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Chapter Forty-Seven
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The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Eight
I woke with Aien wrapped tightly around me. I closed my eyes tightly against the day and buried my face into his chest, determined to stay and appreciate the warmth for as long as possible. We had arrived back to camp deep into the night, too dazed with exhaustion to do more than stagger into the tent and fall into the nest that he had built…“Why a nest?” I murmured.“What?” He was groggy with sleep, his movements languorous as he shifted against me, drawing me even closer as if he sought to press me within his very skin and bone.“This isn’t a bed,” I told him. “It’s a nest, such as female dragons build for…” I trailed off, vulnerable. It had always been my most dominant dragonish trait, the one behavior that was all instinct and had not been learned.Tarragon had never shown that particular inclination and Shara was too young. Our brothers and father were male, and it had always been a female dragon trait – the males built treasure hordes, whilst female dragons built cozy nests in
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Nine
We arrived at the stronghold with Shara landing heavily in the courtyard now bare of statues. Shara waited for us to dismount before returning to the air, making the flight back towards the camp. I wondered what she had made of our conversation – she would have heard every word that Aien and I had said, and yet she had remained silent, allowing us to speak with the illusion of privacy.We were immediately surrounded by concerned servants. Much had changed at the stronghold I saw as we were hastened up into the hall. It was clean, the shutters open to admit the light, and the fires and torches lit. There were vases heavy with greenery, bright tapestries on the walls and rugs beneath our feet. The scent of food cooking made my stomach rumble.The stronghold had come alive, like the statues from the courtyard.It was not to Aien’s mother’s chamber that I was led but another, less grand, but only just, and it was more than ample for my needs. In the busyness of the maids who hastened to t
The Villain's Hero Chapter Fifty
“No,” Ecaeris looked at me in surprise. “No Daethie, I don’t believe you are meant to die. I didn’t believe that Tarragon was destined for death, either. Do you think so little of us all – the Fae royal family, your own parents – to think that we would send Tarragon, your brothers, yourself, and Aien blithely off to die? No,” she reached out and gripped my shoulder. “If that had been in our thoughts, we would have come on the campaign and done all that we could to protect you all.” “Oh,” I crumpled, weeping. “Oh, Daethie,” Ecaeris shook me slightly. “Foolish children,” she tsked. “You never told Tarragon,” I pointed out. “She has thought all this time that the lamb would die to end the slaughter, but there is no end...” Ecaeris winced and blew out a breath. “We did not anticipate that she would interpret the prophecy in such a way, and the intention behind keeping that part to ourselves was to keep the population hopeful whilst we trained her to fulfill her role. She never spoke to
The Villain's Hero Chapter One
Story is the lifeblood of our people. Story teaches. Story cautions. But sometimes stories are just stories, and life takes another, unexpected path. The wily Fae may have honor, the fearsome dragon a tender heart, the dainty princess the bravery of a King, and an unfaithful lover might love most of all… Stories teach us, but they also mislead us. Not all heroes carry swords, and not all villains have evil intentions. Story is, after all, just words. And words do not have the weight of action. - “Concentrate,” I whispered the words. “Concentration and focus are key.” On the walkways around the walls, King Akyran’s dark elf guards did their rounds, their footfalls armour-heavy, and the plumes of their helmets casting dramatic shadows over the courtyard. The sky overhead was greying with cloud, and the heady perfume of the petrichor released by the earth in promise of rain was sweeter than the other scents of the courtyard – the sweat of the knights in training, the leather, the ho
The Villain's Hero Chapter Two
I slept late into the morning, waking to a bath gone cold and my maidservant, Hen, napping by the fire with the mending on her lap. My head no longer hurt, but I possessed an impressive array of bruises from where I had landed, falling from the gauntlet, and bathing was a painful affair. Hen woke just as I was struggling to dress myself and tsked over the bruises as she finished lacing me.“It’s not right for a princess,” she told me in disapproval. “Jumping and fighting and running around. It’s one thing for a hero like Princess Tarragon, but surely there is no need to put you through this my lady. The prophecy is not about you, after all.”“To end the slaughter,Not dragon son, but daughter,In the right hand,Rivyn’s sword will save the land,If the lamb chosen is wrong,Love’s sacrifice will not be strong,” I quoted. “It’s the second to last line that’s responsible for me being here,” I grimaced as she braided my hair. “Just in case it’s not Tarragon all of her sisters get to suff
The Villain's Hero Chapter Three
All the newer students lined up in the courtyard for drills. As I took my place, I saw Aien in the row ahead of me. He glanced around, looking for someone or something, perhaps a friendly face amongst the crowd, and his eyes fell on me. He stepped backwards, to stand at my side.“What is this?” He asked me. “Is this meant to be a sword?” He looked at the wooden practise sword that he held in one hand.“Drills,” I told him. “As training goes, this one isn’t so bad, as long as you stick to the middle and try not to stand out. The sword master will lead us through the poses and postures,” I nodded up to the raised platform. “We just copy her.”“Why do I suspect that it’s not as easy as you make it sound?” He wondered.“Because…” I lifted my chin to the wall where the dark elf guards had gathered to watch. “And…” I inclined my head to the base of the wall, where the senior knights were gathering. “They’re meant to be practicing hand to hand combat, but… They mostly watch. And mock us.”“G
The Villain's Hero Chapter Four
“Reckless foolishness,” Hen grumbled under her breath as she helped me dress. “In a tourney maze is no place for a princess.”“Val and Cara will watch out today,” I told her. “And my father is in the audience.”“Should not be required,” she cinched my ties tighter than necessary in her irritation. “Princesses should not be put in such danger.”“It is good training for the real world, Akyran says,” I replied. “And keeps the knight’s keen and sharp.”Nerith castle cupped the inner courtyards, and during the tourney, Akyran and Ecaeris transformed the neat gardens and lower balconies into a maze of obstacles. The courtyards were large, but in an impressive feat of magic, Akyran and Ecaeris multiplied the dimensions to an impossible scale, creating a true labyrinth for the competition, and once you stepped into it, the maze seemed to spread for miles in every direction.As I joined the line up of competitors between Rue and Val, I saw a couple of knight errants spot me, and laugh, wonderi
The Villain's Hero Chapter Five
“My father wasn’t always this way,” Aien said as we walked through the maze following the trail of debris, blood, and broken weaponry. “A villain I mean. Things were different when my mother was alive. She was…” He paused where someone had smashed a statue, the stone rubble scattered across the path and offered me his hand. “Be careful where you step. My mother was beautiful,” he did not immediately release my hand when I had picked my way through the debris and stood looking down at me thoughtfully.“She was kind,” he said softly. My eyes fell to the softness of his lips and wondered what they would feel against my own. “And she looked after others. She would have liked you. You remind me of her.” He released my hand and continued along the walkway. “An illness came to the village, and my mother went to help the sick. She caught it from them, and… I was eleven,” he swallowed hard. “Old enough that I remember very well what it was like before she died.”“I’m sorry,” I said reaching ou
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The Villain's Hero Chapter Fifty
“No,” Ecaeris looked at me in surprise. “No Daethie, I don’t believe you are meant to die. I didn’t believe that Tarragon was destined for death, either. Do you think so little of us all – the Fae royal family, your own parents – to think that we would send Tarragon, your brothers, yourself, and Aien blithely off to die? No,” she reached out and gripped my shoulder. “If that had been in our thoughts, we would have come on the campaign and done all that we could to protect you all.” “Oh,” I crumpled, weeping. “Oh, Daethie,” Ecaeris shook me slightly. “Foolish children,” she tsked. “You never told Tarragon,” I pointed out. “She has thought all this time that the lamb would die to end the slaughter, but there is no end...” Ecaeris winced and blew out a breath. “We did not anticipate that she would interpret the prophecy in such a way, and the intention behind keeping that part to ourselves was to keep the population hopeful whilst we trained her to fulfill her role. She never spoke to
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Nine
We arrived at the stronghold with Shara landing heavily in the courtyard now bare of statues. Shara waited for us to dismount before returning to the air, making the flight back towards the camp. I wondered what she had made of our conversation – she would have heard every word that Aien and I had said, and yet she had remained silent, allowing us to speak with the illusion of privacy.We were immediately surrounded by concerned servants. Much had changed at the stronghold I saw as we were hastened up into the hall. It was clean, the shutters open to admit the light, and the fires and torches lit. There were vases heavy with greenery, bright tapestries on the walls and rugs beneath our feet. The scent of food cooking made my stomach rumble.The stronghold had come alive, like the statues from the courtyard.It was not to Aien’s mother’s chamber that I was led but another, less grand, but only just, and it was more than ample for my needs. In the busyness of the maids who hastened to t
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Eight
I woke with Aien wrapped tightly around me. I closed my eyes tightly against the day and buried my face into his chest, determined to stay and appreciate the warmth for as long as possible. We had arrived back to camp deep into the night, too dazed with exhaustion to do more than stagger into the tent and fall into the nest that he had built…“Why a nest?” I murmured.“What?” He was groggy with sleep, his movements languorous as he shifted against me, drawing me even closer as if he sought to press me within his very skin and bone.“This isn’t a bed,” I told him. “It’s a nest, such as female dragons build for…” I trailed off, vulnerable. It had always been my most dominant dragonish trait, the one behavior that was all instinct and had not been learned.Tarragon had never shown that particular inclination and Shara was too young. Our brothers and father were male, and it had always been a female dragon trait – the males built treasure hordes, whilst female dragons built cozy nests in
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Seven
There were far too many, I thought in panic, and they seemed to keep coming from the trees in an endless stream. The small monsters the size of a big man like my father in man-form were so quick, whilst the larger ones followed behind, their dragon-size intimidating.I propelled myself up and forward with my wings, meeting the front-line of the small monsters beyond the ring of stones, as far from Tarragon as I could. The blade of my sword flashed as I landed amongst them. It took a moment for those at the front to turn, and I was already in the thick of sharp legs, snapping mandibles, and spiny carapaces.The moves that I had learned by rote in Nerith but had never mastered flowed through me effortlessly. I dodged, and dove, slicing with Intuin Desparen, carving through legs and bodies, spraying blood and gore in heavy streams that arced from the tip of the blade and rained back down over me, covering me in the foul liquid.As the larger creatures reached the battle, I broke free, so
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Six
I ignored Tarragon, and she sighed in heavy disapproval. “So stubborn,” she muttered in dragon. “You get that from our mother.”“With the four of you on one side, and Shara on the other, I have to be stubborn, or I’d never get my way,” I pointed out.She laughed, the tension between us breaking, and then pulled her horse to a standstill. “Do you hear that?” She asked, barely at a whisper.“Hear what?” I listened intently. The trees around us were still and silent. The rustle of the dried leaf matter and the music of leaves and branches, as the wind stirred through the forest, seemed overly loud. “There are no birds,” I whispered the words realizing that these sounds were normally muted by the ever-moving wildlife. It was as if everything living in the area had left. “There are no creatures in the trees.”“Yes,” she murmured it quietly. “Frightened away or eaten? Dae,” she added solemnly. “I think that we are very close. This may be your last chance…”I raised my eyebrows. “Stubborn, r
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Five
It took a while to pack clothing, bandages, and medical supplies into bags that Rue, Caraway, and Perditha could carry. We rigged straps around Valerian in dragon form in case either Rue or Caraway lost consciousness during the journey. Whilst a dragon was capable of catching a falling rider mid-air, the maneuver required to do so could unseat other passengers. We contemplated having Valerian carry Caraway or Rue in his claws, but doing so for such a long time would cause cramps and impact Valerian’s ability to land carefully enough for his other passengers.Rue and Caraway protested being tied to Valerian’s back like babes, but Perditha and I would have none of it, and they sulked as they knotted the ropes around them. Still, I saw both grip their bindings for support as Valerian, heavy with so many passengers, leaped into the air.The wind of Valerian’s wing strokes blew back my hair and sent my skirts to snapping around my legs and in the field I saw Aien and the few workers who re
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Four
I woke against Aien’s chest, and for a moment thought that we were back in the farmhouse. I was warm and comfortable curled up with him, his heartbeat under my palm and his steady breath stirring my hair. My mind drew a picture of our bedroom there, the sun bright through the window on the scuffed and bleached floorboards, the heavy wooden bed that creaked under our lovemaking, and the little fireplace with its stack of wood laid by ready for a cold day.But the sounds did not match my memory. There was no sound of a farm waking, no birdcall from the trees, the goats complaining about captivity, and chickens squawking about their morning eggs. No, there was the ever-present flap of canvas in the wind, the creak of rope straining under the pressure, and the distant whisper of the river.We were at the camp, I realized as the softness of dream faded into reality. We were at the camp on campaign, and I was in Aien’s little nest in the entrance to Rue’s tent. I would need to rise soon and
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Three
The night was not still, and my tears were interrupted by the sounds of tents being dismantled, hasty whispers and rustles, followed by the creak of wagons and the hollow fall of horse-hooves. Aien and I both stilled, listening. A man called out, challenging those leaving, arguing that abandoning the campaign was cowardice. They called him a fool and encouraged him to join them before continuing undeterred. I gripped Aien’s shirt in both fists and leaned my forehead against the warmth of his chest. He stroked his hands up and down my back. “Perhaps…” He said into my hair. “Tomorrow we may go too, Daethie…?” “Perhaps.” I didn’t want to think about the morning. Lying pressed against Aien, feeling his body against mine with just the finest layers of cloth between us made me ache for him. I was not alone, his desire evident where our tangled legs brought our hips together. I slowly lifted my head, looking up at him. His hand shook as he stroked my hair back from my face and his face sof
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Two
Tarragon was drunk.The knights and camp followers who had gathered around the fire to ease their weariness with food and ale clustered on the opposite side of the flames to where she sat staring into the glowing embers, a jug of spirit held in one hand. Her dragon-nature was on full display in her stillness, the flames echoed in her eyes, and her jaw grimly set.It took a considerable amount of effort and alcohol for a dragon to become intoxicated. I had only ever seen my father tipsy on a few rare occasions, and never morosely so. When our father drank enough to affect himself, he would speak freely of his past, his childhood, and his people, sing the refrains of ancient songs that he only half-remembered, and then he would wrap his arms around our mother and whisper to her in Fae until they crept away to make another sibling for our family.My brothers and Tarragon regularly drank, but only into joviality, until they sang songs of war, or gambled ridiculous wagers, let their knight
