Hate by K.A Knight

The ghosts return a few hours later, but before they will give me the location of the sleeping council, they demand I feed one of them, claiming they used a lot of energy. It is just as horrible as the first time, so I am in a bad mood after.

“Tell me,” I snap, when the angry ghost steps back to his witch, tiring of these games.

“They are north, as far north as you can go. In the old mountains, Rejek, you have heard of this, yes?” one of them asks.

I nod, Rejek. Fuck, no wonder they are never disturbed. That place is said to be the resting ground of such evil that even stepping foot onto the black mountain will kill you. But if that is where I must go, I will.

“How do I get inside?” I inquire.

“There is a cave near the top and one at the back. The whole mountain is their home, but beware, there are traps and tricks, more than you could imagine, dragon. Now for the final part of your payment.”

I grit my teeth and hold out my hand, letting the last one feed. I feel weak after and stumble before forcing myself upright. I will not let them see me unsteady, or they will use it against me, maybe attack and take the rest of my powers. “Thank you. I shall take my leave now.” I bow and turn to go, but Loxley’s voice calls out, stopping me.

“Beware. You will find what you seek, but you will unearth more than you wanted.” With that cryptic piece of information, I depart their ship, leaving them to their ghost men and shivering as their stares follow me until I’m back in the car.

Rejek.

I will travel as far as I can in the car and then I’ll have to fly the rest of the way, stopping when I can to rest. It should take about two days as long as nothing goes wrong. Then I remember the dragon.

Punching the steering wheel, I let out my frustration. I do not have time for them, my mate needs me, but I know I can’t lead him back to her if he is looking for me. I wonder why, though, why now?

But I know my answer. They didn’t know where I was, and now they have felt me awaken...let’s hope they don’t want me to return, I would hate to have to kill the messenger when so few of us still exist.

I travel north to where they felt the dragon. There wasn’t an exact location, so I pull into a rest stop and get out, letting my senses stretch as wide as I can. Scales form on my arms, my eyes turning into those of my dragon as I search for the familiar sensation of my kin. Closing my eyes, I push further, seeking any hints.

Part of me wishes that I won’t find anything. I need to get to Rejek and then back to my mate. I have been waiting so long to actually meet her, and now she is in danger and I am not there, so every protective and possessive instinct I have is surfacing.

But then I feel something. It’s faint, almost non-existent, but there, that flame in my mind’s eye that burns bright like a dragon’s. Sighing, I open my eyes. This dragon better have a good reason for breaking through the barrier right now and pulling my attention away from the only thing that matters—my mate. Otherwise, I will rip out his soul and eat it.

My dragon almost purrs at that, wrapping itself around me, stretching under my skin, wanting to be released to let out some frustration at not having our mate yet. He’s a possessive, impatient creature.

Growling, I rip the door from the car to get in, but overestimate my anger at the distraction from my real mission, and the now warped piece of metal goes flying. I watch as it tumbles over another car, the plump woman sitting inside it staring with her eyes wide until it comes to a stop on the other side of the road.

Slowly, she turns to me, her face pale and shocked as she ever so slowly reaches out and locks her door. I hear the audible click and actually snort. She saw me rip a door from its hinges and she thinks a lock will stop me?

Sometimes I wonder if they really are severely lacking in intelligence.

Climbing into the car, I cringe a little at the missing door, but start the engine and head to where I felt the dragon. As I pass the human still watching me, I allow my eyes to change to the bright purple of my dragon, and I watch in glee as she faints, her head hitting the wheel and letting out an almighty beep of her horn.

Feeling petty but better, I drive through the winding country roads. The air is getting colder, and I feel it on my face through the gaping hole in my car and it actually makes me feel better about driving. It feels more like flying, especially when I put my foot down on the pedal and we shoot forward.

Whooping, I swerve and drive like I am flying through the air, finding joy in the little moments in life, after all, what else can I do? It is these little experiences that I will remember, that will encourage me to keep fighting another day, something I have learned over the last hundred or so years.

A noise, a siren, echoes around the hills I am driving through, and when I glance through my mirror, I spot a car speeding up until it is behind me. Two serious-looking humans stare at me from the front seat. I notice the writing and curse—the human police. I pull over and get out, unfolding my frame, and wait for them.

They climb out of the car and head my way, looking around my vehicle until they spot the missing door. The one holding a notepad pushes up the thin glasses perched on his crooked nose and gapes at the car then me.

“Sir, do you know how fast you were going and that you are, erm, missing a door?” he questions, his voice high and confused.

“I am decorating.” I shrug.

“The car?” he presses, his eyebrow rising.

“Yes, it’s called fashion,” I retort, mimicking human terms I have heard before.

He shares a look with his partner, his eyes narrowing. “Sir, can we have your license, and can you please take a seat in our car?”

“I don’t have time for this!” I snap. “I have a dragon to find and then probably kill, then I have to go to the cold, cursed, mystical mountain to find the sleeping court so they can deal with their subjects so I may retrieve my mate and have lots of sex.” I throw my hands in the air.

They both step back, holding their hands out. The one with the glasses watches me as he raises a radio. “Car 418 to control, we found the escaped crazy, standby for more details, we may need backup and sedatives. He is completely loopy.” He then looks at me with a patient smile on his face. “Sir, come with me, we’ll get you back to the hospital down the road, okay? Maybe there’s a dragon there?”

“No, the dragon is that way!” I jerk my head over my shoulder with a frown.

They share another look and then he pulls a black baton from his side. “Come with us. Don’t resist, make this easy for yourself, kid, they can help you. You must be missing your medication about now, hmm?”

“Medication…kid? Did. You. Just. Call. Me. Kid?” I roar.

“Sir!”

I don’t have time for this. Striding towards them, I punch one square in his face. He falls to the ground, his eyes closed and face pale, blood running from his nose. Jerking, I hiss as electricity races through me. I look down and raise my eyebrow at the black object sticking in my chest. A wire connects it to the other officer.

“That was stupid,” I tell him, and then using the wire I drag him to me. He yelps and tries to get away, but I smash his face down on his car and let him drop to the tarmac.

Frowning now, I gaze around, knowing I can’t leave them here. So I hoist one over each shoulder, head to their boot, and open it. I put them inside and lock it. There, that’s better.

“Car 418, check in, how did the capture of the patient go?” comes through their little radio in the car.

Picking it up, I press lots of buttons. “This is car 418, we have been knocked unconscious.” There, that was nice of me.

A crackle sounds, then barked, panicked talking from multiple people. “418 is down, I repeat, officers down!”

Whistling, I head back to my car and slide in before I set off again.

I drive for over two hours. I have to stop twice more to pinpoint the dragon’s location, and each time it seems to be weaker until, when I halt a third time, I can’t feel it. Sighing, I head to where I last felt it and pull over, having to shift on the side of the road to fly over the trees and up to the top of the hill. Circling in the clouds, I notice an unmoving dark form on the side of the hill. It’s too big to be a human or a bear, so it must be the dragon. Shifting as I land, I walk towards it on human legs, but the smell reaches me first, making me growl.

Death.

Then blood.

There was a fight, and it’s clear now that the dragon lost.

Jumping down the ledge it is on, I glower at the scene before me. One of its wings is bent and hanging over the rocks. It is covered in blood and talon marks. The face is curled inwards, even in death, and its skin is black like burnt coal. Bloody gashes are carved across its body. Its tail is broken off, the end missing. That, more than anything, tells me this was another dragon’s doing.

This dragon fought with another then fled to die? It doesn’t make sense. Crouching down closer, I try to search for anything I have missed. The talon marks are long and wide, so it was a full-fledged dragon, a powerful one too. Widening my senses, I search for any threats, but I don’t even find the trace of another animal nearby.

So, did this happen in Klasfor and then he broke through to escape into these lands? He was probably afraid the dragon would come and finish him off, but it looks like his wounds did before the other one could.

It makes this easier. This was a lost challenge, that is all, even though it is strange to find the body here.

I have no choice though, I have to perform last rites. Unlike the fairy tales based on dragons and shifters, we don’t shift back to human flesh when we die, instead the human body stays trapped inside. We die as we fight, either in dragon or human form. But we can’t be buried as dragons, and to ensure we pass over to Valhem where our gold and wildest desires await, we must have last rites executed. To not do so is a grave insult, reserved only for outcasts and the disowned.

I don’t have the proper tools here, not the blessed knife and bowl, but I will have to improvise. To walk away without performing them would not sit well with me, even if this dragon is unknown to me. I was once their king, and that drive to protect them does not simply fade, it is ingrained into me.

Pulling out the knife I stole from the angry fallen, I slice along my palm and walk around as much of the body as I can, letting droplets of my blood drop onto the body.

“Incremento dislesi, I, Askaliarian of Klasfor, King of the Great Dragons, release your spirit. Relsa spirto, continue your journey, rider of the skies.” After I speak the ritual words, I step back, watching the blood start to sizzle as it melts through the thick outer shell of the dragon. Where it does, I spot the pinkened skin of the human inside start to emerge. It takes a few minutes for the dragon to melt away, and with it, the dragon’s spirit is released, which is now at rest and allowed to move on.

All it leaves behind is the human body. A lot of dragons believe that because we are born in dragon form and spend a lot of our early years stuck in that shape, it is our true form and the human side is our shift. I think we are born of both, which is why we bury the human body or burn it.

Crouching, I turn the corpse slowly to see the face, and when I do, I sigh. I knew him. His short, shaggy dark hair is familiar, as is the royal slope of his nose. He was a mere boy when I left. He used to follow me around the palace, trying to fly, always wanting to shadow me. I often showed him attention. It is sad he is dead. He was strong and proud, everything a dragon should be. That pride is probably what cost him his life. Picking up his body, I hold him delicately as I jump back to the top of the hill. I lie him down and trace my finger over his face. “Sleep now, my friend, your ride is through. I will meet you in the next life.”

Changing my hands back, I dig through the ground with my talons until I have a grave. It’s a good spot, high in the clouds where he liked to fly, and it won’t be disturbed. It is also where he fought his last fight. A noble dragon, laid to rest.

Shifting my hands back to human so I do not disturb or harm his body, I lay him in the grave and cover him in soil, patting it down until it is secure before sitting back on my haunches. I stare sadly down at the grave. It is a reminder of how long I have been gone. He was grown, a true dragon. I wonder what else has changed.

I shouldn’t think about it, that is not my home now, I left for a reason.

For her, before I even knew she existed, and now she needs me. They do not. I whisper goodbye before shifting and launching back into the sky. It is time to head to Rejek and the sleeping council.

They will come with me, I will give them no choice.

They will fear me, because with the way I am feeling now...they dare not refuse me.