The Green Wolf Warrior

Chapter 12: Dragon Tales!

It has been a few months since Nania's meeting with the King. She spent extra time training. She wanted to be the one to take the King down if it came to it. Nania also took time to learn hand to hand combat just in case she has to get close to complete her task.

Nania was running down a dark hall way, her forehead covered in sweat and her long white night gown getting caught between her legs. It causes her to trip and she skids across the tile floor.
Her face almost smacks into the ground, her hands bracing the impact. Nania tries to push herself up onto her elbows and look back down the hall into the darkness. All she could see was a pair of bright yellow eyes.
A wide sharp toothy grin peers out of the darkness and the snout of Blue scales come into the light. There he stands Dormindo, the blue dragon that was gifted to the old Duke from the King. Her back started to feel like it was burning as she looked into the eyes of the beast who scarred her back.
Nania tried to scream, but it felt like suddenly her mouth was covered by something. Her voice was muffled as she tried to back away from the dragon.
Nania looked behind her real quick and suddenly her eyes widened. Behind her was the old duke, standing there looking down at her. His eyes white, his skin pale as a sheet and the knife she had plunged into his chest still sticking out and a stream of blood covering his old wrinkled chest.
"No... You're... You're supposed to be dead!" Her voice was broken with fear as she couldnt think of where to go. Either she backed up into the dragon or into the Duke who she thought was dead.
"Oh, are you not happy to see me, my sweet Nania." As he spoke, blood spilled out of his mouth. He lowers and his hand grips her throat hard and lifts her off the ground. Nania grabs at his hand trying to claw at it to pull his hand off her throat.
He lifts her high up to where her legs are dangling below her. Its almost as if his body was growing and forming a creature she has never seen before. Suddenly it wasnt a human hand that was holding her throat, it was a large claw.
That is when she notices the duke was now Dormindo, and the other blue dragon was gone. The large maw of the beast opened slowly as it formed around Nanias frail body.
Right as the jaw closed, Nania bolted up in the bed screaming and covered in a full body sweat. Atreus jumped up with her startled awake as he grabbed her shoulders pulling her close to him.
"Its ok, it was just a nightmare." Atreus keeps his voice low as he slowly glides his hand over her head, smoothing down her hair. 
Nania turns to bury her head into his shoulder and tears start to fall down her face fast soaking his skin. Her body shook viciously in his arms, he held her tight and then he rested one of his hands on her lower back.
"You dont have to talk about it if you dont want to. Just know, I am here for you Nania." He grabs the blanket and pulls it up and then slowly pulls Nania down onto the bed and pulls her up onto his chest and holds her close.
Nania starts to mumble something into his chest, her hands ball into fists as her nails start to dig into the skin on her palms. Her mumbling gets louder and clearer to hear.
"I have to... I have to kill it... I have to... I have to kill it..." She repeated herself over and over as if she was trying to convince herself of something. Atreus placed his hand flat onto the back of her neck and turned his face to bury it into her hair, his lips grazing her ear.
"What do you have to kill, Nania?" He spoke softly as he caresses her back. Nania raises her head and looks at him in the eyes.
"The dragon, Dormindo." Her eyes darkened. Atreus' eyes widened at first but then he slowly nodded. He placed his hand on the back of her head pushing her to lay her head back down.
"Alright, we will plan this in the morning. Just sleep for now, I am here, nothing will get you tonight." Atreus holds her close and smiles as he kisses the top of her head. Nania nuzzles into his neck and gently falls asleep.

It had been three weeks since Nania had that dream about killing the Dragon. Nania and the others all sat down together that next morning after her nightmare and all made a plan. Nania and Atreus planned for it to be just the two of them, though Valerie and Ruta protested of course.
Nania and Atreus had set out for the Dukes manor after making sure to get prepared with all of the right weaponry. Nania took up training with knives for close range just in case her bow and arrow was not good enough. Nania also got some new armor that was a different color that her usual green and black because she would be noticed very fast. 
They spent a few nights in a room at a tavern that was not that far away from the Manor. It was also not that far away from her families home so she tried her best to make sure that she never saw any of them, especially her father.
Nania some mornings did not want to leave their room. It has been a very long time since the two of them had any moment of peace together. Some moments she even forgot why they were back in that horrible town.
Atreus did notice the random moments where Nania seemed distracted from the task at hand. He wanted to help her stay distracted, but he knew that he would be more than willing to distract her however she wanted when they finished the job.
That night Nania and Atreus adorned their black armor and snuck through the alleys and streets towards the Manor. They chose the perfect day for this as there was a festival going on in the town and there was alot of drunk people they could hide in and around.
They reached the outside of the Dukes manor and checked the guards situation. It seemed he did not change the guards, so Atreus knew exactly how to get past those who were posted outside the front gates. Atreus finds a couple drunk men and grabs the both of them, whispers something in their ears and pushes them towards the space in front of the guards. The two men start to argue and fight causing the guards to move away from the gates and handle the situation. Atreus quickly flashes out his wings and picks Nania up in his arms and hops over the gate.
Once they get over the gate safely and find somewhere to hide and look around for any other guards. They did not see any in the courtyard. Nania's eyes skim over the front stage like patio and she freezes. That was the last place she stood before her, Atreus, Mia and Ruta left. Atreus grabs her face in his hands and makes her look him in the eyes.
"Hey, its ok! Everything is going according to plan! We need to get to the dungeon where the dragon was kept!" Atreus reassures her as he runs his thumb over her cheek.
Nania nods as she takes a deep breath. The two of them quickly rush to the back side of the manor and find the door that leads to the dungeon wing. Nania uses her dagger to pick the lock and they enter the dark hallway. She grabs a unlit torch off the wall and some flint out of her pack to light it.
The two of them walk down the hall slowly and keep their eyes open for where the door to the dragons cage would be. Nania places her hand lightly upon a metal door and instantly pulls it back hissing in pain. The door is searing hot and Nania's hand is now red and almost blistering from burn.
"Ah fuck!" Nania blows on her hand and shakes it from the pain of the burn she received from the door. Atreus instantly grabs the aid pack he has in his pack and then places a clear gel like salve onto her hand and then bandages it up not too tightly but enough to keep the salve on it.
Atreus gives a light kiss upon the top of the bandages on the palm of her hand and then he looks into her eyes and smiles.
"At least we found the door, sorry for your hand though." He tries to not laugh but as soon as she chuckles he chuckles with her.
Atreus uses his gloved hand to grab for the handle on the door, careful to not touch it with any skin. He pushes the door open and a burst of heat rushes out the door. He throws his arm up holding his cape up to shield him and Nania from the heat. They slowly push into the room and hears the deep hoarse roar from the back corner of the room.
Nania peeks out from the edge of Atreus' cloak and she spots the shiny blue scales of Dormindo. His body looked malnourished as if no one has fed this creature. There was a black iron collar around his long slender neck connected to a chain that went to the center of the room.
Dormindo roared, Anger in his dark yellow eyes. Nania moves around Atreus' cloak and tries to move a little closer to the dragon. He hisses at her and backs up into a corner. One leg stayed still and seemed to be protecting something. When Nania looked a bit closer that is when she catches a whiff of a foul smell of rot and as soon as she saw what dormindo was covering she quickly turns and throws up in the corner of the room.
Atreus looks to where Nania turned away from and as soon as he notices his eyes widen. Laying under the dragons leg was the rotting body of the old Duke, with the knife Nania stabbed him with still in his chest. The dragon was protecting his body and acting like the man was still alive. Atreus places his hand upon Nania's back and tries to sooth her.
"Are you sure you want to do this? Looks like he may just die of hunger all on his own!" Atreus says softly as he slowly rubs her back. Nania continues to dry heave as she emptied her entire stomach. She stands up and wipes her mouth as she turns towards the dragon. She takes heavy breaths as she tries to look away from the body on the ground.
"No, we came here for a reason, we will not leave until the deal is done!" Nania staggers towards the cowering creature keeping her gaze onto its yellow eyes. She grabs her bow off her back and one of her sharpest arrows.
Notching her arrow onto the curve of her hand and aiming it up she takes a quick deep breath and as she lets out that breath she releases the arrow. Suddenly the mood goes sour as the arrow bounces off the dragons face. Nania groans and she then tosses her bow on the ground and stomps her right foot kicking out her hidden dagger strapped to her thigh. Atreus grabs his sword off his hip and stands next to Nania with equal determination.
"Alright, So we will need to find its weak point around the scales. Your daggers should be strong enough to go through the tough hide." Atreus looks down to Nania and smiles. Nania tilts her head to either side and cracks her neck as she shakes her shoulders and shrugs off her cloak revealing her tight black leather armor. Atreus does the same, shrugging off his cloak revealing his strong muscles and bare chest. His shiny black metal gauntlets shine in the dim light coming in from the window above as he slightly crouches in a quick position ready to dash towards the beast.
"Lets kill this fucker!" Nania says softly as she palms both of her daggers.
Quickly Nania runs off towards the dragon, the beast growls as it moves to whip its tail at her. Nania jumps to miss the tail as it scratches across the ground. She lands up onto the spiked thin tail and quickly darts up to the end of the tail. Dormindo starts to shake his body to attempt to throw Nania off his back. She stabs her daggers into his skin getting under a couple of his scales and into his tough hide in order to hold on.
Atreus notices her struggle as he swings his sword towards one of the beasts back legs to stop him from moving. Dormindo finds it difficult to fend off both people at the same time. That similar parched sounding roar bellows from his throat as he whips his head around to grab for Atreus' body.
"Atreus! Behind you!" Nania calls out as she brings herself up onto the dragons back. Atreus turns around quickly and brings his sword up and stops the large fan of sharp teeth coming for him. With his large sword parallel with the dragons mouth Atreus stares straight into the creatures mouth. A bright ball of light starts to shine in the center of his mouth and Atreus notices instantly that the dragon was starting to form his fire breath.
Atreus bursts out his large black wings and hops into the air as the dragon lets loose a cone of red fire onto his own leg. Atreus rises into the air above the creature and close to the roof of the room. As he reaches the grate like window at the top he hears voices, very familiar voices as he looks down to make sure that Nania is ok.
Nania runs up the dragons back and to his wings. Before he can even think to rise up into the air to follow Atreus she takes her daggers and shreds the thin membrane of the wings close to his spine. The dragon screams in pain, stopping his fire breath to raise his back leg up to his back like a dog trying to scratch off a bug in its fur.
Nania dodges the claw as it comes for the space between his wings. She rolls over to a spot on his back that is deep down, as if the dragons in this land seem to have a slight saddle like space below their neck near where their front legs meet their spine. She looks up and notices at the base of his neck where the collar partially covers, there was a circle of missing scales and an "X" shaped scar on that circle.
Suddenly something clicks in Nania's brain as she remembers what Atreus said. She looks up to Atreus and she smiles.
"I found the weak point! I need to remove the collar though!" Nania calls out to him as she points to the dragons neck.
Nania crawls over to the collar and looks for the lock. She doesnt find a key hole, but instead she finds a square panel on the back of the collar. She checks it and then realizes it is a hand shaped key pad. Fear falls over her as she realizes it. Nania shakes as she looks up to Atreus.
"Its going to need his hand... The old dukes hand..." Her voice shakes as she calls up to him. Atreus slowly lowers to her and notices the spot on the collar she mentions. Atreus nods as he lowers to the ground and while dodging the dragons attacks he goes for the rotting corpse. He reaches for the old dukes wrist and in one quick motion of his sword he lobs off the hand.
The dragon roars as he realizes what Atreus was doing and he tries to spin around to go after him. Atreus dodges the best he can and raises up tossing the hand at Nania. He continues to perry the dragons attacks giving her time to take the collar off.
Nania grabs the hand and trying to not remember the many times this horrid hand had been upon her body and touching her skin, or the time it had been holding her face so he could kiss her in front of all of his people. She pushes away those horrid memories and slaps the palm of the rotting hand upon the collar. A few seconds, the pad lights up and suddenly the collar clicks and opens. It slowly falls from the dragons neck and a deep squish is heard as Nania realizes that the collar landed on the rotting corpse of the old Duke.
Without a second thought Nania raises both of her daggers and plunges it into the circular spot of missing scales. The dragon screams in pain as blood sprays out of where the daggers were, completely covering Nania in the crimson liquid.
The dragon staggers and slowly starts to dip down before it stops still and then falls onto the side sending a blood covered Nania skidding across the floor. Atreus lands next to Nania and grabs her shoulders to pick her up lightly.
"Oh fuck. That hurt worse than touching the door." She says with a slight chuckle.
"You need to stop putting yourself in danger!" Atreus wipes the blood from her face lightly.
Nania smiles as she slowly stands up with Atreus' assistance. She starts towards the dragons body. She takes one of her daggers and starts carving into the dragons body.
"What are you doing?" Atreus walks up to her, an eyebrow slightly raised.
"Taking some of its scales for myself. Going to have Mia make me some dragon scale armor so we can fight the king!" She says with confidence as she carves the dragons body and putting the bits of the scaled hide in her bag. Atreus smiles and then assists her.

Not long after they carved up the dragons body for all of the scaled hide, they set out of the room. Nania makes sure to grab the dagger that was still in the old Dukes body.
When outside the room, Nania starts to head towards the way they came but Atreus pulls her the other way.
"What? Shouldnt we leave?" Nania asks, an eyebrow raised in question.
"Yes, but I think I know where to get more help for the war against the King!" Atreus smiles as he leads her towards a spiral staircase.