Knight for the Prince

Chapter 16 - The Troubled heart of a Prince

A dragon roar fills the sky and Arwin sits upright in his bed. He throws his bedding of and makes haste to get dressed. By the time he hears a second roar, he is halfway getting dressed. He curses as he fumbles with the buttons of his elaborately decorated coat.

A quick inspection of his attire in a mirror confirms that he looks the part of a prince. He belts his sword on, throws his fur coat over his shoulders, and heads out of his guest quarters in Shaundra's castle. With the King's Council looming he has to be at his best behavior especially since nobles from across the land will be watching. One misstep and everyone knows it. He hates these rules of nobility.

He storms through the hallways to get to the courtyard of the castle and see what all the commotion is about. In front of him, he sees Lady Leticia holding her skirts as she hastens in front of him with Sameth and Aranorn both on her heels. Leticia seems angry at something.

It suddenly dawns on him why the sorceress could be so angry. The dragonqueen is coming here. This is bad. That would explain the sudden bustle of soldiers rushing to their posts. With the dragonqueen here it means that every soldier is on full alert including Ristheart's paladin knights.

Arwin smiles at the thought of how easily the paladin knights take such news in their stride. It is as if they expect trouble daily and always stay calm and collected. Leticia exits the hallways into the courtyard and the glare of light is the first he sees through the stone-arched doorway.

As he reaches the door a gust of wind buffets him and he fights to keep the wooden door open and keep it from slamming in his face. He exits just in time to see a dragon flying away from the castle.

A man in heavy armor approaches the king of Shaundra while several servants scurry to fetch the knight's baggage. He stops next to Aranorn. Not wanting to feel the attraction that he has with Sameth. Five dragons land in quick succession and each delivers a knight with baggage before taking flight again.

Even with this distance between them he is overwhelmingly aware of Sameth's presence and the attraction he feels towards the knight is like thick ropes threatening to drag him into those alluring golden eyes that keeps haunting him.

Arwin watches the coach roll in with fascination. Several servants and soldiers quickly move aside as the horses pulling the coach gallops into the courtyard. The couch came over the drawbridge and through the stone arch gate unto the cobbled stone courtyard. A shadow falls over the castle and fearing to see the evil griffon king, he looks skyward to see a huge dragon blocking the sun.

"Aranorn, is that a Blackhawk dragon?" He asks the knight commander.

"Aye. Second largest dragon in the land. The largest is the fiery dragon, but will only come when summoned by the dragonqueen. Let's hope things will not go that way. The dragon is unpredictable and can as easily turn on us as it can fight Drachna," replies Aranorn.

He watches as the royal family exits the coach. Arwin's attention perks up when he sees a five-year-old girl exits ahead of her mother. She has the same unusual silver eyes as her mother but shares the same jet black hair like her father. Her hair color is in complete contrast to the silver hair of her mother and her own eyes. It makes the girl's silver eyes shine out like beacons.

A golden dragon pendant around the girl's neck is the only sign of the girl's true station.

His mother quickly closes the distance and greets the silver-haired woman with a jubilant hug. The silver-haired woman smiles warmly at Evelyn and introduces the princess. The wind blows away most of their conversation but the girl's name echoes through the courtyard. Rebecca of Black Mountain is both the dragonqueen and the heir to the throne of the Golden Valley.