The Silka
Chapter Twenty Five
No one seeing Carmine Abrizzi that evening knew when his heart, if he had one, turned over. No one, and there were many with him at the moment the contact reached his mind, realized. He smiled, he bowed just as gallantly, just as fluidly as ever. He caught the joke one of the men dining with him made and riposted with the sort of response that brought a gasp of pleasure from the woman seated beside him.
It was only later, when the formal dinner ended, when people began to rise, women to withdraw and the men to go on to speak of business that he calmly and quietly drew aside his host and begged forgiveness. With a gesture to Vitorio who'd come as his security the two of them moved toward the main door, even as his limo moved from its parking spot to slip past all the others and wend its way toward the main doors of the villa in Torino.
Still smiling, looking as if nothing in the world were wrong, other than perhaps some business he couldn't avoid, Carmine slipped into the limo, Vitorio sliding in beside him.
Once the car pulled away Carmine used his private connection to Nicco and called to his boy mage. Nicco responded instantly, knowing the Prince needed him immediately, and zapped himself into the car. Nicco took one look at Carmine's face, no longer an emotionless mask and asked, snuggling up against the man he thought of as father, "What is it?"
"Briony and Malachi," Carmine replied softly. "They are, I fear, lost. At least so Briony believed."
Nicco's face crumpled. Then as he fought against his own emotions, he asked, "Where are they? How?"
"A battle of some sort, in space. But very, very far away. Perhaps through time. She wishes us to care for her children and to remember her and Malachi. We must ... Where are the twins?"
Nicco paused a moment. "Asleep, my Prince. They know nothing of this."
"Take me to the Refuge then."
"Si, my Prince." Tears stained Nicco's face but that did not erase the need now for swift action. He zapped himself and his prince to the Refuge hoping somehow someone there could assist them in helping the twins to understand.
It wasn't as late at the Refuge as it was in Italy. Stephen stood on the terraced deck, looking up at the stars, where he'd been for hours, waiting and not knowing what he was waiting for. Above him, in the mountain lairs, the few dragons that hadn't left were restless. He could feel them in his mind, beating against it like the heart of a panicked child. It had been like that since early afternoon, a feeling of oppression that had descended suddenly and only increased as the sun had set and the moon had risen.
Across the deck, sitting close to each other, as silent as he, as silent as the night, Tabitha and Eli sat, while Doni was in the nursery. Somewhere in the universe, something terrible was taking place, something important and he had no idea what it was. Above him a star flared, burning as bright as the sun for less than an instant and then went dark, just as quickly. Behind him he heard Tabitha gasp and sensed Eli bend his head towards hers, murmuring words of comfort. Whatever it was she knew, he realized, whatever it was that they knew, he didn't want to know and that shocked him to his core.
It was into this scene that Nicco delivered his Prince. Carmine swept his gaze across the deck, taking in the Old Ones together looking crushed, and then his eyes landing on Stephen and staying there.
"Caro, I bear sad tidings and beg your assistance in dealing with the consequences." The Prince did not waste time on empty greetings. Those here too knew something of import had happened.
"How may we help?" Stephen said. From mountain lairs he heard the sound of wings beating against the night as the dragons launched themselves into the sky.
"Briony and Malachi. They left some time ago. Less than an hour ago Briony touched my mind as she and Malachi spun through space. She believed them doomed and lost. She asked that I promise her that I would see to her children. She need not have asked. I will give the little ones what I can. I came here hoping that someone could assist me in explaining to them what has become of their mother, and to help them feel less alone."
"Most of the dragons here left a few days ago," Stephen said, hearing the wings come closer. "Right after Cola and a few others brought their children here."
"Is there no other news?" The question came from a harsh voice, a dragon voice, as it landed just outside the deck.
Stephen peered into the dimness. "I don't know..."
The dragon sighed. "No, I suppose not. I am too old now to fight. So I came to take care of the younglings. Is there no news?"
Carmine bowed to the ancient dragon. "Signore. I know only what Briony told me in a moment of distress and agony. That she and Malachi were falling, failing and that she wished me to see to the care of her children. And that we remember her and her bondmate. As if we would, or could, forget."
The dragon sighed again. "We have lost so many this night. And will lose more in the days to come, I am sure. My name is Dandelion. Dandy, really. I am at your disposal. Briony was one of our great ones and her children are dear to us. She told us she left them in your care, that she knew you would protect them with your life."
"And so I have sworn and so I shall," Carmine agreed. "And now I must discover how best to accomplish that. Would it be best, do you think, to bring them here? I do not wish them to feel abandoned, but perhaps they'd be happier with more of their own kind?"
The dragon looked at him, his eyes alive, devouring Carmine, seeing not just him, but into him, all the way through him. "They have chosen," he said finally, stating it as the fact it was. "Where their Companions are is where they need to be. But they are too young to be without their own kind."
"Are there those amongst you who would come to Italy then, to comfort them and help them to heal?"
Dandy nodded. "Assuredly. But what of yourself? What aid may we offer to you?"
"Caro Dandelion, I thank you for your kindness. My greatest desire is to understand what they were fighting for, that was worth their lives, so that I may assist if at all possible."
The dragon grimaced, his eyes going to the stars. "The light you see has traveled millions of light years to reach here. It was shed by those stars millions of years ago. It is then that they are fighting now, so we may have this moment together. They fight to ensure that you will be born, that all of us will be born."
His eyes left the stars, sweeping Tabitha and Eli who sat as still as statues in the deep shadows, took in Stephen who'd gone pale in the moonlight and then met Carmine's eyes again. "In a few days, a week or two at most, they will fight again to ensure that Briony's children will grow up free to choose. Because you and I stand here we know they have won this night. We have no such surety in the days to come. And the opponent they fight is so much stronger, so much smarter now than they were then. If you can fight then you can help. But only you can decide if such things are worth their lives, and the lives of the rest who have died. Or if such a thing is something you would risk your life for."
"It sounds to me, caro, that I have no choice. If they fight to keep Briony's children free, then it is my fight as well. I have sworn to protect them, and to protect my country. I have no choice in the matter."
Dandy allowed himself a dragonish grin, a smile of recognition, one predator to another. "The Heir and her mate still live and will return to this time in a few days. I will send you word when and where to find them. In the meantime, the little ones need you and the man-child with you. Moramar is another who, like myself, is too old to fight in the ways we would wish. She is kind and loving, a mother herself whose children are fighting where she can not. I have called her and she will come."
"I thank you, caro," Carmine replied with a deep bow. He glanced over at Stephen then. "And will the Refuge fight as well?"
Stephen nodded. "The Awakened will fight, as well as the talented and the Old Ones." He frowned. "There was a word, an expression once, I can't remember it, for when a king called up his armies...the call to arms. It's happening now across the worlds, the call for those of power. Whoever it is we will fight..."
"Can die like everyone else," Dandy interrupted, his voice harsh again. "Do not let them fool you. No matter the power or talent, anything that lives can be killed."
"Some of us more than once," Carmine added dryly. "I have found, caro Stephen, that when one stops worrying about an outcome, and instead focuses on the path to that outcome, one can accomplish far more. But then you are an expert at seeing a path through difficult times. So I give advice to someone who has no need of it."
Stephen gave a short laugh. "When it comes to fighting wars Carmine, I always need advice. You and Marc can handle the tactics, I'll focus on the logistics."
"Si, I understand. If this battle crosses time itself, then there will be need for all our talents."
"No doubt. In the meantime, may I offer you a drink? I myself feel the need for a a serious slug of scotch."
Dandy, preparing to leave, said, "I'll send Moramar to you in Italy in the morning, if that is alright. Let them sleep this night. They will need it. And when you join the Heir, send them here and we will watch over them for you until you return."
"I thank you most humbly, Caro Dandelion. Those are excellent arrangements." He watched as Dandelion flew off then turned to Stephen. "I would dearly appreciate a drink, Stephen. It has been a difficult night, and things look as if they will be harder soon."
Stephen had already found the bottle, pouring into to two glasses. He offered one to Carmine. "I'm sorry they're gone. If there's anything I can do, it's yours."
"You are most kind. But I can think of nothing," Carmine said as he wrapped an arm around Nicco who was sniffling a bit. "Still... I should like to learn more once the battle is won. Learn where they died. What they were doing. It is just that I do hate to leave things unfinished. And I wish to mourn them properly, you see."
"I gather they were with Marc and Dinah. I don't know much more. He sent a message three days ago, asking for all the healers I could spare and sent dragons for them. From the little they said..."
"The battle was fought," Tabitha said, her voice eerie and toneless, almost disembodied in the darkness, "in space, in orbit around Earth. Many dragons were killed. Right now Marc is fighting for his life. A number of others are hurt."
Stephen focused on her mind, hissing as he realized only a small part of her and Eli were there with he and Carmine.
"How is it you know this?" Carmine asked her.
"I am there," she said. "Millions of years younger and not very much wiser. I had forgotten...We all had. It was necessary."
"Ah. So you knew Marc and Dinah from before. And something has triggered your memories now," Carmine mused. "Then there must be a need for them."
"Or no longer a need to not have them," she said.
"Si, perhaps. Carmine drank down his drink. I should return to my people and prepare them. And keep watch over the babies until their guardian arrives. I thank you for your assistance, my friends. We will see one another again soon."
"Be well Carmine," Stephen said. "In all things."
"May you and yours fare well." With that Carmine and Nicco disappeared. Carmine's empty scotch glass the only sign he had even been there.
It was only later, when the formal dinner ended, when people began to rise, women to withdraw and the men to go on to speak of business that he calmly and quietly drew aside his host and begged forgiveness. With a gesture to Vitorio who'd come as his security the two of them moved toward the main door, even as his limo moved from its parking spot to slip past all the others and wend its way toward the main doors of the villa in Torino.
Still smiling, looking as if nothing in the world were wrong, other than perhaps some business he couldn't avoid, Carmine slipped into the limo, Vitorio sliding in beside him.
Once the car pulled away Carmine used his private connection to Nicco and called to his boy mage. Nicco responded instantly, knowing the Prince needed him immediately, and zapped himself into the car. Nicco took one look at Carmine's face, no longer an emotionless mask and asked, snuggling up against the man he thought of as father, "What is it?"
"Briony and Malachi," Carmine replied softly. "They are, I fear, lost. At least so Briony believed."
Nicco's face crumpled. Then as he fought against his own emotions, he asked, "Where are they? How?"
"A battle of some sort, in space. But very, very far away. Perhaps through time. She wishes us to care for her children and to remember her and Malachi. We must ... Where are the twins?"
Nicco paused a moment. "Asleep, my Prince. They know nothing of this."
"Take me to the Refuge then."
"Si, my Prince." Tears stained Nicco's face but that did not erase the need now for swift action. He zapped himself and his prince to the Refuge hoping somehow someone there could assist them in helping the twins to understand.
It wasn't as late at the Refuge as it was in Italy. Stephen stood on the terraced deck, looking up at the stars, where he'd been for hours, waiting and not knowing what he was waiting for. Above him, in the mountain lairs, the few dragons that hadn't left were restless. He could feel them in his mind, beating against it like the heart of a panicked child. It had been like that since early afternoon, a feeling of oppression that had descended suddenly and only increased as the sun had set and the moon had risen.
Across the deck, sitting close to each other, as silent as he, as silent as the night, Tabitha and Eli sat, while Doni was in the nursery. Somewhere in the universe, something terrible was taking place, something important and he had no idea what it was. Above him a star flared, burning as bright as the sun for less than an instant and then went dark, just as quickly. Behind him he heard Tabitha gasp and sensed Eli bend his head towards hers, murmuring words of comfort. Whatever it was she knew, he realized, whatever it was that they knew, he didn't want to know and that shocked him to his core.
It was into this scene that Nicco delivered his Prince. Carmine swept his gaze across the deck, taking in the Old Ones together looking crushed, and then his eyes landing on Stephen and staying there.
"Caro, I bear sad tidings and beg your assistance in dealing with the consequences." The Prince did not waste time on empty greetings. Those here too knew something of import had happened.
"How may we help?" Stephen said. From mountain lairs he heard the sound of wings beating against the night as the dragons launched themselves into the sky.
"Briony and Malachi. They left some time ago. Less than an hour ago Briony touched my mind as she and Malachi spun through space. She believed them doomed and lost. She asked that I promise her that I would see to her children. She need not have asked. I will give the little ones what I can. I came here hoping that someone could assist me in explaining to them what has become of their mother, and to help them feel less alone."
"Most of the dragons here left a few days ago," Stephen said, hearing the wings come closer. "Right after Cola and a few others brought their children here."
"Is there no other news?" The question came from a harsh voice, a dragon voice, as it landed just outside the deck.
Stephen peered into the dimness. "I don't know..."
The dragon sighed. "No, I suppose not. I am too old now to fight. So I came to take care of the younglings. Is there no news?"
Carmine bowed to the ancient dragon. "Signore. I know only what Briony told me in a moment of distress and agony. That she and Malachi were falling, failing and that she wished me to see to the care of her children. And that we remember her and her bondmate. As if we would, or could, forget."
The dragon sighed again. "We have lost so many this night. And will lose more in the days to come, I am sure. My name is Dandelion. Dandy, really. I am at your disposal. Briony was one of our great ones and her children are dear to us. She told us she left them in your care, that she knew you would protect them with your life."
"And so I have sworn and so I shall," Carmine agreed. "And now I must discover how best to accomplish that. Would it be best, do you think, to bring them here? I do not wish them to feel abandoned, but perhaps they'd be happier with more of their own kind?"
The dragon looked at him, his eyes alive, devouring Carmine, seeing not just him, but into him, all the way through him. "They have chosen," he said finally, stating it as the fact it was. "Where their Companions are is where they need to be. But they are too young to be without their own kind."
"Are there those amongst you who would come to Italy then, to comfort them and help them to heal?"
Dandy nodded. "Assuredly. But what of yourself? What aid may we offer to you?"
"Caro Dandelion, I thank you for your kindness. My greatest desire is to understand what they were fighting for, that was worth their lives, so that I may assist if at all possible."
The dragon grimaced, his eyes going to the stars. "The light you see has traveled millions of light years to reach here. It was shed by those stars millions of years ago. It is then that they are fighting now, so we may have this moment together. They fight to ensure that you will be born, that all of us will be born."
His eyes left the stars, sweeping Tabitha and Eli who sat as still as statues in the deep shadows, took in Stephen who'd gone pale in the moonlight and then met Carmine's eyes again. "In a few days, a week or two at most, they will fight again to ensure that Briony's children will grow up free to choose. Because you and I stand here we know they have won this night. We have no such surety in the days to come. And the opponent they fight is so much stronger, so much smarter now than they were then. If you can fight then you can help. But only you can decide if such things are worth their lives, and the lives of the rest who have died. Or if such a thing is something you would risk your life for."
"It sounds to me, caro, that I have no choice. If they fight to keep Briony's children free, then it is my fight as well. I have sworn to protect them, and to protect my country. I have no choice in the matter."
Dandy allowed himself a dragonish grin, a smile of recognition, one predator to another. "The Heir and her mate still live and will return to this time in a few days. I will send you word when and where to find them. In the meantime, the little ones need you and the man-child with you. Moramar is another who, like myself, is too old to fight in the ways we would wish. She is kind and loving, a mother herself whose children are fighting where she can not. I have called her and she will come."
"I thank you, caro," Carmine replied with a deep bow. He glanced over at Stephen then. "And will the Refuge fight as well?"
Stephen nodded. "The Awakened will fight, as well as the talented and the Old Ones." He frowned. "There was a word, an expression once, I can't remember it, for when a king called up his armies...the call to arms. It's happening now across the worlds, the call for those of power. Whoever it is we will fight..."
"Can die like everyone else," Dandy interrupted, his voice harsh again. "Do not let them fool you. No matter the power or talent, anything that lives can be killed."
"Some of us more than once," Carmine added dryly. "I have found, caro Stephen, that when one stops worrying about an outcome, and instead focuses on the path to that outcome, one can accomplish far more. But then you are an expert at seeing a path through difficult times. So I give advice to someone who has no need of it."
Stephen gave a short laugh. "When it comes to fighting wars Carmine, I always need advice. You and Marc can handle the tactics, I'll focus on the logistics."
"Si, I understand. If this battle crosses time itself, then there will be need for all our talents."
"No doubt. In the meantime, may I offer you a drink? I myself feel the need for a a serious slug of scotch."
Dandy, preparing to leave, said, "I'll send Moramar to you in Italy in the morning, if that is alright. Let them sleep this night. They will need it. And when you join the Heir, send them here and we will watch over them for you until you return."
"I thank you most humbly, Caro Dandelion. Those are excellent arrangements." He watched as Dandelion flew off then turned to Stephen. "I would dearly appreciate a drink, Stephen. It has been a difficult night, and things look as if they will be harder soon."
Stephen had already found the bottle, pouring into to two glasses. He offered one to Carmine. "I'm sorry they're gone. If there's anything I can do, it's yours."
"You are most kind. But I can think of nothing," Carmine said as he wrapped an arm around Nicco who was sniffling a bit. "Still... I should like to learn more once the battle is won. Learn where they died. What they were doing. It is just that I do hate to leave things unfinished. And I wish to mourn them properly, you see."
"I gather they were with Marc and Dinah. I don't know much more. He sent a message three days ago, asking for all the healers I could spare and sent dragons for them. From the little they said..."
"The battle was fought," Tabitha said, her voice eerie and toneless, almost disembodied in the darkness, "in space, in orbit around Earth. Many dragons were killed. Right now Marc is fighting for his life. A number of others are hurt."
Stephen focused on her mind, hissing as he realized only a small part of her and Eli were there with he and Carmine.
"How is it you know this?" Carmine asked her.
"I am there," she said. "Millions of years younger and not very much wiser. I had forgotten...We all had. It was necessary."
"Ah. So you knew Marc and Dinah from before. And something has triggered your memories now," Carmine mused. "Then there must be a need for them."
"Or no longer a need to not have them," she said.
"Si, perhaps. Carmine drank down his drink. I should return to my people and prepare them. And keep watch over the babies until their guardian arrives. I thank you for your assistance, my friends. We will see one another again soon."
"Be well Carmine," Stephen said. "In all things."
"May you and yours fare well." With that Carmine and Nicco disappeared. Carmine's empty scotch glass the only sign he had even been there.
