Dragon Song: Heritage

Preface

Nathan watched helplessly, pushing the panic down as he willed his daughter to live. The baby was gasping for air. Her skin, as white as her mother’s at birth, was now a mottled purple color. Her mouth was pulled back in a wide 0 and her chest heaved.  The back of her neck was slick with sweat from her struggle and her lips had a blue hue he had not seen before. This breathing attack was much worse than the others. The others had not been so hard on her or lasted so long. He had to do something but the doctor was at least an hour away and even if Nathan could get her there in time, the doctor would demand payment, which he didn’t have. He had never felt more desperate in his life.

Her innocent blue eyes looked around in agony and her chubby little fists pumped, opening and then clamping shut in a white knuckled grip. Her small body stiffened in his arms as she kicked her feet and arched her back. He reached a finger out to give her something to grasp and the baby turned her head. Their eyes met and he knew what he had to do. He could see the fatigue in her face. She was getting tired; she wouldn’t be able to fight like this much longer. His daughter was dying. He was out of time.

It was illegal to ‘treat with the affected blood’, as he was about to do. He could get the death sentence but if he saved his daughter’s life it would be worth it. He handed the writhing toddler to her mother, Bell, and took his knife out of his pocket.

Bell pulled back. “This has never been done on someone so young.” She protested.

“What choice do we have?” he asked tersely.

Bell was silent but she stepped closer to Nathan again.

Making an incision in his palm, he held his clenched fist over his daughter’s mouth and squeezed as hard as he could. He watched as several drops of his blood hit the back of her tongue and he breathed on her face to make her swallow.

“Just hold on, baby.” He cooed to her as he rubbed her little tummy, “Just hold on.” He said again, to himself. A minute passed, then another one. He spoke to her in a soft tone, willing every cell in her body to receive the gift he had just given her.

The baby gasped for air again, and then lay motionless in her mother’s arms. Her mother froze and Nathan snatched her up, praying he had not waited too long. Not knowing what else to do, he bounced the infant. He had almost given up when he heard the air rushing into her lungs again. He watched as his daughter’s fist relaxed and the dark purple color in her skin faded. He felt her sweat-drenched body relax in his arms and he listened as her breathing returned to a strong, steady rate. Nathan looked Bell and laughed as the relief washed over him. Nodding his head, he took a deep breath, thinking the moment of danger had passed but then, as he watched, his daughter’s eyes changed from blue to green and he realized they would never be out of danger. 

Her mother gasped. “Somebody will notice.” She said, fear causing her to whisper, even within the walls of their own home.

“She’s still young enough that we can say they changed naturally.” He said, trying to sooth her. “We’ll tell anyone that asks that she has your grandmother’s eyes.” Bell’s grandmother had been dead for over twenty years. No one would be able to refute his claim, unless they had known her personally.

“But they don’t look natural.” Bell noted, voicing her concern over the unnatural glow in her child’s eyes.  

Nathan didn’t have an answer for that. The Master Strand repaired the DNA of any that carried it. It had been passed down from one Calloway to the next for the last three generations, but Bell was right. No one in his family had ever received it at such a young age. There was no telling what the effects would be on such a young host or how long the physical effects, like her glowing green eyes, would last.

Melek wiggled to sit up in her father’s arms as a bright, beautiful smile spread across her glowing face. The smile he saw in her newly turned green eyes broke through his fear-laden mind and he smiled back.

She was alive! It was a secret worth having, and for all their sakes, it was a secret they would have to keep. It was up to the dragons, now. They would protect her, as they had him, and his father and grandfather before him. They were the guards for those that carried the Master Strand. They would know what to do, if and when the time ever came. For now, Melek was alive and that is all that mattered.