Dragon's wrath

Chapter 1: Life after

“You look tired.” Alarick commented when I finally got out of bed, washed my face, and put some clothes on so I could join him for breakfast. Since he came back a month ago, we had been living together, and I didn’t have to go to the cafeteria to eat breakfast again. They even rebuilt the floor below us so my mom could live there and be close to me. It was a bit different to our house back in town, but at least she was close by and could come visit anytime she wanted. Since I didn’t go to the cafeteria anymore, from time to time my mom stopped by with breakfast, only to give me cream of wheat. She always made it with the perfect amount of butter and brought extra cinnamon, so once I had eaten the upper layer of cinnamon, I could always add more. 

“I didn’t sleep very well,” I answered him, but instinctively looked at myself in the mirror to see if I really looked tired or how he recognized it. I saw nothing in particular except slight bag under both of my eyes. 

“Bad dreams?” he asked, but I wasn’t able to answer him properly. I didn’t know. There might have been dreams, at least I know almost everyone has dreams while sleeping, but I didn’t remember any. 

“I don’t know. If I had any dreams, I don’t remember them.” I answered, while gently shaking my head in denial. I took my seat next to him and grabbed some toast from the breakfast spread we had today. He had already made some tea with milk for me and, as usual, instead of sugar, he sweetened it with honey. I had drunk nothing better, and it immediately became my favorite drink. 

“Maybe we could go somewhere and relax today, just the two of us? What do you think?” My eyes literally shone in excitement as soon as he asked me. I had tried to sneak out several times and most of the time I was successful until recently, when I had to tell them because we needed to gain access to the sea in the west. My father was busy with the old technology, searching for the lost technology of seafaring. We could use the sail boats we had, but we didn’t know what was on the other side. We didn’t even know how long we would have to sail, and leaving everything behind and just going would be stupid. We couldn’t do that. We couldn’t leave everything and everyone behind. 

“That would be great. Maybe we could go up north? You promised to take me to play in the snow.” I said, totally excited. I still remembered the freezing feeling on my feet once I had stepped into the snow. It was so soft and pure, white like feathers, but cold to the touch and it melted in my hands while I tried to hold it. It was so shiny and beautiful. A gentle smile appeared on Alarick’s face as I daydreamed of snow. 

“Maybe we could stay at the cottage I told you about before?” he added, and my eyes widened. It would be just two of us and no one else. The cottage was perfectly hidden from where we had been standing, so I assumed it would be safe enough for us to stay there for a few days, and I would definitely love that. 

“When we can leave?” I asked, not even hiding my eagerness to go. I loved this place, especially now that my mom was here and my father was back. I had Alarick with me every day and slept snugly in his arms, but sometimes this place felt small and confining. I needed fresh air, and I needed space around me. The feeling of being free yet chained to this place because of the fear that Ezekiel would catch us and lock us up again at best or kill us at worst. 

“Not so fast, Princess. We need to inform your father and let him know we won’t be here. More importantly, without telling him where we are going, we would both be dead.” I knew he was joking. My father would scold and probably shout so loud that the whole dome would know about it, but he would definitely not kill us. Not if my mom was here to stop him. 

“Do you think he will let us go?” I asked like a child. My good mood dampened because I knew how careful my father was being right now. His plans depended on news of Ezekiel, and every day his men were preparing for the day they would attack us. I deeply hoped that day would never come, especially now that he knew I could hurt him, but my father, ever the tactician, dismissed no possibilities. 

“I don’t see why not,” Alarick answered and took another slice of toast, putting strawberry jam on it. Seeing him like this reminded me of the days we spent in the woods. There was no one to prepare his food there, either. I usually made eggs, toast and salad and he ate what he wanted. When we were at his mansion, Thomas always instructed the girls in the kitchen to prepare a full breakfast, which meant there was toast already coated with the jam or butter and we only had to take it and eat it. This way made me feel more at home. 

We finished breakfast, and he took me out, straight to the operations center where my father spent most of his day, except for lunchtime, which he always had at home with my mom. I once asked her if she didn’t feel lonely with him always working like that. She told me she always loved to watch him in his office secretly, even back in Eyllwe. She admired his focus and how hardworking he was. It made her work harder than well. 

When I looked at him from the entrance of the room and saw his concentration, I understood what she meant. Alarick on the other hand was more chaotic. Sure he knew how to lead his people and was precise with his plans, but other than that, he couldn’t concentrate as long as my father. The difference between Elves and Dragons couldn’t be more obvious. 

“Good morning,” I greeted my father as we entered. As always, he had his head buried in tons of papers. I noticed he was studying the structure of domes from the drawings, probably searching for weak points and fortifying them before any attacks. 

“Good morning sweetheart,” he greeted me.

“Alarick?” Greeting him sounded more like a question than a greeting.

“Hello Ellion,” Alarick greeted semi-formally. I realized we were on thin ice right now. My father didn’t like anyone going outside if unnecessary, because we didn’t know where Ezekiel had stationed his men. Just like we had spies between his men, he had his own here. It was practically an impossible task to find them and recognize who didn’t belong to us. He could simply sentence some of them to death in order to make them blend in with our people. Even though I knew that much and felt sorry for the headache this caused my father, there was really no way of dealing with it. Going around accusing everyone of being a spy was really impossible. 

“Is there something you want to talk about?” My father had noticed the way Alarick greeted him and immediately knew we came asking for something. 

“I would like to take Ella to the cottage up in the mountain for a few days and also up north to the hot pools,” he informed him and my eyes widened in surprise when he mentioned the hot pools as well. I had only heard of them from my mom. She told me my father took her there once, but it was a several day trip, especially since they couldn’t fly over the mountain, but had to drive through. The hot pools were far to the north, where everything was covered with snow and ice except those pools. The temperature of the water kept them unfrozen. 

“For the cottage, I don’t see a problem. It’s perfectly hidden and I don’t think Ezekiel even knows about it. In fact, beside me and you, no one here knows about that place. The pools might be a problem. I will need to secure it first. We have a direct route from the north entrance and I am working on securing it. If something tries to enter the mountain from that entrance, we would know thanks to the guards stationed there, but the north dome is not fortified enough to stop an attack in case they choose to attack there.” My father buried his head in the plans and this time he found the one that belonged to the north dome. I could see how worried he was. He wasn’t only worried about me or himself or my mom. He was worried about every single life here. Too many people sought refuge with us, farmers, healers, gardeners, chefs. They ranged from normal people living in the destroyed villages, to servants working at the castle. They all found a safe place and a new home in these mountains, inside of these walls, protected on all sides. However, this place could be used as a weapon against us as well. There were now four entrances not counting the window for dragons in the west dome. There was now one entrance on each side, in case we weren’t able to resist attacking forces. The only thing that kept me calm was the fact that Ezekiel refused to use old technology. From what I saw during the attack on the castle, he would be able to destroy the mountain easily and the stones would bury us alive. 

“I understand.,” Alarick replied to my father and immediately joined him in studying the plans of the north dome. That dome was smaller than this one, and the tunnel was not so wide, which meant it was already better suited for protection than here. No dragon would be able to walk through those tunnels, they would have to shift and walk in their human form while using their magic. Fighting a dragon in human form was easy with the weapons my father’s men possessed. 

“We could fortify the entrance here and here,” Alarick showed points on the map. It was almost directly beside the hot pools which I recognized as the huge almost circular drawings on the map near the entrance. 

“We could install two of those scanning devices we have on the top of this mountain. It would warn us if something tried to approach. Also, several cameras could be added here, here, and here.” He was pointing at the map with his fingers again. I sat down on the chair and watched them working together. For some reason Alarick always calmed his thoughts and was able to focus better while working with my father. It almost made me feel like my father was emitting some sort of aura which always brought out the best in everyone. 

“That would do. We could also build a bigger warehouse, store more ammunition and station more fighters inside. I think more people would enjoy some relaxation since we are now forced to stay inside the base most of the time. The tension was skyrocketing, and I was already looking for a solution. Those hot pools might be a good place. I also checked the place on the west coast. We might be able to secure that area as well, so they could go fishing there or use the beach as well. We really never think about amusement and relaxation in this place,” my father admitted and Alarick agreed with him.

“This place was supposed to be our operations base, not a place to live, but more and more regular people were joining us and actually became a part of the system. They are farming for us, growing food, creating clothes and furniture. Each dome works as an independent city,” Alarick summarized. I was thinking of those places. On the way to the west dome which was now still empty, we drove through three others and each of them was dedicated to farmers and herders. Two of them had fields with cows and goats to provide meat, milk and cheese. The third one had several fields of corn, grains. The last one, the west one was still empty and was supposed to be for people. They built it as a small city. Those farmers were more like villagers with only a few houses and people who cared for the fields and animals. Since we opened the west dome and made entrance to the coast, my father was already planning to secure that place as well.