Chapter 48

Marcie met with Aldren several times over the next couple of weeks.

The secrecy was exciting in the heat of the moment. She bathed afterwards.

She had been running some errands, however her mind kept on wondering to Dara. He was flying over the treetops and his joy as the wind fluttered over his scales and caught his wings was infectious.

"What are you smiling at?" Miss Maiden asked,

"Nothing" Marcie said happily, Dara tucked in his wings and angled his head down, speeding towards the trees like an arrow before snapping his wings out again and swooping to a halt, so close to the trees that his back talons caught the leaves of an evergreen, he cried out in exhilaration.

"There it is again" Miss maiden said smiling, "What has caused this surge of joy I wonder?"

"Nothing" Marcie said, as Dara startled a flock of birds resting in a tall tree.

"It has nothing to do with your outsider does it?" Miss maiden asked,

"No" Marcie said truthfully,

"Then what is it? You have not been yourself lately" she said, folding apiece of fabric and pulling a stray thread from her line of perfect stitching.

"I know Junca has been drinking again-" Marcie stiffened at her fathers name "-but that does not explain your mood darling"

Marcie shrugged, she did not want to think about her father, he had not been back to the house since that day and she was thankful, she did not know what she would do if she saw him again. Dara was a good distraction. And Aldren, but in a very different way.

Miss Maiden was watching her, when she did not respond she sighed, put down the piece she was working on and walked around the counter till she stood in front of Marcie, She looked up at her quite seriously, then said,

"Have you lost your flower to one of the outsiders?"

Marcie started, Dara disappeared from her mind in an instant, she stared at Miss Maiden, suddenly afraid.

But she saw no judgement In her eyes, only concern.

After a moment she looked down at the ground and nodded.

She heard Miss Maiden take a deep breath and prepared herself for the blow to come.

"Oh Marcie" she said, and Marcie looked up to see tears in her eyes.

Her mother figure reached out and touched her cheek,

"Which one?" she asked quietly,

"Aldren"Marcie said equally as quietly, then she realised that Miss Maiden may not know his name, "The tall clean shaven one" she elaborated,

Miss Maiden nodded,

"Are you taking precautions?" she asked,

"Yes, Dafne has some Chemske Leaf at her home, she told me she gives it to Kena to stop her from having children"

"Good...good"Miss Maiden said, letting her hand fall, then she forced a smile that did not reach her eyes, "Well, off you go darling, those shirts wont get to Farmer Percy by themselves"

Marcie nodded, grateful for an excuse to leave, she picked up the bundle of shirts and turned to leave when Dara grabbed her attention.

She saw through his eyes, in all the wonderful colours that only he saw the world in, the different spots of colour that showed all the small creatures in the treetops beneath him, and followed his gaze to some particular spots of colour, larger than the rest, moving steadily. He sent her the image of tearing teeth and snarls and she realised they were wolves, a large party of wolves, she thanked him for showing them to her (Wolves could mean trouble for the village) but he directed her gaze to another large collection of colours.

Dara flew quietly and cautiously, landing on a tree branch he shuffled down the tree until he could see the creatures closer, his caution was justified. Last time he had gotten to close to the Daygon they had fired at him.

The same female Daygon led her two companions who flanked Dafne on her smaller grey horse, plus another Daygon who trotted next to her who had not come with the others the last time.

Dara shivered a little in alarm.

Marcie calmed him and send him a questioning thought which he understood.

Taking to the air again, he flapped his wings hard until he was so high the forest stretched below him for as far as his eyes could see. To the south she saw a clearing with a large body of water, she assumed it to be the village and Dara confirmed it to be so.

The Daygon were not far, given their speed they would be within sight of the village in a few short hours.

Marcie snapped back into her body, ignoring the shirts she ran out of the shop hearing Miss maiden call out her name.

She ran straight to the Hall, only slowing as she came within sight of it. She caught her breath and scrambled for an excuse to tell Roor how she knew Dafne was returning.

She had thought of one when she saw Kena come out of the Hall and spot her.

She stopped dead, her eyes went wide and she backed away and then scurried off in the opposite direction to the one she clearly wanted to go.

Marcie ignored this and went through the great door to the Hall and knocked on Roor's office door.

She took the quiet grunt to be an acknowledgement and went in.

When Roor looked up he leaped to his feet in surprise, and a little fear.

Marcie stilled, Roor had never reacted to her like this,

"What is wrong?" she asked quizzically, her hand still on the door handle,

Roor stared at her for a long while before breathing out slowly and lowering himself into his chair,

Shaking his head, "Nothing" he said gruffly, "Nothing is wrong"

He coughed, still staring at her, "How can I help you No Ones Bride?"he asked

It was hard for Marcie not to squirm under his stare, she straightened her spine and said,

"A Daygon came across me in the forest and told me what the rest of his party would be ascending on the village soon, with Dafne"

The lie slipped out so easily she was surprised it did not get stuck in her throat, she disliked untruths but managed to keep her gaze even and held Roor's.

"A Daygon" he said slowly, "Came to you to tell you more of them were coming here?" he said, his voice disbelieving,

"He said they were escorting Dafne back to us" she said,

"I see" was all he said,

"I thought I should warn you" she added after he made no move to act upon the information,

"So that you could warn the villagers, prepare them"

"Yes of course" Roor said, he raised his voice "Armin!"

And his youngest son Armin entered from a hidden side room,

"Start knocking on doors son, tell them Dafne is returned to us" Roor told him,

"And tell the outsiders to make themselves scarce" Marcie added,

The boy looked to his father who hesitated then nodded, and he ran off.

Marcie turned to leave,

"Marcie"Roor said,

She turned back, "Yes?"

He appeared to wish to say something, but after a moment closed his mouth and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

Marcie left, feeling very confused.

She checked with Dara to make see where the Daygon were, he was following from a safe distance.

She ran back to her house, grabbed her bow, quiver and hunting knife in case she ran into the wolves Dara had shown her and set off into the forest to intercept the intruders.

Marcie followed her perception of Dara to find the Daygon. He was directly above them and she felt him grow stronger the closer she got.

Luckily the ground was dry which allowed her to travel quickly and in no time at all she came close enough to hear quiet voices speaking in the musical lilting language that the Daygon used.

She trod carefully, hiding but not sure why, the memory of the arrow flying through the air towards Dara at the forefront of her mind.

She took her bow in hand and stepped out of the trees in front of the horses, far enough away so as to not spook them.

It did not matter, four arrow were suddenly and immediately aimed at her heart and head. She froze, not daring to breath.

"Oh put em away yah maroons, its only Marcie" Came Dafne's voice and Marcie had never been happier to hear it.

The old woman dismounted and Marcie could not help herself, she ran forward, forgetting for a moment the readied bows sighted upon her, and caught Dafne in an embrace, lifting her off her feet and eliciting a gasp of surprise from her mentor. She set her down hurriedly, embarrassed by her display of affection.

"Missed me did ya girl?" Dafne asked, not hiding her pleased grin,

"What can I say" Marcie said happily, "Its so boring without you here"

"Bah" Dafne said, waving her hands dismissively, "Right come one en, lets ge back an see what mischief ya wrought since I been gone"

The Daygon put away their bows and arrows in one swift motion, the stranger coughed discreetly to get her attention, Marcie turned to him.

He was dressed exactly the same as the others except for swirling vine like markings that travelled up his arms and crawled onto his neck and, most noticably, his hair was blood red. Marcie could not see any sign of dye on his scalp and she was so fascinated by the colour that she almost missed what he said,

"How is it that you were able to find us, fair one?" he said in heavily accented old language,

She scrambled for a moment to explain, but Dafne interjected,

"Marcie is a master hunter Tri'calla" she explained, "Ain't nothin she canny track"

'Tri'calla' grunted and turned away in dismissal.

The woman Daygon nodded at Marcie,

"Well met 'Marcie No ones Bride'" she said, as if she found the name amusing,

Marcie nodded shortly, then remembered the motion they had made when they greeted Dafne, she did not fall to her knees but placed the fingers of her right hand on her lips then her forehead.

The woman looked delighted, she turned to her companions and said something to them in their language, Marcie felt that she had done something inappropriate and blushed, when the woman returned the gesture.

Realived she had not caused offence she waved for them to keep going, she settled next to Dafne's horse, lengthening her strides to keep up, the old woman leaned down and said quietly,

"Me thinks they like ya girly"

The group were greeted in the village square by the whole village, Dafne was greeted respectfully enough but most of the people had clearly come to clap eyes upon the Daygon. The one with the red hair got particular attention.

Marcie spied Aldren and Jin standing to the back of the crowd, brooding silently.

She saw the Daygon with red hair focus on them and his mouth twitch in amusement.

She left Dafne and made her way through the crowd to Aldren and Jin, when she neared she heard Jin say to Aldren,

"If I only had my sword..."

"Four against one? I do not like your odds"

"Well you would presumably help me, and Basti, three against four is better odds, where is he anyway?"

"Off snooping around possible? All the villagers are here so it is a perfect opportunity"

Marcie paused, Sebastian was snooping? She ducked out of the crowd leaving the two outsiders, as she left she heard Jin say,

"It is as if he came here merely to taunt you"

She ran to the Tavern and when she could not see Sebastian in the main room she went upstairs, stopping to talk to Luce and cuddle Myriam on the way. The door to his room was open but he was not onside.

She ran to the Hunters homes and knocked on Breen's front door. He answered and looked surprised to see her,

"Marcie?"

"Is...wait, are you not interested in seeing the Daygons in the village square?"she asked, momentarily thrown off track,

Breen waved his hand in an acutely feminine way that somehow looked good on him,

"I have had enough of outsiders my dear" he said dismissively,

"So you haven't seen Sebastian" she asked,

"Why no, why do you ask?"

"If you see him ask him to try and keep Jin and Aldren from attacking their enemy if you please, but do not tell him it came from me" she said,

Breen nodded,

"If  I see him" he said, "I will tell him for you dear cousin"

Marcie turned to leave then paused,

"You should go see the Daygon Breen, they're ever so pretty" she told him,

"Hmm, maybe will" he said with a wink,

Marcie walked away and spent the next couple of hours searching for Sebastian around the village, but could find no trace of him. Defeated, she prayed to the Goddess that he was not off making trouble and went to see Dafne (after checking that Jin and Aldren were deep in their cups in the Tavern)

She arrived at Dafne's cottage just as the Daygon were leaving, this time the woman lifted the fingers of her right hand to her lips then flung them away and down, Marcie assumed this to be a sign for saying goodbye, so she returned it and the woman appeared ever so pleased.

The Daygon mounted their horses, the spare one that Dafne had ridden followed them obediently.

Dafne was pottering around her rooms, putting all the things from her saddle bags away,

"Sweet Goddess Marcie!" she growled, "I canny find anythin in this mess"

"Its tidy" Marcie said innocently,

"Not tidy if I canny find nothin ya maroon" she grumbled,

Suddenly she froze, the bottle she held in her hand halfway to the shelf slipped and smashed on the floor. She stood still as a statue her back to Marcie.

Marcie reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, calling her name gently,

"Dafne? Dafne what is it?"

Dafne slowly turned around, her pupils had enveloped her iris until there was nothing but black, and the blackness looked straight through her.

"Hurry Marcie No Ones Bride" Came Dafne's voice, as if from very far away,

"He must not die Marcie No Ones Bride. You can stop it"

Marcie reeled away from the thing that was not Dafne,

"What do you mean?" she asked, her heart racing,

"Save him Marcie No Ones Bride, save him, save him, save him, GO NOW!"the voice suddenly roared, Dafne's mouth opening wide.

Marcie scrambled away from it, and ran out the door. Dara registered her confusion and she showed him what had just occurred, he took to the air immediately, somehow knowing before her what the thing that was not Dafne had meant, he began searching the trees for the Daygon.

As she ran the still early spring air was split by a howl that chilled Marcie to the bone, and when the howl had faded more howls joined it.

She was running fast before it registered, whether the howl was far or near she could not tell, not with her exceptional hearing, Dara knew however, and he began flying like mad towards the source of the howls.

She still had her bow and her knife, she ran as fast as she could, jumping over roots and pushing off tree trunks, all efforts of staying unheard gone. She was half in the forest and half above it as Dara's wings beat the air faster and faster.

He caught sight of them at the same time as Marcie heard growls close by. A horse neighed aggressively and then there was a crash followed by a squeal and a whine, presumably as one of the Daygon horses kicked a wolf.

Marcie skidded to a stop and wrenched her bow off her back and notched an arrow, her heart pounded from the mad dash and from fear. She heard the horse snort and stamp angrily just to the left of her, she took a deep breath, stilled her shaking hands by tightening them on her bow then stepped around the tree that blocked her view, drawing the string to her ear as she did.

In one glance she saw one of the huge Daygon horses pawing the ground, head low while a white wolf, nearly the horses equal in beauty if it weren't half starved snarled at it. She saw that the wolf was holding its front paw aloft, possible broken from when the horse reared.

In the time it took her to take this all in the wolf turned its golden eyes to meet hers.

She released the arrow, it took the beast straight through its throat, pinning it to the trunk of a tree where it struggled as the blood poured before falling still.

The horse rose from its aggressive stance and cantered off, the dense foliage no hamper to its path.

Marcie left the dead wolf and, following Dara's lead, found the first body.

It was one of the male Daygon, his knife was in his hand and two dead wolves lay a little way off, but he had not stopped the three remaining wolves who now feasted on his neck, throat and thigh.

They were distracted so it was easy for her to notch an arrow and send it straight into the first wolfs heart and the seconds eye and the thirds throat.

With no time to survey her work she carried on a little way till she found the rest of the pack.

Arrows and the bodies of fallen wolves littered the earth. The red headed Daygon lay unmoving on the ground, the other male had sustained a leg wound but still held a drawn bow defiantly, behind him was another figure and Marcie realised with a start that it was Sebastian. What was he doing here?

She was distracted from this wondering when she saw the woman, she had both her knife and her sword on the ground in front of her, she was kneeling and held her hands away from her body her eyes down cast. She appeared to be trying to communicate with the some fifteen wolves that remained.

She jabbered on in that sing song language, bending her body downwards as if praying, an easy meal.

All fifteen starved wolves salivated as they took in the warrior who appeared to be begging them to eat her, they paid no head to Marcie, who stood to the side.

As she watched, a large wolf, jet black with white paws, better fed than the others prowled nearer to the woman, saliva dripped from his jaws, he was clearly the Alpha, not giving herself time to think better and ignoring Dara's alarm she stepped forward and fired an arrow. However in her haste it fell short and thudded into the ground near the Alphas paw.

Fifteen pairs of yellow hungry eyes turned to her and bay of snarls and growls filled the air.

Her hand scrambled at her quiver for another arrow but it met only empty air.

Well shit.

With nothing else to do she slowly drew herself up to her full height and stared the lead wolf in the eye.

All hunters knew what to do when confronted by a wolf, hungry or not, she took even measured breaths to disguise the pounding of her heart, showing no fear and began baking away slowly.

The wolves followed her progress, the big one prowling closer.

She felt Dara coming closer and closer and knew he would be within sight soon, she could see the Daygon in her peripheral vision, she could not let them see him, how would they react? What would they do? She did not know but she could not risk it. She felt Dara ready himself to attack so she did the one thing you must never do when face to face with a pack of hungry wolves.

She ran.

Away from the Daygon and Sebastian she fled in a zigzag pattern she knew would do her no good against the wolves agile and swift feet.

No sooner had she turned to run the wolves took chase, snarling all the while. They spread out in order to trap and corner her, she ran harder, her bow slipping with sweat in her hand and her quiver bumping painfully on her back.

She slid under a fallen tree, turned right and scrambled over a another, trying to break up the wolves path, make it harder for them, she heard their claws grip the bark as they jumped over it with ease.

She felt wind at her back then claws sink into the flesh of her shoulders, she screamed and threw herself onto the ground, rolling, feeling the claws slide away, as the wolf careened off. She scrambled backwards on her hands and knees when she saw a wolf dart towards her, she notched an arrow and fired it into the beast before the action had even registered, its dead weight hit her in the chest and her head slammed into a tree root causing her vision to go black for a moment and all sound to cease.

Sound came back to her slowly, she could feel her arms so she put them under the wolf and heaved him off her, she found her knife in her belt and drew it, slashing wildly all around her. Her vision began to clear slowly and she saw the wolves pacing towards her and couldn't even scream as they advanced.

A large black shape fell out of the trees and landed on the nearest wolf to her.

Dara sank his teeth into the wolfs neck and bones crunched instantly, he tucked in his wings and shook the creatures to hasten its demise then flung it away from him.

Another wolf, incensed by its companions death, leaped snaring onto Dara's back, but the dragon was too quick for it and flipped so the long talons on his back paws could rake at the wolfs underbelly, opening up huge gashes that took the fight straight out of it, enough for Dara to climb out from under it and leap onto the next wolf to get too close, this one clamped its jaws on to his neck causing Marcie to cry out but Dara hardly noticed, the strong scales that covered his body more than able to withstand teeth, and then one of the spikes that ran down his neck speared the wolf through the top of its jaw and its attack changed into a scramble to get away, which Dara helped by pushing it away with his front claws, slashing open its neck as he did so.

The other wolves pulled up short, unsure how to proceed with this fierce creature.

Dara, his scales slick with blood, slunk, head low and fangs bared until he stood in front of Marcie. He puffed and black smoke plumed out of his nostrils.

The Alpha wolf ducked its head low and bared its own monstrous teeth, Marcie was aware that Dara and the Alpha were about the same size, she did not know who would win, yesterday she would have said the wolf, but now she was not sure.

Dara lifted his long neck, drew it back then opened his mouth and a ball of flame the size of Marcie's fist belched from his open jaws and slammed into the tree next to the Alpha leaving a blackened hole where it hit.

The Alpha needed no more encouragement, it turned and fled, its fellows following quickly behind him.

Marcie waited until she could no longer hear the panting breath and paws pounding on the earth before she sank back against a tree with a sigh of relief. Her heart finally began to slow and she began to shiver as the fight left her.

Dara remained vigil for a while longer before abruptly relaxing and joining her. He licked her face and rubbed his head on her chin, she wrapped her arms around him and breathed in his smokey smell,

"How did you do that?" she asked, somewhat in awe of him. He puffed his chest out proudly,

"I'll never need to light any fires ever again" she told him, and he rested his head on her chest happily.

Marcie could have easily remained lying there with Dara forever but as the fright wore off she remembered the Daygon and unhappily got up, Dara protested but understood, so he led her back to where the woman was and flew to the top of the nearest tree to keep watch.

The woman was now tending to the red headed man while the injured one kept his bow drawn, his eyes roaming.

She stepped slowly from the trees and found herself in danger of being speared by a Daygon arrow for the second time. When he saw it was her the Daygon lowered his bow, his eyes going wide. She must look a state, her cloths ripped and covered in mud and bits of tree, Dara had no doubt wiped a lot of blood on her, she probably looked like a savage.

She examined the man's leg wound but he was standing on it so it must not be that bad, the red haired man however.

The woman was talking in a constant stream of harsh sounding words that from her tone could only be curses, huge gashes covered the man's chest and stomach and Marcie could see organs through all the blood, his eyes were open and screwed up in pain, his lips pinched closed so as not to cry out as the woman held her hands over the worst of the cuts and tried to keep the pieces from coming out that shouldn't.

Thinking quickly, Marcie slipped off her furs and stripped off her shirt, she began ripping it into strips like she had seen Dafne use to bind wounds and, with the help of the woman, tied them around the man's belly and chest to staunch the worst of the bleeding and keep him together.

"We need to get him back to Dafne" Marcie told the woman, who simply nodded, she turned to the other man and nodded at him, he put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly, nothing happened for a while then the sound of hooves and two of the horses cantered out of the trees.

There was no time for finesse, Marcie and the woman picked the red haired man up, legs and arms and slung him over the horse, Marcie had to rest, her shoulders were very painful and the woman informed her she had some deep scratches on them, also every muscle hurt and she was bone tired, it was only then that Marcie remembered Sebastian, she ran back to him, and saw he had near the same wounds as the Daygon, more makeshift bandages then he too was hoisted onto a horse and the sorry party trooped back towards the village.

Marcie focused on putting one foot in front of the other, Dara giving her a little strength when she thought she might collapse.

Looking at the woman, she could see that she did not appear to be tired at all, even the man, although injured, was alert.

Bloody Daygon.

Sick of the silence and needing a distraction, Marcie asked,

"What do I call you?"

The man looked her over then looked away, the woman however, said something that sounded like, "Svetatessa",

"That is what they call me" she said, and jerked her head at the man,

"They call him 'Kesuvanna', and that" she nodded at the prone man on the horse,

"Is Duruin. The Tri'calla, you say 'prince' of our people"

Well.