Dragon Eyes

Chapter 23.

Wrongs Righted.

A hush fell over the crowd at the action. Lynwood whole body went limp and he slipped off the dragon’s head and rolling across the sloping tiles, he tumbled down off the roof. There was a gasp as the honest folk watched Lynwood descend straight to the stony ground.

Caderyn, having been startled by all that had happened, came to his senses and swooped down and caught up with Lynwood just in the nick of time. Another two arrows came flying, but the nimble dragon swerved and flew back to the roof, holding Lynwood securly in his large claws.

He laid him gently on the roof, nudging him with his nose, low growls coming from his throat. There was no reaction to all the dragon’s attempts, Lynwood remained limp and lifeless.

Wilheard, worried and stunned, nelt down by the boy.

“Lynwood,” he called. But Lynwood didn’t respond, he didn’t even stir when Wilheard lifted his head. His face had gone deathly pale and just a small trickle of blood came out of his mouth. Wilheard glanced up and drew a breath.

The large, yellow green eyes of the dragon were filled with rage. A thin line of smoke came out of his nose. Turning sharply, he took to the air. Swerving down he grabbed Farran and took off again into the air.

The crowd backed away. Farran cried out in fright. Swooping down, Caderyn dropped the terrified king on the ground. The man hit the cobblestones hard and moaned. But the dragon was not done. He glared down at the king, who whimpered and stumbled back. Taking a deep breath, Caderyn turned towards the City Hall and to the horror of the crowd, a stream of fire came flowing from the dragon’s mouth. It engulfed the building in a wall of flame. Soaring to the sky, Caderyn collected Wilheard and Lynwood from the roof and flew up, breathing more fire down.

“Caderyn,” Wilheard shouted in desperation. “Caderyn, he’s alright! He’s alive! He’s not dead! He hit his head while tumbling off the roof, and no doubt the pain was too much for him. But he’s alive, if we treat him right now he’ll live. The arrow is in his shoulder not in his heart! But you’ve got to land, we’ve got to get him to a surgeon. But you must calm down and land. We’ve got to get him to a doctor!”

Despite his fury, Caderyn heard Wilheard and turning, landed beside the burning building. Once more the crowd back away, afraid that the dragon would now cover them in flames. Wilheard slipped off and gently took Lynwood down.

“Where is the boy’s father?” He called.

Lyndon, pale and afraid, pushed his way thought the crowd.

“Is he...is he dead?” He mumbled grabbing the boy from the prince.

Wilheard shook his head. “No, the arrow is only in his shoulder, a good deal away from his heart. It must be removed and properly cleaned, but the boy will live and recover, I have no doubt of it.”

Lyndon gripped his son in his arms, the dragon nudged the boys head gently, making small whimpering noises.

“It will be alright,” Lyndon soothed the concerned beast. “We’ll set him right.”

“In the meantime,” Wilheard turned towards his uncle, whose escape was being blocked by a crowd of very angry people. “We still have to deal with you.”

“You have no proof,” Farran croaked out.

“But I do,” a voice called. It was the same one that had shouted the warning. Turning, Wilheard and Caderyn saw young Prince Oliver walking up to them. Caderyn inhaled deeply, recognizing Oliver from the hunt, but he did nothing, only stared.

“You!” His father hissed.

“Me!” Oliver nodded. “I read a very interesting letter the other day, full of strange facts and disturbing evidence. But more than that, I have had it from my father’s own lips how he and my mother plotted against King Elhon, how together they set up his murder, and the murder of my aunt, Queen Katherine. How they lied to me, to the lords and councilers, to the army, to the good and honest folk of Northhurst.”

Farran’s eyes filled with rage. “You! You!” He shouted. “I took you into my confidence and you betrayed your own! Don’t you realize you will never be king now!”

“I have you to thank, Father,” Oliver sadly replied. “For teaching me the art of betrayal. Was it not you who did it first? Lured your brother and then murdered him? Was it not Mother who grew the poisen that killed your sister-in-law? I cannot, and will not, go along with your scheme. Wilheard is the rightful heir, and not I. I will not be king because of an act of murder and a lie. Better an honest nobleman than a false ruler.”

Turning to the soldiers who had come up, Oliver stated in a voice full of authority. “Take my father and my mother away. I fear they must be tried for treason, the punishment which is of course banishment. But when and how it is to take placce must be decided by the court.”

Farran tried to run, but it was no use and he was bound and led away, along with Queen Rohesia.

“Deal with them gently,” Wilheard called. “After all, they are of the royal family, and the queen is a lady.”

“That is noble of you,” Oliver said, turning to his cousin.

“They are family,” Wilheard sadly agreed. “And I will not follow in the uncle’s footsteps of cruelty. Those are not the markings of a good king.”

By now Lord Eadberht and the rest of the men came foward.

“People of Arrol, citizens of Northurst, here is your rightful king, Prince Wilheard, son to King Elhon and heir to the throne.”

The crowd began cheering and Wilheard was obligated to climb onto Caderyn, along with Oliver, to keep from being trampled.

After this everyone set to work putting out the fire from the City Hall and keeping it from spreading to the other buildings. This kept much of the city folk occupied and allowed Wilheard, Oliver, Eadberht to collect Lyndon and poor Lynwood and take him to the palace to be treated.

***

Lynwood opened his eyes with a groan and looked around him. Someone was gripping his right hand, while his shoulder felt numb and ached terribly. He glanced over at it.

“Where am I?” He mumbled. “Where is Caderyn? And why does my shoulder hurt like that?”

“You were hit by Farran’s dagger,” Wilheard’s voice told him. Look up, Lynwood saw the young prince standing by his bed. Lyndon sat beside him, holding onto Lynwood’s hand. There was a third man Lynwood didn’t know.

“At first we thought we had lost you,” Wilheard kept on. “But the wound turned out not to be so serious. The surgeon has treated it properly and with time and rest it will heal completely and you will have full use of your arm. Only a small scar will remain.”

“Where is Caderyn?” Lynwood asked, propping himself up with a wince.

“He is out in the palace garden,” his father replied. “He has been quite worried about you. We all have been.”

“What about Farran? Where is he? How did it all turn out?”

“Farran will never harm us again,” Wilheard said, “He is locked away right now. He will be tried and banished. Lynwood, I wish for you to meet someone who helped us. This is my cousin, Oliver. He warned us about the true reason of the plot. He testified against his own father. Oliver, this is Lynwood, the boy who saved the dragon we tried to kill.”

“It is a great irony,” Oliver said with a small smile. “I am honored to meet you, Lynwood. For one so young you have a lot of strength and courage. It seemed you have truly won the heart of the dragon. Your wound drove him to his limit, and we all discovered that dragons can breathe fire quite well.”

“WHAT?” Lynwood sat up abruptly; an action he quickly regreted, for it made a sharp pain spread over his shoulder

“He thought you were dead,” Wilheard exclaimed. “And it brought out the fire in him, literally.”

“That is so strange,” Lynwood mused, falling back on his pillow. “He never showed any sort of ability to breathe fire before.”

“Maybe he only does it when he’s really angry,” Oliver offered. “Wilheard mentioned how smoke started coming out his nostrils when you refused to respond to him.”

“Could be,” Lynwood shrugged. “Dragons surely are complicated creatures. So, how long have I been out?”

“Several hours,” Lyndon replied. “It is now sundown.”

“Sundown!” Lynwood exclaimed. “Oh no, no, no, no; those girls will kill me.” With his good hand he pushed back the covers and attempted to stand up, but the three men at his bedside stopped him.

“Lynwood, where are you going?” His father angrily scolded. “Lie back down, silly boy! You’ve just been operated on, you need to lie still and rest.”

“How can I when Collyn and Sofia are still in the dragon’s cave, and are probably either weeping over my death or cursing me for forgetting about them and leaving them alone for such a long time? I have to go and get them.”

“Cannot someone else go?” Wilheard argued. “You certainly can’t go flying in your current condition.”

Lynwood shook his head, “I doubt Caderyn will take anyone else to his cave. He doesn’t trust you enough with that. I mean you could try, but good luck.”

“He’s got a point,” Oliver agreed. “The only way he agreed to take us all to the palace was because we had Lynwood with us. And dragons are pretty secretive about their caves, or so I’ve heard.”

“Will the girls try to leave the cave?” Lyndon questioned his son.

Lynwood shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s not like they have anywhere to go, and Sofia knows it’s quite impossible to get down from where they are. They have no choice but to sit there and hope that I will come.”

“I think they will be fine one more night,” Wilheard reassured. “I hate to leave my sister up there, but there is nothing to be done. You are not well enough to go and no one else is able too. Tomorrow I’ll go with you and together we’ll collect them.”

Lynwood, who was exhausted, had no choice but to obey and lay back down on the

bed. He had quite a bit of trouble going to sleep due to the ache in his shoulder, but when he did fall asleep he slept peacefully and woke up with the sun’s light.

Wilheard was once again standing by his bed, and his father was asleep in the chair.

“I left a note,” Wilheard whispered. “Let’s go out and then fetch those sisters of ours. He knows I was planning to take you, so it’s alright.”

Lynwood nodded and slipped out of the bed. Wilheard helped him dress and fitted his arm in a sling.

“Isn’t a servant supposed to do this, and not the heir to the throne?” Lynwood teased.

Wilheard chuckled softly. “Lord Eadberht always told me a king must be servant to his people. Besides, it will be too much commotion to get a servant. Come along, the dragon is in the garden.”

Together they slipped out of the room, down several passageways and out into the morning air and the beautiful, exotic palac garden. Caderyn was lying there, but he stood up at the sight of Lynwood.

Despite the pain in his shoulder Lynwood ran over and put his arms around the large head. Caderyn crooned softly as he closed his eyes.

“It’s alright,” Lynwood soothed. “I’m alright. You helped me so much, Caderyn, it was only right to save your life. And look, we both lived to tell the tale. We need to go fetch the girls. We need to bring them back. Wilheard will accompany us, is that alright?”

Caderyn nodded.

“We’re warming up to each other,” Wilheard chuckled. He helped Lynwood up then sat down behind him.

Together they flew over the still city that was just only beginning to wake, and then off away from it. They passed the fields of farmers and other towns, villages and small cities. Still onward they flew, until the Northern Mountain Range came in sight and the great mountain stood majestically before them. Upward they climbed, and into the well known and well loved cave that had give Lynwood sanctuary when he and Sofia had desperately needed it.

Caderyn flew into the cave and landed in the same place as he always had. Lynwood and Wilheard slid down and looked around. The cave was neat and tidy and sleeping soundly in the nest were the two girls. Lynwood couldn’t resist the temptation, he and Wilheard exchanged glances and the young man smiled with mischief. Creeping quietly to girls and taking a deep breath the two of them gave the girls a shake, loudly calling at the same time.

“Wake up oh ye sleepy heads”

The result was exactly what they was hoping it would be. The girls gave a shriek of terror and jumped up, getting tangled in the blankets and each other as they thrashed about. The scene was so funny that Lynwood even forgot about his aching shoulder as he and the prince collapsed on the ground in a fit of laughter. Once the girls had settled down and pulled themselves together and realized who it was that had frighten them out of their wits, one can imagine how angry they became.

“Why of all the dreadful, annoying, horrible boys that ever walked the face of the earth,” Sofia stated, stamping her foot. “Lynwood you are the worst, how dare you, how dare you?”

“Scaring us half to death like that!” Collyn put in. “You ought to be ashamed. We don’t know where you are, what has happened to you, are sick with worry and are stuck up here with no hope of getting down and no word from you at all and then you appear out of nowhere and wake us out of the fitful sleep we were in. Why we ought to strangle you right now.”

“Beat you up that is what we must do,” Sofia exclaimed, jumping out of the nest. “Punish you for what you have done to us.”

“Hey, hey,” Wilheard cut in. “Give the boy some slack.”

Collyn gasped at the sight of her brother. She had been so angry with Lynwood she hadn’t even noticed the prince.

“Wilheard!”

Wilheard caught his little sister in a tight embrace. “It’s all over, Collyn,” he whispered. “I’ve come to take you home.”

“Uncle Farran?”

“Will never bother us again. Thanks to your friend and his dragon the wrongs have been righted.”

“Lynwood, what happened to your shoulder?” Sofia gasped, having only now noticed that his shoulder was all wrapped up

“Oh that,” Lynwood replied casually. “Nothing really. Just an arrow.”

“AN ARROW!” Both girls gasped in horror.

“Where did the arrow come from?” Collyn prodded.

“That is a long, long story.” Lynwood sighed. “We can tell it once we reach the palace.

“Father,” Sofia fearfully asked. “Did you find Father?”

Lynwood put his arm around Sofia. “He’s safe and worried about you. We need to hurry back. But I think we should first clear out the Caderyn’s cave so we won’t have to do it later. Wilheard and Collyn can help us.”

“Oooh,” Collyn smiled. “I’ll be able to take a peak at your house.”

“Unless there are still soldiers guarding it,” Sofia said

“Ah,” Lynwood waved his hand. “We’ve got a dragon. We’re fine.”

“Oh, right,” Sofia giggled.

Together they packed the blankets, rug and the pot they had used. There wasn’t much food left, the girls had eaten just about the last bits the night before. Finding his old bag, Lynwod reached into it and pulled out the golden arrow.

“Your Highness,” he said, turning to Wilheard. “I believe this belongs to you.”

Taking the arrow, Wilheard gave a small chuckle. “It seems so long ago now. And to think it’s been two weeks.”

Lynwood nodded. To think he’d only known Caderyn for two weeks. It honestly seemed like forever. “It’s a good thing you missed,” he said. “But it’s also a good thing you shot him. If I hadn’t found him wounded in the woods, none of this would have happened.”

“That is a great irony,” Wilheard nodded. “I’ll keep this arrow to constantly remind me not to judge anyone, beast or man, by what I’ve heard.”

The girls were getting restless, so the boys turned back to matters at hand. Wilheard helped haul it onto the dragon’s back, he stayed behind while the three children took it down.

“Three’s a crowd,” he laughd. “Four would just be too much.”

They came to the little green house, which turned out to be abandoned and left the stuff by the broken front door. Then they got back on the dragon, collected Wilheard at the mouth of the cave, and flew back to the palace. At the large front gates they were greeted by Lyndon and Lord Eadberht.

“Papa,” Sofia’s shriek echoed across the room as the girl hobbled and flung herself into her father arms. He gathered her up, laughing and kissing her. Her still slightly swollen ankle was his first concern and he asked for the doctor to be sent for. She tried to brush it all away, clinging to him and saying she’d never let him go.

It was a joyous moment, and had everyone smiling. They went for a good breakfast. There was still so much to do, especially for Wilheard, who was about to inherit a kingdom that was falling apart on every side.

***

The next few days were busy. Eadberht’s son, Coldbert, returned from banishment, Elaine was sent for so she could be reunited with her husband. And then, at long last, the coronation day took place.

As was tradition, Wilheard was crowned in the town square, where the city could see him. Guards were stationed everywhere, but no one need have worried. Caderyn stood beside the king, and everyone in the city clearly remembered how he had destroyed the City Hall and how now it had to be rebuilt, with money that Farran had stolen from the people.

Beside Caderyn stood Lynwood, holding onto the cushion that held the heavy golden crown with the help of an attendant. The boy’s left arm was still in a sling, the wound would require several weeks to heal. The little country boy seemed to have disappeared. Lynwood was dressed in a rich, velvet tunic, his blond hair combed out of his face. Anyone who had known Lynwood before would never have recognized him now.

Wilheard soon appeared along with a long procession and came up to the front and Lord Eadberht took the crown and placed it on Wilheard’s head and everyo waved hats and scarves and threw flowers into the air and yelled ’LONG LIVE THE KING!”

Caderyn watched it all and thought of how strange humans were and how they made everything in life seem so complicated.

After the coronation there was a long parade as Wilheard was led to the grand throne room and took his seat as King of Northhurst.

After this the party began, and lasted for several days. But, as all thing must, it finally came to an end and Lyndon prepare to return home.

Before they left, however, the new king approached the woodsman with a suggestion.

“Sir, if you should like, let your son stay in the city. I could give him a good education and he could live in the palace. He would never lack anything, he could grow up to be a counselor in my court, or is he should prefer the way of a warrior, he would make a valuable captain in my army one day.”

Lyndon was silent then looked over at Lynwood, who was standing next to him.

“What do you think, son?” he quietly asked. “It is a wonderful opportunity for you. You could have a better life than the one I can give you.”

Lynwood widened his eyes and looked at his father. “What do you think I should do?”

“You are no longer a little boy, Lynwood; I think this decision is one that you have to make on your own.”

Once upon a time it had been Lynwood’s dream to get away from the little house by the mountains. But now that the adventure was over, the damsel no longer in distress, the kingdom saved, and the dragon no longer an enemy, the young boy found he longed for his home. The city, with all it’s sights and sounds was empty compared to the song of the wind and the freedom of the mountains. So Lywood gave a low bow to the king.

“Thank you so much for the offer, Your Majesty, but I will return to my home with my father. City life is not for me, all the narrow streets and brick houses, even this palace, beautiful as it is, would be nothing more than a golden cage. I was born a child of the mountains, I was born with the freedom that the only the mountains can provide, and I cannot give up that freedom, not for all the riches and pleasures that your court can offer. The life of a woodsman is the life for me, and I shall return to it with my family.”

“You are sure of this?” Wilheard asked with a kind smile

“I am, sire,”

“Then be it as you wish, but know that you are always welcome in my court. I owe you so much; I do not think I shall ever be able to repay you.”

“I do not need repayment, Your Majesty,” Lynwood said with another bow. “But there is one thing I should like to ask of you.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Well, due to this whole adventure, it has been made quite well known to a great many people that dragons are not extinct. And after Caderyn’s display at the City Hall, I fear now everyone is quite afraid of what dragons can do. There will be a lot of folk ready to travel up north and start hunting dragons once more. Please, sire, make a law, banning the hunting and killing of dragons. They will leave us alone as long as we leave them alone.”

“Have no fear,” Wilheard replied. “Your dragon has saved my life, and I will not allow any harm to come to him or his kind. I give you my word.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Lynwood said with another bow.