A/N: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been reading and especially reviewing this story. It really means a lot!
Also I don't understand the rules for talking to dragons. It seems like everyone can understand the dragons who live in the blazing palisades, but no one except Sofia can understand Crackle or that super annoying dragon Crispy. So I went with everyone can understand dragons.
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Sofia
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"Now to the matter of Sofia's bride price."
Cedric watched as King Ivar's face turned a kind of purplish red and the vein in his forehead popped out prominently.
They'd been at it for hours and the pristine papers Rolland had entrusted him with were now nothing more than scrap with lines through almost everything and annotations on everything else.
After leaving Sofia, Cedric had spent the better part of the night going back and forth with himself, trying to figure out if there was truly something amiss here or if he was merely seeing disaster where none existed. Part of him argued he was making portents out of nothing because losing her was now a reality and, like the wretch he'd proved himself to be through this whole thing, he couldn't live with the consequences of what he'd done.
In the end, he did something which surprised even himself.
Cedric trusted his instincts.
Their all to similar dreams, his unease here, the eerie dislike the Queen had for Sofia and the even odder interest she had in him, they were more than just coincidences.
And so Cedric spent the waning hours till dawn pouring through the contract Rolland had sent, looking for any way to get them out of this.
His eyes were watering by the time he'd come across the first of four places where the king had made small annotations. Suddenly he remembered Rolland saying there were still minor details to be worked out.
Cedric looked at them and realized this was his answer.
In the worst case, he made an issue of any little thing he could and bought them time.
In the best case, Ivar got so angry he called the whole thing off and sent Sofia packing back to Enchancia a free woman.
It wasn't as satisfying as saving his princess by a show of magical prowess, like defeating an invading army or slaying a fiery dragon. But then when they had actually been threatened by a dragon Sofia had insisted she talk to the creature first and try to find a peaceful solution.
Instead of felling the beast with his amazing powers he and Sofia had ended up eating fly cakes and having cave moss tea with it while swapping stories about how difficult knights could be, stubborn, muscle bound, war mongers.
Still in the end, they'd returned home dragon tamers.
Cedric the Dragon Tamer wasn't nearly as heroic as Cedric the Dragon Slayer, but he would take it any day over Cedric the Bureaucratic Nitpicker. Still if red tape could get Sofia out of this damned place without starting a war he'd take it.
If it couldn't...well he hoped between Rolland and Ivar they'd put a descent price on his head.
"You can't be serious! You want to fight about this now?" Ivar looked as though he were ready hit something, probably Cedric.
"Indeed, it's not enough money. If something should happen to your son, the Princess would need more to live on, especially if there are children to take care of."
"If something happens to the boy we'll be here to take care of her and you damned well better believe I'll take care of my grandchildren and the heirs to my throne!" Ivar was spitting now, his honor having been offended.
"With respect," Cedric pinned him with a gaze that completely lacked anything like respect, "if your son is dead, then you must at least entertain the idea you'll already be dead as well. What would stop your elder son from killing my Princess and your grandchild and seizing the throne? Sofia will be quite alone in a foreign land and money is protection."
"This is outrageous!"
"I was sent here to look to the safety and comfort of my Princess." Cedric made his voice intentionally bored now, hoping to goad the other man to further anger.
"Oh yes, I saw last night how interested you are in the 'comfort' of your Princess." Ivar pinned him with a piercing look, and Cedric realized he'd been too quick to dismiss the king as a jolly, clueless, cuckold.
"I have no idea what you're insinuating." Cedric retorted, attempting to hold on to that bored tone.
Ivar snorted at him.
"Of course not.
My wife can try to seduce you till she's blue in the face for all the good it will do her. I see you sorcerer and I see your Princess. Mark my words, if the girl comes to my son's bed anything but a snow white virgin I'll know who to go looking for."
"Father."
They both turned to see Aleric standing in the doorway, shock on his face, Sofia just a few paces behind him.
"What are you doing here, boy?" Ivar had the good grace to look embarrassed when he realized, like Cedric, he had no idea how long the two young people had been standing there.
"Sofia and I are going to Eldburg and we thought, since Master Cedric is her chaperone, it would only be fitting for him to come with us." Aleric's voice had an odd quality to it and Cedric was sure he'd heard the worst of it.
Ivar's look was cutting.
"Go, even if you don't need a break from trying to thieve me out of more money than any woman is worth, I do."
Cedric couldn't say he was unhappy to get out of that room. And though spending an afternoon watching Aleric touch Sofia would be excruciating, it meant things would go unresolved for that much longer, giving him time to figure out what in Odin's Icicles was going on here.
They rode to the city in silence, Sofia sitting by herself on one bench of the carriage while Aleric and Cedric took the other. Cedric noticed both Aleric and Sofia looked out of sorts but he doubted it was for the same reasons.
As the carriage wound around cobblestone streets and through the press of people, Cedric let his mind be numbed by the sights around him. Eldrid was truly beautiful, as was its capital city.
Eldbrug stood on the edge of the great forest that surrounded the kingdom and everything was green and pristine. The air smelled of pine and cedar. The streets were filled with happy people going about their day, stopping to wave and cheer at the royal carriage as it passed.
When the coach stopped Cedric and Aleric each offered Sofia a hand down and she ended up taking them both in a move Cedric could only compliment for its diplomacy.
Soon they were lost among the stalls.
Food, drink, goods, clothes, jewelry, books, trinkets, magical charms, everything was here to see and buy, all rustically displayed.
Aleric had them start in the middle and work their way out, explaining what things were when Sofia or even he was confused.
It took about an hour, but by the time they were looking through the outer ring of stalls he seemed to have regained the good natured-ness Cedric already associated with the boy.
In all of this, Cedric found himself feeling unexpectedly sorry for Aleric.
Merlin knew he wanted to hate the boy. But Aleric possessed the same quality Sofia did, that almost mystical ability to make even people who wanted to dislike him unable.
Aleric was kind and good, thoughtful and bright, all on top of being desperately good looking. Any Prince with all those qualities combined should have found it easy to secure a wife who adored him.
Instead the boy would end up broken hearted if Cedric could manage to get Sofia out of here. Or, in the event he failed and Rolland had him executed, Aleric would wind up with a wife who didn't love him. A wife who closed her eyes and dreamt of an ugly, skinny, dead criminal twice their age every time she was underneath him.
There was a pathetic-ness in that Cedric didn't think Aleric had been raised to handle.
They had moved to a stall on the edge of the market that sold rare spell books. He and Sofia were happily perusing them, opening this one or that one to share what was inside with each other, when Aleric, obviously feeling out of his depth, took up a conversation with a merchant two stalls down.
Cedric was just pulling an old tomb, brittle with age and crumbling about the edges, from the back of a few stacks when he realized Sofia wasn't next to him any longer.
Replacing the book Cedric looked around the little stall, but she wasn't anywhere to be found.
Stepping out he looked again and didn't see her in any of the nearby stalls either.
Suddenly a flash caught his eye, Sofia's broach, the one he'd given her, reflecting the sunlight.
He saw her then, on the edge of the tree line.
She was walking into the forest, already a good way away from them.
Seeing Aleric hadn't noticed, and realizing Sofia would be engulfed by the tall trees and lost to sight if he delayed even a moment, Cedric took off after her.
He was halfway to the tree line when her figure disappeared.
"Sofia!" He called after her, but she didn't answer.
Cedric was nearly out of breath when he broke the tree line.
Looking around frantically in the dimmed light he tried to make out where she'd gone.
"Merlin's mushrooms Sofia what's gotten into you?" He half called to her, half grumbled to himself.
A twig broke somewhere in the distance and Cedric followed the sound hoping it was his princess.
The farther he walked the quieter things got.
Cedric wasn't much of a nature person, but being a sorcerer meant a great deal of gathering materials for potions, which inevitably meant time outdoors.
Never in any of his trips to the woods had ever heard any place so silent. Birds chattered, woodland creatures scampered, insects buzzed about, there were always sounds.
Here there was nothing.
To his left, he saw a steam and there, standing on the edge of it, statue still was Sofia.
"Dearest, if you wanted to take a walk in the woods all you had to do was say so!" He called to her.
Sofia made no answer, nor any movement.
When he finally reached her, what he saw terrified him.
Her eyes were like glass.
Like the lifeless eyes of a doll. No thought, no emotion, no being could he perceive behind them.
"Sofia." He said her name, surprised to hear the fright so naked in his voice. "Sofia look at me."
Nothing.
Taking her arms in his hands he shook her.
"Sofia!" He screamed her name now, as he rattled her little frame almost violently.
Suddenly she blinked, her hands coming out to steady herself by grabbing his shoulders.
"Cedric, what are you doing? Cedric STOP!" She yelled
His hands left her arms then, as if he'd been shocked.
"Sofia, can you hear me?" He asked, unable to stop those now empty hands from coming up to cup her face.
"Of course," She answered, looking a little offended at how roughly he'd treated her, before realizing something was wrong.
"Where are we?"
"We're in the woods, you took off from the market and by the time I realized you were gone you were walking into the forest."
"What are you talking about?" Sofia shook her head, confusion written clearly on her features. "I don't remember that…. Just like the window this morning." She whispered the last but Cedric heard it clear as day.
"What window?" He asked, tilting her head so her eyes were on his again.
"This morning, Aleric took me up to see Arne's workshop. On the way there was this window. I don't remember going to it. I just looked at it and the next thing I knew Aleric was pulling me off the sill. If he hadn't I would have jumped."
"You would have WHAT! Poseidon's pumpkins! Sofia we have to leave here. I don't know what's going on but we are not staying a moment longer do you hear me!"
Before Sofia could make any reply they heard it.
Whipping around he put himself in front of her.
Cedric saw only their eyes at first, red, feral, hungry.
Then slowly they slid out of the trees, hunched low, ready to spring.
"Wolves." Cedric's voice was barely a whisper.
"They aren't wolves." Sofia's voice was no louder than his but she was so close to him, her lips just below the level of his ears, her front pressed against his back.
"How in Merlin's name do you know that?" Cedric wasn't sure what possessed him to ask that or anything else at a time like this, but out of his mouth it came anyway.
"Animal lover remember. Wolves don't hunt humans. Their natural instinct is to be afraid of us."
"Whatever they are they're clearly not afraid of us."
Moving ever so slowly, Cedric pulled his wand from the sleeve of his robe, pointing it at the animals.
Saying the words of a freezing spell, Cedric let it shoot forth only to see it fizzle before touching the creatures.
Sofia pulled in a frightened gasp of air.
"There magical, they're immune to the spell. Cedric we have to run, we don't have any other choice."
He nodded.
Pointing his wand one more time, Cedric said a few more words.
Suddenly a burst of light and heat shot into the midst of the wolf like creatures. It didn't hurt them, but it did startle them. They barked in fright, backing away a tiny bit, and Sofia took the opportunity to grab Cedric's hand.
They were running along the bank now.
Cedric was already exhausted from having run after Sofia and he was also fairly certain following this stream was not going to take them back to the city, but the wolf pack was right behind them, growling and snapping their jaws, so he ran, letting adrenaline help him to match Sofia's pace.
Suddenly he felt himself jerked back.
One of the wolves had caught the end of the voluminous Sorcerer's robe he'd put on this morning to be dressed properly for the King.
Cedric screamed and heard Sofia scream as well as his hand was ripped out of hers.
Thinking on her feet Sofia rounded, pulling his wand out of his hand and shooting another burst of heat at the wolves.
When they backed off, she ripped the cord that tied his robe until it gave and he shrugged it off as quickly as possible.
He wasn't quick enough though and a small wolf they hadn't noticed had managed to get around the other side of them. It lunged now, going for and catching Sofia's leg in its teeth.
Without his wand Cedric did the only thing he could, he picked up a rock and threw it hard at the creatures head.
It landed true and the wolf released Sofia to fall back stunned.
They started running again, but Sofia's leg was torn and bleeding badly.
Cedric pushed his head under her arm, slinging it around his neck, and took as much of her weight as he could.
Only a short distance later, he realized he'd been right. They weren't heading back to the tree line.
The stream was no stream, it was a tributary to a greater body of water, which it joined after a sickening drop from the cliff side they'd just come to.
Turning them Cedric saw the wolves closing in.
"Be torn apart or drown, those seem to be our options," Sofia whimpered at his side, her eyes glazing over from fear and pain.
He knew only one option even gave them hope of survival and so he turned again.
Gripping Sofia as tightly as he could Cedric leapt.
