Slay the Dragon

CHAPTER 25 - MAVE

Mave gave a suspicious gaze at Erys, wondering what this stupid beast was trying to achieve by holding her hand. But if he planned to blow any type of fire at her, she swore she would push him off the edge—no second thoughts.

When Erys asked her again, she looked at his hand in front of her, and then looked back towards his face.

“I’m not stupid, beast,” she said. “I know what you’re trying to do.”

Erys blinked in confusion—but when he seemed to get it now, he said, “I’m not going to burn your hand, I promise.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“You don’t trust anyone.”

“Then why are you still asking?”

Erys gave a sigh. “I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m only asking you to hold my hand for a second.”

Mave’s eyes fell to his hand once again. She found herself a bit nervous. She had never held a guy’s hand for so long. The last time she did was during the last moment of Rakim, and never after that. But now, he was the first man in the world who asked her to hold his hand—which felt quite strange for her. Her mind kept on telling her not to, but looking at his golden eyes flashed the truthfulness of his intentions.

Mave slowly extended her right hand forward and placed her palm over his. The warmth of his hand made her realize how cold she was compared to him.

“Your hands are freezing,” he spoke softly. “Are you cold?”

“I’m always cold,” she replied. But she’s not only cold, she was ‘the’ cold.

Erys pulled her hand closer to him, and then he placed his other one on top of hers. His palms were rough and strong, but the way he held her was gentle, as if he was holding fragile. Mave suddenly got shivers from his touch—it ran through her arm, then it spread through her entire body. What was that? A strange feeling it was. It made her blood flow react, slowly circulating faster. Then she realized it was her heart that was jumping out inside her chest.

“Close your eyes, Mave.”

Mave was about to complain, but then he said, “I will not light a fire. You have my word.”

She gave him one last warning with her eyes before she closed them.

“What do you see?”

“All black, obviously,” she replied.

Erys placed suddenly one palm over her eyes. The heat met the coldness of her face. “Keep your eyes closed,” he said.

Mave found the darkness in her vision brightening up, as if there was light beyond what she could see. “What’s happening?”

“Now, what do you see?”

The illumination revealed the place she was standing in. Green hills and trees rose around her with flowers in bloom dancing over the meadow. She looked up and saw the bluest sky she had ever seen, with the clouds flying slow and easy. The sun shone the brightest—and it’s where she observed it was growing bigger and bigger as the heat in her eyes was rising.

“Fire brings life, Mave … not only destruction.” Erys’ voice echoed around the environment she was in. “It provides the world with warmth and light.”

Mave shook her head in disagreement. “You can’t say that … Especially from a dragon like you.”

“Why not?”

“Because if it is … then why are you using it to destroy and burn every living thing you see? Don’t you have enough people to burn during your b****y wars? Why would you include the innocent?”

“I’m afraid the problem is with the users. But not all are like that, Mave … Not all dragons are that brutal … that bad … the same with you humans. Fire is but a tool, and it can be used in both ways of right and wrong. So why are you still afraid of it?”

“You’ll never understand,” Mave said. “You’ve never seen it. You’ve never witnessed your parents being burned alive. Do you even know how it feels to lose a—“

“I know,” Erys’ voice echoed in her head. “I know the feeling, Mave.”

“Then you should understand why I hate it … why I hate you beasts … and why I hate everyone!” She couldn’t help but yell. “I just … hate this world …” she muttered with sadness. But most of all, she hated herself.

“Hate me all you want,” Erys replied. “But you shouldn’t hate yourself … and your fear. All of us have our own fears, Mave.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Because we can’t run from our fears forever. We shouldn’t. That’s why I’m trying to help you. I want you to know that it’s always okay to be afraid.”

It was never okay, Mave thought. She had no power over it because it would always control her instead.

As her eyes grew warmer in every second, the light from the place grew brighter and brighter—it almost made her blind.

She felt her own hand slowly pulled closer by Erys. She tried to open her eyes, but he was still covering her sight with his other hand. Warm skin came to meet her palm. She could feel the strong heartbeat beneath the skin, pumping loud and hard. Then she realized … it was Erys’ chest she was touching.

“Do you feel it?” he asked. “Do you feel the fire inside?”

Mave gave a slight nod.

“All of us have the fire within ourselves, I tell you. It’s what keeps us alive. It’s what drives our passion and motivation to live,” he said. “A great Lawdra once told me, we can light up people’s lives if we start from ourselves … by keeping our fires burning within us.”

Mave frowned. How could she do that if her fear would keep on haunting her? That image of her burning village would always stop her every time she tried to overcome her trauma. It was impossible.

The thought of it suddenly flashed back into her mind the words of Rakim before, during one of their training.

“Every change we want to make on ourselves is always possible, Mave,” he once said. “One can always overcome his fear.”

“But not me,” Mave replied. “I can never do it.”

Rakim pointed his rapier at her heart. “Remember this … the question isn’t whether or not you can overcome your fear … but it’s ‘why’ you have to overcome it. You can never do it if you have no greater reason to do so. And such reason must come from the heart, so it would always be stronger than your fear … and powerful enough for you to change.”

The reason … Mave thought. Through the years of her being alone, she always wondered what the ‘reason’ was. She wanted to overcome her fear, she knew that. But if she would ask herself why, then her answer was only simple. She wanted to change so she could be stronger enough to hunt for the hyborn who did it. She wanted to conquer her trauma so she could finally slay the dragon. Wasn’t that enough reason? Her father told her to slay the dragon. Rakim, too, told her to slay the dragon. But how could she? She couldn’t even slay a dragon. How much more if it was ‘the’ dragon?

“Mave …” Erys’ voice came.

Mave could never hunt for the hyborn if she wouldn’t overcome her fear. And she couldn’t overcome her fear if she wouldn’t find a greater reason. What else could be greater than avenging the deaths of her parents and her village? Revenge was all she ever wanted—and the truth … the damn truth.

“Mave!” Erys voice woke her up.

Mave slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Erys’ face, wincing in pain. Then she saw it. It was her hand on his chest. Frost had spread on his skin from her icy touch.

“Sorry, I—“ She wanted to take her hand off, but Erys wouldn’t let go of her, still touching his chest.

“It’s alright. It was a close one. My body’s now heating,” he said, taking deep breaths. It must’ve been so hard for him to breathe now that his lungs had been so cold.

It only took a short moment before the frost on his skin melted into water, dripping down to his white garment.

“I knew it,” Erys said, keeping Mave’s hand on his chest. “Your ice is indeed stronger than my fire.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The fire had no effect when you were unconscious.”

Mave was not surprised. She somehow got a hint of it ever since she lost control of her curse to save Faran in the inn. It silenced the fire from the kitchen, freezing everything in its path. She didn’t expect it would be this powerful … and terrifying. It was completely out of her control that she even killed the men by accident. She’s afraid she might do the same again.

“Can I have my hand back?” Mave told him as she felt his heartbeat, stronger and faster than before. “And why is your chest pounding harder now?”

Erys quickly let go of her hand and looked away. “I’m sorry … It’s nothing.”

Nothing? But Mave took notice of his cheeks turning red. What in the world was he thinking? She wondered, but she didn’t want to know. The warmth was gone, her hands turning cold again. Would it be weird if she wanted to touch his hand again? She felt stupid for even thinking about it.

“What are we seeing now?”

Mave and Erys both turned their heads as they heard Izan’s voice from a distance. She found him walking towards them, with Fetyr and Vahlyr following behind.

Mave immediately shifted her sitting position away from Erys, realizing they looked so close to each other. Someone might get the wrong idea.

“You’re not seeing anything,” she told Izan before turning to Vahlyr. “How’s the area?”

“Coast is clear, folks. We’ve got to keep going now while it’s still dark,” Vahlyr said. He looked tired. A few cuts and bruises had been added to his dark skin. And the traces of blood and dirt on his garment made it seem he had a tough fight earlier.

“You guys go ahead,” Erys spoke up. “I’ll meet you outside the second gate.”

As they climbed down the circular staircases, Mave found herself wondering what Erys could still be doing up there. Hold on, why was she even thinking about him now? She felt stupid … again.

“Tell me, sellsword. What’s at the second bastion?” Fetyr suddenly asked.

“A bigger one,” Vahlyr replied. “They got the largest bastion there and all. More hunters and that leader of ‘em,” He took a glance at Mave and said, “You know who that is?”

“Grand Lorath Morvil,” she answered. And a bigger threat … She had come to know that the old Grand Hunter was the strongest among the four of them in his rank … and rumored as the third most powerful hunter behind the two Archon Hunters.