Greetings readers. And so we meet on this fine Friday. I hope this update finds you all well.
This week has been busy. I underestimated the number of words I'd need for the book. I had to tell the client that I would have to cut back on what I had done so far. He refused and purchased another 5,000 words. As awesome as what this is, it means my time lines for my next three projects are being placed under pressure. So, guess who is working this weekend to catch up?
Yup, that would be me. Oh well. Other than that; meet Leelu, my first hedgehog. She was a lovely little soul who sadly passed from cancer almost two years ago. She is Princess' mom.
But enough of that. Please enjoy the next part of Fell Dragon!
Aleux was viewing the homework that had been sent to him. Every assignment was boring, and the only reason he was scanning the work was that he was waiting on news from Saita’s surgery. His mother had paced back and forth for a few minutes before his father had arrived. Oddly, they had told him to stay exactly where he was whilst they had vanished off somewhere. This left him in the care of Doran, who had just returned from having his face stitched up. He looked so ashamed of himself as he sat down heavily next to the boy. They had not spoken for some time since his parents disappeared.
“You could likely finish those by the time you return.” Doran said softly.
“You think my parents will let me leave this planet after what happened? I will be lucky enough to see the light of day after today.”
“I’m sorry.” Said Doran after some time.
“For what? Freezing? Grabbing me? Having a girl fight for you?” Snapped Aleux.
“Yes.” He sighed heavily, then he leaned back and closed his eyes. “This is not what I needed today. It was meant to be a nice day with the kids.”
“No, I’m sorry. It’s been so long since I saw my parents, and they couldn’t spare me a thought after what happened with Saita. I don’t know how to feel.”
“You did throw your mother a significant curveball with your lie.” Doran chuckled.
“Who is Saita?”
Doran’s jaw bulged, and he bit onto his molars. He had no idea what to tell the young Prince, but his lie had created more problems.
“Or should I rather ask: What is she?”
He sighed heavily, leaned back in the chair, crossed his arms, and spoke. “We don’t know.”
“We are a race of highly intelligent creatures. How can you say we don’t know?” Aleux pointed to the chart lying on the table. “Surely, we can ask other experts on this matter. Doctor Jarah has rather detailed notes on her.”
“I can’t believe that idiot left his notes out where you could read them.” Doran rubbed at his forehead.
“Eventually, someone is going to have to tell me what is going on here. We were attacked by a Lizard and not just any lizard, but a black scaled one! That is their royal line!” Aleux stormed to his feet. “Father has been attacked, and now I have been attacked, and I am not even his heir. The Lizards want his blood gone. Why?”
“I don’t have answers. No one does.”
“Where does she fall into all of this? I mean, come on, she is clearly not human anymore. Someone took a human and made her. Through what means, I don’t think anyone will ever know…”
“She saved your life.”
Aleux stopped, ashamed of his outburst. He couldn’t blame Doran for this. The man himself must be feeling horrible. Forced back to remember a past he so desperately was trying to put behind him. Natus would forever have a hold on so many people.
“The idiot was lucky she only came away with minor burns, cuts, and a spiral fracture to her arm. It could have been so much worse.” Sighed Doran.
“Ulna and radius broke.” Aleux picked up the file and paged through it. “I’m curious to see how they will keep her under anaesthesia after her fight-or-flight took over her.”
“Well, that much was simple enough.” Said Jarah as he stepped into the room whilst some of his brothers wheeled the hospital bed into the room. “It is her pain management which I am concerned about. Saita, how do you feel?”
“Mouth tastes funny.”
Aleux was amazed to see her sitting up in the bed with her tongue sticking out. “How is she…”
“We had to continually give her anaesthesia gas whilst intubated at different concentrations to keep her under, but we got it right. I think I can write another paper about you, Saita. Are you in pain?” Jarah stood aside as the bed was moved into place.
“Hmm.” she looked at her bandaged hand with displeasure. “This is three.”
She frowned at the heavy cast encasing her lower arm up to her fingers and part of her upper arm, setting her elbow at an L-bend. “This is a six.”
“Really?” Jarah rapped the cast, and Saita paled. “I think you are closer to an eight, sweetie.”
“Fine.” She mumbled. “Eight.”
“You will wear a sling when you move around. It won’t help much for the pain, but it will give you a chance to rest the arm and not hit it against anything.” Jarah snatched the file back from Aleux. “We will give you your usual cocktail of pain meds until we find something that affects you better. How is the nausea?”
“Nausea?” Still pale, Saita queried the word.
Doran pulled Aleux away as Saita suddenly turned and vomited over the bed’s end.
“That…” Sighed Jarah. “That is nausea followed by vomiting. We will have to relook at the concentrations, they were too high.”
“Sorry.” Gasped Saita as she held a hand over her mouth panting. “Sorry…”
“Good thing you only drank water earlier and had a light breakfast.” Said Jarah. “Are you done?”
Saita shook her head and tried to stop herself from gagging. Jarah reached for a basin, placing it on her lap, and indicated it was okay. She didn’t feel okay. Her body was still on fire, her stomach was trying to empty itself, and her head was spinning.
“Sorry.” She mumbled between heaves. “Weak, slow, sorry.”
Aleux finally realised what this girl must have been through hell to have reached this point. She was apologising for being weak, getting hurt, and needing help. She had clearly been designed to be some kind of fighter but had not turned out the way she was intended. Was this perhaps why she was here?
“It is all right, Saita.” He said as he climbed up onto the end of the bed. “See? I am safe. Not even a scratch. You did it.”
Jarah frowned and made to move him, but Doran held a hand up as Saita stopped gagging to look up at Aleux.
“Not weak. Not slow. If you were I’d be dead, but I’m not. My mother and father still have a son. You did good.”
“Good?” She asked weakly.
“Very good.” Said Doran. “Myla will be proud.”
Saita nodded her head weakly. “Happy then.”
Karesh had been in a blind rage when he arrived at the hospital after hearing news that his son had been attacked but it was instantly quenched when he saw his son perfectly safe. Myla had had to explain what had happened and brought to light the problem Aleux had introduced.
A daughter?
His family had always had sons, daughters were rare, though not unwelcome. The rumours about Saita were already circulating after what had happened at the spaceport. Somehow, they needed to get ahead of this. A bastard child of the Queen, unbeknownst to the King. He growled under his breath when he heard that one. Could no person on this planet work out that there was no way for that to be possible?
“Karesh?”
His wife’s voice cut through his anger as she looked at him across the table she sat seated at.
“For as intelligent as what the boy is he is as rash.” He muttered.
“He is your son after all.”
“I’m all for rewarding the girl for the service she delivered but naming her our child? This is madness!”
“Whatever she was running from is now going to know where she is.” Said Myla softly. “There isn’t enough time in the day to deal with all the leaks that are happening. I’m…”
“What danger will she bring?” He asked suddenly.
Myla was taken aback by the question and realised that this was actually a very valid point. She didn’t have an answer for Karesh. She remained silent and shook her head slowly. The King finally sat down with a sigh and continued.
“Whatever made her spared no expense. It will come after her. As for when I don’t know, but it will come for her.”
Myla nodded her head; she knew he was right.
“But I owe her two life debts now.” Hissed Karesh. “I cannot let that go unpaid. My life and the life of our son were saved by her.”
He sat with his head in his hands. “Tell me what to do because I don’t know.”
“We only have two choices.” Said Myla. “Hide her or bring her into the light. We owe her that much. By law, the creation of biological constructs is illegal, no one can claim her openly. If we are open about everything then...that is the best I have.”
“If I claim her for my line then that will take the pressure off of Aleux.” Said Karesh after some time.
“Wait, hold on.” Myla looked startled. “You want to claim her? I thought…”
“The rumours are that you have a bastard child. If I claim her, then those rumours are laid to rest immediately.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Also, did you see the videos?”
“The security videos? No…”
“Myla, she almost killed the Lizard with her bare hands.” Karesh took a deep breath. “There are hundreds of recordings of what happened at the spaceport all over the information-ways. We cannot hide it; we cannot bury it. The very least I can do is have her taught to defend herself against what is coming because something is going to come for her one day.”
“She is not going to understand any of this, and what about her memory?” Myla got to her feet. “And what about Aleux? What are we going to tell him?”
“Tell him that he is getting an older sister because he doesn’t think before he speaks. I will prepare something for the press vultures. You go see our...children, I guess.”
“Karesh are you sure? I don’t want to do this halfway. If we bring Saita into our family, it is permanent. She will have your name and could rule your planet if we have no more children.”
“I do not make this suggestion half-heartedly. I realise that she could potentially rule one day if we ever get the planet back.”
“She will not understand.”
“You will have to make her understand. I have a lot to get ready.”
Beatrice had rushed to Saita’s side as soon as she had been made aware of the child’s condition. Having found Doran there she had spent a good two minutes yelling at him before greeting Aleux and then sitting on the bed to hold Saita’s left hand.
“I never should have let you out of my sight.”
“Myla’s son lives. I’m okay.” Saita actually looked embarrassed at the attention. “Mouth tastes funny. Fire under skin.”
“Fire under skin?” Doran seemed confused by the phrasing. “She didn’t say this to Jarah earlier.”
Beatrice placed a pudgy hand flat on the girl’s forehead and said. “She is starting to calm down from her day’s activities, and she was at a spaceport. She could have picked up a number of things. She isn’t immortal, you know. Should probably consider inoculating her before she does...and that’s a fever.”
“Fever?” Saita allowed the word to roll from her tongue. “What is that?”
“An infection.”
“In...in...infection.” she struggled with the word.
“Means you are not leaving my sight again.” Beatrice hugged her.
“She is fine.” Laughed Jarah. “She is slightly warm. She took a Lizard in hand-to-hand combat and won. I’d be running a little warm myself if that were the case.”
“You did what!?” Beatrice shook Saita.
“Ow.” Moaned Saita holding her arm. “It wanted to kill Aleux.”
“If I may interrupt this...circus.” Came a voice from the door.
All turned to see the Queen standing there, looking more than a little annoyed.
“Doran, Beatrice, Jarah, I need a moment with these two.”
No one argued as they simply left the room. Aleux cringed farther into his seat, he knew what was coming: A lecture on safety and likely another one on lying after. Though that one would be just for him. Beatrice was the last to leave the door, and she closed it behind her with a curt nod. Myla looked at the children before her. Aleux looked guilty, and Saita seemed more interested in trying to feel her forehead and got frustrated with her bandaged hands.
“Aleux, you put us in a very difficult situation.” She said slowly.
“I realise but…”
Myla held a hand up, and he stopped immediately. He was willing to give his father lip but not his mother.
“Go sit next to Saita.”
Aleux vacated his seat to go sit next to the otherwise distracted girl. His mother took his seat and viewed the both of them for what felt like forever before she finally said. “Your father and I spoke at length about what happened, and we realised that you have been thrown into this with no information whatsoever.”
“Mom, that’s not important…”
“You need to realise the danger you have placed us and her in, Aleux. Why it is important to think before speaking, thinking before acting. Saita here is a biological construct. We suspect she was raised in a lab somewhere and somehow managed to arrive here. She has no memory, no understanding and is likely hunted by those who created her. Though the stunt in the spaceport was no one’s fault, her image is out in the information-ways, and your little lie has bound her to us.”
“Biological construct...I suspect some genetic manipulation of a fertilized egg but…”
“Your father and I were planning to hide her, trying to protect her from returning to the place that did this to her but now we cannot hide her. A kind gesture on Doran’s part and your lie have brought us to this junction.”
“What are you saying?”
“We are left with two options.”
“Well, hide her or bring her to light…” started Aleux.
“Or we dispose of her. Her existence is an affront on good scientific practices and all manner of Gods…”
“No!” Aleux got to his feet and yelled the word before he thought it through. “She protected me! You cannot reward her with death! If you want to blame someone, blame Doran for…”
“Not one word.” Whispered the Queen. “You do not know what it was like when your brother was murdered, the pain it brought to those around us.”
“How can I? No one talks about him! Everyone whispers his name, but no one talks about that day. Natus was murdered by the Lizards to steal Father’s throne!”
The Queen rushed to her feet, angry and ready to start a screaming match with the son who had inherited her hot temper but his father’s stubbornness. Yet she paused when Saita turned in the bed, letting her feet dangle over the side, and placed her left hand on Aleux’s head.
“Myla is scared. Hug her, don’t yell.” She said softly.
Even when battered and bruised, Saita still only thought of Myla’s family. Aleux gritted his teeth and continued to be stubborn, but Myla saw the tears creep into his eyes. He was not going to apologise unless she did it first.
“I’m glad Saita could protect you.” She stepped forward to hug the boy and squeezed, hard. “I thought I would lose my child today.”
“Not while Saita lives.” Promised the girl.
“You can’t kill her.” Wept the boy into his mother’s stomach. “Please! To have gone through hell to finally be safe and then be killed. Mom, please, I am begging you. No one deserves that.”
Myla went to her knees and then cupped her son’s face. “Your father has made his decision, and I am agreeing with him.”
She brought his forehead to hers and whispered. “You get what you wished for.”
“Wha…”
“She will get your father’s name and be named your older sister in the next week; as soon as all the fires have been killed.” Myla looked up at the grinning Saita.
“Does that mean I don’t have to take the crown?”
“Do you want it?”
“Gods no!” Laughed Aleux as he held his mother’s hands.
“This is not going to be easy by any means, but now she has a chance; as slight as what it may be, it is still a chance.” Myla got up. “We will have to teach her a lot more than just our language.”
“How will you explain this to her?”
“That’s the next challenge.” Myla sat on the bed and looked at Saita. “Saita, we have decided on your safety.”
Saita immediately lost her grin and held her arm to her chest with a grimace. For a long time, she didn’t look at Myla or Aleux. She had not understood what they had been talking about, but she knew it had been serious because now the two of them were trying to catch her eye.
“Saita, look at me.” Said Myla as she tapped the girl’s knee.
“Hmm?”
“Doran and Meedus are father and son.” She started. “You know this?”
“Yes.”
“Karesh and I are married, he is my husband, we are family.”
“And Aleux is your son.”
“Yes. Your family? Do you remember?”
She shook her head and regretted it as the world spun. She held onto it with her left hand and groaned.
“Has Beatrice taught you the word daughter?”
“If Aleux had a sister.”
“Karesh and I, worry about your safety. We want you to stay safe.”
“Saita not safe, never safe.”
“Do you want to be?”
Saita looked up and frowned, unsure of what Myla was saying. “Don’t understand.”
“Family is safe.” Myla tapped Saita’s chest. “Want you for family.”
Myla laid her fingers on the girl’s chest and repeated. “We want you in our family.”
She was quiet for a long time before she asked in a soft voice. “Why?”
“Because a debt never goes unpaid.”
Myla pulled her into an embrace and held her. “You want to be safe; this is as safe as I can make it.”
“Safe.” Muttered Saita.
“Perfect.”
And there you have it. Saita is to become a princess to the humans. However, who was that final voice? For those who don't feel like waiting for the half the book, that would be her creator, who you will all learn to loath as much as I do.
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If you have missed any of the parts, you can find them here:
Fell Dragon Parts
| Part 1| Part 2|
| Part 3| Part 4|
| Part 5| Part 6|
|Part 7 - You are here| Part 8 - Updated on Tuesday|