Eladea: A Hopeless Age

Chapter 24: Viserion

Chapter 24: Viserion's POV

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A

growl builds in my throat and comes out low and long, vibrating my rarely used vocal chords. My spines bristle as I draw myself up to my full height, towering over the man. I'm so tall I block out the noon sun for him, casting him in a dark shadow as he stares up at me with frightened eyes. I curl my lip, exposing my long fangs the size of his forearm. My scorpion-like tail swishes back and forth like a cat, ready to strike at any moment. 

"I won't ask again." I say directly into his mind, my voice low and menacing. "What are Ivar's plans for finding us?" 

The man, no older than Liam, scrunched himself further back into the trunk of the tree he's up against. We had tied him up and taken him out of sight from the rest of the camp while we waited for him to wake up from unconsciousness so we could interrogate him. His eyes wander over the stub of my left horn, the long, nasty scar trailing from my ear to my shoulder, the various rips and tears in my wings, the scars and nicks littering my body. He glances over at the teeth pierced through my ear. They're dragon teeth, taken from the very dragon that had ripped my horn off as a hatchling. 

"I-I already told you, I c-can't tell you anything." The knight clad in black chain mail stutters out. I lower my head over him, slavor dripping out of my bared teeth and dropping on the ground in front of him. He recedes more, desperate to make himself smaller as his eyes go wider. 

"H-he'll kill them!" He blurts out. I pause. 

"Kill who?" 

"If he finds out that I told you anything he'll order that my family be killed. He has them in the dungeons right now, along with the families of all the new knights. If I mess up, even once, they're dead. Momma, Pops, Gran Gran, Lucy, they'll all be gone in an instant." Tears well up in his eyes, and I realize just how young he is. I loosen up a bit, but still stay somewhat menacing, just in case. 

"Who says he has to know?" I ask. 

"He always knows. He knows everything. He has ears in every room and eyes around every corner. He'll know. Even if he isn't here right now, he'll figure it out pretty soon when I don't return from patrol." The boy's voice is so defeated, a tear falling from the corner of one of his pale eyes. In that moment he seems even smaller in the armor, as if it's swallowing him whole. I keep my demeanor tense but soften my voice slightly. 

"What's your name?" 

"Zandere. My name is Zandere." He answers hesitantly. 

"Well, Zandere, I know for a fact you're not fighting for Ivar out of patriotism or loyalty. You want to keep your family safe, and I respect that. But do you really think this will save them? It's just denying the inevitable. The truth is, you're going to mess up eventually and they'll be gone. The best way out of this is to let us help you. We're taking down this maniac, but we can't do that unless you cooperate with us." I say in my stern-but-still-understandingly-gente voice. He stays quiet for a moment, mulling it over in his head. 

"You talk like my Papa." He says quietly. "Do you have any kids? A son?" He says, looking up at me in the eyes, his filled with painful tears. 

"Yes, I do. Four of them. And yes, I have a son." I say, deciding this kid can't do any harm to them. 

"That's nice. I always wanted a brother, but Momma got too sick giving birth to Lucy that they weren't going to do that again. Gran Gran always said that two kids, a boy and girl was the magic number. The perfect legacy to have." A tear slips down his cheek as he closes his eyes, leaning his head against the trunk behind him. "I guess they'll have to live with just Lucy's legacy."