Volume 2 Chapter 38 – Under the Eye of a Dragon (Patreon)

Haku was elated to have visitors and without a second thought began jumping around Morrigan and Galandir in joy, his tail whipping around and sending his chewed-up toys flying. Morrigan had to dodge a few random toys as she tried to calm the dragon down.

"Yes, I am happy to see you too, Haku," she cooed, gently rubbing at his snout.

"Still keeping him locked up, I see," Galandir noted bitterly, looking around the stables. It was by no means a small structure as it could easily fit four double-decker buses inside it.  However, there was certainly not enough space for a dragon to feel free. And Morrigan knew that before long, it would be impossible to make the stable any larger. What would happen to Haku then?

"He's too young to leave," she argued weakly, pressing herself against Haku. He picked up on her sad mood and nudged her gently in an attempt to cheer her up. "I'm alright, Haku. You don't have to worry about me."

Galandir sighed and picked up a large, half-chewed wicker ball that was lying in the corner and threw it. Haku bounced after it happily and caught it, chewing on it mercilessly and making the material crack underneath his teeth.

"Anyway, Haku is not the reason we are here. I need you to talk," Morrigan changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on Haku's lack of freedom at the moment.

"Talk about what?" the elven boy looked to the side, deliberately avoiding her gaze.

"You know what!"

"You're just going to tell your daddy and make everything worse again," he retorted, and Morrigan felt a heavy pang of guilt in her chest. She really had made everything worse in a way. Instead of being a fallen slave, he essentially became a demon slave, confined to dungeons no less.

No, you don't know what would have happened if you had let them drag Galandir away. Perhaps, they wouldn't have even allowed him to live.

"I'm sorry that you got sent to the prison, but tell me would you really have wanted to accept whatever punishment the fallen deemed right for you?" she said seriously, and his expression got grim. Haku sensed the heavy mood and gently padded over to the elven boy and threw the wicker ball in front of him. He smiled bitterly and threw it again, watching how the dragon bound after it.

"They would have killed me," he stated.

"Y-You don't know that…" Morrigan objected, but mostly because she didn't want to accept the fact that there was somebody wicked enough to kill a child when he didn't fulfill the impossible task they had set out for him.

"No, I do. They wanted to kill me on that night when I failed to get your blood, but allowed me to live 'temporarily' to serve as their champion and retrieve the Burmese Ruby," he said, and Morrigan gasped in shock.

"Wait, get my blood? Didn't you come to steal magic gems?" she asked.

"Ha! Who'd keep the most treasured gems of the Empire in their bedroom? They wanted me to sneak inside and get your blood while you were asleep. After all, a drop would have sufficed. But you ruined the whole thing right from the get-go," Galandir explained, but he didn't really seem mad about the fact that the plans got ruined. In fact, he looked relieved.

"What do they need my blood for?" Morrigan asked, horrified that the fallen had been targeting her.

"To open the Royal Treasury of course. As far as the fallen know, there are only two people in the whole world who can open it – the Demon King and his direct heir. And guess who is the easier target," the elven boy said.

"Me."

"Without a doubt."

"But what do they want from the Royal Treasury? The magical gems? The gold?" she asked him, although she knew that there wouldn't be an answer that would make it all alright.

"My guess is that they wanted it all. Gems to strengthen the warriors, gold to strengthen their kingdom, and use whatever else for their gain," Galandir shrugged, and once again retrieved the wicker ball, which was barely holding together, and threw it for Haku to catch.

Morrigan paused trying to process the information. The fallen had always bitterly opposed the Demon Kingdom, but to go as far as to steal something right from their homes. It must have been a rather desperate move. Or perhaps, they were just sure that they could get away with it. But what gave them the confidence?

"How'd you know the layout of the castle so well?" she asked, as she realized how flawlessly Galandir had navigated through the castle corridors which had taken Morrigan a long time to remember properly.

The elven boy went silent for a moment, contemplating something. He narrowed his eyes on her as if trying to determine whether he should trust her or not. But as Haku nudged him with the wicker ball, he took a deep breath and said, "A demon woman provided the information about the castle layout."

"A demon woman? Who?" Morrigan's mind reeled as she thought which demon would sell out their own Kingdom to their enemies. All demons didn't like other races, and thinking that demons would betray their own for fallen who they actively hate was unthinkable.

"I don't know who she is. I only caught a glimpse of her once. Black-haired demoness with red horns and glasses," he said, and Morrigan felt her blood run cold. There was a demoness who fit that description perfectly.

"Asdeus," she muttered, clenching her fists. "To think that she'd stoop so low."

"So you know her?" he asked curiously.

"She used to be my teacher when I was four years old, but she tried to use me for her own gain and made my life in the Underworld miserable. Because of her actions, I ran away back to Earth thinking that my father would hate me if he found out that I was a human. But that wasn't true," she explained through gritted teeth, remembering the unpleasant memories.

"Wait… so the Demon King knows that you used to be a human?" the boy's mouth gaped in shock.

"Of course he does. He's my father. Although I didn't realize that back then."

"That is… That is actually rather shocking. I didn't think the Demon King would accept a child with a human past. With the way how much demons hate humans," the boy said.

"He is much kinder than many people think. And I am sure he will be sympathetic toward your situation as well if we explain everything you just told me to him," Morrigan said and grabbed Galandir by the arm, preparing to melt into the shadows and head straight to the King's office.

"Wait, wait, wait. Just because he was sympathetic toward you, doesn't mean he'll be that way toward me. You are still his flesh and blood, but I am not even a demon. Heck, I am not even from the Underworld. You might as well have dragged a human in front of him and asked him to spare it," Galandir pulled his hand back and hid behind Haku, who looked content to act as his shield.

"Explaining yourself will certainly not make matters any worse. Besides, I do not believe that the fallen will have given up just because you failed their expectation. It would be foolish to base their whole plan on the success of a child," Morrigan gently pushed past Haku and took Galandir's hand again. The boy looked visibly uncomfortable, no doubt not wanting to face the King.

"But what if he–"

"It'll be alright. Trust me on this," she reassured and began to gently pull him along. He didn't resist anymore, instead allowing her to lead him toward the door. But before they could reach it, Haku began snarling viciously, the pupils in his eye dilating to cat-like sharpness.

"We'll come back later, Haku," she tried to console the dragon, but he only snarled more viciously.

"I don't think he's snarling at us. Listen," the elf said and pointed towards the door. Morrigan tried to hear whatever it was Galandir was talking about but couldn't hear anything. At least not at first. After a few tense moments, she heard something resembling a whisper from outside the stables. Haku's growls intensified and Morrigan had a feeling of dread growing in her stomach, so she did the only logical thing.

"Father! Azrael!" she called on the top of her lungs, in an attempt to summon them. But the only thing that happened was that laughter came from behind the stable door.

"Clever Princess," said a man's voice and the stable door was flung open. Inside strode a tall, white-haired fallen with vivid green eyes. His facial features reminded Morrigan of Mrs. Heinspiel to a degree that he definitely must be related to her in some way. However, she never noticed this man among the guests.

"Who are you?" Morrigan asked, sticking close to Haku, who looked like he was ready to attack the man at any moment. 

"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is that you're coming with me," he said and strode toward her. Haku launched a warning fireball at him, but the fallen man blocked it with his wing, the fire harmlessly dissolving against the tough feathers. He then raised his hand and some sort of shimmering powder came from his palm, floating toward Haku, Morrigan and Galandir. 

Before the dust could reach them, Galandir waved his hand, summoning his wind magic and blowing the particles back at its producer. They blinked out of existence before reaching him, and the man looked at the elven boy in annoyance.

"You dare to oppose me, slave! You should bring the Princess to me," the fallen man commanded, but Galandir shook his head, despite the fact that his features were marred with fear.

Think, Morrigan. You need to somehow summon Father or Azrael, but it seems like they have somehow blocked the summoning ability just like Asdeus had. But if it's the same type of hindering ability, it means it has a limit. If I slip into the shadows and reach outside that limit, I should be able to call for help.

But before Morrigan could turn into a shadow, the fallen man threw an ice spear straight at Galandir. She produced a wall of fire, melting the incoming ice attack. This, in turn, triggered Haku, who leaped at the fallen with full intent of biting into his flesh. The man dodged the dragon's attack and directed his ice spears at him instead. Thankfully, Haku's scales had no problem deflecting them.

"Quite a powerful dragon you have here, Princess. We could find a good use for him. Men, secure the dragon, and kill the slave. I'll deal with the Princess," the fallen ordered, and two dozen men dressed in black clothes from head to toe poured into the stables. Morrigan's breath hitched as she recognized their outfit as the same one as the assassin that was sent to kill her when she was a baby.

This is really bad. I need to get Father or Azrael as soon as possible.

However, as the dark figure and the fallen man got closer, Morrigan couldn't help but feel weak and defenseless. Her hands trembled, but she knew that there was no time to cower in fear. She looked around frantically, hoping to come upon a solution somewhere in the stables. However, all she saw were just broken scraps of Haku's toys.

"Princess, we need to get out of her," Galandir called out frantically as he began flinging ice spears at the black figures. But it was obvious that he was fatigued from his stay in the prison, as he had trouble conjuring ice and began breathing heavily.

The masked figures however looked at the peak of the power and deflected the icy attacks without any issues. The fallen man jumped towards Morrigan, using his wings for balance, but Haku blocked his way, furiously flapping his wings and swinging his tail left and right to keep the attackers away.

"Focus on the dragon first," the fallen commanded, and two men charged at Haku, pulling out the shortsword that sat at their hip. In an attempt to protect him, Morrigan launched a fireball at them, forcing the two men to stop their assault and fall back. Seeing the fire smolder out on the cobblestone floor, she remembered all the fire practice she had done with Haku high above the Demon Castle. 

That's it! If I can't summon my Father verbally, then I just need to signal him differently.

Morrigan allowed the anger and fear she was feeling to take over her and keep growing in intensity. She channeled this energy into a fireball, but instead of shooting the flaming orb at her enemies, she shot it straight up. It burned through the ceiling and went high up above the Demon Castle like a firework.

"Oh shit…" the fallen man said as he watched the fireball go up.

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