First Witch, L.A. Borgaard [snow like ashes .txt] 📗

Jahara scanned the scorched countryside before entering his hiding place. It wasn’t that long ago that this place was lush with trees and foliage but the war between Rendel and Tendir had left nothing unscathed when it entered his homeland. He had tried to remain neutral, had told both sides that he would not give his spells to conquer, but now looking out around him he knew he could no longer sit on the sidelines and watch. Just as the war had come to the lands surrounding him, it had now come to him directly. It was time for him to end it before it consumed all of life in the world. He turned from the devastation around him and went inside, waving his hand to seal the entrance doorway. After lighting the oil lamp next to the entrance, he took it with him and walked down the steps to begin.
He sat at an old table with his book of spells trying to determine what the best route to take to end this war was going to be. In the beginning, it was only humans fighting amongst themselves; but now they had involved all surrounding breeds. Worse still, they had involved the dark riders of the north. Stupid. He slammed the book closed and put his head into his hands. The folly of humans, always trying to dominate and rule. They were a plague on the face of the world. Stop it Jahara, he thought to himself, you can not continue to think this way. They are not all wicked, ignorant as a whole yes, but not wicked. In involving the dark riders though, they had sealed their own doom and brought pain and death to all others. Subjugation, dominion of souls, that is what the dark riders wanted and the humans opened the door and invited them in to take it.
So here they were, the world was being torn apart and all because Rendel had to have Tendir’s daughter. Such an arrogant man Rendel was, so much like the dark riders. One might think that he was one of them, in point of fact, Jahara had often wondered that very thing. It was he that called to them and asked them to fight. What was it that he offered them? No matter, they were here now and Jahara would step in and stop them. He just needed to figure out how, and soon. The elven riders would not last much longer against the dark ones, they were too few. He opened the book again and began to read.
It was hours before Jahara stood up from the table and two more before he had the spell ready. He climbed the steps back up to the entrance doorway and stood quiet, listening to the sounds that came to him from the night outside. He heard them land very near to his hovel and listened closer to determine who had come to pay him a visit. When her voice came to him, singing in the night breeze, he relaxed and left his hiding place.
He walked up behind them and said, “Jen, what brings you here? Not that I am not very pleased to see you but are you not far from your course tonight?”
“Father,” she said and bowed her head in greeting. “My course is to protect the ones close to me and so I am here.”
“To protect me? Is that not backward? Is it not I that protects you?”
“There was a time.” Jen slid a hand up to the face of the dragon that stood beside her. “Saphyre has told me that you are in need of us.”
“Has he? And what else has he told you?”
“That you are planning to travel to the north, to the lands of the dark ones, that you will use your spells to try to stop this war.”
“And will I succeed?”
“That, he does not see.”
Jahara stared up at the dragon before him. Saphyre was an unusual dragon, unusual in his multitude of color, unusual in his sight, and unusual in his love for Jahara’s daughter. The bond between dragon and rider was deep, holding the two together and molding their thoughts and movements into one. This was necessary in flight and battle, but the bond that these two shared went further than most. He was never far from her though he never took human form to be with her as some did. He never took pleasure from his rider but stood at her side in all other things.
“Does he see the spell I plan to use?”
“He sees the infants dying as they break free of their shells. It is heartbreaking for him. They are innocent born to an evil land.”
“We can not move them and the dark ones wait close to bond.”
Jen sighed heavily as Saphyre turned his head away. “He knows this, but it still breaks his heart that so many innocents must die.”
“It is not any easier for me Jen. I did not wish to participate in this war. I would not now if the dark ones had not been called. If I do not do something you will all be destroyed and the lands decimated, I can no longer stand aside and do nothing.” He turned and waved an arm out to the surrounding land. “Just look at what they have done here. If left to their own devices, all lands will soon look like this; and the souls of our people will belong to them. They will take Saphyre’s people also, they will bond with their children and change them to the dark dragons. I can not allow this.”
Jen came closer to her father and laid a hand on his shoulder. When he turned back to her she brushed away a tear that slipped from his eye. “Father, you do not have to explain this to us. We are not here to judge or dissuade you. We are here to help you.”
“Is Dayved aware that you are here?”
“No.” She turned away from him and walked back to Saphyre. Running her hand along his neck she said, “Dayved has crossed the lines of leadership in his advances toward me. I can no longer follow him in battle and I will not spend time in the company of one that will not take my word as final.”
“The union would have increased the strength of the elven riders.”
Jen’s body stiffened at his words and Saphyre turned his head to face Jahara. “Is that all I am to you? A warrior to serve in battle and then a vessel for stronger riders?”
“That was not the intent of my words, it was merely an observation. Do not think of me as one that would push you to make a choice that is not correct for you, for either of you. Dayved is a strong leader but if he is not the one you wish for, then so be it. I will not choose for you.”
“Thank you,” she said and relaxed her stance.
“So tell me, how is it that you are to help me?”
“We will take you to the north, to the borders of the dark ones, and when you have completed your journey we will return you here. They will sense our presence if we cross into their lands but we can make it to their borders without detection, and this will save you many months of dangerous travel.”
Jahara stared into Saphyre’s eyes. “You would carry me?” Dragons did not carry those they were not bound to, which meant they only carried one in their lifetime. To carry another was unheard of.
“He will,” Jen said. “He will carry you there and carry you back here. He will protect you as he protects me.”
“Even knowing that I am going to kill the children of your cousins?” he asked still staring into the dragon’s eyes.
“Yes,” Jen whispered as a tear slipped from Saphyre’s eye and shattered on the ground at his feet. The broken shards of his tear buried themselves into the dirt to wait for the song that would wake the life held within them.
Jahara turned from them and walked away. As he walked, he thought about the pain Saphyre was feeling, the pain that made itself so evident in his eyes. He had never thought much about the dragons of the riders and now he was seeing something that he had missed. The dragons felt as deeply as the elves themselves, they had to in order to fully bond. This was something he had hidden from himself and now he wondered if maybe there was another way to end this war, a way that did not cause so much pain to Saphyre.
His thought had been to decrease the number of dark riders by decreasing their dragons. The dragons bonded with their riders in the first weeks after their birth so the only way to decrease them was to kill them before or immediately after hatching. The only spell he had for this purpose had to be completed as the newborns broke free from the egg; which, in itself, presented danger to him. The bite of a newborn dragon was deadly. It would kill the one bitten within days or even hours when the one bitten did not rest, and there was no cure, no spell that could save you; and he would be in the center as they hatched.
As he thought on other possibilities, a dark shadow flew over him. He turned his head to the night sky then immediately started running as a dark form dove from above. They had caught him out in the open. He ran for the rocks surrounding his hiding place, making it under one just as the dark rider fell to the ground with an arrow pierced through his armor. They hadn’t known Saphyre and Jen were there. The rider's dragon disappeared to the north and Saphyre landed.
Jen leapt from Saphyre and ran to her father. “There is no more time for considerations. We must leave now. She will return to the north and tell