FANE
I didn’t realize my mother was talking to me until there was a very pregnant pause. I glanced up from my pergainsa fruit, sticky in my hands, then stuffed the large fruit in my mouth to keep from having to respond immediately. The red, sticky juice dribbled down my chin.
My mother scoffed and waited, folding her arms against her chest. “The pickings this year are slim. It’s good you’re young yet. The next few years should yield a much more suitable group of females.”
Reluctantly, I swallowed and wiped my face with the back of my hand. My mother’s eyes narrowed further. I was pushing my luck.
“I … yes,” I managed. When in doubt, agreeing with Mother worked best. My younger brother Xan snorted, but didn’t look up from his plate. Next to him, Tarin happily chewed his meat, barely being out of a drakling himself. Our mother’s claws left light gouges in the table’s wood, and her wings flared with irritation. Bright turquoise scales flashed at us, our father’s colors. Every female draken’s wings filled in with her mate’s colors. Her skirt fell to the ground in colorful patterns, and her breasts were neatly covered with the amount of heavy beaded necklaces she wore.
“Just wait until your father—”
“Until I what?”
I brightened as my father entered our dining room, taking off his crown and dropping it onto the table with a dull thud. His turquoise scales nearly ran the full length of his body, turning into a darker blue at his waist. My own coloring mostly matched his, though my brothers liked to argue my lower half looked more black and dark blue. He was stern, but a good king. Everyone said so, and I was content to work hard at my lessons so I could be just as good of a king after him. Far, far away in the future.
Mother made a small trill of happiness that chased away the lingering tension in the room.
“Darling! I was just trying to impress upon Fane that he should pay attention to those who decide to compete in the courtship arena each year. It may not be his turn yet, but it wouldn’t hurt him to keep one eye open.”
Father barely kept from rolling his eyes, heavily falling into his chair next to Mother. “The ambassador from Cantrada is insisting we remain in human form when trading with their merchants. They’re threatening to cease trade otherwise.”
Mother growled, baring her fangs. “Ignorant,” she huffed.
I happily allowed our father to distract Mother with news of politics. I shot a look at Gaff, my personal guard. He glanced at my empty plate and gave a slight nod. I shot up from my chair and gave my parents a slight bow. Father waved me away before Mother could protest. Tarin whined and Gaff huffed at him to finish his fruit.
I danced away.
They built our palace directly on the side of the large mountain in the center of our island, jutting out so that every room had a fantastic view of Lyoness from every angle. I dove through the first open window I saw, spreading my wings wide and ignoring Gaff’s huff of annoyance behind me.
Being the summer months, the sun would linger in the sky for a few more hours before dusk fell. That meant more time with my mates before Mother stole me for a few hours of history lessons. The kingdom buzzed below me as dinner time was drawing to a close and evening activities began. Workers bundled away and shared leftovers with neighbors. Mothers and draklings tidied the home, and fathers beat the dust from the floor rugs accumulated throughout the day. It only enhanced the reddish clay we used to make our homes by the waning sun.
I flared my wings and dove toward the busy market, eagerly looking around for my friends. Amil waved to me from the ground, his brown and red scales allowing him to easily blend into the surrounding architecture. A grin split my lips as I landed roughly and plowed right into him.
“Hey! Watch it, you big brute! You’re growing too much to keep that up!”
We tumbled in a ball of wings and claws, coming to rest at the feet of my other best friend, Tammen. He glared at us as we stood, brushing off the dust and still laughing. “How old are you two? There could be females watching! The courtship games start tomorrow!”
Amil snickered and elbowed me. Tammen was all about the females lately, which wasn’t uncommon for a draken past one hundred seasons, or twenty years as the humans would say. Amil had reached his majority last human year, and I was close with only four more seasons to go. The Draken Games happened every five years, and were a great entertainment to the kingdom. For seven days, eligible males and females battle to test their compatibility for mateship. It was wildly entertaining.
Still, Tammen clearly had aged enough to obsess over finding a mate. I just didn’t see the point yet. I had my whole life to do all of that stuff Mother wanted me to. Why start early?
“You should compete then,” I teased him.
His eyes narrowed to slits. “Maybe I will.”
“The only female watching us right now is Sakala, and she doesn’t count!” Amil butt in, pointing to our right. I turned and caught a flash of white scales and wings as a figure turned on its heel and disappeared around the corner.
“She’s obsessed,” Tammen admitted wryly.
“I heard the sirens rejected her,” Amil whispered to me. “Though I don’t know why she keeps trying. She is too young. Most sirens are one hundred and thirty seasons or more, and have their children before joining. Must think she has something to prove.”
I nodded. Our females were renowned for their voice magicks, so much so that they were nicknamed ‘sirens’ by the humans and other magickal creatures on the mainland of Dorea. Along with our specialized wards, they kept our island safe and impenetrable.
My chest puffed with pride. “She is just trying to prove she’s better than me. She is still angry from when I beat her in rings last week.” My chin tilted up in arrogance. No one could beat me at rings. Well, Sakala could. But she hadn’t last time.
“I had been up all night with my drakling sister. You beat me because I was exhausted.”
We all turned at the new voice and Sakala burst into our circle, her wings twitching and irritated. I knew she couldn’t resist butting in! A scowl stretched her features, her fangs already out on display. The brown leather skirt around her hips was short, stopping mid-thigh. Her dark hair was long and covered her breasts. They looked different from last season, I couldn’t help but notice. She smelled different.
I glared at her. Why did she always have to interrupt time with my friends? “If you were so exhausted, why did you accept my challenge?” I teased her.
Sakala hissed through her teeth. “As if you would have let me use that excuse. You would have said I was a baby drakling that was too scared to try.”
I turned my nose up at that. Maybe I would have. We wouldn’t exactly know now, would we?
“What do you want, Sakala?” I rudely demanded, eager to run off and play with my friends.
“A rematch,” she calmly stated. “Right here, right now, and in front of the entire market.”
I blinked at her. If my mother heard I’d been playing rings in the market, she’d hang me up by my wings.
“I knew it. You’re scared!” she cried out loudly enough that several passing drakens turned and looked at us.
“He is not!” Amil protested, his hands already bunching into fists.
Tammen just looked between all of us, an odd expression on his face.
I couldn’t take the smug look on Sakala’s face. We’d been competing against each other since we were draklings, in whatever we could think of: flying, running, rings, and life. It irked me she thought she was equal to me; a draken prince! What I wouldn’t give for her to finally beat her once and for all!
“I’ll do it,” I hurriedly agreed, before I lost my nerve. Amil looked thrilled, but Tammen rolled his eyes.
Her grin only stretched wider. “Excellent. How many?”
Oh boy. If I picked a number that was too low, she’d only call me a coward again. If I picked a high number, I was more likely to get caught. My eyes slanted over to Tammen, who sighed dramatically, then held up all his fingers on one hand.
“Five,” I responded confidently.
Sakala’s muscles tensed, her knees slightly bent. I didn’t hesitate; I shot straight up into the air, pushing her out of the way with my claws. She shrieked in pain and spiraled away, falling back to the ground. I hissed with pleasure and raced up to the first building.
Rings was simple. It was a street game where you chose a treehouse—any treehouse—and flew through one window and out another cleanly. The challenge was in dodging any obstacles in your way—from furniture, to food, and even other drakens. And of course, doing it quickly enough that they couldn’t tell who was zooming through their home.
My first target was easy: the top floor of a tall home with two windows, one right behind the other. No one even lived there. I zoomed through the building easily.
“Two!” I heard Tammen call from the ground.
Confused, I whipped around to see Sakala do two buildings back to back. Fury burned in my veins, and I picked the next closest building, regardless of who was in it. I dove.
Screams and yells greeted me as I flew straight over a table, complete with dinner and a family who hadn’t quite finished yet. The smell of fish met my nose before I was out the other window and into the open air again.
“Three!”
I didn’t bother to look over at Sakala. I didn’t have time. To catch up, I would have to do something risky. I banked hard in the air, aiming for the next building. It would be tricky with two windows on the corner. I’d have to take an immediate sharp left as soon as I was through the first window.
I dove and held my breath. A female screamed somewhere in the room, but I was too busy concentrating on turning hard—HARD! I cried out in pain as my turn wasn’t sharp enough and my right wing banged against the wall. I tumbled out of the window, falling haphazardly as I tried desperately to fly with one good wing.
There was no way I’d finish the fifth building. Yet I still tried.
I reached out for the last one, grabbing the edge of a window on the second story. Unfortunately, someone else was already there, craning his head out. I crashed into the male draken hard, and both of us tumbled to the ground inside his treehouse.
A groan of pain left me. My right wing burned and I couldn’t move it. My chest hurt, and my jaw throbbed. Luckily, we’d dodged out of the way of each other’s spine spikes.
“You little—”
I hobbled away and fell out the window before he could grab me, tumbling to the ground as I tried to break my fall by buffeting my good wing. Bright gold scales met my vision and caught me, lowering me to the ground. Warily, I glanced up, only to be met with the angry glare of Meckar. Gaff was in charge of my brother and me while Meckar kept order in the streets. This was worse than running into my mother. Meckar was mean. And he’d tell my father.
“Again, little prince?”
I bristled at being called little. I was almost as tall as he was now! Roughly, two other drakens hauled me to my feet in front of him, mindful of my wings. Tammen and Amil were nowhere to be found. Cowards.
“I dared him.”
I did a double-take as Sakala sauntered up to Meckar, her chin up. Meckar narrowed his eyes at her. “The prince will have to answer for his own actions.”
Sakala shot me a victorious look. “I won anyway.” She stuck her tongue out at me and jumped up into the air.
Or tried to.
Meckar’s hand shot out and snatched her by her neck, squeezing and forcing her back down onto the ground. “You’re in just as much trouble, female.”
Anxiety flipped my stomach. I’d been an idiot, and had no problem being punished. It happened often enough as it was. But Meckar was my father’s enforcer—I didn’t want him doing to Sakala what he often did to me. I hated seeing any other drakens getting punished for anything. I don’t know if it was because I was going to be the king one day, but the responsibility weighed on me at times. Especially now, and especially since it was Sakala.
“Let her go! I told you it was my idea!”
I writhed and fought against the drakens who held me, sticking out my back spikes and flaring my wings and trying to bite and claw. They dropped me in surprise and I leaped at Meckar who dropped Sakala in favor of clamping his arms around me.
Sakala didn’t hesitate and bounded away, taking to the air moments later.
“Little prince! Stop this at once!”
I grinned as she got away. It wasn’t because I cared about her; she would hardly be a fair enemy if she was too injured to compete, would she? I was just looking out for my people. It was one thing if I was an idiot and got hurt and in trouble. It was quite another if I caused it for someone else.
“Should we go after her?” one of the other drakens asked.
Meckar huffed. “Let her go. She will get hers soon enough.”
I frowned at the cryptic remark. They didn’t know her name, and would likely forget about her the moment their shift ended. Hadn’t I saved her? “What? What does that mean?”
Meckar shot a glare at Gaff. “Some use you are. Back up to the castle.”
Gaff gave an exasperated sigh. “You two have spent your entire lives tearing up the city. It’s about time it finally ends.”
I kicked despite his grasp, but he only picked me up so that my feet no longer touched the ground. Alarmed at his strength, I went still. “Tell me what you mean! Why is it ending?”
Gaff laughed. “That female over there? The same one you’ve picked on for years? She has entered the Draken Games.”