My dear Brad, there's no evil in our world. Neither is there any powerless being. I give you this book I title the "Book of Chargain", because I want you to charge into your future with the mind that you are more, and can be much more. You, my dear son, are after all, my child.
You too, are also the child of a dragon rider. So do not fear those men that cast stones at you calling you evil, and at the same time, chuckling at your powerlessness. They should instead fear you.
-Page 2, The Book of Chargain by witch-spy Lanasis to his son, Brad the hateful.
The ensuing days that followed saw Vinnandra buried deep in the Book of Chargain. She digested the whole thing in less than two days. And at the end of it, she was left feeling more frustrated than enlightened.
This book was in fact, a series of letters from the first known witch-spy, Lanasis, to his son, Brad the hateful. They didn't attempt to teach Brad anything about how to reach into his blood and tap into his power. Instead, it was more descriptive and narrative, telling stories about the powers of witches and how much a beautiful place the Vale was.
A fact that Vinn couldn't imagine.
Vinn had honestly thought that Lanasis would have said something about how the hateful too, could be powerful… about how she too, could be powerful. But no, all she got was an intimate last will from a man awaiting execution to his ostracised son.
Asides from her disappointment and frustration at her zero progress to making something of herself, her life as a maid was honestly better than she would have thought of it.
Her so called maid position entailed lounging in her too good of a room all day, and doing nothing but reading books. It would seem that Xander had no need for any maid for the matter. And while she was still not clear as to what he meant by saying that he wanted her for an ally, Vinn was getting a pretty good idea of what might be happening.
It all started when she finished the book of chargain. Xander had entered her room which was just opposite hers and had asked if she had received any 'enlightenment' from reading it. Vinn's negative answer hardly fazed him, because thirty minutes later, he was back with piles of books for her to read which she wouldn't have minded much if they were not all about spell casting, sorcery, and witchdom.
Vinn loved reading, but if those books written in ancient languages were what witches went through, she never wanted to become one.
It was obvious Xander wanted her to become a sorcerer of some sort, except her witch blood, as expected of it, was not cooperating at all. Vinn was tired of guessing his intentions, and Xander's tenacity was next to none.
But after two weeks of making no headway, Xander promised to show her his problem. The reason why he desperately needed a nobody like her to be his ally.
Trying hard to subdue the looming truth that she might be, indeed, an overwhelming failure, Vinn mustered much excitement for the D-day. More like the N-night.
They, she and Xander, were carrying fire torches sneaking around the castle through an abandoned tunnel Xander claimed only he knew about. For the most part, Vinn was now immune to his deadly charm and overall finesse. But when she laid on her bed at night, she couldn't help but think about why a man like Xander felt the need to be engaged to a woman that repulsed him so much.
Such reasons could not be a good one.
Xander, as if reading her mind, said, "Selene and I are in an arranged marriage."
"Wh… what…?" She stuttered, caught off guard by the sudden revelation. "It's your business not mine. No need to tell me about it." She adds more eloquently after collecting herself.
"The last encounter must have surprised you. I didn't mean to bring up memories of your family. But Selene and I are not like that… she is someone I need."
Need, not want.
I'm not like your family, Vinnandra. His words came to her again like a drug. Why would he need her? Xander was the Lenklock heir; handsome and smart as well. She knew the last part because the castle servants would not stop gossiping about how he always came in first place at the Dragon and Riders Academy.
So why would he need her? A lot of mysteries, a lot of unanswered questions… and none of them should be her business in the first place.
"What my family did to me is my cross to carry, I shouldn't impose the consequences on anyone." She said, feeling constricted all of a sudden in the tunnel. But then, Xander's voice hardened against the biting cold.
"No matter what you think your family did to you, it's now up to you to make something out of yourself, or, you know, you can just let fate slap you as hard as it wants." Vinn stopped abruptly, angered by his words.
"You think I want to be here… like this?" She spat out, glaring at him.
"Most times, what we want hardly matters." Is his cryptic response. Suddenly feeling like picking a fight with him, she barreled on.
"Quit telling me to not be comfortable with my slave status when you too are in a situation so bad you can't even talk about it, talk less of do anything about it." She spat out, but Xander barely reacted, his ice mask perfectly on as he walked ahead not bothering to see if she was still following.
Vinn hurried to catch up with him, not even done giving him a piece of her mind yet.
"The fire in my eyes?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm, "well guess what, all I see in your eyes is frost. A little nudge and it will all melt. I can hardly call it ambition.…" Her last words trailed off as huge yellow eyes came into her vision, staring at her.
So focused was she in her childish tantrum, that she wasn't aware they had exited the tunnels and were now out in open space where the half moon hung like a sour thing, dimly lightening up the darkness.
Right before Vinn was a dragon, almost as large as Sallyn, Lord Lenklock's dragon. Its scales gleamed a dark red, although Vinn wasn't so sure as it was still dark. And it laid on the ground, curled into itself, barely raising its head to acknowledge them.
Its yellow eyes were on them—while they spoke of a strength so deep, and a maturity so high, something about the dragon's gait seemed weak.
And something in Vinn fell in love with the creature instantly. Perhaps it was the lazy, yet powerful manner it raised its head and half-unfurled its wings, or perhaps it was the way that the creature only looked at Xander, with such pure love and admiration in its eyes that almost made Vinn feel jealous.
There was just something about it, something she couldn't put her hands on.
"Meet Astrid, my dragon bonded." Xander announced, sounding so proud as he should.
Vinn was aware that Xander was only bonded to Astrid . Ever since Vinn arrived at Lenklock, she'd only ever seen Xander riding the red dragon. While it wasn't advisable to approach an unbonded dragon, a bonded one was out of the question so Vinn had done well to never approach her.
The people at the castle gossiped that Astrid was a descendant of Melbourne line, one of the three dragonkind of origin beside the Dundare line. As such, she was surely set to becoming a legendary dragon. But Vinn had a feeling that assertion was very right now she was finally seeing Astrid closeup for the first time.
"She is beautiful." Her voice was filled with awe. Astrid was truly beautiful, and in a way one couldn't put to words.
Xander was such an accomplished dragon rider that Vinn felt truly jealous of him. Bonding with such a dragon was no small feat.
"Yes, she is." Xander agreed, a lithe to his voice. "Astrid is dying."
Vinn, shocked by the revelation, turned to Xander, her eyes wide like saucers. Xander too, faced her squarely and the adds, "and I think you're the only one who can save her."