The Dragon Curse

The Mission

I was walking around in the city and looking for Mark. I felt a bit nervous because humans were walking by me and I was afraid that I might get caught. All the while I tried to avoid water as much as I could because it would be disastrous if they find out who I am. Then I would be dead for sure.  As I walked through the crowded street I was paying attention to what people were talking about so that way I could find Mark.

"Did you hear? There will be an execution today," said a woman to another one and I was glad that I heard them speaking about it.

"Excuse me, do you know where are the captives held?" I asked as I stepped closer to them and they both looked at me with confusion.

"At the prison of course," said the elder one and she pointed down on the road. "Keep going that way and you will see. Why? You have someone kept there?"

"I'm paying a visit to him," I lied and the other woman shook her head.

"You won't get in darling. They don't let anybody in because of the execution," she said and I nodded in understanding.

I thanked both of them then continued my way down on the street. I had to hurry my steps if I wanted to get there before anything bad could happen. 

I took a quick glance upon the sky and above the clouds I could barely see Jack flying, following me. I soon saw a big building, surrounded by a channel. There were two big towers connected by walls and the only way you could get inside was through the drawbridge that went over the canal. At the gate, there were four soldiers protecting the entrance so nobody could get in easily. So now what? I felt like Mark was inside this building but I had to make sure. There was one way to get inside but it was dangerous and I didn't really like the method. I stepped closer to the guards and they looked confused because I was standing there for a while now.

"Move along." Said one of them and that was my moment because now they were paying attention to me.

I stepped up to them and quietly started singing to them. They slowly calmed down and their expression softened which meant I was inside their head. I was always scared of these songs because of the stories where mermaids basically killed humans with it especially sailors. And now I was here singing it to humans so I could get in. One of them turned around and opened a door beside the gate then let me in following me inside to make sure that I would get to Mark in safety. When the other soldiers saw us walking they looked at us questioned but neither of them asked anything. I walked calmly but inside I was getting nervous again. We went up to a staircase leading down and now I was sure that Mark was down there. I followed the stairs while the soldiers followed me and at the bottom of the stairs, there was another soldier, stopping us.

"What is she doing here?" asked the guard and I started singing softly again but this time the guard and the soldier following me fell asleep.

I saw a metal hoop with a lot of keys on it so I took it just to make sure. As I looked around it was clear that I was in the prison area and there were a few people in the cells. I went along the bars and looked into each cell before I found Mark in the last one.

"Mark," I said happily when I saw that he was alright.

"Amy?" he asked fearfully when he saw me and stood up from the floor to get up to the bars. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to save you," I said and his eyes widened.

"All alone?" he asked as he grabbed my hands.

"Jack and Evelien are here too," I said to calm him but he still looked at me with worry in his eyes. "They are waiting outside."

"You have to go. If they find you they will kill you," he said but I shook my head because there was no way that I would let him here.

"I'm not leaving without you," I insisted and now I was holding his hands.

"Amy..." he tried to argue but I interrupted him.

"This is not why I came here," I said and as I remembered the prophecy I felt my tears rolling from my eyes. "I saw as they were torturing you then they killed you and I don't want that to happen. I wouldn't be able to live without you."

As more tears were leaving my eyes I squeezed Mark's hands not wanting to let go of them. He took a deep breath when we heard somebody was coming down the stairs. I looked back at Mark then quickly grabbed the keys to go through them. I tried all of them one by one when finally I found the right one and could open the cell door. I was about to reach for Mark when suddenly somebody grabbed my upper arm and pulled me back away to push me on the ground. As I looked up I saw two soldiers were standing in front of Mark with their swords in their hands just looking at him. Mark quickly bent down to grab the other soldier's sword from the stone floor, before the two in front of him attacked him. Mark dodged both of them easily and he quickly ran up to me, helping me on my feet. As I stood up he was standing in front of me defensively to protect me. The soldiers turned to us and they attacked Mark again. Mark managed to cut the hand of one of the soldiers so he dropped his sword, while the other attacked again. Mark blocked the sword coming towards his face and slightly pushed the man back to be able to stab him. The soldier collapsed on the floor while the other one took his sword from the floor with his other hand, but before he could react Mark stepped up to him and hit him on his head with the back of the sword. The soldier collapsed beside the other and as soon he hit the ground Mark turned to me to grab my hand.

"Quickly, this way!" he said and he started running with me behind him, not letting my hand go for a second.

We were heading back upstairs as quickly as we could to avoid the soldiers, but as soon as we reached the ground floor we saw that at least twenty of the soldiers were waiting for us outside at the front gate, while another twenty started running towards us. Without hesitation, Mark started running again pulling me along with him and towards another staircase that led up into one of the towers. We took step after step but I heard as they were following us closely.

"Mark! They are coming!" I shouted and he pulled me towards him to switch places on the steps and turned around to face the soldiers coming up after us.

He raised his sword again and luckily for him the staircase was too narrow so only one of the soldiers could attack him at once. He slowly started pushing me backward as we took step after step, then I looked at the end where I saw a door. I ran up to it and pushed it open to exit the staircase. I was on the top of the tower. I still heard the sword rattling coming from the stairs so I tried to find a way out of this because Mark was alone against all of them. I looked up at the sky searching the clouds for Jack and Evelien, but I couldn't see them. I heard a loud thud coming from behind me which is why I turned around in fear, but Mark was holding the door closed then he quickly locked it. Unfortunately, it won't hold the soldiers back for long. He grabbed my hand again and pulled me up to the edge of the tower. We looked down and I suddenly felt dizzy as I was looking down at the ground below us that seemed too far away.

"Do you trust me?" Mark suddenly asked and I looked at him as he was gazing at the clouds.

I was confused at first... of course, I trust him, but why did he ask it in a worrying way? I wanted to answer when the door burst open and soldiers started running towards us. He grabbed my left hand tightly and looked into my eyes with more worry and fear.

"Do you trust me?" asked hurriedly and took a glance back at the soldiers getting alarmingly close.

Once his eyes were on me again, I decided that I didn't need to say anything. I quickly nodded squeezing his hand reassuringly and at that, we took a few steps back before we started confidently running towards the edge of the tower then my feet left the ground as I was jumping down from the tower with Mark into the canal below us. My heart was racing and I could only focus on the water below us and Mark's warm hand tightly holding mine as we were falling.