SWNOVELS Chapter 3: Dragons
Releksdalfiaks, a brown dragon with blue lines, flew alongside his brother Feksimdalfiaks, a dark green dragon with orange scales. Not far from them flew Kaerdvisdalor, a brown dragon with orange-red edges on its scales. And Hafronsilorush, a violet-red dragon with blue-green transverse stripes, flew last. Four dragons were approaching a huge number of argiphones. Some birds circled in the air, others were on the ground, on the desert soil of Kaushmanashtoon. The dragons were close to the Greywind Forest.
“Maybe we should turn around, otherwise they’ll notice us now,” Feksim suggested.
“We need to try to negotiate with sentient beings,” Releks insisted.
“The elves may be reasonable, but these birds…” Kaerdvisdalor said.
“We’ve killed the ermirians, burned their land–” Feksim continued.
“Our land!” Releks interrupted him. “This is our planet, Feksimdalfiaks! And we were fulfilling a prophecy!”
The dragons flew too close, the argiphones noticed them and flew towards them. The elves from the small dots took on more distinct shapes, and it was visible that they were regrouping. Some of the arqilunians landed on the argiphones and the birds took off.
The dragons split up, several argiphones flew after each one, and the birds were faster than the scaled monsters. One argiphone tried to peck at Releks’s neck, and the other clawed at the back, but the dragon rolled over and the bird let him go. Kaerdvisdalor was less fortunate, he flew far away, but due to the attacks of the argiphones, the dragon lost its orientation and crashed right into the dead trees of the Greywind Forest. The birds followed him.
“We want to talk,” Feksimdalfiaks’ voice thundered to the elf that had flown close to him on the argiphone. Four more birds flew behind. Feksim headed towards Kaerd, but suddenly a small flock appeared to the left and crashed into the dragon, and Feksim and several argiphones lost their orientation and fall to the same place where Kaerdvisdalor fell.
Suddenly, the ground began to crack, and then a powerful collapse occurred, and the wounded dragons and argiphones fell under ground.
Releks, dodging attacks, saw a small, bright flying creature. It was an askaldenfirst, he understood that.
“Stop this madness right now!“Lisandra’s voice thundered in the heads of all nearby creatures. She soared on her own, rising higher and higher to the sky, and her snow-white argiphone flew around her and screamed.
The dragons and the argiphones froze for a moment, but some wanted to continue the fight.
“Tas Dah Sam Akr Vos Kawah!” Lisandra cast an askaldenfirst spell, which meant a call for peace. And the creatures in the area of action stopped fighting. “We must learn to act together! The crimes of my children can be considered only after we have dealt with Gaal!” She looked back at the ruined city of tukhtaash. Hundreds of the city’s inhabitants were dead, some were wounded, some tried to get out. “Look, what have you done? You have not only destroyed innocent lives but also destroyed a place where I could shelter not only the elves but also other ermirians from the merciless flame of Gaal!”
Lisandra flew into the ruined city, followed by dragons. The argiphones and the elves decided to land nearby and not attack again.
Kaerdvisdalor, who had first fallen into the trees, now lay with a punctured abdomen, from which a huge piece of the stone arm of the tukhtaash statue protruded. The dragon was dead. Feksim was lying nearby, and blood was flowing from his body, and a tukhtaash boy, about twelve years old, was screaming under him. Two tukhtaash women tried to pull the boy out. Feksim was dying. Lisandra flew up to him.
“Son of my sister, I will ease your suffering,” and Lisandra uttered the askaldenfirst spell, which painlessly killed a dragon, and Feksim died. Near the dragon lay the dead argiphones.
“My brother!” roared Releksdalfiaks, flapping his wings over the ruins, and threw out a huge blast of flame into the sky.
Lisandra flew up to him.
“We will restore every dragon clan, Releks, I promise you! In the meantime, we must save these creatures, even if you think you should have destroyed them all!“And Lisandra gave him a gentle look and flew down. She helped pull the boy out from under Feksim.
Hafronsilorush circled in the sky over the half-destroyed city and made growling sounds. His throat appears to have been damaged, and a scar could be seen on the scales around his throat.
Elves descended into the rubble on ropes and helped the wounded. Lisandra has cast three magic flight zones. In such zones, any creature rose smoothly to a certain height set by the caster. And the wounded neatly flew up to the surface.
“Nordavindurrin,” Lisandra’s voice boomed. And Edelmer ran out of the shadows, he had just carried the wounded old woman to the magic flight zone. Laylith helped the children at this moment.
“Yes, I’m here, we still need so many to help, maybe it’s possible to increase your air fly zones?” Edelmer asked.
“I wasted too much energy, I’m sorry. The hardest spell is the call to peace spell, it takes a lot of energy. I do what I can, my brother.”
“So why did you call me, Lisandra?”
“I wanted to introduce you to Releksdalfiaks and Hafronsilorush, maybe the fact that they find out that they have an uncle will drown out the pain of the loss of brothers a little. I feel that they are suffering, and as a mother, I suffer with them.
“Can’t we help the citizens first? After all, because of um... my nephews... the citizens were wounded! There are a lot of children here who are suffering. And mothers like you are worried about them,” Edelmer remarked.
“You’re right, my brother. Rum Pak Nat Sav Ult Pal Sazom!” and six more magic flight zones appeared, but Lisandra suddenly fainted. Edelmer ran up to her.
“Lisandra, wake up! Are you all right?” the northerner began to shake her, lightly slapping the cheek. “Someone bring or conjure sweet water, she has a wild exhaustion,” Edelmer demanded.
Lisandra opened her eyes.
“My brother, I probably passed out.”
“You need to drink and eat right now!” Edelmer worried.
“It’s all because of a spell.”
For a while, the stunning elves and the inhabitants of the kingdom hesitated and watched what was happening, but then continued to fly up to the surface, using the free flight zones. An elf brought Lisandra sweet juice and an elven scone. She decided to eat.
“This is so embarrassing,” she said, “I’m an askaldenfirst, and I shouldn’t have brought myself to this condition.”
“It’s my fault,” Edelmer said with guilt, “I was too insistent to help... sister.”
“Don’t blame yourself, brother,” Lisandra smiled, “you were right,” and she rose completely, “everyone has children, and we are to blame for what happened here.”
Suddenly Slu Tis ran up.
“We’ve evacuated almost everyone,” she said and began to move her eyes nervously.
“What happened, Your Majesty?” Edelmer asked.
“This is what happened,” said Slu, “Edelmer look at their faces, and not only at the faces of the tukhtaashes.”
Edelmer glanced over at the remaining ascending inhabitants and elves and saw how Khmen Rashp, one of the elders of the tukhtaashes, whispered something to the elf officer, and the elf looked aggressively at Lisandra, Edelmer and Slu, and nodded his head.
“Are you strong enough to contact the dragons at that distance?” Edelmer asked Lisandra quietly.
“Only with Releks and Hafron.”
“Tell them to fly away… to Hoogmeerfall, to my hometown, perhaps for twenty years, it has not been very populated. Tell them to fly there and wait for us. Do it right away.” Edelmer turned to his daughter and Slu, “We’ll now carefully go to the rubble, and then we will run deep into the city.”
“Dad, why? But what about Arel and Arinella, they’re up there, aren’t they?!”
“Daughter, don’t argue. We can’t help them now! Your Majesty, are you with us?”
Slu hesitated.
“Slu, look at me,” Edelmer said, approaching her, “they may be your people, but when we get out, they will kill us, and a couple of dragons won’t stop them! Do you want to live, Your Majesty?”
“Yes,” Slu decided. And the three of them rushed away, and just at that moment fireballs and arrows flew in pursuit of them.
Soon they stopped running, but they kept looking back. They walked along a dilapidated city road, climbed over the rubble. Soon they got out on the remains of an undamaged road, and Slu picked up the torch and they almost made it to a working elevator to the surface.
“You do realize they might be waiting for us on the surface, right?” Slu asked Edelmer.
“Yes, so we’ll wait here. Laylith will make water and scones, and if someone starts coming down, or walks down the road, it’ll be easier for us to repel the attack.”
“Yes, daddy,” Laylith agreed.
“Well, let’s rest, otherwise you, Lisandra, might faint again,” Slu said.
“I’m just tired, that’s all,” Lisandra replied.
“I’ll be on the first watch,” Edelmer said, then he looked at the tired daughter, at the exhausted Lisandra and the Queen Slu, “and I’ll be on the second watch, too.”
“But daddy, you need a rest!” Laylith insisted.
“Daughter, don’t worry, with me everything is all right. I’ve slept for twenty years and I don’t want more!” Eder smiled at his daughter.
They put torches in the distance and set up camp. Soon the three women fell asleep, and Edelmer gazed intently into the darkness, that seemed to hang over the torches like a black hole.