Chapter Five
As night fell, I lit the fire to stay warm. I knew I would have to fly, and this would be my first time turning in a dragon and flying. I wasn’t going to be thrilled about that. I still couldn’t believe that Ryia had put me in so much danger.
“I don’t understand you,” I finally said looking at my wife.
“What is there not to understand?”
“You keep telling me that you hate being married to a dragon, but you keep fighting me about this quest. You refuse to sleep in the same bed as me, but you risked your life being here. What is it Ryia? Why can’t you at least tolerate me as your husband?”
Ryia glared at me and I knew that it wasn’t going to be incredibly thrilling to bring her back to the castle.
“I hate dragons. How many more times do I need to tell you that?” she finally said.
“If that was true, you wouldn’t know the way to the Dragon Kingdom and you definitely wouldn’t know the way to get Maelyss to trust. You are hiding a lot more than what you are telling me.”
I found a narrow ravine which allowed me to cross. I wasn’t about to risk everything to turn into a dragon, but I knew that I wouldn’t get much sleep bringing Ryia back to the castle. I had to make it up and run my horse as fast as he could to catch up to Rowan before we continued in the morning.
I grabbed her bags and looked at her. “Are you going to mount the horse or must I pick you up?”
“Aren’t we going to at least going to rest?” Ryia asked.
“I don’t have time to stop and rest. The only time we are going to do that is if our legs are just about to fall off. I have to reach the ravine near the Dragon Kingdom by morning. It is already bad enough that I am not going to sleep, thanks to your stunt. I can’t afford any more setbacks so I am taking you back to the castle myself.”
Ryia wasn’t too severely injured; although once we arrived at the castle I would send for a doctor to heal her.
It seemed as if I rode half way through the night, just to get back to the kingdom without stopping.
I wasn’t thrilled to be back here so soon since I wasn’t even done with the quest.
“What happened to the girl?” the doctor who arrived at the castle asked.
“There was a strange wind that was blowing and she ended up getting caught up in it when it blew a wooden bridge away,” I pointed out as I led him to one of the towers.
“The girl is very lucky that you found her.”
“She is, although she isn’t just a girl but the queen. I gave her direct orders to stay in the castle. Until she can find herself obedient to my orders, I guess I have no choice but to lock her up in the tower. I don’t have time to deal with her as I have a quest to finish from King Athalos.”
“I will make sure she stays put. There is no way she will be going anywhere, since I am sure after healing her leg, she will want to stay in bed.”
I was pretty sure the doctor didn’t realize that Ryia had nerves of steel. The woman could handle anything thrown at her and still get up and continue to move around.
“You are going to have your hands full with her; I can reassure you with that. She is also persuasive. If she doesn’t get her way, she will find a way to escape anyway.”
“I am sure we will have no problem. You must not worry about your queen, King Merek. You have a quest to finish and we will all be waiting for your safe return.”
Exhausted, I mounted my horse once again. Only the inn and the castle had lights. There were no other lights on in my kingdom. I was wishing to stay for a couple hours or even to see Ryia heal, but I had to make up the time I spent taking her back to the castle.
I wanted to at least ride to King Athalos’s kingdom and ask Marvin if he heard anything about my mother, but I didn’t have the time. I wasn’t able to risk myself like that either. Even as my eyes burned, I had to continue on my journey with no sleep. At the moment, I would be willing to pay two pieces of gold if I could at least get a letter from my mother, but I knew that was near impossible.
By the time I arrived back where Rowan was sleeping, it was dawn. I had dug my way through the rough territory to unite with him again.
“You already brought Ryia back?” he asked as he looked up at me groggily.
“Don’t even get me started. The whole way back she tried hard to be persuasive that she needed to be on this trip. I kept telling her that she was a queen and it was her duty to watch the castle.”
“Do you think she will escape again?” Rowan asked.
“How would she make it back here in less than a day? It would put her behind if she began chasing us on our quest. There is no way she can make up that time. Besides, I locked her in a tower. I told her until she started acting like my wife and the queen, she was going to stay there.”
“How did that work for you?” Rowan asked.
I let out a sigh. “It didn’t work too well. She called me every name under the sun and even told me that if I returned in one piece that she would do the honors of taking a sword and cutting out my heart. She was tired of being a prisoner. I am sure that time in the tower will do her good.”
“Did you get a hold of a doctor to heal her?”
“I found the local doctor who came up to the castle to heal her. He was shocked by the fact that she was the queen. He kept calling her a girl at first, which irritated Ryia.”
“What is wrong with her leg?”
“She is just very badly bruised up. He thinks she may have broken her leg or something, but she will be able to stand on it in no time.”
“Will she be okay?”
“According to the doctor, she will be fine. I am just more appalled by that strange occurrence. I am unsure what to make out of it. I know that King Athalos and our brothers want us dead, but I never sensed them ever using magic. I also don’t think that was any natural wind that blew the bridge like that. I have never seen a bridge just splinter and thrown itself off a cliff.”
“I don’t know what to think, to be honest, Merek. It seems quite fishy. I have to assume that it wasn’t our time to be caught up in it, though. It just happened so fast that it was as if someone put a spell on that bridge. I didn’t see anyone, though.”
“I didn’t see anyone either! We have to get going in hopes to make it to a town to be able to eat or have an inn where we can stay for the night.”
“I heard the closer we get to the Dragon Kingdom, the more likely that travelers like us aren’t welcome. The townspeople make it known with their odd behavior that shows new people aren’t welcome.”
“We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter to them. We are strangers passing through and they know we are up to no good.”
On the way towards the Dragon Kingdom, I was more relaxed knowing that Ryia was back at the castle locked away. I wasn’t about to think of the bridge. Although I was still trying to be observant, I didn’t feel the need to be paranoid. Perhaps the bridge itself had a spell on it and we weren’t being followed at all. This could be a simple explanation since Rowan and I were both left alone and nothing happened to either of us.
I was sure that at the inn we would at least seek shelter and possibly answers, although Rowan was against stopping.
“Have you heard from Marvin about our mother?” I asked.
“Are you joking? Marvin hasn’t contacted us at all. The last time I saw the likes of him was at the inn before we left. He transported us to the mail order agency that night. I haven’t seen him since.”
“I am starting to get worried. Usually, Marvin keeps in contact with me every night on my quest. He hasn’t even made any attempt. Do you think King Athalos has found out he was harboring us?”
“I don’t know, Merek. I am starting to grow very worried about the whole situation. We haven’t spoken to our mother in months. She should have been back to the kingdom by now. In her place is Lady Elizabeth sitting in our mother’s chair.”
I groaned at this. I hated Lady Elizabeth and thought she was a poor excuse for an aristocrat, yet alone a woman. She was vicious and vile, which was more fitting to King Athalos’ personality.
“I promise you, Merek if anything happened to our mother, I will behead Lady Elizabeth myself!” Rowan went on.
Even I wanted to behead Lady Elizabeth, however, I doubted either of us would do it. We would both be sentenced immediately to death. We had enough to worry about with this whole dragon thing going on. We didn’t need to draw more attention to either one of us.
It seemed as if we rode forever before we even reached the village. The inn was exactly how Rowan had described. The townspeople gave us a look that told us that neither one of us were wanted.
“Is either of you Merek?” the bartender asked.
Rowan looked at me and I looked at him.
I nodded. “I am Merek. Why are you asking?”
“Do either of you know a traveler and a man named Marvin?”
We both nodded.
“Good, they have been here ringing up quite the tab. They said if you come here, to send you to the corner to speak with them.” The bartender pointed to the corner table, away from all the locals. The smoke from everyone’s tobacco and pipes seemed to hide the table with a blanket of smoke.
The bartender was right, Marvin and the traveler who I shared a room with at the inn that Marvin owned were waiting for us. The traveler was wearing his long coat and a hat that covered his face. Marvin, on the other hand, didn’t have the blackened long coat or a hat that stuck out. He was dressed like he normally was.
“Did you get a hold of our mother?” I asked impatiently.
“Yes and that is why I had the bartender make you aware that we were here waiting for you.”
“What is the official news?”
“Your mother is fine. She is somewhere between castles where she has found a safe place to hide. She caught the wind from her gypsy friend that King Athalos sent assassins to kill her as well,” Marvin pointed out.
I groaned at this. “I had a feeling we were all in danger.”
Rowan looked at me and back at Marvin and the traveler. “I hate to bring this up, but coming here, something strange happened. It never happened before when I headed towards the Dragon Kingdom. We crossed the old wooden bridge and the wind formed into a tidal wave shape and destroyed the bridge completely. It only left splinters and debris. Merek’s wife got trapped underneath. She keeps saying she is a warrior who has been to the Dragon Kingdom before, but she had never seen anything like that, either.”
I sighed as Rowan brought up my stubborn wife.
“Why don’t you make it official that she is part of your voyage? I am sure she would be an asset to your quest,” the traveler asked.
“There is a lot more to my wife than her being a warrior. It seems she loathes me. Although she makes a wonderful warrior, her job is to guard the castle.”
The traveler shook his head. “Some women aren’t to be tamed, but they are to join the king in battle. Those types of relationship are the ones that are a force to be reckoned with since the king is to protect his queen and she will protect her king.”
“I am unsure what to think anymore. If it wasn’t such a dangerous journey I would have allowed her to join us. She almost got herself killed with the mishap from the bridge. I don’t want to see my queen die in front of me.
“She tells me often that she can make up her own mind. She also reminds me that if I allowed her to go in the first place that she wouldn’t have snuck up on the bridge the way she did, but I don’t think that it is safe no matter what. My queen has also been fruitful with knowledge and has told me that Maelyss will hang us by our feet, especially since we were raised as King Athalos’s sons.”
“Why would he do that?” Marvin asked.
“I am assuming that your young warrior wife is speaking of how Maelyss treats all traitors. I know the prophecy very well and there is more to it than either of you understand or even quite know about yet.
“Where is your young queen now?” the traveler asked without making eye contact with me.
“She is at the castle. I had to lock her away in a tower. I feel incredibly bad to do this, but she hates me with such passion and she won’t listen to anything I say to her. I told her if she escaped when we first left for the quest that I would have to lock her away if she tried. I guess she thought I was joking.”
“You are telling me as a king and queen you are both on separate journeys on this matter? You are telling me that as you venture off on this deadly quest, that you think she will become a common housewife overnight and try hard to please you?” the traveler questioned.
“No, ever since we married, she hated me. She kept telling me how she got the short end of the stick.”
“Let me guess, because of your secret,” the traveler piped up.
“Of course, and she won’t let me forget it. I have been trying to show her compassion and love, but she refuses to accept any of this. We caught up with Terrain and Sadon and heard how they were sent to kill Rowan and me. I made the decision then to bring her to the castle where she would be safe. She refused to even listen to the notion. She hates her husband and she hates the fact that I am keeping her prisoner as a queen.
“I have to admit that even taking her back, she complained and screamed at me the whole way. She wouldn’t even agree that she would have never gotten hurt if she listened to me in the first place. Instead, she has been torturing me with the fact that I am no better than her father who allowed her to taste freedom for only so long and locked her away.”
“I am sure that locking her up in a tower will not stop your bride. She is destined to be here. Didn’t you pass a dress shop on the way here? Perhaps if you bought her a nice dress, she would forget everything.”
“It isn’t funny! I am being very serious at the moment. My wife seems to hate me completely. How could a dress ever change her attitude about me? It definitely won’t make her a queen and it won’t make her suddenly realize that I am not a terrible husband. She has made her mind up and it seems it will take everything in this world to make her forget that.”
“Can you do me a favor?” the traveler asked as he didn’t even listen to a single word I spoke.
“What would that be?” I asked.
“Why don’t you buy her a dress? I am sure that her dress got ruined from being in the mishap. You will find I added extra money to your sacks back when we dropped you off at the inn.”
“With my luck, you want me to buy a dress because she has once again escaped and she is here.”
“Stop it! If you at least try to show her that you are willing to try to please her as a lady, then perhaps you will gain her respect and she will forget to be a warrior. Aren’t you even curious to know the reason why she is acting this way?” the traveler asked.
I shrugged. “I have thought about it often. Why her father sold her as a mail order bride compared to allowing her to be the warrior seems to fill her soul.
“I can’t even believe you are asking me to actually do this for her since she has no ambition to be my wife,” I mumbled.
“Merek, many have told me that you yield an arrogant personality. Yet others tell me that you yield a very caring personality. What is it about her that makes you refuse to listen to what I am saying? Do you not care about her? I am sure if the doctor told you that she needed a medical setting and she had to be sent away, you would be there. You waited to see what he said, did you not?”
I looked over at the street where the dress boutique was. It was a dress for my wife who was at home. I wasn’t even sure why I couldn’t get this on the way back.
“You look as if you are deep in thought,” the traveler said.
“I am very deep in thought. I guess I have a lot to think about. I have to hurry up and get a couple hours of sleep before making it the rest of the way to the Dragon Kingdom.”I watched through the smoke filled pub that a shadowy figure started walking towards us.
“Can I help you?” I asked as the shadowy figure wearing a cape, sat down at our table.
There was no answer from this new stranger. The traveler, on the other hand, seemed quite content that this person joined us.
“Don’t you have something to do, Merek?” the traveler asked.
Rowan looked at me and back at the traveler. “I hate to be obvious and repeat my brother, but our lives are already in peril.”
“He is right. Perhaps if Ryia does find a way to escape, buying her a dress will get her to show some sort of affection towards me instead of hate,” I mumbled as I got up.
My brother seemed shocked as I walked out the door and went to the strange store that seemed to be more like a stone cottage than a boutique.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked.
I looked up, quite embarrassed that she was even standing there. “I am just looking, thank you.”
“We only deal with women and dresses. I suggest the men’s store down the road.”
I suddenly became quite embarrassed by the woman thinking I was buying the dress for me. “I think you have it wrong, I am buying a nice dress for my wife.”
The store was full of dresses. I had a sense as I looked on the wall at the warrior outfit that I wouldn’t be walking out with a dress. Who was I to keep Ryia prisoner?
“I thought you were looking for a dress. Sir, dresses would be that way. This way is for warriors. I am sure your wife wouldn’t be interested in any of that sort of stuff.”
I shot her a look, but my eyes glanced past her at a portrait painted of my wife.
“Who is she?”
The woman glanced back at the portrait. “I thought you were looking for a dress,” was her response.
I looked at the portrait of the woman who seemed to be Ryia. The woman refused to talk, but I knew somehow Ryia had a story within her that seemed she hadn’t spoken about or perhaps I wasn’t listening.
“How old is your wife? What do you know about her?” the woman asked as she glided around the shop and began pulling dresses from different places and putting them in her arms.
“Does it matter how old she is to pick out a dress?” I asked, appalled.
“Of course it matters the age of your bride! These dresses aren’t just made for any age. Is it safe for me to assume she is around your age?”
“Yes, she is around my age.”
“These are my preferences for a wonderful young lady in that age bracket. I must ask what she looks like to more critique and have the colors with her hair and eyes.”
“She has snowy white blond hair with gorgeous green eyes. She looks like your picture over there,” I said.
The woman glanced back at the portrait and looked back at me. “I am sure you are mistaken. However, you can have these dresses for only five gold pieces.”
I looked back at the warrior outfit. “What about that? How much is that?”
“I don’t think that is to your bride’s taste. That warrior outfit is for a true warrior. It isn’t something she will be able to wear out in public.”
“I know that.”
The woman shook her head. “You don’t understand. It isn’t for sale.”
This was becoming harder than I thought since she wasn’t even listening to my needs or desires. I needed that warrior outfit for Ryia. My heart was set on buying it for her.
“I don’t understand. Why do you have it hanging with a price tag on it?”
100“It is not for sale for an aristocrat like yourself,” the woman snarled.
“I am sorry to inform you of this, but I am not an aristocrat.”
“Then you obviously can’t afford the warrior outfit. Good day then,” she muttered.
I looked at her and shook my head. “I am going to correct you, Miss. I am a crowned king which means I am more than able to afford it.”
“Which king do you think you are?” she asked in a snooty attitude.
“I am King Merek, son of King Athalos.” I boasted.
“Very well, you can take the warrior outfit if you wish. I do warn you that your queen will not be impressed if you bring her home something like this.”
I watched as she packed up the chest plate, as well as the outfit, bow, and cloak. The colors shimmered with bronze and burnt orange. The cloak seemed to match.
After a long anticipation, I watched the woman wrap it in a box. She seemed displeased with the fact that I was buying it.
“Tell me about the portrait, if you could,” I asked once again. I was hoping this time I would get the answers that I desired.
The woman looked up at me and refused to acknowledge what I had asked.
“That will be twenty gold pieces,” she stated in a cold tone.
I handed her the gold pieces and continued to wait for an answer. I was pretty sure even as the woman’s face turned solid like a rock without any emotions I continued to try to look through her soul.
I walked back to the pub.
“What took you so long? I am assuming you did get a dress,” the traveler asked.
“I really didn't have a choice. It seemed like getting what I did was a fight and a half. They have a portrait of Ryia in that shop, but they refuse to tell me anything about it.”
“Is it that important to know?” Marvin asked.
“I guess you are right. I could ask Ryia myself when I get back. I am sure she would be more useful than the woman that was trying to sell dresses. She refused to say anything about the portrait. She even became very harsh and you could tell I touched a nerve.”
“Who knows, she might have thought that you were going to start trouble or something. Perhaps she thought you were an assassin after Ryia.”
“I doubt it. The way this woman was acting was downright cruel. She pointed out that an aristocrat like me wouldn’t be able to afford what I bought. I corrected her and she mumbled under her breath. It seems as if no matter what, it wasn’t going to be able to give her the right answers.”
The caped figure that had walked in when I was leaving suddenly tossed the cape and revealed that it was Ryia. I had a feeling it was my wife once again.
She didn’t downplay it or correct me by saying it wasn’t that bad.
I looked at her leg and back at her. “I have many questions at the moment including your leg. Are you even healed enough to be here?” I asked.
Ryia smiled. “I am healed fine.”
“Moving on to the next question, how did you escape this time?”
“That was quite simple. I told the chambermaid that I was cleaning in there when I accidentally left the keys in your desk. She fell for it completely and here I am.”
“I thought your leg was more likely broken.”
“My leg is fine. I am just bruised up.”
“This means you will be joining us on this quest then? It must, since I don’t have the time to return you back to the castle since you aren’t listening. It seems as if nothing can get you down or keep you there to heal up.”
“I will be fine.”
I wasn’t sure if I should believe Ryia, since it wasn’t that long ago that she injured herself. Her crutches were no where in sight, although I knew she was supposed to have them. I glanced down at her foot. The doctor must have told her that it wasn’t that bad, because she was wearing both of her shoes.