Frey awoke on his improvised cot in the officers' tent. Runa had taken Eri to the one she had shared with him until last night. The space was precarious and they had decided in favor of Runa taking care of her. The girl had been very obedient so far. But Frey still worried that she could be dangerous. As much as they sometimes forgot it, she was a dragon. Well, today he had to explain it to his men. The horns and wings, along with the girl herself, had been impossible to hide.

The meeting with the other generals was intense, even Jimmer, his most loyal, had his doubts. Some didn't believe she was a dragon, others feared she would transform into a giant beast like the man in the castle. Others had shown compassion or assumed she was a human girl, victim of some curse; for Frey, nothing fit except what he already knew. When he managed to restore order, the problem was convincing his peers that she was harmless, and also, as an infant, deserving of help and care. He himself had been an orphan of the war with the dragons, so despite not feeling very capable, he argued in favor of helping her. In the end, out of respect for him, everyone ended up giving in, but under his responsibility. His rank was high enough to impose himself, and if not, Runa was the princess, her vote would be definitive. But it wasn't necessary. Still, he feared he had raised a shadow of fear among his men. If Runa and he decided to adopt Eri as she wanted, it would be one more obstacle to avoid.

The king of Artemia, Runa's father, was a pure elf, in a kingdom full of people of both races, he had married a human. Half-elves like Runa had all the advantages of elves; a long life and youth, affinity with magic, and an ethereal beauty, but unfortunately they were all sterile, whether they lay with elves, humans or other half-breeds. Motherhood was forbidden to Runa in exchange for being otherwise an almost perfect being.

The king had consented to their engagement, but things were complicated. The kingdom would need an heir someday, however distant given the longevity of the elves, it would eventually arrive. The queen had been deceased for decades and the king would not accept any consort. It was Runa's destiny to rule someday. For her, Eri was perhaps the opportunity to be a mother. But, could Eri inherit? Would they allow it assuming she grew up to be a... good person? Because Eri was a person... Damn, if he thought that, every dragon he had killed in his life was too. His head ached from so many thoughts, whatever he did, he betrayed a part of himself.

Eri ran past at full speed, which at her age meant barely faster than the adults chasing you, but enough to exhaust them. She seemed to be carrying something in her teeth.

"Eri!" Frey said, grabbing her by the collar of her dress. "What are you carrying there?"

"mpmhmhmph" The little girl was carrying a roast chicken leg that she had apparently stolen from one of the bonfires. She destroyed it by clenching her teeth; she chewed skin, meat and bone as if it were a cookie before continuing. "Those men wouldn't give me food, they said it had to be on the fire longer, but their fire is silly, it takes too long, I burned mine in a swushhh! and they got mad, why do they use silly fire instead of burning their food like they should, dad?"

"Eri, you always have to ask permission to take things, also remember that not everyone can burn their food alone, Eri is special."

"Dad can't either?" Her eyes widened in disbelief."No," he said.

"And mom?" Great, Runa had finished putting it in her head that they were now her parents. Jimmer would surely bother him the whole trip.

"No Eri, only you can. I'm not mad, but never take anything without permission even if you're hungry or even if you can do things better." He stroked her head as he spoke, the gesture came naturally, as if he had done it before.

"It's okay, Dad," Eri said, smiling, showing large fangs... Did she have them before? "I'm going to play with the chickens we haven't eaten." She ran off after a hen, the soldier who had been chasing her agreed to let her be when Frey promised it wouldn't happen again.

"You're a great father, love," Runa's voice came from behind him as she gave him a furtive hug and leaned close to his ear, she only called him that when they were alone, "you're going to educate her very well, no doubt." Frey took the hand his fiancée was pressing against his chest.

"Runa, do you really think this will work? We don't know anything about her, if she's the daughter of the Dragon King it's like kidnapping her, and it's my duty to hunt her whole family, her race, it feels wrong."

"What bothers you? Giving a home to an orphan or saving the world from an ancient evil?" Arguing with Runa was always like this, she saw the world in a way that everything always fit her point of view whether it made sense or not. "Besides, she loves you, at first I thought she was just affectionate with everyone, but she's not. She looks at almost everyone as if they were stupid or going to hurt her," her tone was disappointed.

"I think you're exaggerating... but it's true that at least she obeys me better than others. This... Is it safe to let her play with the hens?" Frey kept watching Eri running after the animals laughing while they ran away clucking frantically in all directions. She fell frequently when she tried to run too much, surely, she didn't exercise much locked up...

"Nothing's going to happen to her, last night she broke your glass cup with her fingers when I gave her some water, she didn't cut herself one bit, her skin is tougher than your chainmail." The look she gave him reminded him that he had to change his old chainmail, Runa was always worried about those kinds of details.

"My cup? Seriously? The one you gave me that night when..."

"Don't worry, Frey, love," she interrupted, putting a finger to his lips, "I'll make you another, prettier one."

"Okay," he finally said, though he still hurt from the cup, "we'll figure out what to do." Frey approached Runa to give her a quick, furtive kiss on the lips, "help me give the orders, we're leaving in an hour back to Artemia."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The soldiers broke camp with a mixture of relief and frustration, the bravest among them had expected a great battle, but they wouldn't even have to defend the position, the king of Meyrin had already sent a detachment to recover the castle. With most of the dragons apparently fleeing, the war seemed won, Freydelhart was only concerned that the Dragon King would suddenly appear.

The Dragon King would be like none of the others, he was a huge beast, with iridescent blue scales whose horns were like towers and whose wings darkened the sky. It didn't make sense that they couldn't find him until that day, now they knew for sure that dragons could take human form, or at least semi-human. That also explained why they sought to seize settlements and fortifications. The rumor that he had remained at Meyrin Castle since the attack five years ago had led to nothing. If he wasn't there, he could be anywhere. At least they had recovered the fortress without any casualties.

In little more than an hour, they were ready to set off.

Eri was riding in the supply wagon, she spent a lot of time sleeping, so Runaesthera had improvised a little bed for her with her tent and some blankets. The coachman was delighted with the little girl, even when she woke up and asked him a million questions about everything along the way. Frey and Runa rode nearby, always watching. Those lands had seen better times since their king was absent, they passed through several desolate villages and abandoned farmlands, the few people they met looked at them suspiciously.

Inevitably the caravan was separating as the slower wagons were left behind, most of the soldiers were at the forefront protecting the rest, a communication error, it was the bad thing about an army composed of soldiers from two nations; by nightfall, the supply wagons, including the one carrying Ellie, had moved away from their protectors, so Frey rode quickly to order a halt.

When Frey had gone ahead, bandits on horseback wielding thick wooden clubs appeared from among the trees and from behind the nearby hills. They had been following them, waiting for the opportunity. They had been surrounding them so the few horsemen of the caravan were surprised by the skillful maneuver. One of them went straight for Runa; he knocked her down with a club before she could cast any spells or organize resistance. The others rushed to attack the coachmen and take whatever they could before the soldiers returned. They were a small group, no more than two dozen, but well organized. They themselves had damaged the road so the wheels of the wagons would frequently get stuck making them slow, but allowing the riders to continue without problem.

A group of two bandits boarded the cart where Eri was sleeping from the front, knocked the coachman unconscious with a sly club and began searching for the most valuable items, they wouldn't take everything, only what was worth it and wouldn't delay them when fleeing from the soldiers.

"What do we do with the girl?" said one of them, a burly man with a raspy voice, his face seemed to have been molded in clay and crushed before baking.

"Ignore her, we're not monsters, if she wakes up I don't think she can do anything to us, take a tent, I'm sick of sleeping in the damned forest." The man who answered was even uglier, but short and with a long, hooked nose, his voice seemed to sound through a fairground cornet so shrill and nasal.

"Are those horns on her head?"

"Maybe a toy tiara, I think Pirri's kids had one, you hurry up, take these sacks of grain too, use that hunchback for something useful."

Eri woke up to the unfamiliar voices, rubbing her eyes with her little hands unaware of the situation.

"Mom, are we there yet?" When she opened her eyes, the men were right in front of her. "Who are you?" She asked them kindly.

The bandits ignored her and continued their looting. They were throwing sacks out of the cart.

"Hey, that's the coachman's, he asked me to take care of it, you can't take it," she told them, raising her voice, but only a little. When she saw that they didn't react, she looked around for the coachman or some other adult.

The coachman was unconscious in his seat, a trickle of blood could be seen running down his neck from the blow they had given him.

"Mr. Coachman!" She shook him slowly, as Dad had told her not to hurt him, when she got no response, Eri lunged at one of the bandits, pulling on his pants, "No! That's not yours!" Her thin fingers ripped a piece of the bandit's thick leather pants as if they were strips of paper.

"What the...? You damn brat!" The big bandit kicked Eri away, knocking her off the cart. The two crooks took the opportunity to lower some heavy sacks that they left on top of the ones they had thrown.

"What did you do, savage?" The bandit with the big nose jumped up to hit his partner's shoulder.

"That girl ripped my pants, there's something weird about her."

"The only weird thing is that your old rags have lasted this long without ripping, I hope you didn't kill her, or those soldiers will hunt us down." They approached slowly hoping to see some sign of movement.

Eri got up as if nothing had happened, shook the dust off her dress and frowned at the bandits. A single word came out of her delicate lips.

"NO!"

The roar of her voice was like the roar of a storm and equally destructive. The bandits flew backwards by the tremendous force of her scream, the others surrounded her confused until she started throwing flames at them in the form of small scoldings. Each scream threw a bandit through the air. Or singed the clothes of another.

She called them "bad," "ugly," or even "butt-faces" as she breathed long tongues of fire at them. Panic spread among the evildoers who ran around confused, some tried to mount, but their horses, which were not tied to the carts, had fled with the first scream. Eri pursued them relentlessly, more than half of them were lying on the ground, victims of the thunderous screams of the little dragon, when one of them smashed his hard wooden club against her head treacherously, filling her perfect hair with splinters, but nothing more. Eri responded by grabbing him by the leg and throwing him against a pile formed by several unconscious evildoers as if he were a doll.

The riders returned with Frey at the head, most of the bandits had escaped, some soldiers went after the stragglers while others subdued the rest and helped the wounded. Frey got off his horse and ran to Eri who was crying after having finished her feat.

"Eri, where is Mom?" He lifted the little girl off the ground, trying to calm her down.

"Daddy, forgive me, I didn't want to, but they were..."

"It's okay, you did well this time, where's Runa?"

One of his soldiers found her tied up and unconscious next to one of the carts, she had a hard blow to the side of her head from falling off her horse. They had been completely surprised. The soldier attending to her tried to wake her up.

"Princess Runaesthera, are you all right?"

"Eri..." Runa said as she woke up. "Is Eri okay?"

Eri jumped from Frey's arms into Runa's when she saw her.

"Mommy, are you okay? Does it hurt?" She buried her little face in the chest of the woman she called mother after a couple of days of knowing her. The two embraced in a sweet, protective hug, Runa calming her by stroking her hair, removing the splinters. Eri simply fell asleep again.

For Frey, the sight of the love of his life injured and the tears on the sleeping face of the little girl ignited his determination. In his heart he swore that he would never again allow either of them to suffer. Whether by the arts of men or dragons, he would protect them from all evil.

And even though she didn't hear him, he called her "my daughter" for the first time.