The Dragon's Fight

Chapter 3

-Laelia-

“Run!”

“Faster!”

“This sh*t isn’t happening!”

“I got it!” I yelled.

I threw myself over the grass only to slide over it, and watch the dinner run away on its small fur paws. Dammit!

“Well,” Liam said. “There goes dinner.”

Samuel caught up to me and Liam, who were both breathing heavily. He reached down and helped me up from the ground.

“I can’t believe this,” I said. “Why did you scare it?”

“Me?” Liam asked. “You were the one walking so loudly you made birds fly away from their hiding spot!”

“I was not!” I said.

“Stop it you two!” Samuel said. “You are always so quick to blame each other.”

“No, we aren’t!” Liam and I said at the same time, as we looked at Samuel.

He sighed, shaking his head, before he started to walk towards camp. It had only been a few days and, so far, we had not met any troubles, but we were still safely riding through the elves’ kingdom, but soon we would leave the safety of it, as we traveled to the West.

“I can’t believe you let it get away,” I said to Liam.

“You were the one who just let the little damn thing slip through your arms,” he said and pushed me a little with his shoulder.

I pushed him back and we laughed, as we teased each other. I had missed this. It had been a long time since we last acted this st*pid with each other. Samuel, on the other hand, was just shaking his head at us, as we acted like small kids.

“Let us hope Tylon has had more luck than us,” Samuel said.

Tylon had not spoken much on the journey, and when we had gone hunting, he had decided to stay with our things, but maybe if we were lucky, something had come by him. Sadly, as we arrived, we saw it was nothing but him, our horses and the fire we had made.

“No luck?” he asked.

Samuel shook his head as he threw himself down on the ground by the fire. We were all very hungry, since we had not camped until now, and we needed something to eat. I walked over to my horse where my bow was attached. We had originally made a trap for the bunny, but now I was going hunting for something else.

“And where are you going, your highness?” Liam asked, as he sat down on the ground as well.

“We are all starving. We need to eat,” I said.

“You aren’t going alone,” he said.

“I will be fine,” I told him.

But just as I was about to walk away, Tylon got up from the ground. He stood there in front of me, looking down at me and casting his shadow over me.

“I am coming,” he simply said.

I was a little nervous about it but didn’t protest, as we moved away from our little camp and our brothers.

We walked in silence for a long time, as we moved silently over the ground. It was strange being alone with him again. The last time I had really been alone with him, he had held a sword against my throat and drawn a little blood, as he decided whether to kill me or not. Eventually, he had, of course, let me go, but I had not forgotten about it, and I feared a little, he might turn into that same person.

“You are afraid of me,” he whispered.

I shook my head. We shouldn’t talk. We were hunting after all.

“Yes, you are,” he said.

I put my finger over my mouth, signaling that we needed to be silent. Just then, I heard the clucking sound of turkeys. I looked towards the sound, as I slowly moved forward, bent forward a little. I found a good tree to hide behind, and in a small clearing, I saw them, picking at the ground looking for worms and other small insects. I slowly placed an arrow in my bow and pulled the string back, before I let it go, hitting one of them directly in the heart.

I smiled happily, as it fell to the ground, and the rest hurried away from their dead friend and into protection. I was just about to walk to the bird, when an arm came in front of me.

“Yes, you are,” he said again.

I sighed, shaking my head a little.

“I am not,” I said in a hard tone.

“You are lying. You don’t lie!”

“I am no-“

Just then, I felt my stomach do a violent flip. I tried fighting the instinct, but I couldn’t, and so I turned around, put a hand on the tree beside me, and emptied everything inside of me. I couldn’t stop. It was a violent attack, and the whole time he stood beside me, with a calming hand on my back and one supporting one of my shoulders.

When I was finally able to get back up again, I wiped my mouth with my sleeve, and looked at Tylon, who looked at me concerned.

“I am not,” I almost whispered. “I am scared because I am …”

“Pregnant?”

I nodded. There was no reason to keep it a secret from him. He knew. Why else would I suddenly just puke out of nowhere?

“Does Ashes know?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Only you … and you can’t tell anyone,” I said.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because everyone will worry. So, promise me, Tylon. Do not tell anyone!”

He sighed, closing his eyes for a little while. He hated that I put him in this situation, and I was not very happy about it either, but now was not the time to tell everyone that I was pregnant and give them a reason to treat me like glass again. I was not glass. Even with a baby in me.

“Tylon, promise me!” I repeated.

“Fine,” he finally said. “But you should tell them.”

“And give them a reason to lock me up like the precious little queen I am?” I asked. “I am done with that. I am no longer hiding or being kept in the dark. I can do this. Even pregnant.”

“You could get very badly hurt. You could lose the baby again,” he said.

“I am not just sitting around waiting. I am doing this. I am queen of the North and South and I am getting back my throne!”

With those words, I turned away and walked over to the dead bird, picking it up from the ground and then walking back to him, giving him one last warning look and then walked back to camp with him right behind me.

I could feel his eyes on me the whole time, even when I prepared the bird and cooked it over the fire he was staring at me. He kept watching me, even as we ate. I knew if he was just acting like this after knowing, then my brothers would just become overly protective of me if they knew that was why they couldn’t know. They would treat me differently and I didn’t need that now. None of us needed that right now.

“In two days’ time, we will no longer be in the elves’ kingdom anymore,” Liam said.

“We need to be very careful from there on,” Samuel said.

“Are you trying to tell me something?” I asked teasingly.

“Just … no reckless stunts,” Samuel said.

We all laughed a little at that, except Tylon. He probably feared even more, I would do something reckless, now that he knew I was pregnant. Why did I have to puke at that very moment he had been there? Couldn’t it have waited?

“I will be careful,” I promised.

“Promise?” Liam asked teasingly.

I rolled my eyes at him.

“It is not like I can’t protect myself,” I said. “I mean, who caught dinner?”

“Shooting a bird is not the same thing,” Samuel told me.

“No, but I have killed a man before,” I said.

My brothers did not laugh at that, and I did not say it in a happy tone, but it was the truth. I had taken a life before, and I knew I would again. A war did not come with blood and lives being lost. We would be scarred by this, and it would haunt us in the night, but something good would hopefully also come out of it. Peace.