The young pair, Alexander the Knight and Princess Celia had received two of the six swords from the elements. The last we saw them, Fire had left them alone by the ocean edge to travel the final leg of their quest back to the Richardson Castle. For Alexander this brought back memories of how he came to the Richardson Castle.
With the two swords in the bag, Alexander took Celia past the dangerous ocean edge where he first witnessed the lightning and the shadows. A greenly fog started to cover the area and over the seas as Celia looked over the ocean edge.
“I’ve never been here before, what is this place?” she asked Alex. “Believe me, this is not a place to stay for long,” he answered.
The pair adventured on towards the end of the ocean edge where a small beach was found down a narrow slope of the ocean reef. Green clouds covered the area where the pair was and started to strike lightning into the seas. Celia stopped by the path way down to the beach and was taken by the awe of the green lightning, her blonde hair blowing in the wind in her fear, she turned to Alex.
“Come on now, we must move away from here!” cried Alex from a few metres away.
The green fog bubbled around her and she pointed to an image in the sky. “What is that young knight?” she asked worriedly.
Alex’s head turned to face a large image flying around the sky. It seemed the figure was having trouble passing the sky. The creature started blowing fire, ice and water out of its mouth in frustration.
“What is it, a beast?” cried Alex. He darted around the area looking at the lightning; it was trying to hit him.
The knight turned back to the princess in fear.
“The lightning is controlled, someone is trying to get us!” he cried and took to holding the princess’s hand.
Suddenly bolts of lightning came down crashing near the young pair. “Move, move! To the beach!” shouted Alex at Celia.
She took off in the other direction as Alex took the ice and fire sword in each hand. Each started to glow blue and red. He started to run backwards towards Celia and the lightning struck the swords one by one. Alexander knocked off each lightning with his swords. He turned forward and placed the sword behind his back in a cross to guard himself from the lightning chasing after him. He suddenly stopped still at the sight of the princess, standing like a tall tree by the edge and her arms behind her back as if she were to fly. Alex’s eyes went all glassy towards and his mouth started to shake. A green lightning gave a blow to the creature above the ocean, sending a huge sonic boom across to the ocean edge and tipping the princess off the edge.
“No!’ he cried and gave chase after the princess.
He came to the edge as she was holding on for dear life. He grabbed her hand and cried out to her.
“Hold my hand and never, ever let go!” he boomed.
He pulled her up from the stair edge and they were safe that second. He guided her down the stairs to the beach and kept on running. Alex turned to see the creature was on a crash course towards the beach.
“Keep on running and don’t let anything stop you!” cried Alex. The huge creature shadow appeared above and they kept on rushing. Alex dived on Celia and pushed them away from the huge crash of the creature upon the beach. The sand came down on the pair and the creature was dead still. Alex got up and dusted himself and Celia off and looked at the creature.
“Are you ok?” asked Alex.
“Yes but I don’t think this thing is,” answered Celia looking at the creature submerged in the sand.
They soon found out that the being was a huge dragon. Alex told Celia to stay back while he checked out the body. He stepped up to the dragon. It was huge and yellowy grey. The long wings were hurt and the dragon seemed stretched and tired. Alex got to the dragon’s head and checked it out.
“He’s sore alright. That lightning didn’t help him,” Alex said. “Talk to it,” said Celia.
“Don’t be silly now,” answered Alex with a frustrated sigh
“I’m your friend. My name is Alex,” said Alex trying to talk to it. “Don’t play me stupid,” boomed the dragon back giving Alex a shock.
“You talk?” asked Alex amazed.
“Yes. Why can’t dragons talk?” asked the dragon. “What happened?”
“The wizard by the name of Morcar has cast a spell over the weather which I am very connected to. As the weather hurts so do I. Who are you, young human?”
“Alexander the Knight from Richardson Castle and this Princess Celia, daughter of the King,” answer Alex.
“Now that I feel better in the mind, this isn’t the magic of Morcar, but yet of a stronger and higher order,” the dragon said.
Alexander and Celia looked at each and knew what he was talking about. “Who are you, wise dragon,” asked Alex.
The dragon tired to move but couldn’t at that stage and introduced himself from the ground.
“ThunderDragon. The lord of the weather,” answered the dragon. “Wow,” thought Celia watching in the background. The two had
meet for the first time the leader of the weather, and the prime target for Morcar and Draken.
The ThunderDragon noticed that Alex had two of the element swords as he made an offer.
“If you help me then I can get you the remaining swords,” he said. Alex knew this could help him a lot so he agreed to the offer.
“Yes, I’ll help you. If you promise,” said Alex.
He got some medical aid for the dragon and Celia helped out. Soon the dragon was up and about as he looked at the two travellers. A couple of hours passed. The dragon was well again and he could stand up.
“How come you were here, ThunderDragon?’ asked Alex.
“I was travelling to the ice lands to visit Ice, the element. To talk about Morcar and his troubles,” the ThunderDragon answered the young knight.
“The elements will meet you at the castle tomorrow,” said the dragon.
“I’ll meet you then ThunderDragon,” answered Alex and the huge dragon slowly leaped from the ground and started to fly off towards the ice lands again.
The ocean edge had seemed to have calmed down and it was easier for Alex and Celia to move then like before. Alex turned to Celia and the faithful bag with them.
“It’s time to go home. We’ve done what we set out to do,” Alex said and Celia nodded.
“So he is the leader of the weather elements?” asked Celia.
“He must be,” answered Alex and the pair started their way back to Richardson Castle.
The castle was in sight and the pair was at last home to the knights, the royals and the wizards of the castle.
“You did a great job, you secured all six swords,” Celia said to Alex.
“By luck I tell you. I was just doing my job,” he answered.
Alex and Celia got to the gates and walked in. people and civilians watched them pass by. The first figure came out of the castle doors and it was Alfred. He hugged Celia and shook Alex.
“It’s been a while since you’ve been here. Four days I believe,” Alfred commented. “Was your adventure exciting?”.
“Indeed it was,” answered Alex smiling.
Then a worried look came upon Alfred’s face when he looked at the castle doors again.
“King Richardson wants to see you Alex. He’s can be happiest of all men I can warn you,” said Alfred giving an unpromising look.
“Ok,” answered Alex and started his walk to the throne room. Celia went to go with him but was stopped by Alfred. He had a discouraged face walking inside.
“I don’t think you should have gone with Alex, for the castle’s sake,” he said to her.
Celia adopted the same face and looked at the castle doors.
There stood King Richardson not looking very happy. He wanted to know what was going on. He gave a long stare towards the knight. The silence was killing the young knight until the king spoke.
“Why was my knight with my daughter?” asked the king. “She wanted to come my lord,” answered Alex bowing deeply.
“Why did I see you with her at the dinner party?” questioned the King again.
“She wanted to be my date,” answered the knight again. “You couldn’t say no?”
“No. I didn’t think it was important” answered the knight.
The King stood up and gave Alex a look depicting Alex’s shame. He tossed his robe behind him and cried, “Twice it happened and you couldn’t say no. A weak knight I see before me.”
“I did not think…”
“Quiet you stupid young knight. Brainless are these young folk of the poor. The inns that you come from. You made a mistake Alexander,”
He pointed his finger at him and cursed.
“You are not allowed to do anything with my daughter. Do you understand! No knight is allowed in this castle,” yelled the king.
“Yes sir,” said Alex. He bowed to his King and quickly passed out of the throne room.
Alex sat on the walls of the castle as he gave the whole thing much thought. He had his first problem with the King with only in the first week of duty to him. He needed to think what to do next.
Meanwhile, far from the Richardson Castle, the ice palace had found a visitor at its door. Ice, the element, opened it to greet the visitor.
“My lord and dear ThunderDragon, what brings you here?” he asked the dragon.
“Two things, first the troubles of Morcar are worsening. A spell has been unleashed upon the world and I do not have the knowledge to stop it. The second is hope; a young knight has earned himself the swords of the elements by aiding me in work. He may be our chance to defend such a foe as the one we have just met in the last coming days.” The dragon was optimistic.
Ice then thought of Alexander and Celia and turned back at the ThunderDragon.
“I know these two young ones. They will be handy to us my lord. Is there anything else you wish me to know or to do?” he asked again.
“Come to the woods tomorrow for the passing of the swords will be there. Alexander will use them in his quest to stop the dark wizard,” said the dragon.
Ice nodded and the dragon started to move his wings again.
“I must move and keep watch on the lands. Making sure there is no trouble around these parts,” he said.
“A wise thing to do my lord, goodbye for now and I will be present at the passing!” waved the element as the lord of the weather passed away from the ice lands.
The afternoon fell and Alex was in his room. It was small and dark. He lay in his bed and looked at the ice and fire sword that was at the end of his room. A knock on the door occurred. She closed the door and he looked worried.
“You shouldn’t be here. Your father is not pleased with me,” he said.
“Alfred and I believe you’ve done well with the swords. He’s heard about some of the adventures from me. He said he sent the right person for the job,” Celia said to Alex.
“At what cost? I don’t want to upset your father. But it is important to stop this wizard from creating more trouble,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said.
She had some royalty food the cooks were preparing for dinner and passed some to Alex.
“Have some, better than that rubbish the other knights had,” she said.
Alex bit into some food, smiled and looked at it.
“Not bad. I quite like it. I like the taste of this meat,” he commented.
Two eyes watched from the crack of the door of Alex’s room and the figure gave a smile. It was Alfred and he was pleased Celia had found someone to his standards, a good man.
“He can keep an eye on her for now. Come on, my old legs. Take me to my room,” he pleaded and wandered off again.
Alex doubted himself about his new relationship and turned to face Celia on the bed.
“I can’t do this any more. Your father doesn’t allow this and I have to follow his orders,” Alex said.
Celia’s face turned to disappointment and she closed her eyes in sadness. She picked up her plate and walked outside and closed the door after her. Alex bit his lip and worry troubled him.
Celia passed Alfred at his room and saw the sadness upon her face. He rubbed his chin and thought about Alex.
“Alexander, what have you done? I think I know,” answered the old wizard.
He went outside his room and walked Celia towards the garden and he quickly walked towards Alexander’s room and opened the door slowly.
“Hello Alfred,” said a half waked knight.
“You seem to have much on your plate at this time. Don’t you?” asked the wizard of the young knight.
“Yes, but I will mange well. I promise,” he answered the wizard in the best way he thought.
“Well you’ve already made a mistake coming back here,” the wizard said closing the room’s door after him.
Alex became worried and began to sweat. He turned to Alfred and sighed. “What have I done wrong Alfred?” he asked him.
“You turned down Celia. I thought things were going quite well,” he said.
“King Richardson doesn’t want it to happen so I must follow orders,” the knight said.
Alfred sat down on the bed next to him and smiled. He tapped his hand on his knee and said, “King Richardson wouldn’t know love if it bit him on the bottom!”
Alex put his head down and laughed to himself and looked back at Alfred.
“Funny it may be but he is the king,” he said.
“Funny it may be but he is sheer mad,” responded the wizard.
The knight looked out of his tiny window at the wizard with sadness in his eyes.
“Then what should I do?” he asked.
The wizard placed his hands over the knight’s hands and beamed at him. “Serve for the good of this world and follow your instincts,” he answered him.
The wizard got up from the bed and looked at the small night sky out of the window.
“I’ll go now. Just remember what your parents told you. Might help. Don’t let the chance slip by,” grinned the wizard and he let himself out of the room.
Alex laid in bed thinking about everything and looked at the swords at the end of the bed.
“It was a long journey, one of many,” he said to himself.
A battle was raging inside of him. What choices to make and where the road would lead him to. He quickly got up at the noise outside, some guards were starting to run around looking at a large image in the sky.
“What is this I see before me,” he cried looking out of his small window.
He turned to face the swords again; he held his fist tight thinking. “I know what I must do,” he said.
He leaped up from the bed and turned to his wardrobe next to his bed. He grabbed a black and silver robe his mother gave him and attached it around his back. He picked up the ice sword and drew in his sword case by his side.
He left his room and his robe flew behind him during the lightning show in the windows of the castle as he passed them by. He faced the garden and started to remember what his father told him on that late night on the stones, when passing words and tears were made. If you feel in your heart when someone tells you to do something and it feels wrong to do so. Then don’t do it, because it must be wrong.
He came into the garden and Celia was mending her broken heart. She turned around to see the knight in his formal dressing. He came upon her, grabbed her and kissed her softly. She closed her eyes in seduction until the hot long kiss was over. He held her hand and gave a look out of the window that flashed the images of a creature.
“Hold my hand and never, ever let go,” he softly counseled her. He took her to his room and packed the last of the swords. The lightning seemed to have died down for the moment. Celia sat on the bed and she smiled at him. He looked at her for a moment. He stood in front of her
and listened to the fear of the battle outside, it could be his last fight. It was his first battle for Richardson officially, without counting the other battles in the element quest.
He turned back to Celia and looked at her and said, “Don’t you worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’ve done this before.”
“Isn’t this your first time in a Richardson battle?” she asked him. “Well, yes, come to think of it Celia, it is my first time. But I’ve done a bit of fighting to prepare me,” Alex said finishing up his swords and heading out the door.
Celia sat on the bed and thought to herself about the whole problem. She looked at the flash images of the creature playing with the knights and the coming battle of Richardson.
