As night fell, the relentless sun of Pellegrin would soon be replaced by a starry, pearlescent sky that would bring with it an equally fierce cold. Training had ended with the day, and all the new soldiers were dispersing from the temple of sand and sun. One of the many large plazas of the city that now made sense in Oregdor's head.
Despite his thick beard and rugged appearance, Oregdor was a young man, barely older than Bestenar; they were both developing a kind of formal camaraderie. Perhaps it could be a friendship if Prince Frey's pupil were a bit less arrogant. But they had something in common. Both had changed somewhat after Queen Clessa's revelation as the dragon prince Caramin. It was no wonder they sought each other out.
“Oregdor,” the boy with pink hair, was the first to speak. “Want to grab a drink?”
“Frankly,” he replied, scratching the back of his neck, “I'm not much of a drinker, Your Highness, but I can accompany you if you like.”
“Drop the Your Highness, Oregdor,” Bestenar said. “You didn't respect me that much back in Artemia when you arrived with your father.”
“That was…”
“Bah, I don't care, I know. I don't make a very good first impression, anyway. In any case, I don't like to drink that much either, but I wanted to ask you something, and we need shelter from this damn cold. Your land is too hostile, I don't know how you stand living like that.”
“You get used to it, Your… Bestenar, but it's true, we can go to that place a couple of streets away, they'll have something you like.”
The establishment was a low, stone-built building, not too large, but with a few tables and a western-style bar. As he understood it, they served a reserve of Meyrin wines sweetened with the honey that made the region famous. It was a place for foreigners, no doubt the prince would have fewer complaints there. They arrived when the sun had already set and sat near the fire that was burning in a fireplace.
“Well,” said Oregdor, pushing back the wicker chair and sitting at the table, “what did you want to ask me?”
The prince rested his elbows on the table and clasped his hands together. He gave Oregdor a look that would have been menacing if it weren't for all the lace and silk he was wearing.
“The queen,” he said at last, his voice a mere whisper, “can we trust her? Can we trust the dragon who rules this kingdom?”
It was the question Oregdor had been dreading.
“I don't know,” he replied. “I would give my life for Queen Clessa. I've always seen her as the most impressive person in the world. Beautiful, strong, intelligent, and believe it or not, pious and kind to her people. I know nothing about Caramin. I feel like I've been deceived, but… the worst part is that nothing has changed. It doesn't seem like she's been unmasked or pretending to be someone else… it drives me crazy. If we were talking about Clessa, I'd tell you that the very question is an offense…”
“I suppose it must be difficult to discover you were in love with a dragon,” Bestenar dropped the line as casually as if he'd said water is wet. Oregdor merely looked away.
“So,” Bestenar continued, gesturing for their drinks, “you're not denying it?”
“Maybe… Maybe it's true. Maybe that's why she can control me…”
“Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe what you think and feel is her power affecting you.”
That was simply too much. Oregdor didn't want to answer. Instead, he returned the question.
“Do you even know what it's like to be in love?”
Prince Bestenar blushed and avoided his gaze. All his menacing demeanor was forgotten at that moment.
“Well… I think so. Although I don't know if it has any future. She's a commoner, a foreigner. I've already defied my father too much to bring a peasant into the royal family…”
“Your problem doesn't exist, 'Your Highness,'” he emphasized the word with obvious mockery. He wasn't trying to be subtle. At that moment, their drinks were served. “If you're going to be king, no one can question you. I'm the commoner who wants to impress a dragon, no less.”
“Dragons don't impress me. My master and my sister do. That doesn't make them any less pathetic.” He took a sip of his drink, wrinkling his nose.
“Sister? I see you've grown fond of your master's daughter.” He took a long drink. The wine was sweet, but strong enough. It wasn't bad.
“I don't know. We started calling each other siblings a long time ago, I think I started it. That damn girl, she reminds me of my real sister, but to be honest they're not alike at all. Erina hated sweets, she was haughty from a young age and barely had any friends. Even so, I feel like I'm with her when that idiotic knight forces me to look after the brat. In those moments, it seems to me that they're the same person, no matter how different they really are.”
“You're too complicated. Just admit you care about her. People can forgive.”
“I don't think I can. And I also want you to know this. I don't trust that red prince. No matter how much your queen she is, if she betrays us I won't hesitate to use what I've learned to finish her off, and I need to know if I'll have to fight you if that happens.”
Oregdor grinned from ear to ear.
“Listen, little prince,” he said, drawing a small knife from his belt, “you may be the most advanced student in killing dragons, but” – he skillfully moved the knife between his fingers before throwing it towards the table, embedding it right in front of Bestenar, who jumped back in surprise – “you're still very green. You're no threat to me, or to my queen. So let's pray to the sun and the sand that we don't have to come to that. I'd rather fight by your side than against you.”
Stolen novel; please report.
They drained their cups and shook hands as dragon slayers did. They spent the rest of the night talking about trivial things. To anyone else, it would have seemed strange for a young squire to talk so much about flowers, but there weren't many varieties in Pellegrin, so Oregdor decided to listen.
Suddenly, the sunlight seemed to enter through the window…
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“It's freezing, Eri!”
Little Koro shivered at the entrance to the stables, where he had been waiting for Princess Eri. She sometimes forgot that normal people couldn't fly, nor did they have her strength or fire within them. Keeping up with her was difficult, although it was always worth it. She arrived running, dressed in training clothes and a coat, even though Koro knew Eri was never cold if she didn't want to be.
“Sorry, Koro, Dad couldn't fall asleep, and I was late,” she blew a faint orange fire at him, and he immediately felt better. What an amazing girl she was.
“Thanks, Eri, but are you sure there's anything interesting in the palace?”
“Yes, I heard my Dad say it, 'if it seems like they're not hiding anything, they must have a huge secret.' There are almost no doors in the palace, it's very suspicious.”
“I was able to get Peony out of the stable, she can carry us both even though she's still small, my dad is going to get mad if we don't get back before he wakes up.”
“Don't worry, Koro, if we discover a great secret everyone will congratulate us and say, 'those kids are incredible, we couldn't have discovered the truth without them.'”
“That would be great, and if not, we can see if they have any of those cakes they gave us in the kitchens this afternoon.”
They mounted the small white mare that Eri swore was a unicorn. Koro wanted to believe her, but he had never seen her horn and beyond growing slowly for a horse of her kind, she had nothing special. They set off along the riverbank from the residence where they slept towards the palace, it wasn't too far, but the place itself was a labyrinth of columns and esplanades that took a long time to cross, the only walls were those that surrounded the central chamber where the throne was. The challenge would be to move without being seen by the guards of the main chamber, for the rest it was a public space, you would have needed a guard between each column to keep people out. There were also a few basements that led to the guards' barracks, the kitchens, or the treasure room. The latter was the one that interested them most.
They circled the outside of the building until they saw that there was less surveillance near one side, they left Peony nearby in case they had to flee quickly, everything was very exciting, Koro didn't think they were in real danger, especially next to Eri, but sneaking in and looking for a secret was something that only happened in stories, in most of them the heroes found some magical artifact or managed to overhear a secret. He wondered what could be hidden in plain sight in that palace without walls or in any of its basements.
They saw a guard on patrol in the distance and hid behind a column.
“Eri,” Koro said in a whisper slightly louder than he intended, “what do we do if they see us?”
“We run,” she replied at the same volume, “you go back to Peony and run away, if they catch us I'll keep them busy, and you escape and go for my Dad, he can save us.”
The guard passed by, Eri continued walking ahead, it seemed like she knew where she was going, although after a while it seemed to Koro that they had gone a full circle without seeing an entrance or anything strange.
“There are almost no guards, Eri, it doesn't seem like there's anything important.”
“It's a trick, I'm sure, maybe… in the throne room, all castles have one, but this one is huge, let's go there.”
“But there are a lot of guards there, Eri.”
“Don't worry, I have a plan.”
With short steps, trying not to make a noise, they headed towards the center of the great structure where the only walls stood, the door of the room was as big as the walls of Artemia, but there was a smaller door in the door itself, Koro thought it was silly until he imagined having to open such a heavy door to go to the bathroom every night. Six lords with heavy armor and helmets shaped like dragon heads guarded the entrance, straight and serious.
“Koro,” Eri said, “when they leave run and take a look inside, then escape to where Peony is and wait, if I don't come back go for my Dad. He can save us.”
“Wait, Eri!”
Koro hadn't thought it through, but his shout precipitated the princess's plans, the guards turned and Eri started running towards them.
“Catch me if you can!” she shouted, laughing as she charged one of them, knocking him to the ground. The remaining five tried to catch her, but Eri ran away, stopped for a moment to make a face at them and ran again when she was sure they were all chasing her.
Koro thought Eri must be a little crazy, she had always been brave, but she hadn't faced people since she fought bandits, over a year ago. He remembered what they had asked him and ran towards the door while the guards looked for Eri. He opened the small entrance and stuck his head inside.
What he saw was the most incredible thing he had ever seen, a huge red dragon, really colossal, was asleep curled up on itself, like kittens do. Koro had missed the battle of the two dragons in Artemia, he wouldn't have been able to say if it was bigger than those two, but it was much bigger than Blue or the red dragon that attacked the ship, there was no comparison. Blue and blackish flames came out of its nostrils, it had long horns that extended like tree branches and resembled those of an elk. But they were much straighter and brighter. Its body covered in bright red scales was thin despite its size, its enormous wings covered its back like blankets. Koro thought it was somehow twistedly cute.
“Hey kid!” One of the guards had regained his senses and had returned, before he could react, he already had him by the collar of his shirt. “The queen is sleeping! You don't want to know what she does to those who wake her up!”
At that moment, the sunlight seemed to burst through the columns of the palace…
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“Where did that girl go? When I find her, I'm going to take away her honey candies until she forgets the taste,” Runaesthera had checked Eri's room when she thought she heard the sound of hooves leaving the small complex of residences that the queen had provided them. It was the most luxurious place in the city, sheltered from the cold and heat, but now she was only thinking about finding her daughter.
“I've already been to the stables,” said Frey, running back. “Pankoro says Koro isn't in bed either, and they took his mare.”
Every gift they gave Eri seemed to incite her more and more to disobedience. Runa still hadn't gotten over the fact that the little one had attacked the red dragon on her own and had almost gotten hurt. She already had enough to deal with the fact that she always managed to hide her golden dagger from them, and now she was using her mare to sneak out at night. She shivered at the thought of a teenage Eri armed to the teeth and escaping on horseback with the coachman's son. Returning to reality didn't calm her down.
“Come on, the mare's tracks lead to the palace,” Frey was being practical. He wasn't yelling or panicking, but he was quick and efficient at finding solutions, that was what she liked most about him when she herself lost control. But she was sure that when they found Eri, it would be he who would exaggerate her punishment. She put on her mage's hood, summoned a small sphere of fire to surround them in the cold of Pellegrin, and went out to look for Moonlight. Frey already had Jumper tied up by the door.
When she stepped outside, it seemed to her that she could see the sunlight.