Entering the first guest room they came across, Inara closed the door behind them and Asher broke away, gesturing for them to leave him alone. The ranger absently grabbed the blanket from the bed and took himself off to the corner, where there was little space and two walls to his back. His breath was ragged as he rested his head against the cold stone.
“It’s all instinct at this point,” Inara remarked. “We shouldn’t interfere.”
Asher removed the bronze egg from his satchel and wrapped it up with himself inside the blanket. Inara nudged Adan to accompany her but the Drake resisted.
“I will stay with him.”
Inara wanted to offer caution, but she could see the Drake was not to be moved. “Stay out of sight,” she instructed, hearing Gideon’s voice echo through the minds of two dragons. “Best he feels alone.”
Adan nodded his understanding and slowly took himself off to another corner where he could wait unseen and unheard.
As always, duty demanded that Inara be elsewhere. She would have loved to see a baby dragon come into the world, especially one that had waited thousands of years for its Rider, but the world was far from safe. Carefully and quietly, she left the chamber and closed the door behind her.
There, she touched her head to the wood, closed her eyes, and sighed with relief. They had made it. For all their flight, she had harboured the sickening concern that they would be too late. She had half expected to top The Vengoran Mountains and discover a flaming monument in the place of Namdhor.
But they had made it.
Vighon was alive. Alijah had retreated. Asher and the egg were safe. Gideon was among them. Now she could breathe.
We will be ready for whatever comes next, Athis promised. Inara willingly accepted the dragon’s boost to her morale, letting his confidence fill her with strength to continue.
Turning from the door, Inara was not ready for what came next.
“Hello,” her mother greeted softly, tears in her eyes. Standing beside her, Inara’s father was already wiping a solitary tear from his cheek.
There was no stopping the Galfreys from crashing into each other. As one, the three crushed together in a tight embrace of kisses and tears. Inara hadn’t seen her mother since she took an arrow on the ramparts nearly two years ago, and it had been months prior to that. There were no words for a time as they each took the other in.
Reyna’s hands were firm around Inara’s face. “Only the sight of you could fix my heart,” she whispered.
Inara gripped her mother’s wrists. “I have missed you so much.” She broke from her mother’s eyes and looked to her father. “I have missed you both.”
Nathaniel stroked his daughter’s cheek before giving her one last kiss on the head. “We are together again. That’s all that matters now.”
Reyna couldn’t help herself and pulled Inara in for another breath-taking embrace that no human could have sustained. “We saw you enter the keep with Asher,” she finally said, looking at the door over Inara’s shoulder. “Is he wounded?”
“We saw Alijah and Malliath retreat,” Nathaniel added in a questioning tone.
Inara confirmed her father’s observation with an affirmative nod. “There was no fighting,” she reassured. “And Asher will be fine.” Inara took a breath and used the moment to consider her explanation for everything transpiring behind the door.
“I think our tale deserves a bigger audience,” Gideon announced from further down the hall.
Inara turned with her parents to lay eyes on the old master, though there was a great deal more emotion behind those of her parents.
“Gideon,” Reyna said his name with the same affection mirrored in Nathaniel’s smile.
“It’s been far too long,” the old knight told him.
Gideon closed the gap between them and happily wrapped each in his arms. It dawned on Inara that her old mentor hadn’t experienced the joy of a friendly embrace in years. The thought brought her spirits down. Though it was certainly uplifting to see these three people together again.
Before their reunion could go any further, Gideon pulled away from Nathaniel. “Vighon and the others are preparing another council in the throne room,” he shared before turning specifically to Inara. “Perhaps we should leave Asher for now and inform The Rebellion of our time in Erador. Our news will impact the next step.”
Reyna reached out and lightly gripped Gideon’s arm. “Before we rejoin the others,” she said, looking at her daughter, “there is something I would tell you myself.”
By her expression alone, Inara could tell there was naught but sorrow to follow.
9
I Am Ranger
Asher pressed his head into the smooth stone, but there was no pain in all the world that could distract him from the storm that wracked his mind. He was drenched in a cold sweat, shivering from head to toe, and his throat was so dry it hurt to breathe - all of which were caused by the exertion of another.
Her exertion.
That knowledge was the only safe harbour he could cling to. It had come to him as the inner-most layer of the egg began to crack. The whispers that had burrowed into every part of his brain had finally focused into a single voice and it was most definitely that of a female.
He already loved her unconditionally. Her birth into the world felt like his own; only he had experienced the death of his older-self first. This dragon would bring with it more than a brave heart and a fierce spirit. She would bring a regality and honour that gave one a sense of duty and purpose that surpassed the transaction of coin or the need of praise. This dragon was a warrior in its purest form.
There was a part of the ranger that knew the dragon would not come into the world until her companion was in harmony with this way of life, the life of a Dragon
