Sold To The Dragon Kingdom

ONE

Being an ordinary human with no magical abilities at nineteen was the toughest challenge I had to face while growing up. I couldn’t perform magic no matter how hard I tried. Even the best magician in Urek had tried and failed with me when I was barely eight. One day, he got tired of teaching me something I was not destined for, then he looked at my desperate little face and said this; “Eliza Snowfall, you were not born special like your twin sister Lady Elysie. She has the magic in her, but you are unfortunately a powerless child who is not meant to become a priestess. Join the Warriors of Oryes and at least be useful to this Kingdom.”

And from then on, I was casted out to the mountains of Oryes where I grew up learning how to dance with the swords and hunt with bows and arrows. Elysie was treated with grace and taken to the biggest temple where she became a high priestess. She was loved and adored by our Mother and respected by all the subjects. Elysie had been devoted to the temple without visiting the palace for several months until now that she was urgently needed at the palace. Mother summoned me from the mountain of Oryes to go to the temple and escort Elysie back to the Palace.

I was on my horse trotting slowly, passing through the market square while keeping my eyes on Aslan’s skin. Aslan had always been a happy horse, but now I could feel his discomfort because the Urekians could not stop throwing a spiteful glare at us. Every time we pass through the rowdy market square, the same fate awaited us; angry faces of young and old Urekians, peeking and muttering curses. Most of them knew the pain of being born a powerless human, yet that didn’t make them any more compassionate towards me.

Though I wasn’t born to become a high priestess like Elysie, I had sworn to put my life on the line to be a protector of our Kingdom, which should have been enough to win their hearts if they had any.

I tried to keep my head as low as possible, to avoid meeting with their eyes even though I could feel their stares burrowing through every part of me and Aslan.

“You need to ride faster Eliza! We have a long way to go before nightfall!” Milan’s voice came from a far distance, along with a clatter of hoofs which caused me to looked back, and there he was, with his horse galloping so fast. People made a pathway for him and soon enough, he had caught up with me and was trying to steady his cavemen horse beside Aslan. My eyes swung to his chestnut dark hair which was dripping droplets of water, and I was quick to notice the slight bruise on his left cheek a little bit below his cheekbones.

“What are you doing here?” I asked in a low whisper.

“Seriously? Am I supposed to answer that now?”

“No, forget it,” I shrugged. “I’m sure Mother sent you to follow and keep an eye on me so I wouldn’t hurt her precious priestess, so are you coming with me all the way to the temple? And by the way, what happened to your cheeks and clothes?”

“I was bathing in the river.”

“Bathing in the river with your clothes on, eh? I don’t think so.” I said, pulling the reins softly so that Aslan could move slower. “There’s a bruise on your cheek which clearly says you got into a fight. You were at the tavern isn’t it?

I looked down at his broad shoulders and noticed some traces of blood on the hand of his white tunic where his hauberk failed to cover. He must have ran some secret errands for my Mother, which was why he hadn’t answered.

“Were you at the tavern?” I asked, again.

“Yes I was, technically, but not to fight for gold bars or dragon claws,” he said. “I was on a mission to catch the Winterlander who penetrated the city last night. That son of a streetwalker killed three children and threw their bodies into the river Danyr.”

“Any idea why he did that?”

“Well, he killed himself on the spot even before I could seize him, so I have no idea.”

I sighed and slumped my shoulders down, feeling too exhausted with all the killings that were happening lately. “I really wish I have the power to put an end to this killings.” I muttered. “It’s starting to look like there’s a bigger enemy out there who’s trying to push us into a war so we can destroy ourselves and make our kingdoms vulnerable. If you think about it, six out of the eight kingdoms in Altrem belongs to the dragons. Only Winterland and Urek belongs to us, humans, and now we’re turning against one another. Doesn’t that ring a bell in your head?”

“A divide and conquer strategy, yes, I can understand such hypothesis, which is why we need to encourage Lady Elysie to go to the Winterland and ensure that the peace treaty goes smoothly. She might be able to convince your Father who happens to be the War General, to sit with the King and the council over there, and consider signing the treaty. They should know that a war will only devastate both Kingdoms and leave us vulnerable to external aggression.”

“Don’t worry about that. It’s Elysie after-all. She has the power of persuasion and making people listen, I’m sure she’ll do well.”

“And so do you…”

“What?”

“Yes, so do you, Eliza. You have that power as well…”

“Oh please Milan, I’m not in the mood to listen to that sarcasm of yours. Let’s just stop talking and race ourselves to the temple.”

“I am not being sarcastic. You just don’t want to believe in what you can do.”

“Well keep your thoughts to yourself because I’m riding on,” I said. “You can stay back there and keep talking to nobody.”

…

We raced through the farmlands until we reached the outskirts of the Kingdom where the temple was located. I dismounted from my horse and left Milan to stand guard. I walked into the main entrance of the tall, Gothic structure with flying buttresses.

As I moved closer to the East gate, the gargoyles perching along the roofs started spewing out a dark water which caused me to jump backward. My feet got tangled and I fell down, but I quickly vaulted onto my legs before the water could reach and touch me. There weren’t any guards stationed by the East gate; which was strange, because the high priestess was always heavily guarded in her abode.

The wind suddenly swirled and diffused a horrid odour in the air like the smell of animal droppings. I drew up my cloak to my nose as I jumped forward and pushed the gate which surprisingly parted open. It was surprising that the gate was not locked even from within, despite being without guards.

A cold shiver ran down my spine and my legs froze like iceberg; unable to move anywhere as my eyes fell on the figure sprawling across the beige carpet. Elysie’s white cape of silk was soaked; soaked in her own pool of blood. There was a trail of her blood linking the staircase to the Altar. Her brown hair looked disheveled as though she’d struggled and fought to live, with eyes and lips shut and a purplish looking skin. I felt like I was staring at the dead version of my own self; because her features were all the same as mine.

Before I could bring myself to action, someone attacked, tackling me to the ground as my chin hit the floor and I bit my tongue, the pain radiating through every part of me like a wildfire. It felt like my tongue had been diced and sliced and mutilated by a thousand needles. A big, cold hand was strangling my neck and I slowly started choking on the metallic taste of my own blood. My fighting spirit was nowhere to be found. All I could see was the cold blooded hairy hand with something like a large mole above the wrist which was now trying to put an end to my life. It was no doubt a warrior’s hand. And he was very powerful.

Perhaps too powerful to be from our human race.