Deragan Sword Prophecy: Book 02 - Meladrom Read online

  “Okay, but take it carefully and keep close together. I do not know what that was that just flew over us, but I would imagine it would be best to avoid it,” he said, forcefully. The three snuck out the door and keeping close the edge of the buildings, they headed back up the road the way they had come.

  “Wait,” Kainan, whispered, before stepping out on to the drawbridge, he scanned all around him and then ushered for the others to come. Running quickly across the bridge, they followed the narrow path back along the edge of the castle wall, making their way towards the wooden door and slipping back through. Kainan drew the bolts back over and they hung tight to the wall for a moment. Moving on, they passed the mermaid fountain and headed back through the kitchen garden door. Pausing for a moment and seeing no more shadows, they ran across the courtyard making for the castle door.

  Her scream horrified him, Kainan spun around sharply.

  “Arweyn!” he yelled hysterically. A black creature, human in body but with bat-like wings had its clawed hands hooked around her waist, and was dragging her backwards across the courtyard. The brothers immediately drew their swords and ran frantically towards her. Desperately she pulled on her magic, but it would not work against the creature. She screamed in panic as she felt her legs begin to leave the ground. Fighting hard, she tried pulling its claws from around her waist. She thumped it in the face and it screeched terrifyingly at her, before flapping its wings hard as it tried to gain momentum. Kainan launched himself at her, grabbing at her legs and using all of his weight, he began pulling her back down. Gareion hurled himself at his brother, grabbing Kainan tight they heaved together. With the strength of them both pulling, and no longer able to maintain its hold, the creature released its grip on her and took off, screeching into the sky. They all fell to the ground. Kainan scrambled over to her.

  “Are you okay?” he cried, grasping at her and pulling her to him. She shook, nodding against his chest as he held her. Her hands then pulled to her waist, the creature’s claws had torn her dress, but thankfully, they had not penetrated through to her skin, the bones in the corset of her dress having stopped them. Gareion, instantly jumped up to his feet, and watched as the creature landed on top of the battlements. Arweyn grabbed Kainan’s arm.

  “Kainan my magic did not work on that creature.” Quickly pulling her knives from her boots, she held one in each hand ready.

  “How could your magic not work?” he questioned, glancing thoughtfully towards the creature. He took a breath as he thought of what he should do next. “Gareion,” he called, his brother glanced down at him briefly, before turning his gaze back towards the creature, watching it as it dipped and bobbed about along the wall.

  “I want you to take her inside the castle,” Kainan instructed. As soon as she realised what he said, she shook her head furiously at him.

  “Kainan no, I am staying with you. You cannot do this on your own.” His twin frowned at him, and as scared, as he was he would not leave his brother either.

  “She is right, we have to stick together,” he agreed, holding his sword firmly. Kainan looked at them both and seeing the look of resolve on both their faces, he nodded reluctantly.

  “It is coming!” she screamed in warning, hastily scrambling to her feet. The creature came directly towards her. Raising her knives, she gripped them tightly in each hand. Kainan was on his feet in an instant, and the brothers jumped protectively in front of her, raising their swords towards it. The creature stopped abruptly, hovering above them, its dark eyes clearly contemplating its next move.

  “Kainan I think it is going to make a run for it, it might come back with more, you have got to kill it,” Gareion whispered. His brother nodded, readying himself to make a move. The creature hovered for a moment longer, and then as it turned about and shot off into the sky Kainan sprinted across the courtyard. He shot up the stairs three at a time and ran across the top of the battlements. Sword poised ready he threw it with force into the air towards the fleeing creature. Watching with baited breath, the sword shot through the sky like a spear. Finding its target, the sword stabbed the creature through the chest and it instantly exploded into thousands of tiny black dust particles, which disbursed into the air. His sword began to drop rapidly to the earth.

  “Deragan,” Kainan cried, holding his sword hand forth and calling on his power. The sword stopped mid-air, spun around and immediately shot back towards him. As Kainan caught it, he gasped with shock, as an electrical charge shot up his arm, the sword had absorbed magic and it was now giving it to him.

  “Kainan what happened, did you get it?” Gareion called up to him. From the bottom of the courtyard, they could not see what had transpired. Kainan drew a sharp intake of breath, composing himself he turned, looking down at them, and nodded.

  “Yes it is dead.” Turning back around, he surveyed the land before him. He stood overlooking the city, even though it now lay partially derelict, he could see what a wonderful, magnificent city it had once been.

  “Come up here you two, you have to see this,” he called back down to them. Hurriedly they climbed the stairs and stood alongside him. They too, stared in amazement.

  “Kainan,” she whispered, as he pulled her to him, placing his arm around her waist. “I never imagined it would have been such a big city. There must have been thousands of people living here.” He nodded gently. Beyond the city, to the north was a range of mountains reaching for hundreds of miles, the tips of which still dusted with the whiteness of snow. To the south lay a forest, this stretched as far as they could see. A river wound its way from the base of the mountains and along into the far-reaching forest, a branch of which wound its way through the city.

  “It is absolutely breath-taking,” Kainan remarked. The other two nodded in agreement.

  “What was it, that creature?” Gareion whispered.

  “I do not know, but I think it had some kind of magic within it. The sword must have absorbed its power and then it just disintegrated.”

  “Should we tell father about all this?” Kainan looked at him considering.

  “No Gareion. Not till after the ceremony. We need more time to explore and we really need to read the book.”

  “We should get back then, there might be more of those creatures out here,” he said, turning to him. Kainan nodded, his brother was right, he had been careless and taken this all far too lightly, and Arweyn almost taken. He should have heeded his brother’s warning to be more cautious. Quickly the three of them headed back down the steps and re-entered the castle. Retracing their steps they headed back towards the old library and then into the chamber, where Kainan picked up the book tucking it under his arm.

  “Okay?” he asked them, they both nodded glad to be on their way back home. Re-lighting their torches, they headed back through the tunnels, moving at a much quicker pace than when they had arrived. Once back in the Chamber of Knowledge they breathed easier. Kainan closed the door behind them and placed his amulet back around his neck.

  “Kainan that creature, do you think it was what drove our people away?” she asked.

  “I do not know, possibly. I hope that the book will tell us more. We had better get on with our tasks as usual. There is not much more we can do now until after the ceremony tomorrow. I will put the book in our new chambers Arweyn, and we can study it later.” She nodded.

  “I must get to the kitchen and finish the cake Kainan,” she said as they left the Chamber. He gave her a kiss and watched as she took the lower staircase down to the kitchen.

  “I will see you later,” he called after her, tucking the book under his arm. “Gareion,” he nodded to his brother as he took the opposite staircase towards his chambers. His brother nodded back to him with a grin, before making his way back to his wife.

  Kainan continued along the corridor to their new chamber. Opening the door, he let himself in. It was a large room and to his left, in the far corner, there were a couple of sofas pulled around a small low table, which sat in front of a
huge fireplace. A big four-poster bed was to his right, a desk to his immediate left and in the right far corner was another door, which led to a dressing and bathing room. He wandered over placing the book onto the desk. He ran his hand across the front of the book, and pondered. As much as he really wanted to read it now, he knew he should wait until after the ceremony tomorrow. His heart skipped a beat and he smiled, tomorrow Arweyn would be his wife and he could hardly wait. He wandered around the bed; it had red silk covers and thick furs covering it. Sitting on it, he bounced up and down. Jumping back up, he walked over to the window. Gazing outside his eyes wandered over the courtyard below. He could see the statue of the dragon sat within the centre of the fountain. He bit on his lower lip, what was it about that dragon. He stared for quite a while thinking about the dragon, and where they had just been. He still could not quite believe that they had crossed the boundary, and been to the old Malgar. They had actually been in the old castle and seen the city itself. Then there was that creature, what had it been, where had it come from, and were there more?

  Turning around he looked towards the massive wardrobe tucked away in the corner. Wandering over to it, he opened it. He smiled, on the hangers next to his clothes were Arweyn’s dresses, and at the bottom her shoes and boots. He ran a hand across the fine silk gowns. They had already moved most of their belongings into the chamber ready. Still smiling, he closed the door he was so excited for tomorrow. For now, he had to push all thoughts of the dragon, the boundary, and the old castle out of his mind. He knew Arweyn was in the kitchen making their celebration cake. Maybe he would just pop down to see how things were going; besides he was feeling a bit peckish.

  Slipping into the kitchen Kainan watched her secretly as she applied finishing touches to their celebration cake. It was incredibly beautiful, four tiers high and covered with marzipan and white icing. She was painstakingly making tiny red and white flowers, which trailed, from the top of the cake to bottom. Wiloma the cook spotted him and she frowned. Grinning, he winked at her, holding his finger to his lips. She smiled, giving a nod, before continuing with her baking. He crept quietly up behind her, raising his hands to grab her.

  “I know you are there Kainan Dermock,” Arweyn whispered, with a giggle in her voice. He stood frozen on the spot, caught in the act. Laughing he grabbed her around her tiny waist and nuzzled his face into her neck, inhaling her scent.

  “Oh go on let me have just a little piece,” he begged for the tenth time that week. She spun round, her hands covered in icing, and she wore a white starched linen apron covering her blue dress. She tapped him on his nose, leaving a trace of sugar behind.

  “No. How many times do I have to tell you, you have to wait until tomorrow!” she said laughing at his disgruntled face. Without warning, he planted a kiss on her lips. She closed her eyes briefly as she felt his warmth.

  “Okay I give in. It looks fabulous,” he complemented.

  “You really think so?” she replied, turning around and looking at her creation proudly.

  “Absolutely,” he replied.

  “Here you can have one of these,” she said, picking up one of the tiny sugar flowers and popping it into his mouth. He rolled his eyes at her.

  “Mm delicious,” he moaned ecstatically, smacking his lips together. Shaking her head at him, she laughed.

  “You have such a sweet tooth Kainan.” He raised his eyebrows at her.

  “That is not the only sweet thing I love,” he said, grabbing hold of her again, and planting a kiss on her lips. She embraced him and then pushed him away.

  “Now be off with you, or I shall never have this finished in time. Is there not something you should be doing? I will see you at noon for lunch we are taking it with my mother in our chamber. She wants to go over a few things for tomorrow.” He nodded.

  “Okay,” he grinned, smacking her backside before moving away quickly and swiping a cup cake from the side of the table.

  “Kainan!” she implored. He winked at her and whispered.

  “Love you.” Raising the cup cake, he waved it about in the air.

  “Thank you Wiloma,” he yelled, before disappearing out of the door. The cook laughed as she watched him quickly depart.

  “My Lady, if you do not mind me saying, this castle has brightened since the young Prince returned.” Kainan was a frequent visitor to Wiloma’s kitchen, having developed a passion for all things sweet since arriving in Malgar. Sweet-things were something he had never had much of when he lived in Oakhurst, and she was always happy to sneak him one of her cakes.

  Arweyn smiled at her, nodding her head in agreement. He had certainly changed her life. A life she could not contemplate without him.

  “You know my Lady he seems to have a nose for my cooking. The moment I have baked something sweet, there he is behind me waiting like a dog for scraps.” Arweyn laughed at her anecdote.

  “Well Wiloma you do bake such fine cakes, so I suppose we cannot blame him.” The cook beamed proudly.

  “Why, thank you my Lady.” Arweyn smiled at her and then continued with her decorating. She did not have long left to finish, the ceremony was tomorrow at noon. Wiloma and her help were busy making dinner for this evening, for the guests that had already arrived, whilst also preparing the food for the banquet tomorrow. The kitchen was a continuous flurry of activity. This afternoon her grandmother and the Faerlings would be arriving, she was so thrilled at thought of seeing them. Her beautiful gown that she and her mother had made was ready and hanging in her chamber. It had taken hours and hours to make and it was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen, and she could not wait for Kainan to see her wearing it.

  She met Kainan and her mother back in her family chamber for lunch; they were to go over the final details for tomorrow. She could hardly eat the platter of meat and fruit sent up, as she was far too excited. The young prince, however, had no problem polishing off the food.

  “Oh please promise me that we shall always have Wiloma as our cook,” he groaned sinking his teeth into another one of her cakes. Arweyn smiled at him.

  “I do not know where you put it all,” she said, shaking her head at him.

  “He is a young man Arweyn, what do you expect? Eating is one of their favourite past times, you should know that,” her mother teased.

  “Oh yes and what is our other favourite past time?” Kainan asked grinning at her mother. Then raising an eyebrow, he turned to Arweyn.

  “Oh yes I remember….”

  “Kainan,” Arweyn shushed, blushing. Her mother glanced up from the chair and shook her head, before chuckling at them.

  “Nothing wrong with a man with passion daughter,” she quipped.

  “Mother,” Arweyn cried, full of embarrassment. Kainan tried so hard not to, but he could not help himself, and he laughed aloud. Arweyn was just about to throw a cushion at him when there was great flurry of activity in the courtyard below and they heard the clatter of hooves across the cobbled courtyard. Jumping up she rushed to the window, and flinging it open, Arweyn leaned out to see what the noise was.

  “Grandmother,” she cried excitedly, spinning around to the other two. The Faerlings had arrived. Her mother smiled.

  “Come along then, it would not do to keep my mother waiting,” Lady Elanor said, standing up and straightening her dress. Arweyn linked her arm into Kainan’s. She glanced up to him as they followed behind her mother.

  “I cannot believe it is tomorrow,” she whispered, the excitement in her voice was clear. He raised his eyebrows, grinning happily back at her.

  “I know I cannot wait. This time tomorrow, you shall be my wife. It feels like we have waited forever for this day,” he said joyfully. She buried her head in his shoulder as they walked on. Most of the guests had already arrived and settled into guest quarters within the castle. The bonding ceremony was going to take place outside by the waterfall on the lake at midday, there was platform specially built overlooking the water, and huge marquees erected ready for the feasting ce
lebrations that would take place afterwards. A great marquee had also been set up in the main square for the villagers, and supplied with food and drink ready for them to celebrate the bonding of their prince.

  As they entered the courtyard, the sight that greeted them was quite overwhelming. There were ten Faerlings in all, riding upon beautiful white unicorns. Each unicorn had their mane plaited to the right and their horns sparkled magically in the midday sun. Her grandmother, the Queen, wore a bright red cloak covered in tiny crystals over a deep blue gown. Sharlinger her aunt also wore a similar red cloak but over a green gown and the five men and three women of the entourage wore blue cloaks over black attire.

  “Grandmother,” Arweyn called to her giving a wave of her hand. Her grandmother smiled as she saw her approach. Kainan rushed forward to help her down off her unicorn. Offering him her hand Kainan took it and bowed, before kissing her hand respectfully.

  “Welcome to Malgar your Highness.”

  “Thank you Kainan,” she said with a smile. Turning to Arweyn a grin spread across her face. She held out her arms and Arweyn fell into her grandmother’s embrace.

  “Granddaughter how pleased I am to see you safe and well and excited for your big day tomorrow.” Arweyn nodded as her grandmother released her. Lady Elanor stepped forward, giving a small bow of her head.

  “Mother,” she said in greeting. The Queen’s smile deepened as she held out her arms towards her daughter. Lady Elanor stepped into her mother’s embrace. Then her sister Sharlinger embraced her too.

  “Your Highness my men will see to your unicorns, they will be well attended to. Please this way, my father and mother await you in the banqueting hall. I am sure that you would like some refreshments after your journey.” Kainan offered.

  “Indeed that would be most welcome,” the Queen replied with thanks and the party set off into the castle.

  ***

  The banqueting hall was full to capacity that evening. The tables were set in a square and were laden with meat, fish, vegetables, and cakes, jugs of wine and golden goblets. Kainan sat at the table with his brother, alongside him Drew and Lord Porlock, the King’s cousin. Arweyn had yet to arrive. Kainan sat drinking a tankard of beer.