Enter the Dragon

He had found her. Lavender didn’t know how, but he had found her.

The dragon. A powerful being able to smite entire cities with a single breath. The very one who had kept her in the highest room of the tallest tower for all those years, come at last to take her back.

She knew he wouldn’t go all out against her. Which gave her a fighting chance to win her freedom once more.

Trees were cut down with errant spurts of flame and pressurized water as the two dueled. Neither gave the other space to breathe. Lavender couldn’t afford to let him collect himself enough to get any momentum. The advantage water aspect gave her over his fire needed to give her the edge.

Her desperation to remain on the attack cost her. She never saw the armored fist aimed below her chest coming. With her need to gasp for air, Lavender lost the initiative. Now she was on the backfoot.

“Your swordsmanship is still lacking,” said the black knight without missing a beat.

“Yeah, but my fistmanship isn’t!” Lavender threw her sword into the air and kicked it in the handle, sending it point first towards her foe.

The black knight batted the flung weapon aside and blocked an incoming kick with the flat of his sword. Lavender’s lightning-aspected punches and kicks came swift and around his guard, only to slip off once the knight’s shield turned to ice.

Lavender grimaced; she was at an aspect disadvantage now. Channeling a crystal desire spell, she boosted her strength and speed to compensate for switching off of lightning. Her limbs became covered in purple crystal, smashing the ice on the knight’s shield.

She needed to go further because this wasn’t working. Lavender closed her eyes and saw it again. The never-ending stairs leading to the top of the mountain, the crimson eyes locked onto her own.

Are you going to take the first step?

“ENOUGH!”

A steam denial spell split the battlefield in half, keeping Lavender and the black knight apart from each other. Lavender stamped her foot as she turned to look at her sister. “I told you not to interfere!”

“And I told you to stop running off ahead by yourself,” shouted Hazel. “Lavender, knock it off! You, black knight!" She snapped her fingers and pointed. "Take a knee and start talking!”

The black knight immediately went down on one knee. Lavender was stunned. Was her sister so skill with projection that she could command others to do her bidding? When had she managed that?

Hazel looked just as confused that that had worked. But she thrust her staff into the air as she spoke in anger. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“Balerifon,” the knight replied. “Son of Baliferius. I am a dragon. My duty here is to return your sister to my home within Drake’s Peak.”

Robert shook his head. “Now hol’ on a minute. I ain’t never saw a dragon before, but I know they’re these huge flyin’ lizards that breathe fire.”

“Be quiet, you speck of sand!” shouted Balerifon. “If you had met a dragon before, you would know we can take on different forms to avoid being recognized.”

Lavender rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers.

In an instant, Balerifon’s helmet vanished and his voice changed. Now atop the black armor was a young man’s head but even that was hard to distinguish. His features were soft to the point of femininity. Not a hair extended from his subtle chin, his black hair spiking out only from the top of his head.

And then his voice was no longer magically deepened. It was youthful and smooth, almost androgenous. “And further more…” Balerifon reached up, his hands unable to locate his now missing helmet. “Damn it, whelp! No one takes me seriously when they hear my human voice.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have come looking for me, old man.” Lavender rolled her eyes. Balerifon was the worst. “Why don’t you go flying back home?”

“You and I both know why,” scowled Balerifon.

Hazel had heard enough from both of them. “We’re stopping to make camp. You two, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do. And you will explain. Is that clear, Balerifon?”

“…Yes.”

Lavender was still amazed. Balerifon had never been so browbeaten or deferential to her. Why did he do it for Hazel?

----

While the Fournets complained about stopping early for the day, they were mollified when Balerifon told them the sun would rise early the next day and the weather would be mild. Perfect for picking up the pace.

The sky was dark by the time Balerifon lit the party a fire by spitting from his mouth. Now that his identity was exposed, his armor had shifted to something less bulky. Apparently, the armor was an extension of his natural scales. Now relaxed, a sleeker set of black armor hugged his slender human form.

He took a seat and looked to an expectant Hazel, a confused Robert, and an irritated Lavender. “Speak.”

“Why,” exclaimed Lavender, “are you listening to my sister of all people?!”

Hazel added, “And why were you guarding my sister in the first place? Or so insistent to bring her back?”

Robert continued, “Why is it that you didn’t eat Lavender?”

Everyone turned to stare at Robert.

“What? I heard stories of fair maidens o’ virtue bein’ sacrificed to dragons ‘fore.”

Balerifon’s hand slid down his face. You have one cousin going on diet for a century and suddenly everyone thinks you eat virgins. Best to take those questions one at a time. 

He carefully chose his words. “The Emperor bound me to serve House Wea’Vor some years ago. Forced me to take the same oath of fealty that all vassals took when they inherited or were granted titles. Part of the Oath I swore forces me to follow the commands of the eldest living member of House Wea’Vor.” He then gestured to Hazel and spelled it out. “That’s you, now.”

Hazel and Lavender shared a pained look. They must have hoped against hope that Zaffre and Annatto yet lived.

“Ten years ago,” he continued, “the Emperor approached me once more. We… had a long discussion. A week later, Lavender arrived at my home.”

Lavender pounded the ground with her hand. “This is the closest I get when I try asking him why our father sent me away. He never gets more specific than this! It’s why I wanted to hear it from Father.”

Balerifon flinched. He knew what question Hazel would ask next and steeled himself for it. “Why did my father send Lavender away?”

He felt a tension clinch the muscles in his human form’s shoulders and seize his spine. The answer was on the tip of his tongue. The right answer would call it down.

“The Unspeakable Truth.”