A Kind of Magic

Seventy-Nine

They were all stirred from sleep in the predawn darkness filling the ancient cottage the following morning by a loud knocking on the door. 

Peregrine, who, obeying his instincts had insisted on sleeping dressed, despite Freddie having appeared as perfectly relaxed as the previous night when they had connected through the ring, was on his feet, reaching for his sword, cloak and hat before the others even opened their eyes properly. He was halfway down the wooden staircase, descending from the attic before Fiona managed to beg him to be careful even as she groped blindly for her dress in the dark, resolved to run after him even in her undershirt, when her fingers finally closed around it.

She only glimpsed the stranger in the doorway as she ran down the stairs before Peregrine, after a few exchanged words, closed the door in the man's face and turned to her, spreading his arms to fold her in his embrace even as Calum and Angus approached them, followed by the others.

"That was Ancalagon's messenger," Peregrine said. "I agreed to meet the dragons' king personally. Let us hear what he wants."

Fiona laced her arms around his waist so strongly that she took his breath away momentarily. 

"I don't have a good feeling about this," she breathed into his chest even as he caressed the cloud of her red curls, whipped into an unruly confusion during the night.

She was afraid for him, and his heart ached for making her feel this way. But she didn't need to worry; he wasn't going to affront Ancalagon the Black, the Highlander who had killed his parents. He was going to talk to Lagon, the man she had loved before him. 

So much had changed for him since he had set out upon the quest for Alaric's lost heir. His way of thinking had morphed, his view of the world had shifted, he had learned to value feelings he hadn't cared about before, when he hadn't hoped to aspire to be loved one day. And he had to thank her for all that. The little, stubborn redhead shrouded in his arms, clinging to him for dear life had made his existence so much richer and more beautiful, worth fighting for. 

"I'm not leaving, Bella," he spoke to her softly. "I'm only... going to try to talk some sense to... my son's father," he added in a whisper only meant for her ears, his words filling her heart with elation and her eyes with tears.

He noticed them as he placed his fingers under her chin, nudging her face up, making her look into his eyes. 

"You really are so tearful..." he said, his eyebrows drawing together in thought, and Fiona could feel Annwyn's eye roll on her back before she looked around and frowned at the half dragon in warning.

"Let me go now," he added, kissing her briefly, before he took a step towards the door. "I won't be far. Should you follow me," he paused until Fiona, for whom his words were meant, looked at him again, "be careful. I don't believe Ancalagon knows that you are here, but I'm sure he knows about you, Emrys," he added, looking at the wizard standing next to Annwyn. "Just be careful, all of you. I have no idea what he would do if he saw Fiona here... please..." he trailed off, looking between Gilderoy and Leodhais. 

"We won't let anything happen to her," Gilderoy pledged, and Leodhais nodded, his hand pressed to his heart.

Peregrine smiled at them, then put his hat on swiftly and vanished beyond the door, the hard wood replacing his body in a heartbeat, confusing Fiona for a while. When she gathered what had happened, that he was gone again, she reached her the door handle but missed as Emrys' hands landed on her shoulders, turning her around. 

"Just give him a little head start, and then we'll follow," her father coaxed, supported by Alexandra, who nodded at his side. 

"We must feed the horses and Gollum and close them in the stable before we go. It's better to leave them all here and walk today," Gilderoy added.

However, it was Annwyn who managed to dissuade her from bolting out of the cottage by whispering to her that she really should eat something before spending another day outside. The half dragon was right, Fiona needed to remember that she had responsibilities beyond herself now, that the baby growing within her needed her just as much as Freddie, and Peregrine. She needed to be reasonable and make this situation easier, rather than more complicated and perilous for the man she loved. 

"We brought a few soldiers with us. They are in the castle," Emrys said as they all followed Fiona out of the cottage after breakfast when no one could hold her still any longer. 

The ring on her chest was blooming its brightest blue, pulling her towards its twins like her heart was pulling her towards those who wore them.

"Do not send for them," Fiona said, setting off for the forest, weaving a cloud of fog around their group. "A few soldiers won't protect us from an army of dragons, but they would make us look like we want to fight instead of talking in peace, trying to avoid bloodshed. The sight of them would put Peregrine  into a greater danger he's already in. He doesn't want to cause a war, and neither do I, Father."

"Well, I hope from the bottom of my heart that we will be able to solve this your way, Fiona. We'll try, but should this not work..." he muttered, producing a pigeon from the pocket of his coat, a tiny scroll attached to its foot. "The soldiers will be here at sunset. Just in case," he added, tossing the bird into the air where it flew in the direction of the castle spreading on the other end of the lake after it circled twice above their heads.

They walked in silence then, Fiona between Annwyn and Leodhais followed by Aryana and Gilderoy, Alexandra and Emrys who kept looking into his orbuculum as they walked closing up the rear. Calum and Angus were invisible as they circled the group, walking fast and silent in the thickly grown trees, becoming their sentinels. 

It felt to Fiona like a lifetime before they finally reached the spot from where she and Peregrine had watched the army the day before and settled behind several scattered rocks, much smaller but still vaguely reminiscent of the Hurlers, that mysterious stone circle she had walked through into this world. A lone pine tree grew at the base of the tallest one, shaped and twisted into an impossible form by the often strong winds that swept the Highlands mercilessly in all seasons. It didn't offer a suitable cover, but the long heather, its branching stems green despite the cold, hid them well enough once they sat or knelt down around the stones.

Fiona tried in vain to find Peregrine in the relaxed commotion reigning in the dragons' camp-- the numerous tents sat around a large stone cottage, spilling towards the village of Inverness on one side, almost touching the waters of Loch Ness on the other.

That no one cared to spot their presence and soldiers had been allowed to bring their families, turning an army camp into a bustling village, told Fiona better than anything else that Lagon didn't expect to be attacked and he wouldn't wage war against Alaric unless he was pushed, but it seemed that he was too certain that Alaric would accept his conditions...

Even as Fiona decided to permit her mind to lull her into an almost tranquil stupor, allowing herself to believe that there would be no bloodshed, that she could talk Alaric into agreeing to at least some of the things Lagon demanded and that he, upon seeing her, would speak to her and realise how impossible some of his claims and conditions were and would accept a compromise, giving her her child back, two figures ran out of the distant cottage. 

Their swords were drawn, black cloaks billowed around them in the sudden gust of wind that stole one man's hat and sent a flurry of snowflakes upon the world from a passing cloud, the frozen droplets shimmering like star dust in the sole ray of sunshine piercing through the same snow filled cloud.