The Last Pendragon

Chapter 5

When Lyza woke, she was inside a dark, dreary cave. The air was cold, biting her skin which elicited goose pimples on her arms and feet. She shivered, sitting up. Kenji sat beside her.

They were in a massive chamber, filled with gold, gemstones, and more treasure than Lyza had ever laid eyes on before. It made the pawnshop from before look like a junkyard.

Kharro sat on top of it all—in his dragon form. He was magnificent with four powerful legs, each one four, maybe five times Lyza’s height. Scales lined his muscular, reptilian body, silver in color. With his tail curled around his body and a long neck that ended in a narrow snout, Lyza guessed he was at least forty feet long—maybe longer. Horns protruded from the back of his dragon head and spikes lined his spine. In the center of his spine, two wings sprouted from his back, curled up against his sides.

“Whoa…” Lyza gasped, staring at Kharro in awe.

“Yeah, that was my reaction,” Kenji said with a grin.

“Look, Kharro, what exactly are we supposed to do now? You can’t expect us to just stay in a cave and try to train him! It’s obviously not going to work. No offense, Kenji.” Lyza glanced at him before turning her attention to the massive silver dragon in the cavern.

In response, he shifted his legs and tail, causing several gemstones to roll down the gigantic pile of gold, jewels, and artifacts.

“How am I supposed to get the Bloods to stop chasing me? What can I do to get away from them?” Lyza stood up, crossing her arms as she glared at Kharro. Fortunately, she and Kenji sat in the single place inside the entire cave not covered in coins or jewels or gems.

In response, silver clouds wrapped around him and when they dispersed, he was in his human form once again. “I honestly have no idea. Getting rid of the Bloods is not my forte. No Pendragon has ever escaped them before.”

Lyza sighed, running her trembling hands through her hair.

Kenji stood beside her, meeting her gaze with his calm black eyes. His shaggy black hair and tanned skin made his features handsome. For reasons beyond Lyza’s reasoning, he made her feel safe. “Wait, what about Merlin? Isn’t he supposed to be a great wizard or something?” Kenji asked.

Lyza and Kharro both looked at him, blinking rapidly. Laughing, Lyza shook her head. “Merlin? Are you serious?”

Kenji shrugged. “Sure, in human history Arthur Pendragon was always mentored by Merlin.  I just thought... with the mention of the Pendragons…”

As his voice trailed off, Lyza shook her head with a sigh. “Yeah, but… Look, Merlin’s been dead for centuries. Ever since Arthur’s death.”

Kharro strolled up to them, throwing a bright green stone to the ground. “Well… That’s not entirely true.”

Lyza and Kenji both looked at him expectantly. “What do you mean?” Lyza asked.

“Let me check my sources.” With that, silver smoke surrounded him and he flew off out of the cave, in his dragon form once again.

Lyza clicked her tongue. “Guess we stay here for now.” She sighed, drumming her fingers on her thighs.

“We could always talk to keep ourselves busy,” Kenji said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“About what?”

“I don’t know. You said you were an orphan before…” Kenji’s voice trailed off. “Did you end up with any families you liked?

Lyza didn’t really want to talk about it, but she found the words leaving her mouth anyway. “Not really. I bounced around a lot. It was tough, but I moved out when I came of age. What about you?” She trailed her fingers along the damp cavern wall, following a c***k. “Grew up like a normal human?”

Kenji laughed mirthlessly, shaking his head. “Yeah right. My father was in the American military and I came from a mixed Japanese-American family, so that was always awkward. My parents divorced and I haven’t seen my brother Matthew in three, four years? Haven’t talked to him in months. I don’t know.”

Lyza frowned. “I’m sorry,” she murmured sincerely. Yawning, she slid down and leaned against the wall.

Kenji copied her and opened up his arm. She only hesitated for a second before she finally gave in and slid over to him. Leaning on his chest, she actually found herself to be quite comfortable, especially as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

Glancing up at him, when Lyza met his dark, soft eyes, she felt her cheeks heat up for reasons beyond her.

“You’re beautiful,” Kenji blurted suddenly. Or at least, it felt sudden to Lyza, but his voice sounded confident, sure, and sincere.

With a shy grin, Lyza answered, “Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself.” She hoped she made the comment sound lighthearted.

“Hey…!” He jokingly yelled.

Lyza couldn’t help her chuckle as he began to trace his fingers along her back and she sighed peacefully. It didn’t take her long to fall asleep.

*****

Dreams surfaced to Lyza mind, bringing forth memories rather than imaginative stories.

Four years ago, before Norak and Lyza had gotten engaged, one of their dates had been in the city of Vergis’ town square. In the center was a stone with a beautiful blade sticking out of it, so that only the second half of the sword and its hilt was visible.

Excalibur.

The legendary sword of King Arthur Pendragon himself. Next to it was a statue of the ancient king, donned with a crown upon his head. Lyza wondered if he was considered handsome by the women of his time.

Norak was handsome with his dark curly hair and dreamy blue eyes. Walking hand-in-hand with him made butterflies flicker in her stomach. “Legends say that someone worthy will pull it from the stone and wield it once again, like King Arthur did,” Norak said.

Lyza laughed. “Those are just stories, right? No one actually wielded Excalibur. At least, not with magic. It’s not even enchanted. Mages have tested it for years and there is no trace of magic energy on it. Not even faint traces which should be there if it ever had magic like the legends say.”

Norak simply shrugged as they stopped and stood in front of the stone. “Arthur did wield it and at one time, Excalibur did have power. When he cast the curse, he put Excalibur back in the stone to keep it out of anyone’s hands. He said that whoever wielded it again will be worthy, that they would use it for the right reasons… That they would break the curse when the time is right.”

“Do you think things would be different if there had never been a curse?” Lyza asked.

Norak peered into her soft gray eyes with his alluring blue ones. “I don’t know. We stay away from the humans because they will try to kill us if they see us use magic. We could have easily not cared and slaughtered them all, but we didn’t. We choose this life. Even if we go in the human world, we hide our magic. In a way, we’re protecting them.”

“And they don’t even know,” Lyza replied.

Lyza snapped awake to see Kenji looking at the treasure-filled cavern around them. He glanced at her and she couldn’t help but note the differences between his appearance and Norak’s. Where Norak’s eyes were a beautiful blue, Kenji’s were simple and black. Norak was slightly slimmer and Kenji had more muscle, even though he was shorter. Both of them were handsome, in two very different ways. Lyza shook her head. You shouldn’t be thinking of Norak. Even if you did have a dream about one of the best dates you ever had, she mentally told herself.

“You okay?” Kenji asked.

Lyza nodded silently.

Betrayal was a hard feeling to overcome.