Chapter three - Ardenti... Fire Dragon

"You didn't steal that bread like last time now, did you?" Miss Kiligra, the seamstress of our village, asks, squinting her hazel eyes at the loaf in my hands.

"Course not, Miss Kiligra," I drawl. "That was Iker." The known trickster. He dressed up as a frail man in need of bread before taking every piece of clothing off by the stables. His idiocy is what caused passing villagers to realize he was faking and informed everyone.

"Oh, you Ambrose siblings are all the same," she complains, her voice sounding worse than a rusted piece of metal as she totters to the back.

After trapping a water pixie by luring it with honey—a sweet substance they gravitated towards—I came to the main village for pots of paints that Illias needed. Miss Kiligra, as well as a seamstress, provided everyone with almost anything. The vast pans and random candles around the room mixed in with drapes of cloth hanging from windows practically show the mess that is her shop.

"Now you tell that brother of yours to stop coming by with paint dripping off of him," she says, scratching her long grey coiled hair as she limps with the paint can in one hand. I chuckle, fully aware Illias won't stop showing up with different colors on him everywhere.

Reaching inside my pocket to pay her, my attention catches a gleam of four small but sharpened blades resting behind on one of her shelves. "Knives?" I frown in amusement, handing her two copper coins. "Since when did you keep them around in your store?"

Miss Kiligra always told me off for carrying knives freely. I once even gifted her a set, only to find out she had given them to someone else due to her fearing someone could break in and use them against her.

A bizarre logic that I never questioned her on.

"Oh, haven't you heard?" She leans over the counter, her eyes darting around the room in madness. "Apparently, a new breed is lurking around the whole of Emberwell, slaughtering humans!"

My blood freezes. A new breed? Oh, for Solaris's sake. "Where did you hear that?"

"Myrine found out from traders in the city. They say it's worse than dragon shifters or a Rumen."

I lower a brow, slowly dropping the loaf of bread on the counter. "Do you think they came from Terranos?"

She shakes her head. "Some believe the leaders of Aeris might have to do with it." Right, the land where phoenixes and air creatures lived just west off of Zerathion.

I stay in a thoughtful gaze, pursing my lips as Miss Kiligra turns back to fixing pieces of cloth. She mutters, "We can only pray for the sanctity that Solaris and Crello will provide us if one of the rulers went against the treaty."

Our world and leaders of each land had despised one another for centuries. Once there was a time that our kind was known to be lesser... weaklings because we had no power. It wasn't until a new reign that the rules changed, and a treaty was put in place. Mortals were to be equals and every territory to keep to themselves, never crossing borders except for rulers.

No one knew what the queen of Emberwell was. Some said a sorceress, mighty and powerful. Others thought a witch. Yet whatever she was, she saved us. Albeit if that came at a price because even then, shifters living among us retaliated at the idea. They became ruthless and dangerous alongside dragons, resulting in the queen having to create an army of Venator's that we know of today to protect mortals.

"What do these creatures look like?" I ask while those same thoughts of a leader going against the treaty linger in the back of my mind.

"Not a clue," Her voice drops to a whisper though I'm the only other person inside her shop. "No one's lived to describe it. Only rumors that it resembles much of a dragon species have surfaced."

Waves of doubt come crashing on me, trying to think of how anyone could be involved in this new species? "Are you sure—" My words leave unfinished when beads of necklaces jump in vibrations against the counter and the ground quakes under my feet as fearful screams emerge from outside.

Miss Kiligra gazes at me in panic as I turn, rushing to the window. Crowds of people run from each angle, fleeing as if—

"Solaris! A dragon Nara!" Miss Kiligra shouts from behind, and that's when I see it... dark wings like leather, hovering past and casting a shadow off the sun. A few Venator's rush through, waving at villagers to get as far as possible.

I can hear the dragon's harsh growls from here as it suspends in the air, flapping its wings. The body of medium build, yet large enough for Venator's to struggle against it.

Realization hits me all at once while watching in horror as bolts of fire, feral and wild, shoot down on carriages, carts, and anything in sight.

"My brothers," I whisper.

Immediate worry succumbs me, and I whirl around, glancing at everything inside the store.

I had dropped off Illias by the market stalls, Iker would be at the tavern, and Idris...Idris would come looking for us too, as soon as he'd hear all the commotion.

"Nara..." Miss Kiligra's voice drums in full warning as if she knows what I'm like and what I'm about to do.

She watches from the counter, quivering and now hugging one of her blades as I unhook my cloak, letting it fall to the floor. I yank out the curved dagger from my sheath and give one single nod towards Miss Kiligra. She tells me not to go out there, but it's too late as I burst through the doors into the nightmare of cries, the already injured and broken wood from stalls crackling among flames. The smoke twisting and disappearing into the sky.

I start passing through crowds, but they push against me, trying to flee in the opposite direction. "Illias!" My voice is hoarse as I try to locate him. "Ill—" A man's shoulder connects with mine forcefully, knocking me onto the floor. My knife falls from my grip, and I scurry to grab it when another harsh scream echoes around us. I look up at the sky in time to gasp and roll on my side just as spits of fire bounce off the cobblestoned ground.

Breathlessly, I attempt to get up, but gold shining ahead of me as feet trample past coaxes me. A plain goblet perhaps fallen from the stalls.

Ivarron, in the past, had told me three kinds of dragons and shifters to exist, a Merati, holder of illusions and mind, an Umbrati, bearer of shadows. Then the current one attacking our village... an Ardenti, a fire dragon.

But from what else I'd known is that gold attracted them, mesmerized their entire being.

With each second that passes, my heart thunders, and I weigh in on a thought. The dragon needed to be tamed, distracted.

And gold could do that.

I search for the dagger again, having figured my decision, and grasp it just before someone else's foot can connect with it. Rising, I gaze at the Venators, steel swords out and flashing then towards the goblet. I take off, mentally praying my brothers managed to get to safety, although Idris...

I shake that reverie as I swipe the goblet from the floor. Its heavyweight warms beneath my clammy hands, as does the cool metal of my dagger in the other. With a turn of my feet, I sprint into motion—gusts of smoke blend like shadows coating cloudless skies until I reach the other side of the village.

The dragon lands onto the stone grounds, dust flies up, and I throw my arms in front of me as a shield. With the dragon's back turned, I lower them, watching it screech and spout its fire across the area while Venators dodge. I stand a distance away as its spiked tail slams across a Venators middle. The propelling force sends them thumping against wooden carts.

My hand trembles, and the fierce memory of my father comes back. I was a fearful child, frozen in place, but after that day, I made myself a promise I would not fear again. I would not leave defeated by a dragon. I narrow my eyes, clutching the goblet tightly and square my shoulders, alert... no longer trembling.

"Hey!" A man yells. The rough cut of his voice gets me swiveling my head to the side only to frown when I see it's the Venator who had been staring at me yesterday. "Get out of here!" He waves one hand, his copper hair wildly unkempt as he dons a long sharp sword.

My face shows no hint of me acting on what he says as I raise my dagger skyward and aim it towards the dragon.

From the corner of my eye, I can see the Venator approaching. Still, I inhale sharply, now focusing on the glistening black scales rounding the dragon's neck and throw the blade. It rotates through the air before lodging itself onto the side. The dragon doesn't cry out in pain, nor does it react. I didn't want it to. I just wanted its attention. A dragon's skin was far too thick for simple hunting knives such as mine.

With a slow turn, its slim muzzle bares rows of sharp teeth, a rumble deep within the dragon echoes the village. Yet its thundering steps don't deter me from running away as my gaze connects with those bright flaming eyes. The dark slit in the middle takes me all in like it's waiting, analyzing what kind of victim is next.

Without taking another second, I lift my hand with the gold goblet firmly held underneath. Puffs of air emit from the dragons' nostrils, blowing back golden waves of my hair. Its eyes land on the goblet, but it doesn't stay there as it focuses on me again, and the strangest thing occurs.

Just how all those years ago when the dragon that killed my father stared straight at me like I was the one mesmerizing thing. Not the gold, not the goblet, this dragon purrs, cowering its head at my mercy.