The Legend of Alexandros: Belen (6 page)

With the dwarves gone the room seemed much larger. Elora helped the young boy put the chairs and tables back into place while Alexandros untied Raphael.

“You allowed dwarves to tie you down…?”

“Of course not…they seemed to have ambushed me…” Raphael paused. “Yes, that is what happened.”

“Hmmm…how odd since they stood directly in front of you.” Said Alexandros sarcastically.

Raphael fixed himself and walked off to help Elora. After a while the tavern was in top shape again. The young boy gave them the directions to the village inn as gratitude. The rain still fell hard outside, but they decided to make a run for the inn, being just a few homes away. They burst in upon arrival, only to find that the dwarves had also decided to stay there. Alexandros gave the dwarves a stern look. The innkeeper stepped behind his cramped desk and declared there would be no fighting and gave Alexandros a room down the hall from the dwarves.

As the night went on, the rain still continued to fall. Alexandros stood in front of the inn not caring that he was getting drenched. The night was extremely silent, but for the rain pounding the ground. The village was dark since no torches would stay lit; the darkness consumed the village, with nothing really visible…until he saw a strange golden mystical glow.

Alexandros soon realized a figure—it walked without touching the ground, and the rain fell around it. He followed the figure to the edge of the village. The glowing figure made its way into the dark rainy forest. Alexandros glanced back then after taking a deep breath he began to walk into the forest and follow the glowing figure. The woods were incredibly dark; his only source of light was the glowing aura. Rain fell from the treetops, the muddy ground was difficult to walk in but he had to; he had to know what it was. The aura was hypnotizing. He followed the glowing light until it stopped at the center of the forest. The rain fell hard around them as the glowing light faded, revealing a woman.

“I am the oracle,” she said with an eerie and haunting voice.

Her eyes were dark, her gown black and flowing; long, straight black hair flowed down her back. Her face was as white as snow and porcelain-like; when she moved, it seemed she was everywhere at once.

“Is vengeance what you seek?” she asked, her voice echoing off the trees.

Alexandros stepped back as she grew closer; he did not want to show fear.

“Is vengeance what you seek, Belen Alexandros?”

How did she know my name?

“Yes…” he finally said. She drifted, circling all around him as he stood in the center of the forest.

“What you seek you shall find; if one’s not careful it will be blind,” her ghostly voice whispered to him; her mouth never moved when she spoke.

“My vengeance will never be in vain!”

“Never allow hate to cloud your judgment, Belen.”

Alexandros began to speak when she whooshed in front of him, placing her hand gently on his mouth.

She whispered to him, “Seek out the Dragon; he is not how they say he is…”

“The Dragon?”

“Yes…the Dragon. Choose great allies for they shall help guide you in the end…Belen Alexandros.” She cleared a path in the woods for him, and just as ghostly as she had appeared she vanished.

Alexandros stood lost in confusion. Should he seek out this Dragon that the young lad in the tavern said was evil and causing trouble? The thoughts rattled him, but he chose to follow her request. Her magic filled his path; the air filled with tiny floating golden orbs that sparkled down the path. The lights guided him to the Dragon’s lair; his narrow path began to widen as he grew closer to the cave’s entrance. He approached it but did not enter. He could not understand why he was to seek out this creature. Dragons were evil vicious monsters that hunted and preyed upon any being that happen to fall victim to them, and now he was to actually go seek one out? He took a deep breath, drew his sword, and slowly made his way into the cave.

The cave was dark and freezing. For several minutes he waited for his eyes to adjust to the surrounding darkness. He paced himself slowly as he walked through the cave until a white light came into view. The cave became colder than ever; he turned to noticed that ice crystals highlighted the caves walls and ceiling, clear as water they formed down with sharp pointed tips…it was a magnificent, enchanting sight. After a moment he began to hear what he thought was the crying of a small child, he then walked into a clearing in the cave. The cave was filled with the sound of crying, —crying full of sorrow. He followed the sound until he came upon its source…the Dragon.

The Dragon sat in front of a small pond in the clearing of the cave that was beginning to freeze up, and it stared at its reflection.

“Can you see it?” The Dragon asked in almost a childlike manner. Alexandros stepped closer. “Can you see it?”

“See what?” Alexandros answered in a gentle voice.

The Dragon began to cry again. “Can you see the evil the villagers speak of?”

At that moment Alexandros knew there was no evil in this Dragon. It was beautiful and peaceful. The Dragon was all white, so white you could barely notice its scales; it had a black mane that started from the center of its head and traveled down its back going all the way to the tip of its tail. It had four long black horns on its head. Its eyes were light purple; its talons were not as sharp as they should have been, and its wings were large with the inner lining of light purple. But the Dragon was not huge; he stood only eight feet tall.

“Why do they hate me? They never even speak to me.” The Dragon said while weeping.

Alexandros put away his sword. “They say you are evil,” he said softly.

“But they do not even know me. When I leave my cave, the villagers hit me with stones and scream the most horrible things at me…so now I am trapped in this tomb with nowhere to go.”

Alexandros was saddened for this poor creature, and he now knew why the oracle requested him to seek the Dragon. It was to be rescued and saved from this place he was trapped in and maybe to even join him. He gently placed his hand under the Dragon’s chin and slowly lifted his head. More tears fell from the Dragon’s purple eyes.

“You will come with me,” said Alexandros.

“Why are you being so kind, human?” The Dragon asked.

“…Because it is what you deserve.”

CHAPTER V

VILLAGE IN FLAMES

E
ARLIER THAT EVENING
…

T
he rain continued to fall hard over the BueHoov village. Back at the inn, Princess Elora had watched Alexandros follow the golden light into the woods. Her heart began to race.
Where is he going?
After all she had been through; he had made her feel safe. Elora had never been on her own. If it had not been for Alexandros, she would have lost her life that night in the woods, and from the moment she saw him walk off, she knew she had uncontrollable growing feelings for him.

She paced the cramped round inn room, worried. Raphael, on the other hand, was in the hall bickering with the dwarves. The dwarves had taken their drunken party from the tavern to their room, and they were extremely loud. While Raphael argued with the dwarves, Elora stared out the window into the woods. Just then Raphael came in yelling into the hall once more at the Dwarves.

“If I must come out and tell you one more time!” cried Raphael.

Princess Elora turned to him as he slammed the door. She watched him make a fool of himself as he bickered with the Dwarves. “Why did those dwarves have to choose this very inn? I have never had to deal with such madness in my village,” he said, frustrated.

“Maybe if you were to ask them nicely the dwarves would lower their voices,” she said.

“My lady, if it were that simple, do you not think I would have tried?”

“Well, let us see then centaur prince.”

Elora made her way down the long narrow stone hall. The third floor hall was long and dimly lit; only two rooms were on this floor, and they were down the hall from one another. As Elora walked slowly towards the dwarves’ room, she heard the sound of thunder echo through the hall, making her walk a bit faster, guided by the light from three small fire-lit lanterns hung from the walls. She knocked twice before Bixbin answered the door.

“Oh, princess it is you,” Bixbin said, surprised. “We thought it was the pony returning for seconds.” Bixbin said with a mighty laugh.

Elora slightly smiled at his joke. Bixbin welcomed her into their room.

Their room was much larger than hers. Theirs was square and messy. The dwarves loafed around and drank, but once they saw the princess they jumped up to their feet and were perfect gentlemen.

“What may we do for you, my lady?” Bixbin asked. “Do you need for us to run that pony out to the barn?” He added with another great laugh.

Elora ran her fingers through her long dark hair; the dwarves glared deeply at her.

“Well, I do not wish to be a bother…but if it is all right with you, I would appreciate if you would to keep the noise down just a little.”

A small look of disappointment grew on Bixbin’s face. “It would have been easier to beat up the pony, but very well my lady, we shall try to keep the noise down…for you.” Bixbin answered politely.

With that taken care of, Princess Elora wished the dwarves a goodnight and returned to her room. She opened the door with a proud look upon her face; she glanced around the dark room only to find Raphael glaring outside the window.

“You see,” she said with a smile. “A kind word goes a long way. All you had to do was ask nicely.”

Raphael just stared out the window; he stood frozen staring outside. For several seconds there was an eerie silence…

“Raphael…” Elora whispered nervously.

When Raphael said nothing, she went towards the window and she peered out and was horrified at what she saw…. the goblin horde marching into the village.

Three mountain trolls carrying giant clubs accompanied the goblins. The mountain trolls were huge, sluggish creatures that were terribly ugly; they had hunched backs and were lean; they stood extremely tall, reaching twelve feet high, towering over all. The trolls roared into the village, tearing the homes down and destroying everything that stood in their path.

The goblins barged into the tavern and dragged out the young teen boy; they dropped him to his knees and said in their ghoulish voice, “Barbarious sends his regards…”

The boy looked on in horror as the goblins pierced him with their rusted old swords and bloodied up the ground.

The mountain trolls kicked and smashed the homes all around them. Limbs flew to the ground as the trolls fed upon the villages. The goblins chanted “Barbarious! Barbarious! Barbarious!” With their gurgling voices.

The dwarves, weapons fully drawn, began to battle ferociously with the horde. The dwarves used their most powerful hammers to smash the goblins as if they were nothing…but then the mountain trolls approached.

“We have to get out of here,” Raphael said to Elora.

Tears ran down her beautiful pale face. “We are trapped, Raphael. We have nowhere to run…we are trapped here.” Just the sight of the goblins made her freeze in terror. “Where is Belen…?”

Raphael could see the fear in her eyes, but just then Bixbin kicked open their door.

“Get out now!” He screamed.

Raphael pulled Elora by her arm, but before they could escape…the room exploded.

CHAPTER VI