TAKEN BY THE DRAGON KING

THIRTY-NINE

Finding Help

**

Elena

What do you mean, my help?” Gulliver said.

He was staring at me like he wasn’t sure what to make of me.

I bit my lip, “Can we talk inside? Or on the way?”

“On the way?” He frowned, “Where? What’s going on?”

“Dracul’s in trouble, okay?” I said, my voice dropping to a low whisper.

I couldn’t just tell him everything out here. I didn’t know who could overhear and I didn’t know who I could trust.

I didn’t even know if I could trust Gulliver, but I thought that I could. If he was helping people to kill Dracul, he would never have done everything in his power to save him and keep him alive.

It didn’t make sense and I thought that Gulliver seemed a lot more logical than that.

“In trouble?” Gulliver scoffed, shaking his head, “Yes, he is. He’ll have the whole kingdom against him at this rate. But what does that have to do with me?”

He still seemed angry at Dracul, but I was starting to feel a twinge of hope in my chest. Maybe, just maybe, he would be agreeable to helping me get Dracul and help him.

“It’s more than that.” I said hurriedly, “He’s racing into danger, Gulliver and I need your help to follow him. I don’t have a carriage, or a horse, or even know the way back to the castle!”

“He’s going back to the castle?” The frustration was back on Gulliver’s face, “Does he even care about my work?”

I wanted to grab Gulliver and shake him, tell him that this was bigger than him, bigger than both of us. I wanted to tell him until he understood.

But I didn’t know what Gulliver was thinking right now and I couldn’t cause a scene.

“This is private.” I said quickly and quietly, “We can’t be overheard.”

Something in my voice must have gotten to him because Gulliver opened his door and stepped aside.

I hurried into the room and he shut the door behind me. He still looked frustrated, like this wasn’t worth his time.

But I had space to talk and I was going to use it.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“There’s a coup happening.”I said, not wasting any time getting straight to the point.

“What?” Gulliver said. His eyes widened and he looked surprised, “I know Dracul can be… difficult, but a coup? You can’t be serious.”

“I am serious! I overheard talk of it and I just told Dracul.” I stopped, feeling my throat close with emotion. Now wasn’t the time for me to get upset. Now wasn’t the time for me to start talking about my feelings.

“He left me behind. He got into the carriage and drove straight back to the castle.” I said, my voice wavering.

“But he’s still healing. That’s suicide.” Gulliver scoffed.

Then he fell silent as the reality of the situation sank in, “That’s suicide. He won’t make it.”

“I know.” I said, swallowing back the ache in my chest and the lump in my throat, “But I can’t get to him myself. I can’t help him on my own.”

Gulliver looked at me with dawning realization “So you need me to get you there. To back you up.”

I nodded, “Will you help me?'”

I wasn’t too proud to beg. Dracul had saved my life and I was going to return the favor

I knew that Gulliver and Dracul had a rocky relationship. But Gulliver seemed like the first good guy I had met here, other than Dracula. Despite the plan he found to save their kingdom, he never seemed to want to hurt me.

He seemed intelligent and kind, in his own way. And I had to hope that that counted for more than an argument with Dracul.

“A carriage will take too long. Dracul has the fastest horses in the kingdom pulling that thing.” Gulliver said quickly, frowning in thought.

“We’d need to go on horseback. Can you ride?”

“Can I.. what?” I said, taking a moment to catch up.

What was he talking about?

Then it hit me.

He was going to help me. He was offering to help me, coming up with solutions.

I felt a wave of relief crash into me like a tidal wave. It left me feeling giddy. For a moment, I felt like I couldn’t speak, couldn’t even move to say thank you.

“Um, yes, I can ride.” I answered eventually, the words sticking in my throat on the way up

“Good. I’ll ready the horses.” He turned, “You better hope that Dracul doesn’t get there too quickly.”

There was a weight to his voice, a heaviness and I felt another wave of relief. I already knew that the situation was bad. But if Gulliver understood that too, then he would be so much more helpful.

I was relieved. Confused, but relieved. I didn’t understand why he would help when he was clearly not happy with Dracul right now.

In fact, I didn’t understand why he wasn’t asking more questions, but I was going to take the help where I could get it.

“Why are you helping?”

The words came out of my mouth before I had a chance to really think about what I was saying. Why did it matter? Why did his reasons matter, as long as Dracul got help?

For a moment, Gulliver didn’t answer and I felt my stomach twist in my guts, leaving me uneasy. Maybe I had ruined it. Maybe my question had tipped him over the edge, against my favor

Then he spoke.

“Because I am loyal. I have always been loyal.” Gulliver said slowly, quietly, “To the values of my kind, to our people. Helping Dracul is part of that.”

He stopped for a moment before continuing, “Meet me at the stables in ten minutes. They should not be hard to find. If you have a coat, you should bring it.”

I nodded as Gulliver left the room. I watched him go for a moment, before leaving the room myself.

I hurried to the place where Dracul and II had stored our bags and rummaged through my things to find a coat.

The air was chilly, but I hadn’t paused for long enough to really notice. Now, I was starting to feel the cold more accurately.

I grabbed it and slung it across my shoulders.

Then I headed towards the stables. I had not seen any horses there, nothing that I could have used.

I had glanced on my way through, but I knew they were empty.

But maybe Gulliver had away. Maybe he knew where the horses were really kept.

All I could do was trust and get to the stable.

The relief in my chest still didn’t feel real.

There was a giddiness, an uncertainty that made me feel lightheaded when I thought too hard about what I was feeling.

After all, I knew that I had to go after Dracul, knew that I had to help him, but if I thought too deeply then the panic started to become all-consuming.

If I thought too deeply, I started to worry about what would happen If I didn’t get there in time. I started to worry about the growing reality, the growing certainty, that things were only going to go downhill from here.

Because there was no way we could get there before him. And if he charged in and picked a fight, there was almost no way he could survive it.

Yes, he was strong, but he was injured and outnumbered.

I didn’t want to think about the worst-case scenario. I didn’t want to let my mind think of a world without Dracul. I couldn’t handle that.

So instead, I focused on what was in front of me. I focused on getting to him, to find a way out of this mess.

I focused on the only plan and the only backup I had, and I focused on getting to Dracul.

When I arrived at the stables, there were two horses waiting. Gulliver was holding the reigns of both and looking at me calmly.

How can he look so calm at a time like this?

I shook it off and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to let the panic sink in. I had to focus on what was right in front of me and nothing more. I had to keep moving forward even if the path felt impossible to navigate.

“I’m ready.” I said quickly, as I approached.

Both horses seemed steady, which was a relief. I could ride a wilder horse, but it made things harder and I didn’t have the time for that right now.

Gulliver nodded, “Get on, I’ll hold him steady. Then I need you to follow me.”

“Of course.” I said, approaching the horse.

“And , Elena. You need to be prepared for whatever is in front of you. Things may get worse.” Gulliver said.

I felt my heart drop at his words.

I wasn’t prepared at all.