After dinner, Edeline cleared the plates away with help from Lucy and me and then she brought out dessert. Dessert was something I didn’t see very often. Slayers traditionally saved sweet food for festivals and special occasions, and this was the first time I’d seen any kind of sweet dish in Frokontas. It was a layered fruit pudding with cake and cream and looked absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to taste it before there was a knock on the door.
“Lucy, will you see who that is, please?” Edeline said while ladling a huge portion of the cream pudding onto a plate.
I heard her running down the stairs and opening the door. Edeline scooped out another portion of the creamy dessert and handed it to me. I was just about to tuck in when Lucy came back in the room followed by Spear.
“Spear! How nice to see you,” began Fiere. “Julianna was just telling me about your adventure up the mountain. I’m sorry to hear it was such a bust.”
“That’s actually why I’m here,” replied Spear. “I need to talk to Julianna about something.”
“Would you like to join us for pudding?” inquired Edeline, butting in.
“No, thanks, Edie. It’s pretty urgent I speak with Julianna. You can all hear it though, it’s no secret.”
All eyes turned to me. It wasn’t the first time. I was almost getting used to it by now. I looked forlornly at the yummy pudding on my plate and wondered if I was going to actually be able to eat it.
“An old friend of mine came to visit me today,” said Spear. He turned to the others. “Oak. You know him, Fiere.”
“Yes,” replied Fiere. I could tell by his face that he was interested to see where this was going as much as I was.
“I told Oak about Morganna. He had some interesting information about her.”
“Don’t tell me you met Morganna up the mountain?” said Fiere in surprise. “I didn’t think she was a big fan of Goblins, nor they of her.”
“She’s dead,” I said. “Has been a long time.” I didn’t sugar-coat it. It was obvious that Morganna wasn’t the dragons’ favorite person.
“Actually, that’s why I’m here,” said Spear. “She’s not dead.”
“Of course she is!” I replied. “I went to the celebration of her life. She died over ten years ago now.”
“I was under the impression she was still alive,” said Fiere. “I’ve never heard anything to the contrary. She’s been quiet these past few years, but I just put that down to her finding some other race to torture. Last I heard, she was up north with the Wolf shifters. I’m not sure if she was killing them or living among them. Of course, I’ve been away for a while, so I could be wrong.”
“Oak said the same thing.”
“No!” I cried. “She’s dead! My father told me.” As I said it I realized how stupid it sounded. My father had told me a lot of things, most of which had turned out to be lies. “Why would my father tell me that Morganna was dead?”
“The story Oak told me was that she had a big falling out with the people in your village. She made the decision to leave. The elders put the story out that she had been killed by dragons.”
“Why?” asked Ash. He beat me to it. I was wondering the same thing myself.
“Two reasons I suspect. The first being that it added fuel to the fire of hatred the villagers felt about us. If their hero was killed by a dragon, it only served to make the Slayers want to fight more. Secondly, it also meant that Morganna could never come back. The villagers already thought she had been killed.”
“Why would she agree to this?” I asked. None of it made any sense.
“I don’t know. Maybe she was sick of the fame, maybe she was sick of the fighting? I don’t know her motivations, but I do know it’s true. Oak has traveled a great deal and has seen Morganna with his own eyes. He has told me exactly where to find her. I was hoping you two would come with me to try and persuade her to part with her sword.”
Everyone was silent as we allowed the information to sink in. Another lie told to me by my own father. What else about my childhood was made up? I felt as though nothing I knew was the truth. I looked down at my pudding. What had looked so utterly delicious only ten minutes earlier now looked like something that would make me feel sick.
“I’m coming,” I answered. A day ago, I would have done anything to meet my childhood hero but now the only reason I agreed to it was to find out the truth, a truth that had eluded me my entire life.
Chapter Ten
“I want to speak to Oak,” I said hours later as we were packing once again for a long trip.
Edeline was upset that we were going out so soon after coming back down from the mountain, but she understood. I was so tired of walking and being away from my own bed that it was only my desire to learn the truth once and for all that kept me going. I think Ash felt the same way and yet he was cheerful as he packed clean clothes into a bag.
“Why do you want to speak to him? Spear will have told you everything.”
“Maybe, but how does he know so much about her?”
“He travels a lot. Most of us stay here where it is safe. Many don’t even venture down the mountain for fear of being slain.”
I felt bad as I always did when he said things like that. It was my people that had caused the dragons to be so isolated. It didn’t stop me wanting to see Oak, though. What did he know and what exactly did he tell Spear? “Do you know where he lives?”
Ash sighed. He knew me well enough by now to know that I wasn’t going to give up. The legend of Morganna was a huge part of my childhood and, as I found out earlier, another lie told to me by my father. “Come on. I’ll take you there.”
I didn’t want to drag Ash on yet another journey, albeit a short one. He needed rest as much as I did—probably more as he’d be the one flying tomorrow. “You don’t have to come with me. You can just tell me where he lives.”
“I’m coming!” He was adamant as I knew he would be. I didn’t know why I thought he’d entertain the idea of me going alone.
It was almost dark outside with very little natural light. Low clouds blocked out the moon and the stars, leaving me feeling like I was walking with my eyes closed. There was very little light in the way of streetlamps as the dragons didn’t really need them. They had excellent night vision. Thus I found myself relying on Ash’s eyes to get us where we needed to go. Now that I was out in the dark, I was glad he’d elected to come. I’d have gotten hopelessly lost otherwise.
I expected Oak to live in one of the bigger houses at the other side of the village and so I was surprised when we turned into the main part of the village. We walked past the place where the town hall used to be before it was burned to the ground by Fiere. Where it once stood was now a wooden framed structure without walls or a roof. Whoever had been rebuilding the new town hall had worked quickly, already having the full frame laid out on brand new foundations.
Ash took me to a small alley I’d not been down before. The houses on either side were higgledy-piggledy, and the alley was so slim that I could touch the houses on both sides if I stretched my arms out. Ash stopped at a door and knocked loudly. The door opened and a man who looked to be in his early fifties answered.
“Ash! What a pleasure. And this must be the lovely Julianna. I’ve heard so much about you. Won’t you come in? I’ve just warmed some water for tea.”
“We were hoping to ask you about Morganna,” said Ash as he followed Oak into the house.
“Yes. Spear told me I’d caused a bit of upset when he went to your house to tell you. He expected you might come see me.”
“You didn’t cause any upset,” I said, not wanting to offend him. “It’s all the lies I’ve been told that is upsetting.”
“Quite!” he replied. Now that I looked at him, I could see how fit he looked. He had muscular arms and legs and a weathered face. He looked the quintessential traveler. “Sit! I’ll bring the tea out.”
He disappeared, only to come back moments later with three cup
s of steaming tea. It was lemon tea by the smell of it, or at least he’d flavored it with lemon.
“So, what is it you want to know?” he asked, passing a cup to me.
I so desperately wanted to ask what she was like, but I knew that sounded childish. Instead, I went with, “When did you meet her?”
“I’ve met her a few times. The last time I saw her, she was living amongst the Wolvren.”
“Wolvren?” It was a term I’d not heard before.
“They are wolf people. There is a tribe of dragons about a hundred kilometers north of here. The Wolvren hate them almost as much as your people do. When Morganna was cast out of your village, she traveled a lot, but it was natural that she would end up with people who had the same mutual enemy.”
“The dragons,” said Ash.
“Exactly!”
“No one seems to like us really, do they?” mused Ash.
“They fear us. Many a war is started by fear rather than hate. Hate is what fear turns into. It looks less cowardly to hate a person than to fear them. Of course, it isn’t. The Wolvren do not like a lot of people. They keep to themselves. Many people fear them, too, for they are shifters just as we are. That’s why I was surprised that Morganna ended up with them.”
“Her sword must hold more dragon souls than all the others,” I said. “Maybe that is why they let her into their village.”
“Yes.” Oak took a long sip of his tea. “I think you are probably right. She might have been a legend to a lot of people, but she was also an outsider. I think her fame was bigger than she was. The Wolvren allowed her to just be. As far as I’m aware, she hasn’t killed a dragon in a long time. Maybe even since she was cast out of your village.”
“Why was she cast out?” I asked.
“Ah, I think it comes down to your father,” he said, watching me intently for some kind of reaction.
“My father? He always spoke highly of her. His stories of her were what made her my childhood hero.”
“He was the best swordsman in town—”
“He is the best swordsman in town!” I butted in.
“Maybe now, but when Morganna turned eighteen, she showed him that he wasn’t as good as he thought he was. Even though she was younger and had less experience than him, she killed three times as many dragons as he did on her first attempt. Her legend only grew with each passing year until she became famous outside of Dronias too. Your father had to watch as her fame spread. His jealousy grew in tandem with her celebrity status. When you were little, it became too much for him. He asked her to leave. She refused so he tried blackmailing her. Apparently, he’d seen her with one of the village elders, one of the married village elders. He threatened to tell the village elder’s wife. She told me that she loved him and didn’t want to hurt him or his family so she decided to leave. When she had gone, she later heard that your father had told everyone that she had been eaten by the dragons. She didn’t want to prove him wrong, so she hid away, letting everyone believe she was dead. I think by that time she was tired with all the notoriety anyway. She wanted a simpler life. Your father really had no choice but to say nice things about her. The whole town was in mourning. As I believe, there was even a party for her. A wake, if you will.”
“Yeah, I know, I was there,” I said, feeling despondent. Why did every story about my father involve him lying to me on a grand scale?
Just then there was a knock at the door.
Spear walked in without waiting for it to be opened. “Ash, Julianna, I thought you might come here. I already told you everything Oak told me.”
“Tea, my friend?” asked Oak indicating a chair for him to sit.
“No, thank you. I’m in a rush. It’s going to be a long day for us tomorrow.” He gave both Ash and me a meaningful look. “I just came for that map.”
“Hang on, I’ll go get it.” Oak stood up and left the room. I heard his feet as he walked up some stairs.
“Did he tell you what you wanted to know?” asked Spear.
“He told me that Morganna left because of my father. He was blackmailing her over some affair. I don’t even know if it’s true or not.”
“If Oak says it’s true, then it’s true.”
“I didn’t mean that. I meant if it’s true that she was having an affair or if my father interpreted it how he wanted. It could have been innocent. I guess I’ll never know. Not without asking him...or her.”
“From everything I’ve heard of your father, lying seems to come second nature to him. Whether he lied to you or lied to Morganna is irrelevant. He’s a coward and untrustworthy and needs to be stopped.”
I hated to hear it coming from Spear, but he was right. My father was a coward. I thought back to before all this had come out. Morganna might have been my hero as a child, but she was nothing compared to my father. At least that’s what I had thought.
“Hang on there, Spear!” said Ash, defensively. “Whatever your feelings about Julianna’s father, you have to remember that he is still her family and upsetting her isn’t going to solve any of our problems.”
At least Spear had the decency to look apologetic. “I’m sorry Julianna. Ash, you are right. I should keep my opinions to myself. This is the problem with age-old feuds, it’s difficult to distance yourself from them.”
“Here it is,” said Oak, returning to the room with a rolled-up parchment which he handed to Spear. “I’m not an artist, but I did my best. I think you should be able to follow it. If all else fails, keep to the east coast and keep flying north until you hit the village.”
“Thanks, Oak. I think we should all be off now. We have a very long day ahead. You two make sure you have a good breakfast tomorrow,” he said, turning to us. We took his lead and left
I was quiet as we walked the short distance back to Ash’s house. Spear’s words had stung but it was what Oak had told me that hurt the most. Once again, I was in a position where everything my father had told me was a lie.
I was glad of the cloud cover. It hid my tears well, although Ash picked up on them anyway. He stopped in the middle of the town square to hold me. He didn’t say a word, just wrapped his arms around me. It was enough.
Chapter Eleven
By the next morning, the clouds had lifted, leaving a hot sunny day.
“It’s going to be hard to fly in this weather. A hundred kilometers is a long way to fly without worrying about the heat. We’d better pack an extra bag of water.” Ash ran around the house, sorting the bags out for our journey, occasionally putting his head around the kitchen door to ask Edeline and me to add things to our food bags. By the time we had finished, we had two bags of water, enough food for two days and a bag each with clothes. Ash had packed enough to last us a week which I hoped we wouldn’t need.
“Are you going to be able to carry all this?” I asked, feeling how heavy just the water bags were. He also had to have me on his back for the entire duration of the flight.
“I’ll be fine. We can land and rest if we need to. Come on, let’s go.” He kissed Edeline and Lucy on the cheek before heading out into the heat. Spear was outside waiting for us along with a couple of others I recognized from the trip up to the Goblin village.
“Where is everyone?” asked Ash, looking about him as if he was expecting more to arrive.
“This is it,” replied Spear.
“Just the five of us?”
“No one else wanted to come. Everyone else is exhausted. We don’t need many people. We are only going to talk to Morganna, not wage war on her.”
“Didn’t Oak say she is staying in a wolf village? Wolves that hate us, no less? We need more people in case they start a fight.”
“I’m not about to start fighting with yet another group of people. I am going to ask to speak with them.”
I could see Ash getting restless. It sounded in his voice too. “And if they don’t want to speak to us?”
“They will,” replied Spear.
“How can you be so sure?”
> “I don’t know Morganna at all, but I’m willing to bet if Julianna comes to the village and asks to speak to her, then she will. I doubt she’d pass up an opportunity to speak to one of her own.”
“Are you kidding? We are sending Julianna right into a pack of wolves?”
“It’s fine,” I said, trying to diffuse the situation. As much as I hated to admit it, Spear had a point. “I want to speak to her. The wolves are not my enemy.”
Ash knew when he was beaten. He and his fellow dragons turned into their dragon form and I helped them all secure their own bags on their backs before hopping onto Ash’s shoulders.
We soared into the air and out over the mountain and over the prairies we had seen when we had gone hunting. Spear was in the lead, his long black body cutting through the sky with three dragons and me behind. The sun beat down as we turned towards the east and out to the coast. The ocean was only about twenty kilometers from Dronias, but I had yet to go there. I’d never seen it before and, despite our situation, I felt excited at the prospect of seeing it for the first time.
The sun got hotter as the day wore on, and I found myself pulling a t-shirt from one of the bags to shield my head. Ash, with his leathery dragon hide, didn’t need to worry about sun exposure as much as I did, but I emptied one of our many bottles of water over him in an effort to cool him down.
In the distance, the green prairies and pastures turned into the endless blue of the sea. The sun glinted off of it like thousands of tiny diamonds sparkling just beneath the surface. It took my breath away, filling me with awe at its vastness. Hundreds of pretty little boats bobbed on the calm surface, telling me that there was a fishing village nearby. I so desperately wanted to stop to see it up close, to feel the water and sand beneath my feet, but Spear turned a sharp left and headed north just as Oak had told him to.
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