Vengeance's End

Chapter 3

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The first day in Momo's tower, Ryu and Nina spend by catching up on sleep. On the second day, Ryu goes to get his horse settled in the empty stable that Momo told him existed on the other side of her tower, and then he goes fishing.

He's careful to stay away from the roads. Of course. After he returns they all eat together – thankfully Nina seems to not be tired of fish yet – and after their meal Ryu asks if there's anything he could help Momo with. She's been very kind to them, all things considering, and the guilt's going to keep eating at Ryu unless he tries to repay some of that kindness.

"Something to do?" says Momo when he asks. "You could clear out the rubble downstairs, I guess."

Nina comes along, and they spend the rest of the day cleaning up the floor below Momo's workshop. Nina organises the old bookshelves, Ryu scrubs the floor and together they move all the boxes, rubble, broken equipment and so on to a storage room. Ryu can't begin to guess what Momo's family would've used all this stuff for, nor what they would've needed so many rooms for, and even Nina – raised in a royal family – seems stumped as well.

It's going well until Ryu stumbles upon another one of those living dolls, which had been lying immobile beneath a box until he'd moved it. Then the doll comes to life and Ryu reflexively leaps backwards and out of the way, grabbing for his broom.

The doll, tiny and red, stares at him. Ryu stares back.

"You found Honey!" exclaims a delighted voice and Momo runs past Ryu and into the room, and the doll launches itself at her. Ryu raises his broom but all the doll does is cling to Momo, and Momo clings back. "I knew I'd misplaced you somewhere around here…"

Well then.

Ryu leaves them be, going to find Nina to see if she wants any help moving more boxes.


As the third day in Momo's tower dawns, Ryu wakes up and looks out the window only to see Wyndian royal guards swarming in the yard outside. He wakes Nina, and quickly they grab their things and put on their armour before leaving the room Momo had given them and heading for Momo's workshop, grim determination filling Ryu. He must make sure Nina gets away safely, that neither Nina or Momo or anyone else gets harmed because of Ryu's foolishness.

It obviously must've been his fault he was discovered. Whether it was due to carelessness, or trusting the wrong person-

Either way, Ryu has a responsibility to not let harm come to anyone else.

When they arrive at her workshop, Momo's already there – or maybe she never left. The room has no windows and Momo sits at a desk with her nose buried in a book, Peco and Honey sat on the floor next to the desk and rolling a ball back and forth between them.

"Momo," Nina says urgently. "There are soldiers from Wyndia outside. Are there any other exits to this tower than the one in front?"

"What?" Momo looks up from her book. "Soldiers? Any other exit?" she gets up from her desk and Peco and Honey look up, following her cue. "There's a stairway out the back… follow me."

Momo leads the way a few floors down, to a crumbling library. There Momo directs Ryu to move one of the bookshelves – which he does with all haste – and once it's gone they can see that behind it was the entrance to a narrow staircase hewn from the same stone as the tower. "Go on, then," says Momo. "And watch out for crumbling steps on your way down."

"Thank you, Momo," says Nina. "we'll never forget all you've done for us."

"But if the guards ask," Ryu adds. "We were never here."

"Thank you again!" says Nina, and pulls Ryu with her into the narrow alcove, starting to descend the stairs. Momo grumbles something to Peco or Honey about having to move the bookshelf again, but soon their voices fade as Ryu and Nina climb deeper down through the tower wall.

At the bottom where the stairs end is a wooden door. When they push it open and peek outside there are no soldiers in sight; just an open stretch of plain with the forest on the other side. Ryu and Nina take a few breaths, share a glance, knowing what their only option is – and then they walk out onto that frighteningly open plain. They walk quickly, carefully, hiding behind any bushes or broken pillars in their way and crouching low-

-but a guard still spots them from a distance, and yells for back-up.

Ryu and Nina don't wait to listen, sprinting the last remaining distance and continuing into the forest. Ryu spares only a brief moment to mourn his horse – hopefully Momo will take care of him – before starting to think over their options at this point. The soldiers will without a doubt keep chasing them through the forest, and on foot Ryu and Nina can't simply outrun them. Without Momo's assistance, they would already have been caught, and there aren't many places left for them to hide. Their future looks bleak indeed.

Giving up isn't an option, though. There's nothing Ryu and Nina can do except keep fleeing.

What must be several hours pass in that forest as Ryu and Nina evade the Wyndian soldiers, running and sneaking and pausing behind large trees or rocks and by one tiny cave to rest and wait for guards to hopefully start going in another direction.

The Wyndian guards are truly relentless. As a former guard, Ryu reasons wearily that at least the king and queen will be safe if their soldiers keep up with this work ethic. But as the one they're currently hunting, Ryu curses their names.

After a particularly close call, having sprinted across a river and finally found temporary shelter in a particularly thick patch of bushes, Nina squeezes Ryu's hand tightly and whispers, "maybe if I left and let them take me…"

"Do you want to go back?" asks Ryu numbly.

Back to Wyndia. Your real home.

"No," answers Nina immediately. "But if it would get the soldiers to stop chasing after you…"

"Nina," says Ryu softly. "Thank you. But I don't think there's anything that'll stop them now."

If he'd been a petty thief, sure. Or a deserter or swindler or something akin to that. But not only did Ryu run off with their beloved crown princess – he's a dragon, too.

It doesn't matter that he's never changed into a dragon's shape. It doesn't matter that he'd been a loyal guard in Wyndia until now.

Fear and hate eclipse all reason.

Nina looks at Ryu for a long moment, then says, "We should move now, I think."

They don't talk for a while after that. they creep through the forest – slowly, carefully, always hearing the sounds of the soldiers around them. Behind them. eventually the forest ends, the woods thinning as a huge plain, mountains on the other side, spreads out before them. Out on the plain they'll be sitting ducks – but they can't stay in the woods, either. The soldiers have already pursued them this whole way and soon they'll catch up to them.

"We have no choice," Nina says what they're both thinking.

They look at each, until Nina pulls Ryu into a kiss. She clings onto him with almost bruising force, and Ryu embraces her right back. He knows they should let go, start running, but if this is the last moment they'll ever have-

This awful escape from Wyndia has made their feelings for each other seem so much more dramatic, monumental. The sort of love you only hear about in legends. even if their relationship had just been a fling at the castle, escaping all this way together has transformed it into something else. If their love wasn't worth it, then what will Ryu be dying for once the guards catch up? He refuses to regret any time he's spent with Nina.

"I love you," Nina tells him before finally withdrawing, and hand in hand they start their march across the plain, toward the distant mountains. A goal so far away.

The Wyndian soldiers have horses. Ryu hears them shout as they spot him and Nina from the edge of the forest, and knows with dead certainty that it's only a matter of minutes till they're going to be surrounded.

"Nina-"

"I'm not leaving you," Nina swears, squeezing his hand in hers.

She should.

When the guards catch up to them, Ryu and Nina stand their ground with what remains of their dignity. A dozen soldiers on horses quickly surround them in a wide circle, and there they wait – the guards on their horses, Ryu and Nina trapped in the middle – until another small group of people ride up, which apparently was what the guards were waiting for. Ryu recognises the captain of the royal guard, the king's advisor Myria, and on the last horse sits a huge man, almost too big for his horse-

-and then Ryu recognises him, even with his face hidden by a hood. It's Garr, one of Ryu's friends among the guards. Or at least Ryu thought he'd been a friend.

The soldiers turn towards Myria, who's sitting astride a white horse, long blond hair cascading down her back. She's dressed in finery befit of the advisor to a king, as always, but there's something that's changed about her face, or her presence. Something that now makes Ryu tremble with the urge to either flee or fight. He grips his sword tightly.

"Ryu," Myria says, calmly. "And dearest Nina. You've led us on quite the chase."

Neither Ryu nor Nina deign that with an answer.

"Regardless," Myria continues unbothered. "I must thank you, Ryu, for reminding me of my true self. My real purpose." She smiles sweetly. "I am a no mortal; I am the goddess Myria Reincarnated. And you, young dragon… are a monster I cannot allow to exist in this world."

Ryu feels numb. His thoughts are racing, but he must stay calm. He must protect Nina.

(He remembers what he'd once told Nina, as they were sitting together upon the castle wall one night. that Myria wouldn't return in this age… But that fate would be so cruel…)

Nina's squeezing Ryu's hand so hard it hurts – a reminder of what Ryu must do. He opens his mouth, prepared to claim that he'd taken Nina hostage, yes he's a monster but don't punish Nina for his crimes-

"I won't let you," Nina vows, glaring up at Myria. "As crown princess of Wyndia, I order you to let us go!"

"Nina," says Myria gently. "Ryu may seem nice and kind, but he's a dragon. Would you truly give up your life as a princess for a man you hardly know? Dragons are cruel and unpredictable-"

"Ryu would never hurt me," seethes Nina. "And I know him better than anyone else. Now, advisor Myria, let us go."

Nina has steel in her voice and stares unblinking up at the goddess. Having her on his side is the biggest honour Ryu could imagine; meeting her was the luckiest day of his life.

But the goddess is unwavering. Untouchable. She puts on a sad expression and says, as if apologising, "I'm afraid we can't do that, Nina."

"Your parents are worried sick for you!" exclaims the guard captain.

Garr, next to them, guiltily says nothing. Ryu forces himself to not think about his betrayal either – he can't get distracted now. He should be ready, prepared to fight. He's exhausted and he's facing a goddess, but if Nina's by his side, then well. He'll simply have to stand his ground.

"Traitor!" snaps Nina at the captain.

"That is what you are, Nina," says Myria. "A traitor to your country, if you refuse to part from Ryu. So what will it be, Nina?"

"Nina-" begins Ryu.

Nina grits her teeth. "Then so be it! Ryu has done nothing wrong, and I refuse to condemn a good man."

Myria closes her eyes for a brief moment. "Very well. I wish I didn't have to be this way, but I have no choice." She raises a hand, and light starts to shine from her palm. "In the name of the goddess Myria, I hereby curse princess Nina of Wyndia and Ryu of the Dragon clan to be forever revealed for what they are, forever shunned and forever apart!"

Ryu clings onto Nina's hand as bright, searing light engulfs them, keeps clinging until finally he's grasping at nothing but air.


Two years later

In the far north lies a vast desert, and in that desert the goddess Myria – newly back in the land of the living – raised a giant fortress which she dubbed Caer Xhan, in honour of an ancient land. A palace fit for a goddess, but also a place of scholarly pursuits, of magic, and of law and order. The dungeons for prisoners on the lowest level are known in all of Wyndia and far beyond – how it's impossible to escape from those dungeons, and how the goddess has hundreds of people locked up there for drawing her wrath upon them.

Rei's not sure he believes in goddesses anymore. See, he may be an unrepentant thief and mugger, sure, but no one deserves to get locked up in Caer Xhan for years. no one!

The cell Rei shares with another thief and a heretic is small, square, and made entirely of stone except for some bars set into one wall. There are no cots, no windows, no anything. The only light's coming from the corridor, filtered through the iron bars, and the weak light only serves to show how filthy and boring the cell is.

Rei cannot possibly stay here. And not just because this place sucks - Rei has to find out what happened to Teepo.

They'd been at work in the Wyndian capital Winlan when Rei admittedly got overambitious, and the guards caught them. Rei had made enough of a ruckus so that Teepo could make a run for it, but that made the guards annoyed enough to have him sentenced in the name of Myria and sent all the way up to Caer Xhan. And now here he was.

Everyone says Caer Xhan is impossible to escape from. Rei's about to prove them wrong.

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A/N: not proof-read; feel free to notify me if anything looks weird