Promised to the Dragon King

Chapter 6

“You can’t be serious?” He looked sober and excited!!

“Fine.” She got herself into this little pickle, now there was no turning back.

She sat up and flapped her wings, feeling him hold onto one of her scales, feeling as if he was going to pull it out of her skin. She took off and they followed the road again to where it split.

“Now what genius?” She hovered above the road.

“Left, she would have gone left… No, no, right. Most people would go right. Right?”

“Most dragons would go home. Which way?”

But we were going home, he thought to himself.

“I don’t suppose you will try the one, then the other?” He shrugged.

Knowing that this was going to be a never-ending thing, she decided to try left first. It looked like farmland, and the chances of the girl going that way, were slim, so they would at least be able to cross this off their list fast.

Phillipe came running out of the farmhouse, waving madly at her.

“Go, go quickly! They are about to come running with their pitchforks!!”

She took off and they were in the air, seeing the farmer and his workers and family storm out from the barn, armed with pitchforks and all sorts of sharp pointy weapons.

“What did you say to them, huh?”

“Nothing! They grabbed me and held me, prisoner, until all of them were ready to attack you. I sneaked out when they were too busy to notice me.”

He said out of breath, not mentioning that he paid them to pretend to chase him.

“Find out anything about Emerald?”

“What?! Are you insane? Excuse me, sir, while you are sharpening your fork, do you perhaps know of a girl called Emerald? My dragon who you are about to attack and I are looking for her.”

He sat on top of her neck, waving his hands in the air, acting out the scene making her laugh, and making him nearly slip off her neck.

“I hate to admit this, but we are going to have to find a way for you to sit there and stay there. I can’t be picking you up off the ground each time you fall.”

“What are you talking about falling? You wouldn’t let me fall, would you?”

“I wouldn’t, I might just not always catch you in time.”

He grabbed onto the scale again and held on for dear life, but that was also not going to work for her. If he pulled it out, she was definitely going to eat him.

“Grab a horse and a rope in the next town.”

“Why? I’m not letting you eat the horse!”

“No, you i***t! Although a snack would be nice around about now…”

Keeping quiet for a minute, she thought about it.

“No, I’m good. We need the saddle and a rope to make you a seat to sit on, so you don’t fall off my neck, you stupid drunk.” She could almost imagine the light going on above his head.

“Oooohhhhh. Well, that we can do.” He didn’t even think about that.

Playing a human wasn’t easy! She flew over the town, watching the ants run.

“Is this necessary?” He sat with his arms crossed.

“No. But it is fun.” She giggled.

Finding a clearing outside of town, she landed and let him down. This time the walk to town was a bit further, and the nightfall was near.

“If you look inside your stuff, I put a bag of coins there. Stay in the tavern tonight. Don’t spend it all on rum!”

Phillipe looked at her, stunned.

“When, how? When did you do this? I didn’t know you had coins. Thank you, Kaida.” He grinned.

“Yeah, don’t go making a fuss over it, off with you!”

He walked away still grinning. Now he didn’t have to fly away out of the other side of town, or even tell anyone who he was. He could just have a drink like a normal human.

She pushed him away with her snout, and he almost fell over. Even with her complaining today, she had to admit that getting away from the castle, and opening her wings for more than just that little bit around their kingdom, had been amazing. It was just sad that there was no snow and no clouds.

She laid down in the clearing, watching the stars. If Phillipe found a living Black Rose, there was going to be no living with him after that! And she started to think that there had to be a little bit of truth in the legend. Or at least the first and second roses had kept their, what shall we call it, vows?

There was no mention of them being trained… She needed to ask Phillipe in the morning, and how did Celeste get a rose down the mountain without it turning to ash?!

Again! Another night without sleep. She stood up and turned around. Her eyes just looked underneath the treetops as she noticed rogues approaching. They were probably planning on attacking the town and got the surprise of their lives.

She kept still, keeping her eyes closed, looking like a statue while they sneaked up on her. Holding her breath, one of them poked her with his sword. She felt it scratch against her scales, trying her hardest not to burst out laughing. They walked around her, trying to decide whether she was real or not. Not able to hold her breath anymore, she took a deep breath and sat up straight.

To her delight, they ran screaming into the woods. One of them was frozen in his steps, his jaw opened wide.

“Tell your friends the next time I find them trying to steal from someone, I will eat them.”

That seemingly unfroze him; he ran screaming into the forest, jumped onto his horse and rode after his friends. She laughed so loud she woke the birds in the trees below, who made a huge noise, complaining at her for waking them.

She tried to apologize as softly as possible, and laid down again, still smiling. She didn’t like humans, but she hated thieves even more. She didn’t think those guys would come back to try and rob the town again. Yawning as darkness pulled her in.

***

“Kaida!! Kaida dammit wake up!! It’s because you were up until the early morning hours chasing thieves that you are still asleep, isn’t it!! Get up!! We must leave before the townspeople come looking for you!! I know where Emerald went!!”

“So much talk so early in the morning.” She yawned again.

“You are disturbing my beauty sleep. Go away.” Sweeping her tail to try and get rid of him.

“Kaida!! I don’t want to be pitchforked!! Get up!”

He kicked her foot, and she opened her eyes, seeing her surroundings, realizing where they were.

“Oh, I forgot we were here. C’mon then.”

She picked him up, and put him on her neck. He picked up the saddle and rope, but there was no time to put them on then, as a rowdy bunch of townspeople were on their way shouting: “Kill the dragon.”

“Do those idiots know that I saved them from being robbed and murdered last night?”

“Those same robbers were the ones in the tavern this morning, pretending to be travellers who were attacked by you. They are using this as a diversion to rob people!!”

His eyes wide, he looked down at the people, shouting at them.

“Ah, well, I tried, their loss. See… Like I said… I hate humans.”

“Which way?” She yawned, seemingly in no rush to move.

“Emerald left the town with a traveller, claiming to have been her father. He was making his way to the docks at the ocean towns.”

“No! No, no, we aren’t flying all the way there!”

“Yes, we are… Remember.”

“But it’s hot and sticky and it stinks of fish! That place has no proper meat!” She took off just in time to avoid being stabbed.

“I’m sure you will be able to find food somewhere. Now find a spot to land so we can put up this contraption you planned. I don’t want to fall off.”

She found a clearing, landing against her will. She should turn back and just ignore him. She didn’t remember agreeing that she would go to the ocean towns. She hated the ocean…

“I hate the ocean.”

She had never been, she was always just at her castle…

How did she know? How did she know the smell of the ocean and the feel of the wetness on her skin? How did she know these things?

Phillipe sat on his new saddle, not holding onto one of her scales, thank the goddess, while they followed the smell to the ocean towns.

“Shouldn’t we at least stop off at the towns on the way? Maybe she stopped and didn’t make it there.”

“No, I can smell the salty air… We can make our way back if nobody knows about her there.”

“Since when did you become so demanding?”

“Since we found a quest… I feel like one of your knights having to save the damsel in distress.”

She turned her head and looked at his dramatic enactment of a damsel…

“You do realize you look crazy? Maybe you should drink some of that rum of yours.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because, well, I took the empty bottles when we left the castle. I was a bit tipsy and didn’t realize the full bottles were on the other side of the bed.”

She bursts out laughing.

“That’s karma at work!! Wait I’ll turn back, and we can go get them!”

She turned, and he started shouting and kicking.

“Nooooo! There will be rum at the next tavern!! We aren’t turning back!!!!”

Damn! Making another turn, his saddle almost slid down, landing on her chest, making him yell like a girl. She couldn’t help but laugh even louder. She could feel the sticky, hot wind as they got closer to the ocean towns. Something inside her was telling her not to go there.

“Phillipe, I don’t think we should be here. Something is wrong.”

“You are just trying to get out of our deal. Find a clearing to land. I will go further on foot if it is such a problem.”

She started looking around when something hit her from above, clawing at her wings, making her scream in pain as she felt the flesh tear, making her fall from the sky.

Phillipe fell from his saddle, and in an instant, he turned into a golden dragon. She grabbed at thin air, but the pain was too much. Turning in her fall, she saw a big red dragon being pulled apart by a golden dragon, that came out of… Phillipe.

The legends were true, there were more dragons out there, but they weren’t friendly! She hit the ground with a huge thud, knocking her out.

***

She woke to the smell of cooking meat and the incredible pain in her wings. They felt sticky, and her head hurt like hellfire. She looked around to find Phillipe, so she could eat him for all this trouble he caused, and found a strange-looking creature sitting by the fire, cooking what looked like some sort of pig.

The creature had long pointy ears, he was green and dressed in a brown woven bag with cut-outs for his head and arms. He grunted, while turning the makeshift wooden stand that was cooking the pig. Where the hell could Phillipe be, and who was this creature? And where the fudge was the golden dragon?!! Who was that dragon? He seemed familiar somehow.

She looked at her wings and saw the wounds had been covered in some kind of blue paste. Great! Now she was going to look like some stupid butterfly.

“Don’t move! You gonna pull the paste lose then ya wounds aren’t gonna heal.” The funny creature said, without even looking at her.

How did he know she was awake?

“I heard your breathing change.”

Wait, what?

“I hear your thoughts…”

No…

“Yes, Phillipe went to the town to find out about some girl. I’m Beeswax, by the way. You crashed through my house and nearly killed me. You can at least thank me for fixing your wounds.”

“Thanks… Sorry about your house.”

She lifted her head, but the pain shot through her skull, making her put it right back down.

“Yeah, I would lie still if I were you. Grub isn’t someone you mess with. He did a number on you.”

“Why did he attack us in the first place. We didn’t do anything to him?”

“Because he is Grub. He can’t stand anyone else being in his territory.”

“Oh. What happened exactly? I can’t remember after I hit the ground.”

“Look, like I told Phillipe, I would look after you, and I don’t break my promises to the drag… Well, I don’t break my promises. So, you just rest up there.”

“So, the only other dragons I’ve seen so far are killers and crazy. Just great.” She closed her eyes and tried to get some rest, hoping to heal and get the time to pass quickly, so they could get out of this place.