The Last Realm: The Blood of Clans

16: One Ancient Behemoth of a Problem

I felt like I slept for multiple days before I woke up at last. The sky was dark out and the temperature had dropped to freezing once again, which let me know I was still deep in the country of Tasard, nestled in the dragon village of Ivery. I blearily rubbed my eyes awake as I stepped out into the rest of the building to see it packed with a number of what I assumed were ice clan dragons. It didn't long for me to spot the Elder, Shayan, as he walked over to me once he noticed I was up at last.

“I won't overwhelm you with too many introductions, but a handful are okay I hope.”

I nodded my agreement as he pointed out a young woman with light cyan blue-like hair and golden eyes, carrying a long iron staff. He said that she was Chioma, and her brother Alexei was around somewhere in the room. It took us a moment before he pointed at a young man with similar hair, much shorter in length mind you. Alexei had dark black armor with gold trim, a black flowing cape and a black spear with a silver blade. The other girl he pointed out had deep black hair with a blue tint, brown pants and a red tunic underneath a white breastplate and white finger gloves. She also had a silver spear with a blade that carried a frosted silver glint.

“I hope everyone isn't upset about before.” I quietly told the Elder as he finished showing me around the room.

“Nonsense, I'm perfectly sure they understand and you can always throw in an quick apology to smooth things over when we see them shortly.” He replied back with a reassuring grin.

“I can't help but notice that Keiying seems to be absent.”

“Ah, yes, well.. something came up outside of the village. He went to keep an eye out, but don't worry about that yet. We'll cover that when your whole group is present, shouldn't be too much longer.” Shayan quietly said back as he looked slightly impatient about having to wait much longer.

It didn't take more than about half an hour before breakfast was shuffled around on the long tables, the clan members having already eaten earlier. I had munched lightly on some of the meat and bread they had been having, so I wasn't completely enthused when another round of food was served in anticipation for my allies. Eventually they all filed in within short time of each other, causing me to chuckle a little with Shayan. I was quite enamored with the Elder, who had told me a little bit more about the world during breakfast-dinner.

“Good morning to you all, hopefully you had a most pleasant rest. I'm afraid you might need it soon.” The Elder spoke as everyone seemed to pair off still on different tables.

Guess some things weren't exactly smoothed over yet. I knew I needed to break the ice from things earlier today and the sky was already starting to darken over, but Shayan had said he needed to share some information with us all as a group. It took me a few moments before I pulled myself out of my thoughts and scanned the new and improved seating arrangements. Zale, Troy and Jace were all together at one of the tables, chattering away lively as could be and what I had come to expect from them mostly. Tajima, Kokin, Aurelia and Kathryn were at the other table, having a much more discreet and personal conversation. I was a little stunned to see Kelicia sitting alone near the back of the room, barely touching any food. I half wanted to try and sit with her, but I had a stubborn urge to leave her alone as well.

Before I could make my mind up either way, Shayan started to talk. “While I personally would want to have all of you stay as long as possible, there are a couple of pressing details and matters that need our immediate attention.”

“Your immediate attention or ours?” Jace asked with a skeptical expression, his eyebrows raised upward.

“As I'm sure that most of you are aware, you are being tracked.” Shayan continued without paying much attention to the interruption. “I believe the saying is that a good hunter always knows when his prey is running. Your hunter is indeed on the move and we caught scent of him on the winds.”

“That most likely rules anyone that Naren had, out of the possibilities.” Tajima said with a light laugh.

“You still find this all to be just so amusing, don't you?” Kelicia snapped from the back of the room.

“Silence!” Chioma, the cyan-blue haired woman from earlier, half roared to quiet the room. “Enough of you pointless prattle. You two have to figure out how to work together and get past your issues or everything could easily fall apart.”

I slightly gulped as Tajima set his jaw in frustration while Kelicia looked away and down towards the ground. Shayan picked up where he had left off, the remaining other dragons quietly and patiently watching from their seats at the tables.

“I believe your pursuer is none other than a Paladin, and for those who don't know..” Shayan shot me a look, causing a few snickers. “Paladins are skilled dragon hunters and slayers, trained usually from an early age and spread throughout the world to act as eyes for their master.”

Jace flinched a little from the turn in topic, while Aurelia voiced a question. “I don't think we've encountered any Paladins though, wouldn't they need to have some sort of run in with us to be able to track us?”

“We did though..” Jace mumbled lightly, causing many faces to light up with realization.

“Lorres and that strange masked man from the docks.” I gasped while my words slipped out just barely audible.

Kelicia shot up to her feet, her hands slamming on the table violently. “Lorres? A young red headed knight, correct?”

“Yes.” Jace replied with his head held low.

“Kel, how'd you know about him?” Tajima asked worriedly at the princess.

“Honestly, he's been in and out of the country for the past few months.” Kelicia replied slowly. “The Queen, err... Chiara had told me that every continent has a few of the Paladins searching about. It didn't make a lot of sense until lately.”

“No wonder you've been so hostile towards us.” Tajima replied back sullenly. “If I'd had been aware that Paladins were already here.. I would've.. we would've..”

Kokin rested a hand on Tajima's shoulder as he closed his eyes and breathed slowly to recompose himself. Kelicia nodded her understanding and walked over to sit and talk privately with them. It wasn't long before Shayan resumed his discussion to us.

“The bad news is that this Lorres, is getting within range of the village. The good news is that you can outpace him if you double back south towards the port.”

“Head back to the port? But that's gotta be crawling with soldiers by now.” My question squeaked out with a nervous pitch to it.

“I would love for you to head further northwest, but that only lead to the prison and cliffs and unnecessary trouble. Trouble that would require more than just one Kale as a guide.” Shayan replied with an uncertain smile.

“In the worst case scenario, we can offer a sailing vessel. Though I'm afraid it might be a bit small and unprepared if you encountered anything of appropriate sailing means.” Chioma said with a faint laugh.

“So you mean a fishing barge.” Troy laughed at the idea, causing a couple of us to join in as well.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Chioma laughed louder now in return to his remarks.

I pulled Shayan down a little so I could whisper into his ear unheard by the others. “Can I get a moment or so to try and fix this morning?”

He nodded before announcing to all of the Kale to depart and asked everyone to enjoy finishing their meal first, as there wasn't an urgent rush to depart just yet. Then he and Chioma both took their leave, leaving me standing up in between the room as I hesitated a long minute before clearing my throat.

“Uh, so.. I just wanted to say that I'm a bit sorry for going off on you guys before.”

Troy cut me off with a wave of his hand, a friendly warm smile on his face. “No worries, we've all been under a big deal of stress. I imagine it's gotta be rough, you being foreign and everything. Besides, just means that you owe me some stories now.”

“I'm glad you didn't lose yourself.” Kathryn voiced, while a few were quieting down from their laughter at Troy.

“I always thought you were odd, a little too much for just a runt.” Aurelia poked fun with her growing favorite term for me now. “That sure did explains a lot.”

“We have no complaints here, other than you are quite an amusing fellow and I appreciate your help.” Tajima half smiled, his silver eyes dancing lightly in the room's candlelight.

“Same here.” Zale yawned out slowly before winking. “Oh my, was that not enough energy for you? Or was it too much?”

We all burst out laughing at that before calming back down again, so much of the stress and tension being shattered away. I looked a little nervously to Jace and Kelicia, anticipating their possible thoughts.

“Yeah man, I sorta enjoyed you finally letting loose. I was getting a little worried about you being able to handle all of this without cracking or anything.” Jace finally commented, a smirk on his face.

I sighed as I felt a surge of momentary relief before Kelicia got up and walked briskly over to me and stopped right in front of me. Without a single word she reared back and slapped me hard across the face. I blinked in surprise at the actions, seemingly frozen still as she leaned in close to the cheek she just popped and whispered quietly.

“Sorry if I've been a pain or anything lately, things are slightly crazy lately.” She paused softly. “I think it'd be nice to try and sit down and talk though.”

Everyone was watching us closely, making me blush a bit as the princess took a step back to admire her handiwork before commenting loudly for the room. “I like you too, but don't you ever tell me to get past anything again.”

That made everyone erupt into another chorus of laughter, and it felt quite nice to have the moment just to ourselves to remember that we were all still just kids really. Unfortunately the moment and mood didn't really get to last, as a blurred figure burst through the room before nearly crashing to a stop right in front of me. It was Keiying, looking frazzled and more than in a hurry.

“You all need to leave, now.”

He barely had time to get the words out when Shayan, Chioma and Anastasia all rushed into the building as well, all equally looking flustered and visibly upset.

“Keiying, what is it?” Shayan demanded as they composed themselves.

“The Paladins are nearly upon us and I worry that they might've disturbed the behemoth.” Keiying huffed back, while urging all of us to gather our things and head out quickly.

“Do you know how many?” Jace cut into the heated discussion.

“Two that we could pick up off the wind. You must follow the plans, head back south to the docks. James will know where to go from there.”

“I will what?” I blurted out in surprise.

“No time, trust what you know.” Shayan said with pursed lips and a strained expression. “I'm sorry we haven't been able to do more. Anastasia will lead the way for you.”

“Godspeed cousins.” Keiying offered while hugging Tajima and Kokin goodbye. The pair quickly followed with less affectionate goodbyes with Shayan and Chioma.

I followed behind the pack as we moved out of the coastal ice village and headed south, Anastasia pacing the lead with Tajima and Kokin nipping at her heels. We tried to follow along the coastline, the white capped waves crashing noisily against the white beaches and frosted fields. It sounded like a faint, far away thrashing was booming from behind us as we put a few hundred yards distance from the village. As we rounded north to pass above the cove that was nestled east of Ivery, the front of our group skidded to a sudden halt.

“Get back, quickly.” Troy and Kathryn both pushed me and Aurelia back around the bend of the cove, trying to buy any kind of cover they could as I heard the voice and laughter that proceeded from up ahead.

“So nice of you to come and visit me.” It was a cold, slightly raspy voice that seemed chilled and worn down from the northern weather.

Troy and Kathryn had their weapons drawn and backs to us both, Aurelia was preparing her bow as well. I felt a little embarrassed to be pulling out my small ceremonial knife, unsure what help I could be to any of my friends. Past the bend up ahead, I could just make out the voices and insults that were being carried on the wind.

“Don't try and stand in our way, Lorres.” Tajima snarled at the Paladin.

“Or what? You're gonna put a stop to me? You're nothing but a coward and a half blood too, it seems.” Lorres spat back harshly.

“You really don't have to do this.” Jace tried to reason with the red headed knight, as the five of them backed towards us slowly.

This gave me a clear look at the man, his fiery red hair blowing wildly in the wind. He had coal black armor and stood just over six feet. What worried me the most was the fearsome looking spear he held onto tightly. It was an iron blue pole with a burning golden blade, one that looked eerily similar to my golden knife.

“I don't? That's quite something coming from you.” Lorres laughed at Jace's attempt to avoid a confrontation. “The way I see it, you have three young hatchlings and a couple of guards with two princesses. Nothing that would pose too much of a challenge.”

Everyone kept backing up further, slowly retreating back towards the village. I wasn't sure if it was a conscious or subconscious thought. In the midst of our search for better ground, as Jace might put it, Troy lashed out at the Paladin. Aurelia gasped as it only took a moment for the already wounded pirate to get swatted aside quickly like he was nothing more than an annoying insect.

“Troy!” I stood stunned as Kelicia futilely called out after the failed, single charge.

“Really now? I certainly hope you bring more to this fight than that.” Lorres cackled coldly.

“I'll bring much more to this fight!” A deep voice bellowed from behind us, as Keiying rushed through our group to s***h wildly at Lorres with his spear.

Lorres backed up quickly as another figure darted in to snatch up Troy and glare at us. “Hurry up and retreat already.”

Chioma rolled her eyes as she passed Troy off to me, he was barely awake on his feet but luckily only bleeding from the trickle that left his mouth. He groaned loudly though as I tried to shift him to get a better hold of him, making me instantly suspect that he might have crushed ribs or something. As we got back within clear sight of the village, Tajima darted forward past Chioma and Keiying and straight at Lorres.

“All of you keep retreating back to the village.” Keiying barked his orders at us, sending us back towards the safety of the clan.

I caught small glimpses of Tajima's sword clashing against the golden spear of Lorres, while Keiying hesitantly kept the wall between us and the dragon hunter. Chioma wheeled around hastily, her eyes the size of saucers as she weaved through us to get back to the village. It was then that the ground shook violently and the air picked up the smell of rotting fruit. Another moment later and a terrible roar sounded, causing us to all turn around as well.

A large snow white dragon was taking its time approaching our direction. It had a long, serpent like body with thin veined wings and icy horns. It seemed massive and loomed over the small square buildings of the village. I wasn't sure which way to turn, Lorres and Tajima continued their deadly dance while we were being closed in upon by a multi-headed monster that terrified me to my depths.

“The Yilbegan..” Kelicia mumbled causing many of us to shiver.

“That's right. I hope you enjoy your little present.” Lorres laughed between grunts of holding off Tajima's flurry of constant attacks. “Too bad I can't be around to see the hungry snow dragon devour you all, but it's not exactly in our best interest to find out how this plays out.”

Tajima let out a loud noise that sounded like a mixture of a grunt and a roar put together. I turned around to see Lorres pulling his golden spear blade out of the prince’s leg and turning tail and hopping of the shore onto a small boat, where a masked man sat awaiting departure. Kokin was quickly at Tajima's side as the monstrous Yilbegan released another mind splitting roar. Keiying and Chioma were both now standing guard in front of us as our backs were now pressed against the stirring waters of the sea. I wished we could try and pursue the feeling Paladins, but I was firmly aware that this ancient dragon was quite a significant threat.

“Keep them near the cove.” Shayan shouted at our direction, our group already crippled more than a bit.

As numerous Kale members poured out to defend the village and the more human residents they shared safety with, a figure I was unfamiliar with lumbered behind slowly. It was a large frosted white dragon with shimmering pale blue scales. When it turned its head to glance in our location, I caught notice of its deep set purple eyes, glowing with a territorial rage.

“That dragon.. is that the Elder?” I could barely form the words as the Yilbegan sized up it's smaller, new threat.

“Indeed.” Keiying beamed a proud smile that seemed just a little out of place in the moment. “Stay close to us and let Shayan and the others deal with that problem. You seem to have your own.”