Lohikäärme: The Dragon's Descent (Revised)

Chapter IX - Those Against the Prophecy

Chapter IX - Those Against the Prophecy

It had only been days since I had become part of the kinship, but it felt like years. I missed Mother's voice and Father's arms and the physicker's visit every fortnight. The physicker. He was the only part of my life back home I could've been with until now, if only he didn't...

I could still remember his wheezing voice as he urged us to run and save ourselves. I left the dragonswood without him and left him for the...for them. I was as much a monster as Daree was. But how could Daree saunter around the castle as if the weight of her guilt didn't hurt her back?

Think of Father, Safia. He'd tell you not to worry yourself with such thoughts. Think of Mother. She'd tell you that these thoughts would only hurt you. Maybe they lived happily now. They were relieved of their greatest burden. Maybe they returned to our old home. Maybe Father wasn't a fisher anymore, and Mother didn't stay at home all day. Maybe they reunited with their friends, or their parents, their old family whom they left because of me. I missed them so much. I knew they were happy now, but I wanted to be with them again.

Yes, it had only been days, but so much had happened. Now I was part of the kinship that would welcome these two old men.

"You ssseem fond of that necklaccce," said Remekiah.

My hand darted away from my necklace as if the trout had tried to bite my finger.

"Arise, Arkady of Aethelgard," said Magister Elfreda, "and be welcome to our kinship."

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

Blinking, I looked around at the applauding crowd. The sight of the Ascension Hall brought unwelcome memories into my head. This was where I formally left home and swore to stay here for good. I wiped the tears off my cheeks before anyone raised any questions about it. Stroking my necklace one last time, I tucked it underneath my collar and stood up as the people began to leave.

"Have I given you leave to run back to your life of gossiping and ?" the fire magister screeched.

Kosh must be in severe pain, sat so close to Magister Elfreda. I could nearly see her stiffen at the head magister's shrieks, stifling a whimper.

As soon as all of us sat back in our seats, Magister Elfreda paced across the dais and continued, "A beast has its slit-like eyes on us, its claws craving for our blood. From icy mountains of the Range, it descends across the Snake Sea and makes for the lone castle. But only a foolish beast would believe that it could swoop down and take the prophesied girl from the castle alive. We will only leave them be after we take their heads off!"

The crowd roared. "Take their heads off! Take their heads off! Take their heads off!"

Gooseprickles rose from my arms and legs. These people shouted their desire to kill me. But even if they didn't kill me first, the beast Magister Elfreda spoke of would take me and probably eat me.

"Sssafia," Remekiah hissed from beneath my collar, his voice muffled by my dress, "you shouldn't have told him to read more about you. Now they'll find you in daysss. We have to be gone before then."

No. If Master Cato found out that I was the prophesied girl and told the High Council, I wouldn't be sitting in the Ascension Hall surrounded by these people. Maybe they knew about the prophecy long ago.

"Aethelgard bows down to no fate," the head magister shouted, her voice booming in the room, "to no prophecy told by stupid fortune tellers. We will weave our own path!"

"We will weave our own path!"

"No!"

Silence fell in the room. Everyone's eyes were on one of the old men who ascended into our kinship moments ago.

Arkady rose from his seat, palms on his wobbling knees, and spoke. "It is unwise to speak so surely about the morrow, more so about what lies farther ahead. Might be the fortune tellers tell true. Nobody knows."

"Treason!" people shouted from behind me.

"We should respect everyone's beliefs," his friend added, standing up, "not kill them for being different. Isn't that what this castle stands for? The freedom to be different without being hanged or stoned for it?"

"Treason! Treason! Treason! Treason! Treason!"

Life was so precious. The new kinsmen were right. Nothing could justify murder, murdering kinsmen even more so. Had the magisters announced this when I ascended into the kinship, I might have been in Arkady's and his friend's slippers. I turned to Koshka, silently asking her what was to happen, and saw a girl devoid of emotion, Koshka the Left Hand. The High Council didn't seem to turn away from those who do not do as they command. I could testify to that. But could they do that in front of all these people? I had to...I had to do something.

"Don't tell me you're going to ssstand up for the old men."

I narrowed my eyes at Remekiah and muttered, "You say that like it's such an evil thing." And they believed against killing me and the beast who would take me from this castle.

The snake chuckled, his little head sticking out of my collar. "It'sss more ssstupid than evil, I'll give you that." Then he crawled back beneath my dress.

Our kinsmen chanted, "Treason! Treason! Treason!" as I thought of a plan. I could try to help them escape and live with the common people, keeping their talents a secret. No, one of these people would see us leaving the castle. I had to speak to them directly. I should stand up and reason with these people. We had just welcomed these men into our family. If executing people was acceptable for them, they should at least give these men time to be accustomed to the castle's beliefs.

A good plan, this was. All that was left to do was to follow it through.

But I'm...I'm scared.

"Her tongue's in that bag, I'll wager."

"Pretty li'l stutterer."

My nails dug into the skin of my knees beneath my dress, tears staining my dress. I wasn't mute. I wasn't really a stutterer, either. I was just...I was just...a coward.

The physicker. Think of the physicker, Safia. Save these men to pay for what you did to the physicker.

Magister Elfreda's braided hair bounced as she spun and faced the Arkady and his friend. "You wouldn't be stoned or hanged for having a different belief."

A lopsided smile crept onto Magister Mitena's face. But the smile disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

"Off with their arms and legs!"

I'm such a coward. The worst kind of coward.