Dream of Dragons

with something. What is your name?”
“Name’s Kae. Kae the Huntress, not that anyone ever calls me that.” The woman answered, rubbing at her sore arms. She sighed and rolled her eyes. “What do you need in exchange for my freedom, princess?”
Loren opened her mouth to reply, but glanced at the crowd. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “I’ll tell you at the castle. Come with me.”
“But I thought I’m not gonna get sent to the dungeons!”
“You’re not! Now hurry up and come with me before I tell the guard to grab you again!” Loren urged Kae, taking Wind’s reins again and leading the way up the path towards the Stone District and further up to Steel, then Gold, then finally the castle.
“Are you really the princess?” Kae asked as they walked up the path. “If you were really the princess, you’d just tell your hundred handmaidens and guards to do whatever it is you want me for.”
Loren rolled her eyes. “It’s not that simple, Kae. And I don’t have a hundred handmaidens.”
Kae scoffed, and jogged to walk beside Loren. “Sure, princess. Whatever you say. So, what’s this super-secret mission that will let me go back to my camp in the forest?
“Well…Have you heard about the assassination of King Gaturr?”
“Who hasn’t? I’ve seen messengers scrambling towards Green Reach to bring word to Kespia, maybe even Thalassa even farther than that.”
“Thalassa?” Loren frowned, trying to think back to her studies. It wasn’t a well-known country as it was an island far off in the middle of the sea. Travel by ship could take up to half a year, and just one way. “Isn’t that far to the south?”
“Yeah. No one bothers to trade with them from here, but y’know…The assassination of a king is big news. Everyone has to know. Even Ma’trii was really torn up about it. He kept howling and crying when I got back from market and told him. So what about Gaturr?”
“His son and heir Kaiten is missing.”
“Yeah, so? Heard they haven’t found that ratty-maned lion yet.”
Loren gritted her teeth and glared at Kae. “How dare you? He’s a prince, and my friend.”
“And…so? I don’t know him, I’m no Beastman. I’m no snooty royal who would care about politics or whatever.”
Loren pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled, frustrated. Maybe asking this huntress for help was a bad idea. She didn’t even know her, or her wolf friend, but it was a chance to help the search effort somehow. If Loren simply asked the king and queen or he advisers if she could go out and look for Kaiten, they would lock her in her chambers. For safety, they would say. Can’t have the heir to a kingdom missing; there was enough trouble with one already.
They passed through the castle gate, and Loren stopped by the stables to hand Wind over to the stable hand. Arion was still here, shoveling hay and filling the troughs with feed. He was startled when Loren arrived and stammered his apologies when Loren handed him the reins. He took them and began to remove Wind’s saddle and halter, when he noticed Kae.
The huntress stared back at him with a piercing and suspicious gaze. Arion quickly turned back to taking care of Wind, and Kae eventually lost interest in him. Loren began talking again, and led the scruffy huntress up towards the Castle. Once they were out of earshot, Arion peeked out of the stables and watched them go. The band of dark marking under his bandages started to burn again. He rubbed at them, but the hot, prickling feeling would not subside. He took up a stiff bristled brush and started to brush down the princess’s horse, hoping the work would keep his mind off Queen Haedria’s burning brand.
“What’s with the stable hand?” Kae asked, as guards stepped forward to open the heavy double doors to the main hall. “He was looking really skittish. Is he scared of something?”
“I’m not sure, actually. I don’t know him very well. He said he just started here today.” Loren replied.
“It’s not like that’s suspicious or anything.” Kae muttered, her gaze wandering about as they walked. The two passed through a wide hallway, with a wooden door set in the stone of the wall ever several feet. In the gaps between the doors hung portraits in golden frames.
Kae stopped at one of the portraits, and stared at it in awe. It was rather old, with cracking oil paints and pigment that was fading from exposure to the sun. A woman was seated in the portrait, wearing steel armor that was blackened as if from flame. The portrait’s sharp dark eyes seemed to look down at the huntress, and the woman’s tight-lipped expression intimidated Kae, though she couldn’t understand why. Loren noticed the huntress had stopped walking, turned back, and began to explain.
Loren explained that every portrait in the hall was of an ancestor of the Cyrael family, all the way down the family tree to Ylfair Mariorr the Dragonheart, who founded the kingdom. The legends that were passed down from generation to generation through word of mouth before they were written down and recorded by scribes, spoke of how the Lady Ylfair earned that title.
The ancient High Dragon that lives in the Yureun Mountains was fond of challenging warriors that ventured through the Valley of Whispers, and found the castle of ebonstone. The High Dragon would swoop down from its cave high in the mountain, and perch atop the castle’s tallest tower. Its roar shattered stone, and brought rocks tumbling down the side of the mountain to rain down on the castle courtyard. Birds would flee, screeching, from their roosts, and deer and mountain goats would gallop away fast. Only the bravest, most daring of warriors, would stand their ground to face the High Dragon.
The High Dragon