The Runaway: Journey to Tambelon

by Hope Caster

Prologue: The Abandoned Dragon

Spike never liked being at his uncle’s house. The centaur always seemed to give him a look of some kind, putting in him an urge to cling to his mother for protection. Fortunately for the whelp, his mother and uncle had left for a secluded part of the house to talk. Normally, they would have Spike go outside to play for a bit, but a dark cloud loomed over the city of King’s Reach, foreshadowing the darker times to come.

The five-year-old dragon was forced to wait in the foyer as his mother and uncle finished a conversation down in the basement, possibly the most private room in the house. The dragon wrinkled his nose at the thought of his mother keeping things from him, though she did it quite often. Spike could hear muffled yells coming from the basement, likely his uncle deriding his mother for something that didn’t matter. What worried the child was that, if he listened carefully, he could soft sobs echoing throughout the house. He would need to tell his grandmother that his uncle was being mean to his mother again. If there was one thing that Spike’s grandmother never tolerated, it was his uncle being mean.

After a few minutes, the muffled voices slowly faded and the door to the basement opened with an annoyingly loud creak. Spike instantly became dismayed when he caught sight of his mother. She was a slender dragoness, though she always wore modest clothing to hide it. She was a light pink, the pink that little girls of all sorts were in love with, and had light, lime green spines. Her eyes, which were normally a lovely, sparkling emerald, were bloodshot and her cheeks seemed stained. It was rare that Spike saw his mother cry, but when she did, he always felt a pang of guilt as if he was somehow responsible.

“Mommy?” Spike asked, walking towards the dragonness.

His mother quickly wiped her eyes and put on a smile for a son. “It’s fine Spike, Mommy’s fine. Your Uncle and I just had a hard discussion, that’s all.” As if on cue, his uncle, an aging Centaur named Tirek came from behind pushing past her. He had sickly greyish-red skin and a monstrous scowl that was considered friendly to anyone that knew him. The rest of his body was concealed in a dark cloak, and he always glared at everyone he met. If Spike didn’t know better, he would be convinced his uncle was an evil wizard from one of his mother’s stories.

The centaur stomped through the house, muttering to himself curses and insults. “Discussion. As if I’m able to have a discussion with a wretched woman.” He slowly lumbered through the house and disappeared upstairs.

His mother tensed as she put a hand to her mouth and turned away from her son. Spike quickly darted over and entrapped his mother in a hug. He’d seen his mother upset before, and it usually made her feel better when he hugged her. She told him so.

“Is Uncle Tirek being grumpy again?” he murmured, feeling a twinge of bitterness.

“No, sweetie,” His mother said, chocking down a sob. “Mommy is just having a bad day. I get emotional sometimes.”

It seemed that his hug was doing little to help her this time around. Spike buried his face in his mother’s robes as he tried to recall a few notes of a song she would sing him when he was sad. It always made him feel better when he was sad, so it had to make her feel better. It was like the hugs they gave each other. While he did his best to hum but fell silent as his mother bent down and embraced him.

“How did someone like me get a son as wonderful as you?” She said with a sniffle.“You deserve someone better than me, Spike.”

Spike couldn’t understand why, but tears began to well up in his eyes. “Why are you crying? Did-did something bad happen?”

“No, Spike, no I-I just-”

There was a sudden bang, causing both dragons to turn towards the source. There, draped in his dark cloak stood Tirek with a sheathed sword at his hooves. “There,” he sneered, gesturing to the blade, “your precious sword. Take it and get out of my house.”

Spike took a moment to recall where he’d seen the blade before, only to turn to his mother, hurt. The dragoness cast a momentary glare towards Tirek before facing her son.

“I know, I know.” The dragon put a single finger on the drake’s lips before he could say a single word. She gripped his shoulders for a brief moment before tilting his head up an inch. “Mommy needs you to be strong right now. Just you wait, I’ll be back to tuck you in before you know it.”

Spike bit the bottom of his lip as he struggled to keep himself from bursting into tears. For the past day, his mother had been running about packing things away, and preparing a bag for herself along with very familiar clothes. Spike had a small idea what was happening, but the sword confirmed it. His mother was leaving again. If it was anything like the last few times, it was probably because his father, a gargoyle named Scorpan, needed her to run an errand. It was nothing new. His mother constantly left to run errands for his father, but something felt different this time.

Perhaps he should have known just by looking at her clothes. His mother never seemed to dress in anything but her heavy robes and her worn boots whenever she left. Then there was her sword. It was something of hers that she kept out of his reach no matter how long he held his breath. She normally had his uncle hide it away in one of the rooms in his house until she needed it. Finally, there was his uncle’s house, where he’d normally stay when she left.

His mother stood up and walked past her son. She lifted the sword and slung the strap over her shoulder so that it rested against her thigh.

“Do you need to go?” Spike asked, grabbing his mother’s robes as she walked towards the door. He squeezed the fabric as hard as he could as he tried to keep her from taking another step, but all his efforts proved meaningless as she easily pulled away. The little whelp kept telling himself the same thing that she’d said to him earlier. Before he knew it, his mother would be back to tuck him in, read him a story, and sing him a soft lullaby before he went to sleep, like the dozens of other times she left. Her words did nothing to rid him of the growing tears in his eyes. His mother turned to her son and knelt, cupping his pudgy cheeks.

“Spike, I need to do this.” She took a sharp breath when her eyes met his gaze. “Things will be different when I come back, I promise.”

“Different? You always say that-”

“But this time it will be. We’ll be able to afford a house, and we won’t have to rely on grandma so often-”

His mother often talked about purchasing a house for the two of them, and his uncle if he wanted company. It was a small dream of hers that she clung to throughout Spike’s childhood. She also wished not to rely on his grandmother as they so often did. Spike never understood why she wanted either of those things. The building she often fawned over was bigger than his uncle’s house, but smaller than his grandmother’s home was, where he and his mother currently lived. And his grandmother had told him repeatedly that he and his mother were no burden on her. “But grandma said that-”

"I know what she said, Spike. We'll always be welcomed at her home." She spat the words as if they were poison, something that the young dragon was unable to pick up on. "The house won't be all though; when I get back, I won't have to leave anymore."

That was certainly something that should have lifted Spike’s spirits, yet something in his heart kept urging him to make sure his mother stayed. “But can’t you… can’t dad just have someone else go? Why does it need to be you?”

“Because papa… Scorpan, he… he needs someone like me, someone he can put his trust in. I know how it is. It’s always scary when Mommy leaves, but you don’t have to worry, I’ll be fine, and you’ll be safe. Your uncle is going to take good care of you until I get back.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “Promise me that you’ll be on your best behavior.”

Spike gave his mother a nod as he gripped the sleeves of her robes.

She wiped the forming tears in her son’s eyes before looking towards the brooding centaur who now waited behind him. Pulling Spike into her embrace so that the side of his head rested against hers, she mouthed the smallest request she could to Tirek, something that he was unable to say no to.

“Spike,” She whispered, as she felt his body begin to tremble, “I love you so much. Never forget that.” Fighting back tears of her own, she gave her son one last kiss on his forehead before turning to leave once again.

With bated breaths, Spike tried to move forward and grab his mother, but his uncle's red claw reached out and grabbed his shoulder.Spike tried to pull away, but Tirek got his hands under his nephew’s arms and lifted him up, pulling him into to his chest. Spike’s mind started to race. Perhaps if he called out to her or said he wasn’t feeling good, she would realize that she didn’t need to leave him; his father would understand, and if he didn’t, then his grandmother and uncle could help him understand.

Spike reached out his arms and tried to call for her to stop, but all he could do was cry. Perhaps crying was the better response. No matter the reason, his mother always came to him when he cried. Today, despite his struggles, his waving arms, and his desperate sobs, his mother continued to walk away.

The door to the house closed, and the dragoness vanished.

“Dry your eyes, child,” his uncle said with a cracked, trembling voice, his hold on Spike tightening, “she’s coming back.”

That was the first lie Tirek ever told Spike.

Comments

[Inferno demon Dash]

Ah Tirek, you can go buck yourself....and here...we...go.

[Frostbite4]

The first chapter actually reminds me of the game god of war, the one for the ps4. With the way tirek acted at the end reminded me of kratos and his son