God of the Abyss (13 page)

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 life 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.

Fortunately, Emiko misunderstood and pulled a key
ring out of her cleavage before unlocking the door. Her soft blush made me
wonder where else she was pink. She pulled the door open and waited, but I put
my hand on her lower back and pushed her into the cell.

“There’s no way I’m leaving you out here to lock me
in,” I said, taking her arm. Pulling her over to the bed, I nudged my father.
“Father, wake up,” I said. I received no response.

Emiko laughed. “I
knew
you were regal.” I
twisted her arm a bit to shut her up, but her grunt caused a backlash. If her
grunt was that cute, I wanted to know what her moan sounded like. “Hurry up.
It’s too cold down here,” she wined. I put my face real close to hers and
growled. Her mouth shut with a snap.