Samantha Edwhan

End of the Winter Star

Chapter 12

“Dad! Dad!”

Gerold forced his eyes open and saw Markos standing beside the bed. He was shaking Gerold's shoulder gently and speaking in a quiet, but urgent tone.

“Markos? What are you doing up so late?” Gerold asked.

“It's morning,” Markos said. “But no one else is up yet and I need to talk to you.”

Gerold blinked, trying to clear his eyes, and raised his head. He felt a dull throb in his skull. He and Griffin had stayed at the bar quite late and had drunk quite a lot. Today would be a hard day.

But that was the least of his concerns as he recognised the stressed, sleep deprived look in Markos's eyes.

“Let's go sit on the roof,” Gerold said quietly. He didn't want to wake Adelaide.

Markos nodded. Gerold carefully eased himself out of the bed and they exited the room. Gerold took the lead, going for the spiral staircase in the corner of the hall and taking the stairs up. The cool, early morning air was already drifting down to him.

Once on the castle roof, Gerold sat down and turned to Markos. “Tell me what happened.”

Markos took a seat next to him and stared at the starry sky. His dark green eyes were wide. But it wasn't with wonder.

“I've been having nightmares,” he said after a long moment.

“Nightmares? What about?” Gerold asked.

Markos took a deep, shaky breath. “A lot of things. But last night it was about you.”

“Me?” Gerold tilted his head slightly.

Markos nodded. “I saw you dying. You were very sick, and weak. You couldn't even move.”

Markos voice cracked as he spoke. Tears welled up in his eyes before he ducked his head away. Gerold felt a tightness in his chest but pushed it aside.

“It's okay, Markos. I'm here and I'm not sick,” he said with a small smile. “I'm not going anywhere, so don't worry.”

Markos shook his head. “These don't feel like normal nightmares, Dad. I had a dream where I was older, an adult, and there were dragons I knew and dragons I've never met. Something big was happening. I'm not quite sure what, but it was big. A-and I was trying really hard to make something happen. It felt so real and I was… so tired.”

Gerold sighed. He couldn't lie to his son, but he didn't want to admit that he knew this was coming. He took a moment to think about what to say.

“Son.” Gerold placed a wing over Markos's back as he began. “You are part of a family with amazing power. But it's not from your title, or mine. It comes from a long line of dragons before us. Some dragons in our history could see things that no one else could. They used this ability to help those around them, and those they loved most.”

Markos was staring up at him with wide eyes. Gerold wondered if it was just the starry sky he was seeing reflected in Markos's eyes.

“But there is something very important that you must remember,” Gerold warned. “You must never tell anyone of this ability. Not your mother, or your siblings. Not even your future wife. The only other dragon you can ever tell of this ability is your first hatchling, for they could have it too.”

Markos blinked a few times, then nodded. “I understand, Dad.”

Gerold smiled and turned to look at the stars. The sky was relatively clear, but still dark. The sun had barely even begun rising over the horizon, leaving it dark enough for the stars to still shine down on them. He enjoyed the night sky and fresh air.

“That's an odd lump on your hind leg,” Markos said.

Gerold looked down at him, then followed his gaze to the lump in question. It was small. Gerold didn't even know it was there.

He shrugged. “It's nothing. I'm sure it'll go away eventually.”