Dragon Quest - I - Chapter 1, Parts 5 + 6

Departure and shadow... (pp 40-46)

5 - The Morning of the Journey

Two days passed.

By the time night became dawn, Aleph had already finished his preparations.

He had put on a thick pair of leather walking boots and wore a perfectly-fitted leather jerkin over his chest. He had a cape, and a leather helm. In a leather sack he slung over his shoulder were some herbs and protective charms from Jessica, the blue stone and old map that were found with him as a child, and a variety of other things necessary for the journey.

After offering up a long prayer, Aleph, Gaul and Jessica had their farewell breakfast.

First, Aleph decided that he would head to the northwest of Alefgaard, where the bardic prophet Garai had built a town named after himself.

Once they had finished breakfast, one of Ralus XVI’s guard-lieutenants showed up, bringing with him the gifts his highness had promised Aleph. It was the young lieutenant present in the audience chamber when they were attacked by the undead soldier, the one that threw the dagger.

The lieutenant reverently offered to Aleph a longsword belonging to the Ralus royal family and a leather sack filled with currency.

The hilt of the blade was engraved with the Ralus family crest, a winged lion, with red jewels set for its eyes. The silvery double-edged blade shone like a mirror, freshly polished, and emitted a fine lustre.

“Take this, and be careful… Says his highness,” the lieutenant began. “And actually, I have a favor to ask. This doesn’t come from the king, but from me personally.” He put on a serious expression.

“Please, look for any clues about Princess Laura.”

“The princess…? But I thought Princess Lara was…”

Everyone in the kingdom knew that Ralus XVI’s daughter, the one who would have inherited the throne, was killed by the Dragonlord’s minions soon after she was born.

“You can’t mean that she’s still alive!?”

“Not exactly…” The lieutenant shook his head darkly.

“I just can’t get rid of the feeling that maybe she might be. That night, we were having a feast to celebrate the week anniversary of her birth. I had just been hired into the guard, and assigned to protect the palace.

42

Almost as if he knew the moment she was born, the Dragonlord sent a division of shadow knights to attack the castle. Princess Laura’s handmaiden was viciously slaughtered.”

“Shadow knights!?”

“But my older sister, Laura’s wet nurse, took her and fled the castle, with the Dragonlord’s monsters in pursuit. Of course, I went with the search party and looked everywhere for them. Finally, ten days later…”

The lieutenant bit his lip, recalling the painful memory.

“We found the body of my sister in water, in the sea at the bottom of a cliff. No matter where we looked, though, we couldn’t find Laura.”

“But that might not mean…”

“I know. She may have been swept away by the waves, or found by some other monster…” The lieutenant hesitated. He didn’t want to say she could have been eaten.

“But there’s a possibility that the Dragonlord’s minions took away the princess without killing her. If she had survived, then she should have just turned fifteen, like you.”

“Fifteen?”

Suddenly Aleph recalled Ralus XVI’s face, the sadness he expressed when Aleph told him how old he was. He must have been thinking of the princess.

“But he didn’t mention anything to me.”

43

“Such is our king. He thinks of his kingdom and of the happiness of his people over his own. He always puts himself second.”

“Then does his highness hope Laura is still alive as well?”

“I don’t know. I know that sometimes, when he’s alone, he cries. I know he’s thinking of that beautiful, kind handmaiden and the face of his adorable daughter. I know they live on in his heart.”

Just then, three chimes rang out. The morning bells of the cathedral.

It was time for Aleph to leave.

6 - The Dark Generals

A descendant of Loto lives -- the Dark Generals were astonished after hearing this, upon listening to the report given by the undead knight that had infiltrated Radatome Castle. The news had come out of nowhere.

Now, in the Archwizard Zaltotan’s chambers within the Dragonlord’s castle were Zoltotan himself, along with the other four Dark Generals - the shadow knight, the devil knight, the reaper knight and the star chimera. They were holding a council to determine whether or not to report their findings to the Dragonlord.

With only two years to go before the Jewel of Light’s predicted two-hundred year resurrection, for such a problem to present itself was greatly irritating to the generals.

44

“If this rumor is true... Then whose corpse was that babe’s which was presented to the Dragonlord all those years ago, I wonder?” Zaltotan asked to the devil knight.

Had he a tongue, the devil knight surely would have bit it. He was particularly upset after hearing the report.

Fifteen years ago, the devil knight was the one who was ordered by the Dragonlord to lead the attack on Domdora, and he was the one who presented to him the blackened corpse of a babe insisting it was Loto’s descendant.  He had believed strongly himself at the time that the child he brought indeed carried the blood of the hero.

“Moreover…” Zaltotan turned his gaze to the shadow knight. After hearing the undead knight’s report, Zaltotan had one more worry to add to his unease. The princess.

“If Ralus XVI’s daughter is still alive somewhere…”

“Archwizard! We have no basis for this claim!”

“Except that her body was never found.”

The shadow knight turned his head and grunted.

45

He was the one in charge of the Black Shadow squad, and of heading the assault on Radatome.

Several days after the assault, he reported to the Dragonlord and assured him that the princess was killed, despite not providing her body. It was right after the devil knight had assassinated Loto’s descendant, so the Dragonlord didn’t try to rebuke his claim.

“At any rate… I would like to request that we postpone reporting this to the Dragonlord for the time being,” the devil knight stated, his gaze shifting from Zaltotan, to the reaper knight, then to the star chimera. His eyes entreated them with an urgency belied by his words.

“Very well. We have time to confirm the situation before reporting it to our lord. We need to ascertain for sure if that boy is truly a descendant…” Zaltotan looked to the star chimera for her agreement.

She let out a sigh. “As you wish,” she stated, and nodded to the devil knight.

“My thanks.” The devil knight lowered his head.

“You’d better leave this to me,” said Zaltotan.

“So you plan to use him again, then?” asked the shadow knight. He grimaced at Zaltotan and spat.

46

The four Dark Generals adjourned their meeting.

“Now then…” Once they were gone, Zaltotan headed over to his crystal ball and began an incantation.

Unlike the other Dark Generals, Zaltotan was once a high priest in service at the Temple of Rubiss. He had perished in the great quake of 1348, but was resurrected by the Dragonlord’s magic, and pledged his allegiance to him as one of the six Dark Generals.

There was also one more who was in service at the temple whom the Dragonlord called back to life. Zaltotan’s son and disciple. Zaltotan was summoning him now.

The crystal ball absorbed the light emitted from Zaltotan’s fingers upon forming the magic sigil and began to glow. With a voice wrenched from deep within his bowels, Zaltotan called his name.

“Domovoi!”