Battle of Lies

Chapter VII

Rodalya ran.

She had been on her own for less than two hours and she was already being chased.

At least it's not the army, she thought.

Three boys carrying spears were chasing her. She hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe in Silus' village it wasn't allowed to disrespect the men and boys. The leader of the three boys had flirted with her and she slapped him straight across the face.

Now she was running for her life.

Everything froze. Rodalya felt a growing anger inside her rising. She dropped to the ground and the boys caught up to her.

"Not so tough now, huh?" the leader taunted.

Rodalya pushed with all her might to stand up but something was weighing her down. She could barely get into a crawling position.

"Come on, let's see you give a little more fight. Oh, come on, missy, aren't you so brave to stand up to us?"

Rodalya looked up; fire in her eyes. The boys backed away. They were terrified. Rodalya felt her strength return. She stood up, careful to not disturb any of the buildings around her. Rodalya's hair billowed in the wind; power coursing through her veins.

Time froze once more. Rodalya woke up. She appeared to be in a cloudy space. Water was underneath her feet but she wasn't sinking. Pictures floated ahead of her. There were the three bullies and there was the alley she had been standing in.

"What is this place?" she wondered aloud.

All of a sudden two draconic eyes appeared in front of her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I have no name," it replied.

"What are you?"

"Oh, human. You can't even recognize your own eyes when you see them in the mirror."

Rodalya processed that for a minute.

"But I'm not seventeen yet."

"You are dumb, aren't you? I have always been here in this place, waiting for you to finally find me. You haven't needed me. Those dragons got it wrong. A half-dragon's dragon does take over at the age of seventeen, but that's only if the half-dragon hadn't needed the dragon before that. You need me now, but I can only protect us if you give me a name."

Rodalya thought for a moment. "Ielio!"

"Very well." The dragon took over. Rodalya stayed in the place where she had first met her dragon.

The dragon scared the boys off. The dragon returned to Rodalya and spoke.

"You may not believe it but you are the most powerful human with a dragon. You can tell when to give you back control. All you have to do is focus on gaining control over your body again."

Rodalya did as her dragon instructed and in a few seconds she wasn't in that place where she had met her dragon; she was standing in her body with full control.

"Ielio, are you still there?"

Yes, I am still here, you ignorant child. You will learn. For now, I will be here ready to protect us whenever you get us into danger, the dragon whispered back in Rodalya's mind.

"I have one rule."

Go on...

"No harming my friend."

Very well, but how will I know who your friend is?

"Now who's the ignorant one?"

Rodalya walked out of the alley and ignored the dragon that was mad at her for not answering its question.

Silus woke up hearing the screams of three idiotic boys.
He got out of his cozy bed and went downstairs to get some dinner. He normally took naps throughout the day and this was his afternoon nap.

"Mom! Dad! I'm going out!" he called.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't come back!" his dad called.

Silus' father always said that and this time he was seriously thinking about not returning.

Silus walked out of the cottage with some food and clothes.

Once Silus felt a tinge of cold that was behind the breath of the start of autumn he ran and surprisingly he ran into Luke Trueman, the village idiot and bully.

"Dragon in the alley by the tavern," Luke rambled quickly.

Silus looked in that direction and took off running, hoping that Luke hadn't told the entire village, but of course he did. Many villagers were gathered around the alley and Silus had to push them and squeeze through the tiny gaps in between people and when he saw what they were all staring at he was surprised because it wasn't Rodalya nor a dragon, but a crown.

Silus looked around. He saw, out of the corner of his eyes, her. He pushed through the crowd once more and ran over to Rodalya.

"That crown? Is it yours?"

"I don't own a crown."

"Whatever you say."

"Those bullies, who are they?"

"That would be Luke. He is the son of the town tax collector. And his cronies of course. Those boys bully anyone who's different. You are clearly the exception. They won't be bothering you anymore," Silus said, looking off into the distance, "Come on, let's get you a room at the inn."

"I can only stay one night. The army is after me."

"But you must stay. At least two nights. Please."

"Fine, I will stay here two nights before I move on."

"Thank you. I mean you can't live in exile your entire life. Two days. We can do several things in that amount of time."

"Really it's only one day. I leave as soon as I wake up after the second night."

"Alright then. Come on."

Silus led Rodalya to an inn down the street. He paid for a room for her and helped her get settled.

"Good evening," he said, walking out the door.

Rodalya sat on the bed.

Why are you being so quiet? she asked the dragon through thought.

I have nothing to talk about.

Please be louder. My mind is never this quiet. Never this peaceful.

Well when you unlock your dragon your mind rests because it knows you are safe.

I don't like feeling safe, it feels weird.

There is nothing about being safe that is weird, but this world tries to keep us on our toes that most of the time we forget what it's like to be safe. You will get used to it.

Rodalya stopped thinking to the dragon. Her mind went quiet this time, a keep moving kind of peaceful.