Summary: Raydan tells his son Adrian and daughter Adelia the story of how he helped save the Five Kingdoms.
Author’s note: This was written for Round 68 of #ChoicesCreates: Memories
“Tell us the story of how you saved the Five Kingdoms!” Adrian looked up at Raydan eagerly.
“Yes, please!” added Adelia.
Raydan looked at his young son and daughter. He would have to tell them an edited version of the story. Some parts of it weren’t appropriate for children. There were parts of it that he still had trouble dealing with. Although it had been necessary to convince Azura that he had changed sides, shooting Val would always haunt him. He still wondered if she had truly forgiven him. He also regretted how much he had hurt Kenna. He would never forget the way she had looked at him when he went to her room to warn her about Azura’s assassins, or the words she had said to him: “Welcome home, traitor.”
He pulled his children close, one on each side of him. “Once there was an evil woman who tried to take over the Five Kingdoms. She locked me up in the dungeons of Fydoria. I kept thinking about your mother and our friends. I wanted to find a way to help them. And then a young girl came to see me.”
“Like me?” asked Adelia.
Raydan smiled at his daughter. “She was older than you. She was the daughter of the evil woman, but she wasn’t like her. She was a good girl, like you. We became friends, and she agreed to help me. I had a special book with secret spells, but I couldn’t read them because they were written in another language. But she could read it, and she translated it for me.”
“Spells to use against the evil woman?” asked Adrian.
“Yes. She didn’t want her mother to hurt anyone.” replied Raydan. “Then the evil woman and her army began marching to Stormholt. I helped save the girl from attackers, so the evil woman granted me my freedom.” His children didn’t need to know that the attackers had been Stormholt soldiers. “I ran back home to be with your mother. The girl asked me to take her with me, so I did.”
Raydan decided to omit the violent parts of the story: his and Kenna’s battle with the assassins, his injury, and the details of Kenna’s fight against Azura. “I showed your mother the book, and taught her the magic words to say: vin hama rusa and sekakto. When the evil woman came, your mother said the magic words, and the evil woman went away forever. The Five Kingdoms were saved. Your mother was so happy that she asked me to marry her. A week later, we got married.” He looked to Adrian. “Then a year later, you were born.” He turned to Adelia. “And two years later, you were born.”
Things could have turned out so differently. They could have died, and Azura could be the ruler of the Five Kingdoms. But Azura was gone. He and Kenna were married and had a beautiful family. They were very lucky