Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 413

Chapter 413: Royal welcome
Anaisa caught her royal friend in a hug, bewildered.

“Why are you here? Where is your father?”

“Are you joking? You’re my best friend in the world, and your husband was taken by dragons! Of course I’m going to rush out here to help you!!”

The princess looked past Anaisa and lowered her voice a token before speaking of what was behind her.

“I do believe you found the dragons, but did you find Trace?”

“Yes, it’s… well it’s a very long story. Please stop burning the forest!”

“That wasn’t on purpose, initially,” Sapphira grimaced. “A chimera–a real, honest to goodness chimera!–Attacked the camp. We drove it back, but it kept following us from a distance. When we got into the woods, an army appeared. Thousands of soldiers that looked identical to us! The chimera grew upset and blew fire, which hit some dry leaves and caused a blaze.

“We intended to put it out, but it drove the other army away so effectively that we let the fire chase them down, and by then it was far too large for us to handle.”

Anaisa’s heart sank. The changers must have imitated the army out of curiosity, confusing or enraging the chimera. Not only would this hurt countless forest creatures, but seemed likely to enrage the Emperor.

“Is your father here?” She returned to her original line of questioning.

“Well, no, but Ben has been given full authority to act on his behalf,” Sapphira looked over her shoulder.

“Your husband came?” Anaisa watched as the man came running, apparently from another part of the military formation.

“My lady,” He bowed at the waist, and she curtsied deeply. Though young Ewan was technically the crown prince, Sapphira’s husband Ben was second in command of the kingdom for the time being.

“Your Highness,” She responded, more formally to him than she had Sapphira.

“What’s the situation? Are they a threat? Should the troops pursue them?” He looked towards the dragons, who seemed to be growing uncomfortable in the open.

“No, no, please, don’t escalate any of this any further,” Anaisa shook her head vehemently. “All this is a horrible mistake. The army needs to go home. Immediately. You can’t encroach on these lands.”

Ben took Anaisa’s arm and stepped further away from the soldiers, lowering his voice.

“His Majesty has sent me to retrieve the tree. There will have to be a very compelling reason to make me willingly send home the army he entrusted me with to get that done.”

Anaisa inhaled deeply, trying to find a starting point for her tale.

“Yes, the tree is gone. There’s not much to do about that at the moment. It’s back where it was stolen from.”

“Stolen?” Sapphira cut in.

“Long ago, maybe you’ve read the story, humans and wights made a treaty. The wights wouldn’t come to the humans, and vice versa. A human stole a seedling and planted it in a cave on human land, apparently hundreds of years ago.

“The wights took back what was theirs, but have been hiding the fact that it was ever stolen from the emperor, as they weren’t absolutely sure until they found it that it had been taken at all. Now that he knows the treaty was broken, he’s apparently bent on destroying all humanity for the treachery. Trace was taken to help keep him asleep and control his dreams.”

“Control his dreams? Why?” Sapphira eagerly interrupted while her husband stood more stoically beside her.

“His dreams are magical. Things escape them. Like chimera and other monsters. If he wakes, he will be determined to destroy us all.” Anaisa explained.

“And so we must take the army and kill him before he wakes?” Ben turned as if preparing to order just that.

Anaisa’s eyebrows rose. She hadn’t considered that possibility whatsoever. It was a natural human impulse to kill whatever was determined to kill you, but…

If the wights were willing to let their emperor be killed, they might have done so themselves instead of going to such great lengths to keep him asleep and mollified.

“I don’t think that’s the best way forward,” She said tentatively. “The wights have brought me here to renegotiate the treaty made so long ago. Humanity has lived in peace with the wights for longer than any of us have been alive.”

“You have a proposal?” Ben looked back at the dragons. “That’s why their pets are escorting you?”

“I don’t have a firm one, yet, but if I can get one–or both–of you to come with me as representatives of the king able to act on his behalf, then we can try to make one the Emperor will accept.”

“Oh, let me!” Sapphira beamed. “Darling, please?”

“I can’t leave this on your shoulders,” Ben shook his head. “And as I’ve said many times before, I would rather you have stayed home entirely.”

“We’re both coming,” Sapphira announced. “Do we get to ride on the dragons?”

The princess’s excitement was a bit misplaced, if endearing.

“This is a dangerous task. It should not be treated lightly,” Ben angled a look at his wife, and she calmed her expression.

“I can’t guarantee your safety,” Anaisa bit her lip before continuing frankly. “If Trace can manage it, I think going into the Emperor’s dream and planting the seeds of a treaty there will calm him enough to allow him to awaken and be reasonable. I imagine we will need to do a lot of groveling and apologizing over the stolen tree.”

“Apologize? It wasn’t our doing!” Sapphira complained, but Anaisa sighed.

“I’m not sure he’ll believe us right away. He’s lived this whole time and obviously feels deeply about being lied to. We’re humans. We should… take care, and try not to upset him any further.”

“Understood. Diplomacy is always preferable to war,” Ben’s brow furrowed as he considered the matter. “I’m not sure we’ll have any success in reaching an agreement, but it would be a failure not to try.”