Thulia's Stone

          “I love her, father.”
          “I don’t care if you love her, Ark. Do you think I married for love? No, I married for the good of the kingdom.”
          “Which could probably explain why you are always so bitter.”
          “She’s a peasant, Ark. She is under your league. She has no royal upbringing. If she became queen, the kingdom would fall into chaos.”
          “Chaos? Father, she is a peasant, not a criminal.”
          The king spat in disgust. “There is not much of a difference.” He paused and looked at his son. “You have a duty to your country, Ark. You are my only son.”
          “I have a duty to the woman I love.”
          “You owe nothing to that woman.”
          “I owe everything to her.” Ark paused and watched the rage festering in his father’s face. He was afraid of what this next bit of news would bring to his expression. “She’s pregnant,” he said, hanging his head in shame.
          The king was silent for what seemed to Ark was an eternity. He was too ashamed to look at his father to see how he had reacted. Finally the king spoke in a voice so quiet that it sent shivers through Ark’s spine. “Get out of my house,” he said. “You are no longer my son.”

***

          Ark awakened to the sound of trumpets naked in a back alley in the city of Carthade. He had been dreaming about the day his father had disowned him, the second worse day of his life. Upon being disowned, he had lost everything he had ever had and was shunned from the only life he had ever known. Being too proud to take a commoner’s job, he had fallen into a life of gambling and drinking. He had lost the little money he had over the last four years and the last of his clothing was lost in a game of cards the night before.
          The trumpets sounded again, causing Ark to wonder what all of the commotion was a about. There must be some sort of announcement, he thought. Ark was about to walk into the town square but then he remembered that he was rather inappropriately dressed. He hid in the alley, watching a family with what seemed like 10 kids file out of a nearby two-room building. How can they stand to live in such small quarters? he thought. Then he remembered that he lived on the streets. It was thinking about this that he got what was possibly the lowest idea that had ever crossed his mind.
          Ark waited until the streets had emptied into the town square before slipping into the family’s house. The front room was so small and looked like five rooms of entirely different purpose had been stuffed into it. I’d much rather live on the streets than live in such a small place as this, he thought with disdain. He made his way through the crowded room to a small chest in one of the corners. Upon opening it, he saw that it must be where the family kept their clothes. The men’s clothes were on top.
          Ark couldn’t believe that he was about to steal from such a poor family. Then he remembered that he was so poor that he couldn’t even afford to buy his own clothes. It was this thought that enabled him to take a long sleeved, dirt stained white shirt and pair of brown breeches and slip them on. They were a bit large which suggested that the family had more to eat than he did as well.
          Ark snuck back out of the house and made his way toward the town square.

***

          “Hear ye! Hear ye! It comes as a great disturbance that our King, Vegras the third, died this morning. He had been ill or weeks. The healers did everything they could but he was nonetheless lost. Let us bow our heads and have a moment of silence in respect for our passed sovereign.”
          Ark bowed his head with everyone else. He remembered when the same town crier had announced that his father had come down with scarlet fever. He had been worried then but now tears were welling in his eyes.
         “Let it also be known that the king left no heir to speak of.” The crier paused a few moments to let this bit of information to settle with the people. “He had no sons and his brother, who died last winter, also had no sons.” Ark knew both of these claims were false. Disowning had been a pattern in his family since his cousin had been disowned for attempting to murder Ark when he was only eight. “The king’s advisors have come to the conclusion that Ellemaar’s next king should be decided in a quest of grave importance to the kingdom.” Ark’s eyes widened. He could feel his heart rate quicken as the crier continued. “As I am sure you are all aware, about a week ago the dragon, Elysian, emerged from her cave for the first time in the past 200 years. She has since returned but during her time out in the world she made off with an object very important to our well being – the oracle’s seeing stone.” A murmur of recognition swept through the crowd. He knew exactly what he would have to do to become Ellemaar’s next king. “Whoever finds the stone, does battle with the dragon, and returns the stone to the oracle will be crowned king!”
          The crowd gasped. No one had attempted to do battle with a dragon since the discovery of the oracle 500 years ago. Of course, there had been no need since Elysian was the only one left and she only left her hoard once every two hundred years to hoard treasure and food and even then there was usually no danger to the people because the oracle would have foretold it, giving them a chance to prepare a sacrifice of livestock. Without here seeing stone, however, the oracle was useless.
          “Are you who I think you are?” Ark heard someone ask from behind him. “Why yes, I do believe it is my long lost cousin, Ark.”
          The voice was not a friendly one and Ark knew who it was immediately. “Good morning Saercian,” he said, turning around to see the cousin who had attempted to kill him when they were children.
          “That’s Lord Saercian,” he said from atop his chestnut horse.
          “Ha!” Ark mocked in reply. “If you’re Lord Saercian then I’m Prince Ark.”
          “Prince? You are nothing but a lowly beggar. I can see that you have done absolutely nothing in the four years you’ve been separated from the family. I took a job as a foot soldier and have since worked my way up to knighthood.”
          “I refuse to lower myself to peasantry. Besides with this quest I shall be king, as was meant to be, within the month.”
          “King? You don’t have the men or the supplies to take down a dragon. Those are two things I do have. We’ll see who’s king by the end of the month.” With that, Saercian turned his horse around and started making his way out of the town square. Ark headed in the other direction.

***

          “Twenty bronze coins, no less,” the blacksmith said after Ark had explained that he needed armor for his quest.
          “Sir, you don’t understand. I need this armor. I have to become king.”
          “I don’t care what you need or what you have to become, good sir, all I care about is my money so if you don’t have it, I suggest you kindly leave my shop.”
          “Sir, I am sure that you are aware that your armor does not have the best reputation throughout the city. If you made some for me, that reputation would become ten times better I’m crowned king.”
          “If you are crowned king. What makes you think that you have such a better chance at finding the oracle’s seeing stone as any of the others? Others who I am sure can afford better armor.”
          Ark inched closer to the black smith. “Because,” he said quietly, “it’s my destiny.”
          The blacksmith put down the sword and hammer he was working with. “Your destiny, eh? Tell me, what makes becoming king your destiny?”
          “Do you not know who I am?”
          “No, sir, I’m afraid I don’t.”
          “My name is Ark, formerly known as Prince Ark. I was disowned by my father four years ago for impregnating a farmer’s daughter – the woman I love.”
          “Uhuh… well, Prince Ark. I can’t make you any armor without being paid first.”
          “But, sir-”
          “However, I might be able to give you this sword I’m working on if you get out of my shop and leave me alone so I can finish it.”
          Ark’s face lit up. “Oh thank you sir,” he said as he started backing out of the shop. “You won’t regret this, I swear.”
          “Yea, yea, just be sure I get my money. The sword will be ready by tomorrow morning. And I can’t promise that it’ll be a very good one.”
          “Yes sir,” Ark said before turning around and walking out of the shop.

***

          “My father says that he has the funds to pay another farm hand.”
          “Really? Isn’t that nice.”
          “Ark, you should take the job.”
          “That’s a peasant’s job, Lia.”
          “Well what kind of job do you expect to get? Like it or not, your are a peasant now.”
          Ark looked at his fiancé with rage. “I will not lower myself to peasantry.”
          “Your ex-father has already pushed you down to that level – my level. It really isn’t that bad.”
          “Maybe to someone who was born into it but I was born into royalty.”
          “And that makes you so much better than us, doesn’t it? Well I have news for you, Ark, you aren’t any better than us. Your pride will have you begging on the streets. And not just you, it will have me, your future wife, and your daughter begging on the streets with youl. Wait, you know what? If you don’t take that job, I won’t be your future wife anymore, so you can just get out of my father’s house.”
          “Fine, I will. Good bye Lia.”

***

          A loud roar awakened Ark from his dreams. He looked into the trees around him to see where the roar had come from but all he could see was darkness. He heard it again and a mountain lion came bounding out of the trees right toward him. Ark stood up and drew his sword. He held it out in front of him but when the lion pounced at him, instead of piercing the lion’s flesh, the sword shattered into a thousand pieces. The mountain lion landed on top of him and started tearing at his flesh. Ark fainted with the pain as he felt its teeth sink into the soft muscle of his shoulder.

***

          Ark awakened in a small room. The only light came from a nearby fireplace. He was lying in a very comfortable bed but that was the only piece of furniture in the room. As he sat up, the covers fell to his waist and he noticed that his shoulder was bandaged where the mountain lion had bitten him. He looked around but did not see the person who had saved his life. “Hello?” he said tentatively.
          When no answer came, he got out of the bed and walked to the door. He reached for the doorknob but it opened before he so much as touched it. “Oh hello,” the woman who had opened it said. “I see you are feeling better.”
          Ark didn’t say anything but went back to the bed and sat. He stared at the woman in awe. Her appearance was not very extraordinary but there was something mystical about her that Ark found mesmerizing. “My name is Thulia,” she said, “and you are Ark, or Prince Ark as you like to call yourself. You are on a quest for the oracle’s seeing stone.”
         Ark looked at the woman in shock. “Y-yes, how did you know that?” he stammered.
         “You told me,” Thulia answered simply, “in your sleep.”
         Ark nodded. He had been known to talk in his sleep so this did not come as much of a surprise. “How did you save me?”
         “Oh, I was just taking a walk and it looked like you needed some help.”
         “Taking a walk? Through the mountains?”
         “I do live at the foot of them.”
         “How did you kill the mountain lion?”
         “I didn’t. She and I are rather good friends.”
         “Friends? With a mountain lion?” Thulia nodded as if befriending a wild animal was an everyday thing. Ark shook his head. “Alright… where are we?”
         “At my house at the foot of the mountains.”
         "East side or west side?”
         “East side.”
         Ark sighed with relief. He was closer to his goal. He had been half way through the mountains when he had been attacked by the mountain lion. It had taken Ark a week to get that far. It appeared that Thulia had taken him the rest of the way through the mountains.
         “Thank you for your help, Thulia, but I think I’d better get back on my way.”
         “Ark, it’s the middle of the night. Go back to sleep. We can leave in the morning.”
         “We?” Ark asked.
         “The stone is of special importance to me. I’d like to be there when it’s found. Don’t worry, you’ll still get your prize for finding it.”
         Ark did not protest. He was still a little groggy. Besides, he was beginning to feel a little lonely and could use some company on his quest.

***

         “It’s time to get going,” Thulia said as she shook Ark out of his dreamless sleep. “I want us to be in Drestelle by sundown.”
         “Drestelle? Why Drestelle?” Ark was startled at the mention of the small farming village. That was where Lia, his ex fiancé, and Ellis, his four-year-old daughter, lived. He hadn’t seen either of them in the past three years.
         “I have to make a quick stop there.”
         “Well then you can make your stop. I don’t have time for the detour. I’m in a bit of a race with my cousin to get to Elysian.”
         “My stop is of grave importance to your quest, Ark. If you don’t come with me, you may find your way to the caves but you won’t be able to find your way through the maze to get to the dragon’s hoard.”
         “How will this little stop of yours help me with that?”
         Thulia smiled. “You’ll see,” she said. “Now pick up a couple of those bags and follow me.”
         “What is all this?” Ark asked as he picked up two of the four bags that were sitting on the floor.
         Thulia picked up the other two. “Provisions,” she said. “I’m afraid I am not willing to risk traveling without food and water as you seem to be.”
         “I couldn’t afford it,” Ark replied. “Besides, how do you expect us to carry all of this so far?”
         “I don’t,” Thulia answered. “Follow me.” She headed out the door and Ark obediently followed. Upon emerging into the morning light, Ark saw two identical black geldings saddled and ready to go. “Meet Tristan and Comet,” Thulia said as she walked toward them. She began to secure her two bags to one of the horse’s back.
         Ark followed and started to do the same to the other horse. “So when are you going to tell me what exactly this mysterious stop of yours is?”
         “When we get there,” Thulia answered as she finished securing the bags and mounted the horse. “Now, come on, I want to be there before night fall, remember?”
         Ark sighed and followed Thulia’s lead. As he did so, he wondered how this quest had become so far out of his control in so short a time.

***

         They arrived in Drestelle just as twilight was beginning to descend upon the world. “Are you going to tell me now?” Ark whined as they rode through the village streets.          The two of them had been making casual conversation all day. Ark had been making inquiries as to what her stop was and random intervals hoping to catch Thulia off guard but it had never worked.
         “Just a few more minutes, Ark, I promise.”
         Thulia made true on that promise. She stopped in front of the next house they came to. “Here we are!” she said cheerfully.
         Ark looked at the house and recognized it almost immediately as Lia’s. “Thulia,” he said, “why have you brought me here?”
         “Don’t worry, Ark,” she answered. “Everything will be fine. We are only here to get your daughter.”
         “My daughter? What ever would we need her for?”
         “Without her, we would get lost in the caves.” Ark’s confusion was apparent as he stared at Thulia. “I suppose it’s time I tell you,” she sighed. “Ellis is an independent oracle.”
         “She’s a what?”
         “An independent oracle. That means she has the sight but does not need a special artifact, like the oracle’s seeing stone to use it. The Oracle is dependant on her seeing stone to use the sight. Without it…” her voice softened, “all I have is dreams.”
         “You?” Ark asked in surprise. “You’re the oracle?” Thulia nodded. “That’s what you meant by the seeing stone being of special importance to you.” She nodded again. “Wow… but… if your powers are useless without the stone, how did you know about Ellis?”
         “A dream,” Thulia answered. “Dreams are rarely useful but this one was.”
         “I see, well, why have I never heard of an independent oracle?”
         “Well, for one, they are usually born of common blood so no one ever trusts their visions. They aren’t immortal like I am and their visions are usually hard to understand. My visions come clear as crystal when I have my seeing stone. When and independent oracle has a vision they are rarely taken seriously and when they come true, the oracle is deemed a witch and publicly executed. For this reason, they tend not to mention their visions.”
         “Oh,” Ark said flatly. “And my daughter is one of them?”
         “Yes.”
         “Well, if her visions would be hard to understand, how could they help us find Elysian’s hoard?”
         “One thing independent oracles are especially known for is their uncanny sense of direction.”
“Isn’t that convenient,” Ark answered. “Well, I can’t promise that getting my daughter from her mother will be an easy task.”
“I’m sure you’ll manage,” Thulia said with a smile.
Ark sighed and dismounted his horse. He was not looking forward to seeing Lia again. He hadn’t so much as spoken to her since he had refused to work for her father and she had thrown him out of the house. He was rather excited by the prospect of seeing his daughter, however, so he made quick work of the walk to the door, Thulia right behind him.
Ark knocked three times and stepped back, waiting for an answer. It was not long before he heard footsteps and the latch at the door being undone. The woman, who Ark remembered as Lia’s mother, answered the door dressed entirely in black. Upon seeing who was waiting for her at her front door, the woman gasped. “Ark?” she asked. “What are you doing here? We haven’t seen you in years.”
“My dear woman, are you in mourning?” Ark asked when he notice her attire.
“I’m afraid I am. Lia passed a few days ago.”
“Was she ill?’
“We suspect scarlet fever but we cannot be sure. Anyway, you haven’t answered my question yet. Why are you here?”
Ark stood up a little straighter. “I am here to get my daughter.”
“Ellis? You’re here to take Ellis from us? After losing our daughter, you would take our only grandchild from us as well?”
Lia’s mother looked to be on the verge of tears. “Please don’t cry,” Ark said as comfortingly as he could. “It’s just that… I am her father… and I would like a bit of a hand in raising her. She may be the only daughter I ever have.”
“But she’s our only granddaughter,” the woman sobbed.
“Grandma?” a small voice came from the back of the room.
Ark looked up to see whom the voice belonged to and saw what was in his opinion the most beautiful little girl he had ever seen. She had Lia’s raven black hair and his deep blue eyes. The two characteristics went together perfectly. He walked across the room and knelt before the girl so he could look directly into the eyes that were identical to his. “Ellis?” he whispered.
“Daddy?” the girl replied.
“You remember me?” The girl shook her head. “Then how…?” He looked at Thulia who was still standing in the doorway and it was then that he remembered that Ellis had the sight. “So it’s true… Yes, Ellis, I am your Daddy and I’m here to take you on an adventure with me. Do you want to go on an adventure with me?”
“Mommy’s dead.”
“I know,” Ark said.
“You need me.”
Even though he was aware of the Ellis’s gift, Ark was taken aback by how much she knew. “Yes, Ellis, I need you for my quest but you are also my daughter and I would like to get to know you as such.”
Ellis nodded, “I know.” Ark saw a deep wisdom in her eyes that was only surpassed by that of Thulia’s. To see that in the eyes of a four-year-old was a little eerie. “Grandma?” Ellis said.
Tears were streaming down the face of Lia’s mother. “Yes, little one?” she asked.
“Daddy needs me. Can I go with him?”
“Is that what you want Ellis?”
“Yes.”
The woman sobbed. “Then go, Ellis, just go.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Ark said as he carried Ellis out of the house.
***
“Ellis!” Ark heard Thulia scream in her sleep as she tossed and turned. The three of them had been traveling together for the past month and were now only a day’s ride away from the caves. They were currently in the densest part of the forest in which the caves were located.
Ark crawled over to where Thulia was sleeping. “Thulia,” he said, “Thulia, are you alright?”
The oracle sat bolt upright, throwing her arms around Ark’s neck. “Ellis is in danger ,” she gasped.
“What do you mean?” Ark asked. He had become very fond of his daughter over the past month. “What have you seen?”
Thulia shook her head. “Saercian… Elysian… Ellis… danger.”
“Is someone going to kill her? I haven’t heard from Saercian since the beginning of the quest. Is he going to kidnap Ellis? Is the dragon going to kill her?”
Thulia just nodded and shook her head, giving Ark a mixed signal so he decided to give her time to calm down before asking any more questions. He patted her back and stroked her hair, waiting for her to speak.
“She was hurt,” she said finally.
“How hurt?”
“I don’t think she would have been able to live.”
Ark drew back and looked into Thulia’s eyes. “Did you see how she got that way?”
Thulia shook her head. “No, all I saw were flames and then your cousin, Saercian, and then… Ellis.”
There was worry present in Ark’s eyes as he took Thulia’s hands in his. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Of course I’m not sure,” Thulia answered. “You know how confusing my dreams are. All I know for sure is that Ellis is in danger.”
Ark nodded reassuringly and kissed Thulia’s hands. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it tonight. We’ll worry about it in the morning.” Thulia nodded and curled back up into her cot.
Ark got up and looked around. It was then that he noticed that the horses and all their provisions had disappeared. “Thulia,” he said. “I think we’ve been robbed.” As Thulia was getting out of her cot, Ark ran over to where Ellis was supposed to be sleeping. She wasn’t there. “Ellis?” he called. No answer. “Ellis?”
***
They searched all the next morning for Ellis and their provisions but they were nowhere to be found. Eventually they decided that the best thing they could do is keep heading toward the caves. It would take twice as long to get there without the horses but they had no other choice. They couldn’t just turn around and head back home after they had come so far.
It took them two days to reach the caves and when they got there they found something that both relieved them and added to their troubles. Ellis was there, but so was Saercian. He was holding a knife to her throat.
“Why hello, Ark,” Saercian greeted them as they emerged into the clearing that surrounded the cave’s mouth. “I must say I’m impressed that you and your lady friend have made it so far. I’m afraid this little quest of yours must end here, however.”
“What do you want with my daughter?” Ark asked as he and Thulia walked toward him.
“I wouldn’t suggest coming any closer,” Saercian said as he touched the blade to the child’s neck. “You wouldn’t want your own daughter’s death to be on your hands, now, would you?” As he was talking, two armed men emerged from the caves and stood at Saercian’s shoulders.
“Please, Saercian, just let her go and we’ll return home, I swear.”
“Now, you see, I just can’t trust that. So you know what you’re going to do? You are going to wait out here while one of my men and I go into the caves, fight the dragon, and retrieve the stone. If you so much as try to follow me, my other man will do a quick job of killing her, do you understand?”
“If you are so afraid that I’ll follow you, why don’t you just kill me now and be done with it?”
“And rob you of your wonderful life on the streets? I think not. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a stone to find.” With that, Saercian tossed Ellis unceremoniously to one of the men standing behind him as he walked into the caves. The other man followed him.
During Ark and Saercian’s exchange, Thulia had managed to silently disappear back into the trees. “Thulia?” Ark called, wondering where she’d gone.
“I found our provisions,” came an answer as Thulia emerged once again. It looked like Thulia was carrying a few things but Ark couldn’t tell what they were. She stood just in front of Ark and handed him something so that their enemy couldn’t see. “Here,” she whispered.
Ark looked at what was now in his hand. It was a sword. “How long have you had this?” he asked.
“Since we started on this quest together.”
“And why have you waited till now to give it to me?”
“Well I didn’t want you breaking another one,” she mocked. “Besides, if we’d been attacked before, I could have protected you.” She showed him the hilt of her own sheathed sword. Ark laughed. “What? You find it funny?” Thulia asked
Ark didn’t have time to answer that because as soon as she said it, Thulia was walking toward the mouth of the caves. “Hand over the girl,” she said to Saercian’s accomplice.
“Or what?” he answered with a sneer.
“Careful,” Thulia said. “You’re outnumbered.” She drew her sword and Ark did the same as he came up behind her.
“Come any closer and I’ll kill her.”
“Oh, I think I am already close enough,” Thulia said, and she was. With one quick swipe of her sword, she removed the man’s head cleanly from his neck. Ark rushed in and gathered Ellis in his arms before the weight of the body could crush her.
“Are you alright?” Ark asked. Ellis nodded and Ark squeezed her even tighter. He got up and smiled at Thulia. “You can tell the future and wield a weapon. Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Waste time,” Thulia answered with a grin. “So if you don’t mind, I think it’s time we followed your little friend into the caves.” Ark nodded in agreement so the three of them entered the caves, Ellis leading the way.
***
Ellis led them through what seemed to be and endless labyrinth of tunnels and caves. There were bits and pieces of gold scattered here and there. The deeper the got into the caves, the more of this treasure was lying around. Ark was tempted to take some of it with him but he knew that that would be unwise seeing as how it was part of the dragon’s hoard.
After what seemed to be hours of traveling through darkness, the three of them saw the opening to a cave that seemed to be lit by a fire. When they entered it, they realized that it wasn’t lit by a fire but by the glowing scales of a giant sleeping lizard with wings – Elysian.
Ark was amazed by the sight. It seemed as though the dragon’s scales were all the colors of the rainbow and yet one solid color at the same time. “Elysian,” he heard Thulia whisper in a musical tone. The dragon woke almost immediately and raised its head to see who had spoken its name.
“Who enters my domain?” said a voice that could only be Elysian’s. The voice was both comforting and sinister at the same time. It sounded like a thousand voices all mixed together into one.
“It is I Elysian,” Thulia answered, “your sister.”
“Thulia?” the dragon replied. “Is it really you? Tell me, what brave soul has brought you to me?”
“He did,” Thulia answered putting a hand on Ark’s back and pushing him toward the dragon, “Ark of Ellemaar.”
“Well, Ark of Ellemaar, I would like to thank you for bringing my sister here to visit me. It has been over 500 years since I last saw her.”
Ark looked at Thulia confused. “Your sister?” he asked.
The Dragon continued, “As a reward, I would like to allow you to choose any item from my hoard to take home with you.”
“I’ll explain it all to you later. Now, we have to find my stone before Saercian catches up with us. I think Ellis can do so quite quickly. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go catch up with my long lost sister.”
Ark was in shock. He turned toward his daughter as she headed straight for the pile of treasure closest to the dragon. She dug through it and immediately immerged with a very plain looking rock. “Daddy!” she cried with excitement. “I found it!”
Ark started making his way toward where Ellis stood. Before he could reach her, he heard Thulia scream. An arrow was lodged in the back of her neck. Ark ran to her side as she fell to the floor. He carefully removed the arrow but couldn’t help feeling that he was only doing more damage. He turned her over and saw that she was coughing up blood.
“Ark,” she said weakly before falling into unconsciousness.
It was then that Ark heard Ellis’s tiny voice scream again. “Daddy-” and then she was muffled. He turned and looked at the spot where Ellis had been standing only moments before. In her place was the very person he didn’t want to see, Saercian. In his left hand, was Thulia’s stone. His right arm was wrapped around Ellis. His right hand was holding a dagger that dug into her neck.
“Why hello, Ark,” Saercian sneered. “I see you and your little companions made it past my soldier. I must say, I’m glad you did or we would have been lost in these caves for quite a while.”
“You followed us?” Ark growled, drawing his sword.
“Why, yes, I do believe we did,” Saercian replies as Ark felt someone step up behind him and grab his arm, wrenching his sword from his grasp. “This little girl of yours is very useful isn’t she? All we had to do was wait for her to find the stone for us. Too bad… now that she is of no use…” Ark could see Ellis’s beautiful blue eyes widen in fear as Saercian ran the blade cleanly across her neck. Saercian laughed as blood started flowing from the wound and the four-year-old body dropped lifelessly to the ground. “I told you she would die if you tried to follow us.”
Ark’s heart sank as he stared at the pool of blood forming around his Ellis’s body. Then his eyes fell on his enemy. “You… you…” he breathed, his voice dripping with hatred.
“Me?” Saercian sneered.
“Murderer!” Ark screamed as he began to charge toward his daughter’s killer. His fight was short lived. He fell to his knees as he felt cold steel slice through his calf muscle. Ark looked behind him and saw that the man who had taken his sword had used it to end his charge.
Saercian laughed. “Yes, Ark, kneel before me. Once I return to Carthade with this stone, I will be your king.” He held the Oracle’s stone out triumphantly.
As he did so, Ark noticed something strange happening to the stone. It seemed to be… fading. Of course… he thought, turning toward Thulia. She was only a few feet away from him so he crawled a little closer to her and checked her pulse. Her skin was still warm but her pulse was gradually slowing. With his fingers still on Thulia’s neck, Ark turned back to Saercian who was watching him suspiciously.
He watched the stone as it continued to fade along with Thulia’s pulse. Before long, the stone disappeared all together and Ark could no longer feel the gentle throbbing beneath his fingertips. He choked back the tears that were rising in his throat and slowly stood up. He felt a little dizzy from the loss of blood but he ignored it and limped toward Saercian, leaving a trail of blood on Elysian’s treasure.
“You killed her,” Ark said in a monotone voice.
Saercian laughed again. “I don’t care! I have the stone! I am-” Saercian stopped cut himself off as he looked at his out stretched hand and saw that it was empty. “What did you do with it?” he screamed.
“I didn’t do anything to it,” Ark said trying to force back the desperation grief that was now swimming through him. “You’re the one who killed Thulia. The stone has no reason to exist without its oracle, so it doesn’t.”
“Why do you seem so smug?” Saercian asked. “It’s not like you won here. You won here. You won’t be able to return with the stone either. Neither of us will become king!”
“That may be so but at least I will be able to leave these caves alive.” Ark nearly choked on these words. He didn’t really want to live. In the past month he had mad his first true friend and had been reunited with his only daughter and now he had lost both of them so quickly after finding them.
“Wh-what do you mean?” Saercian stuttered.
“Have you forgotten about the dragon? This may come as a surprise to you but she and the oracle were very close sisters. This was the first time in 500 years they had seen each other. I’m sure Elysian won’t be very happy with you.”
As if on queue, a loud roar came from where Elysian had been hiding. Ark ducked and covered his face as an enormous breath of fire exploded from the dragon’s mouth. Saercian and his accomplice caught flame immediately and were soon reduced to ash.
When Ark looked up, the first thing he saw was the reptilian eyes of the dragon. “I knew the moment her spirit passed from the world,” she said
“So she is really dead?” Ark said, barely loud enough for even the dragon to hear. Elysian nodded solemnly and laid down, resting her head on her dead sister’s body.
Ark got up and limped over to where her daughter’s body lay. He picked her up, being sure to support the head so that her neck wouldn’t hang open. He carried her over to where Thulia and the dragon lay and put her down next to them. Ark then gathered both Thulia and Ellis into his arms and sobbed, letting out all the grief and despair he had been holding back.
***
“Ark?” he heard Thulia’s voice say after he had been crying for hours on end. Thinking he was hearing things, Ark laid the bodies back on the ground and looked for signs of life. That sign came when Thulia’s light blue eyes stared back at him, full of life.
Ark held her tightly, afraid to let go should she not really be alive. “I thought you were dead,” he whispered.
“I was,” she said, smiling warmly. “She gave her life for me.”
It was then that Ark noticed that the dragon was nowhere to be seen. “Elysian?” he asked. Thulia nodded. “Then… where’s her body?”
“A dragon’s body is too sacred to remain on earth without a spirit,” she explained. “I still regret trading in my dragon body for that of a human sometimes.”
“You were a dragon once?”
“Of course,” Thulia answered. “A dragon can only give her life for another dragon.”
“But why did you become human?”
“The dragons were being mercilessly slain. Since Elysian and I were the last of them, one of us needed to become human to protect the other. I volunteered.”
Ark didn’t completely understand but too much had happened for him to ask any more questions. “So passes the last of the dragons,” he said. Then he turned to the body of his daughter and wiped some of the blood away from her face. As he felt her cold skin, the tears came flooding back.
Thulia patted his back comfortingly. “She was a sweet, beautiful girl. One of the best I’ve ever known.”
“She was more than that,” Ark replied. “She was my only daughter.”
“She was your first daughter,” Thulia said. “None of your future children will ever be able to replace her.”
Ark’s eyes returned to Thulia’s. “Future children?” The oracle smiled and held up her stone, now completely solid. On its surface was the image of Ark carrying a little girl on his shoulders and two boys playing at his feet. Ark looked closely at his future daughter and then back at Thulia, grinning. “She has your eyes.”
Thulia smile back. “Elysian gave her life for mine because she knew I had something to live for.” Ark understood immediately. Taking her in his arms, he gave her what would be the first of many kisses to come.