The Nine Dragons Dracula, The Dragon Prince Part Thirteen

 The Journey To The Castle 

They all looked ahead to the map. She noticed that, even though they all had made it this far, the castle was still not to be seen! This mildly annoyed Loc, yet she saw a note on the back.

Look three bricks out from the entrance.

Right. She thought as she looked back to see the bricks. She looked at all the bricks that fit that description. Then when she came to the one in the centre of the height of the door, she saw it. The loose brick and she has the ability to remove it. There she saw another map. She quickly noticed that the map led directly to the castle and there was nothing else and gave little description.

“What is it?”

“A map to the castle, here.”

The men looked at it and raised their eyebrows.

“It seems nearly empty.”

“I know.”

“And?”

“I think we need to take a break.”

So they quickly did. After an hour they all set off. Loc then, knowing that she could put it off no longer, walked to one of the nearest men.

“So, what are you here?” She asked, finally.

“Mainly to fight back, Loc.”

This sent a ripple throughout her body.

“How do you know my name?”

He and the rest let out a hearty laugh.

“By now who doesn’t know your name?” He laughed, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. “Everyone here does. Everyone has heard what you did to all of the previous dragons and their armies. Yet none of those reports were to be believed with people saying that you had dots in your eyes. Guess that’s me told!”

“What?”

“Yeah. And, I guess that you have given us all hope. Hope of a better future. Hope of freedom and to live in a world where these dragons are all gone.”

Oh no. Not again, not another word! She thought as she flashed back to when Wolf Raven destroyed all the rebels in her army against him.

“So how did you get here?”

“We found a secret entrance in the East cave.”

“Are there any in the castle?”

“None that we have seen.

She looked down.

“Right.”

“Also, you need to know, all of us are prepared to die and that this is our last chance. We cannot afford to give into our selfishness by not fighting. Not when the future is at stake.”

“Sir, we’ve already told her that.”

“I know. She seems to be needing to be reminded of that.”

She frowned.

“What?”

“All of us have a sense that this would be the only time we will be able to fight back. After all, some of us already consider ourselves dead if there is even the slightest chance we win.”

She looked to the side.

“But still-”

“No. All of us have chosen to be here. We all have made peace with our lives before we left. So we made sure that all here have an unwavering conviction. That way we are all able to make peace with our deaths.”

As they moved on and on, Loc looked down, her heart infected by guilt. Guilt from all of this. This planet must have seen far too much death over the past year than in any other and it was all because of her. No other person was to blame.

That was when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t ever feel guilty, Loc. We are all here out of choice and some of us would not have it any other way. Before all of us were dead inside. All of us were just lumps of coal to be added to the fuel known as their armies. None of us had a choice in the matter and none of us even had a reason to fight back or to hope, just having nothing but fear.”

She looked down and nodded.

“But they would be alive!”

“Yes, but a life filled with fear and without choice is no life at all. And we all would have been killed with the only hope would be that none of us would become a member of their armies. And, I guess we got that end of the stick.”

She looked to the side and nodded.

She looked on for a moment and saw the points of the tallest towers. Yet they all walked on and on. They all saw more and more of the castle. She saw the gargoyles all over the place. She saw the high and narrow gates poke out like stakes with weaving in and out.

“What an evil looking place!”

“Yes. I guess that it is.”

“It did not used to look like that.”

“Yeah, I heard there were different gates made of wood and it was a drawbridge.”

“And how do you know this?”

“We have seen the castle in old paintings in our king’s castle.”

“Oh.”

Yet she remembered one that looked identical to this one, just it was decorated with angels where the gargoyles currently were and the gate. No. That looked very pleasant but this one looked like it had no such thing about it. In fact, it seemed to be stripped of all pleasantness and goodness and light. It seemed to be bristling with the night and filled with ice. It seemed like dread and darkness clung to the building and no light could touch it.

“Right. Time to get this over with!”