Aramith woke up feeling out of sorts. "What happened?" he asked groggily as he rubbed his head.
"You blacked out," a voice close by said. He saw Mozrael on her bed with Someone else lying beside her. He on the other hand was on the ground. "What happened?" He asked again. He remembered talking to Mozrael then Lia entered the room shouting something.
"Lia threw a book at you," Mozrael said rather shyly. "What's wrong with her? She's always doing the worst things you could ever expect. No wonder my head feels weird, where's she?" Mozrael looked at the bundle beside her on the bed then looked back at him. "She tried waking you up for some time, but gave up and fell asleep. She wouldn't let me go out to get someone to help you, or help get you on the bed either, so I had to leave you there"
"What happened to her whole plan about a story?" "When she went out earlier, she went to get a story, but when she came back, she got a different thought about what was going on and threw the book at you then fell asleep." Aramith sighed. "What in the world was she thinking this time? And now she's asleep." "I think this book she brought is for you." "What? She went into my room?" Aramith got up to look at the book in Mozrael's lap. It was a leather-bound book about three inches thick. Its front cover had an image of a beast's head, but the image was a bit blurred so it was hard to identify what creature it was. "Oh, that," "mm?" "It's a book about dragons, let me show you." He took the book and opened to a page depicting a dragon breathing flames in midair as it was being pursued by humans and other races.
"What's the meaning of this?" She asked him. "This is the great battle that happened years ago," he said as he flipped to the next page. It revealed five people; four men and a woman. A flag above them depicted an expensive, curved spear planted in the ground. "Who are they?" She asked him. He pointed at the flag. "This is the flag of the Spears. They were a group of the most powerful cultivators at the time and were called upon to deal with a certain beast that was destroying our lands. It killed many people and destroyed many armies, so the five great kingdoms came together and selected their five best fighters to go out to deal with this menace. They searched far and wide, sacrificing a lot, but finally, they found the hiding place of the dragon after a long battle, they were able to defeat it in a battle that lasted a very long time. They say it took months before they were able to finally able to defeat it. According to this book, the dragon had a core that was shattered into five parts. I think it was because of five people who fought it, but no one knew the reason why it divided into those exact pieces. They decided to destroy it because the dragon was at a very high level and could come back to life. When they tried to destroy it, they realized that with the sort of energy it possessed, it could wipe out an entire Kingdom if they did it near one and it could even distort the Youm in areas thousands of miles away from the explosion, so they decided on going back to where they defeated it, The Five Horns of Agaboz." "What is that place?" Mozrael asked him. She saw the drawing of an island, but couldn't know why it had that name. "What's Agaboz?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you earlier. The dragon was called Agaboz, and the island it was on was shaped like the head of a dragon from the side. If you look at the drawing carefully, you would see that there are five mountains spread out on the island. I read another book that said Agaboz had five horns on his head. It said the five mountains showed its five horns." "Does the island still exist?"
"No, I don't think so. Maybe it does, but people don't know where it is if it does exist. According to the rest of the story, a lot of things happened, and the core was destroyed along with the spears. But some say one survived and was cursed with immortality. This is one of my favorite stories. What do you think?" Mozrael passed her fingers across the page of the book. It was opened to an image of Agaboz being chased by five streaks of light; the five spears. Agaboz was a huge, but a majestic dragon, even though he looked scary in some way.
"I...I like it, but you didn't describe how the fight happened." "Oh I thought it was getting late, so I should wrap things up so you could get some sleep."
"Oh"
"But you can take the book and read it later if you like. I've read it many times anyways, so you can have it if you want." "Oh, I- thanks."
Aramith yawned and then got up. He looked around, then scratched his head. "Can I use your desk?" He asked her. She nodded, and he thanked her and then went to her desk and sat down. He took out a small book and started writing in it. When he looked back at the bed, he saw Mozrael reading the book. He focused on what he was writing and occupied himself. He felt a little sleepy, but he didn't want to. He wanted her to fall asleep first then he'd leave. If he chose to leave at that moment, she might feel bad that he was leaving and there was no way he would sleep here.
Well, that was what he thought before he ended up sleeping at the desk.
* * *
Henndar left the room carefully to not wake Kethra up as he did so. He walked out wearing his night robe. He went down to the garden, where he had someone waiting for him.
"One, I see you did what I asked?" He said to the leader of the deadlock. He approached Henndar and bowed.
"The one you tasked to follow your children reported nothing that threatened the children, but he saw Aramith interacting with someone suspicious. The man wore a cloak that covered his whole body and concealed his presence as well as his level. His face was identified and drawn," He presented a drawing to Henndar. ", but I think it was a mask, so it cannot be reliable. What worries me was the fact that what he spoke to Aramith couldn't be heard at all. It seems he also exchanged an item with Aramith. We could find out what it was at your command." Henndar thought for a while. "Leave the children for now. They are safe. But what of the incident at the auction house? I heard something happened, what was it?" "I believe one owner of an auction house mistook the children when they went out. He duped them and one worker stole Aramith's money card. They have been dealt with fine enough, Aramith did a wonderful job as befitting of the crown prince."
A cloaked member of the deadlock came forward and said something to One. "What is it?" Henndar asked. "It seems luck is on our side. The suspicious man who spoke to Aramith has been caught. Shall we go see him?"
"You can deal with him as you want. I want you to get as much information as you want from him," Henndar said and left them.
He went carefully and silently again into the bedroom, slipping quietly under the covers. He looked at Kethra's pretty face and smiled. "You're even more beautiful when you sleep, my love," he whispered to himself. He brushed off some strands of hair from her face and was about to kiss her forehead but she opened her eyes suddenly and pushed his face aside.
"You need to look around when you're doing anything, Henndar." He just stared at her. How did she wake up just when I was about to...? "Where did you run off to?" "Heh?" "Don't pretend you don't know what I mean. You just went out and came back some minutes after. Where did you go?"
"Oh, I just went out to get some fresh air."
"So you mean there wasn't fresh air in here?" She frowned.
Henndar reached to hug her, but she shifted aside and got off the bed. "Come," she commanded. He followed her. "Where are you going?" She didn't say anything and just went to the door and went outside. He followed her out.
"Take a good look outside," she told him.
"Is something wrong? I don't see anything odd out here, seems fine to me." She smiled a wicked smile.
"It's good that you find it okay. You're sleeping here until you convince me," "heh?" She entered shut the door before he could entirely process what she meant.
"This again."
"He got kicked out again?" "Yep, again"