Prince of Dragons

Chapter 40 - Aftermath

"Arwund," Enorwin muttered in disbelief.

It was unmistakably Arwund. His red hair was even messier than usually, large parts of his clothing had been scorched, but it was him.

Darfith reacted quickly and breathed a bright cone of fire straight at Arwund. Enorwin's eyes widened in shock; he could feel the heat from where he was standing. Had Arwund even survived?

Then, however, Darfith ended the onslaught of flames and Arwund was in sight again; his clothes were on fire, but he was alive. The Dragon King swatted at the draconic human with his front claw, but Arwund leapt aside, surprisingly quickly. He stubbornly continued on his path, spear raised.

How was this happening? Where had Arwund's sudden determination come from? How had he even come up with the idea of attacking Darfith himself? How had he been able to evade Darfith's claw, to withstand fire as hot as the Dragon King's?

Some of the Servants began to move towards Arwund. They wouldn't make it in time. That much was clear.

Time seemed to slow down as Arwund leapt. He readied the spear. He took aim.

And then he thrust the weapon.

The tip of the spear disappeared into Darfith's body. Arwund let go off the weapon and landed on the ground.

The King let out a deafening roar that reverberated through the entire cave. Enorwin was sure it would be heard in Dracherwold. He covered his ears with his hands.

Slowly, the massive body of the once-mighty Darfith sunk to the ground. His roar grew softer, turning into a wailing sound a lot like that of a sad dog. He tried to breathe fire, but only a weak flame came out, followed by a few sparks and some wisps of smoke.

Enorwin saw Vaciana and Maréin appear from the same direction Arwund had come from. They ran towards their friend, who crouched down beside the dying Darfith. Maréin hurriedly took off his woollen cloak and draped it over Arwund, helping him extinguish the flames of his burning clothes.

The cave was silent, save for Darfith's wailing, which was growing ever softer. Servants and soldiers alike were looking at one another, unsure what to do. The Servants had lost their leader; the earl's soldiers had lost their main enemy and seemed almost just as shocked.

Enorwin searched the crowd for his father. He managed to locate him; the earl was still on his horse. The two made eye contact; the prince raised his eyebrows in question and the earl nodded a single time - permission granted. Enorwin quickly ran to join his friends.

"You killed him," he heard Maréin say. It was not a judgment; it was a statement.

"Not entirely," Arwund said vaguely. He grabbed his dragon pendant and began to fumble with its tail. He squeezed it, then turned it to the left and them to the right. The tip of the tail came of. Arwund held the pendant in his left hand, his right hand hovering below it. A transparent liquid dripped out of it.

"What's he doing?" Enorwin asked Vaciana.

"No idea," she whispered.

The drops formed a small ball in Arwund's hand, which seemed to harden. The draconic human shook the dragon pendant, a few last drops coming out of its tail and joining with the larger ball. Then, he carefully put the ball on the ground and screwed the tip of the tail back in place. He picked up the ball again and got to his feet, his eyes focused on Darfith.

Did he even register his friends?

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Arwund picked up the crystal and got to his feet, wrapping Maréin's cloak tightly around himself. Appearing completely focused, he walked towards Darfith's head. Maréin decided to follow him at a distance; Vaciana and Enorwin did likewise.