A Kind of Magic

Fifty-Six

Fiona took a couple of steadying breaths and forced herself to stop crying, settling on wrapping her arms around Peregrine's waist as tightly as she could, resolved not to allow him to get into any more danger, ever, as she planted herself firmly at his side, looking at the three men standing in front of them.

Peregrine's breath caught and he crushed her to himself when he realised that she wasn't going to run, that she was staying with him, that she... cared about him enough to overlook so many unpretty, unpleasant things that came with being a dragon shifter, a Highlander, while Fiona tilted her face up and frowned at the weeping sky fiercely, and the rain morphed into a drizzle. 

"Who are you? Why were you following us?" she spoke to the man held hostage by Gilderoy and Leodhais in a steady voice worthy of an angry queen then, surprising her companions as much as she surprised the captured dragon shifter.

The man narrowed his eyes at her in thought, considering the petite redhead almost hidden under the Highlander's arm until Freddie, Peregrine's claymore which a boy his age shouldn't have the strength to lift, held in his arm in front of him, aglow with the eerie bluish light emanating from the ring hanging around his neck under his hoodie.

"You are one of my father's men," he announced, rather than asked, making all the men look at him with raised eyebrows, their minds struggling to make sense of his words. 

"Ancalagon the Black is gathering an army of dragons in the Highlands," Freddie explained to no one in particular, "but his plan won't work. I saw it all in the ring..." He pulled the ring from beneath his clothes, illuminating the clearing around them in a cold blueness, the vivid colour reflecting from the charcoal clouds that had gathered above them, carrying more rain.

"Tell him that the answer to his question is no. I'll never accept what he has to offer to me. Tell him to let the men go home. I am not going to wage war against him... Unless he will force my hand. Let him go, Gilderoy, Leodhais, let him deliver my message..."

His last words were almost entirely obliterated by a rumble of a thunder, and he dropped to his knees in the sudden darkness as the light of the ring went out. Gilderoy and Leodhais rushed to him, letting go of the dragon shifter who vanished immediately, but it was Peregrine who caught Freddie before he could fall to the ground entirely, taking the sword from him before setting him on his feet again, and kneeling in front of the standing boy.

"All right, Master Frodo?"

Freddie nodded at him, his hands on the kneeling man's shoulders for support even as Fiona kneeled at his side, her concerned eyes boring into the boy's that were wide with surprise. 

"What happened?" he asked as if he had just woken up from a dream, allowing his mother to pull him into an embrace.

"Nothing for you to worry about," Fiona and Peregrine spoke at the same time.

They looked in each other's eyes for a heartbeat, a mute accord passing between them. They needed to talk about Lagon, the Highlander whose shadow was falling over them. Peregrine knew that she suspected that they had met, that he knew Freddie's father personally, that there was more than simple acquaintance between them. He sensed that she was afraid to ask, but she would once she gathered sufficient courage to look her past in the eye. He had a feeling that they would all face Ancalagon the Black sooner or later. They needed to talk, but not before he construed a plan, an infallible strategy to protect Bella and her son from harm, both physical and emotional. First things first, though... To begin with, it would be better not to tell Alaric immediately that his only grandson and ultimate heir was a son of a Highlander... 

Peeling his eyes off her, wondering how much the perceptive, enticing woman had gleaned from his thoughts, Peregrine caressed the boy's hair soothingly even as he added, "Why don't you give that ring back to your mum just for a while?" It became impossible to ignore the influence the thing had over the boy any longer. Like a double edged sword, the ring seemed to be as helpful as it was dangerous and it seemed to respond to the boy in an eerie way Peregrine wasn't sure he liked, Freddie was only a child...

"No." Freddie shook his head vigorously, hand fisted around the ring as he took a step away from them, and towards the horses. "It isn't malicious. And it belongs to me, it helps me see the future, it will help me save Silmarea... Maybe... it looks dangerous to you?" He looked at them questioningly. "But it's mine, it's precious, and its magic only works for me; it would become useless in anyone else's hands. Now let's go. And mum, hold the storm off for a few more hours, let it rage once we reach Peregrine's vampire friends."

He giggled, back to his usual self, mussing Gollum's fur as the dog, released by Annwyn who had been keeping him out of the way until then, ran to him, before walking off towards the waiting horses, picking up his mother's glasses from the wet grass on the way, the dog at his heels.

It wasn't easy for Gilderoy to organise everything that had happened in his mind.

He offered to ride with Alexandra as they mounted their horses again, letting Peregrine and Fiona lead the company as he brought his horse, with Freddie at his side, right behind them, Annwyn and Leodhais closing the rear.

The woman seated behind him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, forehead pressed to his back, seemed to be the one most shaken by the recent events. Despite her initial excitement about coming with her family to her ex-lover's court, she seemed to be having a hard time adjusting to the new world and its reality.

Her daughter, on the other hand, seemed to be taking everything in her stride. Even now, as they rode by the dragon shifter's corpse, she looked at it, most likely thinking that just leaving it there was wrong, but she accepted Peregrine's explanation unquestionigly, just like she seemed to have accepted his... dark side.

"They'll be back. His companions. They didn't run away, I can feel them near. They'll return to burn him the moment we're gone, that's what we do with our dead," the dragon shifter muttered.

Gilderoy, despite having known this, shivered, while Fiona only seeked Peregrine's hand in response, entwining her fingers with his as they rode on, side by side. By the old gods of Silmarea, the love that had blossomed between the two was as beautiful to watch as it was unbelievable.

He peeled his eyes off the couple, allowing his mind to stroll to Aryana. Ever since he had laid his eyes on her, he had a feeling that they belonged together, like Peregrine and Fiona, like Leodhais and Annwyn... Did the young werewolf feel the same way? Would she leave her pack and follow him now if he proposed it to her? She didn't know him, of course; they had only met once... and she had nurtured a feeling very close to love for Peregrine for years...

But his pull to her seemed the same like the one Peregrine and Fiona and Leodhais and Annwyn felt... They all seemed to have become... chess pieces in a game the Destiny of Silmarea played against herself, the dark knight and the red queen, and their child-sized king, he thought, smiling at Freddie whose eyes followed the path unfolding in front of them unfocused, intent on the future, shimmering, only for his eyes to see, bright with the muffled blueness of the ring shining again from beneath his clothes. And their guards, his smile widened as he looked over his shoulder at his best friend and Peregrine's sister, attempting to kiss over the distance created by their horses walking side by side, adding his, and Aryana's names to theirs. 

This quest had changed his life. He had found his real reason to live-- standing by his newly found friends and helping them achieve what the destiny had laid out for them, for the good of Silmarea.