Song and Shadow

[Luna]

The forest was singing to her. Every bird call, every rustle of a leave, and twig snap made a great harmony in her mind. She paused in a clearing, allowing the morning light to warm her fur, her ears twitching this way and that, identifying the call of a mocking bird, the sound of a deer pulling the newly grown leaves from a shrub, the steady drip of water as the morning’s dew began to run from the trees into the undergrowth below.

Luna

Her ears snapped perked up, turning in the direction of the whisper, a pitiful whine escaped her. She hadn’t stopped for days, catching the occasional rabbit that dashed across her path. Her belly ached for food and the toll was beginning to show, her rippling muscles were fading, her ribs were beginning to show. Should she come across another wolf she would not survive the fight. A snapping of a twig snapped her attention away from the whisper as the wind changed direction, bringing with it the scent of deer.

Food or Faith?

Her stomach growled at her and she chose food, dashing into the thicket, her nose the ground and she tracked the deer, a meal she had longed for, for days. Her whispers would call to her again, they always called to her.

An hour later, her belly full, she was moving towards her whisper once more. She paused at a rock that jutted high from the ground, her inner child taking over as she climbed onto it, laughter in her heart, the song of the forest in her ears she sang, her howl was high and happy and it rang deep into the forest around her. For a moment she stood there, relishing in the life of the world around her.

The scent of dragon hit her like a wall, and her beautiful moment was cast into the shadow of her memory. Her lips curled back, snarling at nothing, her razor sharp teeth bore towards the scent.

Hush, Luna. This one will not hurt you, so long as you don’t hurt her.

She stopped snarling at nothing, but her heckles remained upright. Reluctantly she descended from her rock and headed towards the smell, the forest wasn't singing to her any more, she barely heard it, drowning out everything normal she listened for anything out of the ordinary, anything that sounded remotely like the beating of leathery wings, or the roar of fire.

She found herself on the edge of a clearing, the stink of dragon was everywhere, and so was the stink of a man. She paced round the clearing, keeping close to the forest, sniffing everything. The whisper she had been following had gone silent, and she whimpered pathetically, before letting out a long mournful howl.

[Arethar of Dheynor]

The descent from the mountain that had been his home for ten years was long. Lyanna had tried to tell him that they didn't have to stop every ten minutes, but Arethar was reluctant to leave just yet. He had made the decision to finally go after his destiny, but the decision seemed much more difficult right now. In truth, Arethar didn't want to admit what he was feeling.

He was afraid.

Lyanna was different from him. Her decision was easy, she would follow him to whatever end with no kind of fear, but Arethar wasn't a dragon. He didn't know what was out there, he didn't know if his brother and sister were still alive. All he knew was that the people who had tried to assassinate him were still in charge. Apparently, they had been disbanded, since it was their leader that had helped him escape.

"We need to move."

Arethar turned around to look at his majestic silver dragon, shaking his head. "Just wait for a few minutes."

"Wait? All I've done is wait! All you've done is wait! Wake up, Arethar, and stop being afraid."

He turned around again, this time obviously angry. "And what do you expect me to do, Lyanna? Stand tall even though everything in my life has been taken from me? Yes, I admit, I am afraid! I am afraid of what comes next, I spent all of my life being afraid, afraid of dying, afraid of you dying, afraid of my family being dead! So, excuse me, but I have EVERY RIGHT to be afraid!"

She shook her head and made her way to him. "Which is exactly why you must face your fears. Look at you, Arethar. You are not the exiled son anymore." she said, and allowed him to look at himself through her eyes.

A tall man, built enough to be considered as a fair fighter, wearing a black armor with a silver sun in its chest, the Oathkeeper shining in the morning sun...

"You are Arethar of Dheynor, my rider, the rightful heir of the throne."

He smiled, reluctantly, and climbed on top of her back. "I think we should mo-"

A howl stopped his thoughts, as Lyanna instictively took to the skies.

"HEY! WAIT!"

The silver dragon landed in front of the black wolf and roared with all of her might. "Lyanna, wait!" Arethar said, as he jumped from her back. Lyanna stood by his side, still growling and showing her teeth. "It's just a wolf."

[Luna]

There it was, the crack of leathery wings against the sky, Luna caught a glimpse of the silver beast in the sky before it dropped before her, its roar sending animals within a ten mile radius running. But Luna was a Bervenhall, she did not run. She fought.

The hair on the back of her neck rose and she bore her teeth at the dragon snapping and snarling, neither attacking nor running. She stood her ground waiting for the dragon to make her move, but to her surprise, the dragon didn’t attack her. It merely stood there snarling back at her. Luna daren’t break eye contact with it in case it used the opportunity to attack her, but movement on its back drew her eyes away.

The golden haired rider.

Luna stopped snarling, her hackles dropped and she stood frozen to the spot.

Find him Luna. Find him, help him and fight for him like you would your father.

The whisper’s of her dreams echoed in her mind as she drank in the man’s image. She lowered her head submissively, her tail slowly wagging, a small whine escaping from her. She had found him. She had found him, she wanted to tell him how excited she was but nothing but a series of whines and groans escaped her.

Change Luna, she told herself change and offer him your life as the moon told you to.

She couldn’t change, so she sat back on her haunches whining pitifully, torn between joy and despair. If she changed he would see nothing but a filthy naked savage woman. She couldn’t change. Not now. It had been so long she wasn’t even sure if she knew how to.

Tentatively she got back to her feet and slowly approached him, keeping a careful eye on the dragon her hackles rising without control, gently she nuzzled his hand.

[Arethar of Dheynor]

Arethar was in doubt.

He had never seen Lyanna act that way. She had been protective of him many times, but that show of power that she was doing was something unprecedented. They had hunted together many times, life in the Baraf mountains had its difficulties, and in order to survive you needed to hunt. However, Lyanna had never been concerned much about territorial problems, and certainly, from what he could gather, this was going to end in a territorial battle.

Which was something he wouldn't have.

Lyanna was a dragon, not a mindless beast to be concerned about that stuff. Besides, their battle would take place in Trihali, not here. She would have to be strong, and without any kind of injuries. He doubted that the wolf in front of him would prove to be a skillful opponent that would even harm her (she had once killed a pack of wolves in three minutes without an injury) but still, he didn't want her to get in the risk of being hurt. Not when they could avoid it.

He looked at the wolf, and then back at Lyanna. "Be cautious." her voice inside his head said, and Arethar couldn't manage to hold back a smirk, as the wolf whined and its tail wagging. The wolf posed no threat, and that much was obvious as he extended his hand and the wolf nuzzled.

Lyanna growled again, a growl that indicated for the wolf to stay back. "Easy Lyanna, she's of no threat to us."

"You think!? She's not a real wolf, she's a shifter. I've been hunting wolves for ten years, she's not from here, and she's definitely not a real one. She's bigger, and the eyes are not a wolf's."

Arethar raised an eyebrow, his eyes realising what Lyanna was trying to explain. Why wouldn't the shifter change back to her human form? Arethar scratched his beard with his free hand, and tore his silver cloak from behind his armor. He knelt in front of the wolf and tried to give it to her.

"My dragon noticed that you are a shifter. I suppose that you have no clothes, which is why you don't shift. Use my cloak, at least for now." he said in Dheynorian, figuring that since she wasn't from here, she wouldn't know Sianhese.

"I am Arethar, I pose no threat to you."

[Luna]

Luna couldn’t stop the return growl to the dragon, it was instinctive, but it was likely to get her killed. To be killed after travelling so far was not a good idea, so reluctantly out of respect to the dragon, a thought that the taste of bile to her mouth she took a step back.

The golden haired man knelt before her and spoke. It took a moment for her to digest the words. How long had it been since someone had spoken to her? In Dheynorian too. How many years? She made no move to take the cloak from Arethar, she was looking at the dragon. It was not him she was afraid of. She had seen her people, her parents and her friends torn apart by rajegh.

The only different between a rajegh and a dragon was their size, and the fact they shared their mind with a human as oppose to changing into one. Not a big difference in Luna’s mind.

Change

The whisper came from everywhere and nowhere. She whined again.

Change.

She sat down, as she did her black fur seemed to drop away to reveal pale skin, it retreated up her spine and massed on her head into a mess of tangled curls. Her heart hammered so hard in her chest she was afraid it might break through her ribs. She had never felt so vulnerable as a human before. She kept her wide and terrified eyes on the dragon, not caring that she was naked anymore. One move from the dragon and she would shift back again.

Keeping one eye on the dragon she looked back at Arethar. “I am Luna.” she said haltingly, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat surprised at how difficult it was to talk. “I know you do not pose a threat, if you posed a threat she would not have sent me.”

She cast her eyes over the dragon again “She poses a threat.” she said accusingly at the dragon, her western accent coming through.

[Arethar of Dheynor]

The fact that the wolf growled made Lyanna even more proud, still bearing her teeth at the wolf with a sense of supremacy that he had never seen her have. He didn't want to imagine her face when he took the throne. He was certain that she would grow full of herself, and that was something that he wouldn't allow. Her laughter filled his head when the wolf took a step back, and he turned around to send a glare to her.

"Be. Nice."

"Shut. Up."

He looked at the wolf, as it didn't take the cloak. Perhaps she didn't understand Dheynorian, or she wasn't a shifter which was much more plausible. "She's not a shifter. You were wrong." he said, trying to sound confident. For one, he was quite let down. He hadn't seen a shifter for ten years, the shifting proccess had always amused him as a child.

But he wasn't a child anymore, and that much was certain when the wolf shifted. Into a woman.

A beautiful woman.

A naked woman.

Arethar turned his head away, he could feel himself burning and blushing, and he hated blushing. Not that he had ever blushed before, not that he could remember, but he couldn't deny the obvious truth. He had never seen a woman naked before, he had never felt a woman's touch and he had never been with a woman, even though he was of proper age.

He was still a child.

"It seems that I wasn't wrong."

"Shut up."

"Embarassed?"

"Shut up!"

He tried to look at the woman and put the cloak on the ground close to her. "Nice to meet you, Luna, I hope our meeting is blessed by the sun rays of the One God." he said, occassionally shaking, trying not to look at her nudity.

Her next words puzzled him. "You speak of a female that knows me? Who is that exactly?" he said, his eyes gleaming with hope that it was his sister. He turned around to look at Lyanna as she roared in fury. "She does not pose a threat, not to you, I promise."

Lyanna glared at him with her silver eyes and showed him her teeth.

"Try me."

"Lyanna, stop. She might be useful."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't attack."

"Because I said so. Go scout the area."

The dragon took one last long look at the shifter and spread her wide wings and took off. As she left, Arethar turned his attention back to the woman, still trying not to look at her. "You must be from the south or the west. People here rarely speak dheynorian nowadays."

[Luna]

Luna tilted her head to one side watching the red blossom in Arethar’s cheeks as he looked away from her, the hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She had never seen a man blush at a naked woman before. Shifters were in a great number in the Bervenhall clan so nakedness was not something people got embarrassed about. Dropping a weapon in a fight on the other hand was a totally different matter.

She opened her mouth to answer his question about a woman when the dragon roared again. In one fluid movement she had leapt back, shifting to wolf once more her teeth bared, snarling. Of all the men the Goddess could have sent her to, she sent her to a dragon rider. To fight for and protect a creature so close to one she had spent her life hating and fighting. Perhaps it was a test, or maybe it was a cruel joke? She would never know.

As the dragon took off she shifted back again watching it disappear into the sky, her face solemn, and her eyes full of suspicion. She realised Arethar was still waiting for her to answer his questions. She looked at him, her eyes searching his face for something, a hint of what she was about to get herself into, a sign of greatness.

“Not a woman.” she said finally, her fingers reaching down and grasping the cloak Arethar was so desperate to give her. “A Goddess.” She stood up and tied the cloak under her arms to fashion a dress of sorts, before sitting back down and studying him once more, noticing the silver sun on his chest. She reached out and touched it gently. “The moon cannot shine without the sun.” she thought to herself.

“I am the daughter of a leader of the Bervenhall clan. I have spent my life fighting fire with steel. My parents were killed in the last battle I fought in. I saw them die before they died. A new leader had to be raised, and as is the way of my people the offspring of the last leader killed. So I left.” She realised she still had a hand on his chest and removed it.

“The moon Goddess talks to me, with dreams and whispers, she told me I must find you, that I must help and protect you as I would my own family. Yet, all gods like to test us, to trick us. Why would she want me to help you?” Her tone was challenging, her eyes gleamed in a way they might if someone had insulted her.

[Arethar of Dheynor]

Arethar managed to bite a snarky remark about her religion. A Goddess sent her to find him. There was only one God whose light shone all over Dheynor. He remembered his parents telling him that anyone who didn't follow their religion was condemned to damnation, but he had disagreed. Everyone had their own rights, rights in life and death, as well as religion. Perhaps that was why the Light God had decided to punish him and his family, but that didn't matter anymore.

Right now, what mattered was the words coming out of the woman's mouth. As she touched the silver sun on his armor, Arethar wanted to back off, but he couldn't. This wasn't her armor to touch, this was his heritage, an armor that his family protected for a thousand years. It was the armor of the Savior of Trihali, his ancestor. "Which Goddess?" he asked, his left hand scratching his beard. "Forgive me, but I believe only in the one God of my people." he said, and shook his head. "But I do not believe that you should burn in damnation. You have the right to believe whatever you want, it's just that I cannot believe a Goddess sent you here."

He listened with interest at what she said about herself. He couldn't help but realize that they had much in common. He nodded, and touched her hand, trying not to blush again. "I am sorry for your family. I hope the afterlife is kind to them. Isn't that what you believe in?" he said, a smile on his face. His religious lore was kind of lacking, he had stopped studying it back when he was twelve.

His next words came without doubt, even though he wasn't sure whether he could trust her. "I am Arethar of Dheynor, first born son to Aegarn and Alana IV, the rightful heir to the throne of the Emperor, holder of the Emperor's sword Oathkeeper. My family was assassinated by the Senate back when I was fourteen, I escaped and lived here for the rest of my years. I haven't seen my brother and sister ever since." he said, and lowered his head. "I have lived my life in fear of death, but now I know what I have to do."

He looked at her and for a second his face was sombre. "I am sorry, but I have no answer to your question, except that even your Goddess has smiled upon my quest and my right to the throne." he said, and looked at her again. "I cannot promise that you will be safe with me, my road is full of danger and death." he added, and shook his head.

[Luna]

Luna looked at Arethar stunned. One God? What foolish man believed in one God? She sat puzzled for a moment, racking her mind for a memory, something that was told to her by a storyteller. That was her only link to the world beyond the western borders. Storytellers were allowed to come and go so long as their tales entertained the clan leader. Yet she could remember nothing.

His hand touched her and she looked down at it, surprised by such courtesy. She smiled “They will be dancing with swords.” she said softly, feeling foolish that he knew her religion but she knew nothing of his. What she did know however, was the name Alana and the title Emperor, tales of the crouching tiger Chase were known to all children. His alliance with the empire had been what split the west in two.

Why would the moon send her to protect a descendant of a family that had caused so much devastation in her own people? More confused than she had ever been she sat in silence frowning, not looking at Arethar, but staring unseeing at the ground beside her. “A story teller once told me, that all gods are the same. No matter where you go they are one and the same. People just call them different things to make it better fit into their culture.” the words rolled out of her mouth as if they were not her own, like she had plucked them from a book and she was surprised they came out of her mouth.

“You know my religion, but you’re study of my people is not so good. I am a Bervenhall, danger and death is a part of our life. I will help you Arethar, but there is more you must know. I have spent five winters in this forest as a wolf. I am a warrior, but i like to avoid a fight if I can. That does not mean I will run. I never run.”

She paused thinking her words over carefully making sure they made sense before continuing “I can be taught, but I cannot be tamed. I offer you my help because my Goddess tells me to, if she tells me to leave you, I will.” Certain she had made her points she asked. “What is your plan?”

[Arethar of Dheynor]

He smiled when she said that they would be dancing with swords. "A fitting end." he said, and smiled again. Perhaps his end would be the same, though he doubted he would need his sword in the netherworld. Nothing happened there, there was no time, just an endless journey. He figured she would figure out his story, at least certain names were well known enough. He had learned about his family's history many years ago, and he hadn't forgotten one single bit. Being a Westerner, she would surely know the name Alana. It was her alliance with the Tiger that had split the West in two.

He couldn't figure out why the Moon Goddess, an entity he didn't even believe in, would send one of her own believers to protect him. Perhaps this was all a lie, and she was just another assassin sent to him by the Senate. However, even though he wasn't that insighful, he could tell that she wasn't lying. She went on to speak about what a storyteller had once told her and he nodded in response. "Though religion seems so easy to understand, it certainly is reason enough for wars." he said, laughing a little bit. He hadn't laughed for a very long time.

Illiria had never cared about the Bervenhall, it was the Elites that had taught him how to speak Dheynorian and Dranken religion. From what he remembered, the senators called them savage beasts that deserved to burn in damnation, and they had been planning an invasion for quite a few years which would have succeeded had it not been for the threat of the King of Sioure from the South.

"Your determination is honourable, Luna." he said, and continued. "I don't want to start unwanted fights, especially fights that will take cost on my kingdom and my people. I want to fight in order to find my family, and then take what is mine by birthright, not for power but for the well being of my kingdom."

He took a deep breath. "I respect your choice, and you are free to leave whenever you want. I do not wish to make you something different from what you are, which is why you will not be tamed and I will not try to tame you."

Her final words made him gulp and blush. "I... I have no plan. My kingdom bleeds and all I decided to do was show my face to the world, a world that I had abandoned for ten years." he said. "I am still a child, Luna, a child afraid of the future. Perhaps your Goddess was wrong."

[Luna]

Luna stared at Arethar in disbelief. How could a man who wanted to claim back a throne have no plan? She smiled at his blushing and her smile turned into laughter, she laughed so hard her sides ached and she slumped to the floor shaking with it. Protect and help like he is your own family, the goddess had said. Protect indeed.

Even she, uneducated in the ways of Illiria as she was, knew that walking into a place you had practically been exiled from was suicide, even more so when you bore your family’s symbol on your chest. The whole idea was ridiculous and child like. The only plus was that he was at least intelligent enough to see he was a child.

When she had finally stopped laughing she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Stupid boy.” she said shaking her head. “You want to claim a throne, you have no army, you are either believed to be dead or wanted dead, which classes you as a exile and you just thought you would march to your land and say ‘Hi, I am the heir to the throne, stop hurting my people’.” She chuckled, shaking her head again. “Stupid boy.” she repeated.

“Even in my land you would be laughed at before they would kill you. You need an army Arethar, and for an army you need support. In my lands, we look to our families first, then to the strongest families. We offer them gifts and promises and they spread our word and gather our armies. First you must find your family.” she hesitated. “No, first you must learn to be just another nobody. Then you need to find your family.” She pointed to the sun on his armour.

[Arethar of Dheynor]

Her words and laughter seemed to blur together into one big atrocity. Arethar touched the hilt of Oathkeeper, and balled his fist around it with enough ferocity and concentration it was almost an execution of the very idea of its existence let alone just its physical state. But it wasn't enough. He wanted to bellow out a great war cry as he would hit everything in front of him like the great maelstrom of fierce anger that he was. A few feet above, he could feel the cold calculation of the creature he was bonded to circling in the air, and he allowed that cold fire to flow through his veins, igniting his blood and echoing through his mind on a continuous off beat that matched the rhythm of the air "Let me have her."

All he wanted to do was nod and let Lyanna burn the wolfshifter to death for what she had just said, purely out of satisfaction. But he couldn't do that just yet. What she had said was true, no matter how hard it was. "I cannot escape the truth for much longer." he said to his dragon, as the dragon roared in the sky.

"You do NOT listen to her, Arethar."

He shook his head, and let the woman in front of him finishing before starting to speak. He cleared his throat. "I am not of your people." he said, solemnly. It was a fact. "I am not of your people, and yet I learned to survive for ten years alone, when everyone was out to kill me. I was fourteen, a child, when everything happened, with a dragon half a year old, and yet I survived."

He drew the Oathkeeper from its scabbard. "This is Oathkeeper. I have made an oath to restore my family's power, whether that is through my death or not. Your words are simply the echo of things I know." he said.

"Perhaps I am still a child, but I will still fight. You ask me to be nobody, and then search my family." He took a deep breath. "I have neen a nobody for ten years." He hadn't realised it but he was yelling at this point. "And I'm tired! I'm tired of being by myself, thinking of the days of old and my parents. I am tired!"

He took another deep breath. "When I show my face, my bannermen will raise their banners for me. There are many who believe in the glory of the Empire. And I will take back what is mine through fire and blood."

At that point, Lyanna landed right next to him. He climbed on top of her back. "You are welcome to join if you want, but I will not have someone call me a nobody again. I am the son of Aegarn and Alana IV, Arethar of Dheynor."

I was never a nobody.

[Luna]

Luna rolled her eyes the moment Arethar began to argue with her. He was worse than a child, he was like a petulant teenager. “surviving alone is a totally different matter to surviving among enemies.” she retorted, her eyes flashing dangerously. Patience had never been one of her strong points.

She stiffened as he drew his sword, suddenly very aware that she was unarmed and his dragon was not far either. She rose to her feet as his voice began to raise, unsure of how to deal with the way this had turned and then those fatal words fell from his mouth and she felt like she had been struck

“And I will take back what is mine through fire and blood.”

She had never been good with fire, it was a perfectly natural thing to be afraid of it. Her anger abated she merely watched as he climbed upon his dragon’s back. She licked her lips nervously before responding. “You are a dead man Arethar, a dead man is no one, your banner men will not rise for you. Go, fly into the snake pit with your pride and your family heirlooms. Know that they will only get you killed.”

She ripped the cloak from about herself and threw it at him, shifting into a wolf she padded away from them both, turning her nose south, she headed for Illiria. She would follow Arethar, but he didn’t need to know he was with her. His pride needed to deflate; he needed to be taught a lesson in humbleness before he would listen to her. So she would follow, and she would reveal herself again at the right point.

[Arethar of Dheynor]

As the woman shifted again and spoke her final words to him, Arethar merely snorted. Lyanna growled, and the shifter moved past his eyesight.

"Where is she going?"

"Down the mountain."

"Can we lose her?"

Lyanna roared in response and disapproval. "When has ever been born a wolf that can outrun a dragon?" And with another roar, they took the skies.

"Fly high, up in the clouds. We won't be easy to track that way."

"Where are we off to?"

"The desert. Where it all began. Eythil has left a few things for me."

"Sounds like you had a plan after all."

"It's always been you and me, Lyanna. Let's keep it that way."

"To the old imperial palace it is, then"