Pagos Rule

            Leilani glared at the back of Damocles head as they walked.  Dragons, especially angry dragons, always had issue with other animals, which rendered all forms of transportation save walking obsolete.  “I am tired of being controlled.” Leilani said.  Her voice was calm and cool, but there was a hint of cracking underneath the hidden layer of anger.  “Do I not get to decide what I want for once?”

 

            Damocles didn’t speak.  Her anger boiled over as his silence grew thicker, surrounding her.  The tension building in her mind, screamed through his tensed shoulders.  It wasn’t a good enough reaction, not when he came to drag her away from her sister into his hellish world of strict orders.

 

            “Circumstances made me a dragon, Fotia; I have a right to live.”  She growled her frustration, running her hands through her white-blonde hair.  The closer to the hidden passage between the village and Adonia they got, the harder the wind seemed to blow.  Leilani’s hair whipped around her shoulders just as violent as she felt.

 

            “You are alive, Pagos!  Be thankful for that blessing considering the better part of your family has died by the hands of a true monster; a monster that you let your sister congregate with.”  His words were like daggers to her heart, but his tone was smooth.

 

            “The humans do not do things as dragons do.  They do not leave specific orders not to speak to someone.  I instructed her to mind her manners while you barge into their establishment and order me home.  Can you fathom what those people are going to think of…?”

 

            Damocles turned on his heel, facing Leilani before she finished her sentence.  He stepped toward her in a flash, their noses almost touching.  Fire raged in his eyes.  “How can you remotely pretend to care what those foolish humans believe?  They destroyed all but two of your clan members, and they have started working on mine.”  He took a deep breath and forced himself to step back.  “Yes, some dragons killed the humans for sport, but we all did not condone what our ancestors took part in; they had no right to our lives.”

 

            “You mistook me,” Leilani whispered.  Her voice caught the wind, and she wasn’t sure if he heard her over his own anger.  “I do not pretend to care about all humans; I do, however, care about a single human.  She deserves to be shown off as humans show off pretty things, granted not in a place that like, but she deserves happiness.”

 

            “You should have thrown her back to the wolves the first instance your eyes met.  She will be your down fall!”  His back turned on Leilani.  Her fingers curled into her palms at the thought of anyone saying Jura was less than perfect.

 

            Before she knew what she was doing, Leilani punched Damocles in the middle of his back, in the middle of the bulk of armor he wore.  She screamed as her knuckles cracked.  “Jura is a Pagos!  She is my clan and I would never turn my back, as you and father have, on her!”

 

            His eyes turned cold and bitter as they locked onto hers.  “Careful, Beloved.”

 

            “Do not…” she hissed.  “Do you deny that Father admitted to her?  That, no matter how much you want the truth to be lies, makes her a Pagos.  Half blood or not, she is family!”  Her eyes held the heat of fire while her hand swelled.  Redness bore into her skin.  The morning would bring her claws and healing, but tonight she would deal with the searing pain.

 

            “I do not deny being in the room when your father spoke of a human child, but you have other siblings!  Why not take up with any number of them?”  He demanded.

 

            Leilani stepped back.  Shock filled her core.  Damocles was, unfortunately, right about her siblings.  Kaian, Trawien, Sevirama, Aselassa, Miraynna, and Ekcle lived in Adonia.  Trawien and Ekcle took part in The Choir with the Terrigenae; she loved to watch them perform, but she never acknowledged her brothers.  Sevirama avoided all because in her human form her smoky scales never left her face.  Miraynna and Aselassa were nice enough, but they…she didn’t truly have a good reason for avoiding the Nerou girls.  However, Leilani ignored Kaian for the simple purpose that he happened to be Damocles’ friend.

 

            “None of them are Jura.  She sought me out; she wants a family!”  She tried to defend herself and her sister, but it was useless.

 

            “Just admit it, Lei.  You want to be one of them.  You admire the fact they are finite.  Your so-called sister is barely 18 years old while you are well passed 300.”  Damocles’ voice softened a bit as he watched her expression change.

 

            “You cannot begin to understand what it is like to grow up alone.  Your clan is not like mine.”  Her eyes met his.  Water formed on her cheeks.  She wiped her face because she never cried.  “All I had was Mother, and she left me.  Father gave me Jura, just to take her away!”

 

             “You have an eternity to explain it to me.”  Damocles took Leilani’s arm gently and guided her through the hidden passage, being acutely aware of her injured hand.  Soon they were inside the Pago’s tower, awaiting her father’s entrance.

 

~~~

 

            After an hour’s time, a large pure white dragon lumbered into the silence of the room, shaking the floors.  Chunks of ice fell from the ceiling.  Leilani did not move from her seat on the icy thrown.  She’d grown tired of waiting and sat half way through the hour.

 

            The dragon mumbled and grunted.  High pitched whining fell from his jaw.  Leilani grinned.  “You should lecture me in the manner more often, Father,” she chided.  “I cannot comprehend a thing you say with these frail, little ears.”

 

            His mouth began to glow for a moment before her human ears began to understand the dragon’s speech.  “Did you not think before you left, Leilani!”  he growled.  She winced at his voice, shaking a few giant icicles loose from the ceiling.  They shattered roughly a foot from where she sat.

 

            “What was I to think about Father?”  She was using her calm tone that usually won everyone’s good opinion, though she had doubts about it now.

 

            “No one knew where you had ventured.  You could have been captured or worse!”  His eyes bore into her.  She almost saw a flicker of a memory behind those wide gray eyes.

 

            ‘Or worse,’ She thought, ‘I would have never returned.’

 

            “I was with Jura.  Her mother gives us their best regards.”  She tried to smile.  “One night could never change me, but I will admit…I loathed the slayer’s presence in the village.”

 

            “He loathes you now, I’m sure.”  He settled his large body in a sitting position while his long neck rose into the thinner air.  Leilani took to looking at his black claws rather than craning. 

 

            “I hope as much.  The more he dislikes me, perhaps, the more he shall stay away.”  She picked at the hem of her shirt furiously as she thought back to his words.  “He says we will all parish as the Ice Queen…as mother did.”

 

            “Can you see a male dragon climbing into his father’s bedsheets?”  Her father retorted.  His anger was melting; it never lasted when Leilani was its target.

 

            “Perhaps Hyndos.  The others would not oblige him or his father welcomingly.”  She agreed.  “The women may be a challenge.  I admit he is handsome for a human, but everything about him causes my skin to prickle and crawl.  He is nothing more than a disease.”

 

            “Save your kindness,” Her father said with a laugh.  “I hear your Jura fancies this disease.”

 

            “OUR,” Leilani corrected, “Jura, has much better tastes of who she chooses as company.”  After a moment’s recollection of Jura’s words outside the tavern, she added, “At the very least, I hope she as better tastes.”

 

            She stole a glance at her father’s stature.  He seemed bigger though she chalked that up to her human stature.  His countenance seemed wary and tired.  She took a moment to realize what her father had been through in the two hundred years.

 

            “I know the rules, Father.  No going out without permission from the Clan; when you are out the Clan lead is Damocles; and I must always come home.  I did not mean to worry or disappoint you.”  She continued staring up at his wide face until he lowered it down to her eyelevel.

 

            “My dearest, have you not learned that you, of all my children, cannot disappoint me?”  His eyes lingered on her for a long moment.  “Try not to worry me anymore, and we will let this matter subside for now…if you promise to be kinder to Damocles.”

 

            “Must you ask so much of me,” Leilani said dramatically.

 

            “You are the last, My Love, and I will hold you to higher standers than every other dragon on this planet and the next.”  He said before motioning her away.

 

            “Goodnight Father.”

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

Powerful and worthwhile story shared. You made the characters come alive and the story line was tempting to me. I wanted to know and read more. Thank you Nikki for sharing the amazing tale. I hope to read more.
Coyote