Legon Ascension (9 page)

Their trip to Salkay was pushed up a bit because Edis couldn’t leave his shop for a week and Brack needed some tools that she didn’t know the name of. A year ago the two women would have made the trip on their own, but not after the royal guard was found dead. Not that Brack would be able to help them all that much. She didn’t know much about the military, but she knew Royal Guard was supposed to be tough, so if something took them out, their little threesome wouldn’t stand a chance, but it was still nice having him there.

She felt better when the journey to Salkay was completely uneventful. It had been about three years since she came to this town and it looked like it was growing. They now had a sanitizer, which was something for water, she thought. They found an inn to stay in, and the people were friendly enough, but something seemed off to her. She couldn’t figure it out.
 

They were downstairs eating dinner and she noticed a short man that resembled a bear looking intently at Brack. The man came over to them.

“The name’s Bear,” the man that looked like a bear said. Emma suppressed a giggle.
 

“Brack.” He looked apprehensive.

“Where are you lot from?” Bear asked.

“Salmont, why?”

The man’s face brightened. “I thought you looked familiar, you have a boy that’s a smith?”

Brack just about fell out of his seat. “Yes, his name is Kovos.”

Bear looked thoughtful. “Can’t remember his name, but he was good, I’ll tell you what…did some shooing for me.”

Emma couldn’t help herself. “When did you see him?”

Bear considered. “I don’t know, a few months back. Him and his party were just passing through though.”

“His party?”

“Yeah, there was kind of a plump one like me, but taller, an average height man that looked like he was one big muscle, a very good looking young woman that looked a lot like you mama,” he gestured to Laura. Sasha was a spitting image of her mother. “And then a long haired gentlemen with a great sense of humor.” Arkin. Arkin was with them and they made it to Salkay. They were alive. Emma knew it.

“Yes, the girl was my daughter and the muscularly one my son, but good sense of humor?” Laura asked.

Bear laughed. “Well yeah, you could say he didn’t want my noise where it didn’t belong. They came into town with way too many horses, the long haired guy said they killed a bunch of Royal Guard to get them, can you believe that?” He got serious. “Drove a hard bargain, I’ll say that.”

It looked like Bear was going to say more but a severe looking woman across the room called his name and he seemed to crumple. “Sorry, I’m late getting home, it was good meeting you. Tell that boy of yours he can still have a job if he wants one.”

Bear walked off and they all looked at each other. Emma noticed herself leaning in with Laura and Brack. Both looked like their hearts stopped.

Laura was the one who broke the silence. “Arkin’s with them, they’re ok.”

Brack went next. “Laura, they killed what, ten royal guard? Isn’t that the same number of bodies we found? I thought Arkin had more to him than he looked. And Kovos and Legon are well…”

They kept talking in low voices but she wasn’t hearing them. He was alive. Her chest seamed to get lighter and swell all at once. He was alive, of course. If they did kill those men, which wasn’t a big surprise, Legon was wanted. Kovos wouldn’t be back for a while to claim her. She could look for him, but where to look? No, she would stay in Salmont. That’s where he would go, and then they would be together. By the time she got word from him she might almost be done with her training.
 

The rest of the trip was a haze. All she could think of was being ready to welcome her love home. Nothing could ruin this for her, nothing.

Chapter Five

Night on the Town

“What is love? Is it an emotional tie or merely an impulse in the mind? Is it a noun or a verb? In my time I have found it in all these forms but never stronger then when a noun becomes a verb.”

-Tales of the Traveler

Legon took one last inventory of his and Sasha’s apartment. They didn’t bring that many things, so it wasn’t that hard to do, and it was more out of habit that he double or triple checked everything. Sasha was doing the same. Everything was already on its way to Manton, if it wasn’t already there waiting for them, but still.
 

He walked into the common room the same time Sasha did. Today she wasn’t in a dress. She was wearing brown leather pants and boots that would be suitable for being on a dragon’s back. The cream button-up shirt and leather vest looked odd on her after so many weeks in the Elvin attire. Well, the vest and pants weren’t leather, strictly speaking. It was something the Elves grew, but it looked and felt like leather, so as far as Legon was concerned it was leather.
 

He donned a similar outfit. They would be flying on Sydin and Iselin today. Sasha looked out of place in the pants. He felt her looking at herself through his eyes.

“I look…” she turned and he averted his gaze.

“You know I hate it when you do that,” Legon said.

“Oh come on, you’re the best mirror there is. And besides, even if I did use the mirror, your eyes are much better than mine,” she said teasingly.

“Come on, let’s go,” he said, rolling his eyes.

She hesitated but then joined him. They didn’t talk on the way to the hanger. Legon knew Sasha was terrified of flying on a dragon, but he couldn’t empathize with her. After spending time in the minds of birds, he couldn’t wait to get off the ground and feel the air on his body and on his skin, not the feathers of some other creature.
 

As they entered the hanger, Sydin and Ise were standing in the middle already in their ascended forms. Legon’s heart fluttered as Ise winked one giant pink eye at him. That reminded him they had a date later that evening.

* * * * *

Sasha began to hyperventilate. Legon was no help at all. He was ogling over Ise, as he should. It was stupid for Sasha to feel fear. Both the dragons seemed to be glittering in the hanger and she felt calming waves coming from both. It didn’t escape her that they were only trying to calm
her
down, not her brother.

Legon was beaming at Ise. “Hey Ise, I can’t wait to ride you!” he said like a moron.

Sasha heard rocks grinding together as the two dragons chuckled and Iselin’s voice boomed in their heads. “Yeah, I bet.” She winked at him.

Sasha suppressed a grin as she saw her brother’s face turn a lovely shade of scarlet. Ise turned and made a “come on” gesture with her head. Legon leaped onto her back with ease, his unnatural strength still surprising Sasha. Sydin lowered his head to her level and one of his giant eyes locked on her too.

“Now, try not to freak out, ok. I won’t let you get hurt, I think you know that,” he said.

She tried to speak but all she heard was a squeaking sound.

Ise rolled her eyes. “Sash, honestly, this isn’t a big deal. It’s not like we’re horses or anything. We aren’t going to get spooked and buck you off.”

“Are you two sure? I mean, like you said, you’re not horses…” Sasha tried vainly to come up with an argument.

“Enough. Every Elf has ridden on dragons, it’s not a big deal. It’s fun for us, like giving a little kid a piggyback ride,” Ise said, exasperated.
 

“But we’re not children and AHHHH!”

She screamed as Sydin’s head came around back of her, bit down on the top of her vest and lifted her effortlessly into the air, setting her on the base of his neck. She felt a sticking spell securing her in place. She looked around, mortified to see that most if not all of the Elves in the hangers were either laughing or trying not to laugh at her. There was a flicker of black as Sydin placed a spell that would keep the wind out of her eyes.
 

Iselin was turning around, her wings unfurling. She crouched like a cat about to spring, looking up into the angry sky. Legon looked like he was going to burst with excitement.

“Ready?” Ise asked.

Legon didn’t respond, he just leaned forward on her neck. Sasha saw powerful muscles in Iselin’s legs bunch and release as she hurled herself into space. She cleared the lip of the dome and her wings thrust down, sending a torrent of air into the hanger. Sasha heard Legon whoop. She was aware that Sydin was now taking Ise’s old place and his wings were extending now too. Her stomach came up into her throat as the great black dragon coiled up to jump. She was being tilted up and she clung for dear life on one of his ivory neck spikes.
 

Iselin and Legon were getting smaller as they ascended. Sasha’s stomach went from her throat to somewhere on the hanger floor as Sydin rushed up past the opening of the dome. She couldn’t make a sound. The wind buffeted her, whipping her hair around and tugging at her shirt, but not her eyes. They hovered for just a moment as the movement from Sydin’s initial jump faded, and for a time slowed. They were just above the opening and she could see that Elvin woman Pada standing at the lip, looking up at them serenely. THUD his wings came down and they jolted up, now thirty feet above the dome and oh, it was high! THUD sixty feet, THUD the buildings were looking small now, THUD the wind was so strong. She looked at Sydin’s neck, not taking her eyes off two shiny scales. She felt them getting higher and higher. Soon they were going more forward than up and pink light glinted off one of the scales. She turned her head to see Legon and Ise next to them. She forgot where she was when she took in the look of pure happiness on Legon’s face. Her grip on the neck spike slackened and she looked at their surroundings. They were above the peaks of the Cornis mountains now; when did they get so beautiful?
 

Below her the peaks reached toward the sky, dotted with scrub brush and roaming goats and sheep. There ice-capped tops gleamed, looking peaceful, almost welcoming. She started to relax a bit, leaning into Sydin’s neck. As she relaxed she became aware of a mind trying to talk to her.

“Sasha? Sasha, are you calmed down yet?” Sydin was asking.

“Yes, sorry Sydin, I’m fine now I think. I know you wouldn’t drop me,” she said, feeling embarrassed.

It was natural now to talk to people in her head, something she thought that she would never get used to, so it didn’t bother her when Legon and Ise joined their thoughts.

“So Sy, do you want to play catch?” Iselin said wryly.

She didn’t like Ise’s tone. “Catch?”

“Yes, catch, not with you, but if Legon wants to…”

“Iselin, he is the head of a great house, I don’t know if…” Sydin started.

“If this is going where I think it is, then you guys are playing catch. Sasha can take over for me. Not like it’s going to matter anyway…I can stop myself before I hit the ground,” Legon said exuberantly.

“This is not a good idea,” Sydin said again, but without conviction.
 

“Oh come on Sydin, he’s going to have to learn it someday anyways,” Ise poked.

“Learn what?” Sasha asked.

Sydin answered. “At times, Venefica and other units will ride on dragons, over enemy lines. We can fly high above the clouds and carry about ten people with ease. When over a target or drop zone, as they’re called, the Elves on the dragon let go and drop to their target. Magic stops them before they hit the ground. What Ise is talking about is when being trained for this position, dragons take Elves up and drop them to other dragons so the trainee can learn what it’s like to fall, and how to maneuver when in a fall.”

“Ok, so you’re going to drop me then?” Legon said, still sounding happy but not as excited as before.

“No, we’re going to have more fun with it than that. This is very uncommon, so don’t expect it to happen again in the near future,” Ise said.

Sasha was beginning to wonder something. “Sydin, have you done this before?”
 

“Yes, in training of course.”
 

There was more, she knew it. “But that’s not the only time, is it?”

She felt him huff under her and a plume of smoke whizzed by her head. “No, my children used to love it when I took them up. It’s no different than when a father tosses a toddler above their head and catches them.”

Iselin barked out a laugh. “You tossed your children around? What did your wife think of that?”

“Just because we’re connected doesn’t mean that we don’t all have our little secrets. This is one of mine that I would greatly appreciate you keeping. If she knew…”
 

Sasha patted Sydin’s neck, and she felt them starting to go up, higher and higher until the mountains looked like little more than hills. Legon’s excitement was almost tangible, and so was Iselin’s and Sydin’s. Sasha, however, placed a sticking spell of her own on Sydin’s back, just in case he got the idea in his head that she was going to be doing any of this.
 

She looked to Legon, who was now unstuck and sidling down Ise’s sparkling back to her massive tail. At the tip, he rolled to the bottom of her tail and she saw the glint of pink that said there was another spell in place. Sydin and Ise made a small gap between them, which she thought was just maneuvering room. Iselin rolled in the air, swinging her tail up. There was another flick of light as Legon rocked up in the sky, screaming in fright—or was he happy? She couldn’t tell. He soared above them, as she watched Ise move far away. The dot in the sky that was her brother was getting bigger as he came closer toward them. At the last second, Sydin flipped and caught him with a spell.

“How was that?” Sydin asked.

“AMAZING! I WAS FLIPPING AND TURNING ALL OVER THE PLACE!” he gushed.

Sydin relayed a few instructions to help guide him in the sky and then barrel rolled, flinging him to a waiting Iselin. He traveled in a long arch and this time Sasha could see that he was able to control himself a bit. As he approached Ise, a pink ball of magic formed around him and instead of catching him, Iselin swung her tail, hitting him like a kid might a rock with a stick. Just like a rock and stick, there was a
thwack
as the magic hit her tail and Legon shot though space. Sydin chuckled and dove to intercept. Sasha screamed but with the wind she was supremely confident that he didn’t hear her. In fact, she was sure he wasn’t aware of her presence at all. They passed and hit him back and forth most of the way to Manton, only stopping when they were in sight of the city.