Children of the dragon 1: The crimson knight

The arrival

"You are certainly big, Leon," the strong dwarf comments, taking the measurements. "I don't recommend the gauntlets with individual protection for each finger because you can still end with a broken finger with those."

"That's true, my father mentioned it when he bought his armor," Maria adds. "We want those that resemble a shell."

"As you wish, my lady," the dwarf answers, caressing his silver beard.

"How long would it take to be ready?" she asks.

"At least six months for the best, my lady, and you have to bring him here so I can make sure everything works well," he says.

"Six months?!" Leon lets out his surprise.

"Yes, Leon, and that's fast," she says. "Long ago he was able to produce a fine piece in two days, isn't it?"

"Yes," the dwarf confirms. "When I still had my team around…"

"What happened to them?" Leon asks.

"The knight of the rose…" he lets out. Leon searched in his memories about that knight, but he found nothing.

"My knowledge in that area is…" he begins.

"Is not?" Maria completes, giggling. "Of course! You used to spend your time reading books of adventures and cooking after all."

"Hey! In my defense, I can cook very well!" he defends himself.

"The knights of Titania, also known as the knights of the moon, are sometimes seven and sometimes nine holy warriors who wield seven magical weapons," the dwarf continues. "They exist to hunt any harmful warlock or magical creature in the world. They are priests of the goddess of the moon and I and my team worked for one of them."

"The fallen knight," Maria adds.

The dwarf stops working, his stare in the fire.

"He told us that he would take care of the creature alone, that he knew how to do it," the dwarf says. His face shows he is trying hard to understand something beyond understanding. "We had failed three times before that night and the price we paid was three cities. It was horrible…"

"I heard the tales," Maria comments.

"Yes, miss Maria," the dwarf continues. "The people turned into monstrosities that couldn't die, things that desperately wanted the blood of the living. We fought them but in the end, it was not us, but the sun who saved us."

"The sun?" Leon asks.

"Yes! The sun! When the sun appeared the creatures burnt to ashes," the dwarf confirms. "All the population in the cities did…"

Vampires? Leon thinks, remembering the blood lords from the hell. He banishes the idea immediately because that can't be real. After all, if they are then his dreams, then she…

"What happened next?" Maria asks.

"Next? Well…" the dwarf seems to be remembering dark and bitter times. "We heard of a man traveling in the night, he had passed for the cities, Orestead, Iliad, and Eneid. Our cities. We tracked the man to the castle of a count in the north, count Kross. But when we arrived it was late. The castle was burning and the wife of the count had been transformed into one of those things. Lord… lord William cut her and defeated her, but she killed half of our crew in the process, wounding lord William. We buried our brothers and sisters and kept going ahead, seeking revenge. In the end, Lord William cut the head of the man and it burned to ashes. He avenged the fallen, but when we realized what was happening he, our lord William was killing us."

He opens his shirt showing the ugly scar of the huge cut on his chest.

"My remaining brothers left me in charge of the trigger because I was badly wounded to fight. They sacrificed their lives and lord William drank their blood. They led him to the trap we had prepared for the original monster and he fell into it. He didn't know of it, luckily. That was the longest night of my life and I fought not to fall unconscious. I thought he was going to open the jail at any time. But my brothers and sisters did a great job. The jail resisted. At dawn lord, lord William burnt to ashes, and the last thing he said was: 'This is just the beginning. The lords of blood are coming.'"

Leon turns pale.

"Frightening," Maria adds.

"Yes," Leon replies, in shock, understanding that he is in a hurry. He looks at his woman and feels fear, fear of losing her. "Have you heard more of them?"

"About vampires? No, nothing more," Lohan says. "And I'm so glad for that."

"Those things sound like the worst," Maria says, but Leon knows very well that they aren't. There are worse things in the depths of the abyss. He has seen them long ago. He has escaped from them once.

"Don't worry, my lady, I will craft this armor and it will protect your fiance even of those creatures," Lohan says with a confident smile. "I promise you! And I will include a hand cannon for emergencies."

"A hand cannon?" Leon has never heard about it.

"One of those? Yes, please," Maria agrees, pointing at the large piece of cylindrical steel attached to wood and a sharp blade on its end.

"That's a musket, my lady, I'm talking about something more practical and smaller," Lohan clarifies. "Something that I will create soon."

"Do not offer what you don't have, dwarf master," she criticizes.

"You are right, my lady," he apologizes. "I offer my apologies."

"Since my work will involve danger I will need a good blacksmith, Lohan," Leon says. "It would be good if every time I return here you improve my equipment and my armory."

"It will be my honor!" he replies.

"But no more lies, never!" Maria adds.

"No more," Lohan agrees.

"Good," she concludes.

They go to their house after Lohan starts with the armor. Maria enters and Leon leaves her with a kiss because he has to go to the stronghold and train some footmen. After six months in the city, and two working as a knight he is considered the best swordsman of the kingdom, only surpassed by lord Davis himself.

"I see you inspire them, that's good," lord Davis says after the lesson ends. "Well done."

Leon nods. They are not best friends, and Leon does anything in hand to prevent him from meeting Maria. Maria laughs at that fact.

"Do you think we could practice?" Davis asks.

"Why not?" Leon answers.

The castle becomes silent and guards and knights reunite in the training field, to watch the encounter.

Their wooden swords c***k in the first round, Leon's first, and Davis' when he feels the winner. It ends in a draw. No hits.

"It's good that you know how to fight," Davis concedes. "But you need to learn how to fight in armor. Bring armor!"

The knights obey and ten minutes later Leon is struggling to control the armor. He has received four hits, but none was lethal. The only reason why they hit is that the armor is not made for him and Davis wins because of that. Later, Maria learns about it and she goes to see Lohan. She returns with armor for her fiance and makes him train with it. Leon says nothing about it, he just trains with a smile on his face. They have been living together for seven months.

"Is it worth six coins of gold?" Leon asks her, in the bed. She is between his arms.

"Ask my father about it later, I made him pay," she answers. "And now you have more important matters in your hands."

He grins. She loves the way he makes her love.

"When? Where did you learn all these things?" she asks, recovering from the strongest o****m she has ever had.

"I call it tantric arts," he replies. "And I consider it a path to enlightenment."

"Enlightenment?" she replies.

"Yes," he says. "A path to develop a strong connection with your partner."

"Well…" she whispers. "It seems it works very well because I want you all for myself and I want you to do it again!"

He laughs.

"I never thought I could care that much about someone else," he admits.

"Say it!" she demands, hitting his chest. He grins.

"I love you, Maria," he whispers.

"Not that loud," she complains.

"I don't want to share that" he smirks. "We already share a lot, don't we?"

She rolls her eyes.

"Well, it's your fault if they hear me," she counters.

"My fault?" he lifts his eyebrows.

"You make me your tantric thing…" she answers. "I'm just… defenseless."

"Well you ask for it," he adds.

"Do I?" she replies, teasing him.

"Defenseless my ass," he says and eats her, kiss after kiss.

Her moans are heard all over the house. The bed hits the wall of the bedroom rhythmically all night.

"Gods… that was…" Lara lets out, returning him to the present. He doesn't like the present even though he has good company.

"That was incredible," he answers. She giggles.

"Yeah, it was," she says, cuddling under his cape, all smiles.

Maria, Leon thinks. He misses her so much.

After they eat they lift the camp and keep moving to the north.

"So, from where does he come from?" she asks.

"I certainly don't know, but he calls it Dubhe, land of steel or steel land," he responds.

"And he has a purple dragon?" she continues.

"Neither purple nor blue, but purple-blue," he replies. "Her name is Altair and she is so pretty and huge. Both are… I mean, she is a dragon, but he has this aura of… I don't know. I'm taller than him but he has something that gives me chills."

She giggles.

"And he told you what the vampires are doing. How does he know?" she responds.

"Well, he's pretty much a genius, a strategist," Leon says. "He took a peek at one map of the continent, the cities where the vampires attacked and he knew from where they come and what their next movements were."

"Is that so?" she replies, skeptical.

"We saved three cities from them so far," he says.

"We?" she replies.

"I'm working with the elves," he responds.

"Oh! Elves!" she says, insinuating something without insinuating anything.

"My fellow companions turned into vampires, my people believed me a traitor, a murderer, and the order works with the blood lord. I took the hand that offered help," he says. "Why wouldn't I?"

"And nobody else knows about this?" she asks.

"Someone does," he responds. "And he is the reason why I'm still free and not dead."

"Lord Eltanin?" she infers. Leon nods. "Is him that impressive?"

"He commands a small group of men that are better than all the knights in the order, elves serve him too, orcs, dwarfs, and of course, Altair is with him," Leon explains. "When he arrived at the capital he was believed to be a god, and after we saw his might, and the men that serve him it's hard to believe otherwise."

"Is he a god?" she asks.

"I don't know," Leon admits. "Would you ask him?"

"Yes," she responds without a second thought.

"Would you, knowing that all his servants call him god?" he replicates.

"Did they call him god?" she can't believe it. "And about him? Did he say he is god?"

"No, he didn't. I don't remember that he did," Leon replies.

"He is a god then," Lara concludes.

"How could you know?" Leon replies, interested.

"Because he didn't say he is a god," she says playing with her hair. "Why would he need to affirm what's obvious?"

"Well, that's true," he agrees thoughtful. "But why is he here then?"

"You said he's helping you to fight the vampires," Lara says. "Maybe he's here because the vampires aren't doing what they should."

"Maybe you are right," Leon says. "But know well that his powers are dark."

"Dark? What do you mean with dark?" she is concerned now.

"Black magic, necromancy, vampirism, voodoo, and something that he calls science and makes his ship fly, and that ship is more a castle than a ship," he says. "Can you imagine? No? Well, I saw it."

He giggles.

"If he is not a god, then he's the best that mankind can offer," he says.

Lara giggles. Then laughs.

"Why human? Have you forgotten the children of the gods and mortals? Maybe he is one of them," she says.

"Maybe," he replies, and the flashes return. Those words are exactly what Maria said when the ship arrived at the golden city, and as a good incubus, he can't remember them very well.

Euforia. The order has left their stronghold and many patrols are in the streets of the city with the wizards proclaiming peace, telling the citizens that everything is under control, that the flying ship that is approaching is not an enemy.

"What is it then?"

"Who is coming there?"

"The demons from hell have arrived!"

"We are doomed!"

The things people say. Hysteria. Until one man named Shawn proclaims salvation.

"No! He's not a demon! He's a god and he has finally answered our prayers and is here to save those that are righteous!" he declares. "Behold his glory and praise him!"

Some people listen to his affirmation, some of those believe it, some others don't. Those who believe repeat the words, perhaps pretending to earn the favor of the so-called god, and the others remain silent, some perhaps accepting their fate, or denying what their eyes are witnessing. At the end, when the big ship slowly lands on the waters, barely producing waves, all the citizens of the golden city are believers.