Morte, the lost Heir (ONC 2024)

4. The Medal

Aura woke up to her pillow, or rather the thing she was lying on, trembling. She sat up and saw Tobi and Sessom talking while Dupe changed into a human. This transformation was much faster and less interesting. It seemed like the dragon shrunk, and there sat Dupe with a disgruntled expression as if nothing pleased him.

"How is it that you're wearing clothes when you change into a human?" Aura inquired.

"That's a good question; I suppose it's part of the magic, but I'm grateful it's this way because imagine if I had to find clothes for myself as well..." Dupe adjusted his coat.

"If everyone's ready, let's get going. What do you think?" Tobi asked. "Sessom and I were thinking of getting a few things from the market for the journey, provisions, for example."

"It's okay, but not at the same place as yesterday; the chicken wasn't cooked well," Aura remarked.

"You ate quite a lot of it, though!" Sessom laughed.

The market wasn't as crowded as the day before; the vendors were beginning to display their goods. Aura quickly took advantage of the fact that the entrance to the temple hadn't been surrounded yet.

"I'll go into the temple; I'll be right back," she said, not waiting for the others to react.

The giant double doors opened surprisingly quickly. Inside, it was cool and musty, with a dim light from torches flickering on the walls. Colorful frescoes must have once adorned the ceiling, but now only dirty, shapeless smudges stared down at the girl. A thin priest peered out from behind the altar.

"What brings you here, my dear? Are you lost?" he murmured barely audibly.

Aura approached the old man, who emerged from behind the wall and scrutinized the girl with his hands folded behind his back. The girl felt somewhat intimidated as the old man stared too intensely at her fragile figure. Her long blonde hair was faintly illuminated in the dim light, and her blue eyes sparkled conspicuously. Among the elves at home, she didn't receive much attention; every girl looked like her. Here in the kingdom, she had to get used to being stared at for her beauty.

"I believe I'm in the right place. I'm a healer, or I used to be because I've been banned for 20 days. I came here to ask how I could develop my warrior skills. So far, I've only learned healing," Aura said.

The old man continued to smile as he inspected the girl further.

"My dear, if I were you, I'd wait out those 20 days. Go home to the elves for that time. It's not good for such a delicate little thing to be out here in the big world alone, especially without healing abilities; what good can come of it?" he shook his head.

"I've heard of healers who are also excellent warriors. I thought now would be the time to focus on that, too," the girl stubbornly insisted.

"Yes, you excel against the undead, but only against them. As you can see, this city has already begun its descent into decay. Every priest would rather leave for another city now that the king is so ill... and the kingdom's fate is so uncertain... I'm the only one who stayed. And in this, I cannot help..." the priest lowered his head, but he still gazed at the elf with his eyes.

"My friends and I are setting out to find Morte, and I'm afraid even so, they won't find any use for me..." Aura saddened.

But the priest seemed to brighten up.

"You know what? I'll help you. Wait here for a moment!" then he disappeared again behind the wall. Aura looked around perplexedly in the chillingly eerie place. She thought she saw shadows, but indeed, it was just the flickering light of the torches. Then, after a while, when the girl felt sure that the old man had just wanted to shake her off like this, she heard footsteps behind her. The priest, with a smiling face, held a heavy, metallic pendant on a leather necklace.

"Here, keep this well, and don't show it to anyone. Go to Goddar. There's one of my old disciples in the temple... I've even forgotten his name..." he started scratching his head. „Show him the pendant, and he'll know I sent you."

Aura squinted, trying to make out what symbols were engraved on the heavy metal.

"Trigor... that's his name, don't forget! Show it only to him!"

The little priest came too close, and the girl even felt his foul breath. She quickly stepped back, thanked him for the help, and hurriedly left. For some reason, she shivered at the sight of the old man's strange smile.

As she stepped out of the temple and squinted in the sudden light, trying to locate her companions, she suddenly saw Tobi running towards her, grabbing her arm, and hurriedly pulling her along. Behind them, Dupe ran, clumsily balancing with his wings, making sure not to run into the vendors.

"What happened? Why did we have to rush?" Aura asked when they crossed through the northern gate, and Tobi stopped to catch his breath.

"It seems we're being followed." the dwarf looked back. "Sessom was right, he asked too many questions about Morte. They spotted us, he noticed that black veiled figures were following us, and he just said to meet at the Dragon Valley entrance and ran."

"Why there?" Dupe shook his head.

"He can shake them off, right?" Aura worried.

"I think so, but it would be better if we didn't show ourselves in the city; they might have noticed us too," said Tobi, and they quickly headed towards Dragon Valley.

The area around Narig was filled with fields and forests, and as they moved further away from the capital, the stone road soon turned into a narrow dirt path. Along the way, beautiful blue flowers bloomed. Aura knew them; they were like those in her homeland, the elf village. She always marveled at them, thinking that only her homeland had beautiful landscapes while other areas were threatening and gray, as she had always been taught. But no, she encountered the same plants and animals everywhere. And so the world became more homely for her.

So, whenever she could, Aura admired the landscape; it was her favorite pastime. Tobi thought heavily about the heir while Dupe sighed loudly.

"I'm not going near Dragon Valley!" Dupe suddenly spoke up.

"We don't have to go in, just to the entrance. Relax. But what happened to you? Do your relatives live there?" Tobi inquired.

"Yeah, and I don't want to meet with them." the winged one replied.

"Are your relatives as beautiful dragons as you?" Aura joined the conversation.

"No, only I am like this. That's the problem. Only I am such a wonder bug. My whole childhood was spent with even my father looking at me sourly. He never accepted me."

„Poor you! Now I understand why you don't wanna be a dragon!" said Aura.

As they approached, it became increasingly common for them to hear wing flaps in the sky and dark-colored fire breathers flying overhead. The plants also changed; the trees became sparse, and their branches scorched.

Dupe didn't even look up to the dragons; he just forced himself to stare at the ground and hurried up.