The Last Dragon of the East

Chapter 37

37

There are few things as startling as a mother’s intuition.

Sensing something gravely amiss, Her Majesty beseeches her husband with an inexplicable sorrow that has been tearing at her heart.

“Our son is in danger. I can feel it, clear as daylight. Please, my love, we must make haste and set out to find him.”

The red dragon, despite his reservations, agrees. There is precious little he will not do to protect his only child.

They leave the safety of their eastern paradise and venture west through the lands where mankind roams. Humans are truly curious creatures, capable of carving out the earth, controlling the flow of the rivers, and molding structures of clay and stone. It is unnatural. They have built temples and statues and carved their likenesses into buildings, bestowing upon themselves a reverence befitting the Gods.

Her Majesty notices something strange as they pass through the lands. Villagers boast necklaces made of sharp teeth to ward off evil spirits. Soldiers are wielding weapons of sharpened bone. Merchants peddle bottled medicines of sparkling blue scales.

As a growing dread builds, the green dragon realizes what has come to pass. The cry that erupts from her chest is so powerful that the fields and forests wither and die. She knows they are too late to save her child. All must suffer as she suffers.

But even then, she knows of only one way to sate her need for revenge.

“Bring me the emperor,” she says. “I crave a heart for a heart.”