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Burned and Blackened Blood (G23 & loneiysong)

She chuckled and then moved into the small space and then curled up and curled into a tight little ball and hid her face into her wings. She yawned and dropped her tail over her nose. She let soft tendrils of smoke slowly raise from her nostrils as she dozed but didn't let herself fall asleep. She hummed and rumbled sleepily.
 
He rumbled and curled tighter about her. "Sleep little one. You need your rest. Will the dreams to cease and they will. You are a Dragon. Of the very highest order. Even dreams will obey your will should you give it the power."

He blew flames over her face and horn. "Be at peace little one."
 
She curled her tail around him and nuzzled her head under his wing and sighed and shut her eyes. She smiled and sighed gently.

She loved his flames and grinned softly snuggling in closer and growled softly.

Meanwhile, the enchantress had disguised herself flawlessly as Tirana. No one would see her as Tirana. Not even her grandmother would know the difference. The only difference was that she was able to scare her brothers into respecting her. She smiled and acted better than Tirana and won everyone over.
 
The spirit Dragons saw the imposter, and alerted Nabaz.

He sighed. This would be an interesting battle indeed.

He kept breathing flames onto her, soothing and relaxing her, his own eyes closed as he let himself rest. He cocked his head and smiled. "Would you like to meet the Thunder Tirana?"
 
She looked up and smiled and looked at him. In his mind, the temptress appeared shrouded in shadow.

"I have been alerted that your dragons have seen through me. Be alerted dragon, that if you bring war against me, it will be seen as a war against the royal family. They see me as the true princess. If you try to bring your pregnant whelp before the family, she will be slain." She sat on a likeness of Furad throne but it was large and monstrous. "You are trying my patience." She warned.
 
he smiled at her sweetly, even bowing. "If i choose to war with you little girl, you will never see it coming and nothing you can do will stop me."

With that arrogant yet truthful statement a blast of mental energy far beyond her blew her image out if him and blocked his presence from her and her forces. It had not even been him. The spirits hissed at her, then vanished, untraceable and beyond her reach.

Every actual Dragon had vanished from the world so far as she could know.

The Thunder took it's protection and safety very seriously.
 
"Oh I will and you will suffer far worse." She hissed before leaving letting him push against air. Her own Thunder swelled around the kingdom and kissed at the thunder in a warning tone. She reached out to them using her own powers.

"Be careful Thunder, my war is not with you." Then she withdrew.

Tirana trembled feeling her presence.
 
"No little one. Do not let her control your fear."

He nuzzled her, unimpressed.

In the palace the doors to the Dragonhold locked, and Furad's Throne moved. It hissed at the false Tirana, and vanished, dropping into the floor, which sealed itself over the throne. Fuad screamed a call of betrayal and rage that frightened even the seven brothers, and worried Rowena greatly. And each and every crown vanished. No trace, no sign. Just gone.

The people learned of this despite attempts to hide it, and their terror at such events was undeniable. Trembling with fear, they demanded answers.

By chance the one detail few heard was that the throne, or Furad or whoever had hissed at Tirana. But Rowena had seen it. She assumed it was because Tirana had returned without Nabaz, and she was growing more worried as she considered this, but she had no clue what it might mean.

What truly upset the people was the loss of the crowns. And the other rumor. That nothing could be put into the place that had held Furad's Throne.

This last was true. No being could stay in place there, but were thrown away from the spot, and any furniture burst into flames or crumbled to dust the moment they were placed in the spot. It was and would remain barren.
 
The false Tirana had remained in full control. She even had her large black dragon who had impregnated the real Tirana come and take over the role of mentor. While not as tall as Nabaz, he was just as charming and could pull from the shadow realm any fanciful figure imaginable. He grinned and smiled and Tirana promised that although it all seemed bad, she was sure everything would turn to right, to which the mentor nodded his head sagelly and said that sometimes dragons just needed a hibernation of sorts.

The witch however loved the chaos. As the chaos grew, her power seemed to grow. Although she gave fake promises, she did nothing to try to make it better. She pulled on the peoples fear and panic to mold and shape the child within Tirana which she kept a steady eye on giving it all the power and will in case Tirana tried to do anything stupid as young girls were prone to doing.

She kept a large orb that would not be seen by any except fae kind that would give her an eye into the world beyond. This was her eye into Tiranas womb where she saw her prize. She grinned. Hearing Belfroz, the mentor, come in, the witch chuckled.

"Furad is ever the bitchy dragon legends make her out to be. I send an image to our foe, a simple image of a likeness of her throne that isn't real, and she sends her own people into a fierce panic and chaos that feeds me." She laughed and rolled her eyes. Belfroz smiled weakly. "Ohh dragons are ever the stupid lot." She sighed and leaned back and looked at Belfroz and winked. "Of course madam." He muttered,

Tirana shivered feeling Furads wrath and swallowed.
 
Rowena stared at the place the throne had been. She knew what this meant. The Dragons had lost confidence in the family.

And her stupid family didn't realize this.

And this...Tirana was not right. She had not felt quite right from the start. but now all these talks and promises. No.

Rowena spoke to her children, other than the king, and without fail, each of them left the city.

Then she spoke to the King himself. He refused to go. but he did allow Rowena to take his bride to their country home. When the Queen and the Queen Mother left, the people panicked. And within hours the city was empty.

Even the guards had vanished.

Balroc sat at the top of the tower, gazing out over the landscape of his now silent city. The place felt dark, foul, and wrong. He had tried to wave away his mother's concerns, but as he pondered, he knew she was right. How could he doubt it? His people, so brave so strong, had fled the city, their home as if it held a great plague. And perhaps it did.

He would stay. He must. But he would take precautions. He forbid his children from entering the tower, and the door was shut and barred, then sealed by his magician, while he began to research Dragons, His guard kept close watch over him, and the magician strengthened the tower and protected the food and water supply.

Silence now ruled the great city. Not so much as a dog roamed the streets. Not lights were lit. It was darkness beyond pitch. And the Palace of Bone was a fortress under siege within itself.

~

Nabaz could not blame the citizens. And while he had not wanted such fear, he could not blame Rowena. And he had not suspected that the Matriarch commanded such respect. but without her, the family would not chance being near her mad grandsons. Not even their mother could endure it. That last truly bothered Nabaz.

What had changed within the mind of the Queen? She adored her sons....didn't she? Furad had no answers...though she had noted that the Queen was less open to her sons since Tirana's wounding.

Perhaps the truth had finally touched her heart? Nabaz did not know. But he hoped she would be safe now. Had he had the chance he would have urged the Queen and Rowena to stay at least. Yes get the children to safety, but someone needed protect the people.

But the people...save for the Kingsguard they were gone. Even the beggars and infirm had fled the city.

He marveled at this. Then he studied it more, and probed the city with his mind and realized why. When the Dragons had left, they had taken every spirit, every ghost, everything of the Under Realm with them.

The city had fled because they had felt the loss and the abandonment. They would not stay because the city they knew and loved was dead and gone. The spirits of their ancestors, the blessings of their deities were gone.

Tiashin had become the lost city.

Nabaz was astounded. Even he had not known such a thing was possible. But he also smiled. Without a people to corrupt, the witch would have no one to torment save the seven. And he had no pity on them.

He also knew that the fear would spread. Tiashin would become a curse. And none would send or give aid to the city. He could already hear of the city nearest sealing their gates and barring them against any others who might come from the empty mountain.

The citizens had vanished along with the Color guard, fleeing to cities and towns. Now for more than twenty miles surrounding Tiashin, not a soul dwelt.
 
The witch woke in the morning. She had not felt this way in a long time. It felt empty. She felt empty. Leaning up, she looked out calmly over the kingdom and took note. Everyone was gone. Everyone. She smiled. Really, they were making this too easy for her now. But there was a still scared child within her. Deep within her core. The one that was left so long ago. Shaking herself, she looked up seeing her dragons come to her room, she smiled and nodded sealing her door closed.

Raising her hands, she began to call the people who would fill the void. Her people. The people who followed her. The ones who called her queen. People who hid in the earth, who where trampled on and spit upon. They would be the sentries. They would be the farmers, the cultivators, she shivered and shut her eyes. The dragons would take care of her after summoning the creatures of the Shroud. These creatures were not yet known to man and yet they dwelt in nightmares, in holy scripts as demons. These were the things that took the witch in when she was a screaming babe in the woods. Was it a dragon, a noble lord? No. It was but death himself that wrapped her in his holy shroud and delivered her to the highest witch of all.

She watch the kobolds being the first to answer her call and bow in her direction. She waved her palm and saw the draconians take up arms. She leaned into the arms of her dragon consort and he growled softly to her and helped her to her bed.
------

The golden dragon felt the pull of his old mistress and raised his head. In the womb of the earth, he felt two polar pulls. Although the witch would no longer feel the evil in him and recognize him as her own, he knew her and constantly begged that her soul would see light and know forgiveness. But feeling the pull on the shroud, he knew that she had gained a foot hold in a kingdom.

He looked to the great dragon and nuzzled her and told her all he knew. The demons would be raiding dragon tombs soon and animating dragons from eternal slumber if she had her way.
---

Tirana was all to excited to meet the Thunder, but she heard a prayer from her grandmother, something was wrong.

"Nabaz, what is going on? I sense something. Something is not right. The clouds....its as if they carry a weight of sadness that is not their own." She shook herself and chuckled. "Thats silly." She rubbed her temples and shook her head.
 
Nabaz nuzzled her gently. "You are wise little one. The war has begun. But I must admit it is a battle I did not expect. Nor will it be the last. The witch will have to be dealt with."

He heard the concerns passed on by Mother Scale, but smiled.

When the Dragons had departed, those that slumbered had left as well. All the witch would find were empty holes in the earth, most lined traps, snares, and other tricks for her demons.

Dragons had been fighting such creatures for millenia, and knew how to kill them better than anyone.

~

Mother Scale smiled, nuzzled the little gold, and then held him close as they surged, coming to rest in a cave, also dark, but dry and warm.

She gently drew him down. "Rest my dear. You have been through much."

He did not, and would not know for some time, but he had been moved to a place under a Thunder outpost. Dragons swirled all about him, making preparations for battle on all levels, in every plane, and most importantly guarding every member of their race, most especially the eggs, which had all been drawn away as well.

When Nabaz had communicated how the witch built her forces, the Dragons had been horrified. And a massive search had gone out to even the most remote possibilities for lost eggs. And if one were found, they were returned to the fold. Now the lot was hidden, guarded, warded, and protected in thousands of ways, not to mention the presence of seven flights of Dragon mothers

~

Balroc did not enjoy feeling his city this way. But he could do nothing. It troubled him. And hate festered within him. Not for Dragons. But for his own children.

Ever since Tirana had been hurt he had lost control of his own kingdom. This angered him greatly.

~

Nabaz touched Tirana softly. "Come little one. What say we find your grandmother and mother, then you come meet the Thunder?"
 
When the witch reached out for dragons that slumbered, she didn't reach out for those of the Thunder, she reached out for those of the dark, those that the Thunder through ignorance or apathy ignored or forgotten. Mere shells of their former selves. More horrible than stories knights told each other around the fires. They tore thsemselves from beneath great graves of kings and growled and began to climb towards the empty kingdom flapping their wings lazily.
----

He frowned and shook his head.

"No, I have been used as a puppet for a great deal of destruction. I could be useful in this fight. I was one of her high favorites and know alot about her and how she fights. There are women...women like Tirana that the Thunder doesn't know about. Dragon children..." He whimpered and shut his eyes.


The witches eyes flashed and the demons appeared with children all locked inside a farmhouse and a large skeletal zombie like dragon landed on top of the farm house and flapped its oily wings and hissed a poison like substance in warning to all who would come and tamper with them.
-----

Tirana nodded and then spread her wings gently and then grinned.

"I have longed for a long time to meet the Thunder."
 
Mother Scale sighed. "Dear one. We know of them. But it has often been the council of the Thunder that we leave many to their own devices. Were you older....had you seen what the Dragon Wars had wrought, you would understand. We chose to live on. Not to slaughter one another. I have always thought it a mistake to let such things thrive. As have others. But the will of the Thunder is not easily turned. We are the eldest race. We are not perfect."

She nuzzled him gently. "We have long feared the need for the Thunder to war. But if you are right. And if this woman who twisted you does what i fear, the First of us will call for the Claws. And then the Thunder will fly forth again."

She ran her claws over his brow. "What you must understand is this dear one. We have not hidden or allowed such things because of fear for ourselves. We have looked into the hearts and minds and found fewer and fewer worthy of our blessings. But we would not murder solely because they cannot measure to our standards. That is not our way. Even when you attacked him, Nabaz did not kill you. To slay a Dragon is a crime of greatest loss and sadness. When the last Dragon War ended, we had lost hundreds to battles for power and status. And Numenguard was no more."

The Continent of Gems it had been called. Festooned with golden sands, clear waters, and yes indeed gemstones of every size shape and color. It had been the official home of the Thunder, and thousands upon thousands of Dragons had dwelt there. But greed had visited the hearts of some, and they had sought to own the land, the gems, the power.

So the last of the Dragon Wars had commenced. The world shook with the fury of it.

And the Continent of Gems was gone. Utterly and completely destroyed. Only one sign of it remained. Gullvath. A giant eternal whirlpool ten miles across, descending into an endless black void. No light penetrated Gullvath.

Mother Scale continued to stroke the gold's head and neck. "I understand your fear dear one. I know it well. But we swore then that we would never allow our fury to wreak such devastation on this world again. If the Claws are called, and the First leads us into war, I wept for Tiashin. I tremble for it's survival.

~

Nabaz smiled. "Then come little one. Eat and drink your fill. Then we shall fly to the Thunder and they shall greet you as one of their own."

He ran his tail over her spikes. "And the unmated males will flock to you like flies to honey. I advise you caution little one. Such beauty is impossible to ignore."

He poked her hip with the tip of his tail, then lunged away, his wings snapping open as he rose into the air, and with a plume of fire, roared out his presence and challenge to all who would come.

Dragons do not retreat.
 
She chuckled and looked at him and then shifted a bit as he mentioned mating. Such a thing was not in her mind. Her first mating was not something she enjoyed nor was something she wanted to revisit. No, she wanted a companion, and she had a companion. She looked at him and snapped her jaws at his tail playfully. She drank mouthfuls of water and leapt into the sky and began to fly after him and shook her head.

"I am not looking for a male at this time. And granted when they take note that I am carrying an unborn child, they will not want me anyways." She stated simply. She batted at him with her wing as she continued to fly with him.
----

He leaned in and shivered remembering how Nabaz did not attack, but he did tear him apart. He got up and moved to a corner and curled up and shut his eyes. The memory of the pain of loosing something tore at his hear.t He curled up and shut his eyes and began to whimper. Tears filled his eyes. Why did the world have to be so angry, so hateful. He clenched his jaw trying to get himself to stop, but the emotions wouldn't stop, they continued to drown him. He whimpered and continued to swallow hard.
 
He smirked and lead her away from Tiashin. "You make false assumptions of our kind little one. We treasure our young. the method of your mating might be foul, but we can hope that the result will not be. And any Dragon would be truly honored to have you as his mate."

He blew flames at her then noted a shimmer ahead. "Now fly below this, then rise up."

He demonstrated and he shot forward while he merely held his wings open. "You must learn to read the wind patterns. They will aid ou greatly in flight."

~

Mother Scale let him cry. But she also enfolded him with her foreclaws and wings. She wrapped about him. "Pain is life dear one. A hard but true fact. It is what helps us grow and change." She squeezed him gently. "The suffering is unpleasant, but it serves a purpose. It makes us stronger. Your wings will be greater than ever before because they will be truly yours. Not supposed gifts from some master. Dragons have no master. We have leaders, but no rulers."

She ran her snout along his neck. "Rest dear one. Mother Scale is here. She will let no harm befall you."
 
She smiled and looked at him and nuzzled him. "I am sorry, the only kind I have known have been my own human kind, and not dragon." She smiled and watched him. She watched him and mimicked him. She flew and rose up. Shutting her eyes, she felet the breeze push her up and push her forward with no effort on her part. With a gentle sigh, she shivered and pulled her legs closer to her feeling as little more than a feather on the breeze.
--

He snuggled in and then looked up and frowned.

He pressed his face against the scales of her throat and swallowed feeling her great head against his neck. He could not rest. He could feel the dark energy scraping the soil searching.
 
He chuckled and swirled, coming to a place beneath her, once more becoming her living shadow. "You will be fine little one. They are your people. Your family. And of course I will be there if you have need of me."

~

Mother Scale began to croon a lullaby.

As she did, the searchers came across some places throughout the land where even greater legends and mysteries lay. The sleepers refused to raise and powers far beyond even the witch and her allies understanding blasted them apart and away. not every secret hated the Thunder. And even fewer were open to dark forces such as those she commanded.
 
"I will always have need of you Nabaz, you are my shadow." She chuckled and looked at him and blew flame at him and then continued to fly and thought. She frowned thinking to herself.
---

Every searcher that was blasted, two more would rise up. They coiled around the castle tormenting all the humans within with dark nightmares and horrible visions. But the one they tormented most of all was the prince that allowed them in. They loved to torment him the most, and no matter what he did to them, they would make him slowly dip deeper and deeper into insanity.
 
He gave her some time, then growled and blew flame straight up into her path, creating a plume she had to fly through. "What troubles you little one?"

~

And every one that rose back up was blasted as well. The protections they came up against were undeniable and inescapable. And when they activated the objects of their search vanished. But not the protections. Which also began to increase in number, creating more and more traps, until there was a circle around Tiashin.

They were also silently aiding Balroc's magician, blocking the tower from being touched or affected by the witch and her allies.
 
"A lot troubles me great shadow." She sighed and just let the wind push her along trusting the clouds and wind to push her on a steady course. "I worry about the child in my womb, I worry it will be a monster like the one that created it, the element that speaks to me, tells me of sorrow it is witnessing." She sighed. As if giving her element voice, rain began to fall and she shook the little droplets from her head.
-----
The witch growled. She herself was in the castle, but she knew the magician was in the tower. She ran her hand against the stone and knew he would have to give up soon. She pulled her multiples of horde back and just told them to observe for now.
 
He nodded. "I have faith in the mother. She is far too wonderful a person and Dragon too bear a monster. And should she any, she will be able to change it. I know this."

He smiled closing his eyes and growled as the rain washed over him. "That feels so good."

~

He would not. He didn't need to. For all her knowledge, the witch was not well informed about the castle. Nor were the princes, intentionally. One of the first things Balroc had done was to move a number of items into the tower. They were focuses, reserves, and other stores of magical power and aid. There were literally thousands of them serving to power the protective measures he had put into place on the tower and it's inhabitants.

Through these, and other protections, the tower was nigh impenetrable, and with the unknown protection from the Dragons and some others, it was intentionally overpowered.
 
She looked at him and smiled and flicked her wings a bit giving him more of a spray and shook her head. "I have been feeling more and more of a kinship with water and its different forms from the ocean to clouds." She shrugged. "Its odd." She sighed.

---

The witch sighed and moved around her room and watched her sleeping dragons who had pledged their fealty to her long ago roam around the castle and hiss and snap waiting for orders. She tapped her fingers and then stood up. She walked to Balrocs room and shifted to her true form. She knocked on the door and waited.

"Lord, there is more of my people here than yours. And while your head would do more to serve me, I will give you a chance to leave." She grinned and looked at him.
 
He mused with a growl, but had no answer. "As long as it doesn't hurt, enjoy it little one."

He sighed happily shaking his length. "Really does feel good. Gets right between the scales. Ahhh."

~

The tower door would not open to her. Balroc spoke through it, though. "i will not leave my palace in your clutches. Now away with you."

As he spoke, the walls before the door began to close in, sealing the tower off from her entirely, until it was now but part of the mountain itself, it's cap now a second smaller peak to the stone.
 
She sighed and shut her eyes enjoying the feel of the rain, the result of her own sadness, cooling between her own scales and shivered a bit. She flew on and wondered what the Thunder would be like.
----

"So...you just want your palace then? Cause I can leave you your palace, and take your kingdom..." She grinned and stepped back and chuckled shaking her head. Before she could react, a figure lunged out at her and grabbed her from the throat from behind pointing a blade at her neck and growled to her ear. "Best to be leavin' now." It growled in her ear.

The woman stiffened and tried to move but the creaeture in dark robes held her tight. "I will cleave you apart, and you will never get a chance to get a scream out, dark one. Now leave." She struggled harder and tried to scream, but the figure tightened its grip on its neck. Sensing the danger of the queen, the dragons began to move. The figure began to chant and a portal to hell appeared on the ground. In a simple chant the floor opened and the witch returned. Turning, the figure saw two dragons coming. Taking this as its cue to leave, the vigilante took off at a great running bound.

Aiming for the glass.

"Fey protect me." It whispered softly before it made a great leap and disappeared into teh night.
----

The dragons who had been with the witch had ran after the dark figure who had sent their witch on a one way trip back to hell, but they could not catch her, could not even track her. It was like after she jumped out the window, she herself disappeared. Growling, the lead black dragon turned into his form and roared. Packing up, it circled the kingdom, it would continue the search until the full moon giving the witch until then to return. That was the order.
 
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