Alistair and The Dragons

Chapter 24 - New Plans

Alistairs POV

"Xander I'm going to head over to Selahs." I called, rushing out of castle as quickly as possible. My efforts were for nothing when Xander was already standing outside, waiting.

"How do you do that?" I groaned, holding out my arm so Soren could land.

"I have my secrets, King Alistair." Xander said simply.

"If you're coming with me, you are going to ride a dragon." I ordered. Xander had yet to ride a dragon and at this point I think he was trying to avoid it.

"King Alistair, it would be much safer to take a horse." Xander said.

"Nope, dragons." I said, nodding my head for Soren to get bigger and Varon to do the same. I slid onto Sorens back and ran my hand down his orange scales. Xander looked at me hesitantly and when I only smiled, he began to slowly pull himself on top of Varon.

"See that's not that bad. I even gave you the nicer one." I said, laughing when Soren used his tail to hit me in the face. "Rude!"

"You ready?" I questioned.

"No, I don't really think-"

"Go!" At my word the dragons took off into the air. I waited for the dragons to level out in the sky before looking over at Xander. He had his eyes closed and was holding onto Varons neck tightly.

"Varon won't let you fall! Open your eyes!" I yelled, hoping he would hear me. Xander slowly cracked open his eyes, holding on even tighter. It didn't take long before Xander got a bit more confident and was no longer practically laying down on Varons back.

Varon and Soren landed in the front yard of Selahs house and let us slip off their backs. They shrunk down and went to rest under a tree while I walked towards the front door. I knocked once before just walking in, Xander hot on my heels. Ryuu was sitting on the couch in the living room with a book in his lap. He looked up, frowned and looked back down.

"Selah isn't here." Ryuu said.

"I'm actually not here to talk to her. I'm here to talk to you." I said, closing the door behind Xander.

"What do you want?" Ryuu said, narrowing his mossy green eyes.

"I want to apologize. For everything. Things happened so fast and I just... I'm sorry." I said, sitting down on the other side of the couch. Ryuu said nothing and just leaned his head back.

"I'm sorry too." Ryuu said after a few minutes of very awkward silence.

"I have a very big request." I said. This was the real reason I was here. I wanted to apologize but this sped up the process.

"Okay?" Ryuu said, sounding confused.

"I can't stay here. My home is on earth but I can't just leave the kingdom. I want to be able to go back and forth between both worlds but I need someone here who will watch over things for me while I'm gone." I said, waiting a moments to see if Ryuu had caught on to what I was trying to say but he was still staring at me expectantly.

"I want that someone to be you."

"W-what? Why me and not Selah?" Ryuu asked. He had started to nervously shake his hands.

"I respect Selah and she has a good heart but some of her views on dragons are not the best. I need someone who I can trust. You are part of both species, whether they like it or not." I said, setting a hand on Ryuu's shoulder in attempts to calm him down even a little. Ryuu shook my hand off and took a deep breath.

"This is a chance to prove yourself to your people. Show them you aren't afraid of being who you are." I encouraged. Ryuu looked at me, as if trying to find something in my eyes. Maybe truthfulness. Maybe trickery. Maybe deceit. I wasn't sure.

"Okay." Ryuu said, snapping me out of my thought.

"Okay?"

"I will watch over the kingdom for you." Ryuu said, letting out a shakey breath.

"Thank you. So much." I said, standing up. I had to get back to the Kingdom. "I wish I could stay longer but I must get going. Can you come to the kingdom tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I can. Can I bring Selah?" Ryuu asked hesitantly.

"Of course. I'll send over a dragon in the morning. Tell Selah I said hi." I called as I walked out the door. Or well was pushed. Xander seemed to want to leave faster than I intended to. Xander shut the door behind us quickly and turned on me.

"Do you really believe leaving the kingdom in his hands is the best choice, King Alistair?" Xander asked, sounding somewhat angry.

"I trust him and it's not like he's going to become the new king. I'm still the king and will be coming back frequently." I said, yanking my arm from his grasp.

"I apologize, King Alistair. I overstepped my boundaries." Xander said quickly, taking a few urgent steps back. I nodded my head but noticed the look on Xanders face. It's the one he had whenever he was thinking too hard about something.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, walking over to where the dragons were sleeping.

"Nothing." Xander said simply.

"As your King, I order you to tell me." I commanded. I hated doing this and I rarely did but there were some times when I really just needed Xander to talk to me.

"Do you really not trust me enough to watch over your kingdom?" Xander asked, his voice thick with hurt. I frowned.

"Of course I trust you. I was going to talk to you about this when we got back to the Kingdom but oh well. I want you to be in charge as well and make the decisions alongside Ryuu in my absence. I want you to protect him like you do me." I said, waking Soren and Varon. At some point Fane had cuddled up next to Soren so I woke him up as well.

"Oh." Was all I heard as a reply from Xander.

"Let's head back to the castle and talk more about this over lunch." I said, climbing up on Soren. Xander mirrored my actions on Varon and we took off, heading for the large gray wall in the distance.

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I'm really starting to like Xander