Dragonknight

The lightening lit up the sky as loud low rumbles of thunder were heard in the distance. Rain fell from the dark sky and turned the brown grassless court yard into a muddy field. Still Ryka pressed on. It was the perfect conditions for an escape.

It was too many long days and terrible nights spent here at Redfort. She, and others from the Northern kingdom of Whitehaven, was brought here by men of Lord Bolton. Lord Bolton was a king in the great Southern kingdom of Torenth. Bolton had become power hungry and desired to control all 4 major kingdoms, the smaller lesser cities would soon swear fealty to him. Whitehaven was the last kingdom Bolton attacked. Whitehaven did not fall as easily as he thought; in fact it did not fall. It still stood, just a beaten up. Ryka and others were taken as prisoners and sent to serve at Redfort. But tonight, tonight was finally the night she would leave.

Through the muddy courtyard to the silent blacksmith quarters, Ryka moved silent as a shadow. She was not leaving without Gaeth, the blacksmith who had been taken from Whitehaven as well. They came here together and would leave together. As swift and as silent as a shadow she crept into the blacksmith’s quarters. There, on a bed made of straw and linen, lay Gaeth fast asleep. He was a tall muscular man of 24. Ryka was a young small lady at the age of 17. However, not many would describe her as ladylike. In a sense that she did not follow the typical customs a “lady” should follow. She always spoke her mind, especially when she wasn’t asked. She did not follow orders well; instead she always did her own things. Perhaps these were traits she still carried from her muddied past. But Gaeth seemed to be an honorable rational man. He had a young face though; it had the signs of some stubble, only after 5 months of not shaving though.

Ryka woke him up with a gentle kick and a less gentle nudge. He awoke, but not in a happy decent mood. He looked up at Ryka all dressed in black, she really was small thing. But that was perhaps why she was so good at sneaking around. “W-what do you want?” he said in a groggy irritated voice. “Come here.” She said softly. However, she grabbed him by his roughspun shirt in a not so soft manner. Gaeth could’ve resisted if he wanted to, he was much stronger than Ryka was. Not to mention, larger too.

The headed outside. Instead of stopping once they were out the door, Ryka kept walking much to Gaeth’s amazement. “Where are you headed?” he asked gruffly just above a whisper. Ryka stopped, rolled her bright green eyes and stepped back towards Gaeth standing under the overhang of the building. “I’m leaving and so are you. Now, com’on before someone sees us.” Her slender fingers grabbed at Gaeth’s wrists but he pulled away.
“Ryka, I’m not leaving.” He said bluntly. Ryka looked hurt but then her brows furrowed and she grew slightly indignant. “Don’t you want to go home?!” she retorted back, sharply.

“There’s nothing more in Whitehaven than there is here. It’s not the same as we left it. Besides, I’m just a blacksmith and I’ll be a blacksmith where ever I go. And I’ll still be treated like a blacksmith where I am.”

“That’s not true. We can make more of our lives. We can go back to Whitehaven and help rebuild it and rebuild our lives. “

“What do you thinks going to happen Ryka? Do you think we’ll get there an rebuild the city, build a nice stone home, and then get married to each other?! Or, do you think we’ll return and her grace, Lady Engstrom will finally let prince Ewan marry you because you were so brave to return? Give it up, there isn’t anything for there.”

The words cut Ryka sharply. Gaeth spoke so bitterly that she wondered if she had done something wrong. She thought she was helping. There was a pain in her heart when he mentioned Ewan. Gaeth knew that Ryka and Ewan liked each other as children but his lady mother soon ended their friendship because she could see how Ewan felt about Ryka. But there was no hope for them, Ryka wasn’t a lady, she owned no lands and had no money and thus could never marry Ewan. Although Lady Engstrom said Ewan could no longer see Ryka, it did not stop him from doing so. They would meet secretly in the night from time to time. But the meetings grew fewer and fewer once the princess from the northwestern city of Winterrun showed up. It had been two and a half years since she last saw Ewan. She told Gaeth that story in confindce and here he was throwing in back at her. Insulting her and hurting her. Painful thoughts returned once more to her mind. But no matter how much they hurt she would not let herself cry. Instead she took a deep breath and matched her green eyes with Geath’s brown gold eyes.

“Fine then, I don’t need you. I won’t rot here as someone’s slave and be treated less than human. I don’t need your help.” She said coldly. She wanted to beg Gaeth to come with her, plead with him. But she would not. She could do this on her own. And with those final bitter words she turned around and started to walk off in the rain.

Gaeth saw the hurt in her eyes and instantly felt bad. He wasn’t sure why he said what he had, but her did. Perhaps he was just trying to protect Ryka from herself, from setting such high hopes that could never be reached. He did not want to see her hurt when she returned to see Whitehaven broken and ruined. But broken things can be healed.

“Ryka , wait I—“ he started to say until a large figure appeared from the shadows of the night. A dark deep throaty laugh emerged from his mouth. It was one of the guards, they called him The Wall. He tall and broader than any man should be and you can’t kill a wall. He grabbed Ryka by her wrist and yanked her back towards him. She fell down into the muddy ground. The Wall then grabbed her by her throat and lifted her up. It was not so hard, she was so little and he was so big. His hand wrapped neatly around her neck. “No, I don’t think you’re goin’ anywhere. You know what we do to deserters…” he said darkly as his chapped lips curled and revealed a rotten smile. Fear seized Rkya as her arms grabbed at The Wall’s arm around her neck. Gaeth ran into the shop and grabbed a sword that hung on a rack. He was tall and agile as he ran towards The Wall. “Release her” Gaeth command. The Wall just laughed and did as he was command. He tossed Ryka down as if she weighed no more than 5 pounds.

Lightening flashed and thundered roared as The Wall moved towards Gaeth. “You should’ve minded your business boy. The Lord Commander is gonna be quite mad when he finds out his blacksmith lost an arm.” He laughed. He always laughed as if causing someone pain was funny. I suppose to him it was funny. The expression on Gaeth’s face wasn’t fear but determination. It was as if something changed in him and he was no longer a simple blacksmith but a bold hero. He headed towards The Wall, in what was sure to be an uneven match.

Long silver swords lifted and lightening cracked making their swords shine like bright night stars. But then she saw it looming over head. A terror took hold of her and as she fumbled to speak. Rkya moved uncoordinatedly in the mud, slipping and sliding. But she was able to finally speak. And the words that came forth were words that would change the course of the world forever.

“Dragon!” she screeched as tears filled her eyes. Lightening flashed again and as sure as day there was a large scaled dark green dragon with eyes as red flame.