Chapter 39 Not Alone
NOT ALONE
Venrick limped into the tent at Cheyanne’s rebel base of operations in the Everburning Forest. The days of healing had somewhat mended his bruised and broken bones, but not his fear for where Lark had gone.
He pulled the wooden chair out from the long table.
To his left, Ezra gave him a tight-lipped nod as he joined the meeting with Cheyanne’s rebel alliance.
Cheyanne stood at the head of the table.
A map of Sataran covered the wall behind her.
The other leaders of the alliance: several humans, two orcs, a few more dwarves, and elves, were waiting patiently for her to begin.
Venrick shifted. In the days following the battle at the fortress in Red Lodge, he had been physically attended to by an elven healer, but his stiffness and pain lingered. Hardin and Sasja joined the group in the canvas tent, taking seats across from him.
“Now that we’re all here, we need to debrief.
We took a massive risk by exposing ourselves to the Nordraven troops in Red Lodge.
I want us all to be on the same page before we discuss what to do moving forward in exposing the rimeshade corruption that is taking over the Kings and their trusted advisory and council members,” Cheyanne started.
A muscular elf with long, light brown hair and sharp green eyes spoke up, “I want to know what happened to the dragonrider we fought to free. All of us know what happened outside the fortress in facing the orcs and helping the freed Morsythians escape. But where our communication is lacking in understanding is regarding what actually was transpiring inside the fortress. What happened to the Hyalite? Why did all the surviving Morsythians flee, abandoning the fortress, and agreeing to join us? Where did Barrik escape to? And what happened to this woman known as Lark?”
Venrick’s chest tightened at the mention of her name.
That was the person they had come to know her as.
The revelation that she was the infamous Nordraven dragonrider known as Marcel Heartfell came as a shock.
Venrick knew in his heart which person she really was.
She wasn’t Marcel, Ella, or any other alias for that matter.
To him, she would always be Lark, no matter which side of the Everburning Forest she chose to fight for.
“We don’t have any updates on where she has been taken,” Cheyanne answered. “Our tracking charms have failed so far, meaning she either warded against them or she is no longer with us.”
“Lark is still out there. They couldn’t have traveled far given her condition,” Venrick said with confidence.
“She was taken away by White Eye, her dragon. They could be anywhere by now.” Cheyanne said.
“Not anywhere. They can’t go back to Skol or Wintermire. Lamar is hunting for her. She has to be somewhere here in the forest,” Venrick reasoned.
“Is it true, what the Morsythians are saying about her?” a dwarf asked.
“Lark sacrificed herself so that we could escape. She gave her life for us,” Sasja answered.
“Does that mean she’s not one of the most feared dragonriders in Nordraven history, Marcel Heartfell?” the dwarf asked.
“Word has spread that Marcel has returned. My sources in Skol say King Greggor announced Marcel’s return,” the mossy-toned orc replied. “It seems like too much of a coincidence that this mystery rider regains her memories, disappears, and days later the Northern Kings announce Marcel’s return.”
“Lark never acted anything like Marcel Heartfell,” Venrick said earnestly.
“She could’ve been faking it the whole time. How do we know Lark isn’t out there right now plotting to destroy everything this alliance has worked toward?” Cheyanne asked, looking him in the eye.
“We don’t know that. We don’t even know if Lark survived. The dragon that took her was the same one Barrik flew in on,” Ezra interjected, trying to disrupt the stare down.
“Barrik was controlling both dragons, through warging. Hundreds of your soldiers said they saw the dragon’s eyes when they left. They had the golden ring around them when they flew east over your forces. It was White Eye, not Killaborden,” Venrick said.
“Lark is alive and she’s not going to betray us.
Even if she was Marcel, whatever happened to her, changed her.
She may have been fierce, but Lark wasn’t a ruthless assassin.
Her intentions were not that different from those of this group, trying to root out corruption.
She had strong morals, and that kind of thing isn’t something you can fake,” Hardin argued.
Cheyanne sighed, “This is a moot point since we don’t know what happened to the rider we knew as Lark. Until we learn more, we will table this discussion.”
“Maybe we should hear the whole story, from their points of view,” the orc suggested, pointing first at Hardin, then Ezra, Venrick and Sasja.
Venrick nodded in agreement, then helped fill in his parts of the story as Hardin, Ezra, and Sasja recapped the events leading up to their escape from Red Lodge with help from Cheyanne’s forces.
“What happened to that Hyalite’s powers?” an elf asked.
“They were taken up by the dragon and her chosen rider,” Cheyanne answered.
“Her chosen rider? The dragon was stabbed while the Magus attempted to claim the magic of both a god and a dragon,” Venrick said.
“But Lark killed this power-hungry Magus before he could complete the transfer. Hardin stopped the flow of energy out of the dragon and the dragon instinctively reversed it, drinking in the power. Hardin was the one the dragon chose in that moment to bond with. The dragon passed the powers to him,” Cheyanne nodded toward Hardin.
“Him? The Ward Walker with no training is the one who bonded with the dragon?” an elf said.
“A dragon’s choice to bond with a person, making them their rider, is based on more factors at the time than their training or background in magic,” Cheyanne said.
“What powers does he have now?” an orc asked. “This Hyalite was said to be of rare quality.”
“The powers haven’t manifested,” Hardin answered, looking a bit sheepish or confused.
“It can take time, sometime months to show which of the gods the Hyalite originated from,” Cheyanne said. “Since the Hyalite split between the brismil and his dragon at the time of bonding, we don’t know what to expect. No one has ever been bound to a Hyalite in the way this Doranian was.”
“I thought you were stuck in a room, locked inside while the others faced the Magus?” the orc demanded.
“I broke through Joc’s wards and provided the distraction Lark needed to destroy him and stop him from taking the Hyalite’s power for himself,” Hardin explained, lifting his shoulder and holding palms up over the table.
“Lark’s fire fae returned to the room to free me after Barrik thought he had killed her.
She set me free before she went back to, in her words, wake White Eye. ”
“Nix got you out of the room? Ironic, don’t you think, given that you’re a Ward Walker,” Venrick asked with a smirk.
“I mentioned it, didn’t I?” Hardin said, scratching his head. “Nix let me out and told me to find Lark.”
“And you all stopped a rogue Magus from turning the wrath of the rimeshade on the rest of the continent,” Cheyanne said matter-of-factly, preparing to change the subject.
“Now, we need to prepare for the retaliation that’s to come.
For years we’ve amassed our numbers under the noses of Nordraven and Lamar.
We’ve just exposed ourselves with this show of force in Red Lodge and effectively destroying one of their fortresses.
Nordraven forces in Red Lodge, the local militia of orcs who rallied against us once the Morsythians were free of their curse, will know we now have two dragons.
Barrik’s knowledge about Hardin being bonded with the juvenile dragon will become widespread soon enough.
Once Nordraven knows, Lamar will know, too.
Our operatives recruiting and helping us with resupply aren’t going to be safe in either kingdom.
Our base of operations here in the forest is warded and I believe will remain hidden, but now both kingdoms will be sending their Paragons out to find us. ”
“We need to find Lark,” Venrick said.
“I can’t commit any resources to that; we’re strapped as it is,” Cheyanne said.
“I need to find her,” Venrick clarified. “We know she went north. I’ll start there.”
“There’s a more urgent task I had in mind for you, Venrick. Ingamar can’t be spared to go looking for Lark either,” Cheyanne said.
“She’s right, Ven. He would attract too much attention. If you were attacked, they could extract the location of Cheyanne’s base from you. We can’t stop you from leaving, but we need to keep this place and the forces here hidden from Nordraven and Lamar,” Ezra said.
“I won’t argue with you, Venrick. There is more at risk with protecting our organization than just your life.
We have learned secrets about a dark force that is growing in the far north.
If left unchecked, our world is going to have much larger problems by the end of the year when the Flashover comes,” Cheyanne said.
“I will not rest until I find Lark,” Venrick said, his determination unwavering despite the risks. He couldn’t turn a blind eye to Lark, not after what they’d been through. He would be careful. He was going after her no matter what.