by Calista Skye
The dragon Bafinan reaches out to me. That’s all I need. I am not in the mood for this. I should have shot them already.
I point the blunderbuss vaguely in the closest dragon’s directions and pull the trigger.
The bang is deafening, and the gun kicks in my hand. But the barrel holds, while the echo resonates from the trees around me.
Bafinan just breaks into a smile, completely unharmed. “Fireworks! Oh, if only you knew what real fire is. I fear you never will. For now your pitiful life comes to an end.”
“Wait,” the other one agrees. “Let’s enjoy her properly before the extinguishing.”
He reaches both hands towards me, claws out.
I swing at them with the gun, holding it as a club. The dragon easily sidesteps, grabs the gun, and pulls it out of my grip, tossing it away.
He takes my face between his hands and squeezes, hard. “Shall I crack your skull, or tear your face off?”
“Fuck you,” I spit.
“You wish, female,” he chuckles. “You wish I would do that. And why not? Perhaps a dying wish should be honored when it is so sincere.”
The other dragon comes in closer. “Honored doubly, perhaps. Let’s see that soft body under the sackcloth…”
“Stay away!” a new voice says, booming through the jungle. “She’s mine.”
The two dragons spin around.
“Ah,” says one of them. “The dying princeling is hiding in the bushes. Yes, you can watch, I suppose. Gold almighty, you look like you need to see a good spectacle before you expire.”
The newcomer steps into the light from the moon.
And it makes me want to cry. He’s hunched over and clutching his chest. He’s bleeding a lot, his whole upper body dripping with golden ichor, even his beard.
“Caronerax!”
“Never fear,” he says, coming closer on unsteady legs. “Jennifer, I will protect you. Get away from her, pitiful ground-walkers with your rotting scales.”
The two other dragons shake their heads.
“This is almost sad,” one says. “Some sacrilege happened here. A dragon is shedding ichor. Tell me you murdered the one who inflicted this on you, Caronerax.”
His laugh is hoarse and wheezing. “She stands right there. She once had a weapon that was much more powerful than the one she used now.”
“Ah,” Emerak says. “And now you wish revenge. You may take your revenge on her after I take her in every other way.”
“I love her,” Caronerax declares out loud. “Anyone who threatens to harm her forfeits his life. Do you feel ready to die, Lord Emerak?”
“Don’t be silly, runt of the royal litter,” Emerak scoffs. “You’re bleeding to death. You couldn’t harm even this female right now. Stand back. I’m not done with her.”
The two others turn from him and back to me, one on each side of, their shadows casting me in darkness.
They’re not seeing what I’m seeing. A second later, they are in darkness, too.
Get down, my love.
He says it right into my mind, and I throw myself down on the ground immediately, closing my eyes and clenching my arms around my head. I have some idea about what will happen now.
Even with my eyes closed and a half inch from the dry ground, the white light is so bright it sears my retinas.
Whoosh.
The heat washes over me, so intense I yelp in alarm before it dissipates.
I glance up.
The two others are completely gone. I can just barely smell charred organic material.
There’s a huge, blue dragon standing on four massive feet. I can’t believe how beautiful he is, even in this form.
“You found your cache,” I observe as I get to my feet, knees trembling.
I did.
“But you didn’t heal.”
I did not.
The ichor is pouring out of his chest in a steady stream.
My face scrunches up with worry and fear. “You are very sick, Caronerax. I don’t know if I can help you.”
Your green paste works fine on smaller injuries. It was never within your power to heal mine.
He’s big and winged and impressive. But he is also trembling, and I can hear his labored breath.
I put my hand on his thick, scaled neck. “Are you in pain?”
Since the day I met you.
“I mean, are you in more pain now?”
Infinitely more.
“Is it worse in this form?”
Much worse. But it is of no concern. Nothing can stop this now. I just wanted to say something to you.
I embrace his neck so he can’t see the tears. “What?”
I love you.
I squeeze his hard, thick body. “I love you, too.”
You already said it. But I didn’t. It needs to be said, because it is true.
“Should you Change back to human form?”
No.
“I mean, if the pain is worse like this…”
I will die in this form. And I can protect you better like this. Until the time comes.
A hard convulsion goes through his immense dragon body, and he falls onto his side, wing awkwardly crunched up under him.
“Is that time now?”
Yes. His voice is weak, even inside my mind.
My world goes black. He’s dying.
Then I take a step away, cold determination filling me. “Is the poison still in you?”
It is.
In his dragon form, the scales are bigger, and the hole, too.
“Lay back,” I command. “Stay in dragon form.”
It is said that it is unwise to show one’s belly. It is more vulnerable.
“Trust me.”
Oh, I do.
He rolls over on his back, breath going fast and wheezing, wings trembling, legs shaking.
There’s nothing to lose at this point.
“There may be some discomfort.”
Very well.
I plunge my whole hand through the wound and into the dragon’s chest cavity.
31
- Caronerax -
The pain is so spectacular I almost want to laugh. It’s ridiculously powerful and fills my entire mind. There is room for nothing else.
Yes, it is fitting that death should be like this. Overpowering and terrible beyond description.
I have no control over myself, and my limbs and wings shake in what I distantly identify as death throes. I have seen it before, but not in dragons.
It has been a good life, if short. And the last few days were simply breathtaking.
I’m vaguely aware that Jennifer is saying something.
I try to focus on her with my eyes and ears.
What?
“I said, here it is. And you’re right. It’s poison.”
I focus until the fog clears in my vision.
Jennifer’s hand is covered in ichor up to her shoulder. She’s holding something up between two fingers, dripping with the golden fluid. It’s something I know well. Very, very well.
Gold, I groan. You shot a nugget of gold into me.
“Not on purpose,” she replies. “I had no idea it was there. But whoever said that dragons have a weakness for gold was more right than they thought.”
Did someone say that?
“Well, no. Not that I remember. But if they had.”
Necessary, but poisonous. I have never heard of anything like this happening.
“Gold isn’t toxic to me,” Jennifer says. “It’s pretty inert and does no harm to most creatures. But you’re not like most creatures, are you?”
I get back on my feet. The pain is very slightly less than before.
I’m glad you noticed.
“It is, if you’ll excuse the pun, hard to miss.”
Hard to miss, as in when you shot me. Yes, I get it. Most humorous.
She looks at the nugget, shaking her head. “Only a gold bullet can penetrate your scales. It must have been mixed in among the gravel that I
filled the gun with.”
Mystery solved, then. I spread my wings, just because I can.
“And you are feeling better, I see.”
I am, indeed. The strength is returning to me, slowly radiating through my body.
“Then I guess we solved another mystery, too.”
We did?
“The riddle. This nugget is the piece of hoard that was mentioned. And who must pay? He who has erred. I thought that was me. But now I think, maybe not.”
Ah. It was me, of course. I have erred in too many ways to count. I paid with pain and with a total loss of dignity in front of all other dragons. By all means, keep that gold.
Jennifer strokes her hand along my head, getting to know it. “Maybe. But I think we both have paid. Actually, I don’t put too much stock in that riddle. I think this was only a matter of removing the toxic gold in you. Oh, here is some more gold.” The gold chain around my thigh has slipped down to my foot, and she points to it.
I step out of the necklace and grab it with my talons. A part of my cache. Do you want to stay in this place, or is there somewhere you’d like to go?
She looks me up and down. “Are you back to full strength?”
I reach out and stroke a claw along her cheek, very gently. I am. Thanks to you. This is not all because the gold piece is out of me. It’s also because you make me strong.
She grabs the claw and brings it to her mouth, kissing it. “Good. For what it’s worth, I feel stronger now, too. Better, I mean.”
There is just one thing.
She stiffens. “What?”
Will you marry me?
A smile slowly spreads on her face, then she checks herself. “First I have to know a couple things. Are you going to plunder and destroy my home planet?”
Not if you don’t want me to.
“I really don’t. Will you do what you can to help my friends return to our unharmed planet?”
I suspect the Plood don’t like me too much anymore. Transport might be a problem. But yes, whatever I can do.
She kisses my scaled snout. “Then yes, I will marry you. Actually, I would love to marry you. I will absolutely, totally love to be married to you. But no more king and queen of Earth stuff, right?”
I chuckle. Right. Very well, let’s go and see your friends and find out if I will love them, too.
32
- Jennifer -
I get up on his back, he beats his wings, and then we’re flying high above the treetops. And if I thought the bobont had a smooth ride, then this is something else entirely. No airplane could do this. Caronerax becomes a part of the air, taking power from it, adjusting perfectly and soaring high, fast, and with total control.
“I get why you’re so good at the sex thing,” I tell him, hanging on to the horns at the back of his head.
You do?
“You do it the same way you fly. You love it.”
Only with you.
What am I supposed to say to that? My heart soars, too. “Okay.”
To my astonishment, the battle outside Bune is still going. A small group of our cavemen is backed up against the spaceship in what looks a lot like a last stand.
Around them, several hundred attackers are moving slowly closer, throwing spears and wielding swords. Their battering ram is being pushed forwards again.
“Don’t kill anyone,” I quickly urge. “But put an end to it.”
One pass of Caronerax spewing white fire at the ground ends the battle on the spot, incinerates the battering ram and causes the attackers run wildly for the jungle.
We set down by the foot of the spaceship, and at my suggestion, Caronerax Changes back to his human form while I watch.
“Huh,” I ponder when he’s finished. “I didn’t think it was true.”
He embraces and kisses me. “What was true?”
“Your pants. They really are magic.”
He looks down himself. “They are? I had no idea.”
“But that’s what you told me!”
“I made it up. I honestly didn’t know.”
I touch the fabric of the pants, which are now perfectly clean and pristine. “Self-removing, self-cleaning, and self-applying pants. It’s a super cool technology, however it works.”
The defending cavemen are blocking our way to the ship, swords in hand. They still have their guns, too.
“Jennifer,” Brax’tan says, tired, sweaty, and very tense. “You have brought a dragon.”
“A friendly dragon who just won the battle for you,” I agree. “This is Caronerax. My fiance. May we come in?”
He doesn’t smile or move. “What are your intentions, Caronerax?”
So, I had no idea being in the middle of a tense standoff with two peak alpha males seven feet tall could be this nerve wracking.
“I have only one intention,” the dragon states firmly.
“And what is that?”
Caronerax puts one hand on my shoulder, and I immediately feel better. “To marry Jennifer. That is my only intention.”
“We will kill you if you do anything to harm any of us.”
“That is understood.”
“I must also inform you that there are two other dragons inside. We will tolerate no infighting at all.”
The dragon squeezes my shoulder. “There will be none. If anything, my presence will have a calming effect on the other two. A table with tree legs is more stable than one with two.”
Brax’tan relaxes and forces a thin smile. “That would be welcome. As are you, then. Follow me.”
We enter Bune.
The girls are returning from their posts, still carrying loaded guns.
“No casualties,” Delyah concludes. “Even if you snuck out, Jennifer. We were sure that was the end of you.”
“Me too,” I confess. “And we were both almost right.”
I introduce Caronerax, and the mood in the ship brightens considerably.
“A dragon at full strength? That’s going to be very useful.”
“He’s formidable. And still he’s different, somehow? Or is it just me?”
“I never saw a dragon with stripes before.”
“Or a beard.”
“He looks like a sky with yellow lightning. So cool.”
“Look at the hairpin! So adorable. Did you give him that, Jennifer?”
Kyandros and Aragadon come sauntering from opposite parts of the ship, stopping five paces away.
“Prince Caronerax,” Kyandros says smoothly. “I didn’t know we were honored by royalty on this barren planet.”
Caronerax smiles tightly. “There is some honor involved, Kyandros the Fearsome. Whether that honor is on my side or yours, I’ll leave you to judge. In fact, my brother is here as well. Though not close by, I think. Greetings, Aragadon the Shrewd.”
“Prince. You are on our side?”
“Very much so. We three are now special among the dragons. It is us few against the many. And interestingly, we few shall prevail.”
“Whose side is the king on?” Kyandros inquires.
“On his own side, as always,” Caronerax states. “Lying on his hoard, suspecting everyone.”
I leave the dragons to their alien conversation and walk over to the girls. “Any chance for a simple country chick to get married in these parts?”
“Totally,” Caroline smiles. “We even have a rich selection of venues. Pick your landscape.”
- - -
“I do!” Caronerax thunders so the snow falls from the treetops.
“I do,” I agree when it’s my turn, a little softer.
I’ve picked the level in the spaceship which has a snowy forest and hot springs, because it kind of reminds me of the pine woods and the geyser. The air is nice and crisp, but not so cold that it becomes a problem for me in my wedding dress.
He puts a ring on my finger, and I put one on his. It is the gold from the nugget that was so toxic to him, and the rings had been melted and forged with dragonfire.
W
e kiss and walk a short ways down the path where the snow has been cleared, while the others clap and cheer for us.
I look up at my husband, happier than I thought I could get on planet Xren. “Not many dragons get married, I heard.”
“Not many,” Caronerax agrees. “And none inside a spaceship made by our enemy species.”
“I knew it,” I tell him. “You’re special and unusual. Even for a dragon:”
He kisses me again, because he just can’t help it. “My secret revealed at last.”
“Oh, I will reveal all your secrets, Your Royalness. Are you really a prince?”
“That’s what they tell me.”
“What does that make me? Not a princess, I hope.”
“Right. And someone told me the title Queen of Earth is out of the question for you. You are remarkably resistant to titles! I think this only makes you my wife. Which is less a title and more of a fact.”
I squeeze his hand. “That’s what I was hoping. That’s all I ever wanted. Just you.”
“You have me now. And more importantly, I have you.”
“And how. Even if you are scary sometimes.”
He does that thing with his hand. “Boo.”
The girls come over to congratulate me, and they guys saunter over to slap Caronerax on the back and probably exchange horror stories about childbirth. Even Kyandros and Aragadon have showed up, and while they keep distance to each other, they seem less averse to my husband. Well, he is a prince.
“Three dragons in our tribe,” Phoebe sums up. “Of which one is a prince. We’re doing better and better when it comes to marriages. Moving up fast.”
“The next one has to be an emperor or something to top Caronerax,” Sophia agrees. “Not that this is a competition or anything.”
Ashlynn straightens my wedding dress around the shoulders. “I get the feeling this might have been the last wedding we celebrated on Xren. Don’t ask me why. But what a way to go out.”
I show her the little bouquet of flowers that the girls have picked on the park level that I think is below here somewhere. “Don’t be so sure. We can easily find out.”
The unmarried girls assemble behind me, more to be nice than because they really want it. I toss the flowers, not aiming at anyone in particular.
