The Order of the Wolf: a Short Story

V

Amidst the murmur of the crowd, Jacquelyn's breath hitched. She looked to the dark dragon tethered to its post. Somewhere inside that dragon was her husband. King Ulfur. She met its violet eyes and was sure. Its great horns and wings couldn't fool her. She was looking at her husband.

"H- how is he a dragon?" She asked, her voice growing close to falter.

"I turned him into a dragon. He too was trained by Merlin. He was trained to be a regenerate. If I killed him he would simply return," cried Malum. "Dragons live forever. It was the only way I could cause him to stay bound without anyone knowing."

She took a breath. "That was all I needed to know."

Silently, as if the world was refraining from breathing, she brought the knife down into the amulet, shattering it into oblivion.

. . .

He was swirling through endless skies. He had been for a while, but suddenly he was coming down towards earth. His mind grew clearer, and the milky confusion seeped and dripped out of it.

His head was dizzy, and he had to rein it back to him to keep his thoughts from floating away. They kept trying to escape and think about other things, but he knew something important was happening.

Then he was blinking. The sky above him was hot and bright. The ground below him was cobblestone and rough. His purple robes were draped over his built frame and his strong crown hung lazily on his head.

He looked out in front of him. People were rushing past him in a mass mob. He watched as they began to hoist his childhood friend, Malum, and toss him about.

"S- stop! Leave him be!" He cried. With shouts of excitement, the mob stopped and several peasants came and lifted him to his feet.

"King Ulfur!" They cried. "You are alive!"

"Yes," he coughed. "There is no need to keep this man within Egisland, dead or alive."

"Sire?" Asked a villager.

"Banish him from the kingdom. I do not wish to such a face in this realm again." Ulfur watched Malum cry out in despair as he was dragged away by the men who had recently been cheering for the order's execution.

"Ulfur?" Asked a voice.

"Jacquelyn?"

He watched as his wife weaved through the crowd. The second she entered into his arms the men holding him up let go. He had the only person he needed to stand, and that was his queen.

Shamelessly, he brought her into a longing kiss and pulled her into him. He stroked her back through her velvet robes and buried his head in her long, royal hair. He knew she had been the one to save him. She was the strongest anchor connecting him to this world while he had been lost in that space.

They pulled apart and stared at the members of their kingdom. They were yanking the chains off the knights of the order with their bare hands, yelling "For King Ulfur!" over and over again.

And Ulfur glanced up. His wife was with him, his people were with him, and for the first time in a while, his intentions were with him and not in Malum's necklace.

. . .

Rowan recited the oath, his tongue feeling like goo in his mouth. When he stopped speaking, the sword came upon his shoulders and King Ulfur declared him Royal Advisor of Egisland.

Bowing, Rowan moved to the King's side, where he had not been in a while. The crowd watching listened to Ulfur as he spoke of the good Rowan would do for the kingdom. With each word he grew more nervous.

To take his mind off it, his eyes searched for Alys, who was at the end of the throne room waving to him. Blushing, he waved back.

Both Terrowin and the prison guard from the dungeon were at their posts as knights. Rowan had felt it only appropriate the man that had helped him save the Knights of the Order was returned to his previous post. Adorned in deep blue attire, he send him a grateful smile before his eyes moved back to his king, as they must always in the end.

In his new life, Rowan was sure he would find his heart dancing in every little thing. He would take Alys to the most beautiful of places, show her the most beautiful things, be the most beautiful of people, and act in the most beautiful of ways.

Because, after all, life could now be called such a word as beautiful.

This didn't mean it was perfect. Nothing was. Beautiful meant it was possible to see the amazing things through the madness.

Life was beautiful because there was a way to know people like Alys.

And if such people like her existed, Rowan couldn't see how life was anything short of beautiful.