The Dragonbane

"If you don't come with me, I'll kill everyone in the village."

The dragon spirit licked his lips in delight at the thought. His pupils were thin slits, blocking out the growing radiance of my aura as I contemplated how fast I could reduce him to ash.

Not fast enough, considering the speed he had moved with a moment ago. Reluctantly, I got my mana under control. Sirius trotted from behind me to Orion's still form on the ground and whined heartbreakingly. I whispered, "You didn't have to kill him."

The spirit laughed, revealing teeth as pointed as arrowheads. He waved a hand. Something hit the back of my head, and everything went black.

                                                  ~~~~~~~<><><>*<><><>~~~~~~~

I woke up feeling sluggish and wrong, with the whole world jarring about uncomfortably. Cracking one eye open revealed bars of metal above me. Early dawn light tracing out deep indentations in it; runes and sigils? I blinked both eyes open. I was on my back in a cage with wheels, just big enough to sit up in, and every bar was covered in runes. Maybe that's why I felt weird.

The memory of Orion with a sword sticking out from his chest hit me. I twisted myself over in the small space and puked. It all went through the bars on the bottom, falling on the tall grass as it passed by below. Hatred filled me, and I sat up with the sudden need to find the murdering spirit and make him pay. All around was a seemingly endless prairie, and the only living thing I saw besides myself was a spirit I had never seen before, walking alongside the cage as it trundled along of its own accord.

His head was crowned with a cluster of horns, starting with an almost flat, roughly triangular bony plate on his forehead. Short blunt horns spread from left to right along his temples, getting longer as they went, until at the sides of his head they twisted back and up in curious angles and curves, before shortening again towards the base of his head. I couldn't tell if they met to form a full circle because of his long black hair. He turned his head to face me. Serene silver eyes gleamed out of an impassive face. He regarded me for a long moment, then silently handed me a handkerchief through the bars. I took it and wiped my face clean. He spoke quietly.

"It is my fault you are in such a sorry state. I apologize. I should have wrapped up my business and met you myself, instead of sending my most bloodthirsty general to meet you. It was pointless for your friend to die."

My anger flared again. "And what business was so important that you just had to send a killer into a peaceful town?" I asked coldly.

He sighed and turned to look ahead as he walked. "I had to hunt a dangerous creature. Tell me, have you seen a dragon before?"

I shook my head. "The closest thing to a dragon I've seen is your men."

He chuckled. "That's because they were killed by dragons."

"I don't understand."

"You don't? I didn't think dragons were rare enough to be that mysterious, but I suppose your town is very out of the way. And yet I hear you have a wizard there, a Master Finnigan...? Ah well. Dragons are beasts of celestial magic, like stars. If you haven't seen a dragon, then I'm guessing you became a spirit when a star hit you, am I right?"

I tried to cross-reference this with what Sigrid had told me about spirits. I should have asked more questions at the time. He took my silence as confirmation.

"I thought as much. Your appearance is too normal to have come from death by dragon. Actually, your normal appearance is very odd; even those who die in the presence of still, pure mana take on inhuman characteristics if they become spirits."

Oh. People become spirits not by just being exposed to mana, but by dying in its presence. For some reason I was reluctant to share that I had come from a world without magic, but maybe I could ask questions under the pretense of being a sheltered village girl.

"What do you mean, 'if' they become spirits?"

"Most people exposed to that much mana simply die. I know many, many spirits, and all of them had one thing in common when they turned. Well, besides the death by magic part."

"And what is that?"

He glanced sideways at me. "They all wanted to destroy their old life."

A declaration that I hadn't wanted to destroy my old life rose in my throat, then sank to the pit of my stomach instead. Hadn't I? Guiltily I remembered a few brief daydreams in the past that I had quickly squashed, where some disaster or another upended my life and freed--yes, the thought had felt freeing--me from everyone that I knew. I hung my head.

"Wish," he said. I looked up.

"There is no shame in wanting to deconstruct a life that is unsatisfying," he said gently.

I looked away again. "You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"I am Dschubba Dragonbane, wielder of the sword Lesath. I will tell you now so you won't be shocked when you see my sword, it is the same that Sargas used to kill your friend. He was supposed to carry it as a sign that he spoke with my authority. I will not entrust it to him again."

"I would say it's nice to meet you, Dschubba Dragonbane, but under the circumstances that would be a lie."

"Understandable."

"Where are you taking me, and why?"

"To my home. I need your help deconstructing many unsatisfying lives."

"And do I get a say in the matter?"

His silence was answer enough. I clenched my hands into fists and stared straight ahead over the sea of grass.

"I see. You don't care whose lives you 'deconstruct', including mine."

"We both know you didn't like your life, otherwise you wouldn't be a spirit now."

"I liked my life there."

He looked at me curiously. "Did your family move there from somewhere else? From what my men told me, your brother the guard gave the impression that he had grown up in Haven."

Your brother the guard...Alexandros. He had claimed me as family. Did Eva see me as a sister? I swallowed hard as I wondered if they were alright.

"Did Sargas hurt anyone else?" His name tasted bitter in my mouth.

"No."

"Good."

After that I couldn't think of anything else to say, so we traveled in silence.

I wondered what Orion had seen me as.