She nodded. “I need to talk to my mother.” Even as she asked, she wasn’t sure she was making the right decision. Maybe she should run.
“Your Highness, promise me you will hide here while I go find your mother. Do not leave here.”
She nodded, staring at him as he scurried out the door. She whispered, knowing he wouldn’t hear, “What did you mean, I was never supposed to leave here? Poor South Dragons Ridge, the whole village was set to be destroyed because my sisters popped Father’s fantasy bubble about me being his little dolly.” She looked down at her faceted claws. Until yesterday afternoon, she had loved how they sparkled in the sunlight. “How shallow my sisters must have thought I was. No wonder they hated me.” Tears ran down her snout again. “I never stood a chance to be a real sister to them.” The grief was nearly choking her. She wanted to lay down and never get up again.
The guard returned with her mother in what seemed like an hour, but she knew it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes.
“Oh Sweetheart, thank the gods you are okay,” she said, gracefully gliding over to her and wrapping her neck around hers.
As her mother backed out of the embrace, she told her everything that happened, including why Zhao didn’t kill her.
“So he did put a saddle on you, even if not secured?” her mother asked, looking worried.
Agne nodded. “Is he really going to destroy the village? The village did nothing. It was just a group of troubled boys who were tools of my sisters. The villagers didn’t even know, and when the priest found out, he was infuriated. He even struck one of them before freeing me, and then he turned the boy over to their council.”
“That doesn’t matter now,” her mother said, but she was looking at the guard who was watching out a peephole to the gate. “I am going to tell you something before I tell you what you need to do.” She stepped back, toward the guard. “You are going to hear some very terrible things about your father. It is all true. The only thing that is unique to you is that he loves you. You are the only thing he ever loved. Therefore, I beg you not to go to him when he calls for his little dragon girl. He was crushed by the thought that you were in peril, but he will not be able to process the fact that you disobeyed him to sneak out. Your relationship with him is tainted in his eyes, he is quite crazed at the moment. Right now, I need to know if you remember your geography lessons.”
“Yes,” she said, curious. She had never seen her mother act like this. She was in the perfect striking distance to kill the guard using her tail horns. Cold, prickly fear ran down her spine to the tip of her tail. What was going on?
“You must go to Blue Valley. I have an older sister there. Air Minister, Ty-Leah. She lives in the Air Barn for Blue Valley and manages the local Air Dragon business there. She can help you enter proper rider training because you are going to need one—a really good one. You must stop being a doll. You are the Blood King’s only remaining heir. Everything will fall to you, but you must be ready to take it.” She knocked the guard out with her tail horns. “Go, I will distract them. Don’t look back. It’s a three-day flight for an Air Dragon at full speed, fly high, Baby.” She stood with her tail horns over the guard. “Fly high.”
“What are you doing?” Her eyes widened as she remembered the doctor and the other little boy hadn’t only feared her father, he also feared The Air Queen would come for them. She never knew a royal consort could have a title like Air Queen. She thought only the Monarch did. She must have earned that title.
“What I have to do to help you live. No one but me can know you’re alive and where you are going. If I survive, I will meet you there, but right now all I can do is give you a head start and tell you that your parents loved you. Now go my precious little pup, go.”
She scrambled out the door as she heard her mother’s tail horns come down again. She flew off at a low angle along the tree line to avoid being seen, and then went as high as she could fly. It was dark now so the odds of them seeing her would be nil, especially if she used her Air magic to cool her body heat signature from the Earth and Fire Dragon guards.
Less than an hour later, she could see the fires of South Dragons Ridge burning. Her father’s army of dragons were sacking the village. She could hear the dragon’s roars. All four Elemental powers were being used in the form of lava, liquefaction earthquakes, and terrible gale force winds devastating the village with pyroclastic flow followed up by a flash flood. There was already nothing she could do. Anyone who had remained in the village would be killed.
Her father was everything Zhao said. The look on the guard’s face as he saved her, only to be murdered by her mother, who also had the same look on her face…told her everything was true. Her father was the stuff of the nightmares in her storybooks, and he was in a murderous rage right now, and her mother was the Queen of Enablers, not the Air Queen. They would face justice for this, she would make it happen.
She landed about five miles outside the village, next to a small wilderness lake surrounded by Perin Firs, the tallest of the fir trees; some over six hundred feet tall. Tall snow-capped peaks reflected the twin moons’ light, giving the night sky a dark blue hue. All of this was her fault. If she hadn’t tried to go to that stupid party… She licked her lips, she hadn’t realized how thirsty she was, she drank and drank. She shut her eyes tight as she did, hoping to block out her life.
“Well, Lilac. Did you miss me so much that you would hunt me down?”
She jumped up, “Who is there,” she hissed, trying to be quiet, despite being startled.
“It’s me, Zhao,” he said, walking out of the bushes.
His face looked puffy and hopeless like he had been crying, and the shine that had been in his eyes earlier looked dull. His face had red marks on it at the corners of his mouth – like someone had bridled him. For dragons, the bridle fit comfortably behind their far rear teeth, for a human, it would be very painful. He also had the under-strapping of a dragon’s saddle wrapped around his waist several times, with the lilac saddle attached to it.
“Coward, did you run away from your village after you drew my father’s army in? Did you leave them to burn while you ran to safety? You should be in the village square right now waiting for your chance to slay my father.” She snarled and arched her back up, although she wasn’t sure why. So far he was the only person who had been honest with her. It was a sad testament that the kidnapper was the only one who told her the truth.
He looked at the ground and shook his head. “Mingway and several others were with me when the Fire and Earth Dragons attacked. The only thing that saved me was the fact that the bridle I was going to put on you got caught on a tree. I was able to pull myself up.” He held up his arm. It had a nasty burn on it. “I got burned, though. That is why I came here.” He bent down and put his arm in the cold water running down from the top of the mountains, and muttered something under his breath, flicking a wand with the other hand. “Darn, I hate that I am such a failure at magic. I am hopeless, with or without my family.”
“Well, I don’t know any Water magic, not that I would help you if I did.” She hissed at him again, still angry. “Shall I give you a ride to my father?” She couldn’t do that, of course, she needed to stop this and get away. But not before he had a piece of her mind.
He ignored her hissing and continued talking. “Once Dailee told them what happened, the city guard ran us out of town. It’s all my fault. Dailee is right. I have killed everyone with my recklessness.”
“Yes.”
“I have ruined your life.”
“How intuitive of you.”
“I am here with only the bridle, saddle, and my backpack with a few items in it. It was all they would let me take because of the symbolism of it being rider gear.”
“So the king was to burn the village, but spare your home?”
He continued, ignoring her. “The city guard burned my home in an attempt to show the Blood King they would cooperate with serving justice, but it didn’
t matter.” He pulled his arm out of the water and leaned back on his rear, smacking the saddle, as if it caused offense. “It took almost an hour to get it off my back. They actually saddled me with it. Then put the bridle on me and tied the reins to the leg braces.” He stood up. “Do you mind; I can’t seem to get the under-strapping off?” He limped toward her, carrying the saddle.
She realized, he hadn’t been able to get it all the way off his back. He had only managed to loosen the upper strapping. She laughed at him, but then frowned, “No, I caused all this. If I had done as I was told. This would never have happened. You were just sad that your family was gone, and justice couldn’t be reached. No one really wanted me. I’m just a talking dolly that exists for the King’s entertainment. I am just a stupid toy for him to play with.” She reached over and clicked the buckle for him, releasing the saddle from his back. “I am someone, the only person, who didn’t really know who he was.” She burst into tears. “He’s destroying that whole village of innocent people because of me, and I can’t make him stop.”
“Agne, it isn’t a crime to exist, and your father doesn’t need a reason to destroy things, it’s what he does,” he said, heaving the saddle off, and putting his hand on her front shoulder. “What are you doing here?”
She told him what happened and then burst into tears again. “I have no idea where Blue Valley is, except that it’s that way.” She pointed to the West with her tail. “Do you have any idea how many places are ‘that way’?”
He chuckled. “Well, Lilac, you’re in luck. My family became wealthy with a trade route between Blue Valley and South Dragons Ridge. I’ll show you.” He held up the saddle. “No obligation, just a guide. I can’t very well keep up with you if I walk, especially as we cross the Shallow Sea. You’d probably lose me there.” It was no more than fifty feet deep at the deepest point; but obviously, too deep for a human to walk it.
She stared at him, torn as to allow him to show her or not.
“Let’s get out of here while they are busy, and we can still get away to get help from Blue Valley.” He glanced at the glowing sky over his shoulder. “Well, help for the survivors.”
She let him put the saddle on, then secured the under-strapping while he put the rider’s leg braces on. In less than five minutes the bridle was in place, and they were in the air headed Southwest, toward Blue Valley. She flew as high as Zhao could stand it and then turned on the Air Dragon speed.
a request from the queen
Chactau surveyed the vast barren land that was once South Dragons Ridge. By this time next year, there would be a meadow here. If the survivors didn't start rebuilding, there would be no trace that a vibrant village of more than fifty thousand humans lived here. It was simply gone.
The Queen landed next to him, landing so softly the only thing that alerted him to her presence was the change in the air current. At first, she said nothing, after a minute she said, “Your father approached me about you becoming Agne’s betrothed. When I brought the request to Tiakical, he threatened to have me removed from the castle. I would never see my daughter again, and certainly not alive.”
He froze in place, unable to move out of concern that she would detect that she had just startled him. Showing fear to her would ruin his life: if she let him live. He took in a breath, and nodded, “I am not sure what to say, My Queen.” It took him a second to realize she had used the king’s first name, Tiakical. This was going to be a conversation he did not want to be privy to.
She smiled, albeit weakly. “You can win her heart. She’s such a loving soul, nothing like her parents. We actually did something good in having Agne– made something pure. I can understand why he would want to hang onto her.” She wasn’t bragging, her tone suggested that she was accepting that her days as the primary queen were numbered.
“I am not sure what to say, My Queen.”
“She returned to the palace. I helped her escape. I knew she made it home safe.” She stared out at the mountains that surrounded the barren lands, her eyes shiny. “I let them die. I couldn’t betray my daughter. You will tell her that about me, won’t you? That I saved her.” Her voice seemed tight like she was using her Air magic to control her breathing and keep the tears from flowing.
“I don’t know where she is, but if I find her, I will make sure she knows.” He was appalled. She’d let an entire village be destroyed, the survivors left beyond homeless. He wanted to scowl, but he stood there, feeling like a useless lump of dirt. “My Queen, if I may, you have been surrounding…”
Queen Airyanna finished his thought. “…Myself with loyal dragons. Chactau. You have been on the front with both of us. Who puts Kingdom first?”
“I am not sure I am following you. You both put Kingdom first.”
“No, only one of us does, the other puts Shestafa – the nation first.” She tucked her tail under his chin moving his face toward hers until their eyes met. Her silver eyes flashing a bit of anger. “Who puts Kingdom first.”
“The King, of course, My Queen.” He stared in shock, as he watched a tear run down her snout.
“I thought, I could rebuild Shestafa. Restore,” she paused, taking a breath, so he finished for her.
“Restore the nation by orchestrating a coup.” He nearly choked the words out, surprised at his own accusation. He was a formidable fighter, but the Queen had taken down many who were bigger and stronger. Her tactics made up for her light weight. He should hold his tongue, but he couldn’t. “And, Princess Salma beat you to it.”
“When Agne first hatched, she was so beautiful. Everyone loved her. As she grew, I saw how her innocence calmed him. I did terrible things in my own quest for power, but I will not be so terrible as to betray my daughter; without her, I have no future; no legacy. I will only pray she has the constitution to be a fair and decent queen.” She nodded. “I let her go. I love her more than my nation. She deserves her life, a real life. I found out he was going to have her stuffed, and placed in her chambers at the tea table so she could never sneak out again. Chactau. I know you don’t want her.”
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to.” she tucked her tail around her legs as she sat. “He knows I have committed treason, he’ll find me and execute me. I have to leave. But I can only save myself. I am too high profile to sneak around and help her. I beg you, please help her. The framework for the change of power is in place, and they love her, she will be able to rule with you at her side as the king consort. But she needs a powerful adult. General Loutic is a patriot, but I can’t be sure of his loyalty to Agne. The King must be stopped, and that’s why I argued for you to take your place as General because you have a sense of justice.” She stood and poised herself for flight. “She’s in Blue Valley with her aunt.” She took off at full speed.
He considered trying to fly after her, but being an Earth Dragon, there was no way he could catch up to her. He scowled. Pampered and spoiled or not, Princess Agne didn’t deserve that. He stared at the field. The Queen knew how to save the village, but it would have been at the expense of her only pup; what an awful position to be in. He took off to rejoin the King at North Dragons Ridge.
~~~
He landed in the main courtyard and entered the palace, still thinking about Princess Agne as he trotted in the main double doors. Several high-ranking dragons were sitting, looking up at the empty throne. It was a raised platform. The skulls of the King’s enemies were placed on the bottom. He sat on top as a warning to anyone who would oppose him.
Chactau stared at it. He did not want his own skull added to the collection. He looked at the stone block walls. There was a double row of stained glass windows. The top row featured the different breeds of Elemental Dragons. The bottom row, with smaller stained glass, featured the various breeds of Common Dragons. It was just another piece of royal propaganda that Elemental Dragons are believed to be superior.
He needed a plan that didn’t involve his execution for treason for talking to the Qu
een; hopefully, no one had seen them. He wished they had followed the rules, and placed an elder in his position until he came of age. But such was not his luck. He had a noble household he had to run, his career, and now he had to save an innocent girl from a fate not fit for the worst criminal.
The King marched out, his rider on his back, wearing a black outfit cinched at the waist with a gold belt so it stood out against his red scales. Ja Hua dismounted and stood at the King’s left hindquarter, the traditional spot for a rider to stand.
Chactau focused in on her. She had betrayed her village. It had been her work as the Blood King’s spy that caused her own people to perish. He wondered if she was willingly the King’s rider or if he forced her so he could drain off her magic.
The King announced that the Queen had committed treason, and Princess Agne was still missing. Then he announced a palatial barn with a staff as a reward for bringing him the Queen’s head. The last announcement was that he would personally lead a small task force to look for Princess Agne. Chactau and Loutic and several others were named as members. They would depart for the Southwest in two hours. The other teams would head in other directions.
He stifled a sigh, feeling sad, but held his composure as he took his place. He was all Agne had, and that was tragic for her.
Zhao and Agne
They crossed the Shallow Sea just before dawn. She landed on the far side of the sea and looked back toward her homeland. All she could see was the sea on the horizon. “Everything I know is gone, completely out of sight. My whole life was a fake. Nothing was real,” she said continuing to stare, unable to let go of her home. “I am homeless. A peasant.”
Zhao snorted, “You are not a peasant, by anyone’s definition.”
She felt Zhao dismount from the saddle. If she remembered geography, they were on the edge of the Aquaqueia Rainforest and river basin. The Aquaqueia was the longest river in the world. It is believed to be the original source of magic for the Water Dragons. She glanced down at the white sandy beach; smelling the brackish waters of the river delta.
The Lilac Princess and the Blood King Page 5
