Chapter 2.
"Siegfried Valdr! Siegfried Valdr, your presence is needed immediately!"
Toemnir valley was in chaos. Furies rushed around, some bringing herbs and water, others lighting fires at their designated places in the caves to light the darkness. Curious eyes popped up at cave entrances, some dragons gathered into small groups, whispering about the troubling news they just heard about. Two night patrollers of the clan spotted a group of Skrills, larger than any hunting parties ever encountered. The Skrills had tried to kill them, not wanting to give their presence away, but the two managed to break free, although they had suffered some serious injuries in the process. Siegfried was standing in the centre of the main cavern, becoming more and more furious, as he listened to the blood-covered guard in front of him making his report on the events.
"We were caught by surprise. One minute, we were following a pair of them, the next we had to fight for our lives. For every one we knocked out, two more appeared. I have no idea what they were doing in our territory, but I'm sure they were not hunting. We had no choice but to flee..." the guard said in a tired, defeated voice with his eyes half-closed.
"You did the right thing, Salkonyr." Siegfried assured the dragon, who now looked slightly less ashamed. "How is Wordren?"
"He took quite an ugly blow to the neck. It barely missed his main artery. If it had cut it, he'd have bled out by now. Elder Tamaana is tending to his wounds. Aside from the one on his neck, the rest are mostly scratches and bruises- Aargh!
Salkonyr suddenly collapsed, letting out a growl of pain.
"Salko!" Siegfried cried out worriedly, and jumped over to the dragon who laid on his side, panting violently.
"Feels like I have a broken rib..."Salkonyr choked, then moaned again "Maybe more...unngh..."
"Then why haven't you been to Elder Tamaana yet?!" Siegfried scolded him, and bent over to his other side, trying to help him up.
"I thought it could wait, Wordren looked much worse..."Salkonyr whispered. He managed to stand up to all fours again, leaning against Siegfried for support.
"Damn it Salko, this isn't the time for heroics! You're no use to us dead!"
"It's not that seriou-"
"Shut up and let's get you to the elder!" Siegfried interrupted.
As they began to stroll towards the tunnel leading to Elder Tamaana's side cavern which she used to tend to the wounded, Siegfried noticed that Salkonyr also limped badly. There was a nasty bite-mark on Salkonyr's right paw, leaving bloody paw prints on the cave floor as they walked. This only fuelled Siegfried's rage towards the damned Skrills, who nearly caused the death of one of his hatchling-hood friends, and a dutiful clan member.
Elder Tamaana just finished anointing Wordren's neck with a healing salve, made out from different herbs, willow tree bark, saliva and water. She immediately shifted her attention towards Salkonyr's wounds. Siegfried, not wanting to interrupt her in her work with questions, paced towards Wordren, who was lying on his belly at the corner of the cave with his eyes closed. Siegfried could not help but notice the bloodstains on the cave floor, and feel his throat clenching. As he reached Wordren, the battered dragon opened his eyes and looked at him.
"Hi, Sieg." he sighed tiredly.
"How are you holding up, Wordy?" Siegfried asked with concern.
"Been better." Wordren muttered. "She said I'll live... doesn't feel like it..." he continued jokingly, pointing his nose towards the elder.
Siegfried sat down in front of him, curling his tail tightly around his legs.
"You'd better do! We already concluded that 'bad to the bone troublemakers' like us aren't welcome on the Starpath, don't you remember?"
The private joke about dragon heaven they always used to say to each other made Wordren smile weakly.
"Sorry, I forgot. But I'll keep it in mind the next time-"
"There won't be a next time." Siegfried interrupted in a heated tone.
The unusually angered response made Wordren struggle to his feet in realization.
"Siegfried, I know what you're planning to do, and it's not-"
"My duty is to protect my clan against any and all threats, by any means necessary." Siegfried spoke up in a commanding tone, standing on all fours as well."I will do what I must."
"Listen to me, I have a very bad feeling about this!" Wordren cried out, earning the disturbed looks of everyone else in the cave. "For the sake of your family, do not take unnecessary risks for some false sense of dignity-"
"Mind your tongue, Wordren!"
He sat down, and bowed his head in obedience.
"I apologize, my Leader."
"You have fulfilled your obligations as First Guard." Siegfried stated in his authoritative voice maintaining a strict expression, which Wordren hated so much. "Now I must do the same, as sworn protector and leader of my kin."
With these last words, Siegfried turned around and left the cave. This time he had no choice but to ignore the pleading stare of his best friend, regardless of how wrong it felt to do so.
Both Lohengrin and Valerien were snuffling quietly in their sleep, unaware of the uproar down in the valley. Valerien cradled her son between her forelegs, resting her head against his tiny chest, causing the hatchling to instinctively curl his forepaws around to hug his mother's face.
Siegfried's ears dropped as he took a sharp breath, and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He felt terribly conflicted inside, being unsure of what would be the best course of action, which was not something usual for him. Ruining their peace like this and leaving making his mate worry would be bad, but one should never ever leave their family without at least saying a word. Especially not before an undertaking like this.
He stepped forward, and nudged his mate gently, in hope that he hadn't made the wrong decision.
"Siegfried?" Valerien whispered, blinking sleepily "Is something wrong?"
"There was another intrusion. I have to go out to set things right, I'll be back before sunrise."
"But-"
"Do not worry, my love." Siegfried nuzzled her in an effort to keep her calm "I'm going out with enough guards to obliterate a smaller clan, and I don't even think violence will be necessary. They will just run away, like they always do."
Valerian was completely wordless for a few seconds.
"Just... just be careful, okay?" she finally managed.
"I will, and I'll be back soon." Siegfried stated confidently, then turned around, darted towards the entrance and took off.
Valerien kept staring at the point where her mate so hastily disappeared. She dreaded this very moment since the first time they encountered the Skrills, and now it had eventually come. It felt like she was getting pulled into a nightmare which was slowly turning into reality.
Her depressed thoughts were interrupted by a small, drowsy voice.
"Mommy?"
Valerien looked down, to notice her son trying his best to examine her worried face from the state of being half-asleep.
"Something wrong?" he yawned.
"No, there isn't." she said immediately, nuzzling her son and forcing herself not to show away any concern. "Daddy just came by and told me something. Keep snoozing, my little one."
"M'kay, Mommy." Lohengrin muttered, and turned himself to the other side, throwing his legs around his mother's paw.
Valerien touched her son's back with her chin and purred soothingly, until he was asleep , she continued to stare at the point where Siegfried disappeared. Her fear wiped away all traces of drowsiness from her. She decided to wait until her mate came back.
Time was passing at the pace of a snail, making Valerien more and more restless. The valley below slowly descended into an eerie, malicious silence, matching the oppressing darkness brought by the cloudy night. The air almost reeked of tension and concern, and Valerien couldn't help but find herself constantly thinking about the worst possible outcome. Accepting the fact that something needed to be done, she picked up her sleeping son by the nape of his neck, paced to the cave entrance and took off. She carefully glided down to the base of the mountain, and stopped in front of another cave, putting her son down on the rocky ground.
"Melyan?" she called out.
A few whispers and some rustling came as a response, a few moments later a dragoness appeared in the entrance.
"Valerien?" she asked in surprise, "Don't just stand there, come in!"
Valerien picked up Lohengrin again and followed Melyan into the cave. Inside, behind the fireplace she could see Wordren lying awake with his sleeping daughter resting closely against him.
When Valerien noticed the ragged looks of the First Guard, she almost dropped her son in shock. She quickly put down the still snoozing hatchling to avoid just that from happening.
"Oh, Wordy..." she whispered worriedly. "What have you gotten yourself into?"
"A bloody mess." he groaned hoarsely.
Valerien shook her head at his impossible attempt to degrade the situation.
"I have no idea what's going on, and it's driving me mad. I would really appreciate if someone could finally fill me in! Siegfried only stopped in to say goodbye and then left!"She said with a pleading look.
Wordren stayed silent for a few seconds and then blinked at his mate.
"Could you...?"He suggested, with a nod towards his daughter.
"Of course." Melyan whispered, and picked up the sleeping hatchling, and took her away to a side-cavern. She came back, walked to Valerien and gestured towards Lohengrin with her head.
"Would you like me to-?"
"Please, I was just about to ask."Valerien nodded nervously, and watched her as she picked up Lohengrin, being really careful not to wake him up, and carried him to the side-cave, settling him down next to Lyara.
Now that the hatchlings were out of the picture, they could speak more freely. Wordren summed up his run-in with the Skrills, how they were ambushed and how they escaped. During his speech, Melyan laid down next to him, placing her forepaw upon his. Wordren spoke about his conversation with Siegfried, and how he left the valley with three wings of guards.
Valerien was shocked. Leaving somewhere with twenty-one guards backing you up was so unusual, it had probably never happened before. Siegfried left with almost one third of the clan, and they still hadn't come back...
"Something's terribly wrong here..." Valerien choked, with dread clenching her throat. "This isn't the usual behaviour of the Skrills. For all we know, they are flying into a trap!"
"Look, Val." Melyan began in a soothing voice, trying to calm her friend, who was now visibly trembling with fear. "We have no reason to assume the worst. Siegfried proved himself of being a more than capable leader during the years, and I'm sure-"
"No."
Her speech was cut short by the growling of Wordren. He stood up and glanced aside to his mate, who looked slightly angry at him for ruining her effort.
"Something fishy's going on. I tried to tell Sieg, but he refused to listen. I'll be damned if I'm willing to stay here while he is out there, flying into the middle of a catastrophe!"
This caused Melyan to cry out nervously:
"You are NOT going anywhere in this current state of yours! You can barely stand on your feet!"
"I'm fine." Wordren grumbled. "I'll take out another wing of guards and a wing of hunters to reinforce them."
This time the reply came from Valerien.
"No you won't."
Contrary to her earlier state, now she seemed much more calm and confident as she stood up as well. Her expression was a lot like Siegfried's before he left, and the thought of this made a knot form in Wordren's stomach. He knew exactly what is going to come next.
"I am the one who goes out after them. Can I ask you to please take care of my son for the night?"
Wordren buried his face into his paws. He may be the First Guard, but it doesn't mean he can order the leader's mate around. The ancient laws of hierarchy directing the life of the clan did not leave any room for opposing the will of a higher-ranking dragon. Wordren felt like there was a war raging inside of his head, where his sense of duty was fighting the care for his friends.
Everything came down to the ultimate conclusion, to the rule which was taught to each and every Night Fury who decided to live as a member of the clan.
The interests of the clan always have to come first.
There was no exception to that rule, and it made Wordren to make the decision, which haunted him for the rest of his life.
"Yes. We will." He whispered.
The roars of dismay and the traces of distant shouting were slowly waking Lohengrin up. He raised his head, eyes half-closed, and groaned in his discontent, missing his mother's usual warm, comforting embrace around him. Struggling with his still blurry vision, he looked around with a strange feeling inside of him. As his sight gradually cleared, he could make out the details of the cave he was in, and it startled him.
He was not at home.
When he noticed the familiar figure of Lyara lying right next to him, he became even more confused.
"Lya!" he whispered, nudging the small dragoness to wake her up.
"Lyara!" he tried again, after seeing the lack of response.
Lyara could only let out a drowsy grumble. Lohengrin thought out a more efficient way to wake her up, and bit into her ear, with teeth retracted.
The dull pain proved to be just enough for the task.
"Ouch! Wha- Lohen?" she asked, blinking her utter surprise "What are you doing here?"
"I don't even know where I am!"
"Well..." she began, and took a look around "We're home..."
"You mean, your home, right?" Lohengrin asked, just to make it sure.
"Uh-huh."Lya nodded and then her ears began to twitch, hearing the unusual sounds from outside. "Are we alone?"
"I dunno, let's take a look." Lohen got up, and proceeded into the larger cave where Lyara and her family used to sleep. Lyara quickly followed him, and both of them walked to the entrance of the cave. Their young minds just could not solve this puzzle. They were put together then left alone, and the valley of Toemnir was now clearly showing some unusual activity. The main source of the voices seemed to be the central cave on the other side, but they could faintly make out silhouettes of other Night Furies sitting in groups, or even running around.
"Where are Mommy and Daddy?" Lyara wondered.
"Where are my parents?" Lohengrin asked back in a similar way. With a sudden decision, he stood up and stepped out of the cave, beginning his way to walk down to the valley.
"Lohen, wait!" Lyara exclaimed.
"For what?"
"Mommy always told me to wait for her or for Daddy if I wake up alone!" She explained "I don't think we should try to run around the valley alone, it can be dangerous!"
"Fine." Lohengrin said out in annoyance. "You stay here and wait for your parents. I'll go out and find mine."
Lyara looked desperately after her friend, who continued to climb down from the slope. Luckily, Wordren's cave was located much lower than Siegfried's, otherwise such a thing would not be even possible. She waved her tail around and clawed the rock under her paws in discomfort.
"Lohengrin!" She called.
"What?" came the answer from below.
"Wait up!"
Reverberant cries of pain and grief filled the air of the central cave. Wordren tried his best to ignore them, but he just couldn't disregard the red stains on the cave floor, and the metallic stench of blood penetrating his nostrils, no matter how hard he tried. According to Naveron, his direct subordinate as Second Guard of the clan, Siegfried and his group had flown into a trap. The Skrills pretended to ask for a chance to make-peace, but when the Night Furies landed, they went into a ferocious all-out attack. The Furies, being much more capable fighters, slowly turned the tide of the battle when Valerien and her reinforcements showed up, despite still having numerical inferiority. In the end, the Skrills had to flee, leaving their dead and wounded behind.
The wounded Skrills were quickly taken care of, as dragons don't take prisoners.
The elders called it a victory, for the watchers of the clan managed to fight off the enemy, causing a crippling amount of casualties for them. It was crystal clear that the Skrills wouldn't be coming back for many years.
But this so called "victory" came at a terrible price. Thirteen members of the clan gave their lives for it, another ten were severely injured, many of which had been carried home only to take their last breaths with their families.
And now, Wordren was sitting in front a very, very exhausted Elder Tamaana. She looked absolutely drained after tending to so many wounds, hearing out so many last wishes, and trying to comfort so many crying dragons.
"And what about Valerien?" Wordren asked.
The aged dragoness just shook her head slowly. She need not to say anything else, her meaning was all too clear.
Wordren shut his eyes to hold his tears back. He swallowed, and asked again in a shaky voice:
"Will Siegfried make it?"
The brief question only made Elder Tamaana look even more depressed.
"He has suffered serious internal and external injuries, and has lost too much blood. I did what was possible to lessen his suffering, but..." she stopped to try to swallow the lump in her throat "I can only ease his passing now. His wounds are beyond healing.
Her words clattered emptily on the cave floor, and Wordren suddenly felt like he was falling into an abyss of desperation.
"May the Spirits of the Ancestors have mercy on his soul..." he whispered quietly.
Suddenly, Melyan rushed out from a short tunnel which leaded to Siegfried's cavern.
"Wordy!" she called out "He... he wants to see you."
Wordren darted towards Siegfried's cave in complete horror. Not a single inch of his body wanted to see his leader and hatchling-hood friend in such a state.
The sight was even worse than his initial expectations. Wordren knew he would never forget this scene for the rest of his life.
Siegfried was lying on his back on a flat stone, which served as a bed. His body literally swarmed with cuts, bite-marks and various types of other bloody wounds. He was covered with the brown salve Elder Tamaana used for Wordren's wounds a few hours earlier; it coated him from head to tail.
"Wo-Wordy?" he groaned faintly.
"I'm here, Sieg." Wordren sat down, and leaned close to him. His efforts to prevent himself from crying were in vain. Seeing him to struggle for every word was more than disheartening.
"Va... Va..." he coughed up some blood, then finally managed to choke out: "V-Vale...rien?"
Wordren desperately stared at his own forepaws, clawing the rocky surface, being unable to look into his friend's eyes.
"I... she..."
"Wor...dren!"
Wordren finally looked up to meet Siegfried's pleading glare. Wordren slowly shook his head, and what happened next caught him off-guard:
Siegfried began to sob. He did not let out a single tear since he was carried and carefully placed down on that rock despite all the terrible pain he must have felt, but now his tears were falling like the autumn rain.
Wordren carefully wrapped his forelegs around his best friend's broad neck, and hugged Siegfried's face against his chest.
After a few long minutes, Siegfried tried to speak again.
"Wordy..." he sighed.
"Hmm?"
Siegfried suddenly grabbed Wordren's head with both of his forepaws, and looked directly into his eyes.
"You... You take care of Lohengrin..." he started coughing again, splattering droplets of blood to the ground.
"Of course, Sieg. I will raise him as my own, and do everything I can for him." Wordren vowed, staring deeply into his friends' eyes.
Siegfried slowly let him go, and slumped back to the stone. Then suddenly both of them heard startled cries coming from the main cave.
"Who let them in here?!" someone asked.
"Where's Mommy and Daddy?!"a very young voice demanded.
"Lohengrin!" Siegfried called out with all of his remaining strength, almost rising up from his bed.
"Daddy!" came the shocked response, then an angered cry: "Let me go!"
Wordren rushed to the tunnel, to see both Lohengrin and Lyara being held down by Melyan's paws. Lyara only looked very frightened, but Lohengrin was desperately struggling to claw his way out from Melyan's grip.
"L-Let him...come to me..." Siegfried muttered weakly.
Melyan heard the leader's words, and let the little hatchling loose. Then she picked up Lyara, and walked away, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Lohengrin rushed past Wordren, but stopped in shock after seeing his father.
"Daddy!" he screamed "Daddy, you're hurt!" He ran to his father in utter despair, and started to lick his face intently, as if his small tongue could wash away all the wounds.
Siegfried rolled to his belly, lowered himself and raised his foreleg to gently press his wailing son against his forehead. Lohengrin threw his legs around his father's face, not wanting to let him go.
"My little son...I-I'm so sorry..." Siegfried mumbled softly, and looked straight into his son's blue gaze, who was now panting violently, his small chest rising and falling rapidly. "Stay strong... p-promise me you'll stay strong... and never look back." Siegfried mustered up a weak smile "I know you will make Mommy and Daddy proud..."
Siegfried's voice slowly died away, his foreleg slipping from Lohengrin's back to his side while his eyes slowly shut.
"Daddy?" Lohengrin tried, eyes growing wide in horror. There was no response, his father never talked to him again, ever...
He suddenly felt a jaw tightening around his neck, lifting him up. He flailed his legs around, desperately clawing the air, not wanting to be separated from his father. The dragon who was pulling him away, ignored his cries.
"NO! He's just asleep!" He clawed at the face tearing him away from his father, "He's just… no… NO!"
Wordren held his head up high, to be safe from the wailing hatchling's attacks, and began to slowly walk away from Siegfried.
A few days later, in the hours of midnight, the whole of Clan Toemnir gathered together at the centre of the valley. The moon shone brightly, so there were only a few bonfires lit by the dragons who had prepared for the ritual of Parting.
The gathering dragons formed a circle; inside the circle were seventeen piles of wood, placed deliberately to form a crescent. On each pile, there lay a body of a dead dragon.
Wordren thoroughly described the ritual to Lohengrin. He told him how the scales of the dragons, which protected them from fire, became combustible after a while. He told him why the crescent form is needed to resemble the Moon, and described how the bodies are moved with utmost respect, and positioned on their back with wings spread wide, and nose pointing towards the sky. He told him how important this is, to let the dead's soul leave the body and soar up to the Starpath above them.
However Lohengrin couldn't care less about any of it. In fact, he felt like he will never care about anything, anymore. He barely noticed Elder Ragnar stepping up, and starting to speak.
"Bound brothers and sisters of Clan Toemnir. We have gathered together because of a very rare and unfortunate occasion. This rarity only makes it even more painful, as it is gripping our hearts, and splattering our tears of deepest sorrow. We are here to part ways from many of our family and friends; all of them were valiant enough not to hesitate in sacrificing their own lives to ensure the safety and future of our clan. They have all made our ancestors proud that day, as they fought off an enemy with such ferocity and might only a true Eifrah, a true Night Fury can muster. Their names will be remembered with honest gratitude, and their memories will live forever in the hearts of their beloved. Let their actions serve as an example to everyone who draws breath: for as long as we have champions like them in our proud ranks, our clan will blossom forever. Our loss is terrible, but we will endure, just like we endured all the hardships of the past eras. Our loss is terrible; but we must let our heroes pass away, and allow them to soar together with the Spirits of our Ancestors on the Starpath."
As soon as he stopped, seventeen guards began to step towards each of the piles. Once they got there, they slowly blew fire to the wood, stepped back and flapped their wings ceremoniously, to allow the fire to grow.
Lohengrin sat silently between Wordren's front legs, watching his parents' bodies being consumed by the fire. He felt completely empty inside. He didn't let a single tear fall, almost as if he ran out of them completely in the last days. He could only feel a deep, echoing hole in the fabric of his very soul, occupying the place where formerly his parents were. He felt so entirely alone...
His thoughts were interrupted by a paw brushing gently against his side.
"You're not alone Lohengrin." Wordren said softly, like he could hear the hatchling's thoughts "Never forget that."
Lohengrin didn't reply. He only leaned against Wordren's leg for whatever little comfort he could find.
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