Prince Billard tapped his leg vigorously on the floor as he sat on his chair in his chamber. His golden eyes had darkened as it had been way too long since Seraphina and the men he had assigned, went to save his little brother. He hadn't heard anything or any information till now and it was making him worry.
"Your Highness..." Master Valentine was in his chamber as well and from his demeanor, it seemed he had been patiently waiting for any news. There was no trace of worry or anything as he said, "Don't worry too much. The Dragon Guards I have sent, they aren't new to this. They had fought alongside Princess Seraphina before, against the wizards. I'm sure they will inform you as soon as they get any information on the Young Prince."
Prince Billard knew the old advisor was a very sharp man and he never did anything without making any future measurement. If he had sent only the four guards along with the three dragon princesses, he must have thought something. After being with the man since his childhood, he knew one thing that Master Valentine always thought of many outcomes before considering a positive step. And he had admired him for that.
Because Master Valentine asked him to call for help, he had to send a letter to the lords of the sages for the three princesses. He didn't understand the meaning behind it. He was curious but right there it didn't concern him. All he wanted was Demian to come back home safely.
His heart took speed after each second passed and it was overbearing to wait any longer. If he had any knowledge, he would have run toward to save Demian but for that he needed to wait.
Billard knew only a few people can't handle a large guild of wizards so he made sure that one of them sent him the location of the wizards' hideout. He had prepared a large army and was only waiting for a small information to come right to him.
"I'm more worried about Demian's transformation," Prince Billard said as he took a deep breath. He was worried and sad about everything that was happening to him. First, the abduction, second, the transformation, and the third, Zenith.
He felt his life was falling apart and as if someone had placed a curse on him, it was going downhill. He felt helpless and didn't understand what to do and the only one he had to rely on was Master Valentine.
He looked at Master Valentine with a pair of sad eyes and asked, "What went wrong?"
"Pardon, Your Highness?" Asked Master Valentine as he was disrupted from his thoughts.
"What went wrong in my work that everything is going out of my hands now?" He said with gritted teeth. He was angry but he didn't know what to do to release that anger. He was frustrated but didn't know what he should do about it. He had always been cautious about everything he had done, whether it was for a good cause or a bad cause. He took early measurement before taking a step and it was all he learnt from Master Valentine yet the situation getting out of his hands which made him more hopeless.
Master Valentine looked at him for a moment as if he was reminiscing his words before telling it to him. Then he said, "First, Your Highness needs to calm down and I don't think I have ever taught my Princes to become a worry-tart in dangerous situations like this."
Billard raised a brow as he was spellbound by his word. He had never seen or heard the old advisor using any words that would offend them. Even when Demian was rude and acted on impulse, he maintained his coolness.
"Err... I meant," it seemed Master Valentine realized what he said and he immediately tried to correct it, "it is not a good trait to be panicky when you are going to be a future king. A king should be strong even when he is placed in difficult times and needs to take difficult decisions with dangerous things in mind. Because of your people, because of..."
"Master Valentine, are you losing your patience as well?" Billard asked with narrow eyes as Master Valentine snapped his head at him and said, "Of course not! Bah! This situation is nothing like I had been into."
Billard nodded but now he could notice the tense in his eyes although he was still trying to maintain his posture. He chuckled to himself as he felt that there were times when a most cool person can lose his cool. He could not blame him or expect him to keep his cool knowing how dire the situation was.
"Pardon me for saying this, Your Highness..." Master Valentine said as Billard looked at the advisor before him who looked down at the ground with defeated shoulders and as if he lost half of his age already, he looked like any other old man who should be resting after their retirement, yet he was still serving them. Billard felt sorry for the poor advisor.
Master Valentine continued, "If anything goes wrong, I will resign my post."
Billard's eyes went wide as the advisor said, "I have been tasked to take care of both of you till my death but," a sigh left from his lips, "both of your lives have been in a disaster and it keeps coming. It was all because of me."
Billard kept quiet as he added, "I should have been more careful but I failed you and my old friend. I failed to keep my promise."
"You didn't," Billard said as Master Valentine looked up with a pair of hopeful eyes, "You have never failed us, Master Valentine. It is just we have failed you."
"What do you mean?"
"You have been teaching a lot of things to both of us and taking care of us yet, we always did the wrong thing or somehow our decisions became wrong. But you never left us and still kept protecting us." Billard gave a small smile, "We learnt nothing."
"It's not true." Master Valentine retorted, "Both of you Salamander brothers have surpassed me long ago. It's just that the situation is not good."
"Then it applies to you as well."
Master Valentine nodded as he smiled and looked up, "Yes, the situation is not right."
As their conversation ended they heard hurried steps coming to them and both moved impatiently in their chairs as the knock came.
"Come in!" Billard could no longer wait as the guard came in and he asked, "What is it?"
"A small note came from them." The guard informed and Billard stood up immediately as Master Valentine followed him. Their hearts hammered against their chest as adrenaline ran through them.
"What it says, prey, tell me." Billard asked as Master Valentine's eyes bore on the guard.
The man nodded and said, "Princess Seraphina and the group followed the enemy to their hideout and it seemed they are in the flying castle."
*****
"Err... Can someone tell me," Seraphina looked at the sky as she narrowed her eyes while one of her hands shaded her eyes from the brightness of the sun, "How the hell can we get into that?"
She pointed her hand to the giant castle that floated in the sky in a vast desert where no one could ever think a castle could be. Well, no one ever thought a castle could be in the sky either. The castle had giant trees and algae sprouting on it while waterfalls streamed down from it yet the water was evaporating before it could reach the ground.
"I had no idea there was any castle in the middle of a desert. Not a castle but a flying castle." Sakina said as she shrugged her mouth because no one had even seen such a thing before.
"There isn't." Reginald said as Seraphina and the two girls looked at him. "This wasn't here until today or until a few days ago."
"You mean, this whole castle came here all of a sudden?" Seraphina asked.
Reginald didn't say a word as he moved his eyes everywhere and nodded, "Yes. It wasn't here when my men went to..."
He paused as if he realized he wasn't supposed to say anything more than what they needed to know. Both Xia and Sakina narrowed their eyes at him as he changed his subject avoiding the stares of both dragon princesses, "It might be the dark guild's guild house."
"No way!" Seraphina said and although she should be a little wary of that immense power that held the castle in the sky, she felt a tingle in her belly from excitement. "This is cool."
"Yes, I want a flying castle for me too," Sakina said as she was another admirer beside Seraphina.
"It is not the time to be impressed by your enemy!" Xia growled angrily at them but they both were in awe and had completely forgotten about how to get in that giant castle.
"The question is how do we get there?" Xia asked, gaining everyone's attention as Seraphina went in a thought and looked hopefully at Reginald as she knew Reginald could sense everyone's energy from a distance.
Feeling her hopeful eyes Reginald said, "I can sense Prince Demian in there."
Seraphina's eyes went wide as she felt all her energy back into her stirred in her belly. She felt restless and an unsettling feeling nested in her as she finally felt hopeful to see Demian again.
She clenched her fists and an aura of fire sipped from her body as she said, "Time to pay them a visit."
"How?" Sakina asked, cutting the moment.
"Err..." Seraphina put her hand on her chin as she said, "Can we make a ladder?"
"With sand?" Sakina asked and answered at the same time, "Yes, of course! Why didn't we think of such an excellent idea!"
Seraphina rolled her eyes as she could clearly see Sakina was making fun of her but it was true, there wasn't anything to make a ladder. She ran her thoughts and said again, "Maybe we can throw ropes with hooks!"
Xia looked up and it was so high that even with a hook the rope wouldn't reach, and making a ladder that tall was impossible. "Are you sure it can reach?"
Seraphina looked at the castle above them again and decided against it. "It can't."
"Of course it can't!" Sakina growled in frustration and said, "Or, maybe we can wait here until they notice us and take us as their guests..." She threw her hands in the air in frustration as every possible idea was becoming useless.
"Or maybe we can fly there," Reginald said as all three of them looked at him with a bored look.
Sakina looked around and said, "There aren't any birds here who can give us a ride to the castle!"
Now it seemed Sakina was more frustrated than anyone as they came this far yet unable to reach their goal.
Reginald looked at them with a blank face. Although his face was devoid of emotions yet there was a faint smirk playing on his lips as he said, "You don't need a bird when you have a dragon."