INFERNAL - 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐲𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

TWO

Okmok's lips curled in a smile.

"Not I, my liege. I am but a voice for the colonies."

A drip of molten rock slipped from between the Pendragon's lips, spattering on the floor. Okmok saw it, and swallowed. Rightful or not, it would do him little good to raise the ire of the Pendragon before he had a chance to enact his plans.

"And what message is it that you bring... on their behalf?" His words dripped with as much fire as his lips.

Okmok's eyes flicked to Ndete. She met them evenly. This impote would never stand on the raised stone. She would make certain. Nor would his impote offspring.

As if invoked, a stir began near one of the caves just to the side of the dais. Okmok lifted the tops of his wings.

"You remember my son, Puyu."

His deep red scales emerged from the crowd. They looked darker, Ndete thought, as if stained. He lifted his head as he came closer, his black eyes finding hers beside her father. His lips curled as he settled beside his father.

"Ah, yes. Puyu," Her father intoned. "He has frequented our warrens."

Okmok inclined his head. "As you say, Sire." He looked up. "I am honored that you recall him."

"How could I forget the one who damaged my own offspring when she was still shell-soft?"

Okmok's mouth gaped as he searched for a response.

Warmth spread through Ndete.

He had not forgotten.

Of course I did not.

His head angled toward her so that he could catch her eye. "What say you, daughter? Okmok of the western reaches, leader of the red colony would ask you to mate his son Puyu. Your offspring would be names successors. I would hear your thoughts."

Ndete turned a scalding look on Puyu, hoping he could see all of the loathing and disgust that was in her heart. She would never have him. Still, she could not speak these words aloud. She could not bring dishonor to her family; to her father. He was the great Krakatau, Pendragon of all the colonies, and Ndete was his daughter.

"My heart grieves for my brother," she said truthfully. "It was a great loss. One that my heart will feel for a long while."

Ndete saw some of the others nodding their heads in agreement. A Dragon's heart was larger, it was said, and so held on to all things longer than other creatures.

"Our people worry that this sickness could spread before it is done. They are worried, but they are not afraid."

Murmurs of approval added to the nods.

"We are dragons, mighty and strong."

Roars of approval broke out. Flames brightened the cavern.

"My father, the mighty Krakatau, guides us well. He will not let us falter."

Mouths opened wide. Roars and flame filled the air, sending smoke curling to the ceiling far above.

"He is Pendragon! King of all the colonies! He is the mightiest of us all, and he will not fail you!"

Stomping filled the room. The roars were one sound, voices joined together as they shouted his name.

Krakatau! Krakatau!

She let it go on for a moment longer.

"Pina would not have failed you," she said more softly, and the noise died down as the others quieted so that they could hear her words. "I am not my father, or my brother, but I will do my best not to fail you."

She let her eyes move across the room, stopping to look at faces. Some she knew, some she did not, but she felt she knew them all. They were her people.

For the first time, Ndete felt the meaning of the word honor seep into her. She had believed that it was an iron shackle, binding her to duties that she never wanted. Looking out, seeing all of the many eyes looking back at her; some filled with expectations, others with worry, but all with hope, she realized it was so much more.

If it took Okmok and Puyu for her to see that, so be it. She looked down at them now, and saw the grim look of defeat in Okmok's dark eyes as he observed the crowd around him, the shouts of her father's name still echoing through the stone chambers. Puyu's eyes, she saw, held something else. Surprise, perhaps. Confusion. He had expected nothing less than to be named.

Ndete held his eyes with her own as she spoke the words that would both seal and release her fate.

"I invoke the Allocai."