Summer's Dragon

by Lisa Daniels

  Chapter Three

  Daylight bloomed, and with it, so did the possibilities. Durza and Jackie were rather cuddly, spending a lot of time grinning and giggling like a lovesick couple.

  It was unlike her normal self. She clung onto that feeling for as long as she could, allowing her heart to open to Durza’s affection, before it closed up again and she got down to business.

  Still, she couldn’t ignore the covert glances he gave her, and sometimes she greeted them back with a smile.

  Outside, Morgana gave Jackie a little locked chest with ten of the proxy healing potions inside it. The black-haired witch appeared incredibly proud of her efforts and ingenuity when it came to brewing.

  “They say my great-great-great-grandmother on my cousin’s side was the legendary witch of the Old Kingdom,” Morgana said, “before the kingdoms formed. Before we had proper humans around. She was the best potion maker. Came up with most of the recipes we use today.”

  “I have to hand it to you, your skill is scary.” Jackie pretended to bow before the witch. Morgana smiled at Jackie, before slipping her a tiny pink potion.

  “That’s my rapid heal. Go on. Drink it!”

  Giving her thanks, Jackie drank the contents of the little glass and felt the chaotic energies swirling in her system, invigorating her veins. She actively felt them regenerating on the spot as the liquid worked its way through, and she sighed. “Incredible.”

  “It won’t help you escape, mind,” Morgana said. “So I think I’m okay giving you that. Durza’s quite attached to you. Seems to think you’re some kind of miracle. You sex him already?”

  Jackie burst out laughing at this, even as she saw a few Questers making their way along the rickety bridges. “Yes. I’ve, uh, sexed him. I think I scared him off, actually. He wasn’t expecting me to be quite so… experienced.”

  “Oh ho? Now this, I have to hear,” Morgana said, dragging Jackie over so that they both sat with their legs dangling over a precipice, the wind lustily flicking around them. Her green eyes shimmered with interest, and Jackie shared her experience with the famous gigolo of her kingdom.

  “You were a naughty princess! I thought all your types were the same, but I couldn’t be more wrong, could I? Try not to suck my friend too dry. He needs to function, sometimes.”

  Jackie chuckled. She never got to talk like this with other princesses. The words for them were venomous, packing in blasphemy and wilting the ears of innocent minds. “I can’t hold any promises. He’s quite tasty under all those clothes. Just as long as he doesn’t shift into a fucking dragon halfway, I’m good.”

  “Ah, girl. That’s… oh,” Morgana groaned, grinning at the same time, “No, that’s an awful visual!”

  Jackie laughed harder, her cheeks reddening from the effort of her stomach contracting. “Yes, I’m already regretting that one myself. Let’s just stay away from there, can we agree?”

  “You know, I’ve lived among dragons for almost a century, and I still don’t know how they transform. Is it magic? A spell? Is it comfortable? Painful? They never talk about it.” Morgana nodded to herself as a Quester drew nearer. “Wait. I think this one might be coming for your potion. I can smell it. Smell it good.” She tapped her large nose, licking her lips. “You remember the ritual words?”

  Durza discreetly peeked his head out of the cave, and Jackie caught it out of the corner of her eye, which made her doubly nervous. She wasn’t used to being nervous and silently berated herself for it. “Yes, of course.” She felt an unusual pressure to do well. To prove to these people that even a princess could be a Quest Giver. And not merely the reward from a Quest.

  Sure enough, the weary traveler stopped behind Morgana and Jackie. “Greetings,” the knight said, wheezing through his silvery visor, gauntleted hands resting upon his knees. “I’ve heard it from a mystic that there’s a new Quest in this domain, one that’s worth the time.”

  “Greetings, Quester,” Jackie said, hoping she didn’t stumble over any of the words, “I have a Quest, if you’re willing to hear it. I need six things. First is powdered unicorn horn from the Strathian breed found in the Lost Forest. Second are the petals of the stygian flower, located in the City of Night. Third is the gloamfly, only found in the Swamp of Illusions. Fourth is the tear of an innocent, trapped in a diamond phial. Fifth is the greenest blade of grass from the Troll Meadows, and last is a crystallized soul, found where the darkest secrets lie.” She paused. Yes, I’ve said it right. I’m good. “Only then will you have my reward. The Potion of Healing. With it in your blood, you can heal those you love.”

  The knight bobbed his head. A flicker of desperation shot through his face. “Yes. I accept this Quest. Is there a time limit?”

  “Take as long as you need. It will not be easy, Quester.”

  “Thank you.” The knight bowed to Jackie, making her feel rather proud of herself. He thanked her again, and waddled off to the rope bridge, whilst Morgana leaned on her palm, grinning roguishly.

  “Look at you! We’ll make a Quest Giver of you yet.”

  “I have a question. What if they just, like, refuse to take a Quest and just overpower us?”

  “The potions break if harm happens to the Quest Givers,” Morgana replied. “There are traditional fail-safes for all Quest Givers. No one in their right mind would do such a thing.”

  That didn’t exactly reassure Jackie. All it’d take was someone tipping the edge of insanity to make things go wrong. She needed protection – like what she saw Morgana wearing on the night she and Andrea were found in the swamp.

  Durza came along to them at last, beaming with obvious pride. “See? I told you she’d be good.”

  “Hmph. Well, Durza, she’s a good soul, but she’s a princess. If you don’t give her what she wants, it won’t work out in the long run.” Morgana clapped Jackie’s shoulder. “And this one thirsts for knowledge. I can smell it. She might be willing to give up her dream of returning home… if you can prove that her home is here in High Mountain.”

  Jackie blinked rapidly, surprised at the witch’s words. I wouldn’t put it like that. Though she was adrift, unsure where the tide pulled her, and unsure where she wanted to go. She missed home, but any day the situation might spill over into death and destruction. They barely managed the peace as it was, because danger always knocked on the door, bribing the officials, digging a way into the royal family. But here on High Mountain, although surrounded by beautiful views, with a dragon who transformed into a human and kept her company at night – she still didn’t quite belong.

  Neither with the princesses, or with dragons. Nowhere, really. Morgana sensed her sadness, or maybe saw it with that strange future potion, and said, “You’ve been lost for a while, haven’t you? And just been pretending that everything’s fine.”

  Not wanting to answer with words, because she felt as if they’d well out her throat and through her eyes as tears, Jackie nodded. Durza’s expression softened at this.

  “What can I do to help? If you’re really unhappy here… I can take you back. I mean, I was a little selfish – we wanted to find someone to be a Quest Giver for Morgana’s new potion for a while. But I did take advantage of that.”

  “There’s no point in me going home,” Jackie replied, her heart heavy, weighing down her soul. “I’m past prime age. Or getting there. I’ve been removed from society long enough that I’ll have to do catch-up to get anywhere. And I don’t even know what the political landscape’s like. It changes quite fast.” She rubbed her hands, staring down the cliffs and mountains where plants grew precariously out the sides, wafting in the gentle breeze like dancers, resembling the essence of her dreams.

  She snapped and acted irritable like the best of them, but it was no compensation for the disconnect. Not even seizing moments with people like Durza and trying to forget the world around her existed helped.

  “Then what can we do? There’s no point keeping you here as a Quest Giver if you have no motivation to go home. I mean, t
hat was the deal we struck. It won’t work.” Durza let out a heavy sigh, his brown eyes full of concern. His kind, clever face sent small pangs of guilt into Jackie’s otherwise locked heart.

  One day at a time. “Well. I may as well give this whole Quest business a try. And, if you want me to stick around – even have a relationship – my needs should be satisfied. They are quite simple. Books. Access to knowledge. And the promise of artifacts and gear like Morgana’s. Because I feel quite squishy without that protection. I don’t have magic in my bones. Well… natural magic,” she said hastily, seeing Morgana’s aggressive eyebrow twitch. Okay. Don’t tell Durza about the regeneration potion in her blood.

  “I’ll see what I can do.” He crouched beside her for a moment, taking her hand in his. The tender gesture made her smile and press her head against the crook of his arm for a moment. She dropped the relationship bomb on him. She didn’t believe in faffing around, or delaying the obvious. She did want to keep some secrets to herself, but if her three new friends could read body language, it would be hard to lie.

  Friends. How strange. The notion illuminated her, filled her up like a blossoming flower. They were friends. Even without anyone explicitly stating the word, the way they acted around her was just so… casual. As if they had never considered for a second leaving her out of things.

  A roar in the distance made them all frantically scour the scenery, tracking the source of the noise.

  A deafening bellow drowned out the ambient sounds in the background, and Durza froze. “Oh, shit,” he said.

  A huge, brown and black dragon came soaring over the tip of one of the mountains, spewing orange flames.

  “Well, she doesn’t technically belong to anyone,” Morgana said, gesturing to Jackie. “So she’s up for grabs by any dragon with the Scent.”

  “Fuck,” Durza muttered, as the dragon swooped closer, making a direct line towards Jackie.

  Chapter Four

  “Can’t you claim me?” Jackie’s heart bounced in her mouth as the brown dragon closed the distance, now telegraphing his intent to grab her by stretching his talons.

  “I can. But I still have to fight this fucker.” Durza grimaced. “Um. Jackie, I won’t set you free. Sorry.”

  Jackie suppressed a sudden, insane desire to laugh. “No problem. Can I help?”

  Durza shook his head before launching himself off the cliff in human form, morphing into a huge, cyan-colored dragon, the second time she’d ever seen him shift. His light brown eyes fixated upon the incoming dragon, and Elzara and Andrea stepped out of the cave, gaping at the unfolding spectacle.

  The approaching dragon instantly blasted Durza with fire, but he shook it off, unfazed, and they collided mid-air, screeching and hissing. Jackie’s hands lifted up to her mouth. She hoped Durza would win. She liked him and the easy arrangement they had with one another. She’d just completed giving out her first Quest. She’d just been given the deal to help her not be so bored on High Mountain. And now all that could be dashed away in moments.

  “Should this even be happening? Isn’t he attacking a Quest Giver, that dragon? Will Durza be okay?”

  “Ssh. There’s something not right with that dragon.” Morgana took some deep sniffs, even as Durza and the invader tussled mid-air, sometimes gripping, sometimes flapping away and charging one another like jousters. “Smells like old socks.”

  There was a brief pause.

  “Uh, socks?”

  Morgana waved her hand irritably. “Or maybe he smells like someone who isn’t in control of himself. Yes. This one’s under a mind-altering spell. Probably failed a Quest somewhere. Look, he’s trying to avoid Durza now, and is going for Andrea. And she’s claimed.”

  The invader dragon tumbled past Durza, taking huge, hasty flaps towards Elzara and Andrea. Elzara barked something at the princess, who retreated inside, and then she transformed as well into her blue dragon form as the enemy crunched into her. Durza let out a shriek of rage as the dragons rolled and caused rock to tumble from Elzara’s cave, and she snapped away at the intruder, who was now screaming, whipping his neck from side to side like a lunatic.

  Suddenly, the invader tussled himself free and again made a direct line to Jackie. Before Jackie could exclaim, before Durza had the time to gather enough speed, the dragon had swiped at Jackie, encasing her in his talons. She yelled and beat her fists uselessly against the scaly prison, her heart a hammer against her chest, the adrenaline in her blood spiking. No. She couldn’t be taken now. Not when she finally had a plan! “Bastard!” Jackie growled, her temper flaring, seeing the world below her through the gaps in the talons, along with desperation. No. It couldn’t end like this.

  The befuddled dragon above her said no words, he only screeched and spewed flames, flapping in an erratic, stomach-lurching way. The wind struck Jackie’s cheeks and bitter tears swelled up, before she chomped them down, breathing fast, trying to think of a way out of the problem.

  Trying to think of a way to return to Durza, Morgana, and Elzara. To be there for that poor knight if he succeeded in his Quest and obtained the potion for whatever loved one of his that had fallen ill.

  Argggh! In a fresh wave of anger, she beat her fists against the dragon. She didn’t want to leave! The dragon juddered and shot unevenly forward. She heard the familiar growls of Durza – he was on the dragon!

  The flash of relief was quickly overtaken by a dark realization. If he injures the dragon too much, I’ll…

  The dragon released her from his grip, completing her dire prediction. She tumbled through the air, hurtling towards the ground hundreds of meters below, the wind tearing at her clothes, the scream yanked out of her mouth. Instinctively, she splayed her arms as the drag behind her increased. The wind dominated all sound in her ears as the world rushed up to meet her.

  This is it. It’s all over…

  A flash of blue angled to her from the right. Elzara! The dragon had folded her wings, trying to position herself to snatch Jackie out of the air. The ground raced closer, promising to break all her bones. Elzara let out an extra burst of speed, her wide blue eyes fixed in determination on Jackie.

  Meters from the ground, Elzara snagged Jackie and continued flapping forward, as Jackie’s stomach turned upside down, and the talons enveloped her, protecting her from death. She sobbed in frightened relief as the dragon set her back on the cliff above, and Morgana instantly fussed over her, shaking.

  “Just as well Elzara launched herself off when she did.”

  “Future potion,” Elzara gasped in response. “Not even close. Shame it doesn’t seem to work all the time, or we would have seen that dragon long before.”

  “Can’t be perfect,” Morgana said, shrugging.

  In the distance, the brown dragon fell from the air like a stone, crashing into the forest below. Durza flapped back towards them, his movement unsteady, and he landed hard on the cliff before shifting and collapsing in a bruised heap.

  Elzara shifted as well, groaning as she clutched her back.

  Jackie shrugged off Morgana’s probing hands and hugged Elzara first, who squeaked in protest, “My back!” before shambling over to Durza, who rejected her offer of a hug, but allowed Jackie to hold his hand.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” he wheezed, face twisting up in pain. Jackie shook her head.

  “You’re a fucking idiot. You’re a dragon. You know how dragons work.”

  She flicked him on the head, and he said, “Ow.”

  “She’s not wrong,” Morgana said, scratching at her nose. “Look. I’m going to rummage around my place, see if I can find a flying artifact. Obviously having you up on High Mountain without the ability to fly might be an issue in the future.”

  Jackie laughed, before kissing the back of Durza’s hand. His liquid brown eyes stared into hers, and his breath-taking face welled up in a mix of affection and concern.

  She covered up her embarrassment by saying, “So, still want me to be a Quest Giver?”

  Durza
coughed out a laugh. “We can talk about that later.”

  “Yes. We can.” Jackie sighed, looking around at her friends. Even Andrea, in her annoying princess way, was more of a friend than the people Jackie knew in the past. Peel that girl away from the rest, she could be okay.

  Fuck it. Jackie would try this thing out. She’d stay for Durza. For the others. For herself.

  Just as long as she didn’t get carried away by another dragon first.

  It did mean a lot of work needed to be done. Midlife issues to sort through. Dragons to handle. Not messing up those ritual words.

  And, most importantly – trying to be happy.

  She kissed Durza on the forehead and his expression brightened. Elzara grinned beside them, and Morgana nodded approvingly, her dark hair flowing in the wind.

  “Let’s get you home and patched up,” Jackie said, letting Durza loop his arm over her shoulder. Together, they stumbled home.

  Home. What a nice word. Full of promise and a future. Jackie grinned as she stepped out of the light of day, and into safety.

  The End

  Captured by Tarek

  Dragons Take a Princess

  (Book 6)

  Chapter One

  Lystra came from a rather odd family. Living in one of the smallest of all of the Hundred Kingdoms, yet saturated with one of the highest concentrations of royals per square meter, Porak Kingdom found a rather interesting source of income for its people.

  It seemed at some point in the past, the brave or foolish ancestors of the current royals stumbled across a dragon lair in the Wilderness. Both sides saw a chance for prosperity and unity. Given at the time most people saw dragons as “kill on sight” and that dragons saw humans as either crunchy meat treats or princess producers – this deal was the first of its kind. And possibly the last.

  The dragons wanted to become the third dragon kingdom in the Wilderness. And Porak Kingdom, well, it wanted more fame and recognition, rather than an identity as the ass-end of the world.