“You are far more perceptive than your friends. I am more than just a simple guardswoman. As you may have surmised, the Regent of Reddington will one day be replaced by a King or Queen. Prince Rotherham, Princess Eloise, and Princess Ilsanth are all eligible for the throne. They each have their own royal guards. We, the Guardians of the Throne, must ensure that none of the three or their supports commit treachery. Luckily for the three of you, none of them are even past nine. I was trained since childhood to fight, survive, and ensure the survival of my wards. My job doesn’t rightfully start for another five to ten years. All the Guardians know that, so we do what we can to stay sharp in the meantime. You are doing me as much of a favor as I am doing one for you.”
“That is fascinating, how does one get selected for such a thing?” The young man asked.
“It isn’t something that I enjoy talking about.”
“My apologies, I did not mean to offend.”
“Where are we headed?” Julian asked as he and Amber joined them at the front.
“The elven lands. We should be safer there. The Knights of Ardevale are not to be trifled with,” Mariah replied.
“Are not the elven lands dangerous?” Amber asked.
“They can be, but we have given them no reason to fight with us. With luck, they should welcome us with open arms.”
Kade looked down at the dirt path, not wanting the others to see his face. He tried to push aside the faces that came rushing at the mention of elves. They didn’t look a great deal different than humans, but they had with them a massive beast unlike anything Kade had seen before. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought it a dragon. The thought gave him shivers. There were hundreds of legends that told of heroes going out to fight dragons and similar creatures, but everyone knew them to be fictitious. He took a deep breath as he looked up at Mariah.
“I have a question,” he said.
“You weren’t afraid to ask before, why the hesitation now?” She asked.
“It sounds silly.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“Are dragons real?”
“Why are you asking?” Mariah asked as she stopped walking.
“I think I saw one,” Kade said as he stopped.
“Fairy tales, Kade,” Julian said.
“Who is to say that fairies aren’t real?” Amber asked.
“Where did you see it? What did it look like?” Mariah asked, ignoring the other two.
“When they were torturing me, I went somewhere else. It seemed impossible, but it felt so real. There were elves and a massive creature. They called me Wrotan,” Kade answered.
“They are real, I thought it was common knowledge. Have you not heard the tales?”
“I had heard them on numerous occasions, but the storyweavers often exaggerate.”
“True, but they rarely lie. Take dragons, for example, they are nothing like the stories. They are rarely larger than a horse.”
“I must not have seen a dragon then.”
“Describe it. I may not be too much of a world traveler, but I’ve seen my fair share of beasts.”
“Well, it looked like a lizard with wings. Not exactly though, lizards do not have the same fangs or claws.”
“A dragon then,” Mariah said.
“No, this thing could have eaten a horse without taking a bite.”
“That sounds rather dreadful. Perhaps the tales are true.”
A Champion of Shadows
Hadrin looked down at the note in his hands. It seemed to call to him. He looked up at the others. Wrotan nodded. The Prince took a deep breath before breaking the seal. He started to open the envelope, but stopped and motioned for Alandra to open hers. She dug through her pack and produced an identical envelope. He waited for her to break the seal and then they both pulled out their letters. There was a small note at the top of his that said to wait for her to read hers first. She was already looking at him when he looked over and nodded.
“It says that I am to become the night dragon champion,” she said.
“We already have a night dragon champion,” Erlkan said as he motioned toward Wrotan.
“Is that all it says?” Wrotan asked.
“It also says not to wear the cloak or armor until we complete the ritual,” Alandra replied.
“I think this will help,” Hadrin said as he held his letter up. “It says here that something went wrong with the last ceremony. The scourge somehow changed Wrotan’s role. Ungaroth was unsure of how to deal with it at first. There is no question that our hunter is a champion, but not the night dragon champion.”
“How do we find out what he is the champion of?”
“It says to give him the letter after we complete the ritual.”
Wrotan nodded as he stood up. The hunter approached Alandra and held out a small bowl. Erlkan quickly stood up as well. Each of them knew something about the ritual that needed to be performed. The sun King had been there when his cousin was joined with the night dragons. He pulled out his knife and asked Hadrin to hold out his hand. The pain wasn’t much, but seriousness of the moment weighed heavily on the young Prince. Erlkan took out a vial of the dragon’s blood and mixed it with the blood he had taken from Hadrin. He sprinkled several other substances over the bowl and then placed it on the floor. Hadrin stared down at the bowl, wondering what purpose it served. The sun King grabbed his waterskin and filled the rest of the bowl with water before handing it to the Prince.
“I have to drink this?” Hadrin asked.
“No, it is not that type of ritual. I needed your blood and the other ingredients so that Ungaroth would know the time to transfer some of the link from Obrin to you,” Erlkan replied.
Hadrin let out a sigh as he stared down at the bowl. The sun King took it from him and poured it out on the ground. He then stepped forward and grabbed the Prince by the shoulders. Hadrin attempted to ask him why he had done so, but before he could speak his body went limp. His vision faded as Erlkan lowered him to the floor. He felt as though he was floating through the clouds. The feeling slowly dissipated as his vision returned. His mind was flooded with images of dragons, elves, wars, and all manner of things. He began to feel dizzy as the imaged flashed by faster and faster. A hand pulled him up to a sitting position as he gasped for breath. Erlkan looked at him expectantly.
“What?” Hadrin asked.
“I asked if you were all right,” the sun King replied.
“Yes, but please don’t ever do that again.”
Erlkan let out a chuckle as he helped the Prince to his feet. The meld was complete. Hadrin could feel the dragon, his father, and even Alandra in the back of his mind. It was impossible to tell what they were thinking, but he felt as though Ungaroth were telling him that the voice would become clearer in time. He looked around to see that Wrotan and Alandra were watching him. They waved and motioned for him to join them at the fire. Wrotan held out the cape that the dragons had packed for the Prince and took the note in exchange. The hunter sat down and stared at the blank side of the letter. Hadrin looked to Erlkan and Alandra, but they both shrugged.
“What are you doing?” The sun King asked.
“I am reading Ungaroth’s message,” Wrotan replied.
“The paper is blank on that side,” Alandra said.
“No, it clearly is not.” The hunter held up the note to show the others.
“Of course,” the sun King said.
“Care to enlighten us?” Hadrin asked.
“The dragons had always told rumors of their lost brethren. They were known as the shadow dragons. I have no real concrete information about them, but they are said to have the ability to see that which others cannot. Ungaroth speculated that the scourge originated with a different strain of dragon when they attempted to contact their kin. He also speculated that it is the scourge that changed Wrotan’s ritual. To be certain, the dragon temporarily cut himself off from his fellow scourged dragons when he made a connection to the two of yo
u. As it turns out, he had only connected a part of himself to Wrotan. That part connection has been severed, but the connection through the scourge is still there.”
“So, these dragons wanted to kill their kin with a scourge of some kind and it interfered with Wrotan becoming champion?” Alandra asked.
“Not exactly, we weren’t going to reveal this part to the three of you quite yet. I suppose it is time though. There are two parts to the scourge. One part is a poison that appears to have been added after the initial contact was made. You have, no doubt, noticed that Ungaroth alone had red wings. That was not always true. Many of the others were crimson and gray. None of them were black, not until the scourge appeared,” Erlkan replied.
“You mean to say that the scourge is some sort of darkness?” Wrotan asked.
“Shadow to be exact. The shadow dragons are the missing dragons. They’ve been gone for so long that we assumed they were dead. More than a hundred years ago they began to reach out to the closest of their kin, the night dragons. You see, Ungaroth is not truly a night dragon. He is the product of one shadow dragon and one night dragon. That is why the scourge has no effect on him. It is not truly a scourge, but a shadow. If our assumption is correct, Wrotan is the new shadow dragon champion.”
*
“You are certain this is the case?” Obrin asked as he turned to Ungaroth.
“It is impossible to be certain, but I’ve always had a feeling that the shadow dragons survived. Have you heard the tale of the exodus?” The dragon asked.
“I have not.”
“There was a time, long, long ago, when all the dragons were as one. We accepted each other’s differences. Though small, the forest dragons were still a part of our number. The mammoth sized mountain dragons were very much a part of our society. Even the undersea dragons would be accepted as brethren when they visited. The sun dragons and the shadow dragons were the first to begin fighting. Not wanting to cause turmoil amongst dragonkind, the shadow dragons embarked upon a journey to find another homeland. It was, ultimately, too late. The dragon wars erupted and sides were formed. We fought for hundreds of years, until your people arrived. The fighting had been so fierce and lasted so long that we had no idea how many kinds of dragons had been lost. Shadow dragons, like star dragons and fairy dragons, become something of a myth. Yet here I am, half shadow half night.”
“You are proof that the shadow dragons existed as many as two hundred years ago.”
“That I am. I sent the others to the spirit monks because I believe they have found the shadow realm. They are adamant that it is a spirit realm and that there is no physical connection to our world, but I am not so sure. Do the elves have any information on whether that is possible?” Ungaroth asked.
“Our people once knew how to make magical portals. The knowledge was lost long ago and we are uncertain if the portals are to another world or just to another place in our world,” Obrin replied.
“Let us hope that the others can find out.”
*
Mariah slowed down as they came to the edge of the forest. She knew that the woods were home to both the elves and nomadic tribes of the wilds, but she didn’t know how either group would react to her and the others. The atmosphere changed as they entered the forest. Amber’s cheery outlook took the hardest hit, which noticeably bothered Kade. Julian seemed to be ignoring both of them, allowing his already negative attitude to spiral even further down. Mariah stopped at the next clearing and sat down. She waited as Kade and Amber took a seat next to her. Julian paced back and forth next to them, tapping his fingers together.
“We’ve been dodging the subject for far too long. Why are the Knights of Ardevale after you?” Mariah asked.
“I don’t know what they want with me, honestly,” Kade replied.
“They must have given you some idea with their questions.”
“I didn’t understand most of it, but they were focused on something called they called a scourge or disease.” Kade pulled off his glove to show the small black dot.
“This is what they wanted to know about?” Amber asked.
“Yes, it showed up a while ago. I don’t know why, but nothing bad has happened to me.”
“Didn’t Timus say something about how his merchant friend visited the elves and they had some sort of disease?” Julian asked as he approached the three.
“That’s right. Both he and Goraine mentioned the elves,” Amber replied.
“And here we are fleeing straight into their territory. They’ll have us pegged as enemies for certain. This does not bode well for us. I had hoped we could escape the Knights and never need to hear from them again, but if they know the elves are connected and they know we are heading into the elven lands,” Mariah let the others come to their own conclusion about what the Knights would do.
“They should be able to help him, shouldn’t they?” Amber asked.
“It originated with the elves, they should know more about it than anyone. I would say that they are our best chance of figuring out what it even is.”
“Has it changed at all?” Julian asked as he turned to his friend.
“Yes, but only slightly. It was smaller before. Darker too,” Kade replied.
“No sense in worrying about it now. Even if the remedy is in the forest, we would have no idea what to even look for. Let’s go. I’ll let you know when we’ve reached the elven lands. It is imperative that you let me do the talking when we get there,” Mariah said.
The others nodded and slowly followed as she got up. They were far from experienced soldiers, but the fact that they were getting used to following her orders was comforting. She had expected things to be much quicker when she agreed to assist the youngsters and it was beginning to look like she still had a long road ahead. So long that she may no longer have a place among the Guardians upon her return. There was a slight chance of the elves being able to cure Kade of the disease or scourge, but Mariah wasn’t about to set all of her hopes on a group that might not even let them enter their lands. She slowed down and waited for the others to come alongside her before speaking.
“There is one last thing that we need to discuss. The elves aren’t particularly friendly to humans and there is always a chance of running into bandits whenever traveling off the main roads. I need to know if the three of you are able to defend yourselves,” Mariah said.
“I think we already proved that we can’t,” Kade said.
“Everyone has at least one or two skills that can be transferred to the battlefield. What are your areas of expertise?”
“Kade can fire a bow better than most and Julian is decent with a mace,” Amber replied.
“She is better than both of us with a blade,” Julian said as he pointed toward Amber.
“That’s a start. We can begin training with the equipment we have on hand, but that will exclude Kade as we don’t have a bow. Anything else that you can bring to the table?” The guardswoman asked as she turned to the young man.
“My mother taught me the basics of herbs and potions,” he replied.
“We’ll get you started on that then. Anything else?”
“I hadn’t thought of it before, but when Kade mentioned his mother I remembered. None of our families know where we are. They probably think something happened to us,” Amber said.
“If the elves let us into their lands, we’ll write up a letter for each of your parents. The elves may not venture into humans lands often, but merchants travel anywhere they can make a coin.”
*
Erlkan clenched his fist as he looked out at the approaching squad of elves. He recognized the banner of the Empress as soon as he spotted it. His hand drifted down to the hilt of his sword. Wrotan stood next to him, waiting for the sun King to make a decision. They had already agreed as a group that Erlkan would make the final decision about how to confront any elves they came across. The King weighed his options as he drew his sword. Hadrin and Alandra unsheathed their weapons as well, but Wrotan si
mply glanced over at Erlkan. He turned to the hunter and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Make sure they arrive at the monastery alive. I will handle this group,” he said.
“You have my word,” the hunter said.
“Absolutely not, we will stay and fight,” Alandra said.
“It is his decision, not yours,” Wrotan said.
Hadrin and Alandra continued to protest as the hunter lead them both away from the King. Erlkan let out a sigh as he started marching toward the oncoming squad. He went through his options in his mind as he covered the distance to his opponents. There was a small chance that they would be willing to negotiate, but there was a greater likelihood that they would see him as an obstacle between themselves and the other three. The incoming elves slowed down when they recognized the King. Upon seeing their reaction, Erlkan sheathed his sword and continued forward.
“Your majesty, we hadn’t expected to find you here,” one of the soldiers said.
“My wife sent you?” The King asked.
“She asked us to fix any problems that you were unable to handle. We were under the assumption that the night elves had captured you.”
“I was captured, but not by the night elves. The Empress was incorrect about the source of the scourge. Neither the night elves nor the night dragons are actually to blame.”
“Surely, you understand that we can’t just take your word for it. What would you have us do?”
“Take me in to face the Empress. Give me a chance to convince her. That is all I ask for.”
*
“You let us abandon him,” Alandra said.
“I did what he asked. This business with the scourge is larger than each of us,” Wrotan said.
“What do we do now?” Hadrin asked.
“Same as before, we consult the spirit monks,” the hunter replied.
“How do we find them?”
“We head through the forest elf realms and into the wilds. From there, we break north. I may not know the exact position, but their monastery is somewhere near the edge of the borderlands.”
“The forest elves may not like us cutting through their land,” Alandra said.
“Our only other choice is to head into the sea elf lands and then cut through the sun realms. I’d prefer not to get too close to the sun realms,” Wrotan said.