A Dragon's Treasure

Chapter 9 - Freedom

Having Logan nearby should have been helpful, it should have made his imprisonment easier, but Roman found two main problems with that. The first being, Roman very much didn't want his best friend stuck here as well. Knowing that Logan had been dragged into the dragon hoard made him feel like a failure of a prince. If he couldn't protect one of the people closest to him from a dragon, how was he supposed to protect an entire country from invaders or other people who might try to hurt them? Secondly, Logan didn't seem to mind, in fact, over the past two weeks, while Roman was doing chores for Janus, Logan was getting closer to the gremlin who had copied his face.

Of all of the people for Logan to appreciate. Sure, Roman could understand it, 'Remus' had a lot of knowledge that Logan wanted, and Logan had always been hungry for knowledge, but why did it have to be him?

Roman rolled over in his bed, letting out a quiet groan as he closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to get up today, he didn't want to move. Wallowing in self-pity wasn't very princely but was he even a prince anymore?

There was a heavy knock at his door, apparently, prince or not, he wasn't allowed to wallow.

He pushed himself out of bed, stretching and rolling his neck before letting out a slow deep breath and opening his door. Janus was standing there, a tired look in his eyes.

"It's done, get dressed."

What? It was done, the curse could finally be broken? Roman's breath caught in his throat. His people would finally be free. "I'll be dressed in a moment."

Roman nodded and closed the door, making his way to the dresser. Why was Janus telling him to get dressed though, was he going to get to witness the curse being broken? Honestly, he really hoped that was the case. Being able to see his people freed from their curse was more than he could ever ask for; it would give him a sense of purpose in all of this. It would make all of these trails worth it.

He came out of his room again, this time fully dressed. "I'm ready."

Janus' eyes said something different. He looked over Roman and there was something in those mismatched irises that shouted that Roman wasn't ready, but for what, he didn't know.

"Alright, I am going to shift into my dragon form and fly over the kingdom in order to cast the spell. You are going to ride with me." There was no room for questioning in his voice. "There will be spikes near the back of my neck that you can hold onto." Then Janus turned and began walking back to the entrance of the cave, Roman had a hard time keeping up, but he entered the main chamber as Janus' body began to shift into that of a dragon, everything that once felt human disappearing except his eyes, and even then, Roman wasn't sure if his eyes had ever really felt human.

"Get on."

He heard the voice in his head and he shivered, getting onto Janus' back slowly.

It unnerved him when Janus took off to the sky. He felt like his stomach was left on the ground, but he held himself together as Janus flew across the sky. He covered large swaths of land as he broke the curse, and Roman could see many of the trees turning back into people. Not all of them. He had known that was a possibility, but it broke his heart nonetheless. His mind slipped back to the village he had had to cross through on his way to make his deal.

"Janus, please, can we stop at the village near the mountain?" Roman asked, screaming into the wind.

"You can call out for me in your mind, you are part of my hoard." The voice echoed thick in his mind. It was strange, and still felt a bit intrusive, but it was better than shouting into a void and not being heard.

He focused on Janus, "Can you hear this?"

"Yes, good job, and we can walk to the village from the forest, but I won't land in the village in this form."

Why was he being praised? He really didn't do anything. It felt nice. Roman grabbed tighter to Janus' spikes tighter. It took far too long for them to end, and the moment his feet hit the floor, Roman began running towards the city. He just had to see how his people were handling this, he had to know. As he slid to a stop as he crossed into the main part of the town, looking for the little tree he had seen on his last time through the town. Instead of a little tree, there was a mother and her daughter, even from this far away Roman could hear the mother's cries. "April Rose, My baby, you're back, you're back, I love you my Rose."

He fell to his knees, the flight and the emotional toll of the day finally hitting him. He had done it. He had saved his people, but... it came at a cost, a cost he would happily pay again, but what now? He stayed there until he heard the soft sound of boots beside him.

"What now Prince of Nevarci?" The voice wasn't nearly as sarcastic as Roman had gotten used to over the past few weeks. Instead, the question was soft and quiet, and Roman felt lost in the gentleness. Just because the question was coming from another person, didn't mean he had any kind of answer, but he had to come up with one.

"They are okay," He whispered, "Not everyone, but my people, so many of them are able to head home now. Families can be rebuilt but I..."

Janus slowly sat down next to him. "You don't know what to do now, do you?"

Roman shook his head, "What are you going to do with me now that our deal has been fulfilled?" Was Janus going to make him return to the castle and abdicate the thrown to Remus? Was he going to continue to be a prisoner?

"You were willing to give me your freedom, but have you ever had a chance to use it for yourself?"

"What?" Roman looked up, that was the furthest thing from what Roman was expecting.

"What have you done for yourself? Selfishly and completely for your own benefit?"

Roman remained quiet as he looked down at his hands again. He was unable to answer that question. He didn't know when he had last been selfish.

"Being born a prince, you were given all the riches of the world, but it seems you were never given freedom and no amount of money can repay a freedom lost." Janus slowly stood up, holding out his hand for Roman. "I'm curious who you will become if you are allowed the freedom to be yourself. And if you don't know where to start, I think your brother would be able to help you with that."

Roman took the hand offered to him, looking back at the town.

"So what do I do now?"

"Let's focus on learning how to be Roman and not Prince of Nevarci."