Dragon's Quest (Dragon Princes Book 1)

by Cyci Cade

  “It´s light is stronger here,” Liu observed.

  “Did you see the beasts and the immortal guards?” Mr. Fu Chow also protected his eyes while his fingers barely touched the stone.

  “Yes, we fought them. Kate was hurt, almost died. I had to go to the peach tree of immortality and pick a fruit to save her. The strangest thing was the General just let us take the eye and leave.” Liu rolled his eyes up and tapped the lips with his index finger as if he tried to guess the immortal General thoughts.

  “I know why.” She saw the opportunity to tell them what she had discovered. “When you proved that you are good men…”

  “There is less than one hour.” Mr. Fu Chow hurried them. “Let´s go to the Dragon´s temple; we can talk later, you´ll tell me everything in details.”

  Interrupted! Again! Why did no one want to listen to what she had to say? It was important.

  “First, Kate needs aid.” Liu cuddled her and kissed her cheek.

  “I’ll ask a servant to help her while you go to the temple.” Mr. Fu Chow turned and changed his direction.

  “No!” Kate protested. Now she was upset. They interrupted her and they put her aside? No way! “I am all right, and I want to see what will happen; we are a team or did you forget it?” She put her hands on her hips and tapped her right foot on the floor.

  “Are you sure?” Wei scrutinized her from top to bottom.

  She felt her cheeks on fire and nodded. She didn´t give them another alternative except taking her with them. Speechless, they hastened to the temple.

  Boys. She thought. Why did they always think they have priority? She almost lost her life to get that eye, literally; and they got her to be quiet. It was vital that she revealed her discovery, and she had to do it before Liu set the eye in the statue. She didn´t realize why, she just sensed it.

  Wei and Mr. Fu Chow opened the temple´s gates. The green light of the eye lit the room; even without having dragon´s vision she was able to see each detail in that space so strong was the light. One place carved in the rock around the dragon´s claws with the same shape flashed, a green ray connected with the eye.

  “Liu, I need to tell you something,” Kate whispered.

  “Shh. Not now, Kate,” he admonished.

  “I need to tell you about my discovery before you set the eye,” she insisted.

  Liu didn´t answer. He seemed paralyzed, entranced by the light. He held the eye with both hands, lifted it level with his chest and moved forward as if he was being attracted, pulled by a powerful force. His feet slid on the floor slowly, he spoke some words in a strange language, not Chinese, one that Kate had never heard before.

  She followed him to the stairs, stopped and waited. Wei and Mr. Fu Chow joined her. Liu continued in the direction of the statue. Kate and Wei glanced at each other for a moment and returned their attention to Liu. Wei wove his fingers between hers. He was as nervous as her. It was nice feeling his touch again.

  She noticed how much she missed him during the journey. He was an important part of her life, and she was thankful for not having to choose between the boys because all of them would get hurt. Things were in their places now. Wei seemed to understand that she was Liu´s girlfriend; everything would be okay. They´d be good friends.

  Liu stopped in front of the statue. He lifted the eye over his head and bowed. Mr. Fu Chow and Wei too. Kate mimicked them. Liu repeated the strange words like a prayer and set the eye in its place.

  The green light´s rays traveled through the place and formed a big rainbow inside the temple, travelled through the glass that covered part of the roof and lit the stars forming a figure with dragon shape in the sky.

  “A dragon,” she babbled and pointed to the sky.

  “It is the Draco Constellation,” Wei explained. “There are many legends about this constellation. Some says that the dragon Ladon guarded the golden apples on a tree in a garden tended by the Hesperides, the daughters of Atlas. Hercules had the task of getting the apples while under pledge of Eurystheus. He learned from Nereus that he couldn´t pluck the apples by himself but must get help from Atlas. Hercules shot and killed Ladon with an arrow, making way for Atlas to enter and tug the golden apples. The goddess Hera was greatly anguished by the death of Ladon and placed the dragon in the heavens.”

  “Amazing! I like these stories,” she murmured; her eyes remained locked on the constellation.

  Wei continued, “Other legend says about Draco, a horrible dragon that guarded a sacred spring and murdered the soldiers of Cadmus, first King of Thebes, who had been sent to gather water. Cadmus then fought the dragon and won. After the dragon died, Athena appeared and told Cadmus to sow the ground with the creature´s teeth. The teeth immediately sprang up as a group of armed soldiers who helped Cadmus locate Thebes.”

  The light changed its color, weakened and died; the statue shook. Kate looked at Liu. An uncontrollable fear rose inside her when a vortex appeared dragging everything. Her body lurched forward and her feet moved without any command. Wei held Kate´s waist pulling her beside him. Mr. Fu Chow fell and rolled on the floor to stop in the corner. Kate wanted to run to help him, but Wei backed off, holding held her firmly.

  Liu rose off his feet; he swirled in the air and screamed. He was half-man, half-dragon. The vortex pulled him in. Liu´s nails and claws scratched the floor in order to prevent the vortex swallowing him. Kate held out a hand to him; the vortex hauled him ever closer.

  “Kate,” he bawled.

  “Liu! No!” she exclaimed. She tried to run toward the vortex, but Wei held her tightly. “Let me go!” She punched Wei to escape from his firm grip; her heart thumped in her throat.

  She veered to the left, slipped from Wei´s hands and darted to Liu, throwing herself in the air, falling on the floor, and grasping Liu´s fists. Her body glided on the floor; the vortex dragged her too.

  Hands held her ankles and pulled her back. Liu´s fists escaped from her grip. That maelstrom force was stronger than her and snatched him from her like a thorn pulled out, leaving an open bleeding poisoned wound.

  “I love you.” His voice sounded distorted; his image became undefined and disappeared in the vortex that closed leaving a void in its place.

  Oh no. No! “Liiiiuuuu!!!!” Her voice echoed in the chamber. He had gone.

  Wei enfolded her in his arms. Darkness filled the room. She felt worse when she wondered where Liu had gone. A dreadful premonition whirled around her mind. Tears flooded her eyes and rolled down; she hid her face in Wei´s chest feeling defeated.

  Kate sobbed until out of breath and her vision became black. Shadows surrounded her; everything became distant, untouchable, and unbelievable.

  Chapter 39

  Great Dragon

  The Great Dragon observed the others while the vortex swallowed Liu. He studied the foreigner girl, the elected one, and noticed that she was too involved with those princes. It might be a problem in the future, when they´d have to make difficult choices. Those humans fell in love so easily. Why didn´t they understand that bond wasn´t love but just a bond to keep them together to overcome the obstacles they´d have in their ways? They mixed their feelings. He shook his head in disapproval. And these princes would keep fighting for her.

  When would they learn a lesson? When would they recognize that they have distinct, separate lives? One would be the next Emperor and marry the woman chosen to rule with him; the other would have an important mission in another land with a strong woman capable of fighting anything to protect her people. For this, they had to change their hearts, but they were too far from this. They still argued about irrelevant things.

  The vortex closed. Liu disappeared. The Great Dragon shuffled his heavy body and returned to his land worried about the route those people´s lives took. One day one ought to be Emperor yet neither of them was prepared for that. For how many centuries would the Dragon need to keep the curse? They got the first eye and it was nothing compared to the other missions. They almost lost a m
ember of the team; if one of them died, he couldn´t do anything, he wouldn´t do anything.

  A small dragon approached him. “Everything is prepared,” he squealed.

  The Great Dragon stamped toward the forest. “Good. Go ahead with the plan.” He turned to his servant. “You know what to do.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe the human won´t survive,” the small dragon warned.

  He observed the little dragon, Xiaobai. The Great Dragon had many servants to help him and Xiaobai became the most intelligent and helpful dragon of the realm in spite of his physical condition; he was albino and smaller than the others. However, this bizarre condition didn´t impede him in even the hardest task; he overcame the others easily in many aspects. The Great Dragon trusted him; he always listened to Xiaobai´s warnings, but this time was different. He calculated the risks; he knew very well that Liu might not survive; even so he went forward with his plan.

  “It is true, Xiaobai. Liu will need much more than his physical and mental strength to remain alive as well the others.” He fanned his tail to the sides.

  “Is it necessary?” Xiaobai lowered his head. “Sorry for my disrespectful behavior.”

  “Their mother promised they would protect the Empire if I spared their lives. I saved the princes and the mother and they let a villain desecrate my sanctuary. They broke their mother´s promise; they need to pay for this.” He puffed and released smoke from his nostrils.

  “I know the story.” Xiaobai darted back and forth; he still had other things to tell.

  “Those humans don´t live forever. Speak quickly,” the Great Dragon chided his servant.

  Xiaobai glanced at him. “The others won´t be able to finish the mission if Liu dies. Can I help him just a little?” He lifted his eyebrows.

  “No.” The Great Dragon turned his back to Xiaobai and walked to the forest. “Go finish your task,” he commanded.

  Xiaobai neither retorted nor followed him. The Great Dragon never understood why his servant liked humans; they were irrationals, they did illogical things and their main objective was power. For some reason, Xiaobai insisted on helping and protecting such vulnerable and stupid species. The little dragon convinced him to give another chance to that family. At the beginning, he resisted but then he thought it might be funny watching such an inexperienced group working together to gain their redemption while their real desire was to kill each other.

  The Great Dragon was certain they would fail until the day he finally found the girl, the elected one called Kate. She was powerful, had resolve and the same enemy; they had a common purpose, and it was perfect. But the stupid princes fell in love with her or they thought they fell in love, and the girl didn´t resist Liu´s charm. It was supposed to happen at the end of the mission with only one of the princes.

  Following an uncontrollable impulse, The Great Dragon walked to the abyss and stared at the hole. He needed to change some rules of the game. Xiaobai might protest and try to convince him that it was unfair, but it was in vain; he made a decision, and his servant wouldn´t change his thoughts. Xiaobai wouldn´t change his mind again. He had to keep the girl, the elected one, far away from the princes and it might be easier than he imagined because both of them loved her and they wouldn´t think twice to break a rule to get the girl.

  It was evil and at the same time, the only solution. He needed to finish that love story for now. At the proper time the right man would fall in love with her. Wei promised he would keep himself far away from her; so the Great Dragon had to keep her far away from Liu and it might not be so difficult. He only needed to create some unusual situation so they wouldn´t handle the pressure.

  He spread his wings, took off, and crossed the abyss.

  Xiaobai

  Xiaobai waved his fragile wings and flew to the other side of the realm to follow the orders since he couldn´t do anything else to save the human. He shouldn´t have insisted the Great Dragon break that family´s curse. He didn´t have any idea the Dragon would turn it into a game that the humans might not win or survive.

  He passed by a group of young dragons and struggled to keep his wings working to maintain his altitude. He hoped none of them noticed his presence, but it was almost impossible due to his low altitude; his wings weren´t strong and big enough to provide a proper flight and to walk among them was too humiliating.

  “What´s up, mouse?” They laughed. “Hey, ash. Be careful; don´t burst into flames; it´s too hot today.” They laughed again. “Don´t get a sunburn.”

  Mouse, ash, mutant, and ghost were among many nicknames he had. He didn´t like any of them. “Kids.” He spat. Isn´t there nobody to educate them? He wasn´t so rude when he was a kid.

  Xiaobai couldn´t blast fire either, but he had many others skills and those dragons envied him because he had free access to the Great Dragon. Xiaobai was his right-hand and the Great Dragon always treated him very well. Maybe because of his physical disability. He wasn´t as strong as the others and even the youngest ones were bigger than him. However, he developed intellectual skills, he was infinitely smarter, so smart that he ignored them and didn´t retort their taunts.

  The laughers dwindled as he gained distance from them and his previous concern returned; he felt guilty, he endangered those humans´ lives. Could he find a way to help them without the Great Dragon noticing? It was almost impossible; though, there was always an alternative.

  “Think, Xiaobai, think. It´s the best you can do.” He lost his mind completely; he was trying to find a way to cheat the Great Dragon, it was nonsense. Nobody cheated him and survived. Even possessing a brilliant mind, Xiaobai would pay for this.

  Xiaobai´s vision blurred; the sunlight hurt his blue eyes. He blinked several times and landed to finish his journey on foot. All dragons liked to fly; he didn´t confess it to nobody, but he preferred to walk, he felt more comfortable sensing the ground under his claws.

  He folded his sore wings and limped toward his destiny; in that distant part of the realm nobody would see him and offer him a walking-stick or something like that or tease him.

  Once, the Great Dragon asked why Xiaobai liked humans so much. At that time, he didn´t know the answer; he just liked them, period. Today, he recognized that it was because humans were so fragile and imperfect like him. They had so much in common that sometimes he thought he should have been born human or lived among them.

  Nobody would treat Xiaobai like a god; none of them would sculpture his image in a rock or a piece of wood and sell it as they did with the others. After all he was a freak; he was as cursed as Liu, Wei and their family. He was born soon after they had been cursed; everybody said he wouldn´t survive, and he was a two-hundred-year-old dragon. Many theories appeared to explain why he was a mutant since his parents and siblings were normal. He also studied a lot to find an explanation to his case. Nobody found an answer, including him, the cleverest one as the adults called him.

  Xiaobai reached his destiny; he squinted and looked for a kind of rabbit. “Bunny-cap!” Xiaobai yelled and paced cautiously in the forest. “Bunny-cap. I have a job for you.”

  That part of the forest was dangerous to a dragon that didn´t look like one; he was so defenseless like a baby. He wasn´t fast, he didn´t have talons or blasts of fire and he couldn´t camouflage himself in the bushes. So, he preferred to stay on the edge of the forest and avoid the big animals and potential predators.

  “Bunny-cap,” he squealed. “Show yourself now, or I´ll tell the Great Dragon that you refused to help him.”

  Bushes moved to the sides and quick steps came in his direction. Xiaobai still didn´t see the animal and he hoped it was Bunny-cap. He stepped back and moved to an open space since his ability to move quickly was equal to zero. The animal showed its head first and its nose moved swiftly as it tasted the air; only then did it leave the bushes and approach Xiaobai.

  “At last, you appeared!” Xiaobai chided the animal that kept its head as high as he was able to. Xiaobai looked to the sides and crouched
to approach the animal, then he whispered, “You have to lure the outlander to the west. You know where.” He looked to the sides again. “Don´t tell anyone; this is top secret. Do you understand?”

  Bunny-cap nodded.

  “So, why are you still here?” Xiaobai chided the animal again and shooed it.

  Bunny-cap spun and disappeared among the bushes. Xiaobai laughed, got up and rushed to leave. “It´s time, Liu. Good luck, and I´m sorry. I wish I could help you,” he whispered.

  He limped back home, wondering what would happen to Liu. The Great Dragon hadn´t told him his plans and Xiaobai´s fertile mind flew faster than his wings. He just knew one thing, nothing good would happen to Liu; his chances to return home were minimal. Xiaobai shook his head and looked at the sky. “There is no hope, and this is my fault.”

  He took the path to his cave; it wasn´t noon yet, though, he needed to be alone.

  About the Author

  Cyci Cade

  Cyci Cade is writer and blogger; she has a Marketing degree. She´s the author of Tut Reborn and short stories as Perhaps Love, Son of Egypt, and The Boys and the Dragon.