Please see introduction for disclaimer regarding this work.

Chapter Nineteen

Dammed if I know

The worren messenger shook his head. "I'm sorry, but the elders said you need to return immediately." The small, wiry man held his mounts reigns in one hand as he spoke, a both the sag of his shoulders and the condition of chestnut horse confirmed that he indeed carried an message of some urgency. No good jockey would otherwise have ridden a good animal into such a shape. Cray took the demand seriously and opened his mouth to enquire, but the rider beat him to it. "It's war again. The army needs a leader. Worrent needs a leader."

Cray's expression turned grim. With a glance back at his companions (a glance that lingered a moment longer on Nina) he nodded. "Alright. Go back and tell them I'll be on my way."

The messenger nodded and threw a leg over his mount's back. In seconds he was out of sight beyond a bend in the road.

Cray turned back to look at his companions. "Well, I guess that changes our plans."

"But, Cray, what about Elena?" Nina asked.

"I know. Not a good time to take off… but my people need me. You guys keep looking, hear?" He told them.

Ershin rattled a few times, emitting a buzzing whirr before settling back. "Ershin is saying that if there is war again the truce between the Alliance and the Empire must have ended. And she has said it, so it must be true."

Ryu, their quiet, practical leader, spoke up. "If the Empire has redeclared war on the Alliance, or the other way round, do you think we'll be able to get into the Empire?"

"When there's no longer a truce?" Cray asked, looking worried and rather stressed. "Dammed if I know."

Windia was in an uproar as Ryu and companions approached the city. Cray was still with them, since they had been less than an hour's travel from the city, and he wanted to see them there. Like Cray, Nina had to return home in the face of war, if only to let her father know she was safe.

They had been heading north since that earlier discovery that another dragon walked the Great Plains. In the hope of convincing the creature to lend them its powers, they had pursued it. Ryu had managed to pick up a trail with his dragon powers and had lead them north since them. However, he lost the trail often enough that they had little chance of catching up now. Still, the need for Ryu to borrow the power of other dragons drove them on, and it at least gave them something to do until they figured out how to get back into the Empire.

"Windia's preparing for war, too!" Nina exclaimed to herself as they entered the city. In the bustle, no one really noticed their arrival and they made their way toward the palace to greet the king.

The king was easily found, discussion orders with one of the windians overseeing the troop's deployment. Their discussion was brief and the king turned to go spotting Nina and friends in the same moment.

"Father, what's happened?" Nina said by way of greeting. "The war's starting back up? I thought…I thought the empire was content with the current peace talks?"

The King moved rapidly to Nina's side. "Nina," he breathed. "Thank god you're safe."

"Nina? Cray? Who are all your friends?"

"I swore, didn't I?" the windian retorted, though his tone betrayed his nerves.

"Humans rare give a wit for prior affirmation," the dragoness replied from where she sat across from Darnik. There was a not inconsiderable space between them, another result of the mortal's misgivings.

"Your husband saved Elena. And…I knew you were something weird when I signed up for this venture. I just didn't know…" He blew a shuddering breath and ran a hand through his tousled blond hair. His helmet sat on the ground beside him, tipped over on its side.

The night was chill and full of murmuring insects that sang a counter harmony to the travelers' voices. The trees overhead obscured patched of the night sky; the rest was over cast with clouds. No stars shed their revealing light. They were still on forested terrain, though that would change in a day or so as they crossed over into the desert. Yahla had been hopelessly lost before reaching Windia and now had to backtrack to Shyde, where the windians had assured her she was most likely to find a sandflier. As it was, they were about a day from Shyde. They had traveled for the rest of the day after Darnik had decided he wasn't quite ready to turn tail and run for his life. They had not discussed it for the remainder of the day (Darnik already having had enough shocks) until Yahla had raised the subject again as they stopped for the night.

The windian glanced back over at her. "…what you were," he finished his original sentence.

Yahla nodded, losing interest in the discussion. Her eyes wandered and she was content to brood in silence her back was paining her that night and she looked forward to bedding down in the warm blankets the windians had packed for her.

The mortal seemed to find the silence uncomfortable, unsurprisingly. Mortals tended to fill a space with chatter even when silence could prove more meaningful. At last he blurted out a few of his thought. "If you're a dragon…if you're so all-powerful, why are you here? Why can't you just…spirit yourself away or fly off over the sea or…something? Why would you need any of our help?"

Tell a mortal of mine condition… Not until he earned her trust, she wouldn't.

The goddess looked down her nose at him. "There be reasons."

"Do I get to know any of them? Or does your divinity intent to keep me in the dark for however many months we're together?"

The dragoness opened her mouth to retort, then closed it again. The human had a point, especially considering her circumstance. It would be impossible to hide it before long, and she was only lucky already that Darnik hadn't noticed her waking up before him to vomit in the bushes. She still didn't trust him, but if he proved to be a difficulty, she could dispose of him easily enough. She decided abruptly. "I canst nay do of which thou speakest for I be pregnant."

"You're knocked up?" the windian exclaimed. "How…"

Amused, the dragon smirked. "Thy parents ne'er told thee? When a male loveth a female…"
Darnik's ears reddened. "No! Not that! I mean… how does that mess your powers? Or doesn't it?"

"I be not explaining mine reproductive cycle to thee. Thou needs not know." She told him plainly.

"Alright, fine. I didn't really want a refresher course on reproduction, myself." He glanced at her, a glint of unease in his eyes. "Your husband's, I assume?"
"Aye,"

"…he's a dragon, too?"

"Aye,"

The windian was reaching, trying to keep the conversation going. He apparently found her talking more comfortable than her sitting there looking mysterious and unapproachable. "What's his name?"

"Fou-Lu," she replied after a moment.

He choked. "Are we talking the Fou-Lu?! Founded the Empire?! He was a dragon?!"

"Indeed." She countered his incredulous stare with haughty indifference.

"Damn," Darnik muttered. "You'd think the history books would have mentioned that. At least something about the wings and claws and stuff."

"We canst assume a human form, as well, mortal," she rebuked, "And 'twas it not e'er that he was known as God-Emperor?"

"If you can assume human form, why don't you? I mean, hey! You look all cool and spiffy as it is now, but it make it easy for even lunkheads like me to figure you're something out of the ordinary."

"I be pregnant," she repeated.

"And?" He raised his hands to fend her off as her eyes narrowed. "Okay, okay! Not for mortals to know. Gotcha!"

"Shutteth up," she advised him, and went to lie down for the night.

Elena smiled as Cray and Nina both cried out in astonishment. Nina grabbed her in a hug, soon followed by Cray, who lifted them both off the ground.

Eventually, they all let go of each other, though Princess Elena still kept her hand within Cray's.

Nina, grinning with delight even as her mind reel in confusion, demanded, "How? You were in the empire, they captured you! How are you here? The war…"
"Isn't with the empire, " their father interrupted. "We've gone to war with Ludia."
They all gaped at him. Cray shook his head. "What the…why?!"

"Our relations had…well, it all sort of went down hill after Father dissolved my engagement to the Ludian prince." Elena told him

"Yes," the king added, ignoring Cray's open mouthed gape of astonishment. "They originally declared war on Worrent, for choosing to accept the permanent peace the Empire was offering."

"You dissolved the betrothal!?" Cray blurted as the same time as Nina spoke up.

"The Empire's offering permanent peace!? But they kidnapped Elena!"

The king chose to answer Nina's question. "Yes, permanent peace. The emperor Soenil and his court have been overthrown. In fact, by the same individual who undid the experiment the Imperials had committed on your sister and returned her to us safely."

Elena, in the meantime, answered Cray, although her reply used no words.

The King finished his sentence just as Cray began, "Your Majesty, as the Ludian is no longer to wed your daughter… may I ask her hand in marriage?"