Dragon of the Flames

Chapter 9

Shadow zoomed through the halls.

Turn left, swoop up, avoid a guard, turn right, turn sideways, slip through an open window...

The colors of the entire world exploded around her. Dawnlight poured on her face. Light, the light is good. A new day. Freedom.

"Sha--Sweet!" a voice called under her. Clay was looking at her impatiently. Shadow smirked. Clay was the only one who could see the Queen of Dragons as who she truly was, with the exception of Sweet. Yet he had to play the game like everyone else.

"Get down from there, you're going to wake up everyone with your sunrise celebration-" The dragon was more grumpy than usual, since he wasn't even fully awake yet. One on his eyes was even twitching, half-closed.

Shadow snickered softly and flew down into Clay's room. Simplistic, like his sister's, the room had a nest-bed, a few shelves with books, a desk, and, unlike his sister's sleeping quarters, a giant helmet propped up on a shelf. The head armor was much too large for Clay, but it would most certainly fit him in his adulthood. Two horizontal spikes encrusted with adamantine to strengthen a dragon's natural defenses glittered in the early sunlight.

"Honestly, Shadow, if you're going to take the role of my sister seriously, you're going to have to act like her more..." Clay muttered, shook his head, and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He was tiredly packing scrolls into two leather bags bound by a scrap, made like that to be carried on his back with ease.

"Act like her?" Shadow gave him a genuine look of surprise and tilted her head a bit. She was so used to Sweet, she found it difficult to impersonate her, even if it was clear the other she was much more calm, timid and literate than Shadow.

"Yeah. Talk like her, take up her responsibilities -much different from being Queen, that's for sure- and most importantly, not getting into trouble." Clay gave Shadow a blatant look of accusation. The young Queen squirmed and felt the skin on her scaly face warm up. She was renown in the castle for creating trouble wherever she went.

"Of course, I can manage the acting and talking part... now... on the responsibilities and not getting in trouble part..." Shadow's voice trailed off as she gave him a goofy smile. Clay narrowed his eyes at her and finished packing, slinging the bag on his back. He marched up to Shadow, annoyed.

"Sweet doesn't have that much responsibilities, so don't complain. You already know that the education she takes is optional, since she's already old enough to be the apprentice of a Master by now, but she keeps following Elder Mana's classes."

Shadow frowned and scoffed. "That's about to change, now! I'm off on adventure, that's what! I don't care for listening to an old sleaze that studies dusty books. Magic Master is not what I want specialize in when I grow up."

Clay growled and answered back. "It might not be what you want, but it's what Sweet wants! I've seen her study more spell-casting books than any other dragon I've ever met. It's her dream."

Shadow, aggravated of Clay's sermon, replied tartly. "My dream is to be free, free like the leaves that fall in autumn and free like those pegasi flying in the sky! I feel like I'm the lonely pegasus you take care of, forced to chew the same grass in the backyard of the palace and fly in the same meadows. You can't even start to know how much that's difficult for me, knowing I'll never have that freedom..."

Shadow snapped her head, realizing that Clay had blatantly ignored her after the first few words. He was busy admiring the helmet propped up on the shelf nearby with a glassy look. She stomped over to the young male in annoyment.

"I wish I could carry this, but it's too heavy..." Shadow heard him murmur under his breath and then sigh. A small shot of compassion went through her. She remembered how, not long after visiting the Cave of Names, that Clay and Sweet had lost their mother. She had been one of the most powerful Magic Masters and Fighting Masters known to dragonkind.

Her unbearable attitude, her speedy wings, her honest nature and sharp intelligence were traits that Sweet and Clay had both shared amongst each other. Quartz was her name, a white winged dragon with dull pink scales, her ancestors renown for having taken on Tarus' minions on headfirst. The helmet on the shelf was a relic of her last battle, a unique artifact that Clay cherished.

"I won't be Sweet forever, so don't fret, okay? I appreciate her help, but I don't want to be her eternally, I don't absolutely hate my life, I'm just on a quest. A quest to regain my freedom."

Shadow hoped Clay would understand. She could only suppose Clay had understood, since he gave no sign of reply. Shaking his head slowly, he turned away from her and began marching out of the room.

"H-hey, wait up!" Shadow squeaked, flying after him and slamming the door with her tail. She caught up in a blink to the reddish-brown dragon. "Where are you going?"

Clay grunted. "I'm coming with you to Tarus' ruins." he stated, and Shadow blew up in fury.

"You can't do that! This is my adventure, my mission! You need to stay here to... to... do what you have to do!" Shadow, in her anger, stipulated quite a poor excuse. It was Clay's turn to smirk at her, but the almost inexistent toothy grin disappeared when he spoke up.

"Sweet's safe here. Sure, she has the important part of being The Queen of Dragons, but you're going on adventure. I can smell trouble from a mile away, Shadow, and you reek of it. As a future royal guard, it's my duty to protect the true Queen--"

Shadow spat at him, her attitude getting the best of her as her face under her scales heated up in embarrassment.

"I don't need a bodyguard, I can go to the Emerald Forest myself. As the Queen of Dragons, I order you not to follow me!" Clay rolled his eyes at that, used to Shadow's authoritative attitude when things didn't go her way.

"-and as your littermate and friend, I say I that I am going with you, whether you want me to or not." Clay replied firmly. The disguised Queen glared at him, snapped her jaws shut and stomped beside him, pouting. Eventually, after a while of tense silence, she spoke again.

"Do you think... do you think Sweet'll play her part correctly? What if she finds being Queen too difficult? What if she asks to change again before I get to figure out all of this?" Shadow couldn't help but voice her doubts. She could never stayed ill-tempered long.

Clay sighed, and Shadow guessed he was getting annoyed of her chattering. "She'll be fine. She's smart, good and maybe she's a bit more timid than you, but that doesn't mean she won't play her part. The three of us have been best friends since I can remember."

Shadow turned to Clay, amazed to hear him say that. The reddish-brown colored dragon was always in a foul mood. To see him trying to ease her worries was a first. It's not that he was merciless, no, Clay could be kind, it's only that Shadow had never known the dragon could... talk so much, and hold so much wisdom. So much compassion.

"Thanks, Clay." Shadow looked at him, mesmerized for a moment. She was truly lucky to have friends like Sweet and Clay, who were always there for her. She was eternally grateful of their presence. What if something happened to them because of her determination to reveal the truth? Sweet's gut twisted a bit. That couldn't happen. That wouldn't happen.

Clay grunted in reply, morphed back into his usual grumpy self, his eyes passing by slowly after every guard dragon and every fairy that passed.

Sweet was used to being always greeted everywhere she went by the royal guards, but she'd hardly say more than the occasional "'morning", "f'ternoon" or "m'hey" in reply.

Today though, no guard dared speak to her. They all passed their eyes over like she was a frame on the painting, still and part of the scenery. Almost inexistent. Perhaps it was Sweet's appearance that made her uninteresting, or the timid aura she radiated. Shadow thought back on Creed's words.

Act like Sweet. Talk like Sweet.

Shadow slumped her shoulders, drooped her ears, widened her eyes while imagining Sweet's timid gaze staring at her. Her footsteps became daintier, quiet. Remembering Sweet's cautious nature, Shadow made sure to look around once in a while to really get in the act.

"You're getting the hang of it." Clay grunted, looking at her. Shadow forced her wide grin down into a timid smile and nodded.

"Let's find Sweet. If Elder Mana got ahold of her, I know just where she is right now..."