Ablaze

Chapter 7

                                                                                            Rezzik

“He’s my distant cousin, Your Greatness,” Ydraz informed me as I watched Incerion stand and bow before me.

I glanced at her before I looked at her relative once again, assessing him. “How old are you?”

Incerion’s eyes drifted to Ydraz first. She nodded curtly.

“I’m sorry, I don’t normally flaunt my age, Your Greatness. But since you want to know… Well, I saw when this octagonal palace was built,” he stated, sweeping his eyes on the high ceiling of the vast study room that housed my family’s collection for many generations now.

I c****d my head, skeptical to what he said. He seemed to be a lot like my age but then he was Ydraz’s relative. For sure, he wasn’t pulling my leg. It was too rare to meet a dragon shifter that was older than the palace. To top it off, he remained looking young as me, not even a day older than Umrrath and the other elders!

“You saw this castle built. You do know how old this is, right?”

“Yes, Your Greatness,” he said, lowering his head a bit with a tight smile.

I looked at Ydraz once again. “How old are you again, Ydraz?”

She cleared her throat. “I’m three times older than you are, Your Greatness,” she replied, momentarily shifting her gaze from me to her relative.

My eyes narrowed. “Are you telling me your family has some kind of an ageless secret?”

“It’s actually just magic, and it’s not a secret at all, Your Greatness,” Incerion put in. He sauntered closer, but Ydraz signaled him to stop a few paces away from me, so he did.

“Huh? Not a secret?” I inquired, wanting it to be clearer. “Not everyone can do what you or Ydraz or your family can do. Am I wrong to conclude this?”

“Well… It’s true that the said magic spell has been passed only to our family, but it is just a matter of choice. You see, some would like to just age naturally. It doesn’t matter to us dragon shifters, anyway. We don’t die easily. Unless… one wants us dead. Maybe like your predecessor? Or… maybe because of an accident… like your mother’s? But was it really an accident? I heard she was one of the best black magic performers, Your Greatness.”

My jaw hung upon hearing it. “What? Are you implying that my mother was… killed?”

“Black magic users do not die easily merely because the magic backfires. You see, the black magic used against her must have been… to say it mildly, was malicious, Your Greatness. Hence, no one detected that she was murdered.”

I took in a sharp breath, staring at him for the longest period. My mind was back a decade ago. But all I could remember was chaos. The healer I killed just yesterday was the one who reported her death to me, after he informed Ifadi of the incident. I naturally asked how it happened though it was unbelievable at the time, and the healer told me that her deadly black magic, the one she was working on, backfired. He couldn’t explain what it was then. No one could anyway. I must say these healers were incompetent!

And here in front of me was Incerion, who was perhaps the most knowledgeable shifter I’d ever met, thanks to Ydraz.

I looked at Ydraz with accusatory eyes. She’d been my keeper since I was little, and she didn’t tell me all this? “You… Why didn’t you say something, Ydraz? Ifadi could’ve had my mother’s death investigated thoroughly!” I said through gritted teeth.

“My duty is to keep you safe, Your Greatness. Besides, it didn’t occur to me that it might not have been an accident at all and that she was murdered!” she explained but looking guilty.

I let out the breath through my nose, fingering my long hair. I turned to Incerion, who regarded me seriously. He seemed to be calculating, too.

“It’s happened a decade ago, so I think there’s nothing we can do now,” I murmured resignedly.

“I agree. But… we can get information on who could have done such a thing to her and to your predecessor, Your Greatness,” Incerion said slowly. It looked like he was pensive while muttering these words. “But first things first. Why am I here?” He looked at me directly in the eye.

“I want to leave the palace,” I straightforwardly answered.

He was taken aback… and he literally stepped back. His eyes were dragged toward Ydraz before they were back on me. “You want to leave the palace or the kingdom? Tell me honestly, Your Greatness.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them while sighing. “Both.”

“May I ask why, Your Greatness? You’re the Drakkon King. You must be where you must be! You must be kept safe!”

“I could use your talents for that. That’s why you’re here, Incerion.”

He looked confused. “What exactly am I going to do? Pretend that I’m you?” He quickly shook his head. “I can’t do that!” He looked horrified at the mere thought of it. “I’m going to be dead on the spot once I’m caught! I heard Umrrath has this thing with magic and all.”

I smirked. “You’re much older than Umrrath, Incerion. That means you’re stronger and have more knowledge than him. What’s there to fear when you even have a special family secret?” I mocked.

He raised a hand. “I’m not afraid of Umrrath to correct your conclusion, Your Greatness. I’m afraid of his power to overpower me or you. Does it make sense?”

I gave him a penetrating, serious look. “Yes, it does,” I drawled. “But I know you have a way around it. If Ydraz thinks I can get help from you, then you’re capable of doing something great.”

“You’re now the Drakkon King. You’ve been trained and educated to be one since you were a hatchling, Your Greatness. No matter how old your enemies are, you can find ways to defeat them in one way or another. As for your request, I’ll see what I can do to assist you. It’ll be a great honor for me, for Ydraz and for our entire lineage to be able to serve you.” He bowed his head before he met my gaze once again.

“I need another of myself to take over my place whenever I need it.”

Ydraz gasped while Incerion’s jaw fell upon hearing it.

“Whatsoever my stand-in—my other self—does experience, talk, do… anything, it must all be a part of me as my own memories. That way, no one can tell that I left the palace or the kingdom.”

Incerion swallowed as he absorbed this whole thing that I wanted to happen. Obviously, his mind was already digging up into his subconscious what kind of magic he’d be able to perform to suit my needs.

“May I know the reason why you’re doing this, Your Greatness?” There was curiosity and confusion written on his face, making his bushy brows slightly join together.

“I found my ultimate one but she’s not a Drakkon shifter. She’s from Doragon, the youngest princess.”

He looked surprised, eyes bulging. “Now that’s complicated. The royals don’t go out of their fortress.”

“I know. That’s why I’m doing this. I can’t sit back on my throne knowing she’s just right there, and she doesn’t know about me. I have to do something to be with her!”

“Of course, Your Greatness!” Incerion agreed. His eyes drifted toward Ydraz.

Ydraz shifted from one foot to the other. “Does this mean I should have another of myself, too, Your Greatness?”

“Why are you asking the obvious, Ydraz?” my rejoinder.

“Isn’t it too risky, Your Greatness? What if something goes wrong?” she pointed out, concerned. “The throne and the crown are yours. What if—”

“I’ll take care of that, Ydraz. That’s why you called on me and I’m here for that,” he chastised her, before turning to me. “I’ll do my best to aid you, Your Greatness. We can perform the ritual here in the coming few nights. I just need some things to make it work effectively.”

“What things?” I queried.

“I need a piece of each garment of those you strongly want to deceive. They must not know you took those pieces.”

“Me? Should I do it myself or can I ask Ydraz or someone to do it for me?”

“You have to do it yourself, Your Greatness.”

I breathed in through my mouth. “For dragons’ god’s name! Can I use magic to get those pieces?”

“It doesn’t matter for as long as they don’t know what you’re doing, Your Greatness,” Incerion answered.

I blew a breath. “Alright. I’ll do that.”

“One more thing, Your Greatness.”

“What is it?”

“I need a piece of your flesh…” he paused, turning to his relative, “as well as yours, Ydraz.”

My eyes went round. “What? What flesh? Human or dragon?”

“Your human flesh, Your Greatness.” Incerion seemed to see this whole thing as an amusement. He must be sick in the head!

I let out a cuss while Ydraz looked unfazed. How could she be even in this situation? Wasn’t she concerned a piece of her flesh will be taken off of her body? But maybe it was because she was used to being wounded in the past that she found this undisturbing at all. Besides, even in human form, shifters were able to heal fast. And yet, the idea of my shedding flesh was still unsettling for me.

“Is there a specific place where it should come from? And how much flesh are we talking about here, Incerion?”

***

Taking a piece of each elder’s robe was not much of a problem. I called them to the throne room one by one in the pretext of asking for their thoughts and advice on certain matters in the kingdom. Well, I did get some helpful insights, thanks to Incerion’s assignment.

When the elders had their backs on me as they walked out of the throne room, I used magic to cut a piece of the hem in the back of their robes and fixed them right afterward without anyone noticing, except Ydraz. After that, I had the square piece in my clenched hand. However, when it came to Umrrath, I was a little bit anxious. Would he know if I’d take a piece of his robe? Because it seemed that he was too aware of everything around him. Would he know of my purpose for doing so if he did notice?

“May I know why you want to speak with me, Your Greatness?” Umrrath asked, standing in his area below the platform, while Ydraz stood like a statue opposite him.

“I wonder what your expectations are of me, Umrrath.” That was being honest on my part anyway. About twenty paces away from me, I could still see clearly how the expression on his face or in his eyes changed whenever.

“That you may lead us and this kingdom to glory, Your Greatness.”

“How exactly do you mean by that, Umrrath?”

Ydraz’s eyes assessed the old adviser as I stared at him. On the other hand, the shifter guards listened in on quietly, as usual.

“Once… your father dreamed of something big, but he never made a step to realize it, Your Greatness.”

This confused me, tilting my head on one side. “What did he dream of, Umrrath?” It seemed that I did know nothing of Ifadi’s plans while he was still alive. He hadn’t told me anything about his dreams. Did he truly confide and trust Umrrath to say something like this? Right, he did trust Umrrath since he was supportive of Ifadi’s projects in the kingdom. Those without food for some reason were provided with animals to raise; taxes were changed in accordance to each adult shifter’s job and some other things along those lines that concerned our subjects.

“He wanted a unified Draconia, Your Greatness.”

My white-silver eyes went round to hear it. “What did you say, Umrrath?” Did I hear it wrong? Did my father really have this dream? “Did Ifadi want to rule all over Draconia? Is that what you’re saying?” I added, intently regarding the old shifter.

His eyes were hard, and he looked determined. “Yes, Your Greatness. And for that to happen, we must destroy the two queendoms and rule Draconia.”

I stood up from the throne as though my butt was on fire. Ydraz was alerted, especially when I walked toward Umrrath. “Are you telling me to annihilate everyone in Doragon and Draggan Queendoms, Umrrath?” The tone of my controlled voice held a warning and anger.