The Dragon's Mail Order Mate: A Paranormal Menage Romance (27 page)

“You aren’t listening to me as your husband.  You aren’t even taking me seriously!  I think you should look at this the way others are looking at this quest.  This quest is dangerous and more likely, neither Rowan nor I will return!  If something happens to you, I am the only one to blame!  You aren’t going to go with us!  I am not risking your life by allowing you to go on this trip,” I said as I passed her the small bag full of her things.

“I can help you with this!  I don’t care what you think!  I am a very good warrior and I know the ways!” my wife begged.

“Stay at the castle, Ryia!  I think I can handle this myself,” I said as I mounted the horse.

“What if I don’t stay at the castle?” she asked.

“I will lock you in this castle!  I told you I will do anything to keep you safe!” I tried hard to get her to understand.

I knew she wasn’t going to take my advice.  My wife was too headstrong.  Rowan mounted his horse and we were off on our journey. 

I kept shifting my eyes back and forth as if expecting to see her on this journey with us, but there was no other horse down the trail.  I kept turning my head to make sure she wasn’t following us.  When she wasn’t there, I had to admit I was relieved.  At least I knew she was safe.

The road was empty, but the dirt had been pounded down solid from the hooves of horses.  I was assuming that it was a well-used road, just not at this hour.  Rowan was still half asleep and I knew he wouldn’t make for good company as we rode to the Dragon Kingdom. 

The clattering of the horses’ hooves hitting the dirt underneath us made me feel as if, for the past several days, this was a lot of what I had heard.  In the distance, I heard a horn blow as if it was calling for war.  I knew at least it wasn’t Ryia.  It was somewhere on the other side of the bay.  I was in an unknown land in search of the road to the Dragon Kingdom.  This was exactly what King Athalos wanted, for Rowan and I to be blinded by the uncertainty that the surroundings produced. 

The horses picked up speed as they went up and down the hills of the countryside.  The road twisted around the bay and then shot up to the mountains in which had many sharp bends in the road. Some seemed as if it was a mere single foot path that was crumbling.  I didn’t like how the path was going, especially as it took us on these hairpin turns and twists where any wrong move would bring us plunging down the mountain to our death.

The horses continued as we headed for an old bridge.  Some sort of creature in the distance made a horrible whining and screeching noise as we approached an old wooden bridge. 

“Rowan, we haven’t seen a single person on this road all day.   Don’t you think that it is odd?”

We stopped the horses and continued to listen to the screeching and whine of the unknown creature in the distance.  All we could do was stare at the wooden bridge, trying to decide the best way of crossing it.  The bridge looked as if it wouldn’t hold us.  We both knew that we would have to cross it.

I had to admit I felt as if there were eyes on us.  The sound of a stick breaking made my eyes dart along the forest trying to find what made the noise.  I knew someone was out there, but I wasn’t feeling incredibly comfortable with the fact that we were both sitting ducks.  Rowan and I still had two hours to go before sunset and I wasn’t even sure if that would bring us to the Dragon Kingdom.  All I knew was this road was mostly forest and rocky ledges.

When we weren’t ambushed and I didn’t see anyone, my eyes went back to Rowan. 

“We are going to have to figure out a way to cross this bridge.  It is the only way we are going to go any further.  It is roughly two hours from sunset and I don’t want to be sitting on the edge of the bridge when it gets dark,” I said as I looked up to the sky.

Both of us kept looking at the bridge, wondering if we had missed something.  Neither one of us thought anyone had used it 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 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 and 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 onto the bridge.  We were now over the water that was 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 one 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 it. 

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

I could no longer see and I could feel the boards below me break and 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.  Every other board 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 came over me.  All it took was a quick glimpse and I could feel my palms begin to sweat and my legs began to turn to 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 and I continued to feel the rumble of the magic below my 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 what was happening.  My heart was pounding faster as I watched what was left of the bridge pass us by in a huge wave of 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. 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.

“Help,” a voice pierced through the canyon forest.

“We are going to have to help that person!” Rowan pointed out.

I wished he was right and that it was ‘just’ a person down there.  I had recognized the voice instantly as Ryia’s.  She had decided to follow us anyway.  As I had been trying to prevent, she found herself in trouble.  This was, after all, what I had feared and the reason I told her to stay at the castle.

“Ryia?  Ryia are you okay?  Are you down there?” I screamed.

“Merek, I am down here!  I am trapped under these boards!” Ryia screamed back.

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 Ryia wasn’t injured underneath everything.  I could see from the top of the cliff that her leg was half visible.  Most of her body was covered in debris, but her voice echoed and pulled at my heart. 

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.

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 Ryia. 

I quickly freed her and placed her on the bank of the canyon.  I knew I was going to have to carry her back to the castle.  The wind seemed to have injured one of her legs.

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

“I couldn’t just leave you unprotected!  I know the magic that lurks in these parts is 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,” Ryia said. 

She was too strong to shed a tear or maybe too stubborn.  Either way, I knew I would have to figure out a way to get her back to the castle.  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 her, but I knew it would be too dangerous for her to continue on this journey. 

“You are going back to the castle.  I warned you that if you didn’t stay put you would be locked up.  I don’t even know why you are here!  You keep telling me how much you hate being married to me.  You refuse to even sleep in the same bed.  The castle is at least safe for you and when I return I will deal with you.”

Rowan didn’t speak a word as I carried her up the embankment.  Even as she tried to put weight on her leg, her body refused to take the abuse.  She had been pretty hurt in this mishap.  I set her down on the trail.  

For the longest time, I didn’t speak a single word to my wife as I paced back and forth, trying to figure out what I was going to do.  She just stared at me.  I was half expecting her to start crying since she was badly bruised and cut up.  In the same breath, although I was incredibly mad at her, I was glad beyond words that she was alive. 

“Take me to the Dragon Kingdom.  I am sure that there is someone there that can heal me!”

I shot her a look that made her quiet. 

“You have had enough fun with your plan.  Look what it got you!  All I can think about is what if you were seriously injured or even killed by your foolish call in joining us on this quest!  I gave you the order to stay in the castle! 

“Do you realize that not only did you put your life at jeopardy but you just made it longer for all of us since I have to carry you all the way back to the castle?  The bridge is no longer there, so trying to find a way off this dreaded mountain will be near impossible,” I 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.

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

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

Ryia crossed her arms and looked at me.  I knew that was the only option I was more than likely going to have.  At least if I hand delivered her to the castle, I could lock her in the tower and deal with her later. 

Chapter Five

As night fell, I lit the fire to stay warm.  I knew I would have to fly, and this would be my first time turning in a dragon and flying.  I wasn’t going to be thrilled about that.  I still couldn’t believe that Ryia had put me in so much danger.

“I don’t understand you,” I finally said looking at my wife.

“What is there not to understand?”

“You keep telling me that you hate being married to a dragon, but you keep fighting me about this quest.  You refuse to sleep in the same bed as me, but you risked your life being here.  What is it Ryia?  Why can’t you at least tolerate me as your husband?”

Ryia glared at me and I knew that it wasn’t going to be incredibly thrilling to bring her back to the castle.

“I hate dragons.  How many more times do I need to tell you that?” she finally said.

“If that was true, you wouldn’t know the way to the Dragon Kingdom and you definitely wouldn’t know the way to get Maelyss to trust.  You are hiding a lot more than what you are telling me.”

I found a narrow ravine which 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 Ryia back to the castle.  I had to make it up and run my horse as fast as he could to catch up to Rowan before we continued in the morning.

I grabbed her bags and looked at her.  “Are you going to mount the horse or must I pick you up?”

“Aren’t we going to at least going to rest?” Ryia asked.

“I don’t have time to stop and rest.  The only time we are going to do that is if our legs are just about to fall off.  I have to reach the ravine near the Dragon Kingdom by morning.  It is already bad enough that I am not going to sleep, thanks to your stunt.  I can’t afford any more setbacks so I am taking you back to the castle myself.”

Ryia wasn’t too severely injured; although once we arrived at the castle I would send for a doctor to heal her. 

It seemed as if I rode half way through the night, just to get back to the kingdom without stopping.

I wasn’t thrilled to be back here so soon since I wasn’t even done with the quest. 

“What happened to the girl?” the doctor who arrived at the castle asked.

“There was a strange wind that was blowing and she ended up getting caught up in it when it blew a wooden bridge away,” I pointed out as I led him to one of the towers.

“The girl is very lucky that you found her.”

“She is, although she isn’t just a girl but the queen.  I gave her direct orders to stay in the castle.  Until she can find herself obedient to my orders, I guess I have no choice but to lock her up in the tower.  I don’t have time to deal with her as I have a quest to finish from King Athalos.”

“I will make sure she stays put.  There is no way she will be going anywhere, since I am sure after healing her leg, she will want to stay in bed.”

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.

“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 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 all be waiting for your safe return.”

Exhausted, I mounted my horse once again.  Only the inn and the castle had lights.  There were no other lights on in my kingdom.  I was wishing to stay for a couple hours or even to see Ryia heal, but I had to make up the time I spent taking her back to the castle.

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 where Rowan was sleeping, it was dawn.  I had dug my way through the rough territory to unite with him again.

“You already brought Ryia back?” 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?” Rowan asked.

“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 called 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.”

“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.”

“What is wrong with her leg?”

“She is just very badly bruised up.  He thinks she may have broken her leg or something, but she will be able to stand on it in no time.” 

“Will she be okay?”

“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 thrown itself 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.”

“I didn’t see anyone either!  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.”

“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.”

On the way towards the Dragon Kingdom, I was more relaxed knowing that Ryia was back at the castle locked away.  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 that at the inn we would at least seek shelter and possibly 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 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, yet 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, 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?” the bartender asked.

Rowan looked at me and I looked at him.

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

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

We both nodded.

“Good, they have been here ringing up quite the tab.  They said if you come here, to send you to the corner to speak with them.” The bartender pointed to the corner table, away from all the locals.  The smoke from everyone’s tobacco and pipes seemed to hide the table with a blanket of smoke.

The bartender was right, Marvin and the traveler who I shared a room with at the inn that Marvin owned were waiting for us.  The traveler was wearing his long coat and a hat that covered his face.  Marvin, on the other hand, didn’t have the blackened long coat or a hat that stuck out.  He was dressed like he normally was. 

“Did you get a hold of our mother?” I asked impatiently.

“Yes and that is why I had the bartender make you aware that we were here waiting for you.” 

“What is the official news?”

“Your mother is fine.  She is somewhere between castles where she has found a safe place to hide.  She caught the wind from her gypsy friend that King Athalos sent assassins to kill her as well,” Marvin pointed out.

I groaned at this.  “I had a feeling we were all in danger.”

Rowan looked at me and back at Marvin and the traveler.  “I hate to bring this up, but coming here, something strange happened.  It never happened before when I headed towards the Dragon Kingdom.  We crossed the old wooden bridge and the wind formed into a tidal wave shape and destroyed the bridge completely.  It only left splinters and debris. Merek’s wife got trapped underneath.  She keeps saying she is a warrior who has been to the Dragon Kingdom before, but she had never seen anything like that, either.”

I sighed as Rowan brought up my stubborn wife.

“Why don’t you make it official that she is part of your voyage?  I am sure she would be an asset to your quest,” the traveler asked.

“There is a lot more to my wife than her being a warrior.  It seems she loathes me.  Although she makes a wonderful warrior, her job is to guard the castle.”

The traveler shook his head. “Some women aren’t to be tamed, but they are to join the king in battle.  Those types of relationship are the ones that are a force to be reckoned with since the king is to protect his queen and she will protect her king.”

“I am unsure what to think anymore.  If it wasn’t such a dangerous journey I would have allowed her to join us.  She almost got herself killed with the mishap from the bridge.  I don’t want to see my queen die in front of me. 

“She tells me often that she can make up her own mind.  She also reminds me that if I allowed her to go in the first place that she wouldn’t have snuck up on the bridge the way she did, but I don’t think that it is safe no matter what.  My queen has also been fruitful with knowledge and has told me that Maelyss will hang us by our feet, especially since we were raised as King Athalos’s sons.”

“Why would he do that?” Marvin asked.

“I am assuming that your young warrior wife is speaking of how Maelyss treats all traitors.  I know the prophecy very well and there is more to it than either of you understand or even quite know about yet.

“Where is your young queen now?” the traveler asked without making eye contact with me.

“She is at the castle.  I had to lock her away in a tower.  I feel incredibly bad to do this, but she hates me with such passion and she won’t listen to anything I say to her.  I told her if she escaped when we first left for the quest that I would have to lock her away if she tried.  I guess she thought I was joking.”

“You are telling me as a king and queen you are both on separate journeys on this matter?  You are telling me that as you venture off on this deadly quest, that you think she will become a common housewife overnight and try hard to please you?” the traveler questioned.

“No, ever since we married, she hated me.  She kept telling me how she got the short end of the stick.”

“Let me guess, because of your secret,” the traveler piped up.

“Of course, and she won’t let me forget it.  I have been trying to show her compassion and love, but she refuses to accept any of this.  We caught up with Terrain and Sadon and heard how they were sent to kill Rowan and me.  I made the decision then to bring her to the castle where she would be safe.  She refused to even listen to the notion.  She hates her husband and she hates the fact that I am keeping her prisoner as a queen.