The Dragon King

Chapter 9

Heir Baronet Roland Castian of Emberhelm, Vrinian

EMBERHELM, VRINIAN

The attack only seemed to last minutes to Roland as the bells resounded through the castle. By the time he made it to the castle wall, the soldiers atop it were celebrating. "It's gone! The dragon is gone!"

He pulls up short and looks up. "What do you mean the dragon is gone?" Perhaps, Roland wonders, they are mistaken, and he could come back at any second.

"He was in the field. He was lured to the field." It is a girl's voice, and Roland recognizes her as a squire Zircon had been training to become a knight. He thinks it is a ridiculous idea; a girl becoming a knight. The girl doesn't look down at Roland but instead keeps an eye out across the city. She is the only one atop the wall not celebrating.

After a moment, the girl looks down at Roland, but there is something in the look she gives that seems to say more than words, something she didn't want anyone else to know. Roland remembers her words, playing over and over in his mind. "Who?" He questions and watches as she looks back across the city to the fields beyond. He had asked the right question. "Who lured the creature out of the city?"

The girl turns back to look at him with fear. She shakes her head slightly as if to say that she doesn't have any choice. "The only ones who could." Roland freezes for a moment. The only ones who could? The only ones skilled enough, motivated enough...dumb enough. "Zircon and Marnie." She reveals.

"So the dragon is dead then?" Roland questions while hoping that she will say that the creature is no longer among the living. He knows there is no way that dragon would leave them alive again. It was them or the creature this time. There is a chance Marnie can still be alive.

The girl shakes her head, and Roland's blood starts to run cold. "No, I mean he is gone." Her voice breaks a little, realizing everything at that moment, just as Roland is. "It was out there, and then it was gone...it flew away."

The creature isn't dead after all. Why would it just leave? Why leave so soon after attacking? Could it be that his surprise attack had been foiled by the bell? But who could have given the order that quickly? Who would have known it was coming? Many questions fill Roland's head, and he is running for the fields the next thing he knows. He passes villagers returning from the caves. "Wait!" A voice calls out behind him. He knows it is the girl that was on top of the wall. Why can't he remember her name?

"Don't try to stop me, girl." He grumbles, refusing to stop running.

She catches up to him quickly as they weave through the crowd and reach the edge of the city. "I'm not. I'm coming with you." She replies while unfazed by his tone. She is feisty and stubborn, a bold move for a soldier who speaks to a future baron. There is something about her, though, Roland feels. Just who is she to Zircon? Why does she care?

Minutes later, they are outside the city and into the chaos of people trying to put out the wildfire of a field. "Where would they lure the dragon? Why out here?" He questions while a little winded from such a run.

The girl, however, stands tall and hardly out of breath. She is used to running. "They came to this field. I saw it. They must have picked it to keep it out of the city." They scan their surroundings. "When the dragon took flight, they were closer to the rocks." She says suddenly, pointing to the boulders just before the ground beneath went nearly straight up to the mountain peaks. They started to run again but falter as a figure broke through the smoke, stumbling and limping but still managing to walk.

"Zircon!" The girl calls as the figure grows closer. Roland knows it is his best friend, but there is something off that he can't place. She runs to him through a part of the field smoldering in ash. The girl hesitates when she comes close to him, seeing the blank look on his face. She falters and tries to reach out to touch him, but he doesn't even see her. Zircon keeps walking, lost in a daze.