by LJ Davies
"And you forget your place too," Pyro retaliated, his eyes narrowing as I noticed his claws scrape against the stone floor.
"I have a higher place than you, smoke-spitter. So, until then you remember yours, or you'll lose it," Thunder replied with a flick of his wings.
My eyes darted between them. I'd never witnessed a situation like this before and I wasn’t sure if this was how dragons normally behaved. I cursed myself for even thinking of intervening, but my eagerness to act was overwhelming. I wasn't just going to sit here and let my new friends be bullied like this.
Oh, I'm going to regret this. I dismissed the thought, jumping down from the rock and made my way through the crowd. I'd stand up for Tarwin, I can do it for them!
"Come back when you have the authority to act, if you ever do," Thunder hissed at Pyro as I stepped out, putting myself between Risha and her tormentor.
"Leave them alone," I growled, trembling even as I forced myself to meet his stern eyes.
Much to my surprise he stepped back. I guessed looking like a freak is worth something.
The bully’s slight withdrawal was swiftly followed by shocked gasps throughout the crowd.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Thunder snorted, waving a foreclaw at me. "Did someone spill star-salt on your scales or something?"
"That's none of your concern," I responded in as firm a tone as I could muster.
"Then get out of my way," he growled, stepping forward and looming over me like a mountain.
My legs shook like jelly and my wings fidgeted like parchment in the wind. But I held my ground, not taking my eyes off his as I stomped a forepaw and declared.
"No!"
He paused for a moment; his muzzle wrinkled into a snarl.
"Fine." The abrupt word was my only warning before he swiped a foreclaw at me.
Before I knew it, I was face-down on the floor with pain pulsing through the right side of my head. I heard another shocked gasp run through the crowd, albeit this time slightly muffled by the ringing in my ears.
"That’ll teach you not to get in my way," he sneered.
"Blaze!" I heard a muffled voice cry through my daze.
Closing my eyes, I tried to block out the pain. Mustering all my strength I forced myself to stand, my head still spinning and limbs like frail twigs. I felt sick at the idea that I'd started this, nevertheless I forced myself to focus.
I should have just stayed on the rock, let things play out. Now everyone is looking at me!
That was when I felt something deep inside me spark to life. Something I'd felt only once before, when those creatures attacked me in the woods. Without thinking, I lunged forward, seething with anger as I landed in front of my attacker. My heart raced and my increased breathing fuelled the raging fire inside me.
"Back for more?" Thunder sniggered, looking around to the crowd as he spread his wings. "Dragonesses and gentle-drakes, it seems we do have a show today!"
He took a second swipe, I instinctively ducked to avoid it, causing him to lose his footing. I quickly spun round, sweeping my tail to take the already unstable dragon's rear paws out from under him. He floundered, unable to re-establish his balance as he came crashing down. I saw his front-left paw bend backwards as it wedged between the stone and his shoulder.
Placing a forepaw on his neck I slowly sank my claws into his scaly hide. Pressing down harder and harder until a stream of dark red began to ooze from the wounds. I was blind to the steam seeping from his scales; it was as if my claws were burning hot. It was only when he begged me to stop that my focus broke and I finally relented.
"Now leave them alone," I warned with a snarl.
Whimpering, humiliated, beaten and holding his wounded foreleg against his chest, Thunder slowly scampered back. Trails of crimson stained the dark-grey scales on his neck as he limped through the crowd, spreading his wings before awkwardly taking off through the watery veil from which he'd arrived.
Chapter 5
Loyalty's Curse
The atmosphere fell silent and the crowd stood with mouths agape. Meanwhile, I succumbed to exhaustion, panting heavily as I swayed and struggled to stay upright. My mind was blank, as if fire had incinerated all my worries. Although it was short-lived, moments later memory came flooding back. I was ready to pass out, my legs buckled and wings sagged before I felt someone walk up beside me. I turned to see Risha with a look of concern in her eyes.
"Are you alright?" she asked, using a wing to hide me from onlookers.
I tried to think, to form words in my quivering mouth. When I became aware of the crowd of shocked dragons staring at me, nothing more than a timid yelp escaped my muzzle.
Pyro descended beside Risha seconds later, moving the other dragons aside before he looked to her and Boltock.
"Are you two okay?" he asked, the sternness I'd seen moments ago absent.
Boltock nodded, seeming somewhat hesitant to speak.
"Yes, thanks," Risha responded, only sparing the larger dragon a brief glance before returning her attention to me.
Pyro nodded and with a wave of his wings, he dispersed the crowd. Hushed mutters of disbelief and amazement flittered among the dragons.
"Wow, what a freak!"
"Yeah, did you see how he whooped Thunder's tail though? I hate that sour-scale."
"It's like the stories, you know the really old ones about dragons with no element?"
I lowered my head, taking deep breaths and doing my best to ignore the jeering. As for Thunder – I'd no regrets, he'd certainly deserved it.
Yeah, but there's surely going to be consequences. Oh, I'm such a fool, I'll be locked up or banished! Or locked up in the place I'm banished to!
"Are you okay? Come on, Blaze, talk to me," Risha repeated, nudging my side with her wing.
"Y–yeah... I–I'm fine" I forced, finally catching my breath.
"What in the creators' name was that?" she continued, dropping down close to my side and shielding our conversation with a wing.
"It was amazing, that's what! By the skies, sure showed that cloud-licker what for!" Boltock exclaimed, his wings flaring as he thrust a forepaw in the air.
"Shush!" Ember hissed sharply, "can't you see this isn't the time?"
Boltock sank low, seemingly obeying her command a lot faster than he did any of his sister's. Meanwhile, she walked up beside Risha. The look of astonishment on her face was clear, no matter how much she appeared to be trying to maintain formality.
"Risha, I've never seen anything like that. Not even the academy's best," the fire dragoness offered.
Hearing that, a creeping uncertainty that it wasn't just my intervention that had shocked them all, grew in my mind. Despite that, none of them looked like they thought what I'd done was wrong.
"I have to admit that was pretty amazing," Risha added and Boltock's head was swift to perk up in surprise.
What are they talking about? How is a fight with claws and tail so amazing when they can all shoot fire?
"What's so amazing?" I finally managed to ask.
"That was Thunder," Risha told me, still not quite sounding like she believed her own words.
"He's not the nicest dragon, as you may have gathered. No one has ever stood up to him like that before," she continued, seeming more than a little giddy.
Surprisingly, none of them looked to Pyro, as I might have done; it seemed what he'd done was fine in their opinion, even if it got him nowhere.
"Yeah, it was about time someone gave him a good kick up the tail! Oh, and what you did with your eyes was incredible!" Boltock spluttered in a torrent of excitement.
I'd no idea what he was talking about, although it confirmed my fear that they were referring to more than just my fighting.
"What happened to my eyes?" I asked, quickly touching them with my forepaw as if they'd fall out.
"They were glowing!" he declared.
His enthusiastic excitement was instantly frowned on by the others, while I tried not to hyperventi
late.
Something's seriously wrong with me. If they're surprised, it can’t be normal for a dragon!
I pressed a forepaw to my heaving chest, wings jittering at my side before something in my panicked brain clicked. Wait what did they say, glowing eyes?
Without a second thought I connected it to the burning sensation I'd felt. I could only assume that wasn’t normal either. It had been the same in the woods when I'd lashed out at the wyvern.
Had my eyes been glowing then? I thought, certainly not ready to march up to the wyverns and ask.
Faint memories of my dreams slowly surfaced from the depths of my mind. I'd seen my eyes glow when I'd looked into the crystal. Recalling the nightmare filled me with dread – it couldn't be real?
The crowd had completely dispersed, most returning to practising their skills, although some still looked back curiously. The moment Pyro returned his eyes settled on my blood-stained claws.
"Those must be extremely strong to pierce through dragon scale like that," he observed, though his inspection ended abruptly when he turned to Risha. "You should probably handle him and you two should go back to work," he commanded, turning to Ember and Boltock.
"Yes, you’re probably right," Ember replied, walking off and beckoning Boltock with a flick of her wing. Safe to say, it took no more than that to get him to follow.
"Thunder's ego will most likely see your friend gets no blame; that menace deserved all he got. I can't see him admitting he was bested by a dragon half his size any time soon," Pyro explained, seemingly unable to hide a smirk of his own as he nodded my way.
A cool wave of relief washed over me.
The dragon that frightened me moments ago is now willing to help. Maybe my kind is not all that bad.
I suspected it was probably because he was just as angry about Thunder as everyone else. Nevertheless, I made a mental note to thank him when I next had the chance.
"We should probably go back to the nest and get you cleaned up," Risha swiftly interjected, helping me steady myself before she moved towards the opening in the cliff.
"Come on," she ordered.
Every dragon had returned to their training and Pyro resumed his watch from the upper ledge. I looked up at the water-covered opening. I may have been exhausted but I was certainly able to fly, especially when the air practically did all the work for me. I spread my wings and took off after Risha, swooping around the waterfall on to another perfect current.
"Good to see you can still fly," Risha called with a chuckle as she banked away from a hover.
She flew ahead, riding the unnatural airways. Following closely, I thought about what she'd told me.
If some dragons control the element of air, does that mean they create these airways?
As the vast expanses of the city came into view over the cliff edge, I really had to wonder how they managed it. The city itself looked the same as before with only one significant difference. A wall of sunlight shone down, the golden beams from the cliff edge reflecting on the lake’s still water as if a second sun were trapped beneath us. Reaching the nest, Risha was the first to land and despite the perfect airway I still managed to drop clumsily.
"Be careful," she warned. "He didn't mess your wings up did he?"
I folded them the best I could, an awkward blush creeping into my scales again. "N–no, I'm fine really. You don't have to worry about me."
Chuckling to herself, she turned and looked over my wings one last time before continuing through the doorway. Following, she pointed her wing at the pile of ashes in the centre, suggesting I sit down. I did as much, just as she sat in front of me.
"Now, let's have a proper look at that," she ordered, putting the tip of her tail under my chin, gently lifting my head.
Just like when she'd been training in the cave, the strange markings on her forehead flashed blue, as they did a levitating ball of water flickered into existence behind her. Hundreds of small droplets came together to form a whirling ball of liquid moving slowly around her head until it landed softly on the painful side of my face.
The cold's sudden bite was a shock at first, but I restrained my reflexes and the sting swiftly turned to a soothing chill. She looked closely at my injury while concentrating on holding the water in place as she spoke.
"I didn't really get a chance to say it back there..." she began bashfully. "But I wanted to say thanks."
She raised her head to look directly at me, a grateful smile across her face.
"Boltock... Well, anyone and Thunder really. They never got along," she continued, turning her head away and appearing to think more deeply on the subject. "Just a few weeks ago, that tyrant almost broke my brother's wing because he was showing off to Ember. As he always does," she added, rolling her eyes. "Pyro's tried to stop him, but his place in the order doesn't allow him to use force against other orders, so he's never really been able to do much."
For a moment I found myself questioning what these 'Orders' really meant. Based on the training, I assumed they were militaristic.
So, what kind of military forbids the use of force? Kinda counterproductive if you ask me.
As she continued to treat my injury, she told me more about their daily lives. She seemed to trust me without question, and after the trouble with Thunder, I was pretty sure I'd be stupid not to return the favour.
She certainly made me feel better, however; there was something I knew she couldn't help me with. She didn't know what I'd seen in my dreams – surely that is impossible? Dreams aren't real, especially if I dreamt about something before it happened.
Warm air flooded the widening space between the suspended fluid and my scales as Risha withdrew the soothing water from my wounds. She spun it up into a tight ball before launching it out of the window. For all the chaos in my mind, there was one question she could answer.
"That was you back there, wasn’t it? In the cave, you called my name?" I asked, bowing my head as I added. "I thought it was Tarwin. You kinda sound a little like her."
She seemed lost for what to say for a moment, stammering a little before she admitted. "W–well, it was a shock, seeing someone I'd just met get hit like that."
She moved to get another look at my wound, avoiding my eyes. "I thought you were hurt, because of me. You gave everyone quite the surprise, though, especially Thunder."
"So, what's this about my glowing eyes?" I asked, and she edged back.
"You honestly don't know, do you? I've seen a lot of dragons use their elements in imaginative ways, but nothing like that," she admitted, then rubbed her forepaws together sheepishly as she pressed.
"W–when you went to see the Elders, you didn't tell me about everything they said, did you?" she added, triggering a spark of guilt in me.
I guess there's no point in lying now we're alone. I thought with a sigh.
"I guess I didn't say it because it was difficult for me to accept," I replied, my wings sagging and head drooping as I finally admitted.
"There’s one important thing I think I should tell you, something the Elders didn't tell me. The eyes, I've seen them before."
Her head perked up and seeming to have her full attention I added. "In my dreams I stare into a strange crystal and my reflection has glowing eyes."
"You just keep getting stranger by the minute," she responded, seeming to take the revelation in with a deep breath before offering a reassuring smile.
I smiled back and a slight laughter broke out between us. I knew she believed me, and I also knew there was nothing more she could add on the subject.
"Well that should do it for your face, here's hoping it heals as fast as your wing did," she chirped, before jumping to her paws.
"I'm going to get some food, want some?" she asked, and I gave a nod before she took off.
Left alone, I couldn't help wondering.
Strange glowing eyes, dreams, my sudden ability to beat down a stronger and significantly larger dragon. Am I really just a freak?
Wha
t bothered me most of all was what the Elders had said about me being unique, a dark power returning and my appearance being a sign of its coming.
This is getting far too big for me. I just want to save Tarwin and go home.
I did my best not to dwell on the idea I might never see my friend again. Instead, I walked over to the opening and stood out on the platform. The cool breeze rustled the curtains behind me as I filled my lungs with its freshness. I could hear and see dragons going about their business, flying amongst the hanging structures lit by the beaming sun rays. It felt like the first chance I'd got to really appreciate it in all its glory, without the gloom of evening or creeping vertigo.
"This should do," Risha announced.
I looked round to see she'd materialized beside the fire, holding another of the clay pots in her mouth along with two bowls she held in her coiled tail. She took a step back and laid the pot down before lighting the fire with a torrent of blue flames.
Amazement halted my movement. Her fire-breathing ability was still as strange to me as my magic glowing eyes were to her.
Wait, she told me blue dragons-controlled water, so how can she breathe fire?
"What?" she asked. Only then did I realise I was gawking.
"It's just..." I struggled to speak as I gathered my bewildered thoughts. "I thought you were a water dragon?"
"Dragonfire burns within all of us," she replied, pressing a forepaw to her chest. "Red is the colour of fire elementals – they can control fire, but all dragons can breathe it," she elaborated.
As soon as she told me that, my wings sagged and my head drooped.
"I can't breathe fire," I admitted shamefully.
She approached, nudging my side with her wing, encouraging my eyes back to hers.
"Hey, with what you did today I think you can do much more than just breathe fire," she assured me with a comforting smile. "You just have to put your mind to it."
"Thanks," I replied, doing my best to mimic her positive expression.
With that, she turned her attention to the pot she'd placed within the flames. Steam bubbled from under its jumping lid and a delicious smell wafted on its vapours. After a few minutes she carefully removed it from the fire, placing it on the floor within the ring of condensation it conjured. With the lid removed, a large plume of steam rushed upwards, before she picked up the pot and poured out the contents.