Dragon 7 Chapter 29 (Patreon)

As I was flying through the air, a question was circling in my mind. My eyes were seared by the light, desperately trying to heal, as I wondered what happened when a spear that has been absorbing hundreds if not thousands of dragon’s mana was severed from the fabric of reality.

I could just see Sabrina standing in front of me, like we were back in magic lessons once more.

Sabrina would point out that all the mana the spear drained had to go somewhere, likely into the enchantment itself, to continue to power it. Some of it would be used up in powering the spear, but if it was still active, that meant there was a large store of mana inside of the weapon.

If Sabrina were teaching me, she’d ask, ‘what happens when you break an enchantment.’

As my head swirled, I smiled and answered my make-believe Sabrina, ‘Well, it gives off a little flash or maybe a little heat and poof it’s gone.’

And she’d ask. ‘Then what happens for really big enchantments?’

I’d tell her the same thing, but bigger.

That’s when she’d explain to me what happens when something creates a large bubble of intense heat. It expands. Explosively.

Thus, my current predicament.

I felt us descending and pulled Nyske close while I focused all of my energy in growing scales along my shoulder and back to try to protect our bodies.

We hit the ground, my back and shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. I skipped off the ground several times before skidding to a stop that shredded my clothes and a good chunk of my skin.

“Ugh,” was about all I could mutter as I let go of Nyske.

“My king, I’m strong enough. I could have taken the impact.” She leaned over me and put a hand on me, not quite sure what to do.

As I looked at her, I saw sparkles swirling around her. My brain was apparently addled enough to have messed up vision.

“Sparkles,” I wheezed, noticing that my breath tasted sweeter than any other I’d had before. Somewhere in my brain, I made a connection with the times I’d eaten particularly powerful paranormals. “Mana.”

Nyske poked at the air where a sparkle had been; apparently, she was seeing them too.

That was good. I thought I had hit my head a little too hard.

“Yes, my king. The mana in the air is so rich that it’s giving off spontaneous glimmers of light,” Nyske replied and took a deep breath.

I mimicked her, feeling my dragon stir with the breath and then quickly took another. With each breath, it felt like my dragon clawing was itself out of a deep slumber. My back itched as the healing began, and I continued to breathe, feeling lightheaded from the deep breaths but continuing them regardless.

I continued to heal. The dragon in me once again stood proud.

Nyske must have seen the change, because she grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. “What now?”

I looked around, trying to see if Summer was okay. The explosion had kicked a ton of dust into the air, and we couldn’t see much.

“Well, we need to have a talk, but that can happen later.” The spear reacting to her had thrown me for a loop. I knew she had a secret, but the fact that dragon magic was involved made me more wary.

Nyske blushed. “When you can get the whole story at once. We can check on the crystal when we get back. Please keep it a secret for now.”

I grunted and watched as the dust settled.

There was a crackling spire that began to emerge in the distance. I realized it was some sort of magical barrier that extended high above the henge.

Everything else was gone.

The area looked like what I imagined the site of a bomb would.

As the dust continued to clear, it was apparent that Summer had been the one to block the explosion from harming her or her daughter, and she was the one that had paid the price.

For the first time, Summer had blood on her torso while Aurora was in perfect condition, having stabbed her mother while she had protected both of them.

It made me hate Aurora even more.

Nyske tensed beside me, and I saw a figure further away through the dust. Something was off; the figure was too big to be Norton. But the smoke coming off of it told me all I needed to know.

“Help Summer. How are you with iron?” I asked Nyske.

“Still hurts me. I’m a little bit of a mixed bag.” She frowned. “But I’ll do what I can.”

She took off towards the henge, and I let my hybrid form come out. My bones crackled as I put on mass, growing several feet taller. I let out a breath of relief at feeling my dragon back.

The dust continued to settle, and I saw why the shape looked wrong.

The figure was Norton, but it was like a miniature Iapetus was growing out of him. His skin was torn from the explosion, and where his skin was broken was a stony, smoky body underneath. Half his face had cracked and given way to an impassive stony mask behind it.

“You,” he growled like two rocks rubbing together. Norton ducked and charged me, the ground rumbling underneath him with each step.

I matched him, letting my horns lead the way as we collided and struggled for who was stronger. Unfortunately for him, my strength was growing by the moment, new mana flooding into my body.

Rather than faltering, I picked him up and slammed him to the ground, stomping on his knee. I destroyed what little cloth remained, and his skin cracked, revealing even more stony body underneath.

Norton roared and snapped a kick up at me, catching me in the gut.

I took the hit; my body was no longer weakened, and I wasn’t going to let something like this put me down.Morgan had taught me how to take advantage of this.

Ignoring the hit, I grabbed his ankle and stepped back, leaning into the motion. I swung him off the ground and back around, slamming him into the dirt before I lifted him up and did it again.

The fucker was durable. And each time I injured him, it was like his humanity was fading away and he was turning into a miniature titan. Only this one was far more solid than the one that Carl had become.

I kept hitting him. There had to be a point that his durability would end. And he was standing in the way of me helping Summer.

Summer’s words in the court echoed in my mind. She was only defending; she wouldn’t kill her daughter. And that could be her downfall if I took too long.

I understood her reasons, but it frustrated the hell out of me. I wanted her to fight. And the punching bag in front of me gave me a great way to take out that frustration.

Tightening my grip on Norton’s ankle I swung around, bashing him into the ground repeatedly.

Every time he tried to regain some control of his body, I’d whip him around as hard as I could and smash him into the ground for good measure.

Norton got frustrated, and smoke shot in every direction, lifting me and tossing me away.

“Get off me you fucking fanger,” he shouted, making a commotion as he got to his feet.

“That’s right. You don’t know dragon’s exist.” I grinned from ear to ear. “Time to broaden your horizons.” My back cracked as my spine elongated and I shifted completely.

I grew and I grew. Gold and red scales swirled over me as my claws cracked the dirt underneath us and my neck stretched out. My dragon form towered over Norton and kept growing until I could fill a stadium.

“So, call me a ‘fucking fanger’ again.” I smiled, but it didn’t come across right as a dragon.

Norton looked up at me and cursed before he turned and ran.

The predator in me rose to the surface immediately, my dragon interested. Never run from a dragon. My instincts surged, and I let them take over as I pounced on him like a cat would a mouse.

“Die.” I pressed him to the ground with my full weight and tore off an arm with my jaws.

As I removed the limb, my bracer burned all the way through my body. I crunched down on Norton’s stony arm. The resistance I’d felt before absorbing Iapetus’s mana faded to an almost sickly sweetness to my dragon taste buds as I swallowed the arm.

“Norton! Fuck it. Iapetus, help me. Do whatever it takes,” Aurora shouted.

The thing under my claw smirked and exploded into smoke, flowing out from under me like wet sand.

I was getting tired of Iapetus and all the bits of himself he’d sprinkled around.

The smoke shot across the charred ground to Aurora in the henge. The fae wasn’t looking so good anymore. Her clothes were torn and her hair was ragged from fighting her mother. But there was no blood on Aurora.

Besides the wound in her side, Summer looked like she’d seen nothing worse than a windy day.

The smoke moved through the hedge, filling Aurora’s mouth, eyes and ears. Iapetus’s power transferred into her.

I raced over to the henge and leaned over. “Summer.” I wasn’t sure if she’d stop me.

“Wait.” Summer watched with a critical eye.

Aurora stood up straight strangely, like a marionette with its strings pulled. And then she shot out of the henge.

Summer’s beautiful face turned into one of hatred.

It was like staring into the sun. She became so bright I could barely look at her. She glowed with golden light, her hair and dress whipping up and around her body as her voice boomed, “You killed my daughter.”

Her words were filled with a burning rage as golden chains filled the space between the sky and the earth. Hundreds of them wrapped around Aurora’s body, tying her back to the ground.

I’d never really seen a fae queen at their peak. Summer was majestic and terrifying. The fragment of Iapetus’s power wasn’t enough for her.

“Zach, I don’t want any of that power to escape. Devour it,” Summer demanded.

“But that’s—”

She turned to me, and I felt the heat of her gaze. “My daughter should not have been able to leave the henge. Our deal was that neither of us would leave until one of us is dead. For her body to leave, our deal was done. He is wearing my daughter’s body, and it must end now.”

I didn’t ask for more. I bounded forward, my jaws snapping down around Aurora’s body.

Typhon’s blessing on my bracer burned through once more, and Iapetus’s power bolstered my own. But there was another magic, one that was bright and warm. It trickled elsewhere within me, merging with Ikta’s wild and sticky magic.

I could feel it. I was changing yet again. The fae knew more than they were telling me.

The chains that had held Aurora disappeared, burning off in the air.

I looked back at Summer. She had fallen to her knees in grief, and I knew it was not the time to ask her questions. Shifting, I took several steps as the process finished, and then I pulled out a pair of jeans from my bracer. I slipped them on before approaching Summer.

Nyske was awkwardly hanging in the wings, not quite sure what to do.

“Summer.” I knelt by her and took her hand.

She squeezed it back and pulled me down into a hug as she dampened my shirt with silent tears.

The powerful woman who had stood in front of her court, ruling them all, and had just chained the heavens to capture part of a titan was now a mourning mother.

“I’m so sorry.” I held her for a moment before scooping up Summer and carrying her outside the henge where we could rest up against the stone. “Nyske, please watch for anyone coming and tell me when someone comes.”

She nodded and shot away, happy to have something to do.

I had no doubt that if my ladies were anywhere in the Faerie, the recent events had given them enough of a sign of where they could find me. I could almost hear Morgana calling me a trouble magnet again.

Summer curled into my arms, letting out her grief for a moment longer before she took a large heavy breath, followed by another. Slowly, she regained control of herself.

Fae felt emotions stronger than humans, and losing a daughter was one that would bring any mother to her knees.

I rubbed at her back. “Want to talk?”

Summer wiped at her tears, and I could almost see her pushing forward, trying to process what had happened. “Do you blame me?”

“Blame you?” I scoffed. “How in the hell would I blame you?”

“I could have prevented this. I had multiple opportunities to kill her,” Summer replied, grief filling her voice.

I kissed the top of her head before shaking mine. “She was your daughter. I understand.”

“I knew she was starting to go down the same path as my mother.” Summer rested her head in the crook of my elbow and looked out over the ruined land. “The fae wars, the constant fighting, the backstabbing. When we get back to court, it changes us.”

“You seem normalish,” I teased her.

She smiled at me. “I take after my father, not my mother.”

“Tell me about him.” I grasped at something to take her mind off the present situation, and she seemed happy thinking about her father.

“He was a carpenter who was a little too handsome for his own good.” She smirked at the memory. “My mother got him drunk and lay with him when she was visiting an outlying town. Even though he got her pregnant, she didn’t acknowledge him. When she became pregnant, she brought a weaker-willed man with her to court. My mother was nothing if not supremely paranoid. She wouldn’t surround herself with someone she couldn’t control.”

I wanted to hear more and encouraged her. “So your father would have stood up to the Summer Queen? Given how men are in Faerie, I’m shocked.”

“Oh. Not directly. But he knew that I was his. He didn’t try to lay claim, but he found a way to come to me. He worked tirelessly in his craft and pulled himself out of the outlying village, changing his name and becoming a master of his art. Eventually, he became famous enough that he was crafting things for the Royal manor, giving him access to me.” She smirked. “My mother didn’t even notice.”

I imagined a younger Summer sneaking conversations with her real father while her mother stormed through the place unaware. “He was a good man?”

“Very good. You remind me of him.” She sighed. “He had purpose. He saw beyond the struggles of the fae and the wars. He created; he didn’t destroy. He was a wonderful man.”

Squeezing her slightly, I was honored she saw that in me. “I’m guessing this story doesn’t have a happy ending.”

“No.” Summer shook her head, but she didn’t wilt. “My mother eventually found out. I suppose it was only a matter of time. He met his end with his head held high, smiling at me, reminding me of what he stood for. What I could be. My mother made his death public to send a message to me, but the rest of the nobles didn’t see it as she intended. The move was actually the start of my ascent to the throne, with the backing of the rest of the summer nobles. A woman who was so insecure with her control that she’d kill the father of her child wasn’t someone they could trust with their lives and loved ones.”

Summer watched me for a second. “Fae’s emotions are strong. We love twice as strongly as humans, but that only means we become four times as vengeful if something goes wrong.” There was a small smirk forming on her lips. “Be careful. You’ve surrounded yourself with a lot of us.”

“I’m happy to take all the love I can get. Thankfully, I have the dragon stamina to weather it. There will be no need for vengeance.” I pushed back some hair that had gotten in her face, prying it off the dried tears.

“Careful what you ask for, Dragon King. I’m a monarch with no heir. That's a very precarious place for me. To be a good royal, I need to once more give birth to a child.” There was a sadness that crept into the edge of her eyes as she tried to make the joke.

Her face wrinkled with sadness for a moment before she pushed it aside. The fae were almost too controlled with their emotions. Part of me wondered if I should try to help her get it out.

“You can cry with me,” I told her.

She glanced at me. “It’s not that I think I can’t. But if I start, I won’t stop. Forgive me. I think I’ll need a little time.”

I kissed her forehead gently. “Take all the time you need.”

She cupped the back of my head and changed the angle so that our lips met.

We stayed like that for a long while, savoring the intimate touch of our lips as she grieved the loss of her daughter. Summer was a torrent of emotions, and I was a rock in the storm for her.