The Last Dragon Lord

IV

IV

A group of dragons greeted Dark as he entered the palace. Dark knew from the tiredness in their eyes that they had been waiting for him. They had likely been hanging around the entrance, practicing what they would say.

He sighed as he started through the tower. The dragons followed him quietly through the torch-lit hallway until it opened up into a large bone chamber. Arches and flying buttresses fashioned to look like dragons held up the ceiling. The moon shone in through numerous squares cut in the roof, and bougainvillea hung in wreaths from the walls, giving the chamber a purple-pinkish astral glow. Their honeysuckle smell energized Dark; whoever had done the gardening tonight deserved the night off.

The dragons surrounded him in a semicircle, speaking all at once.

“Wait,” Dark said. “I can’t think properly with all this chatter.”

A roar silenced the group as Norwyn entered the chamber.

“One at a time or I’ll dismiss you all,” he said.

“Thank you, Norwyn,” Dark said. With his tail, he pointed to a blue Crafter dragon. “Go.”

The blue dragon hovered forward. He was long and slender like a snake, with short arms, and he had dark blue scales and orange eyes. He floated in the air and he hesitated to speak.

“Don’t be shy,” Dark said, irritated. “I have all night.”

“M-My Lord,” the blue dragon said, “I have the first batch of the currency you asked for.”

The blue dragon showed Dark a handful of golden coins with Dark’s head imprinted on them. The head faced left, as if Dark was standing with perfect posture, looking down at someone as they paid tribute at his feet.

Dark’s face went long. “They’re just coins.”

“You asked us to come up with a novel way to control them,” the dragon said, excitedly.

Dark considered the coin more carefully. Elves were stealing magic, and they were paying off humans for materials to build technology. Dark needed a way to find the elves who were behind the thefts, and the humans who were helping them.

“When we dip the coins in magic from the aquifer,” the blue dragon continued, “the coins will have a magical signature that we can detect on anyone who touches them.” He spoke as if he’d been preparing his entire life for this moment, and it was beginning to bore Dark.

Dark inspected a coin. Its ridges glowed faintly. Now this was useful. By magicking the coins and controlling their dispersal, he could create a trail. His dragons could follow the money to the offending humans selling materials to known elven thieves, and then to the thieves themselves.

“I am impressed,” Dark said, twirling the coin. “Though I must say, in the beginning I thought I was going to have to relegate you to being a regular Crafter again.”

“Oh no!” the blue dragon exclaimed. “Not that.”

“Mint the currency,” Dark said. “I want it put to use immediately. Good work.”

The blue dragon beamed. Norwyn pulled him away and another dragon took his place—a fat, gray Keeper dragon with a mane of spikes down his back. He stood on all fours and his wings were folded neatly against his body.

“My Lord, we’re going to need more time to create the repository of criminals,” the gray dragon said.

“Why?” Dark growled.

“Obtaining the names and heritages of elves has proven harder than we thought,” the dragon said. “We’re having a difficult time interrogating their villages. They won’t answer our questions.”

Excuses.

Dark remembered what his father said about advisors: It begins with an excuse and a vomiting of words. They know they’re in trouble, so they keep talking. They think somehow they’ll be able to talk themselves out of it. Undercut them.

“Your plan was ingenious,” the dragon said, “but we have encountered some problems, all of which I have solutions for, and I know that you’ll approve them. You see, the elves are resisting our efforts—”

“Is that right?” Dark asked. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to rethink our entire strategy, then, won’t we, Kimber?”

The dragon was speechless. He was older, maybe Dark’s father’s age, and he struggled to reply.

“Because we dragons can’t bother to stand up for ourselves,” Dark said. “We seem to forget why we’re doing this in the first place.”

Dark pointed out a window at the shadowed mountains. “We seem to forget that two thousand years ago, we had one job. A simple job, really. You’re a Keeper, Kimber. Look at your big, muscular body. Surely you understand this job, don’t you?”

“To … protect the aquifer.”

“Yes! But that’s not all, Kimber. You’re thinking too small.”

Dark leaned his head out the window and took in a breath of fresh air.

“The way you say it makes us sound like trolls hoarding gold under a bridge somewhere. Protect the aquifer! ” he said in a mocking tone. “You forget what that is. Our ancestors weren’t just protecting the aquifer, Kimber, the magical river that flows beneath this world. Our birthright. We were protecting what God created. A way of life: dragons living in nature, inhabiting the rocks, rivers and trees; humans in the hills raising their crops and cattle; elves on their wooden boats in the sea. We were protecting the very fabric of the world itself that made all of this culture possible. This was harmony, Kimber. Can you see it?”

As Dark spoke, Kimber’s glowed with understanding.

“Yes, My Lord, I see it! Not a day goes by where I don’t imagine the old way.”

Dark paused, then continued. “Imagine this, Kimber. Imagine an entrance to the aquifer, hidden among rocks and trees. Imagine a group of elves who just happen to stumble upon it one day. They enter the aquifer, behold its majestic glow, and escape with jars filled with magic. Isn’t aquifer magic wonderful, Kimber?”

“Beyond compare, My Lord.”

“Isn’t our magic limitless?” Dark asked.

“Yes, My Lord. You can create anything with it.”

“Anything?” Dark asked. He paused a moment and looked around the room. All eyes were on him.

“How about creating weapons, Kimber?”

Kimber’s smile faded.

“We’re the ones scrambling to keep this world from tearing itself apart, now that elves have our magic and are using it to create weapons that God never intended,” Dark said. “We’re on the defensive, if you haven’t noticed, Kimber, and it seems I’m the only one who fears what will happen if elves start developing a culture that surpasses ours. But perhaps I’m wrong, Kimber. After all, I make mistakes, just as you’ve made one today. Perhaps I need to visit the shaman. I must be insane to see such a vision of the future, where my race lives as second-class citizens.”

Dark glanced at the other dragons. “Dragons, am I losing my mental luster?”

“No, My Lord,” they said simultaneously.

“Surely, something must not be right,” Dark said, shaking his head. “I beg you all—tell me the truth.”

“You are fine, My Lord,” the other dragons said, lowering their eyes.

Kimber looked at them, but they refused to make eye contact, and when he realized what trouble he was in, he gulped.

Dark’s anger rose. “Then the problem is you.”

Kimber was silent. An almost imperceptible tremble started in his legs.

“So when you tell me that the elves are resisting you, Kimber, you tell me that you have absolutely no understanding of history.”

The dragon whimpered. “No, that’s not true!”

“You tell me that your ancestors’ sacrifice means nothing to you,” Dark said.

“No, please!”

“You tell me, Kimber, that the future is lost and I have wasted my time with you.”

The dragon threw himself on the floor in front of Dark.

“Oh?” Dark asked, stepping forward. “Now you understand the danger of your situation? Get up.”

When the dragon didn’t move, Dark screamed the command again. The dragon jumped to his feet.

“Why should I spare you?” Dark asked.

The dragon opened his mouth to speak, but Dark slashed him across the neck and blew a column of fire in the dragon’s face. A river of blood erupted from the dragon’s neck and the ground shook as he tumbled.

The other dragons tried to step around the blood, but eventually it covered the entire bone floor.

“I was looking for an answer, not an excuse,” Dark said. “Who else has a bad report to give me tonight? If so, get out of my sight.”

The remaining dragons slipped away down the hall. Except one.

Norwyn whistled, and several human servants entered the chamber. They wore rags and their faces were smudged with dirt. They bowed to Dark, then surveyed the scene, grimacing at the gore. They exited, returning shortly with buckets of water that they threw across the floor.

“Who’s next?” Dark asked, pretending that the exchange with Kimber had never happened.

A female dragon stepped forward. She and Norwyn were the only ones left. She alternated her glance between Dark and the dead dragon on the ground, then cleared her throat.

Dark used another trick that his father had always used after such moments of brutality. He reverted to calm.

“Yes, my dear?”

Her name was Tessa. She was in charge of the gardens. She had pale, gray scales and long, twisting claws. Before the curse, Smirnagond had kept trying to convince Dark that she was worth courting, but he wasn’t interested.

“It’s about your parents,” she said.

Dark frowned. “What about them?”

“I don’t know any other way to tell you this, but the curse is getting worse,” Tessa said. “They’re dying by the day.”

Dark had tasked her with finding ways to alleviate his parents’ pain. She was the one who had told him about the salve that he brought for his father.

He could not give her any rage. Instead, he spoke to her softly.

“What did you discover?” he asked.

“Your father’s hearing is getting progressively worse,” Tessa said. “Your mother seems okay for now, but your father’s illness is taking a toll on her. They’re hurting, and I know you know this already, but they’re trying not to let you see it. They hold themselves together when you’re around, My Lord. I watch them, just as you’ve told me. And please forgive me for saying this, but I think you need to start preparing for the day when they will no longer be here.”

The humans threw more water across the floor, the splashing sound echoing off the bone walls. For a moment it seemed as if his head were underwater, watching Tessa’s lips move as her voice sounded like a gurgling stream.

He closed his eyes. He refused to accept what she was telling him, and he cut her off.

“I’m not giving up on them,” Dark said.

“But the customs—”

“Damn the customs,” Dark said. “They are not simply elders, Tessa. They were cursed.”

“There’s no reversing this,” Tessa said. Her eyes were alight, and her claws scratched the ground as she approached Dark. “Even if we were to find a cure for the curse, the damage done to their bodies may be irreversible.”

“May.”

“We don’t know, My Lord,” she said. “We’ve never seen a curse like this before. They’re suffering. This isn’t the dragon way.”

“So we let them die?” Dark asked. “We send them into the woods and let them die in a hole like animals?”

“No. We let them die with dignity,” Tessa said. “Don’t act like this is a surprise. I’ve already told you my thoughts.”

“Your thoughts were worthless, which is why I chose not to acknowledge them.”

Tessa pursed her lips. She said nothing, and Dark hated the silence as it deepened between them.

“How long, Tessa?” Dark asked.

“Months, maybe another year.”

“Then there is time.”

“It has been twenty years since the curse,” Tessa said. “A few more months will not make a difference, My Lord. We are out of time.”

“Thank you, Tessa,” Dark said, ending the conversation and turning to Norwyn. “Where are we with the rune?”

“We’ve located the village,” Norwyn said.

Dark c****d an eyebrow. “Then what are we waiting for?”

Tessa blocked Dark’s path. “You can’t run away from this.”

“I don’t have the mental clarity to think about this right now, my dear,” Dark said.

“When you appointed me to take care of your parents, remember what you told me?” Tessa asked.

“That I wanted your brutal honesty, even if it meant overstepping your bounds,” Dark said. “I’m aware, Tessa. And you are overstepping your bounds right now.”

“Good,” she said. “Then I know you’re listening. My Lord, you need to make a decision. It doesn’t have to be today. Or tomorrow. But it needs to be soon. Don’t think about revenge. Don’t think about yourself. Think about their comfort. That’s all I ask.”

Dark spread his wings. “My parents are not going to die disgraced.”

He flew out of the palace before Tessa could respond.