The Dragon Knight; The Secrets of the Desert

The Secrets of the Desert (Chapter 15)

Neither Robin nor I expected a warm welcome once we made it to Delstaten Solen, so it was a surprise when the King had us escorted to the dining room as 'guests of honor'. Of course he didn't know it was us yet, that much was obvious by the way his smile fell when he saw us. Prince Ron looked like he was choking on a lemon when he saw us and I couldn't help but smile.

But that was about an hour ago, now I felt like pulling my hair out and Ron smiled from ear to ear. It was almost as if his father was asking me all these useless questions on purpose just to annoy me; I wouldn't put it past him. What did this prophecy have to do with my bonding with Zjarr? What did it have to do with Robin actually being an elf? Sure if he hadn't been one we wouldn't have triggered it but still, it was irrelevant to the quest we were on right now.

The only two things so far about him that he had done that hadn't annoyed us was let us eat dinner with them as well as letting me tell my story without interrupting. But after that things went downhill fast. We had been flying all day, and had been doing so for the past three, and all I wanted was to go to sleep and recharge just like Zjarr was doing.

I had already decided that the moment I saw an opening to give King Adjar the letter I would be out of there, using magic if need be. From the look on Robin's face, which had held some amusement at some point, it was easy to see that he too felt too tired to deal with the King and his stupid questions.

When he opened his mouth, most likely ready to ask yet another question I beat him to it. "Look your Majesty, I don't want to sound rude but right now your questions are tiring me immensely. I would like to be able to give you this letter," I said taking the envelope out, "And then go to bed. We flew all day to get here and although it might not sound like it, it is tiresome." I leaned over the table a little to hand him the letter but when he didn't take it, I simply dropped it. "You can read that tonight, think about what it says and we will discuss it tomorrow."

He looked surprised before anger replaced it. Dragon, was I glad that I was here as Dragon Knight and thus above him because I couldn't be bothered with fake manners. This man annoyed me and although I tried my best to keep my feelings to myself, I couldn't keep it all in.

"Now, if you will excuse us, we will retire to the Dragon Knight quarters for the night." I pushed my seat back and stood up, followed by Robin doing the same thing. "Have a good evening and we will see you in the morning. Let's go."

I pulled Robin along by the arm for the first few steps but after that he link his arm through mine and walked next to me. When we were walking up the stairs I let out a sigh and Robin chuckled.

"You did great; much better than last time when you practically threw insults at him," he paused and seemed to think about it. "Then again, it would be hard for things to go worse than last time."

"With me, you never know; with my luck he might just declare war on the Dragon Knights before we reach the quarters," I sighed. "But you’re right; that could have gone a lot worse."

"Even King Adjar wouldn't be so stupid as to declare war on Dragon Knights." I made a sound, letting him know I didn't quite agree but didn't actually say it out loud. "I don't doubt though that he will be difficult to convince to send his sons to Istana Pasir; I doubt Prince Ron will come easily."

"Nonsense! King Adjar and Ron wouldn't want to come because I am asking but I can basically use the same arguments with them as I did with Nolan. Only my cousin is a fool and refused anyway, whereas these two are too proud to refuse."

"You are going to make them out to be cowards?"

"Unless you have a better idea?"

Robin shook his head and opened the door to the Dragon Knight house we were staying in. I would have preferred to stay longer at Mariposa and spend some more time with my sister but at the same time I didn't want to risk attracting any more of those shadow creatures around her. Dragon, I wanted to be an aunt, even though I was likely not to see much of my niece or nephew. Delstaten Solen was quite different, especially Mataharie, I didn't mind the rest so much. Strangely, it was really only the King and Ron that I didn't like.