"My Lord!" the ranger said, falling to her knees as the elven lord, Ertheilos, lifted his gaze from the maps he was overlooking to glance at her.
"What is it, Herathia?" he asked the leader of the rangers and scouts that guarded the border of the elven realm.
"The griffin bring news of a magical portal opening on the western border." She reported, green eyes looking up to meet her lord's hazel. "And the wind carried the whisper of dragons!"
Ertheilos nodded, standing up. "We will go then."
Herathia stood, falling into place behind her lord as he walked into the griffin stables. "My scouts are already there." She reported. "They will keep whoever or whatever came from the portal under control until our arrival."
Ertheilos nodded again, without saying a word. He walked past many feeding griffin until he stood in front of his large silver-plumed griffon. The stable's hands were already fitting his harness onto it. "We might go into battle again, my friend." Ertheilos said, stroking the side of the griffon's head and giving it a pat on the head before mounting.
Herathia was already seated in her own huge black griffon, silver and golden armored, waiting for him.
"Take me to them." Ertheilos said.
Masks and Dragons
Chapter 12
Sojourns: Black Wings over Avalon
By Wanderer D
"Darkshine!" Sapphire gasped as the Sailor Senshi, Red and Morgana took various steps back in surprise.
Looking down at herself, Makoto saw glistening black scales on her arms, claws instead of hands; if she crossed her eyes a little, she could see the point of her snout, she could feel the fangs with her tongue and the tug of her wings on her back, the swishing of her tail as it instantly moved to provide her with balance when she walked or stood.
For a moment she was conscious of the feel of the wind on each and every one of her scales. She didn't feel them, but she knew that two long horns sprung from the top of her reptilian head and that the brownish colored scales of her underbelly would feel more like soft leather than actual scales if she touched it. She was taller now, able to meet Sapphire's eyes on the same level, which was almost a head taller than Setsuna, her form was fuller now, and although she was technically naked, she felt completely comfortable in her protective scales. She looked around and then back at Sapphire with a sheepish smile. "Uh, hi, Sapphire. Long time no see, huh?"
The blue dragon walked up to her and touched her arm. "You're here… you're really here…" she said as tears welled up in her eyes. "I… everyone thought you were dead!" She accused as the tears fell from her eyes. "We all mourned your loss! Everyone!" she whispered.
"Sapphire…" Makoto whispered, pulling the other dragon into a hug. She remembered all the times that Sapphire and Darkshine had been together. All the adventures, all the jokes, the lessons, the places… they had been, were and would always be best friends. "I am here now, with you, my friend."
Sapphire nodded, sniffing. After a moment she pulled back, and Usagi and the other Senshi were quick to take the opportunity to speak.
"Makoto?" Usagi asked, trying to see if it was really her friend after the initial shock. Darkshine smiled sheepishly again and Sailor Moon took that as confirmation of her suspicions. "What? Why…" she stammered as Ami pulled out her computer and visor to scan her, stepping between her and Sapphire.
"Usa-chan…" Makoto said with an embarrassed laugh. "I… heh, well I kinda remembered that every time we came to Avalon, we dragons used to change into our hybrid forms and… uh, well…"
"You did it by instinct." Red finished for her, frowning.
Darkshine nodded.
"You mean to say," Sapphire asked, once her tears had dried a little. "That you have been alive all this time, living on earth…" she clenched her claws into fists. "How could you?! Don't you realize how much suffering you caused? How much blame Gold, Red and I went through with ourselves for failing to save or help you and Shadow? Do you realize that Shadow died because of you?" she spat. "How could you call yourself my friend?"
"Sapphire…" Makoto whispered.
"Calm down…" Ami said, placing her hand on the blue dragon's arm. "I am sure Makoto has a good explanation for this." She said, sharing a look with the rest of the Senshi, and Makoto felt very alone for a moment, noticing the change in her friends. They didn't know if they should trust her or not.
"One that I would also like to hear, no doubt." Ertheilos said, walking out of the woods, accompanied by Herathia and various archers.
The Senshi and their allies were soon completely surrounded.
"Ertheilos…" Makoto said. "What…"
"My dear Darkshine, Lady Morgana…" the elven lord said, bowing slightly to each in turn. "I must insist that you and your entourage accompany me to my house, before I answer or ask any questions…"
---
"So this is Avalon." Glimmer said, taking a deep breath of fresh air and slowly letting it out. "The place is beautiful! Look at those trees! Look at those birds! Look at those distant mountains!" he exclaimed, motioning with his arms and hands at the surrounding landscape.
"Yes. I will be sure to include it in my diary as a memorable experience." Glint remarked, looking around, uninterested. "That rock over there looks nice, doesn't it?"
Glimmer sighed, glaring at his brother. "Come on! This may not have floating islands, but it's bursting with life! You can't help but feel happy here!"
Glint forced a smile that created a rainbow of colors as the sunlight reflected on it. "I am happy, see? Now, can we get done with it?"
Glimmer jumped down from the tree branch he had been standing on to land next to his brother. "Oh, cheer up! Hey, let me tell you about this half-dragon gall that I met on the Dragon Knight's world… she looked human, but she was so pretty! Long blue hair, blue eyes that could drown you in their profundity…" he started following his brother, still talking. "She had a rapier with the guard and hilt shaped like a dragon! And brother… when she cast magic! Oh, when she cast magic!" Glimmer shook his head. "And to complete it all, this blue dragoness trapped in a human body had a name that summed her personality and beauty up… Umi… like the sea…" Glimmer sighed.
"I know who you're talking about, brother." Glint said, still walking and only stopping for a moment to concentrate. "She was a friend of the Air witch I met in Cephiro. They were moaning about her loss and the fire witch's for hours. At least that gave me the chance to get the statue without bothering much." He glared at his brother. "Unlike some dragons that took time to flirt and seduce half-dragon girls in the process of completing their quests."
Glimmer laughed as he followed his brother out of the forest and started walking towards the nearby mountains, gleaming like diamonds as they walked in the plains. "You're just sour because you couldn't get a date with both dancer-twins you were talking about the other day."
Glint stopped and looked at the mountains. "It's inside the biggest one." He said, pointing. "If I am not mistaken it is Dwarf land there, that is," he clarified. "If Shadow's notes on the place were accurate."
Glimmer shrugged. "Ah, doesn't matter. Let's just avoid the little bearded buggers and get the statue."
Glint looked back at Glimmer, and pulled out a long cloth-covered object out of sub-space. "We have to meet them." He said, showing it to Glimmer.
"Is that…" Glimmer asked, staring at the black leather surface in his brother's hand.
Glint nodded.
Glimmer shook his head, but smiled. "I am sure this is going to be interesting." He said. "Gives me a chance to buy my fair dragoness something."
Glint sighed and put the bag back into subspace. "You are not seriously considering courting her, are you? You realize that we are her enemies, right?"
Glimmer laughed as he started walking again. "It all depends on the point of view."
Behind him Glint sighed, but said nothing.
---
"Ye will have t'wait for permission from the king." The guard repeated for the third time to the pair of hybrid crystal-dragons. "I've told ye already, we don't have permission to let visitors in just like that."
"But we're on important business!" Glimmer insisted, looking down at the red-bearded, big browed, leather armored, double-edged-scale-slicing-mythril-axe-carrying dwarf.
"Aye, but so are all of them." The dwarf said, motioning with his helmed head at a long line of waiting traders, hawkers and miners.
"Ok, but I don't see you asking the king to let them in." Glimmer growled as the line slowly went in.
"Aye, but then again, ye don't see them elves with horns on their heads or gnomes able to shoot fire from their mouths, do ye?" the dwarf growled back, squaring off.
"But, we're dragons!" Glimmer pointed out. "We can't help it!"
"M'point exactly." The dwarf retorted.
Glimmer glared at the guard.
"Oh, let it be." Glint muttered. "We already sent word to the Dwarven King along with the reminder of Shadow's pact. Either he remembers it or not. We'll know for sure soon enough."
"But I won't have time to buy that much if we go to an audience with the king!" Glimmer groaned. He sighed, pulling out a black bag, as big as the dwarf's torso out of sub-space. "Ah, my fair dragoness…" he sighed.
The dwarven guard stretched a little, moving his head to side to side, his eyes softened a bit. "Ye say ye want to buy somethin' fer yer sweetheart?" he asked.
Glimmer nodded sadly. "Yeah, but if we go in, then I won't have time… first to wait for the message to get here and then talking to the king…"
The guard sighed, and the other guard, who had been paying a little attention to the conversation glared at him. "Ye are not taking them in." he declared.
"But…" the first guard said. "… they plan on spending money on the kingdom's products! We are supposed to encourage that!"
"Humph. Do they even have money?" the other guard asked.
Both dwarves looked at the dragons.
Glimmer smiled. "Well… I don't know about money…" he said, tilting the bag so they could look inside. "But I think these will do."
"Ye gawds!" the second guard swore.
"It must be my weight in diamonds!" The first one whispered.
The first guard looked at the other, who coughed and looked around. "All right. You take them in." he grumbled, stealing another glance at the bag. "But don't let them out of your sight."
The first guard nodded and motioned for the dragons to follow him in.
---
"This is amazing." Glint had to admit. "Shadow told me about the Great Halls… but… this…" he looked up into the cavern's huge ceiling, each inch engraved with the most careful detail he had ever witnessed. Except for the dragon statues, of course. "Seeing is much more impressive than hearing about them."
"What are ye talking about?" the dwarf asked. "These ain't the Great Halls!" the dwarf laughed.
Glint blink-blinked. "What do you mean?"
"The Great Halls are deeper into the mountain range." The Dwarf explained. "These are the Halls of Trade. Nothing more."
"Oh." Glint managed. "So… the Great Halls are much more impressive?"
The dwarf laughed long and hard until they reached the busy streets of the dwarven market.
"Okay, okay…" The dwarf snickered, using his beard to clean the tears of his face. "Tell me what ye want to buy and I will take you there." He stated, ignoring the look from Glint.
Glimmer smiled.
Glint groaned. "Is there any way I could just… stay there?" he asked, pointing at a tavern.
"I don't…" the dwarf started.
"Oh, just let him drown in alcohol." Glimmer said with a grin. "We'll take some time and I guarantee he won't move an inch from where he chose to sit."
---
Makoto was at a loss. She didn't know how it had happened, but it had. Just as she had inherited her Sailor Senshi powers after being reborn, she had also inherited Darkshine's ability to transform as soon as she had allowed the dragon's soul to awaken inside her and to be one with her two past lives.
Now, as they followed an elven lord she was barely able to remember as an ally, she could see the hurt in Sapphire and Red's eyes. They thought she had abandoned them and ran to earth to live another life. In the Senshi's eyes she could also see betrayal and disappointment and confusion, depending on who she watched. They were all treating her as if they didn't know her. But under the circumstances who could blame them? Makoto sighed sadly. She didn't expect this to happen, or even considered the possibility of it… she just had Darkshine's memories. She knew that she could count on her friends at the end, that once she explained, things would slowly become more like what they used to be… but not the same.
Darkshine, Sailor Jupiter and Makoto Kino were all the same person. With the added memories of the black dragon, Makoto had changed. A little. It was a life that contrasted from the life she had lead as Jupiter's princess in many ways. She had lived for thousands of years in another time, another place, before she had died and her soul had finished her trip through time to reincarnate in Tokyo. And it had been a full life, even if she had died young for a dragon. She had fallen in love, she had a real mate for close to five hundred years. She had traveled, she had flown on her own two wings… and she had…
Makoto gasped and stood on her place as reality came crashing on her. She felt cold in the stomach as a very clear memory of why and how she knew this elf, and how much she had trusted him. Trusted him enough to…
By now everyone had noticed how she had frozen in place. Usagi looked at her worriedly even as Sapphire and Red noticed that something was very wrong. As the elven lord and his escort stopped to look back at her, Makoto looked up at him, almost despairing. "Shouldn't… t-there be…" she choked. "A-a d-dragon, with you… old friend?"
As comprehension dawned on Herathia's face, she became a little pale and her eyes changed from the hardened look of a soldier protecting her lord to those of a woman who could feel pain for others.
---
Loar of Clan Anvilspark sat on the throne his clan had inherited more than three thousand years prior. For that long, the Anvilspark Clan had commanded and decided the future of the whole Dwarven Kingdom of the Knaris Mountain Range, a mountain range that expanded miles. He had to handle treaties with other, smaller, dwarven kingdoms to the east, where they tied their beards with gold and silver laces, and with dwarven kingdoms to the North, where using black colored clothes in front of a dignitary was an offence to his or her house.
All around his mountain range were huge forests inhabited by elves, all similar in a fashion and all different in another.
They had to guard the caverns bellow, for some of them had tunnels that connected to the underground dwellings of creatures of the underworld.
Until his own ascendance to the Throne of Rock, no dwarven king had ever had to worry about the skies above. Other than the random Griffin nest, that is.
Four hundred years ago, when he was younger, before he was king, he had met dragons. Real dragons. Out of legends and myth, out of the fantasies and horror stories of young dwarves.
It had been a very unlikely alliance; a very disparate group of adventurers that had gone to the underworld in search of a mythical set of weapons and armor. The worst thing was that they didn't even need it, really, but they had risked their lives for it.
The king chuckled to himself. It was all very amusing, really.
Now, as he contemplated the contents of the bag his subordinate had brought to him, a sword, glistening in the light of the torches with the reflective surface of a mirror and an edge that could literally slice through stone through weight and will alone, his mind drifted back to those days.
To a younger, more energetic Loar, an extroversive and fun loving human woman called Itare, a dragon with scales like dark smoke calling himself Shadow and a stern but extremely loyal elven noble, Ertheilos.
Loar shook his head sadly and sheathed the sword again inside the black-leather sheath, the one he crafted himself for his dragon friend.
He looked down at the sentry that had brought it with him and sighed. "Bring them to me." He ordered.
---
Glint downed another pint of dwarven ale, motioning for the bar dwarf to pour him another one.
"I cannot give it to Sapphire. She sees his vision as the ultimate answer still. And Gold…" A voice echoed in the darkness and shadows of the tavern.
Glint looked around, but saw no one, other than one dwarf, snoring on one of the tables. He looked back at the bar.
"Listen, if I don't come back… give it to Darkshine… tell her she must take it to Loar the dwarf." The voice echoed yet again, interrupted by the barman putting the next drink in front of the dragon.
"I fear we won't see each other again, my friend." The voice said, a sad whisper. "May your scales never darken…" the voice whispered, fading.
"And may your wings never fade…" Glint sighed.
"Did you say something?" The dwarf behind the bar asked.
"Nah, just remembering old times." The dragon answered, taking a sip of his drink.
The dwarf shrugged and walked away to clean away some leftovers from previous clients.
---
Makoto's heart skipped. Ertheilos looked at her with sad eyes. "I think it is better to discuss this in my house. We're almost there." He said.
Makoto shut her eyes, trying not to think, gritting her teeth and struggling with herself. She didn't want to think about the possibility. There had to be some mistake. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the pity in the elven lord's eyes. She fell to her knees.
The moment the tears left her eyes, Makoto knew it was true. All the tight control, all the emotions that had welled up in her from memories and recent events threatened to overpower her completely. For a moment, there had been hope. And it had been stripped away, the last tie she had to him. Makoto fell to her knees as lord Ertheilos motioned for the elven scouts to leave them all alone. The only one that stayed with him was Herathia.
"Mako-chan?" Usagi called, kneeling next to her as the Senshi surrounded her. "What's wrong?"
"Darkshine…" Sapphire also knelt next to her, putting her arm and wing around her shoulders, much like the sister that Makoto felt her as would have done.
She cried without answering for a while. Old Red watched her worried, along with Morgana. The suspicion that some of the Senshi had felt for her was momentarily forgotten as she stayed on her knees, lost in her feelings. "Ertheilos…" Makoto said finally, looking up at him with tears still streaming out. "Where is my child?"
End Chapter 12