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“Yes?” The old man asked.
“I am looking for Alameda,” Rei stated with all the authority of a man in his position despite circumstances being what they were.
“I am Alameda,” the man said and raised a gnarled hand to his chest.
“But you can’t be. The man I am looking for is Diego Alameda, my footman-”
“Oh my lord! It is you,” he wheezed and flashed Rei a toothless grin.
“It is I, Rei Dorado. Now tell me where I can find my footman, sir, and I will reward you for kindness.”
“Can it really be true? The King of the Golden Flame? Yes, there it is, your golden rose as my Papa said it would be above your heart,” the man wheezed again and walked over to a moth-eaten sofa before falling heavily down into it.
“Sit, please,” he asked.
Rei could not refuse. To do so would be dishonorable. He rubbed his hand over the small golden rose, a bud really. The symbol that sat upon his muscled chest had been there since his birth.
A dragon’s rose was his magical bond. A connection to both his color and his gifts. Rei was a Gold Dragon. Keeper of the Golden Flame. A King amongst his kind.
His rose would only blossom and unravel when he found his heart’s treasure. His one true mate created solely for him and destined to be at his side for all time. Something he was unsure would ever happen. Especially after he’d failed so miserably with Tricia Cadela.
“You are saying you are my Alameda?”
“Yes! And no, my liege. I am the grandson of your last footman. I was but a child when my father showed us the paintings and told us tales of the Dragon King who called the mountains of Rio his home! I never thought I would live to see you wake!”
“What year is it?” Rei said unable to maintain his fury at so open and honest a man.
“It’s 2019, sire.”
“I’ve been asleep for over a hundred years?” Fury and wonder fueled his disbelief. A hundred years gone. Why, he’d never done such a thing! A third of his life taken from him. But how?
“Yes, sire,” the old man nodded.
Rei closed his eyes. So much time. He had much to do. A century to catch up on. And there was no time to waste.
“Is Castle Dorado still standing?”
“Yes, though it has fallen into disrepair. I am sorry, sire, I am old now and had but a daughter to follow my line.”
“A daughter? The Alameda line has always bred many true sons.”
“Yes, sire, but I guess things change,” the old man smiled revealing several more gaps in his teeth.
“I have a grandson though. He is a computer whiz. Let me call him for you. Severino! Severino aqui!”
Pounding footsteps sounded from the upstairs room and a young man came racing down the carpeted steps. He did not even glance at Rei.
The Dragon King looked down his nose at the unlicked cub. His intention was to impress upon the surly and wiry youth that he was in charge. Master and commander of all he surveyed.
The painfully thin youth rolled his thick framed eyes at Rei, almost laughing at his makeshift kilt while pushing his lenses back onto his snub nose. He lacked the proper respect, but he wasn’t outright rude. Yet.
That was good news for him as Rei wasn’t sure he could keep his Dragon from reacting should this boy display his disrespect openly. He smelled of flowery soap, a womanly scent for sure, and Rei wondered if the youth was with a female?
Oooh a female. He scolded his Dragon. A woman was what got him in this mess in the first place.
“Avo? Grandpa? Are you alright? Who is this guy?”
“Yes, of course. I am old, not dead! Do you remember, Severino, the stories? The ones I used to tell you of your Great-grandfather?” He grabbed his grandson’s hands and squeezed them gesturing to where Rei sat.
“Sure, I do,” the young man sighed and wiped his eyes, “but they are just stories and I am working, Avo. You need your rest. Tell your friend here to go. I will be able to pick up your medicine later-”
“The stories are true, look, look, filho!”
Rei stood calmly assessing the situation as grandson and grandfather spoke. So, this was the next heir to the Alameda line? Hmm.
The young man was too papery thin, too arrogant, too ready to dismiss his elders. Hmm. He would have a lot to learn, Rei smiled at the thought. He would enjoy teaching the boy for certain.
Only at the last minute did young Alameda relent and turn to find all six and a half feet of Rei, although be it absurdly clothed, standing in his doorway.
“Who, who are you?” He stuttered and backed up a step.
“I am Rei Dorado, King of the Golden Flame,” his voice reverberated in the almost bare room.
He maintained eye contact until the boy gulped, as he should in the presence of such awesomeness! Yes. I am a mighty Dragon!
Looking around, he saw the home was neat and clean, not quite the hovel he took it for when he’d barged in.
“Severino is it?” At the young man’s nod, he continued, “I have just awakened from one hell of a long sleep, young Alameda. The world is different than I remember it. It is louder, dirtier, filled with people where there were none. The men in your line have served me for hundreds of years faithfully-”
Rei straightened to his full height, his too long hair billowing about him in the seaside breeze like a black cloak, “I am asking you, Severino Alameda, to continue to uphold the original vow of your five times removed grandfather. Will you do it? Will you serve me?”
“Serve you? What the hell are you talking about?”
Rei growled at the insubordinate young man, taking no pleasure when he cowered from him. He was no bully. He did not like using his size and strength to intimidate, merely to impress. The older man interrupted.
“Severino, hush!” He walked forward with his weather-beaten hands wrapped around a scarred old cane and something pulled on Rei’s heart. This man had honor. He would reward him well.
“Yes, yes, my lord, we will both serve you. I will help educate my grandson in his duties.”
“But Avo, we don’t know him! How can we trust what he says?”
“When I was a child, Severino, we visited the huge house on the top of the mountain. We had clothes and food and money. We never wanted as we do now. Understand it is our blessing, our destiny to serve the king,” the older man smiled and nodded.
Rei could feel the grandson’s reluctance. He hated to admit it, but he needed the young man. Needed him to get acquainted with the modern world.
“I vow to treat you well, young Alameda. I swear if you do your duties and serve me well you will be rewarded. And yes, you can leave whenever you wish.”
“Anytime?”
“Indeed. Anytime.”
“Fine then. We can take my car to the old house, if it makes it there,” he mumbled.
Rei nodded. He did not know what the young man meant by car, but he would soon find out. A few minutes later and Rei knew exactly what a car was.
“That thing is a death trap! A beast from hell!” Rei raged as he walked alongside the metal animal that young Alameda had insisted on taking to the top of the mountain.
He did not care how many stared at him in his borrowed clothing. Severino had insisted he remove the pink wrap and wear some of his things to blend in.
Rei grunted with distaste at the borrowed clothing. He once wore silks and finely woven linen hand tailored to suit his frame. This century’s idea of clothing left a lot to be desired.
The result of his borrowing young Alameda’s clothes was an outfit that was too tight and short in the legs, waist, and crotch. Not to mention the material of the pants was hard and itchy as all get out. The shirt was loose and made up of light cotton which thankfully covered the fact that his britches were undone.
His cock was just about suffocating in the damn material. Flaming balls! He cursed repeatedly in his mind’s eye. The sandals on his feet were again, too small, but his new footman seemed certain that they were necessary.
Everything in this blasted time was too damn small! After an hour’s hike, he made it to the summit where Castle Dorado sat. Since he could not shift to use his wings but was able to run once they’d made it past the village, he’d managed to get there before the Alameda’s car.
Not as striking as it once was, the old keep was still a sight. My castle.
He frowned deeply as he saw the level of disrepair. One quarter of the Spanish tiled roof had completely caved in at the top and he could smell the mold from where he stood. This would never do.
“Come, Severino, first we shall open the vaults and then we shall see what we have to work with. A few missives to my bankers overseas and I shall have my answers,” determination and pride rose in him like a tidal wave and Rei reveled in the feelings as they coursed through him.
“Can’t we just call them?”
“Call? How could they hear me across an ocean man?”
“With a phone,” young Alameda said and took out a small box with a glass screen on it.
“What is that magic?” Rei said with wonder. Had Witches started selling scrying mirrors to the vast public? Were the sacred laws no longer being followed?
“No magic, it’s technology, look I can search for your bank too. What’s the name?”
“Merlin Banking Solutions,” Rei answered.
