Sweet Waters Throne

226 Chapter 22Visera was eagerly waiting for her granddaughter to get inside the burned out castle, she was dressed in a brown fur long frock and black slippers. Her hairs had turned silver, something which Aurora didn’t expect to see. In order for a rider’s hairs to turn silver, they must make their first kill while on a dragons’back. Just like what she and Artemis did by burning the criminals, and so who did Visera burn or kill? Perhaps that will be a question to ask later on.

There was a long hug between Aurora and Visera. They hadn’t seen each other ever since the last time Visera got on a dragon, ever since that, nothing. Lord Spider welcomed Aurora to his hall, it was small and had only four wooden chairs and a huge wooden table painted black. Then he excused himself and walked to his chambers to get dressed, when he came back, he was in black pants and a new silk shirt which was worn by children but he was a little man himself.

There was a mug full of whine on top of the table, a rather rare purple wine and when Aurora asked what was it made of, Visera told her it’s made from grapes.

The grapes were grinded, fermented and then filtered to produce this rare wine which was heavy on alcohol and could one drunk in just few glasses. No wonder Lord Spider looked drunk, it must have been the purple wine, Aurora thought.

Although Lord Spider was convincing, Aurora denied even a sip of the wine. “I need to be sober for this conversation” she told him.

Visera then intervened, “I leave the capital for a short time and I hear Artemis has burned Old City and people all over the realm are against the crown. What happened?” she asked while holding Aurora’s left cheek softly, her hands were warm to the touch.

Aurora exhaled softly, then she locked eyes with her grandmother. “Artodo died, Babushka” she said.

Now this shocked both Lord Spider and Visera. Visera’s eyes widened with amazement, her jaw dropped. She knew one day the dragons will die but she didn’t expect it to be so soon.

“He died? How?” she asked still unaware if what she was hearing was authentic or what.

“When Artemis took him to Old City. Apparently Lord Balrus knew Aryan’s men had taken the city back and raised lion sigils, yet he didn’t warn Artemis about it. When Artemis when there, he was ambushed by men throwing spears at him and his dragon. They had scorpions... huge scorpions Babushka”

.....

“Good gods” Visera sighed softly. “Where is he now, Lord Balrus?” she asked angrily.

“We banished him from the capital” replied Aurora.

Then Lord Spider intervened, “He should be dead now for what he did. He led the King to his death, and I think we all know why” he said.

“He wants Aprophil on the throne” said Visera looking at Lord Spider.

There was a sudden moment of silence then, Lord Balrus was like family to Aurora and Visera. His betrayal hurt like a knife pierced in their hearts, especially to Aurora who treated him like her father.

Then in that silence, Aurora proposed what she came for in Dark Town.

“I need to speak with Euric Morrow, the last Dragon” said Aurora, then she paused and waited to hear from her grandmother and what she will say.

“Talk to him?” Visera seemed to be shocked. “How?”

“I figured you’d know how”

“Well, I...” Visera stuttered to continue with her sentence. “I know a way but it requires an enormous amount of power and you don’t have them”

“How would you know that?” Aurora resisted.

“Aurora, you are a seer but you have not advanced in your magic. This what we are talking about is the power to summon the dead, it’s dark magic” warned Visera, her eyes fixed on Aurora and trying to show her how dangerous it will be if she chooses to summon the dead.

“I thought we were Dark Crawlers...”

“Not all House Morrow descendants are Dark Crawlers, I told you that once”

“But I am one, and I am the promised seer who is supposed to bring the age of dragons back. How can I save my dragons if I don’t know what killed my male dragon?”

Then this time Lord Spider who was so silent in all this saga, decided to speak. “I thought you said spears killed Artodo” he said to Aurora.

“Yes, but I think there’s something more. It can’t just be a spear, and Artemis told me what Princess Thelma said when he visited them in the dungeons. She said Lord Leoric wanted to desperately cross the Freezing Sea so he can kill our dragons, what could he really want? I doubt it’s a spear...”

The mentioning of the word “Freezing Sea” and Lord Leoric and killing of dragons started to add up something and Visera looked at Aurora. “There are Dragon Hunters across the Freezing Sea. When Euric took his final breath, he had already killed almost all of them. Few did survive but they escaped Maldonia and chose the coldest path, it’s an old tale...”

“It’s a true tale Babushka. And I don’t think these Dragon Hunters had only spears. Artodo’s skin was hard like a rock, he would have survived a spear through his eye and wandered the rest of his days with one eye. But he didn’t survive, one blow and he was dead. They used something, I know they did and I must know what this thing is if I am to protect my dragons”

“Her Grace is right” added Lord Spider. “Leoric offered Ambrose his most valuable creatures, the Killers and I am positive he knew he would get something valuable from it. If these so called Dragon Hunters exist, then they will have all the answers” he said.

Now it was left only for Visera to agree with them, she sat in silence with a lot of thoughts roaming inside her brain. The first one being the sudden death of Artodo which she didn’t expect at all, and now the so called Dragon Hunters who she didn’t expect they even existed.

When Visera was a young girl, her father taught her all she knew about House Morrow. From their language Low Moor which she learned when she was seven, to their culture, way of life and to their dragons even though during that time they didn’t exist. Although her father would speak about these dragons with pride in his voice and utter respect for these creatures, he also spoke of Dragon Hunters who he hated with all his heart.

Visera’s father would say, “If it weren’t for the Dragon Hunters, you and I would have dragons right now. We would be flying high above everyone else, do you know what it’s like to fly a dragon Visera?” and the young Visera would shy away and chuckle.

That’s all she knew about these Dragon Hunters, apart from that, nothing. Not what they used to kill the dragons or how they looked like. Now Aurora was interested in knowing more about them, she wanted to summon Euric Morrow himself and ask him questions. Should she allow her granddaughter to practice such acts?

“I met your half sister” said Visera changing the subject. “Her name is Yara, your mother had another child with a Dohan man who abandoned her. I told her all about you, and your dragons and your silver hairs. She was so taken by you and excited to see you, she was even ready to hop on my dragon’s back and let me fly with her”

The pain inside Aurora’s heart was suddenly vivid for everyone to see. Her mother left her when she was ten, she has vague memories of her and many of those memories weren’t good. She wasn’t so kind to her and all she did was keep her away from Visera, the obsession of keeping Aurora from finding out her true powers consumed her to the point she left Blackmount and disappeared to the unknown.

When Huyan left, Aurora’s father who at that time had a good position in the king’s place started to drink. And he never stopped, the drinking consumed him and he abandoned his daughter and all he ever cared for. Sir Maxim Kholin took over and raised Aurora, his niece and since then all that was history.

So hearing that her mother had another daughter and she was actually living with her, pained Aurora to the guts. She left her but she was living with this one, why? Wasn’t she good enough for her mother’s love just because she had magic powers?

The only reply Aurora managed was, “Oh! I see...” and then she hid her pain. “Let’s go back to you what brought me here. I need to speak to him” she insisted.

“Aurora, it’s not safe. You could die attempting to do such a spell”

“A mother must sacrifice herself for the good of her children, and I must do the same”

Lord Spider suggested, “Or you could fly and cross the Freezing Sea. That way you’ll learn it for yourself” he said.

“My dragon will die the moment I land. I’m not flying there, I need to know right now”