Those Who Dragons Fear- Prologue

Prologue -Five years before the murder...

He wondered why he was running. Whatever was chasing him was something that no man could ever hope to outrun. All the lies and all the deceit were finally about to catch up with him. For far too long he had meddled in the affairs of things that were greater than he. It was time to face the oncoming darkness. Or maybe it was time to divert it.

For a moment he allowed himself to stop running, to look at his surroundings. He was in a great forest, there was the sound of wind, but the trees weren’t swaying. This had to be a dream. Maybe everything had been a dream all along and he could finally stop running. Maybe every lie and every bit of deceit was nothing but fiction. Yes, dreams, it had to all be in his mind. The child, the child was his. Everything was fiction. He could finally stop running.

His heart was on fire, was this pain always present or had it now just appeared? Something was wrong. The forest began to get dark and the wind began to get louder, but the trees still did not move. He was afraid. This dream was not meant to tell him that everything was a lie, the dream was a warning, telling him to keep on running. He had been running for so long that he had almost forgotten what he was running from, that is until he saw the eyes staring at him through the darkness.

They were red and they seemed to glow like fire. He could not see who or what the eyes belonged to. A chill went down his spine. He reached for a sword but was horrified to find that he did not have one. “Who are you!” he yelled.

“A shade of the past,” answered a sinister voice and then darkness took over. He couldn’t breathe. The entity was suffocating him, the forest was growing darker. He was dying, no this was a dream.

“Wake up,” he heard himself yell. “WAKE UP!”

He woke with a start. Sweating, he looked at his surroundings; the forest was replaced with the dark wooden walls of his bedroom. He turned his head and saw his wife sleeping soundly next to him. The blanket they shared only covered half her body; she was naked. He watched her chest move up and down with every calm breath she took. He laid back down and put his arm around her. She would be what he would miss most once he left.

I am leaving, he thought. The dream had made it clear that it was time for him to go. The boy was no longer safe with him around. “Laina,” he whispered, “wake up.”

She stirred at the sound of his voice. “What…it…Arthur?” she mumbled as she slowly open her eyes.

Arthur, yes that was his name at least to her it was. “I have to go.” The words left a bitter taste inside his mouth.

Laina bolted upright as she comprehended what he had said, “No,” she said, “why?” She was sitting up; the blanket was in a heap around her waist. She was fully awake now, she was staring at him. Her eyes were filled with hurt and she looked scared.

“Phillip,” Arthur answered, “he’s not safe with me here.”

“What has happened?” Laina asked, looking even more frightened at the mention of her son.

“Nothing yet, that is why I have to leave.” Phillip was all part of the façade that had been set up, no Phillip was the façade. He watched Laina get out of the bed and walk over to the lone window in the small room. Moonlight shined through the curtains illuminating her body. Should I take her one last time, he thought as he stared at her, no that would only make things more difficult. It was time to sever the ties that had kept him here for nine years.

Arthur stood up, put on a pair of fur trousers and walked over to Laina. He took her in his arms and kissed her. He tried to put all of his emotion in the kiss, he wanted her to know that he loved her. She embraced and kissed him back. For a moment he forgot about everything else in the world. All that mattered was the woman in his arms, but then he forced himself back to reality. He looked down at her beautiful face and saw that she had tears in her eyes, he wiped them away with his thumb.

Laina backed away from him and put on a dark blue robe that was lying at the foot of the bed.

“When are you going?” she asked.

“Soon,” he said. He walked over to a small cupboard that sat in the corner of the room, opened it and took out a leather vest and a fur overcoat. Laying next to the cupboard was a sheathed sword, a bow, and a set of arrows. He slung the sword around his waist and put the bow and arrows on his back.

Together, he and Laina left the bedroom and walked across a small hallway to the smallest bedroom of the house. Sleeping inside the room was a young boy with a head of black hair. Arthur walked over to him and kissed him on the forehead and caressed his hair. He had not wanted to get attached to the child, but after nine years an attachment had been formed. Against his better judgment he had allowed the child to believe that he was his father. Sometimes he allowed himself to believe that the boy really was his son. He turned to Laina and kissed her for one last time, “I love you,” he said and then left her.

There was a light breeze in the air, to his relief he saw that the trees were swaying. Not a single person was walking on the streets of the small village. This made things easier, he didn’t want to be seen leaving. Street lamps burned a path for him through the darkness. The lamps weren’t needed for him to know where he was going. After living in the village for nine years he knew the streets like the back of his hand.

Nine years had gone by extremely fast; he didn’t like that. He had come to the village of Old Water to protect the child and it was fitting that he was leaving to do the same. His time in the village had given him a false sense of security. There had been nine years without any incident, but the dream had changed everything. The dark ones were close to realizing the truth about the child. Arthur couldn’t let that happen.

He had to figure out where to go. He knew that there were many places for him to hide, but part of him was tired of sitting down in one spot and hiding like a coward. No, he would not hide, this time he would go on the run. He would not rest until he knew that the child was safe.

Once he reached the front gates of the village he saw something that surprised him. Standing underneath a street lamp was an old man. He was smoking a pipe and staring at Arthur.

“I wondered when you would arrive here,” said the old man.

“And I should’ve known that you’d know I was leaving,” replied Arthur.

The old man chuckled and said, “There’s a horse that’s ready for you. There’s a pack on its back with supplies for your journey.”

Arthur stared at the old man trying to think of the right words to say, “Protect them and take care of them.”

“I will,” replied the old man.

Arthur turned around and left the village. He mounted the horse and rode into the darkness, not knowing what fate had in store for him.