The Keeper of Dragons: The Prince Returns

by J. A. Culican

“My Prince, I have waited many years for your arrival. It is an honor to be placed with you.” She paused and twirled her almost black hair. “You arrived just last night, you must have many questions.” She turned back around and continued down the never ending hallway.

  “Can you show me how to open the doors and maybe how to find them?” I knew there were much more important questions I should ask, but I had begun to feel trapped.

  Mira stopped and looked at the wall, she hesitated a moment before she replied. “Of course, my Prince.” She placed her hands on the side of a fancy light. “Look here,” she pointed at some kind of small picture right under the light. “This is the royal insignia, they are hidden quite well. Once you get the hang of it though, you will see them everywhere. They symbolize an exit or entrance.” She pushed on the image and the wall shifted, opening up to another hallway. “Press down lightly on the insignia, ask your mahier for entrance, and the wall will open.”

  She had made it sound simple. Only problem was, I didn't know how to ask my mahier anything. I didn't want to explain my weakness to Mira, so I shook my head in acknowledgement and continued to walk behind her. I would practice later when I got back to my room alone.

  Finally, we turned and entered into a room with tall double doors. I looked around to see that we were in a great hall of sorts. The room was much larger than the council room and much more decorative. It also seemed more formal, large crystal chandeliers were suspended from a tall, gold leafed ceiling with pristine tapestries that covered each archway. On the far end of the room, a long line of people stood below three thrones. Rylan and Sila occupied the mounted space near the impressive gold and gem covered thrones. They seemed to be in a deep discussion with Allas. This, I felt, must be the throne room.

  Mira paused and looked at me. “Here we are, My Prince, is there anything else you need?”

  “I’m good now. Thanks Mira.” I watched as she bowed to me and walked away. I hesitated a moment before I began to walk towards Rylan and Sila. I kept to the outskirts of the room in hopes no one would notice me. I passed suits of armor, each one polished perfectly. Grasped in the hands of each knight was a different weapon from the last. As I reached closer to the thrones, I could hear murmurs reverberate around me. Not sure if no one expected me to join, or if they hadn’t known I’d arrived.

  Sila noticed me first. She walked over and held her hand out for me to grab. I glanced at her hand and wavered a moment, I wished it was my mom Ella’s hand, I wanted to go home. Finally, I reached out and clasped her hand, she pulled me towards the front of the room. “Good morning my son, what a pleasant surprise, I wasn't expecting to see you until after morning rounds?” She looked over her shoulder at me with what looked to be a genuine smile.

  I was distracted with the murmurs and stares that I almost forgot to respond to Sila. “I uh, didn't know where the council room was. Mira, she um told me you would be here.” I looked around the room and caught more than a few surprised looks at my presence.

  “I’m glad you found us. We just finished here. We will take the scenic route there so you can see Ochana during daylight.” She waved to the crowd that had formed near us in just the past moment, and guided me through another door behind the thrones. Rylan followed behind us with Allas.

  Rylan’s large hand fell on my shoulder, “Son, I hope you slept well. How did your morning go with Jericho?” I said nothing. Rylan continued. “I have been anticipating his report.”

  I had no idea what to say to him. Rylan sounded sure that my lesson with Jericho would be nothing but successful. He already sounded proud of me. Jericho had informed me that I failed. I couldn't tell Rylan that. I started to give an excuse for my failure when we were interrupted. Two men barreled towards us, they looked frantic. I was instantly on alert.

  “King Rylan.” Two Wolands who wore military uniforms appeared before us, they bowed before they continued. “We need you in the command center.”

  “We’ve had a breach!” Both Wolands looked at each other then back to Rylan, as they attempted to catch their breath.

  Before Rylan could respond, we were surrounded by guards, they shouted orders out to each other. They demanded we get to safety immediately. I had a guard on either side of me, they pulled me towards the castle. Rylan and Sila were being pulled in the opposite direction. What was going on?

  “Wait, I need to go with my parents…..hold up.” I tried to remove the guards from my arms, but my efforts were useless, they just held on tighter and moved faster.

  A loud whistle pierced the air, everyone went silent and turned to find Jericho. “Rylan, Sila you need to go to the bunker now, I will make contact when it’s secure.” He pushed a bag into Rylan’s arms and nodded, a serious look passed between them. “Prince, you will be escorted to a different bunker. We need to separate our two successors for the protection of Ochana.” He gave me a no-nonsense look and turned to my guards. “Stay with the Prince, do not leave his side for any reason. Then he turned to me and said in very concise words. “Trust these three. None others.”

  With those orders we were off.

  Chapter Eight

  We rushed towards the castle. As we were just about to reach the front, the guards pulled me to the right. It looked as though we were going to run right into the side of the mountain, I closed my eyes tight right before impact. The collision I had braced myself for never happened. Instead I found myself inside a cave at the foot of the mountain. I looked over my shoulder a little startled, just in time to see the mountainside close, and trap us inside.

  “This way My Prince, we must hurry.” One of the guards insisted as he pulled me along.

  We began to run. It felt like forever. After we turned a corner for the tenth time, I lost count. If I had to do it alone, there would be no way I’d find my way out of this cave. Not that I could even open the doors that opened and closed as we darted past them to some unknown destination. First thing I had to do when we got out of here was to figure out how to use my mahier, then I needed to find myself a map of Ochana.

  Finally, we stopped. I looked around and found myself in a small room, I assumed somewhere in the middle of the mountain by the amount of time we traveled to get here. I looked around. Two small chairs sat around a small square table while a cot was set up right alongside one of the rock walls. At the foot of the cot, I noticed a box that seemed to house some basic supplies. One of the guards pushed me towards the cot. I sat down and kicked my feet on the dirt floor.

  “I'll take the first shift.” The oldest of the three guards affirmed with the other two before he stepped out of the room. The door slammed shut behind him before either of the other two guards could respond.

  I looked over at the two Wolands that were left with my care. They watched me in silence. I instantly felt unnerved by the attention I received from the two. I broke eye contact with them and drifted my eyes around the room, but there was nothing to see.

  I looked back at the guards, “How long do you think we will have to stay here?”

  “Until it’s safe.” Guard number one responded.

  “Yeah, I know that. But how long does it normally take? I mean, I’m sure you guys have security breaches all the time.” Once Jericho gave the orders, the guards acted immediately, they all knew where to go and what they had to do. This was obviously something they were used to.

  “The last breach was almost ten years ago and it was a false alarm. You may as well get comfortable, My Prince. My guess is we will be here awhile. For security reasons, you will be the last one released.” The two guards looked at each other, then turned and faced the wall where the door was. They looked to be in serious guard mode, they stood ramrod straight, chins held high, with their hands behind their backs. I guess that was my cue, talk time was over.

  ***

  I counted the crevices in the rock ceiling above the cot around a hundred times. I wish I knew what was going on. My guards haven't said a single word to me since our earlier conversat
ion. The oldest guard returned a while ago and another guard took his place outside our room.

  Suddenly, a knock echoed through the room. The two remaining guards stood up even straighter and reached for the door. The wall slid open to an imposing figure. I couldn't see over the guards’ heads to see who was there. I assumed since no weapons were drawn and no dragons appeared our visitor was a friendly. The guards stepped to the side and Jericho moved forward. He was followed by my other guard.

  “We need to go, My Prince.” Jericho commanded. Before I could react, he was out of the room.

  I jumped off the cot and raced after him. No way was I letting him out of my sight. Jericho rushed through the caves, I had to speed up my usual pace double time just to keep up with him. He seemed more uptight than normal. His jaw was clamped shut and his eyes focused directly ahead. His normal glares towards me were surprisingly missing. I wondered what had happened. Had we really been breached? If so, by who?

  “Answers will be given in due time. We are meeting with the council now.” His steely eyes finally turned to me, I thought I saw relief there for just a slight second. “Second lesson, pay close attention to each and every person in the room, do not let your guard down for anyone. You and I will debrief afterwards with your thoughts.” With that he turned away from me and picked up his pace even faster.

  After some time, we arrived in front of the council room. As we entered through the iron doors, which were flanked by two new Woland soldiers, I noticed everyone was seated around the table. Huge screens that I had not seen when I was there last were placed in the middle of the table, others seemed to be placed flat on the elegant table. I couldn’t see what was on the screens, but everyone’s attention was focused on them. No one even noticed our arrival. It gave me a chance to take in the new faces that had joined us. It looked like two more Wolands and one Leslo.

  “Micah, Nico why are you away from command?” Jericho glowered at the two Wolands awaiting a response.

  “Sir, we have news. We knew you would want the information immediately.”

  “Why did you not call to me, Nico? Jericho’s temper was starting to show.

  “Sir we did, you did not respond.” Both Wolands looked at Jericho with caution.

  Jericho’s body stiffened. Only I could tell due to my proximity to him; no one else around would have any idea as his expression never altered. I looked back at the Wolands in anticipation, awaiting their news. They stayed silent.

  “Get on with it, we have much to discuss.” Jericho spat.

  The blond haired Woland, Nico cleared his throat, obviously affected by Jericho’s tone. “Sir, we know who the Woland was,” he paused and looked over at his partner, with a look of help. Jericho’s eyes followed his line of sight.

  “It was Cairo sir, he had a dramon girl with him….” Micah looked down before he finished his sentence. He looked uncomfortable.

  Rylan’s voiced boomed from across the room, “Impossible! No dramon can enter Ochana.” His fists pounded on the table.

  Nico bowed towards Rylan, “My King, our surveillance video caught his attempt at entering. The dramon girl was in a shift I have never seen before, she was flying on her own.”

  “How is that possible, dramons don’t possess mahier? Are you sure she was a dramon?” Rylan sounded unsure. His gaze settled on the council for answers.

  “Never in our history has a dramon been able to wield our mahier, they aren't strong enough.” Allas stated as she looked around the table as she shook her head in surprise.

  “Before we go any further, Micah, pull up the video, we need to determine if the girl was indeed a dramon.” Jericho strode across the room, placed his hands on the table and leaned over one of the monitors that was built into the table. He looked up at Micah, “Now!”

  Micah scrambled over to another monitor, his hands flew across the screen in search of the video in question. I wandered my way over to where Rylan and Sila stood, I placed myself on the right side of Sila and looked down at the screen in wait. Sila place her hand on my shoulder in a sign of comfort. Everyone stayed silent.

  The screens came to life after just a few moments. At first all I could see were the clouds that concealed Ochana. Out of the bottom right corner of the screen a huge red dragon, a Woland became visible. I heard Sila whisper the name “Cairo,” no one else made a noise as we all continued to watch. Cairo’s whole body became visible in the screen, just as a reddish orange dragon like creature flew in view behind him. The girl had scales that covered a human looking body, with large goldish red wings that flapped from her back, as she flew closer, her eyes glowed gold.

  My breath caught in my throat. I couldn’t believe it. I knew that girl. I looked around the room to see if anyone else had the same revelation as me. She looked so different from the last time I saw her not more than six weeks ago. My eyes were glued to the screen, I begged my eyes to see something different, someone different. Both Cairo and the girl’s heads suddenly looked up, they were regarding something over the camera, out of view. Quickly, both of them spun around and took off in the other direction. I continued to watch as what looked to be around twenty Wolands took chase after them.

  Everyone continued to stare at the screen, there was nothing left but clouds. I inhaled a deep breath and looked up. Jericho stood across from me, his eyes pinned me in place. He hastily shook his head at me and looked away. I was confused. Did he want me to stay quiet about what I saw? How would that even be possible with at least two dragons here who could read my mind?

  “Dramons can’t fly or shift. What was that?” Rylan looked around, “Have we made contact with Cairo?” No one answered.

  “Answer your King!” Jericho roared with a slam of his hands on the table.

  Micah’s eyes swung to Rylan’s, “We lost them, My King. We have been trying to call for him, he hasn’t answered yet.”

  “Get back to command, I will speak to you both later.” Jericho dismissed them without looking up from the screen.

  The wall slammed shut with their departure, shaking everyone awake from what they just witnessed. Everyone started to speak at once. I tried to keep up with the conversations around me, but it was impossible, my own mind raced with what I had just seen. I took a step back and observed everyone, just as Jericho had instructed me to do. Everyone seemed on edge except for Sila. She was still focused on the screen.

  Sila finally looked up from the screen. Her eyes scanned the faces around the table, everyone paused as her eyes hit them, she had the room’s full attention now. “Something feels wrong, Cairo is one of our most loyal Wolands. For him to bring that creature to Ochana, he’s either in trouble or she is important. We must find him, he must know we do not intend to harm him or the girl.”

  “Why would they run if they weren’t here to harm us?” Jules’ blue eyes looked worried as she addressed the table. “And the girl, she was no dragon, we should not concern ourselves with her well-being.”

  “Regardless, we need to talk to her either way, she was able to get to close to Ochana for us not to be concern by her. As for what she is, we don’t know if she is a dragon or not. We need to find them both, Jericho, make sure every available Woland understands the importance of finding Cairo and the girl, alive.” Sila punctuated the word alive, leaving no room for a misunderstanding.

  An unknown voice broke the trance between Sila and Jericho. “My Queen, King,” The new Leslo bowed to Rylan and Sila. “I am concerned with the wellbeing of Prince Colton. He has been in Ochana less than twenty-four hours and we have already had a breach. It could very well be unrelated, but we cannot be sure of it.”

  Every eye turned to me like I would have the answer to that. I tried with all my might not to think what was really going through my head. I mean I knew the mysterious girl, I’ve known her for what seemed like forever. It couldn’t be a coincidence even though I prayed it was.

  “Little brother, good point.” Rylan nodded towards, my uncle? “Jericho, step up securi
ty around the Prince. He is to never be alone. We must not underestimate Cairo and the girl. We need to find the two now.” Rylan looked towards the rest of the council. “As for the rest of you, we must proceed with inducting Prince Colton to Ochana. We will not let this breach discourage us, his training will continue as planned. I expect my son to be ready in four weeks to start with the new protectors.”

  That caught my attention, it had been brought to my attention a few times on the importance of being a protector and that I would be one. I was still unsure as to what I would be protecting however. An induction was news to me. Induction into what, I wondered. I needed time with Sila, mostly because she seemed the least threatening of my two parents. I had yet to have more than five minutes alone with either of my parents since we arrived, It was important I found time soon.

  “I agree My King,” Jericho looked to each council member. “We need to pick up our schedule with the Prince, each of us must work with him each day. As for security, I will bring our Prince with me to command and select two personal guards. It will be a good opportunity for the Prince to see our Wolands in action.”

  “Good, we will meet again tomorrow. I expect we will have news on Cairo by then.” Rylan’s words came out more as a threat than a command. “Also, I expect reports from each of you on your plans to train the Prince.”

  Rylan stood and walked to the door with Sila close behind. They left me with the council, and my apparent uncle. I looked to Jericho for direction. He stood and glared at my uncle, waiting for him to look his way.

  Jericho locked eyes with my uncle, “Prince Zane, a word.”

  He nodded and the two walked to the other side of the room. I was unable to hear what they talked about, but it seemed by the looks they gave to each other it was not a pleasant conversation. Both men were wound tight, they glared at each other as they spoke. Jericho broke from the conversation and walked towards me.

  “My Prince, let’s go.”