Legacy

16. A Promise

"You've got to be kidding me," Lance muttered. "You're a prince?"

Reggie glared at Lance as he struggled against his bonds. The pair had been moved to the center of the Ladon campsite, where they had been bound to separate sides of a tree. There was little to no chance for them to escape now, and Reggie needed to think of a good plan to get out of this mess. It wasn't helping that Lance had been asking him questions nonstop.

"Did you really try to kill your father?" He inquired a few seconds after his first question, which he had asked repeatedly, had remained unanswered.

"Can you be quiet you imbecile?" Reggie growled. "You do realize the seriousness of the situation we are in? Or is everything just a joke to you?"

Lance frowned. "Excuse me. We could have avoided this whole situation if you had just told us who you were from the beginning."

"Oh yes, I suppose your incompetence is my fault. The princess would have been in my care if you had not showed up and disrupted my plans."

Lance furrowed his brows. "We didn't need your help. In fact, I had everything under control."

"Hey!" A guard yelled at the prisoners. "Shut up!"

Reggie bit his lip, but Lance didn't seem to know when to quit. Before the prince could stop him, Lance had spit at the guard's feet.

"Go to hell!" Lance yelled.

"Lance," warned Reggie through gritted teeth.

The guard rose from his seated position, giving Lance a dangerous glare. "What was that Luciano?"

"Now Lance, think before you-"

"I said," spoke Lance ferociously, "go to hell!"

  Reggie sighed. Here we go again.

The guard rolled his eyes and turned to the man sitting next to him. "Can't we just kill the punk already?"

    "You heard the boss," grunted the man, his curly beard bouncing as he spoke, "We can't kill him, but they never said we couldn't give him a few knocks on the head."

    The guards gave Lance a menacing look, but the Luciano wasn't frightened. He gritted his teeth in defiance, daring the men to try him. The confrontation seemed inevitable, but the tides turned as the men spotted something hurtling to the ground above them. The guards pointed, and everyone's eyes watched the blur that raced through the sky until it crashed into the forest, shaking the ground around them. Lucan emerged from his tent, his eyes darting around to see what had caused the disturbance.

    "Was that-"

    "A dragon." Reggie interrupted Lance. "One went missing from the Ladon Empire months ago. They're the most destructive weapons available to King Augustus."

    Lance's mouth hung open. He knew dragons were the heart and soul of the Ladon culture, but what he didn't understand was what one would be doing here. Dragons normally stayed hidden, and the places dragons were known to inhabit were far north of where they were now.

    The same thoughts seemed to plague Lucan's mind as well. It didn't make sense for a dragon to be out here in the wilderness unless it was in the form of some illegal activity, illegal activity that Lucan was now in charge of regulating.

    "Mal," growled Lucan, realization suddenly flooding into his mind. He stomped towards Lance. "You sent the princess to Mal!"

    Lance shrugged. "I don't know who you're talking about."