Of Blood

The child offered for sacrifice had arrived promptly in the forest clearing and faced the dragon who had come to retrieve him with glazed eyes that betrayed no emotion. The dragon itself looked at the child, who could have been no more than 7 years old, and smiled warmly. He bowed his head, eyes closed and spoke in a voice that shook the ground between the two.

“An honor, young champion. I am Dar-Kell.” The child’s eyes lit up with expression for a moment and gave the dragon his name. “Thaddeus." Dar-Kell repeated, "As fine a name as any for such a role. You have both of our kind’s eternal gratitude.” The child looked upon Dar-Kell’s golden scaled body, nearly as large as his stone home, in awe, and made no hesitation in following him when prompted by an angling of Dar-Kell’s wing.

It was little more than an hour of walking through the forest to get to the location of the ceremony. It had been mostly in silence during the first half, though Dar-Kell had taken the child onto his back when he noticed he had gotten tired of walking. There was light in the child’s eyes then and he had even become a bit more conversational. Dar-Kell happily answered any questions he had of dragons, and asked a few questions of his own, but never broached a subject close to the child’s home life. The line of questions from the child inevitably veered towards his fate, inquiring what it was like to be magic.

“It’s something quite magnificent,” Dar-Kell began, “The very essence of a dragon’s existence hinges on it. Yet there is so little in the world to be found, at least not in any usable amount. My kind have been saved and helped by the generosity of your people for generations. You see, your own soul has magic enough for dozens if not hundreds of dragons to live off for perhaps a whole year. That makes you stronger than any one of us at a time if you really think about it.” That amused the child, asking about how strong Dar-Kell was. The golden dragon gave a hearty chuckle, “I’m just about the strongest there is, no beast, magical or otherwise would dare cross me, an appropriate trait for a leader, wouldn’t you agree? That’s why I insist on making the journey to fetch you, not fair for me to sit by and allow those under me to,” Dar-Kell paused, “carry this alone.” A change in Dar-Kell’s tone led to a palpable tension.

“That’s why there’s nothing for you to fear,” the dragon lifted his head as he walked, stepping over patches of brush and lowering himself to help the child avoid low hanging branches. “I’m only so strong thanks to the magic of you and your people, and while we may use it, your magic will exist in some form all around us, never to be forgotten. I assure you.”

Dar-Kell continued to awe the boy with tales of the feats of Dragon's strength, and the societies they’ve built until they arrived at wooden gates as tall as Dar-Kell. More dragons stood at the entrances, standing on two legs as opposed to Dar-Kell’s quadruped appearance. They were much smaller than the golden dragon as well and bore crude armor and weapons with unfriendly expressions. They stood aside however as Dar-Kell passed. The gates opened and one more dragon of blue and teal swirled around on his scales, approached, draped in a robe.

“Thank you, Dar-Kell, we’ll begin from here.” He spoke, his voice less comforting than the golden dragon’s booming bass. The child showed hesitation for the first time as Dar-Kell lowered his neck and motioned for him to get off. He nudged him delicately with his claw and assured him things would be just fine. As the teal dragon ushered him past the wooden gates, a stone table could be seen on the other side, with stone cauldrons of fire at both ends. A low humming was being generated off to the side that couldn’t be seen and the child looked back, a quivering look of worry across his eyes aimed at Dar-Kell. The big dragon stood tall and smiled back confidently in a way to imbue some of his strength into the child. It seemed to work as Thaddeus smiled back at Dar-Kell before turning back towards the stone table, with the wooden gates closing behind him.