Blood of a Dragon

Chapter 2

When I woke up, I was alone in a pure white room not knowing what happened or what was going on. When I tried moving my arms they would not budge from my side, they were tied with chains to the side of my bed. The more I struggled the more tired I got, after what seemed like ages alone in this room, I heard movement outside the door and then it opened revealing the king and queen side by side.

I didn’t know what was going on so I kept quite pretending to be asleep, I heard them talking about the mark on my left shoulder and that it was the mark of a dragon rider. They instructed a nurse to check up on me seeing as they thought I haven’t awoken yet. As soon as they left, I struggled again trying to free myself from the chains that bounded me to the bed.

My left hands chain broke freeing my arm as I still struggled with the right when I heard someone out side the door, just as the door opened the chain snapped freeing me, as I jumped up out of the bed seeing that I was still in the clothes I wore to dinner that night I had passed out.

The door opened revealing a person I did not think I would ever see again; he was the boy I had countless nightmares about he was the boy who had followed my family that day just before we entered the palace gates. I was shocked seeing him there and not a nurse, he had dark hair almost black they covered half of his face only showing his pure blue sky like eye.

He showed me to stay quiet while he moved the curtains Infront of the windowing seeing many guards down below. He showed that I should follow him walking to a closet near the window, he opened it showing me to get in. I did as I was told still thinking I’m imagining things when he pushed on the back wall of the closet seeing that it opens to a small tunnel.

He pushed me inside just as we heard guards coming up the stairs out side of the small room’s door, the alarms sounded saying there was an intruder on the palace grounds. We walked in silence as we continued our way down the small tunnel it felt like we have been walking for about an hour but in reality, we have only been walking for a mere time of ten minutes. I looked back seeing the mysterious man still behind me, I couldn’t take the quietness any longer for I had questions that needed answering.

“Who are you??” I asked not really knowing how to start a conversation with this man.

“All your questions will be answered when we are out of the city, now please stay calm we have a long journey ahead of us.” He simply answered back.

I looked back at him not knowing if I should to trust him or not, I had nowhere to go anymore and he had saved my life from the hands of the kind and queen. So, after mentally arguing with myself I choose to put my trust in him even if he was a stranger.

After walking down a dark tunnel for as long as I just have, I sat down on the grass trying just to relax for a bit seeing the high trees around me, soft grass under me. When I looked to where the man was standing, I only now noticed him truly he was well built as if he was sculpted to the very image of the gods.

He had a map laid open in front of him it showed the kingdoms and paths to each one. He turned around as if feeling my gaze on him, tilting his head sideways looking deep in to my eyes as if trying to see straight through my soul.

“Who are you??” I asked once again.

“Tharion” Was his only answer turning back to the map.

“Why did you rescue me??” I asked.

“The king and queen were going to kill you I had no other option.” He said closing the map, “Follow me we have to get to the next village for horses and shelter.” I nodded my head getting up of the ground following behind him.

Night fall came earlier then we had expected we have been walking for an hour long yet we got nowhere, I was already tired both physically and mentally so, we agreed to set up camp near a clearing in the forest. As the wind blew sparks from the fire, we sat there in silence not one daring to speak. Yet I had to know more of Tharion I had to know more of this mysterious man.

As the fire danced with different colors and the wind became cold, I moved closer to him trying to get more warmth. He looked at me suspiciously as if trying to figure out what’s going on until a cold breeze blow on me and I shivered a bit. He seemed to notice my blue lips and cold nose cause he have me his jacket, I went to ask him if he wouldn’t get cold but saw he had another one on.

“Where will we go tomorrow morning??” I asked looking in to the fire.

He let out a heavy sigh answering my question. “we will be going to the mountains north of the king village but we’ll have to travel with horses otherwise well never get there in time.”

“Get there in time for what??” I asked tilting my head side ways as if saying I have no clue of what you are speaking about.

“Since that day I saw you in the village I had a recurring image flash before my eyes as if it was a vision. So, when I eventually got the guts to go to the mountains, I was looking for the ice witch as everyone called her, I was looking for help to get you out of my life.” As he explained I taught of the recurring nightmares I would have of him, not yet saying anything just listening. “She looked in to my mind trying to find the source of this image yet all she found was my future which has you in it. She didn’t give much detail just told me to find you as fast as I could that you would be in danger, that you and I were to important to be hurt by the hands of the king and queen.” I listened carefully as he spoke trying to think of as good reason to call this a well taught of lie but I had no reason to for I had a feeling everything he was telling me was the actual truth.

“So here we are, tomorrow morning we’ll have to get up early so go to bed Elizabeth ill take watch for tonight.” I did as I was told laying down beside the fire eyes closing as my head rested on the ground finally feeling like I would have a well-rested night.

Though it was not a good sleep, every sound that came from the forest woke me up scared for my life only to be reassured that we were safe that Tharion was looking over me.

The morning after the horrible night I woke up to a beautiful sunny day but when I turned to look for Tharion he was missing out of sight. I got up quickly seeing spear lying next to where I was asleep earlier. Not knowing what was going on I sat down frightened for my life completely forgetting the training dad had given me as a youngster. So, when something made a sound next to me, I quickly went to attack or well I just runner to it with closed eyes screaming only to be tripped and laughed at by the voice I would not soon forget.

“Tharion!!!” I screamed at him. “Don’t you dare ever give me a fright like that again.” He just continued to laugh a full-hearted laugh right from the belly. Such a laugh that even I had to laugh at the situation we were in, in that moment it felt as if we have been companions for the longest time even though it has only been one day in total.

After a while the laughing stopped and I noticed he had two rabbits in each hand and a bow a along with arrows on his back I looked at him with an arched brow asking a silent question.

“What did you think I would let you starve??” he gave a half smile.

I just nodded looking away as he gutted the animals and put the meat on the fire. I felt bad for the poor woodland creatures but at the same time my stomach made funny noises as if it were saying I’m hungry.

Half an hour later the food was done, made in to a delicious stew with different types of goodies. It was amazing I was truly loving the taste on my fist bite and after that couldn’t get enough of it. I wanted to ask him how he knew what to use for the strew but went against it not knowing how he would react if I asked about his past.

We ate in silence listening to the birds chirp happily in the light of the morning sun, it had been two days since I ran away from the castle with him. It was sad that I had to leave my life behind but exciting at the same time. I would be exploring new things and learning more about my past.

I looked at Tharion taking in his dark hair and beautiful blue eye, “When will we reach the mountains??” was the question that slipped past my lips.

He looked at me as if to ask if that was a real question. “In the next day if we can find horses to ride from the next village.” Was the answer he gave and me giving a simple nod in understanding.

After out brief conversation he had cleaned all the pots in the nearby stream, we had started to pack up our camp when we heard the thump of horses and men talking. Tharion showed me to keep quite as he moved closer to the noise just behind the bushes to our left.

I did as I was told keeping my breathing slow and steady when he peaked trough the bushes people screamed there they are and the horses ran to our direction.

“Climb the tree!!” Was that he yelled at me throwing his bow and arrows to me. I latched them on to my back as he did and started me decent up the tree when in no time, I was off the ground watching Tharion fight to keep the king’s guards away from me.

I shifted and hurt my back with something until I noticed it was the arrows and bow, they gave me an idea knowing that my father had trained me in the arts of combat and that my best skill was archery. When I aimed my first arrow and let go of it feeling in zoom past my right cheek, I hit my target just as the man wanted to jump attack Tharion.

Tharion looked startled and surprised at the same time giving me a small nod and smile, he turned around and fought off the other 3 men left while I helped him as much I could without harming him or possibly killing him.

When the fight was over Tharion came to my side asking me if I was fine and not hurt if they had not gotten to me, I looked at him with disbelief and asked him if he was crazy that I should be the one asking him all these questions.

He gave me a small smile and said that he was fine that he was not hurt in any way.

I sighed nodding my head deciding its best to leave this conversation, I looked around us seeing the bodies laying around with sward stabs and arrows in them. The I noticed that two out of the four horses stayed behind eating the leaves of the bushes.

 My face lit up with a smile as I walked towards the horses as slowly as possible telling Tharion to stay where he was so that he wouldn’t give them a reason to run away. I came closer to them putting my hand out if front of me in a calming motion which seemed to do the trick cause in no time, I had both horses calm and collected telling Tharion that he could get on the back of the brown horse, which he did with out hesitation. He quickly road off with me following close behind him on our way to the mountains.

We rode for hours on end and did not stop for anything; the air began to get colder as the night drew by knowing we would have to stop in order to let the horses rest and warm up. So, after about an hour’s ride we finally decided it was time to set up camp. We made our way to a small clearing with in the thick misty forest putting our belongings down Tharion began to walk away but not before stopping due to me calling his name.

“Where are you going?” I asked not wanting him to get hurt by the creatures in the forest.

“Ill be back in an hour’s time, I’m going hunting for something to eat. Will your please start a fire a secure the horses??” he asked to which I had agreed in doing bidding him goodbye until later.

Walking to the horses I took the rains and tied them to a tree with big amounts of green grass around it, after doing that I walked to the edge of the clearing search for fire wood. There was nothing I could use cause of all the mist in the air the wood had been wet and I was unable to light the fire Tharion had asked me to make.

So, sitting in the dark near the horses waiting for him to return got boring quote fast, deciding to do some snooping around I took one of the bags that Tharion had been carrying only to find that he had the same book I had left at the castle.

It shacked me to see it knowing that I also had one yet this one was slightly different, when I opened it at the back where the information of the dragon’s mark was located it showed not one but 3 different marks.

It showed the mark I had on my left shoulder as the dragon riders mark and the one was the same type of mark just on a different part of the body. I saw the writing beneath each of the pictures that the one said of a dragon warrior loyal only to the true royal family and one of the royal advisers who would give advice to the true king or queen. The warrior mark was on the left hand of a person and the advisers mark was on the back of the persons neck.

Closing the book, I was more confused then ever so when I heard shuffling in the nearby bushes, I know Tharion was on his way back here. I waited patiently for his arrival so that he could give me an explanation of my findings.

When he had finally came out from behind the bushes, he walked to me looking at the book in my hands, he looked worried as he neared me.

“Care to explain how you have this kind of book??” I asked getting tired of everyone keeping secrets from me.

He looked stunned clearly not knowing what to say, but he recovered fast and sighed knowing he had to give me some form of explanation.

“The witch gave it to me saying that it would give me more of an explanation as to why we are so important. The mark you have on your left shoulder is the mark the true dragon rider and a true royal. I have a mark as well but its on my left hand meaning I am the true dragon warrior.” He ended of showing me the mark on his hand, it looked exactly the same as mine just a different place on the body.

I looked at the mark with amazement not really knowing what to expect now, so I looked up at him and asked. “Why do we have the same mark but on different places, why am I the famous dragon rider??”

He looked at me with sympathy clearly feeling bad for my lack of knowledge but answering not the less, “It will be explained when we arrive at the witches home tomorrow, but for now please do get rest we have had a long and tiring journey today.

We went to bed like normal both keeping watch at a scheduled time at night, though I slept most of the night leaving him to be awake. The next morning came faster then I had expected, we got up and packed our things getting on the horses riding further away from the place I had once called home, the king’s village.

We rode for half a day not once stopping as we where scared to lose more time then we already have knowing that we did not have much left. As the day passed by and the suns light gave away the air started getting colder and little bits of snowy crystals fell from the sky that’s how we knew we where close to meeting the witch.