TAKEN BY THE DRAGON KING

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Elena

The guards flew like they were made from putty, each hitting the hard stone walks with resounding thuds followed by the snapping of bones and pained yells, in the end, it had taken over fifteen guards to subdue Dracul enough to let us perform a higher grade ritual on him, even then he struggled madly against the luminescent chains keeping him bound and the guards had quite a problem keeping up.

‘Now my lady,” the captain yells at me. “We cannot hold on much longer.”

I glanced at Gulliver who gave a nod and together we proceeded with the spell.

“Zeruko.. kateak moisten dizugu zoramena lotzeko!” We chanted in unison.

The words flowed out of our mouths repetitively and despite the immense drain from my still depleted sources I could see the faint inklings of the spell coming to life around him, my consciousness wavered but I needed to keep going, at least for Dracul’s sake.

“Zeruko kateak otoizten dizugu zoramena lotzeko!” The words flowed faster and I leaned into Gulliver for support as Dracul thrashed more and more desperate trying to break off his holds.

“Zeruko-”

We had no more time to finish the words as with a beastly bellow, Dracul seemed to double in strength and size as he broke free of his bonds, the spell shattered like glass releasing with it a huge wave of energy that sent the guards tumbling, I crashed into Gulliver and we toppled to the ground together.

“Traitors!” Dracul howls. “Destroy you! Destroy you!”

The Captain of the guards rose to his feet trying to shield us and with a sickening twist his head was lopped off by Dracul’s raw strength, he didn’t stop not even as Gulliver fired a volley of spells from his fingers, it didn’t seem like he would not until he’d killed us both, my magic was gone, I tried reaching for the wave of power but I must have maxed out, this was it, I was going to die, I was going to-

“Unë, bir I rendit, lidh vatrat e kaosit!” Came a voice I hadn’t hoped to hear.

Dracul froze in his steps suddenly immobile, his eyes still blackened, and darted around expressing the furious rage that his body now could not, from behind him, a figure hobbled forth and my throat went dry as my dad stepped forward.

“Forgive me dear,” he said weakly. “I’m no mage like your mother, so building the prerequisites took a while.”

His hands trembled as did my lips and a single tear traced its way down my skin.

“Dad,” I call out disbelief evident in my voice “Dad?”

“Hello sugar plum,” he said in a hoarse tone. “I have missed you.”

I get off Gulliver and run past a still-frozen Dracul right into my father’s arms, sobbing heavily as I inhale the faint scent of home coming off of him, he holds me right and places a kiss on my head.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you about that?” Gulliver says amidst grunts to get up. “May have sprained my ankle a bit there.”

“You knew?” I ask. “You knew and didn’t tell me?”

I am happy to see my father but anger stews in me fed by a bit of the frustration of everything going on, I pull away from my dad’s grip and stalk towards Gulliver a bit menacingly, a tiny bit of fire appears at my palm, I wouldn’t hurt him at least not enough to main him.

“Elena,” he warns taking a step back. “Think of-”

His next words are lost to me as my feet buckle underneath me, I feel two sets of arms wrap around me and it’s all a bit of a blur as I’m overcome by a wave of tiredness, my muscles feel like jelly and right then I know I have overdone it, there’s no point fighting it, I let the darkness consume me.

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Right then I know I’m in a dream, but still, the breeze feels all too and the scent of flowers hits my nose, I’m in a field of flowers that seem to stretch out endlessly, it’s beautiful, too beautiful I let my fingers wade through each stalk, walking at first before letting myself break into a run and let my laughter loose, I feel the freedom cascade over me like a warm breeze and I just want to-

“Beautiful isn’t it?” A voice asks.

I spin on my heels to face the old man from before with a crooked smile across his face as he proceeds to smell the flowers.

“You,” I say in disbelief.

“Yes me,” he replies all too delightedly.

“Where is this?” I ask in confusion. “Where have you brought me?”

“Relax child,” he tells me. “You’re still too stressed, you’re in a pocket world, one of the last few uncorrupted by the Chaos’s continuous wake, a place where Order reigns free, you’re in paradise.”

“Am I dead?” I ask, my heart palpitating heavily against my chest. “Is that what happened?”

“Again child,” he says sighing. “Relax, do not upset the fragile balance of this world with your constant worry, you’re not dead, though with your current streak you may not survive, tame your magic child, at least for the little one growing in you, I have brought you here seeing you’re deeply unconscious because we need to talk.”

“Oh,” I say finally relaxing. “What do we need to talk about?”

“Time is running out child,” he tells me. “Even faster than I might have calculated, Chaos grows impatience, bad things always happen when Chaos grows impatience, as you have seen with your lover Dracul, you need to come for the elixir when you awake.”

“Gulliver says he will find a cure,” I tell him.

“Your Dracul is past that stage,” he replies waving the suggestion off. “Mandrake roots and essence of heaven, that’s what he has, Dracul’s has an infestation of a foreign presence, the only thing that can save you is the elixir and I sense someone on their way to me already.”

“Who?” I ask.

“You know who,” he tells me. “A thorn in your side, your current form, and as it would seem Chaos’s doorway into the world.”

“You must refuse her!” I say wildly.

He turns from me taking up a flower to sniff.

“Serving Order is a blessing and a curse,” he tells me. “You get to see things you shouldn’t and do things for the greater good, Occasionally I have been able to see what my future is to be and even now it doesn’t go beyond my meeting point with her, time waits for no man hurry child! Hurry!”

“Wait!” I call him.

But this reality is already fast fading turning into nothing of consequence, a blackness if you’d have it, I call out to him even more as the last pinprick of light fades off, his voice still chants a single word in my head and I know what to do.

****

I wake up with the ghost of the old man’s voice still lodged inside of my head, its request as plain as day.

“Hurry,” it says to me.

Gulliver and Father are immediately brought in and I see the worried creases on their faces quickly turn to relief.

“What time is it?” I ask them. “I need to*

“Try what day,” Gulliver says with sarcasm. “You’ve been asleep for two whole days, snoring like a damn donkey if I might add,” Dad elbows him slightly in the ribs and Gulliver gasps in realization.

“You’ve been snoring like a damn donkey milady,” he says with a curtsey.

This earns him a smile but more pressing matters fill my head.

“Where’s Dracul?” I ask. “Have you fixed him yet?”

Their facial expressions turn into one of utmost seriousness and Gulliver’s thick brows seem to come together.

“I’ve tried,” he says sighing. “Mandrakes and heavenly essence, to other less rational cures but he seems to get even worse with each remedy I try.”

The encounter with the old man comes back into my head and I’m a bit awed that he anticipated what cures Gulliver would use, I’m also quite worried because he was right and time was slipping by and fast, at any moment, The damned woman would be reaching him, there was no time to waste.

It’s surprisingly no struggle to stand and I get to me my feet pushing my way past both of me who looks alarmed that I’m even bothering to move.

“You need to get back in bed,” Gulliver says grabbing ahold of me. “Depleting your sources is not to be trifled with, not to mention you’re with a child.”

“Remember what you said to me when I was asking about Dracul’s illness,” I say not slowing down my pace as both men rush to keep up

His face contorts in slight annoyance almost as if he expects my next words.

“Listen,” I say almost too delightedly. *I’m only going to say this once.”