CHAPTER 46
The next morning, I wake and head downstairs. I have a list of things that needed doing today, but the first thing on that list was speaking to Pluto. Dragus never came to bed so I assumed Silas told him to stay with the man overnight until he could be trusted.
Wandering around the castle though, I can’t find him anywhere, so decide to check the stables.
The sun is already up, the snow outside slowly starts to melt as I trudge to the back of the castle.
When it wasn’t snowing, I will have to remember to ask Silas if he could take me flying again.
Wings and snow just don’t mix, and I sure as hell didn’t feel like freezing from having to wear a singlet in the cold to use my wings.
As I approach the stables, I notice the door is wide open, smoke billowing out the door, my heart skips a beat as nervousness creeps in.
Silas didn’t really force the man to sleep outside in the elements, did he?
As I step in though, I find Dragus asleep just inside the door, while Pluto is tending to the horses that have been returned to stables at some point.
Come to think of it, I wonder where they were put, one of them had dragged the fire pit toward the entryway which was burning making the place quite warm.
I step inside and lean over the back of Dragus’s chair, kissing his lips softly. His eyes open instantly, before a smile creeps onto his face.
“Morning,” he says.
“Morning, did Silas make you and Pluto stay outside all night?” I ask
Pluto comes out of the stall, which has a brown horse in it.
“Don’t worry, I don’t feel the cold, and I like being outside with the horses.
It’s been awhile since I have been able to pet one, marvellous creatures they are,” he says walking over to me.
Dragus watches his every move carefully as he approaches but doesn’t say anything.
Pluto looks quite different compared to last night, he has cut his hair which is now shaved close to his head.
Dragus has also given him some clothes which I recognized as his own, having seen him in the same blue shirt and jeans.
Pluto is small compared to the Dragon Kings, who were all muscle on muscle.
I suppose being a castaway would do that though.
“Are you hungry?” I ask and he nods.
“I will go get you something to eat,” I tell him when Dragus stands up.
“I will go, will you be alright here by yourself, or I can wait and get Matitus to come out?” Dragus asks, stretching his arms above his head, I hear his back crack like he had been in the same position for an extended amount of time.
“I will be fine, but Silas might get angry,” I warn him, and he shrugs.
“I can handle Silas’s wrath, it’s yours I am more worried about,” he tells me while looking to Pluto, who is watching our exchange.
“I am trusting you not to touch my mate, I mean it, I come back here you won’t just lose your wings, I will take your life”, he warns him, and Pluto puts his head down nodding. Dragus seems satisfied and walks out, leaving me with the man.
Pluto instantly relaxing when he goes out of view.
“They seem very protective of you, so Dragus is your mate?” he asks curiously.
“All three of them are,” I tell him, and he seems a little shocked, making me chuckle.
“I was wondering why you smell so strongly of them, and they you. Interesting,” he ponders looking back at the horse.
“You like horses?” I ask, and he nods.
“Yes, grew up around them, though they tend to not like my Dragon side which is to be expected. But in this form, I can get close to them,” he says, picking up a brush and brushing the horse. I sit on the seat Dragus was in next to the fire.
“Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”
“No, you can ask me anything,” he replies.
I nod, warming my hands on the fire. “How long were you like that, stuck in that form?”
“I don’t know, a long time. I think just after the war so however long ago that was,” he says.
“So, a hundred years ago?” I ask.
“It’s been a hundred years already?” he asks, utterly shocked. I nod.
“So, you lost your mate?”
“Yes, killed in the war, she was a Fae like yourself, not a royal one, but I recognize those eyes, you’re an Aziza,” he says, staring at me.
I nod, it feels weird my bloodline being recognized just by the color of my eyes.
“Aziza’s were amongst the most powerful Fae, had gifts of healing, just like the Helcate bloodline.
My mate used to work for Helcates in their castle,” he tells me.
“Healing abilities?” I ask and he nods.
“Yes, how do you think you changed me back?” he asks cocking his head to the side.
“What about Zena bloodline, weren’t they the same?” I ask wondering exactly how much he knows about Fae.
He shakes his head, “No they had other abilities, a little darker than the Helcate and Aziza bloodline, they specialised in the darker arts, Dark Fae if you will,” he says, making me wonder what he meant.
This was the first I have heard of this, I thought the royal families were the same. “How so?” I ask curiously.
“Well Helcate’s were the first royal family known to exist. They had healing abilities but eventually when the Oracle came into the picture, she spoke of two other Fae kingdoms, back then Fae never wandered from their kingdom.
So, when the Oracle came, she mentioned another kingdom she had visited, the Aziza kingdom, just beyond the mountains.
Helcates didn’t know of them, so became curious and travelled across the mountain and discovered their existence along with the Dragon kingdom, they noticed how much their kingdom was flourishing, the Aziza’s were responsible for bringing peace and a treaty agreement amongst the different species and took the Helcates under their protection forming an alliance.
The Zena kingdom wasn’t found yet, but as the Fae population grew the kingdoms became too small so they went seeking out new places and stumbled across the Zena kingdom, which was in the forests north of here, they were different though, lived back then the old ways it wasn’t kingdom more of a tribe.
Their magic stemmed from darker elements, everything has a balance, they’re magic stemmed from taking life in exchange for power, kind of like the grim reapers of Fae if you will.
Their ability was to manipulate the elements, the weather patterns etc, they also had the ability to take immortal life. ”
His story is riveting, I could listen to him talk all day about the Fae and our history. But it just lead to more questions.
“So, if they had that ability how did the Fae lose the war?”
“Because their entire life force was connected to their Queen, once she went the entire bloodline died with her.”
“The Zena Queen died in the war?” I ask confused.
“No, Queen Maira killed herself when King Darius Helcate had the Dragons kill her mate. Helcates became jealous of the Aziza Kingdom’s growing bond with them.
Blaire Aziza, the King’s daughter, she was married to a Helcate as part of an arranged marriage, but originally she was to be married to the Zena bloodline.
The Helcates interfered with the marriage, it was rumoured that Helcates told the Dragon kingdom that Zenas wanted to start a war.
Helcates refused to let them marry, so Blaire married a Helcate eventually falling in love with him and having a child.
But that wasn’t enough for the Helcates they wanted the Zena bloodline out of the picture so the Dragon King at the time killed Maira’s mate as warning, not knowing that it was a set up by the Helcate’s, Maira told Blaire about the Dragons killing her mate, and she felt loyalty to Maira because they were best friends.
So, when the Dragon Kings discovered her, she rejected them and cursed them, Aziza were merely pawns in a war they knew nothing about till it got them killed. ”
“So, the Aziza’s never started the war?”
Pluto shakes his head. “No, the Helcates and the Dragons did, the Aziza bloodline was collateral damage in a war they knew nothing about till it started. Helcate’s jealousy started the war, Dragons were told of Zena’s alleged betrayal and struck a deal with the Helcates, they would kill the Queen’s mate as warning to back off from the Aziza’s in exchange for the Oracle. ”
“Why did the Dragon’s want the Oracle?”
“Because she could see the future, they wanted her as a tool to be used, why do you think the Dragon empire thrived and was the wealthiest kingdom, it was because of the Oracle, she had control over the Witches.”
“But in the Dragon history books, it says the Aziza’s started the war when Blaire cursed them,” I tell him.
Pluto shakes his head. “The war started many years before that, just the Aziza’s were unaware of Helcates scheming.”
“How do you know all this?” I ask because this was vastly different from the stories everyone was told.
“My mate was one of the Helcates advisors. She never agreed to what they were doing, we planned to run away together, she knew of their plots to take over and told me. I tried to warn the Dragon King at the time, but he cast me out as a traitor. Then, Blaire was killed and the war started and my mate was killed, leaving me stuck in that state.”
“Well, that was an interesting story,” Matitus says from behind me, making me and Pluto jump. Pluto looks down in embarrassment.
Ignoring Matitus, I get back to the task at hand and what I originally came here for. Matitus taps my shoulder wanting me to hop up. He sits back down and pulls me on his lap.
“So back to the Dragon’s, how many of them are in the caves in the mountains.”
“I can’t be sure, maybe thirty at most, it depends. A lot of them are too weak to move, desiccated in a paralytic state, unable to move because the mutated form won’t allow it.”
“Can you communicate with each other in that form?”