The Fairy King

A look into the past

The world spun around me. Mist rose in my vision. I gripped the sword tightly. Its warmth radiating up my arm. The glowing gold of it shimmered  in the wavering mist.
“Raven, my son.” The voice reached back to me. “It has been so long.” A tendril of smoke brushed my cheek. “Now you must see why you were born!” her voice swelled into a battle cry.
The dragons were all around us. The mist had cleared. I stood now a top a castle turret A fierce fire burned below us. “There is no way out, ma ‘lady.” A week voice said. It shivered in fear.
“Relax, Orlanf. There is always a way.” She turned her smile as bright as the flickering flames.
“I am queen to more than just the elves." She winked back at the elf I could see kneeling at her side. She held one arm out. Uttering the same words, I had spoken mere moments before, she withdrew the very sword I held from her flesh.
“Come to me all who hear my cry. Save my life, save my line!” she thrust the sword heaven word. My hand flew up to shield my eyes. The sword lit up the hazy smoke filled air. It glowed with the light of the morning sun.
“Go, Orlanf. Save your family. Use the eastern tunnels. I owe you my life.” She pressed a hand to her swollen stomach. “One day my son will come to you, heed his call.”
Orlanf bowed. His golden hair falling over his face. “You have my word, my queen.” He bowed away dragging two small children with him. I saw them on the horizon. Many dragons bore down. Many more flew up to greet them.
“Son, one day this sword will show you what transpires today, for this will happen again. I was not a strong enough Queen to save the dragons. You must bare witness to this. Save our people. Do not divide your allegiances as I have.” She paused as a few of the dragons flew out to surround those laying waist to the village below.
“I shall live to bring you into this world, then you must find your own way, my Raven, my strength.” With her final word she leapt from the turret
Twisting in air she landed heavily on a massive blue/ white dragon. It flew up into the skies. “Kill them all, then retreat my heroes!” she screamed into the open air.
Several dragons flew up wing tip to wing tip with their queen. A massive roar was heard. It shook the very air around them. She held tight to the sword. The glow brightened. Its warmth burning our hand. We looked up at it.
‘We must survive, Blanka. Give this wasteland to our offspring.’
‘We shall, merely, my soul carrier.’ The dragons poured their magic into the blade. It grew heavy with the power.
“I cannot hold on much longer.!” We cried.
‘Take my strength, mother.’ I whispered. Her hand touched my head through her stomach. “Oh, my Raven.” Strength flowed between us, pouring over us. Our arm grew steady with the weight of the blade.
“Live to fight another day, my son!” we cried, for we were one as we brought the blade down.
The ground shook with the blast. Every dragon who had poured their heart into the blade commented to their death. The dark ones fell in the hail of bodies so massive they couldn’t avoid them all. The ground swelled up. Dust covered even our wings. We fought the backlash as we spun to get to safety.
Looking back the cloud of dirt had not settled. Tears slipped from our eyes as the wind tore our cries away. We had no choice but to kill friend and foe. We had become the very thing we had tried to stop. She hugged me then.
“Be stronger than me, Raven. Do not take the fools way out.” There was another blast of shaking. The mist reappeared spreading up around the wings of the queen dragon beneath us. I heard her scream just as the blackness took us away.
The scene changed. We were hidden deep in a dark cave. The dragon’s head hovered over me. “He is strong.” I knew that voice as well as I knew my own.
‘Gran.’ I blinked. I wasn’t laying on my mother’s stomach any longer. Instead I was against the wall looking at the scene. My mother laid in a nest of her own, beside a clutch of dragon eggs.
“Put the baby beside the king egg.” Gran said in that tone of hers that was bordering on boredom or fascination. You never could tell which. My mother struggled a bit to sit up. Gran helped her by putting her hands under her arms. The queen dragon watched.
My mother’s arms shook as she held me out. The queens head slipped beneath me. She guided me to the dragon eggs. No that wasn’t quite right. There was one egg set off to the side of the best. The queen guided my body toward it.
The egg was large, far larger than all the others. It was a golden red, a sunrise orange, beautiful. My small hand grazed the shell. It rippled then rocked slightly. My mother’s arms shook, she was weakening. She had given her strength in defeating whatever it was I saw before.
Bringing me into this world hadn’t helped her. The queen eased my body down with her snout. Setting me gently beside the quaking egg. My body curled around it.
“Amazing.” My mother’s voice was low.
“Truly a miracle.” Gran spoke. “A Queen dragon will birth another queen at least seven times in her life, but to bear a King egg.” She shook her head. “That is once in a millennia.” Her voice quivered in awe as cracks began to appear in the egg.
My hand reached out toward a crack, a talon came through. It cut the side of my left hand. I watched fascinated. Turning my hand over I looked at the scar that ran the length from the base of my pinky to the edge of my wrist. I never knew where it had come from..
Instead of crying, the baby me curled its tiny legs up to the egg. I kicked as the dragon inside did the same trying to free itself. A nose poked through a chunk in the shell. My bleeding hand touched it. The tiny dragon tongue flicked out over the wound. The blood slowed, and stopped in seconds.
“Forged in fire, bonded in blood. Nothing will sever them.” Gran watched as the dragon tumbled free. I cried out giggling in delight as my new friend touched my forehead with his own.
“Will he fulfill the prophecy?” my mother asked.
“The future is ever changing. But this child has given us hope. He must go with the dragons. They will tend to his care. Place him in the deep sleep until his time is truly needed.”
“Raise him, Elvira, as if he were your own. Let him know he was born from love.”
“My word is my bound, Queen Rowan. I will care for the child until he is of age to retake his crown.”
“Stay strong Ra…” my mother's voice floated away.
The mist came again. Is swelled around me like a blanket. The only thing solid I could hang onto was the sword. I gripped it as tightly as I could. The world swayed below me. I felt my knees shake. My legs felt like rubber.
The ground rose toward me. The mist was clearing. Arms wrapped around me. I dug my free hand into one. “… ven, are you alright?” Bryant's voice picked up where my mother's had left off.
“Bryant?” I gasped out the name. My head fell backward, the darkness took me. I refused to release the sword to it.
I didn’t know how long I was out of it for. With the visions I saw then passing out. I woke to a worried tone.
“We have tried sir, he will not release the weapon. The only way to take it from his is to break his fingers.
“Like hell you will!” Bryant ground out. A roar was heard close by.
“Can't you quiet the beast?” an angry female voice asked. “It will upset him.”
“A lot less than you are.” I murmured. Bryant was suddenly bending over me.
“Raven? Are you alright?” he asked. I reached up to touch his face, or at least I tried. My arms felt like lead.
“I feel very weak. What did you see?” I asked him. Terror filled his blue eyes.
“Nothing. Solid mist walled up around you. We could not enter or cut through it. Luckily it was but a moment before it vanished. Then you were collapsing.”  Fear tinged his words. I forced my hand upwards. My fingers grazed his cheek.
“I saw her. I saw myself just after I was born. Jauntize, he hatched just for me.” My eyes closed. I struggled to reopen them. “The dragon fire sword, it was hers. She was queen, of both…” sleep took me away from him once more.
There was loud banging. It sounded like fighting. I heard a mighty roar. Energy seemed to slam into me. I was on my feet before my eyes were fully open. Spinning I saw I was in the same room as before. Bryant, Gerry and Ariella stood between me and a group of very angry looking healers. Deriven, Awen and Gem were between me and an open window were the angry dragons hovered. No one was looking at me.
I swayed, the adrenaline leaving my body. “Bryant!”  I called trying to take a step toward him. My body slumped. The floor coming up fast.
‘Hold on to me child, you are safe' an echo of a voice. The dragon queen's head pressed into my hand. Her snout pushing me back. I looked at the vapor dragon. As my body fell onto the bed.
“Queen Blanka, Thank you.” I breathed. She was already fading away. “Stay strong, Raven, the worst is coming.” I was pulled upright as Bryant came to me, sword still in hand.
“Drink this!” A nurse had appeared beside the silver haired elf. She thrust a smoking cup into my hand.
“And please put that weapon away!” she cried.
I took the freezing cold cup from her. “I don't know how.” I whispered as I placed the cup to my lips. As soon as I inhaled the steam, I felt my strength returning. I downed the awful tasting liquid.
“Jauntize, take the dragons to the field, I am ok.” I told him.
“It was not fear for you that we are gathered. My mother called us to come.” I stood. Bryant hovered at my side as I walked to him. I stood on the very edge of the open space. Flipping the sword upwards I pointed it at his nose. He chuckled.
“The dragon fire sword.”
“She killed them all, but I am not sure why.”
“She committed Genocide of the elfin people. The dragons who died for her did so willingly. She did this to end the war of Countesta, a dragon who turned to the dark elven ways. There is a prophecy that says her kin shall rise again.”
“And so, I believe he has. As have we.” I touched the sword tip to his nose. It burned red hot.
“I will not make the mistake my mother did. I need to find Orlanf.” I stated.
“That is a name lost to history.”  Bryant said. “It was told more than a thousand years ago, during the last great war, he led his people to safety using underground passages. Rumors,  there have never been any such passages found.”
“Where is the Eastern tunnels?”
“No one knows.” We stood looking at each other.
“I need to speak to Allurian.”
“He is King you should use his title.” One of the nurses said.
“The name you said, Queen Blanka,” Ariella said. I nodded.
“She was a dragon, but vanished in the eradication of the woodland elves.”
“I thought they were the woodland elves?” I pointed to those still standing near.
“We are the forest elves. No living soul knows what became of the woodland elves.”
“One does.” I turned and started walking from the room, absent mindedly I replaced the sword into my arm.