Dragon in Disguise

“Lord Kastra wants to see you. He said to be there within the half hour.”

Viren stared at the servant. He was jerked back to reality when the servant started fidgeting nervously. “Oh yes, of course. You may return to your duties.” The relieved servant bowed and walked away fast. Viren closed the door and stared at it for a few seconds before lowering his head and massaging his temple. “This is going to suck, isn’t it?” He quickly threw on some fresh clothes and ran a hand through his hair. “Oh well,” he said to himself, “It’s not as if this day is going to get much worse.” He opened the door and left the room, pausing as he closed it behind him. ‘I probably shouldn’t have said that.’

…

“Despite our victory, our true goal was not reached, and Lord Kastra is still as dangerous as ever.” King Treion crossed his arms and sighed.

“Has his armies made any more movements?” One of his advisors stepped forward.

“Not recently, I expect it will be a few months before he makes a move if he is left unhindered.”

The King’s council was standing around a large table cluttered with papers and rolled up maps. It included the King (obviously), several of his advisors, some of his high-ranking generals, one of his Shadows, and finally, Prince Khastri and Lady Starla.

She glanced at the Shadow, a man by the name of Dan. The Shadows were the King’s group of spies and stealth operatives. As the name suggested, they worked from the shadows, and went on many stealth missions.

“It appears dealing with this threat will not be as simple as we originally guessed,” one of the generals said.

Khastri frowned. “Perhaps we need to look at it a different way.” He looked at the Shadow. “How hard would it be to send an assassin?” Dan shook his head.

“Too many defenses, both physical and magical. Even if someone could get past them and the many dark mages loyal to him, they would still have to face the Dark Lord himself, and that is a task not easily accomplished.”

King Treion appeared to be deep in thought. “Maybe an assassin is off the table, but perhaps a more subtle is approach is best.” He paused. “We know next to nothing about Kastra’s fortress. Would it be possible to send a group of people to gather information?”

The Shadow nodded. “We could spare three Shadows at the most. I think sending two mages and at least seven warriors, plus a few healers would yield the greatest success.”

One of the King’s advisors made a note on her notepad before looking up. “I think the best group would consist of three Shadows, one senior warrior to command the other seven, and Mage Stephen and his apprentice. If the mage is willing to make a portal to a nearby location, we could send the group out as soon as tonight” The king smiled before turning to Starla.

“I believe Starla would make an excellent contribution if she’s willing to go.” Starla’s heart jumped in excitement, but she kept a calm outward appearance.

“I am ready and willing to help defeat the Dark Lord in any way possible.”

…

Viren stood outside Kastra’s office, ready to go in. His hands were clasped behind his back and his face was devoid of emotion. ‘Bet you he wants to scold me about what happened during the battle with Aureum.’ Suddenly the door swung open, and the Dark Lord was revealed, his hands surrounded by a sickly maroon mist. “Ah, Virentree, you are finally here.”

Viren stepped into Kastra’s office, a large room with dark wooden paneling, the sole pieces of furniture a large desk and several chairs.

“You summoned me?” Viren stood straight, his hands still clasped behind his back. He did not meet Kastra’s eyes, not wanting him to see the defiance in them. Kastra’s face hardened.

“You know you are to refer to me as ‘Lord’.”

“My apologies, Lord.” Viren tried and failed to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, and inwardly winced. ‘Really gotta work on that.’ The mist surrounded Kastra’s hands again and Viren felt something like to a band tightening around his lungs, making it harder to breathe.

“Your attitude is not appreciated.” The band tightened again, but Viren did not give any reaction, merely lowering his head. Kastra scowled. “I called you here to talk about your performance during the recent battle.” The smallest of smirks appeared on Viren’s face, which he quickly wiped before the Dark Lord could notice. ‘Predictable as always.’ Perhaps he was not so predictable for others, but Viren had spent years studying Kastra, figuring out the best ways to avoid his rath, or rather, avoid him all together.

Kastra frowned at him, probably frustrated that he didn’t show any signs of fear, and stepped out from behind his desk. The door shut behind Viren and Kastra walked up to him, stopping a few feet away. “I do not like how you handled the… situation with Treion’s heirs.” Viren raised an eyebrow.

“How would you have preferred me to handle it?” This time he succeeded in keeping the sarcasm out of his voice. Kastra’s face darkened and his jaw clenched.

“It is not fitting for an heir of the Dark Lord to… run away.” He practically spat those words, and Viren struggled not to mention that Kastra was the one who called for a retreat.

“Would you have preferred me to die at the hands of two powerful fighters?” The mist returned and this time instead of the invisible band being only around Viren’s lungs, it was around his entire body, holding him in place and stopping him from moving.

“No,” Kastra’s voice came out as a growl. “I expect you to fight them, and win.” Viren gave a single bitter laugh.

“You can’t honestly expect me to fight BOTH of them and come out alive, do you? I would struggle to fight one of them, let alone two!”

“Enough!” Kastra roared. A dark fire ignited in his hand. Its color was a mix of dark red and maroon. Viren scowled at seeing his mother’s fire corrupted in the hands of the Dark Lord. His power was unique and terrifying. Whenever Kastra intentionally killed someone with a magical affinity he gained their power. Though he had denied killing Viren’s mother anyone with half a brain could see what he had done when he swung around her power like that.

Kastra whipped the fire towards Viren’s face, who was still unable to move anything but his head. He leaned his head back and gritted his teeth as the magic keeping him from moving tightened once again. All at once the magic was released and Viren staggered back a few steps. He stared at Kastra with a stony expression and lord Kastra glowered back.

“Do not forget whose magic is superior,” Kastra growled. He waved his hand and the doors swung open. “You are dismissed,” He said. Viren strode out of the door without a word, barely containing his anger.

…

Viren returned to his room as quickly as possible, not wanting to be anywhere near Kastra. Apon entering his room and closing his door he let out a deep sigh of relief. He walked over to his bed and flopped onto it, only to give a muffled yelp and jerk back into a sitting position. ‘Ah, I forgot about that.’ He poked himself in the ribs and winced. The magic Lord Kastra had used on him wasn’t doing his wounds any favors.

He got up and stretched slowly, ignoring the pain. After all, he had endured far worse at the hands of both Kastra and Kauhea. After stretching all his sore muscles Viren walked over to the window and opened the curtains to look out. The sun was setting, and he could even see a few stars peeking out. He smiled. ‘Tonight is as good as any to stretch my wings, and I could use a distraction from everything that happened today.’

Thirty minutes later the only light to be seen was the soft glow of the moon and the twinkling stars. Viren smiled and opened his window, slipping his legs out and gripping the walls. Then, with a devilish grin he leaned forward and fell. He spread his arms wide into the wind whipping past him and transformed. The transformation was almost immediate, and if anyone had been looking one moment they would’ve seen a boy and the next a dragon. Viren flapped his wings without making a sound and rose until the fortress was no more than a speck below him.

Much like his human form, Viren’s dragon form had changed much since he was a hatchling. He was quite a bit larger, for one. He still stood on four legs, and his tail was long and relatively thin. It still had four fins at the end of it. His scales were the same color as when he was a hatchling, but now they had a beautiful sheen to them. His horns were long and looped around once. Their tips were not sharp, and they were a deep dark black, as were his fangs and claws. Along his spine down to the base of his tail were more fins similar to the ones at the tip of his tail. They were the same color and material, just slightly smaller. Other than being bigger, his wings were largely unchanged. The only difference was now they were a slightly darker variation of the colors they were before. His eyes had not changed and were the same in his human form as in his dragon form, although they were not as noticeable in human form.

Easily blending into the night, Viren flew north. Usually he flew south, over the mountains, so he wasn’t as familiar with the forest to the north. Once he was away from the fortress, he flew a bit lower, only about a mile above the trees.

It was amazing to fly like this, faster and faster, soaring underneath the stars and merging with the night. With the wind roaring in his ears and open sky all around him, Viren felt invincible, like he could finally let go and just breath. It was easy to say that flying was one of the few things Viren could enjoy in life. He twisted and somersaulted through the air with glee, even doing the occasional loopty-loop. In an hour Viren had flown farther than someone traveling on foot could in a week.

Eventually Viren slowed down a little and flew lower and closer to the trees. All of a sudden, he noticed a light shining through the trees. ‘What? I know I’ve flown far, but people avoid the land near the fortress like the plague!’ Growling slightly, Viren realized that he would have to land if he didn’t want whoever made the light to notice him. Even though he was a little bigger than a large bear, he could still sneak through the forest with ease. The darkness of night empowering his shadow magic certainly didn’t hurt either.

Deciding to investigate, Viren slowly crept closer, careful not to make a sound. Once he was close enough, he could smell smoke. ‘So, it’s a camp, huh? I wonder who they are and what they’re doing so close to the Dark Lord’s territory.’ He reached the edge of a small clearing where the camp seemed to have stopped for the night. He peered through some bushes in order to get a better look.

There were three campfires and several tents. There were also a decent amount of people scuttling around, and Viren could smell some horses. He obviously didn’t recognize any of the people. Standing a few feet away from one of the fires was a man who looked to be around fifty years old with a short grey beard and long dark grey hair that still had some black strands scattered in it. He was wearing dark green robes that reached his ankles and had a powerful aura around him. Viren guessed that he was some sort of mage. He was talking to a man in his mid-thirties. The only way to describe that man was well-trained. You could easily see the thick muscles under his tunic. He appeared to be wearing light chainmail armor and carried a sword at his waist and several knives around a belt. Viren could see in his stance that he was a good fighter.

The others milling around the camp fell into two categories. Fighters and helpers. Some of them were obviously warriors, so perhaps this was a mercenary camp. The thing that threw Viren off were the “helpers.” People who looked like they were healers or other supporting roles. Mercenary groups usually didn’t bother with people like that. Then Viren saw someone who immediately made everything clear. The one person who Viren absolutely did NOT need making his life more complicated.

Lady Starla.

‘Darn.’