“My queen,” the midwife Esa began. “They are close. You must only push when I say, or you will be in danger.”
“This is evil magic,” Katrin raved, pulling at the sheets as the servants tried mopping at her sweaty brow. “The Fae witch is trying to kill me.”
“Hush, child. It is the pain poisoning your mind, but it will be over soon.” The old midwife stirred a cup of blueberry leaf tea and held it to the queen’s lips. “Drink this tea. It will help with your pain.”
Katrin slapped the cup away, shattering it against the wall behind. “Get it away! Let the pain come! I hope it will kill me as punishment for what he’s done!” Suddenly, Katrin lurched forward, a scream issuing forth from her throat, so shrill that the old woman’s blood ran cold with fear. This birth was unnatural. The queen thrashed so violently that for a moment the midwife feared that she would launch herself out of the bed.
“You must calm down, my queen!” She threw back the sheets and gasped. The first child was coming too fast. “It is time, Katrin! You must push hard, but stop when I say.” The queen nodded, sitting up as the other servants supported her weight. “When the pain begins, bear down!” She did as she was told, her screams echoing off the walls.
“That’s it, Katrin! Very good,” she said, cleaning the blood from the queen’s thighs and belly. “It won’t be long now.”
Katrin panted. “I can feel it… I can feel life slipping…” She fell back on the bed, too exhausted to continue.
“You’re going to be fine, Highness,” the serving girl at her side whispered. “You are strong. You will survive this.” She pressed a cool cloth to her forehead. Katrin looked up into her face, and suddenly her eyes were clear. The small girl was extraordinarily beautiful with ruby lips. Her delicate features hid the mischief that clearly lurked under the surface. Katrin’s mouth opened and worked as if she were trying to say something, but the words would not come. The serving girl smiled and tried to brush a lock of the queen’s hair away from her forehead.
Katrin jerked away. “You… you’re one of them,” she whispered.
“I don’t know…”
The old midwife shook her head. “It’s just the pain…”
“No!” Katrin shouted with more strength than she’d had before. “Get this thing out of here! Take it into the forest and kill it! It is one of Mab’s servants!” She made to strike at the serving girl who shied away just in time.
“Highness! She is just a chambermaid!”
“Then her presence here is not required!” Katrin hissed, reaching beside her and throwing the water basin toward the servant. “Get out! Now, before I have you beaten from this castle!” The girl took another look at the midwife, who nodded and waved her away. Another contraction overtook Katrin, and her body jerked forward.
“Push now, Highness!” the midwife shrieked. “Once more and the prince will be here!” The final contraction drew another scream from the queen, and she sat up, pushing down with all her strength. “Highness, he’s almost here!”
“It’s burning! I’m being torn apart! Lord help me!” Soon her screams were drowned out by the cries of the firstborn son.
The midwife held the boy child high, thwacking him on the back so that he might breathe the fresh air. He shivered and shook then let out a scream that could be heard throughout the castle grounds. “He is strong, my queen!” She cradled the infant to her breast and began to wipe away the blood before handing him to Katrin.
The queen held the little prince close, kissing his forehead gently as he cried. “You will be king, someday, little one. Such a good king. I shall call you Tristan. It means strength…” Her words trailed off in a scream, and she nearly dropped the baby. “Esa!” Katrin cried, clutching at the old woman. “What’s happening?”
Esa took the newborn prince and lay him in his cradle. “Hush now, child. Everything’s all right.” She didn’t quite believe it herself. Esa’s eyes grew wide as she watched a gnarled, inhuman shape writhing just under Katrin’s skin. Her screams were deafening. Something was wrong. Even the stillbirths had not produced such agony. Suddenly there was a terrible commotion just outside the door.
“Sire, it isn’t proper! The queen…”
“Out of my way, boy, or I’ll run you through myself!” The king crashed through the door to a nightmarish scene before Esa could stop him. The queen lay on her back in the middle of a blood-soaked bed. Black blood dripped from the sheets and down the walls surrounding them. The servants had fled, save for Esa and the tiny prince that wailed from his bassinette.
“Sire… sire, please… something is terribly wrong…” Esa hissed. “You must go and let me attend to her.”
Christophe started to reply when Katrin began to scream once more. Her body rose from the bed, her back bent at an impossible angle as something writhed in her belly. The flesh rippled and rolled as what he could only assume was his child began to claw its way to the surface. “You!” Katrin cried. “You brought this upon us!” She was quickly silenced as a clawed hand tore through her flesh, ripping her from chest to navel. There was a terrifying hiss as the gash opened wide. Whatever it was began to crawl from inside, making its way through the trench it had forged with its talons. Esa was frozen with fear as she watched the thing. Thing was the only word she could think of to describe it. Dark crimson scales like fire and ash covered its body. A strange, misshapen head with sharp horns and a searching, open mouth full of razor-sharp fangs worked its way from inside Katrin, licking her blood from its lips. As it emerged, it flapped large, nearly transparent wings that sprang from its back. It wasn’t very large, but its deathly screech filled her with fear.
“Is this my son, Mab?” the king cried to the darkness, his voice smothered by the sound of the dragon’s roar. “Is this what you’ve wrought upon me?” The dragon climbed atop Katrin’s chest, searching out a nipple to feed from her warm corpse. “No!” Christophe bellowed, rushing toward it and pushing it away from her. The dragon turned, whipping its tail around and crouching down on its haunches. It hissed and spit a weak spark of flame at the king. He darted to one side, forcing the dragon to turn. It wasn’t steady on its feet, and it was slow, unable to spring. Using the distraction, Christophe rushed forward, grabbing the dragon by its tail. It thrashed and spit, but the king would not be deterred. With a shout of anger and force, he heaved the dragon out of the tower window, watching as it fell to the forest below.
As soon as the beast was gone, Christophe rushed to Katrin’s side. “What have I done?” he cried over and over, pulling the ruined queen into his arms. Her body hung lifeless and bleeding in his embrace. “I’m so sorry, Katrin…so sorry…” Esa stood silently watching, her heart breaking for the king. Years later, she would think on this moment as the time she watched a great king die. He sat there at her bloody bedside for hours it seemed, just holding Katrin’s body against his chest. The prince whined in his cradle, but even he must have sensed the sadness and kept quiet. Esa wanted to leave him be, but now that the screaming was done, the physician and servants would be rushing in to discover the queen’s fate.
“Sire,” Esa began, gently touching his arm. “Sire, you must leave her now. Let me clean up…”
“Don’t touch her!” he screamed, jerking away from the old woman. “You stay away from her!”
“But, sire…”
“You! You were supposed to save her!” he snarled. “You let that… thing devour her!”
“I didn’t know, my lord. I tried my best…”
“Get out.”
“And what of your other son? He will need you, Highness…”
“Get out!” he screamed, getting to his feet, letting the queen fall back against the pillows. His figure loomed over the old midwife, and she cowered at his feet. “Leave this castle! This town! You are banished, old woman. If I ever see you again, I’ll have you locked in the Screaming Tower while the vultures claw at your eyes and tear the withered old flesh from your miserable bones!”
> When he lunged at her once more, Esa ran. He was crazed with heartbreak, and there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he wouldn’t carry through with his threat. She blew past the guards, down the spiral staircase to the courtyard below. It was nearly dawn, and she could see the first rays of the sun peeking over the horizon as she ran down the rolling hills to the forest that surrounded the castle. As she drew further into the shadows, she began to change. The shriveled skin sloughed away, leaving her true form behind. Her tangled gray hair was once more sleek and fiery, her back straight and her skin as smooth and pale as unblemished snow. The poor human queen had driven the serving girl from her bedchamber, thinking she was Fae. But it was Esa who served Queen Mab.
Belladonna looked back over her shoulder, making certain that she hadn’t been followed by the king’s guard. She could hear the stream nearby and breathed a sigh of relief. None of them would venture this far, knowing that once they crossed the stream they were in Faerie and, therefore, governed by Queen Mab. She sat down on a rock by the water and breathed heavily. Carrying around that tired human form was almost more than she could stand. She’d have to remember to complain vigorously to Mab when she saw her again. After all, Bella’s going to spy on Christophe and his ill-fated queen had been her idea anyway.
Bella stood and stretched her back, trying to let the horror of the day slip from her shoulders as easily as the old midwife’s skin. That was when she heard the whimpering. She paused, listening for it again, but all was silent around her. She shrugged, walked over to the water’s edge, and considered a swim. She’d almost decided to jump in when she heard it again. This time it was louder and sounded like more of a growl. “Who’s there?” she called. She began to creep along a rough path, following the sound until she came to the stone base of the hill atop which set the castle. “Who followed me? Show yourself so I might turn you into a warty old toad!”
There among the craggy stones lay the tiny dragon hatchling that Tristan had tossed from the castle window. It was weakly crawling over the stones, trying to make its way toward the stream. The queen’s blood still peppered its muzzle and chest, but all of its ferocity had evidently been spent, and it looked up at the fairy with an intelligent stare. “There now, beastie,” Bella whispered.
The dragon squeaked a tiny roar, and Bella laughed in spite of herself. “No need to be afraid,” she said, holding out her hand and beckoning it gently. It crept closer, its tiny limbs struggling over the rocks. Its wings kept getting in the way and finally defeated the beast, sending it tumbling over the last obstacle and rolling to a halt at the fairy’s feet. Bella knelt, expecting that the pitiable creature would try to attack her in some way, but instead it whimpered again, cowering. “How did you survive that fall, little thing?” she whispered, drawing a cautious fingertip down the leathery scales between its large eyes. It heaved a tiny sigh and nudged against her hand again. “Oh, you like that, I see,” she said, rubbing the bridge of its nose.
After several moments, it became apparent that this dragon was not a horrible, mindless creature that was bent on destruction and death. It was a baby that had been thrown away. Bella found her heart warming to the beast and took it in her arms. “All right, little hatchling. No need to be frightened.” The dragon's skin was warm, almost too warm, even for her. A human would not be able to touch it without burning himself. How on earth had Christophe managed it, she thought. Looking down into its face, Bella couldn’t help but notice its eyes. They were not yellow or red as one might expect, but an icy blue with orange flecks like fire that glinted in the light. “Fire and ice,” she whispered, tickling its belly.
“I think I shall call you Malik,” she whispered, kissing the end of its nose. The name laid heavy on her chest. The name of the ancient Dragon Lord who had called her goddess and worshipped at her feet.
The hatchling sneezed tiny sparks, setting the ends of Bella’s hair on fire. “Oh!” she exclaimed, patting out the flames. “Naughty thing.”
She cradled the tiny dragon in the crook of her arm as she sat by the stream. Its eyelids were heavy, and it gave a yawn that was so comical that Bella couldn’t help but laugh. The beast looked up at her with an almost offended expression. “Whoever heard of a dragon yawning?”
“Who indeed?”
Bella gasped and looked up to see Mab lounging in a low-hanging branch. “My queen! You startled me.” She hated it when Mab just appeared out of nowhere.
“You’ve been gone a long time. I was beginning to think you’d abandoned us.” Mab giggled and slid down from the branch. As always, she moved with an ethereal grace over the mossy ground, making her way toward where Belladonna sat with the baby dragon. “Where did this little beastie come from?” she asked as she approached. The hatchling snarled at the fairy and curled into Bella’s chest.
“Your human lover.”
“Christophe?” she asked, batting at the dragon’s tail that swished back and forth.
“This is the baby you promised him. Of course you knew that already.” Bella turned away, not wanting to look at Mab’s face. This was obviously what she’d hoped for all along.
“Oh, Bella, whatever do you mean?” she asked, barely able to contain her laughter.
“Don’t play innocent, Mab. That’s why you sent me to Thane isn’t it? You knew something terrible was going to happen when you gave him that onion!”
“I promised that Katrin would conceive a son worthy of Osghast.” She reached down and stroked the horned protrusion that highlighted the dragon’s brow. “And so she did. A son as ugly as the heart of his father.”
“Sons.”
Mab’s expression darkened. “Sons? What are you talking about?”
“There are two. A human son and… this.”
At Belladonna’s words, Mab began to laugh in earnest. Her voice shook the forest around them, and the birds in the trees took wing. “That fool!” she cried. “He ate both halves!”
“What…”
“The onion. He was to peel and eat exactly half, giving Katrin the other half. She must have refused him, and he ate the entire thing himself in his panic.” She took the tiny hatchling from Bella and examined him closely, despite the hisses and spits. “You are a spirited one, aren’t you, little beastie? A little prince encased in a prison of iron scales. I wonder if we peeled back your layers, would there be a child inside?”
“What should we do, my lady? Christophe cast him out.”
Mab chuckled to herself and handed the hatchling back to Belladonna. “You must destroy it, of course.”
Bella’s eyes grew large, and she clutched the dragon to her chest protectively. “Destroy it? Why would we destroy it?”
“I didn’t say we; I said you. But the answer is obvious, isn’t it?”
“Not to me! It’s… it’s just a baby!”
“That will grow into an enormous, fire-breathing monster in a year’s time. Dragons are not meant for the human world. That’s why the Fae have allowed humankind to kill them off. And this creature is born of a woman. If it is allowed to grow to maturity, it will not be one of those mindless animals that fly around the mountains and hide in caves. It will be a Dragon Lord, capable of speech, reason, and magic. And greed. He is Faerie Kind, Bella. Like you and I, he does not belong here. If you allow it to live, it will learn the truth and destroy this world. His very existence is an abomination that will upset the balance!”
“Then let me bring it to Faerie. There he will be safe. If what you say is true, then he has a Fae form…”
“Are you mad? Allowing such a creature in Faerie? The very idea!”
Bella stared down at the dragon. It was almost asleep in her arms. A sound somewhere between a snore and a purr thrummed as the hatchling relaxed. She knew right then and there that no matter what Mab said—she could not kill it. “I… I won’t do it…” she murmured.
“What?”
“I’ve never defied you before, my queen, but I can’t. If this dragon is to be destroyed, th
en you will have to do it.”
Mab’s eyes narrowed, and she loomed dangerously over her servant. Bella shivered with the chill of the queen’s anger, but she would not give in. “You would risk my wrath? Over a… cursed creature?” Bella did not answer, but her resolve was evident in her eyes. After several moments, Mab chuckled lightly and began to pace. “What are you willing to risk for this creature, Bella?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well you must, of course, realize that if you defy me, you’ll be locked out of Faerie until my wishes are fulfilled.”
“You… you can’t!” Bella stammered, laying the dragon aside to throw herself at Mab’s feet. “Please, my lady!”
“I assure you I can. And will. You will be confined to The Veil, only able to take your true form by moonlight. But take heart, dearest Bella. A dragon will only live a few thousand years. A mere blink of an eye for a fairy.”
The heavy knell of the alarm dragged Esa from her memories and into the street in front of her meager cottage. She had lived as an old human woman for more than twenty years now. Long enough to see Mab’s terrible prophecy come true.
She was nearly caught in a wave of panicking mob as they rushed down the street. They screamed and cried, pointing toward the cloudless sky. “Dragon!” They dropped their baskets from the market and scooped up their children.
Esa grabbed a small child who stood there weeping and dragged him along with her toward the armory. The attacks were coming more frequently now. The town fathers had sent word to the king for assistance, but no such help would come. Esa knew that the king would never come to save them. And she knew why. The people of Isling were on their own. Now all they could do was flee in terror and pray that this time the dragon would be satisfied.
Huntress: A Paranormal Romance Page 3
