King of the Realm

by Andrew Bardsley

  “Thank you, my lady. That would be most appreciated,” Ceras grinned, with no comment from Hidden-Caverns.

  Ceras stepped back, believing Shoavneon to be finished with her audience, but now the majestic dragon’s head swiveled to Rinaldo who had moved out of hiding to stand beside his friends.

  “Barbarian, I require a service from you,” said the dragon to the confused-looking barbarian.

  “What is it, my lady?” asked Rinaldo, still with a confused expression on his face but stepping forward as if he was receiving a great quest.

  “My son, Qyndad, wishes to see some of the world and wants to travel with Ceras and Symania on their quest for knowledge,” said the dragon. “I want you to escort him and be his companion for this trip.”

  Rinaldo looked shocked, but not as shocked as his twin sister who seemed to be hiding her face behind her hand.

  “Err...”

  “What is it, Ceras?”

  “Well, my lady, we might be causing rather a panic if we have a dragon with us in the capital,” Ceras ventured.

  “Shall I change, mother?” came the deep baritone voice of the young dragon as he lumbered forward.

  The older, more powerful dragon nodded her head at the black and red dragon as he moved before her. Around Qyndad’s body, darkness started to swirl like a mist of black smoke. Light sparked from the center of the swirling mass of particles, illuminating the whole area in a series of flashes. Within seconds of the transformation, the black mist dissipated to reveal the body of a young man of about Ceras’ age standing where the dragon had been.

  Ceras looked at Qyndad, taking in the sight of his large, muscular build that seemed to emanate a subtle power. He had dark skin with long black hair that was tied in an interwoven braid behind his back. He was wearing brown leather armor with chainmail over the top and a sword was sheathed at his side. Ceras’ impression of him was that he appeared like most young adventurers and would not look out of place on their trip.

  Qyndad smiled shyly and walked over to Symania, who was looking at him with astonishment.

  “How are you so old?” she blurted out as she looked at the young man of about her age.

  “Well, dragons can take any form they want,” said Qyndad, looking down as if he did not want to look Symania directly in the eye. “It’s most convenient to be in this form for now.”

  “Oh...”

  “Rinaldo, I now charge you to guide my son on this trip,” said Shoavneon.

  “My lady,” said the barbarian with an uplifted chin as if he was accepting a great honor, “I will ensure that no harm shall come to your son.”

  This produced an unexpected reaction from the large dragon before him, as she started to laugh with a deep bellowing roar.

  “Sorry, my lady - have I said something wrong?”

  “No, my dear! It was just the humor of you not letting any harm come to him. I need you to escort him to limit the destruction he might cause to the kingdom,” Shoavneon said with a smile. “Qyndad, remember what I said earlier about obeying the young man's command as if it was from me. Try not to destroy anything large, like... say, a city.”

  “Fine, mother. I won’t.”

  “This is supposed to be a learning experience for you and not just for the fun of it,” Shoavneon told her offspring. “Now off you go, and enjoy the games of youth.”

  With that, Shoavneon retreated toward the back of the cave where she curled up on the rocky floor that seemed to have been molded into her shape, tucked her head and tail around her body, and seemed to fall asleep.

  Symania whispered, “Let's leave her in peace, shall we?”

  The now six adventurers left the dragon’s lair quietly.

  Chapter 3 Journey’s Beginning

  The sun was bright and the mountain air cool as adventurers left the dungeon city in the foothills of the mountain. Ceras was walking next to Rinaldo who was still muttering about being sent off on a ‘babysitting quest’, as he kept saying.

  “What am I supposed to do while you study in the capital with Qyndad here following me everywhere?” moaned Rinaldo loudly so everybody could hear him.

  This caused Qyndad to bristle, his pride wounded at Rinaldo referring to him in such a manner.

  “Don’t worry, as I won’t follow you at all,” the young-looking adventurer in his brown leather amour told the large barbarian, an angry look on his face.

  “You can forget it if you think that I'm going to let you run around and cause trouble in the kingdom’s capital - and remember, you have to obey me like it’s a command from your dear mother,” Rinaldo retorted.

  “Humph!”

  Symania, who had been walking slightly ahead of the two arguing young men, turned to face Qyndad with a smile on her face as if she was talking to a child.

  “Qyndad, dear, you need to let Rinaldo help, as you’re still so young,” said Symania kindly.

  The instant Symania spoke, Qyndad’s face broke into a smile and he nodded his head in acceptance. Ceras had noticed that this was common for any interaction between the dragon and the healer, as he tended to spend as much time in her orbit as he could, always solicitous of her well-being.

  “Thank you, Symania, for setting the young Qyndad straight,” said a vindicated Rinaldo as the dragon glared at him.

  “Humph!” Qyndad said again.

  “As for you, there's plenty to do in the capital city. The university is not only for magicians - you can also study fighting and improve on your tactician classes,” said Symania.

  “That sounds good. Is there anything else to do?”

  “Well, of course, there is always the dungeon that is controlled by the royal family, so you’ll be able to gain experience by fighting there,” Symania informed the group, seemingly knowing all there was to know about the city.

  “Now that sounds like something I’d want to do,” said the excited dragon with a certain hardness in his eyes.

  “Well, at least we can agree on that,” said Rinaldo. “I could send some ideas for Rhef to build new levels based on what we see at the capital’s dungeon.”

  Just as Symania was about to say something, the group of adventurers heard a shout from behind them. Ceras turned around to see a female warrior running toward them in the very utilitarian leather armor that the dungeon sold a lot of to the lower-level adventurers. At her hip she had a short sword in a plain scabbard that looked as if it had seen better days, and on the other was a vicious-looking mace.

  As she drew closer, Ceras recognized her blond curls and thought that he had seen her somewhere before - the warrior who had been in the hospice when he had been resurrected.

  The four adventurers stopped with their hands on their weapons as she ran the last few meters toward the group, lugging a heavy pack on her back.

  “Symania, I heard that you were going to the capital,” said the breathless girl, “so I was wondering if I could tag along for the journey.”

  “That would be fine, Shunneth,” said Symania, instantly accepting her into the group. “It is always good to have one more girl in any party full of boys.”

  Ceras was about to say something to the two young women but thought better of it, and kept his thoughts to himself.

  Shunneth smiled in thanks to the healer and fell in with the group. Her heavy backpack had a bed roll hanging from the bottom, and Ceras noticed that of the group she seemed to be the only one without a bag of holding as she looked to be loaded down with travel equipment.

  While she was walking next to Rinaldo, Ceras heard him offer to put her pack into his bag of holding. “It will be no trouble for me,” he said with a smile.

  “No, thanks. I prefer to do things by myself,” she replied in an abrupt manner, as if he had offended her greatly.

  The trip down the foothills of the mountain was very different from the early days of traveling up and down from the town to the dungeon. With Cleosre’s construction team’s help, a winding pathway had been built up the side of the mo
untain. The road was wide enough for two large, heavily-laden carts to pass each other as they ran back and forth along the steep slopes. Walkers also had a more direct path that they could take, as Cleosre had built sets of stairs in some of the steeper parts so they did not have to follow the long road.

  The day was still bright as the team slowly made their way to the town. More and more wooded areas appeared as they approached the bottom of the foothills the town resided in. As they walked along the road they saw many adventurers in small groups making the journey upward toward the dungeon. Most were dressed in normal amour and had inexpensive weapons, but whenever they happened upon a group of richly-dressed adventurers, Shunneth seemed to hide behind the others and cover her head with her hood of her robe.

  Eventually they were in sight of the walls of the town, which looked small in comparison to the city above with its vast fortifications.

  “I think it’s best if we avoid the town,” said Symania with concern as she glanced at Ceras, and shot Shunneth a strange look. ”We can use one of the inns on the eastern road to bed down for the night.”

  “I would love to see my first human town tonight,” said Qyndad with an innocent smile on his face.

  At his words, Symania and Rinaldo looked at him sharply and Shunneth had a questioning look on her face.

  “What did I say wrong?” muttered the dragon under the hard gaze of his companions.

  With a gesture of the head, Rinaldo indicated for the dragon to drop to the back of the group where the two fell into a whispered conversation, with Rinaldo gesturing between the dragon boy and the world around them. The last bit of the conversation Ceras heard, the dragon sounded slightly indignant.

  “I’m not dumb, you know - I get it now that you’ve explained it.”

  “Well, try to think before you speak next time...”

  Symania opened an oiled leather bag at her side and withdrew a parchment map that Rhef had purchased for them. She checked for the paths around the town and an inn to stay in for the night. As Ceras looked over her shoulder at the brown parchment, he studied the dark markings of the cartographer that had been drawn in a strange, magical ink.

  “Is the map to scale?”

  “No, it’s more of a representation of the journey between the dungeon and the capital of the kingdom. It really just indicates the travel time on foot between the major landmarks along the way,” said Symania.

  “How long will it take to make the journey on foot?” asked Qyndad.

  “It's about a three-week journey if we travel every day along the normal route, which is the safest option,” Symania said with a smile at Qyndad, which seemed to make him smile too.

  “We could cut about a week off the journey time if we travel across the wilderness between these two cities,” said Shunneth, clearly trying to be helpful, “rather than go the long way around on the main road.”

  “But the map says that the wilderness is full of powerful monsters,” said Symania, sounding alarmed.

  “Sounds great to me,” said Rinaldo, as the dragon boy nodded too. Shunneth was smiling, happy that they were on board with her idea.

  “OK, maybe we can go that way, but we don’t have to make the decision for a few days yet,” Symania said as she closed the map.

  “It will be good for the experience,” Ceras piped up, “and I would like to be at the university as soon as possible.”

  “OK, I get it - you all want to take the uncertain and dangerous route through the wilderness. I should have guessed!” Symania glared at her team members in annoyance. “It’s not like any of you are known for being sensible, is it?”

  “I’m sensible,” muttered the dragon boy. He walked next to Symania with a concerned look on his face, obviously worried that he might have upset her.

  “We’ll see,” she muttered.

  --

  The journey around the walled town was uneventful as the team of adventurers walked along the thin, winding track that was lined with grass and flowers waving in the wind. Every so often, Ceras would pull a stalk of grass and chew it as he walked. Watching what Ceras was doing, Qyndad at one point pulled a long grass stalk from the ground and broke off the root. When he placed it in his mouth, he sucked for a second and spat it out with a look of disgust on his face.

  “Are you a cow, eating grass like that?” asked the dragon boy.

  Ceras just smiled and kept chewing his grass stalk, an old habit from his days working on the farm.

  Once they were a few miles east of the town, they passed the cultivated fields and started to walk across terrain dotted with small trees and bushes throughout the landscape, with yellowing grass in between. The sun was still high in the midafternoon sky and everybody kept up a fast walking pace as they ate away at the miles. Sometimes the two former farm children, Ceras and Rinaldo now young men, would start singing one of the folk songs that were commonly used to pass the time while working in the farming communities of the area. Ceras noticed that the other three did not know the words but Shunneth seemed to enjoy humming along happily, while Symania and Qyndad would be chatting up at the front of the group, seemingly in their own little world.

  The first sign of an attack was a small arrow flying toward Symania up ahead. Ceras was amazed to see the reaction of Qyndad - his hand seemed to blur, and suddenly he was holding the arrow shaft in his hand. Standing directly in front of the healer, Qyndad was scanning the area in the direction the arrow had come from, but before he could do anything Shunneth ran forward with her mace drawn.

  “Goblins! I’ll deal with them.”

  “Wait for me!” shouted Rinaldo as he ran after her.

  “You two, hold up... oh, damn it,” said Ceras, moving forward more cautiously with the other two adventurers.

  By the time the trio crested a small rise, a scene of carnage lay before them. Shunneth was swinging her mace at the wiry bodies of the goblins. Two bodies were on the ground already just below her feet with blood flowing from their heads onto the grass, while a third was hit by the mace and fell to an immediate heap. The view of Shunneth seemed to flicker slightly and then suddenly reappear behind the goblins’ gang, where she started to smash her mace into the backs of their heads before they had the chance to turn. Ceras watched Rinaldo become a blur as he darted to the side of the gang of goblins, using his mace as if it was a sickle to dismember bodies. It was only moments before the goblins were all dealt with by the two warriors.

  “I really hate goblins,” spat Shunneth as she tried to clean her mace head on the grass, causing a large red mark.

  “I think that we could tell,” said Rinaldo as he indicated the carnage that was seen around them, most of which had been at her hands.

  “Well, we should move on. We need to be at the inn before nightfall,” said Symania as she led the way back to the track.

  Ceras heard Qyndad ask the healer, “Why do we need to be there before nightfall?”

  He was not able to hear Symania’s answer to the dragon but he did hear his surprised response: “But wouldn't it be better to be out at night, when the monsters will attack?... Oh, I see, you need to sleep… but I’d guard you...”

  The two then walked out of earshot before Ceras could hear any more, but he started to wonder how much the dragon really knew about the world.

  By the time the sun was dipping behind the mountain, the five adventurers were walking though rolling countryside and fields through which people were walking toward a walled hamlet in the distance. Ceras could see that it had wooden picket stockades surrounding the houses, with a small stream running through the center. Before the stockades were large, thorny bushes that seemed to have been placed to stop any creatures from climbing the outer barrier.

  The path leading up to the large wooden gate was open and people were passing through. All the people looked as if they had been working in the fields and carried farming implements on their shoulders. Ceras did notice that each of them had some type of weapon at their side and his though
ts returned to home, where he had seen many such scenes at the end of the day when he’d been working with his father and the rest of the family.

  The weapons were not just for show, as most of the farmers would be ex-adventurers who had settled down with their families to work the land, and they certainly knew how to use them. To Ceras’ knowledge there were thousands of these hamlets where families gathered together for protection against the wild monsters in the area, giving some isolated safety for raising a family in this dangerous world.

  The old gate guard was watchful as he stood by the gate, greeting the farmers with a nod and a friendly smile. When he saw the five young adventurers approaching, he stepped forward from his post.

  “You five will be wanting the inn just off the green. They have rooms you can stay in for the night,” said the guard gruffly.

  “Thanks,” said Ceras as he handed over a small copper quarter coin, as was the custom when entering a new hamlet.

  Walking through the hamlet’s streets, it was still light and Ceras could see children playing with hops and sticks on the dirt and grass pathways between the houses. Each of the houses was solidly built with thick walls and doors to protect the inhabitants from the creatures of the night. Most of the roofs were thatched with brick chimneys smoking in the cold evening air. Chickens and pigs were eating grain from the ground, and kitchen gardens were attached to most of the properties, filled with herbs and vegetables grown for the families’ dinner tables.

  Ceras saw a few of the wives and daughters look up from gathering food for their evening meals as the five adventurers passed. Each of them had a weapon at their hip as if they were expecting trouble, even in the confines of their hamlet.

  Ceras remembered his mother always being similarly armed, as she was even better than his father in combat and the family often relied on her fighting ability. Thinking about a time when he was very young, his steading had been attacked by a gang of goblins looking for an easy kill. He remembered being frightened as he’d watched from the safety of a steel-grated window, as his mother had walked out armed with a sword and leather amour.