The Dragons' Mermaid

Chapter 7

The tales of the knights aren't quite the same in dragonese. They tell of living in the caves, of a life of peace until the ones clad in metal came, the men of cold eyes and cold blades. They tell of a frenzy in the ones of two legs, how they took even the teeth from their dead and wore them as a decoration. Perhaps that is why we think of their eyes as cold, for they only reflect what they see in us. It took someone special to change all that, brave and kind.

She watched so patiently until there was a chance to help, to save a baby and show her heart. She would say that after that their eyes were every green of every forest, liquid and alive. So many thought her foolish, to risk so much, but she saw it the other way around - that it was foolish to surrender to war when peace was there for the taking. But again that was Andrea…she was different from everyone that they had seen. But when she had met them there were no armours and there was no metal….the only metal was the ones which the dragons loved to hoarde in the stomach of the mountain that they lived.

The dragons had a way about them, a slowness and grace. In the summer sun they would be out there on the rocks, taking the warmth in through their scales. They would doze that way for hours and perhaps that is how they feel happy, resting just so. In the wintry weather they hibernated, having fed on elk in the autumn. Everyone came to know when they awoke by the calling in the hills, those deep voices, beautiful in their rawness, echoing from the rocks. No matter how often mermaids saw them fly, arcing with outstretched wings, each as brilliant as stained glass, they held their breath for a moment, eyes wide. They were kites without strings, celebrations of freedom with each rhythmic beat. Because they might have the blessing of being in water for as long as they liked but even then flying and soaring high above in the sky was the dream of everyone. Andrea had said that she wanted to soar in the skies and then dive from the sky in the water. The brothers had thought that she had gone absolutely crazy but she could not leave water for longer than an hour or she would dry and burn to crisp.

Ember looked at Blaze as he remembered the first time that Andrea had gotten to him in time and in his fear he had tried to burn her down but they were both under water and she had seen the intense fear in his eyes.

“I was really glad that you fell in the ocean that day,” said Ember as Blaze grunted. His brother was not a man of lot of words but if anyone was passionate about their blue hued princess more than him then it was his brother.

“How do you think she will look this time?” asked Blaze as his eyes were trained on the road and the horses were trotting. The beating of their fiery hearts was still as erratic as earlier and this was not going to reduce at all until they found her and claimed her. Their buxom beauty who had the dream of the ocean and the longing of warmth in her beautiful blue eyes.

“Scales cold as ice that blazes bright as an ever flickering flame. In his chest it holds often times a hearth of burning fire although in his remorseless heart lay rime. Eyes that turn skin into a sickly pallor, claws able to lacerate even the sturdiest to mere ribbons of flesh and bone, blood so black that night held an intense radiance that could blind your eyes. With his tongue he could smell your dread and taste your fear. He holds a wisdom like no other and, yet expresses a toxic greed. His bed crafted from jewels, gold, and the treasures he stole. Always trapped in slumber, unless he went to quench the hunger he could not satisfy, or when one was stupid enough to face him,” said Blaze as he smiled at his brother whose face had immediately become gritted at the words.

“Why do you need to remember those times Blaze? Why do you need to hurt yourself by saying what people think about us? That is not the truth….men are weak and stupid creatures who would never understand what, what it means to live like this…broken…for an eternity,” said Ember as Blaze nodded.

“I try and remember what we are to them…we are monsters and we will always be monsters if we are never able to find her…she is the only way to our salvation, and I hope you know that, “ said Blaze as his eyes turned into a golden hue which happened only when his emotions were on the surface. His human body was strong…strong enough to know that the fire would incinerate the host and he would be stuck in his dragon form forever but that did not mean that he could not be angry.

“Your eyes are changing colour again brother,” said Ember as he sighed.

“I cannot really help it so much…the only anchor that I had towards my sanity is now somewhere else and she is not going to recognize us and she will never know who we are…she may not accept us for what we are…it is all so scary and frightening Brother,” said Blaze and Ember knew that he was right to be scared. All his worst fears might come true any moment when they found her out. Their humans might be able to accept the fact but their dragons were going to lose their s**t the moment that happened.

Their dragon was the colour of the night, not a coincidence, but merely a function of his multi-chromatic skin. In the forest he was a similar pattern to army camouflage pants. In the city he was concrete grey. Passing over the ocean in daylight he was blue, the exact blue of the waves from above and the blue of the sky from below. His eyes were able to zoom in from hundreds of meters away and his eyes could isolate sounds from one another. He could echo locate and mimic any creature, even the human voice. It was a skill which came in handy almost every single time that they needed in the war.

The human beings were scared of them because they had colossal size and were extremely unpredictable characters but human beings were the worst kind of murderers of all. And in all these years that they were searching for Andrea they had learnt to look at their backs and never believe anyone else except themselves.

“I long for the time that I could swim the ocean with her by my side,” said Blaze quietly and Ember could feel the pain in his brother’s voice.

“You know I cannot even remember how she looked like now, if I try and try and even when I close my eyes to slumber, I can only see a blue haze and a swimming of violet fins which used to keep me mesmerized. I can remember how warm her smile was but I really cannot remember how she looked like,” said Ember and Blaze nodded in understanding.

“I know how you feel, really…and to think that it was all so that the war did not stop…she was taken away from us in the worst way possible Brother,” said Blaze as his face became hard as he spoke.

“Hah!! That would be the understatement of the year really…she was cursed by the sorceress so that she could keep on gaining our gold and the stones from the ocean for keeping her magic and youth and beauty alive….I am still waiting to get my hands on her…the day I do…she is dead meat,” said Ember as his voice became passionate with fury and anger.

“No Brother…I am not going to allow you to do that,” said Blaze with a tight smile on his handsome face.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Ember as he could not understand what his brother was saying. They needed their revenge and they had promised their beautiful mermaid that they would get their revenge even if she did not want them to poison their minds.

“Oh Brother!!! I have dreamed of getting my hands on her for so long that I cannot even tell you what what atrocities I am going to do on her when I set my eyes upon her,” said Blaze with a sick grin playing on his face and Ember smiled in return. This was what he was talking about…that he could thoroughly agree with..

“I am going to not let her die…never…never at all…she has made us suffer for centuries…we have been searching for completion and our mate for centuries while she keeps on frolicking somewhere stealing lives and youth and beauty of the maids who go to her in order to buy potions for their heart…and getting love and instead end up losing everything,” said Ember as Blaze nodded at his brother.

“In the time before the humans had captured fire or leant how to farm, the dragons walked among them so camouflaged that they blended in with the trees and the grass. The dragons were yet to love gold, for in that prehistoric time there was none. Instead there was just the joy of chancing upon a human morsel. Their favourite were the young men and women, full sized but still tender. They were already hoarders because that is the dragons nature. They selected the most beautiful rocks, seashells and driftwood to guard in their jealous way. Only in later times did they abandon the ordinary rocks for their gold lust. In return the humans became ever more focused on their gold, ready to risk life and limb to confront the dragon. But when they entered the lair they saw nothing but a free pile of gold, gold enough to fill their bags, socks and cloaks. They never heard the dragon make its move, but can how can you blame it? A dragon has a dragon's heart & mind and the humans were tasty.

And then there were the beautiful mermaids who used the lure the human sailors later on so that they had company and could speak. The humans could not understand why they were overcome with the feelings of love and lust when they saw those beautiful creatures but they gave their lives pining for them. And then the mermaids got a name for luring away clueless human males and drowning them to death,” said Blaze as he looked at the distant edge and could inhale the saline breeze of the ocean.

 But all these were made up stories…

Not until they came true before your own eyes.