Slay the Dragon

CHAPTER 19 - MAVE

Mave couldn’t believe it. She only wasted her time chatting with these beasts … these … stupid liars—especially that Erys. A war? An army of dragons flying here? Did he think he could fool her by making such excuses just so she couldn’t go to their isles? She thought she would find some clues from them about the truth she was seeking, but it turned out—she only received lies. No one could stop her from finding what she wanted—because from what she had learned in Ravareth, no one could control her life but her. She needed to head on her way to the west now.

Mave strode towards the table of Izan and that older beast. They appeared to be discussing something serious, and she hated to break it. “We have to go now.” She told him.

She saw how Izan’s face changed into confusion. “What happened to you?” He glanced at Erys on the counter and asked again.

“Are you coming or not?” Mave shot her eyebrows up.

Izan looked at the notebook he was writing on and said, “But we’re still not done yet. I still need to know where—“

“Right. Just … forget I asked.” Mave turned around and walked out of the inn, ignoring the calls of Izan from inside. She felt stupid enough for asking him. What did she expect? Of course, he was already disgusted by her after witnessing how she reacted to fire earlier. He must have decided not to come with her anymore and join those beasts instead, where he could ask all his questions. Besides, he seemed to enjoy the conversation.

Mave felt lonely once again. She was right not to trust anyone. All of them would always leave her once they knew about her weakness … and her curse. So once again, she was back to her original plan of going alone towards the isles. And she was fine to be alone.

The village grew dark as nightfall came. Mave made her way through the village and entered the pine forest where they had gone through earlier. Her thoughts went back in wonder of what those beasts could be doing here in the Drava. They disguised themselves under those hunter garments and capes—so they must be after something … or they could be spies or whatever. She couldn’t care less now since they would only get captured by the dragon hunters once they head farther to the south. And she prayed they would get caught.

A few moments later, Mave was walking from trees after trees when her ears suddenly caught a familiar voice from a long distance behind. She squeezed her eyes shut as she figured out who it was.

“Mave!” Izan’s voice traveled through the sound of crickets in the forest. “Mave, where are you?”

“Will you shut up? And stop following me!” She yelled back as she continued her trail.

“Wait, why did you—oh, there you are. Wait for me,” he called out from a distance.

When Izan caught up with her, he said, “What happened back there? Why’d you walk out and head on without me?”

Mave pursed her lips, refusing to talk. She had enough of this travel companionship nonsense.

“Mave, talk to me,” Izan said, following her fast walk. “Was it that Erys guy? Is he annoying you? You want me to break his face off?”

Mave glared at his green eyes. “Like hell you can do it.”

“What?” He removed his round glasses and shook his arms off. “Of course. What are these muscles for if not?”

“Please,” she looked unhappy, “Enough with this foolishness.”

“I’m serious,” Izan said, looking at her.

“Why are you still following me?” She asked as she returned her glance forward. “Were you blind earlier? Didn’t you see how scared I am with that fire?”

“Wha—“ Izan parted his lips. “Is this what this is about? You thought I would doubt your abilities to take me safely to the isles only because I saw your fear?”

“Aren’t you? Aren’t all of you?” Mave almost shouted, but she kept it. A burning pain struck her chest once again, remembering those people who turned their backs on her and left her lonely. They’re all just the same … all of them.

“Mave, I … You’re a strong woman. I know that because I’ve seen it,” he replied. “You asked why I’m still following you now—it’s because I believe in you.”

“That’s not the point, Izan,” Mave said. “It’s not me. It’s you.”

Izan stormed his eyebrows. “Me? I don’t think I understand.”

“Yes, you. You already have those beasts you could ask from. All the knowledge you wanted … you can get from them. So why are you still here?”

Izan put back on his eyeglasses and rubbed his hair. “It seemed like you still don’t understand what a chronicler is, Mave. The knowledge we get from other people is what we want. But it’s not what we need. We need actual experiences and events that would bring the facts we’re looking for. You see, you can understand things better if you discover them yourself.”

Mave fell silent for a while. She got his point of what he desired to do. But why her? Why would he put all his trust in her? Was he really that stupid? It seemed like seeing her fear was not enough to make Izan leave her. So he might want to witness how deadly and uncontrollable her curse was before he would decide to leave her alone.

“Whatever,” Mave muttered. “But don’t you put all your faith in me, chronicler. I make no promises to anyone.”

“I can live with that,” Izan said.

All of a sudden, Mave glimpsed flickering lights from the darkness ahead of the forest. She narrowed her eyes to see, only to realize that those lights were torches, held by several villagers. They carried huge bags and baskets of food and fabric. 

Mave turned to Izan and said, “You talk. Ask them what’s going on.” Then she headed in another direction to avoid the fire and hid herself behind a pine tree with just enough distance for her to hear.

“A pleasant evening,” Izan greeted.

“Where are you heading to, young traveler?” One of the villagers asked.

“Quite the opposite of where you’re going.”

A small murmur followed from the crowd. “You have to go back now, young man. There’s nothing left there to travel. We abandoned our village in Ilora as soon as we spotted a vast swarm of dragons flying from the western seas.”

“We’re the only survivors,” a woman’s voice added. “They burned our village … and our forest … some didn’t make it out alive.”

“What? But why are the dragons flying here?” Izan asked.

“You didn’t hear? The Dravalon Army is marching at the Harana Desert. A war is about to come.”

War? Mave slapped her forehead when she remembered what Archon Stein and Archon Estes had discussed, back when she was in their office in Ravareth. Vast armies from Sunvar were marching north, and the dragon hunters were called to gather on the front lines. How could she forget about that? So Erys was indeed telling the truth. The dragons would come to wage war against humans once again. How were they supposed to go to the isles now?

As the villagers left, Mave went back to Izan.

“What now?” he asked her with a worried look. “It’s more dangerous for us to continue.”

Mave took a short glance at the dark forest ahead. “We can still go around … or avoid them …”

“Mave, think about it,” he interrupted. “We’ll be caught in the middle of the war once we head on.”

“But we can’t just give up now,” she said. There’s no way she would go back. The hunters from Ravareth would no doubt capture her. This was the only opportunity she had been given to get what she wanted.

“I need to find that Hyborn. I have to.”

Izan’s shoulders fell as he looked away. “I hate to say this, but … before I left … Erys spoke to me. He said you won’t be finding any Hyborns in Draconos anymore.”

“And you believed him? You actually believed that beast?” she said.

“He warned you about the dragons. He warned me too. I thought he was only joking, but he wasn’t. I was just as shocked as you are now,” Izan replied. “Erys was telling the truth.”

“So this is it? This is the end?” She muttered a curse. If it was true that the hyborns were long dead, then there’s no way she could find the truth anymore. All she ever risked and accomplished would only be for nothing.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Izan’s green eyes studied her. “It’s not yet the end. You remember when we talked about my theories of why the hyborn burned your village?”

Mave furrowed her brows. “Why?”

“I’ve given it a lot of thought recently, as Forsyr and I exchanged information with each other earlier,” he said. “I mentioned to you that the hyborn might have done it because he was given orders by someone more powerful than him.”

“Who? A god?”

“A close to a god,” Izan lifted his glasses. “The Emperor.”

A short silence followed as Mave fell speechless. She tried to process every hows and whys of this theory, but it didn’t make any sense at all.

“I just learned from Forsyr that the one they’re looking for, the Orb of Phlareus, could give immense power to humans aside from the weapons they made from it,” Izan explained. “I couldn’t say what power is it exactly but I have a strong instinct that the Emperor who possessed the power of the orb, could have ordered the hyborn to do all the things he wanted since he was much stronger and more powerful than the dragon.”

“I …” Mave shook her head in confusion. “I still don’t get it.”

Izan sighed before replying. “What I’m saying is—since all hyborns are already dead, the only person who might hold the truth you’re seeking … is the Emperor himself.”

Mave was about to speak, but then Izan continued. “Now, if you’re still in doubt, then you might want to know a bit of history. During the Red Century War, many dragons had been slain from the overwhelming strength of humans who wielded the weapons created from the orb. Some ‘hyborns’ were also fallen in battle, but those who survived with injuries—you know what happened to them?”

Mave thought of it for a moment. “They’ve been captured?”

“That’s correct. In fact, the alchedras from Sunvar were able to invent a weapon that could prevent a dragon from shape-shifting, with the help of the orb’s power. So they must have used it to capture the hyborns.”

“What did they do to those beasts?’

“That I do not know,” Izan said. “But they must’ve been dead already, all of them.”

“But if it was the Emperor, then why would he order a hyborn to burn our village?”

Izan formed a smirk on his lips. “That’s the truth you might want to find out.”

Mave rubbed her face. She felt like the cruel world was having fun playing her. She had come such a long way, and now she was taking the wrong path all along? She didn’t want to believe him. She wanted to believe that there’s still a single hyborn living in this world. But what Izan said had made sense. And it would be such a pain going south again, to find the truth from the Emperor himself. But she had no other choice. She needed the truth. She vowed to herself that she’d spend the rest of her life searching for it.

“So?” Izan leaned over her with his pleading eyes.

Mave pushed his face away and began walking back to where she came from.

“Sunvar City it is, then,” Izan said as he followed her.

“I thought you wanted to ‘discover things yourself’ by going to the isles?” she asked.

“I want to. But now that I learned there’s a war happening … Uh-uh,” he said, shaking his head. “Maybe after.”

“So why are you still coming south with me?”

“Mave, you don’t understand. This will be my opportunity to see the Sun Palace myself. I’ll be the second chronicler who has written a book about the place … and the orb, of course.”

When they returned to the village of Rath, Mave found herself following Izan towards the inn. She grabbed him by his arm suddenly for a stop. “I thought we’re going south? Why are we still stopping by here?”

“I found some people who are also heading toward the same destination as we are,” he replied. “In fact, they’re coming for the Emperor too.”

Mave raised her eyebrows. “You don’t mean—no. We can’t go with those beasts!”

“Come on, Mave. I talked with them and they said they know the fastest way to Sunvar without encountering many hunters and the Dravalon Army,” Izan said. “The hunters from Ravareth are still after you, am I correct? So we can’t go to Ashfa Forest anymore. And Harana Desert where the war will take place is already out of our options. You see, they’re also avoiding the same people as we do.”

“We can’t trust them, Izan. A tricky sellsword and two dragons?”

“The same dragon who saved your life back on the cliff,” he added. “And the same one who warned us about the war which turned out to be true.”

Mave felt her head aching. She couldn’t have enough. Traveling with those beasts was a different story already. Why would she need them? Just because they knew the fastest route? She could still go on without them, could she? But the dragon hunters must be all around Ashfa Forest by now. She might encounter Arch Estes or Stein, which would probably be the end of her journey forever.

Now that she thought about the hunters, she might plan to take those dragons to them instead. But that would be so cruel … after that Erys beast saved her life. Well, she might, if they would somehow dare to betray her. Right. They’re completely surrounded by humans. Those dragons would be caught sooner or later, and she would take the credit for it.

Mave gave a loud sigh and finally gave up. “How can you keep on deceiving me with your brainwashing words?”

Izan’s lips widened. “Factual words.”