6th day of the third Month, Winners Moon
11:00 pm
Dead King Valley
If Kalen had thought getting Zedkiel to eat tavern food was difficult, getting him to camp out doors was a whole different matter. The valley they travelled through was vast. It seemed to be untouched by people, there were no towns, no villages, not even other camp sites, and it was quiet, quiet enough to spook Kalen and Incendio – who always had his wolf ears twitching, trying to find sound, a bird song, the scamper of animals, the voices of other travellers, but nothing. Just the wind and water.
The fact that there was no drama just unnerved Kalen and Zedkiel more; it was Fairyland, the home of drama.
One week after the break out from the goblin tunnels, Kalen and Zedkiel stood opposite each other, glaring over a camp fire.
"You're an elf of the earth, Zedkiel!" Kalen snapped, his hands clenching into fists, "and the Dragon Knight of Earth! What could you possibly have against sleeping on the ground? With blankets between you and said ground!"
"Have you not seen how filthy you get lying on this earth?" Zedkiel said, folding his arms and frowning.
"Agh, out of all of us, you are always the one who's the cleanest," Kalen said, clapping a hand to his face, "You don't get dirty, no matter what you do! Is that an elf thing by the way? Because, I might add, it's not fair. Besides, there are enough streams around that we can have regular baths... apart from Theth, but he's weird."
Theth glared at him.
"Well you are, you only shower at waterfalls, that's weird."
"Those streams are freezing cold this time of year, I do not enjoy those baths!" Zedkiel said.
"Oh come on, this can't be the first time you've had cold baths."
"Yes, it is."
"Well haven't you ever been out in winter rain or snow?"
"No, why would I?"
Kalen just looked at him, then closed his eyes. "Oh, my gods, you had no life," he said, sitting down cross-legged on his blankets and throwing a log onto the fire.
Zedkiel glared at him and remained standing.
"You'll have to sit eventually, you know, you always do," Kalen said.
"We should have gone back up that cliff and found the traders' route again," Zedkiel muttered, pulling a wind of leather from his wrist and tying his hair back.
"No you don't, don't you put that blame on me, you agreed as much as I did that we should go through the valley, not around it."
"Well we both had the assumption there was civilisation here, I had not intended on this."
"We're going to The Firelands, a destroyed realm, how much civilisation do you think is waiting for us?"
"From being one of the most powerful realms in the world? There will be a slight more then there is here."
"You're just fussy."
Zedkiel sighed. "And you are uncouth."
"Wha? I'm uncouth?!" Kalen cried.
"Yes, you are uncouth."
Kalen snarled, baring his fangs and turning away, folding his arms again and sticking his nose in the air, refusing to talk anymore.
Incendio, who had been watching them, glanced to Theth, who had ignored them, his expression bored.
"So," Incendio said slowly, thinking up new – non-aggressive – conversation topics.
"Have you sensed that dragon around lately?" Theth supplied for him.
Kalen looked around. "The blue one? No, I haven't. I guess he really was just paying back the favour, lucky for us."
"I believe I might know the breed of that dragon," Zedkiel said, the others looked at him, "I think it might have been a Whip Tail."
"So?" Kalen asked.
"So, as Dragon Knights, destined leaders of the Dragon Realm, don't you think it would be wise to know something about dragons?"
"I know they breathe fire, like gold and have a nasty attitude," Kalen said.
"Not all of them, as you have seen yourself," Zedkiel said, frowning at Kalen, "the Whip Tail for example has little interest in gold. If it chooses treasure, it chooses precious stones, preferably diamonds, or sapphires. Also they are called as such because of that whip-like tail it used when it struck down those recks the first time we saw it. Its other defining feature is its frill of horns at the back of the head which can be moved individually. Its greatest asset is its speed, and it's most commonly seen at night, if ever seen as all, usually a water dweller and it can breathe both normal fire and blue fire, known as Whip Lightning."
"If ever seen?"
"They're rare."
"How do you know all that?" Incendio asked.
"Well, my brother was prophesied to become the Dragon Knight of Earth, so the royal library had a lot of books on dragons for his study. I do not think he looked at one, but I did... I happened to take an interest in the topic."
"Wait, so you weren't born a Dragon Knight?" Incendio asked.
"No, I was born a crown prince, remember?" Zedkiel said.
"But if you took his role, and you're here? Who becomes the crown prince?"
"My eldest brother, I assume, since he was the original Dragon Knight of Earth, if not him, probably my second eldest brother, Cirdan – he would make a much finer king as far as I am concerned."
Incendio looked at Theth. "What about your brothers and sisters?"
Theth looked blankly as him.
"Is it a crown prince or princess? What are your siblings like?"
"I don't have any siblings, foster or otherwise," Theth said.
"What?" Incendio frowned, Zedkiel looking at him in surprise.
"But you are not a crown prince, are you?"
"No."
"So there's no crown prince or princess for the whole of the Angelic Realm?" Incendio asked.
"No," Theth said and at that he turned away, pulling his covers up and lying down, looking into the darkness as Dayandiel's words came back to him from the day he had left the Angelic Realm.
"I haven't seen your sons..."
If there had been sons, could there have once been a Crown Prince? ...Who?
7th day of the third Month, Winners Moon
1:00 am
Dead King Valley
Some hours later, Kalen woke up as a shiver ran up his spine. Rubbing his arms, he sat up – damn he hated winter, and spring was due to come late this year. Glancing over to the others, he noticed Incendio and Theth had moved closer together – lucky angel, Incendio's natural body temperature was always stupidly high so he would be like a walking radiator.
He reached for another log to throw onto the dying fire when he looked over to Zedkiel. He had expected the elf to be curled into a ball, hating the cold, he certainly wouldn't be used to the cold after all, but he wasn't asleep.
He was sitting up, his back against a fallen tree, one of his blankets around his shoulders, his knees drawn up, looking at something on his lap. He didn't seem to have noticed Kalen waking up and, silently, Kalen slid to his feet and walked around the camp fire, stopping beside him.
"You should sleep," he said.
Zedkiel shot a foot in the air and looked up in fright, before calming down when he saw him. "For goodness sake, Kalen, do not sneak up on me."
"You can't be tired travelling through the Fey Realm, you have to sleep," Kalen replied, sitting down on the tree trunk.
"I am simply not tired at this moment," Zedkiel said, turning back to what was on his lap. It was a small sketchbook.
Kalen leant forwards to look over his shoulder, not expecting too much, but then his eyes widened. He stared, slowly sliding down so he was sitting next to Zedkiel, gaping at the drawing. Zedkiel looked up when he noticed Kalen staring, then held the book out to him. Kalen instantly took it, staring at the image.
It was the blue dragon they had seen, the Whip Tail. The drawing was deceptively realistic – like, if he stared long enough, it would start moving.
"This is amazing," he muttered.
Zedkiel shrugged. "One of my few natural skills."
"It's more than a skill, it's a gift. I've never seen anything this good." He smiled, "Gods, my sister would love to see this. She's a great artist, not like this, but for her age, she's really talented."
Zedkiel looked at him, looking at the smile. A few weeks of knowing him and he hadn't seen a smile like that before. Gentle, with a fondness, so different from the prickly attitude the group so often got.
"And you?" he asked, "Are you an artist?"
Kalen snorted. "Me? I can draw stick men. No, the God and Goddess of Gifts did not gift me with artistic skills." He thought about it. "Music, I suppose, if any." He looked at the drawing for a moment longer. "Hey, I'm sorry I shout at you, you know?"
Zedkiel shook his head. "No, you have every right to. I know I am difficult. I forget myself at times." He laughed slightly. "I suppose I struggle with what to do. I'm a crown prince, so I am used to people doing what I say at the snap of my fingers and not questioning me. At the same time, I am also the youngest prince, and, for the most part, my family do not hate me, they treat me like the youngest, the baby." He looked at the other two. "I'm not sure of my place in the dynamics of this group, I suppose."
"I would place you as the leader of the group," Kalen said. Zedkiel looked at him in shock. "Well I don't want to have that sort of responsibility, I doubt Theth could care enough, and I'm certainly not trusting myself to the werewolf who fell down a ravine yesterday because he was distracted by a butterfly."
Incendio mumbled something in his sleep, stretching, his fist pushing into Theth's face. Without waking up, Theth's wing – which was making a rare appearance outside his body to relax the cramps – smacked him, hard, making Incendio grunt and curl up again.
The other two frowned at them.
"Yes, the guy who can sleep through being hit with a wing, great guard dog," Kalen said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, more than that, you're trained to be a leader. You were born to do this stuff. And, more than anything, we do listen to you."
Zedkiel raised an eyebrow at Kalen, frowning.
"... Well the other two listen to you at least."
Zedkiel sighed and shook his head, looking at the fire. "Leader... well at least I know how to do that."
"But that doesn't mean you can order me around with an iron fist," Kalen snapped, glaring, "We're not your subjects... well... technically Incendio and I are... but don't treat us like subjects. We have to compromise."
Zedkiel chuckled, "I suppose I can work with that. Now get some sleep."
"See? Orders!"
"I am going to sleep as well. You cannot be tired while travelling after all," Zedkiel said with a smile. Kalen sneered but handed the sketch book back and walked to his side of the camp fire, curling back up to sleep as Zedkiel added a few more logs then – reluctantly – got into bed himself.
As they drifted into sleep, Incendio's eyes opened with a glare. "I'm not a dog," he muttered with a huff, "Why's he saying it like I'm stupid?"
He saw Theth roll his eyes behind his lowered lids but the angel didn't answer and just tucked lower until his blanket.
Silence followed for a moment and until Zedkiel suddenly sat bolt upright.
"Oh Zedkiel, go to sleep!" Kalen snapped from the other side of the clearing. "The bugs won't hurt y—"
"Shh," Zedkiel hissed and Kalen sat up, as did the other two, looking at Zedkiel as the elf looked around, slowly getting to his feet.
"What is it?" Theth asked.
"I do not know, I just... there's something in the air."
Kalen and Incendio looked at each other.
"I don't sense anything," Incendio said.
"Neither do I. I'm telling you, Zedkiel, you're tired."
Zedkiel was still for a moment, he eyes travelling along the shadows, then he grabbed his blankets – folding them perfectly in record time – and shoved them into his bag, along with everything else they had taken out for sleeping.
"Zedkiel!" Kalen said, jumping to his feet.
"We are moving on."
"It's stupid to move in the Fey Realm in the dark, you know that. Do you want us to get attacked?"
"We are moving on, Kalen! Pack up!"
Kalen was about to snarl at him about orders when he saw Zedkiel's eyes. Something had actually scared him, a lot. The other two had clearly noticed the expression as well because they quickly got to their feet and packed their stuff.
Zedkiel was reaching for his cape when something made him spin around, his movements jerky – so completely unlike his normal fluidity.
"Zedkiel," Kalen said, "We're reading to go."
Zedkiel looked at him, then dropped his bag to grab his cloak and just as he took a step forwards, the ground opened up beneath him, roots exploded from the hole, locking around him and the next second he was dragged downwards into the earth.
~~~~~~~
Next up: Monday