Crown of horns

Chapter eighteen

Opaskai has taken my asking of him to give me some space to an extreme. For such a colorful dragon it's nearly impossible to find him.

"Opaskai! Please! Come down." I call having spotted the cloud dragon among a high perch of crystals No more than ten minutes ago.

I noticed the unnatural pink and purple while laying against the rivers bank.

"Opaskai! I shall be irrational if you do not come down!" I shout again, taking to waving my arms around wildly. Still the dragon does not so much as turn his head to face me.

I cross my arms stubbornly. Watching the palms wave in the breeze an idea comes to mind, plainly simple yet enough to convince the second to come down from his perch.

"Teach me more about dragons!" I call to him. This seems enough to earn a glance from the purple and pink dragon.

"You once spoke of making me more dragon. Because of my soul, I'm asking you to teach me." I explain. This time Opaskai drops from his perch to flap above the trees. The current of air swept under his wings causes the palms to quiver and bow away from him.

"Come down so I do not require shouting consistently. I doubt any other dragons wish to hear me do so." I insist.

Opaskai drops to the dirt, shifting immediately into the man who calls himself Oliver. Spy to the fangford keep.

"You asked for time. I have given such, Why call upon me now when it's yet to have been more than a moon?" He inquires sliding with ease to my side to walk through the heart of Rendroktheils territory.

"I have spent this time thinking. Some i have spent with Rendroktheil himself. But I have come to see you, I do not wish to split on such harsh odds you have had no choice in." I explain as we walk.

"You have forgiven the king then..."

"No. I have not forgiven him. I have come to understand why, and understand the position it has put him in to choose such horrible ends but I can not forgive his lies just yet, even if they were with honorable intentions in mind. I wish not to speak on this more. I wish to spend time with you and to learn more of dragons." I insist.

Opaskai nods watching the ground beneath our feet. His dark braided hair falls over the mask across his cheek bones. I reach out, untying the string and allowing it to fall into my waiting palm. Opaskai turns his head up, to watch curiously. His mismatched eyes of chocolate and honey following my actions intently.

"This is not Ysmes castle. The masks are purely for vanity. I hate them." I state, handing over the leather and scale mask. He palms the object for a moment, tossing it between hands before mustering deadly strength and hurling it between the trees.

"I wore it only for the ability to blend in. The scales cry, it's ghastly. Murdered for the ability to protect another from the brutality of killing one of our kind. My brothers and sisters scales weep in agony. I can hear them whenever inside the keep. I hate them too." He agrees.

We walk between bowed palms and spiraled leaves. A new grove of trees. Hanging between the palms are bursts of color. Clusters of dragon rose. A flower that imitates the horns of a dragon.

"What action shall we take when we reach ysme? Will you deliver her to your father?" Opaskai shifts again. Seconds before a few wandering desert dragons roam towards the radiating heat of the farthest reaches of the cavern I will never see.

"No. Ysme has been poisoned by an idea my father believed was acceptable, it would be cruel to let her face his judgement in the afterlife. She will be punished by my hand. I will take her from the throne and we shall be done with it. With her removed I will reunite peace across the lands between our kingdoms. I will ban dragon hunting and the masks of scale. Dragon scales of any kind belong to the dragon, not fashion. Your brothers and sisters shall have peace."

"Thank you Alys. Filia de dracones."
The words roll from his tongue. I am still fascinated by the language despite living among it almost two lunar cycles.

"What does that mean? 'Filia de dracones' I know 'dracones' it is 'dragons', but the other words are unfamiliar to me." I admit.

A sharp grin from Opaskai. "Still have yet to make a dragon of you Alys but I shall. 'Filia de dracones' it means 'daughter of dragons'. I suppose I could call you our guardian, or our 'defensor' our defender. I felt daughter more fitting." He shrugs as we approach the cascade of a water fall. Four sharp drops from the peak of the cavern to the beautiful blue current of the healing waters I have spend several hours in. The waters roar with determination and unrelenting force. Any wishing not to face a cruel death would not jump from these cliffs.

"Sit." Opaskai demands shifting once again. I sit as told, dropping my feet into the calmer waters. Opaskai stands behind me. He yanks the ribbon from my hair, allowing it to fall into my face. It is slick with grease and filth, it has yet to have been washed, normally I would never have gone so long without taking proper care of myself, I should have taken greater advantage of the supplies available from the sanguine village. Now I must remain 'dead'.

"Do not fuss. It is not so bad. I want to braid it. It lacks, color." He suggests producing a hand full of colored leather I assume he uses in his own mane of braided hair.

Opaskai does as he insists. We stay in the same place, Opaskai braiding several colors of leather into my hair. In either side of my face, two strands of shorter hair remain, Opaskai claims to have a need for them later.

"Ouch! You're pulling!" I cry. My hands clutching my burning scalp. This is not the rust time he has ripped a strand of two from my scalp.

"If you would stop fussing this would be done faster. I have one more thing to do." He declares, his voice in a low hiss. I am quick to go silent. I can always remove the braids later.

"Now, I am going to braid these here with something special," he pulls two strands of leather from the pocket of his britches, one crimson in color with a small grey pebble at the end, the other a pale purple, a pink pebble at the end.

He braids one of these strands of leather into the shorter strands on either side of my face. Allowing them to hand loosely at my chin.

"They are scales, one from Rendroktheil, as a reminder of your bond. The other is my own. You are my friend, and the key to our freedom Alys. To remind you of this any time you feel as though you stand for nothing. We will stand with you. At your sides." He states.

A stray tear falls down my cheek. My heart throbs. I clutch my chest as I smile. "Opaskai. That is beautiful and so-so... I don't know what to say!" I hug him.

We sit down at the waters edge, taking turns splashing one another. The crystals burn bright in whatever sunlight flows within the cavern.

Our happiness will only last so long, before the horrors we have hid from return.