“Who is there?!” She looked scared and her voice was shaking. I was seated beside the rusty metal cage on a small wooden stool.
“Me, I am here.” I said in a reassuring tone.
“You have to go,”She looked stressed, I could see her eyes going all around trying to find the user wherever he could be hidden.
“He’s gonna come back, he’ll kill you and punish me!” I could see tears rolling down her face.
“That user is dead. You don’t have to fear him anymore.” I said.
It was a terrible sight, she was scared and on the verge of becoming crazy. The more I was trying to reassure her the more she was growing aggressive towards me. She didn’t know what was real and what was not.
“You're not real. Are you?” she said in a scared and angry voice.
“You’ve done this trick on me too many times already, and I won't fall for it another time!” She was just not believing in me at this point. The princess had backed away in the far corner of the cage and she was looking at me with a fierce and angry expression.
“I am here to help you. My name is Ith…” I was cut short by her shouting at me.
“No! I won’t believe in you only for me to be killed again and wake up back in here!”
I raised my voice in the hope of getting my point across. “I am here to help you! Not hurt you!”
She looked confused for some time before saying “He never did that before…”
“Excuse me?” I asked, a little confused by this response.
“The dark user, he never raised his voice at me.” She started inspecting me more closely, looking at my attire and my shape before making a stop when looking at my eyes.
“Why are your eyes purple?” she asked, still in the corner of the cage.
“Because I am royalty.” I had answered in the most confident tone I could muster while maintaining eye contact.She gave me a puzzled look before saying.
“No race that I know of has a genetic feature that ascertains their nobility?” She began studying me even harder, looking at my every features, ears, skin color, fists, anything that could give her a hint of what race I could be.
“I am not a race that usually helps the other races with their problems. Ironic, considering we were created for that.” I said in an amused voice. She gave me yet another puzzled look before asking me my name.
“My name is Ithan Lightbearer.” I said, clearly hinting at my family name.
“Lightbearer! Like my father’s guard?!” she made a surprised face, surely thinking about her family.
“Yes, Dean Lightbearer is my father even if some things have changed in the past few months.” She was now almost out of this hell.
“That means your human!” she exclaimed before quickly going back on her statement. “But no human has purple eyes. So what are you?” She gave me a confused look, still perplexed by my biology.
I looked at her in the eyes and said “My name is Ithan Lightbearer, I am the Heir to the dragon god Irilath.
“The magician kept saying that, but it was a different name.” She made a pause thinking about something.
“Ug…Og...Ugolath I think.” She wasn’t sure but it was the second time I had heard that name already.
“Hey! Dragon guy!” the girl said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“How are we going to get out of here?” The princess asked hesitantly.
“First, we need to go back up.” I answered in a confident tone while holding out my hand.
***
It took us about 30 minutes to make the way back out of the tunnels, but when we finally did, I saw the males orcs attending to their new crops, the childrens were playing together and the women were watching over them as they chatted about everything and anything.
A young orc girl waddled towards us and stopped in front of the scared princess. The human girl hid behind me with only the side of her head poking out.
The little orc asked. “What’s your name?” While pointing at me. I answered in monster tongue. “My name is Ithan lightbearer.” Before asking back. “What is your name?” with a joyful voice.
The little girl giggled and answered. “My name is Po’zua.” She then started pointing in the princess’s direction
“What is her name?” I looked at the princess who looked absolutely terrified, and translated what the little girl had just said.
“Oh… M-my name is Lucy Kirkston.” The little girl looked at her confused.
She looked at me and asked “Can you tell me what she said?” I answered that the name of the girl behind me is Lucy Kirkston but she is scared because she is far away from her home.
Before the little girl could ask more details, Aj’rak arrived and said in a sweet fatherly voice. “Leave the scared girl alone little hunter.”
The little girl protested. “But dad, she is so beautiful!” I translated what she had just said to Lucy and I saw a little smile curling up her lips as she blushed.
The chieftain looked at her child before saying. “I have to go to their village to explain why we were kidnapping people from their territory.”
“You’re leaving already?”The little girl made a sad face when hearing the news.
The little orc’s father answered in the same sweet voice. “Don’t worry little hunter I’ll be back before you know it. You should go see your mother. She might need help.” The little girl agreed and went away.
The chieftain looked at me and said in a more serious voice. “I am ready to go.” A few minutes later we were in the air.
It took us a few hours to reach the castle, we were flying at low speed and altitude so that the people on my back wouldn’t faint from the height and loss of air. Princess Lucy had since long fallen asleep and Aj’rak was contemplating the world below us.
“You see this every time you fly?!” The chieftain asked with a childish glee. The chieftain raised his head and looked up at the sky watching the stars appear in the twilight.
“Yes, the sky is a very beautiful place that is sadly inaccessible for the people stuck on the ground.” I said contemplating the stars with him.
“I wish you could see this little hunter.” The chieftain said, the starlight reflecting in his dark pupils full of hope.
“Could you wake up Lucy? It's the girl we are traveling with. Please?” I asked Aj’rak. The orc looked hesitant before answering.
“But, I’ll scare her.” I looked at him and smiled.
“Yeah you’re right, I’ll wake her up once we're near the castle.” Once we touched the ground, I sent a mental message to Lucy telling her that we were almost to the castle and she almost immediately woke up.
“We’re here?” the princess asked excitedly. “Yep, we’re here.” I answered excitedly as we landed.
***
A few minutes after we arrived, We separated from Aj’rak and the royal guards that had been stationed at the entrance for our return guided us through the daedalus lay out of the castle until we reached the quarters of the royal family.
“Your majesty! The princess is back!” To those words, the royal couple came running to the door hugging their daughter as if they wanted to squeeze the life out of her.
“Thank you so much! You have done so many things for me! What could I possibly do to repay my debt!” The king was shaking my and so vigorously that I thought it was about to fall off.
“You don’t have to repay anything your majesty. Consider this a service for the greater good.” I answered happily
“Thank you. Now go enjoy some rest. You deserved it.” The king gave me a pat on the back before returning to his reunited family.
I was in the room my father used when he had to stay at the castle for a long time. The guard had just left with the empty plate of food I had eaten even though I didn’t really need to and my eyes were slowly closing. At one point I stopped resisting and gave way to slumber.
“Ah! Finally we will be able to talk.” a familiar voice said as I fell asleep reminding me of my title.
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