Not much else to say on this one, I think the flow might be a little rough for some of the descriptions, but I couldn't come up with another way of saying it that I liked. So here it is.
Parentis Draconis
Lord
Renos the Malefic stepped back to admire his work.
The
circle of power all but glowed in the light of the moon, the symbols carved
into the earth in front of the mountain. The mouth of the cavern loomed before him,
leading deep into the rock. In the
center of the circle was the virgin sacrifice, slumped against the ropes that
bound her tightly to a sturdy post.
Renos
brushed the grime from his robes and lit the torches set around the circle.
“Unn Koh
Eeay Rah,” he chanted. “Unn Koh Eeay
Rah. Come forward dragon, Beast of Chaos
and Pain.”
Within
moments a red glow rose from the depths of the cavern, and a massive gout of
flame roared out of the mouth of the cave and into the night sky.
The head
of the great dragon followed, smoke trailing from its nostrils as its horns
scraped sparks off the roof of the cave.
Coming forward enough that its shoulders cleared the cavern entrance the
beast sat and lowered its head to observe Renos with one massive eye.
“Really
Reginald, are the theatrics necessary?”
She asked. “This is why you only
get custody of Tara every other weekend.”
“My name is Lord Renos the Malefic,” Reginald huffed. “I don’t see why that’s so difficult for you
to remember, Catryn.”
“Of
course dear,” Catryn said as she ignored him, sweeping her head around to
examine the ‘sacrifice’.
Sniffing
she nudged the girl with her beak, “Did you drug her again?” She asked incredulously, glaring at Reginald.
He
crossed him arms and turned away, “She was being uncooperative, she gets that
from you, you know.”
A hot
gust of wind blew his cloak around him.
“Haven’t
I told you,” Catryn’s voice loomed like smoke behind him, “Don’t turn your back
on an angry dragon.”
“Oh my
God!” a groan came from the circle.
“Will you two please quit it?”
Both man
and dragon turned to the sound to see Tara struggling against the ropes that
held her.
“Dad! Stop tying me up, it’s creepy.” She cursed, shaking dark hair from her face,
“And mom, either eat him or roast him, I don’t care which, but stop goading
him!”
“Oh
dear,” Catryn raised a claw, “let me help you out of those ropes.”
“You’ll
do no such thing foul beast!” A voice boomed across the valley.
The
family turned to see the source of the shout, and bore witness to a
fully-equipped rider bearing down on them.
Lance held high his gleaming plate mail reflected the moonlight and made
him stand out in sharp contrast to the shadowed valley.
“Oh god,
not this again.” Tara muttered.
The
rider lowered his lance and charged at both Reginald and Catryn, as much as one
can charge a fully grown dragon, both of whom lazily moved out of his path.
“Ha
ha! Too right!” The knight cheered as he rode up to Tara, “A
moment, fair lady. I shall set you free
so we may ride into the sunset together.”
“It’s
midnight, asshat.” Tara spat. “Now go away.”
The
knight seemed taken aback and lifted his visor as his horse pawed nervously at
the ground, clearly not enjoying being so near a dragon large enough to eat it whole.
“But…My
Lady,” the knight said, “I’ve come to aid you in your time of need.”
“What I need,” Tara hissed, “is for helmet
brained imbeciles like you to piss off!”
With her
exclamation Tara roared out a blast of fire which, while not nearly as sizable
as her mother’s, was more than enough to startle the horse into bucking its
rider into the dirt.
The
knight fought to his feet as his horse galloped away, dragging his lance with
it. Undeterred he drew his sword.
“Clearly
this foul sorcerer has cursed you with the essence of his beast. Fear not, for I shall set you free.”
Even as
he readied his sword to cut the ropes Tara breathed out another stream of
flame, burning away the ropes as she directed the fire at the ground beneath
the man’s feet.
As the
knight hopped from foot to foot Tara stepped out of the ash and glared at the
man, smoke still leaking out from between her teeth in thick wisps.
“Per-
Perhaps I should go retrieve my horse?”
The knight asked, lowering his sword.
With no
answer came beyond the amused huff of the giant dragon the knight turned and
fled the circle at what he thought was a controlled march, but came off more as
a whimpering scamper.
Tara
blew out a smoke ring, “You two sort your crap out, I’m going to my room.”
“There’s
some leftover cattle in the grotto if you’re hungry dear.” Catryn called out as Tara disappeared into
the darkness of the cave.
“Thanks
mom, good night dad.”
The
parents turned back to each other.
“You
know she’ll never meet a nice boy at this rate.” Catryn said.
“Good,
no boy is good enough for her.” Reginald said.
They
stood in silence for a moment, listening to the distant sound of the knight
calling for his horse.
“So,”
Reginald coughed, “See you in two weeks?”
“Only
because the court ordered it.” Catryn said as she ducked back inside the cave.
Renos
straightened his robes as he walked out into the valley. His tower was a good distance away and he
knew just which horse to steal.
And just
which knight to curse into a toad on the way.
