The Knights of Aragon

Chapter 13

"King Arthur was no royal, no knight. He had no title nor a right to a throne," she somberly begins to recount the story, "He was an ordinary village boy with dreams of greatness. He did, eventually, reach his dreams by excavating Excalibur and becoming the king he was destined to become." I don't get it. He fulfilled his destiny. "His fate was to be a king," I conclude. I cross my legs and lean forward as my curiosity gets the better of me.

"No, his destiny was to die."

"What?" I ask, taken aback by the harshness of her words. "He..dies?" She shifts and lays on the floor. "After becoming king and marrying his beloved, Guinevere, his fortune shifted. His kingdom fell, his beloved left him, and he was killed by his own brethren, who later took the crown and called himself King," Drogon snarls. Not at me, but at Arthur's murderer.

He died. That was his fate? To die by the hand of his own friend? Alone and unloved? "Soon after, Excalibur was thought to be lost to the world until the High Sorceress found it and destroyed it," I hear the orange alpha say. "Her actions brought a series of consequences. You see, when she destroyed Excalibur, the blast sent fragments of the blade across the land. A friend of Arthur felt the surge of magic from Excalibur and decided to hunt down the lost pieces."

Hair at the base of my neck began to rise along with the goosebumps on my arms. "His name is Merlin." A shiver runs down my spine. A weird feeling settles at the pit of my stomach at the mention of that name. "So, he found them and then what? He put them back together and created the Inferno blade?" I ask, completely engulfed in the story.

"Mmm," she acknowledges, "but not only the Inferno blade. Paxis and Samsara were also forged-which paved the road that we inevitably went down on." The animosity between mortals and Otherworldings, the war between them, the Knights disappearing. It was all because of one decision, one action that screwed us over. "How do you know all of this? All of this has been erased through time, so how could you know?"

Silence. Neither of them answers my questions. Drogon looks over at his mother, clearly nervous about what she'll say. She, in turn, snorts and steam flows out of her nostrils. "Merlin came to the Alchetri for a no small favor," she begins, "Our leader had the gift of hellfire. Merlin needed his fire to forge the Cursebreakers. It cost him everything to mold them to what they are known for today."

Merlin isn't their favorite person, I figure. From their grim faces, I can tell that this doesn't end well. "He died not long after and the dragons revolted. They began breaking our codes of honor and turned our name into something dark." The red dragon snarls at the end of her sentence while Drogon bares his teeth at the memory. "I saw it with my own eyes as they tore down what my father had built. Before they could do anything to us, I took my son and his wife and fled. I changed my name, my home, and my fate to protect my father's legacy. To protect what little we had and sought refuge."

I glance at Drogon. They were there! They witnessed everything. She must've been so scared. Goosebumps run down my arms as this sense of déjà vu becomes unbearable. Her story rings a bell in my head but I cannot understand for the life of me as to why. "You've lived for so long," I whisper, more to myself than to anyone else, "You've been hiding from the Alchetri all this time. If you're no longer part of their herd, then what do you call yourselves?"

At my question, all three dragons stand as the others come near us. I scramble up, startled at their drastic formation against me. They all stand by their families but unified nonetheless. "Our ancestors named their herds after their leaders," Drogon speaks, "My mother is ours, therefore, we are the Pendragons." Every single one of them bows their heads to their leader out of respect. Even the little ones. I quickly look away in respect, leaving them to have their private moment of honor. "Thank you, son," she nuzzles his head with hers. "Now that you know our past, I believe it is time to tell yours."

* * * * *

I told them everything that has happened. Everything about my life in my village and the Mist surrounding it. My life there was quite simple, really. But Pendragon doesn't seem happy with the story I told. After I finished, Drogon left to find the boys and Pendragon began to get frustrated with me.

I hear her growl at me. "Before that! What do you remember about before you met the boy's mother? Before meeting any of those mortals!" she yells at me. I think, long and hard about my life before I was seven. It's all blank. I try even harder to picture people, a place or family. Nothing! I groan in frustration. "I can't! I have no memory of my life before I was seven. There's nothing there." My head begins to ache in pain.

"You must try hard, girl! Your mind is broken, and it needs to be whole again for you to continue," she scolds me, which infuriates me to no end. "I'm not interested in fixing what's broken!" I freeze at my words. "That's not my responsibility," I whisper in realization. My eyes widen in surprise. "I've said those words before. I heard myself say that so someone else!"

My excitement dies out quickly when another realization hits me. My voice in that memory sounded so much older than what a seven-year-old should sound like. "No that can't be right," I slump down and cradle my head, "I sound too mature for being only seven. It doesn't make sense! I've never said those words out loud before today." Pendragon glares at me. I throw her an equally heated glare her way as well. I'm sure she would've swung her tail at me in retaliation, but Draxum's voice echoed down the pit as Drogon's wings began to create a cool breeze.

I jump from my spot and run towards the middle of the pit. The wind caused by Drogon's wings sends my auburn hair flying behind me. "Draxum!" I call out to him. "Val?" A huge smile spreads across my face when I hear him. "I'm here!" I hear his goofy laugh echo down towards me. Drogon circles around the pit before landing in front of me and Pendragon.

He jumps down from Drogon, almost falling over, and runs over to me. I almost tackle him down when we meet in the middle. I hug him tightly, so relieved to have him near me. "Ugh, I was worried sick." I pull back and hold his face, examining him for injuries. "I'm fine, Val," he says, embarrassed at my fuzzing, "How are you? That fall looked scary."

He looks me over in concern. "I'm fine, I promise," I tell him, "Just a few bruises now." Over his shoulder, I see Rhydian calmly walking towards us. I survey him for any injuries too. Like Draxum, he seems unharmed. His hair is in a state of disarray but that's the only evidence of what they've gone through. "Valencia," he sighs in relief, "You're okay." He hugs me as tightly as I hugged Draxum.

His scent overcomes my senses. I subconsciously lean into him as I quietly breathe it in. He smells of comfort and nature. "You're going to have to fill us in on what happened, exactly," he nervously laughs, "because this has got to be one of the craziest shit I've ever witnessed." I chuckle as I step back. "Trust me, this isn't even the half of it." Draxum has a wide smile, looking at me and Rhydian. I blink and immediately put some distance between us. I hadn't realized how close we got.

I clear my throat. "Boys, this is Pendragon," I nod in her direction, "and that's Drogon." I gesture behind them. "There are others, but I don't know their names. They're willing to let us stay here as their guest," I emphasize as I give them both a hard look. Don't do anything rash, don't touch anything, don't say anything! I think my message was received since Draxum straightens his spine and Rhydian places his spear on his back.

Pendragon roars behind me, startling Draxum. The other dragons crawl down from their hiding spots and land around her. "My son's mate, Pele, and their children, Pika and Pol," she announces, "You've seen, Trojan," the red dragon just snorts in acknowledgement, "And this is Yulan, his daughter." Yulan stands behind her father, glaring at us.

They all stand together in rank. It's so oddly reassuring and empowering. "Rhydian," I look to my side, "I have a puzzle that I must solve in order to keep going on this quest, it seems. When I left the bonfire, I felt something tugging me to a place that I cannot remember. I heard a voice that I cannot remember." Rhydian doesn't look away from my eyes, reading them as I speak to him. "I must figure it out. We need to stay."

"For how long?" Draxum asks me.

I hesitate. Inferno must be given to its master and we're nowhere near Northstrong. "For as long as it is needed, child," Pendragon answers for me. Quikas won't stay away for long. I haven't even seen it in my dreams since the Nightcrawlers attacked. The silence from that end is not a good sign. "We can't stay longer than three days." I take off Inferno from my waist and set it down in front of me as I sit on the ground. "Let's continue. The sooner I break this curse, the faster we can get to our next destination."