King of The Elves (Dragon Riders Chronicles)

Ball at the Gisha tree

Jurriaan walked into the kitchen the next morning feeling like crap. He had hardly slept the night before and wasn't eager to be leaving Rhonda's house so early. Rhonda and Addison were both sitting at the table sipping on tea. Addison was dressed in a loose fitting cream coloured shirt with tight black pants.

"What are you wearing?" Jurriaan asked as he sat down across from her. Addison frowned.

"Clothes. Do you have a problem?"

"You look like a boy."

"We're going to spend all day walking Jurriaan. You can't expect me to wear a dress all day. Do you know how heavy those things are?" Jurriaan looked down silently, knowing he'd lost the argument. Addison smiled widely and stood.

"We should be off."

"But I haven't eaten." Jurriaan protested. Addison ignored him and grabbed a brown leather jacket that had been on the couch. She held it out to Jurriaan, who took it and put it on quickly. Addison put on her own black leather jacket and grabbed the boots sitting by the doorway, pulling them on quickly.

"Put your shoes on while grab our packs." She said. Jurriaan did as she said, pulling on the boots Rhonda had left out for him. Rhonda looked at him from her seat at the table and laughed.

"You shouldn't argue with her Jurriaan. It won't end well."

"I'll be nice, if it means that much to you." He said cheekily.

"It does. Just make sure you look after her."

"Okay Rhonda, I've got it." He said. Addison walked back into the room holding to packs and a pair of swords, which she strapped onto her hips. Jurriaan grabbed the bag Addison held out to him and grabbed his own sword.

"Thanks for letting us stay Rhonda." Addison said before giving her a huge hug.

"We'll come back later, when we find him." She promised. Jurriaan opened the door and stepped outside. The sun hadn't risen yet, meaning the night creatures were still roaming. He say a small imp crawling around mushrooms and a treant stomping through the trees. Addison walked outside to meet Jurriaan, then turned back to Rhonda one last time.

"Be sure to tell Kale I said hello. So does Fane." She added, before closing the door behind them.

"Where is Fane?" Jurriaan asked her. Addison smiled and pulled an apple from her bag, then a knife from her boot.

"He's around." She cut a chunk out of the apple and handed it to him. Jurriaan ate the apple and looked around them.

"Which way?"

"There's a path behind the house that leads to Silas castle. We need to go there to get some help."

"From your sorcery friends."

"Not just sorcery. I know alchemists, wizards, warlocks, valkyries, enchanters, sirens, the whole shebang. We're gonna need help from the lot of them if we want to make it to the outskirts alive." They walked around the house and came to a stop at a thin wooden bridge that hung over a gorge so deep you couldn't see the bottom, it was just black. Addison and Jurriaan exchanged glances before she stepped out onto the bridge. The planks creaked under her weight, but the bridge held and she made it to the other side.

"Okay, you can come now." She shouted, signaling for Jurriaan to follow her. He walked across the bridge slowly, being careful where he placed his feet. The bridge seemed to hold his weight at first, but when he reached the middle, one of the planks snapped under his foot, causing his leg to fall through. Addison screamed in shock.

"Are you alright?" She called as Jurriaan pulled himself back up.

"Yea, I'm fine."

"Place you're feet on the edges of the planks, closer to the rope. It'll support your weight better." She called.

"Are you saying I'm fat?" He called back, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm sure it's all muscle." She said with a smile on her face. Jurriaan made it to the other side with not more trouble, much to Addison's delight. Jurriaan saw that the trail of wooden planks continued through the forest, though the planks looked to be in better condition and were clearly wider.

"Well, that was fun." He said sarcastically. Addison cut another chunk from the apple she was holding and smiled.

"Gosh, if I knew you found old, broken bridges fun I would have taken you to the alchemist camp we were going to go to."

"What's so bad about it?"

"They all live in tree huts that are connected by rope bridges." She said before throwing the apple core into the air. Fane suddenly jumped out of the trees and caught the apple in his mouth.

"Where are we going now?"

"There's a ball in the Gisha tree. The magician queen is allowing all with magical blood to attend. That's where we're going before we go to Silas's castle."

"How are we gonna get in?"

"My mother was a sorceress Jurriaan. I can get you in."