Sold to the Prince of the Meldanians

by Hollie Hutchins

  She threw in a few outfits, a second pair of shoes, and the paperwork she was going to present to the council. She was pretty sure, regardless of how the fight ended, that she wouldn’t need it, but she had worked hard on those interviews and it was something she and Eldan did together. She couldn’t bring herself to leave it behind. She also grabbed the camera he used to film him and his dad and the footage. The bag was starting to get heavy.

  She was out the door and down three stairs already when she stopped and turned back. She ran to Eldan’s room and grabbed the framed picture of him and his father. This was maybe an invasion of privacy, and if Eldan won, she would put it back before he even noticed it was gone. If he lost, then she thought it was better that she keep the picture instead of it being thrown away carelessly, like the rest of his stuff was probably going to be.

  She went out the back door, steering clear of the stairway which led to the basement. She wasn’t sure if the Queen and Lendir were even still in the house, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She was not going to get grabbed again at the last second.

  The walk to the nursery was a stressful one. The bag kept digging into Amelia’s shoulder and she had to switch sides. When she wasn’t worrying about Eldan and the fight, then she was thinking about all the sweet kids at the nursery who she may never see again. She was even going to miss Ilda, although she wouldn’t tell her that. She wondered if Renny was going to be there—she wouldn’t be surprised if her parents no longer sent her to that nursery after what happened.

  Ilda opened the door for her, having apparently seen Amelia struggling with her heavy bag up the walkway to the nursery. “Where are you headed?” she asked as Amelia stepped inside.

  “Not sure yet.”

  “Mela! Mela!” That was what the kids called her. They all rushed towards her at once, in a big group. She dropped the bag and got down on her knees to hug each and every one of them. Renny was there, in the back of the pack, holding Chomps and sucking her thumb. When it was her turn for a hug, Amelia picked her up and kissed her on the cheek.

  “I heard the fight got moved up to today,” said Ilda.

  “Yes,” said Amelia. “Depending on what happens, this may be the last time you see me.”

  Ilda nodded. “Well, you were a good worker.” She put a hand on Amelia’s shoulder in an awkward fashion, as if she was questioning whether or not this was how normal people interacted with one another. “I may not have always agreed with your tactics for dealing with children, but the kids seem to like you, so that’s something.”

  Amelia smiled. “Thanks, Ilda. I’m going to miss you.”

  “Where are you going?” asked Renny.

  “I might be going on a little trip,” said Amelia.

  “When are you coming back?”

  Amelia felt the threat of tears in her eyes and she put Renny down. She bent down and addressed all the kids. “I’m sorry you guys, but I have to leave now. I don’t know when I am going to see you again, but I hope someday I will be able to come back and visit. You guys be good to Ilda, okay?”

  “Okay,” all the kids said in unison, save Renny.

  “Don’t go!” she said. “You can’t leave!”

  “I’m sorry, Renny, but I have to.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s… complicated. Grown up stuff, okay?” She wrapped her arms around the little girl. She looked into the faces of the other children, especially the human ones, and wondered if their parents knew what may be in store for them.

  Before leaving, she asked Ilda if the rest of Meldania knew about the Queen’s plans.

  “It’s all anyone has been talking about,” said Ilda. “If Lendir wins, a lot of the human families are leaving town tomorrow night, after the fight. They thought together they might have a chance of making the journey to Seven.”

  “Do they know the fight has been moved up?” asked Amelia. “They might have to go tonight.”

  “I’ll make sure they know,” said Ilda. “You should go with them. It’ll be safer than trying to make it alone.”

  Amelia nodded. “Maybe. I’ll think about it. For now, I’m just banking on us not having to leave at all.”

  Ilda didn’t say anything else, and Amelia felt the poison burning a hole in her pocket. “I have to go,” she said. “But before I go, do you have a lighter I can borrow?”

  Ilda fished into her pocket and pulled out a small plastic lighter. “Here ya’ go.”

  “Thanks.” Amelia opened the door. “Bye.”

  “Hey,” ilda called. “If your boyfriend wins, I expect you to be at work tomorrow!”

  Amelia gave her a thumbs up and left.

  The problem with ditching the poison was getting rid of the evidence. She couldn’t just leave this box in somebody’s trash can. It was too unique, with its hand carvings, and she would feel guilty leaving it lying around and risk someone else taking the blame for the theft. It was unlikely that the Queen would have a full investigation into the missing poison after the fight, but then again, she was by far the pettiest person Amelia knew.

  She turned into the alley behind the nursery and pulled out the bottle. She twisted the metal cap off and went to pour its contents out. Then, on second thought, she put the lid back on and shoved the whole thing back into her pocket.

  The box she placed on the ground and bent over it. The box was lined with loose, velvety fabric, which went up in flames the second she touched the lighter to it. Soon, the whole thing was burning. She waited until it seemed to be nothing but ash and some charred pieces of wood, then stamped the fire out. She kicked the ashes around, for good measure, and threw the leftovers into three different dumpsters.

  Wiping the soot from her hands onto her pants, Amelia hooked a right out of the alley and headed to the arena.

  11

  Schoolyard Scuffles

  Eldan was at a complete loss as to how to prepare for what he was about to do. He had never been much of a fighter in school, and while his brother had spent much of his spare time training with different styles of combat, Eldan could usually be found out and about in Meldania, talking to locals and reading in cafes. Whereas Lendir had probably transformed into his dragon form once or twice a month since he was old enough to know how, Eldan could only remember doing it two, possibly three times in his entire life. When their father first got sick, Eldan thought it might be a good idea to start learning how to fight, in case it came to that, but he never got around to it. He was too busy tending to his dad and hoping he would one day wake up feeling better and there would no longer be a need to think about the throne duel.

  Without his secret weapon, it was possible Lendir might be at a disadvantage, but Eldan shouldn’t be too hopeful. To his credit, Eldan was much stronger than he looked and he had always been good at thinking on his feet. Whether or not that would be enough to win, he had no idea, but it would be enough to keep the fight going until Lendir got tired. Maybe then Eldan could try talking to him again. He thought he might have been close to brokering peace with his brother earlier that day. Eldan had the smallest inkling of hope that Lendir might see things in a different light, and he was going to hold onto that hope as tightly as he could.

  Garcia accompanied Eldan to the arena, and he was now sitting on a stool in one of the rooms where opponents can get ready, patiently listening to all of Eldan’s concerns and trying to soothe them.

  “This is insane!” the Prince said. “I can’t believe I agreed to fight him today.”

  “Yes, sir, you already said that.”

  “What was I thinking? Garcia, tell me what I was thinking?”

  “Again, sir.” The assistant cleared his throat. “I don’t know what you were thinking.”

  “I can’t do this. I have two hours until the fight, and I don’t even know if I will be able to transform properly. It’s been years! Did I tell you that? Years since I’ve done it.”

  “You did tell me that. Twice, already.”

  The Prince con
tinued to spiral and repeat himself. After nearly twenty minutes of this back and forth, Garcia stood up, straightened his tie, and threw a punch directly at Eldan’s face. The Prince dodged the blow just in time but before he could so much as ask what the hell his assistant thought he was doing, Garcia threw a second punch at the Prince’s stomach.

  Eldan caught the man’s fist before it made contact with him and held on tightly. “Garcia, what are—”

  “Fight me,” he said. “Sir.”

  “What?”

  “I said.” Garcia twisted his wrist in a way that forced Eldan to let go and brought his fists in front of his face. “Fight me. I have some training, sir. I can show you a few things.”

  “But I don’t want to hurt you,” said Eldan.

  The skinny assistant smiled, then bent his knees and threw a sweeping kick at the Prince’s legs. He kicked in the back of his knees and brought Eldan to the ground. “No offense sir, but I suggest you just shut up and fight back already.”

  Eldan got to his feet, anger starting to boil up inside of him. “Alright then.” He smiled and put his fists up. “Let’s fight.”

  Amelia arrived at the arena roughly an hour before the fight was due to begin. The room where Eldan was preparing was easy enough to find—besides the massive sand pit which served as the fighting area, the building only had two other rooms. She picked one of the doors at random, and just as her knuckles were inches from rapping on the door, she overheard the Queen’s voice barking something about Lendir not having gotten his claws regularly sharpened, and Amelia realized this was the wrong room.

  At the second door she didn’t even bother knocking. Eldan was sitting in a chair pushed up against the back wall of the all cement room. It was dim, the only light source coming from a small window which showed a view of the pit.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked. Eldan was breathing heavily and his mouth looked weird, like he had just tried to stuff a whole cookie in it and hadn’t yet gotten around to chewing.

  The Prince responded by breathing slowly in and out. Amelia saw his jaw relax and his cheeks go back to normal. “Sorry,” he said a moment later. “I was just coming down from a transformation. My teeth are always the last thing to return to their normal size.”

  “You were in dragon form?” Amelia scanned the room. “Is there even enough space in here to do that?”

  “Apparently.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Only, just barely. I think I put a little kink in my neck.”

  “What made you transform? Can you do it on demand?”

  Eldan laughed. “No way. I don’t even think Lendir can transform at a drop of the hat. Some dragons work towards that goal their entire life. For most of us, transformations are inherently tied to emotions and, of course, the flight or fight response.”

  “So… then what?” There was no place for Amelia to sit so she just leaned against the wall next to him and folded her arms.

  “Garcia was in here a little while ago. We were sparring. He was trying to get me ready and psyched up. In a misguided attempt to make me angry, he said something about you and next thing I know I was in dragon form. He ran out of the room and slammed the door behind him.”

  “Would you have hurt him?” asked Amelia. Her voice cracked a little when she said it. She didn’t like the idea of Eldan being violent, which was a little ridiculous at this point considering she was just about to watch him try to rip his brother to shreds.

  “I don’t know,” said Eldan. “When I’m transformed, I don’t have much control. That’s why I never like doing it… I don’t want to accidentally hurt someone.”

  Amelia nodded. “Makes sense to me. Did you want me to go get him? So you can train some more?”

  Eldan looked at his hands, watching the now barely visible claws shrink back to normal nails. “I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” His head fell heavy over his chest. “I wish my dad was here.”

  Amelia stood up and went to her bag on the floor in the middle of the room. “Actually,” she said. “And don’t get mad at me for grabbing this. It was a last minute lapse of judgment.” She pulled the picture of Eldan and his father out of her bag and handed it to him. “He sort of is here.”

  Eldan looked down at the photograph and used his thumb to wipe some of the dust off the glass surface of the frame. “This was taken on my eighth birthday,” he said. “My mom threw me a big party and invited all of Meldania to our mansion so we could show off how powerful and well-off we were. I begged my dad to let me skip the party and for him to take me on a hike through the mountains behind the city instead. That was all I wanted to do.” He sighed. “He made me go to the party for an hour, then he snuck me out the back door and we left. When we came back, he was carrying me on his shoulders and the person photographing the party took this picture of us.” Eldan laughed softly. “The photographer had no idea who we were, just thought we were some partygoers. Just a normal father and son duo.”

  “That’s a great story.” Amelia smiled. “I wish I had better memories of my father.” She looked down at her feet. “But I guess that’s in the past. All I can hope for now is that whoever ends up being the father to my children does as good a job as yours did.” She was staring intently at Eldan.

  He stared back at her. Neither of them said anything. It was understood, without being spoken, what Amelia was getting at. She hoped that maybe by planting this seed of what could be inside Eldan’s mind, he could use it to drive him through the fight and all the way into the future.

  Eldan opened his arms up and Amelia went to him. She curled up into his lap and let his arms wrap around her. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear.

  She closed her eyes and laid her head on his chest. “I love you too.”

  Unbeknownst to Amelia, throne duels were a very popular public affair in Meldania. She left Eldan alone in his room just five minutes before the fight and went to go find a seat in the arena where she would have the best view. To her surprise, however, almost all the seats were already taken. At least, the ones on Eldan’s side of the arena were all taken. About half to three quarters of the seats on Lendir’s side were open. Everyone present was a shifter, almost all dragons. She guessed any human who had any sense would be as far from Meldania as they could be.

  She puzzled this, wondering if there would be any chance of her getting out of this city alive after the fight, as she schooched past the people seated in the front row. There was a nice looking dragon couple on the end whom she asked if it was okay if she squeezed in next to them.

  “Amelia,” said the woman. “You’re Amelia right?”

  She frowned at the couple. “Do I—”

  “We’re Renny’s parents,” said the man. “I’m Varti and this is Sonna.”

  Then it clicked. The woman had gorgeous light green skin and the man had small white spots running down his neck and arms.

  “Of course!” said Amelia. “It’s good to see you.”

  They made room for her on the bench. The woman had been carrying a sign over her head when she first approached them, which she now put on the ground and turned to talk to Amelia.

  “I have to be honest, I’m a little shocked to see you here,” said Sonna. “I heard you were the top name on the Queen’s list of enemies.”

  “I’m sure I am,” said Amelia. “But I couldn’t not be here.”

  “You’re here for the Prince I take it?” Sonna raised her eyebrows. “Eldan, I mean.”

  Amelia nodded. “Yeah.” She felt her cheeks flush and she gleefully realized she was feeling something akin to schoolgirl embarrassment. It was as if a classmate on the playground had just figured out who she had a crush on. It was a great feeling—one Amelia hadn’t encountered for a long time. For a moment, it even made her forget about the fight.

  “Welcome ladies and gentlemen!” The Queen’s voice boomed throughout the arena. She was standing in the center of the sand pit holding a microphone. “To Meldania’s 48th Throne Duel.” Some peop
le in the crowd cheered, mostly on Lendir’s side. “In the ring today, we have my two sons. My oldest son, Prince Lendir.” Now his side of the arena went wild. The Queen motioned to the door on her right, underneath where Lendir’s fans were sitting, and the Prince walked out on cue. “And introducing my younger son, Prince Eldan.” There were a few hundred more people seated on Eldan’s side and the applause for him felt like it was actually shaking the bleachers. Eldan walked out when his mother gestured for him. He turned to look at the crowd, but couldn’t seem to find Amelia. His gaze washed over her several times, but there was no eye contact. She tried to yell his name but she couldn’t be heard over the crowd.

  “The rules of the duel are as follows,” the Queen continued. The audience quieted down. “The opponents may fight in either human or dragon form and may transform at any point during the fight. An opponent may also surrender at any point during the fight.” She looked at Eldan. “All he has to do is yell ‘I surrender’, or, if he is unable to speak at the time, he can clap or slam his hands on the ground three times. Finally,” she said, “if no one surrenders, this will be a fight to the death, with the victor being crowned king. If one of you should surrender and the other opponent kills you anyway, the victor will be fined heavily.”

  “Wait, that’s it?” Amelia said. “If you kill someone who surrendered you just get fined?”

  “You’re surprised that the rules of a to-the-death throne duel are barbaric?” said Sonna. “Are you sure you can handle what you’re about to see?”

  Amelia shook her head. “No. The only thing I’m sure of is him.” She used this moment of silence from the crowd to her advantage and called out for Eldan. He turned and seemed to find her immediately amidst the sea of faces. She didn’t say anything else, only smiled. She needed him to know she was there, cheering him on and that she didn’t bail at the last second.