Chapter 9

“I’ve waited a long time to hear you speak.” I said, chewing on the snake tail

“Yes…I apologize, dear Illumen.” she said, nibbling the goats burnt head

“There is no need to apologize but please, before we continue, won’t you tell me your name?”

She blushed, and said “My name…is Merilyn. I…I know what you’re going to ask me next…You want to know why I…why I wasn’t able to speak…why I was so afraid to go outside…why I couldn’t hunt or take care of myself, right?”

“All of that and more, Merilyn.”

“Haaa, I’ve long awaited the day I could hear you say my name, Illumen.” she said, blushing deeper “Very well, but my story is a long one.”

“We have food, water, and a wonderful view. I am more than content.”

“If…if you’re sure.” Marilyn said, and then she launched into her story.

Though it was by no means a happy one. She had been plagued by tragedy throughout her short life. She had never met either of her parents, hatching alone in that same corner we slept together in with not even a nest to keep her warm. The other dragons, taking pity on her, allowed her to live in the food court, and would feed her the scraps of their meals.

But that was as far as their care for her would extend. She was tolerated in the food court, but whenever she had ever tried to engage with the other dragons, particularly the ones in the Emperor's entourage, she would be rebuked or even punished for daring to address them.

“They would often call me names, words I had no meaning to attach. Things like ”Freak“, ”Monster“, and ”Demon“. I never knew what they meant, but I could tell they were bad…I…I wonder what I did to make them hate me so.”

I had no answer to that question, but it gave me a few theories about her.

Weaklings weren’t tolerated, under any circumstance, to address the powerful nobles.

“In particular that frost dragon, Eise, would become violent if I so much as got within a few dozen meters of him.” Merilyn said

The only reason she even knew her name was because the Emperor had said it once, in passing, to another dragon. So, rather than try to engage with the noble dragons, Merilyn attempted to fraternize with the minors. But once again this effort was to no avail.

The Minors, even more so than the Nobles and Majors, respected strength above all else, and in Merilyn's own words:

“I was born with no skills, little strength, and no talent for fighting. I don’t know why I was born so weak, but because of it the Minor dragons held no respect for me either.”

And so, after all of her attempts to connect with her own kind failed, Merilyn shut off. She stopped trying to interact with others, gave up on ever making any comrades and retreated into her little corner, content to stay there quietly forever. That way of life lasted for a little over seventeen years.

Then they stopped feeding her. Apparently there had been a row among the nobles about her being allowed to live in the food court, and the resolution was that she could continue living there but the nobles would no longer be obliged to feed her. All of this happened a few weeks before I arrived, and by the time I got there she was nearly dead.

“And then you showed up, my dear Illumen, and you saved me from…from everything! You were so kind to me…and now it’s my turn to ask you, why? Why go out of your way for some dragon as worthless as m-”

“You’re not worthless, my dear Merilyn. There’s more to life than power, it’s not your fault the other dragons are too barbaric to see that. After all, look at me. I have all the power I need, and I would give it all up in a heartbeat if I could bring Rickurd back…”

She looked taken aback by that, as if she had never even considered it, but still pressed on “But still, why go out of your way to save me? ”

“Is it really so hard to imagine that I did it out of the kindness in my heart?” I asked, curious about why she was stuck on this one point.

Merilyn looked at me, and in her expression I could see the depths of her loneliness. The same loneliness I had seen when we first met.

“Yes…” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

“…I saved you because you reminded me of another sad, lonely creature I once saw staring at me from within a different lake.”

“Will…will you stay with me Illumen?”

“I will. Forever, if you want.”

Her lonely expression changed to the happiest I had ever seen from her. She was crying in earnest now, leaning on me as she did so. She didn’t have to say anything else. She didn’t have to.

A while later we went back to the castle and Terero, as per the usual, made a snide remark though this time it was tinged with concern.

“Ho hum, so the love birds return early today…you smell like blood, what happened?

“We happened across a chimera. Or rather, the chimera happened upon us. It was a surprisingly strong foe, but in the end it lost.”

“You defeated a chimera?” Terero scoffed

“You sound like you don’t believe me.”

“Of course I don’t believe you, a Lesser dragon would have a hard time beating a chimera, Let alone a Minor like you.”

“I am no mere minor dragon, gargoyle.”

“Tch, you can only act like a hotshot because the Emperor has taken a liking to yo-”

“Um, Mr. Terero? Illumen really did kill a chimera…” Merilyn trailed off, embarrassed to speak in front of Terero.

When she spoke his eyes suddenly shot open and he lifted his head, eyeing Merilyn. She’d clearly shocked him.

“You…you’re talking again?” he said, sounding wary

“Y-Yes…?” she said, unsure of his intentions.

“I-I see…ok…ok ,listen up you brats, there’s something I need to warn you about.”

Despite his condescending attitude, I gave him my full attention.

“I can’t give you all of the details why, but a lot of the upper echelon don’t like you two. Up until now it wasn’t an issue since nobody thought that you” he said eyeballing Merilyn “would ever go back to normal. But now that you’re talking again, things are going to change. Especially if you have him by your side. You do like him, yeah?”

Merilyn didn’t answer, but she did blush a deep shade of red. Well, it wasn’t as if I didn’t already know how she felt…and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hold a certain amount of affection for her.

“Mmhmm, anyway the Emperor told me to keep an eye on you two, and to warn you if the female ever got back into her right mind. There’s secretly been a power struggle going on between the Emperor and the Noble dragons, and you two are right at the center of it.”

“Wait, what?! When did that happen? I’ve only been here for a few months, and she was nearly dead when I found her, so how the hell could the two of us have anything to do with your inner affairs?”

“Shut up and I’ll tell you brat. Like I said earlier I’ve been forbidden from going into specifics, but the gist of it is that if you had never showed up and she had died, then the struggle would have been resolved peacefully.”

“I don’t understand…I'm nobody special, why does my existence mean anything to the nobles…?” Merilyn asked.

…

Terero didn’t speak for a long while. He seemed to be debating with himself whether or not he could answer.

Finally, when we were just about to leave, Terero said “You are more important than you believe. Important enough to upset the balance of power In this place. And with a Demon Prince by your side, you will become someone who is impossible for the nobles, and even for the Emperor himself to ignore.”

He then lowered his head, and met us at eye level. “Listen you two, perhaps you would be better off leaving this place. Neither one of you has the power to oppose the nobles and I don’t think they will just let the two of you do whatever you want. Don’t read into it too much, but I wouldn’t want to see either of you winding up dead.”

“It’s rare to see you so concerned about our safety.” I said

“Didn’t I just tell you not to read into it?”

“Indeed. Thank you for the advice. And for the warning. We’ll be careful from now on.”

“Hmph, just don’t go getting into trouble.” and with that Terero laid back down in his usual spot.

The two of us went back into the castle to settle in and decide on what we would do next. To be honest, Terero’s suggestion of leaving was the most appealing. This place hadn’t lived up to the promise that I had expected out of it, and Merilyn had already spent too much of her life cooped up in these walls as it was.

Merilyn was of the same mind. Now that she had broken down her mental blockade, she saw no reason to stay here. But, before we left, there were things we needed to prepare.

For one, I still wanted to figure out what the Emperor knew about me, what a demon prince was, and why these dragons were so shaken up by Merilyn and I. And, more importantly, Merilyn was still too weak to travel.

While I had no doubts she could walk the distance out of this forest just fine there was no way she would be able to handle fighting anything stronger than a normal wolf. Another chimera, or a Dire Wolf, or gods forbid a group of human soldiers, would be the death of her and I wasn’t willing to risk her safety. The problem was, most of my skills were incompatible with Merilyn, so I couldn’t just teach her.

“I’m certain she can learn to fight, but she’ll never have the same killer instinct that most dragons have…”

Gah, my thoughts were going nowhere. I would just have to ask Reyzo for his help. Hopefully he would be able to keep Merilyn’s rehabilitation a secret, as the two of us had already decided not to tell anyone else for fear of the nobles doing something shady.

So, when dinnertime came around again, I approached the Emperor.

“Emperor Reyzo?” I asked

“What is it child? If you have more questions about your-”

“No it’s nothing like that, I already know that no matter what I ask, you’ll be cryptic about it.”

“Hmph. Then what do you want?”

“It’s Merilyn, she-”

“How do you know that name!?” he interrupted, full attention suddenly trained on me.

Some of the dragons who had been watching turned to face their king. They wouldn’t be able to hear us, as our thoughts were only being broadcasted to one another, but many dragons were taking notice of Reyzo’s change in mannerisms

The Emperor noticed this and not missing a beat, returned to his outwardly calm state.

“Ahem. I take it she is speaking again?” he asked.

“Yes. And now that she’s better I intend to leave this place with her…” I said, somewhat tepidly.

“I see….that-that would be good, yes. In fact, I order you to do so, as quickly as possible. Does anybody else know of her state?”

“Just Terero. He filled me in on the situation.”

“Excellent, then when will you be setting out?” The king said, abandoning his regal mannerisms in favor of a more rushed, casual tone. Whatever he was worried about it was enough to make him forget his station.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. While I’m strong enough to brave the depths of this forest, if Merilyn tries to survive out there she’ll be eaten, or worse. I’m strong, but even I can’t protect her all the time, she needs someone who can teach her skills that are compatible with her…unique sensibilities.”

“Skills huh…I doubt that you will have very much luck with that. Her breed of dragon has very little aptitude for skills…”

“Huh? But she’s a light dragon, just like me right?”

“Hmph, hardly. Hmm…very well, I will accommodate your request. See that female over there?” he said, pointing to a large, white Major dragon “She is part of the Royalist faction. You can trust her not to speak up about Merilyn, and she can teach the both of you everything you’ll need to survive.”

“Royalist Faction? And what could she possibly have to teach me? My skills are impressive even compared to dragons centuries older than I am.”

“Ah, so you do have a bit of arrogance in you, eh? Good, a dragon without pride is no dragon at all.”

“You’re dodging my questions again, old one.”

But the Emperor just laughed and went back to his meal, ending the conversation on his own terms once again.

I returned to Merilyn and filled her in on the discussion.

“So I really will be able to be of use to you?”

“I don’t need you to be of use to me, I just need you to be able to protect yourself. If we can get you to that point then we’ll be able to pass through the forest with ease.”

“I know that…but still, the idea of standing by your side, as your equal, enthralls me.”

“Only you would be enthralled by something like that.”

While the two of us were standing there engaging in banter, the female Major dragon that the Emperor had pointed out was approaching us.

When she got to our corner she looked at me and said “The Emperor sent me here to teach you magic, little one.”

Her tone was tremendously grumpy, as though I had personally offended her. And…

“Magic? Is that what the old geezer was being so cryptic about? ”

The female snorted and said “Ha! And I thought I was the only one allowed to talk about him like that. Maybe you’re not such a stuck up brat after all. I am Carmen, the one and only Dragon Sorcerer in this dump.”

Her mood had somewhat improved, so I decided to introduce myself.

“Greetings Carmen, I am-”

“Oh, I know who you are. You’re the little Demon Prince who’s been causing so much trouble. Illumen, right? Child, if you knew how badly some of the dragons around here wanted you dead.”

“So I’ve been told. I take it Reyzo didn’t tell you why we needed to learn magic?”

“Hmph, of course not. That old dragon loves keeping secrets and telling riddles. Sometimes I wonder if it isn’t just to keep himself entertained.”

“Well this secret might actually be a little important, so try keeping what you’re about to hear to yourself. Merilyn, if you would?”

“Ah, um hello…i’m, um, actually the who who needs to learn magic…” she said, trailing off again. She wasn’t good with strangers. But then again neither was I.

Carmen went bug eyed for a moment and her jaw dropped as she stared at Merilyn.

“You-You can talk again? That’s…I wasn’t expecting that, no wonder he asked for me to…but do we even have enough time? Once word of this gets out it’ll be a free for all…” she said, going deep into thought.

I allowed her a minute to herself before going “Ahem!” and snapping Carmen back to reality.

“Ah, right. Anyway, I think I get the gist of what’s going on here. How much longer do you plan on staying?”

“As long as it takes for Merilyn to learn the basics, and enough magic to protect herself in the forest.” I said

“Hmph! Looks like she’s not the only one who needs to learn. You have no idea how much you’ve just asked of me, do you shrimp? Even for a dragon, magic takes time to master. You can’t even cast a spell if you don’t understand how to manipulate mana. Magic isn’t the same as your skills, it requires effort and dedication. If Reyzo hadn’t asked me to, I wouldn’t even have agreed teach it to you because of how much of a pain it is.”

“Alright, alright, I get it already. How long do you think it’ll take us to learn enough magic to survive?”

“Hmm, it depends on your talent for it. You’re a Demon Prince and she’s a Sorcerer so you’re both starting from a good place, but there’s no telling…if I had to guess, at least six months.”

I winced. It was better than I had been expecting, but it was still a tremendously long time. And in that time Merilyn would have to pretend to still be mute. I looked at her, asking the unspoken question.

Nodding, she said “That sounds wonderful, Lady Carmen. What should we do first?”

“Heh, ready to start already, eh? Glad to see you’re so determined, cuz you’re gonna need that for the hellish road ahead of you. Even with six months, we’re still going to be doing a crash course, and I refuse to teach students who can’t keep up.”

“I-” I started, wanting to tell her to go easy on Merilyn. But Merilyn herself interrupted me.

“G-Go ahead and throw whatever you’ve got at us! W-W-We can take it!” she said.

Even though her voice was timid her eyes were burning bright with determination. Is it because she always thought she’d be powerless, or was it something else driving her? Well, friend or not…

“…I won’t fall behind you my dear, even if you are a Sorcerer…” I said, smiling at Merilyn

She smiled back and though I didn’t know it, she was happy that I had acknowledged her as a rival.