“Yes, my mother was a human enchantress and my father was an elven sorcerer. Two types of magic run through my veins just as the two bloods run through my veins.”
“Your kind is forbidden.”
“That is why I was away for so long. You elves have so many dirty secrets. Yet the humans seem to scheme so much more. It is hard to say which I am more ashamed of. No matter, my identity no longer rests with the elves or the humans.”
“What do you want with me?” Melisandre asked.
“A simple answer for a simple question. Your loyalty or your death. It matters no which you choose,” he replied.
“You’ll need my army, of course. The dragons are powerful, but they cannot invade other kingdoms.”
“My army will be here soon. Once they’ve arrived, I think your army will prefer to join us. You see, I could crush you like a bug. I will give you a week to decide. In the meantime, enjoy your old dungeon.”
A Champion of Night
Hadrin trudged along behind the others. He felt a mixture of curiosity and betrayal. His father had kept something important from him. Yes, it was for his own good, but he was no child, not anymore. The others knew better than to tell him to hurry up, though he was surprised that Ungaroth cared. Everything he had been taught about the night dragons made him believe they were always out for themselves. He let out a sigh as he looked at the room. There were no decorations and little else. The dragons had taken up the three spots at the end of the room. His companions were taking the seats at the table facing the dragons. He slid into his seat and stared down at the table. Obrin cleared his throat before standing.
“I should be the one to go first. How far back should I go?” He asked as he turned to Ungaroth.
“For now, just the basics. The rest can come later,” the dragon replied.
“This applies to Wrotan in some ways as well. Hadrin is one of the only of his kind. I do not know the specifics of the timeline, but hundreds of years ago a young elf maiden fell for a human. What she did not know at that time was that this man was a wizard. For those of you who do not know, such a union is forbidden among the elves. The offspring produced from such a pairing are reported to never die of old age. Whether true or not, we do know that they outlive elves. This tends to cause problems when they outlive their elven brethren. Many of their number have gone mad. As such, they are banned from our society. I will not comment on whether this is right or wrong. That is not why we are here.”
“What does that have to do with either of us?” Hadrin asked.
“I am getting there, my son. This particular pairing resulted in two children before the parents were jailed and later executed. The two children managed to stay hidden from the elven authorities. I fell in love with the daughter over three hundred years ago. At first, we agree that having children would be a bad idea. Your mother’s health began to deteriorate. We never knew why, but it was obvious that she would not live longer than the elves she lived among. This was when she revealed to me that she wanted a child. I could not refuse her. Hadrin was born some years after that. She was so delighted to have son. I miss her greatly. That is not the point, though. You see, my son, you are part human and, more importantly, you have a propensity for magic,” Tears rolled down Obrin’s cheeks as he spoke.
“Where does that leave us and what does that have to do with Wrotan?” Alandra asked.
“Isaack was her brother. That is why he spoke so favorably of you. I always thought he was growing weak due to age,” Wrotan said.
“There was much that Isaack did not tell any of you. He sought out the spirit monks and their paladin brethren. I have spoken with my kin and we believe that you should follow in his footsteps. As to why he grew weak, we can only assume that he and his sister had a powerful enemy,” Ungaroth said.
“What does this mean for me?” Hadrin asked.
“You are born of magic, dragons are born of magic. When you take your father’s place as King of the evening realms and steward of the dragons, you will become one of the most powerful individuals in the world. It is your birthright. We will teach you the ways of magic.”
“Is it wise for one man to possess such power?”
“That is where Wrotan comes in. His adoptive father held another position. Your father is the steward of the night dragons, but Isaack was our champion. That position is open for Wrotan, should he desire to accept it. His role will be to keep you in check, but only if you go against our wishes. As long as your actions align with our wishes, he will be your protector. The two of you will need to think on these things for you will need to make these choices in the future.”
“It would be an honor to be the champion of the night dragons,” Wrotan said.
“Before you accept the title, there are two things you must know. Your life will be connected to ours. As long as the dragons live, you will never succumb to old age or natural causes. There is, however, a downside. The scourge will spread to you as well, until we find a way to destroy it once and for all.”
*
Kade struggled to take in his surroundings. His left eye was swollen shut and his right eye throbbed. He knew he wasn’t alone, but the other figure was far too blurry to make out. There was a part of him that wanted to reach out to this other person, but another part of him felt that it could be a trick. He decided to let his fellow captive decide whether or not to engage in conversation. His fear was too great to allow him to talk to his fellow prisoner. Ansom had shown a rather ruthless streak and Kade didn’t want this to be another of his tricks. A feeling of despair flooded over him as he heard voices in the distance.
“Did you set a watch?” Goraine asked.
“Yes, just as I did the first time. That didn’t stop them then and it won’t stop them now. We don’t have time for easing into things this time. He will break tonight,” Ansom replied.
“Already awake it seems. Let’s see if we can’t loosen that jaw.” Kade flinched as he heard the man talk.
“I had an entirely different idea, Goraine.”
“Let’s hear it. You weren’t appointed to your job for nothing.”
“We inflicted a great deal of pain on the boy yesterday and he still remained silent.”
“You think we should try to get the information out of her?” The Knight of Ardevale asked.
“Not exactly. We threaten to harm her if he doesn’t give the information we are looking for.”
“Sadistically ingenious, as always. Cut her loose and bring her to me.”
“Wait, nobody deserves to be injured on my account. Please, just listen to me,” Kade said as he dropped to his knees.
“This not just any nobody, my young friend, I believe you call her Amber.”
Kade shook uncontrollably as he fell to the ground. Every fiber of his being attempted to cry for help, but he could not even get any words out. He began to drift out of consciousness only to be snapped back. Everything was in a haze, but his vision was beginning to return. The tent was gone, replaced by a strange room of stone. There were several strangers looking at him in confusion. Nothing felt quite right as he tried to get up off the floor. He froze in terror as he spotted a massive winged beast staring down at him. The creature brought its head in close to examine him. It pulled back with a loud snort. His heart pounded as they helped him to his feet and walked him toward the great beast. Everything was foreign to him. Even those that were helping him walk forward looked strange to him.
“What have you done with me?” He cried out in terror.
“This is not Wrotan,” the great creature said.
*
The hunter groaned as he came awake. He immediately noticed that something was wrong. His face was throbbing and his vision was blurry at best. Everything seemed to be blocked out by some sort of fog. Isaack’s teachings kicked in instantly and he closed his eyes and listened. There were two others in the room that he could hear. They were laughing hysterically about something. He could also make out the voice of a woman.
By the sound of it, she was pleading with them about somebody named Kade. The fog seemed to lift, but his vision remained impaired.
“Please, we don’t know anything about the scourge,” the woman said.
“How do you explain the spot on the back of his hand?” One of the men asked.
“This is the first that I’ve heard of it.”
“She seems to be telling the truth,” the other man said.
“That matters little, her presence here is to make that one talk.”
“You’ll get no information out of me,” Wrotan said as he stood up.
He heard one of the two men move toward him. His muscles tensed as he waited for them to make contact. The man grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him closer. Wrotan slipped out of the man’s grip and brought his palm up into the man’s chest. His opponent staggered back a few steps, but it didn’t have the effect the hunter was expecting. He took a few steps back and listened for his opponent’s next move. The man laughed as he strode toward his handicapped target. Wrotan pivoted forward and slapped the man in the face. He gambled on the fact that most people would flinch from a light slap and brought his elbow into his opponent’s chest with all the force he could muster. The man groaned as he dropped to one knee and Wrotan brought his elbow down into the man’s face.
*
Julian yelled at the top of his lungs as he ran toward the camp. He threw his knife at the closest of the guards and crashed into the next. The three remaining Knights surrounded him and drew their swords. He dropped to his knees and pleaded for them to spare him. One of the guards shook his head as he pulled the young man to his feet. Julian flinched when he saw the sword heading for the man’s neck. He looked away and covered his eyes, but the sounds of slaughter were distinct. He waited for several moments before lowering his hands from his eyes. All five of the Knights had been killed and there was a man backing out of the largest of the tents. Mariah grabbed him from behind and placed her sword at his neck. He stiffened, but made no move to break free. The guardswoman dragged him toward the fire before throwing him to the ground.
“Where is the young man?” She asked.
“You can have that cursed thing. He is not human, that is for certain,” Ansom replied.
“Explain yourself.”
“I will not deny that I treated him violently, but he is a spawn of the scourge. We injured him to the point where he could not see. It is a technique I learned long ago. Take a man’s sight and he will feel powerless. Your friend would not reveal the information about the scourge, so we pressed harder. We threatened to hurt the girl and he broke down. He fell to the floor in tears. Something changed inside of him and he began to fight back. We didn’t think much of it at first. His first attack on Goraine was too weak to do any serious damage, but he was determined. He moved quicker than either of us expected and before I knew it, the Knight was on the floor.”
“Julian?” Amber called out as she exited the tent.
“Yes, we’ve rescued you,” he called back.
“Mark my words, that boy is trouble!” Ansom yelled.
Everyone went silent as Kade exited the tent. He staggered forward as he held his hands over his eyes. Julian clenched his fist as he stared down at the man responsible. He pushed past Mariah and punched Ansom in the face. His opponent quickly retaliated with a punch of his own. The guardswoman motioned for Amber to assist Kade before she broke up the fistfight. She pushed Julian back before smashing her hilt against the torturer’s forehead. Kade stumbled up to the others with the help of Amber. Julian placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
“We’ll get you both to safety. Mariah will know what to do,” He said.
“You best let me go, the last thing you want is for the Knights of Ardevale to arrive and see that you’ve taken one of their allies captive,” Ansom said.
“Not likely.”
“No, he’s right. We don’t need to draw any unnecessary attention,” Mariah said.
“We can’t just leave him here,” Amber said.
“I never planned to.”
*
Wrotan grabbed his head as the fog came back. He sat up and looked around. There were several figures moving just past the mist. His vision cleared as he stood up. Hadrin and the others were all staring at him. Ungaroth brought his head in close to examine the hunter. They all had strange looks on their faces. He rubbed his eyes as what little was left of the fog dissipated. The dragon snorted as it pulled back. Wrotan shook his head before turning to the others.
“What happened to me?” He asked.
“We were hoping you would know. You freaked out and then Ungaroth told us that it wasn’t you,” Alandra replied.
“Very strange,” Wrotan said as he turned to Erlkan.
“What?” The elf asked.
“You said that it was strange.”
“But I didn’t say that.”
“Who said it?”
“Nobody said it,” Hadrin said.
“This is most interesting. Isaack never told us that this was a possibility,” Ungaroth said.
“What is a possibility?” The hunter asked.
“The ritual is complete. You are now the champion of the night dragons, but something more has occurred. Our connection to the scourge has changed you. You are now attuned to anything that has been scourged. I, too, heard Erlkan’s thought.”
“What about before? That was more than just hearing a thought. How did I change locations?”
“You did not change locations, you changed bodies. Explain what happened from your point of view.”
“Everything went foggy and then I was on the ground. There were two men talking and one woman pleading with them. The mist left, but my vision was still blurred. I fought off the one man and then I returned here.”
“Isaack and I were able to voluntarily invite others into our minds, but never did we swap bodies. Whomever you assisted must have let out quite the cry for assistance. We must look into this further. “
“Of course, how do we do that?” Obrin asked.
“You will stay with us and go through the archives. The others will head for the spirit monk monastery. They believe that the scourge originated in the spirit word. Whether they are correct or not doesn’t matter. Their knowledge may be able to help us combat the scourge.”
The Beginnings of a Journey
Hadrin examined his pack one last time. Leaving his father didn’t feel right, but he lacked the courage to stand up to the dragons. Knowing that his father had dealt with the creatures for so long added an incredible amount of respect for him. There had been a time when Obrin was considered among the greatest of the elven Kings throughout the history of all the elven realms, but the deterioration caused by the scourge had changed the opinion of many elves. The dragons treated him like a friend and that was no small feat. Erlkan paced back and forth with his pack slung over his shoulder. The elf King had traveled to the human lands before and was not looking forward to doing so again.
“We’ll be fine, Erlkan,” Alandra said as she approached.
“Easy for you to say, humans, present company excluded, are an erratic sort. Hadrin and I are scourged, who is to say that won’t set off some of the humans?” Erlkan asked.
“He is right. Not all humans are corrupt, but many in positions of power are. We need to have a story in the event that they find out about the scourge,” Wrotan said.
“I have an idea, but I’m not certain where we’ll get the supplies,” Hadrin said.
“Let’s hear it.”
“We can give the two of them tribal style tattoos and claim that it is an elven tradition. The process isn’t painless, but the tattoos will only last for a month or two. Would that give us enough time?”
“An excellent idea, son. I’m not certain that we have the supplies though,” Obrin said.
“Finding the supplies should be easy enough.”
“He isn’t a child anymore, you don’t need to treat him as such,” the newly
christened champion said.
“It is hardy your place to tell me what to do about my son,” Obrin said.
“On the contrary, he has every right to bring up this point. Part of our failing as dragons was to allow you and Isaack a certain measure of distance from each other. Hadrin and Wrotan must balance each other out. Just as we will do our best to balance both of them. Your son will need to take over for you sooner or later,” Ungaroth said.
“Perhaps it would be wise to add another to the mix. Three heads are better than two,” Hadrin said.
“We’ve already accounted for that. You will understand soon enough. For now, the four of you need to leave. There must be no more delaying.”
Wrotan nodded as he slung his pack over his shoulder. Obrin pulled his son in for an embrace. Erlkan held out his hand and Obrin took hold of his forearm and the two locked their hands on each other’s forearms before pulling each other in for a one handed hug. Alandra watched as one of the smaller dragons pulled in a cart. Ungaroth motioned toward the cart and the four travelers approached. Hadrin, Wrotan, and Alandra were all given a backpack with armor and a cloak. The Prince and Alandra were also given notes that they were supposed to read once on the road. Erlkan received a new bow and a new sword. Each of the four gathered their new gifts and said their farewells before leaving.
*
Mariah bent down and dipped the cloth in the water before wrapping it around Kade’s head, covering his still injured eye. She wrapped another bandage on top of it to secure it in position before motioning to the others. Julian finished filling the waterskins and nodded to the guardswoman. Amber let out a sigh as she stood up from the rock overlooking the river. Though their pace was slow, their path was far from easy. They had run out of food the night after rescuing Kade, but Mariah had managed to catch two meals a day the two following days. They all gathered around her and waited for her to set off in any direction. Whatever skills they may have had in the city were no good to them in the wilds. Mariah felt as though she were leading three children toward the vague promise of safety.
“Who are you?” Kade asked as he quickened his pace to keep up with her.
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“The others said you were a guardswoman from Reddington, but someone like you would never work for the Regent. I also doubt that a simple guard would have the skills that you have displayed.”