Chapter Two: Sailing to Dragon Island

Tranith Argan: Book 5

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Felanar and Dalonír set sail to Dragon Island.

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Felanar thought often of Helóne as he watched Dalonír in their quiet moments aboard their ship. The ancient elven woman of the mountains had suffered so much in her life, and it was such a shock to him to learn of Llarand’s obstinate contribution to her suffering, that he wondered how Dalonír would turn out. Would he follow his father’s caution about overturning the old ways or would he share Alessa’s acceptance of the new and thus join his sister in leading the elves to fresh ways? Llarand had promised Felanar to consider Helóne’s matter, and Felanar trusted Llarand enough to know that he would do so fairly despite his natural caution to overturn his own father’s decree. Llarand had a decent heart, of that he was sure, and nothing Dalonír said or did gave Felanar any reason to think he would be any less decent. It was his leadership skills that made Felanar wonder.

On board the Erenár ship, the Erenár captain was in charge, but it was to Felanar and Dalonír that the mission as a whole was entrusted. The two of them discussed matters of strategy and planning as the voyage continued, but when it came time to tell the captain of their plans, it was Felanar who did so at the request of Dalonír. Why? Was this hesitation he detected, or was he just misinterpreting ? Perhaps Dalonír was simply being gracious, a host allowing his guest to have the prime place. Felanar did not know, but as he thought of Helóne he wondered again if Dalonír would be a forceful leader or one who conferred with other more conservative counselors. Having been in an elven council, Felanar knew of the natural reluctance of the elves to overturn that which is for that which could be.

In all other respects Felanar felt he was getting along well with Dalonír. Certainly Dalonír gave no indication that he was anything but pleased to be in Felanar’s company. They had known each other since Felanar’s childhood but were never close in the way he had befriended Alessa. Felanar had even spent more time with Heléste than with her son. Dalonír had always been busy overseeing the Findáran knights, or carrying out one of Llarand’s requests.

He was older than Alessa, not extremely so, but enough to where he was a fully established member of elven society while his sister was more stay-at-home due to her lack of age and experience. As a child whenever Felanar wanted a walking companion, it was Alessa who was at hand while Dalonír was off doing something else. So while he was always polite and friendly to Felanar, they had never grown close before this voyage. Felanar felt there was no better time to get to know Dalonír especially if they were going to represent themselves before the dragons as the future of man and elf. To that end he had spent as much time as he could talking with Dalonír.

“The eren is peaceful this evening,” said the elf as he overlooked the railing of the ship out to the Elven channel.

Felanar knew by now that eren was the Findáran word for water, and he noted that Dalonír, much more than Alessa, used classical Findáran in his speech. His sentences may not have followed the archaic structure of the Erenár crew, but the words he chose reflected his people’s history. Felanar enjoyed hearing those words and making the connections between them. Find was the word for wood and eren meant water, and when Felanar, as a teenager, first made the connection to Findára and Erenár he was thrilled. Ar was elven for place. The common lla prefix meant noble. Raín was the suffix meaning dwellers. Thus you had the Llaraín Findára and the Llaraín Erenár, the noble dwellers of the wood place and of the water place.

“This eren is always peaceful, I would think,” replied Felanar. “Everything about the worlds in which the elves live is tamed.”

“No, not tamed,” said Dalonír, “but rather understood or cooperated with. We cannot control the ria,” he said, using the elven word for world.

“You seem to control it quite well, actually. Elaria is kept quite beautiful under your hands and the Elven channel seems always placid whenever I traverse it.”

“This is not control, Felanar, it is understanding of the ways of the ria, and working within its conditions. Men seem to struggle with the elements for they insist on doing things their way despite what the ria wishes. If a river is not set up the way they like, they build a dam and hope it does not burst. When it does it seems to them that a calamity has overtaken them when it is merely the ria reestablishing its natural ways without regard to the needs of men. Elves work with the ria, we listen to what it wants, we build or tend or till it in ways that go along with the natural orders of things instead of against them.”

“So how does that relate to the waters of the Elven channel always being placid?” asked Felanar.

“It only seems that way to you because you have not sailed it often,” smiled Dalonír, his blonde hair flowing gently in the breeze. “I assure you it gets rough at times and the Erenár do not sail it at such times for that would be forcing it to cooperate when it does not wish to. The eren is peaceful now and thus we sail on it without disturbance. However, I freely admit that it is peaceful most of the time due to the shape of the surrounding land and the location of Elaria. We would not have settled any other place, of course. Why fight the ria when you can live within its natural boundaries?”

“And the beauty of Elaria? How is that not a taming of the world since you keep things tidy and neat?”

“We keep Elaria as it wishes to be kept,” Dalonír objected. “The grass grows as it wishes and we merely encourage it to do so within bounds that we enjoy and it does not object to. If it did object, we would tend it in some other way.”

“I truly do not yet understand how elves communicate with the world the way you do. You make it sound like a being with intelligence that must be bargained with.”

“The ria is indeed smart in its own way, Felanar.”

“I trust you without fully understanding you,” sighed Felanar.

“That is the way of wisdom only if you speak with someone trustworthy.”

“I see no reason not to consider you trustworthy.”

“Thank you,” said Dalonír, his blue eyes brightening at the compliment, “I will try to always earn that trust.”

“That is the mark of a good leader,” said Felanar.

Dalonír merely nodded thoughtfully.

They had set sail shortly before Aren’s ships, and their journey was briefer, so while Aren and Alessa were barely entering the Elven channel, Dalonír and Felanar were soon approaching Dragon Island with no incident of note along the way. The large island was first noticed by an elven crew member, and this was long before Felanar could spot it himself. He wished his elven blood extended to him not only a hint of glow to his eyes but also the elven keen sense of sight. He strained to see the island but it was more than an hour later before he could begin to make out its dark outline against the horizon.

They were sailing from the southeast, and their plan was to sail into a natural harbor on the eastern side of the island. Dragon Island was shaped as a frying pan with its handle extending eastward. The harbor was on the part of the island where the handle first extended itself. In the center of the island, and extending to the western edge, were the mountains. More hills than mountains, they were numerous and it was within these hills that the dragons lived. All of this was told to Felanar by Dalonír as they gradually approached. The elves had visited Dragon Island in the past and there was a well-known path to reach the cave homes where the dragons lived.

As the ship drew closer to the looming land mass, Felanar found within himself a rising anxiety that his mind could not suppress. His past experience with dragons had been unsettling and the thought of voluntarily going to them seemed odd to his heart even if his mind understood the reason. His pulse rose every time he thought he saw movement on the horizon. Could that be a dragon in flight? This happened several times but he never saw one definitively. He never ceased looking, however, and his heart never settled into a restful pattern.

Soon the island filled the horizon and its shape began to come into focus. Felanar could see the hills in the distance. It was late afternoon, almost dusk, and the light was beginning to fade, so Felanar’s ability to discern shapes and colors began to fade with it. Unless a dragon flew high in the sky to provide a contrast of color, he could probably not make them out against the background of the dark hills now. Felanar just had to trust the elves to be able to make out a dragon if one appeared. This did not comfort him for now he felt more helpless to the situation.

The shoreline drew closer as the island’s southeast curve enveloped them. It was a rocky land and the foothills drew very close to the edge. It was as if the walls of the island surrounded them as they sailed toward the harbor. It was getting darker and soon Felanar could make out little more than the dark shape of the island against the fading sky. The elves worked together to prepare the ship for docking in the harbor. There was a natural channel that allowed a ship that had not too deep a draft to pull in and sail up against some rocks that almost formed a dock. Elven ships never had a deep draft and were very maneuverable. The crew skillfully sailed her into this channel and up by these rocks until a couple of elves took some ropes and scampered onto the rocks and anchored the ship to shore.

Given the failing light, and noting that their presence brought no immediate greeting from the dragons, it was felt that the dragons might not have noticed their arrival. Instead of climbing onto the rocks and then taking the trail to the hills in the dark, they would wait onboard for morning’s light and then begin their trek. Felanar wasn’t sure if it was his presence that made them come up with this plan—on their own would elves cheerfully march in the dark?—but whatever the case he was glad to stay on the ship that night. Several guards were posted to keep a watch out for dragon activity. The rest of the crew and Dalonír and Felanar went to sleep below deck. Felanar had restless sleep and several dreams that disturbed him but upon awakening the next morning he could recall none of them.

The next day dawned bright. The morning sun shone on the ship and illuminated the island. Felanar awoke and joined the crew in breakfast on the deck. They searched the shore for life. Aside from small animals living in and near the water’s edge, they saw nothing.

“What do dragons eat?” asked Felanar as he thought about these small animals and wondered if they were afraid of the dragons too.

“Whatever they desire,” one Erenár crew member joked with a laugh.

“That is so,” smiled Dalonír, “but they are known to prefer larger animals along with a variety of plant life. Bushes and trees, for example, are varied parts of their diet, depending on the qualities of the bush or tree and their needs.”

“So these animals here would have no reason to fear the dragons?” asked Felanar.

“Oh, probably not,” said Dalonír, “though perhaps a young dragon would find them a tasty snack. Traditionally there never were that many young dragons at a given time, so perhaps these animals find their lives on the island peaceful. Mostly peaceful.”

“You said that dragons eating a person was considered unusual,” stated Felanar more in confirmation than in question.

“Yes, it would not normally happen,” said Dalonír.

“Yet are we not large animals?” asked Felanar.

“Yes, strictly speaking we would qualify as a meal, but the dragons are quite intelligent and they respect intelligence in others. They eat meat, but they tend to prefer meat that is dumb. Cattle and sheep, for instance, but not dog or horse. Eating a man or an elf would be considered horrible to most dragons. It would mean the extinguishing of a source of high intelligence. It would not normally be done, your personal experience notwithstanding.”

“So all things considered, there should be no reason for us to fear being on this island,” said Felanar.

“No reason,” confirmed Dalonír.

“Then why have we been keeping watch at night?” asked Felanar.

Dalonír hesitated briefly and then quietly said, “It has been a long time since we have encountered the dragons.”

“Let us begin our trek then,” said Felanar, “and see if together we can solve the mysteries of the dragons.”