Dragon Knights Fan Fiction ❯ Twenty Themes ❯ Something That Is Unaccessible ( Chapter 2 )

Warnings: mass confusion, mystery, the promise of immortality, Alfeegi angry, T/E,
Size: 5.55kb

One day he found a quiet spot and climbed up to it. He settled himself and curled up into a ball, then fell asleep.

The argument started as soon as they'd figured out what he'd done. Alfeegi was the first and the short Dragon officer yelled at him, before storming off for reinforcements. He returned with Ruwalk and Lykouleon and showed them what he'd found.

"He's crawled up there," Alfeegi spluttered. "What on Dusis is he doing?"

"Are you sure it's him?" Ruwalk said, shaking the long brown hair from his eyes before peering up. "He's not moving, maybe it's just a sculpture that's always been there?"

Alfeegi stared at Ruwalk, then rolled his eyes. The Dragonlord stepped past them, approached the wall and called out.

"Come down!" he said.

There was no response.

"Are you sure it's him?" Ruwalk repeated, stepping closer, but looking at the other two. "How often do you travel this way? I know that he's stubborn, but this is a little extreme, isn't it?"

Lykouleon placed his hand on the wall and closed his eyes. No-one heard any of the words he spoke, but a gentle glow suffused the Dragonlord's hand and leeched into the stone. He sighed when he opened his eyes.

"It's him," Lykouleon said, "and he's not coming down."

"He has to!" exclaimed Alfeegi. "He's got a job to do. We need him."

"What are we going to do?" Ruwalk asked, glancing back and forth. "I've never heard of this happening before. Have either of you?"

The other two stayed silent and Ruwalk continued.

"Of all of them, he's the worst. Once he's made up his mind to do something, even something stupid, there's no turning him. How can we get him to come down?"

"We should force him out," snarled Alfeegi.

"How do you plan to do that?" Ruwalk replied, pointing up at his hiding place.

"If we got a stone mason, we could reach him," he responded, rapping on the wall with his fingertips.

"And tear down the castle?" Lykouleon asked. "That's not like you."

"Besides," Ruwalk sighed, crossing his arms. "He'll just move somewhere else in the castle if we try, somewhere we can't reach him."

"So what do you suggest that we do, Ruwalk?" Alfeegi asked, as he started to deflate.

"I think that we have to wait for him to come down by himself. He can't stay up there forever," he stated.

Word spread throughout the castle and beyond. Everyone who walked past stared up at him and many took a small diversion on their journeys just to see him. Rumours started that whoever talked him down would win enormous riches. The more time passed, the wilder the rumours got: some even said that the Dragonlord himself would bestow immortality on whoever finally reached him.

Nervous maids, excited Dragon Fighters, visiting diplomats and even unwelcome tourists all whispered, pointed and waited for a quiet moment to call him down. They pleaded for him to aid them by returning to his duty. They called on his sense of responsibility to Dragoon. They offered what riches they had. They offered him praise and a life of ease. They spoke in a whisper, telling the tales of their harsh lives, but nothing moved him.

The senior dragons tried different tacks. Ruwalk, embarrased that he'd been proven wrong, would look at him, sigh and quickly move past. Tetheus looked at him once, then never mentioned him again. Kai-Stern, fresh from some new adventure, was eternally surprised by his presence. Raseleane sat beneath him and softly pleaded for his return. Lykouleon smiled at him and said that he'd wait with him. Cernozura stopped by, from time to time and filled him in on the latest news and gossip in the castle. She figured that since he was there for the long run, he may as well find out what he was missing. Perhaps she thought that a semblance of normality would move him, but he gave no sign of having ever heard her.

Alfeegi had the oddest response. Each week he would stomp up and launch into a tirade. Alfeegi accused him of being stubborn, looking for attention, wasting everyone's time, placing the kingdom in peril and trying to claim too much on expenses. He left a little calmer than he arrived.

Things grow old, even for dragons with long lives. The visits grew fewer, until people forgot why they used to pass by. Even Alfeegi would shuffle past and not look up. He grew tired and dusty.

Lykouleon was the only one who never forgot him. He continued to look up, wave, say "still waiting?" and then move on.

It grew harder for him to pay attention to the world around him. Alone, curled in his ball, he ignored the world around him, as he was ignored.

An odd scraping sound woke him.

Then a tapping noise focused his attention on the corridor beneath.

He looked down to see another pilgrim looking up, the first in ... how much time had passed?

"We'll soon have you out of here," said the pilgrim, a human with messy, green hair, before unpacking a set of tools.

He rolled up his sleeves, exposing a number of cruel scars and picked up a hammer and chisel.

The steady tap, tap, tap, of his effort vibrated through the stone and made ripples in the glass of water on Lykouleon's desk. The Dragonlord smiled.

"I don't think you'll have to wait much longer."