Page 50 of Fallen: Darkness Ascending, Vol.1
A dark memory stirred. Her heart nearly escaped from her breast. “Uhm… I missed that story.”
“A son of the Sorcerer Realms of Zauyr,” her hunt leader took over, “who wooed the Davrin Queen. He should be dead. They say he’s outlived all his family, that the Realms remember his father only as a long-past ruler. All he has left is his Elf Queen.”
Uradri swallowed, heart pounding in her chest. Koorul. A mortal’s wish…
“No one knows how he still lives,” Oros shrugged, missing the flush of her face. “And he will never say. But he’s been part of the Court ever since.”
“More than part of the Court!” the brother laughed with a harsh edge. “He’s adding to it!”
Uradri grabbed hold of her toes. “What do you mean?”
“The Queen has borne his children.” Kaju held an odd, tense expression. “The only litter of Elven-Humans our lands have ever seen.”
Uradri cried out in surprise. “Elves and Humans have blended?”
The young Wilder leaned back, Cessir waving her hands as if to reweave the energy. “Not so simply. None of the Queen’s half-breeds have bred themselves. The news would spread like stormfire.”
“The city Davrin are not happy with their Queen,” Kaju grumbled. “Even we hear about this from passing merchants or army scouts.”
His sister nodded. “Trouble is brewing in V’Gedra. The Queen is not listening. I worry what will happen should Cris-ri-phon’s children have children before Innathi has birthed a pureblood heir. ”
Uradri wrinkled her nose. “You care about Davrin ‘purity’ in a royal bloodline?”
The Wilder shook their heads.
“No,” Kaju stated, “but the Desert balance is delicate, and war breaks out over such things.”
Cessir braided a lock of her fire-brown hair with nervous fingers. “Especially since one already threatens at the borders.”
“What?” Uradri gasped. “Since when?”
Everyone gave her a very odd look.
“The Naulor Queen has been stirring trouble between the Dwarves and the Orcs.” Kaju appraised her with slight suspicion. “We thought you might be a Naulor spy.”
“ Never! ” the Sovereign blurted, anger rising before she could lasso it and lash it down. “I mean… The Nalari fled her rule centuries ago. We will not go back.”
Oros smirked, speaking with a satisfied chuckle. “Yeah, we didn’t think a Queen’s scout fresh out of Galad Bahr could handle four dark cocks like you did without withering in shame.”
Laughter from the others while Uradri blushed with pleasure, sharing the lust in their eyes. “Oh, yes. I recall how pent up they are. Even Druids hesitated to strip off their clothes. I love how you’ve never needed them.”
“When meeting outsiders, we do,” Kaju admitted. “But you know, special occasions.”
Their auras buzzed with interest and warmth until Uradri laughed aloud. “I’m sorry, I’ve distracted us again! Please tell me about your grandparents!”
“We only know a little more,” Cessir admitted. “The Zauyrian left the Desert, then returned to the dunes after decades away. Some Nalari Druids had joined him after a quest. In time, they parted ways and a handful who had never known a Queen’s rule learned to live in the Red Desert.”
“What about the Dark Queen’s rule?” asked the Sovereign. “Your elders went from one Queendom to another.”
The Wilder acknowledged that. “For a while, the Valsharess Innathi didn’t know they were here.
A couple sightings, some gossip, and eventually Her Sorcerer-General came to investigate.
Our elders were wise to appeal to their shared past and negotiate on their behalf.
The Godblood obtained some territory agreements and protections granted by the Queendom of V’Gedra. ”
“And you expect her to keep her agreements once it’s inconvenient to do so?”
More shrugs, some uncomfortable shifts.
“She has left us alone so far,” Oros said.
“Those who settled in the army and cities were Queen’s tribute, I think,” Cessir added. “Volunteers to come out of the wilderness so Queen Innathi could see more of us contributing and know we exist.”
“But the Davrin outnumber you,” Uradri pressed. “By thousands?”
“At least,” Kaju answered.
The Sovereign could not dispel a bad feeling about that.
“I thought…” She swallowed. “I don’t know what I thought, but… with what you’ve described, your city cousins might be the first targets if war breaks out.”
“You’re probably right.” Oros opened his hands. “There is not much we can do except help should they come to us.”
Uradri’s jaw firmed up, her chin dipping as she allowed them to change the subject and return to their celebration. Her admiration only grew as she watched them dance. She wanted to join them.
These are perfect children. Precious and necessary to these lands. She clutched her heart, making her private vow. I must protect them.
The Sovereign rose up and stepped forward, slipping in among the frenetic dancers, bending and swaying around the fire.
Forgetting all but the moment.
Uradri shouted into the wind, bare thighs clinging to the powerful mass of muscle sprinting across the ground. The blood bay stallion neighed in response, stretching his untethered neck and lengthening his gait.
“Faster, yes!”
Any ordinary beast would have stopped hours ago, but Oros had learned to draw from her aura, delaying thirst, hunger, and exhaustion until they wished to rest.
“Soon, my love. We’ll stop soon.”
Unguarded pools of water were rare in the Red Desert, but Uradri had learned of some during her first year with the Wilder. Already in challenging terrain, the Sovereign helped to keep them hidden and untouched.
Her stallion climbed rock in fearless leaps and launches, attaining that last rock shelf. They were close enough that once he shifted his form, Uradri could carry him to the water if he collapsed.
“Water,” he rasped in Elven form. Red-earth skin glistened with sweat and straight black hair fell to cover his face.
“Here, beloved.”
Neither had clothes to strip before rolling into the pool; neither could vocalize the rapture of cool water surrounding them, lifting their every burden for one infinite moment.
She took a deep breath and let it out. Better…
Soon they crawled beneath a comfortable outcropping large a few paces of the water. They laid together to dry, eyes closed, sharing restful bliss.
I’m so happy here.
Burbling water and cautious birds surrounded them as Uradri reflected with reverence upon the living world around her. How wonderous to feel like she belonged here.
“Penni? ”
“Hm?” She smiled with eyes closed. A warm, strong hand slid down her belly, cupping the little paunch above her curls. Her smile widened. “What are you doing?”
“I want to ask you something.”
“Anything.”
“Have you caught a child?”
She cracked open one eye, quirking her blonde eyebrow at the same time. “You already know.”
“I do. All of us do. Why do you not talk about it?”
He kept his hand in place, adjusting the song of his aura into harmony with hers to better read the unborn.
The child answered him.
A chill spread down Uradri’s back.
“You are so joyful otherwise,” he continued when she did not respond. “Does this not give joy?”
She breathed in through her nose. “Perhaps it has been too long for me. I wasn’t sure if it would continue.”
“Do you know which of us is the sire?”
Uradri frowned, opening both eyes.
“Have you dreamed yet?” he added.
“Dreamed?”
Oros nodded. “The mother’s dream. She learns something true about her child entering the second year.”
I learned something the instant she existed.
Uradri sat up abruptly; Oros followed her, nearly hitting his head on the stone. He propped himself on his palm. “Penni? You have dreamed, haven’t you?”
She shook her head. “I do not dream.”
“Then why… do I feel something is wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s difficult to describe. But as you’ve taught me what you know, my reverie grows… vivid. My dreams clearer than they’ve ever been.”
Uradri blinked with stirring dread. He dreams lucid now?
Oros gazed at the surface of the pool. “It’s like others are watching. But I can’t see their faces despite being so clear. ”
The icy trickle continued down her back.
“Oh, Oros,” she began, grasping for what to say.
I can’t help you there. I can’t follow you or guide you… The Dragons will capture me in dreams. She shivered, tapping her bottom lip as she thought.
Oros recaptured her attention by shaking her gut. “The baby, Penni. What should we do to prepare?”
Her wings almost erupted from her back, but Uradri clutched the earth to stay grounded as she had been for a year. Where would I go anyway?
She covered Oros’s hand with both of hers, smiling to acknowledge the baby for the first time. “Do you need to know the sire to hold her?”
Oros blinked. “Her? You have seen her?”
A confident smile. “I am sorry, I am not certain when it happened... but I saw a girl Elf growing a pair of red feathered wings.”
The Wilder smiled warmly, suggesting he would welcome an infant regardless of the sire.
She breathed a sigh of relief, patting his hand. “We should return soon.”
“We could sleep until nightfall. It will be cooler.”
“But you shouldn’t dream out here if you sense eyes watching,” she chided gently. “Your tribal lands have strong protection.”
Oros shrugged, eyeing her carefully. “What does the dreaming mean, Penni? Why does it concern you?”
She paused. He’d never questioned her before. Her gaze narrowed a bit. “What have you seen recently that concerns you ?”
“I already told you.”
“Faceless watchers on vivid sand dunes?”
“More or less.”
“That is unhelpfully vague.”
His face pinched with annoyance. “It would be when I don’t understand what I’m looking at. ”
“And I do? You’re the one sleeping.”
“You are centuries older than me. At least .” He took a breath, smoothed the deepening furrow in his brow, and calmed his voice. “I humbly ask for your wisdom, elder. Please.”