Dragon child

19 years ago

Shyrrka Alks held her newborn child in her arms. Her eyes filled with tears as she thought of the fate that awaited her newborn daughter. Being the child of the Moon prophesy was an unimaginable fate for this small baby.

"Are you sure it is to be this child who is the One?" Shyrrka asked the blind prophetess. The woman had been led here when the child had been born at the exact time the moon has risen. "Why must it be her? There must be plenty of other mothers who had their babies …"

The blind gnarled woman shook her head. "No one has been pregnant for some time now. They are all too afraid of the prophesy. They are glad it was you who must be the mother to suffer through that pain."

"Can my people be so cold-hearted?" Shyrrka murmured, tears in her eyes. "After all I've done for them? Why are they so cruel?"

"They are not cruel, but scared, your highness." The Prophetess said to her, empathy in her voice. Her own daughter had been the Moon child before this one. "It is fear that makes them cold and it is fear that will make them revolt against you. Hide yourself and the child and you both will survive."

"Let me through! I say if I do not get through this instant then I will put you all to death!" The angry voice of the Dragon King echoed in the hallway leading to the royal bedroom. "I want to see this bastard child!"

"I wonder if he will ever understand love," Shyrrka murmured to the ancient lady. "But when he falls I will let him."

"Whore, if you don't open this door…" the king left his sentence unfinished as the crowd of slaves and servants gasped in unison at the Kings' vulgar language. "I want to see this bastard child of yours!"

"Quickly give me here!" The wise woman said. Taking the baby she wrapped her in a blanket and scurried to the window. The Prophetess motioned for the Queen to come but before she could the King burst into the room. Grabbing the Queen he threw her on the bed and started looking for the baby.

"Where is it?" He growled in the Queens face when he did not find the baby. "If you hid it then I will tear this land apart looking for that bastard."

"You'll never find her," the Queen gasped as the King grabbed her around the throat. "She… she died." Her voice was perfectly heartbroken because she knew that if the King suspected that the girl was alive then he would look for her precious daughter.

"I don't believe you." The King growled and stormed out. She heard him yell for the guards and heard him say one last thing before she succumbed to the darkness.

"Let the hunt begin."

19 years, 9 months later

Myyre ran down the stairs to greet her Grandmother. It was almost her birthday and she knew that her grandmother had been planning something. After all it wasn't every day that a girl turned 20. Not even in the Dragon Kingdom. Especially in the Dragon Kingdom.

"Myyre?" Her father called. She shot down the stairs. Her father rarely visited and when he did it was a very special event. Her father was one of the most wanted outlaws in all 17 Dragon Kingdom. There was a rumor that he had even tried to kidnap the Queen.

"Father!" Myyre shrieked as she jumped into his arms. "What are you doing here? The soldiers are camped down the road and if the General sees you then you'll get caught."

"I know sweetie but I wanted to spend the last moment of your li- 19 years together." Her father smiled. His eyes crinkled around the black mask that he wears to protect his identity. Even after all these years you could still see that Jaj Misei the Lone Wolf was still handsome. He could still have a wife, if he would just get over Myyre's mother. "I just needed to see you. Especially since the army has been camped out here. And since the General has invited you to tonight's ball. I don't think you should go."

"Fatherrr!" Myyre moaned. Only a father would think that I would be unsafe with a high class General. "I'll be perfectly safe with him. No bandit will dare try to harm me."

"I'm worried about him hurting you not bandits." Father said to her, frowning. "Bandits would never hurt you; they are too scared of me to harm you."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean you're worried about him hurting me?" She asked confused. "And why are bandits scared of you?"

"Because even though some things they say about me aren't true some of them are." He replied a sad look in his eyes. "My darling daughter have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?"

"Why would I?" Myyre asked him. "All I see when I look in the mirror is a small girl with pimples whose all knees and elbows and doesn't look anything pretty."

"No. Never say you aren't pretty at all." Father said as he led her over to the mirror hanging off the door of the hallway. "Do you think this person is not pretty at all?"

She gasped. In the mirror was a girl in the same pose as me with the same person hugging me but she was much more beautiful. She had wavy black hair with streaks of a deep rich brown in it. Her eyes were green with specks of copper and brown. Her body was slender but not thin and her shirt showed signs of strain because of her chest. "That is not me. I'm not that pretty. Did you put an enchantment on this mirror Grandmother?"

Myyre turned expecting to see her with her brow wrinkled and sweating but she was being held up by two soldiers who were staring at my father with happy expressions on their face.

"RUN!" She yelled at her father breaking the silence that was around us. The soldiers started towards him but were hampered by Grandmother. They pushed her and Myyre watched her fall. Her shriek was the last thing Myyre heard before she fainted.

2 hours later

Myyre woke slowly, almost painfully. Her eyes cracked and closed, the painful light thrusting at her eyes. She groaned, her voice rasping against her throat. A hand thrust her head up and tipped a cup filled with water into her mouth. She drank greedily until she could drink no more.

"Hello Myyre," A voice said that Myyre knew as the Generals'. "I see that you woke up. That's good, we need to question you."

"What are you talking about?" She asked finally cracking open her eyelids. The man was tall and handsome. With his good looks he could have any girl he wanted and he knew it too. "I didn't do anything."

"That's the thing," General said. "You didn't do anything."

"What do you mean anything?" I sat up and realized for the first time that I was naked. "Where the shax are my clothes? And why am I naked?"

"Because the doctor had to see if anything was wrong with you," His eyes grazed over my body hungrily. "And I helped in handling you; after all you were too heavy for him."

"I HATE you!" I yelled at him. "What else did you do to me? What else?"

"Nothing," The General came closer and sat on the bed. He stroked my cheek and I flinched at his ice-cold touch. "But if you wanted me to do more then you should say so." He stood up rapidly.

"Put on your clothes, I will come for you soon." He went to the door and knocked on it twice. It opened and he turned back to me. "I will send a slave to give you food." He turned and closed the door behind him.

I put on my clothes hurriedly knowing that the General could come back any second. When I had finished I looked around the room hoping for a way out other than the door. Other than a small window there was no other exit except the door. I heard the door open and turned expecting to see the General coming towards me ready to interrogate me. Instead of the towering mass of the General there was a young slave about my age or older. He was lean but not skinny and as far as I could see had no brand on him distinguishing which noble he belonged to.

"Here, I knew they were going to put truth potion in the food so I exchanged it for my own." His voice was devoid of any emotion. I thanked and began eating half of the food.

"What are you doing?" He asked frustrated. I looked up and met his eyes. They were surprisingly silver and had flecks of gold in them. "I ate the food they were going to give you so you don't have to give me anything. It's best for you to eat; you need to keep your strength up. Your father is waiting on the outside he is waiting for night to fall so that he can rescue you."

"How do you know?" I asked my voice curious but believing. "Do you know one of his men?"

"Did you really think that I was a slave?" His bright silver eyes were alight with mischief. "No slave catcher would be able to catch the Lone Runner."

I gasped with realization. I knew that I had seen this man before. He would visit along with my father sometimes. During those times he would tease me endlessly about my acne and I would tease him about his eyes. "Oh my Kings! You've really changed Sylvie. I didn't recognize you. The last time we had met was 5 years ago."

"Yes I remember that was when you came up with that ridiculous nickname." Runner grimaced. Knocking sounded out against the door, and I gasped and shoveled food into my mouth.

"Are you done eating yet Myyre?" the low voice of the General sounded out behind the door. "I know that you are eating. The guards said that a slave has already brought you food but he never came out. Answer me! Are you and the slave doing anything?"

"What the shax do you care?" I yelled back to him. "I hate you! Just leave me the shax alone!"

"When you come back from interrogation I'll be here," Runner said quickly, "Be ready to run."

"Alright, I'll see you then." I whispered to him my throat low and hoarse. "Wait…"

Runner turned to me and I leaned in getting closer to him than I would have ever dared. I saw his full lips that were pink and very kissable. His eyes were big and his pupils were little black dots. "What?" He asked and I licked my lips, my cheeks flushing. I leaned in and closed my eyes at the same time he leaned in and our lips met.

"Are you done eating yet? Answer me, Myyre!" The Generals' loud voice sounded out. I jumped back. Runner looked at me a sad look in his eyes. "I need to question you, NOW!"

"One moment, shax." I yelled to him. I turned back to Runner and I leaned in for a brief kiss. "I'll see you on the outside."

"Myyre open the door right NOW!" The General yelled as I opened the door. "Oh, there you are."

"What the shax do you want?" I said grumpily, while hiding my big smile. Runner had finally kissed me. We stepped into a stone-cold room that had one chair and one table. "I don't see the reason I'm here or why I'm going to be interrogated."

"The reason," he said his eyes looking me, straying on my chest. "Is that you are the daughter of Jaj Misei and you never said a thing. You can get out off on two conditions. One, you tell us where your father is hiding and two, you become my mistress."

I spat in his face and laughed right at him. "There is no way in shax that I'm going to be your mistress."

"So be it," He growled and slapped me. I leapt out of my chair ready to give him a good one but the guards at the door stopped me and dragged me out. They didn't take me quiet though. I screamed my head off hoping that my father would tell that I was out of interrogation. They brought me to my room and I stood, not letting them throw me in as they would have if I had let them.

"If you don't get in I'll beat you," one of the guards said trying to push me in while I resisted easily. The guard put his weight on me and tried to do push me in that way. I laughed and stepped aside while he stumbled in with the other guard on top of him.

"You know how stupid you look?" I asked swiping tears of laughter from my eyes. "I cannot believe how weak you guys are."

The guard growled a low and animalistic sound in his throat. He advanced towards me grabbing the whip off the wall. I retreated now, scared about what he would try. Angry men have no reason, which I knew from experience. I knelt and prepared myself for the blows I knew were to come.

He hit me with such force that left me gasping for breath. The second blow hit me on the back and propelled me to hit the floor with great force that broke my nose and almost drove me to tears. I whimpered as he raised his arm for the third blow but the other guard grabbed his arm and pulled managing to stop his arms' momentum. The guard tried to shake the other man off but could not. He dropped the whip and left leaving the other guard and me in the room. I tried to protect my stomach and face but every time I moved my back exploded with agony.

"Please, do not move," He said anxiously as he picked me up carefully and carried me to the bed careful of his movements. He laid me on my belly and I grimaced as he started cleaning the wound. "I'm sorry if this hurts, but that means that it is working. I wish for you to get better …"

I let him babble, my mind on other things. Like for example Runners dry soft lips. I blushed and grinned, suddenly a thought stopped me in my tracks. What would happen if runner and the rest of my fathers' gang came and the guard was still here?

I knew the answer to that question. The guard would either be fast enough to run and raise the alarm or, he would be killed. I could-would not let this happen. "Please I am fine, leave me be. I need not your services. Just go."

"NO!" He said so forcefully that I jumped and groaned in pain. Every time that I moved my back would echo tremendous amounts of pain. "I need to help you. I can't leave you here suffering. I mean that's what a gentleman would do, correct?"

"No," I groaned. The pain I felt was so bad that I fought to stay conscious. "A gentleman does what a lady asks no matter how bad the request."

The guards' crooked smile took my breath away. I looked at him, all of him. He was muscular without being too muscular. And he was breathtakingly handsome. I gasped as another spasm of pain rocked through my body. "Please leave. I want to be alone."

A crash sounded overhead. I gasped and the guard straightened up, standing over me as he drew his sword. Two hooks gripped the bars on my window, pulling it, and the wall out. Runner and a couple members of my father's gang jumped into my room and took in the scene. The guard standing above me, with his sword drawn and me on the bed cringing with my back mutilated.

"What the shax happened here?" My father asked before seeing me on the bed with the guard standing over me sword drawn. "Chaaaarge!"

I gasped as five of my father's gang leapt onto the guard immediately engulfing in a mass of moving bodies. I never felt more anger towards my father than I probably ever had. "STOP!"

My cry rang out as everyone stopped moving. I gasped as another spasm of pain rang through my body. My father ran to my side and stopped short as he saw my back. "Did he do that?"

Of course not," I snorted in a very unladylike manner. "He saved me from being hurt. The other guard was hitting me with a whip because I had embarrassed him in front of this one."

My father's face went from stunned to very angry. "You, you and you." He said pointing to three of his gang members. "I want you to find this guard and kill him, slowly so that he feels the pain but for you not to be around when he finally dies."

He walked over to the guard who was on the floor, unconscious. He grabbed the guards face and looked at him for a solid minute. "Because you saved my daughter, you'll live."

Runner came up to me, his face worried. He lifted me in his arms, mindful of my back. He goes towards the hole in the wall with my father's gang covering our flank.

"I'm sorry we couldn't have got to you sooner," he says we leave the jail behind, it growing smaller and smaller with each step Runner takes. "I hate to see you hurt like this."

"I'm okay," I said as our foreheads meet and we smile at each other. "I'm glad you're okay, if you would have gotten hurt I don't know what I would have done without someone to tease."

His bright smile lit up as we started approaching the clearing where my father and his gang where camping. I heard the whinnying of horses and felt my body sag with relief. So Father had rescued Big, the small horse that he had given me when I was 3.

Runner sped up almost breaking into a full out run. I sighed with relief as the camp came in site. I was happy to see it, until I realized who was in it.

The General had somehow gotten to the camp before us. He and his men were ripping everything up looking for the one thing missing. Us. I gasped as the General approached Big, looking her over and muttering to himself. I could see that he would go to any measure just to hurt me. The General raised his arm bringing a whip smudged with blood-my blood-down on poor Bigs' neck.

She reared and the General lifted his arm to hit her another time. The General whipped Big again and again not pausing until Bigs' neck was a mass of blood and flesh.

I cried, my tears streaming down my face as Big tried to bolt the harness that a soldier was holding stopping her. The General straightened up smoothing out the creases on his uniform. I felt a deep hatred for him settle in my heart.

One day, I thought, one day I will do to you what you have done to my heart. I will hurt it as you hurt the things I love. And I will relish your pain. I swear by my strength and my future I will do as I say.

The sky thundered as a storm approached settling overhead. I knew that the Dragon Father would cry tonight but not because of my pain but of the pain the general was about to feel which I, and I alone would inflict. I stood up ignoring Runners' whispers about keeping out of their sight. My hand reached for his sword and took it, not minding his attempts to stop me.

"General!" I called seeing him across the clearing. He stopped and turned around, surprise on his face. "Come to me and I will show something. I will show what no one has dared to show you before."

I leapt across the clearing, and thrust my sword down on his raised one. The sound of steel meeting steel rang out as every head in the clearing turned our way. I whispered in his ears the final words he would ever hear.

"I will show you death." With this I pushed down on my sword, driving him backwards and into the mud. "Any last words?"

"Yes, actually," He yelled something which gave my fuel angered heart another terrible boost. "Kill it."

The soldier holding Bigs' reigns lifted his gun and shot Big in the eye, point blank. I grimaced as the brains of my poor horse splattered me. "Those were your last words, indeed."

I pushed down on my sword one more time when the inexplicable happened. The sword which has served Runner for almost 20 years snapped. The broken pieces flew out of my hands and I gasped. The sword the General had been holding had entered my body, through the stomach. But I wasn't the only one with casualties. The sword I had been holding upon snapping had flown towards the eyes of the General entering one.

I smiled enjoying his shriek of agony. Suddenly everything went dim. A loud voice sounded in my ear. "Myyre Alks Misei, We the Council of Three do not permit you to die. We demand for you to die only when is necessary for the Moon Child Prophesy to complete. Return to the world you have just left behind. Your soul is to be given another chance to serve us."

I gaped feeling my body. I reached around and felt my solid not ripped back. I held the two pieces of the sword in my hands, the end of it entering the eye of the General. I had killed him, I had killed him!

I yelled triumphant and proceeded to cut his scalp off as a trophy of his death. Before I could finish, a shadow rushed at me grabbing me around the waist. I gasped and leaned against Runners back. It was warm and lean with just the slightest hint of muscle. I sighed, finally succumbing to the darkness surrounding my vision.