Dragon's Fire

Three

Kayden 

    I wake up in the middle of the night because she is having a nightmare, the room is basically on fire, the bed all around her is set aflame. I jump in and the fire tingles me but doesn’t burn.. I grab her arms and hold her down. 

    “Stop... You’re okay... Stop!” I yell at her. She trashes for another moment before she opens her eyes and stops fighting me, the fire still raging around her, she doesn't even notice it. I put the fire out but it starts right back up, no matter how many times I put it out it keeps coming back. She rolls over and starts to cry as she curls up into a ball. I scoop her up and she sobs hysterically into my chest for a while before she stops. She finally notices the fire she’s created and she clings to me in fear. I put the fire out again and she stares at me like I’m a magician. 

    I hold her until she falls asleep again, not letting her go. I get more comfortable in the bed as I hold her. Eventually I drift off thinking about how she had to survive all by herself for the past six years. I hope she wasn’t alone. I hate myself for taking so long to find her, she should never have been taken.

    Theodora said there is a spell on her making her forget her past, who she really is. Taryn Stormborn, sole heir to the Fireblood Castle, it is in ruins now after being abandoned for six years but it is her birthright. She is my cousin, also my promised bride. Our marriage was arranged many years ago by our fathers, needing to keep the bloodline going. I need to somehow make her remember so that we may continue our bloodline. 

    The last time I saw her she was only twelve. I was eighteen. She is no child anymore, she has filled out nicely. She is malnourished right now but once she is strong and healthy I plan on training her to be the Dragon she was born to be. I can sense her Dragon inside her, in slumber. My own Dragon is at the surface wanting to break free and claim her as our own. 

    I have loved her like a sister my whole life, now seeing her as a woman sleeping in my arms, I cannot say that anymore. The moment I saw her in the forest. Her wide fearful violet eyes I knew who she was, I would know her eyes anywhere. She was mine the moment she was born. 

    Right now she’s a sacred flightless bird, but I know I can make her remember the Dragon she was born to be. She never shifted when she was a child so I know it will be hard for her to accept the truth. 

    I watch her sleep, her chest raising and falling in my arms, I watch as she moans slightly, I wonder what she’s dreaming now. She seems calm compared to before. I wonder when she will speak… she used to be a chatterbox and I remember she would be so excited when I would come to visit. I have missed her so badly, tears of happiness fall down my face as I hold her. I have waited so long for this moment and she doesn't remember who I am. 

    “I promise to do whatever it takes to make you remember Taryn” I whisper. 

    I hold her until the sun comes up, not getting a blink of sleep because I can’t stop looking at her. The birds are chirping before I know it outside the window. I gently peel her out of my arms and lay her head on the pillow. She wakes up as I get out of the bed. She yawns and stretches, her t-shirt shifting and revealing her bruised stomach. 

    I feel rage when I see it, my hands going ice cold. My powers take control for a moment. I watch as she gingerly gets out of bed and walks over to the patio. She opens it up and steps out, I stare at her. She is tall, maybe 5’9”.. She’s very thin right now, the clothing she is wearing hangs off her small frame. I imagine how she looked when I found her, she was wearing a costume of some kind, her breasts on display and the shortness of the dress… 

    She watches the birds fly around in the garden with joy on her face. It’s the first time I’ve seen her smile, even if it’s a heartbreakingly sad smile. 

    “Do you like birds?” I ask, she nods vigorously. I hand her the notepad and pen. She scribbles down something and hands it over to me. 

    I always wanted to be a bird and fly away.  How fitting.

 Maybe deep down she does remember something, maybe she just needs a small push to remember it. 

    I call down to the kitchen and ask them to bring up food for us, Theodora comes into the room a few minutes later and she is holding a small wooden box. 

    “I have brought healing salts for her to bathe in. I think it will help her broken ribs.. Then you can rub this lotion on her afterwards to help with her bruises” She hands me the box and leaves. 

    I wait for the food to come before I go back out to the patio and set the food on the table. 

    “Breakfast?” I say as I remove the lids from the plates, revealing waffles with fresh fruit, eggs and bacon and toast. There’s orange juice and tea and coffee too. I wasn’t sure what she would like so I had a bit of a variety brought up. 

    “Eat all you want, you need to get your energy back” I say as she sits down. She looks at the food and grabs her paper and pen. 

 I’m not who you think I am

    “We can discuss it after we eat okay?” I say putting the paper down 

She sighs and nods, taking a small bite of her food. She eats mostly just fruit and a bit of egg. After a few minutes she puts her fork down.  

“You should eat more” I say 

    She picks her fork back up and slowly eats a waffle and one slice of bacon. She looks like she may be sick after. Maybe she’s not used to eating heavy foods or greasy food like bacon. She holds her stomach and sits back in the chair,  grabbing her paper and pen once more. 

What will happen to me if I’m not who you think I am? 

Will you let me go home? 

“Do you want to go home?” I ask, feeling disappointed that she wants to leave already. I guess I can’t blame her, she’s in a strange place and has no memory of it here. No memory of me. 

She thinks for a minute before shaking her head. 

“What would you like?” 

To live free. 

“Live free? What do you mean by that? Were you not free before?” 

I was trapped. I had no escape… 

“Are you happy to be away from there?” 

She nods sadly once. 

“Well you are not trapped anymore.. You are free now” I say with a small smile. 

“Are you finished then?” I ask nodding to the plate in front of her, she nods and pats her stomach. 

    “Well Theodora, from yesterday you remember her? She brought over some salts for you to bathe in, she said it will help you heal faster.. Would you like to have a bath now?” I ask her. She nods and shrugs. I lead her to the bathroom and draw the bath for her adding the salts. 

“She said afterwards I need to rub this into your bruises and ribs, is that alright?” I show her the small jar of lotion. She eyes me for a moment before nodding. 

    I leave her to have her bathe and head back to the bedroom to wait for her. I sit down on the couch and start reading a book. I feel like I’ve been waiting forever when I close the book, feeling like something is wrong. I walk over to the bathroom and knock. 

“Are you alright?” 

Of course she’s not going to answer stupid, she’s mute!

    I open the door and peek inside, I see her in the tub still, her one arm is sagging over the edge, that’s when I see it. The blood. So much blood. Dripping down her wrist onto the floor, bloody water in the tub with her from her other wrist. She slit them with a razor blade. I run to her side and pull her body out of the water. I hold her in my arms lifting her wrists above her head, cutting off the blood flow. I have bloody water all over the place, all over my, staining my shirt red.  I grab a towel and wrap her unconscious body up and dash from the room. My speed getting me to the hospital wing in mere moments. 

    “Doctor Ashen!” I scream as I place her down on a bed. Still holding her wrists above her head, putting pressure on the deep cuts. 

    “What is-” She starts to speak then sees Taryn and rushes over. She grabs compression wraps from a drawer and has me hold them in place. 

“What happened?” She asks in shock. 

    “I left her alone for twenty minutes to have a bath.. It’s all my fault” I remember how just before she went to the bath she had said she wanted to be free, I hadn't thought she meant like this. I feel sick to my stomach. I feel my stomach turn inside me and I lean over and puke up my breakfast. Dr. Ashen pulls back the bandages and starts doing stitches on her wrists. 

“These are deep, they will likely scar” she says. 

    Once she is finished stitching up Taryn I sit down and stare at her heart brokenly. How could she think this is the best thing to do. She should just talk to me, tell me what she is going through. 

    “I could help you.. Please just talk to me” I shout as I throw a chair across the room. She is still asleep so she doesn’t hear or see my outburst. I feel ice go up my arms as my powers take over. I look down and see the floor is covered in a layer of ice. I sigh and melt it, making a large puddle on the floor. I walk over to her bed and sit down beside her, taking her hand in my own. I rest my head on the bed beside her and close my eyes. 

I wish I could just see what you see.. What you went through.. So I can understand you