Book of Ellagar

Chapter 23 : Daughter

The light from the early morning sun danced between the branches above her. Ellagar painfully, tentatively pushed herself up. She looked around, satisfying herself that she had no idea where she was or what day it might be. Her head hurt. Hurt was actually too mild a word. She coughed and decided her ribs might hurt more than her head. Then she saw water. That would be good.

She ducked her head in a cool, shallow stream and then drank. The cold, refreshing feel of the water on her scales and inside her made her feel less miserable. She sat by the stream and tried to recall what had happened after. After. Ellagar couldn't even complete the sentence. What word could describe everything ending in the worst possible way?

Ardvek. Verak. Thelara. Each name a knife inside her. She had failed them all. She had no right to be alive. Tentatively, she reached out her thoughts to Grandmother. Nothing. Complete silence. She actually missed that nagging old voice; at least Grandmother would have made certain that Ellagar knew the full extent of her failure. Her guilt.

A small, familiar voice spoke behind her, "Sister Ellagar, you're awake! I was so worried..." Ellagar didn't let him finish speaking as she leapt and scooped him up into her arms.

"Oh, my Ardvek, you are here. You're alive." She felt tears fill her eyes. "At least, I have you." Ellagar dropped to her knees, still clutching her youngling, even as he tried to wiggle free.

"Sister Ellagar, clutch-mother, not so hard. I don't heal as quickly as you!" Ardvek protested. She released him from her embrace but still held his hands as if she was afraid he would vanish. He smiled at her and then kissed her on the forehead. "I'm okay. But..." His voice trailed off.

Ellagar wanted to ask about Thelara, but fear gripped her heart. The image of Thelara, filled with power and then falling as dark stains dimmed her bronze scales. "Tell me of Verak—what news. And Sageclaw. The Mother Tree? Where are we?.." Ellagar rambled, asking a dozen questions before her youngling gently placed a gentle hand on her mouth.

"It's okay, clutch-mother," he said, comforting her. His eyes filled with sadness. "She is very weak—but Thelara still lives." Ellagar broke into sobs, as both fear and hope filled her heart. "Come," he said, pulling her up.

They walked through a quiet glade. She could sense the swamp nearby. All around them, in fact. However, it was far enough away that the wind and trees drowned out the swamp's usual sounds. She thought of the maps and stories she had been told, but this place did not fit any of the knowledge she had of the swamp. Ardvek explained they were in the heart of the swamp, a place few ever visited or returned from visiting. Sageclaw had brought them here after finding their own camp had been destroyed.

After the ritual was disrupted, the barrow itself had been destroyed. The power of the ancient dragon infused into Verak's body. The newly resurrected Verak-Dragon had turned on the cult in the confusion, destroying as many as she could find. Then pursuing the Wyrm Lords as they tried to flee. That allowed Sageclaw to gather them all up and fly back to the camp under the Mother Tree.

His words brought back a memory of landing at the camp—she was clutching Ardvek's body. And Sageclaw had carried Thelara in his claws. Everything in the camp had been ransacked. And the Mother Tree was no more. Where it had stood was a lifeless, broken tree.

"Ardvek, what happened to the Mother Tree?" she asked, worry in her voice. He smiled and pointed ahead.

"Do not worry, Sister—the Mother Tree can look after themselves." He said it with a trace of reverence in his voice. "Sageclaw told me that they are not physical trees in our world, but places where they touch our world from their own place of being. When they are in danger, they can simply move elsewhere." That one bright bit of news made Ellagar feel better. At least one good thing remained in the world.