Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

185. A Familial Sacrifice

Groveon pounded on the door to his father's Personal chamber for viewing the future. It had a special lock so that no one could get in once someone was inside. Then he heard his father's voice shout at him.

"We need to kill Selene Thetis before it is too late!" Lord Bansfivner shouted urgently.

Groveon took that as a sign his father was still alive but the urgency in his father's voice told him that he couldn't hesitate. He dashed away and began shouting orders.

It wasn't until sometime later that Lord Bansfivner stepped out of the chamber dazed and barely able to hold himself upright.

One of the guards caught him. "My lord."

"We don't have time to delay, contact our King. He must know what I have to say." Lord Bansfiver urged as the entire city continued to rumble around him.

*

Without hurting the dragon too bad, Selene and the two Valkyries grounded the pregnant dragon off in the forest. They had crash landed there since the dragon wasn't keen on getting too close to deadly dragon eating Canopy.

She was only a couple sizes smaller than the Red Fire dragon king, but also a few sizes bigger than the adolescent ones who had been the first to siege the canopy. The old bulge of her belly, the bags under her eyes from constant vigilance, lack of sheen on her scales from redirected nutrients, and overly cautious nature gave her away as a pregnant mother.

Normally, dragons could produce anywhere from one to a dozen eggs depending on luck more than anything. And this mother dragoness looked as if she would give birth to many eggs and was extra defensive of her unborn young.

The female dragon fell on her side and thrashed awkwardly back to her feet. She postured and roared at the Valkyries who stood guard over her in the skies, preventing her from safely taking off through the treetops.

Selene appeared before the dragon with her great sword. Using the back-end, she had managed to swat her out of the air. Now she stood before the much larger beast. She stabbed her sword into the ground as the dragon backed up and roared.

"Greetings Honorable mother." Selene bowed. "I'm a high priestess of the Divine Dragon Azurus. I'm here for conversation, not battle."

"You have a heavy hand for a conversationalist." The dragon hissed. Her tail brushed against a tree and realized she had no room to back up any further.

"My Sister-wife and husband are rubbing off on me. Have you perhaps heard of Shayley O'hiera Van Dravenkin or Calloway Calphius?" Selene asked respectfully.

"The God Slayer and the Guardian of the Perilous City." the dragon recited fearfully and completely backed up as far as she could manage.

"Fear not, Honored mother. I am here to offer you and your young, protection." Selene said. "It brings me no joy to harm any dragon kind. Although I feel as if Shayley is relishing the fight with the larger king far too much."

"You would ask me to betray my king?" the dragon hissed unsure if there was even a way for her to survive.

"Only if you feel it necessary. Otherwise, I'm asking you to be generous with our capture of you honored self." Selene took a nonaggressive stance with her hands showing.

"Does Azurus really live?" The dragon asked hesitantly after a long pause.

"She and several others escaped the Dravenkin Revolution to the West Isles. However, to stand against your masters, she and the others joined an alliance with Calphian." Selene answered.