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Then they raced downstairs, and Lysene came to meet with Leoric. She was holding a small bottle filled with a portion, and when she saw Leoric, she raced to him. “My lord, you must take this” she said while opening the bottle.

“What is that?” asked Aryan.

Leoric drank the whole portion without asking questions, he trusted Lysene and this wasn’t a time for him to start asking questions.

His face grew sour, it was vivid the portion wasn’t sweet and nor was it a wine or a juice. “It’s meant to resist compulsion; Aurora can read people’s minds just by a touch of her hand. She is a witch!” Leoric replied still feeling the effects of the portion, Lysene handed him a cup of water to wash down the bitterness. He took the cup and drank the water in one gulp, then he continued outside of the castle.

Aryan was escorted by three slaves to a discreet dungeon where Aurora won’t smell her, nor would she bother to look. The slaves told her, “If she comes here, you run. Keep running until you find the sea, wait for our master there” the slaves instructed her, then they left. Aurora wasn’t so shocked by this secret exit, most of castles and palaces have secret exists just in case the city is under siege. Built for rulers to escape carnage.

This day Aurora didn’t land outside the city’s gates, just like the last time when Artemis visited the Mines, she landed right there in front of Lord Leoric’s mighty castle. The guards opened the gates of the castle in a hurry and knelt down before Aurora as she passed through them, Vizoro remained behind while the good folks of the Mines gawked at her. They came in numbers even though it was freezing outside, there was a sun but it did nothing to give heat to the people, a fake winter sun so they called it.

Most of them were terrified of the dragon, yet they couldn’t stop looking at Vizoro and wondered, “Was it the same dragon who burned Old City?” and did the queen brought her beast to the Mines to burn the city to the ground? Well, none of the good folks came to a conclusion as to what brought Aurora to the Mines.

.....

Leoric welcomed Aurora before the main doors of the castle, he was accompanied by five lords of high status and one hundred Killers in their armors and sharp swords, although Leoric knew he wouldn’t need the Killers in such confrontation with Aurora.

Aurora was still in her black dress made from the finest silk fabric in Maldonia and adorned with twinkling stones, and a brown trouser. She barely wears trousers, but when she needs to ride a dragon, they came in handy and it was easy for her to hang on to her saddle comparing to when she only wears a frock.

Leoric knelt down on one leg, and so did his slaves and fellow lords. “Your Grace” he said softly.

“Rise, Lord Leoric of the Mines” Aurora looked down on him with a frown look on her face, she felt a strange thing when looking at Leoric. It’s as if he had something to do with the disappearance of her dragon eggs, although she wasn’t sure yet, but her guts have never lied to her.

Leoric rose up and fixed his blue tunic while smiling at Aurora, then he reached out for his lose hairs and tightened them up using a knot. He exhaled and turned to look at Aurora, “This is a surprise Your Grace, has my dear wife passed?” he asked and this made his fellow lords laugh, even he laughed.

But Aurora wasn’t into his mind games and nor was she in the mood to entertain them.

“You would like that, wouldn’t you? So you can be free to whore yourself all over the city?” said Aurora.

“Who said I wasn’t free?” Leoric gained his serious composure quickly and locked eyes with Aurora, he wasn’t intimidated by her, not even one bit. “What do you want Dragon Queen?” he asked with arrogant tone. “If it’s my support on the current riots happening in Blackmount, I am always willing to support the crown. How many men do you want?”

Aurora quipped in, “I didn’t come here for your slaves” she said, her tone sour and commanding.

“Did you come to burn the city then?”

“What do you take me for Lord Leoric? I am not a heartless queen” Aurora raised her voice to Leoric, but then Leoric wasn’t intimidated at all, he stood firmly looking at her.

“We already have a heartless king, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Children burned in their mother’s breasts in Old City, do you hear me, Your Grace? Innocent children and what did you do after that? Oh, I have the answer… you went on and made sweet love to the man who burned his own people. So much for a compassionate and caring queen”

“Watch your tongue lord Leoric” warned Aurora, she was panting heavily and full of rage.

Then suddenly, Aurora grabbed Leoric’s face by her two hands and closed her eyes for few seconds. Leoric resisted but the grip was tight, no one understood what was going on apart from Leoric who played the scene perfectly by resisting until he was free of Aurora’s hold.

“What did you do to me?” asked Leoric, his eyes widened with amazement and again, pretending to be shocked.

Aurora gasped loudly, she was embarrassed for acting without thinking, maybe a hand shake would have been enough. The lords who accompanied Leoric were members of the royal governance, and some she had shared feasts with at the capital and this made her more embarrassed.

“I… I didn’t mean to do that” she stuttered, then walked back to her dragon in a hurry, the shame following her behind as if it was racing to catch up to her. This act of grabbing Leoric’s face was like adding fuel to an already bursting out flame. The rumors of her being called a witch had been circling for years, and that day, she just gave people more reason to believe the rumors.

Vizoro laid out her right wing and Aurora climbed up, Leoric was looking on closely with a smile on his face, that evil smile knowing his plans were safe and the Dragon Queen would never know what’s coming to her. Aurora flew her dragon and the good folks cheered for her, she was seen floating in the sky for a few minutes and then all that was visible was her silver hairs as she disappeared among the clouds.

Lysene rushed to Leoric and embraced him in a tight hug, she was so happy that she kept him safe from the “witch’s compulsion”, as she called it. Leoric sighed softly and kissed Lysene’s red hairs, he was relieved the worse was done, for now. He knew she would come back again and this time he needed to be ready, and hence Lysene was asked to make many portions for the time to come.

After two days of roaming around Arboil looking for the thieves who stole her dragon eggs, Aurora gave up on the search. She used her magic to find the eggs, but since she had never even touched them, the magic bounced and she gained nothing. She even asked sailors and peasants if they saw men carrying huge eggs, but none of them truly saw anything.

She felt stupid by even asking that, of course they would hide the eggs from people they pass through. They were thieves yes, but not stupid. After she found nothing, that’s when she had this feeling in her gut that maybe Leoric was responsible. That’s when she flew to the Mines with one thing in her mind, to get information out of Leoric, whether he wanted it or not.

Too bad for her, she didn’t get anything when she touched him. The portion worked wonders because all she saw, was a blank page ─ totally black without any sort of information. Her magic bounced on lord Leoric and this wasn’t normal, something blocked her vision.

Aurora arrived in Blackmount exhausted and sad. As soon as she landed in front of the dragons’ cave, Visera came out running to her. She stopped when she saw Aurora crying, and that’s when she knew straight away the mission of finding the dragon eggs failed. Visera didn’t ask Aurora anything, she opened her arms and embraced Aurora tight while caressing her silver hairs softly.