Zenora, The Dragon's Fury
61. Scorching Ultimate

Searching for Rebecca, soon became some sort of witch hunt, as all our soldiers had set up perimeters around all of the city, forest, castle, harbour and so on. There was no place which wasn’t searched through, and every citizen complied to our intrusion.

Finding Rebecca has become our highest priority now, as we can’t allow her to relay any more information to Hayden. And I need to see, and break into her mind, to replace out what she had told him over the past years. She had a lot of time to tell him every detail of the castle, our army, capabilities and so on. So, I was hoping that if we could replace out what she knows, we might be able to change some things, to throw Hayden off-guard, in case he would come and attack us.

I had gotten old Ursai, to help search for Rebecca as well. And as we walked through the city, looking at each and every house, being searched through by our warriors and hunters, I was thinking more and more, that she had gotten away in time. That she had been gone, after Hayden had contacted her the last time.

From the corner of my eye, I had seen wolves run towards the forest, and soon after them, the hunters who belonged to them, ran as well.

Clearly their pets had caught scent of something, so I walked into their direction as well.

With drawn bow, I followed a different path then how my hunters went, trying to catch the running culprit. But as soon as I stumbled upon them, a gruesome sight took over my killing mode.

Upon the grass, between the trees, laid one of our mages, dead. He has been stabbed, multiple times, and died here in the forest. I could tell he had been here for quite some time already, as his body has been assaulted by the forest’s critters.

Rebecca must have blackmailed the mage, into doing what she wanted. She must have used him to contact Hayden, as she herself was no mage. But what were her motives to do so?

“Sent word to Nicolai, and question the other mages. Maybe someone else knows where she went.” I said to one of my Rangers. “And please, take care of this body, and grant him a proper burial.”

I told Brock what had happened and he wasn’t happy. In fact, he was beyond furious that this had happened.

I knew it was all my fault, as I let Rebecca in our castle, all those years ago. My trust in her was completely misplaced and my naivety took its toll. If I hadn’t let my good-will take the lead, then all of this wouldn’t have happened. Hayden would have been captured by now, and wouldn’t have gotten all this information, and the worst of it all, that mage would have still been alive.

Ursai had gone to his den again and I went home as well. I was so lost in thought, that I didn’t even hear the servants yell to me, begging for my attention, as they came running towards me. Only when they touched my shoulder, I realised that they were there.

“My Queen! The Princess has fallen ill! And we don’t know what to do!” They shouted.

All protocol shoved aside, I didn’t care that they rushed to me, touching me and yelling at me. My daughter, what is wrong with her?

I ran as fast as I could, cutting corners, throwing things over, yelling at everyone that stood in my way. My eyes started to burn, and with a quick glance into a mirror on one of the walls, I saw they turned purple. Her dragon part is in trouble!

Of course she is, this is just the perfect moment! Not her fault off course, but the timing is quite impeccable.

When I reached her hallway, I heard screams and terrified servants stood outside her room, not daring to get inside. The door stood open and a heat radiated outwards, from within the room. I looked around the corner and saw that her bed, or what was left of it, was scorched black and her curtains stood on fire. The stone floor was littered with burning pieces of cloth and wood from her bed and nightstands.

On top of all of the rubble, laid my beautiful daughter, writhing in agony, flames pouring out of her skin! Her dragon was taking over her body, as her complete skin was now covered in scales. Her hands were turning into claws, and even her feet and legs began to contort, growing in size and showing signs of claws instead of toes too.

The thin agile tail began to grow in size as well, as it grew wider, and small dark purple spikes started to grow out of them.

Her clothes had been burned off a while ago, so she was squirming there, naked, and no one could help her.

“Make sure, that the hallways are empty! Warn everyone, as I’m going to take her outside! GO!” I yelled to the two servants who still stood there, mind numb, from the terror they saw.

I took a step towards them, and I roared. Snapping them out of their trance, to immediately scurry to do as I asked them to.

My dragon was pushed forward as well, as only I could handle the heat that was created by her. I took her in my arms and tried to calm her down, with some soothing words.

Her flames burned my clothes as well, but I didn’t care. My daughter was more important right now, and I had to get her outside, to try and cool her down. Besides, her body was still breaking bones and growing them in size in a different shape. If this continued to happen in this fast pace, then she wouldn’t have fit inside her room within a few minutes.

My walk towards the ocean felt like hours. Her weight became more and more, as her bones grew in size. She was almost as heavy as three full grown warriors, but my strength had its limits as well. I kept walking faster, yelling towards any person that was still in my way. Ordering them to get the hell away from us.

Her flames became more hotter by the second, but I had to endure this. My feet dragged me and her growing body, towards the stairs that was built for the banquet. I was glad that I had chosen stone steps, instead of wooden ones, as they would have been burned right now, causing me to fall down.

Iris’ yells and screams, became fiercer, and my heart was breaking.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll take care of you.” I said while I really wasn’t sure if I could.

Ayinthur was still blocking everything, so I couldn’t get him here, either.

I stepped down the last stairstep and my feet sank in the sand, making me drop my daughter, as my balance was distorted. Her weight was becoming an amount so high, that it required for me to use both my feet to stay up.

“Emily!” I heard Brock yell.

“Don’t come close!” I yelled back at him, afraid that he would get burned.

Brock, Cirilya and some mages came walking down the half smouldering stairsteps, but kept their distance from us.

The now scorching embers, were blurring my sight, but I had to keep going. I stood up again and took my arms under her armpits, dragging her backwards, towards the ocean.

My grunting and own screams, forcing me to keep pulling my precious daughter towards the cold ocean water. I could see that her transformation had stopped growing for now, but still her fires became bigger and hotter by the second. Its heat even became slightly unbearable, even for me, as my own body still had patches of human flesh, and they were being burned right now as well.

I kept moving backwards, only to realize just then, that the screaming of agony, didn’t came from my daughter, as she had passed out. Instead, those agonizing sounds came from me! My own flesh was blackened and burning my own nerves, beyond a point of being ever healed.

Still I kept going, finally feeling the water of the ocean touching my heels. I dragged her even further in, using all my last power, to make sure that she was engulfed by the sea water, as the tide came flooding in. At my last reserve of energy, I had turned her body, so she wouldn’t drown.

Each new wave of salty ocean, vaporised by her heat, but also with each new wave, her temperature lowered. The waves came crashing in until it no longer vanished into mist. She finally had succumbed to her new body, her breathing steady, sound asleep.

I sat behind her, her head in my lap, stroking her transformed dragon face with my own burned fingers and flesh. And while I looked at the midday sun, I cried.

No longer could I feel any pain, knowing that the nerves in my body had given up.

I fell to the side, and once again, just like all those years ago, when I had given birth to my precious daughter, I passed out. Again, knowing that this could be just the end.