The Dragon’s Gift

by Chase, Anastasia

  “Dad.” Jen heard him mutter as they sped closer to the source of hot glow. Bursts of light outlined the trees before the forests descended into darkness once more.

  A crunch and a snarl, a towering tree split in two with another flash of fire and fell to the ground with an echoing crunch. A painful roar pierced the silence, sending the local fauna to the skies and scurrying to safety.

  Dominic didn’t exercise care in his landing, crashing through the trees as fast as he could to get to his father.

  Jen wasn’t so hasty and continued to circle overhead, looking for a safe place to make her first landing. There, within the circle of burning shrubbery, were two dragons, one of which was lying still.

  She thought she caught a whiff of blood.

  “Get away from him!”

  Dominic stood over the fallen dragon, taking a protective position over him to block the other from attacking him again.

  “Ah, the coward has returned.” Daji turned her head to the sky and flicked her tongue at the air. “Who’s your friend?”

  Dominic growled, annoyed she was turning her attention away from him. Jen wasn’t ready for a fight and he didn’t want to put her life at risk.

  “You’ve brought the little bitch. Finally deposited your seed within a worthy one, have you? A shame. That hide of hers is so pretty, I’d hate to spill her blood all over it.”

  With a snarl, she took to the air, aimed right at Jen.

  Dominic was about to take after her when a wet groan echoed from his father’s chest. A gurgle and a cough spilled more blood from his mouth and Dominic knew he couldn’t leave his side.

  Jen was going to have to fend for herself and hopefully not make their efforts for nothing.

  “Father.” He craned his long neck and nudged his forehead against the other’s cheek.

  He groaned once more, not moving a muscle.

  “You have to get up. We have to get you back.” He felt his throat tighten and bit back on the emotion overwhelming him.

  A touch to his face stirred him away from panic.

  “You always were too empathetic. Just like your mother.”

  Dominic shoved his head beneath his father’s neck and tried to lift him up. If he was talking, that meant he was alive. He just had to get up. Then everything would be okay.

  “I always considered that a weakness. Being emotional. Caring. That’s not how you got things done. You had to be...”

  But the more he tried, the limper his father became. Things weren’t supposed to go like this. His father still had so much more to show him.

  “Be strong.”

  “Dad!”

  But when he heard a wet rasp escape and then no more, he stared at his father, his vision wavering. He dared his father’s chest to move, to take another breath. Just one more to let him know he was still alive. He held his own and waited, committing himself to only inhale if his father did.

  He would be waiting for a long time.

  Jen was overcome with fear and started to backtrack as the long serpentine green dragon with the glowing yellow eyes headed right for her. Her mouth was open and her tiny needle-like teeth didn’t look at all friendly.

  In a panic, she summoned her flame and breathed it in her direction but the other was too quick and barreled right through the fire at Jen. She couldn’t get away in time and felt teeth graze against the scales of her neck. A painful snarl escaped her as the woman latched on, determined to spill her blood on the ground too.

  A flailing swipe of her claws found the other’s eye. It was enough to get her off and Jen didn’t waste a single second trying to get as far away from her as possible. But her large wings were clumsy, had only experienced flying in a straight line and unable to perform any of the fancy acrobats she’d seen Dominic perform.

  That gave Daji another opportunity to strike. Her claws found and sank into Jen’s soft underbelly, which stole all her air. She could feel her wings folding against her sides as her strength was sapped, sending her falling, falling, falling to the ground far below.

  Daji matched the speed of her descent, not wanting to risk Jen getting away and having the chance to recover. She had played around with her food long enough and it was time to end things.

  Jen rolled her body over the best she could to lighten the blow of her fall and crumpled to one shoulder. She could barely take another breath before the other was upon her once more. Her foot was pressed across Jen’s neck and her forked tongue peeked between her scaly lips to taste the air.

  “At least you’re putting up a good fight. That red-headed bitch friend of yours, I can see why you didn’t like her. She was never very friendly to you, was she?”

  Jen found it hard to make out most of her words with the blood rushing to her ears and muffling everything. The only thing she could really tell was that the woman was talking about someone in the past tense.

  Her mind suddenly went to Wendy.

  “What did you to do to her?”

  “It didn’t take much, really. She could have been powerful, become one of us. But she had to be a liar and a traitor. She was the one who slipped the poison into that goblet to kill your beloved anyway. I’m sure there’s no love lost.”

  Daji poised over her, sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight. The glow in her eyes grew even brighter yet colder at the same time.

  Jen should have known when she had laid eyes on her and her brother that they were up to no good. Regret told her she should have gotten Wendy away from them, or at least asked Dominic to do something.

  Her anger was quick to come: anger at Wendy for holding a grudge for so long, anger at herself, anger at Dominic, and anger at the green dragon looming over her, delighting in Jen’s misery.

  The look on Daji’s face changed in a split second right before a burst of fire consumed her visage. It took Jen by surprise too, until she realized she was the source.

  That ashen taste had returned to her tongue and the burning in her stomach and throat were even stronger than when she had practiced.

  The green dragon managed to dodge out of the way, enough that only one horn was singed from the sudden attack. She touched at it with her claws, her grin fading into a scowl.

  “Huh. Feisty. Let’s see what you can really do.”

  In a split second, Jen watched a glowing orange ball flare to life through the thick, green scaly skin of the other’s stomach and travel up her throat faster than she could blink.

  She instinctively rolled out of the way and felt the heat of the attack wash over her back. Jen hurt all over but she knew that if she didn’t stop moving, it would spell her end.

  She took all the anger she had and turned it inward, focused it on staying alive and protecting Dominic. She felt a new force dancing through her veins, seemingly taking the pain away.

  Adrenaline, she thought, but this was nothing like that. There was no fight or flight instinct but something else she didn’t really have a word for. Whatever it was, she poured it all into her muscles and leaped atop the other with claws out and mouth open.

  Daji was taken completely by surprise as Jen leaped on her, swiping at her again and again. Savage claws dug through scales and skin until Daji’s face was nothing but a bloody mess.

  She screamed and writhed, tried to defend herself against the barrage of attacks but was losing too much of her strength for her defenses to be effective.

  Her face became so slick with blood that Jen’s claws could no longer find root in the flesh and slid off the wet surface instead.

  That’s when she clamped her teeth down around the other’s horn and wrestled her to the ground. She forced her face into the dirt, dragged it back and forth in the mud to sully her pride and ruin her wounds even further.

  Daji didn’t dare swivel her head, fearing her horn would be torn clean off.

  Jen continued her assault, raking her claws through the other’s wings until they were sufficiently ruined as well, shredded to mere ribbons and rendering them useless.
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  Daji shrieked in pain and struggled to get them out of the way of her attacks, but it was useless.

  Until she managed to get enough leverage to swing her mighty tail around and smack Jen in the face. They both winced in the pain, neither ready to let up the advantage they found for themselves.

  Each strike of her tail brought her back end closer to Jen until she managed to wrap her tail around her neck completely. It constricted around the muscles, seeking to close off her throat so she would be forced to let go. Or kill her in the process, whichever came first.

  But Jen had left herself in a precarious position; she could dig her claws into the thick, rope-like tail to get it off, but then Daji would gain more leverage to strike once more. And with the tail around her neck, she couldn’t maintain the pressure placed on her horn.

  She belched more flames into her face instead. Just enough to scare the living crap out of her but not enough to singe her face off.

  The tail loosened just an inch, and Jen took that moment to retreat and recuperate. She swallowed hard against the bruises on her neck, taking to the air to put some distance between them.

  Jen took that moment to quickly glance around for Dominic. She had left him behind in the middle of the fight and the two had certainly worked their distance away from his landing spot.

  It was too dark and there were too many trees for her to spot him or his father, and without a landmark, she had no idea which direction to travel in.

  A roaring scream stole her attention away again. She turned just in time to find Daji lunging at her once more. The fire had done nothing to her face, though red still ran down her cheek. Jen was ready for her attack this time and had her claws ready.

  They collided mid-air, all teeth and claws and ferocious snarls. Spinning head over tail, they toppled through the air, their massive wings flapping and smashing into each other.

  A claw raked against her side and she returned a swipe of her tail. Over and over, she took swings, and each was returned just the same. Daji showed no sign of letting up, even with her injuries.

  “You think you can defeat me? I’ve been alive for centuries!” Daji took another stab with the end of her sharp tail. “You’ve only had your mere powers for a few hours, and you think you can be my equal?” Her tail connected with Jen’s cheek; the sharp end raked across it, leaving stars in Jen’s vision.

  She had to admit she was right. Jen knew absolutely nothing about fighting or how to utilize her new form properly. She was still getting used to the flying thing and even that she wasn’t doing very well, but she wouldn’t just lie down and take it.

  She would not repeat the same mistakes she had made back on Earth. Dominic was counting on her, depending on her to take care of herself. He couldn’t be there to hold her hand all the time.

  She used that and her anger from earlier to continue her assault. She was not going to let this woman win, and if that meant she might have to lose her life in the process, then so be it. At least if she died in this fight, she would have fought for something.

  She bowed her head and drove her horns straight into the other’s shoulder, felt her horn pierce flesh and the warm spill of blood around it.

  Jen felt the wing go limp and drape across her back. Daji started to tilt to one side and Jen could tell she could no longer remain in the air. But instead of trying to hold her up, she fell into freefall with the body still lodged on her horn.

  “I have something you don’t have.” The ground quickly growing closer out of the corner of her eye. “I have people who care about me. All you have or know is selfish destruction. That will never sustain you.”

  Seconds before hitting the ground, Jen lodged her foot against the other’s stomach and kicked, dislodging her from her horn. She spread her wings once more to catch the air and drifted mere feet above the ground, hearing the crack of bone and a savage grunt escape her target. She arced around once before landing on top of her, with a foot across her neck.

  “I should kill you right here and now for what you’ve done, for all the pain you’ve caused.” Jen pressed harder on the Daji’s neck, craning her head and putting more pressure on her own to make her point.

  “Did he ever tell you? He and I used to be a thing? Then he turned all chicken shit and wimped out. Probably for the best. He became too weak for my tastes, but I’m glad to see you found each other. Two weak wastes of space.”

  Thoughts bubbled at the back of Jen’s mind as she came to terms with yet another revelation. Dominic and her? Together? Crazy!

  But that was the past. If Dominic didn’t want to tell her about it, it was for a good reason. She would not worry about it.

  “You won’t do it. You’re too much of a goody-two-shoes,” the woman gurgled beneath her, a half-cocked toothy smile on her face. It would be so satisfying to end her in that moment.

  To watch the light fade from her eyes and hear her take her last breath. It wouldn’t make up for everything, but it would at least make her feel better.

  Something about it didn’t feel right.

  “No. I won’t because you are not mine to kill. My pain, my illness, was a mistake. I was just a casualty of your scheme. Your king on the other hand...”

  Daji heard a heavy boom with her ear pressed to the ground, the sound echoing through the dirt. Then another, each one drawing closer.

  Jen allowed her to crane her head enough to see the dark blue dragon beginning his approach, that cold blue glow to his eyes telling her there was no way out now. She couldn’t take on two alone, not in her current condition.

  “Dom... Dominic...” she hissed as she tried to lick away the blood and juices of her ruined eye.

  Dominic stopped and stared down at her. There was no sign of recognition within his gaze as if she didn’t exist at all.

  Even Jen felt a chill run down her spine seeing him this way and would have stepped away but for the dragon beneath her grasp.

  “Release her,” he commanded.

  Jen blinked for a second and was about to raise her concerns when his gaze turned to her. He stared. She did as she was told.

  Daji cackled silently as she slowly raised herself to her feet, pawing away the blood from her face.

  Jen’s barrage had done a good job ruining her eye, leaving her half-blind.

  “We have no quarrel with you. Take your brother’s corpse and mourn. But never return here.”

  “You are letting her leave?” Jen couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could Dominic just let her go after everything.

  Dominic seemed to be pointedly ignoring her. His gaze was focused on Daji as he waited for her answer.

  Daji didn’t believe it at first, her good eye looking from one to the other before slinking back into the shadows with a bowed head. She wasn’t about to question his reasoning; she was just glad to be out of there with her life still in her hands. There would be no flying for her anytime soon either, not with the state of her wings.

  Once they could no longer hear her footsteps, Dominic turned away to return to the site of his father without another word.

  That left Jen alone and confused in the middle, unsure if she should follow him.

  She narrowed her eyes and silently took off after Daji, completely unaware she had turned herself invisible. Nothing remained of her presence save for the large footprints left in the dirt and the sudden rush of wind through the trees as she took flight.

  It wasn’t hard to find Daji either as she hobbled along through the forests back to the city. It would probably take her another hour or two on foot to get back. Enough time for no one to question.

  The biggest problem Jen had was figuring out when to strike and how. She could drop like a dead-weight her back and continue ripping her to shreds, or she could take the sneaky route and make her ending quick.

  It was when Daji collapsed and reverted to her small, naked form that Jen felt the moment most appropriate. She silently dropped below the level of the trees some distance behind
her and made her shift as well, padding through the forest floor with still-fresh wounds and bruises that covered her body.

  Still invisible, she picked up her pace in an effort to catch up with the other while still remaining hidden.

  Soon, she heard the light grunts of the woman as she continued to struggle forward and spotted her stopping once to catch her breath.

  Jen looked around at her surroundings as she tiptoed forward. The area was littered with rocks and sticks, wonderful implements that would get the job done. But to kill her quickly would be too merciful. She needed something else.

  She clenched her fists at her sides and continued forward.

  A twig snapped. Daji stopped in her tracks and discovered how quiet the wildlife was around her. Even with dawn still in its first hour, the air should be filled with the morning song of birds and the loud chatter of other animals. Instead, there was nothing.

  Before she could put two and two together, something heavy collided with her back, sending her sprawling to the ground. That inspired a new eruption of pain making it difficult for her to breathe or to fight back. Instead, she thought only of retreat and began her shift once more before her attacker could get another drop on her.

  Jen managed to get on her in time to wrap her hands around her throat.

  “Sit,” she hissed, her eyes filled with wild savagery as she pressed her neck to the ground. Her knee rested squarely on the woman’s solar plexus to keep her in place, and to make it much harder for her to breathe.

  A squeaky gasp escaped her as she tried to talk, her blood-stained hands clambering at Jen’s to free them from her neck.

  They’d already been here once. Jen wasn’t about to let her walk free again.

  “Your life has been worthless, you hear me?” she continued in her low tone, watching and almost delighting in the bulging of the woman’s eye. Her pale pallor began to change into a greyer and her attempts to free herself were growing weaker by the second.

  “No one will mourn you, no one will remember you. Your line ends here and I’m glad I’m the one to do it.”

  With that, she summoned all the strength she had and poured it into her fingers. A dull crunch responded, and all fight left the woman’s body as she went completely limp. The yellow glow of her eye faded until there was nothing but a dull sheen.