Down to Earth~ Sequel to Peter Pan's Dragon Girl

Chapter 28

"Your plan to regain the title of Dragon King is to use me to betray my own grandfather? For a greedy, banished Dragon who let his entire race be hunted to extinction? Never in a million years." The old and ancient being narrowed his eyes in distaste and annoyance. The nerve this puny and weak little worm in a filthy human body had against him. He was the rightful King of the Dragon race, whether there were any left in this ruined and crumbling rock or not.

"As the rightful ruler you will do as I command-" Elias scoffed at the serpent hidden away in his cave as the world fell to death and decay. He watched his people be slaughtered so their skins could decorate stone walls, their bones were strung from poles and ropes like Christmas decor and their murders bragged about from one drunken human to another.

"As far as I'm concerned the only true King of the Dragons is Alecon Black- my grandfather. Not some unworthy maggot with no honor and no sense of family." Absint growled loudly and the mountain quakes with his weight as he took his first steps into the light of day to cut Elias down. The male slid down to a lower ridge before turning into his Dragon body, snatching the Black Pirate from the mountainside, and launched into the sky. He didn't have time to fight this old lizard, he needed to find the bird that stole Reine.

Black fire shot by his snout and he twisted to avoid the blast. He whipped around to see the pale grey beast had unraveled his tattered wings and was following after him in a rage. He took in a deep breath before firing off his own blaze of pearly white fire. Absint wasn't nearly as quick as he was and so his shot slammed right over his snout and into his eyes, rendering the old beast blind. Elias took this opportunity to speed off from Absint's mountain to one a few valleys away.

"Curse you, grandson of Alecon Black! I will have my revenge!" Elias and the Black Pirate were silent as they traversed the rest of the Rocky Mountains in search of anyone who could tell them about the bird they were hunting for. Halfway down the ridge of mountains they decided to call it a night and so found an abandoned cave as the sun dipped below the horizon.

"What in the hell was all that about?" The Black Pirate broke the silence as he referred to their encounter with the former Dragon King.

"He was Dragon King before my grandfather overthrew his rule during a time where hunting and slaughtering every Dragon to be found was considered a noble sport amongst the Human race. He was forced to leave his life behind, including his own name. Grandad named him Absint, meaning Banished so if any Dragon were to encounter him in their travels they would know to avoid any contact with him at all costs. He stood by and let my heritage be hunted down like animals.

He is probably what happened to your crewmen when they were sent to the mountains. But I doubt he is the one controlling the bird, he looked like he hadn't left his cave in eons. Plus the bird is taking the strongest, which is something Absint couldn't handle on his best day." The unlikely duo watched as the sky set on fire with the setting sun. Hues of reds and blues and purples all painted with a wash of gold spread over the skies. It reminded him of his time watching the sunset with Red and he found himself wondering if they were truly okay without him and Reine to keep them together and safe.

"Have you ever stopped to think maybe we won't ever find it or her?" Elias glared over at the Pirate across the cave from him.

"No, I have not. I refuse to think that way until it's an unavoidable truth. It shouldn't be such a hassle to hunt down, it may be large but it's still a bird. Predatory birds nest in high places like trees and cliffsides. That bird is too big for trees, and with the state of this planet I doubt there are many trees left."

"No, just the ones found on islands close to whatever water we have left. And the only cliffside big enough to house that monster is the Great Rift in the south." Elias figured that what he called the Great Rift was what used to be called the Grand Canyon.

"Then at dawn we head for the Great Rift and start looking. If we find nothing then we move to the mountains on other continents." The Black Pirate eyed Elias with a look he couldn't quite read.

"Why do you want to find her anyway? You two a thing or something?" Elias quirked a brow at the male and his questions. Why is he so interested?

"No, but the others need her and I'm their best hope at finding each other again. Why do you hate their family so much? You and your old crew?" He sneered at the mention of the group he had been protecting since he arrived on this barren planet.

"It's not the others we have a war with, it's Reine specifically."

"Why? From what I've met with so far she has been a rather caring and rational human." The Pirate chopped out an unfeeling laugh before scanning the distant horizon with a far away look in his eyes.

"She wasn't always that way. Before she met those people she was the head of a family of bandits and murderers. Called themselves The Regime. They killed everything they could get their hands on, Jabbers and Haggards and people were all lumped in as the same prey for them. She was their head when I became Black Pirate Commander. She would gut my men and string their intestines around the beaches just for the fun of it. I swore to get rectification for their lives, but justice is a cruel creature. Her entire family was taken by a herd of Jabbers but she was left alive to be found and accepted as their leader. My war with her doesn't end simply because she changed pawns." Elias had a hard time believing that Reine could murder a person in cold blood, but then again it seemed he didn't know her all that well.

"You're saying that Reine... murdered innocent people?"

"Innocent people, once convicted criminals, children or elderly she didn't care. But she wasn't called Reine back then."

"What was she called?" The Black Pirate locked eyes with Elias, his gaze more like he was looking through him and glaring daggers into Reine, wherever she may be.

"They called her the Red Queen of Hearts."