Kingdom of Dragons

by Melody Rose

  As Hannan guided us around the hole towards the staircase, the only way to move forward that I could see, I chanced a glance down the hole. When my eyes caught sight of the beings in the pit, I gasped and took my hand off Hannan’s shoulder.

  The icy cold disappeared instantly, and I heard Hannan’s hiss. “Eva!”

  My eyes widened in horror, in disbelief of what I was seeing. There were no words. I could only point down into the hole, signaling to the men that they had to come and look as well.

  Kehn broke away from Hannan and came into view as well. With that, Hannan lost his ability to be fully invisible, so we saw his form move against his backdrop as it only blended into the background. Kehn growled in response to the sight down below where Hannan’s eyebrows drew into confusion.

  “I thought they were all dead,” Hannan whispered.

  “He didn’t kill all the dragons,” I said, as the full picture clicked into place. “He captured them all.”

  Below us, tucked together in the pit, were hundreds of dragons trapped in the depths of their mountain kingdom.

  33

  “We have to get them out of here,” I said as I dashed forward.

  It was like all rational thought left my mind. My heart drove my body to the ground, then I reached out and grabbed the massive grate holding in those dragons. All this time, we thought Reon had killed the dragons, slaughtered them until they were near extinct. No one considered the possibility that they had been captured and stored, like cattle.

  As the Queen of Dragons, I knew deep down in my soul that I had to free them. I couldn’t imagine how long they had been trapped down there. All I knew was that I had to get them out of there.

  “No, Eva!” Kehn stretched out his hand to stop me, but before he could, my hands touched the grate.

  A fierce heat burned my hands and shoved me backward. It was like a geyser blew up in my face and tossed me farther from the pit. I tumbled against the stone ground and scraped my palms. I hissed at the pain but brushed them off on my pants before calling to the light.

  It coiled around my hands and wrists like protective gauntlets, even as the light healed my burns. This time, better armed, I touched the grate again.

  “Eva, stop!”

  Kehn and Hannan tried to pull me away, but I only tightened my grip on the metal. It seared and burned against my skin, but the light fought off the pain. I pushed the light along the square grid of metal, envisioning the whole thing crumbling beneath my touch. For a moment there, it seemed to work as the light stretched further along the grate.

  “Dragons!” I called out through the open cover. “I am the Queen of Dragons as selected by your council. I am here to rescue you.”

  Dozens of heads looked up at me with weary eyes and weak complexions. My heart ached at the sight of them trapped in there for so many years. As I gazed down on them, I noticed something that made my heart not only ache but jump into my throat.

  A thick black line wrapped around each and everyone one of the imprisoned dragons’ necks. They stood out prominently against their scales and looked too tight. Some dragons wiggled their heads, but none could seem to find any sort of relief.

  “My lady,” a fuzzy red dragon muttered, “you need to run.”

  He flew right up and got as close as he could to the grate without touching it. His snout was hard and beak-like, with a dusty, mustard color. A forked tongue slithered out at me with a slow drunken feel.

  “What’s your name, dragon?” I asked.

  “Varns,” he answered, “but there is no time for formalities, my lady. You must leave.”

  “Your friends are in danger,” another dragon, one as blue as a clear day, said from the depths of the pit.

  “My friends?” I couldn’t help the worry that crept into my voice.

  “He found them,” the blue dragon said, almost in a whisper. “They will soon be like us.”

  “He captured the rest of the party?” I said, my voice full of panic. “How? We were only gone for a couple of hours.”

  “These are contamination collars,” the red dragon said as a hurried pace. “Once he gets them on a dragon, they are completely under his control.”

  “The false king controls all,” a glassy-eyed dragon called out from the bottom.

  I looked up and behind me at Kehn and Hannan, who exchanged worried glances.

  “Run, my lady, run,” the beaked dragon called out with a caw-like voice.

  Adrenaline pumped through me. I examined our surroundings and saw the torches in the mountain grow brighter. They illuminated more of the castle, each flame rising to a dangerous height. The fire crackled like pop rocks.

  “We should find the rest of our friends,” Kehn suggested.

  He wrapped an arm under my shoulder and hauled me to my feet. His strength battled against my own as I kicked with my legs and tried to resist his pull.

  “We can’t just leave them!” I cried, no longer caring about discretion.

  I hated to do it, but I elbowed Kehn in the ribs and twirled on the tip of my toes to get out of his reach. I ran around the other side of the octagon and peered back down. To my utter horror, I saw a recognizable green and blue dragon with white hair that looked wet and scraggly. A thick black line went around his neck too.

  “Here they come,” the glassy-eyed dragon called out ominously.

  “Monte!” I shouted aloud, not bothering to use our mental link.

  “Get out, Eva!” Monte shouted back. “Get out!”

  When I saw my own djer down there, I lost my mind. I called out to the light and demanded it come forward. The light flared against my skin with a violent burst. Kehn had to cover his eyes, even across the octagon.

  “Eva, we need to leave,” Kehn warned from beneath his arm.

  I clutched the metal in the grate and pushed. The light wrapped around the grate, like snakes slithering along a branch. It stretched out and changed the color of the metal from a rusty black to a stark white. But the light didn’t reach all along the grate. It stalled as if I had run out of rope. I reached deeper and begged the light farther.

  “We can’t leave them down there,” I told it. “We have to break this grate.”

  “Eva!” Kehn called from behind me as one of the flames from the torch burst. “We have to get out of here.”

  “Not yet,” I growled.

  I pushed deeper, begged louder for the light to destroy this grate. I wanted it down and pulled apart. Shriveled and cracked. But the light didn’t obey my command. It couldn’t seem to break the door that held my friends, my dragons captive.

  “Eva, it is not working,” Monte said to me. This time, he spoke through our mental link, and something about that method of communication broke through my desperation. “Get out of here before Reon gets there.”

  “I can’t just leave you here,” I protested, my voice weak and whiny. “I can’t.”

  “You have to,” Monte said.

  Another flame burst and set a shower of sparks raining down on us. I covered my head, but it was only a brief distraction. My attention immediately returned to the dragons in the pit.

  Myels moved out of the way to Monte could come forward. He pressed his nose to the grate and then hissed at the heat from the magical bars. The dragon got as close as he could and looked me in the eye.

  “Go,” Monte urged.

  I released the bars, and the light retracted back into me. Before I turned away, I slipped my hand through the square hole in the bar and tried to reach out to my djer. However, the intense heat returned, even though I was careful not to touch the metal itself. I groaned and retracted my hand.

  I closed my eyes and rose to my feet, fighting against every instinct to dive into the hole and break that gate. Hannan was back by the door we entered through. We didn’t want to venture through the rest of the mountain kingdom and find another way out. So, Kehn and I rushed across the octagon floor back towards the door.

  A third torch crackled and then explode
d. Kehn and I ducked as we raced back to the door. Hannan pushed it open for us, and we didn’t slow as we ran through.

  We dashed away from the mountain kingdom ruins and back into the cover of the trees. Our dragons were nowhere to be found, which worried me more. My heart pumped faster and propelled me forward. I ran blindly, following Kehn, who burst ahead of Hannan and me until I tumbled into his solid back.

  “Kehn!” I cried. “What the--”

  I swallowed my words as I found our path blocked by a looming black dragon.

  It spread its wings and roared at us. Now, I had seen my fair share of dragons over the last year, but this midnight black one was the largest I had ever seen. Lava red tints outlined the bottom of his obsidian wings. They reached up along his wings like veins and glowed brighter when he shouted. The beast had at least a dozen dragon horns atop his head and three claws on the edge of each wing.

  The three of us leaned back to take in the full scope of the creature. Standing right beneath him was the false king. He stood erect and strong, confident beneath his dragon. Reon wore the same long, black robes that he did in the white space. However, when he held his arms out, he looked like a miniature version of his dragon.

  Alongside him were Heloise, Julei, Freja, and Troylan. Each of them was tied up with rope, and an arrow hovered at their throats. The arrows were suspended in thin air with each tip millimeters from their skin. Each of the heads of the arrows was coated with a familiar swirling black.

  My eyes shifted around the sides of the dragon to try to see where Stella was, but she was nowhere to be seen. All I could see where the trees that surrounded us on all sides, and their shadows stretched along the ground like bars on a jail cell. A light snow littered the forest floor, crunchy and old.

  “I see you found the key to my humble abode,” Reon said, his voice entirely too calm, given the situation. “Quite a welcome.”

  “From what I remember,” I quipped, forcing my eyes to stay on the false king, “this wasn’t your domain in the first place. You stole it. Just like you stole all those dragons.”

  “You saw that, did you?” Reon asked with a false wince. “I was hoping you wouldn’t.”

  “Too late,” I growled. “Let them go.”

  “Are you speaking of the dragons or your friends?” Reon wondered with a small frown.

  “Both,” I snapped back.

  “No,” Reon replied simply.

  I clenched my fists at my sides and let the light stream up my arms. “I’m warning you, Reon, if you don’t let them go, we’ll be forced to attack you.”

  Reon laughed. “If you do that, I will contaminate your friends.”

  As if to emphasize his point, Reon held out his hand. He wiggled his fingers, and the arrows twirled in response. Julei squeezed her eyes shut and recoiled from the arrow. The tip followed her movement like a magnet.

  “Don’t move, Julei,” Kehn called out. “Just stay still. You can do that, just stay still.”

  Julei nodded, and as the arrow followed her throat, she stilled.

  While Kehn spoke to the young girl, a movement in the trees caught my eye. I shifted my gaze ever so slightly. A blonde head dipped back behind the trunk so quick that I might have missed it if I blinked at the wrong time.

  “It seems we are at an impasse, Reon,” I said as I held out my arms, still glowing. “What did you expect me to do here? You knew I wouldn’t let you do anything with my friends tied up like they are. So what do you want?”

  “I want your power,” Reon admitted with a simple shrug. “I want the light.”

  As if the light could hear his threat, it coiled back to my fingertips and went out. “Doesn’t look like it likes you all that much,” I said, mimicking Reon’s shrug.

  “It can hate me for all I care,” Reon snarled, showing his first sign of that devilish mannerism he possessed. “That does not change the fact that I want it.”

  My thoughts ran faster than I could catch on. I knew I had an opportunity here, but I needed to make sure I took it properly. Stella somehow managed to escape capture and now hid out behind us. I had to count on the fact that she still had the sword. If she did, then I might be able to make this work.

  I sucked my teeth. “No can do, Reon. It looks like it’s bonded to me. You’re not going to be able to break that as easily as you think.”

  I said everything loud enough so everyone, everyone, could hear me. I crossed my arms and shifted my weight to one hip, pretending to be cockier than I was.

  “You know there are two ways to break bonds?” Reon said.

  “Yes,” I countered.

  Reon held up a hand with a single finger. “One, that magical sword of yours I can’t seem to find. And two, death.”

  Reon flung out a hand, and a black dagger formed in midair out of the shadows. I put my own hands up, calling to the light to form a shield. The dark dagger shattered into black smoke when it collided with the rectangle wall of light.

  Immediately, Kehn kicked up his foot, and a real dagger popped out, landing right in his hand. The clever guardsman must have concealed it in his boot. It was only there for a second before Kehn flung it at Reon.

  But before it could strike home, Reon’s dragon leaned his head down and opened his mouth. A blaze of fire erupted from the back of his throat and shot forward, forcing the three of us to tumble out of the way.

  The heat of the dragon’s fire melted Kehn’s dagger before it could connect with anything. Kehn and I had rolled off to the left, and as we came to our feet, I looked at him, desperation in my eyes.

  “I need your gift, okay?” I asked as I hovered my hand over his arm.

  Kehn gave me a nod of approval, and I grabbed his forearm. As our gifts combined, I could feel the light surge within me, and I gathered as much of it as I could in my chest. Then, with one command, I willed it forward.

  The light burst from me like a blaze of sunlight directly into the dragon’s eyes.

  The dragon sucked back in his fire and howled in pain at the light, now blinding him. Kehn buried his face into my shoulder to block his own eyes. I held him close and pushed the light further from me and outside of myself.

  Reon growled in harmony with his dragon and flung out his hand towards Kehn and me. Five arrows, matching the ones pointed at our friends’ throats, sailed towards us. I turned myself and light projecting from my chest so that it consumed the arrows, shredding the darkness from them.

  Then I recalled the light from my chest and asked it to travel down my arm. Still holding onto Kehn, I dashed forward and dragged him with me. Kehn’s feet moved in tandem with mine.

  “Keep hold of me,” I called to Kehn. His grip shifted to my shoulder so I could have both hands free.

  I caught Reon off guard when I reached out to him. With my left hand, I latched onto Reon’s arm, and with my right, I touched the base of the dragon’s stomach. I willed the light forward to reveal the bond between the two of them.

  It stretched out, knotted and coiled between them. While the light illuminated the bond, making it physical, the thread itself was tinted with black, something moldy and sickly. However, it stood strong like chains.

  “Now, Stella!” I shouted, raising my voice as loud as I could.

  With a fierce battle cry, Stella bolted from behind the tree with Queen Irena’s sword held over her head. She looked beautiful, even with her contorted expression and red face, as she swung the sword down on the visible bond between Reon and his dragon.

  When the blade cut through the tainted bond, the dragon’s lashed out in agony. Reon tilted back and opened his mouth. He cringed in pain and grunted out his pain. The black and gold strand from the bond recoiled back into each of the two beings.

  The black-tipped arrows fell to the ground in a clatter, transforming to dust upon impact. The minute there wasn’t a threat to her throat, Freja jumped backward and kicked Reon in the gut. The false king fell over and grunted as he landed.

  “I have wanted to do t
hat for so long,” Freja said as she flipped her hair out of her face.

  A thunderous clatter came from behind all of us. We whirled to look at the entrance of Rictorus, where the doors still hung open. Out of nowhere, the grate collapsed. The dragons soared up and through the freed tunnel.

  I let out a whooping sound and raised my hands in the air. Triumph pulsed through me, and I even jumped in the air a couple of times in my excitement.

  “The dragons are free!” I shouted.

  As I watched the dragons launch themselves into the air, I watched with the largest smile on my face. Until I noticed that each of the dragons still had their black collar on them.

  My face fell. “Why do they…?”

  Before I could finish the question, Stella let out an ear-piercing scream. Her breath caught, and she gasped with a gurgling sound. When I spun around, back to the open doors, I saw one of Reon’s black arrows sticking out of Stella’s stomach. Black tendrils coiled up her skin and pierced through her clothing. I watched as the darkness snaked up her neck and curled around to her eyes, dousing them in black.

  “Stella!” Heloise cried.

  She rushed to her girlfriend, who fell to her knees, but Troylan held her back by grabbing her around the middle.

  “You cannot,” Troylan screamed at Heloise. “You could get infected.”

  “I do not care,” Heloise said as she wrestled with Troylan. “She is dying! Stella!”

  I rushed to Stella’s and called to the light to heal her. I laid my hands on her as the infection consumed her eyes. It was intense and fast-spreading. I had never seen it so fierce. I pushed the light into Stella, but the darkness swallowed it up before I could add any more light to her. It defeated me with a swift kick and pushed the light out of her body and back into me.

  “Stella, Stella,” I whispered her name.

  Her mouth opened and closed as she gurgled out a couple of sounds. Finally, her lips formed into something coherent. “I did something worthwhile.”