Kaori: -Huggles I was SO happy to see a Dragon Heart place here! XD YEY!
Summary: Draco's soul is called back to the land of the living when Bowen's and Kara's daughter prays to his burial marking when her parents are killed and a new hideous rule takes over the land. ?Romance?
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Immortal Chapter 1: Draco's ReturnAmera's long fiery red hair blew around her milky face as she trudged her way up over the dead grassy hill to his burial mark. Tears rolled from her blue eyes as she looked upon the axe that was drove into the earth at the top of the hill, he axe that took his life…the axe her father had used all those years before.
"Draco…" Amera knelt in front of the axe and bowed her head, now sobbing. "I've come to as for your guidance…for your words of wisdom…your blessings…our kingdom has yet again fallen into ruins, my parents, your loyal friends Bowen and Kara…dead…slain" she blinked and bit her bottom lip as she looked at the axe. "Our people need you again…we need your help just as we did when my parents came into rule…"
The wind stopped blowing and all become still, Amera turned her head away from the axe and stood, beginning her way back down over the hill. She came to visit the marking daily, speaking to Draco as if he had been there with her, speaking to him of her parents and of their lives now…this had been the first time she had ever asked anything of him.
Her parents told her of their adventures with Draco, and how he nobly demanded that he'd be killed in order to save everyone in their kingdom. 'He was the last of them…' she thought as she looked back over her shoulder at the axe as it disappeared over the hilltop. 'He was the last and it didn't bother him that he was to die…he had a brave soul according to my mother…I believe her.'
Amera sighed; their people needed that kind of soul around now…they needed help. A knight by the name of Tomos had lead his army into the land and stormed the castle, killing Bowen and Kara as soon as his eyes met them. Amera had been able to get away and with the help of the villagers was able to live among them with ease. She had watched her parents bodies slowly rot away from the place where Tomos had them up on display…nailed to the side of the castle.
It was a cruel omen, but it was to keep the villagers in their place until they could track down the daughter of the late King and Queen. To hide her identity, the villagers called her by her second name Kasiah, and kept her at work in the stables.
"Kasiah! Come back hurry! The knights are making another run!" Keena, the elderly woman that let Amera live with her shouted from her little hut. "Come child, inside now."
Amera lifted up the bottom of her brown peasants dress and ran to the village and into the hut, she dared not be outside during the knights run through the village. They'd pick up young women and bring them back to the castle so Tomos could have his way with them…then send them back to their families battered, bruised, and broken.
"My child…please…don't let yourself be seen by that burial marking…" Keena said as she took Amera's hands into her old withered ones. "Tomos and his men know why its there…and it is obvious that the daughter of Bowen and Kara would visit it…"
"Keena I'm sorry," Amera lowered the old woman into a wooden chair. "But I had to ask Draco for help…I needed to ask for his guidance in this time…I-"
Keena shook her head sadly. "My dear that old dragon can no longer help us now…I watched myself as his body turned to dust shortly after your dear father dealt the final blow…he is with the stars, where he will remain."
Amera bowed her head and sank to her knees, putting her forehead onto Keena's lap and sobbed gently. "I know…I know…" she whimpered. "I just wish things were different…I want my parents back…"
Draco opened his eyes, his muscles hurt, and his wings were stiff. He looked at the waterfall that crashed before him…he was back inside the cave again…how was this possible? The dragon groaned and walked through the waterfall where he was able to stretch his cramped body in the open.
He felt uneasy, there was something disturbing in the air…something wrong. "Bowen…Kara…" Draco let a growl escape his throat as he took off from the water. The ways of life and death had been buckled for him, the rules broken. He remembered being slain by Bowen, he remembered seeing Einon fall before he had; and he knew that he was brought back for a reason…and his reason was silently crying out to him across the land, he could feel it.
Smoke set in heavily as he neared the village, fields of crops set afire and dead animals raped the land of its beauty…a beauty that Draco still kept close to his heart. 'This cannot be right…this isn't Bowen's and Kara's kingdom…' he thought bitterly as he passed the village and headed for the castle, what he saw there made him sick to his stomach.
He was high up, but he could still see the rotting corpses handing from the walls of the great stone castle. He could smell them…or what was left of them as he circled around and left the unholy sight. His dear friends, he hated to see this. 'Why? Why was I sent back to see this? See my friends bodies still and cold as their killers laugh at the omen that has been set upon an already unholy castle, made that way years ago…why?'
He looked below him; knights ran through it on horses, yelling and hitting villagers back from the streets with their boots, their swords…a horrid sight. 'It is just the village…why was I returned here for the village? Who in it must I protect if not Bowen and Kara?'
"This is your last chance!" he heard one of the knight's cries. "Either you give us the daughter of Bowen, or we shall take another one of your daughters back to Tomos!"
Draco circled around the village, keeping a good distance away from it just so he could not be seen. "Bowen's daughter…" he said with the slight shaking of his head. "…That's why…" he growled and angled himself downwards, being seen or not, he was going to scare away those knights…he had to get to Bowen's daughter before them.
With a mighty growl he swooped down upon them, knocking them off their horses; he listened to them scream and yell as they ran off from the village back towards the castle. He landed right where the knights had been standing, watching as villagers exited their homes, looking at him in awe. Some of them he recognized, they were very old now…but he could remember their younger faces from years before; and from the look of them now, they could remember him.
"Amera! Amera!" one of the elderly men shouted. "Kasiah! Come! Come!"
Draco watched the woman with two names be shoved through the crowd; she had long red hair and bright blue eyes…this had to be her. She had her mother's beauty, and the fierce look in her eyes that her father always held.
Amera looked at the dragon, her eyes widened. It couldn't be him…they all said he was dead…but now…they say…alive, and standing before her. She couldn't speak, the creature that stood before her astounded her; he wasn't only a dragon, he was the dragon, Draco; their kingdoms redeemer.
"Child," Draco lowered his face to hers, staring into her eyes. "Are you the one the knights were after? Are you the one that was born to Bowen and…"
"Kara…yes." Amera answered. It was all she could choke out, she would have said more but her breath locked up in her throat.
"Then you…" Draco grabbed Amera around the waist. "You must come with me, now."
"Keena!" Amera looked at the elderly woman that just stared at them from the crowd.
"Don't be scared, love. Don't be scared. Remember what your parents told you…" Keena shouted as Draco lifted off the ground. "Don't fear the dragon!"
Draco took her far from the village, back to the falls, back to where he had taken her mother all those years ago when she was offered up as a sacrifice. He sat her down on the same rock and sat near her, he needed answers for everything. "Amera…" he stated, remembering one of the names the villagers had called her.
"Yes, Amera-Kasiah…" Amera nodded slowly. "And you, your Draco…the dragon who I have heard about my entire life…the one who had been slain by my father to save our kingdom…how is it that you have returned?"
"I was hoping that you would be able to tell me that," Draco stated. "I do not know why I am alive again, or I didn't when I found out that both Bowen and Kara had been slaughtered." He sighed. "I guess I was sent back to protect you…"
"I prayed today…" she said in a low voice. "I prayed for your guidance at your burial marker…"
Draco nodded and looked away. "I guess that's what happened…now tell me…" he looked back to her "What caused all this madness?"
Amera told him of the attack on her castle, of Tomos and how he had slain her parents, of her escape…she told him of the suffering her people were now going through again, and of the raping of the village women. "I am going to turn myself in to them," she stated firmly. "I was going to do so today, but you chased them off as I was exiting the hut."
"Never do that, Amera." Draco said sternly. "Giving yourself to them will not solve anything, it will only make you suffer."
"But it will stop the suffering of my people!" Amera argued.
"No, it will only prolong it." Draco said calmly.
"Well then what can we do? We cannot fight, those that are left in the village are not skilled enough." Amera demanded an answer from the dragon. "What else is there, Draco?"
"I cannot tell you because I do not know myself, Amera." Draco answered.
"I know…" Amera said, having a thought. "I'll tell the villagers to tell the knights that I have fled…it'll get them away from there and after me…"
"Amera…"
"I'll do that…" Amera stood up and climbed down over the rock. "I'll tell them immediately…and then be on my way from here…"
"But, Amera. Again this can only prolong it." Draco jumped in front of the girl. "If you leave this Tomos fellow will still rule your land! Nothing will change!"
"I'll leave, but I will return. I'll leave so I can get his knights far away and lost," Amera said. "So when I return he will not be guarded as heavey…"
Draco shook his head. "Think about this, Amera…they'll kill you if they manage to catch you."
"Well what else can I do! I'm only one girl!" Amera shouted. "I have no idea what can be done about this, Draco! I don't!"
"We'll think of something," Draco promised. "I was returned here to help you…and that is what I plan to do, Amera."
Amera shook her head and walked under the dragon's belly and headed down the dirt road. "You best not follow me, Draco. Tomos' nights have now told him of you and he will be ready to kill you…"
"I will follow you back, the villagers know of me and they…"
"Will not protect you when Tomos and his knights return." Amera looked back at Draco, who was following close behind her. "Your better off staying here…"
"Why don't you stay as well, if you go back you will only be captured." Draco said.
"I know…" Amera stopped walking and put her head down.
"Amera…its no good for you to walk to your death, nothing will come of it. Your people will still suffer because Tomos will still be around, you being dead will not put an end to it." Draco said kindly as he smiled down at her. "Please, don't give up so soon. You prayed for my help, and now here I am. I did not return to watch you die, I returned to help you, you and your people live."
Amera crossed her around and stared up at the dragon, she believed in him when he was believed to be dead…so why not now? She gave a heavy sigh in defeat and let her arms fall to her sides, "fine, but we are not staying here. Its too close to the roads, we must venture further inland."
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Kaori: Okey Here's chapter one! Hope you enjoyed it! R&R please.