Dragon Diary

Entry 30: Gaelon's Power

Hello Diary,
I could feel the heaviness of the magic in the air, and could also taste it's bitter sweet tang. Tinnu stopped before a big closed door and snorted a greeting at two unicorn guards. One was on either side of the door standing at attention. Tinnu collected herself and swished her tail in slight annoyance to me still being on her back.

She cleared her throat and then spoke loudly, and I noticed, also bravely in front of these two unicorns. She must really be who she said, their leader. She was strong and seemed unafraid of my father's power all around her.

"My Lord... I have returned from my mountain patrols and... I have brought you a little prize... May I come in?"

Oh shit! She was talking about me. She wanted to hand me over to him, thinking it would give her some sort of hold over him.

Before my father could answer, or anyone could really do anything at all, I snarled in anger.

"Hey! I am not some prize to be handed off! I asked to come here, remember? No one owns me and I am not afraid to use my powers to prove it!" I stammered bravely, jumping down from her back. The clicking of my talons on the slate like floor echoed behind us down the hallway.

I felt brave, and maybe looked brave, but I still felt my heart race as I heard the deep rumbling growl behind the door. That growl that was too familiar. The door slowly began to open and it was all I could do to not shudder where I stood.

Tinnu was standing beside me, and as the huge black horned head appeared before us, she bowed her head low.

"He is right..." She hesitated, "I found him trying to climb the Ash Mountains. He would have fallen to his death without my intervention. I figured out who he was and thought you should decide what happens to him."

The glaring red eyes of the former dragon king shifted toward me and a snarl lifted on his lips. "You should have let him fall to his death then, why meddle?" His voice was sharp and Tinnu beside me quivered slightly at the anger behind it.

"And you..." He was addressing me. His voice cutting into me as if my heart would bleed. "Why would YOU want to come here? You are the whole reason I am in this damn mess. Oh... But you know that. I can see it in your sorrow filled eyes." His snarling voice showed his feeling of betrayal. I was trying my best not to cry. It would never do me any good with him. He wanted to see strength, not a weeping whelp.

"Father... I... I was mislead and lied to in order for the rebels to get to you. I did not know until the day they attacked, what their intentions had been. Kram lied about the poison... And Cand... He lied about his own death. I can not forgive an act so horrifying. It may be true that you are cruel and rash, but I do not think you have actually lied to me right out, and besides, for you it would have been expected."

He blinked and then he started laughing uncontrollably. His laugh filled the open building with a horrible rumble. I thought that it would bring down what little of the walls they had built. Surprisingly the shaky building stayed up, maybe with the help of his magic. I could smell it all around me.

"Rebel scum!" He roared. His anger showed when his red eye began to glow. I knew he still wanted to blame me for making him weak, hell I couldn't blame him.

I was surprised when Tinnu reared up, flashing her black feathered wings and stepping in front of me protectively. She muttered a spell and a glowing transparent shield surrounded both of us. My father turned his aggressive glare on her with a snarl.

"My Lord, I know that I signed up my clan for a lot of hardship by forming a deal with you, but I will still get to make a say. I changed my mind in letting you decide his fate, at least for now. We should put him in some sort of dungeon. What if he is valuable to the dragon king? We may be able to deal with them for one of your other magic books."

My heart skipped a beat again. The books of dark magic were dangerous, especially in the hands of my father. I thought he had left them all in his chamber that day. Maybe he had somehow kept one or two of them.

Something suddenly clicked to life inside my brain... The book that I had stolen and hidden in the Palace Gardens... It felt like so long ago that I had done it, almost forgotten. Maybe he had made me forget it until now, with his magic.

His eye flared and he gave me an evil grin, as if he was inside my head and saw what I had realized on my own.

"If... If you have the book... Teach me more magic. In exchange for spells and lessons I will help you build this fortress. I am okay with first using spells that I can use to help, like stone levitation. Cand used me to get to you... Now I am of no use to his kingdom. He has made all dark magic illegal. Kram was exiled right after you ran off. I... I left before he could tell me I shared the same fate. I do not want to go back. I have no life there anymore. The spark of desire left with you, father."

My speech was not all a lie. I did have a desire for magic that I could not control. I hoped that it was the only reason I still felt a connection to my father. After all he had done, and made me do, I wouldn't understand if what brought me here was love, I did not really know what real love was anymore.

Tinnu smiled and let go of her shield spell in the middle of my rant. Clearly she found out I did not need her to stand up for me. I needed no one. From now on, I was only going to do things I wanted to do, not what I have to do.

My father's hesitation to respond to my words made me snarl, as if I was not the size of a kitten beneath his head. Tinnu could not hold in her laughter. It was brief due to a glare from Gaelon.

"Hmm, it so happens that I do need help building my new home, our home. My condition to you is... One spell per week, and you work from sun up to sun down six days a week, helping our friends build these walls. If you ever try to send info back to Cand, your dead."

And so it was done. I was now working for my father in this foreign land. I would have been willing to use the death spell on the two guards, but luckily, he did not ask for any proof of my power. I guess if I had killed someone I cared about before, what use would threatening to kill a stranger do now?

So I am here learning magic again and wondering what's going to happen once I have had my fill of it, or had enough of my company here. They are like heathens.

(AN: Above is a song called Monster by Starset. I thought it fit well with this chapter. It's like Ruinar singing to Gaelon. Thanks for reading. What do you think will happen? Is Cand gonna find out what is going on in that valley? I may do the next one in his POV. Let me know what you think below...)