Relying on the Dragon

CHAPTER SIX

Kala

    When Kala had walked into the room, Drake had been pacing, the air thick with his anger. Then he had seen her and his anger become more. 

    Are his eyes glowing? Kala asked herself, those beautiful blue eyes had changed, they were now like ice, lighter than she remembered. Then he had started growling to add to his ferocity. She had wanted to turn and run back out the door, so she had started to move back towards it. His voice was so angry, when he tried to reassure her, and she wondered what she had done to piss him off. But he had stopped, and now she watched him seem to battle with himself for control. He was staring at her and it made her suddenly aware of her appearance. Her hair was a mess, and it hung limply down to her waist. Her brown dress was a tent on her as it didn’t fit anymore, she had lost a lot of weight in the last few months when her uncle had started resorting to starving her as a new punishment. She was filthy, the last time she had a true bath she couldn’t remember. The last time she had any sort of chance to wash was the bucket of water Thomas had given her in the cell. She felt embarrassed by how this man was now sizing her up, looking at all of her flaws. She felt like he was not only seeing what was on the outside, but also he was looking into her soul. She shifted her feet. She wished he would stop staring at her like that. 

    These men were dangerous and unknown to her. Here was who she assumed was the leader of the group and he was staring at her while he was growling. She couldn't help but shake and it reinforced her will to flee badly. Especially when he took a step towards her. What was he going to do to her? She watched him closely through her one good eye, and watched as he clenched and unclenched his jaw. Her ribs ached, and she wondered if she would be able to outrun him, like she had been able to do with Thomas. The only problem was Thomas had been drunk, these two men were clearly sober, which meant she would be doomed. She didn’t think she had in her for another get away as it was. 

    Then he had spoken  and reached for her, she had stepped out of reach and he had stopped. She couldn’t handle being touched. She had barely handled Thorne touching her when he had rescued her from Thomas, but knew that he had not meant to harm her. He was protecting her from that villain of a man. But, she didn’t know what Drake’s intentions were, and she couldn’t risk the unknown. This was too much. He seemed frustrated when she had stepped away, then he brought up her mother. 

    Now, she was standing here, waiting for him to answer her. The anger that had been rolling off of him, seemed to disappear and she watched as shock and sadness took over, before he took control again. The glow left his eyes turning them dull. Yes, his eyes definitely give away his mood. She decided, she found it very intriguing. The urge to flee dissipated. 

    “Did your mother not tell you about us?” Thorne asked her, and she looked up at him. Thorne also had a look of stunned shock on his face too. She shrugged. 

    “My mother used to tell me stories about a valley where she grew up. About a mage who raised her, and these great creatures that watched over her and her memories of playing with them and flying. She mentioned Dragons, but I thought they were just a myth.” Kala explained. 

    “And what you saw in the meadow, flying over you?” Thorne prompted, and Kala remembered the great reptile in the sky that she had stared at in awe. How could she forget such an amazing creature? A creature that struck fear into the heart’s of men, but not her?  

    “I - I…” She stalled, she knew that creature had been a dragon, which blew her belief away that Dragon’s were just myths. Maybe her mother had been telling her the truth. Who would have thought. 

    “What else did your mother tell you about us and Dragons?” This time it was Drake asking. His voice was much gentler now, the air in the room seemed lighter now, his anger seemed to have dissipated. 

    “She told me that she was an orphan who had been taken in by a mage. She told me that the mage lived among dragons who lived in the caves above their small cottage. He taught her things about magic, spirituality, nature and how to be one with nature. My mother had a talent of using all sorts of plants and different flora to help people with ailments. She was a healer. She had started showing me how to do the same thing. She showed me all the different kinds edible plant life, that way if I ever needed to go travelling or if I got lost in the forest, I would be able to survive.” Kala said. She noticed that Drake stood straight at the mention of the mage, and a look passed between the brothers. She was curious at what the mage meant to them. She continued on. “She told me that if I ever needed to, I had to go to the Myst Mountains, she told me to go to the forest on the other side of the meadow outside our walls, then to turn east and go straight for two days by horse and that it would take me to an entrance between the mountains marked by two large boulders on either side. Mama told me that in the mountains I would be safe, I would be protected. But she always seemed sad when she said that.” 

    “Really?” Drake said, he did sound shocked. “Was that where you were headed when you were in the meadow this morning?” 

    “How do you know about that?” Kala asked, she felt very exposed. 

    “My lady, I think we should sit down. We have a lot to talk about.” Thorne suggested, and Drake nodded. He stepped aside, and pointed towards the sitting room. They made their way there, and all three sat in chairs that were in front of the fireplace.

    “My lady, I know you have a lot of questions, and so do we. We have a lot of catching up to do, and planning. We may only have this night, so if you don’t mind I would like our brothers to come and join us and we can get started right away.” Drake said, as they got settled into three of the five chairs. She nodded. 

    “How should we start?” Kala asked, wringing her hands together. There was a knock on the door, and Kala started to panic. Had her uncle come for her so soon? Or maybe it was Thomas. 

    “It’s just my brothers, I wanted them to be here for our conversation, they are part of our plan to help you. You’re safe here my lady. We won’t be letting that usurper in here or anywhere near you.” Drake reassured her, as the door opened, and the other two strangers walked in. Once the door closed they slowly made their way over to where the three of them were already seated. “Lady Kala, I would like to introduce you to Kargeth and Tolan.” Drake introduced, first motioning to the brother on the right then the left. The two brothers both nodded their heads to her, before sitting in the remaining two seats. 

    “I think our histories intertwine a bit, so why don’t we start with how we know your mother?” Drake suggested, and the brothers nodded in agreement. Kala nodded. She felt relieved, how was she going to keep her secrets her own when they all stared at her like they could see into her soul? With them talking it bought her time to figure that out. 

    “Many years ago, our elder, Darwin came across a burnt out village where there seemed to be no survivors. This village had been a safe place for our kind, it was one of the few that contained the people of a specific religion.” Drake stalled, and Kala saw the struggle in him as he searched for the words. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one with secrets. “There was a new king that overruled that area, and his goal was to wipe out the followers of this religion. Those people were your mother’s people.” 

    “What was the religion called?” Kala asked, she wanted to know more about her mother. She felt that her mother had wanted so much for her, but was taken so quickly from her there hadn’t been a chance. Maybe these men had the answers that she had been wanting for the last two years. 

    “The religion had no name. The villagers welcomed and respected all living creatures, they were a nature based spiritual group, and welcomed our kind with open arms.” Drake answered. Kala gave a small gasp as a memory hit her from her childhood.

*************

14 years ago

Kala was 4 years old.

    “Kala, what are you doing in here?” Kala spun around, clutching a small metal object in her chubby hand. She almost dropped it when she saw her mother in the doorway of the very dimly lit room. The metal object in her hand, bit her as she grasped it even tighter. The object was in the shape of an odd reptile-like creature that had wings, the spine had scales that were pointed and they dug into her hand. 

    “I - I… “ She stuttered, and she started to cry. 

    “Oh darling.” Her mother rushed to her and knelt down in front of her. She took the object out of Kala’s hands and placed it back on the table. “You know you shouldn’t be in here. This is a very special place, very sacred.” She followed her mother’s eyes to the table, where there were several of the metal objects in all sorts of sizes and shapes. They were in different colors too. The one she had clutched in her hand was blue. 

    “I’m sorry mama.” She said through her tears.  “He’s just so pretty.” She said, as she looked longingly at the blue metal dragon as he shone in the candlelight. Her mother looked at the dragon and smiled. 

    “He is, isn't he?” She said, as she also looked at the dragon figurine. Her face had been sad, as she glanced at the table. Kala learned in later years that it had been an altar. “Some day sweetie, he will be yours, but not yet.” 

    At that her mother had taken her by the hand, and led her out of the room, closing the door behind her and locking it. 

    ***************

    “Our elder hunted through the rubble, knowing there should be nobody alive, but he found someone. A small child.” Drake said, and she looked at him. 

    “My mother.” She whispered. 

    “Yes.” Drake said, “he brought your mother to our home. She was very young. A couple years old, she had been so traumatized by what had happened. Darwin felt that we owed it to her people that we raised her as one of our own.” 

    “Wait…” Kala stopped, coming fully back to the present, she had been thinking about that blue metal dragon she had kept playing with through her childhood. “You raised her as one of your own, what does that mean?”

    “We raised her among our people, Darwin figured we owed it to her family as they had always been so loyal to us.” Drake explained. Kala’s thoughts were going a mile a minute as she tried to puzzle conversations together. 

    “He kept calling you dragons. My mother spoke of dragons too, but they were just stories, myths. So, why would my uncle keep referring to you as dragons? They are just myths.” Kala said, trying to make sense of their words. 

    “In the meadow, do you remember the creature you saw in the sky?” Thorne asked, gently. Once again, for the second time, her memories went back to the meadow, where she had been surrounded and that giant winged being had flown over them, circling, like it had been watching them. The roar when she had been hit, like a reaction to the abuse she was getting. It had happened not that long ago, but felt like an eternity since she had seen that majestic being, it felt like a dream. Now she wondered if it had even been real. 

    “I was tired and weak. It was just a figment of my imagination.” She denied, shaking her head. 

    “Your mother lived with us for several years, Darwin raised her, he built her a cottage in our valley.” Thorne changed the subject quickly. “He loved your mother, she was the daughter he never had. He taught her. She became the sister we never had. We all adored your mother. We all have fond memories of her, and we all miss her very much.” He rushed. 

    “We also have regrets when it comes to your mother. Particularly, when it came down to you.” Kargeth stated. 

    “Me?” She asked, focusing on this little bit of information, glad to get her mind off of the giant being she had seen in the meadow. “Why me?”

    “Well, you see, it started when your father found our valley, and your mother. They fell in love, and she left with him. Darwin let her go, but we…” Tolan started to explain, but stopped and looked away from her. Kala squinted at him, was that shame she saw? She looked at all four brothers, the only one who met her eyes was Drake. His jaw was clenched and the muscle seemed to throb as if he was grinding his teeth. 

    “We strongly believed that your father had stolen her. We refused to believe that she had wanted to go with him willingly, that she was happy with him. We refused to accept her newly found happiness.” Drake finished for his brother. 

    “You abandoned her?” Kala asked, stunned.

    “Darwin never abandoned her, he traveled here quite often to check up on her. He was the only one who recognized how happy Oceana was, and was the only one who accepted it. The rest of us couldn’t accept it and refused to see it. So, yes, my lady, we did abandon her.” Drake grated out. “It’s not something we are proud of.” 

    “Why are you here then?” Kala preferred to focus on this, instead of the other thing. Dragons were a myth and shapeshifters were stories parents told their kids to scare them into being good. Shapeshifters didn’t exist. 

    “When you were born, Oceana had summoned us.” Thorne explained. “Darwin was overjoyed by the news that Oceana had given birth to a child. The rest of us not so much, but she had summoned us. Drake and Kargeth went, but Tolan and I couldn’t bring ourselves to accept her new life or face her. We felt betrayed by her.” 

    “My mother never betrayed anyone!” Kala exclaimed. “She would never do that. She was a good person, loving and caring.” 

    “We know that, we just forgot that all those years ago in our anguish of her leaving.” Tolan said, sadly. “We should have known better back then, and it will lay heavy on all of us for the rest of our days.” 

    “Is that why you’re here then?” Kala asked. “To make amends? To fix what you broke?” 

    “Please, my lady. We are here because your mother asked something of me, and back then I couldn’t promise her that I would. I know it had broken her heart to know that I wouldn’t promise her your safety. I was wrong in denying her that, when we came here to meet you as a young babe. Darwin had agreed to become your guardian a few days after your birth. He was the only one who held true to Oceana.” Drake said. 

    “Really, then where is Darwin? He’s not in this room.” Kala snapped. 

    “Darwin, cannot travel long distances anymore, which is why we are here. He sent us to - as you said - fix what we broke, but we are also to bring you to him. He knows about the usurper, and he knows that Clarion is in dire need. We cannot battle him from inside, we need to draw him out of Clarion’s walls.” Kargeth spoke up. 

    There was silence, as Kala tried to make sense of everything. 

    “My mother always spoke of being raised by a mage.” Kala broke the silence. “Was that-?” Drake nodded.

    “Yes that was Darwin. It was how he always appeared to her. Oceana loved magic, and so Darwin taught her. He also taught her the old religion, though for her it was more than religion as she was living among the beings her people had worshiped.” Drake answered. 

    “There you go again, talking like dragons are real and not myth.” Kala said, “Dragons don’t exist, they can’t.” 

    “Why not, my lady?” Drake challenged her. 

    “Because…. They just can’t!” Kala shouted. 

    “Explain it to me, Kala.” Drake encouraged her, and Kala shook her head. She wanted to break down and cry. This was too much. She felt overwhelmed, and lonely. She felt betrayed herself. Her mother had access to the most powerful beings on the earth, and they had abandoned her to her death, and in turn left Kala to suffer at her uncle’s hands. What kind of creature does that? 

    ******************

Drake 

    Drake stared at the girl, as she bowed her head. 

    “Why can’t we exist?” He asked her, watching her. He had watched her deteriorate as they explained themselves to her, her mother's history, at one point he had watched as she seemed to lose herself in memory. He wondered what the memory had been about that they seemed to have triggered. Now she was angry and defeated at the same time. 

    “My mother never gave up on you, you should know that.” She clutched her hands together, until her knuckles turned white. She stalled for a few seconds, again seemingly lost in memory. “She had a room here in the keep, my father had given it to her as a wedding gift, at least that’s what she told me.” She chuckled a little, and she looked up at him. Drake swallowed, that even though she chuckled, the sadness and loss in her face, told him how much pain she was in at these memories of hers. “I always got in trouble because I would sneak in there all the time and play with them when I was very young. She would scold me all the time. It was the most beautiful room in this whole fortress.” 

    Drake wanted to ask her what room she was referring to, but he didn’t want to push her. “My mother never lost faith. My father wanted her to be comfortable in her beliefs and he wanted to show respect to her people. He had built her a small temple in this room. It was full of candles, and the candlelight, the way it would reflect off of those figurines, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by them. It was why I always went in there, I just wanted to see the dragons.” She whispered. She had turned her right hand over, and with her left, she ran her fingers over what looked like three small scars. Drake watched as she did this. There was a smile on her face, though a tear ran lazily down her cheek. “There was one figurine that I kept playing with, and mother would always catch me. I tried to sneak him out but she never let me, she kept telling me that one day he would be mine, but I was too young back then.” 

    Oceana had a temple? His heart leapt with joy at this, he had thought after that night she had given up on them. He had felt certain after Darwin’s last trip she had forsaken them all out of anger and pain. But to know that it wasn’t true that she had kept faith in them, and not given up on them, he felt hope that he could amend for the pain he had caused her by denying her that promise. Where was this room? He needed to see it? 

    “Mother, had kept her promise, she had given me that figurine. She had told me to cherish it, that one day I would meet someone who would remind me of that figurine and I needed to remember to trust him. That he was there to protect me. I was supposed to show him that figurine, and then he would know it was me.” Kala had stopped. “I never understood what she had meant by that, she never explained beyond that.” 

    Drake, do you think she’s referring to the….? Thorne broke into his thoughts, Drake couldn’t believe it either. Oceana had held onto the blue dragon figurine he had made for her when she was a young girl. Truly this couldn’t have been the figurine she had given Kala. He wanted to ask her, but was afraid of the answer. 

    “Father had all the dragon figurines in that room made for her. There were so many of them, all different colors and sizes. They were stunning. But that dragon figurine that I played with, mother said had been a gift.” Kala confirmed without even realizing it. “She never told me from who though. That was why I wasn’t allowed to play with it. She should have never given it to me, as I ended up losing it anyway.” 

    “Kala, where is the room located?” Drake asked, and Kala shook her head. 

    “When my uncle moved in, it was one of the first things he got rid of. He destroyed my mother’s temple, and melted down all of the figurines. Nature worshipers, especially those who payed homage to dragons are not allowed in Clarion anymore.” Kala said, sadly. “I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t even save one of the figurines.” 

    “What of the figurine Oceana gave you?” Kargeth asked. 

    “I lost it. I was careless and lost it." Kala said, she refused to say more than that. The brothers all exchanged glances. Drake then saw a change in her, her sadness turned to anger. 

    “Why are you here now?” Kala demanded, changing the subject. “Where were you when he first arrived? Why did you wait until after everything was taken away from me? After my people are left to starve, and some of them dead at my uncle’s hands? If you’re these powerful beings my mother believed in and worshiped, why did you desert her? She needed you and you left her to die!” She took a deep breath, and Drake watched as she tried to control the shaking. “You let my family die, and left me in the hands of that man.” 

    Drake felt ashamed and he wished he could take her pain away. Damn Oceana and her promise, and damn Darwin too! He thought. If it wasn’t Darwin promising Oceana and Cecil their protection they wouldn’t be in this position. If he hadn’t been such an asshole and just promised Oceana and hadn’t stayed away maybe this would be going better. And damn me! 

    “My lady, we have been watching for the last two years. We just weren’t able to get in.” Kargeth started. Drake wanted to groan, while it was the truth it made them sound weak and human’s more superior to them. The look on Kala’s face was disbelief, and she spoke Drake’s thoughts.

    “You are supposed to be these huge, mighty beings of myth. My mother trusted you and promised safety in your hands, and you say you couldn’t get into Clarion for two years? So what changed? How were you able to get in now? I can guarantee my uncle wasn’t very welcoming now, just like back then.” Kala shouted. Drake wanted to smile, she had Oceana’s temper, this was the woman from the meadow. The usurper hadn’t broken her yet, though she was close.

    Kala was right though, and he didn’t know what to say to her. She was right in her anger. They were dragons and they had allowed humans to keep them away from her. He needed to tread carefully. 

    “You have every right to hate us.” Drake responded, gently. “But, my lady, we are here now. We can help you now.” 

    “Really? The damage has been done.” Kala snapped, “I have lost everything!” 

    Drake could see the pain and anger, tears filled her eyes but she battled to keep them from falling. He admired her strength, but she had to break sometime, that was the way of humans. 

    “He hasn’t taken everything.” Drake said, his voice a soft rumble.

    “Tell me what I haven’t lost! My parents are dead, my position to help my people is gone, my fortune is gone, my home is a prison, my vir-” she stopped and choked on the last word, she swallowed and tried again. “My chance of finding a suitable husband is gone, for no one would want a spinster.” Drake tried to understand what she meant, she was still very young, why would she be…

    Her virginity was taken, it’s why she stinks of that other man. Thorne answered Drake’s question before he could finish thinking it. 

    DAMMIT!!! Drake roared in his head. He should have known from the moment she had entered his room and he had smelled it. So stupid! He cursed himself. How had he not known? 

    In the human world, an unwed woman who loses her virginity was considered ruined and no longer eligible to be married. A highborn woman like Kala, even more so. She was now seen as a disgrace to her family and name. Her uncle had truly taken everything from her. They were too late after all. 

    “Kala, I had not realized your uncle had taken it that far. I am truly sorry. I thought we had more time. We should have come sooner, we should have forced our way in instead of biding our time.” Drake apologized, though he knew wouldn’t be good enough. “We’ll fix this.” He promised. 

    “How?” She asked.

    “I’ll figure it out.” Drake said, though he truly had no idea. He needed Darwin. "In the meantime, I do offer you my protection and that of my brothers. If you will allow it, I would like you to stay here until we can get you out. I don't want you out of sight of any of us." 

    Drake watched as Kala thought about it. He knew she was still angry with them, but he hoped that he realized that they were her only option of safety. He didn't know what her uncle was doing to her, but from her physical shape right now, it was nothing good, and it needed to end. They had a lot of planning to do, and they couldn't do that until they knew she had accepted their protection.