Claiming the Dragon King

Several figures stood bathed in the moon’s light as their leader decided their

course of action. Centuries had passed since that fateful night so long ago, a

night he had never forgotten and never would. Revenge brought them to this

point in time, to this place of horrors. He would never forgive what they’d done,

or forget it. That course of action and chaos had molded him into a fighter, a

survivor. He’d become driven by the need for revenge, to take from them what

they had taken from his people. Tonight he would do the unthinkable: he would

become no better than they were. Tonight he would steal the infant children of

the newly-crowned Horde King.

Blane lifted his head, staring up at the starless sky. He sent a silent prayer

that it wouldn’t be in vain; that this mission wouldn’t go askew and that his

people wouldn’t suffer more for this valiant play to secure peace for his kind.

Life for his kind was in turmoil, never-ending suffering as they remained in the

shadows, in lands that not even the Horde would walk through and yet they

couldn’t return home, not without securing peace or taking down the Horde’s

most powerful creature, their king.

A noise sounded from the mouth of the cave they waited in front of, bringing

Blane back to the here and now.

Sadie pranced out, swaying her hips as she licked her lips as she held his line

of sight. She was younger than he, easily manipulated. He’d almost felt bad for

what he had done, seducing the young maid to feed him information. Blane

hadn’t wanted to use her, but the more he learned about her and her brothers, the

less guilt he felt at his actions. She was also what he hated most, Horde to her

core.

“They’re holding court,” she announced as the blood dripped from a dainty

fang. “The guards are down, never to wake again,” she laughed musically. “Now

pay me.”

Blane had promised her dragon tears, a priceless commodity considering the

world thought them extinct. He held out a vial, and her fingers jerked and

twitched with longing as she held her hand out to accept her payment.

“And tell me, Sadie, what will you do with them?” he asked softly, carefully.

He gazed at the cold marble features that hours ago had been screaming in

pleasure as she’d rode his cock.

“I will use them to lure children to me,” she purred. “The blood of the

innocent is…exotic,” she sighed huskily as if the thought of helpless children

turned her on. Blane stepped closer, his hands itching to wrap around her dainty

throat.

“You’d kill innocent children for fun?” he asked angrily, not shocked in the

least. She was one hundred percent Horde and thrived on the pain of others. He

watched as she tipped her dark head back and laughed as if the ire in his tone

amused her. Anger pulsed through him, red-hot; rage filled his soul and lightning

fast, his sword cut through the air soundlessly and effortlessly, as he’d been

trained to do from birth. Her gaze met his as her head left her body, separating

from it. No sound reached their ears other than her head as it hit the sand beneath

their feet.

“Hide the corpse,” he growled.

“You didn’t have to kill her,” Fyra said in a bored tone. “She could have been

fun.”

“We’re not here for fun,” Blane snapped. “We are here to take the king’s

children.”

“You think he will bow to us once we have them?” she argued. “You’re a

fool, Blane, if you think they will even care that they are gone. They are Horde;

they hold no love for their spawns, not when they can make an endless supply of

them now.”

“He’s different,” Blane retorted crisply. “He protects them, which means they

can be used against him. He’ll trade his life for them, and once he has, he will

die for what he has done to our kind. After we’ve ended his reign, we will move

to take the castle, and with it, we will rule the Horde.”

“Is that what you really want? To rule a murderous, monstrous bunch that

dragons have never cared to claim or be a part of?” she asked as her ice blue

gaze searched his. “No, you don’t want to be king; you want to end them for

what they have done to us. If we kill the head, the body doesn’t follow. You and

I both know that isn’t how this works. Once he dies, another one will rise. I

understand your position, but this is a war we won’t win, Blane.”

“We are not trying to win a war,” he said coldly. “They slaughtered my sister

inside these walls, as well as my father. Fury was the rightful dragon king, and

Alazander murdered him simply because he could, as a warning to any who

thought to rise against him. No one intervened, not one royal house stepped in to

defend us after they’d given us their word that they would fight beside us.

Instead, they let the Horde attack us until no dragon was left.”

“But they fucked up, didn’t they?” she laughed softly. “They left a young

boy alive, and hundreds more who were hidden from them. And now we will

rise, Blane. Let’s hope this plan works, or they’ll have slaughtered another

dragon king inside these walls.”

“The Goddess is on our side,” he uttered as he nodded towards the headless

corpse. “Get rid of her before the next patrol comes on and discovers it. I won’t

have this plan thwarted before it begins.”

“Rumor has it they have an actual Goddess,” Wren grumbled, bending down

to blow on the corpse. Flames ignited from Wren’s hands, and dragon flames of

red and green hues consumed the corpse, leaving nothing but ashes as the fire

burned out. The wind heaved, blowing them onto the sand and into the waters

behind the castle.

“Does anyone have anything useful to say? Or do you all just want to fucking hold your dicks and whine a little longer?” Blane snapped. He knew

they worried; hell, he was worried. He could be walking his best friends to their

deaths. This was their chance, though, their time. The Horde had kept them

down, kept them running from fear of being discovered. His people couldn’t

hide much longer, not with the creatures of the forest attacking more and more.

No, he had to move now to secure peace. His people needed a home, a place

they could call their own. They’d hidden in the mountains, in the marshes, and in

the deserts of Faery for long enough. The Mages were out there, preparing to

fight the Horde, and everyone knew they couldn’t fight two wars, not at the same

time. Not with the damage done to Faery, where they pulled their strength from.

It was now or never.

“Let’s move,” he growled as he started towards the cave’s mouth, the

forgotten entrance into the Horde stronghold. It had been built when the castle

itself was created, a bolt-hole to escape if the Horde ever turned on the royal

family. It consisted of low-hanging caverns and winding, twisting passageways

that led deep beneath the castle. “The wards are down, the guards are changing

so be watchful. If we are discovered, you know what to do.”

“It takes time to open the portal, remember that,” Fyra grumbled as they

entered the pitch-black cave. There would be no escape if they were discovered

before Fyra could open the portal; they’d go out fighting, which was more than

his father had been able to do.

He trudged through the darkened tunnels for what felt like hours until they

reached a false wall, one Sadie had discovered long ago when she’d been

sleeping with a guard. He spared a moment for the vampire he’d dispatched, and

then a cold smile played across his lips. She couldn’t hurt any more children.

Her days of feeding on them and leaving corpses in her wake were a thing of the

past.

Blane pushed against the door and hesitated as the wall gave a loud creak

and moved, revealing the dungeon of the Horde. Inside was damp, cold, and as

dark as the tunnel they’d just exited. It looked unused, empty as far as his eyes

could see. His chest tightened with pain as he imagined his sister and father

locked in the tiny cells.

He pushed the pain away, pushed the memories of them to the back of his

mind as he emerged into the room and made his way to the staircase that led deeper into the stronghold. Once there, he pulled the armor from the bag that

rested on his hip. They made quick work of changing into the uniform of the

Elite Guard, praying no one noticed the difference in craftsmanship.

“From here on out, silence. Not another word until we reach the living

quarters.”

It took everything he had inside him not to cut down the Fae who moved

through the larger rooms they walked in. No one spoke to them, not even the

other guards who were positioned everywhere inside the castle. Every exit or

door held armed guards, an added precaution for the lack of wards. His small

group looked and moved just like them, but then he’d watched them closely for

over a century as they moved around the land of Faery.

They started up a grand staircase, never stopping until they reached the

furthest hallway. They split off from the others who moved about the halls, going

to and from the guards living quarters and the royal family’s. No one noticed a

group of guards lingering inside the hallway where the Elite Guard lived, not

when they looked as if they belonged there.

Once they were at the end, Blane opened the door leading to the royal

family’s rooms. His gaze scanned the hallway with relief at finding it empty.

They slowly entered it, moving along the wall as he searched the wards to be

sure Sadie’s information about them being down was correct. Once he was sure,

he removed his hood and placed his hands on the wall closest to his position.

“They’re down, fully down,” he mumbled absently, wondering why they’d

done it. Why remove wards in this part of the castle without quickly replacing

them? Stupid, but it was working to their advantage tonight. He passed several

doors before finding one that was elder oak, crafted from the ancient wood, just

as Sadie had said it would be.

His hand touched the knob as a musical voice sounded down the hallway. He

tensed and turned to the men who all stood in a line as if they were protecting

what lay inside the room. He slipped his hood up as two women moved briskly

down the hallway to his location.

His heart sped up as they neared. Neither female paid them any heed as they

stepped between the guards to enter the room. The rich and enticing scent of

freshly plucked night flowers followed them. Blane remained erect until they’d closed the door behind them.

“What the fuck do we do now?” Fyra demanded in a hissed tone as her

blonde brow furrowed and creased.

“It’s two girls,” Wren shrugged. “We can use more women anyway. Not a

problem.”

Blane scrubbed his hand down his face as he turned and looked both ways

down the hall before he opened the door and stepped inside.