Beginning: Victoria
Chapter 8
She can feel a hand on her forehead and opens her eyes. The light of the room makes her squint at first. Her mind is flushed with a stream of thoughts and she looks around the room frantically. Her eyes stop on a girl looking down at her... a mage...familiar... "Valencia" she gasps. Was she dreaming, or was she dead? She remembers the man and the sight of Valencia and Jaimus on the ground. The cleric smiles warmly at Sira.
"Can you sit up," she asks?
Sira pushes herself up with her hands and leans against the bed's base board. She has a little headache, but nothing compared to the pain she remembers. Remembers - the man - the fight - her wound? She is confused, but is more concerned with the state of the rest of her team mates.
"Jaimus, Zenith," she says.
"Don't worry," says Valencia. "They are fine."
"But how?" demands Sira.
Valencia laughs a little.
"I didn't think the man would let us go so easily," says Valencia. "So I cast a spell that protected Jaimus and I. Our damage was minimal"
"Where are we?" asks Siya looking around the unfamiliar room.
"Sleepywood," says Valencia. "Zenith found it a few hours after you passed out."
Valencia shakes a bottle of white liquid and then pours some into a glass. She is relieved that Sira is awake. Even if she doesn't know her teammates well and they had bickered a few days past, they were a team now. Even if she wishes to be back in the comfort of her forest surrounded by her friends and Tanner, she knows that this is where she must be. Over the past few days she had watched Jaimus and Zenith in the village helping out. They were both very different from one another, but they were both surprisingly good people. Her mind shifts to the day when they came across the gruesome slaughter. Zenith could have hastily escaped from the man that day, but he hadn't left them behind. These things and more made her realize that she could trust them, care for them. Worrying about them and tending to everyone's wounds took her mind off wondering where and what Tanner was doing - She misses him.
"Drink this," says the cleric. "It will help you recover faster. Your wounds are completely healed, the scars should be gone soon. You might feel dizzy or get headaches for the next couple of days."
"Thank you," says Sira taking the glass.
Jaimus and the healers come to visit Sira to wish her well. They go over the events that happened during the days she was in deep sleep. Sira is saddened about the attack on the village and frightened that the man still wanders loose in Victoria.
The visitors leave Sira to rest and she thinks of the time in the dungeon forest. What had happened? How come no one had wondered how she was able to move after she removed the steely? She certainly wondered how. She thought maybe it had all been a dream and decided not to ask anyone, at the risk of sounding crazy.
The door to her room opens and a young man dressed all in black slips in - Zenith. She had not seen him since she woke. He walks over to her bed and looks at her expressionless.
"The leaders of Victoria are here," he says. "They are questioning Jaimus and Valencia about that man."
"I see," says Sira relieved.
"Do not tell them about what happened after the incident with the steely," says Zenith.
...He remembers? She wasn't dreaming? Sira goes to question him but he speaks first.
"We'll talk later," he says sternly, leaving the room.
A few minutes pass after Zenith has left the room and the door swings open again. This time four men enter: Dark Lord, Sitting Bull, Hines and Chief Stan. She is very intimidated at being surrounded by such important men; she is nervous. They introduce themselves and commend her on her bravery. She blushes and thanks them. She hadn't regarded her actions as anything special. They continue by asking her questions about the events that day and details about the man. She tells everything she remembers up until before her bizarre fighting and they bid her farewell.
Two days after she regained consciousness, Sira feels like herself again. She does some exercises in her room and notices her strength slowly coming back. She wanders the village admiring the strange architecture and statues. The people of Sleepywood have isolated themselves from the rest of Victoria Island, continuing to practice ancient magic and skills no longer seen as necessary on the rest of the island. They are wealthy and do not take kind to strangers for fear of thievery and disputes because their ways that do not follow the laws of the land.
The young girl finds a small grassy area on hill overlooking the village and sits down. Green lights bounce around her as she gazes off at the dimly lit village below. She is a little startled when she suddenly notices someone sitting next to her. She looks over at the assassin. She hadn't heard from him since the day she woke from her long sleep.
"Was that the first time?" asks Zenith staring at the village at the bottom of the slope.
"Yes" she answers referring to her fight with the man.
"Do you remember what happened?" asks Zenith.
"Vaguely," says Siya bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs.
"Why do you seek the legend of the dragon knight?" asks Zenith.
Sira had a strange feeling Zentih would ask that question. She looks over at him and he briefly glances at her. He knows something, she can tell. She debates a few minutes over telling him what she knows, what she's heard. She has no reason to share the personal information with him. She has no reason to trust him. She bites down on her lip lightly and closes her eyes. However, for the first time she feels like she has the chance to tell someone what she knows, what she's seeking. Someone who will understand her. But will he understand her, she wonders? She lets her thoughts flow through her mind freely…She recalls a conversation between her mother and father that she had overheard once. Her father had explained that some people were born with the ability to become greater fighters. Her mother argued that these abilities were too strong and dangerous - they are against the law to develop and practice. Her father had then said the words "I felt it" and her mother began to cry. He continued by telling her that there was nothing left he could do. The thought of his family ignited an unusual power in him. "And Fen?" her mother had asked referring to her older brother. "I don't know" had answered her father. She had never told anyone if this conversation. Her mother had seemed so shocked and appalled by it all. That day, her father left and when she tried asking her mother where he was, she cried. Finally she said he was gone to look for Fen. She was happy to hear the news because she had missed her brother a lot. For the first time Sira feels like she has to tell someone about her quest.
"My father," says Sira. "He spoke one time of a great power…a power he had felt once. My mother had said it was illegal, dangerous. He left that day and i never saw him alive again. The day after his funeral I rummaged through his belonging and found a medallion with a small gold dragon on it. The one i have on me now. Some of the papers i found had scribbles of dragons and underlined faded texts containing the words Dragon Knight. I went to the council library and after looking through many books I found a drawing that resembled the dragon on the medallion. Along with it were tales of the dragon knights. I had not been able to decipher the texts in my fathers study, but a few lines described the knights. They were a prestigious class of strong and powerful fighters who commanded the might and skills of a dragon. A few days later I found my mother throwing away a lot of my fathers' paper work and snuck in to have a look once more before they were burnt. My father had copied many of the details I had read in the books concerning the legend. My father had been researching the dragon knights. I made it my personal quest to find out more on the subject; to find out if my father had really felt the same power as the dragon knights and to see if the legend was true. My mothers fears and the lack of information concerning his death, made me suspicious. I thought maybe his death had something to do with the legend."
"I see," says Zenith.
"Why do you ask?" says Sira.
Zenith looks over at Sira quickly then back at the village.
"Dragon Knights were very powerful," says Zenith. "It was a skill that very few were able to obtain. A natural gift grows within the person, within the descendants of select families. Most tales call this gift the dragon's spirit. The few warriors that developed it could not control the power, and in turn lost themselves to it. That is how the stories go anyway. There are only a couple of told dragon knights who did not completely succumb and become mad from it; warriors with the strength and will power to control the spirit of the dragon. When the head warriors of Perion discovered that some men had this power in them, they tried to make it evolve into something they could use as a tool of war. However, things got out of hand and the dragon knights became reckless and uncontrollable. When all of the head warriors' attempts failed, they turned to assassins to get the job done quickly, silently. Many people died during the mass assassination, but finally all of the dragon knights were brought down."
"How do you know this?" asks Sira in awe. "You're telling me now that it isn't only a legend. How do you know this?"
"My grand father," explains Zenith "was the former leader of Kerning as was my great grand father. They knew the history of kerning like none other. My sister and I heard many stories from them, including the one I just told. It had always been my favorite, because it showed that the powerful brutes of Perion had to come crying to the rogues for help."
"And you think…?" asks Sira.
"I've never seen anything like what happened to you in the woods," says Zenith. "You should be dead. It made me remember the story of the dragon knights - the power"
"I … don't know what to say," says Sira.
"Neither do I," says Zenith. "I didn't want you to mention anything, in case my assuming is correct."
"I didn't know about what you said," says Sira. "The things I've read only bits of the legend. Nothing about the assassinations."
"heh, of course they covered up their mistake," says Zenith. "And the assassins were sworn to secrecy. It is said to be only a legend now."
"So, you're saying that it's true," asks Sira? "You think I might have …I'm so weak. It couldn't be."
"You told about your father," says Zenith. "Legends say it is passed down through bloodlines."
"My father…" says Sira still not sure if she had acknowledged everything correctly.
"I don't know about you or your father," says Zenith. "But you're in the right place if you want to find out more about dragon knights."
Sira remembers seeing the name Sleepywood on one of her fathers' papers.
"Why," she asks? "There is something in sleepywood isn't there?"
"I spoke to Sabitrama, a wise man of this village," says Zenith. "He said that he didn't know much about the legend, but that these woods use to be protected by a dragon in the legends of ancient times. He also said he hadn't heard of anyone seeking information on the dragon knight in the passed ten years... since a male warrior came asking the way to the ant tunnel."
"A warrior?" asks Sira. Her thoughts go wild with facts from her past and her father. "He was looking for the Ant Tunnel; doesn't that lead to the mines?"
"He said the warrior was accompanied by a younger warrior boy," says Zenith.
"Could it be...?" asks Sira. "Ten years ago...my father..."
It had to have been her father and the boy, her brother? Ten years ago was the year everything involving "the power" had happened, it was the year her father had died; the year her brother went away and never returned.
"I have a pack with enough supplies if you're ready," says Zenith. "The ant tunnel waits."
