Sweet Waters Throne

233 Chapter 23Few hours later, Artemis awoke to find his sister tucked up in sheets and looking comfortable in the middle of nowhere. He reached out to check his sword and it was there, so was his small bag full of golden coins and funny enough, even the dragon was awake. Although it seemed troubled, it kept wondering around as if looking for something.

Artemis knew something wasn’t right with it, he stood up and walked towards the dragon. “Hey, hey… what is it?” he asked it, in Low Moor.

The dragon roared softly, shook her wings and roared more. Only if dragons could talk or if he could understand dragons. Only Torgo and Aurora could do that, he tried to calm it down but the dragon still remained unrest and started to search for her eggs underground. Now this didn’t look good, dragons don’t scorch the Earth unless looking for something very valuable.

Artemis called out for his sister, “Aeryn… wake up” he said out loud while trying to control the dragon from digging holes using her long sharp nails.

Aeryn woke up and she looked at her brother who was struggling to keep his dragon calm, she didn’t understand what he was doing but she felt the anxious tone he used to call her and she knew something was going on.

Hence she shrugged off from the warm sheets, “Brother?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

“Something is going on, grab our things we are flying back home” Still there was this unrest tone in Artemis’s voice.

Artemis tried so hard to stop the dragon from making holes because the act alone was damaging it, yet the dragon nearly scratched him in the process. It was angry and in despair, not even her rider could please her now.

Aeryn grabbed Artemis’s sword, the small bag with coins and left the sheets. She raced to where her brother was, and the sight of the dragon in despair completely shook her. The dragon was weeping, and she saw it. She always thought dragons were hateful and angry creatures, she wasn’t prepared for this new sight of dragons where she saw how emotional they can be.

.....

“What’s wrong with it?” asked Aeryn.

“I don’t know; we have to fly back home. Aurora will know what’s bothering it” said Artemis, then he managed to climb on top of the dragon and steadies himself on the saddle. “Come on, let’s go” he reached out for Aeryn’s hand.

Aeryn took Artemis’s hand and climbed on the same saddle, she buckled up tight. Artemis said the word, “Valar” and the dragon stopped scorching dirt and slowly raced towards trees and bushes, then she flew high above the sky.

Aeryn initiated a conversation, “I think she lost something, the dragon” she said. “She is too sad, I felt the same way when I had a stillbirth, my first son with Petrus. She must have lost her eggs, or so I think so”

“Her eggs?” Artemis was stunned, then he gasped and looked back at Aeryn, “You don’t think she laid eggs last night when we were asleep, do you?” he asked.

“I don’t know anything about dragons” Her voice was a high pitch because of the wind.

“If she laid eggs, where were they then? You didn’t see any eggs, did you?”

“No, I didn’t. I am not sure, I could be wrong” added Aeryn while holding her brother tight, the flight this time wasn’t so pleasant.

The dragon may have offered Aeryn the experience of a lifetime when she first climbed it, but during the flight back to the capital, it wasn’t too kind. The winds were strong and the dragon was weak, she struggled to stay afloat and hence was forced to fly above the clouds where the wind couldn’t reach them.

Artemis remembered his roughest ride, that day he had to fight off thousands of men throwing spears at him and Artodo. He nearly fell off his dragon multiple times, he was saved by his strong arms which rescued him from the big fall, or he would have been dead now.

The experience in Old City with Artodo gave him courage to hang on to the purple dragon and never let go even when it was raining hard. They had come upon a new city as they made their way towards Blackmount, and in this city it was always raining ─ they called it, “Wet Hell” and one can imagine how does hell becomes wet, but this is what the people during this time named it.

By the time they passed the Wet Hell, Artemis and Aeryn were soaked, trembling and worn out from a strong storm.

“If I keep staying up here I’ll die” said Aeryn, then she sneezed and it was clear she had caught a cold.

“Hang on sister, we won’t be long” replied Artemis, and it was true, Blackmount wasn’t that far from Wet Hell and like a miracle, the sun shone again.

Now the dragon started to fly smoothly and slowly, allowing herself and her riders to bounce back from such tragedy of a weather. They made it to Blackmount in somber faces, a week ago Aeryn climbed the dragon and she screamed when it started to fly, now she was flying back home with a cold and worn out from every point of her body.

When they landed outside the dragons’ cave, Artemis had to carry her sister in his arms because she was unconscious from such a tough flight. Aurora saw them from upstairs before they landed, and she went on racing towards the dragons’ cave.

Servants came over to help Aeryn, and Artemis shouted orders at them. “Prepare a warm bath for her, and a hot soup. Hurry up!” he said to the servants. The servants took princess Aeryn and rushed her inside where she will be warm.

Aurora came outside a hurry, she nearly collided with servants who were dragging Princess Aeryn inside. She ignored them and walked to Artemis, “What happened?” she asked looking so worried.

“I think someone stole our dragon eggs” replied Artemis while taking off his soaked shirt. He remained shirtless and handed the shirt to a servant nearby, “We were asleep and I don’t know what happened. The dragon has been unrest ever since, perhaps if Torgo could ─” Artemis paused to look around for Torgo.

He didn’t have to ask for Torgo because he was already there and he had his hands on the dragon, surveying her and trying to speak to her with kindness.

Aurora was stunned and confused, she left Artemis and joined Torgo where he stood surveying the dragon up close.

“Is it true, did she lay eggs?” asked Aurora, her heartbeat racing and she tried to catch her breath. She turned to look at Artemis, who was in the same situation as her during that time.

Torgo took a few minutes before he finally said, “Yes, she did lay eggs” and that’s when Aurora brought her face to her hands and sighed. Artemis walked to her, he held her in his arms tight. Torgo ordered the other dragon keepers to drag the purple dragon inside the cave and make sure she rests, a deep rest of about two weeks so she may regain her strength.

“Someone stole our eggs, and as we speak they are keeping them in Arboil or they are taking them to whoever promised them a good bribe” said Artemis angrily. Then he turned to Aurora, “I swear, I didn’t know what was happening. I was asleep and so was my sister” he tried to explain himself.

“Your sister, she could have easily led you there to benefit her husband. This was a trap and you fell for it” Aurora pushed Artemis’s hand, she didn’t need his comforts, at least not at this time.

“Aeryn would never do that to us”

“Us? Dear husband, we both know she hates me to her very last bone. She would do this, the only thing she cares about is pleasing Lord Leoric. And Lord Leoric wants to kill our dragons, he wants to cross the Freezing Sea so he can get the tears of the fire” screamed Aurora, she was so angry today, Artemis had never seen her this angry before.

However, there a new terminology here that Artemis didn’t understand. “Tears of the fire, what is that?” he asked.

Aurora wasn’t in the mood to start explaining her journey to the old Dark Town and her meeting with Euric Morrow to Artemis ─ although that’s all she ever wanted to do a few days earlier, but not now when her children were missing.

Torgo was summoned to bring out Vizoro, Aurora wanted to fly to Arboil and find these thieves. She was ready to even burn the town to the ground in search of those eggs, her worst fear was the eggs getting in the hands of wrong people.

It was also this time that she understood the meaning of her nightmares, that dream she had when dragons were fighting in flames. If this person somehow gets to raise the eggs and the eggs finally hatch, he may have control over the dragons, or it could also be a she. Although she wasn’t aware what kind of a woman would be so brave to steal dragon eggs.