Chapter Fifty Two: The Castle of Towers

Jason returned to the Castle of Flowers with Bronson. He’d left Stella in Buttermilk at his cabin. He’d given her the home.

Jason realised the castle had changed so much. The flower fields were mostly trampled. The forests around the castle had changed completely. There were now acres of tree stumps instead of lush forest.

Jason looked up at the castle walls and saw large sharpened posts lining the tops of the walls. Anti-dragon architecture. The main keep lay in disrepair, the king did not bother with it, he focused all of the builder’s attention on the Ballista towers. Almost one hundred of the towers surrounded the castle. More and more were being built each day.

The Castle Of Flowers was now an ugly city. The beauty from before had been lost as the priorities of the townspeople changed. The flower fields, the namesake of the castle, were muddy and forgotten.

Jason thought about how he had changed.

He had turned from a simple blacksmith to a soldier. He could shoot fire from his hands. He had been knighted by the king. He’d met a talking shark, and fought insane monsters. His town had been flattened by a dragon and then rebuilt. It really had been an interesting couple of months.

Jason decided to hide the truth from Freya. He decided to leave Stella behind. He felt conflicted, but he couldn’t tell her. Jason didn’t want to get turned into a cat like The Don. He wondered how she would react if she found out.

Jason walked through the town and saw his friends sitting in the town square. They were sitting on some benches, admiring the massive ship that was parked in the centre of the square. Some men were repairing it, and making it seaworthy again.

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Nathaniel was talking to a tall, handsome man. Jason walked over and said hello.

“Jason!” Dominic shouted. He pulled Jason into a quick hug.

“Hey, do I know you?” Jason asked the friendly man.

“Of course you know me.” Dominic laughed. “Paws of fury.”

“The Don!” Jason looked up and down at the man and realised he’d been magically transformed.

“Damn dude, It’s good to see you.” Jason said.

“I would have never made it without you guys,” Dom said. “I will always be grateful. Now we just need to find a potion to turn Sharky here into a human too.”

“No way, I am too handsome!” Sharky shouted defensively.

“Okay, sharky, okay.” Dom said playfully. The group laughed.

“So should we come up with a name for our team?” Jason asked?

He looked around at Freya, Nate, Dom, Sharky, Ogden and the Samurai.

“I was thinking about calling you the Dragons of Arcadia, it seems like it would fit nicely into my next book.” A stranger said. Jason turned behind him and saw Lord Redran standing there.

“Redran!” The party shouted together.

“Hello everyone.” He chuckled. “I survived the fall. I went looking for you at the temple, but you had all gone. I’ve been walking back slowly since then.”

“Did you land on the?-...” Jason asked.

“-...I landed on the polar bear.” Redran said, cutting him off. “Poor creature. It was in a lot of pain before we arrived. That parasite is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. That polar bear, and all of those villagers must have been in excruciating pain. I am glad we were able to survive.”

“Have you got any orders for us? Are you still General?” Ogden asked Redran.

“Right now, I’m just a guy looking for a couple of beers.” Redran said as a grin spread over his face. This brought a cheer from the group.