The Dragon Mother's Child.

"Long ago, there dwelled a nation called Jednota. It was a nation founded by the first of the Human Gods, for the Dragons of Veldrak in the North, Dwarves of Maltrpas in the West, and Elves of Loskria in the East. For centuries, these three countries lived harmonious and peaceful lives, their economies booming and cities flourishing. The dwarves traded wood with the elves, the elves traded silk with the dragons, and the dragons traded gems with the dwarves. In this thriving peace and solitude, the royal queen of Veldrak laid three eggs. The Dragons of Veldrak were ecstatic and the country was filled with joyous celebration.

'There will be a feast!' the dragon king bellowed. 'Send invitations across the land, my heir has been born!'

The king decided to throw a royal ball in welcome of his three sons, and invited nobles from across the nation."

"Mother," the little boy interrupted the tale as he peered up into her eyes. "How can a dragon talk?"

The woman chuckled and rubbed the little one's nose with her finger.

"The Dragons of Veldrak are known to change forms. They are able to appear human, and mostly ever changed into their dragon forms when they go hunting or visit the neighbouring countries."

"But mother, does that mean a dragon hatches in its humanlike form?"

"Not at all silly," the woman said with a chuckle, "When it first hatches, it takes the form of a dragon. It's mother then teaches it how to change it's form. The first time, the mother can forcefully turn her baby into a human form, and then teach the child how to turn back into it's dragon form."

The woman glanced down at the little boy, who was now lost in thought. She planted a sweet kiss on his forehead, and continued with the tale.

"A month before the week long banquet, one of the queen's eggs went missing. The kingdom was in an uproar, and search parties spent weeks hunting for the missing egg but it was never found. In her despair, the queen begged for the king to let her leave the palace in search for her child, but the king refused.

'Ranna,' The king held his wife in his arms as she begged for him to let her go, 'The Dwarves and the Elves are already on their way. You have two eggs that will hatch any moment now. Are you planning to leave your other two children behind?'

'Why do you stop me?' The queen's eyes dripped with tears as she struggled free from his grasp. 'Do you not care what happens to your third child? How can you be so indifferent?'

'What's done is done!' The king grasped his wife's shoulders and shook her. 'You can always have more children! I will not let you risk your life for one!'"

"Does the father not love the missing child?" The little boy interrupted the woman again as he turned to look at her, "How can the king say such things?"

The woman's eyes were wistful as she looked at the boy and sighed.

"With no other choice," the woman continued her tale, "the queen had to give up on her third egg and carry on with the festivities, but her heart was broken. As a mother shared a special bond with her children, a sinking feeling settled deep in her that she may never see her missing child again. This stripped from her any happiness she had, and the queen turned into a shell of who she once was. The night before the first ball, there was an attack on the Veldrak kingdom.

'The queen! Our dragon mother is missing! Someone sound the alarms, the queen is missing!'

Amid the crumbling palace, the king grasped the two remaining eggs in his bosom and ordered the knights to shut down the kingdom. The royal family of the Elves, as well as that of the Dwarves were locked inside the castle, and not able to leave until the queen was found. The king then gathered the royal families in his quarters.

'What is this meaning of this, King Silu?' the Elven king bellowed at the Dragon king. The three countries had never held any tension, and this was not the first time a banquet was held amongst the three. How dare the Dragon king lock them up this way? The Elven queen held her daughter close to her as the child whimpered, and looked up at the King of Dragons.

'There has to be a better way to solve this! If you lock us up in here with no evidence, this could mean war between our countries!'

'Then a war there shall be!'

Silence fell upon the room as the King of Dragons spoke.

'Not even a month ago, my child went missing! Today, my wife is nowhere to be found. Is it my kingdom next?'

'You know very well that we would never do a thing like this,' The King of Dwarves stood from his chair and walked over to his friend, placing a palm on his back, 'Silu, the last thing any of us want is a war.'

'Prirod,' King Silu turned to the King of Dwarves as he spoke 'The attack happened moments after you arrived in my kingdom. Do I not have the right to doubt any of you?'

'King Silu,' the Queen of Dwarves pulled the shawl from her shoulders and placed it around the Elven princess. 'The time you have spent accusing us, we should have been out searching for Ranna, the Dragon Queen. You have no ulterior motive for locking us in here?'

"Dvasnovna!" The King of Dwarves scolded his wife, his gaze sharp and cold. 'How dare you accuse the Dragon King without evidence?'

'The Dragon king has dared to accuse us without evidence, my Lord,' the Queen of Dwarves stood her ground and turned her gaze from King Silu to her husband, 'We are the royal family of Maltrpas! I will not sit here and be accused of a crime I did not commit.'

"The queen of Dwarves is very brave," the little boy murmured and this caused the woman to smile.

'The Dwarf Queen is right," The Elven Queen looked up at the King of Dragons.

'King Silu, your wife is missing and yet, rather than asking for our help you lock us up in here like criminals. What frightens you so?'

'Mier,' The King of Elves stepped between his wife and the King of Dragons, 'Let us hear what Silu has to say. I'm sure he has a good enough reason to justify his actions. Right, King Silu?'

'He has every reason to doubt us, Vrch' The Elven Queen said to her husband, 'But don't you find his behaviour rather odd for someone whose wife just went missing?'

The King of Dragons laughed then, a bitter laugh that filled those in the room with worry.

'Dvasnova, Mier. How is it that the two of you are able to see through my plans and your husbands cannot?'

'Silu!' The Elven King pulled out his sword and aimed it at the Dragon's throat. 'How dare you?!'

'Relax yourself, Vrch.' King Silu smirked and stepped back away from the sword. The Dwarf King immediately pulled his sword as well, and the two glanced at each other.

'Ranna is not missing, is she?' The Elven queen pulled her daughter behind her back and summoned her spear. 'This was all part of your plan?'

The Dragon King had always been a greedy man. He yearned to own the entire nation, but he knew that he could not justify a war to the human Gods that had created this nation. Therefore, he plotted to frame the other two royal families, and kill two birds with one stone.

'As we speak, my army marches forth. This world will burn and I shall rename the nation after Veldrak.'

'And you think that we will just stand by and let this happen?!' Prirod bellowed and swung his sword at the King of Dragons, but it was too late. The Dragon King changed into his dragon form, and burnt all those present to a crisp.

"Woah!" the little boy looked up at the woman horrified, "The Dragon King is the villain of the story?"

"After he killed the royal families of Maltrpas and Loskria, he marched his army forth and after a decade long war, King Silu gained control of the entire nation."

"But what about the Dragon Queen?" The little boy looked confused as he stared up at the woman, "She didn't go missing, so where is she?"

"Shortly before the attack, the Dragon Queen Ranna found out the King's plans and confronted him about it. Since she had already given him an heir, the King had no more use for her. As a result, he banished her to the Forest of Zlatem. He then used her absence as an excuse to frame the Dwarves and the Elves."

"What is the Forest of Zlatem?"

The woman smiled and glanced up to the night sky, her golden eyes glistening in the moonlight.

"The Forest of Zlatem is a dangerous place. Not much is known about it, and when you go in, you are never to return. The queen has been stuck there ever since, unable to return to her home."

"What about the human Gods?" The little boy yawned as he snuggled his face into the woman's chest. "Why didn't they do anything about it?"

"A prophecy was proclaimed and sent to the remaining Elves and Dwarves that survived the decade long war. A child born to evil will rise above the flames and restore peace to the nation."

The woman looked down at the sleeping child in her arms and planted a sweet kiss on his head once again.

"Child of King Silu and Queen Ranna, a child born to evil but donning a heart of good." The woman smiled at the little boy as she placed him in a bed of soft moss. She cast a location spell, and asked the wind to carry her message across the forest.

"We the Gods of the Humans will protect and keep you safe. Your mother will come for you but until then, I will watch over you in spirit."

As the God's voice faded into the wind, a woman appeared in the clearing. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she knelt by the lake and splashed her face with the cool water. In the corner of her eyes, a glisten in the darkness caught her attention and she glanced up.

"What is a child doing in the Forest of Zlatem?" the woman wondered as she peered into the child's face. His body was small and fragile, he could not be much older than a toddler, and the birthmark on his forearm told her he was a little dragon. Her heart ached and she wondered why. Ever since she woke up in the forest a decade ago, the woman had lost almost all memories of her previous life. Not only did she not know who she was, she had no clue as to how she had ended up in this forest. However, she knew she was a dragon as she had the birthmark of one on her forearm, and she knew her name because of the necklace that dangled from her neck.

"How did you end up here?" She muttered to herself as she sat next to the little boy. Sensing someone next to him, the little boy's eyes fluttered open. He stared at her for a moment, then pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"Who are you?" the little boy asked, then glanced around as he searched for his mother. "Where's my mother?"

"My name is Ranna," the woman smiled softly at the boy and gazed into the darkness around them. "There was no one else here, just you."

"Oh, she's probably disappeared again."

"Your mother?" Ranna raised her brows and wondered what the little boy meant. It would only make sense that this boy's mother was here with him, as a child by themselves in the Forest of Zlatem was almost impossible. Not only had she not seen a single other dragon here in the forest, there was no way a child could survive by themselves for very long. In addition, the child looked healthy. It was obvious he had been well taken care of.

"Well, she's not really my mother, I just call her that." The boy yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Ranna frowned and tilted her head, wondering who this child was. He did not seem scared of her- rather, he looked comfortable in her presence.

"She comes to me from time to time," the little boy said with a shrug. He scooted over to the woman and stared in wonder. "You have the same name as the Dragon Queen."

Ranna laughed then- a hearty laugh that echoed through the darkness surrounding them.

"The Dragon Queen?" she chuckled and tilted her head at the boy, "How would you know?"

"My mother told me the story of the Dragon Queen." The boy said with smile, but it quickly disappeared. "But she was banished to the Forest of Zlatem. Her husband the King was a very bad man."

Ranna frowned again and shook the thoughts from her head. A Dragon Queen that shared her name was banished to the Forest of Zlatem? Ranna woke in the forest with her memories gone. Could she be? There was no way. Had she finally lost her sanity? Not only did this little dragon boy appear from out of the blue, he was saying crazy things.

"What's your name?" Ranna asked, deciding to change the subject. The little boy peered at her and shrugged.

"I don't have one."

"Didn't your mother give you one?"

"I told you, she isn't my mother. I just call her that." the boy frowned, causing a smile to tug at Ranna's lips.

"Well, it sounds like she's someone very dear to you. Why wouldn't she name you?"

"She said she wasn't allowed."

"Hmm," Ranna crossed her arms and placed a finger under her chin. She had run into all sorts of creatures in this forest, but this was the first time she had come across another dragon. Not only was he a little child, he seemed a lot more mature for his age. Was this appearance a disguise? It wasn't the first time Ranna had been tricked by the creatures of the forest. The fairies played tricks on her all the time, and the shapeshifting ogres were constantly plotting to capture her. Could this little boy be another trap? Although she had her guard up, Ranna could not help but believe the little boy's words.

"Am I allowed?"

"I'm not sure. Why don't you try?"

Ranna pursed her lips and cracked her brain for a suitable name. As though it was whispered to her, a name suddenly popped into her mind and Ranna jerked her head up.

"Silny," Ranna said with a smile and ruffled the little ones head of hair, "I'll call you Silny."

The little boy yawned again and laid his head on the moss bed.

"Silny," he muttered as he fell into a deep sleep. Ranna watched the little dragon as he slept, and her heart felt full. She could not understand why, and yearned to speak to the boy again. She decided that she couldn't wake him just to chat, so instead laid her head next to him. After staring at his sleeping face for a while longer, she closed her eyes and drifted into slumber.