Imperial

Chapter 63

No one moved for several moments after the Dragon King's death. From what I could see, dragons were staring at him in shock, their eyes wide.

Drawing in a breath, I finally tore my gaze away. All to easily, I could remember him peering at me, before uttering his final words. From the way he'd stared at me, they were undoubtedly aimed at me, but why?  Why had he directed towards me, not anyone else? I'd never asked him to do anything!

Frustrated, I shook my head. Would I ever know what he'd been talking about?

Finally, dragons started roaring in triumph. Even many of the imperials - relieved to be free at last. However, some glared at Kronx and Raegon venomously. Tensing, I watched as a few slowly approached the Dragon King, their eyes dark with grief.  

I blinked, confused.

Hadn't the Dragon King forced them to join his wing? Why weren't they glad to be free? Finally, they could go do as they wish!

Sighing, I glanced across the sky. Already dragons were dispersing, some imperials hastily vanishing across the sky whilst others lingered a little longer. None of them seemed comfortable around here - each eager to get away from the area for whatever reason.

Even the dragons controlled by humans were disappearing, returning to their city.

Soon, it was only my wing left, alongside four other imperials - one of which was the green and black dragoness I'd been fighting earlier. Her head was tilted slightly as she stared at Kronx and Raegon, while the three dragons behind her stirred impatiently.

"You killed him," she murmured to the two drakes, as though she could not completely believe what she was saying. Aside from disbelief, it was impossible to tell whether she was upset or relieved by the Dragon King's death.

Kronx rumbled in agreement, his silver eyes impossible to read.

Curling her lip, the dragoness lashed her tail, startling the three imperial dragons behind her. Tensing, I glared at her, more than ready to pounce on her should she attack Kronx or Raegon - even if I knew it barely did anything to her at all.

But I did not need to.

Instead, the dragons behind her pulled her away, trying to calm her down.

Even as I watched, one of the drakes, a big blue and white drake raised his head and glanced towards us. My breath caught as I instantly recognised him to be Amaroth - and beside me, Rutilus stiffened, a low growl escaping his throat.

"Come see us after the humans have left you," he rumbled, visibly cringing away from Rutilus's cold glare. Nonetheless, he glanced back towards Kronx, before accompanying the few other imperials away.

After the humans had left us? What did he mean? All of the humans had returned back to the city!

Nonetheless, I twisted around to peer at the city. Sure enough, its gates were wide open and humans were pouring out. None of them were riding a dragon, meaning that it would take them a while to reach us. Which was good; we'd have time to rest, and recover.

Instinctively, I glanced across my wing, searching for Soriak. Within a matter of seconds, I found her, hovering beside Thorak. Relief surged through me as I hastily soared towards them. Despite being tired and battered, they were alive. Neither of them suffered a serious injury, either.

"Where's Caelum?" I asked, even as Rutilus drew up beside me.

Neither of them answered immediately.

Suddenly anxious, I glanced across my wing, hoping that I'd find her hovering beside another dragon. But I was wrong. No matter how many times I peered at each dragon in my wing, I could not find the sky blue dragoness.

Perhaps she'd gone hunting, as we had been going to do before the imperials showed up. Especially knowing that the fight was over, she had no reason not to.

But one glance towards Thorak denied my hopeful theory.

His pale blue eyes darkened as he avoided to meet my gaze. Nonetheless, he grunted, "dead."

I drew a sharp intake of air. Dead. Caelum was dead. It was hard to believe that she was dead. Never had I imagined that she'd be the one killed in this battle. She'd always been so optimistic to the point that her enthusiasm was often irritating, but now... she was gone.

"I tried to save her," the dark grey drake stated, his low voice strained with pain and guilt. Slowly, he shook his head, unable to finish what ever he'd been going to say.

Even Soriak stared down at the ground mournfully, her blue eyes dark. She did not seem surprised at all by what the dark grey drake had said, meaning that she'd already been aware of Caelum's death.

A long steady sigh escaped me as I still tried to grasp the fact that my friend was dead. "Adoria is dead, too," I murmured, brushing my wing against Rutilus's flank sympathetically.

He did not move. His eyes remained glazed as he stared into the distance whilst his rugged wing-beats barely kept him aloft.

"You should land," I urged him, jerking the red and gold drakes out of his thoughts. For a split second, his eyes met mine - blazing with pain and agony, before he turned towards the ground.  Without so much as a word, he dived down, landing not far away from Kronx and Raegon.

Exchanging a glance with Thorak and Soriak, we followed after him, settling on the ground beside him.

None of us spoke, understanding each others' need for silence as we grieved. Our friend and Rutilus's mother were only two dragons that had died; their were bound to be countless more. We might have been victorious when Argon was killed, but I could not ignore the fact that many dragons in my wing had died.

"I never thought that this day would come so soon," Raegon grunted, and I twisted my head towards him. Beside him, Kronx grunted in agreement, although his silver eyes were shadowed. 

"What are you doing to do now?" I asked curiously. Perhaps at last, he could come with us, and fly alongside us! 

A long, rumbling sigh escaped the black drake. "I don't know."

Yet again, we fell silent, listening to the footsteps gradually growing louder as the humans approached us.

*~*

1059 words

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Next chapter should be out tomorrow.