Chapter 44

Eva Lemuria

I woke up and the first thing I felt was a splitting headache. I think this is what it feels like when I cut peoples heads open. Well, its probably not the same, but my head really hurts. I open my eyes and immediately squint them because of the bright light. I am in my old room now and the curtains are wide open. I try to get out of bed, but I fall down onto the floor. After a minute of trying to keep my stomach from bursting out I slowly stand up. I notice some water on the table and I walk over to directly grab the pitcher of water and I begin chugging it down. I practically finish the whole thing in one breath. I notice that Munin appeared on the table watching me with a hint of amusement in her eyes. I look around the room as I ignore the evil bird and spot my things in the corner of the room. I see my halberd leaned next to my bag as well. I walk over and pick out one of my outfits to put on. I always find these to be comfortable because it's loose but fitting.

After everything is on and I grab my halberd I fill up my flask with the bottle I had in my bag and then I hide it in my clothes. I open my door and find a pair of maids standing outside chatting. When they notice me they stop chatting and look at me fearfully before telling me that my family is waiting for me to have breakfast. I grunt in reply before making my way towards the castles smaller dinning room. We have a large hall for feasts and then we have a small dining room for just the family or a few close guests. I notice that all the maids that see me go pale with fright before running away or going back to they're cleaning duties. I don't know where the looks of disgust went, but this is honestly preferable.

I finally make it to the dining room where I find almost all of my family. The only one missing it Lora who is now at the academy. I hope she is having a better time than I did. I doubt she will run away after a couple of months like me. I notice that even George has shown up, but he is just staring forward without acknowledging me. I quickly make my way to the only other place that has been set, which is coincidentally between Mother and Anne. I sit down and ignore mother who is smiling at me and Anne who is looking at me without much expression, but somehow her gaze is still very intense. Food is quickly served to everyone and we begin to eat.

“So how are you feeling Eva?” Mother

“Yes, I heard things got out of hand yesterday. I don't think everything can be considered your fault, but we still have to fix the entire guest's wing and the main baths door.” Father

I look at them blankly for a while before I slam my hands on the table and stand up. I finally remembered what happened yesterday. My head begins to hurt and I feel dizzy as I fall back into my chair while clutching my head.

“Where is she?”

“She’s locked up in a hidden dungeon. No, I will not tell you where for now. I can't have anything happen to her right now since the world already seems to be becoming more and more unpredictable.” Father

“I can accept that for now and I won't kill her for now, but I still want to know where she is. Also, Mother care to explain what yesterday was about? I am pretty sure I could have easily taken her out if I wasn't completely trashed! Who gets their daughter completely drunk like that?!”

“Eva dear I noticed in your bag that you seem to have picked up your father's habit of drinking so I thought we could share a few drinks while bathing. Is there something so wrong about that? It's not my fault you let everything out with me.” Mother

'What sharing? You didn't even drink anything!"

I have never been that drunk before so there's no way I could have known I would become loose lipped like that with her. I can barely even remember what exactly I told her, but judging by fathers pale face I seem to have said a few things I shouldn’t. I look over at Anne and notice that she has at some point left her seat. She is now next to my chair looking up at me so I offer her my hand and pull her up onto my lap. I then pull out my flask and take a good drink.

“Eva, you are still drinking? Even after yesterday and I presume your current hangover? I was hoping you'd drink less after how much you had last night.” Mother

“If anythings changed its that I appreciate drinking more now. You took out a lot of expensive bottles from Fathers reserves. They were really good so I appreciate the treat. I will have to look for his stash later.”

“What?! Luna is it true? I had a lot of expensive bottles in reserve. Some of those were for special occasions. All gone just like that.” Father

Mothers only response is a cold glare before she continues to eat. I eat as well while feeding Anne and Munin the things I don't want. They both eat everything I give them even if they probably don't like it. They seem to be competing for my attention, but I ignore there attempts to get my attention. I instead focus on my father since everyone has now finished eating.

“I guess we should talk about what everyone is going to be doing from here on. I will be writing letters to the other kingdoms to request a conference with all of those that accept. I plan on sending a letter to the dragons as well. Eva I hope you can keep calm with them around. The same goes for you Luna. This will be conference about possible spies in all the kingdoms and hopefully we can figure out who is behind this. George and Eva will be coming with me once we get responses from every kingdom. Till then you may do what you want.” Father

“I will be staying away from that as much as possible. I will go train with the army since we will probably be seeing more fighting in the future. Goodbye.” George

George promptly leaves without saying anything else. Both mother and father frown a little. They then look towards me to figure out my plans. I have to take a second myself to figure out what exactly I will be doing.

“I will go speak with Saras. I want to see from the other side of some bars. So tell me where she is.”

“Hahhhh. Very well then. She is being held in the shadow guards base of operations. They have some heavy duty prisons there that can hold a dragon. I assume you still remember where the shadow guards are. You can go there, but keep an eye out. I still don't know how a message was passed around telling the shadow guards to capture you.” Father

“I will be taking Anne to continue her lessons on being a proper lady. I cant have her turning out like a certain someone.” “Do you mean yourself?” “Who said that?! Anyway since Lora turned out to be a proper lady I assume Anne will as well. Now come Anne.” Mother

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I look down at Anne who's gripping my clothes with all her strength. She looks up at me with teary eyes begging me to help her, but the only thought I have now is how cute her teary face is. She quickly realizes she wont be getting help from me and then looks around for another source of help. She doesn't find anyone so she lets go of my shirt and lets mother pick her up before she's carried away with a face that say it’s the end of the world. She's so cute.

“Are you smiling under you mask while watching your sister get taken away.” I stay silent. “Anyway, I just wanted to tell you to be careful Eva. Also, don't destroy any more rooms and stay out of my liquor!” Father

Father gets up and makes his way out of the room. I am the last one in the room because the maids ran away as soon as I was the only one left. I grab Munin and put her on my shoulder and then make my way towards the shadow guards base of operations. The shadow guards all have their own hidden lives if they want, so they have to have alibis for the people they know. Their base is where they all gather for information. Its where most of their locations are recorded and the less important missions and evidence are kept. I have only been there a few times when I was a child. I simply wanted to see so I annoyed father continuously until he showed me.

I reach the seemingly empty courtyard in a remote corner of the castle. I look at the plain wooden door and use a simple coded knock on it before I open it. I’ve been told it would be dangerous if I didn't knock by the shadow guards because there's always guards listening and they don't want someone casually entering without knowing the knock otherwise they will probably attack before even looking at who came in. I look around the room and notice several shadow guards surrounding tables filled with maps and papers. They look over and see me. Some go wide eyed unable to react while others quickly do a quick bow before getting back to work. I ignore them all and walk deeper into the room. I look for a more veteran shadow guard so they can tell me where Saras is. I spot one and he definitely looks older and has a few white hairs on his head.

“Wheres the dungeon with the dragon girl? I already have permission from my father.”

“Hello, Princess. Yes, we have already received news that you would be coming. I’ll show you the way. Just follow me. Just call me Shadow Guard 3” Shadow Guard 3

“Thanks. How did you already know I would be coming? It hasn't been nearly long enough for that to pass around.”

“Hahaha. Please, Princess, leave us with some of our secrets. We all have been watching you and your family for years so we know you can keep a secret, but some things we cant tell you.” Shadow Guard 3

I leave him be and just follow him down the winding corridors that seem like a labyrinth. At several points, we have gone down some stares and back up some more. I have never been in here without a guard with me. Even if I am confident in my memory and sense of direction I would not want to wander around down here.

Finally we reached a large metal door. Its covered in excessive locks and seems to be heavily reinforced. Shadow Guard 3 simply walks next to the door and touches one of the bricks next to it. It glows before I hear several clicking sounds and Shadow Guard 3 opens the door for me while smiling. I think he was hoping I would react to the simple way to open the not so simple door, but I don't feel like giving him the satisfaction so I keep a straight face and walk in.

“I will wait here. She's in the first cell and the rest are empty so you shouldn't miss it.” Shadow Guard 3

I walk towards the first cell and look into it. I feel a sense of déjà vu as I look at the girl with chains around her neck and limbs as she sits in the middle of the room that's covered in enchantments. Except instead of black hair and cold black eyes, she has dark blue hair with tints of green and matching eyes. Instead of being cold and angry she seems almost excited to see me. I hope she is not expecting me to let her out of this cell. I take a seat on a bench opposite of the cell and stare at Saras.

“I am sure you’re thinking this is feeling like déjà vu. Well, you wouldn't be wrong except I am willing to speak even if I am the one locked up this time.” Saras

“I wish you wouldn’t. You do not seem to understand when to stop speaking. Why did you come here? You're a naive idiot, but even you should have expected to possibly die if I saw you. You should know if I wasn't completely drunk yesterday that you would have died then and there.”

“I already knew you wouldn't be very happy to see me, but I really didn't have anywhere else to go. I guess I should tell you this now, but half the dragons running around your capital are to watch me while the other half are to lookout for you. I only have my family so they probably want to keep me watched even if I have been banned from the dragon valley.” Saras

I can understand that a little since my parents also have been trying to keep tabs on me my whole life. They even wanted to keep tabs on me with the shadow guards as soon as I was found again. Loving parents are like that I guess. I personally find it annoying since it's useless for them to try and watch me now since I can just disappear. It does remind me that someone has ordered the shadow guards to capture me at some point.

“Have you felt anything ominous since you've been here? Like the white nail? Someone might have infiltrated the Shadow Guards and ordered them to capture me.”

“Yes, I have felt something like the nail a couple of times since I have been here. I would feel an ominous presence randomly while I was reading or even laying down. I didn't think it would have anything to do with those horrid things.” Saras

I notice that Saras turned pale at the mention of the nails and I don't blame her since they are terrifying things. She doesn't seem to have seen any more nails since her experience but has probably sensed them occasionally like me. I begin to tell Saras about my experiences with the nails. I tell her only things directly related to the nails and those that had them so she understands what its like.

“So have you felt it from specific people or anything? I haven't really found anyone yet, but it was probably one of the shadow guards.”

“No, I didn't see anyone any of the times. There were usually some maids close by, but they were there before and after the ominous feeling. I did feel that the feeling was always somewhere I couldn't directly see so it must have been a spy or something. Eva, please stay away from them! You should understand how terrifying those nails can be.” Saras

“What I do has nothing to do with you. I will fight to protect my family even if it means fighting those things. You're just a naive dragon who's only had one bad experience, but has had someone helping you and protecting you since you were born. I am different. I only have my family, but they cant protect someone like me. In case you haven't noticed since you got here, but I am different from others.”

Saras lowers her head and seems to shrink the more I speak. She knows everything I say is true at least. I can't understand why she's here or what she wants. She should have known this is probably the best situation she could have ended up in with me. The worst would have been her death, but I can't have that option anymore. Even if she is banned from the dragon valley, I know that if something happened to her her family would defiantly come for revenge. She's basically a princess to the dragon tribe.

“Eva I didn't want this. I have noticed how you are treated. The maids basically treat your name as a taboo. The younger ones don't even seem to know you exist. Eva if we hadn't have met how we did I am sure I would have wanted to be close to you. I am different even in the dragon tribe so I can understand how it is to be treated differently.” Saras

“You were pampered and treated as a precious treasure by everyone. I only have my family and that doesn't even include my own brother. We may be different from others, but you and I are even more different from each other! You were loved while I was hated. The only time we've had a similar experience is now. Except you have only been locked up for a day, while I was locked up for years. I spent years in those chains and only able to see the person who had put me in that situation.”

“Eva I don’t want you to always see me as your enemy. You must understand that I couldn't control what had happened before. I don’t want you to hate me I want…” Saras

Saras didn't finish her sentence because her body tensed and her eyes went wide. She turned pale and started to sweat. I cannot blame her because I had the exact same reaction. I quickly jump to my feet and draw out my dagger before turning towards the dungeon door. In walked someone who I was not expecting to see because I had simply forgotten about him. He walked so silently that I wouldn't have noticed him if it wasn't for the ominous feeling the was coming from his chest. In walked my teacher from my childhood and the leader of the Shadow Guards, Shadow.

“Ah, here you are Princess. I had just returned from a mission when I heard you had returned as well. Figures you would be in the shadow guard base again. Tell me all about your journey.” Shadow

It was his typical smiling face, but I don't lower my guard. I reach over and undo the harness on my arm. I switch my halberd to the other side and prepare to fight. Saras stands up and tries to run towards me, but the chains keep her locked up and unable to transform somehow. She tries to pull the chains out of the wall, but it obviously doesn't work. Maybe if she actually trained or was a full adult dragon, but not now. Shadow doesn't even seem fazed by us. He still has the same smile he's always had, but the ominous feeling seems to have only been increasing. He looks just like the usual Shadow I grew up with, but I know the real Shadow is only watching from within so I will free him.