FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

He flew swiftly as the wind carried him closer to their destination. He held William firmly in his grasp, making sure that he would not fall down. Arylaryl was flying a bit ahead of him. She has always been a faster flyer than him. For him it felt like she was flying faster each passing day because she wanted to reach the clan as fast as possible, which he could understand and tried to keep up her pace. But his sore wings seemed to disagree with him in that matter.

They had been flying for days with only short breaks to eat and drink and obviously sleep. But the next day they always continued, flying even faster than before. Only one day had they been forced to stop by a storm that was traveling south. Many mountains and woods have they passed on the way and saw many beautiful sceneries. It has been a while since he had been in those mountains, so close to home. Only when he saw them again did he realize how he missed them. Too bad they could not enjoy the view a bit more. Usually he enjoyed flying, but not like that.

Luckily for both, himself and his wings, they were there soon. In the distance he could already see the sharp mountains that hid the clan from the rest of the world. He could still remember the mountains like he was only gone for a day. Where the mountains grew the highest, that was where the clan was. Easy to find, but hard to access without any wings. But he would not have to worry about that, though he felt like his wings could fall off if he would fly any further.

And yet he bet his wings once more, gaining some speed to catch up with Ary. He felt how the wind carried him onwards and how it brushed over his sensitive wings. His eyes though were protected by the membranes that covered his eyes like second transparent eyelids, called flight membranes. They were pretty useful when flying, or when he was underwater. Although it had been a while since he had the chance to bathe in a deep lake instead of a small pond or a human made tub. Another thing he was looking forward to once he reached his home.

His family would surely be surprised to see him and Ary suddenly appear. There was no way they could have already heard that the order has fallen. It was up to him and Ary to tell them and the whole clan those tragic news. It was maybe not as important to his clan, or any other clan, as it was to the kingdom itself, but dragons still died in that battle, a lot of them. They will care about that. But if he could convince them to leave the mountains and help the last remaining loyalist to the kingdom to fight against Ulric was an entirely different question.

The last time the dragon clans all together would go out and aid the humans in battle was before the order existed. Perhaps after the order has fallen it was time to do the same once again. He could only hope that they would agree.

Cyrvanyx managed to get at least a little closer to Ary. "How is Gareth?" He shouted towards her, hoping that she heard him.

She turned her head and looked back at him. "I don´t know. But we are there soon so he can finally get some help."

"Yes, I know." He said, looking over the mountains towering proudly above anything else. A smile crept onto his muzzle as he dwelt in memories for a bit. They were both getting closer and closer which each wing beat and his eyes were focused on the mountains the entire time. The woods and many other mountains underneath him did not matter for him. Even though the landscape was stunning, nothing could challenge the beauty of the great mountains.

Once they almost reached the top of the mountains he looked at his paws to see William with his eyes closed. "Open your eyes, William!" He said to him. "Trust me, you don´t want to miss the sight. And besides, I want to see your reaction when you see it for the first time."

"It?" William yelled up at him, slowly opening his eyes.

"I mean the clan and the valley."

"Valley?"

He smiled down at him. "See for yourself."

Right after he said that he reached the top of the mountains and had a full view of the whole clan, the whole valley. "Whoa!" William stared wide eyed at the scenery while Cyrvanyx continued to follow Ary.

The mountains he passed just a few moments ago formed one broad, enormous ring like wall around the valley in which the clan was in. Pointy mountains surrounded the entire vale, and the highest of them all had a river running through it, falling into the valley in the form of a waterfall and forming a big lake in the middle of the valley. From that lake a river decedent that split the valley in two before it left the vale´s borders trough a narrow way in between two mountains, on its way towards the sea.

Green grass covered the wide fields that were filled various wild and exotic flowers. Some trees also stood here and there, especially on the side of the lake where the village was. There were a few places in the world still as natural and pure as the valley of ages, as the dragon´s called it.

There were caves everywhere all around the ring like wall of mountains that were the homes for many dragons and their families. Some of them were natural, but most were carved by their ancestors, with the help of humans. Dragons were flying all over the place, going from here to there.

Near the lake stood the human village where the so called highlanders lived. It was not much for human standards, considering the stone work Cyr had seen over the years, but it was still enough for them. The village was not that small though, and had more than a few humans living there. They had boats to go fishing, livestock and farms, as well as many buildings to live in and also some others that he only knew what they were there for after he spent years with in the order, like a forge or a local healer.

A smile spread across Cyr´s muzzle as he gazed over the clan. "And, what do you think, William?" He looked down to look at him. "Impressed?"

His mouth hung open as he slowly shook his head. "No..." He continued to stare at the village in the middle of the valley. "I... don´t think impressed is the right word for this..."

The smile on Cyr´s muzzle widened. It sure must have been a breath taking sight for him. Just the sheer scale of the whole thing and the way the mountains formed an almost perfect circle around the valley was just incredible.

When he saw Ary going for the village he followed her without question. He was sure that she would bring Gareth to the healer. She was the only person in the village who had the ability to help Gareth, or at least Ary hoped she could. While Ary wanted her to help Gareth Cyrvanyx also had another request for her.

He knew that the healer was a mother and that her child must have become an adult while he was gone. So he was hoping that she might take on William and raise him as if he was her own son. It was a lot to ask of her, but it was worth a try.

He followed Ary as she moved towards the plaza, her speed decreasing a she closed in. It was a rather huge place in comparison to the rest of the village and was crowded with people. Those people looked different from the other folks of Albia, just like he remembered. Most of them wore the colors of their own little clans, or families, in the form of skirts, even the men. Though he could recall some humans having said to him in the past that those are called kilts. Not that it made a difference to him, He would still call them skirts.

On the plaza, booths made out of colorful linen, held together by wooden structures stood all over the place. Locals and also people who came all the way from the inland sold their goods there. As soon as they saw him and Ary approaching some people started to make some space in the middle of the plaza.

"Move, move!"Ary shouted towards them as she was about to land. Some of the local town guards did their best to make enough room for both of them to land without crushing anyone. when she bet her wings towards the ground, blowing up wind to make sure that she landed softly enough the merchants held onto their wares as she almost blew some of them away. Cyrvanyx landed right besides her, also blowing up wind as he landed, putting down William to stand on his own legs.

He looked over to Ary as she gently put Gareth down on the ground. "Where is the healer?" She called out towards the crowd. No one seemed to answer. There were only a couple of confused and curious glares coming from the people in the crowd. "He needs help, now!"

Some people in the crowd shared glances, but still no one gave her an answer. Cyrvanyx looked through the crowd in the hope to spot the leader of the village. If no one else knew the answer he was normally the one who had it, or at least that how it was a few years ago. But he could not see him anywhere until a small group of guards with spears split the crowd in two to make way for their chief.

A fairly old man with long grey hair and an even longer grey beard stepped forth, wearing a white shirt, a pelt cloak and the same green and blue checkered skirt, or kilt how they would call it, as he did ten years ago. His name was Seoras, if he recalled correctly. He was the man he was looking for. Once chief Seoras stepped one step out of the crowd he opened his mouth to speak, but was immediately interrupted by Cyrvanyx. "Where is the healer?"

The chief glared at him with narrowed eyes. "Cyrvanyx? Is that you?" A smile crept across the old man´s face, but it vanished as soon as he realized that his presence probably did not mean anything good. "Why are you here?"

Seoras walked towards Ary and Gareth with weary and slow steps. Once his eyes met Gareth lying on the ground, still unconscious, he got the answer to his question. Seoras sighed, looking at Gareth´s unconscious form. "Guards!" He waved two guardsmen towards him. "Bring this knight to the lady Síona. Tell her his life is of utmost importance."

The guards bowed their heads and obeyed their leaders command. The bigger one of the two of them lifted Gareth from the ground, carrying him on his shoulder all on his own as they both made their way through the ground towards the healers cabin on the outskirts of the village. Arylaryl stared at them as they carried him away.

"So..." Seoras looked back and forth between Cyrvanyx and Arylaryl. "If you could explain to me what this all about I would be..." He trailed off as his eyes met those of the little William, standing beside him.

"This is William." He answered the question the chief wanted to ask before he even had the chance to open his mouth. "He is the son of my knight companion. If you could somehow arrange that Síona will take care off him I would be very thankful to you, Seoras."

Seoras gave him a warm smile. "It´s been a while since a dragon asked me for something with such decency." He chuckled. "Indeed I missed you." He turned around towards the guardsmen. "Tasgall!" The smaller guard turned around in response. "Bring this boy to her as well. Tell her-"

"No, Seoras." Cyrvanyx put a paw on his shoulder. "I think I better bring him to her myself."

"Very well." He waved the guard away, ordering him to move on. As the guardsman turned around, so did Seoras, turning towards the two dragons once more. "Now would you explain? I expect that the fact that you and..." The chief looked over Ary. ".... her and William are here can only mean bad news, right?"

He sighed. "Bad news they are indeed..." He lowered his head to get on Seoras eyelevel

"Speak up, Cyrvanyx, so that all the people can hear you."

He lifted his head, looking into all the different faces in the crowd. They were all waiting for him to say something. He hesitated a moment longer as he saw a dragon landing on one of the bigger building's roof, looking down at him and Ary. There actually were a couple of others who circled above the village or were searching for a place to land. They all must have been curious why the entire village suddenly gathers around two dragons in the plaza. He took a deep breath.

"The order of the dragon has fallen!" He said it loud enough for anyone to hear, including the dragon on top f the building . He could hear people in the crowd gasping and saw them staring at him with shook and terror. "A treacherous lord of the kingdom of Albia attacked us and stormed the order castle on the command of Ulric. We are the only survivors." He made a short pause to let what he just said sink in. He could have put that a little better and a little less shocking, but talking in front of so many people was not really his strength. "Ulric has claimed the throne of Albia after he captured the capital. The remaining lord of Albia now stand without any leadership and without the order-"

"Ulric captured the capital?" A man in the crowd shouted towards him. "How could that happen? This cannot be!" He rose his voice even louder, turning towards the crowd. "I say we should help our brothers and sisters in these hard times and show Ulric that this is our land and not his!" The crowd cheered for that one brave man.

Then a second man spoke up. "No! We are too few to make a difference you birdbrain! We should all stay here where he and his armies can´t reach us and disturb our peace."

"What are you? Some kind of coward?"

"What did you just call me you bastard?" The man who spoke second stepped right in front of him.

"I´ll show you a bastard!" The other man said before he threw a punch right into his face. He hit him back, right on the nose. And then everything went down to a fight. But not just between those two. It was between the two sides of the village who agreed with one or the other.

That kind of reminded him of the little argument Henry and a dragon had in the council room. Expect that did not end up in a fight like the one that was happening at the moment. Chief Seoras did his best to calm his people, but failed to silence all those many voices. A couple of guardsmen stepped into the crowd trying to stop the fighting.

When all that did not help Cyrvanyx took a deep breath and let it out in a roar that was loud enough for the chief in front of him to clasp his ears. The fight stopped almost immediately and all the attentions was on him again. He glared at the crowd for a moment before he looked down on Seoras with a smile.

"Thank you." He said before he turned his gaze towards the crowd. "I now that these news are very devastating and horrifying. But it is of no use to fight battles amongst ourselves when the real war is out there. No one of you will do anything until I say so! This topic will be discussed later, but for now go back to your work, whatever it may be."

It took a while for the people to obey his command. But after a while of him staring them down they started to scatter, slowly but surely, returning to their markets or their work.

Seoras looked back at Cyrvanyx. "This was just what I expected would happen." He turned around, taking a couple of steps towards him. "As I saw all of you here, especially after I saw the knight, I knew that you would bring bad news with you." He put his hands on his thighs, sighing. "But this... was worse than I anticipated." He glared at the ground for a few seconds. "Well then, you should go and take this boy... eh, William to Síona."

"I should go too and check on Gareth." Arylaryl suddenly said. "I don´t know how well I can trust that healer."

"Ary, you should stop worrying so much." He turned his head towards her, speaking in a soft voice. "I promise that he is in good hands. I know Síona, she is very good in what she is doing."

"Yes, but I just... I..." She went silent and stared at the ground for a moment. After she let out a sigh she lifted her head to look him right into his eyes. "Thank you."

Hearing those words from her in such in genuine voice with the combination of her beautiful eyes brought a smile on his muzzle. It was just something about her eyes that put a wide smile on his face, he did not even really know what it was. There as that feeling again, deep inside him. It felt like something he felt before, in the castle when he was talking to her. What was that feeling?

"I think I... will go and visit some old friends then. I haven´t seen them in a good while." She said, returning his smile. "I will see you soon then, I suppose?"

He looked at her for a while longer, lost in his thoughts, before he blinked his eyes as he realized she asked him something. "Ehrr... yes, I suppose so."

With nothing left to say she turned around and took to the skies. He looked after her as she flew off towards the mountains, almost dozing off into his thoughts again as he did so. He blinked his eyes and shook his head, trying to think straight again and focus at the task at hand. He remembered the grandmaster´s words from the day he left, and with that he remembered his task.

"Seoras?" He looked at the old man who was just about to leave. "Can I ask you one last favor?"

He turned towards him with a grin on his face. "Another one? How many do you owe me by now? But yes, it would only depend on the kind of favor."

"I need you to arrange a meeting with the highclaws for me."

Seoras froze in place for a while as his grin slowly drained from his body. "You want a meeting with... the highclaws? I would have to organize all the other highclaws from the other clans to come here. I hope you know that that is a lot to ask of me." He folded his arms underneath his chest, just where his beard ended. "

"Yes, I know. But the future of Albia may depend on it." He took a step towards Seoras. "As the ones in charge of the clans they can lead them into war. I want to convince them to fight alongside the last lords of Albia in the war against Ulric."

Seoras let out a long sigh, scratching the back of his head. "I don´t know if that´s going to work very well. You know how save they feel here, even those who don´t live in the valley? These clans in these mountains won´t go and fight someone else's war."

"I know, but I have to try. I really need your help, Seoras!" He lowered his head on Seoras´ eye level. "Please..."

That "please" managed to gain a chuckle from the old man. "It´s not often that you see a dragon beg for something. Most dragons ct very differently than you, you know?"

"Well I´m not like most of my kind."

"Seems so..." He unfolded his arms. "Very well, Cyrvanyx, I will try my best. But I promise you nothing. I may have my influence, but this could prove difficult, even for me."

"Of course, Seoras." He bowed his head. "Thank you."

The chief smiled in response and began to walk away. He watched him for a while before he disappeared into the crowd of people. His gaze then wondered towards a rather small house on the outskirts of the village that he could see from the plaza.

It was time to meet an another old friend.

*Authors note*

So Cyrvanyx plans to honor the grandmaster´s last wish and gather the clans to help Albia against Ulric. But will he actually succeed? I guess we will find that out later. Once again, if you liked this chapter make sure to let me know and leave your thoughts in the comments!