Chapter 5.

The dirt road which ran through the pine forest hadn't been used for centuries. A long time ago, it was the only connection to the rest of the world for a little outlying village. But the village had been blown away by the storms of history, and the rubble was overgrown by the vegetation long ago, eradicating the remains of any human presence around the area.

Now, the road was experiencing its heaviest traffic, ever.

A tank rolled at the front and ploughed a path through the fresh snow, followed by a handful of APCs* and a convoy of cargo trucks. A line of infantrymen half-heartedly trampled the snow on each side of the convoy. Around the middle, there was a tanker, and the end of the convoy was secured by an anti-air tank, its spotlight tirelessly scanning the night sky.

A lone soldier stepped out of the line with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He took out an old lighter from one of his pockets, and tried to light the cigarette.

*Click!* Nothing but sparkles. *Click!* Again. After the third time, the soldier cursed angrily:

"Бесполезно дерьмо!" And tried again. *Click!* This time the lighter actually lit up.

"Наконец!" He put the lighter to the end of his smoke to light it.

And in the same moment, the tanker beside him, exploded, the blast throwing him into a snow drift.

Chaos erupted between the soldiers, as every flashlight tried to search the air. The AA tank rolled forward, and shot a burst towards the dark sky. Then it too disappeared in a blue-purple explosion.

The man who's biggest problem was to how to light his cigarette was lying motionless on the ground. Blasts and detonations raged around him, with occasional sounds of gunfire, shouting and screaming. After just a few minutes which seemed more like hours, the world became silent; the only thing that could be heard was the cracking fire. He slowly lifted his dizzy head up.

The convoy was gone, only the burning wreckage of the vehicles remained. Dozens of dead lay across the road, at the spots where the explosions and fireballs had thrown them. Terrified cries could be heard coming from the forest, where people fled for their lives. The man's jaw slowly opened, and the snowy cigarette fell out to the road, which was soaking with mud and blood. A quiet, horrifying growl came from behind him, and as he turned towards the source, he stared into the eyes of death itself.

An enormous, black creature with ten centimetres long claws, forelegs smeared with blood, and a gaze of ice-cold blue, promising to seal his fate.

The soldier opened his mouth, but the creature rapidly moved forward, bringing his scream of terror to an abrupt end.

The rising sun slowly crept over the horizon, its first rays greeting seven Night Furies as they hurried towards home. Maintaining a wide V-formation, the group was led by Lohengrin, then followed by a mixed assignment of Guards and other Night Furies who the clan could spare.

"It was surprisingly easy, wasn't it?" a young Night Fury thought out loud, and flew a little closer to his friend on the left. "I mean, it makes me wonder what could've happened at home if we could've used our fire..."

"There is no point wondering about that, Ren." Lenhardt growled. "They gave us a nasty surprise then, we gave them one now. I just wish I could've taken out more."

Wyren gulped, and asked in a low voice:

"Still no news about your sister?"

"Nothing at all." Lenny let out an angered huff "I swear if they hurt her, I..."

"I'm sure she's alright-" Ren tried, but seeing his friend's disbelieving glare, he remained silent.

"I don't think I have ever been this angry..." Lenny admitted a few moments later "I don't understand why Dad didn't let us catch the survivors-"

"Because this wasn't about revenge, young lad." an old Guard overheard their conversation and decided to add his own comment. Lenhardt quickly recognized the voice; it belonged to Arnavyr, the newly appointed Second Guard. He was the second in command of yesterday night's attack.

"The only reason we flew out to dispatch them was because they were coming too close to our current hiding place. Acting upon anger and lust for revenge would force us toward rash decisions, which we would surely regret later."

"But... if this whole thing was to keep our new home a secret, why did we let some of them slip away?"

Arnavyr opened his mouth to answer, when another voice joined to the talk.

"A good question, and allow me to answer that."

The three dragons turned their head to see Lohengrin flying a bit above and behind them.

"Arnie, please take the lead."

"Aye." the old dragon nodded, and with a few strong flaps of wings, he flew forward to lead the formation. Lohengrin occupied Arnavyr's place, and looked at the two youngsters. Wyren seemed quite nervy for the opportunity to speak with the Leader himself, Lenhardt just looked curious.

"Okay, so let's figure out, why did I let those humans get away?" Lohen spoke up in a chatting tone, taking an inquisitive look at them. Wyren looked like he just bit down on his own tongue, but Lenny spoke up after a few moments of thinking:

"Maybe... you want them to bring word about our attack?"

"You're on the right track, keep going!" Lohengrin nodded with a faint smile.

"They've lost a good amount of people and contraptions. A few of the scattered survivors will make it back to wherever they came from, and tell the story of our attack to the others. Then... maybe they'll send out more people to investigate?"

"Possibly, yes. I want them to focus their efforts on this area, while we relocate to somewhere else." Lohengrin explained.

"We're going to move again?" Wyren cried out in surprise.

"I'll announce the whole thing to the clan this evening. The Shalnar ridges aren't suitable for a permanent replacement of Toemnir valley; it lacks both the necessary space and food for that."

"But where else could we go? Further to the north?" Lenny asked.

"No, that would be too obvious, and human presence is also more significant there. I'll explain everything this evening to the whole clan, and answer everyone's questions then."

She tried so hard, but even her friend's constant encouraging and comments about her good progress couldn't change the fact that her aim was still helplessly off.

"It's not working, Melyan." she sighed in a depressed way as she sat down on her haunches. "No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I practice, it's either too short, too long or completely misses."

"Don't give me that, Ohrana." Melyan said soothingly as she sat down beside her. "You've told me you'll never fly again, and you're pretty decent at that now.

Ohrana took a rueful look at her. One of her eyes was bright yellow, as the summer sun at its peak. The other one was an unhealthy shade of grey and white, blocked forever with the fog of blindness. As Elder Tamaana described to her, one has two eyes for three-dimensional sight, which is essential for distance measurement. And knowing the distances of the objects around her is an absolute necessity for a stable and safe flight, and good fireball aim.

Since flying and breathing fire were the most important aspects of any dragon's life, everyone had pity on Ohrana, and tried to help her however they could. But because she was famed for her sharp eyes and quick flight which made her a great huntress and tutor of many, Ohrana felt worse than ever for her constant reliance on others' help to even stay alive. After she went through the initial stages of shock and depression, her friends, especially Melyan managed to convince her to keep herself together. During the days of practice flights, she learned to compare everything to her own wingspan, and it proved to be an adequate way to determine how far everything is. She was still a bit uncertain at diving and low-level flight, but at least opening her wings didn't come with a promise of a lethal disaster anymore.

But shooting fire was an other, even tougher issue. Right now they were sitting at a meadow, with a larger boulder in the middle. She used that for target practice, shooting weak fireballs which would not blow everything into pieces. This way she also conserved gas, which allowed her more shots before she'd run out. Melyan carved an X into the middle of the boulder, and demonstrated the task by sending a fireball right to it from like a hundred steps. But the best Ohrana managed, was to graze the side of the boulder only once, the rest of her shots landed everywhere else. A growing number of black spots on the grassy field indicated her efforts, but the lack of success began to dishearten her.

"I've had enough of misfires for today." she sighed "Lets walk home."

"Walk?" Melyan asked as she stood up.

"Yeah. I've had enough being afraid of slamming myself into the ground, too." Ohrana replied sourly.

"I wish there was a larger river or a lake around here so we could practice flying above the water instead." Melyan said as they began to walk back to the others "It would be a lot safer."

"I'd rather talk about something else." Ohrana mumbled "How are you doing? Is the family alright?"

Melyan froze mid-step and dropped her head, making Ohrana regret her unwary question immediately.

"Mostly." she whispered.

"Please forgive me." Ohrana said regretfully "I just can't believe... oh never mind."

"I still can't believe it, either." Melyan whispered bitterly "I haven't slept alone since like sixty winters. It takes some time to get used to. I still dream about him almost every night. And sometimes, occasionally I still find myself expecting him to come home any minute."

"Now that I think about it, I'm actually lot luckier than you... I can't imagine what you're going through. But I still can't wrap my head around what happened or why did it happen. It just... came like lightning from the clear sky!"

"I don't have answers, Ohrana." Melyan murmured as both of them began to walk again "I doubt that even Lohengrin has."

"I'm pretty sure he will figure out something." Ohrana stated "He's always looking for the correlations behind things. Even when he was a youngling, I had to thoroughly explain him why I want him to do what I ask. But as soon as he saw the reasons, he understood."

"I would be more curious about what comes next." Melyan wondered "It is obvious that we cannot stay here for too long, but nobody's really knowledgeable about the rest of the continent. Where will he lead us and how, I have no clue."

"Actually, I'm surprised he hadn't decided to go after Laranys yet. It must be a horror for a father to see his daughter disappear. I would surely go crazy if something like that would happen to me."

"Sometimes, I wonder how can he hold out like that, the pressure has to be enormous." Melyan said "I wouldn't want to be in his position either."

They both stopped and looked up to the sky as they heard a voice calling for them.

"Mom! Ohrana!"

After the sound of a few flaps of wings, Lyara appeared above, and touched down beside them.

"Lohengrin asked me and Lenny to help him gather everyone together." she explained "He wants to make a conclave; he says he has a lot to say for everyone."

The two older dragonesses exchanged a glare.

"Looks like we're getting some answers, then?" Ohrana asked.

"We are. And I'm curious too; he refused to tell me what's on his mind. He's planning something big, that's for sure." Lyara replied.

"Then let's not waste any more time here." Ohrana said and took off. After a few moments, both Lyara and Melyan leapt to the sky as well, to follow her.

Fifty-one Night Furies were sitting at a clearing in front of Lohengrin's cave. They quietly whispered to each other while they were waiting for their Leader to appear. Their patience was not tested this time; Lohengrin came out of his cave after just a few moments, and sat down near the entrance. Everyone became silent as they looked up to him, and Lohengrin scratched his throat and began his speech which he spent quite some time polishing in the last few hours:

"Bound brothers and sisters of Clan Toemnir, my friends, my family. The last few days have been especially hard to endure for all of us; we have all lost someone or something which was mightily important for us. The last days put our skills, our bravery, our determination and our ability to adapt to the ultimate test. And despite these conditions, against all chances, we came through. We took a heavy blow, but we stood up and fought back. We have shown the enemy that if they want our lives, they should prepare to pay a high price for it."

"We have lost many great Furies, but their sacrifice was not in vain. They gave their lives so we can survive, and I won't waste the chance they gave us. To ensure our survival, the safety and security of the upcoming generations, I decided to find a new home for all of us; a place where we don't have to fear for our lives, where we can live and raise our young safely."

Surprised murmurs erupted from the crowd, but they quickly quieted down as they saw that Lohengrin was about to continue.

"In two days, a special assortment of Guards and Hunters will depart to the west to secure resting places for the rest of the Clan which will follow them later. I had to thoroughly search the old scribes of knowledge which the ancient Elders left here for us, but I have found a suitable place for all of us to live. It is called the Field of Thousand Diamonds, Zer Dyemant Vidaece in the Old Tongue. It is a huge plain dotted by hundreds of lakes, and there is a long mountain range a couple days of flight from there, called the Menaedhral. That is where we will make our new home. It is about twenty days from here, if we travel from dusk till dawn. According to the descriptions of the ancient Elders, I planned out a route there, which should be fast and safe enough."

"I know that this sounds quite an endeavour for all of us, but if our ancestors were capable for that, then we are too. I am confident in each and every one of your abilities, and I'm sure that a trip this long will cause little to no problems for us. I'm always keeping the well-being of all of you above anything else, and I would not even risk this if I knew that the result was not worth the effort."

Lohengrin paused to take a good look at the crowd. After the first shock, most of the dragons seemed to like his idea, and hopefully he can convince the ones with doubts later on.

"Thank you for your patience. I'll make all the necessary arrangements tomorrow, may the Spirits of the Ancestors watch over for you tonight. If anyone has any questions or reservations, I'm available tomorrow."

The crowd of Furies began to slowly dissolve, with everyone chatting and discussing the new turn of events. Lohengrin noticed his sun rushing towards him, and he went forward to bump heads with him.

"This sounds pretty adventurous, Dad!" Lenny exclaimed "I can't wait to go and see what the world looks like!"

"Well, we'll have a lot of work to do, but I agree that it's going to be interesting." Lohengrin smiled at him.

They noticed Lyara heading towards them as well, so they sat down to wait for her. Lohengrin's smile slowly faded as he noticed the troubled glare of his mate.

"Hi, Mom!" Lenny greeted her merrily.

"Hi, my dear. Would you please go ahead of us and light the fire in the cave? We'll follow shortly; I'd just like to have a few words with your father."

"Alright, see you inside. I'll get a few fish too, so we can have a dinner together." Lenny said after he got a grateful lick from his mother, he went inside their cave. In the meantime, Lohengrin decided to go ahead of the problem.

"I know a place not far from here where we can speak privately." he told Lyara, and upon getting an agreeing nod from her, both of them took off and flew above the forest. They landed at a small meadow, and Lohengrin turned to face his mate.

"I'm all ears." he sighed.

"You know what's bugging me about this plan of yours." Lyara said quietly.

"I know. What do you want me to do, Lya?"

"Anything! I told you that I want to-"

"We've been through this before. You're not going anywhere alone." Lohengrin said unusually strictly to her. Lyara's ears perked up, and her tail flicked a few times, showing her anger.

"So are we just going to leave her where she is? Lohengrin, this is our daughter we're talking about! I don't want to go anywhere without her, and you said you're sure that she's still alive! You haven't even shown a vague sign to look for her so far, and-"

"You think I don't know this?!" Lohengrin cried out "You want me to make a choice of who to abandon: my family and clan, or my daughter! I'm trying to come up with a solution but I can't! Don't force me to make a choice I cannot-"

"Stop roaring at me!"

Lohengrin bit down on his tongue and tore his gaze away from his tearing mate. He forcefully controlled his breath to stop his heart hammering inside his chest. When he spoke up again, his voice was soft and apologetic:

"I'm so sorry." he whispered, staring at the ground "I'm a bit tenser lately, almost more so than I can handle."

Lyara stepped forward to snuggle against her mate, pressing her chest against his, nuzzling his neck.

"We mustn't fight, Lohen." she whispered. "I know you're trying as hard as you can to keep things from falling apart."

"And often I still feel like I'm powerless to stop it from happening." Lohengrin admitted shakily "Everyone's expecting me to put things back to the way they used to be. But I'm no miracle-worker. I cannot resurrect the dead and I can't rebuild our home from the ashes..."

Lyara snuggled even tighter against him, and Lohengrin felt a wave of gratitude for her support.

"A long time ago, you said you aren't the one to let down anyone. I know you're planning something, but you don't want to tell it to me." she took half a step back to lick his face. "Don't shut me out." she said softly.

Lohengrin took a deep breath before staring into Lyara's eyes.

"I'm... preparing Lenhardt as much as I can, so when I'll leave to search for Laranys, he can take my place and lead the clan to Menaedhral." he blurted out.

He tensely looked for his mate's reactions. Lyara's jaw slightly dropped like if she's trying to say something, ears flattening on her head. But she closed her mouth after it and remained silent. Her eyes told Lohengrin all he needed. Comparing to the reaction he'd expected, this was actually not a negative one.

"You don't look too happy." he tried cautiously.

"Should I?" Lyara asked back sadly "I don't want you to go for the same reason you don't want me to. But... If anyone can bring Nyssie home, it's you. I'm more concerned about... Lohen, he's just fifteen winters old."

"I know." Lohengrin admitted "And he's my only heir. I had a hard time coming to this, believe me. But he will have you to help him, as well as all the Elders. Together, you can overcome any difficulty, and I only plan to leave after we're halfway there. I wouldn't even try this if I wasn't sure that he's able to handle this. Lenny's a clever boy, he'll manage."

After a few moments of silence, Lyara slowly nodded.

"You have a point." she said. Lohengrin swallowed tensely, and dropped his head again.

"I still hate myself for doing this..." he mumbled "It's like there's a curse on me or I don't know... this is not the way I imagined our life. Nothing around me stays ordinary. Trouble seems to stick on me like bees on a flower. You'd deserve someone-"

"I have no regrets, Lohen." Lyara stated, staring into his eyes "If I'd have known what lies ahead of us back then, it wouldn't have made me change my mind."

A broad, genuine smile appeared on Lohengrin's face, which was something that hadn't happen for a long time.

"I don't know where would I be without you..." he whispered, and threw his wings around his mate, pulling her into a tight hug.

"You'll never have to know." Lyara whispered as she nuzzled Lohengrin's face.

A/N Here's a bit of an explanation:

APC - Armoured Personnel Carrier

And for those who can't speak Russian (like me) or can't read Cyrillic letters (like me)

"Бесполезно дерьмо!" - "Useless cr*p!"

"Наконец!" - "Finally!"

To avoid incorrect conclusions, WW3 is NOT between Russia and the world. Things are far more complicated than that, but we'll get to it later. I promise. ;)

As always, tell me what you guys think.

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