Marion listened silently the whole time, not interrupting once, which was unusual for her. When Shea had finished, Marion was still silent. Like Shea she was a Monarch too, only her parents were still serving in their positions, which she and her brother would take one day.
She watched and listened to the fire pit as it slowly died down, cracking and hissing gently before them before she spoke, “I’m not certain what to say, or really think of this Shea. I know you warned me and to act like nothing was wrong when I saw him but…this isn’t normal at all and it is even less normal that Quil knows nothing as well.”
Shea sighed with frustration welling up inside her, “I don’t know what to do. And things have been going astray long, long before Sarre’s brother was murdered and now that we know the Order of Venex is still out there…do you think that Venex could come back? That he never actually died? Is that even possible? And with Jason, does this mean my fire is-”
“Cousin, those are not questions you should be asking me and I don’t know who you should ask but if you’re worried that there is something wrong with your fire, wrong with Jason, I seriously doubt it. If anything I think whatever is happening is beyond our scope of understanding, because if Jason had been born like any Child of Fire, how much more danger would you be in right now? To deal with a hatchling with no memories and no control on top of being hunted and not being able to just fly right back home, we would have lost all of you to the Plagued.”
“I know and thank you, but I’m still at a loss at what to do. Quil insists we travel a quickly as possible, only stopping where we need to, but…I feel like that isn’t going to happen.”
“…For some reason…I agree with you and I think I know what it may be,” Marion paused, what she thought, or more so where she thought they needed to go was not only forbidden but possibly worse than if they ran around the Eastern Woods announcing who they were to every Plagued dragon in the country, “I think you need to go to Ruins of the Old Country.”
Shea was shocked, “What?! Marion is that supposed to be a joke because-,”
“It’s not,” Marion said flatly, “Most of our kinds’ history is rooted there and more than likely the answers your questions. Quil already mentioned visiting the Ancient’s Halls on the way back and I doubt that the Hall of Torvin has had the attention the others have had since the Old Country’s fall.”
Shea’s features vexed at her cousin’s advice as she anxiously twisted the end of her long hair in her fingertips. All of the Old Country was considered the Hall of Torvin and go to the Old Country was forbidden and for a reason. It wasn’t the reason that the Monarchs had given to the rest of their kind, which was that it was a sacred place and to tread on its land or fly into its skies would be a profanity that would mar the ones who trespassed for life. In actuality, it had to do with Torvin’s death. Torvin hadn’t been just a great leader that rose to the occasion and saved them during their greatest crisis, in fact, no one knew where he had come from in the first place and it was something that had never been revealed even when he was alive. What was known was that when he was killed his body had erupted and blasted apart into a giant cloud of dust that swept through all the Old Country, turning those in its path into glass-like statues that still stood today.
Shea had seen these for herself at the edges of the Old Country’s boundaries when she was young and rebellious, but the fear of Torvin’s dust that could still be seen sparkling on the ground despite centuries of wind and weather kept her from going any further to avoid the statues’ fate. Marion’s suggestion should have been written off as madness or a tasteless joke if it wasn’t for what Quil had told her about Jason’s fire while Marion had kept him busy earlier Joyce. That it had crystallized and turned to dust when Quil crushed it by the farms. She didn’t know what this meant, but she feared that it had been too late when she had saved him from the plague and it was only a matter of time before turned to stone. And he wouldn’t have been the first since they left the Old Country to turn to stone instead of being cured of the plague, but normally the effect took hold immediately, not gradually, which made the new mother worry only more.
Marion watched as her cousin’s fear smolder beneath her cool blue eyes, accurately guessing that she was afraid that Jason would turn to stone. Despite being a bit scatterbrained, Marion did have a gift for reading both humans and dragons thanks to the other ability her fire gave her. She could do much more than turn things into gold. Instead, she had another theory but didn’t know if it was better or worse, “Before you pull all your hair out and charge into the Old Country looking for a cure, have you considered that Jason may…be like Torvin?”
Shea stopped twirling her hair and looked up at her cousin wondering if she really had gone mad, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“That he may have the same power that Torvin had. It’s not like anyone knows where Torvin came from in the first place and with the resurgence of the plague-“
“Marion you’re talking nonsense,” Shea immediately refuted, “Jason was born of my fire and as my cousin, you know as well as I that we are not descended from Torvin. No one is. He never had offspring and there has never been another dragon in all our history that could ever amount to the power he had. Even to say a natural born dragon was remotely close to being like Torvin is laughable let alone a fire hatchling.” But Shea’s eyes betrayed the confidence in her voice.
Shea was in no way was insulting or trying to belittle her son. If everything that had transpired was all a fluke he would grow to not only be their leader but also one of the most powerful dragons alive as Shea currently was. Torvin was just that powerful, powerful to the point where many said that he might not have been a dragon at all. But she also knew her cousin’s other gift that came from her fire, the ability to sense the power or powers of other dragons.
While Marion had tried to be patient Shea and Shea with Marion, at Shea’s remarks Marion’s infamous temper started to flare, “Are you really that thick Shea? Do you think I would joke about something like this? At a time like this? With the resurgence of the plague and the Order of Venex hunting you down, would you really be so shortsighted to think that it would be impossible that another like Torvin to also come forth?”
“The plague and the Order have always been around! Venex’s followers have always tried to kill any members of the Monarchy, especially mine and yours! Why would another Torvin come about now instead of the other thousand years?”
“Because we still had Torvin’s protection! What he left behind to protect both dragons and humans. But now not only has the Torvis forged armor begun to fade, but the gorn root crops have started dying and….and I’ve lost the ability to cure the plague!”
Shea was taken aback and stumbled over her words, “You, you can’t cure the plague? How do you know?”
Shea gathered her words and with silent rage explained, “About two months ago, the hordes started acting, differently. For some reason they’re acting as if they’re, they’re following orders and not just a mindless mob. It’s the only way I can explain why there was a dragbeast, wandering alone by the farms. It attacked one of the farmer’s sons, just a boy, and then ran. They brought him over to me to cure him before he began to turn, but nothing worked. I even tried to save him as a Child of Fire, but in the end…” she looked down, fuming with guilt at the memory of what she had to do. Shea didn’t know what to say and remained silent at her cousin’s words as a solemn atmosphere took hold in the room.
Not waiting for Shea to reply, Marion continued, “I’m still immune as are the other’s I’ve helped, though that’s little comfort if we are attacked again and that turns out not to be true. So shortly after I went to the Old Country for the first time. I too only went up to the perimeter but I could see the statues. I could see Torvin’s dust, but I knew right away that it wasn’t just some mysterious debris. It radiated with power from dragon’s fire, the strongest I’ve ever known. It overwhelmed my senses so much so I wasn’t able to tell what his abilities were and if there was a cure in it all to risk going in. I had lost hope…until you brought Jason. He radiates the exact same power. It’s nowhere near as strong, yet, but it allowed me to pick up what his abilities and much more than likely, Torvin’s abilities were-” but Marion stopped herself short and stood up suddenly with every one of her senses on edge. It didn’t take long for Shea to figure out what had spooked her as a chorus of anxious chittering gathered in the air and a deep voice echoed into the night, “Kill the Matriarch, drown her fire. Madness will rise, Venex will rule!”
Screeches echoed out into the night as the dragbeast horde descended on the inn at the beckoning of their feral leader who continued to repeat, “Kill the Matriarch, drown her fire. Madness will rise, Venex will rule!”
Quil woke with a jolt to find three dragbeasts making quick work of the wooden frame to his window, despite being reinforced with the concoction of metals Marion had created specifically to withstand a dragbeast attack. Jumping out of bed and transforming into his counselor form, he only needed to wait a moment before one of them blew fire to use it against them using his other ability that let him control fire. All three dragbeasts screamed out in pain, spewing out more fire that Quil added to the dark red flames that engulfed them, roasting them alive along with five others that had joined them. They were all dead in only a matter of seconds but another group was already as the window before the first eight had even hit the ground, the new group notably avoiding fire all together and instead rapidly worked together clawing and chewing it open.
“Dragbeasts never change their tactics, they don’t work together. This isn’t right,” Quil thought silently to himself as he ran out the door to the hallway, shut it and with his own flame welded it shut as he heard shattering of glass.
“Quil!”
He whipped around to see both Shea and Marion below in their councilor forms with Marion altering everything that wasn’t already fireproof into hard metal and welding it shut, and Shea leaping up to the balcony after calling his name.
“Wake Jason and Joyce, Marion created a tunnel beneath the inn that leads out past the town’s borders. Joyce will lead you to it. Keep them safe until the rest of us catch up and don’t you even think about saying you have to protect me too,” Shea ordered Quil.
There was no time to argue as the crashing of glass and the howls of dragbeasts increased. Quil swiftly nodded his head and ran down the hall to Jason’s room, flinging the door open to find him shoving on his boots. At Quil and Shea’s request Marion had already turned the window to Jason’s room into solid metal and placed a tapestry over it to hide it, but the majority of the room was made of wood.
“Jason we have to go!” Quil commanded.
“What do you think I’m doing?” Jason yelled back over the scraping, cracking and screeches that came from above as the dragbeasts ate their way through the roof.
“Then follow me,” Quil turned around with Jason right behind as they ran down the rest of the hall to Joyce’s room, she too also ready to go.
“I’m to take both of you down to the tunnel, the Monarchs’ orders. I was told you will lead us to it,” Quil said relaying what Shea had commanded him to Joyce.
Though she wanted to stay and destroy every last grayscaled beast, Joyce knew better than to question the High Matriarch and more importantly her mother.
“It’s in the cellar under the kitchen. There’s a stairwell for the staff that leads right to it and the door to the cellar is behind it,” Joyce relayed to Quil while pointing to the entrance that could be seen from her doorway.
Without a word Quil headed for the doorway, taking long quick strides and as he expected the other two followed him, jogging to keep up with his pace. He returned to his human form briefly to rush down the small steps in the confined space, making him feel suddenly vulnerable. In human form, his abilities were extremely limited and with the disturbingly intelligent and coordinated behavior of the attacking horde, anything that hindered him could lead to death.
All three of them flew down the stairs, their rushed footsteps combined causing the wooden steps to creak and groan. It took next to no time for them to reach the first floor and with a quick glance Quil saw the door behind the staircase and headed for it. He swung the heavy iron door open only to have a dragbeast come crashing down through the stairs above him in a ball of flames and smoke, shrieking out to its horde that it had found their prey.
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