Secret Dragon

Chapter 3

One year into jail sentence, Wyvern

Time goes by slowly when all you do is stare at the same four stone walls day in and day out with no one to talk too much… besides fighting boredom by the hour, I've started counting my days with a stick and marking them on the walls… I’m brought out my daydreaming when the jail door bangs loudly and I hear footsteps.

“Hello? Who goes there?” I call out, but no one says anything… weird? “Hello?” Great, now I’m losing my sanity!

“You’re not going crazy… it’s just me.” I hear a guy's voice and I recognize it. It’s Charming!

“Oh, it’s you… what are you doing here?” I ask him coarsely…

“Can’t I check in on you?” He asks me bitterly.

“I suppose, but why would you care?”

“Cause it’s my duty to, for now.” He tells me annoyed.

“Oh so you’re only doing this because you have to. That makes me feel so much better…”

“You know, I could leave if you want!” He shouts at me

“No, wait… you can stay if you want…” I get quiet as he threatens to leave… to be honest he’s the only one who visits me. I’m sure Elena has forgotten all about me and is living a happy life. Good for her.

“That’s what I thought. Here, I brought you some of my lunch that I had extra of. They always give me so much, anyway.” He gave me some roast beef, and it had been a long time since I had actual food.

“Oh, my goodness… I had almost forgotten what real food tastes like!” I almost moan that the food is so good! “Sorry about that…” I blush as I almost forgot he was still here.

“No, it’s ok, I can ask about giving you some better food.”

“That’d be nice… thanks.”

We eat in comfortable silence together. He brought a snack of some jerky that smelled so mouthwatering too. Honestly, I’d take anything that isn’t that horrible gruel that I’ve been eating for the past year. “How long do you have to stay here with me?” I ask him out of curiosity.

“I can stay as long as I want. This is my main job.”

“Really? Watching me for who knows how long? What am I going to do? Escape? That’s not going to happen… the door is locked, and the window is too small for me.” I chuckle a little trying to lighten the mood.

“Yeah sounds kind of silly, but that’s my order from the head guard who got it from the king.”

“Oh… cause I’m such a hardened criminal… first-time offender and just for trying to feed my family… I paid most of it… but the merchant scared the crap out of me, and then guards came after me… wouldn’t you run if it were you?”

“Maybe… I’m not sure… I grew up in the palace so I wouldn’t know.” He looks down at his snack and picks at it.

“You grew up in the palace?” I turned my head towards him, listening to him carefully.

“Uh… yeah I did… all the guards do.” He seemed nervous, but willing to tell me.

“Oh… I suppose that makes sense.” We go back to our awkward silence and nibbling at our food.

“It’s not all bad, but seeing you here… a first timer and all alone… it makes me question everything. I can see if I can talk your sentence down to a year instead of five.”

“That’d be amazing!” I pick my head up with excitement trying not to seem too excited.

“I said I can talk to them, doesn’t mean I can guarantee it.” He sounds so serious, but my heart is leaping for joy.

“I understand, but any glimmer of hope helps.” I give him a small smile and he gives me one back.

“I know… I’ve seen it lots of times.” Well, this got dark and serious very quickly…

“Thanks for keeping me company, even though I’m pretty sure you don’t have to.” I give him a small smile and he gives me one back. We hear some noise from outside and I get nervous. “Is that something you should check on?” I ask him nervously.

“I’m not sure… no one has called for me yet so I’ll stay here and keep you safe.” I blush at the thought. He’s just a guard. Why am I so important to guard?

“Why? Why am I so important?” Just get down to the nitty gritty, why don’t we…

“Well… you may be a prisoner, but you’re still a subject of our kingdom and I don’t want you hurt.” Ok something’s up and I’m not sure what it is but I’m going to let it go for now.

“That’s thoughtful?” I made it in the form of a question, but I’m so confused.

“I’ll pop my head out and see what’s going on.” He runs up the stairs quickly, but doesn’t close the door. I shake the door optimistically just to see if he unlocked the door, but no such luck. Even if I wanted to escape, I don’t want to push my luck. When he comes back, he looks so sad.

“What’s going on?” I asked him worriedly.

“Ugh another visiting princess for the prince…” He doesn’t seem happy at all.

“Oh… I guess you got to go.” I sit back down on the cot and let him go back to whatever he needs to. Just when I thought I made a friend.

“Yeah, I probably should. I’ll see you around.” He gives me a small smile but seems sad. He gives me one final look before going up the stairs and goes back to the rest of the world.

Charming/Cadmus

I leave the prisoner and it honestly hurts to leave her. I’m not sure why. I go back to the palace and change out of my guard armor. The carriages and luggage of the latest princess is being brought inside and it makes me sick. Ugh, I’m just someone that my parents parade around to other royals. Being almost 28 and no mate my parents are getting desperate. They want to retire and have my coronation, but not without my princess. I go to the throne room to see what’s going on.

“Ah Cadmus, how was your guard duty today? Is our prisoner on good behavior?” Dad asks me like she isn’t one of his subjects. My dad is king of Galvan and an air dragon. His hair is almost white matching his air powers, but don’t let that fool you, he may be 50 but he’s still spry for a dragon.

“Yes, and don’t you think since she is a first timer that we could let her off sooner than five years? I mean the meat was mostly paid for and I can pay the rest, and she was just trying to feed her family.”

“Don’t believe the sob story, son. They’ll always say things like that to get out of facing their consequences.”

“How dad? That whole jail cell has a truth spell all over it, remember? You did it yourself so that way we’d know if someone was lying or not.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Yes, but make her a truth potion so we’re double sure.” He walks up to me with a smug look on his face.

“Here’s the recipe, make it yourself so you know it’s not tampered with. You can use my alchemy room if you want.” He hands me the paper and I glance at it.

“Yes, father… also who is coming to see us?”

“Ah, I’m glad you asked! A princess from Volaha island is here.” I tilted my head trying to remember my geography.

“The island just off the coast from here? They don’t come here unless they need something. So what do they want?”

“They want their princess to be well off, that’s what.”

“And they couldn’t have picked from the other kingdoms on our island? There’s more than just us and Seri desert would’ve worked just as well for them. Nice and warm, it’s too cold for them here.”

“Well, I guess that’s not a bother to them, or they’re just here for business, I surely didn’t invite them.” True dad was never the matchmaking type, that was all mother.

“Right, I'm off to make this potion.” I start to leave and luckily mother doesn’t see me.

“Good lad… off you go. Pay very close attention to the instructions.” I head off towards the library near the restricted section, the alchemy table is kept there so our younger dragons who visit don’t mess with it. I take out the paper from my pocket and read it like my father said. The table is stone so no accidents could happen to it with a pentagram carved in it.

To brew a truth potion, gather the following ingredients and stick to the recipe below as much as you can.

- 2 tablespoons of Void Sage

- 4 tablespoons of White Nigella

- 4 sprinkles of Bruise Cardamom

- 2 heaps of Brown Sorrel

- 3 bits of Golden Bark

Grind the Void Sage in a suitable container by using your hands. Add a dash of pre boiled water to turn it into a cream-like paste, then add the White Nigella, first almost everything, then the last tiny remnants.

Fill a pan with iced steam, add the mixture and bring it to a boil, then freeze it, then bring it to a simmer. Let it cool down until it feels slightly scalding before adding the Bruise Cardamom and Brown Sorrel, in reverse order.

Reheat what's now already a quite appealing mixture, mix in the Golden Bark and let everything cool down and rest, you should probably do the same.

Remove the solidified impurities floating at the surface. Your potion is ready to be used. A small, but very cold amount is needed for the potion to be effective. Mixing it in a milkshake could work, but be wary of brain freeze.

Luckily we had all the ingredients, so I didn’t have to go foraging for that. I followed the recipe as it said and I guess this milkshake concoction could count as something better. I grab the milkshake and go to the kitchen and get her some decent food. I remembered how she loved roast beef so I figured I’d give her a roast beef sandwich and some of my beef jerky that I made to go with it. I carefully take it to the jails cells and I’m glad I didn’t change into something outstandingly royal so she won’t know who I am. Another guard took my place while I was gone and he opened the jail door for me.

“Is that you, charming?”

“Yes, it’s me, who else would it be?” I make a snarky remark, but I’m growing fond of this nickname. She won’t treat me any different and I kind of like it that way.

“What’s that you got?” She points to the food and she looks hungry.

“I made you lunch.” I give her a small smile and she seems… happy.

“Thank you… that’s very kind of you to do.” She grabs the food from my hands and not so ladylike eats the sandwich so quickly.

“Glad you like it.” I chuckle as she eats, but I don’t blame her. I should really talk to someone about giving her better food. She takes a drink of the simple vanilla and truth potion infused milkshake and moans like she did with the meat earlier.

“I’ve missed having dessert. This is very yummy, and sweet.”

“Glad you like it, remind me how you got arrested?” I think she drank enough for the potion to work.

“Oh, I remember that day vividly. I paid for most of this 10lb hunk of whatever meat it was, I think it was venison, and just ran. I tried to make it home, but guards were already looking for me so I hid in a cave in Flurris for three months. Thinking it had died down by now I came back, my dragon Hayle, she’s an ice dragon and she’s so pretty, did most of the trip, but when we got close, I shifted and walked. That’s when I saw the wanted posters everywhere and that’s when you caught me in your trap… still not a nice way to meet a lady.” I chuckle at that memory. Not my brightest moment, but hey at least I did what I thought was right at the time… now I’m not so sure… “Now I’ve spent the past year eating gruel until just a few days ago until you’ve been sneaking real food down. That’s how I got here…” I know she’s telling the truth since of the potion and I feel kind of guilty.

“Thank you, I'll make sure your testimony gets in the right hands.”

“Can I keep the food? I’d like to finish it and I’m not sure when I’ll get such a delicacy again.” I give her a small smile and nod.

“Sure of course you can. I better give this to my… superiors.” Trying to keep up the act that I’m just a simple guard and not the crown prince.

“Of course I’m sure you’re busy and don’t have time to keep me company all day.” She seems sad, like she wants me to keep her company.

“I’ll always find you, my outlaw princess…” She giggles at my pet name… little does she know.

“There’s a funny thought, me a princess. I doubt a princess would be in jail.”

“I don’t think it’s funny, but I will see you soon.” I walk away from her again taking the empty plates and empty milkshake glass. The potion will only last a day so it won’t have a lasting effect on her. I go back to my father with Wyvern’s testimony.

“Here you are father, the prisoner’s testimony. She told me the truth all along.” I handed him the small paper I had written down what she had said.

“Huh… that’s new. They aren’t always that easy.” He reads it carefully, taking his time to read every sentence. “Well, since she actually was telling the truth I suppose we can reduce her sentence from the original five years to two days. Just so we get the process of getting her out started.”

“Really father!?” I didn’t think it’d be this easy!

“Yeah, if she is truly innocent then there’s no need for her to sit down there for so long. As you said she is a first timer and I’m sure she won’t do it again.”

“No, of course not, I’ll make sure she doesn’t.”

“Good. You’ve been her main guard so I’m sure she trusts you.”

“I’d like to think so. She’s been calling me charming since I trapped her in the forest. She doesn’t even know my true name.”

“Good, keep it that way, that way she won’t use us.”

“I don’t think she’s that type of person, father. She seems scared but yet kind and always thinking of her family. Does that sound like someone who would take advantage of us?”

“People will do anything for their family… now if you excuse me I’ll get started on her paperwork to get her out in two days' time.” He walks away and head towards his study. I head back to Wyvern and she’s fallen asleep on her cot. Guess the potion took a lot out of her. I stand guard in front of her cell waiting for her to wake up, as if it’s any other day.