Perilune

Chapter 8

It was hours before Amaris spoke again, although Lyra only noted the passage of time by the colors of the sky; she was too busy agonizing for a way to stop tears she could not find the source of.  All she knew was Amaris was in pain, more than she imagined such an invulnerable creature to be capable of.  Her tears fell down her cheekbones to bring rain to the cell.  Her voice was only in gasps, but cracked and trembled regardless.  Her eyes were desolate. 

Once again Lyra found herself imagining the special Hell humanity had created for Amaris, only now she did not think of her simply as a mistreated creature.  She was a person, and of the thousands of years of abuse Amaris had suffered at human hands, Lyra knew she hardly had comparison to understand any of it. 

Lyra thought of the atrocities of her kingdom's history.  Common belief had always been that the dragon's only objection to the king's control would have been the blow to its pride.  As she gazed upon the broken person before her, thought of the self Amaris had revealed in response to being treated with humanity, Lyra knew Amaris never would have committed such acts on her own.

"Why do you attempt to console me?"  Amaris finally whimpered into Lyra's shoulder, "You know better than any human what a monster I am.  Have you not considered that I might deserve this pain, that it may be the closest thing to justice anyone will have?"

"I don't think you're a monster."

"Then you do not understand what I have done."

"Name one monstrous thing you did before.... human meddling, and I'll believe you're a monster."  Lyra found the direct wording too harsh at the moment; she began to feel herself walking on unstable ground again, only it was Amaris she feared would crumble now. 

Amaris was quiet.  It was clear she had no answer, yet she would not concede. 

"There's an ancient legend in the city I'm from.  It used to be on heavily disputed dragon territory.  Dragons hunted and fought over us relentlessly.  Hardly anyone lived to thirty."

Amaris winced.  "I suppose I am not unique.  Perhaps all dragons are monsters."

"That— that wasn't the point of the story.  There's more.  There's a shrine.  It isn't maintained anymore, but I used to go there to be left alone.... There was a large mural of you.  Humans built it a long time ago out of gratitude to you."

"There is a shrine for me?"  Amaris's face was blank with shock for a moment before her eyes narrowed in disbelief, "Gratitude?  What could I have done?"

"It was centuries before the king when you claimed the city as your territory.  You killed a dragon that aimed to hunt us to extinction."

"I do not deserve gratitude for a spat over territory."

"Well, you say that, but once the territory was claimed, we feared that you would use our city as your personal hunting ground, like every other dragon wanted to.  It was the driving force behind the disputes... I suppose we were easy and plentiful targets..." Lyra shuddered, and gave Amaris a reassuring smile before guilt could appear in her eyes, "Yet you never bothered a soul.  You went through the effort to ensure other dragons never came near and asked us nothing in return.  You protected us for centuries."

"I do not deserve gratitude.  I simply fought a few dragons.  For all you know I simply wanted the land to prove I was powerful enough to keep it."

"Then why were you surprised to hear of one small shrine?  Dragons who claim territory for notoriety always demand worship from humans.  You never even told us your name."

"I don't deserve credit.  It was only because humans being hurt made her cry..."  Amaris's face twisted as if she'd sustained a blow to the gut, "I... I do not wish to speak of this anymore... Could you..."