It Started With a Sword

Chapter 4

One morning, four days before the day of the feast, Scott walked into the stables, trying to find Lyla. Suddenly he heard his name called from behind him.  “Scott! Over here!” He whirled around to see Lyla peering out from behind a door that Scott had never noticed was there. She frantically motioned for him to come over.

“Father’s going out on a trip,” she said as soon as Scott was within earshot, “with his knights. And I think your father’s going with him, too.”

“Where? What about the feast? And why is that a problem?” Scott asked, confused by Lyla’s concern.

Lyla shook her head. “Apparently there’s a dragon that lives in the woods beyond the river. My father wants to go and kill it, or at least reason with it, so that it won’t come to the feast and hurt the guests. Not that that’s ever happened before. He plans to be back before the feast begins in three nights. Scott, I can’t let the dragon get killed! Dragons aren’t evil!”

Scott would have laughed, but he knew that Lyla was dead serious and that laughing would be a bad idea. “Um, okay,” he answered, “how do you propose we save this…dragon?”

Lyla shrugged. “I have no clue. I was hoping you’d come up with something.”

“Well, I don’t have anything. Not right now at least.” Scott sighed. “Sorry.”

“At least we have the rest of the day to think of a plan. They’re leaving tomorrow morning. At least, that’s what it sounded like when Father was talking.” Lyla sighed as she sat down on a hay bale outside a horse stall.

“Hold on, how exactly did you find this out?” Scott wondered, looking at her suspiciously. Lyla giggled nervously, looking up at the ceiling. “I might of discovered that the armor closet is next door to one of my father’s office rooms, and heard him and your father talking through the walls. And then I might have kept listening to find out what was going on. Just maybe,” she said, smiling at him.

“I see,” he replied, smiling at her in return. “It just might have happened?”

She nodded, giggling some more. “Yep!”

“Alright then,” he said, laughing and shaking his head at her. “Shall we get to practicing?”

They went into Lyla’s secret practice room and spent the next three hours practicing. The practice was quick and easy, as usual; Lyla was definitely improving with her sword skills, as was Scott with his archery.

“Can we go find Diana?” Lyla asked as they walked through the tunnels towards the castle. “Just so we can tell her about our fathers’ trip and see if she has any ideas.”

“I think that would be a good thing to do,” Scott replied, almost tripping over a stone in the ground. Regaining his balance, he continued. “She’s smart at those things. Coming up with plans, I mean.”

As soon as they entered the castle, they immediately went upstairs to the sewing room, where Queen Fiona, Queen Lydia, Diana, and several court ladies were sitting, preparing even more decorations for the feast. “This must be some kind of feast,” Scott whispered to Lyla as they stood in the doorway.

Lyla choked back a laugh as she approached her mother. “Mother, may I borrow Diana for just a bit? I need to show her something.”

The Alydarian queen nodded, smiling at her daughter. “Of course. Diana, go ahead with Lyla. Take as long as you want, don’t hurry back.”

Diana stood up and curtsied to both queens. “Thank you,” she said before walking to meet Lyla in the doorway.

As the three of them walked out of the room, Queen Lydia called after them, “I hope you’re staying out of trouble, Scott.”

He and Lyla glanced at each other, smiles on their faces, as he turned around to face the women. “Of course, Mother. Why would I ever be a nuisance? After all, I am your son.”

“Oh, Scott,” his mother said, rolling her eyes. “What am I ever going to do with you?”

He only grinned as he continued out the door, leading the girls down the staircase and to the armor closet. He let Lyla lead through the tunnels, though; as much as he refused to admit it, he was still a bit spooked by them.

This time, Lyla detoured them into a large, dusty room off to the side of the tunnels. “This is the guards’ old practice room,” she explained to them. “I figured it would be a safe place.”

“Alright then, what did you want to show me?” Diana asked, brushing off a barrel to sit on. Seeing the amount of dust, she grimaced before dusting off her hands, choosing instead to stand.

Lyla looked at Scott, then at the ceiling. “Well, it wasn’t so much show you than tell you.”

Diana sighed. “Alright then, what did you want to tell me?”

Scott cleared his throat and began to explain. “Lyla overheard our fathers talking about a quest there going to take tomorrow. Apparently King Stefan wishes to rid the Alydar from the threat of a dragon that might attack the feast, so he’s going to lead a group of knights to go reason, or maybe kill, the beast. And our father is going with him.”

“I can’t let him kill the dragon, Di, I just can’t!” Lyla exclaimed. “But I don’t know how I can go. Or how I can save him.”

“We were hoping you had ideas…” Scott finished.

Diana stared at them, then laughed. “Oh, you two. Well, you could talk to our fathers about it. I’m sure Father’s planning on making you go anyways, Scott. Lyla, you could just ask your father if you can go as well, just to be able to go on a quest. Your brothers are still too young.”

This was true; Lyla’s two younger brothers were much too young to be going out into the forest to consult a potentially dangerous dragon.

“Why don’t we do that, Ly?” Scott asked. “Talk to our fathers, I mean. The worst that could happen is King Stefan says no.”

She shrugged. “Sounds good. Thanks, Diana!”

“No problem, Ly,” Diana replied, at the same time Scott said, “I told you she had good ideas.”

The three of them laughed, then headed back to the castle.

Chapter 4! Please vote/comment :)