Arthur's Sons (Book 2)

Winter Solstice (Part 2)

That night while Merlyn and the others were sleeping soundly before the beginning of the winter celebrations the next day Rowan was sat outside under the clear sky watching the stars as he tried to calm his powers and mind. He found that around the Solstice his mental shields were weakened and let the internal voices of others in no matter how hard he tried to ignore them. He took a deep breath before standing in the crook of a tree and spreading his great wings and taking to the skies. He flew high into the cloudless winter night revelling in the silence and peace as he glided through the air, this peace was disturbed when he sensed a disturbance on the ground. He opened his eyes which were now glowing silver and scanned the forest for the disturbance and there between the trees he saw two men on horses racing away from a larger group of men dressed in Cenred's colours.

Rowan turned and tucked his wings in diving towards the ground, as he got closer he sensed the familiar presence of his Father and Sir Leon as they rode at a breakneck speed through the dark forest as they tried to escape their pursuers. Rowan's eyes narrowed into slits as he pulled in all the magic available to him and focused on the image of a dragon, after a moment he glowed silver and with a burst of magic his body stretched and grew into the form of a great black dragon with silver scales running from his chin under his belly to the tip of his tail. Due to him still being young his dragon form reflected that in that he was only about the size of a regular horse and his horns were only about half-grown and dull rather than razor-sharp but that wasn't going to stop him from destroying the men trying to hurt his father and Leon.

His Father and Leon raced into a clearing with their pursuers hot on their heels which gave Rowan the perfect opportunity to dive down and grab two of Cenred's knights in each clawed paw and pull them into the sky screaming to a deadly height before dropping them to their deaths at the other end of the clearing. The knights pulled their horses up short and circled together scanning the skies for their attacker while Arthur and Leon slowed their horses and hid just at the edge of the forest curious as to what had attacked the men.

Arthur watched in awe as a black dragon about a quarter of the size of the great dragon landed a few meters in front of them facing the Knights from Cenred's kingdom. The beast let out a roar that had the men's horses bucking off their riders before bolting in panic toward the woods. Arthur struggled to control their own horses while the beast let out a low hiss towards the men who were staring at the Dragon in shock and awe before the creature raised its head and let out a deadly stream of silver fire burning several of the men to ash within seconds. The other men screamed before making a break for the woods but the creature spread its wings and chased after them easily tearing off heads and cutting deep gashes in the men's backs and bellies that they could never survive.

When the beast was finished it raised its head to the sky and let out a mighty roar of victory that echoed through the silent woods sending sleeping birds scattering to the air. It then turned its molten silver gaze to the Prince and Leon and amusement flashed in those haunting eyes which Arthur now realised were familiar. The Dragon folded its wings against its body before approaching the two men slowly as to not scare them off, Arthur smiled and dismounted before handing the reins to Leon who was looking at him like he was crazy before he left the safety of the trees to meet the dragon. They stopped a few steps from each other before a serpentine smile broke out on the dragon's lips and he bent down on one foreleg bowing to him and Arthur chuckled before reaching out and placing his palm on the dragon's snout.

"I know it's you Rowan." Arthur said marvelling at the warmth and softness of the scales under his hand.

Rowan huffed and rolled his eyes before butting his head against Arthur's chest affectionately and letting out a low purr. Arthur chuckled at that before stroking his large scally neck then scratching under his chin causing him to hum in contentment.