It took them another hour to finally burn the last of the magic out of their system. It was a nice counter to the events of the day. Enough of a counterbalance that they found themselves more peaceful and less stressed. More capable of thinking through what they needed to do. AJ had headed to the amazon with the vague plan of contacting some of the beings that lived there. Now he found himself thinking through the idea more in depth.
“This is going to be very tricky.” AJ was saying as he paced their clearing. He’d already thrown on pants and a loose shit, and had taken to pacing while Brian dressed. It helped him work through his thoughts. There was a lot that went with doing what he was thinking of doing. “Technically no one knows about this, and I’m really supposed to keep it this way. I’m the one who helped them come up with this disguise, really, and I know they won’t like having their cover blown. But I know they’d be more pissed if I didn’t tell them, and they’re really not creatures I’d want to piss off anyways. But they’re one of the ones who have the most to lose, and the biggest reason to fight.”
He ran a hand through his tangled hair, brushing it out of his face. He didn’t realize that Brian had finished dressing and was using a brush from their pack to groom Zee with. None of that registered with him at the moment, so wrapped in his own thoughts was he.
Brian watched AJ pace, never stopping his grooming motions with Zee. He wasn’t sure if the Pegasus needed it, but he was used to dealing with horses, and he knew how important grooming was with them, and how much they loved it. Zee rolled his head sideways as Brian brushed his mane, and he swore there was an appreciative look in those sapphire eyes. From where he paced, AJ continued to mumble to himself.
“Will they be afraid to come out of hiding? I mean, I know the history there. Twyla almost decimated them last time. He said they were horrible beasts and he tried to put them down like dogs. He almost succeeded too! They’re hard to kill and such, but it can be done. That’s why I helped hide them better when I came along. I can’t believe no one had offered to help them before! How anyone could resist helping such noble creatures is beyond me. I mean, ok, they hid from the elves, much as it hurt them. But they didn’t want any more elves to die for them to live. God, I know what I’ve got to do. Stop being such a pussy man, and get to it. They’re the noblest creatures. They won’t be mad at you being gone so long. They wanted to be left alone.”
AJ paused, staring at his feet, and scoffed lightly. For the first time his eyes looked up and locked on Brian, sparkling with humor at himself. “To be honest, it’s not their temper I’m worried about. I’m worried how everyone else is going to take it that I helped them find a way to hide.”
“Who is ‘they’?” Brian asked as he moved to brushing across Zee’s back. The Pegasus stretched underneath the brush and shuffled his feet a little in a sign that Brian thought must be universal to horses. It was one of enjoyment.
A funny look crossed AJ’s face, and then, to Brian’s surprise, he flushed slightly. It faded quickly, but Brian was amused all the same. He couldn’t remember ever seeing AJ flush before.
“Sorry, honey. Sometimes I get to talking with myself, and I space a little. I was talking about the dragons.”
That got Brian’s attention. His hand kept up its motions, but he looked over at AJ more intently. “Dragons? But Tadhg told me that they had disappeared. All the elves are afraid they were killed off. He said it was the greatest loss they’d ever suffered.”
“Yeah, well.” That flush came up again. “They were getting pretty thinned out apparently. I met one when I was in Scotland one time. They’re pretty good at hiding in the mountains when they want. They can hide perfectly from humans. That’s not hard. It doesn’t even really take effort on their part to hide from a human.
“Apparently Twyla had killed almost all of them. So, even though he was gone, they hid. They wanted to save their race, and they didn’t want any more elves to die to protect them. But hiding made it hard to hunt.”
AJ traced his toe in the ground, looking downward as he continued to speak. “They asked me to help them. I didn’t know anything to do for them. They’re powerful creatures; way more powerful than me. Physically, intellectually, and magically. But they said my magic combined with theirs could help them out, if I was willing. We weren’t sure how. So, this one I met took me to the rest of them, and I met with their elders and we all talked.
“We came up with a plan to help them find a way to shape shift. It involved using a lot of spirit. More than I’ve ever used before or since. That includes what we used for the Great Tree. They opened their centers up and linked with me more in depth than any link I’ve ever been in. Through that I could feel the life of all the dragons. I could see the vastness that made them. It was amazing. With their knowledge they had heard tales of things in a time before me, long before me, and they shared that with me. Together we used spirit to help them to, well, shape shift I guess is how to put it.”
Shock had Brian frozen in place. A snort from Zee had him remembering to move the brush, now back over Zee’s flank. “Shape shift?”
“Well, yeah. But it had to be something close to their original form. So we gave them the ability to turn into snakes. Anaconda’s, actually.”
“But haven’t anacondas been hunted and killed?”
Now the flush faded from AJ’s cheeks and pride slipped in. “See, we took some regular snakes and made them bigger, too, so that the humans would have some they thought were these new snakes, and so that way if some got hunted and killed, it wouldn’t be the dragons.
“Alex. That’s, amazing.”
Again the flush. God, in the past ten minutes AJ had flushed more than he had since becoming immortal. “It’s what needed to be done, that’s all.” He said humbly. Still embarrassed, he tried to hurry the conversation along. “Because of how badly Twyla hunted them, I knew they needed to know what was going on. But I won’t ask them to fight like we’ve asked everyone else. They lost the most at his hands. But knowing their code of honor, and their anger toward him, I doubt they’ll stay quiet. I’m sure they’ll surprise me.”
Something lit Brian’s face. Awe, or reverence, AJ didn’t know. But it was the same look he’d seen many Elves wear when speaking of dragons. “I’ll get to meet a dragon.”
“Quite a few, most likely. There are all different types, too, like there are with elves, but they’re all elements. The dragons are so closely tied to the elements. So, air, earth, water, fire, spirit. But the rumors about them don’t really fit. Fire dragons aren’t always furious and killing. They’re quick to anger, sure, and can be the most lethal. But they’re not just going around burning down the countryside.”
“Uncle said that the fire dragons were very wise and very strong. But he said talking with the dragons is easy, so long as you have respect.”
AJ nodded and stepped forward. He cleaned out Zee’s wings, making sure they were free from debris. “That’s pretty much it. As elves, we have a little more leeway with them. More respect, because elves and dragons are tied together. But the main thing to keep in mind when talking to them is that they are smarter and stronger than you, and they deserve respect. So long as you’re respectful, you’ll be fine.”
Once Zee’s wings were clean, he pulled back and smiled at Brian. “Ready to go meet them?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they stepped up to the nearest body of water, AJ sent out a small pulse of energy. Not enough that any other being would know what it was, or even suspect. But it was one he’d worked out with the dragons when he helped them change. One that they would recognize as him. He’d sworn not to contact them this way unless it was an emergency, so he knew they would hurry to come.
In the shelter another set of trees the two men sat and watched the water. It didn’t take long before AJ felt, and then saw, the first sinuous form come sliding through the water at him. The first one he could feel the magic in it, and knew who it was. They’d sent their elder at the lead.
Beside him he heard Brian’s sharp intake of breath. The first anaconda slid onto lad and lifted its head, staring at them.
AJ moved to his knees and bowed as they had done for Flreu. He felt Brian doing the same beside him. “Greetings, honored elder.” AJ deliberately left the name off, knowing that they would not want that spoken out loud.
‘Greetings, Alyck of the elves.’ A powerful mind voice sent to him. The words reverberated along the bond so that Brian heard them as well. ‘Who is this one you bring with you? He is like you, we see. Changed the way that you were.’
‘Yes, honored elder. He is Brian, my heart song. Nephew to Tadhg, great grandson to Kieran.’
‘Honored are his bloodlines. He is welcome with us. Now tell of this need that has you call us this way, for we know it is grave, else you would not be here.’
They were steadily becoming surrounded by anacondas. AJ and Brian were still bowed, their faces held respectfully downwards. A nudge brought AJ up, and he was silently given permission for them both to rise. The two men sat on their haunches, looking around at the amount of anacondas that had gathered. AJ looked at them all, and knew there were even more nearby. This was the council of elders.
Once he told them why he was there, AJ knew that everything would change for them. They had predicted something like this happening one day; it was the reason they had hid. Though they had said they hadn’t known how it would happen, they had feared that Twyla would somehow try to find a way to finish the job.
Now he was here to tell them that their fears were justified. That one man was going to do the unthinkable; resurrect the most evil magician of all time and loose him on the world. His heart broke to look at them all as they watched him. To be in this current form was so, wrong. They deserved to be free.
This was one of the reasons AJ had to fight. So that beings like the dragons would be free to live as they once had. To soar the skies. Not to be bound down here on the ground in forms that were not their own. Forced to hide away their true grace and beauty.
The dragons felt his regard, his admiration, as well as Brian’s, and they basked in it. No matter what form they were in, or how long it had been since they’d been around anyone else but one another, one thing about dragons stayed the same. They lived by a rigid code of honor and respect; and they gloried in the admiration that they received.
Meeting the eyes of the most honored elder, AJ took a deep breath. He spoke out loud, so that all could hear him, the words that he knew would set their world on edge.
“At the celebration of life, a mage known as Rothalo seeks to resurrect Twyla and merge their spirits so that he can bring him back to our world.”