59. AURELIA
Chapter fifty-nine
AURELIA
P reparing to go to my kingdom, we were packing up all of our belongings. The tents were coming to a close, being shoved back into various bags, and being attached to their dragons. Angie was packing up her bag alongside Washailameii 1 when I decided to confront her. It had been days of eye rolls and rude gestures, and my body was burning with the need to know what I did wrong.
“What’s your problem with me?” I asked, frustration filling my chest like a heavy weight, still thinking of how she spoke behind my back when Clemmy and I were collecting firewood.
“I don’t have a problem with you,” she said so quickly that I knew it wasn’t true. She deftly adjusted a tie on Washailameii , ensuring it was securely fastened to her rustic belongings.
“Then why are you always rolling your eyes at me, never looking at me, not even able to talk to me?” I asked, taking a step closer.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said, still incapable of looking me in the eye. “If that is your perception, then that sounds like a personal problem.”
Shocked by her rudeness, I huffed, “Scales, you don’t have to be so rude. I am here, and I want to get to know you! I am not here to hurt you in any way. Actually, you are helping me. Thank you. Thank you for stopping what you were doing and helping me save my kingdom. I can tell that I hurt you somehow and I want to apologize. I am sorry if I said or did anything.” As she lowered her arms from the side of her dragon, her shoulders hitched, rising slightly before they fell completely, a sigh escaping her lips.
She quickly turned, her eyes locked on the ground beneath her feet. “You’re not a burden, Aurelia. Unfortunately, I actually kind of like you. It was just bad timing. That's all.” Her eyes finally met mine. The golden glints of them reached out, the pain prominent.
“Would you like to talk about it?”
“Not really,” she mustered.
“People find me to be a really good listener,” I stated as she laughed–the laugh that I thought once was rude and disrespectful, but now understood as her way of soothing any hidden insecurities she pushed deep down.
“And by people, do you mean a whole kingdom that you are over, Princess?”
“Is that what this is about? Me being a princess?”
“No, no. It’s not,” she said, her eyes darting back to the floor.
“For your information, you are probably considered just as much of royal stature as I am. As you may know, being a Scaleborne makes it difficult to live up to the title of being a princess, or even a queen. Opportunities in life become extremely limited.”
“I understand,” Angie said, shaking her shoulders.
“Tell me.”
“I feel so stupid,” Angie said, rolling her eyes to the back of her head, her knuckles turning white.
“I am sure you are not more stupid than how I felt trying to connect with my dragon and join a world that I am so unfamiliar with. Let’s see what you got,” I said, folding my arms.
“Well,” she muttered, fiddling with her fingers. I had never seen Angie seem so insecure. Usually she was masked with her strength and confidence, which overran her personality. “We were heading back to a village where there was an orphanage.” She nodded with a slight smile on her face. “We met them before. The kids loved me. I connected with them, and this village was mostly on board with dragons. There were still some adults who needed convincing that they weren’t monsters, but I knew that it would just come in time.
“We went on a journey which took a couple of days. During this time, we then met Luella. Luella was also an orphan, and she feels like a little sister to me.”
“Also?” I asked.
“Yes, I was left at someone’s door. They passed me from door to door until no one wanted me. No one wanted the responsibility of protecting something as fragile as us. Anyway,” she pressed, unable to talk more about her childhood and past. “I connected with these children. We were on our way back and…”
“Then that’s when I showed up,” I interrupted. Angie nodded, gulping. I had never seen her so emotional. Her barriers she usually held up were gone, shriveled to the ground, open like floodgates. “I am so sorry,” I continued. “I am so sorry to show up and to put the problems of my kingdom on each of you. It is very selfish of me…”
“No!” She stopped me. “You didn’t ask us to help you. That is the whole purpose of our colony. We want and need to protect each other. We want to protect and help you in any way that we can.” The harshness of her chiseled face lessened, her softness showing through. A gleam in her eye shimmered that normally wasn’t there.
Damian and Abner appeared from the trees. “You guys ready?”
“Yeah we will be there in a second,” I said, ushering them away with my eyes. As they left, I turned back toward Angie. There was a lump in her throat that she pushed down. Her eyes distant as she fiddled with the ties and bags attached to the side of her dragon. “Thank you,” I said. “Thank you for bringing me in. For allowing me to be a part of this family.”
She mounted Washailameii as if it were nothing, and nodded. “You don’t need to thank me, Aurelia. You are family.”
***
We flew for about an hour until we reached the inside of my kingdom. It was a surreal feeling to watch from a dragon’s eye view of what everything looked like from above. We were known for our agriculture and stone for a reason. Crops were divided into beautifully arranged colors and assortments below, each organized by type. The trees were wild, with different colors of earthy tones, plastering the surface. The mountains were majestic, reaching the tips of the sky simultaneously.
Some of the tops of the mountains were frosted white with ice and snow, whereas others were covered with different varieties of greenery and life. Flying side by side with everyone, Clemmy and Abner led us in directions that were away from the towns that would shoot us out of the sky, avoiding the edges of their lands.
It was lively until we passed the areas touched and affected by the Deathlies. These areas were so dead that there was no way a single organism was still alive. The trees were shriveled into stumps of nothingness, the bushes almost disintegrated, and the homes sat as ash, with the wood and bricks destroyed.
I thought of how I was a completely different person only a few days ago. I watched as the death of the land affected me, reminding me of why I went on the journey. This journey was originally for myself. I wanted to be queen. Of course, I wanted to save my kingdom, but it wasn’t my main focus.
“ Malua 2 ?” Damian asked in Satas Lerma , wondering if I was okay. I smiled, not knowing how to respond, fearful of the unknown.
The kingdom I grew up in my whole life started to blur into view. Seeing my tower on the outskirts of the kingdom and thinking of the spread of the Deathlies, I realized that my parents just wanted to protect me, to keep me safe. Maybe they did love me.
In less than thirty minutes, we landed on the outskirts of where my tower was. Each dragon landed with a clomping sound, hitting the ground as their wings stopped, leaves crushing beneath their claws.
Dismounting our dragons, we stretched our legs from the flight.
“Is this your tower?” Damian wondered. We looked up at the tall, spindled tower with only one way up and down. The bricks looked less like home. The greenery that used to wrap around was dead and withering, the leaves shrinking, and disappearing into thin air. The notorious purple shield was not up. My grandmother knew I was gone. I wondered if Nana had anything to do with it. She was the only one who could use old magic that I knew of, but she would never create the Deathlies. Right?
“Yes,” I sadly said.
My abdomen pained as I thought about the potential idea of having to confront my father. Would he know anything about the old magic? Did he ever think about this earlier? Would he be disappointed that I came back without using the wish for the kingdom?
“I’m not sure where to start,” I announced, sweeping my gaze across the group.
“Do you know of anyone who uses old magic? That would be a great place to start,” Angie said, her tone always in an aggressive octave, but now I didn’t take it personally, understanding her backstory. I was positive that it was Tobias that we were here for, but Angie’s comment made me wonder if I needed to visit someone else before confronting him.
My grandmother was the only person I knew of who used magic from the Old Religion.
“My Nana. However, I ask that I speak to her alone.” I could see everyone’s objection brewing in their eyes. I could tell that the Old Religion's magic was more extensive than what everyone could fathom. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”
I didn’t hesitate to get approval for me to go alone. My grandmother raised me. I saw her as my first mother. As my guardian. I had to speak to her alone, no matter the consequences.
I walked toward where Nana stayed in the castle, Damian following behind me, and I didn’t stop him. Of course, he wouldn’t leave me alone, but I loved that about him—his protection.
My Nana lived in a cellar hidden behind a dense bush at the back of the castle. It could only be seen if you reached deep behind the shrub, pulling a silver-coated lever to open the cellar door.
I tried to lurk around the edges of the garden’s fencing, not to be seen. There was no one in sight, which seemed odd to me. Normally, my father would have at least a few knights lingering on the grounds to ensure no one would trespass through the back of the castle.
I took it for the opportunity that it was. I ran to the distinct olive bush and reached my arm to the back of it as far as I could. Small twigs were clawing and scratching at my arms as I grabbed the handle and swiftly pulled it open. Forcing myself through the small opening of the bush, getting scratched in the process, I flooded down the stairs, and closed the top before anyone could see me. Damian stayed out the front, protecting me from the outside.
It was odd that my grandmother didn’t put a spell on this similar to my tower, but she sometimes said she liked the challenge of doing things like a clever non-magic mortal.
I made my way down the stone steps, the area obscure. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, allowing me to see the slight shadow of each step.
“Grandmother?” I questioned, not knowing if she was here or if anyone was here, as a matter of fact. “Hello?” I continued, my voice echoing in the cemented bunker.
“Darling.” I heard her raspy voice. The cellar was dark and clammy. I could feel the moistness in the air, and could hear the dripping of water in corners and splashing into buckets. Following her voice, I found her sitting on a cot bed with a blanket shrouded over her fragile body. The distress in her eyes became prominent as the light in them lessened, replaced by a glossy yellow color. Her face had turned an unsettling green pallor.
“Nana!” I yelled, rushing to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t come closer!” she yelled in a hoarse voice, her words cutting through the air with urgency. I hurried forward, eager to get a clearer view of her condition. Approaching closer, her face shone the sickly hue, dark bruises, and the pus-filled swollen boils that splattered along her skin.
My hand covered my mouth, the words spilling out. “No,” I gasped. “No, no, no,” I kept saying in disbelief. “You can’t,” I whispered, not wanting to believe what I saw before my eyes. Glancing around, I searched for a knife, anything to cut myself to use my blood to heal her.
“Don’t bother,” she said. “Your blood can’t heal what’s been done from old magic.” I wanted to ask why she never told me about my healing blood, but there were other concerns in mind.
“The Deathlies. It’s not you?”
“No, my child. It wasn’t me. I haven’t been truthful with you throughout these years, darling,” her voice was crackly and old, tinged with sickness. I wanted to hug and embrace her, holding her in my arms. She raised me. She was almost like a mother to me. She was there when my parents weren’t. She taught me everything that I knew about myself. She couldn’t die. Not from a disease that I hadn’t been able to stop. Hot tears pooled in my eyes.
“How?!” I begged. “How do I end them?” Emotions surged within me like a turbulent storm, a cacophony of anger and sorrow. The realization that I had arrived too late gnawed at my conscience, igniting self-blame that seeped into every fiber of my being. Weight of the responsibility bore down on me as I grappled with the agonizing truth that I had played a part in her fate. The thought of it pierced my soul, refusing to be ignored. Accepting her fate felt like an impossible task, a bitter pill I was not yet ready to swallow.
“Your father, he was born with the magic of the Old Religion,” she said.
“I thought that magic from the Old Religion wasn’t genetic? I thought that it could only be taught.”
“It can, but not always. It is usually genetic. I had to protect him. I couldn’t let anyone know,” she said, the sadness sucking into her voice. “He didn’t want it, but he had to accept that he was born the way he was.” I related to her comment more than she probably understood.
“Father. He was in charge of this? All of it? Is he the cause of your misery, Nana?” How could my father be a part of any of this? Why would he have me go to the egg if he started this in the first place? “I don’t understand,” I muttered, feeling tears for the millionth time during my journey.
My grandmother opened her mouth to say something when I interrupted her.
“Wait. It makes sense. This isn’t all his doing. Someone is forcing him.”
“That’s my girl,” she said, her strained voice barely a whisper.
“My father threatened whoever was behind this with the idea of the egg. Then he told you what you told me, and then I went to find the map… Tobias. He had the map. But why? Then I stole it,” I started to recounter the events to understand the story, “then memorized the map, burned it, then left for it.” I thought of the knights that were following me. That were by the sea, asking for me. “Someone kept stopping me. Someone didn’t want me to find the egg. Someone was behind this all along.”
I remembered more than a week ago, on the day that Laneux 3 was killed, what my grandmother said: “ You wouldn’t understand, girl. Maybe one day you will. ” It made sense. There was something more than just my grandmother and my father being forced to use their magic from the Old Religion.
“If I stole the map from Tobias… Why did Tobias have the map? Oh, my scales! Tobias is behind this!” Everything started to unravel right before me. “Why would he force my father to use old magic to create the Deathlies? How?” I then remembered my mother: how sickly and bruised she looked. I thought that it was my father hurting her. “He was using my mother to force my father to do this? But it all comes down to… why?”
“I am unsure who stole the map, but I think you are right when you say Tobias. He has been acting weird and has been getting too close to your father. Fix this, Aurelia. Only you can.” I wanted to hold her hand and thank her for everything she had done. I knew that she was right, and I had little time. I must be the only person in the world trying to fix this, along with the Scalebound colony.
“Thank you, Nana,” I said, my heart brimming with gratitude. She nodded, the wrinkles around her eyes reminding me of the years she spent raising me, the years she spent molding me into the person I had become.
“Go,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “This kingdom is in desperate need of you .” We were running out of time.
I ran quickly up the steps and out of the dim room, reaching the outdoors. My feet collided with the soft grass as I reached the Scalebound, panting without breath. “I know who! It’s my father, and a man named Tobias. We don’t have much time. We have to break the connection.”
They followed behind me as we passed through the gardens and the glass doors that led into the ballroom. We had to find my father and Tobias. Tobias was using my father to create the connection, and he was using my mother as leverage. I felt so sick to my stomach that bile rose in my throat. This whole time, it had started within these walls.
1. Washailameii (Wa-shay-la-mee): Angie’s dragon
2. Malua (Mal-wah): Okay
3. Laneux (Law-neh-ooh)