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“Yes, how do you think you changed me back?” he asks cocking his head to the side.

“What about Zena bloodline, weren’t they the same?” I ask wondering exactly how much he knows about Fae.

He shakes his head, “No they had other abilities, a little darker than the Helcate and Aziza bloodline, they specialised in the darker arts, Dark Fae if you will,” he says, making me wonder what he meant.

This was the first I have heard of this, I thought the royal families were the same. “How so?” I ask curiously.

“Well Helcate’s were the first royal family known to exist. They had healing abilities but eventually when the Oracle came into the picture, she spoke of two other Fae kingdoms, back then Fae never wandered from their kingdom. So, when the Oracle came, she mentioned another kingdom she had visited, the Aziza kingdom, just beyond the mountains. Helcates didn’t know of them, so became curious and travelled across the mountain and discovered their existence along with the Dragon kingdom, they noticed how much their kingdom was flourishing, the Aziza’s were responsible for bringing peace and a treaty agreement amongst the different species and took the Helcates under their protection forming an alliance. The Zena kingdom wasn’t found yet, but as the Fae population grew the kingdoms became too small so they went seeking out new places and stumbled across the Zena kingdom, which was in the forests north of here, they were different though, lived back then the old ways it wasn’t kingdom more of a tribe. Their magic stemmed from darker elements, everything has a balance, they’re magic stemmed from taking life in exchange for power, kind of like the grim reapers of Fae if you will. Their ability was to manipulate the elements, the weather patterns etc, they also had the ability to take immortal life.”

His story is riveting, I could listen to him talk all day about the Fae and our history. But it just lead to more questions.

“So, if they had that ability how did the Fae lose the war?”

“Because their entire life force was connected to their Queen, once she went the entire bloodline died with her.”

“The Zena Queen died in the war?” I ask confused.

“No, Queen Maira killed herself when King Darius Helcate had the Dragons kill her mate. Helcates became jealous of the Aziza Kingdom’s growing bond with them. Blaire Aziza, the King’s daughter, she was married to a Helcate as part of an arranged marriage, but originally she was to be married to the Zena bloodline. The Helcates interfered with the marriage, it was rumoured that Helcates told the Dragon kingdom that Zenas wanted to start a war. Helcates refused to let them marry, so Blaire married a Helcate eventually falling in love with him and having a child. But that wasn’t enough for the Helcates they wanted the Zena bloodline out of the picture so the Dragon King at the time killed Maira’s mate as warning, not knowing that it was a set up by the Helcate’s, Maira told Blaire about the Dragons killing her mate, and she felt loyalty to Maira because they were best friends. So, when the Dragon Kings discovered her, she rejected them and cursed them, Aziza were merely pawns in a war they knew nothing about till it got them killed.”

“So, the Aziza’s never started the war?”

Pluto shakes his head. “No, the Helcates and the Dragons did, the Aziza bloodline was collateral damage in a war they knew nothing about till it started. Helcate’s jealousy started the war, Dragons were told of Zena’s alleged betrayal and struck a deal with the Helcates, they would kill the Queen’s mate as warning to back off from the Aziza’s in exchange for the Oracle.”

“Why did the Dragon’s want the Oracle?”

“Because she could see the future, they wanted her as a tool to be used, why do you think the Dragon empire thrived and was the wealthiest kingdom, it was because of the Oracle, she had control over the Witches.”

“But in the Dragon history books, it says the Aziza’s started the war when Blaire cursed them,” I tell him.

Pluto shakes his head. “The war started many years before that, just the Aziza’s were unaware of Helcates scheming.”

“How do you know all this?” I ask because this was vastly different from the stories everyone was told.

“My mate was one of the Helcates advisors. She never agreed to what they were doing, we planned to run away together, she knew of their plots to take over and told me. I tried to warn the Dragon King at the time, but he cast me out as a traitor. Then, Blaire was killed and the war started and my mate was killed, leaving me stuck in that state.”

“Well, that was an interesting story,” Matitus says from behind me, making me and Pluto jump. Pluto looks down in embarrassment.

Ignoring Matitus, I get back to the task at hand and what I originally came here for. Matitus taps my shoulder wanting me to hop up. He sits back down and pulls me on his lap.

“So back to the Dragon’s, how many of them are in the caves in the mountains.”

“I can’t be sure, maybe thirty at most, it depends. A lot of them are too weak to move, desiccated in a paralytic state, unable to move because the mutated form won’t allow it.”

“Can you communicate with each other in that form?”

“Kind of, it’s hard to explain, it’s like being stuck in two mindsets, human and Dragon. More instinctual, a lot of them have gone crazy and I am afraid even if you bring them back, they won’t be able to function. Only those of us that could get around have managed to keep their marbles sort of.”

“What do you mean sort of?” Matitus asks.

“For the most part, we coexisted together, flocked together. But a lot of them have been driven mad from the loss of our mates, I don’t think it would be advisable to shift for me anymore, my Dragon isn’t exactly sane without my mate. I am but I think that side of me is damaged beyond repair, lost without her”

I nod trying to understand, “But you can communicate with each other?”

“Sort of, on a basic level. To hunt together like a pack, but other than that not much. Well, not until Lincoln came back, he was in human form returned a few weeks ago. I am assuming that is because of you or the Helcate he spoke of,” Pluto asks.

“So, this Lincoln told you about us?”

“Yes, he wants to capture you and the Helcate for the Dragons to feed on, bring them back and start his own kingdom. He knows the Helcates are responsible for the war, and he wants revenge,” Pluto says. Matitus growls but not before we hear a roar from outside that leaves Pluto shaking as Silas storms into the barn, his body barely fit as he shifts scraping the roof and walls, he lunges straight for Pluto. I throw myself in front of Pluto. Silas’s talons stop just before me.