Page 8 of Mage of the Dragon Prince
“Is that so?” Kitaro hummed with interest as he followed the human.
“You really don’t need to do that. It’s better if you don’t.”
Kitaro continued following him down the stairs. “You should take your own advice. Or are you unfamiliar with the legends about Fate’s Gate?”
“I’m overly acquainted with them, actually.”
“And yet you continue down these stairs as if you intend to walk through it. I thought humans were a superstitious bunch.” Kitaro had never spent much time around them, so he mostly knew about them from his reading.
“You’re not wrong.” Vanra turned to face Kitaro with a respectful bow. “Thank you for taking care of me last night. I truly appreciate your generous kindness, Your Highness.”
Kitaro stood a few stairs back and watched as Vanra walked through Fate’s Gate. The human made a frustrated noise, then went through it once more.
When Vanra tried for a third time, Kitaro sat down on the stairs to watch. “You are a most curious human. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?”
Vanra’s fourth attempt had the same lack of results. “I’m trying to go home.”
“It appears to me that you seem to be walking back and forth in a repeated attempt to tempt fate,” Kitaro said as Vanra once again went through the gate with no effect. “How, pray tell, does that get you home?”
After another failed attempt, Vanra looked up at Kitaro in despair. It moved the shifter prince’s heart. “Look, I know you’re probably not going to believe me, but I’m a mage who lives at this temple in my time. Last night, I stupidly went through Fate’s Gate because I was taking a shortcut up to the clearing.”
Kitaro put his chin on the palm of his hand while his elbow rested on his knee. “What would make you do such a foolish thing?”
“My, uh, companion is more superstitious than most.” It seemed as if Vanra struggled with what to call him. “He thinks the entire clearing is sacred, so I figured it was the only place he wouldn’t follow me.”
“Why did you not wish for your companion, whom I am assuming is this mysterious relative of mine, to follow you?”
Vanra looked down at his feet in shame. “It’s complicated. I didn’t want to be near anyone, so that was the best place to be left alone. And he’sreallypushy, so that was about the only thing that would keep him away from me.”
“This relative is clearly from my father’s side of the clan. They are prone to not knowing when to quit, particularly with matters of romance.”
Vanra’s laugh almost sounded like a sob. “When Iwent through the gate, I felt the ancient magic activate and send me here to the past.” Vanra looked up at Kitaro through lowered lashes to judge his reaction.
“What year are you from?”
The human hesitated. “I don’t want to ruin the future by messing up something in the past, so I don’t think I should say anything more specific.”
Kitaro couldn’t fault Vanra’s logic. “While disappointing, that is likely wise. Very well, I will not press you for details.”
“I figure the only way I can get back to my era is to go through it again, but nothing is happening. I don’t know what to do now.”
“Although it sounds like you are reciting a legend, I can smell you are telling the truth.” It sounded like something out of one of the fantasy novels Kitaro enjoyed reading. “This is most fascinating, I must say.”
“I’m alone in a time that’s not my own, completely cut off from my brother, my friends, and my companion, with no apparent way to get back home! That’s not fascinating. It’s a nightmare!”
Completely nonplussed, Kitaro pointed out the obvious. “You are not actually alone, though. I am currently still here, am I not?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s not like you have any reason to stick around. I guess I’ll have to try and plead my case with the mages next.” Vanra hunched his shoulders in defeat.
“You would be better off speaking with my father.His knowledge is far superior and spans more millennia than the mages can fathom.”
“Oh, like he would help a mere human.”
It was a fair comment when King Tatsuki was infamous for hating them. But something in Kitaro’s gut told him that his father would be intrigued by Vanra’s story.
“Since you have yet to volunteer the identity of this mysterious relative of mine, it may be someone Father knows. I suspect that alone would be enough to pique his curiosity to listen to your tale. If he is unable or unwilling to help, then you can bother the mages, who will probably not take kindly to the fact that you trespassed on sacred ground.”
Vanra’s lower lip quivered. “I don’t know what to do.”
