Lov watched the fire he had started drop to bare embers. They were outdoors tonight, enjoying the cool air. The ever present waves played their continuous song. His grandfather sat across from him, stretching and yawning lazily. Lov struggled to find power to feed the coals, but wasn't able to grasp it. The embers died, a trail of smoke rising serenely from the now blackened wood.
"Better, Lov." Tryton said lazily, scratching his side as if he had just woken up. "Much better. I actually had to put a little effort into it." He leaned forward and shook his finger in Lov's face. "But you can do better. I know you have elf blood in you, but you're still a dragon!" Tryton pumped his fist in the air. "We are beings made of magic. Nothing is beyond the realm of possibilities, but you have to concentrate!"
"I'm trying!" Lov complained, grabbing the energy and using it to restart the fire. It roared to life. "It's so hard trying to set it. I feel the pattern forming, but my own doubts stop me from stopping you from killing the fire!" Lov sprang to his feet. "It makes me just want to scream. Balancing the knife edge, using my dragonhunger, while not letting it use me." His shoulders slumped as he sat back down. "Maybe I'm just tired."
"Well, you identified half the problem. You need to conquer your doubt." His grandfather gave him an appraising look. "What are you worried about anyways? Do I beat you when you fail, to make you so afraid of it?"
"No, you don't." Lov conceded. "But I know that until I master this, I'm stuck here." He gave a sigh and lifted his eyes to the sky. "I just want to save my mother and my people. I feel their captivity like a chain around my neck."
Tryton took Lov's hands into his. "My boy, you are still very young. You'll learn in time that all things happen in their own time."
"Yes, boy." A strange voice said contemptuously from behind Lov. He turned, seeing an old woman. She was attired simply in a long dress in varying hues of purple that covered her from neck to ankle. Her hair was white as snow, gathered into a bun on the top. She carried herself with a regal air as she approached Lov flashing him a predatory smile. "Don't worry, boy, I won't bite you. At least not hard enough to draw blood."
"Ah, Draka, I was beginning to wonder when you were going to show up." Tryton said, turning to Lov. "Be careful around her, kid. She may be your grandmother, but you need to watch her, she's one of the great Wyrms."
Lov moved away from the woman. Draka pouted at Tryton. "There you go again. I suppose you've told him how evil and wrong we Wyrms are, but your vaunted light wouldn't burn so bright without the darkness." She turned to Lov smiling and appraising the young half-dragon. He was beginning to feel like he was being hunted. "I come bearing a gift, Grandson." She snapped her fingers and a belt appeared in her hands. Long and supple, the belt was made of braided leather with a buckle that glowed reddish silver in the firelight. "Here, this will help you to find your focus."
Lov eyed the belt and his dragonhunger roared within him. Tryton glared at Draka, "Can't you wait until I've trained him before you ply him with your toys?" He asked her contemptuously.
"Well, I would have left him alone for a bit longer, but someone who had an engagement at a party with me didn't show!" Her voice roared like a hurricane on the last two words, but was clear in Lov's ears. In her normal voice she continued. "You and the dragons were supposed to meet us in a neutral battleground. I've wanted your head for my cave for a long time, and I'm growing impatient with your cowardice."
"That's right, Draka, show the boy how dark and twisted we become. Show him why we must always fight our dragonhunger." He took the belt from her. "I'll make sure he gets this when we finish his training. You're right saying it will help him someday.
"As for our battle, even you must agree we should put it off long enough to train our youngest descendant. I mean, what would the other Wyrms say if he were to be weak? What would they say about you? Besides, I refuse to let him languish in ignorance. That would do nothing but leave him to your clutches once I was gone. I could never harm you, you're my sweet buttercup." He caressed her cheek softly, and she leaned into it, she loved attention of any kind. He pulled his hand away quickly, as if burned. "But you are not the woman who was my mate. I hardly recognize you anymore."
Lov sat, utterly stunned by these two insane beings. Between the two of them, he knew whole worlds could be ripped apart. It was like watching two feral cats fighting over a piece of meat. "You two do realize I'm still here, don't you?"
Tryton and Draka both jerked slightly. "Little boys should be seen, not heard!" Draka replied coolly. She snapped her fingers, and Lov felt his mouth slam shut. He tried to speak, but his lips wouldn't part. She turned back to Tryton a fiendish light in her eyes. "Do what you will with him. But I think first, you should remove your block. It's hampering his ability to connect."
Tryton bowed. "We'll try it. I will concede, you were always a better teacher than I."
Draka turned to Lov and grinned before disappearing in a clap of air. That predatory smile made him feel even more like a piece of meat.
The next morning Lov awoke to an empty beach. The fire had burned down to coals and the sea spread out from the sand into the horizon. He sat, thinking about the woman from the night before. She hadn't seemed as horrible as everyone had led him to believe Wyrms were. Still, he couldn't help the feeling that she looked at him as nothing more than a pawn. A piece to move around the game table at will. He looked to the belt she gave him. Tryton had given it to him the night before, after thoroughly inspecting it to make sure there wasn't a curse upon it. His dragonhunger sighed contentedly whenever he looked upon it.
His stomach grumbled at him, so he rose to his feet, grabbing his bow and quiver. He heard the sharp bark of Fifi and knew his grandfather was still on the island. Lov considered that Tryton might be trying to get him to move camp. They had done that several times since Tryton had joined Lov, but he never came out and said, 'We're moving!' It took Lov a week to realize that the first time, and three days the second.
As he moved inland, searching for small game he saw not one creature. The animals had come to fear him since he arrived on the island. It became harder and harder to find good meat. All he needed was to get lucky and shoot a nice sized hog. One of those would feed him for a few days.
He found one of the bright purplish fruits that tasted of heaven, spotting it high in a tree. He managed to find a few of these rare and succulent delicacies throughout the island. They seemed to grow randomly, sometimes high in a tree, other times growing straight out of rock. He plucked the fruit, savoring the taste as he continued on his journey.
Something told him to head up the side of the mountain. He felt guided, as if a hand held his collar and dragged him there. He searched for a good game trail to start the climb, finding a well-worn goat path winding its way up the rocky terrain. He kept an eye out for any animals, knowing a ram wouldn't hesitate to headbutt him off the path. He followed the trail and slowly wove his way up the mountain. As he reached a certain point, impassable because of loose pea gravel, he felt himself guided into a crack that suddenly appeared. Sheer walls rose high overhead, a narrow strip was all that showed the sky. He had to turn sideways in a few places, but finally found himself walking into a wide open bowl, a large cavern on the opposite side.
Lov could see immense dragon skulls lining the way. Some had crests three feet in radius, the bone rising away from the neck like a lion's mane. Others had horns as tall as Lov's uncle. He passed through a large gaping maw, a wall of smaller skulls lining the inside of the bowl. As he drew nearer, he could see even smaller skulls, those the size of an elf's head, pressed into the mouth of the cavern, making a rough doorway. He approached cautiously.
He tried to pass through the doorway, but an invisible force refused him entrance, pushing him back. "Back off, kid," Tryton called from inside. "You're not ready to come in here, it would fry your mind." Tryton came out, carrying a skull as big as Lov's torso in his hands. Tryton motioned Lov into the middle of the bowl. A fire appeared from nothing, illuminating the whole area like a blazing sun.
Lov walked to the edge of the fire.
"Step in." Tryton told him, motioning with the skull for Lov to step into the flames.
Lov forced the fire out, as he passed into the center of it. The flames roared around him, Lov liked the warmth they shed upon him.
"I needed some help with this." Tryton told Lov, handing him the skull.
Lov held it by a tooth and a horn, the other horn resting on his upper arm. The horns were smooth and black. His hand glided over it like polished marble. The fangs were immense. He gripped one by the tip, but it easily outsized his hand. He could feel sharp serrations along one edge of the canine.
A voice flooded his head, seeming to reverberate through him. "Ah, a young one. I see why he needs help. His shields have fused with those your mother put upon you." Lov felt a pressure he never even realized release. The world seemed brighter. He heard a loud repetitive sound, but he couldn't pinpoint it.
"I suggest you don't leave the valley for, oh, a hundred years." The voice vibrated through him. His sense of it was intensified, he could feel it in his temples. The sun, which had been hidden behind the mountain, rained down into the bowl. Intense pain greeted the young half-dragon's eyes as he tried to look at the world as he always did. The voice commanded him, "Hey, hand me back to Tryton before you drop me!"
Lov thrust the skull out, blindly, and felt the presence disappear as it was lifted from him. The world was still too bright and rough on his vision, and the popping of the fire sounded like explosions in his ears.
He heard his grandfather's voice, booming and echoing around the bowl. "I'm sorry, Lov. This is going to hurt, but we don't have time to coddle you as your mother would want." Lov heard a splatter near his feet. "I don't envy you right now, but this needs to be done."
An intense smell assaulted his nostrils. It smelled putrid and rotten, with just a hint of burn. Lov found himself wishing he hadn't found the fruits this morning. His stomach heaved, bringing up purplish chunks, his throat burning from the acid.
"What a waste of dragon fruit." Tryton said, shaking his head disappointedly. "Remember, this was your grandmother's idea."