The Three Realms

Chapter 4- Dark Days

"Hmm," the other guy said. "So who are you?"

"I'm a Guard! Bound to a dragon and supposed to be protecting this Realm!"

"Hmm." He said again. Fraya sighed as she found a thin mattress in the corner, "So what's your name?"

"Me?" He sounded surprised. "I'm just called the Eternal. Because I'm 'eternally' living here. The guards thought they were being funny. But it's not funny! It's mean!" Fraya winced and a door slammed upen above them. She heard the thud of feet against stairs and saw two guards walk up to her. Fraya glared at them with all her hate. "Why am I here?" She demanded. The two guards slid a tray under her door and turned to the 'Eternal' and did the same thing. "WHY WAS I PUT IN THIS STUPID JAIL!" Fraya screeched at them, her knuckled turning white from holding the bars of her door. 

The guards didn't even bother to look at her as they slid the third tray under the door of a cell on the far side of the hallway, slightly to the left. The two men sighed and shook their heads like she was simply a little girl having a temper tantrum, and began to climb the stairs again. Fraya felt tears prick her eyes and clenched her teeth. "SEND AURELIO DOWN HERE! I WANT TO TALK TO HIM!" She yelled at the top of her lungs just before the crash of the door ended her one-sided conversation.

Fraya sank down and put her head in her hands and tried to ignore the Eternal humming tonelessly. There was a real chance of her going crazy down here.

Balthasar glared down at the war party like he had been for the past three days, thinking over what the scout had said again. The King had been sitting at Lord Jarvis's desk, staring down at something with the dark haired young man wearing the circlet- The Prince. Then the scout had dropped the flap of the tent. After he'd yanked it open again, he'd seen the King disappear with the Prince just after him. "Something is wrong. There are many unknown secrets down there that we need to know!" Balthasar growled quietly to himself. The dragon narrowed his eyes, hoping the spy was getting on all right in the enemy's camp. He had snuck down the day after Fraya left, and was going to report by the end of the week.

Then Balthasar sighed, he missed Fraya. It almost shocked him to think that because he never expected to get so close to anyone during his lifetime, especially not a 16 year old girl. Thinking of his bond, Balthasar was curious as well as happy that it had stretched but not broken with their distance. There had been one short blip during which Balthasar had been in extreme pain, but it passed in seconds and his and Fraya's bond continued to burn inside them. Lieutenant Brooks was not so lucky. Everyone could tell when his and Claryn's bond had snapped, and again Balthasar wondered why Devin had chosen to break up two bonded creatures. It hadn't happened in many years, so people had forgotten its consequences. Obviously now they were being reminded. 

Lieutenant Brooks was in the infirmary, shivering uncontrolably with a very high fever. Many of the other men were worried that he may not survive the break, but Devin had turned a blind eye, ignoring the Lieutenant's suffering. Before their current mission, Balthasar would have said to any who had asked that Devin was a brave, selfless, and kind man. A strong leader. Now, though, Balthasar was not so sure. What could have changed?

The three days of waiting for the spy were ones of boredom and anxiety. The men were wondering when Fraya and Claryn would get back with reinforcements, when the army on the plains would begin moving again, and just why this army wanted to attack them. 

Finally, the haggard man arrived back in camp, going in to see Balthasar immediately. "Lord," the man said, bowing the the dragon. Balthasar regally nodded his head to the spy. Unlike Fraya, who hated ceremony and titles with a passion, Balthasar knew his station in the world, and had proven time and time again that he deserved it.