Prince of Dragons

Chapter 42 - Opportunities

In between the trees, Arwund could see the Servants' army camp.

There was a good number of guards patrolling at the borders of the encampment. Arwund tried to hide behind trees and rocks as much as he could, lest they would spot him too soon. At the very least, he wanted a chance to address the guards before they could kill him.

He'd put on the clothing Bedreigh had brought a bit earlier. He was hiding the crystal containing Darfith under his grey woollen cloak. He'd reasoned it might be of use in convincing the Servants to listen to him. It felt surprisingly warm in his hand.

And so, step by step, tree by tree and rock by rock, he approached the camp. He could hear his heartbeat.

Would he survive this?

His parents came to mind. He didn't remember their faces all to well: it had been more than fifty years since he'd last seen them. But the people who appeared before his mind's eye right now were unmistakeably his parents. His father Marhold, a muscular, brown-haired man with a beard, and his mother Adalbrune, whose red hair Arwund had inherited. And in his imagination, they were smiling.

He breathed out. This was what he was supposed to do. He knew it.

He moved towards another rock and crouched down behind it. He was rather close to the guards now. As soon as he got out of hiding, they'd see him.

He produced the crystal and held it in both hands. Inside of it, he saw a tiny blue light.

"First you kill me and now you dare show up at my Servants' camp," the crystal suddenly said softly. The voice was metallic.

"Darfith?" Arwund whispered.

"Indeed," Darfith responded. "Do not think I will aid you in your doomed attempt at becoming Dragon King. You are a usurper."

"I don't expect you to help me," Arwund responded, careful not to be heard by the guards. "If you want to stay silent, then stay silent. But do bear in mind that your Servants have probably never seen this kind of crystal before. They won't know you're in here as long as no-one tells them."

"I could order them to kill you," Darfith said. "They'd obey."

"Do you know how your mind can be freed from that crystal?" Arwund asked.

"That is a possibility, then," Darfith said.

"It is," Arwund affirmed. "And after I talked to Wainur – who happens to be alive in some form, by the way –, I found that I'd learnt how to free someone from a Life Crystal. With my help, you could possibly get out of there one day. Without me, it would probably be a lot harder to do so. So the choice is yours."

Darfith growled; due to the mechanic echo of the Life Crystal, the noise sounded odd.

"Good," Arwund said. "Time for action."

He took a deep breath - Don't think too much - and got to his feet.

They spot him instantly.

"HALT!" the guards shouted, hurrying towards him. Arwund had heard that word quite a few times throughout his life - both from city guards and from people arresting him -, but never with this hatred. The guards had obviously recognised him as the man who'd slain Dragon King Darfith. They wanted him to pay for killing their leader, for taking away their hope for a better future.

They didn't know that hope hadn't necessarily been lost.

Keep calm, Arwund told himself, try to appear confident.

He raised his arms, the crystal containing Darfith clearly visible in his right hand. He stood still, waiting for the guards to reach him.

He was quickly surrounded. The guards were wielding spears, each of which was pointed at him now. Their eyes were seething with hatred.