The Sixth Dragon Rider

Part 11

"Just sit and breathe for a moment, in and out, in and out, breathe," Aura muttered to the girl seated on her bed, still gasping for breath, "there you go, are you ready to explain now?"

Taking a few more gaping breaths the girl sucked in air and began to talk, "My name is Salarah, my sister, sent me to tell you what was found-"

At this point the girl stopped for her breath again and Aura realized why she looked so familiar, she was the exact copy of Kasha, the girl who had escorted her to her room on the first day. It was no wonder they were sisters, their only difference was in hair length, while Kasha had worn her hair short, just slightly past her shoulders, Salarah's swept the floor in a glossy mane.

"We found that," the girl, Salarah, started up again, "well, no that's not where I should start, we don;t really know anything, but there's this myth, you see,  where me and Kasha come from about Queen Cassandra and, partially about a diary she kept.  Where we come from, its by Queen Cassandra's old castle, and really out of the way, so far that all our food, clothes, even myths and stories are internal, we get nothing from anyone else, or give anything for that matter-"

"Intriguing," Aura smoothly interrupted to refocus her,"now, what is this myth?"

"Right, right. I get distracted easily, sorry.  Anyway the myth says that Queen Cassandra was the one who brought the dragons to men, who gave us our connection to them, some say she even was  part dragon.  She was a sorceress they say, she worked magic in inexplicable ways, not manipulation like other riders, but true magic, which was how she gave people their dragon partners and formed the connection.  They say men grew jealous though, of Cassandra's power, they started to take control of their dragons, not as partners, such as Cassandra had intended, but as slaves to make them powerful enough to overthrow her.  Queen Cassandra got an army of riders from somewhere to fight back, but it was not enough, she would not hurt the dragons, and even if she only killed the rider the dragon would bear awful pain because of the connection.  She couldn't subdue the men either though, so she retreated with her army, to the land of the dragons, they say, but she left her diary so one day the right rider could read it, learn from it and do what she could not.  There was a prophecy too, some know it as the "Bona Sep Est Prophecy", those are my people mostly, the ones who know Queen Cassandra's true story, the name means "the hope of good things".  The other name for the prophecy means much the opposite, that name is "The Dark Prophecy", it is the name people who have heard only the lies of Cassandra's time and believe in all the heroic wars dragon riders fought and other garbage," Salarah finished out of breath.

"And what was that prophecy?  What were the words?" Aura inquired.

"Erm, we don't really, like completely, totally know.  We know some parts, although possibly not with the original words, just the gist and the rest is forgotten.  It was only said once by Queen Cassandra herself and, well, as time passed the words changed and parts were forgotten or left out, there's a chance that the whole prophecy is in the diary, that Queen Cassandra wrote it down at some point, but even that's unlikely.  There's another problem too and that is that only people from my land heard it directly from the source, the final battle where Queen Cassandra gave the prophecy was fought above her castle, so no one else actually heard it and after the battle the rest of the world was told a different prophecy, that basically said that one day a person would come and strip the world of the protection long offered by the dragon riders and steal away the dragons and it would be our doomsday and yada yada ya," Salarah explained.

"I see," Aura said slowly,"is there anything in a story or something you know that would tell me how to open the diary?"

Salarah sat quietly, for a moment before answering, "Well, there is a chance that Cassandra's very last word's before her disappearance could be a clue.  What she said was "I cannot fight any longer, but this is not the end of what I have fought for.  One day my rightful descendant will rise from obscurity and claim her rightful place.  She will be the heiress to my throne and power, myself reincarnate and my secrets which I keep so carefully locked away will become her knowledge for it is only she who shall have the power to claim them, if she can find it within herself.  Do not despair my dear people, she will come and though this battle is lost, through her the war will be won!" After that she disappeared, never to be seen again, but those last words of hers, we have never been able to forget them.  I wish it was the same with the prophecy."