The Lost King of Dragons

Chapter 2

Most of Ember’s childhood was lived in the cave. She hated it. Her attitude was fiery. She was a handful. Listening was a problem for her. If I’d let her, she would frolic around the forest hunting.

She was 16 at this point and I was trying to teach her to fly in my now tiny cave. I had to make some changes to make room for her. She had shifted a month prior, so now she was even more unmanageable.

“Dante!” She yelled to me.

I had been enjoying a quiet morning with some hot tea I had made, but as usual. She couldn’t allow me that.

“Dante!” She yelled again.

“Ember, if you keep yelling, I am going to hang you from the ceiling by your ankles.” It was somewhat of an idle threat.

She walked over to where I was sitting and eyed me.

“You will have to watch me first, old man…. Anyways, let's go down to the forest.”

“Ember, you know we don’t go out during the day. It’s too risky.”

She huffed and sat down next to me. Without having her, I had to change my sleeping schedule because she was not being cooperative about sleeping during the day. She wanted to be up and running around.

I loved her, but I kept her at a distance still. She tried to call me dad, but I wasn’t having any of that. It was too intimate. If she were to die, I have to be able to keep going. The same has to be said for her.

“Dante, you never want to do anything fun.” She pouted.

“It’s not up for argument,” I stated with finality.

She hated that I was so strict, but she could get over it. My morning consisted of me doing surveillance of the water fall. Humans were starting to move into the waterfall area and it made me uneasy. They were starting to get too close for comfort. I was hoping they would stay away long enough for Ember to turn 18. That would make things much easier. Traveling with a minor who looks nothing like me could prove problematic.

More people were coming to the waterfalls and it set me on edge. I was always preparing for discovery.

That night my fears came true.

I was sitting at the edge of the opening watching the ground below. Something was up. I could feel it. I saw several men come out of the trees and meet at the water's edge. Being a supernatural meant I had gifts that allowed me the advantage.

“I have tracked her scent to here. I can almost pin point it to when she went missing.” Man 1 said.

“Have we found the baby?” Man 2 said.

“No, but at this point she is going to be about 16 years old. Her 17th birthday should be in a few months.”

“How do you know she survived?”

“Oh, that mother wouldn’t have killed her. She means too much.”

Their conversation had every fiber of my being screaming at me to get Ember the hell out of here.

With increasing intensity, I watched as they spoke further and eventually went walking off.

All I could do was pace. I had to come up with a plan to get us out of here the next night. Of course, the hardest part of this will be getting her to be cooperative.

I had to laugh at myself. Now, that was going to be the hardest part.

Time was wasting and I had to move it. I began packing a few bags. And getting things ready. Afterwards, I went and slept for a few hours.

When Ember got up, she wasn’t happy that she had to stay at the back of the cave. I sat at the front and watched for possible intruders. Ember endlessly complained, but listened for once. She could feel something wrong.

Once night fall fell, I explained to Ember what was going on. Leaving out the part where they were specifically looking for her.

She understood. We had a plan since she was a baby that we had prepared for in the case of something like this occurring.

Once darkness had fallen, we were able to start moving.

Rather than going down, we went up along the cliff of the falls until we got to a rocky area at the opposite end where we could climb down and start heading south.

It was unusual, but we were going to have to seek the assistance of the closest pack. We had to get permission to pass through their lands or we would run into trouble.

It took a few hours for us to get to the border of their lands and we were greeted by their patrols. As I was not showing to be a threat, they escorted us up to the pack house to speak with the alpha. It was early morning at that point.

Ember was a champ and was holding up well. Sleep was in short supply, but no one would know.

The Alpha was polite in speaking with us and offered us a place to sleep to recuperate from our travels. They were used to the occasional dragon coming across their paths.

The idea of sleeping in this unfamiliar house was uncomfortable, but if we were going to make it, we would have to accept do.

They were kind enough to give us our own apartment to allow Ember and I to sleep near one another. It was a homey place and had its own kitchenette. I can tell the Luna designed this suite as it had the touch of a woman.

Ember crashed into her bed and I mine. However, before that, I set up an alarm system that would wake me up if someone tried to open the door.

Sleep was welcoming and the darkness swallowed me.