Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Dragon Mom
“Excuse me?” Tris blurts out.
“I’ve seen stranger imprints,” the female dragon replies, leaning back. “Remember when Rocky thought his mom was a tree?” she chuckles to the other dragons.
Cane notices Tris’ confusion. “You see little one. When baby dragons hatch, they don’t really have a specific mom or dad. Instead, they tend to imprint on the dragon who will raise and train them.”
“So, you think Ember imprinted on me?” Tris asks, looking down at the baby dragon in her arms.
The red dragon speaks up from behind the other two. “Either way you look at it, the Dragon Lord isn’t going to like this,” he says firmly.
The other two dragons just look at him, not really confirming or denying what he said.
“Where are our manners?” the purple dragon speaks up, snapping out of the seriousness of the moment. “My name is Amethyst. This is Cane,” she says, gesturing to the green dragon with her head.
“And I’m Jasper,” the red dragon announces. “We were sent here to find Ember, but it looks like she’s in good hands,” he adds, sounding annoyed.
Tris’ eyes widen. “I can’t keep her,” she stammers. “I work in the palace, and there’s no way they are going to allow a living dragon anywhere within the Kingdom.”
The dragons look at one another and back at Tris. Before anyone can say anything, loud shouting comes from the sky above them.
A medium-sized grey dragon drops down, almost landing on Tris. It has something in one of its claws that appears to be struggling to get out.
“Hey, guys, I found this sneaking around the caverns,” the grey dragon announces proudly while allowing what he’s holding to drop to the ground.
“Foul beast!” the man hisses as Tris gasps, realizing it’s an actual person.
“Nick!” she yells. “What in the world are you doing here?”
The prince turns around toward her, a look of shock on his face.
“Tris, you’re safe!” he stammers, running up to her and taking her into his arms.
Ember doesn’t appear to like him, and she growls from between them. Nick steps back, gawking at the creature in Tris’ arms. The little dragon glares and makes angry clicking sounds at him.
“What’s going on?” Nick asks, confused, looking around at the other dragons.
“Rocky, why did you bring him here?” Jasper grumbles, clearly annoyed by the growing number of humans in their possession.
Rocky doesn’t answer, he is far too distracted by a butterfly that’s fluttering around his head.
“Stay behind me, Tris,” Nick instructs, placing his body between her and the dragons. “I’ll get us out of here.”
“Nick,” Tris soothes, placing one of her hands on his shoulder.
Ember lets out a little growl as Tris makes contact.
“Oh, stop,” she scolds. “He isn’t going to hurt anyone, understand?”
Ember flops her head down on Tris’ arm and lets out a few more grumbles before calming down. Tris turns her attention to Nick. She understands he may be confused and overwhelmed, but the dragons don’t pose a threat at all. It will just be very difficult to get him to understand that.
Tris walks right up next to the prince. The dragons appear to be studying him, trying to decide if he really is a threat to them.
“Nick, are you okay?” Tris asks, rubbing his arm with her hand.
The prince looks like he’s in shock. He doesn’t even look over at her, putting all his focus on the creatures before them. Tris can’t imagine what must be going through his head. His whole life he was raised to believe that dragons would kill any human who happened to cross their path. Now they sit among four of them without a single sign of aggression.
Amethyst finally speaks up. “Is he always like this, dear?” she asks Tris.
Shaking her head, Tris isn’t sure what to say. “Not usually, but I think he’s trying to process everything.”
“What are you doing?” Nick asks, looking over at her with wide eyes.
Tris feels like she may as well come clean. Any excuse will only drive a wedge between her and the man she loves.
“I can talk to the dragons,” she confesses after taking a deep breath. “And, apparently, Ember thinks I’m her mom.”
Her heart sinks as the look on Nick’s face changes from protective to bewildered.
At that moment, she feels like an outcast. Her gift is proving to be too different to be considered special.
“This little human looks awfully familiar,” Cane says, reaching out with one of his claws and poking Nick with his nail. “I think we’ve met before.”
“Don’t touch me!” Nick yells, stepping back away from the claw.
“He doesn’t mean any harm,” Tris explains. “His name is Cane, and he thinks he knows you from somewhere.”
Nick looks frustrated. “Well, I don’t know how. I’ve never met a dragon before, let alone talked to one,” he stutters.
“Nick is the son of Queen Sandra and King Leo,” Tris informs the dragons.
“You don’t say,” Jasper replies, leaning in to have a closer look at him.
After a few minutes of studying the prince, Jasper sits back. “I think you both should come with us. The Dragon Lord will want to meet you.”
Tris’ stomach flips and her heart threatens to jump out of her chest.
“We can’t,” she blurts out. “We need to get back to the Kingdom before someone notices we’re both gone. I took Ember from the wizard’s tower in hopes of saving her, and bad things will happen if we don’t return.”
Tris turns to Nick and begins to feel panic taking over her mind. “They want us to go with them, but we can’t,” she stutters.
Nick shakes his head. “If we did, there would be no going back to the palace, ever,” he replies.
The wheels appear to be turning in Nick’s head while Tris tries to fight down her anxiety.
“Say something,” she finally spits out, panic-struck. “Do something!”
Nick reaches for the hilt of the sword hanging from his side.
“Not that,” Tris snaps, grabbing his arm.
Nick looks flustered. “What do you want me to do?” he snaps back.
Tris takes a moment and then turns to Amethyst. “I need you to take Ember back to the Isle of Suns with you,” she says sadly.
It breaks her heart to have to say goodbye, but she can’t keep Ember safe.
Amethyst looks down at the two of them and then over at Cane.
“Sorry, little one. Once a dragon imprints on someone, they can’t be separated from them. It would be a death sentence for sure. Ember would fall into a deep depression and refuse food and water if she doesn’t have you near her,” Cane explains calmly.
Tris looks down at the baby dragon that has fallen asleep in her arms before looking at Nick.
“She will die without me,” she whispers. “Why did she come to the mainland to begin with?”
Jasper lets out a deep chuckle. “Ember didn’t come here on her own. A group of men came to the Isle of Suns and took her before she had hatched.”
“Someone took her and brought her here?” Tris yells, dumbstruck by the idea.
“That’s impossible,” Nick replies. “No one is allowed to travel to the Isle of Suns and return. It’s too dangerous and dragons are not allowed in the Kingdom.”
“Well, they are saying someone did it,” Tris huffs. “Ember doesn’t have wings, so she didn’t fly over here.”
Tris suddenly remembers the reason the wizard had Ember to begin with.
“The Queen,” she says, flashing Nick a confused look.
“You think my mom went over and took a dragon egg,” Nick replies sarcastically.
Tris shakes her head. “No. Lucas said the wizard wanted to use Ember to come up with a potion. The Queen had ordered it so, stating she needs the concoction to remove a family curse.”
Nick’s brow furrows as he stares up at the dragons. “A family curse?” he stammers. “No one has ever mentioned such a thing to me.”
Tris can’t believe what she’s about to say, but it’s the only solution she can think of right now.
“I think I need to go with the dragons,” she blurts out, not daring to look Nick in the eye. “That way I can protect the Kingdom and baby Ember.”
“No,” Nick replies, anger edging the word sharply. “I’m not going to lose you, Tris. We should both go. In the time we’ve been standing here, I’ve come to realize that what I was taught about dragons may not be as true as I thought.”
Tris can’t hide the tears that weld up in her eyes at hearing Nick confess he may have been wrong about dragons. The thought of going to the Isle of Suns excites and scares her. The cyclone of emotions rushing through her right now cannot be explained. Everything from love for the prince to sadness about leaving her father behind passes through her. This is the solution they have been looking for.
Before anything more can be said about the matter, a group of armed guards rush through the bushes behind them. All of the dragons shoot up into the sky within a blink of an eye. The guards close in around Nick and Tris.
“You’re under arrest, in the name of the King and Queen,” one of the guards stutters.
“On what charge?” Nick yells, daring to step toward the weapons pointed at them.
“Prince Dominick?” one of the guards replies, slightly lowering his sword. “The charge is theft of the Queen’s property,” the man says aggressively, lifting his weapon back in place. “And we will add conspiring with the enemy as well.”
“I won’t allow it,” Nick demands, matching the guard’s aggressive tone.
“You don’t get a say,” the man replies, sounding amused. “We have been ordered to return the two of you to the palace where you will be judged by the King and Queen.”
Tris holds Ember tightly in her arms, praying the men won’t notice her. The little dragon has awoken from her nap and is looking around. With her mind racing, Tris doesn’t see the guard approaching her until he has a firm grip on Ember.
“No, don’t you touch her!” Tris screams as Ember is ripped from her grasp and thrown into a sack.
“Tris,” Nick warns, reaching out for her hand.
The feeling of defeat kills any joyful thoughts she had about leaving the Kingdom with her prince. Tris takes his hand and holds back the tears that threaten to burst forth. Nick pulls her in close and kisses her on the top of the head. Tris is taken aback by his actions, figuring there is no point in hiding their relationship any longer.
As they walk along, Tris can’t help but wonder how they found them so quickly. The question comes to mind at the same moment she notices another man in front of them being held at a weapon’s edge.
“Father?” she whispers as panic bubbles up again.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone