The rain greeted us already early in the morning, sometimes we could hear a murmur of thunder somewhere in the distance. Despite that, Yanka decided to be merciless, saying that we need to be able to handle any circumstances.
"Yanka?" Sril's voice broke through the noise of the stirred lake. "Don't you think we are quite defenseless in such circumstances?"
"Exactly..." I shoved my drenched bangs away from my eyes. "We can only dream about using fire now, at best."
"If you do only what you are capable of doing, you will never improve, dear Sian," the rain seemed to be unable to wash away Yanka's energy. "That's why I asked you to bring the swords today." She hesitated for a second. "But there is something else... I actually once succeeded in summoning fire in rain. It was just once and I haven't been able to do it ever since. I must have accidentally triggered some different part of the magic... which is why I want to try a bit today."
And so we started the arduous attempts of striking a fire in streams of rain.
Despite all efforts, it seemed futile, and I started to lose my patience by the eighth try. The downpour immediately extinguished every flicker that came to life in my hands, and I finally dropped them, sighing heavily.
"This is pointless," I declared.
My friends paused their useless efforts as well. "There has to be a way," a hint of resignation stained Yanka's voice. "If I could do it one time, then it has to be possible."
"Maybe it requires some specific words, or maybe movements, like with a spell?" suggested Sril.
"I don't know..."
Yanka decided to spare us any further strain and ordained hot tea or milk with honey. I was already envisioning a fresh set of dry clothes and a fluffy towel...
We didn't even cross half of the distance separating us from the mansion, when Sril suddenly looked over his shoulder, his hand reaching for his sath. Upon seeing that me and Yanka turned around instantly.
In the distance, above the panorama spreading further beyond the western shore of the agitated lake, we noticed two strange, bright shapes. They were slowly gaining in size... We shared brief glances and silently spread out a little, so we would be able to surround the opponent with a semi-circle, if it turned out necessary.
When we saw what that really was though, all three of us almost froze in place.
Three enormous wild cats... or rather three creatures, that could be taken for wild cats, if it weren't for the unusual size and the wings that grew out of their backs, so similar to the wings of the Apostles of the Last Dragons, but copper in color... Their muscular bodies were covered in scales instead of fur. They were entrancing in their majesty and peculiar beauty, but right now they awakened only a feeling of dread. The reason for that was probably the fact, that the figure sitting on one of those creature's back...
"Shaeth!"
The magician smiled and bowed his head slightly. "Hello again, my friends," he said almost cheerfully.
"What do you want here?" Yanka didn't waste her breath for courtesy.
"I'm surprised that question came from you, of all people," Shaeth's voice quickly became harsher. "After this shameless deceit you should know best what I came here for."
"It's your fault that you fell for it. And don't think I will hand it to you just like that."
"But please understand that I don't want to harm you. All the more a you're so helpless in this weather..."
"Leave her alone will you?!" I finally found my voice after the initial shock and drew my training sword. To my right I heard the crystal clear sound of Sril's being pulled out of its sheath.
"I already told you that this isn't just about her. It's about all three of you."
"So maybe you could explain to us what exactly is on your mind here?"
"I want to clean this world of non-magic beings..."
"And revive dragons, yes, we already know that. I would rather you told us how you managed this," Yanka pointed to one of the creatures accompanying Shaeth. "I'm sorry, but this is pretty far away from being a dragon."
"That's because the components are imperfect. But you can't deny that I'm on the right path, can you? And with your help..."
"Don't even count on it."
Shaeth sighed. "You should really give this a bit of a deeper thought. Humans are becoming more and more mindless destroyers, even more so since their succeeded at putting an end to the draconic race. It's not enough for them that they are destroying themselves, they rise their hand against anything they see a potential danger in, even if that danger exists only in their minds."
"I really didn't think you were this ignorant..." Yanka interrupted his speech roughly. "Oh sorry, did I say 'ignorant'? I meant impudent."
"So you refuse my offer?" Shaeth's question was calm, but there was something beside the disappointment in his voice that made a chill run down my spine.
"By all means, indeed. Get out of my sight as long as I'm still politely asking you to do so."
"Well... I guess I will have to use more 'colorful' methods then..."
Shaeth snapped his fingers and two of the beasts roared loudly and jumped... right onto Sril. What came next happened in splinters of seconds.
Sril deflected the first blow from a powerful paw with one seemingly delicate strike of the sword, sending a spray of blood after the droplets falling from the sky. But the other monstrosity was already on his left flank. Before I could shake off the terror and do something against it, Yanka appeared as if from nowhere. She shoved Sril away and evaded the second beast's fangs with a flick of her wings. She didn't manage to escape the claws though.
It was her agonizing scream that brought me back to my senses. When the beast jumped back and Yanka started falling towards the lake, I instantly leaped after her to prevent her from falling into the water. Suddenly though, my path was blocked by one of the monsters. I saw my friend dart past me to do what I couldn't, but suddenly there was a flash of copper-gold in front of him as well...
With one panicked flap of my wings I jumped away to a relative safe distance from the beast, biting my lip. The rain was washing the fresh blood away from the other one's huge claws... I felt dread clench my throat. I had to save Yanka, but I couldn't think of a way...
Sril found it for me.
He evaded his beastly opponent by jumping to his left and swung his sword in a slanted cut from the bottom left. The blade brushed the edge of his sath, that flew up due to the sudden motion... the crystal and the sword flashed a brilliant shade of azure and suddenly the beast was enveloped by flames...
The second monster must have instinctively sensed the danger, because when Sril turned to face it, it backed away and flew behind its companion, the one Shaeth was still sitting on. Upon seeing that, the mage threw us a furious stare, turned the beast he was riding around and withdrew fast towards north.
"How the heck did you do that?!" I finally tore my gaze away from our opponents, slowly vanishing behind the curtains of rain.
"I... I have no idea..." Sril stared at his sword for a moment, clearly bewildered. Then he shook his head and lowered the weapon, gazing down. "But that's not important right now."
He folded his wings completely and dove towards the stirred surface of the lake at astonishing speed. I followed his example and started frantically looking around. The only thing we were able to find were blurry stains of blood among the grass on the nearest shore...
"Where did she go...?" I didn't stop scanning the surroundings even for a second. "She couldn't just fly away with a wound like this..."
It was then that I picked up someone's voice, barely coming through the noise of rain. I might have noticed it only because the voice sounded high-pitched with panic and was calling my name. I glanced toward the mansion. I noticed Talia, standing on the balcony of the top floor of the residence and waving at us...
When we joined her on the balcony moments later, the first thing I noticed was the fright in her sapphire eyes. Without a word she snatched the sleeve of my shirt and pulled me down the stairs, straight to Yanka's room. The door wasn't even closed, and what we saw even before entering almost made my knees give up on me.
Yanka laid on the soft coverlet of the huge bed. She was drenched, her eyes closed... Under the torn fabric of her tunic gaped four long wounds, stretching from her right shoulder blade all the way down to her left hip.
When she heard us come in, she opened her eyes slightly with visible effort and looked in our direction.
"Yanka..." Sril managed to stammer out. "How did you...?"
"He... brought me here..." she whispered weakly.
"Who?"
"Me," we suddenly heard behind our backs.
We turned around hastily. In the corner of the room, on a chair standing beside a small dresser, with his arms folded on his chest, sat... Carath.
Sril's hand darted to the hilt of his sword faster than I could blink. "What are you doing here?!"
"You know, you could be at least a little grateful that I rescued your friend," the mage was the embodiment of indifference. "I even got myself drenched for that."
Sril fell silent, eyeing him with mistrust. I frowned as well.
"Don't look at me like that, help her," the man urged us negligently.
My friend visibly had to put a lot of willpower into postponing his retort, and turned to Yanka again. I did the same, casting cautious glances towards the corner of the room every now and then.
"This doesn't look good..." muttered Sril. "The bleeding is not dangerous, but still..."
"I will be fine..." Yanka managed a faint smile.
"I want to believe you, but we still need to take care of them... Sian could you please bring some clean towels and bandages?"
I just nodded and stood up.
When I came back shortly after, Sril already had a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth prepared. Talia was sitting on the floor in the opposite corner of the room from Carath, still sobbing quietly, so I decided to let Sril handle the bandaging alone.
When finally, after many stifled wails and tears of pain, my friend managed to put an end to the suffering, he carefully covered Yanka with a delicate blanket.
"Why did you rescue her?" he asked in an ice-cold tone. "I thought watching people die makes you happy."
"Well... you probably won't believe me, but I wish to offer you my help."
"I'm surprised the word 'help' even exists in your vocabulary," Sril folded his arms on his chest. "And you are absolutely right, I don't believe you. Because why should I?"
"Maybe because I know how we could easily make Shaeth pretty harmless."
"You suddenly want to act against him?" I almost smirked. "When not so long ago, he was making good use of your... services?"
"I already told you that I never really worked for him. I'm only looking for benefits for myself..."
"And for opportunities to spill blood," Sril growled.
"Blood that is spilled by almost everyone. In this world, blood was, is and will be flowing like wine at royal tables, you are aware of it."
Sril was silent for a while. I could see that he was fighting some inner battle with himself. Still, when he spoke again, he seemed indifferent: "Well then, how according to you, are we supposed to stop Shaeth?"
"It's quite easy really. We need to prevent his further attempts to revive dragons and don't let his magic grow more than it already is."
"How?"
"First, don't allow him to gather more components for his experiments. The beasts he came with here today were merely hybrids, which he created using old dragon scales that he found somewhere. Fortunately, as far as I know, he already ran out of them... but he knows where to get his next supply."
"Where?"
"I didn't find out the details yet, but supposedly they are hidden somewhere together with something, that would allow him to achieve his second goal - more powerful magic."
"And what is that?"
"Did you ever heard about the fact, that almost every mage, in the past or present, liked to have something to serve him as a storage of raw magical energy? For Shaeth, it was the Eemrast."
The familiar sounding name made Yanka open her eyes slightly. "Eemrast...?" she whispered, startling us a bit.
"Exactly. Did you know that the name 'Eemr' came from the connection of two words: the elvish 'eem', which means 'dawn' or 'sunrise', and an antiquated word from the mage language 'mro', which could be translated as 'guardian'?"
"No..."
"And your hometown wasn't called Eemr without a reason. The term 'Dawnguard' was referring to the fact, that there was a powerful item being kept safe in this city - the Sunrise of Edron. According to legend, it was a mosaic of crystals, that the founder of Eemr, and eventually of Edron itself - Ares, found during his adventures and decided to settle down in this spot."
"Wait, I thought Ethred was the founder of Edron," I interjected.
"He was the first king, but he wasn't the founder. Ares would have become the first king, but after a while he felt the longing for adventuring once again and headed north, towards the Ljar Mountains." Sril stirred, which elicited a satisfied smile from Carath. "That's right. Once upon a time, this man wandered to the mountains you were born in. And there was something he carried with him..." the mage's gaze slipped down to my friend's waist.
"No way..."
I suddenly felt excited, forgetting a little about the tense situation. "Is that true?"
"I... I don't know... this sword has been in my family for decades..."
"Oh... and you didn't know about this trick with the fire either?"
Sril only shook his head, to which Carath reacted with a satisfied smile. "I think I can help you understand all of that better," the mage reached underneath his robe on his chest and pulled out something like a small leather tube. He tossed it to Sril. He eyed the object with mistrust, then opened the lid at one end and took a piece of thick parchment out of it.
It was a beautiful and detailed drawing of a city, porched houses and a small tower of something like a temple in the distance. Underneath, as if suggesting that it lay hidden in the underground below the town, was what seemed like a simplified depiction of a sunrise. It consisted of a semi-circle with five triangular 'rays' above the upper arch, and three bigger ones between them.
Upon closer examination though, we noticed more and more details. The main part of it wasn't simply a half of a circle. The edges were a little angular, and there were shadings on its surface that made it look like some sort of rock or crystal. And the rays weren't just perfect triangles either, they were more claw-shaped, a bit curved at the tip...
"Wait..." I reached underneath my shirt, pulled out my sath and held it close to the parchment.
We both looked at Carath, who had a pleased smirk on his face.
"That there, my friends, is a drawing of Eemr in its early years, along with a depiction of the Sunrise of Edron."
"But... but that doesn't add up..."
"It does if you think about it. The stones were found by Ares. He used a part of the main crystal to forge the blade. Later on, after Ares already left Eemr, an ancestor of Shaeth got tempted by the usefulness of the remaining crystals for magical purposes, stole them and ran off. Later, the crystals were snatched away by the last dragons. The main part and the five smallest ones were hidden all over Edron. The three bigger ones were turned into saths..."
"So that's why the sword reacted..." I looked to the weapon at my friend's side. "The blade accidentally touched your sath didn't it? It was just two pieces of the same magic meeting each other after a long time..."
"That's right," confirmed Carath. "And it also explains why the Cadreesh lineage was this quiet for a few generations. Only recently Shaeth managed to find one shard and is now looking for the rest..."
"Wait, he found only one shard and he's already able to create dragonnes?"
"Create what?" I blurted out, confused.
"The hybrids Shaeth came on here today are called dragonnes," explained Sril.
"Oh..."
"Well..." he continued. "I admit, it all sounds nice and logical, but why should we trust you?"
"You do have this pretty boy, don't you?" Carath pointed to me.
I scowled and stopped turning my sath between my fingers. "Until now, he's telling the truth..."
"And I can make your search much easier."
"You know where to find the shards?"
"For now I know where one is, and I have my suspicions about the second. The rest might need some more work..."
"Where?" Sril cut him off coldly.
"I will wait with the second until I'm sure, but the first..." Carath reached under his robe again, on the other side this time, pulled out a small crystal and turned it around in his fingers, "is here."
I held my breath for a moment. Sril on the other side looked at him with even greater mistrust now. "And we are supposed to believe, that this is not some trickery?" this time his voice was devoid of any emotion, like he was doing all he could to hide them. "What guarantee do we have, that this little trinket won't hurt us?"
"It won't. You don't even have to touch it, it's enough if you destroy it. That's what we are aiming for, isn't it? To strip Shaeth of his magical capabilities."
"Oh, now I get it," a mocking smile appeared on my friend's lips. "You are scared of exposing yourself to his anger, so you're letting us do the dirty work."
The mage sighed heavily. "No, it's because only you three are capable of destroying it."
Sril gave me a questioning look. I nodded. "If he really wants to help us... nevermind the reasons... then I think we should make use of it."
"Fine..." sighed Sril finally. It seemed like his words were forcing their way out of him. "You still didn't convince me, but you're lucky the decision is not just up to me."
Carath gave us an almost radiant smile, and put the stone on the dresser next to him. "I'm glad we could reach an agreement," he stood up. "I'll contact you as soon as I collect some reliable information or if the next shard finds its way to my hands somehow. Until then, farewell."
With these words the mage vanished, and in his place appeared the usual, single fluffy feather.
Only when it ceased moving on the edge of the dresser, Sril took a deep breath, leaned slightly forward, propping his elbows on his knees. I looked at him with concern. Some things couldn't be simply erased by the words "maybe I should try to forget about it"...
"Sril..." I started quietly, not even really knowing how I could help him at this moment.
He just sighed heavily. "I'm fine, don't worry..." he reassured me, straightening up a bit again.
Yanka, who meanwhile calmed down completely and recovered some of her strength, reached out and gently put her hand on his.
"So... what now?" I finally asked, casting a short glance towards Talia. She regained her composure again as well, although her eyes were still moist from the recent tears.
"Well..." Sril took another deep breath and stood up. "If this can really stop Shaeth without the need for bloodshed, then we should do it." He walked over to the spot where Carath was sitting and knocked the feather down from the dresser. He took the glittering crystal shard and frowned slightly.
"Me too," I agreed. "Maybe there is a way to completely deprive him of even his own magic too and make him harmless..."
"There might be..." Yanka murmured sleepily. "But I'll have to do some research on that..."
Sril gave yet another, but silent sigh and finally a tender smile appeared on his lips. "You should concentrate on recovering for now," he cooled her down gently. "We in the meantime will try to find some clues about the other shards. We don't need the help of this..."
"But promise us," Yanka cut him off just in case, "that if he should find them before us, you won't attempt to single-handedly solve the mystery that will lead us to his pocket."
At last Talia laughed and Sril's expression became warmer. "I promise. Besides... it would be impossible with you all anyway."
"That's what we're here for. To stop you from doing stupid stuff."
"And to lead you through the nightmares. Probably a fairly big one is awaiting us... but sometimes the only way to morning is through nightmares. Or should I say the only way to 'dawn'?"
"Yeah... let's end it for today. I'm dreaming about hot water and my bed... those two provided a greater commotion than the weather outside..."
"You can go ahead, I'll get us all something warm to drink."
"Can I help you?" Talia swayed her tail pleadingly.
"Sure," I held out my hand, which she gratefully took and stood up. "We should also get something to eat for Yanka and tell Kaan about everything in a way that won't make him pass out, while we're at it."
We left the room quietly to let Yanka relax a little, before her terrified lover came running.
When me and Talia went out to the bridge connecting the two parts of the residence, the last, tiny droplets of rain were about to stop falling into the lake.
I sighed, feeling the tension finally leave me. I knew that today's events weren't the worst that could have happened to us... but I was also certain, that even if even darker times should come, I wouldn't need to worry, as long as I had my friends.