The Ancient One (Updating Mon, Wed and Fri)

Chapter 5

    “He will be able to aid in protecting you.” Merlin smiled largely at Phoenix who frowned deeply, her wolf ears going back.     “There is a lot here to digest.” She began. “MaryAnn and Daniel never discussed the connection with a creature before. My parents must not have considered it important…” she whispered to herself. How strange. That seemed like an important piece of information. Merlin remained silent and listened to Phoenix mumbling to herself. He understood that it was a lot to take in. She took in a deep breath and turned to him. "I understand I told you that I would answer your questions, but I need to run." She said curtly. Merlin nodded and turned to walk away. "Do not tell Matthew or Jonathan where I am or what I am doing. They are too overprotective and do not seem to understand how capable and powerful I am." She muttered. He nodded again, vanishing into the trees. A violet mist surrounded her once again. When it vanished, a large, horse-sized Sapphire dragon stood in her place. "On second thought, I feel like flying. Rookewood?" The dragon looked over to her friend questioningly. Rookewood quickly shifted into his barn owl form and flew over to her.    "You should not keep this kind of thing from the two of them." He told her sternly. Phoenix let out a growl and smoke billowed from her nostrils.    "If they were not so overprotective I would not have to keep this from them." She said simply. In dragon form, her voice was gravelly and deeper. Rookewood only looked down and shook his head before ruffling his feathers. Phoenix nodded and spread her large, leathery wings. Her muscles rippled as she pushed off the ground and with a single flap they had taken off with a loud whoosh, causing the trees to sway slightly. They easily climbed high enough that to people looking up Phoenix would simply look like a large bird. She closed her eyes as they soared, enjoying the feeling of freedom that it brought with it. She twirled and spun through the air, her powerful wings carrying her faster than any normal bird could. Rookewood easily kept up as he was also a magical creature.    They soaked up the last few rays of the sun as it began falling beyond the horizon before deciding to slowly make their descent.     When they landed, Phoenix quickly shifted to her usual form and Rookewood shifted into a red fox. They walked to the barn and leaned against the doorframe. The flying allowed her to take her mind off things, but now everything going on quickly swarmed her mind yet again and she felt herself growing increasingly uncertain and stressed out. She decided it would be in her best interest to seek out Matthew. He was always able to calm her down simply by being in the same room as her and now she understood why. She quickly made her way to the main home and looked around. 

    "He is in your room waiting for you." Daniel said with a smile. Phoenix smiled gratefully and walked quickly to her room, quickly opening the door to see all three of them waiting for her. The twins did not look happy.

    "What have we told you?" Matthew frowned deeply and Phoenix rolled her eyes. 

    "I needed to stretch my wings. I am a big girl I can take care of myself." She crossed her arms before sitting next to Matthew on her bed and laying her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent and feeling her nerves calming. She closed her eyes, knowing they were all still staring at her. She sighed and looked up at them after a few moments of this. "Please can we move on. 'Tis late and there is much to do in the morning." She muttered. After another glare from Jonathan, he and Merlin stood and left the room, leaving Phoenix and Matthew alone. She sat up and turned to him seriously. "Matthew, we need to ta-"

    "We need to hold off on the ceremony." He told her quickly and nervously. Even though this is what she was going to tell him, her face still fell and she looked up at him sadly. He realized what he did and quickly grabbed her hands. "Only because of everything that is going on!" He said quickly. Phoenix let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

    "I was going to say the same thing." She whispered. He nodded and smiled. 

    "There is one thing though," he looked at her sheepishly and she felt herself blush a light pink color. 

    "What might that be?"

    "I still want to do this," he smiled and quickly leaned in to press his lips to hers. Her eyes quickly closed as she let out a sound similar to a purr and draped her arms over his shoulders. When he pulled away, she gave him a soft smile and nuzzled into the crook of his neck. He held her close and closed his eyes, leaning his chin against her head, enjoying the feeling. 

    "Can you stay with me tonight...? She whispered. He looked down at her and she looked up at him. "I feel calmer with you next to me and right now I feel anything but calm when you are not here. That is why I needed to run and fly." She bit her lip and looked to the ground. She hated seeming weak. She was supposed to be one of the strongest beings in the universe, yet all these things, the Great Dragon, the Prince, needing to hide her identity... all of it was crashing down on her with the force of a tidal wave that she could not avoid. Matthew nodded. 

    "Of course. I will do my best to stay by your side for the rest of our lives." He whispered. Phoenix nodded and grinned before hesitating.

    "Except when I am supposed to be pretending I am a man, yeah?" She smirked. Matthew coughed and nodded. 

    "Forgot about that." He muttered. Phoenix laughed and laid on her bed, pulling Matthew down next to her so she could lay her head on his chest. She hummed softly as she closed her eyes. This was certainly something she could get used to. He gently stroked her hair and closed his eyes. "Phoenix?" He whispered, curious as to if she had fallen asleep yet. 

    "Hm?" She tilted her head up to look at him, not wanting to lift it off his chest. 

    "How long are you going to have to pretend?" He asked curiously. There were other things he wanted to ask but this would do to start with. She looked at the ceiling and frowned deeply. 

    "As long as it takes." She said simply. "I honestly do not have much better of an answer that this, I am sorry Matthew." She sighed seeing his crestfallen face. Matthew simply nodded. 

    "Why do you refuse to tell me where you go when you decide you need to run or fly?"

    Phoenix thought her response through carefully and spoke slowly. "Because, I do it when I need time to myself, to think about things. If I tell you where I am going I know you will end up following me to ensure I am protected. I don't need to be protected at all hours of the day. I am strong, but if you two are not going to understand that then I'm going to go disappear and run in places you are unaware exist." She sat up and looked into his eyes. "I am an all-powerful being who is going through adolescent issues. I need to be able to think through them or it will not end well for any of us. The entire village could be razed if I bottle it up and eventually let it all out at once." She shrugged as she finished. Matthew nodded slightly. 

    "I understand. But you cannot tell me you are not the slightest bit afraid when you know there is an entire anti-race out there who had the capability to raze your ra-"

    "We don't know thatI." Phoenix hissed. Matthew had gone too far this time. "You know how I feel when this gets brought up." She growled, her eyes flashing crimson. Matthew winced and nodded.

    "I am sorry Phoe. Please calm down before your demon shows herself..." He whimpered. Phoenix growled again before the mist surrounded her as she shifted into a large dire wolf and took off out of the room. Matthew sighed and put his head in his hands. He shouldn't have pushed her so hard. She was going through a lot and he was just being an a*s. He heard their donkey billowing outside the window and rolled his eyes before falling to his back on the bed. 

    Phoenix ran through the forest, having no intention of stopping any time soon. She growled as her feet hardly touched the ground, running so fast she was practically flying. She had not even told Rookewood where she was going. She wanted to be completely alone. She finally came into a large clearing with a loud stream bubbling through. She shifted back into her usual form and looked up at the sky. The moon was high in the sky, it was probably getting close to midnight. She closed her eyes and breathed in the cool, calming night air as a gently breeze blew against her skin. The only sounds were those of the stream, nighttime animals and horses. She stiffened. Horses? 

    Phoenix quickly shifted back into the form of a dire wolf and growled threateningly, trying to get a sense of where the horses were. Raiders? At this time of night? There was no way. How far had she run? It was definitely further than she was used to running but there were no villages anywhere near theirs. She quietly began following the noise and scent, stalking in the shadows and staying as quiet as the wind. Maybe a mile from the clearing she had found was another smaller clearing. Staying in the shadows, she was able to count four humans and four horses with large packs. Two of the humans were joking and laughing by a campfire while the other two were sleeping. Phoenix perked her ears, trying to catch what the humans were talking about or hoping to catch a name. The only villages this far out away from Camelot was her village. This was not a direction most took to get to the next Kingdom over as it added almost a week's worth of travel seeing as it was very out of the way. 

    The men continued to laugh and joke until one of them looked in the direction of Phoenix who quickly backed further into the shadows. He stood and frowned, tilting his head as he looked into the forest. "Sire?" The man next to him said. Sire? So that one was in charge. Phoenix nodded, noting his sandy colored hair and bright blue eyes. The man next to him had a light brown hair and brown eyes. 

    "I thought I saw something." The first man shook his head and sat back down. Phoenix decided they were no threat and turned to leave quickly. She ran back the way she came until she got back to her home. If that group was heading to her village they would be there by nightfall the following day. Did she catch an early glimpse at the Prince of Camelot? She frowned as she shifted to her usual form and walked back to her room. She was calm now, no longer upset with Matthew. She slowly and quietly walked into her room and shut the door before sliding into bed next to him, snuggling into him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head. 

    "Where did you go? You were gone a long time." He whispered sleepily. 

    "I ran for about two hours and probably just saw the Prince and his group." She said softly. His eyes widened and he sat up a little to look at her questioningly. "They will be here by nightfall tomorrow if that truly was them."