He hadn’t realized that his castle was so far away from where he grew up. They had been forced to stop in the desert because sleeping on a dragon’s back was not a good idea. Fylkir had had no trouble sleeping in the sands of the desert but than again, be had his roots in one of the many desert tribes.
He himself had staying seated against Nidhug’s flank for a long while, watching the stars, thinking about the time that had passed. Several hundred years, he didn’t know how many exactly. Things had changed, he was sure of it. Nothing ever stops changing.
Slowly the sky started lighting up in the east and he realized he hadn’t slept the entire night. He woke up Fylkir and they continued to fly west. Around noon he started feeling something. It was strange but he could tell that it wasn’t something good that he was feeling.
Soon, as Nidhug flew over the clouds he heard the sound of battle and caught a glimpse of something red below them. Nidhug’s reaction told him it must have been a dragon but he kept the Tlachinolli in control and forced him to keep flying.
As the sun began to set, he saw the sea for the first time in many many years. The mountains seemed closer to the sea as he remembered and they seemed higher as well. They seemed more elegant, dressed with their eternal snow covered peaks. Their flanks were covered with trees and as they gradually got closer, he could make out a city in the middle of the trees, covering quite some space between the sea and the mountains.
Not to far upwards, toward the mountains was a castle. Built in light stone, its towers looked out over everything that surrounded the castle. The courtyard was enclosed by stone walls where a lot of people were gathered.
In his mind he told Nidhug to find a clearing in the forest, not too close to town. The black dragon found one soon enough and let his riders climb off easily. As Soon as he was on the ground he used his magic to create a horse out of the shadows that surrounded him. Nidhug instantly smelled the new creature and turned away from it, indignant that his knight would rather ride something that small instead of him.
He himself paid no attention to the dragon’s reaction. It would be foolish of him to think that he could go into town with Nidhug and don’t suffer any consequences for it. He got on the horse’s back and pulled Fylkir on the beast as well. Again he used magic to make his way to the city because he hadn’t been here for several hundred year, Tien knows what had changed.
As he thought the name of his country’s Goddess, he wondered why. He had pulled himself out of the Goddess grip a long time ago, when fate had decided to play a cruel trick on him. He wondered what had happened to her. Had she been happy? Or had she suffered of the same grief as he had? Secretly he hoped that she had done everything she could to go against her father but she had never been one to defy her father’s will.
But now that the spell had been lifted of him, as soon as he had rid himself of the girl and her prophecy, he could take his revenge.
The black horse followed the magic trail he had created for it, straight to the city. He didn’t know where he needed to go but the horse just kept on going to the heart of the city, the market place. Women were walking around with buckets of water and clothes, children running around, laughing. The place was decorated with flowers and chicken, ducks and geese paraded through the place.
He got of the horse and lifted Fylkir of as well and made sure the little creature was hidden under his cloak. He held his horse by his reigns and started walking around. Soon two little girls stopped in front of him and looked up with big round eyes.
“Hello. Do you want us to take care your horse?” The first asked.
“We always take care of everybody’s horses, even the princess’.” The second filled in.
He couldn’t help but stare at the two little girls. He sent a wave of energy to the girls and felt their honesty, the purity of their soul. He handed the first girl the reigns of his horse and two silver piece to the other.
“When you have to go again, you can come to the stables.” The girls said together and guided the horse away. He looked at them for a while before making his way around the place. He used his magic to lead his to the ocean first and ended up in the port. Walking between the big ships he thought of the small fisherman’s boat his father used to have. It was nothing compared to these big ships. He did find a few smaller boats but still bigger than what he was used to.
Fylkir followed him without saying anything, taking everything in from under his cloak. Eventually he made his way back to the market place where he remembered seeing a tavern. Inside, it smelled like beer and grilled food. It was dark and the windows were quite dirty, keeping light from entering. He chose a table in the far corner and ordered the tavern’s specialty, grilled wild swine with grilled corn. Was there anything that wasn’t grilled? He wondered. He ordered two tankard of beer as well.
When the woman brought them their food he asked her where he could find maps and other books. “Books and maps? There is a small shop close to the port. But you could always go see the Captain or check the castle.”
The woman didn’t say anymore and went back to work. The Captain? Didn’t they know how many boats and ships there were in the port? There would be more than one captain. Maybe the castle was indeed the best guess to find what he was looking for. But who lived in the castle. He vaguely remembered the noble family that once lived near the ocean, a little to the west from here. Had they decided to build a castle here?
When they left the tavern it was dark outside and people had lit the torches around the market place. He went to get his horse in the stables and found the little girls walking around and, with the help of a few teenage boys, probably their brothers, feeding all the horses in the building. They wished him a safe trip to where he was going and he galloped of into the darkness of the night.
Once he reached the clearing where Nidhug had landed, they found the Tlachinolli asleep. Fylkir rolled himself up in his fur coat and soon fell asleep as well. He himself took longer to fall asleep. Tomorrow he would set out to find this Captain who might be able to tell him what he wanted to know. And if he had the time, he would seek out his old house, there were he had lived until that fateful moment.
Of course he intended to visit the castle but he was in no hurry so he could do that another time.
Eventually he fell asleep thinking about her. She had haunted his dreams for a very long time now and even after that fake sleep he had been in for the past few hundred years, she still did. His night was long but calm and when he woke up he was filled with an energy he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Fylkir was already gone, hunting he presumed, Nidhug kept a watchful eye on him. The black dragon probably felt the same need as him to move, to do something, their bond was different from that between other dragons and their knights. No matter how far they were apart from each other, he could always feel his dragon as if he was next to him. What one felt, so did the other, at all times. He watched the black dragon for several minutes.
Its black scales seemed to absorb the light that filtered through the trees, his wings were carefully folded against his flanks, his tail winding around one part of the clearing. His eyes had some kind of glow that made him look friendly and dangerous at the same time.
The dragon blinked and looked toward the forest. He scanned it with his invisible senses but found nothing. But the dragon had senses he had not, leaving the guard to the dragon, he started a fire for tea. Not long after Fylkir came back with a duck slung over his shoulder.
“I will go to town alone today.” He finally said to the little creature, as he ate a little meat of the duck. “I think it will be safer that way.” Of course Fylkir didn’t dare disagree even if he didn’t agree. “I want you to stay with Nidhug today, just to be sure nothing will happen.” He didn’t know where the sudden worry for the little creature came from but he thought better to listen to this feeling. “And Nidhug, listen to Fylkir, when I come back I want you both in this clearing and both alive.”
He put the last of his portion of the duck in his mouth and got up. Using the same dark magic as the day before he recreated the black horse. He knew he could count on Fylkir to keep the dragon in tune if he had the need to use up some of his energy.
In the city, he left the horse in the stables at the good care of the same girls and asked them where he could find the Captain. He had expected them to be confused about the identity of the person but they seemed to know exactly who he was searching for. They gave him direction and he managed to find the house without any trouble.
Knocking on the door he didn’t really know what to expect of this Captain person; could he really help him? The door opened and in front of him stood a tall man with gray hair and bread, wearing black pants and a white shirt under a dark blue coat. Was that the Captain?
“Yes? Can I help you?” The man asked surprisingly friendly.
“I am looking for the Captain; they told me he could help me.” He replied a bit unsure.
“That’s me. How can I help you?” The old man smiled friendly.
“I want to learn about the recent geography off the continent.”
“Well than I might just be able to help you. What is your name?”
“Seelan.” He replied. The old man frowned as if he was trying to remember something. One quick peek in his thoughts told him that his name sound familiar, as if in a legend but the Captain couldn’t remember which one. He almost laughed; so he was now a legend! Weren’t legend based on nonsense and unreal and epic stories? He was real, or had that been forgotten that over the years?
Eventually the Captain shook his head, not being able to remember and turned his gaze back to him. “Well than Seelan, come in and let me get the maps.” Seelan smiled and walked into the little house. “I can tell you everything I know but you will find even more information in the castle’s library. Please sit.” Seelan took place on the little dark leathered couch and looked around. The place was dark and seemed very impersonal.
The Captain had left the room only to come back a little while later with maps. He spread them all out on the little table and, with interest, Seelan looked over them. The difference between his maps and these was very clear, there were a lot more countries, all probably kingdoms. But no names were written on these maps. How could he know which one he was looking for?
The Captain started to tell him about the creations of the kingdoms and he listened hoping to hear a few names he knew. “A few hundred years back there were only three major kingdoms, putting the Elfique Forest and the Fairy Meadow aside, their names are unsure. Over the years, each of the kingdoms got divided into two or three separate kingdoms, usually when the King at more than one son.
“The first one to dived into three was the one on the east, between the desert and Elfique Forest on the east and the other two kingdoms on the south, north and west. It divided into three separate kingdoms, creating Sable Sucré in the north, Teixeira in the middle and Tubig Libis in the south.” The Captain pointed at all the kingdoms he mentioned and moved on to the next.
“In the south west, the king split his land into two, creating Delstaten Solen and Fructus Terre. Delstaten Solen remained the biggest of the two but because of its desert climate in the south and in its center, most of the population remains on the coast.
“And finally, the last kingdom got separated into three. Rubis, in the far north, Emeraude a little more to the south and the biggest part became Tanah Bulan.” The Captain pointed once more at all the different kingdoms and Seelan did his best to remember all there names. The kingdom where he was now was Tanah Bulan, which was at war with Delstaten Solen, if he remembered correctly what the girl had said. The girl was the princess of this very kingdom!
The Captain went on, telling him about every kingdom, how they were all very different even when they came from the same big kingdom in the beginning. He talked about the climates and fauna and flora, and Seelan listened patiently trying to learn as much as he could, since he had never before bothered to learn this much.
Eventually the Captain finished and recommended him to go to the castle nevertheless. The sun was at its highest when Seelan finally stepped outside. What to do next? He decided to get something to eat in the tavern before going to his old house since it was outside of town.
Inside the tavern there were rumors about a dragon flying this way. Nobody seemed to know whose dragon it was or even who spread the rumors. He just wished that they weren’t talking about Nidhug and that the black dragon had remained hidden in the forest. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and contacted the dragon with his thoughts. All he saw were the trees and Fylkir. The dragon let him know that he felt something as well and it might very well be a dragon but he was sure since there was a strange energy with it.
“Just stay under the cover of the trees and don’t move. I’m almost done for the day.” He told the dragon just as his food arrived. He never got the chance to eat it all though.
He sensed that Nidhug was troubled by something, impatient. It took him a while to get the dragon’s mind to calm down and to get him to tell what was wrong. Before he knew what was actually happening, the people outside started making a lot of noise. Not screaming in terror but yelling with joy. Inside the tavern, people gathered in front of the windows, and a few even went outside.
That was what he did. He followed a few men outside and noticed everybody pointing at the sky. Looking up, he saw what had caused Nidhug to almost lose his control. A dragon. A red dragon. He had seen that dragon before but where? He had seen a lot of dragons in his life but he doubted any of them could still be alive after all those years he had been forced to sleep.
Seelan watched along with all the others how the dragon made his way to the castle in two wings beatings. The castle? Was there a dragon knight on its back? Probably, unbounded dragons never left their mountains to come to this part of the earth. Was it somebody he knew? Or did that knight know him? Had he heard the stories? Dragon knights had always been good story tellers, as if it was one of the things they needed to be able to do. Their stories were told with so many details that a painter could represent whatever they were saying.
Before anybody moved, he went toward the stables, in front of which those two little girls were pointing at the dragon still and seemed really happy. Weren’t people afraid of dragons anymore? A lot had happened in those few hundreds of years, that was for sure. He got his horse and quickly sent in onto the dirt road that led to the castle.
Since the horse wasn’t real but barely made out of shadows and magic, the beast didn’t need long at all to get to the castle. It was almost as quick as a desert lion. The castle stood tall against the mountains behind it and seemed fit for a king, built in its light stone. The many towers seemed even taller that he had imagined. The walls that encircled the courtyard were the perfect outlook for the guards who stood there, Seelan could see that in just a few seconds. The courtyard itself was filled with people when he entered.
The dragon was standing in the center and seemed to be looking for someone. He couldn’t make out anybody on its back there must have been somebody. No dragon would risk to appear in this crowd without already have bonded.
Suddenly out of nowhere, in front of the dragon, appeared a man. Seelan was impossible to give him an age. He looked in his thirties but as he scanned the Mage, because he clearly was one, he discovered a wisdom it was impossible to have at that age. His have was an almost colorless white but his skin as a bit tanned. He wore a long white robe, long enough to cover his feet but just short enough for him to move around with ease.
He tried to get into the Mage’s thoughts but he hit a barrier, of course. Instead he tried with the dragon. He knew that a dragon’s mind was divided in several parts. Most of them were shared with the dragon knight, another one was when the dragon needed to talk to somebody without wanting the knight or anybody else to hear. The problem with that part was that when they used it, they couldn’t entirely focus on who was listening as well. But he still had to be careful because his own mind bore traces of another dragon.
He listened to their conversation in silence as he tried to understand.
“She wants you to check on Daniel and decided whether he can or cannot go home yet. If he can she wants you to check on him everyday.” The dragon said. He missed the beginning of the conversation. Who was ‘she’? And who was the ‘him’ they were talking about?
“Is that why she isn’t here yet? I thought I had seen the two of you leave with Robin on your back as well. Couldn’t you have carried her as well.” The Mage replied a bit worried.
“Don’t worry about her. Robin is with her and she can take care of herself. And as to, why she didn’t come with him; because the fewer people I carry, the faster I can go. I’m not full-grown yet.”
“Fine, let me get him off your back than.” The dragon lowered itself and for the first time Seelan could see the young man lying on its back. Why hadn’t he thought of scanning the dragon? It clearly showed that he had woken up just a few weeks ago.
The Mage used his magic to get the boy of the dragon and even Seelan had to admit that he looked bad. Curiosity pushed him to examine the boy and he sensed a great deal of elemental magic. But he also sensed that the boy was weak and had been wounded just below the heart recently. He pushed the scan a bit further and found himself in the boy’s thought. It was tangled mess of images and thoughts.
One took him aback. A girl, a strawberry blonde haired girl. That was the girl he had seen through the Black fog. What was her name again, white flower, Blanchefleur. That was it.
The surprise caused him to lose the grip on his magic and before he could regain the control on it, the Mage had noticed him. He quickly cut the flow of magic and turned his horse around. Maybe it was better if he went back to Nidhug and Fylkir right now. He would stay under the cover of the trees for a day or two just to be sure the Mage wasn’t coming after him.
Yes, that is a good idea, he thought, his mind still clouded by the shock of realization.
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Well, I'm just going to say that I was in a hurry to finish that one but I don't know if you can tell from the writting... anyhow, this one is shorter because, well, when I write this point of view it always is.
I've been wanting to write this chapter for a while, just so to give the guy's name!! BTW Seelan is not a real name! When I came up with it we had to read The Da Vince Code ( impossible to read!! FYI) and the albino guy is called Silas and I kinda gave it my own twist =D
And finally I hope you like it and please be patient with me!!
~~ Bye ~~