Dragonborne

Chapter 7

I climbed off by Levi's back, I take a few steps backwards to take in the full view of Levi the Dragon.

Serpent-like with wings, and legs. That's to sum it all up. A graceful creature with the color of blue, getting darker as it goes nearer the belly. Levi turned his Dragon head towards me. His neck was quite long so he had dip down his head to look at me. He stretched his dark wings and burst into flames.

When the flames subsided, he was Levi again.

"Warn me the next time that you'll make me jump off a tall castle." I said. I looked around and saw that we were on some clearing at the middle of the woods, sunlight was barely going through the tall trees. "Where are we, anyway?"

"At the woods between Dragonfang and the Dragonheart." A shadow detached itself from the looming trees. It was Alyse. "And we do meet again, very soon I told you, right?"

I went over to her and gave her a hug. "Looks like your intuition was as strong as ever." I said, looking at Levi and back to Altse. "But how..."

"She..." Levi was sitting on a log as he contemplates the right word. "...harassed? I believe so, she did, on my way to the way to the Palace."

I raised an eyebrow at Alyse. "Was this before or after we met?"

"Before, actually." Alyse replied. "When I walked with you to the Palace it was a signal that it is you whom he should approach."

"Clever." I turned to Prince Levi. "So, where do we go?"

"West of here," Prince Levi whistled and three horses galloped out from the nearby woods. "A small town called Haemo." One was chestnut while the other was roan. "Take this one. You do know how to ride a horse, right?"

"Of course she does." Alyse said, she was already mounting a black horse. "She first mounted a horse while we were playing tag. She was just six, then."

I mounted the roan, it was already saddled so I just simply hoisted myself up on its back. "Lead the way." I told the Prince.

"You know," Levi said. "For a young lady abducted by a Dragon, you're surprisingly calm."

I looked at him to see if his question is a serious one. "The people gathered on that table were more keen on simply discussing my case." I started."I saw that your plan goes beyond discussion so you can think that I was a willing victim of abduction."

"And you're not the first willing victim" Prince Levi moved in front of both us and Alyse, ready to lead the way. "A lot of women out there would like to be kidnapped by me-"

"Do not flatter yourself." I said, exasperated. "I saw you only as means to achieving an end. Let's move."

And we started moving west, towards the setting sun.

-oOo-

We followed the dirt road towards wherever Prince Levi is taking us. Our trip was dominated by silence ever since it began a half hour ago. No one even attempted to try a conversation.

I was starting to think that our trip would be uneventful when Levi suddenly stopped and dismounted.

"We were going here?" I said. "What's so special about this side of the road?"

"Bandits." Levi replied, with a frustrated look on his face. "How did I not sense them." He unsheathed his sword and brandished it towards the bushes by the outskirts of the woods we were traveling along. "Show yourselves."

It took a moment before a gang of five men emerged from the bushes Levi was facing. Another three emerged from the opposite side. They had us flanked.

"Give us your riches and you'll leave unscathed." One man who had the lower half of his face covered with cloth said.

"We don't have any." Levi declared. It was actually true.

"Do not try to trick us." The same man said. "That young lady on the roan horse is the Young Lady Corvette, daughter of the head merchant family. So, yes, you do have riches if she is riding with you."

"Well," I said. "It seems that the news hadn't spread yet." I calmly dismounted and faced the bandit. "You see, my parents were murdered last night and we're on our way to apprehending the culprit. We do not have riches, I do not have riches, so please allows us to be on our way."

The bandit hesitated. "N-no..." he stammered. "You think you can tr-"

He stopped talking as with one flick of my hand, as I sent a dagger to his throat. "I'm sorry, but I don't take no for an answer, right Alyse?" The bandit falls on the ground, clutching his throat. I heard Alyse chuckle.

"You've been practicing, huh." She said. I nodded in reply.

The robe that I'm wearing was the one that I bought the day before at the clothing shop at Dragonfang. Last night, as I was checking it, I found alot of places to hide daggers, and even a sword, so this morning I already placed my throwing daggers in it. My father insisted that I learn fencing and throwing daggers.

Levi was surprised at me killing the bandit, I gave his questioning look a non-chalant shrug as a reply. Then he faced forward and cut down another bandit who was already moving towards him.

I turned to the other three on the other side of the road. I blocked a dagger with my saber. Thanks to the hidden sheaths in the robe, I was able to draw it quickly. I knocked the dagger aside and thrusted my saber forward, piercing the bandit through the right lung.

Sabers aren't really used in battle as they only do shallow and ineffective wounds when used to slash. But with fencing training, using the tip of the saber, which is the sharpest part of the blade, is as easy as using a key to unlock a door.

I pierced the last bandit's windpipe, the bastard was dead even before I got to turn away from him. I turned to check on Levi and Alyse, thankfully, they both seemed okay. Levi was standing, catching his breath, and surrounded by four corpses. A single bandit was running down the road, throwing away his mace. I readied a dagger but magic proved to be quicker because as the dagger was just settling into my hand, the bandit already burst into flames.

"Nice going, Lady Corvette." Levi said, sheathing his sword. "Honestly, I never thought-"

"It's fine," I interrupted. I wiped my saber on the dead bandit's shirt. "You did great, too. So don't feel bad." I said, smirking.

"I killed three of them." Levi said, sounding almost defensive.

"So did I."

"I guess it's a tie, Lady Corvette."

"If you want to call it that." I mounted my horse again. "And call me Feyre, Young Prince."

"Fine," he said, going over to his horse, "but I did tell you to only call me Levi. Same goes for you, too." He was addressing Alyse.

"One of those bandits knew basic magic and has already alerted whoever he alerted." Alyse said. "We should move now and get as far away from here as possible."

"We still have to erase our tracks." Levi protested.

"I'll take care of it, Levi." Alyse said sternly. She muttered quickly and the corpses burst into flames. "There. Now, let's move."

As we continued on our way, I noticed the spot where the bandit who was running away got burned, on the spot were only ashes. I noticed Levi looking at it too.

Looks like we have a powerful witch alongside us.