The Dragon's Mail Order Mate: A Paranormal Menage Romance (34 page)

Both of us kept looking at the bridge, wondering if we had missed something.  Neither one of us thought anyone had used the bridge in a long time.  We had made our way to this point, yet here we were. Waiting for a sign.  In some desperation I actually wished Ryia was here to help us.  I guess I should have listened to her, but I knew as her husband that her safety was equally important. 

“We are going to have to cross it.  Perhaps if we go one at a time and slow enough, the bridge won’t collapse with the weight of the horses.  Like you have pointed out the sun is going to be setting.  I would at least like to make it as far as we can.”

Rowan began walking first as I followed him.  Beyond the wooden bridge, there was a large rocky trail that led us through yet another mountain.  A lump began to form in my throat as I began to lead my horse to the edge of the bridge to cross.

There was no way around this bridge and I knew we both had to make it across the steep ravine.  The cliffs dropped off and there was no path that led across the rivers.  I also knew we couldn’t stay at the edge of this bridge and hide just because we were afraid of crossing it.

Rowan went first as he got half way across, he motioned me to follow.  I put one foot in front of the other and carefully walked on the bridge.  The wood seemed to have been rotten for years and threatened not to hold my horse’s weight or even mine.  My stomach began to turn as I got a horse-length away from the bridge.  We were now over the water that seemed to be rushing below us. 

I never told anyone before, but I was indeed afraid of heights and crossing this old bridge made me wonder if this was the reason why.  I didn’t want to plunge to my own death.  I continued to lead my horse each step at a time.  Several times the boards under me seemed to crack and I began fearing for my life. 

Rowan was almost to the other side, but I had a sinking feeling that I wasn’t going to be getting it as easy as he had. 

The rush of wind filled the bridge and no longer could I see.  My horse began to run to the other side and I lost the grips of the lead.

I could no longer see and I could feel the boards below me break. I quickly felt my body hanging over the rushing water.  When the wind died down, I realized that I was swinging back and forth in the breeze above the rocky river below.

Rowan turned and looked out at me since he grabbed my horse. 

“Pull yourself up!  You can do this!” he screamed.

I twisted my body back and forth until I could pull myself up.  I tried hard to grope the knotted railing as I once again took it one step at a time.  Ever so many boards seemed to be breaking under my weight.  Most of them broke after I at least made it to the next board. 

I had just made it half way across, when the urge of looking down had come over me.  All it took was a quick glimpse and I could feel my palms begin to sweat and my legs began to turn like jelly.  The bridge began to shake and I was unsure what was going on.  My heart sank.  Whatever was happening to the bridge, there was no place for me to go except down.  I turned my head slowly over my shoulder to see we were still alone.

I went a little faster over the bridge as I continued to feel the rumble of the magic below mu feet.  I could tell that whatever was coming was picking up speed and headed for us.

The sound of crashing behind me made my heart sink as I finally reached the other side of the bridge.  I turned back to see that by magic, someone had cast a spell on the bridge which lifted it up and slammed it down, causing the wooden bridge to be more like a tidal wave.  Although the path was empty, I knew we weren’t alone.  Someone didn’t want us anywhere near there.

The wood splintered as it headed right for the path.  Rowan and I grabbed the horses and ducked in a deep gully as we watched in horror to what was happening.  My heart was pounding faster as I watched what was left of the bridge had passed us by in a huge wave of the wind that had caused the wood to break down in many little pieces.

Whoever was behind this didn’t care that Rowan and I were on that bridge.  I had no clue what was going on and I was sure Rowan didn’t know either.  The only thing at the moment was the fact I was glad my wife was at the castle instead of here.  I knew somehow Ryia would have gotten herself in trouble.  All I did know I was glad Rowan and I were off that bridge.

When the winds finally died down, Rowan and I began to start walking again.  We were beginning to grow closer to where the winds had smashed the debris of the bridge.

The cries and shrills came from the pole and I wasn’t sure what it was being caused from.  I remember checking over my shoulder and not seeing a single person there.  Perhaps someone got on when I decided to duck into the gully.  The thoughts of someone down there in that pile made my stomach twist in knots.

“You have chosen your destiny.”  A voice pierced through the canyon forest.

“We are going to have to listen to that voice!” Rowan pointed out.

I wish he was right and that it was “just” a person’s voice booming voice that spread through the canyon. 

“I am sure you can recognize me.  I am the mastermind of the guild.  Can you not hear me?  I told you that if you wanted to prevent the death, you would follow the simple rules but you found yourself in trouble once again.  I should have known from the beginning you were too headstrong.  I know who you are married to.  She is no longer safe in the castle.  I have sent the assassins to go kill her.” The man said as he snapped his fingers and Rowan disappeared.

With the same snap of his fingers a crystal ball appeared.  I could see Ryia screaming as the assassins entered the castle. 

“Ryia?  Ryia are you okay?  Can you hear me?” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Ryia screamed back at me, “Merek, I am here in the castle!  I am trapped and I am going to be killed if you don’t get here and do something.”

“Time is ticking away and there is nothing you can do, Prince Merek.  Look around you.  The bridge is already destroyed and your brother has been killed under the boards.”

I looked at the debris at the bottom of the canyon where the wind had blown the splintered wood from the bridge.  The debris was completely mangled and I was hoping that the man lied and my brother wasn’t dead under the boards.  I could see from the top of the cliff that his leg was half visible.  Most of his body was covered in debris but his voice was unheard and pulled at my heart to think he was gone. 

I also knew that locking Ryia in a tower at the castle would be the next step after making sure she was alright.  She wasn’t about to stay put and I wasn’t about to lose her.  I hadn’t the foggiest clue why she was acting like this.  She didn’t like me or even desire me, she actually kept telling me I was a hideous creature, yet she had to be here on this quest or at least try to be.  Now I was losing them both.

When I finally managed to reach the bottom I began searching through the debris.  I had to move what seemed like the whole pile of splintered wood to get to Rowan.  He was the only one in the pile, no one else was lucky enough to get caught up in the windstorm.

When I finally freed him, I dragged him to the bank of the canyon.  I knew I was going to have to carry him back to the castle.    There was no way I was leaving my brother in these uncharted woods.  The wind seemed to leave him lifeless.

“Why didn’t you stay back in the gully?  I told you directly to stay put for this very reason!  You been killed in that wind storm,” I said as anger flooded my body.

The only brother who wasn’t trying to kill me was now dead. 

“I couldn’t just leave you unprotected!  I knew the magic that lurks in these parts were blackened and evil.  I need to be here with you!  There are many magic users that are going to try to destroy you before you even reach the Dragon Kingdom,”  I mumbled as I tried hard to do anything to get Rowan’s heart to beat once again. 

My father would have scolded me for not being hard enough.  I began feeling the tears springing down my cheek.  Either way I knew I had to figure out how to get Rowan back and to tell our mother that this was my entire fault.  The bridge no longer existed and turning around wasn’t an option.

I sighed as I shook my head.  It was no use fighting with reality, but I knew it would be too dangerous for us to continue on this journey.  We were both going to end up dead since King Athalos had assigned it to us.

“You are going back to the castle.  I warned you that if you didn’t stay put you would be sorry.  Now look at you!  You ended up dead.  What should I tell our mother?  What should I tell your Queen?  All we were trying to do was save ourselves.”

Rowan didn’t speak a word as I carried him up the embankment.  Even as I tried to put weight on my leg, it refused to take the abuse and my body weight.  I had been pretty hurt in this mishap and I didn’t realize it.  I set him down on the train tracks.  What the hell was I thinking?  I knew each quest was daring and not guaranteed that we would lose each other so soon. 

For the longest time, I didn’t speak a single word since no one was here.  My brother was the only one who had accompanied me on this quest and now I was alone.  I looked down at Rowan to see his glass-like eyes just staring at me at me with no life. 

I was half expecting him to start crying or talking since that was what I had done.  I was badly bruised and cut up.  In the same breath, although I was incredibly mad at him, I was beyond filled with sorrow that he was gone. 

“Take me to the Dragon Kingdom.  I am sure that there is someone there that can heal you!” I screamed as I looked down at Rowan, whose lifeless body was just lying in my arms.

“You are next!” the man said as he looked at me.

“You killed my brother!” I screamed.

“No, you killed him.” 

I shot him a look that made him quiet for a second. 

“You have had enough fun with your little plan.  Look what it got you!  All I can think about is what if you were killed.  I wish I had hit you both.  I gave you the order to stay in the castle and never become the dragon!  Do you realize that not only did you put your life at jeopardy but you just made it longer for all of us to rid you because you survived?    The bridge is no longer there so trying to find a way of this dreaded mountain will be near impossible,” the man snapped.

I knew King Athalos wanted me dead as well as my two brothers, but they had never used magic before.  I was wondering if there was someone else who wanted Rowan and I dead.  He had succeeded in killing Rowan and as the wizard looked at me.  I knew that I was next.  I knew that I wasn’t even going to make it back to the castle.

“Why don’t you fly me back to the castle?  You are a dragon!” the wizard tempted.

“No!  That is going to put me even at more risk!  The only way I could do it would be to go in the middle of the night!” I replied.

The Final Chapter

As night fell I lit the fire to at least stay warm.  I knew I would have to fly, and this would be my second time turning in a dragon and flying.  I wasn’t going to be thrilled about that.  I still couldn’t believe that King Athalos had already wanted me to dead.  I was in danger and I knew it.

“I don’t understand you.  Why don’t you just GIVE UP already?” he screamed

“What is there not to understand?  I have to keep going.  I have to put my brother’s body to rest at the castle.”

“Oh Merek, you tortured soul, you will never make it that far.  I will see to that.” 

“You keep telling me that I won’t make it to the castle.  If you wanted to kill me, you would have done so already.  What is it that you want me alive for?  Are you toying with me?  What do you want?   You refuse to kill me, but you remind me that I am going to die. Why is that?”

What if I want you to see Ryia dead?  Haven’t you realized that you being a dragon isn’t tolerated?”

In my mind, I could almost see Ryia glaring at me.

“I hate dragons.  Everyone including the King hates dragons.  Dragons can’t be trusted!  How many more times do I need to tell you that?” he finally said.

“If that was true, I would end up be dead first.  You aren’t going to follow me every step to the Dragon Kingdom.  What are you hiding that I don’t know?  What aren’t you tell me?

“Maelyss will never trust you!  He will never allow you into the Dragon Kingdom!  You were raised by a traitor, that’s how Maelyss will see you.”

The wizard followed me to a narrow ravine in which he allowed me to cross.  I wasn’t about to risk everything to turn into a dragon, but I knew that I wouldn’t get much sleep bringing Rowan back to the castle to be buried.  I had to do a proper royal burial, but the wizard seemed to be matching my steps.

“Are you going to mount the horse or must I pick you up to do this simple task, Prince Merek?”

“I am going as fast as I can.  What is such the hurry?  My brother is already dead!  You killed him!”

“You don’t have time to stop and rest.  The only time you are going to do that is if our legs are just about to fall off.  You have to reach the ravine near the Dragon Kingdom by morning.  I am sure you have at least a disappearing memory that you have to go there, dragon!  It is already bad enough you are not going to sleep, thanks to your stunt with your brother.  I can’t afford any more setbacks so I am taking you back to the castle myself and making sure that you get there so I can show you how Ryia died because of you.  How many people need to die because of you?”

My heart began to pump hard.  I vaguely remembered Ryia.  I knew that the wizard called her my wife, but I didn’t even remember how we met or how long we had been married. 

It seemed as if I rode half way through the night just to get back to the castle was I suspected I belonged to.  I never stopped once.  I felt this massive draw to bury my brother.  His lifeless body was on the horse in front of me as we continued to ride. 

I wasn’t thrilled to be back there so soon, since I wasn’t even done with the quest, not alone having to bury my brother. 

“What happened to the girl?” the doctor who arrived at the castle asked as I stepped foot in. 

Ryia was lying on the stone floor as she seemed cold.  Her eyes were filled with fear but as glassy and lifeless as Rowan’s eyes.

“What happened to the lad?” the doctor asked as he motioned to Rowan.

“There was a strange wind that was blowing and he ended up getting caught up in it when it blew a wooden bridge away.  He perished with it.  The wizard seemed to follow me there.” I pointed out as I led him to the horses where the wizard stood.

“The girl is very lucky that you found her this way.  At least you can say you saw how she died.” the wizard went on as he looked at me.

“She is, although she isn’t just a girl but the queen.  I gave her direct orders to stay in the castle.  Until she found herself obedient to the orders of the king, I guess I had no choice but to lock her up in the tower.  I didn’t have time to deal with her. Now I have a quest that must be finished from King Athalos.  He wants me to kill Prince Merek.” the doctor whispered in glee.

Who did he think I was?

“I will make sure she stays put, it isn’t that she is going anywhere.  There is no way she will be going anywhere since I am sure, after all, she is dead.  I will keep her in her room though.” the doctor added as he winked at the wizard.

I was pretty sure the doctor didn’t realize that Ryia had nerves of steel.  The woman could handle anything thrown at her and still get up and continue to move around.  I doubted even death could slow her down.

“You are going to have your hands full with her; I can reassure you with that.  She is also persuasive.  If she doesn’t get her way she will find a way to escape anyway,” I tried to say, although her lifeless body was stiff in the corner.  I acted as if this was just an act.  With a snap of my fingers she would be back once again roaming around. 

“I am sure we will have no problem.  You must not worry about your queen, King Merek.  You have a quest to finish and we will be all waiting for your safe return or perhaps another body to bury in the royal cemetery.”

Exhausted, the wizard pointed to my horse and demanded me to mount it.  Only the inn and the castle had lights on.  There were no other lights on in my kingdom, but it held an eerie unwanted glow.  I was wishing to stay for a couple hours or even to see Ryia wake up from her death, but I had to make up the time I spent taking her back to the castle. 

Besides, the wizard kept laughing that I was acting as if death was only a slumber.

I wanted to at least ride to King Athalos’s kingdom and ask Marvin if he heard anything about my mother, but I didn’t have the time.  I wasn’t able to risk myself like that either.  Even as my eyes burned, I had to continue on my journey with no sleep.  At the moment, I would be willing to pay two pieces of gold if I could at least get a letter from my mother, but I knew that was near impossible.

By the time I arrived back to the camp, Rowan was sleeping, and it was dawn.  I had dug my way through the rough territory to unite with him again.  This time, he wasn’t the lifeless body I hauled to my castle, but a cold ghost that stayed next to his belongings where he had set up camp.

“You already brought Ryia back to life?” he asked as he looked up at me groggily.

“Don’t even get me started.  The whole way back, she tried hard to be persuasive that she needed to be on this trip.  I kept telling her that she was a queen and it was her duty to watch the castle.”

“Do you think she will escape again?  It isn’t like one can escape death, look at me.” Rowan pointed out.

“How would she make it back here in less than a day?  It would put her behind if she began chasing us on our quest.  There is no way she can make up that time.  Besides I locked her in a tower.  I told her until she started acting like my wife and the queen; she was going to stay there.”

“How did that work for you?” Rowan asked.

I let out a sigh.  “It didn’t work too well.  She would call me every name under the sun and even told me that if I returned in one piece that she would do the honors of taking a sword and cutting out my heart.  She was tired of being a prisoner.  I am sure that time in the tower will do her good.  Instead of all that though, she laid lifeless with her glassy eyes still holding the fear in which she witnessed close to her.”

“Did you get a hold of a doctor to heal her?”

“I found the local doctor who came up to the castle to heal her.  He was shocked by the fact that she was the queen.  He kept calling her a girl at first, which irritated Ryia.  I could tell on her lifeless face that she wasn’t amused.”

“What is wrong with her?”

“She is just very badly suffering from death.  It isn’t like injuries or anything she can heal back from.  She is dead and propped up in her bed until she becomes alive and listens to me.”

“Will she be okay?” the ghost version of my brother asked. 

“According to the doctor, she will be fine.  I am just more appalled by that strange occurrence.  I am unsure what to make out of it.  I know that King Athalos and our brothers want us dead, but I never sensed them ever using magic.  I also don’t think that was any natural wind that blew the bridge like that.  I have never seen a bridge just splinter and be thrown off a cliff.”

“I don’t know what to think, to be honest, Merek.  It seems quite fishy.  I have to assume that it wasn’t our time to be caught up in it, though.  It just happened so fast that it was as if someone put a spell on that bridge.  I didn’t see anyone, though.  Why would I?  I am dead!”

“I did see someone, Rowan.  I saw a wizard with my own eyes. We have to get going in hopes to make it to a town to be able to eat or have an Inn where we can stay for the night.”

“I heard the closer we get to the Dragon Kingdom, the more likely that travelers like us aren’t welcome.  The townspeople make it known with their odd behavior that shows new people aren’t welcome.” Rowan pointed out.

“We haven’t done anything wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter to them.  We are strangers passing through and they know we are up to no good.  It isn’t even like that I would own up to getting my brother killed. ”

On the way towards the Dragon Kingdom, I was more relaxed, knowing that Ryia was back at the castle locked away, although she was lifeless.   I wasn’t about to think of the bridge.  Although I was still trying to be observant, I didn’t feel the need to be paranoid. 

Perhaps the bridge itself had a spell on it and we weren’t being followed at all.  This could be a simple explanation since Rowan and I were both left alone and nothing happened to either of us.

I was sure we would at least seek shelter at the inn and possibly some answers, although Rowan was against stopping.

“Have you heard from Marvin about our mother?” I asked.

“Are you joking?  Marvin hasn’t contacted us at all.  The last time I saw the likes of him was at the Inn before we left.  He had transported us to the Mail Order Agency that night.  I haven’t seen him since.”

“I am starting to get worried.  Usually, Marvin keeps in contact with me every night on my quest.  He hasn’t even made any attempt.  Do you think King Athalos has found out he was harboring us?”

“I don’t know, Merek.  I am starting to grow very worried about the whole situation.  We haven’t spoken to our mother in months.  She should have been back to the kingdom by now.  In her place is Lady Elizabeth sitting in our mother’s chair.”

I groaned at this.  I hated Lady Elizabeth and thought she was a poor excuse for an aristocrat, not alone a woman.  She was vicious and vile, which was more fitting to King Athalos’ personality.

“I promise you, Merek if anything happened to our mother that I will behead Lady Elizabeth myself!” Rowan went on.

Even I wanted to behead Lady Elizabeth, however, I doubted either of us would do it.  We would both be sentenced immediately to death.  We had enough to worry about with this whole dragon thing going on.  We didn’t need to draw more attention to either one of us.

It seemed as if we rode forever before we even reached the village.  The Inn was exactly how Rowan had described.  The townspeople gave us a look that told us that neither one of us were wanted.

“Is either of you Merek, we have been waiting for you?” the bartender asked.

Rowan looked at me and I looked at him.  I couldn’t help but to wonder if they could see Rowan was well.  They must of since they said ‘if anyone of you guys’ but I wasn’t expecting Rowan to be a ghost.

I nodded.  “I am Merek.  Why are you asking?”

“Do either of you know a traveler and a man named Marvin?”