A Tale of Blood and Dragons

Chapter 2

"The lake of Dorwea is steadily losing water, and I fear that we will experience a drought this summer."

I sweated profusely as a few strands of brown hair in my face obscured my eyesight despite the fact that it was a cool morning.  I set down the wooden sword, stopping the sound of wood hitting against one another and turned to the leader of the below tiny village, Reyne, who had a visibly long white beard.

I told Thalea, whom I frequently spar with, "You may leave." As I left the training fields, I wiped my face with a white cloth to remove the sweat. We walked into the hall with his footsteps following behind me. From where we were, roaring voices of authority, the sound of wood and metal clapping against one another, could be heard. "It is quite early in the morning for you to come with your report, Chief."

The only access point to the Ahkar mountain, where the Breach was located, which was formerly a town by the sea, is the fortress of Ravaryn. Since the chaos of underdwellers destroyed the town of Greywald 100 years ago, the refugees have been brought into the fortress, and some of the villagers have since been trained by the old Thorian warriors—brave men who battled alongside our ancestors against those monsters. They had not moved far and founded a new town just below the fortress and it became their permanent home. There hasn't been any underdweller attack, but because the area of The Breach is rich in minerals and gold, thieves frequent the area. On occasion, large gangs of thieves even attempt to rob the people.

"There has never been an incident such as this, my lady."

I dared not move because of what I had just heard, as if he had just told me something dreadful, "Never?"

He looked down, evidently avoiding my attention, "It has been our main source of water ever since, and the people are worried." I shook my head in response to an unexpected notion and said, "I'll send some men to look into the situation; for the time being, we'll get our water from the nearby rivers."

"Do you mind if I ask a question, my lady?"

The question "What is it?"

"The Arthwen palace will be your new residence. I was wondering how the fortress would be run after the wedding."

I replied, "It may be that we will stay in Ravaryn after the wedding; it will not be long before I come back in here; until then, I will entrust the fortress to you and Juill." After the wedding, I don't think the prince and I will stay that long in the palace to have an intimate time together.

After he had left, I rushed into my chambers to change my clothing. It never left my mind that the large lake has been starting to dry up; no matter how hot or what drought we had faced, it has never been so tremendously affected.

"My lady, your bath has been prepared." Mariel walked up into the room, I set the thought aside for the rest of the day. I must not be distracted for today.

The day was early, but inside and outside of these walls were already wide awake. I now have to leave for the palace, which requires two weeks of travel. The wedding is only three weeks away, and I am afraid I will spend these remaining nights sleeplessly before I will have to completely commit myself to my husband as a wife and nothing else.

"Take turns for night and day watch and have the others stroll outside the walls at night." I could overhear Juill ordering other soldiers as I was walking down the hallway.

"My lady."

"I entrust the entire fortress to you, Juill."

He bowed her head, "Bear no worries."
Stern as he was, the man who leads the soldiers in the fortress was the sole man I could depend on in managing the place, he used to be my father's guard—if it wasn't for the man, the fortress would have probably be crumbled to pieces by those who wanted to take over it.