Misread Fates

Chapter 3 - Marriage and a Dragon

"Bruin, who was at the door?"

Helrich walked towards the entryway of his own home to see his best friend standing shamefaced

"Guillermo?"

"Helrich I'm sorry. I was trying to find a job for your kid. He's a good fighter, one of the most dedicated and technically proficient I've seen, and adaptive. I thought I could tell people about his skills, and find someone high up who needed some extra muscle or security. I thought I could help him get some life experience under his belt. But... word spread to the Royal family, and I mentioned it was your son, and they know your fate."

"What did they do?" Helrich turned towards his son, "Bruin what did they do?"

Bruin silently handed the letter to him and watched his father's face cave in as he read the words.

Helrich stood frozen in the kitchen for a moment before sighing, the deep exhale taking every inch of his body, "This was so much earlier than I had hoped for you."

He walked over to the window, his staff making an ominous clicking noise as he did so and leaned on its sill so he could more easily call to his wife in the garden, "Hildy, You should come to see this."

His mother came in, hands still stained with dirt from weeding. She brushed them off on her apron before taking the letter from her husband's hand, reading it silently, and then slamming it down on a table.

"Right. Well, Bruin, get up, Pack your bags. You're getting out of Langdon."

"Hildy, This is still the boy's choice."

"Helrich Slater, he is too young for this by far. And it's a dragon. You've heard the boy's rambles, that's one of the worst of them. He can fight something smaller. I can't believe this, after what you've done for them. You made King Henry's fight easy, he barely got a scratch on him while you lost your legs and his wife repays us by putting our son in mortal danger."

"She has five children. She doesn't know which one has the fate to lay monsters; she doesn't want to put any of them in danger."

She tried to drag Bruin up by his arm and he thoughtlessly shook her off.

"So she takes our only son instead? She's had as much time to prepare them, more. Her oldest son is 24. He has five years on Bruin, all the resources in the land, and a fate that doesn't include him failing!"

"She just asked for him to find the weakness. He might be able to bring her some of his research. Maybe they just want him as a consultant-"

Guillermo coughed to interrupt his friend

"Er- no. I'm afraid Brunhilda is right. Their letter might not-outright state it, but I believe they want him to go fight the dragon. I was instructed to make sure he got at least close enough to see the creature. And... I don't put it past her to send others after him if I fail, or after you both"

Helrich squinted at Guillermo,

"Did you know they were like this, all along?"

Guillermo looked away, "I've seen them do wretched, careless things before, none this bad."

.............................................................................

While his parents and mentor discussed his imminent doom, Bruin sunk into his head, his heart beating fast, the conversation around him only half registering.

He was going to die. There was so much he hadn't done. He'd spent so much time training. He wanted to laugh with Abby more, go back to the creak where he was a child and splash his face in it, eat all the bread and drink the wine, and hear the stories of his neighbors more and-