“No, I think I’ve seen it all,” Jahrra said, forgetting her annoyance.
“Very well. Meet me out front. I’ll catch up to you.”
Jahrra disappeared through the broken archway and ran off to get lost once again in the stony labyrinth. Hroombra exhaled with another one of his great sighs, allowing his suspended thoughts to return to the front of his mind.
“How could I have forgotten?” he whispered to the walls. “How could I have forgotten reciting that terrible story as it was being painted on these walls?”
Hroombra shook himself like a great, wet dog and stared at the doorway through which Jahrra had disappeared. He was enormously grateful that she hadn’t asked the question he knew he couldn’t answer. He’d feared she would ask him if he’d been there, if he’d played a part in that painful chapter in history. You may be ready to know some of this, but you are not ready for the truth to that question yet, he thought astringently, and I’m not ready to tell you.
He looked back at the mural and let himself remember, just as he’d done in the entrance hall. He let his eyes wander upon the faded yet beautiful portraits and landscapes. His eyes darted from figure to figure, until they fell upon one figure in particular. It was the man Jahrra had seen riding the horse, proud and unafraid, but the old dragon saw more than what Jahrra had.
He focused hard on the portrait and once again closed his eyes. He could see the man more clearly now, a young man, charging upon a foe with full passion and purpose. The man’s eyes had been eroded away from the wall, but now Hroombra saw eyes blinded by suffering and hatred. The memory of what had become of him cut Hroombra like a knife. This young man was happy once, before the great tragedy had befallen him. Once upon a time his life meant more than just a vessel for revenge.
Hroombra exhaled a low, tired breath, like ancient air pouring from a cave. He knew that this place in time was long past, yet he couldn’t help but wish there was something more he could’ve done for this unfortunate person.
The Korli dragon breathed deeply once more and reminded himself that the past was the past, and try as he might, he couldn’t change it. He thought of Jahrra and suddenly realized how much like this young man she was turning out to be. She was proud and strong, and she’d lost her family too soon as well. May I be able to save her when the time comes, Hroombra thought, may she not share his fate.
The great dragon let his mind drift away from the hurt and sorrow, the heartache and abhorrence. He let it float back to the present, and before he left the great room he whispered to no one in particular, “Do not give up, there is still hope.”
Jahrra was waiting for him in the front of the castle, climbing over fallen stones and examining their color and texture.
“Are you ready?” he asked when she glanced up. “The sun will be down in a little under an hour and it would be foolish of us to stay here after dark. I fear this small wood is no longer as small as it once was; it is more than likely that it has encroached too far upon the Wreing Florenn. We wouldn’t want to be in the woods after dark. Come, you can ride on my back.”
Jahrra leaped from the giant square boulder she was standing on and landed on the dragon’s back. As they left the Castle Ruin behind, Jahrra peered back once more. It looked more daunting in the fading light, but it still intrigued her. She’d discovered a deep secret when she found the mural on the wall, she could tell. True, Hroombra had told her a story and had even let her ask him questions, but she knew there was much more to it than what he’d told her.
There had been something short of fear in Hroombra’s voice. She’d heard it when he recited the story behind the mural, and she heard it now, when he told her they must leave. What could possibly frighten Master Hroombra? she thought to herself. Maybe the stories of the creature in the forest are true after all. Jahrra inhaled and exhaled nervously, clutching even tighter to Hroombra’s neck as he ambled along.
“Do you really think there are terrifying monsters in the Wreing Florenn?” she asked, making her thoughts known as she worked hard to keep her balance atop the rocking gait of her carrier.
Her guardian took his time answering. “I’ve never seen one personally. Yet again, I’ve never wandered into the forest at night.”
Hroombra didn’t actually think that fearsome beasts lived in the deep forest, but he did know that many strangers and travelers used it to avoid the superstitious local folk. He also knew that these people could often be more dangerous than wild beasts and he would rather have Jahrra frightened of being eaten than to take the chance of her being taken or seen by the wrong person in the deep of the woods.
By the time Hroombra and Jahrra exited the small grove surrounding the castle, the sun had already set. Luckily, the Castle Guard Ruin was under a mile away from the edge of the trees, and Hroombra and Jahrra no longer had to fear the beasts and strange things of the woods. They were almost safely home.
What the dragon and the girl didn’t know was that they hadn’t altogether left the forest unseen. As twilight fell upon the wide field that spread between the woods and their home, a pair of eyes watched diligently from behind a clump of trees. The eyes were odd indeed, full of curiosity and wit and some other undetectable emotion, but for now they stayed completely focused on the dragon and the girl.
For quite some time now, perhaps even for years, the creature belonging to those eyes had felt a presence in Oescienne, a presence it couldn’t explain. It had always known about the dragon, that fact was understandable. It was the dragon the creature had followed to this corner of Ethoes to begin with, but the glimmer of an emotion within the great reptile had sparked the creature’s recognition of this young girl now traveling with him.
The old Korli dragon had hope in his heart, something the spying creature had felt for a very long time, but not so strongly until now. For some time, the hope in the old dragon had been growing, and with it, the suspicions of the creature that now spied on them. Now, after what had been witnessed tonight, it knew exactly what it was that nurtured the old reptile’s hope.
He has found the one, the one He searches for! The spy thought with glee and bewilderment, chills shivering over its clothed skin. The time has finally come.
Suddenly, the dragon, which was many yards away in the distance, stopped and began sniffing the air. The pair of watching eyes shrank back behind the closest tree, and as the great reptile turned his head to look back, the eyes closed slowly, hiding their presence. Hroombra stared at the spot where the being had watched him for a long while, but after some time he gave up and turned back to the decrepit building he called home.
The eyes opened once more and continued watching the dragon and the girl, the human girl. Yes, thought the creature as something crackled in its eyes, she has to be the one. The strange being smiled, a smile no one would ever see, a smile that some might call wicked. Protect her now Old One, but you can only hide her from me for so long. I’ll have my say in this and somehow, some way, I’ll get to her.
With a cold, unnatural voice the creature whispered, “I will not make the same mistake twice.”
The eyes closed for a second time, but this time they closed and withdrew behind the tree for good. The creature slid back into the woods, back into the heart of the Wreing Florenn to wait.