The Queen of the Dawn Ch. 03

A/N: This is the chapter you've been waiting for. But it still has a lot of plot development and action sequences. So, again, if you only want sex scenes, this is most likely not for you. (I guess you could skip to the end) ;) For those who like sexy fantasy/adventure tales with unexpected twists and turns, I hope you will enjoy it. :)

***

The cellar became an oven. Prince Hal's limbs and organs cooked in the heat. Simmering sweat stung his brow and upper lip. His hot flesh swelled. The surface of his skin grew so taut he was afraid it would burst open.

Above the air rippled and sparked as tongues of dragonfire licked the thin fissures between the roof rafters and penetrated the gaps in the weave of scales coating the exterior of the hut. Hal shut his burning eyes and trembled while cracking ceramic jars and hissing herbs mixed with the roaring whoosh of the flaming storm outside.

He would have screamed but he couldn't activate his mouth. He couldn't do anything, but melt, expire... His soul peeled from the realm of the living and he sensed nothing more.

Cold stone at the base of his spine returned him to the world.

"The evil has passed over." The sibyl's steady syllables cooled his blood and calmed his boiling insides. "We have survived another night," she said. "We wake to a new Dawn." She dabbed his temples, his lips and his eyelids with an icy ointment.

After a breakfast of pasty gruel, he searched the morning sky for the palace of Aurora. Finding no turrets in the clouds, he joined the sibyl in the garden behind the house. She was raking the scorched soil. The memory of her lithe, near naked body rubbing against his in the cellar blazed in his mind.

"There might be a small root or tuber that escaped the dragon's fumes." Her words held little hope; the hoe yielded only dust.

He wanted to touch her but was wary of asserting any liberties. She had given him no reason to assume she wished to be physically familiar. "May I ask your name?" Moving close, he inhaled her smoky, herbal fragrance.

"My name is Tesana." Her expression was quizzical, despite her hidden eyes. "Why do you want to know it?"

"I wish to thank you properly, Sister Tesana. You saved my life."

"I am a holy servant. We aid all souls in need." An awkward pause elapsed. "You must leave before midday."

The prince answered, "I will only leave if you will come with me."

"I cannot." She returned to combing the barren ground.

"Then show me your whetstone and grant me some oil." The sibyl did not respond. He continued, "I must sharpen my sword and clean my armor."

"You believe you can slay the dragon? After what you have seen?" There was cynicism in her tone.

"I will kill it when it strikes tonight. I cannot bear--" He stopped himself. "I cannot allow you to suffer another attack."

"I can suffer many, many more attacks." She aimed her veiled eyes at his. "But the dragon must fall. Its evil is spreading. The nights are growing longer. The beast comes earlier and journeys further inland, I fear, with every dusk." She tapped his shoulder with long, graceful fingers. "Your steel covering will not help you. The metal links carry heat. They will weigh you down and cook you faster when the demon breathes its fire."

"What defense may I have then?"

The sibyl gestured towards the golden hut. "Dragon scales."

"If I shield myself with its skin, the beast cannot harm me?"

"The creature's flames shall be repelled. Yet the heat will destroy you. The scales only provide short-lived protection. You must have a plan."

"You say you have the power of prophesy. Why don't you tell me the plan?"

"I would if my sight was that clear. I have seen the dragon's death. It will drop from the heavens and crash onto the rocks by the shore. Yet I do not know how it will happen."

∫∫∫

Inside the hut, Prince Hal sharpened his sword while the sibyl affixed dragon scales to a large wooden shield.

"The steel sings when you scrape it," she said.

"The song will be sweeter when it slashes the beast's throat." Hal stood and swung the weapon at a phantom monster.

"I fail to see how your sword will be of any use. Even if it could hack through the dragon's hide, you cannot get close enough." She leaned the shield against the wall. "Our warriors did not have blades as fine as yours, but do not doubt they were skilled. The beast burned every man who fought, from thirty paces or more. None had a chance to slash or thrust. The only one who harmed the creature at all was just a boy..."

"What did the boy do?"

"He was the oldest of the children who survived the first week of terror. I was watching them." She touched her blindfold. "My eyes were not 'shrouded' at that time."

"He stole away to fight the dragon?" asked the prince.

"That night the other women and I took the children and the old ones into the caves here in the cliffs, while below the men were defending the shore." She held a single dragon scale in her hands. "The boy had a small spear, for training. One moment he was striking at shadows on the cave walls and then he was gone." She fingered the shiny chunk of dragonflesh. "He ran to the cliff edge and spied the beast breathing fire on his father and the other warriors. With all his strength he threw the little spear." The shimmering shield cast flickers of Sunlight on her face. "The dragon has a patch at the back of its head where its scales are soft. The boy's stick sunk in and held. I suppose the creature did not notice at first. Then the evil thing rose from its kill, and before I could reach the child--" She bent her head. "He jumped."

"Onto the back of the dragon?"

"All he had to cling to was the spear as the creature soared into the sky. He could not hold fast with his legs. The dragon's gullet is almost as wide as a boy is tall. But the child's desire to destroy the demon was greater than his fear of death. He twisted the spear, driving it deeper. Then the dragon felt the stab. It reared over, high above the rocks and the boy fell."

A breeze coming in through the unshuttered window ruffled her robes. Hal picked up her scent again -- toasted wildflowers and budding rosewood. "If the lad had borne a sword he would have slain the worm," he said, returning his blade to its scabbard.

Sister Tesana let the folds of her clothing settle before she spoke. "We buried his broken body the next morning. All those who still lived left later that day."

"All except for you."

"Yes. My fate will be decided here. As will yours." She stepped forward. "What other weapons did you bring? I heard more than just the sword."

"A bow and some arrows..."

"How well can you shoot?" she questioned.

"I can hit a target on a giant dragon at thirty paces. Likely fifty or sixty paces. But arrows are for hunting birds and rabbits, perhaps a stag. If I did strike the soft spot, would the demon feel a thing?"

"No. And if you were hidden, it might never realize it has been pricked."

Prince Hal's eyebrows arched. "Pricked? Are you talking about poison? A poison arrow? Can you poison a dragon?"

"I cannot promise it will work. Dragons have fire in their blood." The sibyl selected one of the few jars from her collection that bore no cracks. "And any tox with the strength to kill one would finish you long before you drew your bow." She rubbed the symbols painted on the front. "Perhaps we shouldn't try to slay the monster. We'll simply stun it."

"Is that such a potion?"

"This is essence of peitho root. Three pure drops will kill a horse. With a good dose the dragon might be numbed and feel the need to sleep."

"Its sleep will be followed by my swift sword," Hal's expression conveyed iron confidence, "and it will never wake again."

Tesana smiled, yet it lasted only a heartbeat. When she spoke her words were heavy, "I fear whether you kill the dragon or no you will pay a terrible price."

"No price can be greater than honor. I'll win that no matter what happens. The other contest is life. If I survive and the creature loses its head, I'll win that too."

The sibyl said nothing.

Hal went on, "In the gray desert one of your elders told me he who slays the dragon will live forever. Is it true?"

"If he eats of the monster's beating heart, he shall never die."

∫∫∫

Night cloaked the land. Prince Hal sniffed the dark air and crouched lower to the ground. He'd taken a position on the ridge beneath a crag, an arrow's flight from the sibyl's hut. Woolly smoke filled his nostrils. All he could smell was ash. He wondered if dragons were able to perceive scent. If so, the dirty clouds might keep him alive.

The soot was carried on the southern wind, masking the stars and dimming the crescent Moon. He feared the source was a fresh settlement the creature had annihilated.

In the gloom he examined the poisoned arrow. He'd fletched it with the golden feather. The barbs gleamed brighter than ever. Against the pitch black surroundings, it was the only light in the world. He had hesitated before paring the feather. It was the sole thing that proved their encounters were real. "It's part of her," he said to no one. "She will guide the arrow and deliver us."

The sibyl's last warning came to his thoughts, "Any light in the darkness will draw the dragon's sight." He slipped the base of the arrow back in his leather sack just as the wind strengthened and the air began to clear. Moonbeams filtered through the dissolving dust. The shiny scales covering the hut glinted. Hal was thankful the sibyl had applied a layer of mud to dull the scales on the shield.

A powerful gust raked his hair and chilled his neck. Shearing sounds that conjured broad sails rippling in a torrential squall grew in the distance. "Dragon wings," he murmured, sliding his arm into the grip of the shield.

Violent currents whirled around him, screaming in his ears. Squinting to see through the lacerating wind, he beheld the leviathan. Larger than a great ship, it soared on plumes of heat. Its undulating golden skin was grooved with burning seams. Pulsing veins of spitting embers streaked two colossal wings, each with a span greater than the length of the monster's body. Thunder rumbled inside it and flames blasted from its throat. Instantly the sibyl's hut was engulfed.

Hal scrambled to the top of the crag with his bow and the poisoned arrow. The dragon beat its wings and the ferocity of the fire intensified. The prince aimed but did not launch the arrow. He saw he had no hope of hitting the soft patch the sibyl had described. The worm loomed too high; he could only strike its underside.

The dragon's fiery assault ceased abruptly. Its massive appendages fanned wide and with a single stroke it disappeared into a malignant swirl of smog. Hal was relieved to find the humble construction had withstood the attack. Blackness rapidly closed in. Again the golden vanes on the arrow were the lone flickers in the dark. "It has left," he told himself.

Suddenly a horrible shriek ripped across the cliffs. The dragon, sparks and smoke streaming from its flanks, dove from the clouds. It opened its enormous talons and tore into the scale-tiled roof. The rafters splintered as the monster clawed them free.

Hal prayed to the Dawn the sibyl would be spared. Then he sharpened his purpose to a solitary point. Beneath a mane of bony spikes at the juncture of the creature's head and neck he glimpsed his target. The diamond shaped spot glowed more intensely than the surrounding flesh. The prince loosed the shimmering arrow; it zinged from his bow and struck the hot diamond.

The dragon immediately shot upwards and vanished once more beyond the curtain of ash smothering the Moon and stars. Hal jumped off the crag and grabbed his sword. He doubted the flying demon had gone into retreat. He took up the shield and ran in the direction of the sibyl's home. He had made it halfway when the worm punched through the clouds for another pass.

Paying no heed to the prince, the creature swooped down and seized an exposed section of the lattice that supported the walls. The dragon wrested the structure, stakes and all, from the Earth causing the rest of the hut to collapse in a tumult of splintering wood, shattering ceramic and crashing stone. The cursed thing circled and landed in the midst of the ruins. An inferno roared from its jaws, transforming the broken timbers into columns of fire.

Fueled by molten rage, Hal fought off towers of flame with the shield. The gilded vanes of the arrow shining through the virulent fumes provided a beacon. The prince rushed up behind the monster, thirsting for dragonblood.

His path to victory appeared before him. Horny spurs crested the bulk of the monster's winding spine, tapering off at its tail and the top of its neck. Hal stored his sword, threw down the shield and sprang onto the creature's back.

The demon reared and spread its wings. In moments it breached the soot laden gray-purple clouds. But the prince held fast, wedging his hands and feet between the dragon's bony tines. Though he couldn't breathe and was barely able to see, he did not falter. The golden feather was his lodestar. Slowly he climbed towards its pure light.

The foul vapors dispersed as the monster flew higher into the heavens. Sucking in the clean air Hal marveled at the celestial vault. The beauty of the stars was cold; part of him was freezing. For the first time he was grateful for the dragon's heat.

Then, ahead to the East, he saw the crown of Aurora was rising. Rays of gold slashed bands of violet and purple, making them bleed crimson and scarlet. Glittering spires and flashing bastions marched towards the pinnacle of the sky. A wild, frenzied glee flared within him while graceful terraces and silver orchards mounted the horizon. Was the dragon ferrying him to the fantastic citadel he had abandoned his kingdom and gambled his life to reach? Was he about to arrive at the palace of the Queen of the Dawn?

His dizzy happiness spun into confusion as a new question emerged. If he spared the murderous demon and sailed to his heart's desire, would he remain a man of honor? How could he be worthy of the love of the Queen if he did not avenge the innocent sibyl's death? Thoughts of Tesana's face and limbs consumed by dragonfire torched his volatile emotions. His joy burned away, leaving smoldering anger.

The golden feather gleamed at the apex of the monster's neck, scarcely three arm lengths away. There were no more outgrowths to cling to; all was smooth until the spiky fringe that bordered the beast's skull. Hal unsheathed his blade and rose to his feet. He cleared the distance to the glowing diamond in the lifespan of an eyeblink. He ripped out the arrow and tossed it to the winds. Grasping his sword with both hands he plunged hard steel into the flesh of the worm.

Ropes of fiery, viscous blood spouted from the wound, scorching his leather sleeves. The winged behemoth emitted an earsplitting screech and pitched Earthward. Hal's feet flew over his head; his stomach slammed into his chest. The world tumbled as the monster spiraled. Above the dark churning ocean smashed against the the rocky shore. Below the palace of the Dawn shrank to a candle flicker.

The infernal beast hurtled through the ether yet the prince held on, his knuckles fusing with the grip of his sword. Hal no longer cared if he saw the Queen of the Dawn or her palace ever again. He didn't care if he lived forever or died that instant. A sole concept eclipsed all others -- the dragon must die. Using his last scrap of strength he bore deep into the monster's throat. His hands and arms burning, he thrust in the sword to the hilt.

∫∫∫

Shredding, whistling noises scraped his ears. It was the tide coming in and the wind picking up. The breaking waves and rising gusts echoed. Familiar odors drifted to his nose -- the icy ointment the sibyl treated him with after his first encounter with dragonfire and wafting nearby, her own woody, floral smell.

The salve tingled his skin. He felt it everywhere except his hands and arms, which were numb and constricted by bandages. Though he lay on a bed of soft rushes his entire skeleton ached. The most intense pain shot from his ribs and the center of his back. He forced open his swollen eyelids. Above him a rough stone ceiling was lit by firelight.

The sound of rustling fabric pulled his sight to the sibyl's gray robes as she knelt beside him. "Drink," came her voice, accompanied by the scent of roasted flowers. She lifted a ceramic bowl to his lips. He slowly sipped the cool liquid and the lump of baked clay in his mouth became a tongue once more.

"You live, Prince of the Green Isles," she said calmly, "and the dragon is dead."

He had never heard more beautiful music than her words. "You live," he said, his lips cracking at the edges.

"Yes. I closed the cellar and held my breath." She put the vessel down. "I heard the dragon crash on the shore. The monster took the worst of the fall. I brought you into this cave. For some hours I feared you would join the creature in eternal rest."

"Am I broken?" With each syllable it grew easier to speak.

"You have broken ribs. They will mend." Her tone was measured.

"I cannot raise my arms or move my fingers."

"Your hands and arms were burned." Her forehead was not visible yet he sensed her brow tighten. "After many months you will regain some strength and feeling, but things will not work the same. You may never wield a sword again."

"Yet I live."

"Yes."

"Again I owe my life to you."

"The debt is paid. The dragon's talons were tearing into the cellar when you attacked."

"I didn't attack the dragon. Not properly. I stabbed it in the back." His actions suddenly didn't seem particularly heroic. "With less courage than the boy you told me of."

"But unlike the child you had a sword and you knew how to use it." The sibyl arose. "The coast will fill with fishing boats and settlers and tradesmen soon. The people will return from the desert and rebuild the village." She walked to the front of the hollow.

Hal's eyes followed her. "Will you stay here?" he asked.

"You know I must," she responded, facing the dark sky.

Beyond the simmering coals of the fading fire Hal saw a thin rose-colored line. The starry night was giving way to the Dawn. "How long have I been asleep?"

"I sensed the sun, then it set, now it rises."

"Answer one more question. What will my fate be? You have the sight. Tell me."

"You will make a decision."

"What are my choices?"

She turned back. "Be a wounded mortal, or live forever." Her voice shimmered off the stone walls.

"You told me I would have to eat the dragon's beating heart. The beast is dead. The choice is made."

"A dragon's heart beats for days after it is slain." Her robes swept the ground as she recrossed the space to his bedside. "It will heal you. You will be stronger than before and you will never die."

"Tesana." He fixed on her blindfold, hoping his gaze might penetrate the homespun material and pierce her soul. "Will you eat of the heart? I do not want to live forever unless you are by my side."

"You do not know me." Her posture straightened.

"I wish to know you. I wish to love you."

"And if I will not eat the demon's flesh? If I do not want immortality?"

"We will bury the heart with the rest of the carcass..." He tried to get up on his elbows but the onslaught of a thousand tiny knives cutting into his muscles made him stop. "Do you think a man who can no longer swing a sword may still cast a fishing net?"

"You will stay here and be a prince of fishermen rather than the Lord of the Green Isles? Don't you long for your kingdom?"

"I stole away like a thief under cover of darkness." A pang struck his ribs. He coughed up blood. The sibyl bent down and wiped his chin. After some staggered breathing he continued, "The Queen of the Dawn cursed me with desire. She told me I would never rest until I reached her palace in the clouds at the edge of the world. Your people in the desert gave me a map to these cliffs. But I didn't come to slay the dragon. I came for her..." More spasms rattled him. He waited until they subsided. "Yet today, I love only you."