START
"Luina?" Drostan's voice broke under strain. He had never felt so lost, so confused, so...hurt.
She might as well stab him over and over and mercilessly kick him until he bled to death. Never in his life had he been betrayed and just when he found himself falling carelessly for Luina, there she was, standing a few feet away from him asking him to stand down.
Stand down even if she deserved to avenge her fallen comrades who escorted Scott. Stand down even if she betrayed her own Dragoneer.
His throat tightened. He had never heard of a member of a Dragoon betray his own Dragoneer written in the books of History. Especially coming from a Phoenician. The Kingdom who, for many years, struggled to maintain the peace of Immortalis that they would even go so far as to burning a Kingdom down to the ground because of betrayal.
"Drostan," Luina began, carefully taking one step forward, "I am not going to hurt you,"
"Why?" he asked, growing nauseous as he shook his head. Nightmares of his past threatened to dominate him. The face of his dying best friend, his Kingdom in ruins, his comrades dead.
"You attacked, we only tried to defend oursel--"
"Don't!" Drostan threw his hand up, shaking his head as he looked at her dead in the eye, "don't give me that,"
Luina calmly watched him, hands still raised as if she was trying to calm a famished lion. Drostan let an insane chuckle escape his lips, "you attacked your Dragoneer,"
"He is not who you think he is," Luina intonated her words carefully. "He is Scott physically, but spiritually he isn't,"
"You don't even have proof!" Drostan grounded out marching halfway towards her before he wheeled around as he began pacing exasperatedly in circles. Luina did not flinch.
"I’m not lying," she insisted.
"Prove it," Drostan hissed, pausing in midstep as he spun to face her. "Prove it," he reached her in two long strides before he stopped right in her face, "I need you to prove it, otherwise I will need to--" Drostan spun and let out a frustrated scream as he punched the nearby wall with his fist. It cracked minutely, his knuckles began bleeding as he breathed heavily.
"It's true," came another calm voice.
Drostan slowly pulled away from the damage, debris crumbled out and fell to the floor. Menacingly, he turned to face the source of the voice. At the far end of the street from where they came from stood a white robed man with his hood pulled over his eyes.
Before Drostan decided to charge and kill him as well, the man threw his hood back and kept his piercing blue eyes trained on his. Slowly, as his foreign, striking features began registering in Drostan’s memory, his sprint broke off in staggering steps.
"Prince Auric." Drostan's eyes widened in disbelief, "why?"
The Prince’s strides did not falter as he stepped under the bridge with him. He glanced at the fallen and dead on the floor before turning to Drostan once more, "I'm helping you."
"This," Drostan swept his arm to gesture at the unconscious behind him, "is not helping. And the longer we stay here, the more suspicious the Queen--,"
"The Queen knows," Auric interrupted him.
Drostan flinched as if he had been burned by sputtering oil. Why does the Queen know what is happening now? Was she the one who summoned Luina which explained why she left them behind to return and attack Scott?
"We are not planning anything against the Dragoneers," Luina interjected, "we just need to get Scott back,"
"Calm down Lord Drostan," Auric began, "we did not assassinate your student nor caused as much harm as you did my fellow Oracles. But you need to listen to me,"
As much as Drostan found difficulty in trying to stomach his every word, he wordlessly complied. He grimaced when he mentioned about what he had done to the four lifeless bodies that littered the white pallid streets of Phoen.
"Scott is currently being controlled by a Drollicer," Auric began, "a Drollicer is a man who controls an unconscious person through a trapped soul fished from The Spiritual Chasm."
Drostan winced, "I don't understand,"
"If Dragoneers live with immortality, Phoenicians live with reincarnation," Luina explained, "if we have Oracles that guide lost souls from The Soul's Chasm to move on to their new life, there are Drollicers who fishes for these souls to do their biddings,"
"Drollicers are Phoenicians who have abused the Gift by forcing these souls onto an occupied body, forcing out the original soul so they can control their new host," continued Auric, "those ribbons impaled on his back binds the Drollicer to his host so that we can track where he is regardless if he had acknowledged our awareness and traps him to where he is,"
"What do we do now?" Drostan spoke carefully, finally enlightened but still somewhat unnerved.
"You only have today to locate the Drollicer. Bring him back so that we may take care of it," explained the Prince.
A few minutes passed after the bloody scene was cleared, the Prince reoriented Galvus and Morschell with the same spiel Drostan received when they regained consciousness. They all crowded Morschell and Galvus' bed despite their guest room's vast space. Scott, on the other hand, was still unconscious as the new escorts lay him down stomach-first on the bed so that the needles remained untouched against his back.
"When do we leave, your highness?" Morschell asked, nursing an herbal tea that sped up their cells' regenaration rate, as Luina explained earlier.
"As soon as you're able," the Prince said.
"Then we leave now," Galvus announced as he effortlessly pushed himself off the bed.
"Good," Drostan muttered, swinging his weight off the wall that was between Galvus and Morschell’s bed as he marched to the door, "please fetch my Dragon,"
"You can not fly in with a Dragon," the Prince calmly explained.
"But you just said the Drollicer is in the southwestern mountain range--"
"I know,"
"That's where the Magongga Mountains are!" Drostan threw his hands up. The name was familiar to Morschell's ears as he once remembered Drostan mentioning it to them when he spoke of his feats before he escorted them.
"I know," said the Prince, maintaining a cool composure, “but we can not risk drawing attention to yourselves by bringing your dragon along,”
“Then what about Scott’s--”
“Scott’s dragon is out of the question,” the Prince interrupted flatly, “assuming they are after the WInd Dragon, then I, as Prince of Phoen, will have defeated the sole purpose of this rescue mission,”
Drostan scoffed before pinching the bridge of his nose to calm himself down, "this is going to be a suicide mission. You can't just simply hike along the Magongga Mountains,"
"Who said you were?" the Prince arched a brow.
"Well how else do we go around if we can't fly?"
"Who says you're not flying?"
"My lo--" Luina stopped herself, casting wary looks at the prince before trying again, "my friend has a ride we can borrow,"
X
"You have got to be kidding me," Drostan folded his arms stubbornly across his chest. Luina jabbed Drostan's side with her elbow, "Ow! What?"
"I'm serious," answered Auric, his hands regally clasped behind him so that his chest puffed out.
They stood on an open roof on the castle. The wind tugged at their clothes with invisible hands. From where they stood, they had a full view of the pristine Kingdom. Only, they weren't there to appreciate the view.
"But it's a bird!" Drostan spat out incredulously.
"A very big bird," muttered Galvus with a straight face.
"It's rideable, my Lord," Morschell quietly pointed out as if fearing he would be mocked by his superior.
"And therefore, you should use it to reach your destination," said the Prince.
"Can we even fit in this thing?" Drostan scrutinized the giant bird.
"It is a he," Luina added with mild amusement, "and his name is Toolah,"
Drostan let out a mirthless laugh, "great, it even has a name,"
"Time is running out, Lord Drostan," the Prince reminded them factually.
Drostan has never felt so ridiculous in his life as he watched the bird flatten itself to the floor. He didn't bother questioning it any further as he wordlessly mounted on it. It was roughly the size of a horse. This was insanity! How did a bird even get this big?
"Can we all fit?" the blonde arched a brow as he tried to figure where he should put his hands. Luina sat herself behind him and Morschell behind her. Galvus stood with two robed escorts strapping an unconscious cocooned Scott against his front.
"The bird--sorry, Toolah will carry Galvus by his shoulders," Auric waved his hand listlessly. "Oh and pilot it as you would a Dragon,"
Drostan shook his head, no longer bothering to question anything Phoenician. The Kingdom had always been a mystery to him that until now he still could not understand how Scott's situation was even possible to begin with.
Lightly kicking the sides of the eagle, it spread its massive wings. It--correction: he flapped once to detach from the roof with a flurry of snow and then another to steady himself as he grabbed on to Galvus' arms. By the third beat of the eagle's wings they were soaring through the skies.
Once again, Drostan wondered how on earth this was possible. How can one creature the size of a Dragon Toddler be capable of bringing five young adults airborne without struggle?
The grip around his torso disassembled his train of thoughts and he found himself braving the cold winds again on a bird with Luina embracing him. His skin prickled. How could she find the courage to be around him and act like nothing happened?
"Why didn't you say anything?" Drostan slightly turned his head to her and spoke with a voice that only the two of them could hear.
"I did,"
"But you left without a word," Drostan's voice strained. He wanted to tell her how he nearly killed her twice had he not been held back. First in the Melladorian fields and the second one that took place just moments ago. It had been a while since he killed men, and it sickened him to his gut. Would he be the reason why war will start all over again? He worked years with his late Dragoneer to attain peace. If war were to start because of him, then his Dragoneer's death would been for nothing.
"I know,"
"That's all you have to say?" Drostan let out an abrupt bark of laughter before adding, "unbelievable,"
"What more do you want? An apology?" for someone who was normally prissy, Luina was too calm for his liking. "Is that what you want?" Before Drostan could say another word, she added, "why would I even owe you an aplogy? I owe you nothing."
Drostan rarely got angry. There were a few times when he had and that was usually around his first Dragoneer but as the years passed, he soon grew to liking him. Another was when his father wordlessly sent him away for the Ceremonial Grazing. This, however, was different. His blood was boiling to the brim that it made his hands shake and his vision just as shaky with pure adrenaline rushing so violently through his veins that it made him nauseous.
"Don't," Drostan growled when he heard Luina mutter something, "talk to me,"
Little did he know she just announced her engagement.
X
Today--or tonight, Scott was so disoriented he couldn't even tell what time it was--his captors decided to hang him upside down. It seemed like their attempts of torture needed something different because Scott was growing accustomed to it a little too quickly for their liking.
After staying in the damp darkness for days--or weeks, could be months, it was hard for him to decipher--he had grown so comfortable to the point that he would strike a friendly conversation to anyone that approached him. It did not matter if they visited him to physically abuse him, force him to surrender his dragon or just serve him food, he just talked to them.
Like now.
"You know, I've been having dreams lately," Scott said thoughtfully, "I actually think hanging me upside down really helps me calm down more,"
"Just eat," the man with the deep voice sighed as he shoved what tasted like bread into Scott's mouth in hopes of silencing him.
"Just now I had a very vivid dream," Scott mumbled through the bread. Had his captor granted him an ounce of his attention he would have noticed how Scott described his dreams in full detail and how it might be something of importance.
Like how he nailed his second presentation in Mellador, or how he dreamt of Luina and Drostan acting strangely around him in a library. "I even dreamt I was attacked in Phoen--" Scott choked as water was forced down his throat and swam up his nose. "Hey easy there, it's not easy drinking upside down,"
"Whatever that can silence you will do," his captor grumbled, "you should be grateful for being handfed. The least you can do is renounce your title,"
"Sure," Scott chuckled teasingly.
"Sometimes I just don't understand why he won't kill you,"
Scott heard him shuffle a bit before a few metalware clattered. "No more food?"
"Any more and we might as well just--" he sighed begrudgingly, "never mind. Noone listens to me anyway,"
"I'm listening," Scott chirped happily.
"No," he grumbled before he heard the grating sound of heavy metal shut tight.
Scott sighed as he was once again left alone in this lonely cell. He resorted to keeping himself busy with a Pendragonian nursery rhyme. A clamor of metal surprised him.
"Keep it down!" his captor growled angrily.
"Keep it down," Scott mimicked him irritably before resuming to his nursery rhymes.
"I said keep it--"
This time Scott held his breath and tilted his head. He waited in silence before he cautiously spoke aloud, "Hello?"
Silence. No one answered him. With a louder voice, he tried again: "Hello?"
Once more he was surrounded in defeaning silence. With a shrug he resumed to singing a different nursery rhyme.
"There was a Prince
Who disappeared since
the others got jealous of him
Then war broke out
The Royals reroute
And then they found the wind"
"Scott?" a familiar voice ricocheted off the walls.
"Great now I'm hearing things," Scott grumbled to himself.
"Hey," a sharp whisper pierced through the silence, "hey, I found him!"
Was he really hearing things? Metal rattled in a manner that was done so gently that it became difficult to determine if was real or not. Maybe he was dreaming again?
Just then metal moaned against metal.
"Hello?" Scott tried again, growing apprehensive by the second, "is it you again? Is it time to beat me up again?"
Just then cold fingers wrapped around his cheeks, startling Scott. The fingers moved to clamp over his mouth when he tried to scream, "Shhh," the voice whispered against his ear.
He felt a tug from his head causing bright light to surprise him. Struggling to readjust his vision, the best his eyes could do was give him fuzzy blobs of silhouettes before him.
"Don't worry," said a confident male voice, "we finally got you back,"
Scott's vision was even more blurred out as warmth glazed over his eyes and stream up his temples. "I never thought I'd say this, but what the dragon dung took you so long Drostan?"
End
A/N: Okay, so I know this chapter was delayed. And I'm terribly sorry for that. Let's just say life is taking a cruel turn at the moment for me... It's a very drama-esque moment for me right now where all the wicked ironies of life decide to play jokes on me :D So yea, I'm battling for my sanity now. XD lol, sometimes, things happen so ubelievably that I couldn't believe it's happening to me that I think it's funnyXD
Oh well. What can brighten up my day though is by showing your support for this story that is coming to an end very soon :D Perhaps leave a few thoughts on how you felt about this, were there certain passages that caught your attention?XD And if you liked it, don't forget to share some stars :D
And lastly, don't stop being awesome and spread the love for dragons:D
Should you ever be as down in the dumps as I am, remember to always stick your head up and laugh at your problemsXD And then think of how you can solve it :) Remember, God won't give you something that you can't handle :)
Peace out guys. Remember you are blessed.
-M. N. Leuca