Swords of the Secret Son

Chapter 21 - Jay Nex

"Cl-Clary? Did Rehnnyn just say that Vander was his s-son?" I stuttered, perched in a branch in a tree over Queen Arwen's balcony overlooking the battle scene unfold.

"Unless another soldier is an excellent ventriloquist, then yes," Clarence said, preoccupied with attempting to join me on the high branch I sat on. "I -"

"Quiet," I hushed him as he pulled himself up to my level. "Listen."

"R-Rehnnyn? Did you just say that I'm your s-son?" Vander asked, freezing his hands as he pulled his sword out of a Vision general's chest.

"There's no time to explain," Rehnnyn said softly. "After we win this war!"

"But I -"

"Raah!" A dwarf shouted, attempting to plunge his ax into Vander's head. Although the blade would have only penetrated Vander's leg, it was stopped about three feet from Vander by a force that had been forgotten about by the boy and the wizard until their lives were threatened. The traitorous dwarf was nearly decapitated by Draakschalen, falling limp to the ground with his ax out of reach.

"Boy!" Rehnnyn called desperately. "Shield, now!"

"Draakschalen Rehnnyn Taeralen posgasutet amiliis!" Vander ordered in Na'e and Rehnnyn earned the privilege of being protected by the powerful shield as well. The hunk of ironwood and scales defied gravity as it flew in a circle, knocking out all foes of the pair within a ten foot radius.

"Surrender your unnatural wizardry and we'll spare your unworthy lives!" Queen Arwen's voice boomed from the balcony. Magically enhanced, I suspected. She must've had some enchanted armor as well, as the queen would never venture out on her balcony with bowmen positioned and a battle raging. A guard tapped the queen on the shoulder and whispered something in her ear.

"What?" Queen Arwen asked loudly enough so even I could hear.

"I said, that is no ordinary enchanted shield!" The guard I recognized as Emlersaen shouted.

"Ardmare," the queen waved her hand and the soldier was restrained by the man I recognized as Reene. "You do not take such a tone with me," she said, her voice falling octaves. Reene pushed the helpless soldier off and over the balcony, crushing two Resistance elves. So Rehnnyn had rallied the species successfully.

"What Emlersaen was trying to say, Your Majesty, is that that shield is Draak-"

"Draakschalen?" The queen exclaimed partly in awe, partly in terror.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Reene bowed, shielding his face in fear the queen would lash out in rage. Reene was correct to think so, however his precautions weren't enough. Arwen snapped her fingers and Reene's body was splattered onto the ground far below as the e queen pushed the soldier off of her small balcony herself.

It was war. He could've just been another casualty of the Resistance. Just another death for the regions to be responsible for, the queen thought.

Meanwhile, Vander was putting his new weapon to use. He and Rehnnyn combed through the field of dwarves and men, knocking out all who the shield perceived as a threat. The tide of the battle was certainly turning around. Rehnnyn was casting spells left and right, hexing the dwarves and sending them into a frenzied state. He was safe within the protection of the shield; he could just sit down, take a nap, and let Draakschalen take care of his enemies.

"It looks like there's no threat," Vander put his sword into his belt and sat down. The shield now worked twice as hard to accommodate the needs of both the sitting boy and fighting wizard.

"You may be safe, but others aren't!" Rehnnyn exclaimed.

"Weren't you the one who was reluctant to do this in the first place?"

"Not after I realized what Vision has done to this world," Rehnnyn grumbled. "Now listen to me. Half a millennium ago, before Arwen came into power, I - I proposed to her."

"You what?" Vander asked in disbelief.

"She was a general, I was a wizard's apprentice, we were both young, and we were already courting. I just - I just -"

"You were mesmerized by her beauty and commanding power. I know, I know. And I'm actually 500 years old?"

"No. You truly are eighteen."

"How? Eighteen years ago she was a tyrant and you were deep in the dwarf region."

"I was hiding. She wouldn't look for me in the third region. I had been there for four and a half centuries until I went on the run. You were born half a millennium ago, but when I stood up to Arwen's rule, she stole our son - you - and cast the fretifinus spell on you. She knew you were a threat but thought you could be useful to her someday, but didn't kill you. And I found out and rescued you eighteen years ago, leaving you in the first regions."

"And you went on the run," Vander nodded slowly.

"Yes."

"And I was frozen in time for hundreds of years?"

"Yes. And boy, you're my son. And I knew the moment you changed into a dragon."

"But you're not a changeling," Vander stated, and as the shield stopped an arrow from penetrating his head, Rehnnyn pulled off a leather glove and revealed a green, coarse, scaly portion of his left hand between his first and fourth fingers that stretched all the way down to his elbow.

"The Enchanter cursed me as a child."

"But - but you'd be - completely a reptile by now, if that's what I think it is."

"It is. And I would be. But I've slowed it down with counter spells. Nonetheless, I've passed it down to you," Rehnnyn sighed and squeezed my hand as another arrow was barely stopped before it punctured my skin.

"Did you -" Vander silenced myself as Rehnnyn put up a hand.

"See the tip of that arrow?" He asked and Vander nodded. "It's too heavy to be a man's arrow."

"And the dwarves don't ever use bows," Vander processed.

"The centaurs," they whispered at the same time as the centaurs invaded the land from the forest. They watched five unnaturally strong beasts threw a spear each at the shield, attempting to knock it out of the sky. That shield may have been strong and seemingly invincible, but if anyone could finish it, it would certainly be the centaurs.

After everything, Vander was helpless as a spear found its way into Rehnnyn's heart.