HA: Ch. 7 Reunions
Chapter summary: Heather brings Ethari to join Zubeia’s forces. As they near the border tow events occur; a joyous one and a not-so-great one.
Prologue, Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3 , Pt. 4, Pt. 5, Pt. 6 , Pt. 7, Pt. 8, Pt. 9, Pt. 10, Pt. 11, Pt. 12, Pt. 13, Pt. 14, Pt. 15
The trio rode towards Zubeia’s army, keeping to the main road from the Silvergrove for the time being.
“So, what’s it like being a Dragonguard? I hear you’re one of the best, according to Tiadrin and Lain,” Ethari said, stroking his shadowpaw’s mane. Their walk had been quiet since they had left the Silvergrove.
Heather hated this question.
“Careful, don’t say too much. You don’t need to insult them,” Aaravos warned.
She shrugged. “It’s fine, we make a good team most of the time and we’re all pretty close. Plus, I get to live near Dad.”
Ethari inclined his head. “You must have missed him when you lived here.”
“Yeah,” Heather breathed. She tapped her sash again, feeling for the egg. It had been almost a week since they had left the Storm Spire and Lux Aurea, and she couldn’t wait to see her beloved phoenix again.
“So, Ethari,” Khonsu started, “have you ever made a mage’s staff? Maybe one for a battlemage?”
He shook his head. “No, sorry, lad. I’ve only ever made weapons for warriors.”
Khonsu nodded his head with a sigh. “It’s fine.”
“But he has one?” Aaravos noted.
Heather reached out to the caterpillar with her mind. While they had waited for Ethari to get a new mount, Aaravos had mentioned her leaked thoughts. “Strong minds leak alike,” was her witty response, though it was obvious it troubled her.
He’s needed a new one for a while, if he wants to continue his education, she informed him.
“Hmm, I suppose.”
There is one in Spireville that he’s had his eye on for months, but it’s expensive. I’m hoping to buy it for his birthday.
“I knew you liked Moonshadow elves,” Aaravos teased.
Heather separated her mind from his and looked at where their path joined another broader road. “Not far now,” she said to them, nudging Réalta into a trot.
She stopped him in the middle of the road and looked around. No one was around. She listened carefully, straining her ears to hear anything that sounded like an army and an Archdragon. She looked off into the distance, toward thumping wingbeats. Smiling to herself, she thought of being close to Queen Zubeia again and not in the dark Moonshadow forest.
“Can you hear them?” Khonsu asked, pulling up beside her.
“Yeah. We’re not far behind.” She grinned at Khonsu and raised her brow twice. She wanted to make this exciting.
“Ugh! Fine!” he sighed dramatically and Elara galloped off.
*-*-*-*
It was midday, the day after Ethari had joined Queen Zubeia’s forces. They had stopped a few hours away from the border and every elf, dragon-shifter and human sat around a large clearing.
But in their own little corner was Heather and Khonsu, huddling over Phil’s egg. Réalta watched over Heather’s shoulder; they may have been loosely bound for years, but they had only been together for a year. So, this was his first time seeing a phoenix hatch, Elara wasn’t all that interested, focusing on cleaning her talons.
“Are sure it’s now?” Khonsu asked.
“Yes, of course I’m sure!” Heather hissed. “I’m a Sunfire elf, I know when the sun is at its highest.”
Khonsu held up his hands in defence. “Alright, sorry.”
The caterpillar leaned closer to Heather’s ear. Over the past week it had gotten smaller again, now it could comfortably sit on her ear. “Any moment now,” Aaravos assured.
“You had to spoil it, didn’t you?” Heather said.
Then the egg shook in Heather’s palm. She looked down at it; it trembled again.
“Come on, Phil,” she encouraged, cradling the egg in her hands.
The egg bulged at the sides, and an almost perfectly horizontal crack appeared across the egg. Heather gasped with excitement as the crack got bigger, revealing a golden shimmer beneath. The egg bulged once more before both halves separated completely. Heather could see Phil taking his first breaths in months. She smiled as he took a breather.
He pushed the rest of the shell off him, revealing his shimmering, burnt orange and cream hatchling feathers. Heather gently removed the shell away from him, feeling his warmth against her hand.
“Hey, buddy,” she smiled. Phil opened his big orange eyes and chirped at her, stretching himself out. He looked up at her, cooing.
“He’s so cute!” Khonsu exclaimed. He stroked Phil’s orange forehead.
Phil closed his eyes and cooed. He flexed his tiny talons and rolled himself over, pushing himself up with his wings standing on his feet.
Heather lowered head and rubbed her nose against Phil’s golden beak. “It’s good to see you, Phil,” she whispered.
He chirped. His gaze drifted from Heather to Réalta. He nickered at the phoenix hatchling. Phil jumped in Heather’s hand, flapping his little wings, flustered.
Heather giggled and scratched Phil under the chin. “Are you hungry? I have fire flakes and frankincense for you?”
Phil chirped again, as if to say, “FOOD!”.
“Frankincense?” Aaravos questioned. “Expensive. You feed him well.”
She hummed and looked to Khonsu. “Hold out your hand,” she instructed.
Khonsu did as he was told, and in return he placed Phil in his palm. He smiled from ear to ear, pushing down Phil’s head feather and watching it rise again.
Heather rummaged around in Réalta’s saddlebag before pulling out a small wooden box. She placed it on the ground and opened it. Inside the box was a small bound bag of fire flake, a bag of frankincense, two small wooden bowls and a small gold ring with a ruby embedded in the gold.
Heather took out the bag of frankincense, it was bulkier than the bag of fire flakes and weighed more. She opened the bag and took a long draught of the resin; it reminded her of the few dragon funerals she’d been to. She took out one bowl and placed a handful of frankincense resin in it. She put the bag back in the box and pulled out the other bowl. Reaching for Réalta’s saddle, she pulled out her canteen and poured some water into the second bowl.
Phil eyed the food and hopped from Khonsu’s hand, to his knee, to the ground and waddled over to the bowls. He tilted his head at the food and pecked at the clumps of frankincense. He swallowed a piece of resin, stood up and froze for a second before digging into his food. Heather watched around them so Phil wouldn’t constantly be checking for danger.
As he ate, his head feather glowed and flickered, like a burning flame.
“Impressive,” Aaravos mused. “Frankincense gives him power.”
“Frankincense is the best provider of energy for phoenixes,” Heather informed him, adding a bit of context for Khonsu. She took the ring from the box and slid it onto Phil’s leg. It shrunk to fit onto his ankle as he ate.
“And that’s for?”
“It tells others that he’s domesticated and the ruby holds an enchantment for a set of armour, like Réalta’s earring does.”
“Did you enchant them?” Aaravos asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“Impressive, for one who isn’t a mage.”
Heather frowned, and the caterpillar crawled off Heather’s ear and down her arm, landing by Phil’s bowls.
“Aaravos,” Heather warned, “what are you doing?”
Phil cocked his head at the caterpillar and cawed, spreading his wings. He lunged for the caterpillar, but Heather swiftly picked him up. He squawked at her.
“No. the caterpillar is not for eating. Aaravos is a friend, not a snack,” she scowled.
Phil looked at her, open-beaked, as if to say, “But mother, he looks SO tasty!”.
Heather shook her head and picked up Aaravos and placed him on her ear. She sat Phil beside his bowls. “Eat quickly, we’ll be leaving soon.”
*-*-*-*
Within a few hours that stood by the border, the warm glow and fiery heat reaching the soldiers even when they were hundreds of feet away.
But Queen Zubeia was hesitant about crossing it.
Two tall walls of igneous rock divided the river, formed from the lava and Dark Magic. The scent irritated the Archdargon and her dragon-shifters.
Queen Zubeia snorted. “Cross as quickly as you can,” she ordered, spreading her wings and taking to the sky, Prince Azymondias in her talon. SkyWing elves and dragon-shifters took off after her, while the rest marched through the gap in the lava.
Réalta snorted uneasily. I think he is near.
Heather looked down at him. “What?” she hissed.
“He is right,” Aaravos interrupted, “Viren is close, I can see it.”
Heather slid off of Réalta and gave the Dragonguards the hand gesture for ‘Dark Mage’. They quietly got off their mounts, retrieved their weapons, and ordered their mounts to go. Heather swung her sword-whip and glanced back at Phil on Réalta’s saddle.
“Follow the others. I’ll make this quick,” she ordered Réalta. “And stay together.”
Réalta cantered off, following the other mounts across the border.
The Dragonguards eyed the rocky terrain, waiting to the Dark Mage to make his presence known. They edged their way forward, their eyes never leaving the rocks.
Heather glanced aside. How close are they? she broadcasted to Aaravos.
“Not far. Any minute now,” he predicted.
She clenched her jaw, ready for him to strike.
But a corrupted fireball hit the ground in front of the guards, sending dust, smoke and ash up into their faces.
The guards became a spluttering mess as the cloud hung around them.
Heather got low, her eyes and lungs stung.
“Use the aspiro spell, they’re going to sneak passed,” Aaravos informed her.
Heather fought her coughing and drew the rune from memory and drew in a deep breath as she could. She blew out, a whirlwind dispersed the dust.
She saw the Dark Mages immediately. Get the bag of coins, nothing more. Don’t kill either of them, she repeated to herself.
She sprinted towards Viren, ignoring his apprentice. He swung his staff at her, and she used her sword to parry it.
she took a quick scan of his body, there was a bag of coins in his pouch, she could feel a few minds inside.
Viren pushed her back and his apprentice drew another corrupted sun spell rune. Heather ducked beneath Viren’s staff and reached for the pouch, grabbing the coins and tucking them into her sash pocket. She stood behind Viren and wrapped her arm around his chest and dug her heel into his knee, forcing him to the ground. With her free hand, she tore his staff from him and tossed it aside. She placed her foot on his nape, forcing him to stay still as she aimed the point of her sword at his head.
“I wouldn’t do that,” called his apprentice.
Heather looked at her. She had no intention to kill him, only to get her to stop attacking the others.
She held the corrupted primal stone of the staff towards the elves; they were unharmed, but a ring of purple flames surrounded them. “Kill him and I’ll give them an agonizing death,” she warned.
“You must convince her you were going to kill him,” Aaravos lectured.
Heather tightened her jaw and glanced from the Dark Mage to the Dragonguards. “If I do, you’ll let them go?”
The apprentice nodded. Heather could tell this man was dear to her.
Heather raised her sword and slid it into the scabbard on her back. “Somnum,” she said, taking her foot off of Viren. The fire around the Dragonguards went out and the apprentice Dark Mage slowly fell to the ground, caught by Haco’s dark hand by the last second.
“Let’s leave them here and get that staff back to the Sunfire mage. Maybe she can fix it,” Heather said with a stretch.