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And part two... I hope you enjoy it.

As always, comments are appreciated and requested.

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Continued from 'A disastrous discovery...'

Lord Mikael slid from Argil's shoulders as the gigantic dragonlord entered the Aerie, landing easily, a ferocious anger rolling through the human that was not his. Argil's face was livid, his eyes glowing so brightly that Mikael thought they might kindle into flame at any moment, and thin curls of smoke trailed from his jaws with every breath. When the dragonlord was this angry, it was a wonder he didn't lash out, an event that could be a disaster with a being that was so powerful. Of all the knights, only Mikael, who knew him so well, knew the reason why he didn't just explode in rage. Only the original Knights of Juno, of whom only three still lived, knew that all the old dragons, with the single exception of Scarlon, had once been almost completely human. Argil himself had once been just a student of Master Juno, the human for whom the knighthood had been named. And it was the martial arts training that he completed under his master that allowed him to contain his anger, even now, hundreds of years later. But that didn't make it easy to be bonded with him. The dragonlord's anger was so powerful that it was even affecting his rider, which was made all the more confusing because Mikael had no idea why he was so angry. Of course, it might have had something to do with what had just happened.

Looking up, Mikael waved signals to the two members of his command wing that were guiding their burden. Slung beneath Amethyst and Nightshade, suspended in webs of the dragonlord's magic, were Shrike and Thoron, the eyes of the two young dragons still glazed, though they could only barely move within the webs, to say nothing of getting free. With careful motions, the two older dragons lay their burdens on the stone floor of the Aerie, then settled beside them, the two riders mounted on each dragon sliding off to stand beside them. The young knights whose dragons were imprisoned stood in silence, looking at their friends in horror as they struggled in their magic prisons, even as the rest of the dragons settled down. When the two younger dragons and practically attacked Argil to allow Malcolm and Turquoise and their two friends to escape, it had been clear to anyone watching that the dragons were acting on their own, with no input from their riders. Shiriki and Kelsie had been terrified, frantically trying to get their dragons to stop, but they hadn't listened. Once Argil had gotten the two dragons under control in the magic webs, the two young riders had been allowed to climb onto the backs of the older dragons.

Mikael was about to go over to try and sort out what had happened when he spotted Sir James Tamerin, his second in command, coming towards him. The man was the rider of Skye, the fourth member of the command flight. When the two young dragons had gone berserk, Argil had directed Skye and Nixarian, Argil's brother, to use magic to take the defector ahead with the rest of the escort while he stayed behind to deal with the rampaging dragons.

"Lord Mikael," Tamerin called, walking over quickly, both veteran knights watching as Argil began stomping toward the two restrained dragons, the blistering anger in his eyes almost palpable. "Our esteemed guest is demanding to speak with you. He wants to know what is going on."

"I will deal with him later." Mikael said, hurrying over to head the dragonlord off, "I don't think this will wait!" Imposing himself between the angry dragon and the two captives, Mikael laid a hand on Argil's head, the scales almost burning hot with the dragon's rage. "Argil..."

"No Mikael," The dragonlord said, shaking his great head, his powerful voice reverberating in the cavernous room. "Do not interfere." Then, just as the huge dragon started to step over his rider, he stopped short as if he had been restrained. The huge silver and white head that towered over Mikael turned to look at Scarlon, the ancient dragon's blue eyes fixed upon him. Then, he nodded and settled back, still glaring at the young dragons. Mikael was so shocked he couldn't do anything but stare at the pretty red and gold dragoness as she walked over to the restrained dragons. He had never seen Argil obey anyone before, not once. Not even the great dragon's parents could command him.

When Scarlon reached the two struggling dragons, she locked eyes with them and then gently reached out one great paw and caressed the chin of first one, then the other. At her touch, each dragon's eyes rolled back into their heads and they slumped into heaps of scales as if they had fallen fast asleep. And, when Mikael had gathered enough of his wits to walk closer, he saw that that was exactly what had happened, though he had felt no magic being used. He was about to speak when the red and gold dragoness turned her head and looked at him.

"Lord Mikael, this is a matter to be resolved later, and in private." She said, her voice carrying a note of finality, making it clear that there would be no discussion on the subject. Mikael nodded, suddenly finding nothing strange about obeying her. The great dragoness then turned her head to look at her mate and the pair instantly took off, heading for their nest in the walls of the Aerie, while Amethyst and Nightshade lifted their burdens once more and deposited them in their own nests. Mikael and Tamerin looked at each other in surprise, and then shrugged almost as one. The old riders had accepted long ago that at times, dragons made no sense. Turning to the young riders who stood nearby, now looking at their feet, unable to meet his eyes, Mikael finally spoke.

"You two are confined to quarters until we get to the bottom of this." He ordered and the knights nodded. "Dismissed." Turning to his second in command, Mikael gestured towards the stairs leading downward. "Now, let's go see what our guest has to tell us..."

***

Malcolm sat outside the cave in silence, his head in his hands, trying to sort out his thoughts. It was much harder than he expected it would be. Thoughts like 'We are in trouble' and 'What did I do?' kept popping up in his head, ruining his ordered thoughts. It also didn't help that Karen was lying hurt inside the cave, though how badly, he couldn't tell. Somehow, and he still didn't know why, Twilight felt the pain just as keenly as she did, so he was no help whatsoever, writhing and suffering as she did. Now Malcolm wished he had paid more attention when the instructors had talked about magical forms of healing. Turquoise was helping them inside the cavern, since she often acted as the flight's medic, and she had requested that he act as a sentry. But he didn't even bother keeping an eye on the sky.

One of the precautions the group had started taking early on in their search was casting dozens of security wards around the caves that were unsuitable, but Turquoise and Malcolm had left this one without them, so that anyone trying to find them by magical means would be confused by the other wards, and hopefully spend days and days searching useless caves for them. And since they had transported themselves directly inside the cave, there was no trail for someone to follow. They at least would be safe out here. For all the good it did them. They certainly couldn't go back to the mountain, not now that their secret was out among the commanders.

"Why, oh why, did this have to happen now?" Malcolm muttered into his hands, scrubbing his face with his palms. The dreadlocked knight jumped suddenly as his dragon called him from within the cavern. Heaving a sigh, Malcolm crawled through the opening and blinked, seeing that both dragons were once again in hybrid form, kneeling on either side of Karen. Turquoise motioned for him to come closer.

'She is alright.' The dragoness said, her voice slipping into his head across the mental link they shared, 'She was bleeding internally, but I healed her.'

'What happened?' Malcolm questioned, speaking in the same manner as he walked closer.

'Karen's son shifted inside her,' Turquoise said, and Malcolm looked at her in surprise. The dragon grinned sheepishly, 'I couldn't help but find out. His neck spikes tore a gash in the side of her womb. I repaired the tear and put a spell in place to prevent that from happening again. She asked for you when she woke up.' Nodding his thanks, Malcolm walked over to his friend and knelt beside her.

"Turquoise told me what you did." Karen said, exhaustedly reaching a hand out toward him. "I wanted to say thank you."

"You are welcome Karen." He replied, taking her hand and gently holding it. "I will protect you...no matter what."

"I know." She replied, squeezing his hand, her eyes closing drowsily. "I am sorry you got mixed up in this..."

"It was my choice." Malcolm replied, laying her hand on her swollen belly. "Get some rest Karen, we won't be going anywhere for a while..."

***

Mikael stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his head bowed to his chest, trying to sort out his thoughts. And he certainly had plenty to think about. Setting aside the fact that two of his best young knights had vanished into the wilderness, leaving not a trace of where they had gone; and the fact that one of them was very clearly carrying a child; the defector had willingly provided a great deal of troubling information, more than enough to disturb him. The Light of Truth, the violent religious organization that had declared a holy war against the dragons, the organization that Mikael and his knights, and all of their European allies had spent months gutting, appeared not to be as hurt as bad as he had thought. And what was more, the defector had hinted at something far worse than the war that was going on.

A moment later, the small door in the side of the cavern opened, disrupting his troubled thoughts for a moment. James Tamerin strode into the chamber, the ever changing coloration of his jumpsuit's scale pattern drawing the lord's eye.

"Yes?" Mikael asked, his gaze dark. He really didn't want to deal with this new problem, whatever it was. Especially when this new problem could possibly be the first sign of a much deeper problem. The thing that scared him the most was that he had never even heard of a situation where a dragon had so much as disobeyed a dragonlord's orders, much less outright defied and nearly attacked one. Mikael was already stressed near to the breaking point with managing the on-going fighting all over the world, not to mention the day to day administration of a constantly growing fighting force of dragons and knights.

"They are ready when you are, Lord Mikael." He said, concern obvious on his face. Mikael nodded, waving for him to bring in the two young knights whose dragons had gone berserk. But, Sir Tamerin shut the door behind him and looked at his old friend, shaking his head in confusion. "Are you alright?"

"No." Mikael replied, rubbing his eyes with his fingertips. "No, I am not."

"What is it, old friend?" Tamerin asked and Mikael grudgingly smiled at him. The two old men had been in the US Marines together, well over two hundred and fifty years ago, before the knighthood had been officially established. No other knight knew him as well as Tamerin did, and, with the sole exception of Argil, he was his closest friend. He knew better than anyone just how terrible things had to get before Mikael got this troubled.

"You know how bad we thought it was when the war began?" Mikael asked and other knight nodded.

"That bad huh?" Tamerin asked, but Mikael shook his head. "Worse?"

"Yep." Mikael said, conjuring a chair with magic and slumping into it, sighing heavily. "That defector was right in the inner circle of the LOT. Apparently he started having second thoughts when they came up with the idea of using the nuke that Karen and Twilight. But the thing is, the orders to use the nuke and to sacrifice so many of their soldiers in the decoy attack came from outside the LOT. He says he doesn't know where the orders are coming from, but what he does know is that every organization that stands against us gets orders from this one source."

"What!?" Tamerin exclaimed, "I thought they fought against each other as much as they fought us. Different ideologies and all that."

"They do." Mikael said, "Our new friend says that that is all a cover. Only the leaders of each organization are supposed to know about it."

"But why?" The other knight asked, still incredulous.

"Hell if I know." Mikael replied. "But if what he says is true, it means that someone is pulling the strings of a worldwide revolution." The old knight shaded his eyes and shook his head. "Just when I thought things couldn't get any more complicated. Oh well, we might as well get to the bottom of this matter as quick as we can. Send them in."

"Yes sir." Tamerin replied, opening the door to the cavern once more and allowing the two young knights to walk in. Shiriki, the descendent of a proud warrior tradition of one of the ancient native tribes of North America, was as composed as ever, but acting very withdrawn, the actions of his dragon having been as shocking to him as anyone. But Kelsie, the newest member of the flight, was pale, obviously frightened, her gaze as distant, as if she wasn't all there. The two knights stood before the seated lord, the bronze skinned knight clasping his hands behind his back, his islander companion far less composed, her hands shifting positions every few seconds.

"You two understand the seriousness of this incident, correct?" He asked and both knights nodded. "I am going to ask you a few questions, and I want you to answer to the best of your ability."

"Yes, Lord Mikeal." Shiriki answered at once, and the other knight just nodded.

"You can start by going through what happened when your dragons went berserk." Mikael continued, "What did you feel from your dragons?"

"Almost nothing, sir." Shiriki stated, "It was like he had severed our link. The only thing I could feel was confused...like nothing I had ever felt before."

"Interesting." Tamerin commented.

"And you Kelsie?" Mikael asked, his quiet question shaking the knight out of her daze.

"I felt..." She began, still seeming somewhat distant. "Pain. Pain and terror, but the terror was blind, unreasoning, more like an instinct rather than rational fear. I don't know how else to describe it."

"And you couldn't talk to them, or control them in anyway?" Mikael asked next.

"Not at all. It was like Shrike couldn't even hear me." Shiriki confirmed and Kelsie nodded in agreement. "In fact, it was if he didn't even notice I was riding him." Mikael nodded slowly and remained silent, staring into space as he considered the younger knight's words. "My lord?" Mikael looked up, seeing the concerned look on his subordinate's face. "What happened out there sir?"

"In truth, young knight, we don't know." Tamerin answered for his lord. "This sort of thing has never happened before." Mikael started to reply when he heard another voice in his head, crossing the link that he shared with his dragon companion.

'Mikael, come to the Aerie, we need to discuss a grave matter.' Argil said, his powerful spirit lending an echoing strength to his mental voice. It certainly took some getting used to speak with the dragonlord. 'Bring your second.' The link instantly cut off after the last word, leaving Mikael with the distinct impression that the dragon leader was hiding something in his mind.

"We are done here." Mikael said, the two young knights looking confused. "You two are not to leave the mountain until I say otherwise. Go see what you can do for your companions." Motioning for Tamerin to follow him, Mikael quickly stood and walked from the room, heading for the top of the mountain once more. Something was bothering him about this whole mess, something he couldn't shake, like he was missing a critical piece of the puzzle...

***

Argil and his mate Scarlon occupied one of the highest nests in the Aerie, the huge hollowed out space also the largest out of necessity alone. Dragons never really stopped growing, so even though Scarlon was not a Dragonlord, she was a very big dragon, nearly matching her mate despite his status. When Mikael and Tamerin walked in, the two dragons were laying back across from each other on the far side of the nest, the pretty red and gold dragoness curled up around her latest clutch of eggs, ten unborn dragonlings, laid not a week ago. Mikael shook his head and walked slowly into the nest, careful not to startle the dragons. Even Scarlon could be unpredictable while around her recently laid eggs. When the two elder knights had come close enough, Argil nodded to them, waving a hand at the ceiling of the cavern. In an instant, his powerful magic surged through the nest, coating every surface in a glimmering sheen, sealing the cavern, allowing no sound in or out. Then, as the spell washed back towards its castor, it surged upward from the floor, forming two perfect chair shapes.

"Please, sit." Argil said, his manner much more composed than it had been earlier and the two knights settled into the seats, both of them wondering why the dragon was taking such precautions. "What we are about to tell you is a secret we have kept for millennia, and with very good reason. I must ask you not to reveal this to anyone, not even the knighthood's leadership."

"Of course." Mikael immediately said, surprised. Something in the way his old friend had said that immediately closed the subject to discussion. Tamerin echoed his reply a moment later and Scarlon nodded, closing her eyes.

"You both remember that it was my request that we make it clear that human and dragon do not mate?" She began, opening her eyes, the piercing blue orbs regarding the two humans contemplatively. Both knights nodded. "Well what you don't know, what you couldn't now, is why I insisted on such a measure. But to tell you why, you must first understand something about magic, a secret that only the elders I knew when I was a hatchling kept. The last of them confided it to me just before I took up my lone vigil." The ancient dragon paused, and once more Mikael marveled at her. Much of the time, she seemed as young as any of the dragons who had only recently reached adulthood, and yet, in truth, she was many thousands of years old, truly an ancient dragon. "Dragons are the only race on earth that can naturally use magic. Humans can't."

"Until you teach them right?" Tamerin asked, interrupting.

"No." She replied. "You don't understand. A normal human cannot use magic. Not even if we were to try and teach them. The first human magi were an accident, an act of defiance before the dragonlords united our kind. Many long millennia ago, our elders came together in conclave for the first time in our long history. They discussed many things at that meeting, but the chief matter they wanted to discuss was humanity, a race that had only very recently evolved. They had observed that while humans could not use magic, they adapted to new environments far easier than we did. But they had also observed that humans were volatile, unpredictable in their dealings with each other. Fearing what it would mean if a dragon were to blend with human, they agreed to prevent it from ever coming to pass, to press the rule into all of their young. And, for a hundreds of years, the measures kept the races separate. But, when man was still a wandering people, still broken in small tribes, it happened. A young dragon who lived in what is now southern China, whose name has long been lost to history, defied the laws of our people and made friends with a small tribe of humans who had camped near his home. Thinking it wrong to withhold the knowledge we had accumulated, he began to teach them, giving them knowledge that they would not have learned for many long years to come.

Naturally, it wasn't long until the other dragons began to notice that one group of humans had knowledge beyond that of the others. And, when they found out what the young dragon had done, they were furious, vowing to hunt him down. But the humans he had taught, honored by his trust, vowed to hide him, swearing a blood oath to protect him. But that blood oath is what began it. Only dragon's blood can give a creature the ability to access magic, and those few drops that were given to all the members of that tribe when they swore that oath were more than enough. However, for all of their new found strength, they were no match for the dragons that came hunting for their teacher and the tribe was nearly wiped out. The few survivors, scattered in the fire and death of the dragons' attack walked far and wide across the world, and, in exchange for shelter, and food, they spread the gift that the young dragon, in his arrogance, had given them. But, those survivors never forgot what the dragons had done to them and their tribe. And over many generations, that hatred festered like a wound. And, as mankind learned to use the magic that they had gained, those descendents gathered in secret, and swore a pact that their bloodlines would never rest until the dragons had paid a hundred fold for the atrocity committed upon them. And thus, was born the dragon hunters." Mikael felt his eyes open wide, his mouth falling open. Glancing briefly to the right, he saw that least he wasn't alone in his surprise.

"You mean..." He said, unable to complete his thought.

"Yes." Scarlon answered, looking unsettled with the telling of this secret. "We created those who would eventually be our downfall. When I suggested the measure be reinstituted, it was too late to prevent humans from having magic, but it might just have been possible to prevent it from going farther. But now I fear it is too late even for that."

"Naturally, the genetic trait that allows a human to use magic is very widely spread now, the trait so diluted by countless generations that human magic ability is very limited." Argil continued for his mate. "And, since only a descendent of a dragon in human form can become a dragon, it hasn't been much of an issue. But the more dragon's blood that a person gets, the more powerful they will be. But imagine what would happen if a dragon in dragon form was to have a child with a human. Imagine the power that such a person could wield...and if that were combined with human...volatility?"

"But dragons and humans aren't genetically compatible unless the dragon is in human form right?" Tamerin asked.

"Unless the pair is soulbound." Scarlon replied and the two knights instantly made the connection. Mikael felt a powerful shiver run down his spine as he realized why the dragonlord had been so very angry earlier. If Karen's unborn child had been fathered by Twilight, a dragon that had never assumed human form...

"What are we going to do?" Mikael asked after a few moments of silence, "Hunt them down?"

"No." Scarlon said and Mikael regarded her with surprise. He certainly hadn't expected that. "We have to find them, but we must not harm them. We have seen what comes of violence. And besides, it is clear to me that they acted out of love, not out of defiance."

"So how do we find them? Magic?" Tamerin asked and Argil shook his head.

"No. We have tried that already." He replied. "They must have cast wards over a thousand caves and mines to camouflage themselves."

"Then how?" Mikael's second asked, "And for that matter, what happened with the rest of Karen's flight?"

"I don't know how we can track them yet." Argil replied, "But as for the two young dragons..."

"I have never seen young dragons act like that before." Mikael commented when his dragon didn't continue. "According to their knights, they couldn't even hear them."

"It is an instinctual imperative for a dragon to protect the children of their superiors." Scarlon said. "It comes from a time before mate bonds, when dragons fought each other like animals. Like a pack of wolves, all dragons in a group would defend the children of their leaders. And for all our refinements and rules, that instinct still persists. When that instinct takes over, they will attack any threat that comes near them, even a dragonlord. And, the mental cry of Karen was enough to beat back their rational selves, instinct taking over. Release the knights. As soon as those dragons wake up from the trance I put them in, they will be fine."

"Yes ma'am." Mikael replied. "Now all that we need to do is find those two knights before something else happens."

"That and, you know," Argil began, a grin starting to curl his lip upward. "Win the war."

The others laughed, all the tension suddenly lifting from them like a mist in the warm sunshine...