“No one will remember a thing tomorrow. The Wolands are not only trained to fight, but to protect all life. It is their job to ensure no human witnesses our dragonic trials. They would have made sure that no human saw anything and if they did, they would use their mahier to cast a spell over the humans, so they would forget.” He took the tablet from me. “Your parents are safe. The Carnites were not there for your human parents, they came for the two of you.”
I didn’t understand. “How would they even know we were going to be there?”
“It seems they know more than we thought. I-”
The Woland guards stormed through the council room doors and interrupted Jericho. It was clear they had arrived back safely. They trudged over to where Eva and I stood. They each lowered to one knee and bowed their heads to us. I looked around the room at the remaining dragons. My gaze stuck on Rylan, who had a proud look on his face. The guards then stood and moved to Rylan and Sila. They bowed their heads again and took their seats at the table.
“I will escort you both to your rooms. It’s best to get some sleep, tomorrow will be a big day.” Sila said to Eva and me.
I almost wanted to insist I stay and learn about the Carnites, but Sila was right. I was exhausted, and who knew what tomorrow would bring.
Chapter Twelve
Bannggg. Bannggg.
A loud knock at the door woke me abruptly. The only difference from the last time I awoke from an unexpected thud, was the absence of one red-eyed Woland. Mira quickly helped me get ready and five minutes later, we were out the door to pick up Eva and headed to the council room. By the time we entered the council room, it was completely packed and the air was filled with loud, deep discussion. I resumed my seat from last night, and attempted to catch up on the conversation.
“Disappeared? In the middle of the fight? Rylan roared at Jericho. How does that happen?”
“My King, they must be working with another being, one that can wield mahier, or another magical element. We know Carnites do not hold any magic.” He pondered for a moment. “It would explain their disappearance. They could have been planning this for the last ten years.” Jericho paused. “I’m concerned for how they knew the Prince and the girl were there. Do they know what they are?”
“You speak as you are sure that they are the Keeper of Dragons.” Allas questioned him.
“I’ve seen with my own eyes that they are. I’ve felt the energy that radiates off them. Prince Colton is the warrior who will save us, and this girl,” Jericho pointed to Eva, “is the golden dragon who will assist him on his journeys. I am convinced they are the Keeper of Dragons.” Jericho stated with confidence.
“If you’re right, then we are all in danger, dragons and humans alike.” Our existence is in a state of imbalance.” Allas wiped a puddle of perspiration from her forehead. I looked over to Rylan, who looked to be in a state of disbelief. “What you’re saying is, the time of fear is now.” Troubled by her own words, Allas peered around the table.
“We hadn’t seen movement from a single Carnite in years. For a while, I had thought they were extinct.” I could tell Rylan’s once assumption had now caused him a great deal of distress. “We must find out who is aiding them, before it’s too late.” Rylan began to study the room. His eyes met mine.
“Son, good to see you have arrived. As I am sure you’ve caught up by now, we lost the Carnites last night.” He paused and looked over at Jericho. “We are not sure where they went.” My heart sunk. I wasn’t sure what all this meant for Eva and I. “You will shadow Jericho until we know more. Do not go anywhere without your guards.” He turned to the Wolands, “Do not let him out of your sight.” He then positioned his eyes on Eva. “Today, you will meet our Keeper of the Book of Aprella. She will verify if you are indeed the dramon of Aprella’s prophecy.
Eva nodded. Instantly, Jules came forward and brushed Eva’s arm, gesturing her to follow. Eva looked back at me and grinned. “I’ll see you soon.”
Let’s hope. I wondered what would happen if she wasn’t the golden dragon. Surely they would let her stay, I mean she could fly, read minds, and a host of other magical talents. She had to be a dragon of some kind. I lifted my eyes and saw a sad smile spread on Sila’s face as she listened in to my internal dialogue. I turned away from her gaze and darted my eyes to the door Eva just exited, I wanted to run after her and get her to safety. A hand on my shoulder brought me back to the other people in the room. It was Rylan.
“You need to focus on your training. If you are the warrior from Aprella’s prophecy, the lives of every dragon and human are on your shoulders, son.” Rylan squeezed my shoulder one last time before he turned his focus on the remaining council. “You all have jobs to do, get to them. And stay alert.”
Rylan turned to depart the council room. Sila followed, but stopped to get one last glimpse of me over her shoulder before disappearing down the tunnel. In desperation, I sent a prayer up. As scared as I was about being this grand warrior of all of Ochana, which the entire world depended on, I was more scared of losing Eva.
“Let’s go.” Jericho commanded, clearly displeased with my train of thought.
I nodded and followed after him, but my mind still raced. What would happen now? How was I supposed to protect everyone? As we strode through Ochana, I looked around at the other dragons, mostly Siens, who had no idea they were in any danger. The dragons laughed and chatted like it was any old day, and any old time, not one fear. They continued on with their usual activities; setting up and running their open-aired market stands, puffing out large flames of fire with their mouths so they could cook meals for each other, flying low in pods as they soaked up the glory and beauty of Ochana. And each of these dragon’s lives were in my hands. I needed to get my head on straight.
“Finally.” Jericho stated.
It was only one word, but enough to blaze a fire inside me. If this were all true, I had to find strength. I needed to train. I needed to know what I was up against. I turned to Jericho as we walked through town. “What other creatures can wield mahier?
“Only dragons. But there are other creatures that wield different forms of energy. Depending on the creature, each have their own names, but in human terms, I guess you would call it magic.” He shook his head in nausea, as if he detested human words for dragonic considerations.
“These creatures, what are they?”
“We need to focus on the others that would help the Carnites. There aren’t many, Carnites on their own are easily defeated, and not easy to form an alliance with. But two creatures come to mind, farro and elden. We need to make contact with them. Get a sense for what they’re worth-”
We arrived at command, which interjected Jericho’s vocal declarations. I thought about the farro and elden. I had never heard of them, ever. I concocted all sorts of images for what they could look like, maybe large brown beasts with razor sharp teeth and monster claws, the kind of evil creature that would haunt a small child’s nightmares and make them too frightened to rest their head on a pillow ever again.
At least we knew where to look for these magical imps, but what would happen when we found them?
We entered the glass building right on the edge of Ochana, It was much busier than the last time I was here. Wolands rushed back and forth, mumbling in different levels of pitch, working busy at their tasks, and completely ignoring Jericho and I. We walked straight to Jericho’s office. I took a seat in front of his large desk as he pulled a tablet from his side drawer and perused its contents. His eyes widened.
Crack!
Jericho slammed the tablet on his desk so hard it completely shattered from a glowed screen to black bits and pieces. Immediately, Jericho and I looked up as we could we feel someone lurk. Garrik stood in the doorway.
“The farro? Are you sure?” He pierced through Garrik with one of his terrifying looks.
“Looks that way, we’ve been tracking an increased movement from the Grove. No sign of the Carnites, but you know how tri
cky the farro are.” Garrik paused to look at me. “Should we attempt contact?”
Jericho began to pace around his office. I focused my attention on him with the hopeful notion that maybe just maybe I could read his mind. There must be more to it than just focus, though maybe not, and it came back to me that I still couldn’t open doors, my mahier seemed slow, almost impaired. So far, all I could do was shift into my dragon, and fly. I began to laugh at myself, all I could do.
“Do you find this amusing?” Jericho stopped his pacing and sneered at me. “The farros are involved. Those tricky little beasts are too smart for their own good. I’d bet my life they know exactly who you are. Somehow they are two steps ahead of us.” He continued to pace. “Two steps ahead,” he mouthed to himself, though loud enough for Garrik and I to hear, and ponder for ourselves.
“How? We didn’t even know?” Garrik stared at me, brows furrowed in thought.
“We’ve missed something. We’ve missed a lot of somethings.”
Jericho slammed his hands against one of the glass walls of his office. Like his tablet, I was shocked they didn’t shatter. Within an instant, smoke started to billow out from behind his ears and shoulders as he shook in anger. I jumped out of my seat and began to say something, but the words left me.
I stood against the opposite wall in complete astonishment. His eyes glowed as he took in my expression, then he stormed out of his office and into the glass building’s main entrance. In a flinch, he shifted into his dragon and took off.
“I haven’t seen that in many years.” Garrik remarked. “Jericho has been in control for a long time, but your arrival has changed all that.” He turned and looked out the glass wall, watching as Jericho soared through the clouds. A line of smoke trailed behind his path.
“How many years?” I was barely able to pay attention to Garrik, I was too focused on Jericho. When I was met with silence, I looked over at Garrik, who continued to follow Jericho’s enraged movements in the sky.
He sighed, “I’d say close to two hundred years.”
Was he kidding?
“I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the night councilman Jago died. Jericho was extremely close with him, it came to no surprise when the council voted Jericho in as his successor.” A look of sorrow crossed his face. “It’s one of the reason Jericho is so serious, he vowed to never let something like that happen again. He’s devoted his life to the Woland guard.” He turned to Jericho’s desk and started to clean up the remains of the broken tablet. “He’ll be back soon. I’m surprised he left you at all. I’ll be right out that door,” he pointed to Jericho’s office entrance, the only door in the room. “If you need anything. Two guards will patrol outside the room until Jericho returns.”
Garrik bobbed his head and left, leaving me alone. I watched as he summoned two guards and placed them right where he said he would. The two Wolands instantly went into guard mode, ignoring my presence. I sighed and turned back to the glass wall. I could no longer see Jericho, but I hoped he would be back soon, especially after hearing that he had been alive for 200 years! That news astonished me. I wondered how old he was and how old dragons live to?
A loud bang from the command center caught my attention. I walked to the door, but was stopped by two arms spread across the doorway. I looked at the two Woland guards, who shook their heads at me. I guess I’m not allowed to leave. I poked my head out to see what the commotion was. I could still hear thuds and all visible Wolands appeared frazzled. What was going on?
“Sir, we’ve lost all communication, in and out.” The Woland sounded anxious as he spoke quickly to Garrik. “Everything is black.”
“Micah, get ahold of King Rylan and someone find Jericho.” Garrik banged on one of the computers, with no luck.
The door swooshed open and Jericho walked in with a look of confusion on his face. He looked right at Garrik. “What in Aprella’s name is going on? I was gone five minutes.” I sensed aggravation in his voice.
“We’ve lost communication. We are troubleshooting now.” He knocked on the computer again for good measure.
“What do you mean?” Jericho looked around the command center; he noticed all the blank screens and frantic Wolands. “How is this even possible, it’s all powered by our mahier?” His brows scrunched as he continued to gaze at the chaos.
“Explain.”
I jumped at the sound of Rylans voice. I hadn’t heard or seen him enter. It seemed Jericho and Garrik didn’t either. Rylan stood stock still in front of the main doors as he gazed around the room. Everyone froze for a moment as they looked about the black screens of the monitors. Jericho walked to the large glass wall that overlooked the clouds. He searched the sky, for what I didn’t know. He turned and addressed the Wolands.
“Everyone, get in your positions. We will know soon what is going on.” He turned my way. “My Prince, stand by me.” His eyes fumed. “Garrik, release the first realm, set up a perimeter around Ochana.”
I raced over to Jericho, for some reason his presence eased my fear a bit. Rylan stepped up beside me. We began to stare out the large glass window, but the sudden chirp from the screens coming alive made me jump. Everyone in the room turned to look at the large screen in the middle of the room. A young white haired woman stared back at us. She looked small, like a pixie. She smiled slowly to reveal sharp pointy teeth. In mere seconds, she went from seemly innocent, to a dwarf-size demon.
“Good morning, dragons.” Her raspy voice reverberated from the speakers. “Ah, it seems I am in the presence of royalty. My King, My Prince,” The woman sneered as her whole body shook with laughter.
“Who are you and what do you want?” Rylan demanded.
“How rude of me, My King. I am Queen Tana of Farro Grove. I would like to meet with you to discuss an alliance.” She was serious.
“We do not give coalition to fallen creatures, like a farro. Now, tell me what you really want.”
“Very well. I offer you a trade.” Her midnight eyes roamed the room as if she was really able to see everyone in the room, even those out of her peripheral view.
“Continue.”
“We will stop the war that has already begun, if you give us the Keeper of Dragons.”
“I know nothing of war or the Keeper of Dragons.” Rylan spat.
“We must be honest with each other, King Rylan. You met the first wave of our attack just the other night. Those dumb Carnites are just the start. As for your denial of the Keeper of Dragons, I see one half of the pair as we speak. The other half isn’t far off, in the Temple of Aprella. I will give you twenty-four hours to decide. Good day, My King.” She roared maliciously until the screens cut her off to resume standard function.
“How?” It was the only word Rylan seemed to utter as he monitored the room and looked over the stunned faces of the Wolands.
“Jericho and Garrik punched at the screens. “The Woland guard see’s nothing. No one has breached Ochana.” Jericho looked back at Rylan.
“That is where you are wrong. That farro broke through our mahier and took control of our communication networks. She had eyes in this very room, and all around Ochana. Find out how she succeeded. Now!” Rylan stormed from the command center, As soon as he entered the outside, he shifted into his dragon, mounted his wings, and took off.
Chapter Thirteen
“We need eyes on the Grove.” Jericho barked. “Garrik, I want you to lead the mission.” He turned from Garrik to face the rest of the Wolands. “Keep realm one on the perimeter, and send guards to the Temple of Aprella. He paused to examine his shattered tablet. Find me a new tablet, and bring me the golden dragon”
Jericho continued to shout out orders around the command center as he stormed from one computer to the next. I watched the Wolands jump at his orders and race to complete his commands. I stayed put. I was still in a state of shock by what had just transpired. The Queen of the farro’s had just taken complete control over the communication at Ochana’s command center. If
we were back home, I wouldn't be too impressed with the hack, but it seems everything here is ran off mahier, and only dragons are able to wield it. Maybe they have a dragon on their side? A chill ran up my spine as I considered it, would someone really betray their own kind? And for what reason? Or maybe they have learned how to manipulate it somehow? The more I thought about it the more questions I had, and my fear escalated with each one of those thoughts.
“My Prince, it is best that you stay in Jericho’s office. It is the safest place in the command center. We need to keep you and-” Garrik trailed off as his eyes wandered to the door. Eva had entered, and was accompanied by two guards. “Ah, the golden dragon has arrived.” Garrik beckoned Eva and I over, and led us into the office. He nodded to the guards, who took their spots at the door.
I turned to face Eva. She didn’t say a word to me. Her eyes were wide in wonder as she gazed through one of the glass walls. The view was especially breathtaking; a mist of clouds glided slowly through the sapphire sky as the waterfall streamed down from Ochana, making its way all the way down to earth. Eva’s wonder made me realize that I hadn’t had time to revel enough at the beauty of Ochana, I hail from a land that floated high above the earth, almost like a hot air balloon, while beautiful gleams of purples and turquoises poured from a glorious waterfall. It looked like a liquid milky way with magical powers. And the mountains, the mountains! One of the points was so high it peaked above the haze. I spotted patches of colorful trees and flowers laden along the smoother surfaces of the mountain edges. What a view. What a place to be born. It was hard to believe we were in the middle of, well a war. That was the word Queen Tana had used. We were at war, and didn’t even know it. My thoughts then turned to Eva, I wondered what she was told, if they were able to verify who or what she was.
The Keeper of Dragons: The Prince Returns Page 9