Chapter 119: The Dragon King's Substitute Bride

A/N: This chapter will contain a number of POV switches to note events happening at the same time in different locations.

HERA

I am still in the air when I see it.

A fire ball as high as the heavens and the Elder forest burning to ashes.

I turn my head around and lean forward once more, hoping that the dragon king is the cause of the fire and not caught inside of it.

I see the mass of clouds hovering above the dragon temple.

But as we near them, the clouds with their streaks of red and purple, I can feel Garwith start to weaken.

There must be something in the air.

Something draining the dragon of it's energy.

I know because I can feel it too.

Like a fog around my brain, threatening to drag me under.

I shake it away and lean forward, my grip on his scales tightening.

"Almost there Garwith."

But the dragon is already starting to drop downwards.

I can feel the scream as it makes it way to my throat.

"Garwith!"

But the dragon's eyes have started to droop, his wings hanging limp in the air.

And just like that, we were freeing falling.

Plummeting through the sky at a speed that would no doubt break every single bone in my body.

"Garwith!! Wake up!!!..."

We fall through the mass of dark clouds like a boulder tossed over a cliff.

"Dammit Garwith... please."

The wind is a like a rushing roar in my ears.

Stealing the sound from my lips and the tears from my eyes.

No.

This cannot be it.

I did not contort myself into a human coil and roll down the steps in a death trap simply to plummet to my death before I even got to him.

I could not let that happen.

I will never know what makes me do what I do next but I push my hand firmly against against the centre of the dragon's head.

I feel the familiar pressure start to build up in my head.

And suddenly I can see him.

Garwith the man and not the dragon.

He is laughing.

He and Henette.

Strolling through the dragon capital

There is a little dragonkin boy between them.

A boy with pitch black hair and Henrtte's beautiful, sad eyes.

A gasp leaves my lips.

I know where he is.

It is the same place where I had been trapped.

The place where my memories and wishes of my family had been used to try to keep me locked under.

I push through the darkness to him.

It is hard, like wadding through sticky mud.

"Wake up Garwith!"

He turns around frowning but he does not see me.

I push harder. "Garwith!"

He stops.

"Wake fucking up!!"

I feel the warmth as it rushes through every part of my body to concentrate in my hand.

Its eyes snap open inches before we can hit the ground and the dragon swoops upward again, turning almost vertical.

If I had not been holding unto his scales as tightly as I was I would probably have been thrown off.

I have no idea in hades what just happen but it made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

A tiredness I did not recognize washes over me and I struggle to keep my head clear.

I grab unto his scales and lean forward again as the dragon temple comes into full view.

"There Garwith!!"

The dragon swoops downwards and I see the horse before we even land.

Black and large and very agitated.

He is already here.

Gods above, am I too late?

I slide down Garwith's back and start to run towards the temple.

I remember only when I am mid-way up the steps and I turn back to look at the dragon.

I know it is no use telling him to return to Henette.

But I also did not take any clothes with us so unless he wanted to run around the dragon temple naked and weaponless, then there was only one thing left for him to do.

I yell across the distance.

"Stay there."

I turn back around and rush up the rest of the steps, silently cursing whoever thought it was good idea to make them this many.

I run past the pillars with their burning flames, my eyes fixed on the dark opening leading into the temple.

I never see her coming.

But one minute I am heading straight for the temple doors and then the next I am sprawled out on the ground off to the side.

A weight like a ton of brick sitting on my chest and driving my hands to the floor.

"You stupid bitch. You just always have to ruin everything!!"

MIDAS

The dragon king knows dark magic when he sees it.

Knows exactly what it is capable of.

But what Hermani had just done...

To heal a wound that large and that deep that quickly....the level of magic it required...

Wishing he could reach the other one, his grip on the lone sword in his right hand tightens and out the corner of his narrowed eyes he sees Leo do this same.

The runes etched into her bone white skin start to glow brighter and Hermani grins at them, the canines in her mouth inching outwards until they hang over her bottom lip.

"oh come on dragon king do not look so surprised."

Leo charges at her and she dives out of the way as easily as breathing.

"Surely you did not think I would come to a fight such as this unprepared did you?"

Both men move at the same time.

Swords swishing through the air.

Left and right.

Faster than they have ever moved before.

But Hermani, fueled by her magic is even faster.

It is almost like a dance.

A deadly dance with swords and dark magic.

The smell of blood and sweat and evil hanging in the stiff, airless of the temple like a rank miasma over everything.

Midas swings his sword at her but she dives out of the way on all fours, the claws of her hands sinking into the hardened floor.

"Oh come on Midas! If I did not know better, I would say you wanted me to win!"

The chief Ryder attacks from the other side but she ducks low, grabs at his sword hand and throws him over her head and towards Midas.

The dragon king moves effortlessly out of the way just as the chief Ryder catches himself and lands on his feet.

"Leo look out!"

But it is too late.

Her claws swish through the air and across Leo's back.

Piercing through metal and clothing and skin and muscle to leave deep gorges across Leo's back.

The chief Ryder cries out and falls to his knees just as Midas moves across the space to throw himself at her again.

She tries to parry the hit with her hands but the dragon king is done playing around.

He swings again and again.

But then her feet brush against his second sword that had been lying on the floor.

He sees what she is about to do but it is too late.

She dunks under his sword and placing her hands on his chest, pushes him away with unnatural force, sending him skidding backwards.

Then with one quick smirk, she steps hard on the handle of the sword and grabs it when it flies in the air.

She rolls her shoulders, her tongue flicking out to slide against the row of her grotesquely sharp upper teeth.

"Ah...I have always wanted to use one of these."

Midas stares at her, eyes unblinking, the only evidence of his exertion in the fall and rise of his chest.

He sees Leo struggle to rise.

"Stand down!"

"But your highness..."

"That is an order Leo."

Hermani sneers.

Her voice dripping with venom and disgust.

"Yes Leo...be a good little puppet and listen to your king."

She narrows her eyes at Midas, her voice changing.

"I will ask you one last time dragon king. Where is the key?"

HERA

"Get off of me!!"

She is much stronger than I am and struggling is almost useless but I struggle anyway.

"First you take him away from me and steal my crown. And now you want to ruin this too?"

I try to twist away from the spittle flying from her mouth.

"Minth can you even hear yourself! You sound fucking insane!"

She is quite literally frothing.

Sneering and baring her teeth like some sort of rapid dog.

Her feature contorting into an angry mass of unadulterated rage.

"Insane? I'll show you insane you little human whore!"

Her hands wrap themselves around my neck, crushing my wind pipe and making it impossible to breathe.

I slap at her hand and claw at her hair but nothing works.

"I shall kill you with my bare hands and spit on your grave."

"Minth...'

I start to choke out her name and fail.

My vision starts to blur and my chest is burning from the lack of air.

My hands fall from her head, flexing and clawing at the ground.

Searching for something... anything...

I am very close to passing out.

I can feel it in the darkness creeping around the edges of my vision

The fingers of my left hand brush against the edge of a pillar and I try to wrap my hands around it.

To gain some leverage and push myself up.

But her hand shoots out and grabs my wrist.

Pressing it into the ground and cutting off my escape while still continuing to choke me to death with her other hand.

"Oh no you fucking don't." She laughs hysterically.

"Wait till they find out that I am the one who..."

My right hand closes around it.

A rock the size of my fist with sharp edge.

I slam it into the side of her head with enough force to dig it into her skull.

She shrieks and grabs her head.

I push her off of me and scramble to my knees, coughing and choking on the air that rushes into my bruised throat.

She turns around and sneers at me, blood dripping from the wound in the side of her head.

"Oh you little human bitch!!"

She flies at me again but before she can reach me, something large and heavy slams into her side and pins her against the wall of the temple with so much force that it actually splinters and cracks.

I stare at Garwith's dragon form pinning a now very unconscious Minth to the wall with it's claws.

Laughter bubbles to my lips.

"Oh thank the Gods..."

Pressure worse than anything I have ever felt before slams into me and the words die in my throat.

I see the spear dripping with dark magic as it dives through the air.

My eyes fly open.

"No Garwith!!!"

I dive towards the dragon, arm outstretched, but I am too late.

The spear pierces through the back of the dragon's neck and out the front, straight through Minth's head.

"No!!"

I think about the image I had seen in Garwith's mind.

Henette...the small child with the black hair and beautiful eyes...

A future that suddenly was no longer possible.

Hurt blossoms in my chest.

Flooding my veins and threatening to drown out everything.

I crumble to my knees beside him.

"Garwith...Gods above...No"

MIDAS.

Swords clash and sparks fly.

Dragon king and elven Queen.

Flying across the room in a blur of motion that is too difficult to even follow.

But dragon king or not Midas is hurting and without the healing powers of his dragon, he is starting to weaken.

Hermani sends Midas' sword flying, forcing the dragon king backwards until his back hits the hard surface of pillar.

Her eyes shine with glee and madness

"Tell me dragon king. How does it feel?"

Her claws, seeping with dark magic, dig into the skin of his shoulder, pinning him against the pillar and Midas has to bite down on his tongue to keep from crying out.

He clenches his teeth and hisses through his jaw.

"How does what feel?"

She grins at him. "Mortality."

And then without blinking drives the sword towards him.

Midas grabs it.

Stopping the blade with both hands inches before it can sink into his stomach.

She grins harder.

Even as the double edges sink into his palms and slice them open.

His blood, warm and bright red runs down his hands.

Turning dark when it drips down his elbows and touches the earthen floor.

Midas eyes are focused even as his arms flex and strain in an effort to stop the sword forwards.

Every inch of his body feels aflame with pain.

Pain...and something else.

A something else he knew better than the back of his own hands.

"Dragon king..."

Midas grins, his face hurting from the effort.

"What took you so bloody long?'

Hermani cocks her head, her brows drawing together in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

Their head whips backwards and then forwards again so fast that she barely has any time to react.

A crack, loud and startlingly echoes through the room and her head snaps backwards with enough force to break her neck.

She shrieks in pain.

Stumbling backwards, her grip on the sword falls away as her hand fly to cup her bleeding, disfigured nose.

She pushes gingerly at the shattered bone and cartilage.

"What have you done!!! I am going to fucking kill you!!"

She flies at them but they catch her mid air.

Their hand wrapped firmly around her neck.

She struggles against their grip, her legs thrashing violently almost an entire feet off the ground.

"Stupid elf."

With one quick movement, they send her flying across the room to crash into the base of a pillar at the far end of the room.

Mortar and dust fly up in the air.

Before she can even blink, they are on her again. Grabbing her by the roots of her hair.

"No. You should be asleep!!"

She claws at their hand.

Talons digging into the skin deep into the skin and drawing blood.

But they barely even notice it before flinging her across the room again, a broken, discarded rag doll, to crumble at the base of another pillar.

The sound her back makes as it connects with the pillar...

Were she human she would most certainly be dead

Her spine broken in half from the impact.

She drags herself into a sitting position, groaning and coughing out dark blood.

Dark magic came with a price.

And dark elven queen or not, there is a limit to how much of it she could use for long stretches at a time.

And they knew it.

They stalk towards her, dragon and dragon king as one once again, the wounds on their hand already starting to close up and heal.

They grab her again and once more fling her cross the space.

This time sending her into the bottom step at the base of the altar.

They turn around, walking towards where one of Midas' swords lay discarded.

"Er'gan"

The dragon closes the King's hands around the hilt of the sword.

"You do not have to say it dragon king. I know that you have missed me."

Midas scoffs on the inside.

But he does not deny it.

She charges at their back, leaping unto them and trying to wrap her arms around their neck.

But they simply throw themselves backwards, crushing her against the nearest pillar.

She lets go and crumbles to the floor.

They squat in front of her and force her to raise her head so she can see the color of their eyes.

The bright vivid red of it.

She spits blood into the sand beside her.

"That stupid Minth. She was supposed to give you the entire bottle."

Er'gan stares down at the dark elf through Midas' eyes.

"We are going to kill you."

There is no feeling in the words.

Not gloating or vengeance.

Just a cold statement of fact.

But suddenly she starts to grin, blood smeared across her teeth.

"Are you now?"

Their expression does not change.

Hermani smiles.

"Turn around dragon king. You might want to think again."

The figures step through the door of the temple and into the light.

One holding the other, the glint of steel pressed against her neck.

"Midas..."

There are tears in her eyes and her voice when she calls out to them is tired and broken.

The sword starts to slip from their hand.

Midas immediately takes back control. His eyes fading once more to gold.

"Hera..."

The dark elf holding her hostage tugs violently on her hair in order to bare her neck even more to the knife and she cries out in pain.

Midas and Er'gan growl as one.

He turns to Herman who is struggling to rise to her feet.

"Let her go."

Hermani smirks up at him, trying to wipe the blood from her nose but only managing to smear it across her face.

"Give me the key...or watch her bleed to death."