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Chapter XXXIV - Heart of the Flame

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"A dragon?" Athena shouted, gripping onto her skirts.

"Yes, quiet down." Claudius waved his hand in her direction, although did not turn around. "I'm listening for it."

A blanket of silence laid over the forest. All the animals ceased their noises and the wind stopped blowing. Claudius's ears pricked up; they turned toward the thicket. "Come on," he said. The man bolted off, trudging through the woods as Athena had never seen before. He skipped over boulders like they were tiny pebbles, and swung under branches like they were mere strings. Athena grew out-of-breath while she tried to follow behind him.

"Claudius..." She heaved. "Why didn't—you tell—me that you could run like that?"

"It's the dragon in me, I suppose." He kept running, ducking under the thick brush.

"Yeah, well, I'm half-cat and I still can't go this far this fast!"

Claudius turned his head back to acknowledge her, while still dashing on and keeping the pace. "I'm also not wearing a corset, love."

Athena let out a laugh, which soon turned into a gasp for air. She grasped her stomach and leaned over, tumbling like a drunkard. "Wait, Claudius, I'm gonna turn into Milly. I can't go on like this for much longer."

"No need. We're here." The man in black stood his ground while his head whirled about and about. Leaves picked up beneath his feet, carried by the wind. Right beside his foot was a large dip in the ground. It looked as though a boulder had been pushed away and all that remained was its imprint. Claudius got down on his knees and picked at the hole in the ground. He smelled of it.

"I think I'm gonna lay down for a bit," Athena called out, still breathing like a fish out of water. She sat down on a nearby fallen tree trunk. "You just keep doin' what you're doin', Claudius."

He paid her no mind and instead felt of the print. But then—

"Athena, look out!" Claudius leaped off from his knees, hurtled toward the love of his life, and encased her in his arms. He knocked her off of the tree trunk before a spew of fire hit her face.

When the two got to their feet, an inferno blazed all about them. The trunk Athena had perched on was caught in flames and smoke.

The girl gripped tight onto Claudius's suit. She buried her face into his chest while he petted her hair and scanned the area for the culprit. He made grunting noises, deep rumbles emitting from his chest. Athena felt her fingers vibrating whenever he made the calls.

"Dragon tongue…" she whispered, her silvery eyes tinted with a reflection of the flames. The smoke got to her; she closed her mouth and coughed in her throat.

Beyond the inferno, two deep grunts—although not as deep as Claudius's—sounded. But what they lacked in sound, they made up for in ferocity. The noise of jaws snapping and teeth clashing made its way over the rising smoke.

Athena whimpered and closed her eyes. Claudius forged his hands into her hair, squeezing her the hardest he had ever squeezed anyone. "You're safe," he crooned.

Another round of grunts came, this time becoming a roar. Claudius took hold of Athena, whisking her away bridal-style. She turned and made herself comfortable in his chest. He marched, treading away from the inferno and back to the castle.

But the dragon followed.

Tiny spurts of flame knicked Claudius's heels. He hissed through his teeth and kept on going, not daring to turn back for even a second.

Athena roused. "Claudius… are you—"

"I'm fine, dear. Everything's fine. When you see the castle I want you to run as fast as you can to the doors." He picked up his pace, jogging now.

"But what about—"

"Don't worry about me."

Claudius busted through branches and thorns, while still protecting Athena. He wrapped her under his cloak. A great shadow loomed overhead. The dragon nipped at him from behind. Then, Claudius sprinted. He carefully sped through the forest, and right behind him, the dragon he couldn't even see rampaged through everything—knocking over every single thing in its path. Hundreds-of-years-old trees smashed to the ground in mere seconds. All that could be heard was the cracking sound of their wood and then a big ka-boom.

Athena shrieked.

"I can't take it anymore!" the man yelped. He planted Athena on the ground behind him. "Run, Athena, run!"

She got up off of her hands and knees, transformed into Milly, and made headway toward the castle.

Claudius ripped around, preparing to launch a ball of flame out of his mouth. It arose in his throat and formed in his mouth when—

The dragon ceased its torment. A white dragon, with slight accents of red, and… blue eyes stood before him. It snorted, astonished, before backing up and bowing. The inferno calmed and died. All that remained was smoke.

Claudius broke through the smoke; it didn't have any effect on him. He breathed it in, almost like smelling home. Waving away the mists, the man knelt down and called for the dragon—bellowing and bellowing until a small grunt echoed off of the trees and traveled his way. He moved in its direction.

A shadow moved under an enormous fallen tree branch. Sticks snapped and crackled under the shadow's weight. It condensed, falling in on itself, shifting from a great size to a smaller one.

The man hesitated, but pressed onward, tiptoeing around the large branch. He shifted the weight under his feet. Pushing away dead leaves and smaller branches, Claudius bent over and gaped.

A ghostly white figure lay on the ground before him, in a fetal position. A woman. She had long platinum blonde hair that cascaded like rivulets over her bare backside.

"M-ma'am?" Claudius called, stepping away. "Are you alright?"

The woman moaned and then slid over onto her back. He knew at once who she was—the white scaly skin, the pinkish-red markings around her eyebrows and eyelids, and then… those blue orbs. Her face was blank at first, but after a few seconds, her lips tilted upward into a nasty grin. "Never seen a woman before, have you?" she asked.

Claudius faltered. He backed away, tripping over stones.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," she cooed. "You don't know me… yet, but, you will." The woman picked herself up. She was thin—skin and bones. Her voice didn't match her figure though; it was sumptuous and dark in color, like bright red wine: the color of her markings. "But I know you, Sir Claudius."

"How do you know me, dragon?" Claudius roared. He couldn't keep his gaze away from her eyes—the exact same as his. They even had a black slit down the middle: the way he was in dragon form as well as when he shifted.

"Oh, 'dragon' am I now? Only a moment ago was I 'ma'am'." She cackled. "I prefer 'dragon' over 'ma'am', but I'll tell you my real name." She slid down over a tree stump.

Claudius squinted. "Are you half-dragon, half-human, too?"

"Why, no!" she called. "That would be nightmarish." She flipped her straight, long hair to the back. "I don't mean a human name. Those are god-awful." The woman huffed and looked off into the black of the forest. "In dragon speech, I am called—" She made a deep grumble. "But in human language, I am called: 'Heart of the Flame'. That is what you may refer to me as."

"Why that?" he asked, crossing his arms and raising a thick black brow.

Heart of the Flame cackled again. "Isn't it obvious?" She tapped her pointer finger above her right eyebrow. Yellow and red markings dazzled around her eyes, like a tropical lizard's colorful hooded brows. And then those markings entwined her crystal orbs that almost glowed in the twilight.

Claudius shook his head. "So, if you are not half-human, half-dragon, then how did you transform?" he grunted, stomping his feet.

"Skeptical, skeptical," she teased. "What do you think my gift is?"

"Gift?"

"Why, yes. Did the patriarch of your clan never tell you? All blue-eyed dragons—the rarest form of dragon—have gifts." Her voice rang in his ears, like a song. "Mine is shapeshifting. I can transform into any life form I want to. And, if you want, I could even transform you—only for a limited time, of course. My power is not yet strong enough to transform others for more than a few minutes." She smirked. "But I'm getting stronger."

Claudius blinked. "So, what is it you want with me? Why did you come here?"

"Oh, don't change the subject, dear. We'll get around to that. Now, tell me, what is your gift?" She propped one skinny leg over the other and leaned back onto the stump.

"I don't have one."

"Oh, sure, you do. Isn't there something that you could do that no other dragons in your clan could?"

Claudius's gaze fell. "Humans," he whispered.

Heart of the Flame's grin altered; it was no longer sly, but rather, menacing. "Humans? What on earth does that mean?" she asked through gritted fangs.

"Humans. I could talk to humans. I heard and understood every word they said. Even now I can, with or without being one. Everyone in my clan thought I was strange for wanting to be one of them… but humans always made more sense to me than my clan's way of life ever did."

Heart of the Flame kicked one of her legs into the air. "I see," she said, low and slow. "Well, they didn't tell me that."

"Who? Tell you what?" Claudius jerked back to her, staring into her eyes.

"They didn't tell me you had such an affinity for humans."

"Who?"

"My old clan."

"Old?"

"I left them. I am a rogue now, just like you."

Claudius's eyes grew wide. He breathed in the remaining smoke and sighed.

"They told me you left your clan because you didn't want to fulfill its duty—lighting fires and… terrorizing humans. It's a tale that's been passed around these parts for years. Don't you know you're famous in dragon lore?"

Claudius shook his head. All color left his face.

"Yes, Sir. Or, rather, should I say… infamous."

He bit his tongue and gnawed on it. "Figures."

"That's why no one ever sought you out. You're considered a traitor to all dragon kind, preferring humans over your own flesh and blood. But… I sought you out."

"Why?"

"The same reason you left your clan," she snapped. "You think you had it bad? Well, listen here." She stood up, her legs faltering and shaking for a moment before she found her balance. "Why do you think I went after your little púcaí pet?!" she shrieked. "And aren't púcaí supposed to be spirits? Where did you ever find a live one?"

Flames lit in Claudius's eyes. "Athena is my companion, dragon. Never call her my pet, ever." He clamped down on his jaw and widened his stance. "She is a rare form of púcaí, just like we are rare forms of dragons, my friend," he said with a deep growl echoing out of his chest. "She is alive just as we are, and when she dies, she returns to the spirit realm."

"Huh. Well, I'm not after her anymore, Sir Claudius. You've got nothing to worry about." Heart of the Flame backed into a tree. "I'm supposed to… kill humans. Rip their flesh apart. Eat them. And best of all," she laughed, "right in front of their dearly beloved!" The woman opened her arms wide, and in her eyes... something changed.

Madness. It was madness. Her pupils dilated until her eyes were fully black. "If I don't murder humans right in front of their loved ones, and then eat them, then my duty isn't finished. I turn to stone. The end!"

Claudius lowered his stance, but still kept up his guard. "You thought… Athena was human. And you went after her to stay alive."

"I didn't want to, Sir Claudius. Really, I didn't. But, if you can't tell," she pointed to her stomach, "I haven't eaten a human in months. Just deer and livestock and other animals to keep me alive. But," she closed her eyes and barred her fangs together, "if I don't start a new clan as soon as possible, I'll have to kill again. I'm not dying anytime soon, you hear me?"

Sir Claudius scratched his beard. "You want to start a new clan."

"What I just said." She calmed down, although still had a twinge of ferocity in her voice.

"And you want to start it with me." He fumbled, almost tripping over his own feet. He couldn't breathe. "I can't. I'm sorry, Heart of the Flame. I can't go back to living that way." He turned around and headed back toward the castle.

"Please, Sir, I can't live like this anymore! And you can't either!"

He stopped.

"You know you're only half-way living!" she shouted. "You can't be fully human, and you can't be fully dragon. You know you're going to die if you don't fulfill the duty! Start a new clan… with me, and you won't have to."

The man winced. He looked down at his gloved hands and thought of roses. Thought of petals of roses falling into them. Athena.

"I am fully human when I am with Athena—the one you tried to kill earlier," he grumbled.

"Lies!" she ran toward him, took him by the shoulder, and turned him around to face her. "You won't have a life unless you listen to me, Sir Claudius. You know your time is running out."

She stared straight into his face, and he stared back.

"I'll consider it, Heart of the Flame." He looked in the other direction, toward the castle, and then looked back to her emaciated form. "In the meantime, I can help you regain your strength. Come with me, to Beochaioneadh Castle. You may stay until I make a decision."

Heart of the Flame smiled—and not one he had seen before. It wasn't a smirk or a menacing, mad grin, but an exhausted and true smile. Hope and gratefulness shone in her bright blue eyes.