One of Us

If you’re new to The Môrdreigiau Chronicles, welcome! You might find the Glossary helpful for some of these words. Colons indicate the sea dragon’s thought communications.

Previously, Geraint and Elpis went searching for Llallogan during a major storm that threatened the caer’s existence. In grief, they consummated, ahhh, matters, on the floor of the palace’s hot springs cave. Not far away, in the sunken basin of the same cave, Llallogan (Elpis’ brother) has been trapped in a prophetic dream, seeking the missing Queen Heledd. The goddess Morgaine freed him from that…

Read Part 1 / All Parts of “They Were Shining“

Elpis woke. Arms clasped her waist and a heavy weight lay upon her, pressing her against the hot stones of the cave floor.

Utterly loose-limbed from both heat and lovemaking, she knew they had to move soon. Staying too long in the hot springs could result in dangerous over-heating. Her lips quirked. That had already happened.

It had been a night beyond her wildest dreams.

The horrible rumbles and creaking of the membrane had quieted. She smoothed over Geraint’s bared shoulder, enjoying the contours of his back, before finding the lapel of his grey robe and pulling it up, covering him.

He lifted his head from where it lay upon her chest. She saw herself reflected in his wide, dark eyes.

:Whaa—: He blinked, long and slow, his long black eyelashes curving prettily. :No.: He pushed up, glanced down at her bared flesh and pulled her robe closed, gripping the lapels at her neck. :No. No, we did not.:

He scrambled to his feet, putting distance between them. Elpis lay there on the ground, her vision blurring from unshed tears.

She no longer felt melted into the stone floor, she felt shattered. She sat up, drawing the remains of her tattered dignity about her. :Neither of us were drunk last night. You wanted this. You wanted me.:

Geraint stood with his back to her, head bowed. :My world had come to an end. You took advantage—:

Elpis hissed. :That is not what happened.:

:What happened?: Llallogan’s thought interrupted their private argument. :Geraint, your emotions—:

:I’m locking down the bond,: Geraint snarled, turning.

Llallogan sat in the sunken centre of the cave. Elpis turned away from both of them, feeling her cheeks heat, hotter than the hot springs water.

:I found her.: Llallogan rose, legs wobbling. He sat heavily on the lip of the shallow pit. :The giant kelp forest.:

:Why would they go there? It’s dangerous,: Elpis piped up. She could pretend nothing had happened as well as Geraint, maybe even better.

Llallogan looked at her, her position on the floor and mussed hair. He frowned at Geraint’s back. :What did happen here?:

:A massive storm hit the caer and we took shelter in the cave,: his sister told him. She couldn’t meet his gaze. Her thought tremoured. :We couldn’t find you.:

:I’ll gather a rescue party,: Geraint stalked out.

:Wait!: Llallogan called after him. :It’s not that simple. A divine magic has trapped them. Geraint!:

Llallogan helped his sister to his feet. :Are you hurt?:

Elpis loosed a long, shuddering sigh. :Yes, but there’s nothing you can do about it. If they are trapped by magic, how do we free them?:

Llallogan frowned. :Worse, how do we avoid becoming trapped ourselves? I fear one of Heledd’s friends is … dead already.:

This is quite a stretch of a response to the Smogust Story Hoard writing challenge by Bradley Ramsey and The Circus Dragon for the month of August. I took the grey of the dragon, the wide eye and the word “shattering”. Only it’s Elpis’ heart, not the moon.

There’s a song that goes with this too. Of course, I’ll leave it up to you as to which “one of us is lying, one of us is crying”…

And yes, as it often happens with these month long challenges (often being precisely once before), it’s a serial. If you haven’t adjusted your preferences for digest for daily, you may do so in your Substack profile.

Read Part 1 / All Parts of “They Were Shining“