Fraya woke with her head pounding and opened her eyes. The girl shrieked and closed her eyes again. It was so dark that she could not see, or whatever the traitors had given her had made her blind. Fraya opened her eyes again as far as they would go and stumbled around, trying to figure out where she was. Fraya was finally rewarded by the sight of a floating candle just outside her cell door and sagged against the wall. She wasn't blind.
That was one of Fraya's worst fears. Not being able to see the sun every morning as it came over the horizon, the rolling hills and forests of her homeland, and especially Balthasar. How would she live if she were not a Guard of her Realm? What would she do with her life? Fraya shuddered and looked for a window, seeing a small one with bars over it about a jump away from the ground. Fraya jumped and her body slammed against the wall, but she'd grabed the bars just in time and pulled herself up to see what she could see.
The girl saw many slippered feet rushing past , and thought it was odd that she heard not one sound from them. The people were entirely silent, and it gave Fraya a very bad feeling. She hopped down and turned around to survey her cell with her adjusted eyes, "Well." She harumphed, feeling her heart drop lower each second.
"Well what?" Said a voice, distinctly male. Fraya jumped and walked the four steps to the barred door, "Who's there?" She asked as steadily as she could. "Nobody, just some other poor deprived soul rotting in the cell to your left." Fraya rolled her eyes. If he thought he was getting any sympathy from her, he was going to be disappointed. "Where are we?" She asked. "A jail, one under the capital building."
Fraya's breath hissed between her teeth, "I never knew of such a prison. Only the one adjoining to this building."
"Yeah, only the same three guards come down here, and if there's a special prisoner that needs talking to, Aurelio." The person in the other cell said chattily. "Do you know how long it's been since I've had someone to talk to? There's someone else in here somewhere but the guy is not social at all! It's really irritating."
"Yeah..." Fraya muttered. This guy was obviously cracked. "How long have you been down here?" She asked. "Oh, I don't know. The floating candles let me know whenever someone comes and goes down here because they're lit when the cell is occupied, but that's not much of a way for tell... Oh, and I think the guards come in twice a day for meals so..." He trailed off, thinking, and Fraya could practically see him in her mind's eye, squinting as he counted on his fingers. "Probably a couple years." Fraya's jaw dropped, "What did you DO?" She gasped.
"I found out a secret. A really big nasty secret, actually you could say it's more than one, that the King didn't want known so I'm down here for the rest of my life actually... But I get better food then you do because I'm a permanent resident! So ha!"
"Um, that must be a plus." Fraya said, feeling her initial horror and shock at being locked in a prison receding. Talking to this guys was like therapy, not that she'd know what therapy was like because whenever anyone suggested it, Fraya would stare them down for so long they would forget what the conversation was about.
"Will you tell me your secret?" The girl asked curiously.
"Only if you become my bestest friend, and tell me who you are and why you're here."
Fraya was slightly taken aback at his bluntness, "Well, first, how long have I been down here? You must have seen them bring an unconcious girl-" "YES I KNOW! Yesterday. And?" Fraya jumped back at his sudden outbreak and her hands started shaking slightly. She did not like this place. Not at all.
As she answered, Fraya moved away from the door, looking for whatever else was in her cell with her, "I'm not quite sure why I'm down here." She said as she crossed her arms at a hole in the ground that was obviously for the call of nature. "The Council is corrupt. Poisoned, probably by that power hungry Aurelio and his stupid dragon, I'm sure."
"Hmm," the other guy said. "So who are you?"
"I'm a Guard! Bound to a dragon and supposed to be protecting this Realm!"
"Hmm." He said again. Fraya sighed as she found a thin mattress in the corner, "So what's your name?"
"Me?" He sounded surprised. "I'm just called the Eternal. Because I'm 'eternally' living here. The guards thought they were being funny. But it's not funny! It's mean!" Fraya winced and a door slammed upen above them. She heard the thud of feet against stairs and saw two guards walk up to her. Fraya glared at them with all her hate. "Why am I here?" She demanded. The two guards slid a tray under her door and turned to the 'Eternal' and did the same thing. "WHY WAS I PUT IN THIS STUPID JAIL!" Fraya screeched at them, her knuckled turning white from holding the bars of her door.
The guards didn't even bother to look at her as they slid the third tray under the door of a cell on the far side of the hallway, slightly to the left. The two men sighed and shook their heads like she was simply a little girl having a temper tantrum, and began to climb the stairs again. Fraya felt tears prick her eyes and clenched her teeth. "SEND AURELIO DOWN HERE! I WANT TO TALK TO HIM!" She yelled at the top of her lungs just before the crash of the door ended her one-sided conversation.
Fraya sank down and put her head in her hands and tried to ignore the Eternal humming tonelessly. There was a real chance of her going crazy down here.
Balthasar glared down at the war party like he had been for the past three days, thinking over what the scout had said again. The King had been sitting at Lord Jarvis's desk, staring down at something with the dark haired young man wearing the circlet- The Prince. Then the scout had dropped the flap of the tent. After he'd yanked it open again, he'd seen the King disappear with the Prince just after him. "Something is wrong. There are many unknown secrets down there that we need to know!" Balthasar growled quietly to himself. The dragon narrowed his eyes, hoping the spy was getting on all right in the enemy's camp. He had snuck down the day after Fraya left, and was going to report by the end of the week.
Then Balthasar sighed, he missed Fraya. It almost shocked him to think that because he never expected to get so close to anyone during his lifetime, especially not a 16 year old girl. Thinking of his bond, Balthasar was curious as well as happy that it had stretched but not broken with their distance. There had been one short blip during which Balthasar had been in extreme pain, but it passed in seconds and his and Fraya's bond continued to burn inside them. Lieutenant Brooks was not so lucky. Everyone could tell when his and Claryn's bond had snapped, and again Balthasar wondered why Devin had chosen to break up two bonded creatures. It hadn't happened in many years, so people had forgotten its consequences. Obviously now they were being reminded.
Lieutenant Brooks was in the infirmary, shivering uncontrolably with a very high fever. Many of the other men were worried that he may not survive the break, but Devin had turned a blind eye, ignoring the Lieutenant's suffering. Before their current mission, Balthasar would have said to any who had asked that Devin was a brave, selfless, and kind man. A strong leader. Now, though, Balthasar was not so sure. What could have changed?
The three days of waiting for the spy were ones of boredom and anxiety. The men were wondering when Fraya and Claryn would get back with reinforcements, when the army on the plains would begin moving again, and just why this army wanted to attack them.
Finally, the haggard man arrived back in camp, going in to see Balthasar immediately. "Lord," the man said, bowing the the dragon. Balthasar regally nodded his head to the spy. Unlike Fraya, who hated ceremony and titles with a passion, Balthasar knew his station in the world, and had proven time and time again that he deserved it.
After Jai, the spy, had eaten, he stood in front of Balthasar and Devin to tell them what he had seen and found out. "I got one more sighting of our King," he said. "It was an extremely fleeting glance, one of the guards held the tent flap open for Jarvis to walk in, but I saw that the King was guarded by the Prince. I couldn't help but notice how much the two of them look alike... I wasn't looking for this of course, but the hair color and shape of the face is very similar." Devin looked sharply at the man, "Jai we did not send you over there to bring us this news. Many people have black hair. Please continue to the relevant information."
Balthasar shot a dark look at the ex-leader of their company, but got no reaction. He then nodded for the spy to continue, "Then men are not very talkative. I could only ask one or two questions before they started getting suspicious of me, and all I got from talking to them was that they have a 'bone to pick with the Octiurans' and that 'the Octiurans won't be protected for much longer, all we need to do it wait them out.'" Balthasar huffed smoke onto Devin as he pondered Jai's input. "What do you think he means about us not being protected?" The dragon asked. Jai shrugged, but Devin shook his head, "That shouldn't be true, we have a large force of welltrained guards in Octiura, even if they've never seen an actual battlefield, they would know what to do if they were thrown into one. We've done so many scenarios for their training that they couldn't NOT know."
The former leader narrowed his eyes, "Unless they're planning on doing a mass killing of our people, in which case yeah, we'd pretty much be unprotected. Other than having the dragons of course, but your kind won't be much help because of the decay of magic that's happening." Balthasar rolled his eyes but thought nothing more of Devin's prod. "I assure you, we can still breathe fire quite well." He added to have the last word. Then Balthasar frowned, thinking of Fraya as he said that. She was the one who always had to have the last word, even if it was best for her to keep her mouth shut. "I guess that's one thing I've picked up from her." Balthasar rumbled to himself. Then he turned back to Jai, who was looking at him curiously, "Is that everything?"
"Well, they have extremely large amounts of supplies. A surplus in everything. I'm pretty sure they're confident that they will outlast us until we become 'unprotected.'"
If dragons had eyebrows, Balthasar would have raised his just then, "And you have something else to add." he noted.
The spy nodded, smiling slightly, "I would personally enjoy making their stay a bit more... Uncomfortable. It would be so unfortunate if, say, a couple of their food caravans caught fire."
Balthasar grinned ferociously, showing all of his sharp white teeth, "I'm very much inclined to agree."
That night, a group of four men joined by a dragon snuck down the the merry camp of their enemy and set two of their tents on fire, destroying the food within. Then they raced back to camp, elated with their victory.
When they returned, Balthasar called a meeting, "Octiurans!" He roared. "Come and gather!" Once everyone had assembled, the dragon lowered his voice a bit, "All right. Now we know that there's not much we can do to make these pricks leave, but there is something we can to do stir them up a bit. Every night, four armed men and a dragon will sneak down to a different part of the camp and either raid or destroy whatever is there. Burn their tents, steal their food, set their horses loose. Create chaos! As soon as they figure out that you're there, get away immediately. Do not get caught up in combat. I assure you there will be enough time for that later." The men chuckled darkly and Bathasar continued, "Go to Devin after this meeting is over to get your assigned groups." He paused for a second, "And maybe we can send down two group to two different parts of their camp... But for now, go. The next group will be number 2 since group 1 has already gone tonight. Adjouned."
With that, all the men walked as fast as dignity would let them, excited to have something to do other than train. Balthasar found Jai, who was the last one left at the meeting area, "That was a smart idea you came up with," Balthasar rumbled. "Time to go back now. Don't jeapordize your cover by not acting surprised when the next attack happens. Just go with it."
Jai looked up at his leader and grinned, "It's all right, I know what to do." Then he got up and sauntered away, back toward the enemy camp. Balthasar chuckled and shook his head at the young man, hoping with all this dragon heart that nothing bad would happen to him in the midst of all those weapons.
Balthasar felt inside himself for his and Fraya's tentative bond and wished she were there with him. He knew that she would absolutely love annoying the enemy camp. Then Balthasar frowned. Jarvis would know that the Octiurans were the ones behind the attacks. The dragon made his way over to Devin's tent and snaked his head in without preamble, "I think it's time for us to pack up." He said.
Devin looked up, startled, "What are you talking about?" He said venemously. "You would run back to Octiura after telling the men about this new plan? Did I choose such an incapable replacement?" Balthasar narrowed his eyes in anger, "I am saying that we should more to a different campsite. Somewhere within the trees, or if that's too far away, behind another hill so they do not know where we are. They'll know where the attacks are coming from and I promise you they'll try to get rid of us." Devin looked relieved, and Balthasar was to furious with the man to think about why, "Go tell the others. Also say that from now on, there will be no fires. We don't want Jarvis and the Prince's men to find us. If they want us they'll just have to leave their cozy camp and come looking, and when they do, we'll be ready." With an unnecessary flick of his tail, Balthasar withdrew his head from Devin's tent and roared fire into the sky, almost causing himself to choke.
The dragon growled in anger at his own weakness, furious that he was losing strength at the moment he needed it the most.
Fraya groaned and tried to plug her ears. The Eternal was humming again, and it was so off key! The girl tried to fill her head with happy thoughts and images, but all she saw was Balthasar, and that just made her sad. Then Fraya got angry, how dare she wallow in her own misery when she should be trying to get an audience with that snake Aurelio! She tried every time the guards came down but they were as mocking and silent as always and she ended up screaming at them every time. Fraya opened her mouth to yell at the Eternal to SHUT UP but snapped it closed so fast her jaw ached. Despite how she usually acted, Fraya was, at heart, a nice person and knew that she would regret yelling at the Eternal.
She flopped down on her mattress, not worrying about any filth left by its previous owner. Fraya had been in the cell so long that she no longer cared. "How long have I been here?" She whispered to herself. It was so hard to tell the time down there, and she'd been asleep some of the times the guards came down to give her food so she couldn't tell by them anymore. Fraya was gathering her courage to ask the Eternal when she heard another soft voice, one she hadn't heard before, "Sweetheart," it drawled in a rich young voice. "Why does it even matter how long you've been here? It's not like you're on a deadline down here."
Fraya say up and looked around even though she knew it wouldn't help. "Who are you?" She asked, to curious to be annoyed by his comments.
"The third candle." The voice replied sarcastically. Fraya bit her lip, a rude response springing to mind. She just settled with, "Thanks, that's so very helpful of you."
"Your welcome!" the suave male voice replied. Fraya clenched her fists and stifled a scream of annoyance. Whoever this guy was, she did NOT like him. At all.
"Not much you can do about that, sweetheart. I'm your roommate for however long you're down here."
Fraya jumped up and ran to the door of her cell, wrapping her fingers so tightly around the bars that they turned white, "How did you know what I was thinking?" She demanded, staring at the third candle, wavering slightly in a nonexistant breeze.
Before she could hear that wonderfully annoying voice again, though, the Eternal decided his ears were tired of listening. "Wow girly! That's the most I've heard him talk in forEVER!" The Eternal lowered his voice in what seemed to be awe, "You must be really skilled."
Fraya rolled her eyes, "I have a name!" She exclaimed. "I am not a 'girly' or a 'sweetheart' or both put together! My name is Fraya, so use it or don't talk to me."
"What?" The third person spoke sharply, with no remenance of the drawl he'd used before. "Fraya?" The letters sounded strange on his tongue, like he was pronouncing it slightly differently.
"Yes," Fraya said, exhasperated. "F-r-a-y-a. Nice to hear that you can understand my words as well as my thoughts!" The last part she added rather accusingly, but the guy didn't seem bothered much.
"I've heard of you," his suave voice said urgently.
Fraya was slightly disturbed by this at first, but then figured that even if she had never met someone else name Fraya, maybe he had. "Good for you. I'm famous then." She snapped.
"You are a lot more annoying then he led me to believe... Even if he didn't say much about you." the mysterious person mused.
"Excuse me?" With each letter, Fraya's voice rose an octave, so the 'e' in 'me' was simply a squeak. "I cannot believe you!" The girl stormed away from the cell door and practically fell onto her mattress. "Well unless you have something nice to say to me, don't say anything!" She yelled.
"Deal." The other voice and the Eternal said at the same time.
Fraya blinked in surprise then whacked her head against her mattress, forgetting how thin it was, and got a headache. The girl curled up on her makeshift bed fuming for the rest of the day, but eventually she fell into a fitful sleep. When she woke up, part of the mattress was red. Fraya choked back a sob. Of all the times...
The next time the guards came down with the food, Fraya looked up miserably, "Could you please bring me some towels," she said quietly. The guards, so used to hearing her yelling, looked surprised, and one almost tripped while walking back up the stairs.
After the door slammed shut behind them, Fraya stared at the stairs for what seemed like hours, waiting for them to come back down, but they didn't. That is, not until they came down with the food trays.
When Fraya looked at her tray, along with her measly dinner, there were three small towels folded up neatly along the side. The girl took them and clutched them to her chest, almost crying with relief at this small bit of kindness. After that, with the Eternal and the mysterious guy in the third candel-lit cell not talking to her, the only thing Fraya had to worry about was boredom, and there was certainly a lot of that in the dreary dungeon.