Dragons of Summer Tide (The Dragons of Hwandor) (39 page)

Cyool picked up one of the fallen birds and brought it to the tiny dragonet that was guarding the boy. The smaller dragon began to eat the bird. There was another loud shriek from above as Green Eyes saw the dragon eating the bird that she had killed. There were several more of the birds scattered about on the sand. Cyool picked one bird up and carried it out over the river and dropped it in. Shira said. ‘That one was poisoned. But not the others they are fine.”

“Tonight, we eat wild goose,” said Captain Tarian.

That night after supper the company of human, elves and dragons sat in the firelight after having enjoyed a meal of wild goose and local herbs and tubers from the forest. Cyerant was awake and recovering from his near drowning of the day. Jolss had been bundled into blankets to keep him warm as he slept from the exhaustion of too big a use of magic. Prin had awakened but she was keeping guard over the young mage. Devron was still alive and sleeping deeply in a bundle of blankets with his new dragon watching over him. Talyat checked on the seriously injured harper boy from time to time.

There was a lull in the conversation and Veer looked at Pelinar and spoke. “So Pelinar, you said that you dance.”

“I did and I do,” said the elf in response.

Myalnar spoke. “The Shadow Leaf Dancers are the most elite of elven warriors. When Pelinar agreed to come on this journey he was also assuming the roll as my guard.

“Why are they called dancers if they are warriors?” Asked Shira.

Pelinar glanced at Talyat. Who responded with a very small smile and then the storyteller nodded slightly and began to tell.

“It is not before time, for without time there is no before. Creation was not and so there was no world – no worlds. Even the first gods were without knowledge of themselves and were in the great sleeping of the unborn. There was a limitless being – an eternally unknowing now. There was only great water; some would say a sea but it was without shore, without waves, without bottom and without surface. There was only darkness throughout the great water and there was no air to breathe wind upon it.”

And there was a first movement, a first ripple within the waters, a first sensation and the first of the gods felt herself move and realized that she was. And she started as pure movement and sensation and then she felt joy at the movement and her motion became dance. As the second movement of that great dance happened time was born for finally something had come after and something had been before. As she danced she gave herself form and shape and the waters rippled around her and awakened the gods.”

“The first gods felt the ripples and became aware. And in their new awareness they could sense the rhythm of the first dancer and so they started to give themselves form and shape and they too started to dance. As the first feet began to fall into the first steps of the dance of shaping they danced within the waters but soon they wanted a place to dance and so they danced the surface of the waters into shape. The dancing of their feet created direction and the water settled down beneath the surface and air separated and rose up above the surface. The movements of the dance created the first wind and with the wind came the first waves.”

“Some of the gods danced joyously upon the waves but others tripped and fell back into the waters and so they wished to dance upon something solid and they danced the land into being for it would not move and ripple beneath their feet. When the land came into being the gods knew that they could create and so the great creating began.  And the first gods danced new worlds around themselves and these worlds are as different from one another as the minds of gods can make them and then some of the gods came to create our world.”

“One of the gods danced a light into being and it was a star and the new light allowed the gods to see for the first time and so they joyously danced more lights into being until there were stars everywhere, scattered within the waters and upon the surface and through the air. And so the gods gathered the stars together and created a sky by casting the stars high into the air to hang above all. And some gods who loved the light danced a greater light into being and set it to gently rule the darkness. Some gods loved the greater light and some loved the lesser light and even darkness and so the greater light was always flowing from a brightness to please the gods of light to darkness to please the gods of dark and as this new light drifted from light to dark and back again the first tide was born, the first cycle came into being. And the tide of the moon became also the tides of the waters upon the shores.”

“Some of the gods of light danced a great brightness into being, a brightness that brought with it heat and the first warmth was known and some gods liked the brightness and the warmth while some gods longed for the coldness and the darkness to return again. And so the gods of darkness danced against the light and the gods of light danced against the darkness and they danced the first battle. In that battle some of the gods knew pain for the first time, and some of the gods were destroyed. Finally the gods spoke the first words and made peace and in that new peace day and night were divided. Day would be ruled by the brightness and warmth of the sun and night would be ruled by the gentleness of the tides of the moon. All days would be bright but the nights would still change. And the seasons were put in their order. There would be a season when the days would be long and warmth would rule and another season would be given to longer nights and to cold. And the first year was created with its light half and its dark half – with its cold frozen winters and its hot scorching summers.”

“Some of the gods of darkness did not like the treaty and so they cast water into the sky to obscure the lights. The gods of light saw this and cast the waters back down upon the land and sea. And so the first clouds and the first rains and the first snows were danced into being. And where the rains fell on land and sea the gods danced new things into being. As they danced these new things they breathed into them and so those things became alive and the first creatures and plants were danced into existence. Until then the gods had only danced mountains and objects into being but now they had given some of their breath and with it life was danced into creation.”

“Into some of these new living things the gods danced awareness and souls and so the races were created. All races were taught to dance but within the elven race dance reigned supreme as a special art and skill. And so all elves dance, and all elven arts are taught in dance because for elves the entire world is simply a dance. Our warriors are dancers who learn to move and fight and use their weapons within the steps of dance and when they do battle they dance. Our greatest warriors are said to dance like the shadows of leaves and to be as easy to catch as a leaf shadow under the full moon.”

When Talyat was finished everyone sat in silence for a while thinking about what they had just heard. Finally Veer spoke. “When I was a boy, my father taught me how to smith metal by describing things as dance steps. Did humans once believe that creation was a dance?”

“In the old texts it is said that all of the races had something like this as part of their creation tales.” Talyat answered. “Though for humans their old tales started with the first word spoken and then later the gods danced as they sang. And the dwarves tell of the first forge which created the first music and so started the first dance. As for orcs and goblin races, I do not know.”

“I would like to learn some of the elven warrior dances,” said Veer.

Talyat said. “Many of them are forbidden to any but the Shadow Leaf dancers.”

“Oh, I understand,” said Veer.

Pelinar glanced sharply at Talyat and said. “Some, but not all; there are the ones reserved for only Shadow Leaf Dancers but there are those taught to every warrior and to every elf. Those may be taught to anyone.”

Veer brightened back up and asked. “Can you teach them to me?”

Pelinar looked at the young man for a moment and then said. “If you wish to try and dance the steps I will show them to you.”

“Thank you,” Veer said.

Cyerant stood and looked toward Myalnar and turned and walked away into the darkness. After some time the elf stood and followed.

Veer turned to Tarian and said. “I would also like to learn to use that oar the way you did. I’ve never seen an oar used like that or even an oar as big as the ones you have on these river boats.”

The Captain answered. “Well, I wouldn’t call it a dance but what there is of it I taught to Dalnt and he can show you. And I showed Cralnar how to use the net and fish spear.”

“Good,” Veer said. “I want to learn both.”

Shira asked. “First the sword from Cyerant and now elven fighting and oars and nets and fish spears; do you want to learn every weapon that there is?”

“Yes,” responded Veer. “All of them.”

Pelinar looked appraisingly at Veer and nodded to himself. “There are tales of dragon warriors.”

Veer said. “You will have to tell them to me.”

Pelinar shook his head and answered. “I dance with blades, Talyat dances with words.”

Cyerant walked slowly down the sand along the edge of the water until he could no longer hear the murmurs of conversation behind him and then he walked again that distance because though his hearing was aided by the dragon bond elves might still hear from that distance. He stopped and waited until he felt Myalnar standing beside him. “Elves are very subtle and what they do not say seems to be more important than what is said.”

“Yes, there are more languages than that which is spoken.”

“So, my question?”

“Talyat and Pelinar are actually very close.”

Cyerant turned to look at the elf with a stunned expression. “But they hardly speak and when they do the air crackles like ice.”

“There is a matter of disagreement between them at the moment but they are very young still and their partnership is new as elven lives move.”

“They disagree about humans don’t they? Talyat doesn’t like humans much.”

“There are some among the elves who feel that if a human bonds a dragon, the dragon should be immediately freed from the bond.”

“The only way to do that is to..... They want to kill us? Talyat believes that we should die just because we bonded with dragons?”

“Talyat once thought that he believed this. I saw him today caring for the injured child. He now knows that he does not believe that dragon bonds should be broken.”

“Talyat and Pelinar argued over this?”

“No, Pelinar does not argue which is good because Talyat rarely loses an argument.”

Cyerant chuckled slightly. “That must frustrate Talyat.”

“There are also elves who find a humorous justice in this; especially the many elves that have lost arguments to Talyat.”

Cyerant and Myalnar returned to camp. The watches for the night were set and everyone bundled up into their sleeping blankets and cloaks against the autumn night as a steady breeze from the north blew down across the river bringing a chill.

Captain Tarian woke the company before just before dawn and soon had everyone and everything loaded onto the Gardenia and ready to cast off. As the last preparations were being made the dragons took to the forest to hunt their breakfast. All of the dragons except for the two dragonets still sleeping beside Jolss and Devron.

Captain Tarian turned to Cyerant and said. “We should not wait any longer to leave.”

“We can be on our way, the dragons will find us.” Cyerant answered.

Veer took a torch and went to the pyre which had been piled high with logs and upon which waited the bodies of the men from the day before. He stuck the torch into the tender at the bottom of the pile. Though everything was covered in a layer of dampness from the morning fog the tender caught fairly quickly. As he watched to make sure that the fire was truly alight Shira and Talyat walked up. Shira tossed and handful of small silver coins onto the pyre with the bodies of the men.

“They were enemies,” said the young woman. “But the ferryman still deserves to be paid.”

A few moments later and they were back on the Gardenia as the boat was drifting slowly toward the centre of the river and into the morning fog leaving a growing fire crackling on the shore. The prisoner had been put ashore at the last moment and he stood watching the pyre of his comrades.  Soon the fire was just a glow obscured by the fog and giving it an orange glow. Then the boat nudged her way into the central current and she started to move along with the river, surrounded by the dark blanket of wetness hanging in the autumn air. Soon the dragons began returning. Cyool carried a small rabbit for the dragonet guarding the injured harper.

Talyat checked on Devron and declared that the boy was now nearer to life than death and would recover. This gave a sense of relief to everyone in the company. Talyat, like many elves, had been taught the basics of healing. Captain Tarian said nothing but he sighed with tears in his eyes as he heard the news from the elf.

Dalnt prepared a small breakfast for everyone to start the day but before long Veer had the young sailor out on the deck showing him the use of an oar as a weapon. Veer found that the oar was used very much like a staff except that it was heavy from the constant soaking in water from which the wood absorbed minerals and so became almost impossible for another weapon to cut through. The bladed end of the oar was used for flicking water or sand into the eyes of an opponent. Soon the dragon warrior had the movements of the weapon and he was left to practice on the deck.

When the morning fog cleared the canopy was put up and the benches arranged. The boat drifted peacefully on the current. Far back along the river, keeping a great distance, followed the single boat of foreigners; just following and watching. Soon, Pelinar had replaced the oar that Veer had spent the early morning using with a dagger and the elf was showing the young dragon warrior the beginning steps of the first of the dagger dances of the elves.