by G. Bailey
"I vow revenge, I vow to never let this be forgotten. I will always love you," I whisper, my tears falling onto his face as I press my forehead to his, and then scream, and scream, until my throat cracks.
"Don’t. Let her say goodbye, we have time," I hear a male voice say behind me. I turn and look over my shoulder, the shock from everything just seeming to merge together as I see my father standing at the door. Ten royal guards stood around him and his ice blue eyes watch me. There’s no sorrow or remorse in my father’s eyes, not that I honestly expected anything else from him.
"Time to leave, there is nothing to be done here Isola," he tells me. I look back at Jace, not wanting to let him go, but knowing my father’s suggestion to leave, wasn't really a suggestion at all. I have to go, whoever did this to Jace, would kill me in a heartbeat.
"Isola, we must leave. Danger is near," my father warns me once more and I gently rest Jace's body on the floor.
“I love you, and I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. That I couldn’t save you,” I whisper. As I lean down and kiss Jace’s cold cheek, another sob escapes me, and I wipe my eyes.
"Give him a true dragon’s burial, or I will not leave," I warn my father as I stand up, blood sticking to both my clothes and my hands. I step back, seeing a young guard my age come to stand next to me. I look up into his blue eyes, the only part of his body that I can see, thanks to the black uniform that covers his head and all his body. The only other colour is the ice blue dragon crest over his heart. All the dragon guard wear uniforms like this in the human world, and what I remember of them in Dragca is not much different.
"You have my vow," he says and something makes me believe him as we stare at each other. I step back, turning and walking over to my father after one last look at Jace. My father stands tall as he holds a hand out for me, like I'm a child that needs his comfort. I ignore his hand and stand in front of him, feeling the dragon guards close ranks around us.
"I am sorry we were late, we didn't know of the threat until it was too late," he says and I don't say a word, I can't. Jace is dead, my dragon mate and the dragon I was meant to marry. We should have run away, not stayed here.
"What will be done now? There are no ice dragons other than me and you," I comment. needing to focus on anything other than the broken feeling in my heart, as the smell of smoke fills the air. The dragon guard will be burning Jace’s body, and the thought makes me want to crumble onto the ground.
"Remember that our bodies are just shells for our dragons, that Jacian will be free to fly the night skies and you will see him again one day," my father offers advice, and I still stand completely silent. I watch tiny red sparks float into the air around the gym, the soul of Jace leaving this world. They disappear slowly, each time they go it shatters me a little bit. No words will take away the pain that feels crushed into my heart.
Chapter 2
Isola
“Tell me what happened today? How did Jacian end up dead?” my father asks me in a disappointed tone, as we walk through the forest behind my home and towards the portal to Dragca. I look down at my red coat, wondering which student the guard stole it from as I pull it closer around myself. I look down at my still blood covered hands, Jace’s blood, and I almost trip on a rock as the image of his dead body flashes into my head. He is really gone.
“Why don’t you tell me why you are here early? Did you know this would happen?” I ask him, knowing it’s no coincidence that he turned up early, just as Jace was killed. My Jace is gone. As I wipe more tears away, I think about how I won’t be able to kiss him again, how I won’t be waking up next to him anymore. The boy I grew up with, fell in love with…is gone.
“I asked first,” he replies, and I turn to look over at him as he walks at my side. My father’s white hair is cut short, his white crown sparkling in the sun. He has a black cloak that slides across the ground, with blue lines engraved with the dragon crest on it. He looks every bit the king I remember, but not my father.
“Nothing abnormal happened, it was a normal day,” I reply, looking forward again, I feel the portal magic as we draw closer.
“What of Jules?” I ask, after he doesn’t reply to me for a long time.
“Who?” he answers, and I shake my head with a low laugh. I was right, he never read a single one of the hundred’s of emails, or checked in on me once over the years. I used to pretend that he couldn’t come to me because it wasn’t safe, and that maybe he was watching me from a distance. Or talking to Jules about me. I guess I was wrong.
“The house sitter, the woman you left me with, the one who brought me up?” I ask, trying not to snap at him.
“Oh, we have left a decent amount of human money for her, she is now retired, which I’m sure she is happy about,” he waves me off, clearly not caring at all.
“I wish I could have said goodbye,” I say quietly.
“She is just a human, they would not care for goodbyes if they knew what you really are Isola. Plus, we have bigger issues to focus on,” he says, stopping the conversation and I smile tightly. I’m guessing feelings are not something my father cares about.
“Fine. How did you know we were going to be attacked?” I ask him.
“The royal seer had a vision, a dragon death, but I didn’t know which one of you or what time it would be. We came as soon as possible,” he replies, his tone is so calm, as he talks about his only child possibly dying, or the man she was due to mate with. I look away as tears start slowly falling down my cold cheeks, wiping them on my coat.
“You must not cry anymore, you must be strong as we return to Dragca. Enemies watch us at all times,” he scolds me as I continue to cry. A feeling of numbness spreads over me, just holding myself together until I can be alone and let my feelings out. He has a point, I know my life is in danger, and I can’t die now. Jace will have died for nothing if I die too, and no one would remember him like I do.
“You can’t tell me how to feel,” I snap, feeling my dragon weeping in my mind. She doesn’t even try to contact me anymore, just sits quietly, and that is very unlike her. She feels like I do, broken, and I don’t put the barrier up between us, letting her emotions mix with my own.
“I am not telling you what to feel, only how to act. You are Isola Dragice. The powerful princess we have waited for,” he grabs my arm to stop me walking. “Act like it. Don’t shame Jace’s memory.” He tells me firmly, and all the guards stop to wait for us as we stare at each other. I look into my father’s frosty blue eyes, the coldness of them having nothing to do with the ice dragon inside of him. He is just cold hearted, just like I remember him being. I never had the loving father, and I don’t expect that from him now. It still stings that he demands what I do, how I should act, when he knows nothing of me.
“Are we going to the castle?” I ask, changing the subject, and shoving his hand off my arm. He pauses, looking down at me strangely for second, before turning away.
“No, we are going to Dragca Academy. The castle is not safe enough for you at the moment. The academy is, and you must learn about your world before you take the throne,” he says, making me go silent. It was never the plan to go to Dragca Academy; a school full of fire dragons is no place for an ice dragon like me.
“Father, I was meant to take the throne in two weeks, what has changed?” I ask.
“I will explain more when we get to Dragca,” he replies, looking around at the dragon guards. I nod in understanding. He doesn’t want to tell me when so many of the dragon guard could hear. I pause as I spot the portal, a yellow wall that shimmers in between some tall trees that look like all the others here. Humans cannot see it, and even if they got close, the portal naturally pushes them away. It makes them want to get away from it at all costs, even scaring the weak-minded humans. Some humans with strong minds have made it through the portal, but they can never find a way to return and life in Dragca as a human isn’t easy.
“In formation, the king and princess follow two guards through, and the other
s behind,” a guard next to my father shouts, and we get into a line at his command. The guard in front whispers to the portal, telling it where we need to go. The guards keep their swords at their sides as we each walk towards the barrier. My father steps through in front of me and I stop, freezing as a memory of when I last went through a portal flitters into my mind.
“You have to let go now,” my father says, as I clutch his hand tightly and force myself to let go. He walks through the portal, and I follow, trying not to jump at the cold feeling. I pull my cloak closer around myself as I walk towards my father where he is speaking with two guards.
“Take her to the house, and then travel a fair distance away before coming back to Dragca,” he tells the guards. I look up at the snow falling from the sky, it lands on my nose and I wipe it away as I wait.
“Go with them Isola,” my father tells me, not even looking my way, as he walks around me and towards the portal.
“Wait! Father, what is going on? Where are you going?”
“I have a world to rule, and you must stay here, stay alive. We will see each other again, Isola, and I will send information with the ice boy,” he says, and I run after him only to be caught by a guard and picked up.
“Father, don’t leave me like mother, please don’t!” I scream, wiggling and trying to get the guard to put me down. My father looks back at me one more time, no compassion or anything loving for me to remember, as he disappears. I realise that not only did I lose my mother that year, but also my father.
“Your highness?” a guard says, pressing a hand on my shoulder and I quickly shake myself out of the memory that haunted me for years, the heartless father who left me here in the human world, and acted like I was forgotten. Jace was sent to me a few months later, with boxes of books and information on dragons. He got me to leave my room for the first time in a long time. He made me laugh, and explained that my father only did what he did to keep me safe. I step through the portal, feeling the cold magic push against my body and then I open my eyes to the home I’ve not seen since I was seven. Dragca Academy is right in the middle of the snow mountains, and the only way to get in is to use a portal or fly. The academy itself is a huge castle with three towers, three levels of balconies for dragons to land on. There is a stone path leading to the doors, a side building with a stone battle field outside, which is covered in weapons in metal holders. There is what looks like an arena behind the castle, but I can’t tell from here. I spot three other dragons walking around and one flying over the mountains in the distance, but they are only shadows from here. I look up at the stars, knowing it must be late here. Time is opposite on earth and Dragca, as are the seasons and just about everything you can think off. Dragca has two suns, and two moons in the sky. I look around to see the two moons, the large one and the tiny one by its side.
“My King,” a woman says, distracting me from staring, and I turn around to see her walking down the steps of the castle. She has a dark blue cloak on, the royal crest on a silver pin holding the cloak together. She lowers the hood, her long dark red hair falling around her shoulders. She smiles widely as I try to think why she looks so familiar to me.
“Esmeralda, it is a pleasure to see you. You’re as beautiful as I remember,” my father says, taking her hand and kissing it, as I mentally roll my eyes when she laughs sweetly at him.
“It has been many years since you married my sister, and yet you are still the charmer,” she says, making me remember why she looks so familiar now. She is my step-aunt and the headmaster of Dragca Academy if I remember right. I remember them being called the ice and fire twins, one born of ice and the other of fire. A rare birth in our world, nearly impossible, and apparently shocked all of Dragca. I read about them in one of the books my father left, as I was interested in the step mother I had only met two months before I was sent to Earth. All I remember about her is her long, perfect white hair, and how cruel she was to the maids and dragon guards in the castle. My father married her not long after my mother died because she was the last female ice dragon alive other than me. They soon found out she couldn’t have children, making me and Jace the only heirs to the throne left. The only ice dragons left. Now there are three, my father, me, and my step mother.
“And yet you still look as beautiful as all those years ago. My wife sends her love,” he says, and she rests her hand on his arm in an overly affectionate way. I’m pretty sure my step mother wouldn’t like that her sister seems so familiar with her husband. But then I don’t really know anything about them.
“Come in, we have a lot to discuss. Where is Jacian?” she asks, her eyes finally landing on me.
“Dead,” I reply, almost robotically, as I stand completely still. Esmeralda’s hand flies to her mouth,
"I am so sorry, Isola." Part of me believes her, but I can't think about it. I look away as we all start walking quietly towards the castle. I blink and do a double take when I see a man standing in the shadows under one of the towers. He’s dressed in all black, and I’m sure he is a guard, but for some reason, I can’t stop staring at him as he moves closer. He lifts his hand, and I catch a glint of silver, before he throws it at us.
“Get down!” I scream, slamming into my father and we fall to the ground as the dagger lands in the heart of the guard on his right. The guard falls to the ground in front of us, as the other guards form a tight circle around us, and pull their swords out. The guards quickly make a circle of fire around them, the heat blasting against my skin.
“Five to the left, two on the right,” my father says, sniffing the air.
“When I say the word, run to the doors and get inside,” my father tells me. He grabs my chin with his hand when I don’t answer, “Do you understand, Isola?” he asks, and I nod despite the shock.
“Now!” he shouts, throwing his hands in the air and shooting ice in every direction except the one I’m running in. Ice and dragonglass are the only ways to kill a fire dragon, but fire cannot kill an ice dragon. Only dragonglass can and our own ice, not that we would use our ice on ourselves. That wouldn’t be smart. The fire wall parts when I get close, closing behind me as I run straight to the closed stone doors.
“Duck, Princess!” I hear a man shout from my left, and I turn my head to see a man dressed in the all black guard uniform running at me. He has black hair that’s cut short and shaved at the sides, his lip is pierced with a ring, and the man is built like an actual god. Or like a rock star from Earth. I’m too busy staring at the guy to stop him when he slams into me, both of us landing on the floor as a dagger flies past us.
“What part of duck, do you not understand?” the man says, rolling us over so he is on top of me. He looks down at me, placing his hands near my head as he rolls his lip rings between his lips, somehow frowning at me at the same time.
“Get the hell off me, who do you think you are?” I ask him, watching as he smirks at me.
“Dagan Fire, nice to meet you princess. Now stay down, or I might as well kill you myself,” he says as he jumps off me in a fluid motion, pulling a red dagger out of his belt and throwing it. I roll on to my stomach to see the dagger land in the forehead of one of the attackers, and the body slamming to the floor. When I turn back over, Dagan holds a hand out for me.
“You don’t have to say thank you,” he says as I accept his hand to pull me up.
“I was going to,” I reply, and he grins, still holding my hand as we stare at each other.
“I am one of the dragon guard, your kind doesn’t say thank you to us. We die for you royals every day, we are just soldiers and soldiers don’t get thanked as they die,” he says, giving me a sarcastic smirk as he drops my hand and steps away. I watch him look around, following his gaze to the five dragons’ guards laying dead, some from my father’s ice that is everywhere, and others from daggers.
“Now get inside princess,” Dagan demands, pissing me off, and I step closer, looking up at him.
“Dagan Fire, thank you for saving my life, but if you
tell me what to do again, we will have a big problem,” I tell him, and before he can reply, my father steps next to me. Dagan looks away, his jaw grinding in annoyance.
“Bring the bodies inside, I want to know who dares to attack the king and princess,” he tells Dagan, who nods as he steps back and turns around. My father puts his hand on my back as he walks us inside the castle, and I don’t look back once.
Chapter 3
Isola
“My office is this way,” Esmeralda says, waving a hand towards a corridor in the middle of the hallway we have walked into. There are two staircases on each side that lead to the next level, and everything in here is different shades of gold and brown. The brown wooden floors match the same wood staircases. There are gold walls, which are empty of any decoration and gold chandeliers light up the room. There must be like ten of them in this room alone, talk about overkill. We walk down the long corridor, until we get to the end where there is a pair of double doors.
“Wait outside,” my father tells the guards, who each nod their heads, before he walks in the room. I walk in last, shutting the door behind me as I have a look around. There is a giant desk, two windows that overlook a field, the arena and the mountains. There are some chairs, a bookcase, and little else in here.
“Please sit,” Esmeralda says, as she takes her seat behind the desk and my father sits in one of the two chairs in front of it. I sit down in the spare chair, crossing my legs and raising my eyebrow at my father, who sighs.