Recap- Feeling depressed, Nina wanders down in the evening to the kitchens, where she passes her parents' room and overhears a conversation that completely flips her ideals upside down. She begins to see why she must marry, and decides that night that she will marry Edmund to ensure her future as a good queen. She writes to Ryu, explaining this. The next morning, she remembers how she met Ryu as a child, and then casts him from her mind, thinking only of what she must do for her kingdom.
Ryu meanwhile, receives the letter, and is driven to fury by it. He jumps on his horse and rides towards Wyndia, determined to make Nina see sense in however, and whatever way he can.
A Princess's Duty
IX
The Duel on the Lawn
After a peculiar breakfast of courtly and kindly words to her parents (which they looked at with puzzlement, not used to such desserts, before nibbling at them uncertainly) Nina announced her desire to visit Edmund.
"You want to visit Edmund?" asked the King, smiling with his eyebrows in his hair.
"Yes, we had a conversation the other day that we didn't quite finish," said Nina, politely.
"Oh, well… of course. I'll send a page along to announce your coming." He turned his head to look at a boy standing alert by the doorway. "Run to the stables lad, and ask for a carriage to be harnessed." He looked back at Nina, still surprised.
"I'll go get ready then," she said, going to her room to find something finer to wear. She had to show willing, so instead of the covering dresses she usually wore, today she fitted on a low blue dress showing a small bit of cleavage, not quite reaching the knee. She curled her hair, only keeping her hat so her head wouldn't fry in the heat.
One of the pages came up to tell her the carriage was ready, and she was on her way, slipping the ring into her little blue bag.
When she arrived, Frederick was sitting outside the manor waiting for her and looking somewhat subdued.
"Hello Fred, what's the matter?" she asked.
"I'm afraid you haven't come at a very good time Nina," he replied, looking both annoyed and upset. "My doofus of a brother has gone and lost our mother's wedding ring. He and the staff are searching for it now. I can't believe he'd lose something as important as that- he makes me so mad…!"
"Your… mother's?" Nina asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"Yeah, the ring case was still on his desk, but the ring's gone. I just hope one of the staff hasn't stolen it, in which case it's his fault anyway for leaving it out like that. It should have been locked away." He gazed upwards, glaring at a passing bird.
"I'll- I'll help you find it," Nina said quickly. "It's probably just fallen behind something. That happens to my things a lot.
"Oh… right, cheers," Frederick said in surprise, getting up and opening the front door to the entrance hall.
Nina was just about to head straight up to Edmund's room, but caught her mistake just in time. "Uh… where's Edmund's room? That a good place to look first, I think."
"First floor, the door to the left. It's been checked several times though."
Nina went up the stairs into the room, where Edmund himself was with the butler, moving one of the desks so they could look underneath. They'd been busy; the room was a mess now with furniture in the middle and paper piled up in stacks all over.
"Um… hi," said Nina shyly, embarrassed she'd gotten everything so wrong again. Edmund jumped, dropping the desk on his foot with a curse.
"Sorry," she said, wincing.
"Princess…" Edmund said, looking pained- both physically and mentally, "it's not that I'm displeased to see you, but I'm afraid we have a bit of an emergency here. I'm afraid I won't be able to spend much time with you…"
"It's fine, I know," Nina said, nodding, "Frederick told me. I want to help."
"You do?" he said, looking puzzled, perhaps because he thought a princess wouldn't be amiable to this kind of task. "Thank you then… if you could check the downstairs study perhaps? The maids have just started on that one, they could use some help."
So Nina hurried down to the study and asked the women there where Edmund usually sat.
"That chair, there," said one, pointing to an armchair by a glass table. "We haven't done that side of the room yet."
Nina opened her bag inconspicuously and pretended to blow her nose on her handkerchief, meanwhile taking out the ring as discreetly as she could, clutching it in the palm of her closed hand. She pulled the cushions off the chair, tossing them onto the floor, and dipped her hand down the back of the seat, fishing around for the make-believe ring.
She took her hand out, the ring transferred to her fingers. She examined it, and then called out theatrically, "I think I've found it!"
She held it up above her head like a beacon, and the maids swarmed around.
"That's it! She's found it!"
"That's the ring! Master Edmund will be so pleased!"
"It must have slipped down the back of the chair when the master was sitting there the other day."
They hurried Nina forward, rushing her up the stairs in a triumphant crowd, chorusing, "We've found it! We've found it!"
Edmund ran out from his room to the stairwell, grabbing hold of the railing and leaning forward to see the crowd. He smiled widely. The group reached him, and Nina pressed the ring into his open hand.
"It fell down the back of your chair," she said, "I did that with a bracelet once, it went down the-"
To her surprise, Edmund clasped her hand, stopping her in her tracks.
"Thank you," he said, his eyes shining with sincerity. "You don't know what this means to me and Frederick. Thank you. You're a true gentlewoman Princess."
"Oh, it was… it was nothing really," Nina muttered, her cheeks pink from guilt. In actuality, it really was nothing.
He handed the ring to the butler, adding, "Lock this up in the safe. The big one," before he held out his arm to Nina, and she, with embarrasment, took it.
"How shall we spend out day, my lady?" he asked.
Nina laughed lightly, and shook her head. "Any way you wish."
They went down to the gardens and walked by the lake, shimmering and golden under the midday sun, before playing a game of tailball on the lawn. Frederick joined them, thanking Nina profoundly for finding the ring, and they all had lunch together in the shade of an intricately carved stone gazebo.
"That ring was our mother's wedding ring," Frederick explained, "she never took it off, even after father died. Not until she caught that illness and it was prised from her cold dead hand." He shivered, despite the boiling sun, and stopped.
They languished around in the heat as the manor staff put all the furniture back to how it was supposed to be. A breeze picked up and they went boating on the lake they'd earlier walked round, Frederick jumping off the end of the little boat with a "Geronimo!" splashing the other two in the face. Nina giggled, and Edmund sent him a scathing glare.
The afternoon waned, and Nina enjoyed herself by thrashing Frederick at chequers in the study. She was just about to jump his final piece when there was a commotion from the hall. Several thumps sounded, like objects hitting the floor. Something smashed.
All three turned towards the door, which burst open before their eyes.
The butler ran in, panting, "Sir- sirs! A man has forced his way in, I don't know what he wants, but he's refused to leave!"
Edmund stood up, authoritative. "Where is he?" he said sharply.
"He's almost-"
Ryu strode through the open double doors, putting his hand on the terrified butler's shoulder, silencing him. His eyes moved from Frederick, seated at the table, to Edmund. Nina mouthed Ryu's name quietly, in horror.
He moved towards Edmund, his silent footsteps striking fear like a drumbeat into Nina's heart. He stood a hand span apart from him, and said coldly, in a tone much unlike himself, "Edmund Wyndia, I challenge you to a one-on-one duel. To the death."
"Who in Ladon's name do you think you are?" Edmund exclaimed, eying up the man before him. "You can't just burst into my house, uninvited, and expect me to accept such a challenge. Who are you?"
"I am Ryu, prince of the dragons." His eyes flashed yellow with the power of the brood. "And you have stolen someone important away from me."
It took Edmund a few seconds to understand what Ryu meant. He looked towards Nina, who was cringing helplessly.
"Nina, whatever is this madman blathering about?" Edmund asked her, gesturing.
She stood up. "Ryu, leave. You're making a fool of yourself. I told you, my mind's made up. Just go." Her hand shook as it rested on the back of the armchair.
"You're the one making a fool of yourself Nina, by ignoring what you really feel. And if I can't explain this to you, I will just have to prove it- by showing you what a weak cowardly man you are choosing to be your husband!" His head flashed back towards Edmund. "Accept my challenge you faint-hearted bigot! You stock of Wyndia put so much importance on family honour, don't you? Then why don't you prove it to me!"
"And so I shall!" Edmund said angrily, his pride stinging from Ryu's verbal assault. "Franz, get me my sword."
The butler, who'd been standing hesitantly by the door, rushed upstairs.
"I don't know what you're trying to pull with Nina," Edmund said, "but I shall now inform you that I am her suitor, and I am courting her. Who are you to her?"
"Why don't you ask her yourself," Ryu said simply.
"Nina, how do you know this man?"
Her soul aching, Nina shook her head. "He is no one. A lunatic. A hopeless dreamer after the love of a princess."
At that moment, the butler came back and hurriedly passed to Edmund a long sword in a blue patterned sheaf. "This way," Edmund said, leading out onto the lawn.
It was then Nina realised that Ryu was serious, that he really did intend to fight him. She'd never seen him this way before. In this mood, Nina thought he actually might make it a battle to the death.
She grabbed hold of Frederick's arm. "Fred, we've got to stop them, Ryu'll turn Edmund into mincemeat!"
"My brother's a good swordsman," Frederick said distractedly, looking nervous.
"He may be, but Ryu wasn't joking when he said he was prince of the dragons- he really is! If we don't stop them, you won't even find the pieces of Edmund after they're strewn all over the grass."
Frederick bit his lip, fearful now. "But what can we do?" he asked, "Ed won't stop now he's been insulted like that. There's nothing we can do."
"Surely there's a way," Nina said with emotion, "there must be something we can use here to stop him. There has to be."
Furiously contemplative, Frederick glowered at a nearby wall. His eyes lit up.
"There is," he said, taking hold of her hand. "It's upstairs... yes, we might just have a chance. This way!"
x
Edmund drew his sword from his sheaf, the sound of metal on metal filling the air. He held it ready at his side. From across him, Ryu did the same, an expression of cool determination sown onto his features. Inside his veins, cold anger flowed, encapsulating, engulfing him.
He eyed his opponent, and thought; I will kill you. His precious thing had been stolen away from him, and ever a dragon, he would see his hoard returned. By fire, if necessary.
"Ready?" he snarled out, his sword held tight in his hand.
"Ready!" Edmund bellowed back.
An inaudible gong chiming, a bell ringing, the whistle blowing, they charged forward. Their swords met, the clash of steel reverbrating down their arms. Edmund grunted, and pushed him back. Ryu leapt backwards as Edmund slashed into the open air, weaving out of harms way. He thrust his hand forward, muttering an incantation under his breath. Fire flared.
Edmund yelled as it ate at his body, singeing his skin. Rapidly, he threw up a shield, blasting the flames outward. The smell of burnt flesh hit his nostrils.
Ryu smiled triumphantly, and jumped forward again, sweeping his blade into the air, light shining off of it. Edmund dived down, rolling to the side and landing on his feet.
He nudged a flint by his feet, and picked it up, hurling it at Ryu. It hit him in the chest, with the sound of something snapping. He doubled over with pain, mumbling a healing spell, joining his ribs together again with an ethereal glue.
"You bastard!" he yelled at Edmund, who was taking the few spare seconds to throw up barriers around himself, his body now emanating a golden glow.
Their eyes met once more, and they began to circle one another, sweat dripping from Ryu's brow. He wiped it away with one hand. The circle grew smaller as they sized each other up, anger now ripping through Ryu's bones at what he considered a to be a girlish assault with the stone.
This half-man doesn't deserve Nina, he thought ferociously. He doesn't deserve to live, either.
Ryu whipped in, ducking as Edmund's sword swung, raising his own so that they met with a mighty clang. They thrust and parried, swung and swept, the air filled with the terrible clashes of war.
As Edmund attempted an elaborate sweep and slash move Ryu undercut him, metal meeting flesh for the first time. Edmund clutched at his side with his spare hand, managing to resist calling out.
Their blades continued to dance the dance, Edmund's shirt now stained with red. The grass crunched under their feet, freshly cut, red light flung upon their scrunched and delirious faces.
Exhausted, Edmund jumped back to recoup himself, taking in hand the nearby pillar of the stone gazebo. He swung himself over and into it, putting a wall between them.
Ryu took in his adversary, thoughts of cowardice filling his mind. He refused to give Edmund the relief he wanted, and leapt over the wall himself, hitting his sword against Edmund's so hard that the man's was flung out of his hand. It flew across the wall and stuck in the nearby grass on the lawn.
Panic in his eyes, Edmund darted after it, but Ryu grabbed hold of his wing- Edmund calling out- and managed to snatch up the sword first. Feathers littered the grass, and the new weapon felt strange in Ryu's hand.
He approached on Edmund, whose feet caught on a watering can, tipping him onto the ground. He scrabbled backwards, grabbing up a metal pole from the flower bed, the sunflower it was supporting flopping down. He jumped to his feet, new hope in his eyes.
Ryu attacked with the double swords, Edmund defending off with the garden pole. Ryu growled, amazed and irritated by Edmund's versatility. Edmund, he decided, was as resilient as a weed.
He tried his magic again, hitting Edmund with a bolt of lightning. But the man noticed the tell-tale spark around Ryu, and threw the metal pole high into the air. The lightning zigzagged towards it instead, and hit it with a crippling crackle.
Unknown to Ryu, Edmund had for the last few minutes been drawing him backwards off the grass and into a long stretch of tulips and posies. There, while Ryu was caught in momentary surprise from the unexpected result of his lightning attack, Edmund ducked down and grabbed a handful of dirt. He threw at Ryu's eyes. Stunned and blinded, Edmund had the opportunity to take back his own sword and hit Ryu with a critical blow across the upper chest.
He staggered back, blood swarming down his front, and it was at this point that Nina and Frederick returned.
In the boy's hands was the original copy of his brother's manuscript, and on his face was a very grim look. Nina, beside him, had conjured up a small fireball in her hands. They walked towards the dueling pair, and Nina called out, "Stop!"
She was shocked to see Ryu on his knees, his face pale and finges bright from the curative incantations he was speaking. Edmund stood above him, his sword pointing directly down.
"You have to stop this, both of you!" cried Nina, "and before anyone gets hurt!"
Edmund looked towards the pair, his face one of supreme irritation.
"But I've almost won," he snapped.
"Then make it a bloodless victory," she said, and gestured to the manuscript. Her voice quivered. "Touch him and your journal goes up in flames."
Frederick nodded, a solemn expression etched around his eyes. "Come on Ed, you're being stupid,"
Edmund looked at them with betrayal, and then towards Ryu, kneeling breathlessly on the grass.
"Very well," he said at last, reluctantly. He lowered his sword.
"There," said Nina with relief, putting out the fire and raising a hand to her fluttering heart, "there really was no need to fight anyway… Ryu? What are you doing? Get up-"
It was then that she noticed something peculiar about Ryu, something different, something out of place. His breathing had become too fast, even for someone exhausted. Added to that, his whole body had begun to glow.
Nina realised what was happening.
"No, Ryu you can't!" she yelled.
His whole body started to stretch and expand, mutating grotesquely. His skin hardened, and wings burst from his back with explosive power. His slitted eyes glowed orange from within their sockets.
A gigantic and towering dragon stood in Ryu's place, stretching its wings in the dying sun and beating its tail on the ground. Minor earthquakes rippled under Nina's feet from the pure power of it.
"No…she murmured, both hands on her heart. "This is… going too far."
The dragon glowered down at Edmund, who stood rock still, petrified. It growled venomously at him, and inhaled deeply. Edmund shakily raised his sword. The dragon's nostrils flared.
Nina ran forward.
"No!" she screamed, her voice cracking, standing before Ryu and throwing her arms wide. "I can't let you do this Ryu, I won't let you! Stop being jealous and LEAVE!"
Her eyes burned, but she held the tears back. The dragon stared at her with its own piercing and unblinking eyes, and Nina stared right back.
"You've- you've changed Ryu," she said, "you're not my Ryu anymore. You're just- a monster! I don't want to see you ever again! Not after this… not ever."
The dragon continued to stare, and then released a dreadful mourning roar, one so terrible it left shivers tingling in the hearts of all present. Nina stood her ground, simply shaking her head, her vision obscured with unshed tears.
"It's over," she whispered.
The unblinking dragon blinked, before slowly turning away, stomping off over the lawn and into the forest. The sound of snapping bark and torn trees echoed, before the place fell silent.
Nina stumbled over to Edmund, and fell into his arms. She sobbed dryly.
"How could he?" she shouted, her face pressing against Edmund's hot chest. "How- how could he?"
As the red sun sunk below the horizon, Frederick laid a hand on her shoulder, the last shafts of cheerless light shining upon their tired faces. Darkness, at last, had arrived.
