The Dragon Prince's Obsession

FIVE

My jaw fell open. Then I rushed to follow. He ran faster than humanly possible. I could not keep up but I tried to. Until I ran into something. I could not see it but I slammed into it. I went flying backwards, hands flying and breath stopped.

He changed to a beast before my eyes as I tried to gather myself.

“Hey, you are in my debt. You cannot run away and leave me here!” I screeched with all my might, hoping to get across to him before he abandoned me in this strange place.

I went at it again. It could have been in my mind but before I collided, the beast turned, magnificent red wings sweeping as it set on me.

If my beast gets hungry enough, he can be wild.

Oh no. No. No. No!

I scrambled backwards, fell, kicking my legs and got back up. The beast was on me. Any second and it would eat me.

I like my meals hot.

Would it roast me alive before it did? I stood and ran in the opposite direction in a zig-zag pattern. If a burst of fire came at me, I would be unable to avoid it if I ran straight ahead.

I stumbled my way forward, not daring to look at the evil trailing me. I could feel it’s presence close by. I heard the sound of it’s breathing.

Against my better judgement, I made the mistake of turning, to measure my distance from damnation. Horror slackened my jaws as rough talons reached for me. A scream died in my throat. My breath froze after a shiver as he launched into the air. A foot. Then ten. I waited, eyes blown wide for the barrier to come up, for him to slam into the shield that kept this place, but nothing came.

Nothing except a trail of sweat despite the chilly weather.

Whatever the place had been, I felt it on my skin when we came out of it. The air outside bristled, sounds could be heard, trees waved. Even though sweat poured down my body, I could feel the atmosphere; more serene and natural.

All these I used to distract myself from the beast soaring with me between his claws. I closed my eyes as we went into the clouds. My lips froze with my blood. I tightened my eyes further against the wind whipping at me.

His flight slowed. It continued to slow the more he went until I felt certain he would drop out of the sky. We would drop out of the sky. But we did not. On and on we went. With random bursts of speed and startling decreases that most forced me to open my eyes. Almost. I stayed as still as the wind would allow. Moving too much meant his claws bit into my skin in certain unpleasant ways.

We went slower the more time passed. But I dared not open my eyes. Missy had been right. Flying had to be the most nauseating experience for my kind. I could drop now and it would be adieu, Adela. It was too early to meet my Creator.

I felt too tired, too frozen, to stiff. Then he dropped me. He was already in human form when he rolled away, his chest heaving with his breathing loud. I took my time and he took his. Naturally, he stood before I could collect my wits, staggering less than graciously.

I sat up, fighting back a shiver and a wince as my stiff body was forced into an upright position. When I looked around, a new emotion washed out the freezing fear.

“This – is not the king’s castle.” I looked around the unfamiliar place, wondering where he had brought me.

“And you –“ He cracked his neck with a wince. “Are right.” He walked away from the balcony into the room. I scrambled to my feet to follow after him, dreading the long fall possible from the thin, rail-less balcony.

First, I have to determine what kind of cat you are.

I almost laughed at the absurdity of my thoughts. Of course – of course, the Prince would not bring me to his castle. This could not – According to Missy, the only person asides the king who had been in his castle, the place was an absolute wasteland. We were in a room with barely any furniture. A big bed, a wardrobe and a chair. The windows had either been knocked out or taken out. Either way, there were neither windows nor curtains.

But it did not look like a wasteland either. Then again, I was staring at a room in what I assumed to be the Prince’s castle!

“Why have you brought me here?” I demanded. Even though I barely had any energy left, even though my adrenaline had run its course, leaving me weak, I had enough sense to know this could not end well. Not for me.

“This is where you thank me for saving your wretched life, Adela,” He rasped, taking a deep breath. I watched with unease as he fell into the large bed, his bloodied torso staining the white sheets.

“We had an agreement. You were to take me out of – oh.” I trailed off. He had taken me out of the stance land, alright. He had taken me out without acting like a stallion, carrying me like prey, back to this – place. Another place I would have to fight and pray to get out of.

If only I let my eyes take in the scenery during the hours we flew here. I had a good sense of direction but only in places, my eyes had seen! Sometimes, I failed myself in more ways than the world could.

“I took you out. My debt to you is repaid.” He snorted, rolling over to bury his face into his mattress. He gripped the sheets, knuckles turning white at how hard he did.

“Why did you bring me here then? Are you going to cut me open and run tests on my blood to decide if I am a tiger or a kitten?” I sank back to the ground, my back against the bedframe.

“Either here or letting you drop from the sky and land anywhere. You could have burst open on a rock. Your innards would look good on Mount Tetrion, I would say.” His voice came out muffled, his knuckles whitening further as his grip on the sheets tightened the more.

Mount Tetrion!

That was at least a days travel from the king’s castle.

“Did you bring me – Are we – are we close to the Mountains?” I asked, my throat almost closing around the words.

 “No, we are not close to the Mountains. Stop – talking.” I paused my racing thoughts to observe him. He looked like Olivia used to when she overate. She abhorred medicines and took them as sparsely as she could manage, hiding all her sicknesses until they rendered her invalid and in severe pain.

He could be stubborn enough to hide his pain. But for what reason?

“Are you alright?” I asked, standing to take a tentative step towards him, hands tapping at my side. I had done my fair share of helping wounded animals only to get stung for it. This time, I approached with caution.

“Do I look like I am not alright?” He hissed. I paused a foot away from the bed to stare at him. Blood loss made his tan skin pale in a matter of hours. He looked to have lost weight, shrinking in size. His knuckles were white, his breathing laboured. Above his loud inhale and exhale, I could hear his teeth gnashing together.

“Yes. You look like you are about to pass out.” He raised his head to glare at me. For the first time, the red of his eyes did not intimidate me. They were dull and lifeless. They did not even look red anymore.

“Dragons do not pass out.” He hissed through gritted teeth before throwing his face back down with a groan.

I smiled despite my tiredness.

Who knew the prince of damnation would ever do anything reminiscent of my childish sister?

“If you say so, big guy.” I sat back down, pressing my back to the bed frame again, letting it support the weight of my tiredness.

My limbs felt like mush. As though crushed by all the fear and anxiety. The trepidation, the anger and now the hunger.

“Humans do pass out, you know?” I said from my position on the ground. “We pass out from a lot of things. Sometimes hunger.” He grunted in response. I listened to my stomach protest for a minute before I spoke again. “Do you have anything human friendly?”

Nothing.

More minutes of silence later, I heard something like a grunt.

“Are you going to say anything? I asked, to which he responded;

“Starved.” Followed with a groan.

Ah-ha! I closed my eyes and wondered just what my life had become. If anyone ever told me I would be in the Prince’s castle, after being held by witches, rescued the Prince and then being rescued in turn by him, only to be flown by his beast, I would have hissed and railed them for wasting my time with such nonsense talk. But there I was. With a familiar evil. Too tired and hungry to process this new plane of danger I just entered.

I gathered the last of my strength to stand, dusting my dress out of habit rather than need. “Well, I shall go look for something to eat. Maybe even bring you back something.“ He said nothing in reply as I wandered off. “Are you not concerned? I shall be all alone in your castle? “ I probed. I would not admit it. Not even to myself, but the thought of being alone scared me. Every small sound made me jumpy and fatigue coupled with hunger did not make me trust my flight response.

“Bring me back anything you find,” He answered. It felt like a challenge as he said it.

I walked out of the room and found – a wasteland. The ground lay hidden beneath piles and piles of dust. Thick cobwebs covered the ceilings. More dust covered the walls. Was that – I shrieked, jumping away from what was unmistakably the corpse of a man. An old, decayed, corpse buried in dust but a corpse nonetheless.

“No need to be so loud.” I jumped a foot in the air and smacked into a chest, jumping away again. “By the blood of my father, will you keep quiet!” He stalked away. I followed close behind, eyes continuing to drift back to the corpse that was little more than bones. The whole house was covered in dust, an entirely different look from his room. At least, I expected that to be his room.

I followed him into what used to be a grand kitchen. It too lay covered in dust albeit it showed signs of use at least. I rummaged around for a while, opening and closing cupboards, slamming things, cursing. It felt like he searched futilely for food, knowing he had nothing but in the end he found what he was looking for.

We both let out a sigh of relief.

And then it seemed he would let me starve. He did not.

The bread tasted funny. It had stayed a bit longer than the baker intended for it too. It went down a little hard in our dry throats and I think it made my stomach hurt worse.

I turned after my last bite to see him staring at me. Eyes unwavering in their intensity. I smoothed down my dress, patted my hair but his eyes did not leave my face.

“Stop – staring at me like that,” I muttered, feeling my skin heat up.

“How am I staring at you?” He sounded strange. Like he had something stuck in his throat.

“Like –“ I winced, turning away. “You are thinking of kissing me.”