Let Slip the Dragons of War

[redletalis]

Halfway held in place by ice that had grown up around him through the ages, and halfway held in place by thick chains wrapped around his wrists and stretching to opposite sides of the cave of ice, the Dragon King was pale as the ice around him. His pitch black hair stood out against the ice, and painful red welts and sores all over his naked, emaciated body were like beacons. A pair of horns grew from his head, red like frozen blood, and four webbed spikes that were the same colour grew from right behind pointed ears. His head was down and he didn't stir, and if it wasn't for the condensing air with every breath he might as well have been dead.


"Are you certain that you wish to do this, my lady?" Elisee turned to her queen, the woman whe had all her loyalty. It was by her kindness that Elisee had been given the opportunity to become a Sister of the Guard.


And as a Sister of the Guard she didn't think that this was a good idea, and she tightened her grip on the torch that she was carrying. That a queen should want to speak with a creature like that was... unthinkable!


"The creature doesn't speak often, I haven't heard his voice in all my time here, my lady," she bit her lip in worry. "When he does speak we can't make heads or tails of it. Please, my lady, won't you reconsider speaking with the beast? I can have a cup of warm broth on the fire within the candle-mark if we leave this cold, dark place now. Please?"


Elisee wrung her hands and jostled the lantern and looked around the room in search for an answer. All she got was the icy darkness and the captured creature and the queen. There was nothing and no-one here that could tell her what to do right now. To have anyone not of the Guard enter the Prison was rare. To have anyone not of the Guard wanting to try to speak to the creature was even rarer but not totally unheard of, but most of those had been scholars and historians and young fools who wanted adventure and treasure and fame. A queen on the other hand was unheard of.

 

[PixieDust]

Queen Lotharia wrapped her cloak tightly around her shoulders as she entered the dominion of the Dragon King. Every breath she took turned into a transparent and ominous mist. Speaking with the Dragon King was certainly not ideal, but she would do what she must to get her precious children back. It was not even a choice when it came to them, they were worth far more than her royal title or even her life.


She turned her attention to Elisee, fixing her with a mournful but determined pair of striking violet eyes. "Elisee you must understand that I must do all I can to save my children. I will speak with this..." she trailed off as she looked at the incarcerated being looking quite terrifying trapped in the ice, "Creature." She turned her attention to the Dragon King and spoke.


"I have come to seek your help, Dragon King. I will do anything, give my life, and more to bring back my children with your help. I will even serve you for all time." She spoke with conviction and waited for a response with bated breath.

 

[redletalis]

"Oh, my lady, I- I do not like this at all! I-" she bit her lip again and looked at the door behind them. "Alright. Alright, my lady, but please! Please, I beg of you, do not approach it any further than this! If you were to get hurt I could not stand it! Please, my lady, be careful." With the final plea and one last worried look at the immobile creature, Elisee put the torch in a scone of ice next to the queen before putting her hands together and started praying to the Champion for luck, for safety, for the queen to be safe.


The Dragon King didn't react. Not at first. It was only after a couple of long, cold minutes that his head slowly shifted and lifted upwards, revealing a pair of golden eyes. They glowed with the internal fire, and they were focused slowly on the queen. Deceptively slow in his movements, he cocked his head to the side and eyed her up and down.


It took another couple of minutes before he actually spoke.


"Many have promised freedom and trinkets and gold and servitude," his voice was deep and dark, and low enough so that she could barely hear it. Almost seductive in a way, it beconed her closer. "Tempted me with everything if I would but do their bidding this once. Why should you be any different from any of the other cockroaches who have come to me, begging for something? What have you to offer me? What makes you so certain that I would not simply take your life as well, o' human queen?"


He was mocking her softly, her title meant little to him, but she was amusing in her defiance and he was so very bored.

 

[PixieDust]

Lotharia's heart seemed to hammer in her chest as the creature's eyes glowed with flames that reminded her of The Inferno. She almost regretted her decision to speak with him, until after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke with a strangely seductive air about him. His voice seemed to lull her into a stupor and she found her feet edging closer to his icy prison. There really was not much that she could offer him that someone else had not already promised. The difference was that she would keep her word.


"I am not certain that you will not kill me. There is no way that I can be certain, however I am choosing to trust you, just as I hope you will trust me to keep my word. I would risk the world to keep my children safe and I care not for my possessions. You could have everything I own if you so wished it." She spoke with a burning sincerity, her eyes bright with determination and verity. She knew she would be different than all those who had let him down and broken their promises, even if it brought about dangerous consequences for her kingdom.

 

[redletalis]

Every move that she made, he watched. Every crease in her clothes, every lock of hair, every breath he took in as she approached. His golden eyes were like beacons in the darkness of the cave, the torchlight too weak to truly penetrate very far and it barely even reached him where he stood immobile. The heat from her body was overwhelming even if it didn't touch his skin. It almost hurt him as it radiated out from her, foolish human words pledging her to him even as she begged the safe return of her hatchlings.


He smirked and leaned forwards as much as he could, invading her personal space until his chains and the ice held him in place, their noses were almost touching and he could see every single shade of her blue eyes.


"Prove it." He almost whispered against her skin. "I am chained and weakened and cut apart from myself. To even begin on getting out of this place I need sustainance. Provide it, o' human queen." The Dragon King's eyes flickered over her shoulder and to Elisee who was still praying and watching them nervously, but then he turned his eyes back to the human queen. "Too scared?"

 

[PixieDust]

The lack of distance between herself and the creature unnerved her, and she stepped back ever so slightly as he spoke. When his gaze moved to Elisee, Lotharia felt a gasp caught in her throat and icy feeling overcome her that had nothing to do with the ice fortress. She could not possibly sacrifice Elisee to this monster, she was innocent and meek, completely harmless. It would be a great evil to do such a thing...


A necessary evil she told herself, think of Micah and Eleanor, they too are just as innocent and mean more to you.





"You wish me to sacrifice this innocent girl?" she said, a lump forming in her throat. "If that is what it takes to prove myself to you, then with great despair I shall." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts and not shed a tear. She knew there were no other options available to her. She could not be thought of as a coward by this Dragon King.

 

[redletalis]

"One drop of blue, royal blood to break the ice." He had a smirk playing on his lips and revealing flashes of sharp fangs. "One fresh, beating heart to break the chains, and one warm body for strength to leave. Exactly what your Champion needs more of every day."


Every living being carried magic in them, some just had more than others, and the easiest way to get at this magic and make it his was to consume the blood. Would she back out now? This was exactly what was going to happen to her little precious hatchlings, what the Champion had been doing for centuries. This was where most people started getting second thoughts and started realising that they were going to set free the creature that had once almost taken over the known world.


Would she step over the threshold and accept the price of what she was about to do?

 

[PixieDust]

Lotharia looked back at Elisee one more time before turning back to the Dragon King with an expression of steely determination. Looking around the fortress she spotted a blade laying discarded and unused on the ground. Clearly nobody had ever had the bottle to do what she regretfully had to do. Picking up the blade, she nicked the tip of her finger, wincing at the pain and squeezing one drop of blood onto the ice prison, waiting to see what would happen with an anxious expression.


She wanted to be sure this would work, before she made the biggest mistake of her life.

 

[redletalis]

"The ignorance of humans never ceases to amaze me. I told you that I need sustainance." A dangerous rumble came from deep within him, and his eyes flashed even brighter than before. His mouth opened in a triumphant grin and the back of his throat was lit up from within, but no fire or flames came spewing out of him. He snapped forwards, wrenching his shoulders out of socket with sickening pops, but his teeth didn't close on the soft flesh of her vulnerable neck. Instead they locked on her earring and ripped it out in a vicious move that ensured blood. He spit out the earring and latched onto the bleeding earlobe and sucked at the blood.


He took much more than one drop of blood from her, and he licked his lips when he pulled back, eyes glowing.


"Now, scream." He purred. "Scream as loud as you can, o' human queen, and let the insignificant cockroaches come!"

 

[PixieDust]

Lotharia let out a blood curdling scream as he ripped the silver and sapphire earring from her earlobe and began to suck the blood from her. This was far more than a drop of blood and she struggled to free herself from his grasp. "You said one drop!" She exclaimed, pain searing through her ear and making it's way to her head too.


Lotharia began to call desperately for Elisee, not being able to free herself or defend herself, having dropped the blade she held in her hand. "Elisee! Elise!" She cried, blood still pouring from her ear and making her feel incredibly light headed from the slow blood loss.

 

[redletalis]

He was laughing, thrilled in the unfolding chaos, the almost taste of freedom. The long wait was over.


The scream echoed in the cavern of ice, and chips of ice and stalactites came crashing down. Elisee ran over, a dagger in one hand and a prayer to the Lesser Gods on her lips. She didn't hesitate in running over and grab the queen, pulling her away and behind herself. "Foul beast, in the name of the Champion and all the Gods in Heaven, I command you to go back to sleep!" she cried. "By the magic of this dagger I command you: sleep!"


She made a wild stab at him but the dagger didn't so much as pierce his skin. He laughed again and the ice around his legs shattered into thousands of tiny pieces with the same sound as shattering glass. His legs, strong, powerful and clawed, wrapped around Elisee's waist and pulled her in close, pulled her in tight. It might have almost been a loving gesture if she wasn't screaming her spells and repeatedly trying to stab him in the eye.


"In the name of the Champion I command you to release me!" Elisee stabbed again and this time he snapped his mouth shut around the blade, teeth grinding into the pale metal. She tried to pull back but all he did was to grin around it and snap his teeth completely shut with enough force to break the blade in half. Elisee stared as he spit out the other half. "That's impossible! That blade was forget by the Champion! It was made in dragon-fire and made of dragon-claw! That's impossible!"


"Do you really think that a blade made from parts of my kith and kin would hurt me, human?" he growled. His legs tightened their grip and pulled her even closer. He leaned down until he was face to face with her and grinned. "Where is your Champion now, Sister of the Guard?"


This time he went for the throat and Elisee's scream cut off into a wet gurgle. He let her corpse drop and looked at the queen. "Quick. Take the sharp point of the dagger and give me her heart. If it goes cold, if she goes cold, then this will be for naught! Quick!"

 

[PixieDust]

Lotharia had fallen to the ground once Elisee had pulled her away from the beast. She watched, first in awe at Elisee's valiance and then in horror as the creature captured her and crushed through the magical dagger forged by the Champion himself. She let out another scream as he ripped through Elisee's throat, feeling as though her own heart should be the one he devoured.


With tears streaming down her cheeks and her vision blurred from her crying, she took the blade with shaking hands, closed her eyes and plunged the blade into her chest, digging out the warm and dead heart. "I'm so sorry Elisee, please, please forgive me!" she sobbed, her entire body shaking with grief and remorse. Still with her eyes closed, she presented the heart to the Dragon King, resentment barely bubbling under the surface.

 

[redletalis]

He was licking his lips, stomach cramping in the anticipation of actually tasting food again, of eating meat again. He fangs ached in need as the human queen cut open her little friend, breaking apart the ribs and finally revealing the heart. It was still warm and moist and fresh, and he lounged forwards with a snarl the second she was close enough.


His teeth tore into the warm, moist flesh, and he tore chunks of it away with twists of his head. He tilted his head backwards to swallow the bites, a continuous sound of purring satisfaction leaving him with each bite. He could feel his strength returning as he licked her hands clean, and he sent her a wicked smirk when he pulled back.


Rolling his shoulders back into place, flexing the muscles of his arms and finally gripping onto the cold chains with clawed hands, he started pulling. Pushing forwards with his legs, claws digging into the ice to keep from slipping, he pushed and pulled and with a final exertion and a snarl torn from his lips, the chains snapped. The sound echoed magically around the cave and throughout the whole complex, sending tremors through the ice and causing cracks to appear and stalagtites to fall down.


He, however, could only laugh in pure delight at finally being free again.

 

[PixieDust]

Lotharia could only listen to the sickening sound of flesh being torn into, her eyes closed tightly and curled up in a ball with her arms around her head, sobbing uncontrollably.


She had shuddered when he had licked the remnants of blood from her hands and tried to avoid the falling stalactites as best she could. She winced in pain when one caught her leg, which now bled along with her delicate earlobe.


"Y-you monster!" She muttered over and over again, not just referring to him, but to herself for the heinous crime she had committed in the name of maternity.

 

[redletalis]

It took a couple of twists and a good tug to remove the length of the chains from his wrists, leaving behind the manacles themselves like parodies of the armbands that humans were so fond of. He paid no attention to the falling ice and the shaking around him, and instead fell onto Elisee's corpse with great relish, tearing the ribcage fully open and devouring the organs in a bloody mess before he cracked the skull open and took the brain and the eys as well.


Only when he decided that he was done feeding - human bodies held so little room for food that it was a wonder they didn't just keel over! - that he turned to the queen and looked at her once more. He could kill her. He could kill her so easily that she wouldn't even know it before she was meeting her gods face to face in the afterlife.


But she had done as she had promised, and coming from her species that counted for something.


"You are surprising, o' human queen, you kept your word and set me free." He approached her and circled her once, looking her up and down. "I am not whole, I have no strength to help you save your hatchlings. Yet. Help me regain the lost pieces of my soul and your hatchlings will be free."

 

[PixieDust]

Lotharia was losing so much blood now that she could barely see. Her vision came and went, the Dragon King looking like a far off blur. She nodded weakly, unable to do much else before her eyes closed and she lay perfectly unconscious, her leg and ear spurting crimson elixir everywhere.

 

[redletalis]

"Useless." He sneered down at her, prodding her with a claw before simply picking her up under one arm. He couldn't cross the expanse of the cavern soon enough. The place was shaking and falling apart, the magic that had made it and held it together slowly being unwoven. There was nothing to support the mountain up above, and though it still might surive and continue the stand, the ice all around them didn't posess such strength. He batted away the pieces that got in his way, digging the claws of his feet into the shaking ground to keep his balance.


He stopped by the door to make sure that there were no guards outside. He couldn't see any when he stuck his head out, and no one tried to shoot him when he stepped fully out into the corridor.


"This would have been so much easier if I had been whole." He sneered down at the human queen. His body was already starting to ache, the red sores of his buried, irritating scales were slowly being ripped open with every movement, sending rivulets of precious blood dancing down his body before healing over with inherent draconic magic. A moment later the scales burst out again, ripping the skin open once more. It was an eternal cycle that would be repeated until he was whole.


He set off down the corridor. It changed from ice-covered stone to simply stone, hardly worn despite the years the prison had been occupied, and with torches placed at regular intervals. The fires of these torches couldn't mesure up to the fires burning in his eyes when he stepped onto the first step of a long staircase leading up and out into freedom. He could taste the fresh air already, and his body shivered at the scents weak though they were.


He started out with slow, even steps, but halfway up he was already running. He was unable to control his need to see the outside, to feel the wind on his body, to know the taste of freedom once more. An acolyte tried to get in his way. A burst of speed and draconic strength and his hand was piercing the acolyte's chest and pulling back out with the heart still beating in his hand. He devoured it as he ran and burst out into the open with a triumphant roar that he couldn't smother.


He was met with the wind, the snow, the cold, the freedom. He was met with a hail of enchanted arrows.

 

[PixieDust]

Queen Lothario woke with a start once the fresh air hit her. She gasped in alarm as she found herself hanging precariously from the monster's arm and she struggled, feebly, to escape. She was still delirious and dizzy from blood loss and so she soon stopped fighting and just hung limply under his arm, watching the terrain go from ice to stone and back again, for the floor was all she could see from where she was positioned.


She was beginning to feel sick as he ran, jostling her with absolutely no consideration. "Slow down you beast!" she demanded before letting out a cry of alarm when an enchanted arrow very nearly missed her ear. "Watch out for those arrows!" she warned, not wanting to be killed just yet.


(sorry for the short reply, I'm on my phone at the moment)

 

[redletalis]

"Keep quiet!" he growled at her and dropped her right there. A burst of speed had him at the other side of the courtyard, scrambling up the frozen walls of the guard tower like a lizard, snarling as the cold bit into his skin and his constantly opening and closing sores. The unexpected action had the attackers scrambling for new spots to aim from and it was just enough time for him to get up. He was a lizard, he wasn't made to be awake or active for very long in this sort of cold which was why the Champion had him sealed up here. But there was enough power in him to climb up to the slit of a window three storeys up, reach in and grab the crossbow out of the guard's hands. A second later he slithered in through the window himself, throwing himself at the horrified guard and ripping out his throat and his heart.


He ate both, feeling the inherant tiny spark of magic warm him up again. Looking out of the window again he could barely spot the guards out in the cold, they were all aimed at the tower window that he had come through and the door at the bottom of the tower. If he went from guard to guard to guard the blood and heart of one guard would keep him warm enough to reach the next guard. Just barely and if everything according to plan that was.


Now how to get out of the tower without being hurt?

 

[PixieDust]

Lotharia winced as she landed on stone, willing herself to stand. With some difficulty, she managed to pull herself up from the ground and hobble into the eye line of the guards, hoping that they would see her and hold fire. After all, she was their queen and they had to follow her orders.


As long as they had not seen her with the beast, they would not know that she was the reason he was free. "Hold fire men!" She called, hoping they had heard her, and waving her arms frantically to be seen.


From the corner of her eye she saw the Dragon King devouring yet another human and she cursed under her breath, knowing there was no way she could climb up there and stop him even if she wanted to. The guard was Ulrich, he had been a good and noble man and now he was nothing more than a snack for an insane beast. This was all her fault and she had to take responsibility. "Stop now in the name of the queen!" she called again, "hold fire!"

 

[redletalis]

The guards didn't listen to the queen. They had a dangerous, escaped beast on their hands and their loyalty was to the Champion. But their moment of hesitation was enough for the Dragon King to slither out of the guard tower and down to the closest wall. He ran along it and towards the next tower in line, where a terrified guard with a sword swung at him. Without slowing down the Dragon King ducked and punched a hand of razor sharp claws straight through the guard's chest, pushing him backwards into the tower. He ripped his arm out as he passed, pulling the heart along as he went and devoured it as he scrambled up the staircase. His feet and claws weren't made for human stairs at all, but he managed.


Up at the top he had to throw himself sideways to avoid a bolt to the face. Instead it embedded in his shoulder, and he hissed in annoyance, glaring at the crossbowman. He threw himself at the human with so much force that they crashed through the thick stone walls of the tower, flying out into the virtual blizzard outside. In midair the Dragon King ripped out the human's heart, went into a roll once they crashed down and hid behind a pair of frozen barrels as he devoured it.


"Now for the last one." He muttered, licking his fingers and peeking around the barrel, trying to find the last foe.

 

[PixieDust]

Lotharia looked on with nothing short of disgusted awe. This creature was devouring hearts in mid air, stopping at nothing to get what he wanted, but she could not let this go on, not only was he taking innocent lives, but he was taking time away from finding her children.


"Stop this! You have defeated nearly every guard and we have pieces of your soul to find if you want to be whole." She called to him, wrapping her cloak tightly around her and struggling to stay on her feet. The wind was blowing through her hair wildly and whipping her face and body.

 

[redletalis]

He snarled and jumped at her, letting the force of his jump carry them into cover behind a wall right before another bolt hit the place where she had been standing. He crouched over her, his claws digging into the skin of her neck as he snarled at her, fangs at full display and throat lit up with the threat of fire. "You wished for my help, o' human queen, you swore your servitude and allegiance to me, so we do this my way. The more we get rid of right now, the less we have to deal with later, and we will have a lot to deal with later on. Do you really think that only four guards would have been left to actually guard someone like me? Me? The Dragon King? Do not underestimate the threat I am! The rest of these useless guards and acolytes will be waiting for us right outside the gates of this prison keep, and the last thing we need is to be caught with enemies on both sides."


With that the Dragon King pushed off away from her and out into full view. A crossbow bolt came at him at once and he ducked it easily. Now he knew where the last guard was - a small, hidden alcove above the doors that led down into the mountain where he had been held prisoner for 800 years. The Dragon King growled and ran right at the doorway, jumping up and digging his claws into the ice and stone as he climbed upwards.

 

[PixieDust]

Lotharia could do naught more than watch the dragon king scale the ice and stone, stalking his unfortunate prey. Her heart hammered in her chest as she thought of the faces of her darling children: Micah, fair of hair with innocent blue eyes and an angelic smile, and Eleanor, elegant and poised for one so young, her hair dark and long like her mother and smouldering brown eyes filled wisdom beyond her seven years.


By now they could already be lost to her in the after life. This knowledge ripped her apart and made her resentment for both the Dragon King and the Champion grow ever stronger.

 

[redletalis]

The slit of a window was too small for him to slither through this time around, but from what he saw then the space inside wasn't too big and the crossbowman didn't have much space to move around in. The Dragon King simply reached in through the opening, dug his claws through the guard's armour, clothing and deep into the chest. His fingers closed around the collarbone, claws digging into the bone itself, and then he pulled.


The guard was screaming in pain as the Dragon King tugged and tugged, ripping muscles from bone, tendons from bone and bone from bone. Three harsh tugs and the crossbowman was unconscious or dead. He wasn't certain and didn't care. Another tug and finally the flesh and clothing and armour gave away and the collarbone and a large piece of muscle tissue was ripped off of the guard. The corpse fell to the floor inside the tower, and the Dragon King dropped down in a shower of blood. He landed in a crouch and devoured his prize, letting the collarbone fall into the snow and licking his fingers clean.


"Now we leave this place." He said as he straightened up.