Dragon 6 Chapter 19 (Patreon)

“You two will go to our prison. Regina, once you cool off, you will be released. You can go on the next hunt.” Tiff hauled her to her feet.

“I am calm.” Regina tossed her hair to get it out of her face.

“To try and bring this male to Tiamat, you clearly need some time to think. I’m going to advise you that you take the opportunity to calm down.” Tiff glared at Regina, as if she was doing her a favor.

As I was being hauled off the ground, I sized up the others, trying to decide if I could fight my way through. But we were surrounded by a dozen guards, and Regina looked defeated. I didn’t love my chances.

They started pulling us towards the village by our bindings as murmurs sounded ahead of us. The villagers were all looking up towards the waterfall, pointing.

The guards around us slowed, turning to see what was drawing so much attention. Pivoting with them, I saw what was grabbing attention. A giant green dragon head poked above the mountain.

For a second, my hopes got the better of me. I thought it might be my mother. But then the lack of horns and the presence of feathers as it crawled further over the mountain made my heart sink.

It was a familiar monstrosity, the Quezalcoatl.

“What the fuck is that doing here?” the guards shouted.

For a second, I was forgotten as they all stared up at the large feathered and winged serpent, which was winding its way around the mountain, staring down at the village like it was searching for something.

I lowered my head and took a few steps away from the guard, using their shock to try to make an escape. They hadn’t bound me nearly as securely as Regina had on our way to the village. They didn’t realize I had my full dragon strength.

I shifted a finger and started working on my bindings, sawing my claw over the hardy vines. I started making progress, but the vines were tough.

The Quezalcoatl was flaring its nostrils as it scanned. Its head pivoted until it centered on me. Our eyes locked, and it was looking at me with an intensity that made me very uncomfortable.

And unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one to notice.

“Why does it want him?” a guard asked.

“Doesn’t matter. Offer him up on a platter,” another said quickly terror in her voice.

Following her statement, a deep rumble sounded from the temple.

A dragon seemed to grow out of it, her claws tearing into the side of the mountain as she pulled herself up, shifting larger and larger. As she grew, her scales rippled in different chromatic colors.

“Quezalcoatl. Why are you bothering my domain?” Tiamat’s voice boomed as she continued to grow. I kept waiting for her to stop growing, but it just continued.

She kept growing until she could swallow the village whole.

She wasn’t as big as the Quezalcoatl, but she certainly was big enough that she could pose a threat to it.

“I have been tracking a particularly delectable prey,” Quezalcoatl spoke with a thick accent. “It is here.” Its eyes shifted to me, and the guards around me backed away as if to confirm they weren’t its target.

Tiamat shifted only marginally to see me. She squinted before furrowing her brow. I wanted to shout at her, but something told me it wasn’t the right time. Instead, I settled for a wave as I broke my bindings.

She shifted her attention back to Quezalcoatl. “And why would you continue your hunt in my territory?”

“It is…” Quezalcoatl breathed deep as if scenting the whole village. “Too tempting.”

“You’d fight me over it? I don’t take kindly to you hunting in my territory.” Tiamat’s claws tore into the mountainside as she showed her teeth.

The larger monster hesitated, seeming to debate the answer to her question. Its tongue slipped out tasting the air, and its eyes narrowed before it snapped at Tiamat.

The giant dragon moved fast, her claw batting away the snake’s head before her teeth tore into the side of its neck.

Jerking away from the village, Tiamat pulled it away from the village as the two colossal monsters smashed into the side of the mountain and rolled off to the other side.

I stared after my mother for only a moment before making my decision.

My legs shifted and I put all the strength I could into them as I launched myself skyward, shifting as I did. My wings beat in the air before I was fully shifted, and I flew up and over the mountain to get a view of what was happening.

The guards were shouting, but I ignored them, instead focusing on helping Tiamat. I showed off my scales, rippling through their colors, including both the metallic and chromatic.

Quezalcoatl flailed on the other side as Tiamat ravaged him like a mad dog.

Size wise, it was like watching a dog tussle with an anaconda, only magnified several thousand times.

I was joined in the air by nearly a hundred dragons ranging in sizes from single stadium size to five stadiums stacked in a row.

The village was filled with giant dragons, although none compared to Tiamat. My mother could have walked up the mountain in only several strides.

Quezalcoatl coiled away much like a snake before rising to see Tiamat and the small army of dragons flying in the air. Its eyes centered on me with a hiss.

“You will die here today if you push your luck, Quezalcoatl. I will give you this last chance to leave my territory,” Tiamat warned, taking a proud stance and looking at my dragon out of the corner of her eye.

I saw her eyes widen with a brief moment of shock as she watched my colors shift. Turning back to the Quezalcoatl, a new look of determination was on her draconic face.

The Quezalcoatl seemed undecided as it coiled around itself, destroying the jungle below it. “It is but one dragon,” it argued.

“It is my offspring,” Tiamat boomed with a growl that shook the mountain.

Its tongue hissed out, making a noise closer to a jet engine given its size. “I will remember this.” It coiled around itself again before fanning out its great feathered wings and flapping to lift itself into the air.

Tiamat let out a great sigh and turned to focus on me with a low growl. “You.”

A powerful aura slammed into me, and my beast became a docile kitten in an instant. She was quick for her size. Tiamat’s wings beat, and she was on me instantly.

As she snapped down, I thought I was a goner, but then her teeth closed around the back of my neck. She pulled upward, and something about the move made my body go limp.

“You’ve been a bad whelp,” she growled with my scruff in her neck.

“Mistress! He needs his dragon sealed.” A large black dragon flew next to my mother. Something about her tone reminded me of the guard dragons.

Tiamat roughly slapped her out of the air. “You do not touch my son,” she growled around me in her mouth. “If you have harmed my son, flee before I find out. Your chances would be better in the wilds.”

Tiamat climbed back over the mountain, carrying me like a mother cat with her kitten. “Shift,” she mumbled as we neared the ground.

I shifted, knowing that we needed to talk. I shrank to a smaller size as she matched me, keeping a firm hold on me throughout. Still carrying me, she marched into the temple in her human form, reminding me very much of the Tia I had met in the crystal.

Tiamat had the same messy hair that seemed impossible to manage. Only now that I was thinking about it, that might have been a typical characteristic of red dragons.

She looked at me for a second before she grabbed me in a fierce hug and lifted me off the ground, shaking me like a little girl with her favorite dolly.

“My son! I missed you!” She smothered my cheeks with kisses. “Come, come. Call me mom. Do it. Do it. DO IT!” She became increasingly intense.

“Mother, please put me down. I’m a grown man, and we are both naked,” I tried to reason with her.

“Nonsense.” She let go of me and grabbed my arm. “Attendants! Come dress us,” she shouted, and several dragons rushed out of a stairway with clothes.

She only relinquished my arm for the second it took for them to put on her bra and then snatched it again, as if she was worried I was going to run. The attendants stuffed a nicer sack over my head and pulled my arms through the holes before Tiamat caught my arm again.

“Better.” She then crushed me with a hug and started to drag me to the stairs. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”

Despite wanting to fight her, I just couldn’t. It was like being caught in a steel bear trap that somehow was also comfortingly motherly. Letting out a sigh of defeat, I let her drag me back into the temple.

As soon as we got into the building, she just held me, rubbing her face on the top of my head.

Given the height difference, my legs were now dragging on the ground.

“I missed you so much, my little darling. My little baby is back,” Tiamat continued to dote on me. “When you disappeared, I tore the jungle apart. But I couldn’t find you and that damned husband of mine.”

“So Bart was the one who ferried me out of here?”

Tiamat hissed. “Don’t say that name. Where is he?” She turned my face so she was staring into my eyes. “I’ll rip him apart.”

“No idea,” I answered honestly. “I was raised by two humans, with my dragon sealed. I had no idea I was anything but a human until more recently.”

Her eyes grew wide, and she sandwiched my face between her hands as she smushed my cheeks and searched my eyes. “Truly?”

I nodded.

Tiamat let out a heavy sigh and dragged me to a long table, sitting me down at one end. “Servants, I want a feast to feed a kingdom. My son has come home,” she announced it, and there was a scrambling of feet. “Tell me everything. You were raised by humans?”

“Outside of the faerie, in a city called Philadelphia.” I grabbed a grape off a platter. “Now, I want to know what happened to you.”

“No.” She pushed the bowl practically into my lap as she sat next to me, leaning forward intently. “I don’t even know where ‘Philly’ is. Tell me everything. Who raised you?”

“Philly is in America…” I paused, realizing that since her last reincarnation, it had likely been at least five hundred years. “America is across the Atlantic ocean. There’s a large continent to the north. I grew up on the east coast of that continent.”

She bobbed her head in understanding. “I know of it. Long ago, your father and I ruled the skies and the world. I’ve traveled all over. Tell me more.”

“I was raised on a farm by two lovely, but elderly parents. They’ve passed away now.” I felt a slight pang at the thought. I hadn’t been back the past year to visit their grave.

Tiamat came around the corner of the table. “Don’t worry, my baby, momma’s here. I won’t ever leave you.”

“About that—” I started, but then guards came in ushering in a newly clothed Regina.

“Who’s this?” Tiamat scowled, and her nostrils flared as she sniffed me and then moved over to Regina and smelled her.

The guard looked a little nervous and the claw marks on her shoulder told me she was the one that Tiamat had knocked out of the sky. “She was with the male. I thought you may want to question her.”

The guard looked over at me, not bothering to hide the contempt as she did. Yet she seemed to be trying to get back in Tiamat’s favor.

Tiamat appraised the guard. “This is my son.” She punctuated each word like a gong before sending the guard crashing into the wall.

Regina tried to back up, but she was too slow.

Tiamat had her by the throat and lifted her up. “You smell like my son.”

“Mother, put her down. She led me here. Well… she captured me…” I trailed off, not sure why I had started to defend her. Then I nearly choked on a grape with what she said next.

“You aren’t good enough for my son,” Tiamat growled and threw Regina out. She smoothed her outfit back out before turning to grin at me.

“Mother…” I started, and she melted.

“Say it again!” She jumped up and down. “Say it again.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Mother.”

She squealed and grabbed me by the shoulders, hauling me into yet another hug. “My son has returned, and he’s calling me mother. This is the best day ever!” She crushed me once more before setting me back down.

“So. Were you born here?” I asked her.

She nodded. “Yes, not long after they moved here. Both your father and I were born here, but his dragon was sealed and his memories didn’t come until later, when I protected him from having his dragon resealed. What we are forced to do to the men is a tragedy.”

"You could unseal them." I pointed out.

She frowed at me. "The first generation to arrive here had nine males. Within five years they had either fled into the wilds on their own and died or killed each other. There were two left, kept on opposite sides of the village and under guard so they didn't kill each other. What would you have me do? Let those two rule the roost, kill any young male dragons that were born?"

"They wouldn't have." Though, I wasn't even sure I believed it myself.

"Not their own, but the other's children? Yes they would. So we sealed the male children to protect them." Tiamat looked in the direction of the village. "We do our best to protect them, including from themselves. Every woman out there knows that if something happens to the men of the village, we are done for. After we watched dozens die Ares fled thinking the Church had won. Their blitz on the island was a slaughter."

I nodded. It sounded familiar to what Poly had guessed. “The dragons here fled from the war with the Church?”

She nodded. “From their perspective, the training island they were on was deep within dragon territory. For it to be attacked, many dragons had to have already died. So, they ran. How is it outside Faerie?”

“Different. Human technology has boomed, so has the human population. The paranormal have survived, but we stay hidden. There are about fifty dragons left.”

“That’s all?” She raised an eyebrow. “There are two hundred, maybe two hundred and fifty dragons in the village.”

“All of which are huge from eating a Fae Wilds diet. Honestly, you could all march out of Faerie and would instantly become a global power among the paranormal,” I added, hoping that maybe they would leave the Wilds.

But she disappointed me. “Can’t. We have a bargain with The Dreamer. I must stay and so must the village.” But she tapped at her chin. "We could send the next generation of males, let them live full lives." At least she was willing to give some concessions.

I paused, suddenly realizing there was more to the problem. “As for the men, I'm sure we can figure something out, we desperately need more dragons. I guess the same is true here? Regina, who you just kicked out, was as big as some of the biggest dragons outside. From what I just saw when we all faced off against Quezalcoatl, you have many larger dragons even. Your village is probably providing a ton of mana to faerie.” Not to mention the needs of said large dragons might be more than was sustainable outside of faerie. Letting the future children filter out of Faerie might be the best option.

Tiamat chuckled darkly. “Yes. I am quite large this life, and quite powerful.” She had a smug grin on her face. “But forget about that girl. Forget all your women. We’ll hold a tournament here to see which woman is worthy of you. You can only have the strongest.”

“Mother, I already have a small harem of mates,” I tried to reason with her.

“Nonsense!” She smacked the table. “My son only deserves the best. I bet they are all weaklings based on what you say of life outside Faerie.”

I realized she might be right. Compared to all these wild fae-fed dragons, they weren’t the strongest. But they were mine. And Tiamat and I clearly needed some boundaries set. “If you touch a hair on any of my mates’ heads, I’ll never speak to you again.”

Tiamat growled at me. “You’d choose them over your own mother?”

“Choose my mates who have had my back over the mother who abandoned me? Yes.” I pushed her away.

“No!!” She clung to me. “I didn’t abandon you. Please, I’ll give these mates of yours a chance. Is this Regina one? I’ll have the attendants bring her back in.”

I shook my head, and she let out a sigh of relief.

“Good. She’s quite weak. Too weak for my son. I need you to get a strong wife so that when you bring the rest here they can be protected.” She nodded to herself.

“My other mates aren’t coming here. Well, some of them are in Faerie. But that’s not the plan at the moment. I am in the Fae Wilds to help the Winter fae, then I have to get back to my wedding,” I declared.

Tiamat looked at me, blinking a few times as if my words didn’t make any sense to her. “Have to get back? You can’t go. You just got here.” She grabbed me and held me in place. “I just got my son back; you are not leaving.”

I sighed. “I don’t have long, mother. But I will catch you up on my life, how about that?”

She nodded with a sly smile, her eyes eager as she leaned forward, her face awkwardly close to mine.