Raxseis had come to travel by foot back to the wall of his soon to be claimed kingdom. He had found, that Emerald had stolen his dragon, or at the very least had been carried away by it. The young man had been cursing and kicking dirt the entire journey home. He could not begin to imagine why the gods had come to at last turn their backs upon him. He knew the truth, it was why he had tried so desperately to bring his sister home. It had taken him nearly a day to return to the gates of Morgeideign, his feet were blistered and sore. He came to stand before the gates, it's guards raising the gates. Raxseis made his way into the streets of the city, his eyes catching a glimpse of a traveling party. Their banners flew wildly in the wind behind their stride, the white fabric adorned with the image of a dragon consuming a serpent. Raxseis knew those banners, they were the flags of his late mother's home. His grandfather had long since passed from the world, meaning that it was his grandmother who had come to visit.
The group made way past him, stopping only when a jeweled hand came to make a signal from the window of a coach. It rolled to a stop before him, the door coming to swing open, revealing his grandmother Lady Estralia Dia'por of House Valro'clav. She was a beautiful woman despite her wisdom in years. Wrinkles littered her face, her waist-length locks secured in an aged gray bun atop her head. She was thin and frail in body but allowed her wit and unbroken spirit to replace her lack of solid figure. Beside her sat her son, Raxseis' Uncle Tarbion Dia'por. Much like his sister now gone from the world, Tarbion held hair as brown as the finest of leather, his eyes were a piercing blue sitting perfectly on the top of each side of his keen nose. He was a good-looking man, one with chiseled features and broad shoulders. He had been older than the heir's mother, nearly the same age as Raxseis had been when Adalaya was born.
The old woman looked at her grandson, her thin lips pulling into a stressed smile. "Raxseis, how much you have grown. So muscular and regal you now stand in comparison to your brother." The elder prince gave a chuckle, moving forward to embrace his grandmother. "Indeed, my brother does not inherit the powerful form that our grandfather passed onto me. Tell me, Great Mother, what brings you to Morgeideign?" The old woman looked at her son before returning her attention to the young man before her door. "Your father sent word that you sister has gone missing. He requested aid in his searches, speaking of your failure to return with any valuable news. He fears that young Adalaya may have died. I personally do not believe the claims, I received word from Trinos that she was spotted there. I have reason to believe that she and your Aunt Reia are headed for Vermillion City. There has been talking of dragon's going rogue and attacking their handlers, no matter the amount of time they have been under the suppression of a whip. Just two weeks past my very own mount Asaq'kar came to devour his trainer. He remains kind to me, but I have been advised to keep my distance. Honestly, from what I understand, I fear for her life more in the hands of the dragon she has come to claim than the city in which they travel too."
He could not believe what he was hearing. His heart came to bash its way atop his ribcage, suddenly he felt faint. Adalaya on dragon back? She had never been trained, never once scaled the massive sizes of the creatures, and now they were turning upon their race. He cursed himself for leaving her behind, and for a flicker of a moment, he even came to fear for his unborn child. "Do you travel there now, Great Mother? If so I would plead you take me with you on this journey. I was on my way to alert father that I had seen her alive and well but in the company of a blood witch. Would you mind waiting here until I speak with him?" At last his uncle came to find voice. " We have no time to spare boy, we have already told your father of our findings, he is currently indisposed. Your findings are none we have not already relayed to him. Come, you and I may converse in the coach further back in the procession."
The man stood, his weight coming to shift the little carriage as he made his way out of it. He was a tall man of six foot five, leaving him to have to bow in order to make his way out. His hand fell onto his nephew's shoulder, his grip urging him towards another means of transport. The pair came to take a seat, Tarbion made sure the locks were secure and pulled the curtains shut. The command of Her Majesty urged the travelers onward, and only then did Tarbion come to begin the conversation. " Do you know why your sister came to flee the city?" His question held both answers and curiosity. "I am not sure, at first we thought perhaps she had been kidnapped. When I found her, she seemed so pleased with her surroundings. In fact, she fought me physically and verbally to stay. It seems you know more than you are willing to present to me uncle."
The older man came to pull at the hairs of his chin in worry. "I went about, scouting the forest looking for any clues. I found only one as to why she may have left in such a hurry, and with the company of my eldest sister, a known blood witch. There was a decaying carcass of a hellhound in those woods. They only surface when there is a debt to be paid to one who was killed unjustly. I know this because one came for me once, shortly after your mother's death. So tell me, what debt did she owe to someone?" Raxseis began to squint, his mind racing through the times past. He knew better than to talk about him and his beloved sister's situations, to any other but his uncle, for he was the same as they. "I can think of only one man. In his death, the debt should have been shared between us both. We killed a man who attempted to come between us and threatened to reveal our secrets to not only our father but to the land. He had to die, I do not see why a hound would come to torment her for protecting herself and the man she loves."
"Reveal you? So it is true then? You have come to share improper intimacies with your sister?" "Half sister Uncle Tar. You and I both know that Adalaya belongs to you. Your lust and love for my mother are what planted the seed in my head at such a young age. I am no fool, I watched you and my mother join together on more than one occasion. Right under my father's nose and he never knew, nor shall he ever. Father was so stricken with love, it blinded him from knowing the truth of who he called wife. I am not sure how long you came to bed your sister as your mistress, but I do know that my own has been warming my bed since the age of thirteen. She now stands approaching her eighteenth name day, carrying my child within her womb." Tarbion moved closer to his nephew, his hand motioning to keep his voice down. "I never knew you were aware of what happened." "How could you not uncle? Even a boy of only nine years old knows when something has gone array. Mother died giving birth to Adalaya, why? She gave birth to Exsidious and me without so much as a fever to follow. The curse of incest ran through her veins. It is why I must see my child's life to an end before Dovium claims yet another from my life."
Lord Dia'por came to sigh. So much had happened, deep down he blamed himself for it all. "We must find her, and stop whatever it is she has planned. I am confident that it will not end well. Vermillion City is not a place for one as ignorant to life as my daughter." Raxseis gave a curt nod in agreement. "Aye, your sister seemed quite eager to protect her. Adalaya has gathered a fire inside her being unlike I have ever seen. She even had the courage to strike me. I do not trust your sister Uncle Tar, she is a worshiper of Dovium and will only bring ruin to whatever she has a hand in. I still do not understand why she was allowed to live after her slights against the crown."
"My sister is a very misunderstood woman, one who has always wanted to fight for the rights of women. Your mother was unique, all she wanted was love and a crown atop her head. A man to call husband for appearances and a place she could bed me in secret. Her entire life revolved around men and their desires. It is why I cherished her so much. When we do at last recover your sister, I beg that you break your lust for her. It will doom you both, whoever's spirit summoned that hound of Drathell will return, and this time, it will gather what it is sent to collect. If we are lucky, it will be sent alone like the first." Raxseis came to feel rage building in his breast, his uncle had come to insult him. "It is not lust I feel for her, but love, as you felt for my mother. How dare you demand such things of me when you could not pull yourself away from the grips of love?" "I do not demand anything, I humbly ask for your sake and that of my daughters. She is all I have left of your mother, and I choose to depart from this world before she does."
"Very well uncle, I do pray we reach her in time. If the heat of the Jazzerian desert does not claim her life, surely the Mauraders of Vermillion City will." The men fell into silence as the bumpy road carried them forward. Raxseis was lost in his mind, falling into a darkness he had never once come to greet. His worry for his sister had begun to bloom into a thorn like vine around his heart. Her absence left his soul to bleed and his body to decay with the realization that at last he would finally be left alone, with no other to call his own.
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