A Kind of Magic

Seventy-Five

Annwyn proposed for all the women and Gollum to share the largest room they had been given, leaving Leodhais and Gilderoy and Angus and Colum divide the other two.

Fiona knew that her girlfriends were doing this for her, and she was thankful to them for not making her feel Peregrine's absence even more by making her sleep alone. She was also grateful for their delicacy of manners-- Aryana knew that Fiona was suspecting to be pregnant, but never hinted at it in Annwyn's presence, not beyond making extra sure that Fiona was always as calm and comfortable as she could be under the circumstances, allowing her to decide if and when to spread the news.

After they unpacked-- their bags and swords had already been brought into the candle lit corridor outside the bedrooms by the landlord-- and washed, and after first Aryana and then Annwyn returned from having gone to say goodnight to their men, the women settled for the night.

Fiona was so tired that she didn't stir until the next morning when Annwyn shook her shoulder at sunrise, waking her from a dreamless sleep.

The small company gathered downstairs for a quick breakfast and a long goodbye with Gollum-- Fiona found it particularly hard to part even from him, in this world where he was still as much of a stranger as she. But there was nothing to do about it, she whispered into his dark grey ear, almost the same shade as Peregrine's dragon, hugging him around his soft, furry neck, just after she promised him that Alexandra would be there soon to take him home and then she would be back too, in a few days hopefully, with his beloved Freddie.

Then they all filed onto the green spreading in front of the inn, the men carrying their bags and arms, walking outside after the three ladies.

"I'll carry you," Annwyn told Fiona, who shivered in the coldness of the new, wintry day. "Angus will fly Gilderoy and Aryana, and Calum will take Leodhais and the heaviest luggage. Don't panic when we take off, none of you!" she called, addressing all those who were supposed to be carried. "Think of it as of riding a horse, you are all skilled riders. Let's go, you first, Angus, off with the three of you, we need space! And keep to our plan, let us reach Sunderland tonight. If anyone needs a break, we can have lunch in Kingston or Scarborough. We must reach the former in the early afternoon."

Angus nodded silently, then ran towards the middle of the green, turning into a copper coloured dragon way larger than the biggest horse Fiona had ever seen on the spot.

Gilderoy, his satchel hung across his chest, climbed upon the dragon's back without hesitation, then extended his arm to help Aryana who settled behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, while he held onto the dragon in the place where its wings grew from its shoulder blades.

Then they were off, and Calum morphed into a chocolate brown dragon, carrying Leodhais and the greater part of their luggage into the sunlit sky.

Finally, it was just Annwyn and Fiona left outside the inn, their eyes following the dragons flying towards the north.

"Come on, let us move before we lose them," Annwyn said, walking into the middle of the green and shifting into the gorgeous turquoise dragon Fiona remembered. Their ability to shift like that would never stop being impressive to her, Fiona mused, she found the fire-breathing beasts hiding in the innocuous human forms gorgeous.

She smiled as she climbed the extended bat-like wing carefully, not wanting to harm the magnificent creature, and settled upon her scale-covered but surprisingly smooth to touch back, placing her hands on the dragon's shoulder blades as she had seen Gilderoy do. Fiona hadn't yet had an occasion to touch Peregrine's dragon, but she didn't imagine his body would feel so smooth. It was a surprise, she really liked it, she enjoyed the feeling of the dragon rising in the air smoothly like a huge bird, or rather an aeroplane-- her wings hardly ever moved, they sailed upon the invisible air currents like sail boats did in the calm waters of a lake. The scale-covered body carrying her towards the clouds, towards Peregrine, felt strangely cool, but somehow it was more comfortable than a horse's, even without a saddle.

They flew according to Annwyn's plan, with Fiona, after the initial rush of excitement, dozing off in the rare moments when her thoughts blinked out in her early pregnancy caused exhaustion from chasing after Freddie and Peregrine, setting down once, for a late lunch, on a beach near the tiny town of Scarborough. They stopped for the night in Sunderland and Fiona was sure, and felt guilty about it, that Annwyn-- the half dragon was apparently just as perceptive as her elven husband and divined her state without the slightest hint from her-- insisted they get rooms and a proper dinner at an inn for Fiona's sake and comfort. But she knew well that Annwyn was just as stubborn as Peregrine, and so she accepted her decision without a fight.

They reached the shore of the river Tweed the following cold afternoon, and a snow-covered castle built at a foot of a tall hill, on the shore of a lake, at nightfall.

"Here we are," Annwyn said, wrapping Fiona in her arms the moment she shifted from her dragon form. "By the old gods, you're so cold..." she muttered, running her hands up and down Fiona's arms in an attempt to warm her up.

"Can we really stay in the castle? Is it safe?" Leodhais, appearing from the fast thickening darkness and pulling both the women in his warm embrace, asked the two dragon shifters over his shoulder.

"Yes. We know the clan it belongs to, and even though the pure humans don't like to interfere with our affairs, they always offer shelter to any of us who need it, no questions asked."

Teeth chattering, Fiona looked around as Angus explained. She needed to know where she was, know in the terms she understood. She needed to recognise the place for what it was in her world lying beyond the stones. In the dusk quickly becoming night, she decided that the mountain behind their backs was most likely Ben Nevis. They must be close to Fort William, and this castle might just be Inverlochy... in which case, the huge lake she had spotted as they flew was Loch Ness, the place she had always wanted to visit in her world, and knew so much about-- she had done her research before the planned holiday she had wanted to take Freddie on before everything changed in their lives. Well, she was here now...

She would have laughed if tears didn't fill her eyes too fast-- she was so near to Freddie and Peregrine,  but also to the army of dragons camped on the distant northern shore of the lake, invisible from where they stood now, and Lagon. This... won't be easy...

She shivered, with cold as much as with the dread of what was lying in front of her, and Leodhais, pulling her closer, ushered everyone towards the typically Scottish castle looking like a large group of tall, ancient houses packed too close together, growing from each other like mushrooms, charming in its own, shabby and weather worn uniqueness.