"Is it far yet?" asked Wolfram for probably the tenth time. Up to the halfway point, he was very excited and climbing vigorously along the narrow path, but then he apparently began to get tired and started whining. Now Yuuri felt like he was hiking with a five-year-old, not a fairy prince.
"We're not far now. Hold on a little longer," he replied mechanically, stopping for a moment so Wolfram could catch up with him.
The leaves rustled gently in the wind, warm and crisp. Everywhere was lusciously green, without any colorful and glowing magical plants. The animals were also ordinary if you didn't count the dragons that lived here.
Yuuri took a deep breath and let the air out slowly, then started walking further along the rocky path. The atmosphere was pleasant enough that he could put up with Wolfram's whining.
Eventually, they reached a large rock, where he remembered a cave nearby. But before moving to it, he thought ordering a short break would be a good idea.
Wolfram immediately sank to the ground and drank water greedily.
"Can't we really just fly? Even low to the ground?" he asked, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
"You could use some exercise."
"That's what I have wings for, so I don't have to walk."
"Which you can't always use, like now, for example."
Wolfram looked at him displeased and took another sip of water, then stood up, dusting himself off thoroughly.
"So? Shall we go on?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. It seemed that his comment had some effect after all.
"Now we're going this way. In a little while, we should already see the entrance to the cave."
"You're kidding me." Wolfram stepped back, away from the tall bushes growing outside the path.
"The route we've taken so far is already old and hardly used. Dragons don't need paths, so in order to reach them, we have to break through the forest."
"There's no way I'm going to force my way through such thickets." Wolfram extended his hand in front of him, and after a moment, a tiny flame appeared in it.
Yuuri quickly stood between him and the piece of the forest he was aiming at, waving his hands in panic.
"Wait. Wait! You'll burn the whole forest!"
"Don't worry, I can control my fire perfectly." Wolfram smiled and took a step to the side, wanting to evade him.
"I don't care how well you handle fire. No setting fire to the forest!"
Wolfram glared at him for a few seconds but finally sighed and closed his hand, extinguishing the fire. He put his hands on his hips and looked at Yuuri from under his squinted eyelids.
"Satisfied? And what now? I have no intention of going that way."
"I'll go ahead and make a passageway, so your noble highness has nothing to worry about," he said sarcastically and turned on his heel, trudging through the bushes and bending them under his boots to form a passageway. This is how it ends when you take a spoiled brat who has never poked his nose out of the fairy forest. He should have expected it. But now there was nothing he could do, and he will have to endure until the end of this trip.
They finally reached the opening of the cave. It was large enough for two adult dragons to fit inside comfortably. With jagged edges and claw marks all around. There were no other marks that he could see, but he wasn't too familiar with such things either. When he was here last time, this cave was inhabited, but now it could be different. Dragons often change their lairs, especially if they see someone suspicious hanging around. And poachers can often be found on the border of these mountains.
They would have a better chance of seeing dragons deeper into their territory, but that could be as far as a few days away, and he had no intention of being that long with a complaining Wolfram.
So he hoped that someone was living in this cave because otherwise, the only thing left for them to do was to continue climbing and watching one of the valleys, hoping that some dragon would fly by nearby.
"Wait here. I'll see if anyone is inside and come back for you," he said to Wolfram, who nodded vigorously and crouched at the edge of the entrance, staring into the darkness of the cave. His excitement seemed to have returned.
He walked forward, keeping one hand on the cold cave wall. The tunnel quickly descended downward, and less and less light reached him. But before he had time to worry about walking in the dark, a small ray of light appeared next to him. He turned around, but Wolfram was not nearby. So he sighed and moved on, testing the ray, which was pleasantly warm. Touching it, he felt as if the rays of the summer sun were falling on his hand.
He didn't know much about day fairies' abilities, especially sun fairies. He only knew that they could somehow control the sun's rays, so it surprised him when Wolfram, just like that, summoned fire earlier. On the other hand, probably no one expects that night sky fairies can control water. He wondered if Wolfram knew that.
He reached the place from where he could see the entrance to the huge cavern and stopped, listening. He didn't want to just run into a dragon and end up fried. Even if these ones are friendly towards fairies, they can still be aggressive if someone surprises them.
He heard nothing but the steady dripping of water. He slowly took a few steps forward and looked inside. He could barely pierce the darkness with his eyes, but he didn't see any large dragon-like shapes. It seemed that no one lived here.
That is, then, the valley. At least another hour of climbing awaits them. Even more, if Wolfram drags his feet.
Resigned, he returned to the entrance. At the sight of him, Wolfram got up on his feet and walked a few steps forward with childlike excitement on his face. It pained to tell him that there was nothing.
So he merely shook his head, and Wolfram's shoulders immediately slumped.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Completely empty."
Wolfram puffed out his lips in displeasure and stared into the cave depths for a while longer but did not go inside. Instead, he followed Yuuri, who had already started walking back toward the rock.
He didn't speak the rest of the way, and Yuuri had to turn around several times to see if he was following him. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if he got lost here.
He stopped near a cliff, and Wolfram looked at him expectantly.
"Now what?"
"You can see the whole valley from here, over which dragons often fly. So we'll just sit here and wait. Just don't fall off the cliff."
"You don't have to treat me like a child." Wolfram rolled his eyes and walked to the cliff, sitting down near the edge and resting his elbow on his knee. He put his chin on his hand and began to watch the valley.
Yuuri sat down next to him, feeling slightly uncomfortable. He also tried to observe the valley (to which the view was amazing), but his eyes fled to Wolfram every now and then. The prince seemed to look bored, but his gaze was alert, wandering carefully across the valley, from left to right and back again.
The place before them was fertile, full of all the bounty of the dense forest growing here and with crystal clear water flowing in the river. Despite this, humans have not settled here permanently. Dragons are very territorial and quick to drive out anyone who reigns on their lands.
Something glinted at the edge of his vision, and his eyes went sideways again. He again looked closely at the green irises that reminded him of the bottom of a lake and the sunlight dancing in them. Wolfram's golden hair looked as if it was made of sunlight, shining with each gentle gust of warm wind. Only his fair skin looked as if it had never had anything to do with the sun, but it still somehow matched the fairy of the day.
Wolfram looked at him, and Yuuri momentarily looked away, scolding himself for staring so intensely at the boy.
"Do you see it?" Wolfram pointed the finger at some point in the sky, the boredom completely disappeared from his face.
Yuuri turned in the indicated direction, at the same time feeling Wolfram leaning toward him, looking at him expectantly. This made him even more nervous.
"It seems to be a dragon," he said, noticing a certain shape in the sky approaching quickly in their direction. After all, there was little chance that it was anything else.
"Dragon!" Wolfram shouted unconsciously, springing to his feet. He quickly realized that he was acting too impulsively and tried to calm down but could not.
A real dragon was flying toward them. Maybe it would fly so close that he could get a closer look at it?
He took a step forward, but someone caught him by the shoulder. He looked questioningly at Yuuri, who was smiling the way Conrad sometimes smiled when he got a little too excited.
"Maybe we should back off just in case. Until we're sure exactly where it's going."
Wolfram raised an eyebrow but allowed himself to be pulled away from the cliff's edge, keeping his eyes on the approaching dragon. He could already see its entire silhouette. A mighty body covered in red scales with wide-spread wings hung motionless. The dragon drifted, dropping lower and closer to them.
When it was so close that one could see the details of its head perched on a thick neck, with four long horns and a mouth full of sharp fangs, the dragon turned suddenly, heading somewhere to the left of them, its red eyes not even looking in their direction.
"It's going to land somewhere nearby!" He turned to Yuuri, waiting to see what he would decide. He would have been most eager to run there right away, but Yuuri knew the area much better and was now in charge.
"I think we can go there. We might even be able to say hello to him."
Say hello! Thought Wolfram, stepping briskly down the cliff, barely restraining himself from running and maintaining a dignified posture despite everything. Still, he glanced at Yuuri every now and then, hurrying him along with his eyes.
He never even thought he would be able to talk to a dragon. Just seeing one would have been enough for him, but if he had the opportunity now, he must not waste it. Another one might never come his way again. Dragons are powerful and very wise beings about whom all fairies always express themselves with respect. The mere opportunity to be introduced to one of them is already an extraordinary event, which he will surely tell everyone around him.
They were descending the mountain faster than they ascended it, and Wolfram quickly searched with his eyes for the vast clearing where the dragon had landed. He was already about to run toward it, but Yuuri grabbed him by the collar and jerked him back hard, causing him to almost fall over, then dragged him toward some dense bushes and ordered him to crouch down and hide.
"What's that again?" he asked in exasperation.
"Shh." Yuuri put a finger to his lips and looked out from between the branches of the bushes.
Wolfram did likewise and began listening, wanting to discover what had triggered such a reaction in Yuuri.
He heard noises as if someone or something was making its way through the forest, not bothering to hide its presence. A mass of breaking branches, and then voices, mostly curses. He leaned closer toward Yuuri, wanting to look more carefully at the direction from which the voices were coming.
"Someone else went here too?" he whispered.
"Look's like. It's probably because of them that the dragon came here."
"'Why would he come for them?" he asked, feeling a stab of jealousy.
"To get rid of them. Dragons can sense when someone enters their territory. They don't pay much attention to fairies but are more cautious with humans and usually drive them out right away."
Wolfram sank to the ground and began to think. From the conversations he could clearly hear by now, it was clear that the approaching humans did not have good intentions. The dragon could probably handle them, but this was a good opportunity to prove himself and make a good impression on the dragon. And Yuuri, who apparently thinks he can't do anything on his own. It will show him that he is strong and that he can take care of himself.
So he made up his mind and stood up, shaking off Yuuri's hand, who tried to grab his arm.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to get rid of them." Wolfram stepped out from behind the bushes and started walking toward the men, preparing a plan in his mind.
"Get rid of them? They're poachers. You'd sooner get hurt than drive them away."
Wolfram looked at Yuuri the way his eldest brother looks at subordinates who upset him, then smiled with satisfaction as he took a step back.
"You have nothing to worry about. I can handle it."
The men were close by now, and he even saw one of them. He tore through the trees toward them, directing the sun's rays straight into their faces as soon as he saw them all before they even saw him.
They were scruffy. Shabby rags that had probably never been washed and hair that had never heard of a comb. Only the white bag carried by one of them was of much better quality. Probably stolen from someone.
Five. He would get rid of them before they knew what was going on.
He raised his hand, and the rays of light turned into beams of fire that flashed straight into the shoulders of the three men standing closest to him. These men roared in pain and quickly hit the burning spots with their hands, and one fell to the ground and began to roll.
The other two poachers had already managed to spot him, but through the bright sunlight still glaring at them from his direction, all they could see was a blurred silhouette. A man carrying a white bag reached into it and began rummaging around inside, trying to pull something out. However, he also got hit with a scorching ray before he could do so. The last poacher met a similar fate.
Amid screams of pain and the smell of burning flesh, Wolfram turned toward Yuuri and smiled contentedly, waiting for a response. However, he did not receive the one he expected.
"I think I told you something about setting fire to the forest." Yuuri sighed with resignation and approached the man with the white bag, snatching it from him. The poacher was too busy putting out the flames spreading more and more over his clothes, which could not be extinguished by normal means.
"Nothing that is a forest has caught fire," Wolfram said in his defense, placing his hands on his hips and biting his lip as he watched Yuuri summon bubbles of water and extinguish his flames.
The men became quiet and stopped moving. Only after a while did Wolfram notice that they had fallen asleep.
"You interfered unnecessarily." Yuuri turned back to him, looking through the contents of the white bag. "Since they were prepared for the dragon, they were even more prepared for the fairies." He took a fancy silver knife from inside and looked at it.
"And what could they do to me?"
"Cut off wings."
Stunned, Wolfram opened his mouth and closed it after a moment, not knowing what to answer. In the end, he merely mouthed a simple "What?"
Yuuri rolled his eyes, tucked the knife into the bag, and slung it over his shoulder.
Wolfram looked at the sleeping poachers, suddenly having the urge to do more than just burn them.
"You'd better stay away from such people and don't show your wings to anyone at all. A lot of powerful people would do a lot to get them."
"Why do they need them? After all, they can't attach them and start flying."
"But they are pretty."
"Excuse me?" Wolfram blushed slightly, hearing how direct the statement was.
"They are pretty. And unusual. A lot of people would like to hang something like that on their wall."
"And they are able to kill someone just to have a nice decoration?" A shudder went through him at the thought of this. The fairies' wings are connected to their bodies in such a way that cutting them out is not only very painful but ends in death. And there are people willing to bring such a painful death to someone just for decoration?
"Unfortunately, these people don't think of fairies as living beings." Yuuri shrugged his shoulders as if such a thing was normal. Wolfram, however, felt appalled and no longer held back from kicking one of the sleeping men.
"In that case, it would be better to get rid of them completely. I can turn them all into a pile of ash. At least there will be a few fewer such people."
"There's no point in descending to their level. Let's leave them now. Then I'll take care of them myself later."
Wolfram wanted to protest, seeing nothing wrong in descending to their level, but Yuuri grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along.
"You wanted to see the dragon, didn't you? So don't waste your time here."
At the reminder of the dragon, Wolfram almost immediately forgot about the poachers and allowed himself to be led toward the clearing where the aforementioned dragon landed.