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Greetings all. I hope you had a fantastic weekend and the start of the week wasn't too hectic for any of you. This week has started fairly slowly. Working had on the new survivor book, but still looking for a backup project for afterwards. Sometimes its tough to convince clients you are the perfect writer to work on their future books.
Anyway, enough about the weekly update, here is the next chapter for Fell Dragon. Enjoy!
Saita had not been sure of the bulky blonde boy with the ice-blue eyes that had joined six months earlier. She had been introduced to him back then, and he had greeted her coolly, and it had just gone downhill from there. He was rude at the best of times, and at his worse he was downright mean. He wouldn’t dare openly mock the other royal children but as soon as any of the adults that were in charge of their education were far enough his torment would start. Aleux had laughed it off saying. “Oh please, I was a Prince in boarding school, you can’t touch my feelings, Cousin.”
Saita was a different matter. Words meant everything to her, and she clung to them for safety, security, and knowledge, and when they were turned on her, she didn’t know what to do. Seeing the moment of hesitation in the girl was enough for the boy to latch on and vent all his frustration on her. Unwanted, Throw-away-child, One-eye, were but a few nasties he had in his repertoire that were aimed at her. Saita was being bullied for no other reason than she was there. Unable to talk to anyone about her feelings as her brother just told her to ignore it, her mother was too busy with the war effort to listen, and Doran just issued orders, she turned inward. Not listening or complying with anything in fear of more hurtful words being aimed at her.
Their home was vast, and the grounds surrounding it were even more vast. She hid, preferring solitude over the constant berating she was forced to endure. Her hiding place did not remain hidden for long as Astec began to actively seek her out.
“Oi! One-eye! Come out and show me your pathetic excuse of power again.”
Saita cringed and hid in the foliage of a tall tree. She was so sure she had lost him earlier. His berating had caused her to flee from training earlier that day. She just wanted to be left alone, and he would not allow it.
“Thank you very much for running away.” He continued to mock. “After you decked Doran and fled, he pretty much ended training for the day, and now I can do what I want. I want a chance to square off against you. Come on! Face me.”
She remained quiet, not daring to breathe, she sensed him close by and was too scared to move.
“My father was wrong about you! You are not strong, you are weak! A coward!”
She squeezed her eyes closed and wished him away.
“And that is quite enough from you.”
Saita opened her eyes when she realised that it was Myla’s voice she heard.
“Oh, what do you care, it’s not like she is your real daughter. My father said you adopted her for the throne.”
“I said enough,” Myla said again. “Your father would die of embarrassment if he could see you now. Bullying a child, not just any child but a little girl, what’s wrong with you?”
“Bah, low royalty should just stay low, like insects.”
A fire started in Saita’s belly, and she gritted her teeth.
“Is that so? Well then, in that case perhaps you should ask your uncle who is truly meant to be on the throne.”
“If Karesh had not been the coward that he was, he would not have lost to the lizards or had his son killed.”
The fire ate through the fear in her belly, and she dared to look down. Astec had his hands balled below her, and he was facing off against Myla, who looked understandable upset.
“There is no reason to get nasty, young man.”
“And you, let’s not even get into the state of your royal affairs.” He started to advance on the Queen.
The fire devoured the fear then. The urge to protect her chosen mother outweighed the terror she felt for Astec. She pounced on him, driving him down into the forest floor beneath her. Air escaped his lungs, and he found he very much could not draw breath. Lacking the abilities of the rest of his family he had not sensed the girl in the tree at all. He desperately tried to turn over, but the girl he had always thought as slight easily shifted her weight and clamped down on his arms at the elbows.
“What do you say now, you belligerent bastard?” She whispered in his ear.
Astec had never heard her speak that way before. He had always suspected that she had some kind of developmental problem with the way she was handled by the people around her and the way she carefully chose her words. This...this was something entirely different.
“Saita stop!” Myla shouted, there was panic in her voice.
He felt Saita shift her weight, and he tried to move again, but this time she slammed her full weight down hard, aiming at the points where his upper arms met his elbows. With his arms that close to his ears the crack that resounded was deafening. It was closely followed by the ringing in his ears from his own screams. She had effortlessly broken both his arms.
Once the screaming had started it had startled Saita so badly, that she had fallen over backwards from Astec’s back. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, just scare him, make him stop. Now he lay face down amongst the rotting leaves screaming, unable to move with his broken arms. Myla knelt next to the boy and gently pulled him to his knees before turning him and gripping his one arm. Clean breaks, she would be able to set this with ease if he would just stop moving.
“Sit still.” She ordered as she brought the two broken pieces together to lightly knit them. “It is only a broken arm, nothing serious was injured here.”
Astec; however, was not done.
“What the hell are you!?” He screamed at Saita. “What thing birthed a monster like you!”
“Monster?” Saita had no idea what the word meant but it had been spat at her with such venom she knew that it could not have been something nice.
“You! A creature that is hideous and disgusting and...and…” Tears of pain poured down his face.
Deeply wounded now, Saita scrambled to her feet and ran.
“Saita!” Myla called after her, but the girl was no longer listening.
Sighing, she knitted the other arm and pulled Astec to his feet by his collar. “Can you walk, or are you in too much shock?”
He answered by vomiting.
Monster. The word echoed in Saita’s head as she sought it in her dictionary. Once she found it, she was horrified. She had flung the book from her before burying her head in her pillow and crying. Was that what everyone thought when they saw her? When they saw her abilities? She was so preoccupied with her own hurt feelings she didn’t even hear someone come into her room. She stopped crying as soon as a hand was placed on the middle of her back.
“Why didn’t you say you were being bullied?” Came Myla’s soft voice.
Not wanting to share her hurt Saita, just buried her head deeper into her pillow and refused to speak.
“Astec won’t be returning to training for a while, not until his arms are fully healed.” Myla continued as she gently rubbed Saita’s back. “You can have some private lessons with Gaylum and Doran again.”
Saita shook her head and hugged her pillow tightly.
Myla then saw the dictionary lying on the floor and realised what had made the girl so upset.
“Saita, people use words to hurt others when they cannot battle them with wits or strength. It is something humans are sadly very good at doing.”
“Am I?” Asked Saita from the depths of the pillow.
“Are you what?”
“A monster?”
Myla’s heart broke, but she said. “No, sweetie, though your actions were likely not the nicest of things you could have done.”
“I was just trying to...look out for you.” Saita sat up. “He was going to hurt you.”
“Sweetie, I am not without my own powers that I cannot defend myself.” She laughed.
Saita covered her scarred eye for the first time since the injury had happened. “This makes me a monster, something bad, something to be feared.”
Myla, though absolutely hating the scar, took her daughter’s hand away and traced it slowly. From above her eyebrow to the tiny notch in her lower lip. It was angled slightly from right to left, but it had healed well enough to only appear as a thin red line and not the mess it had been when Myla had seen it the first time.
“This is not what makes a monster,” she said softly. “It is what is in your heart that determines whether you are one or not.”
“Then why did Astec call me that? I did nothing to him.”
“You snapped both his arms.” She reminded her daughter.
“Before that! I did nothing to deserve his hate.”
“Try to see this from his perspective. He lost his mother at a young age; his family is fighting a war, and he has been sent into hiding. He is scared, Saita.”
“Then why does he take it out on me?”
“Why did you break his arms?”
Shame filled Saita as she said. “Because I wanted him to feel the pain that he made me feel.”
“That is not the way to do it. Stand up to a bully yes, but stooping to their level is something I cannot condone.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“A little, yes.”
Saita rubbed at a running nose and sighed. “I’ll go apologise.”
“You, my dear will do more than just that. You will be keeping him company while he heals. If you are not at your lessons, you will be sitting with him.”
“And doing what!” Saita exclaimed loudly. “All he is going to do is belittle me and hurt my feelings.”
“Saita, the world is full of people who will use words to hurt you, especially because of what you are. One day people will find out that you are…”
“A monster?”
“A biological construct, you are not a monster, you are human, and I need you to act like one. Astec is concerned for his family. Reach out to him, make him a friend and if that doesn’t happen then use him to grow some thicker skin.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will be a queen one day Saita.” Myla hugged her daughter tightly. “You need to be able to handle emotional situations like this with more poise and dignity.”
“And fewer fists?”
“Don’t become too much like your father.” Laughed Myla. “Use your words first, then fists.”
When Astec had heard about the punishment that Myla had subjected Saita to he was only too thrilled. More of an opportunity to terrify the girl that had injured him. It had bruised his pride considerably, and he prayed his father never found out. Yet, when Saita had sat down in his room, she had not faced him at all but rather looked outside towards the forest and was softly humming to herself, ignoring him flat.
He had tried multiple times to get her to react to his teasing, but it generally ended with her gritty her teeth and staring more into the forest. Eventually, even he fell silent and ignored her. They sat in silence for days before Saita softly cleared her throat and said. “Sorry.”
At first, he wasn’t sure of what he heard, and he sat up to look at her. He was aware that she was glancing at him from the corner of her left eye, but she would not look him in the eye.
“Excuse me?” he asked.
She sighed and turned her chair to face him. “I said I am sorry.”
More silence, more confusion that left Astec rubbing his still swollen and red arms. “For what?”
“For breaking your arms.” She mumbled, looking to the floor.
“Oh...that, yes, don’t mention it.” He grumbled. “If you hadn’t caught me unaware…”
“If you hadn’t threatened my mother…!” Saita started loudly.
“She isn’t even your real mother!” He yelled back at her.
Stunned, Saita sat back and had a sad smile on her face before she said. “I know that. That doesn’t mean I can’t feel for her as I would my genetic mother.”
Astec felt the anger building from the embarrassment he suddenly felt. He quelled it. He had seen how his father’s rage could erupt at any minute, and he didn’t want himself known for the same trait.
“Yeah, I guess. Apology accepted, you can go now.” He crossed his arms and frowned. “Can’t believe it took you this long to actually apologise.”
“I apologised because it is the right thing to do. I sit here because it is my punishment. I need to learn to take harsh words and grow a thicker skin, said Myla.”
“Ha! Then stop having such a thick head. Go away.” He muttered, as he pulled his blanket over his head and lay down in bed. “I want to sleep.”
“Good, then I can continue to watch birds that are a much better company than a boar.”
“Now you look here,” Astec threw the blankets aside before storming from the bed.
Saita looked him up and down and grinned a little. “You don’t scare me anymore. Words only hurt feelings. Feelings can be pushed down, buried deep and never seen again. However, broken bones take much longer to mend, wish to go another round?”
Astec grit his teeth, she was using the same way to speak now as she had whispered in his ear before snapping his arms cleanly.
“You really are a monster.” he grinned nastily.
She grinned lopsidedly and stood up, then she proceeded to walk close to him. “You use words because you have nothing else to compete with me, little boy.”
She made sure to stand so close that their noses were practically touching. “Little dogs always bark more because they have no bite.”
She bared her teeth at him in a snarl. Though the scar barely impacted her smile it was not the same for the snarl that now shone on her face. She looked menacing. For a moment Astec was willing to back down. Whatever this was it was not the girl he had been bullying up to this point. It was like he was facing down a predator that would tear his throat out if he even gave an inch. As terrifying as it was, it was also somewhat arousing, and that embarrassed him even more.
Saita snorted through her nose and said. “You’re brave, I’ll give you that.”
The snarl changed to a smile, and she said. “For the sake of appearances to the adults let’s just be civil until this war is over or when we die, whatever happens first.”
“Ah...sure…” he stammered.
“Good boy, so let’s just make nice while the circumstances allow us to.” She then went to go sit down. “Do your arms still hurt?”
Astec’s mouth hung open, it was as if the girl’s personality changed between the two sentences. He was not sure if she was pranking him or not, but he had pretty much enough of this and just pretty much wanted to rest.
“No, not really, they are just swollen and tender to the touch but not really painful anymore,” he said down and sat on the bed. “Ah...Saita, did you…?”
“Oh...when my words change?” She blushed heavily and looked out the window to hide her embarrassment. “Sometimes I get words, in my head, and I use them. Jarah and Myla think it is due to trauma when I was younger. I have a lot of anger when those words come. You were on the receiving end of that. I’m sorry. It is difficult to control, but I am getting better.”
They sat in silence for a while before she said once more. “I really am sorry.”
“Yeah, okay. I think I have had enough company for today.” He lay down on his bed and frowned. “Could you leave me be, just for today? You can come back tomorrow if you want.”
“Okay, I’ll do that.” she hopped to her feet. “It is almost time to train with Doran anyway. Rest well.”
It wasn’t until well after Saita left that Astec could finally let his guard down enough to close his eyes.
“Okay, Dad was right.” he shuddered. “A strong woman, right up my alley.”
Don't go shipping these two together just yet. Their future is muddy, and soon chaos is going to descend on the Earthling planet. I hope you all enjoyed today's read. We should be roughly two thirds through the book, and when it ends I'll be taking a break from Fell Dragon to work on the last book before I share the second.
I love hearing back from fans, so don't be afraid to drop me a message or a follow. I will also update the reader's list if you want a reminder of the story. See you all on Friday!
Reader's List
If you have missed any of the parts, you can find them here:
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| Part 1| Part 2|
| Part 3| Part 4|
| Part 5| Part 6|
| Part 7| Part 8|
| Part 9| Part 10|
|Part 11||Part 12|
|Part 13|Part 14|
|Part 15|Part 16 – You are Here|
|Part 17 - Updated Friday|
