His mother had explicitly told him not to go into the lower dungeons, so naturally, Khan wanted to see who was down there. He snuck away from his guard and took his entire spell stone collection, just in case.
The dungeon beneath the white marble palace was dark and dry, cold iron, painful to the touch were the bars that kept the prisoners at bay. Except his royal highness didn't see any prisoners, all the cell's were empty, except for the last one, at the end of the hall.
Khans eyes grew wider as he got closer, he had never seen a Wyrm up close before. His top half mortal, bottom half serpent chained to the stone wall so nothing could move. His hair and scales the same colour of his palace home, but his tail was cracked with dry blood and missing scales.
It moved it's head and khan frozen in his tracks, the wryms eyes had been burnt out. A punishment, his mother had told him, for only the most horrendous of crimes. The wrym sniffed the air, a smile, small and sad creeped onto his lips.
“Do not be afraid princeling.” He whispered “I cannot harm you.”
Khan hesitated.
“You're a water wrym.” Khan stated.
“Why yes I am.” the prisoner answered, more jovial than khan expected.
“You eat mortals.” Khan continued. The Wrym lowered his smile.
“Not all of us…”
“But others do.” Khan stepped forward, grasping at his spell stone of fire for comfort. “Wryms hunt ships and eat the mortals inside like fish, they turn others into monsters.”
“Your very brave arn’t you princeling?” The wrym replied to his accusations but did not deny them.
“I am.” Khan answered, taking another step forward.
“Very brave to come down here and face the evil wrym,” The prisoner's whispers somehow grew sadder and softer “Have you come to slay me?”
Khan eyes widened in shock.
“N-no!”
The smile returned to the prisoner.
“Ah… Then you are very kind, brave and kind, those are the traits that make the best Kings.”
“Why would I be kind? Is suffering here really better than dying?” Khan asked. His mother had often encouraged him to ask questions, even if he had still not learned tact.
“That is a question far beyond your young years, but as long as I am alive there is hope, hope that I will hear the daily song, that I will be forgiven, that I will return to the ocean.”
“That's not going to happen.” khan replied flatly.
“No… I suppose it won't.” The prisoner slumped, but he still wore a smile “But, it is all I have left.”
Suddenly Khan heard a song, some of the cells had small openings to the palace gardens. A song beautiful singing echoed very faintly through the dungeon walls, the prisoner strained forward, his ear fins flicked out from under his hair. The smile on his lips was now from ear to ear as he listened.
“You like human songs?” Khan quired, but the prisoner didn't answer until the maidens song was finished.
“Of course I like human songs, Why wouldn't I?”
“Because, wryms can only screech.”
“We screech because our songs were not meant for the air,” The prisoner took a deep breath and released not a song from his lips, but a screeching that was painful to the young prince's ears. The Wyrm chuckled softly, “There is a spell on me now, that keeps just enough water in my lungs that I may breath and whisper, but not sing.”
Khan took a step back, he had been gone too long, his mother would be looking for him.
“I have to go,”
The Wryms smile faltered and his lips quivered.
“But you will return yes? Brave princeling, kind princeling, I will wait, I will answer all your questions.”
Khan paused, the wrym had been very liberal with his words, and there were many questions the other adults would not answer.
“Yes, I will return.”
“Thank you, brave, kind, wonderful princeling, I will await your return…”
Khan turned his head and slipped out of the dungeon, wondering if the wrym had anything else to do other than wait.

---

“Ataeryn.” The Wrym replied happily “I come from the north sea, where ice floats on the waters surface.”
Khan scoffed.
“There's no such thing, ice can only be made by powerful magic”
“No, it's true, far to the north, and even further south, the oceans are so cold your skin would freeze the moment you came up for air, it is not a nice place like here in the east.”
“You've been to the north and south?”
“I have been to every ocean” Ataeryn answered with confidence “But the one here in the east is the most beautiful, the coral, the fish, the jewels.”
“That's why they call it the jewelled sea, it's where we get our gems” Khan interrupted, Ataeryn did like to hear the sound of his own voice.
Ataeryn turned his head.
“You? Take the gems from the ocean? Don't you have gems on the land?”
Khan did not answer, he didn't know.
“Your clan steal the gems from the oceans, and wonder why the Wrym attack you.” Ataeryn shook his head, matted white hair clinging to his mortal face.
“But my warriors don't eat people!” Khan shot back. Again, Ataeryn did not strike, he only smiled sadly.
“Not all Wrym eat people.”
“You keep saying that, but I've seen it!” Khan stood from the floor in front of the cage “A whole clan attacked our kingdoms ships! The half eaten bodies washed up on shore!!”
“I'm so sorry.”
Khans anger choked in his throat, as the enemy before him apologised.
“I'm so sorry you had to see that princeling. The clans of the jewelled sea, they're very sick but please believe me when I say not all who live in the oceans are as ill as them.”
Khan did not say goodbye that day.

---

“Hmm?” Aishwa turned to her son, the entire gathering of the Queens council had their eyes upon him.
“Why do we take the gems from the ocean? If we could find them on land then we wouldn't need to risk ships or people.”
There was a collection of whispers as the ladies spoked hushed around their sister.
“Come here Khan.” Aishwa shot her sisters a glare as she cupped her son's cheek. “We take the gems from the sea as payment, as spoils of war, the Wrym attack our cities, eat our people, they are no better than beasts-”
“Aishwa!” Emphra, the old crone scolded, the other ladies had crowded around another princess. “Do NOT talk of the Wrym here! You know how it upsets Elenia…”
Khan had never seen his mother turn so pale.
“Gods, Elenia I'm so sorry-”
But the Princess had already risen to her feet, pushed aside the crowding attendeants and stormed out of the room. Aishwa turned her attention to her son, a deadly serious edge to her voice.
“Of all the forbidden arts in the world, do NOT ask about the Wrym again. Please my son.”

---

“You're not very talkative today,” Ataeryn mused, he had heard the prince’s lonely steps in the stone floor, and could feel the warmth of the spell stone the little mortal carried with him at all times. Yet the prince did not greet him this visit.
“...” Khan shifted his feet, but still said nothing.
“Did you want me to tell you another story?” The Wrym suggested, hopeing to calm the vexed prince. “I once found a city that floated on top of the water, it was made entirely out of wood, and there were fireflies everywhere, the clan told me that it never rested in the same place twice, true to that tale I never found it again.”
“...”
“...What about a spell?” Ataeryn tried again “If you find a fish and cast 'nessadvroaa' it will float to the top like a balloon! Ha ha”
Still nothing from the prince. Ataeryns ear fins flicked out, he turned his head either side, something was wrong.
“Princling Khan? What troubles your spirit?”
“... Elenia passed away.” Khan blurted out. The young prince had no idea how to soften the news, his aunt would never walk the halls of the palace, never hug him tightly, never sing again.
“...” it was Ataeryns turn to be silent.
“She drank a whole bottle of hemlock,” Khan explained, fighting back tears, “The ladies were blaming you. I don't understand-”
“Wraaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!”
Ataeryn screamed, he wrestled against his chains, crying out so loud Khan held his ears, it was so painful he began to cry.
“Stop please!”
“Shhhhhhrrrrraaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” The scream was unlike any Khan had heard before, the very essence of anguish and devastation.
“It hurts Ataeryn!! Stop screaming!!” The prince begged but the Wrym did not, he thrashed around. The skin under his cuffs cracked and bled, tears poured from his scarred eyes, water fell from his mouth. Terrified, Khan ran from the dungeon, leaving the Wrym to scream alone.

---

Khan stood behind his mother, holding onto the silk of her dress.
“Be strong my son,” she whispered lovingly, a hand on his shoulder. “Today we will see justice for my sister.”
The entirety of the Queens council stood at the palace edge, overlooking the ocean's cliff. A Knight, Khan had trained with many times, held Ataeryns head by his hair. The Wryms body bound in chains and spells, helpless and weak. The white wrym’s ears flicked open, he could hear the ocean smash against the cliffs below, but he knew he would never feel the embrace of the water again.
The Grand Knight, a kind man Khan had known all his life, raised his steel sword to the Wryms neck.
“Let it be done,” Queen Aishwa commanded. The Knight, pulled on Ataeryns hair as the blade sliced the Wryms head clean off his shoulders.
Without ceremony, without words, the Knight threw Ataeryns head into the ocean. The withered body fell after, as did the Grand Knights sword, tossed with disgust into the depths below.
Dark blood stained the marble cliffs, the Queens Council stared on with approval, silent, except for Khans tears...