Falling for the Ashfather

Chapter 4

The entire amphitheater was silent as he clambered to his feet. His eyes were bewildered as he looked around, until they landed on me. I took a step forward, wanting to go to him. Wanting to help him. But, immediately a hand landed on my arm, holding me back. It took me until then to realize the silence had dissipated into chaos around me.

“Please,” I said, not looking back at the person holding me, just wanting to go to Konrad. Dragons were descending on him now, though Konrad hadn’t even tried to run. I could see the shock in his eyes. As if he didn’t understand what had happened, how this could be possible.

Another hand grabs me as I try to pull away. The dragons have caught him now, and he lets out a pained whimper as their claws dig in. There’s no reason for them to be so violent with him.

“Where is the family?” A voice booms out.

It took me too long to pull my eyes away from my best friend in the world to see the prince standing there, his eyes sharp and angry as he stared at Konrad.

My mind is a fog as I realize what he’s asking. And why.

I whirl around to find the person holding me is my mother. I don’t know where she’s come from, but her face is hard, and there’s the slightest smirk on her lips. I feel pain dart through me at the sight. “Why do they need to find his family?” I ask, my voice hoarse.

My mother looks down at me and raises a brow. “Why do you think? You’re not an i***t. If Konrad is a wyvern, then someone is his family is too. And the rest of them likely knew about it. You know the laws.”

The laws. The ones that declare Wyverns illegal. The ones that condemn them to death when they haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve never thought about it before, not really. In our town, we didn’t often hear about Wyverns. We never had any here. But, there was Konrad, held by dragons in his Wyvern form, as his family was dragged up on the stage. His mother had his eyes glued to the stage. His father glared out at the crowd. His brother, home just to see Konrad’s Ashwalk, looks just as confused as Konrad.

“I knew there was something wrong with that woman,” my mother says, her voice a hiss in my ear. I can’t stop the tear that slips down my cheek as I watched the prince approach the family and start to question them. I can’t process what he’s asking. I know he’s probably trying to determine who the Wyvern is. But, none of them speak. As if they had agreed they wouldn’t say anything before any of this happened.

The prince lets out a sigh and steps away, then makes a motion with his hand. I stop breathing as they are all forced to their knees. If he had talked to anyone they would have told him Konrad’s dad was a dragon shifter. We had all seen him around town. But, it wouldn’t matter, even if he did figure it out. The look on his father’s face clearly said he had known. The punishment was the same.

A red dragon approached them, and I felt my knees go weak, and I fell to the floor as I realized it was my stepfather approaching them. His eyes were determined, and he didn’t hesitate as he took up his place. Konrad’s parents held hands as they prepared themselves, and his brother just stared straight ahead, his face a mask of shock.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head, more tears flooding my cheeks and my father drew in a deep breath. I could see the flames gathering through the scales in his chest. This couldn’t be happening. Konrad had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. He was always there. He was the only one that seemed to have my best interest in mind, even when my own mother forgot I existed.

I didn’t have a chance to protest, though, as he breathed out, covering the family in flames. A roar filled the amphitheater, one filled with pain and anguish, as Konrad watched his entire family extinguished from the world in an instant. When the flames died down, there was nothing left of them but ash. If his father had been in his dragon form, he might have survived the attack, but he had chosen to stay with his family. All that was left, was Konrad.

“Stop it,” my mother’s voice was harsh, and it took me a second to realize she was talking to me. I looked up at her, to see disgust on her face. “Crying for those creatures. You are disgracing our family!”

“I…”

“Enough! Or I will take you home and you won’t be completing your Ashwalk.”

My Ashwalk? I had nearly forgotten I still had to do it. I had been so excited earlier. Now, all I wanted was to climb in my bed and pull the covers over my head. I wanted to forget this entire night had happened, pretend everything was still the way it had always been.

But it wasn’t. And I couldn’t pretend. Eventually reality would catch up, and then what would I do?

At another glare from my mother, I brushed the tears from my eyes, but nothing would stop the ache that had taken up residence in my chest. I suspected, nothing would for a very long time. My mother grabbed my arm and pulled me back to my feet as the prince approached Konrad, who had gone silent as he stared at the remains of his family. Even as a Wyvern, I could see he had the same look on his face as his brother. Neither of them had known. And they were being punished anyway.

“As a reward, the walker to reveal the most powerful dragon form will have the honour of killing the Wyvern,” the prince said, and the crowd erupted in cheers. The prince turned to the crowd again and smiled. “My the best dragon win!”