by Jade White
I felt my face flush since I was still appalled that my two brothers could even think about killing Rowan or myself. I wanted to go down there and set them straight or even make them realize we were family. I couldn’t and I knew that.
I also knew the shadowy figure was right. I was becoming weak and confused. I knew if I didn’t get help soon, I would die out here. I was growing scared that now the guild knew about the situation as well as the shadowy man.
The guild was where all King Athalos’ assassins were located and this shadowy man seemed to be a warlock of some sort. They blended in so well, that their victims didn’t even realize that they were coming. The only think saving us was that Ryia knew they were coming.
The men at the guild were less than friendly. King Athalos once had my brother and I join him when he went to the guild. We met an assassin who was incredibly silent and smooth but made him appear as if he was always there and in the same breath, he was never there at all. King Athalos told us that night how the assassin had done his job within minutes. No one saw him and no one knew who had sent anyone to kill the person.
I knew that King Athalos was pleased with the work. He told me that someday we would be using a person like that to eliminate any challenges in my own kingdom.
I couldn’t recall the full memory of why King Athalos had sent the assassin, but I knew that he wanted him dead for a reason. I was pretty sure that it had to do with the prophecy or dragons. That was the most common reason why Father had people killed. It seemed as if anyone who didn’t agree with the prophecy or how he was killing all the dragons, he would kill them. He couldn’t have anyone trying to be rebellious. He was afraid of people like that since it would only take one rebel and a good shot with an arrow to kill him.
I did know that he would stay long enough in these towns and villages to make sure that the assassin did his job and he would leave unaffected. I was going to have to ask Rowan if he remembered who was going to be killed, but for the moment we had to stay silent.
I could hear my heart pumping against my shirt. I was just hoping that none of them heard the fear that I seemed to be was giving off. I was sure everyone could hear the loud thumping of my heart.
We stayed quiet long enough to watch the group pass by without noticing we were in the valley just below the hill watching them. Our two brothers were indeed out to hunt us and we now needed to make a better plan to get to Maelyss’s kingdom, but also protect our wives.
I knew what had to be done and took them to our castles to make sure there was no way that our brothers could find them. It seemed to be that our lives were in the palms of our brothers’ hands and if we didn’t hide the fact we had wives, they too would be killed.
Ryia seemed as if she could read my mind, since she suddenly shot me a look as she searched my eyes. It didn’t seem to ease any of my anxiety or settle any of the confusion that was filling me.
None of us spoke a word as we continued to move on. It seemed as the further we walked away from our brothers, the more their haunting conversation came into my mind. I couldn’t keep them from hunting us.
My worse fear had come true. They found out that I was married to Ryia. I didn’t need her to be hung in the center of the kingdom as an example or King Athalos to send an assassin to kill her. He would be just that cruel since he hated dragons and that was what Rowan and I were.
Mysterious glances from Ryia continued as if she knew what I was thinking. I looked at her trying to figure out if she could read my mind or not, so I began to think of this morning when her hot body was next to mine.
“You are very silent,” she finally spoke when we were a safe distance away.
“I don’t know what to say. How can you justify the fact that King Athalos, my father, had sent my two brothers to kill the three of us? I don’t think there is a way to justify what I am feeling. The shadowy figure of the man is right. I am falling ill and I feel weak. What if I do go insane and kill myself? You are my wife and I am supposed to protect you from anything yet I allowed them to hunt you just like they are hunting us.”
If it wasn’t so far away, I would have sent her back to the castle. She looked at me a bit longer as if she already knew what I was thinking about taking her to our castle and leaving her there while Rowan and I ventured to Maelyss’s kingdom.
“I refuse to stay at our castle. I am your Queen and I will battle by your side. Besides it is too far away to get there now. The only way to do it is flying and you are too weak and it would also be risky,” she finally said.
I was losing this fight. There is no way I would take her along. Our journey had become quite dangerous. I had fallen madly in love with her, even when she hated me. We started making love to one another and I knew I would never look at her the same. I love her. “I know you don’t agree with me, but as your husband, I am supposed to protect you,” I said.
In my mind, this was no longer just an option, but the only option for Ryia was to get to the Dragon Kingdom for safety.
She seemed to continue to glare at me as if I didn’t even get through to her.
“It won’t help if we both die? That would surely mean King Athalos won.”
“Without me going on this journey, you will get lost. There are no maps or hints to where the Dragon Kingdom is or where Maelyss is located. He is the only one that can help you!”
“People are looking for you to kill you! I wish this wasn’t an option, Ryia! I can’t live with myself if anything happened to you. I love you”
“You act as if death is close by. It isn’t like it will even happen! You don’t trust me when I tell you any of this! There is no hint that Terrain and Sadon will turn around and find us or the warlock. We are at the moment one step ahead of them.”
I shook my head. “You don’t understand! I am positive no matter where we go, that Terrain and Sadon will be chasing us. How can I get through to you on this vital matter? Every assassin, as well as the King's men, are looking for all of us. At least in the Dragon Kingdom you will be safe.”
“I told you that they would find out we were married.”
I was certain they would figure out Ryia was my queen when we first caught up to the campaign. It seemed as if they did figure it out. There is nothing they can do about it if she stayed at the castle. If she did, she could have chosen to sentence them to be locked up in the dungeon.
She could do so, as well as anything else she felt t like doing. This is why I was trying hard to get her to stay at the castle. She could have at least lived for the both of us and I wouldn’t have to worry about her being killed.
It seemed as if the more information I told Ryia, the more she felt the need to fight me on the very subject. I knew in my heart I would have returned her once again to the castle, but we were now too far away. Besides, she was a warrior, she wouldn’t stay still very long.
I knew she would be safe in our castle if she stayed. My biggest fear while on this journey was that Terrain and Sadon would kill her as well since she was the one that would carry our child that was to kill King Athalos.
“Is that all? You are going to look at me with the information you gave me and just apologize that you wished you could have sent me to a castle until you return? It isn’t even an option anymore, so I don’t see why you keep pondering about it!” Ryia said as she glared at me.
“Do you want your fate to be as grim as my brother’s and mine? I know you are acting as if I am taking you prisoner, but I really have no choice but to keep you safe. I am trying hard to get you to some safe place. At the moment that will be the Dragon Kingdom. I am sure you know people there that can protect you. I doubt when I return to the castle that this will stop.” I pointed out. “Can’t you see that I love you and this is why I am doing it?”
I was scared of the outcome that this journey was to produce. I didn’t totally understand it, but my mother wasn’t here to explain all the vivid details of what made her have an affair with Maelyss or anything to do with the prophe
cy. I hadn’t even heard a word about her at all and I feared she was dead.
“What if our mother didn’t have an affair with Maelyss?” Rowan asked as if he had read my mind about our mother.
“What are you talking about?”
“What if Maelyss was supposed to be her husband and King Athalos kidnapped her or forced her into marriage?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I guess it is possible. The only one who might shed some light is Maelyss himself.”
The day turned into night when we finally reached the cliffs that overlooked the valley that seemed to be scattered with lushes greens as well as deceased trees and sharp rocky ledges.
My body was weak as I laid down the ledge. I felt as if I was dying and these were the final hours that I would be alive. My whole body seemed to shake violently. If I survived through the night, I knew I would be lucky.
“Merek, are you okay?” Ryia asked.
I nodded. How could I tell her that I thought I was dying?
I knew it was only time before the townspeople would allow their lips to gossip and it would filter back to King Athalos about Ryia. Now that had become the truth and she was being hunted just as much as we were being hunted. I just knew we better head up to the Dragon Kingdom before that happened. I don’t think anything could be much worse than the fact the man that raised us was trying to kill all of us.
He had even hired some sort of warlock who seemed as if he was driving me insane.
“Are sure you are okay?” Ryia asked.
“Have you not listened to anything that man said? I am going to lose my mind. I am going to end up dead one way or another. I have been saying how afraid I am this whole time, dear wife! It is too dangerous out there for you! What if I accidently kill you instead?”
Ryia didn’t scream when I called her my “dear wife.” She just scowled at me.
“I told you that I was a warrior. I can handle myself, thank you very much! I know that it is your job to protect me, but it is also my job to protect you.”
Every time I expressed my concerns, I found out very quickly that even though my wife was my queen, she would rather help guide us fearlessly. It seemed as if she was incredibly headstrong and didn’t believe at all her life was at risk. I tried so hard for her to understand the dangers and the fact that they were very much real.
The three times we bumped into Terrain and Sadon and overheard their conversations didn’t even change her mind. I was sure that would at least show her that I was trying to protect her, but it seemed the more information I gave her the more she refused to listen.
Time seemed to be running out for me as I seemed sick to my stomach. I had barely the morning to get to the Dragon Kingdom, or else I knew the warlock would surely end my life with this ailment that he cursed me with. I still couldn’t push out the images of what would happen if Rowan and I didn’t make the journey a successful one.
I was also beginning to wonder who the real monster was in this situation. There had to be a lot more to the prophecy. King Athalos wasn’t the sweetest person to deal with and all my life, all I could remember was the fact he was hunting dragons and any other kingdom or anyone else that didn’t agree with him.
Maelyss was the king of the dragons, but he was also supposed to be very ruthless as well. People had stories of Maelyss destroying any campaign that went near the kingdom. I wasn’t being sold that the Queen mother had been captured by him. She seemed to have loved him.
“Tonight you are worrying about me as your wife, but you won’t recognize me as the warrior that I keep speaking about!” Ryia finally said breaking the silence.
“I gave you a chance to prove yourself and I even bought you that warrior outfit. Just promise me that if anything happens, you will run the kingdom as I wanted it to run. No more blood shedding and wars.”
I was honestly getting tired of Ryia repeating herself on this subject. She kept bringing up the fact she had been a warrior. I understood she felt like a prisoner, but she was now a queen. She was to protect the kingdom and our castle. Of course, she didn’t and she was here with me as I was lying on the cliff dying.
“I think that it is time for us to get some rest,” Rowan said.
“I doubt we are going to need that much rest. I honestly don’t think I am going to make it through the night. I am getting very weak. I am feeling as if I can’t even recall how this journey even began. I just remember that my siblings are told to kill me.” I began to shake.
“We have to do something or we are going to lose Merek!” Rowan said.
“You have to listen to me; we are going to get you to Maelyss. We are going to keep walking through the night. We will get to the Dragon Kingdom. Just don’t die on me! Hang in there! I have been to the Dragon Kingdom before and I know a lot of people that can heal you. The kingdom knows me as the Ryia the Warrior. They don’t know you!”
“That is if I make it to the Dragon Kingdom,” I mumbled.
“Do you really believe that?” Ryia asked as she was taken back by this.
“Why do you act as if it is untrue? I am growing weaker by the moment. What do I have to do for you to have faith in me and believe that you will live?” I asked a bit angrily.
“You don’t understand anything about what is going on! I can feel my muscles screaming! I feel my heart racing and I feel my memories being wiped out of my mind. I see and hear things that I am not even sure that are there. Tell me how it is that I won’t die!” I stated.
Ryia shook her head. “Why bother? You won’t listen! I know you aren’t going to die! I love you! I may not have loved you in the beginning, but I love you now. There is no way I am going to let you die on me, not even if I have to walk all night to get the Dragon Kingdom.”
My eyes began to droop as my head hit the rocky slab of the cliff. To be honest, like my new queen, I didn’t like the terms in which I had to go to Maelyss’s kingdom because assassins were after Rowan and me. Now I was dying from same strange and cruel curse. I knew that tomorrow I would more than likely not be here. Tonight all I had was to drift to sleep and remember how thankful I was at the moment. Even though the king who raised me was the one who was trying to kill me, I was still thankful to have such a strong father all these years. I also was thankful in this short time to make love to Ryia once.
The entanglement of the day’s conversation that we overheard seemed to continue in my dreams. Ryia tried hard to tell me that all was going to be okay. Now, in my dreams, I could see her beautiful face and her lips moving, but no words were coming out.
What was she trying to tell me? Why did my wife have to be difficult? Rowan had been the lucky one who had a wife who didn’t argue with him constantly. Whatever the reason was that my dream was thinking of the Dragon Kingdom, I remembered what Ryia said before I had fallen asleep and how she finally fell in love with me.
Was Maelyss going to really hang Rowan and I by our feet until we died? I was already cursed! The thoughts seemed to haunt me as I continued to toss and turn. What if he never knew about us the way Ryia kept going on? We would surely die in Maelyss’s hands, but in the other breath, we would die as well if we didn’t try, thanks to King Athalos. Now time was running out for me, thanks to the fact that I had a curse on me, playing hell on my body.
Sunlight finally woke me the next morning as it appeared outside a large gate where t Ryia having a conversation, talking fast to the person on the other side. I was too weak to even open my eyes fully to see who she was talking to.
I stared at the sunlight coming in with the beams that glittered as it hit me. I thought of how my mother told me stories and even sang me to sleep when I was young, but now here I was, a man. I had no child to sing to or even tell stories.. I had a wife who was completely trying to change my destiny, but I knew that I was seconds away from death. My thread of life was breaking and there was nothing she could do about that.
I had only seduced her once. I was hoping that would be enough to carry on the fam
ily name if anything happened to me. A prince or a princess must be conceived to be able to take care of the kingdom when he or she was old enough or else our Kingdom would die out.
*
I made my way down the stone grand staircase in which led me to breakfast. Today was the day that Rowan and I would pack everything we had up and begin our quest from here to the Dragon Kingdom. After speaking with Ryia last night, I was unsure if we were prepared for this.
“You are up early and you shouldn’t be in bed! What are you thinking?” Ryia screamed.
Her voice seemed to make me jump out of my skin since I didn’t even check to see if she was still in her bed. I was in a hurry to get ready for the quest as well as staring at the sun.
“I have to get ready for the journey to the Dragon Kingdom. I am sure you understand that it will take Rowan and I a day or two to get there. I would rather get up early before my father, King Athalos, sends his men to kill us.”
The thought of King Athalos made me glare immediately. I spoke of his name as if he was the vilest thing on this Earth. He seemed as if he was too busy killing everything around him to even realize what he had in front of him, which was two amazing sons.
Many times he spoke of how Maelyss, the King of the Dragons, would harvest the souls of the mortal warriors. He would eat them every morning as the sun came up. I was a bit terrified to even think about this journey. There was no other option, though, and I knew it. I was just hoping the pendants in which my mother had left behind would protect my brother and me.
“You don’t understand! You are at the Dragon Kingdom! You are in Maelyss’s lair! There is no time for you to keep running. You are sick! You have been plagued with a curse. Your brother has already awakened as well. I am sure he will be coming to see you any minute. It seems last night none of us slept very well. We all were too worried about you,” my wife pointed out.
“Are you sure I am able to make the journey? Where are you going to stay when we get there?” I asked, still all together confused.
