The Dragon Liberator: Escapee

-16-

POV: Fendrel

Venom and Fendrel stormed up to Fragrance—still being preened in the clearing with his children—in tandem. Fragrance worriedly inspected his scales. Fendrel would have smirked if he weren't so furious.

Fendrel had the stone tucked under one arm and the wood slab under the other.

"Fragrance, you have some explaining to do." Venom stopped mere feet before him. Fendrel stood beside Venom and glared with hatred at the floral noble.

"Mist isn't here, must I prove you wrong once again?" Fragrance's eyes traveled to the objects under Fendrel's arms. His neck arched. "Where did you get those?"

Sour and Divine's ears perked, and their necks arched as well.

"I should be asking you the same thing." Fendrel held out the stone.

Fragrance snorted. "A rock? What are you trying to get out of me?"

Fendrel's fist clenched the stone. "I used this as my mother's headstone after she died. Why did you take it and hide it by your house?"

The floral dragon's eyes narrowed. "What were you doing snooping around my personal quarters?" He flexed the talons on one of his front paws. His claws lit up with an eerie brightness.

Other floral dragons appeared from the trees to inspect.

Fog and Birch trampled twigs as they ran to the clearing. Thea, Viper, and Oliver appeared soon after.

Fragrance's head snapped up to glare at Venom as the dusk dragon growled. "We told you we would be inspecting Fresh Grove. We're not the ones in the wrong here."

"You came here looking for Mist and you found nothing. Now, you must leave." Fragrance stood and flared his wings in agitation.

"We aren't going anywhere until you explain yourself." Venom began to flare his own wings. "Why did you take Axella's headstone?"

Fendrel held out the slab of wood with the message written into it. "And who is this creature that told you to take things from Stone Edge?"

Fog gasped. "Fragrance is this true? Did you grave rob?"

Fragrance's ear flattened against his head. "I sent my scouts out there to collect a few things. I never told them to steal from the dead."

Fendrel clenched his teeth. "Everything there belongs to the dead."

The yellow dragon whipped his head toward Fendrel. "Listen well. You have been nothing but a nuisance to me since you've arrived. If you don't leave now, there will be consequences."

Venom roared and bared his fangs. "Don't threaten my son!"

Fragrance jumped away.

The clearing went silent.

"Your son?" Fragrance laughed in incredulousness. "Venom, he's a human. He's vermin."

Venom stretched his neck higher, even though he was already taller than Fragrance. He opened his abyssal wings more. "I swore to his mother that I would protect him with every ounce of my being. The next time you speak to him that way, it's your life that will be in danger."

The lemon-colored dragon shoved his nose in Venom's face. "If you kill me, Cloud will strip you of your position as a noble and as the commander of the royal army. You can't do anything to me." He kneaded his claws into the dirt. The strange light in his claws grew more intense. "Meaning, if I have probable cause to hurt your son—" he raised one of his talons "—such as trespassing on private grounds, then I'm obligated to take matters into my own claws." He slashed Fendrel's face.