Chapter 3: The Blade

Eris could not say he regretted accepting the company of the knight. They had been here three days already and he’d come to learn they were certainly boisterous and proud, as many knights were. He enjoyed their presence as much as it unnerved him. Marion was here to kill a dragon, not a prince, but how could Eris try to explain the situation at hand? How could he explain a secret that generations of knights before Marion had never known and had died never knowing?

The blade of kingsteel had its own presence. Kingsteel, metal tempered in the blood of dragons. How could Eris not be frightened, when Ganymede of the Lowlands and Prince Eris were one in the same? How could Eris not be terrified of the happy knight who wielded the blade that was tempered with his mother’s blood? He kept a distance from Marion and the knight respected his wishes not to be coddled. He couldn’t fault them for trying. Part of him wanted to trust Marion, but he was called a beast and the knight spoke quite fervently about slaying Ganymede.

These words weighed heavy on his chest. He wasn’t a monster or a beast. Faking his death, exposing his true form, and fleeing had been the only way to protect himself. The words were hurtful to Eris, given their context. He was proud of his heritage, no matter how hidden. Yet, when the blade came for his chest in the hand of his father, he was less proud. He was ashamed by the sickness and the violence that came to his ailing father’s mind. If any dragon were a monster, it was Agis, the man who attempted to kill his only son.

The knight’s companion, Jacket, was a strange thing to Eris to see. A fey creature shifting between animal shapes, never quite revealing a true form. The prince’s draconic presence dominated Jacket into a sort of trembling respect that pressured her into silence to his true nature. He was less frightened by the fey then he was of the elf. His pearl hued gaze shifted to watch the sky as blue melted into the blazing hues of the sunset.

A gentle knock against the archway brought Eris away from the windowsill, his head turning to look. Marion stood, still yet to dress down from the armor they arrived in, carrying a wooden bowl in their offhand.

“Figured you’d like something to eat.” The bowl was offered out with a small smile. “Caught a rabbit-... I’m surprised about how much wildlife is still around here. I’d have expected most of it to be gone by now, burnt to ashes. . . Guess it’s good that everything is still alright, huh?” They offered something of a cocky little grin. It irked Eris in a way that made him wish he could punch the knight, but he wouldn’t. He couldn’t, really.

He forced a smile to the elf.

“It is quite lucky indeed that so much is still alright around here. Surely, Ganymede would have destroyed everything, as dragons are often to do with anything of value like the woods or the palace.” The words were gritty and acidic in his mouth, like suckling upon lemon slices. Eris loathed to speak ill of himself and loathed to hear others speak of dragons as if they were lowly, craven beasts with a mind only bent on violence.

He wasn’t like that, but with a knight from the Court of Pearls, armed with kingsteel? He was not going to just throw his guts to the floor with honesty. He could not know how deep Marion’s loyalty to Agis could run, though he was somewhat afraid to even ask.

“You seem troubled, Your Highness,” Marion quipped as they came to sit down nearby, the bowl placed on the rickety side table. Eris wasn’t even sure where they found it, given it was not a part of his room prior to that. “Are you worried about the dragon coming back while I am here?”

No, Eris felt himself thinking, though a gentle smile was forced to show on his face.

“I am not worried about the dragon, Noble Marion. . . I am more worried about our journey home, that is all. It is quite dangerous, you know, to traverse the Lowlands back to the crownlands. Oh, the wildlife and the banditry, it’s always been a problem this far from most civilized folk.” He had perhaps exaggerated, but it was only a half-lie.

“In my childhood, we would have been accompanied by a dozen more knights than you.” The expression on the elf’s face fell away from happiness to something more of hurt as Eris’ words grew just mildly venomous. Shit. “That is not to say that you are not capable, of course, and I’m sure there are precautions we might take to protect us both!”

The elf stood slowly from their seat, peering down at Eris. For a moment, the prince feared that he may have drawn their ire, a great storm brewing in those blue eyes. He was surprised, if anything, as Marion took a knee before them, head bowed.

“Your Highness, in this moment and until you are safely returned to the Court of Pearls, you are to be my liege. Every order you are to give, I will obey within my own limits and within the knight’s code. You will find that no harm will befall you in my care, so long as I live. You will not walk this road alone, so long as I live. Will you accept my promises, Eris of the House Magan, Crown Prince of the Court of Pearls?”

The elf’s head lifted from their promise and Eris was taken aback by the intensity of the storm that filled their eyes as they rested on him. The first oath ever made to him was by a knight who wished to slay Ganymede. Marion was sent to slay him, but the oath took King Agis’ command away from him if Eris were to accept. If he were betrayed by Marion eventually, he could protect himself, but to deny the knight would be insulting, if not outright suspicious.

“I, Eris of the House Magan, Crown Prince of the Court of Pearls, accept the oath and promise of the knight Marion of House Kirscient, that they shall protect me and deliver me from harm, so long as they shall live.”

“. . . And by your will, it will be done.”