Dragon and the Princess (9 page)

Terrible time. People not happy. Dragons not happy.

“It soon came to truce. To make sure there would never be war again, the dragons agreed that only one dragon in a generation would queen, so that few animals would be eaten and only a little princess blood would be required.”

“One dragon flies to Saragond to eat,” Rozlinda said, “then lays many eggs? How does she care for them all?”

A sense of humorous alarm came from Seesee.

“She doesn’t. Her sisters each take one. Dragons complete the eggs in a pouch. This time. . . if we do this, Cheelus’s sisters will raise the eggs.”

They will be very happy.

“Because they never had eggs to raise,” Rozlinda said, realizing. “Couldn’t one of them have become queen instead of Seesee?”

“Apparently, to queen out of egg year, a dragon has to have queened before, and Seesee is the youngest. Unfortunately, to do it, she needs a lot of Virgin blood.”

The picture of the bleeding princess on the rock returned to Rozlinda’s mind, and it wasn’t Seesee’s doing. “So be it, but”—she buried her face in Ro’s chest—“with plenty of hralla, please.”

Head close to hers, he said, “With all the hralla you want, brave beloved one.”

“Am I? Beloved? Don’t lie to me.”

“Beautifully brave, endlessly beloved. I will join you in the next life. Believe that.”

She moved back to look into his amber eyes. “I don’t want that. Please live and enjoy dragon babies.”

But she couldn’t help thinking of their babies, which would never be born. Dark-skinned, pale-haired, beautiful babies.

She suddenly saw a vision that must be from Seesee. A plump, round egg being tucked into a pouch between the dragon’s front legs. She understood then that the host dragon fertilized it in some way. Then she saw the hatchling, all goopy head and tail. Rozlinda tried not to think that it was an ugly little thing, but she knew Seesee would catch it. The hatchling turned green and gold, looking out huge-eyed from the pouch.

See?

Yes. You have lovely babies. It really will work? My blood?

The same vision as before. The bleeding princess on the rock, but now the dragon crunched into the blood-soaked rock.

So you still have a dragon rock in Dorn? Rozlinda said.

Ate all, long ago.

Rozlinda sat up. “Ro, where’s the rock for the sacrifice?”

“It’s called the Dragon’s Womb. Don’t talk about it.”

He reached for her, but she grabbed his hand. “We have to. If I’m going to do this, it has to work.”

“Seesee says it will.”

“Didn’t you hear her? She needs the green rock, and you said they ate that from the womb long ago.”

He sat up, too. “She can talk to only one mind if she wants. You need more dragon rock, Seesee? More than you ate?”

For eggs, yes.

Exasperation rose from him like steam. “You could have mentioned it before.”

Did. Made you unhappy.

He gripped his head. “The picture of the princess! Always on the rock. Always. We’ll have to go back for more.” He lowered his hands. “That’s not all bad news.”

More days and nights.

Better to go on to Dorn and make babies. Happy.

“No, Seesee,” Rozlinda said. “That wouldn’t make us happy at all.”

Not true.

“It is true. People can be sad and happy at the same time. I’m sad to die, but I would be sadder to live and see the dragons die, see my family die. So in a way, dying makes me happy.”

She wasn’t sure it made sense to her, but the dragon didn’t argue.

Need less blood for one egg.

“What?” Ro and Rozlinda said it together.

Dragoners want many eggs. Everything as it should be.

But only one egg needed. In eight years, one queen. With rock and a little blood, make many eggs. Any dragon can raise the eggs. All as it should be again.

Rozlinda sensed the effort it was for Seesee to put together so much in people thought, and she thanked her. She looked at Ro and could see he was as afraid to hope as she was.

“Are you sure that will work, Seesee?” he asked.

No.

He dug his hands into his hair again.

Rozlinda tried. “Seesee, what exactly do we have to do to make sure that the dragons survive? No,” she amended, trying to avoid ambiguity. “So they reproduce forever and ever.”

“Dragons don’t think like that,” he said.

“We have to try. Seesee, it would make us very happy to have this clear.”

She could feel the effort in the dragon’s mind.

Need princess blood. Need rock. Make egg.

“We know that. But you said you couldn’t be sure only one egg would work.”

Never can be sure of what comes next.

“It’s truth!” Rozlinda exclaimed. “She insists on absolute truth. There
is
no certainty of anything in life. So you could lay one egg without taking all my blood?”

Probably.

“Would that one egg survive?”

Probably.

“How much blood for two eggs, then, or three? We should be as safe as possible. How many eggs can you create without killing me?”

“Zlinda!” Ro protested.

Don’t know.

Rozlinda ignored Ro. “Will you know when you are taking too much, when you are killing me?”

Probably.

She blew out a breath. “Right. We’ll do that. It would be madness to risk all on one egg. I’ll give you as much blood as you need to create at least three eggs—”

“Zlinda—”

“I
have
to do this,” she told him. “It’s my duty. My fate. I hope to live, but life would be meaningless if I failed. Seesee, you will take all the blood you need for at least three eggs. Promise me.” She didn’t know if she could command a dragon, but she tried.

Yes, noble princess.

It was an accolade, and Rozlinda savored it, along with hope. “Now we must return to Dragon’s Rock—”

More nearer.

Carefully, Ro said, “There’s dragon rock near here?”

Yes.

“Something else you could have mentioned.”

No use. Need fresh blood on rock. Other rock close to princess.

He shook his head. “So if we get rock from there, go on to the womb, and give you some of Zlinda’s blood on the rocks, you might be able to lay some eggs without killing her?”

“Why not just do the sacrifice there?” Rozlinda asked.

He pulled a face. “The Dornae are angry, Zlinda. They have burned for a war of revenge. They have been promised that their representatives will witness the sacrifice of the princess, and it needs to be so.”

My dragon sisters need to see it, too. But they will be happy with one egg.

“Three eggs,” Rozlinda said.

Much blood. You not happy. Ro not happy.

“I’ll drink lots of hralla. I’ll be happy. I promise. And Ro will, too, won’t you?”

He glared at her, but said, “If it’s the only way.”

Good.

Rozlinda could wish the dragon didn’t suddenly sound quite so carefree.

“You will take us to this rock?” Ro said, sounding as if he felt the same way.

Yummy rock. Go now?

His eyes met Rozlinda’s, and they were both thinking the same thing. Dragon sense. But there was hope, so they quickly dressed and were on their way as the rising sun touched the nearby snows of the Shield with gold.

Chapter 10

They flew up to the rocky foothills, and there, sure enough, lay a greenish strip in a barren slope. Seesee landed and chomped.

Rozlinda laughed. “I think dragons like this rock for reasons other than eggs.”

Seesee’s response was definitely a yum. Then: Rock precious. Only eat in egg year.

“Remember, we’re here to take some back,” Ro said.

With a sigh, the dragon stopped eating and began to bite off small lumps and spit them out.

They needed bags, so Rozlinda unbundled the SVP clothing and they rolled rocks in the veil and pieces of skirt. When Seesee thought they had enough, she flew off to eat. When she returned, they loaded the rock and headed for the Shield.

The dragon soared high this time, far above land and into bitterly cold air, so Rozlinda shivered despite Seesee’s heat and Ro’s hot, encircling body. The sun was setting again as they swooped down, apparently gliding on the wind, into the land of Dorn.

Rozlinda heard a happy
Home, home, home!

Though Rozlinda’s heart hammered at the thought of what was to come, she marveled at the place laid out before her. The peninsula was mostly a rugged, russet, highland plateau, set with a turquoise lake like a long ring on a finger. All around the peninsula, sea crashed white on dark, forbidding rocks, but between the coast and the highland lay forests and fields like a lush, green skirt. The Dragons’ Gift.

She seemed to understand things now as if sharing Seesee’s mind. The dragon’s dung, neatly shed off the highland, washed down to create the fertile land below. That explained the name, especially as the gift included dragon eyes, mother stone and other useful minerals.

Then dragons rose up to welcome them, seeming small as birds down near the lake, but becoming huge as they swooped and circled nearby. Greetings and joy swamped Rozlinda’s mind like hralla, for it was equally directed toward all three of them.

The croon of welcoming love she felt was only for her blood, alas, but she was here to give it. Then she hoped they wouldn’t all insist on a share.

Silly. Only one dragon at a time.

Seesee with her honor guard of dragons circled the lake, which was edged by groups of houses surrounded by gardens. Pale-haired people spilled out, waving and . . . singing. Yes, a harmonic chorus rose to greet them as they flew on toward a huge, dark crater beyond the head of the lake.

The womb, and some of the people running toward it, were ordinary-looking.

Ro had warned her. The representatives of all the people of Dorn had gathered for this—to see the princess die so the dragons would live. Some of their eagerness would be for vengeance. Would they let her live?

Seesee said, You are safe from them, and other dragons took up the promise.

Not safe from Seesee, but she’d accepted that.

Not happy.

Seesee sounded fretful, so Rozlinda tried to smother her fear.

“We should have started the hralla already,” Ro said, and she knew he wasn’t thinking happy thoughts, either. “It’ll be there as soon as we land.”

Despite every scrap of willpower, Rozlinda was shaking when Seesee settled in the dragon’s womb, and cold despite Ro’s arms tight around her.

He helped her to stand, then swept her into his arms to carry her down. To the watchers it might look like the act of a captor, but Rozlinda knew it was an act of love. She longed to be strong for him, but terror was sucking all the strength from her limbs. There were seats carved into the rock all around and people were filling them, lusting to see her die.

She didn’t want to die!

A woman approached, a jug and goblet in her hands. A sorrowful woman.

“Thank you, Mother,” Ro said, settling Rozlinda on the ground. He took the cup and put it into Rozlinda’s trembling hands. She drank deeply—my, it was strong! Immediately, her shivering stopped.

So this plump woman with pale hair in a tidy bun was Ro’s mother. “Hello,” Rozlinda said, smiling, but hardly able to believe that women really did show their legs without a care.

The woman smiled back, but with tragic eyes.

“Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be all right,” Rozlinda assured her, astonished by the brilliant colors of this world and the glory of dragons perching all around the rim of the womb like the spikes of her crown.

“It might be,” she heard Ro say.

She offered him the goblet. “Have some.”

He drained it, and from dragon minds came, Good. Happy.

She also sensed a croon over her lovely, egg-creating blood.

She smiled into Ro’s still-troubled eyes. His mother had refilled the cup, so Rozlinda offered it again. “Have some more.”

“I have to make sense. I love you,” he said, then climbed back onto Seesee and addressed the people. Wonderful, beautiful Ro.

Without understanding the words, Rozlinda knew he’d said something like, “I have returned with the princess.”

A great roar went up—an ugly roar, abruptly stopped.

“That’s better,” Rozlinda said, drinking more of the limitless hralla. “Nasty people.”

She felt a hand on her hair. Ro’s mother’s hand, warm and lovely. “The dragons corrected them. Now Ro’s reminding everyone that dragons insist on happiness. That hatred and happiness can’t exist together.”

“They certainly can’t.” Rozlinda peered into the cup. Empty. Ro’s mother filled it.

“Yummy hralla. Do you like hralla, Seesee?”

Like princess hralla.

Or was it
hralla princess?
Rozlinda giggled. “Hralla. Dragon gift. Dragon delights. Dragon sex is very good,” she informed Ro’s mother, and noticed alarm. “Don’t worry. Dragon eyes, you know. Lovely dragon eyes. Lovely dragons with dragon eyes”—she giggled again—“and they all love me. I love them, too. Seesee, do they know I love them?”

You are loved, Rozlinda of Saragond, crooned the dragons. You are a perfect princess.

“Oh, good. I trained very hard, you know. Would be a shame to waste seven long years. I’m truly very, very happy to do this. I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do. Anything at all.”

Happy! It was a crescendo of dragons.

“Let’s do it, then. Why are we waiting?”

Seesee coiled her neck and bit the bags off her back so they tumbled to the rocky ground. Her razor claws ripped the bundles open.

“Poor dress,” Rozlinda said, not at all unhappily. It was about to happen. At last.

Seesee licked at the rock.

“Greedy, greedy,” Rozlinda said, chuckling. “Ro’s still talking.”

Unhappy to release your blood. I do it?

It took a moment for Rozlinda’s hralla-crazed mind to sort that our. “Can you?”

If it would make you happy.

“Oh yes.” Rozlinda arranged herself on the rocks and smiled. “I can feel my beautiful blood wanting you, Seesee.”

Yes.

She watched a claw etch down her thigh, slitting yellow cloth and skin beneath. Glistening red blood gushed. “Beautiful.”

Beautiful.

Rozlinda quickly shifted so it would pulse directly onto the green rock. “Don’t want to waste any. Oh, I forgot to write that explanation.” It didn’t seem to matter as it should, but she said, “You’d better try not to kill me.”

Seesee chomped the blood-soaked rock. Rouar unhappy if I kill you.

“You’re not to think like that. Eggs. There must be eggs.”

Eggs. Seesee licked blood directly from the wound. Rozlinda toggled because it tickled.

“Zlinda!” She heard Ro’s cry from a distance and tried to wave to him.

“It’s all right. Absolutely perfect. I love you!”

Slit. The other thigh.

“Matching pair now.” Rozlinda rolled on the rocks, loving the scent of her own blood on the spicy rock. “Why not do the back somewhere?”

It felt like the lightest stroking, but she knew her blood followed it, as it should. Dragon elixir. Virgin Princess blood. Seesee and all the dragons humming as she and Ro had hummed at lovely dragon chew, at lovely dragon sex.

She rolled again and saw green-dusted scarlet on her hands. Licked it. Delicious. Dragons sang in her mind. Lovely princess. Perfect princess.

She spread her arms. “Take more, more!”

Ro was still standing on top of Seesee, simply staring, death white.

“You should have had more hralla,” she laughed at him as the dragon’s tongue swept over her like a lover’s touch.

Dragons. They were wonderful, wonderful creatures, and she was so happy to do this so they would never die out. “Make lots and lots and lots of eggs.”

Thank you, they all sang in her mind as darkness fell sweetly upon her.

* * *

Her sense of smell awoke first. Strange aromas, but nicely dragonish. Then hearing. Distant noises of everyday things. Then sight, when Rozlinda raised her heavy lids.

Ro was looking down at her, and she smiled into his concerned eyes. She was inside somewhere. Cloth-hung walls. Deep reds and golds, like dragon eyes. Hralla still misted her mind, but she became aware of weakness and soreness. “I think I’m alive.”

He stroked her face, his eyes loving. “I think so, too.”

“It worked?”

“Probably, as a dragon would say.” He lay beside her on the bed, resting his head against hers. “I died a thousand deaths.”

She inhaled his delicious scent. “How perfect this is.”

He laughed into her hair. “You’re a mad woman, hralla or no hralla.” He leaned up to study her. “How much do you hurt? Do you want more?”

She shifted her body, feeling only pulling stings. “Not too badly. Seesee will lay eggs?”

“The dragons say so. Not many, but more than one.”

“Good.” She snuggled, aware of lassitude, which probably meant considerable lack of blood. “Where am I?”

“In our home, of course.”

“Our home.” She moved to sit up to look around, but almost blacked out.

He gently settled her back. “You lost a lot of blood, and your wounds will take time to heal, even with drool.”

“Drool?” she asked, but she smiled.

He smiled back. “Don’t even think about it.”

“I’m thinking about it. Doesn’t a weakened SVP deserve some chew?”

He laughed and kissed her, deep and long. “All the chew she wants, beloved. And anything else Dorn can provide. You are our treasure, our precious gift. You will be a great lady in Dorn all your life.”

She shook her head against his shoulder. “All I want is to be your wife and a bringer of peace. And mother of many pale-haired, dark-skinned dragoner babies, of course.”

From nearby, softly, contentedly, came Seesee’s voice. Lots of babies. Dragon babies. Rouar and Zlinda babies. Everybody happy, happy, happy.