Firedrake the Firelord

Chapter 18

"Wait!" I yell desperately. I really don't want him to come with me.

He raises his eyes expectantly. I scramble for an excuse for him not to come.

"I-I," I stammer. "I don't have any food. I don't want you to feel like you have to share with me or hunt for me."

Sam looks surprised at my excuse.

Idiot! He didn't buy it!

"We can just stop back at my house and get some food for you," he replies.

"No," I answer. "I couldn't."

"Why not?" he seems offended.

"I'm sure your family needs it more than I do," I say sincerely.

I'm sure they probably do. The Skylord villages are not very wealthy. Food is very precious to them.

Sam just laughs at my response. "Don't worry, Princess. I'm sure my parents will be fine."

Princess, princess, princess. The word triggers a memory deep inside my head. I try to pull it into my mind, but I can't. Like last time, the memory feels important. What did I forget?

Shaking off the feeling, I follow Sam to wherever he thinks his parents will have food to spare. The walk starts off in a silence. Personally, I like the silence. Unfortunately, I don't think Sam does. He starts to ask me questions.

"So, where are you from?" he asks me. "Obviously you are an Earthlord, but what village?"

His words hang in the air. Obviously you are an Earthlord. Obviously, Earthlord. Earthlord, Earthlord, Earthlord. Am I an Earthlord? It feels wrong on one hand. On the other, though, the label feels correct.

"Um, I lived in the Eastern Village," I finally answer.

"Lived?" he inquired.

"Lived," I confirm.

"What do you mean by that?" he asks.

"I'm not completely sure," I admit. "All I know is that I'm on a journey. I don't remember where I'm going or why."

Sam opens his mouth to reply, but there is a crash behind us. I whip around and see that Shane dropped something. I also see that he is carrying everything they brought to the clearing. I rush over to pick up whatever he dropped. It looks like a medallion of some sort. It's silver with a symbol in the middle that I can't really see. I place it in Shane's open hand.

"Why are you carrying everything?" I ask him.

"It's his job," Sam replies.

Shane only nods.

"Come on, Princess," Sam says. "We are almost there."

Princess, princess, princess. There is that feeling again. I do my best to ignore it and listen to Sam ramble on about all the things he's done and places he's gone. To be honest, I don't listen to any of it. All I can think about is the memory and Shane.

What did Sam mean when he said it's Shane's job to carry everything? That seems like a cruel job. And how do Sam's parents afford it? It's a little too much for me.

I slowly retreat back to where Shane is walking. Sam is so conceited that he doesn't even realize that I'm not next to him. I roll my eyes at this.

"Why do you have to carry all of this stuff?" I ask Shane quietly.

"Like Sam said,"  he replies, "it's my job."

I purse my lips. "Why? How does he have enough money?"

"He-" Shane is interrupted by Sam yelling my name.

I sigh and walk back up to join him.

"We're here," he says.

We walk into a village. The tents have holes and are very shabby. They aren't more than six yards either way. All the people are wearing old clothes with holes. Everyone has grim expressions. Especially the kids. It breaks my heart to see them like this.

I notice that almost everyone is staring with pure hatred at Sam. That's when I also notice that Sam is wearing much better clothes. His don't have holes and are much brighter.

I open my mouth to ask him about it, but he beats me to it.

"Welcome to my home," he says.