Chapter 3: Place I don't need to be
The man's chuckles were music to Emerald's ears. He picked up a shirt from behind her and wore it. He had a youthful outlook on things that gave off a devil may care attitude.
"I am not a god. The name is Cypher. You should bow now"
Emerald smiled. She liked his name but why the hell would she bow to someone that wasn't a god. She laughed heartily like he made a joke.
"Why?" Her lips curled up in another smile.
"Why what?" Cypher seemed puzzled and possibly confused.
"Why should I bow to you? You are not a god and if you are not a god. Then you are human and I am a demi-goddess. You should bow to me"
Cypher stared at the bold girl with curious countenance and a little bit of fascination. She was a beauty with deep sea blue eyes and blonde hair.
She looked man-made.
She was tall almost his height with a delicate yet a warrior's body. Her outfit was foreign and seductive. Every single piece of her body was outlined in the tight outfit. Cypher concluded she wasn't from Lamek.
"You think you are a demi-god?" He asked with apprehension.
"No" Cypher was temporarily relieved but it didn't last long.
"I am a demi-goddess, there is a difference"
Cypher was finally serious. "You need a physician to check your head, girl"
He was fascinated and he would have loved to stay and chat with her but he had a place to be.
Cypher placed two fingers in his mouth and whistle. Emerald wondered who he was calling until she heard gallops and a white horse appeared but stopped on the hill. The white horse refused to come down the slippery slope.
"Come on down, boy! Come on Axe!" Cypher called out to his horse but it remained rooted to the spot.
Emerald smiled sheepishly at the human. "The horse won't come, she says she is too beautiful to stain her feet with mud"
Cyper watched her closely with his brown eyes and he was fully dressed except for his bare feet.
"So, you speak horse too" He was making jest of her but sarcasm was lost and waste on the dragon mistress.
Maudyn was getting uncomfortable. They were supposed to be lying low but the Queen was speaking freely with this human boy. She cleared her throat to get the queen to shut up but Emerald turned instead to her and asked "Is something stuck in your throat?"
"No" Maudyn answered her, taking care not to call her by her title.
Emerald turned to the horse and she cast a spell of obedience that will wear off by dawn
Cypher was apprehensive and his hand instinctively went to his waist where his sword should be but it wasn't there. He had taken it off to go for a swim.
He could see it along side his dagger not far from where he stood on a little shrub by the river.
"We are all friends here, Cypher. I only asked your horse to obey you till sunset. Go on, tell him to come down to the river" Emerald urged him on.
The smile was gone from his lips and he watched her like a hawk. Everyone in Lamek knew magic was forbidden and punishable by death in the most horrible way. Cypher didn't make the decree, his father did after the sorcerer he ordered to heal his sister Eileen with magic ended up killing her.
Mad with grief, he ordered for his execution and that of anyway that practiced magic.
Cyper liked the crazy girl but it was too bad he would have to kill her if she was truly a sorceress.
For the first time, he hoped she was just mad.
"Go ahead, tell axe to come down the hill"
Cypher turned towards the horse and he ordered him to come down the hill "Come on boy! Come to me, Axe"
Slowly the horse came down the hill to meet his master.
"I told yo-" Emerald didn't finish her sentence when she felt a blade to her neck. She froze, she had done something nice for him and he had repayed her by threatening her life.
"What are you doing? I thought we were friends. I made Axe obey you, Cypher"
Cypher went for his dagger as soon as Emerald was distracted by the horse and he was so skilled that he was almost as fast as a cheetah.
"Friends don't threaten each other. I was going to make you my breeding mate. It's the highest honor a human can have" Emerald cried out loud. She couldn't believe that someone she considered a potential mate can betray her in the shortest time.
"That is a kind offer, sorceress but I am afraid I have to decline your offer to...to breed" Cypher had a weird out look on his face. He shook his head like he was clearing a fog and continued "I am Cypher dumont, King of Lamek. You are not only trespassing in my personal river but you've just committed treason by using magic in Lamek but..."
Emerald had never experienced first hand the biased humans, her kind spent centuries protecting had against magic. Ferratti were magical creatures.
"But I will spare your life if you leave Lamek never to come back again" Cypher decided to be lenient.
Maudyn stepped forward immediately, she had seen the look on the Queen's face and she knew she was about to do something reckless again.
"Yes, your highness we will be on our way. Thank you" Maudyn turned to Emerald and held her left wrist firmly "Come on, let's go Emerald"
But Emerald was in a mood. The human had not only insulted her but he threw her benevolence to her face. He should be taught a lesson.
Cypher took the dagger away from her neck and took a step back granting them passage.
Emerald followed the gentle pushing of her servant Maudyn but before she made it past the sloppy path. She turned to look at Cypher. Her eyes were pitch black. Then she cast a spell.
The spell she cast made the dagger hot as a burning coal and so heavy that it pulled cypher down to the ground and pinned him down.
He screamed loudly and Maudyn was afraid he would attract his knights.
"Hold!" Maudyn cast a spell to stop him from screaming.
She moved closer to Emerald and touched her shoulder "Stop it! You are hurting him"
"Am I?" Emerald let his go.
Cyper's breathing was hard and fast as he clutched his hand.
"Was that hurtful, Cypher? To have a good deed repaid with bad?" Emerald questioned the young human that had sweat all over his body, now.
"Emerald take away his pain and his memory of us!" Maudyn walked down towards the river to hold Cyper's shoulder as she glared at the young Queen.
"Emerald!"
"Fine! There, he is healed"
Maudyn looked at Cyper's hand and the redness and blisters was gone.
"I apologize, your highness. We will be on our way now. Do well to forget you ever saw us"
Maudyn gathered her bouncy dress and walked up the hill behind the now moody Queen.
Cyper suddenly saw a bright light and he was conscious again. He saw Axe by the river and he was surprised.
"What are you doing here, boy?" He smoothened the horses back and patted his cheek. "Come on, let's go back to the castle!"
Maudyn walked behind the Queen. She hadn't said a word since they left the stream. They were still in Lamek but in another village.
"Emerald, we should rest and continue tomorrow morning"
But Emerald ignored her.
"Queen Emerald, it's getting to dark to see. We should rest"
And again Maudyn was ignored. She moved faster and touched the Queen's hand and she stopped.
Emerald's face was tears stained. Unlike humans her tears glowed as it fell down her cheek.
"Not all humans are like king of Lamek. We will go to the main land. There magic is tolerated"
Emerald hugged Maudyn tightly as she cried even more.
"I miss her. I miss my mother"
Maudyn let out a breathe, she missed the formal Queen too. It wasn't easy seeing the child she raised from infancy dead but she was just a servant...a nursemaid. Her feelings didn't matter.
"I miss Queen Deena too. I miss her too"
"Did I make the right decision? Commanding the rest of the dragon mistresses and their dragons to go into hiding like us, was it the right thing to do, Maudyn?" Emerald asked and pulled away from her.
Maudyn had no answer to her question, not for sure anyway... only time will tell.
"You did. Our numbers were dwindling and without intervention the shadowers would have killed us all"
Emerald knew Maudyn was just saying that to make her feel better but she nodded all the same.
"We should set up for the night"
They finally made camp in a secluded part of the village in Lamek. But even with her eyes closed, Emerald couldn't sleep. She kept tossing and tossing. She had no idea why she kept thinking of the human boy.
She stood up from the ground and took off in a run to clear her head. She needed her dragon.