"Long and long ago, before Elves, before Dwarves, before Man, first came the Dragons. First born children of the Goddess, they were witness to Her shaping of the Younger Races, and so became beings of great power themselves, for the greatest of all powers is Knowledge.

Then came the Younger Races, who grew to know Dragons. Of these, the Elves honored the Dragons for their wisdom, calling them their Elder Brothers and Sisters. Dwarves respected the Dragons for the love the two races shared for learning.

But Man, the last come of all, saw Dragons fly far above, the Sun flashing on their scales, and the huge shadows they cast upon the earth below, and feared them.

What Men fear, they destroy. Dragons soon learned to give wide berth to the cities and dwellings of men, for they would find no welcome there, but rather arrows and sharp spears.

Time passed, and with it the peace of the First Days. Men made war on the elves, and despite having the advantage of greater numbers, their armies were defeated time and again by the arms and magic of their elven foes. At last Wythrin, ruler of the largest human kingdom, gathered together the wisest scholars and mages in his land and set them the task of finding a way to defeat the magic of elves. Their search took years, and was so long that they became the subject of courtier's jokes.

Then one day, Reto, the foremost of those Wythrin had summoned, begged audience with the king, and when he arrived, he bore a book in his hand. `We've found the answer, Lord King, here in this book we had captured from the Sithryn themselves. It took three of us years to translate it.'

`And what does it say?' Wythrin leaned forwards on his throne and glared at Reto. `How may my armies defeat the elves?' "

Shane paused. He could still hear Arista's voice singing, and now at last he knew where it was coming from. His captors, however, took it as a sign that his throat was dry. Bryn motioned the Scotsman towards the boy with a yawn. "Give him some more water, will you? I want to hear this!"

Dhugal walked over and handed the water bottle to Shane. "Here, keep it till y' doone. Y' all right, boy? Y' hae a wee boomp oon y' heid there."

"I'm fine. I just needed a drink." The Scotsman nodded. Shane was sure he'd asked to be certain Shane was going to be able to act when the time came. The boy took a swallow of water and waited as Bryn and Madoc each took another swig of cider. Then he continued:

" `How may my armies defeat the elves?'

`According to their own words, no elf can stand before a dragon's tears.' Reto tapped the book with a finger. `We know from our own studies that the tear of a dragon turns hard as a crystal as it falls. All we need do to obtain one is make a dragon cry.'

`And how do you propose we do that, Reto?'

`I need to know if there are any dragon hatching grounds nearby, Lord Wythrin.'

To the east of Wythrin's capital was a great range of mountains and in the midst of it stood a small valley, the floor of which was filled with hot white sand. Once this had been a lake, but when the mountains rose the water disappeared, leaving its sandy bottom behind, and so creating a place a clutch of dragons eggs could be warmed until the young hatched. Wythrin's huntsman knew the place well, and he led the King and his soldiers to the place. There they found a pair of dragons and their clutch, and at Reto's suggestion, they waited.

At last the male, a great black dragon, flew off to hunt and when he was out of sight, the humans swarmed out of their hiding places. With hammer and chisel they broke open each egg, so that the hatchlings inside spilled out to die upon the sands, for they were still too young to hatch on their own. The female dragon roared with grief and anger, but as she turned from one egg to another to try to defend her unborn children, she was attacked from all sides, and sorely wounded, could do nothing but lie upon the sands and cry as she died herself.

At Reto's direction, they gathered up her tears, and left before the male flew back. Wythrin and his men returned to the capital, where he ordered his smiths to take the dragon tears and set each into a shield. There were a hundred tears and a hundred of the shields were fashioned, and given to a hundred of the greatest warriors, who were called the Dragon Shields. And so, armed with what the scholars had said no elf could stand before, the armies of King Wythrin went forth and waged war upon the elves. Erianvaserenmor ruled the Sithryn in those days and he rode forth with his host to meet the humans, and the two armies met on a broad plain.

Wythrin set his Dragon Shields in the front rank and then gave the order to advance. Horns rang, drums pounded, and forward charged the human army. But the elves did not fall. Rather, there was a great shout of rage, and Erian's army surged forwards, and the men bearing the dragon's tears were overwhelmed. And as the Sithryn army drove Wythrin's into retreat, a black dragon circled above, waiting.

After the battle had ended, Erian had Wythrin and his mage brought before him in chains. The look he gave the humans was filled with revulsion and contempt as he pointed at the 99 shields stacked behind them on the ground. `What horror have you done?' Wythrin said nothing, only looked angrily at Reto, and so it was to the human mage that Erian turned for an answer.

`Lord, I merely used knowledge I gained from a book of your own people. It said that no elf could stand before a dragon' s tear.'

Erian Seastar stood silently, then shook his head as the black dragon circled slowly overhead `Who told you this?'

`No one, elf. I translated the passage myself.'

`I know the passage of which you speak, mage. It doesn't say that elves cannot stand before a dragons tears. It says that elves cannot stand to see a dragon's tears, for we grieve with them.'

He turned and walked away, not looking back as a shadow suddenly dropped out of the sky, and the screams of Wythrin and Reto were drowned in a roar of fire.

All but one tear was destroyed in that fire.
Where it had gone to, no one knew.
Nor was the black dragon seen by elf or man again for many years…"

*********

"Hsst! That's enough!"

Shane blinked as Dhugal pointed to Bryn and Madoc. "Y' want anoother drink, laddies?" the Scotsman asked in a normal tone, but the brothers were fast asleep where they sat, Madoc's only answer a rumbling snore. Dhugal nodded in satisfaction, then crossed back carefully to Shane. He helped the elf to his feet.

"Time for you to go."

01/2003


Heart's Call 5

"Where are you taking me?"

"Nowhere. You're taking yourself. Go home." Once more Shane noticed the accent had disappeared from the Scotsman's voice. "The sleeping powder in the cider will keep them under to morning and the little I drank is already starting to make me sleepy. You're on your own. But there is a favor you can do Tyralor for his helping you out. Go straight home. How long will it take to walk to the manor?"

"A little over an hour." Shane gingerly touched the bump on his head. "This might be hard to explain, though."

"Lucky for us your father is off on patrol, then. Wait until he's back to tell him if you can. But even if your mother questions you, it'll be awhile before they find this place. All McDougal asks is that you give him enough time to retrieve me. It will avoid some embarrassing questions." Dhugal opened the door and looked up and down the dark street "All right. The way is clear. Off with you now!"

Shane made to shake the man's hand, then stopped as he realized the black glove on the left hand had two strangely limp fingers. He caught himself and just nodded. "I thank you for helping me. But what of you? Won't those two suspect something?"

"Not if they find me sleeping as they were. Didn't you know, boy? You're a bard! You've just used your honey tongue to put three brigands to sleep and make good your escape! In a day or two, once it gets about The Hook, you'll be legend." He winked at the astonished boy, and then shut the door to leave Shane staring at it in the dark. Then the young elf grinned and walked away.

*********

It took Shane a bit longer to get home than he had told Dhugal. Like most of elven blood, he could see very well at night, but there was the lump on his head and a pounding headache that was compounded by a second problem. He could hear Arista in his head, singing or humming. Ari had never had the ability to link minds that her elven blooded brothers and sisters shared, and yet here she was filling his mind with her thoughts. It was his anchor as he slipped wearily through the woods and meadows towards Blackthorn Manor, and the love and concern she was feeling made him feel small and ashamed for his thoughts that afternoon. He wondered how much of that she could feel from him now.

He thought of something he recalled his father saying: "You can pick your friends, but not your family. Yet Corwin and I chose each other. He is the brother of my Heart, my Heart Bond. I know I can tell him anything, and he will understand."

Walking home in the dark, Shane knew he was not really alone. Even if she didn't know it fully yet, Arista was truly the sister of Shane's Heart. She was his Heart bond, his closest friend. "Gods help our Soul Bonds when we find them"

He was still chuckling when she greeted him at the front door.

"Hello, sister. We need to have a talk"

*********

"Dhugal? Dhugal, wake up! We haven't time for you to sleep away the morning." Something struck him lightly on the cheek.

The Scotsman yawned and opened one eye. Tyralor was crouched by his side, hand drawn back to give him another tap. "Enoof! I'm awake. Wha' happened? " He pushed himself to his feet and looked about. "Where are th' Welshmen? Where's th' boy?"

"No need to dissemble any further, Dhugal. Your `numpties' left some time ago. I watched them bolt down the street as quick as they could once they realized the BlackWatch is starting a search of the district. Although I think my worried comments about irate elven bards and their warrior parents might also have had something to do with it. I take it Young `Thorn was not too badly damaged by the whole experience?"

Dhugal nodded, immediately regretting it. "And y' business wi' Grayson?"

"Our business is concluded. So is Master Grayson, as it happens. I'm continually amazed by how high strung some folk are. I'll fill you in on the way to the inn. You look like you could use a little hair of the dog!"

"Forget th' hair!" Dhugal grumbled as they walked outside into the overly bright sun and he shielded his eyes. "Gie me th' whole damn dog!"

*********

A little over a month later, a young elf and a young girl stood by the same pool where they'd first met ten years before. The girl's red hair and smile were the image of her mother; the elf stood tall and there were much of his father's features in his own face. Over his shoulder hung a lute.

"So, did you choose a name? Wait!" Ari held her hand out to him. "Don't tell me! I know only Da and Uncle Ashe can hear it because they performed the Naming ceremony for you."

Shane smiled. "You can hear it too, Arista. You need only listen." He sent the name to her through their link, gently, for this was still all so new to her, and watched as her eyes widened.

"It's beautiful Shane. And it fits you! You look so dashing, brother; Ma is bursting with pride today. We better hurry along inside the Firehall. It's quite a dinner we're having in your honor."

Shane looked back at the door and grimaced. "So many people. You sure you wouldn't rather sit out here and sing with me for a bit?"

Arista Blackthorn smiled, and held out her hand. "What, and miss dancing inside with Kylan? Come along, Shane."

"I'm your sister. Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

Together, they walked inside.

01/2003