Internal Struggles

Amara watched the entrance of the cave; they would go by any minute. Half-hidden behind an oak tree she watched the sky carefully for any movement, fingering the pill that she had found on Hero's back. It was morning; the sun was quickly soaring into the sky, painting as it went.

The birds were praising the great fireball with their songs. Voices whirled around in the woman's head as she attempted to collect her thoughts. Herodes was still sleeping. When light started to trickle into the cave she had let go of her friend to watch out for fairies. Vividly, she could see his face without worry for the first time since she could remember.

A breeze danced along her neck and ears, the smell of greenery and dampness dashing along with it. She wanted to talk to the People before Herodes did. She would sort out the misunderstanding between them before he started to move his coffin in to the hole that he already dug.

"Why doesn't he just want to get it over with? Why does he feel the urge to flee when he knows what the future holds? The sword is still sharp, the arena is ready, the flags still flutter, and the armor is polished: why doesn't he just take the breath and engage?" She whispered to herself, picking her way up the cliff. A smirk came over her face as realized how ridiculous her metaphor was: a sword? Armor? Flags? Ha. Hardly.

"Blood is to be shed, but who will it be? Hero's? Skarn's? Is he afraid of death? Pain perhaps?" She continued, "Was there even a competition on who's the winner from the start?" Her eyes scanned the sky imagining all the different answers; even though somewhere inside she knew the true one. Seconds passed before anything happened. No response came from the song birds in the sky. The sun remained quiet. The breeze summoned itself and whispered something illegible in her ear.

Shaking her head, she climbed on until she was above cave mouth. She stood back, scanning the horizon. She unconsciously traced the tattoo on her hand, the black swirls easily flowing to and fro like wisps of smoke. The deep black had a red hue to it, and as the sun rested on the mark the red sparkled though the dark…like magic.

The dark lines outlined something more than a wisp of smoke but of a dragon, though to Amara it meant more than that, even as the smoke and magic started to whirl around her. Her feathered wings broke though the tornado of magic as the dragon transformed into her true form.

***

The white dragon stirred, instinctively wrapped around a boulder in the back of the cave. While asleep he had drifted back into his true form. He drew in his pearl wings trying to avoid waking up, but even in his sleepy state he knew that it wasn't going to happen.

Cracking an eye open he scanned the cave and realized where he was. A moan escaped Hero's lips and he hugged the rock more. Swann was dead and Skarn was still alive and kicking. After a minute of moping he roused himself to his feet. His scales scratched the floor and he stretched. The dampness of the cave clogged his nostrils with its intensity. It was homely scent that reminded him of the days of innocents.

His brothers and sister would wake him up every morning and together at their ungainly pace they would race to the mouth of the cave and gawk at the sun as it rose. Tussling, playing, learning and flying. The simple life. Eating, sleeping, breathing, living. The biggest worry back then was if tomorrow was going to bring rain. Herodes paused as he was overwhelmed with memories of his younger days, a dramatic difference to his days now on this earth.

Shaking his head he continued forward, using his acute smell to track Amara's scent. It was sweeter than the others, sharper and stronger in his mind. Padding forward he stopped when he saw something in the corner of his eyes. The dragon stopped and realized that there was his breakfast, lying on the ground. A smile broke on his face; Amara knew what he liked best…venison.

Quickly, the meat was sitting happily in his stomach. That would hold him for a week or so; it was amazing how much a little bit a food could last for him. Eating once a week let the ecosystem around him stay put, one animal a week wouldn't put that much of a dent in the forest. Licking his chops Hero enjoyed the lingering taste before resuming his journey to the surface.

He stopped by a large underground lake, realizing how perfect this was for the two of them; food, forest, water, caves, and probably a good view. He looked at his refection, blue eyes staring back into his, white scales glimmering in the dull light. Concern spread across his face. Would there ever be a day when he would be able to settle down? He wanted invite Amara to live here with him for eternity, forever. To fly in the sky, to be able to lay side by side, watch the sunrise, hunt together and maybe even raise his own clutch.

He could almost see the little dragons playing and swimming, Amara watching over them with a loving eye. Then he was looking back at his own miserable face in the water. A daydream, something that could never happen. He could never have a family without fear. He could never take Amara as his without fear. He could never even claim this cave as his without fear. Fear that it would all be destroyed. It could never happen. Never, impossible, a hurtful fantasy. A fantasy that had drove an invisible barbed knife into his already aching heart.

A tear rippled the reflection, disturbing the face, deforming it, changing it before settling back into its form. His wretched face, never blinking, stared back at him. His eyes widened as the wound in his heart grew with a savage ease.

Herodes' eyes narrowed and he lunged forward and swiped at the image the claws unsheathed. He tore though the face and then went at it with the other paw deforming it even more. The face swirled and changed but eluded the attacks. With a jerky motion the dragon pulled himself away from the pool and up the tunnel.

The future he would never have watched him go, knowing he would never be back. The pool was still and quiet, never to be visited again.

A/N

Muhhahah!!! Amara is too, a dragon. I assumed that you would know that since Herodes unveiled himeself. Is it true? Did you figure out Amara was a dragon before this point?

Here is another chapter, to tell you the truth this was never in the outline. I just did this chapter on a whim. So enjoy my "whimsical" chapter ;)

Riddle: What goes up a chimney down, but won't go down a chimney up?

Answer to last chapter's: E

I own Herodes, Amara and this concept of what happened to the dragons. Eoin Colfer owns...pretty much everything else.