The Dragon King's Obsession

TWO

Cold coursed through me, then fear, then I became numb. The beast dropped me for what must have been the hundredth time. This time, I didn’t scream. I couldn’t. My throat was dry, parched.

He did not catch me. The bag around my head blocked out my sight of the world. A huge lump closed my throat. I felt sure the beast was letting me fall to my death but I smacked against hard ground. Something cracked.

He wrenched off the potato sack over my head and glamour blinded me. The place was a large arena with hundreds of golden seats in a circle arranged in ascending order like stairs. It opened up to blue skies with thick clouds

The beast wrenched me up to a kneeling position. I cried out as my arms were almost yanked out of my shoulders. My cry attracted the men who had been yelling and arguing amongst themselves. Some of them laughed, others glared at me as if to silence me. The place crackled with power, the air was pungent with the smell of dominance.

It left me terrified and angry. I was at the mercy of these barbarians, totally powerless. My quiver was empty, my sword would what? I would be made into human barbecue before I dared to attack one of the many around.

Asides the crowd of beasts, a human man knelt a distance away from me. He wore long brown trousers, a brown shirt with two stars on his left breast and handcuffs dangled from his trousers. We knelt facing a throne wrought with gold.

Even from my far position, the glamour hurt my eyes. The whole place gleamed, sparkled but the throne held the most grandeur. Not only did it stand taller than the enormous man guarding it, it was also adorned with stones that caught every small bit of light. Rubies and emeralds and opals and others that I did not know.

“They are going to burn us up to amuse their king. Savages,” The soldier beside me snarled. “Savages.”

I did not need more fear but I got more afraid. I had not planned to die like this, at the young age of twenty, with only two kills to my name. My grandfather had killed fifty eight. I had aimed for twice his number.

I gripped the hilt of my sword, knowing it was useless. I was going to die. I knew it. Death was standing just as the corner, waiting to claim my soul but I was taking at least one of these horse turds with me! I vowed to myself.

I felt the new presence in the sudden hush of the atmosphere. The breathlessness. The fear. It was thick enough to slice. The men that had been engrossed in cursing each other like sailors quietened.

“Their king,” The soldier sneered again. I didn’t need to be told.

Nicokreon Pendragon.

Humans and dragons alike feared him. My grandfather spoke his name with a calm reverence. He had succeeded his brother as king of the Drakii when I was a child. Every hunter secretly prayed to be the one to kill him. He was the most dangerous and most feared. Killing him would mean honour forever. Immortalization.

No hunter had ever been this close to him.

He didn’t try to be imposing. His existence alone did that for him. He was massive. Bigger than anything I had ever expected. His was nude save for a pair of black slacks. Rich black ink of a black dragon covered his entire upper body. The tattoo rippled as he moved, giving the illusion of the dragon being alive.

He took a seat on the throne and it looked like a little bench with his mass. The harsh looking guard left the side of the throne and two small dragons flanked him. Black dragons.

They looked more like pets than guards and my suspicion was confirmed when he dropped his right hand to stroke one of them. The small beast purred, a deep and low grumble that shook the grounds.

“Hail King Nicokreon Pendragon, Tor Drakis, King of the Drakii, first of his name. Drakii, your Drakis!” A man bellowed with all his strength.

The ground shook with the stumping of feet that rattled the ground and sent me propelling forward.

The man raised his hand and silence descended at once. The arena was quiet, waiting for him to speak.

Seconds turned into minutes and when a full ten minutes had passed and he didn’t say anything, a man stepped forward.

“Tor Drakis, a leisure game for your amusement.” The man said. He walked to the front of the throne and bowed.

“How generous of you.” His voice was low, bored. Once he opened his mouth, an eager hush fell across his men. It made his voice easier to hear. It was deep and rough. Such simple syllables but there was no hiding the power that vibrated with the voice. The men lapped at his words like it was gold, as if it was clean water to their dry throats.

Again, another ten minutes passed before he spoke. “Did you find them in the mountains?” He said like speaking was a task and speaking to these men was the most unpleasant of all tasks.

I hated him then.

Being a dragon meant I hated him already. His being the king meant more hatred but the disdain he treated others with made me loath him.

“Yes, they were in the – “

“Then you wouldn’t be breaking the law by killing them,” He cut off the man.

Then the games began. The soldier was the first prey.

Their king was barely done speaking when a red dragon picked him off the ground. His screams were louder than a little girl’s. They disappeared up into the open sky. No one heard anything for a while.

The beasts must have heard it first because they burst into guffaws. Then I saw the man. He was flaying and screaming as he came plummeting from the skies. His screams were louder than the cheering of the dragons enjoying his fright.

Less than two feet before he plummeted to his death, the dragon caught him again. It seemed to be a favourite sport amongst them as the soldier was dropped three more times, until there was a wet patch on his brown trousers and his skin became pale with his face green.

The beast set him down gently. Then is started to breathe fire.

The soldier ran, stumbling as the dragons mocked him. The beast knowingly trailed a few feet away from the running man, giving him hope of outrunning the flames bearing down on him.

He ran around the arena three time before he started to slow down, the sport began to bore the beasts who went back to discussing amongst themselves.

There ended the relevance of the soldier. He was set ablaze like a rodent and he burned right there, while we watched.

The men cheered, clapping loudly and asking for the next show.

Me.

“You called me out here for this?” The king murmured to himself. Like before, it seemed the people were alerted before he spoke. Everywhere went silent. The only sound in the atmosphere was the purring of the dragon being stroked and the sizzling of flesh of the soldier.

I glared at him then. I glared at him hard and hateful. I didn’t expect such a monster to care about life. Why was I surprised that such a cold and callous beast would be bothered by the humiliating and terrifying death of a person!?

That was when he turned. As if feeling my murderous look, his gaze whipped to me. His eyes were a startling golden yellow and I forced myself to meet them. And hold them. He stared intently at me until it felt like he could see the colour of my soul.

“Tor Drakis, we can make the next worthy of your attention. You can kill the girl yourself. As you please!” The man anchoring the event said.

A murmur of approval broke out then. I could feel the excitement of the beasts, anticipating how their wretched king would flay me with his fire breath.

The king was silent still, his golden eyes raking over my body. The men were curious, waiting to see what sport their ruler could make of me. The soldier was totally forgotten now. Surely their king could put up a much more entertaining performance with me.

When he didn’t say anything for longer than usual, the show’s anchor walked up to me with calculated steps. Excited murmurs broke out again, growing louder by the second.

My life flashed before my eyes. My training, my fight with Goldie, my family. Oh, my dearest father. I had been awful to him these past few years. He would have no one left now. With mother gone, dead from the flu for over fifteen years, I was all he had left. He never got along with Grandpa Richard. Nobody really did. Now, he would be all alone.

The man gripped me by my braid and I saw stars.

“Let go of her, Massimo.” The king said coldly. Massimo let go of me immediately, jerking away.

I could hear a pin drop in the arena. The king stopped stroking the black dragon and the two of them stood still, staring at me with their green and red eyes respectively. It was as though they too felt the strangeness in their master’s behaviour.

“What is your name?” He addressed me. His eyes roamed across my face, making me uncomfortable. I was still hidden behind a mask of dirt and grime. Even if my face was scrubbed off, there was no way this man would know of me. And because that did not sit well with the Hunter in me, I snarled.

“Mystique Hunter.”

The name alone always achieved a desired effect and it was no different this time. The king still regarded me with the same bored expression but loud whispers broke out in his court.

“A Hunter? The ones that killed Bezels?” One said.

“We should kill her now!” Another exclaimed.

“Humans are vile creatures but Hunters are the most vile of them all.” One hissed.

Everyone whispered their opinions, some shouted it. But the King’s words silenced them all.

“This one is mine.”

Everyone paused in reverence when he spoke. Then started to shout atop their voices, thundering in anger.

“Drakis, you can have any w***e you want! This one must die!”

“She must die! A Hunter! They have killed a man from each family. We want her blood!”

Others shouted, screamed but again, they silenced when he spoke.

“Massimo, lead her to my quarters. “ He said, quiet voice ringing in the full arena. Then he turned and strode out. His black dragons trailing after him, growling and fighting over each other to be closest to him.

Once he was out, more yelling and cursing started up in the arena. Men screamed at me, calling me names, hoping I died a painful death. Some laid curses on me for the death of their fellow men but I didn’t care.

I was relieved to not be dying so soon. I was scared to not be dying right away.

Massimo yanked me up by my braid and my half swollen eyes saw stars. He dragged me with him, almost pulling out my hair and as we climbed up hundreds of stairs, weaved through creepy corridors while he painted vivid pictures of my death.

“He likes to play with his toys, have fun with them. Maybe he will take you a hundred times today while you scream. Maybe he will let his dragons mount you.” He snarled in my ear. “Your kind are vile! You don’t deserve to walk this soil. When the Tor Drakis sees this, he will let us hunt you out of existence!”

“He would enjoy your screams. The screams of fright are melodies to his ears,” Massimo chuckled harshly. I tried to struggle out of his hold but except I wanted him to rip out my full braid from my head, I could not break away.

“He may like to tie you up and whip you like you whip a recalcitrant horse before he mounts you. You deserve everything that is coming your way. You are worse than dragon breath and I will stand guard the tower this night to see your mangled body split open on one of the rocks.”

After the long tirade and journey, he threw me into a room large enough to fit an entire mansion.

Then I was alone in the Dragon King’s chambers.