The Missing Dragon Ch. 05

At any other moment, she might have fended off Ulla's question. It was better for Algra to suffer alone. The burden was hers to bear after all, and so was the shame. So, she spoke the truth to the first living soul since the day she'd heard of Rowun's death.

"I was with child."

Those words escaped from between her tusks before she could even consider them. Ulla's eyes visibly widened, and a tear spilled down her cheek that had been welling up for some time. Since the girl was clearly stunned, Algra felt the need to press on and the truth spilled out in a tide.

"Only he and Grolfir knew of it. The signs were unmistakable. He asked me to stay behind. I... disagreed. We fought. No. I fought. He refused to fight back, even when I almost bit his ear off. Nothing would change his mind. He was alpha. It was the only time he ever attempted to weigh down his rank upon me. I broke his nose.

Then, he said that he would protect the people for a time, and asked me to protect our child for him. He told me that if he knew that our pup was in danger he wouldn't be able to fight as he should. He actually apologized for the weakness. I embraced him and told him I loved him. Then I never saw him again.

The news came of his death and it... it broke a part of me. I have never felt such a blow. I couldn't bear it. I... lost our child. His last wish was for me to protect that little one, and I could not. So, I fled. I cast aside my worth, and my honour. I no longer wanted to be a part of the world without them."

Algra was looking at the stone edge to the shore of the stream, resting on her knees with her shoulders drooped and her arms lay before her. Defeated and broken from the weight of her confession.

She felt Ulla's arm settle across her bare shoulders, and turned immediately to face the girl.

"I did not know this," Ulla said. "You should have told me."

"The pain was mine to bear. I saw what the news of Rowun's death did to your family. I did not wish to add to their sorrow."

"The pain was not yours to bear alone, Algra Strongblood. You dishonour us in keeping such a secret."

Algra's head sank even lower upon hearing that.

"But I no longer hate you, sister," Ulla said.

"How could you not?"

"Because you did not leave my brother to die alone. You were preparing to bring him a family of his own. There is no shame in what you have done."

"That is what Grolfir continually tells me. Yet I feel it. I feel it down into my bones. The only escape from it has been..."

"Our alpha? You should speak with him about this."

"I couldn't bear for him to know. He would look at me differently."

"He would love you. Though, he might rightfully wish to beat some sense into you for keeping this from him. If you weren't appearing so pathetic right now, I'd do it for him. Some good has already come from you speaking of it."

"Oh?"

"I'm no longer planning to kill you."

"Really? That's good to hear."

"Don't get too comfortable. I'm still considering breaking your legs for keeping this from me. All this time I have loathed you, Algra. Now I have met my true enemy. The ones who killed my brother. Once I have killed them all, I shall challenge you to mend your insult."

"That would be right." Algra turned to Ulla and nodded her agreement.

Ulla smiled at her for the first time and squeezed her arm across Algra's shoulders.

For the first time in a long time, Algra actually felt clean.

- - - - -

Gregory's new sword felt strangely comfortable in his hand as he carried it back home in its sheath. It wasn't something he'd ever have thought he'd need, but now he had it he knew that he would probably seldom ever be without it again. On returning to his camp, he found a few orcs and humans settled by the fire telling stories about the departed whilst enjoying a fresh cask of beer. He recognized Nullik and Ulf amongst them, but he didn't go to join them. The gift of the sword had turned his mind to the future, for it was difficult to receive such a thing without turning one's mind to what they planned on doing with it.

Ducking under the canopy of his tent, he saw Janette lay in their bed reading the beautifully bound book about elves that Valise had loaned her. She still looked a little pale, and her hair spilled down across her shoulders as she hadn't yet had it tended to since she had died. It made her look a little wilder, and he liked it. Without saying hello, he instead walked over to the side of the bed and kissed her on the lips. She contentedly shifted her head on his approach, and the kiss raised a fresh smile from her. It was only then that she noticed he was carrying a sword.

"Oh, Talina finally gave it to you?" she asked, evidently pleased.

"You knew about it?"

"Of course I did. It'll go very well with your new suit of armour. Can't go wrong with black on black."

He followed her gaze to the corner of their tent, and saw the armour had been mounted on a stand. It seemed like they had received some dark guest, as it was properly mounted and wasn't designed to show any part of the human beneath. It stood in the corner, and Gregory approached it to carefully place a hand on the chest-plate.

"What's up?" Janette asked.

"I just had a conversation with Tragoth Ironheart about this. He said that it was practically brimming with magic from the ring. I wondered if I touched it I might be able to feel it. I can't. Is my hair sticking up at least?" He looked back to her expectantly.

"It's not a Van De Graaff generator, you dope."

"Wow, someone paid attention in physics class."

"I got smarts, buddy. Real good smarts." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey, don't go thinkin' I don't appreciate them. Hell, I was impressed when you made a Dragonball Z reference."

"Huh? Oh. When I said you'd gone super saiyan after..." she paused for a moment, and it looked like some invisible weight descended on her shoulders. "After I'd died."

Gregory put down his new sword propped up next to the armour and turned back to her. They hadn't really talked about what happened since she'd woken up. Conversation between them had been aimed more toward forgetting about the whole thing. Talking about it wasn't easy. It wasn't just that it brought up some difficult emotions, but rather that neither of them could fully recall what exactly had happened. At least not in the degree of detail required to talk it over. In order for him to understand her side of what happened he would have to know what dying felt like and he didn't. On the other hand, for her to get what he went through she'd have to put on a magical ring that gave her unimaginable power and the ability to process information beyond anything she could conceive. It wasn't exactly easy to talk about something that neither of them understood.

"Greg, I should tell you something," she said.

"You've been a unicorn in disguise this whole time." He deadpanned, keeping his tone gravely serious. "I've had my suspicions since the beginning."

That got a snort of laughter from her that she hadn't been expecting. "You are such an ass!"

His sombre expression broke apart into a relaxed grin. "I have my redeeming qualities. What's up?"

Walking away from the armour display, he stepped around the bed to take a seat by her legs. She was covered in a thick blanket, and he knew she was naked beneath it.

"I think something's happening to me. I feel funny ever since it happened. At first I figured: Hey! I died! If I didn't feel a little weird then that would be weird, right?"

He nodded. It would.

"Except after a while I started getting better," she continued. "Valise has given me the all-clear as far as my physical health goes. The poison I got stuck with is out of my system, the wound's healed fully. I should be ready to dance a jig, but I feel... weird."

"Weird, how?"

"It's different depending on the hour. Sometimes I'm dizzy, sometimes it feels like my skin's itching like crazy, and sometimes it's just a mild headache. I thought I might be getting a fever, but like I said, Valise has given me the all-clear and I think she'd recognize a fever if she saw one. It's why I didn't go with you tonight. I didn't want to get a dizzy spell and bring up my lunch in front of everyone."

"Wise move. Don't worry about that now." He reached over and placed his hand upon hers, giving it an affectionate pat. "So what does it feel like?"

"It feels like you put something inside of me."

"You mean, you're... you're..." His eyes widened as he looked down to her belly.

"No! Sorry." She shook her head firmly and swished her hands in front of her to dismiss what he was thinking. "Big misdirect there. My fault. No bun is in this oven."

A wave of relief hit him, along with a slightly unexpected twang of sadness. Of all the battles he'd fought recently, that would certainly have at least been one that was undeniably worth it. He dismissed the thought almost as soon as it popped into his head, and instead laughed softly.

"Crikey, Jan. You do know how to keep me on the verge of a heart attack."

"Yeah, that was a silly way for me to have put it. I'm sorry."

"No, it's ok. So just to be clear you feel like the ring put something extra back into you when it brought you back to life?"

"Bingo!" She hadn't expected him to understand what she was getting at so soon, and she sat up a little with excitement. "My eyes are up here, buddy."

"Sorry, it's just that your boobs aren't, and they always seem to be clamouring for my attention." He shook his head a little. The beautiful, milky globes had indeed come into full view when she'd sat upright and he had rather missed them.

"Understood, and your continuing struggle is appreciated." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Right, so you think that the ring put something else inside you that's messing with your body's regularly scheduled programming."

"Yes." She nodded, and looked at him as if she was trying to puzzle him out. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"I talked to you that night. I remember that it was you who did all those amazing things. It was you who brought me back to life. I felt you. I saw you. So whenever you talk about it, why do you say the ring did this rather than I did this?"

"Hm. Fair question." He rubbed his chin with his fingers, and she realised that he hadn't really thought it through properly. So she gave him the time he needed to formulate an answer. "I suppose to put it bluntly I just didn't feel like me when I put it on. You know how you feel like something extra is inside you? Well I guess when I put that thing on it felt more like I was the little something extra inside it. I'm not saying it wasn't me in there, because it was. It was just a whole lot of something else too."

"You mean the ring has its own personality? Shit, Greg, we're not going to have to fend off Ringwraiths, are we? Where the hell's a Baggins when you need one, huh?" she smiled playfully at him.

"Ok, now who's being the ass?"

Her smile remained, but her eyes remained serious enough that he felt comfortable continuing without her bringing Gandalf into the conversation.

"It's not really like a personality. More like a purpose. Like it's trying to do something. When I put it on I felt a little of that purpose, but I couldn't understand what it was. It was just a pull; a pull northward. I think that's where it needs to be, but all I know that's north is a bunch of backstabbing humans and an army of demons. So I'm not exactly keen on letting it do what it wants to."

"Do you think it's evil?"

"Not really. I think it's more like I'm handling a nuclear bomb with an attitude problem."

"I thought you said it didn't have a personality?"

"I don't think of it like that. It's like it's complimenting the personality of whoever's wearing it."

"You."

"Huh?"

"It's complimenting your personality, Greg. You're the only one we know who's actually been able to put that thing on and get that kind of a reaction. All it did for me was transport us here, then it went dead. Freddie, it burned alive. You're the only one it's actually allowed to use it."

"I guess." He frowned. "Why do you want to go through all this? It's not an easy thing to talk about. I don't understand so much of it, and what I do understand isn't exactly easy to put into words."

"I get that. I do. I just wanted to know a little more about it because I wanted to know if you knew what it was that's making me feel like this?"

"I don't. I don't have a clue. I'm sorry. When I brought you back, all I had to do was will you alive and the ring did the rest. I can't explain it. I don't even think my mind could properly absorb what was going on at the time. All I knew was that I wanted you back, that it wasn't too late, and if I held on and wanted it enough then you'd come back to me. So I held and I wanted." He shrugged.

"I'm grateful." Those words were almost like magic, and tears began to make her eyes glisten. "I didn't tell you before, but thank you. I didn't want to go."

"I didn't want you to leave." He felt his own throat begin to tighten.

They both remained silent for a moment, and steeled themselves to regain their composure. Whilst they did, she turned her hand over to clasp his and they both squeezed tightly. It was the first time that either of them had actually acknowledged just how thankful they were, and that emotional tide threatened to spill over. With a little sniff, Janette wiped a hand over her eyes and then continued in a slightly shaky voice.

"So, there wasn't anything else you can remember." It was a statement rather than a question, since she trusted him at his word. "Damn it! What the hell is wrong with me then!? Why can't I- Argh!"

She'd caught sight of Talina from the corner of her eye. As usual, the girl didn't particularly see a need to announce her presence and she moved in utter silence. The sudden shock of seeing that they weren't alone was enough to scare the living hell out of Janette, and she screamed. Without thinking, she felt something happen inside of her. It had slowly been building up in her gut for several days, and she attributed it to the nausea that came and went. Now that strange feeling sizzled with a powerful heat that escaped into her flesh, muscle and bone. It rose up through her body, extending along her arm and bursting out through her hand.

The fire erupted in a cluster about the size of a tennis ball and flew directly at Talina's head. Thankfully it didn't make its target, as the nimble girl's reflexes were sharp enough to see it coming. She managed to duck underneath the flames, leaving her with only some singed hair. The fireball sailed across the room and splattered on Gregory's new armour where it engulfed the chest-plate in flames. The armour didn't seem to mind the attempt to immolate it, and simply stood there as the fire burnt itself out across the metal.

Janette started to shake, and looked down at her fingertips. Her index and middle fingers were still on fire, though the flames didn't seem to harm her as they danced over her skin. She shook her hand as she would have shook a match to put it out and the flames quickly dissipated.

"Am I no longer welcome to visit you tonight, master?" Talina lifted her head again and levelled the question with an apologetically curious tone. She didn't seem to realise that she'd nearly had her head blown off by an impromptu display of magic, or perhaps she'd just lived a life where that wasn't out of the ordinary. It was Talina. Who knew?

Gregory looked the dark-haired woman over to make sure she was alright before turning his attention to Janette. He still had her other hand clasped in his, and although it had grown very warm it thankfully didn't burst into flames.

Janette stared at her hand, now successfully doused for the time being. Her scared blue gaze then slowly shifted to turn toward him.

"Well," he said. "I... I guess that solves the mystery of why you were feeling a little weird. Looks like the added ingredient was..." He trailed off, looking down to her fingertips.

Janette returned her attention to her hand, and wiggled her fingers. Her entire hand burst into a bright orange and yellow flame. She slowly turned her hand over to examine it, apparently still unburned by the fire. A fresh smile slowly crept its way over her lips, and for the first time in weeks she felt alive again. Looking through the fire, she saw the man who'd brought her back to life and finished off his thought for him.

"Magic."