The Price of Revenge: A Bloodstained History

[Shadow Dragon]

Brandon nods, "Yeah, I'll go over to the tavern later and let the barkeep know I'm OK. Thank you, Zali."

"The tavern's past it's closing hours," Ed told Brandon, "but he might still be there cleaning and locking up. Better get down there now."

"Of course, and again, thank you,"

"Would you like an escort, your majesty?" asked Samantha.

"I'll be all right," he stopped, then chuckled, "and really, the formalities aren't necessary."

"Oh I beg to differ,"

"As if you really have a shot," said Brian, rolling his eyes.

"And what's that suppose to mean?" hissed the female dragon, "Can't a women be nice to a man of royalty without anyone assuming she's after him?"

Brandon laughs at that and replied, "Just for the record, I'm sort of tied up with tending to this country to be thinking of marriage at this time."

"Married to your work and position, huh?" asked Tristan.

"More or less. Feel free to make yourselves at home in the meantime."

"Hey, hey, what about the dead cow in the middle of the room?!?" Torvan asked him, but didn't get an answer as he and the gang watch Brandon exit the castle and lock it up tight.

The draconic gang look at each other.

"He's too trusting," said Luke, "leaving us here alone like this, ya know?"

"What's THAT suppose to mean?" Torvan asked him.

[ganondorf2]

"He's always been that way," Ganondorf said, with a smirk before turning serious, "It's 'funny' about these attacks, however. The friend I mentioned went to see about the attack and the damages as well. She's not going to be happy about all this..."

[Shadow Dragon]

"I imagine not," said Torvan.

"I think...I'll be havin' a look around," Tristan got up and was about to walk away, but was stopped.

"Every one of you are staying right here where I can keep an eye on you until the prince gets back!" snarled Zali.

"What, you don't trust us?"

Zali bared his teeth and lets out a draconic snarl, making Tristan back away, "All right, all right, you made your point!" he sat down in a chair, "Geeze!"

"If ANYONE causes trouble with these people and His Highness, and his residence in any way, I'll show you no mercy...! That means any thievery attempts will be dealt with personally, and I WILL know!" then back to everyone else, "Same goes to you if you cause trouble with my pack, understand?"

Torvan just rested both hands on the walking cane, knowing that he wasn't in any shape to do much anyway. Sparky walked back into the main room, looking around and questioning, "Did he leave?"

---

By now the rain had turned into a light mist, a sign of it's end. Brandon entered the tavern, the creaking noise of the door caught the barkeep's attention.

"If ye looking for some service, ye be too late," he yelled from the back, "I be closing shop for the night, so unless ye want the scraps in the garbage, be on with ye!"

"It's me, Mr Black Fang," Brandon called.

The barkeep walked out of the room with glasses in his hands, and saw the prince, "Ah, your highness. Apologizes, and fancy seeing ye here!" he begins to put away the glasses.

"I'm sorry to have come in such short notice-"

"Bah, don't worry about it. You, I don't mind the late arrival. Have a seat and I'll be right with ye."

[ganondorf2]

"Don't think that he won't notice you moving around," Nova said, "I was going to train with myself a little, but I don't mind waiting out on that."

He sat down, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes, before meditating.

[Shadow Dragon]

"I suppose you're going to 'keep an eye' on us, too?" questioned Brian to Nova.

---

Brandon took a seat at one of the wooden tables, just as the barkeep walked out of the back doors and sat down in a seat across from the prince.

"Again, sorry I don't have anything to offer ye," he said, "outsiders be stormin' the tavern and bought out every last morsel of food and every drop of drink."

"It's all right," he replied, "I have dinner waiting to be carved and cooked at the castle anyway, and it's a little too late to be drinking."

"Tell that to the freeloaders lookin' for a handout," spoke Black Fang, "lot of human peasants 'round here. Some even broke into this here tavern two weeks ago lookin' for gold and food scraps, but I took care of 'em the old fashioned way by cuttn' their hands off." He points to the left of him, showing a broken window, "I have yet to get that fixed."

"Hmm, that's not good. I'll see what I can do to take care of that problem. From the way Zali made it sound, things did seem pretty hectic earlier, and I'm glad to see my father's old laws are still effective."

"That they are,"

He sighs to this, "As bad as I feel for them, the rules of modern society don't apply here, and we take thievery very seriously, so I can't help the lower classes even if I wanted."

"I understand," said the barkeep, "ye do things strictly by the book."

"It's how my father raised me, and I promised him I'd uphold tradtional law if I ever became king, but as I told an acquaintance earlier, I have my hands full just being a prince at the moment, and..." Brandon then decides to change the subject, "actually, Black Fang-"

"No need for formalities," he replied, "call me by me first name: Calhoun."

"No, I'd rather not," Brandon sighed, "I'm here to ask you a question."

"Aye," Black Fang didn't want to get into a squabble over a small thing as a name, "what shall it be?"

[ganondorf2]

"That I am," he said, "I was ahead when it came to your boss, so I'm making sure nothing comes to problems for you as well."

[Shadow Dragon]

"Uh, thanks?" said Brian.

"So, how's your drunk buddy?" questioned Ed to Sparky.

"Completely conked out," Sparky sighed.

"I'm surprised," said Zali, "dragons usually have a high alcohol tolerance."

"So how many did he have?"

"I have no clue,"

---

"Have you had any strange customers come in recently?" Brandon asked, "Or anything that could shed some light on what's been happening and why there's been attacks in the neighboring lands?"

"No," sighed Black Fang, "oh, there was one man who came in here askin' about ye the other day. Told him I knew no one of your status or even ye name."

"Any info on the guy?"

"I don't know his name, but he had an air around him that gave me a bad vibe," he said, "his scent was the same scent that comes from half-dragons."

"Half dragon?"

Black Fang nods, "And the rancid scent of dead blood."

"Sounds like one who'd been recently revived," said Brandon, getting chills in his bones, "so, we're back to that again, aren't we?"

"You mean the events that the black dragon, Seles, caused? I remember you tellin' me 'bout that."

"Either way, that doesn't give me much info to go by."

"I'm sorry I'm not much help in that matter," said the barkeep, standing up and walking over to a wooden bucket, tossing a towel into it, "just want ye to be careful, ya know, especially with outsider dragons lurking about. Had more dragons in this tavern than usual this evenin'. Because of them, I sold out me inventory and need to gather more tomorrow morning. They seemed to have been hidin' from something."

"Maybe hiding from this half-dragon individual," assumed Brandon, "OK, I'll look into it further and see what I can do."

[ganondorf2]

"I'm guessing it's too strong, even for him," Nova said, "Since you're here, could you answer me one thing?"

[Shadow Dragon]

"I don't even know what the hell he had in the first place," said Zali, "and yes, what is it?"

"I'm sure he'll be fine after he sleeps it off," sighed Sparky, "he'll sure feel it tomorrow morning, though..."

---

Blackfang then changes the subject, "I'll tell ye one thing, your highness, with all the bloodshed lately...I really ain't proud of our draconic race right now."

"Neither am I," the prince sighed, "anything more I and the others can do to help?"

"As of right now, no, but I be sure and let ye know as soon as I hear somethin'." he gets up and walks over to a wall, taking down a bow and arrow, "I may be getting on in age, but-" he pulls the string back, and firing it at a wash bin; a wooden bucket, on a table. The arrow pierced into it and made it fall off the table, causing dirty water to spill onto the floor, "-as you can see, as a self-taught archer, I can still shoot one hell of an arrow!"

"Rather not have you involved in our affairs, but age has nothing to do with it," reassured Brandon as he watches the bucket roll on the ground before stopping, "I've seen aging dragons in their final hours fight and kill with their final breath, but just as I have a kingdom to uphold, the same with you and your tavern business while you're still alive,"

"Then keep me on the last minute backburner," he replied, getting up, grabbing a rag, and walking over to the watery mess he caused, "just don't be rulin' me out yet."

"Noted."

"And, um, what were ye gonna say before, laddie?"

"I was just thinking..." he replied, "While I'm grateful for you and the descendants helping out with traditional upkeep, I'm not sure how much longer this kingdom is going to last."

"Eh?" BlackFang stopped cleaning and looked at Brandon.

[ganondorf2]

"Has your passed-out friend, mentioned a demonic dragon as of late? One that has a metal plate covering his lower jaw?" he asked.

[Shadow Dragon]

"I don't believe so," Sparky answered, "well, as soon as he wakes and sobers up, I plan to catch up with him anyway."

"Yeah, I could use some sleep myself," yawned Brian.

"Let's wait for Brandon to come back before we decide on anything," said Torvan.

---

"Humans, much like us dragons, don't stay in one place for long and will move on. With advancing technology and modern living, I've long accepted that. But for those who remain here to keep the medieval era tradition alive...if anything happens that destroys our way of life, and we're driven out of this land...I don't know where to go from here. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm old fashioned and this lifestyle is all I know, Calhon, but the villagers..."

"Ye don want to alienate them with modern culture if forced to move, yes?"

"I suppose that's what I'm trying to say,"

"Ye just gotta teach them to adapt...but ye gotta teach yeself first, but there ARE ways around it. Change is inevitable, but even the Amish keep up with their tradition while living alongside the modern world."

"Well that's true,"

"Yer Highness, ye have people here who enjoy being here under yer rule, meself included. We be just like ye; tradition is all we know here, and we be content with it; wouldn't trade it for all the gold in the world, or we would've left by now, don't ye know? Just continue to have faith in yer position as a prince. If ye ever want to move forward, whether to become king or dispose the royal lifestyle all together, well, we may not like the last one, but we'll be behind ye all the way. Ye may not be ye father and rule the same way he did, but ye have his blood and proved to be as good of a ruler as he was."

Brandon smiles, "Thank you, that truly means a lot."

[ganondorf2]

"Doesn't help that it's late, huh?" Ganondorf asked, not showing any signs of being fatigued, "Very well. I'll wait until he's more alert."

He then thought, "I wouldn't be surprised that Maxwell is waiting out until the time is right to kill the last dragon if this keeps up. Problem is he's well with and ahead of the times unlike most dragon's I've seen here anyway. I hope I'm wrong."

[Shadow Dragon]

"No, it certainly does not," said Brian.

---

Brandon had taken his leave from the tavern. As he walks away from the tavern-turned-bar, a green dragon flew away from the area and disappeared into the clouds. He sighs and begins walking on the cobblestone trail that lead back to his castle, not knowing that lurking within the shadows of an abandoned building, two beings were watching him in secret, a humanoid being, and a dragon he was riding on, fresh blood covering it's muzzle.

"Not yet..." one hissed, "but soon."

The dragon took off into the night sky and vanished.

[ganondorf2]

Ganondorf senses this but doesn't alert anyone...not yet anyway. This is a bad time.

[Shadow Dragon]

The doors open up again and the gang sees a young man walk into the castle, having spiky blue hair and a red shirt and blue jeans. He had a sword gripped tightly in his right hand as he stormed into the main room.

"Another familiar face," said Samantha.

"You've been training out there longer than usual," said Torvan to the person, revealing to be his son, Night Stalker, or Vormen for his human name.

Vormen didn't say anything as he walks over to where Torvan was sitting, placing the sword against the chair, and walking away, not even bothering to aknowlage the group.

"Brandon's just about to have dinner prepped if you're-" Torvan was inturrupted.

"I'm not hungry," he replied as he walks into a room, shutting the door behind him, confusing the gang.

[ganondorf2]

"I see you haven't changed either, Vormen," Ganondorf said, still meditating. He wasn't confused to this, but knew this wasn't a time to fight with him either.

[Shadow Dragon]

"Wow, what crawled up his nose?" questioned Luke.

"I have no idea," Torvan sighed, "he's been pretty distant lately and just slowly stopped talking to us. I'd say he's still feeling guilty about what happened to me, but I'm not so sure."

Brandon enters the castle next and shuts the doors, "Sorry that took me a bit," he proceeds to walk over and grab the dead cow by the horns, trying to drag it into the kitchen.

"Uh, let me help you with that," said Brian, he and the men of the gang all grab the cow and try to drag it across the floor.

Samantha shakes her head and sighs, "They never seem to change, either."


{I wasn't paying attention to the time, so I'm out of here. I'll see you later.}

[ganondorf2]

The clone gets to his feet, walked over, and said, "I better step in too. Just don't say anything if the cow feels a lot lighter than before."

He was hinting at his superhuman strength, but at least he warned the group.

{I better get off. Later Shadow}

[Shadow Dragon]

"'Don't say anything'?" questioned Kyle, "What do you mean by that?"

"OK, Mr bigshot," Brian rolled his eyes as he and the men stepped away from the cow, "let's see you lift this thing on your own!"

Brandon releases the horns and backs off, "Thank you, Ganondorf."

Torvan watches and smirks at this. As bad as he wanted to help out, he had to take it easy as he was still healing. A gentle sigh was heard before he leaned back into the chair he was in as he tries and fails to fight off sleep.

"Too bad dragons don't heal any faster than humans, huh?" said Zali to Torvan, who looked at him in shock.

"How the hell did you figure that out??" Torvan questioned Zali about his true nature.

"The prince and I have the same aura-seeing ability."

"Oh. Huh, imagine that. And I take it you can see through lies like he can?"

Zali shook his head, "No."

[ganondorf2]

Ganondorf walked over, places his hand under the animal, and continued, "As well don't get lockjaw."

He wasn't kidding as he didn't have any trouble lifting the beast, with one hand as well before walking into the kitchen.

[Shadow Dragon]

"Show off," muttered Brian as he watches Ganondorf.

"So you're a dragon, too?" asked Samantha to Torvan, "And you know those people?"

Torvan smiled, "That's correct, young lady."

"It's been a long time," said Zali, "but we're acquainted with this group, too,"

"Hold on, did you say 'too'?" Torvan asked Samantha.

"Yes, we're a gang of dragons," spoke Brian, "well, everyone except Sparky."

"And I'd rather not bore anyone with MY story," sighed Sparky as he walks across the room to an empty room, "and before you ask, yes, the drunkard and I go way back before I joined this gang. Anyway, idiot's been put to bed, and I'm going, too. Good night everyone!"

"Later," said Zali as he watches him go into another room, closing the door behind him.

"Shadow Dragon's friend's with THAT punk?" asked Torvan.

"I think Sparky's just messing around," Zali shook his head.

"Well, I guess we can wait until morning before doing a proper meet and greet,"

[ganondorf2]

Nova came back and said, "I placed the cow on the table and for the 'show off' remark, you just saw me with two swords that are both meant to held with two hands not one."

After taking off his gauntlets, he started cleaning his hands

[Shadow Dragon]

"So?" Brian spat, "Doesn't mean you're any better than us!"

"Cool it, man!" hissed Ed.

"I think I'll turn in, too," said Zali as he stood up and walked away, then to his gang, "and I suggest you all do the same because we're leaving first thing in the morning."

"To go where?" asked Tristan.

"Back to the city. Where else?"

"I thought we were on vacation!"

"Yeah well, it seems you all don't know how to behave in front of prince, let alone-"

"That ain't never bothered him before," said Ed, recalling when the gang first met the group as he turns to Brandon, "right?"

"Forgive me for getting involved," Brandon spoke up, "but perhaps everyone's just tired. I don't mind the extra company for tonight, but just know that I don't have much to offer to make your stay more comfortable."

[ganondorf2]

Nova starts to think about this as he's used to staying awake and said, "I'm not sure I can help."

He could do his phazite trick, but he wasn't sure what the group would say about it, so he kept quiet on the subject.

[Shadow Dragon]

"Whatever you want," said Tristan, walking away from the room as Brian and Ed lay on separate ends of a couch.

"Might as well get some sleep now or we'll regret it tomorrow," sighed Brian.

"Fine, fine," Ed agreed.

Kyle slumped to the ground, deciding to sleep on the carpeted floor.

---

Meanwhile, two drunken taverners were walking the dirt trail, stumbling and laughing as they exchanged jokes. They were stopped when a dragon lands on the ground in front of them, having a rider on it's back.

"Eh? Who are you?" asked one of the drunken ones.

"Lookin' fer a fight, are ya?" another drunk takes out what looked like a butcher's knife.

"Would you be so kind as to point me in the direction of His Highness's castle?" spoke the rider.

"We ain't know nothing about no castle," he slurred.

"We ain't even from here, so you're out of luck, BUB!" spoke the other, "now git out of our way befer we make ya!"

"Hey, wait a minute," the drunkard took a closer look, "that dragon... No, that's-"

"So it WAS you!" the other took out a knife the size of a cleaver, "You're the one that burned our home to the ground!"

"Hmm, so there were some survivors after all...but no more," spoke the rider.

"Fergit the knives!" the other tavrner shouted, his eyes turning to slits and teeth turning sharp, "we be going at this the old fashioned way!"

The stranger jumped off the dragon as the other two dragons in front of him reverted to their true forms, snarling at him and the other dragon.

"Pretty brave, for a bunch of drunk dragons," the man rose his staff and pointed it toward the two, "kill!"

The dragon rushes in at the two dragons...

...and roars of pain echoed through the lands.

---

The sunlight peirced through the screenless windows of the castle, hitting my face and waking me up. Slowly, I sat myself up and opened my eyes, rubbing them with my hands. Though I still felt tired, luckily, I didn't get a hangover.

"Sleeping beauty awakens,"

The voice startled me awake, and I turn to see a familiar face in the corner of the room, recognizing the black hair with blonde highlights, and a leather jacket he wore.

"Been a while, hasn't it, Eric?" he spoke.

[ganondorf2]

Ganondorf was looking out the window at the time. He heard screams in his mind late last night, but he didn't know who caused it but he did know one thing that he was familiar with...

Those were the screams of death.

[Shadow Dragon]

"What the...Sparky? The hell?" I look around to find myself in a room with worn pictures and a cobblestone interior, "am I in a castle?"

"Yes, and Zali carried you over here because you were drunk out your d*mn mind. I was just coming by to check up on you."

I then recognized the interior and sighed, "I hate to know what Brandon said about me being like that last night."

Sparky chuckled, "Not as much as you might think."

I then sat in silence for a while, attempting to wake up and gather my bearings, before replying, "Hey, uh, I'm sorry if I was too much trouble. I have such a sh*t tolerance for alcohol," I began to rub my head.

"That's no excuse," said Sparky, "even back when you and I were in Bulldog's gang, you were always getting into trouble and we had to save your ass every time. I'm telling ya, these dragons aren't as merciful as the Blackbloods, so you'd better watch it. Hate to see you get tangled up in a gang you have and want nothing to do with."

"God, please don't remind me of that," I begged, then sighed, "You forgot who you're talking to, man. I'll be fine."

I saw a smirk on his face as he said, "Yeah, we'll see,"

"So, why are you here anyway?"

"Zali and the others brought you here," he replied, "do you even remember what happened last night?"

"Just barely," Of course, I remembered the talk with Zali and the barkeep, but that was as far as I could remember before conking out.

[ganondorf2]

"Way to meet again too," Nova teased

[Shadow Dragon]

I look up at Nova, my face flushed with embarrassment, "You're not kidding...I'm sorry," I then moved myself to the edge of the bed, "By the way...Sparky, how long have you known?"

"About you being a dragon? Ever since I last seen you, when you were going off to fight another dragon, Fire-something," Sparky sighed, "I forgot his name. Zali was the one who told me."

"And you never said anything??"

"Zali made me keep my mouth shut," he takes out a cigarette and lights it, "I'm with these beasts 'cause I have no where else to go since the old gang broke up. Once these ones do the same, I'm getting out of that sh*thole town and go find my cousin Derek, live with him for a while. I'm sure he's alive somewhere."

"I wonder if the remaining Black Bloods are still..." I stopped right there.

"So," he lowers the cig as he blows smoke from his mouth, "what the hell have you been up to since we saw each other last?"

I shook my head, "It's a long story."

"I got time," he paused as I then explained everything that happened between then and now, making him reply with guilt, "Jesus, sounds like you've been busy for sure! I'm sorry."

I replied sadly, "You don't know the half of it, man."

[ganondorf2]

"I was there too. The fight we had to deal with but felt it was for the sake of the entire world," Nova said, putting his gauntlets back on, "None of you would survive."