The Blind King

HAPPY HALLOWEENI!

A/N: Good news! I got a free book out, the prequel to it all, well to Kaiden’s world at least 😊 I named it ‘How it Started’. It’s written fast and loose, but I don’t think I have any major errors or anything …

As ‘gifted’ as I am with storytelling, God(s) Knows I Can’t Spell to save my life.

Drozakrahth

I awoke on the sands, while Nox held a heartbeat so weak he sounded dead… there is a toll on the body… on the soul to crush one so putrid… so rotted and festering… to see the gnawing maggots die under the heat of the sand… to be so ill all I could do was try and rekindle the doused fire in my belly.

That took about four hours… by then it was noon… Nox was partially baked and so was I… But now that I had some of my magic, I used it to make a well…. And I shifted.

Vomiting in that form…. on hands and knees as a mortal…. I would not wish it on my enemy… but I made the well mortal sized, and even made a lid for it with some regular steel… the dragon steel was buried deep in the sands… and his sword was still in my eye… I could not pull it out by myself, but I think he missed the pupil… I could see when I opened it, but everything was red with my own blood….

How Sweet that water was… I even made a bucket and pully.. I drank it, and kept it down… and I had to spoon-feed Nox and pour some on his head and limbs… It was so hot here that one could watch it evaporate off your skin as steam.

The well was Honestly for a dragon… no human would survive this heat. It was too intense… the sand here was baked hard almost like dirt… and small shards of glass from all the explosions and magic made it hotter still…

“Thank you brother.” He said in old elvish… like before I became the monster I was back then.

“Were did you go…?” I asked.

“Haven…” He rasped… “Solis threw his nasty soul in the Pit… and I assume as did Nocturnus…”

“Aye…I had his heart and body… all of it is in the Pit…” I confirmed. He would never know how I felt about my creator… I wanted Nothing to do with one so grand… I would behave this time if he liked it or not…

We sat like this until sundown, and I had to sprout only wings… We made it to Hellion’s capital… I was small in my mortal form. Had I shifted I don’t know how far I could have gone, but we would be at least at the border in the time it took.

We were welcomed, and their water still ran…. It was still pure as I was right. That part of the desert was too hot for life, and anything out there would dry out. Hellion’s wife flew to greet us, and I honestly didn’t catch her name or her thank you… Her mouth was moving, but I just wanted to fucking sleep…

We were scrubbed by her finest brothel women…. I hated their touch, but I felt so weak, I could not lift my arms without a large drake to come help them… Pitiful. He said nothing, seeing the mortal wound in my eye, and the poison from it was so thick, that now a red smoke came from it…. I’d never seen such thick poison like that….

“Food master?” asked one of the females. She had a bowl of meat and fruit.

“Why not.” I said taking it as they scrubbed my feet.

It coated the veins in my blood… it made the food I was offered taste rotten..... my other eye began to hurt as well...… and it made everything a battle… Had I not been lifted out the tub by the blue dragon… I might have slept in the tub.

“My Lord…. I feel… wrong to even speak words without your permission… but do you need anything more?” He asked.

“No. And do not worry of my claws. This mortal form is all I can muster right now.” I joked. I said it with a weak smile, so as not to scare them of me...

“We will watch you all night master.” Said a female drake.

“That won’t be necessary. I can handle a mattress.” I chuckled.

In the old times I admit even in this state I’d have made a bastard or two, as would Nox… he was no saint… but he was better than I. I’ll admit that much. He left no loose ends… it is why so Few elves carried his blood.

But regardless… it felt nice to be aided to be clothed, and to sleep on a bed… but I was still injured and poisoned. Nox woke up refreshed though… he didn’t have a sword in his eye. He did, however, knock on the door.

“Good morning.” He sang, opening the door. He frowned then…as I lay in bed with women in my room, sitting on the floor… he thought I’d laid with them.

“I didn’t know they were still in here.” I mumbled.

“We attend his majesty… should he want us.” Said the draconic brothel maiden.

“As I said last night, I have a mate.” I complained, using all my strength to get up

“I smell no sex… so no harm is done. Begone women.” He commanded, and they ran out. “Why are you still sick?”

“The sword.” I pointed at my closed still bleeding eye… the bed was a mess… I felt bad for that… these sheets were silk… the smoke that came from my eye was black now… and it burned like it was trying to slay the eye…. All it needed was a human to wield it…

“Hold still. I think I can teleport it in my hands… but Don’t Move.” He said seriously.

“Do it.” I said readying myself. I screamed when he did it, but I could heal my eye now.

“Tellus.” He said as the shining sword appeared in his hand…. “It’s serrated.” He said thumbing over the edge…. “It’s made of… hatred… not steel…” He mumbled.

“You mean to tell me that his Feelings almost took my sight?” I growled.

“Well…. Yeah…look for yourself.” He tossed it to me… it began to evaporate in the air…

Hatred…

I saw a vision of why they hated me so… this sword was from the First Dragon Slayer… Margruth… I remembered him… Harbon was his descendant.

I killed his family. He moved, like the peasant he was, and I killed that village too. To me they were unrelated, but to him, Margruth thought it was a calling from the gods… I slaughtered his armies, I killed his children from his second wife… I laughed as I did it. But this hatred was not Just his.

Originally this was a normal dragon steel sword… their meddling with magics is what changed it to something More…

Margruth’s hatred… His son, Ekta, his Grandson, His Great Grandson… every House of Margruth ancestor who touched this sword did so to protect their family from us… but times were different now…

There was true reform, policed by the Kings. I laughed at the irony. That their hatred, once used to protect their families and peoples would have Destroyed it all.

“I saw the vision too.” Said Nox. “Are you strong enough to go home?” He asked. “Your eyes look…. odd…”

At the moment… both eyes saw only red, but I didn’t care. I could still see…

“I don’t rightly care.” I said rubbing my eyes. “I still need to make sure there are no more undead.” I said getting on the robes they left me, and I summoned the silk shirt my mate gave me…. I would keep that safe no matter what. After checking that it was still clean and well, I put it back into my magic safekeeping box. I could summon it and its contents anytime.

“Solis cursed them heavily… the dead from now on will have to be beheaded before burial, but no more will rise… the undead animals and fish are all already dead, and the sun burns them to ash now… the waters and rivers are pure, the people can rest easy.” He mumbled.

“What of the rabies…?” I asked.

“He said to make a vaccine for it, that it was simple enough for us…” Nox said looking out the window.

“What the fuck is that?” I asked in confusion.

“I think he wants me to make a potion to cure it. Disease cure potions won’t work on rabies until one is invented. I already told my elves to round up the sick for experimentation.” He said looking out the window. “So far, a preventative has been made… that if drank, they will no longer turn…. I need to leave… that was what I was tasked with… I mean to make a proper cure… I assume you were tasked with keeping your people in order.” He said turning to light.

He was right. My drakes would kill mortals on mass if they saw me in this state… I got out of bed, but the brothel maidens came to kneel at my feet.

“Please stay a little longer lord… let us give you fine eggs.” One pleaded.

“No. I have a mate. Begone, but take the coins I left on the table. You all bathed me well last night.” I said a little ashamed that I couldn’t even do that… I actually needed that help…

I shook it from my thoughts… and I flapped my mighty wings without saying goodbye to anyone. I’d jumped out the window, and became my true size… It was a bad idea, but I wanted to show the people that I was alright…

And that I could see out my right eye… things were blurry now, but as I flew I felt stronger… each roar held more and more power….

Now I had to fix the courts… now I had to make sure she was ok…. I hoped she could not smell the dragonesses on me…. She would think the worst…. I know she would… Saving this world meant nothing if the one person I saved it for hates me….