Star Trader Update - .049

049.01

Tal’on paced impatiently in the courtyard. He had not been able to share the cell with Delevy in months. He had grown too much to make it through the door and down the stairs. The Valdare staked him in the courtyard when he was home and brought Delevy up to him in order to keep him pacified and quiet during the days he was free from fighting their war or recovering from injuries inflicted by the same.

The jailer, who had become a friend of sorts, was fetching Delevy. Tal’on and Graf’tal landed in the courtyard. The rest of the dragons took up residence on the spires and wall of the building built around the yard. They caught the jailer on his way to take Delevy and his other prisoners dinner. He still did not speak Tal’on’s language, but he understood the young dragon’s demand for his companion. He also noticed right away Tal’on no longer wore the collar which kept him in a submissive state. The jailer hustled down the stairs to release Delevy.

“Is you friend coming?” Graf’tal asked.

He did not like this confined space Tal’on led them into. It was not as easily defendable. The walls were high and he roared at Bel’lar and the others to keep a close watch. She nodded back agreement and set herself to looking outward from the courtyard rather than in.

Tal’on thrashed his tail in agitation over the ground of the courtyard sending dust and dirt into the air around the two dragons.

“He is getting her, but he is taking his time about it,” Tal’on hissed.

“Could he be warning someone that you have returned?” Graf’tal asked.

“Most likely.” Tal’on sat down on his haunches and wiped at his blooded nose. He couldn’t get it to stop. One of the Sandcor had stuck it again. It was the only part of him that was truly venerable and the enemy knew it. They got him there in almost every battle he fought. He had the scars to prove it. The Valdare doctors had taken to gluing his nose injuries shut. Often there was not enough soft tissue to sew together.

Graf’tal saw the youngling’s distress both physically and mentally. He advanced and draped a wing over his charge. He huffed over him and when Tal’on looked his direction he gave his nose a healing lick and then another. The blood ceased to trickle and the multiple cuts started to pull themselves together.

“Better?” Graf’tal asked.

Tal’on did not reply verbally. He was so overwhelmed at having his Great by his side once more that he knew if he spoke, he would cry like a hatchling. He didn’t want to embarrass himself - at least not until they got Delevy safely away. Instead, he leaned into the much larger dragon and rumbled a deep purr of thanks.



Delevy burst through the doors with the jailer close on her tail. She would have run into Tal’on’s paws, but when she saw the other massive dragon and then the additional four high on the wall, she pulled up short, unsure of herself.

“Tal’on?” she queried.

“It is all right,” he assured her, coming to his feet and moving forward.

She trusted him totally. With his assurance she ran to him, launching herself at his chest with open arms. He clasped her behind the back with a huge red paw and cradled her to him.

“I have been so worried about you. You have been gone so long.”

Her muffled speech came to Graf’tal’s ears, but he did not understand a word of it.

“What is she saying?” the Great asked his student.

“She’s happy to see me,” Tal’on answered over her head.

“I can see that much,” Graf’tal snorted. “Get her to mount. We must leave, quickly,” the old dragon urged.

“We can’t leave until I remove her collar,” Tal’on explained. “We were told they have an explosive device in them.”

“So that is how they tricked you into fighting.” The old dragon said under his breath. His experiences with humans had never gone well in the past. He was always thankful there were no humans to deal with on Drakis.

Tal’on pulled Delevy back away from him so he could look down on her to remove her collar. He carefully hooked a claw under it. Delevy reached up with both hands and grasped his paw.

“What are you doing?” She demanded in a frightened voice.

“I am going to remove it. Graf’tal removed mine and nothing happened,” Tal’on explained. “It’s all right. We will remove it and then I am going to get you out of here.”

Delevy still held onto his paw, doubt reflected in her eyes, yet, she could see that Tal’on no longer wore his restrictive collar. She slowly released her grip and closed her bright green eyes ready for whatever fate awaited her at the hands of her young dragon. For that was how she felt about him. He was hers and she was his. She had grown to understand him, respect him, and care for him. No, that was not right, she did more than care for him. She loved him.

She felt a slight tug, but at almost the same instance she heard the Prime’s voice over the loudspeaker in the courtyard.

“I would not do that if I were you. Not if you intend to keep her alive,” he warned in a commanding voice.

Delevy’s eyes snapped open to see all the dragon’s heads looking toward the control booth where the Prime often issued his orders to Tal’on before having the jailer drag her back down to her cell to await his return from battle.

The Prime held the control to their collars in his hand as he always did while giving orders. The jailer must have called him before he came to release Delevy. She shot the man a nasty look, but it was tempered with understanding. He would be the one left behind. It would be the jailer the Prime would take his anger out on when the weapon which was winning him his war escaped.

“I see you have removed your collar,” the Prime went on. “It makes no difference. You will do as I say or I will not hesitate to kill her.” He fingered the button, rolling his thumb around the edge of the detonation device.

“Tal’on?” Graf’tal hissed. The Great had a picture projected into his mind from Bel’lar on the wall of masses of troops headed their way. “We must leave.” The older dragon could not understand. However, he could see Tal’on and the man on the wall were in a standoff over the female, but they needed to move.

“It is over,” Tal’on hissed at the Prime. “My friends have come to get me and we have laid waste to your troops who accompanied me into battle. Not one remains alive.”

“I have other troops, other men loyal to our cause,” the Prime countered without a blink of his eye for the loss of his men. “You will continue to fight. We have almost won.” He was triumphant even in his defeat.

“I will Not!” Tal’on shouted at him. “And if you do not release Delevy my friends and I will lay waste to this city. We will burn it and your people to the ground.”

The Prime hesitated, but he was still fingering the detonation device. With a single push of the button Delevy’s life could come to an end. Tal’on reached into his armor and pulled out the Sollen. He held it up for the Prime to see.

“I made this to call my friends. Only five responded to my call because they did not know they would encounter resistance in bringing me back,” Tal’on explained. “I can call more!” He threatened. “I could bring all my kin here to destroy you. If only five can kill all your best trained Soldiers imagine the havoc hundred’s of my kin could do to this planet. We could turn the tide of war. The Valdare could become a people only remembered in the history books of the Sandcor.”

Tal’on had no idea the thoughts which were spinning through the mind of the Prime. He did not envision dragon invaders killing his troops, but rather an army of dragons fighting his war, killing Sandcor, allowing his people, the Valdare, to be victorious. He need only obtain the ‘call’ Tal’on held in his paw, set the trap and activate the device. He could capture and recruit them all - perhaps not now, but in the future. It could happen. It would happen. The options available in order to make it all happen raced through the Prime’s mind as he came to his decision.

“Take her,” he relented. “Take her and go.”

Tal’on hooked his claw under Delevy’s collar and slit it in two. They were free for the first time in years.

“Order your troops to stand down,” Tal’on said in triumph. He had no idea what the future would bring down upon his kin. He thought he won.

The Prime gave the order.

Tal’on extended a wing and Delevy crawled on his back throwing her legs around his neck over his shoulder.

“Hold on,” Tal’on ordered his companion, as he slipped the Sollen back in his pouch.

He took two mighty leaps forward, his hind legs bent lower with each bound, than he launched himself up into the air. The other dragons followed. They winged their way over the city without any resistance to their escape.

Delevy lay stretched out on the arch of Tal’on’s neck, her arms wrapped tightly around him. She laughed into the wind at the exhilaration of flight and he laughed with her. It was just like his dreams. They were free at last!

049.02 

Cras’mul and Haf’nad the two golden dragons who accompanied Graf’tal to retrieved Tal’on landed in the meadow joining the other four dragons and Delevy.

“There is a village ahead as Delevy indicated. It is perhaps one hundred wing strokes from here,” Cras’mul announced as he landed in front of the others with Haf’nad at his side.

“You’re sure they will accept you and give you shelter?” Graf’tal asked Delevy.

It had already been established that Delevy could understand them, but only Tal’on seemed to possess the power to understand her.

She nodded her head at the dragon Tal’on referred to as his ‘Great.’

“They are my mother’s people,” Delevy explained. “I have never been out of the city, but she often spoke fondly of the family she left behind and her people. I am sure I will be welcome. The only reason she left was she fell in love with father. He was a traveling merchant and his business led them to the city.”

“I wish you could come with us,” Tal’on lamented yet again.

He collapsed, sitting down on his haunches in defeat.

“We’ve already been over this, Tal’on.” Delevy sighed and took his head in her arms cradling it against her chest. She ran her hand along his jaw and ended the stroke by gently scratching him under the chin. “I can’t do your ‘picture talk.’ We have tried over and over. All it does is give me a raging headache.”

Graf’tal waited until the female was finished speaking and then uttered once more, “She can’t come if she can’t see.”

The Great could feel his young charges’ pain. It was a cross species love the two formed over the years Tal’on was separated from his own kin. It was something unexplainable that happened during stasis which brought their hearts and minds together. It would not be easy to separate them. But, the youngling could not stay. The impossibility of that had already been proven. It was a danger to both of them.

Bel’lar and Ere’lee looked on. Ere’lee placed a loving wing over Bel’lar. They were a heart bonded pair. They had an idea of what Tal’on was going through. If he truly bonded with the human then being separated from her would feel as though one of his wings had been severed. Bel’lar and Ere’lee were never far from each other’s side. Only the birth of a hatchling allowed a bonded pair a bit more freedom because nature made it so. It allowed one of them to hunt for the family while the other tended the young, but there would be no chance of a hatchling to ease Tal’on’s pain.

Bel’lar slipped from under her mate’s wing and went to Graf’tal’s side. The old male had never had a mate. He could not relate to what his young charge was going through except in concept. His only thought was for Tal’on’s safety. He wanted to push to get them away from this place and its danger to his charge.

“Let them have the rest of this evening together,” Bel’lar coached softly in Graf’tal ear. “Tomorrow morning we can see her safely to the village and be away.” She nuzzled the old Great’s neck. “They need time to say their good-byes.”

Graf’tal sighed heavily. He wished to be away from this place, but he could see Bel’lar was right. The youngling had gotten himself in a terrible fix, one his Great could not help him through.

“We will rest here for the remainder of the night,” Graf’tal announced looking up at the double moons in the night sky. “Tomorrow we will see Delevy to her new home and safety.”

The five dragons moved away from the couple. Bel’lar and Erelee found a sheltered spot and curled up together, wings and tails wrapped over one another as though they wished to be one being. Cras’mal and Haf’nad curled up under the trees at the edge of the meadow. Graf’tal appointed himself first watch in order to keep them all safe and give himself time to think about what he must do to help his young charge through this trial.



Tal’on laid down in the grassy meadow and pulled Delevy to his chest. They lay as they had so many nights before. She curled up in the croak of his front legs, stroking the scales of his leg and paws. Her touch was so soothing. Tal’on could not imagine being without it. They did not sleep. They did not speak. They huddled in desperation against each other as soft tears flowed down both their cheeks.

“I want you to take the Sollen,” Tal’on finally said, as dawn began to crest over the tree tops and they were still awake.

He pulled the stone from its place in the pouch of his armor and handed it to her.

“If you ever need me,” he said in a choked voice, “you need only hold it and I will hear. I will come to you.”

He nuzzled her and purred softly. Delevy stroked the large stiff plates of his chest. She knew they felt hard, but it did not stop him from feeling her need, her desire to be close to him. She placed the Sollen in the pouch at her waist. She leaned her head against his chest. She could hear his massive heart, feel the rise and fall of his breath. She sighed deeply and then matched her breathing to his. They were one. They would always be one, no matter how far apart they were. She would always love him.

Tal’on’s purr grew deeper. His heart was breaking. He did not want to leave, but as Graf’tal pointed out to him privately, leaving was the only option. If he stayed he only put Delevy in more danger. She would never have been in this situation without his presence.

“It is time to go,” Graf’tal announced, as he rose to his feet at the edge of the meadow.

It was not a verbal announcement. It was projected to Tal’on in his thoughts. The young dragon nudged Delevy as the other dragons, who also received the old Great’s picture, rose to their feet.

“We have to go,” he said softly. “It’s time.”

Delevy rose, adjusting her tunic in order to give herself something to do with her hands rather than reaching out in desperation to her dragon. Tal’on extended a wing and she mounted. There was no laughter this time as they flew toward the village. Tal’on only felt the unrelenting grip of his loved one around his neck as he flew the last few wing beats to her mother’s village.

The villagers were frightened and hid in their homes at the arrival of the six dragons at the edge of their hamlet. They only ventured out when they saw Delevy dismount and hug Tal’on, reluctant to let him leave.

“I will come back to check on you,” Tal’on informed her. He had decided overnight he could not possibly part from her permanently. He would have to return. He would have to see her again, feel her touch, smell her hair, see her smile.

“I will be waiting,” Delevy said. She smiled trying to be brave when all she felt was despair.

Tal’on lowered his head to her chest for one last hug – one last embrace. When Delevy pulled his head down to cuddle it, he placed his paw behind her back and pulled her in close. He huffed into her trying to give her comfort, and him strength, for what was coming.

When she released him, he stepped back joining his kin. Large tears streaked his cheeks, but he gave her a toothly grin trying to reinforce their decision to part. Unexpectedly, he threw back his head and gave out a deafening, pain-filled roar.

In the blink of an eye Delevy stood alone at the edge of the village staring at the empty field where her dragon, her love, had just stood a moment before. She fell to her knees and buried her head in her hands, and cried.