Prince of Dragons

Chapter Thirty-One

Things, unfortunately, were not looking good. The place we had stumbled upon, one that used to be Alaban's home...well...it seemed abandoned. The streets—if you can call overgrown dirt walkways streets—were empty, and there was an eerie quietness in the air that had a shiver darting down my spine. Some of the houses remained upright and pristine...but there were a couple that appeared charred, as if someone had set them ablaze then felt bad after the home was already half burned.

Feeling a bit on edge and worried for Alaban, I glanced at the sun dragon in question to gage his reaction—only to realize he had steeled his face. His eyes grazed over the abandoned land, and my heart clenched with sympathy for the other man.

We had gone on this entire journey to find his people, only to find they had abandoned what once was there home.

Or well...abandoned, or pushed out?

He had mentioned they had been attacked in the middle of the night, and while Alaban had been separated from his people, I had doubts that anyone would have wanted to stay after their safety was compromised.

So, where did they go?

I pulled out of my head and watched Alaban climb off his horse to inspect one of the charred building closest to us.

I followed suit and stepped over to him with a heavy heart as he placed an onyx colored hand on the charred wood. "Was this your home?" I wondered quietly, hoping I wasn't overstepping a boundary.

Alaban inhaled deeply and briefly glanced at me. "Once," he muttered, before stepping inside.

I personally flinched when there was a heavy whining in the wood from Alaban's weight, so I could only watch from the sidelines as he disappeared inside, hoping that the building didn't collapse on him.

"Sad."

I blinked and glanced over to Narvi, who stared at the charred building Alaban entered with a frown, before those light blue eyes flickered to me. "Sad," he repeated, nudging his head in Alaban's general direction.

I nibbled at my bottom lip. "Yeah, I know. I...I would be too, were I to find the place I grew up in, in such a condition." I sighed and rubbed at my eyes. "I hope he is able to find some clue as to where they could have gone. Wait, Narvi, don't go in there!" I groaned as Narvi disappeared inside the building, and took a moment to silently pray that the building wouldn't fall on us as I also made my way inside.

The interior, thankfully, did not seem as badly charred as the outside, which made me feel slightly better about being in here. And I took a moment to peek around what appeared to be a living room—with a small table with two chairs placed in front of a small fireplace. There was also dead plants near the windows, forgotten in the attack. There was another table that was slightly larger, pushed against another window, with a couple crudely made chairs, and a bunch of charred papers displayed across the surface.

Curious, I made my way over to see if I could read what they said. A couple of them seemed to be inventory reports, while the others were so smeared and damaged that I couldn't even make out a single word.

My heart growing heavier and heavier, I followed a small hallway to a couple of doors. One of them was already open, and one peek inside had me seeing Alaban sitting on the small, messy bed, with his head in his hands, while Narvi sat on the floor by his feet, sadly staring at the other man.

I walked over to him and sat down, not quite touching him, but providing a comforting presence. Or well, I hoped he perceived it as comforting, anyway. The silence was thick, and I wasn't quite sure how long we had sat there when Alaban finally stood up, inhaling deeply.