Era's End Chapter Two

Starsong waited and sniffled to himself for several long minutes while the two humans talked inside. Ally started off loud enough that Starsong could almost make out what he said, though it was difficult with that funny way the humans talked. All their sounds felt too quick and tiny, like the trilling of a bird instead of the elongated, clear sounds he and his kind made.

But soon the two were talking so soft that Starsong could barely hear that they were talking at all. Starsong’s curiosity overwhelmed his guilt and fear. He considered placing an ear to the door to try and get a better idea of what the humans were doing.

Just as he got up to do so though, the door opened. Ally and Ending stood in the doorway, Ending’s face flushed and Ally’s face calm but his eyes wary, glancing all over Starsong as if he might try to snap at Ally at any moment. I am a fierce dragon, but you have nothing to fear from me, Starsong wanted to say. Dragons and humans are friends.

Ally said, “Well, Ending tells me he found you by the river, that you’re from the other side of the mountains back that way. That you mean no harm. Is that right?”

“That is all very true, yes,” Starsong said.

“And that you are injured.”

“My wing feels much better today,” Starsong said cheerfully. “Though I still don’t think I can fly yet.”

“Let’s get you inside and take a look at it, shall we? Uh on second thought, maybe in the forge. There’s more room there, less things for you to stumble into or knock over.”

About half an hour later, Starsong’s wing had a clean new bandage over the ragged hole in it, and the broken bone in it was properly splinted. “Dragons heal quickly, so I think I will be able to fly again in a month or so.”

“That’s still a long time,” Ending said.

“And meanwhile,” Ally said. “You can’t stay here. Neither of you can.”

“What?” Ending demanded. “I understand we can’t hide a dragon from the village - they’ll try to kill it, and won’t believe us that it’s not dangerous!”

“He, please, not it,” Starsong said.

“Oh. I’m sorry, Starsong, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You didn’t. But what’s this about Ending can’t stay, Ally?” Starsong said, worried. Had being around him made Ending unable to stay? The pang of guilt came back and Starsong blinked back a tear.

“What Mirth and Wind said last night, Ending. Wind had a prophetic dream about the magic that protects this valley fading, and you have something to do with it, son - best you go with the young dragon to his home for awhile.”

“Who are Mirth and Wind?” Starsong asked.

“Village elders,” Ending explained. “Wind is a Keeper, and Mirth is her Keeper’s Guard.”

“You have a Keeper here? That’s incredible! I thought they were all gone from the world. That’s what my village elders have said. But if they’re wrong, then the Goddess hasn’t abandoned us. Not yet.”

“Abandoned?” Ally said.

“Yes. They say that’s why the perimeter guard magic around your village and mine are failing.”

Ally and Ending exchanged worried glances. “Yours too?”

“No, it’s the same magic construct, I think. It extends to the ocean on the other side of the mountain. The dragons in my village live between the ocean and the mountain. I was on a recon mission with some of the other airdragons investigating the perimeter. But in a spot where it was particularly weak, the magic attacked me - I think it thought I was an enemy. It stunned me right out of the sky. I hit a tree as I fell, and that’s how I hurt my wing.”

“We need to tell Wind,” Ending said.

Ally looked like he was about to argue against it. Then he frowned. “I guess she needs to know that there’s others who know the magic is failing.” He sighed. “I’ll go fetch her. You two can have some breakfast. There’s eggs and leftover bread and some cheese in the cellar.”

-----

Ending felt like he’d jumped out of a storm and into an active volcano. Convincing his father that Starsong wasn’t dangerous took a bit, and he thought they were okay. He’d watch over Starsong til he was in good enough shape to fly, he’d fly back home, and Ending would never see him again, and that’d be it.

But now, it seemed like Ending would be traveling the long way around to the where the dragons lived - by the sea! He’d heard of the ocean, in stories. But to see it with his own eyes! Water, as far as the eye can see!

And Dragonshome. It sounded incredible. Dragons of every elemental type, living in peace and harmony with each other. Intelligent, talking dragons, with a society all of their own.

But Ending was anxious as well. The outside world wasn’t a safe place like Peacehold Valley. And he’d have to travel through it.

-----

Starsong and Ending sat side by side in the forge, Starsong on his haunches and Ending on a bench, eating breakfast. The eggs were delicious, Starsong thought, but the bread and cheese were strange and unfamiliar. Still he ate what was offered, not wanting to be rude. When he finished, while Ending was still eating, he asked, “What do you know about the world outside the veil? All I know is from stories the elders teach.”

“About the same here,” Ending admitted. “But they don’t really say much about what it’s like.”

Over the next hour, Starsong and Ending shared stories they’d grown up hearing. Starsong told the fable of The Man Who Ate the Moon, which seemed to be a retelling or alternate version of the humans’ The Mouse Who Ate the Moon. They talked about caravans pulled by windsteeds and rock oxen. Elemental guardians in the wilderness, giant elemental creatures that oversaw areas between human cities that were sometimes worshipped as local gods. The human military, where dragons like Starsong were enslaved and used as weapons.

“If we’re going out into all that, we’ll need a guide who knows the territory. There’s the trader Fears Nothing, but while she’s as fearless as her name says, she also has no empathy and can be cruel. Sits by the Water has always been kind to me, but he’s also a little skittish ever since that encounter with a mountain bear, and rarely travels outside of the valley these days. Maybe Fire Behind Clouds? He talks a lot, brags even more, but I think he could do a good job of protecting us and leading us to Dragonshome.”

Starsong’s ears perked up at the sound of footsteps on the gravel path outside of the forge. Two sets of footsteps, if his ears were right.

Ally opened the door to the forge. Next to him was a stout, deeply tanned man with a stern, sharply angled face. “Ending, I’ve brought who the elders decided should go with you and protect you on this journey.”

Ending looked over at Starsong, his face grim. “Starsong, this is our Keeper’s Guard, Maker of Mirth.”

Starsong felt the tension in the air, but he didn’t understand why. Surely the Keeper’s own guard would be a suitable protector, though wouldn’t that leave their Keeper unprotected?

Starsong felt like once again he didn’t, couldn’t understand. Like he again had done something wrong.

-----

Ending adjusted his pack on his back, and shuffled his feet in his new sturdy leather boots, laced halfway up his calves. He looked over to Starsong, who had a small pack on either side of his back. Mirth’s pack was larger than all three combined, yet he picked it up and slung it over his back with ease. Ally and Wind had come to the caverns at the border between Peacehold and the rest of the world, to see the three off on their journey. Wind said little, but held Mirth’s hand for what felt like a long time, her sad eyes saying what she didn’t out loud.

Ally, meanwhile, kept rattling off the same instructions over and over. “Make sure you eat when you can, Ending. Let Mirth do the talking, don’t speak unless you have to. Starsong, don’t talk unless you know the three of you are completely alone. I put plenty of food in your pack, so remember to eat. Harder to say something you aren’t supposed to if you have food in your mouth. Mirth can speak for you-”

“Yes, Tapi, you said that five times already.”

“I just don’t want you to forget.”

“I won’t, Tapi. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Ally pulled Ending in for a hug. “Be careful. Come home safe.”

“I will, Tapi. I promise.”

Ally pushed Ending away at last, and picked up the lantern he and Wind had brought. Ending, Mirth, and Starsong turned away from the light, their shadows flickering in front of them. And together, the three of them stepped forward into darkness.