The Dragon's Fight

Chapter 9

-Ashes-

“Ready?”

I looked at Will, who stood beside me, while Carter and Henry were standing a little behind me readying their own horses. He nodded, and I looked at the other brothers, who nodded as well. Once I got their confirmation, I turned to Rathilion, who had just come down the stairs.

“Where are your things?” I asked.

I walked over to him, yet he had a dark look on his face. Something wasn’t right.

“What?” I asked.

“I am not coming,” he told me.

I glanced at Will who came to stand beside me, but he too looked as confused as me.

“What are you talking about? Why not?” I asked.

“I can’t. We need my father’s support. It is why I have to stay,” he told me.

“You are going to try and convince him? He already gave you his answer, and your mother won’t be of much help,” I said.

“I know,” he almost whispered. “But I have to try. We need the elves.”

He was right. We did. Without the elves, we would most likely lose this war. That couldn’t happen. Too much was at stake here. We needed all the help we could get.

“I understand,” I said.

Rathilion looked more relaxed as I said this, and he nodded gratefully. He clearly was worried that I would not like him staying here, but I believed it was for the best as well. Even if his father was a stubborn man, Rathilion was most likely the only one that could convince him to change his mind.

“You think you will be able to?” I asked.

Rathilion shrugged a little.

“I am not sure … He is … not someone who changes his mind, but I believe I will do more good here, then out there. You know Mefan best, and I know my father best. I need to see if I can’t make him change his mind. I just need some more time,” he told me.

“Okay,” I said. “Good luck.”

I extended my hand and he smiled and grabbed it, then I turned back to my horse just as Will said goodbye as well.

“Rathilion isn’t coming?” Carter asked.

I shook my head.

“No, he will stay and try to convince his father.”

Henry and Carter shared a worried look. We had all experienced just how stubborn the old elf king was, and to us it seemed like an impossible task to make him change his mind. But if Rathilion believed even just a little, there might be hope he could change his father’s mind. We trusted him on this.

“Are we all ready?” I asked.

Laelia’s brothers nodded, and we turned our horses around and started to leave the safety of the elves’ kingdom.

-Laelia-

“Don’t think too much about it. It’s not going to happen,” Liam said.

I turned to look at my brother, who smiled reassuringly beside me. I tried my best to smile back and act like I wasn’t scared about what the nymph had told me, but I failed. I could not stop thinking about it. Even as we neared the border to the North, I still thought about it.

“Laelia, listen to me, you aren’t going to die,” he said.

I just nodded but didn’t really have much to say.

“Let us stay there tonight,” Samuel said and pointed to a lonely inn, close to the road we were using.

We all pulled our hoods over our heads before we descended our horses and tied them outside the inn, then we walked inside. It was rather quiet, and it seemed like not many people came by.

“Welcome,” the innkeeper said.

She was a big woman and maybe in her late thirties.

“Hungry?” she asked.

“Very and we would like to rent some rooms for the night as well,” Liam said.

Even though his face was covered slightly, he was still a charmer and the happy and light voice he used made the woman smile and quickly walked over to a very narrow staircase that led up to the next and only other floor. She led us all to a room beside each other. I walked inside mine and sat down on the creaky and small bed. The room wasn’t very big, with a bed, a bedside table and a window. That was it, but I didn’t really care. I could not forget about what I had seen in my future.

I was going to die …

Liam and Samuel had tried their best to convince me otherwise, but Tylon had been as quiet as me, and that concerned me. Only he had met the nymphs before, and he knew more about this world than I believed my brothers did. Maybe he believed it too. Maybe he thought I would die as well. I didn’t want to die. I, of course, knew the possibility of it, since I was going to war with Ashes and the rest, but I didn’t die in the war according to what I had seen. No, I would be stabbed like James. I would not even get to be a part of the war.

I sighed, leaning forward and burying my head in my hands. This was too much. Knowing I was going to die... it was more of a curse than a blessing. The nymph had said the future was not set in stone, but how did I change something I wasn’t even sure when was going to happen? It sounded impossible.

“Laelia?”

There was knocking on my door before I heard Tylon’s voice. I took a deep breath, just preparing myself to see him, before I got up from the bed and opened the door.

“Come,” he said. “Let us get something to eat.”

“I … am not very hungry,” I told him.

I had no desire to eat when I couldn’t stop thinking about how I was going to die.

“Laelia, you are not just taking care of yourself anymore,” he said.

His eyes shortly when to my flat stomach, and I had to agree with him. So, reluctantly, I stepped into the hallway with him and closed the door behind me, before we walked downstairs to where my brothers already were. The food and drinks had been served, and they smiled at me as we came closer.

“So, you were able to convince her to come down,” Liam said.

“You thought I needed to be convinced?” I asked, smiling a teasing smile at him.

He just smiled back, as I sat down beside him.

“I know you are worried about what the nymphs told you. I figured it would make you less hungry. Just like when you trained to rescue Ashes and the rest,” he said.

I shrugged a little, not admitting to anything, but he was right. I would not have come down to eat, had Tylon not come get me. I just … didn’t see how I could eat, when I knew my death could arrive soon enough. I had no idea if it would be today, or tomorrow, or in a week or a month. I knew nothing, and it was frustrating.

“Well, would you be hungry if you knew you were going to die?” I asked.

“Laelia,” Samuel said. “You aren’t going to die.”

He sat in front of me, and his arms were resting on the table, as he leaned forward and his serious eyes met mine, telling me even with them, that nothing would happen to me, yet I turned to Tylon.

“And you? What do you think?” I asked, and turned to Tylon on the other side.

He only met my eyes shortly before taking a sip from his drink, almost trying to ignore me. That only made me more worried.

“I knew it …” I whispered.

“Tylon,” Liam said. “Tell her she isn’t going to die. Tell her that future sh*t isn’t real.”

But even though Liam sounded quite threatening, Tylon didn’t say those words. So, it was true. I was going to die …

I sighed, leaning my elbows on the table and just grabbing my head, not knowing what to do. Here I was worried something might happen to my child or Ashes … now it turned out it was me who was really not going to be here in the end.

“Tylon!” Liam said.

“We don’t know the future,” he finally said. “It isn’t set in stone.”

“That isn’t a no to am I going to die?” I said.

“It isn’t a yes,” he said.

“You didn’t talk to the nymph. You didn’t hear what she said or how she said.”

Tylon seemed to be lost for words by this and just slowly nodded.

“Maybe not, but your brothers and I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said.

Yet it did not calm me at all. I didn’t believe anything would calm me down, unless I saw my future again and did not see my own death. Yes, that would calm me, but we weren’t going back to the nymphs. We were going to free Pymyrth now.