Seconds later all but three of the Goblins disappeared into thin air. “Well done, Julianna,” said Krikor, looking impressed. “Usually people run when I do that to them. I see I’m going to have to come up with something better for you.”
My father, clearly annoyed at being shown as weak, strode over to the aged Goblin and picked him up by the scruff of his neck. The three remaining Goblins, one of whom was still on the floor after being hurled there, made the decision not to fight him.
He brought Krikor up to eye level.
“Now look here, Goblin. Just because you know magic doesn’t mean you can get the better of me. We came here for answers and you are going to give them to us.”
Krikor nodded as best he could. My father put him down on the ground where he dusted himself off and gave my father an evil look.
“Please stop this arguing,” I said, jumping forward. Tensions were rising again and I was sick of it. “Your Highness, please tell us what we want to know. We’ve been to you before and you wouldn’t speak, but this has gone on long enough. Too many people are getting hurt.”
Krikor nodded his head and beckoned us to a room I recognized. I’d been here before. Krikor pulled a chair out for me at the large, round table and I sat. The rest of my party filed in, taking seats or standing along the walls when each seat filled. Krikor took the largest chair. I’d never seen him look so grumpy before but I couldn’t blame him. I guess it wasn’t every day he was outsmarted.
“This seat is reserved for the highest member of a party,” he said, indicating the only spare seat left. It was almost as large as his chair. Almost, but not quite. I could already see both my father and Spear eyeing it. Alpha didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. He’d already found a seat next to Morganna at the opposite end of the table.
As the two men both made a move for the seat, I saw a twinkle in Krikor’s eye. He’d purposely done this. He wanted the men to fight. He wanted to exploit their need to dominate. I sighed as they both reached the chair at the same time. As I expected, they began to argue loudly, each of them gripping one of the chair’s smooth wooden arms. Instead of trying to stop them arguing, I calmly stood from my own seat and slipped between them, lowering myself into the large chair. Ash, who’d been standing behind me, took the seat I’d just vacated.
“Gentlemen,” I said.
Krikor arched a brow in obvious amusement. Both my father and Spear stopped what they were doing and stared, dumbfounded. I was going to pay for this later, but I didn’t care. Anything was better than another fight. In the end, both of them had to stand.
“Krikor,” I began, “those swords you sold to the Slayers. They trap dragons.”
“I know they do. They were made that way. From the dawn of time, the Goblins have made weapons imbued with magic. The Slayer swords are no different. You already know this. Why are you here? We do not offer refunds.”
“I don’t want a refund.” My voice was a little too loud, echoing slightly off of the cavernous walls. “I want to know how to get the dragon souls out of the swords.”
Krikor regarded me, his eyes on my scarred arms. “You already know this, too. Those scars. I assume there are more of them?”
I nodded although I didn’t need to. I could feel him trying to read my mind.
“Blood is the way. A sacrifice of blood from an innocent. This is the only way to free the souls.”
“No!” I yelled, this time not caring that I was being loud. I had to wait a few seconds before my voice stopped echoing. “I’ve done enough. I’ve ripped my body to shreds to free the dragons but there are still many more. I don’t have the strength to free them all.”
“The answer is simple,” Krikor responded. “Find another innocent. Take their blood.”
I thought about all of the people in my village. I thought about the ones younger than me, the ones not yet old enough to own a sword.
“I can’t do that,” I replied. “I’m not hurting anyone else. You made these swords, you know the magic. I might not be able to read minds but I can see it in your face. You enjoy being superior to us. This is just a game to you, but it isn’t a game to me. I’m not prepared to let the children in my village shed a drop of blood.”
“But they already have shed blood,” answered Krikor slyly. “I can see it in your head. You and your dragon boyfriend attacked your village. You didn’t seem to mind innocent people being hurt then.”
“She was trying to stop me,” my father said, coming to my defense. “I’m the bad guy here, not her. Give her what she wants.”
“And what exactly is it you want, Julianna?”
I shifted under the weight of his glare. What did I want? I wanted all this to be over, for a start. “I want the remaining dragons freed. I want you or your people to use your magic and make them wake up without any more bloodshed.”
“The swords need a sacrifice. They were made that way and always have been. Your ancestors asked for it to be so. However, there might be something I can do for you.”
“What is it?” asked Ash, jumping into the conversation.
“You can pay me. One thousand gold pieces for every sword left.”
I inhaled deeply. That was more than each sword cost to buy in the first place. There was no way we’d ever find that much money. Anger radiated from my father with each passing second.
“That’s fine,” I heard a voice behind me. I turned to see Spear.
“There are still so many swords left,” I reminded him. “How will you be able to afford it?”
“He can’t afford it,” grinned Krikor. “I can see inside your mind. You don’t have that kind of money. None of you do.”
Spear walked round to him. “If you can see inside my mind so well, you’ll know I was about to make you a deal.”
“A deal that doesn’t interest me,” snapped back Krikor. “Now kindly leave. You’ve taken up enough of my time as it is.
“Come on, Krikor. Think about it. Isn’t it better to get the gold later than not at all?”
“What was the deal, Spear?” asked Morganna from the opposite side of the table.
But it wasn’t Spear who answered her. It was Krikor. “He was going to offer me an IOU. He actually thought I’d free all the dragons on a promise of gold.”
“We can pool our money,” argued Spear. “The Slayers, the dragons, the Wolvren...”
Alpha, who had been silent up until now, sat up in his chair. “We are not a part of this. We promised to help you because my beloved asked us to, but I’m not giving away the Wolvrens’ gold to save some dragons.”
An argument erupted around us, with Slayers, dragons and wolves bickering. Krikor grinned. He’d done this on purpose. He never wanted any gold, he wanted to see each group fight.
“Stop!” I yelled. Yet again, my voice reverberated off the walls. “Gold won’t save the dragons, will it? You’re lying to us.”
“No, of course it won’t. I already told you that only the blood of innocents will do it, but none of you seemed to believe me.”
I still didn’t believe him and now it wasn’t just my father that wanted to punch him. However, hurting him wasn’t going to help our cause any. There was another way to get the dragons out, I could feel it, but I also knew that Krikor wasn’t going to tell us. Maybe the thousand gold coins he asked for would loosen his tongue, but as none of us had that kind of money, it was pointless trying to come up with whatever he was hiding. I stood up from my chair.
“Fine. I’ll continue to do it myself.”
Ash looked like he was going to argue, but Krikor cut him off. “Good. You do that. It’s been working well for you so far. I can’t say those scars of yours diminish your beauty at all. Of course, it won’t do you much good in the long run.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him.
“Haven’t any of you noticed that there are more dragons missing than the Slayers have? That’s because we found that the swords we made for your ancestors were popular. Other people
wanted them too. We could get a lot of money for one sword, but a sword that trapped dragon souls? Oh, they sell for a whole lot more.”
My father moved toward him. “What exactly are you saying, Goblin?”
“If I tell you, you must promise never to come here as a group again. I never want to see dragons and Slayers and Wolvren come to my door as a pack. There is too much history between you all and I have no wish to be in the middle of your petty war.”
My father looked as though he was going to argue, but Spear jumped in. “Fine. We’ll never come to see you together again. I’m actually hoping we’ll never have cause to visit you at all. Now, will you tell us what you mean?”
The small Goblin eyed him curiously but didn’t answer. This infuriated my father who slammed his fist down on the round table, making us all jump.
“Speak, Goblin, or I’ll pull your ears right from your head.”
Krikor looked up at him. It was apparent he wasn’t used to being spoken to in such a surly manner and it was even more apparent he didn’t like it. “There’s another Slayer village on the other side of the mountain,” he sniffed. “They have Goblin-made swords, too.”
Chapter Four
“Now what?” asked my father as we were shown the exit to the Goblin cave. Krikor had unceremoniously thrown us out after my father decided to make good with his threat and try to pull his ears off. Krikor, being magic, managed to stop him just in time, but refused to talk to us at all after that. Not that I could blame him.
“We go to the other side of the mountain,” announced Spear. “What else can we do? We have to collect all the swords.”
My father sneered. “Actually, we don’t. I promised to help you collect all the swords from our village. I said nothing about scouring other villages. We don’t even know where this other village is or if it exists. Why should we believe the slimy toad, anyway?”
I pulled Ash toward my father and Spear. I had a feeling that all-out war was going to break out any minute between the two hot-headed leaders. I gave a silent thank you to Alpha, who, although rather hot-headed himself, chose not to engage with the sparring chiefs.
“We would know exactly where this village is if you hadn’t gotten us thrown out,” replied Spear angrily.
My father puffed out his chest. “It was a ridiculous idea in the first place, coming here. Everyone knows the Goblins are not to be trusted. It’s common knowledge.”
“There was nothing wrong with the plan,” replied Spear, drawing himself up to his full height. “It would have worked if someone hadn’t put his big foot in it.”
I could see my father beginning to boil over, his face bright red with anger.
“Dad,” I said, taking him by the arm. “I’m sure we can figure this out.” I pulled him to one side, getting him away from Spear.
“How about Nenno, Fox and I fly over the mountain, see if we spot the village?” asked Ash, coming to my rescue.
“That’s a great idea,” I agreed enthusiastically. I didn’t like the idea of venturing over the mountain without Ash, but something had to be done to stop the two chiefs warring with each other. My father eyed Ash suspiciously, but after pausing for thought, nodded his head.
Before us, the peak of the largest of the Triad Mountains loomed. The weather had cleared, leaving the snowy peak glistening in the sunshine. As Ash, Nenno, and Fox hid behind a rock to undress and change into their dragon forms, the rest of us plotted a route. Going to the very peak of the mountain would be impossible without proper climbing equipment, but there seemed to be some kind of trail, worn between rocks, around the edge of it.
“I’m not happy about this,” my father huffed to me as the rest of the group planned a route up to the trail we could see in the distance. “I agreed to come up here to atone for what the Slayers of our village did. For what I did. I didn’t pledge my allegiance to the dragons, nor did I agree to help them with further quests. Their problem with other Slayer villages is not a problem I share, and it shouldn’t be a problem you share. This has nothing to do with us.”
“Daddy,” I cajoled, using a name for him I’d not used since I was about six years old. “This is my problem. You know it is. There’s no one else that can free the dragons but me.”
“That’s another thing,” replied my father. “I came up here explicitly to find another way to free the dragons. I did it to save you any more suffering. All we’ve accomplished is finding more excuses for you to draw blood. I’m your father. My job is to protect you and if that boyfriend of yours had an ounce of decency, he’d not let you hurt yourself in the way you have been. Not that I expect anything else from the dragons.”
“Actually, Sir,” said Ash, coming up behind us and making us both jump. “I would do anything to stop Julianna from hurting herself. Just because I’m trying to find all the swords to free my ancestors doesn’t mean I’m not committed to finding a way to free them without Julianna’s help.”
Father and I both watched as he picked up the bag he’d left on the ground.
“I forgot it,” he said holding it up. “I need it to put my clothes in.” With that, he raced back around the rock.
A minute later, I retrieved the same pack along with two others filled with the dragons’ clothes. The three of them—a red dragon, a green dragon, and a sapphire blue dragon—soared majestically into the sky. Spear pointed toward the path we would be taking and Ash nodded before disappearing over the mountain’s peak.
My father stomped off ahead, leaving me walking up the mountain with no one to talk to. I noticed that yet again, the group was split into three distinct sets. The Slayers, led by my father, took the front, Spear led the rest of the dragons in the middle, and the Wolvren, along with Morganna, brought up the rear. I decided to wait and walk with them as I’d had enough trying to mediate the bickering between the other two groups.
“Your father is quite a character,” Morganna said with a wry smile. “I remember him from years ago. He was always a...”
“Blustering idiot?” I cut in.
Morganna laughed. “I wasn’t going to use those words exactly, but yes, it was always important to him that he get his own way.”
The path we were taking was extremely steep, and with loose rocks beneath our feet, it made the going rough. However, the crest of the hill wouldn’t take long to reach, and then it would be downhill all the way to the other village.
“What did you make of the Goblins?” I asked her, but it was Alpha that answered.
“The Goblins are not to be trusted. I agree with your father. The issue with the dragons is not ours, but we will keep going because it is Morganna’s will. As soon as Morganna no longer wishes to continue, she and my fellow Wolvren will head home. I see no need for us to be here.” Morganna kissed his cheek.
“You have been more than generous with your time and assistance,” I replied. “We would not have been able to do this without you.” It was true. The Wolvren were strong creatures and as so, they could carry more than the rest of us. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to bring the supplies we needed.
Morganna squeezed Alpha’s hand. “I have to admit, I was not expecting to be away from the Wolvren forest for so long. I have asked so much of you, my love, and yet you’ve been so supportive.” She kissed his cheek again and I could see his chest swelling. It was obvious to me why he was climbing this mountain and it had nothing to do with saving dragons. Alpha would follow Morganna to the moon and back, but would the other Wolvren? So far, they had not complained, but now that our mission had extended, how long could I realistically expect that to last?
I remained silent as we carried on up the hill. I ached right down to my bones; the hike was grueling as the path ahead grew steeper and steeper. The trail that Spear had seen from below was barely a trail at all, but more a patch of small rocks between the giant boulders.
Just before we made it to the crest, a red shape flew over the horizon.
“Ash!” I exclaimed as the flam
ing red dragon landed beside me.
He nodded his head and then moved it toward his back.
“You want me to get on?” I asked, trying to interpret his motions. He nodded.
I climbed on his back, glad to have an excuse to get away from everyone. I’d listened to enough bickering to last a lifetime. The Slayers, dragons, and Wolvren watched us as we flew overhead and disappeared over the ridge. I was not prepared for the view on the other side of the mountain. A verdant valley stretched on for miles, kept green by the clear river that cut through the mountains, winding as far as the eye could see. Flowers grew abundantly along the banks, creating a tapestry of color below. The source of the river came from the mountain we’d just climbed over in the form of a huge, gushing waterfall which could only be seen from the other side.
A sharp gasp escaped my lips as I took in the spectacular vista beneath us. It was a view so idyllic that it barely seemed real.
Ash fell into a swoop, and I held on tighter lest I fall off. My heart pounded with adrenaline at the speed of our flight. I let out a scream of joy, feeling free for the first time in days. With all the walking we’d been doing, I’d missed this—the freedom of the air. I could tell that Ash was also enjoying himself as he performed rolls in the air, veering right then left.
Up ahead, Nenno and Fox flew steadily, crisscrossing back and forth, looking for the village that Krikor spoke of.
“We should probably help look for the village,” I shouted, laughing at the same time. I glanced behind us to see my father and the others finally reaching the ridge. We’d already flown so far, they looked like tiny dots coming over the hill with the very top of the peak to their left.
The sun shone, glaring off the crystalline whiteness of the snow that still hugged the top of the mountain. Snow that covered the peak year-round. With the world below in disarray, I was glad to be up here in the fresh air, tasting freedom. I tore my eyes away from the stunning mountain range behind me to the beautiful valley below. I was up here to do a job, not to have fun. Despite the abundance of water, there was little sign of civilization down there. The grass below was wild, not hemmed in by small wooden fences. The only animals I spotted were a group of wild deer.
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