I don't own Drakan. Does anything else need to be said? On with the story!
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Light A Candle
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A Drakan fan fiction written by Random One-Shot
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There was, Arokh noticed, a certain set of benefits that came with being the only two knights of the Order. Everyone knew who you were and no one bothered with the old formalities that had taken up so much time before the war. The guards stationed at either side of great castle doors, who would have either run screaming or taken up arms at the sight of any other dragon, politely sent word into the castle for Rynn instead as Arokh settled himself onto the castle's great bridge. The entry hall was big enough to accommodate him, but Myschala had had to throw away the entire carpet after the damage his claws had done to it the one time he had entered. It had been a relic from before the Rift War, so he suspected she was still a bit miffed at him for that.
It didn't take long for Rynn for show up. Dehrimon and his two remaining captains (Desert Lords tended to have an adverse effect on one's militia) were close behind her. Returning his gaze to his rider, Arokh found that he did not like what he saw. She stank of sweat and grime, at least three days worth. Her face was paler than it should have been and there were dark half-rings under her eyes. He felt a tiny flicker of disgust, although he wasn't sure if it was for her or himself. How had she gotten this bad without anyone noticing? How had she gotten so bad without himself noticing?
"When was the last time you bathed?" Arokh asked bluntly.
Rynn's first words ground to a halt in her throat. What came out instead was "What?"
Her dragon's – partner's, she reminded herself firmly – head lowered forward until he was close enough that she could feel him breathing against her skin.
"When," Arokh said slowly, "was the last time you had a bath, Rynn? You stink."
All of the things Rynn had thought Arokh had to say – a Wartock raid approaching, a pack of Black Wings hunting off of one of the farms, another necromancer taking up shop beneath the city – a comment on her personal hygiene was not one of them and the redhead felt something inside of her start burning.
"What the hell does that have to – "
"And when was the last time you slept? I think a breeze could knock you over," Arokh said.
"I'm fine, Arokh. Now what are you – "
"Answer my question, Rynn."
"Look, I'm fine. Now what – "
"Answer. The question. Rynn."
Sometimes she forgot how big Arokh was.
She thought she could feel him sometimes when it was calm. He was a big, gentle presence at the back of her head, vaguely reassuring in the way that a parent was to a child at night. Despite his growling at their first meeting, Arokh had never once even yelled at her, no matter how frustrated he ever got. He was her partner and her biggest supporter.
Now he was glaring at her, all three tons of him, and it felt like the ground had been ripped out from under Rynn's feet. Suddenly she was thirteen years old again and Adamar was giving her a lecture.
"I… I went to sleep last night."
"For how long?"
"A few hours, but I'm – "
Sometimes, she forgot how fast, how graceful, Arokh was.
He was moving before her mind had even registered the motion, her hand instinctively going to her sword hilt until 'it's Arokh' crashed through her mind and she stopped. Then his massive red paws were wrapping around her waist, the glowing yellow eyes set into his wedge-shaped head never leaving her face, and she was being picked up off the bridge like a mouse by a cat.
Aware that Dehrimon and his men were shouting at Arokh, telling him to put Rynn down, what was wrong, why was he doing this, Rynn was equally aware of Arokh's wings spreading and the muscles in his big red body tensing in a way that she knew meant flight. She stopped thinking and reacted, her hands latching onto his scales in a tight grip as he launched them both over the edge of the castle bridge.
There was that one first moment of weightlessness that she still was not totally used to. Her stomach was nothing but a bubble of air that wanted to rise up out of her and she was feeling herself go up even though she knew that she was really going down. Then Arokh's wings caught their bodyweight and there was the bone-jerking collision with gravity, somewhat lessened this time because of the careful grip Arokh had on her. One of his paws had come up to cradle her upper half and head. Then he leveled out and they were speeding over the small lake that was below the town and Jade's tower, flying over the river far below and past the outlying Surdana farms to the hills and rivers beyond them.
They came to a halt near one of the many small lakes that the rivers fed. Rynn, traveling as she was, had no idea which one. All she knew was that it was probably nearer to the mountains than the others and she only knew that because the first Arokh did upon landing was to gently toss her into it. At that time of year only the ones closest to the snow that made the water were so frigid.
It could have been worse. She could have been wearing her armor, which, no matter how light compared to Dehrimon's, was nonetheless an extra twenty pounds of weight. Instead, she only had the added weight of a sword and that was so familiar these days as to be nonexistent. Rynn swam up to the surface and sucked in one huge mouthful of air, while simultaneously feeling the skin on her face tighten when the air hit it. Nearby on the lakeshore, Arokh was settling into a restful sprawl with his gaze still lazily fixed on her.
'Filthy lizard bastard!'
Rynn shrieked.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU BLOODY TWIT?"
Arokh finished settling his bulk onto the verdant grass and said, quite plainly, "Watching you take a bath. Start scrubbing."
There were, Rynn realized, some situations that simply had no words for themselves.
Twenty-two breaststrokes brought her staggering out of the lake, drenched and freezing. Arokh had reclined within spitting distance of her current position.
"You filthy red beast, I'm going – "
Spitting distance for Rynn was grabbing distance for Arokh and the redhead found herself once again sailing through the air to crash into the water. She managed to curl into a ball before the impact.
The second time, Rynn didn't bother leaving the lake. She stood hip deep in the waves and let loose the blistering tongue that Adamar had unsuccessfully tried to gentle years ago.
"Stupid, ugly, hideous, inconsiderate, selfish, stinking, unnatural, beastly, rotten, thieving, lying, traitorous, parasite-ridden, diseased, fool minded LIZARD!"
The dragon just looked exasperated.
"Rynn, take a bath. You stink and I don't talk with people who stink. They remind me of Wartocks and I kill those."
Rynn didn't know if it was possibly to explode from sheer fury, but she was probably going to find out in a few more seconds.
On the lake shore, Arokh idly examined his claws for breaks or tears.
"I can do this all day. I am a dragon. You are a small, squishy, irrational woman. If the dragon wants the woman to take a bath and the woman doesn't want to take a bath, who do you think will win? The big, fire-breathing dragon or the exhausted, soaking wet woman?"
Rynn threw a rock at his head.
In the end, she had to take a bath if only to get out of the damn water. Until he declared her stench free, Arokh simply kept forcing her back in. Occasionally he took pity on her and gently pushed her deeper in, but mostly he picked her up and tossed her. Seven splashes later and Rynn was rethinking her bath stance.
There was no soap and, worse, there were no drying cloths, which left her to scrub at her skin with harsh sand scooped up from the lake bed and then walk out onto the shore to air dry. Arokh's massive bulk nearly radiated heat, but Rynn felt more inclined to freeze to death than go anywhere near her bonded just then.
"So," the reeking, treacherous, domineering, inconsiderate lizard said with a perfectly straight face. "Do you feel better now?"
A second rock, cunningly hidden in Rynn's hand until then, thwacked him hard on the left nostril.
Arokh's yellow eyes seemed to narrow, although how that was possible Rynn did not know. Dragons did not have eyebrows. "Are you that eager to back in the lake?"
"You kidnap me, dump me in a freezing lake with no warning, tell me to bathe, then watch me as I bathe and that is all you have to say?"
"No, but it's a start," Arokh admitted shamelessly. "And really, I have no interest in watching you bathe, but I needed to make sure you were thorough. If I'd left, you would have just sat in the water until I came back and then lied. Rest assured, I would only have designs on your honor if you had scales."
Rynn's sodden clothes flew through the air and landed over Arokh's snout with a wet shlop sound.
For the second time that day, Rynn found herself face to face with a dragon before she could do more than blink.
"Stop. Throwing. Things," Arokh growled.
"I will when you tell me what this is about!" Rynn shrieked, her temper finally dying completely and bursting into dragon-induced flames. The only thing remaining on her person was the long sword and it was becoming more tempting by the second.
"I needed to get you away from Surdana. The bath was just for my comfort. You really did stink, Rynn."
'Must. Not. Stab. Dragon.'
"Now, you're still angry, so I'll make this quick," Arokh said as he settled back down into a sprawl. "There are… things happening between the two of us now that you need to be informed of. There are also several concerns I've been having that we need to discuss. Several of those concerns revolve around Surdana and I did not want to speak of them where Dehrimon and Myschala could hear. Do you understand me so far?"
She did, but she didn't.
What things? What concerns could he have about Surdana that he didn't want Surdana's leaders to learn of?
Rynn nodded anyway.
"Good. Mostly I wanted to talk about you."
Rynn blinked. "What?"
"You, Rynn. You've been driving yourself to the point of collapse these last few days. You don't eat enough, you don't sleep enough and I believe I've made it clear that you haven't been bathing enough."
Rynn frowned and steadily ignored the chill that was creeping through her body. "There's been little time to rest. With the research on the Mother, the messengers from the Isles and Ravenshold, retaking the desert, clearing out raiding parties – "
"Precisely my point," Arokh said firmly. "There's too much to do and it won't all disappear over night, so why are you thinking you can make it do just that? You need rest to work, Rynn. Will and drive won't hold you up forever."
"I haven't been fighting lately. I don't need that energy like I usually do, so I – "
"And if that changes? Rynn, if you had to fight right now, I think you'd only last a few minutes before you had to rest. You do remember that any pain you feel transfers to me, yes? I wouldn't be much better off."
"But the fighting's over, so – "
"No."
One little syllable and Rynn felt her heart stop.
"Wha… What do you mean?"
Arokh looked at her sadly. "Rynn, Drakan has become a lawless, wild place. Whatever small peace we keep in Surdana is to be found only in Surdana. Ravenshold is still threatened by Half-Men. The Wartocks still raid the countryside. Who knows what lays in wait for us beyond these mountains? The Dark Union and the Desert Lords were terrible, yes, but they were hardly the only threats alive. If we do not have another battle, several battles, to fight yet, I will be amazed."
Rynn opened her mouth, unsure of just what she was trying to say, but Arokh kept speaking. His gaze was aimed over her head and into the blue sky.
"In fact, if someone were planning to destroy what we are trying to build, now would be a good time to do it. The best, in fact. Myschala is sending out couriers to the farms and villages beyond her borders and asking for people to come to Surdana to help it grow. In a year, two years, the walls around the town will be fully repaired and we should have more men and women in the guard. We would almost certainly have found a few more dragons. Yes, if I were going to destroy a growing settlement, I would do it sooner rather than later."
"But there's no one left to – "
"Not here, true. As I said, the Desert Lords are gone and Snot-Maw's death has fractured the Wartocks and Grull back into warring tribes, but that situation could easily change. All it would take is particularly charismatic and brutal chieftain to bring the Wartocks and Grull back together. I'm also sure there a few Desert Lords who've gone into hiding – there's no way we managed to exterminate them all. That isn't even counting the many bandits and pirates who would see a secure fortress like Surdana as an ideal haven, should they manage to take it from its defenders."
By that point, Rynn had given up on anger and settled next to Arokh's warm scales. They pressed into her soft skin like plate mail, but she ignored the sensation.
"So, what do you suggest?" Rynn asked quietly.
"First of all, I want to hear you say you will start taking proper care of yourself. Until other dragons start awakening, we are the only bonded pair in the entirety of Drakan. You are not allowed to run yourself ragged like this."
"Fine," Rynn muttered.
"Second of all, I want to ask you if you want to stay in Surdana."
The question took Rynn by surprise. Frowning, she lifted her head and stared into Arokh's eyes.
"What do you mean? Why in the world would I want to leave?" She asked.
"Right now, we are the most powerful force in Surdana, save perhaps Jade. However, given that she was unable to deal with Surdana's troubles herself, I wonder at her strength. We are certainly helping to keep the threat level down by our very presence, but that is all we are doing. Dehrimon's scouts cannot cover the ground we can and so we are currently unaware of the situation anywhere more than ten days trek away from here. We have not heard of any dragon sightings beyond the Black Wings. We are simply sitting here and waiting for something to happen, while you work yourself to the bone over those scriptures in the meantime.
"As this happens, the townspeople are becoming more and more reliant on us. Myschala herself is no exception. Right now, we are living under her roof and eating her food, which would at least slightly put her in the mind of us being her houseguests. I would be very surprised if she did not feel that she was even slightly entitled to our services. If we did decide to leave, I cannot think she would be happy."
"You think Myschala would become an enemy?" Rynn blurted out.
Arokh glared at her. "No! Stupid girl; when did I say that? I said that Myschala, a noblewoman and likely someone with little experience in being refused, would be displeased if we left. We are the biggest asset to her city's defense right now, Rynn. With us, she not only has a chance to keep what she has, but also to expand. Her lands cover this valley and most of the others, but no further. We could change that and she knows it."
"Then what's the problem? She's a good ruler," Rynn said.
"Thus far, yes. I believe she would continue to be so, but, Rynn, what if she wasn't? What if, by some miracle, we manage to secure a lasting peace and Myschala is the only ruler to govern the people we bring together, as it seems she will be? I do not think she would turn into a tyrant, but there is not much stopping her now beyond her need for Dehrimon and Jade to support her. Once that is gone, she would be given nearly total free reign.
"If you want to stay in Surdana and set up the Order of the Flame within those walls, then we need to make it very clear that we are a separate entity from those she controls. The Rift War began when Navaros tried to usurp control over us. I'd rather nip that problem in the bud before it begins again. Have her agree to shelter and feed our knights in return for our protection straight off. Don't just take advantage of her hospitality and then refuse to aid her or follow a request or order. She would have cause to kick you out then, at the very least."
Rynn said nothing, quietly thinking over what her bonded had said.
It was true that she had avoided the subject of the Order with… well, everyone. The dragons had been discussed, oh yes, but the long-lost organization they had formed? Not a word. It was with an uneasy jolt that Rynn realized Arokh had a measure of truth to his words. They had no foundation for their goal.
When the dragons began arriving (and they would. That they had gone through so much and could receive nothing in turn was simply unthinkable), where would they stay? When they began taking partners, what would they do? It was well and good to say that they would bring Drakan back to order and peace, but how to go about doing that? And what if Myschala wanted more than protection for Surdana? Without her, Rynn had no idea of where they could get a populated, readily defendable base for their comrades. Ravenshold and the Andrellian Islands had possibilities if a few major problems could be taken care of, but for a starting point they were unthinkable.
Rynn blinked slowly, pieces of puzzles sliding together into her head with a comforting click. Arokh was right. She really had no idea what she was doing.
"I didn't say that," Arokh muttered.
Rynn frowned and focused on the dragon.
"What? What are you talking about?"
For a moment it was Arokh who was surprised, but then Rynn saw his large eyes close and felt more than heard his breath leave him in a sigh that ruffled her drying hair. Anyone who wasn't used to his flame would be worried about that, she supposed.
"About what I just said," Arokh began.
"Rynn, we've been bonded for a while now and there are some things I probably should have explained to you earlier."
That did it. When Arokh said something about the bond, Rynn knew she needed to shut up and listen. Important things came out in those conversations. Things like 'this pretty jewel you've grabbed is actually an intensely powerful magical artifact that will now rip out your soul and fuse it with mine' and 'if by some chance I die before you do, you will sincerely wish it had been the other way around'.
"The bond between human and dragon is deep, far beyond the level of spells that Jade has taught you. At its core, it is a spell to form a deep and lasting connection between two souls that only death itself can sever," Arokh lectured.
"I've known that much from the beginning, Arokh. What exactly is supposed to be new to me here?" Rynn asked.
Arokh actually grimaced.
"Yes, well," the red dragon rumbled ominously. "I believe it's past time you learned exactly what 'a deep and lasting connection' actually entails…."
EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA
In my mind, Rynn is far too together to ever actually freak out at Arokh's explaination (which will come later) like this. Sge's gotten all of her crazy out already in this chapter. However, if you have an imagination, why not use it?
Brother Reginald of the Eternal Word was carrying his lunch tray past the window when he stopped. Frowning, he turned his head to look out at the deep chasm that guarded the front of the monastery and the canyon that led the river out to the lakes of Surdana.
Coming up close behind him, Brother Tihocan stopped as well.
"Is something the matter?" Tihocan asked.
After a moment of contemplation, Brother Reginald shook his head and continued on towards his cell.
"Nothing, I suppose," he muttered. "It was simply that I thought I heard a woman screaming a moment ago."
"Oh my. I hope it was simply your imagination. A woman alone is easy prey for the wartocks around here."
"Oh, she wasn't in danger."
Brother Tihocan tilted his head curiously at Brother Reginald's retreating back.
"How could you tell?"
"Well, it sounded more like she was screaming out of sheer bloody rage."