A Place to Belong - Chapter 17
#18 of Malakye's Story - Part 1 (A Place to Belong)
Chapter 17 of 'A Place to Belong'. Eric and the others arrive on the scene as Malakye mourns Rose's death.
As you may have noticed I'm posting pics with a chapter of the story below, each of the pictures are a commission I've gotten from various artists of characters from the story and I'm still requesting more.
If anyone fancies doing a picture or piece of fan-art from the story using any of the characters or places then they are welcome to do so, let me post the pics with the story and I'll give a link to your user-page when I use it.
All the pictures I've used so far and more are available to be viewed in my gallery with info on the relevant artists that drew them for me.
I'd like to give a big shout out to 'Roderick the Rhodesian Ridgeback' (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/zizixmp3/) for proof reading my story. He's a great fur with a big heart and I can't thank him enough for doing all he's done to help with the story,
You may notice a few words have been highlighted and an explaination of what it is is given, these are words that only exist in this story and are there to help you understand whats happening, these descriptions only appear the first time they are used and won't appear in future chapters but soon I will be posting an encylopedia of sorts contain all of these word and more allowing you to discover many things about the world that may not even appear in the story. If you feel like I've missed a word then please let me know and I'll make sure to add it to the chapter and/or the encyclopedia for future reference.
Chapter 17
Someone was talking, I wasn't listening to them. No. I just couldn't hear them. My attention was on Rose, my beautiful Rose. The dragoness who I had given my heart to in just a couple of days, a dragoness who had returned my love.
Someone was grabbing me, the contact made me look away from Rose's face for the first time. It was Eric; he was looking down at me with pain filled eyes. He was saying something but I couldn't make out the words. Jason, Michael, Cody and Aceh were there as well. The expressions on their faces told the entire story of the scene before them. What had happened here? I wished I could remember. Aceh moved to my side and helped me up, I didn't resist... there was no point. Rose was dead and that wasn't going to change.
I remember being picked up by Aceh and slung over his shoulder... and then running, a lot of running. Why were we running? Were they in danger? No... I was. I had scorched all of Vireon's goons and literally ripped Vireon himself apart. The Guard would be there soon and I would be arrested. They would execute -or at least incarcerate- me for the rest of natural born life.
Aceh dumped me in one of the wagons and then it started moving, I don't know how long it was before we stopped but it was still night time. Eric and Cody had come to check on me a few times but I didn't respond to them. I couldn't bring myself to do anything but lay there and watch the scene over and over again in my head, the one with Vireon stabbing Rose.
From time to time I would get flashes, memories, glimpses, of what I had done. In those flashbacks there would be fire, lots of fire, and pain felt screams around me. Another flash and there would be Vireon, he'd be begging for his life. Darkness for seconds at a time and then another, usually with Vireon again, his face twisted in an expression of pain. The thought sent shivers through my whole body, what had I done to him before he died?
I don't remember falling asleep but I do remember waking up, it was daytime then. Cody was there fiddling with something and he sat a few feet away, looking rather worried. I just lay there watching him; I had never seen Cody so glum before. Was it my fault that he was like that? It probably was...
I wasn't strong enough to protect anyone, not even myself. I needed to be stronger, so that people like Rose and Cody didn't suffer because of me. Cody was my first real friend in this world, and Rose was the only one I had ever loved. I was going to live my life without regrets, just like Rose had chosen to do, and to do that I needed to become stronger.
I felt the cart slow to a halt and I pushed myself up to my feet. Cody let out a cry of surprise. I smiled at him and left the cart, jumping to the ground and looking around for the furson I needed to talk to. Eric, Michael, Jason and Aceh were all gathered by the lead wagon two wagons ahead.
My feet moved without thought towards them. I heard Cody shout from behind me and it caught the attention of the others who then looked in my direction. Each one of them held a look of amazement when they saw me, but something else as well. Fear and worry was also etched on their faces, were they afraid of me? Or were they afraid for me? It didn't matter, my mind was made up.
I walked right up to Aceh. The giant tiger looked down at me with curiosity, and I stared right back at him with a look of determination. The others didn't say anything, probably waiting to see what I was going to do. Even Eric looked apprehensive.
"Make me stronger, I need to be stronger." I said with all the determination I could while trying to keep my voice steady. "I don't want those that I love and care about get hurt or suffer because of me. All my life I've been by myself. All my life I've had nothing to protect but myself and that made me strong... but I need to be stronger. Help me please." His head tilted at my request and after a few moments of tense silence he nodded.
"Tomorrow, we will begin. Today, you rest." His voice was deep and commanding, and it sent a shiver up and down my spine. I realized with a start that it was the first time I had ever heard him speak. He patted me on the shoulder with a massive paw and walked away. He walked past Cody and the others without a word and climbed into one of the caravans.
"It's good to see you're up and about again buddy." Jason said with a smile.
"Malakye, what happened back then?" Eric asked.
"Umm..." I stopped for a moment. "We were on our way to the tavern to meet you guys when Vireon and his goons jumped us." I explained. "He... he stabbed Rose and then the next thing I know you guys are there and I'm surrounded by torched animals." There was a silence for a few minutes until Eric finally spoke up.
"So you don't know what happened before we got there?" Eric asked.
"No... everything just went black." I answered; all of them shared a look that peaked my curiosity. "What?"
"Well... around the time you were attacked there was an incident. All of the torches, lanterns and fires in the tavern and the streets flared and caused several small fires around town. Then when we found you there were all those burned bodies around you..." Eric's voice droned off.
"What are you getting at Eric?" I asked.
"I think you might be a Manipulator Malakye. An Elemental Manipulator."
"A what?"
"Yeah Eric what's that?" Cody asked.
"Some Dragons have the ability to manipulate specific elements such as water, fire, earth... I think that's how you killed all of Vireon's guards." Eric explained.
"That's a little hard to believe Eric. You're saying I have the ability to control fire?"
"Yes that's exactly what I'm saying!"
"That's so cool!" Cody announced
"Yeah that's pretty awesome." Jason added. "Any ideas as to how you actually do that Malakye?"
"None... I've never heard of anyone being able to control elements like that before. I wouldn't even know where to begin!"
"Well perhaps... hmm... I need to think about this a little." Eric said closing his eyes and rubbing his chin in thought. "In any case, it's good to see your feeling better Malakye. You've been unconscious for nearly three days now."
"Three days!?!"
"Mmm... I bet you're hungry. All right then, we'll stop early today and let Malakye rest." Eric turned to Cody. "Cody if you'd be so kind as to get a fire started..." he turned to me. "Malakye, you go with Cody." A cough. "As for the rest of us" He said to the group, "Set up camp."