Chapter 47: Chapter Forty-seven: How to train this dragon.
Elena sat beside a small tree in the garden with a book in her laps. The sun was just starting to come out to the sky fully. Ever since she returned, she never had the chance to explore the book she had taken from Calithar’s library. This is mostly because of Damien taking up majority of her time each day.
Immediately it was day, she had ordered the maids to dress and prepare her. She had decided to dedicate that day to properly exploring that book. She even took some old transcription manuals from Damien’s bookshelf in his study, thinking it could help with her task.
She settled down on a soft hedge that overlooked the beautiful scenery of a waterfall located some metres away from the main gates. Since Damien was away, she knew she could stay there all day without being disturbed. Elena was about to begin when she heard her name being called from a distance.
"My lady! My lady! My lady!" Elena turned around to find the personal maid assigned to her running towards her, almost tumbling over her apron. When she reached her, she was already out of breath.
Elena looked at her with a slight frown on her face. "Luan. What’s the matter? Why are so frightened?" Luan was just three years younger than her but Elena had first-hand experienced how vast her knowledge of the world was.
Luan looked at her confusedly. Had she not heard the news?
"My lady. Haven’t you heard the news?"
Elena’s frown deepened. "No I haven’t. What news?"
Luan looked about her nervously, contemplating whether to tell her or not. She had just heard it as a rumor and hadn’t paid much attention to it. But once the entire palace started talking of it, she knew it was true.
"My lady..." she started nervously.
"Luan, don’t make me upset with you. What is the matter? Elena demanded now annoyed.
"His highness..."
"What about his highness?"
"His highness is missing!" she blurted out in one go.
Elena looked like someone had slapped her hard across the face. She dropped the small book she held in her hand and blinked multiple times.
"Wh-wh-what did you just say?"
"Oh my lady! His highness is missing!" Luan repeated, going to her side to support her.
Elena felt her knees weaken before they actually gave out. She was beyond dumbfounded at the news that it made her head spin. Wh...what?
"My lady! Please pull yourself together!" the maid yelled frantically, shaking her as if to wake her from the sudden thunderbolt that had hit her.
"It’s a lie. It can’t...it can’t be possible. We just...I just...he..." Elena stammered out, unable to even understand herself.
She looked about her with her mouth open absentmindedly. They had just had lunch together yesterday afternoon. How...?
Elena turned to her, looking completely dazed. Luan looked at her worriedly, afraid of having startled her so suddenly if the rumors ended up not being true. She held her arm, squeezing her hand softly to calm her down. All of a sudden, Elena sprang to her feet, dropping all her materials on the grass.
"My-my lady." Luan called out, jumping to her feet to.
"I must find him." she said absentmindedly.
"Lady..."
"I must find him!" Elena screamed out repeatedly, running towards the entrance. Luan was taken aback for a short moment before catching herself back.Luan struggled to keep up with her but she still ran after her, calling out for her to stop but Elena didn’t stop. She continued running without looking back or even caring about how she looked at that moment.
When she finally reached the palace, she raced to where the carriages and horses were kept.
"Get me a horse this minute!" she yelled at the stable boy who was feeding one of the horses.
"Sorry?" the small boy asked innocently, looking confused.
"I said get me a horse!" Elena’s voice attracted the keeper of the stables who came running out.
"Your highness. What is the ma-"
"Get me a horse!"
"P-pardon? Your highness, I can’t-"
"Then I’ll take it myself." Elena ran towards the horses that were resting in their stables. She flung one of the gates open and pulled the horse out by the reins.
"My lady you mustn’t get on! You’ll frighten it!" Luan called out to her but she had already blocked out all sounds.
She led the horse out of the stable admist the protests and pleas from those around for her to stop. As she was about to get on, a strong pair of arms grabbed her wrists and pulled her back. She fell into the arms, hitting her back on his hard chest.
"Your highness!" everyone exclaimed in greeting at the person who had just arrived.
Elena turned around and saw prince Severin looming over her in the rising sun.
"Come with me." he said simply before pulling her by the wrist away from the horse. Elena didn’t even have the time to say anything.
"Let me go! I have to go to him!" she cried out, clawing at the hand that held hers in a tight grip. No matter how much she tried to pry them open, it just didn’t budge.
Severin wordlessly dragged her across the courtyard, pulled the door open and dragged her in despite her protests. Once in, he let go of her wrists.
"Why did you do that?!" she asked hysterically, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I have to find him! He might be in danger we can’t just leave him-"
"And where exactly do you want to look for him?" Severin’s voice came out calmly, betraying the hardened expression on his face. "Do you even know where he went to? How do you want to get there?"
Elena fell silent at his words and made to open the door again. Severin moved closer to her in a flash and slammed the door shut, trapping her in against the door and the wall beside it with his two arms. She gasped softly at the speed he used on her and immediately fell quiet.
His face moved closer to hers, locking his eyes on her.
"If you step out of this palace, you’re never coming back. Do you understand that?" he growled roughly at her. "Listen. The king is gravely ill and can die any moment from now. If Cassian takes the throne and even has the slightest remembrance of you with Damien not being here, you won’t survive it."
Severin’s voice came out harshly against her face. He didn’t even try to sugarcoat anything. He just went straight to the point and what? The king is ill?
"H... how come?" She managed to say despite his fearsome face being extremely close to hers.
Severin sighed deeply before pushing himself away from her. "I don’t know the full details yet but I’m going to gather information. You on the other hand should stay indoors and not go anywhere. Understood?" he said, stressing every word.
Without waiting for her reply, Severin vanished from her sight. Once he was gone, she sank to the floor, sprawling her gown all about her. Her hands reached out for the necklace Damien had given her some time ago and tears filled her eyes.
"Where are you?..." She muttered slowly to herself as the tears fell uncontrollably. "You have to come back to me." she continued. "You have to..."
....
When the fog finally cleared, Damien and Lucian opened their eyes. They were no longer in the ruined local market but now in a completely different environment. Everywhere was dark, the sky was blood red and small volcano like structures were at every cardinal point.
"Are we in hell?" Lucian blurted out. Everywhere just looked so dreary and dark. Were they really in hell?
Damien’s body still ached from his earlier encounter with the dragon and with his chest bare, he felt the chilling temperature hit his skin hard. Strange enough, his body felt the cold but his insides felt like it was burning from an angry flame. Despite how hot and steamy everywhere looked, the temperature was biting cold.
It was so ironical.
"Let’s walk a little further. Maybe we might find someone to assist us." Damien finally said, taking the first step ahead.
Lucian shrugged his shoulders and followed right beside him. As they continued trekking, a terrifying sound was heard from a distance followed by other cries worse than the first one. In a flash, the ground began to tremble greatly beneath them. Enormous, massive beastly creatures began to emerge from the distance in front of them. Even that far away, they looked so horrific that anyone who saw them at that time would have died from shock.
As they got closer, the two men now had a better view of them. Great, scaly dragons in different sizes and forms, some flying, some walking, were approaching them and they didn’t look nice.
"Fucking hell!" Damien cursed under his breath as the creatures were approaching them. He didn’t even bother running. What was the point?
They just stood there, as if waiting for the dragons to meet them. As the beasts got closer, the ground vibrated more and more, tipping them off their feet. About seven different dragons were running towards them and two were flying in the air.
Now on the floor, the dragons stopped running and stood before them looking hungry. Their mouths were hung open and white substance dripped from it. Once it fell to the ground, a hissing sound followed by a whiff of smoke followed. The dragon in the front leaned closer, ready to grab them when suddenly a loud, violent voice was heard.
"Step away from them immediately!" the voice commanded with authority. Coming out from behind the pack was the greatest, deadliest looking dragon ever seen. It was twice the size of the other massive dragons and had ten differently shaped horn on its head.
Lucian fainted on the spot while Damien stumbled backwards, frozen totally from shock.