Ascent From Ash, page 14
“I suppose the locals were all aware I was there, but if they will remember seeing me I cannot say, Your Grace.” He looked nervous and let out an inaudible sigh of relief when Akiri moved on.
“Mister Stewart?” Akiri nodded to her guard.
“Your Grace, I was outside your room when I smelled the smoke. I investigated the source of the smell and when I saw where the smoke was coming from, I ran to the bell tower to ring it.”
“I do remember hearing the bell as soon as I saw the smoke coming from the lair. Thank you, your quick action helped extinguish the flames, but unfortunately, we did not act fast enough to save my eggs. I want you all to be extra vigilant. Bertram, can you stay behind? I would like to speak with you privately. Everyone else, you’re dismissed.” Akiri watched as everyone else got up from the table. When Bertram and Gabe were the only ones left in the room, Akiri closed the doors and returned to her seat.
“Bertram, I asked for privacy because I want this to stay between us. You are the leader of the builder’s guild and I know you have some engineers within your company. I was hoping you could design and have them build a weapon capable of shooting a dragon from the sky. I’m thinking something like a bow and arrow, but bigger and made of something that can pierce a dragon’s skin.” Akiri said.
“I will see what I can do, Your Grace,” Bertram said.
“Thank you. I’m also going to be gone for a while and will be leaving Gabe in charge, I’m not telling anyone else, so please keep this to yourself, but I am making a new lair far away from here, but in case you need to reach me, and I do mean only you, I will be going to Stonehold Keep. It’s been abandoned for years, it’s the perfect place for a lair.” Akiri said.
“I’ll not tell a soul, My Queen,” Bertram said.
“Thank you. That is all, when you have a prototype of the weapon let either me or King Gabriel know immediately. I would like for it to be built on top of the castle.”
“Absolutely, Your Grace.” Bertram waited to be dismissed and when he was he hurried off to begin his task.
“First seed is planted. I think I need to take a rest already, I’m still a little tired from the stress of the last couple of days.” Akiri said.
“Me too. Would you like for me to lay with you for a while?” Gabe offered.
“I would like that very much.”
On the way back to their room, they saw Sophie walking down the hall toward their room.
“Is everything okay, Sophie?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah, fine. I’m just going to go out for some fresh air, maybe walk around town for a bit before we go later this afternoon.”
“Okay, will I see you before you leave?” Gabe asked.
“I- uh, if I make it back in time. I’ll try.” Sophie said. She hurried down the hall and toward the grand foyer.
“Come on,” Akiri gently pulled on Gabe’s arm as she led him into their bedroom. She directed him to the bed and told him firmly to sit down. “It’s not fair. I want you to look at me the same way you look at her. I want to know what it feels like. Akiri’s fingers started to glow with a green light. Gabe was nervous. She whispered an incantation and as she waved her hands over her body, she morphed into Sophie. Every detail was the same, down to the last freckle. She walked over to Gabe and straddled him as she pressed her lips against his. He pulled away.
“What’s wrong? Isn’t this what you want?” She asked.
“Not like this, I don’t need you to become her.” He said the words, but they held no weight against his desire as he looked back at this woman who was Sophie in almost every way. Akiri knew, too because she felt his arousal beneath her as she stared down at him. Gabe swept her fiery red curls behind her shoulders as he kissed her lips. She stood up and slid the straps of her dress off of he shoulders and let it pool to the floor around her feet.
“I want you, Gabe. Take off your clothes,” she commanded. He couldn’t resist. He undressed faster than he ever had before and when he was finished, Akiri walked over to him and pushed him down on the bed. She walked her fingers up his stomach, to his chest as she mounted him. She hadn’t even needed her hand to guide him inside her. He was more aroused than he had ever been before and Akiri knew why. She rolled her hips forward and back as she watched Gabe admire every inch of her. She moaned with pleasure as he held her hips with his hands and pushed deeper inside her. In a swift movement, he rolled Akiri over and positioned himself back between her legs. He lifted her hips as he thrust himself inside of her again. Gabe stared down at her as he slowed his pace. He leaned down and kissed her gently as his free hand cupped her breast.
“I love you, Sophie,” he whispered. He hadn’t meant to say it, but after the words left his mouth he couldn’t take them back. Akiri dropped the illusion and looked at Gabe angrily. He tried to apologize but she cut him off.
“I knew you were still in love with her.”
“This is on you. If you knew how I felt why did you turn yourself into her visage? I told you that I didn’t need you to become her. Do you not think it possible that I could care for you both? Godsdamn it, Akiri, I’m trying here. I was in love with Sophie since childhood, and that doesn’t just go away, but it also doesn’t mean I can’t grow to love you too. The real you, not you trying to be her.” Gabe got up and started dressing.
“Where are you going?” Akiri asked. Her face was stone. Gabe had expected some emotion other than anger, but if she felt any, they didn’t show.
“I don’t know, right now, just away from you.” He slammed the chamber door as he left. Gabe walked out the front door of the castle with his guard following behind. Gabe turned to face him and put his hand up.
“I’m fine, I don’t need an escort, I need to be alone,” he said. The guard paused and looked as if he were considering following anyway. “That’s an order, stay here,” Gabe told him.
“As you wish, Your Grace.”
Gabe watched him start walking back to the castle and Gabe went toward town. He had not been to town since his first tour around the kingdom, he doubted if the subjects would even recognize him without his royal armor.
He walked down the cobblestone streets past the shops and when he came to a tavern in the center of town, he was drawn in by the music. They never had music at the castle and Gabe had not realized how much he missed it. He walked in and sat down at the bar. When the barkeep asked him what he would like, Gabe ordered the best ale they had. He had never tried ale before, but the way everyone talked about it, he thought it might be good.
The barkeep handed him a mug of dark brown liquid with a thin layer of white foam on top. Gabe took a big gulp and started coughing as soon as the ale slid down his throat. It tasted bitter and robust, like coffee, but with a taste of copper and herb. As he choked on the ale, the other patrons at the tavern laughed at him.
“First time eh? Yea that’ll put th’ hair on ye chest won’ it?” Gabe turned toward the voice that spoke to him.
“It will do something, that’s for sure,” Gabe replied.
“Ya get used to it after a bit. It ain’t the taste ya drink it for, it’s to forget, and it looks like you got some’n you wanna forget.”
“I do.”
“Don’t we all?” The man gestured around the tavern to the other patrons, no doubt all there drinking to forget something.
“M’ name’s Kendrick, but mostly people call me Ken. I got the cow farm o’er there by those old sugar cane fields,” Ken explained.
“I see, I’m Gabe.”
“Gabe, the King?” Ken’s eyes widened as he looked at Gabe.
“Shh, keep it down, I don’t want anyone making a fuss.” Gabe said.
“So what’s a king like you drinkin’ to forget?” Ken asked.
“It’s kinda personal, I had an argument with someone today and I feel bad about it, but I also feel like I’m not wrong.”
“Well I don’t know much about diplomacy, but it sounds like you could patch things up with a little communication, but you’ll never fix anything if you look for all your solutions at the bottom of a pint glass.”
“Thanks, Ken, that’s not bad advice.” Gabe chuckled as he pushed the ale back toward the barkeep to signal that he was finished with it.
“Hey, if yer not gonna drink that, I will, no point in wastin’ it,” Ken said.
“What about all that ‘don’t look for solutions in a pint glass’ talk?” Gabe joked.
“I’m not looking for solutions, just numbness. It’s too late to get back what I lost, but it sounds like you still have time.” Ken chugged the last half of Gabe’s ale and put the mug back across the bar when he was done.
“Hey, thanks for the talk, I’m going to go see if I can’t patch things up.” Gabe smiled as he pushed in his bar stool and started back toward the castle. Before he made it out of town, Sophie spotted him from across the street.
“Gabe!” She called. He turned to see her already on her way across the street to him.
“Hey Sophie, how are you?”
“I’m fine. I got your note this morning. What did you mean by it?” Sophie asked, getting right to the point.
“I knew you liked that poem is all.”
“You know that I can always tell when you’re lying.” Sophie playfully nudged his shoulder.
“I was just saying that you look happy. I hope that you are,” he said.
“Do you want me to be honest, or do you want to feel good?”
“Please, be honest. Always.”
“When I came back to Blackwater, I came back to tell you how I felt. I was finally ready for us to be together. When you said you were leaving and didn’t know if you would be coming back, I was devastated. Then when I saw you and Akiri among the newly engaged royal couples I was heartbroken. Now, I know I should stay away, and I know that being your friend is infinitely harder with my feelings being what they are, but I can’t lose you again.”
“I should have told you from the start how I felt about you, but I was afraid you didn’t feel the same, and I would lose even your friendship. Then all this happened with my mom and the guild. I messed everything up and I’m sorry,” Gabe said.
“It’s okay, I could never stay mad at you. Even if you are a complete bonehead.”
“I have to get going now, there are a few things I have to take care of before you guys leave. I will be there this afternoon when you go,” Gabe said.
Sophie nodded and hugged him tightly, not knowing if she would be able to later when his wife was on the beach with them.
26
Sophie
Later that afternoon, Sophie met the other dragons on the beach. Kamara and Akiri were going back to the temple Ophay, Dominic was going back to Ledora, and Sophie would be returning to Lapis Highland. She hoped that the castle was finished, or at least her bed chamber. Gabe was there to see them off, just as he said he would be.
“I made these for us.” Sophie handed each of them a quill. And a notebook. “They are all connected by the same magical spell. When you write in the notebook, the ink appears, then disappears like this,” she demonstrated by writing her name into her notebook. All the other notebooks began to glow. “Go ahead, open them,” Sophie said. When they opened the notebook they saw Sophie’s name written in their notebooks. “When you close the book again, the messages disappear, so make sure you only open the book when you have time to read it, but this way we can quickly get messages to each other from anywhere. If you want to message only certain people, just write their name first and underline it, like this,” she wrote Kamara’s name, underlined it, and then wrote a little note. Only Kamara’s notebook lit up. When Kamara read the note she giggled. They all packed their notebooks and quills into their bag which they brought for traveling. For Sophie, it was her father’s backpack, which was beginning to show signs of wear on the straps from being carried in her teeth.
“This is a great gift, Sophie. Very thoughtful.” Kamara said as she packed it.
“I agree, thank you, Sophie.” Gabe and Sophie’s eyes met and his gaze lingered a moment too long and he heard Akiri huff. He quickly looked away. “Safe travels, everyone. Hope to see you soon.”
When he moved forward to kiss Akiri goodbye, she turned her face and his kiss landed on her cheek. Sophie looked away quickly, not wanting to insert herself in the obvious spat they had going on. They shifted into their dragon forms, Dominic the majestic gold dragon with the power to exhale lightning, Sophie, the fierce red dragon with fiery breath, Kamara, the silver with the ability to bring ice and frost upon the land, and Akiri, the dark green dragon who could spit acidic sludge and melt metal with it. Sophie knew that if the four of them were on the same team, there would be no force strong enough to take them on, not even the black dragon would stand a chance.
Gabe watched as they took off into the sky. He thought it must be so freeing to be able to fly wherever you wanted to go in no time at all. Traveling by ship sometimes took weeks compared to the trip from Ledora to Ash which only took a couple of hours.
Sophie felt weightless in the sky, which was quite a feat for a dragon. She loved soaring through the clouds and beside the birds. She felt so free of everything when she was flying that she wished she never had to come back down to the ground.
Even though she loved staying at the Temple Ophay, with Akiri there now, she was glad to be going back to Lapis Highland. It was dark when she landed, but she could see that Highland Castle was now complete. When the guards saw her, they bowed immediately.
“Welcome back, My Queen.” Sophie heard as she approached the castle doors.
“Thank you,” she said as she continued inside.
“I would like to call an emergency meeting. If the throne room is completed gather the Highlanders and have them wait in there. I’m going to make myself presentable.” Sophie turned to the other guard, “would you mind showing me to my chamber?”
“Right this way, My Queen.” He led her up the grand staircase, which opened into a small library and sitting room. Comfortable-looking chairs stood in front of large windows with bookshelves in between them. They turned right down a hallway and the guard stopped.
“This entire wing is yours. You have your chamber here,” he pointed to the first door on the left, “and then you have your study. All of your magical items and components have been stocked and are in your study for you. There is a secret passage that leads from your bedchamber to the lair and from the lair to your study. I will leave you to explore, but please, My Queen, if there is anything you need, I will be right here.” He pointed to the corner of the hall and the library. “I have been assigned to be your guard unless you choose another, Your Grace.”
“I feel like if we are to be working so closely together, I should know your name,” Sophie said.
“My name is Thomas, Your Grace,” he said. The boy was no older than Sophie, but he was muscular and looked like he could win a fight.
“Thomas, do you know how to use that sword?” Sophie gestured to the short sword sheathed at his hip.
“Yes, My Queen, I have trained every day since I could hold a blade.”
“Then you will make a wonderful queen’s guard, Thomas.” Sophie smiled and retreated to her chamber, taking notice of the boy’s prideful expression as she left.
Her bed chamber was beautifully decorated with a carved mahogany canopy bed with red and black curtains, a matching chest of drawers, and matching bedside tables. A silver chandelier illuminated the room with flickering candlelight. The nightstands each held a beautiful oil lamp, as well as the vanity and the writing desk. The bath chamber was the most surprising, She didn’t know how they did it, but the marble tub had a metal spout and handle that pumped hot water into the tub. The water drained from a hole in the base, no one would have to carry buckets of water to fill or empty her tub.
Even with all of her magic, this was one of the greatest things she had ever seen, at least that was what she thought until she saw the privy. There was a tank of water on the back and a chain connecting the tank to a handle. When Sophie pulled it, the water drained from the tank into the bowl and the bowl filled momentarily and then washed down the large drain. Wow, Sophie thought.
She quickly cleansed herself in the bath and dressed in a lavish gown. She put on her obsidian crown which was made for her on the island of Choddrath, inside the mountain keep. She exited her room and approached the guard.
“Would you please, escort me to the throne room?”
“Of course, My Queen.” Without another word, he did as he was asked and led her to a set of carved double doors. When he opened them he walked in before her.
“Please stand for Queen Sophia Rend, The Red Dragon,” Thomas announced. Everyone stood up and turned toward the center aisle to see Sophie enter. She walked confidently to the throne and when she sat down, everyone else did as well.
“I know you might not be aware of recent events, but A black dragon has attacked the kingdom of Ash. This dragon destroyed something very important and irreplaceable to the Queen. If you see the black dragon, you are to report it immediately. Anyone caught knowingly concealing the dragon’s identity or human form will be sentenced to death. I do not know if this black dragon is Baelfire, I thought for sure he was dead, but know that I am your rightful Queen and anyone who does not swear fealty to me, here and now can leave the Highland and never return.” Sophie stood and walked to the edge of the platform.
“If you are true to your Queen, take a knee at this time and promise to defend Lapis Highland and the Red Dragon from all enemies.” Sophie had never seen an entire room of people kneel so quickly. There was not a single person left standing.
“My Queen!” They all declared.
Over the next few weeks, Sophie settled into a routine. She chose a small council and found a way to make money selling potions and magical items that she created in her study. She was becoming more practiced in wizardry and her new shop in Alasia Outpost, the shopping district of Alasia, did very well on its grand opening. The shopkeeper, a Highlander by the name of Gladys was an experienced caravan operator and she sent her people out in all directions selling Sophie’s enchanted items to people in every town they traveled to.
