The Princess Who Went to War

Chapter 17 - Weather and Fire

[Calysta]

I laugh as Ayu gives Atticus some hangover tonic, a few minutes before they are to depart. Atticus had too much to drink during the banquet last night, and now he has to have some hangover tonic if he wants to go on the journey without throwing up. 

"Thank you, Ayu." I thank her as I help Atticus up from being seated on one of the infirmary beds and lead him outside. 

"We've rented a small carriage that the Prince can use until he feels good enough to ride his horse." Fenwick tells me as he motions for a small, wooden carriage.

"You can always leave later." I tell Atticus. He shakes his head.

"We have to be at the Capital on schedule." He tells me. Fenwick tries to take Atticus, but I raise my hand to stop him, wanting to help my brother onto the carriage myself. 

I open the tiny, creaky, door for him and he goes up. As Atticus is boarded, the Royal Flags are lifted high. 

"Have a safe journey back, Your Highness." Ser Remnand says as he bows his head. Atticus nods.

"Please continue to take good care of my sister and Gwendolyn." He replies. 

"Hug Lilianna for me." I tell him. He reaches down to hug me, and I hug him back. 

"Take care, Caly." He says through tired eyes before I finally close the door of the carriage.

"We shall take our leave, Your Highness." Fenwick says as he and Mordeyn bow their heads. 

"Take care of my brother, will you?" I reply as I manage a small smile. 

 Fenwick nods Gwen before finally turning his back and riding his own horse, right beside the carriage. Mordeyn rides his horse at the other side. 

A few knights, some soldiers, Ser Remnand, Gwen and I watch as the small, wooden carriage and the soldiers bearing the Royal flags slowly leave the border. 

"Well, that was a sight." We all turn back to see Kalah leaning against the wall of the infirmary. We had not notice her there earlier. 

"You weren't at the banquet last night." I say. She shrugs.

"Royal events does not suit me. Although I did hear it was anything but." She says as she smiles. I simply smile back. 

"Well, let us all head to the Command Room. You have a mission." Ser Remnand tells us. 

Kalah and I look at each other before following Ser Remnand towards the Command Room. 

There, we found that Gabriel and his team are already inside.

"Early party." Kalah comments as she takes a look around and runs her fingers through the sides of the oak table that holds the map. 

"There has been a sighting of a dragon." Ser Remnand says, and everyone falls silent. 

"A dragon? Here?" I ask, as I cannot believe what I am hearing. 

"It is considerably far from the border, but still close enough to cause worry." Ser Remnand says as he points at the map. Kalah scoffs at this. 

"That may be far for humans, but that's barely a few flaps for a dragon to get here." She comments. 

"What would a dragon be doing here?" I ask. 

"Same thing all the other monsters could be doing here." Gabriel replies. 

"The dragon is believed to be a juvenile, being smaller than the average adult size. What we are fearing is the risk of a Giorem or any other monster attacking." Ser Remnand says.

"If it is fire you are worried about, you have me. I can easily redirect the fire that the dragon produces." Kalah says. 

"The problem would be killing it, considering its size and strength." Randall says. 

"Well, the Sorceress of the Weather isn't here for display, isn't she?" Kalah says, and all eyes are on me. 

"Lightning will do the trick. But same as before, I need everyone to listen to me when I tell you to move out of the way." I tell them, still afraid that I might harm anyone. 

"Well, this is why I've assembled this team. Working with magic such as yours needs great coordination. Being that you've worked with Ser Elwood's team for a few times now, I thought this set up would be most logical." Ser Remnand says. I nod in agreement. 

"We can distract the dragon or hold off any other monster that can attack." Ulysses tells us. 

"We should head out as soon as possible. We'll bring horses to get us there fast, and a squire or two to guard the horses while we go into the forest." Gabriel says. 

Ser Remnand agrees to this, and commands a squire to get us our horses. 

We head out, and I am happy to see Maximus. I've only been seeing him during breaks, but I haven't taken him for a ride as much as I do when we're at home. 

I caress his head as soon as a squire leads him towards me. 

"Beautiful stallion." I turn to see Gabriel as he looks at Maximus while holding his own horse. 

"Yours is not bad." I tell him, admiring the beautiful chocolate brown coat of his horse. 

We all mount our horses and immediately make our way out of the Kingdom. Once we get to a point of the road nearest the site, we leave our horses to the two squires that came with us. From there, we slowly made our way inside. 

As it is pretty far from the walls, this part of the forest is not engulfed in the fog I had created. We move through, exposed. 

I cannot just summon a fog, as this will surely only cause the dragon to panic and take flight. Its wings may be strong enough to blow away the fog too. 

We have walked for about two hours into the forest when we suddenly feel a strong gust of wind from the sky, followed by a very loud screech.

"The dragon!" Ulysses exclaims. Everyone immediately take their weapons in hand, swords and bows. 

It seems, in our quest to find the dragon, it has found us. 

The dragon is quick to attack, immediately breathing out fire before any of us could make a move. Kalah is quick to take the defense, as she raises both hands, facing the dragon. 

Her eyes glow the brightest I've ever seen them glow as she controls the fire and it follows the motion of her hands. She fires it right back at the dragon. 

The archers of the team are quick to follow suit as arrows fly towards the dragon, following the fire. 

"About time!" Kalah exclaims as she looks at me, smiling widely. 

My eyes are likely glowing at their fullest at the moment, with the wind flowing from my feet and up my body, my cloak and my hair caught in it. 

I summon thunderclouds, making the once bright sky into a dark one. The dragon flies up, only to fly straight down again, getting ready to breathe out fire. 

"Right after this!" Kalah shouts out as she gets into a defensive position, ready to receive the dragon's fire. 

"Goblins!" Randall exclaims from behind me. I turn to see a group of Goblins attacking. 

"Cover Caly and Kalah!" I hear Gabriel exclaim, and the team immediately follows suit, making sure that none of the goblins can get anywhere near us. 

The dragon breathes fire, and Kalah is quick to use the same technique she used earlier, still redirecting the fire back into the dragon. 

At that instant, before the dragon can recover, I summon lightning from the thunderclouds in the sky and strike the dragon's back. 

It shrieks in pain as it goes crashing down into the ground, straight at Ulwid, who is fighting a single goblin at the moment. 

I quickly summon the wind to get him out of the way as the dragon crashes on the goblin. Before we can make a move, the dragon turns around and flicks its tail, sending Kalah and I flying straight into the goblins. 

I summon the wind while mid-air to catch Kalah and set her down the ground, as I continue flying through the air. 

Just as I start expecting to fall directly on the ground and brace myself for impact, I feel a set of arms wrap around my waist as we both fall down. 

I look back to see Gabriel holding me, wincing in pain at the impact that he had absorbed from catching me.

"Are you alright?" He asks me, despite the obvious fact that he is in more pain than I am. I simply nod, as I immediately look back to see if Kalah is okay. She is currently summoning fire and directly attacking the dragon. 

"Thank you." I say as I help him up. Once I see that he can stand just fine, I immediately go to help Kalah. Proper thanks will be in order once we get out of danger. 

I summon the wind with both hands and swiftly motion towards the dragon's head, hoping to cut it off. The dragon blocks using its wings, cutting almost half of it off. 

"I didn't know you could do that!" Kalah exclaims as she smiles in excitement as the dragon shrieks and attempts to fly, only to be weighed down by its injured wing, dripping dragon blood everywhere.

"That's gotta be worth a few good gints." Randall says as he watches the blood drip. 

The dragon once again attacks and breathes out air, even as it struggles to stay on the air. Kalah once again redirects the fire back at the dragon.

I summon lightning, using as much magic as possible, and aim for the struggling beast in the sky. The dragon shrieks as I hit its head and it immediately falls down as Kalah throws a huge ball of fire towards the same spot I just hit.

"It's dead." Kalah says as she approaches the dragon's head. Seeing how we've completely obliterated its skull and can practically see its brain. 

"Uly! Randall! Out of the way!" I exclaim, seeing how they are struggling with the goblins. At my voice, they immediately jump out of the way and I summon the wind, flick my hands, and the goblins are cut in half.

I look back to see the goblins that Gwen are facing go up in flames as Kalah remotely sets them on fire. I check to see Gabriel put his sword through the last goblin he his fighting, killing it. 

I look around to make sure there are no longer any threat, and so does everyone else. There is a moment of silence as we all try to catch our breaths, and make sense of what just happened.

I look back at the dragon and see Kalah kneel right beside it, driving a dagger straight into its flesh, and catching the dripping blood with a glass vial while smiling. 

Seeing this, some of the men immediately follow suit, harvesting the dragon's blood. A lot of people would pay a good price to get their hands on it. 

Dragon's blood is known to cure a number of grave ailments and anyone with money that's desperate enough will be sure to buy. 

"Is this the sigil I was told about?" Kalah says as she stares at the glowing sigil on the dragon's left wing. 

"Those too." Ulwid says, pointing at the slain goblins, all with glowing sigils in different parts of their body. 

As usual, the sigil burns away. Kalah closes her eyes, following where the magic could be heading back. Gwen rushes to catch her when she suddenly opens her eyes, gasping for air, and almost falls. 

It's as if she had been underwater, and had just come up for air.

"Are you alright?" I ask her. She steadies herself as she looks baffled.

"I can't follow the magic back to its source." She says in disbelief, almost in a whisper.

"I've been having a hard time tracking it back too. I believed it was because of my lack of training." I tell her. She shakes her head.

"Someone is blocking me from following the magic." She tells me. 

"We'll have to head back if we want to arrive at the gate before dinner." Gabriel says. 

The men secure their vials of dragon blood, and we all head back, Kalah and I worried as to how we'll ever find out who could be sending these monsters out here.