Chapter 215 - Blood Awakens

Chapter 215 - Blood Awakens
LIRA 

The darkness had become familiar somehow.

Days had passed, or perhaps it had only been hours. Time moved strangely in the dungeons, measured only by the changing of the guards and the faint light that crept through the high, barred window. I had lost count of how many times I had woken to the same cold stone, the same damp air, the same suffocating silence.

I was so weak.

The guards brought me bread and water once a day, barely enough to keep me alive. My body ached from the cold stone floor, my wrists were raw from the shackles, and my mind felt like it was slowly unravelling.

But at night, when the darkness was thickest and the silence was heaviest, I dreamed.

It was rare and beautiful all at once. I wasn't much of a dreamer at night. But in the dungeons I dreamed more than I had ever dreamt in my entire life. 

\---

The first dream was strange.

I was standing in a field of wheat, golden and endless, stretching toward a sky that was impossibly blue. The sun was warm on my face, and the wind carried the scent of wildflowers and earth. I was young, no more than seven or eight, and I was laughing.

My father was beside me.

He was younger too, his dark hair untouched by grey, his face free of the worry that had marked his later years. He was smiling, his hand resting on my shoulder.

"Lirael," he said. "Do you see the wheat?"

I nodded.

"It bends with the wind," he said. "It does not fight. It does not break. It moves."

I looked at the wheat, watching the golden stalks sway in the breeze.

"But there is strength in bending," he continued. "There is strength in yielding. The wheat knows that if it fights the wind, it will snap. So it moves, that is how it adapts and survives. Like us."

"Like us?" I asked.

"Like us," he said. "We are like the wheat, Lirael. We bend and adapt."

He knelt beside me, his eyes meeting mine.

"But there is another strength we have," he said. "A deeper strength. The strength of the earth itself. The strength of the magic that flows in our veins."

"Magic?"

He took my hand and pressed it to the ground.

"Close your eyes," he said.

I closed them.

"Feel the earth," he said. "Feel it beneath your palm. Can you feel it?"

I concentrated.

At first, I felt nothing. Just the dirt, the grass, the warmth of the sun. But then... 

Something.

A pulse. Deep beneath the surface.

Like a heartbeat.

"I feel it," I whispered.

"That is magic," my father said. "True magic. It is everywhere. It is in the earth. In the stone. In the blood of those who came before us. It has been sleeping for a long time, Lirael. But it is not dead."

"Can I wake it?"

"One day," he said. "One day, when you need it most, it will wake on its own. And when it does, you will know."

\-———-

I woke with a gasp.

The dungeon was cold and dark. The guards standing rigidly.

But I could still feel the pulse beneath my palm. Faint, distant, but there.

It was a dream, I told myself. Just a dream.

But even as I thought it, I knew it was not.

\---

The dreams continued.

Each night, I saw my father. Each night, he taught me something new. The history of the old bloodlines. The magic that had once flowed through the veins of the ancient families. The power that had been suppressed by the Crown, buried beneath centuries of lies.

"The former kings feared us," he said in one dream. "They feared what we could become. So they destroyed us. They burned our records. They killed our sages. They made us forget."

"But we are still here," I said.

"Yes," he said. "You are still here. And you carry the blood of the old ones in your veins. That is why the dragons are drawn to you. That is why Luna chose you. That is why..." 

"Why what?"

He looked at me.

"That is why you will save us all."

\-—————————————-

A crowd had gathered, nobles and commoners alike, their faces hungry for spectacle. The executioner's block stood in the center, dark and ominous. Beside it, a pyre had been erected, its wood stacked high.

And there, on a raised platform, sat the Queen.

She was dressed in black, her crown gleaming, her smile sharp as a blade. Beside her stood Calista, resplendent in crimson, her golden hair loose around her shoulders.

The guards forced me to my knees in the center of the courtyard, chains still heavy on my wrists. I could feel the eyes of the crowd on me, some looked curious, others were angry, a few were even sympathetic. I did not know which was worse.

The Queen rose from her seat.

The crowd fell silent.

"People of Aurelia," she began, her voice carrying across the courtyard, practiced and commanding. "You have gathered here today to witness justice. Justice for crimes committed against this kingdom. Justice for the lies that have been woven into our very fabric."

She stepped forward, her black gown trailing behind her.

"Many of you know this woman as Lady Lira of the Vale. The girl who won your hearts. The girl who charmed her way through the Dragon Queen Selection. The girl who rode a dragon into your midst and made you believe she was one of you."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"But I am here to tell you, she is not one of you."

The murmurs grew louder.

"Her true name is Lirael Sutton," the Queen continued. "She is the daughter of Aidan Sutton, a traitor to this kingdom, a man who was executed for his crimes against the crown years ago."

I felt the crowd shift. Some gasped. Others exchanged glances.

"She came here with one purpose," the Queen said. "Revenge. She wanted to destroy this kingdom. She wanted to destroy us. And she nearly succeeded."

The Queen's voice grew hard.

"She impersonated a noblewoman, a dead woman, to gain access to the selection. She entered our palace under false pretenses, and she has lied to every single one of you."

I opened my mouth to speak, but the Queen held up a hand.

"She admitted to freeing the dragon Veyraxis, the very dragon that has been terrorizing our borders and fighting alongside Norwyn. She admitted to conspiring with our enemies, to orchestrating the attacks that have killed our soldiers and destroyed our villages."

The crowd murmured again, but I heard something different in their voices. Not agreement. Not outrage.

Confusion.

A woman near the front whispered to her companion: "How can this be? Surely a dragon wouldn't bond with her if she was the daughter of an ordinary noble man? If she wasn't the real lady Lira, how was she able to bond with a dragon?" 

"But we saw her ride into battle in the Eastern passes." someone else said. "She rode out with Princess Aveline. She fought against Norwyn and protected the people there."

The murmurs spread.

The Queen's smile faltered.

"You see?" she said, her voice rising. "She has even fooled you. She has made you believe she is a hero, when in truth she is a viper. She is a traitor. She is..." 

"But she saved people," a voice called out. "She saved people of Aurelia." 

I looked up.

It was a woman in the crowd, a commoner, her face flushed with emotion.

"She also bonded with a dragon," another voice said. "And the hatchling. She found a dragon hatchling. The first one in decades! That is not something a traitor does."

"She fought against the enemy," a third voice said. "She rode out with Princess Aveline. Let the Princess stand here and let us know if it was all a lie." 

The Queen's face went pale.

"You do not understand," she said, her voice sharp. "She has deceived you. She is a liar. She..." 

The crowd was growing restless. People started arguing with each other now. 

The executioner stepped forward.

He was a massive man, his face hidden behind a hood, his hands gripping the handle of his axe.

I closed my eyes.

I am not powerless, I thought. I am not powerless. I am not... 

I thought of my father.

Of his voice in my dreams.

Feel the earth. Feel it beneath your palm. Can you feel it?

I pressed my hands to the ground. I let myself feel the sand beneath my palms. 

Feel it, I told myself. Feel it.

At first, nothing.

Then... 

A pulse.

Deep beneath the surface.

Like a heartbeat.

That is the old magic, my father's voice whispered. It is in the earth. In the stone. In the blood of those who came before us.

I reached deeper.

Deeper than I had ever reached.

Wake up, I thought. Wake up. Please... 

The earth trembled.

The executioner stumbled.

And then.., 

A blast.