Fell Dragon
Greetings Readers
It's with a heavy heart that I bring to you the final chapter of Fell Dragon Book 2. Get the tissues ready for this emotional disaster! However, don't think this is the end! There is another book on the way, which I will likely post on Friday if I have enough time.
Thank you to all of you that have stuck it through these 29 chapters to see the end. I'm looking forward to how many of you will be joining me for the third book. Enjoy this chapter.
So much had happened during the years of his incarceration that Pura found it difficult to catch up on everything. They were in a full-blown war with the Saith, with the Kai behind them with their tails between their legs. They had been attacked unprovoked. He was so busy trying to send messages to those caught up in the fights he had barely noticed the five Saith that came into the room until one cleared his throat. He looked up to see the dark-haired one grinning a little. Pura grimaced; he knew what future awaited them from the memories he had shared. He needed the Saith and Kai on his side before things came to pass.
“I will handle the Saith for you,” said Bolx. “I will make my sister see what happened was a terrible misunderstanding. It won’t bring the lives back that had been lost but there is room for reconciliation.”
“Is there even time for that?” demanded Pura.
Bolx lost his grin. “I shared that with you because I needed you to realise the importance of you making peace. Not Karesh, not Myla but you. Time is fluid and things can change but some things will always remain the same. You are the King of the humans, and it is your job to kill the fires that your uncle has ignited.”
“And what of the girl?”
“This event did not occur in our time. You will have to decide what is best for her.”
“High treason is punishable by death and that is what she committed. High treason. Irrespective of what good she had hoped to achieve there were other ways to deal with this situation.”
“Before or after her father killed her mother?”
Pura sighed. “High treason is still high treason.”
Pale-faced Bolx said. “There is a punishment on my planet for crimes this severe.”
“That isn’t death?” Pura sat with his head in his hands.
“It is worse, but it will save her life.”
It was several days before Saita was called before Pura. As soon as she had entered the throne room, she knew that this was not for idle chit-chat. She recognised the faces of those that had been here when her father had threatened to kill her mother. She had not been allowed to see her father and her mother had refused to see her. She was heartbroken but what could she do? She had caused this. No one else but her. The guards that had escorted her walked her all the way to the foot of the stairs, chipped and burned by her fight and she looked up at Pura. He sat on the throne that had been taken from him and he frowned down at her. He did not look happy.
For a long time, there was silence. It was as if the room was holding its breath for what was to follow. Pura looked tired and he rubbed at his eyes before saying. “I don’t know how you came by setting all this in motion girl but here we are. A war with the Saith. Karesh is in critical condition and a kingdom divided. What do you have to say for yourself?”
Saita stood with her bandaged arms at her side, looking at the scorched carpet at her feet. She had nothing to say. What could she say?
“I am pleased that you are alive and back but what you did…” he put both arms on the armrests and looked at her. “It is high treason. You attacked your king, your father! What were you thinking!?”
Saita wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole but still, she said nothing.
“I hear there were rebels involved in this too. What was the plan? Take the throne? Put a puppet in place? What? Say something.”
“I didn’t want to hurt him, but he would not listen,” she mumbled. “Would it have been better had he killed me?”
Pura ground his teeth and simply said. “Yes.”
Saita looked up at her cousin in shock but said nothing.
“Because if he had then I would not have been left making this decision.” Pura tapped the armrest with his index finger. “Had you just taken the throne it would have been so much easier but now I must do right by my people.”
Saita scratched at the healing burns on her arms as her gaze fell to the floor again.
“You are a danger. A half-life I once called you for what was done to you as a child. Half-life or not, that life is mine to do as I please. I am King. High treason is high treason.” he didn’t even sound remorseful. “Who else was involved in this coup?”
“Me,” said Saita, not willing to give up her other cousin.
“There are other rebels. I know this. Who are they?”
“This was all me,” she said again as she looked him in the eye. “No one else was involved in this. I came here, I trapped Doran, I attacked my father, no one else. Just me.”
“Do you think lying to me will soften their punishment?”
“This was my plan. Whatever the rebels were planning had nothing to do with my actions against my father!” she hissed.
Pura sighed heavily. He leaned forward, trying to stare her down but she would not give him anything. “You are too dangerous to be around other humans.”
There was a cry of disagreement behind her and all she could hear was. “She saved you!”
“That is true but what if I do something she isn’t happy with and she attacks me? Or the next king? Or the king after that! I cannot allow this behaviour. She is a danger to all, and it is best that she is not allowed to stay.” Pura got to his feet and pointed to Saita. “You came to us nameless, and you will leave that way. I denounce your royal ties and name. You have no family amongst the humans anymore. You will find no shelter in our colonies. If you enter human space, you will be killed on sight with extreme prejudice.”
He noted the confusion on Saita’s face before he added. “You are banished from all human lands with immediate effect. Communication with a human or coming into contact with one will result in not just your punishment but also theirs. Now go!”
Saita didn’t know what to feel. She wasn’t going to die today at least but everything she had ever known was being taken away from her. Her family, friends, and loved ones, were all gone with a few words. The heartbreak faded to nothing. She felt absolutely nothing.
“Say something!?” demanded Pura.
“You are no longer my King,” she whispered. “I don’t have to respond.”
There were hushed whispers, and all looked to Pura to see how he would respond. He sat down heavily before indicating to his guards to come forward. “Get her to the closest neutral spaceport and leave her there to her own devices.”
The guards seemed uneasy approaching Saita, so the girl simply turned around and said. “I’m easy trash, I’ll throw myself out.”
Pura squeezed his eyes closed so as not to see her go. Then he muttered under his breath. “Fuck.”
Doran held his tongue as he watched Saita leave that day. He had gone to the spaceport to build the courage up to say something to her, but he had only watched her leave with a blank expression on her face. Then she was gone. Just like that. He had spent four years of his life looking for her and now she was gone, never to be seen or heard from again. He regretted every minute from that day forth. If he wasn’t checking up on Karesh or sorting out the remaining soldiers in the castle, he was drinking himself into a stupor every night for the last week.
“Coward,” he muttered.
He stood on the balcony that overlooked the back of the castle. To his left the setting sun over the steely mountains and before him a vast forest. Saita would have loved this forest and she would now never get to see it with her own eyes.
“Coward,” he said a little louder as he threw the beer bottle that had been in his hand over the forest. “You fucking coward. You did nothing!”
He pulled another beer from the container he had brought with him. He opened it and realised with disgust that it was warm. He shrugged and finished that in a few swigs before throwing it over the forest again.
“Coward.” he chastised himself again.
He had no idea how many bottles he had thrown at this point, but his legs were barely holding him up, so he clung to the bannister. The sun was almost behind the mountains and the night sky was starting to deepen in colour when he heard the sound of a door behind him.
“I was told that I would find you here.”
It was Pura. Doran turned his head a little to view the tired King before helping himself to another bottle. For a long time, there was silence until Doran threw another empty bottle.
“Is there something you would like to get off of your chest?” asked the King.
“Nothing I can say to you sober.” said the soldier as he took up another bottle.
“You disagree with what I did?”
Doran refused to answer as he drained another bottle. He had lost count of how much he had drunk that night, but he didn’t care. The drunker he was, the more likely he was to not say anything. He hoped.
“You are making quite a dent in the planet’s brewery supply I have been told.”
He ignored the comment and continued to drink. It eased the pain in his throat if only for a few minutes.
“I understand that you had to do as you were commanded, Captain Doran,” said Pura as he came to stand next to the soldier. “You were following your King. I do not hold that against you.”
He thought that he grunted but he was not sure of the sound he made.
“I would like to extend an invitation for you to be my right hand until Karesh recovers from his injuries…”
“He will not be King again.” slurred Doran. “He is broken. A broken man.”
Pura couldn’t get Doran to meet his eye. Even through the haze of alcohol he could see the fury that burned in the man.
“Then Myla will…”
“Myla? Do you think she will want to rule after this? Her husband tried to kill her.” Doran threw the next empty bottle over the sea of trees. “The Royal house is dead, and you saw to it. You. Alone.”
Pura remained silent, somewhat concerned that a fire wielder was consuming such a large volume of alcohol. He watched silently as the man took another bottle, yet this one remained closed at his side.
“Speak your mind,” said Pura. “I grant you that.”
Doran chuckled, leaned forward over the bannister, and tapped the beer bottle to his forehead. It was an odd sight.
“Are you drunk again?” came another voice.
Doran spun so quickly to see the new face that Pura was almost concerned that the man would topple. Instead, the soldier gripped the bannister and rested his back against it. “And here’s Myla. We can really get this party started.”
Myla looked Doran up and down, confused as to why he was celebrating after Karesh had been dethroned. She shook her head and turned to Pura. “I hear you took your throne back.”
“It was given to me by the girl.”
“So that is what happened. Where is she? There are things I need to say to her.”
Pura looked at her in confusion and started. “Didn’t you hear…?”
“Myla doesn’t know,” sang Doran sarcastically. “Sitting by her husband’s side for days. Not listening, not looking, not caring.”
“Doran, go sleep it off,” said Myla. “No one likes a drunk.”
“And no one likes to be called a monster when all they want is to do right by their mother. She was right about you, Myla.” Doran laughed. “The girl from the future was right. You threw away your daughter and now it is too late.”
“What is the man going on about?” asked Myla before asking again. “Where is Saita? I have things I need to talk to her about.”
“She’s gone Myla,” said Pura. “I thought you knew the outcome of the hearing we had.”
“What hearing? What do you mean she is gone?”
“High treason is high treason,” Doran slid down the bannister and put his head on his bent knee.
Myla paled and looked at Pura with absolute horror on her face. “You didn’t! Oh, gods please tell me you didn’t!”
“Pura what did you do!?”
Doran looked up to see Kiai walking towards them. Someone in the castle must have told her where to find her brother. She looked horrified while the red-haired child next to her looked around in confusion. He noticed Doran sitting on the ground and broke away from her to join him.
“Where’s my mom?” asked Aidan.
Pura paled and looked at the child. Finally, the alcohol gave Doran the bravery to loosen his tongue.
“All the girl ever wanted was something that resembled a family.” he groaned as he reached to pull Aidan to sit next to him. “To have someone that looked out for her, guided her, loved her. Each and every one of you betrayed that.”
He turned his bloodshot eyes to Myla. “You called her a monster and refused to talk to her. She is gone. Gone to God knows where, thinking that she was nothing more than a placeholder for the king’s son. Worth nothing more than being a weapon to be used. Ever since she has returned, she has been used by all of you. Yes, even you Kiai.”
He then looked up at Pura. “You want me to speak my mind? Fine. The girl would have been better off hanging than what you did to her. At least if she hanged then it would be over. Now? Now she is wandering through the universe with your words in her head. Half-life, danger, monster. As if she didn’t have enough trauma in her life!”
Doran threw the beer bottle and it shattered at Pura’s feet. “We raised her to replace Karesh when she was old enough. I raised her to be a soldier! Who bothered to teach her about the outside world? Money, people, languages? Hmm? She has been sheltered by us, by the mad doctor, and Edzeeker, who by the way is not a Kai, and then the rebels. She has never had to survive on her own for 22 years. Now you kick her out of the nest with nothing! Nothing but the clothes on her back. An emotionally stunted, traumatized woman left out in the cold in a universe that just had humans declare war on not one but two races. Had you killed her, had Karesh killed her, it would have been over for her. Done. Her pain, her trauma, gone, but now? Now she must deal with that alone with no friends or family to turn to. You have continued the torture of what was done to her! What you did was worse than placing a death penalty on her.”
Doran gripped the back of Aidan’s shirt and lifted the boy. “Do you even know who this is? Kiai and Myla do. Why don’t the two of you tell the King who this is?”
“Pura, this is Aidan, Saita’s son,” said Kiai in a half-whisper.
“Tell him why the boy exists and while you're at it tell him who the father is.” Doran put the boy down.
“The boy is to be a replacement for his mother if anything were to happen to her.” Kiai looked to the floor. “Astec was the male contributor to the boy.”
“And now he is here, and his mother is gone! Not only have you created an orphan Pura, but you have also placed Saita in grave danger. She has no one to protect her now and Edzeeker will hunt her and the boy down until he gets at least one of them. We can protect Aidan but who is going to protect Saita?” Doran placed his right hand over his eyes and tears ran down his face. “I spent four years trying to find her and it took you less than an hour to throw her away. That is on you!”
Saseric was overseeing the installation of a hatchery on a desert world when his snake assistant approached him with a data pad. “There is an important message for you.”
“More important than replacing a faulty hatchery?” he laughed. “I’m sure it can wait.”
“I don’t think it can, Your Majesty.”
Saseric had come to know this assistant quite well over the last few years and knew when something could be brushed away and when something needed the attention of the King. He didn’t even sigh in irritation when he took the data pad. He had expected a letter, not an open communication link.
“Yes?” he queried.
“Help Saita.”
And poor Saseric has to save the day once again! And that's it, folks. Saita has been banished. What will she do with her life? Where will she go? Will Saseric get to her before Edzeeker? And what about this mysterious Fell Dragon? What is it, and how will it impact the rest of the story? Please join us the rest of the story in Fell Dragon 3-eventually I'll come up with some better names.
For those of you just joining us, please note that this is the follow on book from Fell Dragon. Follow this link to read it
Fell Dragon Book 1
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 28>>The End of Book 2