The Dragon's Distrust (3 page)

Tania shifted uncomfortably, “Take me
home, Patryck.”

“As you wish,” he seemed to say. With
just a nod of his head, he could convey full sentences. Or perhaps
Tania could better understand dragon telepathy.

The Water Dragon flapped his wings,
spraying water all around them and finally took off. He flew so
fast Tania barely had time to look over her shoulder and watch as
Stephan became a speck on the forest floor and listen to one last
shout of “Keep her safe!”

From above the forest canopy, the woods
didn’t look as scary. Instead, they were one giant blur of green
and dark green.

Patryck dived slightly and then flew
upwards. He was not a solid flyer. Tania pursed her lips and closed
her eyes. She preferred not to see her death. For a Dragon Mother,
she hated flying. She yearned for her feet to be firmly placed on
the ground.

The wind whipped her hair back and
again, shivers found her skin. But these weren’t from the cold air
or the cold liquid of Patryck. She had felt them before. With her
eyes closed, her hearing became keen. Over the whoosh of flying,
she could hear her name being whispered in the air. Aristo was
calling her. She knew he was. The more she listened, the more the
wind practically shouted her name!

“Tania,” the wind whipped around her
ears and bellowed her name out into the open sky. There was no
mistaking that voice—it was Aristo’s.

She nudged Patryck’s bony shoulder with
both hands and yelled over the rush of the wind, “I can hear
Aristo! Head North!”

But he did not.

She screamed again and still the dragon
would not change course. She kicked his sides like one would when
riding a horse but that did nothing to sway him. If anything, it
agitated the dragon. He snorted and dove quickly then shot upward
in an attempt to show her who controlled this flight.

“Please, Patryck!” she yelled. The rush
of the wind was knocking her voice from her, “I know you think it’s
dangerous, but I know Aristo is north of here! I can hear him!
Please, take me there!”

Patryck continued toward the Den. He
stuck out his long neck in a gesture to show he was not changing
course.

“I have claimed you, dragon,” she
yelled, “I command you! Take me to Aristo!”

A loud roar escaped his mouth and Tania
nearly fell off his back. He sharply turned course and headed north
toward the village. The destination was beyond the Keep, at the
edge of town. The more she listened to the voice, the more she
could pinpoint where Aristo was calling from. Her mind ran as she
thought of places he might be. What was north of the Keep? The
market, held on the fourth day of the week was kept on the east
side, the homes on the south, but the north side of town was
primarily for entertainment. Magic shows, puppet theatre, and
prostitutes all made the northern side of town their home. Then it
hit her—the Arena. It hadn’t been used in years, not since the
Purge when she was a little girl.

Even when she was young, the Arena
terrified her. The ground was always wet with blood and sinew.
Decapitations were not pretty. She detested the color
red.

Tania bit her lower lip and prayed
Aristo was safe. If he was at the Arena…if she was too
late…

They flew for a few hours
while Tania continued to imagine the horror besetting Aristo. She
had become a nervous wreck of frayed nerves and anxiety. She knew
the beheadings always occurred at midnight and as the sun began to
set, she wished Patryck could fly faster. They were running out of
time. They could not turn back and ask Stephan or the other dragons
for help—Tania and Patryck
were
the help. With that thought, her stomach twisted.
What could a young dragon and frumpy Princess do?

As they soared over the village,
concealed by twilight, an arrow zoomed through Patryck’s liquid
body and nearly grazed Tania’s calf. She yelped as Patryck slightly
dipped and turned his long neck around to see what had happened. If
it had been any other dragon, the dragon would have succumbed to
the blow but arrows could not harm water.

Tania gazed over Patryck’s
shoulder and stared at the ground below. Three men were aiming once
more. Their bows were long and slender and painted red. The red bow
symbolized what they were—Dragon Slayers. A Dragon Slayer only used
red-painted weapons. They were on their way to the Arena but a
Dragon Slayer had a sixth sense when it came to dragons. They
could
feel
a
dragon’s presence just as one could feel the wind. Tania’s father
had always spoken very highly regarding Dragon Slayers but he could
never afford them. She wondered why their presence had been
requested…

Tania tried to make herself as small as
possible so that the arrows that would pass through Patryck would
not find their way to her.

“Fly faster,” she whispered to Patryck.
Even though the rush of flying remained loud, he could hear her and
he did not need to be told twice. He lowered his neck and pushed
harder than ever before. His giant wings beat at the air and he
lifted Tania steadily higher until she became
lightheaded.

Tania glanced back and saw they had
left the Dragon Slayers behind. They needed to find Aristo
fast.

The Arena towered over the rest of the
village. Torches were lit so that the crowd could continue their
mocking of the chained dragon. The harsh orange glow cast eerie
shadows on the ground and the building. From above, she could
barely see anyone because the crowd was packed in tightly so there
was not enough room to breathe.

“We need to land,” Tania
said.

Patryck did as she asked. He landed
with a harsh thud at the back of the Arena. No one saw them because
the darkness cloaked their approach. The immense walls of the Arena
also kept them from view. The walls towered over the two of them
like mountains.

Tania slid off and waited for Patryck
to morph back into a man. She was going to watch, not because she
found his nudity amusing, because it was still fascinating to watch
a man turn into a dragon and back again. She didn’t believe the
show would ever get boring. But something, or rather, someone
caught her eye.

She gasped. In the middle of the dusty
Arena, Aristo was chained to the ground. He was naked but covered
with an array of rotting vegetables. There were even several chunks
of dark meat scattered about his person. The crowd spared no
expense in his mocking. They had thrown their hard earned meals in
his direction. Food was too scarce to throw at a
prisoner.

Aristo’s long, dark hair was greasy and
shined brightly in the firelight. Tania narrowed her eyes to get a
better look. He was covered in red. The shining liquid coursing
down his back was blood, not sweat.

Her heart nearly exploded. She started
to run toward him but Patryck held her back, “Are you going to run
to Aristo completely nude in front of the crowd?”

She opened and closed her mouth several
times. She could care less about her nudity where Aristo was
concerned then again, she was a lady and she had been raised
proper, “Of course not. Do we have a plan?”

“I’ll create a diversion. I don’t mind
if the on-lookers oooh and aww at my ample manhood,” he winked,
“While they’re distracted, you need to pull the pins from the
ground. It should be a simple thing. Just pull the pin from the
long, metal thing,” he spoke simply just in case Tania did not know
the proper terms for the objects, “that should unlock the chains.
You will only have a few moments. I will morph back into a dragon
and you and Aristo need to ride me. Aristo cannot shift until the
full moon. Besides, he’ll be weak and he won’t be able
to.”

“Quick thinking…but,” Tania spoke
softly, “You have already flown so far. Can you carry
us?”

“Please, Princess. You insult me. I am
the Water Dragon. Trust me.”

Tania hesitated. She knew Patryck was
not a solid flyer and that he was tired. Still, what other choice
did she have? They had to break Aristo from the chains before the
Dragon Slayers arrived and before the guards had a chance to
overcome their surprise.

“I am not weak like the others
believe,” Patryck said, “Fifty years old to your kind is quite
old.”

She didn’t look convinced.

“Just do what needs done,” he
finished.

Tania nodded and waited for Patryck to
make his move. Instead of running out into the open, he grabbed her
around the waist and placed a hard kiss on her mouth. He abruptly
pulled away and smiled devilishly, “For courage.”

Tania grinned and watched him race
toward the crowd. There were sudden screams as a few genteel women
fainted, worldly women smiled widely, and men grew furious. Tania
wished she could have seen all the reactions, but she had a job to
do.

She tiptoed toward Aristo who was
laughing so hard, his sides must have split wide open. He had
obviously seen Patryck’s antics and he found it most comical. After
all, a nude man swinging his rod for all to see was indeed a sight
to behold. Patryck was even shouting, “Look ladies! Feast your eyes
on what your husband’s lack!”

Tania didn’t dare a glance at Aristo,
otherwise she would forget herself and just cling to him for dear
life. She focused her energy on the pins and lifted them out one by
one. Aristo whispered her name. She ignored him. She had to focus
or she would fail. Her willpower was steadily weakening the more
she heard Aristo, the more she heard the chains rattle and fall.
Soon, she would be in his arms and the world would be right. Her
blood rushed through her ears while her heart pounded at her chest.
She could barely contain her excitement. Soon…soon…

She pulled the last pin from the last
chain and felt the firm, perfect embrace of Aristo wrap around her
shoulders, lower back, and waist. He was like a blanket—warm and
welcoming. He was a foul-smelling blanket but welcoming
nonetheless. Tania allowed her arms to encircle him and she
squeezed while she cried.

Guards scrambled and tripped, armor
clanked and clacked with each heavy footfall but they were too far
away to do anything. If there were archers, then there might have
been trouble but swords have their limitations.

Aristo snapped his teeth at the crowd
and laughed while they ran amok. Tania could care less about the
onlookers. She tilted her head toward Aristo and waited for his
pouty lips to find her own. Instead of the kiss she had been
anticipating, she was yanked forward as Patryck and Aristo dragged
her back into the shadows. Torches flickered as their hasty retreat
left trails of wind.

Water sprayed in all directions while
Patryck shifted. Tania was thrown onto his back and Aristo followed
her. He climbed on top of Patryck and held Tania tight. In the
blink of an eye, Patryck lifted off and escaped the Arena. For
once, something good had finally gone to plan.

Tania turned around to face Aristo. His
cheeks were swollen and bloody. Bits of crusty blood hung from his
nostrils. The white of his eyes were crimson because of the harsh
beatings. His lips were torn. His jaw was crooked. She could barely
see the dragon she had fallen in love with but as his dark eyes
returned her stare, she knew she had found home. She had found her
soul mate.

He leaned down toward her in order to
kiss her but he pulled back. He appeared confused, “Why do you
smell of Patryck?”

Chapter 4

Stephan tended the raging fire that
continued to burn even without fuel of any kind. There were no
logs, kindling, or oil. It burned simply because he wished it to.
He played with the flames on his fingers, rolled it and allowed the
flame to dance wherever it wished.

A moan stole his attention away from
the flames. He stared at the poor souls who remained comatose. The
more he scrutinized them, the more he knew something was wrong. It
was not abuse that kept them asleep, it was something else—a darker
magic but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

There was too much magic running loose
these days. Dragons kept magic in check, but with many of them
slain, then magic had no Master.

He sighed. The more he thought about
the prisoners, the more he thought of Tania. She had been a
prisoner before. He wondered how much abuse she had suffered. That
kind of hatred directed to a person could change personalities.
Perhaps he was angry that she had not chosen him and instead had
slept with Patryck. Perhaps it was jealousy that made him distrust
Tania. Wherever she went, discord followed. She managed to set the
dragons at each other’s throats. Because of her, Aristo had been
caught a second time. Patryck nearly became a rapist. Narcil
despised her and he may be correct in his thinking.

Stephan rubbed his temples.
He had become so caught up in her thrall, that he overlooked
her
. He should have done
more research regarding Tania. Something wicked surrounded her. It
may not be Tania herself who was evil; she may be carrying a curse.
It would make sense. Life had taken an interesting turn for the
worse since she first showed up. Arguments between dragons had been
unheard of before her arrival and now they were a daily
occurrence.