Book One - A Fairy Tale? (A Fairy Tale Series)

Chapter Twenty - The Keeper of Life

Conor just stared at the Pegasus until they were out of sight. All he could think about was that he had failed. He didn't notice that the others had joined him on the ledge.

"The Golden Diamond," Max growled.

"It's gone," Griffin hissed.

"All because of you!" Conor yelled angrily, whirling on Talon and Jeanette who looked at him in surprise.

"All I wanted was to talk to the Keeper until those assassins who tried to kill me and our friend came and tried to steal the Golden Diamond," Conor exclaimed, "But of course, you had to ruin everything and now it's all gone!"

"And that's...that's exactly what Jeanette said," Balo said quietly.

He looked at Talon who's head was bowed down in shame.

"Maybe if you actually let me explain before jumping to conclusions, this wouldn't have happened," Conor scolded, "Last time I checked, Balo was still the chief!"

"Conor, it's not their fault," Jeanette said, defending them, more like defending Talon, "There was just a bit of a misunderstanding, that's all."

"You're right, it isn't their fault," Conor replied, his voice softening, "It was mine. I failed to get the Golden Diamond. I failed to save the kingdom. My brother is probably dead by the time I get back. John had died for nothing. I brought you guys here for nothing."

"Conor, that's not true-" Max started but Conor cut him off.

"What kind of king am I if I can't even save my own people?" Conor asked, "I'm just a failure."

"Conor, you did your best," Jeanette told him gently.

"Then my best is pretty poor," Conor mumbled.

"Oh really?" Jeanette continued, her voice growing louder, "What kind of king would risk his own life just to save his people? Usually, they would just find the bravest knights in the kingdom to do their work for them but you didn't do that. You went on this mission where you risked your life just to save a poor village girl from the fire. You went last on climbing the steep wall, almost drowning yourself. You kept on going even though there are assassins trying to kill us. You never gave up even if our friend died."

"Actually you-" Conor tried to interrupt.

"Wait, i'm not done yet," Jeanette cut him off, "You never gave up on the mission, never gave up on us, even though we're just a team of two animals and a poor village girl. You even went on alone to find the Keeper until Griffin joined you. You fought off five of those assassins just to protect the Golden Diamond."

"Actually it was three, Griffin fought the other two," Conor corrected.

"You still fought them," Jeanette insisted, "and you gave us hope. You gave me hope that we could win. There were plenty of times that I doubt we would come back from the Dark Mountains alive but you gave me hope."

"I sometimes wonder if you were crazy," Griffin added, "but I see a brave king."

"It was true that I just joined this mission so you might reward me with some gold," Jeanette admitted, "I was very poor and I didn't even see the point of living again until you came. I sometimes wondered if it was worth saving people who are dying anyways because no one has been exactly nice to me and Griffin here. But...but you showed me it was worth it. You showed me that the greatest reward wasn't gold, but the honor of saving those people's lives. And...and I never trusted anyone with my entire life until I met you."

Conor looked down, not exactly sure of what to say.

"I'm sorry for what I said last night," Jeanette said.