Kingdom of Dragons

by Melody Rose

  I hung my head and tried not to think about that day in my bedroom when he pushed me away. How he tried to protect me by lying to me. It was a poor trade-off, in my opinion. Ever since then, our relationship had grown complicated. The fact that Hannan and I had been together, even in some capacity, only tangled the situation more.

  “But that’s different from Monte and me,” I tried to argue, even though I could recognize his point.

  “Yes, it is not a romantic relationship, but a bond is still a special relationship,” Hannan explained. “One that makes you vulnerable to another being. The thought of him doing that with someone else irks you.”

  “It does more than irk,” I replied sharply.

  “I was trying to be nice,” Hannan said with a skeptical look. He lowered his eyebrows and softened his expression before continuing. “You cannot lose faith in Monte. He is still your djer, even if he is also hers. You do not mean any less to him now than you did before we touched down on Teine.”

  “He only bonded with me because he thought she was dead,” I protested. “He wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”

  “Probably not,” Hannan agreed, “but that is because he is a loyal djer. Right now, he is more conflicted than you are.”

  “I understand that,” I said, and I really did, “but I don’t have to negate my feelings to understand his.”

  Hannan sighed. “You are right. I am sorry, I am afraid this conversation was not as helpful as I thought it would be.”

  “No, I’m sorry,” I said suddenly, realizing that I had offended him somehow. “You were just trying to help. But in all honesty, what I need help with is making sure this weird family village isn’t working with Reon. I still don’t believe how she says they all survived.”

  “You do not believe her when we have our own seer in our midst?” Hannan gestured out to Julei, who was a couple of feet in front of us. “You really are determined to dislike her.”

  I glared at him and crinkled my nose. “Just keep an eye out, okay?”

  “I will do my due diligence,” Hanna responded with a disappointed tone, “as long as you promise to keep an open mind.”

  “Okay,” I said as I pursed my lips together. “I will do my best.”

  “Eva?” Julei said, turning around to face me. She stopped walking suddenly, and Freja paused with her.

  “What is it?” I asked, now worried. “Did you have another vision?”

  “No,” Julei said as she shook her head. “I am afraid.”

  A wave of sympathy fell over me. My heart pounded in my chest, and I shook out my hands to relieve some of the tension.

  “Nothing is going to hurt us down here, okay?” I reassured the girl. “I promise.”

  “Can I just be closer to your light?” she asked with a weak voice. “Please?”

  “Absolutely,” I agreed. I reached out my hand, and Julei took it quickly. “Hannan, you don’t mind, do you?”

  “Not in the slightest,” Hannan said with a small smile towards Julei. He walked up by Freja’s side.

  I gave him a little nod of gratitude, which he returned before engaging Freja in a conversation about her porcupine djer.

  I squeezed Julei’s hand. “We’re going to be okay.”

  “I know,” Julei answered, though her voice was a little shaky. “It just…”

  “What?” I asked, filling the blank when Julei trailed off.

  “I just wish this adventure could just take place on the ground,” Julei said simply. “Not above it or under it, but just normal, solid ground.”

  I couldn’t help myself. I laughed at her comment. It was so true and endearing, it was impossible not to enjoy it. Because she was absolutely, one-hundred-percent right.

  “You know, Julei?” I said, letting go of her hand and wrapping my arm around her shoulders. I kissed the top of her head. “I wish that too.”

  Despite our shared desire to be level with the ground, we continued our deep descent into the center of the volcano. I don’t know why, but I expected it to get hotter and hotter the more we ventured downward. However, it was the exact opposite. It only seemed to get stickier, wetter, and colder. It wasn’t freezing, not like the snowstorm we experienced earlier, but it was humid, and the air seemed to be more liquid than gas, like stepping into the center of a jungle, minus the vegetation.

  The closer we got to the bottom, the more we could see along the base of the cavern. A campfire blazed with several figures around it, and that wasn’t all. Tents made up a whole makeshift village. Torches stuck into the ground like birthday candles around a cake. Water dripped from the walls, and buckets collected the raindrops.

  When we came down the ramp, we weren’t exactly the quietest bunch. The few people that were there looked up at us. One woman dropped a cup, and a brown sludge rolled along the ground.

  “Arabella,” the woman who dropped the mug called up. “Is that…? Do you have…?” She lifted her hand to her mouth. “I do not believe it.”

  The reunion was loud. Cheers and cries of all kinds went up as Monte and Arabella reached the ground level. The other dragons followed them, and the few Teine residents that were there surrounded them like flies to a light. To their credit, it had been a while since the dragons were revered instead of feared, so they soaked up the attention and relished in the coddling.

  The remainder of our group, the humans, stayed up on the ledge and looked down at the strange scene. No one seemed to acknowledge us. We probably could have walked right back up without anyone knowing. It grated on me, being ignored. We had a mission, and we were supposed to be talking to this Opala woman, not horsing… dragoning?... around.

  “How long do you think it will take for them to notice us?” Hannan whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

  “Two seconds,” I said confidently.

  “What makes you say that?” Hannan wondered.

  “Uh, hello!” I called out, interrupting everything.

  As I expected, everyone, dragon and human alike, turned their heads to look directly at the four of us. I waved back with a false cheery smile.

  “Hi,” I said, my voice squeaky even to me. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’re here to see Opala.”

  “Arabella,” the woman said, not addressing me in the slightest, “who are these people?”

  “They are the ones who brought Montgomery back to us,” Arabella answered with a hell of a smile. She showed off all her teeth, and her eyes crinkled. “Eva and her companions.”

  “Hannan,” he said, pointing to himself.

  “Julei,” the young girl answered, continuing the trend.

  Everyone looked expectantly at Freja, who crossed her arms and huffed out her name. “Freja.”

  “Right,” I said, drawing out the word into two syllables. “Now that we’ve finished with that, we really need to see Opala. The sooner, the better.”

  Freja elbowed me. “You do not need to be rude about it,” she grunted under her breath.

  I rolled my lips over my teeth and inhaled sharply.

  “Who are you to request an audience with Opala?” the woman asked as she put her hands on her hips.

  Normally, I didn’t like the pull rank. I was still trying to get used to my title as Queen of Dragons. However, right now, I was happy to have something to stand on.

  “Eva Lawrence, daughter of John and Mary Lawrence,” I announced, letting my voice echo throughout the cavern. “Queen of Dragons. And I would like to speak with Opala. Please.” I tacked on the please as an afterthought, and I realized it probably made my command weaker than I wanted it to be.

  Unfortunately, the woman didn’t seem impressed. “Queen of Dragons. Have you come to heal our land?”

  “What?” I gaped, stalled by her words. “No, we came to speak to Opala. I said that already.”

  “Legend has it that the Queen of Dragons has the power to heal, is that true?” the woman challenged. She seemed to be the leader, the one to speak for the group. What bothered me more tha
n anything was that no one else was talking. They were all letting the woman speak for them. Shouldn’t they answer with their own opinions?

  “I mean yes,” I said tentatively. “Who are you anyway?”

  “I am Yerti.” The woman presented herself with a puffed chest and a high chin. “One of the elders of Teine.”

  “Ah yes, the one with the wrong visions,” I said, more as a point of memory than anything. But after the words left my mouth, I realized how the phrase could have been misconstrued.

  And misconstrued it was. Yerti’s face hardened, and her eyes narrowed.

  “Nice going,” Freja whispered in my ear.

  “I didn’t mean… It’s just Arabella told us before about how you…” I realized that I wasn’t doing anything to help my case, so I let my voice quiet and trail off. “Nevermind, can we please see Opala? We really need her help.”

  “And we need someone to heal our island,” Yerti said with pursed lips and crossed arms. “Is that something you can do or not?”

  “You won’t let us talk to Opala if I don’t heal your island?” I scoffed. “That seems highly unbalanced and unfair.”

  “Are you the Queen of Dragons or not?” Yerti challenged.

  “She is,” Julei piped up. “Why do you not believe her?”

  “Everything has been taken from us,” Arabella stepped in now. She took a physical step forward, away from Monte, to appeal to us. “We have been hidden away down here for years, barely surviving. We only want our home back, to rebuild our land. Surely you can understand that.”

  “Yeah, I understand it, but I can’t heal the island,” I protested. “It would take forever, and we don’t have that kind of time.”

  “But you can do it?” This time, it was a child that spoke. He peered out from behind the leg of one of the other women. “You can heal the Coast of Teine?”

  “I mean…” I didn’t want to say yes, but I didn’t want to lie either. Especially to a child.

  “She can,” Hannan answered for me. “I have seen her do it before. It will take her time, and she needs to do it at her own pace, cared for and rested, but she can do it.”

  “Hannan,” I growled.

  He didn’t listen to me and instead plowed on. “I have only seen her heal a town, so an island will take a while. But Eva certainly can.”

  “What if I don’t want to?” I challenged, taking my own step forward. I rubbed my hands together and called to the light. It surged between my hands, making a lighting bolt between my palms. “How about I just demand a meeting with Opala?”

  “Eva.” The plea came from Monte. “These are my people. This is my home. Do not threaten them in front of me.”

  “I wasn’t threatening them,” I said lightly and with a bit of shame. “Intimidating, maybe, but not threatening.”

  “Either way, it was disrespectful,” Monte concluded, making the shame seep down further into my gut. “You did promise me that, one day, you would heal my home. That you would help restore it back to its former glory. Maybe that day is sooner than we thought.”

  “Monte, I…” I couldn’t finish my sentence. He, more than anyone, knew what my powers did when I used them to that capacity.

  Fear stiffened my spine. The last time I carelessly used my powers like that, I was unconscious for three days. And that was just a small town, not an entire island. We had only three weeks until the Lunar Eclipse, and we still had to meet up with the other group.

  “Can’t I just show you I can do it?” I tried to argue. “Like clean up a river or make a plant grow. Then you can let us talk to Yerti, we get the key, save the world, and I give you a solid IOU. You can be the first place I heal after all of this is over.”

  There was a pause, and my words hung in the air like a stench. I realized there was no room for argument or negotiation. My eyes passed over the group. From the humans that were present, all of them were thinner than normal. Their eyes sunk into their faces and their skin was pale like it hadn’t seen sunlight in some time. These people were refugees, holing up in a volcano, the only safe place on the entire island.

  Then my eyes slid over to my djer. Monte. He was absolutely right that this was his home. It was how we connected when we first met. I pictured this place whole and happy and thriving. I drew it for him out of my memory as if it were my own.

  Could I make it real, more than a drawing?

  I stepped down off the ledge and made myself level with the rest of the people and the dragons. I took one big breath and tightened my shoulders. With the exhale, I released them, trying to alleviate any remaining tension. It didn’t work right away, but I hoped that, over time, I might be able to be at ease with this whole decision.

  “Where do you want me to start?”

  23

  “Follow me,” Yerti said with a wave of her hand. “You can begin with the river.”

  “Quick question,” I said as I held up a single finger. “Is there a reason Arabella can’t heal the land? I mean, if she’s also bonded with Monte and she has the same gift, then what gives?”

  Arabella lowered her head for a moment in shame before she took a deep breath. “I tried, but I was not strong enough. The contamination infected me when I made the attempt. I have not been to heal anything since, save for myself, but at this point, I am just slowing the inevitable.”

  “Arabella,” Monte said as he took a step forward, but she held her hand up to stop him.

  “Please, Montgomery,” Arabella pleaded, “I do not want your sympathy. There is nothing we can do.”

  “Eva can heal her,” Julei piped up.

  It took all of my self-control not to turn around and sneer at her. While yes, I could heal Arabella and I knew that I should, I still wasn’t a big fan of the idea. Though I knew when push came to shove, I ultimately would heal her. I couldn’t live with myself if I left Arabella to die, even if she was my djer’s other djer.

  “While that may be true,” Yerti said with her nose up in the air, “I would rather not test her abilities on someone I care about.”

  “Are you sure?” Monte checked.

  Arabella nodded. “I trust Yerti’s opinion. I am not in immediate danger.”

  The Elder pursed her lips and gestured for us to follow. We all started after Yerti when she held up a hand. The woman swung her long grey hair over her shoulder and placed the other one on her hip.

  “Do you need everyone present to do your healing?” Yerti asked.

  “Hey,” I stepped up to her and found that the woman was nearly as tall as me. “I’m doing the one doing you a favor. You can at least let me bring whoever I want.”

  “We have an arrangement,” Yerti corrected. “And I would prefer it if everyone else in your party stayed here.”

  “I need at least one person with me,” I demanded, putting my hands on my hips and daring to step even closer to the older woman.

  Her grey eyes narrowed on me. “Alright, who will accompany us?”

  “Hannan.” I turned to him. “Will you come with us to the river?”

  “What kind of queen asks her subjects permission?” Yerti asked with a scoff.

  “Okay, one,” I said as I whipped around and faced Yerti directly. I got right in her face and held up one finger. “He’s not my subject. I don’t rule over him. Queen of Dragons, get it right. Two, he is his own person and has the right to refuse me if he chooses. Everyone has a choice. Just like how I chose to agree to your stupid terms and not just obliterate the last of your people so I could talk to Opala myself.”

  “You would not dare,” Yerti challenged, calling my bluff.

  “Probably not,” I admitted, “because I am radically opposed to killing people and am on a mission to save everyone, not cause more damage. But the point is that I could.”

  “She could.” Freja offered a one-shoulder shrug.

  “Thank you,” I said to Freja but kept my focus on Yerti. “I am the one doing your people a favor. A huge favor that is going to take a lot of ti
me and effort on my part.”

  “Eva,” Monte called through our mental link. I had been trying so hard to keep my thoughts from him, his voice almost startled me. “Please stop disrespecting the elder.”

  “I will once she starts respecting me,” I responded without a second thought for Arabella and her inadvertent eavesdropping. Then I addressed Yerti aloud. “Shall we?”

  Yerti spun on her heel and led the way. I followed her, and Hannan followed me, but a request surprised me just as we were leaving.

  “I would like to come as well,” Gideonia asked with a tentative voice.

  It was the first time I ever heard the dragon ask something of me, other than our original promise, which I foolishly broke. Twice.

  “Yeah,” I answered, perhaps a little too quickly. “You can come too.”

  “I want to make sure you do not overdo it,” Gideonia replied, returning to her sharper, more natural tone. “Like you also did with Reon in the white space.”

  “I don’t plan to,” I said in an attempt to reassure the dragon.

  She shot me a look with low eyebrows and narrowed eyes, looking utterly unconvinced. “That is what they all say.”

  I didn’t have a proper response to that, so I turned back to our guide and followed her down a short cavern. Gideonia and Hannan continued behind us. No one tried to make small talk on the journey for which I was grateful, but it left me to my own thoughts, which I wasn’t a big fan of at the moment.

  Doubt swirled in my head like a hive of bees. I had no idea if I could actually heal this whole island. It seemed absurd and impossible, but I also knew that I was their only hope in a long while. I owed it to them to at least try… as long as I didn’t kill myself in the process. I trusted Hannan, and Gideonia even, to stop me before I went too far.

  We heard the water before we saw it. It flowed and rippled clunkily. It sounded like a clogged drain vomiting out items rather than a regular river. When we approached, the edge of the canal was black from contamination. It bubbled every few feet and sludged like oil.