"Archflame?" Varian peered into cave mouth and cupped his hands around his lips. He shouted for Archflame once more. Then he rapped sharply on the gong set into the mountain. Its deep tones belled through the cave, echoing and bouncing into silence.
"Why are you disturbing him?" Fleet muttered. "I know that we are not man-eating dragons, but Archflame does still have a temper. And remember, you are not fire-resistant like me."
Varian ignored him. "Archflame?"
A loud whuff sounded, and a pinprick of fire leaped into existence in the cave. Then Archflame's voice, thick with sleep, rolled out. "Varian? What can you want at this time of night?"
"I need to talk to you about my uncle. It's important. Some news from the Lowlands came and—"
"Come in," Archflame mumbled. "Come in and speak coherently. Slowly too, mind. You also, Fleet—I can hear your scales rustling around. Come in, both of you, and let's get this over with so an old dragon can go back to his rest."
Varian stepped forward eagerly. He could feel Fleet tiptoeing behind him, so close that the dragon's head hung over his own, and once or twice Fleet's claws nipped his heels. They drew close to the fire. Archflame lay curled next to it, his head resting on his paws. His eyes glared out at him from barely-parted eyelids.
Varian explained his errand. Archflame looked more and more alert through the tale. By the end of it, he was sitting up and scratching his chin.
"A grave business," he said quietly. "A very grave business."
"Why would my uncle do that?" Varian asked. "He lost all hope. Worse, now the village has lost hope. I'm afraid that the other lairds willnae go to war if Jokk thinks that it's hopeless."
"Your uncle has always struggled with faith. I cannot name the times he has come to me, feeling lost and alone." Archflame sighed. "I knew that, with the lack of troops, he would feel like this. The news about Danilos was just too much all at once. You must not search for him. He will return when he feels like he can face his men again as a leader who inspires hope, not tears it down."
Varian nodded.
"Meanwhile, you must be that leader. You must work with Dulcan and Solvar and continue building everyone's hope. As you said, we have the greatest reason to hope. You must remind everyone of that."
"But I'm nae a leader. I'm barely a Highlander."
"You must remind everyone of the hope that you have. I will be down tomorrow to help you with whatever is needed." Archflame glanced at Fleet. "And you behave so that you do not distract your rider from his tasks."
Fleet bobbed his head.
Varian stood and looked out the cave entrance. Stars twinkled in the sky, looking like little winking eyes. He smiled. I have hope that everything will be all right.
***
For the next few days, everything seemed to go by too quickly for Varian to really grasp and understand it. He, Solvar, and Dulcan each took over tasks that had been Jokk's. Solvar began training new soldiers, while Dulcan made sure that every man and dragon was fitted with proper weapons and armor. Varian sent messages, containing gathering plans and his thought about hope, to the other lairds.
Archflame, true to his word, came down from his cave every day to help with battle plans, plot marching routes, and ideas for strengthening the old River Fortress. Three days after Jokk disappeared, Dulcan and a select group of fifty men set out for the River Fortress to begin rebuilding.
Varian watched them march off. Some were riding horses, some dragons. Most were walking beside large carts containing their supplies and tools. Every man had his weapon strapped to his side and kept his hand near it.
He shivered. Despite his hope, he was afraid. There were so many things that could go wrong. And where was his uncle? Even Archflame had looked worried this morning when he'd heard that Jokk was still missing. He hadn't seen the big dragon since. Maybe Archflame had gone out to look for his uncle.
Varian dismissed the thought. He'd been busy all day packing the wagons. More than likely, he'd missed Archflame's leaving for the night. After all, it had been Archflame who said not to bother with trying to find Jokk.
"Varian?"
He turned and saw Kearah standing behind him with a gentle smile. "Good evenin', Kearah."
She stepped beside him. "It makes me cold to see so many men marchin' off to war. Especially when I remember that's but a fraction of the ones who will be goin' in a short amount of time. And especially when I remember that a brother and a good friend will be among those men."
Varian shrugged. "I wish we could do somethin' about it other than war."
"So do I."
"Are ye feelin' all right? Ye're not—" Varian swallowed. "Loosin' hope, are ye?"
Kearah barely smiled. "Nae. How could I help but nae, hearin' ye and my brother and sometimes even Mel, at the dinner table? I've neve heard my brother say so many words as when he's debatin' with ye about the proper way some such thing should be done. Ye're both so eager—so ready—for war. It frightens me."
"Well, I'm nae lookin' forward to this," Varian muttered. "I guess we talk about the plans to keep our minds from dwellin' on the details of battle."
"Maybe so."
Varian glanced over at her. Kearah's hair was pulled back from her face with a bright orange ribbon. She wore a green short-sleeved dress with a shawl thrown over her shoulders. The setting sun washed her hair with red accents.
"So," Varian said, "are you ever going to introduce me to that dragon of your's?"
Kearah turned to him and her smile widened. "If ye feel up to that tonight, surely." She cupped her hands around her mouth and whistled.
Varian realized that it was the human version of the dragon language. Fleet hadn't had time to teach him any of it, but Varian had heard other riders call their dragons. Humans couldn't layer notes on top of one another like dragons, but they compensated by switching rapidly back and forth between the notes that formed individual words. It was like the Highlanders and Lowlanders; both spoke the same language, but with different dialects.
A reddish dragon shot over their heads and landed not far away. Kearah put her hand out and the dragon nosed into her palm. Varian realized that the dragon was more of a pinkish color than most of the other red ones he'd seen. It was also smaller-muscled and moved with a cat-like grace.
"This is Rosebreath," Kearah said.
"Pleased to meet you, Varian," Rosebreath said.
Varian raised his eyebrows. "Pleased to meet ye. Ye're the first female dragon I've met."
Rosebreath laughed. "What, did you think that the dragons were birthed by the mountain caves?"
"Nae!" Varian growled. Then he narrowed his eyes. "That sounds like somethin' Fleet would say."
"As well it might," Kearah said. "Rosebreath is Fleet's sister."
"His sister? Fleet has more relations than the castle has servants." Varian felt his neck growing warm. " I didnae know he had a sister. But then, I've never asked about his family either."
"Dragons do not take it as the slight that you humans do," Rosebreath assured him.
"So Varian, do ye want to ride?" Kearah asked.
Varian nodded. "I'll go find Fleet."
"No need," sad Rosebreath, and called out her brother's song, adding a few extra trills to it.
Within seconds, Fleet hit the ground beside them and rushed at Rosebreath. They play-sparred for a moment, then Fleet stepped back. He arched his eyebrows.
"Thank you for your loving call, dear sister," he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
"I'm glad you liked it," Rosebreath teased.
"What did she call ye?" Varian asked. "I knew she added somethin' on the end of yer name."
Fleet humphed. "I will not repeat such childishness."
"I called him a 'pipsqueak fire-splutterer'," Rosebreath answered.
Fleet gently huffed a fireball at his sister. "'Fire-splutterer', yes?"
Kearah rolled her eyes. "Let's go get our saddles and leave these two to their bickerin'."
The dragons bounded into the air as Kearah and Varian walked back to the armory tents. Solvar met them outside the tent with an armful of maps.
"Just finishin' up," he said in answer to Kearah's question. "What are ye two doin'?"
"Goin' for a ride," Kearah said, ducking into the tent.
Varian cleared his throat. "If it's all right with ye," he said. "And only if."
Solvar nodded. "Thank ye for askin'. And yes, it's all right with me. Ye are a good friend to my sister. Enjoy yerselves. I'll be at home, when ye're done. Figured maybe we could take one more look at the map of River Fortress, to see if we missed any good defense ideas."
"Sure. Have ye seen Archflame, perchance?"
"Nae, not since midafternoon. Why?"
"I jut think that he might have gone after Jokk."
"Maybe so. Dinnae worry about it."
"Oh, I'm not. I'll see ye later."
Kearah reappeared lugging her saddle. "Are ye two goin' to stand around talkin' for the rest of the evenin'?" she teased.
"I'm goin'," Solvar said, making a slight face at his sister. Then he walked away toward the village.
Ignoring her protests, Varian grabbed Kearah's saddle and heaved it onto Rosebreath's back. He quickly saddled Fleet and they whooshed into the air.
Once the dragons were flying at a steady pace, Kearah let go of her saddle. "Have ye ever seen the sunet from the sky?"
"Nae. I've never been in the sky at sunset."
"It's nae to be rivaled."
They stopped and turned to the west, the dragons hovering on the warm evening breeze. The sun spilled its colors into the sky until Varian thought they were floating in liquid gold. The shadows on the ground crept over trees and houses, engulfing them. The clouds were wrapped in blazing colors of purple, amber, and rose. The moon sat above them, it's cold white light shining out as the sun's glory dimmed. One by one, the stars poked out, icing the deep blue velvet of the night sky.
When only a sliver of the sun was left above the horizon, Kearah sighed and turned to Varian. He smiled and nodded. It had been a beautiful sunset. Then he looked up at the stars.
"Ye know what my father told me the stars were, when I was little?" Kearah asked.
"What?"
"He said the stars were tiny holes poked into the underside of heaven, so we could see God's glory." She chuckled. "I used to lie awake at night, look at the stars and thinkin' about how wonderful it was to see Heaven's glory. Even when I grew older, the stars have never lost their fascination for me. Ye know, even though I realize that their light isnae Heaven's light, I still God's glory in them. Look at them! There are so many! How could anyone but a God truly worth glorifying create such things?"
Varian smiled. "I think he mentioned that once. That seems like such a long time ago. But really, it's been—what? Just a few weeks. It's crazy."
"Another thing my father said was that life is crazy, and ye have to be just as crazy to go through it. He would say that to make us all laugh, when somethin' wasnae goin' right. I miss him a lot." Kearah wiped her cheeks. "But I like thinkin' about him in Heaven better than missin' him. I wonder if God is tired of his questions yet. He always said that he'd have a lot when he got to see God face to face."
"I bet they're up there right now havin' a long discussion about his questions," Varian said.
Kearah laughed. "That's very likely."
Varian nudged Fleet, and the dragon swung around. "I'll race ye back to the village."
"Ye willnae beat me!"
Fleet shot forward. Behind them, Rosebreath yelled, "That is cheating! You did not call out 'start'!"
"Finally, we are doing something worthwhile, and not just hovering there listening to you two," Fleet said with a chuckle.
"What was wrong with that? Hurry, would you? They're gainin' on us!"
"There is only so much human love-talk I can handle before wishing to lose my dinner."
"Love-talk? Are ye mad? We were just talkin'."
Fleet shrugged. "Do not deny it. You like her."
Varian opened his mouth, but no words came. He sighed irritably. Then Rosebreath shot past them. "Fleet! Ye slowed down!"
Kearah waved to them as Rosebreath turned toward the ground.
"Dive," Varian hissed.
Fleet folded his wings and dropped.Varian squeezed his knees and threw his arms out, embracing the wind, daring it to fling him off Fleet's back. He could finally stay on without his stomach turning! He laughed as they shot downward and landed heavily. Rosebreath alighted beside them and turned up her nose.
"I still say you cheated," she said.
"Good race, Varian," Kearah said, jumping down. "We'd best be gettin' home or my mother will wonder what's happened to us."
Varian nodded, pushing down his annoyance at Fleet. But as they unsaddled the dragons, Fleet caught his eyes and winked. Varian made a face.
Why does he think that was love-talk? he wondered.