Chapter Eight
The screech of metal against metal filled the night sky as Vaxitas and I both unsheathed our swords; both of us waiting with bated breath for our attacker to emerge. My hands tightened around Quillon – my long sword – as Vax tightened his grip on his katana, Darkscar. We were so in tune with each other and our surroundings that it was almost like we could read each other's minds.
Unfortunately for me, my worst daydream (or was it a sweet nightmare?) had followed us despite everything I had done to keep her from following.
" Na'koi'a temanu ma'bilue Zen hati'chia!" she roared as she emerged in her golden ryuu form and landed in front of us.
Suddenly my hands got really sweaty and I had to grip my sword so tight that my knuckles turned as white as my scales. Vaxitas merely bowed and returned his sword to his sheath. I was frozen on the spot, not daring to glare up into her blue eyes as sweat beaded my brow.
One of these days I will find out what's wrong with me.
" Must I repeat everything I say to you, Drakkan!" She growled.
I tried to open my mouth, to say something that would send her back home again, but my mouth was glued shut. I could barely breathe past the desert that had once been my throat. Then I stopped breathing altogether.
The ryuu princess had lowered her head and was pointing her blue eyes right at my face. And, I swear, they were burning holes into me. What made it worse, I think anyway, was that she looked so goddamn beautiful doing it. This is why she's dangerous.
I've heard rumours where ryuu females would lure male dragons away from their family, seduce them and then leave them for dead once the dragon's treasure had been obtained by the ryuu. And if those rumours were true, then I was the newest victim… and the ryuu princess would gain my kingdom as small as it was.
But then again, I've also heard rumours about ryuus being able to see through a human's body and view their innards. That rumour creeped me out. Especially now that she was standing right in front of me with the stars and moon shining on her golden scales and making her silver mane shine like the moon herself. By that time, my heart was pounding in my chest so hard I could hear every beat… and I was more than certain that she could see if not hear it.
" Well?" She demanded impatiently.
That snapped me out of it. " Just because you are the younger sister to the current ruler of Arkonas Cove does not mean you have the right to interrogate me like that! Not only am I older than you, but I'm also Kor of the Dragons whereas you are just a Visi. Therefore you have no right to order me about agreements and dates and other whatnots because I never agreed to doing anything with you!"
" So you're telling me that I waited since the beginning of sundown at Old Dragon's Nest for nothing?"
" If that's what you got out of that, then yeah, you did just waste your own time."
" I wasted my own time? I don't think so! To be completely honest, you're the one with the problem here, because it was you who wasted my time!"
" Well I have absolutely no clue as to what you're talking about! I wasn't the one wasting time! You were!"
" What I'm talking about is that you have a problem with keeping to your own plans and schedules. I, on the other hand, have no quarrels with such things. And next to that, you're the one growling at me! Hell, you won't even look at me!"
" Look who's talking. With how loud you are, I wouldn't be surprised if you've woken all the sleeping animals from the other side of Mount Orzhai!"
" Hak'che." She cursed with a raised lip.
" Curse me all you want, Keiko. You know it's true. And just so you know, I left right when I wanted to. So don't you talk to me about schedules and other such crap." I replied with a slight smirk tugging at my lips.
Suddenly the look on Keiko's face changed from anger to confusion. Unfortunately it didn't last that long and not even a minute had passed before she was back to growling in my face again. Why can't women make up their minds?
" You planned to leave me behind, didn't you." She growled.
I wonder what gave you that idea. I thought to myself sarcastically before speaking aloud. " Took you long enough. Now be a good little girl and go home."
For an answer, Keiko transformed. To most, watching someone morph was a sickening sight; especially if you're not used to it. But for some strange reason, all I saw was beauty. Her transformation was almost like a mirage cast by the stars and moon. The darkness helped hide the transformation, of course, but I could clearly see the long, snake-like body of the ryuu shorten and become the eighteen year old Visi who seemed determined to torment me.
" I am a maiden – and a royal one at that – therefore you should escort me home."
How did I know she was going to play the innocent card?
" Well you obviously managed to get here without too much trouble and without any guards following you. Why don't you just morph back into your ryuu form and fly back home where you belong." I retaliated; Vaxitas was wisely keeping quiet.
" But it's dark now and I need two strong men such as yourselves to escort me back to said home."
" And this is coming from the one who will willingly sneak into our library in the middle of the night."
That got her all defensive again.
" How do you know about that?" She demanded.
" When I can't sleep, I go down into the library." I admitted.
What I didn't admit was that I had caught her reading one of my architecture books… the same one that I was going to read. Though, I suppose you could say that I had just admitted to seeing her in there. Either way, while I had said all this, I had turned away. I found that to be the only way to stop myself from going all loopy at the sight of Keiko's human form.
I'm sorry, but she looked surprisingly hot in her traveller's clothes and with her long hair braided over her shoulder the way it was. Okay, I swear whatever's wrong with me has to be getting worse if I'm thinking things like that. Anyway, almost as soon as I had turned away, Keiko had taken it upon herself to yell at me some more; something about 'rude Drakkans' or something. I didn't really pay much attention as I sheathed my sword.
To be completely honest, I didn't pay much attention to the yelling Yong the entire time it took for me to get to the bottom of the hill we had stopped on. Nor did I pay much attention when I sat myself on a rock and waited for Vaxitas to realise that Keiko was to go home and we were to continue on our way to Wyvern's Court. Of course, my luck wasn't that well versed in my plans. Before long, Keiko was once more standing in front of me.
" Don't you get a hint when it's slapped you in the face, kid? Go home!" I yelled the instant I found out she was there.
" I've told you before, Drakkan, this expedition needs a representative from both waring royal families! I'm staying with you!" She yelled back.
" We only have one tent!"
" Why do you only have one tent?"
" As High Officer of the Hatian Guard, it is my sworn duty to guard and protect my Kor wherever he goes." Oh, so now Vaxitas says something. " It is for this very reason why we only have one tent. The tent belongs to Kor Steile. I shall be the one to guard him while he sleeps; the heat of my flame keeping him warm and our enemies away."
We both just looked at him, expecting more. But he looked at me as if expecting me to say something despite knowing that I would probably swear to my heart's content at Keiko's face if I did so. Keiko, on the other hand, had seemed to get over her confusion and found it amusing to watch the two of us try to sort out this predicament. Funny thing was all three of us remained quiet on the subject.
After five intense minutes of silence, Vaxitas suggested we do something but I turned it down before I even knew what that something was. When he tried again a second and third time, I still turned him down. Eventually Keiko started yelling at me to let my guard speak (I swear yelling is this girl's favourite past time), but I'm pretty sure we all know how that ended out.
Half an hour and a hoarse throat later, I was definitely no happy about how the night… no, the entire mission had turned out. Why do I say this, you ask? Listen closely to my failure. All that screaming Keiko and I did was absolutely useless. In the end, Vax got fed up with us again and demanded I share the tent with Keiko and that Keiko was right.
I think I've already said this, but if Vaxitas Etranger wasn't my much loved friend and trusty advisor and guard, I would have his head for all the yelling and ordering he's been doing to royalty lately. Not to mention all the times he's been speaking out of turn. But he did just lose his youngest brother and his way of grieving was through anger.
Then again, he was acting a little strange what with all the yelling and all that. It's not like him at all – unless of course it's to some of the Hatian Guard who think it's a good idea to get on his bad side. And just between me and you, his bad side is ugly. He's been known to flog dragons and the post for disobeying orders. Not a pretty sight.
A spark of worry erupted in the back of my mind because of it. I remember that one of my ancestors had a loyal High Officer at one point and not long after the Ryuu was crowned King of Arkonas Cove, the High Officer betrayed his Kor. After a failed assassination, the High Officer was sentenced to death. But it taught the rest of us to come a great lesson; be wary of everyone near you.
I banished the thought from my mind with a soft growl meant only for myself. Vax was my best friend. I shouldn't be thinking (or speaking) ill of him otherwise I could very well lose the only real friend I've had since I was a little dragon.
Damn it! I'm still thinking about it. And by the sound of it, I'm boring you all about all of this wariness, so I'll go back to Keiko.
After what looked like an intense conversation with my High Officer, Keiko began walking in a large circle around where I sat, sulking on my rock. Did I mention that I wasn't pleased with these new arrangements? Because guess what. That devilish eighteen-year-old had a smug grin on her face that seemed to grow with every step she took.
You don't know how badly I wanted to wipe that grin right off her face at that point.
" When you're done sulking, Steile, we need help setting up camp." She said once she had completed a full circuit around me.
" Since when did you become an expert in camping?" I growled.
" If I may, your Highness, it was my idea." Vaxitas replied instead as he waited for me to give him to order to unpack. " This place looks like a great place to stop for the night. And it stops us from searching the forest in the dark."
Okay, I'll give him the dark forest thing, but I had a sneaking suspicion that Keiko had put him up to stopping here. And I don't think I had much of a choice but to go along with the changed plans. With Keiko's arrival, most of those plans had been forcibly changed.
All except one. And that was that we had to be at Wyvern's Court and back in the best possible time so that Arkonas Cove was still around to be saved. That being said, I gave Vax the order to start unpacking.
As if on cue, right after I had said that, a cold gust of winter night air rushed past me and sent heavy chills down my spine. It probably wasn't much, but when you've got Chene-Bhrikti kannu you feel the cold a lot easier than a normal dragon or Ryuu. I was huddling up to myself with my teeth chattering like dead chimes in the wind, trying to stay awake.
It was about this time that I asked myself why I even bothered coming out here in the winter where I was at the mercy of the weather.
Before I knew it, Keiko had started a fire in front of me as Vaxitas pitched the tent. My mind was that cold that I couldn't think, but I welcomed the warmth of the fire like it was my lover coming to greet me. I think she even wrapped something around my shoulders, but I don't know. I was too frozen to care… but I was slowly thawing out despite the darkness hanging on the edge of my vision. I think someone was talking to me as well, but…
