing dwarves.
Again, Alijah made it clear that he would like them all to bond via the dragons. This time, however, he didn’t have the feel of someone who wished to apologise.
What is it? Inara wasn’t even bothering to hide her annoyance.
Something doesn’t feel right, he said. I can feel it in the air… magic.
Inara put her feelings towards her brother to one side and focused on their surroundings. Athis too could feel the hum in the air, a resonance that only those attuned to the realm of magic could understand.
Dhenaheim is the last place I would expect to feel magic in the air, Inara replied. The dwarves don’t practice it and they’ve ruled these lands for thousands of years.
Alijah half stood up in his saddle and pointed ahead. There! That fog… it’s unnatural.
He’s right, Athis agreed. It isn’t moving with the wind.
The dragons closed the gap and brought the wall of fog within feet of them. It reached from the ground to the clouds above, offering a view of nothing between the two.
Can you see anything on the ground? Inara asked her companion.
No. Athis banked away from the fog and glided back again. There is no sign of any life on the ground.
We’re going to have to go in, Alijah concluded.
Before Inara could suggest otherwise, her brother disappeared beyond the mist. Malliath’s hulking form was lost to them immediately, as if the black dragon had been swallowed by a Leviathan.
Fools! Inara cursed.
Athis had no choice but to follow them in and use what senses he could to track them. The world was instantly robbed from Inara’s eyes and they were both plunged into a realm of mist. It was eerie for the eyes and ears. Every now and then, Inara would hear another set of beating wings, but they didn’t always come from up ahead.
Alijah! she called across the bond. It became apparent, however, that Athis and Malliath were no longer connected.
Dragon and rider continued to fly through the fog, relying entirely on Athis’s acute sense of direction to avoid the mountainside. That same sense, unfortunately, would do nothing to stop them from flying directly into Malliath.
We should get out of this mist, Athis warned.
Agreed. Turn us around.
Beating wings flapped over their heads and vanished into the fog again. Athis changed direction for a second time and followed Malliath, but for all his speed there was no catching up with the larger dragon. Then, from behind them, another set of beating wings raced by.
How did they get behind us? Inara looked back over her shoulder but struggled to even see beyond Athis’s tail.
Again, Athis altered his flight path in a bid to reach Malliath. A dark and massive shape glided past them at great speed, the tip of a black wing visible as it cut through the mist.
What are they doing? Inara fumed. “Alijah!” her audible yell was quickly absorbed by the fog.
Another dark shape angled up right in front of Athis’s face and disappeared into the mist above. This would only have served to anger the Dragorn all the more, except she also heard beating wings behind them at that same moment. Looking back, Inara caught sight of a pointed tail diving down before vanishing altogether.
Athis…
The red dragon shared her dread. We are not alone, he replied gravely.
Inara searched in every direction. What are—
A deafening shriek-like roar bombarded the pair before a nightmarish dragon hurtled out of the mist and rammed into Athis. Inara didn’t even have time to scream, thrown as she was from her companion’s back.
The fog enveloped her, blinding the Dragorn to everything. She could feel the pain in her ribs where Athis had been slammed, but her concerns were focused on the sudden stop that was coming her way. She had no idea how high they had been, but the ground was no doubt waiting for her with its definitive embrace.
It was only her connection to Athis that told her not to panic. As always, they could sense each other’s presence, allowing them to home in and find one another.
Now! Athis cried.
Inara twisted her body round and reached out. Athis’s spinal horns came into view below her and rose up until she was able to grab a hold. Her grip firm, the red dragon beat his wings and took off, avoiding the ground and certain death for them both.
What was that thing?
A dragon! Athis shouted his response as he was forced to bank and dive under another surprise attack.
Inara caught only a glimpse of the beast that flew over them, its ragged maw wide with serrated teeth. A dragon? she echoed incredulously.
There was no time for anything else before a second dragon emerged from the mist and grappled with Athis in a tangle of raking claws and gnashing teeth. Inara held on with white knuckles and a touch of magic, but it was still a jarring experience, not to mention the pain from the slashing claws.
Through their bond, she acquired an impression of the dragon they were fighting, though she couldn’t believe what Athis was relaying. Proving the nightmare to be real, the dragon arched its neck to bring a mouth of fangs around Athis’s head. The face that came at them was not of any dragon Inara had ever seen before.
