A thunderous crack resounded through the air from the slamming of a heavy oaken door, followed by the frustrated roar of the room’s sole occupant. His boy’s nose was filled by moist salty air and light flowery fragrances indicating that the bed had been turned over at some point. Silver moonbeams shone through the windows, giving just enough light to make out the room’s luxurious wooden furniture. His room brought no solace to his mind and Jachen stomped across the soft carpet, the words he nearly spoke to his father were poised at the forefront of his mind.
A prison is still a prison, no matter how comfortable.
“But a night in a cell is better than one in a grave.”
Jachen felt as much as he heard the feminine voice in his mind, though to call the sensation words seemed wrong. It washed over him like a soft summer shower, and unlike everything else in his life, had a sense of genuine compassion.
“Why would they do this, today of all days?” Jachen asked the empty room.
“If they asked you tomorrow would it be any better?” the reply blew across him gently as a breeze.
Jachen let out a hot breath as he made his way to the room’s balcony. He flung open the window doors and braced himself against the marble railing. The wind rustled his finely placed ebony hair and he breathed deeply of the sea air, as the crashing of the sea far below lulled the world to sleep.
“It’s like they don’t even care Elly’s gone,” Jachen said forlornly.
“The choice between sentiment and politics is one all kings and lords make little one. You of all people know that,” her reply tugged at him gently.
Jachen couldn’t find any argument with her and so remained silent. He rubbed the marble rail as he started to shake. “I can’t do it… I almost couldn’t stop myself when they made the announcement.”
“I know.”
He lifted his sapphire eyes to the sky above, trying to discern how long he could keep up his facade. “I’m going to die aren’t I?”
“Everything has its time little one, even death. But I will not allow you to say such things!” she told him, making Jachen feel like one of the heavy waves below had just crashed all around him. “A war is waging inside you little one. You must choose which side you want to win or else they’ll both destroy you.”
The night was cool, and the wind was starting to seep through Jachen's brightly colored summer clothes. He tried to picture the scenarios that she spoke of in his mind. One path led him to live the lie everyone had grown used to, the other had the blue prince becoming an even deeper embarrassment to the family, and worse, an insult—for the empirical family, insult was not taken lightly. A cloud passed in front of the moon and Jachen felt a chill go over him. There was another path.
“How quickly could you get us away from here?”
“… I could race the sun and win, but are you sure that is what you want?” Jachen's chest constricted, this wasn’t a light decision. “How do you think your family will react?”
“They’ve already lost one child they don’t care about, what difference is it if they lose another?”
Jachen felt the balcony rumble through the rails. As the clouds parted, pale light glistened off smooth grey scales of the creature before him. She had to hang onto the cliff partly to keep most of her weight off the balcony and he spread her proud leathery dragon wings to keep her balance. Whenever he stood before her, Jachen felt even smaller than normal. As she lowered her large horned head, he saw the pearly razors lining her maw, and she stared with her dark eyes into his own.
“Cruelty is unbecoming princeling,” her scolding voice shook the air, hearing her words felt lacking compared to how he was used to speaking to her.
“But not uncalled for,” Jachen defended.
She didn’t respond and looked out towards the sea. “We should leave now, the winds are with us.”
“Wait,” he told her, she turned back to him, “You haven’t been named yet, and I can’t just call you dragon,” Jachen could feel her curiosity at the corners of his mind and she tilted her head quizzically, “So, why don’t I call you Eleryana?”
The great creature’s head shot back in surprise, and Jachen had a feeling inside him like a stone being tossed into a calm pond. He then felt a rumble, like the earth moving as a sense of pride was rising and the dragon lifted herself up with honor.
Jachen smiled to himself. “Good, now let’s get out of this blasted capital. We’ve got a world to conquer.”
* * *
Hi Everybody, admittedly this is a late post, so I hope that the entry at least makes up for it. This is a sneak peak at a fantasy storyline that I've had cooking for a long time. In future posts I plan on explaining more about the world and building on it from there. For now, I hope that you liked the post.
Something else I've been kicking around is what I like to call the 1000-word challenge. I was thinking of posting full length stories on the blogs occasionally, but only in 1000 word increments. I'll probably give it a shot some time soon, and if you want to have an influence on what I'm doing remember to post in the comments. See you next week!
Image Source: http://www.wallpaperup.com/64766/StarCraft_Moonlight_Night_Cliff_Drawing_sci-fi.html