Crown of horns

Chapter fourteen

Once the guards have slipped away, Ysme produces a key from the sleeve of her dress and unlocks the chains on my wrists. "Come, lets walk." She turns away from me, walking towards the door hidden in the alcove behind the throne. Ysme drops the crown onto the throne as she passes it.

I follow along behind her cautiously, this is not the Ysme I know. She pushes out into the breezeway between the great hall and the orchard, the wind ripples across the stone, rippling the folds of her deep green dress.

"Alys," Ysme stops, resting her hands on the stone wall. "I never wanted this rift." She turns to me, the earth dragon scale mask catches the light. The dirt brown lightening her hell fire eyes. "I wanted a big sister, not a rivalry that will end in war." Her eyes turn to the floor. I step towards her, hesitantly at first and then to her side. "Ysme, all my life you have been cursed with hell fire. Ansestors above, anyone outside the court refused to greet you directly. I was never afraid of you, nor was mother but this, this anger that has driven us apart was upon yourself." I place a hand on her shoulder.

Ysme looks out into the fields. "Father spoke of a story, before he died. He spoke of a man he met in his years that claimed the end of his rule would be end in blood and a new queen would rise to the throne and this queen would change the land for the better.

" This queen would unite the kingdom at a great cost. Her king would be the fiercest, wisest, most remarkable king the throne had ever seen and he would rule at his queens side as her equal. But the cost was far worse. Bloodshed and war would ravage, lives would be lost and great bonds shattered. The heir of dragons would rise from the flame."

Ysme looks to me, my heart seizes, my lungs refuse to expand to allow air in. Heir of dragons. I am the heir of dragons. "I wanted to protect you so badly, father said it was you as first born," a single tear slides down ysmes face. "You would right the wrongs bestowed by the pentagon clan."

"ALYS!"

My gaze snaps to a large figure on the horizon, Rendroktheil. I turn back to Ysme. My hand falls on to my lips. "You..." I throw myself at her, my arms folding around her shoulders. "Thank you." I press into her shoulder.

"You would become an idol to the kingdom. I pushed you away because I didn't want to watch you die at the hands of a dragon because you were trying to fix fathers mistakes." Ysme whispers spinning us. "I killed him to hide what he knew. I stole your throne to save you from death only to learn that I had forced you to the claws of the dragons and that their king was your ally. That your bond with him was more than just war ally but blood bond." Ysme whispers. I recoil from her touch, horror, confusion and grief flare in my core.  Twisting and boiling, ready to spill.

"You...blood bond..." I step backwards, away from her poisonous touch. "No." I shake my head. Ysme wipes her tears. "I did what I did to protect you! Can you blame me sister! Our father would have given you the throne and allowed you to walk to your death! I would never allow it! So I got rid of our father! I couldn't get rid of him because it's in every book. Break a blood bond and it kills the other half!" Ysme rants, hell fire turning to ice in her heartless eyes.

"Rendroktheil and I can not be bonded! He is not human, we are allied! And Killing our father was no solution! Tyrant or no, he was our father! Ysme pendragon, you are nothing better than him." I hiss. I pivot on my heels. "Rendroktheil!" I scream, my arms waving over my head to draw his attention. "Alys! Hold on!" He shouts, his large form taking shape as he nears the castle walls.

"You threw your lot in with him! You sealed your own fate! I can not fix what you so willingly break!" Ysme rips a dagger from the seams of her dress, the blade poised in her hand. "You left me no choice sister!" I step backwards, my bare feet connecting with uneven cobblestone. Pure terror paralyzes my body as I stumble, my thighs strike the stone and I pitch backwards.

"Rendroktheil!" I shriek. I fall backwards over the stones. Ysme drops her dagger, her eyes wide with surprise and vicious content.

The stone wall is a blur, spinning towards the ground at a sickening speed, I scream, my lungs burn, and my eyes darken as the sky and the ground spin, stained red by a familiar figure, too far to save me from my impending fate. The ground rises to meet me.

"ALYS! NOO!" The roar of terror and need, become a punch to my chest. The ground is the second blow.

The ground kisses my skin, my blood. All at once the air leaves my lungs as the bones in my body shatter, unvelieveable and unbearable pain rage through my body. Agony blinds me.

"Alys!" I writhe on the ground, attempting to regain my breath to scream, to release my pain. "Alys! No, stay with me." I know that voice. Rendroktheil. He is here, he is here to watch me die. "Ren-" I gasp, unable to finish his name. "It is me, I am here Alys. Hold on." I barely pry my eyes open to see the familiar crown of white hair and razor sharp teeth clamped down on thin lips drawing blood. "Ren?" I gasp again, my body locks up, shaking violently as I feel my blood begin to pour from any open wound in full force, dragging with it my soul.

"Alys! Alys stay. Opaskai is coming. We must go. Forgive me Alys." Something slides under me like a blanket. Soft leather, and scale. Rendroktheil. "Hang on Alys, we will be at the cave soon. Just hang on."  Black clouds my mind and the pain returns. A strangled scream of pure agony mangles my shattered body. All at once the world is gone, the faint sound of my name leaves me. Drowning darkness fills my lungs. I'm choking on it. Clawing against it. Fighting to reach out for the beast calling my name. I can't reach it, I can't come up. The crushing abyss of death reels me down, it crushes my heart, grinds my shattered bones to dust. I try to scream, to contain the fear that dares consume me. "Rendroktheil." I move my lips, the words are a hiss of air; and then the world lets go.