The Dragon King

Quaem's (dream) POV - The Plot

The door opened and humans filed in. He trembled. The darkness had swooped in, creeping closer the longer he was in the dark room. It flitted from shadow to shadow as the light filtered in, the echoing of the human footsteps repeating in his head.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The dragonet raised his head and a boy stepped forward. With a trembling hand, he reached forward and touched Quaem's scales. His head snapped round and the boy cried out, teeth marks imprinted into his arm. The humans retreated.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The door closed. The darkness returned. The dragonet trembled.

The light returned. A pitcher of water was pushed towards the dragonet. He raised his head, shivering before lapping up the water. He felt a hand on his scales. The young dragonet, too scared to bite the new human, a boy, looked at the hand and did nothing. The boy stroked his nose and immediately his mind hurt. He screamed out, releasing the torrent of emotions that had been building since the death of his old life.

Hello

The young dragonet jumped. The was a voice in his head.

Don't worry. We're bonded. This means I'm a dragon rider and you are my dragon. This is good.

The months passed. The bond between boy and dragon weakened. Quaem, now a teenager of 2 winters, was growing. The young dragon walked up the path to the first flight cliff. His boy was waiting. He would never, ever call that boy his rider. He was a dragon. A mighty beast, the apex predator. He would not submit. The anger that had been growing since he was left in that black room was still growing.

The paths was rocky and was surrounded by hedges. Bees wafted about lazily, one bee even coming close enough to try and land on his nose. One breath of fire. The ashes dropped to the floor. He climbed up the final part of the cliff and paused to take in the view. The rolling hills, the lush green grass and in the distance, the desert. He remembered when he travelled through there, the parched throat, the prickles of the cactus and, most horrifying of all, a decaying corpse of a goat. The head had been ripped off, the blood already hardened and crusty. He had leaned forward to take a sniff before recoiling in disgust. Maggots had claimed the entire carcass, a seething mass of worm like creatures, a putrid decaying sense filling the air as they wriggled along.

He shook his head and looked at the boy. The boy grabbed the spikes and pulled himself on, yanking on his horns as the boy scooted forwards onto his neck. Quaem tensed his legs, leaned back and sprang into the air. He flapped his wings awkwardly before harnessing one of the air currents and gliding over the forest. The boy was whispering to himself:

"I'm a Dragon Rider! I'm a Dragon Rider!"

Quaem spotted a glimmer of black. He lazily glided down, hovering just above the tree trunks to peer intently into the forest below. A giant scorpion. He poked his head through the trees

"What are you?" He asked good naturedly.

One of them clicked back. "We are the Sarsians and we will have revenge on the Dragon King,".

As the dream continued, Quaem visited the Sarsians more and more frequently. They formulated a plan. he would open up the gates to the palace. The Sarsians would swarm through the streets, stinging and killing only lightning dragons. When they reached the throne room, he would burn down the doors and one of them, the leader, would stab the King. The Sarsian Leader concluded.

"And then I will be King,". Quaem blinked. The Sarsians could no longer plan thanks to Iskierkos. The Kingdom would have no hope.

"No!" He stated. "I will be King,".  The Leader's guards readied their stings. The Sarsian looked at Quaem.

"What payment will you give in exchange for you being King,". The dragon looked behind him at the boy, who had his eyes closed in mute terror, trembling like a leaf.

The Sarsian leader clicked back. "Agreed".

Quaem scooped up the boy in his talons and flew up, into the sky. He flipped over and plummeted down, about to plunge into the trees before levelling out and dropping the boy into the clearing. The screams followed him back to the clearing.

The plan had worked. The King was dead. Lightning Dragons were put in their rightful stations in life. The lowest of the low. Humans were now eradicated from the palace as the new Captain of the Guard, Ceylon, had told him. Quaem curled up, folding his wings over his tail. The Sarsians had returned to the forest. He was King. He only had one fear, a secret fear which no one knew about.

He was still afraid of the dark.