Draka Chapter 361: Majesty (Patreon)

“Look at her,” a voice so much like my own crooned as the world came into focus. Or, no. Not the world. The dreamscape. There was no stone chamber around me, only the distant stars of souls — most faint, but some gorgeously bright. “Is she not magnificent?”

One thing differed from what I was used to. Or three things, rather. Those three things were Conscience, Instinct, and Mak.

It wasn’t like when I’d seen Herald in my dreams, but it was close. To my right stood Conscience, just as I’d once been, scars and all; to my left was Instinct, towering above us both, a monument to majesty and power. And between them I just kind of floated, bodiless shadow and gold and beautiful in my own right, just like when I Shifted.

Before us Mak hung in the air, smiling softly as she slept. She wasn’t as bright as Herald had been when I saw her like this, but the golden channels were there, starting from her heart and spreading to every part of her, a shining network of magical power.

“She really is,” Conscience agreed with a sigh. “I just wish she’d been in a better place, you know, mentally. I mean, I get it, wanting to be free from fear and responsibility and all, but it’s just… I can’t imagine surrendering myself completely like she did, no matter what.”

“But she did,” I said. “And now it’s our responsibility to make that the best decision she’s ever made.”

Instinct scoffed. “It already is. What could be better than to serve one so great as us?”

“How about being our dear friend, without getting a freedomectomy?” Conscience suggested. “Seems to be working out for Herald.”

“The Herald will realize her mistake soon enough,” Instinct replied, not even looking at Conscience as she dismissed her argument. “As will Kira and Ardek.”

“Bloody likely,” Conscience muttered. “Anyway, there’s no chance she didn’t just pop over another threshold, right? Only other time we saw something like this was when Herald did.”

“Seems like a safe bet, yeah,” I agreed. “Wonder what she got.”

“Only one way to find out,” Conscience said. “May as well do it now. Unless you want to stare at your naked thrall some more.”

“Fucking hell, why’d you have to make it weird?” I complained, then forced myself awake. Or possibly into dreamless sleep. Hard to say.

I woke with a lingering ache in my bones, and a feeling of emptiness. Not emotional; I felt good. Happy, despite the ache and the emptiness. Satisfied. Mak lay curled up against me, sleeping peacefully, and seeing her filled me with affection. No, it wasn’t anything psychological at all, but an actual sensation. An empty stomach was only a tiny part of it, though there was definitely that, too, despite the huge meal I’d had just hours ago. Most of it was that old emptiness in my soul, the need that I’d felt back when I first realized that I could consume Rifts. I hadn’t felt it for a long time, having consumed a Rift or two every so often, but now it was back with a vengeance.

But the need wasn’t all I felt. It was accompanied by something entirely new: a slow and pleasant filling sensation, as though I was constantly sipping from an infinitely tall glass of cool water. I gave myself no points for guessing what that feeling was. The knowledge I’d gained about my new Advancement before I chose it told me that I’d not only be able to absorb more magical power, but I’d be able to absorb it more easily. And here I was, in what was no doubt the one place on all of Mallin with the highest density of ambient magic. The air was full of power, and I was drinking deep.

Or sipping slowly. Same thing in the end.

“We should touch the collector.” Instinct offered up her terrible idea without a hint of doubt or self-reflection. 

Conscience objected immediately. That nearly killed you last time!

“But it did not,” Instinct replied with near-lethal levels of smugness. “And now our capacity for magic has grown. I have no doubt that we can handle it!”

Yeah, well I do. I’m not letting you almost accidentally kill yourself, Scaly. You may be a pain in the arse, but you’re our pain in the arse, and you’re not going anywhere… unless you want to go hang out in Tammy, I suppose. But I’ll not have you blowing yourself out of our head again!

I sighed internally. I’m going to wake up Mak, I told my arguing headmates. I want to know what she got, and then I need to eat something.

Waking Mak was no effort at all. I couldn’t even say that I woke her. She took care of that herself; attuned as she was to my needs, she began to stir on her own almost as soon as I knew that I wanted her awake. There was no reason to rush her. After no more than a minute her eyes fluttered open a sliver. “Mmm, missed this,” she purred, pressing her cheek against my side for a few long moments. Then she took a deep breath, straightened and stretched so her shoulders popped, and got to her feet.

“Good morning, Draka,” she said, her voice still low with sleep. Then she took another deep breath, letting it out as a slow, content sigh. “Gods and Mercies, but I haven’t felt this good, this complete, in a long time. Not ever, perhaps.”

“Ah… yeah,” I said, my mouth practically on autopilot. It felt like I had to say something, but all my focus was on how she moved, how she held herself, how she spoke. As long as I’d known her she’d been graceful and attractive, with a beautiful voice, and the Advancements she’d borrowed from me had added to all of those. Now she was captivating. Nothing had actually changed in her appearance, I knew that for sure, but there was something about her now that demanded not only my attention, but my deference: a sense of silent self-assurance and slumbering power that suggested that she could raise me up or lay me low with nothing but a word or a gesture. And while I, as a dragon and her mistress, could shake off that feeling effortlessly once I became aware of it, there was no denying that it had affected me. I could only wonder what she might do to some poor unsuspecting mortal.

Gods, I hoped Terdam didn’t have a bad heart or anything. If he did, seeing Mak the way she was now just might kill him.

Mak couldn’t hide that she’d noticed my reaction, nor how pleased she was, but she didn’t call attention to it. Instead she smiled and lowered her eyes demurely, a picture of humble elegance, and said, “I passed a threshold.”

“Yeah, I… I guessed,” I replied, not quite over just how radiant she was. I was like my favorite celebrity had walked into my apartment in the middle of breakfast, and she was just as wonderful as I’d always hoped. “Ah… I think I can guess what it does, but why don’t you tell me?”

“My vision indicated that the Advancement would let me truly represent the majesty of my mistress,” she said bashfully. “May I guess from your reaction that it lives up to its promise?”

I laughed sheepishly. “Nah, yeah, I’d say so,” I told her. “I can barely take my eyes off you. I’m almost worried about setting you loose in the city in case you get mobbed by adoring fans or something.”

In the pitch black, watching her with shadowsight, I couldn’t see Mak blush. But by the way she grinned at the ground I knew with complete certainty that she flushed from her ears to her neck at my flattery. “Thank you,” she said, then raised her eyes and looked me over from tail to snout. “And you!” she exclaimed. “Speaking of majesty! Herald is right in that you’re being cheated something awful when it comes to your growth, but you must be a foot or more longer!”

“Yeah, feels like it,” I agreed. “Whoever decided that bones should be able to ache was a real bastard.”

Mak smiled impishly and said, “One benefit of being small: I never had to go through anything like Herald’s growing pains.” Then she looked at me critically for another moment. “You know, I think we’ve found somewhere you take after your mother.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Stand up for me?”

I did as she asked, a few coins that had stuck to my scales falling off and tinkling back onto the carpet. Looking up at the ceiling and down at Mak, the difference in my height was noticeable. Not enormous, but enough that I could say for sure that I’d grown.

“Mmm, I can’t say for sure, but I’d guess you’re half a foot taller, maybe a little less,” Mak said. “And you’re, what? Five or six years old? Your body, I mean.”

“I believe so,” Instinct told me. “Though keeping track of time at that age was very difficult.”

I relayed what my headmate had said to Mak, who thanked her for the confirmation. “He Who Darkens The Night, while he was surely majestic, was rather small for an adult dragon, wasn’t he?” she said.

“That’s what Mother says,” I confirmed. “And what I… what I’ve estimated, based on the teeth I’ve found.”

Mak nodded sadly. “I remember. But you must be almost Sandstorm’s size now, over ten feet at the shoulder already. It seems inevitable that you’ll outgrow your father. And while I doubt that you’ll grow another ten feet, much as I’d love that, I’d be surprised if you didn’t approach or even reach Sower of Embers, Reaper of Flame’s magnificent stature with time.”

“Unless my loot is giving me all my growth in advance, somehow,” I muttered. That was a fear of mine; a stupidly irrational one, but a fear nonetheless. Considering how severe the diminishing returns seemed to be on how much size any new additions to my hoard bought me, I might stall out at Father’s size.

“No, I doubt that very much,” Mak said. “Wouldn’t your mother have mentioned something like that by now?”

“You’d think so. But I only found out about my craw a bit over a week—”

Mak interrupted me with an absolutely flat, “Your what?”

“That’s what I said!”

*

I didn’t bother hunting before returning Mak to Karakan. I was hungry, but not so much that I couldn’t put it off for a few hours. On her request I took her to the new estate, which let me take a look at the work going on there; the House’s share of the auction proceeds were being put to good use, judging by the number of workers and the amounts of cut stone, wood, and other materials waiting in the yard.

All work stopped as I came in, and for once people didn’t seem to know whether to look at me or Mak. She solved that by laughing brightly and saying, loud enough for everyone to hear, “And a good morning to you too! Back to work now!” Suddenly the yard was a hive of activity again — though the workers did keep stealing glances at the two of us.

After a brief goodbye and thank you, Mak sauntered off, looking every bit like a queen in her own domain. She quickly located a woman with the bearing of a foreman — forewoman? — who led her inside the main house. Meanwhile, I poked my head into the former warehouse. It had been entirely gutted, and a crew of workers were busy digging down several feet into the entire floor — tens of thousands of cubic feet of dirt. For the underfloor heating that Mak had mentioned, no doubt; I had no clue how that would actually work, but digging out the floor seemed like a reasonable first step.

Of course, all work stopped as soon as the first person there saw me and cried out, “Dragon! The lady! The Black Lady!” Then it was all bowing and averting eyes and other signs of submission.

I told them to keep up the good work and left. It wasn’t that I minded the fear and respect, but getting the work done was more important than me getting my ego fluffed.

I stopped by the inn quickly, just to say hi to everyone who was there — except my cousin, who was still asleep — then went to finally do something about my hunger.

I could have gone to the fish market, or straight to the docks, but why spend money when I could have myself an enjoyable little hunt? Instead I set off toward the mountains in the south-west. The revelation that this was the first day of my second year here, along with all the reminiscing we’d done, had given me a craving for mountain goat, and I’d very rarely hunted that part of the mountains.

I let Instinct do the actual hunting. It was fun, sure, but I didn’t get the sheer, sadistic glee out of it that she did. If we were going to kill something, I figured, then it might as well fall to the one of us who enjoyed it the most. And Conscience wasn’t with us, so she didn’t get a say in the matter. Then I decided that, hell, she could do the eating, too. I’d been at the front the whole party the previous evening, and got to eat all kinds of delicious meats and fishes; it was only fair that she got to eat what she’d just worked for. Then, of course, we got really nice and heavy, and she just fell back and left me to deal with that. It wasn’t quite torpor territory, but I had to take a nap until well into the afternoon before I could even consider flying.

It was while I lay there, dozing in the sun and still groggy from my nap, that a shadow passed above me. I thought nothing of it; there were various large birds of prey and vulture equivalents on my island, and some of them were brave enough to pass within a few hundred feet of me. But then it came again, and when I ignored that, it came a third time, accompanied with an irritated screech which my muddled brain slowly translated into a simple Draconic phrase: I wish to talk.

That finally brought me back to full alertness. One of my neighbors and allies was here, and they wanted to talk. They really weren’t supposed to be this far into my territory without my permission — by which I mean that this was the kind of thing Mother might maim them for if she found out. Whatever their reason was for violating my territory, it must be important.

I looked up, and caught a hint of green before the contrast between the sun and the shadow above me became too great. As He Moves, So Do The Trees Quake had come to speak with me.

As my mind raced, trying to figure out what he and his mate might want, I dug into my smattering of Draconic and finally remembered how to say what I wanted. It was an equally simple phrase, and came out as a warbling roar: You may land.

He didn’t make me wait.

“Draka. It is a good thing I saw you in the distance. You are difficult to find,” he said, narrowing his eyes in displeasure.

“And yet you’ve found me, deep within my territory,” I countered, drawing myself up. Unfortunately, when it came to posturing I had the distinct disadvantage of being two feet shorter than him, and his neck was proportionally longer. If he’d wanted to look down on me, he could’ve. And yet, in what I could only interpret as him not wanting this to turn into a pissing contest, he chose to raise his head to the same level as mine and no higher.

That didn’t stop him from expressing how annoyed he was with me, though. “You claim this entire island, save what little you have ceded, yet you do not patrol your borders. You force us to fly in the face of propriety in order to bring you important news. Be glad that my mate and I respect the treaty we have made with you, or we would have already claimed all that you have neglected to defend.”

“It’s a good thing you’re both so honorable and rational,” I replied. “I doubt any of us would like to see what will happen if you try.”

As I spoke, without any effort on my part, my shadow picked itself up from its position behind me. I could feel as it stalked forward, circling around me, all the way facing Quake as though cast by some separate, invisible companion. When it finally settled between us it lay completely and unnaturally in the direction of the sun, just barely not touching Quake’s own shadow.

Quake didn’t back away. He didn’t even lower his head. But his eyes tracked it as it moved, and his expression went from annoyed and superior to confused and disturbed, and I took that as a small victory.

Nicely done, I purred at Instinct.

“I dislike his attitude,” she growled back, not bothering to hide how pleased she was at my praise.

Out loud I said, “You said that you had important news. I cannot imagine you crossing our border without asking first if that were not true. What’s happened?”

“There are humans in your southern lands, just by our border,” Quake said, his eyes still on my shadow. “They began arriving some days ago in a multitude of ships, and have kept coming. My mate wished to burn them immediately, with your demand that we aid in the defence of this island in mind, but I convinced her that we should speak with you first. I would not like to destroy any humans you may wish to keep.”

A sharp certainty grew within me.

“These humans,” I said, my voice sounding unnaturally harsh even to myself, “are they darker skinned than the locals?”

He thought for a moment before saying, “Some are. Most are not.”

“And do they have large numbers of horses and warmachines with them?”

“They do. They brought entire herds of horses, and a variety of strange wooden contraptions. My mate was correct, then? She can burn them to her heart’s content?”

A rage was kindling within me. They’d defied me. They thought themselves stronger than me. This empire that had murdered my father no doubt thought that they could do the same to me and my allies. Oh, how wrong they were.

“No,” I growled. “Much as I’d love for her to have some fun harassing these invaders, they’re no fools. They know that this island is defended by dragons, and they’re from a nation that hates our kind. I don’t want to see you and your mate shot out of the sky.”

He snorted unhappily at that. I couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t only Unquenchable who’d been looking forward to raining hell on some unsuspecting invaders. “What do you intend, then?” he asked.

“Return to your mate,” I told him. “Do as you will if the invaders cross the border into your territory, but leave them alone otherwise.”

“And you?”

“I will warn my humans, then rally the others and bring them south, to you.” Between us, my shadow whirled and danced, as though straining to be let off the leash, and then, finally, Quake pawed the ground nervously. “I warned them to stay away from my shores, and they didn’t listen,” I said, dropping my voice to a low growl. “We’re going to make sure that they never even dream of making that mistake again.”