Dragon 6 Chapter 24 (Patreon)

After being absorbed into the ground, I felt myself being pulled through the roots and the soil with zero sense of direction.

I was thankful that dragons could hold their breaths for a long time underwater, using that skill at the moment. To conserve oxygen, I shifted back down to my hybrid form. The vines tightened down on me as I continued to be pulled through the roots.

As I descended, I started wondering when it would end. I could reduce my oxygen needs for a bit, but I was going to run out soon. Around the point I started trying to figure out my next game plan, the root system came to an end and I was dumped out into a new chamber.

The space was empty except for a giant open flower in the center, a pool of liquid resting within it. Soft light shimmered off the petals and I looked around for anyone else from my party.

“Hello?” I called out.

There was a swish of liquid as something moved, and I focused my attention on the noise, watching as a petite, young woman rose out of the liquid.

I braced myself for glamor as I took in the nymph-like woman, cringing as I thought about how the others were going to make me never forget it if I succumbed to it once more.

But her eyes were a milky white, indicating her blindness as she looked around.

“Someone there?” she asked, facing in the direction of my voice.

I paused, but then I felt silly for being worried about a blind nymph. “Uh, I was drawn through the roots and ended up here.”

“Oh?” She sounded surprised. “I was napping. It has been a long, long time since I’ve had a guest. I was pulled down here… well… I’m not quite sure how long ago. The nectar here is what I’ve lived on.” She scooped up the liquid in her hands and drank from it. “Would you like some?”

Given the strangeness of Faerie, I thought it best not to drink the flower nectar. “No thanks.” I moved closer and sat on one of the petals. “Is there a way out of here?”

“Not that I’ve found.” She swished the nectar she sat within. “But I don’t exactly have the best eyes.” She laughed at her own blind joke.

I looked around the chamber. It was lit by the soft glow of the petals, but it all seemed to be the same root walls. I might have to try to blast my own way out.

“Would you be willing to do me a favor?” she asked.

I raised my eyebrows, wondering if it was all some fae ruse. But at the moment, I didn’t have a lot of options, so it was worth trying to get more information.

“What can I help you with?” I knew better than to blindly agree.

“There is this big knot in the back of my hair. I cannot seem to work it out myself, and I thought maybe you could help.” She turned her back to me, and I spotted the tangle she was describing.

Pulling one of my mate’s hair brushes from my bracer, I scooted closer and worked on her hair. “You are oddly trusting. You don’t even know who I am.”

“I’ve been stuck in the dark, alone for a very long time. I’m just happy there is someone else here.” She looked over her shoulder with a brilliant smile.

I shook my head with a chuckle. “Well then, I suppose we are stuck together. I will try and get this knot out, but I might pull some hair.”

“That’s fine, as long as it stops being a giant tangle for a while.” She sat at the edge of the pool.

I took the brush and teased the edge of the knot, getting as much free as I could before I started to run the brush through it. If I didn’t do it gently, I’d rip out a ton of her hair.

“So, why are you here?” she asked, breaking the silence as I worked at the knot.

“My friend’s mother froze herself because she got too close to one of The Dreamer’s flowers. I came to try and help save her.” I saw no reason to be dishonest with the nymph. Either she had some relation to The Dreamer or she really was some innocent, lost soul stuck in the cavern.

“That’s some friendship,” she commented. “To take such a risky task for just a friend…” Her tone was leading.

“Well, she may be more than just a friend now. I marked and mated her during our journey,” I admitted.

“Marked and mated?” She frowned at the terms.

“I’m a dragon. We mark our mates; it is a permanent affair,” I explained.

“Oh,” she made an appreciative sound. “What a lucky woman. Where is she?”

I sighed. “We fell into a tunnel and then were attacked by vines that dragged us through the ground. I don’t know where she ended up. Apparently, we are separated for now.”

The nymph nodded. “The ground just opened up for me, swallowed me and dropped me down here.”

“You were blind before then?” I asked.

“Yes, born blind, though it makes me see the world differently.” She didn’t seem to be bothered by it at all.

I finished up with the knot as best as I could. “I’m going to comb out the rest. It might hurt a little bit.” I began pulling the brush through the remaining tangles, working to rake them out.

The nymph grunted as I pulled the brush through. “Just get it done.”

I finished and she ran her fingers through her hair.

“That’s so much better.” She sighed, enjoying running her fingers through.

I looked down at the brush. It was a simple thing for me to replace later. “Here, have this.” I placed it in her hand.

“Oh?” She ran her hands over it, getting an idea what it looked like. “This is an odd comb.”

“It’s a hair brush. My mates prefer it over a comb.” I didn’t bother explaining too much.

The nymph lifted it to her hair and ran it through several times with a satisfied smile. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome. I can’t imagine how lonely it must be to be stuck here.” I stood from the petal and went over to the wall, running my hand over the roots, trying to get an idea of how hard they would be to dig through.

“I wouldn’t try that if I were you,” the nymph warned me. Her tone had changed drastically, and that was the only answer I needed.

She shouldn’t have been able to see me, which meant there was more to her than she was letting on. “Going to stop pretending that you are some helpless nymph?”

“I really didn’t have anything to get rid of the knot.” She leaned on the edge of the pool, resting her elbows on the petals and her chin in her hands. “Besides, I didn’t exactly lie.”

“Are you The Dreamer?” I asked point blank.

“Complicated, but yes. This body was once a blind nymph that traded her body for a life with no complications. She is a sweet soul, but I’m using her body right now.” The Dreamer swam backwards in the nectar, gesturing for me to join her.

“I’ll pass.”

“Shame. This nectar could keep you young forever and fill you with incredible strength.”

“At what cost?” I asked, curious if she would answer me. There was some of it on my hands, but the risks seemed high.

“No point in answering. You won’t believe me anyway. So, you want to save the current Winter Queen?” She got right to the point. “Why? She’s wronged you.”

She knew far more than she should.

Walking back over to the petal, I sat at the edge of the pool. “Because if she survives, then Maeve is free to be my mate.”

“But Maeve is already your mate. You said as much.” She swam up to my side and looked up at me. Part of me wanted to move away, but given the power she held and the fact that I was in her domain, I wasn’t sure it would make much of a difference.

“If Maeve becomes queen, then she’ll be limited in how much time she can spend with me. It will be more complicated for us,” I sighed.

The Dreamer nodded. “But what if I told you that I purposefully tried to kill Winter, both because she is already dying and because I want Maeve to become queen?”

“You tried to kill Winter?” I asked, surprised at her admission.

Now I really wanted to get out of her domain. I thought about attacking the nymph and running, but it wasn’t The Dreamer in front of me. She was simply using the nymph’s body.

“Winter has already obtained enough power to return to the war and beat back Summer. In fact, she has enough power to do far more than just beat her back. Winter would have plunged your world into a ten-year winter before the power she obtained killed her. I stopped that and intended to fully absorb her strength because it did not come from the fae.” She swished in the pool again, drawing my attention to her once more.

I processed her information, asking the question I most wanted the answer to at the moment. “Where are my mates?”

“Safe,” she promised quickly. “This is a conversation for us. Though, I know you would not consent to a conversation with me if I had harmed them. Dragons are such territorial creatures.”

“Understatement of the year,” I snorted. “Can I see them?”

“No, but I am a fae still. I cannot lie.” She stared at me with her white eyes. “They are alive and well, though the angel won’t stop stabbing my roots. It is testing my patience.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that spilled out of me. “Okay. That I believe. Then let’s hurry this up. What do you want?”

“Balance. You’ve mated with the Fall Lady. If I continue, Winter will die. The power she holds will be claimed by me, and Maeve will ascend the Winter Throne. She’ll use the power you hold and your strength will be at her side. She will have a strong running for this Winter, and you may even be able to hold off Summer for quite some time.” She sighed. “But you will grow stronger, and that’s where it becomes complicated. Your dragons will side with Winter, and Summer will suffer terrible losses in the years to come. The balance will break.”

I frowned. “Are you able to see the future?”

“No, but history repeats itself too often.” She swam amid the nectar for a second, drinking it. “You are a heavy pendulum that will sway the balance. Summer already knows this.”

Suddenly, the images of Summer consoling me and working herself into my good graces during the wedding planning came to mind. “That’s why Summer has been so helpful?”

“She knows that, when you stand behind Maeve, the Fall Lady will grow in power, but I do not think she realizes how much. What if Maeve’s daughter is a dragon? How do you think that will affect their wars?” The Dreamer asked me.

The question was startling.

Our child would be the next Fall Lady one day. And not only would she be my daughter and powerful, but she would likely spend much time in Faerie. I could only imagine Tiamat feeding her granddaughter plenty of meat from the Wilds until she was large enough to rival Tiamat herself.

Even if I didn’t disrupt the balance of power, our child most certainly would.

“How does killing Winter help anything?” I brought myself back to the original question.

“Because then we can talk about you mating the other queen of the fae conflicts. That way, should the two fight, and they will, you become an arbiter of peace between them rather than siding with one. Also, while we are on the topic of mating fae queens, you may consider the third in order to fully drive the balance needed.” The Dreamer made lazy circles in the nectar.

She wanted me to take two more wives for balance in the fae realm. While it made sense, I didn’t love the idea. I mated for love, not political ties.

“Third?” The only other one I could think of… “Ikta? No.”

The Dreamer laughed. “Don’t be so scared of her. She might not be right in the head, but she would care for the father of her children. Besides, she really would help the world refill with mana. At its current rate, paranormals will begin to die off within a hundred years. Or if they survive, they’d have little to no powers. There wouldn’t be enough mana for them to manifest.”

“A hundred years?” I was shocked at her prediction. “That’s not a lot of time.”

“Faerie will be fine. I will insure of that. My daughters will thrive.”

My frown at the word must have caught her attention.

“The nymphs. All of the nymphs are my children.” The Dreamer smiled at me. “You have quite the appetite for them too.” She paused, making a noise of thought.

I had so many questions for The Dreamer, but I had to keep focused on the reason I’d come to her. “What will it take to free Winter?” I had promised Maeve. Even with the demands that The Dreamer was teeing up, I needed to follow through.

“Even after what I’ve told you, you still wish to free her?” The Dreamer tilted her head, studying me, but not surprised.

“Yes. Even if she causes trouble in the future, I’d like time with Maeve before she needs to take the throne.” I stood firm, keeping my work to Maeve.

The Dreamer twirled a lock of hair in her fingers. “I will require you to keep the balance. It will require far more work from you.”

“Lay it out for me,” I said, bracing myself.

“In order for Winter to survive, she must be disconnected from the source power she’s acquired. Otherwise, this deal is short lived. She will retain what she’s already claimed and you must be careful—she’s bargained with things that she shouldn’t have,” The Dreamer advised me.

I nodded, happy for the deal to last longer. This was about making time for me and Maeve, even if it would have complications. From what I’d learned from Maeve, she wanted this.

“How do I do that?”

“Help from your father,” she answered with a lopsided smile. “I tried to make a deal with him when he went to remove you from this plane.”

I stayed quiet, waiting for more.

“He denied me though. In the end, he wound up right where he needed to be. Your father is brilliant like that. He’s like me and can clearly see the path forward.” The Dreamer had a look on her face like a love-struck woman. “I would have taken him in and let my nymphs raise you. You both would have been happy, and I’d have more dragons in the Wilds producing mana. But, alas, he denied me.”

I waited for her to continue, but that seemed to be the end of her story. “Where is he?” I felt like she was teasing me, making me ask.

“Dead.” She smiled. “In the realm of the dead. The Underworld to be exact.”

My brows shot up into my hairline. “The Underworld is real?”

I knew that the paranormal had played a role in much of the myths of our world. But I had assumed that the Underworld was another name for Hell.

“Yes, and dragons with their death magic have quite the connection to the place. Your father drew on that to free you from the Wilds, but at a cost. Death magic is very powerful, and equally dangerous.”

She’d just hit me with a lot of information.

My father was dead. And while a part of me had assumed that was true in order for me to have been raised without him, there was still an ache in it being confirmed.

And he’d died trying to save me. And now The Dreamer wanted me to go into the Underworld and find him.

“I will take on that task. It sounds like my father has already started to prepare. How do I get there?”

The Dreamer shrugged. “Not my area of expertise. But you have a friend that is well connected to it. A lich that lives in Philly, if I’m to understand correctly.”

I nodded, once again not sure about how much information she possessed. “Morgana’s friend. I will seek him out, and we will sever Winter from the source of her new power. What else?” I knew she wouldn’t give up so easily.

“Mate Summer, and support her through the coming spring. Then you must mate Ikta before the end of the next year.” She smiled.

I wanted more than an obligation, but I wasn’t unattracted to those two, I would have to pursue them and form something on my own. This was the price for her help in saving Winter.

My head started swirling, and I went to pace the room as she continued speaking.

“Finally, drink the nectar.”

I turned to face her as she smiled blindly. “Those are my terms. Or you can let Winter die and things will play out as they are. Though, you are likely to fall to Summer’s attempts eventually so really that one isn’t too hard of a request.”

I rubbed at my forehead. The idea of more mates pleased my dragon, but I was growing tired of others thrusting them on me. “What’s in the nectar?”

“Vitality and my blessing. Fae queens would backstab half their courts for a chance to drink this.” She smiled, scooping some of it from the pond. It was more vicious than water, but certainly not like honey. If anything, it reminded me of a white wine.

“No, what exactly does it do?” I wasn’t about to let her drug me.

“It is my blessing. You will become… unusually virile, even for a dragon. It will also lower your resistance to my children. Both Summer and Ikta will come with nymphs to support them. And I’d love for them to bear dozens of dragons. It will also grant you strength as you take more fae into your harem.” She smiled, holding her cupped hand of nectar higher.

I stared at her hands, replaying her description of the mana in my world. She couldn’t lie. She believed mana would run out, and now was offering me the chance to sire a small army of dragons.

I couldn’t help but wonder how many steps ahead of me she was thinking.

“This nectar won’t have any disastrous side effects?”

She wrinkled her nose and withdrew her cupped hands of nectar. “There might be some effects I didn’t explain.”

“Like?”

“The virility and weakness to nymphs might be a side effect of something else.” She pursed her lips. “It will awaken the wild magic you incorporated from Ikta. Zach, you are the pendulum of change. You will shape an era, and you will need that strength.”

“That’s all?” I pressed her further.

“Yes.” She lifted the nectar.

This wasn’t what I wanted, but at the same time, she was pushing me in a direction I knew I needed.

“Deal then.” Something tentatively snapped between the two of us. But rather than take it directly from her hands, I scooped my hands into the liquid and raised it to my mouth.

In all of her plans, they included me alive and producing dragon whelps. I didn’t need to make her agree to not harm me or protect me; I already knew that she would. It was in her best interest. There was no reason to get me to agree to all of this just to harm me.

The nectar slid down my throat, an intoxicating sweetness hitting me as The Dreamer rose out of the nectar and grabbed my shoulder. “I was unable to claim your father. But I hope that you put a good word in for me when you see him next.”

My vision wavered as something bloomed inside of me, as everything went black. She lifted me up as she stepped out of the pool.