We The Kings ( bxb completed)

Chapter 11

Early morning came. I found Daniel resting. I asked him to keep a close eye on queen Mavis and ensure her safety. I paid him extra and promised him a position as the head of the guard waiting for him when I got back. He agreed with no resistance.

I rushed to the stables at the peak of sunrise. Samuel was already there. I carried a heavy pack on my shoulder.

"Morning. Nice of you to show up." Samuel said.

"I'm ready."

"You're bringing all that?" He scoffed.

"Yes. Why?"

"You need to lighten your load. Hard to travel on horseback with a lot of stuff."

"Horseback? I thought we were taking a carriage?"

"Oh gods, I feel like I might've made a mistake already." Samuel moaned.

"What do you mean?"

"We will each be riding one horse. No carriage. Do you know how to ride a horse?"

"I've had lessons."

"Lighten your load, I'll be back with two horses." He commanded. I did as he said. He came back with two brown horses, one with white speckles on his nose.

"We're not taking palace horses?" I asked.

"We'd be giving ourselves away if we were strutting around with fancy white horses with the palace seal. Think. If you're capable of doing so."

We then saddled up, and headed east. With our cloaks we covered ourselves as we passed through the kingdom. It was early morning and foggy. The ground was moist with dew. People remained in their homes, the town near our castle was silent. On the outside of the doors there were our kingdoms banner hung upside down. My heart sank.

"What are those banners doing on these homes upside down? Isn't that a sign of disrespect? In my country, it's disrespectful to change the banners in any way."

"No, quite the opposite. It means it's the home of a fallen soldier. The banner is placed upside down on their home to honor what they did for their country. Fighting a war they never wanted."

There were many flags pinned to doors that faced towards the ground. The war needed to end. I took a deep breath. This better work, I told myself. Samuel better know what he's talking about, or my kingdom will fall. Many more will die.

We passed through the town and made our journey out east. I pulled my cloak's hood down. We rode next to each other on the stone path.

"Where are we going?"

"We need three parts to assemble the dragon. The mind, the body, and the soul. First, we'll be searching for the soul. It is said to be located in the Drache Forest. The heart of the forest is the dragon's soul. We need to retrieve it."

"That sounds insane. You realize that, right? How do we get the dragons soul? We can't see souls!"

"We'll figure it out when we get there. It's not a bad thing to wing it sometimes."

"Is that something a king should really say? To just 'wing it'? I asked Samuel.

"I'm a new king, just like you. At least I know what I'm doing all on my own. Mavis does most of the work for you, which is for the best. She's a strong woman, unlike you who can barley go into town unnoticed." He said.

"Why do you always bring Mavis into this? Do you have feelings towards my wife?"

"Calm your shorts, I just admire her leadership skills. That's all. Best ruler I've seen in a good while. She'll do your kingdom and hers right."

"You're right. She doesn't need me." I galloped faster on my horse to get ahead of him.

"Zander, don't be foolish. You don't know where you're going." He sped up to me and caught to my level.

"Enough of this mistreatment then! Respect me, or I will not hesitate to turn back around and tell everyone about your lie." I snapped.

"I didn't lie. Nevertheless, I do need your help. I'll be less crude to you." Samuel said. His words sounded sincere.

"Thank you. How long will it take us to get there?"

"This is the closest one. About two days travel. The soul is in the forest, the mind is in the mountains, and the body is in the sea. We will be riding back to your kingdom on the fiercest dragon anyone has ever seen. And it will be loyal to us."

"How do you know all this?"

"In my kingdom, there is a legend that the last dragon's parts were scattered across the nations. I didn't believe it was real until I read about it in the library, and was given this scroll. It doesn't seem to make sense, I know. But when I touched it, I felt something. Like a spark of magic surging through me."

"Magic?"

"There's a lot of things in this world us mortals know little about. You have to be a believer if you want it to work."

"A believer? You sound like you just came out of a children's book."

"Fine, not a believer. But open minded. To the possibility there is a world much more colorful than this."

"I'll try to be open minded."

I knew it wasn't going to work. I may not have believed in dragons or magic, but I believed my people needed to be saved. I believed I needed to do something to save them.

We stopped for the night to let the horses rest. A bit off the path behind some trees is where we set up camp.

"I've never slept outside before. Do the bugs crawl on you from the grass?"

"Perhaps, but you'll get used to it." Samuel laid on the grass, his pack as his pillow. The horses munched on grass.

I itched, the feeling of bugs creeping on me made my skin crawl. I flicked them off my face in a panic. I heard Samuel chuckle as I heavily scratched myself.

"It's not that bad, Princey."

"How do you sleep like this?"

"You get used to it. I've done a lot of traveling."

"Can't we go to an inn? Or some place to stay? Anyone in my kingdom would allow us into their home or inn to sleep."

"We don't want to go noticed. Remember? If the enemies find out we're out on a mission unprotected, they will definitely try to ambush and murder us. Mainly, you. So get comfy, Princey. This is how we're going to be sleeping for a bit."

I rolled over and tried to sleep. Never have I ever had such an uncomfortable night of sleep before. My bones ached. The sun greeted us early in the morning.

"My back is killing me." I complained as I stood up.

"What do you want? A massage?" Samuel laughed.

"Don't tease me like that." I rubbed my neck.

We were off again, spent the entire day trotting along. My back felt stiff, and my legs became sore from the saddle. We passed through a few more villages on our way to the forest. Many flags were turned.

"Wow." Samuel commented. We were both thinking the same thing. Too many deaths. It wasn't fair.

"Samuel?"

"Yes?"

"It seems like it's getting darker outside, but it's the middle of the day. Why is the sky getting darker? Is it a storm?"

"No. We're getting closer to the forest."