CHAPTER 20 – REBEL
“Orrin has always been a rebel; and to my knowledge, always will be.” Nadia began as her piercing golden stare swept Layla, Heathren, and King Ruslan with a deep power. As Layla listened, with Heathren basically on the edge of his seat beside her, she also saw that Ruslan watched Nadia with an almost vicious attentiveness now. An aura of icy rivers swirled out around Layla’s Ice Dragon father as he waited for Nadia to continue.
As if even he, her lover these past twenty years, had not heard her full tale.
“It was Orrin’s beautifully rebellious nature that attracted so many to him over the millennia, and attracted me back when he was a powerful young man.” Nadia continued as her gaze moved between them all. Suddenly, her piercing stare fixed upon Layla. “You’ve seen Orrin’s true form?”
“He’s beautiful.” Layla spoke, understanding what Nadia was getting at. “Like a lion in the desert, though it’s hard to tell where his people come from.”
“Orrin comes from everywhere all at once,” Nadia said with deep sadness as she smiled at Layla. “He was born this way; as if a thousand caravans converged and produced an heir, a baby of such uncanny beauty and boundless power that it hailed from every Lineage in the world. I do not know the circumstances of his conception; his mother kept them a secret until the end of her days. But she had been barren for centuries before he was suddenly in her womb. It can be said that Orrin has something deeply unique about his nature – a uniqueness no other Dragon shares.”
With this last, Nadia looked at Heathren. Nodding with a quiet frown, the Fallen Ephilohim spoke. “Very true. All the times I’ve tracked Hunter and lost his trail, he’s never felt like any other Dragon, or any other magical Lineage, for that matter. He’s of such a strange nature that I feel he should have his own Lineage – for it fits nothing else I’ve encountered.”
“Indeed.” Nadia nodded to Heathren. “Even when he was born, Orrin was an anomaly. He shifted into his Dragon right as he issued from his mother’s womb and stayed thus for forty days, surviving not off her milk but only the ether as his nourishment.”
“That’s only something newly-birthed Ephilohim do, and other high-frequency Ascendants.” Heathren’s eyebrows rose as his face opened in astonishment.
“It is.” Nadia held his gaze. “It drew the entire village to witness such a miraculous child birthed among us. It was then that Nimir and I became besotted with the baby, though it only manifested as a fierce protectiveness until he came of age. We stood by the cradle and protected the infant with our formidable wrath, for we were two of the strongest warriors in our tribe.”
“Hunter’s Bind was already calling you,” Layla understood, “to become a triumvirate of power… just like my latent power began calling Dusk and Adrian at my birth.”
“Yes.” Nadia looked to Layla with a dire glint in her eyes. “And from Orrin, Nimir’s and my latent Bind-powers began to rise also. I was not originally a Bind, Layla, and neither was Nimir. But by the time Orrin was mature, we had all learned how to Bind each other with our magics – though Orrin’s initial Bind upon Nimir and I was always the strongest.”
“As myself and my men are starting to do.” Layla breathed, not knowing if she should be horrified or impressed that her situation was strangely paralleling Hunter’s.
“Do not chastise yourself, Layla, that your power does this.” Nadia spoke gently, her presence sweet with an eternal grace. “Any strong Bind may initiate others to their own latent Bind-abilities. A Bind, you see, is merely a manifestation of love. That coil you feel between yourself and those you have Bound is simply the connection of their ether, their elemental magic, and their love to yours. What color does your Bind feel of?”
“Gold.” Layla answered immediately, knowing what Nadia meant. “It feels like the liquid golden sunlight of high noon, pouring between our bodies. A beautiful, radiant burn.”
“Mine feels like the dawn.” Nadia smiled sadly. “For my power learned how to Bind from Orrin, and his has always felt like fresh dawn air through the body. Since then, my Bind-magic has retained his imprint.”
“What does your Bind-power feel like?” Layla asked as she turned to her father.
“My Bind-magic feels like a refreshing ice plunge,” Ruslan chuckled casually. “It invigorates the mind and body, making everyone roar in the best possible way. Like your power, mine surfacedde novo. I never had another Bind to attune me, and thus I never adopted their imprint.”
“And militaristic Dragons enjoyed your Bind. That invigorated, roaring feeling.” Layla understood.
“They did.” Ruslan nodded without regret, though Layla could see how much he’d matured since the days of his tyranny. “I Bound many renowned Royal Dragons to me, both male and female, because being around me gave them incredible strength in battle. We were a powerful force, and sometimes even Generals of opposing armies would succumb to my Bind mid-fight and stand their armies down. Some of the wars I waged were bloody, when I had stubborn Royal Dragons opposing my call. Others spilled not a single drop of blood, as I Bound Generals to my might. Those were my preferred battles – and the best outcomes for vassal nations.”
“Though your father is remembered by Twilight Realm history as a frightening warlord, Layla,” Heathren spoke up again, glancing to her, “he is also remembered as a fair and just ruler to the nations of Dragons which became his vassals. Like the expansion of Rome, he brought organization, infrastructure, and thriving trade between clans that formerly fought – which benefitted less-powerful Lineages who lived in those areas, not having to deal with Dragon-battles on their lands. It was an age of peace and prosperity for the north. Though those that resisted strongly were often thrown down without mercy.”
“I was cruel to those who opposed me, yes.” Ruslan nodded, his eyes as clear as Rhennic’s as he described battles fought and won. “But nations who acquiesced to my growing empire often found their lives improved. It was at that time that most of the major Dragon cities of the north were established, for prosperity flowed as talons were sheathed, and my taxation was fair. Many Royal Dragon Binds came to me seeking refuge, because they had yet to find Nadia and were being hounded by Hunter.”
“That’s when he began to come after you.” Layla spoke as she sipped her tea. “Once you started getting strong enough to take in other Binds and protect them from him.”
“Yes, but we digress.” Ruslan looked back to Nadia with a commander’s briskness. “Please continue your tale, my love.”
“The feeling of a Bind’s magic is as unique as the Dragon,” Nadia continued with a nod of thanks to her mate, “and Orrin’s was like fresh air breathing into Nimir and I’s lungs all the time. It was uplifting, amazing, and real air smelled dull when Orrin was not around. So we stayed by his side, became his protectors as he grew, and his Bind took us more and more, opening us to our own Bind-powers. By the time he was fully mature, the three of us were deeply in love, though Nimir and I had been a mated pair first.”
“I saw Hunter’s visions of that time.” Layla frowned, recalling what she’d experienced when her and Hunter’s power had resonated back in Manarola. “He was gaining influence in the tribe, and many feared it. Which was why your King and Queen sent him to work with that awful sage in the mountains.”
“Our rulers were deeply afraid of Orrin’s magnetism,” Nadia spoke with a dire glimmer in her golden eyes. “And with good reason. Orrin was compelling, beautiful, and already had use of every elemental Dragon-magic, though he would not admit it at the time. Many in the tribe wanted him to lead us, for he had ideas for our future. A deep schism was forming. A schism our rulers could not abide, when they tricked Orrin into killing their pet human shaman, then sent him away tomasterhis magic with the mountain sage.”
“They tricked him?” Layla blinked, not having seen that part of the story from Hunter’s visions. “But in Hunter’s memories, I saw you and Nimir waylay the caravan and kill the shaman, as your Dragons. That it wasn’t Hunter who killed the shaman.”
“That is a false memory, Layla.” Nadia spoke with deep sadness now. “Orrin and the shaman argued in the caravan and he slew the shaman in his wrath, as our rulers had set him up to do. When Nimir and I arrived, the shaman was already dead. We took Orrin back to the village but our King and Queen had proved their point: Orrin was a danger, and so they sent him to the mountain sage and he went.”
“So Hunter really did kill the shaman.” Layla blinked, wondering now just how much of Hunter’s memories she’d seen were actually true versus only what he believed had happened.
