The Blood of Dragons

by Victoria Mercier

  “That’s the reason why you shouldn’t ever underestimate horned ponies. They are crafty people, who have trump cards hidden away,” she said one day.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t disclose how she’d learned this type of magic, nor she answered my questions about Ignelion. If I wanted to see him, then my best shot was to visit the Fairy House on floor 5. Well, except that my access there was revoked the next day after the review. Saaron worked fast and decisively.

  “I can’t understand one thing,” I said to Elleria a month after she’d begun training me. “Why Mirenne didn’t punish Saaron for this magical explosion?”

  I was fairly exhausted, and it took long seconds to realize what I just revealed. There was no backing down from this, after all, Elleria was a dragoness like me and she knew our nature well.

  “So, you two, fucked each other?” she nodded not that surprised. “Don’t look terrified. Saaron, Dramer, and Nix had their share of women in their time, but then they’ve gone from powerful to insanely-monstrously-powerful and the strongest shielding spells stopped working. That day Mirenne took over as the dean and director of the Dragon Academy and the curriculum of the first year had changed overnight. I know it well. I was in the middle of the first year myself.”

  Could it be that the three of them have caused so much damage that it led the board of the academy to change the program and the dean, and direct so swiftly? Or maybe there was more? Nix and Dramer had told me about factions in the city. And yet, things didn’t add up. The current program for dragons put them at a serious disadvantage, especially in the face of the fact that the unicorns were considered our equals. How was it that the dragons agreed to this?

  “Why no one rebelled against the change?” I asked, sweeping the sweat from my forehead. The Dual Mind spell was taxing my mental reserves.

  “Dramer had torn half of the academy apart, then his father arrived and ended his rampage. From that moment no dragon descendant dared to challenge the new status quo. But it wasn’t all. Mirenne and Dramer’s father cooked a scheme that broke his engagement with a crazy powerful elemental and a new marriage was brokered…”

  “With that bitch Selene,” I hissed.

  “Yes.”

  *

  It’s taken two months to learn the Dual Mind spell, but as I’ve used it, my results in classes improved. It was an odd experience to be able to switch my entire personality like that. My second nature possessed a dampened draconic rage. Suddenly, from the worst, I was moving to the top. Unlike the older dragons, the first-years could feel envy. And I’ve received plenty of murderous stares from my classmates. Some teachers who noticed my unnatural change did a sort of a subtle questioning on me, but Elleria had me ready for this. And because the Dual Mind spell belonged to the unicorns, no one would suspect a dragoness.

  Chapter 20

  Three weeks left until the next review, which was a hundred percent happening for me. Only selected students had been invited to those meetings. Usually, the worst and the best. Why they wanted to question the top-scoring students was beyond me.

  From the beginning of the day I sensed that something was going to happen, the last class of the basic spells for dragons was already late. And when instead of Haruka, a massive flame-haired silhouette entered the room I knew the troubles finally found me. All the students around me hushed. This man was a big deal. The weak-minded even attempted to kneel. Lotian’s attitude from the start suggested that he couldn’t care less about the reverence of others. He wore a blue jacket that nicely matched his hair and grapefruit eyes. With his hands in the pocket, his gaze swept over our lot, then he continued to the teacher’s desk.

  I regretted sitting in the first row for once.

  Instantly, I picked whispers going around. Apparently, Lotian has been dating someone from the Elemental House. Her name was Oceania. I’ve never heard this name. But just from the sound of it, I acquired a bad feeling about her.

  Lotian approached the first row, just a couple of steps to my right.

  “Haruka couldn’t make it, and so I volunteered to teach you a bit,” he pulled his hand from the pocket and a second later a book appeared on top of his palm. “This record tells me that you suck at spells.”

  I considered, which mind should I use. The first one I called; the Liquid Fire, the second; the Cold Steel. I went with the second one this time.

  Freezing rationality filled my mind as I raised my hand.

  “Yes, miss Flare?”

  “Could it be that the state of the class has a direct relation to the results in the other classes?” It had. I knew it for the fact. I’ve made a research with Elleria. Those who mastered dampening their draconic rage were the worst at spells.

  “And what brought this odd conclusion forth?”

  “A quick comparison of everyone’s results,” I answered flatly.

  Students behind me began whispering. Elleria told me to keep it cool until the last moment or when the first chance would come. This was the perfect opportunity to sow the seed of discord. Her plan was seriously good. And I knew that as the Liquid Fire, I’d not pull this one off. Most likely I’d snap useless stuff at him or would be fighting him already.

  “If you take everything at the face value, then sure. It may seem so,” Lotian answered unbothered by my comments and growing tension in the class. “But you’re missing a point, miss Flare. To me, it looks that those who are the best in spells have the biggest difficulty in taking control of themselves.”

  The bastard just twisted my words. As the Cold Steel, I knew that further arguing wouldn’t win a day here. Lotian was prepared for this conversation, while the logical argument didn’t belong to my strongest suits.

  I dropped the subject, which Lotian accepted with a slight nod. Maybe, there was a bit of humanity left in him? But why would I care?

  The class from that point onward has revolved purely around spells and why the draconic rage wasn’t necessary for our magic. Despite his low age – twenty-one – he proved to be an excellent speaker who knew how to capture the hearts of his listeners. Even, though he didn’t possess Nix’s incredible voice. Thanks to Hakura my magic bloomed, but in an hour Lotian showed us that magic was way more than a contest of power. A capable mind could utilize magic in unexpected ways.

  “It’s simple,” he turned toward his desk. A leather bag… no, not a bag. An ornate sheathe, more than a foot long. Lotian trailed his finger alongside the ridges activating the hidden runes. When he traversed the entire length, metals clicked, and the wrap opened. Lotian reached inside and pulled a long silver knife with a red hilt and a gigantic emerald at the end. “Take this knife for example, by itself, it’s a tool, but of course, I can take it and stick into someone’s chest. But that’s a very blunt and rather evil way of using it. If I want and have enough skills, I could create a sculpture.”

  A light flashed and a wooden figure, three feet tall, appeared next to him. It was rather crude.

  “But then, I’m not yet done. There are other uses, some mundane like cutting and other intricate and complex like using this artifact to weave a powerful spell.”

  All hands around me shot in the air at the same time.

  “You,” he pointed someone to the far right.

  “Can you demonstrate how do you use this knife to weave a spell, demi-dragon?”

  “Not possible, next.”

  “What’s the name of this artifact?”

  “The Finger of Death.”

  Murmurs rippled everywhere. Everyone here was the first year, like me, and I had not the slightest clue of what the name meant if anything.

  “Anyway, it’s getting late. You’re dismissed,” Lotian said suddenly. I guessed we all lost the track of time. Not often a demi-dragon came to teach a class.

  I stood up. My satisfaction didn’t last long, though.

  “Except you, miss Flare.”

  Great. All I needed was more attention. Staying after the class with a demi-dragon wasn’t going to h
elp me to stay out of anyone’s radar. I steeled my emotions as they pushed me to get back the Liquid Fire personality. To handle this guy without destroying this place I needed a cool head.

  “A demi-dragon Lotian,” I said flatly. “How can I help you?”

  He waited until the last student left the classroom, then I noticed a flicker of an enchantment that sprouted from his hand.

  “I have a favor to ask of you, miss Flare.”

  My eyebrows knitted together. It didn’t sound like him. Our first meeting left an impression of a cocky scoundrel. This here stank of the Dual Mind spell. Could it be?

  “Let me hear it before I say no.”

  He made it look that nothing was going to move him. This was infuriating quality. Luckily, the Cold Steel-me didn’t care.

  “I need to find Elleria and I know that you have been in contact with her.”

  Where did he get that information from? Mirenne, Selene or Ignelion? The level of faction complexity in this academy was high.

  “I don’t have an idea who you’re talking about,” I bluffed.

  “I expected a straight-out refusal,” he admitted. “That’s why I want you to know something… please, listen.”

  *

  An hour passed after I’d stormed out of the class. Things Lotian said couldn’t be true. Elleria was a bitch, but there was no way she could go that far. Anyway, if he was so mighty and powerful, why didn’t he find her himself? Oh right, his status of a demi-dragon was too deep up in his ass.

  This whole after-class conversation with him left me shaken even in my Cold Steel mindset. This Lotian was a dangerous man if he could cause this much damage with a few sentences.

  No matter if I believed him or not, I was not going to fully trust Elleria anymore. Always a shadow of a doubt would follow me. That son of bitch messed with my head!

  “You should listen to him,” Rebecca whispered in my left ear.

  “Oh, woah, long time no see,” I grunted. My personal assistant has acquired a strange habit of staying out of my vision most of the time. Was this fear or the order from her superiors?

  “Don’t be angry,” Rebecca murmured.

  “I’m not, but your behavior seems off. That’s all.”

  “It’s because… oh, no. I must go.” And like that she was gone. My dorm room and the library, both were on floor 4, and the way between rarely took me more than a quarter of an hour.

  The main entrance to the library was blocked by two teachers I recognized but didn’t remember their names. A messy crowd of students gathered before them.

  My steps slowed down after Rebecca had fled. I reached the back of the crowd and my stupid mouth had babbled out a question before I could shut them up.

  “Some heard a scream, someone else saw a body.”

  “Blood, a lot of blood all over bookshelves,” another person chimed in.

  “I think it was a suicide,”a third person added.

  More and more people joined the conversation and with each one, the information has made less sense. The bottom point was, no meeting with Elleria tonight. Gently, I broke away from the group. No one noticed who I was. Otherwise, they wouldn’t speak to me. It was a pain to admit but talking to fellow students was nice.

  “Rebecca?” I hissed quietly when my distance with the gathering became large enough. “Where are you, you damn fairy?”

  “I’m here,” a whisper came from a cracked door. There was no identification on it. I was the absolute moron for going in, but then my instincts didn’t fire up. So that was that.

  I entered a room not much larger than my living room. It was empty save for the boxes piled up on one of the walls. Either, someone was about to move in or out.

  The other person in the room was Elleria. I should expect that much from her.

  “I’ll cut to the chase,” she said without her usual smirk. “I know about your meeting with a demi-dragon.”

  Her body language didn’t match her usual self. The coldness seemed more polished and sharper. Her power signature lost the draconic flavor. One look at her should set off every possible alarm in me. But somehow, I didn’t feel to be in danger. And yet, my years spent in the Wasteland weren’t spent in vain. Something didn’t add up here.

  “So, what?”

  I didn’t owe her anything. I hadn’t asked for the Dual Mind spell. She’d come and offered it to me. Hadn’t Ignelion promised to train me? But it looked like he was out of the picture.

  “Time has come to wrap things up,” she admitted coolly.

  Though her words sounded menacing, my instincts slept. Fuck it, I knew, I had a buttload of trouble before me. I left my Liquid Fire personality when I entered here, but now there was no time for a meathead. I needed my sharper self.

  I switched.

  Nothing.

  I switched again.

  Nothing.

  What was happening to me? I reached to bring back my draconic rage, but something locked it in place.

  “Are you truly this stupid?” she asked opening her palm. A shining emerald pulsed there.

  This emerald… It… Looks like… the pommel of Lotian’s dagger. It can’t be. My memory took me to the day of the review. Elleria met me there after almost three months of no contact. She mentioned something about taking care of her business first. She carried something with her back then. But how was this possible? Either, it wasn’t the same emerald or Lotian’s one had been a fake. After all, he refused to show any spell with the use of the dagger.

  “I can see some understanding bubbling in your thick skull. But the truth is out of reach for your fragile intellect.”

  “Try me, bitch,” if it came to fight, then I was glad for the Liquid Fire. Only if my rage could come forth.

  “It’s already too late for you,” she admitted. Because of the shock, I haven’t noticed that the emerald dripped something on the floor. It weakly shone, too. “All I need to do is to transfer the light of the Green Eye to you and activate the spell. Everything else is already in place.”

  “What?”

  “Freeze.” My body suddenly stopped responding to my commands. I pushed my will onward, but I remained a thinking statue. “Do you think I’ve spent the last weeks showing you the Dual Mind spell, so you can pass the exam? I can see that it is your belief.”

  Not rushing, Elleria approached me. Darkness swirled in her eyes. Her skin looked paler than ever. Her ghastly apparition worked on my nerves.

  She extended her hand toward me and a quiet chanting filled my ears. The world before my eyes wavered.

  Everything started collapsing in front of me. All I could see was the green light. Chanting intensified. And the smell of forest and grass assaulted my nostrils.

  I’ve never felt this much panic in my life. Those who let fear take control usually ended up dead. Why? Because fear made people’s behavior predictable. While being hard and fearless could catch your opponent off guard.

  Now, the panic started consuming me. It should not be. All I had to do was to snap out of this cursed state. But who I was trying to deceive? Mirenne had given me a taste of despair. She’d walked inside of my mind as if it belonged to her. Could Elleria pull something similar?

  The green light faded, the smell disappeared, and the chant’s strength weakened considerably.

  I’m about to take the control of your second mind, Flare. I’d feared that the preparation will consume much more time. But I can give you this, you’re truly something. Ignelion will never stop astonish me. Luckily, finding you wasn’t hard. You made quite an entrance. But now, you’re mine. I’ll stuff some necessary memories into your tiny head and one day… boom. The fun will start, but for now. Forget everything I’ve just said.

  Chapter 21

  Lotian

  “Show yourself, thing,” I murmured. The flavor of the fairy’s magic rippled throughout the air. I snapped my fingers encasing the little creature in the harmless bubble.

  A small harpy-like figure appeared in the mi
d-air. I’ve never seen a personal assistant to wear the skin of a legendary harpy. Luckily, these things weren’t part of the war with Titans. But who would want his or her personal assistant to have such a look?

  “Who are you?”

  “My name is Rebecca, but I’m in hurry…”

  I raised my hand stopping Rebecca, I didn’t really have time to listen to a self-important creature that didn’t understand boundaries. I had my own urgent matters to attend. The only reason I let Rebecca manifest in my vicinity was an odd familiarity to her scent. I remembered it vaguely.

  But never mind, it wasn’t the time for this. I’d already received a call from Saaron about some incident in the library. Two of my agents were in the field, one supposed to tail that flame-haired girl, Flare, the other one had a more subtle mission, and I needed to check on them instead of wasting my time with this thing…

  “Please, demi-dragon, Flare is in danger!” a little harpy blurted out.

  My attention snapped. Did she say Flare?

  “Speak up, creature,” muscles of my face tensed. My precious draconic rage was safely tucked away so the ponies and my father would stay happy. My brothers had caused too much damage to this city. Never mind. Focus on the issue.

  “I’d overheard your conversation with Flare about that dangerous woman… Elleria. I think she’s up to something terrible.”

  I blinked. If Elleria was involved, then the time was running out for Flare.

  “Where are they now?”

  From my dorm room to the place where Rebecca had sensed a sinister presence that banished her from the proximity was roughly five minutes. Adding a time wasted by Rebecca to come to me, I knew it was too late when I arrived at the place. My field agent should be here. He should tail her.