A Song of Askaldenfirsts and Dragons. Part six: The death
Chapter 4: Laylith

In the twilight, Daervar’s blue streaks became darker, and his light pink color scales were faintly reflected in the river. A fire was burning nearby, it was a magically created circle of fire, but Daervar, Slu and Laylith were far away from it.

“We can’t wait any longer,” Daervar said.

Laylith was sitting by the river, Slu was sitting nearby, and the girls had emptiness in their eyes.

“Father will return, I know it. If you must, Daervar, then fly, replace your mother, replace Lisandra,” Laylith said.

“But you promised her right there,” Slu said suddenly to Daervar, “that you would help us!”

Laylith realized that Slu didn’t want the dragon to fly away. Slu knew a lot of spells and was very good at magic, but she was so exhausted and depressed that when she decided to make a circle of fire, she couldn’t do it the first time.

“I promised to help, yes, to replace your Laylith. So I helped you to complete this quest,” Daervar said.

“I don’t think it was like that,” Slu insisted, “your mother said, um, ‘take them wherever they want, be with them,’” Slu turned her devastated gaze to the dragon,“‘be with them,’” she repeated the last words.

“No, Slu, if Daervar wants to replace Lisandra, let him fly, and we will be here waiting for my father. I feel that he is alive. Maybe I just have faith or hope. I don’t know. My head is in chaos, Slu. I’m full of hate and I hate myself for it. There is so much anger and rage in me that I’m torn apart, and these feelings no longer give me the strength as before. It devastates me... And we have so many enemies, and we need to destroy them all!”

Daervar suddenly moved and, stomping with giant paws, shaking the ground, walked past the girls and lay down by the river, sweeping up the coastal sand and small stones, trampling small bushes. The fire created by Slu played shadows on his scales creating bizarre patterns.

“I’ll stay with you for a few more hours. And though I have slept a long time in the mountains, but now I’m feeling sleepy again. In the afternoon I’ll fly to replace my mother. I can take you with me, if you wish, young ermirians.”

“If my father doesn’t show up, then I’ll ask you, Daervar, to take me back to where we were, to the battlefield,” Laylith said.

“What?!” Slu jumped up. “Laylith, we must not go back there. Your father–”

“My father may be hurt, and if I don’t try to save him…” Laylith broke off. “Do you hear the sound?” Laylith looked around, saw that the dragon had closed his eyes and probably managed to fall asleep instantly, which was surprising, and his nostrils were making a sniffing sound, but Laylith heard something else.

“No, I–” Slu didn’t have time to finish the thought.

Three men appeared before them. One was a blurry shape and the other two were clear shape, they were dressed in armor with spikes. They were ghosts.

“Greetings, travelers,” said one of the ghosts, a tall blond man, his outlines were clear. “My name is Tiernard Enkhericksen, and this,” he pointed to his neighbor, a brunette also with clear outlines, “is Radmenard Fenkermarsen, and finally,” Tiernard’s face ran with contempt and dislike, and he pointed to a blurred figure, “this is Istandrod Toddenskarsen.”

“I’ll take the black one,” Istandrod said, and moved toward Slu.

Suddenly the dragon awoke and took off at once. The ghosts either weren’t paying attention to him or had just noticed him, but all three of them were surprised.

“Forgive his manners,” said Tiernard, “he’s not with us.” And Tiernard turned to Istandrod, “You promised to behave decently!”

Radmenard drew his sword. Slu and Laylith took up fighting poses. Daervar splashed a jet of fire upward, illuminating the night landscape. But Radmenard brought his sword to Istandrod’s throat.

“I warned you,” Radmenard said, ’if try to take someone’s body without our approval, you will see my wrath.”

Daervar spewed another jet of fire into the sky. Suddenly they all heard a bird’s cry. Edelmer, in the form of a snow giant argiphone, flew from the east. He quickly landed next to Laylith and Slu.

“Daddy!” Laylith screamed and rushed to the bird. She ran up to him, and he stepped back a little and tilted his head.

“Well,” Slu complained, “I was left alone to deal with these... snunorfs,” and she prepared to cast a soil elemental summoning spell.

“We’re not enemies,” Tiernard shouted.

Laylith at this time already ran her hand over the beak of the argiphone, slightly frightened of the bird’s eye because the eye was the size of her body. She headed toward Slu. Daervar soared in the sky, flapping his wings loudly.

“Tell me once again, who are you? And what do you want?” Laylith asked loudly.

The snowy argiphone took off and instantly landed behind the ghosts. Istandrod turned around.

“Well, Tiernard,” he turned to the blond, not taking his eyes off Edelmer, “will you give me the black vessel, because she’s so appetizing, I can see she almost agrees? Though we must deal with that bird first!”

“We wish you no harm,” Tiernard repeated his thought, “but if you want to fight, then we’ll accept the challenge!”

Edelmer screamed. Istandrod drew his sword and rushed toward the bird, taking a distinct shape.

Suddenly Ansell appeared. He found himself right in front of Istandrod. The ghost reacted, and lunged forward with the sharp end of his sword. Ansell twisted and jumped back.

“Well, you’ve got a lot of fun here,” the old man muttered, and threw back his hood.

“Perhaps you’ll be my vessel,” Istandrod shouted to him.

Edelmer looked at this in surprise and fluttered off and flew back to where Laylith and Slu stood, and they were already moving toward the other two ghosts.

Suddenly Ansell appeared in front of Laylith, and he teleported her to Malderfir. She found herself on rocky-sandy ground, reminiscent of the deserts of Kaushmanashtoon, only on Malderfir it was very humid.

A minute later, Slu appeared. Then the giant portal opened next to her where Ansell could be seen from the other side. He was shouting and pointing towards Laylith to the snow argiphone and Daervar to fly into the portal. Her father and the dragon obeyed him. And then Laylith saw from the corner of her eye that Istandrod was quickly running after the flying creatures and Ansell. Daervar and Edelmer flew into the portal and the portal closed. After another minute, Ansell appeared. Edelmer began to transform into a snunorf.

“Laylith,” the northerner rushed over to his daughter. She lowered her eyes sharply, but noticed the way Slu was staring at her father.

“Daddy, you–”

“Yes, I’m naked, sorry,” Edelmer suddenly realized before he could even reach his daughter and covered his hands over his... “Who are you and why did you help us?” Edelmer suddenly asked Ansell.

“First let me make you something. But that’s also half of the answer,” Ansell said with a strange smile and began to cast a clothing spell.

Edelmer looked uncertainly at the light beige shirt with bluish rings. Dark pants were next to the shirt.

“What is that?” Edelmer asked.

“A sort of chainmail, only lighter, like–”

“So who are you?” Edelmer interrupted him, but he began to put on the dark pants and mail light shirt conjured by the old man.

“I am one of the First! I am one, who knows the fathers of the askaldenfirsts!” Ansell answered.

“The fathers of the mothers of dragons?” Slu exclaimed.

“Yes,” Ansell confirmed. “The ikhagatbers wanted us, the Firsts, to disappear from your glorious planet, but we only wanted to extract one essential mineral for our activities. It helps us to use our magic, to maintain our life energy, and it is useless to the ermirians. So, some Firsts, with whom I have nothing in common, and with whom I have fought all my conscious life, created askaldenfirsts and falsalvgudinas for a false confrontation with one goal to destroy the sentient beings on Ermir, in order to start mining the mineral, it is called the alanjruon. And so the ikhagatbers created the ghosts–”

Suddenly Edelmer approached Laylith, as if the story didn’t interest him, and he hugged his daughter, which even Ansell broke off.

“Are you all right, Laylith?” He tousled her hair.

“Yes, dad, I mean, nothing’s wrong, except for the death of Chathi...” she pulled away. “You’re acting as if this old elf has not turned your mind over now, as if you already know everything or you don’t care. What’s wrong with you? You’re acting weird.”

“I just–”

Suddenly, Slu came up to Edelmer and hugged him and then kissed him on the lips. Edelmer was confused. Laylith snorted.

“What happened to you two? And, Slu, Your Majesty, do you remember that my father is married?”

“I’m sorry, very sorry for that,” Slu suddenly blurted out, and she stepped back.

“You don’t need to be sorry about. We all overreact emotionally sometimes,” Edelmer said.

“Sure, dad, sure. I guess the queen’s emotions get heightened when you swing your dick right and left in front of her face!”

“Laylith!” Eder said sternly.

“My name is Ansellellor LialRinnetik. Someday, I’ll try to show you, Laylith, my tower, and its magnificence will make you start kissing everyone around you too,” and the old elf winked at her.

“Ansellellor, you said something about ikhagatbers and ghosts–” Edelmer began.

“What is this place?” Slu suddenly interrupted him, turning to Ansell, examining the strange trees that had strange root-like branches hanging from their trunks, interspersed with the green of their leaves.

“This is the kingdom of Zualafaran on the planet Malderfir. We are not very far from the capital of Zualafaran, Ballaraz,” Ansell answered.

“It’s too hot here,” Laylith said.

“It’s because of the humidity, dear, high humidity,” Ansell said and licked his lips, looking at her. Laylith didn’t like that.

“What were those ghosts we were fighting?” Edelmer inserted a question.

“Yes, they were ghosts. I just wanted to tell you about them, Edelmer. You’ve already met a ghost like them, his name is Dombard. And these three… Well, two of them are more or less decent… hmm… creatures, but the third… The third is like Dombard, but less violent, I think. Anyway, never mind, everything has its time, I’ll tell you all about when the time comes. Now I need to go back for the others. You have slowed me down with your questions, which makes me less focused on my personal goals,” he smiled, winking at Laylith once more, then cast a spell and disappeared.

“Strange old man, I don’t like him,” said Laylith.

“Dragons are flying,” Daervar suddenly shouted, and took off.

The dragons and Lisandra flew up.

“Marthedraar?!” Daervar shouted.

“Lisandra?” Eder burst out.

“Yes, it’s me,” said the woman with yellow-brown eyes and orange-red hair at the roots and light yellow at the ends.

“I’m so glad you’re here and alive, but you’ve changed–” Edelmer began. Daervar interrupted him.

“Mother, I’m sorry, I... Marthedraar, I…” the dragon couldn’t replace the words.

“It’s my fault!” Eder said when he understood what the dragon was talking about. “I should have kept those mages, those mind controllers away from you, Daervar. Lisandra, I’m so sorry, but Kundaminokh is dead. He fought bravely. I can hardly boast the same valor in the body of a snunorf, or in the body of an argiphone... I am truly sorry!”

Lisandra looked at Daervar and at Edelmer. Her eyes filled with sadness.

“This pain will stay with me until the end of my days. But who did it? Who killed Kundaminokh?” Lisandra already guessed, looking at Daervar with tearful eyes.

“It was me,” the dragon confessed, lowering his muzzle.

“No, Daervar, it wasn’t you,” Edelmer insisted, “you were controlled by mages. I myself have been under enchanted spells few times, both by Arinella and my wife. When you’re not you, you can’t blame yourself. You didn’t want it, your mind wasn’t in your body! You can’t take responsibility for this!”

Daervar sat. The sadness was in his eyes. The other dragons flew around, but they didn’t interfere with the dialogue. Lisandra flew up to Daervar and stroked his nostril, then asked, “Who controlled you, Daervar?”

“It was the tukhtaashes, marthedraar,” the dragon replied.

Lisandra glared at Slu, but queen of Itskel-taash told her, “It wasn’t my people, it was the outlanders.”

Lisandra flew up to her and Eder and Laylith.

“They killed Chathi,” Laylith said, “they raped her and killed her,” anger burst out in every word she spoke. “We must kill them all!”

“And we will,” Lisandra agreed, “we will kill them all!”

Suddenly Ansell appeared.

“I forgot to do one thing,” he said with a strange smile to Lisandra. “It’s good that you and your dragons found them, Lisandra, now I’ll cast a telepathic spell and show you everything so you know the whole story, including the history of the greyskuggies, and then you’ll tell the others. I just didn’t do it with Edelmer or Laylith or Slu, because their minds might not be able to withstand it.”

“You’re playing some strange game, First,” Lisandra said.

“Do you know each other?” Laylith wondered.

“There is no time, child,” Ansell told her and began to cast a spell. Lisandra tensed and was about to cast a protection spell but then she threw her head back.

“What are you doing with my mother?” Daervar roared.

“Don’t disturb him, Daervar,” the approaching Erbalar shouted loudly. “Trust me.”

“Erbalar, brother, why didn’t you fly up earlier to greet me and our mother?!” Daervar wondered.

Suddenly Lisandra soared above them all.

“My children, my sisters’ children, my friends,” her voice rumbled so that all the dragons came closer. “The knowledge that the First gave me, it’s...” she couldn’t replace the words. “The enmity between us and the ghosts and the falsalvgudinas is irrelevant, the prophecies are all false, but many of you already know that. But what you do not know, what horrified me more than the lost meaning of life, more than the realization that I… we are all puppets in the hands of the Firsts, and even that the seed was inside me not because of my sisters’ children, with whom I lay, but that the Firsts did it artificially by injecting seed into me while I slept... well, all these matters of surprise and frustration are irrelevant now. Even Gaal, who became a fiery madness who, it turns out, can be controlled by the tukhtaash-outlanders who have come to our continent, does not matter, and not just because Gaal is on a fiery planet now. No, there’s only one thing that matters right now and that is the greyskuggies! These are the creatures that terrify me. I may be a sensitive creature, but I’m not as impressionable as the average ermirian, and the greyskuggies make me feel an overwhelming fear. Ansell showed me how they killed and ate your brothers! These creatures look like smoke, sometimes taking the form of elves, but not forest or sand elves or oldenmessers. There are only two of them in Ermir now. But in the blink of an eye they’ve made holes in Wendalebirznaaks and Fayroardaldalor, and... Well, those smokes, those vile terrible creatures,” Lisandra’s eyes welled up with tears, “they ate them.”

The dragons, listening carefully to Lisandra, released streams of fire into the sky.

“Where’s the old man?” Laylith suddenly shouted. Lisandra heard her and came down to her.

“He’s probably trying to save as many ermirians and dragons as he can,” she said.

“We have to go back!” Edelmer shouted. “Lanis is there, we need to save her! If you, Lisandra, are afraid of those smokes and they easily deal with dragons, then the arqilunians have no chance at all!”

“Yes, we must save my mother!” Laylith was so overwhelmed by everything that was happening, the pain from the loss of Chathi, the fear for her father, the worry for Lisandra, and all this information about the Firsts, the alanjruon and the ikhagatbers, that for a brief moment she forgot about the two closest persons: her mother and Arel. She felt guilty.

“Edelmer, Laylith, I’m truly sorry, but Ansell showed me a lot. I fought Dombard, when he was in the body of the king of Eileenelia, but before that he was in the body of Lanialis. Aelarnal Ilfelkeer DelRaddik fought her and... killed her,” Lisandra said.

“What?!” Laylith screamed. “No, no, no, it can’t be. No, it isn’t true, it’s a mistake!” the tears welled up in her eyes and flowed wildly. “The prophecies lie, and it may be a lie. The old man wants to confuse you, to make us believe this lie! Mother can’t be dead, it’s impossible! She’s just with the elves, she’s stuck there in the capital, hiding... No, she must have flown away on the argiphone… No, mommy, no...” Laylith sobbed, falling to her knees and she sluggishly beat her hands on the sandy and rocky surface.

Suddenly Edelmer began to transform into a snow argiphone. When he took the form of a bird, he took off and squawked very loudly, and then flew away towards the city.

“Daddy, stop!” Laylith jumped up and shouted.

“Erbalar, Daervar, bring him back,” Lisandra said to her sons.

“Yes, marthedraar,” the dragons said together and flew after Edelmer.

“I’ll kill him!” cried out Laylith, accepting her mother’s death. “I’ll kill Dombard. And I will kill our king! He could imprison her in a magical cage, he could stupefy her, enchant her, use a bunch of magical powers, but no, the highborn, noble Aelarnal chose to fight her, unwilling to consider other options!”

“He’s no longer the king you knew before,” Lisandra said, trying to soften Laylith’s anger. “During our duel I used a magical lightning spell, it is specifically directed against ghosts, but vessels... they can be damaged by lightning. And now the king of the forest elves will no longer be able not only to rule, but he will not even be able to feed himself.”

“I just accused the king of reckless use of magic, and you... But at least it’s some kind of revenge,” Laylith stared up at the sky and sobbed again. “Daddy, why did you leave me again?”

Slu was standing with her mouth open and her tears were flowing, but then she ran up to Laylith and the half-elven girl hung on her chest. Laylith’s legs were shaking.

“I promised you we’d kill all the tukhtaash-outlanders,” Slu said, “and we’ll do it! But first we’re going to replace this Dombard. And we will kill him, you hear me, Laylith, we will kill him!”