Ember of Hope
Chapter 16

“Raegan” Nina yelled from the outer stairs of the fortress. Raegan turned around and narrowed her eyes against the bright sun, shading her eyes using a hand. Nina came running towards her, “Raegan, master Valiance said to ask you to meet him at the edge of the woods at sun down”. “Thanks Nina, I will”, Raegan smiled at her and headed towards the arena. She liked watching them train as both dragons and humans. But now she was also anxious for her meeting with Valiance because today he would be telling her about the war against Velar, and she liked listening to his stories very much.

She left for the woods before sun down because she couldn’t wait any more. And to her delight Valiance was already there. He tipped his head in greeting looking at her with amusement filled eyes, “I knew you wouldn’t be able to hold still until sun down so I hurried a little bit”. She shoved at his chest playfully, “stop talking and take me somewhere so that we can start the story. I can’t wait”.

“At your service milady” Val lowered his head dramatically. Raegan climbed at his back grabbing one of his horns at the nape of his neck. She shrieked with excitement when he took flight and Valiance clucked his tongue in mock admonishment.

If she were blind, she would never believe that she was talking to a dragon and not a human.

“Val” she called.

“Yes” he replied.

“The war took place 50 years ago, right?”

“Round about; yes”.

“So it means you were there too, weren’t you?”

“True”. Valiance knew what was coming.

He landed and she slid down his wing immediately, walked around him to come face to face. Her eyes full of excitement and… “You were there, you took part in it?”

“Yes, Raegan I did”.

“Wow man! So you’re a real life hero”, She continued dramatically, “tell me how it was Val – to fight in a war – and tell me everything. I want details”.

“Sometimes it’s hard to believe that you’re a grown up woman and not a five year old asking for a bed time story” Valiance teased.

She grunted, “Shut up and start already”.

“It was a very bloody fight.” He tilted his head in a challenge, “just so you know”

“Uh huh” she nodded as if it was no big deal for her.

“Ok so… We wanted to make a surprise attack on Velar so that they couldn’t gather their armies in time or send word to their witches. Witches were no longer allowed to live inside any dragon society because of their vileness. They were dark, used dark magic – blood magic, so we were better without them. A law was passed by the council according to which if anyone found a witch at your door step they were just in calling the council and it would end in a boycott of you from all other kingdoms, all the alliances would end and it wasn’t something any kingdom wanted. Witches lived in secret lairs of their own in the no man lands when they were kicked out of every kingdom. Even though we were sure that Velar’s witches weren’t banished, we still had the element of surprise o our side.

We had planned to attack the castle because all the generals and higher officials lived there at all times along with the castle guard. Attacking the town was out of bounds because we weren’t going to massacre innocent people. According to our Intel there were almost 250 warriors stationed at the castle as the castle guard. We took 300 warriors with us in case they got a chance to amass their forces. The only chance they could get was when we crossed the barrier to Velar and their watch towers would spot us and ring the alarms…”

Raegan raised her hand to stop him and asked, “Weren’t you cloaked?”

“Whenever you enter another kingdom the cloaking spell vanishes due to the magical barrier surrounding the kingdom. You can weave it back together once inside the barrier. But that small window is enough for the guard to spot you if they’re looking in the right direction. And there are spells that can detect when the barrier is disturbed”.

“Oh. That’s handy”. She seemed impressed.

“For their 250 warriors we hardly needed a 100 of ours because King Alexander had trained his men that good. But he wanted a clean sweep and to make an example out of Velarians so he took 300. We attacked in broad day light to counter their cowardice of attacking the king at night when he was alone, with an act of bravery.

When the guards of the watch tower saw us and hit the bell, we were already on our way to the castle. We saw them running out of their chambers. And… it was when I came in handy”. Valiance paused for effect. She didn’t disappoint as her eyes grew, brimming with excitement and reflecting her growing anticipation. He could tell by the to and fro motion of her body that she was picturing everything in her head. “And you saved the day?” she asked eagerly.

“Hold on girl, I’m coming to that. You’re impatient, little one”, valiance’s deep tone was full of amusement. He knew by now how very much impatient she was.

“My father is a venomous dragon” he continued, “one of the very few of his kind. His venom had the ability to paralyze within seconds of contact with skin or hide; even the hardest dragon hide stood no chance in front of my father’s venom. One of the most powerful dragons…my father. He was an asset to our militia.”

“So were you” Raegan interrupted, “you are one of a kind, badass dragon too. I mean seriously dude, you’re cool and look at you - you’re massive. Dimi is nowhere near your size. How big can you get anyway? People should tuck their kids under their arms and run when you’re in town”. She said, laughter lacing her tone.

“Am I that scary?” he asked with false hurt.

“Yes” he raised his head in indignation “No, I mean you’re a beautiful dragon and really nice too, once someone gets to know you but seriously dude don’t look at me like that. If you haven’t looked at yourself lately you’re not some fancy ass unicorn dude, you’re a big ass dragon who shoots lightening out of his ass instead of rainbows”. He laughed at her choice of words.

“What were you expecting me to say, oh look at you, you are so cute, you little mushy stuffy pooh bear?” he truly laughed then, scaring the hell out of any creatures nearby.