United Dragons

by Calista Lambrechts

  I pounded on the door, impatiently waiting as Thyseris took his time. After a while the door finally swung open and an old grumpy man stepped outside. The moment he laid his eyes on me, a sinister smirk spread across his face as he clasped his hands together.

  “Ah, Miss Thorel. What a surprise!” To be honest, I didn’t have much time for conversation. I quickly skipped to the point.

  “Yeah, yeah, cut the act. Edward is dead.”

  Thyseris raised an eyebrow as he bore an expression of distrust and uncertainty.

  “How sure are you?” I couldn’t help but sigh as I rolled my eyes.

  “As sure as I am standing here.”

  Trust me. The last thing this man wanted to do was test my patience…

  “Excellent! You have my greatest gratitude. I thank you on behalf of all the people and myself, of course.” With the sweet talk over, Thyseris returned to his home, closing the door, but my foot rapidly stopped it from slamming shut.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” I asked suspiciously. Peering out from the small gap, Thyseris gave me an innocent grin. He pushed the door open.

  “Oh… Well, to be honest I do not have the money with me at the moment…”

  Without another moment’s thought, I grabbed the collar of his shirt and forcefully pulled him closer – nose almost touching nose. My lip lividly curled back.

  As I had guessed, it wasn’t long before the old man finally gave in.

  “Okay! Okay! Here, take it and leave!” I remained silent, replying with a snort as I grabbed the moneybag and turned around to go.

  Unexpectedly, Thyseris rapidly used his wit against me, yelling, “Hag!” the moment I took my first step. I really didn’t want it to come to this, but…

  I furiously swung around.

  “What did you say?!”

  A sinister smile appeared at his lips as he slowly folded his arms.

  “You heard me… hag!” I tried to stop myself. Really I did, but my anger got the best of me. I grabbed Thyseris by the shoulders and readied my fist for an agonizing blow to his old winkled face.

  “Why you little-”

  Before I knew it, someone yanked me away, ripping me from my adversary.

  “Hey, hey! Break it up! I shall not have any conflict on these streets! Understood?”

  It was one of the local guards, an officer of the law, dressed in fine Ysellian armour. I think I actually growled at Thyseris.

  I exchanged my glance between the guard and the old man.

  “Fine, but this isn’t over!” The guard angrily pointed me off.

  “Get a move on!”

  I sighed miserably and took my leave. On the other hand, Thyseris gave a menacing snicker. Luckily, as fate would have it, the guard shot him an enraged stare.

  “Don’t think you’re not under warning as well. I’m watching you! And still waiting for your taxes!”

  No sooner than it came did Thyseris’ smile fall.

  I made my way back to the group, my eyes wandering my magnificent surroundings as I did. Hayley was somewhat festive to some extent, even if I had to admit. I wouldn’t mind coming back.

  I found my companions to be waiting outside a gigantic mansion. I guessed this to be Terrowin’s place. I can’t lie. Terrowin’s family really had both class and money! Honestly, they were loaded! A strong sense of luxury radiated from its very exterior, adorned by the chirps of numerous birds, growing flora and the beauty of the manor itself.

  Even if those walls carried many secrets and had skeletons stashed away in its closets… I wouldn’t mind living there myself.

  The soon as I approached the gang, I confidentially ordered, “Come on. Let’s do this.”

  I should’ve known better though. The moment thereafter Nemtris pulled one of her famous taunting grins.

  “Are you sure you can do this?” I gritted my teeth.

  “Of course I can, Nemtris!”

  Just to show her my courage, I marched up the numerous steps, readying myself in front of the large double doors.

  The soon as I had my fist ready to knock, I hesitated. Anxiety flooded my mind and I knew that she was right.

  “Wait!” I yelped, “Who am I kidding?! No, I can’t do this! If the commander sees me…”

  My thoughts ran away from me and rushed back to the memory of the first time I met the commander. I eavesdropped on them and now… he pretty much wanted to see me dead. Supposedly I heard things I wasn’t supposed to hear. Couldn’t see how, and still can’t, but I didn’t want to be dead either way.

  Nemtris crossed her arms and gave a taunting smirk.

  “Oh, what have you done this time?”

  I heaved a loud sigh. “Long story that stretches as far as to when I met Terrowin.”

  Her gaze remained mocking. I returned a frown.

  “Point is, the sooner I open that door, the sooner there will be a sword stuck in my gut!”

  “Then tell me, what else can we do? You are the leader after all.”

  This time I scowled at her full on, but remained silent, trying to think of a suitable answer to solve this and possibly keep myself alive…

  “Justin!” I called. Justin’s eyes widened. “What?”

  Without hesitation, I moved in behind him and started pushing him up the stairs, against his will. As I did, I explained, “Okay, ask commander Rowan if you may see Terrowin. The soon as you can, give us a signal and get him out of there.”

  “You can’t expect me to-”

  “Just stay calm and improvise!”

  By now Justin’s anxiety and panic was an overwhelming factor.

  “Master?!”

  I came to a stop and rested my hand on his shoulder.

  “Come on, Justin. Show me some courage and make me proud!”

  I kept my tone gentle and comforting. There was no use in scaring him off. Or, well, not even more than I already had.

  “But where will you be?”

  Smart question, but I already had that one figured out. I swung around to face the rest of my comrades, yelling, “EVERYONE! Get in that alleyway and behind the dumpsters! NOW!”

  Almost at an instant I dashed towards the alleyway, the rest of my companions following me from behind. We did it so swiftly that Justin couldn’t even get the chance to back down and run away. He reached out to us, calling, “Wait, no-” Too bad we were already long gone. All he could see now were four pairs of eager eyes staring at him from the darkness of the shadows, tiger included.

  There was no turning back or chickening out this time. He scraped all his valour together, took a deep breath and knocked.

  One of the large doors gradually opened and revealed commander Rowan Belanos himself to be standing at the door. He looked puzzled as he stared at poor, nervous Justin. I swear I could even see him trembling all the way from over here.

  The commander waited for Justin to say something, but he received little more than nothing. That was when he took it upon himself to make himself known with the situation.

  “Yes?”

  Justin quickly snapped out of his daze and came to.

  “Oh! Uh… good morrow… sir, but might I please… request to see your son, T-Terrowin?” I gave myself a frustrated headpalm. Who was Justin trying to be? A noble from Messidaia?!

  Rowan looked somewhat bewildered.

  “You’re a strange fellow, aren’t you?” Justin remained silent, but went for an innocent smile, but it was clear that he couldn’t shake his angsts.

  “But I can see you have respect. Who are you to see my son?” Luckily for Justin, there weren’t any judgments, but I feared for what he had to think of next...

  “Uh…” Justin’s gaze was unstable as it jumped from one object to another until his mind settled on the fact that he was carrying a bow and some arrows.

  “I am… uhm… I… train young men in the ways of archery. Perfect for hunting and self-defence.”

  Not bad. Rowan seemed to buy it.

  “That answe
rs my question to what an elf is doing in these parts. But what has this got to do with my son?”

  Justin’s confidence began to shine as he gave a bright and undaunted smile.

  “We need your son for target practice!”

  The answer came as abrupt as shattering glass. My mouth literally hung open. I gave myself another forceful headpalm, apprehensively peering through my fingers. Even the commander was taken aback, absolutely incensed with a touch of epic shock.

  Sure! Tell a commander you need to use his son as a live target! It’s not as if he’s going to mind.

  Without another word, Rowan slammed the door shut, but Justin tried to cover for his terrible mistake, grasping the door, trying to keep it open as he fought back against Rowan’s strength.

  “No, wait! That came out wrong! I have been hired to teach Terrowin the ways of using a bow and arrow!”

  Rowan looked as though he might still listen to reason and slightly let go of the door. “Who sent you?!”

  Justin returned a grin.

  “Why, twas sir Thomason of course. He wants to be sure that Terrowin is well protected whenever he may encounter a wolf or… uh… a bandit or… um… a bear and-”

  The commander’s expression suddenly turned grim, looking as though terrible memories were provoked in him once again.

  “Bear?” He gave a miserable sigh as he admitted, “Very well, but Terrowin isn’t here currently. Try searching for him at the market square.”

  What was that all about? No matter. Justin seemed to have come across the right word at the right time. The commander’s mind was completely changed. Anyways, point is: we now had our destination, though I wished he could’ve told Justin sooner. It would’ve saved us a lot of time.

  At least we didn’t have to break in anymore.

  “Thank you, sir!” Justin thanked and took his leave, approaching my little gang the soon as we came out of hiding.

  “Market square,” he stated, but never saw my hand heading his way. Yes, I hit him through the face.

  “Ow!”

  I instinctively bared my teeth.

  “What were you thinking?!”

  Almost instantly my expression turned to joy as I threw him a loving punch to the shoulder.

  “And yet again, nice job!”

  I left him and took the lead to the market square.

  “I… uh… err… okay?” Trust me, I was enough to confuse absolutely anyone. Luckily, Justin knew better than to ponder in the thought for too long and followed us soon enough.

  CHAPTER 11

  REACQUAINTED

  CARLAYLIN

  BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU that Yoldrig might have provoked the wrath of the dragon lords. The more he tortured poor souls with his singing, the more dark clouds started brewing over Hayley. To me it was no laughing matter. I could already hear the thunder rumbling in the far and see lighting strike the sky every now and then. If it could only strike Yoldrig for a change…

  The market square seemed slightly less than occupied. Citizens were starting to return home as soft drops of rain began to fall, even though it was still pretty much the middle of day. Ah, I’ve always adored the smell of wet earth.

  As we passed through, I couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

  “We have to take shelter before the rain gets worse,” Nemtris warned. All gazes were now fixated on me. I couldn’t help but sigh. Even though my mind was fixed on finding Terrowin, I guess we didn’t have much of a choice.

  Besides, I didn’t think Terrowin might have been around anymore. I mean it was raining after all. Only Tarauntis would know why he might still be wandering these parts.

  It was quite disheartening, really. Felt like we were at a loss for hope.

  “I guess you’re right. We’ve wasted enough time standing here. Come on.”

  As reluctant as I was to go, I took the lead and the gang followed me from behind. Our walking soon turned into a slight dash the soon as the skies grew even darker and more rain started pouring down on us. We made a retreat to the sidewalks in hope that the canopies might aid us. I was planning to search for some shelter further on, but as we passed a tavern, I froze dead in my tracks.

  Leaning closer to the window, I peered in with eyes consumed with curiosity. I took a closer glance at the figure that caught my attention in the first place. My heart skipped a beat.

  No, it couldn’t be… oh, but it was! It was Terrowin, seeking refuge from the storm inside this old tavern until the rain would clear up.

  My heart skipped a beat of unexplainable joy. He sat at one of the tables, playing with a green glass bottle as he rested his head on the palm of his hand. He took a sip so now and then, but looked quite grim. His surroundings didn’t seem to bother him though.

  Of course Nemtris and the others were quite impatient, their intensions set on getting themselves out of this storm. Naturally, there was this ‘no pets allowed’ policy and stepping in with these guys would attract more than enough attention…

  “Stop staring into the tavern! We can get a drink later, but we have to go!” ordered Nemtris with the anxiety of getting even more soaked than she already was.

  We had to yell over the storm.

  “Wait, wait! That’s Terrowin! We found him!” I called excitedly, pointing at the distracted figure sitting inside the ‘Lucky Lady’. Her eyes followed to where I was pointing at.

  “Good for you, but if you haven’t noticed, we haven’t got time for this! We can come back later!”

  “No! I can’t let this chance go! I just can’t. You take the lead and find shelter for the rest. I will meet up with you soon.”

  “You’re entrusting these idiots to me?”

  “I know. It’s a terrible mistake, but I have to do this. Now go!”

  “Hope for the best, Carlaylin!”

  With that, she gestured the others to follow. They soon disappeared from my line of sight. Yet, even though they weren’t around to attract any unwanted attention, I was still worried. If Nemtris doubted herself, then you should know it could lead to nothing but chaos. I was going to have to make this quick…

  Only by entering the tavern could one truly recall the barbaric behaviours of man, but I have to admit that Hayley’s local tavern was much more civilized than any I had ever seen before.

  I looked at Terrowin. I had been searching for four months, five maybe, and now I had finally found him, but for some reason I felt nervous. It felt as though I wasn’t ready to see him again and that I would back down at any moment now, but I mustered together all the courage I could find within myself and went for it.

  Hesitantly, I made my way to Terrowin, but as I approached, I was actually getting more and more excited. Before I knew it, I flopped down on the chair on the opposite end of the table, almost instantly attracting his attention. I have to admit, the moment I saw him face to face, my heart skipped yet another beat, causing my smile to fade as soon as it came.

  Somehow this wasn’t the guy I used to know. His hair had turned a great deal darker and his skin was as pale as ever. He almost looked like a ghost of his former self. Not to mention that little beard of his and his dramatic weight loss. If this was the curse’s doing alone, I could only imagine the power it truly withheld.

  “Terrowin?” I asked in a soft and steady tone, remaining cautious. Terrowin, on the other hand, looked as though he had seen a ghost himself and he must’ve been slightly gaping for longer than he realized.

  After a moment of shock his eyes widened as he gave a great toothy smile of disbelief and pure joy. I could hear a single chuckle escaping his lips.

  “Carlaylin?”

  I sat back in the chair and regained my grin. I tried hard to mortify a giggle.

  “The one and only, but is it still you?”

  There was a blissful moment of silence before he finally replied with, “No one else.”

  My gaze dropped to the single bottle of wine, giving a single nonchalant huff.

  “Since when
did you start drinking?”

  Terrowin knitted his eyebrows as his gaze met the bottle, half full. It was clear that that one ecstatic moment had faded away, now a tentative and awkward conversation.

  “Well…” Terrowin gave a shrug alongside a miserable sigh, not daring to meet my eyes. He was hoping not to finish the sentence.

  “I thought Thomason had killed you. I thought you were dead all this time.”

  I shook my head.

  “You missed the funeral,” I said with a slight chuckle, “They don’t call me diehard for nothing, but Murray…”

  I didn’t have to finish the sentence for him to understand. The grief hit him like a sucker punch. His eyes were widened and he was completely dumbstruck. Closing his eyes he dropped his head.

  “Bastard,” he whispered. He took a deep breath and slightly raised his gaze to the bottle of wine. For some reason he found it hard to face me.

  Terrowin’s eyes were red as despair consumed his mind, but there was not a single sign of a tear. None. Yet, it sure looked as though he had swallowed a marble. I knew that feeling well.

  “Look, Terrowin…” I found it hard to speak to him. I pitied him, really I did. After all, he had known Murray as his master for far longer than I ever did.

  “I’m supposed to be really angry at you right now and I have tons of questions, but I want to cut to the chase. I need you to come with me. I am on the verge of collecting dragon fires for the Star of Hallos so that we can destroy Thorodan’s soul once and for all before he can be resurrected. I’ll have Ulric explain the details to you.”

  For a second there Terrowin looked rather puzzled. He knew Ulric from his childhood stories, but having me mention him like this really caught him by surprise.

  Nevertheless, I continued, “but all I need now is for you to come with me.” Terrowin looked at the bottle once again, looking rather indecisive. I slightly leaned in closer with pleading eyes, whispering, “Please.”

  “Of course I will, but my father-”

  He paused, absentmindedly starting to grit his teeth. Without warning he waved his hand and sent the bottle crashing to the floor, breaking into a million glass shards. He was furious and it was clearly intentional. My eyes were widened as I exchanged glances between Terrowin and the bottle, my heart having nearly leapt out its cage.