"I am sorry."
Lyra mumbled a quiet apology. She darted through the sky. Tears threatened to spill as screams of agony and fury curled around her like smoke from the burning village. She'd done it again, she set yet another village on fire, every time she sneezed she would spit fire uncontrollably and just like that a village would be gone.
She was flying to the place she called home, a small cave which was decorated with moss and vine, but she bumped into a treetop while she was wiping her tears with her forearm. It made her lose balance in the sky and sent her falling. Her arms waved in the air like windmills during a storm. Landing wasn't so great either, it was a dull thud which made her groan in pain. A defeated sigh left her lips. Her head fell back onto the ground with a soft thud. Her darm grey, slightly curled, horns dug into the dirt. She got up a few moments later, dusting the dirt off her simple white dress. Home wasn't far away so she walked the rest of the way.
Reymond sat on a stone at the edge of the trainig field. His trusty claymore lay on his lap as he polished it mindlessly. It felt like no time had passed at all until a hesitant cough brought him back to reality. Lifting his gaze up from his sword, Reymond was met with a picture of a young man looking at him with a mix of pure awe and nervousness.
Azer, a young messenger, cleared his throat with a hint of barely contained awe once again. He started then:
"Sir Reymond, King Wyman of Mineoria demands presence for an urgent matter!"
"An urgent matter?" A pause. Reymond stood up, with gracefulness quite unusual for a knight, withdrawing his sword into the sheath tied around his waist.
"Yes, the King has requested for you personally!" The young man chirped, falling into step behind Reymond, who wa salready making his way to his horse. "Do you require help with anything, Sir Reymond? It is my duty to assist you, after all."
Something between a sigh and a groan escaped the knight's lips. "No, thank you." He mounted his horse. This was going to be a long ride.
"So, tell me, Sir Reymond, how did you become the knight you are today? I thought I shall take advice from the best if I aspire to be one myself someday." Said Azer in a poor attempt to keep the conversation flowing.
Reymond's expression remained the same natural one he always had. "A messenger aspiring to be a knight? I suggest you keep your current position, being a knight is not for everyone," A sigh. "I started training to become a knight as soon as I could hold a sword..."
They arrived at the castle way before Reymond thought they would. After dismounting his horse Reymond crossed his arms and looked at the castle before him, black armour shining in the sunlight.
Still in thought from their conversation, Azer dismounted his own horse absentmindedly. Not noticing that his left foot somehow caught in the stirrup, he swung his right leg over the horse's back. His right foot almost made contact with ground, but the left foot tugged at the stirrup and made Azer land backside. A sharp huff left the boy's mouth.
That earned a change of expression in Reymond. He arched his eyebrow ever so slightly.
After what felt like an eternity for Azer, he managed to find his footing again.
"The King is in the west wing," The young messenger rubbed his sweaty palms on his now dirt-stained shirt. He was avoiding the knight's sharp gaze as if he might get turned into stone if he does. "I will show you the way, Sir Reymond."
Aftwe Reymond's subtle nod Azer turned on his heels and started making his way to the castle's grand entrance, the knight followed quietly.
What they were met with when they walked through the giant wooden doors wasn't anything less than expected. Grey brick walls were scattered with paintings of men and women who all looked alike, this was the King's dynasty. In the middle of the room was a twin staircase, leading to the King's chambers.
"We have no time for sightseeing, Sir," said the same boy whose cough interrupted Reymond earlier that day. "We must get to the War Room quick!"
The knight looked at the messenger with an unreadable expression. The War Room? Did the King want him to lead a war? With the new thought implanted in his mind he muttered an apology and the two made a sharp turn left.
The hallway leading to the War Room was long, a door appearing on either side of it every once in a while.
Suddenly, the young messenger stopped and turned right, now facing a big wooden door. After taking a deep breath he opened the door. He stayed in the hall but Reymond walked in.
Inside, the room was dimly lit by a gold plated candlestick with five burning white candles on it. It made the room smell faintly of melting wax. Multiple maps of Mineoria decorated the otherwise monotone walls. In the middle of it all was a round table, on it sat a wooden replica of Mineoria.
On a throne-like chair at the table sat King Wyman. Reymond knelt before their eyes had the chance to meet. His gaze was fixated on one singular spot on the marble floor.
"Your Majesty," The knight started. His right arm lay diagonally over his chest in a deep bow. "You summoned me for an urgent matter?" HIs voice was controlled, not a hint of nerves behind it.
"Yes, Sir Reymond, the matter is nothing less than urgent," a worried, raspy from age voice came from the round man sitting on an enormous chair. "Our vilages are getting burned evry other day. The villagers say it is a fire-spitting fiend!..."
A fiend? That was the last word Reymond heard before he stopped paying attention to the King's worried words. He wasn't summoned to lead a war, he was here to slay a dragon. That task would be no problem for him, he was taught how to slay dragons shortly after he learned to talk. If the King wanted him to slay a dragon, slay a dragon he will.
"To slay the fiend!" Wyman's raspy voice boomed through the room and Reymond was paying attention again.
"I will, Your Majesty." Said Reymond. He stood up, finally meeting the King's worried eyes. "Do you know the fiend's location?"
"The woods on the outskirts of Velar, no one dared to step a foot there in a while." Surprisingly for a King, Wyman sounded truly scared. "Do you require anything? A bettter sword? Men? Please, do tell if you do."
"No need" A dismissive wave of hand. "I shall return in a week with the fiend's horn."
"Well, if that is so, I do not wish to hold you back, Sir Reymond." Wyman gestured at the door.
Another bow and Reymond left the War Room. Slay a dragon. He will do so in a week and go back to the monotone life he adores so much.
Azer tried to ask how the conversation with the King went but Reymond was already leaving. He knew he shouldn't bother trying to catch up with him, he would just embarrass himself even more.
The sun had barely started to rise with the nex day when Reymond arrived at Velar. He left his horse at the village stables and made his way to the forset.
A slash rippled through the woods as Reymond cleared his way through. He had not been here for a long time, but he heard a crunch of a stick so he decided to follow the sound.
Lyra was picking berries just outside her cave when she heard a slash of a sword. When she turned around her amber eyes met a pair of charcoal grey ones. They looked emotionless, except for a flicker of surprise when he saw her.
Reymond had expected a dragon with an enormous body, four legs and a scaly tail...not this, not a human-like girl. His claymore faltered in his hands for just a second. She was shorter than him. She wore a simple white dress, platinum silver hair fell over her shoulders. It looked a bit a bit messy, as if she tried to cut it herself. She still had dragon features though. A pair of dark grey horns perched on top of her head, big pink wings wrapped around herself protectively and a scaly tail the same shade as her horns wrapped around her leg in fear.
And her eyes? Those amber eyes looked like molten honey in the morning sun.
Lyra took a step back, then another and another, until she tripped over a root and fell down. She looked up in fear as Reymond raised his sword again. He was still going to kill her, duty was duty.
The sword suddenly felt way heavier than ever before in his hands. He still held it up, until...achoo! a violent sneeze escaped the dragon girl and a flame from her mouth set the ege of his cloak on fire.
Lyra's eyes widened at the sight of fire and she knelt, reaching his cloak to pat the fire out.
"I am sorry, I am sorry! I cannot control my sneezes!" An apology came out of her mouth in a voice smooth and soft like silk.
Reymond lowered his sword. He didn't know what to say, the sight before him surprised him, it made his mind go blank.
"It...is quite alright." He managed after a full minute of silence.
"Will you still kill me?" Lyra asked. She was already back on her bare feet.
"I...don't know..." He rasped. "Just...go! Run before I change my mind!"
"But I live here, this is my cave." The answer was immediate.
Silence. Followed by a rumble of a stomach.
Both of them looked down at her stomach.
"Well, since you won't kill me and I just picked some berries,...would you like do try one?" A plump, purple berry was in his hand before he could protest. "Try it! It tastes good!" Her voice was muffled, he had already stuffed her mouth with three berries. She chewed in bliss.
Reymond looked at the berry and slowly, reluctantly brought it to his mouth. A perfect mix of sweet and tart exploded on his taste buds when he took a bite. His expression flickered to one of surprise for a moment before he popped the rest of the berry into his mouth.
"I told you it tasted good!" The dragon girl beamed. "I am Lyra, and you are?..." A deliberate pause for dramatic effect. "Sir Stoic Face, I suppose?"
That made him furrow his eyebrows in annoyance. "Sir Reymond." He corrected her with an annoyed huff.
"Whatever you say, Sir Stoic Face." A shrug.
Reymond wasn't sure how or why but he had spent three nights at the cave. Maybe it was because he wanted to understand her better or because he wanted to find out if she was secretly wicked. Whatever it was, one thing was certain, every time she smiled it tugged at his chest in a way he didn't like.
Her cave didn't have any treasures or gold in it, no, it had one bed made of moss and the stone walls were decorated with vine and blue and pink flowers. She even taught him how to make a moss bed on his own.
When the sun started to set on the fourth evening she led him to fast river which wasn't too far from her cave.
"We will have fish for dinner today," her voice was pratically shaking with excitement, she loved eating fish, "but we must catch it first!"
"I will catch it, you don't need to worry." He already grabbed a wooden branch and began to sharpen it with his pocekt knife.
"You won't be able to catch much with that stick. Lyra teased. She sat on a boulder with crossed arms, her tail tapped the rock impatiently.
"Watch me!" and just like that, Reymond stepped into the reiver in full armour.
He was a skilled soldier, that was for sure, but when he stabbed the river with the sharpened branch all the fish around him scattered away.
A warm laugh interrupted the silence behind him. "I told you you will catch nothing with that stick." With a few flaps of her wings, she flew over to where the knight was standing. "This is how it's done."
With that saying she dove into the river. When she emerged from the water she had three fish in her arms.
They fried the fish over a fire in front of her cave. Most of the dinner went by with Reymond sulking in wet armour.
Not everything was as easy as a walk through a flower field. As the last day of his promised Dragon Slaying Hunt approached Reymond began to feel a strong sense of uneasiness.
It was a quiet night on the seventh day of his Hunt. Lyra was fast asleep on her giant moss bed inside the cave. Reymond, on the other hand, was outside. He sat on the grass quietlly. His head was a whirlwind of worried thoughts.
He didn't kill her. He didn't slay the dragon, but how could he when the supposed fiend was more human than half the people he met? How could he when she apologised even when eye to eye with death? What made her less deserving of life than anyone else?
No. He wouldn't let her get punished just because she was different or "dangerous" in others eyes. He will keep her safe. He will protect her no matter what.
With those thoughts in mind, Reymond got up from the ground and made his way back into the cave. He crouched by her moss bed. He watched her sleeping face for a moment, she looked so peaceful, as if she had no care in the world. Then he woke her with a gentle shake of her shoulder.
"We must leave." His voice was tender, softer than she'd ever heard it before, but it was full of urgency.
"Leave where?" Lyra rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She sat up to look at him. "Is everything alright?"
"We must leave Mineoria," The knight swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat. "The King will send men to look for me. I promised to bring him back the dragon's horn in seven days as a sign that it was slain." She touched her horns absentmindedly. "He wants you dead and if we do not leave now he will make sure it happens."
She looked at the man before her. It was the man with the same charcoal grey eyes and raven black hair but somehow, in this dimly lit cave he looked more human. Those charcoal grey eyes now looked tired, as if he had finally let himself feel something other than duty, and his sharp jawline had a stubble perched upon it. He looked truly worried, that much was clearly visible on the lines of his face.
"Why do you want to help me? Why would you leave your whole life behind for me?" Her tail wrapped around her ankle anxiously,
"Because, Lyra, I do not want to go back! A world without you in it means nothing to me. I've been a man of duty my whole life, but ever since I met you I began to understand what it truly means to be alive." His eyes bore into hers, they where glistening with unshed tears. A man of duty, a knight, was at the brink of tears because of a dragon girl. "Do not ask me to go back. Do not ask me to watch them take you away, please."
Lyra didn't speak. he just reached up and wiped away the singular tear that fell down his cheek. Standing up from her bed she grabbed Reymond's hand and helped him up. He pulled her into a tight hug before taking the cloak she set on fire when they first met and tied it around her shoulders.
"Thank you." He said as they left the cave and went deeper into the woods together.
And just like that, as they made their way to the borders of Mineoria, a knight once swore to hate dragons gave up his past life for a dragon girl who couldn't conrol her sneezes.