Dane's Lair

  Chapter 10

  A man stood at the rear entrance to the tunnel, almost blocking it with his seven-foot mass, his broad shoulders rippling with muscles straining under a white shirt. Wavy hair tumbled about his shoulders, as black as Dane’s was white. The stranger’s steel eyes mirrored Dane’s as they met across the vast cave.

  “Tzgarr,” said Dane.

  The stranger cocked his head and Dane noticed the scales rising from the neckline of his shirt to his jawline. “I hear you haven’t fed in… months?” he said.

  Dane silently regarded his rival. His son.

  Dane shook his head, wondering again at Noah’s treachery. Was he lying about his son’s intention to kill him? Dane glanced at the old man. Noah stood frozen, his face distorted with terror beyond any Dane had ever witnessed. Dane felt Athens’ fear reach out to him across their bond and he attempted to soothe her.

  “What do you want, Tzgarr?” Dane asked.

  “Your life, dragon.”

  Dragon?

  Dane’s eyes narrowed as an earlier thought crept into his mind, still muddled. He studied the man in front of him. A half-dragon may or may not have an aura. The air around Tzgarr thrummed with a misty cloud of greys, churning as if alive. The man had the aura of-

  “But first…” Tzgarr said, interrupting Dane’s thoughts. Tzgarr’s voice trailed off as he focused on Noah. Noah’s eyes widened and Dane moved to step between his harvester and the antagonistic dragon.

  In a blur of emerging wings, Tzgarr was in front of Noah, his hands gripping each side of his head. Noah’s eyes bulged and his body jerked as Tzgarr inhaled deeply, drawing air from Noah’s gaping mouth. Noah’s face turned red, then blue. Dane stood aghast, a mere human staring at Noah as the old man’s life was consumed. “No!” he shouted. Athens’ terror wrapped itself around Dane’s chest but he could do nothing to pacify her.

  Before Dane could reach Noah’s side, Tzgarr cast aside his victim’s limp body and turned to face Dane. The dragon-man shuddered and a smile played on his lips as Noah’s life energy ebbed through him. Dane felt dark shame weigh him down as he remembered the thrill that washed over him every time he took a life. At no time had he ever witnessed its sheer savagery. Guilt cast a dirty shadow in his heart.

  “Dane,” whimpered Athens. Dane’s throat tightened as Tzgarr cast his steel eyes on her.

  Dane remained silent, caressing Athens through their connection, desperate to soothe her. More desperate to protect her.

  Tzgarr looked up at Dane and grinned. “Dirty harvester,” he said, eyeing Noah’s motionless body.

  “Then why take his life?” said Dane.

  “A dragon must feed,” said the man, glancing at Athens. He licked his lips and Dane felt a spike of fear from her tormented mind.

  “You can’t have her,” Dane said, his body taut.

  “I don’t want her… she’s for you.”

  “You thought I would consume her and die? What made you think-”

  Tzgarr’s bellowing laughter interrupted Dane, sending chills through his bones. “I knew you wouldn’t kill her… She made you weak. Easy prey.”

  “How could you know…”

  “That you would want her?” Tzgarr shrugged. “It was a risk worth taking.”

  Dane studied the winged man carefully. Studied his aura. “You are not a dragon,” he said.

  “Are you referring to my human blood, dragon?” said Tzgarr, his eyes flashing. “The blood of my mother? The woman you abandoned?”

  Dane shook his head. “No,” he said. “Your aura.”

  Tzgarr’s eyes narrowed and he swished his wings. They had grown several feet after his feeding on Noah. “Dragons don’t have auras,” he said.

  “No they don’t.” Dane paused, “Half-dragons, maybe. But you are neither…”

  Tzgarr howled with laughter. “You call yourself a Dragon Lord and you can’t even see-“

  “The druid standing in front of me?” interrupted Dane. He paused to watch his opponent’s aura darken. “Caius.”

  “What did you call me?” roared the man.

  “Caius!” bellowed Dane. The earlier thought teasing him had finally crystallized in his mind. His son’s presence had awoken him. But his son was not in the cave with them. “Tell me,” Dane said, pacing, “Did Balthasar awaken you from the dead? Before you killed him and took his place?”

  “Foolish creature,” snarled Caius, “I was never dead!”

  “I should have ripped you to pieces when I had the chance,” said Dane as tension rippled throughout his frame.

  “Enough!” Caius’ eyes darkened and a wind blew through the cavern. It swirled about them, and Dane gulped as the air was tugged from his chest. Dizziness swept over Dane and he felt talons wrap around his throat and drag him across the cave, scraping his heels along the dusty floor.

  “You are Dragon Lord,” rasped Caius, throwing Dane into a heap. “Now feed!”

  Blackness covered Dane’s eyes and he rubbed his throat, trying to erase the sensation of claws digging into him. Dane froze as a wave of tumbling terror crashed into him across his bond with Athens.

  “Feed!” growled a voice in Dane’s ear. Its breath was hot and brimming with the stench of burning flesh. Dane felt talons grip the back of his neck and pull him to his feet. Heat blasted his face and his dormant hunger for human life flared inside him, filling him with a frenzied need to consume. A cool wind filled Dane’s chest and his wings pulled against his flesh, ripping themselves from his back.

  Horror filled Dane as he felt Athens’ connection slipping. He fought against the darkness, reaching into the stillness of his core, searching for his dragon fire. The cool breeze in his chest fanned the embers of his inner fire and Dane felt power surge through him, tearing at his humanity, releasing Djgarr, the Dragon Lord of the North. Pain pulsed throughout him, throbbing as bones expanded. Loud cracking filled the cavern as Dane’s bones took on their new form. His skin hardened into scales, this time covering his entire expanded body. Agony exploded on his face as barbs sliced through his flesh, seconds before scales swept over its surface. His wings ripped free from his back, tearing at his skin as they lengthened. Heat surged through Djgarr’s body, starting at his chest and spreading, mutating his hands and feet into the repulsive claws of the beast he truly was.

  The blackness fell from Djgarr’s eyes and he recoiled in horror.

  Athens.

  Her teal eyes wide, staring into his.

  Lifeless.

  Djgarr roared, his heart wrenched with rage and grief. He turned to face the druid that had forced him to consume the woman he loved.

  The man with steel eyes was gone. In his place stood Caius as Djgarr remembered, his bronze face unlined, youthful. “About time,” he said. He still had dragon wings, and the scales on his neck had spread to his cheeks. Caius’ hands were grotesque talons, hanging from his human arms. Djgarr’s stomach turned with revulsion at the abomination standing in his lair.

  “You took Balthesar’s form, didn’t you Caius?” said Djgarr. “Did he even exist?”

  “I am he,” said Caius, a smile playing on his lips. Djgarr’s repulsion amplified.

  “My son,” growled Djgarr. “You took his form earlier. Where is he now?”

  “Dead,” said Caius. “Not too long ago, actually.”

  Djgarr panted, as the air in his lungs grew hot.

  “Your woman killed him,” continued the druid, “because I killed her family.”

  “She killed a harvester,” murmured Dane, dread unfurling in the depths of his stomach.

  Caius shook his head. “She killed your son. I had already absorbed his dragon fire into me. He died a weak human, thinking he was the filthy harvester, Balthesar.”

  The cave shook as Djgarr roared again. Djgarr reached out to grab the Caius’ throat, just as the druid had done to him. “No,” said Caius softly, wrapping his talons around Djgarr’s scaled arm. The druids touch weakened Djgarr.

  “What
have you done?” hissed the dragon, twisting free from the druid’s grip.

  “I’ve discovered the fountain of youth,” Caius said, smiling coldly. “You see, it took me many, many, many years to get it right, but… I figured out how to absorb the breath of life from humans and dragons…”

  “You used my son,” said Djgarr, trembling. “You knew I’d sense him and wake up.”

  Caius smiled. “I saved him,” he said. “After the governor left him to die in wastelands of Creta, I took him in.”

  “And Aelia…” whispered the Dragon Lord.

  Caius shrugged. “She was of no concern to me. Only the hatchling.”

  Djgarr fixed his eyes on the druid and probed. He reigned in the pressing urge to bury his teeth into the mutated human’s flesh and scales.

  “I needed you as dragon,” continued Caius, “so I could gain your dragon form.”

  Djgarr was silent, reeling from the depth of his grief, without his bond to Athens to console him.

  “Let’s not waste any more time,” Caius said. His brown irises turned black and spread until his eyes were completely darkened, save for a light glowing from the centre of their depths. A wind howled through the tunnel, whipping its way about them. Djgarr was paralyzed as Caius waved his hands and twisted his body. Invisible hands wrapped themselves around Djgarr’s body and pulled him down until his grey eyes were level with Caius’ dark ones.

  Caius stopped his corrupt dance and said, “Open your mouth, dragon.” He stretched his deformed arms towards the heaving beast and motioned the air between them. Djgarr felt his mouth open to match Caius’ movement and stillness descended in the cave. The stench of death pervaded Djgarr’s body. Vicious hatred invaded and blackened his fire. Caius leaned in and parted his lips, inhaling deeply. A weight clamped down on Djgarr’s chest and yanked, tearing the fire from his core. Agony blazed from his chest, burning his throat as it passed through his mouth into the druid’s.

  “Dane…” whispered a voice behind him.

  Caius froze, breaking his invisible hold on the monstrous dragon. In a frenzy of intense rage, Djgarr reached across the gap and clamped down on Caius’ head. The dragon ripped through the scales lining the druid’s neck and wrenched ferociously. Caius’ body flailed as Djgarr twisted his head from side to side, pressing his teeth into soft tissue as Caius’s scales disappeared. The dusty cave floor darkened with thick druid’s blood. Caius’ flailing ceased and his wings vanished. Djgarr’s jaw clamped down harder, severing the vile man’s head from his limp body. With a jerk of his head, Djgarr spat out Caius’ head and watched as it flew through the opening of the cave, towards the raging ocean.

  Djgarr’s chest heaved and fire swirled inside him, filling his body with scorching fever.

  “Dane…” whispered the voice again.

  Djgarr closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. His body crackled as he took human form.