Well people, I forgot to mention something important, or semi-important, in the previous chapters. Remember the medallion Blanchefleur found in the Desert all the way at the end of the first book, silver with a green dragon? Maybe you already guessed it but it belonged to Sofia. I'm going back to change it at some point but for now... sorry =S
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When I woke up the first thing I noticed as I stared at the wall was that it wasn’t sand colored. In fact, it was white. And the bed felt different as well; the sheets were a lot thinner than what I had slept under these was three nights. But then again, it was hot in the room; unlike in it had been in the cave.
Rolling onto my back I took in the ceiling, higher up than it had been in my bedroom in Istana Pasir. There was no doubt in my mind as to where I was right now. In fact, even the void in my mind was filled. It felt good to have Zjarr back in my mind even though at the moment she was completely silent. Everything was silent. But I didn’t care.
The light streamed in through the window, casting a soft orange slow onto everything in the room. It made me feel relax. A gentle breeze blew in as well. Somehow I just knew that this was real. I felt it. The breeze was fresh, not like it had been in the cavern. And the light was not just a reflection of the sunlight on the Desert high above my head.
I tried pushing myself up and into a seating position but decided against it after I was half upright already. Falling back into the soft pillow, a laugh escaped from my lips. Somehow, just knowing that I was out of the Desert filled me with so much happiness. All I wanted to do was bask in the short moment of glee.
And if this was how I felt after only three days at Istana Pasir, I could barely imagine how the other Dragon Knights must be feeling. They had died in that cave hundreds of years ago and had come back to life thanks to me. And above all they had been able to leave there. Sure it was to help me so they couldn’t really relax just yet but it was still better than nothing.
Looking around the room, or at least what I could see of it from my lying position in the bed, I noticed that it wasn’t one of the Dragon Knight bedrooms. This one only had a bed in it and a dresser. And a door though I had no idea where it led to. I didn’t really care in that moment. My eyes just closed again after a moment.
I must have fallen asleep again because when I opened my eyes again it was dark in the room. Night. All the sunlight was gone and everything was just darkness and shadows. Until the door opened and a small strip of light appeared on the floor. I could hear the faint voices from outside of the room but I was still too much daze to concentrate on it. Then before I knew it someone walked into the room, holding a single candle. It wasn’t enough to light the whole room but it was just enough for my eyes to take in the shadow walking in.
The shadow approached the bed until it saw me looking at them. It stopped right there and looked back at me.
“So, you’re finally awake?” The voice cut through the daze I was in and I found myself concentrating on it. “You gave us quite a scare, you know? First disappearing and then we found you passed out in the Desert.”
“Oh hush. I didn’t pass out I simply fell asleep.” I mumbled, holding up an arm against the candle light.
“And what is the difference?” Robin asked, arching an eyebrow.
“I don’t know but I just wanted to point out that I fell asleep and did not just drop down on that spot.” I shrugged, sitting up in the bed.
“It sure looked like it.” He sat down on the bed after putting the candle on the side table. “But I’m glad you’re back. And Zjarr as well; I think she was scared the most. She couldn’t even feel you anymore.”
“I couldn’t feel her either. I don’t know, it was really strange but somehow it explained how all those Knights disappeared.”
I could see that he was thinking about what I was talking, without really understanding. I could see on his face the exact moment he decided to push it aside and change the subject. But then my stomach growled and I could see on his face that he had heard it.
“That was exactly why I came here; to see if you were awake and if so, can you come down to dinner?”
I nodded and started by throwing back the covers. To my surprise I was wearing a nightgown, and one that wasn’t mine. Startled I looked around the room searching for my clothes and eventually I found everything, neatly folded and seemingly clean, on a chair not too far from the bed.
Robin saw me looking and got up off the bed, “I’ll wait outside.” And he left.
The clothes were the same ones I had worn when I was at Istana Pasir except all the sand and dust was gone. The bag with letters from Sofia was underneath them and I flung it over my shoulder once I was dressed. I was tempted to leave my boots in the room, just to feel the cold stone under my feet but I didn’t think it would be a good idea for dinner. When I was done, I racked a brush through my hair, which was tangled with knots.
Robin was waiting in the corridor, leaving against the wall and looked up when he heard the door opening. He didn’t say anything, and neither did I, while we walked through corridors and down stairs before we eventually ended up in front of the dining hall. I didn’t know why but for some reason I was nervous about this. Robin didn’t noticed and went right on in and I had no other choice but to follow him.
Just like it had been before I left for the Desert with Robin, the table was almost empty. King Brant sat at the head of the table and Queen Fiore was on his right. Kevin was on his left and next to the Queen was his little sister Maëva. All the other seats were empty like they had been the first time. When Robin walked in, they all turned and looked our way. Well, my way. I froze for a moment, not knowing what to do. But Robin grabbed my hand and gently pulled to along. He pulled out the seat next to Kevin for me to sit down before sitting down next to me.
Maëva seemed to be the only one who wasn’t sort of staring at me. Well with Robin, who only occasionally cast a glance my way.
“Princess, it is good to have you back amongst us,” The King smiled warmly. I smiled back but didn’t dare tell him it was good to be back. It felt too weird sitting here right then. “And naturally we want to hear all about the past few days because you gave us quite a scare.” For a moment I thought his eyes drifted past me to Robin but when I looked the elf’s face was blank. Thinking about it, of course Robin would be worried more than the others here.
“But first you have to eat something; you must be hungry after several days without food.” Queen Fiore smiled and for the first time I felt like I could speak up.
“Not really. I haven’t eaten since you found me in the Desert but before that I ate along with all the other Dragon Knights.”
She looked confused and I knew that I would have a lot to explain. But like promised I got to eat first. It was different than what I had had with the Knights, less fruit and vegetables. At Istana Pasir there had been a bowl of fruit on the table no matter what time of the day. I had mostly eaten fruit there and little meat, which was usually the first thing to disappear of the table. The conversation around me was about all kinds of things but I didn’t feel like joining in. Instead I had a somewhat private conversation with Maëva, who told me all about her dolls and that she had already learned how to write her own name.
I could feel eyes looking over me occasionally but no one asked me anything, other than if I wanted more of a dish or more wine. When the food was cleared away the conversations slowly died down and all attention was back on me.
So without beating around the bush I told them everything. From the moment the Desert sucked me up and I woke up on the pile of bones to the last meal with the Knights and collapsing tunnel before I fell asleep in the Desert. Some things I didn’t mention like everything that Sofia had told me about her marriage with Priam, which I still found weird, and that they had had a daughter who looked very much like me. I mean it wasn’t like I wanted to keep it secret but I didn’t see how it was relevant.
When I was done I put the bag on the table and emptied it, for the first time catching a glimpse of what was inside. There were indeed all the letters that Sofia had written inside. All carried the same writing on one side, with a candlewax seal just under it, sealing the letter shut. No way for me to find out what exactly she had written. I scanned them all, searching for the one that read ‘King and Queen of Sable Sucré’. Once I found it I handed it to Kevin, who handed it to his father.
Absentmindedly I put the other letters back in the bag while watching King Brant open it and read it over. I briefly wondered if I would have to tell every King and Queen about what had happened in the Desert before handing them the letters. If that was the case I might as well right it down and learn it by heart.
King Brant’s eyes went over the letter extremely fast and once he was done he read it again. We all waited in silence, watching him closely for any kind of reaction.
“What is in the letter?” Robin whispered so only I could hear.
“No idea; Sofia didn’t let me read.”
When he was done reading the letter he passed it to his wife but looked right at me. The Queen read the letter over, her eyes going from Kevin to me. I was beginning to guess what was written in the letter. And I wasn’t sure whether I liked it or not. And then I thought about one detail; how had she signed the letter? Was my name on the bottom of the paper or was Sofia’s? Once Queen Fiore was done she handed the letter back to her husband.
“I think that what you ask is up to Kevin to decide and not to me,” The King kept the letter in his hand and occasionally reread some parts of it.
“She asked him to fight, didn’t she? The whole royal blood thing.” I guessed. “How did she sign the letter?”
“What do you mean ‘she’, are you not the one who wrote this letter?” I shook my head. “So you have no idea what is in here?”
“I can only guess. So Sofia signed the letter with my name, should I be worried?”
“No, I don’t think so. But it is probably more up to Kevin.”
And he handed the letter to Kevin, who read it over quickly. I was seriously beginning to wonder just what exactly Sofia had written. Maybe she should have come with me instead of going Tien knows where with Ahiga. I mean, she wrote those letters, she should be the one to hand them out.
No wait. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t do everything for me. After all I had been chosen for this prophecy; because of my bloodline. Wasn’t that great?!
“I’ll do it. I’ll fight.”
"That’s good. I knew you would." King Brant said, nodding gravely.
Of course he would be proud of his son. He was willingly going to fight some evil that rises in the evil, something that still didn't make any sense to me. If Seelan was from Fullmånethan why did the evil come from the east? Sofia said he didn't live there anymore but what was there in the east? Desert, which meant a lot of sand. Maybe there was something beyond the Desert like the Dragon Mountains. No one had ever put it on a map so I couldn't be sure. Or maybe there was nothing.
"Now about the other matter she wrote about; explain to me why you would want all royals to meet up here?" King Brant looked at me again.
I was getting a little annoyed with Sofia; she was asking all these things in my name, the least she could have done was let me read the letters. But no, I had no idea what was going on. Though I might have an idea of what she wanted from the King of Sable Sucré.
"There is a castle in the Desert called Istana Pasir," I started.
"Castle of Sand?" The Queen asked. I was slightly taken aback by the fact that she knew what it meant. Personally I only knew because Sofia had mentioned it in one of the dreams otherwise I would have never assumed it meant anything in particular.
"Castle of Sand, yes. The entire castle is built with sand though it is as solid as one made out of stones. The Dragon Knights who disappeared right before the end of the Great War all met up there and they built the castle. I haven't asked the question to Sofia directly, or anyone else for that matter, but I think the idea behind it was so that we would have a place to go to between battles. It's just a feeling I'm having but I think that is why it was built. Why the God and Goddesses from that time wanted the Knights to build it."
"And how do you find that castle?"
"I have no idea. I ended up there by accident, so to say, the elements wanted me to go and find Sofia and I did. It was in a big cave under the Desert. A lot of magic was at work there; the sun setting and rising was only visible because of it. But Sofia told me that once I would leave the old Knights would be able to leave and the castle would open up to the rest of the world."
"So, if we were to send someone into the Desert, to the spot where you were found, they should find a castle." Kevin summed up.
I started nodding but then remembered something, so I said, "No," which surprised them all. "I had been running for hours before I could get to the surface. I had been pointed to a tunnel that would lead me back but it collapsed the moment I set foot inside. The castle itself is much further into the Desert, I think."
"So, how would you find it if you don't know where it is?"
Everyone around the table must be confused, except for Maëva who barely payed attention. I didn't have the answer to that question. I had ended up there by luck. Maybe Zjarr could spot it from the sky but what if it was protected by magic and she wouldn't be able to see it? And if we started looking from where they had found me, there was still a lot of Desert to be searched. I had taking so many turns I wouldn't be surprised if the tunnel had doubled over.
But then I felt something heat up under my shirt and before I knew it, the two intertwined medallions, Tien's and Sofia's, seemed to float out from under it. Sofia’s medallion was glowing brighter than Tien but was still cooler. And then they just stopped floating and fell against my chest, hot and glowing.
"I think the answer to that question is hanging around your neck," Robin remarked. "Tien's medallian but I don't recognize the second one."
"It's Sofia's. I found it in the Desert right before I fell. Look, it even has a picture of Ahiga," I smiled as I showed him the green painted dragon. "I think that somehow, the two medallions will show us where to go. Maybe with Robin's golden arrow but this is the key to finding the castle."
"And you want all royals to meet up here so that you can all go to this Castle of Sand together."
"Basically." I shrugged.
King Brant nodded but seemed thoughtful. I caught the Queen narrowing her eyes at her husband, which made Kevin smile a little. Before the King could say anything, or do anything, the Queen turned to me with a graceful smile.
"And they are welcome to stay here. As the prophecy says 'helped by every living creature' and we are part of that group as well, are we not?" She turned to her husband, daring him to go against her. Naturally he didn't and just nodded. She turned back to me and smiled again. Next to me Kevin seemed to be have a bit of trouble to keep his laughter in check.
"Just wait until you are married with Rosalinde. Although, she seems to be able to order you around already."
He blushed just slightly but smiled as well. "When she wants to, she could have me do every chore on the farm and I wouldn't be able to tell her no."
From there conversation turned away from the prophecy and Istana Pasir and stayed on Kevin and Rosalinde for a while. The wedding was planned for next spring although I wasn't sure how they were able to tell the difference. Maybe the weather got hotter. But when Maëva started yawning, I started as well and when the Queen went to put her daughter to bed, I took the opportunity to leave as well.
I had barely made it up the stairs that Robin was catching up to me. I wasn't sure whether I needed to go to the room I had slept in last night or if I was supposed to head to the Dragon Knight quarters. Finally I decided on the latter. I wanted to see Zjarr because feeling her was not the same thing as seeing her. And I wanted to tell her all about Istana Pasir, and tell Robin at the same time.
When we reached the top floor, Zjarr wasn’t even waiting inside the little house I had been staying in and instead was pacing around in the common space where dragons landed. The moment I stepped into the space she froze right where she was, her golden eyes staring right at me. I now noticed that, although it was unnerving to have her stare at me, it was nowhere near as uncomfortable as Isen’s gaze. Or maybe it was just at that exact moment that it felt normal. Her eyes were warm and sparkled with happiness although I could still see the worry in them. It must have been even worse for her not to feel me than it had been for me.
I went to her and passed my arms around her head, hugging her. The warmth of her scales under my skin felt so familiar and good. Though I couldn’t pass my arms around her head quite as easily as that first time when my parents had first seen her. As I touched her it felt like the first time, when we bonded, like the bond was being wooing between the two of us, something special, something good.
And then she breathed out through her nose, puffing out a cloud of smoke right into my face, making me cough. Waving a hand in front of my face in the hopes of clearing the smoke a little, I stepped back.
“That was uncalled for.” I coughed, trying to completely ignore Robin, who was laughing behind me.
“That was an accident,” Zjarr replied and I couldn’t help but smile, finally hearing my own dragon’s voice in my head again.
There was a silence between the two of us while I appreciated Zjarr proximity and she stared at me. But I didn’t mind for once. It was Robin, who broke the silence, reminding me that he was also there.
“Maybe we should go inside so that you can tell Zjarr and me what really happened because I know you left some things out in the dining room.”
“Only the not important stuff,” I shrugged as we walked inside. The floor shook as Zjarr walked over to the house as well and duck into the living room and it was good to know who the dragon was that was making so much noise. That was had me a bit unnerved at Istana Pasir; not knowing which dragon was walking around. Then again, there had been quite a few even though I only met Ahiga and Isen.
Once we sat down I started telling them about the past few days, leaving nothing out. Nothing related to the Knights, nothing related to the dragons, nothing related to the castle and the surrounding grounds, nothing about what Sofia had told me. I even mentioned my resemblance to Sofia’s and Priam’s daughter. In other words I mentioned everything. I even told them that about Isen being a different kind of dragon.
Zjarr listened almost without blinking, and even Robin, who had already heard the story, listened closely. I showed them the medallion and all the letters. I gave them an as detailed description of the castle as I could. And when I was done I took a deep breath and slowly let it back out. That was a long story I got the feeling I would be telling a lot more.
“That is a lot of adventure of one person, in three days, don’t you think?” Zjarr asked in that motherly tone that made me feel like I did something wrong.
“I agree, but it wasn’t exactly my fault, now was it?”
“True.”
“Now tell me, what happened here while I was under the Desert?” I asked, looking expectantly from Zjarr to Robin and back.
“Zjarr seemed to lose it in the beginning, made me dig a hole in the Desert in the hopes of finding you. And let me tell you what the both of us learned from that experience; digging a hole in the Desert is next to impossible. Right Zjarr?” Robin sort of grinned, sort of complained.
Zjarr groaned. “You would lose it to if a part of you suddenly disappeared before your eyes.”
And Robin had no come back to that, just sat in his armchair in silence, staring down at the ground as ashamed. After a moment he raised his eyes again and looked at me. “We stayed there in the Desert for a few hours, trying everything we could think of to try and find you before, out of nowhere, this goddess appeared. Enfys, I think she was called.”
“You saw Enfys? She was the one who told Sofia the bad news where she got trapped in that cave.”
“Well, she gave us the bad news as well,” Zjarr grunted. “She said we wouldn’t be able to find you; we couldn’t go to you but that you would come to us once you were ready, whatever that meant.” I stared at Zjarr in disbelief; I hadn’t ever heard her taking like this, so disrespectful. Even Robin stared.
To turn the attention away from the dragon, he cleared his throat and went on. “That was what she said and, because she was a goddess, we took her word for it. The next morning we went back to Sable Sucré. Well Zjarr went and came back occasionally to make sure I was heading the right way. We even kept going during the night. Once we made it back we explained what happened to the King, who seemed to feel sorry for us, like he actually thought we weren’t going to find you again.” He paused and looked at Zjarr, maybe to see if she wanted to add something. But she remained silent. “For two days were tried to keep ourselves occupied and not worry too much. And then, a few hours after the sun set Zjarr felt you again. She almost left without me in her hurry to get to you.”
I smiled at Robin, returning the smile that had appeared on his face as he told me the last part. Next I turned to Zjarr and my smile grew even wider.
“It doesn’t matter now, you’re back, and I am not letting you out of my sight again. You can count on that young Knight.” And as if to prove her point, Zjarr moved her head closer to me and stared at me fixedly.
I nodded, totally agreeing with her. “That’s okay with me.” I paused, wondering if it was too soon to bring it up. “What are we going to do about the other letters?”
“What do you mean? Aren’t you supposed to bring them to the families themselves?” Robin asked confused.
“Well I’m not sure. It seems like the logical thing to do but won’t that take up a big amount of time?”
“That depends, if you just give them the letter as soon as you arrive, you tell your story and you’re on your way again the next morning, then no; it shouldn’t take more than a week and a half. If you fly of course.”
“But I can’t do that. If I get there and I do all that, they will probably invite me to stay for a few days because they are bound to have questions. And what about you? You are part of this prophecy as well. But it will take a bit longer if you come along because Zjarr can only carry two for so long.”
“For longer than you think; I have grown as well,” Zjarr cut in a bit offended.
“Can I see the letters?” Robin asked suddenly.
I shrugged and empty the bag with letters on the table in front of us. He shuffled through them for a while until he pulled out on. It looked just like the others but when he showed it to me I felt a pang of guilt. That one was for Queen Lagina of the Elves. I hadn’t, for a moment, thought there might be one for them.
“I can deliver this one while you do the rest. I doubt you want to go there again. Besides, Svadilfari should be done with my potion by now.”
“You still want to take it?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Why wouldn’t I?” He frowned, and I couldn’t blame him. We spent all that time with the elves so that he could get that potion again but after staying at Istana Pasir for a few days I felt like it was wrong. Like he shouldn’t take it.
“Well, Varteni herself broke the spell when we triggered the prophecy, right? There must be a reason why she did that. The prophecy is about a dragon and a Knight and an elf; but how will people know you are an elf if you hide it? Am I explaining this the right way or don’t you understand a thing I want to say?”
“No, I get it. It’s just that it has been a long time since I have looked like myself. I’m… I’m…”
“Afraid of what people with think?” I suggested. He frowned when he looked at me but I could see that I was right. “You shouldn’t be. It doesn’t matter what people think; it’s who you are and there is nothing they can do about it, no matter how hard they try.”
“Where is this coming from all of the sudden?”
“I don’t know if you noticed but I’m a Princess who bonded with a dragon. That is bound to bring so problems with it. Sir Wooden wasn’t too happy about it and I don’t think he has just accepted it over the months we’ve been gone. But it doesn’t matter whether he likes it or not; I’m a Dragon Knight now, or heading that way, and there is nothing he can do about it. That doesn’t mean I’m not apprehensive of what he will try to do about it but I’m not going to show him he scares me. And you shouldn’t either; after all, royals are just people, it’s not like they can smell fear.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Entirely sure about it.”
He nodded and tried to give me a weak smile but it wasn’t very convincing. We’ll work on it. I would help him. After all he had helped me often enough. It was the least I could do. I shifted through the letters on the table and displayed them so that they formed a make-shift map of the continent, except that there was a big hole where Tanah Bulan was supposed to be and Sable Sucré.
“How about this, we go to Emeraude together first, after that I head to Rubis with Zjarr and you head to Álfar. If you go by horse we should be meeting up again in Teixeira, after about a week, if I stop at home first. I don’t know what made you think a week and a half would be enough but we can’t make that deadline.”
“You want to go home? While you should be delivering those letters?” Both Robin and Zjarr seemed surprised by that but in my mind it was sort of normal.
“That evil Dragon Knight Seelan, the one causing all this trouble, he is from Fullmåne. Did I mention that?” I was sure I had, but Robin shook his head and Zjarr grumbled something in her own thoughts that I couldn’t quite hear. “Sofia told me. Anyway, I thought maybe there was something about him in our library. Or maybe Vadmin knows something.”
Robin nodded and went back to staring to the letters. He seemed hesitant about it all. But it felt like the right course of action to take. We would go to Emeraude all together; Robin would see that royals, indeed, don’t smell fear. After that he could go home, deliver the letter in my place and decided whether he would take the potion or not and then head to Teixeira. Meanwhile I would go to Rubis and back to Tanah Bulan. Before joining him in Teixeira. That way we would go to the final four Kingdoms, including Teixeira together.
“Okay, that’s how we’ll do it. We can tell King Brant in the morning.”
“Good idea.”
Robin yawned then, something I hardly ever saw and it made me smile. I was a little tired even though I had slept all day but he probably hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep these past few days.
“Just go to bed, we’ll figure the rest out in the morning.” I told him.
He smiled and pushed himself out of the armchair. “I’m really glad you’re back. But if you leave in the middle of the night again, I swear I’ll be mad when I find you again.”
“A good thing I’m not planning on leaving tonight.”
“Good night then.”
And with that he walked out of the little house, closing the door behind him. I turned to Zjarr and gave her a smile; I was tired as well but I didn’t want to sleep in bed. I wanted to be close to my dragon tonight. So I made myself comfortable between her front legs and she put her head down, curling her next so that it was beside me.
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So that was it. I feel like I made you wait about a month for 7 pages well waisted. Nothing really happened here but soon something will... I think.
Anyway I'm sorry it took me forever to write this. I had a block somewhere in the beginning and I didn't know how to continue. I also have a lot of French homework to do and the teacher is really getting on my nerves. She is terrible! But that isn't all, I'm still working on the story I started for the NaNoWriMo because I can publish it for free before June 30th and I have a friend who wants a copy so I have that deadline as well.
I'll try to get another chapter up before we go to England with school in 2 weeks but I have a lot of homework to do and have exams next week. But I can still try.
~~ Bye ~~