The Draykon Series (1-3)

Lokant: Chapter Eight

'I've seen Llandry.'

Aysun turned. 'What.'

'She was here,' his father repeated. 'Not long ago. Come inside and I'll tell you about it.'

'I'm not coming inside,' Aysun grated. He was almost too angry to speak, but he forced himself to remain calm - at least outwardly. 'Come out and we'll talk about it.'

The old man grumbled at this, but eventually consented to shuffle onto the path before his house. His shoulders were hunched and he leaned heavily on his stick as he walked. He stopped a few feet away from Aysun and regarded his son expressionlessly.

'Where's Llandry?' prompted Aysun.

'She left,' was the cool reply.

'Couldn't you have... you should have...' Fierce anger swallowed Aysun's words and he could only stare at his supposedly long-dead father in pure disbelief.

'I brought her through, and you should thank me for that because she was in danger of her life,' said his father - Rheas - with chilling calm. 'I tried to protect her, but she refused to stay. No doubt she inherited that wilfulness from her parents.'

'You could have sent word.' Aysun forced the words through gritted teeth.

Rheas actually chuckled. 'Where to? It is not as though I have your address.'

'The fault for that is your own.'

'Is it? You stand ready to go to your daughter's aid, but you never came looking for me, did you? Nobody did.'

Aysun could find nothing to say to that. 'Tell me where Llandry went.'

Rheas shrugged. 'She has been caught up in matters far greater than you or I. She could be anywhere.'

'What? What matters?' Aysun took a step forward, his fists clenched. He was shocked to find that, for an instant, he truly wished to hit the old man.

Rheas lifted his chin. 'Llandry will show you herself. We will wait for her here.'

Two days passed and Rheas made no attempt to explain himself. Two days of withering coldness on the old man's part and a stubborn show of indifference on Aysun's. Rheas would not speak of his secret life in the Uppers, and Aysun refused to ask. His father spent most of his time tucked into a rocking chair in the central room of the house; Aysun therefore found it more convenient to wander out of doors, or to sit brooding in the bedchamber allocated to him. Not even Mags, the cheery and good-natured woman who inexplicably consented to live with his father, could draw him out.

He was sitting in this very chamber, sitting and brooding and trying to smother his anger, when a dark shape flew across the sun and cast a shadow over the house. Then came his father's shout, a cry somewhere between triumph, dismay and fury.

'Come down, son, ' his father cried.

Aysun went instead to the window. Two enormous beasts sailed through the air before him, rapidly drawing closer to the house. One was smaller than the other, its hide ghost-grey and pale. The larger beast wore scales of green-touched blue. They were impossibly big, impossibly winged and clawed. Aysun stared, briefly mesmerised by their grace and vivid colour.

'Aysun!'

He jumped, shook himself. There was emotion of some kind in his father's shouts, which was more than he had shown since Aysun had arrived. He descended to the ground floor, taking his time. Rheas and Mags were both standing at the door, blocking Aysun's view of the outdoors.

'Is this some trick of yours, old man?'

Without turning, Rheas barked a laugh. 'Your suspicion blinds you. If you want your daughter, I suggest you put that aside.'

'Llan? What's this got to do with her?'

Rheas didn't reply. He hobbled slowly out of the door, leaning on Mags' arm. One hand gestured impatiently to Aysun. Follow me, it said.

Mystified and annoyed, Aysun followed.

The two beasts had reached the house. As Aysun watched, they spiralled to the ground, one playfully nipping at the other's flanks as they descended. Behind him, Aysun heard Nyra's quick female step approaching, but he couldn't turn his attention to her. The sight of this strange, magnificent, outlandish pair of beasts utterly absorbed him.

'Aysun,' muttered Nyra, coming to a stop next to him. 'What's going on?'

'No idea.'

On the ground, the creatures were ungainly but nonetheless marvellous. Their hides were minutely scaled as though they were covered in a million beads of glass. They were four-legged, with pearly-silver talons and tails of immense length. Their wings reminded Aysun of his wife's in their construction, though these bore considerable differences in size and shape.

He wanted to go closer, despite their size, and examine the flashing trails of silver that outlined each tiny scale. But just as he formulated this wish, the air rippled - in the same way it did when a gate was opened between the realms - and the two beasts vanished.

In their place stood two human figures. They were not yet close, but in one of those figures Aysun could detect a familiar short stature and lithe form, black hair and lofty grey wings...

'Now do you understand?' came Rheas's soft whisper from behind him.

'No,' said Aysun. 'Not at all.'

The two figures didn't seem to notice that they had an audience. They were arguing; as they approached Aysun was able to discern their words.

'... why say you are not Minchu? To your mother, you say that!'

'I'm glad you've consented to use that word at last. I said it because it is not true!'

'But I say that it is true. But why must we speak with our lips and our tongues, Minchu, when we are alone? It is so clumsy.'

'Because you must practice your Glinnish before you meet my father.'

'Father?'

'Sire. We will come upon him any- oh.' Llandry looked up at last and saw Aysun standing before her, flanked by Nyra, Rheas and Mags.

Llandry's face filled immediately with relief. 'Pa! I was afraid you might have been hurt or worse but when I sensed you I felt you were well, only now I'm so glad to be able to see for myself that you are...' She threw her arms around him and continued to babble into his chest, but her words were too muffled to be discerned.

Aysun instinctively tightened his arms around his daughter, though his attention was distracted by her companion. He was a study in contrasts, stark white and deep black, vivid blue. Aysun was alarmed to realise that he viewed both Llandry and her friend with more than just his eyes; he sensed something different about them, a quality that they both shared. He had never noticed such a thing in his daughter before.

'Were those... was that you?' He spoke to Llandry, his voice emerging as a dry croak.

She drew back from him. 'Can you not know? Oh, Papa, this is a terrible surprise for you. I'll tell you everything, I promise. I see that you found Grandpapa?' She released him, and with a sunny smile she danced into the house. Her friend and Mags followed, leaving Aysun and Nyra staring dumbly after them.

'She seems well,' said Nyra.

'Quite,' Aysun agreed feebly. How far changed his daughter now was, Aysun could not imagine; but he was very certain he had never seen her so bright, so happy, and so entirely without the fears and the awkwardness that had plagued her since she was a child.

'Well,' said Rheas. 'Shall we go in?' He hobbled inside without waiting for an answer. Aysun and Nyra had no choice but to follow.