They were going over the plan again for the second time. “You are certain the king has a real-life elder dragon?”, Dragomir asked still in disbelief. “Yes, he does, locked in a cage and chained. A private pet…”, Esmeray answered, “He has an obsession for dragons and loves to have them by his side as a show of his strength”. “Pathetic”, Dragomir spat. Raisel appeared to be thinking, "That would explain this kingdom's unnecessary obsession over these creatures" Esmeray nodded in agreement. “And this dragon has not escaped why?”, Raisel questioned. “The King uses strong magic to suppress the power and strength of this dragon and to keep it in dragon form for a long time, your energy wears off with time”, Esmeray explained with a nonchalant shrug, "Or so they say...He is unable to escape or fight back the attacks, he is just sitting duck...”, she stared at Dragomir briefly gauging his reaction, "To be used for the king's indulgence." Dragomir frowned, “That makes sense. The dragon
Hours passed but they still did not speak to each other. A guard appeared, a different guard from the one they had met earlier. He unlocked the gates, then two other guards rushed inside to pull them out. They were dragged along long corridors until they got to a large door. One of the guards whispered something to the courtesan, he opened the doors and walked in, then he returned almost immediately and ushered them in. They were dragged along the lengths of the large throne room till they came face to face with one of the scariest faces they were inopportune to meet in their lifetime. They were both tossed to the ground before they could say a word, “Bow before the king”, a voice said to them. Raisel looked up to see who had spoken, one of the men pulled her by her hair for her defiance. “Do not hurt her!”, Dragomir shouted. Raisel kept a straight face not willing to give out the fact that she was in a lot of pain. They were both pulled up until they were face to face with the
They had been locked up for days, Raisel couldn’t keep track of how many days it had been exactly. She knew it was occasionally day and night from the small light that streamed through the very high window in her cell. The only connection to the outside world. She had never been trapped all her life, not for any reason whatsoever, it felt like she was going to lose it any moment longer she spent trapped. The guards would occasionally come and serve unpalatable food, suddenly she longed for the wild berries in the forest and the streams where they drank water from. And if she was willing to admit it to herself or anyone else, she missed her companion, the man with whom she had travelled through cities in search of a gem that had been found long before she was born. She needed to meet with him, she had questions that needed to be answered. Surely she wasn’t the only one who had noticed the sense of understanding between him and the dragon. At that moment when they had tossed him to be
One minute she was running to find Fury the other minute she was above ground level, high up in the air held in place by a very large dragon. Yes, she had indeed asked to see a dragon but she hadn’t intended to be picked up by one. Esmeray’s instruction had been clear; go to my house, get your supplies to grab your horse and come back here, while you do this avoid getting caught again. She had protested initially but Esmeray had sworn on her life that she would ensure Dragomir’s safety. Raisel had followed the instructions to the latter, on her way to Esmeray’s house, she spotted a lot of guards littered about like they were in search of something. So to avoid getting caught she had hidden and tried to get past them. All of a sudden there was an uproar and people began to run Helter Skelter. They had pointed to the sky and she had looked up at that moment to see the largest creature she had seen. Somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to move, she stood rooted in her spot and stared at
Dragomir stood patiently outside waiting for Raisel to return. After the talk with the bartender. He had woken up with a banging headache and he couldn’t remember what they had talked about in full. However, one sentence kept ringing in his ear: however, you can make things right with this one. That is what he had done. He dressed up the next day without a care in the world of all the things that could go wrong with coming to meet Raisel. However, things had gone smoothly with no hitches whatsoever. She stared wide-eyed at him, it was surprise at first, her features softened to an emotion he couldn't recognize at first glance but there was no longer anger in her eyes. She showed up dressed in leather, her hair tied back in a ponytail. Except for her missing knives, she did look like her old self again. She waved at the small family that had harboured her and they waved back beaming with smiles. He turned to her, the excitement not leaving his eyes, his hand outstretched towards her
When he landed on his feet, she dropped his clothes on the floor, right in front of him and turned around, She clutched at her chest, fingers trembling, as if trying to keep her racing heart from leaping out of her body. She turned around to face him when she was sure he had changed into his clothes she was wrong, however, he was still struggling into his shirt. “Do not do this again”, she warned, her fingers were shaky, her lips quivering in fright. He burst into laughter. “How is this funny?" she asked, her voice trembling with fear. “You should see your face right this minute”, he pointed out, “I figured out now we didn’t have Fury with us, we needed a faster means of travel" “No!”, she snapped, “We are going to walk wherever we have to, or next time give me a heads up before lifting me like that?”, she shrugged, her arms folded across her chest, "I mean it is only fair that I am informed before I am lifted thousands of feet about the ground level" “Heads up, okay duly noted”,
They had hired horses with which they rode in search of the nearest seer in town, they had been directed to meet with one just outside town. They both rode in silence before Raisel broke it, “I don’t see any signs of life anywhere around here” “The one man who gave me directions was sceptical about it” “Where do we go from here?”, Raisel questioned. He pointed over to the grove, “There, we move head-on north, it’s the only house in the hills according to him” They rode faster towards the grove, till they got to the entrance, which was thick with trees. Dragomir slowed down his pace, he raised his hand, an indication that she should halt. His keen eyes scanned the area in one sweep, “It is eerily quiet, I have a bad feeling about this..." “Good thing I got my sword then…” He glanced at her, “Someone’s in a mood” “I miss Fury”, she confessed. He nodded, “I do miss you clinging unto me while I ride”, he moved further into the grove not giving her time to reply. Raisel was stunne
Dragomir held her tightly as they dove into the portal, when they appeared on the other side, they stopped to gaze at the beauty that was Islandia. Dragomir, despite the countless times he had seen it, still had the same reaction. He was always astonished. The clear blue sky and the sun seemed to be in harmony of their own, casting down a glow like never seen before. A little distance from where they stood, there was a pool, water as clear as crystals flowing freely down a fountain. Beautiful flowers of variant colours were what made Islandia colourful. It was like mother nature herself had carefully tended to Islandia and had given her best to it. Raisel stared speechlessly as different animals scurried away from plain sight. Even the insects seemed to be colourful and much bigger than usual. A colourful butterfly landed on her finger, the purple and pink pattern with touches of white was intricately designed. And then there were the beautiful humans and creatures that walked about