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Alvahroth rested on his pile of soft things that the humans in the castle had provided for him. It was the least he could expect in exchange for his fire and his claws in the wars to come. Most of those soft things were pillows filled with feathers and straw. He wondered what number of poor servants must now sleep on the cold floor thanks to him. Not that he felt guilty for their uncomfortable slumber. He was there to protect them after all. Those pillows were merely part of his tribute, as were all the furs and blankets.

The room in which he stayed in though, he hated it. The wooden double doors were barely big enough for him to fit through the doorway. Every time he wanted to leave or enter he would have to watch as to not scrape his sensitive wings against the cold stone. Cold Stone. As those words rushed through his mind he raised his head a little from the extra soft pillow he picked out and took a look around the room.

Cold stone, it surrounded him from all sides. It was unlike every other place in the keep. In the great entrance hall, there were murals of armies and dragons painted all over the walls. The pillars there were engraved with art so beautiful it must have been carved by dragons. And even the dining hall with the immensely long table was painted with stunning imagery. He never thought that humans could create such beauty. From the sky, their castles and towns seem like an ugly wound upon the otherwise beautiful forests and hills that were all over Albia. At a closer look, however, there was carved and painted stone, colorful banners and art. It was all so strangely beautiful.

His chamber, on the other hand, was exactly what he imagined all human stone buildings to look from in and outside. The stone was grey and colorless, with a few cracks in the stone here and there. Wooden framework was there to stabilize the room, but the wood looked almost as old as the stone itself did. With any luck, the whole thing would collapse down on him soon. Wouldn't that be a great end for a dragon? Crushed by a castle.

He snorted, all his frills rising in anticipation. He rose his head to take a quick glance at the ceiling. Several cracks in the stone, deeper and longer than the ones in the walls. Oh, how great. He forced his gaze away from the worrying cracks in the ceiling and rose to his all fours. All his limbs felt stiff after all the lazing around he has been doing. He had to blame his damn wounds for that. Ah yes, his wounds. He got once more reminded of them when he tried to stretch his wings and they got stopped by both the pillars at his sides and the sharp pain in his wings joint just above his shoulder. He hissed out and pain and uttered several curse words in draconic.

Alvahroth glared at his wing joint. The ugly wound exposed pink and red flesh held close by a couple of sturdy stitches. They had been set in place the first day he and Henry arrived at the castle after allowing him a bath at first. At least the healers didn't force bandages on his wing as they did with the rest of his wounds. There were stitches and bandages all over his body. One set around his foreleg, two around his other and several more around his hind legs. The wounds on his were bandaged too, but they weren't wrapped around him like the others. Instead, they were held in place by some kind of sticky substance that he wasn't at all comfortable with. Not like he was comfortable with any of it.

He felt itchy almost all the time and yet he was forbidden to scratch himself. He knew what would happen if he didn't follow their orders. And yet he did scratch himself once, leading to fresh bleeding, new stitches and a lecture from an old woman that seemed to be some kind of chief healer. The mere fact that humans were ordering him around would be enough for him to fly away, but first of, he couldn't at the moment, and secondly, he needed these humans to enact revenge on the murderers of his love. Blood for blood. Henry has promised him as much.

A smile cracked his muzzle when he thought of Henry. That human had something special about him. Perhaps it was just the fact that Henry treated him like a person, a friend, and not as a beast. Of course, that shouldn't come to his surprise since he was a knight of the dragon order after all and lived amongst dragons many years. But there was something else. When he looked into Henry's almost dragon-like eyes, he saw something there. A tiny ember, hidden deep within his eyes, an ember so tiny that it was barely visible and yet able to ignite an enormous fire.

He wasn't sure what it was. He knew of Henry's loss and he knew that even if he doesn't show it, it broke him. Humans were difficult to read for him. In his eyes, their squishy faces all look the same and so do their eyes. But Henry was different.

Henry had the eyes of a dragon.

When he looked into them he could see his pain, his suffering, much like Henry did with him. They both share a similar story. Inside they were both shook with grief and thoughts of vengeance, broken due to those they have lost. To him, the memories of his loss were still so fresh. When he closed his eyes and breath in he could still smell her scent as if she was right there beside him. In his dreams he could still see her, sometimes even both of them, his mate and his daughter, both together, alive and happy.

He exhaled a sigh, unsheathing a single claw, drawing little fine lines in the stone floor. That was why he came to trust that man so quickly. They both lost the ones that meant the world to them and tried to hide their pain with humor, sometimes bitterness and his case also smugness. He drew a few more lines in the ground, forming a draconic rune over and over.

Hope

"I hope you come back safely, Henry." He murmured to himself, his voice a soft whisper. "Who else would follow me on my path for vengeance?" A grin grew on his face. "Or polish my spear." He chuckled softly at his own comment. "Oh right, I can hand that job over to Rúna now."

Rúna. He had to admit he quite liked her name. He wasn't really sure what to make of the young girl. She surely had some level of bravery and boldness that he admired. As far as he knew she was a prisoner taken by Albien soldiers and she volunteered to serve the dragon that now housed in their castle. An obvious choice. Who would not want to serve a great dragon such as himself after all?

At first, she was obviously afraid, but she tried to hide it best she could which was already remarkable for someone who never saw a dragon from up close before. And only after a few hours spent together it almost seemed like she forgot that she was talking to a dragon and not a human. That was very admirable. Sure, she still showed some shyness here and there, but overall he could banter with her almost the same way he did with Henry. That little board game they played was strangely fun, especially when Henry came in and turned the color of a tomato as soon as he told him what they were playing for. It was an inside joke between the two of them, but Henry had obviously no way of knowing that.

He knew that Rúna was starting to see him as a friend, a feeling which he could not yet return since he did not trust her fully yet. But friendships between humans weren't the same as with dragons. He was aware of their ways of complicating simple things such as sharing pleasure with one another. That was fine with him in the end. It wasn't like he was attracted to her in any way, or was he? He shook his head at the thought. No, he might be a little curious to see her naked, but that was it. He was no more attracted to her than she was by him. They were both aware that their teasing was just banter. Nothing more, nothing less.

The deep rumbling sound of his belly ripped him out of his thoughts. He groaned and stretched his body as best as he could without opening any stitches. That was when he felt a small trickle of blood running down the wound at his wing joint. Now that was just what he needed, broken stitches. He sighed, easing down onto his haunches. His belly gave a second grumble, louder than the first one.

Rúna was supposed to bring him his dinner, so where was she? He expected to be awoken from his nap by the delicate scents of fresh meat and yet there was nothing but the hint of mold in the air. The assault on his nose made him scrunch his muzzle as he glared at the doors as if he were to accuse them of her delay.

He sighed again and thought it was probably a good idea to go back to sleep, or at least try. The doors opened just as he was about to close his eyes. His gaze was immediately set on the woman standing in the doorway with a silver platter in both her hands, accompanied by two servants who held even bigger platters in their grasp.

"About time." He grumbled, his tail swishing back and forth across the ground behind him as he eyed the rounded caps that hid the food from his view. His nose told him of many spices he couldn't recognize. Hidden underneath the strong scent of spice he could smell boar and... something else. Damned spices won't let his nose do its job.

"Hello to you too," Rúna said with a chuckle. She took a hand off the platter and waved at the ground, silently telling the servants to set the food down. "It seems I took a bit too long huh? Are you getting grumpy?"

"I am more hungry than I am grumpy, but if it weren't for your delay I would be neither." He licked his muzzle as the scents of finely cooked food filled the air. He had to admit, if there was one thing humans were good at it was making extraordinary meals. He watched as she sat the platter she was carrying down as well and waved the servants off. Only when the two servants left did he take some time to look Rúna over. The dress she was wearing caught his eye the moment she walked in but now it was so much clearer. She wore a long dress that almost covered her ankles while her sleeves didn't go further than her elbow. It wasn't the fanciest of dresses and kept rather simple, but the color made it interesting. It had his color, emerald green. Did she wear that just for him or was it just a coincidence?

No, that couldn't be a coincidence. A smile twitched at the edge of his muzzle at the thought that she wore that simply to bring a smile on his face. Damn it, she was making it hard for him to keep on being grumpy. As she was about to reveal the mystery hidden beneath the silver caps he took a glance at her face. The small scar on her cheek made him wonder how she got it. It clearly wasn't a battle scar even if first glance could suggest as much. Two cuts formed an offset cross and a third cut that must've been done by a very fine blade at the bottom of the cross, like a tail. It almost looked like a rune and it probably was. He should ask her what it meant, but not now, first he had a meal to enjoy.

"Now, what have you brought me today?" He smelled at the air again just to be sure. "If I'm not mistaken you brought me boar, correct?"

"Exactly." She chuckled, a huge smile on her face. "Last time you said that boar was one of your favorite so I organized a little hunting party to bring you one." She took the silver cap off of one of the plates revealing a surprisingly large boar head, it's strong scent covered up by many spices that were now much clearer but still unrecognizable. The other two platters had the rest of the boar on them, all three part decorated with neatly arranged fruits and vegetables.

"Mhm, yes you are right." He reached out with a paw and tore off a haunch from the boar including the whole leg and took it all in his maw at once. The crunch that followed made Rúna tense up for second but by now she got used to a dragon's eating habits. Once all the meat was no longer on the bone he picked the largest ones that were too hard to swallow out of his mouth.

"You know, if you would consider eating it like a person you wouldn't have to fish the bones out every time." She smiled broadly as he had trouble with a small piece of broken bone that was stuck between his teeth.

"And if you just allowed me to hunt my own meal we wouldn't need to have that conversation." He smirked at her before finally getting rid of the tiny bone between his teeth. "Besides, how am I supposed to eat like a human in your eyes?" He snorted, throwing his head to the side. "And don't even dare suggest I use an immense knife and fork. That would be far too humiliating."

"And funny." She giggled at the mental image of a dragon sitting at a dining table eating well mannered like a noble. She dragged one of the many crates that lined the corners of the room closer to the dragon so she could sit on it, watching him repeat the same eating process with the next haunch. "And you know well enough that I can't let you hunt with the wound on your- is it bleeding?"

The sudden questing made him tense up, his ears dropping, including all his frills as he was just about to stuff his muzzle with the second haunch. Without even looking back at his wing he murmured a response. "No..." He looked into her deep blue eyes that were staring sternly into his soul. That look. It almost startled him. Just for a second, the emotional walls he had built him behind his eyes showed cracks that he hoped she didn't see. The only one he ever knew that looked at him like that was... "Well, maybe I'm bleeding a little bit." He quickly followed up before his thoughts got out of hand.

"Dragon." She addressed him with the only name she knew he had. The nickname he gave himself just made her laugh so instead she just calls him dragon all the time. But the way she said it sent a shiver down his spine. It sounded like a mother having caught her child doing something they weren't supposed to and were about to get spanked on the haunches for it. And while he knew Rúna couldn't spank him like his mother, not that it ever happened, she would do something far worse. "You know that I will have to give you a new pair of stitches now."

He grumbled under his breath, looking away like a sulking hatchling. "It's not like I can just stop you from doing it."

"Yes you could, but if you want the bleeding to stop you shouldn't." She sighed, folding her arms underneath her chest. "And this time I would also like to put a bandage on it." Before he could even do as much as open his maw to complain she already raised a warning finger. "And no arguing this time!" With that said she turned around and hurried to the exit. "You just wait here and enjoy your meal while I get the medical supplies."

He really wanted to say something in objection but before he even had a chance the doors already closed behind her. He exhaled a heavy sigh, looking at the rest of his meal. While Rúna was gone he used the time to devour the whole boar and all the little fruits around it. Normally one animal wouldn't be enough to sate his hunger since even for an adult dragon he was bigger than the average, but so was this boar and so he felt well fed. After he took a few gulps out of the barrel filled with water that they put in his room his thirst was quenched too. With both hunger and thirst defeated he could do nothing but wait for Rúna to come back which to his luck didn't last so long this time.

Only a few minutes after he was done lapping at the water the doors opened again and in came Rúna carrying her bag full of medical supplies. He let out an exaggerated sigh as Rúna took out her set of stitches. "Just get it over with." He turned his side towards her so that she would have easy access on his wing. "You won't have to clean it again, right?"

"So long as you didn't get it dirty I won't have to." She answered without looking at him, her eyes now only focused on the wound. Without exchanging more words she got to work and removed the old set of stitches to replace them with new ones. The dragon did his best to keep quiet and just endure it while it lasted. At least it was better than when she was cleaning it, he thought. "There, much better." She gently patted the wound, making him grunt. "It looks already a lot better than it was when you first got here. Impressive how fast you dragons heal over the span of barely more than a week."

A prideful smile ran across his muzzle as he looked back at Rúna. "Dragons heal naturally much faster than humans do. Only one of the many traits that make dragons far superior to humans."

Rúna rolled her eyes but smirked at the same time. "If dragons are so superior to men than how come it took a man to save you?"

"Pah, he didn't..." He began but then furrowed his brow in confusion. "Wait, who told you about that?"

She chuckled for a second, shaking her head. "You did." When his face just twisted with more confusion than it already had she explained further. "Do you remember when I gave you that medicine the first time I treated you to calm you down?" After hesitating a couple of seconds he nodded, looking at her with narrowed eyes. "In your half-awake state, you told me about the day you met Henry and how he saved your life from dragon slayers."

Alvahroth slowly retreated his head, curling it into an S shape, looking down on her. "what else did I... tell you?" He hoped that he hadn't told her anything about his past. Letting someone he barely knew know all about his loss was a total taboo in his mind. Henry was only an exception because he went through similar hardships and knew his pain all too well.

"Ah, nothing else really. Well, except..." She bit her lip, looking away and seemed almost nervous. "You told me your name." His eyes went wide for a second and then were closed entirely.

He rubbed the base of his horn with his paw, sighing in frustration. "Did I then?"

"Yes... I thought that since you always held it a secret I shouldn't mention it for as long as you see it fit to reveal it on your own accord."

"Well, at least you had the respect to do that..." He murmured, speaking more to himself than to her. "Very well, now that you already know it any way you may call me Alvahroth whenever you like."

As soon as his name went past his lips Rúna looked up at him with wide eyes, her expression unreadable for him. What was with her? Did it confuse her so much that he allowed her to use his name? He supposed it would take him a good deal longer to figure out all the different facial expressions of humans. Then she began to chuckle, gently at first, but it got louder the more confused Alvah's expression became. "Are you... laughing about my name?" The mere idea that a puny human was laughing at his prideful name made his blood boil. A growl was growing in the back of his throat and a gentle blush showed on his frills. "do you have any idea how-"

"No!" She held up one of her hands, her other covering her mouth as she was trying to hold back laughter. "It's just that I fooled you." The growing confusion on his face made holding back laughter for her even harder. "you never really told me your name back then." After she said that she could no longer hold back and burst out laughing, clutching at her stomach.

What was she saying? The gears in his head were turning for a while longer as he watched her roll around on the ground laughing as if she just heard the best joke in the whole world. Then the obvious finally hit him. She just lied to him about him telling her his name in a dazed state, hiding her lies behind an acted nervous expression. He silently cursed himself in his mind. He just got fooled by some servant girl and there was nothing he could do about it now. Ever since she knew he had a name she wanted to know it but he told her that she would have to earn his trust first so she went out of her way to figure it out on her way.

While he watched her laughing, rolling across the ground, he thought about roaring at her angrily, to tell her how disrespectful this act was. And yet he couldn't help himself but be impressed. Yet again she reminded him of someone he knew in his past. A mischievous someone who he grew quite fond of. He was starting to grow more fond of Rúna by the day as well. Maybe he just had a thing for mischievous things. It was a shame that she was not a dragoness. Otherwise, he'd have probably asked her to lift her tail by now.

When at last she stopped laughing and sat up on the ground, a huge smile still on her face. "I ehm... I'm sorry if I disrespected you or anything. I just..." She cleared her throat, looking up at him with the smile still on her lips. "I was just getting tired of calling you dragon all the time."

"I understand." He sighed, licked his muzzle and stared at her in silence for a while. "I must admit that you outwitted me no matter how much this bruised my ego." He glared away from her, dragging a single unsheathed claw in frustration. "It was my fault for not seeing through this setup so... you might call me by my name whenever you see fit." He quickly raised a paw to correct himself. "Expect in public. I don't want any other humans to know it without deserving it."

"So you're saying I have deserved it?" She asked, leaning back against a stone pillar, smirking up at him.

"I think by bashing my ego and embarrassing me thoroughly you have, yes." He said with a smirk of his own. For a brief moment he gazed at the fine lines he drew in stone floor and then the deeper lines that formed the draconic rune of hope. "So will you tell me why you had such a delay upon your arrival?"

"Mhm?" Rúna seemed to have been lost in her thoughts while glaring at the rune in the ground. "Oh, right." She paused to gather her thoughts before she went on to explain. "The noble lords dragged me in that big dining hall where they asked me a few questions, like how I speak their language so flawlessly. Most of the questions were of military origins though. Troop movements, army sizes, food stocks-"

"Military questions?" Alvahroth tilted his head, his ears standing at full attention, listening carefully to every word. "Troop movements? I thought you were just a servant, or slave, as you said yourself so what could you know of value?"

"Do not talk of things you know nothing about, Alvahroth," Rúna spoke his name very slowly and clearly as if to still mock him for giving it away like that. "I know plenty of things. The man I was serving liked to talk to the woman with whom he..." She trailed off for a moment, her mouth opening and closing a few times while she was unable to meet his gaze. She quickly collected herself though, clearing her throat before she went on "Anyway, due to his arrogant self believing there was no chance they would ever get the chance to tell anyone he told many of his servants a great deal about their plans and troop movement and so on and so on."

"Ah, I see." The girl no longer met his gaze and seemed to have gone lost in bad memory. He couldn't help but wonder what that was all about. "What was that you said earlier? When you trailed off?" Slowly she rose her head meeting his gaze for a brief moment before she locked away again, biting her lip. With his head tilted to the side, he watched her stare into the distance. The expression she had on her face was one he could read all too well. She was asking herself whether he should tell him or not. He sighed, lowering his head to her eye level. He then spoke in the softest tone he could muster. "If you don't want to talk about it that is fine. I also have dark memories that I can't easily retell to any-"

"I was his whore." She blurted out all of a sudden while she squeezed her eyes shut. She held her legs tight against her body, sitting there like she wanted to hide from the world. "At least... at least one of them. I was far from the only one he abused as he saw fit." She pursed her lips, finally getting a hold of herself and look him in the eyes as she went on. "His name is Ivarr, Ivarr the bastard as everyone calls him behind his back. That man forced me to... to do things I'd rather not talk about. Let's just say that I bear scars, mostly those the eye can't see. He is Ulric's half-brother which is why everyone calls him 'the bastard'. He always stood in the shadow of his two older brothers. One of the many reasons why the man was always angry."

Her expression darkened as she pointed at the scar on her cheek. "This was given to me on the first day I was meant to 'serf him'. I knew that my mother suffered the same cruelty but I always hoped that I wouldn't meet the same fate or at least..." She abruptly stopped talking, her mouth still hanging open from the word she was about to spit out. "Or at least that he would... wait until I had reached adulthood." At that point, tears were running down her face and her body was visibly shaking. He could see that she tried to go on, but she couldn't. "I... he just..." Her blurry eyes glared around unfocused, her hands balled into fists as she desperately tried to collect herself. "He... when I disobeyed he... took that knife and... and-"

"Shhhh." He had heard more than enough. Alvah put a paw on her shoulder, trying his best to comfort her a little. "Just stop, please. I heard enough."

Rúna buried her face into her hands and broke down completely. Tears were dripping down her face and onto her beautiful dress. She sobbed and cried loudly, completely giving in to her emotions. All the while Alvah rubbed her shoulder, trying his best to at least comfort her a little. He could only imagine what it must be like to live a life like that. A life on your knees, at the mercy of someone else. It sounded like his worst nightmare and yet to her it was not just a nightmare, it was her past.

For as long as she cried he remained silent, gently rubbing her shoulder. To think that about two weeks ago he wouldn't even talk to a human least he had to. And now he was comforting one after they just told him of their tragic past. He had to admit that he was starting to trust the girl although the thing she pulled with his name, while impressive, did little to further his trust in her. But what she just told showed that she trusted him and while he could not return her trust to such a degree he could at least show her that her trust wasn't unanswered.

"You are not the only one who was deeply hurt by Ulric's people." He spoke softly and hesitantly. At that point, her tears had already dwindled to only sobs. "Halvard dragonsbane." He spat the name out like venom, taking his paw off her shoulder to rest his head upon both his paws. "He took someone... very important away from me." When he heard his own voice crack he cleared his throat, staring at the cold stone wall. "Someone I loved with all my heart."

Rúna sniffed one last time, lifting her face out of her hands. "You mean... you lost your lover?" In her voice, he could hear the lump that still sat in her throat. His only answer was a slight nod. "I'm sorry... about that." She forced a smile on her lips. "How was she like?"

Alvahroth chuckled for a brief moment before exhaling a sigh. The hint of a smile grew on his muzzle at the pleasant memories he had with her. "You would have liked her." His voice was barely louder than a whisper, as soft as a dragon's voice could possibly get. "She always outwitted me just like you did." Again he chuckled briefly and Rúna giggled a bit, wiping away already dried tears.

"Halvard dragonsbane..." She repeated the name. "Ulric's twin brother... how do you know his full name including his nickname if you didn't associate with humans before you met that knight, Henry."

He turned his head towards her, golden eyes found hers. He saw his own eyes reflecting in hers, like a golden sun reflecting upon a deep blue ocean. At that moment he saw not only his eyes reflecting in hers, he also saw his pain, his hatred, and lust for justice burning in her own soul. In a way, it reminded him of Henry. He almost forgot that she had asked him a question. Not that it mattered. It was a question that he was not willing to answer, at least not yet.

"That is something I'd rather not talk about... at least not now."

"Of course, if you say so." She said with a smile, loosening up her body again after sitting there trying to make herself as small as possible. while stretching out her legs she let out a long sigh.

Silence loomed over the two of them. Not the awkward sort, but rather the calming, pleasant sort. Alvahroth sat his head down on his paws and stared into the room. The silence caused his thoughts to wander to uncomfortable places. He thought about Henry, he thought about his lost love, but most of all he thought of the future and what it might hold. He wasn't so sure at first why he agreed to follow the knight to this castle, but in the back of his head, he knew the whole time. He wouldn't be fighting for the kingdom and the humans living within it. He couldn't care less about them. He wasn't even there for his own kind.

He would fight for them, for his family.

The family that was taken from him in cold blood.

He would follow every order these humans gave him, follow them into every battle, if only it would mean that he could stand face to face against the man who murdered his love and in doing so killing a part of him too. And the men who stormed the castle of the order shall feel his wrath as well. He would find the one who led them, the man responsible for the death of his daughter, and burn him alive so he could relish his screams-

"Alvahroth?"

The voice startled him, making him blink. How did she know his name? Oh, right, he got fooled. Only when he blinked again did he notice that he was crying.

"Damn it." He cursed through grit teeth, quickly turning his head away to hide his tears from her. The dragon blinked his tears away and turned his gaze to Rúna. The concern in her eyes surprised him. Was she concerned for his well-being? He looked away, unable to meet her gaze. Embarrassment once more flushed to his frills and even his cheeks. Alvah worked his jaw, but couldn't find the right words. "I... I wasn't... just..." He sighed, glancing at her for a brief moment. "Just... pretend that never happened."

Rúna chuckled and put on a gentle smile. "Don't worry, I won't tell." She stretched out her hand to touch his neck, but then she stopped just an inch away from his scales. When he didn't pull away or protest she reached further and put her hand on his neck, just below the line of frills that ran from the top of his head to where his neck met his body. A quiet gasp escaped her throat. "Wow, your scales are way softer than I thought."

An amused chuckle rumbled in Alvah's throat, his eyes closed as he rested his head on his paws. "Yes, a dragon's scales are not hard everywhere. The plates on my chest and upper stomach offer the best protection. There are more varying levels of toughness all over my body still. Vital parts are usually protected by tougher scales while less vital organs by thinner and softer scales, or even skin to some degree."

"Thank you, professor." Rúna giggled as she stroked her hand up and down his neck, feeling areas where softer scales became thicker and rougher to the touch. "But I was only commenting on the softness of the scales and your neck and wasn't asking for a lesson in dragon anatomy. At least your making it easier for me to find ways to kill you should your ego grow to an unbearable level."

He smirked, keeping his eyes still closed. "I was merely answering any potential questions you might have." He opened his eyes, twisting his neck around to look at her, still smirking. "And you'd be foolish to think that you could kill me that easily just by the information I gave you."

"Ah, is that so." She looked down his neck until her eyes settled on his shoulder. The scales underneath his arm could be soft, she thought. "Well let me guess..." She jabbed her hand underneath his arm, making him snarl. "A well placed dagger here and you'll bleed out."

He glared at her through narrowed eyes while she gave her a smug look. She knew she was right, and she was, but he wouldn't give her that satisfactory knowledge. "Maybe." He said. "I shall not tell you of my weak spots. Who knows, you could come at night and try to stab me while I sleep."

She rolled her eyes dismissively but put the smug grin up again right after. "Paranoid eh?" She sat down, leaning her head against the dragon's side. "Gods, you begin to sound like Rodric."

Alvah chuckled, giving her a slightly confused look. "How so?"

"Ah, the old man is just very paranoid that's all." She waved him off, closing her eyes. "You know, the way he hides that knights true name and identity from all those whom he doesn't trust a hundred percent. I think he is afraid that of his enemies find out who he is they will target him or something."

"He is the last heir to their family line, is he not?"

Rúna gave a shrug. "As far as I know, yeah." She kept her eyes closed as she relaxed with her back and head leaned against his side.

"Then I can understand his fear." He sighed, resting his head on his paws once more. He glared at Rúna in silence for a while as she seemed to be ready to fall asleep in her current position. "And I cannot remember allowing you to use me as your pillow."

"Pillow?" She opened her eyes, smirking at him. "I'm just leaning myself against you. I wouldn't call that 'using you as a pillow'." She closed her eyes again and exhaled a sigh. "besides, you haven't complained until now so maybe you secretly like it." Her smirk widened and before he could even oppose her suggestion she went on. "I've also realized that your scales are warm. I expected you to be more like a lizard in that aspect."

Alvahroth thumped his tail in frustration. Always these humans with their lizard thesis. Then a grin spread over his muzzle as he raised his hind leg slightly and turned to lay on his side just enough to expose his balls and sheath to her. "It's not that hard to figure out now, is it?"

She took a quick glance at his nether regions before chuckling and glaring at him. "You want to uphold your end of the bet after all?"

The smirk on Alvah's muzzle twisted into confusion. "Eh... what are you-"

"The bet we made for the chess game not too long ago? I won, remember?"

"Pah," He threw his head and glared down at her. "We both know that that was just a joke to make Henry turn red like a... like a..." He worked his jaws for a moment, searching for the right word in the human tongue. "What's that red fruit called again?"

"Ehm, you mean apple?"

"no, no, the other one!"

"Eh... tomato?"

"Yes, that was it!" He cleared his throat with a growling sound. "To make Henry turn red like a tomato."

Rúna smirk still remained persistent. "Oh, just a joke was it?" She shrugged it off, leaning her head back and closing her eyes again. "Whatever, they look underdeveloped anyway."

Alvah blinked at her words. "W-what did you say?"

"I said you've got tiny balls, dragon." She said, leaning forward slightly as she gave him the biggest and smuggest smile he ever saw on a human face. "And I'm sure whatever is hiding in... whatever you call that thing isn't much better."

With every word, she spoke his glare got darker and darker. At the end of her attack on his ego, he was staring down at her with a glare that could have killed someone if they were to stare directly into it. All the while Rúna was laughing at her own 'jokes', laughing at him. Just when she opened her eyes and her mouth again he unsheathed a single claw and pressed it against her throat before a single word could get past her lips. Her eyes went wide with shock and instead of further slandering only a gasp escaped her wide open mouth.

The dragon slowly lowered his head to her eye level while shifting the rest of his body to rest on his belly. As soon as they were at eye level and, his nose only a claw width away from hers he spoke up. "I enjoy you, girl, but do not forget who you are. You may banter and feel comfortable around me all you want but if you disrespect me in this way again I will remind you in a more strict way that you are still my servant." He glared at her in silence to let what he just said sink in. "Is that understood?"

Without hesitation, the girl quickly nodded. "good" He simply said, his voice now a menacing growl that replaced his usual deep but playful tone. He retreated his head from her just as slowly as he advanced it, all the while not breaking eye contact even once and neither did she. "Now go get me some wine. The water you have provided me is horribly stale."

"Of course." Rúna's voice sounded a bit beaten, but she quickly regained her composure as she rose to her feet. "What kind of wine?"

"Good wine." He said, smirking down at her.

A smile twitched on her lips before she gave a small bow with her head and left the room.

---

Papers and letters of all sorts filled the desk to the brim and yet were neatly organized, just how Edwyn liked it. He massaged his forehead with three fingers while holding a letter in his other hand, reading it for the third time in a row with the same focus as the first read. Yes, he thought, this would do. The letter was written by himself a little earlier in the day. It was all he could think about all day long.

As a matter of fact, the last few weeks he could not stop thinking about all the things surrounding that letter. He could feel his sins crawling up his back day and night. He wondered if he made the right decisions along the way. At first, he was certain of it, but ever since the battle, or rather the massacre, of Dragonstone Castle he felt conflicted. His men hated the idea of burning a village filled with their own countrymen and hated it, even more, to bring down the order. Those were all Ulric's orders, but Edwyn knew that the blame for all those deaths was on him. Their blood was on his hands. That sin weighed him down more than he expected. As he watched the many ballistas pick the dragons from the skies like it was nothing, that was when he began to feel conflicted.

He sighed and put down the letter, cupping his face with both his hands. What he had done he did for his family, his bloodline, and to save his people. He took a glance at the letter again. Maybe writing this letter was a mistake, he wasn't sure, But he sure as hell wasn't gonna read it a fourth time.

Edwyn sighed once again, leaning back into his chair. A glance at the wall that was meant to let his thoughts wander elsewhere did the exact opposite as it landed on a golden sword mounted on the mural-covered stone wall. With a pommel in the shape of a lion's head, the sigil of his house, it was perfect to resemble the achievements of his family and of himself. It was a gift from king Aerdur himself from a couple years ago as he proved himself on the open battlefield against the forces of king Mordred of Eylok both as a great commander and valiant soldier. Once that sword gave him pride, but looking upon it now he felt only shame and remorse.

Something else managed to bring his thoughts elsewhere as the door to his office was opened without an even as much as a knock. In a swift reflex, he pulled a book over the letter to cover it from the sight of the man who had just entered his room since he knew without even looking who he was. There was only one man who showed him no courtesy or respected whatsoever. His eyes fixated on the huge, broadly built man standing in the doorway. Halvard Dragonsbane, Ulric's younger brother.

The man's dark brown eyes were set on him immediately. His expression was as always stoic, showing no emotion whatsoever except perhaps a hint of inpatients. They should have called him "the stoic" instead of "dragonsbane", would have fit him much better, he thought. The sides of his head were completely shaved, filled with blue tattoos of runes and symbols he didn't recognize. The rest of his brown hair ran down his back in a long knotted tail, almost reading his hip. His beard was only half as long but was knotted in a similar way, while his mustache was lined with bits of tiny jewelry.

His clothes were just as imposing as the rest of him. A green gambeson above a blue and red striped tunic was worn underneath his big cloak, the fur that covered his shoulders making look even broader than usual. As usual, he wore a sort of scale armor from his hip that covered only his right side all the way down to his knee. Edwyn heard him brag about it being the first dragon he killed with his own blade and that no matter what armor he wore, those dark brown scales would always be worn on top. His dark blue pants almost vanished behind his gambeson and the think brown fur boots he was wearing.

"Lord Edwyn!" Halvard's voice was just as gruff and stoic as one would expect by looking at his face. The tone of his voice also spoke of some sort of impatience.

"Jarl Halvard!" He spoke with a faked happiness and put up a diplomatic smile. "Or was it duke now? I believe your brother has given you the duchy of Penllynshire has he not? I believe that makes us equals now. Oh, speaking of, it is duke Edwyn, not lord. I believe you do know the diffe-"

"Enough, Edwyn!" He commanded in a stern voice, his impatience growing. "I'm not here to discuss our titles." He stepped further into the room, stopping right in front of his table. "We have been awaiting news on those children and of Dragonstone Castle almost a week ago. What were you doing at that time?" He leaned onto the desk, getting very close up to Edwyn's face. "Perhaps... plotting?"

Despite his harsh voice and attempt at intimating him, he didn't even flinch. "I assure you that your mistrust in my is misguided. I have you know that I am very busy with paperwork now that Ulric has temporarily made me his chancellor. I believe I have sent a messenger. If he did not arrive I think you should blame brigands, and not me."

For a moment Halvard remained silent, searching the dukes face for lies, anything that he could grasp at to give him reason to remove his head from his shoulders. To his dismay, he could find nothing. Slowly he straightened back up, looking down at Edwyn. "Very well, duke." He said the title as a way to mock rather than acknowledge it. "Then give me all the important news his majesty asked for. Not by letter, just tell me."

The broad-shouldered man folded his arms underneath his chest, awaiting what he had to say. Edwyn cleared his throat, taking a brief second to collect his thoughts before meeting his eyes without any show of fear or mistrust. "Well, first off, the mayor of Nefyn has surrendered just as expected and the city is now ours. On the contrary, rebels have risen up in the city of Llanfair and Crumlin now that it is of public knowledge that the king's son and daughter are alive." A small smile twitched on his lips as he said it out loud. He hoped Halvard didn't pay it any mind.

"Yes yes," Dragonsbane waved his hand dismissively. "I know of the rebels and the capture of Nefyn. What I want to know is what happened at Dragonstone Castle and news about the survivors of the royal bloodline." He folded his arms again, sighing in rising frustration. "Start with the orders castle."

Edwyn nodded once. Gods, he really was impatient. Something he and his old brother had in common, it seemed. "Everything is alright and under control at the castle. A new garrison has been installed and all the dead have been disposed of." As soon as he saw Halvard's lips part he raised his hand. "But I am sure you want to know why we needed a new garrison in the first place. Well, there was an... unexpected guest inside the castle walls. At first, it was all a big mystery. All the men dead, the inside of the keep burned down and a missing horse. Then it was discovered that there was one body missing, one of the knights of the dragon must have... been still alive and fought his way out of the castle. Exactly who I had no idea of knowing at first, but then I called for the survivor of the party of dragon hunters for integration to tell me all about the man who killed all his companions."

He subtly fidgeted with the armrests as he saw Halvard's frown growing deeper with every word he spoke. "He said the man who did it wore full plate armor with the order's symbol on his breastplate and apparently he had golden eyes 'like a dragon'." He paused for a second to let all this sink in with the bear standing at the other end of the desk. "There were only two men in the order with that ordinary eye color, Sir Gawain and Sir Henry, who were brothers. Since Gawain was banished from the order years ago only Henry remains to be suspected. If that isn't enough evidence, know that Henry is the nephew of Lord Rodric of Moudeir Castle. The place in which the hunters have been slain lies close to the road that leads from Dragonstone to Moudeir Castle. So I think it is pretty clear that Sir Henry killed the garrison, took a horse and then went to his old home, killing dragon slayers on the way."

With every passing second that silence filled the room the tension grew and grew. He couldn't tell if Halvard was angry, frustrated, annoyed or all together. "So..." He began, his voice suggesting that he was at the edge of his patience, if he hadn't already been there. "you're saying that not only did two of the dragons flee with a knight into the mountains, but now there also is another knight unleashed who killed an entire group of dragon slayers." He jabbed a thumb at his chest, growing visibly angry. "MY dragon slayers to be exact! The man who led them was a valuable commander of my army. Above all the dragon that was supposed to be there was nowhere to be seen once we discovered the bodies!"

Halvard took a deep breath, holding back his anger. "This means that they now have a knight of the order AND a dragon at their side which is exactly what we were trying to avoid by destroying the bloody order!" The last words were almost yelled, yet Edwyn did not flinch. "I hope that you have better news of these two children of the former king. Last news you sent mentioned that they were somewhere in Caernavon... so what happened to them?"

Edwyn glared at the man standing above him, his fear slowly starting to take hold as gripped hard at his armrests while still keeping up his neutral expression. He knew that Halvard was not going to like what he was about to say. Better get it over with. No more talking around the bush. "Prince Aethur and princess Alina both escaped the city and are by now probably in allied territory. They were assisted by a stranger..." For the first time, he had to evade Halvard's glance and instead glanced down at the table. "... with golden eyes."

Once he glanced back up at his face he saw his usually stoic face, trying to hide all his anger. They both knew that Ulric wouldn't take kindly in him hurting Edwyn in any shape or form. After a while of silence, Halvard's expression hardened and he heaved a sigh. "This is most disappointing." Edwyn almost gulped audibly by how much he sounded like Ulric when he said that. "I will inform my brother of your failures. I hope that he will take my advice and just remove your head." He spoke showing no emotion whatsoever. "We are done here." Halvard turned around and began to head for the door. "Have a nice day, lord Edwyn." He mocked him once again, giving him one last glance, this time one of pure hatred before closing the door behind himself.

"Oh, gods..." As soon as Halvard had left the room Edwyn sunk into his chair, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly while his gaze wandered towards the book that covered up his letter. He grasped the book and set it back to where it belonged, now once again staring at the letter. He briefly glanced over the paragraphs again, nodding as he was finished. Yes, it must be, he thought. After his talk with Halvard, he was now certain that this letter was not a mistake.

"Mae'n ddrwg gennyf fy ffrind." Edwyn murmured to himself in the old tongue of Albia, a language that's almost died out in some parts of the kingdom. "Gobeithiaf y bydd un diwrnod i gael maddeuant gan fy bobl am fy mhechodau." He sighed brushing his fingers over the parchment.

He glared over to the golden sword on his wall, tears brimming in his eyes.

"Gadael i hyn fod fy adbrynu..."

*********

Ah, so this took longer than it should have... again. Anyway, since this is my first post in 2019, happy new year to all those read this far. It might be a bit late to say that now but whatever. Hope you enjoyed the read <3