Seducing The Dragon King

Chapter Four: Cursed From Within

    A woman sneaks into the clearing, her hunting crossbow trained on the two of us.
    "Move a finger and I will impale you," she says warningly. The woman's brown hair falls into her face, dark eyes narrowed. She's dressed in leather hunting gear, and a golden necklace with an intricate symbol hangs from her neck. She points at Jayce with her weapon.
    "What happened to him?"
    "We were attacked by dragons," Jayce explains. "Nidhogg. We barely made it out with our lives."
    "You barely made it out with your life," the woman says, looking at me. "She seems fine." Jayce removes his arm from around my shoulders and shifts unsteadily to block her sight of me.
    "I am a warrior," Jayce clarifies. "She is not."
    "I'd reckon you're more than that," the woman says angrily. "You're a dragon."
    "Not any dragon, Trisha," another voice chimes in. "We're in the presence of royalty." A blonde man drops from the trees and drops into a mocking bow. "You are a long way from home, Your Majesty."
    "Thomas," Jayce growls.
    "So you do remember those whose lives you derail and bring to ruin," Thomas says. Just like Trisha, Thomas is wearing leather hunting gear, but his is blood red.
    "Dramatic as always," Jayce scoffs. Thomas angrily unsheaths a sword from his side and points it at Jayce.
    "I will take great pleasure in making you scream just like they did. By the time I am done with you, you will beg for a swift end." They? Who is he talking about? These two clearly have some history.
    "Do you always talk so much when action is required?" Jayce taunts. Thomas moves as if to attack, but the woman from before– Trisha– places a hand on his chest to stop him.
"You haven't changed at all," Jayce smirks. "You still have no follow-through."
"Oh, that is rich coming from the Dark King himself," Thomas scoffs. "Have you told her whatyou've done? Who you are?" I turn to look at Jayce, raising a quizzical brow. 
    "What is he talking about?"
    "Stay out of this, Cyrilla," Jayce says sharply. "He doesn't know anything."
"Anything?" Thomas yells, pushing out of Trisha's arms and taking a dangerous step closer. "I know everything. I know who you are underneath the red cloak and dagger. Darkling!"
"Stop this at once!" Jayce roars, stepping so close to Thomas their eyes are mere inches apart.
"Or what?" Thomas demands. "You will let your freak flag fly and burn us all to a crisp where we stand? I have been waiting for this moment for too long. Do you really think I haven't taken measures to prepare myself?"
    "Your quarrel is with me," Jayce says firmly. "Let Cyrilla go and we will settle this." But Thomas shakes his head, taking a step back as he raises his sword.
    "You and your lady friend are not going anywhere."
    "You really think that you can stop me?" Jayce taunts, looking at Thoma's sword in amusement. "Even on the brink of death, I could eat you alive. And I mean that literally, of course."
    "I think we have enough firepower to put down an army of dragons, not just one," Thomas shoots back.
    "What a joke!" Jayce laughs. "I think it is high time I remind you how small and feeble your kind is." Jayce starts to change into his dragon form, but before he can, someone rushes up from behind and sticks a needle into the side of his neck.
    "I think you are the one who needs to be reminded that beasts belong in cages," a man says, his long brown hair falling over his face. This man grapples with Jayce for a moment, but after a few moments, whatever he injected Jayce with takes over and he slumps forward weakly. Before he can fall to the ground, I grab his arm.
    "What did you inject him with?" I demand, whirling on the new man.
    "Something to remind him of his own mortality," the man sneers.
    "And what of her?" Trisha asks, pointing her crossbow at me lazily. "What do we do with her?"
    "She is not human," the third man says. "And she keeps vial company. I say we kill her."
    "Seconded," Trisha nods. Jayce seings unsteadily against me until I can no longer support his weight and he drops to his knees. I hold on tightly to his shoulders from above.
    "You... want her... you... go... through me," Jayce manages to get out.
    "Look who still has some fight left in him," Trisha laughs. "I say we skin his little girlfriend right here so he can enjoy the show."
    "I will flay the skin off of all your human bones," Jayce says furiously.
    "Good luck with that, pet," the third man chuckles. "The serum we injected you with is some potent magical stuff. You will not be able to turn into a dragon for a long time to come. And we don't even plan to let you see the sunrise, so let's get on with it, shall we?"
    "No, wait," Thomas says, stepping forward. "You gave me an idea, Ren. We don't kill him. We expose him to pain and humiliation so powerful he will wish we had killed him." He looks between the two humans with a wicked grin. "Folks, welcome home our new pet dragon. I don't know about you, but I've always wanted one."
    "Fine," Trisha shrugs. "Works for me." She walks over to Jayce and, taking advantage of his ailing condition, slips iron shackles around his wrists. "Chin up, pet. You belong to us now." Then, Jayce laughs loudly enough to startle me. I look down at him and find him staring at our assailants with blazing wrath in his eyes and a manic grin playing on his lips.
    "Firstly, I regret to inform you that your potion didn't work. And secondly– run." With a jerk of his wrists, he snaps the shackles in half and the heavy metal falls to the ground.
    "Impossible," the third man– Ren– gasps, taking a fearful few steps back. "There was enough dark magic in that to kill an elephant." Jayce gets off his knees and calmly regards Ren.
    "You die first." His voice sounds deep and echoing like it is coming from some celestial being and not from the Jayce I once knew.
    "How is this happening?" Ren asks, looking at Thomas and Trisha wildly.
    "It shouldn't!" Trisha exclaims. "Unless..."
    "It's the curse lurking within him," Thomas says slowly. "It has repelled the potion. The dark magic inside him neutralized the potion's dark magic."
    "But that means–" Trisha gulps. Thomas nods.
    "We have just awoken the curse within him."