Greetings All
I spent some time last week finishing the final arch of Fell Dragon, and now the book is almost complete. This has been a three-year passion project and it's actually been a little sad wrapping it up, but all good stories must come to an end.
Luckily, the rest of you have well over 200 pages to still read, so you all get to enjoy a few more months of Fell Dragon before it comes to an end. Enjoy today's update.
Brucel was the first to reach his mother who was speaking to Aurus. Saasha saw the look on his face and realised that his brother must have told him what had happened yesterday. She turned from her mother and was about to say something, but instead of talking, Brucel hugged her tightly.
The pair stood there for a few minutes before Brucel whispered over and over again, “I am so sorry.”
Jethron joined the hug, knowing the man who had appeared was the one who was used to make his father sacrifice himself so Saasha wouldn’t die. The trio stood like that for a few minutes, confusing all in the hall who saw them.
“Is he still here?” asked Jethron as he stood back.
“I don’t know.” Admitted Saasha, “I couldn’t stand to be in his presence and left.”
“Does Lardan know?” asked Brucel.
Saasha shook her head, “How could I poison his memories of his father? He doesn’t know what I saw.”
“We need to find him. He likely has more clues we can use to figure out how the Fell Dragon is moving.” Said Jethron with urgency. “And where is Sedeath?”
“What is going on?” demanded Lardan as he approached his brothers and mother. “I tell you Dad is back and you two act as if you have seen a monster. Mother had the same reaction yesterday and is yet to explain herself. What are you three not telling me?”
Brucel released his mother with a sigh and turned to his brother, “That man isn’t our father.”
“I’m not stupid. Dad died years ago, I get that, but I know who I saw.” Insisted Lardan.
“You did see Brucel Royal Guard.” Started Saasha. “But that man, he isn’t like what your father was at all. Lardan, he’s dangerous.”
“You’re dangerous!” insisted Lardan. “I saw you rip the head off of a Wolven and you are considered past your prime!”
“I thought I raised you better than that.” Came a new voice.
Everyone in the hall would have heard a pin drop with the silence that fell at the sudden appearance of the man who was once Brucel Royal Guard. The older Saith cast his eyes around the people surrounding him. He knew most of them.
“What are you doing here?” hissed Saasha.
“You seemed to not want to talk to me yesterday, so I waited until I could catch you in a situation where you couldn’t just walk away from me.”
The older Saith looked up at the younger of the two Saith next to their mother and knew instinctually that this was the second-born son. Lardan had been right, the boy looked so much like him. Brucel felt pride in the fact that he had had a second son, but he couldn’t ignore the look of horror on the young man’s face. The same horror that was etched on the Dekai’s face that stood next to him.
At first, Brucel didn’t care to acknowledge the creature’s existence. He had wiped their kind from his timeline and couldn’t understand why one had been allowed into the castle.
“Why is this thing here?” he asked as he pointed a finger at Jethron.
“Dad? You know who this is.” Said Lardan trying to defuse the situation.
“Lardan, step back.” Said Saasha softly.
“After everything that happened to our planet, you’d allow one of his kind here!” roared Brucel.
His fury penetrated through the hall. Saita handed the young prince back to his mother and directed Aidan to get her and other non-combatants out of the room. The boy quickly led Shannon away from the fight he expected would soon explode.
As if sensing danger, several Dekai soldiers filed into the room, and it was enough to set the older Saith off. He didn’t think to ask any questions. He pulled energy from the room and fired it at the Dekai. Saita and Lardan were quick enough to erect shields.
“What the hell, Dad!” shouted Lardan.
“Get out of here.” Saita hissed to the Dekai, “Don’t have any more of your people step foot in here. Find Sedeath and keep him from coming here.”
Brucel roared his frustration and was on the verge of following up his attack when Saasha drove him to the ground. Royal Guard didn’t expect that and for a moment he couldn’t understand how he had ended up on the ground. When he felt the knee in his back and a hand keeping his head down, he knew it was his old partner who was trying to get control of the situation.
The fury that had driven him for the majority of his life sparked into life, and he used his larger mass to dislodge the queen from his back. In doing so, he tried to grab at her but only managed to pull away the old green bandana that covered half her face. Saasha stepped back but didn’t let her guard drop. Her Royal Guard were starting to file into the room, and she had to shout orders for them to remain where they were.
Brucel got to his feet, still holding the material, and faced his old partner. Her sight had been taken, and he knew how it had been done.
“Explain to me, why?” he demanded as he held up the bandana. “They took your sight, your men, your lover, and you still allow them in your castle. Coward!”
“Murderer!” shouted Saasha.
Brucel had never heard this level of bile spat at him before, even during the campaigns to wipe out the Kai and Dekai. It coming from the love of his life tore at him, making him realise there were still emotions within him other than fury.
“You thought to come here to achieve what?” continued Saasha.
“The Dekai…”
“This isn’t about the Dekai in my castle.” Shouted Saasha as loud as she could. “I know what you did!”
Brucel was taken aback. How could she know? There was no way unless she had been told. His gaze fell upon the Dekai standing with the Saith he believed was named after him. He growled when he recognised him. He couldn’t believe after everything Saasha had been forced to suffer that she had allowed him to live.
“Leave the boy out of this! He has nothing to do with this.” Snapped Saasha.
“He has EVERYTHING to do with this! He started all of this. Had he not come here, none of it would have happened.”
The look of guilt on Jethron’s face nearly broke Saasha’s heart, but she couldn’t afford to have her emotions get in the way of this fight. She knew what this man was capable of.
“He isn’t the reason you murdered women and children. He isn’t the reason you made two species cease to exist! That is all on you Brucel! You caused two genocides and for what? Revenge?”
“You don’t understand!” he roared back at her.
“I do understand! I lived through it, but not once did I think to wipe out the Kai and Dekai!”
“I had no one else!”
“You had everyone I had. Everyone! I always believed you to be made of stronger material, but you crumbled and revealed the monster you really were.”
Her words stung him deeply. Not once in the decades of slaughter, had he thought of what his wife and partner would have said to him had they both survived. Not once had he believed that he was in the wrong. He had had every right to seek revenge and he had taken that revenge.
“You could have healed. You could have sought other options, but no, you were so caught up in your revenge that not once did you stop to think of what you were doing.” Saasha continued to scream. “You took Lardan and molded him to become like you. Poisoning his mind and creating another monster.”
Saita looked up to Lardan and could almost see his heart breaking. He had no idea what was going on, but it was clear that his mother knew exactly who this man was, and what he had done in his own timeline.
Saasha stepped closer to Brucel as he stood there in shock. He had hoped for a joyous reunion, but instead, he had been met with scorn and hate.
“I know what it was like, so I could almost, almost forgive everything you did, but then you murdered our son.” Screamed Saasha in Brucel’s face.
She snatched the bandana from his grip and once more put it in place before continuing, “I didn’t want to see that! I watched a child die that way and it destroyed my sanity for weeks. Seeing that happen to my son at the hands of his own father made me lose more of the sanity I had fought so hard to get back. So, call me a coward if you wish, but I was strong enough to resist the call of revenge. I didn’t become you. I didn’t murder women and children in their beds with glee. You are weak Royal Guard. Go back to where you came from and die with some honour, for I will give you none here.”
She turned away from him and muttered, “You are not the man I fell in love with. He is buried and has been for decades. You go face his tombstone and see if you measure up to the kind of man he was because, to me, you are nothing more than what you thought of the Kai and Dekai in your time.”
Saasha walked from the hall, and no one dared move. The younger Brucel looked from the man that shared his father’s name, to his mother. There was nothing he could say to make the situation any better, yet he still managed to blurt out, “So much for decades worth of therapy.”
Royal Guard stood still, unsure of what to say, or what to do. The horrors that he had committed after his wife’s death washed over him. He knew he had been in the right, but the look of disgust on Saasha’s face as she had shouted at him was something he could never get out of his head. She had screamed at him. She had never done that, not as long as they had known each other. Fury and hate melted away to shame.
The old Saith looked up at the boy he had murdered under his boot. He had grown so much; he had become an upstanding young man with the way his mother had raised him. That could have been his son had hate not gotten in the way.
“Why?” he whispered to Jethron.
Jethron was confused by the question and didn’t answer.
“Why did you tell her about my time?”
Jethron looked away, ashamed that his aid had caused this, but Brucel stepped between him and their father and said, “It wasn’t Jethron’s doing. It was mine.”
“Why? If it hurt her so much, why did you tell her?”
“I did it for the same reason our father was shown your timeline.” Said Brucel. “To ensure our mother lived.”
“Father sacrificed himself for her. He knew…he knew that he could never survive without her.” Said Jethron softly. “I am sorry. I never thought that this could ever be a possibility.”
Royal Guard viewed the Dekai and saw shame on his face. He had as little control over his aid as Brucel had over his past. The older Saith took a deep breath and let it out brokenly. There was nothing here for him. This world had already been poisoned by what he had done in his own time. Why had he been sent here? Without a further word, he turned from all those gathered and walked from the hall.
Lardan desperately wanted to go after his father but was rooted in place. This man had tried to kill Dekai on sight, he couldn’t be allowed to roam free on the planet. Yet, the General couldn’t get his feet to move after his father. He turned to Saita and whispered, “Could you please keep an eye on him for me?”
The girl, knowing her son was in good hands, nodded her head and immediately followed after the angry Saith. Once she had left, Lardan turned back to his brothers, who looked considerably guilty.
“Tell me everything.”
It's important to remember that this Brucel isn't the man from this time. If you missed his update, I suggest you read Alternate Timeline Brucel to get an understanding of who he is and why he is so angry.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that update, and I will see you on Friday for the next update!
For those of you who have never heard of Fell Dragon you can find Book 1 here, Book 2 here, Book 3 here, and Book 4 here, Book 5 here, and Book 6 here
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I love discussing my books!
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
Saasha’s Direct Family
Saith Characters Recap
Human Characters Recap
Alternate Timeline Brucel
If you want to join the Reader's list, just ask or follow me for updates on this and my other stories.
Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 5>>You are Here>>Part 7 (Friday)
Reader's List
@weone, @merenludick, @clairemobey, @therneau, @blitzzzz, @pravesho, @joetunex, @captainquack22, @irisworld, @braaiboy, @sketchygamerguy, @fuego-oscuro, @felt.buzz, @dibblers.dabs, @beeber, @brittandjosie, @tamacvet, @alonicus, @joetunex, @zakludick , @pixelhuntersam