Occultus Draconem

Fire and Nightmares

"I see you've finally rejoined the mortal world, Prince Zane," a small old woman said as she rang the water out of a cloth, then wiped his face with it. "I thought for sure that the Underworld was ready to sweep you away."

Prince Zane again? How could he still be stuck inside Zane's memories? Why couldn't he just wake up?

Zane didn't say anything to the woman—he stared down at his hands, replaying everything that had happened, over and over in his head. The castle had been invaded, and he had taken what was left of the Draconian people, leading them to Senin while his mother...

"My mother..." Zane was speaking more to himself than to the old woman. How could he have just left her there? Why did he listen to her? Why did she let him leave? He knew he had his duty to the people of Draconia, but what about his duty to her? He was torn between being angry with his mother and being angry with himself. Someone had to take the blame, didn't they? He finally settled on taking it himself. "I failed her."

The old woman hushed him, pressing the cool, damp cloth to his cheek. Her face was soft and kind, like his mother's, and it was more than he could bear. He turned away from her and covered his face, not wanting her to see him in tears. His chest shuddered and his shoulders shook with the sobs he tried to hold back.

"What happened to the queen is not your fault," she said, placing a reassuring hand on his back, "and our king is happy to help your people."

"Just stay away from me!" he shouted, jumping up from the bed.

In a fit of rage and despair, Zane knocked everything off the bedside table. A clay bowl shattered at his feet, splashing the cool water all over the dark stone floor. He kicked the remained of the pottery away as he stormed out of the room.

He stalked through the halls of Senin, filled with desperation, looking for an escape. He couldn't breathe, and being deep in the mountain kingdom wasn't helping. Zane was a Dragon—he needed the sky and the open air.

A few of the Draconian refugees who crossed his path tried to stop and talk to him, but Zane didn't stop to acknowledge his people. He had to get out. Now. The longer he looked for an escape route, the worse he felt. His breathing was quick and raspy, his chest tight, and splotches of bright colors started to invade his vision while darkness crept into the edges.

He wasn't sure when he stopped or when he fell, but he suddenly found that everything was sideways. Draconians and Senians alike rushed to where he lay on the cold stone floor as his vision faded to black.

***

"How is he?" Phoenyx asked, approaching Kenric tentatively. She didn't know if he was still angry with them for interrupting their Occultus Draocnem meeting. When all he did was shrug, his gaze fixed on Blaise, she sat down beside him. "That bad, huh?"

"I don't know what else to do," he said, watching Blaise's chest shudder with every labored breath. "He has a fever, but he's not ill. He's suffering, but he isn't injured. How do you help someone when you don't know what's wrong?"

"Can't you just read his mind and find out?"

"If only," Kenric said with a soft laugh. "No. This is one mind that I can't seem to get a hold of. There's just too much going on in there... Too many thoughts, mixed up memories... It's a disaster. Two souls are not meant to share one body, and it makes Blaise's mind nearly impossible to penetrate, especially when Prince Zane is trying to keep me out."

"It must be tough for him..."

"I should have seen it," he said, a dark serious look in his eyes. "Talking to himself all the time... refusing to admit that he was a Dragon, even though we'd already seen him start to transform before... I don't know what happened to him, but somehow, Blaise was used to create some sort of Human-Dragon hybrid. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of pain he's in every single day. Dragon blood is like poison to Humans."