The Witch's Dragon

by Melania Tolan

  “No. I’m asking you to trust me.” I paused for a moment. “You don’t know who I am, and I understand why you wouldn’t trust me. But if we are to save this world from the evil that is threatening to destroy us all, I must retrieve the egg. Padrick has to come with me because he is the only one who has ever known a dragon. I trust him.”

  “Who told you about the dragon egg?” the ram asked.

  Padrick had remained still and silent through the conversation. It surprised me he was letting me take the lead, as I had no idea what the hell I was doing.

  “I saw it in a vision. The egg has been calling to me for almost a month now.” Suddenly, I felt a knife in my stomach. “Please, my soulmate is being tortured. If I don’t take this dragon, he will die, and so will I. If we die, there will be nothing to stand in the way of Octavian gaining full control of the world.”

  Another long silence stretched. I remained still, my face buried in the snow while I waited. The air shifted, and then a small path cleared through the mist.

  “You will speak with the king. Only he can grant your request for the elf to enter our land.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You may rise.”

  I stood up and glanced at Padrick. He nodded.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told him, then I stepped through the opening in the mist.

  The ram led me through the never-ending fog until we reached an opening in the rock in the shape of an “S”. This passageway wound into the mountain. We passed several other horned sheep standing guard along the tunnels. Cast-iron sconces with yellow flames lined the walls, casting a golden light on the dark rock.

  Eventually we entered a cavern lined with sheep at one end. I realized they were guarding the entrance to another room. Two of them moved aside, allowing the ram and I to pass through to the next chamber. This was a much smaller space.

  After a moment, I figured out it was a throne room of sorts. The biggest longhorn sheep I had seen yet lay on a flat rock at the far end, guarded by a half dozen smaller sheep on either side.

  I knew instantly that he was the king, and the one I had seen in my visions. His horns had golden rings on them, and his eyes had the yellow light I had seen. They glowed brighter than those of any other sheep’s in the room. As soon as I reached the center of the room, I knelt down and bowed my head to show respect to the impressive monarch. The silence that followed almost had me doubting whether I had done the right thing.

  “Rise,” a booming voice from the raised platform spoke.

  I slowly raised my head and stood, but waited patiently for the king to direct my next move.

  “How did you find us?” he asked.

  I swallowed hard. “A vision, Your Majesty,” I admitted, hoping the way I addressed him hadn’t been too much.

  The king moved his head, the golden rings catching the warm light of the flames from the sconces on the wall. “Visions? Tell me about them.”

  I described to him what I had seen, leaving nothing out. Honesty would be the key to winning their trust. Besides, I had an inkling that if I had not told him everything, he would somehow know I was withholding information.

  When I finished, the sheep king shifted, bringing himself upright. He appeared even taller and more imposing when he reached his full height.

  “Follow me.”

  He led me through a different opening from this room, with four of the guards following behind me. We then entered a passageway and descended deeper into the mountain. The only sound were the sheep’s hooves on the stony ground. A smell of old earth permeated the air. We passed through caverns that reminded me of ruins of some ancient fortress.

  Maybe Tolkien and the other famous fantasy writers hadn’t just dreamed up these places. Could it be that Middle Earth exists? Three months ago, I did not understand that vampires were a real thing, or that elves walked among humans. Since then, I’d discovered magic, shapeshifters, and other fantasy elements were real. And the list kept growing.

  We continued further down until we came to a tunnel with a dead end. The king stopped and turned, his golden eyes glowing in the dark.

  “If you can open this passageway, then you are worthy to enter, and you are the true Chosen One.”

  The voice—the dragon’s voice—had called me the ‘Chosen One’ each time he had come in my visions. But what if he was wrong? And how do I know that this dragon is a ‘he’?

  “What if I can’t open the passage?” I asked.

  “Then we will have to kill you.”

  I gulped. This had better work.

  I stared at the rock surface before me and studied every groove, indentation, and ridge. Nothing I saw gave me any indication that this was a door or portal. But I had seen the same thing back in Romania. Some tunnels going into the coven’s lair had doors I would never have known were there.

  Is there some keypad with a special code I have to type in?

  These intelligent sheep didn’t seem like the type to have technology. I would have to use my magic.

  But how?

  I ran a hand over the surface of the rock. A tingling sensation danced across my palm in response. Oh yes, there’s magic here. But how can I use it to open the door?

  “Talk to the rock,” a soft voice spoke inside my head.

  I placed both palms on the cold stone and closed my eyes. I had no idea what to say to it. I tried to remember the night Padrick had me hold the gemstones… when I’d placed a hand on the ground beneath me, the mountain had spoken.

  Will this mountain recognize me too?

  And just like that, I felt a vibration coming through the rock. At the center, between my palms, a symbol appeared. A cross with a circle and an upside-down triangle glowed in a silver light. Four flames appeared to branch out from the center of the cross.

  I pulled my right palm away from the solid surface and saw the same symbol hovering over my skin. I placed it over the glowing symbol on the rock that matched it. The next moment, the solid surface dissolved, revealing a tunnel.

  “Well done, young witch. You are the Chosen One.” The king turned away from the opening. “I will send the elf in to help you with the process, but beware—dragons are not the easiest to train, and they cannot be tamed.”

  Who said anything about training a dragon?

  I had thought I was just getting the egg. Maybe to exchange it with my father for Traian’s freedom.

  I stood in place, dumbfounded, while the sheep followed their king out the way we had come, leaving me alone at the entrance of a long, narrow tunnel that went even deeper into the mountain. I knew I should move forward, but I couldn’t. I felt like I was glued in place, frozen by indecision. I didn’t know what I’d find at the end of the tunnel.

  Should I wait for Padrick, and we can do it together?

  I stood there for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do next, when a voice hissed through the tunnel.

  “What are you waiting for, Chosen One?”

  I had come too far to just sit and wonder what to do next. There was no time to dillydally. I took my first step and then broke into a run.

  When I reached the end of the curved tunnel, I came to a massive chamber filled with bones. At the center, on a pile of more bones, sat the silver orb from my dreams.

  Chapter 5

  I waited for a short moment, hoping that Padrick would appear and tell me what to do next, but my eyes were transfixed on the silver orb in the middle of the cave. I felt drawn to it. Before I realized what I was doing, I stepped closer to it. The brittle bones on the stone floor crunched under my heels as I gravitated to the semi-round object that called me silently.

  When I reached the center, I paced several times around the orb, observing it from all angles. I had done it. I had found the dragon egg. Though, in person, it didn’t look like an egg. It looked more like a big, silver ball with an uneven surface.

  Where is the voice that called me in my vision, the one I heard earlier? I silently knelt, feeling the ja
b of the bones covering the ground of the cave. What do I do next?

  I reached out.

  “Don’t touch it yet.” Padrick’s footsteps echoed through the room as he crunched his way over to where I knelt. “The egg will need both of our magic to hatch. It’s been lying dormant for thousands of years—we have to awaken it.”

  “We’re hatching it?”

  I retracted my hand and waited for Padrick to kneel across from me, on the other side of the egg.

  “Yes, how else would we get the dragon out?”

  I nodded in agreement as if I knew what he was talking about, hoping to mask how stupid and inadequate I felt at the moment.

  “Good job opening the portal,” he continued. “It had been sealed for over five thousand years.” Padrick smiled at me and set his pack down next to him.

  “So, what do we do now?” I asked him.

  I didn’t care about history or being congratulated, I wanted to move forward and get this dragon out of the egg. I hadn’t thought about what I would do after that.

  Up to this point, I had only focused on finding the clues from the vision I had seen back in Romania, and the dragon had been part of it. I didn’t know why I needed the creature to save Traian.

  Can I even save him?

  I pushed the thought away as Padrick gave me the next instruction.

  “There is an ancient spell that must be spoken to stir the dragon awake. Evelina told me the spell back when we both lived in Transpatia, and Eva informed me that only you and I could awaken him.”

  “How do you know it’s a him?” I asked, but I already knew. The voice I heard had definitely belonged to a male.

  “Zara told me.” Padrick’s face saddened. “Right before she disappeared.”

  I wanted to ask more but reminded myself once again I was here to move my story forward and set this dragon free. The life of the man I loved hung in the balance… He depended on me to make the right decision. I could feel his pain even now—someone had put silver knives into each one of his fingers. My hands tingled in response to his agony.

  “Let’s get this show on the road, Traian doesn’t have much longer.”

  I unclipped my pack and set it down. From inside my coat, I pulled out the pouch that contained the potions and found the vial of healing. I uncorked the small bottle, the smells of rosemary, sandalwood, and chamomile filling the air. One drop fell into the center of my palm, and I closed the bottle before returning it to the pouch. I rubbed the oil with both hands, slightly warming my cold skin.

  “How did you know which potion you needed?” Padrick’s eyes widened.

  That’s when I realized what I had just done. I couldn’t explain why I had pulled that potion out, except that I felt the need.

  “I don’t know. Instinct?” I shrugged.

  Padrick smiled. “I shouldn’t be surprised.” He pulled his gloves off and rubbed his hands together. “You are more amazing than Eva told me you would be. I have watched you all your life, and even as a human, your resilience and persistence astounded me every day. Most would’ve given up long ago, but not you. Eva chose right.”

  I met his gaze. “She didn’t choose me. I don’t know what chose me, but it also chose her, and Evelina before her.”

  Another shadow of sadness crossed Padrick’s face at the mention of the women’s names, and I realized again then he still loved Evelina. Just like Traian had carried a torch for the formidable elf princess, so had Padrick. He hadn’t stopped loving her, even when Traian had won her heart. And then Eva had come along, who was Evelina’s spirit incarnated, but Traian had taken her, too. And then Eva had died too.

  Neither Padrick nor Traian had told me how it all had ended. Eva died the same day I was born, the same day my grandmother—rather, my mother—died. But every time I asked them about it, I never got a straight answer. Traian always said she had been assassinated by one of Octavian’s minions. Padrick had a similar story, except the timeline didn’t match up.

  But now was not the time to ask these things. All I saw before me was a man who still suffered because he loved a girl who had fallen in love with someone else.

  I reached across the nest of bones on which the egg lay and placed both hands on the elf’s cheeks.

  His green eyes met mine. “What are you doing?”

  “You hurt because you still love her. I’m so sorry that you never had that love returned to you.” I slid one of my hands down until it was over his heart. “You’ve been unlucky in love, but this will change. You will find love soon. Tonight, your heart will heal so it will be ready to accept the one meant for you.”

  Padrick’s eyes softened and glistened. He said nothing as he held my gaze.

  I didn’t know why I felt compelled to do this, but I leaned over and kissed him on the lips. It wasn’t like the time in Romania when I was trying to fool the spies watching us. This was a kiss of healing.

  Tingles from my palm radiated out into him, and I realized that the healing potion was for him, too.

  “These lips will know a lover’s kiss again, when you least expect it,” I whispered against his mouth. Then I pulled away, removing my hands from his body.

  For the first time since I’d known him, I witnessed a tear escape from his eye, trickle down his face, and fall to the bony ground.

  He reached over and took my hand. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  Padrick regained his composure the next second and shifted back to his kneeling position. I rubbed my hands again, preparing myself for the next step. Together, we placed our hands on the silver orb between us and closed our eyes.

  He whispered the spell in the ancient tongue of his people. I’d heard him whisper incantations before, but not like this. My hands vibrated with each word, pulsating, as if energy was building inside the egg and pushing up against my palms.

  I’m here. You can come out now, I’ll take care of you, I thought, hoping the baby dragon inside the egg could read my thoughts.

  I should have recognized sensation, because I had experienced it months before at Eva’s gravesite when I’d touched the tombstone. But it shocked me, nonetheless.

  I gasped as the electricity gripped my hands, sealing them to the egg. Images flowed through my vision as history played before my closed eyes. All I could do was sit and watch the memory from long ago unfold… This time, inside a dragon’s mind.

  Chapter 6

  Zara flew over the jagged peaks of the mountains away from the Carpatia Valley, following the scent. She knew this could very well be a trap, but she would never forgive herself if she did not follow her gut.

  The trail led her to a hidden mountain cave in an area she had never explored before. The entrance into the cave was wide enough for a beast her size to move easily through but hidden from the human eye. Zara followed the tunnel into the depths of the Earth, until it opened into a magnificent chamber not unlike the one she shared with Evelina, Hunter, and the flying steed. At the center of the room stood a black dragon with his back to her.

  She could smell his male pheromones long before she ever entered the cave. Her heart drummed faster as she stopped in her tracks.

  Zara had been watching him from a distance for months, and he’d been watching her. Ever since he’d allowed her into his mind the summer before so she could see the annihilation his master had wrought on Hunter’s village, they had shared a silent connection. She’d kept this hidden from everyone, even Evelina.

  “You came.” The black dragon’s voice was low, but still caused a rumble through the cavern.

  Zara let out a matching, low growl in response.

  He turned slowly to face her. His eyes glowed green as he stood up on his hind legs and spread his wings wide, spanning the width of the cave. His scales glistened like polished obsidian in the flickering flames coming from the small alcoves lining the walls of the room.

  With one breath, he dipped his head to the floor and released ten tongues of green fire. They licked at Zara’s feet.

/>   Impressive, but watch this, Zara thought and sucked in a large breath.

  When she released it, red flames engulfed the entire cave. The fire circled the black dragon in an upward spiral until it touched the ceiling. His green eyes glowed brighter following her display of power.

  “I could still kill you,” he said and returned his gaze to her.

  “Pff.” Zara let out a puff of smoke.

  The black dragon dug his talons into the rocky floor and let out a thunderous roar. The whole mountain shook, and loose rock rained down around them, but Zara stood her ground. He pounced on her within seconds, but she let him pin her and place a clawed foot at her throat.

  “Do it,” she purred at him. “Kill me.”

  He growled into her face and tightened his grip. “You are making it too easy.”

  “I will die anyway in the next few days… It might as well be at the hand of one of my kind,” she responded.

  His nares flared. “Is the elven princess dead?”

  “Might as well be.”

  He jumped back, releasing Zara. When he turned away from her, she leapt onto his back, digging her talons into his wings and shoulders, and sank her teeth into the back of his neck. He thrashed about, trying to knock her down, but she tightened her hold. He bashed her against the walls of the cave, knocking off chunks of rock.

  “It’s no use,” Zara growled at him.

  She might not have been as big or strong as him, but she had an elven companion whose magic combined with hers to make her the most powerful creature on the face of the Earth.

  However, she’d seen the Southern Savages. Their strength lay in their numbers, which increased each day. She and Evelina could not hope to destroy them alone. They needed allies. And she needed to fulfill the task.

  Months before, an ethereal woman had appeared next to her on a mountain peak, floating in midair. Her brown hair flew around her head in the night air, but it was her green eyes that captured Zara’s attention. She recognized the soul behind them.

  “Find the black dragon and mate,” she had said. Then she disappeared as quickly as she had come.