Master's Mind (The Dagger of Dragon Rose Book 1)
Oath

There are oaths that must be kept. - Ranan Moonwalker

Smoke billowed lazily into the sky as the funeral pyre burned ever lower to the ground. Cremation was not a common practice among the dark elves, but in certain cases they would burn the body if an unknown disease caused the death. In the case of Sharlandarya Kaardrannan, where there were two reported causes of death, they cremated the body just to be safe.

Several people in the service of the secret keeper had reported a strange illness in house where they worked. They reported several cases, but only the case of the secret keeper was verified. Then came the two strangers and the outcast. They claimed she was poisoned, but the dark elf healers had never heard of a poison that would cause such symptoms, so they burned the body.

Shaunna stood silently beside the burial pool, watching her grandmother’s ashes twirl and mix into the blue water. She had seen dark elf burials before, but they had always been some unknown face to her. This time it was a close relative, one that she loved dearly. She still couldn’t accept that her last living relative, her grandmother, was gone. She would never see her smile again. Never again hear her voice.

Taren watched Shaunna carefully as she stood next to the pool staring into the water. In his mind he ran over all the information that he had learned in the brief moment that he had met her grandmother. He had learned that someone named Cera was the keeper of the Sun Fire Orb. Shaunna seemed to know who this enigmatic person was and where to replace her. He had learned that Shaunna was to be his wife.

The marriage had been arranged since they were children. Shaunna had known this and had kept the information from him. He thought he should be angry with her for this, but in the face of the recent tragedy he could not bring himself to direct his anger at her. He was also growing very fond of her. He even thought that he might love her. The last piece of information he had learned came not from the old dark elf, but from Hope in response to a comment that had been made. He found out that the Crystal Blades that his party carried had all been banished from the Crystal Cavern, where the weapons had made their home. He had also been told that the Weapons had become a very proud race, convinced of their own importance and immortality, and Maxx was planning on teaching them all a lesson in humility and mortality.

Taren approached Shaunna, placing his hand gently on her shoulder. She turned to face him, her tear streaked face bringing an unexpected pain to his heart. He suddenly wanted to take all of her pain away. He wanted to see her smiling face again.

“Are you going to be all right?” He asked her.

Shaunna smiled briefly, making her sad face lighten a little. “I will be. It’s not every day you lose your last living relative. I am now the last in my family. ”

Taren drew her close in a tight embrace. Shaunna just cried silently into his shoulder. They stood next to the pool for a long time, and Taren just let Shaunna cry. It was passing midday when she finally pulled herself out of his embrace.

“I’m better now.” She said, wiping the last tears from her eyes. “Come with me, I want to show you something.”

He followed her to her grandmother’s house, where he noticed something that he had missed in his rapture caused by the sunrise. On the east side of the house there was a long bridge that led to another large house. Shaunna led him across the bridge to the other house. This house was even bigger than the Kaardrannan home. The door was emblazoned with an inlaid figure of a black unicorn. The arched doorway was adorned with carved figures of some sort of vine plant. This house had ornate bay windows next to the front door and on each side of the house. The roof was made of shingles, unlike any of the other houses in the village. This house looked almost out of place in the humble dark elf village.

“Who lives here?” Taren’s voice was filled with awe as he voiced the question.

Shaunna smiled a little as she spoke. “This is your house.”

Taren didn’t know what to say.

“Or it’s your family’s house that we Dark Elves have provided for them.” She patted his shoulder. “I will let you explore your house. I need to go and take care of my grandmother’s estate.” She turned and walked quickly across the bridge.

Taren approached the ornate door cautiously. He wasn’t sure what to think of this. His parents had stayed in this house when they came to visit Shaunna’s family. There would probably be memories in this house that he didn’t have any knowledge of. He paused for a long time with his hand on the handle. Finally, he gathered his resolve and entered his house.

The entrance hall was enormous. A dozen pillars made a type of hallway to a set of spiral staircases that spiraled in opposite directions to the second story. The tiled floor shone in the sunlight that streamed through the front windows. Thousands of tiny rainbows could be seen as the sunlight hit the large crystal chandelier in the center of the room.

A young dark elf began to descend from the second floor. When he saw Taren he stopped midway down the stairs.

“This is private property. You will need to leave.”

Taren almost laughed. “This is my house. Thank you for doing such a good job guarding it.”

“Who are you?” The dark elf asked suspiciously.

Taren bowed as he introduced himself. “I am Taren Elloy, son of Paron Elloy.”

The dark elf wasn’t convinced. “Do you have proof?”

This question took Taren by surprise. He didn’t expect to have to defend his identity in this place. “I... I don’t know. I don’t have anything of my father’s, if that’s what you mean.”

The young dark elf finished coming down the stairs to face Taren. “It is said that the Elloy children were marked. The three girls each had the marks of the dagger: the dragon, the dagger, and the rose. The boy had wings.”

Taren smiled triumphantly as he drew his cloak aside and extended his wings.

The dark elf dropped to one knee. “Forgive me, Majesty, but one can not be too careful.”

“No need for forgiveness. I am glad that you are so vigilant in your duties,” Taren replied.

“Taren Elloy, welcome to the Elloy Estate.” The young dark elf made a sweeping motion with his arm. “I am Kolan, your humble servant. Feel free to come and go as you please. Please look around while your companions prepare for your journey.”

It took them a few days to prepare for their journey. Their packs had been packed rather lightly on the journey from the Canavar den to the Black Forest, but there had been two more of them then. with the fewer numbers, and the promise of a longer trip this time. The packs were expertly packed to capacity with the provisions that they would need.

The night before they were to leave, the three of them were sitting around the main gathering room in Shaunna’s house (none of the other Dark Elves had wanted it for fear of the strange disease that had reportedly killed the previous owner). They sat in silence for a long time, each of them traveling paths in their mind that the others were unable to discern. The first to enlighten the others with his thoughts was Hope.

“Taren, can I ask you a question?”

Taren was mildly surprised. “Of course, Hope.”

“When we were fighting with the Marook you were able to attack from a distance using your sword. How were you able to accomplish this?”

Taren smiled vaguely. “While I was fighting with the Ogre just before we entered the forest, I figured out how the sword works. It was when we had our weapons locked together trying to force each other back that it happened. His weapon was the same type as mine, and we could hear each other’s thoughts.”

“Apparently my mind was stronger than his, so I was able to force him back. He then broke the weapons’ contact and attacked with a single thought on his mind. He wanted to disarm me. That’s why I dropped my sword, I wasn’t prepared for the force.”

He paused for a moment as if to consider whether he was forgetting something or not. “The weapon’s strength depends on the wielders strength of mind. The reason the swords are said to be too powerful for mortals to handle is because only weak minded people have tried to use them before, and the sword destroyed them. I was able to focus my thoughts on a distance attack from the sword, and it caused the fire to come from the sword and damage the Marook.”

Shaunna looked confused. “Then what happened when you hit Narissa with the sword?”

“The only thought on my mind was to neutralize the threat, to survive. The sword interpreted it, and caused Narissa to come to herself again.” Taren hadn’t really thought about the reasons behind the sword’s strange behavior in that instance, but the reasoning seemed to make sense.

Shaunna seemed appeased by the explanation. “It’s getting late; we should all get some sleep.”

The other two were getting tired, so there was no argument.

Taren went back to his family home to sleep, leaving the other two to do what they wanted.

Taren dreamed the same dream that night.

When Taren awoke the next morning, every detail of the dream stayed in his mind in startling clarity. The images of the creature. The images of himself. The statement that the dagger would fail. Could it all be true? Was his quest doomed to failure? Was the prophecy wrong? There were a million questions that wouldn’t be answered unless he got the orb and destroyed it.

Shaking his head, he quickly dressed and went to the kitchen. The smell of frying bacon wafted to his nostrils as he walked into the cooking area. Shaunna and Hope were already there waiting for him. Shaunna smiled brightly when she saw him.

“Good morning. Breakfast is almost ready.” Shaunna gestured to the stove. “I figured we should have a good breakfast before we go, as this may be the last time in a while that we can have one.”

Taren smiled at her as he sat down.

Breakfast consisted of bacon, eggs, and some kind of juice that Taren had never had before. After a few weeks on the road, a real breakfast was a fabulous treat. Knowing that they didn’t have much time, Taren wolfed the meal down as fast as he could without choking.

When they were all done eating, they donned their packs and got ready to travel.

“I’ll have Cera teleport us as close as she can, that way we won’t have to walk as far.” As she finished speaking the house around them dissolved, only to be replaced by forest.

It took a moment for Shaunna to ascertain where they were, not knowing how far they had been taken.

“Well, at least we don’t have to walk through the Black Forest again.” She said as she turned around only to see the black trees of the forest behind them. “It’s still going to be a two week walk.” Without another word they headed off to meet their fate. This time Hope took the lead, followed by Shaunna, with Taren taking up the rear.

They traveled northeast for three days before turning due east. In the distance they could see a mountain on the horizon. It looked like it would be at least another week before they reached it. They traveled east for four days, stopping occasionally to refill their provisions from small towns that were located just off the trail.

As they traveled further east, Taren noticed Shaunna growing aloof. She would often camp away from the fire, and never spoke to the men unless they went out of their way to talk to her. Her behavior was starting to concern him.

On the evening of the eighth day of their tiresome trek, they made camp next to a swift river. After a short meal next to the fire Shaunna quickly excused herself and retreated to the shadows outside of the firelight’s reach. Taren quietly followed her to see what the problem was.

“Shaunna, can we talk?” Taren’s voice was gentle, but Shaunna jumped from fright anyway.

“Of... course, Taren, what’s the matter?” She had been in the process of climbing into her bedroll when Taren had spoken, and the blankets were scattered when she was startled.

“I was going to ask you that question. You have been acting very strange since we left your village.”

Shaunna smiled weakly. “There are several problems, I’m not sure you’d be interested.”

Taren sat next to her. “Try me.”

Shaunna rolled her eyes. “You are impossible, did you know that?”

“Zorah, the woman that raised me, used to tell me that all the time.” Taren laughed as he spoke.

“I appreciate what you are trying to do, Taren, but I need to work this out on my own.”

Taren shook his head. “One thing I got from the human woman that raised me was the belief that a successful marriage is one where communication comes easily, and I believe that. I also believe that communication is not easy, but becomes easy with practice. We are going to be together for a long time, so I think that now would be a good time to start working on communication.”

“You aren’t angry with me?” She could just not fathom that Taren would be taking the fact that she knew about the oath, but didn’t tell him, so well. She figured he would be furious.

“No, I am not angry with you. I realize I probably should be, but there is one small detail that seems to get in the way of my anger.” Taren placed his arm around her shoulders as he spoke, drawing her close to him he said, “I’ve fallen in love with you, Shaunna. The thought of spending the rest of my life with you causes my heart to become lighter than air.”

Shaunna just couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Here was Taren, the man that should be furious with her, proclaiming his love to her. “Taren, I...”

She was unable to finish the statement as Taren turned her face to his and kissed her. This kiss was different then the one that they had shared in his bedroom in the Canavar den. No tears dripped from her cheeks to his. She resisted the kiss, but only for a moment. When she gave in to his embrace, the kiss that they shared was a long, passionate kiss, the kind that connects two beings body and soul.

Shaunna was breathless when they finally broke apart.

Taren grinned mischievously. “Now, you want to tell me what the problem is?”

Tears began to fall from the edges of Shaunna’s eyes. “I was sure you would be furious with me.” She hid her face from him. “You just alleviated two great fears, leaving only one. I am the last of my family. If something happens to me, my family will cease to exist.”

Taren turned her face so she was looking at him. “I understand. My family was dead, until I found out who I was. I will do my best to protect you, and when our children are born, you will no longer be the last of your family.”

She wrapped herself around Taren’s neck. “Thank you.”

“Come join us back in camp.”

Taren gathered up Shaunna’s bedroll, and they walked back into camp. Taren laid the bedroll he was carrying down next to his by the fire. “You should stay close to me.”

Shaunna grinned. “Whatever you say, dear.”

All three of them climbed into their bedrolls and were quickly asleep.

Up to this point the weather had been pleasant, but when they awoke the next morning heavy grey clouds covered the sky, casting a grey shadow over the land. They rose, ate a small breakfast, packed up there equipment, and started out for the mountains again.

About a half hour after they started out the rain started to fall. It began as a soft drizzle, but quickly developed into a torrential downpour that drenched them all clear to the bone. For the rest of the journey to the mountains, the rain was their constant companion. At night they found what dry places they could to sleep in, usually small caves or patches of trees where the leaf canopy was wound so tightly that it didn’t allow the rain through.

A week after Taren had officially proclaimed his feelings for Shaunna, they found themselves at the foot of a very large mountain range. A great stone spire rose into the sky in front of them, with shorter mountains drifting off from either side.

“Behold, Mt. Drakos. We should reach the lair of Silax tomorrow.” Hope was the one doing the speaking now. “On the far side we will replace the passageway that will lead us to the crystal cavern. While we are in the Mother Dragon’s lair we will need to be swift and silent. That should not be a problem for Shaunna. What do you think about your ability in such matters, Taren?” Hope still seemed uncomfortable calling Taren by his given name.

“I am confident that I will be able to be as silent as a shadow. What about you?” Taren asked.

“I will do my best.” Hope replied.