They had been rescued from a rich family that had kept them prisoner due to both their immense healing gift, and their emerald eyes, and gemstone horn and hooves. The dragon guised as a gnome knew what it was like to be so imprisoned and treated. And that experience helped them aid the distraught being. -- Anon Guest
Jade had been kept in the Gilded Palace since she hatched. She might have been there before she hatched, but there was no proof. Her keepers insisted that they kept her well, and in very good conditions. She had no proof of that, too.
All she knew was her gilded cage. Wards to keep her inside one chamber. Servants with gemstone brushes to scrub her moulting scales. Servants to smooth the new ones over with special oil. Servants to feed her exquisite feasts. Servants to blunt her claws. Special mages to capture her magic breaths for the greater good. They told her that she was safe in the chamber. She had to believe it, because one of her special servants relayed news of horrible things that had happened to Dragons.
All she had to do was obey the royal family's demands.
A sweetheart deal, they said. The dynasty was dedicated to her safety. She had armies to defend her from idiots with swords. She had a kingdom devoted to her benevolence. Her very magic breath was essential in all the kingdom's potions. The health and wellbeing of all the little babies depended on her expelling as much magic as possible, every day.
It was for the greater good, they said. And since it was all they said, she had to believe it.
Until a Gnome crept in to her cage. His fingers set off ripples in the ward walls as he touched them. He didn't look as afraid as her servants did. He didn't walk with caution.
He looked... sad.
Jade's first instinct was to blame herself. "Did the king run out of potions?" she asked. "I'm sorry I couldn't give as much of my magic as you needed. I only have so many breaths a day to give. You have a right to be angry."
"Is that what they're telling you?" he said. "Poor sweet baby..."
It was such an odd thing to say. "I am four hundred and three years old," she said.
"Dragons can live for twenty thousand years, young one. Well. The average Dragon can." He finished his tour around the edge of the walls, looking up at the sigils in apparent fury. "Some are a little more than average." He sighed. "This is going to take some tools. I'll have to come back. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else about my visit."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I have already lived your life, too many times, for too many millennia."
That left her puzzling and relatively quiet for the entire day. Obedient, yes, but she had to wonder. What made a Gnome claim such a thing? Why would anyone want one as a captive? And didn't Gnomes live to only one thousand years?
And there was the implication that, if Jade asked her servants, something bad might happen to the Gnome. Jade knew very well what fear looked like, and this Gnome was afraid of... where she was. Not her. Everyone else was afraid of her. Though she had no idea why.
Not until the Gnome returned. He had a bow, and an arrow with a small vial in lieu of an arrowhead.
"You can't shoot me with that," said Jade. "My hide turns aside arrows."
"I know," said Bibrid. "So does mine." He took very careful aim."All the same, please duck. I don't want to miss."
Jade, wanting to see what happened next, hunkered down. Watched the arrow sail through the air in a perfect parabola, and hit one of the warding sigils. The vial smashed, spilling fluid on the carved stone. Which instantly began to melt. Sizzling and hissing as it did so.
The ward walls flickered and fell. It felt... like a storm breaking. Like a heavy thing Jade couldn't see being lifted from her body. She felt like she was about to float away on the first breeze. It felt... wonderful. And scary.
The Gnome was... stretching. Changing. Into another Dragon. Pearly silver and larger than Jade.
"My name is Bibrid," said the Silver Dragon. "And I have come to rescue you on the behest of the Emperor of the Sunrise Isles."
"Where did you get that vial?" she asked. "How could it do that?"
"It was a vial of your breath," said Bibrid. "Stolen with some difficulty from this kingdom's armory."
There wasn't much left of the Kingdom of Melting Arrows by the time two Dragons launched into the skies.
[Photo by Rick Rothenberg on Unsplash]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends! Or visit my hub site to see what else I'm up to.
Send me a prompt [24 remaining prompts!]