THE BATTLE OF DRAGONS: Auryn and the fate of Nagendra

Nerezza

Stupid girl.

Everyone in this castle is stupid. Although it is autumn the corridors are warm. Of course it is in this castle. I feel the pressure of the necklace on my chest. That necklace belonged to me for sure. She stole it, but she is a dragon protector. Or a draco domitor. It doesn't matter. I have to get out of here before i get caught. I can't wait for the day that Negandra will burn this castle, if de dragon prince gets better. No, he will get better. I'm surounded by these stupid, disgusting paintings. I just want to pull her short brown hair and stuck both of my fingers in her evil blue eyes. All of the sudden a servant bumps into me. Unknowigly I give her my death stare. I really have to stop doing that.

'My apolagies...' she stops talking. 'I've never seen you here.'

'I am new here.' Just like i said, stupid people. she keeps staring at me, as if i don't belong here. Which is true. I just walk away. I don't have time for making new friends or enemies in this situation. I turn left, on my way to the wine cellar. All of the sudden i hear the servant that I bumped into say: 'She went that way.'I have to hurry. I run down the stairs, almost tripping.

'Draco domitor.' groans the dragon knight. he is bleeding.

'What the hell happend here?' I say with disbelief. Some of the wine bottles are broken on the ground. I run to him.

'the advisor, h-he escaped.'he can barely talk. his blond hair became red becouse of the wine.

'You can't even fight a old musty advisor, Jasver! You ruined the mission.' I shout furiously. The wound is deep, too deep. Then my face expression changes from an angry expression to a sad one. 'I can't save you, I can't take you with me.' I say with grief

'No, please! I'm too young to die. I did not choose to do this. Please take me home.' he is on the edge of crying. I brace myself. Knights like him are useless. Nagendra would agree.

'It is your own fault. You weren't carefull. If I try saving you, I'll be dead. Nagendra is thankfull for your service and I am too. A death like this is better than other deaths you can imagine.' It is harsh and mean. I grew up with Jasver and now i am leaving him to die. But friendship is not relevant while we try to protect and even save the dragons. He should understand that. No tears, no fears.

'Remorseless Nerezza Ty-rell.' These words are his last words.

'It is draco domitor for you.' I hate myself for this. everyone does. Dying in an enemies castle is not a great death. I lied to him. This is the worst death you can have. Footsteps are coming closer. I must hurry. A spy found here a secret passage, a hatch in the ground. I open it and run as fast as I can. I cannot stop thinking about that white haired girl who had the necklace, Auryn Tyrell. I hate her more because we share the same last name. Why her? Why a stupid knight from the white side? Pheraps it was a mistake. But Nagendra's Dragon Court does't make mistakes. Leander has to hear this right away. And then he will tell Nagendra. One day he will be known as king. King Leander of Etril. The passage is humid and it smells like someone had excrement in here.

Remorseless. I hate it when people call me that, but i know i deserve it since i never show my kindness and love for others. But what I did is horrible and i will never forget it. Leaving a friend dying means you're not loyal, heartless. But sacrifices are needed in times like these, times where we are weak and unsafe. But I never cared about Jasver or anyone else, only mother and Nalani. Nalani is Leanders younger sister and his sergeant. She is the same age as me and we are basically friends since I arived at the Black Side after the fire that Nagendra caused. What would I do if something happend to her? would I tell her that she served the dragons well with a emotionless voice? Or would I fall on my knees, crying, trying to save her and telling her i couldn't live without her? Nalani is a loved person, she is bright and stays positive even in terrible times, so no one would blame me if i did such things. But i am a draco domitor, a eighteen year old girl who still has to fight for her place. I have to be remorseless or whatever other think. I have to be feared so no one messes around with me, or else no one would respect me. The only person I didn't had to prove myself was Leanders and Nalani's father, Lionel. He saw me comunicating with dragons when i was young, when Nalani got extra lesson's and no one wanted to play with me. Lionel sent me to the best draco domitor , Ameer Keefe. he won every battle with his dragon commander skills and passed down all his knowledge to me and i promised Ameer to not disapoint him. So I became the remorseless draco domitor, but that is not enough. I have to be feared.

It starts to get cold. If I had my armor instead of this ridiculous servant clothing i wouldn't suffer, as if my suffering isn't enough. As I start walking faster, the necklace starts to feel heavy again. As if this belongs to the white head. I'll sort this out later, but now I have to get back to Nalani and the others. Then a second later I see the light coming from the distance and hear the horse that is waiting neigh. I feel the fresh air in my lungs and hop on the horse. My hand goes to my chest to check if the necklace is still there. When i feel the cold gemstone I ride away. I don't have much experience with riding horses, since I always use Nightshade (my loyal dragon) as transport. But having a dragon outside the castle would be too suspicous, and the king and queen knows im here. I look straight forward into the distance and let all my anger from earlier flow. I try to forget about Jasver and my horrible action. I feel my short , black hair loosening from the bun that Nalani made. I feel free. Not like when i am riding a dragon, but it is good enough.

• • •

The camp is in a cave wich is in the south of Etril, far away from the castle. As I jump of my horse Nalani rushes to me and says: '
Mighty dragons your'e back!' Her face is shining and smiles as if she saw a dragon doing a trick. 'Nalani, what did I say about acting like yourself around the soldiers?" I ask anoyed, but slightly happy. " you are a sergeant." without waiting for her answer i start shouting orders to make my armor ready.

'You are bossing around again. Can I see the necklace?'she asks.

'Why do you think I have it? Perhaps I failed.'

'We all know you never fail, Nerezza.' She looks playfull at me with her hazel eyes. her sweaty, dark skin is glowing in the sun and she plays with her curly hair. That means she is nervous.

'What's wrong?'I ask. She looks concernd at me. But I think i know.

'Where is Jasver?'she almost whispers.

'He... couldn't make it.' I don't even want to think about it.

'You left him like you do with everyone. And then you said horrible things, didn't you?' Nalani looks sincerely miserable. I don't want to answer, too scared for her reaction. But then a soldier walks up to us.

'Your armor is ready.' he looks tired, everyone does. I go in the cave without looking at Nalani. She doesn't need my answer, she already knows it. Everyone is doing something, preparing food or cleaning weapons. I feel everyone's eyes on me, knowing that the reason is because of my servant chloting. While walking and looking straight forward I say: ' Jasper is dead. And burn the clothes I have on.'

I find a spot where no one can see me and change my clothes. The heavy, black armor feels familiar. When I am ready I hear a man talking to his friends.

'I don't like it when she gives us orders, she abuses her power. She is only needed during a battle, not right now. You can see that she enjoys the power.'

'I agree brother, she is only eighteen, just like the sergeant.' ,says another soldier.

'But we all know that sergeant Nalani is way better than the draco domitor, she cares about us.' ,says the mapmaker.

I get a lump in my throat. Let them say what they want, they will never know my love for the dragons and to the this country. They will know my worth when I show them how I burn the castle to the ground and they will praise me, they will fall on their knees and shout my name and title. I look at the group who were talking about me. Idiots. I walk past them and pretend like I didn't hear them. I will put the soldier who started talking about me in the front during the attack, and the mapmaker will
be punished later. I need to speak with Nalani. I find her talking with general Hellion Kalon. He is around fourthy years old, but still looks handsome. Then he looks at my way. 'you're back draco domitor.'

'Yes, sir. I got the necklace and will put it in the chest.' i say with confidence. Mt eyes reach out to Nalani, but she talks with the a soldier.

'Show it.',he orders. I take the necklace of my neck and show it. The blue gemstone is rimmed with silver and it shines in the sunlight. General Kalon stares at it for a couple seconds. 'Very well, Tyrell.' Just as he wants to walk away, I suddenly remember my question before I got sent to the mission that only i could do. 'Sir, i have a couple of questions. May I ask?'

He looks at me annoyed. It is clear that he wants rest. to my suprise he says: 'let's talk about it privatly.' I look at Nalani for a moment and she smiles. why did I think she was mad? Nalani is never mad. But she has to be, I deserve it. I turn my back to her and follow the general.