Memories
It had been a full two days since all this had begun, Rynn realised with a yawn. Two days since Delon had been kidnapped and her home burned by the Dark Union. She hadn't slept since then, having been intensely focussed on rescuing her brother, but now fatigue had finally caught up with her. Fully healed (Ebontyne was a War Mage possessing healing powers), she sat between Arokh's foreclaws with her head against his armoured chest and tried to stay awake as Morghus and Ebontyne spoke over the crackling of the campfire.
"We believed in their power," Ebontyne said, her eyes staring into the fire. "Navaros and Kaeros. The Order of the Flame preached of equality for all, but it was not like that. The 'Golden Age', as they called it, was enforced by the Bonded and you know it, Arokh."
"There was peace," Arokh replied wearily. "The Order unified the land and ended the wars."
"Under the control of the dragon-riders?" she asked, quirking a brow and smiling slightly. "Navaros saw the truth, as did Morghus and I. As did others who joined the Dark Union. If Drakan was going to be ruled by someone, it would be by someone who didn't fool himself into thinking everyone was 'equal'."
"Who else?" Arokh asked suddenly. "Of those who chose to follow Navaros, who remains?"
"Nashiva and Star, Kang-shi and Glaive." Morghus paused, thinking. "And our older sister, Gholek. Her Bonded, the one once known as Dartelan, was killed, and Navaros' servants awoke her without a new Bonding taking place."
"Like Werokh?" Rynn ventured.
"We encountered Werokh on the way through to the Islands," Arokh explained in answer to Morghus and Ebontyne's questioning looks. "He's dead."
Morghus shook his head. "Killing old friends already?"
Ebontyne resumed her narrative. "The Inner Council of the Dark Union made forays into the eastern frontier," she said, an odd light in her eyes. "You wouldn't believe the nature and power of the magics that were found there. One such power keeps me alive when I would have passed on ages ago."
"You said you were heading east before," Rynn said.
Ebontyne nodded. "I was going to end the magic."
"You mean... die?"
The War Mage shrugged. "Being alive has gotten boring. You wait centuries for your leader to come back into power, and he gets sent into the Rift again. I don't think I have the patience to wait for next time."
"But what about Morghus?"
"I wouldn't mind going to sleep for a while," Morghus said with a toothy grin.
Rynn stared at them both.
"Navaros went further east than any of us," Ebontyne said. "This was just after he became the leader of the Dark Union. He took the Jewels of Eternity with him. Those jewels is what the human Bonded used to swear our lives to him. We live without aging because of them. He took them and wasn't seen again until ten years later."
"The Dragon Temple," Arokh said softly, but his eyes had kindled with anger. Rynn knew what had happened when Navaros had returned. A great gathering of Bonded had been called in a place called the Dragon Temple to welcome Navaros back, for none in the Order had known he was a member of the Dark Union. Navaros had used a Word of Power learnt in his ten year absence... and killed everyone there.
"The Order of the Flame was not the only thing that suffered betrayal," Morghus rumbled darkly. "Navaros had learned much in the east. Uncovered powers and discovered rituals that should have remained lost. The second betrayal was of his own Bonded, Kaeros." Morghus' eyes flashed with rage. "He ate Kaeros' soul, Arokh. For this act alone, we and the other Bonded would have left him, but he had our lives in his hands too."
"All he had to do was destroy the Jewels of Eternity and the humans would die, then the dragons would be stone," Ebontyne said. "So we continued to fight for him in the Dark War, hoping that when we won he'd be able to reverse the effects of his spell and free Kaeros."
"Then Heron sent him to the Rift with Runeblade," Arokh said softly.
Rynn felt the dragon's body shake slightly against her. Heron had died in that encounter and Arokh fated to sleep for centuries.
"Few of the Order remained, and most of them tried to hunt us and the other Dark Union Bonded down," Ebontyne said. "Some we killed. The rest... we outlived."
"And we never found the jewels," Morghus said. "When we gave up looking for them we worked for bringing Navaros back to Drakan, hoping he'd tell us where they were when he returned." He sighed. "It is normal for a dragon to live centuries and more, but for a human... even one strengthened by a Bond, it is not natural."
"So instead of searching for the jewels again, you want to kill Navaros?" Arokh asked.
"We spend two hundred years searching, Arokh," Ebontyne told him. "Revenge is the more entertaining prospect."
"If you want to die so badly, why not kill yourself?" Rynn asked.
She shrugged. "Thought about it. Could never bring myself to fall on my own sword, though. Or get myself killed in a fight. Perhaps I love life too much, even though I'm sick to death of it."
Arokh started to tell them what had happened after Rynn had woken him and, at last, she let herself sleep.