A Drogon's Medieval Adventure: A Historical Celestial Mates SciFi (Chimera Drak Mates Book 1)

by T. J. Quinn

  “I wish you were right, but deep down, my instincts tell me they won’t be leaving soon,” Kaylein said, sighing, as she looked out the small window of her room. The sun had long disappeared in the skies, and now the moon was the one lightening the village with its silvery light.

  “I better go get your dinner, milady. I won’t be long.”

  “Thank you, Millicent,” she said, sighing. She was still feeling the effects of her encounter with Cuyler. Her heart seemed unable to go back to her normal pace and just thinking of him could make it start beating faster.

  Cuyler returned to the castle, trying to find the best way to bring up the subject that interested him with Lord Arryn. They had been away from home far too long, and he was looking forward to returning, but not before he had what he had come for.

  Dinner was served in the main room, again with all of Lord Arryn’s men and servants assembled in the place, but unfortunately, he couldn’t see or sense Millicent anywhere around. That disappointed him greatly.

  After dinner, he gathered his men at one of the tables, so that they could talk about their discoveries.

  “Well? Have any of you found your mate?” he asked them.

  “We haven’t seen many women around, my king, other than the ones they call servants, and most of them are aged,” Haskell said, sighing.

  “I haven’t seen her… but I’ve sensed her,” Igor said, with a deep frown. “Does that even make sense to you?” he asked. “I’ve captured her scent in the air several times, but I’m never able to see her.”

  "Why do you think she's special if you haven't seen her?" Eirik asked him.

  "Well, because just her scent can make my whole body tense up in sheer need,” he replied in a self-deprecating tone. "Perhaps this place is driving me crazy; I don't know."

  “You’re not crazy,” Cuyler assured him. “Her scent was the first thing I noticed as well. Now that I have seen her, I know she’s the one,” he confessed.

  His men cheered him, but he shushed them.

  “That’s amazing. Who is she?” Haskell asked, excited.

  “I haven’t seen her much, and only once here at the castle, but I’m sure she’s around.”

  “Do you think they are hiding some of their women from us?” Eirik suggested.

  “It makes sense. We’re not exactly common visitors,” Cuyler replied. “Either way, tomorrow I’ll talk to Lord Arryn and see if he’s willing to sell some of his women to us.”

  “Yes, that would be great. Otherwise, we’ve been wasting our time here.”

  “Just be prepared for anything, because I’m not leaving this place without her,” he warned his men.

  They all nodded, and after talking a bit longer, they all went to their rooms, except Igor and him.

  “I’m too restless to sleep,” His friend confessed. “I think I’ll walk around the place to see if I get lucky and finally see her.”

  “Go ahead. I’ll go for a walk in the forest. I need fresh air.”

  They parted ways at the main door, and soon Cuyler was walking through the trees.

  Wandering around, thinking of her, he lost track of time. Deciding it was time to return to the castle, he turned around to go back.

  But, once again, her scent reached him before he could see her. Apparently, she was fond of the night walks as much as he was.

  But this time, he wasn't hiding from her. He would meet her halfway.

  After eating dinner, Kaylein paced her room, trying to appease the restlessness she was feeling to no avail. She needed her night walk, but she still remembered the strange creature she had encountered the other night. So, she paced her room for a few more minutes, but it definitely wasn’t enough. Throwing caution to the wind, she decided to leave the castle, though not before she grabbed her sword, just in case.

  The cold air of the night immediately made her feel better. Being confined to her room was killing her, and she couldn’t wait for the moment her father would allow them to go downstairs. She still couldn’t understand his reluctance, but there wasn’t much she could do about it.

  When she was deep in the forest, again, she sensed a presence. Fearing another encounter with whatever was in the woods the other night she looked around and shouted: “Who’s there?”

  The minute she pronounced the words, she could see the silhouette of a man, a very tall man walking towards her. The speeding up of her heartbeat gave her the identity of the man walking towards her.

  “Good evening, Millicent,” he greeted her.

  “Sir Cuyler,” she said, trying to sound normal and not let him know the effect he had on her.

  “I guess we both enjoy walking through the woods at night,” he said, as he finally reached her. “But I would say it’s a bit dangerous for a woman alone to wander these woods,” he said, worried about her safety.

  She snorted. “I know these woods better than I know the village. I’ve spent my whole life here.”

  “I’m sure of it, but this place could hide threats for a woman like you,” he insisted, thinking of the wild boar they had hunted that afternoon.

  “I assure you I can take care of myself, Sir Cuyler,” she said, in a cold tone. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I would like to continue with my night walk,” she added, wanting to put distance between her and that man, feeling her heart hastened its pace in his presence.

  He disturbed her way too much.

  “Allow me to walk with you,” he suggested, in a determined tone.

  “Again, I assure you I don’t need someone to watch over me.”

  “I’m sure of it. But still, I would like to go with you, if you don’t mind,” he insisted, eager to be with her, even if it was in a dark forest, in the middle of the night.

  Kaylein opened her mouth to say she did mind but then decided not to. She couldn't be that rude to him. He could go and tell her father about her behavior, and she would get Millicent in trouble.

  “Very well.” She finally nodded as she walked away, not waiting to see if he was following her.

  They walked in silence for a few minutes, but she could feel his presence behind her all the time. “So, Sir Cuyler, where are you from?” she asked him, tired of the tense silence.

  “I come from a land called Zuvrak. It’s very similar to this one, perhaps just a bit colder.”

  “I’m sure you must miss your home,” she asked, curious.

  “Yes, I must admit that I do.”

  "And you miss your family too, right? Your wife… and perhaps even your children?" she asked before she could stop herself. Why would she care if he had a wife and kids? And yet, she did, very much.

  “No, I don’t have a family, nor wife or children, but that’s something I intend to change,” he said, in a soft tone, looking at her.

  She frowned, bothered by the tone in his voice, so eager, anxious, and she quickly changed the subject. “Are you enjoying your stay with us?”

  “Yes, much more than I expected,” he admitted.

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  They walked a bit further, and when she was about to open her mouth to tell him it was time to go back to the castle, he silenced her, covering her mouth.

  The moment he wrapped his arms around her and covered her mouth with his hand, her body was enveloped in a wave of heat that took her breath away. She wouldn’t have been able to speak, even if her life had depended on it.

  “Listen,” he whispered in her ear, slowly uncovering her mouth.

  “I can’t hear anything,” she protested, whispering, breathing hard and trying to hear whatever had startled him.

  Remembering his ear was a lot more accurate than hers, Cuyler asked her again. “Are we close to a village or something?”

  “No, the nearest village is almost ten miles away from here,” she explained.

  “I can hear several people assembled in that direction,” he explained, making an effort to ignore her closeness and focus on the possible problem ahead of them.

  T
aking her by the hand, he guided her through the woods, until they could see what looked like a camp, with several tents, just a few yards away.

  Startled, she forgot her feelings and the passion rushing through her body, as she focused on what she was seeing. Looking at it carefully, she turned to look at Cuyler. “Can you see any flag?” she whispered.

  He looked at the camp, using his night vision. “Yes, there’s one at the center of the camp.”

  “

  “What is on it?” she asked him, shaking.

  “It has some sort of animal in it, like a dog, but with a mane,” he tried to explain.

  “Oh, god… we need to go back, fast.”

  She started running back, and he followed her, admiring her speed and the way she ran across the woods.

  They reached the village in about half an hour, during which, she never stopped running, or diminished her speed.

  He had imagined she would enter the village by a hidden door or something, but she went through the main door, waking up the guards.

  “Close all of the gates, now,” she yelled at him.

  “Milady… what’s going on?” one of the men asked, startled.

  Chapter Eight

  “Lord Bryce is camped a few miles from here with a new army,” she explained. “Close the gates immediately. I’ll warn my father.”

  “Yes, milady.”

  She kept running, with Cuyler right behind her. Once at the castle, she ran up the stairs, and turned right, into the family quarters. Cuyler decided to wait there for her.

  “Father… father…” Kaylein knocked on her parent’s door.

  “What the hell is going on, Kaylein?” Lord Arryn asked, opening the door to his room.

  “Lord Bryce is camped right outside the woods, a few miles from here. He has a new army,” she told him.

  “You just had a nightmare, girl.”

  “Father, look at me, I haven’t even gone to bed yet. I was walking through the woods when I saw them,” she explained.

  “Why the hell, were you in the woods at this hour of the night?” his father scolded her.

  “Father, please listen to me.”

  "I'm sure you imagined things. There's no way Bryce managed to put up a new army so fast,” her father insisted, dismissing her words.

  Hearing the conversation from a distance, Cuyler decided to intervene.

  “I’m sorry to intrude, Lord Arryn, but there’s an army of at least three thousand men out there,” he said, in a serious tone.

  “You saw them?” Lord Arryn asked, suddenly worried.

  “Yes… I stumbled across with your daughter while I was walking through the woods and we both saw the campsite. I’m unable to recognize their flag, but there is no doubt it’s a big army,” he assured the man.

  “Damn,” the man cursed. “Give the alarm and order the men to lock everything.”

  Kaylein nodded and rushed downstairs.

  In just a few minutes, the doors to the village had been closed and barricaded. The villagers were all sent to the castle, and Lord Arryn’s army took their places all around the protective walls.

  “What’s going on?” Igor asked Cuyler, when he came down to the main room, alarmed by the unusual noise.

  “There’s an enemy army camping just outside the village,” Cuyler explained.

  “Are we going to interfere in this?” his friend asked him, with a serious tone.

  “There are over three thousand men out there. With the kind of weapons I’ve seen so far, I’m sure we could take them all, but it would be a slaughter. On this side and on their side,” Cuyler said, considering their options carefully. “But that would expose us.”

  “Yes…” Igor agreed. “We could go now and finish them.”

  “We’ve never participated in wars without knowing both sides of the story,” Cuyler said. “We could end up eliminating the wrong group.”

  Igor nodded. “We need to know more about this.”

  “Talk with the soldiers, and the servants, to see if we can get to the bottom of this, and ask the rest of the men to do the same,” Cuyler ordered. “I’ll go ask Lord Arryn and his men, and we’ll meet in a couple of hours.”

  He assumed they had time. The other army didn't want to attack during the night. Otherwise, they wouldn't have camped so close to the village. That probably meant they didn't know the village and had no idea what they were up against.

  Igor nodded and walked away.

  In the back of Cuyler’s mind was still throbbing the fact she had lied to him. He understood her need to protect herself, what he didn’t know was from whom she needed protection, but he would find out. Right now, he had other matters to attend.

  Lord Arryn was gathered in the middle of the main room with some of his men. Kaylein was there, next to him.

  “No, I’m not sure it’s Lord Bryce. I couldn’t see the flag. I just assumed it was him, due to the description of Sir Cuyler,” she was saying.

  "I can recognize the flag if you have a picture of one," Cuyler said, intervening in the conversation.

  "We don't have one…" Lord Arryn started saying, but Kaylein interrupted him.

  “I can draw it,” she said, running out of the room and returning with some sort of paper and a piece of coal.

  With a few quick strokes, she drew the other lord's flag, with so much detail, Cuyler recognized the flag immediately.

  “Yes, that’s the one I saw,” he assured Lord Arryn.

  “How is it possible that he’s here so fast?” Lord Arryn ranted.

  "Someone has to be supporting him,” Sir Henry said, with a deep frown on his forehead.

  “That’s obvious, but who?” Lord Arryn said.

  “We could send someone there to spy on them, and get all the information we can on them,” one of the other men suggested.

  “It’s too risky. If they catch him, they’ll know we’re aware of their presence, and they will attack tonight,” Lord Arryn replied, rubbing his face.

  “Let me send Jason. He’s fast and an expert going unseen. He could bring us more information on them,” Sir Henry suggested, and Lord Arryn finally accepted.

  “Why don’t you attack them?” Cuyler asked, puzzled.

  "Because, my friend, I have better chances of avoiding a bloodbath staying behind the walls of the village,” the older man explained. "Bryce had tried this before and wasn't able to cross these walls, but I lost over a hundred men, and I can't afford to lose more. If they really have three thousand men, it will be hard, if not impossible to stop them from breaking through the doors and slaughtering my people."

  “Why are they here? What do they want?” Cuyler asked again.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t have an heir. My wife only gave me daughters, and I don’t even have a bastard son to take my place when I die,” Lord Arryn started explaining. “Though small, my lands have a splendid location, fertile soils, and even a silver mine.”

  “So, it’s a prized place,” Cuyler concluded.

  “Yes, that’s right. Bryce has always coveted this village, and he has tried to get it, one way or the other. Last time he arrived with an army, and we were able to deter their attack, but this time I’m not sure what will happen.”

  “Why can’t one of your daughters inherit the village?” Cuyler asked, puzzled. Amongst his people, women were revered and certainly considered equal citizens with equal rights and duties.

  “Our laws don’t allow it,” Lord Arryn replied, shaking his head. “I could only make one of my grandsons my heir, but so far, none of my daughters have given me one.” With those words, he looked at Kaylein with so much hate in his eyes, Cuyler had to clench his hands into fists, not to smash some sense into his head with a punch.

  “Let me know if we can help you in any way,” Cuyler said, nodding and stepping away.

  Lord Arryn nodded and returned to planning with his men.

  Kaylein followed him.

  “Please, wait,” she said, in a soft tone.
/>
  “Yes, Lady Millicent?” he asked, sarcastic, exposing her lie.

  She blushed beautifully, and he immediately forgave her, even if he didn’t tell her so.

  “I’m terribly sorry for that. I feared you would ask my father for me. No one knows I go down to the river to take my baths,” she explained, nervously.

  He nodded. “I can understand that. If you would have told me that, I would have respected your wishes.”

  “I really am sorry,”she insisted.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked her, though he already had offered his help to her father.

  “If you and your men aren’t ready to fight for your lives when the sun comes up, I advise you to leave now, or you’ll be caught in the middle of the battle,” she warned him.

  “Are this village and your family worth fighting for?” he asked her. “Or these people are coming to retrieve something your father stole from them?”

  “The king himself gave these lands to my father, as a gift for his loyalty,” she blurted out, furious. “My father might have a lot of defects, but being a thief or a traitor isn’t one of them,” she assured him.

  “Then, we’ll stay and help.”

  “Thank you.” She nodded and returned to where her father was.

  Cuyler walked around the village, checking the walls and the barricaded doors. He also estimated how many effective men did Lord Arryn had and his findings weren’t good, at least, not when they were supposed to face the army he had seen just outside the woods.

  He met with his men, and they all confirmed Lord Arryn’s story. The fight was for greed, and these men didn’t care for anything.

  Last time they had been there, they had burned all of Lord Arryn’s crops, and destroyed all they could, especially when they were unable to penetrate the walls. They had used burning arrows to destroy the castle, and only the channeled water Lord Arryn brought straight from the river, in underground channels had prevented the whole place from burning down.

  “According to Lord Arryn’s men, this Lord Bryce guy is as vicious as they can be,” Haskell said, worried.

  All the women and children were gathering inside the castle, for protection, and Cuyler saw the interest they were raising in his men.