A Song of Askaldenfirsts and Dragons. Book one: The outlanders (Part I-IV)
Chapter 8: Arinella

Arinella and Arel had their hands tied and were tied to the karkhashes to follow them.

“What are you going to do with us?” Arinella asked a bald, dark-skinned old man, who was one of the tukhtaash elders.

“Most likely, we will execute you,” Anz Shabo answered.

“It’s not for you to decide,” a handsome elf put in. He has blue eyes and ash-colored hair at the roots and snow-white at the tips.

“But let me tell you, el-almeron, and I can say that they are directly responsible for the destruction of our kingdom!” Anz insisted.

El-almeron looked at him from the bottom up, the elf was taller, besides, the old man was hunched over on a karkhash. The rank of el-almeron is similar to the earthly officer rank of major.

“They are subjects of Eileenelia, dear tukhtaash, and they will be judged by... the king,” the elf turned and looked at the arqilunian king, who did not want to ride on the karkhash and was very scared of his huge tanukalai animal, who wanted the king to play with him. Aelarnal Ilfelkeer DelRaddik was no longer the same, his consciousness was gone, instead of him there was some incompetent elf, but by the arqilunians law, the king had not lost his title yet.

Anz also looked at the king with disappointment.

“Our Ikki Raak has, perhaps, mind, and even stayed out of many affairs of the state, allowing us, the elders, to lead him, but sometimes... sometimes I wished that he would have been like your king.”

“Aelarnal has become like that because of the askaldenfirst!” el-almeron answered sharply, “And when we replace her, I believe that we will all agree that she must be sentenced to death!”

“Yes, dear Erdanellar, I fully support the execution of… this creature,” the old man said.

They moved along the road. The argiphones were too exhausted to carry the elves, and the elves sent them out to seek food for themselves.

“Where do you think they’re taking us?” Arel asked Arinella.

“Probably to the Keltatrantarnall,” the arqilunian replied.

“Exactly,” Erdanellar put in, “if the dragons didn’t burn the city, then you’ll be executed there.”

Arel winced at el-almeron’s calmness. Arinella flushed.

“We have nothing to do with that... flying woman, we don’t know her! We came to the tukhtaash kingdom by chance, when we were looking for a lost companion! And you want to execute us only because we were in the wrong place at the wrong time!” Arinella said angrily.

“You are indirectly responsible for the destruction of our kingdom! Consider that is if you the ordering the murder, and someone executes it, but this is the blood of hundreds or even a thousand innocent victims on your hands! ” Anz Shabo said.

“What a logic!” Arel was surprised.

“A quite logical reasoning,” Erdanellar remarked, “You brought your Edelmer into the tukhtaash kingdom.”

“He’s not mine,” Arinella said quietly.

“I’m sorry, what?” el-almeron asked.

“Nothing,” Arinella replied.

Arel chuckled.

“If you were not brought your Edelmer,” Erdanellar continued, “the flying woman would not have brought the dragons, who would not have clashed with the argiphones, and would not have collapsed to the ground, and would not have destroyed the kingdom. You don’t need to be an investigator, prosecutor, or judge to tie these elementary events together.”

Anz Shabo smiled, and el-almeron, noticing this, said to him,

“And you, by the way, don’t get too excited. We will shelter you, you will have equal rights with our subjects of the kingdom. However, you have captured many of our missing arqilunians and forced them to work!”

“This is all because of our king! We have long wanted to abolish the terrible system of unjust slavery! But the king... He was a supporter of the traditions of the last centuries when our ancestors continued to force to work ermirians, who accidentally came to us. But the most striking thing is that after the years of work, no one left, they remained in our kingdom. Yes, some wanted revenge and killed the tukhtaashes, but others, and especially the arqilunians … Forest elves love trees, sky and air, but you must ask them why they stayed with us voluntary, instead of returning to their families?”

“Perhaps you used some kind of charm spell,” Erdanellar suggested.

The old man smiled.

“Then ask them and you’ll replace out the truth. And as for the trial, I hope that the arqilunian court is fair! Your race has always treated other races with respect and was strongly opposed to slavery.”

“True, that’s why we will try to thoroughly understand the question of the guilt or innocence of the subjects of Itskel-taash,” Erdanellar said.

An arqilunian man rode up.

“A flaming dot on the horizon, el-almeron, it seems like a dragon.”

“Call the argiphones immediately,” Erdanellar shouted, “cast a protective dome,” he looked around, small hills and a road, and no place for shelter. “Make a full circle... Hey, where are you going?” he shouted to the tukhtaashes with swords.“Swordsmen against the dragon? What are you thinking of? Can you cast magic?”

“They are our loyal and strong warriors, the honor orders them to fight, and they took a vow of silence for a year,” Anz Shabo said, “but you are right, el-almeron,” and the old tukhtaash showed them where to stand.

The old persons and children were in the center of the circle, and the warriors who had made a vow protect them, then there were archers, and elf and tukhtaash mages, and all the rest.

The dragon was approaching, it was Gaal, a dragon made of flames. There were no Argiphones in sight yet.

“Prepare to cast the magic dome, “el-almeron shouted, horrified by the dragon’s size, “now!”

The elves with the tukhtaash and half-blood mages cast together spells of the most powerful domes, which almost merged into one, and covered a circle with them.

Gaal flew up and with a terrifying roar spewed out a huge wave of flame, which pierced all the domes and incinerated part of the circle.

“Attack, use spells of cold, summon elementals!” commanded Erdanellar, seeing that several dozen elves and the same number of tukhtaash and half-bloods, several dwarfs and northerners were incinerated, and burned sand turned into pieces of rocks, some of the ermirians were still burning.

Elves created ice spears and threw them at the dragon, but even those that reached him simply disappeared at the touch of his skin flame. The tukhtaashes conjured spells of frostballs and launched them into Gaal, but it also was pointless. Several snunorfs stood up to protect the tukhtaash children, as well as their own half-blood children. Few elves summoned elementals.

The dragon turned in flight and blazed with fire again, destroying another sector of the circle, taking the lives of several children with it. One mother, seeing the death of her child, ran to the dragon in a fury, using a high jump spell, and then, drawing her sword, jumped straight to the dragon, and immediately caught fire, approaching its fiery scales, and she fell.

One old tukhtaash woman was able to summon a giant soil elemental, and it rushed to the dragon, and the dragon blazed at him, which partially melted the elemental’s structure. And although the elemental survived, he could not jump to the soaring dragon... Several ice elementals tried to launch ice spears at the dragon, he flew over them with a flame, turning them into water.

The karkhashes were so frightened that they galloped away, and Arinella and Arel, not having time to untie themselves, fell and the karkhashes dragged them across the desert.

Finally, argiphones flew in, and they formed several flocks. The giant birds were so huge that even Gaal, although he was larger than them, did not look so majestic.

One flock of six argiphones rushed straight at the dragon, he blazed with fire and destroyed two birds, roasting them almost to ashes, and their charred remains fell to the ground, not far from the scattered elves, tukhtaashes and others. Some ran away.

Seeing that this battle could not be won, Erdanellar shouted, “Retreat, take the king and children away!”

The karkhashes, which were dragging the arqilunians, suddenly stopped. Arinella and Arel were almost unconscious, they almost suffocated from the sand. An old man in a hood walked up to Arinella and uttered a spell and untied her, and she coughed. Then he did the same with Arel. The old man raised his gaze.

“Ou that is unbelievable!” the old man said. He wore a hooded cloak, his snow-white beard protruded from under the hood.

Arinella approached Arel.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Yes,” Arel answered.

“Who are you?” Arinella asked the old man.

“Wait a minute,” the old man said and disappeared.

The old man appeared on the battlefield, stepped in front of the dragon, and began to cast a spell, “Rad Amak Kil Katur Sav Nok Bar Gut Rih Takroh!” the old man said, and a powerful sand whirlwind rushed to the dragon. Gaal had to fly higher, but the whirlwind pursued him. The old man turned to the frightened ermirians and said, “Ram Saat Das Mol Akr Dir Ark Tus.” Suddenly everyone except the old man and Gaal disappeared, and the dragon continued to fight the whirlwind, trying to incinerate it with fire, but nothing worked.

Arinella saw that a sandstorm had formed where the battle was taking place and there was only one old man standing nearby, and the dragon attacked the storm. She told Arel to climb on the karkhash and climbed herself on another. Suddenly, the old man appeared in front of her again.

“Yes, it’s been more than one minute, maybe four or five, I beg your pardon. I have several options for moving. Get off the karkhashes and take my hands, it will be faster and I will spend less energy.”

Arinella looked incredulously, Arel began to get off.

“Listen, if I wanted to kill you, I... All right, all right,” the old man surrendered, “Ram Saat Das Mol Akr Dir Ark Tus,” he said, and Arinella, Arel and both karkhashes moved to the city where all the other saved ermirians were. They stood not far from the city gates of Chumbiksirinish, the city where Jamashar and Ishkmet lived before their departure.

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and a guard ran on the city wall, shouting, “The army approaches! Close the city gates!”

“Are you in charge?” The old man in the hood asked confused Erdanellar.

“I am el-almeron, and yes, I am a leader of this… small army, but I command the forest elves, and the tukhtaashes and other inhabitants of their kingdom do not obey me directly, but now they are under my protection. Let me ask you, who are you?”

“Ansellellor LialRinnetik,” the old man said, and pulled off his hood, revealing his elven ears.

“Are you an arqilunian?” Erdanellar asked in surprise.

“Um... Not really,” the old man replied evasively. “The important thing is that citizens know me as an old elf who tells children stories about other worlds, and not as an old elf that can bring many ermirians to the city gates, you know what I mean, el-almeron?”

Suddenly the old elf noticed that Arinella was approaching them. The old elf looked at her with a smile and continued to speak in a half-whisper to el-almeron.

“I want to say that the city is mainly inhabited by wallitarfs, partly by arnadacres, isterses and azdairiks. But wallitarfs, as you know, are not very fond of forest elves. I will negotiate with them, try to convince them to let you into the glorious city of knowledge. But I will not use spells. In the meantime, I suggest you to heal the wounded. And let’s agree right away, it was you who brought us here with some powerful elf magic, all right?”

“I wouldn’t want to lie,” Erdanellar remarked, “but without you, el-el Ansellellor, we would be dead. Thank you for saving us! And I will support your story,” and he bowed politely.

“What are you, really…” Ansellellor said. “If you all knew...” and he bit his tongue. “All right, I’ll be off.”

And the old elf headed for the city gates.