The Dragon’s Throne 1

He gave no thought to the occupants of the tiny home.  His only thought was of shelter and water for his parched throat.  He would worry about the rest when he had more strength than he did in that moment.

When his hand touched the simple wooden stoop at the backdoor, he let out a sigh of relief.  He tried to pull himself up, but he couldn’t quite reach the door handle.  He cursed under his breath, trying again and only succeeding in falling over, banging into the door.  Pain exploded behind his eyes and he struggled to stay conscious. 

You can’t give up now, he thought angrily.  You’re so close.

But the darkness was creeping in, and he felt himself losing his tenuous grasp on consciousness.  He slid down the door, and as the darkness began to swallow him whole, the door fell away and he could feel himself sliding down into the depths of nothingness.

A quiet voice tried to pierce the darkness, but Daniel couldn’t focus on the source of the words, and he wasn’t sure that he hadn’t imagined it.  He began to panic when he felt warmth on his face, a sure sign that he was freezing to death.  But his panic was short-lived and quickly gave way to quiet indifference.  He had tried and failed, and because of his failure, many would die.  At least he wouldn’t be around to see the results of what he had done.

***

It was almost dawn when Anna heard the door knob turn and the door creak open, light from the hallway seeping into the room as a dark silhouette stood in the doorway for a moment, then came in and quietly closed the door.

“Did you find him?” she asked, holding her breath and waiting for the answer she knew wasn’t going to come.

“We didn’t,” Eli said, his voice solemn and heavy with worry.  “We’ve looked everywhere, but we can’t find Daniel anywhere.”

“I feel like there’s more you’re not telling me,” she said, wrapping her arms around him when he sat down on the bed beside her.

“We found blood.  A lot of blood, and footprints heading east.”

“Do you think it’s him?  Do you think he’s hurt?”

“It’s impossible to tell if it’s him,” Eli said.  “It could be the dragon that you knocked out of the sky.  He appeared to be badly injured and I didn’t see where he went when he landed.”

“Do you know who that dragon was?”

“I have no idea.”

“Because you don’t know him?”

“It’s not like when they’re people; it’s really hard to tell one dragon from the next.  I can’t even recognize my father in dragon form when compared to other dragons who are the same color black as he and I are.”

A thought occurred to Anna, but she pushed it away.  It was just a coincidence that Daniel was missing.  She knew it was. 

“I’m sorry about Daniel,” she said.  “I don’t know what else to say.  Are they going to look for him again at daylight?”

“I don’t know.  We’ve been flying all over the kingdom and over Aldeia since we discovered he was missing.  I don’t know where else we could possibly look.”

They were both silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts.  Anna could feel the tension in Eli’s body as he took heavy breaths, trying to stay calm.

“I’m afraid for him, Anna,” he said finally, almost too quietly for her to hear.  “I don’t want to say it out loud because I don’t want it to be true, but I’m just so afraid that something happened to him.”

“We’ll find him,” Anna said with confidence that she didn’t feel.  “If you want me to help you look tomorrow, we can.  I mean today, after you have rested.”

Eli shook his head in the dark. 

“No.  Today we have other priorities.  I’ll send a search crew out, but you and I need to attend to the kingdom.  We have a lot to accomplish before Spring Festival, and it’s going to be harder now that Daniel is missing.  I needed him to be by my side.”

“Spring Festival is three months away,” Anna said.  “Surely we will find him by then.”

“I hope so, but I’m not going to depend on it.  We can’t afford to wait around for him to appear.  We have to be ready with the resources that we have.”

“What happens at the Spring Festival?”

“It’s not at Festival, but the prophecy is heavy with references to Spring Festival.  It’s the time when we were conceived and when your father died.  It’s the time when the villagers first founded Aldeia and decided to live in simplicity, rather than risk falling into temptation the way your forefathers did.  And now, the change that propelled us together is on the horizon, and Mother is sure that Festival is when we need to be prepared, if not before that.”

“So, we get prepared and stay prepared,” Anna said.

“Yes.”  He chuckled in the darkness then, pulling her closer and sliding beneath the covers to hold her tight.  “I think you’re plenty prepared, though,” he said.

“I’m glad you insisted that I wear the suit.  Did you know that was going to happen?”

“I wasn’t sure.  But I heard grumblings about people who were still angry about you being queen, and I was afraid that something could happen.  I didn’t think it was a big enough chance that it warranted making you nervous.”

“I should have tried that suit out before I needed to use it, but now that I have, I have some ideas for ways to make it better.”

“My father couldn’t quit talking about that suit,” Eli said, his voice warm.  “He says that you always surprise him.”

“Why didn’t they help us?  It’s been bothering me all night, but I didn’t want to ask them.”

“It’s hard to explain, but it was the right thing to do.  If we want the people of Aman to respect you as queen and trust us, then they needed to see how we dealt with being attacked.  You did the right thing letting Marissa go.  You made it clear that you wouldn’t stand by and let anyone hurt you, but you’re also merciful and kind.  Those are good qualities in a leader, and I’m sure that you won more than a few hearts last night.”

“It felt like the right thing to do.”

“Always do what feels right, even if you think it’s wrong.  You were chosen for a reason, so your natural reaction is always going to be the right one.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I can’t.  But I know that you haven’t been wrong yet.  I trust your intuition.”

“Thank you,” she said, nuzzling against him and inhaling the scent of him.  “Even though this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I’m glad that I get to share my life with you.”

His hand was on her face, cupping her cheek and kissing her gently in the gray light of morning that peeked through the curtain.

“I can’t imagine a better fate than having you by my side,” he said, kissing her again.

“I can’t either,” she said, kissing his forehead, then brushing his lips with hers.  “I can’t wait until this is over and we can just be.”

“Oh, Anna, about that…” he said.  “There is something I haven’t yet told you that you really need to know. And what I am going to tell you could change everything. So I need to know, are you ready to hear it?”

Anna’s heart skipped a beat.

“I’m ready…”

The end [To be continued in The Dragons Throne 2 – The Prophecy].