My Lady of Bones

by Michael Clement

  Pumps began to hum.

  Generators crackled.

  And, In the distance, I could hear a muffled thump, thump, thump, as the defenses fought to delay Mother, to keep her from stopping my change.

  It didn’t matter, I was too close.

  And… she would have read my new name, written into the Book.

  That would have driven her insane. It was a tradition to choose who I was about to become. By taking a new name, I was raising my flag in the air and snapping it back and forth in defiance. She had taken advantage of her own child at my most vulnerable moment.

  Fuck her.

  The water energized with a crackle that made every hair on my body stand up and pay attention. My womanhood clenched and cramped, making me moan with pain… and pleasure. It felt like the most potent climax of my life. And… it didn’t stop, it just kept going and increasing.

  The egg roared.

  Magic flooded the chamber.

  Moaning, I tried to focus on the runes that made up the formula as they raced around my body in the golden fluid. They were a vibrant emerald, impregnated with power.

  The machine made a terrible snapping noise that nearly deafened me. I felt the pulse deep in my chest, and the vibrations continued, never stopping.

  Then… the energy poured into my soul.

  I strained every muscle, arched my back, and screamed.

  The runes began transforming me. They burned into my DNA, making something new, out of my flesh; Staining it with a new code of life.

  I became her, as Maxwell screamed and became unnecessary.

  The very texture of my mind changed, firming up, becoming her… And, not him.

  The seven elements... air, earth, fire, water, death, life and thought itself snapped through me, as each of them granted the new me strength and authority over the universe.

  I felt power being sewn into my very being, becoming part of me, part and parcel, so that there was no me, and no it.

  We were one.

  A new dragon was born within my flesh. I felt it awaken and scream in terror, like a newborn being slapped on its ass.

  There was no going back.

  The magic was different this time. Instead of us being separate, our minds fused into one. There was no her, and no me.

  My scream became… HER scream.

  WE became one creature.

  Abominations were two, separate individuals. They never became one flesh, one mind, one will… And, one fucking soul.

  I felt its terror because it was my terror.

  She felt my calm, human presence, and became me.

  We settled, knowing that nothing--and no one--was as strong, as beautiful, or as smart as us.

  We were as perfect as my old me could make us.

  Maxwell died... Right then and right there.

  I was something new.

  My name burned in our mind, just as I had written it in the Book.

  Marcellina.

  It meant fierce one in the ancient tongue of dragons. I had chosen it because Maxwell had been a coward, forever fleeing his responsibility and destiny.

  Marcellina also meant war-like. And, by God, I would live up to that reputation. I was going to destroy my enemies and salt the ground beneath them so that their children’s children would never stand against me.

  Maxwell had been too soft, too wishy-washy.

  Marcellina wasn’t anything but powerful.

  My old dragon would never accept me now that I… WAS… a dragon.

  Lexi would live.

  I would fucking make sure of it.

  No one threatened my daughter.

  No one.

  The machine spat me out of its bottom, vomiting my piss covered flesh into a net, designed to catch and protect us.

  Breathing was difficult. The liquid was thick like gelatin. It clung to my lungs, refusing to just melt away and let me breathe. It felt like my diaphragm was being crushed. Breathing in air, with no assistance took practice, and I was out of practice.

  It took me several long, terrible minutes before I could breathe again.

  Rose screamed at me the whole time.

  “Traitor!” she shrieked. “The Throne was mine!”

  Her inner thoughts spilled forth from her black soul. Her motivation was clear.

  And… Now… I understood her perfectly.

  I was a dragon.

  The Throne was everything.

  “No,” I finally wheezed. “The Throne is not yours. And… it never will be.”

  - 13 -

  I dragged myself out of the egg chamber. Mother would never pierce its defenses. Callista would make sure of it. The spirit had failed me once. My servant had sworn that she would never fail me again, and I believed her.

  I could still hear Rose screaming in a fury.

  Betraying her was the first hard step in my new life.

  If I had given Rose the power to be Empress, the first thing that she would have done was kill my children, my wives, and of course, me.

  We were a barricade, a stumbling block, to Rose’s rise to power.

  She wouldn’t stand for that.

  Rose and I had been getting closer, but the Throne is still the Throne. Stepping over each other, betraying each other, and taking what we want, was a Torant tradition.

  Never trust a Torant was one of our mottos. The Throne is Everything was another.

  It didn’t make me happy. I wanted to trust my sister. But, trusting Lexi’s life to her… was unthinkably stupid.

  Plus, Rose was still on my possibly-bat-shit-crazy list.

  You don’t trust your children to crazy. It’s a rule that every mother knows.

  I was female now. So, that rule made perfect sense to me.

  Maxwell would have stupidly trusted her.

  I could still feel his memories, floating in the back of my mind. But, they no longer controlled me. I was born again with a shiny bright soul.

  The exit tunnel opened up before me, widening to a much larger room.

  I was standing on a broad platform, a balcony that towered over a gorge that fell into the depths below me.

  The Royal Announcement.

  That was what the next step of the transformation was called. This balcony was where the new royal dragons would come… to celebrate and be announced to the world.

  Above me, on the surface, a party would have been prepared, as thousands of celebrants waited with bated breath for a new dragon to rise up from the human ashes of my old life.

  In front of me was a vast ravine with a raging underground river flowing through it.

  High above the river, I could see daylight leaking down through a crack in the Grand Central Plaza, in front of the Royal Palace… Which was now a fucking bordello.

  I snorted in disgust. The Palace of Winter had been a monument to power and authority. Mother should never have plowed it into oblivion, no matter what. It was tradition and security.

  That should have been important to her.

  Right then and there, I decided that I would rebuild the Palace.

  Mother was not going to win.

  This ceremony was where newly formed dragons took their first leap so they could rise on the thermals coming off the river and ascend to their place in society.

  Above me, I heard my old dragon scream.

  Mother was waiting.

  Laughing, I remembered when Maxwell had arrived at this location, as a child.

  He had never jumped off this platform.

  Without wings, jumping wasn’t an option.

  Instead, he took the long walk up the Stairs of the Abomination across the ravine.

  There had been no party for him.

  Just looking at the Steps reminded me of his failure. Defeat was always so much clearer in his memories than success. The bitter pain of losing, of failure, dwarfed the happiness of the victory every time for him.

  Maxwell had made a habit of failing. He had succeeded many times, but each time, devastation had f
ollowed that success, destroying everything that he had built.

  That was going to change.

  My new dragon was a part of me instead of a separate entity.

  That was a good sign.

  Abominations were two separate individuals.

  Dragons were one creature.

  Across the ravine, words have been inscribed on the walls in gold. The paragraph was called The Words of the Change.

  Still naked, I recited the oath for the second time in my life. But this time, it was real. It was personal and not a failure waiting to happen.

  Awaken my soul for we are one.

  Together, we will rule the lands, crushing everyone who denies us our birthright.

  By Tooth, Claw, and Flames, we shall destroy our foes.

  Together we shall take what we want... And, damn the consequences.

  The world is ours.

  We are one.

  I felt my blood burning.

  The change, the shift from human to dragon, was coming. It felt different than before. The hairs on my head suddenly took on a static charge, even the little hairs on my arms, and womanhood, snapped to attention.

  Moaning, I prayed that I had made…

  My body slid from human to dragon… in a second. It was much faster than even my old transformation. There was no muscles ripping, flesh-tearing, bones grinding, and breaking like other dragons endured.

  I simply became a different version of me.

  A bigger, scaled, version of Marcellina.

  Female dragons are bigger than males, even larger than abominations.

  Roaring, I screamed out my rage at my mother.

  And… above me, she roared back. Her bulk was too big to force her way down the Stairs. She was waiting for me to rise up and announce myself.

  Fuck her. I was no longer a Serpent and an Abomination.

  Instead, I looked like a proper dragon.

  My body was a jet black…. But, my wings were… fabulous.

  There was no other word for them.

  They were emerald with black and gold highlights that shone.

  I snapped my wing in the air and roared with delight.

  I was pretty.

  Preening, I roared happily.

  Hell, even my ebony body was amazing. Emerald and gold ran the length of my flank, highlighting my beauty and perfection; showering the world with visions of… me.

  Golden eyes looked out at the world in excitement.

  I was no longer an Abomination.

  Mother would feel my fire. It would burn longer than ever before. She would feel my claws and teeth as I ripped her apart and tasted her blood.

  I would not worry anymore about whether I should kill her.

  Dragons weren’t human.

  We killed our enemies and felt good about it.

  Bunching my muscles, I threw myself up into the air, launching myself over the edge like a cat catapults itself off of the floor and up onto a table.

  My wings snapped open.

  But, I had no idea what I was doing.

  Instead of flying, I plummeted like a rock.

  My instincts should have made me fly.

  Splash.

  - 14 -

  The river dragged me down into its deep, frozen depths, as it rushed madly along the caverns under my shattered city.

  Apparently, I could hold my breath for hours, at least that’s what it felt like. The darkness and solitude gave me a lot of time to think.

  I had become a narcissistic fool.

  I’m so pretty.

  I’m so strong.

  Moron.

  Mother has centuries of practice at fighting as a dragon. She would have ripped me to pieces, especially with my head full of overblown pride.

  More than a little embarrassed, I navigated the river, using my dragon sight to make out the rocks before they hit me, dodging them the best that I could.

  Anger burned in my soul as well. I should be soaring over Nagon, announcing my new life to my peers.

  Instead, I was swimming with the fishes.

  I was almost out of breath when I reached a deep cavern.

  Pulling myself up onto the shore, I shook like a wet cat, pissed off at being soaked and soggy. My hackles stood up as I hissed and moaned with irritation.

  This is what overconfidence would me bring me too. I had to learn now that I was starting over as a dragon, instead of an abomination. And I had powerful enemies.

  Water slapped against the walls, as I shook again, frustrated with myself.

  Taking a short breath, I discovered oxygen. The plants growing all around me should have been a give away that there was air in the cavern, but I was too draconic; too angry and full of dragon audacity and hubris.

  Narcissism runs deep through my bloodline, as does foolish pride.

  I flowed back into my human body, still angry with myself. If I was going to retake the Throne, I had to get control of my emotions.

  Only a fool fights a stronger, more practiced foe with no strategy or forethought.

  I was a true dragon now.

  I needed to be smart, as well.

  The light surrounding me dimmed, as my draconic eyes shifted to my human ones. They couldn’t see as well in the dark, at least most of the plants were luminous.

  Tears poured down my face as I realized that I had failed again.

  God Dammit, I needed to be better than the old me. Failure just led to the death of my followers and myself.

  A low moan squeaked out of my mouth before I clamped it shut quickly.

  I wanted to soar like my peers.

  “Don’t cry, my pretty one,” I heard a voice rasp, right before something hard smacked me in the back of the head.

  --M--

  A humming tune woke me.

  I was trussed up in a tub that was big enough for a full-sized dragon.

  Along with water, carrots, parsley…

  Oh fuck.

  I was in a soup pot.

  A metal lid was covering the pot, and the water was warm. Little cracks around the edges of the lid let in air and a little light.

  Runes of control glowed on the walls and top of the pot. They were savage hex marks, inscribed by someone with definite problems with penmanship.

  I felt their magic slam into my mind.

  “Change,” the enchantment ordered. “Awaken to your scaly form.”

  I shielded, but the panic that followed the curse tore through my mind.

  I was going to die.

  I needed scales.

  My fingers were cramped from clenching them so hard.

  Fear emanated from the inside of the pot, trying to overwhelm my human mind with alarm and confusion.

  I forced myself to stay calm, as I put everything that I had into protecting my thoughts. Looking around, I could see claw marks and damage from other fallen-dragons and abominations who had tried and failed to escape. They had only scratched the pot’s metallic surface.

  Looking up, I studied the rune on the top of the lid.

  Fuck.

  It was called Ath’ Sargran. The designer of this trap wanted me to spend all of my time transforming.

  Then, when I launched myself upwards, the rune would awaken.

  Ath’ Sargran meant lightning storm.

  It was a kill switch so that the meal wouldn’t escape.

  The makers didn’t want to eat human… they wanted a dragon for supper.

  - 15 -

  Power, strength, and my claws would not get me out of here. I needed to use my magic, targeting something that didn’t directly affect the metal of the pot.

  The curses lining the pot screamed at my mind, insisting that I change and wear myself out clawing away at them.