Chapter Three
The village stables were familiar and smelled as stables do—of horse and dirt and manure. A row of stalls with five horses faced out toward the street and the portly faced stable owner sat napping against the hitching post.
Karina talked to this man, Flannigan, often and had even allowed him to breed Tarron with a few of his mares. At night of course and in the forest, lest Tarron be recognized as the Black Knight’s jousting steed. He was perhaps her only true friend and thus was the only one, other than Carmichael, who knew of her secret life as the Black Knight.
“Hail Flannigan!” she called out to him, a smile quirked at her lips as he jumped and peered over at her with first confused and then delighted eyes. He tottered up onto his feet and waved a pudgy hand with a wide grin.
“Hail! It’s been far longer than I’d like since you’ve come to see me, Karina!” he scolded lightly though he gave her a hug and pressed a kiss to both of her cheeks in greeting. “What a splendid joust! That Black Knight, freeing the Duke’s daughter and abandoning the field with a stranger! Such a bold move,” he hummed, winking at her as they walked back towards the stable.
“Flannigan, this meeting is not one for jest,” Karina explained, apologetically. “This is the same stranger. His name is Carmichael,” introduced Karina.
“Ah. So this is who you left the field with,” Flannigan whispered, his voice hushed as he looked from side to side, making sure not to be overheard. He knew very well that Karina enjoyed her secrecy as the Black Knight’s true identity.
“Lady Karina, is it wise to... reveal information to this stable man?” asked Carmichael, at her side. His golden eyes were glazed with obvious distress and he paced about impatiently. It seemed the horses noticed his distress as well, as they all pranced and whinnied in their stables.
“I trust Flannigan with my life, Carmichael,” Karina stated firmly, her eyes still focused on Flannigan. “He has been cursed by Queen Danasi and is the King of the dragons and... we need a horse to bring him to the Queen,” she stated in a soft whisper.
Flannigan’s eyes were huge in his skull and he stared, open-mouthed in awe. His brown eyes met Carmichael’s golden ones for a brief second before he knelt before him. “King Caichmiorral... I…” he stammered, all but rendered speechless. “It isn’t possible…”
“Stable hand, it is so. I am King Caichmiorral of the dragons,” Carmichael grunted, his golden eyes glittering in annoyance with the man.
“F-Forgive me!” Flannigan stammered as he regained himself. “I am simply overjoyed. Stories of your reign have held a great place in the hearts of my family. My great, great-grandmother was a healer in the war Queen Danasi waged against your kind. She was among the humans in favor of you and worked with the last of the elves that were on your side.”
Carmichael looked down at Flannigan with a new interest in his eyes and a smile crossed his lips. He could feel the human man’s sincerity as he spoke.
“Rise, human Flannigan. What was the name of this grandmother?” he asked.
Flannigan scrambled to his feet and scratched his head as he glanced over at Karina excitedly. This man, the last dragon in existence as far as anyone knew, was talking to him. “Her name was Aurolin. Did you know her?”
A soft, sad look entered Carmichael’s eyes as he nodded. “Aye. And I knew her well. It was Aurolin and an elf whose name was forgotten with the rest of their deceased race, which worked to save my mate when she was riddled with poisons crafted by Danasi herself... Aurolin tried valiantly to save Morrigana.”
At this, even Karina hung on Carmichael’s words. Of course they knew of Morrigana. Legends upon legends were told about her and Caichmiorral, the war between Queen Danasi and the dragon race and the downfall of both the elven race and the dragons. To hear about it firsthand was a different experience entirely.
“What happened then?” Flannigan asked, his eyes wide and gleaming with unshed tears. “I knew not that she worked to save the very life of Morrigana herself.”
Carmichael sighed and a soft, golden tear rolled down his face. “It is as the stories say. She died. Our eggs she had yet to lay died with her... Danasi overpowered our forces a few days later after slaughtering the Elven King and the last of his warriors. She then laid curse to me saying until I am with a mate and she is baring my eggs, I will never be dragon again.”
Karina crossed her arms with a huff at this point. “Well seeing as no dragon remains, save yourself. Finding a mate is not an option,” she snapped as she glared with meaningful eyes, silently reminding Carmichael of his oath to her.
“How do you intend to break the curse by going to see her?” Flannigan asked. “If it is a mate you seek, what will seeing Queen Danasi prove?”
“Well...” Carmichael sighed as he looked up towards the sky. A wistful, yearning look crossed his face as he imagined himself soaring through the air. How he wished to be a dragon again. “I expect to kill her. Once she is dead, the curse will be lifted from not only me, but from my ensnared brethren. We’ll claim the earth and the skies once again and take back the land unjustly stolen from us.”
“You will set right the unjust taxation of the land as well?” Flannigan urged as he looked first at his stable, run down and shabby and then at the buildings that lined the street across the way. “Danasi steals every penny extra from us. Anything we don’t need to survive.”
“It will be so, noble stable hand,” Carmichael agreed. “Never before had taxation of the land been so heavy under my rule, nor shall it ever be so once the throne is reclaimed.”
Flannigan sniffled suddenly and gestured towards his stable, his eyes watery though a smile graced his lips. “Under you, my little sister and frail mother will no longer starve. Of this I am sure,” he whispered, as he wiped a hopeful tear from his cow-like eyes. “If you can promise to right the wrongs of Queen Danasi, it is the least I can do to provide a steed. Take Beau,” he said.
“Human Flannigan. I intend to pay for this inferior steed,” Carmichael protested, but Flannigan only shook his head.
“Hear differently, I will not. Beau is my fastest horse. Aside from Tarron, he breeds the most magnificent of horses. No other steed not spoken for here will get you as far as you need, let alone keep up with Tarron. Take Beau and when you are free, bring him back to me,” Flannigan said as he led them around the stable off the street and back to a second, smaller one that stood behind his house.
Briefly, Flannigan disappeared. He returned with a leather saddled, grey dappled stallion at his side. “Here,” he said, handing the reins over to Carmichael and kneeling before him once more. “Ride with all the speed of a dragon. Free us from Queen Danasi’s reign,” Flannigan urged Carmichael before he turned to Karina and grasped her hands.
“And you. Karina, guard yourself well. Queen Danasi is not someone to be trifled with lightheartedly. You know the stories as well as I,” he murmured lightly. “That said, should anyone defeat her, it would be you.”
Karina dipped her head with a smile and lightly squeezed his hands. “Thank you, Flannigan.”
With that, she released his grasp and stepped back to stand beside Carmichael. “Come. We have much to prepare for before the morning,” she sighed, before slowly turning and leading the way back up the street.