by Viola Grace
Zazwing tapped her stick, and the group grew quiet. “Aylona was told that she was the only one who could bear a blood dragon in this generation. She would have to turn away from her people and her family, leaving behind her sons and the husband that she was pledged to. Their lives were twined, so unravelling them pained them both. In order to keep my son-in-law and grandsons alive, my daughter was unmade, her magics returned to her family. She was human when she left, and we are not human.”
It had the cadence of a story told over and over again.
“Mom never mentioned anything, anyone. She just cried when she thought I wasn’t looking.” She was in shock. The curator had never mentioned this.
“Well, I do regret that I can be nothing to you. I have attempted to bury her according to your traditions, but I was following a scroll that had to be translated. I hope that all is as you would like it. I will leave you to grieve.” She turned to leave, but her brothers were now blocking her way.
The older one sneered, “I do not think she is a dragon. I do not think she is anything.”
He reached out to prod her, and Zazwing shouted, but when the other brother joined in the contact, Zzara’s dragon broke free. The hedge fey were scattered, and she went out to the plain, flipping their karros, and stomping them into shattered, twisted metal.
She probably could have behaved better, but she had just found out that she had two siblings that were unknown to her. She was entitled to emote a little.
Chapter Twelve
Emory walked out into the silt and sand. “Zzara. Calm down.”
Her dragon wanted to find more things to smash, but that wasn’t a good idea, so Zzara resumed her human form.
She extended her hand, and her scepter flew to smack into her palm. “I guess I had better go and deal with them.”
She looked and her vest, chatelaine, trousers, and boots were all in place. The only thing that was different was that her hair was now loose.
Emory walked with her back to the scattered gathering.
“Elder Zazwing, I apologize for my unanticipated expansion. I was not prepared for contact.”
The old woman was sitting and clutching her wrist. “I understand, and no apology necessary.”
“Is it broken?”
Zazwing grimaced. “It is, but they will soon have a poultice, and I will be right in a few weeks.”
Zzara tutted and picked up the chatelaine, pricking herself with the needle and putting a small smear of blood on the elder’s skin.
The bone that had been bruising the skin returned to its normal position, and the discolouration faded.
“They can still put a poultice on it if they like.” She looked around for anyone else who had been injured in the scramble.
She went to one cracked or cut elf at a time and healed them with a prick of her finger.
By the time she was finished, the sun was setting and the Deep were emerging, interested in the newcomers. Yutin and Zazwing spoke for a few minutes, and then, hands were clasped and the guests were invited down for dinner and a bed.
Yutin came over to her and smiled. “So, it seems the call you sent out has been answered.”
“Yes. That does seem to be what has happened.” Zzara sighed. “It is going to take some effort on my part to get them home.”
“They are content to visit for a while and go through their rituals for the dead.” Yutin smiled. “You have some time.”
Zzara sighed. “Great. I went dragon and smashed all their vehicles.”
“Well, if it makes your day better. The elders have agreed to one drop for every five years and all the healing we need.”
Zzara looked at her punctured hand. “Now?”
“If you do, you can begin your plans for development immediately.”
Zzara nodded and punctured her thumb while the hedge fey watched. She released a drop onto Yutin’s tongue, and her friend’s eyes began to glow.
“Done. You may now do as you wish with the surface.”
Zzara chuckled. “Excellent. Damn, this day has been long.”
She looked over, and Aeli was busy talking to Zzara’s half-brothers and their father. The looks shot her way were a little confusing. They had started off angry, then indifferent, and then pity came over them. The final expression was curiosity.
Aeli gestured her to come over.
“Aeli, what have you been telling them?”
“Nothing major. I was just explaining the bits and pieces of your upbringing, as well as the last few days before I met you.”
The brothers looked at her, and the green-haired one said, “You have been a healer all your life?”
She nodded. “Since I was a teen. I learned how to transfer my life to those in need, but Mom always stopped me from doing too much.”
The boys’ father said, “Do you know why she did what she did?”
Zzara inhaled and exhaled. “There are no easy explanations. She had given everything to my father, and he rejected her. She didn’t want me to suffer the standard fate for one of my kind. She had nowhere to go. She had cut her ties with your community, and even if she could go back there, she could not have taken me with her, and she would not leave me to save herself.”
She said, “I know who told her to go with the dragon, and there wasn’t malice. For some reason, my presence in the world was a desirable thing. She left for me, so that I could come into the world. I know that makes it worse, but she thought she had no choice, I definitely didn’t have a say in it, and she wasn’t rejecting anyone for a better or easier life for herself. I am quite convinced that her life was one of the hardest that I have ever thought of. She was rejected for her choices at every turn, and it never got better.”
The brothers looked conflicted. They wanted to be furious, but there was nothing but the initial abandonment to hold on to.
She sighed. “I am heading back to my quarters. I really wasn’t expecting family today, but if you want to talk tomorrow, I would like that.” She looked back to her mother’s husband. “You as well.”
He smiled slightly. “I would like to know about her life. Half of my heart left when she did. The rest stayed to take care of my boys.”
Aeli looked at her, and she nodded. “Zzara will be better tomorrow. Too many shocks for today. She has reached her quota.”
Zzara nodded. “The Deep are hosting your people. They will show you where to eat and sleep.”
The men nodded and left to join the slow grouping of their people toward the entrance to the Deep.
Zzara just wanted to sit and be silent, but Zazwing walked up to her.
“You are a good child, Zzara. A good daughter, and I hope you are willing to be a granddaughter.”
Zzara leaned down and hugged the smaller woman, smiling as the surprisingly strong arms wrapped around her in turn. “It is strange to have a grandmother willing to speak with me.”
Zazwing chuckled. “I am a grandmother to many, and speaking to them is the only way to find out what kind of a job I did raising their parents.”
Zzara straightened and gripped her scepter. “I will see you tomorrow.”
“Indeed, you will. By the way, why do you have a walking stick?”
Zzara smiled. “It contains a star. I use it for defense. It can blind or burn.”
“And yet, you didn’t use it on those you considered brothers. Interesting. You may be better at having a large family than you think.” Zazwing walked away toward her people.
Zzara smiled and walked back to the workshop. She needed to move that damned mirror into her place for safekeeping.
Althu was still there, the mirrors were still set up, and nothing else had been touched.
Zzara folded the mirror, propped her scepter in the corner, and she smiled at Althu. “With the hedge fey running around, I am putting this in my quarters. Hopefully, we will soon be able to put it in the library.”
“Do you need help?”
“No. I think I am fine. I just want to be i
n my home and be private.” She hefted the mirror and headed for her home, wishing Aeli a good evening and smiling at Emory.
Inside her home, she closed the door and breathed in and out in a slow and steady pattern. Once she was a little more centered, she put the mirrors up in the corner of her bedroom on a small table. Without mass to convert into the printed word, it was useless.
She changed into nightwear, crawled into bed, and opened the saga. The words were twisted into strange shapes. She rubbed her hand along the page, and there was enough blood residue to shift the words into something readable.
Curled up in bed, she read until past midnight, learning about blood dragons who had either pretended to be something else, or had amassed power and then used their blood-thralls to defend them until they were finally left alone. Tricking nobles into ingesting blood was the most common method of getting a thrall and targeting daughters, sons, and wives of the powerful men was a very effective way of keeping the balance of power in the direction of the blood dragon.
She closed the book and set it aside. That was enough bloody practicality. If she wanted to rule that way, it would be easy. That wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted a team, not thralls.
She went to sleep, wondering where to start now that there were more complications in the way.
She had just enjoyed a breakfast when her early-warning system went off again. She groaned and headed out, her scepter at the ready.
Ten dragons were backlit against the dawn, and the two in front were the ones she recognized. The Byalls had returned.
Emory emerged from wherever he went when she wasn’t looking. “Are you going to kill them?”
“No. No, I am not. Before they land, let Aeli know that we need a lift back to the capitol. Not for us, but for those who are here.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I am going to try dividing the blood.”
“Shit.”
He ran to the workshop, and she presumed he went through the door. She supposed she could have just called Aeli and given her the message for Nole.
The dragons landed, and their human selves quickly made their way toward Zzara.
She encouraged her scepter to glow slightly, and her father flinched when he saw it.
“I believe that I warned you against returning.” She smiled, and the scepter got brighter.
He winced. “My mother wished to properly greet you, daughter.”
The word was like a slap to her face.
“Really? She wished to greet me. She has seen me thousands of times in my life, and I have never gotten more than the words dirty bastard out of her.”
Matron Byall’s cheeks flared pink. “I did not understand that you were my son’s child.”
“There were no other children in the village with his eyes. Your eyes as well, actually.” She smiled tightly.
Emory returned and stood near her. Her father looked positively ill.
“Child. You are alone in the world, at the mercy of influences that you don’t understand. We are family. We will take care of you.” Matron Byall smiled and tried to look caring.
“My name isn’t child. I am twenty-one. That makes me an adult in all parts of the continent.” She sighed. “You are not welcome here. Leave.”
Her father stepped forward, and he reached out to her. She glared at him. “That is far enough.”
He kept coming.
“Right then.” She used her dragon’s senses to see the blood in his veins, and then, she went deeper. She pulled on all the dragon indicators in his body.
He froze a few feet from her.
She used magic to pry his dragon away from the man. It took only two minutes, but when she pulled the dragon away, he collapsed to the ground.
Matron Byall screamed. “What did you do?”
Zzara ignored her, took the dragon form, and gave it magic to give it structure. The final beast was only eighteen inches long, but it perched on her shoulder happily. It was glad to be rid of the nasty man.
“Matron Byall, your son is now human. Not dragon, not shifter, not fey, just human. His dragon has been removed, and it is quite happy to be rid of him.”
Matron Byall shrieked and foam began to froth at her lips. She lunged forward, and Zzara prepared to protect herself, but she didn’t have to. Vines grabbed the matron and held her tight.
Zzara glanced behind her, and to her shock, it wasn’t Aeli but Zazwing. Vines were erupting from the barren ground and tightening around the dragoness.
Wow. Grandma fight.
Shaking her head, she looked at the men who were backing away. “I have heard about the valley, and you do seem to fit the bill. I would recommend that you and your kind would be wise to give this city a wide berth. Or I will separate you from your dragons. Do you understand?”
The eight men turned and literally ran.
Matron Byall wasn’t going to be a safe dragon, but there was something else that Zzara could do. She reached into her grandmother but didn’t remove her dragon, but she did give the dragon’s spirit an option. She could leave and seek another host.
The dragon agreed so quickly that when the spirit left, the energy was visible for a moment.
Matron Byall went quiet. “What did you do?”
“I let your dragon’s soul detach from yours. It is a simple spell to release the dead, but since the dragon didn’t like you, it offered itself to the afterlife in hope of a new human host.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You can still shift, but unless your human side knows how to move the body and flap the wings, you can do nothing. So, you are still a dragon, but you are a useless one. Your friends at the valley won’t help you. They may be assholes, but they like having their dragons. Maybe they can help you.”
There was a bit of fuss as her father came to, but he was bound as well, and then, Nolesander arrived to ferry them both to the capitol to answer charges of assault with intent to abduct.
When they were gone, the little dragon flew around and examined every nook and cranny of the ruins. Watching him fly set a lightness in Zzara’s heart. She had gotten another prisoner away from her father and that was definitely a win.
Epilogue
She raised her scepter and slammed it into the ground. The wave of power rippled outward, and she kept the vision of the city in her head.
The silt moved and gave up its magic, pulling stone from under the soil and using the rubble left from previous cities.
Emory was above, writhing in the sky and blocking the sun so that the Deep could watch the transformation.
First, there was energy, then a rumbling, and finally, the buildings began to rise. Walkways, houses, windows, made using the Deep methods, and water plumbed in.
Septic treatment would be done just outside the city limits via a number of ponds.
She felt her hands dripping blood down the scepter and that extra boost was working wonders on the control of the stone.
Hours of pulling stone and sand together finally resulted in her vision finalized and her workshop next to her home.
She sat where she had been standing and looked around. Instead of the rubble, she was now sitting in the center of a quaint city with an intriguing layout.
Her brothers came to her sides, and Borvin and Cordal helped her up and carried her back into her home.
They paused. Borvin chuckled. “You have made more books.”
“I needed them for the library.” She was dizzy.
They helped her to the bathroom, and she carefully washed the blood off her hands. Her skin had already sealed.
“You heal fast.” Cordal chuckled, his red braid slithered over his shoulder as he helped her.
She chuckled. “My talent involves me cutting myself open. Healing is a necessity.”
They helped her into bed, fully clothed, and she grunted and made them remove her boots.
“You are very bossy for a younger sister.”
She chuckled. “You h
ave no idea, Borvin. I have years of bossiness to make up for.”
He smiled and nodded, his green hair in a similar braid to Cordal’s.
Borvin smiled. “Rest up. You didn’t move mountains today, but it was very close.”
She laughed and let sleep take her.
Zzara woke hours later, and the smell of a meal was taunting her. She opened her eyes and heard Emory. “Sit up. I have a tray.”
She accepted the dinner in bed gratefully. “Wait. Where are all the books?”
“In the library. You sleep heavily, and I kept the Deep in the shade long enough to let them move them all.”
She smiled. She had heard them moving but didn’t want to help lift stuff. Sleeping had felt like the better option.
“When are you going to execute that sunshade spell?”
“Soon. I needed an idea of the precise location for the anchor stones. Then, I decided to just use the city itself. When folk come to us—and they will—I will make sure that they are all taken care of. Even if part of that is UV sensitivity.”
“Us?”
She looked at him and munched on her toast. “Unless you have other plans.”
He grinned. “No. No other plans. How long are the hedge fey going to stay?”
“I have made them a two-acre area near the library. They can live in the neighboring houses and do whatever planting they want to in this highly magical soil. If they need more space, I will arrange it.”
Emory grinned. “You will have family again.”
She smiled and ignored the tears threatening her eyes. “Yeah. They are taking me as I am, not for what I can give to them, but for who my mother was and what that makes me. I am part of them, and I am beginning to enjoy that idea.”
“So, after the protection, what next?”
She chuckled and kept eating. “I am sure I will figure it out when it happens. It is what I am destined for, after all.”
He grinned and took her right hand, and they sat there while she ate. It wasn’t the worst thing to wake up to, and she had the definite feeling that their lives were going to twist together until she didn’t know where he started and she finished. It wasn’t a bad thought at all. Now, what could the city use as public transport…