The Little Star

When Dreams Bleed To Nightmares

“No! Celeste!”

As I awoke with a start my screams echoed through the dark room that had been my bedchamber for almost the entirety of my life. My eyes adjusted immediately thanks to the dragon blood coursing through my veins, but for a moment I wished they hadn’t, so I could lay in the darkness and try and savor the last lingering effects of the time I’d spent with my treasure in my arms. Even if it were only in a dream.

“Your highness!” Jorge, my manservant when home, came stumbling into my room from the side door that led to his small chambers. He was mused from sleep and rubbing his eyes as he tried to assess the room and ensure there were no dangers that he should call out to guards to come handle. “Prince Drogon, is all well?”

“It was nothing, Jorge, go back to bed.” I growled at him. The human servant shivered at the tone of my voice, but stood his ground, crossing his wrist behind his back as he watched me, worry etched into his wrinkled face.

“Was it… another dream, your highness?” He asked tentatively.

Dream. Only part of what had taken place could be called a dream… holding her, touching her skin, feeling her lips on mine and those soft moans of desire. The silken strands of her platinum hair flowing through my fingers. Her brilliant blue eyes glowing like the stars in a crisp clear winter sky.

The way she was pulled from me every time, writhing and screaming in pain before disappearing from my arms and I’m jerked awake without her near, would be better suited to being called a nightmare.

A nightmare that no matter how hard I tried, I could never avoid. Every time we met in my dreams I was gifted such a fleeting time with her. It was never enough; it would never be enough. Nothing short of her tied to my side for an eternity would be satisfactory for me.

“Yes, Jorge, it was another dream. Go back to bed.” Grumbling to Jorge, I threw the blankets from my sweat dampened body and stood from the bed. There was no way I’d be able to fall back to sleep now, not when I knew she wouldn’t be there. Padding to the bathroom I slammed the door shut behind me, venting a fraction of the frustration pounding through my veins.

Twisting the knob on the sink I let it run down the drain while I grasped the sides of the counter and stared at my self absently in the mirror. The same coal black hair and eyes stared back at me. With the rage of emotions flowing through me I would have assumed they would be bright with flames.

“Your highness, your father has requested that you join him in the dining hall or breakfast first thing this morning.” Jorge called through the door, “He said that this morning’s meeting is urgent, though I dare say he didn’t realize you would be awake at such an early time.”

That was doubtful, I hadn’t slept through the night since I’d lost my Treasure, a fact that my father was very aware seeing as how Jorge reported everything to his king.

“I’ll fly then, waste a little time before this all-important meeting is to take place.” I needed to cool my blood and clear my head, and what better way than letting Askook take control for a brief time. Besides, he’d want to hear about the dream I’d had of Celeste, our treasure.

“I’m not sure that is such a promising idea, my prince.” Jorge began, he grew quiet when I switched off the water and yanked the bathroom door open glaring down at him as he backed away, his eyes widening in surprise at my sudden actions.

“Did I ask you if you approved of my actions? No? Then keep your opinions to yourself, Jorge.”

“Yes, my prince, I apologize.” With that he turned on his heel and high tailed it out of the room, his slippers padding across the stone floor sounded like whip cracks echoing through the quiet room.

I needed out of here, immediately.

After yanking on a pair of grey sweats from my dresser I strode bare foot and shirtless down the corridors of the castle, no use in dressing when I intended to undress the moment I reached the caves entrance. The halls were mostly empty, except for the random servant scurrying along here and there.

For centuries the corridors were alight by torches that lit the halls in an eerie glow that was a constant reminder of our need to hide away underground. Far from the reach of the humans who hunted us almost to extinction, all over one word, taken out of context, which flew across the lands like coin through a gambler’s fingers. Once humans knew that dragons held a treasure unlike anything else in their world, they became determined to own it for themselves. Little did they know that our treasure was our mates. Our very heart and soul outside of our own bodies. The greatest treasure a dragon could protect and guard.

Now the overhead florescent lights in the long windowless corridors reminded me of human hotels.

Making my way through the underground halls and alcoves, I let my mind wander back to where it was happiest, my dreams and memories with my treasure. Each time Celeste appeared to me, she was a little different. A little thinner, her hair a little longer, and of course the obvious, each time it took longer for her to remember who I was. Odd qualities for a dream. I should be remembering her as she was the last time I had set eyes on her, not how I would assume she’d look now, three years later.

“Ooof!” A soft grunt interrupted my musings. Glancing down I was surprised to see one of the princess’s ladies in waiting on the floor at my feet, a teacup shattered on the floor beside her.

“I am so sorry, your highness!” The petite girl, Cora I recalled her name being, muttered, her big green eyes wide as she stared up at me with a look of shock and horror. Though I’d never given the servants in the castle reason to fear me, I knew that my cold and distant attitude caused rumors to burn like wildfire through the halls. Not that I ever paid heed to what the servants or even the courtiers bothered to gossip about.

“My apologies, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” I muttered, offering a hand to help her back to her feet. I hadn’t realized how tiny she was till she was standing before me, the top of her head not even reaching my chest. Why was such a small girl wandering about the castle corridors at night alone?

For the most part my father kept our home safe, and everyone in line, but even so, Utopia did not exist, and such a pretty young girl was at risk of being mistreated at the hands of the men who shared these halls.

“You should be safely tucked away in your room, little bird.” I commented softly, “One as young as you should not be wandering the corridors alone at night, you may find a less than savory outcome.”

“I am not a child.” She huffed with a roll of her eyes, before her cheeks flushed with color and she stuttered on, “What I mean your highness, is that I may be small, but I am not a child. I have no illusions of what the night holds, but I am prepared for all possible outcomes.” With that, Cora lifted the long sleeve of her gown to reveal a thin dagger strapped to her forearm. “And I know how to use it.”

“I see the little bird has talons. Regardless, it would put my mind at ease if you would allow me to walk you to your room.”

“I’m actually only just there.” Cora explained quickly, pointing to a door a short distance down the hall behind me.

“Alright then, scurry on to your nest little bird, and be sure to lock the door behind you.” After giving the gentle order, I crossed my arms over my bare chest and watched as she glanced down at the remains of the teacup. She wanted to argue with me, insist she needed to clean up her mess. I could see the thoughts flashing across her face. “Leave it, I’ll have someone clean it up.”

“Yes, your highness.” Cora mumbled, the ebony ringlets stacked on top her head bouncing as she nodded and rushed off down the corridor. Her bright green eyes looked back at me as she shut the door, as if she were making sure I hadn’t followed her. Once the lock clicked in place, I couldn’t keep the smile that curved my lips at bay any longer. She may not be a child, but I’d always see her as the tot who followed my baby sister around from the day she took her first step.

Instead of bothering a servant with the teacup, I took a few moments to bend down and pick up the pieces of the shattered cup and saucer. Better to get the pieces off the floor before an unsuspecting victim stepped on a shard.

On my way through the kitchens, I tossed the pieces that had once been a teacup in the rubbish bin, and rinsed the sticky tea remains from my skin. The kitchens were one of the few places in our underground castle that housed an exit to the cliffs of the mountains we’d dug into.

Pushing through the doors I was immediately met with snow flurries and the howling of the wind as it whipped through the cave. Not that the cold had ever bothered me. Dragons were born with fire in their veins. My skin would melt any snowflakes that tried to land on it instantly.

At the mouth of the cave, I looked out at the snow-covered mountains and the clouds and fog that shielded the valleys below from my line of sight. It was still hours before daylight would break, but the full moon above was shining down silver beams of light that made this world feel as if I’d entered a different time. One before mankind, back when the world was fresh and clean and untouched.

The silver moonbeams also reminded me of a pair of beautiful, dark blue velvet eyes, hair so pale it would put the moon to shame, and a smile that could light this world if the sun ever refused to rise again. Damn if I didn’t miss her with every fiber of my being.

“Where are you, my Treasure?” I asked into the wind, ever hopeful that it would answer me.

Stripping the sweatpants from my frame, I shoved them into one of the holes that had been chiseled into the cave wall just for such occasions and stepped to the edge of the entrance. The drop to the ground was long and unencumbered. One could jump from here and they would hit nothing on their way to meet their end on the rock ground far below. But the wind that flew up the side of the mountain was perfect for a dragon taking flight. Not that I planned on jumping with wings.

I dove from the cave, closing my eyes and enjoying the frigid wind as it raced across my body and threw my hair. Calling on Askook, black smoke swirled around me, my body lengthening and changing into his colossal, black scaled frame. The moment he took over Askook stretched out his wings, catching the wind as it sped up the mountain side and sling shot us back up, past the cave I’d dove from and into the night sky.

“You have become a thrill seeker.” Askook’s ancient voice filled our mind, an undercurrent of admonishment to his words. “A late-night mountain dive… you have seen her again.” It was a statement, not a question. I hid nothing from him, as any good partnership should be, we had no secrets.

“I have.” I confirmed with a sigh. “And before you ask, there was nothing new. It was just a dream, not a vision.”

“If you are sure.” Was all he said as he glided through the clouds leisurely. “When do we return to join the hunt for our little star?”

“Father has diplomats coming in later today and has requested a meeting in the early hours of the morning. I say we leave by the end of the week at the latest.”

“I am in agreement. I feel as if we are close, Drogon, we will find her soon. I know it. I can feel it in my bones.” The ancient dragon declared with a short nod of his giant head.

“From your mouth to the Goddess’s ears, Askook.”

I will find you Celeste… just hold on a little longer, my Little Star.