Chapter 17

When the cacophony of horror in Arlena's mind yielded to complete silence, and she descended into the abyss of her fate, a thunderous voice interrupted her, bringing her back to consciousness. It was another dragon. He berated Boldan and forcefully pulled him away, leaving Arlena on her knees.

"Are you out of your mind?" the dragon scolded Boldan. "She belongs to Boren. Do you want to be decapitated?"

"Go away from me!" Boldan pushed his friend aside. "She's just an elf, who cares? Boren's probably already having fun with the city's elves."

"He said to protect her!"

Boldan paused before responding, spitting his disappointment next to Arlena. "That's if he returns. —Everyone knows he doesn't have enough soldiers to take that city."

"He's a good general, and if the king believes in him, it means he can do that."

"The king?" Boldan chuckled. "Do you think he cares about us? He sent us to the end of the world to deal with some elves. —A shame!"

In a second, Boldan's friend unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Boldan's neck. "Choose your words carefully, Boldan," he warned. "The king will not tolerate betrayal, neither do I."

For a moment that felt like an eternity, the room plunged into a heavy silence. Arlena was still sitting on the floor, slowly regaining her senses, while two dragons stood frozen over her, on the brink of life and death.

Finally, Boldan spoke first. "My apologies," he drawled slowly. "This witch stupefied me. —I didn't know what I was talking about."

"Leave," the dragon said shortly and sheathed his sword.

The name of the other dragon was Bron, and he was much gentler than his friend. Bron helped Arlena stand back on her feet and ensured that she was alright. In a rare display for dragons, he apologised.

"Please don't think that all dragons are like Boldan," he said, pouring Arlena a cup of water from a clay jar in the corner of her room. "Dragon women differ from elves. A man has to fight for their attention." He paused to think before continuing. "But even a dragon's woman wouldn't tolerate such behaviour. She or her family would probably kick his ass." He chuckled and handed Arlena a clay cup. "I will punish him later," Bron reassured Arlena.

While Arlena learned about dragon traditions through bruises and bumps, Boren fought on the walls of the city of a rising star. His initial plan was to set the city's walls on fire, and to some extent, it worked well, even though he lost at least twenty soldiers in the process. Soon, the fire caught a huge section of the city's wall, bringing a sense of satisfaction to Boren. Unfortunately, that fire wasn't enough to spread to the city as he had hoped, nor did it ruin the wall completely. The trees used to create a fence were alive and well-nourished, making the fire weak, and the elves were able to extinguish it. The fire couldn't even move the stones that had sat between the trees for centuries.

"We should use more resin to burn the city to the ground," Bortrad suggested amidst the noise of battle. He, Boren, and a few more sergeants stood in a tent a mile away from the fighting, studying the map. "What would you say, Boren?"

Unlike everyone else, Boren chose to stand at the entrance to their tent, carefully watching the battle in the distance. "The rain is about to start," he said thoughtfully.

"That's impossible!" One of the sergeants approached Boren and looked outside. "The season is dry, and the sky in the morning was clear."

Boren exhaled tiredly. "Use all the resin that's left. Keep burning the same spot. Sooner or later, the wall will fall."

"And what if not?" someone asked behind Boren. "Dragons can't keep climbing the wall; we have too many losses from the snakes and other poisonous creatures living in the trees."

"These elves are also skilled with bows. Our losses exceed all estimates," Bortrad added. "Starving them is also pointless. They grow food inside the city..." he mumbled to himself. "Dragons will certainly starve first."

"What about the siege tunnelling unit?" Boren knew the question was likely pointless since, if the unit succeeded, they would have known by now from the battle's outcome. Yet, he had to keep talking, just to ensure no one would notice his internal turmoil about the entire campaign. At this point, he felt indifferent to the outcome; all he wanted was to hold Arlena in his arms, away from the war, away from the whole world. Inhaling the aroma of her skin and tasting her lips for days on end. "They should have sent a soldier already to report their success."

"Do you want to send a scout from our side to check on how they're doing?" Bortrad asked.

"Yes, after the sunset." Boren extended his hand from the tent, and a few chilling raindrops fell on his skin. "Nature itself is helping them," he thought.

"We have to hurry up with the resin," one of the sergeants concluded, and everyone hastened to leave the tent except for Boren and Bortrad.

"What's with you today? Are you already ready to give up?" Bortrad approached Boren's melancholy figure, still standing at the tent's entrance.

"I've been fighting for the king since I was a kid," Boren said thoughtfully, watching soldiers load carts with barrels of resin. "He personally rewarded me as his best general. I crossed half of Oceanside with this army, conquered tens of cities, big and small, and now he's using my army to pave the way for someone who will actually take over this city."

"Only if you lose." Bortrad leaned on the opposite side of the tent's entrance and also watched the working soldiers. "We still have a chance to win this battle. And whether you lose or win, you will prove your loyalty to him."

The unspoken truth between Boren and Bortrad was that back at home, Boren was a celebrity. His victories had elevated him to a level of fame he never sought. He had surpassed the king's fame to the point where Boren became a threat to the throne. The only thing Boren couldn't agree with Bortrad on, though, was that winning or losing this battle wouldn't prove to the king anything.