Tales of the Pearly City (Pearly Tales Vol.1) [Completed]

84. The dragon's tale

[Days to Ragnarok]

[1 month] [1 days]

Ophelia woke to an unfamiliar smell and to a warm plushie feeling against her face. The fresh scent of lemongrass roused her to the rest of her senses as she found herself in the motherly embrace of Shayley.

"Mommy?" Ophelia yawned, as she rubbed her eyes.

"Good morning, love."

That was when she realized Papa was nowhere to be found. "Where's Papa!" She panicked.

Shayley pressed her finger to her lips, "Shh, listen."

Ophelia quieted down enough to hear a familiar snore coming from the base of the bed. Papa had collapsed over the side of the bed with his head in his folded arms. Once she saw that Ophelia settled down, and cuddled into her mommy.

"I had another dream last night, Papa said it might help if I tell him in the mornings. Whenever I do he gives me something sweet to make me feel better."

"You can always tell me if it makes you feel better."

"Will you hate me?"

"Of course not, love. They're just dreams."

Ophelia shook her head. "They are scary and they usually come true. Papa says he can make the bad ones go away, I want to believe him."

Shayley pulled her close. "You're Papa is really strong, I'm sure he thinks he can do anything."

"Papa is the strongest! I know he is!" Ophelia covered her mouth as Papa moved around, but then he continued snoring.

"Mommy is strong too you know, that's why Papa left me in charge of his city."

"Mommy, in my dream the city was on fire. There was a Black dragon, the biggest I've ever seen. Many died because of him. But someone stood up to the dragon."

"Papa?"

Ophelia nodded her head into Mommy's soft chest. "The dragon made fun of him, he called Papa small, and a failure. But Papa wasn't scared he said her had to protect me and mommy. He smiled, but I have a bad feeling something happened to him."

Shayley saw Ophelia's hair start to change color again as she shivered.

"Shh, Mommy won't let anything happen to Papa." Shayley soothed Ophelia.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Cal began to stir, but ended up slipping of the bed until he hit the floor.

Thud.

"Owwwwwiie, that's not my bed..." Cal whined.

Both Shayley and Ophelia shared a giggle at his expense.

** ** **

Cal sent Shayley back to the castle after telling her about the alliance with the beastkin and demonkin clans. When he came down from the stairwell into the guild holding Ophelia's hand, Tiki and three elves in cloaks where waiting for him.

"Master, these three gentlemen are here for a private conference with the guildmaster." Tiki bowed. She didn't seem nervous which probably meant they weren't here to cause a scene.

"I really need to start a schedule," Cal yawned. "Tiki, will you get Ophelia some breakfast?"

"It would be my pleasure, Master. Come with me young one." Tiki held out her hand and took Ophelia away.

"Follow me gents." Cal led them to his office, but never let down his guard.

Cal sat behind his desk and motioned them to sit but they remained standing. Cal sighed, he'd been doing that a lot lately. It might be nice to pass of his responsibilities to someone and then thought of Elenora, at that point it was a hard pass.

"I am Cal O'heira Van Dravenkin, guildmaster of the Verdant Oathkeepers. Do you want to tell me who you are and what you're doing here?" Cal crossed his fingers in front of his face with his elbows on the desk and stared them door.

"First, I would like to humbly apologize." The first elf said, and as he bowed the other two bowed. "My father did something despicable the other day and we don't condone his actions."

"Father?"

"Yes," the three elves pulled off their hoods they all had blonde hair that matched Groveon's and overly handsome features as trademarked of an Elven Noble. "My name is Loreon Bansfivner of the Sedeki house, and these are my younger brothers Treveon, and Zoreon. We represent certain branch families among the Sedeki house that do not share the same beliefs as the rest of our family."

Cal leaned back in his chair. "Okay, you got my attention Loreon Bansfivner. Speak your mind."

"Thank you. I'm sure that you've heard of the Deist religion."

"They see Brother Calloway as a God."

"On the outside, yes. But they also believe in keeping the city exactly as he left it, causing discrimination and even resorting to darker methods of keeping the city 'Pure.'"

"Yes, as expected it's hard to take their smiles at face value."

"We represent a radical faction within the noble clans that disagree with the way they do things. For starters, none of the original residents of the city nor the elementals have joined our ranks, not a single one. We became suspicious of this and did our own research."

"I take it you were born in the city?"

The three nodded. "We are young, but we are not stupid. We discovered that our parents had been deceiving us since our birth for a darker purpose. We deconstructed their basic teachings, and learned that their true intentions were to keep the city weak, under the guise of their conservative ideologies. We suspect that it is for a future coup or invasion."

"And why are you telling me this? Why not go straight to the princess or the knights?"

"We'd never make it to the castle, and even if we could only death awaits us on our return. We are risking our very lives coming to you this morning."

"And what can I do?"

"Make a stand. Threatening the entire Sedeki house's extinction has put a lot of people on edge. And with you being in so much of the public light they can't just get rid of you or take the chance should they fail. It's also not hard to tell that a lot of the major changes coming to the city come from your sudden and untimely appearance."

"Are you accusing me of something?"

"We don't think it is coincidence that the events surrounding the starchaser girl, the sudden appearance of the Brother Calloway statues, a guild building, the cursed half-breeds adoption, and the Alliance with the dravenkin all happened shortly within your arrival of the city. And that's not even the half of it."

"I think you are accusing me of something, and her name is Ophelia, not the Cursed half-breed. I won't remind you again."

"My apologies." He bowed quickly but maintained his composure. "We did not come here to antagonize you."

"So what did you come for?"

"We came to offer our aid and support. We are only a minority of the branch families, but we disagree with the goals and methods of the main families. They want your guild gone, so it's only logical that we want it to stay."