Blood of the Dragons

This is CaramelandherCats and Warrior of fire 1's entry in Stardrop's writing contest.
==Warning==
Ominous title, I know.
This story may contain some violent elements. And I'll probably change the background a lot, oops, so be prepared for that too.
== Prelude ==
Everything was going perfectly until the end. 
The women twittered behind their fans while the men swept the ballroom, looking for ladies to fill their dance cards. Tonight's midnight masquerade was the most grandest of them all, and hiding behind their masks, everyone felt safe and pleasant. 
Everyone except for the rulers. 
The masked monarchs, Regina Zola and her consort, Bastiaan, both seemed uneasy. Zola kept her sharp blue eyes on the entrance, while Bastiaan clutched his hands tightly to his golden throne and refused any offers of dancing. 
Yet though this display upset the nobles, they kept at the masquerade, elegantly flitting through the halls like masked butterflies. One lord was dressed as a cavalier, a countess as a peacock. Several knew each other through the mask, and gaily danced with each other. 
The guards cluttered at the exit, keeping their hands on their weapons. Everyone knew that Regina Zola only had the highest security, but there were even rumors she'd hired the top Wielder, Ximena Lorien. 
Wielders were the masters of any weapon - a legend in their kingdom, the only ever known to beat a deadly Serpent of Fire. And Ximena Lorien was no exception; her feats were fabled throughout the world. 
But the Wielders were also masters of disguise as well as of weapon. And so Ximena Lorien found herself frolicking through the halls of the Palazzo delle Meraviglie, dressed as a knight.  
"Ridiculous," she muttered, her hand hovering by the fake sword at her waist. "The regina is wise, but dragons are mythology! As if they would attack now! She's going out of her mind."
The revered Palazzo delle Meraviglie - Palace of Wonders - housed just about every figure of importance known to man, including the high emperor and the god-king Sumna. But while people eagerly grabbed invitations, they stayed away from the queen and king, who were known to be rather...eccentric. 
"Sir!" a voice called out behind her.  
She was about to correct him when she remembered she was dressed as a man, and assumed her most imperial expression. "Yes?"  
"Would you mind delivering this to the lady on the other side of the ballroom?" an eager-looking boy very much younger than her asked, holding out a small white envelope stamped with a bright red seal.  
Ximena suppressed her irritation. Young men these days, asking their elders for favors. "I...would be glad to." 
She glided over, delivering the letter, and so forth chattered and smiled with the rest of the Palazzo’s court. The night had barely begun, but trouble was already brewing.  
And Ximena didn’t notice it until it was too late.  
She accepted a champagne from the nearest servant and tilted the glass. She didn't get many chances to enjoy herself, and since there was no possibility of a mythical creature attacking, wine was now off of her bucket list.  
Ximena glanced past her. Regina Zola looked worried; Bastiaan perturbed. She saw the boy from earlier passing notes, and she saw the way his light blue eyes lit up.   
Now that she though about it, though...there was something more familiar about him....  
She started over to him, setting down and he saw her coming. A strange expression flashed across his face - fear, anger pity, perhaps? But before she could ask him about it, the Palazzo shook.   
And then fire, bright, searing fire exploded in front of the Palace of Wonders. The turrets erupted into fire, and some of the court were too close.   
They had just enough time to get themselves out of the palace before the minarets, the windows, the patterns and stained glass went up in flames behind them.   
Bringing the royal family with them.   
"No!" Ximena shouted. Her clothes were badly shredded, and there were burns among the side of her face, but she darted forward anyway.   
She'd failed.   
A man grabbed her and pulled her back. "It's no use, ma'am. They must be dead by now."   
And then she realized that the boy had never come out either, and then she realized that the culprit was fleeing the scene, but she barely had time to register that before the heavy wingbeats filled the sky and the dragon had flown away.   
==Chapter One - the dragons==
“Did you catch anything today?” Silvershoal asked her father, Blacksmoke, though she already knew the answer. By now, the dragons were barely getting by, living on small mice and an occasional vole or unlucky human when they happened to wander by.
Blacksmoke shook his head. “Almost got a few squirrels that would’ve supplied meat for our tribe mightily.” His expression soured. “But the humans got it first.”
It was no secret that Blacksmoke hated the humans. They had, after all, taken over the dragons’ home planet, polluted it with unworldly resources, and used things they didn’t need for unnecessary uses. It wasn’t such public knowledge, though, that Blacksmoke had led the rebellion that had set fire to the human palace seventeen years ago, but the tribes still gossiped.
Queen Ever ruled the Bright tribe from her throne in the Whitebranch Mountains, Empressa Sierre had taken control of the Sunset tribes, and President Alleson was currently the leader of the Shorefighters. But there was one legend, one no one nearly ever dared to speak of.
The Darkwings were a children’s fable. A nursery tale to make the babies go to sleep. And yet, the story had a ring of the barest truth within it.
Long algo, the Darkwings had been the most powerful beings on the planet. They were wise, kind, and powerful, and they ruled the earth with much benevolence. And for a while, the beings of the planet were very, very happy.
King Eleor the Just, one day when he was a prince, created two coexisting, harmless little species’. One was the dragons, a supernatural race of beings who could fly and breathe fire. The other were the earthlings, who were little clayish things with arms and legs, flyaway hair and broad shoulders and a look among them that was ignorant and curious. The Darkwings enjoyed the company, and treated the dragons and humans with respect.
But one Darkwing queen, Irys, became drunk with power. She harnessed the earthlings of the planet and made them her slaves. She forced the dragons to the far ends of the earth and made the other Darkwings her utter servants. In despair, Irys’s daughter, Princess Alainys, went to the dragons to beg for the life of her formerly hospitable, lush kingdom back.
The dragons agreed to help her, on one condition: Alainys would treat all of them equally as her mother never did, and free the earthlings willing to fight among them.
Alainys agreed, and the first rebellion ever recorded in history began.
Silvershoal finally realized that Blacksmoke was trying to catch her attention. “Silvershoal. Silver!”
“Yeah, sorry?” she said, momentarily distracted from her remembrance of the stories she’d learned of from the old scrolls and myths.
Blacksmoke rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. “There’s a big assembly today. Queen Ever herself has called it. Something about the humans by-and-by, I don’t know. It’s later today, Silver, just wanted to let you know.”
“Thanks.” Silvershoal gazed down at the ground, wondering what it was like to be a human. You would live in fear of being hunted and eaten by other species. You would build a technology so advanced it would send the dragons fleeing to the other sides of the planet. You wouldn’t be able to fly. What would it be like, to feel so grounded?
She tilted her head slightly at her father and took off, catching a lazy wind current with her vast silver-gray wings. Silvershoal was a dreamer, and if she didn’t come out for her daily flight every day it would have been for an emergency.
Her father often said she took after her late mother, who’d died giving birth to Silver’s little brother. But Blacksmoke didn’t seem too sorrowful about it anymore; just regretful and wistful that Jewel never been able to see her children grow up.
Blacksmoke spoke of his late wife many times, most likely ending with the sentiment, “Silver, you’re too much like her.” At that moment, he would probably stare off into space thinking his queer thoughts, and Silver would have to excuse herself to think by herself after those few revelations her father told.
Silvershoal was the spitting image of Jewel. They had the same silver-gray wings, the same wide ice blue eyes, the same curious and sweet expression permanently fixated onto their faces. Blacksmoke had used to say that Silvershoal was a perfect angel, while her younger brother Leaf was currently on a rampage to find the most fashionable articles of clothing before they all went out of style. It was one of his stranger hobbies.
For a while, Silvershoal drifted with the wind, occasionally swooping down to say hello or such, but for the most part, she kept to herself.
“Don’t go too far!” Her father, over the winds, still warning her that she shouldn’t get too close to the human lands.
”I won’t,” she responded, oblivious of the six-year-old way he treated his eldest daughter, who also acted in a rather six-year-old way.
Silver was veered off-course by the strong ocean winds and ended up next to the pounding waves of the sea, which was definitely not where she wanted to be.
She tilted her wings and soared farther out to the mainland, catching a warm air current towards her tribe and following it.
Silvershoal was a dreamer. But she was also obedient, and she didn’t like to offend anyone. So she was heading straight home when she saw it.
The human, staring back at her with wide eyes, a human who reached out it’s arms and whispered something to her only the wind could hear.
Then it was gone, and so was she.
==Chapter Two - the humans==
Juniper darted from the market stalls, her long white-blond hair tied in a knot behind her lest she was spotted. She swiped an apple from a fruit stand, took three colorful scarves from a woman selling clothing, and was running behind with a ruby necklace knotted accidentally into her hair. 
June was running, running, but she was not a thief. 
She heard their shouts and tried to ignore them, but they never helped. She often needed to steal,  but never so openly. And she wasn’t trying to, now. 
She’d seen a dragon. 
Juniper had been taught that all dragons died out during the war between Darkwings and dragons. That in the end, only the earthlings’ mighty technology could save the planet. That in the end, the dragons fled and fought and died, but the humans bravely forged onward. 
But they were lies.
She paused to breathe and leaned against the pole of another stand, ripping her borrowed accessories away. The ruby necklace clattered onto the ground, and a browned hand picked it up. 
June glanced up. It was a young man about five or six years older than her, with black hair and mischievous blue eyes. Twenty-one-year-old Jem, her older brother, who worked at a small shop in the daytime and sold his small paintings when he had the chance. June rolled her eyes at him. 
Jem frowned at his younger sister. “You’ve created quite a stir.” The necklace dangled from his fingers.
Juniper didn’t try to deny it. “So did you! Remember - 
“June,” her brother said in a warning tone. “Stop.” 
She did, but her mind forged on. Juniper remembered, clear as day, what had happened. 
She’d been twelve. He’d been eighteen. Jem had just been heading off to college, and their parents had been over the moon about it. 
And then the letter came. 
The one that changed everything. The one that made Jem and Juniper pack their bags, move from the capital city, from their awful parents, from the prying looks and stares and jewels, to rundown, old Oasis County. 
Oasis was the only traditional place around that remained. It wasn’t June’s idea, choice - she’d spent her entire life with nobles, lights, cities and paved streets, elegant clothing and nice words. Oasis was a far cry from that - but it was the only place they could be.
Juniper headed back inside the shop, and Jem, rather listlessly, followed. Her older brother hated the looks, the rumors, the stories of why he wasn’t in the city with his rich, famous parents. 
It was a fake. Their lives were fake. 
She’d seen a dragon.
June darted straight for her room as soon as she was out of her older brother’s sight, her mind whirling, mulling over the possibilities, every word of the history books she’d combed over. Which one of them were the lies? Which one of them told the truth? And which one of them had all, all been silenced for it? 
She couldn’t bear the thought.
Juniper opened the window and breathed in the scent of tangerines and spicy tamales, selling in the marketplace. She remembered when she was little, her father had used to take her to the grocery store with him, and she'd take all the candy and get in trouble. And when her mother saw June, with her chocolate-smeared face and innocent look, she'd scold first, then laugh and gently rub the evidence off of her daughter.
June kind of missed her parents, actually.
She never let Jem know of those thoughts, though. Her older brother hated to be reminded of their life before - with their parents, who had kicked their oldest son out onto the street when he caused a scandal that made the laughingstock of the city. Jem was the one who'd benefited the most from living in Oasis County, making a living selling his small paintings.
June, though, wanted more to her life. She longed to see the outside world, the one she'd only lived in for twelve years. She didn't wanted to grow up here, in the barren desert, with only her brother and camels for company. 
None of the people in Oasis really liked Jem and Juniper, being from the capital city. Over the years, they'd warmed to them slowly, but they still didn't trust them too much. 
Unlike the capital, though, Oasis County was more blunt, sometimes openly telling Jem that they didn't like him all too much. Even his boss, the one who ran the bakery he worked at, barely gave her brother the pay he deserved. 
Oasis County was better than the royal cities, but old prejudice still ran in its veins. 
June shut the window, dismissing her foolish dreams. She was more down-to-earth than her older brother, the only one who ever reminded him if he had everything that day or if he'd misplaced a paintbrush. 
She sighed and rested her elbows on the windowsill, staring dreamily at the Whitebranch Mountains beyond.
"Juniper, don't tell me you've been daydreaming again." That was Jem, standing in the doorframe. 
"Not now," she said innocently. 
He sighed. "Can you help with the wares from today?" 
"Sure." They headed to the kitchen. 
"How much did you get?" she asked. 
He made a face. "He didn't pay me in money. He gave me....flour." 
Right on cue, June burst into laughter. "Doesn't he know you can't bake to save your life?" 
"Yeah, that's the point," Jem said quietly. 
"Well, at least we'll never have to buy it again," Juniper snickered. 
Jem sighed. He never got mad at her. "June, look....we need this money to survive. If he goes back on his word, we'll be broke. Starving. On the streets. We would be better off in the city that way." 
"Jem..." Juniper started, feeling guilty for teasing him. 
"Talk later, sis. Dinner's in the kitchen." He was gone before she could reply. 
She sighed. I guess I'd better go eat. 
June headed to the kitchen, her footsteps soft on the floor. She glanced up, and then she saw it. 
The queen had arrived. 
==Chapter Three - the dragons==
“How did you let it see you?” Blacksmoke scolded. 
Silvershoal withered under his gaze. “I-it didn’t! It was just standing there, as if it were waiting for me! Then it, like, waved at me!”
“A likely story,” Blacksmoke huffed. 
They were standing in Blacksmoke’s workshop, a smithy with soot-stained dragons and bubbling fires. Silvershoal had made the mistake of telling her father about the earthling she’d seen, and now he was being annoying about it.
"Dad, I'm being honest," Silvershoal said, desperate. "When have I ever lied to you?" 
Blacksmoke went eerily quiet. 
“Sometimes things aren’t what they seem,” he said, and with that, he spread his wings and flew off. 
(Sorry for the short chapter :( )
==Chapter Four - the humans==
Juniper was not in a good mood. 
She stormed around their flat, trying to find something that would easily break, and finally just decided to go outside, where there were a lot more people and a lot more things.
A breeze ruffled her short hair as she darted through the crowded cobblestone streets. June gazed around at the tents, flapping in the winds as the merchants beneath sold their wares.
She pushed past them and headed for the seas. 
The ocean was always a comfort. She felt more familiar next to it - more her - but she supposed that was just her imagination. 
She coughed as the brittle salt breeze filled her lungs, then the spell was over and she could breath easily again. June walked over, her feet leaving soft footprints in the sand, and touched the edge of the shoreline. 
The waves crashed to a manic rhythm, coming when they felt like it. She let her hand flow through the dark waters and laughed as it tickled her fingers.
The sky was worryingly, quickly darkening, but she didn’t notice. The seas pounded louder, and all of a sudden June was tossed into the wild, untamed, unquenchable ocean.
She tried to balance the waves, but it bounced around her, tossing her around like a child's toy. June fought to swim back to the shore as hard as she could, but the sea defied her every time.
And suddenly, she saw a silver-and-black blur rushing towards her, and she heard wingbeats, and she thought dizzily, This is how I'll end. In the mouth of a dragon.
But instead, it dove down to her, gently cupping her in its talons, and flew her to the beach.
June tumbled out of the dragon's talons, slowly drifting of into unconsciousness.
==Chapter Five - the humans==
The queen expected fanfare. Happiness. Excitement over her return.
She was not disappointed.
Streamers, cakes. She beamed and tossed gold coins from her carriage. Queen Annaelis lived on her subjects. This was no less.
(W.I.P.)
Category:Original Stories
Category:Original Stories (Unfinished)
Category:Literature
Category:Fantasy
Category:Fiction