A Song of Askaldenfirsts and Dragons. Book one: The outlanders (Part I-IV)
Chapter 7: Edelmer

Lanialis woke up. She saw Edelmer sitting next to her on the bed and holding her hand. The elven hand felt so tiny in his palm. The warrior’s blue-grey eyes shimmered with mixed feelings, a little joy, a little sadness, a little concern... a little love.

She felt great. Three days had passed since the argiphone had brought the elf-woman and the snunorf to the capital of Eileenelia. During this time, experienced arqilunian healers had fully restored Lanis’ health. Edelmer, instead of admiring the architecture of the most graceful and majestic city that Ermir knew, sat next to the girl, occasionally demanding the meat of shiglinars, only they had three levels of curved horns and their ears looked like elven. Also, warrior demanding delicious elven cakes. When his stomach was full, he instantly fell asleep, stretched out in the comfortable but still not a very large chair.

“And it seems to me that I need to kiss you once again, Edelmer,” the arqilunian said suddenly.

“Again,” the warrior looked at her with a smile and poured himself and Lanis into mugs an arqilunian light alcoholic drink, alvulus. “Do you understand how ridiculous it sounds?” the warrior handed her a mug, and the Lanis drank it in one gulp.

“Are you kidding? You’ve saved my life and now sitting next to me, and did not go to a tavern to wash down the grief of the loss of your hair,” she smiled. “By the way, the nearest tavern is right here, not far from this hospital.” She lowered her eyes to the floor with a fake smile. “Do you love me?”

“Khrhm,” the warrior choked and put down the mug of foamy potion. “We’ve talked about this before! Why are you still playing this stupid game?”

She got from a bed and came close to him and coquettishly poked her finger into his powerful chest.

“Yes, I play! And I thank you for saving my life, Edelmer Arnwaldskar,” she said, suddenly reaching out, and, standing on the tips of her socks, clung to him, and their lips met, the elf’s nose felt the warrior’s light stubble.

Then they lie in bed and fall asleep.

During sleep, another arqilunian appeared in the mind of the warrior.

“Edelmer, this is not a dream,” said Arinella. The elf wore a battle arqilunian light armor made of leather. Next to her, there was a tonnebeard, sitting on a huge black karkhash. “She’s deceiving you! To replace out the truth, you need to go to the Belt of Twilight.”

“Or perhaps you’re the one who is deceiving me!” Edelmer heard his own inner voice. “And you want me to die in the mountains?!”

The green-eyed elf-woman smirked and rolled her eyes. Muttering something indistinct to herself, Arinella moved her hands and a place appeared in front of Edelmer’s eyes, not far from the Belt of Twilight, where he saw the familiar northerners, two hundred ninety-two snunorfs from Hoogmeerfall. They were tired, trapped between the desert and big mountains. The image was not sharp, but he thinks he saw a Thedgar, talking with…with… Edelmer can’t look closer, but he thought he saw himself.

“Lanialis knew about them, but she didn’t tell you anything,” he heard the elf’s voice. “They are heading home, but a big group of sand elves, the arnadacres, awaits them. Together with the isterses and wallitarfs, they were cut off the snunorfs way to the north. The army gathering in the south and I think Kaushmanashtoon prepare for war! If they will decide to invade Eileenelia and Farderland, sooner or later they will intend to take Norvinoria as well.”

Norvinoria was located in the north of Ermir, it was a vast country and bordered in the south with two kingdoms, in the southeast with Eileenelia, the homeland of the arqilunians, and in the southwest with Farderland, inhabited by the tonnebeards. But to the south of the two countries mentioned, there was a gigantic territory called Kaushmanashtoon, the country of isterses, swarthy dwellers, and arnadacres, the sand elves, and the wallitarfs, the desert dwarfs, which can survive under the scorching suns of Ermir, also the azdairik lived in Kaushmanashtoon, their beautiful women with monolid eyes were great assassins, with supreme speed abilities, and sometime azdairiks was faster than the elves.

Arinella showed Edelmer an image in which he saw several thousand warriors. Arnadacres marching with isterses. Many azdairiks was on their big ashklahars, animals which look like giant wolves. Jartraxies are flying creatures with huge wings, there was not many of them left in Ermir, their heads resembling an earth bull and the body looks like an earthly man with four hands. Yadonagrishes are giant predatory butterflies with the bodies and heads of snakes. They flew over the foot troops of Kaushmanashtoon’s army…

The warrior woke up, Lanis was standing next to him. He knew from her blue eyes that she was ashamed.

“Did you know?” Edelmer asked.

“Yes,” the arqilunian answered.

Edelmer stood up abruptly, grabbed his clothes, and, pulling on his pants, tunic and boots, he rushed to run. Long rows of streets, a market, entertainment theaters, statues of gods, temples, taverns, even gigantic library was neighboring trees, but the architecture and inhabitants of Grandavalnall flew before the eyes of the rushing warrior.

Friends and neighbors with whom he gathered the Tears of the Dragon during the flowering period, hunted wild creatures, wilfhayers, similar to earthly boars only with even more massive lower fangs, and huge horns, were now so far from home, in a foreign country, in a hostile place. Vividly recalling the picture that Arinella had shown him, he saw the unclear face of his friend Thedgar talking with the Edelmer’s copy…Who was that? It can’t be him obvious.

It has been passed several days since northerners disappeared from Hoogmeerfall thanks to the oldenmessers or someone else. Moved to the sandy Daardendrianish desert, the northerners were at first was confused, but quickly realized that they were somewhere in Kaushmanashtoon. Although some of the snunorfs had ventured far south, everyone knew roughly the geography of Ermir and could orient themselves, especially if the horizon was a black strip of mountains, almost completely hidden in the gloom of darkness. And in the case of the southwestern desert, surrounded by mountains to the north, the southern Belt of Twilight was easily distinguishable. Knowing that they would die if they went further south and tried to conquer the inaccessible mountains, the snunorfs decided to move north, but they were forced to return and try their luck in the shadows of cold mountains.

Edelmer knew that northerners could die in the dark snowy mountains. It was summer, and they were lightly dressed, and the snunorfs didn’t know any magic spells as the arqilunians did, for example, elves could conjure a fur cape. The only chance to save them is to return to Lanis and ask for help. The arqilunians may have a lot of argiphones, even a few giant birds could transport the snunorf pretty quickly to almost anywhere in Ermir.

He stopped running; the picture of the trapped snunorfs did not leave his head, as well as the picture of the army of Kaushmanashtoon. And the warrior rushed back.

Running into the hospital, opening the door of the room where Lanis must be, he did not replace anyone. But he saw the arqilunian woman of the medical staff, and he barked, “Where did Lanialis go?”

“She was discharged, and el-el Lanialis GrenRattik went to her estate.”

“The GrenRattik estate?” asked Edelmer.

“No, her family’s estate, the KelGalanod family house.”

“KelGalanod?”

“KelGalanod, yes, her estate is impossible to miss. It’s in the north of the city, near the river,” the elf-woman answered and her ears sparkled with white for a few seconds.

Edelmer ran out of the hospital. To drive away feelings of worry about his kin, he thought about Lanialis. “Why would an arqilunian, born in the capital, leave her country and go abroad, to Norvinoria, to the small elven settlement of Luanfalash, and marry this maniac fiend?! She couldn’t replace a good elf in the glorious and majestic Grandavalnall?”

After asking another young woman about where the estate of the KelGalanod family might be, the warrior thanked the gods for the fact that once the ancient kings of the Ermir had agreed to create a union language, which made life easier for citizens and improved trade, diplomatic and other relations. When he reached the estate, seeing the significant, richly decorated, three-story house with many trees surrounding it, he again wondered about Lanis’ decision.

As he was about to enter the house, the front door suddenly opened and Lanis ran out to him,

“I knew you’d come back,” she said.

“Lanis, I need help. I want to take my countrymen out on argiphones! They are dying in the mountains!”

“It’s impossible!” the elf-woman exclaimed, moving away from him. “You don’t understand, you don’t know, this is a part of the ritual!”

“I think you don’t want to tell me the truth. You and Arinella are the same! Both of you have been deceiving me since the moment you came into my life!” the warrior was annoyed, while he argued with Lanis, the northerners could die in the frozen dark.

“Arinella is right, you won’t understand, we think the war is coming, and the northerners must go–”

“They can die for Tarragorad’s sake!” Edelmer interrupted her. “Sand elves cut their passage, they surrounded by desert and mountains range. No one crossed the Belt of Twilight. No one! Do you know that in ancient snunorf language it was called ‘Ondargardmalbergen’, which translated as ‘evil mountains that guard the dead sky’?”

“Sorry, the oldenmessers thought that the brave and strong snunorfs would go there because it would be strange to walk in the hot desert, because there is snow in the mountains, and snow is water, besides, the northerners are used to the harsh climate–”

“They are in summer clothes for Sirridwyn’s sake!” Edelmer interrupted her once again. “Your stupid ancient elves don’t have a brain to think! These brainless idiots decided to sacrifice my countrymen, my friends, and you indulged them?!” the warrior was furious. The realization that he was not only deceived and used but also that they involved the northerners with whom he grew up, hunted, enjoyed stories, joked and laughed, enraged him.

“But the ancient prophecy–”

“Fuck you and your prophecy!” the warrior interrupted her. And paused curbing his anger. “I remember how Arinella spoke about the ancient prophecy, about the kiss of the arqilunian and the snunorf. But this city is full of life! In the homeland of your ruthless husband, life was also in full swing... After some time, Arinella appeared to me in a dream, warning that there was no ancient prophecy and that the oldenmessers had made up it for their selfish purposes, but she did not give any explanations. And today in my dream she showed me a picture... I saw my friend and my neighbors! They could die at any moment!”

“Sorry for the lie… The prophecy implied the sacrifice of the northerners, so I took a piece of the truth about getting behind the Belt of Twilight. The main goal is to destroy the army of Yashkirran Vindrick with the help of the dragon. Some arqilunians thinks that Yashkirran Vindrick is a rebel and soon will overthrow king Hausafanam II and our peaceful time will come to an end. Yashkirran is a great commander; he is an isters, who has gathered not only ermirians but many creatures to fight for the glory of Kaushmanashtoon.”

Suddenly they heard a crash shaking the surface. Looking at the sky, they saw how a huge star, Iglara moves, moves away from the planet, collapsing. Very few knew what the dragon had done. Even if someone saw how something rushes to the star, they didn’t attach any importance to it, didn’t see the dragon. The dragon fulfilled his duty that even the oldenmessers didn’t know about. Only by sacrificing himself Gaaldalksirin able to establish a balance... At least, so the dragon thought.