Chapter 7: Strange Allies

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"I sent a message to Auberon," Ico admits, taking Aymeri aside to make her confession, "I told him that the dragons were preparing for war..."

"So, if this Shayeleigh brought Riain to him..."

"He might hold him hostage."

The rage flares up quickly. She went behind his back, informed the other fairies of what the dragons were doing, and endangered Riain. His hands clench into fists, ready to lash out, but she doesn't see his inward struggle for control. 'I am not ruled by my anger,' he reminds himself, a mantra he taught himself as an adolescent, after he watched his father die, a casualty of a dragon's quick temper, 'I rule myself'. 

The skies fill with sound of dragon flight. "The females return to the nests," Seirian says, "We must follow."

"What of Riain?" Aymeri asks. The dragons are torn between their duty to their mates, and the need to track their wounded brother and son to wherever the fairy took him. 

"Go," Ico says, "Learn what your council has decided. I'll go after Riain."

"You trust her?" Seirian asks Aymeri.

Aymeri closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, "Yes," he answers, "I'll meet up with you as soon as I'm able," he says to Ico.

"I as well," Emrys promises, "We will find my son."

The pain is almost more than he can bear, but Riain refuses to break, to say anything to the fairy who questions him. He endures the torture in silence, only breaking it to call for Shayeleigh.

"Who do you think brought you to me?" Auberon asks with a sly laugh, "Shayeleigh is one of mine. I won't allow you to use her."

"Auberon, please, you must stop this," Shayeleigh pleads, bursting into the room.

"You've let your misplaced feelings for this dragon sway you," Auberon answers, "But I cannot be moved. He means us harm, all his kind prepare for war against us, and they hold Ico prisoner."

"Are you so hardened that you cannot be moved by pity?" Shayeleigh asks, her lips trembling, "I know his heart, Auberon, and I know you are wrong about him, whatever his brethren have planned, he is not part of it. But even if he were, what you are doing here is wrong."

"Is it wrong for me to protect us from attack?" Auberon asks.

"What protection has this torture brought us?" Shayeleigh asks, "What have you gained from it, and at what cost to your own honor? You cannot protect us if you become a monster worse than the one you hope to shield us from."

Her words strike like a well aimed arrow. Auberon scowls, angry at being called out, and unable to defend himself. 

"Leave me with him," Shayeleigh says quietly, and Auberon complies.

The pain Auberon inflicted was a trick of the mind, and ebbs away when he ceased his torture, leaving no wounds to heal.

The scars left behind are invisible to the eye.

Shayeleigh holds him close, saying nothing as his hot tears fall on her neck. "I thought I knew cruelty, growing up in my mother's nest," he says quietly, "I thought I knew what it meant to endure pain. But this..."

"I brought you to my people to heal your injury," Shayeleigh sighs, "If I had known what Auberon would do..."

"How could you know what I didn't tell you?" Riain asks, "I saw how much my brother Aymeri worried about Ico, how much he feared other dragons would attack her, just because she knew us. I wanted to protect you from that, to keep you safe by keeping you secret. We were like a world unto ourselves, neither dragon or dragon fairy, and outside the laws. Or so I wanted to believe, but reality would not allow us such an escape. Hayder attacked us on sight, and your Auberon saw me as a captured enemy."

"Do the dragons truly mean to make war on us?" she asks.

"Some do want war. My nest is calling for peace between us. And if war is declared, we have already decided to stand with you and fight our own kind in your defense. Aymeri will persuade othr to stand with us, you can count on that."

"You would still side with us, after what Auberon did to you?" Shayeleigh asks.

"I will always stand by you, my love," Riain promises, "As for my brothers, they should never know what happened to me here, or you will never see the end of their wrath."

"I am frightened, Riain," she whispers, "I do not wish our child to be born into a world of war."

"Our child?" his voice is barely a whisper, "Is that even possible for us?"

"I would not have thought so, but I have felt your seed take root inside me, and a child grows."

"Shayeleigh," he whispers her name, having no other words to express his joy at this news. He'd longed to be a father someday, but it would be years before Tearhne was fertile again, and even then she'd be more likely to choose her second, Seirian, to sire her next child.

"How could you keep such a thing from me?" Auberon demands, appearing suddenly in the room.

Riain rises in anger at the interruption. "You're spying on us?"

"This house is a creation of my mind," Auberon answers casually, as though it were as common as the sun rise, "I am present in every splinter, every thread, and nothing said or done here escapes my notice."

A low growl rumbles from Riain's chest and his muscles prepare to attack. Shayeleigh rests a hand on his knee, pleads with only her eyes for him to stand down. Auberon watches closely, and notes how well she brings the dragon to heel with just a touch, a look. The enemy has a weakness, one that is very much in his power to exploit.

"Do you truly intend to stand with us when your brethren attack?" Auberon turns his attention to the dragon.

"That was always our plan," Riain says, "I will not move to defend you, monster. But I will not turn from doing what is right. The dragon's laws are wrong, and if we will not change them, I will defend your kind from their punishment."

"I can defend myself well enough," Auberon says, "Your brethren do not realize how formidable a foe I can be. Even you have felt only a taste of what I am capable of. But I cannot defend all my kind in a war of this scale," he admits, reluctantly, but willing to do whatever is necessary for the protection of the fae,  "And I cannot accept the death of even one fairy. Will you put aside your anger at me to figt with us, for Shayeleigh's sake, and the sake of the child she carries?"

Riain growls again, hating this arrogant fairy and the fact that he must take his side in any war the dragons bring against his kind. "I said I would," he says with an angry snarl, "I would not back on a promise."

"Opinion is still very much split," Tearhne reports with a heavy sigh, "This decision will be long in the making." Long councils become tedious with arguments and appeals from both sides. "We broke only so Radhari could attend to her nest after the death of her  first. We meet again tomorrow."

After hearing Tearhne's report, Aymeri informs her of what happened to Riain, and how Hayder died.

"This war escalates before it's even begun," Tearhne says, "Now a fairy has killed a dragon, and one of mine is in their hands..."

"Hayder attacked Riain," Aymeri points out, "The fairy had no choice but to kill him if she wanted to live. As for Riain, Ico is looking for him, and I'm going with Emrys to join her."

"Letting her go was not wise..."

"It was the only thing I could do. She is one of them, she can help talk them down before this goes any further."

"Or she can betray us even further," Brys points out with a snarl. If he had been with them when this decision was made, he would have had words with his first, "You should have punished her for giving our secrets."

"Thinking of the fairies as the enemy only ensures that they will be our enemy," Aymeri says calmly, "We must tread carefully here."

"Are you having second thoughts?" Seirian asks as they watch Aymeri rush off to meet Emrys so they might follow Ico's trail together.

"No, the laws must change to meet the change in our circumstances. We are not invulnerable, and our secrecy was meant as a shield from their magic. If they were not aware of us, what we truly are, then they could not use their magic against us. Going to war with them will just bring the death and destruction the law meant to us to avoid," Tearhne says, "Even losing two of my mates to these fairies doesn't change that truth."

Seirian takes her hand and walks with her to the shore near their nest. "You'll never lose Aymeri, you know that," he says, "His duty will always bind him to your nest."

"Even when we were children, I knew I wanted him for my first," Tearhne says with a wistful sigh. "He was born to lead. And I was so smitten by him, just looking at him would make my heart race. It still does. But for him, though he's affectionate enough, it's always been about his duty. This fairy has captured his heart, and he will never truly be mine."

Seirian pulls her into his arms, "Jealousy will tear a nest apart," he says, "That's the first thing you learn, as a male dragon. Nothing is ever yours alone, most especially the heart of your mate. You learn to bear it, because you must."

"Are you jealous of your brothers?" she asks him, "Would you have me to yourself if you could?"

"I would, Tearhne," he answers, "But I might as well wish to command the sun and the moon, for it is not to be."

He pulls her close and kisses her fiercely. "You have my heart completely," he whispers.

He is her second, and she's made love to him many times since she first took him as a mate, but never have they spoken of love, never has he revealed his feelings for her until now. That just isn't the way of dragons. "Times are changing, Seirian," she says as she lays with him, "Our future has never seemed so uncertain. Knowing you'll be beside me no matter happens, that means everything to me."

Emrys faces his first challenge as soon as he returns to his nest.

"Hayder's death was an accident, you didn't defeat him in a challenge," Rhays accuses angrily, "You should have to prove yourself worthy before you can take the position of First."

"Will you do nothing, mother?" Arienh asks as they watch the males engage in a shouting match.

"It's best not to interfere with the males in a challenge," Radhari says. Arienh says nothing more, but questions her mother's judgment. How many males has she seen die in this nest while Radhari did nothing? Her own nest will be different, she decides, she will not allow this violence.

Emrys grabs Rhays by the wrist before the younger can strike a blow against him. "Look at us, Rhays. How long ago was it that you had seven brothers? We're down to the three of us now, and all except Hayder have died at the hands of their brothers. Every on of us lost makes us all weaker as a whole."

Oren moves to stand behind Emrys, showing his support for the new First, leaving Rhays alone in the challenge.

"There is talk of war now," Emrys continues, "Would you kill me and weaken our nest further? Are you prepared to lead this nest, what is left of it, into battle, or will you follow me as a brother?"

Rhays backs down, and embraces his First, as is the custom after a failed challenge.

"When I came of age, I chose my First for his fierceness and strength. And my nest soon became known for its strength and ferocity. Since then, I have seen many changes, and had many new Firsts. If I had to choose again, I would not have preferred strength over wisdom, or mistaken ferocity for authority. I would have made a different choice."

Arienh absorbs her mother's lesson as she watches Emrys put down her father's rebellion with words alone. "I have asked Kirwyn, son of Aithne, to be my first," she says, "He told me he would stay unclaimed until I came of age."

Radhari smiles, "A fine choice, daughter," she says.

With  his position established definitively, Emrys takes Radhari aside to tell her the truth about Hayder's death.

"He tried to kill my son?" she says, her voice soft with pain, "He got the death he deserved, then."

"I'm going to join Aymeri to search for Riain," Emrys says, "I ask that you stand with Tearhne when you return to council tomorrow."

"Because our son has taken a fairy for a lover?" Radhari asks. She had been leaning toward the war side of the argument in council thus far, "I would not support what Hayder did, but I cannot support this change in the law."

"I ask this not just for Riain's sake," Emrys says, "But for all our kind. Change can be a good thing, Radhari. And I would not see so many of us die defending a law that serves no purpose. Our nest is not as strong as it once was. With Aymeri as her first, Tearhne's nest grows in importance. We would do well to make this alliance now, stand with them in their time of need, and we will be glad of it in the future."

"I have never gotten such wise counsel from my First before," Radhari says with a smile, "Change can be a good thing."

Ico had expected to find Auberon quickly, but she's visited all his favorite places without discovering a trace of him, or Tania, or any other fairy. 

Something is not right her, she thinks as she walks the forest. 

She stops suddenly, sure she heard a whispered voice. But if it were dragon or fairy, she would sense their presence by their magic before she'd hear their whispers. Still, she stands making no sound, listening, but the night is silent save for the calls of nocturnal animals.

Fear. Her world had been been free of it until recently. Now, it is her constant companion, fearing war, fearing the suffering it will bring to her kind and to the dragons alike. But she did not expect to feel fear from just walking the woods at night alone.