The Cost of Silver

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley, come to think of it, there weren’t dragons anywhere until recently. No one knew where they came from. What was once believed to be myth and legend was now a very real part of the world.

Anathema gazed out the window to her family’s estate, watching the vendors carry their wares from their shops to the stands out front. It was always a busy time of year, as soon as the snow thawed, and the first buds of the spring flowers bloomed. The streets were busy while everyone was setting up for the first market of the season. She always loved to go down to there but this year, something was holding her back.

She stared at the silver dragon bracelet on her armoire. The tiny blue sapphire eyes stared back at her. Those same eyes that taunted her to try on the bracelet when she found it snooping through her fathers’ study. He never lets her go in there, especially right before the spring market. As a wealthy merchant and the owner of a few ships, her father was one of the main suppliers for the seasonal market days. On his last expedition to gather supplies for the various vendors Anathema decided to do some premarket browsing in his study, where she found the bracelet.

Something about it drew her in, such detail in such a small piece of jewelry. She ran her finger down the coiled piece of metal, feeling each scale as she could have sworn it whispered to her.

“Well, if I must,” she said aloud to herself, slipping it over her hand. For an instant, it seemed like it moved. She blinked. Once. Twice. There was nothing. It had been a long day, maybe she just needed to head to bed, her mind had a tendency to play tricks on her when she was tired. She went up to her room, deciding to keep the bracelet on, since her father wouldn’t be home for a few more days before the Spring Market opened.

It wasn’t long before Anathema noticed she started getting very warm. She opened her windows in to let in the crisp late winter air, hoping it would provide her with some sort of relief from the instant fire now coursing through her veins.

There was no escaping it. The heat kept rising, a molten lava building beneath her skin. She called to the servants, requesting an ice bath. None questioned her, she was known to make an odd request from time to time, to keep them on their toes.

Once she was alone, she removed her nightgown, which was now sopping wet with sweat. Almost immediately after she got in the bath the ice had melted. Panic. It was now panic that lined the fire in her blood. What was happening to her? Was she about to die?

Finally, the heat started to subside, but she noticed two new bumps on her head. Maybe she hit her head while trying to get in the tub? She couldn’t remember. The room was spinning, and the heat started rising again. She was losing focus. She went out on her balcony and screamed, just trying to get any sort of relief from this pain.

But it wasn’t a scream that came from her mouth, but a blue flame that pierced through the night sky. It was only for a second, but she knew. The color of that flame was the same as the color of the eyes looking back at her from her left wrist. They gleamed as if an answer, and she threw it across the floor. She could feel it though. The beast was still there, beneath her skin. Living. Breathing. Waiting.