Chapter 27

I awoke laying face first on the grimy dungeon floor. Every muscle in my body has returned from the cold, hard feeling I had remembered feeling. I was buried in crumbled stone and debris from the damaged dungeon. Only my head was free from it.

I heard the tap of shoes. I sent a silent prayer, begging it to be someone good.

"Zander! Zander! Oh my gods! Daniel! Help me!" The familiar voice said.

I attempted to push my tired body off the slimy ground.

"Zander! Are you alright?" Mavis asked, digging off a layer of stone.

"I'm alive. I think." I replied, wondering that myself.

Mavis frantically dug, finally revealing my naked back.

"Daniel! Get him clothes! Now!" Mavis said. I heard Daniel run off, obeying his queen.

Mavis lowered herself and wrapped her hands around mine.

"I'm going to help you stand, do you think you can do that?"

I attempted to nod. She pulled me up from the ground. Rubble fell off me as I rose from it. I was filthy.

Daniel came back with a robe. I quickly tossed it over my exposed body and tied it tight.

"Where's Samuel? What happened?" I asked.

"You don't remember? Something happened. Samuel and his guards fled. As did my parents, and most of the castle staff."

"Why?" I asked, hunched over.

"We don't know. Some said there was a dragon in the dungeon, but we did not see Samuel's dragon at all." Daniel said.

The scale on my chest sent a shooting pain across my chest on Daniel's words.

"Zander. What's on your chest?" Mavis said. She gently tugged the top of the robe down.

"I think it's time that I tell you what I've been up to these past months."

"You could be hurt. Let's get you out of this dungeon first."

I stood up straight, and expected resistance from my body. But it was sturdy. My body didn't ache like before. In fact, I felt almost perfect.

The castle was empty. Word of a loose dragon must've frightened everyone out of the castle.

"Opal?" I asked them.

"She's alright. Samuel didn't hurt her." Daniel said, making our way upstairs.

She took me to her chambers, which was also decorated in rosy pink with accents of gold. Her bed was a pink canopy.

She began to fill a tub of hot water for me. She filled it with rose scented bubbles.

"You don't have to. I can do it." I told her.

"Nonsense. Allow me." She said. I knew not to argue with her twice.

"Alright. It's nice and hot. Get in, you smell like a horse's backside."

I began to peel off my robe.

"Uh, should you look away?" I asked.

She turned away.

"It's not like it's anything I haven't seen before. Let me know when you're in."

I hopped into the scorching hot water, disguised with a layer of bubbles.

"Alright. I'm in."

I let the bubbles consume me as I sank deeper into the tub. I hadn't had a proper bath in months.

"I am so sorry. I can't believe my parents betrayed us. They swore to me they'd help us."

"It's not your fault, you couldn't have known. And I get why they did it."

"You do?"

"If my families life was at risk, I think I would've done the same thing."

"They could have found another way. They could have talked to me. They had to have known I wouldn't have been alright with them killing you."

"They probably didn't think it was worth the risk trying to negotiate with you. They probably knew you'd say no. And I doubt the Vendov king gave them much of a choice."

"Are you really siding with my parents right now? The people who handed you over to fucking Samuel Skyes?"

"I'm not on their side. They still put you and your family at risk, but their decision wasn't an easy one. I could tell by the way your mother wouldn't look at me."

"They're still cowards."

"Where did they go?"

"No idea. Everyone ran from the castle. They better not think of coming back. Belmonte is ours now."

After a long and soothing bath to drain the stink off me, Mavis set out fresh clothes for me. The clothes was the fanciest I had worn in well over a year. It was a little tight on my arms but I made do with her generous offer. I met Mavis and Daniel downstairs in the war planning room. They closed the door tight. We took our seats near each other at the table.

"Alright. Do you want to tell us what happened?" Daniel said.

I started from the beginning, of when I left the cabin. I told them about Johnny, my trip the library, and then to the Calkhorn desert. I told them how I almost died several times, and I told them about the old dragon I had met. A dragon who had possessed me with a tool that would allow us to end the war. I pulled down the top of my shirt, reminding them of the scale embedded into my chest.

"I assume it was me that shook the castle. I have no memory of it. The last thing I remembered is Samuel threatening your family, and my body began to change."

I adjusted my shirt back to the way it was.

"I can't believe it. You're a.. Dragon?"

I shrugged my shoulders and leaned forward into my seat.

"I guess so. I don't know what other dragon would be in the dungeon. Unless you are keeping one down there that you didn't tell me about."

"That's... unbelievable. Are you sure?" Mavis asked.

"I guess not entirely. But it makes the most sense."

"Can you do it again? Change into a.." Daniel paused, still struggling to say it out loud.

"A dragon?"

"I don't know how it happened. I was just so angry at Samuel for saying he was going to hurt you and your daughter. I just couldn't let that happen. Then I woke up to you guys digging me out of the ground."

"You did some damage to the dungeon, that's for sure. Samuel and his guards fled. Most everyone in the castle did." Daniel said.

"This is good. We have a fighting chance now against Vendov. We both have a dragon." Mavis said.

"What about armies? Allies? We don't have nearly as many as Vendov and Samuel." Daniel said.

"We need Johnny. She said there was an entire rebellion hiding out. A group of Lafayette citizens. We need to get them here." I told them.

"I can go get Johnny and get them all here safely. Johnny and I can train anyone who wants to fight for us."

"And what about allies? I don't know if anyone will fight for us besides Belmonte and Lafayette soldiers." Mavis said.

"There has to be some royals who disagree with Vendov's tyranny, right? We will find someone." I said.

We finally had a fighting chance. The war wasn't ending, it was only beginning.

Suddenly, the heavy doors pushed open. Daniel instinctively drew his sword and pointed it at the door.

"You guys are still here, thank the gods! Did you HEAR about the DRAGON?" Charles panicked.

Daniel put his sword away.

"We're well aware." Said Mavis, glancing at me from the side.