Dragon Blood (Completed)

The Spell

From this altitude, he could see that seven shrines were lit for the Kolyva. As he began his decent, he started to make out the prayers that emanated from the Kolyva circle, where deep voices were chanting praises to Ember, the Mother of Fire, pleading with her to allow King Theo's soul to pass through to the Land Beyond.

They landed in the dark shadows behind some trees, just inside the castle walls, transforming to their mortal forms as soon as their paws hit the soft grass. They peered around the tree to see Maximus, the Redblood King, and his daughter, crossing the field toward the castle, still in their dragon forms. They were escorted by a number of the Bluescale guards, as well as their own.

The Bluescales stood out with their blue and silver tabards bearing the crest of their castle—two dragons with joined tails over water. The Redblood guard wore tabards of red and gold with two dragons fighting, with Redblood the obvious victor since the Redbloods' royal power was their fighting skills.

Zane's guard would arrive within the hour since there was no way for the common guard to keep up with a Blackskin. They had to either give their guard enough of a head start to arrive before them, or they had to go without their guard, arriving ahead of them as they were doing now.

Zane and his father hailed the escorts and joined the Redbloods entering the castle. They both had the same jewel red eyes, like smoldering embers, and thick hair. Lilly was one of the rarer royals since she was an anomaly. She had inherited her father's royal powers instead of her mother's, which was the more traditional occurrence.

"It's not every day we arrive before a Blackskin," Lilly Redblood said, clasping her hand over her heart in a formal greeting. Zane and his father returned the gesture.

"We must have gotten the message last," Titus said, turning to march toward the castle entrance.

"What do you think it means?" Zane asked the tall red-eyed dragon, who was just a few years older than himself. Lilly was not beautiful in a traditional way. She was almost as tall as her father, though not nearly as muscled. She'd always exuded confidence and an easy comradery that invited others to be around her.

"I think Maze drained Theo's blood and is keeping the last of the Bluescale power in the vault. I'll bet she's come up with some insane way to use it at the alignment." Lilly's voice was hushed, as if speaking a truth too ghastly for polite company.

"Lilly, don't be morbid," Maximus chided, his red eyes flashing with disapproval. "We are a civilized race. We don't drain the blood from our kind to keep for later use."

"We would if he was dual-natured," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, unfazed by his look.

"Why don't we just go in and see what it is then?" Maximus turned to join Titus, throwing back his broad shoulders as he walked. With his long torso erect, he stood at his full height as he barreled through the halls like he was king of this castle instead of another.

"So, what do you think?" Lilly asked Zane as they walked together.

"I suppose it would have to be a blood supply of some kind, though I'm not sure Maze would have drained King Theo."

"What else could it be? All the other Bluescales are dead."

"I don't know." Zane shrugged, though his mind was racing with curiosity as the mystery consumed his thoughts.

They followed the escorts that led them through the sparkling white-walled castle. Like most castles in Ethiolan, the center was the oldest part of the structure, built before they had the ability to transform into dragons. The old sections were smaller, only accommodating dragons in their mortal forms. The newer sections that were added were large enough for a dragon to walk through the halls without destroying the structure with its massive size.