The Dragons' Mermaid

Chapter 6

Calling it a kingdom was like calling a muddy potato world class cuisine. There were few functioning roads, no schools and the population was both malnourished and dishevelled. Mostly the fields grew weeds, not because there were no farmers, or there had been a drought, but because of the taxes from the crown. They demanded more than the peasants could give and then took the machinery as p*****t. The soldiers weren't local of course, they barely spoke the language, they were hired from a kingdom over the waters. Yet it was a kingdom with a king and a fancy palace. It had a name and a set of laws. In the taverns though all the talk was of rebellion and the transition was set to be anything but bloodless.

The palace had architecture like no other in the district. The reigning monarch some three centuries earlier had shipped in an architect from an overseas district. She knew his ideas, although perhaps common where he came from, would be sufficiently exotic in her kingdom to inspire awe in the populous. And so instead of the peaks in the roof, she had gold domed towers instead. She had an open porch at the front held up with most ostentatiously detailed pillars, painted in brilliant white. Inside there were no doors on the ground floor, only arches. The flagstone floor had been shipped in also and was made with a stone of soft blue hues that had never before been seen in the district. After completion it's designer had been executed to ensure he could never make a replica.

As the palace grew richer and more opulent, the people grew restless. Whereas they struggled to keep starvation from the door the king was adding more gold-topped towers to his already over-large abode. Everything was in disarray and nothing in this kingdom was as it was supposed to be.

And then two strange brothers came in the kingdom. They were knights of the old school and that could be seen from the dress and the armour that they were wearing. They looked so alike that people would say without any doubt that they were identical twins. But they could not be far more different from each other. They were brothers, true, they were supposed to be the protector of people and the ones who worked without any kind of glory. Their names were not written in the king’s palaces and the armours were not like any that they had seen but their names were spoken in ballads and they were sung by the people of the Kingdoms whose lives they had restored. They knew that their purpose of life was different. They were young for knights to be of this repute but the fire breathing dragons on their armours and shields was one which everyone knew.

Their horses were two beautiful steeds who knew what their masters wanted and without any kind of orders or suggestions they knew what they had to do. It was like they were in sync with their minds and everyone said that it was some kind of witchcraft but the brothers knew better.

Head and hands poke through holes in the damp wooden board, twisting wrists against the rough edges of the wood, trying to squeeze them through, smell of mildew in the wood, neck aching from holding head up, knees scrape on bare planks of the platform, baying crowd gathering, leering, jeering, a montage of angry twisted faces, laughing, sneering, jibes, taunts. Scared, tears stream down dirt encrusted face, blisters on wrists, sore neck. Crowd hysteria rises, pelting begins, sting of rotten fruit, dull thud of a potato hit, searing pain, bloody nose. Blood mixes with snot and tears, salty mixture runs into quivering slack mouth. Air vibrates with menace, heady mixture of noise and stench.

Ember and Blaze both stopped there with their horses and they watched the proceedings. This kingdom was plagued by the ruler and the people were losing their bearings badly and that could be seen from the way that they were handling it. The soldiers which were standing guard did not look from this place and they did not wait any longer. As soon as the tavern was filled up with all the people who were throwing the rotten vegetables they sat down on the wooden stools and asked for two mugs of ale.

The barmaid put down two mugs of ale before them and they looked at each other with grimace on their face. This smelled pathetic, and both the brothers were sure that it tasted like piss water. But that was not the reason that they had come here. None of the patrons of this bar looked particularly well off and the poverty of this kingdom was staggering.

“Who was that man who was being beaten up at the stocks?” asked Ember as if he was curious. Blaze like always was a silent spectator and let his brother do the talking.

“Are you two knights first timers in this kingdom?” asked the barman as he grunted and wiped the counter to polish off the ale which some drunkard had spilled. Ember nodded at his question and the bar man said,” No one really bothers about the crimes any longer. If the guards say that he was found stealing they make sure that they are punished. There is no rule that they have to be taken for a ruling. Bad place this is….”

Blaze looked at all the men and found that their faces were long, bearded and haggard. They were all dirty and had not seen bath in probably many days judging by the stench emanating from their clothes and their bodies. They were all very hungry, and their eyes were sunken. This kingdom was supposed to be burnt down to the ground and let the people have the wealth which the king has stocked up in his tower. He was getting angrier by the minute when Ember put a hand on his shoulder.

He knew the meaning of this. It was not the time to react yet. When the time came to burning their dragons were going to love the c*****e. After all, the basic nature of the dragons was to cause fire and mayhem and burn everything down and take the riches and hoard it in their collection of gold. But they had improved from that. Their dungeons need not see any more gold at all, but the poverty and mayhem in the world of humans needed to be set right.

The men, human beings did not know that these two knights sitting amongst them were anything other than humans. They were in fact fire breathing dragon shifters who could burn an entire city amongst the two of them. And the aftermath of the c*****e would be only this that they would come back down to earth and sleep in the warm mounds of the huge piles of ashes that had been created. They were fierce and ferocious creatures who needed their blood lust to be taken care of in order to function properly.

“Does the king know about all that happens here? I mean, that you are living under the thumbs of the soldiers….have you people even tried to look at your state and tried telling the monarch about this, to whom you pay your taxes?” asked Ember in a loud voice. The entire tavern went absolutely silent at his voice. They were thinking that who were these two people who had come from far-away lands and wore the mark of a dragon talking to them about a rebellion.

“Who are you?” asked a man who slumped his mug on the table and then stood up in a drunken stupor.

“Who I am does not matter because unlike you, I have food in my belly and coin in my purse to feed myself and my horse. Who we are and what we do should be of no consequence to you and not to your families. You should be more careful about whether you can feed your wenches and can feed your children. Your wives and your children are crying of hunger and yet you are here drinking ale and wine in the middle of the day to befuddle your senses. You all are disgusting creatures,” said Ember as he dropped the mug on the table splattering the ale and then he stood up.

But what he stood up for he did not remember any longer. He looked at Blaze who was also looking at his brother with the same intensity. They could hear the pounding of the drums in their heads and their hearts were wavering with the call of the ocean.

“It is time brother. Let’s go,” said Blaze as he looked at Ember.

“All these years and now,” whispered Ember as they both smiled quietly and then they dropped three pieces of silver on the counter.

“We are not the people of this kingdom. We were just passing by, but getting pleasure by beating up one of your own, that is something not even animals do,” said Blaze as they both walked out of the tavern and took their horses out of their places in order to ride towards the kingdom where their Princess was. It had been centuries since they had lost her…it had been centuries when they had lost everything they held dear and close to their hearts only to try and find all these years.

Their beautiful mermaid princess had found the necklace….how and where they had no idea but they knew that she would be near the sea. She would be near water and she would be facing changes which were unforeseen before. They needed to be there for her just for the sake of keeping her safe and protected. This was the first time that the brothers had been able to feel her awakening since all those years after she was lost to the ocean itself. And they had no idea what kind of effect the curse might bear that might have any after effects on her. She might not remember anything at all but it was their duty to make her remember everything for which they had lived.

The two brothers who were born of the twin fires in the same womb. The first and only of their kind and the beautiful princess who saw the brothers for what they truly were. Not the monsters that they were termed but two scared boys who did not know how to control their power. She was the one who had sung in her ethereal voice to let their fires die down. She was the one who showed them that fire always did not need to be the one which destroyed.

“Fire was one of the gifts of God for the mankind…and we have been always taking it for granted. You are born of fire, flesh and blood and you have the greatest gift of all. Then why only use it for mayhem?” the beautiful blue haired and blue tailed Princess had asked them and none of them had any answer. She was a unique one. Her heart was not cold like the other ones of her own flock, she lived in the cold waters but none of them had encountered anyone with a warmer heart than hers.

She had the power to take everything and forgive everyone. And even the witch who had cursed her into oblivion.