Sweet Waters Throne

“Do you hear yourself, Your Grace? You want me to give up my only son?”

“You will not be giving him up, he will be taken to his mother, he will be safe”

“His mother?” Leoric chuckled softly then reached out for his well-done braids which fell effortlessly behind his back, it was Lysene who fixed his hairs. “Aeryn hates my guts and she did this intentionally, this is all her… she is trying to punish me, can’t you see that?”

“Well it seems to me she has succeeded, hasn’t she? Do you really want to fight Artemis right now?” There was a sincerity tone in Aryan’s voice, she wasn’t against Leoric’s love for his son but she knew better than to defy Artemis, not right now, not when he was unstable. “He is unstable and clearly he knows everyone hates him, trust me you don’t want your home taken away from you” added Aryan.

Then she continued, “I passed through my city and all I saw was empty land blackened by the flames. I could feel the heat coming from stones, our ancestral home was no more, the playgrounds I used to play as a kid… all gone. He burned everything that I held dear and close to my heart, don’t underestimate him my lord. My men did the same thing and they all died screaming, you don’t want to die screaming, do you?”

Suddenly the whole room was quiet, Aryan was spitting facts. Leoric excused everyone and he remained with Aryan, he knew he was defeated and had no choice.

“This is all her doing, my wife. She asked her brother to come and take my son away from me. What’s next huh? She betrayed me, you can understand that right?”

.....

“Yes, I can. But this isn’t the time to act, that’s exactly what he wants. He came here to challenge you knowing you’ll refuse, don’t give him that satisfaction” Aryan sat down close to Leoric and held his shoulder, like a true friend that she was.

“What about my son? First they strip him off his title as the second in line to the throne, and the next they take him away from me. What if he forgets me?” This was a new side of Leoric that Aryan had never seen before, this was Leoric’s father side, the concern look on his face clearly showed how much he loved his son and he wasn’t ready to let him go.

“You will be king, your son will be your true heir and he will be king after you. But only if we fight for the throne, and we cannot fight if you start provoking the Dragon King now. Give him up, you will get him back soon, I promise you”

One thing about Aryan which makes her special wasn’t just her sword, but her wisdom and knowing when to act and when to submit. She did the same thing when she was Gandalf’s Hand, ruling was in her blood and that’s something she couldn’t control herself.

Artemis remained on his dragon’s back at the market square for over ten minutes and with each passing minute, he grew wroth. He kept sending the slaves to Leoric warning him what will happen if he doesn’t deliver Jeremiah to him, but the slaves never came back with answers. That’s when he flew his dragon again and this time he landed inside the castle of the Lord of the Mines.

The impact alone when the purple dragon landed caused the ground to shake, the dragon may be cute and pleasing to look at, but she can also be deadly and she was heavy and huge. The she-dragon was almost thirty feet high above the ground from head to tail with a wingspan of almost fifteen feet, while Vizoro was forty feet from head to tail and a wingspan of twenty feet ─ the same size as Artodo.

Leoric knew that Artemis was already inside his castle because of that heavy thud which shook his whole castle, and he knew playtime was over. Aryan hid herself as usual in the tunnel which led to the sea, the secret exit was only known by Leoric and that means only he knew the way out and where to find Aryan after all is over.

Artemis decided to dismount his dragon and walked towards the main front door of the castle, he had a new crown on his head ─ the ancient crown of House Arteides, it was worn by the first Arteides king ─ King Corlys Arteides. Artemis decided to wear Corlys’s crown to remind him of the old king’s strength and power because he needed those two things more than anything else during times like these.

Before Artemis reached the main front door, Leoric came outside holding Jeremiah in his arms. He was escorted by his personal bodyguard, none other than One, this day he didn’t have a crowd of men following him behind like lost puppies.

Artemis paused midway, his face hard and cruel, anyone could tell he was pissed off by Leoric’s poor behavior against him. The servants of the castle and slaves alike couldn’t help but look from a far the altercation between these two powerful bulls of men.

“Lord Leoric, do you want to keep your head?” asked Artemis while fixing his crown, there was no need to do that but he had to reach out for his crown as a way of showing Leoric who was the king.

Leoric replied softly with his head down, “I would like to keep my head, Your Grace” he said. “Jeremiah was asleep, I didn’t want to wake him yet”

“He can sleep on his way home”

“This is his home, Your Grace. Pardon me but… why?” Leoric somehow found strength to speak against Artemis. “He is my son”

“He is also my sister’s son and right now my sister needs him. All you do is whore yourself all over the city, visiting brothel after brothel, drinking on clear daylight and only the gods know what you are up to. Do you think that’s the kind of father Jeremiah needs?” asked Artemis locking eyes with Leoric.

Leoric couldn’t reply to that, he remained silent.

Artemis reached out for Jeremiah and snatched him off Leoric’s hands, “He will be safe with us, after all, he is an Arteides, isn’t he?” Artemis asked. “You thought naming your son after our family name will somehow make you clever? You weren’t clever Lord of the Mines, my sister took you for a fool, a man without honor for his name or his line. I do hope you find time to be anything other than stupid”

Artemis finished talking and he stared at One, he couldn’t see his face because of the helmet but that was the least of his concern. He looked at Jeremiah whose eyes were wide open now looking at his uncle. He was four moons old now, but still so young to be far from his mother and reside with a whore father. Maybe that’s why when Aeryn asked Artemis to retrieve Jeremiah from Leoric’s hands, he didn’t hesitate because he knew the kind of conditions Jeremiah was in.

“He will forget you and I will make sure of it” Artemis said while looking at Jeremiah, then he raised his eyes to meet Leoric’s. “My sister will never come back to you, she has found someone else. A man who actually makes her happy, and who loves her”

“No matter who she fucks, she is still my wife in the eyes of the gods” replied Leoric and Artemis saw his anger right through his eyes.

“Where are your gods now? Shouldn’t they help you keep your son?”

“I don’t need them Your Grace, in a year I will be your equal and maybe then we can decide who will my son forget”

Artemis couldn’t help himself but smile at Leoric’s courage, but it was because he didn’t know that Leoric had two dragon eggs hidden in his chambers and right there as they were speaking, the eggs were on top of coal stones heating up.

“In a year? Alright Lord of the Mines, we shall see then” Artemis said this to Leoric’s face before he turned back and walked towards his dragon.

Leoric nearly stopped him, his heart was heavy seeing his son being taken away from him while he watched. Artemis reached his dragon, and the purple dragon helped him up by lowering her left wing. Then Artemis sat on his saddle tightly, he whispered to the dragon, “Be gentle, I have a child with me” in Low Moor. He cuddled Jeremiah with his left hand, and hang on to the dragon by his right hand. He said the word “Valar” and they were off, floating smoothly as Artemis instructed.