Dragon in Disguise

Seven Years Later

Lady Starla Verenteis loved her life. Sure, it had its ups and downs, and being the second-in-line to the throne in one of the biggest kingdoms in the world could get aggravating sometimes, but she still wouldn’t trade it for anything. And that’s why she was sharpening her dagger and doing some last-minute meditations in her uncle’s war tent. The King didn’t usually fight in battles, so this was a rare occasion. It spoke to the threat that Dark Lord Kastra was becoming. He had always been dangerous, that was for sure, but as of late he was getting to be more of a threat than ever.

Starla scowled as she stared down at her stylized dagger. ‘That damned Lord Kastra.’ She thought, ‘I-’

“Starla.” She looked up to see her cousin staring down at her, and quickly stood up.

“Khastri?” He raised an eyebrow and Starla gave a start as she noticed how cold it had gotten within the tent. “Sorry, I’m a bit on edge.”

He gave a wry smile. “Yes, I can see that.” He sighed, then looked her in the eye. “Are you sure you want to come? I understand if you want to sit this one out. After all, he’s the reason your parents are…” His voice trailed off, not willing to finish the sentence.

“Khastri, I’m the one who insisted on coming in the first place, so no, I’m not ‘sitting this one out’.” She blew out a breath and briefly wondered if it was too late to learn the sword. She would have loved to stab Lord Kastra’s heart out.

“I’m not scared of the Dark Lord, Khastri. I’m angry. Angry that something that evil even walks this world. Angry that he is still running around free as a wild chicken despite the best efforts of multiple kingdoms. This needs to end. Do you understand?”

He looked shocked for a second before chuckling softly and shaking his head.

“Now,” Starla said with a wicked grin, “Lets kick some Dark Lord butt!”

…

Viren strode behind Kastra as they went to meet the opposing side of the battle they were about to fight. As Lord Kastra’s only heir, it was a major power move to bring him out onto the battlefield. Viren eyed the three figures in front of him with surprise. ‘A power move that the King of Aureum seems to have matched,’ he thought with mild amusement.

In front of Kastra stood King Treion, who made for an imposing figure with his broad shoulders and sharp eyes. To his right stood a young man, no older that 21 with golden brown hair and dark blue eyes. ‘That must be prince Khastri,’ he thought before looking to the King’s left side. ‘Which makes that… lady Starla!’

Her wavy shoulder length dirty-blond hair stood in stark contrast to Viren’s own messy black hair that reached his ears. Her eyes where an interesting mix of dark blue and a silvery white. He thought about what he knew of the royal heirs. Prince Khastri was apparently a master of the sword, as well as talented in many other weapons. Lady Starla was supposedly a very powerful mage, with a double affinity of light and ice. Viren wasn’t sure if that was true, but nevertheless it was important to know your enemy and to be prepared for anything.

His musings were interrupted when King Treion raised his broadsword majestically and pointed it at Kastra. “Surrender now,” he said with confidence, “and your death shall be quick.” Kastra laughed.

“You surrender, and perhaps I shall spare the girl.” He smirked. “She would make a good wife for my heir.”

Viren’s vision flashed red, and he bit the inside of his cheek in an attempt to appear indifferent. It was an unreasonable thing to be angry about… but he couldn’t help remembering his mother’s wedding day, the empty look in her eyes…

‘First my mother, and now me?’ He breathed out and attempted to compose himself. It wouldn’t do to appear in opposition to Lord Kastra after all, however much Viren might hate him on the inside. His vision cleared and he glanced around, relieved. No one seemed to have noticed his negative reaction. He glanced at prince Khastri and was surprised to see him seething. Lord Kastra’s comment seemed to have affected him quite a bit.

“I’ll never surrender to you,” King Treion said. Kastra grinned, his eyes glowing a sickening red.

“Then prepare to die!”

…

Starla settled into her fighting stance as chaos overtook the battlefield. The mages from both sides of the battle did not hesitate to use highly destructive spells in the undeveloped and nearly empty land. She prepared to dive into the battle to do some damage of her own when her uncle laid a hand on her shoulder.

“I have a special mission for you and Khastri,” he said. “I want you to find and kill Virentree, Lord Kastra’s heir. Killing him will deal a major blow to his plans.” Starla nodded, and her cousin appeared at her shoulder.

“That will be no problem,” he said, gripping his sword. Starla sighed. ‘Khastri really took Lord Kastra’s comment to heart,’ she thought with a frown, ‘I hope he doesn’t act to rashly on our little ‘mission’.’

Khastri noticed her frown and gave her a small smile. Then his face hardened, and his expression grew determined. “Come on, let’s go.”

…

Viren was in the middle of the chaos of battle. He was fighting a little, but aside from occasionally swinging his sword against an enemy soldier he wasn’t really trying. After all, Kastra was occupied doing whatever, so it’s not like he would get caught, and as long as he wasn’t actively fighting against the Dark Lord’s forces people didn’t really notice him not doing anything.

In other words, he was just sitting around waiting for the battle’s outcome. Suddenly, the whoosh of a swinging sword broke his peace. He dodged and swung around, bringing up his own sword to meet his enemy’s. Viren flinched in surprise when he came face to face with prince Khastri. What was he doing here? Viren inwardly groaned. ‘Why did it have to be him?’ he thought. ‘Best to end this quickly.’ Khastri had stepped back and dropped into a defensive stance, so Viren lunged forward, sliding along the top of the shadows like one would skate across ice.

He was about to strike the prince when a blinding flash of light hit him. He stumbled backwards and wiped his watering eyes to find who had attacked him. To his surprise he saw Lady Starla. Her hands were glowing softly so she must have been the one to throw the light.

The light surrounding her hands brightened, and she appeared to be preparing to hit him with another flash, so Viren manipulated the shadows around him, giving them a darker appearance and making them grow a little bit bigger. The flash of light came again and to Viren’s dismay it consumed the shadows like a fire burning dried leaves.

Prince Khastri lunged again and Viren parried before jumping back another few feet. He might be able to take Khastri alone, but with the help of Lady Starla Viren was both outnumbered and overpowered. ‘In other words,’ he thought grimly, ‘the only thing left to do… is run!’

…

As Virentree took off running, Starla and Khastri quickly chased after him.

“Wow,” Starla said to Khastri between breaths, “He is an even better mage than I thought!”

“Why?” Responded Khastri, “Didn’t your light overpower him?” Starla shook her head.

“No, that’s just because light naturally has an advantage over shadows in direct combat.” She paused. “But didn’t you see? He was able to manipulate the shadows without moving his hands or anything! that usually takes years of practice or a crazy natural affinity to your magic!” Khastri took a minute to process the information.

“Well,” her cousin finally said, “You’ll have plenty of close up looks at his power, because I don’t think he’s going down without a fight.”

They chased the Dark Lord’s heir far from where the battle was raging, through some trees, and then to a rocky cliff, where he stopped, having nowhere else to run. Virentree whirled around just in time to get blinded by Starla’s light. He stumbled back covering his eyes. Sometime while he was running, he had lost his sword.

Khastri unsheathed his sword and slowly advanced on his target, with Starla standing a little way behind him, ready to use her magic. As Khastri advanced, Virentree slowly backed up. He glanced from Khastri to Starla, clearly seeing that there was no way out of this situation.

Suddenly, without warning, he spun around and dashed towards the edge of the cliff, to where the water was crashing below. He dove off the cliff and Starla ran after him without a moment’s hesitation. As she ran, she drew on her ice manipulation and a huge wave rose from the water, turning to ice as it did. With expert skill she leaped a few feet into the air, landing on the ice wave, her cousin at her heels.

She slid down to the water, turning it to ice a few feet around her. Khastri landed beside her and steadied himself before looking around. Outside Starla’s ring of ice the water was restless, and the waves were crashing against the cliff, which was casting a shadow over them. That combined with the dreary night sky made it hard to see anything. “Starla,” Khastri started, “Do you think you can light up the area?”

“Oh, sure.” With a moment of concentration and a wave of her hand, the area around them glowed in a soft warm light.

“Thanks,” Khastri said, narrowing his eyes to scan the area. “There!” he said, pointing to a barely visible dark figure moving under the water. With a sharp upward movement of her hand Starla made a block of ice under the figure, bringing Virentree up to the surface. He took a step back and two large waves of water broke the surface and rushed towards Starla and Khastri. Starla made a motion with her hands that turned both waves into ice. Then she heard a splash. Virentree had jumped into the water!

Starla cursed. Khastri turned to her. “Can’t you just do what you did before?” She shook her head.

“No, he has a water affinity, meaning that he’s likely already swam far too deep for my abilities to catch him.”

“His water affinity shouldn’t affect his ability to hold his breath, right? Can’t we just wait ‘till he comes back up for air?”

It was then that they heard a horn being blown.

“That’s the victory horn!” Starla said in shock.

“Yes, but I don’t think we killed the Dark Lord. He must have decided to retreat.” He sighed. “No point in staying here any longer, we might as well rejoin father.”

As Starla made the ice grow underneath them Khastri gazed down at the water. He would have liked to at least capture the Dark Lord’s heir.

…

Viren broke the surface of the water 15 minutes after he submerged. A normal human would not have been changed this way by their affinity, but because he was a dragon Viren could hold his breath for extended periods of time. Last time he checked he could hold his breath for up to five hours underwater. Of course, if someone tried to choke him out or something that was a different story.

As he climbed up the cliffside he naturally blended into the shadows, another benefit of being a dragon with a shadow affinity. When Viren reached the top of the cliff he nearly fell to the ground then and there. ‘The fight must have exhausted me more than I thought.’ He stumbled to the tree line and leaned against a tree, letting out a long sigh and gazing at the night sky. “Welp,” he said suddenly, righting himself. “I suppose I should be getting back,” he said disappointedly. Viren gave one last long look to the water before heading back into the trees, melting into the shadows as he went.