Ember of Hope
Chapter 17

Night was falling fast and they hadn’t even noticed it was almost dark. Valiance unfurled his wings but before he could say anything or stand up Raegan snapped, poking a finger in his chest she said, “Don’t you dare think about leaving me hanging again. I won’t be able to sleep at all. Today either you complete the story or you stay here all night, I don’t care. But we aren’t going anywhere until I hear the end of it”.

He released a long sigh but acquiesced. “You are an eager one, aren’t you… and a hell of a lot pushy”. He grumbled.

“And I’m used to getting what I want, so suck it up and start already. The quicker you finish it, the sooner you’ll be able to get back”.

“Okay…okay” he tucked his massive wings back grumbling non-coherently.

“I had to work before my comrades. I can manage the acid rain for only a very short interval and also with the risk of getting very tired even before the fight, so it’s not always an option. But this time my acid rain could injure the ones that were naïve enough to think that they could bear my acid. Healing from my acid rain burns takes time so we could get leverage. When they started gathering to fly in formation, I made it rain. Many were injured. The one’s who were fast enough to avoid it flew without formation – attacking at will.

The second they got air borne they had to face my father’s wrath along with his 50 warriors. The warriors were spread in different circles so they could gather most of them in their center and my father could take his aim from above.

The king on the other hand had a different agenda, he needed to replace Katherine. Though he couldn’t shift into his human form but it wasn’t a problem for him because he had taken blood from Katherine while in abduction and now he could sense her anywhere. Now as we were inside Velar’s magical barrier we could cloak ourselves again so he did just that and went on his quest.

We were now engaged in full battle and I had to stop the rain so that none of my comrades got caught in the crossfire and because I had to reserve my power for the real fight. As a part of our plan; Velar’s castle had to go down. We needed to burn it to the ground as a symbol because symbols have strength to our kind. So some of the acid breathers exhaled their acids around the castle and the fire breathers set it up on fire. And it went up like fireworks. Looking at you now, I wish you could have seen the sight. It was mesmerizing”. Raegan nodded effusively in agreement.

Most of their missing army had joined the fray by now and we were a bit outnumbered but it was all the same because the sight of their burning castle was enough to draw their attention and we got some much needed seconds to regain our upper hand in the fight. My father, after doing his part in the battle had gone after the king leaving me and Damien to lead the battle.

I saw Dimi getting separated from our lines by almost half a dozen enemy dragons. He was strong and all but he was my buddy and I just couldn’t leave him alone to deal with 6 dragons all by himself. I handed charge to General Roth and raced toward him.

Dimi is one wicked dragon – a sand wielder and once he comes in contact with an enemy dragon he can turn them to sand. He just has to have a good hold on them and within seconds their bodies would start to disintegrate and then they’ll just be a pile of sand at his feet. He is also the last one of his kind.

Dimi took care of half of them and the rest, I had rendered useless.

Once out of the line of fire we cloaked ourselves and followed the trail of my father. They hadn’t found Katherine anywhere and the king wasn’t able to sense her at all, but it didn’t mean he forgot his duties. So now we had to move towards the next task – Capture Varamont – Velar’s king and subdue his armies. Dimi and I were in on the mission because of our ability to cloak, along with father and King Alex. We were cloaked and were now searching the perimeter for Varamont but he was nowhere to be found as expected. The castle was burning making it a perfect hiding spot for a fire wielder like him. From our group only king Alexander could enter the burning castle but we couldn’t risk it. King insisted upon going but father was adamant and rightly so. We called General Edgar who was a water wielder so that he could shield us from the fire and that’s how we went inside with his shields around all of us. True to our suspicions, he was hiding in one of his halls, which was still out of the range of fire, with a bunch of his fire wielders in hopes of capturing King Alexander again. He was that naïve or was really out of his mind now that he actually hoped he could capture him. I couldn’t believe him because… hello… he was a king himself after all. He had to have some amount of brain cells… but apparently not.

The best part was when his warriors saw King Alexander; they couldn’t stand their obvious demise and fled. Only two remained with Varamont. Apparently he wasn’t that loved among his people and warriors. King Alexander beheaded him after an easy fight and as soon as his warriors out there sensed his death through their Alpha bond, they turned tail. And the battle was won”.

“But we lost 12 precious warriors in that battle” Valiance hung his head low “The king ordered to make the Ilaar – in easy words it’s a wooden dragon used as a symbol to honor our fallen, and so, in a gathering; as per the tradition, it was burnt on a pyre in their honor. Their names were carved down on a wall inside the Hall of Fallen Heroes.

“Long story short; Katherine was MIA, so we were hopelessly stuck in that curse and we still are”.

Silence fell as Valiance finished his tale. Night had fallen fully sprinkling the earth with starlight. It was so peaceful that Raegan didn’t want to disturb the calm by saying anything. She was so indulged in the story that when Valiance got quiet, she felt a kind of loss inside her. But she had to say something … anything.

So she said what was in her heart… gratitude. “Thank you valiance” her voice was a mere whisper for if she spoke loudly the magic of the moment would break apart and she didn’t want that.

“For what?” he asked as quietly.

“Thank you for sharing your past with me… for making me a part of your beautiful world… and for accepting an outsider among yourselves. And above all I’m thankful for the unconditional love all of you have given me. I don’t know how I’m going to repay you”.

“You’ll know when the time comes Raegan”. He said, “Till then don’t burden yourself with unnecessary gratitude”.

There was some kind of knowing gleam in his eyes which she couldn’t place. As if he was hiding something. As if he knew something that she didn’t. She wanted to know and at the same time she had a strange feeling that not knowing was better for her. When the right time comes he’ll tell her and it’ll be better that way. As if the feeling was trying to warn her that if she asked now, she won’t be able to go back… ever. This feeling almost freaked her out and she started feeling uncomfortable suddenly.

“It’s late” he spoke, breaking her train of thoughts, “we should get going now”. It was as if he’d picked up her thoughts and unease. Sometimes Valiance weirded her out by saying things she was thinking as if he could look inside her mind, as if he knew her more than herself.

All she needed right now was some distance from the dragon sitting in front of her, she wanted to clear her mind --- in the dark of her room --- in the quiet of the night.

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