Chapter 6
Dane disappeared into the forest, careful to avoid the previously tread paths to his lair. He clambered down the side of the cliff and swung himself into the cool safety of his cave. Climbing down the side of a cliff was infinitely more challenging with human hands. Not for the first time, Dane thought of how easy it would be for him to just feast until he was fully dragon. Hunger exploded inside, filling him with its desperate drive to be satisfied. Just one soul. One breath of life and he would be strong enough to transform.
He would also sever his connection with Athens. This was something not even Noah knew.
Two thousand years earlier, Dane had faced the anguish of a severed bond. The woman’s name was Aelia and her father was the governor of Creta somewhere around 110 A.D. Dane, known only as The Dragon Lord, Djgarr, had come down from the northern ice lands to help his kin fight the advancement of man into dragon territory. He faced many battles, drenching the dusty earth with thick human blood mingled with that of his kind. As the fighting wore on, the number of dragon hides being sent to Rome increased. Desperation grew in Djgarr and he formed a devious alliance with a druid, Caius, who promised him immortality from a potion he had concocted.
Despite warnings from his top generals, Djgarr ordered his army to drink of the poison. The effects were immediate and painful. The dragons transformed into humans, complete with all physical vulnerabilities, needs and desires. In order to remain dragon, they would have to steal the breath of life from humans, allowing them to live forever. The dragons had gained immortality, but at a price.
Much more of Djgarr’s army was lost to their unfamiliar human weaknesses than were saved by their new immortality. While the number of human bodies grew, their life forces absorbed by the dragons, the number of dead dragons in human form grew as well. Within a mere century, the dragon was near extinction. Driven into hiding, the remaining dragons fled, masking their dragon form by day and quietly feeding on human life by night. Djgarr went to Creta, leaving a trail of corpses as his power grew.
While scouting the busy markets of Creta for his next prey, he had met Aelia. Sometimes his victims were tainted and feeding on them meant that he needed more to satiate his hunger and retain his strength. Aelia’s scent was overpowering, resembling a plethora of orchids. Golden waves of hair flowed along her back ending at her slim waist. Her ice blue eyes reminded Djgarr of the glaciers in the northern lands and like a lonely animal, Djgarr followed her home that day. He slunk into her room in her father’s house and stole her away. Panicked and shivering, she awoke in a cave he had unearthed the night before. Her fear roused the raging dragon within and he prepared himself to absorb her life essence. As he bent over her terrified body, another hunger ignited inside him, deep in his core. A throbbing hunger, which puzzled him with its intense demand to be satisfied.
He let her live that night. And the next night. And the next. While he explored his new appetite, she responded with her own. She had no need of food, receiving sustenance from his life force. She grew stronger as he weakened. His hunger for immortality raged but her soft body and rousing aura kept it at bay.
Djgarr should have known better. He had stayed in the cave too long, especially with a woman whose father had the resources to hunt for her. When they came for them, he was unprepared and too weak to defend her. Helpless, he watched the soldiers tear her from him, his baby growing in her womb. Djgarr experienced her anguish as she was taken. After several hours of battle, he knew he had to feed or he would die. One of the soldiers was younger than the others and Djgarr could tell by his hesitance with the sword that he had never taken a life. Mustering all his remaining strength, he absorbed the young soldier’s life force while his comrades watched. In a matter of minutes, Djgarr transformed into his dragon state and hacked the surviving soldiers to pieces. The battle frenzy faded while he flew back to Aelia’s home. Only then did he realize that something was missing. An emptiness, as though he had lost part of himself.
Djgarr stood in her presence, searching for the earlier bond they had shared. Nothing stirred within, as if a deep chasm had formed between them. Aelia refused to leave with him, and he left before her father could capture him. For over two months he returned nightly at dusk, watching her from afar. Her belly grew at an unnatural rate, since she carried the dragon offspring.
After she gave birth, he once again approached her. “Come with me,” he said.
Aelia remained silent, clutching the sleeping baby to her chest. She shook her head.
Djgarr stepped closer and she retreated. “Please, let me hold my child,” he said. “I don’t even know if we have a son or daughter…”
“A son,” said Aelia. She timidly approached Djgarr and handed him the resting infant.
Djgarr marveled at the perfectly formed human baby. “His name will be Tzgarr,” he said. “After my father.”
“No!” said Aelia, reaching for their child. Djgarr let her take him, shocked at her response. “He is human. Not dragon.”
“He is my son,” said Djgarr. “Half-dragon.”
“No,” insisted Aelia tearfully. “Leave us. Now.” Tears rolled down her cheeks and she recoiled when Djgarr reached for her.
“A dragon never leaves his offspring,” said Djgarr bitterly. He turned and jumped out the window, transforming into his dragon form seconds after takeoff.
The following sunset he returned, blazing a path through Aelia’s home. In the foyer, he transformed into a dragon, smashing the walls as he grew to his full stature.
“DRAGON!” bellowed a voice from behind him. Djgarr turned, prepared to crush his opponent. He hesitated when he realized that it was the governor, Aelia’s father. “She’s dead!” the governor yelled.
Djgarr roared as the words pierced him. No longer bonded to Aelia, he could not feel her presence or discern whether her father spoke the truth. He stood in the great hall, sixteen feet tall.
“She took her own life because of you,” said the governor with tears in his eyes. “Because of you, dragon!” Something glinted in the fading light and Djgarr lurched, just as the governor aimed to bury his sword in the dragon’s side. The sword clanged to the floor, helpless against Djgarr’s impenetrable scales. The man fell to his knees, wailing.
Djgarr glanced around the house at the carnage. Several soldiers groaned in agony while most were lifeless. He transformed into his human shape and approached the weeping man. “I never meant to hurt her,” he said, kneeling beside him.
Aelia’s father looked up at Djgarr, his eyes black with rage. “You’re a monster. Your child is a curse!”
“Where’s my son?” said Djgarr, standing. His body was rigid as he awaited the answer.
“The child abomination is dead,” snared the governor.
Djgarr didn’t remember what happened next. When he finally regained clarity, he was in the cave he had shared with Aelia, stinking of her father’s blood. He roared and flew into the night, heading back to his home in the northlands. Alone.