by Raquel Dove
Alex followed King Azi around to the other side of the lake where a dwarfish waterfall fed into it. As the Dragon King raised his hand the waters parted down the middle to reveal the top of a worn-smooth stone staircase. He turned to Alex and motioned for her to enter before him with a friendly smile. After just a moment of hesitation she stepped past the parted curtain of water and into a candle lit staircase that wound into the bedrock underneath the lake. King Azi stepped inside after her and the waterfall closed behind him to hide the entrance to his underwater palace.
Without a word he led her down the long staircase. The further they went, the colder and more stagnant the air became. Alex was trying her best to push all her panic aside and concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. When she though her legs were going to give out from going down too many stairs, they came to a landing that stretched into a wide hallway. She didn't know how the dragon could stand to live in such confinement. There were no windows in this place and the air was so stale it was nearly unbearable. Azi came to a stop just outside a chamber with a bubbling hot spring in the middle of the rock floor. It filled the room with fog and heat that spilled out from the doorless entry and into the hall. There was a young girl with solid black eyes standing beside the hot spring who bowed as Azi entered with Alex in tow. She had raven black hair, just like Azi, and her's too was braided all the way down her back. She was dressed, much to Alex's relief, in a simple wrap style dress that left her shoulders bare.
“Refresh yourself,” Azi said, motioning to the hot spring. “When you're clean, Shiri will show you to the dining hall.”
Shiri bowed again to Azi as he turned to leave the room. When he was gone, she turned to Alex with a kind smile. Her eyes lit up, sparkling like two big black marbles and some of the rigidity faded from her shoulders.
“It's truly a pleasure to meet a human,” Shiri said, rushing the couple steps between them to scoop up her hands. Rather than feeling frightened, Alex found herself relaxing into the dragoness' grip.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Alex said, warily returning her smile.
“May I take your robes?” Shiri asked. Before Alex could even answer, Shiri had grabbed hold of one end of the belt that held the robe to her body and began to tug on it.
“No,” Alex said, grabbing her hands and pulling them away to protect her modesty. “That’s ok. I can do it myself, if I could just have some privacy.”
“Oh, no,” Shiri said, her smile fading in an instant as worry ran across her face. She shook her head sharply. “Lord Azi would not be very happy if I left you alone.”
“Of course,” Alex said with a sigh. She turned away towards the hot spring so that her back was to Shiri and untied the dirt and blood caked belt of her robe. The garment slid off her shoulders and landed in a pile on the floor as Alex tried to rush into the water before too much of her was exposed to the dragoness' view. Shiri walked to the edge of the spring and picked up the robe between her thumb and forefinger. Her nose scrunched up and she tossed it onto a fire brazier on the other side of the room. Alex wanted to groan. What was it with people around here burning her clothes? Honestly, they could have just been cleaned.
“Those were the only clothes I had,” Alex lamented, her eyes staring longingly into the fire as she worried that Azi would expect her to adopt his custom of nakedness.
“No worries,” Shiri said with a smile that lit her eyes, “Lord Azi has already prepared clothing for you. It will be more fitting for your station than those garments.”
Shiri motioned to the fire that was consuming her clothes with a wave of her hand. Alex didn't even want to know how the dragon king had had time to prepare anything, seeing as she had only just met him moments ago. She shrugged it off as another one of those annoying mysteries about this world and decided to relax into her bath. At least when Balthazar came for her, he couldn't make a snide comment about how much she stank.
The water was the perfect heat and the bubbling of it soothed her sore muscles. She could have stayed in it all day, but her stomach was grumbling and she had quite the appetite. Shiri shook out a length of shimmering golden fabric and held it up for her to step into as she exited the water. The fabric was unlike anything Alex had ever felt before, as thin and airy as rice paper and softer than Devasi silk. Shiri wrapped the length of material around Alex and into a skillfully designed dress. She pinned the corner to the rest of the fabric with a gold and ruby clip that held everything in place.
“Lord Azi picked this out for you personally,” Shiri said, as she stepped back to examine her work with pride. “I must admit, it is one of my favorites as well.”
“I'm surprised he even has clothes,” Alex mumbled, more to herself than to Shiri.
“Well, dragons do prefer to do without them,” Shiri said with a giggle and a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.
“Uh huh,” Alex said. She motioned to the fabric that was wrapped around Shiri. “And you...?”
“Yes, me too,” Shiri said, her jingling laughter echoing off the rock walls. She caught herself when she noticed the blush on Alexandra's cheeks. “Oh, but don't worry. Lord Azi has ordered all the palace to dress while you're visiting.”
“That’s good to know,” Alex said. She looked at Shiri thoughtfully as she considered her situation. “Can I ask you something Shiri?”
“Of course, you can ask me anything,” Shiri said, her shoulders bouncing up and down as she clasped her hands in front of her.
“Why all this trouble?” Alex said, waving her hands around her. After everything she'd been through and every creature that she'd met in this strange world, she had learned to be very leery of their intentions. They all seemed to want her for one reason or another and maybe Azi was just trying to butter her up for something. “I mean why go through all this for me?”
“Because your a human, silly,” Shiri said cocking her head to the side with an overly sweet smile. She giggled a little and Alex felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “Come on, I'll show you to the dining hall.”
“I trust you enjoyed your bath,” Azi said as Alex sat at the table across from him. There wasn't much distance between them, and the dining hall was little more than a breakfast nook sized room. The ceiling was low hanging and the only furniture was a table with eight chairs around it, but it somehow managed to look rich nonetheless.
“Yes,” Alex said. She folded her hands in her lap and forced herself to wait before attacking the food that was set in front of her by another dragon servant.
“Shiri can be talkative sometimes,” Azi said, his voice dipping low as he cocked an eyebrow. “I hope she didn't bore you with her stories.”
“No, not at all,” Alex said, shaking her head. Shiri had been nothing but kind to her and she really didn't want her to get into any trouble. Something about the way she tensed up when she was near Azi didn't sit well with Alex.
“Good,” Azi said. A servant set a plate of food in front of him and he waved a hand dismissing him from the room. When they were alone he gestured to her plate. “Please, eat.”
Alex didn't need any further prodding. She dug into the food with enthusiasm, forcing herself not to groan in pleasure at the deliciousness that assaulted her taste buds. The plates of food kept coming, one after another as she nearly licked them clean. They were a myriad of different seafood dishes, though she couldn't tell exactly what type of seafood it was. She only recognized the shape of a fish and the shells of some kind of shellfish as she shoveled food into her mouth. Azi sat across from her with a bemused expression on his face as he tenderly picked at his plate and watched her make a glutton of herself.
“Tell me, Alexandra,” he said, when she looked to finally be slowing down. “How is it you've come to this world?”
“I don’t really know,” Alex said, wiping at her lips with a napkin. She forced herself to pull away from her plate. “I'm trying to get back to mine, actually.”
Alex suddenly thought of Ba
lthazar sleeping in the woods, trying to heal himself while she was off relaxing in hot springs and gorging herself on delicious seafood. He would probably be terribly worried about her when he woke, if he hadn't already. Would he be able to find her all the way down here? She sat up taller and fidgeted a little in her chair.
“What is it?” Azi asked, noticing her sudden change in demeanor. His black eyes focused on her intently, but there was genuine concern on his face.
“Well, I had someone else with me,” Alex said. Her eyes lifted to the stone ceiling above her as if she could somehow see through it to the lake up above them. “Balthazar.”
“Balthazar?” he echoed, leaning in. Alex thought she saw recognition flash across his face, but it was gone almost as soon as she had noticed it.
“Yeah,” Alex said. “He was asleep, trying to heal himself. I really should get back to him before he wakes up and finds me gone.”
“This Balthazar is a demon I presume?” Azi said. He leaned back in his chair and rapped his fingers on the wooden arm.
“Yeah,” Alex said, swallowing thickly as she noticed the sudden shift in his demeanor. He was trying to hide it, but Alex could see he was annoyed. This could be even worse than she thought. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything. Balthazar was all alone, sleeping, and injured. “He's a demon prince,” she said, trying to make him sound more threatening. Of course, she realized that she had already divulged that he was sleeping and injured.
“From Devas?” Azi asked. His voice was thick and dripped from his lips like honey as he cocked a black eyebrow at Alex.
“How did you know?”
“Don't worry yourself with him,” Azi said. He reached out and patted the top of her hand. The gesture was meant to be calming, but the look that had crept into his eyes was anything but comforting. “I'll ensure that he is informed of your whereabouts. You look tired. Perhaps you should rest. Shiri will show you to a guest room.”
Shiri entered the room as soon as her name left his lips. Alex wanted to say no. She wanted to stay and find out what exactly he was going to do to Balthazar, but she couldn't help the sudden exhaustion that had overcome her. She tried to fight it, but the more she struggled to keep her eyelids up, the more they threatened to fall shut.
“Come,” Shiri said, holding a hand out to her. Alex looked up into her smiling face, and in spite of herself, she found her hand reaching out for Shiri. There was an odd fog that hung around her and made it hard for her to think. Suddenly, all she wanted was to sleep. She couldn't even remember what exactly she had been talking about that had her so worried. Shiri led her down another dark, cramped hallway and into a bedroom that was small but luxurious. There was a bed in the middle of the room that looked like it was carved from thick shoots of coral and was wrapped in the same soft, thin material as her outfit. It wasn't long after sinking into the comfort of the bed that sleep overtook her consciousness.
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