Neither Robin nor I expected a warm welcome once we made it to Delstaten Solen, so it was a surprise when the King had us escorted to the dining room as 'guests of honor'. Of course he didn't know it was us yet, that much was obvious by the way his smile fell when he saw us. Prince Ron looked like he was choking on a lemon when he saw us and I couldn't help but smile.
But that was about an hour ago, now I felt like pulling my hair out and Ron smiled from ear to ear. It was almost as if his father was asking me all these useless questions on purpose just to annoy me; I wouldn't put it past him. What did this prophecy have to do with my bonding with Zjarr? What did it have to do with Robin actually being an elf? Sure if he hadn't been one we wouldn't have triggered it but still, it was irrelevant to the quest we were on right now.
The only two things so far about him that he had done that hadn't annoyed us was let us eat dinner with them as well as letting me tell my story without interrupting. But after that things went downhill fast. We had been flying all day, and had been doing so for the past three, and all I wanted was to go to sleep and recharge just like Zjarr was doing.
I had already decided that the moment I saw an opening to give King Adjar the letter I would be out of there, using magic if need be. From the look on Robin's face, which had held some amusement at some point, it was easy to see that he too felt too tired to deal with the King and his stupid questions.
When he opened his mouth, most likely ready to ask yet another question I beat him to it. "Look your Majesty, I don't want to sound rude but right now your questions are tiring me immensely. I would like to be able to give you this letter," I said taking the envelope out, "And then go to bed. We flew all day to get here and although it might not sound like it, it is tiresome." I leaned over the table a little to hand him the letter but when he didn't take it, I simply dropped it. "You can read that tonight, think about what it says and we will discuss it tomorrow."
He looked surprised before anger replaced it. Dragon, was I glad that I was here as Dragon Knight and thus above him because I couldn't be bothered with fake manners. This man annoyed me and although I tried my best to keep my feelings to myself, I couldn't keep it all in.
"Now, if you will excuse us, we will retire to the Dragon Knight quarters for the night." I pushed my seat back and stood up, followed by Robin doing the same thing. "Have a good evening and we will see you in the morning. Let's go."
I pulled Robin along by the arm for the first few steps but after that he link his arm through mine and walked next to me. When we were walking up the stairs I let out a sigh and Robin chuckled.
"You did great; much better than last time when you practically threw insults at him," he paused and seemed to think about it. "Then again, it would be hard for things to go worse than last time."
"With me, you never know; with my luck he might just declare war on the Dragon Knights before we reach the quarters," I sighed. "But you’re right; that could have gone a lot worse."
"Even King Adjar wouldn't be so stupid as to declare war on Dragon Knights." I made a sound, letting him know I didn't quite agree but didn't actually say it out loud. "I don't doubt though that he will be difficult to convince to send his sons to Istana Pasir; I doubt Prince Ron will come easily."
"Nonsense! King Adjar and Ron wouldn't want to come because I am asking but I can basically use the same arguments with them as I did with Nolan. Only my cousin is a fool and refused anyway, whereas these two are too proud to refuse."
"You are going to make them out to be cowards?"
"Unless you have a better idea?"
Robin shook his head and opened the door to the Dragon Knight house we were staying in. I would have preferred to stay longer at Mariposa and spend some more time with my sister but at the same time I didn't want to risk attracting any more of those shadow creatures around her. Dragon, I wanted to be an aunt, even though I was likely not to see much of my niece or nephew. Delstaten Solen was quite different, especially Mataharie, I didn't mind the rest so much. Strangely, it was really only the King and Ron that I didn't like.
The feelings were probably mutual, especially after having Zjarr grill Ron, even when we knew that his Mages were protecting him.
Zjarr opened a golden eye to watch us as we walked in but closed it again as soon as she saw it was us and went back to sleep. Somehow she was always the smartest of us all. Sleep was a good idea right now.
"Good night," I told Robin, heading to my room.
"Good night, sweet dreams," he added.
****************************
I groaned as I dropped in the sand of the arena after Robin knocked my feet out from under me once more. This was less and less fun. I had managed to beat his friends occasionally at sword fighting but I could never seem to beat Robin, which was really unfair because I always tried my best. I didn't like it when my efforts weren't rewarded; it made me want to give up. Yes, I was a quitter; aren't we all?
That morning the dining room had been empty safe for the Queen, who had kindly informed us her husband and eldest son had gone hunting and wouldn't be back before noon. So after having breakfast with her, while silently cursing the King and his son, Robin had suggested we go to the arena since it had been a while since I had fought. I tried telling him I had fought shadow creatures only a week ago and bandits in Emeraude about a month ago. He didn't want to hear it though and dragged me to the fighting pit, which was where we were now.
It seemed unfair that, with my sword and its two blades, I couldn't even win against him. I had grown to believe I had become better during my stay with the elves but every time Robin knocked me down or disarmed me, it discouraged me, making me think that I might not have progressed at all. It was a sucky feeling, like I had made no progress at all and was back at square one.
At the same time, I felt that as long as I couldn’t beat Robin in a fight, I wouldn’t be ready to fight against those shadow creatures, and Seelan even less. Something told me that their appearance in Mariposa hadn’t been random; they ha d been there for me, because of me. But they hadn’t been the same as in Sofia’s dreams; they had been bigger but slower, like they weren’t quite comfortable in their bodies yet, like a bow that was still too stiff to shoot properly.
Distracted I didn’t see Robin’s attack until the last second. I reacted purely on instinct, raising the silver blade to block his weapon and instantly crouching down and swiping his feet out from under him with the golden blade. I watched with my eyes wide as Robin fell onto his back in the sand. He closed his eyes on the impact but when he opened his mirror-like eyes again they stared at me with surprise.
“Did I just knock you off your feet?” I asked him in disbelieve, holding out a hand to help him up.
“You did that a couple of years ago already,” he mumbled. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to hear it but I did. I wasn’t really sure if it made the situation between us any better. And by situation I meant how we had left things in Sablier before we went into the Desert. He had mentioned his feelings for me but I had never said anything back; I hadn’t known what to say then and I still didn’t know now.
So I ignored what he said.
“Did you just pretend to be distracted and plan the secret retaliation or…”
“It was luck,” I admitted, “it is always luck. Sometimes I feel like I know what I’m doing but I also feel that it is luck that keeps me alive.”
“No, it isn’t. I know that I still knock you to your feet almost every time but I find it harder and harder to do. I can see the difference between now and when we first started.”
“It’s good to hear that I’m not a complete failure at sword fighting,” I rolled my eyes before giving him a smile, letting him know that the compliment was received.
“He is only being nice because he obviously likes you,” a voice cut in sharply. “I personally still don’t see how you could have last so long against me.” Turning around with a sigh, I watched with a scowl as Ron approached with a sneer on his face.
“Don’t forget that you lost to her,” Robin pointed out. His voice was light as if he was just pointing out the memory instead of actually mocking the Prince.
“I lost because her dragon tried to grill me, you stupid elf!” he snapped.
I didn’t need to look at Robin’s face to know any trace of happiness would have been wiped off, Ron’s smile told me as much. The Prince must have picked up on the fact that Robin wasn’t entirely comfortable with being different amongst humans yet. And he would naturally go as low as to call him out on it.
“How about you try being nice for a change? You might have been married by now if you weren’t so mean all the time,” I suggest.
“Does it work? Is he married?” he pointed a finger at Robin, looking unbelievingly.
“Nope. But I know at least one Princess who likes him; I’m not sure I can say the same for you.” Then I turned my back on the Prince and turned to Robin as if nothing had happened. “Another fight or can I go clean up?”
“Tired already?”
“No, but if he,” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder, “is back then so is his father. I want to see if he has made a decision or not. I want to get a move on; there are two more kingdoms left to visit and I want to get everyone to Istana Pasir as soon as possible.”
Robin nodded and signed for me to show the way. I only spared the Prince a polite smile but didn’t say anything. I had no clue as to where the find the King but maybe it was better that way; it would give us the opportunity to change out of our sweaty close and, in my case, wash the sand out of my hair.
Once that was done however, I didn’t know where to go. Zjarr had left this morning to hunt so I doubted she knew. Consequently, Robin and I walked around the castle easily half an hour. After that we simply headed out into Mataharie. I didn’t tell Robin but I couldn’t help but feel nervous walking around amongst the people. The last time I had left the safety of a castle I had been attacked by shadow creatures, and I most certainly didn’t want that to happen right now in the middle of the crowd.
Maybe he did know, or at least notice a change in my attitude.
He took my hand and gave it a small squeeze before letting it go again. I noticed that as we walked through the crowds that people were staring at us. I wasn’t sure whether they were staring at me or at Robin. Maybe both of us. After all, he didn’t look like the rest of them, the rest of us. His colorless hair and similar eyes made it eyes to see. But I didn’t feel like I belonged here either. It might be less prominent to the eye but I did feel it.
For some reason it hadn’t bothered me when the elves had looked at me during my stay there. But here, in Mataharie, it seemed strange and it did bother me that they looked at me. Wasn’t I supposed to be like them? And at the same time I wasn’t like them, was I? I was a Dragon Knight now, or at the very least trying to become one.
“Don’t let it bother you,” Robin said to me as we walked across the market. Things here were the liveliest I had seen them from all the cities we had visited in this short amount of time. Then again, there hadn’t been the need to venture outside the castles.
“Let what bother me? The fact that everyone seems to be staring or the fact that King Adjar will deliberately stall his decision?”
“Both. The staring, well honestly, I think they are staring more at me than at you. The King, however, only got the let last night. None of the other monarchs made their decision overnight. He deserves a little time.”
“He knows how much I don’t like being here. Even if we stay the standard week, I doubt he will have made up his mind by then,” I sighed.
“Then you can call them cowards and we leave for Fructus Terre,” Robin shrugged as if it was that easy. And maybe it was. After all, we only needed to climb on Zjarr’s back and we were off. “In the meantime, we’re picking up your training again. I suggest the entire morning, that way you can do whatever you like in the afternoon.”
I grumbled something and brought my attention back to the things that were sold on our left and right. I remembered the dress I had bought here; I had only gotten to wear it once though I thought it had looked pretty with its bright colors.
I sighed; who was I kidding? I didn’t want to be here. And maybe I wasn’t the only one. Looking up at Robin, I said, “Do you mind coming with me everywhere? Wouldn’t you have rather stayed at Sablier or Álfar and waited there?”
He looked down at me briefly before smiling. “Remember, we are in this together. It wouldn’t be fair off me to let you travel alone while I waited somewhere. Besides, what would I do? Study up on my magic? I can honestly tell you, Blanchefleur, that I don’t mind traveling with you.”
“Oh good,” I faked a relieved sigh. “You aren’t tired off me yet. But you would tell me if you did, right?”
“Don’t worry about that. I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” he assured me.
Somehow, I couldn’t say that surprised me. I shook my head to myself before turning my attention back to my surroundings. Thinking about Robin’s feelings for me made me feel guilty; I didn’t like that feeling and I didn’t like think about what Robin might feel towards my silence. I wondered how he could keep silent about something like that; how could he be so patient or maybe even willing to push it aside? I would have exploded. At the same time, he was the calm one; I most certainly wasn’t.
We walked around the rest of the afternoon, going all the way to the port and the city gates on the other side. When the sun started setting over the sea we decided that we should be heading back. And when we made it back it was time for dinner. Much to Ron’s dismay we sat down in the same seats as last night. He probably had hoped that we wouldn’t be back for dinner.
“King Adjar? Have you thought about the letter? Do you have any questions?” I asked him once I had cut my meat to pieces and my vegetables were swimming in sauce.
The King briefly paused chewing his food, looked at me darkly, and then went back to chewing. I was afraid he wouldn’t answer me but after he swallowed what he had in his mouth he said, “I do have one question. What do you need my sons for?”
I looked at Robin briefly, who nodded encouragingly. “Well, the evil that rises in the east is a Dragon Knight called Seelan. He holds a grudge against royalty and he will come after all royal families first. The shadow creatures,” I wrinkled my nose as I said that; they were just creatures, they were monsters really, “things that fight for him, are made of magic and they had a weakness to royal blood. From what the old Dragon Knights had told me, royals should have better luck fighting them.”
I hoped that was enough explanation; it did sort of answer his question. But the King of Delstaten Solen simply didn’t like me. He sighed as if I was a child failing to understand a simply question. “But what is it that you need my sons for, Princess?”
“Dragon Knight,” I automatically corrected. “Or young Knight. I would rather put the Princess title to the side.” The King didn’t look like he cared but if he called me Princess one more time I wouldn’t even bother with his title any longer. “Your sons are Princes and thus isn’t it their duty to protect not only their Kingdom but also the entire continent? I think they should play their part in all of this; it is only fair.”
“Why don’t the other Princes go? Surely those closer to the Desert would be in better position to do this.”
“The others are playing their part in all of this; Princess Lynn of Rubis will also join us. She volunteered to join us; I didn’t even request it. Your sons, however, should easily accept; after all they are always claiming to be so brave and strong. Let them show it to us!”
King Adjar pushed his seat back in anger and rose to his feet. He slammed his hands onto the table. He looked furious as well; it was comical even in this situation. The man didn’t scare me; I had seen scarier than him and I did have a dragon backing me up after all.
“You forget who you are speaking to, Princess,” the King all but roared.
“I most certainly did not forget, Adjar, unlike you. I am here as a Dragon Knight; you cannot hold my Kingdom accountable for anything that I say. If you want to declare war on someone it would be Dragon Knight; and let me remind you that I have a dragon upstairs who could burn you alive without even batting an eyelash. Now sit down and have a civilized conversation!”
Narrowing his eyes, which had darkened in anger, he sat down again after he had fallen silent during my rant. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down as well. This really wasn’t the moment to start snapping at him but he always seemed to make it so easy for me to get angry.
“Now,” I started, sounding much calmer even to myself though I knew I wasn’t. “We only have Fructus Terre and Tubig Libis left to visit after your Kingdom. The faster you make your decision, the sooner we are on our way. We don’t want to be here and you don’t want us here. I get that it is a decision that you need to think over but don’t put it off.”
The King remained silent, his narrowed eyes focused on me, his lips pressed into a thin line. It was obvious he wasn’t used to being talked to like this; I honestly wasn’t used to talking to people like this either. But it felt good. It felt good that Dragon Knights were above Kings; if they hadn’t been I would have had a serious problem by now.
Instead I was completely fine and maybe even able to shorten our stay here. I knew I had promised Robin that I would call them cowards unless as a last resort but it seemed like a good idea to bring that up now.
“I am asking you to make your decision as quickly as possible; if it could even by tonight that would be great. We have decided that in the morning we will be on our way with or without your answer. If you decided to let your sons do this then we will see them in Sablier. If you are too afraid to let them then that is fine.”
I tried to keep my voice calm and light, not wanting to let on that I knew that I was deliberately calling them cowards. The change of expression on the King’s face from angry to furious made it clear he did understand the double meaning behind my words. But somehow he still managed to keep it all bottled up.
Instead it was Prince Ron who spoke up, pushing his chair back and slamming his hands on the table just as his father had done. “How dare you call me a coward? You think I am afraid of whatever stupid evil that comes from the east? You’re wrong; I’m not. I will join you in your fight.”
I sighed, “You must be even more stupid than I originally thought if you aren’t afraid. I have seen those shadow creatures we will fight drag a full grown male dragon down into the Desert centuries ago; I have seen the new generation and fought them once already. They are bigger and scarier and if you really think you won’t be afraid the first time you see them then you really are stupid.”
Ron glared at me and grumbled nonetheless, “I’ll join you in your fight just to prove you wrong. But there is something that I want in return.”
“Because you can’t do anything if there is nothing in it for you, can you?”
Under the table Robin put his hand so that it only just touched my thigh and immediately I felt a wave of calm that I didn’t doubt came from him. “What is it that you would like in return?” he asked, sounding a lot more diplomatic that I had. But maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to ask Ron what it was he wanted. I doubted Robin would have asked him if he had read his mind beforehand.
The Prince smirked at the both of us and I instantly knew that I wasn’t going to like what he was going to say next. And indeed, I most certainly didn’t like the words that came out of his mouth. “Once this is all over, I want that marriage from you that I didn’t get the first time.”
I glanced at Robin out of the corner of my eyes and one first sight he seemed completely impassible. But then I could see the anger in his eyes at Ron’s demand; whether it was for his own selfish reasons that he was mad or just for my happiness didn’t matter. But there was nothing for him to be angry about; the demand was unreasonable.
“Then you might as well not join us before that marriage isn’t going to happen.”
“Without it I won’t join you in your fight,” he threatened but it didn’t really work. He wasn’t in the position to make demands and the only reason why he could make this one was because we had been willing to listen to it. And now I had refused it.
“Then don’t join us. Unless you have a more reasonable request that we might consider or you can just join us from the goodness of your heart, you don’t need to; we are requesting you to join, not forcing you. However if you don’t want to join then that is too bad for you; the others will still see you as the coward of the continent. But if you can live with that then we are all good.”
“Why would they see me as the coward of the continent?” the Prince gritted out. “I considered joining you but you didn’t give me what I wanted in return.”
“And who do you think will tell that to the other Princes?” I asked him in a ‘duh’ tone. “I most certainly won’t defend you. I guess to them you will be the one who didn’t dare to come and won’t be risking your life for the continent.”
Robin was shaking next to me and if I didn’t know him like I did I would have never guessed that he was suppressing laughter. His face was completely straight and empty of any emotion, elves were good at that. It only made him laughing at the Prince funnier and I was suddenly finding it hard not to laugh myself.
“Come on, Robin, I think our work here is done. The Princes from Delstaten Solen don’t want to come. There is nothing more we can do. If we want to leave early in the morning, then we will need as much sleep as we can get.”
It was all very theatrical; from my tone of voice to the way I pushed back my seat and stood up. Robin followed my lead and allowed me to pass him, walking close behind me. Behind us there were a few quick exchanges of words and then a sigh followed.
“I’ll join you,” Prince Ron said just as I was about to walk out of the room. “I will fight with you. However I need you to wait for me in Sablier; it is a long trip and we do not all have dragons.” He sounded defeated and sour at the same time. When I turned to look at him I could see the same defeat written all over his face, as well as shame.
Feeling just a little sorry for him, I decided not to rub it in so I offered him a small and polite smile and said, “Thank you. We will wait for you there. But we will not change our decision; we will be leaving tomorrow morning.”
It was the Queen who reacted first. She had been silent during the whole conversation just like most of her children. But she immediately did her duty as Queen; she thanked us for our visit and wished us well, promising to have one of the servants bring up some supplies to our room for our journey.
It wasn’t until we walked into the Dragon Knight quarters that Robin finally spoke up again. “Very well played. You have him cornered easily and knew just how to get him to join. I can honestly say that I’m impressed.
“I am as well,” Zjarr commented with her golden eyes focused on me. “However, he isn’t just feeling impressed. He also feels proud; that might be something for you to think about.”
I was sure Robin hadn’t heard that last sentence before he only wished me goodnight before going to his own room. But I wondered why Zjarr had told me. Why was Robin feeling proud something for me to think about?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, your perception did not deceive you! I did just upload.
Okay first of all, I want to apologize for the perception thingy; it's one of the only things I can remember from everything I have learned in Philosophy so far. I really hate that class and don't understand anything but it counts like 7times for my exam at the end of the year. It's also the main reason why it took so long to upload this part.
Which is the second thing I wanted to apologize for; the long wait. I really didn't mean for it to be so long; I had planned on writing earlier but the chapter wasn't going anywhere so I just kept putting it off and then there was Philosophy to learn.
And thirdly, I wanted to apologize for the chapter. Now that I did finally post something it's something crappy. Oh well. I don't know what I'm going to do with the next one yet though. It should be up sooner because I'm on break Friday.
Anyway, I could go on for pages and pages about my uninteresting life but that's not why you're here. So yeah, ~~ Bye ~~