The Blood's Flame (The Dragons of Flareia Book 1)

Chapter 6 - Corrian

Bacchi's Evergreen

26th Year of the Ocean

1st Moon

Corrian tiptoed through the archway, leaves crunching beneath his feet despite his efforts. He paused, laying a hand against the old oak that formed one side of the arch, and reached down, taking a handful of leaves from by his feet. Some were yellowed rather than their usual green, others brown and crumbling beneath his fingers. The Evergreen was dying.

He closed his eyes and sighed. His grandfather, the late Dragonheir would have known what to do, but Corrian was lost. Still, he needed to try.

Corrian pressed onward through the tunnel of trees, trying to ignore the alien sound of the leaves crunching underfoot. In normal circumstances, it was rare for any leaves to even fall from the enchanted trees of the Evergreen, let alone for the leaves to be dying. Corrian's heart sunk as he stepped from the tree tunnel into the heart of the Evergreen.

The flowers were drooping, many almost bare as their colourful petals lay shrivelled on the ground by their roots. The grass was almost as yellow as Corrian's amber eyes and, like the leaves, crunched underfoot. The trees of the Evergreen seemed to be weighed down by an immense weight, looking like they could barely stand.

Dotted throughout the Evergreen were the Earth Dragon's legendary rock sculptures – some were very small, while others we on a gargantuan scale. In normal circumstances, travellers visited the Evergreen to admire them. But the Evergreen had been closed to the public for nearly all of First Moon. As Corrian looked around the husk of what the Evergreen used to be, he spotted one of the rock sculptures – it had been a mermaid whose eyes followed you as you walked – was in ruins. He sighed again.

"Bacchi!" He called, his voice echoing off the dying trees as he wandered further into the Evergreen. "Bacchi!"

The Dragon of Earth didn't respond, but this was no shock to Corrian. He walked on, pausing as he rounded the corner which usually led to an incredible rose garden, but was now home to a tangle of thorns. Amidst the thorns sat a new sculpture, the Dragon of Earth – in the form of a slim, brown dragon with small, folded wings, rather than his typical green and brown form that was huge and foreboding – curled around the sculpture's base, his eyes closed. Atop an elegant round pedestal sat a larger-than-life squirrel, carved into the stone. It was of Bacchi's Familiar, Tellus, a squirrel who traded in secrets. Corrian knew Tellus had been asking Bacchi to make a sculpture of him for centuries. But now his wish was granted, he wasn't even there to see it.

"Bacchi," Corrian said softly.

The dragon raised his head, squinting at the boy before him. Corra? He asked.

Corrian shook his head. "It is me, O Great Bacchi of the Evergreen, Corrian Mae – Corra's grandson."

Bacchi continued to squint his eyes as he assessed Corrian. Have you grown since I last saw you, boy? He paused. Say, where is Corra?

Corrian closed his eyes and sighed. He seemed to be sighing more than breathing, these days. "Grandfather Corra passed away in the spring, Bacchi. You grew a sea of white lilies for him in the east garden."

Bacchi slouched, dropping his head onto the coils of his body once more. Oh yes. The dragon murmured. So he did.

"Bacchi," Corrian said slowly, "the First Moon is nearly over. You must choose a fifth Dragonheir, or you will be without one for the next fifty years."