by Rain Oxford
Sade wanted to take over the kingdom in order to squander the minor kingdoms under my father’s rule. He believed the entire land should be ruled by a king, which it already was, but that the king should have complete say in the laws and governing of the land. My father only wanted to rule his private kingdom and allow the smaller kingdoms to exist as long as they followed his rules and paid taxes to him. As he was truly the king of all of Mokii, most people appreciated him for his relaxed reign.
Outside of Mokii, the king had the last word, but the people voted upon the laws for him to inflict. I liked Mokii because people had a choice to live the kind of life they could not anywhere else. If they disliked it, they were free to leave, or even live outside a kingdom.
My father trusted Sade even when I told him I could smell the consultant’s deceit, so I had to take it upon myself to spoil Sade’s plans. Rojio took over as my father’s adviser without hesitation and made it his goal in life to treat me like a spoiled, rebellious brat.
His long black hair was pulled back into a leather strap with immaculate precision and I had never seen him with a hair out of place. While no stress showed on his face, sweat soaked into his dark blue tunic. Embroidered over his heart was the same crest I had been forced to wear for many years; a gold draxuni. His pants were black, matching his leather, carefully polished boots. A gold belt was strapped around his waist with a sword. Although he always had the sword with him, I assumed it was a decoration, for I had never seen him use it no matter what danger the king encountered.
I considered the pompous, all-too familiar face and hoped that he refused to tell me anything so that I could burn him down a few notches. Predictably, he froze when he saw me.
“Mordon,” he said after staring for a few minutes.
By using my first name and not even a title, he was treating me as a child. Until a person earned their family name, they were considered to have none, so children were referred to by their first name. For everyone else, everyone who had earned their name, only family and very close friends referred to a person by their first name.
“You came home.”
“To an empty kingdom,” I said, my voice steady and nonchalant. Of course it wasn’t empty, but I was purposely disregarding everyone else. Even as my stomach churned, Rojan approved. I was saying the words we were both raised to use. “Where is my father?”
“On vacation,” he said. I didn’t even have to sniff; I recognized that waver in his voice. He was lying and he knew it was too dumb to get past me.
I smirked. “I don’t care what brainless scheme he has planned or what land he is trying to overthrow. I’m not here to stop him from overtaxing people. Tell me where he is.” The man hesitated and I noticed he aged a lot in the last five years. Perhaps keeping the king alive in my absence was too much for the adviser.
“I will prepare your room and inform the cooks of your return.” He turned his back to me and reached for the door. Before he could touch the handle, I shot a ball of warm fire at it. My fire didn’t cause any damage, but it certainly made a nice threat. He recoiled and turned to me.
“I am not done with you. I gave you an order, not an option. Tell me where he is.”
“He wanted you to have a good life. He did what he could to help you,” Rojio said, probably afraid that I was angry with my father.
I wasn’t, though; I just wanted to get him behind me. I do believe my father was doing what he thought was best for me when he tried to suppress Rojan, but that didn’t make it okay.
I sighed. “You are trying my patience. I should eat you and find him myself.” Rojan chuckled. Yes, it was usually him who threatened to eat people, but it was rewarding to see the fear in someone’s eyes when they knew I was part dragon and believed I could actually eat them whole.
“Right after you left, we were attacked by Sujike-mor and your father was injured. He recovered, but he was left conflicted. Some dragons hounded the kingdom for months, demanding you be handed over to them, for they refused to accept that you were gone. Finally, one day they gave up. Over the years, Ishte-mor changed. He stopped making his kingdom better and monopolizing power over Mokii.”
I had to roll that over in my mind. It wasn’t like my father to act without self-gain. “What has he been doing for the last five years?”
“He opened a school for the rich and poor to learn side-by-side and study both academics and magic. He spent money to provide better food and education to orphanages.” The man spit his words like they were too outrages to speak.
“Investing in the future generation is nothing to scoff at,” I scolded him. “I just can’t imagine that man doing anything kind. You still haven’t told me where he is.”
“About a year ago, he decided to stop dragon hunters. Most people believe the dragons are extinct or myth, but many who do believe in them hunt them. He started with research and then sent spies to learn from and thwart Sujike-mor. About five months ago, a dragon contacted him, saying that she needed his help. She told him that dragons were being poisoned and hunted by other dragons and she needed his help to stop them.”
“A dragon said she needed the help of a sago?” I asked.
Trap, Rojan said, stirring with agitation.
Of course it is, but how likely is it that my father would know that? “Where?” I asked. Maybe Dylan was right and I was already too late.
“He is on an island south-east of the Noto coast. It is supposedly a dragon-ruled island, but nobody has been able to prove it. There is a kingdom there, and it has a closed border, so no one is allowed in or out without specific invitation. Even I was turned away, but Ishte-mor insisted he go anyway.”
“Prepare a ship for me. Small, inconspicuous. No men, just a pilot. I want the element of surprise until I see how many dragons I’m up against. Send a messenger to Shomodii, find Yatunus-mal Kiro two hours south of the Ronus region, and tell him not to let Yatunus-so Dylan come.”
The last thing I needed was for Dylan to flash into the middle of a dragon fight, as the man had a mouth on him that could get up the skins of every dragon in the area in under a minute. If this was a kingdom of dragons, they needed to be threatened, not manipulated. Dylan was very good at outsmarting people, but dragons needed to be pushed around.
Rojan muttered in disagreement, but didn’t say anything.
“Very good,” Rojio said with a small bow. “A ship will be ready shortly. While you are gone I will prepare your room and inform the cooks. That way, when you are refused entrance, your new kingdom will be ready. Will you be continuing your father’s work or starting over?” he asked.
I laughed. Rojio thought he was clever. He thought he could bully me into doing what he wanted. “I will not rule this kingdom; I am quite happy with my life as it is. And what makes you think I would be denied entrance?”
“You were not given an invitation.”
“You forget what I am.”
“You are the only son of a king who is presumed dead. That makes you the new king.”
“I am a dragon.”
* * *
I would have preferred to arrive at night, but Rojio made a dreadful servant; he frequently forgot his role and his assignment. It was already late when the boat was ready, but I was delayed at the last moment. From the dock I saw her standing by the trees, so I went to her. I hardly recognized her; Jedes had been such a small girl. In five years, she turned into a very beautiful woman. Her hair and eyes had both darkened so that she had medium auburn hair and eyes the color of grass. She even managed to make the servant’s dress of dark blue cotton appear as elegant as a queen’s.
“I missed you,” I said, hugging her.
She gave me a sad smile. “I missed you, too, but I warned you not to come back. I saw it. You have begun a path that leads to pain and loss.”
Her warning had sounded a lot less ominous all those years ago. “How do I stop it?”
She leaned her forehead against my shoulder. “Leave now. Return to your lif
e with your friend and forget about this kingdom,” she clutched at my shirt weakly.
“But my father needs help.”
“You may be able to save your father, but if you continue this path, you will lose much more.”
* * *
The ship arrived at the island just as the sun was rising. Fortunately, my nose had completely cleared up by then. A stone wall surrounded the entire island, but I approached the gates without hesitation. The guards, dressed entirely in black and red armor, were giving each other looks as I walked up. Very unprofessional to show such surprise.
“Open the gates,” I said calmly as I halted just a few steps from them.
“You need an invitation,” the older guard said.
Rojan took over and my eyes shifted. They were both dragons, but they were no older than my father, and they were completely unprepared for me being able to shift my eyes. “Open the gates,” Rojan said before giving the reins back to me.
The younger guard quickly waved his arm in signal and the gates immediately started opening. I strolled in without looking back at either of them. They both knew they would not win in a fight with me.
The pathway was stone and led to a small castle on a hill. The entire island within the stone wall sloped gently downward from the castle. Scattered around the castle were small, peaceful-looking cottages. It was not a very crowded place, but there were dragons in people form milling about. Although I scented two or three sago in the crowd, no one appeared bothered by the dragons flying overhead.
I kept my eyes forward and shifted them back. A sago child stopped in front of me to gape, but I continued towards the castle ahead. It was very much like my father’s; it even had matching towers. Honestly, I never got the point of towers.
Rojan shuddered at the thought of dragons living here. Dragons were meant for caves and warm little cabins.
There is no dragon that chooses to live in a cabin, Rojan argued.
I refuse to live in a cave. It isn’t normal for dragons to live together like this, right?
It is very strange. Dragons are extremely territorial. The largest clutch I knew was a mated pair with four children.
When I arrived at the door to the castle, neither guard hesitated to move out of my way. I slammed the door open. Where my plan to be inconspicuous went, I didn’t know. It just happened.
The inside of the castle was a surprise; it was completely different than my father’s. It was dim and warm with dark, rich colors and books. Straight ahead of me was a throne, but this wasn’t like my father’s, either, because it was a little smaller and cushioned with burgundy fabric. The greatest distinction between the two castles was the woman sitting on the throne.
Divina was unnaturally gorgeous. Meri was innately sexy. Vivian had a feisty, beautiful personality that bled out to her appearance. This woman, several years younger than me, was unbelievably pretty. Instead of beautiful or sexy, she was overwhelmingly pretty. Her skin was creamy and her facial features were small and soft, but her blue eyes were just large enough to be the dominant feature. Her lips weren’t red like Divina’s or Meri’s, but dark pink and wet. Her hair was a blend of reds and golds, curled in big waves around her face and shoulders.
Once I managed to direct my eyes away from her face, I wasn’t much better off. She wore a dark purple dress with a corset top and slightly fluffed skirt that came to her knees. The skirt was littered with diamonds and the corset was decorated with gold ribbons. Her shoes- if they could be called that, were silver and didn’t cover her feet; they laced over her foot and up her legs. They also had a rather sharp heal. It was like she was trying to look sexy, but it just came off as cute, as if she could look adorable, but not exactly sexy.
She leaned her legs over the left arm rest on the chair and her back against the right. When I came in, she calmly put her right elbow on the arm rest and her chin in her hand. “Hello, please come in,” she said. Instantly I knew she had a mouth on her, but her voice was as pretty as her face. I shifted my eyes for just an instant and knew exactly how someone could be so pretty. Evil came in attractive packages.
This girl was bad. I have seen people who were manipulative and out for themselves, but this girl did uncouth things just for the sake of being foul. She was also a dragon, but one close to my age instead of Rojan’s. “I am looking for Ishte-mor Nako.”
“Really? What kingdom do you rule?” she asked. She kept her eyes on me as if fascinated and her voice was sweet.
“I am not a king.”
She stuck the middle and index finger tips in her mouth to nibble on as she pondered, as if she couldn’t possibly believe me. It was a dirty, bad habit that irritated me, even as it looked so innocent.
“Stop that!” Rojan barked. She jumped and it took every bit of my control not to show a reaction at Rojan’s outburst. However, her fingers were no longer in her mouth. Her startled eyes were even bigger than before.
“Take me to the king here,” I said.
She leapt off the throne with youthful grace and gave me a carefree smile before holding out her hand. It wasn’t straight out as if to shake my hand; it was to the side as if she wanted me to hold her hand as she led me to the king.
“You only had to ask,” she said. I glared at her until she frowned and lowered her hand. After a moment, she smiled again. “This way.” She led me through hallway after hallway, corridor after corridor, until we came to a back door into a garden. “There he is,” she said cheerily, pointing to a headstone. “I lived with my mother until three years ago, when my father died. As his only child, I became queen of this clutch.”
“You have been in charge of all these people for three years?”
She nodded with her sweet little smile. “I am Kaori-mor Emiko. All of the dragons who were born here, as I was, have sago names so that we can blend into society out there.”
“I am Mordon.” It was to my advantage to pretend to be a pure dragon, and an intimidating one at that, so I wouldn’t give her my family name and title. Since Edward gave me his name, which was a family name well-known for having powerful wizards, I couldn’t very well get away with being a dragon-wizard.
Ronez and I had had a long conversation about this on the boat ride over. Dragons were, as we had thought, nearly extinct. However, if this was actually an island of dragons, it seemed likely they were actually growing in numbers. I could play dragon because of Rojan and sago because of my upbringing, but the danger was in a simple slipup. If a sago saw my eyes and claws shift, they could figure out I was a dragon, but if a dragon caught me using wizard magic, they would realize I was sago. Being one or the other was fine, but the fact is I was both, and that could get me killed by either species.
So far, dragons were a refuted myth to most sago, and the truth that they could shift into people and walk among them was almost unheard of. Therefore, it would only be natural that I would have a sago name to get me by.
Not that you would share with another dragon. Be constantly and consistently aware of our customs, because you never know when we will face a dragon who knows his history.
Rojan was always willing to share the lessons drilled into him as a child, despite how much he hated dragon culture. The one thing he honestly believed, that every dragon believed, was that dragons were superior in every way to sago… which absolutely explains why they were driven to near extinction by the inferior sago.
Rojan growled, but it was more at the loss his people suffered than at me for pointing it out.
“Where is Ishte-mor?”
“In the dungeon, of course. He made a very bad pet.”
“You invited him here and then imprisoned him?” I growled.
“Yes. Is that wrong?” she asked. “He was very rude to me.” She smiled again as if she had a great idea. “However, if you would be my pet instead, I could let him go.”
I growled at her and let my teeth sharpen, expecting her to draw back in fear… instead she stepped closer and her mouth opened a little as
she stared in awe.
“How do you do that? Amazing,” she said with delight.
At this range, I realized her eyes were not pure blue; there was a ring around her pupils that were deep purple, which blended well with the vibrant blue around the outside of the iris. “Back up and take me to Ishte-mor,” I said.
“Would you like breakfast instead?”
“Take me to him!” I yelled. I was very good at staying calm when dealing with extremely frustrating people, but none of that calmness held ground when it came to that smile, and it wasn’t even an honest smile.
She turned and went inside. I followed at my own speed and she, predictably, slowed to stay in range. I would not run. After going down several staircases, we arrived at a large room full of twelve cells that lined the walls. All of them were empty except the one that held my father.
The years had not been kind to my father. His face had several wrinkles, his hair was mostly gray, and on top of that, he had lost weight. The tan robe he wore was dingy and had a few tears. As he lay on the bed, unmoving, I shifted my eyes.
I had never seen the man through my dragon eyes, but I spent years with his scent, so I knew how much he had changed. When Rojio told me he was doing good things, it was hard to believe. Now I saw with my own eyes how drastically he had improved; my father’s aura was still marred with the choices he made, but there was no more malice or desire for personal gain. He wanted to make things better for everyone. Like a king should.
“Get him out of there.”
Emiko sighed, slouched, and gave up her smile. “What do you offer me in exchange?”
Tell her not to stand that way, Rojan said, growling.
Rojan’s annoyance wasn’t due to a fear that her bone structure would be damaged by her bad posture; it was because her bad posture happened to result in her butt being emphasized. “Straighten up!” I barked, smacking her butt hard enough to make her jump and straighten her stance. Once again, I really hadn’t meant to yell at her. I may have meant to smack her.
