Queen of Blood

She called for them with a shaky voice. “Come behind me, now.” Arline ordered and drew her sword. A weapon that was the equivalent of a toothpick even against a young dragon like this one.

The wyvern started crawling down the wall, passing very near to Eric’s lifeless body, almost smashing it. It approached their site, testing to see if Arline was going to attack. The dragon’s dark grey head came in contact with her torso and she remembered the first time Vatra did that. Arline remembered how scared she was back then and how terrified she was now.

Then a loud stomp made the ground shake. Zeydar landed from the sky and let out an earsplitting roar that made the wyvern turn around to attack but backed away almost instantly at the sight of the size of the marble dragon. Zeydar was bonded to Arline by fear. Whenever she felt she was in danger, the creature came to her protection.

“God bless that bond.” Arline thought in despair.

Despite the white dragon being bigger, the dark wyvern had a wild demeanor and was younger. That translated into a lack of fear for the consequences of standing against an older and larger dragon. It roared back, not to state dominance but as a calling.

“We have to go.” Calix said, finally letting his consumed frame drop to his knees, looking sickly pale. It was unlike him, seeing him so weak and colorless that Arline dropped to her knees and tried lifting his head up and gently slapping his cheeks to keep him awake.

Before any of the three could move, a fire ball passed right across the center of the room and hit the wall, hissing when the heat came in contact with the rock wall. A second dragon was blocking the only escape route back to the surface with its bright red body.

Both wildlings were no match for Zeydar. She gave them a defying look with her blood-shot eyes, almost as if she wanted them to attempt an attack.

The spiky figure of the red dragon had terrifying bones covered with membranes and gold chains that got pierced through its skin. It began approaching Arline with an open mouth, ready to burn them alive. While the wyvern was on the other side of the room, keeping Zeydar away from them as it batted its wings.

“Please not now, not after all of this.” Arline thought in the middle of the beasts’ roaring. It was deafening and so powerful she thought they could cause an earthquake. But the Heir stood her ground with defying eyes, just like her dragon and drew the sword down while her friends thought she was crazy.

The exposed bones were lifting from its spine, trying to threaten them and was getting ready to attack. When the beast opened its mouth, what they saw made their stomachs drop. Boney teeth stained with unimaginable things, that let out a nauseous smell of rotten flesh and acid combined.

Arline turned around to face her friends, all of them getting ready for their fate. Death. Until a familiar figure landed in between them and the red dragon. “Arline, look.” Zeroun’s voice was filled with hope. But she couldn’t look nor wanted to. The roaring and almost dying in that moment, left her petrified.

When she felt a warm breath hit her back, Arline slowly turned around to meet the face of the first dragon she ever saw, of the creature that made her believe in all of the nonsense she had read since she was a child.

The eyes were scanning her, trying to put the pieces together to recognize her. When Vatra did, she opened her large wings, keeping the spiky dragon from hurting them. Both young dragons realized their disadvantage and stepped away, meeting each-other in one shadowed part of the room.

“Vatra?” Arline called for the dragon and the creature came to her the same way as when they first met. But this time, Arline wasn’t scared and hugged her like it was the most prized possession in the world. “We have to go back, not to him, to the kingdom.” Arline whispered for her but the dragon backed away in worry and whimpered like a scared puppy. “You are going back to Aska and Merrick, come on girl.” She reassured the beautiful dark dragon.

Arline was bargaining with a dragon as if it was a person. If anyone could look at her, they would call her mad, but Vatra understood every word she said. And went to her side, caressing her torso with her head.

Zeroun and Calix were cornered in the shadows of the early night, without being able to escape the stalking of the two defeated younglings. “Arline, make it quick.” Zeroun called for her as his fear grew while watching the red menace of a dragon unveiling its teeth. But with a hiss from Zeydar, it kept him under control.

By now, Arline was tired, frustrated and in a lot of pain. She turned around and headed in front of the Red Menace without any kind of fear. When she quickly scanned the dragon, Arline saw how its ankles had the bands of broken shackles. Without thinking twice, she started working on freeing the poor animal.

Compared to its partner, the wyvern was harmless. It was looking at Arline work, while sniffing her and rubbing its head on her back, trying to get her attention. When she was done, the crimson dragon only looked at her and scuffed on her face, leaving her side to lick its wounds.

“Zeroun, try to keep her calm.” Arline asked for his help while approaching Calix’s side, who was laying on his side absolutely exhausted.

“I don’t have a dragon tongue, Arline.” Zeroun expressed his worry but Vatra remembered him clearly and began circling him with exciting stomps.

She took the bag that contained the sea pearls she had pulled out of her hair and threw them across the floor. All of the winged creatures tried catching at least one and looked like giant cats following a laser dot across the room. “I have more like this.” Arline said and all of them lifted their heads.

“What are you doing?” Zeroun questioned her worried.

“I have no idea.” Arline confessed. “Zeydar will take you to the docks, leave Calix with the medics and bring Merrick to the Ptelea cave.” She exposed the plan and he agreed, taking Calix over Zeydar’s back.

With the stretch of her wings, Vatra allowed Arline to ride her. All of this, brought back happy memories from what seemed such a long time ago. No one could have known how much life was going to change for everyone.

The cold wind of the young night hitting her face, made Arline remember the first time she flew over the clouds. How scared and excited she was of riding a dragon with a prince. The image of Larsin holding her in the dungeons appeared on her mind. The last thing Arline needed were memories of Larsin tormenting her, when Pelagius was eager for her to switch sides.

The darkness was barely setting in to allow an infinity of stars to decorate the sky. Flying back to Reiska couldn’t take them longer than a few hours, so she decided to try and relax her body as much as the pain allowed her to. She would have to ask Lara for new silver chains since she left her old ones on the entrance of the old palace.

Arline felt relieved and a sense of pride for having accomplished such mission. What she had said to Merrick was right, death does in fact escape her. But sadness and guilt took over when she touched Eric’s necklace and looked over to see Calix’s barely moving due to how he used his powers.

Death might escape her but it certainly didn’t forgive those who surrounded her.

To snap her out of her thoughts, Zeroun signaled behind them for her to see. When she turned around confused, her expression dropped. “This has to be a very bad joke.” Arline said for herself when she noticed the wildlings were following them back to the kingdom.