Dragon's Heart

by LaVerne Thompson

  The Lady Sierran placed a golden claw on her mate’s dark scaled shoulder. “Draakar, we have no choice. Valour speaks true and you know this.”

  Draakar, the Dark Dragon Lord spread his wings, a span as long as a seven-foot man and so thick and dark they appeared like black velvet. The air around him vibrated from the draft. He raised his mighty head. A roar emerged from the depths of his soul, bellowing out his rage. Crimson fire stretched toward a purple heaven. No brethren in the land missed hearing the cry of pain and rage issuing from the depths of their Lord's throat, and none existed who did not share in his pain. Thousands of dragons answered with roars of their own and crimson, green, gold, and blue fires blazed across the skies, turning it a kaleidoscope of color.

  “I did not open that gate over a thousand years ago to condemn my only son to death,” the Dragon Lord roared.

  A dragon, with golden glittering scales, stepped within the circle and faced his sire. The image of his mother, thought not as large as his father, Draakar.

  “Sire…Father. I must go. I am ready and I will survive. With your help, I will do what I know I was born to do.”

  The great dragon looked into eyes of emerald fire matching his own. “Oh my son, would that it were not so. Do you really understand what is being asked of you?”

  “Yes, Father, I do. I must relinquish my birthright, but only until I return. Make no mistake, I will return. By the claw of the First Dragon Lord, I will find my mate. I must. We all know she is not here. She is one of the Forgotten Ones. One left on Earth.”

  The Lady Sierran rubbed her head against her son’s shoulder. “Ah, Talon. We know you must go, but it is so hard for us. Your father’s power is waning. The power sustaining our life energy here is tied to his and is also weakening. We do not quite understand why. We do know you must mate in order for you to come into your full powers and become the Dragon Lord you were meant to be.”

  “With respect,” Valour spoke up. “No, Your Majesties, not just mate. He must find his truemate. I am convinced she is the key to unlocking his full powers.

  “Only with a true mating could Talon hope to sire a Dark Dragon Lord. We must restore the balance of this world,” Valour continued. “Too late we have come to understand one of the reasons the brethren abandoned this world to begin with. The power of a Dark Dragon Lord is required to sustain it. As we all know, the temperature of this dimension fluctuates between extreme cold and extreme heat. While we can survive in a form of hibernation in extreme cold, we dragons need heat. As we’ve come to understand there must be a balance, the Dragon Lord provides the balance, because too much heat is also our weakness.”

  Talon scoffed. “Too much heat means death. From fire we’re born, but by fire we die.”

  Draakar nodded. “Some of the old memories made more sense now. Akgon is a land of fire and ice, but the temperature throughout the land since our return has gradually changed, and affects our connection to the magicks of the land.”

  Valour bowed his head acknowledging his words. “All you say is truth, but the brethren are weakening, Lord, along with you,” Valour stated as fact. “The periods of extreme temperatures are getting longer and more intense. In time dragons will start dying. Even though we’re long-lived, most of us are old.”

  Yes, most of the brethren were older than Sierran and Draakar. Some like himself, Valour thought, old even for dragons. While dragons had been born in the thousand years since Draarkar opened the gate to Akgon, the home world, they still only numbered a few thousand. Not the hundreds of thousands they should have been.

  “Talon is one of the last born among us,” Valour continued, “and while at four hundred years he is young for a dragon, he is also one among a rising number only willing to mate with their truemates.” Most of the dragons were not mated to truemates, including his Lord and Lady, but Valour kept those thoughts to himself.

  Sierran’s quick glance at Draakar did not go unnoticed by Valour. Sierran and Draakar did have an inkling of why his powers were waning. She was not his truemate. Although they were joined and Talon their offspring, their mating had been done of necessity.

  Their great powers enabled them to maintain the illusion of truemates. Only Valour knew the truth—he had realized long ago—but no one else knew, not even their son. He also suspected his Lady realized the price she would now pay for forcing Draakar’s hand so many ages ago. Nonetheless, it was worth it and necessary, and why he’d aided her. While they may not have been truemates, Valour knew their hearts. She did love him, and Draakar loved her. Together they had saved the brethren—for a while.

  Now Sierran had to face the harsh reality of the truth. She could no longer help her mate sustain his powers. She could only enhance it and not for much longer. Her life energy, her power drained fastest of all. Only Draakar’s truemate could sustain him now. Sierran turned her head to look at Valour, knowing he read some of her thoughts, and confirming for him her awareness of the situation. She would tell Draakar none of these things. She nodded slightly at him and he nodded back to let her know he understood. As always, she kept her own counsel.

  At first both Sierran and Draakar thought to convince Talon to take one of the stronger females as his mate, a gold or a bronze and had come to Valour to get his support. They’d had it once before, but Valour told them this time things were different. He would not pressure the boy. Besides, Talon absolutely refused. He wanted his truemate or he would have none at all. Not even for his race would he sacrifice his mate.

  “I have always known she is not of this world,” Talon said. “I have simply been waiting for her to be born, for her life energy to grow strong enough to call to me so I would be able to find her. For a short while, from time to time I can sense her, but only for brief moments.” Like a passing caress across my heart whenever I catch just the right wind current.

  Valour caught Talon’s last thought and smiled.

  “I need to go to Terra now,” Talon continued. “I must be ready when it is time to claim her, and it may take awhile for me to find her. The sooner I can begin my search, the sooner I can return to Akgon with my mate. I have no doubt I will find her and bring her back with me.”

  Draakar’s sighed and faced his son. “I am proud of you, you know.” Talon did what he himself had not, so long ago. Draakar had known once he stepped through the gate on Earth he had left his truemate behind, sacrificing them both, but the brethren needed him. Unfortunately, for the dragons, he realized too late they would also need his truemate.

  “I am not even sure we have enough strength amongst us to reopen the gate,” Draakar said.

  “I have faith in you, Father,” Talon replied. “I will help. All of Akgon will help, and when I cross over I will shift.”

  “Yes,” Valour agreed. “You will not be able to hold your dragon form for long on Terra. You will revert to human form, although you will still be stronger than humans, and you will have some powers.”

  “Do you know how much of his brethren powers he will retain?” Talon’s mother asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Valour replied. “I suspect Earth magick has changed, but he should still be able to wield it. Once he is joined with his mate, he will come into his full strength and she should be able to help sustain him.”

  “But will it be enough?” Draakar asked.

  “It must be,” Talon replied.

  “It required thousands of dragons to help me open the portal the first time.”

  “Yes,” Talon said, “but once opened you were able to hold it on your own.”

  “Just barely,” Draakar said.

  “But you had to get us all through and then yourself also,” Valour said, his wide snout flaring even more. “This will be easier, the energy output required would be less, and there might be others on Earth who may be able to help Talon reopen the gate.”

  “I thought the dragon magick had been purged from Terra,” Sierran stated.

  “Not really,” Valour replied. “The dragon blood
line is still there. Talon will have to find a way to tap into it.”

  “How, Val?” Talon asked.

  “Blood will call to blood,” Valour answered, nodding his head. “Not all will answer, and not all will be able to be trained. Next to your father, you will become the most powerful dragon ever born and your son has the potential to be even stronger than your father. But any son you have must be born here. If he is born on Earth his powers may be lessened.”

  “Why?” Talon asked.

  “I’m only guessing but from the ancestral memories we gained when we returned to our home world, Akgon as the land of our birth accesses the strongest of our magicks. The stronger the magicks, the stronger the births, and Earth magicks were weak when we left.”

  “What if he has a daughter?” Draakar’s tail whipped up with his irritation.

  “You know Dragon Lords only have sons, Highness.”

  “But the blood has been changed on Earth. The Earth magick had been tampered with when the brethren drained theirs into it. What if the change affects the gender of the child? What if he has a female child?” Draakar persisted.

  Valour bronze spiked tail twitched in irritation now, too. “The prophecy says the child of the Dragon Lord will be the next Dark Dragon. The prophecy refers to Talon; he is the heir. Only males can hold the power of a Dark Dragon. His son will be a Dark Dragon. It is why we are risking opening the gate. Only a Dark Lord can save us and rebalance the magicks of our realm.”

  “You are right, Valour,” Sierran agreed.

  “It will take time and the strength, and the will of all brethren to hold the balance until another Dark Lord can come into his own,” Valour continued. “A mated Talon will allow us time. He and his truemate would provide the necessary strength.”

  Draakar sighed painfully, the knowledge Valour spoke true burned in his heart. “I know. Call the brethren to the circle. If I must do this let it be done now.”

  “Majesty, I think all already know your decision. Look.”

  “So it seems.” If he hadn’t been such a loyal adviser, Draakar would have been irritated, which he was, but not with Valour.

  Draakar looked to the sky and as far as he could see dragons were in flight headed toward them. He glanced over at his mate. While not his truemate, he had come to love her and she had given him his beloved son. Whom he must now send back to Terra. She nodded her head to him to show her support. She didn’t realize what opening the gate again would cost her. Her strength weakened already, and enhancing his for this task would sap most of her remaining reservoirs.

  Draakar gazed at his son, sure love and pride shone in his eyes for all to see. Still, he said the words, “I am proud of you and I love you. This is your time. As it was mine to lead the dragons through the portal, it is your destiny to return. Come back to us. Return to your mother and me.”

  “Fear not, Father. I will do what must be done.”

  Valour stepped from the center of the circle of stones to stand with the other brethren who began to form an even larger circle around their Dark Dragon Lord, his mate and his heir. As one, as many of them had done so long ago, they channeled the power of the brethren to their Dark Lord who harnessed it and opened the gate he’d once sealed.

  A hint of smoke carried on the air, while above the head of the golden male dragon a swirling gray cloud appeared. Without glancing at his parents standing behind him, Talon spread his wings and in one great sweep of air, flew through the cloud. Blood red tears fell from Draakar’s eyes as he watched the gray cloud fold in on itself and disappear. He looked down to see the red drops solidify into two rubies laying on the pebbled tiles, and his mate Sierran in a crumpled heap at his feet. Bending down, he gently lifted her within his great forearms. When he saw Valour step forward to help, Draakar shook his head, stopping him in his tracks.

  “Do not fret, mate mine,” she said. “I am not dead yet. I just need to rest.”

  Without saying a word, Draakar leaped into the air and flew to one of the more comfortable regions of the realm. Finally arriving at his destination, he set down with his mate beside a waterfall surrounded by pink crystal rocks. He carried her beneath the fall, and allowed the healing water to bathe her. Sierran’s scales slowly lost their dull sheen and glowed golden again. After awhile, she stood on her own. They both knew she would not live to see many more risings.

  “For the last time, beloved.” Sierran changed to her human form. Golden scales shimmered and blurred until a perfectly shaped naked human woman form appeared.

  Draakar watched her change and changed, too. Where once stood a dark dragon, there now stood a pale-skinned man. He gathered his wife to him; her ankle-length golden tresses draped over his arms as he kissed her. A kiss of peace.

  “I release you,” Sierran said. “Your truemate is also one of the forgotten ones, the ones left behind. I know you have to go, too.”

  “I made my choice long ago,” Draakar stated. “I cannot leave you.” The words ‘not yet’ lingered between them.

  “You don’t. It is I who leave you. I am sorry I was not the one. She is out there, and you must find her. Go to her and watch over our son.”

  “I love you.”

  “Then you must do this for me, for the brethren and for yourself. You have suffered enough. You have never come into your true strength. With it, we would not be in this predicament. I love you, and I know you have a place in your heart for me. Now take me to the air, Draakar, let me feel the wind on my face.”

  Chapter Two

  “What was that? Did you see that?”

  “See what?” his wife asked from her aisle seat on the plane. She craned her neck to look past her husband, sitting by the window. “A bunch of clouds?”

  “I’m not sure. It looked like something…something big, just blocked out the sun.”

  “Well, I don’t see anything. Probably just a bird.”

  “Not this high up, and it was bigger than any bird I’ve ever seen.”

  The passenger in the window seat in section 14A, on flight forty-seven, bound for the United States from Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom, hit the call button for a flight attendant. When she got there he didn’t know quite what to say to her. ‘I think I just saw a UFO,’ didn’t sound right. So instead, he just asked for a straight gin and pulled the window shade down over his window. It was going to be a long flight.

  Maya paused on the narrow trail to glance up at the clear blue sky and breathe in the crisp tang of the cool mountain air. She didn’t know why earlier in the day she had pulled up her itinerary on her laptop and changed her flight arrangements—yet again. Instead of leaving Ireland this afternoon, as she had originally planned, she rebooked to leave tomorrow night. What possessed her to make those changes and to spend the rest of the day hiking the Sperrin Mountains again, she hadn’t a clue. Something drove her to get a look at those stones one more time. She hovered on the verge of a discovery, though of what she didn’t know.

  She found the beginning of the trail they’d used a few days ago easily enough, even without a map. Their guide, James, had given her specific instructions before she’d set out on her own, which she reviewed in her head. Besides, she remembered the way to the stones, just one winding path. The first time, the entire hike from point to point took about five hours and only because they went at the pace of the slowest person. Maya figured she should make better time. Even though she’d left late morning, she still had plenty of time to make it to the stones and back well before the sun set. But somehow she had gotten turned around. No one warned her about the fog rolling in today, or how it would hinder her sight of the almost non-existent trail.

  “Come on, Maya. Does that tree look familiar? Or is it familiar because you’ve walked past it three times already?” she asked herself again. Out here in the middle of nowhere, no one would care.

  Maya stopped to take a drink of water from the hose attached to her backpack and finish eating half of a power bar. When she looked up again she
couldn’t believe the sight in front of her. The thick fog still hindered her vision, but she could just make out the outline of what appeared to be part of the perimeter of the circle of stones.

  “Yeah!” she cried exhilarated, punching a fist in the air. “I’ve found it again! The stones!”

  No sooner had the words left Maya’s mouth when the fog cleared enough for her to notice, between the gaps of the stones, an odd, rather large shape on the ground in the center of the circle.

  She cautiously moved past an opening, entered the circle, and walked toward the form on the ground. The pile didn’t move. The closer she got, the shape took on the contours of a body. Someone lay curled into a fetal position on the dirt with his or her back turned to her. She couldn’t tell the sex of the person. The thick fog impeded her vision; she could barely make out features of a dark shirt and jean-clad legs. She moved closer until she could kneel over the body. As soon as she touched what she identified as an arm, she knew a male rested on the ground. Hard muscle made up his bicep. His skin felt warm. Maybe he hadn’t been out in the cool air for long.

  She rolled him over unto his back. Maya gazed into the face of a sleeping, golden angel just before the fog rolled forward and swirled before her eyes, temporarily obscuring her view.

  My God he’s just a boy, a teenager. She shook him gently. “Are you all right? Can you hear me? Are you hurt?”

  She stopped speaking when she heard a soft moan.

  “Oh, my head,” a disembodied voice whimpered. “What…what happened?” He tried to sit up but slumped back down to the hard packed dirt.

  “Here, take it easy,” Maya said, touching his shoulder. “Don’t try to get up yet. Don’t you know what happened?”