The Unexpected Prince

by Teresa Grant

  “If you want it destroyed, do it yourself!” Mollywog demanded, and practically threw the baby into Silina’s arms.

  She caught him in one huge claw but held him at arm’s length as they studied one another. He was almost growing right before her eyes. Already he no longer resembled a newborn. Silina could see he would have a powerful chin like Rylan’s, but the rest of his features, his nose and cheekbones were all Elise’s.

  Elise… she was right, the baby was hers… but Silina was right too, there was a bit of all of them in this child. Though she could never see him flying, he definitely had Dragon’s blood in his veins. He did not like being held the way she had him, and as he started to squall again, he worked himself up and started to radiate heat. That was the final clincher, Silina hugged him to her and purred, proud of her little fireball.

  Mollywog continued walking. She knew they needed time to bond. She was headed towards the little nanny goat she kept penned near the cottage when Silina called to her from behind.

  “Wog, wait! Take him, I need to hunt! He’s hungry!”

  “If ya’d just be patient, I have warm water. We’ll clean em up and then give em some nice fresh goat’s milk,” Mollywog assured her.

  Silina eyed the goat. “Yes, a warm bath is exactly what he needs,” she answered mischievously.

  Mollywog left the two alone together and went to the kitchen to fill a pail of warm water and get fresh rags. Thinking they needed space, she took her time about it. She found another clean bucket she planned to milk the goat with, and a little bottle she had which she used to feed orphaned animals that wandered into her care.

  As she returned to Silina, she was angry at first, and then disgusted, as she saw that the Dragon had helped herself to the goat.

  “Now what are we to feed the babe!” Mollywog berated her. But then she saw the baby. “Ya can’t feed a newborn raw meat! What were ya thinkin?!”

  “I wasn’t,” Silina growled, offended that this Wog would think to criticize her parenting skills. “I am his mother! I fed him! I just became so ravenous while he fed that the goat was gone before I could stop myself. A bit of the blood must have dripped onto him.”

  “I’ll replace her tomorrow,” Silina added, a little more contrite. “Let’s clean him up like you suggested. His hide is tough but does not wipe off as easily as scales.”

  As the evening drew on, the baby slept contentedly wrapped in a blanket between the Dragon’s front paws. When Mollywog suggested the child might be warmer in the hut with her, Silina cranked up her inner heat until Mollywog felt like she was sitting beside a cozy fire. She bid Silina goodnight and returned to her ramshackle cottage, envying the baby who was most assuredly going to spend the night warmer than she was. As she entered the hut, a thought struck her. She hobbled over to her stove. With heavy rags and a bar, she pried up a flat stone beneath it, and removed a bundle wrapped in oilcloth.

  “Hmm, so now I begin to see the pieces of the puzzle,” she mused, as she fingered the sword she had purchased. “A child such as this will need a strong hand to guide it, and a warrior to teach it how to handle this sword.”

  In the morning Silina felt wonderful. During the night she came to terms with her strange new child. When Mollywog came to wish her ‘top of the morning,’ Silina explained about the baby’s rather unique parentage. They discussed plans to leave the babe in her care in a day or so, while Silina flew back to spread the joyous news.

  She knew she had some explaining to do at home and wanted everyone to understand and calm down before she introduced them to the new member of the families. Silina was feeling strong. She fed the baby. The ‘baby’ needed a name, but Silina felt all four of them should have a say in it and left it to deal with upon her return.

  The day of Silina’s planned departure, Mollywog woke early and walked into town. She soon returned leading a mature nanny goat and carrying items she thought might be useful in babysitting her special little charge. After breakfast, Silina hugged the baby goodbye, assuring him she would return in a few days with the rest of his parents. She wanted to take him with her but knew it would be safer this way. With a grin, she imagined breaking the news to Darion’s father. What would he think of his strange little grandson? She might even send for that fool Luther. Uncle Luther. This baby would be brought up surrounded by many who would love and spoil him. She vowed then and there to help Elise in any way she could, to get the chance to hold her son in her very own arms.

  Yet again, the fates were ready to throw another cruel twist into the lives of Silina, Darion, Rylan and Elise.

  Chapter 13

  Silina soared high not caring anymore if anyone saw her. Her mind filled with everything she would tell each one of her family. Her heart ached when she thought of Darion, and what she must have put him through. Well, she would soon make it all up to him. She’d make it up to all of them, tenfold. So lost in thought was she, that a shriek was startled out of her when Mickael and Dryfus flew up alongside. Five other Dragons were with them moving into positions around her.

  “Greetings sister,” Dryfus called when she looked at him questioningly, “Where have you been?”

  Although he tried to keep his voice in check, she could hear the tension in it. She was also a little alarmed as she noticed that the escorts were situated as to cut off any escape. They must think she was still in hiding, and they had caught the runaway.

  “I’m on my way home Dryfus, Mickael. I have so much to tell you both, but I must speak with the others first. Call off your guards. I promise I’m headed straight home. Nothing could stop me from returning now!” she called, grinning from ear to ear.

  The look on Mickael’s face told her that he was thinking otherwise.

  “Come with us Silina, we’ll go back to Arilonia first and then fly there together,” Mickael urged her.

  “No, I’ve already been gone far too long! You don’t understand! I have urgent news, wonderfully exciting, urgent news! Darion will have your scales if he finds out you’ve detained me!” she threatened.

  Mickael knew that Rylan and Darion would both have their scales, but that was only if they let her get away again.

  Silina’s voice was starting to rise. What were they playing at? Sure, she had run off. There were probably search parties everywhere, but she was returning now. As if she would have let them fly right up to her if she were still intent on fleeing. All she could think of was telling Darion about his son. She searched in every direction and found herself completely blocked in. She did not want to hurt anyone, but heaven help anyone who stood in her way now.

  She was a mother on a mission!

  She let out a horrific screech and was about to plummet through the lower guard when Mickael yelled at her urgently, “Silina wait, you can’t go home!” Dryfus cut in quickly, “We’re on patrol. The day you went missing demons invaded Neglavale. Darion risked a lot to come here to warn us to be on the lookout for you, but he had to return immediately to defend the castle. He was frantic with worry about you. He didn’t know if the demons had you or where you had run off to. You can’t go back there alone. It’s too dangerous!” Mickael quickly added consolingly, “We’re amassing the army and heading out tomorrow morning. Surely you can wait until then. Luther has sent word that he’ll be here tonight with a large group of mercenary friends and others are pouring in daily.”

  Dryfus could not stand it anymore and demanded, “Silina, where have you been?”

  Silina was too dumb struck to respond at once. They must surely be cursed that they all could not enjoy peace for even a short length of time. Just then a horrible thought came to her. What if Darion were hurt? What if he was killed and she wasn’t even there? He didn’t know he had a son.

  She snapped!

  Closing her wings, she plummeted into the bottom guard like a cannonball knocking him spinning out of control. She was snorting fire and obviously out of control before any of the others could catch up to her. Mickael realized there was no stoppi
ng her now and called back the chase. Bad enough to lose men in the fight tomorrow, he didn’t want to start off with casualties today; Silina would not be brought back without inflicting many.

  Soaring through the sky, Silina was becoming exhausted but could not stop. She knew she should rest on one of the many small islands but could not bring herself to waste even a moment.

  How could she have been so selfish? If anything happened to her family while she was away, she would never forgive herself. At least the baby would be safe where he was. She couldn’t wait to show him to everyone else. As soon as this latest trouble was taken care of, they would all fly back to Mollywog’s together and get him. She wondered if he even knew she was gone. He was probably dreaming his little baby dreams right now and cooing like an angel.

  Silina could see Neglavale coming into sight. Dragons have extremely keen eyesight and therefore she didn’t worry that she might be discovered by the unknown enemy before she spotted anything herself. The water below her turned from a beautiful blue to a sludgy looking brown. If it weren’t for the unnatural ripples in it, she would have thought the ocean had died.

  Soaring higher and higher Silina thought it best to approach from above, far above. She did not know who or what held her home under siege, but she would be safer if she could stay high enough above it all. She kept to the clouds, and although it made for poor visibility it was excellent cover. It was too quiet though. If there truly was a war going on down below, she should be able to hear something of it.

  Just when she decided to drop lower and take a peek, she did hear a sound, only it wasn’t the sound of battle. All around her she could hear a clicking. It was becoming louder and louder. The sound sent shivers down her spine as she frantically searched the clouds for the source. Her instincts told her to flee and she was not about to argue.

  Dropping below the clouds, she still could not see any danger, but the sound was coming closer and closer.

  Suddenly she saw them!

  Winged demons. They reminded her of little millipedes, only these were as big as a man’s leg with six large mesh looking wings like a Dragonfly’s. Three pairs, one at the head, one at the middle and another holding up the rear. The clicking noise was coming from their legs, millions of them, sharp quill-like appendages that bent in the middle and constantly moved in waves along their bodies, tapping against their armor-like shells.

  Silina roared, spewing fire with all her might as she barrel-rolled through the air trying to keep them from touching her. Though countless of them caught flame, many more replaced them. As Silina paused to draw breath they were upon her. They attached themselves to her body and were wrapping themselves around her, drumming their pointy legs against her scales. Luckily, her scales were near impenetrable. The ones attempting to crawl up to her face still had to contend with her razor-sharp teeth that crushed their bodies like peanuts as she spit out the shells.

  Unfortunately, a Dragon’s wings are a little more vulnerable to sharp objects. Between the weight of them converging on her wings and some of them getting their pointy little legs to puncture the wide membrane between her wing bones, Silina was starting to go down.

  Below, Sedric took in the show with glee. He no longer referred to himself as Lord Slater, because to him, that person had died in Garr’s Scale. His demon form was a hideous caricature of his former self.

  Escaping the mountain with his minions had not been easy with those militant Dwarves swarming all around, but he had done it. He wanted to take over Garr’s Scale then and there, but the lousy Dwarves proved harder to kill than they looked. He ended up having to fight his way out before they could overwhelm him. He had lost most of his followers during the past year but there were still enough left for this little venture. It had taken time to hatch these little pets and get new recruits. He had been sending in probs to see if he could get back to The Scale but they were always demolished. Now, he was revisiting plan A. With the Dragons under his control, he could easily take back Garr’s Scale, and from there, with an endless supply of followers at hand, he would cover the world in darkness. He was much stronger in this new form.

  This world owed him. It owed him the life he had sacrificed. He’d damn well make sure this one made up for it. It just kept getting better and better too. Both Rylan and Darion were pinned down in their own castle. He hadn’t spotted Elise yet, but that was only a matter of time. He last saw her in the bowels of The Scale and knew she thought she had seen the very last of him. He could not wait to show her how wrong she was.

  And now, to top everything off nicely, he had the Dragon Prince’s mate plummeting to the earth in front of him. She had made it to the very end of their last encounter, it was only fitting she should be the one to begin the line of casualties this time. She would make an excellent hostage. Much easier than this siege that was taking forever.

  “Catch her you fools! Break her fall before she breaks her neck! I need her alive!” he screamed.

  Immediately other winged monstrosities leapt into the air to grab onto the plummeting Dragon. Even combined with all the demons embedded into Silina’s wings trying to help, the most they could do was slow her deadly decent. Crashing to the ground, Silina was knocked senseless and was instantly tied and gagged before she could come to and put up any fight.

  Silina came sluggishly around to the feeling that her wings were on fire. She twisted her head to investigate and realized the rest of her had been bound. Her poor wings did not need it. Slowly flexing the damage, they opened to reveal great rends and jagged tears where the needle-sharp legs of the millipede demons had done their dirty work. It was no consolation to think that if she wasn’t covered in scales, the rest of her would look as shredded as her once beautiful wings.

  Swimming up through the pain, she slowly became aware of her surroundings; Silina could hear the snickers and catcalls of the demons as they watched from a safe distance until they could be sure that her bonds would hold her. After fighting the Dragons of Neglavale for the past few days, they had learned to be careful. Among the hundreds of millipedes milling about, were other larger demons. Beings that frightened her more, for she could see the gleam of insanity in their eyes as they watched and waited.

  Folding her wings in tight against the pain, Silina noticed there was one particularly ugly demon that did not seem to fear her at all. The large fiend stood two feet in front of her as she tried to lash out at it. It looked familiar, but she could not quiet place it until it spoke.

  “Tch Tch Tch, pity about the wings. What a waste. I would have enjoyed the pleasure of seeing Rylan’s face when I dove in mounted on his faithful steed. Ah well, waste not want not I always say. Never fear, I’ll find other uses for those pretty scales.”

  “Slater!” Silina growled. “How did you survive!” she spat. Had his obsession with the Dragons reached beyond the grave to bring him back again, she wondered?

  “Sleep Dragon,” Sedric breathed, and blew a rancid brown smoke into Silina’s face, plunging her into darkness, and away from this waking nightmare.

  Her last thoughts before her mind went black were of the baby. How would any of her family ever find him now?

  Chapter 14

  Every morning Mollywog awoke to another surprise. The child seemed to age a year each night. Silina had been gone but three days and this morning she was greeted with an accusing, “Mama!”

  “I aint’ your bleedin’ Mama little tyke, I’m Mollywog… hmmmm… if ya must, ya can call me Grandmama if ya like, ain’t never been one of them before, think I earned the title though.”

  “Mama Molly!” he yelled again.

  “No! No Mama! Only Molly, ya daft child.”

  The child yelled triumphantly, “Noni Molly!”

  “Close enough!” Mollywog cried exasperated.

  How could this child be talking already? This was very strange indeed. She heard somewhere how great wizards could accelerate their age at amazing rates in order to reach acceptable maturity levels, b
ut this was impossible. Who knew what she would awake to tomorrow? How much magic did this child possess?

  Maybe it was time to bring that warrior forward after all. “I’m too old for this nonsense little one, but I’ve a feelin’ ya won’t be able ta push around an acquaintance a mine. We’ll give yer mother a day or two more ta come an’ deal with ya. Otherwise, I’ve a feelin’ ye’re gonna need a strong hand ta hold ya in check.”

  Five more days passed, and the child was as large as an eight-year-old.

  As the boy grew, he drastically changed into a more average looking boy. In fact, he was a little too average. He no longer possessed any defining characteristics. He could pass for anyone’s child. It was as though he wished to have little notice taken of him at all… except when he spoke. The questions were endless.

  “Questions, questions, questions, will ya give an ol’ lady no peace at all? Can ya open that maw a yours for anythin’ else than ta ask questions and gobble food? I’ve had enough child! Today I’m introducin’ ya to yer new guardian. Your mama’s takin’ her own good time in comin’ back and until she does, I think a man is what ya need to be showin’ ya important stuff. Ye’ll be a Prince one day ya know? It won’t do for ya to be hangin’ about with old ladies.”

  Mollywog tried to explain to the boy a bit about the man who would be looking after him for a while. She told him how he once was his grandmother Natalia’s, and then his mother Elise’s, champion. He was a big Dwarf who was renowned for his fearlessness, and that if he listened closely and with respect, he would learn how to be a true leader. She also told him all she knew of his parentage. Everything Silina told her before she had left.

  When the time came to change, it was with mixed emotions that Mollywog gave over and brought Branadon forth. He would now live out the time she extracted from him so many years before, as payment for helping with the birth of Elise.