Kethril

by Carroll, John H.

  It all came back to Tathan though. He didn’t rescue her for any reason other than Liselle wanted to and because he didn’t have anything else to do. Tathan wasn’t doing it for a reward as most thieves would.

  Tathan was handsome. He was tall, had entrancing eyes and a mischievous grin. Anilyia took a deep breath and brushed hair back over an ear. There was more to it than just his looks though. It was the way he carried himself. People followed him and trusted him to make decisions. He didn’t laugh at danger, he snuck up and slid his blade into it.

  Anilyia stood and started pacing, but didn’t want to get too far from the cottage. If Vevin came out to eat her, she wanted Tathan to hear the screams. A part of her wondered if Tathan was evil. His sword looked evil with the way it sucked in light. He traveled with an evil dragon and there was a good chance Sir Danth was evil. The knight wore black armor, enjoyed killing and tended to be moody.

  Liselle didn’t fit though. Anilyia got the feeling the flower child was epically good, like -get everyone in the world to dance through the streets with flowers in their hair while singing songs- good. The group didn’t make any sense at all.

  They were supposed to leave that day. Tathan had made a stretcher for Vevin and Sir Danth to carry Liselle for the first couple of days until she was strong enough to walk on her own. Liselle needed to be able to stay and rest awhile, but the villagers were hostile towards them.

  “Hi.” Arms wrapped around her waist. Anilyia screamed at the top of her lungs. She turned to see Tathan holding her, startled by the reaction. A second later, Sir Danth was next to them, sword drawn and looking for danger. He had shifted from the cottage in just a few jumps.

  Anilyia glared at Tathan while wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “Don’t sneak up on me like that! I thought you were Vevin!”

  Sir Danth’s sword was back in its sheath. “Your Highness, I truly believe Vevin means you no harm.”

  “He’s evil! Why can’t you see that? Are you two evil?” Anilyia pushed away from Tathan and set her jaw in anger. “Is that why you travel with a purple dragon, because you’re both evil? Is it some plot for the three of you to corrupt Liselle?” They stared at her in surprise. She put her hands on her hips. “I’d threaten to stay here and not take another step with you, but I’m not about to stay a minute longer around these stupid peasants. I asked if you are evil and I expect an answer now.”

  Tathan and Sir Danth exchanged glances and shrugged.

  “That’s not an answer,” she told them. “You can’t just shrug. Either you’re evil or you’re not. Answer yes or no, starting with you.” She pointed at the knight.

  “No, but I like killing a lot, which many believe to be evil,” he said after a moment’s thought.

  “That’s not a very good answer. How about you?” She pointed at Tathan.

  Tathan’s eyes moved around as he rummaged in his mind for a reply. “I don’t know. Sometimes I think so. I’ve done some bad things, committed crimes and murdered a few people.” He shrugged dejectedly. “So I might be evil.”

  He was so miserable that Anilyia jumped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck to console him. She didn’t see the looks of confusion he and the knight exchanged over her shoulder. It probably wasn’t the best response to give someone who had just admitted to being evil, but she didn’t care.

  She stepped back abruptly. The men were starting to expect the sudden shifts of mood, which irritated her more. Anilyia crossed her arms. “So . . . you two and Vevin are evil and you’ve got some sort of insidious plot to get Liselle to like you. Then, once you have her complete trust, you’re going to trick her into doing some terrible act of evil that will destroy the world. Don’t deny it.”

  Sir Danth scratched his helmet with a finger while Tathan spread his arms. “You’ve got us. We’re going to use Liselle to grow a ladder of flowers to Siahray, and then we’re going to pull it down to crash it into the oceans, which will flood all the kingdoms of the world. It’s a brilliant plan and I’m sure it’ll work.”

  Anilyia stared at him. “You’re trying to be funny. Stop it.”

  “We’re not that kind of evil.” Tathan sat down on the rock Anilyia had vacated a short while before. “We’ve done evil things, at least I have. I think Sir Danth is just from another time when things were different. There’s no way we would hurt Liselle. Something about her makes me want to do good things. I don’t really like it.” Sir Danth shook his head to indicate he didn’t like it either.

  “Vevin is evil and you can’t convince me otherwise.” Anilyia kept her arms crossed. It was time to clear things up.

  “Your Highness, Vevin is a dragon. We all know they like to eat princesses, but that doesn’t make him evil,” Sir Danth said.

  Anilyia waved her arms at him in frustration. “He’s purple! Didn’t they teach you anything in whatever training you took to be a knight?”

  Sir Danth blushed. “They told us to stay away from dragons and if one attacked, either surrender or die if honor required it. That was all we were taught.”

  “Seriously?” Anilyia was dumfounded. “In Mayncal, knights are taught everything known about dragons.”

  “That’s a very bad idea. Studying dragons is a violation of the treaty if there is any intention of learning how to kill them,” Sir Danth said. “If your knights are learning how to fight dragons, it could bring a reign of terror down upon your kingdom.”

  Anilyia was quiet while that information sank in. She had seen a copy of the treaty, but hadn’t read it because it was in a language her tutors hadn’t thought necessary to teach her.

  “Your Highness, do your knights learn these things to fight dragons?” Sir Danth asked.

  She shook her head slowly. “No, they are taught details of all creatures with sharp teeth.”

  “Then it should be fine,” Sir Danth said reassuringly. “Probably.”

  She waved off the distraction. “Anyway, white and orange dragons are good. Purple and black are evil. This is a hard rule set in stone. Vevin is a purple dragon, therefore, he is evil.”

  Sir Danth looked at Tathan who shrugged. “Well, let’s go ask him,” Sir Danth suggested.

  “No!” Anilyia yelled. “He’ll eat me!”

  “I won’t eat you,” a voice said from behind Sir Danth. The knight stepped aside and they saw Vevin walking toward them with Liselle leaning on his arm. “When you didn’t come back right away after the princess screamed, we were worried. I wasn’t about to leave Liselle alone though.”

  Anilyia was upset that the dragon had heard her. “You keep her close to control her mind or something.”

  “I’m not evil,” Vevin said dejectedly. “You’re right. Purple dragons are evil, but I’m not purple . . . kind of.” They stared at him in confusion. Tathan stood and offered Liselle the rock seat, which she gratefully accepted.

  Vevin did a slow explanation-shuffle. “The princess is right. Purple and black dragons are evil, while white and orange dragons are good . . . mostly. There have only been a few exceptions, but basically the reason I’m not an evil dragon is because something really bad happened. That led to something really, really, really, really, really, really bad that shook the world of dragons. After that, some other really bad things happened. That resulted in really bad consequences. Then some more really bad things happened. Then something really, really, really bad happened and that led to another really bad thing. That really bad thing was me . . . not meaning that I’m really bad, but it was really bad that I was.”

  At that point, they were all staring at Vevin with slack jaws, but he wasn’t done. “Then more really bad things happened in a row that made me really sad. Then a really, really, really bad thing happened to me and I thought I was going to die. But then the really, really, really, really, really, really best thing ever happened to me and now I’m happy . . . and not evil.” He finished with a nod.

  Anilyia had stopped trying to understand what the stupid dragon was saying sometime after t
he first couple of ‘really’s. “I think you’re lying,” she accused.

  “He’s not lying. He’s not evil and I’m not just saying that because I love him,” Liselle defended tiredly. “The flowers trust him and they would tell me if he was evil or plotting against me. The flowers understand these things you know.”

  “No! I don’t know.” Anilyia threw her hands up in the air. “Look, I get it. You like flowers and you have a magical connection with them. Don’t blast me with fire, but I honestly don’t believe that flowers can tell if a dragon is evil or plotting something. I just don’t!”

  Liselle waved off the objection. “Well, whether you believe it or not, they can.”

  “Here’s where I stand,” Tathan interrupted. “I trust Vevin. I trust Liselle even more, and the fact that Liselle trusts Vevin leads me to have that much more trust in Vevin. I’ve also seen enough of Liselle’s magic and the relationship she has with flowers to know that they are supernaturally powerful and if Liselle says they trust Vevin then it lends weight to my trust in Vevin.” He inhaled deeply, trying to get enough breath to finish. “On the other hand, the princess doesn’t trust Vevin and I trust the princess’s opinion on a lot of things. She’s also received some education regarding dragons such as the fact that purple dragons are evil, which Vevin admits.” Tathan marked off the points on his fingers to make sure he had everything. “So what it adds up to is that I mostly trust Vevin, but there’s a tiny bit of doubt in my mind.”

  “You’re almost as bad as he is,” Sir Danth told Tathan while pointing at Vevin. “However, I managed to keep up with you.” He smiled as though it was a great accomplishment.

  Anilyia kept quiet, waiting to see what would happen. In the past, she shunned Vevin whenever possible, not even looking at him if she could avoid it. Now she studied him. He seemed truly miserable. There was no crafty shift in his body or evil look from the side of his eyes. It was a mystery to her that he honestly did appear to be good. But that went against everything she knew. Throughout the history of Ryallon, there hadn’t been even one myth of a dragon saving a princess. They only ever ate princesses.

  “Can you give us details, Vevin?” Tathan asked.

  Vevin dug a toe into the dirt. Most of the time he was mature and intelligent, but every once in a while he acted childlike in manner and speech. Liselle squeezed his hand. “It’s alright, dear. We can see how much it upsets you.”

  Anilyia was about to protest, but Vevin spoke first. “No, they’re right. You’ve all told me about yourselves and shown me trust when it would have been easy to hate me for what I am.” He smiled hesitantly. “I like you and want to be your friend so I’ll tell you, but . . .”

  “Yes?” Tathan encouraged.

  “Humans aren’t supposed to know about some of the things I’m going to tell you, so you have to promise not to tell anyone,” Vevin said.

  “I promise,” Tathan agreed easily as did Liselle and Sir Danth. Anilyia stayed quiet. Any knowledge of dragons was invaluable to her country.

  “Your Highness, it is a legitimate request and you must give your royal word should you wish him to share the information,” Sir Danth pointed out. “I, for one, admit my curiosity about the matter and hope you do promise.”

  She huffed. “Fine! I promise.” They didn’t appear convinced. She raised her right hand. “I give my royal word that I won’t tell anyone.” Then she stared at Vevin with arms folded, waiting for him to tell the story. She wasn’t about to admit it, but Anilyia was interested by that point too.

  Vevin began swaying back and forth in a serpentine motion while he talked. Anilyia realized he was performing some sort of magic, but was helpless to avoid it. She also realized the others were just as thoroughly enchanted. Terror ran up her spine and danced on the hairs of her neck.

  “Whites are the most pure and good, oranges are the most powerful and brave, blacks are the most vile and evil, and purples are the most magical and intelligent of the dragons.” Vevin’s voice filled with power as he told the story. It was a far cry from the nervous toe digging moments earlier. “The four do not interact for the most part and they certainly do not interbreed.”

  “However . . . There was a time . . .” It was clear Vevin didn’t want to continue. The enchantment remained strong and Anilyia realized she couldn’t interrupt if she wanted to. Liselle squeezed his hand again though. Anilyia grasped that Liselle hadn’t been included in the enchantment and it made her jealous.

  He smiled and continued. “A young white dragon did a terrible thing once and was kicked out of his cave by his mother. He traveled for a long time before being captured by black dragons. Those black dragons took him somewhere secret and tortured him. The torture corrupted the weak-minded young dragon and he became evil, the first white dragon to be so. Both his body and mind were scarred and twisted.

  Pain shown on Vevin’s face. “He then went on a rampage of chaos that broke laws of dragonkind. Eventually, he was caught and taken before a Council of Dragons.” Anilyia felt a tightening of pressure from the enchantment Vevin was performing. She realized the existence of a Council of Dragons was forbidden knowledge.

  “They stripped many of his powers and cast him out with a warning not to violate any more laws. He slunk around the world; an insane, cruel creature bent on harming anything less powerful than he.” Vevin stopped again, more pain evident in his face. Liselle squeezed his hand and smiled in encouragement.

  “He found an immature purple dragon, just come of age. Her mother had cast her out early to make way for new dragonlets. She found a cave to live in and took what little treasure she inherited. Just a day after being there, the outcast white dragon found her. He raped her.” Tears flowed down Vevin’s cheeks. They were liquid silver and stained the skin. When they hit the ground, they turned into silver dragonflies that fluttered clumsily with their new wings. Anilyia had tears of her own running down her cheeks, as did Tathan and Liselle. If Sir Danth had cheeks, tears would have been running down his too. The sight of the silver insects was breathtaking. When Anilyia felt the tightening of pressure from the enchantment again, she realized it was another thing she would never be able to mention.

  “Dragons don’t rape each other, whether they be good or evil. It’s just not done.” Vevin took a deep breath to compose himself. The last of the tears fell and transformed into dragonflies but there were still silver streaks down his face. Anilyia counted eight of the insects in all.

  “After mating, a father normally leaves the mother to take care of the baby on her own. Dragons are very solitary creatures.” Again, there was a tightening of pressure. “He didn’t leave though. He stayed with her, raped her frequently, beat her and dominated her.”

  “After a while, a dragonlet was born.” Vevin took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “My mother did everything she could to protect me from my father. She would cover me with her body whenever he beat her.” More tears turned into dragonflies.

  Anilyia stopped counting them because her own eyes were too blurry. There was great sorrow in such magnificent -for even with her prejudice against them eating princesses, she recognized dragons as magnificent- creatures behaving in such a human manner. Contemplating his words, she realized he was the child of the twisted white dragon and the immature purple. The pressure tightened again and she realized the enchantment wouldn’t let her tell anyone that either.

  “I didn’t get a lot of treasure growing up. My father kept it all, for he was greedy.” Vevin’s head hung in misery. “I grew up in fear of him, hiding behind my mother. She was so brave and protective of me.” He smiled fondly. “Then one day, not too long ago, I finally stood up to my father. He was surprised and ran away at my show of bravery. My mother and I did a dance. Father didn’t come back for months and we became stronger. He had left most of his treasure, so mother took a small share for herself and gave me a share too. We didn’t take all of it, as dragons don’t steal each other’s treasures. It’s against the law of dragonkind.�
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  The pressure tightened again. Anilyia was getting frustrated. She wanted to talk about all the fascinating things she was learning. Vevin took yet another deep breath. “Then he came back. I thought I would be able to scare him off again, but my father is dangerous and crafty. He did this.” Vevin pointed at the scar that went down the left side of his face from crown to chin. “It hurt a lot. Then my father killed my mother.”

  Great sobs wracked Vevin’s body as Liselle stood and hugged him. The trance was broken and the others could move again.

  Anilyia was in a quandary. If the story was true, Vevin was both white and purple, meaning both good and evil. Anilyia concluded that Vevin was good. After all, his mother had shown him bravery and compassion, which Vevin had turned into courage and the noble act of defending his mother.

  By that point, there were silver dragonflies flitting all about the area. Anilyia was stunned when one went into the water and turned blue. Another landed on a leaf and turned green. One by one, they would touch something and turn the color of whatever they touched. One landed on a violet flower that was craving Liselle’s attention. The flower wiggled its petals, making the dragonfly fly away, but not before it had matched the brilliant purple color.

  “My father left us both for dead. I keened over my mother’s body for hours upon waking.” Vevin had regained control, but still looked miserable. “One of the punishments my father received was having his healing ability taken away. They also removed it from any children he might have. As a result, I wasn’t able to heal my cut.” He ran a finger down the scar.

  Liselle comforted him. “I wish I could have been there to heal it then.”

  “Oh no, I’m glad you weren’t there. My father would have killed you too and that would have been terrible.” Vevin’s eyes swirled rapidly. “As it was, he came back. I stood over my mother’s body as he took her treasure and mine, putting it back with his. Then he attacked me again. I struck out with lightning to distract him and took to the air. It was the first time I had ever flown. It’s wrong not to let dragons fly, you know.”