Day 37: The Deal
Sentence: 40-50 matches
Sentence: 40-50 matches
Wilde watched Blossom tending to her eggs, smiling and chatting with the young pink hatchling beside her. She’d make a good mother. And he knew, in his heart, that Ichabod would have been a great father. “That’s great, Blossom.” He smiled, but deep inside his heart, he knew he would have to tell her. He knew that he would have to break hers to tell her that her mate was dead. “I’m going upstairs,” he said suddenly. “I’m pretty tired.” He turned on his heel and headed up the stairs before the others could say anything.
Blossom looked at Maie. “Don’t worry, sweetheart,” she said, nuzzling the younger dragon. “I’m sure he’s just exhausted.” She turned to follow Wilde upstairs, leaving Blossom with her brother and Camellia.
Wilde laid on their bed, staring at the ceiling. His mind wandered, his thoughts all over the place. He wanted to tell her, to get it over with. But she was so fragile right now. He groaned and rolled over, facing the door. With a start he sat up. “Maie,” he mumbled. “I didn’t…”
Maie quietly stood in the doorway before she walked over and joined him on the bed. “Wilde, something’s bothering you,” she stated, a concerned look in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Wilde leaned on his mate, tears threatening to fall, but he wiped them away. “Ichabod’s dead,” he whispered.
Maie’s eyes widened. “Oh gods…” she breathed. “How?”
Wilde looked at her, his eyes cloudy and dark. “I think he fought one of the BTG alone,” he mumbled, looking at the floor.
“Ichabod didn’t pick a fight, Wilde,” she said softly, reading his thoughts. He turned to her and she smiled. “They ran into the dragon on the way home and had the hatchling, Camellia, with them. He wanted to protect them and sent them home.”
Wilde shoulders relaxed. He didn’t realize he’d been so tense. “That makes sense.” It still didn’t help ease the pain, but it did help.
Reginald stood outside of Wilde and Maie’s room. He hadn’t planned on listening, but after hearing the BTG killed Ichabod, his blood went cold. He knew how Blossom would react. It would be the same as when Shiraz died. But this time would be worse. Much worse.
He turned and headed back down the stairs to the living room. Blossom had gotten up, leaving her eggs wrapped in the blanket on the floor. She was posted at the window, smiling into it, watching, waiting for any sign of Ichabod. Seeing her brother in the reflection, she turned around. “Reginald, is Wilde okay?” she asked. She had a look of concern on her face, but her eyes were happy.
“He’s fine. He’s just napping,” he lied. ‘Another lie to add to the others,’ he thought. He moved to nuzzle his sister’s cheek. “Would you like me to go look for him?”
Blossom smiled and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Reginald,” she said softly. She returned to her eggs and continued to talk to Belle and Camellia.
He watched them for a moment before turning and heading out.
Reginald walked the abandoned streets of Kroni, mostly to clear his head. A lot had happened in the last few days. Lance’s death, moving away from BloodMoon and Gomez. Now Ichabod was dead and Blossom was going to be a mother.
He stopped suddenly. There was a pile of blood in the middle of the road. ‘This must have been where Wilde found him,” he thought to himself as he looked around. There was not another blood stain on the ground, so the other dragon must have lived, right?
“Reginald, you shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have come back.” A deep husky voice spoke from behind Reginald, who spun around. “You should have stayed away.”
Reginald’s eyes widened. It couldn’t be. “Father!” He started to run towards him, but was stopped by two Bogsneak. Their smiles were full of sharp teeth, their eyes glowing the infamous pink of Arcane dragons. “Father! Don’t do this!”
The older Imperial shook his head. “Your mother sent you away, Reginald. You weren’t supposed to come back. We wanted to protect you.”
Something wasn’t right. His father wasn’t like this. He was caring, gentle and hardworking. He wasn’t a killer and couldn’t be working for the BTG! It couldn’t be! This had to be some mind trick these dragons were playing on him. “Father! We had to come back! To res-”
“SILENCE!” The older Imperial roared, making the houses around them quake. He stepped closer, his eyes staring straight at his son, looking down on him. “I told you to never come back.” He started walking in circles around his son as he spoke, the two Bogsneak stood a few feet away, their eyes glowing just as they had done when his father appeared.
A light went on in his head. ‘That’s it! Those two dragons are making me hallucin-’
Suddenly, everything went black. When Reginald awoke next he was in an abandoned building he didn’t recognize. When he tried to sit up, he was held back by chains. He looked around to find himself in a makeshift jail cell. He realized what happened and cursed silently. “Seems we finally caught you alone, Reginald,” a deep voice said, from somewhere on the other side of the dark room. “Too bad it has to end like this.” With a wave of his hand, Reginald felt searing pain throughout his whole body and within moments, he’d passed out.
Blossom laid her head down on the floor. It’d been hours since Reginald left. ‘What was he doing and why was it taking him so long?’ She sighed and wrapped her tail around her eggs, making sure they were warm enough.
Camellia came in, bringing some water. “Still no sign of them?” she asked, setting the bowl down. She looked concerned as she laid down by the eggs. Lumi was quiet as she sat upon the blanket beside the eggs.
“No, nothing,” the Imperial replied, taking a drink.
A knock at the door caught everyone’s attention. Wilde got up and opened it, his eyes widening as he backed away. A large Bogsneak stood in the doorway, a scroll in his mouth. He spat it at the Wildclaw’s feet before grinning and looking around the room. Without waiting for further invitation that would not come, he stepped inside. “So you’re the clan giving us trouble,” he stated, standing in the middle of the room and looking at each face of the dragon that stared back at him. He grinned, his teeth glistening in the candle light. “The boss has had enough of your intervening and wants to make a deal.” His grin widened as he looked at Blossom. “Unfortunately for you, it won’t save the Mirror or your brother.”
Blossom’s eyes widened as her heart beat in her chest. “What did you do to them!” she shouted, standing up. “Where is Ichabod and my brother?” She started sobbing, but there was anger in her eyes. “Where are they, you monster!” Belle held her back from attacking him and tried to quiet her down.
The Bogsneak stood in front of them, not phased in the slightest by her shouting at him. In fact, his grin widened. “You are to leave the Scarred Wasteland and never return. If you don’t…” He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper and directed what he was about to say to Blossom. “If you don’t, he will kill you and your family. Think it over.”
With that, the Bogsneak turned and left into the setting sun.
I'm...I'm just shocked. I never actually thought I'd lose Reginald. I took Belle, Reginald and Camellia (she's an adult irl, but a hatchling in story for reasons you'll see later). I battled a bit in the Woodland Path so I could get Cam leveled up a bit and headed to Scorched Forest for a while for more exp. But after the 6th battle, Reg was hit with a crit by a Crowned Bonepriest and was killed from nearly full. I just...I just have no words.
Also, I was supposed to introduce a new dragon today, but since this happened, I'll just do it tomorrow...
I don't honestly think I can exalt these two so if anyone wants Reginald or Ichabod, please let me know!
And I'll update everything later...I was supposed to be somewhere and now I'm late! Whoops!
Backlog:
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This is turning into quite the sad story. I still love it though! I can't wait to find out how they all respond to this letter, and whether or not they'll actually leave....
