Berganashio - Chapter 31

Larkin and Villi had been on the floor of the throne room for quite awhile. The shock was immense. How could they even begin with tracking down dragons who had stolen away their parents?

"What could the dragons motives be?" Villi asked, looking at the smoldered walls.

Larkin blinked. "They were the king and queen... It does make you wonder how they knew where the king and queen were to begin with... and why wouldn't the dragons take other merfaries that were here in the merfarie gardens? The ones that stayed home, while we were in battle, I mean..." He hit the brick floor with his fist.

"Would dragons send a ransom offer? For gold or something else?" The questions just kept popping out from Villi's mind like grasshoppers in a field.

Larkin shook his head. "But why would dragons want gold? Or, anything that we have here for that matter?"

"They could be in cahoots with the sea-wolfs..."

Larkin looked at her. "That's possible, but if they were, then why didn't they fight at the battle?"

"Oh, true. I don't know."

Keenwai and Kunya had been waiting outside of the throne room. They approached the, slightly cracked open, door.

"Larkin, Villi... the merfarie servant told us the horrible news. We've come to express our condolences. May we enter?"

Larkin answered and waved them into the room.

Keenwai and Kunya sat down next to Larkin and Villi. The four of them sat in silence for several minutes. The questions in their minds had simmered down some.

Villi had a distant look in her eyes. "Larkin," she addressed, "did you ever notice how the king and queen," she cleared her throat, "our parents... they stopped singing at some point long ago..."

Larkin stoically answered, with a flat sounding, "Ahh, yes. I suppose."

Continuing, Villi had just repositioned her body. "Yes, they stopped singing... they left all the singing to the rest of the merfaries for some reason... and as I sit here and think, neither of them really ever seemed truly... happy."

Larkin nodded. "True... father could be gruff. Mother was the surly sort. But, maybe we would be too if we were in charge of a whole kingdom!"

Keenwai interjected. "Speaking of which... are you not now in charge of the kingdom, Larkin? I mean with the king and queen being gone?"

Larkin and Villi looked at one another and then back at Keenwai as they had not thought this far through things.

Larkin swallowed.

"Pori is the eldest of the four of us but she is away. So, that leaves us," Villi processed aloud for the group.

Keenwai nodded. "I certainly understand that stepping into leadership is no easy task. My father, who was the chief of the meerbird mob before myself, had been sick for sometime before I assumed my role though. This circumstance for you is sudden and filled with many questions..."

"What happened to your mother though?" Villi asked.

"She is out there somewhere..." Keenwai answered.

Larkin's brow furrowed inquisitively. "Out there somewhere? What do you mean?"

Kunya spoke up now. "She has been drawn away by the sheckleberries from the manchineel trees. The sheckleberries are horrible, they cause insanity..."

Keenwai was overcome with a wave of emotion. He thought about his mother and brother who were both out there wandering the forests in search of more sheckleberries.

"I have an idea!" Kunya's face had unexpectedly instantaneously lit up as a torch flame. She looked at the vial of merfarie tears that hung down from Larkin's neck. Remembering her anointing for healing and remembering how she had used the two vials of tears from Pori and Villi, she had a revelation. "Keenwai, you know how the meerbird were accidentally blinded by the merfaries on the sea-wolf ship?"

"Of course."

"Their sight came back with the use of the tears in the bottle." Kunya stated as she was telling Larkin and Villi who hadn't learned this yet.

Villi smiled slightly. "That's incredible!"

"Oh, so they were good for something after all then..." Larkin mumbled.

"Yes, they were!" Kunya continued, with growing excitement. "Maybe... just maybe... the tears from your vial, Larkin, can be used for healing Keenwai's mother and his brother from the sickness of the sheckleberries!"

Without even looking down at the vial, Larkin yanked off his vial that had felt useless and unnecessary. "Here, it's yours. I have no need of it!"

Kunya cupped the vial closely to her heart as if it were the greatest gift she had ever received. Calm warmth could be felt in her paws. Her eyes beamed with hope as she smiled at Keenwai with fresh inspiration.

Keenwai smiled with sincere admiration at her. He was beginning to understand that his gift of admiration was more subtle, but useful. Though his anointing gifting bestowed from Grinyella seemed less than glorious at first, he realized that it did hold special value. Each individual creature that he observed, he admired, or found the adoring elements of their being. He saw the strength in Larkin, the vigor in Villi, and the dedication in Kunya, all at the same time. With his anointing gift, it had acted as a deeper understanding and appreciation of others. He could see the light of each ones existence with an uncanny intuition.

"It certainly stands a chance to try!" Keenwai declared.

Kunya looked around the room. "We have to go find them, wherever they've wandered."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun had started setting far too quickly. The juvenile giant yawned a sleepy yawn.

"It's almost time for him to settle in for the night into the cave entrance. What an active day he's had!" Whisper the dwarf chuckled gleefully.

Queen Finyellë and Jovie had flown up to the shoulder of the giant and were near Whisper the dwarf was.

Sharply, there was a rise of cries from some of the fairies. A wild commotion erupted.

"Look out!"

"An attack!"

Queen Finyellë and Jovie both looked behind them. In horror, they looked just in time to see two enormous dragons plummeting down at the giants fatigued figure. One dragon was a golden color and the other dragon was a dark purple hue. They were terrifying, but strangely royal in appearance. Coils of smoke flooded from their nostrils. Massive clouds of fire blasted from their mouths. Their intensity was shocking beyond belief. It appeared that they were the epitome of anger and regal revenge. Matchless terror froze in Queen Finyellë's expression. The dragons flew so close, that they almost blasted all the fairies and other creatures of the giant's shoulder and body. Queen Finyellë realized that the eyes of the dragons were just far too familiar. The eyes of the dragons were familiar from the nightmares that she had suffered from for many years. Instead of King Phinehas's taunting merfarie eyes and fiery arrows pouring from his mouth as was the usual in her nightmares, in place of that, now she saw dragon eyes and voluminous fire clouds. She knew without saying it, that King Phinehas and Queen Malka had turned into dragons themselves!

"Into the cave entrance!" Whisper yelled into the sleepy giant's ear who had flinched from the shocking heat of the two dragon's fiery breath.

~~~~~

Author's Note:

Stay tuned for chapter 32....