Fell Dragon
Greetings Readers!
I am so glad this week is coming to a draw. Another book finished, but sadly, I had to go over wordcount, so I didn't get the break I needed before starting te next one. Oh well, hopefully, get a small break soon!
Anyway, we only have a few more weeks on Fell Dragon 2 before it too comes to an end. While Fell Dragon 3 is mostly written, I just haven't had the time to concentrate on it with all the projects I have at the moment. With that said, please enjoy the next chapter!
Saita found that she had grown a tail over several months that the Saith had come to their aid. At first, she thought that it was because Bolx was simply lost and trying to learn the outlay of their underground home but after a few months she realised that it was more complicated than that. Her mind often travelled back to what Barik had said and it made her uncomfortable. There was no time to even be considering this. She was still a Princess and would likely be married off for the crown's purposes, she had accepted this years ago. However, with the humans being at war with the Saith, she hardly thought it was proper on either her part or his.
She took to ignoring him but that didn’t stop him from appearing at the corner of her eye. He always looked like he had something important to tell her but seemed to chicken out at the last moment and wander off. Several times she had seen other Saith gathering to discuss this behaviour while looking at her. Clearly, they had something to discuss with her but would not make a move until Bolx allowed it.
The hospital was nearly completed now and soon it would be functioning as what it was meant to. Then they would have to start their movement towards the main home world to ensure the safety of those who were held captive. Saita would be needed then. She was to keep her father occupied while the castle was searched for those that were missing. She needed to concentrate, and the Saith were a great distraction.
“Okay! What?” She roared one day while she was training with Gaylum. “I cannot stand the distraction anymore. What do you want?”
Her outburst must have shocked the Saith who had gathered because there were no more whispers from any of them.
“I am trying to prepare for something I have to do even though I don’t want to.” She continued at a high volume. “So, if you have something important to say now is the time to do it.”
The group looked to Bolx who really looked like he wanted the ground to open and swallow him whole.
“Well?”
Bolx stood forward and sighed before saying. “There is something I do need to talk to you about.”
“Can it wait an hour?” She demanded.
“I... guess so.” He seemed a little confused.
“Then meet me in my room and stop bothering me now.” She begged as she turned back to Gaylum. “Can we go over that last part again, please?”
The Saith steadily filed out of the training room before a light-haired one put a hand on Bolx’s shoulder and whispered. “Say only what you must.”
“I don’t intend to scar her more than what she already is.” He answered back before leaving himself.
Once the Saith were gone Saita could finally continue with her training. She and Gaylum worked together for about an hour before he called it quits saying. “I know you are worried about what is expected of you in terms of your father, Saita. You won’t know what it is that you need to do until you face him. Act, don’t think, we are tired of war and this one is going on too long.”
“I have been back for almost a year. Aidan has turned four and is yet to meet his grandfather. I... I am worried that I cannot do what people expect of me.”
“You will do what you have always done, girl. Survive. Whatever happens, know that your choice is one I will support.”
“Yeah, but how many others will feel the same?” She sighed. “Let me go see what Bolx has to say for himself.”
“Remember, protection.” Laughed Gaylum.
The old man danced away from Saita before she could swipe at him. “Stop it!”
“Go on, or you will be late for your meeting.” He chuckled.
Snorting with disgust the young woman made her way back to her room. She would have preferred to have had a shower first, but she was tired of having the Saith tiptoeing around her while she was trying to concentrate. When she arrived at her room, she found it to be empty and took the opportunity to remove the sweat-soaked hoodie in order to cool down.
“The marks have extended past your elbows. You never liked when the marks extended that far. Made it difficult to hide.” Came a voice behind her.
She nearly jumped out of her skin and turned to face the Saith which nearly filled the entrance to her room.
“It is not nice to peek as a woman is changing.” She snapped.
“Then you shouldn’t have left your door open.”
“Urgh, fine, close the door and sit.” She threw the hoodie in the laundry bin before deftly leaping up on her bed. “What do you want to talk about?”
Bolx closed the door and came to sit before her. “Do the marks itch?”
“As long as I don’t sleep and don’t eat the marks don’t extend and don’t burn or itch.” Then she paused, realising that he had referred to them as marks and not tattoos. “How do you know about them?”
“My mother has many tattoos, so I was curious.”
“But you didn’t say tattoos, you said marks. I am the only one that calls them that. I asked you to stop reading my mind.”
“Truth Seekers do not actively read minds, Saita. If you do not want your mind read, you simply think it and we need to work a whole lot harder to get information. I am not reading your mind.”
“Then how do you know about the marks?”
Bolx looked a little uncomfortable before saying. “What do you know about the theory of time travel?”
“Linear or multiverse?” She asked sarcastically. “I lived it. Why ask?”
“Forwards or backwards?”
“Why does that even matter? I asked you a question now answer me.”
“I know what they are called because you were the one to tell me.” He admitted.
“I wouldn’t tell you about my darkest secret. Not even my son knows about these.” She touched a tendril that snaked its way down her arm. “Try again.”
Bolx interlaced his fingers and put them to the back of his head. “You told me a long time ago.”
“Oh, here we go.” Saita collapsed back into her bed with a moan. “Something else I forgot about from those four years.”
“No, not quite. Let me try to explain a little better.”
There came a hurried knock at her door and Saita simply shouted. “It’s open!”
Kiai rushed in with a look of panic on her face and said. “Your father has arrested your mother.”
“What?! Why?” Saita jumped from her bed.
“I don’t know but we will need to make our move now if we are going to save your mother from who knows what your father will do to her.”
“How quick can you get me to my mother?” Saita asked Kiai.
“Why not teleport?” asked Bolx.
“That is not a human ability to my knowledge,” said Saita as she looked to Bolx with interest.
“It isn’t a Saith one either, but it can be learned,” he said with a grin. “Need a hand?”
“No.” Saita shook her head. “This is my father, my problem.”
“And I am a Saith that he is warring with. The enemy of my enemy is…”
“Still an enemy because you have done nothing to prove to me I can trust you.” snapped Saita.
“I can teach you, but it is not easy. I do this rarely as it drains my energy to the point of exhaustion but you with your marks should be able to handle it without any problems.” Bolx got up and looked down at Saita. “You need my help, and I am willing to give it to you.”
“This is my family,” said Saita through gritted teeth.
“And mine.”
“Can I trust you?” she asked.
“I could ask the same.”
Saita swore under her breath and then turned to Kiai. “If anything, anything happens that you and my mother have not foreseen you take my son and you run. As far and as fast as possible. Understand? I have to choose a side today and I don’t know which one I will end up on. Swear to me that my son will never land up in Edzeeker’s hands ever again.”
“Saita I…”
“Swear it!”
“He will be a son to my own,” she said then looked to Bolx with a look of desperation. “Can we send more people with this technique?”
“One person per technique, it is taxing.”
“Find out where my mother is going and I will do my best to get this technique,” said Saita. “That is your only job for now.”
Kiai left the room in a hurry. Bolx then made Saita look at him.
“This form of teleportation works on the premise that you know where you are going.” started Bolx. “Have you ever been to the main human homeworld?”
“No.”
“Okay, there is another way to do it but it is considerably harder.” Bolx flinched. “How close are you to your mother?”
“That is a stupid question! She is my mother.”
“I know but I also know that there isn’t a blood link, so I ask again. How close are you to your mother at this moment?”
“The relationship is somewhat strained.”
“And it would likely be the same for your father. Damn it. Anyone else you can think of?”
“Doran,” she said softly.
“Captain Doran? He’s still around? What is your relationship like?”
“He is and will always be my saviour,” she whispered.
“Can you picture him clearly in your mind’s eye?”
“Like the day that I met him.”
“Good. Where do you think he would be at this moment?”
“Likely close to my father.”
“Are you prepared to take your father on if that is the case?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“What about Doran? Can you face him?”
Saita lowered her eyes and said quietly. “I don’t know. I owe him so much.”
“You need to put all your emotion away from this to be successful because I can only guide you once and you will have to be on your own for the rest of the journey. Are you ready?”
“I need to save my mother. I don’t know what my father is capable of right now.”
“Then watch and keep picturing the captain.”
“Aren’t you going to…?”
Bolx touched her shoulders and whispered. “There is no time to instruct. I am sending you myself. It may hurt but pray you to keep consciousness and don’t materialize within a wall.”
He was right about the pain. It felt like millions of needles simultaneously sunk into her skin and she was momentarily blinded by the pain. Then there was coldness and the only thing she could focus her mind on was Doran. She needed to get to Doran and arrive there in one piece. She dared not breathe until she felt heat again. Then her feet slammed into the ground and the air exploded from her lungs.
“What the…”
Doran’s voice broke her from her surprise, and she turned to him. He had been sitting in a room staring out of the window but now he was on his feet, and the chair he had been occupying was now lying discarded behind him.
“Saita? But how? Why?” the man looked around furiously but saw no way that she could have just appeared before him.
“Where is Mother?”
“Saita, she has been arrested for high treason. She has been communicating with the enemy, your father is well within his right to arrest and detain her.”
“High treason doesn’t carry the penalty of detainment.” she half yelled. “It is punishable with death!”
“If you do not go back to where you came from Saita the same fate will await you and your son. Don’t get involved.”
“Are you just going to sit there and take orders from a mad king? Can’t you see that he is drunk on power? His anger has clouded his judgement. He is going to kill his wife!”
“This wouldn’t have happened if you had just let me help you with Edzeeker!” snapped Doran out of pure frustration.
He realized from the look on Saita’s face that he had gone a step too far.
“I didn’t want anyone else to die,” she said softly.
“And now there is a war! That was sparked because you were incapable of listening. Unable to formulate a plan.” Doran pushed forward, trying to make her see that she needed to flee.
“So then, I am the one who is at fault for all the lives that have been lost at this point?”
“That’s not what I’m saying!”
“It is what you are implying!”
“Saita, please, you are like a daughter to me! Don’t go against your king. Go back to Kiai and make a better plan than just throwing your life away.”
“Are you going to stand in my way?” she asked as she looked him in the eye.
“Saita, please, don’t make me do this.”
“Then step aside and let me do what I must. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I am loyal to my King.” Doran coated his arms in flames before he launched himself at Saita.
She wrapped him in a force field, and he hit it with a shock. He tried to burn through the bubble but found himself unable to do just that.
“Go slow on the flames or you will end up suffocating yourself,” she said as she touched the clear surface.
“God damn it!” Doran slammed his hands against the force field in frustration. “Don’t do this!”
“Can’t hear you,” said Saita as she pointed to her mouth. “I can read lips though. Where is Pura?”
“Please!” he begged again.
“You said that you would always be there for me. That you would be someone I could rely on. Help me restore the balance.” she begged as she placed two hands on the forcefield. “Help me put the rightful King on the throne.”
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“I love you too much to help you kill yourself.” Doran slammed his hands on the force field and held them up to where hers were. “I won’t help you.”
“Then I will need to deal with my father alone.”
“And then what?” Doran looked up at her. “You beat the mad King, but you have no backup, no friends. Those loyal to the King surround him. There is no one here who will aid you.”
“Brute force is something the Kings of old used to take over other kingdoms. If it is what I must use to save him then I will challenge him.”
“Then be prepared to fight to the death because he will not vacate his throne for anyone.” Doran sank to his knees. “Either you or he will die today.”
“In that case then Doran, goodbye.” she looked him in the eye one last time. “The force field will lower once what is done is done.”
“Please, I am begging you one last time…”
She turned from him and made her way to the man’s closet. She rummaged around in it to find some kind of non-distinguishing hooded jacket so that she could travel unharassed through this castle. She had never been here before, but she had been shown the plans when she was younger. She didn’t remember much but she knew that the throne room was in the centre of the castle. She heard Doran pounding on the force field behind her in hopes of getting her attention, but she was no longer able to talk to him. What courage she had built up in anticipation of this fight had drained from her. Terror filled her.
Once she found what she needed she pulled the clothes over her head and gave an over-shoulder wave to the soldier behind her before exiting the room. With the hood obscuring her face she shivered. What was she doing? She hadn’t thought of backup. She had only thought of saving her mother and now she was surrounded by an enemy which was her own people. Taking a deep breath, she looked up and down the corridor and decided to move off to the left. It didn’t take long for her to get hopelessly lost.
Panic was setting in now. She wasn’t a warrior; at best she was a fighter and now she was taking on the King of all the humans. She was committing high treason. If she lost this fight her father was going to kill her. She was not willing to bend a knee to him. She couldn’t. There were too many innocents which were suffering because of what she had done. Doran had been right. This all could have been avoided if she had just listened to him and made a plan to survive Edzeeker.
No! She couldn’t take all the blame. Her father was not stupid. He could have handled this situation better. Making war was not the first reaction one had to lose a child. Saita shook her head and ducked into another corridor before finding two soldiers coming towards her.
Oh by Saita, what did you get yourself into now? Will she fight or run?
For those of you just joining us, please note that this is the follow on book from Fell Dragon. Follow this link to read it
Fell Dragon Book 1
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 25>>You are Here>>Part 27