Two masked men came out of hiding spots on the walls beside Boran, they held blades to his neck before he was able to unsheathe his own. "Why don't you come up, grandson." His grandmother's shrill voice sent shivers down his spine. She reminded him of his father to this day. He didn't even realize she was still alive.
"Why shouldn't I just leave," His grip tightened on his hilt, causing the two blades against his neck to push inwards. He felt the small stubble on his chin conform to the metal as he began to slowly bleed.
"I wanted to speak to my grandson." She gestured to a chair that Malachi pulled up to the table. He let go of his blade and slowly approached the old woman behind the desk. The knight stood in front of her, his figure towered over her, "Please, Sir knight. Sit down." He saw the scales on her arm shiver and her eyes softly glow as she said the last line.
"Fine," Boran sat down and gave a look to the two figures who held blades at his neck. They audibly gulped and backed away, sitting at the only exit the knight could see. "How are you alive?"
"You know how young I had your father. The black market emerald-blood helps, as well." She looked at her nails and blew, they were painted a dark red. "Come, little Kaya, let grandmother see your scales." Boran growled and flexed his fist.
"Do not call me a Kaya. I am nothing like you or your bastard son." He rolled up his sleeve and revealed the missing flesh on his arm, the skin that remained stretched and pulled itself thin from when he cut it as such a young child. "Good luck seeing my scales, grandmother," He let the last word escape with an obvious venom. Cemere gave him a look of obviously fake indignation, she nodded towards one of the figures, who put their blade against his throat once again. The other one grabbed his blade and kept a hold of it.
"Such a shame," She reached out and softly touched the scar, her eyes appeared to well up in mourning, "You had such beautiful scales."
"I was a monster. Just like you are, just like my father was."
"Your father, my little Adlee, was a disappointment. He was always so⦠loud."
"That still does not explain why I'm here." He shuffled in his seat and he felt a drop of blood fall on his hand.
"Of course it doesn't," Cemere snapped her fingers, and Malachi handed her a small piece of paper rolled into a cylinder. She bit her lip with a sharp front tooth and wiped a bit of the blood on the paper. Boran watched as her blood soaked into the paper. She opened a drawer and pulled out a contraption of metal and flint, striking it together until a flame started. She inhaled, the tip of the paper glowing with a soft red color. She took it out of her mouth and continued talking, smoke leaving her mouth while she did, "I want you to join me, grandson. How much can you truly be making under that king? And how much loyalty do you actually have to him?"
"Enough," Boran cracked his knuckles as he looked around at the room. He saw doors that were hidden in the walls now, nearly entirely flush with the wall, "Why would I join a half-breed. Much less you."
"I'm hurt, Boran. I simply want what's best for the people of the city. Do you not want the same? I'm providing them a service here, one they desperately need." She took another puff of the thing in her mouth, "One they have needed for years."
"What service are you providing?" Boran felt more blood drip from his neck as he stared at Cemere.
"An escape," She took another drag, blowing the smoke into Malachi's face afterwards. He coughed into the air, a grunt of pain followed as he put a hand on his bloated left side, "An escape from the pain your king gives them. An escape from the everyday pain of existence. I sell them happiness."
"You clearly-" Boran paused and took a breath. He didn't have a good way out of this situation. He was surrounded on all sides and unarmed. Almost unarmed. His eyes flicked to the contraption of flint and steel and to the blood dripping from his neck. All he needed was a bit more blood. "You clearly have the interests of the people in mind. I'll join you." He reached a hand over the desk, "On one condition. I get my sword back."
"It will be a pleasure to work with you, Boran," She shook his hand and rested the still burning embers of the paper on the desk, "Though, you won't get your blade back immediately. I wouldn't want you to double-cross me."
"Of course," Boran smiled as he cursed to himself. There had to be some way out of here.
"And you can't leave until I am sure you are loyal."
"But I have to-"
"I know, but I am more worried about my operation's safety." She flicked her wrist, one of the masked guards held a blade up to the knight's throat again, pushing him up and out of the chair. His eyes flicked to the flint and steel, and back to the blade being held at his throat. This was his chance. Cemere wasn't stupid, and Boran wasn't a good liar, she would be able to tell something was up. He took a breath and reached towards the sword, grabbing it with all the strength he could muster. The sharp metal dug into his flesh as his blood spilled onto the floor. His eyes flicked over to the flint and steel as he shoved the blade away, causing the metal to dig further into his palm. Cemere's eyes followed his own as the rest of the masked figures jumped into action, unsheathing their blades and charging at Boran. He lunged at the flint and steel, using the blade as a launching point. He felt the sting of blood rushing out of his hand as he stretched his right hand out to grab the flint and steel.
He grabbed it at the same time as his grandmother, both of them sat there for a quarter of a second, staring at each other. Boran pulled away, kicking one of the masked figures that approached him. Cemere kept a tight grip on the lighter, and the knight reached his other hand towards her wrist. The blood spilled on the desk and covered her slightly scaled arm. She pulled away from him, but he flexed his grip, causing her to lose her grip. He immediately struck the two ends together and watched the small spark fly through the air. It fell, two of the masked guards charged at Boran with their blades and the massive knight prepared to run. When the spark hit the pile of blood on the floor, the first thing he noticed was the flash of light, then the massive boom. Like an entire building collapsed in one second. Everyone in the room was knocked back by the energy of the blast, Boran landed by the door to the stairway he came in at.
He opened his eyes with his hand held up to his head. The room in front of him was filled with flames, behind the flames was the figure of his grandmother, her right arm covered in flames. He pushed through his ringing head to reach the stairwell, sliding down the stairs, leaving a trail of his blood that was quickly catching fire. He put his hand to his shirt, letting it absorb as much of the blood as it could while he ran away. The sounds of the city around him were muffled, a high pitched ring covering any sounds he would otherwise hear. He ran through the bowels of the city, stumbling on the dry dirt streets. The massive knight felt blackness overtake his vision as he collapsed onto the ground. He heard someone's voice behind the ringing of his ears and managed to ask something before he passed out. "Take me to the city gateâ¦"
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Fenrir sat in silence next to his daughter, the owls and crickets outside began to chirp, the sun was beginning to set. "Well," Vogaix put her hands on her knees and got up, letting a soft huff out of her mouth as she did, "I think it's about time I should be headed back. I want to spend some more time with Khora."
"Wait," The dragon got up as well, stretching and letting its claws scratch against the cave floor, "I want toâ¦"
"Want to what?" The tiny half-human knight put a clawed hand on her shoulder and blew some of her hair out of her face, "I'm not sure if you don't get it yet, but I'm not the biggest fan of you. Thanks for teaching me how to fly, I guess. But you probably just want to use me for something."
"Vogaixâ¦"
"Shut it." She turned away and flexed her fists, "I was excited to have a dad, you know? Excited toâ¦" She took a breath in and looked at the floor. "Then you just, disappeared for a week? To what⦠languish in your depressing cave the whole time? Did you do anything useful while you were gone? Or were you just too scared to have a daughter. Or did you hate your kid for being a half-breed!" She sniffled, as tears began to fall on the ground in front of her. Her tail wrapped itself around her leg, trying to hide itself from sight. "You probably hate me as much as the rest of them do. The only people that don't hate me are my family⦠and even now I can tell some of them are⦠jealous that I have a dad. Even though he fucking sucks." Vogaix started walking towards the cave's exit, dragging the head of her halberd along the wall, "You hate my human side. Everyone else hates my dragon side. Hell, even my family judges me for my human side being from a different country! I get⦠no fucking rest. I wanted you to be my rest." She turned around, tears streamed down her face, following the lines of her scales as they met their edges. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and fell to the floor. "I wanted you to be different. I thought you were different. But you⦠you're just another asshole, like the rest of them. If you're so much better than humans why not accept your own daughter? Prove that you're better than them!"
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Fenrir opened his mouth, only to close it after no words came out. "You don't have anything to say for yourself?" The half-human, Fenrir's daughter, sniffled and turned around. Her wings flapped against the air as she walked towards the exit. "You're just as much of a coward as the humans who want me dead." She dropped herself off the edge of the cave, running towards the half-breed village. Fenrir sat there in silence, the echo of crickets reflecting towards his scales. Each scale flashed black occasionally as he thought. He hated her. He wanted to hate her. She was half-human, she was half-weakling. But her human half was Ame. He didn't know if he could have it in him to hate her. Maybe he did actually care. The dragon shook his head and looked towards his sister's horn.
"Marathâ¦" He sat his head next to her and closed his eyes, "I don't know what I'm becoming." A puff of smoke escaped his snout. He looked towards the exit of his cave, seeing the slight scratch that Vogaix had made in the stone wall. The dragon felt his stomach rumble. He was hungry, it had been a while since he ate. "I will be back, sister," He walked out of the cave, feeling the soft soil wrap around his claws from the weight of his body. He kept his wings close to his side as his mind raced over nearly everything. Vogaix and Khora, him and Marath, his fathers, him and Ame even. The humans had similar emotions to them. But they were lesser, weren't they? Evil, destroyers of nature, bringers of destruction. That's all they had been, up until he met Ame. His scales shifted to match the color of the forest as he stepped as lightly as he could. Slight prints left themselves on the ground as the dragon weaved through the trees.
He approached the lake near his cave, his scales still matched their color with the forest behind him. There was a boat in the center again, with the same two people that were there the other day. He felt his face contort into a snarl while his throat kept silent. He should have killed them when he had the chance. He churned up his breath-sac, only for a vision of Vogaix to flash in his head. The dragon shook his head and snarled as his breath-sac relaxed. He wouldn't be killing them together either, apparently. He opened his throat and drank some of the water, keeping an eye on the pair of humans. They embraced each other before one of them pulled out some paper bound into a book and some kind of featherless pen. It began to draw the other one, which had its back facing towards the waterfall. They spoke in a language that Fenrir could not understand and the one being drawn laughed heartily. They seemed to be having a lot of fun, perhaps this waterfall was as important to them as the small one by the creek was to Marath and Fenrir.
The dragon dove his head down, catching a fish in his mouth. As he came out of the water, droplets dripping from his snout, he saw the wave he caused push the couple's boat. They looked in his direction, fear in both of the human's eyes. "Who's there?" The one drawing its companion spoke in broken Cosian with an accent similar to Ame's. Were they not from here? Seeing a visitor to these lands was rare, of any species. The dragon let his scales relax as he swallowed the fish he caught, shifting them back to their normal hue. The two backed away in fear for just a second before looking at each other and excitedly speaking their language, Ame's language. Fenrir stood there with his muscled prepared to pounce as he took another sip of the lake. The two began to row towards the dragon, which responded in turn by growling, letting his neck glow a soft orange. "Wait wait," The one that drew picked something up from the boat, a large sack that Fenrir could smell was full of fish, "Aâ¦" It thought for a while.
"A gift," The one that was being drawn finished the other human's sentence, this one was slightly larger, with dark skin similar to Vogaix's.
"Gift! Yes!" The two continued to row forwards. Fenrir stood at attention, his wings outstretched and ready to flap away. These two humans had to be hiding something. Planning something, at least. As they approached, the larger one threw the bag to the shore, their boat bumping against the shore of the lake soon after. Fenrir knelt down and opened the sack, fish came pouring out and the dragon immediately began to eat. One of the humans got out of the boat and stepped closer to Fenrir, outstretching their hand slowly. The dragon stared at the human. Maybe being touched again would feel nice, he actually liked it a bit when Lucy climbed on him, even when she touched his tail. He began to approach the human's hand before he growled and flew away, tail picking up the bag. What was he thinking, letting a stranger almost touch his scales. What was happening to him?
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Khora smiled at Vogaix, who was slowly approaching the half-breed sanctuary. As she got closer, the princess noticed tears staining her knight's skin. The small girl immediately rushed towards her, hugging her in a soft tackle. Vogaix laughed weakly after she jumped from the sudden contact. "Hey there, princess,"
"V!" She looked up at her knight, some of her curled hair rested on her forehead. Her green eyes pierced Vogaix's own, "What's wrong?"
"I," The knight peeled her off of her and continued walking towards the village, "You don't hate me forâ¦" She gestured to her dragon parts, her wings flapped in the air softly as her tail wrapped around her leg. Her eyes flicked away from Khora's, "All this, do you?"
"No! What's happened?" She had always been proud of her heritage, both her dragon half and her human half, "I could never hate you. Especially not for either of those things. You're beautiful, Vogaix. You're my knight. Regardless of what your blood is."
"It's just obvious thatâ¦" She wrapped her clawed hand around her arm, her thumb's claw played with one of her scales lightly. "It's obvious that dragon hates me for my human side. And most humans hate me for my dragon side. Hell I'm not even Cosian, everyone but Slepna here is Cosian. I'm sure some of them judge me for that, too." She squeezed her eyes shut water welling up inside them.
"Nobody here judges you. Not for your blood at least," Khora softly giggled and grabbed Vogaix's free hand, "Maybe for your stubborn, headstrong attitude. Maybe because you're a bit stupid sometimes. But never because of your heritage. And if they did, I'd beat them up!" She flexed with her other arm and jokingly kissed the bicep. Her knight gave a weak smile, "I'm strong! Probably the strongest one in the village, maybe even the whole country!" She pushed her hair back and gave a proud smile.
"Thanks, Koâ¦" Vogaix stopped by one of the hill houses, "I appreciate you. A lot. I hope you know that."
"I know," She pulled her knight down to her level and kissed her softly.
"Ew!" Lucy interrupted their kiss with a playful shout, "Khora and Vogaix are kissing!" She pointed at them, causing a few of the other children to look. They all looked at the pair and let out a collective groan. Khora stuck her tongue out and smiled, slipping her hand onto one of her knight's claws and pulling her towards the other edge of the forest.
"I have something to show you, Vogaix!" She looked at the sun, quickly lowering in the sky, "Hurry before the sun comes down!" The two jogged towards the edge of the forest, and Khora knelt down, taking some rabbit out of her pouch. Vogaix looked at her, seeing for the first time a side of her princess she had never thought possible. She looked happier in this village than she ever did while she was living in the castle.
"What are you-"
"Shh," Khora interrupted her knight as she rested against the slightly damp, muddy ground on her knees, "They won't approach if we're being too loud." Vogaix let herself sit down, her tail curling around her body with its tip sleeping at the knight's feet. They sat for a while with the chunk of meat rapidly cooling in Khora's hand. The area around them began to dim, when a patch of flowers in the ground suddenly shook. The princess turned towards her knight with an excited smile on her face as a luck-dragon rose out of the ground. It's small snout sniffed the air as it slowly approached the pair. Khora put the food closer to the ground, but stayed still otherwise, letting the dragon slowly approach the chunk of meat. When it reached her hand, it sat there and sniffed the meat. The princess and the knight both sat there holding their breath. The luck-dragon took the meat out of Khora's palm and lay itself on the ground. The pair began to breathe again, and Khora softly scratched the scales on the dragon's forehead. "Go on, V, scratch her a bit."
"When did you learn this?" Vogaix cautiously approached the creature, who had finished eating at this point, "I haven't seen someone learn to tame a luck-dragon like this so quickly. You'reâ¦"
"Impressive?" She playfully smiled and nudged Vogaix with her shoulder, "Hot, even?"
"Wonderful, is what I was going to say," Khora and Vogaix got up, letting the luck dragon dig itself into the earth again, "Let's go to sleep."
The pair went into their home, each stripping most of their layers as the nights began to turn hotter. Summer was approaching the country rapidly. They slipped into the bed, Vogaix's tail wrapped around her princesses' leg. Khora's head rested against the half-dragon's chest. She felt herself smile and cuddle closer to Vogaix. They both took a deep breath and closed their eyes, content to sleep in each other's love.
"Khora?" Vogaix whispered into the small woman's ear, "Are you still awake?"
"Mmm?" Khora moaned and grabbed the knight's waist tightly, "What's up?"
"You're happy here, right?"
"Happier than I've ever been, V," She smiled and kissed Vogaix's ribs. She was, nothing had made her happier than being with her knight for this week. And nothing would make her happier than bringing this back to the castle.
"Maybe we should stay here?" Vogaix softly stroked through Khora's hair. She grabbed on tight to the half-dragon and shook her head.
"No. We're going back to the castle. I have toâ¦" She felt her eyes begin to well up before she wiped them off on the cloth that covered Vogaix's chest.
"Okay, princess," Vogaix paused, tightening her tail's grip on the small princess that lay in her arms. She let her wing fall across Khora's shoulder, "As you wishâ¦"