Dragons Tale

The Dragon & His Anger

Once Edgar gave his sister Elbi and his mother a kiss on the head goodbye, he started to sprint down the hall and towards the training grounds. "Afternoon...Father." Edgar bowed, trying to cover his despair.
"You're late. Instead of the usual, it'll be twice as much." Edgar gulped and decided not to argue back; knowing the outcome if he should. Edgar huffed as his weapon was knocked out of his hands. He panicked as he remembered his father had banned him from using his dragon abilities during training for a while because of the...incident. A few guards gave Edgar a slight beating, but he thought it was one he could handle.
Suddenly Malentine --Edgar's father-- roared angrily as he yanked Edgar up by his collar. "Explain yourself why you've just upset me." Edgar opened his mouth, but his father quickly cut him off. "You allowed yourself to be beaten too easily."
"Y-you banned me from using my powers d-during training." Edgar managed to say with little fear.
"Yes, but when the weapon is no longer in your possession--that's when you break the rules to survive." Edgar was about to speak when his father suddenly punched the sixteen year old's gut. "Right, now back to training." Malentine's words were nothing more than calm malice as he walked away to observe again.
Edgar limped his way towards the infirmary after his special training was over. Bumping into Elbi when he turned a corner, he felt disgusted with himself. Elbi shouldn't have to see what that monster had done to her brother. "W-what happen to you?" She asked while staring at his once white hair, now a pinkish red. 
The fear in Elbi's eyes churned his stomach and he felt nauseous. He watched Elbi's eyes move from his hair to his batter bruised face, lifting her hand up in concern, Edgar suddenly slapped her hand away from his face out of instinct. Disappointed in himself for letting his sister see him like this, her eyes were filled with more concern than fear; smiling at her to ease the sudden tension when he noticed a couple of maids walking in their direction. "I'm fine...father was trying to teach me proper ways to block and defend myself." He motioned with his eyes at them, hoping she gotten the hint. 
Ignoring the maids who whispered something and walked away quickly, he saw her cringe in despair. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Edgar felt his heartstrings tug. 'She's too precious and caring. I have to protect her, from experiencing father's abuse any further.' Edgar smiled, nodding and trying to convince his sister that he was okay. 
Elbi smiled and let out a giggle, holding onto his elbow. "Okay! You're heading to the infirmary now, right? I'll walk you there. Besides, it'll be easier to heal you." Edgar complained while Elbi dismissed his whining, patting her head and side hugging her after Elbi dragged him away. 
 
 
 
'Shit--Shit--Shit!!' Edgar struggled against the rope that bound his wrist and ankles, cursing at the enchanted item around both his and the unconscious Elbi's neck. Just when Edgar had started thinking of a plan to escape, he heard his sister groaning in pain. "Elbi! Elbi, are you okay?" 
Their backs were turned against each other, so he had no idea whether or not his sister was unharmed. "Yeah...just a killer headache, nothing big." Edgar sighed in relief, his tense body relaxing slightly. 
"I'm sorry Elbi, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." 
Elbi croaked out a wheezed laugh, mentally thanking her monster father that Edgar couldn't see her battered face. "It's not like I wanted to be a coward and hide. So it's not your fault Edgar, okay?" 
After Elbi lean her head against her brothers for comfort, their father calmly walked in, causing the air to thicken from tension. "As royals, you both have already learned extensive discipline. Now what I'm going to train you in, is demonstrating what will happen if you ever get captured by the enemy." 
"So you then?" Edgar spat. 
Watching their father grab hold of a blunt instrument, Elbi screamed the word "don't" as their father bashed Edgar's head with it. "Edgarios, it seems you still need to learn your manners." 
Elbi screamed for her father to stop; feeling her anger and hatred boiling her blood, but also a feeling of helplessness overcome her when she couldn't do anything to stop him. "LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU MONSTER!!"
Malentine stopped then, dropping Edgar to the ground. "What did you say?" Malentine walked over to his daughter, gripping her face tightly. "Repeat what you said. Now, before I get very angry my dear." Sighing disappointed when her body shook in fear, Malentine gave Elbi a sinister smile. "Now. How many times have I told you not to scream, Eblisaria? It's not very lady like, now is it." Edgar's bloodied face cringed at the tone of his voice. Trying to speak and lessen her blows, but unable to utter a word. 
He listened at the pained voice of his sister crying out until she finally held her tongue and took his beatings without complaint. Malentine retreated from his daughters shaking figure, feeling a sense of pride in himself knowing she won't talk back again. 
Malentine grabbed the chair Edgar was bound to, dragging him up to face Elbi. Both siblings bit their lips at the damage their father have done to one another. "Now then, I want you to pay close attention." Placing a hand towel over Edgar's face, Malentine held it from behind Edgar's head, pouring water down onto him as his choking screams were dismissed by his father. 
 

*~Four Years Later~* 
 
 
Barging through the double doors of the dining room, Edgar threw the battle plans he had in hand at the table his aunt; Queen Seteria, was at as she tried to eat her prepared lunch.
Sighing in annoyance, Seteria placed the untouched food back onto the plate, waving her hand at a servant to take the food away.
"What?" She spat in anger, placing her elbows on the table as she folded her hands together.
"How could you not tell me about this!" Edgar's nose flared as he pointed to the plans.
"If I told you, then you'd only want to join. And I'm not about to have my only advantage and loose canon die on a potential battlefield." She spoke sharply, standing as she placed her hands on the table before sighing. "I need you alive, Edgar. What good would it have done if I told you we were going to war with Malentine?" The anger slowly but surely left her speech as she looked at the furious twenty year old.
"I could help! I know exactly where his weapon vault is, and I know the schematics for--!" Queen Seteria cut the young man off, annoyed that he's refusing to listen.
"You are not, and I repeat. Not, going out to the battlefield. You may be King once Malentine's head is on a silver-platter, but right now you are nothing more than a peasant with anger issues." Edgar bit the inside of his cheek to keep from speaking. "I understand you're angry. You have every right to be. But a lot has changed since you were forced out the castle, who know's if the weapon vault is still where you think it is? We need you here, safe and sound until we have concrete evidence, understand?"
After a moment of silence, Queen Seteria continued.
"Channel your anger and frustration against that Monster in a more productive way. Go work on your fighting skills, read a fucking book, or something that doesn't involve using your brain to think up suicide mission's."
Grabbing a chair near him, Edgar suddenly threw it across the room. Flying inches away from Queen Seteria who hadn't move as he stomped away.
Breathing heavily through her nose as she rubbed her eyelids than pinched the bridge of her nose slowly, Queen Seteria sat back on her chair. Snapping her fingers to retrieve her food and wine from earlier. "I'm too tired to act like my sister." 
 
Growling in anger, Edgar used the sword he had in hand to create a deep slash through the practice dummy. 'Why can't she see that I only want to be a part of her plans, to get my sister back!' As soon as the thought left him, he struck the sword through the dummy as he imaged it became Malentine, and thinking of how lonely his sister must be. 
Edgar wasn't bothered by the dummy becoming Malentine. In fact, it fueled his anger more than he meant to control it; stabbing the sword deeper through the dummy.
He roared in outraged, taking his sword back before kicking the dummy hard that it skied across the floor. "You're too out of control." Jumping in the slightest, his tense posture relaxed when he realized who spoke. "No one would want to follow a King who can't control his anger, take the monster as an example."
King Nomis spoke as he put his hands in the air in surrender, slowly walking towards the young Prince. Edgar huffed almost uncontrollably, throwing the sword in hand away from the two. Giving King Nomis enough confidence to walk normally towards him.
"Why can't aunt Seteria see that I'm more useful on the field, than trying to have me do something as petty as this?" Throwing his arms in the air, he allowed his hands to fall back onto his sides.
With a chuckle escaping the King's lips, he smiled before gently patting Edger's back. "She already knows, Edgar. The reason why she's having you do mantra's like this, is so that when the time comes for you to be face-to-face with Malentine, you're not allowing your anger to blind you. Which would give him the chance to kill you for your defiance."
Breathing in a large breath of air, Edger closed his eyes; allowing the air from his lungs to slowly leave him. 
"My King!! Prince Edgar!" A solider came running through the doors, breathless as he spoke. "Princess Eblisaria escaped!" With widen eyes from the two, Edger slowly but surely started to laugh as he smiled; pounding the air in excitement.
"Do you know where she went?" King Nomis spoke seriously, gripping the soldiers arms tightly.
With a shake of his head, the solider bowed slightly. "She was not in the room Malentine left her in, he sent guards all around the castle--even to the kingdom and villages below, but no one has been able to find her."
"D-do you know who helped her?" Edgar couldn't contain his happiness; ecstatic that his little sister finally managed to escape.
"Yes sir. It was apparently Princess Eblisaria's bodyguard; Norvan, who helped in her escape." As the King patted the tired boys head, he dismissed him before looking at Edgar, concern evident on his face.
"What? What is it." King Nomis sighed as he placed a hand on Edgar's shoulder, causing the young Princes smile to falter.
"Seteria must know by now that Elbi escaped. She'll most likely want to see you and discuss some things further." Nodding, not exactly sure what he meant, a female maid was running to the two before he could explain.
"Queen Seteria would like your presence, Prince Edgarios." With a bow from the maid, Edgar nodded before walking by her side, every now and then jogging to keep up with her long strides. 
 
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M NOT ALLOWED?!" Edgar's ferocity scared a few of the servants that were in the room, while Queen Seteria was unfazed by his childish antics. "She's my sister! I have the right to go out and look for her!"
Sipping her black lavender tea, Seteria looked at Edgar with a blank expression. "It's true that she's your sister, and I understand the reason for why you could not go back for her when you both tried to escape." Edgar tense at the sudden memory passing by like a breeze in the wind. "But as Queen --as well as your aunt-- I simply cannot allow you to go look for her, when we simply do not know where, in fact she is."
Calming his breathing, Edgar knew she was right about that.
"Further more, what if Malentine sent his guards--or worse? Himself to go look for her? That would not only put us at a disadvantage, but it would also give away what we're trying to do in secret." Much to Edgar's dislike, he knew she was right. All of it. Edgar knew she only has a good amount of firepower and some resources, since she's paranoid that Malentine would somehow find out about their plans.
"Your training is paying off it would seem." Staring at the Queen in confusion, she smiled sincerely for the first time in a while. "Go to your room and rest, you'll need a calm mind so we can figure out what to do next." 
Sighing without much to do, Egdar turned around and was halfway out when he stopped. "You should look for Elbi's guard before Malentine goes and kills him. His name's Norvan Skatan." 
"Thank you, I will make note and put that into the plans." Holding his silver tongue, Edgar slouched his head as he walked back to his room. 
 
 
Sighing in boredom, it's been two days since Edgar was given the good news about his sister. Not knowing what else to do but groan in annoyance, Edgar stood and walked around the palace to clear his head. 
"Is that him?" 
"Yes ma'am. He's pretty beaten up, but it's him." Leaning against a corner to hear, Edgar poked his head and saw a bloodied Norvan being carried on a gurney. 
"Good, take him to the infirmary. Once he's well enough to talk, we'll ask him we're Eblisaria is." Hiding further away from the corner as the soldiers passed by him, the clicking sound of heels echoed away. 
Edgar was about to leave his hiding spot when a hand enclosed around his mouth. Jumping and turning around quickly, he saw that it was King Nomis holding a finger to his mouth, silently telling the young Prince to stay quiet. Nodding his head confused, King Nomis released his hold and waited a few more seconds to speak; the soft sound of bare feet walking away until it was no longer audible. 
"You scared the shit out of me Nomis! But...thanks." 
Smiling with a nod, King Nomis stared in the direction of where Norvan had been taken to. "No problem. I'm guessing you want to go see Norvan, and ask him some questions?" Nodding his head rather quickly, King Nomis laughed at his enthusiasm. "Wait for me around the corner, I'll go see if there's any guards and get them to leave."
Nodding once in agreement, King Nomis distracted and took care of the two guards just as he said, beckoning Edgar to hurry inside. "What should we do? He's practically unconscious." Edgar whispered, not knowing who could be listening in. 
"There should be some smelling salts here." King Nomis mumbled to himself, going through the cabinets as Edgar walked up to Norvan, gasping in shock at his hair. 
'Did he cut his hair? Or did they?' Knowing the symbolism behind it, Edgar kept it to himself as King Nomis hurried to Norvan's side. "Did you find it?" 
"Yeah, let's see if he'll wake up now." Breaking the tiny packet, King Nomis held it under Norvan's nose. 
Gasping awake, Norvan's eyes widen with adrenaline while voices were muffled and his vision blurred, thrashing around as previous images appeared. "NORVAN!" Grabbing both sides of his head, Norvan struggled to break free from the persons grasp. "Norvan! It's me--Edgar!" 
Hearing the name "Edgar" Norvan slowly but surely stopped struggling, squinting his eyes and regulating his breathing to see the male before him. "P--...Prince Edgar?" 
"Oh so now you realize its me?" Smiling with a chuckle, Norvan's face grew pale at a sudden realization. 
"Elbi...I have to--!" Trying to get up and off the medical bed, Norvan bit the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming in pain, watching his side dripping with blood. "Fuck!" Hissing as he applied pressure to his open wound with shaking hands, King Nomis quickly went in search for medical supplies while Edgar questioned Norvan. 
"Speaking of, we heard you helped her in escaping. Where did she go?" 
Taking a moment to regulate his breathing, Norvan used his shaking hand to reach inside his pocket. "Her-here's what I-I used...it's a tracking de-dev-device attached to-to a location spel-spell I used. Coor-coordinates should be th-there." 
 
Giving a knowing look to King Nomis who glared at Edgar, the King sat on the side of the bed. "No. Absolutely out of the question. You're not going out there!" 
"But Norvan obviously can't do it. It'll take Aunt Seteria a while before she actually goes out to find her, since her resources aren't enough yet." Standing as King Nomis shook his head in irritation, Edgar gave a pleading look. "Please...let me do this. She's my sister, I was suppose to protect her--not the other way around!" The King was silent, tending to the open wound.
The only source of sound emitted were grunts of pain coming from Norvan.
The King tsked with a look of disapproval. "I'm giving you three--no. Two hours. If you're not back by then, with or without Elbi, then I'm telling Seteria." 
Edgar's smiling face began to hurt his cheeks, not being accustom to smiling for long. "Thank you so, so much Uncle! Don't start counting until after I set foot outside!" Running towards the exit, Edgar stopped halfway and turned around to face Norvan. "Get plenty of rest after this, I'm wishing for your speedy recovery!" 
Resuming his run towards the door, Edgar held the handle when King Nomis stopped him. "Wait!" Looking at the King who got up and walked towards Edgar, he tilted his head confused. "Go to the far end of the armory, there should be a chest with a lock." Giving him a key from around his neck, King Nomis held Edgar's wrist as he grabbed it. "Don't get anything else but a silver-blue ring. It'll protect you for the most part, and don't forget to bring back the key." 
"I promise, don't worry! Everything will turn out find." King Nomis released Edgar, sighing and ruffling his own hair in annoyance. 
 
 
'Two hours really isn't enough to find her. I've searched for an hour in three different cities, but nothing.' Heavily sighing as Edgar hanged his head, he pulled the edge of his hood down, hoping no one would recognize his face. 'Maybe I'll get some luck with this city?' Just as that thought registered in his mind, Edgar bumped into a women with long blonde hair, causing the groceries she had to fall. "Ah! S-sorry, I wasn't paying attention." 
Bending down to help pick up the fallen items, Edgar caught a whiff of her scent; fresh vanilla with a mix of allspice. "Don't worry about it, I wasn't exactly paying attention either." Watching her smile with so much sincerity, Edgar blushed in embarrassment not knowing what to do. 
'I haven't had an interaction with someone, other than the people in the palace, in a long time it would seem.' Clearing his throat, Edgar handed the women her items and smiled. "This may seem odd, but may I buy you a cup of coffee? I feel terrible for bumping into such a beautiful lady." 
Watching the blush appear on her face with a shy smile, the women nodded. "It is odd, but I have time." 
'I'll buy her the coffee and then leave. I should still have time to find Elbi, and get back home before Aunt Seteria notices I'm gone.' Holding the coffee shop door open for the women, she smiled in thanks as Edgar instinctively took his hood off. "What kind of drink would you like?" 
Humming in thought, the women tilted her head. "I'll just have a Flat White, if that's alright?" 
Reassuring her with a smile, he nodded. "Of course, I don't see why not?"
After the two ordered their drinks, they began to converse in small talk which got deeper as they started to talk about travel. Taking their seats by the window at the back after Edgar paid, they talked longer than expected, not realizing their drinks had gotten cold long after the baristas served them. 
"Seriously?! You're telling me that you've been to the Pardolia Kingdom, the Larulith Kingdom, and the Giwia Kingdom?" 
Edgar laughed at the woman's surprised remark, barely taking a sip of his Oolong tea. "Well I've been to others, but those are the places I've recently gone too with my Aun--." Cutting himself off mid-sentence, the color on Edgar's face instantly drained. Scrambling to search for a clock with his eyes, he stared at the woman in panic. "D-do you happen to have the time?" Taking her communicator out, the woman nervously told him.
He's been chatting with her for over forty-five minutes.
'It takes at least twenty minutes or more to get back to the palace, this is risking it.' 
Standing abruptly, causing the chair to fall back, Edgar quickly brought the chair upright again as he began apologizing.
"I-I-I'm so sorry, b-but I have to go. It was really...wonderful, chatting with you. S-sorry for taking more of your time." Before she could utter a word out, Edgar bolted out of the cafè, struggling to keep the hood on his head as he ran and tried to get back as quickly as possible. 'I'm sorry Elbi! I'm sorry you have a stupid, useless brother! Fucking shit!!'