PART 26

The undulating in his neck, like a cat with a hairball caught in its throat, finally gave way as Dresden coughed out an ingot that shimmered in the light.
“And what do we have here?.” Ardent rose to his feet to join Dresden. They both looked down at the ingot, the size of a small watermelon with a metallic sheen and dented edges.
“In all my years, I've never seen anything like that before." Dresden said turning the stone around with a claw. His head tipped side to side as he stared at it in wonder.
“It is certainly a magical object my friend. Possibly born of the love you have developed for humanity.” Ardent spoke casually, but his voice gave away his own curiosity and something else, reverence.
"Dragons do not feel love, Ardent. You know this as well as I do." Dresden picked it up and added, “ I can feel it though. It has a presence and a power.”
Ardent seemed genuinely impressed by what he’d just witnessed. “We should go and see Deirdre. She will know what to do with it and possibly give us some understanding as to why this has happened.”
Dresden turned sharply to face Ardent. “She’s still alive?”
Ardent nodded. “And speaks of you fondly.” With that, he grinned wide, revealing sharp rows of teeth.
Dresden instinctively flexed his wings, but they felt sluggish. He looked back to see how tattered they still were. “I can’t fly. Can we walk, or do we wait for these to heal?” Dresden was excited to hear that Deirdre was alive, another Dragon that had been exiled with the rest. She was also one of the original twenty from Numa. They had been close at one time, but she did not share the feelings he’d had for her. She was a stubborn female, hard as nails, but wise beyond her kind. She had traveled the portals freely when they were still accessible to all creatures. While most Dragons remained on their homeworld, Deirdre had been traveling the other realms and mingling with creatures beyond comprehension for centuries.
“When do we go to her?” he pressed.
Ardent stifled a chuckle. “Soon enough. For now we should transform back into men and talk about what just took place here. How do you feel?”
Dresden took inventory of himself. “Amazing. I feel free again. There was a part of me that I could not access in human form. I see now what Lazarus wanted for this world. I understand what he was trying to accomplish. I need to know who he is working with Ardent. You have to tell me what has taken place in the last two hundred years while I’ve been sleeping as a human being. I’m ready now.”
Ardent chuckled openly this time. “No. You’re not. We will get to all of that in time. It is good to have you back. I can see you now my friend. You were sleeping for too long, but your awakening was powerful and this ingot is proof of that. We will talk inside over some tea while you rest some more. Now, let us transform back into men and take this inside.”
The next several hours went by while the two talked about what Dresden had seen and experienced during his Draconian awakening. The woman’s voice he heard in his mind. Ardent was certain that it was Deirdre calling him back to his origins. She had the power to keep sacred knowledge and share that with anyone she chose to. She could pass on knowledge to anyone, anywhere, it was her Dragon gift. Ardent informed Dresden that it was by her doing that humans began living in castles under a hierarchy, something she had witnessed in another realm. She had been instrumental in nurturing human consciousness in a number of ways. She had infiltrated them and steered their consciousness towards ever higher learning.
“She was not supposed to meddle with the sentient creatures of Earth according to Sariahfina.” Dresden considered out loud. “I understand why Sariahfina rooted me out of the Northern Lands now. You told them I was there, didn’t you Ardent?”
Ardent grinned openly. “We needed to move you South my friend. It was the only way to get you to Sveldin. Lazarus needed you to pass Lilieth and get the Zomphious so you could take him to the Haiute. That never would have happened if you’d stayed in the Northern lands. Don’t hate me for it. I meant well. I actually told Baylin. We knew that he had been working with Sariahfina this entire time. It was the easiest way to get word back to BasNassal. He thought he coerced it out of me, I played along nicely when he was certain he had me at my end.”
"You played dead? Really now." Dresden couldn't keep the disdain out of his voice.
"We've all done things we aren't proud of during our exile." Ardent glared at Dresden over his cup.
Dresden shrugged off the comment but had a question instead.
“You keep saying ‘we’ Ardent. Who is this we, you speak of? I deserve to know.” Dresden sipped from his cup with raised eyebrows. He pressed Ardent, but Ardent just shook his head. They focused their attention once again on the ingot.
"Why do you think this ingot is my love for humanity?” Dresden questioned.
Ardent just smiled and stroked the smooth, dented stone. “We may not know love, but we understand it. This contains so much passion under the surface, that kind of desire is tangible. Humans know how to love in a way that Dragons may never.” Dresden bristled at the word. He was a Dragon, he did not love. He had been passionate with many women but he had not loved them.
“We will speak with Deirdre. She will assuredly shed light on the events that have taken place in your healing. I’m not quite sure why it crystalized into an ingot, but I believe we can be certain that this is love in raw form my friend.”
Dresden could read Ardent’s mannerisms much better now that his Dragon senses were coming back to him. Ardent softened as he spoke. His words trailed off to a different place entirely. Dresden could tell he was thinking of someone in particular.
“Who is she, and how long have you known her?” He asked Ardent, startling him.
Ardent bristled now, instantly defensive. “You know nothing and I will tell you less! That is mine and mine alone and you can fall from the cliff and die if you ever ask me such things again!”
“Well then. There’s the Dragon in you.” Dresden grinned at an idea that he could only assume at the moment. He respectfully left the subject alone while they sat quietly together just looking at and rubbing the ingot. The sensation it gave off was incredible to encounter. Although Dresden didn’t want to admit it, it was assuredly love. He loved children, he knew that instantly upon his first meeting with one and every one thereafter. He loved the land of Earth, it’s continents, creatures and the ocean. He loved many things, he realized, which made him different from the other Dragons. Was this his humanity that allowed such intense feelings to pervade his Draconian consciousness. He always thought of humans as meek, dangerous creatures. The feeling and expression of love was admirable and a deep strength that he had once viewed as weakness.
Ardent quickly changed the subject back to Deirdre. “I know where she is staying. She has been living in a cave in the Northeastern land of Tibuk. You know the place, it is near Carnak. I know you spent some time at the ruins there in the early days.”
Dresden reached back into his Draconian record of Carnak, the very place where Earth became cut off from the other realms. The kingdom that tended the portals to and from Earth. What a sad day indeed.
“Has Deirdre remained a Dragon this entire time?” Dresden asked.
Ardent rubbed his nose from a stubborn hair that tickled his face. “Of course not. She has played with the human form throughout her time here. Not nearly as much as you, no one has ever remained so long in their human form as you had.” Dresden glared at Ardent for the comment. “That is not a judgement, merely an observation!” He added quickly, seeing the ferocity in Dresden’s eyes. “We have to repair those wings before we can go to her. She will likely be expecting us.”
“Of course she will. Everyone knows what’s going on but me.” Dresden replied dryly.