The Kiss From a Dragon

by C. D. Pennington

  Coviche suddenly stopped pacing and stood bolt upright.

  “What is it?” Cerana asked again.

  “I wonder…..” Coviche mused. “Of course. Of course! We must act quickly.”

  “What, why? What do you know?” Cerana was growing tired of this woman not telling her much apart from riddles.

  “It all makes sense now.” Coviche seemed unaware that Cerana was still there, so deep in thought she was. But then she turned to her and stared straight at her. “Cerana,” she said ominously. “I believe a common cause has intertwined our lives. We can help each other.”

  “Tell me what you suspect, or I leave right now!” Cerana demanded. “So far, you have answered nothing. Why would I help you when you give me no answers, only questions?”

  “Because I may be the only way you can cure Esteri of her disease. Or rather, my mother is.”

  Cerana’s eyes widened at the news. “Your mother? How can she help Esteri?” Cerana looked around the vast cave. “And where is she?”

  “She is also being held captive by the mage.” Coviche’s shoulders slumped. “This is how I know there is surely a connection. Esteri and my mother are both prisoners, Cerana Proudstone. And I believe I now know why.”

  “Tell me!” Cerana rasped, her anger and frustration growing.

  “Who else knows of Esteri’s condition?” Coviche asked, again ignoring Cerana’s demand.

  “Just Jana now. Alleran was the only other.”

  “The apothecary?”

  “Yes. But he is dead.” Cerana was fuming.

  Coviche closed her eyes and lifted her head towards the cave ceiling. There she stood for several minutes, unmoving. Finally, she opened her eyes, and her shoulders sagged as she regarded Cerana with pity. “I fear Jana may be dead also,” she announced with sorrow.

  “What?!” Cerana said, disbelievingly. The tall woman’s bluntness shocked her as much as her words.

  “I can no longer sense her presence. She is lost to me.”

  Cerana’s world suddenly caved. She felt sorrow that had not materialised since she was a little girl who realised her actions had caused the deaths of her parents. She sank to her knees, but tears did not flow. She just stared forward, eyes unblinking.

  Coviche came to her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I am sorry, Cerana Proudstone.”

  “What happened?” Cerana asked, emotion draining from her. “How do you know?”

  “I cannot tell exactly what happened, but I am able to sense lifeforce when I need to. And in your sister, I cannot any longer. My guess is, she was probably silenced for her knowledge of the disease and its victim. But this further strengthens my theory. You are also in grave danger, I fear.”

  Coviche’s words would normally have shocked and feared Cerana, but now she seemed oblivious to the warning. She was ready to give up altogether. Nothing more could surprise her.

  “The time for sorrow is not now, Cerana Proudstone. We have much to do. We can still save Esteri if we act swiftly.” Cerana seemed not to hear her. “Cerana!” The shout snapped Cerana from her trance, and she angrily rose from her kneeling position.

  “Why should I trust you?” she demanded, fighting back her tears. “How do I know you are not just using me for your own benefit, and all this is just some big lie? I do not know you! Only a dragon can save my sister, are you just tricking me into helping you?” Cerana blurted, her emotions pouring out.

  Coviche stood before her silently, towering over her. Cerana did not care any longer; she was not frightened or intimidated by this huge woman, who was clearly well-practised in magic use herself.

  An unexplained emptiness within Cerana made her realise that she somehow knew that Jana was gone - quite how, she could not explain, but she just felt it. Maybe it was that sisterly bond they shared, from being so close. But maybe, just maybe she could still save Esteri? Her head clearing slightly, she began to calm down. “How exactly can my sister be helped?” she asked hopefully.

  “You are wise to doubt me, Cerana Proudstone,” Coviche finally spoke. “But you can trust me. I see much, but there are some things I cannot see. You deserve an explanation.”

  “Yes, I do!” Cerana snapped.

  “I believe your sister’s disease was the result of an experiment,” Coviche continued. “It all makes sense now. I have heard of something big afoot, and Blackwood is involved, but I am unable to sense him as the mage protects him. They are working together, Cerana.”

  “Something big, like what?” Cerana asked.

  “Hear me out,” Coviche began to walk around again, thinking out loud. “From where do you obtain your drinking water?”

  “From the stream in our garden,” Cerana said sharply, wondering what relevance that had to anything.

  “I thought as much,” the tall blonde continued. “Ephylaxon is not transmitted directly from a dragon, despite what people may believe. A substance known as dragon dust is the only cause of it, but it is usually lethal to humans. It is obtained from the cave walls of breeding mother dragons, condensing from their breath.”

  Cerana listened intently to her explanation.

  “Only in a diluted form would it not almost instantly kill a human, which seems to be the case with Esteri.”

  “So she is still alive?”

  “I believe so, yes.”

  Cerana breathed a sigh of relief. “So,” she said, a little happier. “Diluted how - via a water supply?”

  “Absolutely. It is the only way I know of.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “I will come to that shortly. Now, there is only one cure for Ephylaxon, Cerana Proudstone.”

  “Venom from a dragon.”

  “Correct,” Coviche raised her eyebrows and grinned, surprised at Cerana’s knowledge.

  “Alleran told us,” Cerana admitted.

  “So, both application and cure can - in theory - be obtained from one unique specimen. If the dragon that supplied the dragon dust was of the correct age, gender and species, it could also produce the antidote from its venom reservoir.”

  Cerana was struggling to take this all in. “When I first saw you, I followed what I thought was possibly a dragon to this very place before it disappeared. Then later, an old man told me a story of a dragon he had seen in the Mallam Mountains. Could it possibly be that a dragon does live?” Cerana was growing hopeful, especially knowing that Coviche believed her mother could help Esteri - however that may be. There is still something she is not telling me, she thought.

  “Dragons do exist,” Coviche announced.

  Cerana detected a hint of reluctance to her admittance, as if this was something Cerana was not meant to know. She grew even more hopeful.

  “You have seen one too? Where? Tell me!” In her excitement, Cerana grabbed Coviche by the arm, the touch of her silk dress soft and luscious. She released her grip when she realised what she had done.

  “There is something you should know, Cerana Proudstone. But I must be able to trust you.”

  “You must have trusted me enough to save me from being hung,” Cerana argued.

  “Yes…..this is true. I do trust you, and you must trust me.”

  “I do,” Cerana admitted. And somehow she did trust this mysterious woman, even though she had no reason to. But she had saved her from what would otherwise have been certain death, so trust had been deservedly earned.

  “Wait here,” Coviche ordered, before turning from Cerana and walking about twenty paces from her.

  Coviche turned to face her once more, closed her eyes and slowly raised her arms in front of her, palms up and fingers outstretched. The tiny orbs that decorated the walls began to glow a deeper blue than they had before, and the spheres danced and shone brighter and faster, turning the cave darker, but even more beautiful.

  An aura surrounded Coviche, and for a moment she also appeared to glow blue, before a mist formed and surrounded her, strengthening in density until it almost completely obscured her
. Cerana squinted at the spectacle, her eyes widening in surprise and awe as Coviche grew inside the fog. Her size near doubled as sparks of bright white light danced and moved all around her, becoming so dazzlingly bright that Cerana had to shield her eyes. Coviche grew further, and as she did, her clothes seemed to become one with her body and absorb into her skin. It made her appear naked, but a deep shade of blue instead of her usual pale white skin. As she continued to grow - now four times her usual size - her skin hardened and what appeared to be scales started to form on her pristine skin. The manifestation continued, but as the mist grew thicker, Cerana could no longer see the woman inside it. Instead, the fog grew and grew, the sparks flickered brighter and brighter, and the cave shook, causing Cerana to crouch and steady herself. Then the shaking stopped, and the sparks dimmed, leaving an enormous cloud of mist in the middle of the magical cave. It shimmered for a second before quickly fading away to reveal a sight that took Cerana’s breath away.

  Open-mouthed, she blinked several times to make sure she really was seeing what was now in front of her, where not long since, stood a mysterious young woman.

  CHAPTER 38 – A Miracle is Performed

  The orbs that shone like tiny stars and cast the cave into a deep shade of blue returned to normal. Still they danced, but not with the effort and excitement they had done just a moment ago.

  In the centre of the cave, where once stood a beautiful young woman, Cerana now stared in astonishment and bewilderment at a colossal azure dragon.

  At least twenty feet high, the dragon stood, and fifty feet long to the tip of her tail. Her ornate azure scales twinkled in the light of the cave with a beautiful iridescent texture. Two parallel rows of sharp, silver-coloured spines ran down the length of her back, converging at her tail where one row extended to the arrow-shaped tip. Two silver rows of spikes also formed a V-shape on top of her head; the enormous but beautiful head that held huge yellow eyes which regarded Cerana from above. Her massive mouth contained rows of sharp teeth that looked like they could bite through sheer rock; and two large, spiky horns extended from the back of her pointy ears. Enormous, razor-sharp claws tapped down on the hard surface of the cave as she turned gracefully, spreading her colossal wings to their full, impressive span. Cerana thought that she was almost showing off to her, such was the remarkable spectacle.

  Cerana stood agape, speechless at what she was witnessing before her. The mighty dragon flexed her wings once more before Cerana finally found her voice. “You…you are a….a….”

  “Dragon?” Coviche finished for her, her voice not changed at all from her human form, albeit a little louder now.

  “Y…yes, dragon, but….but…..”

  “I am the last of the azure dragonflight, Cerana Proudstone. My mother is the last of her kind also, the leader of what was once the black dragonflight. We are the only remaining dragons in this world, and our existence has been kept secret for many years.”

  I am talking to a dragon, Cerana thought incredulously. A real live, breathing dragon.

  She felt faint. “You…you can cure Esteri?” she asked nervously. It was the first thing that came into her mind.

  “No, I am afraid not. I am still classed as a juvenile in dragon-years. Only a mature dragon has the necessary venom reservoir fully developed.”

  Cerana felt deflated again.

  “It is a little unfortunate that I must reveal myself to a human,” Coviche continued, “but these are desperate times, and I am unable to rescue my mother alone. I need your help, Cerana Proudstone. Just as you need mine.”

  Cerana sat down on the hard floor, struggling to take in everything she had learnt and seen over the last few days. This was the most frightening and yet fantastic thing she had ever witnessed, and a flicker of hope now appeared in the darkness of her thoughts.

  “Why do you need my help?” she finally managed. “What use can I be to you?”

  “There is a reason my mother and your sister have been captured. There is a link, I am sure of it.”

  “How can anyone capture and imprison a dragon?” Cerana asked, wondering how such a feat would be possible given the size and overwhelming power these magnificent behemoths held.

  “I know not how it exactly happened, but I believe the mage is using the power of a dragonstone to weaken my mother and prevent me from entering his tower.”

  “A what?” Cerana screwed up her face in bewilderment.

  “A dragonstone. It is an ancient artefact that was once used to control dragons. It is the only way he could possibly keep my mother alive and imprisoned this long. It is also the reason I cannot enter the tower, as its power is so strong that as soon as I near, I grow weak. This is a very powerful device he has obtained, Cerana Proudstone. And with it, he has untold power.”

  “Where does Esteri fit onto all this though, what is the link?”

  “I see no other reason for Esteri’s kidnap other than he wishes to test the antidote on an afflicted subject. He may well have the means to both cause and cure ephylaxon, and I cannot begin to imagine what he may do with this power if he succeeds.”

  It was all beginning to fit into place now, Cerana mused, her hope quickly turning back to fear as she realised what this could mean.

  The mage could potentially inflict innocent people with a disease only he had the cure for, but what could he possibly hope to gain from doing so? Cerana shuddered at the thought. She looked up at the enormous creature before her, resigned to the fact that she did indeed need Coviche’s help. And she imagined that Coviche needed her help to rescue her mother.

  “What is it I can do?” Cerana asked, although she thought she probably knew the answer already.

  “I am unable to gain access to the mage tower, Cerana Proudstone.”

  I was right.

  “You, though, will not be affected by the power of the dragonstone.”

  “You want me to break into the tower of a powerful sorcerer, rescue a dragon and save my sister?” Her words sounded more like a tavern joke than an idea. “Alone?”

  “Yes. Stand back, please.” The azure dragon closed her huge yellow eyes and tensed. The mist quickly enveloped her again, but this time much quicker than during her magical transformation from human form. After just a few seconds, the fog had magically shrunk and manifested the dragon back to a human, and the beautiful young female emerged from the cloud precisely as she had been before her miracle.

  “I will aid you as best I can.” Coviche walked past Cerana and smiled. “Come, Cerana Proudstone. We have much work to do.”

  CHAPTER 39 – One Good Turn Deserves Another

  The evening had set in, and light no longer streamed down from the long fissure at the top of the cave.

  Cerana was finishing off a meal of roasted boar ribs, whilst Coviche busied herself with a pile of old books stacked up next to a dusty old desk. Despite the lack of natural light in the cave, there was still plenty of magical light emitted from the orbs on the cave walls. Cerana found the mysterious glow to be quiet soothing, and she certainly needed some soothing after the events of the last few days.

  As she licked the fat from the boar off her fingers, Cerana’s thoughts returned to Jana. Despite Coviche’s warning, Cerana simply refused to believe in her own mind that something terrible had happened to her sister. This mysterious woman had powers – that was for sure – but could she really sense if someone was alive or not? Missing or not? And how far did her senses reach? Could Jana have simply travelled outside of Coviche’s radar? Her initial shock and sorrow were giving way to questions and doubts.

  Cerana still could not explain why she took the word of someone she had only just met that her sister may well be lost or even dead. But something deep inside her very psyche backed up Coviche’s warning. It may well have been sisters’ intuition – she had heard tell of twins being able to sense their siblings’ thoughts and even read their minds – but sisters they were, twins they were not. Cerana had never really had such a deep connection w
ith either of her sisters, not in the way her siblings had for each other. Esteri and Jana were so close, perhaps they could reach out to each other, but Cerana had never had such feelings until just now. She wondered if Esteri could sense Jana’s apparent plight as she could.

  Despite the unexplained feeling that something had happened to Jana, she still retained hope. Until she could see with her own eyes that her sister was lost, that hope remained.

  She had not realised how hungry she was; with everything else that had been thrown at her recently, food was the last thing on her mind. But when Coviche had presented her with the boar, she wasted little time in eating her fill of the delicious meat. Cerana was not sure exactly how Coviche had prepared the food, but she did not really care at the moment.

  Coviche did not eat anything, instead taking herself to her books. To study what, Cerana was not sure, but she was undoubtedly concentrating hard.

  It occurred to Cerana that this enigmatic dragon-woman ate very little but drank much – she had gone through a flagon of wine since they had been in the cave and yet she seemed no worse for wear.

  Coviche finished whatever it was she was studying and made her way over to where Cerana sat eating her fill. “I believe we must make finding Civilus Blackwood a priority,” she said in her usual matter-of-fact way.

  “How do we – I – actually get into this tower?” Cerana asked.

  “Good question, Cerana Proudstone. And one I do not know the answer to, yet. This is why we need to speak to Blackwood.”

  “You think he knows how to get in?”

  “He is our best chance at the moment.”

  “Right, where do we start?” Cerana had finished her meal and sprang up from her seat, eager to find some answers.

  “I can only go so close to the tower due to the power of the dragonstone, yet the tower remains well hidden from view. Blackwood must be sending and receiving messages from the tower somehow, so I suspect that either he or someone on his behalf is travelling there regularly. We will scout from a distance and see what happens.”