Celia walked through the curtained entryway, then through the doorway. Xan followed her the entire way, but the two dragons remained outside the human-sized door. Neither Irin or Verbena fit through the carved hole, but they still snaked their heads through the door and peered into the room.
"Good evening to all of you, I hope you slept well. Please, sit," Orthos's voice remained stoic as he looked to Xan. Once both Celia and Xan sat down, he continued, "Xan, Irin, I extend a warm welcome to both of you. I hope you have enjoyed your stay so far." He nodded to Xan.
Despite his outward calm exterior, something about the guild master made him seem to have an aura of authority. Typically Valiant sat behind him and further added to the stress of being in Orthos's office, but the massive white dragon was noticeably absent. Celia believed that Orthos had him doing other things in case the colossal draconic being intimidated Xan.
"Yes, sir," Xan nodded, "both Irin and I have enjoyed our stay so far. Thank you for extending your hospitality." Compared to his normal egotistical tone, his voice sounded tense.
Orthos nodded, then focused on both humans before him. "Now, Celia," he glanced to the young female as he folded his hands together and rested them atop his clean stone desk. "Why don't we start at the beginning, when you disappeared. My first question is, why did you leave the mountain in the first place."
Celia briefly hesitated, as she could either admit the truth or fabricate a lie. She could tell the guild master a stem swept her and Verbena away or they got lost while hunting for food. She inhaled.
"Verbena and I decided to go searching for the ray of light," Celia slowly admitted in a soft voice. "We overheard you and the scout talk the location of one of the rays of light. Verbena wanted to go get it, and I agreed we should. At the time, I only thought about when Persephone accused me of not wanting the return of the sun." Celia sighed a bit before she continued, "So I stole some food and rations, and we left. However, I do not regret my decision." Her voice increased in volume until it was back to its standard level. "With Xan's and Irin's help, we retrieved two rays of light."
Orthos silently nodded and expertly hid his emotions. He turned his head and focused on Xan, "Do you mind if I ask you to tell your story? How did you meet and become Irin's Chosen?"
"It's a bit of a long story," Xan admitted with a small nod, "but I will shorten it the best I can." After a brief breath, Xan began to recite his story, something Celia never had the courage to ask.
"I am from the village of Snouw on the eastern edge of the mountains, and like every other town west of the wasteland, they kill any dragons they find." He paused and frowns. "Many cycles ago, when I was a lot younger, I snuck out of town to play in a snow fortress my friends and I built to play in and pretend to be warriors. However, that one day was special, because I found a young dragon hidden deep in our tunnels. His head barely reached my shoulder and his thin ice armor was splattered with blood, but not his own."
Irin shuttered as he listened from the doorway, but remained in place. He felt a bit better when Verbena nuzzled him, but he remained a bit uncomfortable. The day he and Xan met was both a happy memory and one of terror for the dragon.
"At first, both of us remained frozen," Xan continued his story. "I did not have a weapon on me at the time, though I did have a small bit of dried meat in my pocket. The fearful childish me threw the meat at the dragon. I aimed for his head, but I was only strong enough for the jerky to land at the dragonet's feet. I want to say that I fled, but I did not have enough courage at the time to actually run. I stood there, frozen in fear as the dragon at my food.
"Then, as Irin looked up to me, I felt a strange feeling in my mind. Then, a strange, nervous voice entered my mind. Then I realized he was just as scared of me as I was of him. After a few moments, we relaxed, though neither one of us knew why we were suddenly mentally connected. I blamed magic, even though I had never heard of magic that could connect people.
"I knew I couldn't kill him, and Irin was so young at the time I doubt he could have killed me either. We bonded over our mutual fear of each other and slowly relaxed. I hid him in a small cave and snuck food to him when I could.
"However, after a few moons, one of my friends stumbled across Irin and warned the rest of the town. My dad is one of the best warriors, so he ran to kill the dragon ahead of everyone else.
"When Irin told me someone discovered him, and I ran out of town and to his side as fast as I could. I arrived just in time to stop my dad from killing Irin. My dad had both hatred and hurt in his eyes. He would not kill me. After a short stand-off, he finally told me to take Irin and leave Snouw, and never return.
"So, we ran." Xan took a deep breath, "Irin was far too young to fly, especially with me on his back. We managed to get over the mountain to Urre and made our hideout a decent distance from the town. I worked there for food until Irin could fly well enough, and then we left to make a life where we stayed together."
When he finished, Xan inhaled and looked to Guild Master Orthos, "That is the rough summary of how Irin and I met."
The guild master nodded in understanding, "Xan, you and Irin are welcome to stay and join our guild if you would like, or you can return to Western Roahla. I will leave that choice to you."
"I would like to stay," Xan stated, "I have already improved my riding skills from learning from Celia, and I would like to further my skills even more if possible. I suspect I have quite a bit to learn."
"I will test you to see what you know, and then I will place you in in the proper class or find you a private tutor." Orthos nodded, "so, Xan, what is your side of how you and Celia met?"
"Irin and I had just finished hunting, so we flew back towards our cave for the day. On route, Irin spotted Verbena with Celia on her back. At the time, neither one of us thought it was possible for another pair like us to exist, so we uh—" he emitted a nervous laugh, "—we knocked them out of the sky. They were flying low so no one was hurt, but in the end, it was all a big misunderstanding.
"Neither Irin nor I thought they were like us. Dragons are hated and hunted by every town west of the wasteland. Some cultures even give a special title to those that kill a dragon. The concept of another rider was foreign to us, so we assumed either Verbena was being attacked or magically controlled.
"Eventually Verbena roared at Irin enough to convince him that she was not mind controlled, but not before I cut Verbena's harness and shattered Celia's knife. Celia then convinced Irin and to join her in her goal. With Irin and I's knowledge of that part of the world and Celia and Verbena's determination, we pulled through and retrieved two of the rays of light. The only one left is in Urre."
Guild Master Orthos silently nodded in understanding, then turned and set his gaze to Celia. As his hard gaze fell on her, she fidgeted slightly despite her attempts to remain calm and composed.
"Now, Celia, I currently have no idea what I am going to do with you," Guild Master Orthos stated as he leaned forward a bit. "Do not take that to mean that you will not be punished, you did purposefully leave and abandoned your responsibilities here. For now, you will return to your normal classes and your discipline shall come later when I think of how to properly chastise you."
"Yes, Guild Master Orthos," Celia bowed her head in acceptance. She looked up to the leader of the guild and the town of Rien. "Sir, may I make one request?"
"Yes Celia, you may," the guild master remained focused on the female rider. "What would you like to ask?"
Celia allowed her courage to build before she quickly spoke her lone request in a single breath, "I want to be a part of the group that goes to retrieve the last ray of light." After she finished her sentence, she inhaled and briefly held her breath as she waited for her superior's answer.
"No." Orthos's deep tone immediately responded, much to Celia's dismay. "I am not going to purposefully send an untrained Initiate and her dragonet on a mission as potentially dangerous as flying across the world to return light to the world. Celia, absolutely not."
A frown spread across Celia's face and her shoulders slumped out of her upright composure for a brief moment. "Yes, sir," she slowly nodded.
In her dismay, Verbena released a huff accompanied by a small plume of smoke. After a moment, she snorted again with a small shake of her head, 'He can't stop us. We are going to get that light and return the sun!'
Xan glanced to the girl beside him with a small frown, then returned his focus onto the guild master. "Sir, I would like Celia and Verbena to accompany Irin and me in the party to retrieve the last ray of light. I assume I will be joining the group since I have extensive knowledge of Urre. I do not have the same history with any other riders as I do with them, so I would like them to be an ambassador of sorts for me."
Orthos closed his eyes as he inhaled. He pondered the request, then opened his eyes as he replied. "Xan, I still do not want to send an inexperienced and untrained rider," he spoke in a gentle voice, unlike his gruff response to Celia's request.
"I believe Celia and Verbena have experience. They survived several nights and days before we met," Xan attempted to discuss the matter with the guild master despite the shocked sideways glance Celia gave him.
"I would rather you go with Knight and Master ranks who have battle training in case we have to fight the invisible dragon. I doubt Verbena and Celia know how to fight, especially on dragonback," Guild Master Orthos replied.
Neither Xan, Celia, Irin, nor Verbena had an argument against the guild master's claim, so each of them remained silent.
Orthos nodded when no one raised any further objection. "I will announce both Verbena and Celia's return and Irin and Xan's arrival at dinner. For now, Celia, show Irin and Xan around. I suggest you take them to the waterfalls first, then have Irin fitted for a harness. However, I will leave where you go next inside the mountain." He stressed the last three words of his sentence. "I expect all of you to be at dinner," the master of the guild stood to his feet. "Now if you excuse me, I have other matters to attend to." He turned, then disappeared beyond the massive old curtain behind him.
"Yes Guild Master Orthos," Celia bowed her head as she slowly rose to her feet, even though her leader already left the room.
Author Notes!
Thank you for reading!
Do you think our four heroes will take Orthos's refusal to allow Celia to go sitting down, or will they make their own plans?
See you next week!