Dragon's Khu'meir

Chapter Twelve

I was standing in the entrance hall, waiting for the party of dragons to return. It had been two days since Nakiirn and his party had left to deal with the rogue dragons. The day before was spent mostly in my room, resting. After the panic attack created by Eita, I'd lost consciousness whilst trying to help Dakoya. When I'd woken, I had been brought to my room. There had been a dragon with me too, but I didn't know who he was. He had informed me that Dakoya had healed in his pool and that all was well. After that, Dakoya didn't leave my side.

Even with his company though, and thankfully no other attacks, I couldn't wait to see Nakiirn again. It had been too long, too long for me anyway. A few hours had been too much for me to handle. I sighed a bit at the thought, I hadn't realized just how much I actually needed him. But the last few days had been a real pain. Also because I felt like I had almost killed Dakoya.

There was a noise from outside the hall and I was sure it was the doors opening. I looked up expectantly, hoping to see Nakirrn being the first to enter. The doors opened and a single dragon stumbled through. I'd expected to see the whole party... where were the rest of them? Then I realised that the dragon who had come back was not Nakiirn. Where is he? What happened? I thought as I watched the dragon try to make his way over to the king. He looked really bad as well, his armor was all beaten up and there were cuts and bruises in places where the armor was broken. He was bleeding! I gasped and ran over to him, trying to catch him as he stumbled to the ground. I only managed to help a bit by catching his one arm. More dragons came over to help the injured dragon make his way over to the king. I moved away from the two holding him.

"We were... We were ambushed, your highness," he said panting, still trying to get to his feet, "They... came out of nowhere and killed almost everyone... I only escaped with my life. And..." He seemed to pause, as if there was something he had to say but didn't want to. "Your son-"

"What! Where is Nakiirn?" I yelled out as I looked at the dragon in shock. My worry became worse for Nakiirn at that moment as I watched the dragon struggle to keep himself up. This is not happening! Where is he? My mind went wild with a sudden panic. I looked over to Natirien who also looked worried. He was out there all alone? How could this have happened? It was too much, and I couldn't deal with it. My vision became blurry as tears started to form until I couldn't see anything at all. The tears were flowing down my face at this point and the energy seemed to leave my body as I dropped to my knees on the floor.

My hands shook and I clenched them into tight fists to try to stem the horror that flooded me. Natirien stood from his place on the throne, quickly coming down the dais and kneeling down in front of the wounded dragon.

"Saita, what happened," Natirien urged.

The dragon named Saita seemed to struggle as he fell forward. He gripped Natirien's shoulders tightly with both hands. "Captured... your highness. They have our prince. A-and Taisei... Please... forgive me... I failed you..."

Natirien's sharp gasp filled the hall and I felt as if someone had shoved a knife through my chest. I choked on the cry that filled my throat. "No..." The word was soft, a partial moan from my lips in despair.

"Saita?" Natirien called. Then again and in more desperation as the dragon slipped forward, his grip leaving Natirien's shoulders. A sharp cracking sound filled the air, taking my attention. I looked up as I'd been staring at the floor, watching my tears puddle in my grief. What I saw stole my breath. In Natirien's grip, the dragon named Saita had grown still.

Not only that, he had gone stiff almost immediately. His rich red colored armor had taken the color of stone. Cracks appeared over his body and I realized that it wasn't just the color that had taken over. Saita was turning to stone. I gasped, covering my mouth as I watched the dragon slowly petrify. When the crackling stopped, he was a full statue. Almost immediately after he'd turned to stone, it shattered -breaking apart into small chunks of rock and dust.