Dragon Emperor

by Eric Vall

  Alyona stared at me for several long moments, and it seemed as if she looked straight into my soul and had decided to weigh it for judgement.

  Again, she seemed to my heightened sight like a white flame that flickered and outshone every nearby light. Her gemstone eyes shone with a strange light, not unlike the one that the mirror had glowed with back in my aunt’s shop. The light was something odd and beyond my reach. It was ancient and sung to the power that slept inside of me.

  Then, the light in her eyes settled, and she sat on the chair in one graceful motion. “Very well, Sir Evan, I’ll take your advice and rest. What will you do now? How do you intend to heal these people?” She folded her delicate hands on her lap, and I noticed that her nails were painted the same purple as her dress.

  I looked down at my hands and flexed my claws. I had no idea how to heal anyone in this form. I wasn’t even entirely sure of how I had done it before, just that I healed instead of breathing fire.

  “We might have to go back outside so I can change back into my dragon shape,” I said. The thought of changing back into a dragon to heal seemed easier since I knew I could do it in that form. I just had to pull together that same power in my chest and breathe it out.

  “Very well.” The priestess raised one perfect eyebrow in response. “Shall I bring my chair, or am I allowed to stand?”

  That made me burst out in laughter. “I’d offer to carry you, but I’m afraid my arms will be busy.”

  “What a pity. Perhaps next time.” Alyona laughed lightly, a sweet sound that lured me after her, as she stood gracefully and walked out of the infirmary.

  Laika stood outside the infirmary with her ears firmly flat against her head, and I realized that she had heard our conversation. She glanced at me, and her stormy eyes softened. “Thank you for convincing her to rest. None of us have been able to.”

  I shrugged with a smile and hid my hands in my sleeves again. “Hey, I promised that I would help, and I always keep my word.”

  The swordswoman nodded. “You are a good dragon.”

  A blush grew on the tips of my ears, so I looked away from the swordswoman to find the priestess, but then I noticed the small crowd that had gathered outside the infirmary. They stared curiously at me, and I could hear murmurs of “black dragon” fill the air. Although the people were haggard and seemed exhausted from the constant attacks, there was a toughness to them that I could respect.

  Not just any village could eke out a living for a thousand years after their city was destroyed.

  I glanced at the priestess, and she sat nearby on a large stone that looked as if it had been part of a column. Carved runes covered the stone’s surface, and I wondered if I would be able to read this world’s language intuitively, or if I would have to learn it.

  “People of Hatra,” Alyona’s voice carried throughout the open space from her seat on the column. “This man is a black dragon in a human form. He has come from the mountains to heal you, and he will now shift back to his true shape. Do not be alarmed.”

  “I promise that I won’t hurt you,” I spoke firmly but gently and looked at as many villagers as I could.

  Then I shook my head with a smile and focused on the thought of changing back into my dragon form.

  For a moment, I could feel the power shift inside of me, and I latched onto it. I felt scales ripple on the back of my skin and the way my muscles began to shift, but then I lost the connection. The sensation slipped out of my hands as quickly as it had come, and the world spun around me. Then I gritted my teeth and desperately tried to yank my magic back to the surface, but the power rose up in my throat, and I choked on it.

  “Shh, take your time. Focus on what feels right. Step by step.” Alyona suddenly stood in front of me, her palm placed right over my heart.

  I hadn’t even noticed her step forward.

  Step by step. That was it. I had to do it slowly, the same way I had done it before. With my eyes closed, I drew in a breath and visualized it filling my lungs, the same way I had drawn in breaths when I was in the body of a dragon. Another breath, and I remembered the way that my scales had rippled over my body like silk. The way my muscles had worked together with my bones to support my massive frame. My wings and my tail, every part of me was visualized with every breath.

  I could feel my body change with every passing second. My muscles shifted and grew, and my senses expanded. My teeth lengthened into fangs, and I felt my nails lengthen into sharper claws. I moved onto all fours, and sinew, muscle, and bone twisted and adapted into a different shape.

  When I opened my eyes, Alyona still stood in front of me. Where before her hand had been placed on my heart, now she could only reach my right foreleg. I brought my head down to look at her, and one of my large eyes blinked slowly.

  “Thank you,” I said to her, and my voice rumbled like an avalanche in my throat. Then I lowered my head even further until I was parallel with her face. “How did you know?”

  Alyona seemed to glow with that inner light more than before, and she laughed sweetly at my question. “I am a priestess, remember, Sir Evan. My duty is to aid the people of Inati, no matter what form they may take.”

  I snorted. “I have a feeling that’s going to be your answer for everything.” Then I shook my head and nuzzled her shoulder without thinking. I was still worried by how little I knew of her health. I needed to heal the villagers, not only for their own sake but so that this selfless priestess wouldn’t drive herself to her own grave.

  “What a gorgeous dragon you are,” the priestess breathed out as her hands stroked my snout, and I preened under her words. “Such beautiful scales and claws you have.”

  Lazily, I glanced over at the villagers. They stared in awe, and I could see the odd expression of hope cover their faces. I knew that I wouldn’t disappoint them.

  There would be no other outcome that I would allow.

  Laika leaned against the wall and smirked. “What a great big lazy beast, you mean. He could have carried us here and instead we all walked.” Her tail moved quickly from side to side, and I could tell she was amused.

  “You didn’t complain then.” I huffed in irritation in her direction, and her hair and the fur of her tail was blown upward by my breath.

  The swordswoman raised one eyebrow as if to challenge me, but I ignored her and turned around toward the infirmary. Then I nudged the door open with my head and looked over the thirteen villagers. My head barely fit in through the door, but it would do for now.

  I concentrated on the thought of healing the sick villagers as I focused my power within my chest. The power within me vibrated and swirled happily as if it knew it would be used. It was eager almost, as if it had a mind of its own, a sentient desire to heal and protect. Or maybe it was simply responding to my own wishes?

  Either way, the plagued villagers would be healed.

  As I opened my maw and let loose a cloud of glitter that sparkled in the air, I noticed slight discrepancies in the way I felt everything around me. I could hear the way that their hearts picked up speed and their breathing eased. The smell of rot and decay started to fade away just as their veins returned to normal, and they were no longer raised against the surface of their skin. Broken nails and cracked lips also healed, and the sound of coughing vanished.

  The process took longer than before, though. Maybe because it was more people? Thirteen now, instead of the five in the cave, and back then I wasn’t healing miasma.

  I faltered as my vision flickered, and I heard a cry. Something in me wanted to stop, but I shook away the notion. No, this was ridiculous, I could heal them in one go. I’d be fine.

  The taste of the miasma lingered in my mouth, as if I’d eaten it instead of healing it. No, I realized as the taste grew stronger, it wasn’t miasma, it was a metallic sort of taste, like blood. But I hadn’t bitten myself or anything.

  My head suddenly drooped, and it was more difficult than before to hold my head up. The exhaustion from the fight wit
h the stone giants had probably begun to kick in. I’d stop soon. The villagers were almost all healed.

  Then my eyes rolled into the back of my head as I felt my body collapse to the floor.

  But I never hit the ground.

  A hand stroked my hair, careful to be gentle with the newly grown scales that trailed down the skin of my neck. I blinked once, and then twice. I hadn’t remembered the change back into my human form. The hand that had gently stroked paused, and I bit back a growl. The touch had felt soothing, and it reassured what I realized were the wilder instincts of a dragon that lived inside of me now.

  “Hello, Sir Evan,” Alyona chided softly as she brushed away the hair from my forehead. “You gave us quite a scare.”

  “Did I?” I asked quietly as I took in the beautiful sight before me.

  Alyona had changed out of her purple dress into a simple white nightgown that made her tanned skin glow. The facial veil had been set aside for the moment, and I wondered why.

  Not that I was complaining. She was an exceptionally beautiful woman.

  “Yes,” she replied. “You healed them, but you drained yourself. Just as you had warned me I would do to myself.” She tapped the tip of my nose, and I went cross eyed as I followed her finger.

  I looked around, and I realized we were behind the tapestries in the infirmary. I was stretched out on a bed, and the priestess sat next to me.

  “I didn’t think that would happen, but everything turned out okay, right?” I asked as I sat up with a groan. Muscles I never even knew I had ached even if I was no longer in the form of a dragon.

  “Mercifully so.” The priestess leaned back in her chair and tugged on one of the small braids she wore in her hair. “I did not ask before, but how did you heal them? I have never read or heard of a dragon that would treat others as you did.”

  I hadn’t noticed her braids before, but they suited her.

  “It’s my power.” I swung my legs off the bed and felt a calmness settle in me as my feet made contact with solid ground. “I help people and heal them using medicine, but I’ve never healed people like that until today in the cave.”

  “I see.” Alyona folded her hands in her lap, and she smiled. “We’ve similar eyes, I noticed it earlier. They are such a dark violet but when the light catches them just so, they sparkle like gemstones.”

  She was wrong, her eyes were the ones that were like gemstones. Even now they glittered, and the desire to hoard her away rose up inside of me.

  I shook my head and turned my face away to hide the way my jaw clenched.

  “Where is everyone?” I stood shakily to peek around the tapestry, and I was surprised to see the infirmary entirely empty.

  Alyona raised an eyebrow in confusion. “If you were healthy and completely cured with no risk of infecting anyone, would you stay in the infirmary, or would you want to sleep in your own bed?”

  “Ah. Yeah. You have a point.” My brow furrowed. “It’s night already?”

  The priestess stood and put on a dark cloak that had laid across the back of an empty chair. “Are you well enough for a walk, Sir Evan?” She tugged the hood of the cloak until it covered her face entirely, and all I could see was the light that shone from her amethyst eyes.

  “I’m well enough for anything you’d like me to do.” I smirked and was rewarded with a small laugh when I offered her my arm.

  “Such a chivalrous dragon.” The priestess daintily held onto my arm as we walked out of the infirmary, and she led me toward one of the nearby walls. “The stars have been quite beautiful as of late.”

  The stone steps seemed sturdy enough, and the priestess tugged me up them quickly as her free hand held tightly onto the hood of her cloak. There was a wide expanse of stars above us, and I whistled lowly as we reached the top of the wall. It was as if someone had painstakingly set millions and millions of diamonds onto black velvet.

  “I’ve never seen so many stars,” I breathed as I tried to take it all in. To see anywhere near this amount of stars back on Earth, I’d have to travel to the farthest place away from civilization. Maybe this also held true for Inati. After all, Hatra was a ruined city that almost everyone had given up on.

  All except the priestess and her hired adventurers.

  “Hatra was always a city of stars,” Alyona whispered, and she still held tightly onto my fingers. Her hand felt so tiny and delicate within my own. It was a surprise that my claws hadn’t hurt her yet.

  “Really?” I turned to look at her and wondered why she hadn’t given up on Hatra. It couldn’t have been the beauty of the city since it was completely ravaged.

  Alyona hummed as she turned her face up to the heavens. “The Elders once said that Hatra was built by those from the stars. That a woman from one of the moons had descended and built a great palace during a time of great warfare. She picked a husband from among the many tribes that inhabited Rahma. A bastard son received the high honor and was married to the woman, and she loved him more than life itself.” Alyona pointed to the sky and traced the constellation of an enthroned pair. “And they were happy for a time. But it was not to be, such happiness was not allowed. There were those who were unhappy that one as divine as her had picked such a base partner to share her long life with. Her love was slaughtered, and the woman disappeared. Back then, in those ancient times, the city had been known as Hatra el Shamash. The House of Truth.”

  Her words had been odd, but that might have been because I wasn’t from this world. If I had been, then maybe it would have been a legend I learned as a child.

  It was such a sad story, though, that I couldn’t help but think about how heartbroken the woman from the moon had been. She’d been betrayed by the very people she protected, and I couldn’t imagine anything worse than that.

  “Was it after they disappeared that the city was destroyed?” My eyes followed the shape of the massive ruined palace, and I wondered if that was all that was left of the palace built by the moon woman.

  “No.” Alyona sighed and appeared to shrink in on herself. “No, that happened thousands of years later. Very few remember the moon princess. Perhaps Hatra was cursed back then by the actions of the old tribes. Perhaps that’s why Hatra has been given up to demons.”

  “Given up to demons? What do you mean?” I asked.

  The priestess pulled her hand from mine and covered her face. “Forgive me, I’m rambling. Look at me, being sentimental when you should be resting.”

  The thought of demons lingered on the edge of my mind, but I pushed the thought away for now.

  “You weren’t, the stars were amazing. I’ve never seen so many before in my old home. Thank you for sharing this with me.” I smiled and shook my head at her. “Besides, I’m pretty sure I told you to rest earlier.”

  She slid her fingers apart and peeked at me, amethyst eyes wet with unshed tears. “I did rest. I did no purification of miasma and watched over you.”

  “Nah, that doesn’t count as resting,” I countered with a laugh. “You should sleep.” This time I was the one to pull her gently away and down the steps. “I won’t steal your bed again.”

  “But where will you sleep?” Concern lingered in her voice, and I wanted to tell her that I could just share her bed. “I can make up one of the beds for you, there’re clean blankets.”

  “I’m a dragon,” I said instead. “I can sleep anywhere.”

  She laughed, and the sound was like the chiming of silver bells. “Are you sure?”

  “Don’t worry,” I reassured her with a smile. “It’s not cold out here, and I want to look at the stars for a bit longer.”

  Alyona glanced up at me and then at the rubble in the area. She seemed like she wanted to argue, but after a moment she just shook her head.

  “Then sleep well, Sir Evan.” She smiled back tiredly, and I knew it was the exhaustion from these past months taking their toll on her. The burden she had shouldered had been too heavy to bear alone.

  “Just Evan,” I reminded he
r gently as she closed the door.

  I walked aimlessly outside of the infirmary until I settled against the column fragments Alyona had rested on earlier in the day. Somehow the smell of her that lingered on the stone was reassuring to my instincts. I leaned my head back against the column and stared at the stars until my eyes grew heavy.

  Blissful sleep and sweet dreams had already taken me when screams and shouts invaded my rest. My eyes snapped open, and my body was suddenly awake and ready for any kind of battle.

  “Miasma!”

  I didn’t know who had screamed, but I understood how dangerous it was. Before I could think, I was on my feet, and my claws shone faintly in the dim moonlight.

  Chapter 4

  At first I had thought a thunderstorm had covered us, but I was wrong. It was the miasma. Thick clouds of black and red smoke filled the sky above us and spread throughout the city ruins. The stench was familiar, and I realized the infirmary had smelled of this rot and decay earlier.

  I could feel a power rise up inside of me, but I had no outlet for it and no idea how to fight the miasma.

  I had healed the afflicted villagers of the miasma, but that hadn’t been fighting something I couldn’t even grasp. This was an airborne pathogen, and I had no way of quarantining it. There had to be a way of studying it somehow.

  The miasma swirled in the air in a way that no smoke could have. It had a mind of its own and followed a path known only to itself. My eyes followed the bulk of the miasma, and it hovered threateningly over Alyona. I hadn’t even seen the beautiful priestess leave the infirmary, but she raced up the stone steps of the wall. The hood of her cloak had fallen, and I could see the face veil she wore shimmer in the distance.

  “Alyona! Come back!” I called out after her.