The Heart of a Dragon

Every creature in the Ridgeback Mountains feared Khina, so why didn’t this toddler?

Growling, Khina lowered her massive, scaly head to look him in the eye. The breath from her draconic nostrils stirred the child’s thick, black hair, which shone almost blue in the pale moonlight. His bright amber eyes stared back into her dragonfire green ones, defiant. It was a unique response to meeting an enormous true dragon.

Tonight was the first time Khina had ventured from her den in nearly a year. She’d come down the mountain through the skyspruce grove in order to visit this exact spot. It was the place she’d first met her mate, Khonan. Tonight marked the anniversary of the day they’d first seen each other many years ago.

Khina’s heart clenched at the thought. She thought she’d been prepared to go out, but the memories of Khonan bubbling up inside her chest filled her with pain as fresh as the day the dragonslayer had killed him.

Thank the Dragonlords this random human child was here cocking his head or Khina’s emotions might’ve overcome her. Still, she wanted to be alone, so she tilted her head downward toward the small human, emphasizing her menacing, mottled gray and green horns.

Go away, boy, Khina projected her thoughts to the child. Return to your family.

The little one looked up at Khina, eyes wet and shining under the starlight. Dirt and light scratches covered his face and dragonhog hide tunic, and the fine black and white cloak he wore was torn. Whatever had brought this child to the grove had left him lost and alone.

Khina knew many of her kind would’ve snapped up the boy as a midnight snack. But Khina remembered the little glowing egg nestled in a well-hidden bed of skyspruce boughs back in her den. A last gift from her lost mate.

Khina let out another breath, a low rumble in the back of her draconic throat. Curious as to what made this child so brave, she took another step toward the little boy, the ground shaking and nearby branches trembling under her weight. The human child didn’t move as Khina reached toward him with her front leg.

A golden Mystic rune bloomed to life along her brow. The brave boy didn’t even flinch as Khina’s talon rested lightly on his forehead, right between those large, amber eyes.

Disjointed images swirled inside Khina’s mind as she read the boy’s thoughts. Fire. Screams. Flashes of golden light.

A long, trailing cloak covered in multihued scales from fallen dragons.

Khina’s breath caught in her throat. Dragonslayer.

Could it be the same one who’d taken Khonan? Khina thought she might’ve recognized the murderous human’s profile, but the child’s memories were scattered, tainted black and red with fear.

Then she saw them—a line of vibrant rust colored scales along the collar of the dragonslayer’s cloak. Khina’s blood began to boil—those were Khonan’s scales.

In the child’s memories, a woman’s scream echoed as Khina watched the dragonslayer wrench a man from inside the carriage where the boy sat. The man wore a brilliant iron crown—he must’ve been a King among the humans. The hooded dragonslayer held a gleaming seaxe to the King’s throat as the finger on his free hand traced through the air, gold light trailing after it. A rune burst to life over the scale-cloaked dragonslayer’s forehead as a golden crack split the air behind him.

Suddenly, the crack ripped apart to form a gold-rimmed portal. The display of etherarchy told Khina that the dragonslayer was a Rifter, further confirming that he was the one who’d killed Khonan. Pain ripped through Khina’s heart.

The dragonslayer dove through the portal, taking the King with him. The woman cried out, reaching as her mate slipped from her grasp.

But the dragonslayer hadn’t attacked the caravan alone—more rogues brandishing long seaxes appeared in the child’s memory.

More glimpses of fire and chaos filled Khina’s mind. She heard the clanging of weapons as the royal family’s high guard engaged the band of dragonslayers.

Through the memory, Khina heard a woman’s voice calling to the child.

Run, Magnus! Go!

The little toddler had obeyed, stumbling through the mountain brush and low skyspruce branches. He’d fallen down a brier-covered thicket just before emerging in the grove—that’s where the scratches and scuffs on his face and clothing must’ve come from. The next thing the boy knew, he’d found Khina standing in the moonlight, his trauma from the dragonslayer’s attack on his caravan overshadowing the fear he should’ve felt for a wild true dragon.

Khina pulled back her talon, a growl escaping her lips. She couldn’t abide the thought of another child being left fatherless at that dragonslayer’s hand. Khina would save this boy’s father—and exact revenge for what the man had done to her Khonan. She would ensure this rogue would never harm another true dragon again.

Within a second, Khina had a new rune glowing from over her forehead. She used her etherarchy to telekinetically lift the little boy by the belt and cloak, pulling him up onto her back. She held him securely on a spineless section at the base of her neck, between ridges of her mottled gray and green scales. Maintaining her telekinetic hold on the boy so that he didn’t slip off, Khina spread her wide wings and launched upward into the night.

Locating the scene of the attack was easy. Smoke still rose from the skyspruces lining the mountain road, leftover orange flame still licking the boughs. Khina spotted an overturned carriage beside a pair of fallen kirin—horse-like lesser dragons. A few black-cloaked guards lay still among the wreckage.

Khina landed, sniffing the air. She needed to find some way of tracking the dragonslayers. As she searched, Khina held her wings folded at an angle so that the child on her back wouldn’t have to see the scene of carnage.

The sound of weeping pricked Khina’s ears. She turned toward the splintering carriage to find a woman kneeling, her back shaking as she sobbed. She wore a fine fur cloak sewn from the pelts of diamondback wolverines, and the thin crown gracing her brow had a glittering stone embedded in the center. A bloodied long seaxe lay beside her, indicating to Khina that the woman had fought back, her survival evidence of her skill with the blade.

This must’ve been the Queen—the little boy’s mother Khina had seen in the memory. The woman barely seemed to notice the great true dragon looming before her.

“Mama?”

The child’s voice pierced the woman’s distress, her red-rimmed eyes turning upward toward Khina. The little boy had peeked around Khina’s neck to see his mother, and the woman’s face lit up.

“Magnus,” she said, reaching upward with both hands. Khina used her telekinetic power to gently lower the boy to the ground, and the Queen rushed to embrace him.

Khina watched the tender reunion, but her heart still burned with anger. She turned her gaze back toward the fallen carriage, scanning her surroundings for anything the dragonslayer might’ve left behind.

“Thank you for bringing him back to me,” the woman called to Khina. But in the woman’s eyes, Khina didn’t see relief.

I seek the dragonslayer who took your mate, Khina channeled her thoughts to the Queen. The woman’s jaw tensed, then she bent to the ground, reaching for something.

The Queen held out a torn shred of scale-covered cloth toward Khina. Khina’s eyes narrowed as she crouched low, breathing in the scent.

When the dragonslayer’s gritty, acrid smell filled her nostrils, Khina’s mind reeled back to that day. Khina had stood by Khonan’s side, ready to end the dragonslayer who dared try to take their new egg.

But this dragonslayer was a magi—a Rifter, with teleportation etherarchy. Khina hadn’t been prepared for the foul human to send her flying through a portal.

She’d emerged miles away, deep in the heart of the skyspruce forest. She’d raced above the trees back toward their den, but by the time she arrived, it was too late. The dragonslayer had overpowered Khonan, leaving the great true dragon’s body ravaged after taking many of his scales to sell. Worst of all, the barbaric human had taken the large scale in the center of Khonan’s chest that was the core of his etherarchy—his heartscale.

Khonan had been a powerful warrior, but Khina could see that he’d spent most of his ether building a thick wall of brambles around their egg. The woodweaving power had kept the dragonslayer at bay, but expending so much energy had left him weak. In the end, Khonan lost his life.

Khina’s eyes narrowed as once again she took in that awful, bitter scent of the dragonslayer who’d killed her mate. She wouldn’t let the same thing happen to the Queen.

Khina crouched on all fours, ready to take to the skies.

“Wait,” the Queen’s voice was hard. She looked up at Khina with determination in her eyes. Khina cocked her head as the Queen continued, taking up the fallen seaxe from the ground.

“I’m coming with you.”

Khina locked eyes with the Queen, understanding passing between the two of them. Khina gave a single nod of her draconic head.

They flew through the jagged Ridgeback Mountains, the Queen clutching tightly to little Magnus as she clung to Khina’s scales. Khina used her etherarchy to enhance her senses, following the dragonslayer’s stench to a place a few peaks southward. His stink led them to the mouth of a cavern that the dragonslayers must’ve been using as a hideout. Many of the scale-cloaked men and women laughed around campfires, showing off sacks of jewels and other spoils from their latest raid. Khina didn’t see the man with Khonan’s rusty scales in his cloak.

The band of rogues had built a fence around their camp, placing the dried skulls of slain dragons at intervals along the posts. Khina’s muscles tensed. These rogues would think twice before angering a true dragon in the future.

That is, if any of them lived to tell the tale.

Khina approached, gliding in on silent wings. She landed in a copse of trees near the cavern, and the Queen alighted, Magnus clinging to her chest.

“Stay hidden, my darling,” the Queen whispered as she set him down in an alcove made by a tangled smokesage bush. The little boy nodded, and Khina channeled more of her etherarchy to cause the brambles to grow around him like a protective barrier. Then, another rune glowing over her forehead, Khina cast an illusion over the child so that any passerby would see only the smokesage plants. It was the same enchantment Khina had used to protect her own egg back at her lair. Magnus would be safe here.

The Queen gave Khina a grateful nod. Then, together, they snuck toward the mouth of the dragonslayers’ cavern.

Khina and the Queen did not approach with subtlety—Khina wanted the man who killed her mate to know exactly who had come for him.

Khina roared as she reared back, her throat burning as ether concentrated within her. She thrust her neck forward and sprayed the campsite with a blast of emerald green dragonfire. Screams sounded alongside the crackling flames as the dragonslayers nursed angry burns.

Khina and the Queen leaped into the center of the camp, the Queen giving a warrior’s cry as Khina roared again. The Queen didn’t hesitate, the green flames highlighting her dark silhouette as she stormed toward the nearest bandit with her seaxe held high. He didn’t have time to draw his weapon before he slumped to the dirt.

The Queen was already moving in on the next rogue when Khina joined the action. Sweeping her tail across the ground, she took out three rogues aiming crossbows. One dragonslayer flew overhead on the back of an evren, a batlike dragon with four wide wings. The bandit took aim, shooting at Khina with a crossbow. The bolt grazed the thick scales along Khina’s back, not cutting deep enough to cause any real harm. Within seconds, Khina felt more of her etherarchy kick in as glowing gold patterns swirled around her wound, regenerating the damaged hide.

Khina didn’t want to harm the evren, who the dragonslayer had probably forced to bond with him anyway. Rather than blast them out of the sky with another jet of dragonfire, she activated another golden rune over her forehead to telekinetically snatch the rider off the other dragon’s back by the cloak.

She let the dragonslayer dangle in mid-air for a moment, his legs thrashing. Then, she tossed her head, telekinetically hurling the bandit into the ground. Sure enough, without the rider dictating his actions, the four-winged evren took off, flying away from the camp as fast as he could go.

On the ground, a group of dragonslayers charged toward Khina, brandishing long dragonhook spears. Before the sharp blades could reach her, Khina’s eyes flashed gold with more etherarchy.

She pointed her long, gray and green horns toward them as they crackled with golden lightning. Khina sent the sparking bolt toward the rogues, shocking four of them and sending them to the ground. Only two remained on their feet—both held silver shields.

Khina growled. The pesky dragonslayers knew that silver nullified etherarchy.

But their silver couldn’t stop Khina’s claw when she batted them off of their feet. Khina hit the dragonslayers with enough force to send them crashing into the treeline.

Meanwhile, the Queen was making her way to the mouth of the cavern, cutting down any dragonslayer who dared to stand in her way. She showed mastery with the seaxe, slashing the long, knife-like blade with elegant strength.

The Queen must’ve figured they were keeping her mate inside the cave. Khina was willing to bet that’s where the coward who’d slain Khonan was hiding as well.

Khina gave another ear-splitting roar and leaped to join the Queen as she took out the last dragonslayer between her and the cave. The green fires burned the camp outside as Khina and the Queen peered into the hole in the rock.

He stood just inside the cavern. The dragonslayer’s scarred face was hard as he held his silver blade at the trembling King’s throat. The gleaming rust colored scales lining the collar of his cloak were unmistakable.

“Hand him over,” the Queen threatened, gripping her bloodstained seaxe with both hands. Khina gave a low roar, snapping her jaws in the man’s face to emphasize the Queen’s order.

“Call off your dragon,” the man plead. “Then you can have him.”

Khina narrowed her eyes, leaning in closer. I serve no human, dragonslayer, Khina spoke to the man’s mind. Though I had hoped you’d remember me.

The man’s brow furrowed as, for the first time, he dared to look Khina in the eye. Recognition dawned on his face. Fear streaking across his features, the man looked at the rust-colored scales on the collar of his cloak.

Khina roared, lighting up a telekinetic rune over her forehead. Though she couldn’t affect the dragonlsayer’s silver sword with her etherarchy, she was able to yank his arm down by the leather straps of his bracer. The blade no longer at the King’s throat, Khina telekinetically wrenched the man upward by the scales on his cloak. The man dropped both the sword and the King to grab hold of his collar as he struggled for breath. The Queen rushed to her mate’s side, wrapping him in her embrace.

Get your family to safety, Khina channeled her thoughts to the Queen. You don’t want to be here for what comes next.

The Queen cast Khina a grateful nod before taking her mate’s hand and fleeing the cave. Khina focused her mind, dropping the illusion covering their son’s hiding place so that they’d be able to find him and flee the dragonslayer’s camp.

Now, back to the—

Bright light flashed before Khina’s eyes as a gold-rimmed portal burst to life. While she’d been distracted, the dragonslayer had traced a rune of his own to open the portal. Still clinging to the collar of his cloak to avoid choking, the magi dragonslayer directed the ever-widening portal toward Khina.

Khina’s eyes widened. It was the same etherarchy the Rifter had used to banish her the day he’d killed Khonan.

Not this time.

Before the portal could envelop her, Khina spotted a silver dragonslayer’s shield leaning against the wall of the cave. With a frantic thrash of her tail, Khina launched the silver shield toward the oncoming portal.

In a shower of gold dust, the silver nullified the portal’s ether. The golden rune vanished from over the Rifter’s forehead.

With one more swift lash from her tail, Khina sent the stunned dragonslayer slamming against the stony side of the cavern. He fell into a limp heap on the ground.

Khina let out a growl, nudging the man’s body with her snout to make sure he was dead. A final slash from her sharp talons left no room for doubt. He wouldn’t be harming any more of her kind.

Using more of her telekinetic etherarchy, Khina carefully removed the cloak from the fallen dragonslayer’s back. Along its collar, Khonan’s rust red scales stood out from the others this foul creature had taken, with a larger rusty scale sitting proudly at the clasp of the cloak. Khonan’s heartscale was hers. Khina breathed in the scent, eager to remember her mate, but his scales still reeked of the man’s acrid odor.

Keeping the cloak and heartscales close, Khina backed out of the cave. She looked around at the smoldering camp, satisfied that she and the Queen had quelled the dragonslayers. Khina closed her eyes, etherarchy enhancing her senses as she listened. She could hear the Queen, King, and little Magnus already making their way down the mountain. They’d find refuge in the human settlement not far from here.

Khina breathed in the cool air of early morning. Without wasting another moment in the dragonslayers’ camp, Khina spread her wings and launched into the sky.

She reached the spot just as the first rays of sunlight began to stream over the cliff side. It seemed fitting. She and Khonan had met at dawn.

Khina laid the dragonslayer’s cloak on the earth before her. She felt her throat grow warm with ether as she reared back, then opened her jaws over the mass of scales, dousing them in green dragonfire.

The fireproof scales on the cloak smoked for a moment as the cloth burned away. Khina stopped her flames and inhaled, relief flooding her as the smell of the dragonslayer vanished into nothing.

Khina telekinetically lifted her husband’s rust colored scales close to her snout. She sniffed, and with her ether-enhanced senses, Khina could just detect the faintest hint of stone and fresh water. A film of tears appeared over Khina’s eyes as she breathed in Khonan’s scent.

She gazed at the towering skyspruce trees all around her. It had been a long night, and Khina was tired. Taking her mate’s scales with her, Khina spread her wings once more. She had an egg to get back to.