Prince Allerick.

“Trent you'll gather a few soldiers and get ready to leave at first daylight”, Aldrich barked out orders, he walked the length of the large castle, his hands behind his back. His red robe trailed behind him.

He stopped at one of the large castle windows and looked out, he didn’t want to be a part of any of this as much as possible he wanted to steer clear but Nikolas was right, if the heart of magic fell into the wrong hands it would be trouble for everyone.

He studied his reflection in the mirror, his greying hair and saggy eyes were just a few of the indications that he had not slept in a while. He turned around, “I need you to find the heart of magic and bring it back to me before anyone gets to it”

“That’s impossible my king”, Trent replied a look of incredulity on his face, “It has been missing for…”

“Blah blah blah and all the unnecessary bullshit”, King Aldrich interrupted, he walked close to Trent and stopped just short of an inch from him, “I gave an order that I believe is supposed to be followed unflinchingly to the last letter”

“Yes your majesty”, Trent bowed his head

“Leave my presence at once…”

“Father”, Allerick strolled in gingerly, Trent proceeded to leave, and Allerick waved him down, “Do not leave yet, I have a proposition for you Father”

Aldrich turned to his son, “And what might that be?”

“It is with regards to the heart of magic…”

Aldrich turned away from him, “The heart of magic has nothing to do with you, you’ll not be involved”, he said dismissively.

“Father matters that affect Avalon also affect me. How else can I be a good king?”

“The heart of magic is not Avalon’s problem, it is every kingdom's problem…”

“Is it father, is it?”, Allerick questioned, “Avalon greatly suffered from the war than any other kingdom. We suffered the brunt of the war, we lost soldiers, noble men…”, he paused, “…and family”

“Allerick!”

“I do not mean to upset you father not at all. I miss her as much as you miss her”, Allerick said in a low voice, “With the recent uprising however I know you need your best soldier to be by your side. You need to be protected…”

“And what about you son?”

“I will go in search of it…”

“No, I will not let you do that”

“Father”, Allerick said pleadingly, “Just give me two days before I leave Avalon. I will go in search of it, I promise to bring it back to you”

“Do you promise me your life too?, Do you? Who would promise me to keep you safe from Votigern and his degenerate army, from those ruthless fire-breathing beasts that are vengeful and still lurk in the dark nooks and crannies of the earth”, Aldrich questioned bitterly, “Or would I lose you to the fiery breath of a dragon-like I lost your mother and sister”

“No father!”, Allerick grabbed Aldrich's hand and squeezed reassuringly, “You will not lose me, father, I promise I’ll return safely”

“You’ll have to go with the guards, you’ll lead them only then can I be assured…

“No”, Allerick blurted out.

“What do you mean no?” he asked with a look of incredulity in his eyes.

He thought fast, there were a lot of things on the line, and he couldn’t risk it, “I’ll fair better without all the crowd of people tagging behind me. I’ll have to be accountable for them”

Aldrich shook his head, “No it’s the other way round, they are accountable for you. You are their prince, soon to be king. They’ll protect you with their lives if the need calls for it”

“About that…”, Allerick trailed off, “I do not want to be known as a prince when I leave I j…”

“When have you ever not wanted to be known as prince”, Aldrich questioned baffled, “You rub it in everyone’s faces”

Allerick smiled, “Yes I know that father. It will keep me safe this time, the less people know about me and my origin the more they’ll ignore. I promise you I’ll bring what you need back”

“Why the sudden interest?”, Aldrich questioned quizzically, “Why do you want to go in search for the heart of magic?”

Allerick’s thoughts trailed to Raisel, the sole reason he was embarking on this journey. He wanted her by his side safe. “Remember Ryker?”, Allerick asked.

“How can I forget? He was a brother to me. Bless his soul”

“Ryker was greatly interested in the heart of magic, I’ll go in search of anything I can find at his house. Maybe I’ll get leads or any clues that can be uncovered”, Allerick answered, “This should be so easy”

“Son”

“Father”, Allerick pat his father on the shoulder before exiting the throne room.

Aldrich stared at the retreating back of his son, the only family he had left.

He beckoned on Trent who had listened to the whole exchange quietly, “You’ll go behind him, if for any reason he encounters any challenges, you’ll bring my son back to me in one piece”

“Yes, sire!”

***

They quietly rode on Fury through the lonely pathway without saying anything to each other.

Dragomir broke the silence, “Whatever came to your mind when you picked Fury as your horse?”

The question brought a wide smile to her face, Dragomir couldn’t help but stare at her a little longer than was necessary. Fury neighed loudly and stopped moving this brought back Dragomir's attention to ahead of him, there was a large tree in front of them and in that brief…okay slightly more than brief moment they were walking towards the tree.

Raisel seemed to not have noticed, “It was my parent's gift to me on my thirteenth birthday, he was only a pony then”, she rubbed Fury's side, and he neighed in approval.

“Your parents agreed to get you a stud?”, he asked appalled.

“Well you are riding him right this moment”, she said with an air of pride in her voice.

“You must have been persistent”

“You cannot imagine, it’s hard for you to refuse your little teenage daughter who was just reaching puberty and had a bad habit of shrieking loudly and crying every moment she could”, she laughed afterwards, “I threw a tantrum, it gathered a huge crowd”

He joined her in the laughter, “I don’t know but I can just see you doing this. It’s something I expect you to do”

She smacked him on the back.

“Oww”, he leaned forward like he was in pain and began to feign a cough and gasp like he was out of breath.

She chuckled, “You’re such a drama queen”

“King”, he corrected.

“Why did you leave Torenth?”

He became sober, “There were a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders. Everyone had expectations, lots of expectations”, his voice dropped a notch, “I couldn’t be that person for them. I couldn’t be accountable…”

She rubbed his back in slow circles for a while, which caused him to relax, “I’m sorry you had to feel that way”

“You have nothing to be sorry about”

She nodded, “Do you have plans of going back? Any plans to return to Torenth?”

“I want to be worthy of my people, if I can find and secure the heart of magic, it will gain the trust of my people. I might just be able to redeem myself”

She nodded in understanding.

She looked ahead, “There’s a house in view”

“Look further”

“I see two or more”, she stopped looking, “I can’t tell”

“There’s a city ahead of us, a very small city. They have no royal family. They are in hiding…

“And why is that?”.

“We are going in search of a dragon remember…”

Raisel shrieked loudly before she clamped her hand over her mouth, “A real-life dragon?”

He stared at her in surprise, “You’re keen on seeing a dragon?”

“It’s been a lifelong dream of mine. I’ve heard a lot of stories, it’s only normal that I would want to see what an actual dragon looks like”

He shook his head, “Be careful what you wish for, because your wish might just be granted”

“Isn’t that the whole point?”