Chapter 16

The sky loomed with clouds when Boren saddled his horse and gave an order to his army to move.

She didn’t go out to say goodbye; at least he didn’t see her in the crowd of other elves who clearly couldn’t believe that their burden was finally leaving them alone. As if the sky itself was whipping for his soul, the rain poured down on his armour, weighting the pain in his chest, but there was nothing to do. Boren pressed his teeth, obediently following his duty.

Arlena looked at him from behind the main tree branch. She didn’t want to approach him, being afraid that she might lose herself from the grief. Her feelings were confused, just like her thoughts. He was not only leaving her, he was about to hurt other creatures, and there was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing she could do about the love she had for him. And it was tearing her apart.

“Arlena?” the high priestess approached her, and just from one look in her eyes, filled with concern and condolence, Arlena fell to her knees, crying desperately. “Oh, child,” the priestess kneeled next to her and soothingly caressed her beck.

The same day as Boren left the village, Arlena wanted to free the priestess’s chambre and come back to her own tree. Yet, the dragons Boren left in the village forbade her to do so. Instead of protecting the villagers, on the contrary, they were trying to establish some sort of control. Elves were not allowed to leave their houses after sunset; they still had to work on a fence around the main tree and on the fields since the dragons could come back anytime, and even if they wouldn’t, the Florishside was conveniently located between two big elvish cities, so either way, more dragon would visit them.

Every day, she was busying herself with debilitating work on the field or in the woods, gathering nuts, berries and mushrooms. Everything but thinking of her loss. Sometimes she wanted to visit Arden and her father in the mountains, but the dragons seemed to watching her more carefully than any other elf. And, still, despite being surrounded by friends and family, she felt inexplicably lonely.

Boren, in turn, finally reached the borders of the city of a rising star. He decided to establish a camp a few hours from the city, and while dragons were busy with placing the tents and researching the area for the source of food and water, he and Borden rode to the city to see themselves what are they about to deal with.

To their surprise the city looked much more protected than they anticipated. The ditch on the perimeter was finished and filled with water. The stones, plants… High, ancient fence of trees and rocks, nature itself was protecting the city from dragons.

"It's still just plants and stones," Borden concluded while his horse paced.

Boren remained quiet. He knew that this city had already been under attack several times during history, and no army ever got behind those plants and stones. And even though his army was the strongest one in the whole of Oceanside, he still didn’t want to underestimate the enemy. “We need more dragons,” he drawled.

Borden looked at him concerned. “Our strategy is strong. —I’m sure we can handle it.”

“We need more dragons.” Boren’s voice expressed even more concern.

When they came back to the camp, everything was already prepared. Casually, Boren entered the biggest tent that served as a meeting room and his personal chamber. He found a map in a bunch of his stuff placed in the corner and opened it on the wide, wooden table that was hastily built from still-fresh wood. She probably would freak out to see this table, he thought, sliding his fingers over a slightly wet surface of wood.

Once again, Boren looked at the map. He placed a few stones on it, representing his army, and leaned on a table, thinking through every possibility of the development of future events.

She already got used to being watched. Every evening, one of the dragons approached her to escort her to her room in the main tree. His name was Boldan. A tall like most dragons, with dark skin and long black hair braided away from his face. He was not very talkative and, at the same time, a bit rude; he could grab Arlena by her hand if she was too slow to follow him and push her forward. He could growl at her if she refused to obey or jump at her when she was unaware to scare her. For Arlena, Bolden was the exact representation of dragons that elves were afraid of, so it is no wonder that barely anyone in the village still shared her hopes for the dragons.

“Change,” Boldan pushed her into her room and himself leaned on the locked door.

Arlena couldn’t understand why he had to watch her changing, and usually, it never brought her any discomfort to expose her body. For the elves, there was nothing more natural than the way they were born, and they covered their skin only to protect themselves from sun or dirt but not from other elves. Yet, something in Boldan’s eyes made her feel uneasy whenever she was changing in front of him; he looked at her as if he was about to eat her alive.

“Tonight, I would like to change alone,” she said, looking him in the eye.

“Why so?” Boldan licked his lips and slightly smiled at her with some kind of cruelty in his tone.

“I don’t feel comfortable.” She replied.

Her words only made Boldan more excited. Within seconds, the slight smile on his face stretched into a predatory grim. “Am I making you excited?” he drawled, getting closer.

“No,” Arlena stepped back, not able to take her eyes from his.

Boldan touched her cheek, and she felt an icy shiver covering her skin. “I just want to stay alone.”

“Are you?” he asked cunningly as his other hand lay on her waist. “Aren’t you missing the dragon’s heat? —-I can help you with that.”

She did miss Boren’s heat, but this dragon was not him. Arlena took another step back whole she stumbled over the bed. “Thank you, but I’m not interested.” She replied firmly.

Boldan chuckled and grabbed her strongly by the hair, with the other hand pressing her waist to his body. “I like this game,” he drawled and licked her lips as if she indeed was a piece of food. “I’ll prove to you that I’m stronger, and then I’ll take you.”He snatched her head up, forcing Arlena to open her mouth, and he pushed his tongue inside her mouth.

The shiver in Arlena’s spine became so strong that it almost felt painfully pricky. She pressed her hands against his chest and, in vain, tried to push herself away from him with all her might. Boldan didn’t even slightly move from her attempts. She tried to scream, but he pressed her harder to himself, so she could barely breathe anymore. His hand was harshly sliding over her head and neck while the other one was scratching her hips, trying to pull up her skirt. Every Boldan’s touch was bringing her pain and terrifying horror; soon, his face in front of her eyes got blurred and dizzy. From the shock and a lack of air, she started fainting.