Dice rattling in his hands, Mirage looked around at his gambling mates and smiled. The locals were all gamblers, but none of the hicks were a match for the Pirate Lord's own gambling abilities, or as the case was his cheating abilities. It was only a few hours past sun up, and these slobs were all already stone drunk. Mirage made the trade between his "special" dice and the real ones without a hitch and opened his hands with a hoot. The numbers, of course, came out the way he wanted them to, and the Pirate Lord collected his winnings, again. He started in on persuading the drunks into another game when the doors to the inn burst open, and a fully armored Argile ran in with Onyl over his shoulder. Mirage dropped the dice and ran to his friend. "Argile!" he shouted. "What the hell happened!? What are you doing in your armor!?"
The Black Knight continued moving without saying a word. He stopped at a table and laid the unconscious Onyl down on it. "We were attacked by death knights," he said finally. "One of their weapons hit my right arm causing it to be paralyzed. There were too many of them, and I had ordered Onyl to run. Then she suddenly screamed, and the earth literally exploded. The death knights were swallowed up by the land. Onyl collapsed, so I took her and made a run for it."
Argile was cut off as the doors to the kitchen flew open, Simon entered the room. He took one look at his daughter and ran to her side. "What happened here?" he cried. He brushed hair from her face as he examined her. He raised his head and looked at Argile and Mirage. His eyes focused on the Crest symbol on Argile's armor. His face went white. "I want you out of my inn this instant!" he shouted. "I'll not let you take them away from me! Do you hear me!?"
The two Knights looked at each other and then back at Simon. Mirage quickly began to clear out the bewildered drunks, while Argile tried to calm down the now frantic Simon. "I think we need to just calm down and talk, Simon," he said calmly. Despite his currently useless right arm, Argile easily forced Simon to sit down.
Mirage returned to the side of his large friend and started to help calm Simon to a rational level. Argile touched the center of his armor and deactivated the magic of his Crest. There was a black flash, and he was in his normal clothing again. After a few minutes, the two Dragon Knights finally got Simon calm enough to talk rationally. It was then that Onyl began to waken. "Is she wounded at all?" asked Simon with obvious worry.
Argile shook his head. "No. She just fainted from the excitement. I think she just needs to rest for a while." Mirage added his agreement.
Seeing the truth in the big man's words Simon, too, nodded in agreement. "Rayn!" he shouted.
There was a small crashing sound from the kitchen as another person entered the room. Mirage's eyes went wide as he saw the blond haired urchin from earlier enter. It took all of the Pirate Lord's self control not too attack the boy. "Yes, father?" said Rayn. He stopped short at the table as he saw Onyl. "What happened to Onyl?" he cried out.
Simon laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's all right, son. She's just had a fainting spell is all. Help your sister up and take her to her room to lay down." The boy complied and helped her off the table and up the stairs. A few moments of silence went by before Simon finally spoke. "I need a drink," he said flatly and went to the bar.
Argile and Mirage followed and sat down at the bar as well. Simon pulled a bottle of what looked to be brandy from a cabinet. He poured himself a small glass and took a quick hit. Finally, he looked the two Knights in the eyes. "I suppose you want the truth."
"That would be a nice change of things," said Mirage.
"It is obvious that you recognized the symbol on my armor," added Argile. "We believe we already know why, but it would be a lot easier if you just told us everything."
Simon sighed and poured himself some more brandy. "About fifteen years ago, my wife and I were living in Meribia. I was running an inn such as this one, but with much more success due to its location. You can understand that a big city inn will pull in more profit in a week than the one in this back water hole can in two months." Mirage nodded in agreement. He knew the lure of profit all too well.
"Well," continued Simon, "I was closing up the bar one night when an old friend of mine walked in. His name was Shan." Argile's eye brows went up. "We had adventured together in my youth and formed something of a bond. I hadn't seen him in years and was happy to see his face again and in one piece. He had with him a blue haired gentleman by the name of Briss. Well, one thing led to another, and we all ended up sharing a bottle of wine over old stories." Simon sighed and wiped his hands across his face. "After a few hours of stories, Shan asked if I could do him a very important favor. I assured him that I would do anything that was within my power to help him. He smiled back at me and told me to meet him the next day on the beaches west of the city. I agreed, and we called it a night."
"Did you know his true identity at this time?" asked Argile.
"No," said Simon in a low voice. "I wasn't made aware of his true form until that next day. I've never been a truly religious man, and even though I never prayed to the Goddess for anything, I paid her the occasional homage. It was quite a shock the next day when I met my old friend on the beaches to find out that he was one of the fable Dragons of Althena." Simon made a small laugh that was definitely not due to amusement. "Well, Shan showed himself to be the Black Dragon of Althena and his friend Briss proved that he was the Blue Dragon. As you can well imagine, I nearly fainted dead away. They quickly returned to their human forms and assured me that they meant no harm towards me. Shan reminded me that he needed a favor. I couldn't say no, so I asked what exactly it was he needed from me. The two Dragons led me to a small cave on the beach and told me to look inside. That's when I saw them for the first time." Simon smiled to himself. "Lying on the ground was the most beautiful three year old girl I had ever seen. Her dark hair shone even though she was lying in a cave. And cradled in her arms was a baby boy with a lock of blue hair on his otherwise bald head."
Simon stopped for a second and just sat there smiling to himself. Suddenly, he snapped out of it and continued with the story. "Shan told me that the girl was his daughter and that the boy was Briss' son. He said that there was trouble and great danger ahead, and that at all costs these two children had to survive. He didn't have to tell me that the children were also Dragons who would one day grow up to be like their parents. I could see the pain in my old friend's eyes and in those of Briss' as well. I agreed to be the children's guardian until the time when they would inherit their birth rights. Shan also told me that he had blocked off Onyl's memories of the past three years, and that when she awoke she would see me as her father and my wife as her mother. I was to tell her that Rayn was her younger brother. It has been that way ever since. I never saw Shan and Briss ever again. But before they left, Shan showed me four symbols. He said that one day people would arrive bearing one or all of these symbols. It would be to these people whom I would turn Onyl and Rayn over to."
Mirage nearly fell off of his stool. "You mean that little blond haired wretch is the Blue Dragon!"
Simon smiled at the Pirate Lord. "Yes he is, but his hair is not really blond. I just periodically dye to keep people from suspecting anything. He likes having the blond hair, so Rayn never argues. However, he is very intelligent, and I wouldn't be surprised if he knew that his real hair was blue."
"I don't care how smart he is," muttered Mirage. "It isn't such a good idea to go around poking people with sticks."
"I see that he placed you in one of his experiments," said Simon with a slight tone of pride in his voice. "I've always told him to work hard and challenge his mind. The boy is constantly testing different theories on this and that."
The brief amusement over Mirage's rude awakening that morning soon ended. "Never the less," said Simon. "The symbol on your armor was one of the four shown to me by Shan." He looked at Mirage. "I assume that you, too, have one of the four symbols." The Pirate Lord nodded. Simon released a long breath. "Then I guess the day has finally come. I was hoping it never would. To my wife and I, those two are our children. You see my wife was not able to bear children, so when this whole thing started it was like a dream come true."
"We understand, Simon," said Argile. "But we need Onyl and Rayn, now. The fate of Lunar depends on it. Have you heard of the war out West?"
"Yes," he answered. "I've heard a little talk about it. Is that why you need the children?"
"We need the Dragons of Althena to be at full strength in the battles to come," said Mirage. He leaned close to Simon. "We have to take Onyl and Rayn to claim their Dragon Auras and become full Dragons of Althena. Time is running short, and we have to take them with us now."
"I see," replied Simon. "Then I'll do everything I can to help." He gave them both a friendly smile. "I guess this is the last thing I can do to help Shan." He downed the rest of the brandy in his glass in one gulp. "I'll provide you with whatever supplies you need."
Argile extended his hand and the innkeeper took it. "That would be of great help. I suppose we should tell the children what is going on."
Mirage hopped off of his stool. "Okay. Who's gonna do it?"
"I think it is best if we do, Mirage," said the large man. "We may need to prove our story to them."
Mirage squinted his eyes and scratched his chin. "I guess you're right, Argile. But if that damn kid pokes me with a stick again, I'm not going to be responsible for what I do."
"Onyl?" said a faceless voice. "Onyl, look at me."
Onyl's vision blurred for a moment, and Rayn's face appeared. She looked around and found herself sitting in her room on her bed. The room wasn't very clean. The red and yellow carpet was covered by various articles of clothing, and there were even more clothes on her dresser. She closed her eyes again and laid back onto her pillows. "What happened?" she moaned.
Her brother pulled up her rocking chair and sat down. "Well, the rather large stranger brought you into the inn unconscious. Father seemed quite worried about you. He told me to help you up here and that you should rest for a while."
Onyl turned her head to get a better look at her brother. She smiled at him and raised herself back up to a sitting position. "I'm glad to see that my brother has enough free time from all his busy 'studies' to help his poor sister."
The boy's face went cool at her remarks. "Of course I care about you, On. It's just that it takes a lot of work to gather information for my experiments. I don't have time to socialize with others."
Onyl could barely resist the urge to jump up and force a hug upon Rayn, but her urges were instead forced to wait as a knock came from her door. She rose slowly, still feeling the affects of her fainting spell, and went to the door. Onyl opened the door to find Argile and his friend Mirage waiting. Suddenly, the images of what had just transpired outside the town returned to the young woman. Her face went pale and her legs began to tremble.
Argile pushed the door open all the way and helped her to her bed. She thanked him and sat down once more. "How do you feel?" asked the large man.
"A little dizzy," she replied. Onyl waited a few moments before speaking again. "Argile? What happened out there?" she said finally.
His expression grew grim. "Onyl, I'm not going to lie to you. Both Mirage and myself think that you and your brother deserve more than that."
"What are you talking about?" interrupted Rayn. He looked at her with actual confusion. A look that was very uncommon for him. "On, what is he talking about?"
She reached out and held his left shoulder with her hand. "Rayn. I did something just a short while ago. You see, we were attacked and... and..."
"It's okay, Onyl," said Argile with a reassuring nod. "I'll explain." He looked at Rayn as he spoke. "Just a little while ago, Onyl and I were attacked by a group of monsters. We were on the verge of defeat when you sister saved us."
Rayn shook his head as he gave Argile a look over. "She saved YOU!? How?"
Argile stopped and looked at Mirage. The other man shook his head. "You explain this kind of stuff much better than me, buddy."
The large man took a deep breath and look back at Onyl and Rayn. "Onyl. Rayn. You two are very special. You are different from other humans. In fact, you are not even human."
Mirage slapped his forehead. "Dammit, Argile! Maybe I should have done it after all. Hell, even Connery could have put it a little better than that!"
Argile's last statement hadn't fully hit Onyl yet. She slowly recounted what had happened during the battle. She remembered get extremely angry, and then it was as if the entire world exploded along with her rage. She blinked and looked at Rayn. Her brother seemed to have already digested the information. He was standing looking at the two men. "Then what are we?" he asked right out.
Mirage laughed and walked over to the boy. "Since it seems that we are all being very frank around here, why beat around the bush." He laid both hands on Rayn's shoulders and looked him right in the eyes. "You, my boy, are a dragon." Not even a sword could have cut through the silence in the room. Onyl looked once at each of the males in the room and then fainted again.