The Great Losing: The Mad Dragon King (The World of Shestafa )

by Karine Green

  “At least she was able to choose.” Dunia nodded. "I was turned over to the White Witch, and woke up in the Bronx where I grew up anonymously in the child welfare system. I never returned to my amazing pea gravel canopy bed, toys, or was allowed to play burrowing games with my other Earth Dragon school mates. Nope, I was forgotten at school, at the store, locked in – or out of places. I lost everything, and then had my world taken away on top of everything else. I was left with less than nothing, not once, but twice."

  "I am truly sorry, Great Lady. Hiding the four noble dragons in the other realm was very much disputed. For example, no one has been here. I could have hidden and educated you right here. But the laws are very strict about Magic's working so close with dragons- as in, it not happening. I had to give up my wand to come here and help you. They would have sent a non-magic to do it, but I feared with the disorientation from the Forgottenness spell, you might accidently hurt him. You are a kind and thoughtful soul, such an accident would have traumatized you even more."

  "That is ridiculous segregation. I won't stand for it."

  Blue smiled. "We will go over the story of the Blood King and why that law exists later."

  She nodded, but this part of the conversation was not over.

  "What do you remember of other dragons?"

  "I know there were three others, the Air and Water pups grew up like me, the Fire pup had escaped and no one has seen her. She would be presumed dead if it weren't for tales of her hunting humans in the Forest of Dragons Lance. But, I remember her. She was such a tiny pup, the smallest of rare triplets. Arlen was the Water dragon, but I remember little about him, except that he was a tail biter when he was little. I remember Prince Makani. I spent a lot of time with him. We were both very spoiled." She finished her rabbit and the last of her tea.

  Blue nodded, "Good. Let us focus on your family history directly." He stood up and walked over to a cabinet of scrolls. He pulled one out. "Here you go," Blue said, laying the scroll on the table. "It's your family's history and genealogy. There will be a quiz this afternoon. If you pass, I'll give you the Burrowing scroll. It has Earth pup games in it. You should find it fun since you still have a lot of pup left in you."

  "Genealogy? Is that important?" It sounded boring.

  "It is. You are the heir to the Earth Dragon Minister's seat. You must take your place in the Royal Dragon Court." He frowned. "And, I hope the genealogy will not be important, but we must also prepare you to take the throne if the prince doesn't make it back. You and your family would be in line for the Dragon Queen's throne if none of the direct Royals survived. So yes, it is important, very. You are also charged with The Keeping of the lost Book of Spells that belonged to the Blood Dragon King's Rider; if it can ever be found. It has been lost since that fateful night of the Great Betrayal which was the first battle of the Great Losing.”

  “What is so important and scary about a book?”

  The Brown Witch, Ja Hua was the Blood King's rider. With her help, the King used the book to create great dissension and confusion that would later be used to lay the groundwork for the collapse of our entire world. Spells were used to make dragons hate humans, or to make them obey orders they would never consider listening to. The spells took the dragon’s free will and some human villages were obliterated."

  She nodded. She had always thought of herself as a nobody, even if there is a survivor, I am still a Crown Princess. Of course, she had been taught everyone is special, but she had not even fathomed she was this important. Perhaps Blue was right, she needed to know where she stood in the grand scheme of things.

  She pulled the scroll over, then stopped in her tracks. "Uh, Blue...I can't read this."

  Blue smiled, "Ah well, I guess not everything will come back. You must have been too young to know the written word. Perhaps we will start with this one instead." He dragged a large granite rock over to her. Switched the scrolls, and picked up a little sand rack for himself. "Use your claw, to write on the rock what you see me write in this sand." He motioned to a little box, and used his finger to draw the letter for A. “Then we can knock out two lessons at one time.”

  She gently made an A, not leaving a mark in the rock.

  "This isn't play time, make the mark. For an Earth dragon, this granite should not differ from this sand. Now make the mark using your dragon magic. Show the earthen object who it’s noble dragon is."

  Friend or Foe

  "Ahh, get it off! Get it off," Mack said, dancing in circles scratching even harder. It had not occurred to him he was a human earlier and the idea that he was trying to scratch one off his neck was ludicrous.

  "Stop it! I won't hurt you. I promise. My name is Misty," the girl said, climbing down. She reminded Mack of a medieval peasant boy with dirty brown hair. "You're an Air Dragon, so I am going to guess you value education, and talking out issues instead of clawing them away? I am also gambling on the fact that if you are intelligent, you can negotiate versus just eating me."

  "I don't know anything about what you are planning to do! Just as you do not understand what I am capable of," Mack said, spinning around in circles to make sure there were no other humans stuck to him.

  "You're embarrassing. There aren't any more on you. I would say something: How could you not notice a human on your back?" Méi nearly yelled, and then offered a low hideous growl at the girl that scared Mack. "You're an Air Dragon, you could have dumped her easily."

  “Why does everyone keep trying to tell me what I am?” He stood up on all four paws, swooshing his tail, frowning.

  The girl seemed unshaken. She stood there, arms folded.

  Méi raised the stripes on her face that reminded Mack of eyebrows. She seemed impressed with Misty's ability to stand her ground, "That usually terrifies most humans who hear it, because it is followed by me breathing fire everywhere."

  "I am not like them. You do not understand what I had to go through to earn the trust of the hunting party to even be asked to come along. I am a part of the Southern Spiritual Block. We were trapped on the wrong side of the mountains when the Dragon War ended."

  Méi snorted blowing soot and black smoke out of her nostrils, "Yet your father hunts me every other night with men who would mount my head on their walls, and sell my claws and horns to the jewelers and weaponsmiths. So! How can you be Spiritual Block? My two sisters, whom I shared the pouch with as eggs are dead! This one doesn't even remember himself because the Blessing of Forgottenness was bestowed upon him so he could hide! The hunters have probably already forgotten us, thinking a sudden storm blew in."

  Mack was confused, "Can you tell me how that helps me hide?"

  "People forget you, so they won't be able to remember where to find you," Both Misty and Méi said, at the same time, and then scowled at each other.

  Misty refused to back down. She pointed in Méi’s face. "My mother is locked away. The Seculars are keeping her until we prove we belong. That was thirteen years ago, and she is still in prison," she frowned, "They won't let us leave either. They took my little brother and raised him in the Secular military. Father was heartbroken when Mapret declared his belief system...or the lack thereof. Father is terrified to lose me and mother. They ruined my life before I even had one! We can one-up each other for the rest of the night, but what we need is a plan to find any other Elemental Dragons that are still alive and reunite them. Then we need to stop the Secular Block from committing genocide against the Spirituals and the Dragons.”

  “All humans are the same.” She growled again.

  Misty shook her head. “Please remember that Spirituals are also humans who have the audacity to believe in something beyond themselves, just like the dragons."

  Mack felt confused, but that wasn't too hard to accomplish at the moment. "Genocide, why would they do that?"

  "Father says they are too afraid that the Spirituals will try to force them to believe in things they don't want to believe in, like the Blood Dragon King did. Mother says it was becau
se loyal dragons are the key to controlling the resources.”

  Méi looked at Mack. “For example, if there is a salt shortage, a Water Dragon can pull it from the sea to help the people, but also lay the foundation for the planet to heal itself rather than just stripping the land and leaving it barren. If a forest fire breaks out, a Fire Dragon can extinguish it almost instantly, but in a way that promotes the growth of seeds that do well in the heat. Put a Water and Air Dragon together and the hurricanes will stop destroying the coasts and make it safe for ships to sail again, but keeps the swampy areas, that need the storms, healthy. It doesn't matter. Seculars are crazy!”

  “Got it -- Dragons control all the resources. Seculars are nutters.” Mack nodded.

  Misty tried to walk over to Mack, but Méi moved her tail to block her.

  Misty said, “They are always afraid of attack, or insurrection. Father says if they keep up the rate they are going they will take over the Spirituals in less than ten years, and then they will tear each other apart because they cannot agree on what not to believe in, let alone how to allocate resources.”

  “Why should I care?” Méi asked, sitting up on her hindquarters.

  Misty turned her plea to Méi. “You don't understand, someone will inadvertently declare an innocent statement, and then be declared as trying to cram a religion down someone's throat. They'll be arrested. Freedom of speech is gone, meaning people must think about how to say things that should be innocent.”

  “Yep.” Mack nodded. “Soon freedom of thought will be gone. Once that happens we will all, even the Seculars, be defeated not only with resources but in our hearts -- and more frightening, in our minds.

  “Please, please, help me,” Misty begged. “We have to bring the dragons back. The Spirituals are our only hope at finding other dragons and nursing your species back to a healthy number. The order has to be restored for us, the dragons, the planet, and even the Seculars."

  She was about as alone as she could get; with a species that mankind had hunted to near extinction. She was trying hard, and it showed, to hide her fear. Mack admired that. He was clueless as to how to help her, but he admired her guts.

  "I could burn this skinny girl to a cinder crisp if I so desired. On the other hand, we have just flown at least a hundred miles over rough mountains with some very strong downdrafts. That means this little human is one heck of a dragon rider to ride an Air Dragon bareback. Air Dragons are hard enough to ride with a proper saddle.” Méi scowled, but thankfully stopped growling.

  “Should we bring her with us?” Mack was confused, agian.

  “I will be damned before I lead a hunter to the dragons who are still alive. She isn't coming with us." Méi pointed at Misty using her tail.

  Mack sniffed Misty. "She smells!" She jumped and backed away. "It’s strange, I did not smell her during the flight, but there is something pungent about her now."

  "It's fear. All humans smell that way when they are afraid. The more afraid they are, the stronger it is. She is holding her own, though," Méi explained.

  "Blah! It is like a skunk. What do we do with her?" he asked, hoping that Méi didn't suggest they eat her. "Perhaps a bath?"

  The girl scowled at him.

  "Leave her. We can't stay here. She'll kill us while we sleep," Méi said, taking a step toward the cliff and spreading her wings.

  "She didn't kill me in flight," he said. Something about her seemed friendly in a useful ally kind of way.

  "You're a dragon, your scales make you armored. Humans will...oh let me see if I remember...kill us for our scales, horns, and claws!" Méi said, tucking her wings back onto her back. "You know, it is really hard work trying to be patient with the Forgottenness Blessing." She pointed at him using her tail.

  Misty shook her head. "There is a soft spot behind the ears and below the horns. My mother was a dragon rider. You stab a dragon in the brain and they go down just like any other creature would. She said it was important to protect that area on your dragon's head. If I were going to kill him, he would be dead." She pointed to a dagger on her belt.

  "Dragons are not the property of humans for you to be referring to us as 'yours', and why kill just one when you can kill both of us. If you have patience you just have to wait until we sleep," Méi said, with another frightening, low growl coming from deep in her throat.

  Mack could feel the heat coming from Méi’s breath. It was hot, really hot, but Misty was still standing her ground.

  “My mother taught me that if you want to partner with a dragon, never step back, especially with an Elemental one. They will toast you, drown you, blow you away, or bury you in the earth, depending on what sort of dragon you are talking to.” She walked over to Mack. "I wouldn't hurt you," she said, looking at him with her green eyes. "You have to understand; we need the dragons to rise again; to take back their place in our world. We have just as much of a right to exist as the Seculars do."

  He blew on her a little bit and was surprised at how far she stumbled back. Méi reared up and he could hear the sounds her throat made when she had blown flames on the deer leg. She would toast this dirty little girl. He jumped up and blew them out as he took her breath away.

  Méi coughed and gagged a moment. "What was that all about!"

  "She did me a favor, I returned it," he shrugged to Méi and then turned to Misty, "Now we are even. I am Makani this is Méi. Everyone calls me Mack."

  "She didn't kill you! That is hardly a favor."

  Mack shook his head in disagreement. "It is. She had me dead to rights but came with us instead of claiming her prize in front of her fellow hunters.”

  “They are not my fellows.”

  Mack squinted at Misty. “Look, less than a day ago I was a human camping with friends. None of this makes sense. If anyone can shed some light on what happened, I would be grateful.” He looked toward Méi. “And this girl seems to remember a lot of history that is beyond my knowledge, and yours, as you have been in the woods since you were five," he sighed lightly, a gentle breeze blew around them.

  "I told you the White Witch hid you in another realm, and blessed you with the ability to be forgotten. We should make it to her castle in a few days. I am sure she will have a lot more answers than this stowaway," Méi said, eyeing the human. "Burning her to a crispy snack is not off the agenda."

  Misty smiled. "Don't worry, the White and Green Witches took all the remaining dragon infants they could find and kept them safe. I'm sure she will undo the spell. I am told that visiting your childhood home will help break certain parts of the spell. There is also a special tea blend; perhaps there will be a Dragon Trainer in Blue Valley who can undo the spell with the tea?" She stepped forward carefully, and patted his shoulder. He didn't seem to mind, but Méi reacted immediately, by huffing little flames at her feet. She danced out of the way.

  "Do not allow humans to pet you! You are not a dog," Méi said, pointing an obsidian claw in his face. "It's a good thing I know your whole story or I would leave both of you here. You need treatment, and you need to leave; start walking!" She pointed at Mack first, and then at Misty.

  Misty put her hands on her hips and pointed back at Méi. "I was just comforting him, not petting him, and I know dragons aren't dogs."

  "No, your dear mother told you dragons are to be saddled and ridden like horses," Méi said, heading into the cave.

  "My mother loved..."

  "Where is her beloved dragon now? Whose wall is her dragon's head mounted on as a trophy? She loved her dragon, but not enough to fight alongside."

  "She was giving birth to my brother. The Secular army had surrounded us while we were hiding in a cabin. Apis fought for her while she could not even get up because of labor. Her ability to escape was cut off as my brother literally came into the world with Secular invaders storming our home. He saved my family, or we would all surely be dead. You know, not all dragon-rider relationships are what you think they are. If I remember correctly, Mack here is alive because his moth
er's rider was able to escape with him; leaving her own family alone during the invasion of Blue Valley to do so."

  "Apis! He was my uncle. He and my parents were killed during the Battle of Blue Valley, along with Makani's...Mack's family. My sister's bodies were never found; they are presumed dead. Once, a villager who wandered too far into the forest told me they had been killed and eaten for the Seculars' Spring Festival. What do Seculars celebrate in a festival if they don't believe in anything?" Méi glanced at the ground. "Everyone was scattered during the battle. Hopefully, Pup-Eating Seculars haven't taken over Blue Valley. Maybe they can even help him." Méi pointed her tail at Mack who shrugged. "Alright, let's bed down. If it poops, you have to clean it up. I am not touching anything that belongs to it."

  "Poops!" He turned to Misty, "You are old enough to know how to use the bathroom; right?" He immediately regretted the conversation. He had not gone to the restroom since before he watched the back of the SUVs pull away leaving him to this terrible adventure. And his share of the deer had been really big.

  Misty crossed her arms. "I am not a baby! I had my Legal Adult party six months ago. And, I am not pooping!"

  "Lettuce will help," he said, without thinking. What an airhead-thing to say.

  "What!" Misty tapped her foot and folded her arms.

  "If you aren't pooping, you could eat some lettuce...," his voice trailed off as he shrugged. "Or, prunes, do they have prunes here?"

  "I am not pooping in the cave! Humans do not poop where they sleep! Aside from being gross, it attracts animals." She pointed to the cave, and then down the steep tree line of the mountain.

  Méi perked up. "You could poop there. When the animals come, we can eat them." She pointed to the edge of the tree line using her tail. "I never thought about using a hunting dog -- human, to go after prey."

  "I...Am...Not...Pooping! I am not a hunting dog. And, you stop being literal!" she pointed at Méi, and then at Mack.