Sweet Waters Throne

138 Chapter 13After spending the whole of that night riding Vizoro and tearing down because of her fight with Artemis, Aurora found herself taking the unusual skies of Raven. That’s how fast dragons can fly, a journey which could have taken her up to ten days or fortnight on carriage, it only took a few hours on dragon back.

The good folks of Raven for the first time woke up to witness a dragon ─ no longer a myth or tale, but a living dragon so huge with green gills and roaming sounds. The King was just buried yesterday and they were still in mourning but those tears were distracted by the sighting of Vizoro flying just close to people’s houses.

Some of the people who were scared the dragon may unleash flames and destroy the whole city retreated back to their chambers, hiding places where they were sure the fire won’t reach them and those who were Holly raced to fill the Sept and pray. This chaos reached the palace of Raven and Aryan woke up quickly by the neighing of the dragon, at first she thought it was a horse but she knew the sound felt different.

And when Vizoro landed on the front gates of the palace, the thud was heavy and cracked the weak walls of the quarters. Then Vizoro screamed, the guards aligned themselves in front of the dragons with shields and swords. Aurora smiled, how stupid can they be… defending themselves against a dragon with shields and swords.

“I come in peace” said Aurora still on top of her dragon. “I want to speak to the Lady Hand” and then the gates of the palace were opened. Lady Aryan walked outside of the palace to meet Aurora, she was accompanied with five knights of the Kingsguard and Sir Tyriol whom she believed could kill a dragon because of his strength if she asks him to.

Aurora dismounted Vizoro and landed on her feet, she was still in her silk dress from the night she fought with Artemis, barefooted and worn out after flying for so long in cold air. Aryan was angry without a reason, or mayhaps that’s just her face because she swore never to laugh again until all her brother’s enemies were brought to sword. She was in full black and even the cloak she wore was also black, she ditched the golden cloak with lion’s sigil until she gives her brother justice.

Aurora stood close to Vizoro as she watched Aryan closing on her with her guards. Then when Aryan was close enough to her she was the first one to speak “I’m so sorry for your loss my lady” and Aryan didn’t seem so appreciative of that condolence.

Hence Lady Aryan asked arrogantly “Why are you here Your Grace? Very far from home, is this a threat?” and then she looked at Vizoro meaning did Aurora bring out Vizoro as a threat to Prophisians.

“If I wanted to scare you my lady, I would have burned your city to the ground by now. But we are not enemies, I am here to offer my condolences” Aurora straightened her face.

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The whole thing sounded too good to be true, Aryan wasn’t easily convinced “You flew your dragon all the way from Blackmount just to offer your condolences? I don’t trust you, leave my city”

“I can help you find your foes”

“I can find my foes I don’t need your help. They say you practice dark magic because how could you ride a beast like that” Aryan looked again at Vizoro, however this time Vizoro didn’t like it when she was called a beast. When Vizoro opened her mouth and aimed herself at Aryan, right there the fear was spotted on Aryan’s eyes and she took a step back.

Aurora soothed her dragon and whispered to her in Low Moor to calm down, then Vizoro closed her mouth and relaxed. “She wouldn’t burn you or anyone, dragons are faithful and obeying creatures. They are not beasts and Vizoro didn’t like it when you called her a beast”

“Get out of my city Aurora, I’m not in the mood” Aryan clearly wasn’t in the mood to talk to Aurora or her dragon, and she didn’t need her help in getting to her foes. Tyriol led Aryan back to the palace chambers, other kingsguards followed but then suddenly Aurora shouted to Aryan “I know what you did to the Taelins” but she didn’t specify exactly what she meant by that.

This caught Aryan’s attention and she stopped walking, by this time the good folks of Raven had surrounded the space outside the palace to witness the dragon. Some came to see Aurora for the first time, they whispered throughout that she was a warlock and she uses dark magic to ride her dragon. But to their disappointment Aurora looked nothing like a witch.

The rumors that Aurora had red hairs burning like flames were put to rest that day when she displayed her brown thick hairs scented with heavy oils. Some people also claimed that Aurora’s face resembled witches and she had unpleasant look, yet there she was in the early sun shining and looking so beautiful more than anyone in attendance.

But what did she meant when she said she knew what Aryan did to the Taelins? That was the question everyone wanted to hear from Lady Aryan, yet instead of feeding the gossip for the good folks to devour. Aryan continued to walk back inside the palace without a care in the world although she was so shocked how did Aurora know.

The gates of the palace were barred once again, and Aurora decided to fly away since she was snubbed by Aryan and denied entry. Vizoro took her upon the sky of Raven one more time and the good folks cheered for Aurora, they even raced as they called Aurora’s name. The same good folks who condemned her and called her a witch, the world had a way of turning things around.

From there Aurora wandered around with her dragon just flying, practicing magic when she lands and finding abandoned forests along the way. The trees are what were supposed to give her powers, as a seer she heavily depended on concentrated grounds and trees to draw power from. But not all trees just few chosen ones, mostly preferred the old trees as Visenya instructed her.

While she was looking around from the top, Aurora saw one particular ancient tree and decided to land on it. The tree was huge with many leaves but the barks were brown and the branches almost crushing. The leaves were red and maroon, the color of blood ─ also the color of Maldonia.

The whole place was in total morbid silence; not even birds were present in this area. Aurora could hear her own footstep as she walked and Vizoro seemed to not like this place. “Come on V, we’ll only be a minute. Don’t be afraid” said Aurora in Low Moor while soothing her dragon to remain calm.

As she approached the ancient tree, there were voices inside her head but they came in such a way she couldn’t grasp what the voices were saying. It felt like chattering of different people was happening at the same time, but they stopped when she touched the tree.

Then it was back to morbid silence again. Aurora knelt down before the tree and touched the soil beneath the tree “Oh ancient tree, to thee I seek guidance. Let me see” it was her grandmother who taught her this spell in Low Moor and she said it perfectly with her eyes closed.

Suddenly the air around there changed and a strong wind blew in her direction, Aurora opened her eyes to see the wind blowing every leave and flower towards her direction. She wasn’t scared and nor did she move, she remained intact and clearly she wanted the tree to help her see the visions. When Aurora closed her eyes she saw Lord Cregan Lawsend handling a poison to the baker, then the baker poisoned the cake and raced towards a ship.

“Where did he go?” asked Aurora still her eyes closed and hanging tight to the soils of the ancient tree. “Oh ancient tree, let me see” she repeated again in Low Moor. Then visions were clear as a daylight, the baker took a ship to Whitebridge and Aurora even saw the manse he was staying at.

When she opened her eyes she had known exactly who was responsible for Bleeding Feast, and from there she mounted Vizoro and flew again. When she came upon a small village along the way, Aurora sked for an ink and quill in exchange for her silk dress. The villagers gave her a wool cream dress to wear and they took the silk dress.

Aurora wrote a letter to Lady Aryan and sent it through an envoy since she wasn’t allowed inside the palace. Inside the letter she didn’t say it was her who wrote the letter, but it was well equipped with the baker’s location and his involvement with Lord Cragan Lawsend. Since the village wasn’t far from Raven, the envoy promised to be there by the next light and Aurora appreciated him. She flew back to Blackmount that same day.