The Ember of Life

Chapter 14

Dertharion had not been so terrified for a long time. His chance at power and wealth had just been snatched away, and even worse, he was in danger of being caught by Ebony. If Ebony saw the Ember...he would immediately put two and two together. He was relieved when the Black suggested leaving a note for Zendrayus, since it gave him a head start. He needed to get to the Stormhide, overpower him, and take back the Ember, all before Ebony reached him. The Green posing as a Red beat his wings all the harder, desperation spurring him on.

But that was not his only problem. Shame clung to him like a soaked piece of fabric. Ebony had saved him again. Dertharion knew very well that his wounds might have killed him, were it not for the Burnedhide's Chroma. Yet every step they took brought them closer to where he was going to betray Ebony. Sell his life for power. For lucre.

The first time, when Dertharion had stolen the Ember, it had not felt like this. The guilt had grown. Become stronger. Now it was a burning sensation deep, deep in his chest. It did not leave, and it did not budge, no matter what excuses he tried. He had finally proven himself to be the dragon scum everyone had thought he was back at his home village.

He had grown up in that village, with those same dragons. Laughed with them, shared food with them....lived life with them. Some of his best memories were from that small, small town. His younger years had been spent in peace there. Oh, how he had loved his life back then! But one day, everything turned upside down. Something was stolen from the old, kind lady dragon who barely made a living with her garden. She had but one piece of jewelry, a golden bracelet studded with rubies, and she loved and treasured it. It was the one memory of her richer years. Then one fateful night, she could not find it. She spent a week frantically searching, and everyone chipped in to help her. They all assumed she had simply lost it. Then opinion began to shift. Perhaps...it had been taken instead...

"Who would take an ornament from such a sweet, kind dragon?? Who could possibly steal from Zelanya?" the villagers had asked one another as they did their best to comfort her. Public opinion soon came to the conclusion that no outside robber would be aware of its existence, as she rarely wore it. No, the villagers decided, someone inside the village had to have taken it. Dragon turned on dragon, even as Zelanya feebly protested that it was not worth strife to find it. They did not listen to her, under the pretense that they wanted to help her, but Dertharion suspected otherwise. Tension had been building, and it had to boil over. The poorer families were under the most suspicion, and Dertharion and his parents unfortunately fell into that category. Eyes watched them wherever they went, despite his parents' earnest declarations of innocence.

"We would never take Zelanya's bracelet," his mother had pleaded, tears in her eyes, "We love her!" Dertharion and his father agreed earnestly. And it was true. They would not and they had not.

It went on for months, and all the dragons were worn to a fringe of their former selves. The stress and tension was becoming too much for anyone to bear. Then the blow came. One night, while Dertharion and his family were out, a party of dragons came and searched their house. They found Zelanya's bracelet in Dertharion's room. How, he did not know. He had not taken it! He had not!

The weeks after that had been nightmarish. Dertharion swallowed just remembering them. He had claimed innocence again and again, but no one believed him. Not his parents, not Zelanya, not anyone. No one had a kind look or word for him anymore, though he once was the favorite of the village. In desperation, Dertharion called a meeting of the village to try one last time to reason with them. They came, but not to listen to him. They came to exile him. They threw him out. Literally.

So Dertharion picked himself up and left. While he had not put it into thoughts, he came out of the nightmare that was his former life with a resolution. If everyone was going to blame him for theft, he might as well get something out of it.