Chapter 11-3: The Market

        Caden left Sir Eric's homestead. He was upset. He was going to head home to the bakery, but didn't want to anymore. So he wandered through the market. He didn't know where he wanted to go. Everyone was trying to go back to business as normal. But the town was still scarred from the Queen's attack. Many buildings hadn't been repaired at all. Hollow ruins, devoid of life. Others still had people working to rebuild. The sound of hammers and saws echoed behind the murmer of merchants selling and people buying.

        Caden saw Haron's stall was open. He remembered how he used to go there every day to see if Keilee was working. But he knew that she wouldn't be there, she was gone. Alone in some far off land and he couldn't do anything to bring her back. He crossed the street to avoid it. He walked over one of the bridges spanning the hallows in the ground. Fish swam underneath.

        "Caden!" Mika called. "Caden over here."

        Caden looked. Mika was waving from Haron's stall. He sighed and turned back. He walked over to her. "Morning, Mika," he said.

        Mika smiled. "Did you meet the Dragon Knights? Did you see my brother? Is he going to rescue Keilee?"

        Caden forced a smile. "Of course I found them. I didn't see Damion, but I talked with his general. I'm sure once he hears of what happened here, he'll be the first to sign up to rescue her."

        "Dad says that we shouldn't expect her to come back. He even made a grave shrine for her on our land."

        "Do you believe she's okay?"

        "I know she is."

        "So do I."

        "Things haven't been the same since that day." Mika dropped her head and looked at the dirt road.

        "What do you mean?"

        "Dad, he's been drinking more then uncle Eric lately," she said. "And he gets really angry a lot." Mika started crying.

        Caden looked at her. He noticed an old bruise under her sleeve. It was green and purple. "Hey, it'll be okay," He said. He lifted her chin. Her eyes were red. "Once Keilee returns, everything will be back to normal."

        Mika hugged Caden. He stood there, and she held him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

        "Everything will be okay," he said. "I'll bring Keilee back... I promise."

        Caden left Mika to her work. His mind focused on his promise, and trying to find a way to help poor Mika. He was so tied with his thoughts, he didn't hear someone calling his name. he stopped when he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. He turned around and saw a little boy holding onto him. He smiled, it was one of the children he saved. He looked around, and a couple of the other kids were there too, but stood back.

        "Caden," he said. "I heard you was eaten by the dwagon."

        Caden knelt down. "No, why would you think that?"

        "You was gone so long, and when you came back, you was hurt bad."

        "Well, it wasn't a dragon," Caden said. "And you don't need to worry about me. When I see dragons, I slay them and skin their hides for my clothes."

        "You saw a dwagon!" he said.

        "Yeah--" Caden scratched his head "--and it was fierce. It wasn't as big as the Queen, but still huge. It had fangs as long as my hand." Caden held up his hand in front of the boy, it covered his face. "That's bigger then your head!"

        "Wow!" The other children gathered around Caden. "Wasn't you scared?"

        "No way. I wasn't afraid in front of the Dragon Queen, and this was just a pup. Plus I had that sacred sword from the temple."

        "The green and black one?"

        "Yeah, you remember it. That sword is magical, and I was able to take down that dragon with just one hit."

        "What else have you done?" a little girl asked.

        "Well, I faced a witch down, stood in testimony before the goddess, defeated some bandits..."

        "You're so strong," said the little girl.

        "I'll say." Caden turned around. The barkeep from the tavern was standing behind him. Caden didn't even notice he was sitting in front of it. After it was rebuilt it looked completely different. The place he used to climb to the roof was gone, and it looked bigger. The courtyard wall was rebuilt with an arch over the hallow the Queen left. "Come inside. Why don't you tell us about your travels."

        "I thought I was too young."

        "My boy--" he put a hand on Caden's back, "--if you can travel across the province, track down the Knight's camp, and survive a sword fight, then you're old enough to come inside."

        Caden smiled. He waved to the children as he walked into the tavern for the first time.

Chapter 1: The fires of the past

       Caden loved to listen to Eric's stories. It's possible he was the only one in town. Caden only lived for 15 harvests, and was not allowed in the tavern. Instead, he sat on the roof by the chimney, and listened to the stories drift up with the heat and smoke. Caden knew Sir Eric's warnings against the Dragon Knights, but he didn't care.

     To him, the Dragon Knights were adventure, travel to the foreign lands. Protecting border towns from the pirates of the Starcia Desert, and defending the elves in the east from the troll armies. Most importantly, Caden wanted to fulfill the sacred duty of the Five Great Sages.

      Five millenia ago, the Five sacrificed their lives to seal away the Dragon Queen. Their sacrifice was the birth of their great kingdom, and the Dragon Knights served to ensure the dragons would never return.

     That night, as Caden watched Eric stumble home, he saw the forest near Eric's homestead glowing orange-red from a great fire. He climbed off the roof and followed Sir Eric.

     Sir Eric, not nearly drunk as he wanted to be, traveled home, so he could continue his drinking alone. He saw the fire in the forest. The river would protect his land, yet the red glow of the moon was an omen he couldn't ignore.

     He altered his course to take him to his dock and small boat. He didn't see Caden watching him paddle across the river to investigate the blaze.

***

In the Pyoksan Mountains, the people are wealthy. They had the richest mines of gold and iron in the Kingdom, and would never leave their homes. The Dragon Knights patrolled the passes and valleys of the mountains, to protect the locals from the Starcia Pirates.

    Sir Eric marched for days in those mountains, with no warning of when an attack might come. The pirates flew in on their mechanical dragons, and dropped firebombs from the sky. The fire was horrible, hot enough to melt your armor into your skin. Sir Eric was cursed to hear the screams, smell the burning flesh, forever at his side. In the flames of the forest, he saw his friends being consumed.

     Yet it is not the flames that woke him up in the night. It was the prisoners the Dragon Knights captured. They were the ones who haunted his dreams. They were the ones that Sir Eric tried to drown in an endless tide of ale and shine.

***

     Caden watched the river for Eric's return. When he came back from the other side, he had someone else in his boat. The stranger's body and clothes were burnt, and Sir Eric carried him with care. Caden moved in closer, trying to see who the stranger was. 

     Eric carried him to his homestead, and went inside. Caden watched Eric house. Shadows moved past windows, but Eric never lit a light. Caden sat in the bushes and shivered. The full moon lit up the clearing around the house. Caden couldn't get any closer and was cold.

       Caden returned to town and entered the bakery. He did his chores, cleaned the kitchen, and went to sleep next to the cooling ovens.

Prologue

       Sir Eric was a retired Dragon Knight. His face and arms had many scars from his time with the Dragon Knights. His dark brown hair was ragged and his face unshaven. He returned to Erdon after being injured serving the king. He spent his nights drinking alone in his Homestead, a small under developed plot of land in the forests outside of town. When he came into town, he would visit the tavern and drink.

       That night, he was sitting with his older brother, Harron. When they were younger, many people said they looked like twins. Now no one would make that mistake. Harron shaved every morning, and didn't have any scars.

       The day Sir Eric turned seventeen, their lives where completely different. Harron stayed home and took over the family ranch. Sir Eric ran off to join the Dragon Knights. When Eric returned, he looked old and tired. At 50, Harron still looked young and strong.

       Eric was telling his brother a story about his time with the Dragon Knights.

       "A wind swept across the valley. By the time we got there, everything was gone. Can you still save it, when there is nothing left to save? Do the trees return to salted soil; can fish swim in streams turned red?

     "Elves restore life to the forests. Fairies make wild flowers grow as they fly past. The Goddess in heaven weeps at such devastation. Hell cries out its triumph, as rocks split under the heat.

     "In the middle of the fire and smoke, a village still burned. Just as we thought nothing survived, we saw children amidst the ash. Kids, still alive, against destruction so complete. Life lives amongst death.

       "Our horses still refused to enter the valley, despite their rigorous training. So clear now, that they knew something that we did not. We thought the stench of those consumed by the flame was what kept the horses at bay.

       "My men and I rushed down the valley slope. Only burning coals marked our path. Our boots kicked up sparks and embers as we passed. We were being hasty. "How could they have lived?" asked my men. Until it was too late, we thought we were safe.

      "Valiant as my men were, we were unprepared for the danger that waited in the ash. When it rose and emerged from the smoke, we were caught unaware. 'Xactly what it was, I cannot say. Years in the field, I saw nothing like it, eyes burning like the fires of hell. Zachery was the first to fall, the rest soon followed; I was the only one to escape the valley alive."

     Sir Eric drained his mug. His brow glowed in the light of the grand fire place.

     "Sounds like a dragon to me," Harron said. "Isn't that what you were trained to fight."

     "This was no dragon."

     "Still doesn't concern us." Harron stood, and left his coin on the table. "Nothing like that will ever reach our village."

     "Mark my words," Eric said, "if you let your boy join the Dragon Knights, he will suffer this fate, or one far worse."

     "Blasphemy. It is an honor to serve the Knights, and carry on the work of the Five Great Sages." Harron left the tavern.

      Sir Eric looked for another to tell his warnings to, and buy him another drink. No one else wanted to hear his tales. No one would listen to his heresy. Eric stood and stumbled out the door.