Healing Wounds in Arabarb
By Charles Matthias
For a long time the sea birds Quoddy and Machias perched on top of
the gatehouse tower and watched the celebrations move through the
city streets and the wounded receive care within the castle bailey.
They moved about the stone crenelations as normal birds, a white and
gray feathered gull, and a black and orange feathered puffin. They
cawed to each other occasionally and pointed out interesting sights
down below, such as the dog Keepers helping tend the dead, Pharcellus
teaching Lindsey how to breath fire on the northern bank of the
river, or the rapidity with which a new array of heads and bodies
were put on display outside Fjellvidden's gates.
But for the most part they stood and enjoyed a brisk afternoon
breeze. The day had warmed comfortably but now with the sun starting
its descent in the southern sky, the air had begun to cool. They
savored each breath of wind that brushed through their feathers, over
their webbed feet, and across their beaks. Quoddy even took the time
to preen himself, working out a few kinks in his back and wing
feathers with several careful bites.
Neither wished to end the moment. Although they had been resting only
just yesterday, it felt like forever ago since they had last been
able to relax. But everything they had come to Arabarb for was now
accomplished. As they stared down at the many people working to
rebuild and rejoice, Quoddy realized that he would miss this place.
Perhaps when they left Metamor in the fall they would have to come
back for a visit.
Machias bounced on his webbed feet and waved his wings up and down in
the air, cawing as he made a complete spectacle of himself. Quoddy
lifted his beak up and his mind from its introspection to see what
his puffin brother had seen. To the southwest he could see a
distinctly familiar black shape gliding across the sky. Long in neck
and wing, with yellow webbed feet and a black beak that brightened to
a radiant gold just beneath his eyes, there could be no mistaking
that countenance.
Quoddy spread his wings and made a racket too as he jumped up and
down on the battlements, cawing eagerly to the other bird. It banked
after a moment and turned straight toward them, beating its wings
fiercely. Quoddy and Machias jumped to either side to get out of the
newcomer's way, their hearts thudding loudly in their chests.
And then with another series of downstrokes, the Cormorant came to a
stop atop the tower, his body stretching upward into the closest
proximity to manhood that any of them could attain. His face and eyes
beamed with delight. "Quoddy! Machias! It's me again! I'm me again!"
Quoddy and Machais transformed at the same time, and they wrapped
their wings about their brother, cawing and laughing with a joy they
could scarcely imagined ever feeling. "Lubec!" Quoddy cawed and then
nuzzled his beak along his brother's neck. "Oh, Lubec, it's so good
to have you back!"
Lubec would have burst into tears if he could have. "It's so good to
be back. Oh, I'm so sorry. Those things I said, those things I
wanted. Oh, it was horrible. I'm so glad neither of you ever had to
think those things. I'm so glad you're safe!"
"We all are," Machias agreed with a squawk. "It's so good to see you
again, Lubec. Now we really can go home."
Lubec glanced out across the castle and city and nodded. "I wish I
could have known this land like you two did. I... I just want to
leave it behind."
"Not tonight," Quoddy advised gently. "Tomorrow if we're up to it.
I'd like a good night's sleep and some good cooked food before we
even think about flying back to Metamor."
Lubec nodded heartily and Machias cawed his approval. "And you need
to tell me about all you did. I... I want to hear all about it. Tell
me about southern Arabarb. Tell me about the tundra. I want to hear it all!"
Quoddy and Machias were only too happy to oblige their dear Cormorant brother.
----------
The impromptu council session lasted another two hours at which point
it was decided that they first needed to raid Calephas's larders for
food before they could settle on any further course of action. Alfwig
was delighted to see that the young Jarl was able to bite his tongue
and contain his tempestuous spirit. A little more seasoning and he
would make a fine leader of men.
He gathered a dozen links of sausage and wrapping them in a clean
satchel, carried them with him as he and Elizabaeg left through the
eastern gate and walked up the road to the bridge over the Arabas.
Their hands touched as they walked, but they did not clasp. Beyond
the bridge reclined a pair of dragons, one older and one still a
child, and crouching nearby as a faintly wolf-like man.
The younger dragon lifted his neck and his bright golden eyes gleamed
in the late afternoon sun. "Father! Mother!" He leaned back on his
haunches, tail pressed beneath him, and waved his arms for a moment
before falling back to all fours. "Is everything all right?"
Alfwig smiled to Lindsey and to Pharcellus whose snout was open in
his typical faintly mischievous grin. "Everything will be fine. We
thought you would be hungry and brought something for you both."
While Elizabaeg knelt down next to Lindsey and gently ran her hands
down his scaly neck, Alfwig pulled the sausage links out of the
knapsack and tore one line free. "I'm not sure how hungry you are,
but this should help. Do you still feel the poison?"
Lindsey shook his head back and forth. "There's still a faint hum,
but that's all. It's just gone now. I think I can eat. More than one.
More than six!"
Alfwig laughed warmly as he handed the first link to Lindsey who took
it in one hand and bit the link in half, gulping the meat down after
only chewing once. The other half followed the first a moment later.
"Delicious! Oh, I needed that. Thank you, Father."
"Would you like some too, Pharcellus?"
The older dragon rumbled and nodded. "Aye, thank you."
Alfwig cast a glance over at Jerome whose eyes were closed and his
breathing slow. "And your friend?"
Lindsey licked the end of his snout with his long tongue and said,
"We'll save one for him. He's seeking his Calm right now. It's the
best way for him to be himself."
Alfwig divided up the links and fed them in turns to the two dragons.
Pharcellus played with his food by skewering the sausage on his fangs
and wiggling them around until they broke in half. Lindsey laughed at
his older brother's antics, something that made his whole body shake
and nearly knocked Elizabaeg over as she tried to kneel at his side.
And so they ate, a strange sort of family but a family nevertheless.
Their faces were bright with the long years apart now past. No words
were said about Lindsey's change, nor about his true mother, the
dragon that had enchanted Alfwig for so many months so long ago. A
short distance away the Sondecki remained in meditation, his features
relaxed, even where they were lupine. The burned remains of the Lutin
village had been cleared away by the two dragons, and though all of
the bodies had been dropped into the river, the stench of their flesh
still lingered faintly in the air. They said nothing of that either.
As promised, they left one link of sausage for Jerome once they were
finished. They offered a prayer of thanksgiving together to Eli and
Yahshua in which Pharcellus joined for the many blessings they had
received and for the being brought back together again.
After making the sign of the yew with finger and claw, Alfwig lowered
his eyes and took a small bit of folded parchment from the knapsack.
His voice was reserved and faintly pained. "I know you will not be
staying here forever, Lindsey. But what do you intend to do?"
"Learn to fly first," Lindsey admitted rather timidly. He lowered his
head to the ground and dug with his claws. "My first attempt wasn't
so good. It is much harder than it looks."
"And I will teach him," Pharcellus added with a rumbling warmth. "I
won't be going anywhere for a month while my wing heals. And by then
Lhindesaeg should be able to fly."
"We won't be going anywhere either," Elizabaeg said softly, running
one hand along her son's gray-scaled flanks. "There is much to do
here in Fjellvidden, and there's no hurry to return home. We've not
been there in quite some time. It can wait a little longer." She
lowered her gaze for a moment and then looked Lindsey in his draconic
face, her visage reflected in his large golden eyes. "And it means we
can be together a little bit longer."
"I'd like that," Lindsey admitted, his throat thrumming with an
almost cat-like purr. "It can't be like before, but, at least we are
together. I just wish... I just wish Andrig were here too."
Alfwig nodded, his head lowered so that he stared into his
cross-legged lap where he gripped the folded parchment. "He may have been."
Lindsey blinked, his eyes almost glowing with wonder. "What do you
mean?" Pharcellus crouched lower over them as all of their heads
leaned in closer.
"I found this note on Calephas's body," Alfwig said, opening it and
holding it up. It reads, 'Alfwig, It brings me great joy to see you
alive and to know that you will not die beneath the monster's hand. I
hope you are your wife are reunited. Do not fear for your son,
Andrig. Even if you never see him again, he loves you, Elizabaeg, and
his brother Lhindesaeg, and always will.' And it is signed by my
gaoler, the Lutin Yajgaj."
The younger dragon blinked again, swinging his long tail back and
forth. His wings anxiously tried to stretch. "How would a Lutin know
us? Why would he care?"
Elizabaeg's face had gone white and a trembling had reached to her
collar and clutched it tightly. "That Lutin knew me just by looking
at me. Did you tell him anything?"
Alfwig shook his head. "Neither he, nor Calephas, nor," he glanced at
the meditating Sondecki and added in a quieter voice, "the mage ever
learned anything more than my name. I only told them anything when
Calephas threatened to kill you, Lhindesaeg."
Lindsey clicked his tongue against his fangs as he tried to remember
the few times he'd seen the gaoler Yajgaj. The memory of seeing his
father in chains was very clear. "And that Lutin fled the laboratory
as soon as he brought you there."
"But how could he?" Elizabaeg asked, looking between her husband and
her son. "How could he be?"
Alfwig shook his head. "I don't know. But... " He spent several
seconds just staring at Lindsey who lowered his head along his long
neck, claws on hands and feet digging into the hard dirt. "But
anything has to be possible."
Lindsey took a deep breath and then put one hand on Elizabaeg's knee
and then on Alfwig's. "We can pray and worry about it later. For now
I think we are about to have company."
They turned their head and stood as they saw three mismatched birds
swoop down across the river and settle onto the bank a short distance
from where they sat. Both humans stood while the dragons lifted their
heads higher on their necks. The birds, a gull, a cormorant, and a
puffin all swelled in size until they were vaguely man-shaped.
"My friends!" Pharcellus bellowed in delight as he strode around the
others to nuzzle each of the birds on the top of their heads with his
snout. He spread his good wing around their backs as they cawed and
laughed and hugged at his middle with their wings.
"Pharcellus!" they cried as one. Lubec the one who had been Gmork's
pet pressed himself close. He shuddered and lowered his beak, "I'm so sorry."
Pharcellus ran one heavy hand down Lubec's black-feathered back. "You
didn't do anything wrong. I promise that one day, when my wing heals,
I'll fly with you along the coast again. You have to have some
amazing stories to tell me, and I promise I'll tell you some more of mine too."
Lubec laughed and leaned back with his brothers. "You are a good friend, Phar."
Alfwig and Elizabaeg smiled to each other faintly, their hands
finding each other as they watched. Lindsey walked around his parents
too and stretched his wings out on either side, bumping Quoddy in the
head as he did so. "And I'll be there too. One I learn how to fly."
Quoddy turned and looked him up and down. "Lindsey?"
"The same! What do you think?"
The gull tilted back his head and laughed. "You've still got some red
on you at least! It's astonishing! You must tell us how it happened."
"I will. But first, what of you three? Will you go back to Metamor?
Somebody needs to so that they know what happened here."
"Tomorrow," Quoddy said with a quick nod, glancing at his brothers
and nodding in turn to each of them. Lubec appeared relieved, while
Machias seemed a bit disappointed. "After a good rest tonight and
some food. The sooner we return the better. We just need to know all
that happened so we can report it to the Duke."
"We'll tell you all we know," Alfwig assured them with a fond smile
that hid the distance in his eyes. "But there is still much to do,
Arabarb is not yet free despite Calephas's death. But at least there
is that. For tonight we can rejoice in that."
"And the mage too," Lubec said with a long sigh of relief.
"Well," Lindsey said softly, glancing at Jerome. But his wolf ears
didn't even twitch. "There's more to that too."
"Will you be coming back to Metamor?" Machias asked as he looked from
Lindsey to Pharcellus. "We spoke with the dogs and they said they
wanted to stay and help and this isn't even their home."
Lindsey did not take his glance from his twisted friend and sighed.
"Once Pharcellus is healed and I can fly, we need to. I want to bring
Jerome to Charles. Hemight be able to help him. I'd do it myself, but
I don't know how to fly and I'm too small. I'm still just a little
boy like this, even if I'm a dragon now. I want to pounce you three a
little you know."
The birds cawed uncertainly, but managed to laugh with Lindsey at
that. "Oh, we should tell Jessica that she can take that spell off of
you too," Quoddy noted.
"Oh, yes," Lindsey agreed with a firm nod. "I had almost forgotten
that; I'm just so happy to see you three, and to be here now."
Elizabaeg glanced from the birds to the two dragons and then at the
bridge. "We can go find more food for you all if you like." Unspoken
was the implication that she wanted time to her own thoughts; the
contents of the Lutin's letter had struck her more powerfully than
they had the dragons.
Lindsey lifted one paw and patted his scaled belly while shaking his
head. "I have had plenty, thank you, Mother. But my friends would
probably like some fish."
"Oh yes!" Lubec gasped, his yellow eyes wide with avian delight.
"Fish would be heavenly!"
Alfwig put a strong hand on his wife's shoulder and pulled her close
next to him. "Then we shall return with some cooked fish for the
three of you. And then, after you've eaten, we can share all that we
know. We have a great deal to discuss before the night drives us
inside. I haven't slept on anything but hay and stone for two months.
I will sleep in a real bed tonight."
"Aye," Elizabaeg said, sliding her arm along his back and gazing
hopefully into his face, "you will."
Pharcellus stepped out of their way as they returned across the
bridge. He watched them as they walked side by side toward the
castle. Cheers continued to rise from the city beyond. The late
afternoon sun cast long shadows that stretched over the river gorge,
painting everything in a golden hue. Even the two gray-scaled dragons
glowed in that somber light.
"Well," Lindsey said softly as he watched his parents leave them to
themselves, "I've spent most of the last day as a prisoner, but this
is what I know." All three birds settled down to listen attentively.
----------
May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,
Charles Matthias
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