Ariadna’s Star: Post 55

Ariadna be praised, Kalteratem and Veremund are here!

For the first time ever, I see fear—true fear—on the faces of many of the Vladykars. Eyes wide, they retreat as Kalteratem roars angrily. Veremund is poised on Kalteratem’s back, both of them in the Dragon Armor from their aeon bond, the glittering Dragon Weapon halberd in Veremund’s hands, glass-like wings upon his back.

And as if that weren’t enough, flying alongside him is Mortimer and Undabouclier, Volkan and Tikokaftos, and Thorn and Vitegadium!

“Grab Ward Estelle and the Star!” Vladykar Eder shouts. “We’re leaving!”

I dodge Vladykar Jarogniew as he throws a fistful of smoke at my face. But there are too many of them—Vladykar Lochan and Vladykar Azar snatch my arms and pick me up off the ground. Still holding Ariadna’s Star tightly to my chest, I twist back and forth, struggling to get free, but they carry me to Velenosever with ease. The massive orange-scaled dragon reaches out with his purple claws.

Astralux, snarling, lunges at us. Velenosever takes a swipe at her but Astralux ducks and pounces on Vladykar Vaimiti, who shrieks as Astralux claws her face. Then my bonded dragon turns toward the other Vladykar riders, who keep me suspended between them.

“Hold!” Vladykar Azar rests a blade against my throat. “Or your second bonded dies.”

Astralux freezes, her dark blue eyes wide on me.

Vladykar Eder, who is atop of Velenosever, scowls at Astralux. “If you—” His eyes widen at the sight of something beyond us. “Watch out!”

A blast of water slams into Vladykar Jarogniew and the dark-haired Vladykar man, sending them both flying back. A burst of magma falls overtop Raucharger, the smoky gray dragon yelping in agony. Vines entangle themselves around myself and the Vladykar riders holding me, and they go from struggling with me to trying to free themselves.

And then Kalteratem, with a vicious roar, opens his mouth.

Jagged ice crashes into the ground with shattering explosions, circling around where Astralux and I are. It tears apart several of the Vladykar dragons’ scales, and Salannagro shrieks as Vladykar Vaimiti, still sprawled from Astralux’s attack, is shredded by ice down her left side, blood splattering and staining the ground everywhere. The pink dragon rushes to Vladykar Vaimiti, picks her bloodied form off the ground, and hurriedly flies southeast, whimpering the entire time.

Velenosever snarls, raises himself up, and blasts purple venom at Kalteratem. The ice dragon, despite his size, lithely banks to the side and avoids it. The dark red dragon that belongs to Vladykar Azar swoops around, opens his mouth, and exhales a blast of fire. The magic in my veins jumps in reaction, and I cringe as it burns across Kalteratem’s front right leg. But he doesn’t slow. He doesn’t even hesitate. He charges down, his claws outstretched.

Breaking free of the vines around him, Vladykar Lochan takes off running for Pesokvglazu, who is trying to get his leg unstuck from the ice. Vladykar Azar holds out his right hand and fire appears just between him and me, setting the vines alight. To my surprise, I feel no kinship with his magic, despite feeling something when his dragon breathed. Regardless, he’s getting free faster than I am, between the fire and the knife in his hand, still dangerously close to me. Exhausted and unable to summon my own magic, I wrestle with the vines around me, snapping a couple free and shifting away from Vladykar Azar.

“We share a bond, fire-wielder,” Vladykar Azar says. “Join us! You and I could be a powerful force together.” The fire eats through more of the vines, and the Vladykar, ceasing his summons of the fire, grabs a hold of my arm. His eerie orange eyes gleam by the white glow of Ariadna’s Star. “You’re coming along dead or alive, Ward Estelle. What will it be?”

Astralux, shaking herself free of the vines, snaps at Vladykar Azar. He leans back, avoiding her fangs, his grip on me loosening as I try to pull away. Undabouclier lands with a running bound and a roar, slamming the two dark, curved horns over his head into Raucharger first, knocking him down. The large, built dragon then swings the large bulb at the end of his tail around and smashes this into Vladykar Azar, blood spraying as the human breaks loose of the vines and topples backward. His blue scales ruffled, Undabouclier growls as he turns and faces off with Velenosever, his wings spread wide over Astralux and me.

“Back off,” Mortimer says, his voice full of warning. “Now.”

Vladykar Eder’s upper lip lifts. “Ward Mortimer. Undabouclier.” He glares at Mortimer and Undabouclier, then turns his gaze down and smiles at me. “Till next time, Ward Estelle.”

Velenosever takes to the air, growling at Kalteratem as the massive dragon zooms closer, and then he turns and flies away—quickly, I notice, along with the other Vladykars.

Kalteratem and Undabouclier break the vines around Astralux, while Mortimer and Veremund jump down and cut through the vines closer to me. I finally wriggle free, and Veremund sweeps me up into his arms.

“Estelle. Oh Ariadna be praised.”

I turn my head in time to see Kalteratem do the same with Astralux, hugging her tightly to his chest and nuzzling her before setting her down and checking her wounds. The other two Ward pairs land nearby and rush over.

Mortimer waves a hand in front of my face, his fair skin paler than usual. “Estelle? Are you hurt?”

“No, just Astralux.” My eyes fill with tears. “They were hurting her. They were going to kill her.”

Kalteratem gives a vicious-sounding growl that sends a shiver of fear through me. Then he licks Astralux’s head. Astralux immediately frowns up at Kalteratem. She growls at him, and all of the other dragons chuckle. Kalteratem sits back with a small, growing smile on his face and then nuzzles Astralux again. Sighing, Astralux leans her head against her father, and he wraps a wing around her.

Veremund slowly sets me down as Thorn and Volkan sprint over. “Estelle, I’m so sorry,” Thorn says shakily. “Vite and I couldn’t—”

I throw one arm around Thorn. “I’m so glad that you and Vitegadium got away! Astralux and I knew Vitegadium couldn’t go on much longer.”

Vitegadium whimpers. “But I didn’t mean to leave you with two Vladykar pairs, especially Velenosever and Vladykar Eder!”

“It’s okay,” I say. “Really. Thank you for bringing help!”

Thorn snorts. “Bringing help? They were already on their way—we just joined up.” He shakes his head and hugs me tentatively, still trembling. I squeeze him with one arm, and he exhales.

Mortimer kisses me on the top of my head. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

“It’s a good thing you were shining so much light,” Volkan says. His yellow-hazel eyes are wide as he looks between me and Astralux. “It was easy to find you.”

“That was the Star!” Astralux breaks free from Kalteratem’s wing and bounds in place. “Estelle and I found it! We found Ariadna’s Star!”

“Oh.” I hold out the Star, which has dimmed back to its normal glow. “Ariadna’s Star.”

The Wards stare at the Star. The dragons walk closer, peering at it intently.

Mortimer’s eyes fill with tears and he puts a hand over his heart. “What a sight!”

“Amazing!” Kalteratem leans down, his ice blue eyes glistening. “We saw Ariadna’s Star fall last night. It’s hard to believe that it’s here! At long last, it has come to Zoi.”

“Do you feel the power from it?” Veremund murmurs to Mortimer.

Mortimer nods. “Oddly enough, I feel the bond stronger.”

“Same here,” Vitegadium says. Everyone around nods.

“Somehow, I thought it would be…bigger,” Tikokaftos said. “It’s gorgeous. But what can it do?”

“Well, light, clearly,” Thorn says.

“Earlier, before I picked it up, the light actually hurt the Vladykars,” I say. “The light didn’t hurt them after, though. I’m not sure why. It does feels good to hold.” I offer it to Veremund. He accepts it carefully with both of his hands, and I feel the throbbing power of my magic lessen as the warmth of the star leaves me. “It makes my magic stronger.”

“Really? Why didn’t you set some Vladykars on fire?” Volkan asks.

“Something happened when I picked up the Star,” I say. “I blasted so much magic I passed out. I’m exhausted as it is.”

Astralux nods. “I exhaled all my breath. It’s like it gave us incredible power, but then we used it up.” I reach out and stroke Astralux’s cheek, and she sighs and nuzzles my arm.

“I…I see what you mean,” Veremund says. Kalteratem is leaning over his shoulder, and the two of them share a long look before Veremund holds it out to Mortimer. “The bond is so much stronger when you hold it. And it carries a warmth. A great life and courage in it.”

Mortimer’s green-blue eyes widen as he takes the Star. “That’s amazing!”

“Glory to Ariadna,” Undabouclier says.

After another minute Mortimer offers it to Volkan. He takes it, eagerly. Now that I’m aware of the sensitivity of the dragon bonding to the Star, I notice that both Volkan and Tikokaftos’ eyes widen and their pupils dilate a little. “I like this!” Volkan says.

It’s a long while before Volkan hands it off to Thorn, and his face falls. “I don’t like giving it away. I feel cold.”

“I noticed that too,” Mortimer says.

Thorn holds the Star, peering over it closely. He lifts it so that Vitegadium can see it a little better, and then he hands it back to Veremund.

Veremund takes the Star carefully again. “We will have to secure this in Adytol, until we can figure out its purpose.” Then he looks up at Astralux and me and gives us a warm smile. “Right now, I’m more relieved that you’re here and alive.”

Kalteratem leans down and nuzzles my shoulder with his massive nose. “I’m proud of you both.”

“Thank you.” I blink and reach into my pack and pull out a scroll with the Verlassen coat of arms on it. “This is from King Mahlir. He agreed to the alliance and looks forward to the Wards visiting again.”

“Oh right.” Thorn gestures to the shield bearing the Verlassen coat of arms on it hooked to Vitegadium’s saddle. “And a gesture of his gratefulness. We fought off a Klevorian attack on one of Amenyl’s cities, including two Vladykar pairs.”

Many of the Wards chuckle as Veremund accepts the scroll from my hand, a smile growing on his face. “Well done!”

“Not satisfied with a simple, easy mission?” Undabouclier asks.

Astralux snorts. “We’re Wards. Never.”

Shaking his head as he chuckles a bit dryly, Veremund opens the scroll and glances through it. “Good. You’ll have to give me more of the details later, once we are home and safe.”

“Home sounds nice,” Astralux says tiredly.

I nod my head. The adrenaline rush now fading, my legs start to shake and a cold settles into me. Veremund holds an arm out to me. I take his arm but to my surprise, he picks me up again and holds me up to Kalteratem’s saddle. They must be trying to lighten Astralux’s load, since she’s injured. I reach for the lowest rung and pull myself up, Veremund behind me. When I look down from the saddle, I stare.

“Wow this is high up,” I say.

Kalteratem chuckles and glances back at me with one giant ice blue eye. “Don’t worry. I won’t barrel-roll on you like my daughter did.”

“Hey. We were in a fight,” Astralux says. I share a grin with her. “Have fun up there!”

“Oh yes, lots of fun.” I cling to the saddle horn when Kalteratem stands up. We aren’t even flying and we’re so high!

Veremund chuckles and pats my back. “Let’s get you all home.”

Kalteratem beats his wings, and the wind rushes all around us. It’s a bit deafening as he leaps up, and I’m honestly surprised at how easily he rises into the air. I can feel Astralux’s wounds being stretched as she flies beside us. But she’s happy, her tail wagging at the tip, her deep blue eyes alight with joy, and I smile.

“Hey, instead of a barrel-roll, you should show Estelle how fast you can go!” Astralux says.

Kalteratem grins. “How about after you and her have had a chance to rest and eat?”

“Food sounds good,” Vitegadium says.

“Food does sound good,” I echo. “And sleep.”

“Fine. Breakfast, a nap, and then you take Estelle out for a flight?” Astralux asks.

Veremund and Kalteratem both laugh as I give my grinning bonded dragon a look.