Checkmate

I woke up abruptly when I felt something wet and cold on my face.

"Princess. Princess!" a deep voice from above me repeated over and over again. I opened my eyes but my vision was blurry. I wiped my eyes. Oh. It was water that was being poured on my face. I looked up and saw Zane holding a cup of water in his hand.

"I come in here to get my Mloff and find you lying on the ground," he muttered. "I doubted you were just taking a nap, and then I was right. My Mloff was spilled all over the ground next to your head."

I sat up. "Mloff?"

He shook the now empty bottle. "Helps to calm me. I get a lot of stress trying to work with Leo. He sleeps and fights with Elliot. That's basically all he really does. And then I get stuck doing everything else."

"Why don't you and Leo get along with Aaron and Elliot?" Was there some kind of dragons-and-vampires-will-always-be-enemies sort of thing?

"Now that's a long story." He sighed. "I have to go back to Cloun Kingdom to get a refill of Mloff. So I don't have time to tell you stories."

I stood up, using the chair for support in the process. "Well, I'll go with you and then you could tell me on our way there and back." I half smiled.

"Well, I guess I have no choice, you are princess. Your request is now an order. God that's going to get annoying."

We left the room. I was surprised when we weren't heading downstairs to the front doors of the castle. Instead we went up more stairs.

"Where...is Cloun Kingdom anyway?" I asked while hiking up more and more stairs that twisted around. I suspected we were heading up the tower.

"A bit far east of Flutura."

"Oh. I didn't know that the, err, creator made another area of Flutura."

"The creator didn't create Cloun Kingdom. They created the design of Flutura, and we, Fluturians, made Cloun Kingdom. It's full of Cloud Shapers and Werns. There wasn't enough room for all of them here."

"I've never heard of Cloud Shapers or Werns."

"Just as the human world evolves so does Flutura."

I thought about that and then we got to the top of the tower.

"Now what?" I asked. Zane didn't answer though. He just leaned out the window, stuck his fingers in his mouth, and whistled very loudly; I had to plug my ears. I was about to yell at him and ask what the hell he was doing when I heard a strange noise. It was the same whistle sound that came from Zane but Zane didn't have his fingers in his mouth anymore, so it wasn't coming from him. And it was lower pitched. With my hands still over my ears, I walked over to Zane and looked out the open window with him. Something was flying in the direction of us.

As it got closer I recognized the shape.

"Is that a...?"

"Yup."

A dark purple dragon flew right next to the window and stopped right there, hovering next to where Zane and I leaned out. It's wide black eyes stared at me. Glared, is more what it looked like actually.

"Don't worry, she's a friend," Zane murmured to the dragon, touching his hand to it's face. And then he pulled his hand back and jumped out the window onto the dragon's back. Holy! How did he jump that far? He landed right on it's back! He didn't loose his balance for one second.

He held onto the black chain that was around the dragon's neck with one hand and held the other one out for me. "Do you trust me?"

"Trust," I scoffed. How was I to trust a vampire who thirsted for my blond and a dragon that looked like it just wanted to bite my head off? But I hesitated and said slowly, "Okay..." I reached out to grab his hand but he dropped it. And, so fast I wasn't sure what just happened, he grabbed the tops of my arms and pulled me out of the castle tower. I crashed into him, landing on his chest. "Ow," I groaned. Though Zane wasn't wearing any armor, he was still very hard. Probably because he was so muscular.

"You can get off of me now," he said impatiently. He pulled me off of him and sat me right behind him on the dragon's back. "Hold on tight."

I quickly wrapped my arms around him, pressing me tightly against his body. I've only rode on a dragon once, and I fell off. I didn't want a repeat of that again. This dragon wouldn't save me.

"Not that tight!" he gasped. "You're crushing my lungs!"

"Oh, sorry." I loosened my arms the tiniest bit.

He sighed and shook his head. I imagined him rolling his eyes. "To Cloun Kingdom, Candy."

"Huh? Candy?"

"It's my dragon's name."

The dragon, err, I mean Candy flew off with no hesitation. "She doesn't mind you riding her? Elliot says he hates giving people free piggy back rides."

"Well Elliot isn't a real dragon now is he?"

"What does that suppose to mean?"

"Candy isn't a person, she's just a dragon. And she doesn't mind taking me where I need to go. But she does mind taking other people besides me."

"Oh. Well, Candy, I'm sorry you have to carry me also." I moved my head to look past Zane to see Candy. She nodded but her glare did not ease up. I noticed then that it was very bright outside. And the wind was icy cold. I shivered and leaned into Zane's back, pressing my face to the back of his warm neck. He flinched a little but relaxed. He didn't protest or say anything.

I yawned.

"I'm a vampire so the Mloff isn't powerful enough to knock me out cold like it did to you," he answered as if I asked him a question. "It also drains some of your energy, so that's why you're still very tired after waking up."

"I see," I said between yawned again. "What time is it?"

"Very early in the morning, I'll tell you that."

"How is that possible? A couple hours ago it was bright out."

"The sunsets in Flutura are very bright. I'm not surprised you still thought it was daytime then."

We rode in silence the rest of the way to Cloun Kingdom. I could tell when we were there when I saw the huge castle. Not as tall and wide as Flutura, but still pretty big. More wider than tall. And it was white. Pure white. Like pearls.

“May I present, Cloun Kingdom.” Zane steered Candy to the ground. “Milady,” he said as he helped me off the dragon.

“Thank you,” I told him then looked up in awe. “It’s amazing.”

“Not as amazing as Flutura.” He nudged me with his elbow. “How long did you say it took you to create?”

I answered right away. “About a week.” Then I froze because I didn’t say anything about how long it took me to create Flutura before. And he wasn’t supposed to know that I was the creator. To my surprise, when I looked up at him he was smiling.

“Did you really think I didn’t know?”

I blushed. “I…uh…look, I really—“

He silenced me by putting his figures over my mouth. “I’m not going to tell anyone. Just our little secret, okay?” I don’t know why, but right when he said our little secret my stomach did a little flip. I knew I could trust him.

When he let go I said awkwardly, “Well, Aaron and Elliot know too.”

“Of course they do. Now let’s go. I don’t have that long of a break.” He started to walk away, not looking back. I guess he just assumed that I would follow. Which I did.

As we walked I asked, “So, what is it with you and Leo never getting along with Aaron and Elliot?”

He shrugged. “Just because.” He was then distracted by a couple of people that greeted him. He walked over to a small shop, looked in the window, and walked inside. Of course I still followed. He picked up one of the swords and examined it.

I cleared my throat loudly until he looked at me. “You didn’t exactly answer my question,” I reminded him. “And how long have you been here? A long time? Was Leo here longer than you?” I had so many questions. Just goes to show how little I knew about my own creation.

“You know,” he snapped at my loudly, “I didn’t exactly agree to telling you every nook and cranny of my life. Why are you still following me? Go! Scat! Get lost!” His face was red when he finished talking. I just stood there in silence.

“I-I didn’t know I was being a burden,” I whispered. I felt a small tear slide down my cheek. I wasn’t used to being yelled at. Especially not when I had just a couple questions. “Sorry. I’ll leave you alone.” I turned and wiped the salt water off my cheek. I walked away looking left to right for some one that might be able to give me a ride back. Maybe I could just walk…It wasn’t that long of a way back to the castle.

“Wait!” he choked back. “I…I didn’t mean it! I’m so sorry! I just…lost my temper. Please,” he begged. He caught up with me and grabbed my hand.

I looked at his hand touching mine and then I stared at his torn expression on his face.

“I shouldn’t have been so rude, your highness,” he apologized. “Come with me. I just have to pick up a few extra things and I’ll answer any questions you have.”

“Even the personal ones?” I asked.

His face twisted into an adorable uneven smile. “Do you really want to know me personally?”

I laughed lightly, wiping away the last tear. “No, not really.”

As he guided me away back to the small shop he said, “Everyone has to have a little privacy left in their life, right? Now, what was your first question? Ah, yes. I remember. You see, there’s just some problem with dragons and vampires. I don’t think they ever get along.”

“But why?” I pressed. “I mean, there has to be some reason.”

“There is. I think. Long, long ago in ancient times, a war began between the two. I don’t remember how it started. I was born a century after. Nobody remembered anymore.” Still holding my hand, he paid a man with a few gold coins in exchange for the exotic designed sword and a jar filled with Mloff. “Next question.” He turned back to me and smiled.

“I want to know what you were doing here. What I mean is, I didn’t finish the drawing until—was it only two days ago?”

“Yes, that is a question I can’t answer exactly correctly. When you created us, we ended up here yes, and our past was already made. Understand? Kind of confusing, I know.”

“My head might explode. Here I am, the creator of Flutura itself, and I barely know a single thing.” I sighed.

With his free hand he touched my face softly. “Hey, it’s all right. Everything will—“

“Zane!” a different female voice called out. He turned to see a girl with long black hair and light brown skin running towards us.

“Monica!” he rejoiced. He dropped his hand immediately and embraced her. She angled her face so he could kiss her on the lips thoroughly. I felt my face get red hot with embarrassment. To think that I felt such a strong attraction to him. I looked down at the ground.

When her mouth was free she turned to me and said, “Oh. Who’s your friend?”

I looked up at her and tried to smile politely but it came out grim.

“Uh, she’s not really a—“

I interrupted Zane. “I’m a very good friend of his actually. I’m also your princess.” I held my head high and tried to make myself seem taller.

“Oh your highness!” She bowed to me. Usually the bowing thing would have bothered me, but not today. Not with Monica the one doing the bowing. I felt a sudden wave of smugness.

“Zane, I would like to go back to the castle,” I said to him in a strong voice.

“Just a little while longer actually, I wanted to—“

“Now.” Before I seemed too rude I quickly added, “Please.”

He looked at Monica and then back at me. “Very well. I’ll see you at the ball tonight.” He took her hand and kissed it. Then thinking that I couldn’t hear he whispered, “I love you” and she giggled.

As we were walking away, but still in sight of Monica, I grabbed Zane’s hand like he had earlier when we were alone. But I could tell that I made him uncomfortable because he switched the sword he was holding along with the Mloff to the hand I was holding, pretending that he need both to carry his things.

We were silent the whole way back. This time I didn’t put my hands around his waist. I only grabbed onto the bag strap that was swung around his body. I felt horrible too. What had gotten over me? So what if he already had a lover? She was here first and she was beautiful. Why shouldn’t she deserve him? I sighed and he helped me off Candy.

He didn’t say anything but a mumbled, “See you later.” I was about to apologize to him but Elliot came around the corner.

“Hey, Abby! I was wondering where you were…I seriously thought one of the books had eaten you.” He laughed once. I turned back but Zane was already gone, flying off back to the gate where he was to guard.

“There’s a ball tonight?” I asked.

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Zane mentioned it.”

“Oh. Well, yeah, there’s a ball. And you’re going.”

I groaned. “Do I have to make some kind of speech?”

He grinned. Not if you don’t want to. Now come on, you have to get ready.” He pulled me by my arm down the stairs chuckling.