The city of Pellegrin was unlike any Eri had ever visited before. She was a lucky girl, or at least she had been for the past year and a half. She had travelled to many incredible cities in her life: Meyrin, the castle city atop a mountain; Artemia, with its water canals and immense white walls; Unermia, the blue stone enclave hidden behind the waterfall; and Cerrem, the small port with the lighthouse. But Pellegrin was something entirely new. Frey watched her run from bow to stern with her friend, both pointing at everything and looking at each other excitedly.

They were arriving aboard a much smaller barge than the caravel they had crossed the sea in, as they had changed ships upon arriving at Axandor, the main seaport; the river was very wide, almost as wide as the waterfall of Unermia, on the banks many people spent the day sowing all kinds of grains, vegetables, and even flowers. It was remarkable that just a few meters beyond the river there were endless sand dunes, as if the whole country existed only along the river. As they advanced, the large buildings, temples, and monuments became evident. Jamdar stood at the bow with his arms crossed, looking proudly at his city, satisfied with the amazed looks of the children.

As they approached the city center, their destination, they encountered increasingly grand constructions. The temple of sand and sun, dedicated to the God who protected Pellegrin, dominated the entire riverbank with its wide columns adorned with reliefs that told the story of the kingdom and of the God of sand and sun himself, who was said to embody determination, blessing the men and women capable of enduring life's hardships with abundant life and prosperity. Like everything in Pellegrin, its size was in its breadth and depth, the temple was in fact a gigantic esplanade surrounded by columns. Further on was the palace of justice, whose entrance was carved to resemble the jaws of an enormous feline beast, and finally, the great royal palace. Where the queen awaited them. A queen, Frey imagined Cardinal Celhyun pulling at his nonexistent hair in a rage at the idea of a woman reigning.

The palace extended in all directions, even over the wide river, for the enormous bridge that rose above it, allowing even boats and sailing ships to navigate beneath, was also part of the palace. A wooden dock beneath this bridge served as their landing place. Frey was grateful to be able to disembark under the cover of Pellegrin's scorching sun. Large gates in the quarry beneath the same bridge would lead inside. Apparently, they were actually the main entrance, as most people seemed to get around the city by boat. In practice, it was two palaces joined by the bridge, occupying both banks.

They docked, and the ambassadors summoned a whole group of stevedores to unload the barge. Valderant ordered the sailors to help with the task. She herself had captained both ships on the journey. Apparently, she owned a small fleet of about four vessels of different sizes and had made a fortune transporting people and goods between Artemia, Druhunn, and Pellegrin. If that was true…

“Val,” he asked, taking advantage of the fact that Runa was preparing Eri to disembark. They would meet the queen as soon as they had settled in. He wanted her to look presentable and behave well. “Why did you leave the order? You still carry your sword, you even have those potions on hand. The master said you had the potential to be a legend. What happened?”

“I wanted something better, something for myself,” she replied without looking at him, concentrating on her men. “Back then I had nothing, and I thought I would be happy just killing dragons, taking revenge on them for burning down my city, traveling with Jimmer and you. When Runa arrived and you got engaged,” she paused a bit too long, “it was shortly after I killed my third dragon, I realized that after the brief aftertaste of victory, the emptiness didn't go away, the dragons died, and I still had nothing. Runa never killed a dragon, and look at her, she has everything. Don't tell her this or I'll leave your face looking like an eggplant, but I was very envious of her, I no longer felt comfortable among you. So I went to find my own happiness.”

“Did you find it on a ship, then?”

“Not exactly. I traveled here purely by chance. I was looking for work as a mercenary, what a fool. Pellegrin is famous for everyone carrying weapons in abundance, but they haven't seen war in generations. I chose this destination because I heard that dragons were rarely seen. Anyway, Jamdar offered me a job as a guard on a ship he had. He wasn't making much profit because of pirates, so in a few years I bought it from him and now I have a good business because I can protect it. As well as my family.”

“Runa told me you have a family now.”

“Oh yes, they live here in Pellegrin. I'm going to see them this afternoon and stay at home for a few weeks. My husband and my son are great. When you're done with your business, I'll introduce you. My little one is a bit older than Eri, maybe they'll get along.” Valderant paused before asking the question.

“Frey, you feel it too, don't you? The emptiness.”

He nodded, without really saying anything. He thought of each dragon that had fallen before him. There were so many; they had made him a hero in the eyes of people almost everywhere. Each one represented lives saved, disasters that didn't happen. How hard it was for him to think of them like Eri or Mera, conscious beings, capable of feeling and suffering. What others called his “feats” seemed almost like sins to him. He didn't feel true remorse, but more importantly, he didn't feel true satisfaction either, as if he had spent his life stacking stones in a silo thinking they were sacks of grain.

“I think,” Frey finally said, “I understand your reasons. The world still needs us, dragon slayers. I dream of the day I can live my life differently. Runa and Eri are my greatest treasures. I pray to the goddess of peace to leave them a world like the one they deserve.”

They said nothing more. They shook hands in the particular way dragon slayers did, holding each other's forearm with their left hand while linking their right palms, and said goodbye.

A few minutes later, the barge sailed away toward a better port in the city. Frey, his family, and all his companions watched it depart. Even Runa, who had been in an inexplicably bad mood for a while.

“What were you talking about?” Runa asked, almost expressionless.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“About her family,” Frey replied, half-truthfully. “She wants us to meet them if you don't mind too much.”

“I suppose not. Who would have thought she would end up with someone as ordinary as a harbor official? I hope his parents don't mind her long absences.”

“Wait, how do you know…?”

“She told me everything, since the night of the fight.”

“I don't understand you. You hurt each other, insult each other, spent the whole trip avoiding each other, but deep down you're closer than sisters. And neither one wants to tell me why.”

“It's none of your business, Frey,” she said sharply. “I'm more worried about what happened with the dragons on the trip. Eri says the blue dragon doesn't respond to her, it seems to have fled, and the red one was mumbling… or something, when it attacked us again.”

“Dragons don't attack people on the road or random ships either. Mera said the blue one wasn't sent after us. The dragons have put a price on Eri's head.” It was the only explanation, the one everyone had guessed at, but they found it hard to accept. Even Master Genwill thought so.

“Frey,” Runa looked at him, her eyes seemed to be encased in crystal. “I'm scared. I'm afraid our little one can never have a happy life. That we won't be able to watch her grow up, that after all we've taken her out of that castle for a life of fear.” She buried her face in his chest.

“I'm not going to lie to you,” he said in a muffled but firm voice. He wasn't going to waver. “I've been afraid since the day I took her to the camp, but we've grown stronger with each obstacle. We can handle this.”

Jamdar, the ambassador, didn't give them time for their mutual words to settle.

“Friends, your companions will be settled in external rooms, we will take your belongings to your quarters. The queen, informed of your arrival, wishes to meet you. You are lucky, the queen almost never receives anyone.”

“Very well, ambassador,” Runa replied, her voice affected, her back suddenly straight, but she didn't turn to look at him. “Please guide us. Is it alright if Eri and Lady Mera come?”

“The queen has asked for all the royal family to come. You may bring the dragon woman.”

They walked through the palace's wide corridors. Frey soon realized that in Pellegrin they preferred tall columns to walls and that no space was left undecorated; even the floors were adorned with paintings and carvings depicting legends and stories of the desert nation, which in his opinion should also worship the god of the Unermia River.

A relief on one of the columns especially caught his attention, and even Eri stopped to look at it. It depicted a person with their hands raised above their head as if in offering, holding a baby in their hands and their head bowed. They were standing on the riverbank while fire rained from the sky.

“Daddy, I don't understand this story,” the little girl said. “Some others are stories you told me before, but this one is strange.”

Oregdor, the ambassador's son, intervened.

“Oh, this is a recent one, about twenty years ago, when the current queen was born, blessed be she among the sands. She was gravely ill, her mother died in childbirth, so her father, the king, feared for his daughter's life more than any other father would. Legend says he prayed to the sun to restore her health, until one night, guided by mysterious whispers, he took her to the riverbank. Miraculously, the sun appeared in the sky, not rising on the horizon, but as if it had been extinguished and lit up in an instant. An intense flame fell on our king and his little one. The girl was cured and grew up to become the powerful monarch of Pellegrin that she is today, while her father was reduced to ashes.” He paused with a slight cough. “The reality is much less dramatic, of course, father says. The king and queen died shortly after their little one was born, it is believed that they were poisoned. We had a regent until the queen turned twelve. She is quite a genius. At a young age, she took the reins and our kingdom has prospered under her rule. That she was ill is true, they probably tried to poison her too, but maybe they gave her very little and she survived. The old regent is now a counselor.”

Frey wondered who would poison the royal family. The priests of Atyr came to mind, but it made little sense if the parents had died and the girl lived to inherit the crown. In the end, they kept walking. The corridor seemed endless, but eventually they reached the great doors of the throne room. They were as tall as three men and covered in gold ornaments. Two rows of guards stood guard at the entrance, which was to be expected of a queen who had started her life with an assassination attempt, although that was something she had in common with Eri in a way.

The doors opened into a room as large as everything else in Pellegrin, lit by both several skylights and a good number of torches. Pellegrin was not as cosmopolitan as Artemia and elves did not live there, so magic and its lights were unknown there. It was practically empty except for a raised throne in its center where a woman barely older than Bestenar; thin and petite like a child; with pale skin that contrasted with the bronze of her people; hair so red one could mistake her for another torch; dressed in a white tunic with hardly any adornments, looked at them with a smile as wide as everything in the city. Her face was covered with noticeable makeup of blood-red lips, shadows as dark as the night itself, and eyelashes so long as to stand out on that already striking face. She was drinking wine from a crystal goblet she held in a hand covered in gold rings. She stood up effusively as the heavy doors closed behind them. She walked towards Lady Mera.

“Meraxes! What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in almost two hundred years!”

“Daddy!” Eri said, pulling on her father's pants. “That lady has fire! She's a dragon prince!”

The woman raised a hand in an authoritative gesture, but when she spoke, her voice was soft, condescending. Surprise and a mixture of fear and caution seemed to freeze everyone present.

“Please, gentlemen, don't be nervous, this room is big enough for me to return to my body, but we don't want that, I had you brought here to talk. Oregdor, dear, please send someone to bring a table and something to drink for my sister and her family.”

“What kind of magic is this?” the ambassador's son spoke with equally evident signs of fear and pride. “I don't obey any dragon, especially one that takes the life of my queen.”

“Oh, gods of sand, how clumsy of me, it's true, you didn't know. I have always been your queen, from the day of your birth, but I fear the story will be for later.” The queen approached Oregdor with lascivious but subtle movements. “Now, can you please have what I asked for brought?”

The woman's eyes glowed a deep red like her hair, and Oregdor seemed like a different person. He nodded and went to carry out the order without saying a word.

Meraxes seemed to suddenly wake up when she finally spoke.

“Red Prince… I… don't…”

“Oh, don't worry, Meraxes, I'm not angry with you for abandoning me, you have served my purposes better by protecting my little sister. Tell me, were you really the one who killed White? My spies say it was quite a spectacle.”

“That was me,” Frey said, standing between the woman who had confessed to being a dragon and everyone else, overcoming the general stupor.

“Oh, I see, the dragon slayer. I am honored to meet you,” she spoke to him in a soft tone, but with a threatening face. The smile of perfect teeth like pearls had no fangs, but it still gave the impression that she was going to devour someone. “I'm truly sorry things turned out this way, I hoped to keep up the facade a little longer, but when Jamdar wrote to me telling me you were coming in person, I knew that sooner or later you would discover it. But listen to me, I keep talking about myself when we have important matters to attend to. Look, there comes little Ori with the table and seats, please, make yourselves comfortable, and don't be afraid, especially you, my dear sister, believe me, we are going to get along very well.”