“Well, let’s get on with it,” interrupting King Uragiru. “These are your companions: Flavius volunteered to come, the Siren I raised as a second daughter Marina, my two fast-fighting men Wonomi and Monico, and my strong-fighting machine Galvin. The Griffin is one of the best flying scouts: Flarefur. They are your soldiers now.”
“Then I am honored to have them,” said Vaeludar, smirking. He saw Flavius walking beside Marina. “I’m surprise you two are coming, Flavius and Marina. I’ve never expected a Siren and a second son of Geraldus would be joining me on this big rash mission. I really should be honored by this group.”
“I wanted to go see what lies beyond the borders instead of doing the same thing here every day,” said Flavius. “I’m bored and I want to see something new and do something dangerous instead of feeding the horses in the stable and watching over the twin boys getting into trouble all the time.”
“I feel alive and very livid when I’m ever with you,” said Marina.
Vaeludar nodded. “Now the question is: how do we get to the northern mountain border? I can’t transport everyone there at once.”
“The Dragons will guide you towards the edges of the mountain-ranges that border the mountain border,” answered the Dragon King, flying down with seven of his bodyguards. “We will take you to the borders of the island.
“From thereon, you will be on your own. Take some advice: if you see any people or any creatures, don’t trust them unless they mention the names of Ralenskrit and Belverda. I don’t know what lies beyond those mountains.”
“Don’t worry,” said Vaeludar. “With my powers and armored skin, we will be back before you know it.”
“Good then, let us take you to the far mountains. But first we will take you to the King’s Castle to get some supplies you won’t be able to find here. Your journey to this Lost Castle may take weeks or months, so you don’t want to end up starving in the wilderness.”
Three of his bodyguards laid their bellies on the ground.
“When you’re ready to leave,” said the Dragon King, “get on their backs.”
Vaeludar suddenly flew into the air and saw to it to fly himself there instead of riding on a full grown dragon’s back. “I couldn’t be more ready than I am now,” he said.
Flavius, with Wonomi and Monico, got one Dragon, Galvin got his own Dragon, and Marina on another. The Griffin, Flarefur, having wings of his own didn’t need a Dragon and went into his own flight.
“Before we depart for the capital city, is everyone ready to go and have everything they need?” asked the Dragon King.
Everyone nodded their heads.
“That is easy enough, but if you forget anything, we Dragons are not going to be making any second stops back to this village or stopping at any other village. It’s going to be a few-hour ride to the city. After we make that stop, it is off to the mountain border, and you people are on your own from there.”
“Now you’re sounding like a father reminding his son or daughter before departing on a vacation trip,” said Vaeludar.
“That’s a big problem with lots of humans: they travel without remembering to take what is needed on a long trip,” said the Dragon King. “Since everyone is saying no and there is nothing to get here, we must be off before the sun sets; traveling in the dark will be most troubling. Dragons: let’s fly out and meet at the capital city of Shimabellia.”
The Dragon King went into flight, as well as his bodyguards. The Dragons all went flying toward the northeast, toward a high towering castle that would be conserved a few week’s journey.
UNEXPECTED EVENTS
T
he Dragon King and his guards were nearing a nine leveled, squared-wall temple-looking castle. It was long as a hundred miles wide. It consisted of nine walls, spiraling from a south entrance towards a high point where the real castle was. Each level went thinner on the next level. It was a wide, long pyramidal castle built over dozens of miles of landscape. On the top, there was a regular looking castle built atop the square, pyramidal castle: a castle over a castle. And it was the capital city of Shimabellia.
As they descended, Vaeludar floated above the levels he saw many marketplaces, blacksmiths, and tradesmen on every section of each squared wall. On the lower levels, there was surprisingly farmland.
Basically, the capital city had the supplies needed to survive for years, if it was ever invaded by an army. At the looks of the capital city, it would take more than a hundred thousand men just to get to the third level, which had tens of thousands of soldiers.
The Dragon King and his bodyguards landed on the fourth level where there was a long platform with other Dragons. The Griffin landed on another where Griffins were coming and going. There were a handful of human soldiers on each platform meant for each flying creature of the sky.
Vaeludar followed closely behind the Dragons and landed where there was room. To his astonishment, there were large flat platforms for any flyer to land on instead of landing at the front doors of the city.
“Welcome to the island’s capital city, Vaeludar,” said Marina. The Siren rushed up to Vaeludar. “This is the place where I had lived for the past five years. It is also the place the king’s little princess roams around, finding different clothing to match her personality. I find her really annoying when she’s out here all the time.”
“Well, the look on her face when I pointed the sword at her gave her something to think about,” replied Vaeludar. “She’ll end up changing her personality within some days.”
He was even more surprised to see some Dragons, Griffins, and Pegasi coming and going every few seconds. There was a new
