The Dragon King's Bride

Book 1 in the POWER Series... King Draxus marched through the centre of his large campsite, his thick black boots squelching against the oozing mud below as he moved along at a quickened pace. After a recent raid on a small village nearby it was apparent that one of the villagers that they now had captive held important information that would only be shared with the one known as the ‘Dragon King’. King Draxus was known as the Dragon King. As he soon approached the interrogation tent, two of his darkly-dressed soldiers noticed him and quickly reached down to open the flaps at the entrance of the tent, gaining him access as he bent down and stepped inside in one smooth movement. It was slightly darker inside the tent as a tall, built black man with long black braided hair stepped forward and gave a quick bow of his head. It was General Shasharan, one of Draxus’ most loyal followers and his commander and chief. “My King,” the General greeted him respectfully. “Which one is it?” Draxus’ voice bellowed, deep and husky from beneath his large horned helmet as he glanced down between the three men kneeling before him. A second figure dressed in black and gold armour and covered in an assortment of tattoos stepped up from behind one of the kneeling men, grabbing him violently by his hair as he spoke. “This one, sire.” The villager kneeling let out a loud groan of pain as his hair was pulled back, lifting his face up for the King to see. Draxus moved to stand before him. “Stand him up.” Hearing their King’s command, the tattooed man grabbed the prisoner kneeling before them and lifted him up by both the scruff of his hair and his torn shirt. The prisoner, too afraid to look the King in the eye as he stood before him, kept his eyes focused on the ground. Draxus stepped forward, coming almost face to face with him now. “I believe you have something to tell me.” Draxus’ voice was calm, yet hinted warning as he spoke. The prisoner looked to be a man in his forties or fifties with scruffy brown hair and blue eyes. His skin was dirty and his clothes worn and torn in several areas. Draxus guessed this man may have been a farmer from his appearance, but didn’t think much more on the matter. It was clear that the prisoner was afraid as he hesitated to reply. “Speak, dog!” the tattooed man demanded from behind him, through clenched teeth and with a firm grip. “I... I have a message... it’s... it’s meant for the Dragon King.” the terrified prisoner announced, still unable to make eye contact with Draxus. “Fool! Who do you think stands before you now?” General Shasharan spat, his dark eyes narrow with disgust. “Speak now before we cut out your tongue!” Hearing his threat, the villager quickly glanced across at the General, then up to meet the bright amber eyes of the man standing before him. King Draxus’ attire was truly intimidating, with his giant horned helmet covered in spikes and covering most of his face, only revealing his mouth and those captivating eyes. The villager opened his mouth to speak. “The message... it comes from a lady who came to our village only a week ago. One with long hair the shade of coal and eyes bright as the stars...” he began to report, though clearly afraid for his life as he did so. “And?” Draxus countered rather impatiently. “She said to tell you that you’re on the right track... whatever that means. That you’ll find what you’re searching for very soon...” He paused and closed his eyes tightly together, as if trying to remember what to say next. “...something about a girl... one with a marking? That you’d find her soon.” “What girl with a marking?” General Shasharan questioned from where he stood. The villager turned to the General, seeming unsure. “She didn’t say, sir. She only commanded that I pass on this information to the Dragon King himself. And immediately.” Draxus looked down as he thought to himself while the others continued their conversation and questioning in the background. He knew who the woman with the black hair and white eyes was. An evil sorceress known only as Rayvinn. Rayvinn, a powerfully selfish and conniving dark magic worshipper had crossed paths with Draxus several times before in the past. And each time that their paths had crossed, something unfortunate had come to pass shortly afterwards for the mighty Dragon King Draxus. A coincidence, perhaps? He highly doubted that were the case! If there was one thing that Draxus had learned over the past few years of his life, it was that wherever Rayvinn was, trouble would soon surely follow... But what had the villager meant about being on the right track? And the girl he had referred to; the one with a marking. Was this the same girl that Draxus himself had been searching for all these years now? None of this made any sense as the King mulled it over to himself in silence for a moment. Shortly afterwards, Draxus found himself drifting back into the conversation at hand, as it continued on without him amongst the others in the room with him. “Even if he is telling the truth, that crazy witch is probably far from here by now.” General Shasharan pointed out. “So what, we’re supposed to believe the word of some servant scum... I say we put an end to them... to all three of them, right here, right now.” the heavily tattooed man with the glowing neon green eyes argued. “Zaar, you know you don’t get to make that call.” the General reminded, his finger pointing towards his comrade in arms as Zaar remained holding onto the first villager with a firm and cautious grasp. Draxus looked directly into the villager’s eyes for a moment, as if he suddenly sensed something was not quite right. And as the villager then met his eyes, Draxus focused even harder, putting all of his immense power into his gaze alone, and watching the man’s reaction as he did so. Taking one last step forward, right up to meet his prisoner face to face, Draxus’ warm amber coloured eyes glowed beautifully, like the golden sun above. And as he activated his immense dragon powers, the King’s eyes brightened substantionally. His pupils both elongating into long black slits right down the centre of each of his irises. Until they were at last similar to a dragon’s own eyes. He was determined to break through whatever vale hid the truth from them right here and now. Suddenly the villager closed his eyes tightly and let out a pained grunt as he began to shake his head violently from side to side in retaliation. His entire body tensed up. He began crying out loudly, as if he were in incredible pain, all the while still held in place by Zaar who was standing right behind their prisoner in understandable confusion. “What the f**k’s happening?” Zaar asked, looking to the General for apparent answers. The General unknowingly shrugged his shoulders as he too stood watching the entire scene unfold. The man’s body was now moving so violently that not even Zaar could hold onto him anymore, and he quickly released his hold on the prisoner, stepping back in astonishment. Then, as Draxus opened his mouth and spoke but a single word, his voice came out incredibly deeper than it usually did, sounding like the voice of a dragon. “Khraah!” (Reveal!) In the fraction of a second, the two kneeling villagers either side of the first prisoner suddenly disappeared into thickened shadows of scattered black dust. And the villager standing between them suddenly began to change... Throwing his head back to stare straight up at the ceiling of the tent, with his mouth open wide, the prisoner’s eyes turned bright white and his appearance transformed. It changed into that of an entirely different person; a beautiful younger-looking woman wearing a long black torn and tattered halter-neck dress. Her skin was deathly pale. Zaar and Shasharan both stepped back in shock upon seeing her now standing there, in the middle of their interrogation tent. With her long straight black hair reaching down towards her buttocks and her glowing white eyes locked right on their King, she had by now changed entirely into her true form. That of a familiar face to the Dragon King. With her sights set on their King, she grinned sadistically at him. Strangely enough, Draxus didn’t seem to be surprised by the transformation that had just taken place before their very eyes. Not even in the slightest! He did however continue to stand his ground before her as the dark sorceress suddenly spoke for the first time. “What gave me away?” Her haunting voice seemed to almost echo off the walls of the tent as she spoke with her taunting grin. But before anyone else could speak, Draxus had quickly lunged forward and grabbed her around the throat. The sudden movement had caught the sorceress off guard, as the King pulled her in closer, right up to his face as he spoke to with a vicious snarl. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face here, Rayvinn.” As he spoke, the King’s grip around her throat began to tighten, until it was quite uncomfortable. Not that it seemed to worry her at all. Instead, she merely let out a choked sound before smiling back at him defiantly. “Oh come on now. You’re not still sore about what happened beftween us, are you?” She was clearly taunting him with her hoarse voice, due to her throat being crushed, of course. “I... said I... was sorry.” “You tried to kill me!” Draxus snapped back at her angrily, clearly holding back from finishing her right then and there. “You’re nothing but an insane old witch!” “Old!” Strangely enough, Rayvinn seemed hurt by his comment. Or more precisely, the part about being old! “Come on now baby, don’t pretend you’re not even a little bit happy to see me. Even after all this time we’ve been kept apart.” “Who’s pretending?” Draxus spoke with a smirk. And ignoring his stab at her, Rayvinn went on with what she had to share with him. She held her head up high as she went on. “Regardless, I come with good news.” Her jet black brow rose upward and she grinned. “Let me go and I’ll share what I know with you, free of charge.” Draxus’ anger quickly smoothed over as he looked her up and down for a moment, deep in thought. His amber eyes narrowing skeptically at her newest offer. Could he trust her again? Should he even bother this time? In the end, he made a decision. One he thought best given their unfortunate past. “I want nothing more from you, sorceress.” He then suddenly released his grip on her arm and took a large step back to widen the space between them. “Now get the hell out of here before I have you killed on sight!” “Ouch...” Rayvinn spoke with a playful pout. “You’re not even going to hear me out?” “GO... while you still can.” General Shasharan warned from where he stood with his arms crossed over his armoured chest. “Alright, fine...” Rayvinn faked a long and dramatic sigh, taking a step toward the tent’s sole exit with a taunting grin. “But, just for the record, you might want to know what I have to share with you...” Draxus’ head turned to face in her direction now as she added the last piece of metaphorical bait to her hook. “It’s about the girl, Draxus. You know, the one you’ve been searching for... the one from your dreams.” Her tone was purely to taunt him as she continued taking purposely slow, lingering steps toward the exit, waiting for him to stop her. And she knew that eventually he would. She playfully shook her ass from side to side as she walked, just to add to how she was intentionally taunting him. General Shasharan and Zaar looked to one another, both preparing to unsheathe their swords and assist with her removal if necessary. But they immediately stopped upon seeing Draxus’ raise his hand into the air to cease them. “Wait!” his command was stern. Rayvinn’s eyes glowed a bright white hue now as a big victorious smile spread wide across her pale face. She ever so slowly turned back around to face the Dragon King again. “I knew you’d come round.” she mused. “General Shasharan, Zaar, please leave us.” Draxus commanded, keeping his eyes fixed on the sorceress. Looking to one another, both the General and Zaar let out unhappy huffs as they then quickly obeyed their King’s command. Exiting the tent, they had left their King all alone to face off with the manipulative sorceress. “Well?” It was clear that Draxus’ patience had worn incredibly thin by now as he spoke with understandable purpose. He had no time for chit-chat. “Tell me what you know.” “Why so rushed?” she asked with furrowed brows. “Aren’t you going to offer me a drink or something?” Now this had pissed Draxus off! “RAYVINN!” His shout caused her to gasp in surprise. “Do NOT test me!” Draxus added in warning, with his glowing eyes narrowing into slits. The Dragon King was not in the mood to play like Rayvinn was. So clearly she would need to be very cautious with whatever she chose to do from here on out. Sure, she had her magic to protect herself. But Draxus was an incredibly skilled killer and could end her life with but the slice of his blade! After a moment of silent deliberation to mull it over, Rayvinn eventually smiled and then walked across towards him while she spoke her response. “What if I said I knew the girl’s exact location... as in, at this very moment?” His eyes widened as she began to close the distance between them, moving in slowly, closer and closer towards him. And Draxus knew exactly what to say to her in response. “I’d say, what’s in it for you?” he held firm, standing his ground. “Hmm... getting clever I see.” she gleamed, tilting her head off to one side. Stepping right up in front of him now, her hand began moving out to meet his waiting armoured chest as her fingers carefully slid down the uniquely dark armour. “What if I said I could bring the two of you together... Would you be happy with me then?” Her expression was filled with heated lust as she stared deeply into his eyes, batting her incredibly long eyelashes, over and over again in an attempt at seducing the mighty King. But King Draxus was well aware of her obvious intentions. Rayvinn had always shown a massive interest in him, in his growing power and endless allies throughout the connecting Kingdoms. But the Dragon King had to learn how she worked the hard way. That she could NOT be trusted, no matter how good a situation seemed. “Tell me, how would you make this happen?” his voice was stern as he asked his question. She smiled up at him with her demonically glowing white irises. “Now, now, King of Dragons...” She paused and reached down between his legs, massaging her fingers over the large bulge in his pants as she whispered her next words in through his now parted lips. “You just leave that to me.”