Dragon 6 Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Despite being up all night, I got up early. No one had bothered either of us to take a turn at watch.

As I stepped out into the fae lands, Helena gave me some side eye. “Your silence spell wasn’t very good last night.”

“Oh. Sorry about that. I was a little distracted while I tried to set it up.” I replied.

“It was like listening to something on the lowest volume all night.” She sighed.

“Need some rest?” She looked well rested enough, but a cranky nephilim would be a long day.

She shook her head. “I got enough rest last night. Why don’t you get some firewood for this trip? This place seems drier than the others we’ve been in.”

I looked around, taking in her suggestion. It was a good idea. I could always find my way back to the group, unlike Helena or the others.

I gave her a nod and headed out. Walking away from the camp, I picked up dry sticks, breaking them and stuffing them into my bracer.

I started thinking about what I could do for the others. It wasn’t exactly the most romantic thing to mark them and drag them through the jungle.

Pulling at my shirt, I could feel just how much heavier it had become since we started with moisture and grime adding to its weight.

We definitely weren’t on the vacation I’d promised them.

Though, the two dragonettes wouldn’t be complaining. Both of them were over the moon with their new status as my mates.

But that didn’t change what they deserve. I needed to find small gestures to show I cared.

Grabbing dry sticks, I rose and a spot of bright color caught my attention.

I’d found the berries that Trina had collected the other day. I bent down, checking them. Taking a deep sniff, I recognized them as being the same. Trina might like some more.

Filling my bracer up with as many as I could, I kept on finding more of the bushes while collecting wood and happily added them.

I tried not to think about the red dragons as I picked the red berries. I’d made my decision. My priority was finding Winter, and the rest would have to wait.

But I couldn’t help the feeling of guilt creeping through me. If Brom or Thuun were with me, they’d be back mobilizing an army of dragons to scour the fae wilds.

Brom would just bulldoze through the wilds like at the conclave, creating some sort of fae and dragon incident.

And part of me wanted to see him go up against this village of dragon women. If they’d learned to fight with Polydora and grown their numbers, I had a feeling they would be a worthy opponent and create an intense army.

I rubbed at my temples. With the enemies we had, it was even more reason for me to find them.

I looked around for more wood to grab.

Having just spent a single day in the wilds, I could feel how rich the ground was with mana. And there were plenty of beasts to eat, judging by Poly and Trina’s catches the day before.

The Wild Dragons were likely to be huge.

I wished I’d gotten the red dragon to shift, so I could be better informed.

But part of me was a little glad, because I didn’t want to know if they were bigger than me. I had some work to do, and I hadn’t put in much of it recently with everything else going on.

Maeve and Evelyn had warned me there were things out there that would destroy me if I flew above the jungle. In the wilds, I might not be as big and terrifying as other monsters.

Deciding I’d gathered enough wood, I returned to camp, finding the girls all awake and poking at some charred meat for breakfast.

“Oh, my king, I have food.” Trina rushed up to me, handing me a piece of meat and staring at me with googly eyes.

I smirked to myself. Apparently, filling her womb wasn’t enough to scratch whatever itch she had around having my dragon babies.

“Trina, I found some of those berries you made tea from yesterday.” Pulled a handful out of my bracer. I traded her for the still smoking meat.

“Girl went all feral on a boar she found.” Helena looked at me like I had something to do with it.

“Broody.” Polydora said over a mouthful of food. “It’ll pass.”

I noticed that Maeve had placed a block of ice in the middle of the camp, both to cool the area, and to melt some of it off into a bucket that they were using to drink.

“So.” I didn’t sit down as I nibbled on the meat. It was raw on the inside and burnt on the outside. Clearly charred by dragon means.

Before I could get to the topic I wanted to talk about, I had to ask. “Did you cook this with lightning?”

“Yup.” Polydora tore off more of her meat. “Gave the others thin pieces. We can eat lovely rare meat.”

I shrugged. It didn’t bother my dragon digestive system. “So, why don’t we head off? I’m having a few thoughts; I’d like to fight and eat things in the wild.”

Maeve frowned at me, but the other two dragons seemed to understand.

“Mana.” I replied simply. “Those two gigantic beasts were magical in nature, right?”

Polydora nodded. “Very rich in mana. I probably added another three hundred pounds onto my dragon with them. Hard to notice at my size, though.”

“Don’t say that. You are just as slim and elegant as ever.” Trina joked as she worked to grind the berries into a paste.

“Thanks.” Polydora grinned over her food. “But you want to grow bigger here. Is that the idea, my king?”

I nodded. “We have a trek to make, and if I do it in my dragon form with all of you on my back, it should go a little faster. Also, what happens if I only partially enter an arch?” I directed the question at the two fae.

“You’ll be fine if you break the arch part way through.” Maeve said, frowning. “You’ll stay where most of your body was.”

“Great. Then I’ll run through the wilds as a dragon.” There was also the advantage that word might get back to the village that a dragon was loose. Part of me wanted to lure them to me, away from their village.

Maeve mulled over my idea for a minute before nodding. “Just no flying.”

I nodded. “Right, big nasties out there that I need to be careful of. Made me realize just how much potential there is out here.”

“Then let’s not waste any time. We should wrap up the camp and get out there.” Maeve stood suddenly. She was eager to find her mother.

I took her energy and moved to get the tents stuffed into my bracer, along with the rest of the camping gear.

Evelyn came up to me. “About last night.”

“Yes. Sorry for Trina, she’s a little… something right now because of the marking.” I apologized for the broody dragon. “You were trying to talk to me about Maeve?”

Evelyn nodded, looking up at me through those big eyelashes of hers. “My mistress is having a rough time. She needs—“

“My King.” Trina was at my side with a steaming cup of the berry tea.

After I took it, she clung possessively to my side.

“I see.” Evelyn bowed out, and I was finding myself growing slightly frustrated with Trina.

“She was trying to talk to me.” I glared at Trina.

“So? I’m your mate now. Anything she wants to say to you she can say in front of me.” Trina looked up at me innocently.

But I saw right through it. Trina was getting territorial, and I’d give her a pass for a little, but that wouldn’t work in my harem.

Poly had said it would be temporary, and I hoped she was right.

I turned, checking on if the others were ready. They were mostly finishing up packing.

“Well, time to get moving.” I slugged back the tea and stuffed the cup in my bracer before slipping out of my clothes and stepping away from the camp.

I shifted more slowly, making sure I didn’t take down much around me.

My bones crackled and popped as I grew to my full dragon length.

“Hop on. Maeve, keep the compass active as much as you can. I’d rather not get lost.” I swung my tail around for them to used to get up onto my back.

“Just try to keep the ride as smooth as you can.” Helena grumped, sitting on my back.

Craning my head around to get a good look at her, I dead panned as best as I could with my dragon face. “I’m a giant dragon, not a bus.”

“Could have fooled me.” She rolled her eyes.

After huffing smoke in my passenger’s face, I turned back around and headed out through the jungle, crashing through the trees.

If what Maeve said was right, then the larger I was, the less likely I was to get suddenly teleported through an arch before I broke it.

I smiled as I crashed through the bushes, using my horns when necessary to plow down trees as I moved.

I wasn’t worried about making noise. Part of me wanted word to spread.

***

We’d been traveling for most of the morning, and so far my body had made its way through two arches before they broke.

With each new location, I’d found a few new tasty snacks in the form of giant predators.

They’d tasted amazing; they were fantastic food for dragons. The beasts here were rich with mana.

I was bursting through the jungle when the ground suddenly disappeared below me. I found myself rushing off a cliff.

My instincts kicked in and my wings flared out to the side, catching the wind and taking flight.

“Get back into the jungle!” Maeve yelled.

I stopped flapping and let myself glide down. Going with pure gravity would not be a good call for all the passengers on my back.

Just before we hit the treetops, I pulled my wings in and dove through the branches.

“Hold on.” I roared, putting my claws out and catching on trees, ripping them and slowing myself as I broke my way through the jungle.

Everything was a blur of leaves and snapping trees before I came to a stop, hoping my passengers had made it through okay.

My body ached, and my side bled. “The dragon king express is out of commission for the moment. Please step off.” I groaned out.

I didn’t wait for them, letting myself shift down to a human, even as my body protested every reconfiguring of my bones.

Even back as a human form, I had scrapes and bruises. But it did look less severe.

The beast whined inside of me, the bundle of instincts in pain.

“My King.” Trina was on me in a second, her hands glowing as she worked to heal me.

“Thanks.” I smiled up at the doctor and healer.

“I can stop the blood loss, but we should get you some meat and let you heal naturally.” Trina insisted before sharply looking over at Polydora. “We should hunt for him.”

“We can’t get separated.” I reminded them.

Evelyn stepped up next to me and grabbed an arm. She lifted me and put me on her shoulder.

I was surprised; the nymph was stronger than I’d realized. “I got him. You guys lead and get a feast for your king. We’ll keep up.”

Trina grabbed Polydora and pulled the other dragon urgently forward into the woods.

Maeve wasn’t far behind; it was Evelyn that hung back a little with me.

“My mistress will work hard to make sure you are well again. But please do me a favor and do not bother her heart. If anything, it would be easier for you to break it.” She glanced over at me. The nymph was keeping her voice low so it wouldn’t carry to the others.

“Is this what you’ve been trying to tell me?” My gut told me this was different. Both of the last two times she had been beating around the bush rather than being direct.

“Yes, it is. You need to break her heart so she can do what she must. That spell doesn’t mean that her mother is still alive; she clings to that hope because of you. A true winter fae would have taken her mother’s throne the second she left. Maeve has become too soft, and I believe it is your influence. It will be her undoing if she isn’t careful. Others will see her as weak. She must be able to lead.” Evelyn warned me.

I frowned at the little nymph, a low growl growing in me. “Is that so?”

“Break her heart and let her go.” Evelyn confirmed, staring me in the eyes. “She’s already wasted too much time on you; you cannot be what she needs.”

I choked on any retort I had. Evelyn was out for blood.

But her points held some merit. There was certainly something between Maeve and I, but I certainly hadn’t ignored my obligations as a leader. I wouldn’t ask her to ignore hers, either. I respected her too much to ask her to give up her path. Of course, there was the fact that it could change the entire balance of faerie if she ran away with me.

Not wanting to commit, I simply acknowledged Evelyn’s statement.

She’d given me a lot to think about, and this decision felt heavier than most.

“Helena, he’s getting heavy. Can you help me?” Evelyn tried to escape.

“Fine.” The nephilim fell back and grabbed my other side, allowing the nymph to run off ahead.

“I appreciate it, but I need—“

Helena interrupted me. “You need to calm down. She wasn’t that quiet, and I might have been eavesdropping.”

My glare did nothing to bother Helena. “Rude.”

“Maybe you should stop trying to love everyone. You have two dragons here that’ll suck you off all night long if you ask. Why do you need more? You are just going to get heartbroken if you keep pursuing new women. You’ll suffer more pain from trying to love.” Helena didn’t sugarcoat her cynical view on love.

“Well, aren’t you just a little ray of sunshine?” I scoffed.

“Love only hurts you in the end. Look at you right now. You look like Evelyn telling you that you need to break up with the Fall Lady hurts more than your crash through the woods.” Helena pointed out.

“I’m not sure you’re the best therapist around love and relationships.” I responded, wanting to reject her words.

The nephilim scoffed before walking in silence, my mind now thinking about Helena’s words.

She definitely had a cynical view of love, which was understandable when her mother was the archangel of love and weaponized it against her. But that meant she was also well versed in heartbreak.

While she hadn’t done it in the softest way, something told me part of her speech was her trying to keep me from experiencing it.

“Maeve and I had something.” I stated quietly.

“So? It sounds like she needs to move on to a path in her life that will be more successful if you are not in it.” Helena countered.

“I could see her a few months a year.”

“During her weakest time? Or would you, the king of dragons, join her on the fae battle lines? You represent your people. That means you would bring all of them into the fae conflict by doing so, and you’d likely offset the balance of power by adding your force. I’m sure she’s thought through all of this, and it’s why she’s pulling away.” Helena stated it simply, and I didn’t know what to say.

I didn’t like her logic, because it was mostly correct. And I hadn’t thought about it that way before.

“Well, we could also find her mother and restore her to the throne. That would solve all of this.” My focus on finding her mother grew firmer.

Helena hummed in acknowledgement of my point. “Yes, and that will buy some time. But this is inevitable. It could be months, or years, but you’re just delaying what will happen.”

“Or decades.” I argued weakly, but I knew I wasn’t very convincing.

“You may as well acknowledge the problem now. Harden your hearts now, and move forward. That way, you will protect yourselves and your heart. From what I’ve observed, she may already be doing that. Evelyn is like her right hand; don’t be so sure that Maeve didn’t order her to have that conversation.” Helena filled me with more doubt.

“You're a shit conversation partner.” I replied dryly, but part of me also acknowledged it was one of our deeper conversations. And I’d gotten a deeper glimpse into what she was thinking.

“I’m realistic.” She countered back, giving me a small smile. “You have to be realistic when you’re near immortal and hated by almost everybody. Now, can you walk on your own yet? You’re a heavy mopey dragon.”

Grunting, I put my weight down on the next few steps and felt better. “Yeah. I’m good.”

I took a few wobbly steps while Helena kept me upright, pausing when a roar sounded up ahead.

I braced, ready to charge forward and help them, but the noises were of a happy hunt. Two dragons found their prey.

“Great. I’m going to go kill something.” Helena stopped supporting me and fanned out her wings, flying forward to go help the two dragons fight.