Page 40 of Ceridor

"A sky dragon for Air?" my lover asked.

"It's even sky blue!" I rejoiced, bumping shoulders with him.

"The colors vary depending on the region," he countered, "but that's an interesting point. If Ulbrecht is the Danubian Dragon, then all the elements are now present from the ritual, in which something can take place or come into manifestation. If nothing else, it's an interesting framework in which to view what is happening."

"It would also explain Dunu's involvement," I surmised, brainstorming on the fly, "at least in Helvetica."

"How so?"

I shrugged. "Helvetica has been stable for longer, and the forests haven't taken such a hit from the kind of desperate poverty that Danubians have had to put up with from the constant threat of invasions. If you're at risk of starvation or freezing to death, you'll be driven to desperate measures at the expense of the natural environment, because you might not even live long enough to deal with longer-term problems like depleted topsoil. If Earth is an important part, then maybe Dunu wanted to foster the baby flames further upstream of the Danube, and somewhere where Nature has been thriving for a long time."

Of all things, that seemed to strike a vulnerability in my partner. I reached out and patted his knee, wondering what waswrong. He sniffed and looked around, trying to collect himself, but his voice still came out choked. "Things are so much better here, just in the years since Ulbrecht and his men seized control. I wandered these lands in constant fear of my life for a good decade before that, and I'm just...so glad the brutal poverty and desperation I witnessed from back then seems to have been alleviated and is continuing to get better."

I slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug, careful not to jostle his recovering arm. "We'll protect this peace, and its king. I'll protect him."

Ceridor nodded. "I too will do what I can."

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ceridor

The madam came up and ladled more stew into our bowls before we could object. Johann sent me a wink and I grinned. She wanted us to enjoy her cooking so maybe we'd stay at the inn longer; it was included in the room and board, so I wasn't going to argue. And truly, with local root vegetables and alpine herbs in the broth, it was quite good.

Johann and I were just finishing our second round when a commotion drew our attention. People stepped into the street and hustled in the same direction, beckoning to others. "Komm!It's starting!"

"What is?" Johann asked a young woman hurrying by.

"The dragon!" she called as she ran away.

Johann looked absolutely bedazzled and I could not help but echo his joy. "Shall we go see what that means?"

He took my hand and we too stepped into the street.

The crowd flowed onto the main thoroughfare like a stream merging with the larger river. Grateful for my height, up ahead I could see the swelling mass of people all dancing and celebrating together, banging pots and pans, jingling bells and beads, calling and laughing and cheering.

Then farther up, I caught sight of it just as Johann tapped my shoulder and pointed. "Look!"

An enormous sky blue dragon made of lightweight fabric bounced over the crowd, compressed like a spring. Rows of dancers beneath it shifted their weight from foot to foot while drummers started up a cadence. As the crowd cheered, the head of the dragon set out. When it got close to us, I was struck by the beautiful color of the fabric against the sinking dusk and the first stars flickering into the evening sky.

A woman in front of the head lit a fire baton and danced, the flames bleeding and stretching in arcs as she twirled. The fire mistress served to keep the crowd well enough back from the head of the dragon, making way for the group carving through the main square like a river.

"I can help!" I heard Johann shout at someone, then suddenly he was given a pole to hold up the dragon's side and the dancer moved to the middle of the dragon where another rod allowed him to push up and lift the dragon's spine even higher. Dancers enlisted adults who were tall and sober enough to take the sides of the dragon while they moved to the middle, shouting instructions on how to get into the rhythm and keep pace with the leaders at the head.

"Ceridor!"

Johann was beaming from under the dragon, the joy bursting out of him as the procession moved through, the crowd following and dancing alongside. I waved and tried to keep up, so happy to see him happy and belonging to something larger than himself.

Then seven dancers came beside the dragon with large lanterns held over their heads, and a stone dropped in my stomach. The rumors and stories had spread, even this far west, and even here in West Danube right up against the Helvetican border, the lanterns gods had presence. Indeed, Johann had reported hearing about the seven lanterns from guests at the Mulberry Inn, well inside East Helvetica. When it came to stories, our borders meant nothing.

Children were given anklets with little bells and thus with their cavorting the cacophony rose to an ecstatic pitch that overtook the participants. Many of the little children had colorful streamers on sticks that they waved in the air. Then as the crowd moved through, the adolescents came in holding paper lanterns on the ends of sticks and suddenly all the sensations made me still.

Fear.

I was feeling fear.

Fear that clenched my chest and cramped my belly. Jet black, stark terror at what all of this could mean for my loved ones. If indeed rumors of the lanterns had reached as far as West Danube and Helvetica's border, then I was already too late. There was nothing I could do to stem this surging tide, a fierce storm that would put a target on poor Wren's back, the guardian of these gods, and even Awariye's, should my apprentice step in to take Wren's place if something terrible were to happen. Even my back, since more and more I'd been quietly deliberating whether I should try to help them bring the power down into manifestation.

And yet Wren, the keeper of the lanterns, was unafraid.

---