Dragon Queen: Book One-Scarlet Reign

Chapter Nine- Of Magic and Flame

It took Aelwen a moment to really process what she was seeing. Cages lined the walls, all kinds of creatures crammed inside of them. But... looking closer, they were almost unrecognizable--disgustingly deformed. A chicken's head fused with the lower body of an iguana strutted in circles around its cage as it squawked uncontrollably. A deer sporting the legs of a wolf nodded back and forth in unsteady motions. Countess more of these ungodly abominations moved and cried out from the various cages. A sickening smell of dried blood and burnt fur wafted from them. At the back of the hallway-like room, stood two circular tanks made of thick glass. A wooden frame carved into with hundreds of glowing runes bound them together.

Aelwen's jaw trembled. She could feel Gerel clench tightly to her neck. His heart pounding against her scales communicated as if by morse code a fear parallel to her own.

"What... What is all this!?" Aelwen screeched, taking a step back.

"My magnum opus," Cerubia said, hands clasped to her chest, "And it's almost ready."

"What...?"

"A long, long time ago, I was cursed by Auria for following Cainen. She gave me this disgusting feature of a head!" Cerubia spat. "It's been my pet project to find out how to turn myself back, since conventional magic, including that of your mother's, never worked." Cerubia's eyes narrowed. "Auria's evil magic is nothing to be trifled with, young one. Be wary of that."

Aelwen looked back at Gerel. He gazed straight at Cerubia, raising an eyebrow. "Sometimes, what may seem like a curse may actually be a great gift. After all, is that not what led to the creation of this city and all of it's cool technology stuff?" He gave a sly grin, though Aelwen could still sense his deep-set terror.

Cerubia's neck feathers ruffled in a huff. She grabbed Gerel by his shirt collar, wrestling him off of Aelwen's back with surprising strength for a woman of her stature.

"Listen here, child of Auria," she hissed through her long, ebony beak, "I wish to no longer hear any of your blasphemous lies! Watch your lying tongue!"

"Cerubia! Unhand him at once!" Aelwen cried.

The Great Witch briskly ran toward the end of the room, dragging a screaming Gerel all the way. "Come, Aelwen! Let's get this over with!" Huge, shadowy hands burst from the ground, taking Gerel by the wrists and freeing Cerubia's hands.

Aelwen tried to catch up, watching as Cerubia opened the tank to the left and the shadow hands strapped Gerel down inside of it. A gag was put into his mouth, dampening the sound of his cries.Tongues of flame burst from his hands, but fizzled out as soon as they touched the air.

"What are you doing!?" Aelwen screamed. She shoved Cerubia to the side. The witch gave a loud caw, wielding a small golden wand inlaid with fine amethysts. The shadow arms latched on to Aelwen, setting her gently into the other tank.

Cerubia regained her happy composure, brushing down raised feathers. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry I had to jump this on you, dearie, but the only way to transform you back into human is to use another human as a basis for the conversion."

"You can't be serio-"

"Tut tut tut! Listen, dearie!" Cerubia patted Aelwen on the nose. "I am not nearly as strong a sorceress as your mother was. I can out change you like she did. I will have to use the life of him in order to do it."

Aelwen's breath quickened, her eyes widening in desperation. "You can't do that! He doesn't deserve to die! He's helped me so much, saved my life on multiple occasions, he doesn't deserve-"