"Clever boy, with his charmed toys," Arthur observed.
I recovered my breath and my balance. "No matter where the story began, the ending is the same. You've existed for the soul purpose of vengeance. That is all."
"No!" Arthur roared. "I exist to free the world from the evil of the dragons. I've seen what the false power you possess can do to the innocent. Dubheasa was pure and innocent before Kellen swept over her. He overtook her and used her. He destroyed her."
"Perhaps he loved her, and she him," I suggested. "What right have you to believe that their love for each other was not true?"
Again the ground shook, and a crack appeared between Arthur's feet and ran the length of the ground to wear I stood. It began to widen rapidly, and I leapt aside.
"It matters not, dragon child," Arthur sneered. "They are long gone, as are their descendants. You and your brother and your unborn child are the only ones who remain, and my task is nearly complete."
"I thought you had intended to rid the world of all dragons, not simply the Celts," I said.
"And I have," he jeered. "There are three left – well, two and one third," he amended with a bitter laugh.
"No," I said. My mind reeled from this news. There were no other dragons? Why had we never received word of this? Surely someone would have sent a message to all corners of the known world, so other dragons would know of the danger they faced.
It was as if he read my mind. "Let's say I intercepted the messages that were sent to your kingdom," he said with a smile. "Just yours, though. I cannot be everywhere at one time, after all, no matter how powerful I am."
"Why us?" I asked. "Why our line in particular?"
"I just told you," he said. "You are their descendant. It is your destruction, and the destruction of your entire line, that has given me the most pleasure. I've taken special pains with the members of your lineage. Your father's death was a special treat for me, in fact."
Again the dragon roared, louder than before. I could feel my skin rippling, only moments away from exploding into my dragon form. I bit down on my bottom lip to focus myself; this was a trick I had picked up years before, when I had just started shifting and found holding myself back most challenging. I felt a trickle of blood run down my chin. But I managed to hold back the dragon.
I didn't know how much longer I'd be successful, however.
"Yes," Arthur said with a sick sort of joy in his voice. I knew that he was taking perverse pleasure in tormenting me. "The tragic fall of the great Rogan. The dragon king to end all dragon kings." He shrugged, insolent. "He was no more difficult to kill than the rest, really. He didn't even know it was coming."
I swallowed back the bile that had risen in my throat. It was all I could do to keep from rushing at the demon before me. I forced myself to remain as calm as I could; all the while, even though I knew how it would hurt and enrage me further, I had the perverse need to know about my father's final moments. "You used the Heart, didn't you? As you have for so long."
The wizard raised one of his delicate, arched eyebrows. "So you know about the Heart?" he asked. "I must admit, I'm impressed. You're the first to realize the connection. If I were wearing a hat, I would tip it to you."
"You've been cursing it for centuries, then?" I asked. "Every King who has worn it has suffered from some sort of illness or strange death."
"That's correct," he said. "The beggar you met was one of the many people who have in some way touched or handled the Heart over time. Admiring nobility, guards, royal jewelers, peasants … so many seemingly innocent and harmless mortals. I was never detected, naturally."
I had another flash of insight in that moment. "The Heart … legend has it the stone was created through dragon fire. Would that have been … you?"
Arthur's cackling laugh cut me to the quick. "Indeed. I grew tired of shifting my vile dragon form in order to eliminate my foes; while I have always enjoyed vengeance, there are some sacrifices that which turn the stomach. The Heart was truly one of my best ideas. I needed only find a way to touch the stone. A far less taxing way to arrive at the same conclusion, wouldn't you say?"
I was reviled by the mere presence of this evil being before me. "What was the spell you used on my father? What did you do to him?"
Arthur smiled wickedly and crossed his thin arms in front of his chest. "Did you notice that your father was becoming … rather forgetful toward the end of his life?"
I searched my memory. Sadly, I couldn't remember much of my father in the last days of his life. I was too busy being young and headstrong and heedless of those around me and their opinions. In fact, at the time of my father's death I was enjoying the charms of a certain milkmaid in the village. We had sneaked into her father's barn and had been pleasuring each other for hours before one of my guards found me and bade me return to the castle at once.
When I didn't answer, Arthur pressed on. "Your father's mind was going. Rogan, so well-known and highly-regarded for his wisdom, was becoming a doddering old fool. I take it none of those wise, sage advisors on your silly council felt it necessary to inform you of that fact. He went from being a strong, respected ruler to his dotage within a matter of days."
My father. That font of wisdom. He upon whom I had relied for guidance and strength. To think that his intelligence and wisdom had been wiped out, so quickly, froze me to the core.
"He shouldn't have been allowed to shift, frankly," Arthur observed, his head thrown back proudly. He looked down at me from over his nose. "He was confused, uncoordinated, weakened. All I needed to do was watch and wait. When he fell … right here, in fact," he pointed to the edge of the rocks, where they dropped off sharply, "he hardly knew where he was or even who he was. It was rather a sad and uninspired end for one so highly regarded, really."
I fought to keep from sinking to my knees. My poor father. Brought down so cruelly, so callously. I wondered what he had been thinking in those final moments. I hoped that he had been happy, somewhere in his mind. I hoped he didn't realize what was truly happening to him.
Suddenly, somewhere in my own tormented mind I heard a clear, calm voice. It was Anabelle's. Do not allow him to destroy you in this way. He wants you to fall to your knees. Do not give him that satisfaction, my love.
I was certain that I'd heard her, and it was nearly as if I could feel her beside me. Arthur seemed to notice nothing amiss. I thought that I had perhaps imagined her voice because I was so desperately frightened for her safety, and wishing that I was with her instead of standing face-to-face with this creature.
"Now that you've learned all you need to know," Arthur sneered, "perhaps it is time to get to the reason why we have met here. As much as I enjoy reviewing the way I've destroyed your family over the ages, my time is precious."
With that, he once again extended his arms and flipped his palms toward the sky. Far above us, the sky glowed green and black, the finally a blood red. The clouds rolled and circled, shaping themselves into a spiral which began to extend itself toward the ground.
"What do you intend to do?" I screamed over the roar of the wind and thunder. "Blow me away?"
He laughed menacingly but did not reply. It was as though he stood in a sort of invisible bubble, which protected him from the driving winds. As for me, I could hardly see for the blowing leaves, loosened earth and debris flying through the air all around my face and body. I held my shield high, against the wind, but it did little to protect me.
"I will drive you to your knees, boy," I heard Arthur say in a tone colder and more full of hate than it had been since we first met here. "I will teach you humility before I send you to the other side, where your pathetic father and his ancestors are waiting. And once you are dead, I will inhabit your body just as I did the beggar and I will go back to your precious kingdom and they will believe the day to have been won. Only when I've slain your brother and your mate will they realize how they've been duped once again."
"No!" I screamed, crouching in the center of the whirling, swirling storm Arthur had created around me. My eyes were only partially opened, so painful was the flying dirt and sand to them.
"Perhaps I will allow her to awaken before I dispatch her," Arthur pondered, stroking his chin. "Yes – it has been a very, very long time since I've had the pleasure of a woman. Perhaps I'll take her and use her body just once before I snap her fine, white neck."