James

Chapter 14: James

The next morning, I woke to no sunlight in the room and Sarah still sleeping, I walked downstairs and started to cook breakfast when a knock came to the door. I calmly walked over to the door and swung it open to see a heavily cloaked man, who showed no skin not even in his face. 

"Hello, may I help you? You do realize that it is like 5:30 in the morning, right?" I asked. 

"I do realize that and you can help me. If you'd like to know how, meet my blade!" The man said, pulling a sword from behind his back and swinging for my head. 

I quickly dodged to the right behind the door and slammed the door on the man's sword, hearing the wood crack, I, then, sprinted upstairs and slammed that door shut as well. Sarah bolted upright and said, "What's going on? What happened to you? You look like you've seen a ghost." 

"Well, sadly, no ghosts, but get your gear on someone is attacking us. Stay up here, but have your gear on in case something happens to me." I said, then proceeded to put on my gear, and head downstairs to see that nothing was damaged, not even a crack in the door was present. 

I searched around for a while to determine if there was anything to be found, any leftover wood splinters, something that would prove that I wasn't cracking under pressure. Then came another knock on the door, this time Sarah came down the stairs, so if I was going crazy then so was she. I walked over to the door a little more cautiously this time around, and as I opened the door the same heavily cloaked man stood there. 

"James, are you ready to die, now?" He asked. 

"As long as there is someone or something to live for, I am never ready to die." I said, the threat clear in my tone. 

"Then, I suppose, it comes down to a fight, one I assume you knew was coming?" He questioned. 

"Of course I expected it, and thanks for replacing my door." I said. 

We, then, raised our swords and prepared ourselves for this fight and Sarah knew she could only intervene if my assailant decided to deliver a killing blow. For the next few minutes all that was heard was the clashing of steel and the grunts of the men who swung them. At the end of the fight one man was at the end of the other man's sword. 

"Tell me who you are and I may spare your life, or at least make your death quick." I said, the point of my sword hanging centimeters from the other man's throat. 

"Well, I suppose there's a first time for everything, and life always does throw unexpected turns your way." He said. 

"Tell me who you are." I threatened. 

"Calm down, I'm no enemy, I just thought I would test how strong my family blood runs through your veins, and boy does it run strong, you see sword-fighting is in our veins. Our blood is of kings, and not just any king, King Arthur." The man said. 

"Wait, so your saying that you're my father?" I asked. 

"Yes, and I know you are confused as to why I wasn't there to watch you grow up and see you meet this beautiful woman, that I can see you love very much, but just know that everything I did was so you could grow up and do all of the things that you wanted to do. I protected you and your mother secretly, even if I failed this last time." My newly found father said. 

"You have no right to call me or my mother yours, we never saw you after I was born and due to that fact I had to grow up thinking that Leon was my father and then learn that the man who raised me was evil? Yeah, you caused all of that and what do you mean except for this last time?" I asked. 

"Oh, you don't know yet do you? You're mother is dead, she died three weeks ago. I'm sorry, Leon broke into your house at 12:00 a.m. and slit her throat." My father said. 

"What? Please tell me you're lying." I said, tears brimming the edges of my eyes. 

"James, I'm sorry, but he's not lying, your mother is gone. I'm so sorry, but it's true." Sarah said, using her magic to see if he was telling the truth. 

I spent the rest of that day upstairs in Sarah and I's room crying, as I would do many times over the next three years that we waited for our dragons to hatch. The only thing that brought joy to me was the kid that Sarah gave birth to nine months after arriving in Atlantis. And in that time we taught the Atlanteans how to fight and use magic. We also helped them defend their city from mermaid attacks, and built up their defenses, like their walls and wards. They in return helped us the whole time we stayed including when I just broke down and started crying randomly. Those three years were quite productive, and not only for us.