Secret Dragon

Chapter 10

Wyvern

“You two know each other?” I ask dad, slightly weirded out.

“Know each other? We ruled together. Well, at the same time. It was a peaceful time… until your father turned my kingdom against me!” Ooh… he remembers that… this is awkward.

“I’m sorry Hollis about your kingdom… we actually just visited it.”

“You what?!” I’ve never seen dad so angry before.

“It was MY idea! I wanted to see my home!” I cried to dad. “I even brought some things that were in your old room that were still there.” I took out my trinkets that I kept for them and their reactions were pure shock.

“My king ring…” He takes the ring and puts it on his right ring finger. “And my dagger??” I gave it to him and he actually got teary-eyed.

“Yeah, they were kept safe in your side table.” I gave him the dagger, and he put it around his waist like he probably did years ago.

“I’m surprised this didn’t get burned in the attacks…” Mom came in and was surprised to see us.

“Wyvern, Cadmus… Airo…” I’m not as surprised that they knew each other given dad’s reaction.

“Hello Evie…” Airo gives her a nice smile, and she gives one back.

“Evie?” I hadn’t heard this before.

“It was a nickname I thought was cute, so it stuck.” She giggled at the memory and I just smiled for her.

“I brought something for you.” I brought out the box that the necklace was in and she immediately cried.

“My necklace!!” Dad helped her put it on and despite the soot and dust it still looked pretty on her.

“I figured you’d want it back. I even found mine too!” I showed them mine and they look so proud of me.

“You saw your nursery?” Mom asked me through her tears.

“I did… I’m sure I loved it when I was little.” I tried to comfort her through a smile.

“You did…” Mom confessed through her tears.

“But guys there’s still people there! We can rebuild the castle and we can go back home!”

“There are? I thought they would’ve gone rogue…” Dad looked so sad at the thought of our people abandoning us.

“No, they didn't, I even met some. They would’ve been around my age during the attack!”

“I’m not sure…” Dad seems anxious and nervous and I’ve never seen him nervous before.

“But dad, they need us and we can’t let them down again. They seemed so sad when I left and I felt like we owed it to them…”

“Oh, now they feel bad after they attacked us!?” Dad roars at us… I’ve never seen him get mad at me before either.

“It wasn’t their fault it was a potion!” Airos intervenes and the room just gets quiet… for a solid few minutes it’s just silence.

“A potion? So they didn’t revolt against us?” Mom asks us through tears.

“No, not willingly.”

“From the young adults I talked to, the people loved you guys… they were excited for me and how we were going to rule.” I gave them a small smile trying to give them confidence. I guess the attack really shook their confidence… that’s not what I know of my parents. They’ve always been so confident and happy. “Come on… let’s go home… our real home…”

“But this has been home for over twenty years… I’ve kind of liked this life we’ve made all these years…” I hugged him and tried to cheer him up.

“Our people need us dad… we can’t let them down… just go and see them.” They both look at each other seriously debating it.

“You’re right, dear, I think it’s time we go home.” Dad smiles at mom but mom looks worried.

“Will they want a human for their queen?” I hugged her and tried to comfort her.

“They’ll just be happy to see you two. It won’t matter if you’re human or dragon. Maybe we can even get your dragon back.”

“A shadow dragon could do that. They have that kind of power.” Airos pipes up and I didn’t think shadow dragons existed. They hid very well in the forests. “I knew of one as a kid… Malinda Klauth. She used to be my friend before she moved away into the deep part of the forest. I never saw her again.”

“So she lives somewhere in Terbius?” Mom pipes up. “That’s a start. When do we leave?” We all looked at her shocked, she was usually a homebody and didn’t want to leave home for very long.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, dear.” Dad chuckles and puts his arm around her waist.

“Yeah, let's go home first.” I grab her hand and smile at her. I liked the sound of that. We all packed what little we had and went back to Flurris. Mom rode on dad’s back and held onto their boxes while I put frost on Cadmus and Airos’ wings. We all look back at our small cabin that had been home for so long. Dad glances at it one more time with glassy eyes.

“I’m going to miss it too, dad…” I gently pat his large dragon tail. “We’ll visit it one day.” He nods to me and flies toward Flurris.

“Let’s go Cadmus. I'm ready to be a proper princess.” I smirk at him and he shifts into Volt. I always smile when I see him now. So majestic and handsome… sigh… I get out of my daydream and Volt smirks at me. Guess he caught me staring at him. I blush at him as I frost his wings.

“No need to hide your blush my princess. I like it, and I’m proud of what you’re doing.”

“And what’s that?”

“Ralling your people and getting your kingdom back.” I suppose I am… I frost Airos’ wings and I shift into Hayle. I lead Airos and Cadmus back to Flurris and this time we have a crowd around my parents. Whispers, murmurs and cautious growls came from the crowd and I growled back.

“If you have a problem with them, then you have a problem with me. They’re my parents! The Blizzard King and Queen.” I growled at them and they all stopped. I stood my ground next to them and I felt dad put his hand around my shoulder.

“Thanks sweetie, but I can handle it from here.” Dad gives me a small hug and addresses the crowd. “People of Flurris, I’m sure you’re cautious of us. It’s been a long time, but what my daughter has said is true. We are the Blizzard King and Queen and we have returned home.” Some kids look to their parents to see if dad is telling the truth and we see some smiles. Mom’s necklaces sparkle in the wintery sun through some of the dirt and soot still on it and the crowd calms down. Some of the young adults I saw earlier come up in the crowd and protect us.

“They speak the truth.” Viola spoke up and mom looked like she was going to burst into tears. “Evie?” She looks at mom as if she’s seen a ghost.

“Viola…” Mom looks at her as if she was an old friend and hugs her. “Life seems to have treated you well after we left.” They turn to see a gentleman about Viola’s age with some young children.

“Yeah… I’ve missed you so much though.”

“I’ve missed you too, my friend.” They hug again and more of the friends that I made earlier come out and smile at me.

“So it is true…” Zane looks at me in shock realizing that I was telling the truth.

“I wouldn’t lie about my heritage. People seem to think I’m just a pathological liar.” I smirk at Cadmus and Airos who also had the same problem not that long ago. They both rub their necks in guilt and smile.

“Now how about we rebuild this castle, huh?” The crowd cheers and dad leads them towards the ruins.