Estevan
The extraction of the skin was a slow process because it was as if it had life, it hardened and became difficult to cut, only with special tools was it possible.
Huge tents were set up around the dragon in order to hide my sins, every day I felt sick, sometimes I thought about stopping the process, but when I thought about how many lives I could save I stood firm.
I hadn't seen Alexia for a week since our last argument, we weren't doing well.
Facing the sea that brought back hundreds of memories of my dragon who had given his life for the kingdom and continued to protect it, even after his death.
A ship in the distance made my eyes turn to the horizon from where the flags of Olimper indicated that they belonged to the kingdom, I recognized it as Lorenzo and Mariah's ship and smiled.
"Your Highness," said Mariah coming towards me, she bowed her head a little, an unnecessary formality between us. "As soon as we heard about the attack, we came as quickly as possible."
"There weren't many strangers"
"Where's Charlotte?" She looked around.
"Charlotte's at the castle, I'm looking after the kingdom's personal affairs" I said and she nodded.
"We've brought some food supplies and blankets, if that's of any use."
"It will be, thank you!" I said to Mariah.
"Our trip has been postponed," said Lorenzo.
"It wasn't necessary, things are under control," I said, "but I'm glad to see you again."
Lorenzo nodded and looked around.
"What are those tents?"
"That's a long story," I said, sighing.
"We have time, we're here" he said and we started walking "A dragon, it's been a long time since the kingdom has suffered such an attack"
"Yes, my water dragon has always stopped attacks, but this time he couldn't resist..."
"So it's true what they're saying out there," said Mariah. "There are no more dragons in Olimper, but there are rumors that Princess Charlotte protected the city by riding on one."
"I told you that's crazy, Mariah"
"She's right" I said "Rumors about the lady of fire are true, Charlotte is connected to the dragon that was chained up in the castle courtyard" When I remember the recklessness of thinking that the best way would be to chain him up I'm ashamed of myself, yet the thought wasn't one of the worst I was having in view of what I was doing, so I continued "I think that from the first day I saw her in the courtyard near him, it was the dragon's wish to connect with her. But I thought he was going to kill her, so maybe the disaster in the arena wouldn't have happened if my mind hadn't been so closed."
"No one could have predicted that something like this would happen, it's never happened before in history," said Lorenzo and Mariah nodded in agreement.
"What about your dragon, Estevan? The one who lies on the side of the throne?"
"I don't know where he is, all I know is that he's alive" I said and the subject died along with the tension, I stopped in front of the tent "There's something I need to tell you"
Walking towards the tent, I lifted it for them to enter, they entered, Mariah put her hand to her nose, grimaced and looked straight ahead while Lorenzo started coughing, he spat it out, still feeling sick from the strong smell I was used to.
"What is it Estevan? What are you doing with the dragon?" Mariah asked with a look of horror." Are they taking its skin?"
She looked at me seriously.
"We're going to make armor out of my dead dragon's skin," I began. "That's the way I thought of protecting the soldiers from fire attacks from other dragons."
Lorenzo continued to vomit outside the tent, Mariah focused her eyes on the dragon.
"And what does Charlotte think about that?"
"She'll understand," I said.
"It's not for me to judge, all she does is think about Olimper. But it's hard to see," she said, leaving the tent.
Mariah looked disconcerted.
"I think I'd better go to the castle and see Charlotte, she's alone," Mariah said and then looked at Lorenzo.
"I'll stay," said Lorenzo, Mariah nodded and left without saying another word.
She could feel how awkward the atmosphere had become.
"What I'm doing is...."
"I heard the conversation with Mariah and I think it's a good idea," he said.
"Charlotte thinks we should start killing dragons to make more armor."
"Estevan, I've traveled all over the world and there's something I once heard about Olimper's castle being cursed by his great-great-grandfather, that he had brought doom and ruin to his people, which wars had preceded by years. Now that things seem calm, I feel that this story is real"
"It's not a story, it was a witch who cursed my great-great-grandfather after his son died in war. She said that the thirst for power would destroy Olimper and that no matter how hard we tried, we would never have peace, because wars had preceded us for years." I sighed tiredly. "I wanted to say that I don't believe in curses, but I thought there would be peace in Olimper and now I see the wars knocking at the doors, the conflict with the kingdoms, I know that the future of Olimper is not bright and I need to take care of and protect my people!"
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Alexia
The slide of the sword was a shrill sound that at first irritated me, but now it was like an addiction.
"Don't play fair, Charlotte," said Martin, his swords together in a tense grip. He pushed me backwards, destabilizing me, and I staggered and almost fell to the ground.
"I didn't like how that sounded like an insult," I said angrily.
"I don't want to insult you, just state a fact. You have less strength than a man and less experience than a man who has been trained for years for battle, so you can't play fair or you'll die!"
I shook my head in agreement and advanced on him once, twice, three times, hitting him hard with my sword as I tried to deliver accurate blows that didn't even seem to tickle him.
I spun the sword, which he dodged almost falling over.
"All right, I'd better stop for a while!" He said, moving away from the courtyard. I took a deep breath, panting, this was the third fight in which I'd actually used a sword.
He sat down on the bench and I sat down next to him and he took a bag of peanuts out of his pocket.
"Want some?" He asked and I shook my head in denial. "You're getting better Charlotte, when you're angry you try harder, but you're acting on impulse. It's a serious mistake in battle."
"I'm exhausted, in the morning I'm occupying my mind with various teachers, in the afternoon I'm learning to fight with my body and with swords."
He shook his head.
"When you came to me to teach you how to defend yourself I was surprised, I'd never seen a woman interested in fighting"
"I think you've noticed that I'm not just any woman," I said, certain that I attracted trouble and that if I didn't learn to defend myself I would soon die.
"Yes, you're the lady of fire. The whole castle has admired you since you protected the kingdom a week ago" he finished pouring the bag of peanuts down his throat "If it weren't for your feat I wouldn't be putting myself at risk, now get up"
"Just five more minutes," I asked.
Martin was a forty-three-year-old guard who was close to retirement. He had already taken part in two battles of Olimper and despite his ideology of keeping the peace, he knew how to fight like no one else.
"No way" He gestured for me to get up with my limp body and grabbed the sword, then too quickly he attacked me.
Our swords clashed, my heart pounding, my eyes wide and drops of sweat on my forehead, I hadn't expected the attack.
"What's that?" I asked, I hadn't even finished lifting, he kept pushing harder and I understood that he wanted to push me to the extreme.
But I was exhausted, I began to lower myself slowly, the sword falling slowly as I tried to stand firm, I knelt down and grunted as I tried not to lose this battle like the thousand others I had lost.
I grabbed a handful of sand and threw it in his face. Martin staggered backwards and bumped into a jug, causing him to fall.
I took advantage of the moment to move forward and put the sword to his throat, he opened his red eyes and stared at me.
"You didn't play fair," he said seriously, then he smiled and added, "The battlefield is treacherous, the most agile, the most skillful and the cleverest survive. You're beginning to learn Charlotte"