by Lisa Daniels
Blinking herself out of her soupy despair, redirecting her feelings to glaring at him instead, she said in a chilly tone, “Why exactly, should I feel inclined to help out a dragon?”
He appeared unperturbed at her reaction. “Well, let me see, princess. I don’t think you’ll be getting very far on your own in the Wilderness, should you make it out of here. And you don’t exactly have, well… a home, do you? I’d say you might need a friend or two.”
“I’m not calling a dragon my friend!”
“See, that’s where you’re old-fashioned,” Aizen said, yawning. “Plenty of people have dragons as friends nowadays. We’re pretty cool people.”
Faye digested his point, hating that he made sense. All she wanted to do was curl up into a corner and sulk. “If I free you,” she said, mind whirring fast, “I have a condition. You’ll help me free everyone else here.” She gestured at the ice statues, gaze halting for a moment on Anthony. Like it or not, he was the only connection to her past now. A person of a bygone world – just as many of the frozen likely were.
At this condition, Aizen winced. “Um… honestly, princess, I have no idea how to break something like this. I’m under a curse of a sort myself… the witch here is very powerful.”
“How did she even get you, anyway?”
“Trapped me,” Aizen grunted in response. “Took me right out of the air I was flying through, minding my own business…” He didn’t go on further than that, falling instead into abrupt silence. Then he said, “Look. I’ll agree to your terms. But I can’t free anyone now. All we can do is to get out of here. I can go to my mother and father and the witches in Vrytal, and see what they have to say about this place – but that’s all I can offer you.”
Faye rubbed her face, unhappy, but knowing there was no way to secure a better deal. “Okay. Right, don’t try and eat me or anything, fiend. I’ll look into releasing you.”
“Eat you?” Aizen said, distinctively offended. “Fiend? What do you take me for, some kind of savage?”
“Obviously. You are a dragon.”
“Give me a break,” Aizen said. “We’re way past the people-eating thing. We still like collecting our princesses, though.”
“Uh huh.” Seriously doubting if she could trust such a creature, Faye examined the cuffs, seeing how they connected and testing the keyhole in each one. Then she dug into her messy hair, hoping to find a pin stuck there somewhere – she usually had three or four that she forgot to remove. The rotten things rarely worked the way they should, because her hair enjoyed growing wild and untamed. Eventually, her fingers closed around one hairpin, and she took it out with a satisfied grunt.
“Well, keep still. This might take a while.”
Aizen nodded, watching as she bent the hairpin out of shape and inserted it in the lock of his handcuff.
Faye didn’t know what other choice she had. She just hoped she wouldn’t seriously regret this one.
Chapter Two
The last lock sprang free. Aizen tugged his foot away in relief, and the skin there was raw and chafed. “My thanks, princess,” he said, giving her a little bow. So, he did have some manners.
“Don’t be thanking me just yet. Now we need to get out of here.”
“Hmm.” He examined her, eyes large and dark for a fleeting second. “Best follow me. Just as soon,” he panted, “as I’ve gotten used to walking again.”
“You weren’t chained up that long,” Faye pointed out.
“And? You don’t know what that witch did to me.” His eyes glinted in anger. The hairs on the backs of his hands seemed to bristle. He took a few moments to regain some of his strength and confidence, and then strode off, leaving the ice statues behind. Faye gave one last, lingering stare at Anthony, before trotting after Aizen, wondering if she’d just made a deal with a demon.
Down through the cold, blue corridor – then, upon approaching a catacomb web of tunnels, Aizen unerringly picked the second from the left branch, and Faye increased her pace to keep up, her cold breath forming clouds. The walls themselves had a light blue, luminescent glow, as if they were paper thin and the sunlight shone through them, except Faye felt pretty certain the walls were enchanted.
“You better come back here. Some of these people have been waiting for a long time to be freed.”
“Yes, yes, I know, princess,” Aizen said dismissively, clearly listening but not actively engaging in her concern. She needed to take two strides to his every one, and found herself rapidly out of breath following him. The path he took was different from the one Faye remembered taking before. She didn’t bother opening her mouth, in case the paths had changed in the passing years. Once, they heard the cackling ring of the witch’s voice, and they hesitated, venturing cautiously along, reducing the amount of noise they made as much as humanly possible.
They finally made it out into a huge ice cavern, and stopped still.
A giant, ethereal dragon slumbered, a blue glow emanating from it. At this, Aizen hissed softly. A naked longing, along with loss, floated in his expression.
What was this? Faye crossed her arms, blinking as Aizen headed over to the slumbering dragon. He reached for its snout with a trembling hand, and when they connected, the dragon let out a rattling sigh, but kept its eyes firmly shut.
Aizen stood there for a moment, before hanging his head and retreating, beckoning for Faye to stick close behind him.
“What was that?” she whispered, their footsteps echoing in the narrow blue tunnel away from the dragon’s cave.
“Me,” he replied. “That dragon is my dragon soul.” His jaw stuck out then in barely repressed anger.
“What do you mean, that’s your dragon soul?”
“The witch ripped it out of me. Said she wanted something to guard all the treasures she kept in her tunnels. And was planning to get more. I can’t feel it. I can’t reconnect to it.” Aizen gave a little shudder. He pulled her into a tunnel on the far right, and Faye saw a glimmer of light ahead.
“Can you still turn into a dragon?”
Aizen shook his head. “No. She took it out of me. Well… I still have heightened senses, but for all intents and purposes, I’m human. At least until I get my form back.”
At this news, Faye suddenly felt more hopeful that Aizen would return to this place. He had good reason to, after all. Not for her, but for himself. To regain the dragon he’d lost.
What would her family think, knowing she’d procured the aid of a dragon to escape? That for whatever reason they’d met, they were now temporary allies?
Dragons can’t be trusted. No monster can.
They emerged outside into a landscape different from what Faye remembered. Instead of dense thickets of green and the tall set of trees that obscured the cave’s entrance, she saw most of the trees had been cleared away, revealing a thin woodland in the distance, and building tops from where Vrytal had obviously expanded since she’d last seen it. She still saw the familiar spires of Vrytal’s castle, which left an ache for home. The same castle she’d once lived in, still existing at this point in the future, ruled by dragons. Did it even count as her home now?
“Must look different from what you remember,” Aizen said. “Okay… we got this far. Now we need to make it down the ice mountain without breaking our necks, through the Little Folk Forest, and then we’re back in Vrytal. Oh, and I have to say this. There’s another little condition I may not have mentioned to you,” Aizen said, flashing Faye a rather hard smile. “You will be my princess.”
Anger began to steam out of Faye’s ears. “No! I’m no dragon’s princess!”
“As of right now, yes, you are. And the reason why I’m claiming it now is so that other dragons won’t come swooping in on you if they see you, or if a troll or something attempts to pluck you from the bushes.” A small, yellow wisp appeared in the air, weaving around Aizen, before going to Faye and disappearing inside her. “Now you smell different. Anyone can smell that you belong to me.”
Just
like that? “What? I just told you I don’t want to be your princess!”
“And I just told you that you don’t have a choice. Sorry. It’s for your own good, trust me.”
Like fuck it was for her own good. She trembled furiously as Aizen began searching for a descent, muttering, “I’m too used to flying everywhere… so weird having to do this from the ground...”
She didn’t follow him, fully intending to stay. But when she heard a low, keening wail in the distance, she shivered, and then hurried after Aizen.
“Fine. But only because I don’t want to be eaten.”
“Wise choice, princess,” Aizen said. “I know it’s frustrating, but we’re in the same ship together. And… I don’t have my dragon form to protect us. Hmm.”
“Can’t do anything unless you’re a dragon?” Faye’s tone came out mocking.
Aizen appeared unruffled by her attempt to taunt him. “I can. Just obviously I’m not as strong. Right… let’s try this direction…”
He offered a hand to help Faye down, but she ignored it and vaulted onto the lower step herself.
“Polite, aren’t you?”
Faye glared at him. She didn’t have time for his jibes. She’d just lost her former home, the prince she once knew, the history she once lived in – and it all felt like it was just a few hours ago since she departed from Vrytal. Sneaking into the dead of night. Being dared by Anthony to brave the ice cave, rumored to be nearby.
The low, keening wail came again. Closer this time. Sweat broke out on Faye’s head. Her hands itched for the bow she didn’t have. She’d feel more comfortable armed. Aizen saw this movement with interest, though he said nothing on it.
“Let’s hope we can get back safely. I don’t like the sound of that wailing… not sure what it belongs to.”
Neither was Faye, which made them both pick up their pace, sometimes slipping on the path. They needed to double back a lot when they reached dead ends, and Aizen often complained about the fact that he could no longer fly, stretching Faye to her breaking point.
“I don’t fucking care if you can’t fly,” she said sourly to him, as she skidded onto her rear end for the sixth time in a row, leaving a throb of pain there. “Now you know what it feels like to be a little pink meatsack. Congratulations.”
Her description of a human made him pause. “Little pink meatsack?”
“It was what the troll in the dungeon called us once.” Faye’s memories shifted back to the castle, to the six-foot troll with neon purple hair, glaring as little princesses and princes prodded at him with sticks.
“Huh.” Aizen considered the description. “I like it. Pretty accurate, too.”
“I’m glad you do,” Faye said, slightly alarmed she might have accidentally bonded further with the dragon. When he gazed into her eyes, she saw bright yellow irises, adding to the wild, untamed appearance he kept, with that shaggy mane of hair similar to her own. However, under that mess and animal yellow eyes protruded an annoyingly attractive face. Faye kept getting those inconvenient stabs of energy when the attraction part of her brain started scoring off his physical attributes. She noted with unnecessary detail how a tiny shaft of light made his eyes twinkle a certain way, or how the shadows accentuated those two moles just above his left collarbone. Or how oddly prince-like he looked.
Why, if he’d never admitted he was a dragon, Faye would have been none the wiser.
The wailing drilled into their ears, sounding as if the monster that uttered it was right beside them. Aizen jumped, glancing around wildly, but saw nothing. Faye edged closer, and Aizen reached out an arm to grab onto her wrist, tugging her with him.
“Apologies, princess. But we really should be heading along.”
Faye privately agreed. Her feet stumbled over shale and stubborn bushes. Keeping her balance when being dragged behind Aizen proved hard, but when she saw a thicket rustle near them on the side, panic jolted through her heart.
“I saw something move!” she hissed to Aizen, whose grip tightened on her arm. Then, without a word, he quickly yanked her towards him and slung her over his shoulder, now setting off at a run. She clutched onto him desperately, open-mouthed as he gathered speed, faster than what the average human could run and leap unless enhanced by gear. He made a great rushing bound onto a rock as something emerged from the thicket – a hissing chimera. A lion’s head and golden mane came first, attached to a muscular lion’s body. A goat’s head grew from the chimera’s spine – and this was what made the odd wailing. It opened its mouth, tongue lolling out, and wailed, shaking its head madly. Upon the chimera’s rear end, a tail in the shape of a snake swayed, with the snake hissing, eyes directly fixated on Faye.
The chimera executed powerful bounds, loping after them and quickly eating up the distance.
“Hurry!” Faye screeched. “It’s a chimera! That thing’s moving like a hurricane!”
“I’m trying, princess,” Aizen gasped. “You have to remember, I’m still worn out from earlier. Ugh. I could rip that thing apart if I was a dragon…”
“Oh, just shut up whining about your stupid dragon and run faster!” Faye dug into the shifter’s back and kept eye contact with her foe, hoping that maybe it’d be intimidated by the staring. It didn’t really seem to work, and the chimera gained on them, limbs pounding across the rocky ground. Aizen jumped and swerved, using his strength to the best of his ability, though that thing wasn’t fucking stopping.
Skies, if I’d gone out here alone, I’d be dead! Her nails dug into Aizen’s back, along with a mix of frustration and fear. I have no choice. I have to stick with this fiend. There’s no way I can survive by myself. And I don’t have my artifact bow. Her thoughts once again drifted to the Ice Bow that lay in her family’s vault, a magical weapon that could only be wielded by people of their royal bloodline. In anyone else’s hands, the weapon wouldn’t even work. It had no string nor arrows. But in her hands, it spewed out magical ice arrows, and fit snugly into her grip, releasing easily under her touch. She hadn’t wanted to take it on the trip because it was far too valuable, so she’d stuck with a normal bow and quiver with ten arrows.
Gone now, of course. Would have been nice to try and shoot things in this ugly bastard’s face, and protect them from what might be a grisly death. Her stomach lurched with the motion of Aizen’s strides – his strong arm was wrapped around her, sometimes squeezing so hard that she felt her ribs straining.
The sick feeling wedged itself firmly in her stomach as the chimera came within a few strides away, and Aizen screamed out, “Sorry, princess, looks like we’re flying!”
“What?”
The chimera snarled, displaying dagger fangs, huge paw pads tipped with jagged claws. She could see inside its mouth to the tonsils, and gave a little shudder. She imagined for a moment those jaws chomping down on her arm and claws raking at her face. She yelled as her stomach felt as if it’d lodged in her throat. Aizen soared through the air, and she looked below her to see the ground leaving, revealing trees at least a hundred meters underneath. She also caught the glimpse of a rapidly moving river, and clutched onto Aizen so tight that her knuckles became bloodless.
“You’re crazy!” The words ripped out of her throat, and she resorted instead to praying that they weren’t about to hit bedrock, or that the river wasn’t too shallow. The chimera screeched at them from the ledge, snake tail twitching, unwilling to follow them any further. The world rapidly turned into freezing, swirling impact as waters enveloped them and they sunk beneath the river. Faye thought she was cold after escaping the ice block, watching as the pieces dissolved into nothing, leaving no trace she’d ever been there. That was before Aizen jumped them into a swirling maelstrom of water that froze the blood in her bones. She let out a gurgled exclamation, accidentally swallowing liquid, and they drifted through the deep waters before the pace slowed at a bend, and they resurfaced. Faye spluttered, gasped and coughed the water she’d swallowed, heaving for air. Aizen dragged them onto the side b
ank before collapsing and wheezing, releasing Faye from his grasp.
Faye lay by his side, shivering, cold biting into her, and hugged herself as Aizen sat upright.
“Remind me to not do that again,” Aizen said. His yellow eyes were wide, and he wiped his arms on the grass. “A lot colder than I expected.”
“Fucking f-freezing,” Faye agreed, teeth clacking, and Aizen forced himself up, held his hands against his knees for a moment, catching more breath, before dragging Faye to her feet.
“Not much further. We’re on the south riverbend of the Little Folk Forest. Just need to be careful where we step.”
She soon got what he meant when they advanced into the woods, and there were tiny little mushroom houses dotted along the trees, with little men and women peeking out from their windows. Several gave gasps and high-pitched squeals, and one barked, “Oi! Careful!” when Aizen almost stepped on a dung beetle. “That’s me Dungie, that is! Feck off!”
“They’re not known for their manners,” Aizen said, and Faye wrinkled her nose at the coarse little people. Aizen seemed too exhausted to keep carrying her, for he slouched as he walked, and Faye kept shivering as she followed behind him, hoping she wouldn’t step on some little mushroom house and end up with thousands of tiny toothpick-wielding creatures trying to stab at her ankles. Aizen’s bare feet accumulated mud as he trudged along, and they kept their weary, lethargic pace through the woods. Sometimes, Faye tried to prompt him to talk, but he merely grunted at her to keep going, to not distract him from the task, and to walk fast to warm up. Privately, Faye thought it better to take off their wet clothes, as the wet iced up against their skins faster, and her teeth chattered more violently the further they walked.
When they stumbled across a full-sized man crouched down, carefully examining some herbs growing in the roots of a tree, he turned around, startled, as he saw Aizen and Faye.