Heir Of The Fallen Flame

Chapter 23: Meadow City

Kael groaned softly as something sharp jabbed repeatedly into his ribs.

“Move again and I shall leave you in the dirt.”

His eyes opened slowly; grey sky stretched above him through swaying branches while cold wind brushed across his face. For a moment, he could not remember where he was.

His eyes went wide open as he recalled the nymphs. They were just about to put a ring on Lyra's finger.

“Goodness!”

Kael jerked upright too quickly and instantly regretted it. His body protested, every inch of him aching terribly with pain.

“By the light..” he hissed, clutching his chest.

“You sure are loud as hell when you're awake!” Lyra muttered nearby.

Kael blinked through blurred vision until he finally realized where they were.

A wagon.

He sat inside a small wooden cart covered by rough cloth tied over bent branches. Two thin horses pulled it slowly along a narrow road cutting through open fields.

Kael frowned. “Where did this come from?”

Lyra sat across from him sharpening her sword slowly.

“I borrowed it.”

Kael stared at her. “You steal an awful lot.”

She paused mud clean, her eyes meeting him in that threatening look he knew all too well.

“I should have left you for the dead then. Since this is how you've intended to show your gratitude.”

Kael leaned back carefully against the wooden side of the cart, wincing again as soreness spread through his muscles.

Every part of him felt heavy like his bones had been dragged through fire. His hands trembled faintly when he looked down at them.

Kael swallowed slowly. “What happened?”

The last thing he remembered was the ceremony seeming to progress and then…he just…slept or something.

Lyra glanced up briefly. “You collapsed.”

He nodded, he could obviously tell that, “I mean how did we get out?”

“The nymphs let us leave.”

His eyes widened. “Uh? Just like that?”

That didn't make any sense. Why would they release them so quickly?

“They feared you.”

The sharpening stone scraped softly against her blade again.

“Did I…”

“Yes.” She replied. “And I am more than certain half the realm felt it.”

Kael blinked as fragments of memory flickered through his mind; heat, screaming, roots burning beneath golden fire.

And that voice that had been in his head.

‘Burn them.’

He rubbed both hands over his face slowly. “How long was I out?”

“Most of the night.”

Kael blinked. “You dragged me this entire time?”

Lyra paused again, dark eyes meeting him. He was damned heavy! She had to drag his almost dead self across the woods before she found this wagon abandoned.

Kael swallowed and cleared his throat. From the look in her eyes, it wasn't a conversation she wasn't exactly keen on having.

The wagon rolled over uneven ground, making the wheels creak loudly beneath them. Beyond the road stretched massive green plains dotted with scattered farms and distant windmills. The forest behind them had long disappeared into the horizon.

Kael stared at the open land silently for a while before finally speaking again.

“So…”

Lyra looked up.

“We are enemies of the tree nymphs now?” he asked.

Lyra gave him a flat look. “You burned part of their sacred haven during a wedding.”

Kael grimaced. “In my defense, the wedding was unwanted.”

“You still burned it.”

“I did not mean to.”

“That matters very little to people whose trees are on fire.” She offered.

Kael groaned softly and leaned his head back against the cart again. “Wonderful.”

“And you threatened their king.”

He shot back up, “Uh?! What?! What…what did I say?”

“You also made him kneel.”

Kael looked at her sharply. “I what?”

Lyra nodded once. “He looked ready to faint.”

Kael stared blankly at her. “That does not sound real.”

“It was.”

The wagon hit another bump. Kael winced again and muttered several unpleasant things beneath his breath.

Lyra almost smiled.

“Goodness.” He muttered, “I should be making less enemies now that I am a fugitive but here I am making more.”

“To be far, the nymphs needed a taste of their own medicine. They are known for being ridiculously inconsiderate.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “And now that they have, they might hunt you down to set a warning to others.”

Kael sighed dramatically. “Your compassion moves me deeply.”

Kael stared out beyond the wagon thoughtfully. He couldn't fully recall everything and he needed the fragments priced together somehow.

“You said they feared me,” he said quietly.

Lyra stopped sharpening the sword.

“They knew something,” he continued. “The king recognized whatever this is.”

Lyra looked toward him now. “Yes.”

Kael swallowed once. “What exactly did I say?”

“You asked him to name what you were.”

Kael frowned slightly. “And?”

Lyra hesitated. “That depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether you truly wish to know.”

Kael stared at her in silence. He needed answers and he absolutely hates that he has no clue the extent of the damages he caused and somehow, he would be held accountable for whatever that creature in his head did.

Lyra leaned back against the cart wall slowly. “He called you dragon-blooded.”

Kael froze. The wagon wheels continued turning steadily beneath them.

“What?”

“The First Tyrants,” Lyra said quietly. “Sky burners. That is what he called your bloodline.”

Kael laughed once. Lura was definitely pulling his legs! He should have known something was wrong with how honest she'd been responding to his questions. She hated that he asked questions.

“Dragons are stories,” he said.

“No,” Lyra said calmly. “Dead dragons are stories.”

Kael’s expression slowly changed. He didn't have any more questions to ask. Lyra returned to sharpening and cleaning her blade.

This was becoming way too real for him, she could feel it.

Kael looked down at his hands again; the same hands that could barely hold a sword properly. Now people claimed dragons belonged to his bloodline.

He exhaled sharply, “This realm grows more ridiculous every day.”

Lyra said nothing.

The wagon rolled onward beneath growing sunlight. Birds circled high above the plains while distant hills slowly appeared ahead.

And there, built between the hills like something pulled from an old painting was Meadow City.

Kael straightened, his eyes wide as he watched with a slight smile. .

Stone walls wrapped around the enormous settlement while banners of green and gold fluttered above tall watchtowers. Beyond the walls, rooftops stretched endlessly beneath thin streams of smoke rising into the morning sky.

The city sat beside enormous flower fields spreading across the valley like waves of color.

Kael blinked slowly. “…That is Meadow?”

Lyra nodded once.

“It smells…like heaven,” Kael muttered.

Lyra snorted softly before she could stop herself. Kael immediately looked offended.

“You laughed.”

“I did not.”

“You absolutely did.”

“You hallucinated it.”

Kael narrowed his eyes suspiciously. The closer they traveled toward the city, the busier the roads became.

Farmers passed them with wagons full of grain while merchants guided loaded horses toward the city gates. Travelers moved constantly between roadside inns and open markets built near the entrance roads.

Unlike Astra, Meadow felt alive. Kael watched everything from the wagon after pulling his face mask over his nose and mouth carefully.

Children ran through flower fields near the roads while musicians played near market stalls outside the walls.

Nobody looked afraid here. Nobody whispered about magic rankings or noble bloodlines.

It felt…normal.

Kael had almost forgotten what normal looked like.

The wagon eventually slowed near a narrow dirt path leading away from the main road.

Lyra pulled the horses aside. “We walk from here.”

Kael frowned. “Why?”

“Because Liam hates wagons.”

“That sentence explains nothing.”

She ignored him, putting her knife in a stealth as she adjusted her mask. Kael climbed stiffly from the wagon and immediately nearly collapsed when his legs protested.

Lyra grabbed the back of his cloak before he hit the dirt.

“If you fall one more time!” she warned.

“I despise everything today.” he muttered under his breath.

They continued on foot now along a quieter road curving around the outskirts of Meadow. The farther they traveled from the city entrance, the stranger things became.

The houses grew fewer, the roads became rougher. Kael looked around, wondering what it would feel like to grow up in a place like this.

A grown man flew sideways through the air just as Kael was about to ask Lyra a question.

Kael stopped walking immediately. Several wooden buckets scattered across the road as the man crashed directly into a fence before collapsing groaning into the mud.

Kael blinked. “…What?”

Another loud crack echoed nearby and a second man yelped in pain.

Kael and Lyra exchanged looks before turning toward the sound.

An open space stretched beside a crooked wooden house near the market. Five enormous men armed with daggers circled one very old man holding nothing but a wooden plank.

The old man looked ancient with thin grey hair tied behind his head. He had on simple brown robes and no shoes.

The duo needed not to be told that the old man was getting robbed by thieves.

One of the larger men charged first with a roar. The old man sidestepped lazily before slamming the plank directly across the man’s forehead.

CRACK. The man dropped to the ground, crying in pain.

Kael physically flinched. “Oh.”

Another attacker swung wildly. The old man ducked beneath the strike and smacked him across both knees with terrifying speed.

The man screamed and collapsed face-first into the dirt.

“Too slow!” the old man barked. “If you want to rob an old man, do it right!”

A third man rushed him from behind. Without even turning fully, the old man drove the plank backward straight into the attacker’s throat.

The man gagged violently before dropping his dagger.

Kael stared openly now. “What in the hells…”

The remaining two thieves immediately tried running. The old man pointed the plank toward them furiously.

“Where do you think you are going?!”

One shouted back desperately, crying. “I cannot feel my arm!”

“Then use the other one!”

WHACK.

The plank struck him across the back of the head before he fully escaped. Kael stared in horror as the man collapsed unconscious beside a water barrel.

The old man finally lowered the plank slowly. He gathered his sacks of onions and potatoes before walking away like he'd done nothing.

“He is as healthy as always.” Lyra said in pride.

Kael looked toward Lyra in disbelief. “This is the man you trust? Master Liam?”

Lyra folded her arms calmly. “You asked for training.”

Kael stared at the old man again just in time to see Liam casually walk away with sacks twice his size like it was nothing.

Kael swallowed slowly. “…I believe I may have made a mistake.”